28 April, 2016

SECOND EDITION

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

|

Boishakh 15, 1423, Rajab 20, 1437

|

Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 7

|

www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

Ten people being killed each day in Bangladesh n Mohammad Jamil Khan The number of murders, especially targeted killings, has reached an alarming height in the first few months of 2016.

From the start of the year and up to April 25, a total 1,215 people have been killed across Bangladesh, according to the Police Headquarters database.

That equals to an average of over 10 murders each day in the country.

Although 11 people were killed on an average every day in 2015, with a total 4,015 murders throughout the year, political vio-

lence accounted for many of those fatalities.

So far this year, only 32 deaths were results of political violence surrounding union parishad polls.

Despite the high murder rate, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said he was happy with the present law and order situation.

Pointing out that murders are committed each day in countries all over the world, Kamal said the law and order situation in Bangladesh was better than others.

“We have arrested assailants in most cases and the remaining cases would be solved soon with  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

PM: Mysteries of recent killings solved n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

INSIDE

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday told the parliament that law enforcement agencies have been successful in unearthing the mysteries behind the recent killings in Bangladesh.

Replying to a query from ruling party MP Kazi Nabil Ahmed, the premier said the people who have connections to previous militant, criminal or sabotage activities are now under intelligence surveillance.

Hasina also said legal action has been taken against the suspects and the sources of militancy and militant financing to curb terrorism and other criminal activities.

The prime minister also said the government has already given directives to law enforcers on taking stern legal actions against all sorts of militancy, sabotage and violent activities.

Hasina also said the country’s law and order situation was normal

CBA10: Engage women in decision making

Women need to be engaged at all levels of decision making to combat climate change induced vulnerabilities.  PAGE 3

due to the government’s various steps.

“People are getting justice. Due to the activeness of law enforcers, militancy and terrorism were curbed,” she said.

The police and other law enforcement agencies have been working through coordination to maintain law and order and to ensure the safety of people's lives and properties, Hasina said.

The premier added that foreign investment has been increasing gradually and Bangladesh's economic base was getting stronger as normal law and order situation has been prevailing.

Replying to another query from independent lawmaker Haji Selim, Hasina said: “Bangladesh Bank heist will not put any long term impact on the country’s economy.”

The premier also said a portion of the stolen money was recovered and the rest would be recovered through legal procedure. l

The Planning Ministry puts up two giant posters of world cricket's latest sensation, Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman, on its boundary wall at Agargaon, Dhaka, to highlight the country's pride. Flashing the slogan 'It is now our time, it is now Bangladesh's time,' the poster shows Mustafiz celebrating a wicket during one of his team Sunrisers Hyderabad's match of the ongoing Indian Premier League DHAKA TRIBUNE

Minister: Killers all from same group n

Shohel Mamun

The home minister has said that the law enforcement agencies have found evidence that local militants were behind the 31 recent murders that took place across the country.

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said yesterday that 25 of these cases had already been solved and the perpetrators arrested.

“Islami Chattra Shibir, Ansarullah Bangla Team, Jama’atul Mujaheedin Bangladesh, Ansar Al Islam and al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) are all the same people, just using different names from time to time,” the minister said.

“These militants have been carrying out targeted killings to destabilise the country.”

The minister was speaking to journalists after a meeting with US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat at the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Amaq created a month before Prof Rezaul killing n Abdullah Al Dulal, Rajshahi The website of Amaq news agency, where militant group Dae’sh or Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing of Rajshahi University teacher Dr AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee hours after the crime, was built in the free domain of Wordpress just a month before.

Police are now scrutinising the website, which is operated from the US. America’s SITE Intelligence Group quoted the news agency to publish the statement that the IS was behind the killing of Rezaul, an English professor.

Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Shamsuddin said police were scrutinising a statement of the IS sent to SITE Intelligence Group.

“We are trying to find out who sent the information from Rajshahi. Even though the statement was published from the US, it was not

Sundarbans catch fire fourth time in a month

Cable hazards on Shewrapara footbridge

A fire broke out in Dhansagar area of Chandpai range in the Sundarbans yesterday afternoon, the fourth such incident in the mangrove forest this month.  PAGE 8

The footbridge in Dhaka’s Shewrapara has become an unsafe site, as a stretch of cables lays five to six inches over the ground on the walkway, bordering the stairs, as well as overhead.  PAGE 32

created there. Somebody translated it here before sending it.

“The existence of the IS is yet to be proved in Bangladesh. Responsibility was claimed online for many past incidents and we are scrutinising those again,” he added.

Kazi Zahidur Rahman, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Rajshahi University, said not all websites automatically display detailed information but those can be obtained through some special tools.

“By using a number of such tools, SITE Intelligence Group first tweeted that the IS had claimed credit for professor Rezaul’s murder on the website of Amaq news agency. Amaq’s website is actually a blog site where there was only this sentence: ‘Source to Amaq Agency: Islamic State fighters assassinate a university teacher for calling to atheism in the city of Rajshahi in Bangladesh’. SITE  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

DT

2

News

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Police: More clues to Kalabagan double murder found n Arifur Rahma Rabbi Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia yesterday said some more clues to the murders of LGBT rights activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy had been found.

“The investigation involves a number of aspects, including the possibility of terrorist involvement.

But we cannot disclose anything right now for the sake of investigation,” he told journalists at the DMP headquarters.

"We are in the early stage of the probe and need another three to four days to come to a conclusion.

No one is excluded from suspicion.”

In reply to a question, the DMP commissioner said: “The papers recovered from the bag, which was left by the killers at the scene of the murder, contained Arabic writings but there is a possibility that the criminals kept those to mislead people.”

He also urged all to resist those who commit crimes in the name of religion.

‘We are in the early stage of the probe and need another three to four days to come to a conclusion’ “It is a challenge for the government to find the killers. Law enforcement officials are tirelessly working to identify them. Intelligence agencies are also working.

We succeeded in the past to solve crimes and we are going to succeed in the future as well. There is no need to be panicked.”

None was arrested in connection with the double murder as of yesterday.

“We saw this attacking style

among the members of Ansarullah Bangla Team in the past and are suspecting that the outfit killed the two men for their involvement in promoting LGBT activities,” a top official of the Detective Branch of police told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“We found a mobile phone at the crime scene and also got CCTV footage. We are now analysing those.

We hope that the clues will lead us to the killers. After watching CCTV footage, we suspect that madrasa students are involved in the crime,” he added.

The country's first LGBT magazine Roopbaan editor Xulhaz was killed at his Kalabagan residence in the capital along with his friend Tonoy on Monday evening.

Xulhaz, a USAID official and a former protocol officer of the US embassy in Dhaka, was a cousin of former foreign minister Dipu Moni while Tonoy was an LGBT and theatre activist. l

Nasrul: Load-shedding to go within 2-3 days n UNB As people keep on suffering due to frequent load-shedding amid sultry weather, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid yesterday said it will take two to three days more to get rid of the problem.

“We hope, the situation will improve within two or three days,” he said while taking to reporters at his ministry.

Blaming the strike by vessel workers that heavily disrupted fuel supply to power plants, the junior minister said it has also affected the gas production.

Admitting that there has been a fall in the country’s power generation by over 700 megawatt (MW), he said gas fields had to reduce gas production as huge condensates are being deposited for not being transported by vessels.

“When the condensates will be removed from the fields, the gas production will go up and it’ll finally help improve the power genera-

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Ten people being killed each day in Bangladesh the arrest of the perpetrators,” the minister added.

The minister’s comment came after things took a turn for the worse this April, with at least five people falling victim to targeted assassinations – all hacked to death.

On April 6, Jagannath University student Nazimuddin Samad was hacked to death. Then there was a brief gap before a similar killing took place again on April 22, when Hindu priest Paramananda Roy was killed in Gopalganj.

Then in quick succession, Rajshahi University Professor Rezaul Karim was killed on April 23, while

LGBT magazine editor Xulhaz Mannan along with his friend Mahbub Tonoy were killed on April 25 in Dhaka’s Kalabagan.

Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the murders of Paramananda and Rezaul; but there has not been any significant progress in any of the cases.

In the wake of these murders, the country’s police chief however refused to take any responsibility.

Instead, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said it was not possible for the police to ensure security by going to the doors of each and every one.

People needed to arrange for their own security, while the police can provide help to them, the IGP said.

“One of our main tasks is to ensure punishment for the criminals responsible through proper investigation and we are doing it very seriously with our expert officials,” Shahidul said.

Security specialists, however, criticised the law enforcers’ failure in preventing murders.

Ashraful Alam, associate professor of criminology and police science at Maulana Bhashani Science and Technology University, said police must take some responsibil-

ity for these killings.

Law enforcers need to be one step ahead of the well trained killers, Ashraful said, adding that such killings would continue unless the responsible ones are punished.

Security Analyst Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain criticised how law enforcers were terming murders as targeted killings or putting the blame on militant groups even before starting an investigation.

As a result of these presumptions, the real incidents often do not come to light and encourage the perpetrators to commit more crimes, he added. l

Amaq created a month before Prof Rezaul killing Intelligence Group just used this as a source,” he explained.

Professor Zahidur said creating a website by Wordpress is a piece of cake.

“Anyone can build a blog site by registering a free domain and using free templates offered by Wordpress. This is so easy that a website can be built overnight.

“A Bangla website also published the statement of the IS at around the same time. The IP address of the site is 124.28.2.22, which is an American IP. The domain of the website is registered with an ISP provider named Cloudflare.

“According to Cloudflare, the site was opened on March 8 and the first content was uploaded on March 30.

Professor Rezaul was killed 22 days after the first content was uploaded,

and the claim of the IS was published on the same day,” added Zahidur.

Shibli Noman, a journalist who works on geo-politics and militancy, said the first post on the website of Amaq news agency was uploaded on March 4.

“What is to be noted here is that it is a free website created by Wordpress. This is why no accurate information on who runs the site can be obtained.”

Protests continue

Rajshahi University students yesterday staged demonastrations puting barricade on the Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway for two hours near the campus protesting professor Rezaul’s murder.

Hundreds of students took to the

street around 10am and continued demonastrations till 12 noon.

Also, teachers and students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet also organised a rally following a human chain on the campus.

They formed the human chain, which was joined by over 300 teachers and pupils, in front of the central library and vowed to continue protests until the killers got exemplary punishment.

Teachers to strike on May 2

Meanwhile, public university teachers across the country have decided to demonstrate and abstain from work for three days from May 2 to demand justice for the killing of professor Rezaul.

The decision was made at a meeting of teachers held at the Teachers’ Club at Dhaka University on Tuesday, said Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association President Professor Farid Uddin Ahmed.

He said teachers would also hold rallies and bring out processions on their respective campuses on May 2 from 10am to 1pm.

“To express solidarity with teachers and students of Rajshahi University, leaders of the federation will join a protest at the university on May 3.

A memorandum will be submitted to the home minister and a meeting will also be held with him on May 4 to demand justice for the killing of professor Rezaul and security for university teachers,” added Prof Farid. l

tion,” Nasrul said.

More than 3000 MW of electricity is produced by liquid fuel which is mostly used by the private sector in rental power plants while the remaining 5,000MW generation comes from gas-fired plants.

For the last couple of days since the start of the vessels strike, the power supply recorded a shortfall of 701MW against the demand for 7567MW. Dhaka is experiencing 177MW of shortfall against the demand for 3000MW while Chittagong faced 85MW against demand for 860MW. Among other regions, Khulna is facing 99 MW electricity shortfall against 890MW demand; Rajshahi 107MW against 825MW; Comilla 62MW against 675MW; Mymensingh 44MW against 442MW; Sylhet 51MW against 300MW; Barisal 20MW against 175MW and Rangpur 56MW against 400MW demand.

Nasrul Hamid said the worst victim of the power cut is the irrigation sector as this is their peak time for water supply. l

Minister: Killers all from same group Secretariat. The ambassador met with him to raise concerns over the recent murders.

Kamal claimed the militants were under control so far and Bangladesh was quite secure compared to other countries.

“We have arrested criminals in 25 cases including the Italian citizen Cesare Tavella and Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi murder, the Shia mosque attack in Bogra and the Navy mosque attack in Chittagong,” he said.

The minister added that law enforcers had arrested all killers in the blogger murders, except for those of Avijit Roy’s.

“But the effort to arrest those criminals is also underway and our officials are doing there best to bring them to book,” he said.

An additional secretary of the Home Ministry will be assigned to coordinate different intelligence agencies investigating the murders, Kamal said.

About the prime minister’s sudden meeting with the heads of law enforcement agencies, the minister said the prime minister had ordered them to be vigilant about these targeted killings and run a thorough investigation.

The home minister added that the USA had offered to help arrange trainings for the police force to increase their efficiency. l

3

DT

News

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

'Engage women in decision making' Alam Durjoy and n Nure Shadma Malik Engage women at all levels of decision making in order to combat climate change induced vulnerabilities, said speakers at a conference yesterday.

Without a gender inclusive approach to analyse the problem we might inadvertently increase the vulnerabilities of women and girls to climate shocks, as well as perpetuate or exacerbate gender inequality, they said.

They were speaking at the Conference on Community Based Adaptation in Dhaka, organised by Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB) in association with International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS).

Atiq Rahman, executive director of BCAS, said community-based action, whether there are disasters or climate change, needs integration and centralising women on the issue and that has to happen both in rural and urban areas.

“Above all, effective participation of women in decision making process and act likewise are one of the most important criterion to reduce vulnerabilities,” he added.

Cristine Hunter, country representative of UN Women in Bangladesh, said: “We have a big knowledge gap here that there is much

Cristine Hunter, country representative of UN Women in Bangladesh, speaks to participants of a panel discussion at the 10th International Conference on CommunityBased Adaptation yesterday in Dhaka MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU lesser study available to assess how many people head their journey to the cities and how they have been affected by the changes.”

Policies need to be addressed specifically on that particular issue and need to call on member states to uphold the women rights, she said.

At a separate session, Sardar Shafiqul Alam said there is a gender

imbalance information during cyclone. He said women do not prefer to go to shelters when cyclones hit and instead prefer to look after their belongings since they are mostly confined at homes and do not have access to information about early warning signals of cyclone.

To provide correct information, believe and trust on information

and access to information is important to make effective decision participants said.

Sheri Lim Climate Change and Resilience Team Leader, Care International Bangladesh said: “Climate information is one of the subjects one needs to be more informed about and realise the need of climate information by thinking who

Bernicat: Brutal acts do not reflect characteristics of Bangladesh n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman US Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat yesterday said the brutal acts that are happening in Bangladesh do not reflect the characteristics of the country.

“What’s been happening here is not at all characteristic of Bangladesh,” she said at the US news channel CNN. Bernicat said Bangladesh has a long tradition of tolerance, free speech, and diversified religion and culture that has been cherished.

She said that these attackers are going after anyone who doesn’t believe in their violent ideology and it has created fear here among people.

About the expectation of the US government, she said her administration expects the government and others speak out forcefully to condemn this act of violence and violent extremism.

Lauding the government, she

said: “This is the government that has a track record of successfully fighting terrorism.”

Bangladesh has been a very strong partner in fight against terrorism and it is led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and she said on numerous occasions that terrorists have no boundary, no religion and she has zero tolerance to that, Bernicat said.

The US administration is working with the government, civil society, and media to help strengthen Bangladesh to fight against terrorism and prevent violent extremism, she said.

Meanwhile, France has condemned the murders of Professor Rezaul Karim Siddique on April 23, Hindu priest Paramananda Roy April 24, and two LGBT rights defenders, Xulhaz Rahman and Mahbub Tonoy on April 25.

These outrageous killings come in addition to a series of murders, most of them claimed by Daesh,

occurring in Bangladesh these last months against civil society members, rights defenders and representatives of religious minorities, said a press release issued by the French Embassy in Dhaka.

France conveys its condolences to the families and friends of the victims and stands aside Bangladesh in its fight against terrorism. The culprits must be brought to justice.

The Embassy of Switzerland through a statement condemned the recent killings of online, cultural and rights activists and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh.

The embassy conveyed deep condolences to the families of the victims, said an embassy press release.

Freedom of expression is deeply rooted in Bangladesh’s long traced tradition of tolerance, harmony and respect for human rights, the principles on which this country was built.

The recent killings constitute a serious threat to the freedom of expression and are grave violations of basic human rights.

The killings need to be investigated and those responsible must be brought to justice.

Protecting the lives of all citizens is critical in order to ensure and guarantee freedom of expression in Bangladesh also in the future, said the Swiss Embassy statement.

Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Greg Wilcock in a statement condemned the recent murders in Bangladesh.

“We trust these acts will be investigated swiftly and that those responsible will face justice. The victims were respected citizens. We offer our condolences to their families, friends and communities.”

Australia stands with Bangladesh, as it stands with other international partners, in opposing intolerance and violent extremism. l

the NGOs are, to think about how people interpret the information and presented the way they can make useable. And, also ensuring about information to meet their needs. For instance, if they need to be knowing flood coming two days in advance, it is better make sure to generate information which benefits the community.” l

One remanded over ex-prison guard killing n Our Correspondent, Gazipur A Gazipur court has granted police three days to interrogate a man in connection with the killing of a retired Kashimpur prison guard.

Motorcycle-borne assailants shot dead sergeant instructor Rustam Ali, 60, near the jail’s main gate on Monday. His wife Nasrin Akter filed a case with Joydebpur police that night. Accused Himel was arrested in the city’s Deuliabari.

Gazipur Police Superintendent Delwar Hossain said the case was transferred to DB on Tuesday night.

DB OC Amir Hossain, the investigation officer, said: “We are exploring all possible angles. We are conducting raids to nab other accused.”

Kashimpur Jail’s Senior Superintendent Mizanur Rahman said they were conducting an internal probe.

Rustam’s brother Shah Alam said his brother did not have animosity with anyone. “We are being asked many things but we know nothing.

Nobody told us anything,” he said. l

DT

News

4

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

SCBA leader against SC Judges Investigation Act n

Ashif Islam Shaon

The draft Supreme Court Judges (Investigation) Act 2016 will be against the Constitution and create problems in conducting trials, Supreme Court Bar Association General Secretary Mahbub Uddin Khokon claimed yesterday.

At a press conference, he alleged that the government wants to control the judges' conducts through the law. “The whole process is alarming,” he said.

Mahbub alleged that the initiative of enacting the law had been taken so that pressure can be created on the judges and the judges cannot deliver any verdict against the government.

“The government should take public opinion before it introduces the law,” he said,

urging the government to take suggestions from experts like retired chief justices and Supreme Court justices, senior lawyers, constitution experts about the law.

Besides, he urged the government to introduce guideline for appointing Supreme Court judges.

On April 25, the Cabinet in principle approved the draft of Bangladesh Supreme Court Judges (investigation) Act 2016 that specifies the procedure for the Parliament to impeach a judge of the highest court if allegation of misconduct or incapacity is proved.

The Cabinet will give its final nod to the draft after a discussion is held with the stakeholders on the issue.

The draft law says any citizen

with evidence will be able to submit allegations of misconduct or incapacity against a Supreme Court judge to the Parliament Speaker and a 10-member Parliament body will investigate the allegations.

The committee will submit a primary report to the Speaker within seven days and the Speaker will form a high-powered committee with a former Supreme Court judge, a former attorney general and noted jurists to review the primary report.

The recommendations of the committee will be placed before the Parliament for further discussion. But if anyone comes up with false allegations against any judge, he will be jailed for two years and fined Tk5 lakh for the offence. l

English proficiency test PTE now in BD n Adil Sakhawat

The German consultancy, testing, and certification organisation TUV SUD, along with Pearson, have announced they are introducing the computer-based academic English language test, Pearson Test of English (PTE), in Bangladesh.

This test model is used to test and prove the English proficiency of aspiring students applying to international universities in the UK or Australia, or for immigration visas to these countries.

PTE Academic allows an applicant to schedule tests as quickly as twenty-four hours in advance, sit a single three-hour test session, and receive results within five business days. The reading, writing, listening and speaking skills of the applicant are recorded through an automated computer module. The results generated are approved by the UK and Australian Govern-

ments and are accepted by thousands of academic programmes, including Harvard, Yale and INSEAD. TUV SUD is the exclusive SELECT test centre for Pearson VUE to administer the PTE and facilitate training targeting to test takers.

In speaking of their partnership and plans to expand in Bangladesh, Neelan Ezhilan, Country Director of TUV SUD Bangladesh Pvt Ltd, said: “There has been a significant rise in the number of students from Bangladesh opting to study abroad.

This has resulted in an exponential growth in demand for English proficiency exams.”

“Applicants are on the lookout for faster and efficient tests, and our partnership with PTE is aimed at fulfilling this requirement. The offerings of our Academy division for technical and management professionals will be valuable in this collaboration,” he added. l

5

DT

News

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

MURDER OF SECULARISTS, PREACHERS IN MACHETE ATTACKS Since 2004, Islamist militants and members of Jamaat-Shibir have killed at least three dozens of teachers, secular activists, non-Muslims and Islamic preachers – mostly in machete attacks Prof Humayun Azad Dhaka University teacher Prof Azad was attacked on the campus on February 27, 2004. He was found dead in an apartment in Germany on August 12 while under treatment.

Prof Yunus Ali Rajshahi University economics teacher Prof Yunus was hacked to death on his way to the mosque at Binodpur of Rajshahi early in the morning on December 24, 2004.

Prof Sheikh Taher Ahmed RU geology and mining department teacher Prof Taher went missing on February 1, 2006 and found dead in a septic tank of his house two days later with hacking injuries.

Ahmed Rajeeb Haider Gonojagoron Moncho activist and secularist blogger Rajeeb was hacked to death in front of his house in Pallabi, Dhaka on February 15, 2013.

Jagatjyoti Talukder Chhatra League leader and Sylhet Gonojagoron Moncho activist Jagatjyoti was killed in Akhaliya area of Sylhet on March 2, 2013.

Arif Raihan Dwip Buet student and Chhatra League leader Dwip was stabbed in a dormitory of the university on April 9, 2013. He succumbed to his injuries on July 2 while undergoing treatment.

Taibur Rahman, his son Namum Manir Pir Toiyobur and his teenage son were killed at Khalishpur of Khulna on August 8, 2013.

Ziauddin Zakaria Babu Bogra college teacher and Gonojagoron Moncho organiser Zakaria was killed in the town on December 9, 2013.

Gopibagh Six murders Pir Lutfar Rahman and five others were killed at his house in Dhaka on December 21, 2013.

Mamun Hossain Blogger Mamun was killed in Dhaka on January 12, 2014.

Sheikh Nurul Islam Faruqi Ahle Sunnat leader and TV anchor Sheikh Nurul Islam Faruqi was killed at his house in east Rajabazar, Dhaka on August 27, 2014.

Ashraful Alam Daffodil University student Ashraful was killed at his mess near Jahangirnagar University campus, Savar on September 30, 2014.

Prof AKM Shafiul Islam RU sociology department teacher Prof Shafiul was killed near his house in Chouddopai area, Rajshahi on November 15, 2014.

Anjali Devi Chowdhury Chittagong Nursing Institute teacher Anjali was killed outside her house in Chittagong on January 11, 2015.

Avijit Roy Mukto-Mona blog founder and former Buet teacher Avijit was hacked to death and his wife injured in an attack on DU campus on February 26, 2015.

Oyasiqur Rahman Babu Secular activist Babu was killed at Begunbari of Tejgaon, Dhaka on March 30, 2015.

Ananta Bijoy Das Mukto-Mona blog writer Ananta was killed in Sylhet town on May 12, 2015.

Niladri Chatterjee Also known as Niloy Neel, the secular writer was killed at his house in Dhaka’s Goran on August 7, 2015.

Khijir Khan Ex-PDB chairman Khijir Khan was killed at his khanqah sharif in Dhaka on October 5, 2015.

Faisal Arefin Dipan Secular publisher Dipan was killed at his bookstore in Dhaka on October 31, 2015.

Rahmat Ullah alias Nengta Fakir and his assistant Abdul Kader They were killed at the shrine in Bayezid area of Chittagong on September 4, 2015

Zakaria Hossain Zakir Baul festival organiser Zakaria was killed in Chuadanga on December 10, 2015.

Nazimuddin Samad Sylhet Gonojagoron Moncho activist Nazim was killed in Dhaka’s Sutrapur area on April 6, 2016.

Abdur Razzaq Shia preacher Razzaq of Jhenaidah’s Kaliganj was killed on March 14, 2016.

RAIN OR THUNDERSHOWER LIKELY THURSDAY, APRIL 28

Dhaka

40

27

Chittagong

34

27

Rajshahi

DHAKA TODAY SUN SETS 6:26PM

Poromanondo Roy Septuagenarian Hindu priest Poromanondo was killed at Tungipara of Gopalganj on April 22, 2016.

Xulhaz Mannan, Mahbub Tonoy LGBT activists Xulhaz and Tonoy were killed at Xulhaz’s house at Dhaka’s Kalabagan on April 25, 2016.

Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique RU teacher Prof Rezaul was killed near his Shalbagan residence in Rajshahi town on April 23, 2016.

TEMPERATURE FOREC AST FOR TODAY

Joggeshwar Roy Panchagarh priest Joggeshwar was killed at the Sonto Gaurio Temple at Debiganj on February 21, 2016.

Chhamir Uddin Mandal Octogenarian homoeopathic doctor Chhamir was killed at his chamber in Jhenaidah on January 7, 2016.

41

28

Rangpur

34

* Over a dozen others have survived machete attacks since 2013

24

Khulna

41

27

Barisal

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:25AM

39.6ºC Jessore

21.4ºC Netrakona

Source: Accuweather/UNB

39

28

PRAYER TIMES

Sylhet

33

21

Cox’s Bazar

33

26

Fajr: 4:05am | Zohr: 11:56pm Asr: 3:23pm | Magrib: 6:28pm Esha: 7:55pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

DT

6

News

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Mercury free dental amalgam by 2018 Al-masum n Mohammad Molla Environment and Social Development Organisation (ESDO) and Bangladesh Dental Society (BDS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a bid to eliminate “Mercury Dental Amalgam” from the dentistry sector in Bangladesh by 2018.

The MoU was signed yesterday with the aim to promote policy advocacy for adaptation and institutional initiatives for “Mercury-Free Dentistry.”

Use of mercury has a harmful impact on the environment, public health and aesthetics

BDS and ESDO promised to work together to ensure mercury-free dentistry and ultimately a mercury-free environment.

The objectives of the MoU are to support improvement of the policy and facilitate the development and adoption of legislations to completely eliminate mercury amalgam

from dentistry by 2016-2017 as per the country’s situation; promotion of access to alternative filling materials by improving systems of governance on development related mobility; strengthen intra and inter-country multi-sectoral collaboration in association with ESDO and Asian Centre/WAMED, including all the members of BDS all over the country.

Professor Dr MD Abul Kashem, president of BDS, expressed his strong willingness to drive mercury consumption level to zero in order to make mercury free amalgam in Bangladesh.

He also suggested raising awareness among medical teachers, practitioners and stakeholders about the harmful effects of mercury.

Syed Marghub Murshed, former secretary and chairperson of ESDO, said use of mercury has a harmful impact on the environment, public health and aesthetics.

ESDO Secretary General Dr Shahriar Hossain, one of the worst sufferers of mercury poisoning, shared his miserable experience and expressed his expectation to BDS to work hand in hand to put an end to this toxic element in dental amalgam.

Secretary General of Bangladesh Dental Society Humayun Kabir Bulbul and Executive Director of ESDO Siddika Sultana signed the MoU on behalf of two organisations. l

7

DT

News

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Jubo Dal leader surrenders over prof Shafiul murder case

n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

A construction worker is seen drinking water from a roadside tap after being exhausted by scorching heat that has been sweeping Bangladesh for the last several weeks.

The photo was taken from Chandrima area of Rajshahi city yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

2 testify against Noor Hossain in drug, extortion cases n Tanveer Hossain, Naraynganj

A Narayanganj court yesterday recorded deposition of two witnesses in the cases of drug smuggling and extortion filed against Noor Hossain, the prime accused in the sensational seven-murder case.

The court led by Additional District Judge Kamrunnahar recorded the deposition of Sub Inspector Shawkat Hossain and Abul Hossain in presence of Noor Hossain.

Public Prosecutor Jasmin Ahmed said there were eight more cases against Noor Hossain with the seven-murder case.

A court on March 23 cancelled the bail petition filed by Noor Hossain in two extortion cases.

According to court sources Noor Hossain filed the petition seeking bail through his lawyer Khokan Saha to the court of the Judge Kamrunnahar. Khokan said the court cancelled the bail after a hearing.

The sources said two persons named Shamsul Haque and Akram Hossain filed the two cases with Siddirganj police station in 2014 and 2015 against the controversial politician in Naraynganj.

On April 27, 2014, Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Nazrul Islam and six others were abducted.

Later, their bodies were recovered from the Shitalaykha River on April 30. l

Rajshahi law and order situation deteriorates n Abdullah Al Dulal, Rajshahi Law and order situation has deteriorated remarkably in Rajshahi as 11 people, including teacher of Rajshahi University AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, have been killed recently.

Local sources said police recovered the two bodies from Amgram, Durgapur upazila on March 23. The deceased were Khokon Islam, 23, and Tina Khatun, 27, wife of Abu Said. Locals alleged that they had been killed over extra marital affairs.

But police said they committed suicide. They even did not file any murder case in this connection.

Officer-in-Charge of Durgapur police station Porimol Kumar Chakraborty told the Dhaka Tribune that they had filed an unnatural death case as they had not found any injury marks on their bodies.

“We are waiting for autopsy report. If it is revealed in the autopsy that it is was murder, we will definitely file a murder case in this connection.”

On March 29, police recovered the beheaded body of a trader, Nasir Promanik, 24, from Pana Nagar village, Durgapur upzila. Police yet to make any headway in the killing case.

On April 1, the body of Rasel Ali, 30, was recovered from a drain in Channa Sako area under Rajpara police station. Police sources said he had been killed over family dispute. The deceased was Rohidul Islam, 28.

On April 9, a man was allegedly killed by his uncle over family dispute at Saidhara village, Baghmara police station.

On the following day, Ainal Haque surrendered to police after killing his wife Sufia Begum.

On April 22, two university students were found dead in a hotel room in city’s Shaheb Bazar area.

Police recovered the bodies of Mizanur Rahman, 23, a second year student of Rajshahi University Islamic history department, and Sumaiya Nasrin, 20, a first year student of Pabna Science and Technology University physics department, from room 303 of Hotel Nice International.

On Saturday, a gang of suspected Islamic extremists hacked Rajshahi University’s English department teacher Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique to death.

Since the killing of the teacher, a tensed situation has been prevailing on the campus.

On Sunday, an Awami League leader Ziaul Haque Tuku was killed in front of Nagar Bhabon. Moreo-

ver, a minor girl was gang raped in a city hotel on March 23.

Jamat Khan, general secretary of Rajshahi Sangram Raksha Parishad, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were worried over the law and order situation of the country. “It seems we are not safe anywhere,” he said.

On Monday, Lawmaker and also General Secretary of Workers Party Fazle Hossain Badsha expressed concern over the deterioration of law and order situation across the district.

He said: “Police failed to keep law and order situation of Rajshahi normal. People of the district have become panicked as killing across the district increased alarmingly.”

Commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Md Shamsuddin told the Dhaka Tribune that police were doing their job properly.

Meanwhile, claiming law and order situation of the district normal, Superintendent of Police Nisarul Arif told the Dhaka Tribune that police could found clues of the killings which had taken place in the district recently.

Over the RU teacher killing, he said police had arrested some people in this connection.

“We will be able to arrest other people involved in the killing soon,” he said. l

Fugitive Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal leader Anwar Hossain Ujjal yesterday surrendered to a Rajshahi court in a case launched over the murder of Rajshahi University teacher Prof AKM Shafiul Islam Lilon.

Rajshahi Public Prosecutor Abdus Salam confirmed it to the Dhaka Tribune and said the case’s accused Ujjal turned up before the court of RMP Magistrate Court 1 Judge Mokseda Asgar on Wednesday noon.

The court rejected Ujjal’s bail plea and sent him to jail, who remained absconding for long after the murder.

Social Science department prof Shafiul was hacked outside his residence in Chauddapai area of Rajshahi city on November 15, 2014 and he died of his injuries in hospital some hours later. A case was filed in this connection.

On November 23, police arrested Pintu and five others as well as one Reshma who gave confessional statement in the lawsuit.

Later, police have formally charged 11 people including Ujjal and Reshma.

Reshma’s husband, also former vice-president of the RU unit of Chhatra Dal Abdus Samad Pintu, has also been charged over the murder.

According to RAB, Pintu wanted the sociology department professor killed because he allegedly “misbehaved” with his wife.

Meanwhile, a little known extremist outfit claimed the responsibility for the murder on a Facebook community page named Ansar al Islam Bangladesh 2.

However, the investigators in the case also trashed this claim terming the Facebook post “irrelevant.” l

Two held with firearm Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong

Members of Detective Branch (DB) arrested two persons with a Light Gun (LG) in city's Andarkillah area early yesterday.

The arrested were Md Abdus Sukkur, 30, son of late Tota Mia hailed from Comilla and Md Iias, 22 of Raozan upazila of Chittagong.

Deputy Commissioner Moktar Hossain of Chittagong Metropolitan Police said acting of tip off, a team of DB conducted a drive in front of Andarkillah Shahi Jame Mosque under Kotwali police station and arrested the duo with the firearm. l

DT

8

News

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

chehlum tomorrow Sundarbans catch fire Tonu’s n fourth time in a month Mohiuddin Molla, Comilla

n Hedait Hossain, Khulna A fire broke out in Dhansagar area, Chandpai range of Sundarbans, Khulna yesterday afternoon.

Local people said they found smoke in Dhansagar area and informed forest officials about the matter.

Fire fighters from Moralganj were trying to extinguish the fire till filing of the report at 10pm.

With the fire, this is the fourth incident of forest fire in the area over a month.

On April 19, another fire broke out in Nangli area under Chandpai range.

Local sources said that fire originated at Abdullah Shila adjacent to Nangli camp.

Later, fire fighters from Moralganj rushed to the spot and managed to extinguish the fire with the help of Coast

Guard members.

The sources said a vested quarter might have set fire to the forest area in order to facilitate their illegal activities.

On April 14, the fire that originated at Dhansagar station of Chandpai range under the Sundarbans East Zone around 10am on the day, gutted forestry on several acres of land before the forest officials, firefighters and locals managed to extinguish the fire.

On March 27, a fire broke out in another area near Nangli forest camp. Firefighters managed to bring the fire under control by the morning of March 28.

Local people alleged that some influential in the locality set fire to the forest in Rajapur and Dhansagar areas during dry season every year to set up a canal and facilitating their fish netting. As soon

as rainy season begins, they start random fishing.

Sources on condition of anonymity told the Dhaka Tribune that some unscrupulous forest officials gave lease of the land to local people for catching fish with current nets.

From the fishing, the unscrupulous section pocket a huge amount of money every year depriving the government a huge amount of revenue.

The probe body, which was formed after fire erupted in the area on March 27, submitted its report on April 4.

The probe blamed carelessness of local people for the fire incident. Six people have also been sued in connection with the fire incident.

In the last 14 years, there have been 19 fire incidents in Chandpai and Sharankhola ranges of the Sundarbans. l

3 suspected robbers lynched Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong At least three alleged robbers were beaten to death by mob in city’s Kattali area early yesterday.

Two of the deceased were Sagor,31, and Rasel,22, while identity of another could not be known immediately.

Sudip Das, Officer-inCharge of Akbarshah police station said a gang of robbers gathered in the area preparing to commit robbery around 3:30am.

Sensing the presence of the robbers, local people chased them off and caught eight of them while the others

managed to flee.

Later, the mob beat up them, leaving three of them dead on the spot.

On information, police rushed in and recovered the three bodies from the spot.

The law enforcers also arrested five robbers Md Rubel, 18, Alauddin, 17, Rana, 18, Md Monir, 18, and Rubel, 18, said Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Mizan, duty-officer of Akbar Shah police station.

The police recovered a Light Gun (LG) and pistol from their possession.

The bodies were sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsies.

“The locals have been guarding the area in last 5 to 7 days as there were several robbery incidents frequently causing serious anxious at the locality”, the OC said adding that extra police forces had been deployed in the area as the incidents of robbery continued.

He said two cases-one under Arms Act and second for attempt to commit robbery were lodged accusing the five with Akbar Shah police station.

Apart from that a murder case against unnamed persons was under way in connection with killing the three alleged robbers, he added. l

1 killed over borrowed money Correspondent, n Our Gazipur A young man has been stabbed to death allegedly by his accomplices over borrowed money in Masimpur area under Tongi upazila of the district yesterday.

The murder took place on Tuesday night and police detained two, namely Anwar Khandaker and Raju, for their alleged involvement in the killing.

The corpse of Jahid Hassan

Roni, 20, son of Abdul Jalil Miah, from Sholaghar area of Brahmanbaria, was sent to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Tongi police station Sub-Inspector Maniruzzaman said addicted Roni along with Anwar and Raju used to live in Masimpur area for long and the three had been involved in snatching as well.

On Sunday, Roni borrowed Tk500 from Anwar and the two locked in brawling over

repaying the money.

As sequel to the enmity, Anwar and Raju repeatedly stabbed Roni on a road in the area around 9:30pm and he was declared dead by the physicians of Tongi Govt Hospital.

Hearing the scream of Roni, locals approached the spot and caught the two red handed and then gave them a good number of beating before handing over them to police.

Tongi OC Feruz Talukder said a case would be launched in this connection. l

The chehlum for Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a Comilla Victoria College student and theatre activist, who was killed after allegedly being raped inside Comilla’s Maynamati Cantonment on March 20, will be held on Friday at her village home, Mirzapur, Muradnagar.

Tonu’s father Yaar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that a milad mahfil would be held at the mosque and home.

Food items will be provided among the orphans, he added.

On March 20, Tonu was reportedly raped and murdered by miscreants in Alipur area of Mainamati Cantonment.

After the killing, several socio-cultural organisations staged demonastration across the country protesting the killing.

In the capital, Ganajagaran Mancha and the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote brought a procession at Shahbagh demanding punishment to the killers of Sohagi. l

9

DT

Feature

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Remembering Shamsher Chowdhury

Bearing the unbearable at the anniversary of my father’s death n Sabahat Jahan It’s been four years since my father passed away. It’s been four long, difficult years. Perhaps time moves faster when you are happy, or close to happiness, and slows down to a painful crawl as a new piece of your heart dislodges itself from the whole and floats away somewhere, getting into the bloodstream, jamming the other organs and passageways that need to keep functioning despite the heartache.

I am not special. This is not the first time someone has lost a loving parent. It will certainly not be the last time someone writes about that loss. But this is my life, and I must come to terms with the things that weigh me down, pulling me away from the things that I once enjoyed, the things that once made me whole.

Writing is my solution, even if a temporary one. It provides a much needed, yet elusive

Abba holding me in his arms just as he always held me in his heart catharsis that other avenues fail to offer. Perhaps, for others, that

relief comes in the form of sports, cooking, or working out. It comes

AUW alumna helps change the game for women in Computer Science n Features Desk For most people, Python is a snake, and Java denotes coffee or Earth’s most populous island. For Nishat Mowla, Python and Java are computer programming languages that she uses to change the world.

An alumna of the Asian University for Women (AUW), Nishat is already challenging the status quo by pursuing a career in computer science (CS) – a historically maledominated profession.

For Nishat, there is a connection between CS and women’s empowerment. Basic computing skills are necessary for most modern professions, and women need computer literacy to compete in today’s job market.

CS careers also position women to shape society, as advancements in computing address global issues such as food insecurity, climate change, illnesses, and infectious disease. Nishat believes that women have a powerful role to play in these world- changing developments, and she intends to contribute.

Nobody can stop her. After she earned a CS degree from AUW, Nishat became a top Master’s student at the Engineering College of Ewha Womans University in South Korea. She recently won

the Best Master’s Thesis Award, and she will begin a PhD program soon. For now she is teaching CS50x – an online Introduction to Computer Science course developed by Harvard – to 25 AUW undergraduates. amming ability, and she says it hNishat’s instruction negotiates the convenience and affordability of massive open online courses (MOOCs) like CS50x, with the support and responsiveness of traditional classroom education.

Nishat is happy to report positive results thus far, as all 25 students are able to code after just eight weeks. AUW Founder Kamal Ahmad wonders if this experiment in online education could have ramifications for MOOCs beyond Nishat’s class. This summer, Nishat will sustain the momentum of CS50x by collaborating with international tech companies to implement programming workshops for students who want to learn Java and Android app development.

Nishat’s intelligence, work ethic, and service-oriented leadership are commendable in their own right, and yet she remains humble when discussing her accomplishments. She attributes much of her success to the support of her parents,

to me through words, words that attempt to heal. And for that, at least, I am grateful.

There is often a tremendous amount of guilt associated with the loss of a loved one. What if we had done this or taken him there or tried harder or for longer … the list could go on. The doubts we keep at bay during our waking hours return to haunt us in our dreams, making me wake up in the middle of the night with the sinking sensation of a renewed loss. To have lost someone once is bad enough, but to lose him again and again is tantamount to cruelty.

Neither all my words nor all my tears will change the course of human life. The course has been charted out for us, and we have no option but to stay on it.

The only variables are how we use that time; the amount of time itself is fixed and beyond our control. I realise that these words are ineffective in the face of the

reality of life and death, and that men and women suffer terrible fates each day — men and women like our fathers and mothers who are good people, who love and forgive in equal measures. But, it seems, ours is not to question why.

For those who are trying to bear the unbearable — the loss of a loved one — I have little advice and even less comfort to offer. I hope that we all find an answer somewhere, perhaps in each other, perhaps in hope or faith or religion. Perhaps our losses are only temporary. Perhaps our love is the only answer. l

back to her Alma mater.

Although the full impact of Nishat’s instruction and research are yet to be determined, it behooves the world to pay attention. Her doctoral research will focus on improving network security, which is important for protecting everything from individual credit card information to nuclear missile codes. Nishat says, “Everyday there are new technological developments that improve people’s lives, but they also raise many new security risks, and on top of that, new hybrid forms of attacks are on the rise.”

She underscores her point by

alluding to a string of Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in 2009, which activated botnets to crash the servers of major government, news media and financial websites in South Korea and the United States. “To protect against these attacks, we need more research and network security tools,” says Nishat, who seeks to create new and improved network defense mechanisms throughout her academic career. If Nishat’s success as a Master’s student and AUW educator is any indication of her potential to change the game for women in CS, then Nishat’s future is promising indeed. l

who saved money to ensure that she could attend a reputable secondary school in Dhaka. She also credits AUW for recruiting her during a disheartening sixmonth period after secondary school, when she struggled to find a university that would accommodate her educational background and family’s financial situation.

She explains that AUW’s liberal arts curriculum allowed her to specialise in CS while grounding those skills in a social science context.

Nishat also notes the transformative effect of AUW’s diverse and inclusive residential community: “Everybody at AUW comes from such different cultures.

The way I think and communicate with people from different backgrounds changed.

Because of AUW, I could easily adjust to South Korean culture during my Master’s program.”

For these reasons, Nishat relishes the opportunity to give CS50x students appreciate Nishat’s teaching style

Sabahat Jahan is an author and poet. She is the author of the poetry collections Rough Edges and Hands Full of Nothing.

PHOTO: MARLIN BISWAS AND POOJA KHATI

DT

10

Feature

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

'Men are not biologically violent' Veteran social scientist Kamla Bhasin speaks to Dhaka Tribune because patriarchy tells these men that “you are superior.” They have seen in their homes that men are getting more importance, more freedom, more mobility, more resources, and most importantly, more entitlement! In India, they are called “rajabeta!” So everybody is serving them. A girl will serve him food, prepare his tea. Why? Is he disabled? This hierarchy makes them feel that they can do whatever they like. If they feel like teasing a woman they’ll do it.

If they feel like urinating, they’ll do it on the street. But girls will have to wait to find a toilet. That rule is not imposed on them. I think because of their attitude of entitlement of superiority, they feel no need to control themselves.

PHOTO: COURTESY

n Promiti Prova Chowdhury Veteran social scientist and feminist activist Kamla Bhasin recently paid a visit to Bangladesh.

The main person behind “Sangat,” a South Asian feminists network, Bhasin is also the South Asia Coordinator of One Billion Rising.

Since 1984, Sangat has developed the capacities of more than 650 women activists from South Asia and offered a greater understanding of concepts related to gender, justice, poverty, sustainable development, peace, democracy and human rights.

As a United Nation’s representative, Bhasin first came to Bangladesh in 1976 and worked with Gonoshasthaya Kendra, a rural health care organisation.

Dhaka Tribune’s Promiti Prova Chowdhury engaged in a conversation with the iconic Indian feminist over the issue of sexual harassment of women.

Why do men sexually harass women?

First of all, it’s most unfortunate that men do it because I feel it takes away their humanity and degrades them. I think it is the desire for power. I cannot imagine that there is any pleasure.

However, a pleasure lies in the thought that “See, I am more powerful and I can harass a person

What about the issue of women being sexually harassed?

I am glad that you are not calling it ‘eve teasing.” However, some people still use that phrase, as if it’s a joke where Adam is teasing Eve. Today we call it sexual harassment and in today’s law, there is nothing called “eve teasing.” If you are winking, it is sexual harassment. Making gestures or whistling at a girl - all these fall under the purview of sexual harassment.

How do we address this issue?

Fortunately in some countries including mine, the sexual harassment law addresses these acts by marking them as sexual abuse and identifies punishments for them. Having a law is good and necessary but they need to be implemented. These laws are not being implemented. Police do not take it seriously. Cases go on and on in courts. From my experience, I feel that one needs to tackle this issue socially more than tackling it via laws.

I am glad that you are not calling it ‘eve teasing.” However, some people still use that phrase, as if it’s a joke where Adam is teasing Eve. Today we call it sexual harassment and in today’s law, there is nothing called “eve teasing.”

who is less powerful than me.”

They do this not just to women. In colleges sometimes they even kill the new students while ragging.

They do it to transgender people, transexual people, they do it to a man who is gentle and not macho.

And of course, they do it to women

Is it a law and order issue or a socio-cultural issue?

This is undoubtedly a law and order issue. The criminal needs to be punished legally just like when someone beats someone on the road or breaks a traffic law. But who are the people committing these crimes? Bangladeshi boys and young men who are your brothers and fathers. Now the question is, why are they doing this? In the past, our way of dealing with this problem was to stop girls by saying “do no go out,” or “quit studying.” Whereas, you must address the person who is committing the crime. It is not a crime for a woman to go out.

Your constitution doesn’t say that Bangladeshi women should be home by 7pm. But girls will still be suggested to quit their jobs and take up a teaching job which ends by 2pm. This is just holding the wrong side of the stake.

When it comes to women’s security issues, I say that even walking inside your home can be dangerous. So should you keep sitting? Girls have to take the risk to go out because people took risks over the years and fought for their freedom. Today, if we are sitting at home out of fear, then women can never be free. We cannot take a step back now. That will promote, strengthen and empower the criminals.

And families also are very important. Instead of asking girls not to go out, ask boys what they are doing when they are outside their homes. Monitor their language, the jokes they crack, the things they watch. The boys who are sexually harassing a girl on the road belong to our families. So what kind of families do we have?

They are all coming from schools in Dhaka. What kind of schools do we have? And what are they being taught by the media? Is it encouraging them to act this way?

If that is the case, the media needs to be controlled.

If you are sister to a brother, then it is your responsibility to monitor him so that he becomes gentle. Sometimes ask him to make tea for you. You can say, “Bhaiya, today you make tea for me. I have done it for you for so many years.” Give him the opportunity to take care of others.

They have become so selfish that they have no shame in just taking!

Serving others is something very beautiful. Why should we not give them the opportunity to do beautiful things? We deprive them of the nice things, so they seek pleasure in horrible things. They have all the bloody time to stay on roads. Girls have to take care of children and in-laws. Yet, all men are not doing such things. Gentle and helpful men are a possibility.

Men are not biologically violent.

Some say that men cannot control their sexual desires. Millions of catholic priests and Buddhist priests don’t have sex even once in their life. Human beings are not slaves to their bodies. They have a brain. There have been beautiful men like Buddha. They taught the whole world how to be gentle, how to be compassionate. l

Part 1 of 2

DT

Editorial 11

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

INSIDE

A sheep will not be a lamb to the slaughter The fools questioning this, arguing for imaginary freedoms, should be put in stocks. If the fools are too noisy, dangle a guillotine above the stocks.

This is how the path to peace and development is paved PAGE 12

Is community-based adaptation suited to cities?

One of the difficulties that communitybased adaptation faces in cities is that much of the population lives in informal settlements on land that is illegally occupied

BIGSTOCK

PAGE 13

No more victim blaming Muzzle me not By advocating for self-censorship, the implication is that free speech is a small price to pay for security. The truth is that free speech is a cornerstone of a safe and secure society PAGE 14

Be heard Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/ DhakaTribune.

The views expressed in Opinion articles are those of the authors alone. They do not purport to be the official view of Dhaka Tribune or its publisher.

T

he prime minister is right to ask law enforcement agencies to step up efforts to prevent targeted killings and to ensure all cases are properly investigated.

On too many past occasions, both police and government spokespersons have tempered condemnation of murders by pointing fingers at the victims.

Whenever government ministers question what victims wrote or believed, they muddy the issue and by implying victims bear some responsibility, only embolden the killers and those who support them.

When police refuse to take action on threats made against LGBT activists, and discriminate against or harass them themselves, they only make the killers feel safer to target the LGBT community or other groups which they oppose, with impunity.

It is a deeply regrettable fact that in the weeks before the double murder of Xulhaz Mannan and Tanay Mojumdar, they were unable to seek or obtain protection from the police, despite constantly receiving death threats.

Everyone must realise by now that there is no sense in encouraging the mind-set that people need to know what they say or write.

Such equivocation only emboldens and encourages the killers.

This must end. It is vital the authorities keep their focus on catching the killers, not blaming the victims.

The fanatics behind these killings want to spread fear; they will only find other reasons to justify their campaign of unconscionable violence.

It is an absolutely top priority to stop them. Catching the killers and bringing them to justice is the only way to address this menace.

The government should also improve the protection available for people and groups who have been threatened and take firm action to resist the propaganda of groups and individuals who incite such violence.

It is an absolutely top priority to stop them.

Catching the killers and bringing them to justice is the only way to address this menace

12

DT

Opinion

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

A sheep will not be a lamb to the slaughter Join the flocks of bleating sheep. It’s the right thing to do

n Ikhtisad Ahmed

I

t is difficult to argue against facts. The majority of facts that Bangladeshis are given about their own country come from the government.

Therefore, the government is difficult to argue against; the government is right. Saying otherwise is not only futile, but incorrect, and quite possibly illegal -- an inevitability, since the government manufactures facts and is the law.

The flocks of bleating sheep have grown to insurmountable hordes on the streets and online, proudly proclaiming “Joy Bangla” and using “Joy” as a merry prefix to all manner of words, appropriating them for the government as the government has appropriated Bangladesh.

They are on the side of the irrefutable right. The fools questioning this, arguing for imaginary freedoms, should be put in stocks. If the fools are too noisy, dangle a guillotine above the stocks. This is how the path to peace and development is paved.

In light of recent events, namely murders stemming from Islamist ideology, many have expressed concerns about the deterioration of freedoms of life, speech, expression, thought, religion, and being in Bangladesh.

A growing number have also questioned the government’s indifference and inaction in relation to the extremism, while a few have suggested that the government’s appeasement of fundamentalism makes it complicit in the actions of fundamentalists.

These people are completely wrong, and would do well not to promulgate such lies. They should probably get their affairs in order if they insist on denouncing both the government and rising fundamentalism.

Islam exists in the Constitution of Bangladesh because of the military dictators Ziaur Rahman -- who removed secularism, brought religion into the political sphere and rehabilitated agents of the Pakistani junta to further his tyrannical rule -- and HM Ershad -- who inserted it into the document in an attempt to extend his own tyrannical rule before becoming the longest running joke of contemporary Bangladeshi politics.

The government tried its best to revive secularism, but cannot be blamed for enshrining Islam in the current form of the constitution.

Don’t ever swim against the current People cannot be allowed to have free rein over what they say and how they say it. People are stupid, and their stupidity makes them prone to hurting religious sentiments. The honourable prime minister takes offence at indecent statements about religion. Her fellow citizens can only hope to live up to her lofty ideals.

It is a crime to hurt religious sentiments in Bangladesh. The Penal Code has made it so since 1860. Anything that is a crime should be rooted out of society for society to survive and improve.

It is the responsibility of every law-abiding citizen to censure and persecute criminals before the state prosecutes them. The police cannot be blamed for telling such criminals to flee the country when they seek protection from law enforcement agencies, fearing for their lives.

When the police, ministers, members of parliament, and government officials warn the populace not to hurt religious sentiments, they are benevolently trying to steer the lost lambs back to the righteous path, away from their misguided freethinking, secularist inclinations that make them ticking time bombs, counting

BIGSTOCK

They are on the side of the irrefutable right. The fools questioning this, arguing for imaginary freedoms, should be put in stocks. If the fools are too noisy, dangle a guillotine above the stocks. This is how the path to peace and development is paved

down to disseminating unholy thoughts or calls to atheism.

The sacrosanct law that allows them to do this is not the government’s fault -- the British are to blame.

Homosexuality is un- and anti-Islamic. The heretical British did one thing right: They made it illegal. The civil society and activists did not do enough to see this removed from statutes.

A removal would likely be temporary, as the sacred judiciary and noble government would be compelled to heed the Indian precedent regarding section 377.

Homosexuals, like atheists, freethinkers and secularists, are criminals, and criminals need to be punished.

Conscientious citizens who take it upon themselves to do the

government’s work under the watchful eyes of the Lord are to be commended, not condemned. If the government is to be criticised, it is for supporting these model citizens tacitly when it should celebrate them. In the interest of balance, it ought to be noted that a correct interpretation of the government’s response may suggest the support is an overt indulgence rather than tacit.

Dissenters, labelled as being of the BNP-Jamaat persuasion, are trying to poison the minds of the Bangladeshi people by blaming the government for doing the right thing.

This is a deliberate attempt to destabilise the country. The irreparable damage this can cause will see Bangladesh veer off the path to peace and development

permanently.

The current government is the only immovable entity standing in the way of complete ruin. Bangladeshis should, as an ultimate sign of loyalty, pledge allegiance to this divine government and join its family.

Their homeland’s laws make it surprisingly easy to change one’s name. Adding a “Sheikh” to every citizen’s name will grant him or her more rights in a beautiful Bangladesh than even the most developed countries can imagine.

Perhaps that has been this most perfect government’s clear message all along. l Ikhtisad Ahmed is a human rights lawyer turned writer. His socio-political writings include the short story collection, “Yours, Etcetera” Twitter: @ikhtisad.

13

DT

Opinion

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Is community-based adaptation suited to cities?

When local governments and local communities work together, much more is possible. Today is the last day of the weeklong 10th Community-Based Adaptation conference held in Dhaka

Dhaka might benefit from a community-based approach to tackling climate change

n David Satterthwaite

C

ities present many challenges to climate change adaptation. City governments must face addressing the risks that climate change is bringing or will bring in the future.

As they attempt to meet existing needs such as providing water, sanitation, drainage, paved roads and paths, and solid waste collection for all city dwellers -they must also take the impacts of climate change into account.

Effective climate change adaptation in cities is not possible without competent, engaged city governments. But does this mean less importance for community based adaptation?

Actually, it means more importance for a communitybased approach, alongside a different, but complementary role for local government.

While community-based adaptation cannot build the trunk infrastructure that all city districts need (water, sewer, and drainage mains), it can help install the small pipes that feed into these.

It can partner with local governments in mapping and assessing risks in each location

and working together to reduce them.

The challenges of informality

One of the difficulties that community-based adaptation faces in cities is that much of the population lives in informal settlements on land that is illegally occupied and works in the informal economy.

Local governments may refuse to provide risk-reducing infrastructure because of this apparent “illegality.�

In much of Africa and Asia, this has led to cities where a third or even half the entire population lives in informal settlements lacking provision for infrastructure and services -- often on sites at high risk of flooding or landslides.

There are many examples of city governments that have learned to work with communitybased organisations formed by those living in informal settlements, and with the slum/ shack-dweller federations that they have formed.

In hundreds of cities in Africa and Asia, it is these slum/shackdweller federations that have carefully documented conditions in informal settlements. They also now work with local governments

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

to improve housing and provision for water, sanitation, drainage, and other needs. They are also involved in the assessing what land sites are safe or can be made safe from climate change impacts.

Harnessing urban opportunities

City governments are also recognising the potential advantages of cities -- where large and dense population concentrations actually lower the cost per person of most forms of risk-reducing infrastructure and services.

While poorly-governed cities are among the world’s most unhealthy places, well-governed cities are among the healthiest, with the highest quality of life.

These are also cities that have the resources and institutions that can fold climate change adaptation and mitigation into city development.

The challenge to national governments and international agencies is that many responses to climate change are planned with little or no involvement from local governments. Yet, it is these local governments that have key roles in implementation. National plans and strategies for climate change adaptation are more often than

One of the difficulties that community-based adaptation faces in cities is that much of the population lives in informal settlements on land that is illegally occupied and works in the informal economy

not designed with no involvement of the urban residents who face the greatest risks -- most living in informal settlements.

Lessons from Latin America

Discussions within the United Nations on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals are mostly about national governments and national plans, but in urban areas, adaptation needs competent and resourced local governments.

It needs the active engagement of community organisations in each location in determining what needs to be done and in developing responses that work.

It needs a recognition that good urban development is an essential

underpinning for climate change adaptation.

All this is understood and acted upon in many cities in Latin America, where it is now common practice for city governments to work with community organisations to upgrade informal settlements.

They have even pioneered participatory budgeting that allows low-income communities to set priorities for investments in their districts, proving that, when local government and local communities work together, much more is possible. l David Satterthwaite is a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development.

14

DT

Opinion

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Muzzle me not Sacrificing free speech is a win for the extremists

A society where speech is punished is a society ruled by fear

BIGSTOCK

n Ibtisam Ahmed

W

ith the recent upsurge in the ongoing violence against rational voices in the country, it should come as no surprise that the nature of freedom of speech is once again being hotly contested.

Amidst the very human tragedy of losing lives, we are beginning to wonder whether losing just our voices would be a better option.

One of the more erroneous takes on this was published in the Dhaka Tribune the same day as an insightful and important editorial calling on Bangladesh to look inwards and question why this violence is continuing. The latter is all the more pertinent in light of recent deaths. The former, which is being rebutted here, is dangerous and disrespectful in its assumptions.

The writer makes reference to John Stuart Mill and his theories regarding the harm principle. He suggests that Mill’s work gives proponents of free speech reason

The writer falls into the same fallacy that the still-silent authorities are already perpetuating. By advocating for self-censorship and avoiding taking any real action, the implication is that free speech is a small price to pay for security. The truth is that free speech is a cornerstone of a safe and secure society

to pause as any type of speech (or action) that may cause harm can legitimately be censored for the greater good.

If offending sensibilities can lead to violence against the offender, their free speech should be pre-emptively taken away from them. Or so the writer would have us believe.

There are two issues with this line of thinking: The first is a purely academic objection to this characterisation of free speech, but one which still needs to be made. After all, critics of empathy and equality are happy to suggest that causes carry emotion but no

objective substance. It is necessary for us to prove them wrong.

The writer’s assertions regarding Mill overlook a serious distinction that he makes in his work; namely, the difference between harm and offence. While Mill argues for formal intervention in the case of legitimate threats -- not, as is incorrectly stated, remote links to violence -- he also vehemently argues that offence is not grounds for such intervention.

The harm principle and the offence principle are two separate ideas, and their names should be a clear indication of the level of severity which they carry. On a

side note, it is disingenuous and laughable to simultaneously mock the liberal left while citing one of its key philosophers as well as the UN document that universally enshrines liberal rights.

Equally galling is the reference to Charlie Hebdo, which completely misses the point of Mill’s argument. Offence may build on prejudice and existing systems of inequality but is a symptom of it, not a cause. By contrast, actual harm -- such as the murder of the French journalists and our own countless citizens for speaking their minds -- can be the catalyst for suppressing speech.

To put it bluntly, Mill would be appalled at the suggestion that the victims of these heinous attacks should be muzzled for their protection.

If his harm principle were to be applied, the only ones who would need muzzling are those who are directly calling for violence and death. This is, by the way, the basis for modern hate speech legislation worldwide, in case the idea that a philosophical essay from 1859 should not be applicable any more.

More than the academic issues with what is be a superficial and subjective misreading of Mill’s work, however, the greatest problem with the writer’s suggestions is its blatant victim blaming and the consequences of doing so. Charlie Hebdo is an easy target for naysayers. Certainly easier than referencing those killed at home.

Stating that any of these individuals expressed their views for the sake of infamy is the height of disrespect. And adding a qualifier that makes them complicit in their own deaths is playing into the hands of those that would silence us.

The threat of violence was not enough to prevent the writers, the academics, the activists, and the thinkers from upholding their principles. Shame on anyone who even implies that this unwavering integrity makes their deaths justifiable.

The writer falls into the same fallacy that the stillsilent authorities are already perpetuating. By advocating for self-censorship and avoiding taking any real action, the implication is that free speech is a small price to pay for security.

The truth is that free speech is a cornerstone of a safe and secure society.

A compromise in which we sacrifice our voices to preserve our lives is not a rational choice that we should be forced to make.

That is simply the manifestation of a society ruled by fear, not by openness and trust.

The writer of the op-ed related to free speech is essentially advocating a win for the extremists.

Let us hope that a collective refusal to give in -- the only fitting tribute to the legacy of those we have lost -- is echoed by the authorities this time as well. l Ibtisam Ahmed is a Doctoral and Research Student in the school of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham.

DT

Business 15

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

INSIDE BTMA: Textile millers will be in trouble if gas price increased Textile manufacturers have expressed worries over the government plan to further increase gas price, saying that such move will put the sector in trouble on global market. Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) leaders made the comments at the “World Cotton Outlook Summit 2016” in Dhaka yesterday. BTMA and IBC Asia jointly organised the two-day event, aimed at improving relationship between buyers and suppliers. PAGE 16

OECD: Britain would be less well off after Brexit The OECD yesterday became the latest international organisation to urge Britain to stay in the European Union, warning Britons would be worse off if they voted to leave in the June referendum. “In some respects, Brexit would be akin to a tax on GDP, imposing a persistent and rising cost on the economy that would not be incurred if the UK remained in the EU,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said. PAGE 17

KSA post-oil reform vision looks blurry Saudi Arabia’s efforts to fashion a post-oil strategy require more openness than its new economic reform plan encompasses. Vision 2030, the strategy unveiled by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on April 25, features reasonable reforms. But they barely scratch the surface of what is needed. PAGE 18

Capital market snapshot: Tuesday DSE Broad Index

4,238.9

-1.0% ▼

Index

1,034.7

-1.0% ▼

30 Index

1,632.8

-0.9% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

3,564.4

3.7% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

104.4

29.7% ▲

All Share Index 13,047.1

-1.1% ▼

30 Index

-0.7% ▼

CSE

Selected Index

12,120.6 7,927.1

-1.1% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

276.9

25.3% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

12.2

43.5% ▲

FBCCI for taxing all incomes of public servants Hossain Ovi and n Ibrahim Syed Samiul Basher Anik The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) is set to call upon the government to bring all the incomes of the public servants, irrespective of their designations, under the income tax net.

The FBCCI will soon urge the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to bring all the ministers, lawmakers, judges and all other government officials and employees under the tax net by imposing income tax on all their incomes and allowances including the festival bonus, after scarping an earlier issued Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) of 2011.

This is one of the 124-point recommendations on income tax that the apex trade body will place at the 37th NBR-FBCCI National Consultative Committee meeting for consideration in the upcoming budget of 2016-17.

NBR and FBCCI will jointly organise the 37th meeting of the consultative committee at a city hotel soon. Finance Minister AMA Muhith will attend the meeting as chief guest while State Minister for Finance M A Mannan will attend as the special guest.

NBR Chairman, also the Senior Secretary of Internal Resources Division under Finance Ministry Md Nojibur Rahman will chair the open discussion program.

“The existing system to impose tax only on the basic salary of the public servants is discriminatory,’’ reads the proposal.

The platform of the country’s businesses will request the government to tax on all the income of public servants as like as it is imposed on the income of general people including bonuses, houserents, medical allowances, transport allowances etc.

“If all the taxable income earned by the public servants is brought under the tax net, it will not only help ensure justice and equity in the society but the government can also earn increased amount of revenue,” according to the proposal.

The apex trade body, representing all the country’s trade

chambers and associations, will also request the government to increase tax-free ceiling for individual taxpayers to Tk300,000 from Tk250,000, considering the prevailing inflation rate and increased living cost of the marginal taxpayers.

duty at 1.5% from current 3%, registration fee at 1% from 2%, local government tax at 1% from 2%, and value-added tax in registration of plots and flats at 1.5% from 3%.

It will also seek five years tax holiday facility for tour operators and 10 years tax holiday for hotels,

The existing system to impose tax only on the basic salary of the public servants is discriminatory The apex trade body will also request the government to reduce corporate tax rate, so the rates are made equivalent with the neighboring countries. The FBCCI will suggest corporate tax rate at 23% from existing 25% for publicly traded companies.

For non-publicly traded companies, it will recommend the revenue authorities to reduce the rate at 28% for manufacturing companies while 33% for non-manufacturing companies from the existing 35%.

For merchant banks, it will propose 35% tax from existing 37.5%.

For the other banks and financial institutions, it will propose to set 38.5% corporate tax for publicly traded companies and 40.5% for non-publicly traded companies.

It will also urge the government to scrap the provisions for imposition of wealth surcharge arguing that the concept is against the canon of taxation. Currently, taxpayers have to pay surcharge or wealth tax on having net asset worth above Tk2.50 crore.

FBCCI will also seek income tax at a minimum rate of 10% from the existing 35% for the export-oriented sectors, particularly for the ready-made garment sector to help flourish the industry.

It will also call upon the NBR to include ceramic tiles, LPG bottling plant, diamond cutting, tourism industries including hotels and resorts with the tax holiday benefits, so they can be exempted from paying tax on newly established industrial undertakings.

For the real estate sector, it will demand reduction of gain tax at 2% from the existing 4%, stamp

resorts and other infrastructure construction to flourish tourism sector by attracting investment.

The FBCCI will also seek announcement of the tannery estate in Dhaka as an economic zone and provide industrial undertakings within the estate with six years tax holiday benefits.

For agro-processors, it will demand withdrawal of all duty on the import of agro-processing industries machinery and provide such industries with long-term and short-term loan benefits.

FBCCI recommendations also include withdrawal of Advance Income Tax on basic raw materials import, raising annual taxfree turnover limit for small and medium enterprises to Tk36 lakh from existing Tk30 lakh, taking initiatives for expediting Alternative Dispute Resolution activities, withdrawal of minimum tax at the rate of 0.30%, withdrawal of 10% source tax on indenting commission, withdrawal of 1% AIT on poultry feed import, continuation of income tax exemption for e-commerce sector till 2025 etc. l

Banks to get policy support to adjust stock exposure n Jebun Nesa Alo Banks will get policy support from Bangladesh Bank to adjust their overexposure to the stock market by avoiding sell pressure.

The move comes in the wake of continuous slide of the stock market that slumped to one year low and in the face of demand from the stakeholders to extend the deadline for adjustment banks overexposure.

As part of the policy measure, the central bank will raise capital of subsidiary companies of the banks so that their overexposure can be adjusted with the their subsidiaries within the deadline to be ended on July 31, 2016.

The Bangladesh Bank announced of its policy support at an emergency press conference held at its headquarters yesterday.

“The decision of raising capital of subsidiaries will prevent sell pressure and the banks having over investment in the stock market will not require to sale shares,” said a spoke person of the Bangladesh Bank.

Currently, around 10 banks remained over exposed to the stock market, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

Though, the banks average exposure to the capital market came down to 23% of their total capital. The total capital of bank’s subsidiary companies are now Tk5,600 crore.

According to the amended bank company law, the commercial banks will have to reduce their capital market exposure to 25% of their equity by July, 2016.

Before, the new bank company law, banks were allowed to invest up to 10% of their liabilities in the stocks. l

DT

16

Business

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

BTMA: Textile millers will be in trouble if gas price increased n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Textile manufacturers have expressed worries over the government plan to further increase gas price, saying that such move will put the sector in trouble on global market.

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) leaders made the comments at the “World Cotton Outlook Summit 2016” in Dhaka yesterday.

BTMA and IBC Asia jointly organised the two-day event, aimed at improving relationship between buyers and suppliers.

According to media reports, several gas companies have proposed 130% increase in gas prices for the industrial sector, BTMA leaders said.

“If the prices of gas increased further, it would be very difficult for us to continue running the spinning mills, which supply raw materials for the country’s largest export-oriented readymade garment industry,” BTMA President Tapan Chowdhury said.

The current price gas is Tk8.36 a cubic mitre, and it will increase to Tk19.22 if price hike proposals are executed.

RMG industry contributed 80% to the country’s total export and 13% to gross domestic product in the fiscal year 2014-15. “This has been possible only due to uninterrupted supply of raw materials at reasonable prices from the spinning mills,” Tapan Chowdhury said.

According to the BTMA, Bangladesh textile mills meet 80-85% demand of knit yarn

and 35%-40% demand of woven yarn of the export-oriented RMG factories.

“The country’s clothing industry is already facing pressure, as the manufacturers spent a lot of money on improving factories’ safety after the Rana Plaza disaster. It has pushed up the production cost,” BTMA president said.

“We understand that the country’s natural gas reserves are running out. Unless any new source of gas is found, demands will be hard to meet.

The frequent gas price hike will create trouble for the industries to survive,” he said.

“There is still a huge scope for the BTMA member mills to expand its production base, especially of woven fabrics to meet current and future demands.”

He said the $50bn RMG export target by 2021 has created a bright prospect for both woven and knit sub-sectors as they can increase their supplies to the garment industry.

BTMA Vice-President Md Fazlul Hoque said the government increased gas price six months ago and is now planning another hike by 130%.

“This (price hike) will lead us to face tough competition against the international suppliers.”

“We can compete with the global suppliers when the prices are reasonable. As they go up, the sector has to face a difficult challenge,” he said.

According to the latest BTMA data, in 2015 Bangladesh imported 6.10m bale of cotton, of which 2.99m bale was Indian, as raw materials for the industry. l

BSEC makes uniform financial year for all listed companies n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) asked all the listed companies to follow the financial year from July to June period with effect from the next fiscal year.

The decision was taken at a commission meeting, said the BSEC in a statement yesterday .

Currently, listed companies except banks, insurance and financial institutions show their financial statements from January to December period.

According to Finance Act 2016, all the companies listed

with the stock exchanges, have to follow July-June financial year, said the BSEC. The new rule will be effect from July 2016.

The regulator also decided to exempt listed companies from complying some of securities up to June 2016.

Meanwhile, the commission also approved the draft Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (Qualified Investor Offer by Small Capital Companies) Rules, 2016. The draft rules will be published in the newspaper and BSEC’s website for seeking public opinion. l

DT

17

Business

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

36 foreign nationals apply for Biman CEO post n Ishtiaq Husain

A total of 36 foreign nationals have applied for the post of managing director and chief executive officer for Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

Of them, only four are Bangladeshi citizen.

A high official of Biman told the Dhaka Tribune only short-listed candidates will be called for an interview.

Former Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh chairman Air Commodore Iqbal Hossain (retd), former Biman managing director Air Com-

modore Zakiul Islam (retd), former acting Biman managing director Capt Nasser and former acting Biman managing director Mosaddeque Ahmed have applied for the post.

The national flag carrier has been struggling over the past few years to come to terms with the lack of skilled managing director and foreign carriers’ influence in the local aviation market.

Kyle Haywood, the immediate past former managing director of Biman, who was on a prolonged leave since October, finally didn’t return.

The British national did not even

Students wait for the arrival of Labour MP Lucy Powell at Manchester Met business school in Manchester, England as part of her stay in Europe campaign REUTERS

OECD: Britain would be less well off after Brexit n AFP, London

The OECD yesterday became the latest international organisation to urge Britain to stay in the European Union, warning Britons would be worse off if they voted to leave in the June referendum.

“In some respects, Brexit would be akin to a tax on GDP, imposing a persistent and rising cost on the economy that would not be incurred if the UK remained in the EU,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

In a new report, the inter-governmental organisation warned that British gross domestic product (GDP) would be 3.3 percentage points smaller by 2020 if Britain left the EU than if it stayed, and 5.1 percentage points smaller by 2030.

It cited the impact of economic uncertainty, higher trade tariffs, a reduction in economic migration and the impact on sterling as the main risks in the near term.

In real terms, this relative loss of GDP would see household income reduced by £2,200 (2,800 euros, $3,200) in the next four years and £3,200 by 2030 - and up to £5,000 in the most pessimistic case compared to what it would be if

Britain stayed.

“The best outcome under Brexit is still worse than remaining an EU member, while the worst outcomes are very bad indeed. The Brexit tax just gets bigger,” said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria.

“We see no economic upside for the UK whatsoever.

“The bigger question is, why spend so much wealth, well-being, time, energy and talent in order to compensate the damage of a bad decision when you can simply avoid taking such decisions.”

The analysis reflects that made by Britain’s finance ministry, and follows warnings of the economic damage of a Brexit by International Monetary Fund and the G20.

However, campaigners for Britain to leave the EU dismissed the study, accusing the OECD of protecting its own interests.

“Jose Angel Gurria is part of a global bureaucracy that feathers its nest with vast expenses claims paid for by taxpayers,” said Robert Oxley, a spokesman for the Vote Leave campaign.

He said the OECD had recommended Britain join the euro, “so why should we listen to their doom-laden predictions about leaving the EU?” l

communicate with the management while being on leave.

Kyle joined the Biman in last January. The Biman boss was hired to rescue the ailing aviation business, but to no avail. His continued absence from office took a heavy toll on the national flag carrier.

Under the circumstances, the Biman board of directors, highest policy-making body of the airliner, decided to hire a new managing director, and thereby issued a circular on November last year.

Another Biman official said it is a rare example that 36 foreigners ap-

plied for the post. Earlier, only three to four foreign nationals used to apply.

“In a sense, it is a positive note for the national carrier. The image of Biman is reflected in a positive way and so foreign nationals shows interest to take the helm of Biman,” the official said, asking not to be named.

Kazi Wahidul Alam former board member of Biman said foreigners have already known that there is a huge scope in Biman to earn money without being held accountable.

This opportunity captures their attention to apply for the post of Bi-

man boss, he added.

“Recruitment process of Biman is totally wrong. National carrier should follow international practice in which CEOs of different airlines and multinational companies are recruited by head hunting companies.”

Otherwise, Biman wouldn’t be able to appoint genuine professionals, said Wahidul.

Biman appointed first foreigner Kevin Steele in 2013 on a two-year contract. Just after one year he left Biman on health grounds.

In January 2015, Kyle Haywood joined the Biman as CEO. l

DT

18

Business

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

DSEX slips further on earnings n Kayes Sohel Stocks extended losses yesterday as the key index DSEX fell further by nearly 43 points or 1%, exceeding from its previous session’s lowest in a year.

The market opened with sell-off mainly on financials, which continued until close of the session as investors reacted negatively to the earnings decelerations that poured in the market during the trading hour.

Trading activity still remained sluggish, though it improved a bit due to block trading With the fall, the key for the fifth consecutive session settled at 4,238—its lowest since April 7 last year.

The Shariah index DSES shed 10 points or about 1% to 1,034. The blue chip comprising index DS30 fell by over 14 points to 1,632.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX ended at 7,927, shedding 88 points.

Trading activity still remained

sluggish, though it improved a bit due to the block trading.

The DSE turnover stood at Tk356 crore, slightly up from the previous session’s Tk343 crore. Of the total turnover, about 24% came from the block trading of Islami Bank and BRAC Bank.

Investors showed negative reactions to the earnings declarations.

For example, Safko Spinnings saw a free-fall of over 26% after its corporate declaration. AB Bank followed with a drop of 8%, National Tubes 10%, Zahin Textile 10%, ICB 9.4% and Northern Insurance 8.7% immediately after their respective quarterly earnings declarations.

The market bellwether banking sector suffered 1.5% losses, driven by the Mercantile Bank that dropped over 9%. Non-Banking Financial Institutions sector was the highest loser, tumbling almost 5%, led by state-owned ICB. Other sectors, including engineering, power and pharmaceuticals, also face selling pressure.

Lanka Bangla Securities said investors were cashing in on stocks to safeguard their position while oil stocks continued rally with a strong move as the market players kept bottom-up approach still alive. l

CORPORATE NEWS

Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces, Lt General Md Mahfuzur Rahman has recently delivered a lecture on global, regional and national security environment at Shaheed Colonel Jamil Ahmed Memorial Lecture 2016, said a press release. The event was organised

by Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Social Islami Bank has recently opened an Ez Banking booth in Kakrail, Dhaka. Parliament member, Mahfuzur Rahman and the bank’s chairperson, Major Dr Md Rezaul Haque (retired) inaugurated the booth, said a press release

Saudi Arabia’s post-oil reform vision looks blurry n Andy Critchlow

Saudi Arabia’s efforts to fashion a post-oil strategy require more openness than its new economic reform plan encompasses. Vision 2030, the strategy unveiled by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on April 25, features reasonable reforms. But they barely scratch the surface of what is needed.

The economic measures had already been well-trailed. The existing state-controlled Public Investment Fund will be transformed into a giant sovereign wealth fund to manage the kingdom’s petrodollars. Instead of direct subsidies, Saudis will receive payments as a form of benefit, while the government will attempt to cut unemployment to 7% from 11.6% by an unspecified date. Saudi will also list less than 5% of Saudi Aramco via an initial public offering, valuing the state oil company at $2tn.

Cutting state subsidies on electricity and creating a SWF to manage global investments are good ideas.

They will help cushion the kingdom’s finances against future oil price slumps. But oil still accounted for 78 percent of Saudi exports last year, according to IMF projections.

Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reacts upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace in Paris REUTERS To replace it as the lifeblood for the Saudi economy, Mohammed bin Salman needs to target more radical reforms to the conservative kingdom.

This is not easy to do, but there are precedents. Tiny Gulf neighbor Dubai faced the same problem in the early 1980s, when oil accounted for 50% of its economy. Policies aimed at attracting high net-worth foreign workers, tourism and trade have reduced that to less than 2%.

To do something similar, Saudi

needs to think about the link between openness and investment. It probably needs to address criticism over its record on human rights and social equality. The introduction of a “green card” visa to encourage Arab and Muslim expatriates to stay longer in Saudi is unlikely to have the same affect. l Andy Critchlow is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The article was initially published at Reuters

19

DT

Biz Info

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

| review |

WE V1 Set to Amaze with 50GB cloud storage Competition in the global smartphone industry is more intense than ever before.

Smartphone manufacturers are working day and night to come up with phones with new and innovative features every other day. Cloud storage, for instance, is growing in popularity worldwide, and is catching up in Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, WE Smart Solutions by Aamra Companies is the pioneering service package which is providing customers with cloud storage among other stellar features.

The V1 smartphone, a part of the “We Smart Solutions” package, packs some brilliant features along with offering customers 50 B of cloud storage that will significantly increase the file storage capacity of the smartphone. The package also includes access to free internet at more than 500 WE WiFi hotspots all over Bangladesh. The total number of free internet sites will increase to 1500 by end of 2016.

Let us have a look at some other features that the phone boasts

in low light conditions. Moreover, the phone has a Magic Camera app, Face Beauty, GIF shot, Gesture and Wink sensor, HDR, Panaroma, Touchshot, Self-Timer and Face Detection.

Display

The large 5.5-inch HD IPS screen is equipped with GFF Lamination to prevent scratch marks. The 720x1280 resolution display has a 267 PPI. In addition, it has a Standby Screen Gesture, Flash Light Command, Camera Command, and Media Command features.

experience, the V1 packs a 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM.

Battery

The phone has a 2,700mAh non-removable lithium-polymer battery. The phone can remain in standby for 350 hours once fully charged. With talk time, it can run six hours.

Software

Camera

The V1’s 8MP rear camera is equipped with Samsung 3H7 sensor, while the 5MP front camera boasts OV5670 sensor to ensure sophisticated selfies. The high quality sensors mean that superior photos can be taken even

The WE V1, with 50GB We Cloud Storage to store photos, videos, and all sorts of data, and free We Wi-Fi connectivity in more than 500 WE Wi-Fi Hotspots around the country, is priced at Tk8,500 only. The phone also comes with a free one year after sales service. Within the next seven months, the number of Wi-Fi hotspots will increase by as many as 1,000, adding to the huge advantage of the “WE Smart Solution” users.l

The phone runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop OS. For high convenience of use, the phone has customisation options of themes, camera settings, contact lists with help of Fine OS User Interface.

Processor and RAM

The WE V1 uses a 1.3GHz Quad Core MediaTek 6584M processor.

Moreover, it has 500MHz Mali 400 model GPU. Furthermore, for mast multitasking and gaming

| finance |

| offers |

Second round of Business Finance Challenge Fund launched today

Longing for lobster

The second round of the Business Finance Challenge Fund (BFCF) was launched on April 27, 2016 at the Six Seasons Hotel, at Gulshan 2, Dhaka. BFCF is a component of the Business Finance for the Poor in Bangladesh (BFP-B) program which is supported by UK Aid.

The challenge fund has been established to support testing and development of innovative business models to finance micro and small businesses.

This is a unique, competitive, transparent mechanism through which organisations can apply

for grant financing for projects that will ultimately benefit the poor. Chris August, team leader BFP-B inaugurated the workshop while Afsana Islam, Private Sector Development Team, DFID spoke on the occasion. Two grantees from the first round of the challenge fund also spoke on the occasion.

Buddhika Samarasinghe, director of Nathan Associates London and Muhymin Chowhdury, Challenge Fund coordinator, BFP-B presented on the Challenge Fund Principles and Application process in detail to the audience. The workshop was attended by more than 130 participants from different banks and NBFIs, NGOs, development partners, insurance companies, MFIs, IT firms, and mobile telecommunication companies.

The deadline for submitting the concept note for the first stage of the application process is May 27, 2016. All required information is available at http://www.bfp-b.org/ bfcf/applicationProcess. l

If you are one of those, who from time to time “longs for lobsters” and will not be content until that craving is satisfied, make no apology for the decadence; Absolute Thai located in Banani Road 12/A, serves the finest lobster dishes in town.

Absolute Thai’s deep fried lobster with sweet chili sauce is the perfect combination of ingredients that tingles your tastebuds. The restaurant also offers a range of lobster dishes which includes, Steamed Lobsters with Chilli and Lemon Lime Sauce, Deep Fried Lobsters

with Red Curry Penang Sauce, Deep Fried Lobsters with Tamarind Sauce and Deep Fried Lobsters with Sweet and Sour Sauce. Absolute Thai is the perfect place to dine at for lobster lovers and Thai food enthusiasts; who can choose to eat their lobster cooked in five distinctly delicious seasonings and enjoy authentic Thai flavours.

Book your table online: http:// goo.gl/DVLKKE or contact House No. 52, Road No. 12/A, Block-H, Banani Dhaka. They can also be reached at +8801610-500022l

DT

20

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Hardy (6) 6 Male sheep (3) 9 Extremely overweight (5) 10 Habitual dwelling-place (4) 11 Catlike mammal (5) 12 Monkey (3) 13 Unrevealed fact (6) 15 Preservative (4) 18 Concoction (4) 21 Thinly scattered (6) 24 Melody (3) 25 Postpone (5) 28 Rainbow goddess (4) 29 Large (5) 30 Was ahead (3) 31 Playing cards suit (6)

DOWN 1 Sways to and fro (5) 2 Kimono sash (3) 3 Surface slant (5) 4 Employ (3) 5 Becomes firm (4) 6 Bellow (4) 7 Electrical unit (6) 8 Encounter (4) 14 Male swan (3) 16 Be eager (6) 17 Hill (3) 19 Allude (5) 20 Unsightly growths (5) 21 Go by ship (4) 22 Dry (4) 23 Border (4) 26 Period of time (3) 27 Consume (3)

Downtime CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 14 represents B so fill B every time the figure 14 appears.

You have two letters in the control grid to start you off. Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

As you get the letters, fill in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check off the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

A B C DE FG H I J K L MN O P Q RST UVWXYZ

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SUDOKU How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

DT

World 21

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

INSIDE INSIGHT

West Bengal: The epicentre of India’s boom in sexual slavery Thousands of Nepali women are being trafficked every year as sex workers and bonded labourers, and China and South Korea are emerging as new destinations, a member of the Nepalese National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Wednesday.

PAGE 22

Australia rules out resettling 800 asylum seekers as PNG to close camp Papua New Guinea (PNG) said on Wednesday it will close an Australian immigration centre on a northern island after its Supreme Court ruled it unlawful, but Australia ruled out accepting more than 800 asylum seekers detained there.

PAGE 23

Indonesia’s search for mass graves met with scepticism

The Indonesian government’s decision to investigate anti-communist massacres in 1965 is being met with wariness by rights groups, some of which are reluctant to share information about mass graves until the government shows how it will conduct the probe.

PAGE 23

Over nine years since 2005-’06, India’s gross domestic product rose 76%, hiding darker changes that evolved in concert with this economic transformation. One of those is a 20% rise in human trafficking related to “purposes of prostitution” – the criminal process of forcing children and adults into sexual slavery – over the same period. The victims lives, as data shows, overlap in the state that accounts for a fifth of such cases and is the epicentre of India’s human-trafficking industry: West Bengal.

Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world, according to this United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) report, estimated at $32bn, third only to illegal drugs and arms smuggling.

With a 2,217km border with Bangladesh, 92km with Nepal and 175km with Bhutan, West Bengal is a trafficking transit point. The lack of policing is manifest in the state’s rising tide of trafficking, evident in the women who populate the pubs and bars on Kolkata’s outskirts.

42% trafficked girls from West Bengal

In 2014 – the latest year for which data are available – India witnessed a 38.7% rise in human trafficking over the previous year, according to this Indian National Crime Records Bureau report.

With 1,096 cases, West Bengal accounts for 20.1% of India’s total.

The state accounted for 42% (850) of minor girls acquired by traffickers nationwide, the NCRB data revealed.

Despite several government programmes, there is a “severe lack of awareness” across West Bengal of the dangers from human traffickers, said Geeta Banerjee of Sanlaap, an NGO-run home, located nearby central Kolkata.

Not enough anti-trafficking units

Why do so many girls never escape the world of traffickers and brothels? The answers lie in the inadequate response of state and central governments.

After ratifying a global convention on transnational organised crime in 2011, the federal government proposed it would set up 335 AHTUs (anti-human trafficking units) in half of India’s “vulnera-

ble” districts and train 10,000 police officers, prosecutors, judges and other stakeholders. For more than a decade, New Delhi has also issued to India’s states 15 detailed advisories on the subject.

These plans are failing, as an IndiaSpend investigation revealed, for two leading reasons-For instance, of the proposed 335 AHTUs to be established by 2013, no more than 270 were set up until January 2016, according to this government answer in the Rajya Sabha.

These units, together, were given Rs200m during 2010-11 to 2014-15, or Rs100,000 per month per unit, or less than half the Rs540m needed, by the federal government’s reckoning.

Why the anti-human-trafficking units are failures

Establishing and training such units first began a decade ago, a joint initiative of India’s Ministry of Home Affairs and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Stagnant and never revised, the plan is a failure, as those who run them acknowledged to IndiaSpend.

“Shortage of resources is a problem, units do not have full-time police personnel, and insufficient funds and lack of infrastructure add to the problem,” said PN Tiwari, chief of the Chhattisgarh AHTU. In Bengaluru, the AHTU is “adequately equipped”, said deputy superintendent of police DN Shettennavar.

Still, “(the) workforce is not enough, and federal funding is inadequate,” said Shettennavar.

Compared to the Bengaluru AHTU, its Kolkata counterpart is a poor cousin.

Here, at ground zero of India’s trade in women forced into sexual slavery, the AHTU does not even have a dedicated telephone line–it shares one with the Protection of Women and Children Cell.

AHTU chief, West Bengal, Sarbari Bhattacharjee was not available for comment. Queries sent by email to Malay Kumar, a senior home ministry bureaucrat, went unanswered.

In 2011, West Bengal had four AHTUs – it should have nine for 19 districts (till June 2015). In 2012, instead of rising, the number fell to three, according to Lok Sabha data. From Rs3m, money from the federal government to set up

BIGSTOCK

GDP GROWS, SO DOES HUMAN TRAFFICKING Human Trafficking cases

6000

65

5000

55

4000

45

3000

35

2000

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

2012 2013 2014

25

Gross Domestic Product (Ir, Rs lakh crore)

‘Rise in Nepali women trafficked to China, South Korea’

n Himadri Ghosh, IndiaSpend.com

MINOR GIRLS TRAFFICKED, (BY STATE 2014) 852 800 600 400

303

280

277

200 0

74 West Bengal

Assam

Bihar

AHTUs in West Bengal fell 25% to Rs2.27m.

New generation traffickers use technology to outsmart police

In 2013, 3,940 human trafficking cases were reported. In 2014, the figure rose to 5,466. Tamil Nadu with 509 and Karnataka with 472 accounted for 9.3% and 8.6% cases respectively, ranking second and third after West Bengal.

Traffickers have become “super advanced” and “technology has accelerated and diversified the forms of trafficking in India”, said Sunita Krishnan, awarded a

Haryana

Odisha

Padma Shri in 2016 for the work as founder of Prajwala, an advocacy that rescues and rehabilitates trafficked women.

“Today, traffickers lure girls with smartphones, gorgeous dresses and other fancy gadgets,” said Tapoti Bhowmick of Sanlaap.

“The two square-meals-a-day deal doesn’t work anymore.” She urged the government could and should do more. “Vulnerable districts remain vulnerable,” she said. l

[This article first appeared on IndiaSpend, a data-driven and publicinterest journalism non-profit]

DT

22

World

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

‘Rise in Nepali women trafficked to China, South Korea’ Reuters n Thomson Foundation, Kathmandu Thousands of Nepali women are being trafficked every year as sex workers and bonded labourers, and China and South Korea are emerging as new destinations, a member of the Nepalese National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Wednesday.

Up to 17,000 Nepalis were trafficked in the two fiscal years ending mid-July 2015, a number swollen by the disruption caused by earthquakes in April and May last year, the NHRC said in a report this week citing figures from non-profits and the police.

India remains the biggest destination country, but rising numbers

of women and girls are also being trafficked to China and South Korea after bring tricked into marriage with the promise of a better life, the report said.

Of the 1,000 or so Nepali women who went to South Korea between 2005 and 2013, most are living in slave-like conditions, it said.

“This is a big number, and the government must boost efforts to control this,” NHRC member Mohna Ansari said.

“On the basis of the consultations and data collected by NGOs, only a few can be said to be living happily,” she said.

China’s strict one-child policy, which formally ended last year, led to a skewed gender ratio there and sparked huge demand for brides

Poor women from rural areas of Nepal are lured to China, S Korea by false promises of good jobs and better lives and sex slaves from other countries in the region.

Poor women from rural areas of Nepal are also lured to South Korea by false promises of good jobs and better lives.

The NHRC report was issued just weeks after an investigation

by Britain’s Sun tabloid revealed that children as young as 10 from

Nepal and India were being sold as domestic slaves to rich families in Britain for 500,000 rupees ($7,500) each .

Last year’s earthquakes in Nepal, which caused widespread damage and displaced millions, greatly increased the vulnerability of women and children, the NHRC said.

In the three months after the quakes, 1,233 women and children were reported missing, and the risk of their being trafficked increased by an estimated 15% to 20%, it said.

The government has disputed the figures reported by the NHRC, which is an independent organisation funded by the state.

Only 181 Nepalis were trafficked last year, compared with 185 in 2014, said Sunita Nepal, an official at the

ministry of women and children.

The NHRC said its figures were compiled from non-profits working in the countries concerned and the government’s numbers were under-estimates as many victims do not report the crime.

Nepal’s conviction rate for alleged traffickers is just 33% because victims are afraid to come forward or make statements in court, activists say.

“They remain silent for fear of being ostracised,” said Sunita Danuwar of Shakti Samuha, a charity that works on the rehabilitation of trafficked women.

“They must be given counselling, so they can open up and seek justice,” said Danuwar, who was trafficked to a brothel in Mumbai and rescued in the 1990s. l

23

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Australia rules out resettling 800 asylum seekers as PNG to close camp n Reuters, Sydney Papua New Guinea (PNG) said on Wednesday it will close an Australian immigration centre on a northern island after its Supreme Court ruled it unlawful, but Australia ruled out accepting more than 800 asylum seekers detained there.

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton stressed the success of Australia’s hard-line policy that has been strongly criticised by the UN and human rights agencies.

Under Australian law, anyone intercepted trying to reach the country by boat is sent for processing to camps on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru or to Manus Island off PNG. They are never eligible to be resettled in Australia.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the detention centre would close after the island nation’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the detentions breached the country’s constitution and would have to stop.

Dutton said that it was still government policy that asylum seekers sent to offshore detention centres would never be resettled in Australia.

A protester holds a placard in support of refugees in Sydney last year

REUTERS

NAURU & MANUS DETENTION CENTRES Ü Australia sends asylum seekers to the Papua New Guinea’s Nauru or Manus Islands detention centres under its offshore processing policy. Ü Currently around 800 people are held on the island, around half of whom have been judged genuine refugees. Ü The camp first opened in 2001 under Prime Minister John Howard. Ü It was formally closed in 2008, but reopened in 2012 when a spike in asylum seeker arrivals became a major political issue for the Labor government. Ü In 2013 Australia agreed to give Papua New Guinea $309m in aid in exchange for housing a camp and to resettle genuine refugees.

O’Neill said he would ask Australia to make arrangements for the asylum seekers held on Manus Island, adding that they would be able to stay in PNG if they wanted.

A spokesperson for Dutton did not immediately respond for requests for comment on the closure but Dutton said in Melbourne that the Manus detainees could return home or go to another country willing to accept them.

The detainees on Manus and Nauru are mostly refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East, Afghanistan and South Asia.

While Australia maintains its hard-line stance, a second case concerning the fate of the detainees on Manus is set to be heard by the PNG Supreme Court later this week.

Lawyers acting on behalf of nearly all the Manus Island detainees will argue that they should be taken to Australia and be compensated for being held in custody.

The detention centre on Nauru houses about 500 people and has been widely criticised by the UN and human rights agencies for harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse. l

INSIGHT

Indonesia’s search for mass graves met with scepticism n Tribune International Desk The Indonesian government’s decision to investigate anti-communist massacres in 1965 is being met with wariness by rights groups, some of which are reluctant to share information about mass graves until the government shows how it will conduct the probe.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo instructed security minister Luhut Pandjaitan this week to investigate the killings by the military and religious groups and gather information about mass graves.

His directive followed a conference earlier this month that broke a half-century taboo on public discussion of an atrocity that historians say killed half a million people.

But Pandjaitan, a retired army general, has not instilled confidence that a genuine investigation will take place, saying the government would never apologise and that the death toll is wildly exaggerated, and demanding that advocacy groups prove that mass graves exist.

Haris Azhar of advocacy group Kontras said Wednesday he was involved in mapping 16 burial sites nearly a decade ago, mainly in central Java, and at the time had information about hundreds

of other sites including on Bali, now Indonesia’s top tourist island, and Sulawesi.

But he said for his group to share its information, the government must announce a clear and highly specific plan for the investigation. Thirty to 40 groups throughout Indonesia have information about graves, Azhar said.

“From our side, we decided not to give it to them if there’s no clear agenda on what they will do with the data,” he said.

The killings began in October 1965, shortly after an apparent failed coup in which six right-wing generals were killed. The dictator Suharto, a largely unknown major general at the time, filled the power vacuum and blamed the assassinations on Indonesia’s Communist Party, which was then the largest outside the Soviet Union and China, with 3m members.

Within Indonesia, widely accepted accounts of the era portray the events as a heroic uprising against communism and gloss over the deaths. Today, millions of descendants of Communist Party members remain stigmatised and face legal discrimination that prevents them from holding government jobs.

A four-year investigation released in 2012 by Indonesia’s hu-

DT

World

SOUTH ASIA

Myanmar monk builds pagodas in church, mosque area A Myanmar Christian leader appealed for calm Wednesday after an influential Buddhist monk built pagodas within the compound of a church and near a mosque, in a country beset with religious tensions. The incursions began last month when supporters of the monk Myaing Kyee Ngu erected a religious statue and planted a Buddhist flag on the church’s grounds in the eastern state of Karen. -AFP

INDIA

Laser walls activated along Indo-Pak border A dozen laser walls have been made operational along the India-Pakistan international border in Punjab to plug the porous riverine and treacherous terrain and keep an effective vigil against terrorists exploiting the frontier areas to cross over. The decision to install these laser walls was taken by the BSF two years ago.

After the Pathankot terror attack BSF sped up the deployment and activation of these walls.

-REUTERS

CHINA

China, Turkey vow greater anti-terrorism cooperation Turkey will not allow its soil to be used for activities that damage China’s security, the two countries’ foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday, following recent disputes over China’s Muslim Uighur ethnic minority that had soured ties. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement that the two countries would jointly fight terrorist groups including East Turkestan Islamic Movement.

-REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

Thailand files first charge under draconian anticampaigning law

In this 1965 file photo, members of the Youth Wing of the Indonesian Communist Party are watched by soldiers as they are taken to prison in Jakarta following a crackdown on communists after an attempted coup against President Sukarno’s government earlier that year AP man rights commission described the killings as violence on a “truly massive scale” and called for the prosecution of perpetrators still living, but was ignored by the government of then President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Despite doubts over Pandjaitan’s role, the government’s tentative step toward a reckoning with one of the worst atrocities of the last century has been welcomed by rights groups and survivors.

“This is a very important step for the future of Indonesia,” said

Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch.

“It’s just the opening battle.”

Bedjo Untung, a survivor of the massacre and head of YPKP 65, or the Research Foundation for 1965 Murder Victims, said his group will soon hand over its information to the government.

“We already have evidence and records of mass graves in various places in Java and Sumatra,” Bedjo said. “We will show evidence that an incredible crime against humanity occurred in 1965.” l

Thai election authorities on Wednesday filed their first charge under a law banning campaigning and debate before a referendum on a controversial new constitution, as the junta tightens its grip on free speech.

The broadly-worded legislation mandates up to 10 years in prison for anyone criticising the military’s new charter or influencing voters in the run-up to the August 7 poll.

-AFP

MIDDLE EAST

Russia asks UN to list key Syrian rebel groups as terrorist Russia has asked the UN to blacklist a major rebel group Jaish al-Islam that is playing a key role in peace talks to end the Syrian civil war, its ambassador to the UN said. Russia has also asked that another Islamist rebel group, Ahrar al-Sham, be blacklisted.

-AFP

DT

24

World

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

USA

US keeps China, India, Russia on intellectual property shame list The Obama administration on Wednesday kept China, Russia and India on its annual list of countries with the worst records of preventing the theft of intellectual property.

The annual list, released by the US Trade Representative’s Office, carries no threat of sanctions, but aims to shame governments into cracking down on piracy and counterfeiting their copyright laws.

-REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Venezuela public workers to work 2-day/week Venezuela’s socialist government ordered public workers on Tuesday to work a two-day week as an energy-saving measure in the crisis-hit South American OPEC country.

President Nicolas Maduro had already given most of Venezuela’s 2.8 million state employees Fridays off during April and May to cut down on electricity consumption.

-AFP

UK

OECD: Britain to pay a Brexit tax outside the EU British voters risk paying a Brexit tax equivalent to a month’s salary by 2020 if they leave the EU, the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said on Wednesday. Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OCED, said Britain outside the EU would face less access to the bloc’s single market, lower investment and companies moving abroad.

-REUTERS

EUROPE

‘Germany spymaster replaced to push reforms’ Bruno Kahl, a long-standing confidant of Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeublel, has been tapped to take over the country’s foreign intelligence agency, Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), part of a push to press ahead with reforms, German government announced Wednesday.

Kahl will replace the current head Gerhard Schindler. BND activities have been under the spotlight since details of its extensive co-operation with the US National Security Agency became public in 2015.

-DPA

AFRICA

AU wades into UN dispute over Western Sahara The African Union’s envoy for Western Sahara warned at the UN on Tuesday that the conflict in the disputed north African territory could re-ignite again unless steps are taken to find a settlement. Joaquim Chissano spoke at a special Security Council meeting just days before the 15-member council is to vote on renewing the mandate of the UN peace mission in Western Sahara.

-AFP

Trump, Clinton press closer to general election showdown n Tribune International Desk Bolstering his grip on the Republican primaries, Donald Trump prepared Wednesday for a general election showdown with Hillary Clinton, accusing the Democratic front-runner of “playing the woman card” in her presidential campaign.

Trump swept five states in Tuesday’s Northeast primaries, bringing him tantalisingly close to securing the Republican nomination against Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Clinton, meanwhile, is now 90% of the way to her party’s nomination after four solid victories of her own.

Trump, the Republican businessman, pushed forward with his charge that Clinton is “playing the woman card,” telling CNN’s “New Day” in a telephone interview Wednesday that “she does have the woman card” but said that “a lot of women don’t like Hillary, despite the card.”

Clinton said during her Tuesday night rally in Philadelphia that Trump had accused her of playing the “woman card,” telling supporters, “if fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the ‘woman card,’ then deal me in.”

The Republican race now turns to Indiana, where next week’s primary marks one of Cruz’s last chances to slow Trump and push the race toward a contested convention. While Trump does need to keep winning in order to stay on his narrow path to the GOP nomination, he declared himself the party’s “presumptive nominee” after Tuesday’s results rolled in.

“It’s over. As far as I’m concerned it’s over,” he declared. The real estate mogul now has 77% of

US primaries

Republican Donald Trump swept five Northeastern state primaries Tuesday, while Democrat Hillary Clinton won four.

REPUBLICANS REPUBLICANS

D R Results as of April 26

Won Leads

DELEGATE COUNT To win Total

CONN

DEL

MD

PA

RI

Added

58.0%

60.8%

55.0%

57.0%

63.8%

+105

950

287

Cruz

11.7

15.9

18.9

21.3

10.5

+1

560

677

Kasich

28.2

20.4

22.4

19.4

24.4

+5

153

1,084

PCT. REPORTING 90%

100%

82%

85%

100%

CONN

DEL

MD

PA

RI

Clinton

51.0%

59.8%

63.3%

55.8%

43.3%

Sanders

47.2

39.2

32.9

43.3

55.0

PCT. REPORTING 90%

100%

84%

86%

100%

Trump

1,237 needed to win

DEMOCRATS Added

Total

To win

+190

2,137

246

+114

1,306

1,077

2,383 needed to win

Democratic totals include unpledged superdelegates – party members free to back the candidate of their choice – who have told The Associated Press whom they support. the delegates he needs.

Trump planned to deliver a foreign policy speech in Washington and then campaign in Indiana.

The address at a downtown hotel is the first in a series of speeches the Republican front-runner is expected to give in the coming weeks, all with the goal of easing Americans’ concerns about his readiness for the presidency.

Likewise, Clinton was eager to turn her attention to Trump.

While Clinton advisers say they won’t underestimate Trump, as many of his vanquished Republican rivals did, her campaign sees opportunities to not only energise Democrats in an effort to keep him out of the White House but also appeal to Republicans turned off by the brash billionaire.

“If you are a Democrat, an independent or a thoughtful Republican, you know that their approach

Trump swept 5 states in Tuesday’s primaries, while Clinton, is now 90% of the way to her party’s nomination after 4 solid victories is not going to build an America where we increase opportunity or decrease inequality,” Clinton said of the GOP candidates.

Trump’s victories came in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Clinton ceded only Rhode Island to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

In the Republican race, Cruz and Kasich are desperately trying to force a convention fight. The challengers have even taken the rare

step of announcing plans to coordinate in upcoming contests to try to minimise Trump’s delegate totals.

Yet there’s no doubt the GOP is deeply divided by Trump’s candidacy. In Pennsylvania, exit polls showed nearly 4 in 10 GOP voters said they would be excited by Trump becoming president, but the prospect of the real estate mogul in the White House scared a quarter of those who cast ballots in the state’s Republican primary.

In another potential general election warning sign for Republicans, 6 in 10 GOP voters in Pennsylvania said the Republican campaign has divided the party — a sharp contrast to the 7 in 10 Democratic voters in the state who said the race between Clinton and Sanders has energised their party.

The exit polls were conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks. l

Email privacy bill headed for US House approval n Reuters, Washington, DC

The US House of Representatives was expected to vote on Wednesday to require law enforcement authorities to get a search warrant before asking technology companies to hand over old emails, with the bill’s Senate prospects unclear.

Under the Email Privacy Act, updating a decades-old law, authorities would have to get a warrant to access emails or other digital communications more than 180 days old. At present, agencies

such as the US Justice Department and the US Securities and Exchange Commission only need a subpoena to seek such data from a service provider.

Supporters of the legislation say it is needed to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Technology companies and privacy advocates say this 30-year-old statute was written before the rise of the internet and so is outdated.

The measure passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously

earlier this month after accruing 315 of a possible 435 sponsors, making it the most popular bill in the House.

More than a quarter of senators have endorsed similar legislation in the upper chamber.

The bill’s expected passage comes at a time of resurgent international debate over law enforcement access to private electronic communications. This was reflected in the Justice Department’s high-profile pursuit of a court order earlier this year to force Apple to help unlock an encrypted iP-

hone linked to one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters.

Separately, Microsoft earlier this month filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Justice Department, alleging the government is using ECPA in a way that violates the US Constitution.

The company argued ECPA is too often used to prevent the company from notifying its users, sometimes indefinitely, when investigators pry into emails and other data stored on remote servers. l

DT

Sport 25

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

INSIDE

How last-over heroes kept their cool All three of Tuesday’s Dhaka Premier League matches went down to the last over, and in all three occasions it was the fast bowlers who were given the responsibilities, out of whom two delivered wins for their respective clubs. PAGE 26

Donald to join Aussie coaching staff South Africa great Allan Donald is set to join the Australian team as temporary bowling coach, including for a series against the Proteas. The renowned bowling spearhead is expected to oversee Australia’s attack on their tour of Sri Lanka later this year. PAGE 27

Zidane hopeful on Ronaldo fitness Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane expressed hope on Tuesday that both Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will be fit for their Champions League semi-final second leg against Man City PAGE 28

Petrov plans Villa comeback Former Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov, who retired from football after being diagnosed with acute leukaemia in 2012, wants to resume his playing career with the relegated Premier League club. Petrov was keen to help his former club return to the top-flight. PAGE 29

Abahani Limited players attempt an attack on the Bangladesh Sporting Club goal-post during their Marcel Club Cup match at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Australia likely to tour Bangladesh next year n Minhaz Uddin Khan Australia’s postponed tour of Bangladesh is likely to take place in 2017, confirmed Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury yesterday. There is more cricket action next year, as the Tigers are also set to contest a six-match tri-series in Ireland in May 2017, also involving New Zealand.

Cricket Australia and the BCB recently had discussion about the tour which had got postponed last October after CA raised security concern. Australia were scheduled to play two Tests and a tour match during the month-long stay. Nizamuddin also confirmed the tri-series in Ireland.

“After discussions with Cricket Australia, we are at the final stages of finalising the commitment for their tour to Bangladesh next year, and we will announce the tour dates once everything is

After discussions with Cricket Australia, we are at the final stages of finalising the commitment for their tour to Bangladesh next year, and we will announce the tour dates once everything is confirmed confirmed,” said Nizamuddin yesterday.

In a press conference last Tuesday, CA CEO James Sutherland had confirmed that they held “off-line discussions” with the BCB and that the series has been

pencilled in to the international schedule. It is understood that the Test series might take place after the 2017 Champions Trophy, scheduled to take place in England in June, but is subject to security clearances at that point of time.

“We’ve had discussions offline with the Bangladesh Cricket Board. They know and understand that we’re absolutely committed to playing that (postponed) tour, obviously subject to security matters that we need to go through in preparation for that tour. But we’re very much looking forward to getting back to Bangladesh and playing cricket over there,” Sutherland said last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the tri-series in Ireland has been set to acclimatise New Zealand and Bangladesh ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy which is scheduled for June 2017.l

Big guns stroll in Club Cup n Tribune Report Abahani Limited registered their first victory in the Marcel Club Cup hockey tournament while Mohammedan Sporting Club earned their second consecutive victory comfortably at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Riding on three field goals from Maksud Alam Habul and two penalty corners from Khorsedur Rahman, Abahani strolled to a convincing 5-0 victory over Bangladesh Sporting Club. Habul scored in the sixth, ninth and 43rd minute while Khorsedur netted in the 32nd and 47th minute.

On the day’s other match, fourstar Mohammedan defeated Wari Club 4-1 at the same venue. Deen Islam gave Mohammedan the lead in the fifth minute from a Russel Mahmud Jimmy flick.

Further goals from Jimmy, Mustafizur Rahman Lalon and Rana Jr ensured a straightforward victory for the traditional Black and Whites. Nazmul Hasan scored the consolation goal for Wari from a penalty corner.l

DT

26

Sport

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

How last-over heroes kept their cool n Mazhar Uddin All three of Tuesday’s Dhaka Premier League matches went down to the last over, and in all three occasions it was the fast bowlers who were given the responsibilities, out of whom two delivered wins for their respective clubs.

Interestingly, a six had to be hit off the last ball in all three games

by Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, Cricket Coaching School and Kalabagan Krira Chakra. Only Muktar Ali, playing for Sheikh Jamal, was successful in clearing the fence at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium when he blasted Taskin Ahmed over long-on, silencing the Abahani faithful.

The other two who bowled the last overs for their teams, Al Amin Hossain for Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club and Prime Bank Cricket Club’s Rubel Hossain, were successful, which is indeed a positive sign. What this shows is that the Dhaka clubs, traditionally reliant on spinners, have found confidence in the quick bowlers. It is likely due to their performances in the international arena as the Bangladesh national team have been banking on the paceman off-late.

Al Amin was expensive against Kalabagan, giving 52 runs from his eight overs. But Prime Doleshwar skipper Farhad Reza did not hesitate to give him the all-important last over.

The Jhenidah lad kept calm and bowled brilliantly to defend nine runs. There were three consecutive run outs off his last three balls and Prime Doleshwar eventually won the game by four runs. According to Al Amin, it was his confidence which helped him a lot.

“Obviously there was pressure on me as I was expensive with the ball but I have been bowling successfully in the death overs in international cricket for Bangladesh and recently we have played a lot of T20Is so I was confident to bowl the last over,” said Al Amin to Dha-

ka Tribune yesterday.

Rubel, who played his last international game against South Africa almost a year ago after which he suffered a side strain, also bowled a brilliant last over to successfully defend 15 runs against CCS for Prime Bank and ended up with fig-

Prime Bank Cricket Club’s Rubel Hossain (L), Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club’s Al Amin Hossain (C) and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club’s Muktar Ali in action in the Dhaka Premier League last Tuesday

ures of 3/48 from his nine overs. He focused on the basics after being hit for a six first ball in the game.

“I was under pressure after being hit for a six in the very first ball.

But I stuck to the basics which was the key behind the success. My aim is to return to the national side so this Dhaka League is very important for me as I have to prove myself,” said a confident Rubel.

Meanwhile another fast bowling all-rounder Muktar, who picked up four wickets in the first game for Sheikh Jamal, played a different role this time with the bat. If he hadn’t hit Taskin for the six, it would have been the perfect trifecta of Bangladesh pace bowlers to have been successful in the last over of all three matches.

He made his Twenty20 international debut against Zimbabwe last January, but wasn’t picked for the Asia Cup or World T20. After his last-ball heroics against Abahani on Tuesday, Muktar wants to return to the national side with the role of a seamer and big-hitter.

“To me whenever and wherever I get any opportunity with bat or ball I try to give my hundred percent. I have made my international debut this year but I have received some instructions from the selectors as to what my role should be.

I am trying to work accordingly. I want to become a handy player for Bangladesh team in the future,” said Muktar. l

Salahuddin told not S African row reopens old wounds n to move alone Reuters, Johannesburg

n Tribune Report Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin is reportedly facing security issues and has been asked not to move alone ahead of the BFF election which is only two days away.

A meeting of the Salahuddin-led combined panel was scheduled to be held in the capital’s Purbani hotel yesterday at 7pm but it was later postponed, apparently owing to security concerns.

“I was asked not to go anywhere alone,” said Salahuddin yesterday.

“We had to cancel (yesterday’s) meeting for security concerns.”

He continued, “I received a similar call a few days ago. I was told not to move outside alone. When I went to Chittagong I was asked to be careful. We have been forced to postpone the meeting. I think it is a one-off incident,” added the former national footballer, who is taking part in the upcoming election for the president’s post for the

third time in succession.

Salahuddin informed that Fifa and AFC officials and representatives will visit Dhaka today to inspect the current security situation in the country ahead of the BFF election.

A meeting of the Salahuddin-led combined panel was scheduled to be held in the capital’s Purbani hotel yesterday at 7pm but it was later postponed, apparently owing to security concerns “AFC has been asking about the situation here. I do not think there is really a problem so far before the election. That’s what we told them,” he said. l

When Temba Bavuma became the first black cricketer to score a century for South Africa at this year’s Cape Town Test, a jubilant crowd erupted in celebration and commentators swiftly hailed it as a symbolic bridging of the racial divide.

Bavuma’s achievement was even more significant because his selection in the January game against England had provoked accusations from critics that some black sportsmen and women are picked due to affirmative action and not purely on ability.

Any hopes that the issue of race in sport was fading were damaged this week when the government banned its national cricket, rugby, athletics and netball federations from bidding for international tournaments due to a failure to increase their number of black players.

The ban was a blow to South Africa’s hopes of hosting the 2023 rugby World Cup. It also reopened old wounds and highlighted the inequality between blacks and whites that persists 22 years after Nelson Mandela’s Af-

rican National Congress swept to power on a wave of optimism at the end of apartheid.

Mandela, a keen amateur boxer, believed that sport could be a great unifier, encapsulated in his handing the 1995 Rugby World Cup trophy to victorious captain Francois Pienaar on home soil in front of an overwhelmingly white crowd. Yet two decades later the national rugby and cricket sides remain dominated by whites, who make up just 10 percent of the population.

“Most of the time in South Africa it is white people in the forefront. Where are the black people?”

said security guard Ntombizodwa Mvelase. “As black people we also want to see ourselves succeeding, not seeing white people succeeding all the time.”

South Africans in favour of affirmative action believe long-term change must begin with national teams showcasing black players who will inspire future generations of non-white school children.

“Transformation is a very painful process. Let us start acting now. We have been talking for too long,” one caller on Johannesburg’s Talk Radio 702 said. “It will be painful today but tomorrow we will celebrate.”l

Temba Bavuma is the first black cricketer to score a century for South Africa

27

DT

Sport

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

QUICK BYTES Two-horse race for BFF president’s post

Bangladesh Under-14 girls attend a practice session in Dushanbe, Tajikistan yesterday prior to their AFC U-14 Girls' Regional Championship tie against Nepal today.

Bangladesh started the event on a flying note when the defending champions registered a historical win against India in their tournament opener last Tuesday

The battle for the president’s post in the forthcoming Bangladesh Football Federation election, scheduled for this Saturday, has turned into a two-horse race after Golam Rabbani Helal decided to withdraw his candidacy and announced his intentions of supporting incumbent Kazi Salahuddin. “According to the current situation, it is not possible to take part in the election,” said Helal before adding, “The other candidate (Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton) was never involved with football. We cannot accept him as a BFF president. I request all the delegates to vote for Salahuddin.”

TRIBUNE REPORT

Australia’s Hastings out of West Indies tour Australia fast bowler John Hastings has been withdrawn from a oneday tri-series against West Indies and South Africa in the Caribbean after undergoing surgery on his ankle. The 30-year-old suffered pain bowling in the IPL and scans confirmed “early stage bone stress” in his fibula near the ankle, the team said yesterday.

–REUTERS

Publish my drug test results, says Nadal Rafa Nadal has asked the International Tennis Federation to publish the results of his drug tests following an accusation of doping by a former French cabinet minister.

The 14-times grand slam champion said on Monday he was suing Roselyne Bachelot, a former health, sports and social affairs minister, after she alleged the Spaniard had failed a drugs test. The Spaniard wrote to the ITF asking his drug test results to be made public, British media have reported.

–REUTERS

Simeone handed three-game ban for extra ball prank Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has been banned from the touchline for the final three La Liga games of the season after a second ball was thrown onto the pitch disrupting a Malaga attack in Atletico’s 1-0 win. The suspension was confirmed by the Spanish Football Federation yesterday after Simeone was sent to the stands at half-time in the Malaga game by referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz.

The extra ball was thrown onto the pitch from near the Atletico bench by a ball boy, in what appeared to be a case of gamesmanship.

–AFP

BFF

Russia races against time, doubts to reach Rio n AFP, Moscow There are just 100 days until the Rio Olympics and defending women’s high jump champion Anna Chicherova is in limbo as Russia fights for a place in the athletics contest.

While the Russian government and sports authorities race to overcome a huge doping scandal, Chicherova is perfecting her technique at a training centre in Sochi.

“We are preparing for the Olympic Games regardless of what lies ahead,” Chicherova told AFP. “I am training for results.”

Rio 2016 would be Chicherova’s fourth, and possibly last, Olympics. The doping scandal that has hit her sport has caused widespread doubt.

“There are times when you don’t

know where you’re going, when you lose sight of the goal,” she said.

“I have experienced many things on an emotional level from this situation, from desperation to not understanding what is going on.”

cision on whether Russia can return for the Rio Olympics will not be made until June.

The suspension means Russian athletes are excluded from money-spinning international events

While the government and sports authorities race to overcome a huge doping scandal, Chicherova is perfecting her technique at a training centre in Sochi The International Associaton of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspended Russia in November after a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission said there was “state-sponsored” doping and widespread corruption in Russian sport.

The IAAF said last month that Russia still has “considerable work” to do to be reinstated. A de-

like the Diamond League. They can now only gauge themselves against domestic rivals.

Sergey Klevtsov, long-time coach of world champion hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, told AFP that trainers are trying to compensate for the lack of international competition at such a key time.

“He’s a professional athlete,”

Donald to join Australia coaching staff n AFP, Sydney South Africa great Allan Donald is set to join the Australian team as temporary bowling coach, including for a series against the Proteas, a report said yesterday.

The renowned bowling spearhead, whose speed saw him nicknamed “White Lightning”, is expected to oversee Australia’s attack on their tour of Sri Lanka later this year.

He could then stay on for the summer series against South Africa, the Sydney Daily Telegraph

said, filling the vacancy left by Craig McDermott who stepped down as bowling coach at the end of the World Twenty20 in India.

Cricket Australia, who have drafted in ex-Tasmania fast bowler Adam Griffith to help out on the tour of the West Indies in June, have yet to confirm the appointment.

Donald took 330 Test and 272 one-day international wickets during an illustrious career for South Africa that spanned 10 years.

He is credited with helping the development of speedsters Morne

Morkel, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander and has worked in the past with Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc in the Indian Premier League.

Donald, who has previously coached with England, New Zealand and South Africa, would only be a temporary appointment, the Telegraph said.

Cricket Australia are still considering a full-time replacement for McDermott, with their former Test fast bowler Jason Gillespie, who is head coach at English county Yorkshire, one of their top targets.l

Klevtsov said of Shubenkov, who as a 21-year-old reached the semi-finals at the London 2012 Olympics.

“He understands what we are doing and why we are doing it.”

Shubenkov, who ran a national record 12.98 seconds to win the 110-metre hurdles at the World Championships last August, is training up to six hours a day in Adler, south of Sochi.

The WADA report which alleged that senior sports officials had enabled the use of performance enhancing drugs and covered up positive drug tests, has left Russian athletics in turmoil.

Although they initially denied the accusations, Russian authorities subsequently pledged to tackle the colossal task of reforming the country’s scandal-ridden anti-doping system. l

DT

28

Sport

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

CITY 0-0 REAL THINGS WE LEARNED Hart to the rescue again

Joe Hart has saved Manchester City so many times in the past with crucial saves, and he did so again last night, denying Pepe at point-blank range lae on, when the Real Madrid defender looked certain to score.

Hart had earlier made another key save to keep out a header from Casemiro, and the tie would surely be over were it not for the England No.1’s heroics.

“We’ve set it up for a good, old fashioned rumble at the Bernabeu,” Hart said after the game. Indeed he has.

Otamendi proves his worth

Skipper Vincent Kompany is hailed as City’s most accomplished defender, but it was his central defensive partner, Nicolas Otamendi, who was the key man at the back.

Otamendi put his body on the line with key blocks, and frequently came across to the left to help Gael Clichy contain the threat of Gareth Bale.

Benzema flops on a night to forget

He came into the game carrying an injury from the weekend, so perhaps he has mitigation.

But Karim Benzema was so peripheral he was hooked at half-time

by Zinedine Zidane. The France striker posed no threat whatsoever to City in an anonymous firsthalf showing, never stretching the hosts defence - usually something he does so well.

Fernandinho is City’s underrated hero

He doesn’t get the plaudits or recognition like match-winners such as Sergio Aguero or Kevin De Bruyne, but Fernandinho is arguably one of City’s most important men. He proved it again here with another tenacious, disciplined display in midfield.

Sterling’s stock has fallen

Raheem Sterling may have only made one appearance since returning from a month-long injury lay-off, but it shows how far the £49million England star has fallen down the pecking order at City that Kelechi Iheanacho was preferred to him when David Silva came off just before half-time.

Sterling eventually came on with 14 minutes left.

Ronaldo never misses a photo op

He may have been ruled out, but Cristiano Ronaldo still made sure he took centre stage pre-game.

He sat on the Madrid bench in club attire, extravagant headphones glued to his ears, glumfaced over his enforced absence, making sure the world knew just how dismayed he was at missing the game. l

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart makes a save from Real Madrid defender Pepe (R) during their Uefa Champions League semi-final first leg at Etihad Stadium in Manchester, northwest England on Tuesday AFP

Pellegrini: City not afraid of Real n AFP, Manchester Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini vowed that his team would play with no fear in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid following a 0-0 first-leg draw.

Missing the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, Madrid created the better chances in Tuesday’s game, but substitute Jese saw a header hit the bar and City goalkeeper Joe Hart produced late saves to thwart Casemiro and Pepe.

City, appearing in their first semi-final, did not work visiting goalkeeper Keylor Navas until

Kevin De Bruyne found the target with a stoppage-time free-kick, but Pellegrini said that his side would show a greater cutting edge in next week’s return leg in the Spanish capital.

“I don’t think they are favourites,” said the Chilean, who was sacked after only one season as Madrid head coach in 2010.

“We have the same option as Real Madrid. Of course they have the advantage to play the first game away, so they try to manage the tempo of the game.

“After that they finish at home.

But this team play away very similar to how we play at the Eti-

had. We had good results playing away against Paris Saint-Germain, against Dynamo Kiev and against Sevilla.

“We are not afraid to go to the Bernabeu and we will see which team plays better in that game.”

Pellegrini claimed that his side had shown the “most intent to win the game” and that Madrid had arrived at the Etihad Stadium “with a result in mind”.

His opposite number, Zinedine Zidane, contested the claim, asserting that his team “always go out to win”, but he agreed that neither side had procured an outright advantage.l

Zidane hopeful on Ronaldo fitness n AFP, Manchester Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane expressed hope on Tuesday that both Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will be fit for their Champions League semi-final second leg against Manchester City.

Ronaldo sat out the first leg at the Etihad Stadium, which finished goalless, with a thigh strain, while Benzema, who had been a prematch doubt with a knee problem, went off at half-time.

Zidane had declared both players “100 percent” fit in Monday’s pre-match press conference, but

said that Ronaldo had “felt something” during the final training session.

“I said 100 percent, but I did say there was still training and we’d take a look,” said Zidane, whose

Cristiano Ronaldo sits in the dug-out ahead of kick off AFP

side resume hostilities with City at the Bernabeu next Wednesday.

“Cristiano felt something after that last training session. That’s why he didn’t play. Karim, it was a little bit different. But at the end of the day, little by little, he felt a little bit worse in himself.

“We don’t want to gamble with his fitness. We know how important both players are for us.

“We hope that they can both be in the second leg. We have to take it day by day with both of them.”

Ronaldo watched Tuesday’s game from the bench, with Benzema giving way to Jese at half-time.l

MAN CITY v MADRID 0 48 5 2 2 1 0 4 1 1 0 20 507 425

Goals Scored Possession (%) Total Attempts On Target Off Target Blocked Against Woodwork Corners Offsides Yellow Cards Red Cards Fouls Committed Passes Completed

0 52 11 3 5 3 1 6 2 2 0 12 595 519

Silva out of City’s Madrid trip n AFP, Manchester David Silva will not play in the second leg of Manchester City’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid after injuring himself in Tuesday’s first leg, manager Manuel Pellegrini said.

City resume hostilities with Madrid at the Bernabeu next Wednesday and Pellegrini said that his Spanish playmaker will not be able to take part.

“David Silva has a hamstring injury and will not be fit in one week,” Pellegrini told.l

29

DT

Sport

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Petrov plans Villa comeback n Reuters Former Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov, who retired from football after being diagnosed with acute leukaemia in 2012, wants to resume his playing career with the relegated Premier League club.

Petrov, who played more than

200 games for Villa and earned more than 100 caps for Bulgaria, said he was keen to help his beleaguered former club return to the top-flight as soon as possible.

“I’ve told Aston Villa that I’m ready to start a pre-season with them,” the 36-year-old midfielder was quoted as saying by British media.

Infantino brings vision of new Fifa to Asia n Reuters, Seoul FIFA president Gianni Infantino dangled the carrot of more World Cup spots for Asia during a visit to Seoul yesterday but while the Swiss was keen to press his case for an enlarged 40-team tournament, he will not try to twist anyone’s arm.

Infantino, who arrived in South Korea earlier in the day to meet with sponsors Hyundai Motor Group, said his visit was aimed at rebuilding trust with corporate partners and presenting his vision of a "new FIFA".

World football’s scandal-hit governing body is in the midst of the worst crisis in its 112-year history, with more than 40 individuals and entities, including many former FIFA officials, charged with corruption-related offences in the United States.

Infantino, elected in February to replace the disgraced Sepp Blatter, told reporters

that adding eight more teams to the World Cup from 2026 was “perfectly justified”.

“Football is not only Europe and South America.

Football is the world,” he said.

“I’m not a dictator so I can’t impose anything but I’m trying to convince everyone.

I believe we have to increase the number of teams... because we have to be more inclusive.”

Asia currently has four automatic spots at the World Cup, with a fifth up for grabs in an inter-confederation playoff, and Infantino said that number could rise to at least six under an expanded format. FIFA has struggled to find new sponsors since the current crisis erupted and Asia’s financial muscle could see the region play a bigger role.

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. have extended their partnership with FIFA until 2022.l

DAY’S WATCH

FOOTBALL TEN 1 1:05AM

UEFA Europa League SF: Shakhtar v Sevilla

TEN 2 1:05AM UEFA Europa League SF: Villarreal v Liverpool

CRICKET SONY SIX 8:30PM Indian Premier League Mumbai v Kolkata

GOLF

NEO SPORTS 12:30AM PGA: Zurich Classics

“I’ve spoken to a lot of doctors and fitness coaches, and everybody looked at it and assessed it and I have received very positive news.

I’m looking forward to a return to football again. I’m 36, but players are playing at 39 and 40,” he added.

“I’ve looked after myself well and I think I’ve got a good shout.”l

DT

30

Showtime

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

I Don’t Know About You, But BSB Turned 23 nShehtaz Huq On January 28, 2001, my cousin and I watched as the surly baker behind the counter at Cooper’s in Banani piped “Happy Birthday, Nick Carter” on a black and white, marble cake. It was Nick Carter’s 20th birthday. In our ten-yearold minds, that was worthy of celebration, never mind that he did not (and does not) know of our existence.

Nick, AJ, Brian, Kevin, and Howie D—these were the boys (men?) who gripped our womanly hearts, their voices wafting out of cassette players and MTV’s video hour. In 1995, their self-titled first album made its way into the hands of my older brother. The opening lines of “Anywhere For You” (I used to think that dreams were just for… sentimental fooooools) knocked us over sideways with a feather. Then there was the music video for “Get Down,” young men gyrating on a CGI disco ball. “We’ve Got It Goin’ On” was a black-and-white hip-hop (?) world of basketball, toothy smiles, and synchronised dancing, while “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” showed us dreams of a blossoming romance on the slopes of the Swiss Alps.

1997 brought “Backstreet’s Back,” and a Thriller-inspired music video to end all music videos. “Backstreet’s Back” played on repeat day, night, dawn, and dusk. Furniture got knocked

around, floors were skidded across in stockinged feet. “As Long as You Love Me” reduced women (girls?) across the Atlantic to blubbering puddles of liquid adoration. These men (boys?) with their unlikely start in Florida, buoyed by the popularity of bands such as New Kids On the Block and Boyz II Men, exploded in Europe with their blend of pop and the promise of saccharine teenage love. They

sold out tours and flew around the world in one hundred hours and went to rehab, and rehab again, and reunited and disbanded, joined social media, started a cruise, and competed on Dancing with the Stars. In the twentythree years that the Backstreet Boys have been on the pop music scene, the boys (men?) have eaten scorpions on Fear Factor and tried their hands at solo careers on

Broadway and had children (dear Lord!).

They have also remained firmly ensconced in memories of the nineties, full of bubblegum pop and every shade of pink and orange, frosted tips, and lyrics that still resonate, even when the sepia-tinged memories of sold-out concerns have begun to fade. The first bars of “I Want It That Way” immediately bring to the tip of my

tongue the words that shattered my world and built it up again, sixteen years ago.

You are my fire, my one desire.

The Backstreet Boys are now twenty-three years old. There is no cake today, but on my ride home tomorrow I may pop Backstreet Boys: Greatest Hits in the CD player and sing “All I Have to Give” all the way from New Jersey to New York. l

Sayeed Ahmad recalled with the premier of Shesh Nawab

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak Noted playwright and art critic, Sayeed Ahmad was recalled by eminent personalities and theatre buffs on Monday, with the premier of his play Shesh Nawab at the National Threatre

Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

The programme was organised

by Sayeed Ahmad Foundation for Culture and Arts (SAFCA), in association with Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. Under the direction of Gazi Rakayet, Sesh

Nawab was staged by his troupe Charuneedam Theatre.

Sayeed Ahmad’s Shesh Nawab varies from other existed plays and films based on the life of Siraj-ud-Daula which reflects the naivety of Nawab as the cause of his downfall, who was neither

experienced in throne-politics nor he was able to foresee his future.

Depiction of key characters in the play include Ghaseti Begum, Siraj-ud-Daula, Mir Jafar and Robert Clive, and they are in contrast to the existing versions.

Over the years, many plays and films developed poignant senses in audience regarding Siraj-udDaula and the battle of Plassey but Sayeed Ahmed made the audience to confront the harsh reality through his interpretation.

The play begins at the chamber of Ghaseti Begum, who feels snubbed from the throne and seems determined to do anything to oust Siraj. As sympathisers of Ghaseti Begum, other officials in Siraj’s court including Mir Jafar and Jagat Seth, are also found in there conspiring against the Nawab.

As events turn to the battle of Plassey, Siraj finds himself against a small battalion of English soldiers led by Robert Clive. Though Siraj’s soldiers

outnumbered the English twenty times over, Siraj’s army was defeated not only because of the betrayal by some of his trusted and powerful officials, but also because of his lack of understanding of war tactics and human behaviour.

Prior to the show, eminent artist, Mustafa Monwar; human rights activist, Sultana Kamal; and Thespian, Mamunur Rashid; recalled the playwright. Thespian Ataur Rahman, president of SAFCA, presided over the session.

Speakers echoed how Sayeed Ahmad’s thoughts are unique in comparison to his contemporaries and has brought out traditional contents and mixed it with including western theatre ideologies.

During the programme, eminent director Mamunur Rashid said, “The journey of modern theatre began in Bangladesh with the hands of Sayeed Ahmad during the sixties. He was the most modern theatre director of our time.” l

Arifin-Tisha busy promoting Ostitto

31

DT

Showtime

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

WHAT TO WATCH

n Farzana Zaman Arifin Shuvo and Tisha are planning to tour the city, targetting universities to promote their new flick, Ostitto. Director Anonno Mamun informed the media that he plans to reach out to the younger generation for promotional purposes.

Moreover, both Arifin and Tisha are popular among the youth.

The two celebrities can attract a bigger audience by visiting their campuses, added the director.

Ostitto is a film about differently-abled children. The story starts off with the portrayal of the crisis of challenged children who wish to participate in the Special Olympics. Ostitto has received the green signal from the censor board on April 6, 2016. The movie is all set to be released on May 6 in Bangladesh along with the United Kingdom and Malaysia.

The movie also stars Shuchorita, Shujata, Azim, Don among others. The team is hopeful about success of the movie. l

300 WB 4:10pm King Leonidas of Sparta and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham THE TERMINAL Z STUDIO 5:10pm An eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chi McBride

Nrityanchal’s dance fest

Electronic Propaganda: Frequency Override n Showtime Desk After the overwhelming success of Electronic Propaganda, Riot Electronic Arts & Music in association with GoetheInstitut Bangladesh, is returning with another electronic music concert. Titled “Electronic Propaganda: Frequency Override,” the event will take place today at the GoetheInstitut Auditorium at 6:00pm.

n Showtime Desk Nrityanchal, a renowned dance troupe, has arranged a three-day dance festival at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy which was inagurated yesterday. Titled “Nrityanchal Utsab,” the festival is being organised in cooperation with Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

Today, Nrityanchal in collaboration with Srishti Cultural Centre, will present a dance-drama titled Badi Bandar Roopkatha which is an adaptation from the folk tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Directed by Sukalyan Bhattacharya, around 80 artistes

of both the troupes including prominent figures like Shibli Mohammad, Shameem Ara Nipa, Anisul Islam Hero, Sukalyan Bhattacharya and Dolly Iqbal will feature in the production at 7:00pm.

On the third and concluding day of the festival, underprivileged and special children will perform to mark the World Dance Day at the Nandan Mancha of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

On the opening day, around 250 dancers from Nrityanchal and the Nrityanchal Performing Arts Academy brought out several performances of the Kathak dance form under the direction of the talented Shibli Mohammad. l

Fahad Zaman, Zayan Khan and KymaTrip are the three musicians scheduled to perform at the event.

The organisers have promised an evening filled with the finest electronic tunes the Bangladeshi electronic music scene has to offer. The programme will feature original live acts, featuring live performances of electronic music and a DJ set to close the night. l

HORRIBLE BOSSES HBO 7:41pm Three friends conspire to murder their awful bosses when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness.

Cast: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis

LIFE OF PI STAR MOVIES 6:55pm A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery.

While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.

Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain JURASSIC PARK 3 SONY PIX 11:30pm A decidedly odd couple with ulterior motives convince Dr. Alan Grant to go to Isla Sorna (the second InGen dinosaur lab.), resulting in an unexpected landing...and unexpected new inhabitants on the island.

Cast: Sam Neill, William H Macy, Tea Leoni

DT

32

Back Page

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

FBCCI FOR TAXING PUBLIC SERVANTS

PAGE 15

AUSTRALIA LIKELY TO TOUR BD IN 2017 PAGE 25

ARIFIN-TISHA BUSY PROMOTING OSTITTO

PAGE 31

BB HEIST

Govt to ask Philippines for legal assistance n Asif Showkat Kallol The Bangladesh government has decided to request legal assistance from Philippines Anti-Money Laundering Council to bring back the $81 million stolen from Bangladesh Bank's forex reserve.

Bank and Financial Institutions Division is drawing up a summary proposal for a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request with the Philippines which will be signed

by State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan.

Sources said the government will send the MLA Request to the Philippine authorities next week.

A Bank and Financial Institutions Division official said the division will send the Mutual Legal Assistance Request (MLAR) to the attorney general's office to be vetted. The attorney general's office will forward the MLAR to the foreign ministry.

The foreign ministry will deliver the proposal to Philippine Judicial Department for necessary measures, the official said.

State Minister MA Mannan told the Dhaka Tribune the government was trying its best to bring back Bangladesh Bank's stolen funds through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) agreement.

“I know it will take time,” he said.

The Philippines and Bangladesh signed an MLA agreement under the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body developing and promoting policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The state minister had said two days ago that the Philippines was planning to return the money. He appeared irked over the conflicting statements made by the Philippines on returning the stolen money.

“At first they said it can be returned tomorrow, then they say it will take time,” he said.

The MLA request does not men-

tion a figure. Bangladesh Bank wants to bring all of the $81 million that was laundered to the Philippines.

But in the summary report provided to the state minister along with the proposal, the BFID mentions that the Philippine authorities have shown their interest in returning $10 million within a short time. The Bangladesh government has also traced another $20 million of the stolen reserve in the Philippines, it said.

But neither the Philippine authorities nor Bangladesh government have been able to trace the remaining $51 million. Experts from both countries have claimed the

sum has been poured into Philippine Casinos, the summary report said.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Philippine Senate committee formed to probe the incident said recently that they hoped to begin the process to hand over the funds so far recovered by June 30.

In February this year, $81 million of Bangladesh Bank funds with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York were wired to bank accounts in Philippines on fake transaction advisories. The money then found its way to the casino operators in the Pacific nation.

Another $20 million was smuggled to Sri Lanka. l

Cable hazards on Shewrapara footbridge n Abu Hayat Mahmud The footbridge over Rokeya Sarani road in Shewrapara of Dhaka has become an unsafe site, as a stretch of cables lays five to six inches over the ground on the walkway of the bridge, bordering the stairs, as well as overhead.

The stretch of cables, belonging to satellite TV channels, wifi and other local networking and data service providers, are creating problems for pedestrians, school students and their guardians who have to step over the cables to cross the bridge every day.

In many cases, the cables have also caused accidents, mostly at night.

Schools and kindergartens are located on either side of the footbridge, a busy route for a large number of school students and their guardians.

Taslima Akhter, guardian of a Monipur school student, said: “We have been facing problems in crossing the foot over-bridge for a long time because of these cables. Every day, all of the pedestrians, including the children, feel the same.”

Moshiur Rahman, a shop owner at an adjoining building of the over-bridge, said a few members of affiliated bodies of the Awami League and BNP have maintained the cable operating business, with locals being powerless to say anything to them.

“If anybody attempts to request them to remove the cable bundles, they say the cables are not a prob-

School students carefully step over a fat bundle of cables that runs across a footbridge near Monipur High School in Shewrapara, Dhaka. Internet and cable TV service providers have taken the liberty of running their cables across the footbridge – whether they have the permission to do so or not is anyone's guess SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN lem or a barrier to walking,” he added.

Moshiur also said the cable operators may pull out the cables and redraw them outside of the overbridge, but no such step has been taken.

When contacted, Kamal Ahmed

Majumder, ruling Awami League lawmaker of the Dhaka 15 constituency and founder of Monipur School and College, did not answer the phone call.

Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our officials will visit the

foot over-bridge immediately, and necessary steps will be taken to remove the cables from inside the bridge.”

Earlier in December 2010, the government instructed all government and private cable operators to remove all of the overhead cables

in Dhaka.

After a government reminder in November 2014, the Internet Service Providers’ Association of Bangladesh sought two more years from the government to remove overhead cables from the streets of Dhaka. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com