June 13, 2016

SECOND EDITION

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

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Jyoishtha 30, 1423, Ramadan 7, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 51

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

Fifty killed in Florida nightclub shooting n Reuters, Orlando A gunman killed 50 people at a packed gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday and wounded 53 others before being killed by police in the worst mass shooting in US history.

The shooter was identified as Omar S Mateen, a Florida resident who a senior FBI official said might have had leanings towards Islamic State militants. Officials called the rampage a “terrorism incident,” but cautioned that the suspected Islamist connection required further investigation.

Addressing the nation after the incident, US President Barack Obama called the attack “an act of terror and an act of hate” but refused to link the attacker to any group, saying it was still an open investigation.

Instead he reiterated a call for gun control, saying the massacre was a further reminder of how easy it was “for someone to get their hands on a weapon that allows them to shoot people at a school, or a movie theater, or a church or a nightclub.”

Congress had the opportunity to change this, and to make such powerful weaponry harder to acquire, but “to actively do nothing is a decision as well,” Obama said.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump lashed back at this, saying if the president does not mention the words radical Islamic terrorism he should resign.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said the attack was the deadliest single US shooting incident, eclipsing  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A young man, caught in the massive drive launched by law enforcement agencies to round up wanted criminals and militants, stares through the tiny window of a prison van in the CMM court premises in Dhaka yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

5,000 arrested, 85 are militants n Kamrul Hasan In the last three days, the law enforcers arrested a total of 5,287 people across the country for their alleged involvement in different crimes but only 85 of them have militant link, said police.

Different forces of the police launched a routine drive against wanted criminals, arms and drug dealers on June 7. The crackdown on militants began on June 10.

But the drives have drawn severe criticisms since it is found that

many of the arrestees had no case against them beforehand while some were charged after the arrest.

Allegations say the police members in some areas have arrested or harassed innocent people to realise money ahead of Eid. The police chief has refuted the allegations. At a programme in Chittagong, he claimed that the arrestees had specific charges against them. AKM Shahidul also said that the law enforcers had not arrested any innocent person and assured that they would not do so.

“The police will bring the whole country under a security blanket,” he said, adding that they would take stern action if any police official was found arresting or harassing any innocent person.

According to a press release of Bangladesh Police, they arrested 2,132 people from Saturday till yesterday noon. Among them, 48 are suspected militants. With this, the total number of arrestees reaches 5,287 of who 85 are allegedly involved with militancy.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Churning out cheaters Another year of leaked question papers undermines education system

n Tilka Binte Mehtab Digital Bangladesh faces a very big problem: social media technology is being used to construct a pervasive culture of cheating.

This year, some 1,218,628 stu-

have cheated this year and in the previous three years is believed to be depressingly great, based on the proliferation of online pages offering leaked exam questions.

Students and guardians have told the Dhaka Tribune that since

2013, the leak of exam questions prior to exams has become a routine occurrence.

But the ease with which students can now cheat has been vastly enhanced by the use of social media platforms like Face-

IGP: Only accused are facing arrests

Refinancing scheme to boost real estate sector

The Story of the $100 Bill

The police chief claims that law enforcement agencies are not arresting innocent persons in the ongoing crackdown on criminals and militants.  PAGE 3

Realtors have demanded stimulus package and reinstatement of a single-digit refinancing scheme for the country’s housing sector.  PAGE 12

It is the month of August. A resort town sits next to the shores of a lake. The town, once flourishing, is now in hard times.  PAGE 14

dents sat their Higher Secondary School Certificate examinations, administered by 11 boards of education.

How many of them cheated is impossible to say for certain. But the extent to which test-takers

book and WhatsApp. Leaked question papers are widely available.

As recently as January 30, on the eve of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

INSIDE

SEHRI & IFTAR

Ramadan 07 08 09

June 13 14 15

Sehri – 3:39 3:39

Iftar 6:50 6:50 6:51

Source: Islamic Foundation

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

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Churning out cheaters this year, former Dhaka Education Board chairman Abu Bakar Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have noticed people posting on Facebook claiming that questions have been leaked.

“But those are just suggestions which may match 10% to 15% of the questions. We cannot say that questions are being leaked on Facebook.”

The raft of measures taken to combat this epidemic of academic dishonesty seems a tacit admission by the government that the situation is grim.

Sealed question papers are escorted by law enforcers to be printed at the highly secure staterun BG Press. Security at the press itself has been beefed up with the introduction of metal detectors, paper detectors, vault doors and CCTV surveillance, Abu Bakar Siddique said at the time.

Students yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that social media groups had been set up by students at various schools and colleges in order to facilitate the circulation of questions.

The online presence of leaked questions is so ubiquitous that even students who would not otherwise have considered breaking the rules – and the law – feel compelled to have a look so that they are not at a disadvantage.

Yesterday’s chemistry exam was the final theoretical examination at HSC level (there is a practical still to take place). As with every other subject, the questions were leaked online.

The correctness of the leaked questions and the punctuality with which they are released suggests involvement by persons well-placed within the examinations system.

Yesterday, the chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education of Dhaka, Mahbubur Rahman, told the Dhaka Tribune:

“This issue is dealt with by detective forces. The ministry continuously pressures law enforcement agencies to prevent such practices.”

The roster of agencies roped in to combat the problem indicates that cheating has become a national emergency.

The national monitoring committee set up to tackle it is comprised of officials from the public administration, the ICT Division, RAB, the police, other detective agencies, BTRC and the chairmen of the education boards.

How it all works

Facebook pages or WhatsApp groups are created just before SSC and HSC exams.

They contain posts with study suggestions and notices regarding changes to exam schedules.

Facebook pages bearing names like “SSC and HSC Question Dhaka Comilla Jessor [sic] Chittagong Sylhet Board” and “Hsc [sic] question out 2016 real” are actively managed and publish questions hours ahead of examinations.

Many of the pages are quick to cover their tracks once the information is out.

The administrator of one WhatsApp account appeared to be adding people and removing captures of the questions within a day of the exam. Facebook page managers appeared to be slower to remove evidence of question

Fifty killed in Florida nightclub shooting the 32 people killed in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech university.

“Today we’re dealing with something that we never imagined and is unimaginable,” Dyer said, more than doubling an earlier estimate that about 20 bodies were found in the Pulse nightclub.

A police officer working as a security guard inside the club, which has operated in downtown Orlando since 2004, exchanged fire with the suspect at about 2am (local time), police officials said.

A hostage situation quickly developed, and three hours later SWAT team officers used armoured cars to storm the club before shooting the gunman dead.

Asked if the FBI suspected the

gunman might have had inclinations toward militant Islam, including a possible sympathy for Islamic State, Ronald Hopper, an assistant FBI agent in charge, told reporters: “We do have suggestions that the individual may have leanings toward that particular ideology. But right now we can’t say definitively.”

The FBI said it was still trying to pin down whether the mass shooting was a hate crime against gays or a terrorist act.

The security company G4S has released a statement saying Mateen was employed with them and they were cooperating with the investigation.

President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to provide any assistance needed to

Florida police investigating the shooting, the White House said in a statement.

Video footage showed police officers and civilians carrying some injured people away from the club and bending over others on the ground. Dozens of police cruisers, ambulances and other emergency vehicles could be seen in the area.

Pulse, which was crowded for a Latin music night, describes itself on its website as more than “just another gay club.” One of the founders and owners, Barbara Poma, opened it more than a decade ago in an effort to keep alive the spirit of her brother, who died after battling HIV. The choice of target was espe-

paper leaks.

Students told the Dhaka Tribune that most of the pages would likely be deactivated by the end of the day on June 12.

With the exams complete, the work is done, they explained.

Telephone numbers are also posted – like this one 01771512156 – with offers to provide exam question papers a day or two in advance.

Personal posts by users like “Shahria Imon,” “Tarek Ahmed Tarek” and “Rafsan Rafin” posted phone numbers on WhatsApp accounts for students interested in buying question papers.

This kind of advance access costs money.

But photographs of question papers posted a couple of hours before exams are free for everyone to see.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity, students said posted exam questions were usually very accurate, with 90% of leaked questions appearing on exams.

Some also told of cases of students being tricked into buying inaccurate question papers.

Questions for exams administered by all boards, including the madrasa board, were leaked this year.

One student said most colleges in Dhaka have separate student-run WhatsApp groups that release question papers two hours before the examination for free.

There is no evidence that college authorities are involved.

Asking not to be named, one student said: “We were added to the group by someone we have no idea about. We get questions for free just before the exam starts: we try to solve them just to revise what we have already learned.”

She added: “We received questions to all of our exams and shared it with friends who might not have gotten them. It is free after all.” l

cially heart-wrenching for members of the US lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, LGBT advocacy group Equality Florida said in a statement.

“Gay clubs hold a significant place in LGBTQ history. They were often the only safe gathering place and this horrific act strikes directly at our sense of safety,” the group said. “We will await the details in tears of sadness and anger.”

Police in Los Angeles, California arrested a man with weapons, ammunition and possible explosives in his car hours after the shooting in Orlando. A gay pride event was scheduled to begin in the city soon afterwards and the man told the police he was heading there. l

5,000 arrested, 85 are militants It means 1.6% of the arrestees are suspected militants and none of them were in the police’s most-wanted list. The arrestees are also not among the masterminds behind the recent killing of non-Muslim and non-Sunni preachers, secularists and university teachers across the country.

Our district correspondents reported that 381 were arrested in Chittagong yesterday, 148 in Barisal, 87 in Naogaon, 22 in Panchagarh, 50 in Natore, 59 in Bagerhat, 43 in Barguna, 86 in Bogra, 84 in Chapainawabganj, 65 in Dinajpur, 38 in Gaibandha, 84 in Jessore, 36 in Jhenaidah, 68 in Tangail, 62 in Kushtia, 87 in Naogaon, 95 in Rangpur, 48 in Satkhira, 64 in Sylhet, 50 in Meherpur, eight in Ashulia and seven in Manikganj.

Meanwhile, leaders of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have alleged that the drives had been launched aiming at their supporters.

“Till today [yesterday afternoon], at least nine of our activists were arrested in the district. They were just attending a party programme,” Bagerhat district BNP President MA Salam said.

“The police have targeted the BNP-Jamaat leaders. Moreover, we have information that they are asking money from the party supporters to evade arrest. One of them was released after bribing the police,” he claimed.

Similar allegation was raised by the leaders of BNP-Jamaat coalition from Naogaon, Panchagarh, Dinajpur, Kushtia, Maulavibazar, Barguna and Kushtia districts.

On the other hand, the law enforcers have also been criticised for arresting people without warrant, in violation of a recent Supreme Court verdict that bars arrest and remand under suspicion.

Kushtia Sechchasebak Dal Convener Shamimul Hasan Opu told the Dhaka Tribune that many leaders were staying outside the house to avoid arrest. “The BNP activists are being charged in different criminal and false cases following arrest.”

District unit Jamaat Secretary Prof Maulana Abul Hashem echoed Shamimul.

One of such arrestees is Sohel, a resident of Gendaria. His mother Sonia Khatun said that her son was arrested two days ago. But she had no idea about the charges brought against him. She said that Sohel had not been facing any cases.

From the GRO office, it was learnt that Sohel was charged in an arms case and the court also placed him on remand.

Meanwhile, police in Natore said that three of the people arrested in the district were supporters of Jamaat-Shibir. But our correspondent reports that two of them are minors – aged 16 and 17. l

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IGP: Only accused are facing arrests Mizanur Rahman, n FM Chittagong The police chief has claimed that members of different law enforcement agencies are not arresting innocent persons during the ongoing crackdown on criminals and militants, and assured that they will not do so.

“The police are working for the people. They are arresting the persons already facing certain allegations,” Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque told reporters after attending a courtesy meeting with the port city’s eminent persons at the Chittagong Metropolitan Police Lines yesterday.

“The police are working to bring the whole country under a security blanket. It is a strategy … one of different styles of policing,” he said, adding that they would take stern action against the police officials if they arrest any innocent person or harass someone during the drives.

The police are now conducting two drives simultaneously. One is a regular drive that started from June 7 to take action against the accused in drugs, arms and other cases since these crimes rise before any big festivals like Eid. The second drive was launched on June 10 against militants.

Of the 3,115 people arrested on Friday and Saturday, only 37 were identified as militants. Yesterday, the tally rose to 5,287 of who police claimed that 85 people were involved in militancy.

The IGP also hit back at National Human Rights Chairman Prof Dr Mizanur Rahman for terming the ongoing operations abuse of power by the police force. “He has made comments without having a good understating over the situation.

“The police maintain a concrete data on how many people are wanted accused, drug peddlers or sus-

Police produced two suspected killers of Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, wife of Police Super Babul, before a court in Chittagong yesterday pected militants,” Shahidul said, while also sought public support to root out militancy from the country.

The IGP said that 41 killing incidents had taken place in the last two years and the police were able to unearth the motive and identity of the killers in 34 incidents.

Presided over by CMP Commissioner Iqbal Bahar, the meeting was also attended by senior police officials and leaders of the ruling Awami League.

Chittagong Range DIG Shafiqul Islam said that the police had identified 90% of the killers who had carried out the series of target killings. “They [killers] recruit members 10 times of what we arrest.”

He asked the city’s landlords to remain alert and inform the police about any suspicious activities.

PABNA ASHRAM STAFF MURDER

Shibir man arrested n Md Emroz Khandaker, Pabna

Police have arrested a leader of Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, on suspicion of being involved in the gruesome murder of Nityanando Pandey, employee at a Hindu ashram in Hemayetpur, Pabna.

The arrestee, Ariful Islam, 23, is the secretary of Shibir’s Pabna west wing, police said.

Inspector Munshi Abu Quddus of Pabna Sadar police station, who is also the investigation officer of the murder, said police found Ariful in another Shibir leader’s house in Bajitpur area when they raided

the house following a tip-off on Saturday around 10pm.

Ariful was injured in a minor scuffle during the arrest and is currently undergoing treatment at Pabna General Hospital, the inspector said.

Police gathered some new information regarding the murder during the primary interrogation of the suspect and are currently verifying said information, the inspector added.

Nityanando, 62, was hacked to death on Friday in Hemayetpur near Sri Sri Thakur Anukulchandra Satsang Ashram, where he had been an attendant for four decades. l

‘Killings are part of ploy’

The police chief said that the recent target killings were part of a conspiracy hatched abroad and “a quarter with vested interests is plotting to turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria through the killings.”

He said that the murder of minority community members and forced disappearances were palpable symptoms of the emergence of militancy at home. It should be resisted through awareness activities. “The attacks in a clandestine manner cannot be termed Jihad.”

The IGP said that of the six banned militant outfits, only two are currently active – Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansarullah Bangla Team. “The police are working to trace and arrest them

as per the available data,” he added.

Pointing at BNP Joint Secretary General Aslam Chowdhury’s alleged meeting with an Israeli politician in India, Shahidul wondered how could Aslam seek assistance from a controversial country for ensuring security of the religious minorities in Bangladesh.

‘No militant link in SP wife killing’

Regarding the progress of investigation in Mahmuda Khanam Mitu murder, the IGP said that the law enforcers had not found the involvement of any militant group in the killing that took place on June 5.

He thinks that Mitu, the wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Akter, was killed for Babul’s activities against militancy. “We are not confirmed whether the militants

RABIN CHOWDHURY

launched the attack or not.”

The IGP said that they would not rest until the killers were brought to book and the motive unearthed.

“The killers wanted to demoralise the police by the tragic killing. “But will turn the grief into strength.”

Neither Islamic State nor al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for the murder. Instead, AQIS has condemned the murder saying it is not permissible in Islam.

IS claims they carried out 22 attacks since September last year in which 20 people, mainly foreigners, and non-Sunni and non-Muslim preachers, have been killed.

On the other hand, AQIS claims responsibility for 13 attacks since 2013 that killed 11 people mostly secularists and LGBT rights activists. l

Govt to close three private medical colleges n Abid Azad

The Health Miniser Mohammed Nasim on Sunday instructed the temporary closure of three private medical colleges, according to a press release.

The three colleges, Rangpur Northern Medical College, Gazipur City Medical College and Ashulia Nightingale Medical College were instructed to close because they did not comply with the medical college management rules, the press release said.

The current students will however be given the opportunity to com-

plete their education at other private colleges in their respective areas.

Minister Nasim made the directive at a meeting on private medical college guidelines on Sunday held at the Ministry.

He also instructed to postpone the admission process at Chittagong Southern Medical College for its upcoming 2016-17 session.

Meanwhile the BGC Trust Medical College seats has also been decreased from 125 to 75.

He also asked for a report to be submitted within three months upon the inspection of 68 private medical colleges in the country.

He said: “The medical colleges cannot just operate to provide certificates. If quality education cannot be provided we will not have good doctors. Therefore, to ensure good college management we have monitored their activity.”

The inspection team formed by the directorate general of health services have already inspected 25 private medical colleges.

DGHS director general professor Deen Muhammad Nurul Haque was present at the meeting along with Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council president Professor Muhammad Shahidullah amongst others. l

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SP WIFE MURDER CASE

2 remanded in Mitu murder case, IO changed Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong A Chittagong court has placed two suspects on a seven-day remand for interrogation regarding the brutal murder of Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Akter.

Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Harun Ur Rashid granted the remand for former Shibir man Abu Nosor Gunnu and one of the prime suspects Shah Zaman Robin yesterday after police petitioned for 10 days of remand, said Nirmalendu Bikash Chakraborty, additional deputy commissioner at Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP).

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Md Kamruzzaman

of the Detective Branch (DB) of police have been appointed the new investigation officer of the case, said police sources.

The new investigation officer attended the remand hearing at the court yesterday, where he presented the documents related to the arrests of the suspects as per the court’s direction, Nirmalendu told the Dhaka Tribune.

Earlier on Thursday, the court asked the investigation officer of Mitu murder case to submit relevant documents of arrests made, including the call detail records used to track Gunnu.

Gunnu, caretaker of a local Shrine in Chittagong’s Hathazari upazila, was arrested by detectives in Farhadabad, Hathazari on Wednesday.

Robin, who police claim is one of the trio who killed Mitu before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle, was arrested in the

city’s Shital Jharna on Saturday morning.

Other than these arrests, there have been no visible progress in the murder investigation since it took place on June 5.

The DB is currently investigating the murder, but the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit have been working to hunt down the killers as well.

Police have yet to recover the firearms and the sharp weapons that the killers used to kill Mitu.

Mitu’s phone, which went missing and could possibly have vital clue regarding her murder, has not been found either.

New investigation officer appointed

Md Kamruzzaman was made the new investigation officer of Mitu murder case on Saturday night, replacing DB Inspector Kazi Rakib, CMP Deputy Commissioner Faruk Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune.

Meanwhile, five different committees have been formed by the CMP to assist with the investigation of the case, said CMP sources.

“The committees have been formed for extensive investigation of the murder case,” Kamruzzaman told the Dhaka Tribune.

However, he could not give any details regarding the members of the committees. “I have not received the documents yet,” he said. l

Daewoo wants to explore one Bay block n Aminur Rahman Rasel South Korean Daewoo International Corporation has expressed interest to explore for oil and gas at one of the deep sea blocks in the Bay of Bengal instead of three blocks.

“Daewoo and Petrobangla recently discussed the proposed terms and conditions for exploring the block DS-12,” a Petrobangla official told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

oil and gas in model production sharing contracts (PSC) before launching bids.

In January 2014, US oil company ConocoPhillips and Norway’s Statoil jointly submitted bidding documents to explore oil and natural gas in three deep-sea blocks in the Bay of Bengal – blocks 12, 16 and 21 – under the amended model PSC of 2012.

On February 18 last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic

On February 4, Petrobangla invited EOIs to explore and develop three deep-sea blocks – DS 12, 16 and 21 –in the Bay of Bengal Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokan visits Hatirpool kitchen market to check the prices of essential Ifter items yesterday RAJIB DHAR The official said the South Korean firm was keen to explore under the current terms and gas pricing.

It would be beneficial for Bangladesh if Daewoo inks a production sharing contract (PSC) for exploring the block, the official said.

On May 7, Daewoo submitted Request For Proposal (RFP) documents to explore and develop oil and gas resources in Bangladesh’s deep sea blocks.

Unlike usual bidding rounds, the government will purchase oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal at a competitive price, to be quoted by the international oil companies in bids.

In previous bidding rounds, Petrobangla fixed the prices for

Affairs awarded a contract to a joint venture of ConocoPhillips and Statoil to conduct the exploration in three deep-sea blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

ConocoPhillips, however, later pulled out of the joint venture leaving Statoil to operate alone.

Statoil is seeking amendments to the PSC to increase gas prices. The government has not yet announced its decision on the matter, but EOI (expression of interest) and RFP have been sought.

On February 4, Petrobangla invited EOIs to explore and develop three deep-sea blocks – DS 12, 16 and 21 –in the Bay of Bengal under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act, 2015. l

Facebook, Google, Microsoft to respond within 48 hours n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim has said Facebook, Google and Microsoft have agreed to respond within 48 hours to any assistance sought by the government regrading unwanted disturbance on the Internet.

The junior minister was replying to a query in the parliament yesterday afternoon.

“After a detailed discussion,

Facebook, Google and Microsoft have agreed to respond to the government within 48 hours when contacted regarding any unwanted matter on the Internet,” she said.

She said the government has a close connection with the three tech giants.

Tarana informed the House that Facebook has already started responding within 48 hours to the government.

“They have responded to 21 queries out of 58. Following the

government’s request, they have blocked four contents and provided 16.76% of the information requested between July 15 and December 15 last year.”

Replying to another query, the state minister said the government is working with Microsoft to stop child pornography and enhance cyber security.

Tarana also said the Google has promised the government of closing any video on YouTube which is against the YouTube policy. l

‘Bangladesh has no plan to withdraw peacekeepers’ n

Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh has no plan to withdraw any troop from UN peacekeeping missions, a well-placed source at the Foreign Ministry has told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The Bangladeshi troops are conducting peacekeeping operation in the conflict zones and their activities are praised all over the world. We do not have any plan to withdraw any troop from anywhere,” said a senior Foreign Ministry official on condition of anonymity.

The official made the comment after media reports suggested that Bangladesh had threatened UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with the withdrawal of its troops from UN peacekeeping missions.

When asked about a telephone conversation between Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Ban Ki-moon last week, the official said there was a phone call but not a single word was exchanged on peacekeeping operation as the context of the phone call was different.

During his stay in Riyadh last week, Mahmood Ali made a phone a call to Ban to request the UN secretary general to reverse the decision of blacklisting of a Saudi-led coalition for killing children in Yemen.

The Foreign Ministry official said the conversation started with the minister requesting the UN chief to attend the Global Forum on Migration and Development to be held in Dhaka in December this year.

The minister then told Ban that the Saudi coalition should be removed from the blacklist, the official added.

However, when Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque was contacted about the telephone conversation, he declined to comment. l

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

SC upholds bar on MPs in school committees n Ashif Islam Shaon

After the apex court order, the petitioner of the original plea, Supreme Court lawyer Eunus Ali Akond, told the Dhaka Tribune the High Court order would remain in force until the Supreme Court’s further order on this issue.

The Supreme Court also upheld the High Court order that had scrapped the special governing body of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in Dhaka led by Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon.

The High Court in its verdict on June 1 said that a lawmaker can become the chairman through election of maximum four educational institutions. The verdict was de-

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court decision that had declared illegal the provisions of allowing a lawmaker or their nominated persons to hold chairman posts in governing bodies at any private school and college without an election.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed “no order” on two petitions seeking a stay on the High Court verdict.

The petitions were filed by the principal of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College and its government body chairman Rashed Khan Menon.

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World day against child labour observed n Mohammad Jamil Khan

livered after hearing two separate writ petitions filed by Akond.

The writ petitions challenged legality of Sections 5 and 50 of Non-government School College Governing Body Regulation 2009 which permitted formation of special governing bodies in educational institutions and the lawmakers to hold the posts of chairman.

The High Court had declared the two sections of the regulation illegal and unconstitutional as they are against the constitution.

Now, the Viqarunnisa principal and Menon can move file leave to appeal petitions before the Supreme Court against its verdict after the full text is released. l

Cultural platform Sammilito Sanskritik Jote forms a human chain in Dhaka’s Shahbagh yesterday protesting the recent murders of minorities and other secret killings SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Chhayanaut Cultural Center has held a discussion marking World Day against Child Labour organised by the Alliance against Child Labour a platform consisting of 12 organisations.

Executive Director of Centre for Services and Information on Disability, Khandakar Jahurul Alam, presided over the discussion while former advisor to the caretaker government, Advocate Sultana Kamal was the chief guest.

It brought to light the fact that in Bangladesh 4.7 million children are still deprived while 1.28 million are living under various kind of risks, speakers at a discussion said yesterday.

They also highlighted that working children are often victims of voilence and in extreme cases lose their lives to violence.

According to the discussion, Bangladesh maybe heading towards being a middle income country soon but it still has nearly 1.7 million child labourers working in various sectors.

Advocate Kamal said: “it was our dream was to declare Bangladesh a child labour free country by 2016 but we could not do that. We have learned that it could happen by 2021, but we need to ask ourselves why we failed to do this by 2016.”

Joint Secretary of Women and Child Welfare Ministry, Dr Abul Hossain said the government is working hard to eradicate child labour in the country.

He also said the government has a separate budget for children and that the government has already declared to remove child labour within 2021 and are working hard to meet that goal.

A colorful cultural program performed by child labours followed after the discussions. l

Khaleda called to court on July 24 n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday asked BNP chief Khaleda Zia and nine others accused to appear before the court on July 24 in connection with the Barapukuria coalmine graft case.

Judge Hosneara Begum of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-2 passed the order after getting a High Court order that had cleared the way for

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN MONDAY, JUNE 13

hearing.

Of the 11 accused, Md Sirajul Islam is on the run while the other accused are now on bail.

The ACC accused the Khaleda Zia and others on charges of causing a loss of Tk159cr to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company between June 2003 and June 2005, abusing power. l

the lower court concerned to run the trial proceedings against Khaleda, and others accused in the case.

On May 25, the High Court released its full judgment directing the trial court to proceed with the corruption case.

Two accused Nazrul and Moinul appeared before the court while Khaleda and other accused filed time petitions during yesterday’s Dhaka

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Chittagong

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Rajshahi 40

DHAKA TODAY SUN SETS 6:47PM

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Rangpur

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Khulna

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Barisal

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:11AM

32.5ºC Rajshahi

19.2ºC Khulna

Source: Accuweather/UNB

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Sylhet

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Cox’s Bazar

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Fajr: 3:49am | Zohr: 1:15pm Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 7:00pm Esha: 8:45pm Source: Islamic Foundation

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

Storms sweep over several parts of country, 13 killed n Tribune Desk At least 13 people were killed in incidents of lightning strike, house collapse and boat capsize during storms in Khulna, Pirojpur, Bagerhat, Jessore and Satkhira yesterday.

In Khulna, seven people were killed in Koyra and Bhatiaghata upazilas as a storm swept the district in the early hours of the day.

Nazmul Ahsan, deputy commissioner of the district, said two people were killed in Koyra upazila while four in Bhatiaghata upazila

as lightning strikes hit them early in the morning.

Meanwhile, another man died as a boat capsized in the Sibshah River in Batiaghata upazila also early in the morning.

Details about the incidents could not be known immediately.

In Pirojpur, three people, including a teenage girl, were killed in separate incidents in Najirpur and Nesarabad upazila during storm.

Khairul Alam Sheikh, deputy commissioner of the district, said Delwar Hossain, 40, a resident of

Alongkarbari village of Nesarabad upazila, was killed as a boat sank in a river early in the morning while he went to fish.

Another boy, Sabbir Hossain, 12, son of Mojibur Rahman, was killed as the roof of his house collapsed on him at Sarengkathi village of the upazila early in the morning.

Meanwhile Sathiya Khatun, 16, a resident Uttar Kolardurniya of Nesarabad upazila, was killed by a lightning strike in the early morning.

Besides, around 500 houses were damaged and a large number

of trees were uprooted during the storm.

In Satkhira, Maloti Rajbongshi,45, was killed as a streak of thunderbolt hit her at Tuardanga village in Ashashuni upazila in the morning.

Besides, Monwara Begum,34, was killed as a thunderbolt struck her at Kachua upazila headquarters in Bagerhat district on Sunday morning.

In Jessore, Tahajjat Morol,65, a local BNP leader, was killed by lightning at Baniabahu village in Sadar uapzila early Sunday. l

College student hacked to death in Comilla n Mohiuddin Molla, Comilla

A college student was hacked to death by unidentified assailants in Brahmanpara upazila in Comilla.

The deceased is Ariful Islam Sujon, 18, son of Abul Taheer and a second year student of Mosharaf Hossain Khan Degree College.

Family sources said Sujon was going to the upazila sadar for Tarabi when a group of assailants attacked him with sharp weapons around 10:30pm on Saturday, leaving him critically injured.

He was taken to Comilla Medical College Hospital where he died around 1am Sunday.

Sujon’s paternal uncle Safiqul Islam said: “Our family doesn’t have any conflict with anyone. We have no idea about who killed him.”

Brahmanpara OC SM Bodiuzzaman said they were investigating the matter.” l

Intern doctors on strike at SBMCH Rahman Swapan, n Anisur Barisal Intern doctors of Barisal Sher-eBangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) continued their strike for the second day yesterday protesting attack by a police official on a female intern.

According to local sources, the doctors in a press conference at the canteen of SBMCH declared to continue the strike until the police personal makes apology for his crime.

Dr Sirajul Islam, director of SBMCH spoke the function.

On other hand, Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Mirzaganj police station, said police administration already closed accused Sub-Inspector Manoj Kumar of Mirzaganj police station to Patuakhali district police line and started investigation.

The intern doctors at SBMCH started strike on Saturday afternoon demanding unconditional apology of SI Manoj for assaulting a female intern of the hospital on Friday noon. l

Four held in Chittagong n Tribune Desk

The Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad and Hindu, Buddha and Christian Oikya Parishad hold a human chain in Barguna district town yesterday protesting killings that have taken place recently DHAKA TRIBUNE

Rapid Action Battalion yesterday arrested four alleged robbers in posession of firearms from Chittagong.

Major Jahangir, deputy director of RAB 7, said acting on a tip off a team of RAB had made the arrest from Kuyaish More area of Hathazari upazila.

Upon inspection RAB discovered two single shot pistols and eight rounds of bullets from their possession, he added.

A case has been filed in this connection. l

TCB fails to attract consumers due to sub-standard products Khoda Sobuj, n Kudrote Kushtia

The state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), a wing of the Commerce Ministry, is lying almost inoperative as dealers as well as consumers are not interested to buy its commodities due to substand quality.

Dealers of the TCB alleged that they had not picked up goods this year from the TCB as it supplied sub-standard and date expired goods.

According to local sources, there are eight dealers in Mirpur, two in Kumarkhali, three in Khoksa, two

in Doulatpur, three in Bheramara and 14 in Sadar upazilas.

Of them, only one trader has bought goods from the TCB in the month of Ramadan.

ey to transport goods from TCB’s godown in Khulna.

In previous years, the traders could buy a lot of varieties of goods, including soya-bean oil and

‘The traders and consumers have informed me about the strandard quality of the goods’ The trader Mokarram Hossain Moazzamem, also president of Boro Bazar Traders’ Association, said he had bought 400kg sugar, 200kg lentil and 500kg gram from the TCB. He said he might incur loss as he had to spend additional mon-

date-fruit.

A trader could pick up one tonne of sugar, 100kg lentil, 200kg Nepali lentil, 600 litre soya-bean oil, 100kg dates and 400kg gram.

But this year 400kg sugar, 200kg lentil and 500kg gram had been offered to each trader.

Golam Mostofa Forhad, a dealer in Kushtia University police station area, said he had lost interest to the goods provided by the TCB as its quality was not rich.

Zahidul Isalm of Harinaraynpur in Sadar upazila also echoed Mostofa.

The sources said the goods had a great demand to some local consumers as they could buy it with low price.

Manik Mian of Aturpara village said if the TCB continued business, they would be benefited in the month of Ramadan.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Syed Belal Hossain said:

“The traders and consumers have informed me about the strandard quality of the goods.”

“I will take steps after investigation,” he added.

The district administration started selling goods from the first week of Ramadan in fair price, he also said.

Rabiul Morshed, officer-incharge of TCB, Khulna zone said: “We have started selling of lentil, gram and dates in the month of Ramadan.”

“As the Pushti Soya-bean Oil Manufacturing is now closed, we cannot supply the edible oil,” he added. l

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

Hiked price, adulteration still go on despite market monitoring drive n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong

The unscrupulous traders of the premier port city seem to have become desperate despite tough action taken against them by the local administration for price manipulation during Ramadan.

However, the district administration claimed that stability had returned to the commodity markets of the premier port city after the mobile courts began taking stern action against the dishonest traders during Ramadan.

So far, the errant businesses were fined with Tk33,05,000 in total in the last six days of Ramadan for not displaying price chart, selling date-expired commodities, lacing harmful substance with

food items and overcharging the consumers.

The consumers and consumers’ rights activists alleged that a section of dishonest traders do not comply with the mandatory displaying price chart and they conceal the charts soon after the mobile courts leave the scene.

“The unscrupulous traders should be dealt with iron hand so that they could not manipulate the stocks and dictate the prices of commodities,” said Salma Sultana, a teacher of BAF Shaheen College, Chittagong.

“The scenario changes with the arrival of a mobile court at a market.

Everything is back to square one as soon as the mobile court leaves the spot,” added the college teacher.

SM Nazer Hossain, vice-president of Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh, said: “The monitoring over the market should not be occasional. Rather, maintain effect watch on the commodity market should continue all the year round.”

“The local administration has to grapple with so many works.

Therefore, Consumer Rights Protection Department should enhance its activities of market monitoring to a great extent,” said the consumer rights activist.

“The commodity markets of the country would not turn volatile if Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) began selling essentials at fair price well ahead of Ramadan,” said SM Nazer Hossain.

Tahmilur Rahman, executive magistrates of Chittagong district administration, has been leading the mobile courts since Ramadan started.

The executive magistrate said Chittagong district administration had formed a total of 10 teams to check manipulation of price of essential commodities during Ramadan.

“We are taking stern actions against the errant businesses. We are also sentencing the errant businessmen with imprisonment instead of fine,” said Tahmilur Rahman.

“It is mandatory for a seller to always display price charts. We have fined scores of errant kitchen traders for not hanging price charts. We often receive complaints that the

traders conceal their price charts after the mobile courts leave the markets. It is indeed an uphill task to monitor all markets of the city with the existing manpower of the administration,” said Tahmilur Rahman.

As part of market monitoring, Chittagong district administration and Consumer Rights Protection Department conducted drives in different kitchen markets of the city including Bahadderhat, Bibirhat, Aturar Depot, Steel Mill, Katgar, Bandertila, Agrabad, Sholoshar and Pahartali.

Even the largest commodity hub – Khatunganj market – and the largest wholesale kitchen market – Reazuddin Bazar – were not spared during the drives of the mobile courts. l

Another more held in Chirstian grocer Sunil murder case n M Kamal Mridha, Natore

Plucking mangoes from different orchards at Durgapur and Puthia upzilas, traders take the seasonal fruits to Baneshawar Haat, the main hub of mango trading in the district, yesterday. The photo was taken from Charghat area AZAHAR UDDIN

Police arrested another person from Dhaka in the early of yesterday in connection with the killing of Christian shopkeeper Sunil Gomez.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of police conducted a raid at Badda, Gulshan police station and arrested Monowar Begum Moni, a tenant of Sunil.

Investigation Officer Abdul Hai produced her before a court in the afternoon seeking five-day remand.

The court, however, fixed today for remand hearing. Sunil Gomez, 60, was hacked to death at his shop in Bonparha on June 5.

International terrorist group Islamic State has reportedly claimed the killing. l

Four people killed in polls related violence n Tribune Desk

Four people were killed in post-poll violence in Hobiganj, Jessore and Jaipurhat.

Two people were killed in a spate of post-polls violence in Khorki village in Jagodishpur union parishad (UP) of Madhabpur upazila on Saturday.

The deceased were identified as Mirash Bibi, 90, and Faruk Mia, 32.

Police said a clash took place between the supporters of winning member candidate Monayem Kha

and defeated candidate Abdul Hye of ward 3 of the union on Friday.

Faruk Mia, a supporter of Monayem Kha, received serious injuries in that clash and he succumbed to his injuries at Habiganj Sadar Hospital on Saturday.

As the news of Faruk’s death spread around his village, supporters of Monayem Kha allegedly attacked the house of Abdul Hye and vandalised the house.

As nonagenarian Mirash Bibi, sister of Abdul Hye, tried to resist the attackers, she received stab

wounds and died on the spot.

Police recovered the bodies of the two deceased person and sent those to Sadar Hospital for autopsy.

In Munshiganj, a young man was shot to death and two others were injured during a clash between supporters of a newly elected councilor and a defeated candidate of Munshiganj municipality on Saturday night.

The deceased was identified as Mohammad Jony,17.

Superintendent of Police Biplob Bijoy Talukder said there had been

a longstanding dispute between the supporters of elected councilor Jakir Hossain of the ward- 9 of the municipality and defeated councilor candidate Wahiduzzaman Babul.

As a sequel to the enmity, an altercation ensued between the two groups at night. At one stage, both the groups exchanged fire, leaving the trio injured. They were rushed to Munshiganj General Hospital where doctors declared Jony dead.

Injured Manik Sarkar,30, and Kalu Bepari,31, were shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Of information, police rushed in and brought the situation under control.

In Jaipurhat, the-newly elected union parishad chairman, who was shot on June 4, died at a hospital at Dhaka Tribune.

Local sources said a gang of miscrents shot AK Azad at night on June 4 while he was returning home on a motorcycle. Azad was elected as a chairman in the second phase Union Parishad Election.

Police said he was attacked over union parishad rivalry.

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

INDIA

Modi notches upperhouse gains, eyes Uttar Pradesh battle

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has notched up gains in elections to India’s upper house of parliament, and is seeking to drive home the advantage when his ruling BJP meets to devise a strategy to win India’s biggest state. BJP leaders were due to meet later on Sunday to finalise their strategy to win the 2017 election in Uttar Pradesh.

-REUTERS

CHINA

China: More talks needed to build consensus on nuclear export club

China said on Sunday that more talks were needed to build a consensus on which countries can join the main group controlling access to sensitive nuclear technology, after a push by the US to include India. China is seen as leading opposition to the US move to include India in the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, but other countries, including New Zealand, Turkey, South Africa and Austria also oppose Indian membership. -REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

Mahathir hounds scandalridden Malaysian PM in by-election campaign

Malaysia’s veteran former leader Mahathir Mohamad campaigned against his old party over the weekend, seeking to turn voters against scandal-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak in two by-elections being fought next week. Mahathir quit the United Malays National Organisation earlier this year in disgust over Najib’s grip on the party.

-REUTERS

MIDDLE EAST

Jordan’s Brotherhood to take part in next elections The Islamic Action Front, the political arm of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, said on Sunday it will take part in September parliamentary elections which it had boycotted in 2010 and 2013. The Islamists are Jordan’s main opposition group and have considerable grassroots support, but their relations with the authorities have been strained over the demands for political reforms.

-AFP

20 years on, UN waits for working nuclear-test-ban treaty n Tribune International Desk The world was a more peaceful place when a newly sworn-in President Barack Obama pledged to “aggressively pursue” a global ban on nuclear arms tests. But as his term winds down, a working testban treaty remains a dream and some of the loudest voices out of Washington are hostile, report The Associated Press.

Seven years on, the Obama administration continues to publicly back ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Secretary of State John Kerry vowed late last year to “re-energise” efforts for congressional approval - a move that the head of the UN organisation created to enforce a ban says would lead at least some of the other holdouts to do the same.

“The US needs to show leadership,” said CTBTO chief Lassina Zerbo ahead of the 20th anniversary of his organisation. “We need to keep the momentum on what President Obama said in 2009.”

But with Obama’s days in office numbered, that appears to be a forlorn hope. His deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, told the Arms Control Association last week that Republican control of the Senate had left the administration “with no viable path forward” for ratification.

Zerbo’s organisation had hoped that Kerry would come to events marking Monday’s anniversary, prompting the foreign ministers of the four other permanent Security Council members plus Germany to follow. But Kerry decided to send his undersecretary for arms control, Rose Goettemoeller, and his five counterparts from the six powers that signed the nuclear deal with Iran also are no-shows.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner says ratification is “still a priority,” adding Kerry’s absence does not mean that Washington is “no longer interested in CTBT.” White House officials also say Obama still supports ratification and is providing substantial funds to the effort.

Anti-treaty minded Republicans already rejected ratification 17 years ago under President Bill Clinton, with Senate approval falling far short of the required two-thirds majority.

But there are also other hurdles.

While Hillary Clinton is more likely to endorse ratification than Donald Trump, tensions with Russia and China, Mideast turmoil,

WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR TESTING, 1945 - 2013

Soviet Union

Pakistan

People's Republic of China

terror threats and yet unknown future crises are likely to come first for either of the two.

The CTBTO already polices the world for any sign of nuclear tests with a global network of monitoring stations that pick up seismic signals and gases released by such events. But it still cannot go on site to inspect for tests.

That can happen only if the treaty enters into force. And that will happen only if the holdouts among the 44 countries that are designated “nuclear capable” - the United States, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan - ratify.

Treaty backers argue that the United States has nothing to lose by ratification because it hasn’t performed a nuclear explosive test since 1992 and computer modelling now appears to make such live tests unnecessary. At the same time, North Korea, the only nation known to be testing, would likely have done so even if the treaty were in force.

“There is no room for any further tests ... in this civilised world,” Zerbo declares, in urging the US to show the way.

Proponents share that view.

Harvard University nuclear policy analyst Matthew Bunn says that “if the United States ratified, it is very likely China would ratify. Then, he says, “the United States and China would ...be in a much better position to pressure India, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, and Israel to ratify.”

Advocates also suggest the treaty should appeal to sceptics in US

2013

Nepal’s former Maoist prime minister Baburam Bhattarai announced a new political party on Sunday in an attempt to attract legions of voters disillusioned with mainstream leaders. Bhattarai quit the main Maoist party last September over the adoption of Nepal’s controversial new constitution.

-AFP

INSIGHT

2009

Nepal’s former Maoist PM announces rival new party

2006

SOUTH ASIA

India

North Korea

Global nuclear warhead arsenals, 2016 7,300 total warheads

Russia

6,970

US France

300

China

260

UK

215

Pakistan

130

India

120

Israel

80

Congress by locking in a technological advantage that puts the United States ahead of other countries following its lead.

Bunn sees other benefits. He says that ratification by nations with nuclear arms would be a welcome sign for other countries that the holdouts are “making progress toward their disarmament obligations.”

And while North Korea will likely continue defiant at least until any regime change, Bunn says that ratification by all others would make it easier to build an international coalition to pressure Pyongyang.

As it waits, the CTBTO is making itself useful. It has been on the forefront of providing detailed informa-

Federation of American Scientists

tion on the North Korean nuclear tests. Its radionuclide detectors also delivered benchmark data on the spread of radioactivity from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

And its seismic sensor network has been crucial for tsunami warnings.

But as the clock ticks down, the organisation could be running out of time.

Bunn says that some states may “decide it’s not worth it to have monitors in their country sending data to countries that haven’t bothered to ratify, and will drop out, or that countries will get sick of paying for the verification system for a treaty that never enters into force.” l

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INSIGHT

USA

CIA chief expects release of 9/11 documents to clear Saudi

EU referendum shapes political landscape in Britain’s north 10 DAYS TO GO

n Reuters, Newcastle With a waxed jacket over a crisp suit, and very southern vowels, former commodity broker Nigel Farage cuts an incongruous figure in England’s industrial north as he campaigns for Britain to leave the European Union.

But his populist, anti-immigrant message touches a chord among the crowd at a rally in the city of Newcastle, just as it has in other parts of the north, where many working-class voters have been alienated by the demise of much of the region’s coal and steel industries.

Farage is campaigning for Britons to vote “Leave” in a June 23 referendum on the country’s EU membership, pitting him against Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and the main opposition Labour Party.

Looking beyond the referendum, Farage is a headache for Labour, which fears his UK Independence Party (UKIP) is stealing Labour supporters in traditional strongholds.

Stopping to debate with admirers and critics in rain in Newcastle, a city about 400km northeast of London, Farage relishes the exchanges.

“One thing I have noticed in a lot of big northern cities and towns is that people’s feeling of patriotism, of nation, is very much more on their sleeve than it might be in Surrey,” Farage said, referring to the affluent southern English county.

“So I think in a lot of these northern towns and cities, it’s a very important battle ground,” he said of the referendum that will determine Britain’s future in Europe and shape the domestic political landscape before a 2020 parliamentary poll.

Few hopes

Farage is a polarising figure. And while he gets heckled by younger voters who ask him how much he earns and others questioning whether he’s racist - something he denies - his message hits home for many in the northeast, where Britain’s changing economy has offered little for those left without work.

With unemployment levels close to 9%, compared to last

CIA chief John Brennan said on Sunday he expects 28 classified pages of a US congressional report into the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US to be published, absolving Saudi Arabia of any responsibility. The withheld section of the 2002 report is central to a dispute over whether Americans should be able to sue the Saudi government for damages.

-REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Brazil’s Rousseff calls for referendum on early elections

A pensioner passes in front of the UK Independence Party pro-brexit campaign bus in London on May 28 REUTERS

year’s national average of 5.4%, many feel abandoned by a far-off government in the capital and are turning their backs on Labour, which they see as out of touch.

It is by no means UKIP territory yet. At the last election in 2015, won by the Conservatives, Labour held onto many of its seats in the northeast.

But Farage’s party moved into second place in several constituencies, prompting Labour to start

some soul-searching.

Though four years remain until the next parliamentary election for Labour to gain ground, the loss of support in its traditional heartlands has sparked concern among Labour officials.

Labour did not comment specifically on its strategy in the northeast, but said the party’s goal with its “Labour In for Britain” campaign was “connecting with Labour voters”. l

Pakistan lawmaker threatens activist with rape on TV

Trump calls for unity but continues intra-party attacks

n Tribune International Desk

n Tribune International Desk

A Pakistani senator from an Islamist party has verbally abused and threatened to rape a female human rights activist during a television talk show, triggering protests across the board and government action against the channel that aired the incident.

The activist Marvi Sirmed also claimed that off-camera, Senator Hafiz Hamdullah lunged towards her in an attempted assault but was blocked by the other guests.

She has pressed criminal charges against the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) leader.

During a taping of a popular talk show 10pm with Nadia Mirza on NewsOne channel on Friday, the topic of which was the honour killings of women in Pakistan, Senator Hamdullah suddenly became enraged and began arguing with Marvi in a high voice.

His outburst followed the accusation from one guest that the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a constitutional body that issues non-binding fatwas, was silent on the matter of honour killings.

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World

CII recently declared that Muslim men were allowed to “lightly beat” their wives, stirring a worldwide controversy.

Footage from the show that has spread over the internet show the Islamist leader engaged in heated arguments with Marvi and the other guests, although most of the speech has been edited out.

Marvi in a statement on facebook claimed that Hamdullah had threatened to rape her and her mother, and admitted that she had responded with strong language as well.

JUI-F, a regional party from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Baluchistan, is an ally of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and has 15 seats in the National Assembly and five in the Senate.

On Saturday, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority issued a notice to NewsOne for airing the event, Dawn reported.

It asked for “an explanation defending the decision to air the exchange” and accused the host of “not exercising control over the guests.”

Because the show was recorded, not live, the channel bore responsibility, it said. l

Campaigning in a pair of crucial battleground states, Donald Trump bashed Democrats and Republicans alike Saturday, from Hillary Clinton to former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

First at a convention centre in Florida, and then in an airport hangar outside Pittsburgh, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee tore into fellow Republicans who have been slow to back him, again dashing hopes among some in the party that Trump would solely train his fire on his likely general election foe.

“I’d like to see Republican leadership be very strong, very smart and you got to be cool,” he said in Pittsburgh, saying that Republicans risked losing seats in the House and Senate.

He saved his most vicious broadsides for Romney, who speaking Saturday at a GOP retreat in Utah, said that in a race between Clinton and Trump, “ei-

Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff said she would call a referendum on holding early elections if she is reinstated as president, an offer analysts saw as a bid to sway undecided senators to help clear her in an impeachment trial. If Rousseff survives the Senate trial the Constitution would provide for her to serve out her term until 2018, although she would be scarred and in a weak position to govern.

-REUTERS

UK

Analysts: Brexit disastrous for EU global role Britain leaving the EU would strip the bloc of a nuclear-armed global player and prove disastrous for its presence on the world stage, Brussels-based analyst Vivien Pertusot say. The timing could hardly be worse, as the EU struggles with its biggest migration crisis since World War II and the continent facing a growing threat from terrorism.

-AFP

EUROPE

Tug-of-war draws rival Estonian islands closer

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Tampa, Florida REUTERS

ther choice is destructive.”

“Mitt Romney is a sad case. He choked,” Trump said. “You know what a choke artist is? You know a guy who missed a kick, you get rid of him, right? He choked like a dog.”

Trump also revived “Crooked Hillary,” his favourite moniker for Clinton, calling her a “maniac.” He again went after another one of his vocal critics — Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren — calling her “Pocahontas,” a reference to her Native American ancestry.

Toward the end of his speech, supporters broke into a chorus of “Happy Birthday.” Trump turns 70-years old on June 14. l

Residents on Estonia’s two biggest islands took their age old rivalry to a whole new level this weekend by staging their first tug-of-war using a 10km long rope across the part of the Baltic sea which separates them. For centuries, the islanders of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa, off Estonia’s west coast, have revelled in poking fun at each other.

-REUTERS

AFRICA

Congo: Boat collision on lake kills at least 27 people UN-backed Radio Okapi says that two boats collided on a lake in Congo and one capsized killing at least 27 people. Deputy governor of Maindombe, Massamba Malika, told Radio Okapi that 27 bodies are still in Lake Maindombe, and there might be more. He added the accident occurred late Saturday night.

-AP

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

INSIGHT

Syrian refugees kept behind fences amid Jordan security fears SYRIA’S REFUGEE CRISIS IN NUMBERS Ü More than 4.5m refugees from Syria are in just five countries-- Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt Ü Turkey hosts 2.5m refugees from Syria, more than any other country worldwide Ü Lebanon hosts approximately 1.1m refugees from Syria which amounts to around one in five people in the country Ü Jordan hosts approximately 635,324 refugees from Syria, which amounts to about 10% of the population Ü Iraq where 3.9m people are already internally displaced hosts 245,022 refugees from Syria Ü Egypt hosts 117,658 refugees from Syria Ü The UN’s 2015 humanitarian appeal for Syrian refugees was just 61% funded by the end of the year. Ü Funding shortages mean that the most vulnerable Syrian refugees in Lebanon receive just $21.60 per person/month or around US$0.70/a day for food assistance, well below the UN’s poverty line of US$1.90 Syrian refugees children collect water at the al-Zaatari refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan, near the border with Syria

n Tribune International Desk A barbed wire-topped fence encircles a section of this bleak UN-run camp, isolating thousands of recent arrivals - whom Jordan considers a potential security risk - from other Syrian refugees.

This camp-within-a-camp, called “Village 5,” was set up in late March as part of an uneasy trade-off between Jordan and international aid agencies trying to speed up admissions of tens of thousands of refugees stranded in remote desert areas on the kingdom’s border, reports the Associated Press.

Under the deal, Jordan agreed to let in about 300 Syrians a day, or five times more than before, on condition that newcomers are isolated in Azraq for more security checks.

Jordan says strict vetting is crucial to prevent Islamic State extremists, who control large areas of Syria, from infiltrating the kingdom.

In turn, aid agencies agreed to put traumatised war survivours behind barbed wire, if only temporarily.

Yet neither side expects the new admissions deal to empty out two rapidly growing encampments on the Syrian-Jordanian border. Instead, the population there - currently at 64,000, half of them children - is expected to reach 100,000 by the end of the year if fighting in Syria continues.

The two encampments sit between low earthen mounds, or berms, that run in parallel lines, about 2km apart in an area where the border isn’t clearly marked.

Refugees live in tents or shelters made of tarp, wood scraps and even women’s scarves, exposed to the desert’s extreme cold, heat and sand storms. Lack of latrines and trash collection has led to the

spread of diarrhoea and infections.

Delivering aid to the berm has become one of the UN refugee agency’s most challenging operations in the Middle East, said spokeswoman Ariane Rummery, citing “remoteness of locations, extreme weather conditions, lack of access roads, and risk of escalating insecurity.”

Other aid officials worry that ramping up support will inadvertently transform the jumble of shelters into de facto refugee camps in unsafe areas.

Yet saving lives trumps any misgivings at a time when Syrians are increasingly trapped in their homeland, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters about the conditions at the berm.

Neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, which have absorbed the bulk of close to 5m Syrian refugees since 2011, have severely restricted admissions, while doors to Europe are slamming shut.

Jordan has taken in about 650,000 refugees and says it has already done more than its share.

Those now waiting at the border are the responsibility of the international community, said Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani. In allowing some asylum seekers to enter, “Jordan is doing its best to balance its security needs with humanitarian concerns,” he said.

Jordan argues that all those at the border are still on Syrian soil, a claim disputed by the international group Human Rights Watch. The border is believed to run between the two berms and most tents are pitched closer to the southern, Jordanian-controlled berm, said researcher Adam Coogle.

Ü 86% of Syrian refugees in urban areas in Jordan are living below the local poverty line REUTERS

The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Jordan, Petr Kostohryz, said Jordan is “perhaps the only country in the region retaining at least partially open borders.”

At the same time, refugees live “in the middle of the desert, with zero access to services, with high degrees of crime and exploitation,” he said.

Refugee Khaled Mallak, 34, his wife and six children were among those who made the dangerous trip from Syria to the Azraq camp in Jordan’s eastern desert.

The Mallaks left the Syrian capital of Damascus in mid-January and reached Hadalat three days later.

“The area was full of insects and even rats,” Mallak said of the border camp.

After three months, the family was admitted to Jordan and was moved to Azraq, the only permitted destination for refugees. In fencedin Village 5, they received food and basic supplies, but often waited for hours to collect them, said Mallak.

The family was allowed to leave the restricted area after a month, and now lives in a part of Azraq where they have greater freedom of movement.

A Jordanian security officer prevented Associated Press reporters from approaching Village 5.

Azraq consists of rows of white prefab shacks that can house up to 51,000 Syrians in four sections, or villages. Only two villages were populated after the camp’s opening in 2014.

However, a third section, Village 5, filled up over the past six weeks, as Jordan admitted more than 16,000 refugees under the new policy, said Kostohryz, the NRC chief.

Last week, the first group of 1,500 refugees was allowed to move out of the restricted area, in what the NRC hopes will be the start of integrating all newcomers into the camp.

Ü According to the UN around 250,000 people have been killed and 13.5m people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria Ü More than 50% of Syria’s population is currently displaced Ü In total, 162,151 resettlement places have been offered globally since the start of the Syria crisis, which equates to a mere 3.6% of the total population of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey. Ü At least 450,000 people in the five main host countries - or 10% - are in need of resettlement according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR Ü Gulf countries including Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees

Sources: UN REFUGEE AGENCY (UNHCR), OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA), INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION OF MIGRATION (IOM)

Meanwhile, aid agencies are facing growing challenges at the berm, a 2.5-hour drive from the nearest Jordanian town, including an 80km stretch over unpaved desert.

Aid workers cannot enter the camps for security reasons, and set up distribution points near the southern berm. Jordanian troops stand atop the earth mounds and screen refugees.

Refugees permitted to climb over the berm fetch water or line up, often for hours, to register with the UN or receive canned food, dry rations and fruit.

Crowds have repeatedly surged toward aid workers amid rumors that distribution was ending for the day, an aid official said. Troops have responded with tear gas or warning shots.

During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began this week, refugees are lining up in scorching temperatures while fasting during daylight hours.

A lawless atmosphere prevails in the camps, said aid officials, citing accounts by refugees. War profiteers with no intention of seeking asylum steal rations from the most vulnerable, the officials said.

Some refugees at the berm don’t seek asylum, for fear of being rejected by Jordan and sent into a

more dangerous area of Syria.

Momani confirmed that some have been rejected on security grounds, but did not provide figures.

He argued that this does not amount to expulsions - problematic under international law - because Jordan never admitted them as asylum seekers.

It’s not clear how long the faster pace of admissions will last. Jordan promised the US earlier this year to let in at least 20,000, aid officials said. White House officials declined comment.

Existing shelters in Azraq can now house several thousand more refugees; the camp is designed for an additional 75,000 people.

However, Jordan is unlikely to let in large numbers of refugees. It says it has confidential evidence that IS sympathizers posing as refugees are trying to infiltrate the kingdom, which is a member of the US-led military coalition against the extremists in Syria and Iraq.

Even if most of those waiting at the berm were moved to Azraq, many more would likely take their place, Momani said.

“If we let all of these people into that camp (Azraq), what’s going to happen a week after that?” he said.

“You will get 120,000 stranded people on the border.” l

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TOP STORIES

Tech, beauty intersect in Silicon Valley The beauty industry has long relied on creating a sense of mystery, magic even, around its creams, powders and potions. But now it has something else up its sleeve: high technology.

PAGE 13

The Story of the $100 Bill It is the month of August. A resort town sits next to the shores of a lake. The town, once flourishing, is now in hard times. Many are in debt and live on credit.

PAGE 14

Coming wave of gas puts focus on finding new shores

Energy giants such as Royal Dutch Shell and Total are looking to build terminals and power plants in new markets to soak up the industry’s rapidly burgeoning supply. PAGE 14

Car giants see road to riches in sharing Auto giants are racing to invest in car- and ride-sharing services, lured by the prospect of fat profits yet to be tapped from a billion cars on the world’s roads.

PAGE 15

Capital market snapshot: Sunday DSE Broad Index

4,409.4

Index

1,083.5

0.1% ▲

30 Index

1,737.4

-0.0% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

3,319.8

-2.5% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol

80.7

-6.5% ▼

All Share Index 13,575.0

-0.2% ▼

-0.2% ▼

CSE 30 Index Selected Index

12,560.1

0.1% ▲

8,263.1

-0.1% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

222.0

-7.1% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol

6.3

-5.7% ▼

Double package VAT to add only Tk15 crore n Syed Samiul Basher Anik The government’s proposal to double the package value added tax in the fiscal year 2016-17 will add only Tk15 crore to national exchequer, thus having no significant impact on the revenue collection.

National Board of Revenue (NBR) has primarily estimated the figure that could come through the proposed increasing of package VAT for small and medium businesses.

In his budget speech, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposed to increase package VAT for shops located at Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations areas to

Tk28,000 from Tk14,000 a year in the upcoming fiscal.

He also proposed increasing the amount for other city corporations areas to Tk20,000 from Tk12,000, to Tk14,000 from Tk7,200 for municipalities, and Tk7,000 from Tk3,600 for other areas of the country.

After announcement of the proposed budget, small and medium traders protested the government’s proposal and demanded revision of it.

Traders said their businesses might shut down one after another if the decision was not revised.

Package VAT is a square footbased rate which the small stores enjoy by paying VAT annually

based on their shops’ locations and sizes, as fixed by the National Board of Revenue.

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) on Saturday urged the government to revise its budget proposal on VAT to help small and medium industries “do business properly.”

It called upon the government to register retailers under the VAT law with a provision of paying 0.5% package VAT annually.

The NBR’s primary estimates also found that the government might get an extra Tk5,499 crore revenue, including Tk4,325 crore from VAT and Tk1,174 crore from customs duties by implementing

budget proposals related to VAT and customs duties for FY2016-17.

Of the amount, the highest Tk2,490 crore will come from increasing price slab and supplementary duty on tobacco products - cigarettes, bidi and other smokeless tobacco products.

Additional Tk700 crore will come from proposed budgetary measures on construction services, Tk250 crore from proposed hike of tariff value for different products and Tk200 crore from VAT on space and establishment rent.

And, an additional Tk400 crore will be generated from the proposed hike of supplementary duty on services on SIM and RUIM cards. l

Refinancing scheme demanded to boost real estate sector n Tribune Business Desk Realtors have demanded stimulus package and reinstatement of a single-digit refinancing scheme for the country’s housing sector to overcome crucial time gripping the real estate business.

The apex body of the housing sector also demanded tax holiday for the next five years for realtors making construction within the capital and 10 years for outside the city areas.

Real Estate and Hosing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) president Alamgir Shamsul Alamin came up with the demand at a press briefing yesterday.

“We have to think twice whether we will sit with the National Board of Revenue to discuss the budget as there was no reflection of our recommendations in the proposed budget,” Alamgir said in his reaction.

REHAB gave a 13-point proposal to the NBR to include in the National budget 2016-17, but to no avail.

The sector is going through a crucial time, and to overcome the situation, the government should take short- and long-term initiatives including forming a national committee and providing a stimulus package for the sector, Alamgir suggested.

People are unwilling to invest untaxed money in the real estate

REHAB leaders express their reaction on the proposed national budget for the fiscal year 2016-17 at a press conference in a city hotel yesterday COURTESY sector as they have to face question by a certain organisation, he said, adding that that is why, the government should relax existing rules and regulations to allow undisclosed money to invest in the real estate sector, said the business tycoon.

Thousands of crore of Bangladeshi currency are being siphoned off abroad as they face questions about the source of money, Alamgir said, adding that in 2013, over Tk76,000 crore flew from Bangladesh.

For middle class and low-income group, the organisation has demanded formation of a fund of any amount and introduction of a single-digit refinancing scheme by

the Bangladesh Bank.

The organisation claimed that the sales have dropped by 80% in the sector while the new investment in the housing sector has

decreased by 90%.

To gear up sale and boost the reasl estate sector, the leaders urged the government to keep registration fee at 7%.

In the proposed budget, the government fixed registration fee at between 14% and 16% like the previous year.

In India, flat registration fee is 7%, which is 7.5% in Pakistan, 5% in Sri Lanka and Nepal, but in Bangladesh the registration fee is the highest, which led to a drastic fall in sales, said Alamin.

The realtors also demanded scrapping of tax at source and VAT on cash purchase and to provide utility service at industrial rate.

REHAB senior vice-president, Nurun Nabi Chowdhury, vice-president Liakat Ali Bhuiyan, Sardar Md Amin and Mohammad Shohel Rana were present at the briefing. l

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Tech, beauty intersect in Silicon Valley n AFP, San Francisco

The beauty industry has long relied on creating a sense of mystery, magic even, around its creams, powders and potions. But now it has something else up its sleeve: high technology.

French cosmetics giant L’Oreal has opened a “tech incubator” employing two dozen people in San Francisco and elsewhere seeking ways to use big data and algorithms to win the hearts and minds of customers.

It may involve analyzing large data sets to find the right color for nail polish, or patches that measure absorption of ultraviolet radiation or using technology to spot emerging beauty trends ahead of the curve. The French group is hoping that Silicon Valley’s talents can help it improve its products and connect better with customers.

Guive Balooch, who heads the San Francisco incubator, said he sees how these kinds of analytics and other technologies can help improve beauty products.

One of the innovations from the team has resulted in the L’Oreal Lancome brand developing an individualized makeup foundation, known as “Le Teint Particulier.”

This system, now used in some retail outlets, scans a person’s skin and uses an algorithm that designs a custom-blended product based on skin tone. The system was developed by California startup Sayuki, which L’Oreal bought in 2014.

L’Oreal’s team also created the Makeup Genius application which uses virtual reality to allow people to try various makeup schemes on their smartphone. It has been downloaded some 20 million times.

The cosmetics giant also worked with California Organovo for “bioprinting,” creating three-dimension-

A woman stands in front of a sales display counter of French cosmetics group L’Oreal at a department store in Paris al human tissue to test its cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and with PCH Lime Lab, a San Francisco design and engineering firm on the patch that sticks to one’s skin and changes color with exposure to sun rays.

Hair tech

The L’Oreal team also hopes one day to have a Genius app on hair color, which could help another key product line, if it can overcome technical challenges.

“Hair color is very complex, because you have 100,000 fibers on average in your hair, on your head, and they’re all moving in different directions,” Balooch said.

L’Oreal wants to stay on top of trends, and the data analytics team can play an important role, says Balooch.

“We do know from anonymous data what colors people are trying all around the world, we know what products they’re trying, we know

Stocks open week on back foot n Tribune Business Desk

Stocks opened the week on back foot yesterday as indexes closed flat with a fall in the volume of trade.

The market swung between positive and negative, remaining within a band of 20 points.

The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange DSEX fell over 9 points or 0.3% to 4,409.

The blue-chip comprising index DS30 saw a fractional loss of 0.7 points to 1,083. The DSE Shariah Index DSES also suffered the loss of 0.7 points to 1,737.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX closed at 8,263, dropping 11 points.

Trading activities decreased as the DSE turnover stood at Tk331 crore, down 2.5% over the previous session.

All large cap sectors showed negative performances except cement and engineering that rallied.

Textile was the highest loser with a drop of over 1%.

Food and allied, banks and non-banking financial institutions, telecommunication, power and pharmaceuticals inched down.

Debutant ACME Laboratories rose 1.2% to Tk121 and was the most traded stocks with a turnover worth Tk37.7 crore changing hands.

Lanka Bangla Securities said after opening lower, the market struggled to find direction, fluctuating between gains and losses throughout most of the session.

“Investors appeared cautious amid uneven domestic economic prospects.”

The City Brokerage said stocks

witnessed the modest decline in the first trading session of the week as the investors booked some profit.

“Investors remained cautious to make fresh investments as a result of the total turnover and volume decreases in comparison with the previous trading session.”

Of the total 316 issues traded, 90 advanced, 169 declined and 57 remained unchanged.

Investors mainly concentrated on pharmaceuticals and chemicals, fuel and power, and engineering sectors, accounting for around 55% of the total trade.

After ACME, other turnover leaders included Linde Bangladesh, BSRM Limited, Shahjibzar Power Company, FAR Chemical, Lafarge Surma Cement and Olympic Accessories Limited. l

how long they’re using them before trying something else,” Balooch said.

Being aware of new trends is also critical for marketing efforts. L’Oreal is working with Google, with whom it has an online advertising deal, to help better understand fashion trends by studying search queries.

This could allow L’Oreal to place ads better based on keywords, according to its digital strategist Axel Adida.

Adida said it is important “to

REUTERS

be on point with the latest fashion that comes up on the street.”

“The thing which is very cool when you work with Google, it’s a sort of beauty insight center,” he added.

“So the things that come up and that pop up as a novelty, the new fashion and beauty, a lot of it is being searched very early. You see little things moving in the trends and you end up with something as big as smoky eyes.” l

BIA for withdrawal of 5% source tax, 15% VAT n Tribune Business Desk Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) demanded exemption from 5% source tax on policy bonus and 15% VAT on commission paid by insurance agents.

Policy holders are being affected while insurance business is being interrupted due to 5% source tax imposed in the Finance Bill 2014, said a press release the organisation released yesterday.

There is an international practice of such tax on policy bonus, added the release.

The amount of policy bonus is very negligible compared to inflation, the statement said, adding

that in this perspective BIA proposed the government for tax withdrawal.

Moreover, agents work on behalf of insurance companies to collect business.

They are paid commission against the business they collect which is called income.

Insurance companies pay 5% source tax on the income.

But the National Board of Revenue (NBR) added that commission has been added to miscellaneous services and 15% VAT imposed on them.

BIA claimed that the imposed VAT is not logical and it contradicts the insurance act. l

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The Story of the $100 Bill n Sajid Amit It is the month of August. A resort town sits next to the shores of a lake. The town, once flourishing, is now in hard times. Many are in debt and live on credit.

Unexpectedly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 dollar bill on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the 100 dollar bill and runs to pay his debt to the neighbor grocer. The grocer takes the 100 dollar bill and runs to pay his debt to the local doctor. The doctor takes the 100 dollar bill and runs to pay his debt to his landlord, since his rent was overdue. The landlord takes the 100 dollar bill and runs to pay his debt to the town’s industrialist, who, in these hard times, had given the landlord a small loan. The industrialist runs to the hotel, and pays off his debt with the 100 dollar bill to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that he rented when he brought his clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 dollar bill back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything. At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting

Sajid Amit the rooms, takes his 100 dollar bill, and after saying he did not like any of the rooms, leaves town.

No one earned anything. However, several people are now without debt, and look to the future with more optimism.

The above story is oft-repeated in business school and economics classrooms.

The rich tourist laying the 100 dollar bill on the hotel counter is a metaphor for general citizens putting their money in a bank. In the context of Bangladesh, this is particularly illustrative, given our low bank sector penetration. By putting

our money in a bank, instead of stuffing it away somewhere in our homes, we enable banks to put our money to the most productive uses that benefit our economy.

In the story, transactions between the various townsfolk are metaphors for bank lending and consumer spending. Generally, within limits, when banks lend more and consumers spend more, economic well-being ensues.

Lastly, the above story is also used to illustrate the concept of velocity of circulation or velocity of money. This refers to how frequently the money in an economy is used in a given period.

Velocity of money is higher in countries with deeper and more technologically-proficient financial markets.

There are, of course, balances to be maintained between encouraging higher velocity, maintaining the existing money stock, and increasing the productive capacity in an economy, in order to keep a check on inflation.

Generally, however, for a growth economy like ours, especially one with a low GDP base and stable inflation, velocity can be an important driver of future growth. l Sajid Amit is Director, Center for Enterprise & Society, ULAB

China stock market burns investors with boom-and-bust n AFP, Shanghai Small-time investor Tracy Li lost more than $3,000 of her hard-earned salary from working at a bank after China’s stock market crashed last summer, wiping out trillions of dollars in valuations in just days.

A year later, and she has been burned twice, betting government intervention to prop up the market after the rout would guarantee good returns.

“Everybody was saying that the market was starting to rebound,” she told AFP. “I bought a stock a friend recommended to me, but now I’ve lost 35% of my investment this year.”

Her story is not much different from that of millions of other private investors who saw their savings go up in smoke during a year of countless government attempts to prop up the beleaguered market.

Despite Beijing’s best efforts, stock prices remain in the doldrums, with a reform agenda put on the back burner.

Sunday marks the first anniversary of the day it all began to crumble, when the Shanghai stock market - having soared in the previous 12 months started a 40% slide that it is struggling to recover from.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose more than 150 percent in the year to June 12, 2015, peaking at 5,166.35 as the government loosened limits on trading with borrowed money

and encouraged buying with glowing commentary in state-controlled media.

The bubble had been fuelled by lax government controls and rash investors looking for a quick profit, in what analysts say is an object lesson in the risks of trying to use policy to defy market forces.

When the collapse came, it destroyed fortunes, sparked a costly state bail-out, and shattered investor sentiment.

But hard lessons were still to come.

As the market plunged, China tasked a “national team” to prop up prices by directly buying at least $236bn worth of stocks, according to one estimate, which state-linked entities are still holding after hints they might unload them sparked renewed market panic.

Initially, the measures seemed to work, with the stock market rallying more than 24% from the low in August to mid-December.

But another crash came in January - with global repercussions - after the botched implementation of a so-called “circuit breaker”, which was intended to halt trading in case of volatility but instead created a disastrous feedback loop that drove heavy sell-offs.

‘Forget high returns’

Many of those who returned to stocks after the initial crash got burned.

Software company boss Huo Jiayu invested 20,000 yuan ($3,000) in January, but he was caught by the renewed fall this year, which was driven by wor-

ries over China’s flailing economy and weakening currency.

“I was trapped. I didn’t even have the chance to cut my losses and before I knew it, I was losing too much money to get out,” Huo told AFP. China removed the head of the market regulator responsible for the fiasco but the debacle raised questions about the government’s managerial abilities and its commitment to promised market reforms.

“The government should avoid stimulating the market through policies. It should strive to build an open, free and fair market under the rule of law,” said Hong Hao, Hong Kong-based chief strategist at securities firm BOCOM International.

Investors learned a “profound” lesson, too, he said, becoming more wary of the margin trading -- the use of borrowed funds to buy stock -- that played a key role in the run up.

Now, the stock market has recovered slightly from January and February’s plunge but it is still down almost 20 percent this year, making it the world’s worst performing market among indexes tracked by the Wall Street Journal.

On Wednesday, the last trading day before a holiday, the Shanghai Composite Index closed at almost the exact same level as its low in August - the depths of the summer crash - and analysts warned there could still be further losses. l

Coming wave of gas puts focus on finding new shores n Reuters, London Energy giants such as Royal Dutch Shell and Total are looking to build terminals and power plants in new markets to soak up the industry’s rapidly burgeoning supply.

Companies have invested billions in plants to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) in places such as Australia and the United States.

But gas demand growth is slowing, prices are down and the LNG volumes companies are set to produce will exceed those even major buyers such as China and Japan can absorb.

That has turned attention to the downstream market and opportunities to create new markets from Ivory Coast to remote Indonesian islands by building gas-fired power plants, pipelines, regasification and storage terminals.

“We are ready to go downstream as much as it takes to unlock gas demand,” said Laurent Vivier, president for the gas division at Total.

“We need to be present in downstream ourselves, to create demand and unlock bottlenecks along the chain including regasification, pipelines and power plants.”

Total aims to triple the number of its gas and power markets and raise its annual LNG output to 20 million tonnes and its trading to 15 million tonnes by 2020.

The company is taking part in LNG infrastructure tenders, including several gas-fired power plants, in countries including Indonesia, Chile, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Morocco, Vivier said.

Shell believes the number of markets buying LNG could double, according to its chief financial officer, Simon Henry.

“From around 20 to 30 ... we can see potential for around 50 different markets if you look out to 2030,” Henry said.

“Our aim is to capture the best share of those who are looking now to start or grow.” The focus on downstream mimics a model that companies such as Shell, Total, Exxon Mobil and Chevron have used for decades in the oil sector where their operations span oil wells, refineries and service stations.

But some analysts question how easily that model can be reproduced.

“Whether they succeed in this is another story, whether they have the mindset for this type of work is also another story,” said Thierry Bros, senior gas analyst at French bank Societe Generale.

“It will be a painful test for these companies who are not that experienced in building small downstream demand,” he said. l

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

Car giants see road to riches in sharing n AFP, Paris Auto giants are racing to invest in car- and ride-sharing services, lured by the prospect of fat profits yet to be tapped from a billion cars on the world's roads.

A typical car spends 95% of its life at a standstill, industry analysts say, making it a vastly under-utilised, depreciating asset. There may be big money waiting, therefore, for the business that can get the car moving again.

That is incentive enough for manufacturers from Toyota to Volkswagen and General Motors to join an investment rush, apparently without fear of ushering in a future in which individual car ownership is no longer king.

Thinking of the car business as a service dramatically changes perceptions of its value, Morgan Stanley analyst Laura Lembke told a conference in Munich this past week.

New car sales worldwide run at about 80 million a year bringing in

$1.5tn (1.3tn euros), Lembke said.

But the total existing stock of cars is closer to one billion vehicles.

If the average cost of a trip is $1 a mile (0.56 euros per kilometre), she estimated the market value could be as much as $10tn.

That estimate helps to explain the valuations placed on apps such as ride-hailing service Uber, valued at $62.5bn - a third more than the world's number three auto manufacturer General Motors.

Large investments

GM this year invested $500m in Lyft, one of the chief competitors to Uber in the United States. Last month, Toyota announced a strategic partnership with Uber, with an undisclosed investment. Volkswagen ploughed $300m euros into taxi app Gett on the same day.

"Alongside our pioneering role in the automotive business, we aim to become a world leading mobility provider by 2025," said Volkswagen chief executive Matthias Mueller.

Automakers see an opportunity but it is too early to accurately assess the potential value of such a young industry, said Jeremy Carlson, senior analyst of automotive technology at research group IHS. Car manufacturers may sell into a fleet of vehicles for drivers to use in these new services, he said. Or they may decide to gain experience and launch competing services.

"Yes, this has the potential and the likelihood to impact the traditional automotive business model at least in some capacity," Carlson conceded.

"But we don't expect the kind of traditional ownership and sales model to disappear anytime soon.

We expect it to be the majority until at least 2035 and for all of those years vehicle sales, the traditional model, remains the vast majority of our automotive sales."

Self-driving cars

Even if the future brings us self-driving vehicles combined

CORPORATE NEWS

Standard Chartered Bank has recently arranged a zero coupon bond worth Tk 2.45bn for BSRM Steels Limited, a concern of BSRM Group, said a press release. Managing director of BSRM Group, Aameir Alihussain and Abrar A Anwar, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh were present at the announcement ceremony

Julphar Bangladesh Ltd, a subsidiary of Julphar General Trading LLC (UAE) has recently been awarded certification of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 by Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) for the quality control laboratory, said a press release. Ministry of Industries, Amir Hossain Amu handed over the accreditation certificate to Sudhir Kumar Sinha, managing director of Julphar Bangladesh

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Business with car-hailing apps to offer a service rivalling the convenience of private ownership, the market for car manufacturers could survive, the analyst said.

"When you have autonomous added to car sharing and ride sharing, those vehicles are running at a higher rate and are making many more trips.

The idea is that you will replace those vehicles much faster," Carlson explained.

"There may be an impact on the total vehicle production and sales base, but it's certainly not nearly as drastic as we have seen in other reports."

Paulin Dementhon, founder of Drivy, a French app that lets car owners rent out their vehicles, said the new services were starting to live up to their promise.

Manufacturers, now concerned primarily with building and selling vehicles, would have to decide how to adapt to a market of car-related services, he said. l

Govt to procure 450,000 prepaid meters n Tribune Business Desk The government will procure 450,000 electricity prepaid meters for three zones – Mymensingh, Comilla and Chittagong – under the prepayment meter system project, said official sources.

The cabinet committee on public purchase approved the proposal of the energy ministry yesterday.

Iniatial target of the project taken by the Energy Division is to provide a total of 4.3m customers with prepaid meters in six zones at Tk4,593 crore. The government is funding the project. The zones include: Rajshahi, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Comilla and Chittagong.

After the meeting yesterday, Additional Secretary of Cabinet Division Mostafizur Rahman said a Chinese firm named M/S Hexing Electrical Company will supply 450,000 prepaid meters at a cost of Tk220.17 crore. l

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

Education

For a better Bangladesh n Saudia Afrin Professor Dr M Wahiduzzaman, vice-chancellor of Noakhali Science and Technology University recently shared his views on life, philosophy and the overall performance of the university with Dhaka Tribune.

What are the challenges you have faced so far, after taking the responsibility of vice chancellor of Noakhali Science and Technology University?

To succeed on prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s vision of building a developed and self-efficient Bangladesh by 2041, we are working on constructing the Noakhali Science and Technology

the faculty of social science and business studies is the new addition.

Introducing the department of Bangladesh and war studies, and getting it running, was my biggest challenge yet. In addition, we have introduced a general course called “Shadhin Bangladesher obhudoyer itihash” to educate students from all departments about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as well as the liberation war of Bangladesh. A mural has been installed at the entrance of the university, in the memory of the greatest leader of Bangladesh.

Your philosophy as a vice chancellor?

As a vice chancellor, I am neutral.

quality education and technologybased knowledge.

How do you plan to bring dynamism in the university under your tenure?

Last December, I visited the United Kingdom as a part of Noakhali Science and Technology University’s educational program, in an partnered with the University of Stirling where the agreement which states that necessary initiatives will be taken for the “Inspire” program to be effective.

In addition, a bilateral discussion on education consistency was conducted with the Anglia Ruskin University. In order to bring dynamism in academic work, we have recently hired teachers

PHOTO: XXX

University to mirror the renowned University of Cambridge.

As the first step, we have succeeded in establishing three new departments, two institutions, and one faculty. The departments are the department of Bangladesh and liberation war studies, department of electrical and electronic engineering and department of statistics. The two new institutions are institution of information science and institute of information technology while

In order to direct the university accordingly, I take inspiration from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s principles and aspire to follow Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s footsteps.

The prime minister has taken steps for constructing a developed and self-efficient country, and those will be implemented in our campuses. My observation is, to be a middle income country, there needs to be a change in some basic issues. To move forward, we need

with PhD degrees – scientists and internationally renowned scholars who are experienced in research.

The research cell has been reconstructed and special allocation has been given to the cell by the government as both teachers and students have more chances to initiate research work. Introduction of education programs like MPhil and PhD are already in the planning stages.

Alongside classrooms, seminar rooms, building rooms, internet

facility, transport facility, constructing residential halls and lab facility, there are many other developmental activities lined up.

What are the problems that you have faced so far?

Rescuing the university from the culture of chaos and disruption has been my biggest concern. Ever since I joined, the university hasn’t shut down for unusual activities, even for a single day, not even for strikes or any other political activities.

Previously, the university would shut down, disrupting classes for no apparent reason.

There were a lot of irregularities which put pressure on previous VCs, and were specifically aimed to take advantage of the chaotic situations. This has been my biggest problem, and I am glad that I have been able to solve it.

Tell us something about the government’s cooperation in the university’s infrastructure development and research?

Support by the prime minister along with my own lobbying has resulted in a project of 238 crores and 48 lakhs, all of it being approved for infrastructure development purposes. These include, construction of teachers quarters, staff quarters, central water supply complex, medical centre, and a mosque. Moreover, an additional 10 crores has been allotted by the finance ministry for building dormitories, expanding the guest house, and for the completion of the teachers’ residence.

Since joining as VC, I have been trying my best to implement different projects for infrastructure and academic development.

Noteworthy projects for the future include the Bangabandhu international sea and marine resources management research institute. The institute will be built near the university, occupying 875 acres of land. It will consist of an eco-friendly tourist zone, and a blue economic zone. Moreover, it will have also include a mangrove forest, as well as a safari park.

We are planning it to be the first institute where marine science, marine resources, delta building, environmental ecology and space research will be taught and researched.

All these projects will play a vital role in making prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s dream a reality. l

Noteworthy projects for the future include the Bangabandhu international sea and marine resources management research institute

DT

17

Health

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

Ramadan: Your ‘fat loss’ solution

The science and the tips behind efficiently using this month as a great opportunity to loss weight

PHOTO: BIGSTOCK

n Reaz Mahmud Fiem I am back with another weekly dose of nutrition and fitness to help you guys. I hope you are all managing to keep up with the long fasting hours this Ramadan.

I know many of you have fat loss goals for this month (just like in previous years) but sadly, you may end up actually gaining weight instead. However, with some strategic planning, you can actually lose a considerable amount of weight. In my opinion, Ramadan is in fact, the perfect month to break the code to “excess body fat.”

Let me introduce you to some science to explain why Ramadan is a prime time to shed a few pounds.

Ramadan or intermittent fasting, involves a lengthy period of time without any ingestion of food. We only consume food after a certain allotted period of time. So, what happens to the body when there is no food in the system?

The science behind it The first thing that happens is that the level of insulin remains very low. That is, no food leads to no blood sugar surges and thus

no release of insulin. Absence of insulin means your body can access its fat store. As a result, better fat mobilisation takes place, leading towards fat loss.

In order to gain the maximum benefit from this scientific phenomenon, we can take a few major steps. If fat loss is the aim, then the first thing we can do is to add some exercise to our routine.

It is better if you can do high intensity exercises, but I will not recommend that for people who are a bit overweight.

In that case, a simple inclined treadmill walk might just work.

The best time to work out for fat loss is when you are fasting. You can pick a time that will allow you to finish your workout half an hour before you break the fast.

Now comes the nutrition part.

If you wish to remain motivated regarding fat loss, then you’ve got to work on it. My advice would be to eat super clean. If you have decided to eat clean at least once a year, that time should be during Ramadan.

Eating clean is eating nutrition dense food rather than highly refined food. We should try to eat clean because when we are breaking fast, there is no point in stressing an empty stomach with food which is of poor quality.

Therefore, by eating quality food and avoiding those that are high in sugar or are deep fried, we can take a huge step towards our fat loss goal.

Your meals should have lots of fresh fruit which include healthy natural sugar, a good source of protein cooked or grilled in very little oil, and some greens to complete the quota of fibre for the day. Choose the right source of carbohydrate; I personally prefer rice to bread.

Water should be in abundance in all meals. Sugary drinks should be avoided in most cases if you want to see any sort of result.

Lastly, the majority of your food consumption for the day should be during iftar, while taking it easy during other meals in terms of volume.

Clean eating So what is eating clean and why is there so much emphasis on it?

Sleep is the key Sleep well through the night. One major problem of not sleeping

We should try to eat clean because when we are breaking fast, there is no point in stressing an empty stomach with food which is of poor quality

is that it will keep you under tremendous stress. This will prevent you from performing optimally during the day without food and water.

Moreover, if you do not sleep at night, you will be more inclined towards snacking during the period from iftar till suhur and it’s not good news from the fat loss perspective. So get the right amount of sleep no matter what, and you will feel better.

If you can be a little strict on yourself this Ramadan, I believe that you will see a remarkable

change in your waistline. You might pull off wearing that fancy Eid outfit better and even manage to keep on chasing away body fat even after Ramadan is over.

Remember that we just need a starting point and Ramadan can give us that. However, among the thirty fasting days, you can allow yourself one or two cheat days where you can treat yourself to a bit of greasy, deep-fried indulgence.

You just need to make sure though that it does not happen during every iftar. l

DT

18

Ramadan Special

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

People you meet during Ramadan loogieman is the kind of person who spits all day, literally. Drinking liquids isn’t permitted while you’re fasting, which, of course, does not apply to a person’s saliva. If only somebody had informed the loogieman, huh? Imagine the streets of Medina if this was true, there would be no dry place to walk!

The inquisitor

The inquisitors of the world take it upon themselves to make sure if you’re fasting or not. To make matters worse, they will insist on every tiny detail, whether you are fasting, whether you’re fasting on an empty stomach, and if not, what exactly you had to eat. We wonder though, what possible satisfaction could they get out of this?

The shopamatic

n SK Farhan Rahman Maybe it’s the hours of starvation or the scorching heat, but for some reason, Ramadan tends to bring out different traits in people. Whatever it may be, you can rest assured that this holy month causes some interesting behaviours to surface. Here are the kinds of people you come across in Ramadan.

in hand. Traffic in Dhaka being what it is, is it really a surprise that rojdaars tend to lose it at gridlocks? The fun starts just before iftar. With traffic congestions creating a muck out of things, rojdaars rushing home can usually be seen yelling and honking their frustrations away. rojdaars rushing home to their families, or to food most likely, never fail to disappoint.

The road rage rojdaar

The loogieman

Crankiness and hunger go hand

A fine specimen, this one. The

Shout out to all the shopamatics out there, they are the real MVPs. A shopamatic is the kind of person who runs out to shop for Eid the second their Iftar ends. While the rest of us are busy hugging our beds, the shopamatics are busy spreading joy to vendors everywhere. Bless you, your energy levels are beyond reproach.

The human pacman

The happiest of the bunch, and probably everyone’s favourite.

The human pacman is the kind of person who compensates for the lack of food the entire day. As soon as the sun sets and iftar starts, their feasting begins. Gulping down everything in their paths, the human pacmen of the world continue binge eating till sunrise.

From dusk till dawn, the human pacman will devour his fair share of food, overcompensating for the day

that is yet to come.

The social steamroller

Just as a selfie opportunity presents itself, a wild social steamroller approaches. The social steamroller is the kind of person known for the eccentric amount of selfies he takes. Whether it’s an iftar party, sehri party, or even prayers at the local mosque, social steamrollers are always on the lookout for a selfie opportunity.

The oathbreaker

Ramadan is the month of forgiveness, and as such, an opportunity to become more religious. Oathbreakers are the ones who makes a pious promise to themselves to be devoted to god throughout the year. Sadly, they lose their way as Ramadan ends, and end up breaking their own promises.

The nicotine lover

Ramadan is a tough time for smokers everywhere. While most can stomach the hunger, the craving for cigarettes intensifies

as iftar approaches. The nicotine lover dreams about the first post iftar smoke, and at a certain point, confusion arises if they are really hungry, or just desperately craving a smoke.

The sleeper

Fasting takes a lot out of you, and at times, the only sensible thing left to do is sleep. That’s exactly what the sleepers do, sleep during the day, and wake up just before the sun sets. Neat trick to cope with the hunger, but not really worth fasting if you forget why you’re fasting in the first place. l

19

DT

Feature

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

The backbencher’s dream As 10 Minute School launches their new live lessons programme, the founders talk to Dhaka Tribune about their journey and future plans

n

Shegufta Hasnine Surur

10 Minute School isn’t news anymore. When it arrived in mid-2015 as a website catering to the learning needs of college students and university admission seekers, it may have needed an introduction. Now with around 1,500 visitors every day and 127,000 followers on Facebook, 10-Minute School has become a household name for students across the nation.

But if you haven’t heard of them, go to their website at www.10minuteschool.com and check them out. They’re an open education website in the Khan Academy vein, with each video lesson and interactive quizzes being kept under 10 minutes.

So what’s new?

Live classes on Facebook, of course! With the university admission season coming up, the school has launched a free admissions coaching programmes.

Classes started on June 1 and will continue till December.

The classes are around 1-hour long and they cover intermediate physics, chemistry, biology, Bangla, English, general knowledge, management and accounting. Students can get the routine and notices from a group called “10 Minute School LIVE Admission Coaching.”

During Ramadan, the school is taking one class each on Tuesdays and Fridays at 10pm. But after Ramadan, there will be two classes four days a week.

The first few classes have gotten around 5,000 students while they were live - arguably the biggest classroom in Bangladesh ever.

The programme was made possible through a generous sponsorship from Robi. This is a long way from the days when the founder, still a student then, would scrape together his income from tutoring to fund all the efforts.

At the home of one of the members, which was being used as the company’s workplace for the day, Ayman Sadiq, founder CEO (no, it’s chief everything officer), sheepishly admits that full financial viability is still not in sight.

“Of course, we’re getting some wonderful support from Robi

PHOTO: BIGSTOCK

right now,” he adds. However, the school is still looking at several options to be self-financed.

But the uncertainty does not seem to bother the talented IBA graduate, who instead of settling down in a cozy corporate position, as is the wont of his lot, has decided to lead his brainchild as a full-time job.

His confidence is understandable, considering how many hurdles the school has successfully jumped over to get here.

“I spent money on two professional web development firms, but they couldn’t deliver.

Then I spoke to Raied. He and I are neighbours.”

Buet student Abyad Raied, the school’s chief technology officer, is the man who singlehandedly built the first version of the website.

“I didn’t know any coding when Ayman bhai asked me to do this,” Raied replies when I ask whether

10 Minute School is planning to provide skill training and other essential knowledge bases for people who have dropped out of the school system and for unskilled workers at home and abroad

he is thinking of a programming career. “I learned how to build websites for the school.”

But when they went live for the first time, the site went down in 4-5 hours from the traffic overload.

“In the end we had to put the money together to get a dedicated server,” the CTO says. Further down the line, Raied wants to

bring the cost of using the school website down as much as possible.

“This includes optimising the site’s performance so that it takes less data to load,” he says. “But eventually, I want the site moved to a local server for better speed, and we will try to remove the data charges for our users.”

He is also planning to make

learning on the website more interactive. Students who have signed up as users on 10 Minute School can earn points through quizzes and watching videos. Recently the leaderboard was changed to weekly (from permanent), giving students more of a competitive edge.

Geneticist Shamir Montazid is the most popular teacher on the website. He has been around since before the days of the website when he’d upload lessons on YouTube and Facebook. He is currently doing his masters in genetics at Dhaka University.

For his biology and chemistry classes at the school, Shamir has adopted the curious moniker of Heisenberg.

“People say they find similarities between me and that character,” said Shamir, meaning the TV series Breaking Bad’s chemistry teacher character Walter White, who takes the name Heisenberg when he becomes a drug kingpin.

And his students just think it’s cool that they’re learning chemistry from Walter White.

Shamir believes 10 Minute School can break barriers to quality education for students.

“Wherever you are in the country, whichever school you go to, no matter what time of the day, you can come to our website to learn.

All you need is the Internet you’re already using.”

“To be perfectly honest, our real target audience are the backbenchers,” he says. The lessons are designed to explain the basics and include a range of study hacks that are bound to make life easier for any student.

Whither from here?

10 Minute School is planning to provide skill training and other essential knowledge bases for people who have dropped out of the school system and for unskilled workers at home and abroad.

“At the end of the day, schoolgoing childen are only a small portion of the population.

Learning is for everyone,” says Ayman.

“Everybody talks about education, but nobody talks about learning, When you’re taught something, you need to be able to use that knowledge in real life.” l

DT

20 Editorial

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

TODAY

AL and the spirit of the Medina Charter The Medina Charter is a practical document about political and social management by the ruling group which is facing threats from without and within PAGE 21

How to break your fast We say, at the beginning of the month of abstinence, that one should not indulge, though, by the time 10 or 15 days are gone, the arrangements at the dinner table become more and more elaborate with each passing day PAGE 22

The usual suspects The history of the past two decades in many Muslim countries shows how militancy spread from small incidents of stray killing to more organised devastation and finally to battle PAGE 23

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.

BIGSTOCK

Take appropriate action against Kalpana’s abductors

M

ore often than not, criminals tend to get away scot-free for crimes committed here in Bangladesh, but unfortunately, there are cases that have been pending for decades, and not only has justice not been served, there seems to be a lack of interest from the authority in taking appropriate action in serving justice at all.

On June 12, 1996, Kalpana Chakma, a 23-year old Pahari activist, was abducted from her home village in Rangamati. 20 years have passed, and yet, the investigation into this kidnapping has still yet to come to any positive conclusion.

Her disappearance came at a time when she was raising issues of indigenous women being discriminated against, routinely tortured, abducted, raped, and killed.

She advocated for the right of indigenous people to their land. Even though she was threatened before her abduction, she refused to keep quiet.

The past two committees that have been formed to investigate and the current third committee have not produced any report on who abducted Kalpana Chakma.

Neither of these three committees has even interviewed those that have been accused. Even key witness accounts, where abductors are clearly identified, are not being included in any of the investigation reports.

Cases such as these give criminals the courage to commit crimes as there is no more fear of consequences -- and this does not come as a surprise given the spate of violence, corruption, abductions, and killings that our country has been witnessing.

Complacency in ensuring justice only serves to embolden perpetrators to break the rule of law. We must work together to uphold it.

Individuals within authority who feel that appropriate action should be taken must themselves garner the courage to battle any odds against them, so that we can be all proud of having a Bangladesh that brings all criminals, irrespective of who they are, to justice.

Lack of effort in ensuring justice will only encourage further crime

DT

21

Opinion

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

AL and the spirit of the Medina Charter To understand the AL’s brand of statecraft, it is important to understand the Medina Charter Ummah (nation/people) is very important. But the Ummah is the conglomerate and is not a declaration of blanket acceptance of all residents of Medina as its part.

The charter says: “This is a document governing relations between the Believers ie Muslims of Quraysh and Yathrib (Medina) and those who followed them and worked hard with them. They form one nation -- Ummah.”

The enemies of Ummah are clearly described just as the friends are. And loyalty is a value that is cherished above all. *

What are the lessons the PM is taking from the Medina Charter?

NASHIRUL ISLAM

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Three clauses of the charter are important about the management of Medina: • Everyone (individual) will have his share (of treatment) in accordance with what party he belongs to.

• Individuals must benefit or suffer for the good or bad deed of the group they belong to.

• Without such a rule, party affiliations and discipline cannot be maintained.

the ruling group can’t be used as a tool for personal gain or inflicting harm on others.

This is the most sensitive part of the documents, as it challenges the twin concepts of loyalty co-existing with security and it’s this aspect of the Charter that brings the greatest challenge to contemporary rulers implementing the Medina Charter.

and the final interpretation of the charter lay with the Believers.

But it was a civil document, and consultation was important.

Most importantly, the principle that governed Medina is stated: “Believers are all friends to each other to the exclusion of all others.”

*

How does that relate to the present Awami League rule and its attitude towards governance and other players in the state?

Two elements are very emphatic in the charter. One is the element about identity -- the Believer -- and the other is the element about loyalty.

These are the non-consultative parts of the charter and to a significant way are the principles that define the functioning of the AL too. To the AL, the right to rule is not only about the principles of pluralism but the principles of legitimacy.

It’s rooted primarily in its foundational role in 1971, when it believed in Bangladesh.

What follows afterwards is a continuation.

If there was a violent interruption in 1975, it would have come from the political infidels, and that is why the Jamaat-BNP becomes a “spiritual enemy” and opposing it goes beyond the political.

The task that the AL has chosen for itself is to be the saviour of Bangladesh, and it’s here that lies the key to the understanding of both what is good and bad about AL. It would seem that this perception doesn’t lie in the constitution alone, but in the AL’s self-belief of being responsible for the well-being of Bangladesh as well.

It’s not a political governance issue only; it’s about being on a chosen path to be traversed as a party chosen by history.

Its pedigree goes back all the way to the date of its founding in 1949 through the war of 1971 and today.

Reading the constitution is not enough to understand the AL; one must read the Medina Charter too.

The constitution is the framework of the state, AL’s first document, but its spirit is in the other document, the Medina Charter. l

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The Quraysh tribe had both Believers -- émigrés to Medina -and those who were in Mecca and had thrown out the Believers.

Thus identifying and dealing with the genesis of enmity and loyalty was very important, as it was critical to the survival of Islam.

Survival in Medina meant the survival of Islam, and so no chances were taken about the management of threat and the biggest issue was unquestionable loyalty.

But discrimination was denied.

The charter states: “No Jew will be wronged for being a Jew.”

n Afsan Chowdhury

W

hen Sheikh Hasina declared that she was going to run majority-minority relations according to the Medina Charter, many thought it was a shift away from “secularism” for political convenience.

The charter was promulgated by the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) in the sixth century and is considered the first written document describing governance particularly of multi-culturalism. But the charter is much more than that as any reading shows.

It conceptualised political identity, prescribed conflict management methods, ways to tackle enemies, and lays out the role and rights of minorities and the majority as well.

It is a tool for confidence building and crisis management.

The charter has its roots in ancient history, but the lessons appear applicable even today as Hasina is saying. *

*

*

The Medina Charter was a practical document about political and social management by the ruling group which was facing threats from without and within. It dealt with the issue of rights for all and threat to the security of rising Islam.

The Medina Charter was a practical document about political and social management by the ruling group which was facing threats from without and within. It dealt with the issue of rights for all and threat to the security of rising Islam So, party loyalty for the Believers is of prime importance, for without it Medina will be threatened. And those who are not Believers are acceptable to the Ummah only if they are loyal.

“The Jews, including their freedmen, have the same standing, as other parties to the Pact, as long as they are loyal to the Pact. Loyalty is a protection against treachery.

Anyone who acts loyally or otherwise does it for his own good (or loss).”

Statecraft in the Medina Charter is about building a society based on mutual benefit and strict codes of loyalty.

It came soon after the Battle of Badr and in a period of transition as the society moved to a postpastoral economy. The forces of Islam -- as a political group -- had gained much, and were in a state of consolidation, but still in danger.

The charter principles are: • That Islam (Believers) is the primary legitimate ruling force in Medina.

• It is in charge of fighting the enemies and maintaining peace among the infighting tribes in Medina and providing protection to all.

• No mercy was to be shown to the enemies of Islam such as the Quraysh of Mecca.

• Subject to certain conditions and loyalty, all minorities including the Jews would be treated fairly and as equals with the Believers. *

*

In the charter the concept of

*

*

*

*

The problem of misuse of power is also discussed in the charter.

It states: “This document will not (be employed to) protect one who is unjust or commits a crime (against other parties of the Pact).”

In other words, identity with

It also says that those Jews who follow the Believers will be helped and will be treated with equality.

This is what is understood as the even-handed treatment of minorities. But it’s also qualified by another principle.

No un-Believer will intervene in favour of a Quraysh, because the Quraysh having declared war are the enemy.

So, forgiveness of enemies has no space in the charter. *

*

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The Medina Charter is not just about protection of minorities, but protection of Medina and its guardians, the Believers also. They were in charge of security and ensuring peace within.

The minorities were welcome to live there as equals subject to certain conditions which included proof of loyalty and fighting wars alongside them.

There is no space for dissent and disagreement in the charter

*

*

Afsan Chowdhury is a journalist and researcher.

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22

DT

Opinion

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

How to break your fast Old Dhaka is full of gastronomical traditions

This Ramadan, what’s on your plate?

DHAKA TRIBUNE

We say, at the beginning of the month of abstinence, that one should not indulge, though, by the time 10 or 15 days are gone, the arrangements at the dinner table become more and more elaborate with each passing day

n Towheed Feroze

E

ating has become a major pastime in Dhaka; what a varied flavour the dining out scenario now presents!

The situation becomes even more extravagant during the month of Ramadan.

We say, at the beginning of the month of abstinence, that one should not indulge, though, by the time 10 or 15 days are gone, the arrangements at the dinner table become more and more elaborate with each passing day.

Khashir leg roast is the rage in my area (Elephant Road).

Sumptuous looking legs smothered in dark-coloured

gravy are most coveted. There is something deliciously primordial about this item. Imagine tearing meat from a leg at sunset! The other day, a scuffle ensued near a biriyani-selling spot when their stock of leg roasts ran out.

The law had to intervene!

The angered customer had to be pacified with the line: “OK, tomorrow, you will be the first to get the much desired item.” Overheard someone talking energetically on the walkie-talkie: “Charlie 7, leg roast niya jhamela” (fracas over leg roast).

This year, I find that the fascination with the much publicised Old Town dish Boro Baaper Polae Khae has dwindled

significantly, especially among those who had actually tasted it before. Well, I am not surprised.

This dish is perhaps the most disgusting item conceivable.

An assortment of items (shredded chicken, chickpeas, lentils, eggs, and a wide range of other things) are mixed together to make something which is called Boro Baaper Polae Khae (The son of an affluent father eats this).

Honestly, in the list of surreal food names, this has to be among the top five.

One thing is for certain: In my many excursions to the Old Town, never ever saw a woman buying Boro Baaper Pola.

A football playing pal said

philosophically: “Right, how about Boro Baaper Maiya Khae?” (daughter of an affluent father eats this).

Not a bad idea! Just put the thought into some Old Dhaka entrepreneur and we may have a new dish.

Above all, gender parity will be restored!

The fascination for Boro Baaper Pola, emanating mostly from the rather absurd name, will evaporate once you taste this.

Am I being a bit too harsh here?

Perhaps this demands an acquired taste. Interestingly, the hullabaloo over Boro Baap never dies out completely, each time attracting a new bunch of people; I won’t be surprised if, next year, the item makes its way into the developed parts of Dhaka.

How about calling a restaurant Boro Baaper Pola? With the additional line: Khaiben, niben bhorti koira jhola!

Sorry to say, many of the iftar items of the Old Town, publicised for so long for their flamboyant character, are only left in name,

hardly in food value.

The famous Shutli kebab of Old Town, a large chunk of beef which is tied with a thread and then put inside a furnace for cooking, is now a large lump consisting mostly of grounded lentils with a hint of beef. Hence, the beef Shutli kebab can have its name changed to Daal kebab, beef flavour.

Khashir Nolli is a recent item! If you are a newcomer to traditional restaurants, don’t be surprised if you hear, “oi, nolli lo, nolli!” shouted at the top of someone’s voice.

This is a thick broth made with lamb hoof (lamb hoof stew)! No worries, I brought blood pressure pills with me, my pal Chankharpul er Roissha tells me.

Another friend, who is better known as Biriyani Mamun (he owns the Mamun biriyani chain) is doing brisk business.

When, after having polao for iftar, nolli for dinner, and polao again for sehri, someone told me, “boss, I feel no pangs of hunger during fasting,” I tried hard to look impressed.

Please correct me if I am wrong -- Dhaka residents have found another gastronomic obsession of late: Kaala bhoona and Mesbani gosht.

The Chittagong Bull in Gulshan serves top class Mezbani.

To end, here is a real life experience from two days ago, at Star: One guy in my group, Alom, stays at the Dhaka Medical Staff Quarter, and has some influence in the area as an organiser, social worker, and local guardian. While we were jostling to get some iftar, noticed a young woman and a teenage girl trying to find some space to place the orders for the fast-dwindling mutton kidney kebab.

Alom, the valiant he is, came to the rescue: Cleared the way, and got them the desired item.

Not only that, he ran upstairs and arranged a table amidst the pandemonium of shoppers gathered to break their fast.

The women were truly grateful: Please have iftar with us, they invited, but our Alom declined with a gracious smile, adding, “apa, no worries, one day will come to your house for iftar and bring all the kidney kebab you can eat. If I may have the phone number.”

What could I say? Alom is no “boro baaper pola” but he is certainly a “buddhiman pola.” l Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

DT

23

Opinion

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

The usual suspects We need a direct approach to tackling terrorism in this country

n Ziauddin Choudhury

I

t has happened again. A man from a religious minority group has been hacked to death in broad daylight within weeks of the killing of three others, two Hindus and a Christian. But to say that these murders are targeted against the religious minorities alone will be an exaggeration.

Only two weeks earlier, the wife of a senior police official, a Muslim, was killed in broad daylight in a busy city.

Prior to that, a village doctor, also a Muslim, was hacked to death while riding a motor bike along with a university teacher.

Obviously, the targets are not religious minorities alone. Is there a pattern in these killings? Do we know who are behind them?

In Bangladesh, some of us may pretend to not know the answer, but the whole world outside seems to have a good sense of what is going on in the country.

The foreign press has, time and again, mentioned the prospect of the rise of Islamic militancy in Bangladesh, pointing at the alarming rise in the brutal murders of people identified as being secular or people from religious minorities.

There have been at least two dozen murders in the last two years of people of all sections of society: Teachers, bloggers, writers, religious minority, and even foreigners. None of these has been solved, not to speak of bringing the real perpetrators to justice.

Instead, we have official rhetoric of hounding the criminals without delay, and broad-brush accusations against political parties opposed to the government for the killings so as to destabilise the government and tarnish its image.

At no point has there been any official acknowledgement of the possibility of the rise and existence of a militant group in the country that has a more sinister design and objective than just embarrassing the government.

It may be fair to argue that in the current scale of terrorism and Islamic militancy that is seen in other countries, a targeted killing of individuals by some hired thugs does not necessarily mean that the country is falling into the grips of a militant organisation which is about to challenge the government.

After all, the country has yet to witness a devastation of the kind

many other countries have seen recently in the shape of a massive bomb attack or suicide mission.

But the history of the past two decades in many Muslim countries show how militancy spread from small incidents of stray killing to more organised devastation and finally to battle.

History also shows how the denial of any nascent religious militancy by a government has led to tragic consequences both for the government and people at large.

Pakistan paid a heavy toll in human lives and international reputation because of its negligence of the signs of a brewing Islamic militancy in the famous Lal Masjid of Islamabad earlier this century.

The initial denial of the growth of a radical group in the heart of the capital by the Pakistan government has led to the rise of a Frankenstein’s monster that the government had to deal with at great cost.

For militancy to rise and operate in today’s environment, the best way is through intimidation and the overpowering of opposition by sudden attacks.

These can take place either by the tactics adopted by the militants in other countries such as massive killing by bomb attacks, suicide missions, or by targeted killing. The acts of terrorism in Bangladesh so far have been targeted killings.

But it will be too simplistic, or even dangerous, to explain away these attacks as random terrorism or political vendetta.

This not only gives more leeway to the would-be militants

We need to push our law enforcement agencies in the right direction

The history of the past two decades in many Muslim countries shows how militancy spread from small incidents of stray killing to more organised devastation and finally to battle to organise more massive attacks, but also gives opportunities to our law enforcement agencies to refrain from chasing the real perpetrators of these crimes and their organisations.

Security of the nation and people is a paramount objective of any government.

A country has a defense force to protect its external borders and a law enforcement agency to protect its people.

An external threat is the responsibility of the defense

force; an internal threat is the responsibility of the law enforcement agency.

But these agencies have to be guided properly and directions have to be given to them clearly by the political authority that runs the government. In a situation where the directions are muddled, the results will also be muddled.

In the current situation, a clear and unambiguous direction needs to be given by the government to its law enforcement agency to investigate quickly and arraign

the perpetrators of the murder spree in the country, whether the victims are religious minorities or teachers or bloggers.

Speeches by our leaders on presumption need to stop.

Because these utterances only derail the real investigation and identification of the militants.

The first big step in stopping the murder spree in the country is to assure people that determined and firm action is being taken to confront the danger of militancy that the country faces.

RAJIB DHAR

And this danger is not necessarily posed by the opposition political parties, or by anti-liberation forces.

This is a global phenomenon and its leadership and organisational inspiration are not necessarily homegrown. This is not a simple game of tarnishing the image of the country.

This is a game of some people’s twisted ideology who would like Bangladesh to become a country as they would want it to be.

In this battle, the law enforcement agencies have to be given directions to chase the real perpetrators of the crime and show some immediate results without going after the usual suspects. l Ziauddin Choudhury has worked in the higher civil service of Bangladesh early in his career, and later for the World Bank in the USA.

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TOP STORIES

UEFA threatens Russia, England UEFA said yesterday that Russia and England could be thrown out of the European Championship finals if their fans are involved in more violence. The UEFA executive committee made a public “warning” in a statement. PAGE 25

Scandal probe adds to Spain’s GK agony Accusations linking Man Utd goalkeeper David de Gea to a sex scandal have thrown Spain’s preparations into turmoil on the eve their Euro 2016 opener. De Gea is vying with Iker Casillas for a starting place. PAGE 26

Bolt clocks 9.88sec in Kingston win Jamaica’s Usain Bolt shook off a “horrible start” to win the 100m at the Racers Grand Prix athletics meeting in 9.88sec. “It wasn’t a perfect race, but the good thing was that I won and I came out injury free,” said Bolt. PAGE 27

Warner ton for Aussie, Proteas wilt Australia showed the stuff of champions and South Africa’s suspect temperament was again exposed as they crashed to a 36-run defeat in the fourth match of the Tri-Nation One-Day International series at Warner Park in St Kitts on Saturday. PAGE 29

RESULT Turkey

0-1

Croatia Modric 41

Croatia’s midfielder Luka Modric (2L) scores a goal during their Euro 2016 match against Turkey at Parc des Princes in Paris yesterday

Modric stunner sees Croatia past Turkey n AFP, Paris

Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric scored a brilliant volley as Croatia defeated Turkey 1-0 in their Euro 2016 Group D yesterday.

Ante Cacic’s Croatia dominated throughout, twice hitting the bar in the second half. But it only Modric’s 41st-minute strike - his 11th international goal - that separated the teams at the final whistle.

Victory gave Croatia revenge for their elimination on penalties

by Turkey in the quarter-finals at Euro 2008, although they had previously beaten them in a qualifying play-off prior to Euro 2012.

Fatih Terim’s Turkey now have it all to do ahead of their meeting with defending champions Spain in Nice on Friday. Croatia can already go into their game against the Czech Republic with one eye on the last 16.

The talent in both line-ups had raised hopes of an open contest and it took Croatia less than two minutes to threaten. Ivan Rakitic flung himself at Darijo Srna’s cross and hooked a volley across goal.

But the two teams’ determina-

tion to play through the middle of the pitch made for a narrow, niggly encounter at the Parc des Princes home of French champions Paris Saint-Germain.

When Croatia did procure sights of goal, their efforts went either too close to Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Babacan or too far from the target.

Turkey’s only opportunity of note in the first half saw Ozan Tufan meet Gokhan Gonul’s rightwing cross with a downward header that was awkwardly fielded by Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.

Modric illuminated the game with his deft flicks and surefooted touches, and with half-time approaching he provided the breakthrough.

Selcuk Inan appeared to have cleared the danger by hooking the ball high to the edge of the Turkey box, but Modric watched it drop before spearing an emphatic, dipping volley past Babacan from 25 yards.

The replays did not make kind viewing for Babacan. There was embarrassment, too, for the tournament organisers as a fan ran

on the pitch to embrace Modric and flares were let off in the Croatia end.

Turkey coach Terim made a change at half-time, sending on Volkan Sen for Oguzhan Ozyakup and moving captain Arda Turan infield to a number 10 position in a 4-2-3-1 system.

But Croatia continued to boss proceedings and Srna twice went close, first clipping the crossbar with a free-kick and then lashing wide left-footed after Babacan could only parry Ivan Perisic’s cross.

Marcelo Brozovic also threatened twice, volleying narrowly over and then just failing to make telling contact with a devilish cross from the hard-working Perisic, who later struck the bar with a glancing header. The introduction of 18-year-old Emre Mor, the Denmark-born forward dubbed “The Turkish Messi”, drew roars of approval from Turkey’s fans.

Yet it was Croatia who came closest to scoring in the closing stages as Babacan tipped a header from Brozovic over the bar and then rushed out to thwart Perisic.l

AFP

Poland’s Milik breaks Northern Ireland hearts n AFP, Nice Ajax striker Arkadiusz Milik broke Northern Ireland hearts yesterday after rifling home the only goal in their Euro 2016 Group C opener in Nice.

Poland had never won a game before at the European Championship, with three draws and three losses over two appearances in 2008 and 2012 - the latter a tournament that they co-hosted with Ukraine.

Now they can look forward to a spicy tie with neighbours Germany in the Stade de France on June 16 with eyes on a spot in the last 16.

The result dents Northern Ireland’s pre-tournament hopes of qualifying from a tough group as one of the four best third-placed teams, with a win now essential against Ukraine in Lyon the same day.

Adam Nawalka’s side dominated the game but took time to break down a stubborn defence, Milik’s strike early in the second half coming after several missed chances in the first. l

RESULT Poland Milik 51

1-0

Northern Ireland

25

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UEFA threatens Russia, England with Euro disqualification n AFP, Paris

Russian supporters attack an England fan at the end of their Euro 2016 match at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille on Saturday

Heartache for England amid bruising day n AFP, Marseille Russia captain Vasili Berezutski inflicted Euro 2016 heartache on England on Saturday after a day in which fan violence brought new shame on football.

Gareth Bale’s cannon free kick helped Wales to a 2-1 win over Slovakia in their first match at a European Championship finals.

Switzerland overcame 10-man

RESULT England

1-1

Dier 73

Russia Berezutski 90+2

Albania 1-0.

But battles involving Russian and English fans on the streets of Marseille and inside the Stade Velodrome and brawls in Nice where Northern Ireland played Poland yesterday tainted the sport.

England had been heading for a win in their opening Group B match after midfielder Eric Dier fired a 20-metre free kick past veteran goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev with 13 minutes to play.

But two minutes into injury time, England goalkeeper Joe Hart remained stuck to the ground as Berezutski rose to send a looping header into the net.

England centre-back Gary Cahill

AP

called the 1-1 result “kick in the teeth”.

“We got so close to a victory that would have been a deserved victory. So to lose it in the final minutes, it’s a tough pill to swallow,” said England manager Roy Hodgson.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Dier. “We gave away a draw. We just didn’t see it out the right way.

We have to pick ourselves up and go again.”l

UEFA said yesterday that Russia and England could be thrown out of the European Championship finals if their fans are involved in more violence.

The UEFA executive committee made a public “warning” in a statement which expressed “disgust for the violent clashes which occurred in the city of Marseille” this weekend.

On top of any punishment ordered by an investigation committee, the executive committee said “it will not hesitate to impose additional sanctions on the Football Association and the Russian Football Union, including the potential disqualification of their respective teams from the tournament, should such violence occur again.”

Dozens of people were hurt in three days of clashes in Marseille and at the Stade Velodrome after the England-Russia match on Saturday which ended in a 1-1 draw.

UEFA earlier charged Russia with misconduct over the role of its fans in the unrest. Russia was charged with crowd disturbances, racist behaviour and letting off fireworks. The result of the inquiry and sanctions are to be announced tomorrow.

Russia’s next game is in Lille, northern France, on Wednesday against Slovakia. England’s next Group B game against Wales in nearby Lens on Thursday has been classed as a high-risk game by the French authorities.l

5 THINGS WE LEARNED YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE

Raheem Sterling ran at opponents, Adam Lallana cut through the Russia defence and the full-backs were to the fore, joining the attacks time and time again. Much has been made of England’s inexperienced side playing without fear and while the result fell short, the players’ attitude should at least encourage supporters.

ROONEY REVELS IN ROLE

Wayne Rooney completed more passes than anyone before the break and connected with five of his six long balls. He got through plenty of work at the other end, too, and while the game ended on a flat note with Russia’s late equaliser, it’s worth noting that he had been substituted by that point. The positional switch was a success.

DIER IS THE KEY MAN

Having not played a competitive game for England prior to this tournament, it’s extraordinary that the 22-year-old has since emerged as

such a crucial figure in the team.

Eric Dier is playing in a midfield of which the other four players are arguably all natural No 10s and yet he’s just about making it work.

WHERE WAS VARDY?

With Russia’s ageing centre-backs expected to defend deep given England’s attacking threat, it was perhaps understandable that Jamie Vardy did not start for Hodgson’s side. However, the accepted wisdom was that if England should go a goal up then the Leicester forward possesses the ideal skill-set to punish opponents chasing the game.

LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE

It’s difficult to attribute too much individual blame for the equaliser, but with only one goal between the teams it was always a possibility.

The real lesson for England is that they should have had the game won long before that point. It was a lesson for this young side that they must kill off a match when the chance is there.l

Russia's Vasili Berezutski (14) scores his side's first goal during their Euro 2016 match against England at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, France on Saturday AP

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

Sex-scandal probe adds to Spain’s GK agony n AFP, Paris

Spain's goalkeepers Sergio Rico (L), David De Gea (C) and Iker Casillas attend a training session at Saint Martin de Re's Stadium on Friday AFP

Accusations linking Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea to a sex scandal have thrown Spain’s preparations into turmoil on the eve their Euro 2016 opener.

De Gea is vying with 167-cap veteran and captain Iker Casillas, a hero of Spain’s three consecutive major championship triumphs between 2008 and 2012, for a starting place against the Czech Republic in Toulouse today.

De Gea has fiercely denied allegations that he organised a party at which two women were forced to have sex with two other footballers. He called the reports “lies” designed to damage his reputation.

However, the storm, has further complicated coach Vicente del Bosque’s decision on whether he will back the on-form De Gea or immensely experienced Casillas.

Contrary to early reports, Del Bosque insisted there had never been any suggestion that De Gea could be sent home.

“We will give him all our support,” Del Bosque told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope.

“I have no reason to doubt him.”

Casillas made himself a nation-

al hero with big saves at crucial moments as Spain won European titles in 2008 and 2012, with the country’s maiden World Cup in between in 2010.

However, Del Bosque’s loyalty to his captain despite a dramatic dip

GROUP D

V SPAIN

CZECH REPUBLIC

Toulouse Stadium 2pm local time (7pm BST) * Bangladesh standard time

HEAD-TO-HEAD SPAIN

6 15 7 7 1 14 14

CZECH REPUBLIC Fifa ranking Matches Wins Losses Draws Goals scored Goals against

30 15 7 7 1 14 14

in form for club and country had previously been widely criticised.

The 35-year-old was a major culprit in Spain’s disastrous showing at the 2014 World Cup as the holders bowed out after just two games.

Casillas conceded seven goals to the Netherlands and Chile.

A move away from the pressure cooker of Real Madrid after a 19-year career at the Bernabeu to Porto was supposed to bring a new lease of life for Casillas. Instead, a series of high-profile errors led the Portuguese media to christen him “butterfingers” as Porto suffered a trophyless season.

“What he has done is extraordinary. Whoever doesn’t recognise that is being malicious,” Del Bosque told AFP in a pre-tournament interview.

“All the history he created in his club, what he has done for the national team, I think that is recognised all over the world.”

The former Real Madrid boss had appeared irritable in the tournament build-up even before having to face questions over an untimely scandal. Del Bosque has grown tired of the constant questioning of his decisions since Spain crashed out at the World Cup.l

Workmanlike mentality gives Italy hope against Belgium n Reuters, Lyon Plagued by injuries to his creative midfielders and without a talisman up front, Italy coach Antonio Conte is banking on a workmanlike team full of energy to outfox Belgium’s exciting young forwards when they meet today.

The Euro 2016 Group E match comes ahead of tough encounters against Ireland and Sweden giving neither side much respite should they lose the first game in Lyon.

Once famed for their “catenaccio”, a tactical system with an emphasis on a strong defensive unit, Italy come to the tournament with arguably their weakest team for years and conceding goals particularly against top teams.

They face a Belgium side with a talented squad tipped by some to go one better than the golden generation that finished as tournament runners up in 1980. Despite opening the scoring, the Italians were beaten comfortably 3-1 by Belgium in a November friendly.

Conte, who joins Chelsea after the tournament, is known for his

motivational skills, team unity and tactical flexibility, although a tendency to tinker has led to mixed results since 2014.

GROUP E

V BELGIUM

ITALY

Lyon Stadium 8pm local time (1am BST) * Bangladesh standard time

HEAD-TO-HEAD BELGIUM

2 21 4 13 4 24 41

ITALY Fifa ranking Matches Wins Losses Draws Goals scored Goals against

12 21 13 4 4 41 24

“You need to sacrifice yourself for the team,” Conte recently said in an interview. “The team isn’t a single person.”

His best midfielders Marco Verratti and Claudio Marchisio are both ruled out through injury.

Without the magic of Andrea Pirlo, pulling strings in the heart of midfield, old heads Thiago Motta and Daniele de Rossi alongside Marco Parolo will try to stop the supply lines to creative Belgium attackers Eden Hazard, Yannick Carrasco and Kevin de Bruyne.

Conte is hoping winger Alessandro Florenzi flourishes after an encouraging season with club AS Roma and inspirational veteran goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon will also need to galvanise his troops.

Yet the lack of a killer instinct among Italy’s strikers, notably target man Graziano Pelle, could make it difficult should Belgium score first and force the Italians to chase the game. In contrast, the Red Devils appear spoilt for choice in attack having scored an average of more than two goals per game over their last 10 matches.l

Italy midfielders Daniele De Rossi (L) and Stephan El Shaarawy during a training session in Montpellier yesterday AFP

27

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MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

US top group as Colombia stunned

QUICK BYTES MSC, Bangladesh Sporting win big Mohammedan Sporting Club are tied for second place in the Green Delta Premier Division Hockey League after they thrashed Wari Club 8-2 at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday. Star national forward Russel Mahmud Jimmy bagged a hattrick in the second half while Salman Hossain and Tasvar Abbas netted twice each for the Black and Whites. Obiad Hasan grabbed a consolation brace for Wari; both goals coming from penalty corners. Mohammedan now have 23 points from nine matches, same as Abahani and two behind table-toppers Usha Krira Chakra.

Wari on the other hand remained at eighth position with eight points. In the day’s other game, Bangladesh Sporting Club thumped Bangladesh Railway 8-1 with Shahbaz Ali and Prince scoring four goals each.

Saddam Hossain notched the consolation for Railway.

n AFP, Los Angeles

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Argentina play down Di Maria injury woe Argentina played down fears over Angel Di Maria’s fitness on Saturday after the Paris Saint-Germain star was hit by a new tournament injury scare. Di Maria, who limped out of Argentina’s campaign at both the 2014 World Cup and last year’s Copa America, was substituted during Friday’s 5-0 win over Panama.

–AFP

Former England captain Carr dead at 89 Former England captain Donald Carr has died, at the age of 89, it was announced yesterday. The MCC flag at Lord’s, where England were playing Sri Lanka in the third Test, flew at half-mast as a mark of respect.

–AFP

Lomachenko KO Martinez for 2nd title Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko knocked out Roman Martinez on Saturday to grab the World Boxing Organization super featherweight world title - his second world belt in just his seventh pro bout.

–AFP

Murray and Lendl to work together again “Ivan’s [Lendl] single-minded and knows what it takes to win the big events,” Andy Murray added ahead of the Aegon Championships, the warm-up for Wimbledon.

–REUTERS

US defender John Brooks (6) heads the ball past Paraguay defender Gustavo Gomez (3) during their Copa America tie at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday AP

The United States battled to a 1-0 victory over Paraguay to seal their place in the Copa America Centenario quarter-finals on Saturday as group rivals Colombia crashed to a potentially costly 3-2 defeat to Costa Rica.

A first-half strike by Clint Dempsey secured a precious win for the hosts which ultimately ensured Jurgen Klinsmann’s team finished on top of Group A after Colombia’s loss.

The combination of results means the US will now play the runner-up from Group B, possibly avoiding five-time world champions Brazil who are favored to win their group.

While Dempsey was the goal hero, the US victory owed everything to a disciplined defensive display after they had been reduced to 10 men with DeAndre Yedlin’s dismissal early in the second half.

Paraguay spent long periods camped in the US half after Yedlin was sent off for collecting two yel-

Ireland, Sweden seek redemption in opening Group E clash n Reuters, Paris Ireland and Sweden meet in the Euro 2016 Group E opener at the Stade de France today where a win would go a long way to redeeming their past failures in the championship and getting them to the knockout stage.

Drawn in a tough section with Belgium and Italy, a victory is of paramount importance to both sides’ fortunes.

“The team that wins this game has a very good chance of progressing,” Sweden coach Erik Hamren told Reuters recently.

“Even if we win or lose we still have a chance to go through but it’s a lot smaller. It’s a real key game.”

Both teams also have a point to prove following dismal showings at Europe’s flagship tournament four years ago.

Ireland scored one goal and conceded nine to become the first team eliminated from Euro 2012, while the Swedes threw away the lead twice in losing their first two games, to Ukraine and England, packing their bags shortly after the Irish.

As ever, Sweden will rely on their enigmatic 34-year-old captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has spent

GROUP E

V IRELAND

SWEDEN

Stade de France, Saint Denis 5pm local time (10pm BST) * Bangladesh standard time

HEAD-TO-HEAD IRELAND

33 10 3 5 2 13 16

SWEDEN Fifa ranking Matches Wins Losses Draws Goals scored Goals against

35 10 5 3 2 16 13

the last four years banging in goals in the French capital for Ligue 1 side Paris Saint Germain, but who is now leaving on a free transfer.

Strongly linked to a reunion with his former Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho, now at Manchester United, Ibra was allowed to leave

the Sweden camp on his days off to finalise a move, but all talk of his next club will be on ice when the action starts.

Ibrahimovic’s burgeoning partnership with winger Emil Forsberg is likely to cause problems down Ireland’s right flank, where full back Seamus Coleman should be partnered by combative Jon Walters who looks to have got over an Achilles problem.

Walters is among the survivors from the Giovanni Trapattoni-led side that performed so dismally four years ago, and he will be keen to erase the memories of a tournament in which the Irish failed to showcase their famous fighting spirit.

“Ireland and ourselves are the underdogs in our group, and we’re quite close to one another in the rankings. With regard to who is going to win or lose, it’s quite open,” Hamren told Reuters. Sweden are 35th and Ireland 33rd in the FIFA rankings.

With manager Martin O’Neill and his assistant Roy Keane in charge of Ireland, the clash is likely to be a physical battle but the Swedes are no shrinking violets and the high stakes ensure they will be ready for whatever the Irish throw at them. l

GROUP A United States

1-0

Paraguay

2-3

Costa Rica

Dempsey 27

Colombia Fabra 7, Moreno 73

Venegas 2, Fabra 34-og, Borges 58

POINTS TABLE Teams

M

W

D

L

Pts

United States

3

2

0

1

6

Colombia

3

2

0

1

6

---------------------------------------------------Costa Rica

3

1

1

1

4

Paraguay

3

0

1

2

1

low cards in a matter of minutes but a gutsy rearguard action from the Americans saw them hang on for a gritty win.

Klinsmann hailed his side’s discipline. “It was a fantastic performance,” the German said.

“The way they grinded it out, the way they kept their shape and their discipline and the way they worked for each other was outstanding. They all deserve a huge, huge compliment.”l

Bolt clocks 9.88sec in Kingston win

n AFP, Kingston Jamaica’s Usain Bolt shook off a “horrible start” to win the 100m at the Racers Grand Prix athletics meeting in 9.88sec, the second-fastest time in the world this year.

“It wasn’t a perfect race, but the good thing was that I won and I came out injury free,” said Bolt, who got away slowly but powered home, catching the field at about 50 meters and celebrating as he got to the line first to the delight of a big crowd at the national stadium in Kingston.

The sprint superstar led three compatriots under 10 seconds in a race run in a wind of one meter per second. l

Usain Bolt reacts after he won the 100-metre final in Jamaica AP

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Flying starts for Rupganj, Victoria n Mazhar Uddin Legends of Rupganj started their Dhaka Premier League Super League campaign on a high note as they thrashed Mohammedan Sporting Club by 104 runs in Mirpur yesterday.

Table-toppers Victoria Sporting Club also began their mission with a 23-run win over holders Prime Bank Cricket Club in Fatullah.

In-form opener Abdul Mazid top-scored with a quickfire 72 while Mominul Haque (55) and skipper Nadif Chowdhury (41) provided valuable support DPL SUPER LEAGUE RUPGANJ 232/8 in 45 overs (Mithun 59, Soumya 40, Naeem 4/31) beat MOHAMMEDAN 128 in 31.5 overs (Hamidul 37, Mushfiq 34, Nahidul 2/7) by 104 runs VICTORIA 272/6 in 40 overs (Mazid 72, Mominul 55, Nadif 41) beat PRIME BANK 249/8 in 40 overs (Maruf 55, Nurul 52, Mahbub 2/37) by 23 runs ABAHANI 191 in 42.4 overs (Shanto 71, Al Amin 3/30, Sanjamul 3/39) v PRIME DOLESHWAR 59/2 in 17 overs (Raqibul 25*, Amit 1/13, Taskin 1/21) – To be completed later

Rupganj v Mohammedan

Asked to bat first, Rupganj posted 232/8 in the 45-overs per side affair, riding on a fine 89-run opening wicket partnership between stumper-batsman Mohammad Mithun (59) and Soumya Sarkar (40).

Rupganj though, struggled from thereon in, stumbling to 129/5 in the face of some disciplined bowling by the Mohammedan bowlers, led admirably by Naeem Islam (4/31) and Sri Lanka seamer Thisara Perera (2/35).

However, Sajjadul Haque (24), Mosharraf Hossain (32) and Indian recruit Pawan Negi (28*) chipped in with vital contributions to take Rupganj to a challenging total.

In reply, Mohammedan never looked comfortable, losing wickets at regular intervals, and were eventually skittled out for just 128 with only Hamidul Islam (37) and captain Mushfiqur Rahim (34) offering any sorts of resistance.

Alauddin Babu (2/22), Negi (2/30) and Nahidul Islam (2/7) shared six wickets between themselves.

Prime Bank v Victoria

Taking first guard, Victoria registered a competitive 272/6 in what was another rain-affected encounter.

In-form opening batsman Abdul Mazid top-scored with a quickfire 72 while Mominul Haque (55) and skipper Nadif Chowdhury (41) provided valuable support.

In pursuit of 273 in 40 overs, Prime Bank fell 23 runs short with opener Mehedi Maruf (55) and wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan’s (52) half-centuries going in vain. l

Legends of Rupganj opening batsman Mohammad Mithun plays a shot against Mohammedan Sporting Club during their Dhaka Premier League match in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Chaos continues in DPL! n Minhaz Uddin Khan

The Dhaka Premier League’s Super League tie between Abahani Limited and Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club in Savar was pushed back indefinitely following the on-field umpires’ refusal. Umpires Tanvir Ahmed and Gazi Sohel claimed that they were verbally abused by the Abahani supporters and players.

The uncalled for incident sparked off when Sohel did not answer to an appeal made by Abahani spinner Saqlain Sajib against Doleshwar’s Raqibul Hasan in the 16th over.

Consequently, the Abahani fielders, including captain Tamim

Iqbal, reacted furiously towards the umpires before the Sky Blues supporters too joined in the act.

Doleshwar were batting on 59/2, chasing 192, when the umpires brought a premature end to the game after consulting with match referee Montu Datta.

The Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis has not decided yet as to when the game will be completed.

“Now, it is out of our reach.

The CCDM will take the final decision regarding the game,” said Montu.

Abahani coach Khaled Mahmud is of the opinion that it is the umpires who should be blamed.

“The umpires cannot leave the

ground because there was absolutely no situation where they felt threatened. They could have dealt with the scenario more precisely,” said Mahmud.

Later yesterday, the umpires did propose to finish the game, revising the target in accordance with the Duckworth-Lewis method but Doleshwar refused.

“The target will be tougher for them as per the D/L method so it is only reasonable that they would refuse to complete the game,” said Mahmud.

On the other hand, Doleshwar coach Mizanur Rahman said, “Since the game was not halted due to us, there is no reason why we should accept the D/L method.”l

Arambagh clinch quarter berth An action of the Federation Cup match between Rahmatganj MFS and Team BJMC at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Tribune Report RESULTS Rahmatganj

1-1

Mamun 88

Soccer Club Ridon 90

BJMC Illiasu 64

1-1

Arambagh Akon 89

Arambagh Krira Sangha sealed their berth in the quarterfinals of the Federation Cup when they played out a 1-1 draw against Feni Soccer Club at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Arambagh had defeated powerhouse Abahani Limited in their previous match so yesterday’s draw was enough to take the former through to the last eight of this season’s second professional tournament.

Kester Akon gave Arambagh the lead in the 89th minute of the tie but Akbar Hossain Ridon soon equalised the margin in injury time.

Earlier yesterday at the same

venue, Rahmatganj MFS registered their second consecutive draw when they were held to a 1-1 stalemate by Team BJMC. After holding Mohammedan SC in their previous match, Rahmatganj ended their Group D campaign with two points from as many matches and they will now have to depend on the Mohammedan-BJMC game in order to find out if they can make it to the knockout stage. Following a barren first half, Nigerian midfielder Samson Illiasu put BJMC ahead in the 64th minute.

Rafiqur Rahman Mamun though brought parity in injury time, sparking celebrations in the Rahmatganj dugout.l

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Warner ton for Aussie as Proteas wilt n AFP, Basseterre Australia showed the stuff of champions and South Africa’s suspect temperament was again exposed as they crashed to a 36-run defeat in the fourth match of the Tri-Nation One-Day International series at Warner Park in St Kitts on Saturday.

After David Warner’s first ODI hundred away from home anchored the World Cup holders to a challenging total of 288 for six the Proteas relied on composed half-centuries from Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla to establish the launchpad from which they looked destined to reach the target comfortably.

However the dismissal of captain A.B. de Villiers for 39 at 210 for four in the 38th over changed the complexion of the match as they lost their last seven wickets for 42 runs to be dismissed for 252 in the 48th over when Imran Tahir was run out.

Opening bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood played key roles in the capitulation, as did

leg-spinner Adam Zampa.

“I really can’t explain what happened,” a deflated de Villiers said.

Australia have now opened up a four-point lead over the South Africans at the top of the standings ahead of today’s fixture at Warner Park where the West Indies, a point behind the South Africans, will seek to get their campaign to reach the June 26 final back on track.

Poised for a total well in excess of 300 when Warner and Usman Khawaja (59) were in full flow during a 136-run second-wicket stand,

Australia’s loss of momentum over the final 15 overs of was put in perspective by South Africa’s composed chase until they lost wickets and their nerve.

Amla’s typically serene 60 set his team on their way. He lost Quinton de Kock to Hazlewood after an opening stand of 35 but was then entrenched in a 105-run stand with du Plessis. By the time the fast-medium bowler returned to remove Amla via a good low catch by Steve Smith at short extra-cover, South Africa needed only to maintain progress.

However Starc drew du Plessis into chasing a wide delivery for George Bailey’s catch at backward-point to send him back to the pavilion for a topscore of 63.

De Villiers looked to be in complete control until he was bowled heaving at Hazlewood, and when Adam Zampa earned an LBW verdict against Farhaan Behardien, South Africa, at 221 for five in the 41st over, were toppling. Starc ripped out three wickets and Zampa joined in the rout before Tahir’s demise sealed the result.l

SCORECARD AUSTRALIA INNINGS Warner c Amla b Parnell Finch b Tahir Khawaja c Amla b Phangiso Smith not out Bailey lbw Tahir Marsh c Behardien b Abbott Wade lbw Rabada Faulkner not out Extras (lb-2, w-3, nb-4)

R 109 13 59 52 11 10 24 1 9

Total (50 overs, 6 wickets)

288

B 120 28 71 49 9 12 14 1

Fall of wickets 1-48, 2-184, 3-196, 4-217, 5-240, 6-274.

Bowling Abott 10-2-50-, Rabada 8-0-66-1, Tahir 9-0-45-2, Parnell 7-0-34-1, Duminy 7-039-0, Phangiso 9-0-52-1.

SOUTH AFRICA INNINGS de Kock c Faulkner b Hazlewood Amla c Smith b Hazlewood du Plessis c Bailey b Starc de Villiers b Hazlewood Duminy c sub (Maxwell) b Zampa Behardien lbw Zampa Parnell c Marsh b Zampa Abbott b Starc Phangiso c sub (Maxwell) b Starc Rabada not out Tahir run out Extras (lb-8, w-2)

R 19 60 63 39 41 4 3 1 3 3 6 10

Total (47.4 overs, all out)

252

B 29 64 76 32 39 8 10 3 10 6 9

Fall of wickets 1-35, 2-140, 3-177, 4-210, 5-221, 6-236, 7-237, 8-239, 9-240, 10-252

DAY’S WATCH

Bowling Starc 10-0-43-3, Hazlewood 9.4-0-52-3, Faulkner 7-0-32-0, Marsh 9-0-52-0, Zampa 10-0-52-3, Finch 2-0-13-0.

FOOTBALL SONY ESPN Copa America Centenario

Result: Australia won by 36 runs

7:00AM

Next match Today – West Indies v Australia at St Kitts

Brazil v Peru 6:00AM (Tuesday) Mexico v Venezuela

Australian cricketer David Warner plays a shot off South African bowler Jean-Paul Duminy (not in picture) during their Tri-nation series One Day International at Warner Park Stadium in Basseterre, Saint Kitts AFP

7:00PM Euro Cup 2016 Spain v Czech Republic 10:00PM Republic of Ireland v Sweden 1:00AM Belgium v Italy

CRICKET TEN 3 1:00PM India Tour of Zimbabwe 2016 2nd ODI 10:30PM Tri-Nation (WI, AUS, SA) 5th ODI: West Indies v Australia

STAR SPORTS 1 4:00PM Sri Lanka Tour of England 3rd Test, Day 5

HOCKEY STAR SPORTS 2 FIH Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy 2016 5:00PM Korea v Great Britan 7:00PM Germany v Australia 9:00PM Belgium v India

Hales misses out on hundred again n AFP, Lord’s Alex Hales again fell agonisingly short of a maiden Test hundred as England got the better of several close calls in the third Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s yesterday.

At tea on a rain-marred fourth day, England, 2-0 up in the threematch series, were 206 for six in their second innings.

That gave them a commanding lead of 334, with no side having made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test at Lord’s than the 344 for one posted by the West Indies against England in 1984 when opener Gordon Greenidge made a superb 214 not out.

This series had seen Hales come close to a century with scores of 86

and 83 in the first two Tests at Leeds and Chester-le-Street respectively.

The Nottinghamshire opener got closer still at Lord’s yesterday with

94 before he was lbw to Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews shortly before tea. England captain Alastair Cook was 32 not out and Moeen Ali

nought not out at the interval.

After rain meant there was no play before lunch, England resumed on 109 for four, a lead of 237 runs. l

DAY FOUR, AT TEA ENGLAND 416 & 206/6 (Cook 32*) v SRI LANKA 288 England lead by 334 runs

England opening batsman Alex Hales sweeps during the fourth day of the third Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s yesterday AFP

DT

Downtime

30

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Partly open (4) 6 Vigour (3) 7 Wan (4) 9 English river (4) 10 Faithful (5) 11 Make merry (5) 12 Donkey (3) 14 Lofty structure (5) 17 English city (5) 20 Land measure (3) 21 Coral isle (5) 23 Passenger vessel (5) 25 Otherwise (4) 26 Country (4) 27 United (3) 28 To let stand (4)

DOWN 1 Real (6) 2 Disinclined (6) 3 Get up (4) 4 European laurel (3) 5 Slipper fish (3) 7 Sport (4) 8 Light beer (5) 10 Permit (3) 13 Cut off (5) 15 Billfold (6) 16 Say again (6) 18 Mend with wool (4) 19 Pigs enclosure (3) 22 Camera part (4) 23 Trivial lie (3) 24 Male sheep (3)

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 17 represents W so fill W every time the figure 17 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

Debate triggered over white DiCaprio playing Rumi n Mosharraf Kabir

Regardless whether one finds any common features, Oscar winning director David Franzoni is thinking of casting DiCaprio in the lead in his upcoming film, which is a biopic of Rumi himself.

Critics took to social media to vent their anger about the idea, right after the director made the

announcement, particularly on Twitter.

Many made remarks which were along the lines of how it would be inappropriate and funny to cast DiCaprio for the role of the Persian poet as he was born in Afghanistan, then Khorasan.

They wondered how the director would make him portray the role of an Asian.

Some of the tweets read: “So they want a white man to play Rumi, a SUFI PERSIAN poet, but when they need a terrorist they find Muslim actors so easily #RumiWasntWhite” and “Guys.

Seriously. #RumiWasntWhite How hard can it POSSIBLY be to find a Middle Eastern actor? Hollywood.

Please. Stop. #whitewashing” Rumours are in the air that Robert Downey Jr, known for his successful portrayal of Iron Man, is to star as the poet’s spiritual mentor, Shams of Tabriz. l Source: BBC

Madhuri turns anxious of Sanjay’s biopic n

Showtime Desk

Biopics of famous individuals have a habit of disgorging unpleasant memories from people’s lives. Rajkumar Hirani’s upcoming biopic on veteran Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt will be no exception.

However, this seems to alarm the ageless Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit, who was once engaged with the actor, and later moved on to marry her husband, doctor Sriram Nene.

The biopic is reported to shed light on different phases of Sanjubaba’s life, which include his love affairs, inconsistencies, successes and failures.

Madhuri, who currently shares two kids with Dr Nene at the US, panicked when she heard about the upcoming biopic where Bollywood heart throb Ranbir Kapoor has been cast to play the lead.

The 48-year-old actress reportedly called Sanjay over the phone and requested him to avoid mentioning their past in the movie.

The two popular actors of the 90s were rumoured to be in deep love and shared sensational on-screen chemistry in films like Khalnayak (1993) and Sajan

(1991), both of which eventually turned out to be blockbuster hits.

In 1993, Madhuri dissociated with Dutt when he was arrested on the allegation of buying arms from those involved in a bomb attack in Mumbai.

Khatro Ke Khiladi (1988), Ilaka (1989), Kanun Apna Apna (1989), Thanedar (1990), Sahiba (1993) and Mahaatna (1997) are notable mentions of their other hits together. l Source: Bollywoodlife, Deccan Chronicles

Ed Sheeran in hot water n Showtime Desk Ed Sheeran is being sued for around $20 million for allegedly stealing a song. The Grammy winning artist is in hot water after being hit with a lawsuit

by Martin Harrington, Thomas Leonardo, and their publishing company, HaloSongs. They alleged that Sheeran’s hit song, “Photograph” is a copy of their song “Amazing” which was released back in 2009.

The duo’s single was sung by the winner of the 2010 season of The X Factor, Matt Cardle. They are currently being represented

by Richard Busch, the same attorney who represented the Marvin Gaye family for a similar lawsuit over the single Robin Thicke “Blurred Lines.”

E! News has apparently obtained documents which were presented during legal proceedings, and which claim that “the song’s similarities reach the very essence of the work. The similarities go

beyond substantial, which is sufficient to establish copyright infringement, and are in face striking.”

It also adds that, “the similarity of words, vocal style, vocal melody, melody and rhythm are clear indicators, amount other things, that “Photograph” was in fact, copied from “Amazing.”

Busch stated, “My clients are professional songwriters.

Their work is their life and I am honoured that they have trusted me with such an important case. We set out the facts in the lawsuit in great detail.”

The plaintiffs emphasised that Sheeran has profited extensively from the song, a sum estimated to be over $20 million.

HaloSongs is now seeking damages as well as a running royalty.

Neither Ed Sheeran nor his representatives could be reached for comments. l Source: E! News

31

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Showtime

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

WHAT TO WATCH

The Golden Compass HBO, 5:05pm The film is set in a parallel universe that is very secretive and some of the things are forbidden. Lyra lives and studies at Jordan College. Lyra’s life changes when her uncle Lord Asriel disappears during an expedition in the far North. Things get worse when Lyra’s friend Roger is kidnapped. Lyra befriends Mrs Coulter who offers to help her on her journey north. But soon Lyra realises that Mrs Coulter is not quite what she seems to be.

Cast: Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Ian McKellen, Ian McShane, Sam Elliott Captain America: The First Avenger Star Movies, 9:30pm It is 1942, America has entered World War II, and sickly but determined Steve Rogers is frustrated at being rejected yet again for military service. Everything changes when Dr Erskine recruits him for the secret Project Rebirth. Proving his extraordinary courage, wits and conscience, Rogers undergoes the experiment and his weak body is suddenly enhanced into the maximum human potential.

When Dr Erskine is then immediately assassinated by an agent of Nazi Germany’s secret HYDRA research department (headed by Johann Schmidt, aka the Red Skull), Rogers is left as a unique man who is initially misused as a propaganda mascot; however, when his comrades need him, Rogers goes on a successful adventure that truly makes him Captain America, and his war against Schmidt begins.

Cast: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan l

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32

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016

DOUBLE PACKAGE VAT ADDS ONLY TK15CR PAGE 12

Back Page MODRIC STUNNER SEES CROATIA PAST TURKEY PAGE 24

DICAPRIO ACCUSED OF WHITEWASHING PAGE 31

2nd autopsy fails to solve Tonu murder mystery n Mohiuddin Molla, Comilla The reason behind the tragic death of Comilla Victoria College student Sohagi Jahan Tonu still remains a mystery since the second autopsy report found no clue.

The medical board assigned to perform the autopsy suggested to run further police investigations to uncover the mystery, head of the committee Dr Kamda Prashad Saha told reporters yesterday.

They found evidence of sexual intercourse in Tonu’s corpse, said Dr Kamda, also chief of Comilla Medical College’s forensic department.

In response to a query if she had been raped, he said: “We have to realise the matter considering the sexual intercourse.

“When we conducted the post-mortem examination after 10 days of her death, we did could not trace any injury marks on the body as the corpse already decomposed.”

Earlier in the day, the second autopsy board submitted the report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Tonu’s parents have rejected the autopsy report and demanded justice.

Tonu, second-year student of history department and member of Victoria College Theatre, was found dead in a bush inside Comilla Cantonment on March 20. The first autopsy performed the next day failed to find the cause of death suggesting that she had not been raped.

The autopsy was conducted by a team headed by Dr Sharmin Sultana, lecturer at the forensic department of Comilla Medical College Hospital.

On March 28, a local court ordered the exhumation of Tonu’s body for fresh autopsy. Meanwhile, the CID ran a DNA test on Tonu’s body, and on May 16 they disclosed that evidence of gang rape had been found on her clothes.

Tonu’s mother Anwara Begum yesterday said that the post-mortem examination report was false.

She also expressed discontent over the delay in submitting the report.

Parents of the victim on May 10 named Army Sargent Jahid, his wife and soldier Jahid for killing their daughter, alleging that the law enforcers were trying to save the killers. 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