29 July, 2016

SECOND EDITION

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016 | Shraban 14, 1423, Shawwal 23, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 93 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages plus 24-page Weekend supplement | Price: Tk10

‘Raihan trained Gulshan attackers’ n Tribune Desk Raihan Kabir, one of the nine JMB members killed in a raid at Kallyanpur on Tuesday, had trained the youths who attacked a Gulshan restaurant on July 1, police said yesterday.

Raihan alias Tareq of Pirgachha upazila in Rangpur had remained missing for a year. “He was a trainer of the Gulshan attackers. Another Abdullah was the spiritual leader of the nine-member gang,” DMP’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) unit chief Monirul Islam said.

Raihan acted as a trainer and guide for the group. “Police had information about him. We know him as a Tareq. He was working as a JMB commander for Dhaka area,” the official added.

Earlier, the investigators found that Raihan had trained the militants at Sadullahpur of Gaibandha.

“He was the one accused in the murder of police constable Mukul Hossain at Ashulia,” Monirul said.

Until last night, eight of the suspected JMB members were identified by the law enforcers. An associate was caught during the drive on Monday night while another managed to flee.

Mirpur police on Wednesday night filed a case against 10 named and some unnamed persons regarding the raid under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009. A Dhaka court gave the investigation officer

Nine militants had their pictures taken just before the police raid on the Kallyanpur den early Tuesday time until September 19 to submit report in the case.

Even though all the militants had been found wearing black uniforms and had flags of the Islamic State group inside the flat, the police labelled them as members of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and claimed that the JMB

had been behind the series of targeted killings.

After the Gulshan attack, police busted at least two militant hideouts in Bashundhara and west Shewrapara areas of Dhaka.

Meanwhile, the CTTC investigators have retrieved some photographs of the Kallyanpur militants

wearing IS uniforms from two pen drives found inside the flat after the operation. But it could not be ascertained immediately when the photos had been taken.

Investigators suspect that they had taken the photos to send those to IS' Amaq agency before carrying out an operation in Dhaka.

‘Gulshan attack mastermind Tamim visited Kallyanpur den’ n Tribune Desk

Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury

For the first time, police have officially identified the Gulshan attack mastermind as Bangladesh-origin Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, and said he used to visit the Kallyanpur militants in their hideout.

Tamim held meetings with the Kallyanpur militants to inspire them and provide financial support for their terrorist activities, according to the statement of a case which was filed yesterday by Mirpur Model police station Inspector (operation) Shajalal Alam in connection with Tuesday’s police raid.

Nine militants were killed when police carried out the drive in Dha-

ka’s Kallyanpur early Tuesday.

The case statement also read that the sole surviving suspect, Rakibul Hasan alias Rigan, has told interrogators that they received funding, arms and explosives from Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

The case further named other suspects who allegedly acted as trainers and leaders for the militants; they are: Iqbal, Ripon, Khalid, Mamun, Manik, Jonayed Khan, Badal and Azadul alias Kabiraz.

Police’s counter-terrorism chief Monirul Islam said although they have already got names of several suspected masterminds behind the recent militant activities, those might just be aliases. Efforts are on to find out the true identities of these

people and trace them, he said.

Sources close to the ongoing investigation told the Dhaka Tribune that Gulshan attack mastermind Tamim has been working as a link between foreign and domestic militant groups. Since leaving Canada in 2013, he has been hiding in Bangladesh, the sources added.

Monirul Islam described Tamim as the leader of a new faction of JMB. The police believe that he is still in Bangladesh and efforts are on to detain him, he added.

According to investigators, JMB now has two factions: one led by JMB’s jailed spiritual leader Mawlana Saidur Rahman, while Tamim took over the other faction after coming back to Bangladesh. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Saiful Islam, acting deputy commissioner of the CTTC unit, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had recovered several laptops and other electronic devices from the spot.

“We have also got some images and clues, and are now scrutinising the information,” he added.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Militant groups providing aid for families of dead fellows n Tribune Desk Local militant outfits, as part of supporting their members, have begun providing financial support for family members of those who have been killed or are now behind bars, police said.

Such families have been divided into two groups. The first group, named Maju, includes families of militants who are now in prison or have gone into hiding as part of their operations.

The second group named Deowa includes families of militants who have been killed during operation.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

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Eminent writer Maahasweta Devi dies Aurora and n Esha Mohammad Abu Bakar Siddique Mahasweta Devi, the eminent writer of Hajar Churashir Maa, has died today in Belle Vue Nursing Home at 4pm Bangladesh time in Kolkata, her relative confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune.

Devi died from complications for old age, her cousin Aroma Dutta said.

She had been put on a life support after she was shifted to the hosipital when her physical condition detorirated.

She was 90 at the time of death.

Her death was preceeded by two-years by her only son, famous poet of revolutionery fervor, Nabarun Bhattacharya. Nabarun was her only child with famous playwright Bijon Bhattacharya.

Mahasweta Devi was born on January 14, 1926, at her grandparent’s house in Sutrapur, Dhaka.

The literary scene in both India and Bangladesh has expressed sadness in her passing; a tweet by Chief Minister of Indian state of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee said: “India has lost a great writer. Bengal has lost a glorious mother. I have lost a personal guide.

Mahasweta Di rest in peace.”

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi tweeted mourning her death: “Mahashweta Devi wonderfully illustrated the might of the pen. A voice of compassion, equality & justice, she leaves us deeply saddened. RIP.” Indian celebrities also tweeted condolances, Rahul Bose saying: “Tremendous loss. Meeting her you were struck by her principles and courage.

PHOTO: THE HINDU

And what writing.”

Born to literary parents, a wellknown poet and novelist of the Kallol movement, Manish Ghatak, a writer and social worker, Mahasweta Devi attended school in Dhaka but moved to West Bengal after the partition in 1947.

According to Aroma Dutta, she

bore the agony of migration all her life.

In her heart, she had a deep love for Bangladesh.

She would always call herself a refugee, which is why she was passionately involved in attending to the plight of people who took shelter in India during the liberation war, Aroma said.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

‘Raihan trained Gulshan attackers’ According to the police, Abdullah passed Dawra from a Qawmi madrasa and later completed Aleem examination from an Aliyah Madrasa. He used to motivate the other members of the gang reciting from the Qur’an and the Hadiths.

In response to a question, Monirul Islam claimed that the Kallyanpur and Gulshan militants had communication with each other.

“We have found information and evidence about their financiers and the instigators. We are trying to arrest them at the shortest possible time,” he added.

After at least five youths stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1 and they killed over two dozen guests, IS published the photos of the five and later some photos of the dead bodies. All the attackers wearing black punjabis posed with the same AK 22 rifle before the same IS flag.

Different orientation The CTTC boss said that three of the nine militants – Md Shazad Rouf Arko, Taj-Ul-Haque Rasik and Akifuzzaman Khan – were students

of North South University.

Three others – Abdullah, Abdul Hakim and Md Motier Rahman – were students of different madrasas, he said, adding that Raihan alias Tareq had studied in a madrasa but later worked at a factory.

Our Rangpur correspondent Liakot Ali Badol talked to Raihan’s family and confirmed that he had been involved with Jamaat-Shibir.

He came to Dhaka a year ago telling his family that he had got a job in a garments factory.

He was in touch with the family before being killed in the operation and sent them money occasionally.

His mother Rahela Begum and other members of the family members said that they had no idea about Raihan’s involvement with any militant group.

They learnt about Raihan from the news after the raid. His father Shahjahan Kabir has been hiding since then.

Locals say Raihan’s cousin Mehedi Hassan was a leader of the JMB. He has remained missing for the last six years. The village, Tangail Para, is locally known as a JMB den.

Earlier, police arrested the regional JMB commander, Masud Rana, and his associate Ishaq – both from Tangail Para. Raihan had good terms with them, locals said.

The duo have already made confessional statement in three cases involving the murders of Japanese farmer Hoshi Kunio and shrine caretaker Rahmat Ali, and the attempted murder of Bahai Centre Director Ruhul Amin in Rangpur. IS claimed credit for these attacks too.

Apart from Raihan, the seven other militants identified by the DMP are Abdullah, 23, son of Sohrab Ali of Ballabhpur village, Dinajpur; Abdul Hakim Nayeem, 33, son of Nurul Islam of Kuakata village, Patuakhali; Taj-Ul-Haque Rasik, 25, son of Rabiul Haq from Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area; Akifuzzaman Khan, 24, son of Saifuzzaman Khan of Dhaka’s Gulshan area; Shazad Rouf Arko, 24, son of Tawhid Rouf of Bashundhara, Dhaka; Md Motier Rahman, 24, son of Md Nasiruddin Sarder of Omarpur village, Satkhira; and Md Jobayer Hossain, 20, son of Abdul Quaium of Paschim Maijdee village, Noakhali. l

Aroma remembers, I meet Khukudi [Mahesweta’s nick name] three months ago. Despite being fragile and of ill health she repeatedly talked about Bangladesh.

Having graduated in English from Vishvabharati University in Santiniketan, she became a teacher, later a journalist, finally becoming a writer and activist.

She visited Bangladesh in late 1996 along with Jyoti Basu, the then CM of West Bengal, on the occassion of signing an agreement between India and Bangladesh on Ganges water sharing, and visited her anchestral home in Pabna, remembers Aroma.

She wrote more than a score of widely acclaimed books included in the Bengali literature canon that includes Hajar Churashir Maa, Jhansir Rani, Aranyer Adhikar, Agnigarbha. Chotti Munda evam Tar Tir, Dhowli (short story), Rudali amongst others. Several of her renowned works were adopted for films like Sunghursh, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, Maati Maay etc.

This leading Benagali literary figure and activist was marked by remarkable achievements, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1979 for her novel, Aranyer Adhikar, Padma Shri in 1986, Jnanpith Award – the highest literary award from the Bharatiya Jnanpith in 1996, and Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts in 1997 and Padma Vibhushan – the second highest civilian award from the Government of India – in 2010. l

Dead militant Akifuzzaman was Monem Khan’s grandson n UNB Akifuzzaman Khan, one of the nine militants killed in the Kallyanpur drive early Tuesday, was a grandson of the then East Pakistan provincial governor Abdul Monem Khan.

Abdul Monem Khan was the acting governor of the then East Pakistan during 1962-69.

Akifuzzaman Khan along with eight other militants were killed during a one-hour shootout with Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit of Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) at an apartment of a six-storey building in Kalyanpur in the early hours of Tuesday.

Talking to reporters at the DMP Media Centre yesterday, Additional Commissioner of DMP and head of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Monirul Islam said dead militant Akifuzzaman was the grandson of Abdul Monem Khan.

The five militants, who were killed during the commando operation at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on July 2, also received training from Akifuzzaman, a student of North South University, the CTTC unit chief added. l

Militant groups providing aid for families of dead fellows Monirul Islam, chief of the counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit, disclosed this information while addressing a press briefing at the media and community centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday.

He said they received this information after grilling three members of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HujiB) who were arrested in Dhaka’s Mirpur area on July 21.

The three have been named as Maulana Nazimuddin Shamim, president of HujiB’s Dhaka (north) unit, and his two associates Saiduzzaman, 24, and Mohammad Anas, 21.

“We began hunting for HujiB members after 2010. In 2010, after arresting some HujiB militants, we came to know that some HujiB members collected funds from civilians in the name of religious support and later used the money for supporting families of militants,” Monirul told the briefing.

“Shamim is the Imam at Mirpur Akbaria mosque. He collected money this way and later distributed it among different militant families. We have obtained a list of 51 families belonging to both Maju and Deowa, and they are receiving such aid from HujiB. “During interrogation, we also learned about another militant named Saifullah Khaled alias Sagir Bin Emdad.

“He fled to Malaysia just a day after we arrested Shamim. We are now trying to trace other members of the outfit.

“Also, some of the militants belonging to the 51 families reportedly died or sustained injuries after attending the Afghanistan War. We are analysing all the information of the group,” he said.

Monirul said Shamim was held in possession of 5,000 books that provoke militancy.

“We will take action against the people who are facilitating publication of these books,” he added. l

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Family has no wish to see his face again n Bipul Sarker Sunny, Dinajpur

The mother of Abdullah, one of the slain Kallyanpur militants, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that she had no wish to see her son’s face again, while his brothers said they would not collect his body for burial.

While visiting the Bhallabpur area – Abdullah’s ancestral home – in Dinajpur’s Nawabganj upazila yesterday, locals came up to the Dhaka Tribune and said they did not want a militant to buried there.

Abdullah’s father and one of his four brothers were picked up by the police on Wednesday night and sent to Dhaka for a DNA test, local police have said.

Abul Kalam, another brother who the Dhaka Tribune found in front of their house, said Abdullah

studied at different madrasas after passing from Bhallabpur Primary School. The last place where he studied was Rupganj Fazil Madrasa in Narayanganj.

Abdullah, who was also known as Motaleb to his family, did not visit the village for the past year saying that he was busy with studies. But he regularly maintained contact over the phone, his brother said.

Kalam added that the last time Abdullah called home was about a week ago, when he said he would be home for Eid-ul-Azha.

No one had any idea that Abdullah had become a militant, the brother said.

Abdullah was killed, along with eight other militants, during a police raid in a house in Dhaka’s Kallyanpur on Tuesday.

Abdullah, one of the Kallyanpur militants who were killed on Tuesday Calling Abdullah an “enemy of the nation,” Kalam said his own brother had betrayed the trust of a

family that toiled to pay for his madrasa education.

The family now had no wish to collect Abdullah’s body, Kalam added.

Abdus Salam, another brother of the slain militant, said the entire family adored Abdullah and contributed to his education expenses. Abdullah always used to tell the family that he wanted a government job, Salam said, adding that the last they heard was that Abdullah was trying to get a job in the marine sector.

Abdullah’s mother Moslema Khatun has fallen ill since learning the news about her son. Lying in her bed, Moslema told the Dhaka Tribune that she had no idea how her son had become so wayward.

She said she did not even want to see her son’s face before his burial.

Neighbours said they were against the burial of a killer and an enemy of the state in their village.

Nawabganj police OC Ismail Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that the militant’s father and brother have been sent to Dhaka for a DNA test, but it seems that they were oblivious to the fact that Abdullah had become a militant.

He added that the family did not report Abdullah as a missing person as they had regular phone conversations with him. The police were now working to verify other suspected militants in Nawabganj.

Asked where Abdullah would be buried, the OC said the family as well as the entire village were against bringing him to Dinajpur; in that case, the militant might be buried in Dhaka. l

KALLYANPUR RAID

Militant Motier’s death makes father ill n Asaduzzaman, Satkhira Nasir Uddin Sarder, father of militant Md Motier Rahman who was killed in Tuesday’s police operation at a militant den in Dhaka’s Kallyanpur, became ill after hearing the news of his son’s death.

Faruq, a relative of Motier, said Nasir was undergoing treatment.

Nasir was at Bhadiali village in Sonabaria union of Satkhira’s Kalaroa upazila when he saw the news of Motier’s death on television on Wednesday evening, and instantly passed out.

Jahangir Alam, chairman of Dhandia union parishad, said Khairunnesa, Motier’s mother, is the first wife of Nasir and she is working as a housemaid in Saudi Arabia now.

“Nasir divorced Khairunnesa when Motier was four. Motier grew up with his father in Omarpur, and Khairunnesa began working at a garment factory in Dhaka. She flew to Saudi Arabia as a migrant two months ago,” he said.

Jahangir said Motier was not a brilliant student and his family was not involved in politics.

“The family is poor. They have no property other than an inherited house. Nasir, who married thrice, makes a living by working as a fisherman. He has two children from his second and third marriage,” said the chairman.

Tariqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Patkelghata police station, said a police team would meet Motier’s family members.

“I will have the details once the team returns,” he added. l

Activists of National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports run covering their faces as police hurl tear gas shells to disperse the committee’s protest procession near Dhaka’s Paribagh. The incident took place yesterday when the activists protesting the establishment of a coal power plant in Sundarbans tried to topple the a police barricade RAJIB DHAR

Police fire teargas shells on Rampal power plant protesters n Tribune Desk Police used teargas shells and allegedly charged batons on activists, protesting against the construction of coal-fired power plant in Rampal, near Banglamotor intersection in Dhaka.

The confrontation with law enforcers took place around 12:30pm as protesters tried to get past a po-

lice barricade in Banglamotor. The activists had brought out a rally from Press Club around 11am in a bid to take the protest to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

“Police hurled teargas canisters and charged truncheons on us as we tried to move past the police barricade in Banglamotor and march towards the PMO,” said Sabuj Shahidul Islam, member of Ja-

tiya committee and Revolutionary Democratic Party.

He said 49 people were injured in the Banglamotor confrontation and 24 have been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

At least six protesters were taken into police custody, added Sabuj.

When contacted, Officer-inCharge Abu Bakar Siddique of

Shahbagh police station confirmed that they have detained some activists. He, however, did not give any specifics on the detainees.

Meanwhile, Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) General Secretary Khalequzzaman in a statement condemned the police attack on the peaceful procession of the Committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports. l

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‘There are so many beautiful Bengali words’ n Tribune Desk On September 10, 2002, Mahasweta Devi talked to her publisher Naveen Kishore at her home in Kolkata, on how she encountered words and took note of them and then writing would go on.

“Whenever I come across an interesting word, I write it down. All these notebooks. So many words, so many sounds … I’ve just been collecting them wherever I came across them,” she told Naveen Kishore.

Here are some excerpts from the conversation.

When you’re actually sitting down, do you see things in pictures? Do you worry about form and content in a certain way? Do you actually get preoccupied with the craft of writing? Do you just let it flow? Or is it a conscious plan?

No, no, nothing flows that easily. I have lots of things scribbled down.

Let me see … my notebooks are scattered. There was a time when I would write down words I came across.

Here, for example. Parnanar.

Made of polash leaves. This refers to a strange ritual. Say a man has died in a train disaster. His body couldn’t be brought home. His relatives then, using straw or other materials – the area I speak of is full of the flame of the forest trees, the polash. So they use its leaves to make a man.

There’s another extraordinary word. Subhhikshma. You’ve heard of durbhikshma. Or famine. When one describes a year as being subhhikshma, it means there was no crop failure that year. Su means good.

Paap purush. Something out of folk belief. Doomed to eternal life.

He keeps vigil over other people’s sins. He appears. Doesn’t appear.

He has not sinned himself. But he keeps account of everybody else’s transgressions. Of their paap.

Ceaselessly. And so he walks the earth. Taking note of the smallest things. A goat. Punished. Tethered to its post under the blinding sun.

Unable to reach water or shade.

Then the paap purush leaves behind his words. “That is a crime.

What you have done is wrong.”

Actually it is not a person. Merely the embodiment of an idea.

Yes, I realise that. But just imagine.

Say I was entrusted with the job of keeping an account of all the paap. What sort of qualifications would I have? Am I taken because I am trusted or because I am being punished? Because it is a very punishing task.

It might be a punishment. He may have committed some grave crime.

Some unforgivable sin. And so now, he is doomed to be a paap

PHOTO: NAVEEN KISHORE

purush through all eternity. And in fact, there is never just one paap purush. There are many. Just as there are many places that believe in this.

And there are so many more beautiful words. Bengali words.

Chorat. Meaning planks. Then, dak shankranti. This refers to the Chaitra shankranti. Dak meaning

ask that person about the promise.

About the garbha daan that is still due.

Our India is so very interesting.

Take for instance the Pardhi tribe of Maharashtra. Denotified tribals. Because they are tribals, girl children are in great demand. The husband of a pregnant woman can easily auction off or sell the unborn

Hell has many names. One name which I like in particular is oshi patra bon. There are so many kinds of hell. Oshi means sword. And patra is a kind of plant with sword-like leaves. An entire forest of such plants. And the dead soul must walk through this forest. The sword-like leaves tearing into him. You are in hell, after all, because of your sins. And so your soul must now suffer this agony

call. Only those who are extremely conscientious and vigilant can hear this call. Of the old year as it leaves.

Questioning. The old year ends today. And the new one begins tomorrow. What have you not done?

What have you still left to do? Finish it now.

Garbha daan. This is very interesting. A woman is pregnant.

Someone promises her that if a daughter is born, she will be given this and this. If a son is born, then something else … The gifting has happened while the child is still in the womb. This legend claims that the unborn child can hear this.

And can remember. And record it in its mind. Later, he or she may

child. Pet ki bhaaji. What’s still in the womb. Auctioning the fruit of the womb.

Hell has many names. One name which I like in particular is oshi patra bon. There are so many kinds of hell. Oshi means sword.

And patra is a kind of plant with sword-like leaves. An entire forest of such plants. And the dead soul must walk through this forest. The sword-like leaves tearing into him.

You are in hell, after all, because of your sins. And so your soul must now suffer this agony.

Whenever I come across an interesting word, I write it down. All these notebooks. So many words, so many sounds… I’ve just been

collecting them wherever I came across them.

See here, these are the detailed accounts of the expenses of conducting sati. In the early nineteenth century. Think about it.

A girl is tied up in a corner of the house. She will be burned. Her husband is dead and now she too will be killed. But the rest of the household is abuzz with activity and excitement. In the same manner in which they would bustle and plan and arrange for a marriage or any similar celebration.

The master of the house is calculating and dictating the costs of this particular celebration. Ghee.

To burn along with her. Teen taka.

Three rupees. Oronparon bastra … the garment to cover her with. Ek taka. One rupee. The girl is possibly eight years old … Sati bastra ek joda. A pair of saris. The sari that the sati will wear. There were no blouses or petticoats in those days.

Only a sari. The pair amounts to two and a half rupees. Kath. Wood.

Teen taka. Three rupees. The priest will also take three rupees. The sati has to give to the others before she dies. That is a rupee. Which means she would distribute in small change. Chaal. Rice. Ek anna. What the price of rice was in those days!

Supuri. Du poisha. Betel nuts.

Korpur. Camphor. For ek anna.

Shiddhi. Also for ek anna. This is very important. Shiddhi is bhang.

It would be used to intoxicate the girl. Holud. Ek anna. Turmeric, required for all auspicious occasions.

Sandalwood, incense and coconut, one poisha in all.

There’s more. Behara. The men who will carry her in the palki, the palanquin. Five annas. Four plus one anna. Dhuli. Those who will beat the drums. Eight annas. And the naptani, she will get…

Naptani? Who was that?

We have seen such women even in our childhood. Like the barber or napit, she would visit the houses to trim women’s nails, clean their feet, put alta. And the tabaldar, to play the tabla. Three annas. The total came to fifteen rupees, five annas, three paise. And there you are. There’s a satidaha for you.

Your seat in eternal heaven is guaranteed.

Here, I had noted the source.

Satidaha, by Kumudnath Mullick.

There are two categories of sati.

Sohagun sati and dohagun sati. Sohagun is when the wife is actually with the husband when he dies.

Dohagun is when the husband is somewhere else and the news is brought of his death.

So in the Rigveda it says, addressing widows, take shelter in fire. Instead of suffering the hardship of widowhood, pour sandalwood paste and ghee on your husband’s body, and then, wearing your finest jewellery, take shelter within the (funeral) fire.

The second part says Woman, return to the family. The person you wish to lie down by has died.

Come away. Your obligations to the man who married you and give you children are over.

Thus, both pro-sati, and anti-sati. You get both in the scriptures. I found this very interesting. I used this in my Amritashanchaar. Just for a page and a half. I have always done fieldwork like this before writing any of my works. Suddenly the thought will strike me. And I will then have to read up something. Or write it a particular way. l Excerpted with permission from Romtha, Mahasweta Devi, translated by Pinaki Bhattacharya, Seagull Books. The article was first published on scroll.in

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Dreams turning into reality in the new land Nesa Alo, back from n Jebun Lalmonirhat, and Moazzem Hossain, Lalmonirhat Dreams seem closer to becoming a reality for the former residents of now-dissolved Indian exclaves who accepted Bangladeshi citizenship, as Bangladesh government has put more focus on the infrastructural development in the region as well as ensuring basic rights for them.

The former exclave residents were freed from a state of limbo on July 31 last year when the Land

to power supply, primary education, proper sanitisation, fresh water provided by tube-wells, health care through community clinics, etc. The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has already started constructing roads in the new areas.

“Communication has gotten much easier in Dashiar Chhara, the largest exclave in Kurigram district as the LGED constructed roads here soon after the land swap,” said Nur Islam, a former exclave resident.

“It is a blessing for the villagers.

Before, we suffered as the muddy

Boundary Agreement between Bangladesh and India saw the dissolution of exclave territories of each country inside the other.

They have been seeing a radical change happening in their “new home” as the government allocated a special fund in the budget for infrastructural development in 111 exclave territories in the district.

Around Tk800 crore was alloted for the development of these territories, said Habibur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Lalmonirhat district.

These people now have access

roads prevented vehicles from entering our villages, which is why the small businesses here could not grow. But now the scenario has changed.”

Education has become more accessible and children in Dashiar Chhara can now go to primary school in their village, said Nazrul Islam, another former exclave resident.

“Before, children were reluctant to go to school because it was so far away. But now they are happy to go to school as the government has established two primary schools here.”

Livelihood options have dramatically increased as well. “Farming was our only option to earn a living prior to the land swap. But now, as citizens of this country, we can pursue any opportunity of livelihood anywhere in Bangladesh,” said Monir Uddin, another local.

He said, alongside the LGED, the offices of the district superintendent of police, the Department of Forests, Power Division, district education offices, district primary education offices and several others are all engaged in the development of the new lands. l

Ashraf: Anti-militancy committees to include all parties n Shohel Mamun

A Rajuk sanctioned worker severs the gas connection of an ‘illegal’ restaurant in Road 13, Sector 4 of Uttara R/A in Dhaka yesterday as part of the ongoing eviction drives to remove unauthorised establishments MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Mayor Sayeed against speedy eviction of commercial establishments n Tribune Report Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayor Sayeed Khokon said yesterday that speedy, sudden eviction of unauthorised commercial establishments from the city will increase complexity and exacerbate the situation.

Rather, the DSCC mayor is in support of slow, stage-by-stage eviction of such establishments from the city’s residential areas.

“A problem that has built up over 40 years cannot be resolved in only four days. The authorities need time to complete this task,” he said.

The DSCC mayor made these statements in response to journalists while announcing DSCC’s annual budget at the Nagar Bhaban.

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN FRIDAY, JULY 29

pitals will also create a void in medical services,” he added.

In the wake of the Gulshan terror attack, which claimed the lives of 24 people, the government expedited and executed the decision to send relocation notices to owners of around 13,000 commercial establishments.

The initiative started on the basis of a government announcement on April 4 this year that stated that all of Dhaka city’s unauthorised commercial establishments, including bars, residential hotels and private universities will be shifted away from residential areas within the next six months.

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK) has already started the 21day long eviction drive, since July 25, in the city’s posh areas. l

The DSCC yesterday proposed a budget of Tk3183.65 crore for the fiscal year 2016-17.

Highlighting the directions provided by Sheikh Hasina during a cabinet committee meeting, Khokon said: “She (Hasina) spoke about being considerate in shifting commercial establishments,” he said.

“Our aim is to reduce public suffering, not increase it,” he said.

If the schools, colleges and hospitals currently established in residential areas require sudden relocation, it will increase public suffering, opined the DSCC mayor.

“Where will they go suddenly?

Thousands of students will face problems if renowned educational institutions are shifted from those areas. The sudden shifting of hosDhaka

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The administrative committees to be formed for preventing militancy, terrorism and violence at the local level will include public representatives of all political parties, said Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday.

Talking to reporters at the Secretariat after the annual deputy commissioners’ conference, Ashraf said the anti-militancy committees would not be formed on a partisan basis.

“The committees will include public representatives of all parties and will operate under the district administrations,” he said.

In response to the question whether a public representative elected under the nomination of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami would be a member of the anti-militancy committees, Ashraf said: “Of course public representatives of all parties will be members of the committees.”

Ashraf’s statement came despite the government’s repeated claim that the BNP-Jamaat alliance

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is likely linked with the militancy or is supporting such acts.

For the first time, local government polls have been held on a partisan basis in the country. BNP and Jamaat candidates contested the elections and a number of them also claimed victory.

Talking about the importance of anti-militancy committees at the local level, Ashraf said: “It is very important to find out those people who are harbouring militant mentality at the local level after being persuaded by locals. We should take steps to follow their movement.”

He said the anti-militancy committees would be extended to the grassroots level too.

“The government, if required, will form more committees to prevent militancy,” the Awami League leader said.

Asked if any BNP or Jamaat member would be a member of such committees, Ashraf said: “It is a political matter which has not been discussed yet. A decision in this regard will be announced soon.” l

Sylhet

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Fajr: 4:55am | Zohr: 1:15pm Asr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:55pm Esha: 8:45pm Source: Islamic Foundation

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FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Death for 6 JMB men upheld n Ashif Islam Shaon The High Court has upheld the death penalty handed down to six members of banned militant outfit JMB for carrying out a suicide bomb attack on the Gazipur Bar Association office 11 years ago that killed eight people.

The sentences of two other death-row convicts were commuted to life-term imprisonment while two others acquitted by the bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan yesterday morning.

Deputy Attorney General Sheikh AKM Moniruzzaman Kabir said that the state would appeal against the acquittals and the life-term sentences.

Tight security measures were

taken on and the around the court premises amid concerns of fresh militant attacks.

Members of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) – banned on February 23, 2005 – are responsible for most of the targeted killings that have taken place recently, say police. They were also involved in the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks earlier this month.

The High Court order came after holding hearing on the death references and the appeals filed challenging a special tribunal verdict that sentenced all the 10 militants to death in 2013.

The six death-row convicts are Enayet Ullah alias Walid, Arifur Rahman alias Akash Alias Hasib, Saidur alias Shahidul Munshi alias Emon

alias Polash, Abdullah Al Sohaien alias Zayed alias Akash, Nizam Uddin Reza alias Rony alias Kochhi and Taibur Rahman alias Hassan.

The lifers are Moshidul Islam Masud alias Vutto and Adnan Sami alias Jahangir, while those acquitted are Ashraful Islam alias Arshad alias Abbas Khan and Md Shafiullah alias Tarek.

All of them have been in jail since their arrest in 2005 and 2006.

The suicide bomber, Md Nazir Hossain Asad, was killed in the operation that took place on November 29, 2005.

The bench started the hearing on July 13 after the trial court forwarded the death references on May 5 this year.

The Fourth Speedy Trial Tribu-

nal gave its verdict on June 20, 2013.

According to the case, JMB member Asad carried a bomb with his body and detonated it inside of the lawyers’ office at the Bhawal Rajbari Court in the morning of November 29, 2005.

The attacker and two others died on the spot while six others succumbed to their injuries. Of the victims, four were lawyers and four justice seekers.

It was part of the JMB’s series of suicide attacks carried out on the country’s judiciary and the law enforcement agencies at that time. The group had launched allout attacks since August 17 that year when they blasted explosives at 511 places of 63 districts simultaneously.

Promote sustainable building materials

BREB brings 10 upazilas under power coverage n Aminur Rahman Rasel Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), through the aid of consumer-owned cooperatives called Palli Bidyut Samitis (PBSs), has brought 10 upazilas under electrification within June this year as part of the “Electricity for All” program, which aims to be completed by 2018.

The 10 upazilas which have been brought under complete electricity coverage are Palash Upazila under Narshingdi PBS, Tungipara Upazila under Gopalganj PBS, Bandar Upazila under Narayanganj PBS1, Boalkhali Upazila under Chittagong PBS, Sadar Upazila under Comilla PBS-2, Poba Upazila under Rajshahi PBS, Bholahaat Upazila under Chapanabaganj PBS, Raujan Upazila under Chittagong PBS-2, Dagonbhuyiah Upazila under Feni PBS and Tongibari Upazila under Munshiganj PBS. BREB Chairman Major General Moin Uddin told Dhaka Tribune that six more upazilas within September and 19 more within December this year will also be added to the list of upazilas with complete electricity coverage.

Up until June this year, BREB has brought a total of 1.5 crore consumers under electricity coverage across the country.

Moin Uddin praised the work of BREB employees and encouraged all the PBS officials to keep up the good work.

Abdur Rahim, an electricity consumer of Narshingdi PBS, said that ever since his area came under electrification, he has not faced much load-shedding, adding that having a steady source of electricity has made life in his household more comfortable. l

Two weeks before the attack, JMB men killed two judges of Jhalakathi court in another suicide bomb attack.

Police filed a case against JMB men including its chief Shayakh Abdur Rahman for masterminding the attack. The charge sheet was pressed against 15 militants after two years.

Later the names of five top JMB men were dropped as they died or executed in the Jhalakathi judges’ murder case. The five are Abdur Rahman, sura members Ataur Rahman Sunny and Khalid Saifullah, and operatives Azad and Molla Omar Shakil.

A Gazipur court indicted the 10 militants in April 2011 and sent the case to the tribunal in October for quick disposal. l

n Abid Azad

Mario Ronconi, Bangladesh EU Delegation head of cooperation – head of unit, speaks at the National Inception Workshop on Promoting Sustainable Building in Bangladesh organised by OXFAM in Dhaka Regency Hotel yesterday

Indian experts arriving to rescue strayed Assamese elephant n Abu Bakar Siddique A three-member expert team from India is due to be in Bangladesh on August 3 to rescue and bring back a stray elephant that entered the country from Assam via flood waters through the Rowmari border on June 27.

The political clearance for sending an expert team to Bangladesh to rescue the elephant has already been granted, said officials of Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Wednesday.

The team will land in Bangladesh on August 3 to rescue the elephant, but it depends on factors, such as weather conditions, Project Elephant director R K Srivastava told PTI. The three member expert team includes Rithesh Bhattacharjee, retired conservator of forests of Assam, elephant expert Kaushik Baru-

ah and Director of Field Operations (Dhubri division) A S Talukder.

“The Project Elephant division of the ministry is constantly in touch with the Bangladesh forest department, chief wildlife wardens of Assam and Meghalaya and other relevant agencies to rescue the stranded elephant and bring it back to India,” Srivastava added.

Currently, the elephant has been seen roaming around at Sengrar Char in the Kazipur area of Sirajganj district.

Forest officials have been keeping a close eye on the movement of the wild beast, said Ashit Ranjan Paul, forest (Wildlife) conservationist in Bangladesh, who confirmed the issue with the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

From Rowmari to Kazipur, the elephant has been spotted in the last three weeks in chars of five different districts - Kurigram, Gaibandga, Jamalpur, Bogra and Sirajganj.

The Bangladesh government has earlier requested the Indian government to retrieve their elephant and bring it back.

Authorities are now waiting for the Indian team to arrive since Bangladesh does not have the local capacity or resources to conduct the rescue operation.

The Chief Wildlife Warden of Assam is now in process of getting visas for members of the expert team.

Ashit mentioned, “August 3 is the possible day (for the team’s arrival) but it could change depending on visa approval and other matters”.

International animal protection body Humane Society International, however, recently requested the Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to expedite the visa processes required of the rescue team, so they can safely bring back the stranded elephant to India as soon as possible. l

Sustainable building practices have to be promoted in Bangladesh, according to statements made at a workshop held yesterday morning at the capital’s Dhaka Regency hotel.

Sustainable building is a global issue. We plan to work with the government to change the current framework of consumption and production of bricks and other building construction materials,”said Bangladesh-EU Delegation head of cooperation, Mario Ronconi.

The workshop titled “Promoting Sustainable Building in Bangladesh” was jointly organized by Oxfam, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) and Jagorani Chakra Foundation (JCF).

The workshop was conducted to highlight the “Promoting Sustainable Building in Bangladesh” project, designed to promote sustainable consumption and production (SCP) of eco-friendly alternative bricks and other construction materials in Bangladesh, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and land degradation.

“This project on alternative bricks offers a pathway to sustainable consumption,” said Oxfam Bangladesh country director Snehal V. Soneji.

The program was presided over

by HBRI director Mohammad Abu Sadeque Peng while Oxfam Bangladesh program director M.B Akhter, BELA chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan and JCF director (programmes) Hasan Aref were also present. l

CU, Premier University VCs receive death threat Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong Five renowned persons, including two vice-chancellors in Chittagong, received death threats in a letter sent by an unidentified person yesterday.

The death-threat recipients are eminent social scientist also Premier University VC Professor Dr Anupam Sen, Chittagong University VC Professor Dr Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury, Chittagong Union of Journalists President Reaz Hyder Chowdhury, Gonojagoran Manch, Chittagong unit president Dr Chandan Das and Gatak Dalal Nirmul Committee’s central ornganising secretary Sowkat Bangali.

The letter, which was computer composed, sent through post service, was received by Prof Dr Anupam Sen yesterday morning at his office on the campus. No general dairy was lodged till filing this report.

Anupam Sen said: “An unknown person has sent a letter to me mentioning myself and four others, including CU VC, where the letter stated that we would be killed before next Eid-ul- Azha.”

CU’s VC Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune that Prof Anupam informed him about the matter.

The letter said: “Next Eid will be your last Eid. You are doing exaggerate over the settled issue of war

crimes in 1971. That’s why you will be sacrificed along with the sacred animal on the Eid day. Jahanam [hell] has been fixed for all of you as you have been misleading the country people. You are ordered to fulfill all of your last wishes by this time. Our identity will be disclosed before certain time.”

As per envelope, the letter was posted from city’s Chawakbazar area, added Prof Anupam.

Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police Iqbal Bahar they were informed about the threats.

“To create panic, someone sent the letter while police were trying to identify the miscreant”, added the CMP boss. l

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FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

TORTURE ON THREE CHILDREN

Sub-inspector closed for negligence of duties n Md Noor Uddin, Habiganj A police official was closed yesterday on charge of negligence in duties over a recent incident of torturing three children in Habiganj town.

According to local sources , Sub-Inspector Rajkumar, of Habiganj Model police station was closed.

It was alleged that one Shah Alam tortured and confined Rony, 12, son of Abdul Khalek, Rubel, 13, son of Bachchu Mia and Mahin, 12, bringing allegation of stealing mobile phone On Wednesday morning.

The police officer rushed to the scene after hearing the incident but he did not take any measure to rescue the victims, said Additional

Superintendent of Police Raselur Rahman.

Later, as per instruction of Superintendent of local police, officer-in-charge of local police station Md Najim Uddin rescued them, he added.

Someone recorded the scene as the entire incident took place in front of local people.

Superintendent of Police Joydev Kumar Bhadra closed Rajkumar after the video of torture was broadcasted by different private television channels and later went viral in social media.

After a case was filed with the local police station around 1:00am yesterday, police detained Shah Alam and two others in connection with the incident. l

Three minors confess to killing Sagar

n Tanveer Hossen, Naraynganj

Chinaduli Government Primary School is inundated by flood water as water level in the major rivers in Jamalpur continues to rise. About 110 schools in the district has been closed due to intrusion of water into those institutions DHAKA TRIBUNE

Flood claims lives of three people n Tribune Desk

Flood situation in several districts across Bangladesh has deteriorated further, although people are not getting sufficient relief.

Flood situation has turned serious in Jamalpur as water level in the Jamuna River is rising sharply every day affecting life of 400,000 people.

Meanwhile, three persons, including two babies, drowned in flood water in Islampur upazila.

The victims are identified as Sabina, 5, daughter of Saidur Rahman of Kasarudoba village of Sapdhari union, Solaiman, 8, son of Chhabed Ali of Gamaria village of

Patharshi union and Suruzzaman Fakir, 55, son of Zahurul Fakir of Panchabahala Fakirpara village of Islampur sadar union.

Water Development Board sources said Jamuna River rose 15cm and was flowing over 116cm of danger level at Bahadurabad ghat point yesterday afternoon.

District Relief and Rehabilitation Office source said with the rising of water level 48 unions and two municipality areas in the six upazilas of the district were affected by the flood.

The source said flood has affected 12 unions and a municipality in Islampur, 8 unions and a munic-

ipality in Dewanganj, 7 unions in Madarganj, 5 unions in Sarishsbari, 11 unions in Melandaha and 5 unions in Bakshiganj upazila.

District Education Officer Mostafizur Rahman said: “We have closed 111 institutions in secondary and higher secondary educational levels that include 75 high schools, 5 colleges and 31 madrasha as flood water entered into those institutions.”

In Faridpur, the flood situation remained almost unchanged except in Bhanga and Madhukhali upazilas where erosion has begun with slight rise of water in Padma and its tributaries.

Additional Deputy Commission-

er Dr ANM Abdus Sabur said Padma was flowing 60cm above danger level yesterday which was 53cm above danger level on Wednesday evening.

However, erosion of Arial Khan has hit Bhanga upazilla where few homesteads were devoured. In Madhukhali upazilla due to erosion of Madhumati River Char Goeshpur Bakhshipur High School and adjacent primary school has been eroded, the ADC said.

In Gaibandha, overall flood situation in chars and Brahmaputra river basin areas including the low lying areas of the main land of four upazilas of the district deteriorated further as the river marked rise. l

Three children who were accused of killing Sagar Barman, a worker at Zobaida Textiles in Rupganj, yesterday confessed their involvement with the incident.

Dr Khandaker Mohiuddin, superintendent of police in Naraynganj, said Shohel, 13, Rakib, 12, and Akash, 12, were detained form the textile for their alleged involvement with the murder.

During interrogation, the trio confessed that they had killed Sagar inserting air from a compressor through his rectum while they were playing.

According to sources, the 10-year-old boy Sagar was inserted air from a compressor through his rectum a few days ago. l

Latif Razakar held

n Tauhid-Uz-Zaman, Jessore Police yesterday arrested a war crime accused in the district.

The arrested was Abdul Latif alias Lafif Razakar, son of Shamsul Haque in Abad Kachua village.

Police said Latif was arrested from his home at night.

Locals called him Razakar for collaborating with the Pakistani army in Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war.

Shaymal Nath, officer-in-charge of Kotwali police station, said : “During our liberation war Latif killed innocent people, torched and looted houses led by Maolana Malek Morol in the area.” l

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8 World

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

SOUTH ASIA

Nepal, India floods leave more than 90 dead Floods and landslides in Nepal and India have killed more than 90 people in recent days, with at least two million residents forced to flee their homes. Nepal has been worst hit, with homes and bridges destroyed after days of torrential monsoon rains, although water levels were now slowing receding.

-AFP

INDIA

India home minister to visit Pakistan as tensions flare India’s home minister will travel to Pakistan next week for a one-day regional meeting as tensions flare between the rivals over unrest in disputed Kashmir. Rajnath Singh will attend a meeting of home ministers from countries belonging to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Islamabad.

-AFP

CHINA

China pressing ahead with own anti-missile system China’s Defence Ministry confirmed on Thursday that it was pressing ahead with anti-missile system tests after pictures appeared on state television, amid anger at South Korea’s decision to deploy an advanced US anti-missile system.

An announcement by South Korea and the US this month that they would deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence unit has drawn protests from China.

-REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

Japan knifing suspect attacked methodically The former employee accused of killing 19 disabled people and injuring others at a care home in Japan moved briskly and methodically inside buildings and rooms he knew, finishing the deadliest mass attack in postwar Japan in less than one hour, officials said Thursday.

Local media have reported that Uematsu told investigators he had no regrets and was trying to help the world by killing people.

-AP

MIDDLE EAST

Yemen’s Houthi-led coalition sets up body to run country Yemen’s dominant Houthi group and its allies in former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress party said on Thursday they had agreed to set up a governing council to run the country, signaling frustration with peace talks in Kuwait. In a statement carried by the Houthi-run state news agency sabanews.net, the two groups said that the council would include a rotating leadership.

-REUTERS

EXPLAINER

Why Syria’s al-Qaeda may be considering a split n Tribune International Desk Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria is considering splitting ties with the global terror group, members say.

A Nusra Front official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the group’s leader plans to announce a disassociation with al-Qaeda soon. Speaking via text message from northern Syria, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly about the issue, said Nusra will merge with other insurgent groups.

If it does, that could throw a wrench in talks between the US and Russia on a military partnership in Syria, complicating efforts to separate the militant fighters from other moderate rebel factions.

Here’s a look at the Nusra Front and what the move would mean.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq claims Syrian Al-Nusra Front is part of its network

Led by Abu Mohammad Al-Julani Has about 5000 members with thousands of supporters Allegedly has members in Syrian government and military Mainly operates in rural areas with lower level urban attacks Mainly operates in rural areas with lower level urban attacks Operates a policy of silence Uses car bombs, suicides attacks and targets media facilities and staff

A powerful force

The Nusra Front, led by Syrian militant Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria and is the second strongest extremist group in the country after its rival, the Islamic State group.

Its fighters have been among the strongest in battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies like Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas. Nusra is among rebels holding territory in northern, western and southern Syria.

While made up of Islamic extremists and some foreign jihadis, the Nusra Front has presented its priority as ousting Assad rather than immediately pressing al-Qaeda’s global goals. That has enabled it to work alongside other Syrian factions, including moderate ones, to fight both the Syrian military and the Islamic State group. Those factions value its battlefield prowess: A Nusra-led coalition called the Army of Conquest has succeeded in rolling back Assad’s forces in northwest Idlib province.

But its closeness to other rebels has complicated efforts at a ceasefire. The last ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia did not cover Nusra or IS, so Russian warplanes and Assad’s forces continued to battle them, often hitting moderate groups that were part of the truce, including ones backed by Washington and its Arab allies. That was one fac-

Wants to establish Islamist state in Syria

tor leading to the cease-fire’s collapse.

why split?

Those in Nusra who want to split hope that breaking with al-Qaeda would remove the international stigma from their shoulders. The group could present itself as a local Syrian rebel group and allow it to work even closer with more opposition factions, perhaps giving it some protection from the international campaign against it.

There have been rumours in the past of a split, but it never happened. Last year, al-Golani repeated his allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. But talk has become louder again.

This week, a senior Nusra fighter based in northern Syria told The Associated Press that many senior officials in the group support splitting. Militant websites and social media have been full of claims the move would come soon, with some supporters claiming it would change its name to the Front to Conquer the Levant.

Still, the move is not certain, given it also has downsides for Nusra.

Impact for the US

A split would complicate things for Washington, which is likely

Nusra’s intention.

The US and Russia are trying to hammer out an agreement on a new military partnership in Syria. One leaked US proposal would call for a sharing of intelligence and targeting for strikes against IS and Nusra on the condition Russia commits to convince its ally Assad to ground Syria’s bombers and start a political transition process.

But that would be more difficult if Nusra becomes even closer to other rebels. Washington and its allies have long pressed mainstream opposition groups to “de-couple” from front lines where Nusra is present, with little success.

“If Nusra Front was to sever its ties to al-Qaeda, opposition groups will in no way ever consider such de-coupling,” said Charles Lister, senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. Consequently, any future intervention against Nusra will be perceived by opposition Syrians as a de facto move in support of the Assad regime, he said.

Downsides for Nusra

If it quits al-Qaeda, the Nusra Front loses the brand name that drew many of its fighters to its ranks. That could drive away members.

Foreign fighters in particular could become disillusioned since many of them were drawn by the al-Qaeda link and see their participation in the Syria war in more universal terms of global jihad rather than as simply a campaign to oust Assad, said Sam Heller, a Beirut-based analyst who writes about the Syria war.

A Syrian opposition figure said some hard-line Nusra leaders who oppose a move believe foreign fighters would switch over to other extremist factions like the Jund al-Aqsa militant group or the Turkistan Islamic Party. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the subject.

Once al-Qaeda, always al-Qaeda?

Even if it breaks with the al-Qaeda franchise, the group’s Islamic militant ideology is not likely to change. “Whatever it might then name itself, (it) will still be much the same organization,” said Lister.

And the US is not going to start looking on it any more favourably.

Washington believes that Nusra’s “fundamental nature is that it’s al-Qaeda in Syria,” said US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau when asked Tuesday about talk of a possible split. l

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FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

China to hold drills with Russia in South China Sea n Reuters China and Russia will hold “routine” naval exercises in the South China Sea in September, China’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday, adding that the drills were aimed at strengthening their cooperation and were not aimed at any other country.

The exercises come at a time of heightened tension in the contested waters after an arbitration court in the Hague ruled this month that China did not have historic rights to the South China Sea and criticized its environmental destruction there.

China rejected the ruling and refused to participate in the case.

“This is a routine exercise between the two armed forces, aimed at strengthening the developing China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership,” China’s defense ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a regular monthly news conference.

Chinese and Russian naval vessels participate in the Joint Sea-2014 naval drill outside Shanghai on the East China Sea, May 24, 2014 REUTERS “The exercise is not directed against third parties.”

China and Russia are veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, and have held similar views on many major issues such as the crisis in Syria, put-

ting them at odds with the United States and Western Europe.

Last year, they held joint military drills in the Sea of Japan and the Mediterranean.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more

than $5tn of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tension in the region through its military patrols, and of taking sides in the dispute.

The United States has sought to assert its right to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea with its patrols and denies taking sides in the territorial disputes.

Russia has been a strong backer of China’s stance on the arbitration case, that was brought by the Philippines.

Yang said China and Russia were comprehensive strategic partners and had already held many exercises this year.

“These drills deepen mutual trust and expand cooperation, raise the ability to jointly deal with security threats, and benefit the maintenance of regional and global peace and stability,” he said. l

Turkey’s armed forces face deep purge n Reuters, Ankara/Istanbul

Turkey’s top brass and political leaders were set to launch a sweeping purge of the armed forces on Thursday after a failed military coup that has shaken the nation of nearly 80 million people and alarmed its Nato allies.

Hours before the Supreme Military Council began its annual meeting in Ankara, the armed forces dishonourably discharged nearly 1,700 personnel for their alleged role in the July 15-16 putsch in which a faction of the armed forces tried to topple President Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death on the night of the coup, told Reuters in an interview last week that the military, Nato’s second biggest, needed “fresh blood”. The dishonourable discharges included around 40% of Turkey’s admirals and generals.

Turkey accuses US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the coup and has suspended or placed under investigation tens of thousands of his suspected followers, including soldiers, judges and academics.

In the aftermath of the coup, media outlets, schools and universities have also been closed down.

Citing intelligence reports, Turkey’s justice minister said on Thursday that Gulen, once a powerful ally of Erdogan, could flee

his residence in the US state of Pennsylvania. Gulen denies any involvement in the coup.

Western governments and human rights groups have condemned the coup, in which at least 246 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured, but have also expressed concern over the scale and depth of the purges, fearing that Erdogan may be using them to get rid of opponents and tighten his grip on power.

Even before the failed coup, Turkey was struggling with major security challenges including attacks by Kurdish militants and Islamic State, a grim reality underscored by tourism data on Thursday showing a 40% fall in foreign visitors in June.

Turmoil in Turkey’s armed forces raises questions about its ability to contain the Islamic State threat in neighbouring Syria and the renewed Kurdish insurgency in its southeast, military analysts say.

Among the nearly 1,700 military personnel discharged were 149 generals and admirals, a Turkish government official said late on Wednesday.

Two four-star generals from the land forces also resigned, broadcaster CNN Turk reported, without giving a reason. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the military council decisions would be announced later on Thursday and take immediate effect.

CRACKDOWN IN TURKEY The latest selected numbers in the aftermath of the Turkish coup attempt MILITARY

Generals 149 discharged Army: 87

Officers 1,099 discharged

Air force: 30 Navy: 32

MEDIA

Media outlets orderd shut

131

News agencies: 3 TV stations: 16 Radio stations: 23 Newspapers: 45 Magazines: 15 Publishers 29

Junior 436 Generals officers detained discharged

Arrest warrants for journalists

Detained after July 15

15,846

Extradition urgent

In custody as of July 27

8,113

Bozdag said Gulen’s extradition was an urgent matter, not least because he said Turkey was receiving intelligence that the 75-yearold cleric might flee, possibly to Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa or Egypt. Egypt said it had not received an asylum request.

Gulen built up his reputation as a Sunni Muslim preacher with intense sermons. His movement, known as Hizmet, or “Service” in Turkish, set up hundreds of schools and businesses in Turkey and later abroad. His philosophy stresses the need to embrace scientific progress, shun radicalism and build bridges to the West and other religious faiths.

The United States and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, have both urged Ankara to show restraint in its crackdown on

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Zaman newspaper: 47 Others: 42

USA

US concerned over Israel’s settlement activity The United States is deeply concerned about Israel’s reported plans to build an additional 323 units in settlements in East Jerusalem on top of previously announced 770 units in the settlement of Gilo. Such action by Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counterproductive action, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on Wednesday.

-REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Peru’s new president takes office amid economic woes Pedro Pablo Kuczynski takes office as Peru’s president Thursday, seeking to kick-start a slowing economy and unite a country deeply torn by a photo-finish election. Kuczynski, 77, has vowed to stimulate the economy, revive the key mining sector, fight the poverty that affects 22 percent of Peruvians, and strengthen the police and prisons to reduce crime.

-REUTERS

UK

UK court rules in favour of Labour leader Corbyn Britain’s High Court on Thursday struck down an attempt to remove the head of the country’s divided Labour opposition party from a contest for the party’s leadership.

Labour lawmakers are trying to unseat leader Jeremy Corbyn, a 67-year-old left-winger considered unelectable by the party’s more centrist members.

-AP

EUROPE

France names second church attacker

OVERVIEW

Total detained since July 15

DT

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State workers sacked

50,000

In the July 15-16 coup attempt more than 270 people were killed

suspected Gulen supporters and to ensure those arrested have a fair trial.

Amnesty International has said detainees may have suffered human rights violations, including beatings and rape - an accusation roundly rejected by Ankara.

The EU has also bridled at talk in Turkey - from Erdogan down - of restoring the death penalty, a move Brussels said would scupper Ankara’s decades-old bid to join the bloc.

Tourism, a pillar of the economy, has been badly hit by a series of deadly bombings in Turkey, including one at Istanbul’s airport in June that killed 45 people, and by tensions with Russia. Data showing a 40 percent drop year-on-year in June in the number of foreign visitors to Turkey is further bad news for the government. The drop was the biggest fall in 22 years. l

France on Thursday identified the second jihadist involved in the brutal killing of an elderly priest, as calls mounted for the prime minister and interior minister to resign after the latest terror attack.

Prosecutors named the assailant as 19-year-old Abdel Malik Petitjean, who was listed in June on France’s “Fiche S” system of people posing a potential threat to national security after he tried to reach Syria from Turkey.

-REUTERS

AFRICA

UN: South Sudan on the brink of abyss South Sudan stands on the brink of an abyss, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday after a fresh flare up in fighting unleashed a wave of sexual violence. Ban told the Security Council that he was appalled by the scale of sexual violence, with UN rights officials reporting at least 120 cases of rape over the past three weeks.

-AFP

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The myth of lone-wolf terrorism n Tribune International Desk This month, Europe has again been rocked by a series of shocking terrorist attacks perpetrated by lone individuals and claimed in the name of the Islamic State (IS). On July 14, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian national residing in France, killed over 80 and wounded hundreds when he ploughed a 19-ton cargo truck through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the southern French city of Nice. Mere days after the Nice massacre, a 17-year-old Afghan migrant seeking asylum in Germany attacked passengers on a train in Würzburg with an axe and a knife, wounding four before police killed him. Two other attacks claimed in IS’ name have been carried out since then: A suicide bombing on July 24 injured 15 in the German city of Ansbach, and on July 26, two attackers claiming allegiance to IS stormed a church in a suburb of the French city of Rouen, slit an 84-year-old priest’s throat, and took hostages.

These incidents are part of a broader trend of increasing violence carried out by lone individuals. Analysts, journalists, and scholars have been quick to label each perpetrator of recent attacks as a lone wolf: individuals who lacked substantial connections to IS or other jihadist groups and who carried out their operations without the assistance of others.

The designation has generally been applied within 24 hours of these attacks, before significant intelligence about an incident’s planning and execution has emerged—and long before authorities have concluded their investigation. Indeed, less than a day after the Nice attack, observers rushed to describe Lahouaiej Bouhlel as a lone wolf who was not in fact linked to IS. Observers have repeatedly erred by definitively categorising attacks as lone-wolf operations when they would later turn out to be connected to broader cells or networks. At a minimum, individuals labelled lone wolves are often in communication with other militants, sometimes using encrypted services that are difficult to detect and decipher. There is a danger in rushing to label operatives as disconnected from others, as doing so can cause analysts to overlook the networks that facilitate and encourage attacks. It is time to put the myth of the lone wolf to rest.

Missing networks

The tendency to view lone attackers as unconnected to the broader IS organisation prevented observers from fully comprehending the magnitude of the network that was behind the complex coordinated attacks in Paris and Brussels.

In April 2015, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, an Algerian national studying in France, called for medical help

RECRUITING LONE WOLF TERRORISTS ONLINE The recruitment of lone wolf terrorists relies on online platforms and requires a gradual transition through numerous phases.

The Net

All online platforms may be used at this stage, official websites, Facebook pages, and personal email to YouTube video clips and Twitter messages. At this step, recruiters view the whole population as primed for recruitment and exposes it to an online message, video, taped lecture, or word document.

The target audience is viewed as homogeneous enough and receptive enough to be approached with a single undifferentiated pitch, to which some members will respond positively, others negatively.

The Funnel When a terrorist recruiter believes a target is ripe for recruitment yet requires a significant transformation in identity and motivation, he or she uses an incremental, or phased, approach that capitalizes on a wealth of techniques well studied in cognitive, social, and clinical psychology. This stage relies on a virtual social bonding, based on the target’s alienation, social frustration, solitude, and personal pessimism. It involves online exchanges and further exposure to religious, political, or ideological material.

The Infection

The infection stage often relies on the “seed crystal” practice, comparable to lowering the temperature of a glass of water until ice crystals form as the seeds of a complete freeze. In “seed crystal” recruitment, different forces can be used to “chill the glass” and increase the hardness of the “freeze.” These forces may include advanced radicalisation by continuous exposure to online radical material and virtual online guidance. In terms of al-Qaeda, the seed crystal approach is most successful in diasporas or populations where open recruiting is difficult or impossible.

The Activation

This step includes practical instructions (via online manuals) on using explosives, weapons, poisons, and chemicals; directions regarding the selection of target, location, and timing; and the final send-off.

Source: Wilson Centre

after accidentally shooting himself in the leg while handling a firearm.

Authorities’ investigation revealed that Ghlam, who was in possession of several guns, was planning to attack churches in the Paris area and may have been involved in the murder of a woman found dead in a Paris suburb. In August 2015, three Americans restrained Ayoub El-Khazzani, a 25-year old Moroccan national, before he could open fire on passengers traveling by train from Amsterdam to Paris.

At the time, the two attacks were seen as disconnected, with Khazzani generally labelled a lone wolf. And the bumbling incompetence of both incidents—Ghlam shot himself, while

Khazzani’s weapon jammed before he could get off a shot—made the attacks seem like the work of rank amateurs.

Meanwhile, IS fuelled perceptions that it was primarily interested in inspiring lone-wolf attacks rather than guiding them, with a pro-IS media outlet producing a propaganda video shortly after Khazzani’s botched attack calling on “lone lions” to kill the group’s enemies.

But after the devastating November 2015 attacks in Paris, it became clear that initial judgements had been wrong. A March 2016 The New York Times article by Rukmini Callimachi detailed how Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ground commander of the Paris attacks, had directed Gh-

lam, Khazzani, and several others to carry out attacks in Europe, even as he was preparing the Paris operation.

The failure to identify common ties between supposed lone wolves and IS is part of a broader and long-standing pattern of underestimating the scope of jihadist networks in the West. An official inquiry into the July 7, 2005, terrorist attacks in London, for example, described the cell that carried it out as autonomous and self-actuating rather than tied to al-Qaeda. One British official stated that “the London attacks were a modest, simple affair by four seemingly normal men using the internet.” But the idea that the London bombings were completely unrelated to al-Qaeda was definitively refuted by a commemorative video the jihadist group later released in July 2006, which showed footage of a martyrdom tape recorded by cell leader Mohammad Sidique Khan. On the tape, al Qaeda’s then-deputy emir, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also claimed that Khan and fellow plotter Shehzad Tanweer had visited one of al-Qaeda’s training camps in Pakistan “seeking martyrdom,” an account that has since been corroborated by Western intelligence agencies.

Since then, officials and analysts have often continued to ignore attackers’ ties with broader networks.

Part of the reason for the consistent failure may lie in a desire to avoid culpability; observers may perceive attacks carried out by networks as something officials should have prevented, but potential lone attackers are notoriously difficult to spot. Another reason may be a desire to downplay networks due to policy preferences, such as wanting to avoid taking kinetic action against the networks driving these attacks.

But it is a mistake to conflate facts with policy preferences, and the truth is that terrorists’ ties to broader networks are frequently overlooked.

In fact, theories that recent attacks were the work of individuals are already being discredited.

When IS claimed responsibility for the July 2016 Wurzburg train attack, the group released a video featuring the perpetrator that demonstrated IS had advance knowledge that he intended to strike. Less than a week after the Nice attack, French authorities revealed that Lahouaiej Bouhlel may not have acted alone. ”

Digital dilemma

The nature of radicalisation and operational planning in the digital age has complicated efforts to interpret and analyse attacks perpetrated by single individuals. Jihadists plotting murders in the West used to congregate in person, meeting in small groups in underground mosques, houses, or other discrete locations. Radicalisation occurred

through in-person contact. Counterterrorism officials looked for physical hubs of recruitment, tapping phones and scanning surveillance videos for evidence that cells were meeting.

But with the social media boom and the growth in encrypted communications, radicalisation and operational planning can easily take place entirely online. IS has capitalised on evolving communications technologies, building cohesive online communities that foster a sense of “remote intimacy” and thus facilitate radicalisation. The group has also established a team of “virtual planners” who use the Internet to identify recruits, and to coordinate and direct attacks, often without meeting the perpetrators in person.

Junaid Hussain, a British IS operative who was killed in August 2015, played the role of virtual planner for the May 2015 strike against the Draw Muhammad contest in Garland, Texas. Hussain had communicated online with Elton Simpson before the attack and was the first to celebrate it on social media.

The changing nature of operational planning underscores the need for a new paradigm for understanding the relationship between single attackers and networks. It no longer makes sense to apply pre-digital-age thinking to jihadist attacks perpetrated in the age of Twitter, Telegram, and end-to-end encryption.

Instead, it is useful to think of four categories of attacks, with descending connections to a network. The first category consists of operations in which the attacker was trained and dispatched by an organisation.

Reda Hame, who traveled to Syria and received weapons training from Abaaoud before being sent back to Europe, perfectly fits this mould.

The second category is attackers in touch via social media with virtual planners such as Hussain, who help set targets, determine the timing of the attack, and provide technical assistance.

The third category is operatives who are in contact with a militant group via online communications but do not receive specific instructions about carrying out an attack.

Finally, the fourth category comprises the true lone wolves, individuals who strike without ever communicating with jihadist networks, either online or in person.

It is clear that extremely few of the jihadists labelled lone wolves truly fit that definition. As long as attacks are falsely categorised though, the world can’t even begin to fight back. We need a better model for understanding terrorism in the digital age. l

[This is an excerpt form a FOREIGN AFFAIRS article, which can be found at

http://fam.ag/2au4fRQ]

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FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

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FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

TOP STORIES Where is it safe to make RMG business deal?

When it comes to making business deals, RMG retailers now prefer not meeting their manufacturers in Bangladesh on security grounds, but elsewhere, i.e. in any third country.

PAGE 13

Business unhurt, but terror attacks pose challenges In the wake of recent terrorist attack, business runs as usual amid challenges which need to be addressed to restore confidence in global buyers, business people said yesterday.

PAGE 13

With eye on China, India doubles down on container hub ports Indian conglomerate Adani Group has started building the country’s first transshipment port, conceived 25 years ago, and the government will construct another $4bn facility nearby to create a shipping hub rivalling Chinese facilities in the region.

PAGE 14

Fed leaves rates unchanged, sees diminished risk The Federal Reserve left key interest rates untouched yesterday but acknowledged improved economic performance, suggesting a rate increase may still be on the horizon in 2016.

PAGE 15

Capital market snapshot: Thursday DSE Broad Index

4,538.3

0.0% ▲

Index

1,111.2

-0.2% ▼

30 Index

1,771.5

-0.0% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

3,755.8

-7.3% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol

90.0

2.6% ▲

All Share Index 13,963.6

-0.1% ▼

CSE 30 Index Selected Index

12,855.6

0.4% ▲

8,499.3

-0.1% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

421.6 100.6% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

2.0 -67.5% ▼

Corruption a big challenge to SDGs Speakers at a dialogue say widespread corruption discourages investment He, however, admitted the fact n Tribune Business Desk that the corruption exists in the A group of prominent citizens said corruption is the main bottleneck to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and economic progress.

They said the corruption also discourages investment.

They expressed the views at a dialogue on “SDG 16 in the Bangladesh Context: Peace and Security, Human Rights and Governance,” organised by the Citizens’ Platform in Dhaka yesterday.

Under SDGs, goal 16 seeks substantially reducing corruption and bribery in all their forms, developing effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels, and ensuring responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.

“Corruption has become institutionalised in the country,” said Hossain Zillur Rahman, former advisor to the Caretaker Government and executive chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre.

Public expenditure is plugged with corruption as expenditure of some irrational development projects lacks accountability, he said.

“This weakens people’s spirit to do good thing.”

A prominent businessman and adviser to the Platform Syed Manzur Elahi said cost of doing business is going up, up and up. “Only

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal speaks while a leading entrepreneur Syed Manzur Elahi looks on at a dialogue in Dhaka yesterday COURTESY reason of this is corruption. SDGs will not be achieved unless corruption is checked.”

Coordinator of Nijera Kori Khushi Kabir said new law is being formulated, so the people cannot criticise the member of the parliament. “This is very much damaging for achieving SDGS.” Convener of the Platform Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said goal number 16 is the most important as its components are relevant to other goals.

He identified that lacks of awareness, capacity and political are the main obstacles for imple-

menting SDGs. Eminent citizen Professor and Adviser to the Platform Anisuzzaman, who also chaired the dialogue, said: “Our combined efforts will be ended in some unless we stamp out corruption from the country.”

For inclusive development, which is one of the comportment of SDGs, joint effort among the citizen and the people is imperative.

Defending all the concerns, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, however, hoped that Bangladesh will achieve SDGs much before 2030.

country. Reformation is necessary for removing corruption, he said.

To remove unemployment, the government has taken initiative to set up 100 economic zones, which will be visible within two and a half years.

About the involvement of young people in terrorism, the minister laid emphasis on quality education and technical education. Member, GED, Planning Commission Professor Dr Shamsul Alam said eliminating corruption and good governance are in progress but not in expected level.

To achieve goal 16, he put emphasis on wiping out poverty, hunger and inequality.

CPD Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan has made a presentation to initiate the discussion.

According to the discussants, though Bangladesh has improved a lot in reducing poverty, hunger, disease, gender inequality, and maternal and child mortality, the big question is whether Bangladesh will be able to achieve SDGs at a time when Bangladesh has continuously been suffering from politics of vendetta, poor governance, corruption and widening inequality.

2016 marks the beginning of the SDGs and developing countries like Bangladesh are grappling with how to implement them. l

Navy likely to develop Sylhet Hi-tech Park Showkat Kallol and n Asif Ishtiaq Husain Bangladesh Navy is likely to be tasked with developing the Sylhet Hi-tech Park (Sylhet Electronics City) as part of the government plan to implement Vision 2021.

Docyard and Engineering Works Limited (DEW) will run the project work, which would be implemented at a cost of Tk134.02 crore.

The implementation proposal of the project is likely to get approval from today’s cabinet committee meeting on public purchase.

Sources said ICT Division will build more Hi-Tech parks in different divisions and districts of the country.

DEW Ltd is the oldest dockyard in the subcontinent that posseses the greatest history of shipbuilding and repairs.

Presently, the high speed al-

uminium patrol boat for Bangladesh Coast Guard is building. This yard planned to build up to 6000 DWT vessel within 2020.

An official of ICT Division said it is a priority project of the current government.

Considering it, Bangladesh HiTech Park Authority will put additional care so it can be completed quickly.

The park would be established on a 162.63-acre of land at Companyganj upazila under Sylhet district.

Under this project, the dockyard will build approach road, administrative building, a sub-power station, fibre optical connectivity and boundary wall.

ECNEC approved the project titled “Hi-Tech Park, Sylhet (Sylhet Electronics City)” in March this year.

All establishment of the works would be implemented under an

Open Tender Method.

Meanwhile, the government is developing Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park, the first ever in the country, located at Kaliakoir upazila in Gazipur. It is 40km north of Dhaka city on a 232-acre of land.

Summit Technopolis and Bangladesh TechnoSity Limited are developing the parks.

The Hi-Tech Park Authority offers 10 years tax holiday, exemption of income tax for expatriate professionals, 10 years accelerated depreciation permissible, exemption from import duties, 100% exemption of taxes for all exports, 100% equity is allowed for FDI companies, custom boded area and single window agency. l

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Where is it safe to make RMG business deal? n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi When it comes to making business deals, RMG retailers now prefer not meeting their manufacturers in Bangladesh on security grounds, but elsewhere, i.e. in any third country.

But the question looms large how secure the third country is, as the whole world witnesses the terrorists acts almost everywhere.

Like the retailers, fear and uncertainty are haunting a good number of ready-made garment manufacturers, who are scheduled to visit a third country or the buyers’ country to negotiate business deals as terrorist attacks have been frequent across the world.

Such a manufacturer is Nazmul Alam (not his real name) who came forward to talk to the Dhaka tribune.

He said he will have to fly to Europe to meet his buyers next week.

The meeting was first scheduled in Dhaka, but was postponed and

later fixed in a European country as the buyers’ representatives opted not to visit Bangladesh over security concern.

The security issue came under the spotlight following the recent attack at the Gulshan restaurant that killed 20 people, mostly foreigners in the first week of the month.

Like his buyers, Nazmul also feels insecure to fly to him to settle new business deal for the coming seasons, but he has anyhow to turn up there for the sake of business.

In the last couple of weeks, Europe has seen several terrorist attacks including suicide mission at Istanbul airport, truck attack at Nice in France on Bastille Day celebration, shooting in the vicinity of the Olympia shopping mall in the Moosach district of Munich, Germany, and also at a nightclub in the Florida city of Fort Myers in United States.

“I cannot but go there as I have to run my business. Hundreds of workers depend on me for their

Business unhurt, but terror attacks pose challenges n

Tribune Business Desk

In the wake of recent terrorist attack, business runs as usual amid challenges which need to be addressed to restore confidence in global buyers, business people said yesterday.

They said the global buyers want to see how the government responds to the attacks and what measures it takes to ensure safety of foreigners and business individuals.

The business leaders came up with the remarks at a meeting with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at his office in the capital yesterday.

The minister, however, claimed that militancy would be rooted out soon as the government has taken steps to combat it.

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) president Tapan Chowdhury said: “As a parent when I stare at my sons after the terrorist attack, I become more worried about them than my business, which has been affected.”

It is not true that the recent attack has not left any impact on business. Every incident has an impact but it is not a big one. There are challenges, but the fact is how it could be tackled, he added.

Stressing the need for national consensus, the business tycoon said it is very unfortunate that after the recent killing incident, importance is yet to be laid on forming a consensus to tackle militancy.

In his address, FBCCI president Abdul Matlub Ahmed said: “Business is absolutely normal.”

The world wants to see how the government takes action to resolve the issues, he added.

Militant activities would come to an end soon as the government has taken all measures to modernise law enforcement agencies’ capacity to fight militancy, said the commerce minister.

Trade and commerce of the country is stable and would remain the same in the days to come, he hoped.

“Terrorism is widespread across the world and Bangladesh has witnessed its reality recently,” said Syed Nasim Manzur, president of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Global buyers want to see how the government responds to the incident.

None can tell that the incident would not repeat, but if any, the authorities have to take steps over since to face it, said Nasim.

99.99% Bangladeshi people do not support militancy even the family members did not take the body of those militants killed in the fight, he said, adding that “this is Bangladesh”.

“Business is going on. It did not fall but there are problems regarding communications, as the foreigners do not want to come here for security reason,” said Salman F Rahman, former president of FBCCI. l

bread and butter.”

Nazmul adds that terrorism is now a global issue which has to be fought together.

For the sake of workers and business, both buyers and manufacturers should mutually handle it, suggested the manufacturer.

“But where is the safe place for holding talks between the buyers and manufacturers?” he posed a question.

Faruque Hassan, senior vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told the Dhaka Tribune that the manufacturers are meeting their buyers at the latter’s desired place to ink deal as they have to continue business and have the buyers source from Bangladesh.”

In most cases, manufactures have to meet retailers for new style orders, but nowadays for development of new communication technology like Viber and Skype, deals are primarily discussed online and

end up in a bilateral meeting for final settlement.

The buyers should not hesitate or become tense to visit Bangladesh as the government has taken steps to ensure the security of foreigners, said the apparel leader.

“As manufactures, we are trying to do our best and have taken steps like visiting the buyers office instead of asking them to visit ours and are also providing them with security patrol.”

Faruque said they did not want that buyers leave Bangladesh.

“I am hopeful that this type of incident would not recur in our country and buyers would feel safe to visit us.”

Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) president Abdus Salam Murshedy said buyers can meet manufacturers in Bangladesh as the present crisis is a temporary one and the country is recovering the shock as the government has taken rapid action to curve terrorism.

The Cabinet Committee on Law and Order has decided to provide full-fledged protection for all foreigners and business individuals, doing business here in Bangladesh.

The export processing areas will be brought under special security coverage so that foreign buyers can move with full-fledged protection.

The government said it will provide law enforcers equipped with arms to ensure security for the buyers if demanded.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Tofail said: “The confidence of global retailers is being restored as the government is launching crackdown on militants.”

Early Tuesday, nine militants were killed in a swat team drive at Kalyanpur in the capital.

Bangladesh is safe and the buyers can meet their manufacturers without any fear or hesitation as the government is committed to ensuring foreigners security, added the commerce minister. l

Bashundhara Group gets pre-qualification licences for two economic zones n Tribune Business Desk Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) yesterday awarded prequalification licences to Bashundhara Group to build two separate economic zones in South Keraniganj near Dhaka.

The economic zones will be named as “Bashundhara Special Economic Zone Limited” and “East-West Special Economic Zone Limited.”

BEZA Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury handed over the licences to Bashundhara Group Adviser Major General (retd) Mohammad Mahbub Haider Khan.

Bashundhara Special Econom-

ic Zone will be developed mainly for petroleum oil refinery industry, said M Fakhruddin, chief operating officer of the group, at the licence awarding ceremony. He said Bashundhara Oil and Gas Company will be a major investor in the economic zone.

“We will also welcome foreign investment after completion of the zone’s development work,” M Fakhruddin added.

The economic zones will have investments in petroleum oil refinery or petrochemical industries, LPG cylinder manufacturing and LPG bottling plant, food and beverage, food products, chemical and chemical products, ship building, steel

BRAC Bank clocks 75% jump in H1 net profit n Tribune Business Desk BRAC Bank’s net profit jumped 75% in the first half of this year driven by strong growth in retail and SME banking.

Net profit rose to over Tk174 crore in first six months (January-June,) this year from Tk100 crore a year ago.

Managing Director and CEO of BRAC Bank Selim RF Hussain disclosed the financial performance report of the bank at a press conference held in the city yesterday.

BRAC Bank has, through its new customer-centric and one-bank vision, delivered a strong financial

performance in H1, 2016. The bank has already achieved significant milestones on its journey to becoming the best bank in the country and is confident of continuing business momentum over the next few years.

The Net Asset Value (NAV) per share of the bank at the end of June 2016 stands at Tk31.39, compared to Tk26.47 at the end of June 2015.

The bank’s consolidated Earnings Per Share (EPS) hit Tk2.52 during the period, which was Tk1.44 in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Chief Financial Officer of the bank Parvez Sajjad presented the financial results at the press conference. l

and steel products, modern and specialised hospitals, education, hospitality and shopping malls.

The zone is expected to create 40,000 employments.

The government has a target of setting up 100 economic zones in the country, out of which 50 will be from private sector, said BEZA Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury.

A total of 10 private sector companies, including the Bashundhara Group, has received pre-qualification licences for setting up private economic zones in the country.

The economic zones are expected to increase export earnings by $40bn and provide around 10m jobs. l

Muklesur Rahman joins Shimanto Bank as MD

n Tribune Business Desk

Muklesur Rahman, a senior banker, yesterday joined newly-established Shimanto Bank Ltd as managing director and chief executive officer, said a statement released by the bank.

Muklesur has been involved with banking sector both at home and abroad for more than three decades. He was the founding MD and CEO of NRB Bank Ltd. l

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With eye on China, India doubles down on container hub ports they offered discounts.

“A major part of transshipment is happening at nearby ports. We can win some of that business,” said A.S. Suresh Babu, who heads a government agency set up by Kerala to facilitate the construction of Vizhinjam.

“There’s a viability issue in the first few years. Already the Chinese are operating there. So unless you give some discount you can’t attract these ships. So that’s why the government of India has approved the viability gap funding.”

CORPORATE NEWS

Kazi & Kazi Tea has recently organised a conference in Comilla, said a press release.

The company’s assistant managers, Ashifur Rahman and Yaasir Quader Abedin were present at the conference, among others

Chinese threat Indian billionaire Gautam Adani speaks during an interview with Reuters at his office in Ahmedabad REUTERS

n Reuters, New Delhi Indian conglomerate Adani Group has started building the country’s first transshipment port, conceived 25 years ago, and the government will construct another $4bn facility nearby to create a shipping hub rivalling Chinese facilities in the region.

New Delhi will grant billionaire Gautam Adani 16bn rupees ($240m) in so-called “viability gap” funding to help the new port at Vizhinjam in Kerala win business from established hubs elsewhere in Asia.

Once Vizhinjam is operational the central government will start building the port of Enayam in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, said a senior shipping ministry official.

Enayam alone will save more than $200m in costs for Indian companies every year, he said.

India’s 7,500-km (4,700-mile) coastline juts into one of the world’s main shipping routes and Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to capitalise on that proximity by developing ports that can shift freight on to huge vessels capable of carrying up to 18,000 20foot containers.

By bringing onshore cargo handling now done at entrepots in Sri Lanka, Dubai and Singapore, Modi’s government expects cargo

traffic at its ports to jump by twothirds by 2021 as India ramps up exports of goods including cars and other machinery.

The lack of an Indian domestic transshipment port forces inbound and outbound containers to take a detour to one of those regional hubs before heading to their final destination.

New Delhi expects the new ports to save Indian companies hundreds of millions of dollars in transport costs, as well as ease concerns over the growing strategic clout in South Asia of rival China, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Sri Lankan ports at Colombo and Hambantota.

Adani wants the Vizhinjam port, which an arm of his Adani Group is building at a cost of around $1bn, to be operational in 2018. The port lies hard by the Gulf-to-Malacca shipping lane that carries almost a third of world sea freight.

“The port can attract a large share of the container transshipment traffic destined for, or originating from, India which is now being diverted primarily through Colombo, Singapore and Dubai,” said an Adani Group executive who declined to be named.

But officials acknowledge that it would be difficult for the new ports to win international clients unless

India is worried about China’s expanding reach in the region through port investments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives. China is also developing Pakistan’s Gwadar seaport as part of a $46bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

China had also wanted to partner with an Indian company to build the Vizhinjam port, but its proposal was rejected by the government on grounds of national security.

India has not banned Chinese firms from investing in its ports, but takes a cautious approach as most ports are also used for “strategic purposes”, said the shipping ministry source.

That is a euphemism for dual-use port facilities that could also be used by naval vessels. The docking of a Chinese nuclear submarine at Colombo’s commercial port in 2014 shocked India’s security establishment and has added urgency to New Delhi’s push to strengthen its port infrastructure.

Vizhinjam port will have dedicated berths for India’s navy and coastguard, according to a government note seen by Reuters.

India is also seeking to extend its commercial and strategic reach as it tries to catch up with China, pledging up to $500m to develop the Iranian port of Chabahar to give it trade access to Iran, Afghanistan and the hinterlands of Central Asia, now largely blocked by Pakistan. l

NRB Global Bank has recently opened a branch at Feni, said a press release. The bank’s chairperson, Nizam Chowdhury inaugurated the branch as chief guest

Singer Bangladesh Limited has recently inaugurated its refrigerator factory at Savar in Dhaka, said a press release. CEO of Singer Asia and chairperson of Singer Bangladesh, Gavin Walker was present on the occasion

Partex Builders Ltd, a sister concern of Partex Star Group has recently arranged a three-day long sales campaign named Sales Dhamaka at Partex Pacific Palace in Khilkhet, Dhaka. The company’s COO, Munsur Ali Sikder inaugurated the campaign, said a press release

Singapore wealth fund warns of tough investment decade n AFP, Singapore

Singapore multi-billion-dollar sovereign wealth fund GIC yesterday reported a substantial dip in returns and warned of “difficult” global investment conditions over the next decade.

GIC said in a statement its annualised rate of return, excluding global inflation, for the past 20 years fell to 4% in the year to March

2016, from 4.9% in 2015, adding future returns will be challenged by uncertainties caused by the lowyield environment.

“These difficult investment conditions can stretch for the next 10 years,” said Lim Chow Kiat, deputy group president and chief investment officer.

“GIC is prepared for this protracted period of all-time low interest rates, modest global growth

prospects and high valuations of financial assets,” he added.

In the face of a global slowdown, most central banks around the world - with the notable exception of the US Federal Reserve - have cut or are considering cutting borrowing costs as they look to ramp up inflation and kickstart their economies.

GIC, formerly known as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, manages Singapore’s

foreign reserves with a focus on long-term performance. It does not disclose the exact value of its portfolio, saying only that it has “well over US$100bn of assets” in more than 40 countries, including real estate, equities and fixed-income investments.

The US-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute says GIC has $344bn of assets under management, making it the world’s eighth largest.

GIC says 34% of its portfolio is in

the United States, 20% in Asia outside Japan and 11% in Japan. Singapore’s other global investment company, Temasek Holdings, this month said its global portfolio suffered its first annual drop since 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.

Temasek announced that the value of its global assets was Sg$242bn ($180bn) by March, down nine percent from last year’s record Sg$266bn. l

Fed leaves rates unchanged, sees diminished risk n AFP, Washington The Federal Reserve left key interest rates untouched yesterday but acknowledged improved economic performance, suggesting a rate increase may still be on the horizon in 2016.

Policy makers had not been expected to raise rates, out of concern that a hike could stifle fragile growth.

Their improving view on economic conditions left open the possibility of an increase in the benchmark federal funds rate, currently at 0.25-0.5%, by December.

Putting behind the surprise sharp downturn in job creation in May that had raised worries about the economy, the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets the monetary policy, said employment and economic growth had grown moderately since their midJune meeting.

They also appeared to see less threat to US growth from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, which took place a week after the last FOMC meeting.

“Near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished,” the FOMC said in announcing the outcome of the closely watched two-day meeting in Washington.

Inflation rate hawks and doves had been split in June over how strong the economy was, and voted unanimously to hold off on raising rates until the situation became more clear.

The Fed has repeatedly

said it wants to see increasing job growth and signs of stronger inflation before it raises rates.

While Wednesday’s statement cited moderate increases in growth in employment, it said inflation was expected to remain low in the near term.

As it had found in June, the

‘But it seems more likely that the critical mass of data to hike will not arrive until December’ committee said household spending was “growing strongly” while fixed investment from businesses remained “soft.”

But in a departure from its last meeting, the committee noted that payroll and other labor market data “point to some increase in labor utilization in recent months.”

Tim Duy, Senior Director at the Oregon Economics Forum, said a rate hike at the next FOMC meeting in September could not be ruled out.

“But it seems more likely that the critical mass of data to hike will not arrive until December,” he told AFP. Following the statement, Fed funds futures traded on the CME, a kind of betting pool showing investor expectations, implied a 46.5%

probability that the committee would increase rates before the end of the year, with the larger balance expecting the target rate to remain untouched through December.

The results suggested investors had expected the Fed to produce a rosier statement than the one released on Wednesday.

According to Steven Ricchiuto, chief US economist at Mizuho Securities USA, continued job growth could tip the balance in favor of a rate hike - especially given that the committee believes the threats to economic growth are now lower.

“This suggests that the countdown to a rate hike in September/December will start in earnest if we get another strong jobs report for July on August 5th,” Ricchiuto said.

Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisers said the Fed appeared torn between optimism and fear.

“One thing this group has been consistent about is its one-meeting-the-sky-is-falling, the-next-meeting-thesun-is-coming-out approach to economic analysis,” he said. “This was the good economy meeting that comes after the worrisome economy meeting.”

As for Brexit, Naroff said, “the members seem to have said ‘never mind’ and dropped those issues into the factors they are monitoring.”

Following Wednesday’s announcement, the dollar was slightly weaker against the euro at $1.1049. l

MD for Sonali Bank: Search committee recommends seven n Tribune Business Desk A search committee formed to find managing director for Sonali Bank has recommended seven persons for the top executive post of the country’s largest state-owned commercial bank.

The three-member committee submitted the recommendation for the single post of chief executive and managing director at the Sonali Bank board meeting recently, official sources said.

Among the recommended are Abdul Salam, manag-

ing director of Janata Bank, Khandokar Mahmmad lqbal, former managing director of BASIC Bank, Ataur Rahman Phadhan, managing director of Prabashi Kallyan Bank, Mostak Ahmed, former managing director of Karmasangsthan Bank and Awal Khan, former general manager of Sonali Bank.

The committee comprises three members - Mahmmand Muslim Chowdhury, additional finance secretary and also acting chairman of Sonali Bank, Kamurnahar Ahmed, additional secretary, and Md

Fazlul Haq, additional secretary.

Didar Mahmmand Abdur Rab, deputy managing director of Sonali Bank, is currently the bank’s acting managing director.

The MD post became vacant as Pradip Kumar Dutta completed his extended term on 17 June, 2016.

Dutta took over the charge on June 17, 2012 after the bank was shaken by a more than Tk3,500 crore loan scam, the biggest ever banking sector irregularity in the country. l

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Business

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

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16

Writing

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Post-Midnight

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n Shehtaz Huq I was wilting in the static summer heat when he called at 10:04pm.

I watched several episodes of Chopped and by then, watched

six hours of TV. He was in bed somewhere in London, at his AirBnB, drunk but not asleep.

When the phone rang I didn’t know what to expect, but it was only him and his slurred speech,

so crisp over broadband internet.

I asked him if he was home, hydrated, if his wallet was accounted for. He said he hated me for being such a mom.

We antagonised each other as only old friends can. His story came out in bits and pieces.

The various ciders consumed that night. The walk along the promenade. The fish and chips, the six flights of stairs to get to their room. He told me that his girlfriend was fast asleep, or at least he thought so. He told me that after the trip they would be over, “For real, this time.” We have had several iterations of this conversation. For once, I am the one dispelling the love advice.

For days at a stretch I fielded those calls. Each time I was at home, supine on my sofa bed.

Each time he was drunk-awake.

It was 4:00am somewhere in Amsterdam, but he was wide awake from the live adult show they’d seen. He lamented his aches and sores, the lumpy AirBnB mattress, the impending move to California. I told him not to backtrack on the relationship. “It would be too easy to just say yes,” I said. He agreed. This was the end.

The next day he called again.

This time we were back in the same time zone. He joked about the lateness of the hour. Still 10:04pm at my end, but I laughed, too. “Hey, it’s post-midnight somewhere, right?” he said, and we laughed.

I say I laughed but the mirth was short-lived. He did not know the words he had said had cut through the transatlantic phone call, a clean swoop. “Postmidnight.”

Ten years of dull, steady aches fan gossamer strands between now and then. Ten years ago, post-midnight calls had taken place under wholly different circumstances. Those conversations had followed a different trajectory. Same time zone, different cell phones.

Hushed tones, beating hearts.

Cheeks pulled taut from smiling, eyes pricking with fatigue. Redeyed and buoyant, the phone warm in the cradle of my hand.

4:00am. Like clockwork. That was to fall in love, in fits and starts, occasionally drowned by static and dropped calls. The snorts and guffaws, smothered in the indentation of pillows. The words came out all at once and not at all, not saying what we meant but

4 writing hacks

Didactic Cinquain

Take your work to the next level

n Sabrina Fatma Ahmad Creative writing, like weight-loss or body-building, demands hard work, and the road to success is paved with many little failures, self-doubt and missteps. And just like with fitness routines, there’s no magic “one-size-fits-all” magic formula that fits everyone.

There are, however, a few rules and guidelines that can give your writing a little oomph.

Chop it up

Sorry, James Joyce, but times have changed. To attract today’s readers, approach your paragraphs the way you would a movie scene. Break your para at a significant moment, whether to create a cliff-hanger, or to separate an idea from another. It makes for greater clarity.

From the heart

When seeking critiques – and as I have mentioned in an earlier column, it’s best to approach only a trusted, learned few, at least until your work is polished and finalised – look for reactions

as well as advice. Ask them how they felt about the piece, because it gives you an idea of whether you’ve achieved your objective with the writing.

Trees Green, Peace.

Growing, Spreading, Breathing.

Blowing lives into humans.

Mind

Waste not, want not

Don’t just toss away those maudlin poems you wrote as a teenager.

Every bit of original writing you’ve produced, even the “bad” ones have potential to be recycled and re-worked into confections of delight. Just take a look at Woody Allen’s filmography.

Think of your lessawesome pieces as “under construction”, and you’ll never lose confidence.

Atkia Samia Rahman Got poetry in your soul?

Fiction in your pocket? Share your work with us! Email your original pieces to featuresdt@ gmail.com

Steal Smart

While plagiarism is undesirable, no writer can ever produce in a vacuum. Read, read extensively.

See what others have done. Be inspired, and then bring your own lens to those techniques and worlds and make them your own.

Don’t just copy; re-work, and maybe you can even do better than what inspired you. l

saying enough to know. I lived for those post-midnight calls, my mind strained and taut, my cardiac muscles stretched with anticipation. For hours afterwards I would pick the bones of those conversations clean, dissect his words and mine, recall the floodgates of unadulterated joy that would cascade from the base of my spine to the little toe of my left foot.

Post-midnight had me waltzing down aisles and skirting around potholes. Snippets sparked in my memory as I dragged a comb through my hair.

This was not the same. The year was 2016, the circumstances wholly different. This time, the man at the other end did not grip my tell-tale heart in his fist. He was merely a friend, a collaborator in sandwich runs, a partner in crime for Friday night movie marathons during finals week. His calls caused no seismic shift in my being. They were not steeped in melancholy or nostalgia. It was merely the memory of the hour, the distance, the act of cradling phone in hand, the static that drowns out the years but not the dull, steady ache.

The eyes pricked now for entirely different reasons. l

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Feature

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Utilising digital marketing to attain audience satisfaction

D

igital marketing budgets are increasing steadily worldwide. This is good news for those who are hoping to break into the digital marketing industry. Whether

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you’re passionate about search, affiliation, social media, or other areas of marketing, there are a few things you can do to prove your worth and increase user experience.

Setbacks In this digital marketing era, social media marketing is immensely becoming over-reliant on metrics and numbers. Just because we can gauge more, doesn’t mean we should or that the provenance is accurate. This pushing strategy is creating repetitive, tedious and undifferentiated brand presence.

These marketing strategies run the risk of being purely focused on a conversion that creates poor brand experience.

Finally, metrics need to be exchangeable to the welfare of social media campaigns and it does not just need to be pushed through a sales channels to reach a conversion and quota. Digital marketing professionals need to look beyond adaptation and clinch the art of the field to create amazing, tremendous and longlasting digital experiences.

Key to solutions User experience is driven by design. This means that it tends to

lean more naturally towards the design end of the spectrum. Much of digital marketing is focused on the channels we can reach customers through print, digital, mobile media. But the problem is that customers are really just people with a need, which your product addresses.

By creating really distinguished and extensive experiences that connect to larger ideas, a brand may create loyal, lifelong advocates before ever making a conversion. Only recently have we begun to address this, with concepts such as cross-channel experiences, or even omnichannel experiences. But these concepts are broken. They buy into the business logic and seek to explain customers in terms of the firm’s own capability, rather than the customers’ own needs.

This fundamentally cripples most marketing efforts from the outset, as much of the problem of conversion rates tend to live in these gaps. These gaps are where

user experience design lives.

Having a user experience designer as part of your digital marketing team will help to redress this imbalance.

Summary of the experience oriented social media marketing Though numbers are still important, they need to be allied with selling objectives and attached to triumph metrics for intangible goals.

The focal point of social media marketing campaigns should be persistent with brand practices. These rational and steady experiences erect the brand uniqueness through which spectators perceive, recognise, and connect with a brand.

In the end, the lesson is this: Don’t just run after statistics.

Pursue brand experience. l Article was published under a special arrangement with SD Asia.

Reasons Asia hasn’t apprehended the prospective of content marketing

W

hile the Western world kind of shut off the traditional marketing approach, marketers in Asia are yet to realise the potential of content marketing.

Utilising content have become the modern marketing tool in the United States and Europe; whereas Asia has been comparatively sluggish to acclimatise content marketing in this digital era.

Slow and steady growth Content marketing in the Asian landscape is growing annually, but at a steady pace. Fullfledged digital agencies are being established and making its mark in the marketing arena. Although vigilant content marketing is receiving more importance and nascent brands are endowing more in their content budgets, Asian markets are still on the back foot compared to the West.

Battle of values: West vs East Content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. This is where the clash occurs between the Eastern and Western approach. For example, marketers must keep in mind the

following particulars: • Asia is not a homogeneous marketing scene. For example, what works in USA or UK might not wing in Malaysia or Singapore.

• Asian audiences include a focus on community, social values, and squat outlay. The exact application of content like western approaches in such an environment seems somewhat indistinct.

• Asia clasps economic disproportion and dissimilarity from region to region. For example, content marketing may not be seen as the most efficient means of reaching an audience willing to logically fritter.

For these reasons, content marketing in the Asian section is far removed from western approaches. Hopefully, the Asian digital marketing setting will find their respective voices and a means of reaching their audience.

Swinging the state of mind The Western approach focuses on needs of a company’s audience whereas Asian content strategies focuses on selling. As more

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content marketers materialise in Asian markets, they’ll want to carve up two kinds of approaches: • Local-relevant links and shares.

• Industry-relevant links and shares.

Old strategy in a new approach There is a strong opportunity for Asian marketers to tap into the enormous potential of content marketing. Content marketing is all about building communities.

It is non-interruption marketing.

Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information on what makes your buyer more intelligent. The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.

Content marketing is inexpensive, safe, available for anyone in any industry and beneficial in many different areas. The sooner you

start investing in it, the sooner you’ll start to see results, and the better results you’ll eventually see.

Asian markets nevertheless, recent leaning give us the sagacity that their surfacing will come quicker rather than later. l

Article was published under a special arrangement with SD Asia.

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18

Feature

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Commonwealth Scholarship: Helping the Meritorious

n Tribune Desk

B

angladesh and UK has a tradition of cultural and academic exchange. Over the years, this relationship has further strengthened that helped to grow on an alumni network of approximately over 25,000, who are living and working in Bangladesh. Many of these professionals (around 1,600 till now) had been offered the Commonwealth Scholarships who are using their expertise from UK to enable a driving change for their community. The British Council in Bangladesh has been supporting this feature in coordination with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) under the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) who administers the fellowship program.

Commonwealth Scholarship Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is to provide opportunities for Commonwealth students to pursue advanced academic study in other Commonwealth countries for future prospective students to take up higher quality education

in UK and forming to strengthen a community for higher economic gains in the field of postgraduate and doctoral studies. On behalf of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK, British Council delivers CSFP program promotion, alumni tracing, pre-departure support, briefings in priority and represented countries, additionally works with nominating agency, and alumni associations in priority countries.

The British Council’s responsibility has shifted to marketing and communications landscape by launching predeparture support or briefings in priority and represented countries, and additionally work for nominating agents for spreading information over CSC schemes within their priority countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka). Offers from CSC enable an individual to secure high skills opportunity, equipped with training and professional skills other than just academics.

To contribute to UK Higher Education and foreign policy aims by encouraging collaboration and links, CSC offers schemes

for Bangladeshi nationals on the following grounds: 1. Medical Fellowships 2. Doctoral Scholarships 3. Split-Site Doctoral Scholarships 4. Master’s Scholarship 5. Shared Master’s Scholarship 6. Distance Learning Scholarships for Masters Study As CSC is UK’s one of the most prestigious scholarships that a student can receive for a higher education in the UK, it is noteworthy that Honourable Speaker of Bangladesh Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, is also a

Commonwealth Scholar.

CSC Alumni - What’s their say?

“A recognition of talent being titled as a Commonwealth Scholar is in itself a prestigious act one would like to have as it is solely judged on merit,” says Neelima Akhter, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Dhaka; having pursed an MA in English Language Teaching at the University of Warwick (20072008).

Dr Haseeb Md Irfanullah, Programme Coordinator,

Living in a multiculturalism environment helps one to grow by gaining new perspectives of life and by better discovering one’s own potential

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), shares, “Scholars have an exposure to a globalised world with reputed education system and where multiculturalism connects people with a vision of knowledge transfer.” He has obtained a PhD in Ecology from the University of Liverpool.

Living in a multiculturalism environment helps one to grow by gaining new perspectives of life and by better discovering one’s own potential. Both of them also are active members of Bangladesh Association of Commonwealth Scholars (BACSAF), which was formed in 2014 with aims of maintaining connectedness between the scholars, mentoring young and talented researchers and adding greater value to the society.

Students aspiring to apply for a Commonwealth Scholarship are encouraged to contact University Grants Commission, Bangladesh, Agargaon, Dhaka-1207 or visit British Council website (http:// www.britishcouncil.org.bd/en/ commonwealth-scholarshipand-fellowship-plan-csfp) for information.l

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Biz Info

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

| seminar |

Raising awareness on anti-terrorism at NSU

Today the world is suffering from a deadly disease called terrorism.

Over the past few years, terrorists have committed extremely violent acts for alleged political or religious reasons all over the world. The recent barbaric terrorist attacks carried out in Holey

Artisan Bakery, Gulshan, Dhaka and Solakia Eidgah, Kishoreganj has kept us in an utter state of mourning. To prevent any further undesirable incident “Alliance for Resistance of Terrorism and Communalism” in association with North South University

(NSU), held a seminar on raising awareness on anti-terrorism for NSU students and faculty members at NSU auditorium on July 27.

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, was the chief guest of the seminar where Professor M M Akash, DU, Professor Mohammad A Arafat, Dr Sarwar Ali; artist Nazma Aktar, artist Kamal Pasha Chowdhury, member secretary, Alliance for Resist Communal Terrorism, Ex Major General Abdur Rasid, Syed Istiak Reza, addressed the audience along with Azim Uddin Ahmed, Chairman, NSU BOT, and Professor Atiqul Islam, vice chancellor, NSU. Journalist Abed Khan was the convener of the seminar.

Chief guest Information Minister, Hasanul Haq Inu said that these terrorists do not belong to any institution, family, or any religion. They are against all

humanitarians. He believed that 22,000 students of NSU are also against this extremism and would work together to fight against this disease. Inu said, “Now the situation in our country is grave.

Everyone must choose a side.

Our Government’s side is that of righteousness. We have to uproot the terror and the factory where terror grows otherwise it will not be possible to control terrorists.”

Major General Abdur Rasid said, terrorists select youths from age of 14 to 24 as it is easy to divert them to wrong pathway. They take advantage of a victim’s sensitive points, being teachers, private teachers and friends. Later, they misguide these young children and misinterpret the meaning of Islam. To get aware of the situation we need to be connected to our children and get alert if we find any differences in them.

Journalist, Abed Khan said,

“We cannot make everyone responsible from any institution over the actions of a few.” He urged students to come forward by leaving all fears, ignominy and hesitation back and discuss with dear and closed people.

Professor M M Akash said, “North South University’s image is being drawn negatively relating with terrorism, which is absolutely inappropriate.’

Prof Atiqul Islam mentioned in his speech that the NSU campus, including prayer halls, are under CCTV surveillance; and students are getting their RFID contained student identification card very soon. All NSU school Deans, Chairs, all academic and administrative heads and students from NSU participated in this seminar. The seminar ended with an addressing of NSU VC and a question answer session from students end. l

| ceremony |

| screening |

Environmental science symposium held at IUB

Free Hepatitis B screening by Apollo

The Department of Environmental Science of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) organised a day-long Symposium on July 27 at the IUB campus in Bashundhara, Dhaka. The theme of the Symposium was, “Scientific thinking to save the planet.”

There was also a poster presentation on different environmental related issues participated by the students.

During the technical session, Dr KM Sultanul Aziz, former secretary, Bangladesh Academy of Sciences and Editor-in-

chief, Bangladesh Journal of Microbiology and Dr M Muhibur Rahman, professor, Department of Chemistry, Dhaka University and former member, University Grants Commission of Bangladesh and Consultant, Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP), presented keynote papers on various environmental issues along with recommendations on necessary measures that need to be taken through joint efforts.

Professor M Omar Rahman, vice chancellor of the university, inaugurated the symposium and during

the award giving ceremony, being the chief guest, he also distributed prizes amongst the winners who presented the best posters on environmental issues.

Dr Abdul Khaleque, Dean, School of Environmental Science and Management SESM, IUB and Dr Hafijur Rahman, assistant professor of the school also delivered speeches during the award giving ceremony.

Dr K Ayaz Rabbani, assistant professor, SESM, concluded the event with a note of appreciation for all parties involved. l

To commemorate World Hepatitis Day 2016, Apollo Hospitals Dhaka in collaboration with Zulphar Bangladesh arranged a day-long event on July 28, 2016, in which they carried out a “Free Hepatitis B Screening” for everyone who registered to be screened. The event was inaugurated at the Master Health Check (MHC) Center of Apollo Hospitals Dhaka and the consultants of the gastroenterology department of the hospital provided an in-depth view about different types of hepatitis, how it is spread and the different treatments available in Bangladesh. Dr Ratnadeep Chaskar, COO of Apollo Hospitals Dhaka also shared his perspective on hepatitis and suggested that the forms of hepatitis, which are long-term can be prevented through vaccine and awareness in the community. To create awareness through social

media, the consultants of the gastroenterology department of Apollo Hospitals Dhaka participated in a Facebook live telecast in which many individuals posted their queries about hepatitis and they were aptly answered by the consultants.

The consultants who brought forward their views in this event are Prof Dr Md Muzibur Rahman Bhuiyan, coordinator and senior consultant, gastroenterology and hepatology, Dr Lutful L Chowdhury, senior consultant, gastroenterology and hepatology, Dr Iqbal Murshed Kabir, consultant, gastroenterology and hepatology and Prof (Dr) Mohammed Istiaque Hossain, coordinator and senior consultant, paediatrics and neonatology.

More than 200 individuals from all walks of life, tested for this disease on the day and became a part of this wonderful event.l

DT

20 Editorial

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

TODAY

Fix our political culture first When there is a vacuum in politics, someone will fill it. The militants have utilised this situation. They take advantage of the blame game that is rampant in our politics PAGE 21

A history of violence Far from spiralling irreversibly into a vicious cycle of violence, it seems we have enjoyed its overall decline

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PAGE 22

IT start-ups will shape the future

IS declares war on the Prophet’s covenant The Prophet granted unconditional protection and what we, today would recognise as basic human rights to Christians, near and far. All true caliphs since then have observed this treaty, as they have been compelled to do till the Last Day 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.

T

he IT Incubation Centre, created through a partnership between the government and the private sector, is a welcome initiative that will boost the economy and take Bangladesh forward into the 21st century.

The country has a large population of young people with an entrepreneurial spirit. To successfully tap into the demographic dividend, everything should be done to support the youth execute their visions and introduce innovations into our information technology sector.

This centre, inaugurated by the Prime Minister’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, aims to do just that.

Over the next decade, over 100,000 jobs may be created and foreign earnings may be increased through this and similar initiatives.

Along with encouraging start-ups, the country’s plans to construct ICT parks and new economic zones, like the Hi-Tech Park in Gazipur, will spur innovation and growth, taking the economy forward.

Investing in the development of IT skills, and aiding the formation and growth of tech start-up companies is absolutely essential if we are to realise our dream of a Digital Bangladesh and become a globally recognised software hub and manufacturing base.

We have already seen a number of Bangladeshi brands invest strongly in manufacturing. Now, Bangladesh can start thinking seriously about digital exports, and of becoming an attractive destination for ICT investment.

Digital is the way forward. Let’s encourage its growth as much as possible.

Digital is the way forward.

Let’s encourage its growth as much as possible

DT

21

Opinion

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Fix our political culture first When politicians are busy with blame games, nothing gets solved

Stop pointing fingers

n Mushfique Wadud

I

n the history of Bangladesh, there was very little smallscale communal violence.

During Partition, when the whole of the Indian sub-continent was marked by communal violence between Hindus and Muslims, present day Bangladesh was comparatively calmer with very few sporadic incidents of violence.

In his book Unfinished Memoirs, Bangabandhu mentioned that Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy praised people of Bangladesh for their non-communal attitude during the Partition.

There is hardly any Bangladeshi Muslim who does not have a Hindu friend. In rural Bangladesh, Hindus are part of the Muslims’ social activities.

Muslims go to the functions of Hindu festivals and Hindus visit Muslim houses during their two big festivals -- Eid-ul-Fitr and Eidul-Adha.

The tie is historic.

In fact, one of the reasons the Bangali Muslims fought the Pakistani Army was the army’s humiliation and mistreatment of Hindus.

In the last few years, we have

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learnt that a section of this largely non-communal people has become extremely communal.

They want to kill people who do not belong to their religion. We have seen many religious Hindu leaders hacked to death.

for this shift and who should we blame?

We can easily blame private universities. It seems very popular nowadays to blame private universities, their students, and teachers for militancy.

not have been embarrassed.

We can also blame some media outlets for spreading hate speech among the people.

We can say that, as some militants used to and are listening to these media outlets, they are

When there is a vacuum in politics, someone will fill it. The militants have utilised this situation. They take advantage of the blame game that is rampant in our politics

We have seen at least 20 foreigners killed in a restaurant in Gulshan.

Ironically, these types of incidents are taking place at a time when we claim that the spirit of our liberation movement is high and flourishing.

When we claim that more people in Bangladesh are becoming non-communal.

The big question now is: Why is a section of this largely noncommunal population suddenly becoming extremely communal?

And the more important question is: Who is responsible

The logic is: Two or three of these militants came from these renowned institutions. And there are some people who do not like the idea of private universities and take every chance to malign the system.

And we can put the blame entirely on the parents. We can say that it is their responsibility to look after their children but they have largely failed.

We can say that if the parents had given them some time, their children would not have become militants, and the country would

responsible.

It is easy to blame private university teachers. As some of the teachers were involved with the banned outfits, we can say that these teachers are motivating their students to be militants and to kill people in the name of religion.

And we are told that the landlords of the houses the terrorists used to live in were also responsible. As they did not inform the law enforcers about the details of their tenants, they are involved with the killings, and they are to be blamed.

It is true that some of them are responsible.

However, if you ask me, I would blame it entirely on our politics.

For the last two decades, we have been observing politics of finger pointing.

When a party is in power, it tries to destroy its opposition. This is true for both the major political parties in the country.

Neither do not want a strong opposition and they use state machineries to make the opposition weak.

It is a very easy equation that, when there is a vacuum in politics, someone will fill it. The militants have utilised this situation.

They take advantage of the blame game that is rampant in our politics.

When we are searching for solutions to the Islamic militancy problems, our politicians must shoulder the responsibilities.

At the same time, we must work on improving our political culture.

Otherwise, we will fail with regards to most other major issues of the country and not just on the issue of militancy. l Mushfique Wadud is a journalist currently working in the development field.

DT

22

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Long Form

A history of violence

It’s easy to romanticise the past, but numbers tell a different story. This is the concluding part of yesterday’s long form

Even with the advent of modern weapons, death rates are lower now

n Syed Raiyan Nuri Reza

M

oving past fiction, a brief glance through history does resonate with the central thesis here. Starting off in the prehistoric era, we come across numerous cases of archaeological discoveries of well-preserved bodies that seem to have met a macabre demise.

A more famous example would be Lindow Man, his body dated between 2AD and 199AD. The body even retained the doomed soul’s brain and last meal, hence providing the archaeologist with the chance to conduct an extensive study.

Forensic reports indicated that the poor man was struck viciously on the head resulting in bone fracture, strangled so violently that his neck was broken, and, for additional measure, his throat was slit.

While experts are divided on whether it was plain murder or ritualistic sacrifice, I am fairly certain that consensus can be reached that this barbarity was nothing less, if not more, than what see on the evening news.

Even though it should be more disturbing to know that ritualistic human sacrifice is a plausible scenario.

In fact, human sacrifice was practiced in many different cultures on different occasions with the purpose, usually, to appease the gods.

The Aztec, Maya, and ancient Egyptian civilisations, to name a few, have partaken in this

inhumane act.

Moving to the more recent medieval era, we could still see our ancestors’ moral depravity.

Some of the more memorable features of this era were knights.

They have become, ironically, the symbol of valiance and the righteous warrior. Terms such as “chivalry” and “gallantry” originated from them.

Yet, those who are acquainted with history know them for the hypocrites they were.

Their order shamelessly massacred in the Crusades, in feudal Europe they would kill peasants without much reservation, and they fought each other for women -- the victor could take another knight’s lady in any manner deemed fit, and promised to woo their ladies by pledging to rape beautiful women along their exploits.

In keeping up with the immoral attitudes of the time, torture was another celebrated orgy of violence. In the modern era, torture is used increasingly by despotic governments, mostly in a clandestine fashion, and carried out in the most extreme cases as means of extorting sensitive information. It is usually condemned nowadays.

In the medieval era, it was carried out very matter-of-factly, administrated for absurd trivial infractions, and often shown as public spectacle.

The men who conceived of the instruments of torture were foremost experts in human anatomy and psychology, and

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Human Security Report Project estimates that, in the same year, political violence -- terrorism, genocide, and such barbarity -claimed 0.0003% of the populace.

While this only took into account direct death, a 20-fold increase to factor in indirect death such as due to famine, disease, etc, would not bring the number even close to the 1% mark, let alone the 15% mark.

Should we glance at the last century -- a century that has witnessed two war worlds, the Korean War, the plight of Vietnam, and even more disturbingly, the ever-increasing applications of technology in the affairs of war -- the death rate would be around 0.7%.

To put matters on even footing, it is best to resort to estimates of past sate societies. Estimates listed in the book for the Mexican

Far from spiralling irreversibly into a vicious cycle of violence, it seems we have enjoyed its overall decline. Though there is no guarantee this will continue indefinitely, it does no harm to merely acknowledge this.

Nor should this acknowledgment trivialise the deplorable barbarity society faces

not only utilised the latest that technology had on offer, but indulged in their artistic side too, as evident in the intricate details and ornamentation that went in their makings.

The naming scheme itself reflected the fact that these people did not see the process as solemn and an ugly necessity. A few examples would include Judas’ Cradle, The Spanish Tickler, and Heretic’s Fork. It is best if the gruesome details are spared.

This cursory review does drive home the point that gruesome violence is not only a modern invention, but rather, was omnipresent in our history.

But perhaps this does not prove we are any more peaceful than we used to be. Yes, it seems violence did exist in the past. Yes, we have become more sensitive to it. But perhaps violence has found only new ways to be expressed.

Worse yet, recent technological advances allow us to carry out war on an unprecedented scale.

My readers will no doubt want to remind me of the nuclear stockpile hoarded up by Uncle Sam and his

arch-nemesis.

But we ought to stop thinking in absolute numbers.

Granted, more people die in recent conflicts, but then again, our population has risen considerably.

The intelligent approach is to see what fraction of people succumb to violent death.

And here, let’s resort to some stats. Steven Pinker, in his book The Better Angels of Ourselves, which has provided me with the bulk of factual information so far, did crunch some numbers.

Here are some of the results: His estimate of violent death rates for skeletons dug out of archaeological sites from a sample of pre-state societies yielded an average of 15%.

In comparison, the death toll of warfare in the US in the year 2005 accounted for 0.0004% of the population.

If we were to throw in domestic homicide, the figure would rise up to 0.008%, which is a substantial increase but nowhere near 15%.

Now, if we are to zoom out to include the whole world, then the

empires of Aztec and Maya prior to Columbus, lists a figure of 5%.

In the 17th century, with its bloody wars of religion, violent warfare-related deaths accounted for 2% of the death toll. The pattern so far seen is a reduction in violence.

Of course, a more thorough look is required to set forth a rigorous numerical analysis, and there are inherent risks in trying to establish a trend with so little data.

Those who demand a more thorough look are recommended to give Steven Pinker’s book a read. I reckon the facts quoted so far provide a compelling case.

Hence, far from spiralling irreversibly into a vicious cycle of violence, it seems we have enjoyed its overall decline.

Though there is no guarantee this will continue indefinitely, it does no harm to merely acknowledge this. Nor should this acknowledgment trivialise the deplorable barbarity society faces, but rather, should bolster our spirit in addressing them. l Syed Raiyan Nuri Reza writes from Iran.

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23

Opinion

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

IS declares war on the Prophet’s covenant Wahhabi clerics and IS fanatics dishonour the word of the Prophet

n Azeem Ibrahim

B

ack when IS was still expanding into the multiethnic and religiously diverse northern Iraq, not just the Yazidis, but also the country’s 1 million Christians were some of their main targets.

They were asked to either convert or leave, otherwise they would be killed. All along, churches were being bombed, or burned to the ground.

Most of the Christians that used to inhabit those areas of the Levant where IS now rules, have been displaced, in an act of religious/ethnic cleansing more thorough than any that Saddam had ever achieved.

And IS is still working through the backlog of churches to be destroyed. Only recently, they destroyed one that was described as equivalent to Canterbury Cathedral.

Muslim scholars I have spoken to have stated that such actions are completely un-Islamic.

The Qur’an commands Muslims to follow Muhammad (pbuh) and his example: “O you who believe! Obey God and obey the Messenger” (4:59) This and dozens of other verses in the Qur’an compel Muslims to obey Muhammad (pbuh). And this is why Sharia law is based not just on the Qur’an, but also on the Sunnah, the words, the life and the practices of the Prophet.

And the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was very clear about how Muslims should treat Christians.

He entered a treaty with them which deserves to be quoted in full:

them.

No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs, nor their monks from their monasteries.

No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses.

Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant, and disobey His Prophet.

Verily, they are my allies, and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel, or to oblige them to fight.

The Muslims are to fight for them.

If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.

Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them, nor the sacredness of their covenants.

No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”

(Covenant of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) with the Monks of Mount Sinai, CE 628) These words were written in a patent given by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Medina to a delegation of Christian monks from St Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai. The patent was signed with the Prophetic seal.

The original has since been moved from St Catherine’s monastery by Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and today can be seen in the Topkapi

IS does not represent Muslims

The Prophet granted unconditional protection and what we, today would recognise as basic human rights to Christians, near and far. All true caliphs since then have observed this treaty, as they have been compelled to do till the Last Day

“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah , as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.

Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases

Museum in Istanbul.

When he took the document from the monastery, the Sultan and Caliph of Islam, Selim renewed its terms and gave the resident monks a copy.

The Prophet granted unconditional protection and what we, today would recognise as basic human rights to Christians, near

and far. All true caliphs since then have observed this treaty, as they have been compelled to do till the Last Day. There are few things in the Sharia that can be as clear as this prescription towards Christians.

But today, Wahhabi clerics and IS fanatics seem to think that they know better than the

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Prophet himself on how to be good Muslims. And that now includes destroying all churches, in direct violation of God’s covenant.

Wahhabis say they want to emulate the life and times of the Prophet. IS and their “caliph” want to rebuild the original Caliphate to represent the entire ummah.

So why are their teachings and their actions exactly opposing to those of the very first Islamic state of Muhammad (PBUH) in Medina (CE 622)?

The Prophet’s Constitution of Medina brought together what Muslim scholars describe as an ummah wahidah where all the residents of the state -- Muslims, Jews, Christians, and pagans -were ensured religious freedom, gave all groups representation, established the security of women, and declared that no weapon can

be carried or blood be spilled on the land of the Islamic state.

Has there ever been a group of people to call themselves “Muslims,” while they spit on the Prophet’s treaties written on paper, dishonour his law and precedent, and with the most breath-taking arrogance, claim that they know better on how to be good Muslims by calling itself a “Caliphate”?

Has there ever been any group of people in the world that has acted so obscenely against God’s covenant and God’s Prophet before? l Azeem Ibrahim is an International Security Lecturer at the University of Chicago and Adjunct Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute US Army War College. This article previously appeared in The Huffington Post.

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24 Sport

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Op set to rule Fizz out for six months

TOP STORIES

n Minhaz Uddin Khan Age is just a number for Misbah & Younis Age is just a number for the Pakistani veterans Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. They are still going strong in Tests while many promising and established players from Pakistan have long gone during their playing time. PAGE 25

Mendis revives SL with maiden ton Sri Lankan middle-order batsman Kusal Mendis struck a majestic maiden Test century on day three of the first Test against Australia to leave the bowler-dominated contest evenly poised at Pallekele yesterday. PAGE 26

Russia’s depleted squad leave for Rio Some 70 Russian competitors from the country’s depleted 2016 Olympics team flew out from Moscow for Rio yesterday as sports federations whittled down the number of athletes allowed to take part. PAGE 27

Ribery expands on Guardiola criticism French winger Franck Ribery has again criticised his ex-Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola during the club’s tour of the United States, claiming the Spaniard talks too much and lacks experience.

Guardiola is now head coach of Manchester City. PAGE 28

RESULT Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra defender Atiqur Rahman Meshu (CL) tries to thwart a Rahmatganj MFS attack in Chittagong yesterday RABIN CHOWDHURY

Rahmatganj

2-0

Sheikh Russel

Nayon 76, Alauddin 88

Rahmatganj stun Russel Hoque from n Shishir Chittagong Rahmatganj MFS continued their fine run in the Bangladesh Premier League as they stunned a misfiring Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra side 2-0 after two late goals at MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong yesterday.

Mehbub Hasan Nayon netted to put the Old Dhaka outfit ahead in the second half before Mohammad Alauddin scored an amazing volley to seal victory two minutes before the end of stipulated time.

Before the start of the premier league, Rahmatganj head coach Kamal Babu announced in a press conference that they would fight for the title this season in the league and his charges continued to prove him right.

Rahmatganj, who drew against Mohammedan Sporting Club in their opening match, moved to the top of the league with four points from two matches while former champions Sheikh Russel are the only team in the league to earn a single point. Rahmatganj exacted sweet revenge as they crashed out of both the Independence Cup and the Federation Cup against Sheikh Russel.

However, Sheikh Russel, who started their campaign losing against unfancied Uttar Baridhara Club, were unlucky to see at least three clear cut chances wasted by

their forwards. They largely dominated the game but Rahmatganj followed a new strategy in the last quarter hour that earned them the win.

Sheikh Russel are still without many of their key players including Jahid Hasan Ameli, Fikru Teferra, Shakhawat Hossain Rony, Mithun Chowdhury and Abdul Baten Komol, who are all injured.

In their absence, head coach Maruful Haque fielded defender Mintu Sheikh as a striker at the beginning of the game.

Following a listless first half, both the sides had to make two early substitutions in the opening half with Rahmatganj head coach Kamal Babu bringing in striker Turzo for Sohel Mia while Maruful brought in Shahedul Alam Shahed to replace Alamgir Kabir Rana.

Sheikh Russel got a great opportunity to break the deadlock through substitute forward Rummon Hossain two minutes into the second half. Rummon entered the box and took a shot on target but Rahmatganj goalkeeper Samiul Islam Masum made a lovely save.

Masum put up a brave display throughout the entire game, except perhaps for only one blunder in the 52nd minute, but was lucky to see Paul Emile firing over the crossbar after the custodian failed to grip a Raju long ball.

Following a counter attack, Nayon, who also scored against Mohammedan, stunned Sheikh Russel by giving his side the lead in the 76th minute, smashing home from inside the box.

In the 88th minute, Alauddin doubled the lead to kill the game off with a spectacular volley. l

WHAT THEY SAID MARUFUL HAQUE We played well and dominated the game till 85 minutes. But we couldn’t take the chances we created. They got two half-chances and scored. The chances we got doesn’t require the best of finishers. The players lacked concentration.

KAMAL BABU I became very emotional after the win. We got out of two tournaments this season, losing against Sheikh Russel. So it’s a special result. Russel played better than us till 70 minutes. Our goalkeeper was brilliant [yesterday].

Mustafizur Rahman going under the blade is likely to force him out of cricket for at least six months.

The paceman yesterday underwent a second MRI scan of his injured left shoulder in England.

According to sources, the left-arm pacer was injected with fluid in his shoulder to increase the transparency for a better MRI result through which Professor Tony Kochhar of the University of Greenwich will determine the treatment for Mustafizur.

Professor Kochhar is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon specialising in shoulder, elbow and upper limb.

Earlier on Tuesday, another MRI test revealed that Mustafizur had been suffering from SLAP (Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior tear) in his left shoulder. According to the Bangladesh team physio Baizid Islam, the injury has two kinds of treatment; one through injection and second through operation. Baizid thinks Professor Kocchar will prescribe Mustafizur with any one of the methods.

According to the Bangladesh team physio Baizid Islam, the injury has two kinds of treatment; one through injection and second through operation Mustafizur travelled to England earlier this month to join Sussex for the Royal London One-Day Cup and the NatWest Twenty20 Blast competitions. Following a brilliant debut in the T20 Blast, the Bangladesh pacer complained of pain in his shoulder. He was in the 13-man squad for the game against Gloucestershire in the Royal London One-Day Cup on Sunday and had travelled to the ground to practise with the rest of the team, but persistent pain forced Sussex to take the precautionary move.

The injury on Mustafizur’s shoulder is an old one and only resurfaced recently. As per Bangladesh Cricket Board’s chief physician Debashish Chowdhury, Mustafizur is facing trouble in his effort to bring more variation in his bowling armoury. BCB has advised Mustafizur to rest until he gains 100 percent fitness. l

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Sport

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Age is just a number for Misbah & Younis n Ali Shahriyar Bappa Age is just a number for the Pakistani veterans Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. They are still going strong in Tests while many promising and established players from Pakistan have long gone during their playing time.

The evergreen Misbah is an example of dedication and passion for the youngsters. He was a late bloomer, having made his firstclass debut at the age of 24 when most players in his country get to that level in their teens. He was appointed Pakistan’s captain at the age of 36, when many in his country take up coaching or commentary after being left out for too long.

He is often called “Tuk Tuk” due to the slow nature of his batting.

His strike-rate is 73 and 110 in ODIs and Twenty20Is respectively. But guess what, Misbah proved everybody wrong when he scored the joint fastest Test hundred against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2014, sharing the record with Sir Vivian Richards who had also taken 56

balls to create the record. It was eventually broken by Brendon McCullum last year.

After Misbah took over the captaincy in 2011, all of Pakistan’s home series’ had to be held in the United Arab Emirates. The irony of it all is that Misbah, who today has risen to become Pakistan’s most successful Test captain, was not even in the team when he was hastily made the captain.

When he was given the captaincy, he was making his third comeback to the side and that too at the ripe old age of 36. Misbah continues to lead them in Tests after his ODI retirement in 2015 and now he is still one of their fittest and most consistent cricketers.

He scored a brilliant hundred in the first Test against England at Lord’s earlier this month. With this superb century, Misbah became the oldest to score a Test century as captain and the sixth oldest to make a Test century.

Four years younger than Misbah is Younis, one of Pakistan’s modern batting greats. A Test average of over 53, a triple-hundred, a famous double-hundred in India leave no doubt about his quality and class.

Statistically he is one of the best Test batsmen in the world at the moment.

But, Younis is probably one of the most under-rated batsmen. He is the first Pakistani to score 9,000

Five-star Sheikh Jamal beat Uttar Baridhara n Tribune Report A 10-man Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club returned to winning ways in some style after beating Uttar Baridhara Club 5-3 in a thrilling BPL encounter yesterday at MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.

Veteran forward Enamul Haque took the lead in the 19th minute before Kenyan forward Collins Tiego equalised the margin from a goalmouth scramble. Landing Darboe put the champions ahead again in the 27th minute from 25 yards before Rakib Sarkar extended the lead

a minute later while Shihab added another in the 51st minute. Uttar Baridhara’s Sentu Chandra Sen reduced the margin in the 65th minute.

Enamul Haque scored Sheikh Jamal’s fifth goal in the 75th minute while substitute Monir Alam made it 5-3 in the 79th minute. Midfielder Anamul Haque Sharif was sent off in the 87th minute. l

RESULT Uttar Baridhara Collins 24, Sentu 65, Monir 79

3-5

Sheikh Jamal Enamul 19, 75, Landing 27, Rakib 28, Shihab 51

runs in Tests. His 31 centuries are also the most by a Pakistani. Younis surpassed Sir Donald Bradman’s haul in his 101st Test match by scoring his 30th Test century, a masterful unbeaten 171, against Sri Lanka in 2015.

With this century, Younis became the first batsman in Test history to score five centuries in the fourth innings, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar and Ricky Ponting.

Among players with 1000 or more fourth-innings Test runs, his stunning average of 59.17, is the highest in the all-time Test record.

He has five double centuries in Test matches. He is the only Pakistani to score a Test hundred against every Test playing nation and the 12th international player to achieve this milestone. He is the first and only Pakistani cricketer to take 100 catches in Tests.

With this kind of form and fitness, Pakistan will certainly want Younis and Misbah, in their Test side as long as possible. Many legends of the modern time like Jacques Kallis, Michael Clarke, Virender Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and McCullum have gone into retirement in recent past. And when Younis and Misbah decide to hang up their pads, the cricket world will surely miss their batting mastery and commitment in the longer format of the game. l

Aaqib to conduct bowling camp in Bangladesh n Cricinfo Former Pakistan fast bowler Aaqib Javed will arrive in Dhaka today for a short coaching stint at the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s High Performance unit. The programme will be held for around a week, according to the board’s CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury.

Last week, the BCB had announced an extended high performance squad to take part in a specialised camp. Aaqib will be the first of the specialist coaches at the camp and will work with the fast bowlers.

“He will be arriving [today], and stay for 7-10 days,” Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo. “He will be coaching fast bowlers from the high performance as well as the national team.”

In June, Aaqib, the former United Arab Emirates head coach, had turned down the BCB’s offer for the post of Bangladesh’s bowling coach, citing his commitment to Pakistan Super League franchise Lahore Qalandars. The BCB is still seeking a bowling coach for the national side. l

MISBAH-UL-HAQ

YOUNIS KHAN

Mat Inns Runs

HS

Ave 100 50

Mat Inns Runs

HS

Ave 100 50

63

161* 48.95 10 33

106 190 9203

313

53.19 31 30

110 4553

LAST 15 INNINGS (Ave 47.64)

LAST 15 INNINGS (Ave 46.85)

35, 52, 0, 114, 38, 71, 87, 102, 51, 3, 59, 6,

28, 1, 25, 33, 14, 31, 118, 56, 45, 38, 171,

22, 7, 20

3, 40, 6, 47

BCCI mulls India, WI, Bangladesh tri-series n Minhaz Uddin Khan The Board of Control for Cricket in India is mulling organising a tri-nation Twenty20 international series in Florida which will include India, Bangladesh and the West Indies.

If the series does take place, it will be held at Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill in Florida.

However, Bangladesh Cricket Board’s media and communications committee chairman Jalal Younus informed that the board has not received any invitation as of yesterday.

“We have not received anything regarding the T20I series yet. But I am sure the board will think positively if there is an invitation,” Younus told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The series is proposed to take place in late August this year. When queried if Bangladesh will have little time for preparation, Younus said, “I do not think it should be a problem. Our cricketers are already having their camp at the moment so it will not be a problem to send a team there. But then again, the

decision will depend on the board.

The board will have to discuss if any invitation is received.”

BCCI’s plan to organise a T20I series in the USA is a replacement of the mini Indian Premier League that they had mulled earlier. The BCCI had planned a mini-IPL in the USA but had to call it off due to a lack of time.

According to sources, the West Indies Cricket Board has agreed to host the series in Florida as part of its campaign to make up for the Windies team pulling out midway from their tour of India in 2014, an abandonment that cost the Indian board millions. It is understood that the BCCI will take away a major revenue share from this short series as compensation for the loss incurred by them two years ago.

The venue in Florida, Central Broward Regional Park, has hosted four T20Is, all featuring New Zealand. The Kiwis faced Sri Lanka in a two-match series in 2010 followed by the West Indies in July 2012. The matches were played in front of full houses.l

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Sport

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Wagner rocks Zimbabwe, NZ 32-0 in reply n AFP, Bulawayo

SCORECARD SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS 117 (D de Silva 24, K Perera 20; Josh Hazlewood 3-21, Nathan Lyon 3-12) AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS 203 all out (A. Voges 47; Rangana Herath 4-49, Lakshan Sandakan 4-58 SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS (Overnight 6 for one) K. Perera lbw b Starc K. Silva lbw b O’Keefe D. Karunaratne lbw b Starc K. Mendis not out A. Mathews c Burns b Lyon D. Chandimal lbw b Marsh D. de Silva c Khawaja b Lyon D. Perera not out Extras (lb 10)

R

B

4 7 0 169 9 42 36 5 10

5 32 3 243 31 100 62 4

Total: (6 wicket, 80 overs)

282

Fall of wickets 1-6 (Perera), 2-6 (Karunaratne), 3-45 (Silva), 4-86 (Mathews), 5-203 (Chandimal), 6-274 (de Silva) Bowling Starc 12-4-44-2, Hazlewood 13-3-41-0, O’Keefe 16.2-3-42-1, Lyon 26-2-98-2, Warner 1-0-10-0, Voges 1.4-0-3-0, Marsh 9-1-33-1, Smith 1-0-1-0

Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis plays a shot as Australian wicketkeeper Peter Nevill watches on during day three of the first Test in Pallekele, Sri Lanka yesterday AP

Mendis revives Sri Lanka with maiden ton n Reuters Sri Lankan Kusal Mendis struck a majestic maiden Test century on day three of the first Test against Australia to leave the bowler-dominated conTest evenly poised at Pallekele yesterday.

The 21-year-old was unbeaten on 169 - 52 runs more than his team managed in the first innings - when rain forced the players off the ground 10 overs after tea with Sri Lanka on 282-6.

Dilruwan Perera was on five with Sri Lanka leading by 196 runs

with four wickets in hand as rain continued to plague the Test which has already seen the final sessions of the first two days washed out.

Resuming on six for one, Sri Lanka lost Dimuth Karunaratne to Mitchell Starc in the third delivery of the day.

Steve O’Keefe dismissed Kaushal Silva and his spin partner Nathan Lyon sent back home captain Angelo Mathews (nine) to reduce Sri Lanka to 86-4.

Mendis then forged two important partnerships to rebuild the Sri Lankan innings, raising 117 runs

- comfortably the highest of the match so far - with Dinesh Chandimal (42) and 71 with Dhananjaya de Silva (36) to haul his team back into the conTest.

In a match where no other batsman has managed a fifty, Mendis brought up his maiden hundred in style, slog-sweeping O’Keefe over midwicket for six.

Lyon dismissed de Silva for his 200th Test wicket but Mendis was unfazed at the other end, sweeping the spinners and cutting the pacemen with equal ease.

With Mendis on song, Sri Lanka

completely dominated the postlunch session, adding 137 runs at a four-plus run rate for the loss of Chandimal’s wicket.

Mendis hit 20 boundaries, including a couple of glorious cover drives, in his 243-ball masterclass and had contributed nearly 60 percent of the team score in the second innings.

The visitors’ woes were compounded when spinner O’Keefe hobbled off the ground, Cricket Australia later confirming in a tweet that he has a “right hamstring issue”. l

Left-arm seamer Neil Wagner’s raw pace and aggression proved too much for an out-of-touch Zimbabwean batting lineup as New Zealand stamped their authority on the first Test on the opening day at Queens Sports Club yesterday.

On a surface offering little to the bowlers, Wagner bent his back and used the short ball to good effect to take career-best figures of 6 for 41, bowling Zimbabwe out for just 164 after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.

Zimbabwe had not played a Test since November 2014, and the hiatus showed in their inability to occupy the crease on a pitch that held no demons.

Opener Brian Chari fell to the second ball of the day, and after Chamu Chibhabha and Hamilton Masakadza offered some stability with an hour-long stand, Wagner got stuck into the hosts.

In a 13-over spell either side of the lunch break, the 30-year-old removed Chibhabha and Sean Williams before the interval and then struck three times in one over to reduce the hosts to 72 for eight.

All but one of his dismissals came from short deliveries, as Zimbabwe’s batsmen had no answer to the tactic. l

1ST TEST, DAY ONE ZIMBABWE 164 (Tiripano 49*, Wagner 6/41) v NEW ZEALAND 32/0 (Latham 16*, Guptill 14) New Zealand trail by 132 runs

Abahanis, Mohammedan take field today n Tribune Report Chittagong Abahani will eye their first victory in the premier league when the home side take on Mohammedan Sporting Club in their second match at 7:30pm today.

Meanwhile in the day’s other match earlier at MA Aziz Stadium, Federation Cup champions Abahani Limited will face Feni Soccer Club at 4:30pm.

All the sides earned only a point from their respective opening

TODAY’S MATCHES

Feni Soccer v Abahani, 4:30pm Ctg Abahani v Mohammedan, 7:30pm

matches as Chittagong Abahani drew with Abahani while Mohammedan were held to a draw by Rahmatganj MFS. Mohammedan coach Joshimuddin Joshi said they would play for the win despite being up against a stronger side. “We didn’t play our best in the first game. They [Chittagong Abahani] are a better side but we will be on the pitch for the victory,” said Joshi.

Joshi however, is not satisfied with the practice ground. He complained that the grass is longer than usual and the ground is not good enough to train. On the other hand, Chittagong Abahani captain Mamunul Islam said, “We couldn’t play as per expectations in the last match.

“The league is a big race though. We want to get all three points [today] to make the local supporters happy.” l

Rahmatganj supporters distribute chips

After Rahmatganj midfielder Alauddin’s second goal following which the fate of the game was almost decided, a group of Rahmatganj supporters in the VIP stand distributed chips to everyone, including the other club supporters, security officers and journalists. Club general secretary Imtiaz Hamid Sabuz informed that around 15 supporters from Dhaka arrived in the port city yesterday to watch the Rahmatganj matches. Most of them are staying with the club at the same hotel DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Sport

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Djokovic survives test in Toronto n Reuters, Toronto

QUICK BYTES Arnautovic signs extension with Stoke Austrian international Marko Arnautovic has signed a four-year extension with Stoke City, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday. The 27-year-old, who had a year remaining on his previous four-year deal, was Stoke’s top scorer with 12 goals in all competitions last season as Mark Hughes’ side finished ninth in the league table.

The striker had been linked with a potential move to Everton and Ligue 1 champions Paris St Germain.

–REUTERS

Lazio sign striker Immobile from Seville Italian side Lazio have signed striker Ciro Immobile from Spain’s Seville, both clubs said on Wednesday.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The 26-year-old has played 15 times for Italy and spent the second half of last season on loan with Serie A club Torino. He made two appearances for his country at the European Championship.

–REUTERS

Klopp sent Sakho back for lack of respect Mamadou Sakho was sent back from Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States because of a lack of respect towards rules but the defender’s actions were not serious enough to warrant more punishment, manager Jurgen Klopp has said. The France international is currently nursing an Achilles injury and is expected to miss the start of the Premier League season, which begins on Aug. 13.

–REUTERS

DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL SONY ESPN 4:00PM International Champions Cup Tottenham v Atletico Madrid

Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a shot against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg on day three of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament at Aviva Centre on Wednesday AP

Russia’s depleted squad leave for Rio n AFP, Moscow Some 70 Russian competitors from the country’s depleted Olympics team flew out from Moscow for Rio yesterday as sports federations whittled down the number of athletes allowed to take part.

Dressed in red and white sports uniforms the Olympic hopefuls - including Russia’s volleyball, handball and synchronised swimming squads - received a warm send-off despite the scandal over state-run doping that has seen over 100 competitors banned.

“They have got us fired up - but in a good way. We are going to fight more to prove that it is difficult to break Russia,” handball player Poli-

na Kuznetsova told AFP. “We will fight for those who were not able to go.”

The International Olympic Committee sparked fierce criticism from outside Russia on Sunday when it resisted a blanket ban on the country in favour of allowing individual sports federations to make the call on which Russians can go to Rio. International sports federations are now scrambling to vet Russian athletes as time ticks down to the start of the Games on August 5.

“We anxiously waited for this day, we worried. You know yourselves what the situation is,” Alexander Zhukov, the head of Russia’s Olympic Committee was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. l

CRICKET TEN 2 2:00PM New Zealand Tour of Zimbabwe 1st Test, Day 2

TEN 3 10:00AM Australia Tour of Sri Lanka 1st Test, Day 4

SONY SIX 4:30AM Caribbean Premier League T20 St Kitts & Nevis v Trinbago

STAR SPORTS 1 11:30PM Natwest T20 Blast 2016 Hampshire v Somerset

Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov addresses Russia’s Olympic team members during a farewell ceremony yesterday REUTERS

Novak Djokovic was given a scare in his North American hardcourt season opener but managed to prevail with a 7-5 7-6(3) victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Mueller on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Rogers Cup. Djokovic, playing his first match since his shock third-round Wimbledon loss to American Sam Querrey, fell behind 3-1 in the tie-break before switching gears and winning the next six points to seal the win in one hour, 43 minutes.

The Serbian world number one, a three-times winner of the Canadian Masters event, will next play Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek, a 7-6(5) 6-4 winner over Canadian wildcard Peter Polansky.

Querrey, whose Wimbledon run came to an end with a quarter-finals loss to Milos Raonic, could not pen a similar script as he retired from his second-round clash with Belgian seventh seed David Goffin while trailing 6-4 2-1.l

RUSSIAN ATHLETES AFFECTED BY RIO BANS AQUATICS - Yulia Efimova, Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Natalia Lovtcova, Anastasia Krapivina, Nikita Lobintsev, Vladimir Morozov and Daria Ustinova are seven Russian swimmers banned by the governing body FINA from competing at Rio. ARCHERY - Russia’s three-member archery team is all clear to take part.

ATHLETICS - Long jumper Darya Klishina is the only athlete to have been cleared to participate in Rio as a neutral athlete.

BADMINTON - BWF has included four Russian players in the draw for the Rio Olympics, “pending the validation of the International Olympic Committee”.

BOXING - IBA is yet to announce a decision on 11 Russian boxers.

CANOEING - Five Russian canoe sprint athletes have been banned. They are - London Games gold medallist Alexander Dyachenko, Andrey Kraitor, Alexey Korovashkov along with Elena Aniushina and Natalia Podolskaia have.

CYCLING - Awaiting decision on 18 Russian cyclists.

EQUESTRIAN - Five Russian riders have been cleared.

FENCING - IFF cleared the 16-member fencing team.

GOLF - Awaiting decision on one Russian golfer.

GYMNASTICS - FIG would announce the eligibility of athletes in due time.

HANDBALL - IHF is conducting

out-of competition tests on the Russian women’s team.

JUDO - The Federation has given the green light for the 11 players.

MODERN PENTATHLON - Maksim Kutsov and Ilia Frolov have been barred.

ROWING - Ivan Balandin from the Russian men’s eight has been banned. Anastasiia Karabelshchikova and Ivan Podshivalovm were also not eligible for the Games. Russia’s men’s quadruple sculls crew were banned from Rio after one of their members, Sergej Fedorovtsev, failed a doping test in May. SAILING - Pavel Sozykin was the lone athlete banned.

SHOOTING - ISSF has cleared all 18 Russian shooters.

TABLE TENNIS - Three Russians await a decision.

TAEKWONDO - Three Russians have qualified.

TENNIS - All seven Russian tennis players have been.

TRIATHLON - ITU has cleared all six athletes.

VOLLEYBALL - R-Sport reported that the Russian team had been cleared to compete at Rio. WEIGHTLIFTING - IWF would evaluate the evidence.

WRESTLING - The sport’s governing body said that a decision will be made by yesterday.

HOCKEY - Not qualified.

FOOTBALL - Not qualified.

RUGBY SEVENS - Not qualified.

BASKETBALL - Not qualified.

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Sport

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Ribery expands on Guardiola criticism n AFP, Chicago French winger Franck Ribery has again criticised his ex-Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola during the club’s tour of the United States, claiming the Spaniard talks too much and lacks experience.

Guardiola is now head coach of Manchester City after three seasons with Bayern and Ribery has wasted no time in criticising his former boss.

Bayern lost 5-3 to AC Milan on Wednesday in a penalty shoot-out after their friendly in Chicago finished 3-3 after extra time.

Ribery netted twice, including converting a 90th minute penalty, and has refound his form after injury restricted his number of appearances last season.

According to Ribery, 33, Ancelotti is an experienced coach, “totally different” from Guardiola, who “has not had a long career as a coach” and the player says he feels “motivated and liberated” again on the pitch. “I don’t need a coach to tell me what I have to do right on the pitch when I have the ball,” added Ribery.

Having sometimes had a strained relationship with Guardiola, the Frenchman says Ancelotti has given Bayern “what we have been missing a bit” while the Italian said Ribery was “one of the best” players on the pitch in Chicago.

“He is still a young coach. He lacks experience. Sometimes he (Guardiola) talks too much, football is very simple,” added Ribery.

Ribery also criticised Guardiola for not starting key forward Thomas Mueller for Bayern’s 1-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid in the first-leg of the Champions League’s semi-final last season.

“You can’t make a mistake in the semi-finals of the Champions League, you have to have the big names, your best players, on the field,” added Ribery. l

Philippe Coutinho (L) of Liverpool is tackled by John Terry of Chelsea in the first half during their 2016 International Champions Cup match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Wednesday AFP

Fabregas sees red as Chelsea beat Liverpool n AFP, Pasadena

Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas was sent off for a reckless lunge at Liverpool new boy Ragnar Klavan, overshadowing a 1-0 friendly win at the Pasadena Rose Bowl on Wednesday.

The Premier League giants locked horns in the pre-season International Champions Cup in a match which was more remarkable for its clumsy fouls than free-flowing football.

Spanish midfielder Fabregas,

Angel Di Maria of PSG (L) attempts to dribble the ball away from Enzo Zidane of Real Madrid during their friendly at Ohio Stadium in Ohio on Wednesday AFP

29, could have no complaints as he got his marching orders in the 70th minute for sliding late into Klavan with his studs up.

By then referee Baldomero Toledo had already been forced to show yellow cards to four Liverpool players - with another to come - and one to Chelsea’s Gary Cahill.

Chelsea’s new head coach Antonio Conte told reporters after the final whistle the match was more competitive than he had been expecting, apologizing for Fabregas’s foul.

“I think that in this period, the fatigue sometimes can bring a (player) to go too late,” he said.

“I know Fabregas is a good man, a good boy and is not a player to have this type of situation. I’m sorry for him, I’m sorry for the Liverpool player.” Klopp said Klavan had escaped unscathed from the challenge but revealed that fellow recruit Marko Grujic was in hospital after receiving a knock to the head in the first half.

Klopp denied that the game had

more edge than a normal pre-season clash, but added: “It was far away from a friendly game, and that’s okay.”

Liverpool’s best chance came in the first half when Chelsea’s Brazilian winger Willian gave away a throw inside his own half and leftback Alberto Moreno was played in down the left.

The 24-year-old Spaniard cut it back for Roberto Firmino, who got the ball stuck under his feet and couldn’t pull the trigger. l

Zidane gives son Enzo his Real debut against PSG

Atletico Nacional win Libertadores n AFP, Medellín

n Agencies

Colombian giants Atletico Nacional won the Copa Libertadores for only the second time in their history on Wednesday after a 1-0 victory over Ecuadoran minnows Independiente del Valle secured a 2-1 aggregate triumph.

Newly acquired striker Miguel Bora was the hero for Atletico, ramming home a low shot in the ninth minute as the Medellin-based side lifted South America’s premier continental club competition for the first time since 1989.l

21-year-old Enzo Zidane received his debut for the Real Madrid senior side on Wednesday night in America.

Los Blancos took on PSG, while the Ligue 1 champions won the pre-season warm-up 3-1. All the goals came in the first half as PSG ripped through the Real Madrid.

After just two minutes, Jonathan Ikone worked his way through and slotted the ball past Real Ma-

drid goalkeeper Kiko Casilla.

Thomas Meunier capitalised on some poor defensive play by Real Madrid to lash home the second on 35 minutes. Five minutes later, the substitute, who had come on for Thiago Silva, made it 3-0 after cutting in from the right and his shot had been blocked.

Enzo was brought off the bench in the second half of the friendly. Zidane’s offspring was easy to identify on the pitch as he stood out wearing bright red boots. l

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Free from bias (4) 4 Careen (4) 8 Strange (3) 9 Dwarf buffalo (4) 10 Work hard (4) 11 Praise (5) 12 Vend (4) 14 Plunder (3) 15 Flow back (3) 17 Tree (3) 19 Was victorious (3) 21 Water pitcher (4) 23 Grinding tooth (5) 26 Colour (4) 27 Soon (4) 28 Sharp blow (3) 29 Camping item (4) 30 Incline (4)

DOWN 1 Ineffective (6) 2 Rainbow goddess (4) 3 Sovereign (5) 4 Lacking discipline (3) 5 Silly (5) 6 Roman sun god (3) 7 Make lace (3) 11 Joint (5) 13 Neither (5) 16 Summon by gesture (6) 18 Gourd (5) 20 Himalayan kingdom (5) 22 Mature (4) 23 Floor covering (3) 24 Numeral (3) 25 Insect (3)

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29

Downtime

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 9 represents H so fill H every time the figure 9 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.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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

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30

Showtime

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

Comic Con 2016 Trailer Reviews n Noor-E-Shahrin and Fariha Afroz

Sherlock

“Something is coming,” the trailer starts with Sherlock’s prediction. This season everyone is under threat from an undisclosed person, which leads the government to seeks Sherlock and Watson’s help, who struggles to minimise it. The trailer is vague on what the actual threat is but Sherlock is more worried than ever and that worries us greatly about what is to come.

2017 is going to be an exciting year for movie lovers. Comic-Con brings us a range of trailers for the most hyped up movies of the year. The trailers have us profusely sweating in anticipation and we can hardly wait. Here are some short reviews on the trailers that Comic-Con 2016 brought for us.

Jason Bourne and Lights Out at the theatre

American Gods

The trailer is humourless and quite dark. It is the story of an ex-convict who meets a man who calls himself Wednesday. He was previously lead to believe his wife is dead and seeks the truth to make sense of the strange happenings. The trailer does not feature any ‘God’ but we hope the show does.

Blair Witch

Doctor Strange

The fast paced science-fiction come fantasy thriller, Doctor Strange revolves around an egotistical neurosurgeon tumbling his way into the world of traveling through the space and time, after he meets the Sorcerer Supreme. The trailer features the quote “What if I told you, the reality you know is one of many?.” The trailer promises the audience a peek through the future of modern science. If you are into serious sciency stuff, hit the theatres on November 4, 2016.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Strange things happening all over the city.

The trailer reveals that the movie is about a box full of magical creatures that have been brought into the city by a wizard. What else is to be expected from JK Rowling but outstanding magical imagination. The music featured in the trailer takes us back to the good old days of watching Harry Potter. The trailer leaves us in awe, dreaming of being a wizard.

Do you believe in the stories about the Blair Witch? The trailer might just convince you to. The most awaited horror trailer is here. It has a lot of gore and plenty of jump scares, keeping us on the edge of our seats. The trailer itself gives us chills and impending nightmares, we can only assume the movie will be scarier. A creepy singsong ‘I Am Watching You” marks the end of the trailer and leaves a lasting impression on the viewers.

Suicide Squad

The trailer is an exciting portrayal of supervillains playing the roles of superheroes and carrying out dangerous black-ops missions.

The government forms a task force with the super-villains and attempts to fight a war that could potentially get them killed.

Luke Cage

After a failed experiment leaves him with unimaginable strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage becomes a fugitive who tries to rebuild his life in a modern city. But soon, he is discovered from the shadows and convinced to fight a battle for his city, forcing him to confront a past he had tried to forget and run from. The trailer mostly features our hero breaking doors and men alike.

n Showtime Desk Wonder Woman

An Amazon princess turns into a great hero after leaving her island to explore the outside world. She sees a man for the first time and is mesmerised. However, she quickly transitions into fighting and killing them. The trailer mainly features fight scenes of the epic Wonder Woman. The trailer also involves some snappy dialogues, which lighten up the violent action.

Kong: Skull Island

When humans invade his forest, a place where they do not belong, Kong has to fight for his home and destroy anything that comes in between. The trailer shows the story of how Kong became King by defeating the troops of soldiers who try to invade his home.

Justice League

The trailer has something for everybody: action, fantasy, comedy and superpowers.

“I believe that an enemy is coming from far away. I am looking for warriors,” this is what the movie is based on; a group fighting a great enemy. l

STAR Cineplex is going to release two of the most eagerly awaited hollywood movies – action and thriller Jason Bourne and horror flick Lights Out on Friday, July 29.

Jason Bourne is releasing here at the same date as the US release and other countries.

Its Jason Bourne’s fifth installment where Matt Damon is back as Jason. It’s been 10 years since Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) walked away from the agency that trained him to become a deadly weapon. Hoping to draw him out of the shadows, CIA director Robert Dewey assigns hacker and counterinsurgency expert Heather Lee to find him. Lee suspects that former operative Nicky Parsons is also looking for him. As she begins tracking the duo, Bourne finds himself back in action battling a sinister network that utilizes terror and technology to maintain unchecked power.

On the other side, Lights Out is a complete horror movie. The story revolves around Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) who leaves home, with that her childhood fears are behind her. As a young girl growing up, she was never really sure of what was real when the lights went out at night. Now, her little brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) is experiencing the same unexplained and terrifying events that jeopardised her safety and sanity.

Holding a mysterious attachment to their mother (Maria Bello), a supernatural entity has returned with a vengeance to torment the entire family. l

Star Trek Beyond in Dhaka

n Showtime Desk American science fiction action Star Trek Beyond is all set to release in Dhaka today. The

thirteenth instalment in the Star Trek franchise and the third instalment in the reboot series, following Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), will be

released today at the Blockbuster Cinemas of Jamuna Future Park in the capital.

The film is directed by Justin Lin from a screenplay by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, based on the series Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto reprise their roles as Captain James T. Kirk and Commander Spock, with Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho and Anton Yelchin reprising their roles from the previous films. Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella also joined the cast.

The story follows after the three years since the events of Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) transpired and the USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.

Beyond marks one of the final film appearances of Yelchin, who died in a car accident a month before its scheduled release. The film is dedicated to the memory of Yelchin as well as fellow Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, who died during pre-production.

Premiers in Sydney on July 7, the film was released in the US just a week back. l

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Showtime

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

DiCaprio reunited with model girlfriend Nina Agdal n Showtime Desk She was noticeably absent at his star-studded charity gala last week, where he was pictured enjoying the company of many gorgeous women. However, model Nina Agdal shrugged off any rivals for her boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio’s affections, as the handsome pair were spotted on a yacht in Ibiza on Sunday.

The Danish swimsuit model, 24, seemed cosy with the Hollywood actor, 41, as they relaxed with friends on a luxury boat off the coast of the Balearic party island.

The Sports Illustrated beauty kept her cool in a black sundress and sunglasses as she relaxed on the sofas on board the luxury cruiser.

Meanwhile, the Oscar winner was laid back in a T-shirt and shorts, before stripping down to his swimming trunks for a swim in the sea.

The pair were joined by a large group of friends, including Leonardo’s pal, actor

Tobey Maguire.

At one point, the group decided to anchor and headed on to dry land for a spot of lunch at one of the island’s luxury restaurants.

It’s the first time the pair have been spotted together for over a week as Nina was noticeably absent from the actor’s Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gala in St Tropez, France last Wednesday.

At the party, Leonardo was pictured talking to a brunette beauty - but the photos don’t appear to have fazed Nina. l

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Back Page

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016

CORRUPTION A BIG CHALLENGE TO SDGS PAGE 12

RAHMATGANJ STUN RUSSEL PAGE 24

STAR TREK BEYOND IN DHAKA PAGE 31

BPO SUMMIT BEGINS IN DHAKA

Joy stresses outsourcing n Ishtiaq Husain Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy has said the government is aiming to create employment for 200,000 people in each year through Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) by 2021.

“The government is collaborating with the BPO sector directly as Bangladesh needs lots of workers in this sector. Considering that necessity, the ICT Division has taken a project to train 40,000 IT experts.

We will create 200,000 jobs every year through BPO by 2021,” said Sajeeb.

He was addressing the inauguration ceremony of the two-day 2nd Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Summit that begun yesterday at Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka.

The ICT Division and Bangladesh Association of Call Center and Outsourcing (BACCO) have jointly organised the summit.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, International Telecommunication Union Secretary General Houlin Zhao, Imran Ahmed Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood, ICT Secretary Shyam Sunder Sikder and BACCO President Ahmadul Haque were present at the inaugural ceremony.

Joy said Bangladesh’s ICT export will cross US$1 billion by 2018 as the government has planned to set up 10 IT training centres to train youths. After completing training, these trained people will contribute to the BPO sector.

“We will not be able do well in the global market if we do not strengthen our local markets. International branding is needed for

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy speaks as the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Summit 2016 yesterday BSS local BPO organisations so that we can present our skills to the world,” the adviser said.

Joy said: “Digital Bangladesh is no longer just a dream, as lots of rural people are receiving public service, university admission results,

education and others services using their mobile phones.”

Bangladesh would be a higher middle income country by 2021, the adviser said, and ICT sectors will have to play an important role to achieve this milestone.

Praising the ICT sector growth, Joy said: “The ICT sector is doing well. Our growth in ICT sector is impressive. Growth in the BPO sector is one hundred percent.”

The ICT adviser said a total of 30,000 e-learning labs have been

What is BPO? Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of outsourcing where business organisations contract third-party entities to carry out a specific part of their business process, such as customer service. This contract is often done with offshore companies for the difference in labour costs.

According to Bangladesh Association of Call Center and Outsourcing (BACCO), the global BPO market is US $500 billion but Bangladesh has only a $180 million share in it.

BPO Summit Bangladesh 2016 is a ICT Division and BACCO initiative, the second of this kind. It aims to establish global recognition for Bangladeshi BPO services, identify challenges, develop national level policy, and to create a skilled workforce.

The summit includes programmes engaging youths to imagine and develop their potential by connecting them to further opportunities in skill development, employment and entrepreneurship, discuss policy and

process on infrastructure readiness, e-governance, confronting challenges, women’s empowerment and create social awareness and acceptance of the industry.

These arrangements will help the BPO sector of Bangladesh to streamline a road-map with proper collaborations and policy support to become a USD $1 billion industry by 2021 and contribute prominently towards the GDP growth of the nation’s economy. l

established in Bangladesh and more will be set up soon. In the meantime, the government has made e-book while electronics version of books would be made very soon.

BACCO President Ahmadul Haque said BPO Summit 2016 would make a mark on the entire BPO industry, attracting business owners and enlightening young minds.

He said the summit was expected to make way for new strategic development aligned with the targets of Digital Bangladesh and strengthening the ICT sector.

According to BACCO, the global market for BPO is US$500 billion annually, whereas Bangladesh captures only $180 million.

Over 20,000 attendees from corporate, institutional and individual buyers are participating in the summit. Organisers said the event has brought all ICT stakeholders under one roof. l

BPO an immense possibility in Bangladesh n Ishtiaq Husain

The two-day BPO Summit taking place in Dhaka aims to raise and address a variety of issues that Bangladesh faces to emerge as a global outsourcing hub aligned with the Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021.

Ahmadul Haque, president of BACCO, said the outcome of this was to create employment opportunities for 200,000 youth by 2021

through different programmes in partnership with governments, organisations and other companies.

To tap the global BPO business, Bangladesh is evaluating competitive cost advantage over other emerging countries. Bangladesh is located in a geographically advantageous location for BPO in terms of time zone, added Ahmadul.

Currently, around 30,000 people are involved in the BPO sector

in Bangladesh.

The BACCO president said: “BPO is a growing sector worldwide with an industry worth over $500 billion pent-up demand. India, Sri Lanka and Philippines are currently leading the worldwide BPO industry.

Their market sizes are worth $80 billion, $2 billion and $16 billion respectively.”

The summit aims to create the right value proposition and envi-

ronment to attract both domestic and foreign investment and clients.

Razia Monsur, head of corporate affairs at Digicon, said: “We want to earn US$1 billion within a year by creating huge employment. We have a programme where youths are receiving training.”

“The first BPO summit was an iceberg cutter. Now people are more aware than the previous year.

We would like to take it to a higher

level,” she added.

State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the event would help Bangladesh extend businesses at the local and the international level.

Imran Ahmed MP, the head of parliamentary standing committee on ICT Ministry, said the BPO sector had created huge employment.

“We will have to create more skilled manpower for the development of this sector,” he added. l

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