October 22, 2016

SECOND EDITION

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

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Kartik 7, 1423, Muharram 20, 1438

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 174

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www.dhakatribune.com

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32 pages |

Price: Tk10

‘Dead Abdur Rahman is Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif’ Jamil Khan and n Mohammad Arifur Rahman Rabbi Police’s elite force Rapid Action Battalion yesterday claimed that militant group New JMB’s key financier Abdur Rahman, who died after jumping off a five-storey building in Ashulia on October 8, was the outfit’s chief, Abdullah Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif.

Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif is the name of the head of Islamic State’s Bangladesh wing, as claimed by the outfit’s Dabiq magazine Abdur Rahman’s real name is Sarwar Jahan, a Qawmi madrasa graduate hailing from Bholahat Upazila in Chapainawabganj. He had been involved with banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh since its formation in 1998 and got arrested first in 2003 for attacking on the police as a close aide of JMB second-in-command Bangla Bhai.

Son of Abdul Mannan and Sale-

ha Khatun, Sarwar stayed in jail for nine months. Out on bail from jail, he went into hiding after one and a half months, RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed told reporters at the forcer’s new media centre at Karwan Bazar.

Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif is the name of the head of Islamic State’s Bangladesh wing, as per the Syria and Iraq-based outfit’s Dabiq magazine. Its military commander Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury alias Abu Dujanah was killed in a raid

by DMP’s counter-terrorism unit in Narayanganj on August 27.

Since September last year, the IS has taken credit for 26 attacks including the deadly Holey Artisan Bakery attack. However, the law enforcers have always denied the existence of IS in Bangladesh, and claim that these attacks were carried out by a new wing of the JMB. Regarding the New JMB chief, the RAB DG said that they had found a document at Sarwar’s Ashulia house dated July 21, 2015 which mentions his induction as the ameer of the outfit. Another seized document was signed by Abu Dujanah and Hanif.

After getting appointment as the New JMB chief, Sarwar sent nine letters to different people and  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

The venue at the Suhrawardy Udyan is all set for the ruling Awami League’s 20th national council scheduled for October 22-23.

The photo was taken yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Who are AL’s new faces?

Abu Bakar n Mohammad Siddique Councillors and party supporters yesterday were discussing until the last minute ahead of the Awami League’s much-talked national council about the possible new faces to be inducted into the central committee.

The enthusiasm among the leaders and activists to join the council at Suhrawardy Udyan was outpouring as seen at several party offices in Dhaka yesterday. Officials at the party president’s Dhanmondi office were struggling to manage

the crowd as councillors came to collect entry pass for the event.

Festivity also touched the supporters at every corner of the city as the offices and the nearby streets were illuminated and decorated.

Above all, everyone was talking about the possible new faces to be introduced as top leaders of the oldest and largest party of the country.

Speculations suggest that Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of the party chief, and two other members of the new generation of Bangabandhu’s family may get important posts in the party.

The name of Presidium Member Obaidul Quader also came up in discussions as the possible general secretary of the party.

Party chief Sheikh Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana will take part in the council as a councillor from the Dhaka city south unit while Joy from Rangpur.

There is another hoard of new faces being discussed as potential to get a place in the central committee. Of them, 15-20 are women, according to some party insiders.

Among the potential faces, many are former leaders of the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Experts: Bangladesh capable of $5bn ICT export by 2021 n Ishtiaq Husain Bangladesh has both the resources and the capability to earn as much as $5 billion by exporting information and communication technology (ICT) products and services in the next five years, experts and ICT professionals said yesterday.

Speaking at a seminar held in Dhaka, they said local ICT businesses needed support to grow and con-

tribute to the country’s economy.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, who also attended the seminar, said the ICT sector in Bangladesh would get cash incentives as it is an emerging sector in the country.

The seminar, titled “The road to $5 billion ICT export by 2021,” was held on the sidelines of ICT fair Digital World 2016 at the International Convention City Bashundhara.

Dr Rokonuzzaman, professor at

North South University, and Avinash Vashistha, chairman of advisory firm for global outsourcing and investments Tholons Inc, were the keynote speakers at the event.

In his speech, Vashishtha said the outsourcing industry in Bangladesh was poised for significant growth over the next few years.

“The country can earn $2 billion from outsourcing, $500 million from freelancing, $1 billion from

startups and $2 billion from the digital sector,” he said.

Mahboob Zaman, managing director of Datasoft Systems Bangladesh Ltd and former president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), said Bangladesh missed opportunities of exporting ICT services in business process outsourcing, telemedicine and call centre services sectors by not getting con-

nected to the submarine cable network earlier than it did.

“It is possible to earn $5 billion by exporting ICT products within 2021. But before that we need to fix our focus: Will we follow technology trend or business trend? Also, we should not follow anyone else’s success story; rather, we should create our own,” he said.

“Japan, South Korea, Laos,  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

INSIDE RAB: Tavella murder planned by New JMB RAB now claims that Tavella Cesare was killed in a militant attack, planned by New JMB chief Abu Ibrahim, even though the charge sheet pressed by DB police case accuses several BNP leaders.  PAGE 4

‘Think before you click’ Speakers at a seminar yesterday suggested that when you browse the cyberspace, you need to think before clicking anything as the cyberspace is not safe anymore, however, its users have the power to make it safer.  PAGE 5

England strike late to halt Bangladesh’s progress Tamim Iqbal’s patient 78-run knock helped Bangladesh to conclude the second day of their first Test against England yesterday in a rather evenly poised situation.  PAGE 32

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Special route, security planned for AL council n Arifur Rahman Rabbi The government has planned to deploy around 10,000 law enforcers and restrict traffic in most part of the Dhaka city centring the 20th national council of the ruling Awami League that starts today.

Leaders and activists of AL’s associate and affiliate organisations including Chhatra League, Jubo League and Shechchhasebok League have also been asked to work with the law enforcers to ensure security during the event at Suhrawardy Udyan.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque visited the venue yesterday and observed the security measures. “The police have taken all possible measures to thwart any untoward incident.

“There will be 10,000 police members deployed in the city for the council. More than 100 CCTV cameras will also be set up to monitor movement of the people.”

Party supporters and visitors entering the venue would have to pass through archways and face metal detectors at the seven entry gates, he said, adding that police’s high officials including the DMP commissioner would supervise the security arrangements.

Asked about their preparations to tackle any internal clashes occurring during the event, IGP Shahidul said that he believed such

Members of the army carry out search operations with trained dogs at Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday for the Awami League’s national council starting today MEHEDI HASAN incidents would not happen. “The Awami League is a responsible political party. However, if any such incident takes place, the party’s disciplinary committee will take action,” the police chief said.

Earlier, the DMP announced that no vehicle, except for those carrying VIPs, would be allowed in the venue while the streets near Matsya Bhaban, Doel Chattor,

Shahbagh and TSC area would remain car free.

The Dhaka University area which has already been brought under CCTV surveillance would be monitored from three control rooms.

Traffic restrictions

The VIPs including prime minister, speaker, ministers and state minis-

ters would be able to enter the venue through the Shikha Chironton entrance. Special Security Force (SSF) will be responsible for maintaining security of the main stage.

Before 8am, people will be able to use the VIP Road and enter DU area through Ruposhi Bangla-Shahbagh-TSC. No vehicle leading to the Suhrawardy Udyan can use the

VIP road until the prime minister enters the venue. In that case, vehicles from Uttara should enter the DU area through Mohakhali-Moghbazar flyover-Kakrail-Rajmoni crossing-UBL-Zero Point-High Court crossing-Doel Chottor.

Meanwhile, people coming to Dhaka using Mawa highway have been requested to use Sadarghat-Babubazar-Gulistan-Zero Point-Abdul Gani Road-Old High Court crossing-Doel Chottor route.

On the other hand, vehicles entering Dhaka through Jatrabari should use Mayor Hanif FlyoverChankharpool-Doel Chattar-Dhaka University route.

Vehicle movement would be diverted from two hours ahead of the prime minister leaving the venue.

At that time, vehicles would have to use Kadam Foara-UBL-Nightingle-Kakrail Church-Moghbazar route to reach Mohakhali.

Meanwhile, vehicles from Gabtoli, Mirpur, Mohammadpur and Dhanmondi can enter DU area through Mirpur Road-Manik Mia Avenue-Russel Square-Science Lab-New Market crossing-Azimpur Crossing-Plassey crossing route.

No vehicle would be allowed to use Manik Mia Avenue-Farmgate, Russel Square-Panthapath, Katabon-Shahbagh, Doel Chottor-TSC, Doel Chottor-High Court, Kadam Foara-Matsya Bhaban, Matsya Bhaban-Shahbagh routes. l

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Experts: Bangladesh capable of $5bn ICT export by 2021 Vietnam and Myanmar could be huge market for our software products. We have to formulate our marketing strategy considering that,” he added.

Tofail Ahmed said: “The problems that ICT professionals face will be resolved on a priority basis.

Whatever you need, we will do. We will provide cash incentives as well for the betterment of the industry.”

Wahid Sharif, managing director of Digicon Technologies Ltd, said Bangladesh is still unable to compete with international competitors due to a lack of local incentives and policy.

Kazi Aminul Islam, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authori-

ty, said producing and upgrading skilled manpower is crucial for the advancement of the ICT sector in the country.

‘The problems that ICT professionals face will be resolved on a priority basis’ BASIS President Mustafa Jabbar said the government should procure software that the local industry can develop, instead of procuring them from abroad. “There should be a law in this regard so that local ICT industry could survive and grow.” l

Who are AL’s new faces? party’s student affiliate Chhatra League including Bahadur Bepari, Ajay Kar Khokan, Liakat Shikder, Nazrul Islam Babu, AHM Masud Dulal, Sajjad Hossain, Delwar Hossain, Mazharul Islam Manik, Ishak Ali Khan Panna, Marufa Akter Popy, Sai-

fuzzaman Shikhor, Balaram Poddar.

The much-talked women leaders and activists who are expected to be elevated to the central committee include Apu Ukil, Kohali Kuddus Mukti, Sabina Akter Tuhin and Tarana Halim. l

‘Dead Abdur Rahman is Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif’ received 10 more – all under the name of Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif. Benazir claimed that Sarwar used to take the operational decisions besides keeping a database of all expenses.

Police primarily suspected Tamim as the New JMB chief. But an IS magazine recently identified Tamim as the military and operations head of the outfit.

Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit’s Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanowar Hossain said that they were looking for Hanif. Earlier he said that Hanif was a powerless leader who just issues religious statements.

RAB yesterday arrested two people who the elite force claims were close associates of Sarwar.

Has New JMB lost strength?

The RAB DG yesterday claimed that after taking charge, Sarwar alias Hanif in a statement mentioned that the outfit had 300 members and nine AK22 rifles. In another statement, he later mentioned that they had lost a number of members, and the outfit had only 63 full-time members and five AK22 rifles.

In the third statement prepared on October 6, Sarwar said that they had only 33 members and an AK22 rifle. The RAB chief said that four including Hanif were top leaders of New JMB while the others were mid-level leaders and members.

Eleven more members of the outfit were killed in three separate drives in Gazipur and Tangail on October 8. Abdur Rahman alias Sarwar died the same day.

“So the group now has 21 members including three top leaders.

Now it is our duty to stop these 21 by a close coordination of all law enforcement agencies,” he added.

Asked about the identities of the New JMB members, Benazir said that they had got some organisational names.

He also claimed that New JMB had lost its organisational strength following crackdown by different law enforcement agencies.

Most financiers are locals

The RAB chief yesterday said that a little portion of the outfit’s funds had come from abroad through illegal Hundi traders but the key financier remains in Bangladesh.

The outfit has got big amount

of finance from Dr Rokon Uddin, Zahidul Islam alias Maj Murad and Tanvir Qadri. Of them, Zahid and Tanvir have been killed in raids.

The outfit also collects money from its members where the lowest monthly fee is Tk100.

From the fund, Sarwar used to spend the money for monthly expenses of the members and the operations, the RAB DG said.

Communication between Tamim and Sarwar

During the press conference, Benazir said that after coming to Bangladesh, Canadian citizen Tamim had tried to form a group named Junud Al Tawhid. As he met Sarwar, they agreed to work together and planned to form a new platform with members of different militant groups including the main JMB. Asked if they had found any direct involvement of New JMB with the IS group, the RAB DG replied in the negative. “Some people living abroad may have connection with IS and they are working as media between IS and New JMB,” he said, adding that they had found some evidence of communication between Sarwar and Tamim. l

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

AL members arrive in Dhaka for council Abu Bakar n Mohammad Siddique Awami League leaders and activists have arrived in Dhaka from both around the country and abroad to join the party’s 20th national council which starts today and will run until tomorrow.

Members in Dhaka have geared up for the council and decorated the entire city with lights and banners boasting the party’s achievements.

Councillors and delegates, selected by leaders of local units, were seen at the party office in the capital yesterday waiting to get their passes for the council. Some were seen visiting the venue, the Suhrawardy Udyan in Ramna.

Around 6,700 councillors and the same number of party delegates from around Bangladesh and abroad are participating in the council, which most activists and leaders believe is the largest council in the history of Bangladesh. l

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BNP to join Awami League council, says Alal n UNB

Awami League leaders and activists of from around the country queue up in front of the party office in Dhanmondi, Dhaka to collect council passes yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Mizanur Rahman, general secretary, Chapainawabganj municipality unit As Awami League activists, we have not been in a good situation since Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975. We have been sad and unhappy. But now things are changing; the country is moving forward under the leadership of Bangabandhu’s daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This council is a matter of joy for us, a great happiness. We have come here with great hopes for our country.

I arrived here in the morning [yesterday] from Chapainawabganj.

A team of 71 councillors have been sent here from Chapainawabganj. But

we made our own arrangements to come here. We were selected by the district Awami League committee, as were the delegates. Councillors were selected from the party unit committees at upazila and higher levels.

However, presidents and secretaries of some upazila-level committees were not selected as district-level leaders chose their personal favourites. This must have been disappointing for those who were left out, but were more eligible to be here. There should have been a better system in this regard.

Syed Kashem, joint secretary, Awami League UK

Asaduzzaman, secretary, Shahabad union unit, Narail Sadar

Talukdar Younus, secretary, Barisal district unit

My ancestral home is in Sunamganj, but I was born and raised in the UK. I currently serve as the joint secretary of the party’s UK wing. I came here as a part of a 50-member councillor team from the UK to participate in the party.

I collected my card from the party office in Dhanmondi.

I am here to see and learn about the new leadership of our party. I have been waiting all day here at the party office to collect my pass for the council. The president and secretary of the district committee were supposed to collect the cards for us. In the evening, the secretary assured me that I would get my pass and be able to participate in the council.

I have collected 87 passes for Barisal councillors, 87 for delegates, and 18 each in both categories for the city unit. There are division-wise booths set up at the party office from where districtlevel leaders can collect the cards.

BNP Joint Secretary General Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal yesterday said their party will join the 20th council session of Awami League demonstrating its liberal attitude.

“We’re happy you [AL] have invited us. But, you neither attended our council nor phoned us to apologise as a courtesy for not being able to join our council,” he said.

Speaking at a discussion, he further said: “But, we’re not narrow-minded as you are. We’ll prove on the Awami League’s council day that BNP is a liberal democratic party by joining it.”

Jatiyatabadi Bondhu Dal, a proBNP platform, arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club in memory of BNP leader Hannan Shah who died recently.

Awami League on Thursday invited BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to participate in its council session today.

Later, in a press briefing at the party office in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan area, Fakhrul told journalists that the party elders will decide whether they are going to attend the ruling party’s council or not.

Alal criticised the government for deploying huge law enforcers near the council venue saying: “A question crosses through our mind whether it’s a council of RAB, police, and BGB... it seems that a government conference is going to be held where RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed will be made president and DMP commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah general secretary.”

He also questioned as to why so many check posts have been set up when the council is supposed to be a festival where thousands of people will gather. l

Guests from 11 countries to attend AL national council n Abu Hayat Mahmud The Awami League has confirmed the attendance of 53 high profile foreign political leaders from 11 countries at the party’s 20th triennial national council starting this morning.

A press statement issued by the Awami League lists the names, designations and countries from which these guests are coming to attend the two-day event.

India is sending the highest number of delegates including Dr Prabhakar Sahasrabuddhe, vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Party,

Delegates are coming from Australia, Austria, Bhutan, Canada, China, Italy, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Russia and the UK

Rajya Sabha Mps Roopa Ganguly from BJP, opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from Indian National Congress, and Education Minister Partha Chaterjee from Trinamool Congress, among others.

From the Saarc countries will be present Sri Lankan Religious Affairs Minister AH Mohamad Hasheem; from Nepal former prime minister KP Sharma Oli; Bhutanese Minister of Information and Com-

munications Dina Nath Dungyel among others.

The Chinese delegates include International Department of Communist Party of China’s Vice-Minister Zheng Xiaosong, Director General Yuan Zhibin, deputy director generals Jia Peng and Cao Zhigang, among others.

From the United Kingdom Jenny Rathbone, assembly member for Cardiff Central, Welsh Government, and Dilwar Ali, councillor for Landaff North, City of Cardiff Council, are to attend.

From Europe, Italy is sending Ugo Papi, MP and consultant of the

committee on foreign affairs, and Khalid Chaouki, MP and member of Italian chamber of deputies and serves on the foreign affairs committee; Russia is sending Sergey Zheleznyak, deputy secretary of United Russia, Valeria Gorokhova, adviser of United Russia, and Alexender Potapov, MP from Republican Party of Russia.

Canadian MP Deepak Obhrai from Conservative Party will be in attendance with Australian State MP of New South Wales from Labor Party, Hugh McDermott and Maninderjit Singh, councillor of Blacktown City Council from Labor Party. l

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

RAB: Tavella murder planned by New JMB Confusion persists about New JMB’s role in other cases as police came up with different findings Jamil Khan and n Mohammad Arifur Rahman Rabbi Rapid Action Battalion now claims that Italian aid worker Tavella Cesare was killed in a militant attack, planned by New JMB chief Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, even though the charge sheet pressed by DB police in the case accuses several BNP leaders and hired criminals.

It was the first assignment of Hanif alias Abdur Rahman alias Sarwar Jahan after he took charge of the outfit on July 21, 2015. Syria and Iraq-based terrorist group Islamic State took credit for the murder.

The government maintains that

IS has no organisational base in Bangladesh and claims that all the attacks claimed by IS were carried out by local militants linked to a new faction of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

RAB chief Benazir Ahmed at a press conference yesterday revealed that Abdur Rahman, who died after jumping off a building during a drive by the elite force in Ashulia area on October 8, had masterminded all the attacks claimed

by IS that killed at least 42 people since September last year.

Aid worker Tavella was shot dead in Gulshan diplomatic zone on September 28. IS claimed that

RAB detains two ‘New JMB patrons’ n Arifur Rahman Rabbi

RAB arrested two men who the force said were close accomplices of Abdur Rahman, also known as the New JMB chief Shaikh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif who died one after being arrested during a RAB drive at Ashulia in Savar earlier this month.

At a press briefing in Dhaka on Friday, RAB chief Benazir Ahmed said the men were caught in the early hours of Friday from Motijheel and Mohakhali areas in Dhaka and a sum of Tk27.7 lakh, a pistol and some knives were recovered from them.

Their names are Hasibul Hasan, 48, and Nasir Ahmed Noyon, 28, he said.

According to a RAB statement, Noyon is an engineer under Rajshahi Public Works Department hailed from Gopalganj district while Nasir is a Hundi trader and owner of money exchange firm ‘Associate exchange’ at Matijheel, hailed from Boalia in Rajshahi.

The RAB statement said one Dr Rokon who served at Dhaka Shisu Hospital left the country with his family, probably to join Islamic State (IS). Dr Rokon gave around Tk 70-80 lakhs to Abdur Rahman. Dr Rokon sent the money through Nayon and Hasibul for the mobilization of the New JMB. Rokon sent a letter to Abdur Rahman through Nayon, mentioning how and where Tk70 lakh would be given, said RAB. RAB also said Nayon himself gave Tk5 lakh to New JMB and also assured to give another Tk5

lakh. In addition, he gave Tk1.2 lakh to a sister of a militant.

Informing that legal action would be taken against the duo, in the statement RAB claimed that during primary interrogation they had confessed about the letter.

At the press briefing Benazir said Abdur Rahman, a militant who died in the force’s October 8 raid in Ashulia, was the ameer of the terrorist group New JMB and went by the name Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif.

Abdur Rahman’s real name was Sarwar Jahan and he had been a known JMB man since 2003 He said Abdur Rahman’s real name was Sarwar Jahan and he had been a known JMB member since 2003.

He also said: “Initially, we did not know how big fish Abdur Rahman was. The recent investigations and arrests of his accomplices led to the discovery of his importance within the New JMB structure.

Mentionable, Abdur Rahman died after he was taken into custody by RAB. He was found in a critically injured state after he jumped down from the fourth floor of a building to escape from RAB. During the October 8 drive that led to his capture, RAB also recovered Tk30 lakh and a small cache of weapons. His wife Shahnaz Akter Ruma was also detained for questioning. l

Tavella Cesare they had targeted the Italian as his country was fighting against the group in the Middle East.

Regarding RAB’s statement, BNP leader Asaduzzaman Ripon told the Dhaka Tribune that the government had been blaming his party for the murder since the beginning.

“As RAB has now found that the killing was done by militants, we hope that the names of the BNP leaders and activists will be dropped from the charge sheet,” he added.

This is not the only case when police came up with different findings. It happened in at least two murders claimed by the IS. On July 1, Hindu priest Shymanondo Das killed while collect-

ing flowers near his temple in Jhenaidah. District police investigated the case and arrested leaders of Islami Chhatra Shibir for their involvement in the murder. One of them, Jhenaidah south unit President Shahin Alam, made confessional statement before a court.

Jhenaidah police also accused Shibir men of killing Hindu priest Ananda Gopal Ganguli at Kaliganj on June 7. Ward 2 Shibir President Enamul Huq confessed that seven others had taken part in the murder upon order of the central leaders.

RAB yesterday claimed that both the attacks were conducted by the New JMB group. l

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

'Think before you click' n Nure Alam Durjoy Speakers at a seminar yesterday suggested that when you go on to browse the cyberspace, you need to think before you click anything in order to stay safe.

We should use our common sense regarding cybersecurity and think about the measures we usually take to protect ourselves daily

The cyberspace is not safe anymore but its users have the power to make it safer, they added.

They also opined that a national cybersecurity awareness programme should be designed to engage and educate public and private sectors through events and initiatives.

The views came during the seminar titled “You are not safe! Digital security for every citizen” held as part of Digital World 2016 at the International Convention Centre in Dhaka's Bashundhara.

Winners of awards for contribution to the country’s ICT sector join the guests of Digital World 2016 concluding ceremony for a photo at International Convention City, Bashundhara in Dhaka yesterday evening RAJIB DHAR enforcement agencies are working on it.”

“But awareness should be created among the users of cyberspace,” he added.

The home minister expressed hope saying: “However, we think that there is no challenge we cannot overcome. We will ensure Digi-

At the seminar, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said cybercrime was increasing day by day and it had become a challenge for law enforcement agencies to control criminal activities on the cyberspace.

He said: “There many things to do to ensure security and our law

tal security.”

On the issue, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for the ICT Ministry, said: “We have been thinking how we can ensure digital security. In this regard, the Digital Security Act, a draft of which has been in the legislative for approval, will help in ensuring security.

“Under this act, we will be able to initiate a digital security council and a forensic lab for this purpose.”

The state minister for ICT further said: “Digital security has become a cross-border issue now. So it should be faced internationally.

We have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China and Thailand, and another one will soon be signed with India.”

Almas Zaman, security researcher of MetroNet Bangladesh Ltd, presented a keynote paper at the seminar.

In his speech, he said: “We have to keep some basic facts in mind when we think about digital security. For instance, we should not use a common password for the different services we use and we should update all applications and software regularly to keep our data secured.”

“Think before you click in order to avoid online threats”, he added.

Expressing a similar opinion, Syed Almas Kabir, director of BASIS, said: “We should use our common sense regarding cybersecurity and think about the measures we usually take to protect ourselves daily.”

Among the others, Mohammad Arfe Elahi, IT manager of a2i programme, Arafatul Hasan, ICT manager at Tunnien Oy, Maruf Rahman, chapter president of ISSA, and Quazi Zaman, CEO of Cricket Point, spoke briefly at the seminar. l

Bangla content in FB Blueprint soon n Adil Sakhawat Since more and more people in Bangladesh have started to use Facebook as a business platform, the introduction of business related training modules in Bangla is likely to boost businesses in this country.

The contents of Facebook Blueprint will soon be available in Bangla for entrepreneurs who use the social media platform for business purposes.

Kushagra Sagar, business development lead of SMB unit Facebook South Asia, confirmed the news yesterday while talking at a panel discussion of Digital World 2016 titled “Grow Your Business with Facebook” at the International Convention Centre in Dhaka’s Bashundhara.

Facebook Blueprint is the social media platform’s global training and certification programme, de-

During the session, Kushagra presented on some necessary steps for Facebook businesses to reach their goals. He discussed on the issue of finding real customers to bring instant results in the easiest way.

He also said that about 100 million hours are being spent watching Facebook videos everyday by its 1.71 billion users around the world.

“Therefore, businesses should start using Facebook Live option to promote their products. Moreover, Facebook is now focussing on using videos to boost startups.”

Elaborating how the Facebook marketplace operates, he said the entrepreneurs need to give attention to which people, gender, age group, interest and behaviour they aim to target.

“Besides, businesses need to choose their objectives wisely and take advantage of the Facebook insights,” he said. l

signed to help businesses reach their own goals their own way. The trainings range from online learning to live events to certification opportunities.

Kushagra Sagar said: “We are thinking of making the contents of Facebook Blueprint available in several languages including Bangla along with contents that will best suit this region.”

Replying to a question, Kushagra said: “We still do not know when Facebook will open it’s own office in Bangladesh since it just opened its Delhi office in India three months back.”

He hoped that the initiative would be taken very soon and assured to convey Bangladesh’s interest in its own office when he returns to Singapore.

He also informed that Facebook would be starting its 24/7 chat support very soon which would eventually help everyone in their queries.

TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY

PARTLY CLOUDY SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22

Dhaka

33

21

Chittagong

33

25

Rajshahi

DHAKA TODAY SUN SETS 5:26PM

33

20

Rangpur

32

20

Khulna

34

20

Barisal

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 6AM

35.8C Dhaka

18ºC Tetulia

Source: Accuweather/UNB

33

21

PRAYER TIMES

Sylhet

33

19

Cox’s Bazar

33

Fajr: 5:25am | Zohr: 1:15pm Asr: 4:15pm | Magrib: 5:41pm Esha: 7:45pm Source: Islamic Foundation

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Appeal to save Amina's life n Tribune Desk

Amina Bhuiyan, who has kidney aliment, needs help for treatment.

Amina was admitted to Women Medical College and Hospital in the city’s Uttara area.

Doctors said Amina’s both kidneys have already damaged patricianly. It is quite impossible to treat in country and need to send her abroad. Doctors said at least Tk20 lakh will be needed to treat her.

Md Habibur Rahman Habib, son of the victim, urged solvent people and institutions to help her mother. Contact to help- Syed Md Habibur Rahman Habib. A/C0200002490253 Agrani Bank, Hatkhola Branch Dhaka, For details call-01718522938 l

CNG station owners pocket Tk120 crore every month selling gas illegally n Mohiuddin Molla, Comilla Owners of different CNG filing stations of Comilla district have been allegedly plundering nearly Tk120 crore every month selling CNG gas through illegal gas connection for long.

Locals alleged that local influentials, who owned several CNG filing stations in the district, are selling gas illegally tempering meter in collaboration of some corrupted officials of Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Limited (BGDCL).

Sale of illegal gas has come into the light recently, after BGDCL au-

thorities cut down gas connections of 10 CNG filling stations.

In a press briefing recently, Md Rezaul Islam Khan, managing director of the BGDCL, said: “We severed gas connections of 10 CNG stations as those CNG station were selling gas illegally.”

He alleged that Ali Monsur, secretary of Comilla CNG Pump Association, with the help of Ehsanul Haque Pathawary and Abul Bashar, ex-general manager and deputy general manager of the BGDCL respectively, had been dodging a good amount of taxes for long.

Later, the two officials were

transferred from the BGDCL, said BGDCL sources.

According to the BGDCL, BGDCL authorities with the help of Comilla district administration severed gas connection of Rahman CNG Filling Station on September 26, Bhuiyan CNG Station on September 27, Nur and Brothers CNG Station and Saburia CNG Station on October 8, Sakura CNG Station in Burichang upazila on October 9, Highway Link CNG Filling Station and RNR CNG Filing Station on October 10, River View CNG Filing Station and Mukti CNG Filling Stations on October 17, in allegation of selling ex-

cessive gas by meter tempering and also fined them.

BGDCL sources said “These CNG stations stole gas worth of Tk4 crore every day and Tk120 crores every month.”

Ali Monsur said: “I am not involved with meter tempering and BGDCL cut down gas connection of my CNG station over anger.”

He confessed that some CNG filling stations’ owners were involved with this illegal activities. However, Abul Bashar, ex-deputy general manager of BGDCL, ignored the allegation against him and said I had never involved with illegal activities. l

Tea workers deprived of fair-price rice Serajul n Mohammed Islam, Sylhet Labourers of several tea estates under Sylhet Sadar upzila are not getting fair-price rice which is being provided to the ultra poor people across Bangladesh by the government.

President of Tea Workers Union Sylhet Valley Raju Gowala told the Dhaka Tribune that workers of Kalagul, Keowachhara and Tarapur were deprived of fair price rice due to unknown reason, although people of the tea gardens were in badly need of government assitance.

He said: “Only 160 tea workers out of 2,260 at Lakkatua Tea Estate while 57 labourers out of 2,000 have got ration cards. But all the tea workers are poor and all of them should be given the fairprice rice.”

The government is providing rice among five million ultra poor rural families at Tk10 per kg which is much lower than the open market sale.

The rice will be sold among extreme poor people during two lean periods – March-April and September-November every year.

The fair price cards are being given to the families to get 30kg rice and 3kg lentil per month with a special focus on nutrition for malnourished women and

children as per the Global Nutrition Report.

According to the Tea Workers Union, a tea worker gets only Tk85 as wage after plucking 23 kilograms of tea leaves every day. But the wage is not sufficient to run their livelihood.

Workers of three tea estates submitted a memorandum to deputy commission on Thursday, demanding rice at fair price.

President of Tea Workers Union Sylhet Valley Raju Gowala, Lakkatur Panchayet President Situ Lohar and Tarapur tea garden Panchayet President Choiton Modi, among others, were the people who submitted memorandum to the deputy commissioner.

Addition Deputy Commissioner (general) Sohidul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that names of some tea garden workers were excluded from the list. He had already asked upazila nirbahi officer to look into the matter.

Upzila Nirbahi officer Mir Mahbubur Rahman said he had already asked chairman of respective union parishad to update the list.

Delwar Hossain, chairman of Hatimpur Union Parishad where Kalagul tea estate located said they would be able to correct the list of ration card holders within Tuesday. l

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News

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Vehicles with illegal extra bumpers everywhere n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong Motorised vehicles fitted with illegal external bumpers run rampant in the port city defying clearly outlined legal regulations.

Any modification which is not consistent with original design poses a serious threat to the pedestrians, commuters and even other vehicles on the roads.

The Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1983, clearly states that alteration of vehicle shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extended for up to two years, or with fines of up to Tk 5,000 or both.

Dhaka Tribune found almost all motorised vehicles including covered vans and trucks fitted with external bumpers, horizontal angles and sharp hooks were plying the streets of Chittagong in full view of the traffic police.

The truckers informed that fitting an external bumper cost around Tk15,000 claiming that it acts as a shock absorber and reduces the force of impact from a pushes from behind.

The body modification in most

cases is done by the inexperienced vehicle body manufacturers.

Fixing an external to a truck adds about 700-800 kg to the original weight of the vehicle. External bumpers make drivers overconfident and increase the tendency to drive recklessly.

On the other hand, the extra parts affixed for carrying excessive goods damage the highways and roads.

On July 1, 2003, a doctor died when a private car hit the motorcycle he was riding and his left leg got entangled with the bumper of the car.

The tragic death of Dr Shahjahan Ali was followed by a High Court directive to remove extra bumpers from all vehicles.

On March 13 of this year, at an inter-ministerial meeting, a committee was formed to stop illegal modification of trucks and covered vans.

Based on the recommendations of the committee formed on March 13, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) issued a notification on May 18 asking owners to

remove angles and bumpers from all buses, covered vans and buses within June 30.

However, the deadline has already expired without yielding any result. Lately the government has again asked the vehicle owners to remove all the illegal parts, including extra bumpers by November 30.

The directive came during an inter-ministerial meeting held at the conference room of the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges on October 13.

Furthermore, the owners were given a deadline of this December 31 to convert the modified trucks, covered vans and buses’ bodies into shapes approved by manufacturing companies and the BRTA. The private car owners, however, expressed their displeasure over the directive saying that it would increase the vulnerability of their vehicles to damage caused by rickshaws and other vehicles.

Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association told the Dhaka Tribune that the

repeated deadlines were a telling commentary that the road safety related directives largely remained unimplemented.

“Regrettably there is a sheer negligence on the part of both the traffic police and BRTA with regards to implementing the directives. We do not want anymore deadlines. We demand the offenders be booked under the existing law for violating the directives,” said the passenger rights activist.

Welcoming the move to take off external bumpers, hooks and angles, Engineer Subhash Barua, a traffic specialist said that the number accidents would surely come down with the implementation of the directive.

“Bangladesh is ranked as one of the most accident-prone countries in the world. Vehicle modification is known to be a major contributor to the road accidents in Bangladesh. Most truckers alter the original structure of their vehicles to carry more weight. Vehicle alteration with external bumpers and sharp-edged railings encourages the drivers to reckless driving and

eventually causes fatal accidents,” said the traffic specialist.

According to Covered Van Owners’ Association, 3500 covered vans and 700 lorries leave Chittagong Port for Dhaka and other parts of the country.

Contacted, Haji Munir Ahmmed, president of Covered Van Owners’ Association said that they came to know about the directives to remove all extra parts from the covered vans.

“We hail the decision and we will comply with the directives to ensure road safety,” added Ahmmed.

Asked for his comment, Md Shahid Ullah, deputy director, Chittagong BRTA told the Dhaka Tribune that they did not issue any fitness certificate to vehicles fitted with external parts.

“We are raising awareness with campaigns amongst the owners to get the vehicles structure in line with the design specified by the BRTA. We will take stern action against the offenders after the expiry of the deadline,” added the BRTA official. l

Physician: Severe head injury caused Lipu’s death n Dulal Abdullah, Rajshahi

A mahout is seen collecting extortion from a shop in Jamalkhan area, Chittagong city on Thursday

RABIN CHOWDHURY

Severe wound on Rajshahi University student Motaleb Hossain Lipu’s head has ensured his death, says the doctor who performed autopsy examination on the corpse.

Rajshahi Medical College Hospital morgue physician Enamul Hoque said: “There was severe injury mark on the right side of Lipu’s head and two ribs have been found broken. Besides, the body bores many injury marks in the right hand and both legs. Basically the head injury has caused his death.”

The RMCH physician made the statement yesterday afternoon.

Motihar police station Officerin-Charge (OC) Humayun Kabir confirmed it to the Dhaka Tribune, saying Lipu’s uncle Bashir Molla

filed the case against some unknown people.

The OC also said: “We have searched Lipu’s room, but we could not discover his cell phone. Two students have been picked up for questioning in this regard.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Bashir received the corpse following the end of the post mortem.

Lipu, 22, hailed from Mukimpur village in Harinakundu upazila of Jhenaidah district and his father Badar Mollah is a trucker.

Lipu’s blood-stained body was found in a drain behind the Abdul Latif Hall of Rajshahi University around 8am on Thursday.

Lipu was living in room 253 in the hall. He was a second year student of Mass Communication and Journalism department. l

RAB: Forest robbers trying to get involved in normal life n Hedait Hossain, Khulna

Aiming to lead normal life, at least 48 pirates and forest robbers of six Sundarbans-based gangs of forest robbers have surrendered to law enforcers with a good number of arms and ammunition in presence of Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan in the last five months.

Among the surrendered forest robbers, 10 members of Master Bahini, got bails and now they

are staying at their own localities.

They are now staying at the area under rehabilitation programmes, said RAB-8 sources.

Major Adnan Kabir, deputy commanding officer of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB 8), said: “Ten members of Master Bahini have got bail and now staying in Rampal, Mongla and Koira upazila of Bagerhat and Khulna districts.”

“Local representatives and police are watching their activities.

Detectives of RAB also monitoring their daily activities,” said the deputy commanding officer.

He also said: “There are no sings among them to join in anti-social activities and they are trying to get involved in social life where people from all walks of life welcomed them.”

The major said: “According to declaration, they will be rehabilitated and government will provide them money and works.”

Earlier, on Thursday, 14 forest robbers and pirates surrendered to law enforcers with huge arms and ammunitions in presence of Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Barguna Circuit House premises.

During the ceremony the minister urged all the people who are involved in anti-state activities to surrender and lead a normal life.

On September 8, 14 robbers of two Sundarbans-based pirate

gangs surrendered to law enforcers. They handed over 20 fire arms, 1008 rounds of ammunitions and local lethal weapons to the law enforcers.

Meanwhile, several other pirate gangs such as “Master Bahini” “Majnu Bahini” and “Ilias Bahini” also surrendered to law enforcers on May 31. These two gangs handed over 77 firearms, 5520 rounds of bullet and other ammunitions. l

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8 World

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

SOUTH ASIA

Pakistan SC: Schizophrenia not a mental illness Pakistan’s top court has ruled that schizophrenia does not fall within its legal definition of mental disorders, clearing the way for the execution of a mentally ill man convicted of murder. Government doctors in 2012 certified Imdad Ali, 50, as being a paranoid schizophrenic, after he was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 murder of a cleric. AFP

INDIA

BSF kills Pakistan Rangers on Jammu border The Border Security Force (BSF) said on Friday it killed 7 personnel of the Pakistani Rangers and a militant in retaliatory firing following a ceasefire violation along the International Border in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan Rangers, the border force of Pakistan, resorted to sniper attacks at Indian posts at Hira Nagar in Kathua, the BSF said. HT

CHINA

China, Philippines agree on dialogue over Sea disputes Beijing and Manila will resume talks on their South China Sea disputes, both sides said Friday, an apparent diplomatic victory for China after an international tribunal dismissed its claims to the waters. The announcement came during Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to China where he sought economic support from the Asian giant and announced his separation from longtime ally the US. AFP

ASIA PACIFIC

Abu Sayyaf attacks South Korean ship Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants have abducted a South Korean skipper and a Filipino crewman from a South Korean cargo ship.

About 10 gunmen boarded the MV Dongbang Giant using ropes from a speedboat and abducted skipper Chul Hong and Filipino crewman Glenn Alindajao on Thursday. AP

MIDDLE EAST

UN sets up special inquiry on Aleppo crimes The UN Human Rights Council agreed on Friday to launch an independent special inquiry into events in the Syrian city of Aleppo, where the top UN rights official said air strikes constituted war crimes. The 47-member state Geneva forum adopted a resolution, submitted by Britain along with Western and Arab allies, by a vote of 24 states in favour, 7 against with 16 abstentions. REUTERS

IS attacks Kirkuk as Iraqi forces push on Mosul n Reuters, Baghdad Islamic State launched a major counter-attack on the city of Kirkuk on Friday as Iraqi and Kurdish forces pursued operations to seize territory around Mosul in preparation for an offensive on the jihadists’ last major stronghold in Iraq.

Islamic State’s assault on Kirkuk, which lies in an oil- producing region, killed 18 members of the security forces and workers at a power station outside the city, including two Iranians, a hospital source said.

Crude oil production facilities were not targeted and the power supply continued uninterrupted in the city. Kirkuk is located east of Hawija, a pocket still under control of Islamic State that lies between Baghdad and Mosul.

With air and ground support from the US-led coalition, Iraqi government forces captured eight villages south and southeast of Mosul. Kurdish forces attacking from the north and east also captured several villages, according to statements from their respective military commands overnight.

The offensive that started on

Monday to capture Mosul is expected to become the biggest battle fought in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

IS ATTACKS KIRKUK TURKEY

Mosul

Holed up

In Kirkuk, Islamic State attacked several police buildings and a power station in the early hours of Friday and some of the attackers remained holed up in a mosque and an abandoned hotel.

The militants also cut the road between the city and the power station 30km to the north.

Several dozen took part in the assault, according to security sources who couldn’t confirm a claim

by Islamic State that it had taken a Kurdish police officer hostage.

The assailants in Kirkuk came from outside the city, said the head of Iraq’s Special Forces, Lieutenant General Talib Shaghati, speaking on a frontline east of Mosul. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi reacted to the killing of the Iranian citizens in Kirkuk, saying these attacks are “the last breath of terrorists in Iraq”.

At least eight militants were killed, either by blowing them-

SYRIA

Arbil Dibis

Kirkuk Baiji

Influence

IS group Control

Tikrit

Rutba

Zones

BAGHDAD Ramadi Fallujah

Iraqi regime Kurds

IRAN

IRAQ

SAUDI ARABIA

Basra 100 km

Sources: ISW, Thomas Van Linge, AFP

selves up or in clashes with the security forces, the sources said.

Kurdish forces had dislodged the

militants from all the police and public buildings they had seized before dawn, they said. l

FACTBOX

Baghdad’s finest: Iraq’s vaunted special forces Iraq’s special forces, which barrelled into a town east of Mosul on Thursday despite a wave of suicide attacks, are the country’s most professional and least sectarian fighting force.

Officially known as the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), the US trained troops have played a key role in wresting back towns and cities from IS, and are expected to lead the charge in Mosul, their toughest battle yet.

Here is a look at Iraq’s special forces:

Made in America The CTS was established by the American military shortly after the 2003 invasion as an elite commando unit charged with hunting down top insurgents and carrying out complex raids.

They were trained, armed and supplied by US Special Forces, who fought alongside them at the height of the insurgency.

The force proved to be a more reliable partner to the Americans than the mainstream security forces, where corruption was rife and many units were tied to parties or militias. But many Iraqis saw the special forces as the shock troops of an occupying pow-

factions or militias. In the early years, the force mainly battled Sunni insurgents, but it also played a lead role in a 2008 offensive against Shia militias.

Major General Fadhil al-Barwari, who leads the Golden Brigade, is a Kurd. The force also has a better human rights record than most of the other participants in the Mosul Offensive.

Leading the charge into Mosul

An Iraqi special forces soldier fires an RPG during clashes with Islamic States fighters in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq on October 20 REUTERS er, and took to referring to them as the Dirty Division.

From dirty to golden When the Islamic State group swept across northern and central Iraq in 2014, Iraq’s security forces crumbled.

Officers fled and their soldiers beat a humiliating retreat, many stripping off their uniforms and leaving their weapons and Humvees behind.

But not the special forces, who held their ground and became a source of national pride. The key leaders of CTS

have become central figures in the Iraqi public’s perception of the campaign to destroy IS. “Dirty” no more, the 1st Brigade is now widely known as the “Golden Division,’’ said David M Witty, a retired US Army Special Forces colonel and former adviser to the CTS.

A non-sectarian force The CTS was designed to be a non-sectarian force, with Shia, Sunni and Kurdish members who were strictly vetted to ensure they had no ties to political

The special forces launched their first assault in the Mosul operation early Thursday, pushing into the town of Bartella with the aid of attack helicopters despite stiff resistance from IS, which unleashed nine suicide truck bombs, one of which struck an armored Humvee. The rest were destroyed before hitting their targets.

The special forces are expected to help drive IS out of Mosul in the coming weeks or months. But they can’t police the country, and will eventually have to hand things off to Iraq’s army and police, as well as Shiite militias and Sunni tribal fighters. It will be left to them to ensure that IS, which has recovered from past defeats, does not return. l

Source: AP

9

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Veterans: Why they matter 17 DAYS REMAIN

n Tribune International Desk There are an estimated 21.6m veterans in the United States. Among them, nearly 9 million are enrolled in health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. About 4.3m veterans get disability compensation from the VA and nearly 900,000 have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, reports The Associated Press.

A 2014 law signed by President Barack Obama aimed to alleviate delays many veterans faced in getting treatment at VA hospitals and clinics and end the widespread practice of fake wait lists that covered up long waits for veterans seeking health care. Two years later, many of the problems remain.

Where they stand

Hillary Clinton has pledged to ensure veterans have access to timely and high-quality health care and vows to block efforts to privatise the Veterans Health Administration, the VA’s healthcare arm. Clinton also wants to bolster veterans’ benefits, including education and housing aid included in the GI bill. She would ensure that military sexual trauma is acknowledged as a

In this June 21, 2013, file photo, the seal a fixed to the front of the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington AP disability under VA rules.

Donald Trump says he will expand programs that allow veterans to choose their doctor - regardless of whether they’re affiliated with the VA - and still receive government-paid medical care.

Trump says that’s not privatized care but, he said, “a way of not allowing people to die waiting for doctors.”

Trump also pledged to fire or discipline VA employees who fail veterans or breach the public trust. He also would increase mental health professionals and create a “White House hotline” dedicated to veterans. If a valid complaint is not addressed, “I will pick up the phone and fix it myself if I have to,” Trump said.

Why it matters

Lifetime health care is part of the bargain for many of those who put their lives on the line in the armed forces, and it’s become clear the government isn’t holding up its end.

Veterans care has gained prominence since a 2014 scandal in which as many as 40 veterans died while waiting for care at a Phoenix VA hospital. Similar problems were soon discovered nationwide.

Veterans waited months for care even as VA employees created secret waiting lists and other falsehoods to cover up the delays.

A law approved after the scandal broke created a program that allows veterans to seek private care at government expense, but

the program is limited to veterans who have waited 30 days for an appointment or live 40 miles from a VA health center. Trump says he would vastly expand the program, calling problems at the VA under President Barack Obama “widespread and totally inexcusable.”

Clinton says the VA must retain “the ultimate responsibility” for veterans care. She cites the Veterans Health Administration’s leadership in areas such as prosthetics and traumatic brain injury. She promises to create an oversight board to monitor quality of care.

Veterans groups are encouraged by the increased focus on the VA, as evidenced by a recent forum that featured both Clinton and Trump. But they say the VA must do more to improve access to health care, address veterans’ suicide and change VA’s culture to ensure real accountability.

With nearly 370,000 employees and an annual budget of nearly $167bn, the VA is the largest civilian agency in the government, and second overall to the Defence Department.

Veterans are also a politically consequential group. Nearly 70% voted in the 2012 presidential election, a higher rate than the general population. l

Find more stories on US presidential election at www.dhakatribune.com

EXPLAINER

Why African states have started leaving the ICC n Tribune International Desk Until this week, no country had withdrawn from the International Criminal Court. Now two African states, South Africa and Burundi, have made official decisions to leave. Concerns are high that more African countries now will act on years of threats to pull out amid accusations that the court unfairly focuses on the continent, reports The Associated Press.

Here’s a look at what it all means.

Someone to take on genocide

Many in the international community cheered when the treaty to create the ICC, the Rome Statute, was adopted in 1998 as a way to pursue some of the world’s worst atrocities: genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Not all countries signed on, and before this week’s decisions by Burundi and South Africa, the treaty had 124 states parties. Notable countries that have not become states parties include the United States, China, Russia and India. Some countries are wary of The Hague,

In this June 14, 2015, file photo, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir attends a photo session at the African Union summit. South Africa has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court following a dispute over the visit by al-Bashir AP Netherlands-based court’s powers, seeing it as potential interference.

The travels of al-Bashir

Sudanese President Omar alBashir has become a symbol of the limitations facing the ICC, which does not have a police force and relies on the cooperation of member states. Al-Bashir has been wanted by the tribunal for alleged genocide and other crimes in Sudan’s Darfur

region after the UN Security Council first referred the case to the ICC in 2005. Since then, however, al-Bashir has visited a number of ICC member states, including Malawi, Kenya, Chad and Congo. His visit to South Africa in June 2015 caused uproar, and he quickly left as a court there ordered his arrest.

The ICC has no power to compel countries to arrest people and can only tell them they have a legal obligation to do it.

African frustrations, and threats

Only Africans have been charged in the six ICC cases that are ongoing or about to begin, though preliminary ICC investigations have been opened elsewhere in the world, in places like Colombia and Afghanistan. One case that caused considerable anger among African leaders was the ICC’s pursuit of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for his alleged role in the deadly violence that erupted after his country’s 2007 presidential election. The case later collapsed amid prosecution claims of interference with witnesses and non-cooper-

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World

ation by Kenyan authorities. The African Union has called for immunity from prosecution for heads of state, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at his inauguration in May - with al-Bashir in attendance - declared the ICC to be “useless.”

Heading out

Burundi kicked off the ICC departures this month when lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to leave the tribunal, just months after the court announced it would investigate recent political violence there. President Pierre Nkurunziza signed the bill on Tuesday.

Now South Africa is deciding to leave as well, saying that handing a leader over to the ICC would amount to interference in another country’s affairs. It’s a dramatic turnaround for a country that was an early supporter of the court’s creation in the years after South Africa emerged from white minority rule and near-global isolation. With one of Africa’s most developed countries now pulling out, observers are waiting to see whether more states follow. l

USA

Trump booed in NY, assailed by Obama Donald Trump endured boos at a charity event in New York and a biting attack by President Barack Obama as the Republican nominee’s threat not to concede if he loses next month’s elections roiled the race for the White House. Trump cast the US into uncharted political waters by suggesting he may not recognise the result of the November 8 presidential election. AFP

THE AMERICAS

Evangelical vote pushes Latin America to the right The rise of Evangelicalism in Latin America has brought new power to conservative political movements, visible most recently in the shock defeat of a peace referendum in Colombia, experts say. More and more Christians in traditionally Catholic Latin America are turning to Evangelical Protestant denominations, which have built a media-savvy empire of mega-churches over the past several decades. AFP

UK

May dismisses Brexit warning from EU-Canada deal British Prime Minister Theresa May dismissed warnings Friday that the EU’s troubled free trade deal with Canada raised serious questions about whether London could strike a similar agreement after Brexit. The EU-Canadian deal, which has been seven years in the making, was due to be finalised at the EU summit but is being held up by opposition from a Belgian regional government. AFP

EUROPE

EU negotiator wants Brits to talk French The EU’s lead Brexit negotiator wants British and EU officials to work in French rather than English during the divorce talks. Michel Barnier, the former French foreign minister running the complex separation with London, is keen that his native tongue be used in meetings and documents, the source said during a EU summit. REUTERS

AFRICA

South African student killed during protests A South African student leader was killed during protests following weeks of country wide demonstrations by students demanding free tertiary education, the presidency said on Friday. Lesego Benjamin Phehla, a student at Tshwane University of Technology in the capital Pretoria, was hit by a car and killed there on Thursday, the presidency said in a statement. REUTERS

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

BREXIT FALLOUT

Post-Brexit UK faces fresh challenges n Tribune International Desk Attending her first European Union summit since Britain’s vote to leave the bloc, Prime Minister Theresa May tried to reassure EU leaders over Brexit but was told by French President Francois Hollande to prepare for tough negotiations.

At a gathering in Brussels where EU leaders had robust debates on Russia, migration and trade issues, May was allotted a short time slot at the end of dinner on Thursday to lay out her plans for taking Britain out of the EU after more than four decades as a member.

May has said she will formally notify the EU of Britain’s plan to leave by the end of March, but she and her ministers have sent conflicting signals about what kind of relationship they envision once the divorce talks end. Moreover, Britain is facing fresh challenges in many aspects. Here are some main challenges Britain are facing currently following Brexit fallout:

Scotland plans new independence referendum

A draft bill on a second independence referendum has been published by the Scottish government after the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, pledged to hold a new poll in the event of a hard Brexit in a direct challenge to Theresa May. The draft legislation, which was formally unveiled by the constitution secretary, Derek Mackay, despite the Scottish parliament being in recess until next week, sets out proposals for the rules governing the campaign, the conduct of the poll and how votes are counted.

Questions about the future of the 309-year union between England, where a majority voted to leave the EU, and Scotland, where a majority voted to stay in it, have multiplied since the June 23 referendum put the entire United Kingdom on the path to an exit.

British Prime Minister Theresa May last week set out the exit timetable by promising to launch the two-year legal process by the end of March, and later triggered a fall in the value of the pound to a 31year low by appearing to prioritise immigration controls over Britain’s current preferential access to the EU single market, which could hurt trade and investment.

“If you think for one single second that I’m not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland’s interests, then think again,” Sturgeon said in a warning to May. She accused May’s Conservative government of “constitutional vandalism” by what she said was its disregard of Scotland’s views on Brexit, arguing that it had no mandate

to take Britain out of the EU single market for goods and services.

In response, a spokeswoman for May said the prime minister was “absolutely committed to engaging with the people of Scotland, with understanding their interests and making sure that as we go through the process of negotiating the UK exit we do what is in the interests of the United Kingdom”.

May said last week she would be “ambitious” in talks with the other 27 EU members to get what she called the best deal.

Sturgeon said she would seek to ensure that Scotland gets increased powers in any negotiation Britain undertakes to leave, challenging May on her stance that any Brexit deal must be negotiated by her government for the whole of Britain.

But Sturgeon also said she wanted a bill in place to give her the possibility of calling another referendum before Britain formally leaves the EU - now expected by the end of March 2019.

“I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence - and to do so before the UK leaves the EU - if that is necessary to protect our country’s interests,” she added.

Brexit battle hits High Court

The battle over Brexit reached the High Court on Thursday in a legal challenge to Prime Minister Theresa May’s right to start negotiations for Britain to leave the EU without a vote in parliament.

The move could delay Brexit if successful and set up an unprecedented constitutional face-off between the courts and the government.

It was launched after Britain’s June 23 referendum, which saw 52% of Britons vote to leave the European Union in a shock result that plunged the value of the pound and raised global economic fears.

The case seeks to challenge May’s assertion that she has the right to trigger notification of Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which would spark two years of negotiations on Britain’s departure from the bloc.

The government says it has “royal prerogative” -- a type of executive privilege -- to negotiate Brexit without needing a legally-binding parliamentary vote.

The issue in this case is not whether this country should remain a member of the EU, or leave the EU,” argued lawyer David Pannick, acting for several different individuals who brought the challenge.

“The question is whether the government may take action unilaterally to notify, or whether it needs parliamentary approval to do so.”

He said deploying the royal prerogative was unlawful because

SCOTLAND: A NEW INDEPENDENCE MOVE Brexit vote Leave

Semi-autonomous

Scottish parliament, Edinburgh: 129 seats

55 - 60% 50 - 55%

Division of powers

Scotland

UK

Remain + 60% 55 - 60%

Education Health

Defence

Environment Justice

Capital: Edinburgh Population: 5.3m Unemployment: 5.2%

Sept 18, 2014 1st Referendum on independence: 55% in favour of remaining in the UK

Edinburgh Glasgow

ENGLAND

EU allocations (2014-2020):

895 million euros

UK

Foreign policy

Belfast

N IRELAND

WALES Cardiff

LONDON

Source: British govt under the European Communities Act 1972, it was for parliament to decide whether or not to maintain the rights contained within it.

“Notification has the consequence of depriving individuals of rights which they currently enjoy under the 1972 act,” he said.

A few protesters for and against the legal action rallied outside the court in London as lawyers and claimants arrived for the first hearing.

A man holding an EU flag shouted “Parliament must vote!”, while another distributed leaflets urging people to “Uphold the Brexit vote”.

But those behind the legal challenge -- including an investment fund manager, a hairdresser and an expatriate living in France -- argue such a process cannot begin without a law passed by parliament.

Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private, wants parliament to legislate on the terms of Brexit before May can trigger Article 50. The fund manager is being represented by Mishcon de Reya, a prestigious law firm whose offices were picketed by pro-Brexit cam-

paigners in July for taking on the case shortly after the referendum.

Hate crimes soared by 41%:

There was a sharp increase in the number of racially or religiously aggravated crimes recorded by police in England and Wales following the EU referendum. In July 2016, police recorded a 41% increase compared to the same month the year before, according to a Home Office report.

These official figures appear to correlate with previous reports of a rise in post-Brexit hate crime. Data from 31 police forces showed that 1,546 racially or religiously aggravated offences were recorded in the two weeks up to and including the day of the referendum on June 23.

But in the fortnight immediately after the poll, the number climbed by almost half to 2,241.

In September, the National Police Chiefs’ Council released figures which showed the number of incidents rose by 58% in the week following the vote to leave the EU. The Home Office report confirmed that while 3,886 hate crimes were re-

corded by the police in July 2015, this jumped to 5,468 in July this year.

The peak daily total between May and August was seen on 1 July, when 207 alleged race or religious hate crimes were recorded.

The Home Office report showed there had been an increase of 19% in hate crimes in the year between April 2015 and March 2016, and included a section dedicated to violence seen after the EU referendum.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said a hate crime action plan published in July “sets out how we are further reducing hate crime, increasing reporting and improving support for victims”.

The violence seen after the Brexit vote was not restricted to racial or religious hostility, according to an LGBT charity.

Galop, which supports victims of homophobic violence, said homophobic attacks rose by 147% in the three months following the Brexit vote.

Sources: REUTERS, THE INDEPENDENT, AFP, EURONEWS

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

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Heritage

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

A fluid frontier Kishoreganj was important to the Mughals, and for good reason

n Tim Steel

I

n the great struggle undertaken by the Mughal regime in Dhaka to establish firm control over most of the lands that are now those of Bangladesh, a continuous and substantial part of the warfare appears to have been played out on water and land around today’s district of Kishoreganj.

Established as an administrative district only as recently as 1984, for the most part on the northern bank of the once great Brahamputra river, known, now, as the “Old Brahmaputra,” which is reduced, seasonally, mostly to a mere trickle through verdant farmlands, it is strewn with the evidence of an extraordinarily rich history and heritage.

Even today, these lands, in some ways, may be considered to mark the frontier between traditionally Bengali Bangladesh, and the unique phenomenon that is Sylhet, replete with a population sometimes referred to, or, perhaps, referring to themselves, as “Londonis.” Certainly, plenty of citizens thereabouts might not consider themselves altogether Bengali?

Visitors to these northeastern lands of Bangladesh may well be struck by the proliferation of the

As any visitor, even today, to the Brahmaputra waters, north of where they now merge with those of the great Jamuna, will attest, the waters must have been of formidable width and depth in earlier centuries and millennia

often semi-ruinous, decades, even centuries old palaces, mansions, mosques, temples, and fortresses in Kishoreganj, and the contrast, moving further north and east, of modern palaces and mansions of the elite of today’s “Londonis,” in the lands of Sylhet.

For the Mughals, at least, there were certainly times when the Brahmaputra waters represented a frontier; it was, perhaps, only Mir Jumla’s advance, seeking out Aurangzeb’s brother, Shah Suja, who was rumoured to have fled his refuge in Arakan, and headed up into the lands of Tripura and Assam, that real warfare reached further north.

Certainly, in what we might reasonably describe as that titanic struggle for control of the very

valuable trading lands of Bihar, Orissa, and Bengal -- which we now know contained ample supplies of the vital gunpowder, so essential to one of the famous “Gunpowder Empires” -- warfare reached the waters of the great Brahmaputra, and, at times, well beyond.

As they wrestled with the “12 resisters,” the Baro Bhuiyans, the resistance of Isa Khan, the son of a Hindu convert to Islam, proved more enduring and determined, even than that of the hugely resourced Hindu Pratapaditya of Jessore.

Ralph Fitch, the British merchant visiting the area at the time, noted the difficulty of the Mughal army, much based on cavalry, pinning down the

resistance forces to battle in the waterlogged and swampy lands.

It seems that, when Isa Khan abandoned his Sonargaon base and retreated to the fortress on the north bank of Brahmaputra, Akbar’s forces willingly came to terms with him.

He occupied a north bank fort, which has remained the family home of his successors ever since.

Since the great river had been an access for trade with the Himalayan territories, and well beyond into China, the great cities of the Chinese Empire, as well as those of the Tibetan Empire, no doubt the pickings from taxation of such trade were considerable. As any visitor, even today, to the Bramaputra waters, north of where they now

merge with those of the great Jamuna, will attest, diminished though they are by considerable extraction throughout northern India, the waters must have been of formidable width and depth in earlier centuries and millennia.

So wide, and deep, in fact, that, although today it is almost inconceivable, the river in the late 16th century saw at least one major naval engagement with more than 500 cannon-mounted crafts involved.

In fact, the pattern of change of rule over centuries and even millennia over these territories on the northern bank of the great Brahmaputra, the “Southern Silk Road” between the oceans and empires and kingdoms of the Himalayas and beyond, underlines its history as a fluid frontier.

Perhaps it represented, too, something of a frontier for centuries of the Islamic rule that was established over most of the lands of Bengal in the early 13th century, those that are a significant part of today’s Bangladesh.

The noted significance of both Sanatana and Loukik Islam in today’s Kishoreganj, the former closely associated with both Buddhist and Hindu influence,

and the latter with some forms of Animist tradition might suggest a degree of fusion that may reasonably be associated with porous religious, as well as political, frontiers.

From the earliest periods of Mughal rule, whilst there was resistance within Bengal itself, characterised, of course, especially

by Isa Khan, himself the child of “religious fusion,” these north eastern lands were fought over constantly.

The Kingdoms of Jaintia, the remains of a great palace of that kingdom stand until today just north of Sylhet, at Jaintiapur, with evidence of its animist traditions, and of Kachari and Manipur, with their Garo and Khasi citizens, acted as sometimes a bulwark, sometimes a “Trojan Horse,” as far as the Mughals were concerned.

And battles, both on the vast waters of the Brahmaputra and on land, were fought over the ensuing century to contain, or conquer, the great Ahom Kingdom of the fertile and wealthy valley of the Brahmaputra as it reached toward the Himalayas.

We will, probably, never know the fate of the great Shah Suja, the brother of the sixth Mughal

Emperor, Aurangzeb. But it appears that Aurangzeb himself believed, or feared, the tales of his flight from Arakan to the lands of Manipur, perhaps to the Ahom Kingdom itself.

But Mir Jumla’s military adventure into Assam suggest that he was taking no chances with this fragile frontier of the enormously valuable trading lands to their south and west, the lands of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, through which flowed a major part of the trading wealth of his regime.

Like most troubled, frontier lands, Kishoreganj still holds its own wealth of fortress defences; in Kishoreganj, especially, Jangalbari, to which Isa Khan eventually retreated and, for the remaining years of his life, established a point as far as which the Mughal military could expect to triumph.

The evidence of earlier kingdoms remains, perhaps, still to be explored, but there seems little doubt that a city, known as Egarosindur, like that of Wari Bateshwar, further south on the banks of the great river has -- with only fairly cursory exploration in the 1930s and again in more recent years -- revealed archaeological evidence of both occupation, and

almost certainly, trade from as early as 1,000 BCE. There seems, in fact, little doubt that the rich, fertile soils of this valley of the Brahmaputra were a significant part of the ancient history of trade and commerce through these lands of Bangladesh.

The wealth of ancient sites certainly supports that view -- areas such as neighbouring Habiganj, as well as Kishoreganj itself, are rich in mansions and palaces, temples and mosques, centuries old, appear also to justify it.

How long the Brahmaputra remained the great route of trade towards the Himalayas is unclear, but that the Portuguese are believed to have built a trading post and residences in Kishoreganj during the troubled times towards the end of the Sultanate period certainly suggests that it remained a significant place of trade, probably through, at least, the late 16th century.

From the time of the arrival of the Mughals it may well be that the significance reduced, until, of course, the massive route change of the Brahmaputra waters late in the 18th or early in the 19th century, by which time, international trade along its course, would probably

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

There seems little doubt that the rich, fertile soils of this valley of the Brahmaputra were a significant part of the ancient history of trade and commerce through these lands of Bangladesh. The wealth of ancient sites certainly supports that view

have been mostly to the south of the Himalayas.

The orientation of wealth and power of the Mughals was, of course, probably always towards the Indus, their origins; although, clearly, protecting the massive wealth generated in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa remained a priority.

Wealth from the Himalayas and beyond, that had, doubtless, diminished with the growth of maritime Chinese trade, and the stabilisation of the central Asian trade routes under the protection of the great empires of central Asia and Middle East.

The rich history and heritage of these unique lands of Bangladesh beyond what is left of the great, ancient waters of the Brahmaputra

continues to evolve. The direct descendants of Isa Khan still occupy his fortified home, as, no doubt, do also some others of the zamindari, who, like his descendants, may now be considered home-grown, or those of the successful bidders in more recent times.

A unique, and extraordinary heritage now, for the most part, the far side of marshland, and a trickle of what were once frontier waters of lands, much contested and fought over, through centuries, fluid, militarily, politically, commercially, and environmentally. l Tim Steel is a communications, marketing and tourism consultant.

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Climate Change

Climate change is not a fatality

Countries around the world are now committed to addressing climate change

COURTESY

n Sophie Aubert

W

hen my country France decided to host last year’s UN climate conference, COP21, we had one major goal: Leading the international community to commit itself to launching the global transition towards a low carbon economy.

This was the best plan we had to maintain global temperatures below the target of 2°C or even 1.5°C by the end of the century when compared to pre-industrial levels. We reached our goal, managing to create momentum in Paris in December 2015 that led to the Paris Agreement.

After the COP21, France decided to put all its efforts into following up on the process of adopting the Paris Agreement and its ratification. At the United Nations headquarters in New York City, on 22 April 2016 -- also known as International Earth Day -- we saw 175 countries sign onto the agreement. And later, on October 5, 75 countries, including Bangladesh, representing 58.84% of global greenhouse gas emissions, finally ratified the Agreement.

The double target of 55 ratifications accounting for at least 55% of the global greenhouse gas emissions was achieved: This means the Paris Agreement will enter into force on November 4, 2016. Our diplomacy has sustained this challenge and we feel very

We all want the COP22 to be the ‘Implementation COP’ -- the COP where plans move to action

proud of this success.

Now in Morocco, the global community will have to turn this success into action.

This is why last Sunday, on October 16, the Embassy of France in Bangladesh held a workshop in Dhaka called: “Climate change is not a fatality.”

Less than one month before the next UN climate meeting, COP22 in Marrakesh, we wanted to take stock of the decisions and actions implemented since the Paris Agreement in December 2015.

We wanted to showcase some of the solutions developed by France, Bangladesh, India, and the Netherlands (both at public and private levels) in order to handle the challenge of climate change.

We must act in order to break the vicious circle induced by the increase of the global temperature in order to preserve a sustainable environment. Now we know our global responsibility. The industrial revolution is over; pointing out how developed countries are mostly responsible for emissions is no solution since they did not know the consequences of their actions.

Upholding one’s responsibility

today and implementing a global low carbon economy which is circular (meaning resources are re-used and conserved as much as possible) is the solution.

At the French Embassy on October 16, we focused on various initiatives launched within or outside of the Lima Paris Action Agenda (an undertaking by both the Peruvian and French COP Presidencies that previously held the UN climate talks) in order to create an environmental-friendly society and to address climate challenge.

All of them are highly valuable solutions: The Delta Coalition led by the Netherlands and now handed over to Bangladesh, within which 12 countries joined efforts to increase the resilience of cities situated on delta; the International Solar Alliance led

by India and France, which now includes about 80 countries, with the aim of mobilising USD 1 trillion of investments by 2030 for developing solar energy; the Efficiency for Access Coalition (E4A), led by IDCOL in Bangladesh, aimed at accelerating universal access to clean energy, also by 2030. These initiatives illustrate

how the entire planet is moving forward at all levels (states, business sector, civil society, etc), to transform the world into a sustainable one.

Climate change is not only of concern to governments: It is a concern for everyone because we are all greenhouse gas emitters on some level. But the fact is, the only way to push progress toward a circular low carbon economy is to make it more and more expensive for people or companies to pollute our planet. And this has to be led by government regulations first.

Carbon pricing is one way among others to do this. Many countries are committed to shaping a new legal framework, which would engage all actors constructively, through various incentives. This framework would begin with financial incentives, a top priority to achieve this global climate target.

This is a revolution.

Bangladesh, for example, decided on the target of producing 2000 MW renewable energy by 2021; and France adopted a new law for energy transition and green growth. This law sets up a comprehensive action-oriented

strategic framework in order to move to a low carbon economic model.

This law is supported by another law, the Law for the Restoration of Biodiversity, which critically protects our biodiversity. This is important because, as we observe day after day, many species are not only starting to disappear, but have already disappeared from our environment.

We all want the COP22 to be the “Implementation COP” -- the COP where plans move to action.

France and Morocco have worked hard together for the success of this upcoming UN climate conference, the first one since the Paris Agreement. We all are optimistic that our momentum will lead the world to uphold its responsibilities, on behalf of the future generations. l Sophie Aubert is the Ambassador of France to Bangladesh.

This page has been developed in collaboration with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and its partners, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). This page represents the views and experiences of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Dhaka Tribune or ICCCAD or its partners.

MATCH THE WORDS AND PICTURES

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Time

What time is it? Try to match the clocks with the right times.

1. ten past nine 2. half past five 3. eleven o’clock 4. quarter past eight 5. quarter to two 6. twenty five to four 7. twenty past seven 8. five to twelve

A

B

C

D

E

F

H

G

H 5. F 6. B 7. C 8. D Answers 1. G 2. E 3. A 4.

to do at Find lots more fun things rnenglishkids www.britishcouncil.org/lea

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Learn English

© British Council 2016

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Kids

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

fiction

The Epic Gun Chapter 7 of The Magic Christmas Ring n Nusaiba Zyen I started loading the gun with ammo. I had picked the hugest one. I slammed the door open and headed towards the robots.

I had a visual on them. They were still shooting everywhere.

“Hey YOU!” I shouted. The robots stopped shooting and stared at me.

“Shoot THIS!” And BANG! I shot all the robots one by one, one after another. Five of them had melted away into liquid except the largest one. It was heading towards me. Its eyes were growing bigger and turning fiercer. I had shot it right in its metal chest, but it still kept marching towards me.

I shot it everywhere, but it wouldn’t go down. I tried shooting in right in the face. But it still kept marching. I took my aim, and gave my best shot. It was also the last bullet. I pulled the trigger and the bullet went right in its eye. The robot screamed as its head collapsed on the ground.

I had done it! I never thought that I would even hold a gun. But I was actually pulling the trigger multiple times. My heart was filled with excitement. I screamed ‘hooray’ as I was jumping as high as I could. I grabbed the two sacks from the robot’s metal wrist and headed towards another area. l

Illustration: Bigstock

colour it

Illustration: Bigstock

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

diy

DIY Photoframe You just got your birthday photos printed out and they look lovely! It would be a shame to just keep them hidden somewhere in a dusty album. You could display them on a beautiful photoframe. Don’t have one?

Make it!

Things you will need: • Ten popsicle/icecream sticks • Glue • Paint • Cardboard paper • Beads and stickers for decoration • And of course, your favourite photo

cut earlier. This will be the stand your frame will need to stay up on the table or where you place it.

Have an adult look over it when you cut it.

Step 1 First, glue two sticks together along their longer side (vertically). Then glue two more sticks together the same way. Let them dry.

Step 2 Take another stick and glue the two sticks you made before to the ends of the single stick. Glue a second stick to the other end.

Together they should look like a square or rectangular shape now.

Step 3 Flip over the square/ rectangle you just made. On the side glue another stick

leaving a small gap from the top. Glue two more sticks to the bottom.

Look at the diagram to understand.

Step 4 Paint your frame as you like.

You can draw flowers or your favourite cartoon. You can also decorate it with stickers and glitter. Let the paint dry.

Toy Review

Step 5 Cut a square/rectangle shaped piece of cardboard the size of the frame you made. Cut another thinner strip of cardboard paper.

Bend the cardboard paper a few centimeters from the top and stick the bent portion of the cardboard strip to the larger cardboard piece you

Step 6 Glue your photo to the front of the cardboard square/ rectangle. Don’t use too much glue or your photo will look watery and get ruined. Glue your cardboard piece to your popsicle stick frame. The frame should stand leaning on the strip you glued behind it.

And you are done! Place your photoframe neatly on your desk or show it off on your bookshelf in the living room and smile as people love it. l

Fun science

Remote control helicopter

Quick sand What you’ll need • 1 cup of maize cornflour • Half a cup of water • A large plastic container • A spoon

First, mix the cornflour and the water properly in the container. When you stir it slowly, it will drip like liquid. If you stir it quickly, the quicksand will get harder and then you can actually punch or poke the quicksand. If you add just the right amount of water to the cornflour, it becomes thick as you stir it quickly. This happens because the cornflour grains are mixed up and can’t slide over each other due to the lack of water between them. Stirring slowly allows more water between the cornflour grains, letting them slide over each other easily. l

Enough of remote control cars, it’s time to touch the sky and that too with your own helicopter!

This amazing toy will take you high up in the sky!

Head up and away with this Fast Lane RadioControl Jaw Breaker Helicopter. This awesome ‘copter is gyro stabilised and can be used indoors or outdoors for loads

of high-flying fun. The dual joystick transmitter features an up and down throttle and left, right, forward and backward action. So what are you waiting for? Get your batteries on and start ruling the roads, offroads and the air with your amazing, personal helicopter! l

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Kids

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Kids

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

magic trick

toy

The Rubber Pencil

The bubbling Ninja

The “rubber pencil” is a super easy magic trick, which is really an optical illusion.

You’ll need: • A pencil with a rubber end • Lots of practice How to do it: It is one of the most tried tricks by almost everyone who has tried out the art of magic. You can fool all your friends and impress them by using a normal pencil and making it look as if it is made of rubber that wiggles and jiggles. All you do is hold the rubber end of the pencil with your index finger and thumb loosely. Hold it sideways, facing your audience and wave it fast, moving your hand up and down vertically and the pencil will start bouncing, and it will seem you are bending it. l This week, we have for you a fun toy, that you won’t get enough of. It’s simple, it’s easy and it’s bubbling with fun. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 8 oz. Bubbles with Wand will keep you glued to your adored Ninjas.

Blow fun bubbles with Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello! Each Ninja bottle has a bubble solution of eight ounces, which comes with your very own bubble wand! If you are a fan of turtles, this is sure going to be a fun way to blow up bubbles with your awesome turtles! With it, you can also get yourself the Bubble Launcher, which will make your bubbles bigger! l

d iy

Let’s pebble!

Pebble placemats

What you’ll need • Two plastic cups • Acrylic paint • Chart papers • Pencils • Brushes • Cellotape • Scissors • Glue

Instructions Take two plastic cups and stick them at the end of each other with your cello tape. Then, take your pencil and draw out circles on a chart paper. Inside the circles, draw another circle. Then, using your art scissors, cut them out and use your cello tape to stick them at both ends like handles.

Finally, use you acrylic paint and colour the whole thing. Use glue to stick some nice buttons or cut out alphabets on your chart paper, colour them and stick them to your trophy. Gift it to your dad, rewarding him as the best dad ever!!

Having a party or a group of guests coming over to your house? Why not make your feast a unique one with a few funky pebble placemats?

You’ll need • Old placemats or liners • Various pebbles • Adhesive • Instructions

Take a measured piece of liner or any old placemat. Choose even and smooth pebbles of your choice and glue them on to the placemats. Make sure that the edges and the surface of the mats are smooth and even. Leave the mats to dry and use them on any fun occasion whenever you need. Decorate them with glitter and paint the pebbles to give them a colourful look.

experiment

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

book review

Across A Star-Swept Sea

Tunes in a hole

Author Diana Peterfreund Genre Adventure Age 12 years

Bottled music Experiments with sounds are always fun. Well this week, we will be looking in to something different. We’ll be using bottles to produce tunes out of them!

For this experiment, you will need five identical plastic bottles, each containing different levels

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Kids

of water in them. Arrange the bottles according to the water level, starting from the highest to the lowest. Then, blow wind across the top of all the bottles.

You’ll see that the sounds coming out of each bottle are different.

This happens because when you

blow across the top part of the bottle, the air inside vibrates.

The lower the water level, the more air there is inside the bottle.

Bottles with more air has slower vibrations, making a low-note sound. l

The story When the wicked Galateans start destroying the aristocratic society by supplying them with drugs, they turn the strong thinkers into weak opponents. Persis Blake, a brave aristocrat decides to take the name Wild Poppy who sets out on a journey as a spy to fight the Galateans and save her life and the ones like her own.

Any good?

A beautiful, heroic and intriguing spy adventure, Across A Star-Swept Sea is a book you simply cannot miss. With strong messages on girl power, determination and with the lesson to fight for what you believe in, this read is a true treasure.l

| digital |

WowBox: An impactful achievement towards Digital Bangladesh WowBox, as the name suggests, is a platform that never ceases to reward its users with surprises.

Launched in May 2015 by Grameenphone, WowBox, thanks to its huge user base, has quickly become the number one digital lifestyle application in Bangladesh.

Grameenphone launched the application with an aim to provide its subscribers easy access to lifestyle promotions and discounts from popular outlets.

The app’s tremendous success, within one and half years of its launch, indicates its popularity among users, especially the youth. Hundreds of thousands subscribers use this app for their daily lifestyle needs; receiving offers and rewards on various retail outlets across the country.

Aggregating lifestyle in a uniquely rewarding manner and helping users enjoy offers and contents, WowBox, has made a mark in the country’s digital sphere. WowBox is not just a digital channel that brings offers and deals to users, the app is also a platform that caters to the youths of the country through its highly contextualised content – daily news updates, lifestyle tips,

games, sports, horoscopes, jokes and competitions. It’s a single platform that blends lifestyle with technology, and hence the app has 1.5 million active users every week.

In a digital era, when everything is coming under a well-connected ecosystem, Grameenphone is helping make the lives of their subscribers easier, simpler and more rewarding through its various digital channels. With this app, Grameenphone subscribers can easily access a wide range of engaging content such as trending news, sports, smart health tips, jokes, fun-to-play games, free latest music, best hotel and restaurants deals, and last but not the least, special offers on Grameenphone products.

In addition, WowBox provides a valuable channel for Grameenphone to engage with the rapidly growing young population.

The success of WowBox is a sign that Bangladesh is quickly adapting to digital transformation, as the country is moving ahead with a vision of Digital Bangladesh. Grameenphone, being the leading digital services provider, has been also striving to

digitise the lifestyle of the people and help the country achieve its goal through introducing new and innovative services.

Apart from the existing deals and offers, more and more exciting

new features will come to WowBox over the upcoming months as it aims to continuously excite users through creative communication and rich content.

The app is free to use and

can easily be downloaded for Android mobiles from Google Play. Moreover. Customers are not charged data for using WowBox, thanks to it being zero-rated free to surf the platform. l

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20 Editorial

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

INSIDE

The utter uniqueness of a President Trump It should scare democracy activists around the world that a probable American president speaks in the troubling tones of tyrants who ‘win’ without real votes and then consider anything less than abject flattery to be defamatory and treasonous PAGE 21

Yesterday once more We also have quite a lot of history in our school textbooks. Is the audience, the people, not receiving what we’re providing?

PAGE 22

Jokes apart The inescapable realities though, are that India cannot isolate Pakistan internationally. Pakistan is too large a country to be hidden under the smock of hegemony PAGE 23

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

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

BIGSTOCK

Will our streets ever be safe for women?

I

n Bangladesh, the reports of harassment and assault of women have become all too common.

To such an extent has this become a problem that we cannot sit back, bury our heads in the sand, and continue to deem these as isolated incidents.

The hacking of Khadiza, who now lies in hospital fighting for her life should have been our wake-up call, though it was not the first of such recent incidents.

But even before Khadiza, there was the tragic case of Risha, 14, who was stabbed and subsequently died. There was also Nitu, an eighth grader, who was hacked to death. There was Rani, a 12-year-old, also stabbed.

On Wednesday, four more girls were stabbed or hacked in separate incidents.

And on Thursday, a 32-year-old imam was jailed for repeatedly harassing a school-girl for marriage.

Almost all of these incidents came at the hands of male stalkers who were unable to grasp the fact that no means no.

The frequency with which these sorts of incidents continue to take place serves as a poor reflection of our society.

It is high time that Bangladeshi society takes a long, hard look at itself. There is only so much the authorities can do when there are people in our society who do not understand that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable, and continue to blame the victim for these crimes.

This pervasive attitude is retrograde, shameful, and unacceptable.

Savagery of this kind would not persist if there was not so much impunity afforded to perpetrators of sexual harassment, and the subsequent stigma attached to the victims.

This is the kind of thinking that must be rooted out of our society. It is high time we learn to do a better job of protecting half of our population.

Savagery of this kind would not persist if there was not so much impunity afforded to perpetrators of sexual harassment

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Opinion

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

The utter uniqueness of a President Trump That Trump came so far should scare supporters of democracy everywhere

A fit president for authoritarian regimes

REUTERS

the 1960 election), because the stability of the democratic process is considered by both major parties to be more important that the parochial doubts of a nominee.

Donald Trump’s tirade about fraud and rigging, even before the actual elections day, is more than bluster: He has repeatedly alluded to street protests and armed insurrection in the event that the opinion polling is correct and he loses the race. Such invective is simply unprecedented in modern American history.

Not that there will be much magnanimity in Trump even if he were to win.

He has already called for, in a style far more common in Harare or Dhaka rather than in Washington or New York, the jailing of his opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton under a future Trump administration.

Sure there will be all the niceties of due process before that, his minions, like former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, had helpfully explained.

While such an outcome is unlikely, given the elaborate checks and balances built into the American system and the fierce independence of the professional bar and the bench, the chill sent by such Third World style vindictiveness is also a new low for national politics in the United States.

As a comparison, two American presidents were impeached during

n Esam Sohail

S

ince the 1876 general election in the United States, when a national commission headed by a Supreme Court justice had to render a decision on several disputed states, the contours of post-election consensus have been set in stone: The legitimacy of the results are not challenged in the streets but, if at all needed, litigated through the independent courts; opponents vanquished at the ballot box are not persecuted, jailed or prosecuted; and the media is not silenced.

This consensus is what largely distinguishes the exercise of electoral democracy in the US (and Western Europe) from the pale facsimiles found in, say, Congo, Bangladesh, or Uzbekistan. It is that consensus that Donald J

It should scare democracy activists around the world that a probable American president speaks in the troubling tones of tyrants who ‘win’ without real votes and then consider anything less than abject flattery to be defamatory and treasonous

Trump and his virulent followers threaten this year and that marks him out as the most unique major party candidate in a century and a half.

The peaceful transfer of power every four or eight years is a hallmark of American democracy, cherished as a cornerstone of maturity here and looked at with envy in those countries where pretend elections are used to legitimise unelected tyrants.

Every four years, just as the winner in the American presidential election magnanimously acknowledges the need to be a leader for every citizen, including those who voted for the other candidate, the loser graciously accepts the electoral verdict and congratulates the winner.

This has been the case even when there was serious suspicion of some irregularities (like in

their terms of office; neither was criminally prosecuted, let alone jailed, by his respective successors from the other party.

That kind of vendetta has simply not been part of the political dynamics in US since its first few decades.

The press is unlikely to be spared in the ideal Trump-ruled USA either. While it is fashionable for Republican candidates to routinely bash the mass media

(except, of course, their darling Fox News which is, ironically, coowned by a Hamas-loving Saudi prince), Donald Trump has taken that dislike to a venomous banana republic level.

His public rallies routinely feature calls for the jailing of unfriendly journalists, his tweets promise to punish those who insult him, and his campaign message is built around multiple conspiracy theories of newspapers and broadcast houses plotting against him.

Since the First Amendment to the United States constitution absolutely prohibits any criminal proceedings based on someone feeling “insulted” or “defamed” by speech or writing, Trump’s pronouncements suggest a cultural affinity for the kind of democracy where an editor can get sued 88 times in the space of a week for something he said on a talk show 10 years ago.

Again, with a judiciary which is very independent and looks askance at any effort to jeopardise the free press for spurious reasons like hurt feelings, it is unlikely that a Trump presidency will get to jail too many reporters.

Nevertheless, it should scare democracy activists around the world that a probable American president speaks in the troubling tones of tyrants who “win” without real votes and then consider anything less than abject flattery to be defamatory and treasonous.

Whether Mr Trump becomes president or not, the fact that a man of his temperament and tendencies came so close to it will affect America’s standing as the moral cheerleader for pluralism, democratisation, and free speech in the years to come.

Were he to become president, it is hard to see how American diplomats and NGOs will be able to keep a proverbial straight face and remind some budding dictator that criticism of a policy or questioning of a historical narrative does not equate to criminality and should not lead to jail sentences.

It is not that Donald Trump would have been a misfit of a president … in Zimbabwe, Singapore, or Uzbekistan, that is. l Esam Sohail is an educational research analyst and college lecturer of social sciences. He writes from Kansas, USA.

DT

22

Opinion

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Yesterday once more Why are so many people ignorant about our country’s history?

How many know the history behind this monument?

LARGER THAN LIFE n Ekram Kabir

M

ore than a decade ago, I was invited to a businessman’s house for dinner where I met his spouse and two daughters. At that time, Bangladesh Nationalist Party was in power. We were all chatting together in the living room and his children were sitting with mine in the dining room talking about their schools and education.

I suddenly overheard them talking about an impending general strike and that their schools would be closed.

During their conversation, the businessman’s daughter mentioned Khaleda Zia. I remained inquisitive. I heard her (she couldn’t speak Bangla) saying: “Yeah, there’s a guy named Khaleda Zia but I don’t know what he is.” I heard my daughter telling her that she was the prime minister of Bangladesh.

We also have quite a lot of history in our school textbooks. Is the audience, the people, not receiving what we’re providing? If so, there’s a reason to worry. Does the methodology of providing information on our history and heritage have a problem?

Rings a bell? Somebody living in Bangladesh in the 2010s and doesn’t know who the guy called Khaleda Zia was?

Certainly, we should have reasons to feel horrified after knowing that some people like her do exist in our beloved land.

That poor thing isn’t alone; there are perhaps millions who were born in this country and don’t [want to] know this country; and, perhaps, can’t emotionally relate to it.

Kindly allow me to cite an example.

A vernacular daily reported just last week that a Bangladesh Planning Commission survey has revealed that 56% of people don’t know when Bangladesh’s Independence Day is, 24% are ignorant about Victory Day, 61% of us don’t know about martyred intellectuals, 25% of Bangladeshis don’t know what happened on March 25, 1971. Again, 52% of

Bangladeshis don’t know about the Bir Sreshthas and 34% of us don’t know anything about the historic speech that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered on March 7, 1971 at the Ramna Racecourse.

Now, what would you say?

Please don’t say the percentages that are mentioned in this survey are the English-speaking populace of Bangladesh. I don’t believe that 56% of us cannot speak in Bangla.

The majority of these people read Bangla, speak in Bangla, and listen to Bangla on a regular basis.

When an English speaker (not knowing Bangla) claims that they don’t know anything about this country, we know where he or she is coming from. That’s quite understandable.

But 56%? How can that be?

There must be something wrong with the survey itself or there must be something wrong with what we’re passing off to our

progeny. What’s missing here?

What’s preventing our children from knowing about our own country? Is our every day life becoming too engrossed in such materialism that we don’t have time to know about the country that we were born in? Or is it our education system? Our childhood textbooks?

But the books for elementary classes are full of the history of our war of independence and subsequent victory. Then what?

The teachers? The teachers who don’t tell their students about our country? The public representatives?

The people’s elected representatives who aren’t imbuing the people with the sense of our own history? The intelligentsia? The intelligentsia -- who appear on TV talk shows on a regular basis -- who are only talking about a mere portion of the history?

Or is it the way we disseminate the information? Well, the media is the ultimate “disseminator.”

Of course, they are, especially the audio-visual media. What’s the media teaching as far as our history is concerned?

Actually, the media is emitting quite a bit. What the audience is receiving is the question. And whether the media is making itself understandable to its audience.

Otherwise, why on Earth are 56% of the people ignorant about Independence Day? Well, the audience must be at the receiving end, waiting for someone to tell them. We also have quite a lot of history in our school textbooks.

Is the audience, the people, not receiving what we’re providing? If so, there’s a reason to worry. Does the methodology of providing information on our history and heritage have a problem?

There wasn’t any problem when we were young in the 70s and 80s. What did we do then? How did we educate the people about our Liberation War? It’s time to re-think the way we disseminate information. If required, we need to revisit what we used to do at that time. l

Ekram is a fiction writer.

DT

23

Opinion

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Jokes apart Peace between India and Pakistan may seem out of reach, but is not impossible

n FS Aijazuddin

I

meant it as a joke, but India took it seriously. I had written the other day to some Indian friends to wish them on the festival of Dussehra (Rama’s victory over his demon opponent Ravana), commenting flippantly that there would be no marks for guessing who would be Ravana this year.

Whoever in India monitors circumcised carrier pigeons and wingless emails must have intercepted my message, for sure enough a few days ago, in Amritsar’s main Ranjit Avenue, in addition to the traditional effigy of a multi-headed Ravana, was an even larger figure draped in the Pakistani flag with an image of Nawaz Sharif pasted on its head.

The actors portraying Rama and Lakshmana were shown aiming their gilded arrows at them.

Mr Modi commemorated his Dussehra/Vijayadhashmi in Goa. There, at the BRICS summit, he took pot shots at an unnamed but identifiable demon, “the mothership of terrorism.”

None of the leaders present needed help to translate that phrase. Modi meant clearly what he did not say.

In his lexicon, Pakistan is synonymous with terrorism, just as to him India is a sobriquet for Hinduism.

Such juxtapositions can be slippery. In the 1970s, loyalists once proclaimed that “Indira is India; India is Indira.” Her supporters went a step further, venerating her as the multi-armed goddess Durga.

Mr Modi, a devout Hindu, knows his Devi Mahatmya, both chapter and verse. He is familiar with Chapter 2, verses 10-33, of the moment when the deities endow the emergent Devi with a distinctive personal weapon with which to combat the buffalodemon, Mahish-asura.

Perhaps this precedent tempted Mr Modi to use the BRICS meeting to extract anti-Pakistan endorsements from Russia and China which he could then use as ammunition against his foe, equally their neighbor.

Surely someone in the MEA must have cautioned him that 1.4 billion Chinese, 207 million Brazilians, 146 million Russians, and 55 million South Africans may not share his monocular obsession with Pakistan.

Apparently no one dared, just as no one advised him on the open-ended provisions (unless

Two people fanatically at odds?

REUTERS

The inescapable realities though, are that India cannot isolate Pakistan internationally. Pakistan is too large a country to be hidden under the smock of hegemony all parties agree otherwise) of the Indus Waters Treaty or the sham of the scalpel-less “surgical strikes.”

Should Mr Nawaz Sharif unpack the turban he received from Mr Modi in Lahore less than a year ago, he might find it has darkened from an optimistic pink to an embarrassed, angry red.

India may well have more than a billion grievances against Pakistan, but India’s repeated discomfiture is not always of Pakistan’s making.

Pakistan was not to blame at the 1955 NAM conference in Bandung when Premier Zhou Enlai refused to kow-tow to Pandit Nehru’s lofty condescension.

The Sino-Indian spat in 1962 was between them; Pakistan abstained by not siding with either party. India’s inability to

consummate its shot-gun marriage with Jammu & Kashmir (even after 69 years of arm-twisting coercion) cannot be blamed squarely on Pakistan.

Sage, wiser minds understand the truth in WR Inge’s maxim: “A man may build a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it.”

In today’s fetid atmosphere, peace between India and Pakistan may appear to be beyond reach, but it is not impossible. The first two clauses of the Shimla Agreement of 1972 provide a crutch: “(i) That the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations shall govern the relations between the two countries. (ii) That the two countries are resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral

negotiations or by any other peaceful means mutually agreed upon between them.”

Another is the Lahore Declaration of 1999, which, after reiterating the determination of both countries to implementing the Shimla Agreement in letter and spirit, undertook to “intensify their efforts to resolve all issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Every rational, educated, moderate human being -whichever side of the border happens to be his home -- yearns for peace in the region, and none more so than the beleaguered, pellet-pocked Kashmiris.

The inescapable realities though are that India cannot isolate Pakistan internationally.

Pakistan is too large a country

to be hidden under the smock of hegemony. India cannot integrate Pakistan.

Mrs Gandhi threw the concept of Akhand Bharat out of the window in December 1971, when she created Bangladesh. 45 years on, the last thing Mr Modi needs is 200 million more Muslims with a memory of two generations of freedom.

India cannot annihilate Pakistan. Puranic demons were destroyed by multi-armed devis, not through Security Council resolutions or BRICS communiqués.

Every true friend of India of whichever nationality or religious persuasion, hopes that before the next Dussehra in September 2017, better sense will prevail between our “two peoples fanatically at odds/With their different diets and incompatible gods.” These lines from WH Auden’s poignant poem “Partition” remind us of Radcliffe’s inhuman joke that history took seriously. l FS Aijazuddin lives in Lahore and is a columnist for Dawn, Pakistan’s main English-language newspaper.

DT

24 Sport

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

TOP STORIES

‘Amazing to wear England shirt again’ The last time Gareth Batty played a Test match before the ongoing first five-dayer against Bangladesh was back in 2005 at Chester-le-street.

It goes without saying it has been a long wait for the off-spinner to return to the England side. PAGE 25

DT retain BSJC Media Cup Cricket Defending champions Dhaka Tribune lifted the seven-a-side Walton Media Cup Cricket 2016 title after defeating Daily Inqilab by four wickets in the final at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday. PAGE 26

Fit-again Younis leads Pakistan charge Younis Khan showed no signs of weakness after recovering from dengue fever to score a brilliant century as Pakistan dominated the opening day of the second Test against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi yesterday. PAGE 27

Mourinho: Pogba still needs time United manager Mourinho said Pogba needs time to fulfil his full potential in England after the French midfielder scored twice in a 4-1 win over Fenerbahce. He scored a penalty and a long-range effort in their Europa League game at Old Trafford. PAGE 28

Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah and Tamim Iqbal run between the wickets during the second day of their first Test against England at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

‘Had to work very hard for each and every run’ Uddin n Mazhar from Chittagong

Bangladesh did reasonably well to finish the second day of the first Test on 221/5, trailing England by 72 runs, with all-rounder Shakib al Hasan still at the crease.

With that said, opening batsman Tamim Iqbal informed that the Tigers would have been in a better position had they not lost the wicket of captain Mushfiqur Rahim in the final hour of the day.

Tamim also said their first target on the third day would be to cross the visitors’ first innings tally of 293.

“I think we are slightly in a position of advantage at the end of the second day. We still have wickets in hand. We will gain the upper hand if we can bat well in the first session [today]. The wicket is not easy to play. If Mushfiqur hadn’t got out, I would have said we had a good day,” Tamim told the media at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday following the end of the day’s

proceedings.

“We have two batsmen (Sabbir Rahman and Mehedi Hasan Miraz) left to bat and also Shakib.

We should be happy with what we got. First, we have to cross their total,” he said.

The home side lost wickets on the eve of every session as Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah and Mushfiq all departed leaving their side in trouble. And Tamim said the fall of regular wickets stopped them from dominating the second day.

“We lost wickets before lunch, tea and end of play. I don’t know how to explain it. We would have been in a better position had we not lost those wickets. If Riyad bhai was unbeaten at the end of the second session, we would have been in a good position.

Mushfiqur being out there at the end of the day would have also helped us,” he said.

Tamim played a mature knock of 78 runs facing 179 deliveries with the help of seven fours before being caught behind by

Jonny Bairstow off the bowling of Gareth Batty, who returned to Test cricket for the first time in 11 years.

Despite falling short of a well-deserved eighth Test hundred, the Chittagong cricketer continued his good run against England, recording his seventh fifty in nine innings. He also reached another milestone, that of scoring 2000 Test runs at home.

“I think I didn’t try to do anything more than just the basics. I tried to play straight. The delivery that I got dismissed off, I could have got a single or two from it.

I know that a bigger score would have helped the team but I am still hopeful that Shakib and the two batsmen can take us to a strong position,” said the southpaw.

“I had to work very hard for each run in this innings. I would have felt bad if I made a mistake and it led to my dismissal. I am not too concerned about not getting a century, though I would have been happy to get a bigger score.

But I will take this,” he added. l

SCORECARD ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS (overnight 258-7) C. Woakes c Mominul b Taijul A. Rashid c Sabbir b Taijul S. Broad c Rahim be Mehedi G. Batty not out Extras (b14, lb4, w2) 20 Total (all out, 105.5 overs)

R

B

36 26 13 1

78 54 37 19

293

Fall of wickets 1-18 (Duckett), 2-18 (Cook), 3-21 (Ballance), 4-83 (Root), 5-106 (Stokes), 6-194 (Moeen) , 7-237 (Bairstow), 8-258 (Woakes), 9-289 (Rashid), 10-293 (Broad) Bowling Shafiul 9-1-33-0, Mehedi 39.5-7-80-6, Kamrul 8-0-41-0 (w2), Shakib 19-646-2, Taijul 24-11-47-2, Sabbir 3-0-11-0, Mahmudullah 2-0-17-0, Mominul 1-1-0-0 BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS Tamim Iqbal C Bairstow b Batty Imrul Kayes b Ali Mominul Haque c Stokes b Ali Mahmudullah c Root b Rashid Mushfiqur c Bairstow b Stokes Shakib Al Hasan not out Shafiul Islam not out Extras (lb 4 w1)

R 78 21 0 38 48 31 0 5

Total (five wickets, 74 overs)

221

B 179 50 3 66 77 60 9

Fall of wicket 1-29 (Kayes), 2-29 (Mominul), 3-119 (Mahmudullah), 4-163 (Tamim), 5-221 (Rahim) Bowling Broad 8-2-12-0, Batty 17-1-51-1, Woakes 7-2-15-0 (w1), Rashid 13-1-51-1, Ali 19-2-662, Stokes 8-3-17-1, Root 2-0-5-0

25

DT

Sport

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

‘Amazing to wear England shirt again’ Uddin n Mazhar from Chittagong

England off-spinner Gareth Batty bowls during the second day of their first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

The last time Gareth Batty played a Test match before the ongoing first five-dayer against Bangladesh was back in 2005 at Chester-le-street.

It goes without saying that it has been a long wait for the off-spinner to return to the England side.

The 39-year old performed well on his comeback, picking up the all-important wicket of Tamim Iqbal, who was caught behind by Jonny Bairstow after scoring 78 runs.

And following the end of the second day’s play yesterday at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the Yorkshire cricketer seemed over the moon as he informed that it’s an amazing feeling to don the England jersey after 11 long years.

“Uff, wow! You stick the shirt on, it’s an amazing feeling. I was very nervous, I’ve not been like that I don’t think ever before in my career because you want to do well and I suppose it’s a human and natural thing. And to get the big wicket of Tamim who was playing pretty well was amazing,” Batty told the media.

“I think I did a lot of hard work, changed a few things and developed a few things which I knew I had to do. It’s been a huge challenge for me to get better and better and hopefully I can contribute for my team,” Batty told the media.

England were bundled out in the first hour of the second day after posting 293 in their first innings.

In reply, Bangladesh registered 221/5, still trailing by 72 runs with five wickets in hand.

And Batty is of the opinion that the game is still evenly balanced going into the third day’s play today.

“I would suggest it’s a pretty evenly balanced situation after the second day as it’s not a big gap between the two sides and if we can take wickets early and restrict them we are in the driving seat. If the pitch deteriorates, it’s going a to be a wonderful Test match,” he said.

He also praised the Bangladesh team and debutant Mehedi Hasan Miraz, stating that the Tigers are now a formidable unit who make things difficult for the opponent.

Uff, wow! You stick the shirt on, it’s an amazing feeling. I was very nervous, I’ve not been like that I don’t think ever before in my career because you want to do well and I suppose it’s a human and natural thing “Yeah, the young off-spinner bowled magnificently in the first innings and the other Bangladeshi spinners as well. But hopefully our batsmen will handle them better in the coming days and things will get better. Hopefully we can get a good score on the board. I think they (Bangladesh) are evolving as a team. There’s some very fine players now and I thought they batted very well at a period (yesterday) and made things tough for us,” he said. l

IN NUMBERS

64.77

Tamim Iqbal’s average against England in Tests - his highest against any team. He has scored two centuries and five fifties in nine innings against them.

His average is the sixth-best by any batsman to score 500-plus runs against England.

1982

Last time four spinners (as categorised) bowled for England in the same Test innings against England in Kanpur. In their first innings of this Test, Gareth Batty, Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Joe Root bowled spin.

1

Figures better than Mehedi Hasan’s 6 for 80 by a Bangladesh bowler on Test debut - Sohag Gazi took 6 for 74 on his debut against West Indies in Dhaka in 2012-13.

14

Wickets by spinners in the first two innings of this match so far, already the joint seventh-most in a Test in Bangladesh. In fact, the first 14 wickets fell to spinners before Ben Stokes struck among the fast bowlers.

2

Instances of Bangladesh spinners taking all ten wickets in their first innings of a Test. The first innings of this Test was their second such instance.

The only previous occasion was also in Chittagong against New Zealand in 2008-09.

1987

Last time England lost all ten wickets in their first innings to spinners - to Pakistan in Faisalabad. This was the 12th instance for them and 10 of those are in Asia.

293

England’s total in their first innings, is their lowest all-out total against Bangladesh. Their previous lowest was 295 in Dhaka in 2003-04.

10

Spinners who have bowled in this Test so far, is the secondmost in any Test. Six spinners bowled for Bangladesh in the first innings.

Chittagong’s groom Moeen shines again n Tribune Report Following a somewhat successful opening day where he made a patient 170-ball 68, England all-rounder Moeen Ali continued to shine in the first Test against Bangladesh as he picked up two wickets on the second day in Chittagong yesterday.

Moeen dismissed the in-form opening batsman Imrul Kayes for 21 before sending back Mominul Haque, who departed without troubling the scorers, as Bangladesh ended yesterday on 221/5.

However, putting aside all the

cricketing aspects, it will not be wrong if the left-handed batsman calls Bangladesh his second home as his wife hails from Chittagong.

In 2005, Moeen travelled to Bangladesh to contest a tri-series for the England U-19 side and met his future wife, then 21, who hails from the port city. With the help of an unnamed Bangladesh cricketer who happens to be his friend, Moeen tied the knot with the Chittagong girl, whose name could not be ascertained as the English cricketer is quite conservative when it comes to family matters. Together, the couple have a son – Abu Bakar.l

England off-spinner Moeen Ali celebrates with his team mates during the second day of their first Test against Bangladesh at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

DT

26

Sport

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Injury crisis as Barca prepare for Valencia trip n Reuters, Barcelona Barcelona are in the middle of an injury crisis as they head to Valencia for today’s Spanish La Liga game looking to keep up with pacemaking pair Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.

Without injured goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and right back Sergi Roberto for the last two games, Barca will also be missing defenders Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique after both were hurt in Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Manchester City in the Champions League.

Pique sprained his right ankle while Alba injured his left hamstring and both are out until November.

Lionel Messi, though, is back on top form. The Argentina captain scored one goal after coming on as a substitute in Sunday’s 4-0 home triumph over Deportivo La Coruna and then grabbed a hat-trick after starting against City.

Barca are fourth, two points adrift of Atletico and Real and one behind third-placed Sevilla.

Valencia are coming off an encouraging 2-1 victory over Sporting Gijon in Cesare Prandelli’s first game in charge.l

FIXTURES Espanyol Valencia Real Sociedad Granada

v v v v

Eibar Barcelona Alaves Sporting Gijon

Dhaka Tribune players and officials pose with the 2016 Walton BSJC Media Cup Cricket trophy alongside the special guests at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday after beating Daily Inqilab in the final DHAKA TRIBUNE

Dhaka Tribune retain BSJC Media Cup Cricket title n Ali Shahriyar Bappa Defending champions Dhaka Tribune lifted the trophy of the sevena-side Walton Media Cup Cricket 2016 after defeating Daily Inqilab by four wickets in the final at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday. Bangladesh Sports Journalists Community organised the tournament with Walton’s patronisation.

Winning the toss, Inqilab elect-

ed to bat first and posted 58 runs in their stipulated six overs losing all their wickets. Sumon Mondol of Dhaka Tribune was the most successful bowler with three wickets.

In reply, Dhaka Tribune reached their target for the loss of only two wickets with four balls to spare.

Sumon was adjudged man of the final for his all-round performance while Hasan Sohel of Daily Inqilab was named player of the series.

Earlier in the first semifinal at

London duo look to compound Manchester City’s pain n

AFP, London

North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will both have the chance to pile the pressure on Pep Guardiola by leapfrogging his Manchester City side at the top of the Premier League table today.

The Gunners, level on points with City, are at home to struggling Middlesbrough while Spurs, a point behind, travel to Bournemouth.

City, still smarting from Wednesday’s 4-0 Champions League loss away to manager Guardiola’s former club Barcelona, are not in action again until tomorrow when they face Southampton at Eastlands.

Should Arsenal and Tottenham both slip up, City could still yield top spot to Liverpool if the Merseysiders, currently two points off the summit following their goalless draw with Manchester United, beat

West Brom at Anfield today.

Arsenal thrashed Ludogorets 6-0 in the Champions League in midweek, with Mesut Ozil scoring a hat-trick against the Bulgarians at the Emirates.

The Gunners are now unbeaten in 11 matches and veteran manager Arsene Wenger said: “I feel that at the moment, because we win game after game, our confidence is high.”

Middlesbrough, by contrast, are without a win in their last six league

FIXTURES Arsenal Bournemouth Burnley Hull Leicester Liverpool Swansea West Ham

v v v v v v v v

M’brough Tottenham Everton Stoke Crystal Palace West Brom Watford Sunderland

matches and are only above the relegation zone on goal difference.

Tottenham face a potentially tricky trip to south coast side Bournemouth, who’ve won plaudits for the quality of their football under young English manager Eddie Howe.

Despite their domestic problems, Leicester maintained their perfect record in the Champions League with a 1-0 win over Copenhagen on Tuesday. Foxes manager Claudio Ranieri, whose side next play Crystal Palace, explained the difference in form by saying: “You spend a lot of energy, mental energy, in the Champions League.

When you come back a little more down, it’s normal.”

Bottom-of-the-table Sunderland go in search of their first league win this season at West Ham today, with fellow strugglers Swansea at home to Watford.l

the same venue yesterday, Dhaka Tribune defeated Channel i by 55 runs. Raihan Sharif was adjudged man of the match for his brilliant batting.

In the other last four clash, Inqilab defeated GTV by 28 runs.

Twenty-four media houses, including 11 national dailies, 10 TV channels and three online portals took part in the six-day tournament.

Bangladesh Cricket Board vice president Mahbub Anam distribut-

ed the prizes among the champion and runners-up.

Bangladesh Athletics Federation general secretary Ibrahim Chengish, Joyjatra Foundation chairperson Helena Jahangir, Walton group executive director SM Zahid Hasan, BSJC president Asif Iqbal, general secretary Shafiqul Islam Shamim and Bangladesh Sports Writers Association president Mostafa Mamun were present among others during the finals day. l

Brazil pick injured Casemiro for Argentina clash n Reuters, Rio De Janeiro Brazil have included Casemiro in their squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Argentina and Peru even though the Real Madrid midfielder has not played since fracturing his leg in September.

Coach Tite said yesterday they are hopeful the 24-year-old will be fit but have also included Sao Paulo’s Rodrigo Caio as back-up for the games against Argentina in Belo Horizonte on Nov. 10 and then in Lima against Peru five days later.

The Argentina game will be Brazil’s first at the Mineirao stadium since the fateful 7-1 defeat by Germany in the World Cup semi-final two years ago, but Tite was confident the psychological scars have healed. Argentina have won only one of their four qualifiers since Edgardo Bauza took over as boss on Aug. 1 and they have slipped to fifth place in the standings after

three games without a win. The top four South American teams qualify automatically for Russia 2018 and the fifth place side goes into a playoff with a team from Oceania.

Goalkeepers: Allison (AS Roma), Alex (Flamengo), Weverton (Atletico Paranaense) Defenders: Gil (Shandong), Marquinhos (PSG), Miranda (Inter Milan), Rodrigo Caio (Sao Paulo), Thiago Silva (PSG), Daniel Alves (Juventus), Fagner (Corinthians), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid) Marcelo (Real Madrid) Midfielders: Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Giuliano (Zenit St Petersburg), Lucas Lima (Santos), Paulinho (Guanghzou), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Renato Augusto (Beijing), Willian (Chelsea) Forwards: Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Gabriel Jesus (Palmeiras), Neymar (Barcelona). l

27

DT

Sport

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

DAY’S WATCH

SCORECARD PAKISTAN, FIRST INNINGS R Sami Aslam b Bishoo 6 Azhar Ali b Gabriel 0 Asad Shaif b Gabriel 68 Younis Khan c Chase b Brathwaite 127 Misbah-ul-Haq not out 90 Yasir Shah not out 0 Extras: (lb6, nb7) 13

CRICKET

GAZI TV, BTV, STAR SPORTS 2 10:00AM England Tour of Bangladesh 1st Test, Day 3

TEN 3 12:00PM West Indies Tour of Pakistan 2nd Test, Day 2

Total: (for four wkts; 84 overs)

STAR SPORTS 1

Bowling Gabriel 14-1-43-2 (7nb), Cummins 15-1-430, Holder 14-4-31-0, Bishoo 20-0-92-1, Chase 12-0-53-0, Brathwaite 9-0-36-1

7:20 PM Indian Super League Kolkata v Delhi 10:30 PM Bundesliga 2016/17 Bayern Munich v Monchengladbach

Pakistan batsman Younis Khan plays a shot as West Indies’ wicketkeeper Shai Hope looks on during the first day of their second Test at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday AFP

STAR SPORTS 4

TEN 1 8:00 PM Sky Bet EFL 2016/17 Bristol City v Blackburn Rovers

TEN 1 HD 8:50 PM French Ligue 1 2016/17 Olympique Lyonnais v Guingamp 11:50 PM Nantes v Stade Rennais

TEN 2 2:50 PM A-League 2016/17 Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory

SONY SIX 5:00 PM La Liga Santander 2016/17 Espanyol v Eibar 8:10 PM Valencia v FC Barcelona 10:30 PM Real Sociedad v Alaves 12:40 AM Granada v Sporting Gijon

SONY ESPN 10:00 PM Serie A TIM 2016/17 Sampdoria v Genoa 12:30 AM AC Milan v Juventus

KABADDI STAR SPORTS 2 Kabaddi World Cup 2016 8:20PM Final

HOCKEY STAR SPORTS 4 4:00 PM Asian Hockey Champions Trophy India v Korea

TENNIS TEN 1

4:00 PM WTA Tour 2016 VTB Kremlin Cup: Final

304

Fall of wickets 1-6 (Ali), 2-42 (Aslam), 3-129 (Shafiq), 4-304 (Younis)

FOOTBALL

6:00 PM Premier League 2016/17 AFC Bournemouth v Tottenham Hotspur 7:50 PM Arsenal v Middlesbrough 10:20 PM Liverpool v West Bromwich Albion Star Sports Select HD2 7:50 PM Premier League 2016/17 Leicester City v Crystal Palace

B 30 9 121 205 146

Fit-again Younis leads Pakistan charge n AFP, Abu Dhabi Younis Khan showed no signs of weakness after recovering from dengue fever to score a brilliant century as Pakistan dominated the opening day of the second Test against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

The 38-year-old, who missed Pakistan’s 56-run victory in the first Test in Dubai with illness, smashed 127 to carry Pakistan, who won the toss, to 304-4 at the close at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Younis finally holed out to deep mid-wicket off part-timer Kraigg Brathwaite after five hours at the crease, with fading light prompting the umpires to halt the day six overs before the scheduled close.

Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was unbeaten on 90 - just 10 runs short of his 11th hundred as Pakistan’s batsmen dominated on a batting-friendly pitch.

Younis, who hit ten boundaries and a six, added 175 for the fourth wicket with Misbah and 87 for the third with Asad Shafiq who made 68.

It was again the two veteran batsmen - Younis and Misbah - who put Pakistan on track for another big total with their 15th hundred partnership in 49 innings.

Misbah, who has now equalled Imran Khan’s record of most Test matches as Pakistan captain with 48, hit two sixes and four boundaries as he worked in tandem with Younis to build an imposing total.

West Indies were guilty of sloppy fielding with Younis dropped on 83. l

Mou, Hridoy win in Sheikh Russel TT n Tribune Report Mou of Narail Government Girls’ High School and Hridoy of Rangpur Zila School became the champions in the girls’ and boys’ singles event respectively in the Sheikh Russel School Table Tennis Tournament at Shaheed Tajuddin Indoor Stadium yesterday.

Mou beat Afsana of Rajshahi by 3-0 sets in the final of the girls’ singles event of the junior section while Hridoy beat BKSP’s Akash by the same margin in the junior boys’ category. Narail Girls’ School won two more titles as Tushi emerged as the champion in the sub-junior girls’ singles event while they also won the girls’ team title.

Toba of BKSP won the boys’ singles title in the sub-junior section. BKSP earlier won the boys’ team title. l

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Sport

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba shoots to score against Fenerbahce SK during their UEFA Europa League Group A match at Old Trafford, Manchester, England on Thursday

Pogba double lifts United, Inter joy for struggling tactician De Boer n Reuters, London

RESULTS GROUP A

4-1

Man United

Fenerbahce

Pogba 31-P, 45+1, Martial 34-P, Lingard 48

Van Persie 83

1-0

Feyenoord

GROUP G

Zorya Luhansk

Jorgensen 55

4-1

Kabananga 54

3-1

Young Boys

APOEL

Hoarau 18, 52, 82-P

Efrem 14

GROUP C

1-0

Saint-Etienne

Qabala

Ricardinho 70-og

2-2

Panathinaikos

Edmilson Junior 45+1-P, Belfodil 82

Ibarbo 12, 36

Standard Liege

Anderlecht

Yunus Malli 10-P

Teodorczyk 65

1-2

Benson 52

Zenit Mak 71, Giuliano 77

1-2

AZ Alkmaar

Scarione 24, Golasa 82

GROUP E

3-3

Milosevic 9

1-2

Horava 86

Schaub 7

1-1

Schalke

GROUP J

1-3

Liberec Sevcik 58

Sassuolo Schrammel 66-og

Fiorentina Kalinic 8, 23, Babacar 70

2-0

Qarabag

PAOK

Dani Quintana 56, Amirguliyev 87

GROUP K

Inter Milan

Athletic Bilbao

Nice Plea 13

Astra Giurgiu

Brabec 40, Ndidi 83

Rapid Vienna

0-1

Salzburg

Hapoel

Alibec 41, Horava 64-og

2-0

0-1

Krasnodar

Holzhauser 16, Prokop 82, Kayode 84

GROUP F Genk

Braga Ahmed Hassan 55

GROUP I

Austria Vienna

El Shaarawy 19, 34, Florenzi 69

Viktoria Plzen

1-1

Konyaspor

Maccabi

Muehren 72

Roma

Gent

Kovalenko 12, Ferreyra 30, Bernard 46, Taison 75, Malyshev 85

GROUP D Dundalk

5-0

S Donetsk

Konoplyanka 11

1-1

Mainz

Ziyech 22, Younes 71

GROUP H Astana

Figueiras 25, Elyounoussi 33, Seba 34, 65

Ajax

Fontas 29, Orellana 82

GROUP B Olympiakos

2-2

Celta Vigo

0-1

Sparta Prague Pulkrab 71

1-0

Southampton

Candreva 67

GROUP L

Steaua Bucharest 1-1 Golubovic 63

Osmanlispor Rusescu 23, 24

FC Zurich Kone 86

2-2

Villarreal N’Diaye 56, Pato 74

Paul Pogba repaid some of his world record transfer fee with two goals as Manchester United rediscovered their early-season shine, cruising to a 4-1 Europa League win over Fenerbahce to go top of their group on Thursday.

Pogba scored a penalty and rifled United’s third into the top corner. Anthony Martial also netted from the spot and Jesse Lingard fired home in the second half before former Old Trafford favourite Robin van Persie pulled one back for Fenerbahce.

Inter Milan and AS Roma, though, had more testing evenings.

Coach Frank de Boer breathed a sigh of relief when Inter survived an onslaught from Southampton to end a three-match losing streak with a 1-0 victory while Roma conceded twice late on to draw 3-3 at home to Austria Vienna.

Three sides have perfect records after three matches, Shakhtar Donetsk, Schalke 04 and Zenit St Petersburg all winning to move to the brink of the knockout rounds.

United have six points in Group A after a morale-boosting performance ahead of manager Jose Mourinho’s return to former club Chelsea tomorrow.

They went ahead in the 31st minute when Mata was tripped in the area. Regular penalty taker Rooney was on the pitch and needed one goal to join Ruud van Nistelrooy as United’s all-time top scorer in Europe but Pogba took the ball and converted from the spot.

The hosts were handed a second penalty less than three minutes later and Martial took responsibility this time before Pogba lashed home a third goal.

The pressure had been mounting on Inter boss De Boer after a woeful start to the season that left them 11th in Serie A and pointless in Europe. De Boer’s possession-based style had come under the microscope and they looked a struggling side as Southampton created a string of good chances.

Just as the Premier League club were cranking up the heat, however, Antonio Candreva swept the ball home in the 67th minute. Marcelo Brozovic was sent off late in the tie but Inter managed to hold on.

Roma captain Francesco Totti made his 100th European appearance for the club at home to Austria Vienna but his night was marred as the visitors fought back from 3-1 down to snatch a point.

Two goals from Roma’s Stephan El Shaarawy cancelled out Raphael Holzhauser’s early opener and when Totti laid on his second assist for Alessandro Florenzi to volley the ball in, the hosts looked home and dry. But substitute Dominik Prokop and Olarenwaju Kayode scored in quick succession to grab a share of the spoils in Group E. Rampant Shakhtar thrashed Belgian side Gent 5-0 in Group H and Schalke edged past Krasnodar 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Yevhen Konoplyanka in Group I. Ajax Amsterdam saw their 100 percent start in Group G halted by Celta Vigo after a 2-2 draw in Spain. l

REUTERS

Mourinho: Pogba still needs time n AFP, Manchester Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said Paul Pogba needs time to fulfil his full potential in England after the French midfielder scored twice in a 4-1 win over Fenerbahce.

Pogba, a world-record 89 million pounds ($109.1 million, 100 million euros) signing from Juventus, scored a penalty and a longrange effort in Thursday’s Europa League group game at Old Trafford.

The 23-year-old is yet to hit the heights since returning to United after four years in Turin, but Mourinho believes such performances will help expedite the bedding-in process.

“First of all, in some of your mouths, he goes from the worst player in the Premier League to a great player in 48 hours,” Mourinho told reporters.

“I am not specifically saying it is you. I say media, especially the Einsteins. We know he is a very good player.

“We know he needs some time to show his potential. I know Italian football very well. I know teams play completely different from the Premier League.

“I am not saying we are better, but we are different: different in the intensity, the number of touches on the ball, everything is different and he needs time to adapt.

“He is a self-confident boy. He was not depressed because some people said he was a bad player.

He was calm. It is always nice for a player to score, to score at home and especially to score such a beautiful goal.”

Pogba opened the scoring in the 31st minute, netting a penalty.l

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Large placard (6) 5 Obscure (3) 7 Nether (5) 8 Hostility (6) 10 Spider’s trap (3) 12 Ill-mannered (4) 13 Consumed (3) 14 Unsightly growth (4) 16 Strong wind (4) 17 Allow (3) 18 Raw hide (4) 20 Opening (3) 23 Cargo (6) 24 Document (5) 25 Eyelid affliction (3) 26 Divine messengers (6)

DOWN 1 Fuel cut from bogs (4) 2 Tall and tapering (6) 3 Escape artfully (5) 4 Flower (4) 5 Early freshness (3) 6 Choler (3) 9 Silent (4) 11 Wager (3) 14 Bring into complete union (4) 15 Garb (6) 16 Band’s engagement (3) 17 Acquire knowledge (5) 18 Excuse (4) 19 Matures (4) 21 Prone (3) 22 Discharge a debt (3)

29

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Downtime

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

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

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

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

SATURDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

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30

Showtime

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

Fans still miss their dear Mahishashur n Showtime Desk If there were any special presentation on Devi Durga on the occasion of Durga Puja, Amol Bose had to be there as Mahishashur.

Amol Bose, national award winning actor, acted on almost every “Durga” theme based drama as Mahishashur, who is basically an antagonist who was defeated by Durga and all of her powers. And there was no one who fitted that character on the small screen than the late Amol Bose.

Shumona Akhter, Kolabagan resident says, “We loved to watch special dramas during Puja and enjoy the performances of Mahishashur played by Amol Bose.” Another fan of Amol Bose, Zahid Hossain from Mohammed Pur says, “We never thought of any other face except Amol Bose as Mahishashur. He is a huge part of our childhood memories of the BTV era.”

Powerful actor Amalendu Bose,, better known as Amol Bose, was born in 1943, He appeared in theatre, TV and radio performances. He began his career on stage in 1963. His first film appearance was in Raja Sannasi (1966). While a student of

in over 400 films. He directed the film Keno Emon Hoy in the early 1960s. He appeared in the movies Abichar, Neel Akasher Nichey, Sonali Akash, Mohua, Phulshojja, Rangin Gunai Bibi, Chandra Dwiper Rajkonya, Rajlokkhi Srikanto, Hothat Brishti, Ami Shei Meye, Tomakey Chai, and Mon Maney Na. He won a National Film Awards (Bangladesh) for his work in the film Aajker Protibad.

He gained huge popularity for his role as Mahishashur in the Durga Puja special TV plays and later as the sarcastic character Nana-Natee, in the TV show Ityadi. His mentionable appearances in movies are in Mahua, Nil Akasher Niche, Sonali Akash, Rangin Gunai Bibi, Chandan Dip er Rajkonna, Rajlakxmi Shrikanto and Hason Raja. Besides acting in films, he has also directed a movie.

Bose’s only directorial feature film is Keno Emon Hoye in 70s.

Outside of entertainment, Bose served as a senior officer in Jute Mills Corporation. He went into retirement in 1995.

Unfortunately, this talented acting magician passed away On January 23, 2012. l

class seven, Bose first performed in a school play, which ignited his interest in acting. Later, he joined a professional Jatra troupe, ‘Milon Shangha’, in Boalmari, Faridpur. Bose came to Dhaka in 1963. He became involved as a theatre director and performer. His direction of a Nurul Momen play Alo Chhaya, was lauded by theatre enthusiasts. The then Finance Minister of East Pakistan gave him a gold medal for his performance in the play.

Bose continued theatre performances and direction for several years with theatre troupes ‘Aboshor’, ‘Shaptorupa’, ‘Shaibal’ and ‘Rangdhonu Natya Goshthi’.

Plays directed by Bose attained wide popularity at home and abroad. Over 25,000 London residents enjoyed Siraj-ud-Daulah and Roopban - both Rangdhonu Natya Goshthi productions - directed by Bose. Besides directing and acting, Bose has guided talents such as Anwara, Rozina, Rajib, Prabir Mitra, Dildar and Sadeq Bachchu who went on to become accomplished film actors.

Amol Bose started his career in cinema through acting in the film Raja Sanyashi in 1966. He acted

Abar Ashibo Fire

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is now at Star Cineplex n Showtime Desk Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is a 2016 American action thriller directed by Edward Zwick and written by Richard Wenk and Marshall Herskovitz. A sequel to 2012 film Jack Reacher, the film stars Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Patrick Heusinger, Aldis Hodge, Danika Yarosh and Holt McCallany.

Principal photography began on October 20, 2015 in New Orleans.

The film was released on October 21, 2016 in IMAX and conventional formats.

n Showtime Desk To remember legendary poet Jibonando Das, BTV has recorded a special program. Titled as Abar Ashibo Fire, the program will be airing tonight after the news at 10.

In this program, one of the main attractions is actress Shoborna Mustafa, who will be seen reciting from Jibonando Das’s poems. There is also a song by Sadi Mohammed. Poet Kamal Chowdhury, Sazzad Sharif, Sahaduzzaman and many more have participated as guest in this program. There will be a discussion on Jibonando’s philosophy with young poets and writers. In addition, there will be a drama portraying the famous character of Bonolota of Jibonando Das. l

Set four years after the events of the first film, Jack Reacher is returning to the headquarters of his old military unit. He comes

to meet Major Susan Turner who he has been working with him on solving cases across the country. Upon his arrival, he is informed that Turner is accused of espionage.

Reacher must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name. On the run as a fugitive from the law, Reacher uncovers a potential secret from his past that could change his life forever. l

31

DT

Showtime

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

| movie review |

Bad moms are the best ones

A young, sexy and fun take on motherhood. When’s the last time you heard that about a film?

nShowtime Desk Bad Moms was one of the biggest surprises of the year when it hit theatres. The marketing was subtle yet clever, nothing too in your face. Once word of mouth got around, it was more than mothers who showed up to watch the film.

While it didn’t knock it out of the park for critics (with a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes), the audience had a different opinion. This was simply an entertaining outing that racked up over $113 million in the box office, spear headed by its filmmakers, writers/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.

In a way, this was slightly an older version of Mean Girls. And when we mean older, we mean there is adult content and humour charmingly balanced throughout the film. Sorry, folks, this isn’t a

film you can watch with the entire family. This one, in all its purpose, is one for all the moms out there who make it look easy, but struggle to keep things together.

With a very clear and simple message at the end of the film, this is comedic ode to all the not-soperfect mothers in our lives.

Mila Kunis has had mediocre success on the big screen, after her jump from TV. In this film, however, she’s actually a likable character; she’s someone that most women can relate with. Then again, there’s nothing out of the ordinary about her situation in the grand scheme of things. The lead character, joined by the supporting cast of some very familiar faces, is all about portraying the most realistic version of a young mother who got pregnant too soon in her adult life. Everything seems to be

falling apart with her kids and lazy husband, until she reaches her, “I don’t give a crap anymore,” stage.

They used different terms in the film of course, but that kind of language is for adults only.

It all comes down to the comedy and hilarious banter between the characters. You have the cute and quirky performance by Kristen Bell, the ‘Queen B’ act by Christina Applegate and her snarky sidekick Jada Pinkett Smith. Overall, the cast was delightful, although Kathryn Hahn really stole the show. She’s in your face crude, unapologetic and outspoken example of a mother. Her character is basically someone you would want as the crazy best friend. There are things you wish you could do, but don’t have the courage to; she takes care of all of that. Hahn is no stranger in comedic films, so it really is no surprise that she can easily become the audience’s favourite character.

With a few pleasant cameos and a sweet, after-credit interview with the cast and their real-life mothers, this is a feel good film for adults. Even though the main message is towards the role of a mother in everyday life, anyone watching this film will come out with an immense appreciation of his or her own mother. That it’s okay and natural for mothers to break down from time to time

because no one is perfect. And it’s perfectly fine to feel as if you’ve been a bad mom because being a good one can only be judged once your children have reached

adulthood. Who really knows the outcome until the time comes?

And kids, take it easy on your mothers, they have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. l

WHAT TO WATCH Spy Star Movies, 4:01 PM A desk-bound CIA analyst volunteers to go undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent diabolical global disaster.

Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Miranda Hart

Kung Fu Panda HBO, 4:33 PM The Dragon Warrior has to clash against the savage Tai Lung as China’s fate hangs in the balance: However, the Dragon Warrior mantle is supposedly mistaken to be bestowed upon an obese panda who is a tyro in martial arts.

Cast: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu

Johnny English Sony PIX, 6:59 PM After a sudden attack on the MI5, Johnny English, Britain’s most confident yet unintelligent spy, becomes Britain’s only spy.

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia, Tasha de Vasconcelos, Ben Miller

The Transporter Refueled WB, 9:00 PM In the south of France, former specialops mercenary Frank Martin enters into a game of chess with a femme-fatale and her three sidekicks who are looking for revenge against a sinister Russian kingpin.

Cast: Ed Skrein, Ray Stevenson, Loan Chabanol, Gabriella Wright, Tatjana Pajkovicl

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Back Page

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016

VETERANS: WHY THEY MATTER PAGE 9

CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT A FATALITY PAGE 14

BAD MOMS ARE THE BEST ONES PAGE 31

The layout map of Dhaka streets around Suhrawardy Udyan, the venue of the Awami League’s national council, shows where traffic will be restricted or diverted during the two-day event

England strike late to halt Bangladesh’s progress Uddin from n Mazhar Chittagong Tamim Iqbal’s patient 78-run knock helped Bangladesh to conclude the second day of their first Test against England at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday in a rather evenly poised situation.

The Tigers trail the visitors by 72 runs with five wickets in hand as they ended the day’s proceedings on 221/5.

Shakib al Hasan will resume the third day’s play today on 31 alongside nightwatchman Shafiul Islam (nought) with the home side looking to take the all-important first innings lead.

As expected, the pitch had a lot to offer for the spinners, much like the first day, and the hosts went out to bat in their first innings anticipating a formidable challenge from the visitors’ slow bowlers.

Imrul Kayes and Tamim tried to ensure they batted well but the

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal glides one towards the third man region during the second day of their first Test against England at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK former, who initially looked fluent among the two, was outfoxed by a brilliant Moeen Ali delivery that shaped in and spun just a bit to hit the off-stump. Imrul departed after scoring 21 runs.

The session breaks proved to be obstacles for the home side as they lost wickets before every interval.

Mominul Haque was the first to be dismissed just before the lunch break as he was caught at gully to become the second victim of Moeen. Mominul departed without troubling the scorers with the Tigers struggling on 29/2.

Probably Tamim realised the demand of the situation as it was not

easy to play strokes. So, he tried to lean over the deliveries and made sure of connecting the ball with his sweet part of the bat. He scored his first boundary after 48 balls and was joined at the crease by Mahmudullah.

Both Tamim and Mahmudullah rescued the home side from the initial damage and added 90 runs for the third wicket during which the left hander reached his 19th Test fifty and his seventh half-century in nine innings against England.

In the meantime, he also reached another milestone, that of scoring 2000 Test runs at home.

But just when the home side started to take control, leg-spinner Adil Rashid initiated a breakthrough for the visitors, dismissing Mahmudullah for 38 just before the tea break.

Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim then joined Tamim, who was initially given caught behind by Kumar Dharmasena off the bowling of

Moeen on 55. But he successfully reviewed the decision to remain at the crease.

Probably the wait of 11 years before returning to Test cricket for England was a well-deserved one for off-spinner Gareth Batty as he picked up the all-important wicket of Tamim when he edged it to wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow. Tamim fell 22 runs short of his eighth Test ton.

Shakib then joined Mushfiq as both the batsmen ensured there would be no more hiccups. But the visitors came back strong and bowled brilliantly in the last hour of the day. And once again Bangladesh lost a wicket just before the end of the day’s play when Mushfiq edged a Ben Stokes delivery after scoring 48.

Earlier, England resumed the second day on 258/7 and were eventually bundled out for 293 within the first hour of the day.

Mehedi Hasan Miraz picked up the wicket of Stuart Broad to get his sixth wicket. l

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