n Arif Ahmed

Violent clashes and attacks over politi-cal interests at Dhaka University, wide-ly regarded as the country’s premier higher education institute, have risen at an alarming rate since 1971 – result-ing in the deaths of at least 60 students.

No one has ever been punished for the murders committed on the cam-pus. Only one case – � led over seven murders in 1974 – saw a trial and ver-dict; the sentences were later scrapped.

Impunity accorded to the culprits for their links to ruling political parties appears to be the key reason behind the recurrence of such violence.

Having been spared the powers of the day, most of the accused have complet-ed their studies, gotten jobs and gotten on with life. The incidents from their past have very nearly been forgotten.

After every incident of death and in-jury, university authorities formed probe committees; � led cases as per the law; sometimes the accused were detained.

But the cases never got to trial.University authorities do not have

any record of how many killings have taken place on campus.

According to information obtained from di� erent sources, at least 64 peo-ple, including four outsiders, were killed in the period between 1974 and 2010.

Most of the victims were activists of student fronts of the Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal while

others were general students.The deaths were the result of vio-

lence stemming from political rivalries, intra-party con� icts, establishing su-premacy on the campus, extortion and tender manipulation.

Gopal Chandra Das, coordinator of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) Archives, said violence on campus had risen sharply after 1971 with the widespread use of � rearms and the patronisation of criminals by

military rulers.“After independence, the campus

often turned into a battle ground. The terrible incidents of killings took place centring the establishment of domi-nance on campus and the dormitories, tender grabbing and intra-party feuds,” said Gopal who has been working at the university since 1960.

President Abdul Hamid and a spe-cial court judge recently condemned the current trend of student politics at

public universities.The last victim of campus violence

at DU was Abu Bakar Siddique. He was killed during a � erce clash between two groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League activists of Sir AF Rahman Hall on Feb-ruary 1, 2010.

The authorities expelled 10 activ-ists of the Chhatra League, the ruling party’s student organisation, following a preliminary investigation. Another committee formed by the hall author-

ities is yet to submit its report.Police then arrested eight Chhatra

League men in connection with the case � led by a student, but they were later released. According to the plain-ti� , the accused are now trying to settle the matter out of court.

On September 15, 2004 Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader Mahabubul Islam Khokon was critically injured in an in-tra-party clash.

A WAY OUT OF THIS MESS

11 | OP-ED

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Magh 28, 1421Rabius Sani 20, 1436Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 306

20 pages | Price: Tk12

GARMENT OWNERS TO OBSERVE HUNGER STRIKE AGAINST UNREST

B1 | BUSINESS

TAMIM SHINES ON RETURN, BATTING DEBACLE STILL A WORRY

12 | SPORT

MOUNTAINEERS FIND PLANE MISSING FOR50 YEARS

8 | WORLD

I N S I D E2 | NewsThe Awami League said it will hold dialogue if the BNP accepts responsibility for all arson deaths. Khaleda Zia, following suggestions from international criminal groups, ordered the ter-rorists from her party to create violence.

3 | NewsAnother arson victim succumbed to his injuries yesterday at Rajshahi Medical College Hospi-tal (RMCH), raising to 69 the political violence death toll from January 5.

14 | SportGoalkeeper Boubacar Barry scored the deci-sive goal as Ivory Coast ended a 23-year Africa Cup of Nations title drought by winning 9-8 on penalties.

6 | NationLeaders and activists of Jessore Awami League spending busy time because the much-awaited council will be held the day af-ter tomorrow, after a 12-year gap.

4 | NewsThe International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessional arm which helps the world’s poorest countries – will lend Bangladesh $300m to improve its child nutrition and health.

5 | NewsPolice have tightened security measures on and around the Dhaka University (DU) cam-pus by deploying additional forces to avoid untoward incidents on the campus.

15 | EntertainmentTelevision actress Rumana Rashid Ishita will direct a TV play titled ‘Phirey Esho Prem’, which will be aired on Channel i at 7:50pm on February 14, the Valentine’s Day.

Four decades of impunity at DUNone of the murders committed on the campus has ever been brought to justice

Siddique, Khokon, Partho forgottenn DU Correspondent

He was injured during a factional clash of Chhatra League, the ruling party’s student wing, on the Dhaka University campus on February 2, 2010 and died the following day while undergoing treatment at a hospital.

After the death of Abu Bakar Sid-dique, the university authorities formed a probe committee and upon its recommendation expelled 10 students, including then president of Chhatra League’s hall unit Saiduzzaman Faruk.

Another high-powered committee, led by a house tutor, was formed af-terwards; but it has not submitted any report as yet.

Abdul Sattar, then provost of the hall, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I did get any report in this regard.”

The clash took place between the supporters of two groups led by then president and general secretary of AF Rahman Hall unit. Siddique was a third year student of Islamic history and cul-ture department.

Following the incident, police ar-rested eight Chhatra League men in-cluding Saiduzzaman the same day.

A second year student of the hall, Omar Faruk, � led a case with Shahbagh police the following day naming 14 per-sons including the eight arrestees.

But the police failed to arrest the six other accused while the arrestees re-leased after a few days.

Some of the accused have now been engaged in government and private jobs while some others completed

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Aspiring migrant workers queue up for registration in front of an Expatriate Welfare Ministry stall at Digital World yesterday at Bangabandu International Conference Centre in the capital’s Agargaon SYED ZAKIR HOSSAN

KSA to recruit 10,000 workers every monthfor freen Shohel Mamun

Saudi Arabia is going to import around 10,000 workers from Bangladesh every month in 10 categories of household jobs, free of cost.

The decision came at a meeting be-tween Expatriates’ Welfare and Over-seas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain and a 19-member delegation led by Saudi Deputy Min-ister for International A� airs Ahmed Al-Fahaid at Probashi Kallyan Bhaban in the capital yesterday.

Speaking at a press brie� ng after the meeting, the minister said: “Saudi Arabia will primarily import house-maids, gardeners, drivers, managers and housekeepers from Bangladesh. The recruitment will be free of cost, but the migrants will have to pay around Tk20,000 at maximum for passport processing and other formalities here. The employers will bear all the cost of migration process, including the plane fare, medical tests, etc.”

The recruitment will be handled by the private agencies in both the coun-tries, but Bangladesh government will monitor the recruitment process at the Bangladeshi end.

However, the government will not � x the processing fee, the minister said.

Also, anyone found to be involved in illegal visa trading at the Saudi end will be sentenced to imprisonment for as many as 15 years, as per Saudi law, he added.

Asked about the minimum wage for the workers, he said: “We have yet to � -nalise that, but we are trying to convince them to pay at least 1,500 Saudi riyal (around Tk30,000) every month.”

After the meeting with the min-ister, the Saudi team met a 10-mem-ber Bangladeshi delegation led by

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Bangladesh wants to export multi-sectoral manpower to Saudi Arabian Tribune Report

The government is holding negotiation with the visiting high-level delegation of Saudi Arabia comprising represent-atives of ministries concerned to send manpower from di� erent sectors in-clining agriculture and infrastructure.

But the delegation’s rigidity to take only housemaids has jolted the negoti-ation process since Bangladesh’s expe-rience in sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia was bitter in the past.

The developments emerged from meetings between the delegation and Expatriates’ Welfare and OverseasEmployment Minister Engineer Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain and dif-

ferent agencies in the capital yesterday.“Bangladesh did not agree to send

housemaid only. They have a tenden-cy to return to the country after few months as, in most cases, they are physically abused,” an o� cial who at-tended the meetings said asking not to be named.

Citing another recent experience of manpower export in Hong Kong, the of-� cial said 25% of the workforce, mostly housemaids, returned home after three months for the same reason.

“To this end, sending only house-maids is not sustainable. It puts � nan-cial stress on the recruiting agencies and the returnees,” the o� cial added.

Saudi Arabia has so far absorbed the

largest number – 2.63m workers be-tween 1976 and 2014 – from Bangladesh.

The 19-member visiting delegation, led by Deputy Minister for Internation-al A� airs Dr Ahmed Fahad I Alfahaid, arrived in Dhaka on Sunday more than a week after Saudi Arabia had lifted its ban for Bangladesh jobseekers follow-ing seven years’ embargo.

The delegation yesterday had an-other meeting with Bangladesh Associ-ation of International Recruiting Agen-cies (Baira).

Secretary General of the association Monsur Ahmed Kalam said: “Saudi Arabia wants to take mostly house-maids this time. But the previous

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Citizen platform writes to president, prime minister, BNP chiefn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

A platform of eminent citizens yester-day sent separate letters to the pres-ident, prime minister and the BNP chairperson, urging them to hold talks to end the ongoing political unrest that has already claimed nearly 70 lives.

Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmu-dur Rahman Manna, who was in-volved with both leftist and the Awami League’s politics in the past, con� rmed the news.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s press wing o� cial Shamsuddin Didar also con� rmed to the Dhaka Tribune that they had received the letter.

Prince Chanchal Mahmud, who claimed to be a representative of the Nagorik Samaj, went to the BNP o� ce yesterday evening to hand over the let-ter, Didar said.

However, when asked whether they had received the letter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury did not give any directanswer.

Asking “who authorised them [the platform] to take such initiatives,” Iqbal Sobhan yesterday said if anybody initi-ates calls for such talks, it has to be the government.

The Dhaka Tribune could not con-� rm whether the president’s o� ce Bangabhaban has received the letter or not.

The platform – comprising politi-cians and professionals from various spheres – surfaced on February 7.

On that day, the Jatiya Oikya Prokria – meaning the process of national uni-ty – organised a round-table titled “Na-tional Dialogue to Resolve National Crisis” at the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh in Dhaka and proposed to formulate a “national charter.”

They said the charter would set out calls to the government to � x a time-frame for holding talks and also appeal to the BNP and its partners for ending blockade, hartal and deadly violence.

In that programme, former chief election commission ATM Shamsul Huda said the country was heading to-wards a point of no return, and to pull things back, a national charter was re-quired.

Only a day before that, the ruling Awami League ruled out any scope of holding talks unless the BNP and its al-lies ended violence.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, one of the leading � gures of the platform alongside Dr Kamal Hossain and ATM Shamsul Huda, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that they had not discussed anything with the three recipients be-fore sending the letters.

Asked how long they will wait for response, Manna said: “It is hard to say how long we will have to wait, but in the meantime, we will talk to profes-sionals and other political parties and form our committee. That committee will decide out next course of action.”

However, while talking to the Dhaka Tribune last night, PM’s adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury questioned the neutrality of the platform.

“Dr Kamal Hossain never came to PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Iqbal Sobhan: If anybody initiates calls for such talks, it has to be the government

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Four decades of impunity at DU PAGE 1 COLUMN 5He succumbed to his injuries three days later.

Neither of the two probe bodies formed over the incident have yet sub-mitted their reports.

Two cases were � led accusing 21 people. Police are yet to arrest Shoeb, the main accused, while the others are now moving about freely.

In 1999, two students – Monir Hos-sain and Firoz – were killed in di� erent clashes. However, cases � led over the incidents never got to the trial stage.

Chhatra League leader Partho Pra-tim Acaharya was killed on April 23, 1998. A case was � led the next day against several Chhatra Dal leaders including Sahiduddin Chowdhury An-nie and Habib-un-Nabi Sohel. Police arrested Annie and several others but they were released a few days later.

Another Chhatra League activist of Jagannath Hall unit was killed in an in-tra-party clash the same year. His name could not be ascertained.

In 1997, Bangabandhu Hall student Arif was shot dead as a consequence of a Chhatra Dal intra-party clash. The body of another student named Sha-heen was found at Curzon Hall.

An ordinary student of Jagannath Hall fell victim to an intra-party clash of Chhatra League in 1996.

In 1994, a � rst year student of math-ematics department was found dead in Fazlul Haque Hall.

On September 1, 1994, a Chhatra League activist named Bulbul was shot dead during an intra-party clash. On September 22, Sarwar Hossain Mithu was killed as two groups of Chhatra Dal clashed in Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall. On October 27, 1994, a student of Jagannath Hall died after receiving bullet injuries.

In 1993, a student named Jinnah along with two sta� members of the uni-versity were shot dead during a clash. Alok Kanti Paul, a student of the political science department, was killed in front of Buet on November 22 the same year.

On January 9, 1992, DU unit Chhatra League Organising Secretary Moniru-zzman Badal was shot dead in front of

Shamsunnahar Hall.Chhatra League activist Tanoy was

killed in front of Curzon Hall on July 11 the same year. Separate probe commit-tees were formed after the incident, but no reports have been submitted as yet.

Moyeen Hossain Raju, a Chhatra Union leader, was killed on March 13, 1992, in a gun attack on a procession of Ganatantrik Chhatra Oikya, an alliance of nine student organisations, demand-ing an end to campus violence and the trial of top collaborator Ghulam Azam, then chief of Jamaat-e-Islami.

Two Chhatra Dal activists – Ashraful Azam Mamun and Khandakar Mahmud Hossain – were killed in an intra-party clash on September 4 the same year.

On June 20, 1991, a student named Mahbubur Rahman was killed in front of the University Laboratory School.

Three students – Galib, Liton, Miz-an – and an outsider were killed on the campus on October 27 the same year. The killers and motives for the murders remain unknown.

On February 21, 1990, Alamgir Kabir of Surya Sen Hall was killed in Chhatra League in� ghting while Chunnu, then president of the Chhatra League’s Zahurul Haq Hall unit, was shot dead during a � ght with Jasod Chhatra League activists of Haji Mohammad Mohsin Hall unit.

Shahin of Fazlul Haque Hall was found dead inside the dormitory the same day.

On November 27, 1990, Dr Milon be-came a victim of cross� re during a gun-� ght between the activists of Chhatra Dal and Chhatra Sangram Parishad.

Ko� l Uddin of Jasod Chhatra League was killed during a gun� ght with activ-ists of Chhatra Dal in front of Modhur Canteen on February 9, 1989 while Arif, a student of the � nance department, was gunned down on December 29 by unknown assailants.

On December 11, 1988, a student named Bajlur Rashid was killed.

Chhatra Dal leader Bablu and two of his associates – Moinuddin and Nur Mohammad – were killed after a bomb exploded in room 426 of Mohsin Hall on a day in March in 1987.

The next day, Chhatra Dal activist Halim was killed during a clash with Jasod Chhatra League.

In 1986, Aslam was killed in a clash centring over the Ducsu election.

Raufun Basunia was shot dead dur-ing a clash between Chhatra Sangram Parishad and Chhatra Dal in front of Mohsin Hall on February 13, 1985.

The body of another ordinary stu-dent named Joynul was found follow-ing a clash between police and students on February 13, 1983.

Two students including Chhatra League activist Liakat were killed in 1978.

Clashes between activists of two groups of Chhatra League claimed the lives of top leader Luku and two of his associates in 1977. Rontu, brother of another leader Aurongo, was killed al-legedly by cadres of the Noor Group the same year. Luku was slaughtered near Kataban Market.

Two students named Honu and Go-pal were killed in 1977.

The much-talked-about killing of seven students took place in Mohsin Hall on April 4, 1974. Four years after the murders, a court sentenced Sha� ul Alam Prodhan, then general secretary of Chhatra League, and others to life-term imprisonment. However, they all were released when military strong-man General Ziaur Rahman came to power. Prodhan is now the chief of the Jatiya Ganatantrik Party, an ally of the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

In 1974, the bodies of four students were found at a place between Jagan-nath Hall and Shamsunnahar Hall.

Aside from this, the bodies of four outsiders were found on the campus.

Muggers stabbed to death Nikunja Bihari Nag, a joint secretary of the LGRD Ministry, on campus on January 1, 2000.

The bodies of two businessmen – Yasin and Ismail – hailing from Dhaka’s Mohammadpur neighbourhood were found in front of the Basunia Gate of Mohsin Hall on December 25, 2003.

Police recovered the body of Sha-mu, an alleged criminal of the Elephant Road area, on July 17, 2004, from a ga-rage near the Arts Faculty building.

When contacted, Vice-Chancellor Prof Are� n Siddique acknowledged slow progress over the murder cases, many of which have remained shelved.

He hoped to break the tradition of killing on campus, saying: “The uni-versity administration is very aware of these incidents and is working to bring all of them under trial.”

Asked about records of the campus killings, he said they were preserved by the university authorities.

However, when this correspond-ent contacted di� erent administrative bodies including the proctor’s o� ce, the public relations section and the re-cords section, o� cials concerned failed to provide the exact number of killings and related documents.

In a landmark verdict, a special tri-bunal on Sunday sentenced � ve Chha-tra League activists of Jahangirnagar University to death and six others to life-term imprisonment for killing Zu-bair Ahmed in 2012.

Expressing frustration over the cur-rent situation of student politics, the judge suggested that guidelines be for-mulated for student politics in order to stop the recurrence of violent acts.

He said the current trend of student politics was highly chaotic, and lacked ideals and values. The judge said the impunity enjoyed by criminals for murder and violence in recent years has signi� cantly inspired such acts at public universities.

Meanwhile, speaking at the univer-sity’s 49th convocation, President Ab-dul Hamid on January 13 urged all to make student politics people-centric and ideology-based for the greater in-terest of the nation.

“Student politics in the 60s was based on ideology and that ideolo-gy was to work for the welfare of the country and the people but today’s stu-dent politics lacks such ideology and to some extent that hurts me,” he said.

Recalling the glorious past of DU, President Hamid said the university nur-tured many renowned politicians who had contributed to the country’s inde-pendence and national development. l

Siddique, Khokon, Partho forgotten PAGE 1 COLUMN 6graduation from the university despite being expelled for inde� nite period.

Saiduzzaman, the prime accused, is now working at Narsingdi UNC Jute Mill; Faisal is continuing studies; Rakib has completed MBA; Kayes is the in-cumbent vice-president of the hall unit Chhatra League; Alal is now doing masters in sociology department; Roni completed graduation and now work-ing as a senior o� cer of Bangladesh Krishi Bank; Alamgir has completed LLB and LLM; after completing BBA and MBA, Tushar is now working with

a private � rm; while Anamul has also acquired LLB and LLM degrees.

While talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Omar Faruk said trial of the case was stuck at the court. “The accused are now trying to solve the matter out of the court.”

On September 15, 2004, Jatiyataba-di Chhatra Dal leader Mahabubul Islam Khokon was critically injured in an in-tra-party clash on the campus. He suc-cumbed to his injuries three days later.

The two probe bodies, one by the university authorities and another by the hall administration, were formed

over the incident. But they have not submitted reports until date.

Two cases were � led with Shahbagh police accusing 21 people. Police are yet to arrest Shoeb, the main accused, while the others are now moving freely on the cam-pus. Some of the accused were awarded position in the organisation’s central com-mittee and the university unit.

Seeking anonymity, one of the ac-cused told the Dhaka Tribune that the case had been solved in 2008-09 through negotiation since it was an in-ternal clash.

“All the accused of the murder case

have completed graduation from the university and most of them are now engaged in jobs,” he said.

Chhatra League leader Partho Pra-tim Acaharya was killed on April 23, 1998. A case was � led the next day by then DU unit president Bahadur Bep-ari against several Chhatra Dal leaders including Sahiduddin Chowdhury An-nie, then president of Chhatra Dal, and Habib-un-Nabi Sohel, then the general secretary of the BNP’s student wing.

Other accused in the case were Ja-kir Hossain (then president of Zia Hall unit) and Asad (then organising secre-

tary of the DU unit).Police arrested Annie, now BNP’s

student a� airs secretary, and several others but they were released a few days later.

In 1999, two students – Monir Hos-sain and Firoz – were killed in di� erent clashes. However, cases � led over the incidents never get to the trial stage.

Acknowledging slow or no progress in the political murder cases, Vice-Chan-cellor Prof Are� n Siddique said the au-thorities were working to bring all the incidents of killings and violence under trial to stop recurrence. l

KSA to recruit 10,000 workers per month for free PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Khandker Md Iftekhar Haider, secre-tary at the Ministry of Expatriates’ Wel-fare and Overseas Employment, where they discussed the technical aspects of the manpower trade.

The Bangladeshi team comprised representatives from the Ministries of Home A� airs, Law, and Foreign A� airs, as well as the Prime Minister’s O� ce. Two counsellors from the Bangladeshi labour wing in Saudi Arabia were also present there.

Today, the Saudi delegation will visit Bangladesh Association of Internation-al Recruiting Agencies in the afternoon. Before then, they will visit Dhaka Med-ical College Hospital to see the medical test system, and afterwards they will visit the National Security Intelligence

o� ce to see the veri� cation process.

More overseas jobs, more remittanceFollowing the meeting with Bangla-deshi delegates, Saudi Deputy Minis-ter Al-Fahaid said: “Around 1.3 million Bangladeshis are already employed in di� erent jobs in the KSA. Now there is scope for more.”

The Bangladeshis currently working in Saudi Arabia are sending billions of dol-lars to the country in remittance annually.

In the previous press brie� ng, Khandker Mosharraf said: “We are try-ing to build a long-term relationship with the KSA, Success of this venture will open the manpower export market for us in other Middle East countries.”

The KSA, the biggest labour market for Bangladesh, lifted a six-year ban

on recruitment of workers from Bang-ladesh, reopening the Bangladeshi la-bour market in the realm on February 1.

After the KSA enforced the ban in 2008, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and former foreign min-ister Dipu Moni visited the country sev-eral times to negotiate the removal of the recruitment restriction.

Finally, on Khandker Mosharraf’s visit to the country last month, the KSA government agreed on January 21 to lift the ban.

Before this venture, Bangladesh made government-to-government manpower export arrangements with Malaysia, but the scheme yielded no signi� cant result as only several thou-sand workers were sent to Malaysia un-der the system. l

Citizen platform writes to president, PM, BNP chief PAGE 1 COLUMN 2see any of the victims who died or got injured in arson during the BNP-led alliance’s blockade. But he had the time to go and meet Khaleda Zia after her son died...How neutral could he be? If they really want talks, then they should ask the BNP to stop violence � rst,” Iqbal said over phone.

However, despite repeated at-tempts, neither Dr Kamal nor Shamsul Huda could be reached over phone for comments.

In the political violence that has now been going on for more than a month, about 70 people have been killed in arson on vehicles and crudebomb blasts in di� erent parts of the country.

On January 5, the non-stop trans-port blockade was announced by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia after she was barred from coming out of her Gulshan o� ce to attend a rally to mark the anni-versary of last year’s national election that her party had boycotted.

She was virtually kept con� ned in the o� ce for the next few days. However, although the authorities re-laxed the security around her o� ce in mid-January, Khaleda never came out. She has been staying inside her o� ce since then.

On January 24, after Khaleda’s son Koko died, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-na went to Gulshan to condole her arch rival, but she had to come back from the gate.

On January 31, electricity, internet and land-phone connections and mo-bile network to and around the Gul-shan o� ce were cut. Although power

was restored 18 hours later, all voice and data services still remain snapped over a large part of Gulshan area cen-tring Khaleda’s o� ce.

The US, the UK, the European Union and other foreign and local quarters have been issuing repeated calls for an end to the violence and for a mean-ingful dialogue, but none of the sides moved from their stance.

The ruling Awami League wants the BNP and its allies to call o� the block-ade, hartal and violence before even thinking about holding talks.

The BNP wants the government to initiate talks over restoring the non-partisan polls-time government system before relaxing their actions programmes.

Once before during the pre-election violence in 2013, some of these emi-nent citizens tried to take initiatives to unwind the deadlock, but that e� ort was never materialised.

Former advisers to caretaker gov-ernments M Ha� zuddin Khan, Akbar Ali Khan, CM Sha� Sami and Rasheda K Chowdhury; lawyer Shahdeen Malik; former central bank governor Salehud-din Ahmed; former inspector general of police Mohammed Nurul Huda; Sujon Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar; Dha-ka University teachers Reza Kibria and Syed Anwar Hossain; CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim; Bikalpadhara Secretary General Abdul Mannan; JSD chief ASM Abdur Rab; and former stu-dent leaders Sultan Mohammed Man-sur Ahmed and Mushtaque Hossain were also present in that programme at the Institution of Engineers Bangla-desh on February 7. l

Bangladesh wants to export multi-sectoral manpower to KSA PAGE 1 COLUMN 5experience is not sweet as in most cas-es being physically abused, they came back home after two or three months.

“But the problem becomes more acute when the recruiting agencies of Saudi Arabia, with whom we deal with, demand their commissions after the workers return to the country.”

He said they had discussed the mat-ter and that more discussion would be held today with the delegation about the � nancial settlement issue.

Over the � nancial negotiation, local recurring agencies demand that the com-mission be � xed at more than $100 but the delegation stick to below the amount.

Monsur said: “If the recruiting agen-cies of Saudi Arabia give us fair com-mission against manpower exports, we do not have any complain to the gov-ernment’s initiatives to resume send-ing workers there.”

As per their schedule, the delega-tion, on a four-day visit, is expected to visit Dhaka Medical College Hospital

for taking a view of medical test pro-cess of workers, meet the foreign min-ister and sit with Baira o� cials today.

The delegation last evening paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her o� cial residence.

After the meeting, PM’s Press Secre-tary AKM Shameem Chowdhury briefed reporters. Quoting the Saudi deputy minister, he said they were not happy with the little number of Bangladeshis working in Saudi Arabia and that they wanted to hire more in the coming days.

The prime minister thanked the Saudi government for resumption of recruiting Bangladeshi workers.

“We are providing necessary training to the workers on laws, rituals and lan-guage so that they do not face any prob-lem in Saudi Arabia,” Shameem said quot-ing the premier. Hasina also requested the Saudi government to come up with their curriculum and provide joint training.

Remittance is the second highest ex-port earning sector of Bangladesh after the apparel sector. l

AL: Dialogue only if BNP admits to killing peoplen Abu Hayat Mahmud

The ruling Awami League has said it will sit in a dialogue if the BNP accepts the responsibility of all arson deaths.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, fol-lowing suggestions from international criminal groups, ordered the terrorists from her party and their partner Ja-maat-e-Islami to create violence, the Awami League alleged.

“BNP and its major ally Jamaat do not know what their exact demand is. BNP has become a terrorist organ-isation because of its excessive de-pendence on Jamaat-e-Islami,” said Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif, joint general secretary of the ruling party, at a press conference in the city yesterday.

The press conference was arranged at their chief Sheikh Hasina’s Dhan-mondi o� ce to clarify the party’s stance regarding the prevailing politi-cal situation in the country.

A total of 69 people have been killed

so far in arson on vehicles and crude bomb blasts around the country since the BNP-led 20-party alliance started enforcing non-stop transport blockade and intermittent hartals on January 6.

“The is no example in world history that a government ever ful� lled the de-mands of terrorist and militant groups. So, if we sit in a dialogue [with the BNP] at this moment, it will set a bad exam-ple,” Hanif said.

“BNP leaders say their party is not involved with the violence. If that is the case then why do you not withdraw the blockade and the hartal and let us � nd the people who are hurling petrol bombs. Then you can call your pro-grammes again,” he proposed.

In reply to query, Hanif said: “We have not been able to control the vi-olence because it is being created by men from the BNP-Jamaat alliance. The BNP is one of the biggest political parties in the country that enjoys 30-35% voter support and has millions of

activists all over the country.”He claimed that the government is

capable of bringing the situation ful-ly under control in just 24 hours if the BNP-Jamaat alliance withdrew their ac-tion programmes.

Regarding Dr Kamal Hossain’s call for a dialogue, Hanif said he was surprised to see that Kamal, one of the organisers of the Liberation War, has sided with forces sympathetic to collaborators such as British journalist David Bergman.

Meanwhile, police yesterday blocked a mob of the Sramik League, ruling party’s labour front, from lay-ing siege to Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan of-� ce. Later in the afternoon, the Sramik League brought out a procession in the adjacent areas.

Elsewhere, Awami League Public-ity and Publication Secretary Hasan Mahmud, also a former minister, said the barbed wire fence put up around the Gulshan o� ce would not be able to save her from the people’s wrath. l

Comilla arson case accused dies in road accident n Our Correspondent, Comilla

A former Chhatra Dal leader in Comilla who was accused in the Chauddagram arson attack case died in a road crash early yesterday.

Sohel, 32, son of Babul Mia of Jag-mohanpur village, was a Chhatra Dal leader of Chauddagram upazila.

Police said Sohel was injured in a road accident in Hasanpur of Daudkan-di upazila around 2:30am and was tak-en to Gauripur Health Complex where he died while receiving treatment.

His body was sent to Comilla Medi-cal College Hospital for autopsy yester-day noon, said Daudkandi Model police station OC Md Abu Salam Mia.

Sohel’s father Babul said his son is a member of the incumbent union unit of the BNP. “He has been in hiding since he was named in the arson attack case but I do not know how he ended up in Daudkandi,” he said.

But OC of Chauddagram police sta-tion Uttam Kumar Chakrabarty said So-hel had been in hiding for long.

“He was accused in 12 cases, including murder, extortion, acts of terrorism and drug peddling,” said the policeman.

In the early hours on February 3, eight people died when a petrol bomb was hurled at a bus in Jagmohanpur. l

Dhaka urges US to send back Bangabandhu killers n Tribune Report

Dhaka yesterday urged the US to ex-tradite the self-proclaimed killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who currently live there, according to a press release.

Shahriar Alam, state minister of the Foreign Ministry, made the urge to the newly appointed US Ambassador Mar-cia Stephens Bloom Bernicat when the two met at the junior minister’s o� ce on a courtesy call.

Rashed Chowdhury and Ashrafuz-zaman Khan, the self-proclaimed kill-ers of Bangabandhu who have also been convicted by the International Crime Tribunal are currently living in the US.

In addition, the minister said the US would be interested to invest in the country’s power and energy sector as well as industry and infrastructure de-velopment.

He also thanked the US government for its cooperation in strengthening the capacity of Bangladesh Coast Guard

and peacekeeping forces, as well as in formulating a National Counter Terror-ism Strategy.

Ambassador Marcia StephensBloom Bernicat arrived in Dhaka on January 25.

She presented her credentials to Presi-dent Abdul Hamid on February 4.

Alam said the US was one of the largest contributors to Foreign Direct Investment in Bangladesh (FDI), repre-senting almost 13% of Bangladesh’s FDI in� ow over the past � ve years. l

Arsonists burn down 14,000 chickensn Our Correspondent, Mymensingh

Some 14,000 chickens were gutted as miscreants set � re on a covered van at Muktagachha in Mymensingh early yesterday.

The vehicle was totally damaged and all the chickens it was carrying were killed in the � re, police said.

Abdur Rahman, driver of the cov-ered van, said a group of seven-eight people equipped with sticks intercept-ed the van of Kazi Farms Ltd by felling logs on the road in Ramchandrapur area around 2:30am.

They poured petrol on the van and set � re to it, he said. Khorshed Alam, assistant of the driver, said the miscre-ants had also tried to burn the driver and him, but they managed to escape.

Dr Enamul Haque, regional marketing o� cer of the Kazi Farms Ltd, said the van was carrying a total of 14,000 chickens and all of them were killed in the � re.

Muktagachha police station O� cer-in-Charge Kamal Hossain, however, claimed that there were 3,000-4,000 chickens in the van. l

The minister said the US would be interested to invest in the country’s power and energy sector as well as industry and infrastructure development

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Arson victim dies as death toll climbs to 69n Tribune Report

Another arson victim succumbed to his injuries yesterday at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), raising to 69 the political violence death toll from January 5.

The victim, Shahidul Islam, 38, from Poba upazila in the district, had been � ghting for his life for the last seven days at the RMCH burn unit. He died around 5pm, con� rmed the hos-pital director, Brigadier General AKMNasir Uddin.

Shahidul, a truck helper, sustained burn injuries at Naodapara in front of Lily Cinema Hall, when pickets hurled petrol bombs on the sand-laden truck on February 2 around 8pm.

“We could not save him as his respi-ratory system was blistered,” the doc-

tor said. The truck driver, Saidur Rah-man, is now undergoing treatment at the hospital burn unit.

Meanwhile, day two of the 72-hour nationwide hartal and blockade, spon-sored by the BNP-Jamaat led alliance, was almost peaceful, except for a few incidents of violence. The situation in the capital was almost normal, with lit-tle e� ect on everyday life.

Vehicular movement too was nor-mal. A good number of private car owners ventured out on the roads, defying the hartal. Commuters waited on buses to travel to their workplaces and other destinations in the morn-ing. Only long-distance buses have notleft the terminals.

Our Munshiganj correspondent re-

ports, picketers allegedly hurled pet-rol bombs on a truck carrying books in Gazaria in the morning. Around 5% to 10% of the loaded books were damaged in the attack.

Bijoy Talukdar, Munshiganj po-lice superintendent, said, the Laxim-pur-bound truck came under attack at the Jamaldi bus stand around 7:30am. Truck driver Harunu-ur-Rashid suf-fered minor injuries when he jumped o� the vehicle after the attack.

Meanwhile, a bus stationed near Old Ferry Ghat at Mawa was set ablaze sometime after midnight, said Tofazzal Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Louha-jang Police Station. None were hurt in the attack.

Our Feni correspondent said day la-bourer Nosu Mia, 30, sustained injuries as a crude bomb was blasted at Islam-pur in the morning.

In another incident, a covered-van driver sustained injuries when picket-ers hurled bricks on the Dhaka-Chit-tagong highway early yesterday. Police arrested the two alleged picketers in this connection.

At Dhairhat of Naogaon, six people sustained injuries in a clash between BNP and AL activists. Following the clash over the ongoing hartal, AL ac-tivists torched the motorbike of an AL supporter, while BNP activists vandal-ised some vehicles.

At Dhaka University, also in the morning, locals beat up two students for blasting crude bombs near Jagan-nath Hall, and handed them to RAB.

The detained, Sha� ul Shuvo and Harunur Rashid, are graduate students in the Statistics and Arabic literature departments, respectively. They have been accused in a case � led under the Explosives Act, said Sirajul Islam, OC of Shahbagh PS.

Locals caught them red-handed af-ter the crude bombs were blasted near the hall around 8am. Later, they were treated at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, hospital o� cials said. l

Cabinet: Existing laws enough to tackle political unrestn Tribune Report

Cabinet yesterday said new laws were not needed to tackle the country’s po-litical crisis, saying existing laws, ap-propriately employed, were su� cient.

Cabinet members reached this con-clusion following talks in a cabinet meeting about the BNP-led alliance blockade and hartal programmes, a minister, who attended the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Several cabinet colleagues had sug-gested the enactment of strong new laws to deal with the political violence but the law minister ruled out the idea, the cabinet source said.

The prime minister supported the law minister’s position that terrorists should be brought to justice within context of existing laws, according to the cabinet source.

The law minister said the ongoing violence would gradually be stabilised under existing anti-terrorism and secu-

rity legislation, according to the source. Cabinet members observed that the

BNP’s blockade and hartals had result-ed in incidents of mob violence and that the 20-party combine was steadily losing popularity, the source told the Dhaka Tribune.

Ministers also discussed the round table meeting of Nagorik Oikya Prokri-ya – a citizen’s initiative to get the ruling AL and BNP to hold talks to get past the political deadlock – at the cabinet meet-ing but the prime minister did not com-ment on the matter, the source said.

On Sunday, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu strongly opposed the Nagorik Oikya Prokriya plan.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said he had been misquoted by the media on Saturday over the alleged disruption of business in the districts, the source said.

Several top-level leaders strongly denied that inter-district communi-cation had been badly a� ected by the transport blockade. l

Petrobangla invites 2D marine seismic survey tenders n Aminur Rahman Rasel

Geophysics companies are being in-vited to submit tenders to conduct a marine 2D seismic survey of the sov-ereign o� shore areas of Bangladesh on a non-exclusive multi-client basis, ac-cording to Petrobangla.

The � rst study of its kind in the country’s history, the importance of seismic surveys came to the fore fol-lowing the settlement of Bangladesh’s maritime boundaries with Myanmar and India.

“Petrobangla, on behalf of the gov-ernment, invites tenders to conduct a marine 2D seismic survey. The wa-ter depth to be covered will vary from 20m to more than 2500m,” Chairman Istiaque Ahmad of the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation, widely known as Petrobangla, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“The objective of the survey is to provide the oil and gas industry with

2D non-exclusive multi-client seismic data of the o� shore areas of Bangla-desh in order to help with basin eval-uation, prospect generation and robust bid-round participation,” he said.

The last bid submission date is March 29, 2015. The opening of bids be-fore authorised representatives of the bidders will take place at Petrobangla the same day.

“Interested companies are re-quired to purchase bid documents for TK8,000, roughly $100. The bid docu-ments include a schedule and a model agreement for the 2D seismic survey,” Istiaque said.

He said interested companies must have previous experience conducting o� shore multi-client seismic surveys in at least three di� erent countries.

“We will not have any expenses because the work will be done with their own funds. After the tender doc-uments are submitted, we will select a company and sign a deal for 10 years.

Petrobangla will share in the pro� ts from selling the data after cost recov-ery,” he said.

“Bid documents may be purchased in cash in local currency or via wire transfer in US dollars,” he said.

The Petrobangla chairman said a pre-bid meeting would be held at Petrobangla within a fortnight to an-swer queries from bidders.

In order to issue special directions to prepare the plan of action, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called a high-level meeting at her o� ce on Au-gust 20, 2014.

After a three year pause, the govern-ment plans to formulate a fresh pro-duction sharing contract (PSC) model to award o� shore hydrocarbon blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

The settlement of the maritime bor-der awarded Bangladesh a territorial sea covering 118,000 square kilometres and an exclusive economic zone ex-tending to 200 nautical miles. l

Lawyers hold protests over HC proceedingsn Tribune Report

Pro-BNP and Awami League-leaning lawyers yesterday organised protests and counter-protests, respectively, centering on a resolution by the BNP allies to request that High Court pro-ceedings be halted due to the ongoing political turmoil.

The BNP allies came together un-der the association “Ainjibi Samiti” and demanded a pause on High Court proceedings, given there is lack of se-curity and safety during blockadesand hartals.

The association’s Vice Chairman Ra� qul Islam Mehedi told reporters the unanimous decision to ask for boycot-ting of court proceedings was taken at its general meeting on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Awami League support-ing lawyers termed the request unlaw-ful, and held protests in front of the room of Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and head of the association.

Awami League MP Abdul Matin Khasru and Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh took part in the protests.

Ra� qul however has said: “We went to many courts today and told the judges of our resolution . They have received our resolution and said they would think over it,” Ra� qul has said. l

Prothom Alo editor, photojournalistget bailn Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

A local court here yesterday granted bail to the editor of the Bangla daily Prothom Alo Motiur Rahman and its photojournalist Sajid Hossain in a case � led raising allegation of hurting reli-gious sentiment.

Thakurgaon Chief Judicial Judge Ju-l� kar Ali Khan passed the order in the afternoon and exempted the editor from physical appearance in the lawsuit.

On November 13, 2014, local lawyer Indranath Rai � led the case against the duo and the court summoned them.

Lawyer Mostafa Alam Tulu, Mam-tajur Rahman, Abdul Karim and Imran Hossain stood for the accused. l

PM: Arsonist-killers are enemies of nation n BSS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day termed those who are burning peo-ple to death enemies of the country, its people and humanity and called upon all to put up strong resistance against such terrorists.

“I feel extreme pain when I see that innocent people are burnt to death with petrol bombs, trucks carrying chicks and vehicles carrying textbooks are torched by terrorists in the name of movement. It is very di� cult to believe that people can do such inhuman acts,” she said.

“Those who are committing such crimes are enemies of the country, peo-ple and humanity. So I urge all to be vocal and build resistance against such heinous crimes,” she said.

Hasina said Bangladesh had been going through a man-made disaster for the past one month. “Insha Allah we will overcome the situation,” she said in her speech at the inauguration of Digital World 2015, a digital exposition, at Bangabandhu International Confer-ence Centre.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division and Bangla-desh Association of Software and In-formation Services (BASIS) are jointly organising the four-day mega event to showcase technology-based innova-tions and achievements aiming to un-lock economic potential of the IT sector.

It is supported by Access to Infor-mation (a2i) and Bangladesh Comput-er Council. The theme of the event is “Future is Here”. Prime Minister’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy was present at the function while State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak was in the chair.

BASIS President Shameem Ahsan delivered the welcome address and ICT Secretary Shayam Sundar Sikder also spoke on the occasion.

A video message from Mike Honda, a US Congressman from Silicon Valley, was aired at the function.

Sheikh Hasina said there are some people in the country who do not see the country’s development. She called upon people to remain alert and put resistance against those who want to

push the country towards darkness from development.

Rea� rming her government’s com-mitment to build Digital Bangladesh by 2021, Hasina said the government’s goal is to “make available the use of technology for improving the living standard of the people and build a technology divide-free country.”

The premier said her government has taken various steps for the devel-opment of the IT industry and meet the demand for skilled manpower in the sector. She mentioned that 34,000 people are being groomed be� tting with the IT industry through a project funded by the World Bank.

Lauding the role of the private sec-tor in building Digital Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said BASIS is creating 23,000 suitable manpower for the in-dustry. Besides it is working on creat-ing 10 lakh new internet users by 2018.

“The export earnings from the sec-tor are boosting gradually and its aver-age growth rate is 50%,” she said.

The PM said: “Work on setting up high-tech and software technology

parks has started and infrastructures are being built in di� erent districts to this end.”

She also mentioned measures for expansion of e-governance, raising bandwidth capacity of submarine ca-ble, making available internet service by reducing the bandwidth price, set-ting up digital centres in 4,547 unions, 321 municipals and 401 wards, arrange-ment of digital innovation fair and launching of e-service by all district administrations.

“We are inviting reputed companies of the world to invest in the IT sector and we are ensuring them to extend all-out support,” she said.

Bangladesh’s stride for IT-based development has been able to earn respect from people across the world, she said, referring to the the UN South-South Cooperation Visionary Award, WSIS Award from International Tele-com Union and Global ICT Excellence Award from the WITSA.

Later, Sheikh Hasina visited di� er-ent stalls set up at the BICC on the oc-casion of the Digital World 2015. l

Tk21 crore approved for police snack allowance n Asif Showkat Kallol

The Finance Division yesterday gave consent to the release of Tk 20.8cr from the police’s own food fund to provide blockade and hartal duty policemen daily allowances to purchase snacks.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Sunday approved the Home Minister’s proposal for quick disbursement ofthe fund.

According to the Home Ministry proposal, the vast geographic span of patrols and longer duty hours amid the blockade and hartal programmes have made it impossible for authorities to keep the force’s catering service going.

The police are unable to get food out to the many unscheduled patrols across the country or reach the patrols that are on duty on remote stretches of highway, the proposal said.

The Home Ministry will adjust the amount in the revised budget of FY2014-15.

Unused funds will be handed over to the Finance Division by July 30, 2015 according to the proposal.

The government has already sanc-tioned a 30% risk allowance on top of the police’s basic salary because of the dangers involved in blockade and har-tal duty.

Large numbers of police personnel have arrived in Dhaka from elsewhere in the country to bolster security inthe capital.

The police proposal said 94,949 policemen and policewomen – 62,802 personnel during the day shift and 32,147 during the night shift – have been working round the clock all over the country to maintain law and order.

To supply cooked or dry food to de-ployed police personnel, Tk7cr will be needed per day – at an estimated cost of Tk75 per head.

Accordingly, some Tk64cr will be re-quired for three months from January 5 last, it said. l

Faisal, Miraz, and Shakil are three street children working as community police in TSC area on Dhaka University campus to control tra� c and keep the area congestion-free. The authorities concerned employed them temporarily to tackle the additonal tra� c � ow caused by Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2015. The photo was taken yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Bangladesh Awami Muktijoddha Projonmo League brings out a procession in front of National Press Club in the capital yesterday, demanding Khaleda Zia’s arrest for inciting political violence in the country MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Shahidul Islam, 38, from Poba upazila in the district, had been � ghting for his life for the last seven days at the RMCH burn unit

Govt appoints 10 additional judges to High Courtn Tribune Report

The government yesterday appointed ten additional judges to the High Court division of the Supreme Court.

President Abdul Hamid made the appointments, which will be valid for two years as per article 98 of the coun-try’s constitution.

Law Ministry’s Deputy Secretary Mizanur Rahman Khan con� rmed the appointment with the Dhaka Tri-bune.

The new judges are deputy attorney generals Rajik Al Jalil, Bhismadeb Chak-robarti, Md Selim and Md Sohrawardi, Supreme Court lawyers Khijir Ahmed Chowdhury, Jyotirmoy Narayan Deb Chowdhury and Md Iqbal Kabir Lytton, Metropolitan Sessions Judge of Chit-tagong SM Mojibur Rahman (now on post retirement leave), Supreme Court Registrar Md Farid Ahmed Shibli and District and Sessions Judge of Gazipur Amir Hossain. l

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 10, 2015

WB to � nance child health improvements n Tribune Report

The International Development Asso-ciation (IDA) – the World Bank’s con-cessional arm which helps the world’s poorest countries – will lend Bangla-desh $300m to improve its child nutri-tion and health.

Under the Income Support Program for the Poorest Project, about 600,000 poor mothers and pregnant women will receive monthly payments, through biometric-enabled Bangladesh Post O� ce cash cards, to participate in ac-tivities aimed at the growth and devel-opment of their children, said a World Bank press release out yesterday.

The project will provide cash transfers to the nation’s poorest mothers to re-duce their poverty, with the objective of improving their children’s nutrition and cognitive development.

To this end, senior secretary of Eco-nomic Relations Division, Mohammad Mejbahuddin, and WB country director for Bangladesh Johannes Zutt signed an agreement on behalf of their respec-tive organisations at the Economic Re-lations Division headquarters.

“Ensuring adequate nutrition pre-natally and in the � rst two years of life helps to maximise a child’s intelligence and brain development, and enables higher level of learning through child-hood and into adulthood,” said Zutt.

“The project will help poor mothers to learn how to improve the nutrition of their young children and also pro-vide an income supplement to enable them better to act on that learning” he added.

Despite Bangladesh’s record of re-ducing child mortality, the country is among 10 nations with the highest prevalence of malnutrition. 41% of children below the age of � ve are stunt-ed, according to the World Health Or-ganisation (WHO).

The project will reach out to 42 of the poorest upazilas in northern Ban-gladesh that lag behind in nutrition in-dicators and is expected to bene� t 2.7 million poor people.

Pregnant women and mothers of children below � ve years of age, from extremely poor households, will re-ceive payments for regular visits for antenatal care services, child nutrition and development awareness sessions, and monitoring of the children’s weight and height.

“Well-designed safety nets can im-prove child health and nutrition out-comes, while contributing to the re-duction of poverty and inequality. The project is a good example of involving local government bodies, as well as using technological innovation to im-prove service delivery in Bangladesh,” said Mejbahuddin.

“The project will break the cycle that binds poor children to poor nu-trition and cognitive de� ciencies,” he added.

The project will also focus on strengthening local governments’ de-livery of safety-net programmes by setting up administrative platforms at Union Parishads to identify and enroll bene� ciaries and ensure timely pay-ments.

The credit from IDA has a 38-year term, including a six-year grace period, and a service charge of 0.75%. l

Chhatra Dal calls inde� nite strike at JnU n Tribune Report

Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), student wing of BNP, has called called an in-de� nite strike at Jagannath University (JnU) from today demanding immedi-ate removal of its Vice-Chancellor Dr Mizanur Rahman.

“We will go for an inde� nite strike at the JnU from today (February 10) as the

VC has already failed to ensure co-exis-tence of the activists of all political par-ties on the campus,” said Faisal Ahmed Sajol, president of JnU unit JCD, and the party’s General Secretary Omar Faruk Munna in a press released signed by them yesterday.

Terming the VC biased, they also said the activists of Bangladesh Chha-tra League, student front of the ruling

Awami League, have been committing all sorts of criminal activities on the campus and the VC was mastermind-ing them.

The JCD leaders alleged that three students from the university were reportedly disappeared on December 10, 2013 from the campus, but the VC did not take any steps in this regard. l

12th death anniversary of Advocate Badiul Alam n Tribune Report

Today marks the 12th death anniver-sary of freedom � ghter, politician and advocate Badiul Alam.

Bborn in 1926 in Fatnagar village in Chandonashi Thana to the Sikder fam-ily, Badiul grew up to attend Calcutta University where he received his un-dergraduate degree in 1946. He then came back to complete his LLB from Dhaka University. In 1971, during the war, he was an Awami League regional president, later taking up responsibility as president of the Socialist Party Chit-tagong South Division.

Following the end of the war, in 1972, Badiul became vice-president of the Lawyer’s Association, and the pres-ident of the association in 1981. He was heavily involved in charity work, and was member on numerous commit-tees.

A doa and milad mah� l to mark his death anniversary will be held on Feb-ruary 12 after Asar prayers. l

‘Alternative re� nery installations needed to strengthen fuel security’n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Building alternative fuel re� nery in-stallations is crucial, as the country’s key re� nery establishments are cen-tralised in an area at risk of damage from natural calamity or foreign attack, speakers said yesterday.

The government is considering building water pipelines at Chittagong port’s Outer Anchorage and a � oating terminal to directly supply imported fuel and crude oil from the vessels to Eastern Re� nery Limited, to save time and costs, they added.

They also urged the nation’s private re� nery companies to maintain proper standards in their products.

The comments were made at the in-auguration of CVO Petrochemical Re� n-

ery Limited (CVOPRL) supplying petrol to state-run Meghna Petroleum Limited at CVOPRL’s Condensate Fractionation Plant in the Bayezid area around 1pm.

Power, Energy and Mineral Resourc-es Ministry A� airs Parliamentary Com-mittee Chairman Tajul Islam addressed as chief guest and CVOPRL Chairman Shamsul Islam Shamim presided.

Chittagong 8 constituency MP Moinuddin Khan Badal, chief advisor of CVOPRL, said: “Our key fuel re� nery in-stallations are located in a � at, 2.5 square mile area in Patenga, which could be damaged by be at risk of natural calami-ties, like tsunamis or cyclones, as the en-tire area is beside the Karnaphuli River.”

“We have to search for alternative locations to set up installations to en-sure fuel security; it’s high time this job

was done,” the MP added, pointing out a hilly area in Banshkhali as an option.

MP Tajul said the government has already planned to set up local fuel storage installations to ensure fuel se-curity, while continuing work on a stor-age installation at Mongla.

“As the fuel is supplied from the port city, if the supply stopped for any reason, the entire nation would su� er; thus, the government decided to intro-duce local storage facilities,” he added.

The parliamentary committee chair-man also disclosed the government’s plan to set up a � oating Lique� ed Natu-ral Gas terminal in the bay.

For the � rst time yesterday, CVOPRL has supplied 72,000 litres of petrol to Meghna Petroleum Limited after start-ing production from April last year.

According to an agreement with Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) in November 2014, CVOPRL is liable to sell its petrol to state-run com-panies – Padma, Meghna, and Jamuna – while the company would supply its products to Padma and Jamuna in the future, said company senior o� cials.

Meghna Petroleum Limited Manag-ing Director Dr Sharif Ashrafujjaman, BPC General Manager (Marketing) Md Abu Hanif, Chittagong city AL Pres-ident ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, General Secretary AJM Nasir Uddin, and Eastern Re� nery O� cers Associa-tion President Md Abdullah Al Mubin, among others, also made speeches.

A total 11 private petrochemical companies, including CVOPRL, re� ne fuel in Bangladesh. l

Court grants DB jail-gate quizzing for Fakhruln Court Correspondent

A Dhaka court yesterday rejected the bail and remand petitions � led by the counsel of BNP’s acting secretary gen-eral Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in connection with an arson case.

The case was � led with the Paltan Model Police Station on charges of torching vehicles in the Paltan area on January 5.

Metropolitan Magistrate Muham-mad Asaduzzaman Noor directed the investigation o� cer to quiz the BNP leader at jail gate within 10 days instead of doing it custody.

Upon completion of a previous 5-day remand period in another arson

case, SI Dewan Uzzal Hossain from the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metro-politan Police (DMP) produced Fakhrul before the court yesterday and sought 10 days’ remand in this case.

The case statement says that on Janu-ary 5, some miscreants torched the mo-torbike that belonged to a tra� c police sergeant in front of the Paltan Tower.

On January 6, Paltan police ASI Md Mostak Ahamed � led a case accusing 51 leaders and activists of the BNP-led 20 party alliance including Mirza Fakhrul, Ra� qul Islam Miah, Aman Ullah Aman.

The same day, DB personnel arrested Fakhrul in front of the National Press Club in the city where the BNP leader stayed over the previous night. l

Two Ansar members patrol the Rajshahi Kashia-Belpukur by-pass road yesterday to watch out for arson attacks on passing vehicles amid the hartal and blockade putting themselves at risk. The photo was taken from Rajshahi city’s Hariyan point AZAHAR UDDIN

Dhaka University Teachers’ Association stages a symbolic hunger strike yesterday to protest the harm caused to the country’s education system during the ongoing BNP-led 20-party enforced blockade and hartal MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

‘Well-designed safety nets can improve child health and nutrition outcomes, while contributing to the reduction of poverty and inequality’

ACC okays charge sheet against ex-MP, wife n UNB

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has approved a charge-sheet against four people, including a former Jatiya Party MP and his wife, for their alleged involvement in irregularities during the land acquisition of Hatirjheel-Be-gunbari project.

The Commission at its regular meet-ing yesterday approved the charge-sheet, ACC public relations o� cer Pra-nab Kumar Bhattacharya said.

The charge-sheet will be submitted before court against former Jatiya Par-ty MP Abul Quasem and his wife Su� a Quasem, additional secretary of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Gyanendra Nath Sarkar and addition-

al secretary of Election Commission Mukhlesur Rahman.

Earlier, on December 26 in 2013, then ACC deputy director and inqui-ry o� cer Jatan Kumar Roy � led a case with Kotwali Police Station in the capi-tal in this regard.

According to ACC probe, Mukhle-sur and Gyanendra in collusion with others provide compensation creating fake ownership of 65 decimal of land at Tejkunipara in the city in 2006.

During disbursement of compen-sation among fake owners against the government land, Gyanendra was ad-ditional deputy commissioner of Dha-ka Zila Parishad while Mukhlesur was additional divisional commissioner of Dhaka. l

ACC to quiz 10 City Bank o� cials n UNB

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has summoned 10 o� cials of The City Bank Limited in connection with a Tk18.16 crore loan scam.

ACC Deputy Director and Inquiry O� cer Zul� kar Ali yesterday sent no-tices to the bank o� cials asking them to be present at the ACC head o� ce in the capital on February 17-18 for inter-rogation.

On February 17, the ACC will ques-tion City Bank vice presidents Syed Fakhre Faisal and M Shawkat ali, exec-utive vice president Abdul Quddus, and senior executive vice presidents Mi-zanur Rahman and Masud Al Faruque.

Senior Vice President Shahjahan Ali, Assistant Vice President Syed Mah-mudul Hasan, First Vice President (con-sumer and credit division) Mahfuzur Rahman, Vice President AKM Hasanu-zzman and Executive Vice President Shabbir Ahmed will be questioned on February 18.

The ACC will also grill managing di-rector of Trio Hologram Industries Lim-ited Shaikh Abu Hassan Ali, on February 19 in connection with the loan scam.

According to ACC sources, Wahidur Rahman, said to be a businessman, ear-lier took loans totaling about Tk1,000 crore from � ve commercial banks, in-cluding Tk18.16 crore from City Bank, showing fake documents. l

Twenty-six fake FF certi� cates cancelled n UNB

The Liberation War A� airs Ministry yesterday cancelled fake freedom � ghter certi� cates of 26 people, includ-ing some government o� cials.

The ministry issued a gazette noti� -cation in this regard.

The freedom � ghter certi� cates were cancelled as the persons concerned could not submit necessary papers to prove they were freedom � ghters, said the noti� cation.

Of the 26 whose certi� cates were cancelled, 19 are government o� cials including Shamima Akhter, joint chief (industries and energy) of Planning Com-mission; Dr Md Fazlur Rahman, deputy director (CDC), Health Department. l

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 10, 2015

WEATHER

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:18am Sunrise 6:34am Zohr 12:13am Asr 4:14pm Magrib 5:50pm Esha 7:07pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:50PM SUN RISES 6:35AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW31.5ºC 09.5ºC

Cox's Bazar Srimangal

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 29 18Chittagong 29 18Rajshahi 28 15Rangpur 28 12Khulna 28 15Barisal 29 18Sylhet 29 11Cox’s Bazar 29 20

DRY WEATHER

LIKELY

Nahid for improving academic atmosphere at private universitiesn Tribune Desk

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday urged private universities to do more for improving academic at-mosphere as well as enhancing quality of education to built competent work-force in the country.

“Some private universities are do-ing good while some could not ensure proper academic atmosphere,” he told a function on the occasion of the 4th Con-vocation of Eastern University at Basun-dhara Convention Centre in the capital.

Nahid said the government would take tougher action against those uni-versities which have been found guilty of violating the existing laws.

Former Advisor of caretaker gov-ernment, president of Board of Direc-

tors of the university Md Enayet Ullah and teachers of di� erent departments of the university, among others, ad-dressed the convocation with Vice Chancellor of Eastern University Prof Dr Abdur Rob in the chair.

The education sector has achieved a remarkable success in the past six years due to sincere e� orts made by the pres-ent government, Nahid said, adding, “We are implementing a number of time-be-� tting programmes to bring a meaning-ful change in the education area.”

Nearly 33 crore textbooks were dis-tributed among 4.44 crore students at primary and secondary levels on Janu-ary 1, the minister said adding, “This is a very tough job to distribute the textbooks among the huge number of students. But we have been successful to do so.” l

Workers demonstratefor pay hiken Our Correspondent, Savar

Workers of two RMG factories, Mah-bub Apparels and Mandal Fashions, in Ashulia staged demonstration yester-day demanding pay raise.

At Mahbub Apparels in Ashulia’s Pukurpar area, workers have long been asking for a higher piece rate – the amount of money a worker gets for pro-ducing each unit of garment. Failing to get any response from the factory au-thorities in this regard, the workers observed abstention from work yester-day, said factory as well as police sourc-es told the Dhaka Tribune.

They assaulted the factory’s Produc-tion Manager Shahjahan Meer when he along with other o� cials tried to placate the agitators. Receiving information, police went to the factory and brought the situation under the control, but the workers continued their abstention. l

CU Chhatra Federation warns of tougher movementn CU Correspondent

Chittagong University Chhatra Federa-tion yesterday demanded the immediate resumption of CU-bound shuttle train service from Chittagong Railway Station.

The demand came at a press brie� ng held around 12pm in the o� ce of Chit-tagong University Journalists Associa-tion (CUJA) at the CU Central Student Union (CUCSU) building.

The brie� ng was called to press home the federation’s two-point de-mand which includes the increase of shuttle train compartments and reno-vation of rail tracks, and to start a uni-versity bus service for students on the campus to city route.

At the brie� ng, O� ce Secretary of CU unit Chharta Federation Ong Sai Marma said: “We had postponed our agitation programme earlier following the assurance of CU authorities, how-ever, there is no visible outcome yet after one and a half months.”

Leaders at the brie� ng warned that they would wage for tougher move-ment at the campus if their demands were not realised by the authorities.

The programme was attended by CU Chatra Federation President Anwar Sa-dat Junayed, Vice General Secretary Md Kamruzzaman and General Secretary Bi-kul Tajim, among others. The CU-bound shuttle train service from Chittagong Rail-way Station has remained suspended for the last one year. The campus train ser-vice is currently operating from the port city’s Sholoshahar Railway Station. l

IDP Education holds edu fair at Westin Dhakan Tribune Report

IDP Education Bangladesh, the world’s largest international student placement provider, organised an education fair at the hotel Westin Dhaka yesterday.

Representatives from various uni-versities of di� erent countries, in-cluding the UK, US and New Zealand, provided counseling services to the students who were interested to study in the countries. Eleven educational institutions from UK, � ve from US and two from New Zealand took part in the event held from 11:00am to 5:00pm.

IDP Education, also a founding part-ner in the IELTS English language test, is a global organisation with 80 o� ces in 31 countries. It o� ers personalised coun-seling services for education in Austral-ia, UK, U.S, Canada and New Zealand. l

Security beefed up on DU campusn Mohammad Jamil Khan

Police have tightened security meas-ures on and around the Dhaka Uni-versity (DU) campus by deploying additional forces to avoid untoward incidents on the campus.

The additional security measures were employed yesterday afternoon, several hours after two DU students were beaten up by a mob after blasting crude bombs near Jagannath Hall on the campus around 9am, and handed over to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

Earlier on Sunday, another crude bomb was exploded near the mass communication and journalism de-partment where the DU vice-chancellor was delivering a speech.

In addition, the non-stop strike on the DU campus called by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), student wing of the BNP, started on Sunday demanding the resignation of DU Vice-Chancellor Pro-fessor AAMS Are� n Siddique.

DU acting proctor Amjad Ali told the Dhaka Tribune that the security meas-ures had been enhanced inside the campus due to the JCD strike.

“Police has been securing the area since the non-stop blockade began on January 6, but it was enhanced consid-ering recent crude bomb blasts and the

JCD called strike, so that such incidents can be averted on time,” he said.

Police teams containing � ve or six members were seen in areas such as the TSC intersection, Shaheed Minar, roads near the arts faculty, streets beside the Jagannath Hall, and several others.

The security was beefed up for the safety of the students and teachers at the university as well as the visitors of Ekushey Book Fair 2015, said Sirajul Is-lam, OC at Shahbagh police station.

However, he did not reveal the exact number of extra police members sta-tioned on the campus.

“In the past few days, a number of crude bombs have been blasted in-side the DU campus. In addition, two DU students were caught red-handed while hurling crude bombs and beaten by the people in the area. That is why we have deployed the additional forces on the campus,” he said.

The two DU students caught identi-� ed as Sa� ul Shuvo, 25, a masters stu-dent at statistics department, and Ha-run-or-Rashid, 26, a masters student at Arabic department.

“After they received treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the RAB handed the students over to us. Filing of a case in this regard is under process,” the OC said. l

Tourism su� ers losses caused by political turmoil n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

An astounding silence continues in the tourism sector of Sylhet because of the ongoing political turmoil across the country.

As businessmen involved in the sec-tor have fallen in trouble, people who are working in the area are in fear of losing job.

Sources in the sector said Sylhet was one of the attractive tourist spots in the country and every year, especially dur-ing winter season, natural lovers from home and abroad came to the district to enjoy the panoramic beauty of tea gardens as well as water falls.

But as a result of ongoing political instability in the country over the last one month, people incorporated with tourism industry are surpassing a cru-cial time due to lack of tourists.

As owners of hotels and motels have been incurring huge losses in the peak,

they are now considering laying o� em-ployes, said Khandaker Siper Ahmad, president of Sylhet Caterers Group.

He said: “The number of foreign tourists is almost zero. The number of native tourists is also decreasing day by day.”

He said a good number of tourists had canceled booking since the politi-cal violence began on January 6.

Employees in the sector are also passing leisure time even though it is the peak season for tourists.

Small and middle range business-men engaged in tourism industry are facing serious losses due to the situa-tion. The businessmen are not selling their packages due to the extreme vio-lence across the country.

“It will be tough to carry on the food expenditure of sta� s and thereis no alternative for us but to send them on obligatory vacation,” Siper Ahmed said.

AKM Ataul Karim, a young entrepre-neur, said: “We have commercial rela-tion with a lot of countries. Recently, a company of Thailand was supposed to come to Bangladesh for discussing po-tential investment in our country. But considering the political turmoil, they have been compelled to cancel the pro-gramme.”

Zahid Hussain, additional manager of Sylhet Parjaton Motel, said they are surpassing a very critical time. In the previous year, almost all 26 of their rooms were booked.

“But in the current year, the scenar-io is quite unsatisfactory. It is very hard to book one or two room in a day. On Saturday, we booked one and on Sun-day, we booked two,” he added.

The managing director of Hotel Nirvana Inn, Tahmim Ahmed said the present government is very cordial about tourism industry.

“We are thinking of reducing the

number of employees,” he said. Ratargul Swamp Forest, Madhab-

kunda waterfall, the blue water of Bisnakandi, enormous rare species of tree in Lawachora National Park, Ham Ham Waterfall in Komolgonj, Grand Sultan in Srimonghol, only tea research institute of the country Bangladesh Tea Research Institute, Hakaluki haor, Tanguar haor, Hail Haor of Sreemangal, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi’s memory bearing Rongirkul Biddasrom, Bashtola of Duarabazar and World War II remembrance at Shamshernagar Airport, are themain eye-catching tourist spots ofSylhet.

The largest uphill forest of Bangla-desh Rema Kalenga Wildlife Sanctu-ary, Borsijura Eco-Park in Moulvibazar, Monu Barrage and the suburb of Sylhet Alurtol Eco Park near about hundred tourist spots is also very special to the visitors. l

Ra� e organisers plan to rake in Tk400 croren Our Correspondent, Madaripur

A local in� uential group in Shibchar has been accused of running ra� es at a trade fair with the intention of bilking people out of a staggering sum of money.

Locals alleged that the organisers were working in collusion with the lo-cal authorities, and set a target to make Tk400 crore from ra� es.

Ra� e tickets, each costing Tk20, are sold every day at Shibchar municipal trade fair, which began on December 28 last year.

It is the poor and insolvent locals who enthusiastically buy ra� e tick-ets, leading to a sale of Tk20 lakh every day but only prizes worth Tk2-3 lakh are distributed. The rest of the moneygoes to the organisers of the fair and the ra� es.

The residents of Charjanazat and Bakhrerkandi in the upazila have re-cently received Tk400 crore in com-pensation for acquisition of lands for Padma bridge project, and ra� e or-ganisers were said to have planned to pocket the money.

Madaripur district administration granted permission for holding the month-long fair at Shibchar housing project which was supposed to end on January 28. But the fair is still running, with ra� es arranged regularly.

The fair was o� cially organised by Shibchar municipality but locals claimed that an in� uential group and the municipality unit of Awami League ran the show.

Abdul Alim, who works at a food shop at Kawrakandi terminal, said he bought a good number of tickets every day with the hope of winning prizes but had not yet won one.

“The prizes are attractive and in-clude cash, motorcycle and easy bike. Thousands of people buy tickets every day,” he added.

Dadan Mia, a day labourer, said he bought some 40-50 tickets every day but got no prize.

“I spend as much as Tk1,000 on ra� e tickets every day, and also had

to borrow from my relatives to pay for those,” he said.

Prizes are announced for two hours, starting from 10pm every day, and the announcement is aired on the local ca-ble channel. Mayor of Shibchar munic-ipality Abdul Latif Mollah said the fair and the ra� e were a source of enter-tainment for the locals.

“The municipality will get the mon-ey earned in the fair, which will then be spent on development projects,” he said.

Ra� e organiser Fazlul Haque Jewel said such competitions had been or-ganised not only in Madaripur but also in other districts.

He said the deputy commissioner had permitted to organise the ra� es and locals were assisting in it.

“This is an initiative of the munici-pality, which is why it is named munic-ipality trade fair. A major portion of the money earned in the fair will be spent on municipality development projects.

“Besides, no one is being forced to buy ra� e tickets. Only those interest-ed in it are coming to the fair to collect tickets,” he added. Shibchar Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Iqbal Hussain said the fair was run under the permission of the deputy commissioner.

“The deputy commissioner also knows about ra� es. I received no o� -cial letter in this regard,” he said.

Madaripur Police Super Khanda-kar Faridul Islam said police had not permitted ra� es, liquor and indecent dance sessions at the fair.

“Our permission only entailed the security issues of the venue. The local authorities will take action if ra� es are run,” he added.

Madaripur Deputy Commissioner GSM Jafarullah refused to talk about ra� es. l

Activists of Sramik League stage a rally at the capital’s Gulshan 2 intersection yesterday, protesting the recent petrol bomb attacks on vehicles during the BNP-led 20-party enforced blockade and hartal MEHEDI HASAN

The Bangladesh Garments Oikkya Parishad holds a human chain with sticks in front of the National Press Club yesterday with call to put an end to the ongoing political violence MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

The prizes are attractive and include cash, motorcycle and easy bike

DHAKA TRIBUNE Nation6 Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Man to die for murderA man was sentenced to death yesterday in the district for killing his wife. The convict was identi� ed as Rabiul Islam Baniya, 25, son of Rahim Uddin, of Shaskandar Dangpara village under Saidpur upazila. Sources said the accused Rabiul Islam murdered his wife Minuara Begum on 20 december, 2006 over family feud. Later the deceased’s father Nur Islam � led a case with Saidpur police station against Rabiul Islam in this connection. -Our Correspondent, Nilphamari

One held with fake currency Rapid Action Battlion arrested a person with fake currency notes in Ghatail of the district yestwrday. The arrested was identi� ed as Abdul Aziz,34, son of Sultan Mahmud in Niamatpur village. RAB-3 company commander Mohiuddin Faruqi said on a tip-o� , a team of law enforcers conducted a drive in the village and recovered fake currency note Tk15,500. They also recovered a laptop , fake certi� cates of National University and some instuments which are used for making the fake cer� cates and currency.-Our Correspondent, Tangail

Punishment to rapist demanded A press brie� ng was held yesterday in the district demanding the exemplury punishment of the criminals who are accused in Suraya rape case. According to sources, Suraya, Class V student of Jagannathpur Primary School was killed after gang rape while she was returninng home from the school on 7 February. Later ,Akbar

Ali, the father of the victim � led a case accusing three persons. But police could not yet arrest the culprits. -Our Correspondent, Jessore

Two robbers shot dead over family feudAt least two robbers were shot dead over a family feud at Kalirchar village in Munshiganj district on Sunday night. The deceased were identi� ed as Mohan Bepari ,45, and Fayez Mizi,30. Additional Superintend of Police M Emdad said that two cousins, Uzzal Mizi and Momin Mizi, were involved in a family feud for a long period. As consequence of this feud, a group belonging to Uzzal Mizi attacked their cousin Fayez Mizi and his brother-in-law Mohan Bepari and shot them. Fayez died on the spot and Mohan was declared dead by on duty doctor after he was taken to Munshiganj General Hospital.– Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

Eight houses gutted in MirsaraiEight dwelling houses were gutted by a � re which broke out at Mahalanka village yesterday. Fakhruddin, a warehouse inspector of Sitakunda Fire Service, said the � re originated from an oven at the house of one Belayet Hossain at the village around 1:40pm and it soon engulfed adjoining seven other establishments. On receiving information, a � re� ghting unit from Sitakunda rushed in and doused the blaze after one and half an hours of e� orts. At least four people were also injured while extinguishing the � re. The extent of loses caused by the � re could not be known immediately.– Tribune Report

NEWS IN BRIEF

AL factional clash in Jhenidahn Our Correspondent, Jhenidah

Two AL factions were locked in a clash to establish supremacy at Bardah vil-lage in Shailkupa upazila of Jhenidah. 15 people from both groups were injured.

Ex-UP member and ward AL presi-dent Nazrul Islam leads one group while acting UP member and ward AL vice president Anwar Hossain of Bardah vil-lage leads the other. During the clash, a villager, Abdur Rashid, 45, son of Akkaj Mondol from the village, died of car-diac arrest, said Madhury Karmakar, a Jhenidah Sadar hospital on-duty doctor.

Both locals and police said, on Mon-day morning at around 11am, the two groups took up spears, machetes, iron rods, sticks, and other weapons and fought at the village over ill words ex-changed concerning the past UP election.

15 people were injured and later ad-mitted to di� erent clinics. Some also sought treatment from village healers. They did not seek admission in hospi-tals, fearing arrest, and have � ed.

O� cer In-Charge (OC) MA Hashem Ali of Shailokupa police station said a long standing con� ict had existed between the two AL leaders over who would establish supremacy in the area. Consequently, they � nally came to blows on Monday. l

Youth sentenced to death for murder n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

A court in the district yesterday hand-ed out the death sentence to a youth for killing a woman in 2012.

The convict was identi� ed as Faisal Islam, 20, son of Haniful Islam of Choto Balia village under Sadar upazila.

According to the prosecution, Umme Kulsum, 62,wife of lawyer Badi-uzzaman had been killed at her house in the town on 8 January, 2012. Faisal was the adopted son of Kulsum and he had been staying at the house during the incident.

Later, Badiuzzaman � led a case ac-cusing Faisal.

The court led by Judge Enaet Hos-sain handed down the verdict after ex-amining the records and witness. l

Landslide claims 2 livesn Our Correspondent, Habiganj

Two people, including a teenage boy, were killed and two others injured in a landslide from a hill in Gulgaon village in Bahubal upazila here yesterday.

The deceased are Abdul Gani, 50, and Jewel Ahmed, 15, son of Abdus Sha-hid. Both of them are from the village.

Police said the fateful incident took place around 9am as a chunk from a

hill suddenly fell on the four while they were collecting China clay from there, leaving the duo dead on the spot and two others hurt.

Later, locals run a rescue operation and sent the injured to a local hospital.

When contacted, Habiganj Assistant Superintendent of Police Masudur Rah-man Manir acknowledged the incident, telling he sent a police team to the scene to bring the bodies. l

AL council gears up party activities in JessoreDistrict leaders are contacting with the party high-ups to get better positionn Our Correspondent, Jessore

Leaders and activists of the Jessore dis-trict unit Awami League having busy time because after an unusual long gap of 12 years, the much-awaited council of the district unit Awami League is go-ing to be held the day after tomorrow.

Centring the council the town has turned into a festive look as colourful banners and festoons of the candidates have been set up at di� erent points of the town. Moreover, hundreds of arch-es have been erected at several key points of the district town.

Over the council district-level lead-ers have been contacting with party high-ups since the announcement of the council on January 25 to get better position in the district Awami League.

Last council of the Jessore district Awami League was held 2004 when Ali Reza Razu and Shahin Chaklader has been elected as president and gen-eral secretary respectively.

Party sources said leaders and ac-tivists wanted Kazi Nabil Ahmed, lawmaker of Jessore 3 constitute, as a candidate for a key post as he had a gentleman image among party leaders and activists.

“But Kazi Nabil Ahmed did not say anything whether he is interest to take part in the council election or not, said Mohit Kumar Nath, president of upazi-la unit Awami League.

He also said the incumbent general Shahin Chakladr was also maintaining lobbying with party’s high-up for up-

holding his current position in the dis-trict Awami League. He also expressed hope that the council would be held smoothly.

Mir Johurul Islam, o� ce secretary of district unit Awami League, said

every activist and leader is trying hardto conduct the council in a festivemanner.

He said now the Jessore Awami Leg-ue is going towards right direction un-der the leadership of quali� ed leaders.

Another sources of the party told the Dhaka Tribune that a long-standing dispute had been prevailing inside the party since long over establishing su-premacy. Over the internal dispute, in-itiatives to hold district Awami League

council have been thwarted several times.

On 2009, 13 March, a gun battle took place between two factions of the district the Bangladesh Chhatra League. As a se-quel to the clash, Ripon Hossain Dada, Sadar upazila unit BCL leader, was killed and later on a good number of leaders of the party were come under attacks.

The two factions also held press conference and blamed each other for the unstable situation in the town. The then lawmaker Khaledur Rahman Titu supported one faction while current general secretary Shahin Chaklader supported another faction.

Currently, two factions one is led by Ali Reza Razu, president, and another led by Shahin Chaklader, general sec-retary, are the main contests of council election.

Ali Reza Razu, Khan Tipu Sultan, Kamruzzaman Kamu, Pijush Kanti Bhattacharya and Shahidul Islam Mi-lon will vie for president post.

Besides, Mustafa Farid, president of district unit Jubo League, and Muhit Kumar Nath, president of upazila unit Awami League, and Shahin Chaklader, current general secretary, will vie for general secretary post.

A total of 155 councillors would se-lect their leadership for the next three years. The event is going to be held at central Eidgah.

General Secretary of Awami League and LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Sayed Asraful Islam is expected to at-tend the council as chief guest. l

Section 144 imposedn Our Correspondent, Sunamganj

The local administration had imposed section 144 in Dharmapasha upazila of Sunamganj district yesterday as local Awami League and BNP called their meetings at the same venue and at the same time. The restriction remained in force from 6am to 6pm on the day.

Superintendent of Police Har-un-ur-Rashid said local BNP called a people’s march, that was going to be led by its central executive member Dr Ra� q Chowdhury, in the area around 10am.

On the other and, local AL also called a peace rally at the same venue.

Apprehending trouble, the local ad-ministration slapped a ban on any type of gathering at the venue to maintain the law and order. l

Hundreds of arches have been erected at several key points of Jessore district town centring Awami League council which is going to be held on Thursday. The photo was taken infront of Jessore Press Club yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Renovation of Khulna Shaheed Hadith Park yet to endn Our Correspondent, Khulna

Despite extending the deadline for sev-eral phases, the assigned contractor has been struggling to end the long-pend-ing renovation works of Khulna Sha-heed Hadith Park timely.

There is a great uncertainty of failing the deadline of March, this year.

Besides, allegation of irregularities, snail pace and low quality has also raised regarding the task.

It was learnt that Khulna City Corpo-ration (KCC) in 2012 had adopted a Tk8 crore project to renovate and modern-ize the traditional Khulna Shaheed Ha-dith Park and that was why the author-ities had � oated a tender as well.

Messrs Alliance International man-aged the task that was scheduled to end by June, last year, which later was extended for six months.

Failing to touch the latest deadline, the works experienced another exten-sion of three-month.

A visitor named Afzal Hossain said the construction materials left helter skelter inside the park were damaging the natural beauty of it badly.

Greater Khulna Unnyan Songram Somonnoi Committee President Ashraf Uzzaman opined that the renovation works of the park was going on at snail pace, may resulting in failure to touch the extended time.

About the allegation of substandard

works, the president blamed the indif-ference of KCC authorities to the matter.

When contacted, KCC Assistant En-gineer Ajmal Hossain said 90 percent of the task have already been completed while the rest works has been facing major hurdle due to ongoing nation-wide blockade and hartal called by BNP-led 20-party alliance.

About the allegation, Ajmal said they have already sent a letter to the contractor expressing concern of it.

In this regard, KCC acting chief engi-neer Md Nazmul Islam denied to make any remarks.

Messrs Alliance International owner Abdullah Hossain assured of ensuring quality in the renovation task. l

Students of Jessore Police Line Maddayamik Biddalaya form a human chain in the town yesterday protesting the death of Myesha, the student of the institution who was killed in an arson attack with her father on a bus at Jagonnathpur on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Chouddagram, Comilla on Tuesday DHAKA TRIBUNE

7Long Form Tuesday, February 10, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Afsana Tazreen andShahnoor Hasan

We take the air we breathe for granted. The average adult breathes over 15 cubic metres of air

every day. But little do we realise that we are inhaling millions of harmful substances each time we breathe in.

The International Agency for Research on Cancers (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have found that when it comes to cancer, air pollution is more dangerous than smoking. In a city like Dhaka, where the majority of its popula-tion resides in areas with extensive commercial use, the air quality is very poor.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests says that vehicles in Dhaka move at 14 kilometres per hour on an average; this slow pace leads to the burning of more fuel and hence more pollution. If air pollution is reduced by 20%, Bangladesh would save around US $500 million in healthcare costs, according to an environmental assessment jointly conducted by the World Bank and the Government of Bangladesh.

This report explores the causes of air pollution, the susceptibility of the urban population of Bangladesh, and suggests possible ways out of this looming epidemic.

What is air pollution?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) de� nes a pollutant as any sub-stance in air that could, in high enough concentrations, harm living creatures. There are many pollutants in the air and the intensity of those pollutants varies from one area to another. How-ever, some pollutants, such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and sulphur dioxide, are more closely monitored as they have detrimental e� ects on the environment or health. Table 1 shows some salient causes of air pollution:

Dhaka: The ultimate gas chamber

Air pollution has emerged as an acute problem in Dhaka, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with an approximate population of 13 million which is growing at a rate of six percent each year (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics -Community Report 2011). It is also the 31st most polluted city out of 132 cities across the world.

There are many causes of Dhaka’s poor air quality. The two major sources of air pollution in Dhaka, include vehicular emissions, and industrial emissions. Additionally, many brick kilns burn coal and wood, resulting in the emission of particulate matter,

oxides of sulphur, and volatile organic compounds. Other sources of air pollu-tion include dust from tra� c and con-struction sites, open burning, cement manufacturing and metal smelting.

Although, the overall situation of lead emission has improved in Dhaka since 1999 after unleaded gasoline was introduced and 2-strokes and 3-wheel-ers were banned, dilapidated vehicles are still plying the roads, creating tra� c jam and billowing black exhaust fumes into the air, endangering the health of the commuters.

Measuring pollution in the air

Levels of air pollution are often meas-ured by the mass per volume of air. The measurement commonly used is the number of micrograms of pollution per cubic meter (g/m3). According to the Department of Environment (DoE), the density of airborne particles in Dhaka is around 250g/m3, which is � ve times the acceptable level of 50g/m3 set by the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of Bangladesh.

In Dhaka, the concentrations of “respirable particulate matter” were found to be much higher than in Cairo, Ho Chi Minh City and Dakar, by the air quality screening studies conducted by the WHO.

The air pollution situation is particularly grave in winter due to a higher concentration of particulate matter because of the dry period. Winter is the time when all 6,356 brick kilns are reported to be operational as most of the small kilns, located in low lying land, are usually � ooded during rainy seasons.

According to the DoE, the density of lead in Dhaka’s air during December to March, also climbs up to 463g/m3 which is 10 times higher than the ac-ceptable standards and the highest in the world. The highest amount of lead was found in the dust collected from Sayedabad and the lowest was found around the Dhaka University campus.

Brick kilns: A major polluter

According to a 2011 World Bank report, brick-manufacturing accounts for about 40% of Dhaka’s � ne-par-

ticle air pollution which causes 750 premature deaths a year from cancer, heart and lung related diseases. The “� xed-chimney” kilns cause the most harm as these are ine� cient and use obsolete technology to burn coal and � rewood.

They are usually located on low-lands that � ood during monsoons, which is why they only operate during the dry season. Burning � rewood in kilns has been illegal since 1989, yet nearly 2 million tons of � rewood is burned in kilns, each year.

In 2010, the national government ordered a shut-down of � xed-chimney kilns or converting those to more en-ergy e� cient versions, such as, Zigzag, Hybrid Ho� man and Vertical Shaft kilns by July 2013. Facing opposition from kiln owners, the government has extended the deadline several times. As of July 2014, only 30% of the brick kilns have been converted.

Unlike the problems surrounding the ready-made garment industry, the kiln problem does not garner much international attention and hence

remains unaddressed. Figure 1 shows the � xed chimney kiln cluster (marked as black spots) situated in the north Dhaka.

Who are most vulnerable to air pollution?

Although most of these pollutants in the air are often invisible, they can severely damage our lungs, the heart and other organ systems, and even the developing foetus in pregnant women. Particulate matter with diameters less than 10m can penetrate deep into

the lungs and have adverse e� ects on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

Those who already su� er from lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema (i.e. a condition in which the air sacs of lungs are damaged and enlarged, caus-ing breathlessness), su� er the most.

However, the elderly, children and developing babies are also at an increased risk of experiencing harmful e� ects from exposure to air pollution. According to the National Institute of Diseases of Chest and Hospital, nearly seven million people in Bangladesh su� er from asthma; more than half of them are children.

Towards solutions

There is still hope that Dhaka residents may have cleaner air in the future. Clean-burning kiln technologies have been demonstrated through a World Bank-funded program known as the Clean Air and Sustainable Develop-

ment project. However there are a few more things the government can do to reduce pollution:

• Ensure annual inspection of all vehicles.

• Order immediate relocation of factories of the manufacturing industries (such as tannery, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, and those producing plastic, rubber, batteries etc.) away from Dhaka city. However, the generated wastes should be treated and safely disposed.

• Create Public awareness on air pollution through media cam-paigns.

• Plant more trees inside the cities to maintain or restore the ecologi-cal balance.

As an individual there are also many things we can do to reduce pollution levels:

• Instead of choosing a car for a journey, we can consider the bene� ts o� ered by other modes of transport, like cycling, walking or using public transport.

• Consider car sharing or car pool-ing when doing the school run, shopping or going to work, turn o� the engine while stationary and maintain the car properly.

• Buy vehicles which are most e� -cient and consume less fuel.

• Try to reduce our energy con-sumption at home or switching to clean renewable energy sources.

Concluding remarks

Lung diseases cause about one sixth of all deaths worldwide and are one of the world’s biggest health concerns. In Bangladesh, up to 10,000 prema-ture deaths a year are attributed to air pollution, according to an air pollution study conducted in Dhaka in 2011 by Bangladesh’s DoE and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU).

It is high time that the government translates its National Environmen-tal Policy (NEP 2013) into action and updates and implements the laws [such as Environment Conservation Rules (1997), Factories Act (1965) and Motor Vehicles Act] made to protect the environment and ensure the air quality. This is a critical moral test of our national will to preserve a better quality of life for generations to come and save lives in the process. l

Afsana Tazreen and Shahnoor Hasan are with the Centre for Enterprise Society at ULAB.

Inhaling poison

Pollutants Sources Harmful E� ects

Sulphur Oxides /Sulphur Dioxide

From burning coal and oil, cement manufac-turing, petroleum re� neries.

Causes respiratory illness, asthma, aggravates existing heart and lung conditions, and even premature death.

Nitrogen Oxide It is a major component of exhaust fumes from motor vehicles, power plants and other sources that burn fossil fuels.

Asthma, lung disease

Carbon Monoxide From incomplete combustion, i.e. air-condi-tioning and central heating.

Reduces the amount of oxygen the blood can carry around the body, causing temporary or permanent damage to di� erent parts of the body.

Carbon Dioxide Combustion processes, cars and power plants as well as volcanic activities

Wheezing, cough and di� culty in breathing/shortness of breath

Particulate matter Fine particles through natural erosion or from human processes such as, burning fossil fuels, construction work

Increases incidence of lung diseases, irritates nose, throat, respiratory tract

Volatile organic compounds Evaporates from sources such as vehicle ex-hausts, cleaning agents, furniture polish, paint.

Asthma, skin allergies, throat and nose irritation, dyspnoea (di� culty in breathing)

Persistent organic pollutants Sources include industrial process and un-intended chemical byproducts, pesticides, waste incineration

Cancer, damage to nervous system, learning and behavior disabilities, reproductive disorders, disruption of immune system

Ozone Formed from a chemical reaction during sunlight

Shortness of breath, cough, sore or scratchy throat, in� amed airways, aggravated lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis

TABLE 1: MAJOR AIR POLLUTANTS

The � xed chimney kiln cluster, marked as black spots, around Dhaka COURTESY, GOOGLE MAPS

The causes of air pollution, the

susceptibility of the urban

population of Bangladesh, and possible

ways out of this looming

epidemic

Tuesday, February 10, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Chile mountaineers � nd plane missing for 50 yearsn AP, Santiago, Chile

Chilean mountaineers say they have found the wreckage of a plane that crashed in the Andes 54 years ago, kill-ing 24 people, including eight mem-bers of a professional soccer team.

The group said they came across the wreckage at an altitude of about 10,500 feet (3,200 meters) about 215 miles (360 kilometers) south of Santiago, the capital. Expedition member Leon-ardo Albornoz told Chile’s Channel 7 they’re keeping the exact site secret to prevent looting.

The disappearance of the Douglas DC-3 carrying members of the top-divi-sion Chilean team Green Cross on April 3, 1961 was one of the great unsolved mysteries in the South American coun-try and at the time stunned the sport-ing world.

The club had played an away

match in Osorno in the Copa de Chile and was returning to Santiago. The team and sta� were spread over two � ights. One of the planes reached the Chilean capital and the other apparently vanished.

Rescuers spent fruitless weeks searching for the missing plane and symbolic funerals for the missing play-ers drew huge crowds in Chile.

“It was a breathtaking moment and we felt all kinds of sensations. One could feel the energy of the place and breathe the pain,” Albornoz said of ap-parent discovering the wreckage.

The mountaineers said they could see a good part of the fuselage without needing to dig it out and found scat-tered debris and bones. The location of the wreckage was not where o� cial publications indicated it should be.

Green Cross played in Chile’s � rst di-vision until it was dissolved in 1965. l

Old questions about Saudi Arabia, 9-11 raised anewn AP, Washington

For years, some current and former American o� cials have been urging President Barack Obama to release secret � les they say document links between the government of Saudi Arabia and the Sept. 11 attacks.

Other o� cials, including the executive director of the Sept. 11 commission, have said the classi� ed documents do not prove that the Saudi government knew about or � nanced the 2001 terrorist attacks, and that making the material public would serve no purpose.

Now, unsubstantiated court testimony by Zacharias Moussaoui, a former al-Qaida member serving life in federal prison, has renewed the push by those who want a closer look into whether there was o� cial Saudi involvement with al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 hijackers. They say it should start with the release of 28 pages relating to Saudi Arabia from a joint congressional inquiry into the attacks.

“We owe the families a full accounting,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, a Democrat who has read the classi� ed pages written in 2002. They were left out of the public version of the report on the orders of President George W. Bush, who said they could divulge intelligence sources and methods. O� cials on both sides of the debate acknowledge that protecting the delicate US-Saudi relationship also played a role.

Lynch and Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., have sponsored a resolution that calls for declassifying the records. The White House has asked intelligence agencies to review the pages with an eye toward potential declassi� cation, spokesman Ned Price said, but there is no timetable.

The controversy comes at a consequen-tial moment in the relationship between the US and the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has a new king — pro-American like the late monarch — and the two wary allies are working closely to confront the Islamic State, the turmoil in Yemen and Iran’s nuclear aspirations. At the same time, US o� cials say they continue to privately admonish Saudi Arabia over human rights abuses in the kingdom, such as the recent � ogging of a blogger, and its support of the spread of religious extrem-ism abroad.

Moussaoui, who claimed during his terror conspiracy court case that he had planned to � y a plane into the White House on Sept. 11, was deposed by lawyers in a civil suit by some Sept. 11 families who are seeking damages from the Saudi government and other defendants, including charities and banks. Saudi Arabia vigorously disputes the allegations.

Moussaoui testi� ed at his trial that key members of the Saudi royal family continued to fund al-Qaida in the late 1990s, even after the organisation had declared war on the House of Saud. He also described plotting with an employee of the Saudi Embassy in Washington to shoot down Air Force One.

Lynch said the classi� ed 28 pages, which are drawn from intelligence collec-tion and FBI investigations, “are consistent” with Moussaoui’s testimony.

“There are speci� cs, there are transac-tions, there are names,” Lynch said.

Others who have read the document say it’s far from de� nitive.

Two senior congressional aides described the case as weak. One noted that just because Saudi citizens helped the mostly Saudi hijackers in the US does not mean they knew about the operation. Another said that the pages contain inaccu-racies that could compromise an important diplomatic relationship.

The aides spoke on condition of ano-nymity to describe material that remains classi� ed.

“If you think it’s thin, well then, why not release it?” Lynch said.

Rep Adam Schi� of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he supports the release because he believes the pages would “de-mystify” the notion of a Saudi conspiracy.

“The issues raised in those pages were investigated by the 9/11 commission and found to be unsubstantiated,” he said.

That commission, which built on the work of the joint congressional inquiry with access to FBI � les and secret intelligence, did not exonerate Saudi Arabia. But it did conclude in its 2004 report that there was no evidence that the Saudi government funded al-Qaida during the planning of the attacks.

“It does not appear that any govern-ment other than the Taliban � nancially supported al-Qaida before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al-Qaida sympathisers who turned a blind eye to al-Qaida’s fundraising activities,” the report said. “Saudi Arabia has long been

considered the primary source of al-Qaida funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi o� cials individually funded the organisation.”

Two ardent dissenters from that conclusion have been former Democratic Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, a leader of the congressional inquiry and longtime chair-man of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and John Lehman, a Sept. 11 commission member and former Navy secretary under President Ronald Reagan.

Graham has said he sees “a direct line between some of the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia.” He believes that a Saudi government agent living in the United States, Omar al-Bayoumi, provided assistance to two Sept. 11 hijackers in San Diego at the behest of elements of the Saudi government.

The New York lawsuit argues that Saudi rulers were playing a double game in the years before the attacks, expelling Osama bin Laden and declaring opposition to al-Qaida, while secretly funding it to assuage the kingdom’s religious conservatives.

Moussaoui, in testimony from a su-permax prison in Florence, Colorado, told plainti� lawyers it was “an absolute lie” that Saudi Arabia severed its ties with bin Laden and al-Qaida in 1994.

“This is a complete misleading ... assumption of people who are not familiar with the way the Saudi government is established” because the government has “two heads of the snake,” he said, accord-ing to a transcript.

The House of Saud, he said, “cannot keep power in Saudi Arabia without having the agreement” of the extremist Wahhabi religious establishment, he said.

“Look, see, we are not against Islam or the jihad, we � nance bin Laden.” l

Merkel to urge caution in US as pressure builds to arm Ukraine forces n Reuters, Washington/Donetsk

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to argue against arming Ukraine in its con� ict against Russian-backed reb-els in Washington yesterday in the face of intense US Congressional pressure.

Merkel’s message that sending Western weapons to Kiev risks escalat-ing the con� ict is likely to get a sym-pathetic hearing when she meets Pres-ident Barack Obama later in the day.

But critics of Obama’s cautious foreign policy approach are already demanding decisive US action to help Kiev � ght the separatists in east-ern Ukraine, even if this deepens a stando� with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nine Ukrainian troops have been killed in the past 24 hours and seven civilians also died, Kiev said yester-day, with � ghting particularly intense around the town of Debaltseve, a ma-jor rail and road junction northeast of the city of Donetsk.

At a security conference in Mu-nich over the weekend, Merkel said it was uncertain whether further negotiations would lead to a deal with Putin but argued that all op-

portunities for a diplomatic solution should be pursued.

Merkel, who with French President Francois Hollande is due to meet Putin on Wednesday, has come under � re from US foreign policy hawks in the Republican-controlled Congress who want defensive weapons sent to the Ukraine army.

“The Ukrainians are being slaugh-tered and we’re sending them blankets and meals,” Sen. John McCain said at the Munich conference. “Blankets don’t do well against Russian tanks.”

But Merkel made clear her opposi-tion to arming Kiev. “I understand the debate but I believe that more weapons will not lead to the progress Ukraine needs. I really doubt that,” she said.

A Russian speaker who grew up in East Germany, she has taken the lead in pursuing a diplomatic solution, speaking with Putin by phone dozens of times over the past year and meet-ing him in Russia, Australia and Italy in recent months.

Last week, Merkel and Hollande met Putin in Moscow and followed this up with a conference call on Sun-day also including Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The four are due to

meet in Minsk on Wednesday, but so far no breakthrough has emerged in the nearly year-long con� ict that has claimed over 5,000 lives.

Moscow warned yesterday that Putin will not be spoken to in the lan-guage of ultimatums. Asked about me-dia speculation Merkel had issued him an ultimatum at talks on arranging a summit on Ukraine, Kremlin spokes-man Dmitry Peskov told Govorit Mosk-va radio: “Nobody has ever talked to the president in the tone of an ultima-tum - and could not do so even if they wanted to.”

Obama’s optionsObama has to decide whether to supply weapons, impose tougher sanctions on Russia in the hope of forcing Putin to compromise, or throw his full weight be-hind the revised German-French peace initiative, even though US o� cials ac-cuse Putin of shredding a prior cease� re agreement signed in September.

US o� cials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say he will weigh his op-tions carefully and will not be rushed into a decision. “The timetable is � uid. This is too important to make a snap decision,” one o� cial said.

O� cials say Obama has recommen-dations on his desk outlining the pros and cons of supplying Ukraine with le-thal arms, such as anti-tank weapons, small arms and ammunition.

Some of his top advisers, includ-ing Ashton Carter, his choice for new defense secretary, increasingly favor such an approach. National security adviser Susan Rice said arms supplies were under consideration but sig-naled caution, and stressed the need to maintain unity with European allies.

Such a step would be taken only “in close consultation and in coordination with our partners, whose unity on this issue with us thus far has been a core element of our strength in responding to Russia’s aggression,” she said.

In Kiev, military spokesman Vyacheslav Seleznyov said govern-ment forces had come under attack from the rebels on about 100 separate occasions in the past 24 hours. As well as the nine dead, 26 troops had been wounded.

In eastern Ukraine, regional police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin said seven civilians had been killed by shelling in Debaltseve and another frontline town of Avdiivka on Sunday. l

Putin says Kiev on ‘dead-end track’ in east Ukrainen Reuters, Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Kiev must stop its military operation in east Ukraine and cease exerting eco-nomic pressure on rebel-held regions, warning that it was on a “dead-end track fraught with ... catastrophe.”

In a newspaper interview before a planned summit with the lead-ers of France and Germany in Minsk on Wednesday, Putin showed no sign of softening his stance over the Ukraine crisis.

“The most important condition for the stabilisation of the situation is im-mediate cease-� re and ending of the so-called ‘anti-terrorist’, but in fact punitive, operation in the south-east of Ukraine,” Putin told Egyptian state newspaper Al-Ahram on the eve of a two-day trip to Cairo, according to an English transcript provided by the Kremlin.

“Kiev’s attempts to exert eco-nomic pressure on Donbas (region of east Ukraine) and disrupt its dai-ly life only aggravate the situation. This is a dead-end track, fraught with

a big catastrophe,” he said.The West says Moscow is driving the

rebellion, providing weapons and well-trained troops. Moscow says Russians � ghting Kiev troops in east Ukraine are volunteers and denies arming the rebels.

In his interview, Putin reiterated Moscow’s line that the violence in east Ukraine was a reaction to a West-ern-supported “coup” in which pro-testers overthrew Moscow-ally Viktor Yanukovich from the presidency in Kiev last year.

“The ultranationalists who seized the power using military force put the country on the edge of disruption and started the fratricidal war,” he said.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin will travel to Berlin yesterday and representatives of Rus-sia, Ukraine, the rebels and the OSCE security watchdog are due to meet in Minsk on Tuesday before the leaders’ summit the next day.

Putin has said the summit on Wednesday would take place “if by then we have managed to agree our positions.” l

Jordan pounds Islamic State as Iraqi ground o� ensive loomsn AFP, Amman

Jordan announced it has carried out dozens of air strikes on the Islamic State group, as a top US envoy said Iraqi troops would begin a major ground o� ensive against the jihadists in the weeks ahead.

Jordanian air force chief Major Gen-eral Mansour al-Jobour said Sunday the kingdom had launched 56 air raids since Thursday as part of an interna-tional assault against IS that Washing-ton says is beginning to bite.

Jordan has vowed an “earth-shatter-ing” response after the Sunni extrem-ists captured one of its air force pilots, Maaz al-Kassasbeh, burned him alive and released a gruesome video of the execution.

“On the � rst day of the campaign to avenge our airman Maaz al-Kassasbeh, 19 targets were destroyed, including training camps and equipment,” Jo-bour told reporters.

John Allen, the US coordinator for the anti-IS coalition of Western and Arab countries, said Sunday that Iraqi troops would begin a major ground

o� ensive against the jihadists “in the weeks ahead.”

“When the Iraqi forces begin the ground campaign to take back Iraq, the coalition will provide major � repower associated with that,” he told Jordan’s o� cial Petra news agency, stressing that the Iraqis would lead the o� ensive.

IS have seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, ruling the territory with a bru-tal form of Islam. Jordan has vowed to crush the group after they released a highly choreographed video showing the murder of its pilot, who was cap-tured in December when his F-16 war-plane went down in Syria.

The air force chief said air strikes since last Thursday had destroyed dozens of targets, including barracks, training camps, ammunition and fuel depots, and residential centres.

“So far, the campaign has destroyed 20% of the � ghting capabilities of Daesh,” Jobour said, using another name for IS.

Jobour said more than 7,000 IS militants had been killed since Jor-dan began participating in coalition air strikes. l

Photo provided by Leonardo Albornoz, a group of Chilean mountaineers pose for a photo on what they say is the wreckage of a plane that crashed in the Andes 54 years ago AP

Iraqis celebrate on Sunday, the lift of curfew in central Baghdad. Iraqis roared through central Baghdad in dozens of cars � ying � ags, honking horns and � lling the street with smoke from their screeching tyres to celebrate the end of a years-old nightly curfew. ‘Long live Iraq!’, one young man shouted while hanging out the window of a passing car early on Sunday morning. It was the � rst night in years that Baghdad residents could stay out as late as they wished AFP

The lawsuit argues that Saudi rulers were playing a double game in the years before the attacks, declaring opposition to al-Qaida, while secretly funding it to assuage the kingdom’s conservatives

F R E E D O M

Tuesday, February 10, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World 9

China executes ‘ma� a-style’ mining tycoon Liu Han n BBC

Chinese authorities have executed powerful Sichuan-based mining ty-coon Liu Han, state media say. The for-mer chairman of Hanlong Group was sentenced to death in May for “leading ma� a-style crime and murder.”

Liu’s younger brother, Liu Wei and three other associates were also exe-cuted, Xinhua said, after China’s top court signed o� on the move.

Liu is believed to have had links to former security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is currently being investigated.

The Hanlong Group is a major pri-vate conglomerate based in Sichuan province, involved in multiple indus-tries including mining, telecommuni-cations and chemicals.

As head of the company, Liu Han was both rich and very in� uential.

Xinhua said the company, which had been “harboured and indulged by gov-ernment o� cials, had illegally monopo-lised the gaming business in Guanghan City in Sichuan province, tyrannised local people and seriously harmed the local economic and social order.” l

Former South Korea spy chief gets jail for election meddling n Reuters, Seoul

A South Korean appeals court sen-tenced a former head of the national spy agency to three years in jail yester-day for meddling in the 2012 presiden-tial election and helping Park Geun-hye win the vote.

The Seoul High Court said Won Sei-hoon, who served as director of the National Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2013, used the agency “for activities against a particular (opposition) political party,” Yonhap news agency reported.

He neglected “the duty of political neutrality and meddled in the politi-cal-decision making process allowed to voters.”

Court o� cials could not immediate-ly con� rm the details of the ruling. l

Top US diplomat in Seoul as N Korea � res missilesn AFP

New US Deputy Secretary of State Ant-ony Blinken stressed the need to sus-tain sanctions pressure on Pyongyang as he held talks yesterday in Seoul that focused on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.

Blinken’s arrival in South Korea was presaged by a series of North Korean missile tests, re� ecting escalating mil-itary tensions on the divided peninsula ahead of large-scale US-South Korea military drills next month.

Following talks with his South Kore-an counterpart Cho Tae-Yong, Blinken argued that international sanctions on North Korea had made a “meaning-

ful di� erence” to its ability to acquire materials for its weapons and missiles programmes. North Korea is already subject to a raft of US and UN sanctions over its arms programme, but some critics insist the measures have failed to stop Pyongyang pushing ahead with its nuclear and missile development.

President Barack Obama imposed fresh sanctions last month following a damaging cyber attack on Hollywood studio Sony Pictures that Washington blamed on Pyongyang.

And US lawmakers introduced leg-islation last week that would widen sanctions by imposing harsher penal-ties on foreign companies doing busi-ness with Pyongyang. l

Abbott weakened after surviving party challenge n AP, Canberra

Australia’s beleaguered Prime Minis-ter Tony Abbott emerged politically wounded after withstanding a lead-ership challenge from within his own party yesterday, with many analysts doubting he can survive to lead his conservative government to next year’s elections.

The polarising leader’s grip on pow-er has slipped since last month when he drew widespread criticism for mak-ing Queen Elizabeth II’s 93-year-old husband, Prince Philip, an Australian knight on Australia’s national day. Many saw it as an insult to worthy Australians.

Abbott, in o� ce less than a year-and-a-half, survived a move by dis-gruntled Liberal Party members calling for a secret ballot to decide who would be prime minister. They voted 61-39 to reject the motion.

Experts say Abbott needed a stron-ger show of support from his col-leagues to ward o� potential future challenges if the government contin-ues to endure sagging approval ratings. He would not survive another blunder, said Chris Kenny, a political commen-tator and former conservative govern-ment sta� er.

“He’s one dumb knighthood away from oblivion,” Kenny told Sky News television.

Abbott described the vote as a polit-ical near-death experience, and prom-ised government colleagues he would lead a more consultative and collegial administration.

“This has been a very chastening experience, a very chastening experi-ence,” Abbott told reporters.” It’s not often that something like this hap-pens 16 or 17 months into the life of a government.”

He would not con� rm or deny re-ports that he had asked his colleagues for six more months to lift his coali-tion’s opinion polling.

The vote occurred before Parlia-ment convened yesterday for the � rst time this year. The opposition cen-ter-left Labor Party used it to attack Abbott’s leadership, reminding him of his words in 2012 when the former Prime Minister Julia Gillard fended o� her rival Kevin Rudd in a similar ballot

of lawmakers 71-31.At that time, Abbott questioned

whether she had a mandate to contin-ue ruling when a third of her parlia-mentary colleagues “expressed their lack of con� dence in her today.”

Abbott’s government has seen its ap-proval ratings slide since last May, when the government’s � rst annual budget was widely criticised as being toughest on the poor and most vulnerable.

Norman Abjorensen, an Australian National University political scientist, described the likelihood of Abbott sur-viving as prime minister until the next election as “fairly slim.”

The revolt by more than a third of the 102 Liberal lawmakers would ensure that the public focused on his leader-ship rather than his government’s pol-icy messages, Abjorensen said.

“He’s been badly wounded, proba-bly mortally wounded,” he said. “To-day has made him really a political corpse waiting to be cut down.”

But Nick Economou, a Monash Uni-versity political science professor, be-lieved Abbott could potentially turn his government’s fortunes around in six months, saying people tend to un-derestimate him.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who led the party in oppo-sition until he lost by a single vote to the more conservative Abbott in a 2009 leadership ballot, has been touted as the favorite to replace the prime minis-ter if there is another challenge.

After yesterday’s party vote, on-line betting agency sportsbet.com.au continued to rate Turnbull as the fa-vorite to lead the government to the 2016 election.

Yesterday’s challenge came half-way through Abbott’s � rst 3-year term as prime minister. His party has never dumped a � rst-term prime minister.

An opinion poll published in The Australian newspaper yesterday showed that Abbott’s popularity had reached its lowest point in his � ve years as party leader, with only 24% of respondents satis� ed with his perfor-mance while 68% were dissatis� ed.

The poll was based on a nationwide random telephone survey over the weekend of 1,178 voters. It had a mar-gin of error of 3 percentage points. l

8 men arrested for rape and murder of Nepalese woman n Agencies

Eight me n were arrested yesterday on suspicion of involvement in the brutal rape and murder of a mentally chal-lenged Nepalese woman in Rohtak, a crime that caused outrage and revul-sion across the country after her body was found with blades and stones shoved inside it. Announcing the � rst breakthrough in the case, director gen-eral of police Yashpal Singhal said po-lice had arrested eight of the nine men allegedly involved in the gang-rape. One of them was identi� ed as Santosh, a man of Nepali origin who worked at a shop owned by another of the accused.

In the face of strong criticism of its handling of the case, police said ac-tion would be taken against personnel found responsible for any lapses in the investigation. l

Senior Afghan militant with suspected IS links ‘killed in drone attack’n Reuters

A missile-� ring drone killed six people in Afghanistan yesterday including a veteran militant believed to have de-fected to Islamic State (IS) from the Taliban, Afghan o� cials said.

The senior militant, former Guanta-namo Bay detainee Mullah Abdul Rauf, was killed in the violence-plagued southern province of Helmand, o� -cials there said.

Police chief Nabi Jan Mullahkhel said Rauf was travelling in a car when the drone attacked. The other casual-ties included his brother-in-law and four Pakistanis, Mullahkhel said.

He did not give more details of the attack. The United States op-erates drones over Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan. US-led forces in Afghanistan did not im-

mediately respond to requests for comment.

Rauf had been in� uential in Afghan-istan’s jihadi movement for well over a decade.

Media reports last month said he had begun recruiting for Islamic State, part of a push by the movement to gain traction beyond its stronghold in Iraq and Syria.

Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Se-curity (NDS), said in a statement Rauf was in charge of IS in southwestern Afghanistan and he was killed just af-ter mid-day in “a successful military operation.”

Helmand’s deputy governor, Mohammad Jan Rasulyar, said Rauf’s membership of IS could not be con� rmed but his associ-ates were dressed in black out� ts

often worn by IS members.“It is too early to con� rm that he

was Daish but his people were wearing the same clothes and mask,” Rasulyar said, referring to IS.

A US military report released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks in 2011 said that Rauf had tried to pass himself o� as a low level Taliban worker who “delivered bread,” but that interrogators suspected he was more senior.

Also in 2011, Newsweek magazine reported that Rauf had once led an elite � ghting force close to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and that after his return to Afghanistan in 2007 he had become the Taliban’s shadow governor in Uruzgan province.

Guantanamo interrogators said Rauf had revealed detailed knowledge of Afghanistan’s opium trade. l

Indian-held Kashmir on strike to mark separatist’s hanging n AP

Hundreds of armed police and para-military soldiers patrolled the disput-ed region of Kashmir yesterday where separatists called a strike to protest the secret execution two years ago of a for-mer Kashmiri rebel.

Streets in the main city of Srinagar were near deserted as shops and o� ces stayed closed to mark the anniversary of the execution.

Authorities imposed a curfew in parts of Srinagar and detained at least 100 activists to prevent violent protests.

Kashmiris were incensed when Mo-hammad Afzal Guru was hanged in secret on February 9, 2013, in a New Delhi jail.

Many in the region believe Guru was not given a fair trial on charges of involvement in a 2001 attack on Parliament that killed 14 people,

including � ve gunmen.Guru had fought earlier with reb-

els in an armed uprising that start-ed in 1989 in the Himalayan region. An estimated 68,000 people were killed in the uprising and ensuing Indian crackdown.

Separatists have long demanded either independence or a merger with Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan claim the region in its entirety, while each administering a portion of it.

Separatists have called for an-other strike on Wednesday to mark the 1984 hanging of pro-indepen-dence leader Mohammad Maqbool Butt in the same New Delhi jail af-ter he was convicted of killing an intelligence o� cer.

The separatists have demand both Guru’s and Butt’s remains be returned to the region for burial. Currently, their bodies are within the Tihar Jail com-pound. l

A costumed reveller poses in St Mark’s square during the carnival on February 7, in Venice. The 2015 edition of the Venice carnival is untitled ‘The world’s most delicious festival’ and runs till February 17 AFP

An elderly Kashmiri man drives past Indian paramilitary soldiers standing guard at a closed market during a strike in Srinagar, India yesterday AP

‘ T H E W O R L D ’ S M O S T D E L I C I O U S F E S T I VA L’

WWF in push to expand Great Barrier Reef protection n Reuters, Melbourne

Conservation group WWF is step-ping up pressure on Australia to do more to protect the Great Barrier Reef, launching a global campaign ahead of a vote by UNESCO on whether to put the world’s largest coral reef on an “in danger” list.

UNESCO, which has given the reef a World Heritage listing, is due to decide in June whether to designate it as “in danger,” which could lead to restric-tions on shipping and port expansions that could hit Australia’s trade in com-modities and energy.

The WWF wants the government and state of Queensland to ban all

dumping of sand dug up for port ex-pansions anywhere near the reef, which is one of Australia’s main tourist attractions and runs 2,300 km (1,450 miles) along its east coast.

“These places need to be protected and not used as an industrial dumping ground,” WWF-Australia Chief Execu-tive Dermot O’Gorman told Reuters.

The national government has al-ready moved to ban all dumping of dredge spoil within the Great Barri-er Reef Marine Park, which covers a slightly smaller area than the World Heritage listed area.

But the WWF, which is the o� cial name for the World Wide Fund for Na-ture, said most port dredging was out-

side the marine park zone.“To be successful turning around

the decline of the reef you need to see a ban across the whole World Heritage area,” O’Gorman said after releasing a report titled “The Great Barrier Reef Under Threat.”

The campaign is being designated a priority across the WWF’s 80 o� ces around the world.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt criticised the report as misleading, saying even with the ban on the dis-posal of dredge material in the reef marine park the government was focused on protecting the reef and would work with organisations like the WWF to do so. l

Discipline police who act unlawfullyWe deplore the remark reportedly made by Dhaka range

Deputy Inspector General SM Mahfujul Haque Nuruzzaman that police should shoot saboteurs and their family members.

He is said to have told a meeting at Gazipur Police Lines on Saturday that police should “do whatever necessary against those who will carry out sabotage activities and kill people. Shoot them and their family members should also be annihilated.”

There can be no justi� cation for such remarks. It is a fundamental principle that it is unlawful for police to ever act against violently against anyone, except in the course of self defence.

While situations may arise where law enforcers need to use justi� able force to stop violence or defend themselves, this does not give them carte blanche to shoot people.

The prime minister stated clearly last week that existing laws are enough to tackle violence and anarchy.

At a time when it is reported around 20 pickets and opposition activists have been unlawfully killed by law enforcers during political violence, senior o� cers should be re-inforcing, not undermining the imperative of rule of law.

Rule of law requires police to always act lawfully and impartially.For a senior o� cer to undermine it by suggesting collective

punishment against family members of suspects is beyond the pale. The DIG’s reported order clearly deserves censure and should be retracted.

Law enforcers should never risk compromising their independence and duty to obey the law. The public needs assurance there will be no tolerance for any unlawful actions by police o� cers.

City elections better late than neverThe chief election commissioner said last week the EC is now in a

position to hold elections for the two Dhaka city corporations, provided it recieves gazette noti� cation con� rming demarcation

of their boundary areas.With this week’s report suggesting government support for holding

these elections in March, we hope these can now go ahead. It is inexcusable that no local government elections have been held

in Dhaka for over 12 years.Lack of elections has cost

the capital’s residents and businesses dearly.

Voters have been needlessly prevented from holding authorities to account for corruption and mismanagement. Basic maintenance services for roads, public parks and waste collection have been grossly neglected and allowed to deteriorate at the cost of quality of life for all.

Dhaka’s city corporations cannot hope to make any of the substantial reforms needed to help the capital function properly, if they do not become answerable to the public.

Elections are also essential to give residents a platform for the strong mayoral leadership the city needs to become more liveable.

This is important because the capital’s structural disadvantages of poor infrastructure and transport congestion are not just major blights on its own development, but undermine the whole nation’s ability to attract investment.

Dhaka needs elections to give the city corporations a fresh start. The challenge of improving infrastructure, combating congestion and developing a sustainable vision for future development, needs good leadership. This can only come through ensuring accountability to all residents.

Robber killed in Jessore ‘gun� ght’January 27MSCongratulations to us all! Wake up everyone! Resist these miscreants irrespective of their party a� liations. These are not your leaders. They are your killers and arsonists. The police and military are your friends. Cooperate with them and crush this kind of hooliganism. This killing and burning spree must stop. The public is the only one who can stop it. Remember, the country belongs to you, the public, not to some corrupt politicians.

Shibir calls 48-hour hartal in Rajshahi divisionJanuary 27publicVery good ... they are burning trucks and innocent people along with them. These terrorists should be killed on the spot by law enforcement agents or our elite commandos.

BNP leader’s son held with petrol bombsJanuary 27TKYikes!

Another arson victim dies at DMCHJanuary 27publicPeople had already started beating shibir-ja-maat-Chhatra Dal-BNP cadres publicly. More punishment is awaiting them from the masses.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 10, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com

Send us your Op-Ed articles:opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.comJoin our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

Senior o� cers should reinforce the imperative of rule of law

Give the Dhaka city corporations a fresh start

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Corrosion (4)3 Christmas song (5)8 Donate (4)9 Stopper (4)11 Dealt with successfully (5)12 Back of the neck (4)14 Work unit (3)15 Burdened (5)18 Stormed (5)19 Greek letter (3)21 Says further (4)24 Gathering of witches (5)26 Plaything (4)27 Augury (4)28 Tears (5)29 Quantity carried (4)

DOWN1 Deeply engrossed (4)2 Stupefy (4)4 Past (3)5 Mature (5)6 Above (4)7 Flat rock shelf (5)10 Festive (4)11 Yielded (5)13 Heathen (5)16 Whirlpool (4)17 Interior decoration (5)18 Bird (5)20 Large volume (4)22 Alone (4)23 Amphibian (4)25 Conclude (3)

CROSSWORD

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.

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 19 represents A so � ll A every time the � gure 19 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate 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, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBack Metro Rail with bus lanes

January 28OsmaniaAbsolutely. We have limited space to demolish houses and build new roads. Most of Dhaka’s eight-lane roads are clogged by a small minority of private car owners.

We have to have better buses worthy of a ma-jor metropolis. Creating and enforcing bus lanes is a essential step.

F138BS ... we simply don’t have enough road space to dedicate to special bus lanes. What we really need to do is increase the percentage of road space available for all transport.

MomoaswanF138: Charming. Ever seen the middle of a proper city like Amsterdam or London on Google Earth? Full of far narrower roads and less lanes than Dhaka, but they still manage to have bus lanes and e� cient public transport. I imagine there is a connection, How many houses do you want to demolish to make Dhaka’s roads even wider so they can be hogged by private cars slowly going not very far fast?

OsmaniaMomoaswan: Strange how it’s car owners who are the � rst to complain about CNGs and rickshaws, who can’t seem to see that having better buses will create more road space for everyone.

Politics is a game, football is seriousJanuary 27

sattarThat’s great news. I think many people aren’t excited because they know we won’t go much further anytime soon.

Barely Legal AlienHoly moley! We actually got acknowledged by FIFA?!

Shahidul made new envoy to MalaysiaJanuary 27

Dr Ahsan HabibWill he be able to track the thieves and money launderers of Bangladesh who used those funds to purchase high quality second homes in Malaysia?

Who calls the shots at Gulshan BNP o� ce?January 27

Anjumanara SobhanThe treatment of the honorable PM at the BNP o� ce who went to console her rival is an unfortunate incident perpetrated by the BNP.

The people of Bangladesh do not understand that the way to bridge the gap is bring the two political leaders together once again. We want all the political killing to stop immediately so that the greater interests of Bangladesh and it’s people are met.

We must cooperate with all law enforcement agencies for the development of Bangladesh.

We can turn Bangladesh as developed as any of the developed countries in the world soon, inshallah.

Corruption of all types must be controlled in all aspects of life in Bangladesh.

PM: I feel insultedJanuary 27

M sirajullahI am not very happy with our PM feeling insulted by the behaviour of BNP o� ce. We expect our PM to be above this.

Another dark Saturday for Khaleda

January 24

Shama ChowdhuryHe looked just like his father, and went to eternal

life where he may � nd him again.

Samia KhanIndeed. Very sad for a mother to lose her child.

Hasina visits Khaleda’s o� ceJanuary 24

Babul SarwarShimul’s statement is sickening!

Huge explosives seized in Chuadanga

January 24

Nadia AfrinThe price of the explosives is the number of poten-

tial lives saved from being taken.

Hasina sent back from Khaleda’s gate

January 25

Babul SarwarBNP will now make up a thousand lies to cover one,

and Hasina would have done better had she not created the whole “balur truck and pepper spray”

snafu. Our leadership stinks!

Khaleda named mastermind in arson

January 25Babul Sarwar

Can anybody tell me what the maximum punish-ment for making petrol bombs and throwing them

on people is?

Where do the wealthiest 1% live?

January 25

Nasir Uddin RonyThis is called capitalism.

11Op-Ed Tuesday, February 10, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Towheed Feroze

It was a brave e� ort by all means; in front of a full house, some-thing unseen and almost forgot-ten, Bangladesh football team played out a cli� anger with

Malaysia at the Bangabandhu Gold Cup Football Tournament � nal.

Unfortunately, it did not end the way we expected!

Everyone who saw the game will admit it was Bangladesh who deserved to win since match end stats show 60% possession for the home side. But, in games, like many events in life, the deserving often do not have the last laugh.

Sometimes, they are made to wait. For what I can’t tell you at this mo-ment, but that is how life unfolds with its mysteries.

Perhaps to teach a graver lesson!A stadium full of people and a

nation were left heart-broken, but instead of giving in to complete dejection, we should also try to � nd the many positive sides of the whole tournament.

For Bangladesh, to make it to the � nal was also a bit of a surprise; one must say, shedding the prejudice and the blind belief. In football, eye-pop-ping miracles don’t happen too often.

Looking at the overall performance of Bangladesh, a side which looked clearly nervous and clueless in the � rst match, picking up the pieces to end up in the � nal was achievement enough.

I said miracles don’t happen, but luck clearly takes sides, because if the curling shot from a Thai player in the semis did not hit the side bar, things could have been a lot worse.

The promise was to play in the semis and we went to the � nals, com-ing from two goals down to come back with all force, giving the Malaysians a scare.

In the end, when a sublime header sealed it for the visitors as the stadium stood stunned, the lesson was written in bold: Our players need to be taught to keep the pressure on till the last whistle.

That is modern-day football; a whole match can be turned upside down in the � nal 10 seconds. It has happened many times, yet on the pitch, footballers forget it. Or shall we say our footballers forget it?

Whatever, the trophy has gone to the Malaysian side as far as competitive sport is concerned, but the winner is the game and the spectators who have proved once more that if Bangladesh can show some glimmer of hope, even at a very average/negligible Asian lev-el, galleries won’t remain empty.

As I was religiously following each match of the tournament, memories of another international meet in 1985 came back. At that time, the President Gold Cup was held every year in winter with invited foreign teams.

As football was the main sport, games were played all the year round, with the national team never short of international match exposure.

It was a prestigious tournament that saw teams like Syria, North Korea, and Thailand take part and in the memory of the football a� cionado, the win against a Finnish football club (courtesy Aslam’s hat-trick) still holds a fond place.

The Bangladesh green team, made of upcoming players, also made a mark in the meet, drawing 1-1 with Swiss Super League team of 1984-85, FC Vevey Sports.

The year 1985 was also signi� cant

for the high octane India-Bangla-desh football � nal of the South Asian Games. I won’t be wrong in saying that two spectacular teams made of top class players, Aslam, Ashish, Kaiser, Ranjit, Johnny, Wasim, Mohsin, Abul from Bangladesh, and Shishir, Babu Mani, Krishanu De, Atanu Bhatyacha-rya from India gave a game that would be referred to countless times by South Asian football pundits for years to come.

Aslam scored with a sudden volley from the half way line, bamboozling

Atanu Bhatyacharya – without doubt a top contender for the best goal by the player in an international match. Pen-alties ended hopes for the South Asian gold that year, but the message was clear – football was on the ascendancy.

Five years later, Bangladesh won the President Cup and several hiccups later, the South Asian trophy � nally came in 1999 and then in 2003.

The recent tournament has shown that people love the game and they are willing to pour their hearts out when the national team takes the � eld.

The truth is, the feeling of almost invincibility on home soil for Bangla-desh is no longer there, but it can be brought back if regular tournaments are held.

This time an international meet was held after more than a decade, which is disheartening for fans as well as players because unless the team is comfortable playing foreign sides, the con� dence to win from impossible situations will never develop.

Everything said and done, we are happy with the team; they gave their best given an almost non-existent in-ternational calendar. The South Asian meet is coming up and for us that is the World Cup.

King of a region, no matter how modest the region’s footballing status, is the ultimate glory for us. This time, luck was not on our side but take it as a lesson – luck comes to those who concentrate till the last whistle. Congratulations to Malaysia, well done Bangladesh, and plaudits for the thou-sands of fans who dared to dream! l

Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

The trophy goes to the publicS E R P E N T I N E D E N

The recent tournament has shown that people love the game and they are willing to pour their hearts out when the national team takes the � eld

n Anjali Khan

Am I afraid? Of course I am afraid. Jaan bachanor jonno jaaner jhuki niye CNG chalai (In

taking my CNG out, I risk my life to make a living). I am afraid, but time after time, hunger makes me put on this shirt and return to the streets. But why do I have to choose between death by hunger and death by petrol bombs?

I sat at home for three days, because my family begged me not to go onto the streets to work. “Abbu, tomakeo puriye felbe! Tumi jeo na.” On the fourth day, I had to return to work, because I couldn’t let my children go hungry.

Yes, there are certain areas, certain intersections I know to avoid. I keep my distance from police, BGB, and RAB vehicles. But who knows where the next petrol bomb will appear?

The other day, I overtook a truck and then stopped at a store because the passenger wanted to pick some-thing up. As I stepped outside to wait, I suddenly saw that the truck I had just passed was on � re.

Another day, I saw a burning car. I kept going.

Fire. Everywhere I look, I see � re. Perhaps soon, � re will no longer catch my eye. Ekhon aguni normal. Fire is normal now.

The day a petrol bomb will hit my CNG, perhaps I will feel shanti, peace, that the moment I feared for so long is � nally here. The uncertainty will be over. But what will happen to my family?

Before, people would dump their anger on CNGs with sticks and rocks. There would be repairs, debts. Now, those who throw petrol bombs give us death or a life worse than death as bur-dens on ourselves and our families. We work because we want to be self-reli-ant. I don't want to be dependent on anyone else.

I want to know why the shontrashi, the terrorists, have no maya, compas-sion. They are hungry too. They are scared too. They have chosen a di� er-ent way to make money. They answer to di� erent people. But don’t they worry about answering to God?

Even the police and BGB are afraid. Maybe they are more scared than we are. They requisition private vans to arrest suspicious people – maybe so that it’s more di� cult to identify and target them. Even then, they can be targeted. If these private vans get burnt and destroyed during hartals and the oborodhs, their owners su� er. They are much richer than us, but the bombs make us equal.

I think a lot about what’s happening. I tell myself at least here, in the city, if I work, I can buy food. But what about my relatives in the village? They can’t sell, so they can’t earn.

Every second, I pray for safety. I pray that I will be able to return to my family, that God will allow me to feed them for a few more days, to see my children grow up.

We are dhimmis. We are held hostage by our hunger, our fears, our politicians. There is no one to protect us. Allah bhorosha.

Anjali Khan is a freelance contributor. This article is based on a conversation with a CNG driver, who requested anonymity.

Prayers of aCNG-wallah

We are held hostage by our hunger, our fears, our politicians

n Naeema Ahmed

The current political problem in Bangladesh is primarily one of imagination. Obviously, neither

Khaleda Zia nor Sheikh Hasina will accept an option that is total defeat for them. However, a study of the priori-ties of the two leaders may allow us to glimpse what a solution to the current, bloody impasse may look like.

If Sheikh Hasina currently allows an election, she will lose. She will hand over the government to BNP for the next � ve years. She will certainly face many uncomfortable cases and

inquiries about the BDR massacre, the Padma bridge controversy, the atrocities committed by RAB in the days leading to and the aftermath of the 2014 election, the share market scam, and so forth. Moreover, given the age of both these individuals, it is highly likely that this would be the last time they would face o� . Hasina, understandably, does not want to end with a defeat.

On the other hand, even if, hypo-thetically, an election were to take place tomorrow, and BNP was to win the expected 250+ seats, it would very quickly � nd itself in a world of hurt.

BNP has always been composed of two wings: The governance wing and the AL-lite wing.

Ever since 2006, the governance wing has been badly worn down. The chairperson’s faith in Ra� qul Islam Miah, Jamiruddin Sircar, MK Anwar, et al isn’t what it used to be. And there are too few Shamsher Mobin Chow-dhurys and Salahuddin/Sabihuddin Ahmeds to � ll the void.

This is understandable, because BNP has now been in continuous war footing for the ninth year running. If we take Ershad’s ascension as the formal start of his dalliance with the Awami League, then this is the longest stretch that a party has been in the role of the “opposition,” faced with the full brunt of state savagery. It’ll take a while to reset from this to governance mode.

So, instead of worrying about the next election, why don’t we set the time-table for the next two elections? Given the current mess we’re in, it’ll take everyone – BNP and the 20-party alliance, Gono Forum, Nagorik Oikko, Bam Morcha, and the AL and the 14-party alliance – to return to a state of stability.

Why not agree that the parliament formed by the next election, which will probably be heavily dominated by BNP, will only endure for three months? Within these three months, the new

parliament will set up a new mecha-nism for holding future elections, run it by the Appellate Division, and then resign. A second election will then be held under this new mechanism.

Why should Sheikh Hasina agree to this? She should take a lesson from Arafat Rahman’s funeral, and the lakhs (millions?) of people who showed up for it. The deceased had the bad fortune of probably being the non-Ja-maati Bangladeshi to have received the maximum amount of bad press in his life.

While his elder brother had some people defending him now and then, he was a person about whom anyone could say anything without the fear of negative consequences. Ever. And boy, did they indulge themselves. Hasan Ferdous’ piece was in bad taste, extremely bad taste, but it was an accurate symptom of the frustration

in the typical Awami mind at seeing an individual whom they had spent so much energy vilifying, getting such a send-o� .

Plus, keep in mind that the resig-nation of Sheikh Hasina will probably herald the one event that will unify Dhaka’s elite completely and abash-edly behind her, when our current He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Lord Voldemort/Tarique Rahman, returns to Bangladesh, and everyone suddenly remembers that all of Bangladesh’s ail-ments – past, present, and future – can

be traced back to him. All of a sudden, Sheikh Hasina will start looking quite good by comparison.

So, here’s the crux. If an unsympa-thetic � gure like the younger Mr Rah-man could be so quickly rehabilitated in the Bangladeshi psyche to such an extent, what is to stop Sheikh Hasina, who commands the allegiance of most

of Bangladesh’s print and electronic media, to regain her public stature much faster?

I mean, it’s true, the quickest way to gain popular sympathy in Bangla-desh is to be in the opposition. And with a concerted campaign and some foresight, Hasina could be out of the doghouse much faster.

Let’s be very clear: The current situation is unsustainable. If Hasina survives the full-term, 2019 won’t be 1996 under Chief Justice Habibur Rahman. Hasina’s ministers are already talking about having 200 uncontested seats in the next election. By the time 2019 comes, the number will undoubtedly rise to 300. Our parliament will become a purely decorative one, like the ones present in Arab monarchies.

While it’s a little counterintuitive, it’s Sheikh Hasina, our prime minister, who is running out of real options real fast. All that’s left for her to do is arrest Khaleda Zia. She will truly be at the end of her line after that. Instead, going with the double-election plan could see her rehabilitated in the pub-lic mind, and maybe even back in state power, much faster than otherwise thought possible. l

Naeema Ahmed is a blogger. This article was � rst posted at Rumi Ahmed’s blog rumiahmed.wordpress.com.

A way out of this mess

Congratulations to Malaysia MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

DHAKA TRIBUNE

While it’s a little counterintuitive, it’s Sheikh Hasina, our prime minister, who is running out of real options real fast

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE

Ctg hit by the deadly combo of Rony and Majid n Reazur Rahman Rohan

Dhaka division’s deadly opening pair of Abdul Majid and Rony Talukder have become a nemesis for the opposition in the ongoing National Cricket League as the duo registered their third century stand in as many games yesterday.

Rony smashed his way to his second double hundred while Majid made 113 as the in-form right-handed pair put on 304, their second triple-hundred partnership in the ongoing campaign. The other two partnerships being 314 against Barisal and 197 against Dhaka Metropolis.

Dhaka Division v Chittagong, BKSP 3Resuming the day on 112 for no loss, Dhaka went on to pile a gigantic 518 for four at stumps. Rony, who earlier made 227 against Barisal, faced 240 balls for his 201 that saw him struck 22 fours and seven sixes.

Raqibul Hasan could have bocme the third centurion in the innings but he departed for 89 though Shuvagata Hom has a good chance of reaching the

three � gures as he remained unbeaten on 87 on day two.

Chittagong toiled hard the whole day and they must come up with a mas-ter plan or the 363 � rst innings lead of Dhaka will climb a higher mountain.

Rajshahi v Sylhet, BKSP 2Rajshahi were not able to capitalise on

their overnight 316 for two as the for-mer champions added just 166 before losing their remaining wickets. The Sylhet spinners led by Enamul Haque Jr, who took four scalps, shared eight wickets to stop their opponents from getting away with a big � rst innings total.

However, Sylhet’s batting depart-

ment spilled water on the good work as they were reeling at 96 for four at stumps.

Barisal v Dhaka Metro, FatullahBarisal rode on the young shoulders of Al Amin and Saif Hasan to take a com-manding stance in their encounter. 21-year-old o� -spinner Al Amin � ve-for enabled Barisal to tie Metro to 400 be-fore 16-year-old Saif accompanied ex-perienced Shahriar Nafees to give them a strong start.

Saif played a complimenting 130-ball 55 to Nafees’ 106-ball 79 as Barisal ended the day on 141 without any casualties.

Khulna v Rangpur, SBNSRangpur lost their remaining four wick-ets to make 310 before their bowlers earned them a 97-run � rst inning slead.

Apart from Imrul Kayes (94) and Amit Majumder (47) none of the Khulna bats-men stood any chance against Rangpur’s spinning duo Mahmudul Hasan and Sanjib Saha as they shared nine wickets to bundle Khulna out for 213. l

n Tribune Desk

A � ve-wicket haul from Mohammad Irfan, followed by an unbeaten 93 from Sohaib Maqsood, overshadowed Bangladesh’s e� orts as Pakistan edged the Tigers by three wickets in their o� cial World Cup warm-up game in Sydney yesterday.

With 15 players on each side, a warm-up win would have certainly elevated Bangladesh and the batting unit should

carry the blame of failure as apart from Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah none other showed signs of tackling the Pakistani pace attack who shared seven wickets.

However, Tamim’s contribution of 81 runs should be a huge relief for the Tigers think tank as it was the dashing south paw’s � rst outing in the middle after he recovered from an operated knee recently. Meanwhile,

Bangladesh, opting to bat, lost

two early wickets, but Tamim and Mahmudullah counterattacked, adding 168 for the third wicket. Tamim stroked � ve fours during his 81, as did Mahmudullah during his 83. The pair took Bangladesh close to the 200-run mark, but Mahmudullah was run out in the 40th over, triggering a collapse that led to the team losing its last eight wickets for just 62 runs.

Apart from Shakib al Hasan, who chipped in with 31, none of Bangladesh’s last seven batsmen could make more than 15. Irfan collected 5 for 52, including three scalps in the � nal over, to wipe out the tail and dismiss Bangladesh for 246.

Pakistan’s openers departed early in the chase, leaving the team precariously placed at 8 for 2, but their middle order led a recovery.

Haris Sohail (39) � rst put up a 51-run partnership with Younis Khan (25), after which Maqsood took charge. With the asking rate rising, Maqsood and Umar Akmal eased the pressure by adding 63 for the � fth wicket.

Bangladesh fought back with two quick wickets, but Shahid Afridi muscled three crucial fours to race to 24 o� 20 balls, before he was dismissed by Shakib.

It left Pakistan needing just seven more runs from three overs, and Maqsood, who hit nine fours and two sixes during his 90-ball knock, helped overhaul the target in 48.1 overs. l

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

SportDid you know?4 - Number of teams

that have played World Cup matches but have never won a game - Scotland,

Namibia, East Africa and Bermuda

BRIEF SCORES, DAY 2Dhaka Division vs Chittagong

Dhaka 518/4 in 122 oversRony Talukdar 201, Abdul Mazid 113Naeem Islam jnr 2/68Chittagong 1st innings 155/10

Khulna vs RangpurRangpur 1st innings 310/10Ariful Haque 68, Tariq Ahmed 63Ziaur Rahman 2/17, Robiul Islam Robi 2/24Khulna 1st innings 213/10Imrul Kayes 94Mahmudul Hasan 5/76, Sanjib Saha 4/35

Rajshahi vs SylhetRajshahi 1st innings 482/10Maisuqur Rahman 158, Junaid Siddique 112Enamul Haque 4/137Sylhet 96/4 in 32 oversAlok Kapali 28*Saqlain Sajib 2/49

Dhaka Metro vs BarisalDhaka 1st innings 400/10Shadman Islam 140, Asif Ahmed 86Al Amin 5/49Barisal 141/0 in 39 oversShahriar Nafees 79*, Saif Hassan 55*

5 DAYSTO GO4 DAYSTO GO1414 Messi magic moves

Barca to within a point of Madrid

GK Barry wins Cup of Nations for Ivorians

A group of Bangladeshi supporters cheer during the match yesterday COURTESY

Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal pulls on one leg during his 81 run knock against Pakistan in the � rst o� cial World Cup warm-up game in Sydney yesterday AFP

Khulna’s Imrul Kayes plays a cut shot during the second day of their National Cricket League match against Rangpur at SBNS yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Faithful Kruif in charge of U-23 bootersn Raihan Mahmood

The past two years have been a bumpy ride for Bangladesh’s Dutch coach Lodewijk de Kruif, but his success, never the less, when it mattered most has made the Bangladesh Football Federation keep faith on him.

The development in the national side from all aspects was clear in the recently concluded Bangabandhu Gold Cup and it did not go unanswered as BFF this time handed the responsibil-ity of the Under-23 team to De Kruif yesterday.

De Kruif will continue his association with Bangladesh guiding the U-23 team in the AFC Quali� ers where Bangladesh have been pitted alongside Syria, Uzbekistan and India in Group E to be held in Dhaka from March 27 to 31. Bangladesh will play Syria, Uzbekistan and India on March 27, 29 and 31 respectively.

De Kruif echoed the tune of BFF vice president Tabith Awal who announced the new assignment and said, “We had some objectives and the top three among them were to change

the Bangladesh national team’s style of play to an attractive way, to bring the crowd back to the stadium and create some new stars, I would like to say that Bangladesh played an exciting brand of football in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup, it was not the long ball rather it was small passes, the stadium were full in three consecutive matches and I think in Mamunul Islam, Jamal Bhuiyan and Vincent Hemanta we have created some new stars.”

“I believe there are no dearth of talent in Bangladesh, I love Bangladesh football and believe it has a potential to go ahead, now we have to strengthen the platform as the ingredients are there, I refused to accept other o� ers to stay with Bangladesh and in the U-23 quali� ers Bangladesh is poised to play another series of exciting games,” opined de Kruif.

A total of 43 nations, split into the 10 groups, will be playing the round-robin � rst round across 10 venues with each group winner accompanied by � ve best runners-up will advance to the 16-team � nals in Qatar in January 2016. l

Ecstatic BFF chief vows for future n Raihan Mahmood

The successful ending to the Bangaband-hu Gold Cup yesterday made the Ban-gladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin vow of continuing the upward trend of the game in the country.

The chief expressed how disap-pointed he was once the key players were taken away with injury in the � -nal, but hailed the home side players for turning the table and appearing stronger in the latter stage of the game.

“When I was welcoming the � nance

minister before the � nal I heard Vincent was out, I was down, and then after 10 minutes Zahid limped o� the � eld, it was double blow, I never thought of such a comeback, it was a mixed reac-tion as it made me feel we were going to the lift the title,” said Salahuddin.

The former national football captain also revealed his fear of the tourna-ment losing its glaze once Bangladesh lost the opening match, but he sound-ed proud when he followed with, “The football loving people proved me wrong, I am grateful of them.”

“After Bangladesh’s win against Sri Lanka and the hosts’ super per-formance against Thailand, it was a memorable journey that followed and an inspiration for the future, moreover the simultaneous hosting at Sylhet and Dhaka also added a new milestone,” said the BFF president.

Salahuddin thanked the prime min-ister, the sponsors and media for help-ing the federation in making the six-na-tion tournament successful and added, “We have to capitalize the proceedings, there is no way to let it down, we have

to continue the upward trend.” The atmosphere at the Bangabandhu

National Stadium on Sunday also made the former right-footed striker nostalgic as Salahuddin recalled his playing days and said, “During our time, a full house (packed stadium) enjoyed football. After a long time I saw the same, even the � -nance minister pointed it out to me.”

He added that the � nance minister AMA Muhith, after their win over Thai-land, told him, “Look, the people are giving the team a standing ovation. We can’t let the people down.” l

Sk Russel take on Khayr Vahdat in AFC Cup play-o� n Raihan Mahmood

Bangladesh Premier Football League out� t Sheikh Russel KC will take on Tajik League runners-up Khayr Vahdat FK in the 2015 AFC Cup play-o� at the Dushanbe stadium today at 2pm BST.

Russel, the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League champions, got the wild card entry ahead of last years champions Sheikh Jamal DC as they quali� ed for the � nal round of the AFC President’s Cup last year. If Russel wins the match they will progress to face Lebanese FA Cup champions Salam Zgharta on February 17 in Lebanon.

Bangladesh forward Mithun Chowdhury and defender Topu Barman joined the team yesterday though national mid� elder Vincent Hemanta had to remain home due to the hamstring injury he sustained before the Bangabandhu Gold Cup � nal. l

Bangladesh R BAnamul Haque c Maqsood b Sohail Khan 0 7Tamim Iqbal b Yasir Shah 81 109Mominul Haque c H Sohail b Irfan 7 13Mahmudullah run out (Shehzad) 83 109Shakib al Hasan c Shehzad b Irfan 31 30Mush� qur Rahim b Yasir Shah 0 1Soumya Sarkar c U Akmal b Wahab 15 17Sabbir Rahman c Misbah b Irfan 6 5Mashrafe Mortaza c U Akmal b Irfan 2 5Arafat Sunny c Afridi b Irfan 0 3Rubel Hossain not out 0 0Extras(b 2, lb 2, w 17) 21

Total (all out; 49.5 overs) 246

BowlingMohammad Irfan 9.5-1-52-5, Sohail Khan 6-0-18-1, Wahab Riaz 10-0-51-1, Shahid Afridi 10-0-56-0, Yasir Shah 10-0-42-2, Haris Sohail 4-0-23-0

Pakistan R B Ahmed Shehzad c Anamul b Mashrafe 5 10Sarfraz Ahmed c Anamul b Rubel 1 10Younis Khan c Shakib b Taskin 25 41Haris Sohail c Soumya b Mahmudullah 39 55Sohaib Maqsood not out 93 90Umar Akmal c Mush� qur b Mashrafe 39 41Misbah-ul-Haq b Taskin 10 19Shahid Afridi c A Sunny b Shakib 24 20Wahab Riaz not out 2 3Extras (lb 3, w 6) 9

Total (7 wickets; 48.1 overs) 247

BowlingMashrafe Mortaza 10-0-50-2, Rubel Hossain 8-1-32-1, Taskin Ahmed 7-0-41-2, Soumya Sarkar 3-0-18-0, Shakib al Hasan 10-0-45-1, Arafat Sunny 4.1-0-31-0, Mahmudullah 4-0-17-1, Sabbir Rahman 2-0-10-0

Result: Pakistan won by 3 wickets

BDvPAK, OFFICIAL WARM UP

Malaysia U-23 football players and o� cials pose

with the Bangabandhu Gold Cup trophy at their team hotel yesterday. In

an exciting � nal of the six-nation tournament,

Malaysia beat Bangladesh 3-2 with a stoppage time

goal on Sunday

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Tamim shines on return, batting debacle still a worry

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Guptill, rain save NZ, Proteas down Sri Lanka Opener Martin Guptill hit a � ghting hundred before rain saved New Zealand’s shambolic batting against Zimbabwe while South Africa beat Sri Lanka in World Cup warm-up games on Monday. Guptill hit the 86-ball century as New Zealand wilted to 157-7 in 30.1 overs after winning the toss, before heavy rain washed out the match. Seamers Elton Chigumbura (2-21) and Tinashe Panyangara (2-28) jolt-ed the New Zealand batting, with wickets falling at regular intervals at Bert Sutcli� e Oval. Sri Lanka were helped to 279-7 in 44.4 overs by opener Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 83-ball 100 before rain reduced their innings at Hagley Oval, Christchurch. Sri Lanka’s stylish batsman Kumar Sanga-kkara managed 31. South Africa, given a revised target of 188 in 25 overs, cruised home with Quinton de Kock (66) and Hashim Amla scoring 46.

– AFP

Holder wants to move on from Bravo, Pollard West Indies captain Jason Holder Mon-day described the loss of Dwyane Bravo and Kieron Pollard as “huge” but wanted the former champions to move on during the World Cup.  Drafted in surprisingly as captain just two months before the World Cup, Holder said selection matters were beyond his control. “They are two players who have done well in world cricket,” Holder said when asked what e� ect will the dropping of the two key players will have on his team. “I am not the selector. It’s out of our control. Not having them would be a huge loss to any side. But it’s beyond our control and we have to accept it and move on.”

– AFP

Pep targets tiki-taka for Europe assault As Bayern Munich steam towards an inevitable 25th German league title, Pep Guardiola wants a return to “tiki-taka” football in the Bavarian giants’ assault on the much-coveted Champions League title. “We’re not perfect, I know that. We have to improve,” said Bayern’s perfec-tionist Spanish coach after Saturday’s routine 2-0 league win at bottom side VfB Stuttgart. Under Guardiola, Barcelona dominated Spanish football by winning 14 titles from 2008 until 2012, with their fast-paced passing, dubbed “tiki-taka”, to keep the ball away from the opposition. Bayern are used to enjoying around 70 percent possession under Guardiola, are eight points clear in the Bundesliga and on course for a third straight league title. But after three below-par domestic per-formances so far in 2015 by Bayern’s own lofty standards, the Spaniard will use this week for some � ne-tuning before their European assault recommences.

– AFP

Dempsey, Bradley lift host US over Panama First-half goals by Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley gave the United States a 2-0 victory Sunday over Panama in an int’l football friendly, snapping a � ve-match American win drought. Bradley, a mid� elder with stops in Germany and Italy who now plays for Toronto, scored in the 27th minute and former Fulham standout Dempsey found the goal in the 37th minute to provide all the scoring the hosts would need. The US squad’s winless run had seen them lose 3-2 in Chile and fall in Ireland and to Colombia at London last November and draw at home last October with Honduras and Ecuador.

– AFP

QUICK BYTES

Star Sports 19:15AM ICC Cricket World Cup Warm Up MatchIndia v Afghanistan 1:45AM English Premier League Hull City v Aston Villa

Star Sports 27:30PM Hockey India League Ranchi Rays v Jaypee Punjab Warriors

1:45AM English Premier League Arsenal vs. Leicester City

Star Sports 42:00AM English Premier League Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur

Ten Sports12:30AM ABN AMRO Tennis Tournament Round 2 Session 2

Sony SixNBA Season 2014/15 6:00AM Indiana v San Antonio 8:30AM Denver v Oklahoma City

DAY’S WATCH

n Agencies

Mohammad Nabi re� ects a genuine, war-torn perspective in his belief that the might of champion India and host Australia hold no fear for World Cup minnow Afghanistan.

Afghanistan skipper Nabi was born in a Peshawar refugee camp while his men have done well just to form a team and qualify for its inaugural appear-ance in the 50 over showpiece.

Having been belted by 106 runs in Adelaide by Australia on Sunday, In-dia will on Tuesday be targeting swift improvement ahead of Sunday’s clash here with enemy Pakistan. Nabi’s band of brothers are ready.

“We want to be prepared well for the � rst game against Bangladesh next Wednesday in Canberra and play the warm up game where we hopefully beat India,” said all-rounder Nabi, Af-ghanistan’s leading scorer and wick-et-taker in World Cup qualifying, en-joying 423 runs at 52.87 and 20 wickets in 13 matches.

“The last few years we played against full member nations, we beat Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. The boys now have the con� dence to perform well in the 50 over format.”

Afghanistan lost by 106 runs to In-dia at Dhaka during the Asian Cup last March but isn’t here as a novelty act. The warriors from Central Asia respect-

fully aim to take down Bangladesh in the capital — plotting a path to the sec-ond round.

“We have prepared for the last three months. The main plan is to be beat Bangladesh. If we win the � rst game against Bangladesh we can maybe get through to the second round,” said Nabi, whose side prevailed against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup courtesy of Samiullah Shenwari’s 81.

Should Afghanistan upset Bangla-desh it must face the hostility of Mitch Johnson’s Australians at pace haven Perth on March 4. Again, Nabi’s coun-trymen are no strangers to missiles buzzing about and won’t be overawed having lost to a full strength Australia by 66 runs at Sharjah in 2012.

“Hopefully we play well against Australia in Perth, we have a good at-tack. We played well against Australia in Sharjah to score 206,” said Nabi who made 46 and took 2-50 against Michael Clarke’s side.

Usman Ghani, 18, will be the youngest player at the World Cup and represents a new era for cricket mad Afghanistan where the sport provides relief from hardship and hope for the future.

Nabi appreciates the imperative to shine in cricket’s grand dance. “Every day there is � ghting in the news but if there is a positive story in the media that is good, it changes the mindset at home and across the world,” Nabi said. l

Nabi plots Bangladesh downfall

This photo from Saturday shows captain of the Afghan national cricket team Mohammad Nabi (L) and his teammates Karim Sadiq (C) and Nawroz Mangal hold the ICC World Cup Trophy in Kabul international cricket stadium in Afghanistan AP

Kane keen to build on derby success against Liverpool n AFP

Tottenham Hotspur hero Harry Kane wants his side to carry on from where left o� against bitter rivals Arsenal when they face Liverpool at An� eld on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old was the star turn as he scored two goals in Tottenham’s come-from-behind win over Arsenal in last weekend’s North London derby at White Hart Lane.

Now � fth-placed Spurs are a point and a place in front of Arsenal, one of their rivals for a top four spot -- and the Champions League football that goes with it -- along with Liverpool, current-ly seventh.

Yet not since 1995 have Spurs � n-ished above perennial Champions League quali� ers Arsenal.

“If we � nish above Arsenal, of course we’ve got a great chance of � n-ishing in the top four because Arsenal have been up there for so many years now,” said Kane.

“You’d like to think if you’re above Arsenal then you’d be in the top four but the Premier League is a strange league sometimes and you never know what’s going to happen. We’ve got to focus and do what we can do.”

Kane is the English top-� ight’s lead-ing scorer with 22 goals in all competi-tions, including an impressive run of 11 in his last 14 matches. 

“He is doing well, scoring goals and we have to look after him,” Liverpool central defender Martin Skrtel said of Kane.

“But it is not only him, Tottenham are doing well as a team. They are play-

ing much better than they played be-fore so we have to be ready for them.”

Saturday’s goalless draw in the Mer-seyside derby represented Liverpool’s fourth successive match without con-ceding and Skrtel added: “We are hap-py for our clean sheets because from the beginning of the season there was a lot of criticism of the defending.”

Arsenal, who had won � ve successive matches before losing to Spurs, have the seemingly ideal chance to bounce straight back when they face bottom-of-the-table Leicester at the Emirates

Stadium on Tuesday.However, Gunners manager Arsene

Wenger insisted the Foxes would be no push-overs.

“We play at home against Leicester, a team who � ght not to go down,” said Wenger. “We have to recover from the disappointment and be ready to re-spond very quickly.”

Leicester, who lost 1-0 at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday, were forced to issue a statement late Sunday insist-ing Nigel Pearson was still their man-ager following a report he had been sacked.

Meanwhile relegation-threatened QPR, still without a permanent manag-er following Harry Redknapp’s resigna-tion last week, will go in search of their � rst away league win of the season against Sunderland.

Chelsea could � nd themselves 10 points clear at the top of the table come full-time on Wednesday if they win at home to Everton and second-placed Manchester City, the defending cham-pions, lose away to Stoke.

As if to emphasise their goal threat, it was right-back Branislav Ivanovic who scored Chelsea’s winner against Aston Villa and Blues manager Jose Mourinho said: “He is a competitive animal. A big heart.

“A team is an artist like (Eden) Haz-ard, it is a defender like Branislav. The mix and combination of talent makes a team.” 

Wednesday also sees third-placed Southampton at home to West Ham and Manchester United, current-ly fourth, welcome Burnley to Old Tra� ord. l

Roma edge out Cagliari as Napoli also winn Reuters, Milan

Second-placed AS Roma ended their run of four successive draws when they ground out a barely-deserved 2-1 win at Gianfranco Zola’s Cagliari in Serie A on Sunday and Inter Milan managed only their third league win under Roberto Mancini.

Adem Ljajic and Leandro Paredes scored in each half for Roma, who are still seven points adrift of leaders Juven-tus after the Turin side beat AC Milan 3-1 on Saturday.

Inter bounced back from three suc-cessive defeats in all competitions to beat Palermo 3-0 and are joint ninth alongside neighbours AC Milan, Genoa and Sassuolo.

Third-placed Napoli beat Udinese 3-1 at home with the visitors’ striker Cyril Thereau scoring at both ends.

Roma went ahead eight minutes before the break when Daniele Verde chipped the ball over the Cagliari de-fence into the path of Ljajic, who � red into the roof of the net.

The Sardinians, one point and one place above the relegation zone, dom-inated the second half and Duje Cop should have levelled but instead skied his e� ort with only Morgan De Sanctis to beat. Instead, Paredes wrapped up the points when he met Verde’s cross with a volley which went in o� the foot of the post. l

SERIE AFiorentina 3-2 Atalanta Basanta 18, Diamanti 76, Zappacosta 9,Pasqual 89 Boakye 83

Cagliari 1-2 Roma M’Poku 90+5 Ljajic 18, Paredes 85

Empoli 2-0 CesenaMaccarone 29, Signorelli 57

Napoli 3-1 Udinese Mertens 8, Gabbiadini 21,Thereau 59-og Thereau 27

Sampdoria 1-1 Sassuolo Eder 9 Acerbi 2

Inter Milan 3-0 PalermoGuarin 16, Icardi 65, 88

EPL FIXTURES Arsenal v Leicester Hull v Aston Villa Liverpool v Tottenham Sunderland v QPR

Harmison becomes football managern Reuters, London

Former cricketer Steve Harmison, who took more than 200 test wickets for En-gland, has swapped sports to become the new manager of non-League club Ashington, who play in the ninth tier of the English football pyramid.

Harmison, 36, remembered for his outstanding pace bowling performanc-es in England’s 2005 Ashes victory over Australia, will take charge of his home-town team for the � rst time when they play Bishop Auckland in Division One of the Northern League on Tuesday.

Harmison, who took 226 test wickets for England between 2002 and 2009, is a lifelong Newcastle United supporter and had a brief spell playing for Ash-ington as a teenager.

Ashington were members of the Football League between 1922 and 1929 when they played in the old Third Divi-sion North and is famous in football cir-cles as the birthplace of England World Cup winning brothers Bobby and Jack Charlton. l

Soccer fans hold lit � ares at the stand as they watch a match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI at Air Defense Stadium in a suburb east of Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday. A riot broke out Sunday night outside of the major soccer game, with a stampede and � ghting between police and fans killing at least 22 people, authorities said AP

‘The curse is over!’ n AFP, Abidjan

Football fans in Ivory Coast partied late into the night after The Elephants lifted the Africa Cup of Nations title on Sunday, ending a 23-year drought with a win over Ghana in a nailbiting penalty shootout.

In the commercial capital Abidjan, groups of supporters giddy with vic-tory gathered on street corners to hail passing cars, many of which were

draped in the national � ag.“The curse is � nally over! The Ivo-

rians are the kings of Africa tonight,” Alexandre, a student who watched the game with hundreds of others on a gi-ant screen at Felix Houphouët-Boigny University, said triumphantly.

Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, who scored the decisive goal, was the hero of the night.

“History has repeated itself,” said

Moussa, a young supporter, who had painted his cheeks in the orange, green and white of the Ivorian � ag, referring to the country’s last Africa Cup win in 1992 -- also in a � nal against Ghana that ended in a penalty shootout.

“Now we have a second star on our jersey. It’s one of the best days of my life,” he said, brimming with delight.

A nervy game ended in an explosion of joy across the country after keep-er Barry, nicknamed “Coppa”, drove home the winning shot after saving a spot-kick from his Ghanaian counter-part Razak Braimah.

“Coppa! Coppa!,” supporters at the university in Abidjan chanted as Barry later held up the trophy in   the in the Equatorial Guinea city of Bata.

“We have won the World Cup,” said Adi, a smiling 11-year-old girl who stood barefoot outside a bar in Abidjan, apparently confusing tournaments.

Others held up the victory as a sym-bol of unity in a country scarred by years of con� ict.

“For years we wept but we deserve this Cup. Today we are all behind this team,” Ahmed, another fan in Abidjan, said. l

Supporters of Ivorian football arrive at the Houphouet Boigny stadium in Abidjan yesterday with boards reading “Ivory Coast moves, Ivory Coast wins, thanks ADO” referring to Ivorian President Alassane Dramane Ouattara AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Tuesday, February 10, 2015

United rely on Blind faith to snatch point at West Hamn Reuters, London

Manchester United’s Daley Blind struck in stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw at a determined West Ham United on Sun-day but Louis van Gaal’s team missed a chance to move up to third place in the Premier League.

With Southampton grabbing a late winner at Queens Park Rangers and Tot-tenham Hotspur beating local rivals Arse-nal on Saturday, United needed all three points to climb back into the top three.

But West Ham dominated the ear-ly stages at Upton Park and Cheikhou Kouyate’s neat second-half volley looked to have given the Londoners victory, only for Blind to � re home from the edge of the area after a poor clearance. l

Yaya gets a taste of national team success at lastn Reuters, Bata

Yaya Toure looked more relieved than elated as he lifted the African Nations Cup for the � rst time at the sixth attempt, breaking his duck at international level with the Ivory Coast.

“When you win with your club, it’s quite amazing but with your country it’s something unbelievable,” he said after the Ivory Coast shaded Ghana 9-8 on penalties in Sunday’s � nal in Bata.

“I’ve been waiting for so many years now. I’ve been dreaming of this. It’s di� cult right now to describe the feeling as captain, it’s something special.”

Mid� elder Toure, 31, has won league titles at clubs in three di� erent countries and a Champions League with Barcelona.

For Manchester City, he has twice proven a cup � nal hero and also won two English Premier League titles over the last four seasons.

But with the Ivory Coast it has been a tale of woe up until Sunday’s decider at Estadio de Bata which was settled by penalties following 120 minutes of goalless action.

Toure was on the losing side in both 2006 and 2012 � nal when the Ivorians were defeated on penalties.

He also su� ered World Cup heart break in Brazil last year when the west Africans were on the brink of reaching the second round for the � rst time only to conceded late on to Greece which sent them out of the tournament.

“I’m a guy who always likes to win but I think we had the luck today,” he said.

“But I’m delighted for my family and all those around us who have supported us. I will go now to my people and celebrate.

“It was little bit stressful in the penalty shootout but I’m very delighted with the win and I want to say thank you,” said Toure, who has played at every Nations Cup tournament since 2006. l

GK Barry wins Cup of Nations for Ivoriansn AFP, Bata

Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry scored the decisive goal as Ivory Coast ended a 23-year Africa Cup of Nations title drought by winning 9-8 on penalties after the � nal ended 0-0 following extra time.

Before netting, veteran Barry had set up the match-winning chance by diving to his left and pushing away a spot-kick from Ghana goalkeeper Razak Braimah.  

Ivory Coast triumphed despite mak-ing a disastrous start to the 22-penalty climax with the � rst kick from Wilfried Bony hitting the crossbar and Junior Tallo � ring the second spot kick wide.  

History repeated itself as the only

other Ivorian Cup of Nations title came in 1992 when they edged the Ghana-ians, also on penalties after a goalless draw.

It was a highly tactical and cagey � nale to the biennial African football showpiece in Equatorial Guinea city Bata.

Billed as a ‘dream’ � nal between the west African neighbours, it became the fourth decider in the last eight to � nish goalless and be settled by spot-kicks.  

Ivory Coast switched goalkeepers with � t-again veteran Boubacar Barry recalled and Sylvain Gbohouo drop-ping to the bench after � ve consecutive appearances.

The pre-kicko� mood was extremely

jovial with rival players warmly greet-ing each other as they went through the traditional shaking of hands.

Quicksilver Ivory Coast winger Gervin-ho appeared particularly relaxed and threatened twice in the early stages as Ivory Coast were quicker out of the blocks.

However, Ghana comfortably dealt with both threats and when African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure had a free-kick opportunity outside the box

on 14 minutes, he shot tamely at Razak Braimah.

Almost immediately, Ivorian mid-� eld enforcer Serey Die was deservedly yellow-carded by the Gambian referee for a studs-up foul on Mubarak Wakaso.

Sloppy Ghanaian passing close to their goalmouth o� ered Gervinho a chance to present Max-Alain Gradel with a sight of goal, but his powerful shot � nished well o� target.

After soaking up the early pressure, Ghana adopted a more adventurous ap-proach and came tantalisingly close to taking the lead on 25 minutes through Christian Atsu.

Ivory Coast were rescued by the woodwork again nine minutes before

half-time when Andre Ayew -- an elder brother of Jordan -- hit the other post from an acute angle.

An early second-half run by Atsu o� ered Gyan a half-chance, but the talismanic � gure did not come close to troubling Barry with a disappointing o� -target e� ort.

Another Ivorian was yellow carded before the hour with Siaka Tiene join-ing fellow mid� elder Die in the book for pulling back Atsu.

The pattern of half-chances contin-ued in extra-time, but despite the pres-ence of star African strikers like Gyan and Ivorian Wilfried Bony, the score-board operator remained unemployed until the shootout.  l

RESULTIvory Coast 0-0 Ghana

After extra timeIvory Coast win 9-8 on penalties

Messi magic moves Barca to within a point of Madrid n AFP, Madrid

Lionel Messi scored once and played his part in four more goals as Barcelona closed to within a point of La Liga lead-ers Real Madrid with a commanding performance to beat Athletic Bilbao 5-2 on Sunday.

The four-time World Player of the Year opened the scoring with a de� ect-ed free-kick and then teed up Luis Su-arez to double the visitors’ advantage.

Mikel Rico brie� y gave Athletic hope after half-time, but Messi’s goalbound header was then turned into his own net by Oscar de Marcos before Neymar rolled home Barca’s fourth from anoth-er Messi pass.

Aritz Aduriz made it four goals in a crazy six minute spell by pulling another goal back for Athletic, but the hosts ended the game with 10 men after Xabier Etxeita was shown a straight red card for a horrible challenge on Suarez before Pedro Rodriguez added a � fth.

Barca have now won their last nine games, scoring 34 goals in the process, and will be further boosted by Real’s ragged showing in their 4-0 destruction at the hands of Atletico Madrid on

Saturday.Messi took his tally for the season to 33 with the opener on 16 minutes, but there he had a touch of fortune as his free-kick struck Aymeric Laporte in the

Athletic wall and wrong-footed goal-keeper Gorka Iraizoz.

Valencia moved up to fourth as they took advantage of Sevilla’s 2-1 defeat at Getafe by winning at Espanyol by the same score.

Sevilla su� ered their second defeat in Madrid in just � ve days after also go-ing down by the same 2-1 scoreline to Real Madrid on Wednesday. l

LA LIGACordoba 1-2 Almeria Cartabia 10 Michel 61, 66

Getafe 2-1 Sevilla Vazquez 30-P,Pedro Leon 85 Krychowiak 66

Espanyol 1-2 Valencia Sergio Garcia 89 Piatti 62,Pau Lopez 85-og

Athletic Bilbao 2-5 Barcelona Rico 60, Aduriz 66 Messi 16, Suarez 26, De Marcos 61-og, Neymar 65, Pedro 86

(L-R) Barcelona’s Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Lionel Messi and Neymar celebrate a goal during their Spanish La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames stadium in Bilbao on Sunday REUTERS

Ronaldo slammed for partying n AFP, Madrid

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo drew criticism in the changing room by partying for his 30th birthday hours after a 4-0 defeat by rivals Atletico, me-dia reported Monday.

Leading sports daily Marca called the Portuguese striker’s birthday bash after Real’s Madrid derby defeat in the league on Saturday “The Party of Dis-cord.”

“Pictures of the celebration did not go down well with Real Madrid’s cap-tains” Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, Marca wrote on Monday.

Ronaldo hosted teammates includ-ing second-choice goalkeeper Keylor Navas, defender Pepe, Fabio Coentrao, Luka Modric, Sami Khedira and James Rodriguez, who recently had foot sur-gery, newspapers reported.

Participants including Colombian singer Kevin Roldan, who was invited to entertain guests at the party, post-ed photographs on social networks of

Ronaldo and various grinning team-mates.

“The online social networks were on � re with � erce criticism from fans,” reported Madrid sports newspaper AS.

Disgruntled Twitter users even gen-erated a special hashtag, #la� estade-ladeshonra, or “party of disgrace”.

“It was a trending topic all day from 12:00 pm,” AS said.

Cristiano’s agent Jorge Mendes told Cadena SER radio station on Sunday

he himself was “very annoyed” by the photographs.

“When there is an event that is to-tally private and then you see someone is leaking pictures of it, clearly you get annoyed,” Mendes said.

The agent said the player was “gut-ted at the defeat” -- a claim echoed by other � gures close to Ronaldo, includ-ing Chelsea and former Real manager Jose Mourinho.

“People spent the � rst two hours of the party encouraging him because he was sad about the defeat,” Mendes said.

Barcelona newspaper Sport report-ed that some Real players who missed the party were going to “demand an ex-planation from the Portuguese player and his fellow partygoers”.

Real Madrid are currently top of the Spanish league on 54 points, but Satur-day’s loss left them just a point ahead of their � erce rivals Barcelona. Current champions Atletico are three points be-hind in third place. l

EPLBurnley 2-2 West Brom Barnes 11, Ings 32 Brunt 45, Ideye 67

Newcastle 1-1 Stoke Colback 74 Crouch 90

West Ham 1-1 Manchester United Kouyate 49 Blind 90

Ibrahimovic rescues controversial point for PSG n AFP, Paris

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a contro-versial penalty as Paris Saint-Germain snatched a 1-1 draw at Ligue 1 leaders Lyon on Sunday. 

Champions PSG could have gone top with victory but needed a highly con-tentious retaken penalty just to earn a share of the spoils at the Stade Gerland.

They remain third, two points be-hind their night’s hosts, and level with second-placed Marseille, who drew 1-1 at Rennes on Saturday.

Swedish giant Ibrahimovic saw his � rst penalty attempt saved by goal-keeper Anthony Lopes, but he had an-other chance seconds later when the referee decided Lyon players had en-croached on the penalty area too early.

“If you follow the rules, it’s a fair de-cision. It was a nice game but we should have won it. Lopes had some nice saves but we should have scored,” said the 33-year old striker after the game. l

Ivory Coast players celebrate with the trophy after winning their African Cup of Nations � nal against Ghana in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, on Sunday AP

Former English captain David Beckham speaks � anked by host Kirsty Young and UNICEF UK Executive Director David Bull, left, during a press conference to mark his 10 years as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and to launch ‘7’ a new fund for children in danger across the globe in London yesterday AP

ANUSHKA avertedan accident onNH10 setn Entertainment Desk

Most portions of NH10 have been shot in real locations and during one such schedule, Anushka Sharma apparently averted a near-fatal accident.

The team had decided on shooting that day despite the ongoing dust storm. As part of the scene, a heavy moon box was suspended 150 feet in air with the help of a crane. The shot required the actress to run towards the camera.

“When Anushka began her shot, she saw the moon box, containing lights, swaying due to the storm. She noticed that the skimmer holding the moon box had torn and there was 900 kilos of lights looming over the crew. The venue was evacuated instantly. Had she not realised it on time, there would have been a disastrous acci-dent,” informs a unit hand. l

A MIGHTY HEARTHBO Hits, 3:25pmCast: Angelina Jolie, Dan FuttermanMariane Pearl embarks on a frantic search to locate her journalist hus-band, Daniel, when he goes miss-ing in Pakistan.

SHERLOCK HOLMESWB, 11:53pmCast: Robert Downey Jr, Jude LawDetective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

NOT SAFE FOR WORKStar Movies Action, 7:00pmCast: Michael Gladis, Dan BakkedahlAn o� ce worker is trapped inside the building where a killer is onthe loose .

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Tuesday, February 10, 2015 15

WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3DI ZERO DEGREE I ROMEO V/S JULIET I SEVENTH SON 3D I JESSABELLE@ Star Cineplex

SEVENTH SON 3D I ROMEO V/S JULIET I EXODUS 3D I INTERSTELLAR I NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB I THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES I THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE

@ Blockbuster Cinemas

THEATRE

Aristes of Sammilita Sangskritik Jote perform an item depicting Bangla alphabet at the Central Shaheed Minar yesterday in a run-up to the International Mother Language Day. The organisation will continue such programmes every day until February 17

ISHITA to direct TV play for Valentine’s Day n Entertainment Desk

Television actress Rumana Rashid Ishita will direct a TV play titled “Phirey Esho Prem”, which will be aired on Channel i at 7:50pm on Feb-ruary 14, the Valentine’s Day.

The dancer cum singer and actress has penned the script.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Ishi-ta said the story of the play depicts lives contemporary young people, in which a couple is seen starting a new life after facing some problems.

Lux Superstar 2014 Nadia, Emami Fair and Handsome Channel i Season 2 Abul Kalam Azad and the Veet Chan-

nel i Top Model 2014 Mithila will share the screen in play, she said.

“The stars are new faces in the me-dia and they have high potentials. If they are focused in their goals, I am sure they will reach in a point in their acting career,” the “Notun Kuri” star said.

Actor Azizul Hakim and actress Munira Yusuf Memi will also perform in the TV play.

After a year of break in direction, Ishita is making a TV play.

Last year, she had directed a play titled “Neel Shondha” was aired on Valentine’s Day. Her directorial debut was with a TV play titled “Nijhum Oronno” l

DHAKA DRUM CIRCLE sendsout positive vibes

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Dhaka Drum Circle, a spontaneous group of percussion enthusiasts and musicians, will be holding another open-to-the-pubic drum ensemble this coming Friday at Chhobir Haat, across the road from the Institute of Fine Arts at Dhaka University.

The informal weekly get-together – “Lets Beat!” – is an opportunity for people to make congenial noise and hold a community jam session.

At the event last Friday, Dhaka

Drum Circle attracted large to their good-vibe collective.

The event has been running since December 12 last year, giving partici-pants the chance to bond, communi-cate through music and build a com-munity based on positive vibes.

Hundreds of percussionists and musicians gathered together armed with dhols, hand drums, mondiras, cajons, bongos, tambourines, and other percussion instruments thronged Chhobir Haat to make com-munity music. Some joined the drum

circle with stringed instruments like guitars, ukuleles and khamaks. Oth-ers joined in, beating utensils from nearby tea-stalls.

Zaid Islam, a participant of “Lets Beat!” told the Dhaka Tribune: “In the subcontinent, instruments like the dhak and dhol are traditionally used during religious rituals and fes-tivities.

“Dhaka Drum Circle was estab-lished to advance two things – creat-ing bonds between people and giving them a sense of the spiritual.” l

Bafta 2015: JULIANNE MOORE andEDDIE REDMAYNE scoop best acting honourn Entertainment Desk

Eddie Redmayne has scooped the best actor prize at the Bafta Film Awards for his role as Professor Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Every-thing.”

Redmayne said it was “one of the best nights of my life.”

The � lm was also named outstand-ing British � lm and won a third award for its adapted screenplay.

Coming of age drama “Boyhood” – shot over 12 years with the same cast—was named best � lm, with Richard Lin-klater picking up best director prize.

Patricia Arquette also won the best supporting actress Bafta for her role in the � lm.

The ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House on Sunday night was hosted by Stephen Fry.

Julianne Moore won the leading actress prize for her performance as a

linguistics professor with early-onset Alzheimer’s.

Collecting her award, she thanked “everybody in the Alzheimer’s com-munity who were so generous with their time and telling me their expe-riences”.

Wes Anderson’s quirky comedy “The Grand Budapest Hotel” won the most awards on the night - a total of � ve including costume design, pro-duction design, make-up and original music; with Anderson winning his � rst Bafta for original screenplay.

Jazz drumming drama “Whiplash” also took three awards—for editing, sound and supporting actor for JK Sim-mons, who thanked director Damien Chazelle for “the gift of this character”.

“World War Two” drama “The Im-itation Game,” with Benedict Cum-berbatch as codebreaker Alan Turing, won nothing despite its nine nomina-tions. l

SAM SMITH turns heartbreak to Grammy triumph

n Entertainment Desk

Sam Smith thanked the inspiration behind his album “In the Lonely Hour,” which racked up four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Stay With Me (DarkChild version),” for fuelling his creative process. When the British blue-eyed soul singer took the stage to accept the Record of the Year statue, he said: “I want to thank the man who this record is about who I fell in love

with last year. Thank you so much for breaking my heart, because you got me four Grammys.”

Smith also beat out a wide � eld of competition for Best Pop Vocal Album, including Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran. He triumphed early in the evening with a Best New Artist award, gleefully bestowed by noted famous friend Taylor Swift, who also introduced his performance of “Stay With Me” with R&B legend Mary J Blige later in the evening. l

DAKOTA JOHNSON fears 50 Shades fame may ‘destroy her’n Entertainment Desk

Dakota Johnson has revealed that she is scared of her global fame after the release of her upcoming erotic � lm, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The Amer-ican star said that being a global icon could destroy her, as everyone in the world will know her and keep an eye on her every move, the Daily

Star reported.The 25-year-old daughter of veteran actor Melanie Gri� th and Don Johnson said that when her mom and dad were at the height of their careers things were super-crazy so she thinks that fame is perforat-ed as it can be glorious and also can completely destroy a human.

Johnson admitted that she had doubts about taking the steamy role in EL James adaptation and even now there are moments

when she thinks on what have she done.“There is something very scary about thinking everyone

in the world [will] know who I am.” In fact, she admits she had doubts about whether or not to accept the role in the eagerly-awaited � lm. Asked whether she ques-

tioned her decision, she said: “Yes. Of course. Absolutely. The whole time. Even now there are moments when I think, ‘What have I

done?’ But most of the time I feel pretty solid about it.”Dakota, granddaughter of “The Birds” star Tippi Hedren and former

step-daughter of Antonio Banderas - said she’s comfortable appearing nude on screen, but that doesn’t mean she wants her family to see it. “I don’t want them to see it. I wouldn’t want to see them doing it.” 

“Fifty Shades of Grey” hits theaters February 13. l

New research publications attract many at Boi Melan Nure Alam Durjoy

Amid publica-tions of a lot of novels, po-etry and short stories, some new research books have shone light at

the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, although they are very few in numbers.

Stall attendants say those interest-ed in research books, students and teachers can � nd them easily and buy them at a discount of 25% at the fair. They have so far sold a reasonable number of such books.

The fair, yesterday on its ninth day, welcomed new arrivals of six research books, totalling the number of books in this genre to be 28. The total num-ber of all new arrivals at the book fair since its beginning is 1,139.

Among others, there is a research work compilation “New Light on the History of Ancient South-East Bengal” written by Shariful Islam and brought out Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

The preface of the book reads: “It provides many unknown facts of chronological dynastic history of an-cient southeast Bengal.”

The author further wrote about his work: “While I was studying ancient Bengal, it appeared to me that south-east Bengal formed a separate politi-cal and cultural entity from very early times. The ancient history of this area is now the core territory of independ-ent Bangladesh.”

Sheikh Abdus Sohrab, a junior op-erator at Bangladesh Bureau of Statis-tics, said they were attending the fair mainly to introduce their publications and inspire researchers.

“Among others, Statistical Pocket-

book Bangladesh 2013 and Statistical Yearbook Bangladesh 2013 are mainly being sold,” he said.

Mahmudur Rahman, an atten-

dant at the stall of Bangladesh Insti-tute of Development Studies (BIDS), told this correspondent: “Basically, college-university students, teach-ers and researchers come here most. They have interest in this � eld and appreciate the new work coming out.”

One of BIDS’ newcomers at the fair is “Regional Inequality in Bangladesh in the 2000s: Re-visiting the East-West Divide Debate.”

Tareq Ahmed, an attendant at the stall of Transparency International Bangladesh, said: “It’s been observed

that recent research publications have attracted students, teachers, and re-searchers most.”

Shoeb Siddiqi, an attendant at the stall of Center for Policy Dialoguetold this correspondent: “Books by Rehman Sobhan and FahmidaKhatun are the ones being sold most, and its readers tend to be critical thinkers.”

Despite the ongoing hartal, the fair spirit was high yesterday, after a dull two days which had seen a fall in sales and fewer visitors. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 10, 2015

AMAR EKUSHEYBOOK FAIR 2015

Visitors skim through the new books of their favourite writers before buying them at Ekushey Book Fair 2015 MEHEDI HASAN

Islamists may exploit political void, warns ICGn Tribune Report

Bangladesh has become vulnerable to Islamist extremists due to the “polit-ical void” which is a result of the two main political camps refusing to work towards an agreeable middleground, cautions the International Crisis Group (ICG).

The Brussels-based think tank work-ing to prevent and resolve deadly con-� ict across the globe recommended in a report yesterday that the ruling Awami League should rein in its repressive be-haviour towards political dissent.

The report also says the main politi-cal opposition, BNP, should commit to non-violent methods of protests and shun Jamaat-e-Islami, which is reaping the bene� ts of its alliance.

It says: “Violent Islamist factions are already reviving, threatening the sec-ular, democratic order of Bangladesh exploiting the current ‘political void’ left by the two main political parties � ghting each other.”

The report reads: “While jihadi forc-es see both parties as the main hurdle to the establishment of an Islamic or-der, the AL and the BNP perceive each other as the main adversary.”

The think tank observes that “the political crisis is fast approaching the point of no return and could gravely destabilise Bangladesh” if the two sides do not resolve the tension quickly.

It says the ruling party should start “by respecting the democratic right to

dissent” and the BNP by “reviving its political fortunes through compromise with the ruling party, rather than vio-lent street politics.”

“With the two largest mainstream parties unwilling to work toward a new political compact that respects the rights of both opposition and victor to govern within the rule of law, extrem-ists and criminal networks could ex-ploit the resulting political void.”

The report notes that although con-sidering them “political non-entities” due to their absence from parliament, the government still fears BNP’s comeback.

As a result the government “is at-tempting to forcibly neutralise the po-litical opposition and sti� e dissent” by bringing corruption and other criminal cases against leaders of the main polit-ical opposition.

The Crisis Group also notes the gov-ernment’s “heavy-handed use of police and paramilitary forces” and “legisla-tion and policies that undermine fun-damental constitutional rights”.

The report reprimands BNP for not accepting “any responsibility for the election-related violence in 2014 that left hundreds dead (and saw hundreds of Hindu homes and shops vandalised).”

The party “is again attempting to oust the government by force, in alli-ance with the Jamaat-e-Islami, which is alleged to have committed some of the worst abuses during that period” states the report about pre and post election violence. l

Arson suspect killed in police ‘gun� ght’n Ashif Islam Shaon

A suspected arsonist was claimed to have died in a gun� ght with police at Jatrabari early yesterday while the bul-let-hit body of another man was also recovered from Mirpur.

The “shootout” victim was Rasel Sardar, 28, who lived in Fatullah of Narayanganj and worked at a mobile repair shop in south Keraniganj.

Police said detectives � red at some miscreants who hurled a petrol bomb at a truck in Matuail area around 4:30am.

“The arsonists also � red at police, triggering a gun battle. Rasel’s body was recovered from the scene when the other miscreants � ed,” said Mosharaf Hossain, sub-inspector of Jatrabari po-lice station.

He said three petrol bombs and a gun were recovered from the spot.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy where the victim’s brother, Akash, identi� ed him in the afternoon.

Akash said Rasel hailed from Barisal and got married six months ago.

“He remained missing since Feb-ruary 5 when he went out in the af-ternoon and said he would come back

soon. We went to a number of police stations in Old Dhaka but could not

� nd any information about his where-abouts,” he said.

Claiming Rasel innocent, his wife Shefali Begum told reporters that her husband had no connection with any political party.

Shefali, who works at a private � rm, said: “My husband had been working at the mobile repair shop for the last two years, and would only get Tk2,000 every month. That is why I took a job to support the family.”

But Deputy Commissioner of the Detective Branch of police Jahangir Hossain Matubbar said Rasel was one of those who hurled a petrol bomb at a bus in Jatrabari last month.

“Two accused confessed to having link with the arson attack and they mentioned Rasel’s name,” he said.

In the cases � led in connection with the attack, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and some other BNP leaders were accused. Khaleda was accused of aid-ing and abetting the crime.

Also on last Wednesday, two youths were killed in a “gun� ght” with RAB in Katherpool area, and they were claimed to be involved with the Jatra-bari arson attack.

The attack, made on a bus of Glory

Paribahan on January 23, left at least 23 passengers with burn injuries. One of them later died during treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Unidentified man’s body recoveredPolice recovered the body of an uni-denti� ed youth from Mirpur’s Kalshi area around 6:45am.

They also found 14 crude bombs and petrol bombs beside his body.

Atiqur Rahman, o� cer-in-charge of Dhaka Cantonment police station, said the body was found near an automo-bile workshop not very far from Kalshi bridge.

Dhaka Medical College morgue sources said there was blood inside the man’s mouth and also a bullet injury above the right ear.

More than 20 people have died in “gun� ghts” with law enforcement o� -cials across the country since January 5, with 10 killed in the capital.

Four of the dead were BNP activists while eight were that of Jamaat-e-Is-lami and Chhatra Shibir, according to family members.

Police meanwhile claimed that six of the “gun� ght” victims were robbers. l

Arsonists put match to dreams of a better lifen Mohammad Jamil Khan

A twenty year-old man injured in a petrol bomb attack on the eve of his voyage abroad has had his dreams of a better life go up in � ames.

Twenty-year-old Jilkad Islam was supposed to be packing his bags ahead of his � ight to Saudi Arabia where had a job o� er lined up.

Instead he is writhing in pain at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), after his passenger bus was � rebombed in Comilla, killing seven outright and injuring 16.

Jilkad was not the only one on the bus who was looking forward to a new life.

Six were admitted to the DMCH along with him. One patient, Rashedul, has since died.

Rashedul was scheduled to go to Qatar on February 3. Rashed’s uncle, Yousuf, was also scheduled to go to Qatar but was burned to death inside the bus.

On level four of the Burn Institute yesterday, Jilkad was found groan-ing in pain as his father, Jahirul Islam, dressed his wounds with new band-ages with the help of a ward boy.

Asked what would come of his son’s foreign work prospects, Jahirul said he did not know what the future held. “What can I say? I have paid Tk3.45

lakh for the trip to Saudi Arabia. Every-day the recruiting agency calls to ask about his condition, but I have no an-swer for them.”

“The medical check-up was done and we received con� rmation for Jilkad to go to work in Saudi Arabia. Now everything is uncertain,” Jahirul said.

The elder son of cattle trader Jahirul, Jilkad is from Singair in Manikganj. Jilkad’s brother, Akram, is a student of class � ve at a local school.

Jilkad and three friends had taken a trip to Cox’s Bazar on January 26 ahead of his scheduled departure for Saudi Arabia.

He was burned in the attack on Feb-ruary 2 on a Dhaka-bound Icon Pariba-han bus from Cox’s Bazar.

When the bus reached the Chouddo-gram area of Comilla, arsonists threw a petrol bomb at the bus, leaving seven people dead and 16 injured.

Dr Partha Shankar Pal, resident sur-geon of the DMCH Burn Institute, told the Dhaka Tribune that Jilkad is now out of danger but had sustained 20% burns and would take time to heal com-pletely.

“Of the one hundred and twen-ty-four patients that have been admit-ted to the DMCH Burn Institute since the blockade began, 57 are still under-going treatment,” he said.

At DMCH, 15 patients are currently in critical condition with seven being treated at the Intensive Care Unit and eight others being treated at the High Dependency Unit.

Nine patients have died while being treated at DMCH.

Across the country, 38 people have died from burn injuries sustained in petrol bomb attacks. The total death toll from blockade-related violence stands at 72. l

Schoolboy commits suicide over tortureby teachern Our Correspondent, Chandpur

Holding his school teacher accountable for torture and manhandling, a school-boy in Chandpur allegedly committed suicide yesterday by taking poison.

Md Hanif, 15, the son of Mizanur Rahman from Khidirpur village in Mat-lab Dakshin upazila of the district, was a class X student at Narayanpur Popu-lar High School.

Sheuly, Hanif’s sister, said Har-un-or-Rashid, the school headmaster, beat him in front of his classmates and con� ned him to the o� ce room inthe morning, which upset the boy ex-ceedingly.

His elder brother, Habib, said Hanif returned home at afternoon, and shared his frame of mind. Later, he committed suicide as he could not bear his teacher’s mistreatment.

But the headmaster denied the al-legation. He said two female students had brought allegations of sexual har-assment against Hanif.

“I just warned him about the harass-ment,” the headmaster added.

Police recovered the body and sent it to a local hospital morgue. l

Transport owners agree to cancel long-haul night tripsn Shohel Mamun

Long-haul transport owners yesterday agreed to a government directive not to operate any bus on highways after 9pm during the ongoing blockade until fur-ther notice.

The directive was issued at a meet-ing yesterday evening in view of the recent spate of arson attacks that dam-aged hundreds of vehicles in di� erent parts of the country.

State Minister for Home Asaduzzam-an Khan Kamal held the meeting with transport owners at the Home Ministry.

But the directive would not be ap-plicable to freight transports, including trucks and covered vans.

After the meeting, police also directed o� cials at all highway bus terminals to let buses run only between 6am and 9pm.

Kamal told reporters after the meet-ing the government took the decision in line with the suggestion made by police on February 7 not to operate any bus on highways at night.

“We have identi� ed some vulner-able points in the northern part of the

country and steps will be taken shortly to ensure security at those,” he said.

The government earlier identi� ed 993 risky points on highways and de-cided to deploy 12,000 Ansar members there. BGB has already been deployed to ensure security on roads.

Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Malik Sam-ity Secretary Khandaker Enayet Ullah told the Dhaka Tribune the transport owners would comply with the govern-ment order.

“But we also demand that security be ensured at the vulnerable points im-mediately,” he said.

Even though transport owners agreed to follow the government order, they told reporters that security meas-ures were not adequate at vulnerable points.

We were earlier told that security would be beefed up but that actually did not happen, they said.

Arson attacks on buses and trucks across the country have killed over 60 people since January 5 when BNP chief Khaleda Zia imposed the inde� nite blockade. l

The total number of all new arrivals at the book fair since its beginning is 1,139

Dream down the drain – Zilkat, who was one of the unfortunate passengers in the Dhaka-bound bus that was attacked in Chouddagram, Comilla last week, was all set to � y to Saudi Arabia soon. Now undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital for his severe burn injuries in the petrol bomb attack, he does not know if his dream of working in Saudi Arabia will ever come true MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015

B3 StanChart targets wealthier customers in retail bank revamp

B4 India’s economy seen rising through fog of data

JS committee to give opinion on MLM licence renewaln Asif Showkat Kallol

The parliamentary standing committee on commerce ministry will soon give its opinion on the extension of the four Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) compa-nies as their respective licences those expired on February 2 this year.

The four MLM companies are Mod-ern Herbal, World Mission, Shadhine Online and Rich Business System.

The government had awarded the licenses on March 05, 2014 and the licenses stated that the MLM � rms would renew their registration in the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms by March 04, 2015.

“We are now examining the matter related to the four MLM companies as we have already interviewed the owners of the four MLM com-panies,” Motahar Hossain, a mem-ber of the stand-ing committee, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He also said the committee would soon sub-mit its report on renewing the

licenses of the four MLM companies within 30 days.

“But, we had to stop our scheduled visit to the four companies due to the ongoing blockade and hartals,” he add-ed.

Senior Secretary to the Commerce Ministry Hedayetullah Al Mamoon said, “We will make a decision on the renewal of license soon after getting opinion from the standing committee.”

According to the act, every MLM company must obtain a license before starting its business. If any person is found operating an MLM business without a valid license, he or she will be awarded a minimum of 5 years and maximum 10 years’ imprisonment and a penalty of Tk50 lakh. l

Garment owners to observe hunger strike against unrest on Feb 14 n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will observe a day-long hunger strike on February 14 protesting the current political unrest.

It will urge government and oppo-sition BNP to � nd a solution to the deadlock immediately, BGMEA vice president Reaz Bin Mahmood said told Dhaka Tribune. Besides, the BGMEA will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) tomorrow to � nalise the details of the programme.

The EGM will set agenda for the next course of action.

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufactur-

ers and Exporters Association (BK-MEA), Bangladesh Textile Mills Asso-ciation (BTMA) and other associations related to the sector will also attend the meeting.

A source of BGMEA said the body might decide to stop production at the factories until the crisis is over.

He said the purpose of the move is to create pressure on the government and BNP-led alliance to come to a con-sensus on the crisis.

According to an estimate of the apex trade body FBCCI, the RMG sector has su� ered a loss of Tk30,000 crore in one month since the start of non-stop blockade on January 6.

Earlier, the BGMEA staged demon-

stration urging the political parties to end the crisis and ensure a busi-ness-friendly environment.

At least 69 people were killed in the current spate of violence and over 580 vehicles were torched across the coun-try. angladesh’s garment manufactur-ers and exporters yesterday said the industry is in a deep trouble again due to latest spate of political unrest.

Earlier on January 28, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Export-ers Association (BGMEA) organised a human chain in front of the BGMEA Bhaban in Dhaka.

“The blockade that began on Jan-uary 4 has already wiped o� Tk4,50 crore of readymade garment sector,” l

Grameenphone crosses Tk10,000 crore mark in annual revenue in 2014 n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Mobile phone operator Grameenphone has achieved its targeted revenue of Tk10,000 in 2014.

Data showed the total revenue in the year amounted to Tk10,270 crore, which was 6.3% higher than the last year.

The market leader has disclosed annual � nancial � gures yesterday at a press conference in the city, where its newly appointed chief executive o� cer Rajeev Sethi said, “Last year (2014) we have touched several milestones and out of them the most signi� cant one is crossing the hundred billion taka reve-nue mark.”

Rajeev Sethi also said they had now 50m active subscribers after introduc-ing “some attractive services.”

Grameenphone had targeted to earn Tk10,000 crore revenue in 2014 as its revenue was Tk9,662 crore in 2013 and Tk9,190 crore in 2012

“During the year, we managed to consolidate our position as the leading mobile operator and have taken am-bitions to excel further in 2015,” said Grameenphone CEO.

He added: “Structured approach of building on our strengths, applying the right mindset and executing our strat-egy will further contribute to adding

value for our shareholders.” Grameenphone boss expressed his

satisfaction over data revenue growth and said one-third of total 2014 reve-nue came from the data sector.

According to the Dhaka Stock Ex-change, among the listed � rms, only British American Tobacco Company Ltd (BATBC) has generated a yearly revenue of that amount.

In 2013 BATBC reported Tk10,968 crore revenue. And after that Grameen-phone was the second company having generated more than Tk10,000 crore in a calender year.

The operator said its service reve-nue grew 5.9% year-on-year along with 14.1% growth in customer equipment and other revenues.

Growth in service revenue was mainly driven by data and VAS. How-ever, the service revenue growth faced some headwind from reduction in in-ternational call termination rates.

During the year, Grameenphone won 4.4m new subscriptions, tak-ing the year-end subscription base to 51.5m. With this 9.3% growth in sub-scribers against industry growth of 5.8%, the operator managed to improve its market share by 1.4% to 42.8%.

Strong and vibrant presence in the market amidst competitive environ-

ment contributed to this position. The market leader also reported a

net pro� t after taxes of Tk1,980 crore last year with 19.3% margin compared to Tk1,470 crore with 15.2% margin of 2013.

The operator’s earnings per share (EPS) for 2014 stood at TK14.67 compared to Tk10.89 in 2013. This prompted a 34.7% growth in earnings, however, normal-ising GPIT sale gain on 1 September, 2013 and increasing corporate tax rate by 5% and the revised rate standing at a healthy 12%.

Grameenphone board has recom-mended � nal dividend at 160% for the concluded year (Tk16 per share from Tk10).

As of the record date February 18, the shareholders will be entitled for

the � nal dividend, which is subject to the shareholders’ approval at the AGM to be held on 21 April.

The operator said they had invest-ed Tk1,520 crore during the period for 3G roll-out throughout the country, 2G coverage as well as capacity increase and other e� ciency enhancement ini-tiatives.

Grameenphone CEO said the cur-rent political situation had a signi� cant impact on revenue earnings.

“As the non-stop blockade has an impact on the overall economy, it will a� ect our customers income and the operator’s revenue as a result,” Rajeev Sethi said.

He said they wanted a level-playing � eld for upcoming spectrum auction for 1800 band which is set to be held soon.

BTRC will not allow Grameenphone to participate in the coming auction as the regulator argues the operator has already more spectrum than others. BTRC said Grameenphone can buy the unsold spectrum, if any.

But Grameenphone said it needed more spectrum as its subscriber base is larger than others.

Rajeev Sethi said if they were not allowed to participate, they would re-think about auction participation. l

Vietnam likely to overtake Bangladesh in apparel exports by 2024 once TPP takes shapePolitical unrest might help the forecast be achieved faster than expected n Kayes Sohel

Vietnam is likely to overtake Bang-ladesh in the global apparel export market share in next 10 years once the Trans Paci� c Partnership (TPP) takes shape, according to a new study.

The TPP is a proposed freed trade agreement, US-led trade pact involving 12 countries – Australia, Brunei, Can-ada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam that collectively account for 40% of the world GDP. It is current-ly under negotiation and is likely to take e� ect in 2015.

According to a research report by Standard Chartered Bank released last month, the agreement is likely to ben-e� t Vietnam’s apparel industry, while hurting South Asian competitors like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

“Vietnam could overtake Bangla-desh in global apparel export market share by 2024, raising its share to 11% from 4% currently. Bangladesh’s mar-ket share would increase only margin-ally in this scenario to 7% from current 5%, while Sri Lanka’s would decline from the current 1%.”

On this basis, Vietnam would beat Bangladesh to become the second-big-gest apparel supplier after China when its apparel exports swells to US$115bn, it said.

“If no TPP deal is struck at all, Bang-ladesh and Vietnam are likely to stand neck-and-neck by 2024, each with an 8% apparel export market share.”

The news has added additional pain to the local manufacturers who have already been counting heavy losses every day due to the non-stop trans-port blockade and frequent strikes since January 5 that paralyses Bangla-desh.

“It will bring disaster for the coun-try’s apparel industry, the mainstay of the economy, once the TPP is done,” President of Bangladesh Garment Man-ufacturers and Exporters Association Atiqul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“To save the industry, we have to deal with the issue very smartly and diplomatically. We have no time to wait … we need to act right at this mo-ment,” he said.

The BGMEA president sees that the current political unrest may lead the American buyers earlier than expected to divert orders in Vietnam for taking advantage of TPP.

“The US buyers might start to build relationship with Vietnam exporters right now due to the current political upheaval,” he said.

According to StanChart researcher Radhika Kak, the TPP trade pact, ex-pected to be signed in 2015, will have

wide-ranging consequences for the global apparel industry.

Irrespective of the � ne print, the agreement is likely to bene� t Vietnam’s apparel industry, while hurting South Asian competitors like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, she said.

The StanChart report, however, said a TPP agreement with stringent Rules of Origin (ROO) requirements would likely lead to limited immediate gains for Vietnam’s apparel manufacturers.

“Rather, the bene� ts would accrue gradually as the domestic textile in-dustry develops. A wave of foreign in-vestment in Vietnam’s textile industry has already begun, ahead of a potential TPP deal.”

The report suggested that Bangla-desh and Sri Lanka need to take steps to protect their own apparel industries in the face of a potential TPP deal. In the near term, Bangladesh should fo-cus on capturing more of China’s cur-

rent market share in the EU. Compliance with global safety and

labour norms could help it to achieve this, as it would ensure continued access to EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) privileges, even af-ter it graduates from Least-Developed Country status, it said.

“It should also work to regain US GSP privileges. In the long term, up-skilling of the labour force will be necessary for Bangladesh to move up the value chain.”

Kak said the push for strict ROO requirements re� ects the US govern-ment’s desire to protect its domestic textile industry from increased compe-tition from non-TPP textile manufac-turing countries.

“While the agreement with strin-gent ROO would not provide immedi-ate gains for Vietnam’s apparel man-ufacturers, bene� ts would gradually boost the domestic textile industry.”

The report said Vietnam’s apparel industry has called for maximum � ex-ibility via the “cut and sew rule” which would give apparel manufacturers the � exibility to source yarn and fabric from lower-cost destinations (includ-ing non-TPP countries), requiring only assembly of the � nal product to be done in the TPP country.

Flexible ROO requirements would likely result in gains for Korea and Ja-pan, the primary suppliers of textiles to Vietnam’s apparel industry while China and Hong Kong would likely see little impact, as they are big suppliers to all three countries (Vietnam, Bangla-desh and Sri Lanka), it said.

Asian suppliers such as India, Pa-kistan and Thailand, as well as some European countries, would be likely losers, as they are preferred suppliers to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it said. l

Default loan growth slows to single digit n Jebun Nesa Alo

The growth rate of default loans has come down to single digit in the fourth quarter of last year from double digit that continued in the previous three quarters, thanks to the measures taken by the central bank.

The gross default loan rate stood at 9.69% in October-December quarter of the year 2014 from 11.60% in the previ-ous quarter (July-September).

The total default loan amount stood at Tk50,000 crore at the end of Decem-ber, dropped by Tk7,000 crore from Tk57,290 in September last year, ac-cording to the Bangladesh Bank data.

The reduce in default loans of the state-owned banks mainly helped to bring down the overall default loan rate, said a senior executive of Bangla-desh Bank.

The rate of the state-owned banks came down to 22.23% in December quarter compared to 27.42% in Sep-tember quarter.

The state-owned banks conducted a massive drive to reduce the default loans in the following quarters under Bangladesh Bank pressure as these banks are mainly blamed for the high default rates.

The default loan rate of the pri-vate commercial banks came down to 4.98% in December quarter from 6.34% in previous quarter.

The foreign banks and specialised banks witnessed rise in default loans to 7.30% and 32.81% respectively dur-ing the quarter compared to 7.01% and 29.41%, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

Earlier, the Non Performing Loans

(NPL) rate came down to single digit in October-December quarter of the year 2009. Then it remained below 10% till September quarter of 2012.

The banking sector witnessed a rise in NPL since December quarter of 2012 and also saw abnormal growth during the year 2013.

Maximum large business groups faced di� culties to keep continue reg-ular payment of loan installment dur-ing the year 2013 while country went through high-voltage of political tur-moil. In this perspectives, the uptrend in classi� ed loans continuedin the three consecutive quarters during the last year, despite Bangladesh Bank ef-forts for bringing out business from the default culture.

Bangladesh Bank relaxed its re-schedule policy in December 2013 to facilitated the business groups a� ected by political unrest.

As a result the default loan rate, though, came down to single digit 8.93% in December quarter of the year 2013 thanks to huge loan rescheduling under the relaxed policy.

The trend did not sustain longer as the clients who rescheduled loan tak-ing advantages failed to continue in-stallment payment further.

The banks have been asked to bring down by any means the rate of default loans to single digit by the end of De-cember.

Bangladesh Bank issued the direc-tive at the bankers’ meeting held in middle of December last year. In re-sponse, the bankers demanded of the central bank to further relax the loan rescheduling policy if they have to bring it down below 10%. l

Last year we touched several milestones and out of them the most signi� cant one is crossing the hundred billion taka revenue mark

The � le photo shows BGMEA holding a human chain in the capital on January 28 to protest the political unrest MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

B2 Stock Tuesday, February 10, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

News, analysis and recent disclosuresGP: The Board of Directors has recom-mended 65% � nal cash dividend (i.e. total 160% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 95% Interim cash dividend which has already been paid) for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 21.04.2015, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Center-2, Block-C, Bashundhara R/A, Baridhara, Dhaka-1219. Record date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 19,803.28 million, EPS of Tk. 14.67, NAV per share of Tk. 23.23 and NOCFPS of Tk. 23.15 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.SAPORTL: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. The Board has also decided to issue Rights shares at the rate of 1R:5 (i.e. one Rights share for � ve shares held) at an issue price of Tk. 25.00 each including premium of Tk. 15.00 per share subject to approval of shareholders and regulatory authorities. Date of AGM: 14.03.2015, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Police Convention Hall, Eskaton Garden Road, Ramna, Dhaka-1000. Record

Date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 0.82, NAV per share of Tk. 42.29 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.91 for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be noti� ed later after obtaining approval from BSEC.DACCADYE: (H/Y Un-audited): Net Pro� t after tax from July14 to Dec14 was Tk. 35.48 million with EPS of Tk. 0.45 as against Tk. 65.49 million and Tk. 0.83 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas pro� t after tax from Oct14 to Dec14 was Tk. 14.39 million with EPS of Tk. 0.18 as against Tk. 45.27 million and Tk. 0.57 respectively for the same period of the previous year.IFADAUTOS: (H/Y Un-audited): Net Pro� t after tax from July14 to Dec14 was Tk. 91.37 million with EPS of Tk. 0.97 as against Tk. 148.58 million and Tk. 1.58 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas pro� t after tax from Oct14 to Dec14 was Tk. 36.45 million with EPS of Tk. 0.38 as against Tk. 47.11 million and Tk. 0.50 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

IPO Subscription: Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 01 to 05 Febuary 2015, NRB upto 14 Febuary 2015. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.Dividend/AGMCNATEX: 11% stock, AGM: 15.03.2015, Record Date: 18.02.2015.RAKCERAMIC: 25% cash, EGM and AGM: 25.03.2015, Record date: 17.02.2015.GSPFINANCE: 55% stock, AGM: 23.02.2015, Record Date: 05.02.2015.HRTEX:12.50% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record date: 12.02.2015.MARICO: 225% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 29.01.2015.ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 26.02.2015, Record Date: 05.01.2015.JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015, Record date: 22.12.2014. SPCL: 25% cash and 5% stock dividend, AGM: 29.01.2015, Record Date: 27.11.2014.SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 24.01.2015, Record Date: 23.12.2014.

Marginal rally with volatility continues at stock marketn Tribune Report

Stocks continued to edge up with volatility for the fourth session in a row yesterday, as political woes persisted to put damper on investor sentiment.

The market opened negative on quick pro� t booking, largely re� ect-ing worries arising from the coun-try’s political turbulence that began from January 5, dealers said.

However, some optimistic in-vestors took position availing lower prices in anticipation of sudden po-litical settlement, they added.

The benchmark index DSEX was marginally up 10 points or 0.3% to close at 4,712, hitting highest 4,728 in the � rst hour and lowest 4,697 at open.

The Shariah index DSES inched 2 points or 0.3% up to 1,120. The com-prising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,749, gaining 6 points or 0.4%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, moved up marginally 22 points to 8,743. Volume of trade still re-mained low, hovering around Tk200 crore, indicating that investors pre-ferred to stay sidelines in the polit-ical turmoil.

The DSE turnover stood at Tk268 crore, an increase of over 20%, driv-en by newly listed IFAD Autos that contributed for more than 14% over

the previous session. The market breadth, however, re-

mained negative as out of 311 issues traded, 124 advanced, 138 declined and 49 remained unchanged.

All the major sectors wit-nessed marginal movements with non-banking � nancial institutions posting a rally of 0.9%.

Pharmaceuticals, tannery, power and cement posted skimpy returns while food & allied, banks, engi-neering and telecommunication closed slightly lower.

Zenith Investments said stocks were now showing signs of minute recovery, but failed to boost con� -dence among the investors.

It also observed that the over-all trade volume still remained low where much of the contribution went to the political uncertainty.

Lanka Bangla Securities said mar-ket managed to maintain 4700-level amid consolidation, supported by large and mid-cap stocks.

“Investors’ participation is im-proving gradually amid cautious trading.”

IFAD Autos topped the turn-over list with shares worth Tk28.5 crore changing hands, followed by ACI, Mobil Jamuna Limited Ban-gladesh, Square Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone, ACI Formulation, Lafarge Surma Cement and Singer Bangladesh. l

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Ifad Autos -N -12.72 -11.63 63.52 60.40 67.90 58.30 34.001 1.92 33.1Aziz PipesZ -9.87 -9.87 20.10 20.10 20.10 20.10 0.008 -0.37 -vePhoenix Fin. 1st MF-A -9.26 -8.75 4.90 4.90 4.90 4.90 0.002 0.66 7.4Alltex Industries -Z -5.73 -3.77 27.06 26.30 28.10 26.20 4.508 2.02 13.4Provati Insur.-A -5.71 -5.77 16.49 16.50 16.60 16.10 0.054 1.97 8.4Da� odil Computers -Z -5.38 -5.31 12.30 12.30 13.00 12.10 0.003 0.86 14.3ICB AMCL3rd NRB MF-A -4.55 -4.71 4.25 4.20 4.30 4.20 0.200 0.46 9.2C & A Textile -N -4.48 -5.44 19.63 19.20 20.30 19.00 9.947 2.01 9.8AMCL 2nd MF-A -4.17 -4.17 4.60 4.60 4.60 4.60 0.051 0.84 5.5GSP Finance-A -4.17 -4.37 16.20 16.10 17.00 15.90 1.323 1.02 15.9

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Ifad Autos -N -14.14 -11.80 64.06 60.10 67.50 58.00 284.786 1.92 33.4Alltex Industries -Z -5.73 -4.15 27.04 26.30 28.30 26.10 40.331 2.02 13.4GSP Finance-A -5.36 -3.20 16.36 15.90 17.00 15.80 8.979 1.02 16.0Fareast Finance-Z -5.36 -3.09 16.32 15.90 17.10 15.80 4.271 1.08 15.1Reliance Insur -A -5.19 -5.01 53.06 53.00 56.00 51.50 0.303 3.79 14.0Kay & Que (BD) -Z -4.86 -4.80 13.70 13.70 13.70 13.70 0.001 -1.41 -veShahjibazar Power-N -4.20 -3.70 159.96 157.40 168.80 156.00 23.854 8.68 18.4AMCL 2nd MF-A -4.08 0.00 4.92 4.70 5.10 4.70 0.666 0.84 5.97th ICB M F-A -4.03 -4.00 88.00 88.00 88.00 88.00 0.088 12.76 6.9Dacca Dyeing-A -4.00 -3.18 14.61 14.40 15.00 14.30 13.223 1.04 14.0

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

Ifad Autos -N 535,282 34.00 14.80 60.40 -12.72 69.20 67.90 58.30 63.52C & A Textile -N 506,595 9.95 4.33 19.20 -4.48 20.10 20.30 19.00 19.63MJL BD Ltd.-A 81,094 9.57 4.17 119.00 0.42 118.50 120.40 116.00 118.05SummitAlliancePort.-A 156,676 9.10 3.96 58.30 3.00 56.60 59.70 55.60 58.08Grameenphone-A 26,800 9.08 3.95 340.90 0.26 340.00 346.00 305.00 338.92LafargeS Cement-Z 70,540 8.73 3.80 123.00 0.16 122.80 125.40 122.50 123.71National Feed-N 275,079 7.62 3.32 27.10 -2.87 27.90 28.50 27.00 27.71Singer BD -A 26,582 5.87 2.55 221.70 3.65 213.90 223.90 217.20 220.86BSRM Steels-A 71,760 5.71 2.49 80.30 3.21 77.80 82.00 76.10 79.58BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 185,378 5.36 2.33 28.80 0.70 28.60 29.10 28.70 28.89Deshbandhu Polymer-A 244,033 5.27 2.29 20.90 -1.42 21.20 21.90 20.80 21.59Alltex Industries -Z 166,578 4.51 1.96 26.30 -5.73 27.90 28.10 26.20 27.06WesternMarine -N 91,503 4.24 1.85 46.00 0.22 45.90 46.90 45.70 46.36National Bank - A 302,283 3.63 1.58 12.00 0.84 11.90 12.10 11.90 12.02RAK Ceramics-A 64,611 3.62 1.57 56.30 1.99 55.20 56.60 55.20 55.96

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

Ifad Autos -N 4,445,935 284.79 10.64 60.10 -14.14 70.00 67.50 58.00 64.06ACI Limited- A 286,314 110.12 4.11 386.80 3.87 372.40 389.50 371.00 384.63MJL BD Ltd.-A 838,584 99.22 3.71 118.70 0.51 118.10 120.00 117.10 118.31Square Pharma -A 349,843 90.62 3.39 259.30 0.93 256.90 261.00 257.00 259.02Grameenphone-A 214,549 73.19 2.73 340.00 -0.03 340.10 347.00 336.10 341.12Olympic Ind. -A 308,780 68.40 2.56 220.00 -0.81 221.80 223.70 219.00 221.51Marico BD Ltd-A 56,623 67.31 2.51 1131.30 0.36 1127.20 1196.00 1115.00 1188.70ACI Formulations-A 499,832 66.31 2.48 135.00 6.13 127.20 136.00 127.30 132.67LafargeS Cement-Z 492,300 60.89 2.27 123.10 0.16 122.90 125.10 122.70 123.67Singer BD -A 266,608 58.90 2.20 221.90 3.02 215.40 224.00 215.50 220.91aamra technologies-A 1,375,425 52.97 1.98 38.10 -2.06 38.90 39.50 37.90 38.51National Bank - A 4,335,166 52.38 1.96 12.10 0.83 12.00 12.20 11.90 12.08SummitAlliancePort.-A 894,758 51.92 1.94 58.50 3.72 56.40 59.60 54.00 58.03CVO PetroChem RL-A 109,593 51.68 1.93 468.10 1.69 460.30 478.70 463.20 471.57Agni Systems -A 1,585,802 48.96 1.83 30.60 0.33 30.50 31.30 30.40 30.87

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 190.09 7.10 14.00 6.09 204.09 7.02NBFI 108.88 4.07 8.15 3.55 117.03 4.03Investment 46.49 1.74 2.38 1.03 48.86 1.68Engineering 575.87 21.51 63.79 27.76 639.66 22.01Food & Allied 139.98 5.23 5.98 2.60 145.96 5.02Fuel & Power 328.28 12.26 22.47 9.78 350.75 12.07Jute 1.23 0.05 0.00 1.23 0.04Textile 214.59 8.02 29.73 12.94 244.32 8.41Pharma & Chemical 489.00 18.27 19.13 8.32 508.12 17.48Paper & Packaging 8.74 0.33 0.98 0.43 9.72 0.33Service 86.12 3.22 11.96 5.21 98.08 3.37Leather 19.98 0.75 1.05 0.46 21.03 0.72Ceramic 54.40 2.03 4.00 1.74 58.40 2.01Cement 74.82 2.79 10.82 4.71 85.64 2.95Information Technology 105.11 3.93 3.37 1.47 108.48 3.73General Insurance 20.64 0.77 0.42 0.18 21.05 0.72Life Insurance 34.61 1.29 1.56 0.68 36.17 1.24Telecom 93.18 3.48 12.63 5.49 105.81 3.64Travel & Leisure 10.65 0.40 1.90 0.83 12.55 0.43Miscellaneous 74.28 2.77 15.47 6.73 89.75 3.09Debenture 0.03 0.00 0.02 0.01 0.05 0.00

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4712.56799 (+) 0.23% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1749.67928 (+) 0.34% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 14435.51850 (+) 0.33% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11860.33840 (+) 0.74% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8752.20590 (+) 0.36% ▲

DSE key features February 9, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

2,680.12

Turnover (Volume)

62,913,066

Number of Contract 75,577

Traded Issues 312

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

142

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

161

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

9

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,543.00

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.82

CSE key features February 9, 2015Turnover (Million Taka) 229.79

Turnover (Volume) 6,435,951

Number of Contract 11,946

Traded Issues 230

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

120

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

100

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

10

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,468.62

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.92

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Market managed to maintain 4700-level amid consolidation, supported by large and mid-cap stocks

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Samata LeatheR -Z 10.00 10.00 19.80 19.80 19.80 19.80 0.002 -0.46 -veContinental Insur. -A 10.00 10.00 17.60 17.60 17.60 17.60 0.009 2.27 7.8Imam Button -Z 8.99 6.58 9.55 9.70 9.70 9.00 0.469 -1.48 -veEastland Insur -A 7.51 7.55 31.50 31.50 31.50 31.50 0.057 3.33 9.5ACI Formulations-A 7.26 3.91 132.46 134.40 135.00 128.90 3.464 3.27 40.5LR Global BD MF1-A 6.98 6.51 4.58 4.60 4.60 4.50 0.018 0.08 57.3Paramount Insur-A 6.67 6.67 16.00 16.00 16.00 16.00 0.003 1.13 14.2Maksons Spinning-A 6.40 5.10 13.20 13.30 13.40 12.70 3.226 0.88 15.0Usmania Glass -A 4.85 4.96 101.67 101.70 98.80 100.00 0.112 -0.88 -ve ICB -A 4.49 2.64 138.55 139.70 143.50 135.10 1.551 6.08 22.8

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Imam Button -Z 9.64 9.48 9.01 9.10 9.10 8.10 1.203 -1.48 -veACI ZERO Bond-A 6.82 4.17 1,000.00 1,025.50 1,026.50 1,022.50 0.008 0.00 -ACI Formulations-A 6.13 3.93 132.67 135.00 136.00 127.30 66.314 3.27 40.6Maksons Spinning-A 5.56 4.20 13.14 13.30 13.50 12.60 14.466 0.88 14.9IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A 5.00 1.33 6.08 6.30 6.40 5.80 7.070 1.04 5.8Shampur Sugar -Z 4.23 4.23 7.40 7.40 7.40 7.40 0.004 -52.72 -veMeghna Con. Milk -B 4.11 3.66 7.64 7.60 7.90 7.20 0.123 -4.42 -veBD. Autocars -Z 3.94 5.11 21.40 21.10 22.30 20.20 0.015 0.14 152.9Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A 3.92 (0.78) 5.10 5.30 5.50 4.90 0.473 0.66 7.7ACI Limited- A 3.87 4.38 384.63 386.80 389.50 371.00 110.124 9.65 39.9

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 10, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

Nippon Paint has recently announced an expansion in Bangladesh. The expansion will be made for architectural coating segment with a target of Tk1.5bn sales turnover in 3 years. Nippon Paint Malaysia’s Group Managing Director Yaw Seng Heng spoke about the plans, said a press release

Bank Asia has recently started its 33rd foundation training at the bank’s training institute in Dhaka. The bank’s deputy managing director, Humaira Azam inaugurated the training course as chief guest

Social Islami Bank Ltd has recently arranged a business review meeting to evaluate the bank’s business position. The bank’s chairperson, Major Dr Md Rezaul Haque (retd) was present at the programme as chief guest

StanChart targets wealthier customers in retail bank revampn Reuters, Hong Kong

Standard Chartered Plc will shift its re-tail bank’s focus from mass market to af-� uent customers and urge more clients to go online as part of a broader restruc-turing, a senior executive told Reuters.

StanChart’s retail business is one of the � rst divisions the Asia-focused lender has targeted with cuts, announc-ing last month it would axe 4,000 retail jobs or 5% of its global workforce and close 80-100 branches.

The moves come as Chief Executive Peter Sands is under increasing pres-sure to revive the bank’s fortunes after a troubled two years, which abruptly halted a decade of record pro� ts.

Key to � xing the retail division would be stripping out costs, Karen Fawcett, global head of the bank’s re-tail clients unit, told Reuters in an in-terview. She wants to reduce the divi-sion’s cost-income ratio from 67% to 65% by the end of the year, and ulti-mately to 55%.

“We have a fantastic business with 10mn clients in 34 countries...but the problem is high costs,” Fawcett said.

One key initiative will be the rollout of an iPad-based platform for recruiting

new clients in 10 markets this year and another 10 markets in 2016, she said.

In addition to previously announced closures in South Korea, the bank will also close many branches in Pakistan. Most other markets will also see a few closures, Fawcett said, adding that some branches will be relocated.

StanChart’s biggest headache is South Korea, where tight regulations and com-petition from local lenders have made it a di� cult market for foreign banks. Fawcett, however, ruled out a sale of the South Korean business, saying StanChart would work instead to improve sta� performance. StanChart’s woes have prompted some of the lender’s top inves-tors to call for Sands to step down.

Sky News reported on Friday that Sands had told senior sta� on an inter-nal conference call last week that suc-cession planning has already begun.

Fawcett said she had not been pres-ent on the call.

“Peter is a very competent chief ex-ecutive and he is running the bank,” she said.

StanChart’s Hong Kong shares were down 0.9% in afternoon trade. They have lost more than a third of their val-ue in the past 12 months. l Passersby walk infront of the main branch of Standard Chartered in Hong Kong REUTERS

HSBC admits Swiss bank failings over client taxesn Reuters, London

British bank HSBC Holdings Plc admit-ted on Sunday failings by its Swiss sub-sidiary, in response to media reports it helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets.

“We acknowledge and are account-able for past compliance and control failures,” HSBC said on Sunday after news outlets including French newspa-per Le Monde and Britain’s The Guard-ian published allegations about its Swiss private bank.

The Guardian, along with other news outlets, cited documents ob-tained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) via Le Monde.

HSBC said that its Swiss arm had not

been fully integrated into HSBC after its purchase in 1999, allowing “signi� -cantly lower” standards of compliance and due diligence to persist.

The Guardian alleged in its report that the � les showed HSBC’s Swiss bank routinely allowed clients to with-draw “bricks” of cash, often in foreign currencies which were of little use in Switzerland, marketed schemes which were likely to enable wealthy clients to avoid European taxes and colluded with some to conceal undeclared ac-counts from domestic tax authorities.

HSBC said the Swiss private banking industry, long known for its secrecy, operated di� erently in the past and this may have resulted in HSBC having had “a number of clients that may not have been fully compliant with their appli-

cable tax obligations.”Its private bank, especially its Swiss

arm, had undergone “a radical trans-formation” in recent years, it said in a detailed four-page statement.

HSBC’s Swiss private bank was largely acquired as part of its purchase of Republic National Bank of New York and Safra Republic Holdings, a US pri-vate bank.

HSBC said the number of accounts in its Swiss private bank had fallen from 30,412 in 2007 to 10,343 at the end of last year and it was cooperating with authorities investigating tax matters.

The data was supplied by Herve Fal-ciani, a former IT employee of HSBC’s Swiss private bank. HSBC said Falciani downloaded details of accounts and clients at the end of 2006 and early

2007. French authorities have obtained data on thousands of the customers and shared them with tax authorities elsewhere, including Argentina.

Switzerland has charged Falciani, who Reuters was unable to reach for comment, with industrial espionage and breaching the country’s secrecy laws. Falciani has previously told Re-uters he is a whistleblower trying to help governments track down citizens who used Swiss accounts to evade tax.

Some of the details of the list have been released before. The names of 2,000 Greeks with HSBC accounts was made public in 2010 and dubbed the “Lagarde List” after former French � nance minister Christine Lagarde. France passed the names to Greece to help it crack down on tax evasion. l

Coal imports soften as local supply improvesn Reuters, New Delhi

India’s coal imports in January fell 21% month-on-month as state-owned Coal India Ltd ramped up supply from new and existing mines, online trader mjunction said, a trend that is likely to continue this month.

Imports into the world’s third-larg-est coal buyer is estimated to have risen 3% to 15.79mn tonnes in January from a year earlier. Shipments were, however, much lower than the revised � gure of 20mn tonnes for December, mjunction said.

January imports were also a� ected

by Christmas and New Year holidays, said Viresh Oberoi, chief executive and managing director of mjunction.

“We anticipate that imports in Feb-ruary will not deviate much from the January levels largely on account of better availability of domestic coal even as prices were soft in January for steam coal of almost all origin, which Indian companies generally import,” Oberoi said in an email.

Though below target, Coal India’s April-January output rose 6% to 389mn tonnes as it opened new mines and got environmental clearances to raise out-put from operating mines. l

Dollar takes breather after rallying on robust US jobs n AFP, Tokyo

The dollar retreated in Asia yesterday after rallying at the end of last week as a robust US jobs report fuelled speculation the Federal Reserve would bring forward its timetable to raising interest rates.

The greenback bought 118.85 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, slightly down from 119.00 yen in New York Friday af-ternoon but still sharply up from 117.33 yen in Tokyo earlier Friday.

The euro bought $1.1334 compared with $1.1316 in US trade and 134.72 yen against 134.65 yen.

On Friday the US Labor Depart-ment said the world’s largest economy added a better-than-expected 257,000 jobs in January and revised upward al-ready healthy growth in the prior two months. The gains were the best over three months since 1997.

Investors poured into the dollar on expectations the Fed will hike interest rates around the summer as it tries to prevent bubbles from developing in the US economy, which is on a strong recovery track.

“If employment data remain strong, it is highly possible that rates will be raised by mid-year even if pay rises are small,” Junichi Makino, chief econo-mist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said in a note.

If the Fed raises rates by 1 percent-age point annually, the dollar could rise to 125 yen by the end of the year, he said, adding that it could hit 131 yen if the Bank of Japan eases monetary policy further.

The dollar was higher against other Asia-Paci� c currencies.

It gained to 62.08 Indian rupees from 61.72 rupees on Friday, to 12,647.50 In-donesian rupiah from 12,624.40 rupiah and to 1,097.72 South Korean won from 1,087.30 won.

The greenback also rose to Tw$31.54 from Tw$31.42, to Sg$1.3528 from Sg$1.3451, to 32.61 Thai baht from 32.57 baht and to 44.28 Philippine pesos from 44.17 pesos.

The Australian dollar fell to 77.60 US cents from 78.27 cents, while the Chi-nese yuan increased to 19.04 yen from 18.80 yen. l

Germany clocks up record exports n AFP, Frankfurt

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, clocked up a record volume of exports and attained its largest ever trade sur-plus in 2014, data compiled by the fed-eral statistics o� ce Destatis showed yesterday .

Germany exported a record 1.134tn eu-ros ($1.28tn) worth of goods last year and imported goods worth 916.5bn euros.

That pushed the trade surplus - the balance between imports and exports - to an annual total of 217bn euros, Des-tatis calculated in a statement.

In December alone, Germany ex-ported goods worth a total of 98.7bn euros in seasonally adjusted terms, an increase of 3.4% from November, Des-tatis said. l

RBI: L enders need to improve asset qualityn Reuters, Mumbai

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Gover-nor R Gandhi said the central bank has been warning lenders on the need to improve asset quality, reinforcing con-cerns about the bad loans that continue to weigh on earnings in the sector.

Most Indian lenders that have re-ported results for the � scal third-quar-ter to end-December, have seen their bad loan ratios widening.

In some cases loan accounts that had already been restructured turned sour, resulting in so-called slippage.

“Asset quality has always been a concern after the � nancial crisis that has happened,” Gandhi told reporters in Mumbai. “We have been continuous-ly cautioning banks about slippage of stressed assets and we have been guid-ing banks in recovering (the bad debt).”

Stressed assets in the Indian bank-ing system, including bad and restruc-tured loans, are estimated at more than 6tn rupees ($96.7bn), or more than a tenth of the total loans. l

An employee of a money changer counts US dollar notes for a customer REUTERS

If employment data remain strong, it is highly possible that rates will be raised by mid-year even if pay rises are small

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, February 10, 2015

DILBERT

India’s economy seen rising through fog of datan Reuters, New Delhi

Taken at face value India will post ro-bust quarterly growth � gures yester-day, but changes in the way Asia’s third largest economy is measured has left analysts and the government’s own chief economic advisor doubting how far the data can be trusted.

Just over a week ago, everyone was working under the assumption that India was still struggling to gather mo-mentum under Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi’s reform-minded government.

Prior to Modi’s election in May, the economy had endured its weakest phase of growth since the mid-1980s.

Then India’s statisticians re-worked the numbers, changing both the way it calculates gross domestic product and the base year. Suddenly the economy appeared to be motoring again.

Growth for 2013/14 was put at 6.9%, way above the 4.7% previously re-ported. Unfortunately, the overall size of the economy shrank slightly, some-what spoiling the story.

Surjit Bhalla, chairman of Oxus In-vestments and a former World Bank economist who has served on several government committees, distrusted the reliability of the Central Statistical O� ce’s new data series.

“Why question the surge in GDP growth in 2013/14? Because the CSO re-visions do not pass a basic smell test,” Bhalla wrote in the Indian Express on Saturday, particularly questioning data for investment and government con-sumption spending.

Yesterday, India will report GDP data for the quarter ending in Decem-ber, and recalculate growth, using the new method, for the � rst half of � scal 2014/15, having originally reported it at 5.5%. It will no longer provide data based on the old formula.

The changes have left economists groping for a trend.

“The revisions have yet to be ap-plied to quarterly data from this � s-cal year, meaning that the latest GDP numbers are redundant for now,” said Shilan Shah, India Economist at Capital Economics.

The CSO will also give its expecta-tions of growth for the full year.

Using the old methodology, the Re-

serve Bank of India (RBI) has projected growth of around 5.5% for the � scal year ending in March. Analysts at No-mura now expect that to be bumped up to around 6% under the new method.

Other indicators, however, such as industrial production and trade, suggest the economy is still su� ering from slack.

India now measures GDP by market prices instead of factor costs, to take into account gross value addition in goods and services as well as indirect taxes. The base year has been shifted to 2011/12 from 2004/05 earlier.

The statistics department says the new way is more in line with global

practices and gives a better picture of economic activity.

'Mystifying'The statistical fog will be a problem for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as he drafts an annual budget that could be crucial to lifting the economy out of a lengthy rut.

Presenting the 2015/16 budget on Feb. 28, Jaitley is widely expected to boost capital spending and o� er tax breaks to an under-performing manu-facturing sector.

The revised GDP data may make it harder for Jaitley to assess the size of the � scal stimulus required to help re-

store the economy to the even higher growth rates needed to generate jobs for mns of young Indians entering the labour force.

The government’s chief economic adviser, Arvind Subramanian, has warned against framing policies based on the recent revisions, which he branded “mystifying”.

“I am puzzled by the new GDP growth numbers,” he told the Business Standard newspaper last week.

While falling global oil prices, cool-ing in� ation and interest rate cuts are expected to boost demand and im-prove the economic outlook, listless

corporate spending and mounting bad loans at Indian banks remain a drag.

The central bank’s monetary policy switched to a new easing cycle in Janu-ary with its � rst interest rate cut in 20 months, while the rupee currency has been one of the best performers among Asian emerging markets, helped by a lower oil import bill.

“We may be reaching the outskirts of the woods but we are not out of the woods yet,” RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said last week. “So I don’t think any data that suggests we are out of the woods at this point, we would put too much weight on it.” l

Labourers work at the site of an under construction government hospital building in New Delhi REUTERS

Britain, US call for G20 countries to reform economies n AFP, London

Britain and the United States called on leading world powers yesterday to overhaul their economies and keep budgets in line to encourage growth as G20 � nance ministers met in Istanbul.

In an article in the Wall Street Jour-nal, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and British Chancellor of the Exche-quer George Osborne warned of a fore-cast slowdown in global growth, de� a-tionary risks in some countries and a shortfall in demand.

They said the solution should in-clude reforms.

“Domestically that must include better infrastructure, support for small businesses, regulatory reforms that safeguard � nancial stability and im-proved education for all,” they said.

“It must also include strong e� orts

to address impediments that make cer-tain economies structurally less com-petitive, including the variety of rigidi-ties that constrain growth in several European countries.”

They also called on debt-laden Greece, where a new radical leftist government has taken power, to “implement a cred-ible and comprehensive approach to re-form, recovery and economic growth”.

They said that Ukraine should receive increased � nancial support, warning that the con� ict there as well as tensions in the Middle East carried wider “geopolitical risks” for the world economy.

The Group of 20 countries, which ac-count for more than 80 percent of the global economy, are meeting in Tur-key which currently holds the group’s presidency.

Ahead of the meeting, International Monetary Fund chief Christine La-garde urged the ministers to ful� l their pledges to revive the faltering global economy.

“Without action, we could see the global economic supertanker continu-ing to be stuck in the shallow waters of sub-par growth and meager job cre-ation,” Lagarde said in a blog on the IMF website. l

Japan logs record-low current account surplus in 2014 n AFP, Tokyo

Japan’s current account surplus shrank nearly a � fth to a record low $22bn in 2014, the fourth straight annual fall, as its trade de� cit swelled amid a weak yen, o� cial data showed yesterday .

The surplus on its current account fell from 3.23tn yen in 2013 to 2.63tn yen last year, the smallest since 1985, when comparable data became avail-able, according to the � nance ministry.

The current account is the broadest measure of the country’s trade with the rest of the world, including not only trade in goods but also services, tourism and returns on the country’s foreign in-vestment. Japan’s trade de� cit last year grew by 18.1% to 1.04tn yen from the previous year, as the cost of imports of oil and gas - which is priced in dollars - overwhelmed export growth.

Japan has been saddled with a trade imbalance stoked by its heavy depen-dence on importing fossil fuels to gen-erate electricity, with nuclear reactors shut down in response to the 2011 tsu-nami-sparked atomic disaster.

But overall income is improving with higher gains from equity and oth-er direct investment, as well as from investment in � nancial items.

The rise has been in� ated by a weak-er yen, the consequence of Prime Min-ister Shinzo Abe’s pro-spending policy and the Bank of Japan’s massive mon-etary easing.

In December alone Japan posted a cur-rent account surplus of 187.2bn yen, the sixth straight monthly surplus, reversing a de� cit of 679.9bn yen a year earlier.

Capital Economics said Japan’s cur-rent account surplus should continue to improve in coming months as the trade balance may return to surplus as the oil price falls.

“Looking ahead, we expect the yen to weaken towards 140 against the dol-lar by the end of the year, which should provide an additional boost to the in-come balance,” it said.

“What’s more, the plunge in the price of crude oil since last summer has yet to feed through to import prices in full,” it added. “Once this happens, the trade balance may brie� y return to surplus.” l

Oil prices extend rise in Asian trade n AFP, Singapore

Oil prices advanced further in Asia yes-terday as dealers cheered signs of a dip in North American crude production, while a robust US jobs report also pro-vided support, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Interme-diate for March delivery rose 36 cents to $52.05 while Brent crude for March rose 10 cents to $57.90 in afternoon trade.

Last week saw WTI surge seven percent and Brent add 9.4%, their best weekly gains since February 2011.

Nicholas Teo, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said the gains were “motivated by supply-side in� u-ences” in the United States.

A survey by US oil services � rm Bak-

er Hughes Inc released Friday showed the number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States fell 83 to 1,140 in the week to February 6. The dip followed a cut of 94 rigs in the previous week.

Bloomberg News reported that the rig count was standing at its lowest level since December 2011.

The drop, coupled with announce-ments of deep cuts in capital spending by major oil companies including BP and BG Group, suggests there will be tighter supplies in the future.

Oil prices have plunged by about 50% from their June peaks, largely ow-ing to a surge in global reserves boosted by robust US shale production.

Teo said a surprisingly robust jobs report in the US was also supporting prices as it means stronger demand. l

US companies may not be � eeing due to high tax raten Reuters, Washington

When a series of big US companies last year moved to reincorporate abroad in inversion deals, some Republican law-makers and tax policy critics blamed the high US corporate tax rate. Lower-ing it, they said, would keep companies from � eeing the country.

But a Reuters analysis of the taxes being paid by the six largest companies known to be doing inversions in late 2014 and early 2015 showed that, even before the deals, all were paying below the stat-utory US federal corporate rate of 35%.

Most were well below it. The average e� ective tax rate for the six companies was 20.3% for 2011-2013, Reuters found, using an estimation method reviewed by tax experts that was based on public data for US pro� ts and US taxes.

The Reuters analysis suggests that the surge in inversion transactions may not have had much to do with the stat-utory corporate income tax. Moreover, it shows Washington’s current debate over business tax reform may be too fo-cused on the statutory rate, neglecting e� ective rates and the incentives that companies have to shift pro� ts abroad.

The six companies analyzed were Medtronic Inc, Applied Materials Inc, Steris Corp, Mylan Inc, C&J Energy Ser-vices Inc and Burger King, which has

been renamed Restaurant Brands In-ternational Inc.

All six have recently completed or are in the midst of completing inver-sion-type deals, despite a Treasury De-partment crackdown in September that slowed inversion deal-making.

Inversions have been around for three decades, but they became more common in recent years. Guided by tax lawyers and accountants, companies have done more than 50 such deals since the 1980s; about half of them just since 2008.

The deals typically involve a US company buying a smaller foreign ri-val, then taking on its nationality for tax purposes, while many core opera-tions remain in the United States.

The six companies studied have themselves disclosed 2011-2013 e� ec-tive tax rates averaging 27.8%, or 7.5 percentage points higher than the Re-uters calculation.

The discrepancy with the Reuters � gure is likely because the companies’ � gures include not just US federal tax-es, but all taxes, including state, local and foreign.

In a project for Reuters, the Insti-tute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a tax policy think tank in Washing-ton, looked at the six companies’ data somewhat di� erently, stripping out

certain accounting adjustments, and found an average e� ective tax rate of 22.2% over the period.

Tax inversion deals are mainly driven by e� orts to shift pro� ts out of the US and to access overseas earnings at little or no cost in US tax, tax specialists said.

“The issue is much broader than the US corporate tax rate being high,” said Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a centrist think tank.

To be sure, some other tax experts and activists say the statutory rate is the key, not only to inversions, but to broad US business competitiveness around the world.

“You � x the rates, you � x it all,” said Grover Norquist, a Republican activist and president of Americans for Tax Re-form, which advocates for lower taxes and smaller government.

No direct connectionA close look at of some of the six deals suggests no direct connection with the 35% U.S statutory rate.

For instance, Pittsburgh-based phar-maceuticals company Mylan is buying the non-US generic drug business of Chicago’s Abbott Laboratories to cre-ate a combined company incorporated in the Netherlands and managed from Pennsylvania.

The Netherlands’ statutory rate is 25%. However, Mylan’s global e� ective tax rates, as disclosed in the company’s annual reports to investors, were 16.2% in 2013, 20.0% in 2012 and 17.7% in 2011.

ITEP pegged Mylan’s US-speci� c e� ective tax rate at 20.5% on average for those same years, and the Reuters analysis found it to be 19.7%.

When Mylan announced the Abbott deal in July 2014, it said it expected it to bring many advantages and “to low-er Mylan’s tax rate to approximately 20-21% in the � rst full year, and to the high teens thereafter.” A spokeswoman for Mylan declined to comment and re-ferred questions to past statements.

In another deal, Steris Corp, based near Cleveland, is buying out the UK’s Synergy Health Plc, with the combined company to be managed from Ohio, but incorporated in Britain where the statutory corporate tax rate is 21%.

Reuters found a 2011-2013 US-spe-ci� c average tax rate for Steris of 17.2%; ITEP’s calculation came to 16.6%.

The company has disclosed global e� ective tax rates averaging 32.1% for the same period. A Steris spokesman said the company expects its e� ective tax rate beginning in 2016 to be about 25%. “This transaction is not being driven by tax rates,” he said. l

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria casts his shadow on the podium as he speaks during a news conference in the G20 � nance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Istanbul REUTERS

'Without action, we could see the global economic supertanker continuing to be stuck in the shallow waters of sub-par growth and meager job creation'