Bangladesh women bag maiden winn Shishir Hoque from Sylhet

Bangladesh women clinched their � rst ever victory in an ICC global event and ended their maiden World Twenty20 appearance on a high note by beating Sri Lanka by 3 runs in their exciting last Group B match at the Sylhet Interna-tional Stadium yesterday.

When the men’s team ended their campaign without a single victory yes-terday, the women’s team, who just

set their feet in the international crick-et arena, gave the nation a reason to cheer up with their maiden win over inthe mega event.

After winning the toss for the � rst time in the tournament, the home side also made it past the triple � gure for the � rst time to put up a decent total of 115 for 9 thanks to Rumana Ahmed’s career best 41. Bangladesh made count of the strong bowling unit at their disposal as Sri Lanka was restrictedto 112 for 9.

The victory, however, did not change Bangladesh’s position in the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Who gained what?n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Three more times in the last three decades the country has seen upazila parishad elec-tions, but the local body polls have never been so important.

Both the ruling Awami League and the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance had their own reasons for taking these elections very seriously.

After having boycotted the January 5 national elections demanding non-partisan arrangements, BNP took these elections as an opportunity to put up a display of its

“nationwide popularity.”So, for the BNP and its allies, the upazila

polls were an opportunity to redeem some sort of institutional representation in the country’s governance structure.

For the ruling party on the other hand, upazila parishad polls were an opening on their own to prove that fair elections were possible under partisan arrangements.

The good work that the Election Com-mission (EC) and the Awami League-led administration did by staging fair elections in the � ve city corporations last year could

have been enough to quash BNP’s claims for non-partisan polls-time government.

This backdrop made the upazila elec-tions, which are essentially non-partisan in nature as parties are not allowed to contest them organisationally, a fully partisan a� air with the major parties spending a lot of energy.

The poor performance of the independ-ent and the so called rebel candidates in the � ve phases of the local polls is also strong enough reason to reinforce the stream of thought that no election in Bangladesh can be non-partisan.

Just like last year’s city polls, the ruling party and the EC could have once again cashed in on these local polls to remind people that they were good enough to stage fair polls under partisan government.

But the party wasted that opportunity as its leaders and activists were largely blamed for the violence, the subsequent loss of lives and vote rigging that media portrayed vividly.

Things went south for the ruling party after the � rst two phases of the polls when the upazila chairman candidates backed by BNP-Jamaat performed better than those blessed by the ruling party.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

NEWS ANALYSIS

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Chaitra 19, 1420Jamadiul Sani 1, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 4 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

11 | IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE? 14 | CHELSEA READY FOR PSG BATTLETREEHOUSE | TALES FROM THE CITY 8 | RUSSIA ENDS UKRAINE GAS DISCOUNT

News4 The Directorate of Primary Education is working to reform the system of Primary Terminal Examination as the competency level of primary schoolchildren still remains low despite a high pass rate, o� cials concerned said.

Nation6 The adverse e� ects of Farakka barrage, climatic change and decrease in mean annual rainfall have put four rivers in Chapain-awabganj in a vulnerable condition.

Long Form7 Haor areas of the northeastern part of Bangladesh face � ash � oods caused by sudden and early downstream water from the surrounding upstreams from late March to May.

Entertainment12 A new Michael Jackson album is set for release on May 13, Epic Records announced Monday. The posthumous album called Xscape will feature eight previously recorded but unreleased songs by the “King of Pop.”

INSIDE

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The ruling Awami League and the BNP have apparently lost their strongholds in the recently completed � ve phase of upazila parishad elections.

The Awami league-backed con-tenders have demonstrated their “or-ganisational” strength in the � ve di-visions while the BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami retained their strength in the northern region of the country in the recently concluded upazila parish-ad elections.

A poor picture was projected by HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party as it failed to secure a single chairman post in Ershad’s home-town Rangpur district, popularly known as stronghold of the JaPa. The party, the main opposition in the parliament, se-cured only three chairman posts.

Interestingly, the Awami league-backed contenders failed to establish its supremacy in the party strongholds in Gopalganj, Habiganj, Sunamganj and

some other districts and the BNP-Ja-maat failed to maintain their strong-holds in Lakhmipur, Satkhira, Feni, Noakhali, Chapainawabganj and some other districts where violence and ir-regularities marked the elections.

The Jamaat-e-Islami led by con-victed war criminals failed to secure a single chairman post in Dhaka division and bagged only one in Barisal division.

Feni district is popularly known as the stronghold of the BNP and home-town of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. But in the upazila elections, BNP-backed chairman candidates failed to secure a single chairman post in the six upazilas.

Gopalganj, the home district of Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, Awami League-backed chairman contenders failed to secure two chairman posts in Moksedpur and Tungipara, the home-town of Hasina.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

EC blames � eld level o� cers for failure in containing polls violence n Mohosinul Karim and

Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission and the top brass of the civil administration have made con� icting statements over the allegations of negligence of � eld lev-el o� cers in containing violence, ir-regularities and vote rigging during just-concluded upazila polls.

Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz held the � eld level o� cers responsible for irregularities in theupazila polls.

“Field level o� cers did not work properly during the upazila polls. It was a chain of works as the administration and law enforcement agencies worked in the polls. It cannot be said that the commission is satis� ed with holding some elections in a free and fair man-ner,” he told reporters yesterday.

EC’s Senior Assistant Secretary Far-had Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that the commission gave the authori-ty to the returning o� cers and the lo-cal administration to take immediate action against any type of irregular-

ities. But they did not take any meas-ures from the � rst phase of the polls,he added.

“We did not get any allegation or in-formation from the returning o� cers about the violation of electoral code of conduct and irregularities in the � ve-

phase upazila polls. The commission has asked them to take action against the allegations submitted by the candi-dates to the EC secretariat,” he said.

Sources said the commission asked its o� cials to investigate some alle-gations which were proved later. The commission had given directives to the returning o� cers and the adminis-tration to take action immediately, but they did not follow the directives of the commission, they said.

The commission received an alle-

gation from Gazaria upazila in Mun-shiganj that Awami League rebel can-didate vandalised the union parishad and torched election mikes of Awami League-backed candidate Refayet Ul-lah Khan.

As per the probe report, the commis-sion asked the returning o� cer to take action, but the returning o� cer did not take any steps against such allegation, EC sources said.

The commissioner thinks it would be better if election o� cials and law enforcers are not from the local administration. But the commission does not have its own o� cials to conduct the polls.

If any irregularity took place, it was not presented to the commission on right time. So, the EC cannot take im-mediate action against irregularities, he said, adding that the commission asked the returning o� cers to take action against the allegations placed to the EC.

“But we did not get any report on irregularities from the � eld level of-� cers,” he said.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD

Smuggled gold accounts for 86% of all contrabandn Syed Samiul Basher Anik,

Mohammad Jamil Khanand Rabiul Islam

Eighty-six percent of the total smug-gled consignments that are entering the country have been identi� ed by the customs authorities to be gold.

According to information available with the Customs Intelligence, they seized a total of 240 consignments of illegal goods from July to December last year, of which 207 were gold, o� cials at the National Board of Revenue said quoting statistics.

In terms of value, gold was 95% of the total smuggled items, according to information received from the Dhaka Customs House, the Chittagong Customs House and the Customs Intelligence.

During the last six months of 2013, customs had seized di� erent smuggled goods worth Tk263.38 crore, of which Tk251.41 crore was from gold smug-gling, reads the statistics.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

VICE-CHAIRMAN POSTS

Jamaat in second place ahead of BNPn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

At the end of Monday’s � fth round of upazila polls, Jamaat-backed vice-chairman contenders stand clear of those backed by its ally BNP, al-though the latter stood second in the tally of chairman posts.

Out of the 459 vice-chairman posts up for grabbing, Jamaat-backed can-didates bagged 115, followed by BNP with 107, both behind Awami League-backed ones, who secured 172.

The right wing Islamist party – often associated with committing war crimes as an organisation in 1971 – has steadily maintained its success with regards to the vice-chairman posts since the � rst phase of the elections.

In the � rst phase, contenders backed by Jamaat secured 23 vice-chairman posts, 32 in the second, 23 in the third, 22 in the fourth and 15 in the � fth.

Interestingly, in the � rst two rounds of voting, BNP not only led the chairman tally, but also those of the vice-chairmen and vice-chairwomen. But as violence and allegations of rig-ging started mounting from the third phase, Awami League bounced back with more chairman posts. Simulta-neously, Jamaat chipped in with more vice-chairman posts that its 18-party alliance partner.

In the � rst phase, Awami League backed contenders bagged 29

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Dhaka seeks WB budget assistance for next FY n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has sought budget support from the World Bank for the next � scal year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.

Following a meeting with visiting World Bank Vice-President Phillippe Le Houerou at his secretariat o� ce, the minister said although assistance has been sought, it was di� cult to get bud-get support from the bank.

The request was made to the bank at

a time when the government was pre-paring its budget plan for the next year.

The World Bank yesterday also promised a total of $2.8bn in loans to Bangladesh for the current � scal year, the highest ever amount in a single � scal year.

“I have asked the World Bank vice-president to evaluate the perfor-mance of Bangladesh’s budget imple-mentation over the last � ve years to give budget assistance to Bangladesh,”

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

AL, BNP and JaPa ‘lose’ strongholdsUpazila polls throw up a few surprises

PMO FOR ACTIONP16

Cabinet secretary says o� cers carried out duties properly

Panna Ghosh is pumped up after taking a wicket, Bangladesh Women v Sri Lanka Women, Women’s World T20, Group B, Sylhet ICC

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

61% voter turnout in � fth phasen Mohammad Zakaria

With around 60.83% voter turnout in � fth phase polls in 73 upazilas, the overall average turnout in this year’s upazila polls stood at 61.35%.

A total of 8,459,509 voters out of 13,891,992 cast their votes in the � fth phase, while 317,112 votes have been cancelled in this phase. l

All 50 JS watchdogs formedn Tribune Report

Parliament yesterday completed for-mation of all the standing committees headed by the Awami League MPs, not giving any post of chairman to the op-position parties as done in the ninth parliament.

According to separate proposals of Chief Whip ASM Feroz, the House formed 26 standing committees yesterday.

During the 2009-13 period, two standing committee chairmen were from then main opposition BNP, two from the Jatiya Party, one from the Workers’ Party, one from the Jatiya Sa-majtantrik Dal and one from the Liberal Democratic Party.

Five former ministers and state min-isters have been made chairmen of the watchdogs on same ministries they served. They are former foreign min-ister Dipu Moni, former environment minister Hasan Mahmud, former state minister for labour and employment Begum Mannujan Su� an, former land minister Rezaul Karim Hira and former state minister for primary and mass ed-ucation Motahar Hossain.

Meanwhile, former cultural a� airs minister Abul Kalam Azad has been elect-ed chairman of the Parliamentary Stand-ing Committee on Planning Ministry.

On Monday, 10 watchdog bodies were formed when four former minis-ter were made chairmen of the stand-

ing committees concerned.The prime minister’s cousin Abul

Hasnat Abdullah has been elected chairman of the Parliamentary Stand-ing Committee on LGRD and Coopera-tives Ministry.

HN Ashequr Rahman will head the watchdog on Public Administration Ministry.

Former primary and mass education minister Afsarul Amin has been elected chairman of the Parliamentary Stand-ing Committee on Education Ministry.

The prime minister’s cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, who was the health minister during Awami League’s 1996-2001 tenure, has been elected chair-man of the Parliamentary Standing

Committee on Health Ministry. Home minister during the Awa-

mi League’s previous term Maj (retd) Ra� qul Islam has been elected chair-man of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Shipping Ministry while Ekabbar Hossain to head the watchdog on Communications Ministry.

Tajul Islam has been elected chair-man of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy, Power and Min-eral Resources Ministry.

The House elected Rebecca Mo-min as the chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Women and Children A� airs Ministry, Mir Shawkat Ali Badsha for the Fisheries and Live-stock Ministry, Abdul Wadud for food,

Saber Hossain Chowdhury for textile and jute, Maj Gen (retd) Shubid Ali Bhuiyan for defence and Md Mokbul Hossain for Agriculture Ministry.

Mozammel Hossain has been made chairman of the Parliamentary Stand-ing Committee on Social Welfare Min-istry, Dabirul Islam for housing and public works, Zahid Ahsan Rasel for youth and sports, Simin Hossain Rimi for cultural a� airs, and former health minister AFM Ruhal Haque for the Par-liamentary Standing Committee on Sci-ence and Technology Ministry.

ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury has been elected chairman of the Parlia-mentary Standing Committee on Rail-way Ministry. l

CHCPs to get 19,000 computersn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is going introduce more “digital tools” at the grass root level health in-stitutes across the country today.

The DGHS will distribute around 19,000 laptops and android-based tab-let computers among the health work-ers of Community Health Care Provid-ers (CHCP) and union level healthcare sub-centres across the country.

Professor Dr Abul Kalam Azad, ad-ditional director general of the DGHS told the Dhaka Tribune that more than 12,500 community clinics and 1,275 union level healthcare sub-centres had been providing health care services to the grass root people.

According to the DGHS annual Pub-lication Health Bulletin 2013, since April 2009 to December 2012 a total of 147.9 million patients had received treatment from the community clinics and around 3 million patients had been referred to di� erent hospitals during these period.

The professor said last year more than 3,465 laptops and 3,500 tablet computers were distributed among the CHCPs and health assistants.

“After distributing these digital tools, training would be provided to the health workers so that they could operate it smoothly,” he added.

Sources said the health service pro-viders would have to enrol everyday with their photographs and mention the date and time of their entry and exit from the community clinics through the laptop.

Health Minister Mohammed Na-sim will inaugurate the distribu-tion programme and hand over fewcomputers at the Management Infor-mation Services auditorium of the DGHS today. l

Muhith: Ministers should maintain some mannersn Tribune Report

Ministers should show some manners while speaking in public, Finance Min-ister AMA Muhith said yesterday in re-action to some derogatory comments made recently by Planning Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal.

The two have been at loggerheads lately over the outlay of the revised an-nual development programme (ADP).

Challenging Muhith’s ability to serve as a � nance minister, Mostafa Kamal recently criticised his opposition to increasing the size of the revised ADP citing fund constraints.

Refuting Kamal's allegation, Muhith said he did not get any pension from the World Bank. “I do not get any pension from anyone in the world, except the

government of Bangladesh,” Muhith told reporters yesterday. He was the � rst alternate executive director from Bangladesh in the World Bank.

About suing the World Bank for “dis-regarding Bangladesh” over allegations of corruption in the tendering process of the Padma bridge project, Muhith said: “I told the media that I would � le a case against the World Bank when I leave the cabinet and become a private citizen.”

Muhith also said Kamal did not un-derstand public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, which is “an interna-tionally known concept, and I did not create the model in Bangladesh.”

Kamal had earlier said: “The � nance minister has developed the PPP, but I do not know if it is a cow or a goat? I hope the people know what it is!” l

Smuggled gold accounts for 86% of all contraband PAGE 1 COLUMN 6The worst scenario was seen in De-cember when all 36 smuggled consign-ments seized by customs were gold. O� cials blamed the duty hike in gold import in neighbouring India for the rise in gold smuggling in Bangladesh.

Customs chief Moinul Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that the Indian govern-ment had increased the tax rate to 10% from existing 6% “which had resulted in reduction of 95% of gold imports.”

“The smugglers have an excellent opportunity to make some quick mon-ey,” he said adding that the smugglers bring gold from the Middle East to Bangladesh, and then take it to India using di� erent routes.

To hide them from law enforcement agencies, smugglers carry the gold in-side hard drives, multimedia projectors and television, and even inside soap, food sacks and luggage.

Syndicates, comprising of interna-tional smugglers, are involved with gold smuggling. However, in most cases, only the actual smugglers are caught by the intelligence wing while the ring leaders remain out of reach, a customs o� cial observed.

The o� cial says the actual num-ber of smuggled consignments would probably be much higher since only

1-2% of the total number of illegal con-signments is held by the law enforce-ment agencies.

“Gold is being smuggled mostly through the inside of an aircraft, which is impossible for any person without the help of the aircraft o� cials,” the o� cial told the Dhaka Tribune seeking anonymity.

Customs o� cials say they are beef-ing up monitoring to nab leaders of the smuggling ring.

In this regard, the NBR has also tak-en up a plan to increase monitoring ac-tivities at di� erent ports including the airports for combating the sudden rise in gold smuggling, as those places are used as transit points to smuggle goods from one country to the other.

An NBR o� cial said Tk1 crore had already been allocated for the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directo-rate to tap the routes through intense monitoring.

The NBR plans to prioritise the cus-toms activities in Dhaka, Chittagong and Pangaon customs houses, the bond commissionerates of Dhaka and Chit-tagong, the Customs Intelligence, and the Investigation Directorate.

Under the plan, the customs o� cials will check the vehicles and people at the airports. If any smuggled products

are found and the actual owner cannot be traced, they will question all the passengers of the plane.

Senior Assistant Superintended of Armed Police Battalion (APBn) Nur-e-Alam Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune that besides performing their regular du-ties, the force had also taken all necessary steps to make its intelligence wing strong.

He said the monitoring team was modi� ed with the support of latest technology.

About punishment of the gold smug-glers, Additional Commissioner of Dha-ka Customs AKM Ohidul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune: “The customs depart-ment does not have its own prosecu-tion department. It merely detains the criminals and � les cases against them, after it hands them over to the police.”

“We do not have any idea how crimi-nals are getting bail in such special cas-es,” he said adding that the customs did not have information about such cases since those were handled by the police.

He also urged the authorities con-cerned to empower the customs to bet-ter deal with smuggling.

O� cer-in-Charge of Airport police station Shaheduzzaman refuted the al-legations against police saying that they only place a criminal at the court after completing investigation properly. l

Jamaat in second place ahead of BNP PAGE 1 COLUMN 6vice-chairman posts, 32 in the second, 28 in the third, 39 in the fourth and the highest 44 in Monday’s � fth round.

On the other hand, for the BNP, it has been a steady journey downwards. In the � rst round 32 BNP-backed vice-chairman contenders won, 36 won in the second, 18 in the third, 17 in the fourth and the worst of only four in the � fth round.

However, although the BNP fell behind both the Awami League and Jamaat in terms of the vice-chairman posts, the female candidates it had backed had more vice-chairwoman posts than the other two parties.

At the end of the � fth round, BNP-backed contenders backed 189 vice-chairwoman posts, followed by the Awami League with 180 and Jamaat with 33. l

EC blames � eld level o� cers for failure in containing polls violence PAGE 1 COLUMN 5Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hos-sain Bhuiyan told reporters yesterday that the cabinet division is yet to get any allegation [from the Election Com-mission] against any � eld level o� cer who ignored the responsibilities during the upazila polls.

“We will take necessary steps against those o� cials if we found them guilty

or got any allegation against anybody. But, none complained against anybody as they did not follow the directives of the election commission. None would be spared for their irresponsibility and misconduct,” he said.

He also claimed that all theo� cers, involved with the upazi-la polls, had carried out their dutiesproperly. l

Dhaka seeks WB budget assistance for next FY PAGE 1 COLUMN 5Muhith said.

Receiving budget support from the World Bank was not unprecedented, the minister said, adding that the bank provided budget assistance through re-form programs.

Although the government had not received budget support from the World Bank in recent times, the Asian Development Bank had provided � nan-cial assistance to Bangladesh following the global recession, Muhith said.

He added that the government had previously received about $300m as bud-get support from the International Devel-opment Association of the World Bank.

Reforms would be made in the banking sector, social safety net and food distribution programmes, Muhith said, adding that budget support would be given in line with the execution of reforms in various sectors, which will

be discussed later with World Bank of-� cials.

Muhith said the World Bank has called for decentralising the authorities for the utilisation of the government fund. As part of the decentralisation ef-forts, the government will enhance the project implementation capacities of ministries, divisions and PPP projects, which currently amounts at only Tk50 crore, Tk25 crore and Tk7 crore respec-tively.

Replying to a query by Le Houerou on the Padma Bridge, Muhith said the main tender for construction of the bridge would be � oated by July.

The ongoing tender processes for training and hiring a consultant would be completed within this year, while the main consultant would be appoint-ed during the July-August period, he added.

The global lender was becoming

more involved in projects dealing with primary, secondary and higher education, while the country will not get any more funding for the power sector as the bank would not invest in coal-based power plants on principle, Muhith added.

On the other hand, World Bank Vice-President Phillippe Le Houerou said the World Bank’s previous invest-ment for the Padma Bridge would now be invested in other sectors.

The World Bank’s assistance to Ban-gladesh since the country’s indepen-dence has so far amounted to $18bn, the bank’s vice-president said.

The World Bank was supporting the government’s initiative to achieve middle-income status for the country by 2021, but to that end the govern-ment needed to put emphasis on the improvement of infrastructure and the power sector, Le Houerou added. l

Bangladesh women bag maiden PAGE 1 COLUMN 3group as they still � nished bottom behind Sri Lanka and India. Despite having equal two points, the net run-rate put the home side behind their sub-continent opponents, thus ending all hopes for the Bangladesh women to qualify for the next edition of World Twenty20 scheduled to be held in India in 2016. They will now � ght for the 9th place in the event against Ireland in a play-o� tomorrow.

After a series of poor totals against West Indies (79), India (58) and Pakistan (72), the hosts batswomen � nally geared up and sang in rhythm to register their highest total in the shortest version of cricket. The previous best was 113 which they made twice against India and Pakistan.  

The start however wasn’t the best as Ayasha Rahman returned in the very � rst over before skipper Salma Khatun tormented the bowlers to give Bangla-desh their best start in the tournament reaching � fty in nine overs.

After the dismissal of Salma (22) and Sharmin Akhter (18), Rumana Ahmed guided the side past 100 and stayed in the middle till the last over depending mostly on singles and doubles. The right-handed batter slammed a 34-ball 41 that included only three boundaries.

Birthday girl, Jahanara Alam gave Bangladesh the perfect start by dis-missing Hasini Perera in her � rst de-livery. Sri Lanka however was cruising with Yasoda Mendis (33) putting on two partnerships of 37 and 28 with Chamari Atapattu and Shashikala Siri-wardene respectively.

Medium fast bowler Panna Ghosh brought Bangladesh back on track by pick-ing up two quick wickets before dismissing Sri Lanka captain Siriwardene (31) to take control of the game despite several drops from the home � elders. Panna bagged three wickets for just 18 runs. Apart from the batting contribution Rumana also claimed a wicket which brought her the player of the match award. l

Who gained what? PAGE 1 COLUMN 2That alarmed the Awami League, who was looking to strengthen and reward its grass-roots by doing well in these polls. Soon af-ter, the third phase saw a marked escalation in violence for which the ruling party men were largely blamed. Simultaneously, the Awami League-backed contenders started performing well too.

That trend remained unchanged in the next two phases as well, the last of which was held on Monday.

The Awami League might have in the end soared high above its arch rivals in terms of the number of seats bagged by the candidates it had backed – 254 for the ruling party, 164 for the BNP and 36 for Jamaat.

But eventually, the violence and rigging only gave momentum to the BNP’s claim that fair elections were not possible under partisan governments.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, who won a lot of ac-claim for staging fair city polls only last year,

mysteriously went to the USA on a vacation in the middle of the upazila polls.

That not only gave rise to extensive crit-icism, but also induced similar speculation about the government’s role and interfer-ence with the EC’s work.

Unfortunately, the chaos that the coun-try has witnessed surrounding the upazila polls was surely going to hurt the credibility of the EC’s independence for a long time to come and it would not be easy by any stretch of the imagination to gain it back. l

AL, BNP and JaPa ‘lose’ strongholds PAGE 1 COLUMN 2In Moksedpur, independent candidate won the chairman post and in Tungipa-ra rival candidates of Awami League won the chairman post.

In Lakhmipur district, there are � ve upazilas that are also known as strong-holds of the BNP, the party-backed chairman candidates secured only one chairman post.

In seven upazilas of Satkhira, known as a stronghold of the Jamaat, the right wing political party-backed candidate secured only one chairman posts out of seven and the rests were secured by Awami League-backed chairman can-didates.

In Noakhali elections were held in nine upazilas while in one upazila it was postponed. Among the nine upazi-las, � ve chairman posts were secured by Awami League-backed contenders while BNP-backed aspirants secured only three.

Sunamganj district is popularly known as stronghold of Awami League but in the upazila polls, the Awami League lost its stronghold as the BNP-backed chairman candidates won sev-en chairman posts out of the 10.

Political strength of Awami League in Habiganj is well known but in the lo-cal body elections the party bagged � ve

chairman posts while the BNP secured two and the other one by an independ-ent candidate.

The BNP showed its strength in the northern region as it bagged 26 chairman posts in Rangpur division and 26 in Rajshahi while the Awami League-supported candidates secured 21 and 18 chairmen posts respectively.

The Awami League-backed contend-ers took lead in Dhaka, Sylhet, Chit-tagong, Khulna and Barisal divisions.

In Dhaka, the Awami League-backed candidates secured 57 chairman posts while those backed by the BNP won in 41 seats. Ershad’s JaPa got only one chair-man post in Tarail of Kishorganj but the Jamaat got no seats in the division.

The candidates supported by the Awami League and the BNP came out neck and neck in Sylhet division where the ruling party-backed candidates bagged 18 and the BNP 15 chairman posts. The Jamaat got two seats.

In Barisal division, the Awami League-backed contenders got abso-lute majority as they bagged 21 chair-man posts while the BNP-backed can-didates got just four. Jamaat-backed contender bagged one chairman post in Zianagar of Pirojpur and another was bagged by the JP (Monju) in Bhandaria of Pirojpur.

In this division, at least in 20 upazi-las, the BNP-backed candidates boy-cotted the elections alleging vote rig-ging and illegal stamping by the ruling party men.

There were incidents of stray vio-lence in the � rst phase of polls but it increased in the second phase. In the third phase, violence took a serious turn as three people were killed and clashes took place at a number of places.

In Chittagong division, Awami League-backed contenders also took the lead as they bagged 40 chairman posts while the BNP-backed contend-ers ensured 30 and Jamaat only 5.

In Khulna, Awami League-backed contenders bagged just the double chairman posts than the BNP-backed contenders as the ruling party bagged 36 chairman posts and the BNP-backed aspirants 18 and Jamaat-backed 5.

Interestingly, Jamaat also per-formed well in Bogra, the hometown of BNP founder Gen Ziaur Rahman, as it bagged � ve chairman posts while seven were grabbed by the BNP-backed candidates.

Regional political parties like the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) and the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF)-backed can-didates bagged 13 chairman posts. l

PM Sheikh Hasina presents a copy of Bangabandhu's autobiography to World Bank Vice-President Phillippe le Houerou yesterday PMO

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

PM’s no to aid that has harmful conditions n UNB

Bangladesh does not want any assis-tance from anyone that tags conditions harmful for the country, Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina said yesterday.

She made the remark when visiting World Bank Regional Vice-President for South Asia Philippe Le Heuerou met her at the PMO. The premier’s Spe-cial Assistant Mahbubul Hoque Shakil briefed reporters after the meeting.

The prime minister said Bangladesh always welcomed assistance from oth-er countries or organisations, and each and every country of the world had its own philosophy of development.

“This philosophy includes culture, nature, environment, psychology and the geographical characteristics of that particular country,” she said.

According to Shakil, the WB envoy highly appreciated the unprecedent-ed achievements of the government in women empowerment in terms of economy, attaining over 6% GDP growth in the last couple of years, edu-cation and health sectors.

Heuerou, who is on his maiden visit to Bangladesh, said Hasina had suc-cessfully been leading the country in its march forward.

He also praised the government for taking steps for developing the social

safety net, and expressed the WB’s in-terest to assist Bangladesh in its infra-structural development.

The o� cial said the WB had pledged to provide $2.8bn in the current � scal where it already signed aid agreement with the Bangladesh government for $1.73bn in February last. Heuerou em-phasised the enhancement of regional connectivity and said the WB would like to take part in this sector.

In this connection, the prime minis-ter said the regional connectivity was increasing day by day. She also men-tioned about two hydro-power proj-ects – Bangladesh-Bhutan-India and Bangladesh-Nepal-India.

Hasina also referred to declining trend in tra� cking of women and children in the region due to concerted e� orts of all.

Describing various government ac-tivities taken for development of ed-ucation, health and power sectors, the premier said Bangladesh had managed to attain more than 6% GDP growth at a time when the entire world was under economic stress. It was possible due to the pragmatic and time be� tting steps of her government.

Ambassador at-large M Ziauddin, PM’s Media Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and Principal Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder were present on the occasion. l

Prosecution seeks arrest of Tarail razakar leader Hasan Alin Udisa Islam

The prosecution yesterday submitted a petition to the International Crimes Tribunal 1 seeking arrest of Syed Hasan Ali, an alleged razakar commander of Tarail in Kishoreganj during the 1971 Liberation War, as the investigation against him was near end.

The petition sayied Hasan is now staying in Brahmanbaria’s border areas and he may � ee the country anytime. So he needs to be arrested to ensure smooth investigation.

The investigation report may be com-pleted within a month, o� cials said.

Prosecutor Abul Kalam Azad submit-ted the petition to the tribunal’s registrar o� ce. A hearing on the petition may be held today at the three-member tribunal 1 led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim.

Azad said the suspect had been the razakar commander of Tarail upazi-la and involved in all kinds of crimes

against humanity and genocide. “We got evidence of direct involvement of Hasan in the incidents.”

Mosleh Uddin, father of the suspect, was the chairman of Peace Committee’s Kishoreganj district unit. Hasan’s broth-er had also been a member of the raza-kar force and the whole family commit-ted atrocities in 1971.

Investigator Hari Devnath began the probe against Hasan on June 6 last year under the supervision of prosecutor Azad. This will be the � rst case where he will work as conducting prosecutor.

Hari said: “Hasan was involved in the killings of at least 50 Hindu people, looting of houses, and arson. We have at least � ve witnesses for each charge against him.”

Sources said the suspect might be charged for the murders of Tofaz-zal Hossain Bhuiyan, Abdur Rashid and Hasan Ahmed, and the Shimulhati killing.

The investigation agency is now dealing with at least eight cases. The probe against another war crimes sus-pect Lahar Ali Shah from Rajshahi is ad-vancing fast. Investigation O� cer Ataur Rahman started the probe on October 1, 2012 under the supervision of prosecu-tor Jahid Imam. They are also working on the allegations against suspected war criminal Abdul Jabbar from Pirojpur.

This time the junior prosecutors will conduct some of the cases and they al-ready started to coordinate with inves-tigation agency.

Prosecutor Rezia Sultana Begum, Sabina Yeasmin and Syed Sayedul Huq will conduct the cases against Maulana Shakhawat Hossain from Jessore, Ataur Noni from Netrokona and Sirajul Islam from Bagerhat.

Though prosecutors Sabina and Re-zia assisted seniors earlier in other cas-es, it would be the � rst case for Sayedul at the tribunal. l

Prosecution declares its witness in Azhar case hostilen Udisa Islam

The prosecution, in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam yesterday, declared their seventh witness “hostile” and appealed to the tribunal to send him to safe custody.

The tribunal 1 disposed of the peti-tion as the witness, Aminul Islam, 56, of Uttar Maksudpur under Badarganj upazila in Rangpur, said he needed no security.

Aminul was declared “hostile” as he said the Pakistani occupation army and their anonymous collaborators had killed Kaltimai during the 1971 Libera-tion War. He did not use the name of the

accused during the proceedings.Conducting prosecutor AKM Saiful

Islam requested safe custody for the witness as he might in� uence other prosecution witnesses in the case. Fol-lowing his request, the tribunal asked the witnesses whether he wanted to go into safe custody. Aminul replied in the negative.

The tribunal then directed the law enforcement agencies to keep him un-der observation so that he could not in-� uence other prosecution witnesses. It also said if the witness was found doing so, the lawmen might take legal steps.

Tajul Islam, counsel for the accused, termed the prosecution’s stance “un-

just” saying that a witness could not be forced to testify. The appeal for sending the witness to safe custody might fright-en other witnesses, he said.

The same tribunal yesterday record-ed the last part of the deposition by In-vestigation O� cer Satya Ranjan Roy in the trial of Zahid Hossain Khokon, alias Khokon Razakar. He was the 24th and � -nal prosecution witness in the case. Lat-er state defence counsel Abdus Shukkur stared cross examining him.

Meanwhile, the tribunal 2 set Sunday for placing a new prosecution witness against Mir Kashem Ali, as the defence ended cross-examination of the 20th witness, Lutfar Rahman Faruk. l

Lawmakers to draw allowance from January 9n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The lawmakers of the 10th parliament will draw their allowances from January 9.

Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the speaker, yesterday instructed the par-liament secretary, who in January sent the � le to her for decision, to pay the 10th parliament MPs their monthly al-lowance as soon as possible.

Earlier, the speaker had a meeting with Law Minister Anisul Huq and his predecessor Sha� que Ahmed to seek opinion on deciding the current par-liament’s starting date without which the allowances of the MPs could not be decided.

They suggested the speaker, accord-ing to the rule, that the MPs should get allowances from the date they take oath.

“The 10th parliament MPs will get allowances from January 9; I have giv-en my decision in this regard,” Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury told the Dhaka Tribune. She said questions could be raised, but this parliament case was dif-ferent from previous instances.

According to the constitution, a par-liament tenure is of � ve years from the � rst day of the � rst sitting. The 9th par-liament had its � rst sitting on January 25, 2009.

“This time general elections took place keeping the ninth parliament

alive. There is no such previous prece-dence,” said the speaker who said she was constitutionally bound to adminis-ter oath to the MPs in 72 hours from the publication of gazette on the election results.

The Election Commission published the gazette noti� cation of the January 5 election on January 8. The next day, the speaker administered oath that dis-solved the 9th parliament and started the 10th parliament.

The article 123 of the constitution says that the MPs of the previous parlia-ment must not assume o� ce until the completion of the � ve-year tenure and the article 148 of the constitution says the MPs will assume o� ce from the time they take oath.

Parliament session to stretchThe tenure of the current session of parliament will stretch up to April 10 instead of the previous decision to run the House up to April 3.

“We have to run the session up to April 10 as many of the MPs elected from the women’s reserved seats will deliver their speech on the president’s parliamentary address,” Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury told the Dhaka Tribune.

The Business Advisory Committee, headed by the speaker, authorised to stretch or shrink the session tenure in case of necessity. l

No progress in SQC verdict leak case n Udisa Islam and Mohammad

Jamil Khan

The Detective Branch (DB) of Police has failed to make any progress in in-vestigating the draft verdict leak for Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s war crimes case, and is still busy analysing the clues, nearly six months after the incident.

Investigators claim that they were wait-ing for the “prime suspect,” fugitive Me-hedi Hasan, who is a junior counsel for SQ Chowdhury.

The tribunal o� ce has also refrained from taking any initiative in this regard as two of its sta� are involved and were arrested.

Krishna Pada Roy, the DB deputy commissioner (south), told the Dhaka Tribune that they had been investigating the case as a special priority since it was a sensational one. Asked about the slow progress, he said they needed to analyse all data and clues before making a move.

“At present, we are analysing the statements of the arrestees while our o� cials are in search of the other sus-pected accused who are on the run,” he said. He, however, refused to name the suspects.

After pronouncing the verdict, the

tribunal commented that the family of the convict had made “huge invest-ments” to leak it beforehand.

On October 2 last year, the Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal � led a general diary with Shahbagh police station over the leak. Tribunal Registrar AKM Na-siruddin Mahmud made the announce-ment at a press brie� ng that day.

After just � ve days of being arrest-ed, tribunal sta� Nayan Ali on Octo-ber 10 admitted his involvement in the incident. Metropolitan Magistrate Tareq Mainul Islam Bhuiyan recorded his statement where he said he had ac-cessed the Tribunal 1 chairman’s com-puter and gave Mehedi the data on a pen drive several times.

He also claimed that Salauddin Quad-er’s counsel Fakhrul Islam Chowdhury and one of his managers were involved in the matter. Nayan, a cleaner, and Md Faruque, a stenographer of the tribunal registrar o� ce, were remanded after their arrest on October 5.

The DB arrested Fakhrul in connec-tion with the leak around two months after the incident. DB o� cial then said they had arrested him after verifying information extracted from the two de-tained tribunal sta� .

In this regard, Arunabha Chakrabarty, deputy registrar of the tribunal, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We hope that the case will be solved as early as possible. We need to know the truth for the sake of our security. If the court gives an obser-vation, we will be aware about the loop-holes, if any.”

He added that they could not pres-surise the investigators since their sta� were suspected in the case and the in-vestigation was underway. l

PSC: Proposal to simplify quota system ignoredn Emran Hossain Shaikh

Although � ve years have passed since the Bangladesh Public Service Com-mission recommended simplifying the existing quota system, the incumbent government has yet to respond to it positively.

State Minister for Public Adminis-tration Ismat Ara Sadique yesterday placed the annual report for 2013 to the Jatiya Sangsad, making the obser-vation.

According to the report, the rules and regulations of the existing quo-ta system are very complicated and time-consuming. “It is almost impos-sible to choose quali� ed candidates by applying the method.”

The report stated that using the dis-trict quota to select cadres has also turned the system into very much so-phisticated. Considering the matter, the commission placed the recommen-dation to the government on March 19, 2009.

The report showed a gradual in-crease of female candidates in the cad-re service. In 31st BCS, the ratio of male and female candidates was 70.42:29.58, while 44.90:55.10 in 32nd special BCS and 61.78:38.22 in 33rd BCS.

The report added that the PSC has so far recommended 186 candidates for non-cadre posts in the 31st and 32nd BCS examinations. l

UK ‘thanks’ Dhaka for abstaining from voting on Crimea issue n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

State Minister for Foreign A� airs Shahri-ar Alam said British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert Gibson “thanked” Ban-gladesh for abstaining from voting on Crimea issue in the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly.

“Thank you for abstaining from vot-ing,” he quoted Robert Gibson as saying. Robert Gibson and British State Minis-ter for International Development Alan Duncan met Shahriar Alam at the foreign ministry yesterday.

The UNGA on Thursday adopted a non-binding resolution on Crimea where Bangladesh abstained from voting with-out explaining the reason.

“He [Gibson] actually expressed his satisfaction and we also said there are friends who are not so happy, but they [British] actually said they are happy that we remained abstained,” Shahriar said.

Earlier, the state minister at a media brie� ng said Bangladesh was observing the situation in Ukraine.

“Bangladesh being a member of non-aligned countries and G-77, we do not support any party in any internal matter of a country. We did not deviate from that policy and we abstained due to that poli-cy,” he said.

When asked why Bangladesh ab-stained without giving an explanation, he said it is Bangladesh’s right.

Meanwhile, the United States had re-gretted that Bangladesh did not support Ukraine on Crimea issue. US ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena on Monday said: “I regret that Bangladesh was not able to join the majority.”

According to UN website, by a record vote of 100 in favour and 11 against with 58 abstentions, including Bangladesh, the UNGA adopted the resolution titled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

Russian ambassador in Dhaka Alexan-der Nicholaev at a programme on Sunday also expressed his satisfaction that Ban-gladesh abstained from voting when the resolution was adopted. l

Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers o� to Malin BSS

A 112-member contingent of Bangla-desh Army left Dhaka yesterday to join the United Nations’ Peacekeeping Forc-es in Mali for the � rst time.

The contingent, led by Colonel M Jahangir Harun, left Shahjalal Interna-tional Airport in the afternoon for the land-locked African country.

A total of 1,446 members of the Army and the Navy, including an infan-try unit, two signal units, an engineer unit, a navy unit and a riverine unit are also expected to be deployed in the Af-rican state. The remaining peacekeep-ers will leave for Mali in phases. l

Professor Anisuzzaman receives the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India, from Indian President Pranab Mukherjee at New Delhi yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Members of the Armed Forces depart the Shahjalal International Airport in the capital yesterday to join UN Peacekeeping Forces in Mali DHAKA TRIBUNE

After pronouncing the verdict, the tribunal commented that the family of the convict had made “huge investments” to leak it beforehand

‘Give your sons or Tk20, 000’ n Our Correspondent, Tangail

Gopalpur upazila yesterday saw a � erce backlash against opposition supporters from the ruling Awami League men fol-lowing the March 31 polls.

Sexagenarian Sokhina probably faced the most terrifying moment in her life when the ruling party support-ers pinned a gun to her head.

“Give us your sons,” they howled. Sokhina was granted with an option – payment of Tk20, 000 within 10 min-utes or face the inevitable, said locals and witnesses.

Sokhina was granted mercy after she pleaded for forgiveness but others known to be a� liated with the BNP in the area were not so fortunate.

The post-poll violence in the upazila witnessed vandalism, arson and looting allegedly by ruling party supporters.

Most of the BNP supporters � ed the upazila fearing backlash. Armed rul-ing party men swooped on Sokhina in Hemnagar area on Monday night look-ing for her sons Humayun Kabir Liton, Nur Nabi and Lokman.

Unable to locate the trio, they van-dalised the house and demanded mon-ey from Sokhina, said locals

It was the same night when they vandalised establishments of BNP leaders Liton Mia, Harun-R-Rashin, Abdul Barek, Anisur Rahman, Lal Mia and Rezaul Karim in Hemnagar Bazar.

Even the poultry � rm of BNP support-er Sha� qul Islam was not spared. His shop was vandalised and chickens looted.

Meanwhile, several villages in Jawail union were also attacked the same night. The pharmacy of BNP activist Dr Hamid was vandalized too. Another activist Badiuzzaman was assaulted in Mouza Dakuri. l

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

World Autism Awareness Day todayn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

World Autism Awareness Day will be observed across the world including Bangladesh today to raise awareness about autism.

Di� erent ministries have chalked out elaborate programmes to mark the day.

The social welfare ministry will or-ganise a discussion and cultural pro-gramme participated by children with autism at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre where Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina will be present as the chief guest.

Important buildings of di� erent ministries, divisions, departments in the capital and districts will be lighted up blue on the occasion.

Autism is a complex neuro-behav-ioral disorder that a� ects a person’s brain function. Autism a� ects girls and boys of all races and in all geographic regions and has a large impact on chil-dren, their families, communities and societies.

The prevalence of the disease is cur-rently rising in many countries around the world.

As many as 10 public medical col-lege hospitals including Shishu Bikash Kendra (SSK) of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) are providing treat-ment to children with autism and other neuro-development problems.

Humaira Muslima, child health phy-sician of SSK of the Dhaka Shishu Hos-pital said neuro-development of a child mostly develop within two to three years of age.

If parents can realise that their child has development disorder they should bring them within this time and those autistic children can become self-de-pendent.

The annual bulletin of the Director-ate General of Health Services (DGHS) in 2013 said that the social welfare de-partment of Bangladesh estimated that around 2, 80,000 were su� ering from autism related health problems in the country.

Professor Dr Abul Kalam Azad, the ad-ditional director general (planning), told the Dhaka Tribune that the nation-al health programme had identi� ed au-tism as a priority.

The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University is going to set up a specialised centre for treating children with neuro-development problems.

He said Saima Wazed, daughter of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had placed an agenda at the 133 execu-tive board of the WHO and the board had approved it and it would soon be placed before the World Health Assem-bly for approval. l

UK delegation ‘surprised’ at Tarique’s ‘� rst president’ commentn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

State Minister for Foreign A� airs Shahri-ar Alam said a British delegation had ex-pressed surprise over a recent comment by BNP leader Tarique Zia contending that his father, Ziaur Rahman, was the � rst president of Bangladesh.

“I raised the issue and asked them where Tarique Zia, who is now living in England, got such information after 43 years and what they thought about it,” Shahriar Alam said after meeting with a delegation led by Alan Duncan, UK min-ister for international development, at the foreign ministry in Dhaka yesterday.

“They told me that they were sur-prised to hear that. They were smiling when they said so. They did not have any explanation as to why a political par-ty gave such distorted information. They were very surprised,” Shahriar said.

About bringing Tarique back to Ban-gladesh, the state minister said there was a procedure to do that.

Shahriar said the foreign ministry could only act when there was a war-rant, but no warrant was issued against Tarique yet. “When a warrant is issued, the foreign ministry will act upon re-quest from the home ministry,” he said.

The British minister, however, did not

make any comments after the meeting.Duncan arrived in the city on a

three-day trip on Monday. He is sched-uled to visit the Rana Plaza disaster site at Savar today, and will address a press conference later.

Tarique, son of former president Ziaur Rahman and former three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia, at a sem-inar marking Bangladesh’s Indepen-dence Day in London last month, re-marked that Zia, a sector commander in 1971, was the country’s � rst president.

Khaleda Zia later endorsed his view, publicly saying her late husband was indeed Bangladesh’s � rst president. l

60 injured in post-poll violence n Tribune Report

More than 60 activists of rival political parties were injured in post-poll violence in three districts during the hartal called in protest of alleged vote rigging in the � fth phase of the upazila polls yesterday.

The BNP-led alliance have been ac-cusing the ruling Awami League of tak-ing over the polling stations and ballot boxes, and driving polling agents out of their stations in rival camps, while the Election Commission and the local ad-ministrations were mere spectators.

In Sirajganj’s Belkuchi, Awami League activists beat up 10 voters from Vaturia village of Rajapur union around 10pm because they did not vote for the candidate from Awami League. They

also vandalised a weaving factory and a stationary shop.

However, when contacted, Belkuchi police station OC Abdul Hai claimed it was normal that some violence would take place after the polls. The injured received primary treatment.

In Sunamganj’s Bishambharpur upa-zila, at least 20 people were injured in a � ght between Awami League and BNP activists in the afternoon.

Two groups led by local Awami League leader Ra� que and BNP leader Harun clashed following an altercation over the polls, according to the police. O� cer In-Charge Nurul Abser Khan said the injured were admitted to di� erent hospitals.

In Moulvibazar’s Rajanagar, follow-ers of two Awami League chairman

candidates got into a � ght, injuring at least 30 people. The incident took place around 11pm on Monday at Parchakra village of Mansur Nagar union. The in-jured were admitted to local hospitals.

Local sources said Awami League-backed chairman candidate Askir Khan was pronounced winner uno� cially, which was followed by his rival Misba-hudduja Velai Mia’s followers clashing with his supporters. Police rushed there and brought the situation under control.

Meanwhile, in Satkhira and Bargu-na, the hartal called by the BNP-led alliance was observed peacefully. No Jamaat activists were seen picketing in Satkhira. On the other hand, the dis-trict o� ce of BNP was closed in Bargu-na the entire day. l

Policeman suspended for torturing businessmann Kailash Sarkar

A police o� cer was suspended yes-terday for allegedly assaulting a busi-nessman for refusing to pay protection money in the capital’s Sayedabad area.

Mustaq Ahmmed, deputy commis-sioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Wari division, con� rmed the suspen-sion of assistant sub-inspector Saiful Islam of Jatrabari police station.

“Apart from the suspension of the ASI, a committee, led by an additional deputy commissioner, has also been formed to probe the incident,” Mustaq told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to witnesses and sources, a team of police, led by Saiful, severely beat up a local steel trader on Monday night for refusing to pay the policemen on opening a new shop.

The victim, Nazmul Sheikh, 26, is un-dergoing treatment at the Dhaka Medi-cal College and Hospital. Nazmul, owner of SK Steel Mills in Sayedabad, claimed that the policemen had assaulted him.

“The ASI enquired whether po-licemen were paid at the opening of the new shop, and at one stage, they swooped on me,” Nazmul added.

The injured businessman was later rushed to the DMCH by some locals. l

Sayedee appeal case adjourned until April 8n Tribune Report

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday deferred the war crimes appeals case of death row convict Dela-war Hossain Sayedee till April 8.

The � ve-member apex court bench led by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hos-sain passed the order following a plea of Attorney General Mahbubey Alam.

The top law o� cer of the country told the court, on the charge of Bisabali killing, Sayedee got death penalty.

Mahbubey said Sayedee, whose main name was Delawar Shikdar, turned into a notorious Razakar in 1971. The war criminal went into hiding when Bangladesh achieved bloody vic-tory in the Liberation War, he said.

Later, the hearing was adjourned.Earlier, the top court deferred the

case till April 1 after Attorney General sought time.

Assistant Attorney General Bashir Ahmed assisted the AG while SM Shah-jahan represented Sayedee. l

Supreme Court stays Rana Plaza owner’s bailn Nazmus Sakib

The Supreme Court’s Appellate Divi-sion yesterday stayed a bail order in favour of Sohel Rana, owner of the col-lapsed garment factory building, Rana Plaza at Savar near Dhaka.

Chamber Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order following an appeal by the prosecution which challenged the High Court order that granted bail to Rana for six months in a case lodged by Rajuk for constructing the building � out-ing building construction laws.

Rana is in jail after the eight-storey Rana Plaza collapsed on April 24 last year, claiming at least 1,135 lives and injuring nearly 2,500 people. l

Reform of primary exam system on the cardsn Mushfi que Wadud

The Directorate of Primary Education is working to reform the system of Primary Terminal Examination as the competency level of primary school-children still remains low despite a high pass rate, o� cials concerned said.

“We are working to make the ex-amination competency-based so that students are evaluated properly,” Md Emran, director (monitoring and eval-uation division) at the Directorate of Primary Education, told the Dhaka Tri-bune.

He said students answered compe-tency-based questions in the Primary Terminal Examination 2013, adding that all the questions will be competen-cy-based by 2016.

The DPE is working on the exam-ination reform as its own report shows that most of the � fth grade students

are not competent in Bangla and math-ematics.

Nearly 75% of � fth graders do not have adequate competence in Bangla while 67% lack competence in math-ematics, said a World Bank report re-leased recently.

Although these students are at the end of the primary education cycle, they are still performing at a level lower than what is typical of � fth grade com-

petence, said the report titled “Bangla-desh: Education Sector Review”.

The learning level, according to the report, is low at the beginning of prima-ry education with 50% of third graders failing to meet the competency target for mathematics and 33% failed to do so in Bangla.

However, 98.58% students passed the Primary Terminal examination in 2013 while a total of 240,961 students secured GPA-5. The pass rate was 92.34% in 2010, 97.26% in 2011, 97.35% in 2012 and 98.58% in 2013.

Educationists often question the evaluation system as the learning level of the students remains low.

Md Emran, however, defended the examination, saying that the aptitude test is of international standards and unfamiliar to students. “Once we will reform the examination system, things will change,’ he said. l

HC: Deactivate all unregistered SIMsn UNB

The High Court on yesterday ordered the country’s mobile phone operators to deactivate all the unregistered SIM cards as soon as possible.

It also directed the mobile operators to provide details of SIM card users who demand toll over phone.

An HC bench comprising Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Mo-hammad Khurshid Alam Sarker passed the order following a writ petition � led in the form of public interest litigation.

Supreme Court lawyer JR Khan Robin � led the writ following a report titled, ’70 lakh unregistered SIMs in-volved in various crimes, including demanding extortion’, published in a national daily on March 6.

The court also issued a rule asking authorities concerned to explain as to why they should not be directed to de-activate the unregistered SIM cards and as to why law enforcers not be directed to take action against the SIM card us-ers who demand extortion over phone under the criminal law. l

Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch, a global civil society alliance, addresses a panel discussion titled ‘Post 2015 Development Agenda: Future Global Development Partnership,’ at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity yesterday RAJIB DHAR

6 companies bid for Bibiyana South power plantn Aminur Rahman Rasel

Six international companies submitted bidding documents yesterday for the construction of the Bibiyana South, a 400MW gas-based combined cycle power plant project in Habiganj, which will become the � rst power plant to be constructed with funds collected from a portion of consumers’ electricity bills.

Around Tk1,800 crore will be used from the consumers’ bill fund set up by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission – named Energy Develop-ment and Maintenance Fund – for the construction of the plant.

A power plant of this capacity re-quires at least Tk4,000crore to be con-structed, while every year nearly Tk-700crore are deposited to the fund.

The Power Development Board

(PDB) decided to construct the pow-er plant project with its own fund as a private company apparently “failed” to build a power plant named Bibiyana 1 at the site because of fund crunch.

“Six companies submitted tender. The consortium did not submit bid se-curity that excluded the company from the process. The other � ve companies will go through technical and � nancial evaluation. Then we will select a com-pany for the work,” PDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhulla told the Dhaka Tri-bune yesterday.

He added: “The whole process will be completed within three months and it will be sent to the cabinet committee on government purchase. Then a contract will be signed with the eligible bidder.

“The land for construction of the power plant was acquired earlier and

the private enterprise, Summit Group, failed to work on the project. So, we will construct another plant on the land,” the PDB chairman said.

In May 2011, the government had signed agreements with the Summit Power under the independent pow-er producer guideline to install three power plants – the gas-� red Bibiyana 1 and the 341MW Bibiyana 2 in Habiganj, and the 337MW dual-fuel Meghnaghat in Narayanganj – with a combined pro-duction capacity of 1,019MW.

The simple cycle of the plants was scheduled to start in August last year while the combined cycle production next August.

Meanwhile, the Summit Group has claimed $45m in compensation from the government and asked it to return $3m the company deposited as securi-

ty, after the PDB cancelled the agree-ment for the 341MW Bibiyana 1 power plant. The compensation issue is to be settled by the High Court.

On the last date for submission, the companies that submitted documents are Consortium of China National Elec-tric Engineer Co Ltd and Shenzhen Shennan Gas Turbine Engineering Technology Co Ltd from China, Isolux Ingenieria SA of Spain and Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea, Con-sortium of Hyundai Engineering Co Ltd and Daewoo International Corporation, Consortium of China National Techni-cal Import and Export Corporation and China National Corporation and Over-seas Economic Corporation, joint ven-ture of Harbin Electric International Co Ltd (HEI-CCCE) and CCC Engineering and Tecnicas Reunidas SA of Spain. l

Hall-Mark bosses sued againn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Sonali Bank yesterday � led a fresh case against Hall-Mark Chairman Jasmine Is-lam and Managing Director Tanvir Mah-mud for realising more than Tk30 crore from Boby Denim composite Ltd, one of the units of the beleaguered company.

Abdus Salam, executive o� cer of the bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch, � led the case with Artha Rin Adalat 1 (money loan court) in Dhaka.

Judge Md Rabiuzzaman took the case into cognizance and ordered the defendants to submit a written state-ment before the court by April 16.

With the case, authorities of the state-run commercial have � led 11 cas-es against Hallmark Group for realising more than Tk100 crore.

On March 30, Sonali Bank � led a case against Hallmark for realising more than Tk9 crore from Boby Denim Ltd.

On March 27, Sonali Bank � led three cases with the court for realizing over Tk21.71 crore from three sister concerns of the notorious group. l

‘We are working to make the examination competency-based so that students are evaluated properly’

As many as 10 public medical college hospitals were providing treatment to children with autism

British State Minister for International Development Alan Duncan and British High Commissioner Robert W Gibson meet State Minister for Foreign A� airs Shahriar Alam at the Secretariat in the capital yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:38am Sunrise 5:53am Zohr 12:03am Asr 4:29pm Magrib 6:13pm Esha 7:29pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Source: Accuweather/UNB

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 38 25Chittagong 33 23Rajshahi 40 20Rangpur 38 20Khulna 38 23Barisal 36 23Sylhet 35 19Cox’s Bazar 32 23

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:14PM SUN RISES 5:49AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW37.2ºC 17.7ºCTangail Sayedpur

Parking, hawkers clog roads around Jatrabari intersectionn Abu Hayat Mahmud

With authorities turning a blind eye, illegal vehicle parking and street ven-dors continue to occupy and clog dif-ferent sections of roads and footpaths near Jatrabari intersection, one of the city’s busiest intersections and a prime entrance into the capital.

Due to such rising illegal practices, vehicles and pedestrians in the area now � nd it di� cult to travel through the narrow roads. Most of these roads have also become un� t for vehicular movement as construction materials for the Mayor Mohammad Hanif Jatra-bari-Gulistan Flyover were being kept on the roadsides.

During a recent visit, this correspon-dent found that a large number of vehi-cles, mainly buses, trucks, human haul-ers, auto-rickshaws and rickshaws were unlawfully parked on roads around the Jatrabari intersection, such as the Mawa road, Chittagong road, Sylhet road, Narayanganj road and Demra road.

Besides, many roadside shop own-ers had also taken over a portion of the public space to display their products while many makeshift shops, such as tea stalls, utensil and fruit sellers, were also seen on the footpaths.

“Earlier, illegal parking only took place at certain points under the May-or Hanif Flyover, but now vehicles are being parked on both sides of Jatra-bari-Sayedabad road,” said Saiful, a lo-cal resident.

“To avoid the congestion at the in-tersection, a large number of vehicles now avoid Jatrabari-Sayedabad road and use the Shamibagh-Dayaganj road as an alternative route,” he added.

He also said that not only footpaths, street vendors have also started to oc-cupy a portion of the roads to put their goods on display.

Salma Akter, a resident of Shamibagh alleged: “Unauthorised kitchen markets on walkways and roads adjoining Jatra-bari intersection are very common, but city corporation o� cials and the police are silent over the issue.”

Imran Sikder, assistant sub inspector of Jatrabari Tra� c Police Box told the Dhaka Tribune: “There is no tra� c jam in the area (Jatrabari intersection). We are al-ways trying to reduce jam at the area.”

He further claimed tra� c conges-tion in the area had lessened than be-fore and would reduce further once the construction of � yover was complete.

However, the correspondent found drivers have parked their buses and trucks on the road in front of the police box, while the other side of the road was occupied by street vendors.

When asked, Dhaka South City Corpo-ration Chief Estate O� cer Khalid Ahmed said: “I am aware of the situation, action would be taken immediately.”

He also said the city corporation would conduct eviction drives against the encroachers within a few days.

Residents of Jatrabari and its adjoin-ing areas, daily commuters to the capital from nearby districts, mainly Narayan-ganj, Narsingdi and Munshiganj, have been hard-hit by these illegal practices as several sections of these roads were already in a dilapidated state due to negligence and the lack of maintenance from concerned authorities.

Meanwhile, the much-anticipated Ja-trabari-Gulistan � yover, which was built with an aim to ease the tra� c congestion on the eastern side of the capital, had failed to attract vehicles as the � yover operators charge high toll from its users.

A large number of commuters, who travel through the route daily, avoid using the � yover and prefer the road below to save travelling costs instead of time. l

DAP review committee reformedn Mohosinul Karim

The cabinet committee to review and � nalise the Detailed Area Plan of the capital was reconstituted yesterday, with Housing and Public Works Minis-ter Mosharraf Hossain as its convener.

LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, convener of the present cabinet com-mittee formed in February, as well as the previous one, was dropped from the committee.

As a result, the number of commit-tee members has now come down to six from seven.

Mosharraf was joint convener of the committee previously.

According to a Cabinet Division or-der issued on Tuesday, the committee members are: Communication Minis-ter Obaidul Quader, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Envi-ronment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Manju, Shipping Minister Sha-jahan Khan and Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sharif.

The secretaries of the Water Resourc-es Ministry, Environment and Forest Ministry, Housing and Public Works

Ministry and Shipping Ministry, the Roads Division, Bridges Division, Rail-way Division and Local Government Division will work with the committee as supporting o� cials. The Housing and Public Works Ministry will provide sec-retarial support to the committee.

The order stated that the committee would � nalise the plan analysing the existing DAP, consulting with the pub-lic representatives and looking over public opinions received through its website or directly.

The government announced and de-cided to implement the DAP to resolve problems related to housing, water-log-ging and tra� c congestion in Dhaka, as well as to protect the wetlands, water reservoirs, canals and low-lying areas

from land grabbers.The cabinet committee was formed

on June 27, 2010 for the � rst time, after the Housing and Public Works Ministry had announced the DAP on June 22.

The existing DAP’s tenure will end next year, and a new DAP will be an-nounced for the next 20 years.

A total area of 590sq-km has been covered in the DAP, including the north-ern part of Gazipur municipal area, Dhaleswari River in the south, Bongshi and Dhaleswari rivers in the west, and Shitalakkhya and Meghna rivers and a part of Sonargaon upazila in the east.

Narayanganj, Kadam Rasul, Sidhwir-ganj, Tarabo, Savar, Tongi and Gazipur municipals, Savar EPZ, Keraniganj, Jin-jira and parts of Rupganj and Kaliganj have also been added to the DAP, as well as the two city corporations in the capital.

The area has been divided into 17 zones.

The previous DAP review commit-tee received several applications from people as well as housing companies, of which some were accepted, some re-jected and the rest still pending. l

BCL man killed by rivalsn Our Correspondent, Mymensingh

A Bangladesh Chhatra League leader was killed in an attack allegedly by a rival group on Bangladesh Agricultural Univer-sity (BAU) campus yesterday morning.

University sources said Saad Ibne Momtaz, 21, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Fisheries, and organising secretary of the Ashraful Haque Hall Chhatra League unit, was killed over the election of class representative.

The sources said Momtaz, who was the incumbent class representative, had been involved in a feud with some of his party men over the election for the past few days. The election of class representative was scheduled to be held yesterday.

Following the dispute, a group of Chhatra League activists loyal to the present president of the university unit, Morsheduzzaman Khan Babu, al-legedly attacked Momtaz around 9pm on Monday, injuring him critically. Momtaz was left at the hall untreated until yesterday morning, alleged Sham-suddin Al Azad, former Chhatra League president at the university.

But Babu claimed that the Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League, was not involved with the incident, and miscreants might have attacked Momtaz to put the blame on the party.

When contacted, BAU Proctor Pro-fessor Dr Md Shahidur Rahman Khan said: “Hall Provost Professor Ra� qul Islam informed me about the incident around 9:30am today, and I rushed to the spot and sent the victim to My-mensingh Medical College Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries around noon.”

The victim’s body was sent to the morgue for post mortem examination.

Meanwhile, BAU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Md Ra� qul Hoque held a meeting with the registrar, the proc-torial body and the students’ a� air adviser around 12:30pm to discuss the situation.

A probe body would be formed to in-vestigate the matter to identify the real killers, the proctor said.

Police had visited the spot, and ad-ditional police had been deployed on the campus, sources said. l

BCL activists beat up studentn JU Correspondent

A student was beaten up by leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League at Jahangirnagar University.

Rezaul Amin Barshan, a � nal year student of the Department of Comput-er Science and Engineering, received injuries on the head and in the hands.

He was admitted to a private hospi-tal in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Mass Education A� airs Deputy Secre-tary Didarul Islam of the university Chha-tra League unit along with his followers went to Barshan’s room at Maulana Bha-shani Hall at around 2am and beat him up with rods, said the witnesses.

Among other attackers were SM Firozur Rahman of Bangla department, Roman of Institute of Information Technology, Arif of geography and en-vironment, Tareq of public health, Se-lim of law, Shakil of anthropology and Imran of law.

Chhatra League leader Didar said they beat up Barshan because he was an activist of the university unit of Ja-tiyatabadi Chhatra Dal. l

WEATHER

TUESDAY, APRIL 1

PARTLY CLOUDY

People decorate potteries with traditional designs at Bashantapara in Rajshahi yesterday ahead of Pahela Baishakh DHAKA TRIBUNE

Hospital closed after doctors, sta� resign en massen Our correspondent, Barisal

The authorities of Holling Bery Syed Moazzem Red Crescent Hospital in Barisal yesterday closed the hospital and released all patients after doctors and other sta� resigned en masse fol-lowing non-payment of their salaries.

Sources said the doctors and sta� had resigned and left the hospital, lock-ing the main gate.

Enayet Karim, acting superinten-dent-in-charge of the hospital, said 57 personnel, including � ve doctors, 12 nurses and 40 sta� , of the hospital re-ceived their last salaries in November last year and since then no fund had been disbursed by the authority de-spite repeated requests.

Four of the doctors left the hospital submitting their resignation on Monday and advising the release of 20 indoor pa-tients and closing all outdoor activities. Other sta� members also sent their res-ignation letters via fax to the authority. Enayet said the hospital would remain closed until further notice.

When contacted, Iqbal Hossain For-kan, president of the hospital manage-ment committee and acting president of Red Crescent Barisal unit, said the con-struction of a four-storey building for the hospital, installation of modern equip-ment and deployment of ninety o� cials and sta� members need huge funds.

He expressed hope that the donors would provide the fund and the hospi-tal would resume its services soon. l

Post 2015 dev agenda: Human rights should be main concernn UNB

Ensuring human rights and addressing inequalities worldwide should be the main concern in � xing the post-2015 development agenda, said the devel-opment activists at a discussion in the city yesterday.

“The World Bank sets the poverty threshold of earning US$ 1.25 a day. Even if the things go on ‘business as usual’, it would be achieved in any way. So, it can’t be the goal to press the governments to accelerate the poverty eradication e� orts,” said Roberto Bis-sio, coordinator of Social Watch, a glob-al civil society alliance working in more than 100 countries.

Criticising the World Bank’s de� ni-tion of poverty at the discussion, he said it is a mere income approach of de-� ning poverty.

The panel discussion, titled ‘Post 2015 Development Agenda: Future Global Development Partnership’, or-ganised jointly by EquityBD, Social Watch Bangladesh and Unnayan Sa-munnay at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity .

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of Equi-tyBD, Ahmed Swapan of VOICE, Aminur Rasul of Unnayan Dhara Trust, Prodip K Roy of Online Knowledge Society, Dr Sohel Iqbal and Badrul Alam of Ban-gladesh Krishak Federation (BKF), and Barkat Ullah Maruf of EquityBD, among others, spoke at the discussion. l

Labourer killed during hill cuttingn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A labourer was killed and another in-jured as they accidentally fell o� a hill while cutting it in Paharika area under Khulshi police station in the port city early yesterday.

Police, however, nabbed a truck driver Fazlu, 30, and his helper Abdul Ailm, 25, from the spot.

But other workers � ed, sens-ing the presence of the law enforc-

ers, said Mainul Islam Bhuiyan, of-� cer-in-charge of Khulshi police station.

The deceased, Md Yunus, 60, and injured Md Jafarullah, 40, hailed from Lalmohon upazila in Bhola, said the OC.

He said Yunus and Jafarullah fell o� from the hill to the boundary wall around 12:30am when they, along with their fellow workers, were illegally cut-ting the hill.

They were injured critically as they fell into an iron-made fence on the boundary wall, added the OC.

Later, they were rushed to Chit-tagong Medical College Hospital where the on-duty doctor pronounced Yunus dead.

The truck was waiting on the spot to carry the hill earth while police nabbed the driver and the helper, the OC added.

A case was lodged with Khulshi po-lice station in this connection. l

Illegal parking and street vendors have occupied a road near Jatrabari intersection, hampering vehicular movement and creating tra� c congestion ABU HAYAT MAHMUD

The previous DAP review committee received several applications from people as well as housing companies

Locals in Zianagar su� er as road remains incomplete n Our Correspondent, Pirojpur

People in Pathashi area under Zianagar upazila of the district are su� ering as construction work of the road has been lying undone for long.

According to upazila engineering department sources, Murad Enterprize Ltd started the construction work of the 32 feet long and 8 feet wide road from Khejurtala to Bagolerhat in 2013 with Tk73,16,000.

Assistant Engineer Muniruzzaman said the work was supposed to be com-pleted on 25 December 2013. Till date, the work is far from complete.

Baby Akter, a passerby, said they had to su� er as they are compelled to cross the muddy road.

A van driver in the area said: “We cannot run businesses for want of a pucca road.” Bipul Dhali, student of Pattashi Jonokallyan School and Col-lege said: “We cannot go to school reg-ularly as there is no pucca road.”

“We have informed the matter to the local UP member,” he said.

Bashir Uddin Khan, a social worker in the area, said: “Students of several institutions in the area have to su� er for sorry state of the road.”

He blamed Murad Enterprise Ltd for the incident. Muniruzzaman said that he had ordered Murad Enterprise to com-plete the work. When contacted, Badsha Howlader, proprietor of the enterprise, said due to shortage of money, the con-struction work could not be completed. l

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Government of the People’s Republic of BangladeshLocal Government Engineering Department

Offi ce of the Upazila EngineerUpazila: Rajbari Sadar, District: Rajbari.

Memo No. LGED/UE/Raj/Sadar/2013-14/207 Date: 30.03.2014

This is to notify that due to unavoidable circumstances some corrections have been necessary & made for the following Tender Notice No 06/2013-14 vide memo number stated as bellow:

Tender Notice Number, memo number & Date

Instead of to be read

Tender Notice No. 06/2013-2014, Memo No. LGED/UE/Raj/Sadar/2013-2014/142

Date: 02.03.2014

Last date of selling: 30/03/2014Tender closing date: 31/03/2014Tender opening Date: 31/03/2014Estimated Amount Tk. 97,20,473.00Tender Security Tk. 2,91,700.00

Last date, of selling: 08/04/2014Tender closing Date: 09/04/2014Tender opening Date: 09/04/2014Estimated Amount Tk. 97,44,263.00Tender Security Tk. 2,50,000.00

All other terms & conditions in this Tender Notice will remain Unchanged.

(Md. Jalal Uddin Sheikh) Upazila Engineer Rajbari Sadar, Rajbari,Momo No. LGED/UE/Raj/Sadar/2013-14/207/ 1 (50) Tel No. 0641-65570GC-37/14 (5″×3) Date: 30.03.2014

CORRIGENDUM

Low-level water in four rivers hits irrigation hard Locals in Chapainawabganj are also su� ering from acute crisis of drinking water

n Our Correspondent, Chapainawabganj

The adverse e� ects of Farakka barrage, climatic change and decrease in mean annual rainfall have put four rivers in Chapainawabganj in a vulnerable condition.

Locals have been su� ering im-mensely because of an acute crisis of irrigation and drinking water facilities. Residents of at least � ve upazilas of the district do not get water from the tube wells during the summer season. More-over, farmers are not getting water for irrigation from the rivers in summer as large char areas developed in the rivers because of Indian authorities’ water-

sharing policy centring the Farakka bar-rage in the last three decades.

The four rivers in the district – Pad-ma, Mahananda, Pagla and Punorb-hoba – have already lost navigability because of the Farakka barrage. Lack of water in the Mahananda has put at least 15 irrigation projects in around 10,000 hectare cultivable lands under threat.

As a result of the adverse e� ects, the rubber-dam project in the river, as-sured by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has also become uncertain. Assistant Engineer of the Water Development Board Abdul Hamid said recruitment of advisors for the rubber-dam project was under process.

Meanwhile, the underground water

level in the district has also gone down. Executive Engineer Bahar Uddin Mrid-ha said Chapainawabganj had been facing around 80-85 feet degradation of underground water level every year, adding that the rate was alarming in the Barind Tract, especially at Gomo-stapur, Nachol and Chapainawabganj sadar upazilas.

Di� erent authorities concerned have taken many initiatives to mini-mise the su� ering of the people of the district.

Barind Multipurpose Development Authority’s Executive Engineer Akbar Ali said farmers were being encouraged to cultivate crops like wheat, mustard and pulse instead of Irri-Boro to reduce

pressure on underground water level. Moreover, projects – digging canals and ponds – were also being undertaken, he added.

On the other hand, river water spe-cies of di� erent local � sh are on the verge of eviction because of unnatural degradation of water level in the riv-ers. Biological equilibrium is also ham-pered in the district.

Su� erers hope that the government will take initiatives to increase the wa-ter level of rivers, � sh production and irrigation facilities as well. The locals observed that the government should take every possible step to properly re-alise the river water distribution agree-ment with neighbouring India. l

Road for school students n Our Correspondent, Bandarban

Students of Bandarban Collector School are pleased that they will no longer have to su� er while commuting in fu-ture because the district administration is going to construct a road for them.

Previously, around 500 students of Bandarban Collector School used a nar-row and risky road that goes beside the residence of the deputy commissioner and through the Shilpakala Academy premises.

Construction materials, including rods and bricks, are being kept on the premises of Shilpakala Academy and

students have been injured several times while going to school.

Bandarban municipality has started constructing the road, which will cost Tk26 lakhs, out of consideration for the students.

The 12 feet wide 180 feet long road with a drainage system would be com-pleted soon, municipality sources said.

Executive Engineer of Bandarban Municipality Mong Sui Khoy Marma said the constriction work would be � nished shortly.

Locals said the road would not just help the students but everyone else as well. l

Eight jailed for life for killing n Tribune Desk

A Sylhet court sentenced eight people to life term imprisonment for killing an auto-rickshaw driver back in 2003.

The lifers are Tarek Ahmad, Hanif Ahmad and Saber Ahmad, sons of Ra-him Uddin; Nabab Miah alias Akter and his sons Abid Hossain Apu and Akmal Hossain-- all residents of Kushighat Palpur village in Dakkhin Surma upa-zila-- Rubel Ahmad, son of Rahim Ud-din, a resident of Tukerbazar Chargaon in Sadar upazila, and Alaluddin, son of late Ahad Ali, a resident of Hetimganj Uttar Maijbhag village in Golapganj upazila of Sylhet district.

The court also � ned them Tk500 each, in default, to su� er one month more in jail.

According to the prosecution, local people of the village had been cheated by Rahim Uddin as a ‘pir’ (spiritual leader) while auto-rickshaw driver Mansur Alam, son of late Nurul Haque of the same village, protested his (pir’s) misdeeds, reports UNB.

As a sequel to the matter, Rahim and his men attacked Mansur and beat him mercilessly at the village on November 11, 2003, leaving him criti-cally injured.

He died on way to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital.

Later, Mansur’s uncle Abdul Haque � led a case with Dakkhin Surma police station in connection with the killing. l

Jubo League leader chopped in Jhenaidah n Our Correspondent,

Jhenaidah

A Jubo League leader has been chopped in Jhenaidah town yes-terday morning.

The Injured was identi� ed as Kazi Enamul Haque Milon, Jubo League secretary for spots and youth a� airs.

Jhenaidah police station O� c-er-in-Charge Iqbal Bahar Chowd-hury said: “A gang of miscreants numbering � ve to six entered

Milon’s business centre on the Hossain Shahid Sahrawardi and chopped him around 8:30am.”

Later, the locals sent Milon to Jhenaidah General Hospital.

He said miscreants attacked Milon over previous enmity.

District Awami League Sec-retary Advocate Azizur Rahman said: “Previous enmity was the main reason behind the attack.”

Condemning the attack, Azi-zur demanded punishment of the attackers. l

Army man rescued from clutches of kidnappers n Our Correspondent, Khagrachari

An Army sepoy was rescued from Tai-chalapara area in Bandarban on Mon-day night, a day after his abduction from Ramgar upazila in Khagrachhari.

Police also arrested three Jubo League leaders, the youth front of the ruling Awami League, in this connection.

The victim Md Nantu Ali, 30, is post-ed at NC Academy of Bogra Canton-ment as a sepoy.

Besides, the arrestees are Md Faruk Hossain, the organisational secretary of Ramgar upazila unit Jubo League, Shamim Mahmud, secretary of mu-

nicipality unit and Shipon, president of ward 5 Jubo League.

The victim told reporters that he had got introduced with Faruk over cell phone three months back. Faruk invited him to visit Ramgar. Nantu has been staying at his native village taking two-month leave.

Nantu said, “On Sunday morning I reached Ramgar to meet him. Then Faruk and Farid took me to a house near Ramgar Cinema Hall. Later three youths—Rubel, Milon and an unnamed person-- joined them.”

“They actually con� ned me to the house and forced me to call my rela-

tives and ask for money. They also talked with my relatives and threat-ened to kill me if they did not give me Tk3 lakh,” he said.

The alleged abductors gave four B-Kash numbers to his relatives so that they could send the money.

Nantu said during con� nement, they had tortured him indiscriminately and took him to a place on a CNG-run auto-rickshaw after tying him up and blindfolding him.

The law enforcers rescued him from there on Monday night from an orchard.

Family members said they had in-formed the authorities of NC Academy

after the abductors demanded money. Later, a team of Rab 7 and police

conducted the raid and found the vic-tim tied up in the Taichalapara area.

Following Nantu’s statement, police arrested the trio from di� erent places of the district.

Hearing the news of arrest, local Awami League and Jubo League lead-ers rushed to the police station.

President of upazila unit Jubo League Abdul Kader alleged that they were victims of political conspiracy.

When contacted, NC Cantonment authority did not want to make any comment over the arrest. l

Temples set ablaze, 7 idols burnt in Barisaln Our Correspondent, Barisal

Seven idols belonging to the Hindu community were burnt after unidenti-� ed arsonists set � re to the Durga Kali temple at Senerhut in Adhuna village, Gournadi early yesterday.

Satindranath Chakrabarty, president of the Senerhut Durga-Kali Mandir management committee, said priests and worshippers left the brick-walled, tin-roofed temple about 10:30pm on Monday after completing the evening service.

When they entered the next morn-ing to worship, they found the idols of Durga, Sarswati, Laxmi, Kartik, Ganesh, Ashur and Kali entirely burnt and the tin roof of the temple partially burnt after having petrol poured on it, Mr Chakrabarty added.

They immediately informed the po-lice and the representatives of local gov-ernment about the incident, he told.

Abul Kalam, Gournadi police sta-tion o� cer-in-charge, said a case was lodged by the president of the temple committee without any named ac-cused. Police were trying to � nd the perpetrators.

K M Ehsan Ullah, district police su-perintendent and Masud Hasan Pat-wari, upazila nirbahi o� cer, visited the spot, the OC said.

Kaliya Daman Guha, upazila president of Hindu-Buddha-Christian Oikya Parishad, Dulal Roy Dulu and Manik Lal Acharya, president and secretary of upazila Hindu-Buddha-Christian Kalyan Parishad respectively, condemned the incident in separate statements. They also demanded immediate arrest of the culprits and sought assurances from authorities regarding the safety and security of the members of the minority community, as well as their houses and religious places. l

A van puller, with his goods-laden van, crosses the earthen road in Zianagar upazila in Pirojpur yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Protest against robbers’ bailn Sunamganj Correspondent

Several hundred locals yester-day blocked the Sylhet-Sunam-ganj highway in Jauabazar area of Chhatak upazila here in pro-test of some notorious robbers receiving bail.

Chatak police station OC Shah-

jalal Munshi said a few local notori-ous robbers secured bail some days ago and then some incidents of rob-bery also occurred there.

Infuriated by the happenings, about 250-300 residents block-aded the highway around 2pm de-manding cancellation of the bail and re-arrest of the robbers. l

Police detained an elephant in Hasanganj area under Sadullapur upazila in Gaibandha while it was allegedly being stolen by two people yesterday. Later, it has been kept in police custody when law enforcers came to know that the duo were taking away the animal as it’s owners did not provide them money which he was supposed to give according to a deal signed between the two parties DHAKA TRIBUNE

ELEPHANT IN POLICE CUSTODY

n Farid Hasan Ahmed

Haor areas of the north-eastern part of Bangla-desh face � ash � oods caused by sudden and early downstream water

from the surrounding upstreams during the period from late March to May. A haor is a very low lying river basin area that is covered by water for almost half the year starting from monsoon. It is a variety of wetland habitats including rivers, streams, and canals – large areas of seasonally inundated cultivable land.

Flash � oods take place more fre-quently and less predictably. These � oods cause quick damage to crops and property, and are followed by relatively rapid recession. Haors are important sources of agricultural production for a large number of vul-nerable people living in that locality. During winter, cultivated lands of the area produce paddy with minimum e� ort; during monsoon the same morphs into a breeding ground for

open water � shery, and hosts a wide range of freshwater biodiversity.

Haors are important areas for Boro rice cultivation (a rice variety cultivated from December to May) as well. Boro is a mainstay for the local economy – a largely mono-cropping agricultural system.

Early � ash � oods often wash away standing crops, and people lose their harvest. Flood, especially at the brim of harvest, makes the farmers frus-trated; they face irredeemable losses right before the harvest is supposed to yield.

Conventional protection practices

According to conventional practice, low-height earthen embankments along the periphery of the haor, with structuring and drainage channels at intersections, have been built to protect the boro from � ash � oods. The embankments inundate and remain

under water during monsoon while the harvest is protected. Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has the key responsibility for present � ood protection structures in haor areas.

Over the last few decades, nearly 4,500km of low-lying embankments along the small rivers, haors, and canals have been made and repaired. Cases of successful and unsuccessful embankments are being observed across the country.

Earthen embankments face problems like erosion and breaching every year. Low-height submersible embankments obstruct the � ash � ood water for several days, so that farmers get time for harvesting and yielding before the land is completely inun-dated.

The country had experienced am-pli� ed occurrences of � ash � oods in the recent years of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2010 in the Haor areas – these occurrances damaged the main crops of the region. People’s observation and experiences divulge that boro is damaged due to � ash � ood in the haor region once every three years. Accord-ing to the people of the haor areas, � ash � oods might severely a� ect those areas in the coming months of 2014.

Actions to be undertaken

The Ministry of Water Resource, Bangladesh Water Development Board BWDB and wings should consider the following short-term and long-term steps to support the boro farmers of the haor areas:

Short-term steps

• Prompt and coordinated actions are needed by respective authori-ties and duty bearers to make new protective earthen embankments in vulnerable spots of the haor regions in conjunction with community and local governments as soon as possible, and complete ongoing repairs. Any sorts of irregularity or

dilemma might cause damages to crops, and the people will su� er due to early � ash � oods.

• Appropriate allocation, rapid � ow of funds, e� ective monitoring, and supervision of urgent protection activities should be ensured by authorities responsible at di� erent levels.

• Role of local governments and communities at the di� erent stages of the work and during � ash � ood situations needs to be emphasised upon, supported and ensured by authorities.

Long-term Steps

• It is felt that submersible embank-ments are economically smart in-terventions that help the people of the haor. However, limitations such as out� tted di� culties of physical workings, weak management set-up for operations, maintenance and protection, environmental conse-quences, and lack of engagement of people of the interventions need to be addressed e� ectively involving all key actors.

• Impact minimising strategies such as the use of cropping patterns, which minimise revelation to loss, and the setting up of non-agricul-tural income-generating activities, need to be promoted. Crop type and pattern should be selected accord-ing to the susceptibility to � ooding.

If possible, e� orts should be given by concerned agencies to � nd new variety of species that have � ash � ood resistance. Crops insur-ance schemes could be encouraged and piloted by relevant organisa-tions with proper governance set up as a long-term risk-reducing initiative.

• Any livelihood initiative in the haor areas has to take � ood aspects into

consideration so that the initiative does not give in, but yield some amount of bene� t to the target people. Involvement of the commu-nity, and enlisting their inputs in any kinds of programme design and relevant issues a� ecting their lives and livelihood will make the intervention process easier and impact-bearing.

• Mainstreaming disaster risk reduc-tion and climate change adaptation in existing development works and future initiatives of di� erent government departments and NGOs working in the area is a must. Con-cerned authorities should develop a disaster database, which is very important to carry out detailed study and planning.

GOs and NGOs need to redesign their development programmes with the active participation of the most vulnerable communities to ensure that they maximise � ood mitigation potential, and incorpo-rate traditional community coping practices which are � t technically, environmentally, socially, and economically.

• The respective authorities at di� erent levels should strengthen capacity building initiatives of local government. A well-organ-ised and coordinated e� ort is needed to further strengthen local level planning, decision making, allocation of resource to local governments, and implementing processes for � ash � ood proo� ng programmes in the vulnerable locations. Authorities and policy makers should ensure adequate re-source disbursement from central government and other top-level stakeholders, and oversee the e� ective utilisation of these re-sources at the lower level.

• Suitable steps, particularly struc-tural measures in haor areas, could be taken considering existing study

recommendations on � ood and � ash � ood management with prop-er cross validation. Facilitating new study and action research for more durable solution in protecting boro crops, properties, and assets of haor areas might be a worthy step.

To increase the water holding capacity of the drainage sys-tems and to increase the water � ow capacity, far-reaching river dredging programmes to remove the sediments from the river-beds deposited during � ood should to be taken. The abandoned channels also need to be re-excavated to reduce water-logging. The dredge sediment could be used to raise the level of land and infrastructures with proper planning that consid-ered input from the brave people of haor areas.

• In forecasting monsoon river � oods Bangladesh is in good form, but in forecasting � ash � oods a lot of gaps and limitations are observed. At this point, improvement of present forecasting system is very much necessary. Joint steps with neigh-boring countries could be explored by political and technical authori-ties in this regard.

• Strong coordination and cooper-ation, along with e� cient man-agement practices among relevant ministries, departments, and actors from top to bottom across the year is required for managing � ash � ood risk and ensuring good harvest of boro in the haor areas.

The success of actions taken by responsible authorities to reduce upcoming � ash � ood risk would be treated as a smart step forward to ensure food security and poverty reduction of a large number of people in haor areas.

Farid Hasan Ahmed works in the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, Switzerland Embassy, Dhaka.

7DHAKA TRIBUNE Long Form Wednesday, April 2, 2014

At the brim of harvest Managing the risk of � ash � oods before they can cause irredeemable loss

According to the people of the haor areas, � ash � oods might severely a� ect those areas in the coming months of 2014

Flood, especially at the brim of harvest, makes the farmers frustrated; they face irredeemable losses right before the harvest is supposed to yield

Year

80

60

40

20

01954 1955 1970 1971 1987 1988 1998 2000 2004 2007

% of area a� ected

Flood a� ected areas of selected years

% of area � ooded

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Wednesday, April 2, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Jailed Israeli spy could be key to peace talksn AFP, Jerusalem

Jonathan Pollard, the US-born Israeli who is serving life for spying on America, has been raised as a possible key to break-ing a logjam in the crisis-hit peace talks.

A source close to the talks said yes-terday that there was a proposal which could see Pollard freed before the Jew-ish holiday of Passover, which begins mid-April.

“The emerging deal... contains the following elements: the release of Jon-athan Pollard before the Passover hol-iday and the extension of the negotia-tions with the Palestinians into 2015,” the source told AFP. US o� cials have not con� rmed the reports.

Pollard was arrested in Washing-ton in 1985 and condemned to life imprisonment for spying on the  Unit-ed States for Israel.

He was last month taken to hospi-tal after he reportedly collapsed in his North Carolina prison cell. His wife, Es-ther, told the English-language Jerusa-lem Post he had undergone surgery for

“multiple serious complications in his digestive system”.

In exchange for Pollard’s release, Isra-el would honour its commitment to re-lease 26 Arab prisoners -- including some who are Israeli citizens -- whose contin-ued imprisonment is holding up talks.

In addition, a further 400 prisoners who had not shed Israeli blood and who were within months of complet-ing their sentences would be set free.

The proposal came up on Monday as US Secretary of State John Kerry made an unscheduled stop in Israel where he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya-hu twice in 12 hours and also held talks with Palestinian negotiators.

He was, according to a Palestinian source, to return on Wednesday for talks with Palestinian president Mah-mud Abbas in a bid to resolve the pris-oner stando� .

Successive Israeli governments have lobbied unsuccessfully for Pollard’s re-lease and in 1998 it was reported that he was to be freed in a prisoner swap with the Palestinians. l

April McFool! British papers poke fun at Scottish voten AFP, London

An independent Scotland would drive on the right, replace the queen’s head on coins and bring in UN peacekeepers with purple berets -- if Britain’s newspapers were to be-lieve on April Fool’s Day.

The Scottish independence referen-dum on September 18 provided the subject matter for most of the traditional spoofs in Britain’s largely London-based tabloids and broadsheets on April 1.

The Guardian carried a detailed report on supposedly secret plans by the Scottish government to show it is “part of Europe” by switching driving on the left of the road to the right and changing the “M” for motor-way on signs to “S” for Scotland.

In a video using Lego cars, it showed how huge spiral interchanges would be built to help motorists from south of the border in Britain change direction and avoid accidents.

The Times said that an elderly German aristocrat, Ferdinand, Duke of Saxony, hoped to use Scottish independence as a

chance to reclaim the throne of Scotland from Queen Elizabeth II.

The giveaway was in the academic quoted in the piece -- Amadan Giblean, a Gaelic trans-lation of April Fool, according to the BBC.

The thrones of Scotland and England have been united since king James I in 1601, while Scotland and England have been in political union for more than 300 years.

In another royal shocker, the Telegraph reported that the head of Scotland’s pro-in-dependence First Minister Alex Salmond would replace that of the queen on Scottish pound coins -- from April 1, 2015, according to journalist “Flora Poli” (April Fool).

The Daily Mail said it had a photo of a gov-ernment aide accidentally revealing plans for a new Union Jack � ag without any of the blue from the Scottish � ag of St Andrew.

The Independent meanwhile said the United Nations was drawing up plans for a peacekeeping mission to prevent cross-bor-der tensions in case of independence, in-cluding pre-arranged “face-o� s” modelled on the Hollywood � lm “Braveheart”. l

Russia ends Ukraine gas discount ahead of NATO meetingn AFP, Moscow

Russian gas giant Gazprom yesterday announced it was ending a gas discount enjoyed by Kiev in a major blow for the Ukrainian economy, as NATO foreign ministers prepared to forge a response to Russia’s intervention in Crimea.

Ukraine on Monday reported a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from its eastern border amid growing signs that the Kremlin is ready to defuse the worst East-West stando� since the Cold War.

But tensions still remained high and Russia appeared to resort to the familiar tactic of using Gazprom to put pressure on the troubled Ukrainian economy.

The crisis is at a critical juncture as Ukrainian politicians jockey for posi-tion ahead of May 25 presidential elec-tions and tentative diplomacy gets un-der way between Moscow and the West to � nd common ground after the fall of president Viktor Yanukovych.

Ukraine will now pay $385.5 dollars

per 1,000 cubic metres of gas from the previous cut rate of $268.5, Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said.

“The discount will no longer apply,” he said in a statement. “This is due to the inability of the Ukrainian side to pay for debts from 2013 and realise full payments for current deliveries.”

The discount had been agreed be-tween Yanukovych and President Vlad-imir Putin in December 2013 as a form of � nancial aid to the former regime.

The price hike -- although widely ex-pected -- is a new blow to the Ukrainian economy which needs an international rescue to stave o� the risk of default.

Pullback ‘a small sign’Ukraine and the  United  States  have accused Russia of massing thousands of troops near the border and have ex-pressed concern that Moscow intends to seize southeastern parts of Ukraine with large populations of ethnic Rus-sians following the Crimea takeover.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s o� ce said Putin had personal-ly informed her of the troop pullback in a telephone conversation on Monday, while her Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the move “a small sign that the situation is becoming less tense”.

The apparent easing of Moscow’s position was o� set by an unannounced visit to Crimea by Prime Minister Dmit-ry Medvedev -- the most senior Russian o� cial to visit the Black Sea peninsula since it voted on March 16 to come un-der Kremlin rule.

Ukraine denounced Medvedev’s visit as a “grave violation” of interna-tional law. It said the start of the Russian drawdown appeared to coincide with a phone call that Putin had unexpectedly placed to US President Barack Obama on Friday evening.

Russia’s defence ministry con� rmed on Monday it had relocated one bat-talion that had been stationed near Ukraine back to its permanent base. l

Ten ways the Ukraine crisis may change the worldn Reuters, Brussels

As Moscow and the West dig in for a prolonged stand-o� over Russia’s an-nexation of Crimea, risking spillover to other former Soviet republics and beyond, here are 10 ways in which the  Ukraine  crisis could change atti-tudes and policy around the world.uu Russia diminished: Russia’s role in

international a� airs is diminished, at least temporarily. Moscow has been de facto excluded from the Group of Eight industrialized powers. Its bids to join the Organ-isation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Interna-tional Energy Agency are frozen. Western  summits  with Moscow are canceled until further notice.

uu NATO revived: Just when it looked to be losing relevance as its mission in Afghanistan limps to a close, the U.S.-led military alliance is back in  business. An increase in allied air patrols and war games showing the � ag in Poland and the Baltic states is on the agenda, and War-saw wants faster deployment of U.S. missile defense systems in central Europe.

uu Energy diversi� cation: The en-ergy map of Europe is being re-drawn with accelerated action to reduce dependence on Russian oil and gas. EU states are set to build more lique� ed  natural gas  termi-nals, upgrade pipeline networks and grids and expand a southern gas supplies through Georgia and Turkey to southern and central Europe.

uu China factor: The diplomatic al-liance between Russia and Chi-na, which often vote together in the U.N. Security Council, could change in one of two directions - either rapprochement through a stronger energy partnership, with new pipelines being built to pump Russian oil and gas spurned by Eu-rope to Beijing; or a cooling if Chi-na sees less bene� t in closer ties with an economically weakened and relatively isolated Moscow.

uu U.S. leadership: Washington’s glob-

al leadership role, weakened by the rise of emerging powers and by re-trenchment under President Barack Obama, has been partially restored.

Despite his disengagement from wars in Iraq and Afghani-stan and strategic “pivot” towards Asia, events have pushed Obama back into the old-fashioned role of “Leader of the Free World” in an East-West crisis in Europe.

uu German leadership: The Ukraine a� air has cemented Berlin’s lead-ership role in Europe. Germany is already the dominant economic power, calling the shots in the euro zone crisis, and Chancellor Angela Merkel has become Europe’s main interlocutor with Putin.

uu EU united: The European Union has been reunited, at least for now, by the return of a common external threat. This may have helped EU leaders overcome some long-running disputes.

uu Contest for Central Asia: both Putin and the West are wooing central Asian autocrats in ener-gy-rich Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, drawing a discreet veil over their human rights records. If Russia weakens economically, they will want at least a foot in the Western camp.

uu U.S.-Russian cooperation: some cooperation on global security is-sues will continue because Mos-cow has an interest in keeping it on track to avoid greater isolation. But tensions are possible over Syria, Iran, Afghanistan or North Korea, and Moscow has levers it could activate such as contracts to supply S300 air defense missiles to Damascus or Tehran.

uu Putin’s future: Russia’s leader is near the peak of his popularity, rid-ing a wave of nationalist pride over Crimea. However, instability may grow if he comes under pressure from magnates angry at losing val-ue on their businesses, forfeiting foreign investment in Russia and facing travel restrictions and asset freezes in the West. l

A picture taken on April 1, 2014, shows a view of Chersonesos, an ancient Greek city and UNESCO heritage site, in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. Russia yesterday announced it was ending a gas discount enjoyed by Kiev in a major blow for the Ukrainian economy AFP

Report: CIA misled US on torture of prisonersn AFP, Washington

The CIA misled the US government and the public about parts of its interroga-tion program for years, the Washington Post said yesterday, quoting a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Speci� cally, the US agency hid de-tails about the severity of its methods, overstated the signi� cance of plots and prisoners and took credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact provided before they were subjected to harsh techniques, the Post said, quoting o� cials who have seen the 6,300-page report.

It was constructed with detailed chronologies of dozens of CIA detainees.

The paper said the report describes a long-standing pattern of unsubstanti-ated claims the CIA sought permission to use - and later tried to defend - ex-cruciating interrogation methods that yielded little to no signi� cant intelli-gence, according to US o� cials who have reviewed the document.

“The  CIA  described (its program) repeatedly both to the Department of Justice and eventually to Congress as getting unique, otherwise unobtain-able intelligence that helped disrupt terrorist plots and save thousands of lives,» said one US o� cial briefed on the report.

“Was that actually true? The answer is no.”

Current and former US o� cials de-scribing the report spoke on the con-dition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue and because the document remains classi� ed.

The report includes what o� cials described as damning new disclosures about a sprawling network of secret de-tention facilities, or “black sites,” that was dismantled by President Barack Obama in 2009.

The report describes previously un-disclosed cases of abuse including the alleged repeated dunking of a terror suspect in tanks of iced water in Af-ghanistan.

This method bore similarities to wa-terboarding but never showed up on any list of techniques approved by the Justice Department, the Post said. l

NGO: More than 150,000 killed in Syria con� ictn AFP, Beirut

More than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria since the con� ict began in March 2011, a monitoring group said in a new toll released on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 150,344 people, 51,212 of them civilians, including nearly 7,985 children.

The group said 37,781 members of the armed opposition had been killed in the � ghting, including jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and Al-Qaeda a� liate Al-Nusra Front.

A total of 58,480 regime forces, in-cluding more than 35,000 soldiers had also been killed. Among those killed � ghting on the government side were 364 members of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement, the Observatory added.

Another 2,871 people were recorded as having died but their identities re-mained unknown, the group said.

The con� ict in Syria began in March 2011 with peaceful anti-government demonstrations, inspired by similar movements elsewhere in the region. l

A photo shows a protester holding a sign during a women demonstration against the Bashar al-Assad regime crackdown on pro-democracy protests, outside the Syrian embassy in central London. According to a monitoring group, more than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria since the con� ict began in March 2011 AFP

Britain orders probe into Muslim Brotherhoodn AFP, London

British Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood over concerns that the group is planning radical activ-ities from a base in London, his Down-ing Street o� ce said yesterday.

The intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 have been tasked to gather informa-tion on the “philosophy and activities” of the group after several leaders � ed to London following the toppling of Egyp-tian president Mohamed Morsi last year.

The probe would include an assess-ment of claims that the Islamist group was behind a suicide bus bombing that killed three South Korean tourists in Egypt’s south Sinai in February and several other attacks, The Times news-paper reported.

The probe could reportedly lead to a ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in B rit-ain, which is already outlawed in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Muslim Brother-hood did not immediately respond to a request for comment by AFP. l

Turkey opposition claims poll riggingn AFP, Ankara

Turkey’s secular opposition yesterday rejected the results of Ankara and Is-tanbul mayoral elections claimed as victories by the Islamic-rooted party of Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, citing “irregularities”.

More than 1,000 people demon-strated outside the elections author-ity in the capital Ankara, where the incumbent mayor of Erdogan’s ruling party has declared victory with a wa-fer-thin margin of about one percent.

“Thief Tayyip!” the protesters chanted, while others yelled, “Ankara, don’t sleep. Stand up for your vote!”

Turkey’s two biggest cities were the top prizes in Sunday’s elections, in which Erdogan’s Justice and Develop-ment Party (AKP) declared sweeping wins despite graft claims and earlier mass street protests.

The municipal polls were seen as a referendum on the 11-year-rule of Erdogan, who is popular for driving strong economic growth but has been accused of an increasingly authoritari-

an ruling style.The race was symbolic in Ankara,

the inland capital built by the secular founding father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who estab-lished the Republican People’s Party (CHP), now the main opposition party.

In the tight Ankara race, Melih Gok-cek, the AKP mayor for 20 years, scored 44.79 percent against 43.77 percent for CHP candidate Mansur Yavas, ac-cording to the provisional results. That amounts to a margin of 32,000 votes in the city of about � ve million people. l

UN to help evacuate Muslims in C African AFP, Geneva

The UN’s refugee agency said yester-day it was prepared to help evacuate some 19,000 Muslims at risk of at-tack from mainly Christian militias in the con� ict-torn Central African Republic.

“What we don’t want is to stand by and watch people being slaughtered,”

UNHCR spokeswoman Fatoumata Le-jeune-Kaba told reporters in Geneva.

She pointed out that so-called an-ti-balaka militias controlled major routes to and from Bangui as well as a number of towns and villages in the southwestern part of the country. They posed a particular threat to Muslims in the PK12 neighbourhood of the capi-tal, in Boda, Carnot and Berberati to

the west and Bossangoa further north, she said, lamenting that “we fear for the lives of 19,000 Muslims in those locations”.

The chronically unstable Central African Republic sank into chaos after the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels who had helped topple president Francois Bozize a year ago refused to lay down their arms and went rogue. l

9Wednesday, April 2, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Japan lifts own blanket arms export bann AFP

Japan  yesterday lifted a self-imposed ban on weapons exports, introducing new rules covering the arms trade in a move supporters say will boost Tokyo’s global role, but which unnerved China.

The cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved a new plan that replaces the 1967 blanket ban, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told report-ers. Under the policy, arms sales are banned to con� ict-plagued countries or nations that could undermine inter-national peace and security, the sales must contribute to international peace and boost o� cially paci� st  Japan’s security.

“Under the new principles, we have made the procedure for transfer of de-fence equipment more transparent. That will contribute to peace and inter-national cooperation from the stand-point of proactive paci� sm,” Suga said.

“And we will participate in joint de-velopment and production of defence equipment,” he said.

Japan’s post-World War II constitu-tion, imposed by the US-led occupiers, banned the country from waging war.

That paci� sm was embraced by the population at large and two decades later a weapons export ban was intro-duced. l

Malaysia changes last words from missing planen Reuters, Kuala Lumpur/Perth

The last words from the cockpit of a missing Malaysian jet were a standard “Good night Malaysian three sev-en zero”, Malaysian authorities said, changing their account of the critical last communication from a more casu-al “All right, good night.”

The correction more than three weeks after Flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board was made as Malaysian authorities face heavy criticism, partic-ularly from China, for mismanaging the search and holding back information.

Painstaking analysis of radar data and limited satellite information has focused the search on a vast, inhos-pitable swath of the  southern Indi-an Ocean  west of the Australian city of  Perth, but has so far failed to spot any sign of the jetliner.

Search coordinators warned the hunt could drag on for some time yet.

“In this case, the last known position was a long, long way from where the air-craft appears to have gone,” retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, told reporters in Perth.

The Boeing 777 disappeared from ci-vilian radar in the early hours of March 8 as it � ew from Kuala Lumpur to Bei-jing. Minutes later its communica-tions were cut o� and it turned back across  Malaysia  and headed towards the  Indian Ocean. Malaysia  says the plane was likely diverted deliberately, probably by a skilled aviator, leading to speculation of involvement by one or more of the pilots. l

China slams Manila’s arbitration attemptn AFP, BEIJING

China  yesterday accused the Philippines of violating morality and international law by seeking United Nations arbitration in the South  Chi-na  Sea territorial dispute between the two countries.

Manila at the weekend asked a UN tribunal to rule on Beijing’s claims over most of the strategically signi� cant South  China  Sea, submitting nearly 4,000 pages of evidence to back its case.

It argues that the Chinese stance is illegal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and inter-feres with the Philippines’ sovereign

rights to its continental shelf.Both countries are signatories to

UNCLOS, but Beijing argues that its provisions do not apply to the row.

In a commentary the People’s Daily, the o� cial mouthpiece of the Commu-nist Party, denounced Manila’s move.

“The act of the Philippine side is against the international law and the historical truth as well as against mo-rality and basic rules of international relations,” it said.

Manila had “provoked  China” by going to “so-called international ar-bitration, a move that is both illegal and unreasonable” and “an act lacking credibility”, it said.

The commentary was reported in English by the o� cial news agency Xin-hua, often an indication that authorities want it to reach a wider audience.

China  – which is vastly more powerful than any of the several countries it has disputes with in the strategically signi� cant waters – prefers to negotiate with them individually, rather than in international forums.

“The Philippines attempted to so-licit international sympathy through disguising itself as a small and weak country,” the commentary said, adding Manila was attempting “to legalise its invasion of Chinese islands through the arbitration.” l

Nepal accused of succumbing to China pressure on Tibetansn AFP, Kathmandu

Tibetans in Nepal face heightened risks of being detained, beaten and even forc-ibly returned to China, as Kathmandu bows to growing diplomatic pressure from Beijing, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. The allegations, detailed in a new report based on the testimony of Tibetan refugees, monks, activists and senior Nepalese o� cials, highlight the

intensi� ed restrictions slapped on Tibet-ans in the Himalayan nation since 2008.

Nepal, home to around 20,000 Ti-betans, is under huge pressure from its giant neighbour China over the exiles, and has repeatedly said it will not toler-ate what it calls “anti-China activities”. “Nepal is succumbing to Chinese pres-sure to limit the � ow of Tibetans across the border and imposing restrictions on Tibetans in violation of its legal ob-

ligations,” said Brad Adams, Asia direc-tor at Human Rights Watch.

Tibetans face a de facto ban on pro-tests, increased surveillance and even reported attempts to force escapees back to China, the report said. In one instance, a former home ministry o� -cial told the rights group that local bor-der police sent back Tibetans found in the border regions if they believed they were not “legitimate refugees”. l

Aid groups see dire crisis for Rohingya in Myanmarn AFP, Yangon

International relief organizations forced to � ee western Myanmar after being targeted by Buddhist mobs say it will be almost impossible to return without strong diplomatic pressure on the government to depoliticize the distribution of aid: Until then, they say, the lives of more than 140,000 Ro-hingya Muslims in overcrowded, dirty camps will be at even greater risk.

In the next two weeks food stocks will run out and at least 20,000 people will be without clean water, according to humanitarian aid workers who gath-ered with colleagues in the country’s main city of Yangon on Monday to dis-cuss the spiraling crisis.

The heath situation is even direr, they said, with almost no life-saving services such as emergency hospital referrals.

“It’s not that we don’t want to go back, we can’t,” said one of the aid workers, who like others at the small, informal meeting asked not to be iden-ti� ed because he was worried about the safety of the local sta� who stayed in Rakhine state.

Myanmar, a predominantly Bud-dhist nation of 60 million people, only recently emerged from a half-century of brutal military rule. Nascent dem-ocratic reforms under a nominally civilian government have generated optimism and brought billions of dol-lars from international donors - but a

violent strain of religious extremism is threatening the progress.

In the past two years, Buddhist mobs torched and pillaged Muslim neighborhoods, killing up to 280 peo-ple and forcing another 140,000 from their homes, most of them Rohingya on the outskirts of Rakhine’s state cap-ital, Sittwe.

The delivery of food, water and medical care to camps since then has been highly politicized.

Buddhist extremists see humanitar-ian aid groups, and those who assist them, as a lifeline for the long-persecut-ed religious minority. They have threat-ened sta� , including posting names and addresses on social networking sites, and staged frequent protests.

As pressure on aid groups mounted, the government in February expelled Doctors Without Borders from Rakh-ine, where it was by far the biggest health care provider, in part because it hired Rohingya.

Then last week, hundreds of Bud-dhists spent two days attacking the o� ces and residences of U.N. agencies, OXFAM, Save the Children, Solidari-ties International and others in Sittwe, forcing aid groups to evacuate almost 700 sta� statewide.

It was the biggest disruption of aid in two years.

The Ministry of Health has deployed 17 of its own doctors and health assis-tants to try to � ll the gap, said Dr. Liv-iu Vedrasco, a technical o� cer for the

World Health Organization in Myan-mar, but with such tiny numbers there is only so much they can do.

They’ve started conducting their own mobile clinics, he said, but had to cancel plans Sunday and Monday to visit Muslim camps because they did not feel safe.

Humanitarian agencies, Vedrasco said, have to � nd a way back in. Even if the government works to depolit-icize the situation, “it will take time to change feelings and attitudes” at the community level, he said. “There needs to be some interim solution.”

Johannes Kaltenbach, country direc-tor of the German medical program Mal-teser International, who was not among those present at Monday’s meeting, acknowledged that even if the govern-ment ensures protection of aid workers and their premises in the future, it will be di� cult to get back to work.

“It’s hard to � nd sta� ,” he said. “House owners will be reluctant to rent o� ce space, especially after their prop-erty was destroyed. The cars we rent, the people that work for us, all of them are afraid, they feel threatened.”

The United Nations, meanwhile, sent a high-level delegation to Sittwe on Tuesday to meet with senior o� -cials from the central and state govern-ment to work on a short-term solution, including delivering water to Pauk Taw camp, reachable only by boat, and the remaining rations from the World Food Program warehouse. l

No � rst lady for India as bachelors battle for PM jobn AFP, New Delhi

In marriage-obsessed  India  where people are expected to wed young and produce progeny soon after, two single men are battling it out on the election trail for the prime minister›s job.

On one side is � ery frontrunner Nar-endra Modi, 63, a white-bearded Hindu nationalist who likes to be seen as a mod-ern-day “monk with a mission”, according to biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.

On the other is Rahul Gandhi, 43, the scion of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty who tops eligible bachelor lists and is known as the “reluctant prince” for his di� dence about assuming his family inheritance as leader of the ruling Congress party.

Modi, the hawkish conservative candi-date for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, tipped to oust the scandal-tainted Congress in the polls starting April 7, re-portedly walked away from a marriage ar-ranged when he was a child.

He has never commented on the re-lationship, but the woman, 62-year-old retired school teacher Jashodaben, said recently that she didn’t “feel bad” that she has never been acknowledged.

“I know he is doing so due to destiny,” she told the Indian Express in February.

Reports say the marriage was never consummated and Modi went on to rise through the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayam-sewak Sangh (RSS) Hindu group which frowns on marriage for its senior cadres.

Modi, a strict vegetarian who says he “ac-

tually enjoys loneliness”, has made a virtue of his de facto single status, saying it will help him clean up India’s rampant corruption.

“I’ve no familial ties. Who would I ever try to bene� t through corruption?” he told a rally, claiming only those free of � lial ties can end what opponents charge are years of corrupt rule by the Congress party.

And he wouldn’t be the � rst single man as Indian PM. Atal Behari Vajpayee, anoth-er BJP leader who served as premier from 1998 to 2004, said he never wed because he “did not get time”.

Both Modi and Gandhi keep their pri-vate lives strictly under wraps -- so much so that according to a Google trends report, some of the most frequently searched questions are “Who is Modi’s wife?” and “Who is Gandhi’s girlfriend?”

Gandhi last year declared he did not want to wed, saying he feared he would “become status-quoist and want my chil-dren to take my place” and perpetuate his family’s dominant political role.

But in words that revived hopes of am-bitious mothers across  India  last month, he said he would wed “when I � nd the right girl”. In the past, he has been linked to several foreign girlfriends.

But being single is no disadvantage in In-dian politics, according to Subhash Agrawal who runs the think-tank India Focus. “In the Hindu tradition, being an ascetic and renun-ciation (of worldly things) has always been respected,” Agarwal told AFP. Also from a voter viewpoint, not having a family “means the politician’s no family to enrich”. l

Changes at US embassy in Delhi o� er chance to rebuild tiesn AFP, New Delhi

The sudden resignation of the US ambassador to  India  less than two years into her troubled term opens an opportunity for both sides to reboot strained ties ahead of an expected change in government, analysts say.

Nancy Powell, US ambassador since 2012, had a torrid time at the helm of one of Washington’s most import-ant diplomatic missions as it became embroiled in one of the most serious downturns in relations in decades.

New Delhi was incensed in late De-cember when an Indian diplomat in New York was arrested, strip-searched and then pursued in court over allega-tions she violated visa rules by under-paying a domestic servant.

Powell, who has spent 37 years in the US foreign service, had to manage the � restorm, contending with furious

Indian o� cials and even facing person-al di� culties over threats to withdraw her travel privileges.

A host of retaliatory measures tak-en by  India  over the arrest included the withdrawal of additional security measures at the US embassy and threats to close an embassy-run social club.

“The Indian government took a hard stand after the arrest of (Deputy Consul General Devyani) Khobragade,” said Neelam Deo, director of Gateway House, a foreign policy think tank in Mumbai.While managing this, Powell was also central to a sharp – some say belated – change in US policy over op-position leader Narendra Modi who is tipped to emerge as prime minister af-ter upcoming national elections.

The US decided to end a decade-long boycott of Modi, who was chief minister of western Gujarat state in 2002 when bloody anti-Muslim riots broke out. l

Fears Japan may sidestep whaling bann AFP, Sydney

Australia and New Zealand yester-day hailed a landmark court deci-sion that  Japan  must halt an annual Antarctic whale hunt despite fears it may try to sidestep the order.

The United Nations’ Hague-based International Court of Justice on Mon-day ruled that  Japan’s whaling pro-gramme was a commercial activity disguised as science and said it must revoke existing whaling licences.

Tokyo said it would honour the rul-ing but did not exclude the possibility of future whaling programmes, with New Zealand expressing concerns  Ja-pan may try to circumvent the order.

“The ICJ decision sinks a giant har-poon into the legality of Japan’s whal-ing programme,” New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said.

“It still does leave  Japan  with a decision to make after they›ve digested this which is to look at whether they try to devise a new programme that is scienti� -cally based that they could embark upon whaling in the Southern Ocean again.

“Our task is to make sure that we carry out a diplomatic conversation that dissuades them from embarking on that course.”

Australia, backed by New Zealand, hauled Japan before the ICJ in 2010 in a

bid to end the annual Southern Ocean hunt with Tokyo accused of exploiting a legal loophole in the 1986 ban on commercial whaling that allowed the practice to collect scienti� c data.

While Australian Attorney Gener-al George Brandis was subdued in his response to the decision, with Tony Abbott due to make his � rst trip To Ja-pan as prime minister in a week, former environment minister Peter Garrett said he felt vindicated.

“I’m absolutely over the moon, for all those people who wanted to see the charade of scienti� c whaling cease once and for all,” said Garrett, who helped launch the legal action -- the � rst time any country had used an in-ternational court to try to stop whaling.

“I think (this) means without any shadow of a doubt that we won’t see the taking of whales in the Southern Ocean in the name of science.”

Japan  had argued that its JARPA II research programme was aimed at studying the viability of whale hunt-ing, but the ICJ found that it had failed to examine ways of doing the research without killing whales, or at least while killing fewer whales. The decision came less than a week before Abbott heads to Tokyo in a bid to � nalise a free trade agreement with Australia’s sec-ond-largest trading partner. l

This � le handout photo taken on January 5, 2014 shows crew members walking amongst blood, allegedly from four minke whales, after they were cut up on the deck of the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru inside a Southern Ocean sanctuary, according to anti-whaling activists Sea Shepherd. The United Nations’ Hague-based International Court of Justice on March 31, 2014 ruled that Japan’s whaling programme was a commercial activity disguised as science and said it must revoke existing whaling licences AFP

Khaleda: Zia was 1st president of BangladeshMarch 27

Vikram KhanPathetic. What Khaleda and her son do not understand is the principle of democracy; ministers and presidents are elected by the people, only despots declare themselves emperors.

OnePassionate, and honest, as always. Timely recap of some essential truths by the BNP chairperson. Much appreciated! Kudos to the chairperson.

Nazmul slams Mush� qMarch 27

I want to say more, but for now I’ll just say that, for once, Mr Nazmul Hasan is correct, on all counts. Mush� q seems to be a� icted with a scapegoat syndrome, ie always looking for excuses behind his own, and his team’s failures.

someone

A meaningful independenceMarch 26

Mohammad MunshiWe cannot have meaningful independence as long as we are under the tutelage, control, and domination of any other nation. We seem to have, over the last 10 years, gradually given away our independence and sovereignty to India, so what do we have to be so proud about?

nds Mohammad Munshi: How does India debar our government from establishing the rule of law, mak-ing the judiciary e� ective, improving the behaviour pattern of our bureaucrats, improving our utility service delivery system, etc?

The picture of tremendous development in vari-ous � elds that has been portrayed by the author has very little to do with the liberation of the country or with the spirit of liberation. Under British colonial rule, spectacular development took place in this subcontinent.

Railways, telephones, telegraphs, roads and highways, modern and scienti� c education, wom-en’s education, governance, local governments, medical facilities. The development in these � elds was unprecedented by the standards that prevailed

before the British came to rule this subcontinent. But none will say that was enough to satisfy the dream and expectation of our people.

The � rst thing that people, and I mean the com-mon people, not a few VIPs, of a free nation desire is to have their self-respect and dignity, and rule of law. Does it exist at all in this country? To test this, I suggest the author keeps his journalist identity undisclosed when going to his local thana, any gov-ernment, semi-government or even non-govern-ment o� ce, the utility service providers, or even his local government o� ce, and see what treatment he gets from the minor o� cials there.

The violence, including the burning of hundreds of innocent common people, that we witnessed during the last pre-poll political agitation was not even found during the colonial period. If you go to the judiciary for redress of any type of injustice caused to you, you might as well wait till the date of your funeral rites. Is this a contribution to freedom? In this mega-city, more than a lakh destitute sleep on the pavements under the open sky. Is this a bene� t they enjoy from all of the spectacular development that has captured your imagination? I doubt it.

Ex-Pakistan cricketers criticise Bangladesh � ag banMarch 27

RonnieThese former Pakistani players are being immature. It really is none of their business, to put it mildly.I’m a longstanding fan of Pakistani cricket teams myself. But like I stated in one of my recent posts on this site, regardless of the fervent support that many local fans feel for the team, waving Pakistani flags at our stadiums is in execrable taste. And it has happened for years in the past. I guess slapping outright bans is unnecessary,

but surely our cricket-mad public can be firmly persuaded to quit this outrageously offensive habit.

khanI am a Pakistani fan and support Pakistan with everything I have. I support BD if it plays with India and support India if it plays with Australia or England. However I will clap and say wonderful if any other team’s player hits high or low in the boundary.

AL chooses unwisely

As the last round of upazila polls comes to a close, two more people have died in election-related violence and there are well-substantiated accusations of widespread

rigging involving all parties.The government has not helped its reputation by taking

a permissive attitude towards a “win at any cost” policy – a policy that has been carried out by some in its grassroots with increasing vigour as the � ve phases of the local polls have progressed.

This has all led to a large loss of faith in the credibility of the EC.

The AL has built a strategy on the government’s ability to hold free and fair elections in the absence of a caretaker administration.

If the AL’s stance that elections should and can be fairly held under elected governments is to stand up to scrutiny, then the steady deterioration of the conduct of these upazila polls has not done them any favours.

The AL will now have a much harder time defending the claim that a political party in power can be a fair complement to the EC in the next national, or truly any kind of, polls.

Seats lost today could be won again, but the blemished record of irregularities cannot be erased.

An all-party government could still be a workable concept for the next national polls, but the AL will now have to bargain for its shape and details from a weaker moral position, and by accepting a real balance of power among the players.

More transparency to protect consumers

Bangladeshi consumers have always had to be careful about forged products ranging from basic food staples to medicines and other goods.

The phenomenon of fraud has lately gone several steps further to include many professional services.

It is a welcome move then that the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) will soon be publishing online comprehensive details for 60,000 registered doctors and dentists, along with their quali� cations.

Patients are frequently being deceived into thinking they are consulting specialists who turn out to have lesser quali� cations or worse be wholly fraudulent. This scheme provides a simple tool which may be instrumental in identifying and rooting out non-quali� ed doctors all over the country.

The type of initiative should not be limited to medical professionals but extended across all type of professional service.

it is essential that the sale of counterfeit goods and services in every corner of the country be discontinued. Improving access to accurate, timely information via more transparency is a cost e� ective way to help citizens and consumers, in all aspects of life.

The public has the right to expect quality products and services in exchange for their hard-earned money. Concerned authorities have to � ght fraud and uphold consumer right far more actively to ensure people are not cheated.

There is a long way to go before we can completely rid the country of counterfeit goods and services. E� orts such as this move to improve transparency must be welcomed and emulated.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Authorities have to � ght fraud and uphold consumer right far more actively

Seats lost today could be won again, but the blemished record of irregularities cannot be erased

Be HeardWrite to us at: Dhaka Tribune

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Stars, planets, and black holesMarch 27

Politics, it has been argued, has always been a form of performance. No matter what the ideology is, the dramatic element is essential for its dissemination and consumption. And when the ideologues are getting thinner to the extent of being non-existent, and its consumption as a cheap form of public amusement is becoming ever so salient, the theatricality has to but be all that is.

The situation is not so di� erent in Bangladesh. Politics has lost its soul and degenerated into a form of entertainment. Sheikh Hasina is in power (with about 10% of the electoral support) mainly because she is a better performer on the political stage than her political rival Khaleda Zia.

Khalifa Malik

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Gathering of witches (5)4 Stop (4)7 Metal-bearing rock (3)8 School of whales (3)9 Scope (5)12 Probability (4)13 Went in (7)15 Sailor (3)16 Secret agent (3)18 Precious stone (3)19 Turf (3)21 Begins again (7)24 Malarial fever (4)26 Make into a decree (5)27 Dry, of champagne (3)28 Sheltered side (3)29 A� air of honour (4)30 Search (5)

DOWN1 Innermost part (4)2 Fruit (6)3 Outlet (4)4 Head and neck covering (4)5 Say further (3)6 Savoury (5)10 Obtain (3)11 E� ace (5)14 Uneven as if gnawed away (5)17 Portions (6)18 Splendid (5)20 Mouse-coloured (3)21 Stagger (4)22 Masculine (4)23 To let stand! (4)25 Employ (3)

How to solve Sudoku: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 num-ber repeating.

SUDOKU

n Mohammad Ali Sattar

We choose to commit blunders deliberately as though we do not have enough. Or, things

have come to a tolerable point where we can � nally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Actually, there has been no happy radiance; no indication of a transfor-mation or visible attitude of diversi-� cation from the negatives. We are rather bent on playing shoddier games, day in day out.

As if we are yet to reach the pages of the Guinness Book for breaking world records a million times by careful preservation of stinking political perversion.

During the just concluded local government polls, there have been distasteful remarks made by the acting CEC when he claimed the voting was peaceful all over and loss of human lives were but natural. To him, polls were more important than human lives and human rights.

He rebuked the BNP chief by re-marking that she rubs her nose in the dirt. He was referring to her comments that the Election Commission was no good, and it was not worth it to conduct fair polls. As if the acting CEC doesn’t like to be right behind the politicians in trading salvos.

With almost all the senior BNP

leaders behind bars (many are reported to be ill), the su� ocated party � nds itself in real hardship. They have realised by now that the party will have to be tough, wise, and cool to survive. Things won’t be easy anymore.

As mentioned many times in this column, BNP just cannot capitalise on issues that could put the government in awkward situations. It somehow misses out on these options. This is another sign of political poverty.

When the Upazila Council polls are just about over and half the country is busy with cricket, there comes the claim from BNP that the � rst president of the country was Ziaur Rahman, and not Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

I am not ready to take this seriously. I am not one of those who gives in to

such empty contest. I will not jump on the bandwagon of intellectuals to waste time over discussing and re-dis-cussing the events of March 1971. I am not ready to be taken for a ride.

All of us, especially the political players, are fully aware of our national character. We don’t think much before we ink. We feel one can go scotfree by saying anything that comes to mind or slips through the lips. After a little while, the heat subsides, and people like to forget things and take up anoth-er issue.

This cycle of issues keeps rotating and keeps us busy day in day out. We have people � ghting it out in the streets and dark alleys of the politi-cal edi� ces on tri� e matters, and we have the media trying to make out the truth, sometimes faltering.

We have the civil society, who most of the time gives out their verdicts on issues that did not even show up clear-ly, and we have the agile politicians who put anything and everything dreadful on the opposition right away.

Since dwelling on the past and mak-ing it more controversial is our best pastime, how do we expect to move forward? Are we really a forward-look-ing nation? Not by the look of our acts at least.

Why do we dwell on the past? Simply because we don’t have visions for the future. Our minds are severely

blocked and fail to fathom the shal-lowest stream. We have a ruthlessly disabled mind.

Distorting history is not new. History is always drafted in favour of the victor. History is full of accounts as thought right by the author of the time. There are always two or more schools of opposing thoughts on issues that history discusses. So there can never be a straight line in history.

The wars that were fought around the world from the very beginning have either ended with signing a treaty or on verbal agreements dictated by the conqueror. The vanquished never had any say. Favours were only doled out to them.

When Awami League took control of things after liberation, they said and wrote what they felt right. Later, many of their claims were challenged by their own men and the then opposi-tion.

One thing was settled – that it was Ziaur Rahman who read out the decla-ration of independence over the radio in Kalurghat on March 27. According to records, Ziaur Rahman had made a few announcements, one following the other.

There have been some changes in the draft when he read out the decla-ration for the second time. It was Zia who was � rst heard. There should be

no debate over this.On the same breath, it should be

known to all that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the � rst president of the republic, declared by the Mujibnagar government. Syed Nazrul Islam was the acting president.

I deem that the BNP leadership is also aware of the fact. They came up with the new argument just because of the intolerance and insults meted out to Ziaur Rahman by the AL and its allies.

We have buried Mujib and Zia, both should now be spared.

Alas, both of them and other nation-al leaders won’t be allowed the bene� ts of admiration because we live in the dim dungeons of ancient times. We have turned into souls of darkness. l

Mohammad Ali Sattar is a journalist and DT columnist.

11Op-Ed Wednesday, April 2, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Syed Ishtiaque Reza

The recent actions of the doctors in Rajshahi tell us once again to think about the medical profession in a di� erent way. It is really

naive to think the medical profession is still a service and not a business. In fact, in Bangladesh, it is more than just business.

Medical services at the government and privately-run hospitals and clinics in the city came to a complete halt as doctors went on an inde� nite strike on the morning of March 28, to protest the court order that sent a doctor, also the owner of a clinic, to jail. Seven organisations, including Bangladesh Medical association of Rajshahi Med-ical College Hospital (RMCH), BMA, and Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad, announced the strike earlier on Thurs-day during a press brie� ng, demanding the release of Dr Samiul Haque Shimul, owner of Dolphin Clinic.

On Thursday Rajshahi’s chief met-ropolitan magistrate sent Dr Samiul Haque Shimul to jail after rejecting his bail petition in a case � led in connec-tion with the death of a patient in his clinic. During the press brie� ng, doc-tors threatened that medical services at all the public and private hospitals and clinics in the city would remain suspended, and that doctors would abstain from their duties until Dr Shimul was released; and they did just so. The sudden strike threw thousands of patients into incalculable su� ering.

The medical profession long ago turned into a pro� t-minded venture for most healthcare providers in Bang-ladesh. But the Rajshahi incident ex-

posed another face of the people who take an oath to serve humanity. The medical profession is seen as a noble one because it helps in preserving life.

When a patient approaches a doctor he/she expects medical treatment with all the knowledge and skill that the doctor possesses to bring relief to any medical problems he/she has. A doctor owes certain duties to the patient and a breach of any of these duties gives a cause of action for negligence against the doctor.

A doctor may not be in a position to save his patient’s life at all times, but he is expected to use his special knowledge, skill, and positive manner in the most appropriate ways, keeping in mind that the patient has entrusted his life to him.

Receiving medical attention from doctors and hospitals is essentially a right for the patient. The relationship takes the shape of a contract to some extent because of informed consent, payment of fees, and performance of surgery/providing treatment, etc.

A doctor or a clinic usually works in three areas for a patient, which are: (a) Duty of care in deciding whether to undertake the case; (b) duty of care in deciding what treatment to give; and

(c) duty of care in the administration of that treatment.

A breach of any of the above may give cause of action to be taken for negligence. If we explore the Rajshahi incident, we see that Dr Shimul failed in all three of the areas.

But the strike called by the doctors to free Dr Shimul, depriving patients of the right to treatment, was a serious o� ence on their part. We understand that the doctors sacri� ced all the values that the “noble profession”

possesses. If Dr Shimul is charged for active negligence, his doctor col-leagues, who went for total strike to have him released, can be charged for a number of other types of negligence, such as collateral negligence, compar-ative negligence, concurrent negli-gence, continued negligence, criminal negligence, gross negligence, and hazardous negligence.

Every doctor takes on a duty to act with a reasonable degree of hon-esty, care, and skill. This is what is known as “implied undertaking” by a member of the medical profession that he would use a fair, reasonable and competent degree of skill. This is a sort of promise that in any situation, a doctor’s � rst duty is to look out for

the patient, not for the community or individual interests. But what did the doctors in Rajshahi do?

Perhaps they deliberately want to forget the basic philosophy of this profession. This is one of the oldest professions in the world, and de� nite-ly the most humanitarian one. Do they really understand that there is no bet-ter service than to serve the su� ering, the wounded, and the sick? Surprising-ly, top leaders of the medical commu-nity remained silent when Rajshahi patients were su� ering grievously.

For every profession there is a code of conduct, containing the basic ethics that underline the moral values to govern the professional practice. Code of ethics is aimed at upholding its dignity. Medical ethics underlines the values at the heart of the relationship between a doctor and the patient. But the politicisation of the profession has made the professional too ruthless and cruel these days. The doctors in Ra-jshahi have proven that the communi-ty has developed a tendency to forget that self-regulation, which is at the heart of their profession, is a privilege and not a right.

They are promise-bound to provide a good, competent, and accountable service to the public, not to act like militant trade union activists. They need to change their attitudes if they want genuine respect from the people. Doctors themselves have to build that trust in the public’s mind. If they con-tinue to ignore their own profession’s uniqueness, this digni� ed profession will lose its true value. l

Syed Ishtiaque Reza is Director of News, Ekattor Television.

Is there a doctor in the house?

n MAB Siddique

What the political leaders say while addressing rallies is mostly rhetoric and aimed to

rouse the activists of that party. While rallies are a mere formality, much of our politics still consist of killings, tor-ture, and other unethical activities.

But by virtue of the media, en-hanced processes of pursuing the people’s expectations are happening in a greater extent than before. We have learned to consider what they say in public as being important, and the importance has further increased because of social media.

However, a video clip recently went viral on Facebook, in which a senior politician is seen scolding his fellow activists in front of a rally using inde-cent words. He was trying to organise a religious-style prayer in the rally to put their grievances against the govern-ment towards the Almighty, for the alleged irregularities in the election.

The contents of the video are so vulgar that it led Facebook users to � ood the website, marking it with strong words of criticism. Naturally many termed it a shameful and an unexpected move from a veteran politician.

His identity was not known im-mediately, however, but an online news agency later came up with some details into who the man was, when the footage was � lmed, and how it managed to go viral. The news report revealed the man to have been a for-mer state minister in 1991, during the BNP-led government.

This man, a Munshiganj district BNP president, was trying desperately to conduct the mass prayer. However that is not the issue here. His very attitude drew our attention to actions that constitute our politics.

Let us set aside what implications that kind of language bore in relation to gender perspective and marginality. This aged man exposed a feudal aspect of the prevailing politics, besides the hypocrisy of using religion and religious rituals. This man probably never had it in mind that he might get recorded, and possibly go viral.

We know there lives a great proportion of economically unprivileged people in rural Bangladesh, who don’t get to enjoy

the rights that a modern state endows an individual with: The right to uphold individual prestige.

And we see the people who are a� liated with any political party just carry out their given responsibilities to please the man at the top, so that he can get a nicer position in the party and can claim a certain form of respect from the senior partymen. They have to abide by the words of the top indi-viduals in any committee, to question them is taboo.

The higher the position of a leader in a party, the more powerful he is. So this man, Mr Hye, who exposed his indecency to an unimaginable degree, is in fact an extremely powerful individual in the party of Munshiganj. His attitude clearly denotes the lack of democracy within the party.

In a culture of political confrontation, where deadly clashes are abundant, and violent political attacks or harsh and hateful exchange of words and speeches targeting opposing political bodies are too common, within the party, the patron-client relationship forms a humiliating reciprocity, and conditions between the leaders and activists that was again revealed in the way the BNP leader talked.

It worries us not only about our political culture, but also for how easily people get trapped in an obligatory relationship.

In a democratic world, it is a pyra-mid where the bottom will determine who gets to be at the top, whereas in this part of the world it is the top who determine who would be included in the bottom. Political leaders choose who will form the party, it is not activists who should be selecting their leaders. This incident exempli� es how the political formation ultimately gives rise to despots.

Our politics is nothing but a � ght among in� uential individuals, each of who has their own henchmen, who the in� uential can control in the way they like.

Bangladesh is striving to improve its political culture. We need to ques-tion the culture, practice, and power relations rigorously, otherwise our democracy will not have any meaning to it. l

MAB Siddique is a sta� writer at the Dhaka Tribune.

The way leaders speak

What the political leaders say while addressing rallies is mostly rhetoric

Harsh and hateful exchange of words and speeches targeting opposing political bodies are too common

A doctor’s � rst duty is to look out for the patient, not for the community or individual interests. But what did the doctors in Rajshahi do?

Since dwelling on the past and making it more controversial is our best pastime, how do we expect to move forward?

We have buried Mujib and Zia, both should now be spared

Souls of darkness

A digni� ed profession? BIGSTOCK

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 201412

ExhibitionWater | Ink | Paper- sketches of Japan 1996 By Salauddin AhmedTime: 3pm – 8pm, Dhaka Art Center

Neel Megher Kabbo

By Mahbubul HaqueTime: 8:00am – 11:59pmBronia Cafe & GalleryGulshan Ave

FilmEnders Game, Avatar 3D

Aakash Koto Dure Thor: The Dark World 3D The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 3D , Frozen in 3D, AgneeTime: 10am - 10pmStar Cineplex, Bashundhara City

TODAY IN DHAKA

New Michael Jackson Album coming this May

n Entertainment Desk

A new Michael Jackson album is set for release on May 13, Epic Records announced Monday. The posthumous album called Xscape will feature eight previously recorded but unreleased songs by the “King of Pop.”

Xscape is be available for preorder on iTunes from yesterday. Epic Records previously show-cased material from Jackson following his death in 2009, including the documentary This Is It with six unreleased songs.

Michael Jackson’s Twitter account also an-nounced the news and release date.

Epic Records CEO LA Reid was given “unlimit-ed access” to four decades of Jackson’s material, which the iconic singer had completed vocals on, according to a statement from the label and the

Estate of Michael Jackson.Reid curated a “� nal list of recordings” and

employed producers such as Timbaland, Star-gatem Jerome Harmon and Rodney Jerkins to “retool” the music. They have promised to re-tain “Jackson’s essence and integrity” in the new songs.

“Modern music and artistry would look and sound completely di� erent if not for the groundbreaking contributions Michael Jackson gifted to the world,” Reid said.

“Michael left behind some musical performances that we take great pride in presenting through the vision of music producers that he either worked directly with or expressed strong desire to work with. We are extremely proud and honored to present this music to the world.” l

Cover art of the upcoming album

Swarup Shondhan will premiere todayn Afrose Jahan Chaity

On the occasion of National Film Day, an interesting documentary titled Swarup Shondhan - Quest for Self will be premiered today at the auditorium of National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 4pm.

To promote and protect the legacy of Bangladeshi � lms, the documentary is made by Mo-hammad Shazzad Hossain and Arafatul Kabir Rizve. It focuses on the history of � lm in Bangla-desh, the rich cultural heritage, evolution of language and the social change process.

About the documentary direc-tor Mohammad Shazzad Hossain said: “To � nd out the history of Bangladeshi � lms and to protect its legacy, we have made this documentary. It’s a textual study of � lms and di� erent genres in-troduced in di� erent phases of time.”

“It will help mass people to understand about Bangladeshi � lms and its history, especially those who are researching on � lms. Future � lm makers will also able to take help from this documentary. This is an infor-mation bank of our cine-indus-try,” he added.

The documentary features exclusive discussions and inter-views of renowned Bangladeshi � lm makers about � lm history and contextual study. Subhash Dutta, Amzad Hossain, Chashi Nazrul Islam, Nasir Uddin Yusuf, Tanvir Mokammel , Morshedul islam, Nargis Akter, Kazi Hayat and many more � lm personal-ities interviewed for the docu-mentary.

The documentary is featur-ing eight songs. The songs Raifel Jokhon Camera, Obiram Srome R Foshole, Koto Gunijon Cinema Banalo, Kotha Theke Jay and three more are written and com-posed by Arafatul Kabir and Bha-girath Malo. The music directors of Shorup Shondhan are Didarul Karim and Robins Chowdhury, while Bhagirath Malo lends his voice in all of the songs.

Directors of the documentary are very hopeful about the proj-ect as they are considering the well researched documentary to be a reference for aspiring � lm-makers and researchers. l

Tisha and Banya Mirza in a scene of an upcoming TV play Malyodan. Directed by Sumon Anwar the play is specially made to mark the 153rd birthday of literary titan Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore which falls on May 8.

Embracing the culture of Japan with Salauddin Ahmed’s worksn Entertainment Desk

An exhibition of a sketchbook Water | Ink | Pa-per, sketches of Japan 1996 by Architect Salaud-din Ahmed is displayed at the Dhaka Art Cen-tre. The exposition will continue till April 3.

The architect’s book and display of paper sketches of Japan unfolds his cultural experi-ence which embraces his inspiration of archi-

tectural designs. Keeping an open mind, the architect draws places, peoples, magni� cent temples and gardens, and close observations of food and cuisine which has been compiled by his notes.

The much-discussed sketch portrays his traveling experience during his three years ten-ure in Japan. In his book, it is noticeable that

apart from drawing buildings, he also draws tri� e subject including a shoes of young girls in his sketch books.

“The act of drawing is a way of seeing. Architects have always

sketched so that they may see and bring attention to the un-folding of the world. If draw-ings have such expressive potency in the journey of an ar-

chitect, then we can perhaps help others to understand the way in which each of us experiences the world around

us. The compilation of sketches, col-lages and writings in the book Wa-ter | Ink | Paper re� ects such an at-

tempt on my part. It is also my hope that the viewers can empathize with

my journey as they turn each page of this sketchbook,” stated Salauddin

Ahmed. The week-long exhibition

is being followed by a panel discussion Travelling l A Cre-ative Journey by noted artists and

architects on the con-cluding day. l

n Entertainment Desk

The second solo album of talented singer Sanya Sabrin titled Shotti Kore has hit the market recently. Label Agnibeena brought the album to the market while Tofy Renar composed the music.

Nine songs of the album are written by the singer herself and Tofy Renar. The list includes Bondhur Bari, Shotti Kore, Darling, Ektu Chhuye, Uru Uru, Elomelo, Buker Majhey , Ashe Na Ghum and Sukhe Achi Ki Dukhe Achi.

Singer Sanya said about the album: “Singing is to me like wor-shipping. Only my devotion to music keeps me inspiring. I hope the audience will love the songs.” l

Sanya Sabrin’s second solo Shotti Kore released

Tareen goes de-glam for new TV play Bewarishn Entertainment Desk

A television drama titled Bewarish’s shooting is com-pleted recently which casts popular actor Tareen in a lead role while in� uential actor of small screen Azad Abul Kalam portraying another vital character. The play is directed by Tariqul Islam. Tareen plays the role of a rural woman named Sokh-ina and Azad Abul Kalam plays Mannan, Sokhina’s husband. About the play Tareen said: “If the story and character is not good then I do not usually act in any drama or tele� lm. This time, the story of the drama is skillfully written by Pantho Shahriar and almost all the characters have a key role to play in the story. I tried my best to portray the character of Sokhina and hope that the audience will accept the drama positively.”

Azad Abul Kalam said: “The story of the play is ob-viously good. I worked in dramas by Tariqul Islam pre-viously, he takes his job seriously and in doing so, he usually comes up with outstanding works. I hope this drama will be appreciated by the audience.” The duo last appeared in a drama titled Shobuj Velvet, written by Mohammad Jafar Iqbal and directed by Abu Raihan Jew-el. Tarin received honorary award for her acting in the drama.

The director planned to release the drama on a private television channel for Eid. l

Johnny Depp con� rms engagementn Entertainment Desk

Hollywood megastar Johnny Depp showed o� a gleaming diamond ring while promoting his upcoming � lm Transcen-dence in Beijing, and con� rmed that he’s not just wearing it for fashion reasons.

“The fact that I’m wearing a chick’s ring on my � nger is probably a dead giveaway,” Depp said when asked by The Associated Press to con� rm his engagement.

Depp is engaged to actress Amber Heard, who started sporting her own en-gagement ring some months back. The two starred together in the 2011 � lm The Rum Diary, based on the Hunter S Thomp-son novel.

“I think that I would be better at making women’s shoes than I would be at wedding planning,” Us Weekly quoted him as saying at the China event. “I can’t plan anything.”

Depp and French actress Vanessa Par-adis broke up in 2012 after a 14-year re-lationship that produced son Jack and daughter Lily-Rose. l

Shraddha and Sidharth look promising in The Villainn Entertainment Desk

Bollywood newbees Shraddha Ka-poor and Sidharth Malhotra are now steaming up the big screen for their upcoming � lm The Villian.

While there seems less experimen-tation with Shraddha Kapoor’s looks, Student of the Year actor Sidharth Malhotra is seen sporting tattoos and a stubble.

The actor had said, “For Villain, I had to experiment with my look. I have a slightly di� erent hairstyle. I sport a beard as well as tattoos, and had to even bulk up a little. As my character is aggressive and intense, hopefully, the audience will see me in a di� erent light. The character has a lot of emotional baggage. You’ll see the di� erence between the sweet lov-

er boy I’ve played earlier, and this ag-gressive man.”

Talking about the � lm, Sidharth had said that The Villain is a love story but with a slight twist. Sidharth Malhotra states, “Essentially, it’s about how ev-eryone has a little villainous side in their personality. Shraddha (Kapoor) and I are playing these interesting characters, which people will relate to. It also has a middle-class backdrop.”

The � rst look loosely reminds you of the passionate poster of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela featuring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padu-kone.

The � lm, which is directed by Aas-hiqui 2 director Mohit Suri, also stars Riteish Deshmukh, Amrita Puri and Kamaal Rashid Khan. The � lm is all set to release on June 27. l

13DHAKA TRIBUNEWednesday, April 2, 2014

Sport 1414 Carroll piles on relegation misery for Sunderland

Chelsea ready for PSG battle in CL quarter� nals

15 WI crash Pakistan’s party to reach semis

Did you know?Lionel Messi scores

a goal every 213 minutes when it is

raining, compared to every 108 minutes

when it’s dry

BangladeshTamim c Bollinger b Coulter-Nile 5Anamul c Watson b Coulter-Nile 0Shakib c Maxwell b Bollinger 66Mush� qur c Maxwell b Watson 47Mohammad Mahmudullah not out 6Nasir Hossain b Starc 14Extras: (b2, lb4, w7, nb2) 15Total (for � ve wickets, 20 overs) 153

FoW: 1-4, 2-12, 3-124, 4-133, 5-153

BowlingStarc 4-0-25-1 (w2), Coulter-Nile 3-0-17-2 (w2), Bollinger 4-0-31-1, Watson 4-0-25-1 (w3, nb1), Maxwell 3-0-32-0 (nb1), Christian 2-0-17-0.AustraliaA. Finch c Nasir b Al Amin 71D. Warner b Al Amin 48C. White not out 18G. Maxwell b Taskin 5G. Bailey not out 11Extras: (lb3, w2) 5Total (for three wickets, 17.3 overs) 158

FoW: 1-98, 2-135, 3-147

BowlingGazi 4-0-35-0, Al Amin 3.3-0-30-2 (w1), Shakib 3-0-36-0, Taskin 4-0-24-1 (w1), Razzak 2-0-16-0, Mominul 1-0-14-0

Australia won by seven wickets

SCORECARD, BD v AUS

For some people, it is just a place to hang around, take pictures and pass a leisure evening with friends and fam-ily; few came just to watch Bangla-desh women’s team play in the World Twenty20 while the rest just came to enjoy a spectacular view from the

country’s only green gallery at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

The venue has been a get-together place for all class of people and since the beginning of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20, the stands remained rarely empty on a match day.

The interesting part of the story is most of the spectators don’t have any

idea of the countries playing on the day and they just come in and support both the sides in a match, except for the time when Bangladesh are playing.

On Monday, Mignon du Preez expe-rienced something very unusual. The crowd cheered the South Africa cap-tain on reaching her half-century be-fore the same bunch applauded equal-

ly on her dismissal in the next over. Mohammad Piash, a local CNG

driver, has little interest in cricket yet he was at the � eld because of his fam-ily members. Piash had to take a break from his driving job and accompany his family to the ground.

The excitement among the Sylhet people can be justi� ed as they will not

be able to witness any more interna-tional action this year after the end of the World Twenty20 phase at the city tomorrow.

The stadium is yet to have an un-derground drainage system and while a whole new pitch is also to be laid and the process will take around eight months to be completed. l

SYLHET WINS HEARTS

England vice-captain Sarah Taylor

The crowds have been really brilliant and phenomenal. We are just loving

it here. Obviously it’s totally di� erent back in England. It’s been nothing but brilliant in terms of the hotels we have

had. People are so friendly here. Food is brilliant too so yeah, loving it.

West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira

I’m really impressed with the pitches, they have been extremely good for batting. Compliments to the ground

sta� , it’s really good to see a lot of runs scored in the competition, giving the

competition a lot of spice.

Ireland wicketkeeper-batsmanMary Waldron

I think the intensity is more in cricket. Especially in Bangladesh, the passion of the crowd makes it a great experience

Australia skipper Meg Lanning

The crowd has been fantastic

New Zealand captain Suzie Bates

It’s great to play in front of that amazing crowd

Aussies cruise past Bangladesh

Throughout the ICC World Twenty20 Ban-gladesh’s key word was “could not � nish it well” and they failed to get out of the loop and conceded a seven-

wicket defeat to Australia to end their journey at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

Opting to bat � rst Bangladesh’s 153 for � ve was not enough to stop Aus-tralia who notched up their consola-tion win by scoring 158 for three with 15 balls to spare. After losing to India, Pakistan and West Indies, Australia was left containing the sigh of distress and ruing the lost opportunities.

The power packed Aussie opening duo - Aaron Finch and David Warner - blasted 98 for the 1st wicket laying the foundation for an easy win. Warner on 48 was fortunate to survive a caught behind call in the 11th over bowled by Sohag Gazi as umpire Kumar Dhar-masena failed to pick the snick.

However, the left-handed was not able add any more run and was bowled by Al Amin in the following over. Man of the match Finch continued to domi-nate and took his side closer to vic-tory with his second � fty of the tour-nament. He made 71 o� 45 balls with seven fours and four sixes.

Debutant Taskin Ahmed added some anxiety in the Aussie tent by sending Glenn Maxwell back for 5 but it was too late. Cameron White was not out on 18 when skipper George Bailey (11) lofted Al Amin over long o� for a six and land the win in style.

Earlier, Shakib al Hasan and Mush-� qur Rahim’s 112-run third wicket part-nership, the 3rd highest for Bangladesh in the T20I circuit, helped the home side to put up their highest total in the tournament. The left-right combina-tion duly exploited the Aussie attack that relied on the quickies in a batting

favoured pitch. With part-timer Glenn Maxwell the only spinner in the side, Shakib and Mush� q held their grounds to execute their array of shots.

It should be mentioned that Shakib and Mush� q began their journey on a disastrous note with Bangladesh strug-gling on 12 for two after the two open-ers Anamul Haque and Tamim Iqbal departed playing trademark overambi-tious and reckless shots.

Not been able to get o� the mark in � ve balls, Anamul lost his nerve and ran down the wicket attempting to hit Nathan Coulter-Nile out of the park only managing an edged to Shane Wat-son at � rst slip. Tamim just succeeded to hole out to Doug Bollinger at mid-on giving Coulter-Nile his second wicket in the game.

Shakib announced his arrival with a superb six o� Bollinger pulled over the long-on and the ace all-rounder ex-hibited his versatility to deal with the short deliveries as well as the attempt-ed yorkers.

Mush� q also rose on the occasion and continued to frustrate the Aussie bowlers by keeping his head down and supporting Shakib. Mush� q mixed his strokes with power and subtle touches, but missed out on a � fty as his slog-sweep landed safely at the hands of Maxwell at deep midwicket o� Wat-son. The captain’s 47 from 36 balls was decorated by � ve fours and one six.  

Shakib was soon to follow his skip-per after completing his 4th T20 � fty. His superb innings however ended with a terri� c e� ort from Maxwell who dived forward at midwicket to pouch on to a dying ball. The south paw made 66 runs o� 52 balls with � ve fours and three maximums.

The Aussie bowlers imposed the brakes on the runs as the lack of set bats-men in the middle cost the hosts in the eventual overs. Mahmudullah (six) and Nasir (14) added 20 runs o� the remain-ing 15 balls before the latter was cleaned up in the � nal delivery of their 20 overs. l

Special birthday gift for Jahanara

Jahanara Alam could not have expect-ed a better present on her 21st birthday given the tough time the Bangladesh vice-captain had to face in the last two post-match conferences after defeats. Yesterday she looked relieved and as always smiling following the Bangla-desh women’s � rst ever victory in ICC World Twenty20 against Sri Lanka.

The Bangladesh pacer termed the win as the best moment of her life and pledged to keep the momentum up in future. “De� nitely this is the best mo-ment of my life, and for our team as well as for our country,” she said. “It was amazing. We haven’t celebrated yet. Hopefully it will be a grand one once we get back to the hotel.”

Jahanara started her spell in the best possible way she could. In her � rst de-livery, Bangladesh’s second over, the lady from Khulna bowled Sri Lankan opener Hasini Perera to take her 15th wicket in her 21st T20 match for the country. “In fact my very � rst ball was itself a celebration for me. I’m very hap-py that we won such a good match on my birthday. I can’t explain in words.

“We always knew we have a good bowling and � elding side. We knew if we can keep things tight, we would win. Salma, Panna bowled very well. Even though there were a few dropped chanc-es, it didn’t matter in the end,” she added.

Bangladesh will face Ireland in the 9th place decider tomorrow and this victory against Sri Lanka has boosted the host’s con� dence. “We go to the � eld thinking we can win. I can’t say whether we will be able to beat Ireland but we will de� nitely go there for a win,” Jahanara said. l

Mush� q, Finch express disappointment

It was frustration and disappointment all the way as Bangladesh skip-per Mush� qur Rahim and Australian opener Aaron Finch expressed unhappiness during

the post match conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

Mush� q was left soul searching and said, “It is really disappointing. We played seven games but we couldn’t play well in all the matches round. In the � rst round we started well apart from the Hong Kong game. Unfortunately the mo-mentum was lost when we lost against Hong Kong. It was a real shock for us.

“There were a couple of guys who played well – I thought Anamul batted really well, and Shakib had a good series

with the bat and the ball, Al Amin also had a couple of good spells in a couple of games. But I think in a tournament like this when you want to beat some of the big boys you have to have at least four or � ve guys playing well and as a team. That did not happen,” said Mush� q.

Mus� q said he failed to realise where the problem lied. “If we could identify the problem then we would have played better. We ourselves cannot understand where the problem lies because we are practising properly, doing the little things properly, we are trying to apply ourselves properly and everyone is serious.

“Maybe we are not realising the prob-lem, maybe outsiders will be able to understand. Now that the tournament is over we will try to get feedback from them and hope that we can solve the problem as soon as possible hopeful. If Tamim, Shakib, myself, Riyad bhai, Gazi,

Nasir, Mashrafe, if all of us could play to our potential then I think the results would have been di� erent,” he said.

Mush� q termed Tamim’s lack of form was a cause behind the failures, but dropping him was not the solution as Anamul was consistent. The problem will be solved once Tamim returns to form while and the issue of the vice cap-taincy did not have any a� ect over the team, informed the captain.  

Meanwhile, Aaron Finch was also a frustrated man to see his team take the exit door of the World T20 from the group stage.  “It’s been very disappointing  and not going through to the semi� nals is dis-appointing from team’s point of view.

“I think what let us down are all the three departments and you know this is such a short format that it haunts back to you. When you have games back to back, momentum is crucial and we probably

slipped in the West Indies game, lost against India and we are out of the tour-nament. We came here with the hopes of winning the competition but we are go-ing back with nothing. Winning only one game out of four was always been very disappointing,” said Finch.

The Aussie opener did not acknowl-edge the idea his team lacked the spin-ners bite and said, “Our both spinners are aggressive and I think picking fast bowlers was the right decision today and to restrict Bangladesh on 150 on a batting wicket was impressive.” 

Finch also praised debutant pacer Taskin, “He took us by surprise a little bit, he was quite fast and bowled accurately and skidded on the wicket little faster than expected, no doubt after facing six overs of spin consistently and to get back into 140’s is a bit of challenge, he was very impressive in the game tonight.” l

Blaming your own won’t improve matters

Cricket is the only thing which unites the whole country despite its politi-cal unrest and all other negativities. The whole nation has been weaving the dream of becoming the champion of world cricket ever since the Bangla-desh cricket team overcame Kenya in the ICC trophy � nal in 1997. The na-tion’s joy knew no bounds when our Tigers beat Pakistan for the � rst time in a World Cup match in England in 1999.

Bangladesh cricket have come a long way after those heroic triumphs which culminated in them being awarded the ‘Test’ status in 2000. No wonder fans’ expectations went up as well because of those gradual achievements on and o� the � eld. In fact, fans can hardly be

blamed if we take the performance of our Tigers into account at home in the recent past when they reached the � nal of the Asia Cup in 2012, whitewashed the Kiwis two times in ODIs, won against the West Indies and gave all oppositions a tough time more often than not. There-fore, the genesis of fans’ expectations is surely borne out of the Tigers’ progress.

However, there have been some oc-casional blips too against the minnows like Ireland, Canada, Afghanistan and Hong Kong, the most recent one. But the standard of Bangladesh cricket has certainly gone up signi� cantly as evi-denced by the emergence of someworld class players like Shakib al Hasan, Ta-mim Iqbal and Mush� qur Rahim who have been showcasing their skills quite consistently at international stage since

they broke into the team and became the heroes of the nation. So is it utterly unjusti� ed if fans expect a replication of their heroics which they are more than capable of? The answer should predominantly be an emphatic ‘No’.

But the players’ post-match com-ments after continuous defeats in this World T20 have been nothing short of ordinary as they kept saying, “It can hap-pen in cricket and its part of cricket” and asked the fans not to expect too much. So it is disappointing, to put it lightly, if cricketers take the fans’ demand for a win as a pressure even after pitting their wits against the world’s best for fourteen years since getting the Test status.

It is not that the fans � rmly be-lieved, realistically speaking, the Ti-gers could progress further from such a

tough group which included three for-mer T20 champions and Australia who is always a threat. The fans just wanted a lot more committed display of com-petitive cricket from the players. The majority of the fans have always kept faith with the team during even worse situations than the current one. They have always supported our cricketers through thick and thin.

But to implicitly accuse the fans’ ex-pectations as a determining factor be-hind defeats in all the four matches of the Super 10 stage against India, Paki-stan, West Indies and Australia is not worthy of appreciation surely as for-mer captain Shakib blamed their food habits and life style also behind their poor performance.

Hosting as big an event as the World

Cup itself is a history for Bangladesh. Therefore, participating in the tourna-ment as a host nation will always warrant expectations from fans which the crick-eters must realise. This expectation will stay and they have to play keeping that in mind and do what they are supposed to do which is to play good cricket to give themselves the best chance to win.

Defeat against an ICC associate member like Hong Kong or defeats in all the Super 10 matches by play-ing poor cricket is something the na-tion never expected. So the cricketers should start working on their mistakes immediately rather than criticising the limitations of their own country and the fans will play their role too with their unwavering support as always through thick and thin. l

A dejected Bangladesh team members leave the � eld after losing to Australia in their last World T20 match at SBNS yesterday MUMIT M

Bangladesh Women115/9 in 20 overs (Rumana 41, Salma 22; Gunaratne 2-15, Prabodhani 2-18)Sri Lanka Women112/9 in 20 overs (Mendis 33, Siriward-ane 31; Panna Ghosh 3-18, Salma 1-14)

Bangladesh Women won by 3 runs

BRIEF SCORE

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Nordqvist wins LPGA Kia ClassicSweden’s Anna Nordqvist captured her second US LPGA title of 2014 on

Sunday, � ring a � nal-round 67 to win the Kia Classic by one shot. Nordqvist, whose poor form in 2013 had her contemplating giving up the game, now goes into the � rst major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Rancho Mirage, California, next week, brimming with con� dence. Her � ve-under e� ort gave her a 13-under par total 275 at Aviara Golf Club, and a one-shot victory over American Lizette Salas. –AFP

Murray’s luxury hotel opens doorsAndy Murray’s luxury hotel opened Tuesday, a business the tennis star hopes

will boost his Scottish hometown Dunblane. The Wimbledon champion bought Cromlix House, a Victorian mansion dating from 1874, in February last year and has transformed it into a 15-bedroom, � ve-star retreat. The property, set in woodlands three miles (� ve kilometres) outside Dunblane in central Scotland, has undergone extensive refurbishment and tourism o� cials hope it will prove a big draw for visitors to Scotland. –AFP

Spurs win club record 18th straightTony Parker scored 22 points as San Antonio won their franchise record 18th

consecutive game by routing the struggling Indiana Pacers 103-77 on Monday night. Kawhi Leonard tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Boris Diaw came o� the bench to score 14 points for the Spurs who used a 12-4 fourth quarter surge to help seal the victory and keep their streak alive. “We don’t think about it. We just want to play well,” said Parker of the streak. “Hopefully we are not peaking too soon. We just want to win each game.” –AFP

Bale targeting Real revenge against Dortmund

Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale believes his side have recovered from two successive league defeats as they look to exact revenge

on Borussia Dortmund for their Champions League semi-� nal defeat last season.

Bale scored a double as Real re-sponded from losing to Barcelona and Sevilla last week to beat Rayo Valleca-no 5-0 on Saturday to remain in third place in La Liga, three points adrift of leaders Atletico Madrid.

However, it is a Champions League quarter-� nal clash against the Ger-mans that has whetted the Welshman’s appetite as he admitted these are the type of games for which he left Totten-ham Hotspur for Real last summer.

“I think it was important we re-sponded well and got everything back on track,” he told Real Madrid TV.

“We’re massively looking forward to the Dortmund game. That is why you want to be playing football is to play in the big games.

“We are fully focussed on Wednes-day night and hopefully we can do a good job.”

Bale will once again join Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in a fearsome Madrid frontline with Ronaldo looking to equal Lionel Messi’s record of 14 goals in a Champions League season.

Real boss Carlo Ancelotti will make three changes from the side that start-ed against Rayo with Iker Casillas, Mar-celo and Luka Modric set to replace Diego Lopez, Fabio Coentrao and Asier Illarramendi.

Dortmund had the upper hand against Madrid as the sides met four times in last season’s competition.

Jurgen Klopp’s men took four points from a possible six in the group stage before eliminating the nine-time Eu-ropean champions 4-3 on aggregate in the semi-� nals.

However, Klopp will have a more testing time in selecting his side this time round as the Germans have been ravaged by injuries.

Nevan Subotic, Marcel Schmelzer, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Ilkay Gundogan and Sven Bender are all injured, whilst top scorer Robert Lewandowski -- who scored all four of his side’s goals in the 4-1 semi-� nal, � rst leg win over Real last season -- is suspended.

However, despite his selection prob-lems, Klopp says his side have not re-gressed from last season.

“We are second in the German league, in the semi-� nals of the Cup and the quarter-� nals of the Champi-ons League. That is to say, exactly the same as last season.

Klopp is expected to use Marco Reus, who scored a hat-trick in Sat-urday’s 3-2 win at lowly Stuttgart, or Gabonese international Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang in an unusual role as the lone striker to compensate for the loss of Lewandowski. l

Brazil halts work on World Cup stadium

The Brazilian government halted work on two temporary tribunes for Sao Pau-lo’s World Cup stadium after the death of another construction worker, media reports said.

A new inspection of the Corinthians club stadium to be used for the World Cup opening match between Brazil and Croatia on June 12 was to be carried out Tuesday.

The worker died Saturday after an eight metre (26 feet) fall.

According to press reports, the man who died Saturday may not have been wearing safety equipment. His em-ployers have denied this. l

Carroll piles on relegation misery for Sunderland

England international Andy Carroll scored one goal and laid on another as West Ham United piled on the

relegation woes for Sunderland with a 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light on Monday.

The former Newcastle United striker enjoyed his return to his native North East after grabbing a trademark goal in the ninth minute, rising high at the far post to head in powerfully from a left-wing corner.

Hosts Sunderland were unlucky not

to be given a � rst-half penalty when Kevin Nolan brushed the ball away with his elbow on the edge of the area.

Carroll then set up West Ham’s second goal � ve minutes after halftime when he chested the ball down for Mohamed Di-ame and his de� ected shot from 18 me-tres beat goalkeeper Vito Mannone.

West Ham, though, held on for a vic-tory that left them 11th in the Premier League with 37 points and e� ectively banished all fears of relegation for Sam Allardyce’s men.

Sunderland remained second from bottom on 25 points, four points from safety with eight matches left to play this season. l

Ferguson job o� er ‘lost in translation’

Pep Guardiola has joked that he could have been o� ered the chance to suc-ceed Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager, but would not have understood due to the Scot’s accent.

Pep Guardiola has already led Bay-ern to a successful German title defence

“He invited me to a super restau-rant,” Guardiola said during Monday’s pre-match press conference.

"We spent a very good time. My Eng-lish is not so good and when Sir Alex speaks quickly, I had sometimes prob-lems to understand. That’s why maybe I didn’t understand if i received an of-fer or not!” l

Guarin error costs Inter points

Inter Milan let three points slip from their grasp in their quest for European competition next season on Monday as they allowed relegation-

threatened Livorno to come from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in their Serie A clash.

Colombian Fredy Guarin’s terrible backpass � ve minutes from time let in Livorno’s Swiss-Nigerian Innocent Emeghara to level at 2-2 which leaves Livorno still in the relegation places but only a point o� fourth from bottom Bologna. Inter remain in � fth place but only three points ahead of Atalanta, who

are in seventh which is not good enough for competing in Europe next term.

Inter had taken a � rm hold on the match by the time half-time came as Brazilian Hernanes scored his � rst goal

for them since he joined from Lazio while their freescoring Argentinian Ro-drigo Palacio netted his 14th of the cam-paign in time added on of the � rst-half.

Livorno reduced the de� cit nine

minutes into the second-half as Brazil-ian Paulinho outfoxed the Inter defence to score from a corner. Inter, though, looked to be easing to the three points until Guarin’s terrible error.

Inter coach Walter Mazzarri -- who was born near Livorno and guided them into Serie A in 2004 -- was fairly relaxed about the mistake afterwards.

“It was a dreadful mistake but foot-ball is like that, one makes errors,” he said. “Bad luck can happen, we have to support him.

“From time to time you have a bad day, but one like today... the result bears no relation with the team’s per-formance, it is enough to watch the match to see that is the truth.” l

Chelsea ready for PSG battle

Jose Mourinho has ruled his Chelsea side out of the Pre-mier League title race, but he believes they will bounce back from domestic

disappointment against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The Chelsea manager questioned his players’ mentality after a surprise 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace led to them being knocked o� top spot in the Pre-

mier League by Liverpool.Mourinho loves to play mind games,

but with Manchester City poised to leapfrog the Blues by winning their games in hand, it may be true that Chelsea’s best chance of silverware now lies with the Champions League.

And the Portuguese insists that his team will rise to the occasion as they face the Ligue 1 champions-elect at the Parc des Princes in the � rst leg of their quarter-� nal tie.

Despite that, he says that the tie is � nely poised, with PSG having emerged as a leading continental force in the last two years, spending astro-

nomical sums to attract the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Brazil captain Thiago Silva to France.

While Mourinho is driven by the desire to become the � rst coach to win the European Cup with three di� er-ent clubs following previous triumphs with Porto in 2004 and Inter in 2010, Ibrahimovic is still aiming to win the greatest prize in club football for the � rst time.

But, at the age of 32, the Swede seems to have belatedly reached his prime, with his tally of 40 goals in all competitions this season breaking the PSG club record.

If the consensus in England seems to be that Ibrahimovic always disappoints at the highest level, Mourinho, who coached the maverick striker at Inter in 2008/09, thinks rather di� erently.

PSG have not lost in 28 home Euro-pean games and are currently on a club record-breaking run of nine straight wins in all competitions. They are run-ning away with the Ligue 1 title and come into April 13 points clear of near-est challengers Monaco.

They were some way short of their best in Friday’s 1-0 win at Nice, but coach Laurent Blanc admits that thoughts were already on Chelsea.

Blanc will hope that his side are able to raise their game against the London club as PSG seek to live up to the sky-high expectations surrounding them inside France, where there is a growing belief that they can go all the way and lift the trophy in Lisbon in May.

Just as Chelsea were transformed af-ter being taken over by Russian billion-aire Roman Abramovich a decade ago, the arrival of Qatar Sports Investments has made PSG capable of competing with Europe’s very best, and the squad stand to earn a bonus of 1 million euros (£826,000, $1.38m) per man if they win the trophy. l

Southampton’s trio battling each other for World Cup berth

Southampton’s freescoring trio of Adam Lallana, Jay Rodriguez and Rick-ie Lambert have played themselves into the England frame this season but at least one of them is likely to be out of picture when Roy Hodgson unveils his World Cup squad.

Their scintillating form, along with that of fullback Luke Shaw, earned them their England debuts this sea-son and strengthened their chances of making the 23-man squad when it is announced on June 2.

But with sti� competition and

Hodgson seemingly committed to se-lecting the core of his squad from the country’s major clubs, there could be some awkward moments when the Saints club mates discover what plans they need to make for the summer.

The attacking trio have built an al-most telepathic understanding and unsel� shly share the goals amongst them, as demonstrated when they each scored during their side’s 4-0 home demolition of Newcastle United on Saturday.

Experienced British soccer writer Patrick Barclay told the Reuters Glob-al Sports Forum on Monday that he

thinks it is only mid� elder Lallana that is certain to swap Southampton for Brazil this summer .

Everton mid� elder Barkley has drawn comparisons with a young Ste-ven Gerrard with displays full of direct running, positional awareness and some spectacular goals, but Lallana’s ability to also play wide could lead to both win-ning a place in Hodgson’s squad.

Strikers Lambert and Rodriguez have linked with Lallana to great e� ect this season, with 34 league goals from the three propelling Southampton to eighth, but the partnership is unlikely to continue to Brazil. l

In-form PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the main threat for Chelsea while Blues will be looking for a solid defence led by skipper John Terry AFP

West Ham United striker Andy Carroll (R) scores the opening goal during their English Premier League match against Sunderland at The Stadium of Light in Sunderland, northeast England, on Monday AFP

RESULTSLivorno 2 2 Inter MilanPaulinho 54, Hernanes 37, Emeghara 85 Palacio 45+1

Udinese 1 0 CataniaDi Natale 68

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Sony SixNBA 2013-146:00AM Brooklyn v Houston8:30AM LA Lakers Vs Portland- Live2:30PM Yonex Sunrise India Open 2014Star Sports 44:00PMAFC Champions League 2014Hyundai Motors v Guangzhou Evergrande10:30PMItalian Serie ARoma v ParmaStar Sports 2AFC Champions League 20145:00PMBuriram United v Cerezo OsakaUEFA Champions League, QF Leg 1Ten Sports12:45AM Paris Saint-Germain v ChelseaTen Action 12:45AMReal Madrid v Borussia Dortmund

Nadal hopes to � ne tune form ahead of clay swingRafael Nadal says he still has work to do on his game as he gets set to launch his claycourt season which the Spaniard hopes culminates with his ninth French Open title. World number one Nadal lost in straight sets in the � nal of the Miami Masters tournament on Sunday to second seed Novak Djokovic. Djokovic cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win as he easily dismantled Nadal who has been hampered by a back injury which wrecked his Australian Open bid earlier this year. Thirteen-time Grand Slam winner Nadal said despite the loss, which dropped him to 0-4 in Miami � nals, he feels good about having made it to the � nal in Miami.

–AFP

Bahrain opposition calls F1 Grand Prix protestsBahrain’s in� uential Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq and a more radical group have called separate rallies for Friday to protest the weekend staging of the Formula One Grand Prix in Manama. Demonstra-tions have been held during the annual three-day Grand Prix event every year since 2011 by opponents of the ruling Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty in an attempt to highlight pro-reform demands. The pro-tests, which � rst erupted in the wake of a Shiite-led uprising in February 2011, have at times been marred by violence but the race has never been a� ected. They are mainly staged in Shiite villages surround-ing Manama and away from the Sakhir F1 circuit in the capital’s south.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH

QUICK BYTES

West Indies spinner Samuel Badree celebrates a Pakistan wicket with teammates during their World Twenty20 clash at SBNS yesterday MUMIT M

Brothers move to last four

Brothers Union cruised through to the semi-� -nals in the Modhumoti Bank Independence Cup Football with a 2-1 win over Team BJMC

in the � rst  quarter-� nal at the Bang-abandhu National yesterday.

Team BJMC started in an attacking mode and  had the chance to take the lead in the very � rst minute, but their forward Aminur Rahman Shojib squan-dered the opportunity as his header went straight to Brothers goalkeeper Sabuj Das Roghu. 

Brothers however did not let their

chance go begging and went up 1-0 through mid� elder Jewel Rana in the 9th minute. Winger Rubel Miah’s crack-ing drive from 20 yards out rocked the BJMC crosspiece before the rebound fell on the feet of unmarked Rana who headed home with ease.  

After the change of ends, Brothers took control of the match and doubled the lead through their Nigerian forward Simon in the 53rd minute. The Nigerian hit man promptly  unleashed an angular shot from 20 yards that left BJMC goal-keeper Ariful Islam hapless in the far post.

Team BJMC pulled one back in the 66th minute with their Nigerian for-ward Uche Felix heading on free kick of defender Khan Tara from the left. l

Talha treble � res Jubilee School

Jubilee School of Patuakhali beat Madaripur Public Institute 4-0 in the First

Security Islami Bank National School Hockey at the Maulana Bhashani Na-tional Hockey Stadium yesterday. Abu Talha slammed a hat-trick for the win-ners while the other goal was scored by Istiaque.

Zinjira PM Pilot High School rode

on the strikes of Emon, Arnab, Shakil, Nabil and Johnny to rout Dinajpur Dis-trict High School 5-0.

Nabab Habibullah High School, Dhaka outplayed Shahin School and College 3-0 with Rizvi scoring a brace and Sobuj netting the other for the vic-torious.

In the last match of the day, Khanjanpur High School of Joypurhat ousted Ra� kuddin Memeorial High School of Comilla 4-3 in the shoot-out as the match ended 1-1 after the stipulated time. l

Cook still unable to lift lid on Pietersen axe

England captain Alastair Cook said Tuesday he was “frustrated” at his in-ability to reveal the reasons behind Kevin Pietersen’s international exile, although he promised all would be-come clear “soon”.

Despite being England’s leading run scorer across all formats, South Africa-born Pietersen was axed by the Eng-land and Wales Cricket Board in Feb-ruary following the team’s 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia.

But exactly why he was sent into inter-national exile, with seemingly no hope of return, remains a mystery and Cook was unable to shed any fresh light on Tuesday.

“I can’t actually answer that ques-tion, totally, at this precise moment in time which is incredibly frustrating for me,” Cook told Sky Sports News at county side Essex’s media day.

“Everyone will say I’m sitting on the fence, but there are a number of rea-sons which will become clearer soon.

“You have to respect the decision and the position I am in at this pre-cise moment in time,” the left-handed opening batsman added.

England’s recent struggles, culmi-nating with the humiliation of Mon-day’s 45-run defeat by minnows the

Netherlands in the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, where a team without Pi-etersen and Cook, who does not play in T20 internationals, were dismissed for just 88, have only led to fresh questions.

Cook accepted the ‘Pietersen is-sue’ would not go away until England addressed it full on, but insisted he couldn’t do so at this moment in time.

“Everyone is going to keep ask-ing that question until we give the answers, but at the moment we just can’t,” said the 29-year-old.

However, Cook added: “If anyone thinks the decision was taken lightly and without a lot of consideration and a lot of thought – a lot of things went into the de-cision,” he said. “It was a tough decision.

But having seen Giles guide England to the � nal of last year’s 50-over Cham-pions Trophy � nal, Cook said it would be wrong to judge him on the national side’s most recent results.

“Gilo has had a tough winter - we’ve all had a tough winter. He’s a very, very good coach. He’s a fantastic coach and a very good man as well,” said Cook.

Other reported candidates for the post include former England coach Peter Moores, now with Lancashire, Nottinghamshire’s Mick Newell and Australian Trevor Bayliss, who has coached Sri Lanka. l

WI crash Pakistan's party to reach semis

Defending champions West Indies breezed into the semi� nals of the World Twenty20 - after India, South Af-rica and Sri Lanka – after they thrashed Pakistan by 84 runs in their do-or-die encounter at the Sher-e-Bangla Nation-al Stadium yesterday.

It’s not a common scene of Chris Gayle running all over the � eld and throwing himself to save a run and this dedication from him yesterday staged exactly how important the match was for the Caribbeans.

Medium fast bowler Krishmar San-tokie trapped Pakistan’s last match centurion Ahmed Shehzad LBW in the very � rst ball of their innings as they never recovered from the early blow.

It was then left to the two West In-

dian spinners - Samuel Badree and the No 1 T20 bowler Sunil Narine - who spun the Pakistani batters in their whirlpool.

Skipper Mohammad Hafeez’s 19 was the highest for Pakistan as the rest surrendered cheaply to leg spin-ner Badree, who took three for 10, and Narine who bagged three for 16. Paki-stan, who reached at least the last four stage in all previous occasion of the event, were bundled out for only 82 runs in 17.5 overs.

Earlier, the West Indies side was also in a spot of bother early in their innings having lost both Gayle and Dwayne Smith inside 22 runs.

However, Lendl Simmons (31) and Marlon Samuels (20) reconstructed the innings adding 39 runs for the third wicket before the late surge from Dwayne Bravo and captain Darren Sammy took them past 150, which at one point looked a distant dream.

Bravo and Sammy joined in the mid-dle with their side reeling at 81 for 5 in 14 overs, but the duo exhibited an array of power hitting to bring 71 runs in just 32 balls.

The dominant of the two, Bravo smashed two sixes and a four in the 18th over by Umar Gul and followed it with a 24-run over o� Saeed Ajmal where he launched three huge sixes.

Man of the match Bravo was eventu-ally run out in the last over making 46 o� just 26 balls while Sammy remained unbeaten on 42 o� 20 balls with � ve fours and two sixes taking West Indies to a challenging 166/6. l

McCullum looks for improvement

New Zealand captain Brendon McCul-lum Monday stressed his team must look for a turnaround soon if they want to win a major tournament following their unceremonious exit from the World Twenty20.

The Black Caps were dealt a telling blow by Sri Lanka, who beat them by 59 runs in a low-scoring game in Chittagong.

With Sri Lanka dismissed for a pal-try 119, the match was within New Zealand’s reach but left-arm spinner

Rangana Herath demolished them with � gures of � ve for three runs in 3.3 overs.

That bowled New Zealand out for their lowest Twenty20 total of 60 -- over-all third lowest in the shortest format.

New Zealand have only once reached the semi-� nal, way back in the inaugural edition -- a trend McCullum wants to end.

“Something’s going to have to change at some stage,” said McCullum after the match.

“Otherwise we’ll keep turning up at tournaments, winning a couple, los-

ing a couple and never claiming any silverware and that’s not what we play for and something’s going to have to change if New Zealand’s going to start winning major tournaments.

“We’ve got one at home in a year’s time which better be it.”

New Zealand and Australia co-host the 2015 World Cup (50 overs) in Feb-ruary-March.

Regarded as the perennial under-achievers in world cricket, New Zea-land have only won the 2000 Champi-ons Trophy in their history. l

No Qatar re-vote says Fifa o� cial

Michel D’Hooghe, FIFA’s medical of-� cer, has insisted there will be no re-vote on the controversial decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup � nals.

“There will be absolutely no re-vote,” D’Hooghe told the London Evening Stan-dard on Tuesday, a day after Japan said it was ready to step in if FIFA stripped Qa-tar of staging the 2022 World Cup.

“Some in the English press want that (a re-vote). But it’s not the English press that decide.”

D’Hooghe was one of the FIFA exec-utive committee members who in 2010 awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 edition to Qatar. l

Al Amin � ned for abusive language

Bangladesh fast bowler Al Amin Hos-sain was been � ned 15 per cent of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during their last Super 10 match against Australia in the World Twenty20 at the Sher-e-Bangla Nation-al Cricket Stadium yesterday. 

Al Amin was found guilty using o� ensive language after he dismissed Australia opener David Warner in the 12th over. After the match, Al-Amin pleaded guilty to the charge and accepted the sanction proposed by the match referee Ranjan Madugalle of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.

Meanwhile Sri Lankan opener Tilla-karatne Dilshan was been � ned 20 per cent of his match fee for breaching the players’ code of conduct during their game against New Zealand in Chit-tagong on Monday.

Dilshan was found to have shown dissent at an umpire’s decision during his team’s 59-run win over New Zea-land in the Group one match which lifted Sri Lanka into the semi-� nals.

“The incident happened in the fourth over, when Dilshan rubbed his elbow after the ball de� ected o� his gloves to the wicketkeeper to indi-cate that the ball had not touched his gloves,” an ICC release said. l

Djokovic holds the winners trophy on the beach after defeating Nadal at the Men's Final on day 14 of the Sony Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center in Florida on Sunday AFP

West IndiesD. Smith c Kamran b Tanvir 8C. Gayle st Kamran b Hafeez 5L. Simmons run out 31M. Samuels b Afridi 20D. Bravo run out 46D. Ramdin c Umar b Babar 5D. Sammy not out 42A. Russell not out 0Extras: (lb4, w5) 9Total: (for six wkts; 20 overs) 166

Fall of wickets1-10 (Gayle), 2-22 (Smith), 3-61 (Sim-mons), 4-67 (Samuels), 5-81 (Ramdin), 6-152 (Bravo).BowlingHafeez 2-0-15-1, Tanvir 4-0-27-1 (1w), Babar 4-0-27-1 (2w), Afridi 4-0-23-1, Gul 2-0-29-0 (1w), Ajmal 4-0-41-0 (1w)PakistanAhmed Shehzad lbw b Santokie 0Kamran Akmal c Bravo b Badree 0Mohammad Hafeez c Gayle b Russell 19Umar Akmal st Ramdin b Badree 1Shoaib Malik st Ramdin b Badree 2Sohaib Maqsood st Ramdin b Narine 18Shahid Afridi st Ramdin b Narine 18Sohail Tanvir c Sammy b Narine 14Umar Gul c Simmons b Santokie 4Saeed Ajmal b Russell 1Zul� qar Babar not out 3Extras: (w2) 2Total: (all out; 17.5 overs) 82

Fall of wickets1-0 (Shehzad), 2-1 (Kamran), 3-9 (Umar), 4-13 (Malik), 5-37 (Hafeez), 6-42 (Maqsood), 7-74 (Tanvir), 8-75 (Afridi), 9-78 (Ajmal).BowlingSantokie 2.5-0-9-2 (2w), Badree 4-0-10-3, Samuels 3-0-21-0, Russell 3-0-15-2, Narine 4-0-16-3, Smith 1-0-11-0

West Indies won by 84 runs

SCORECARD

GROUP 2Teams Mat Won Lost Pts RRIndia (Q) 4 4 0 8 +1.280West Indies (Q) 4 3 1 6 +1.971Pakistan 4 2 2 4 -0.384Australia 4 1 3 2 -0.857 Bangladesh 4 0 4 0 -2.072

No. of fours Pakistan hit during the pow-erplay, the 5th such instance in T20Is

No. of runs Chris Gayle has scored o� six deliveries from Mohammad Hafeez. He has been dismissed three times

No. of stumpings in this match, by both wicketkeepers together, equals the most in a T20I

This was only the eighth time both open-ers from a team have been dismissed for ducks, in 794 T20 international innings

Runs scored o� the Powerplay by Paki-stan, equals the lowest by a Full Member in T20Is

Runs scored o� Saeed Ajmal’s fourth over - his most expensive in T20Is

That is Darren Sammy’s strike rate in this tournament. He has 101 runs in four innings and has been out only once

0

1

4

8

13

24

224

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Many new private med schools un� t to start operationn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Only three or four of the private med-ical and dental colleges that got ap-proval last year, are likely to be granted conditional permission to continue op-erations, sources said quoting a probe report.

Four probe committees, who looked into the progresses made by 14 recently approved private med schools, submit-ted reports before Health Minister Mo-hammed Nasim and other high o� cials of the health ministry during a meeting yesterday.

However, sources said the meeting was adjourned without any decision made on the reports.

Several high o� cials, who were present at the meeting, told the Dhaka Tribune that although all the reports had not been fully read out, primarily it was learnt that some of the medical colleges had made signi� cant progress after getting permission to admit stu-dents. However, some colleges were still being run in rented buildings and most of them did not have own hospi-tals, the o� cial said.

Prof Dr ABM Abdul Hannan told the Dhaka Tribune that each of the reports would be reviewed thoroughly in the next meeting of the ministry before deciding on which of these med school would get � nal permission.

Although many of these colleges failed to meet the pre-conditions, all of them would eventually be given condi-tional permission as in� uential people, who had direct or indirect involvement with the colleges, had been trying to sway the decision in their favour, min-istry o� cials said.

Refusing to reveal details as the in-vestigations were “sensitive and con-� dential,” members of the probe com-mittees said the in� uential people were urging authorities to keep the colleges open for protecting the interest of the students who had already secured ad-mission.

On January 30, four probe teams were formed to inspect the 14 medical colleges given primary and administra-

tive approval in the last academic year (2013-2014), amid allegations that the colleges were approved illegally by for-mer health minister AFM Ruhal Hoque just before the end of his tenure.

Each of the probe committee con-sisted senior o� cials of the health ministry, health directorate, medical universities, Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) and the law ministry.

As part of their probe, the four probe committees checked whether the 14 medical colleges were operating in ac-cordance with the Private Medical Col-lege Establishment and Administration Policy of 2009 and 2011.

The probe teams also veri� ed sev-eral factors including infrastructural facilities at the medical colleges, � oor space, ratio of students and patients in emergency departments, waste dis-posal chains, academic approval of the BMDC, approval of universities, organogram, teacher- student ratio, ac-commodation facilities etc.

Professor Dr Abu Sha� Ahmed Amin, president of Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC), told the Dhaka Tribune that the formation of a central accreditation body was a must to provide permission to open a new medical college. The BMDC would soon submit a proposal for forming such an accreditation body, he added.

On previous occasions, several new medical colleges allegedly promised to ful� l necessary requirements in order to secure conditional approvals, but failed to carry through their promises afterwards.

The private medical and dental col-leges that were probed are: Kasiruddin Memorial Medical College, US Dental College, Abdul Hamid Medical College, Addin-Akij Medical College, Khulna City Medical College, Shah Makdum Medical College, US-Bangla Medical College, United Medical College, Care Medical College, Universal Medical College, Brahmanbaria Medical Col-lege, Marine City Medical College, IIMCH Medical College and Parkview Medical College. l

BCL extortion halts UGC internet projectn DU Correspondent

A high-speed internet connectivity project of the University Grants Com-mission (UGC) at Dhaka University has been stalled in face of an extortion demand from the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the students’ wing of the rul-ing Awami League.

The project, initiated under the UGC’s Higher Education Quality En-hancement Project, would carry out the survey, installation, testing and commissioning of a point-to-point � -bre optic data connectivity to provide high speed internet to di� erent public universities across the country.

Sources said the project’s imple-

mentation at Dhaka University came to a halt when Mehedi Hasan, the ex-pelled president of the university’s Salimullah Muslim Hall unit Chhatra League, and his supporters demanded a large sum as extortion from Hamida Traders, the private company selected by UGC to run the project at DU.

The BCL activists reportedly forced the company to stop the project when they were refused the extortion money. Although Hamida Traders had later re-sumed their digging works for installing the cables, they were forced to stop the works after Mehedi and his men assaulted some of the company’s sta� , including its chief engineer, and some of the labourers.

Some engineers of the project, re-

questing anonymity, said the BCL men also threatened to kill them if the ex-tortion money was not paid.

“However, we tried to contact the DU Proctor Amzad Ali to discuss the matter and to ensure their security to continue the project works but, the proctor did not meet us,” they alleged.

When contacted, Proctor Ali said the Hamida Group had begun the installation works after submitting an application to the Dhaka University authority but he was not aware of the extortion issue.

“If we receive a written extortion allegation from anyone, we will inves-tigate the matter,” he added.

BCL DU General Secretary Omar Sharif said Mehedi was long involved

in such rogue activities and was thus expelled from the organisation.

“Therefore, we have nothing to do in this regard. But, law enforcers or the university authority can take punitive action against him [Mehedi] if he was really involved,” he added.

Earlier in February, four activists of Chhatra League, including Mehedi, were expelled after instigating a clash with the sta� of Peacock Bar and Res-taurant at the capital’s Shahbagh area on New Year’s Eve.

Sources also added although Mehe-di had been expelled from the organ-isation, he remains active in politics and � nds support from some top-level leaders of Chhatra League. l

Bangladesh plans to import additional 630MW from India n Aminur Rahman Rasel

A proposal is set to be placed at the joint steering committee meeting of Bangla-desh-India power sector cooperation to import an additional 630MW of elec-tricity from the neighbouring country, a power division o� cial has said.

“A high-level Indian delegation led by Indian Power Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha will visit Dhaka to at-tend a meeting of the Joint Steering Committee on the power sector from April 2-3,” Power Secretary Monowar Islam, who will lead the Bangladesh side, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

O� cial sources said a joint working committee meeting – led by joint pow-er secretaries of both countries – would take place today, followed by a joint steering committee meeting – led by power secretaries – to be held tomor-row.

Both meetings will discuss the pos-sibility of exploring power exchanges between Bangladesh and India through the eastern side of Bangladesh and In-dia’s Tripura.

The meetings will also discuss the possibility of importing electricity from northeastern Indian states and the de-velopment of joint venture hydro-pow-er projects in those areas.

Discussions will also be held on the

prospects of importing electricity from Nepal and Bhutan.

Both teams are also scheduled to visit the1,320MW Moitree Super Ther-mal Power Project at Rampal today.

“We will place a proposal to import 30MW of electricity from India’s public or private sector through the Bhera-mara sub-station,” said a top o� cial of Power Division, seeking anonymity.

“We will seek a further 600MW pow-er from India’s Tripura state.” he said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina re-cently made a request to her Indian counterpart about this matter.

Dhaka is keen to import electricity from India in order to reduce its de-pendence on more costly power from rental and quick rental power plants, of which production cost is average Tk17 per unit; each unit of electricity from India costs an average of Tk6.

At present, Dhaka imports 500MW of electricity from India, 50% from the public sector and the rest from the pri-vate sector.

Another o� cial of the Power Divi-sion said the meeting would also re-view the progress of Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPC) in developing the 1,320MW Rampal project in Bagerhat.

Sources also said the board meeting of the newly formed BIFPC will be held tomorrow. l

Tk30m gold seized at Dhaka airportn Kailash Sarkar

Customs intelligence o� cials yesterday seized 62 gold bars weighing 7.5 kilo-grams at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka city and arrested two passen-gers from Dubai in this connection.

Ayesha Akter, assistant commis-sioner of Directorate of Customs Intelli-gence and Investigation, said they had arrested Dulal Hossain, 32, and Saidul Islam, 35, both from Comilla, around 11:15am upon their arrival from Dubai.

She said they detained the duo and frisked their bodies and discovered the gold bars worth around Tk30m strapped to their bodies. She suspect-ed that Dulal and Saidul belonged to a smugglers’ ring.

Bangladesh has seen a spate of gold seizures, particularly at Dhaka, Chit-tagong and Sylhet airports over the past 15 months. Over 30 caches of gold were seized at the three airports in the last three months alone.

Gold traders, o� cials of the Civil Avia-tion Authorities of Bangladesh, customs, Biman Bangladesh Airlines and police were found involved in the smuggling.

In September last year, an investiga-tion committee found at least 18 Biman o� cials involved with smuggling two

hauls of gold, including the biggest sei-zure of 124kg gold in July last year.

Around 1,100 o� cials and employees of various government and non-govern-ment organisations working at the air-ports were detained for their suspected link to the smuggling. l

Students of Dhaka University vandalise a passenger bus in front of the National Press Club yesterday, protesting the assault of a fellow student by transport sta� DHAKA TRIBUNE

Customs o� cials display gold bars seized from two passengers at Dhaka airport yesterday

PMO for action against Ctg airport o� cials n Rabiul Islam

The Prime Minister’s O� ce has direct-ed the civil aviation and the home min-istries to take action against a dozen of o� cials of Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong for their alleged involvement in gold smuggling.

In a report last month, the PMO also ordered to identify the godfathers and bring them to book besides the carriers.

The report says a section of unscru-pulous airport o� cers and sta� are in-volved in the gold smuggling process at the Chittagong airport.

Even though a handsome amount of smuggled gold was seized at the airport recently, the lion’s share crosses the air-port unnoticed with the help of the secu-rity o� cials, airport sta� and cabin crews.

Recently a personal aide of a high-ranking o� cial helped gold-car-rying passengers to leave the airport through an illegal route to avoid scan-ning of their luggage.

During the process, a platoon com-mander of Ansar assisted him. Later, the personal assistant was transferred

to Barisal airport while the Ansar mem-ber to another place.

On February 6, a total of 49kg gold was recovered in an aircraft coming from Dubai. On December 11 last year, as much as 17kg gold was seized from a toi-let of national � ag carrier Biman Bangla-desh Airlines, also coming from Dubai.

Bangladesh is used as a transit route of smuggled gold, most of which goes to India.

A number of security guards also take the bags of gold from the smugglers and carry those outside the airport.

While cleaning aircraft, some sweepers carry gold in waste baskets or bags left by the smugglers and hand over the gold to a mechanic of the engi-neering section of Bangladesh Biman.

A number of helpers of the Biman are also involved in gold smuggling.

When a � ight of an internation-al airliner including Bangladesh Bi-man lands in Chittagong airport, the gold-carrying passenger gets down and another member of the syndicate takes a domestic � ight to Dhaka.

The � rst carrier then leaves the bag

beside or under the seat of the second carrier, or inside the � ight’s toilet. The cabin crews or stewards help the pas-sengers during the process.

The passengers often cross the checking area giving reference to of-� cers and sta� of di� erent agencies on duty at the airport or claiming them-selves as their relatives. Because of maintaining prior contact, these people exchange the bags of gold while getting down the boarding bridge.

Sometimes the passengers them-selves carry the gold and get out of the airport with the help of some dishonest o� cers and sta� of the Customs, Bi-man and the civil aviation.

The PMO has asked the ministries to ensure exemplary punishment to these dishonest o� cers and sta� .

“It is not true that gold smuggling has increased, but we have increased our surveillance. As a result, gold is being seized very often,” Civil Aviation Secre-tary Khurshed Alam Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.

The home secretary was not availa-ble on phone for comments. l

3 police o� cers held for misappropriating smuggled gold bars n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Detectives yesterday recovered 149 smuggled gold bars from the custody of Rampura police and arrested four per-sons, including three police o� cials, for not handing over the recovery to the government treasury.

The arrestees were Rampura police Sub-Inspector Manjurul Islam, Con-stable Wahid and Constable Akash Chowdhury, and an informant named Rony. The arrests were made after the Detective Branch of the police received vital information while interrogating detainees of a gold smuggling case.

According to the case, SI Manjurul and his patrol team, who were on duty at Banasree’s Balurmath area on March 13, chased a microbus on suspicion and later found the vehicle abandoned. They brought the vehicle to the police station and � led a general diary for an abandoned car.

On March 16, two individuals named Samir Bishwash and Jahid Hossain came to the police station to claim the vehicle but could not provide any doc-uments to prove their right. Later, po-lice detained them and found out that they were professional gold smugglers and were transporting 235 gold bars using the microbus. However, police o� cials could only recover 70 gold bars from the abandoned vehicle.

On March 18, a case was � led in this regard with Rampura police station and was handed over to the Detective Branch on March 20.

Upon further interrogation by the DB members, the detainees con� rmed that there were 235 gold bars in the vehicle when they abandoned it. The detectives then interrogated SI Man-jurul and his petrol team where they confessed they had misappropriated the recovery.

Later, detectives recovered 149 of the missing gold bars from di� erent parts of the capital after the detained policemen disclosed the places when they had kept it hidden. However, 16 gold bars from the cache still remain missing. l

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IndustriAll wants Tk57.60 lakh for each died in Rana Plaza disaster n Tribune Report

IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC) has demanded Tk57.60 lakh as compen-sation for each of the workers who died in the Rana Plaza building collapse.

The IBC has set Tk57.60 lakh as com-pensation based on the loss of future earnings and pain and su� erings in line with the article 121 of ILO convention, said Roy Ramesh Chandra, general sec-retary of IBC, while addressing a press conference yesterday in the city.

The Press conference was organised also to announce a month-long pro-gramme on the occasion of � rst anni-versary of Rana Plaza Building collapse.

The amount of the compensation would be count based on the age of workers when he or she died, said Roy.

The compensation amount has been � xed calculating Tk50,000 for pain and su� erings, Tk6,000 for monthly wage on an aver-age, Tk12,000 for two fes-tive bonus and plus 5% for yearly in� ation, he added.

The buyers, factory own-ers, brands, the BGMEA and the government have to pay the compensation compre-hensively, said Roy adding the BGMEA, ILO and the government are bound to compensate the victims as per the ILO convention.

The organisation has chalked out a month-long programme, which include

holding of multi-stakeholder meetings, forming human chain in front of the National Press Club and gathering in front of the Rana Plaza on April, 16, 18 and 23 respectively.

Replying to a query, Nazrul Islam Khan, chairman of IBC, said they could not count the proper numberof the work-sas the factory owners did not provide any appointment letters to the workers.

This compensation package will set a standard for the compensation of workers working in the country’s in several sectors, he hoped.

Nazrul Islam, also a standing commit-tee member of BNP, alleged that the la-bour law was not implementing in a prop-er way for ensuring RMG workers’ right for forming trade union and associations.

The leaders of the organisation also demanded compensation for the vic-tims of Tazreen Fashion and Aswad

Composite in light with ‘Compensation Trust Fund’.

They also urged the government and relevant stake holders to set a perma-nent solution and standard to compen-sate all the workers, who were either dead or injured in any factory disaster.

The organisation has identi� ed 3,639 workers for compensation while 116 workers have been identi� ed as missing.

Currently, the Trust Fund has US$8m while British retailer Primark would give $1m to the fund. About $40m is needed to pay 3,000 workers or the families of those killed in the collapse on April 24 last year. At least 1,133 workers were killed and over 2,500 injured in the incident.

The Trust Fund, backed by the Inter-national Labour Organisation, includes IndustriALL, UNI Global Union and the Clean Clothes Campaign. The ILO is the trustee of the fund. l

www.dhakatribune.com/business WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014

B3 Symposium: Women integral for meaningful development

B4 India keeps rates on hold ahead of poll

Furniture makers for cash incentive, low import duty‘The sector has all the potentials to become globally competitive’

n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The furniture manufacturers and exporters have demanded cash incentives and lowering of import duty on raw materials in the next � scal budget to make the sector globally competitive.

“Due to high import duty, we fail to compete with other countries in the inter-national furniture market,” KM Akhtaruz-zaman, president of Bangladesh Furniture Exporters Association (BFEA), told the Dhaka Tribune explaining the cause for their demands.

He said they were being beaten in the global market as the costly import of raw materials increased the production cost.

The sector sought 20-25% cash incen-tives to achieve 100% growth in exports.

According to the Association, the gov-ernment had not kept their words given several times to provide cash incentives to the furniture sector.

“We are yet to get any cash incentive. But the commerce minister’s recent assur-ance raised our hopes,” said BFEA president. Industry people say around 60% of raw goods including timber, wood coating mate-rials, hardware and accessories and fabrics are imported from di� erent countries.

“High duty is a burden on us. Easing of it will be a boon for the sector’s boom,” said

Selim H Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Furniture Industry Owners Association.

He said Bangladesh is a nascent suppli-er to global furniture market, so “it needs incentive to produce quality goods in large volumes.”

Selim H Rahman, also managing direc-tor of Hatil Furniture, identi� ed shortage of skilled manpower as another problem Bangladesh’s furniture sector is facing.

“It has transformed from a cottage to a technology-based industry. The sector now requires skilled labour force and for this, in-stitutional educations in technical schools and universities are needed,” he said.

Selim Rahman sees the sector can � ght well in the global market as it is a labour-in-tensive industry and Bangladesh has cheap labour. BFEA said the local manufacturers can now meet 90% of domestic demand, reducing the country’s dependency on imports.

“Once we had to meet 50% of local demand by imported furniture, which cost us huge foreign currencies,” said BFEA president Akhtaruzzaman.

Bangladesh’s furniture market size is over Tk14,000 crore and the local makers supply a variety of international standard furniture made from wood, processed wood, melamine board, particleboard and steel etch.

Currently, the country has 41,560 en-terprises producing furniture, where about 15 lakh skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers are employed.

Industry insiders said foreign buyers were increasingly showing interest in the Bangladeshi furniture and some of them already sought brie� ng about the products.

They said foreign buyers were being at-tracted by the cheap rates and good-look-ing designs of the Bangladeshi furniture.

The local manufacturers want proper policy support from the government to use the prospects.

Bangladesh earned over $25m in the July-February period of the current � scal year from furniture exports, registering 32% growth over the same period a year ago, showed data of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

The � gure was $19.20m in the same period last year when the total annual furniture export stood at $31.41m.

Furniture export target has been set at around $38m for the current � scal year with 20% rise from last year.

At present, the country exports o� ce furniture, metal furniture, seats with metal frames, bedroom furniture, wooden, plas-tic-made, spare parts, mattress supports, sleeping bags, lamps and light � ttings to various destinations of the world. l

Photo shows a view of a furniture stall at DITF 2014 TAHMIDUR RAHMAN

ADB cuts GDP growth forecast further to 5.6%n Tribune Report

Asian Development Bank has further cut its growth forecast for Bangladesh due to slowed down exports and remit-tances, and political unrest before na-tional election in early January this year.

In its Asian Development Outlook 2014 released yesterday simultaneously throughout the Asia region, it said GDP is projected to grow by 5.6%, which is lower than its earlier projection of 5.8% for � scal year (2013-14) ending in June.

The projection is also lower than the government’s revised target of 6.5%, Bangladesh Bank’s revised projection of around 6%, the World Bank’s 5.7% and International Monetary Fund’s 6% and Bloomberg’s 6.3%.

“GDP of Bangladesh is expected to slow,” said Oleg Tonkonojenkov, ADB deputy country director for Bangladesh while releasing the outlook in Dhaka.

It re� ected apprehended slower ex-pansion in exports, falling worker remit-tances, and political unrest before par-liamentary elections a� ecting consumer and investors con� dence, he said.

However, he expected the GDP growth to improve in FY15, but a major boost will come only with higher invest-ment in infrastructure. Lauding positive achievements in some areas, Tonkono-jenkov said Bangladesh performed well in terms of economic and social devel-opments over the past several decades.

“Macroeconomic management has been sound, and economic growth was largely inclusive and broad-based, with notable progress in poverty reduction. Bangladesh is on track to achieve most of the millennium development goals,” he said. He said Bangladesh needs to pay much more attention to boosting its infrastructure skills, if the country

has to move to a higher growth path. Major reforms in tax policies and

strengthening tax administration will be a priority to gear up public resource mobilisation, he said. In addition to mobilising resources, public sector ca-pacity for implementing projects will need to be signi� cantly strengthened.

“As has been the case with other rap-idly growing developing countries, the private sector will also need to be en-gaged in � nancing infrastructure projects under public private partnerships (PPP).”

In response to a question, ADB’s Principal Country Economist Moham-mad Zahid Hossain said Bangladesh has great prospects to grow at more than 7%, but needs investment in a bigger way, developing infrastructure

and restoring political stability. In his presentation on econom-

ic prospects for Bangladesh, he said growth is expected to rebound to 6.2% in FY2015, aided by higher remittance and export growth, as well as by pros-pects for continued economic recovery in the US and the euro area.

A likely rise in consumer and inves-tors con� dence as the political situa-tion stabilises is also expected to stim-ulate demand and strengthen growth momentum. Industry growth expect-ed to slow to 8% in FY14 because of the output lost to political unrest in the � rst half of the year, and as weaker do-mestic demand depresses production.

Production by the RMG may also be a� ected if foreign buyers postpone or-

ders in response to delays in implanting agreed � re and building safety standards to prevent further industrial accidents.

Industry growth is expected to grow to 9% in FY2015 with a pickup in domes-tic and external demand, better safety standards and compliance in garment factories and gains in power generation.

Agriculture is projected to rebound to 3% in FY2014, aided by favorable weather conditions in the early months of the year and re� ecting the previous year’s low base.

In� ation is expected to rise to an av-erage of 7.5% in this � scal year because of the e� ects of supply disruptions, rising wages in both the public and the private sector, and expected increases in electricity and fuel prices. l

BOI-PC merger in the o� ngn Asif Showkat kallol

The government is going to merge Board of Investment and Privatisation Commission to reduce state expen-diture, Prime Minister’s O� ce (PMO) sources said.

These two state agencies have be-come known for their ine� ectiveness over the years.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina al-ready directed the authority concerned to start the process.

PMO sent a letter to the Cabinet Di-vision Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan yesterday in this regard.

The secretary however said yester-day that he got verbal directive but was yet to receive any letter from the PMO.

“We will act after receiving letter from the PMO.”

The letter said merger of two agen-cies would be good for the develop-ment of the country’s investment and business sectors and asked the cabinet division to take necessary steps.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is the ex-o� cio chairman of the two bodies.

The BOI and PC were supposed to play the pivotal role to attract foreign and local investments in the country but displayed complete failure in last two years, o� cial sources said, adding that o� cials of these two government agencies were now sitting idle.

But PC o� cials said the ministries and divisions didn’t listen to the sug-gestions of the two bodies, and that’s why the bodies could not work to at-

tract investment.They said PC and BOI had to wait for

Prime Minister’s intervention in most of the cases.

There have di� erences for long be-tween ministries and PC regarding pri-vatisation of state-owned enterprises under the ministries.

PC has always alleged that the min-istries had never taken any initiative to make the loss-making � rms pro� table.

Finance Ministry o� cials said the ministry took several attempts to close the Privatisation Commission as per the directive of PMO. However it later changed the decision.

In 1993, the government constituted Privatisation Board, which was changed to Privatisation Commission in 2000.

At present, a total of 70 o� cials and sta� s are working at the Privatisa-tion Commission and the government spent Tk17 crore during last four years, and no state � rms were privatised during the period.

BOI was established in 1989 to in-crease local and foreign investments in the country. The Board started with 495 sta� and of them, 359 posts are now vacant.

According to a World Bank study, the private sector investment declined by 1.2% in 2013. Achievement of 7.2% growth as per the government target in the current � scal is at risk.

According to BoI, the investment situation improved a little in last Jan-uary but went down by Tk30bn in Feb-ruary. l

ADRC on cards to deal RMG disputesn Mohosinul Karim

The government has decided to intro-duce an Alternative Dispute Resolu-tion Council (ADRC) for the country’s readymade garments sector to deal with labour complains as well as to comply with the conditions in regain-ing the suspended generalised system of preferences (GSP) in the US market.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed made the disclosure yesterday, after a meeting with US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena at his secretariat o� ce in the city.

“We have decided to form an Alterna-tive Dispute Resolution Council (ADRC) in the RMG sector to resolve the com-plaints relating to labour abuse or harass-ment,” he said categorically, pointing out a condition set by the US administration to get back the GSP facilities.

“As there has been no unique au-

thority to deal with the complaints, they have to run from door to door just to lodge their complaints.”

He said the workers will be free to lodge their complaints after establish-ing the ADRC, which will hear both the complainants and the accused. “Though it will not act as a court, the council will resolve the disputes after hearing both parties. It will help reduce the crisis in the garments sector and the RMG workers would get proper justice.”

The minister, however, said the de-cision has just been taken as the name and formation process of the council has not been � nalized yet. It is expect-ed to take a shape after the minister’s returning home scheduled on April 11 from a visit to Geneva and UAE.

Tofail and Senior Secretary of Com-merce Mahbub Ahmed are expected to attend a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations Confer-

ence on Trade and Development (UNC-TAD) and also to attend a meeting as a panel discussant in Geneva.

Later, they will go to UAE for joining a regional ministerial meeting of the commerce ministers from April 7 to 10.

Regarding the appointment of Class-I and Class-II o� cials for Depart-ment of Factories and Establishment, Tofail said: “We’ve already appointed 25 factory inspectors and rest of the re-cruitments are still under process.”

He said the government is also try-ing to publish a gazette noti� cation for Class-II non-cadre recruitment rules, which would be � nalised with-in a month. The recruiting process for appointing 222 Class-II o� cers will be accomplished immediately after the gazette is published.

Lauding the initiatives taken by the government so far, the US Ambassador B3 COLUMN 5

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Initially set 7.2%Revised 6.5%Bloomberg’s 6.3%IMF 6%World Bank’s 5ADADB’s 5.6%

*Base year 2005-06

GDP GROWTH ON DOWN TREND

FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14

5.14%

5.82%

6.82%6.48%

6.18%

7.2%

Initially set 7.2%Revised 6.5%Bloomberg 6.3%IMF 6%World Bank 5.7%ADB 5.6%

ADB LOWERS ITS GDP GROWTHFORECAST FOR BANGLADESH

Due to:

l Slowdown in exports

l Falling remittances

l Political unrest before national election

l Weaker domestic demand depressing production

TO-DO LIST

l Restoring political stability

l Boosting infrastructure, skills and necessary investment

l Gearing up public resource mobilization

l Ensuring better contribution of PPP

A H MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHIC

ANALYST

B2 Stock Wednesday, April 2, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks rally for second day n Tribune Report

Stocks rallied for 2nd consecutive session yesterday, driven by mainly heavyweight companies that con-tinued to shine.

The benchmark index DSEX gained 35 points or 0.8% to close at 4,527. Shariah Index DSES was up over 11 points or 1% to 987.The blue-chip comprising DS30 rose 15 points or 1% to end at 1,618. Chit-tagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, closed at 8,753 with a rise of 50 points.

The total turnover at DSE crossed Tk300 crore after three consecutive sluggish sessions and hit 7-session high value of Tk315 crore. It was 9.8% higher compared to the previous session’s turnover.

Food and allied gained most with a rally of more than 4%, led by heavyweight scrips like BATBC that rallied almost 1%. Cement sec-tor came second with a rise of 3.7%, backed by Lafarge Surma Cement that rose more than 5%.

Among other sectors, pharma-ceuticals, power, telecommunica-tions and non-baking � nancial in-stitutions also closed green. But life insurance and bank edged lower.

“Large caps dominated the move-ments of bourse,” said IDLC Invest-ments in its daily market analysis.

Meanwhile, it said, other cap classes demonstrated strong vol-

atility, investors seemed to adjust their positions across stocks and sectors. “Since the market spiked up after a long lacklustre trad-ing, participants remained largely watchful.”

Lanka Bangla Securities said the market has moved sharply higher in early trading, adding to the modest gains posted in the previous session.

It said large cap stocks have climbed � rmly into positive ter-ritory, with the benchmark index reaching its best intraday level in almost a month.

The early strength of DSE is partly due to optimism that secu-rities regulator has decided to give provision of six more months to merchant bank and broker to re-structure client’s margin account to recover the losses on investment.

On the money market front, treasury bonds yield has come down. The yield on the benchmark ten-year bond is declining steadily in line with ample liquidity support from 12.3% in September 2013 to 11.75% in March 2014, down by 47 basis points.

“This would boost the capital gain on bond holdings of � nancial stocks,” said Lanka Bangla.

After pulling back in recent ses-sions, textile sector has shown a strong move back to the upside with market capitalisation up by more than 1% and volume up by 31%. l

News, analysis and recent disclosersFrom TradeServers:FAMILYTEX: The Board of Directors has recommended 100% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 15.05.2014, Time: 11:30 AM, Venue: CBC-Con� dent Cement Convention Center, Chittagong Boat Club, Gate # 14, Near Old Airport, Potenga, Chittagong. Record Date: 22.04.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 7.26, NAV per share of Tk. 21.72 and NOCFPS of Tk. 3.45 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.SIBL: The Board of Directors has recom-mended 12% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 31.05.2014, Time and Venue: to be noti� ed later on. Record Date: 24.04.2014. The Com-pany has also reported consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.78, consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 15.78 and consolidated NOCFPS of Tk. (2.56) for the year ended on December 31, 2013.RUPALIINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 10% stock dividend for the year ended on De-cember 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 28.04.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: O� cers' Club, 26 Baily Road, Ramna, Dhaka. Record Date:

10.04.2014. The Company has also report-ed EPS of Tk. 1.98, NAV per share of Tk. 24.63 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.26 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.NORTHERN: DSE NEWS: The management of DSE has formed an enquiry team to investigate the unusual price movement of shares of Northern Jute Manufacturing Co. Ltd. during the period from March 23, 2014 to March 31, 2014.BOARD MEETING: BDLAMPS on April 03, 2014 at 3:00 PM. RECKITTBEN on April 07, 2014 at 4:15 PM. ARGONDENIM on April 02, 2014 at 3:00 PM.

From BIASL Desk: Impact after declaration: FAMILYTEX price up 3.84%, close at taka 62.10 with PE 8.55. SIBL price up by 4.44%, close at taka 14.10 with PE 7.92. RUPALIINS price up by 3.42%, close at taka 33.20 with PE 16.77.Price Correction after Record Day: FLEASEINT’s price correction was 5.10% (taka 1.20) against 10% stock Dividend (taka 2.35 per share approx.). After record day restated EPS is taka 1.20 and NAV per share is taka 12.97. REPUBLIC price correc-

tion was 5.75% (taka 2.3) against 12.50% stock Dividend (taka 5.0 per share approx.). After record day restated EPS is taka 2.45 and NAV per share is taka 12.43. PIONEER-INS price correction was 18.25% (taka 13) against 10% Cash & 20% stock Dividend (taka 2.48 per share approx.). After record day restated EPS is taka 2.52 and NAV per share is taka 22.55.RIGHT SHARE: ARAMITCEM: Subscrip-tion 23.03.2014 to 17.04.2014. RD for entitlement of rights share: 09.01.2014. RUPALILIFE- Subscription 06.04.2014 to 05.05.2014. RD for entitlement of rights share: 16.01.2014. BRACBANK: Subscrip-tion 20.04.2014 to 15.05.2014. RD for entitlement of rights share: 10.02.2014. GENNEXT: Subscription 18.03.2014 to 09.04.2014, RD: 25.02.2014.IPO Subscription: The Peninsula Chittagong Limited subscription date 30 March-03 April 2014, NRB upto 12 April 2014. @ taka 30, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shahjibazar Power Co. Limited subscription date 06-04 April 2014, NRB upto 19 April 2014. @ taka 25, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Continental Insur. -A -10.00 -9.90 24.30 24.30 24.30 24.30 0.012 1.55 15.7Standard Insurance-A -9.84 -10.57 33.00 33.00 33.00 33.00 0.017 2.96 11.1SummitAlliancePort.-A -7.48 -6.66 23.68 23.50 24.00 23.40 0.978 0.88 26.9Republic Insu.-A -6.88 -6.79 37.90 37.90 37.90 37.90 0.190 2.45 15.5NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A -4.82 -4.82 7.90 7.90 7.90 7.90 0.004 1.03 7.7First Lease- A -4.72 -6.21 22.06 22.20 22.20 21.60 0.684 1.20 18.4 ICB -A -4.64 -4.65 1,730.67 1,730.75 1,746.00 1,723.00 0.260 40.46 42.8Imam Button -Z -4.55 -5.44 8.34 8.40 8.50 8.20 0.026 -2.58 -veAziz PipesZ -4.39 -4.24 19.63 19.60 20.00 19.00 0.006 0.59 33.3Eastern Cables-Z -4.35 -4.38 151.55 151.60 152.00 151.10 0.030 1.40 108.3

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Pioneer Insur -A -18.26 -18.59 57.85 58.20 59.00 57.30 3.153 2.52 23.0Samata LeatheR -Z -7.73 -7.44 34.73 34.60 36.00 34.10 0.191 -0.04 -veSummitAlliancePort.-A -6.32 -6.24 23.76 23.70 24.50 23.50 4.783 0.88 27.02nd ICB M F -A -5.89 -5.89 263.50 263.50 263.50 263.50 0.026 35.42 7.4Republic Insu.-A -5.75 -9.16 37.11 37.70 38.80 32.00 3.446 2.45 15.1United Insur -A -5.17 -4.40 38.69 38.50 40.10 38.10 0.030 2.77 14.0First Lease- A -5.11 -6.70 22.01 22.30 22.40 20.00 7.329 1.20 18.3Eastern Cables-Z -4.92 -4.25 156.39 154.70 165.00 153.00 11.682 1.40 111.7BD. Autocars -Z -4.55 -7.38 29.99 29.40 31.00 28.20 0.318 0.04 749.8Popular Life Insu. -A -3.39 -3.34 242.85 242.10 247.10 235.00 12.679 17.00 14.3

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Familytex (BD) Ltd.-N 523,500 33.74 12.65 63.00 4.83 60.10 71.50 61.00 64.44LafargeS Cement-Z 454,000 23.38 8.77 52.30 4.81 49.90 52.90 50.00 51.49BSC-A 25,185 16.26 6.10 639.25 -1.20 647.00 657.00 638.00 645.61Padma Oil Co. -A 44,746 15.54 5.83 344.50 0.41 343.10 350.90 320.00 347.28Grameenphone-A 60,000 12.96 4.86 215.40 1.03 213.20 217.80 213.00 216.07BD Submarine Cable-A 46,345 9.54 3.58 205.10 0.94 203.20 208.00 200.00 205.81Eastern Housing -A 113,518 6.30 2.36 56.70 5.00 54.00 57.30 49.90 55.48Square Pharma -A 22,556 6.09 2.28 270.50 1.39 266.80 271.50 260.00 269.83UCBL - A 250,235 5.74 2.15 22.80 -0.87 23.00 23.30 21.00 22.92LankaBangla Fin. -A 72,600 4.39 1.65 61.10 3.38 59.10 61.60 55.00 60.51Appollo Ispat CL -N 162,400 4.31 1.62 26.60 0.38 26.50 26.90 26.40 26.56Generation Next-A 168,700 3.49 1.31 20.70 1.47 20.40 20.90 18.50 20.70Rupali Life Insur.-A 27,500 3.43 1.28 124.60 6.13 117.40 124.70 122.00 124.56One Bank -A 200,226 3.37 1.26 16.90 1.81 16.60 18.20 16.00 16.82UNITED AIR-A 237,881 3.30 1.24 13.90 -0.71 14.00 14.20 12.80 13.89

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

LafargeS Cement-Z 6,716,500 345.65 10.96 52.20 5.03 49.70 52.80 49.90 51.46Familytex (BD) Ltd.-N 4,033,500 256.18 8.13 62.10 3.85 59.80 74.80 60.10 63.51Padma Oil Co. -A 555,083 192.64 6.11 345.10 0.70 342.70 350.50 315.00 347.05Grameenphone-A 639,429 138.11 4.38 215.70 0.89 213.80 217.60 208.00 215.98Square Pharma -A 379,011 102.32 3.25 270.30 1.24 267.00 271.00 244.00 269.97BSC-A 144,390 92.97 2.95 639.50 -1.08 646.50 657.75 637.75 643.87Eastern Housing -A 1,425,931 79.02 2.51 56.80 5.58 53.80 57.50 49.00 55.42Meghna Petroleum -A 263,268 73.52 2.33 277.40 0.36 276.40 281.80 253.00 279.26National Tubes -A 416,846 73.12 2.32 177.30 2.72 172.60 182.00 160.00 175.42BD Submarine Cable-A 250,490 51.46 1.63 204.70 0.74 203.20 207.80 200.00 205.42Emerald Oil Ind. -N 897,500 45.36 1.44 51.20 5.35 48.60 51.70 48.90 50.53Olympic Ind. -A 208,552 43.57 1.38 209.50 1.60 206.20 210.00 205.00 208.93LankaBangla Fin. -A 664,415 40.44 1.28 61.30 3.90 59.00 62.00 55.00 60.86HeidelbergCement -A 84,060 36.23 1.15 441.00 4.53 421.90 443.90 415.00 430.94Jamuna Oil -A 152,629 34.79 1.10 227.40 1.07 225.00 232.00 207.00 227.94

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Prime Textile -A 8.13 6.40 26.11 26.60 27.00 25.00 1.567 1.12 23.36th ICB M F-A 6.49 6.49 64.00 64.00 64.00 64.00 0.064 6.54 9.8Rupali Life Insur.-A 6.13 6.08 124.56 124.60 124.70 122.00 3.426 5.33 23.4H.R. Textile -A 5.57 4.13 35.78 36.00 36.50 34.90 0.465 1.56 22.9Kay & Que (BD) -Z 5.52 5.52 19.10 19.10 19.10 19.10 0.010 -0.89 -veMarico BD Ltd-A 5.30 5.30 1168.81 1168.80 1179.00 1163.00 0.643 46.53 25.1The Ibn SinaA 4.86 4.20 122.92 123.10 123.80 106.00 0.374 3.12 39.4Familytex (BD) Ltd.-N 4.83 6.35 64.44 63.00 71.50 61.00 33.736 7.26 8.9LafargeS Cement-Z 4.81 4.04 51.49 52.30 52.90 50.00 23.376 2.19 23.5Apex Foods -A 4.78 2.88 122.67 122.70 123.30 121.10 0.135 3.56 34.5

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Northern Jute -Z 9.68 9.68 120.10 120.10 120.10 120.10 0.120 -10.24 -veMonno Sta� lers -A 8.46 1.14 388.30 404.00 405.00 363.10 5.611 5.25 74.0Prime Textile -A 7.76 5.60 25.85 26.40 26.60 24.60 16.700 1.12 23.1Apex Footwear-A 6.96 4.81 465.93 470.10 474.90 434.00 25.487 23.61 19.7Desh Garments -B 6.84 2.58 124.70 126.50 128.00 121.00 6.771 1.18 105.7Eastern Lubricants -A 6.53 0.80 567.37 598.90 604.00 537.40 9.702 6.02 94.2Eastern Housing -A 5.58 0.65 55.42 56.80 57.50 49.00 79.019 1.56 35.5Emerald Oil Ind. -N 5.35 1.47 50.53 51.20 51.70 48.90 45.355 1.40 36.1Renata Ltd. -A 5.28 3.99 984.32 997.40 999.00 940.00 28.048 41.39 23.8LafargeS Cement-Z 5.03 4.38 51.46 52.20 52.80 49.90 345.645 2.19 23.5

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 261.86 8.31 29.85 8.20 291.71 8.29NBFI 121.84 3.86 10.42 2.86 132.26 3.76Investment 37.38 1.19 3.38 0.93 40.75 1.16Engineering 307.83 9.76 15.15 4.16 322.99 9.18Food & Allied 175.34 5.56 22.41 6.16 197.75 5.62Fuel & Power 394.28 12.51 41.17 11.31 435.45 12.38Jute 8.61 0.27 0.00 8.61 0.24Textile 487.75 15.47 69.32 19.05 557.07 15.84Pharma & Chemical 270.37 8.58 17.86 4.91 288.22 8.20Paper & Packaging 2.98 0.09 28.29 7.77 31.27 0.89Service 95.39 3.03 7.33 2.01 102.72 2.92Leather 48.45 1.54 29.74 8.17 78.19 2.22Ceramic 18.81 0.60 2.02 0.55 20.83 0.59Cement 414.92 13.16 28.62 7.86 443.54 12.61Information Technology 15.37 0.49 2.52 0.69 17.89 0.51General Insurance 71.14 2.26 4.28 1.18 75.42 2.14Life Insurance 71.34 2.26 4.86 1.33 76.20 2.17Telecom 189.56 6.01 22.50 6.18 212.06 6.03Travel & Leisure 27.23 0.86 4.10 1.13 31.34 0.89Miscellaneous 132.07 4.19 20.05 5.51 152.12 4.33Debenture 0.43 0.01 0.08 0.02 0.51 0.01

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4526.94479 (+) 0.78% ▲

DSE Shariah Index : 987.59061 (+) 1.19% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1618.50374 (+) 0.93% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 13944.9143 (+) 0.71% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11726.7518 (+) 0.56% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8753.9274 (+) 0.57% ▲

DSE key features April 1, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

3,152.94

Turnover (Volume)

60,024,906

Number of Contract 74,160

Traded Issues 292

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

145

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

138

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

9

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,261.65

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.41

CSE key features April 1, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 280.51

Turnover (Volume) 6,539,575

Number of Contract 10,510

Traded Issues 223

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

99

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

117

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,146.21

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.01

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

Since the market spiked up after a long lacklustre trading, participants remained largely watchful

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

First Security Islami Bank Limited signed a corporate agreement with Airtel Bangladesh Limited regarding mobile � nancial services for Airtel subscribers on March 31. Syed Waseque Md Ali, the bank’s deputy managing director is seen exchanging corporate agreement with Rubaba Dowla, chief service o� cer and head of mCommerce at Airtel Bangladesh Limited

Dhaka Bank Training Institute and Business Operations Division recently conducted a training workshop on e-tendering where the bank’s 44 o� cials participated. Niaz Habib, the bank’s managing director (currently in-charge), inaugurated the programme

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has recently signed an agreement with UAE Exchange of Malaysia for providing safe and rapid remittance services to Expatriate Bangladeshis through banking channel in presence of Mohammad Abdul Mannan, the bank’s managing director and Bazlur Rahman Khan, director of UAE Exchange

Social Islami Bank Limited held its 308th board meeting at its corporate o� ce on March 31. The bank’s Major (retd) Dr Md Rezaul Haque presided over the meeting

Standard Bank Ltd has signed MoU with Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) recently. Under the MoU the bank will receive Hajj deposits through its 87 branches located countrywide including ballotee and non-ballotee pilgrims during the on-going year. Md Nazmus Salehin, the bank’s managing director and Mohammad Ibrahim Bahar, president of HAAB signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations

BSEC okays new IPO, rights o� ern Tribune Report

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) yesterday ap-proved an initial public o� ering (IPO) and a rights o� er.

Shurwid Industries Ltd will raise Tk14 crore through IPO to expand fac-tory building, purchase machineries, bank term loan payment and meeting expenses of IPO process, according to its statement.

It will issue 1.4 crore ordinary shares with o� er value of Tk10 a share. The company is a manufacturer of high bar-rier PVC blister � lm for sensitive drugs, food packing industries, blister pack for tooth brushes, garments accessories, toys, electronics and all kind of pack-ing industries. The company’s earnings per share is Tk1.09 and net asset value Tk 14.11, according to its � nancial state-ment ended on June 30, 2013.

Rights offerThe securities regulator also okayed rights o� er of Delta Spinners Ltd. It will issue one rights share for existing every two shares to raise more than Tk91 crore for balancing, modernization, rehabilitation and expansion of existing spinning mills, expansion through product diversi� ca-tion, partial repayment of long term loans.

Regulatory actionsThe regulator � ned Sylhet Metro City Securities Tk10 lakh and Eastern Shares and Securities Ltd Tk2 lakh for violat-ing securities rules. Both brokerage � rms are the members of Chittagong Stock Exchange. l

Canadian envoy talks with telecom secretary about Blackberry decisionn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Canada’s High Commissioner Heather Cruden yesterday met with Telecom Secretary Abubakar Siddique in re-gards to embargo decision on Black-berry service in Bangladesh.

She earlier talked with the chief of telecom regulator Sunil Kanti Bose and requested him to go slow with the de-cision.

In February, Bangladesh Telecom-munication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) decided to close the service of Canadian smartphone Blackberry as the brand failed to comply with the regula-tor’s rules regarding national security.

Mobile phone operators Grameen-phone and Airtel are providing Black-

berry service in Bangladesh and they want one year time to shift their sub-scribers to another service. They wrote about it to the BTRC recently.

Before that, the telecom asked the both operators to take necessary mea-sures to o� er alternative service to the Blackberry users.

Grameenphone has 4,664 Blackber-ry users while Airtel has 1,500.

The telecom watchdog had earlier asked the Blackberry authorities to in-troduce a special network monitoring centre of switch room in Dhaka for the Bangladeshi customers.

As they failed to introduce it and take steps to allow the government to intercept Blackberry network lawfully, the regulator chose to halt the service,

said BTRC o� cials.One Grameenphone o� cial said

Blackberry might hesitate to open server centre in Bangladesh as they could think it would not be � nancial-ly viable in such a small market. The brand faced similar problems in coun-tries like India, Saudi Arabia and China.

In 2010, the government of Saudi Arabia served a notice to the company, saying that if it would fail to provide the government with access to its network, the service would be closed, prompting the company to set up a server there.

Blackberry handsets, manufactured by Research In Motion (RIM), got pop-ularity among international elites and policymakers including the US Presi-dent Barack Obama. l

Dollar steady in Asia ahead of jobs datan AFP, Tokyo

The dollar held steady in Asia yester-day as investors await the release of US jobs data later in the week, while they largely ignored a Bank of Japan survey that showed business con� dence at a more than six-year high.

In afternoon Tokyo trade, the dol-lar crept up to 103.26 yen from 103.22 yen in New York on Monday. The euro bought $1.3776 and 142.25 yen, com-pared with $1.3772 and 142.15 yen.

The BoJ Tankan survey for January-March hit its highest level since De-cember 2007, pointing to a pick-up in con� dence in corporate Japan along with the economy.

However, it pointed to tepid invest-ment among major � rms and slumping sentiment for the April-June quarter, sug-gesting fears about the impact of a sales tax rise that came into e� ect yesterday.

“Firms are cautious about the future course of the economy as the impact of

the tax hike remains uncertain,” said Hideki Matsumura, an analyst at To-kyo’s Japan Research Institute. There are fears the tax rise will hit consumer spending and derail Japan’s recovery.

Yosuke Hosokawa, head of forex sales at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, said: “The Tankan results were within our market expectations and did not a� ect forex exchange trading.

“The focus has already moved to US unemployment � gures to be released (Friday). In the long-run, dollar-buying sentiment is likely to be supported as US interest rates are on course to rise.”

US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yel-len indicated last month the bank may raise its ultra-low interest rates early next year after winding up its asset-purchase stimulus.

But on Monday she sought to soothe worries about a hike in borrowing costs too soon by saying unemployment was still a big challenge for the economy and the Fed will continue with extraor-

dinary monetary easing measures un-til the jobless rate falls signi� cantly.

The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday for its next policy meeting, days after data showed eu-rozone in� ation fell to 0.5% in March, the lowest rate since October 2009 at the height of the � nancial crisis.

The bloc’s in� ation rate has trended steadily lower in recent months, com-ing in well below the ECB’s target rate of just under 2%, fuelling concerns of de� ation. The dollar was mostly lower against other Asia-Paci� c currencies.

It slipped to 11,276.50 Indonesian ru-piah from 11,361.30 rupiah on Monday, to 32.38 Thai baht from 32.46 baht, to 1,059.35 South Korean won from 1,066.55 won, to 44.77 Philippine pesos from 44.84 pesos and to Sg$1.2587 from Sg$1.2619.

It was � at at 59.89 Indian rupees.The Australian dollar edged up to

92.64 US cents from 92.23 cents.The Chinese yuan fetched 16.61 yen

against 16.52 yen. l

ADRC in the o� ng to deal RMG B1 COLUMN 6Dan Mozena said Bangladesh has made progress in the � elds of factory inspec-tion, preventing labour abuse, reform-ing labour act and implementing the laws for the EPZs areas.

“We’ve discussed about the trans-formation being happened in Bangla-desh’s readymade garments sector. This sector has been transformed itself and come to an international standard in terms of � re safety, factory structur-al soundness, workers’ safety and also workers’ rights for freely forming as-sociations and organisations,” said the US envoy.

He said they held talks about the progress Bangladesh is making in line with the roadmap that is laid out in the GSP action plan and also sustainability conducts. “We are keenly observing the progress”, he said, giving an exam-ple that some factory inspectors have already been hired and more are being hired. “These are very positive steps.”

He informed that the both sides had also discussed about the upcoming Tic-fa meeting scheduled to be held in Dha-ka on April 28. Issues to be discussed at the high-level meeting would include increasing investment and trade be-tween the two countries, he added. l

Asia’s manufacturing powers stutter, stir talk of policy supportn Reuters, Beijing

Asia’s major economies � nished the � rst quarter on a weak note with man-ufacturing surveys in China and Japan fuelling expectations that policymak-ers will be forced to act in coming months to prop up faltering growth.

In China, the � nal Markit/HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) gauge of factory activity, fell to an eight-month low of 48 in March. It has remained below the 50 level, which in-dicates contraction, since January.

The o� cial survey geared towards bigger, state-owned � rms, showed a marginal increase to 50.3 from 50.2, but economists warned that given sea-

sonal patterns this was a sign of further weakness rather than improvement in the world’s second-biggest economy.

In Japan, the closely watched cen-tral bank tankan survey showed busi-ness sentiment barely improved in the three months to March and was set to sour this quarter following an increase in sales tax that took e� ect on Tuesday.

“The � nal reading of the HSBC China Manufacturing PMI in March con� rmed the weakness of domestic demand conditions,” said Hongbin Qu, HSBC’s chief China economist, in a statement accompanying the survey. “We expect Beijing to � ne-tune policy sooner rather than later to stabilize growth.” l

Indian � rm to conduct mining work in Myanmarn BSS

An Indian company is o� ering to con-duct mining work in two townships of Falam and Tunzang in Myanmar’s Chin State, o� cial media reported to day.

The Karam Chang Thapar (KCT) company is likely to carry out such mineral exploration work as on gold, chromites, nickel and limestone, said the New Light of Myanmar.

There are nine townships in Chin except one that can produce chromite, nickel, iron, copper, aluminum, lime-stone, coal, oil and marble.

A number of other private compa-nies have also sought permission to do such mining work in the state, the report added.

Myanmar has been encouraging lo-cal and foreign investment in mineral exploration.

Foreign � rms having being engaged in mineral exploration in Myanmar include those from Australia, China, France, Japan Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Russia.

O� cial statistics show that exist-ing foreign contracted investment in Myanmar’s mining sector amounted to 2.337bn US dollars in 11 projects as of the end of January 2014 since the country opened to such investment in late 1988, accounting for 6.6% of the total foreign investment and standing as the third largest sectorally after elec-tric power and oil and gas. l

n Abu Bakar Siddique

No country can achieve a meaningful development in national life if it fails to ensure participation of its womenfolk in all � elds of economy, said speakers at a symposium in Dhaka yesterday.

They were speaking at the South Asia Women’s Entrepreneurship Sym-posium at a city hotel.

US Ambassador Dan W Mozena, State Minister for Women A� airs Me-her Afroz Chumki and President of Bangladesh Federation of Women En-trepreneurs (BFWE) Rokia Rahman, among others, addressed the function.

“Development and progress are driven by women. No country can go ahead if it leaves half its people be-hind,” said Dan Mozena while speaking as chief guest.

He cited a case of a woman named Malick and told the audience how she became an entrepreneur from a needy

village housewife of Jessore.Mozena said he had met the woman

few years ago. The US envoy stressed that the

women would need to come forward like Mallick to see meaningful develop-ment of the South Asian countries.

The three-day log symposium titled “Strengthening women’s entrepre-neurship in south Asia” was the third in a series of three exposure visits designed to create a platform for ca-talysing activities to advance women’s entrepreneurship in South Asia. The previous visits were held in Sri Lanka and India.

The Dhaka Exposure visit brings women entrepreneurs together from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Mal-dives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and serves as a mechanism for women entrepreneurs to create cross-border linkages among themselves.

“This is a great opportunity for

women entrepreneurs to share their ideas, and experiences what they had in their own countries,” said Rokia Rah-man at the function organised by The Asia Foundation.

She said Sri Lanka was doing well in the tourism sector while India in Small and Medium Enterprises and Bangla-desh in micro-� nancing.

BFWE president said the women en-trepreneurs from these three countries could share their experiences in these sectors with others to help them apply in their home countries.

State Minister Meher Afroz Chumki said the government would soon make a law on women’s development.

“We formulated National Women Development Policy in 2011. We also make a law for women’s development soon,” she said, also mentioning that the government has taken “several ini-tiatives to encourage women into ven-turing own business.” l

US Ambassador Dan W Mozena in conversation with State Minister for Women A� airs Meher Afroz Chumki while Women Federation President Rokia Rahman looks on at a South Asia women symposium in Dhaka yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Symposium: Women integral for meaningful development

The company’s earnings per share is Tk1.09 and net asset value Tk 14.11, according to its � nancial statement ended on June 30, 2013

Yellen: Slack US labour market still needs Fed supportn AFP, Washington

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Monday that the US economy still needs the Fed’s extraordinary support measures, noting that the falling job-less rate masks weaknesses in the jobs market.

In a speech in Chicago highlighting slack in the labour market, Yellen said the economy remains “still consider-ably short” of the Fed’s goals of maxi-mum sustainable employment and stable in� ation.

While the o� cial unemployment rate has fallen quickly over the past two years to 6.7%, she said that level re-mains deceptive.

She especially pointed to the high level of people unemployed for a long term, despite the economy’s rebound from the Great Recession.

“While there has been steady prog-ress, there is also no doubt that the economy and the job market are not back to normal health,” she said.

“The recovery still feels like a reces-sion to many Americans, and it also looks that way in some economic statistics.”

“In some ways, the job market is tougher now than in any recession. The numbers of people who have been trying to � nd work for more than six months or more than a year are much higher today than they ever were since records began decades ago.”

Yellen emphasized that even though the Fed has begun ratcheting down its huge bond purchase program, that the economy still needs its support, in the way of ultra-low interest rates and Fed program for low-income communities. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014

DILBERT

India keeps rates on hold ahead of polln AFP, Mumbai

India’s central bank kept key interest rates steady yesterday in a widely an-ticipated move less than a week before the start of national elections.

After a meeting in the � nancial capi-tal Mumbai, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the benchmark repo rate, at which it lends to commercial banks, would remain at 8%.

“At the current juncture, it is ap-propriate to hold the policy rate, while allowing the rate increases undertaken during September 2013-January 2014 to work their way through the economy,” RBI governor Raghuram Rajan wrote in his statement.

The RBI last raised rates on January 28, the third hike since September last year as part of its battle against high in� ation.

Most economists had predicted Tuesday’s decision as India’s most widely watched in� ation measure - the Wholesale Price Index - fell to a nine-month low of 4.68% in February from 5.05% a month earlier.

Rajan remained concerned by retail in� ation, however, due to the possibil-ity of a weaker-than-normal monsoon and adjustments to state-controlled prices of agricultural commodities.

Economists had underlined that In-dia’s parliamentary elections, set to be-gin next Monday, would make the RBI cautious about making any changes to its policy.

“RBI is facing a lot of uncertainties. The question of whether we will get a stable government or not is yet to be answered,” Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief economist at Bank of Baroda, told AFP.

Opinion polls point to the main op-position Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by conserva-tive hawk Narendra Modi, winning the elections which end in May.

Foreign investors have driven up the Indian stock market in recent months, expecting a more business-friendly government to take over from the scan-dal-tainted Congress party.

Congress has become deeply un-popular after a decade in power over

a string of corruption scandals and the slowing economy, which is expanding at its slowest rate in a decade.

Despite the economic slowdown, economists do not forsee rate cuts.

“We are staring at a long pause (on rates). Uncertainty on in� ation will keep RBI on its toes and prevent rate cut even in if industrial slowdown sharpens,” Baroda’s Nitsure said.

Some believe the rate cycle in India has not yet peaked.

“I am not sure 100% that we are in a pause,” said senior economist Arun Singh from US business information group Dun & Bradstreet.

“Upside risks to in� ation are clearly visible. The RBI is focused on control-ling in� ation and it has already said price rise needs to be controlled for sustainable growth. So, further tight-ening cannot be ruled out.”

India’s economy is likely to grow at between 5-6% in 2014-15 but faces downside risks, the central bank said.

India’s equity markets reacted little to the RBI decision with the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange continuing to hover 0.21% or 47.97 points lower at 22,340.45 points.

India’s currency and bond markets were closed for a holiday. l

Big � rms using web to outsource customer supportn Reuters, Zurich

Mila, a Swiss peer-to-peer online mar-ketplace for services ranging from IT support to furniture assembly, expects big European � rms to turn to such plat-forms as a cheap way to improve their customer care.

Austere times and cheap mobile technology have helped kickstart the so-called sharing economy, in which individuals rent out their time and ex-pertise - from lending power tools to making their cars available for hire.

The idea has spawned a slew of fast-growing startups, including online home rental market place Airbnb and peer-to-peer online platforms Mila and TaskRabit, which vet and match those who are o� ering services with those who need them.

It is also beginning to pique the in-terest of big business.

Mila has, for example, struck a part-nership with Swisscom to help the tele-

com provider’s customers hire a local “geek next door” to solve IT problems rather than calling on the services of a Swisscom technician.

Since the pilot launched in Zurich in November, hundreds of members of the public have signed up to become “Swiss-com Friends” ranging from tech-savvy students and the unemployed to IT pro-fessionals who want to make extra cash.

Swisscom vets these freelance tech workers, but does not pay them. They are paid by the customers who hire them - with Mila taking a commission, of course.

“Many � rms are having to reduce costs but at the same time have more complexity in support or service ar-eas,” Mila Chief Executive Manuel Gr-enacher told Reuters in an interview. “With a sharing approach, they can of-fer a nationwide service.”

Swisscom, which would need a far larger workforce if it was to provide a local, out-of-hours service, said there had been 450 customer requests to use

the Friends service since November.Lukas Peter, the company’s innova-

tion manager, said Swisscom’s primary motivation was to improve its custom-er service, but he acknowledged the service may help it cut costs.

‘Geek next door’“When a customer rings us up and wants to know how to record some-thing on the TV it can sometimes take a long time to just explain where the right button is on the remote control,” he said. “We want to be able to o� er our customers a ‘geek next door’ that can come round.”

Grenacher said Mila, a Zurich-based startup founded in 2013, would also launch two large pilot projects to pro-vide peer-to-peer customer support in Germany this year, one with a big furni-ture store and the other with an insur-ance company. He said he was not yet authorised to name the � rms.

Partnering with a well-known brand,

like Swisscom, helps build trust among consumers who at � rst may be reluctant to let a stranger into their home, he said.

As large companies lay o� workers due to margin pressures, Grenacher sees peer-to-peer service platforms picking up some of the slack by allow-ing out-of-work individuals to adver-tise their skills available for hire.

“By supporting this sharing economy concept, big companies are bringing work back into the market place,” he said.

Peer-to-peer rental of goods is al-ready a $26 billion industry, according to estimates by Rachel Botsman, au-thor of “What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption”.

Last year, car hire � rm Avis bought car sharing � rm Zipcar, while General Motors has teamed up with Relay-Rides. In Europe, German carmaker BMW owns a stake in British � rm par-katmyhouse.com, a platform that helps homeowners make money from un-used parking spaces. l

ADB: Asia growth risks being dampened by China slowdownGDP of developing Asia, covering forty-� ve nations is predicted to grow at 6.2% this yearn AFP, Hong Kong

The Asian Development Bank yester-day said growth in developing Asia will edge higher over the next two years, but faces being constrained by China’s campaign to cool its economy.

The Manila-based lender said in a forecast that adjustments in China, the world’s second-largest economy and a key growth driver, could o� set improv-ing demand as growth picks up in ad-vanced economies such as the United States, Europe and Japan.

The ADB estimated that gross do-mestic product (GDP) for developing Asia, which covers 45 nations, will grow 6.2% this year before edging up to 6.4% in 2015. Last year the region expanded by 6.1%.

“At this rate developing Asia will remain the fastest-growing region in the world and the largest contributor to global growth,” ADB deputy chief economist Zhuang Juzhong told a press conference in Hong Kong.

However “East Asia will see its growth trend � atten as growth moder-ates in the People’s Republic of China,” the lender said in its Asian Develop-ment Outlook 2014 statement, citing Chinese authorities’ e� orts to control credit growth.

“The regional growth outlook de-pends on continued recovery in the major industrial economies and on the People’s Republic of China managing to contain internal credit growth smoothly.”

The ADB expects China’s economic growth to slow to 7.5% this year, and a further drop to 7.4% in 2015, from 7.7% last year.

“The government continues to shift priority towards quality of growth, this may slow China’s growth in the short term but will make growth more sus-tainable in the longer term,” Zhuang said.

At a separate brie� ng in Beijing, ADB economists said China’s e� orts to rebalance its economy are bearing fruit.

China’s service sector grew more strongly last year than did industry and now accounts for a larger share of GDP, said Jurgen Conrad, who heads the ADB’s economics unit in China’s capital.

He described that as “a major achievement from the point of view of domestic rebalancing”, though added the economy was still mainly driven by investment growth even as consump-tion showed strength.

China’s leadership says it wants to transform the country’s growth model away from an over-reliance on of-ten wasteful investment, and instead make private demand the driver for more sustainable future development.

The ADB forecast the South Asia re-gion to grow by 5.3% this year, relying on continuing reform in India which is “operating below its potential” with a forecast 5.5% expansion in 2014.

Southeast Asia su� ered a blow last year with softened export and eco-nomic slowdowns in various countries, as gross domestic product decelerated to 5 % last year. The ADB said similar expansion is expected in 2014.

It also warned that US tapering could bring � uctuations in � nancial markets although the risks would be “manageable”.

“Developing Asia now is in a much better position to weather shocks like that,” Zhuang said, adding that many countries in the region have surpluses and stronger banking systems.

Founded in 1966, the ADB aims to reduce poverty in Asia by helping its 67 member countries evolve into mod-ern economies through investment in infrastructure, � nancial and public ad-ministration, and health services. l

China factories struggle, adds to expectations for stimulusn Reuters

Persistent weakness in China’s manu-facturing sector reinforced fears of a sharper-than-expected slowdown at the start of 2014, and some government economists think authorities have al-ready started boosting spending to put a � oor under growth.

On Tuesday two surveys showed that manufacturing struggled in March, with activity at smaller, private � rms contracting for a third month, adding to a run of disappointing data that has sparked speculation of imminent gov-ernment-led stimulus.

The o� cial purchasing managing index (PMI) edged up to 50.3 in March from 50.2 in February, pointing to slight expansion, but some economists said even that suggested weakness given activity typically picks up more after the Lunar New Year holidays in February.

The Markit/HSBC Purchasing Man-agers’ Index (PMI), which focuses more on the private sector, fell to an eight-month low of 48.0 in March. The index has been below the 50 level since Janu-ary, indicating a contraction this year.

“We’re still in a subdued part of the cycle,” said Louis Kuijs, chief China econ-omist at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

“I still don’t think the downward pressures are tremendous, but they are large enough for the government to re-ally start to talk about the need to sup-port growth.”

In March, sources told Reuters the

central bank was prepared to loosen mon-etary policy in order to keep the world’s second-biggest economy growing at the government’s target rate of 7.5% .

Premier Li Keqiang said last week the necessary policies were in place and the government would push ahead with infrastructure investment, seen by analysts as a signal of o� cial con-cern about a slowing economy.

Economists at top government think-tanks believe some of this spend-ing is already under way, as Li had out-lined “policy reserves” in a report to parliament last month.

“The top priority is stabilizing growth. Policy measures have been prepared and it’s just a matter of im-plementation,” said Wang Jun, senior economist at China Centre for Interna-tional Economic Exchanges.

“The pace of investment and � scal spending is quickening.”

With the economy cooling, weaker and more indebted � rms are beginning to feel the squeeze and a Chinese news-paper reported on Tuesday a second case of a domestic bond default in less than a month.

As long as the sums involved and af-fected companies are relatively small, authorities appear content to let cases like that serve as an incentive for banks and investors to better assess risks.

Beijing’s concern is, however, that with a deeper prolonged slump, � nan-cial stress could spread undermining con� dence in the entire � nancial sys-tem. l

Japanese Consumer A� airs Minister Masako Mori poses with a hat as she inspects the Itoyokado supermarket in Tokyo yesterday. Prices rose across Japan on April 1 as a controversial sales tax rise came into e� ect, with everything from beer to washing machines costing more, sparking fears a drop in consumer spending will derail a nascent economic recovery AFP

The recovery still feels like a recession to many Americans, and it also looks that way in some economic statistics

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan attends a joint news conference in New Delhi REUTERS