THE SUNDARBANS ARE BURNING

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Paush 7, 1421Safar 27, 1436Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 257

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14 | SPORT

12 | SportPremier Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan is most likely to join Melbourne Ren-egades in the ongoing Big Bash Twenty20 League 2014-15.

9 | WorldNorth Korea said US accusations that it was involved in a cyberattack on Sony Pictures were “groundless slander” and that it wanted a joint investigation into the incident.

5 | NewsAsserting that the country was passing through an abnormal time, speakers at a discussion programme said election was not the last word for upholding democracy.

15 | EntertainmentModel and anchor Nusrat Faria will be seen in two TVCs soon. Both the TVCs will be � lmed in India. The � rst television commercial (TVC) will be for Mangolee Juice.

3 | NewsBangladesh has opposed the putting up of an honorary street sign for ex-president Ziaur Rahman on North Clark Street in Chicago’s Rogers Park, the Chicago Tribune reported.

4 | NewsOberthur Technologies, a French company, is likely to get contract for production and distribution of Smart National Identity Card (Smart NID) under an Election Commission project.

I N S I D E

DB draws up terror ties list in hunt for militant � nanciersn Ashif Islam Shaon and

Mohammad Jamil Khan

Intelligence agencies have prepared a list of organisations red-� agged for possible ties to terrorism, as a task force to track down terrorist funding in Bangladesh commenced operations, law enforcement sources said.

An o� cial of the Detective Branch of Police, speaking on condition of anonymity, said intelligence agencies had compiled the list of seven private banks, 11 insurance companies, a num-ber of educational institutes as well as several foreign and local NGOs report-edly involved in funnelling funds to militant groups.

A high o� cial working on the task force told the Dhaka Tribune Monday that a database to track the entry and exit of foreign nationals was being compiled.

A database was also being compiled to keep track of suspicious � nancial transactions, including via hundi, mo-bile banking, courier services and other means, the o� cial added.

He said Bangladeshi detectives do not yet have proof linking any speci� c NGO to militant out� ts.

But two years ago, the government shut down operations of three NGOs

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Pay body for rationalising sta� sizeNational Pay Services Commission also proposes implementing all hikes at one gon Asif Showkat Kallol

A national pay commission report, like-ly to be submitted to the � nance min-ister today, has recommended slashing the number of third and fourth-class government employees.

A member of the National Pay Ser-vices Commission (NPSC) told the Dha-ka Tribune that around two-thirds of the government’s total fund is spent on the salary of low-level employees.

The commission proposed hiking the lowest grade by around 71% from Tk4,800 to Tk8,200; therefore, the number of third and fourth-class em-

ployees must be “rationalised” so that the hike does not become a burden for the state co� er, the NPSC member said.

At present, there are more than 800,000 government sta� and around 500,000 pensioners in the country. Of those on active duty, around 600,000 are third and fourth-class employees.

The NPSC is going to put forward two other crucial recommendations: one for implementing the pay revi-sion at one go instead of doing it over a period of several years and the oth-er for creating a fund for government employees similar to the Army’s Sena

Kalyan Sangstha.In November last year, the govern-

ment formed the 17-member commis-sion to recommend pay revision for more than 1.3 million current and for-mer public servants.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said last week that it would take until May next year to bring the recommenda-tions to a workable shape, so that they could be implemented by July.

At one go The commission says implementing the revisions at a time will not be a problem. In July last year, the govern-ment implemented 20% dearness al-lowance – or around Tk5,000 crore per year – for its employees.

The NPSC’s recommendations in-clude dearness allowance, which al-ready being implemented e� ectively brings down the proposed total hike of Tk22,000 crore to Tk17,000 crore.

Past experiences show that the cab-inet generally accepts about 70% of the hike proposed by a pay commission. That would bring the total expenditure from the overall proposed hike for all grades to around Tk12,000 crore.

A question was raised whether the proposed revision was rational con-sidering Bangladesh’s revenue earning has been increasing by about Tk16,000 over the last three years and whether it could be implemented at one go.

NPSC Chairman Mohammad Far-ashuddin, also a former Bangla-desh Bank governor, gave the above PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

At Pilkhana Darbar Hall, Hasina lauds BGB rolen Ashif Islam Shaon

For the � rst time in six years, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday took salute at the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) parade at its Pilkhana headquar-ters and attended assembly at the Dar-bar Hall, where the 2009 mutiny had broken out.

Amid tight security, the premier at-tended the parade of the uniformed forces and took salute marking the BGB Day 2014. She later attended the Dar-bar, spoke to the BGB men and heard their demands.

Mutineers of the erstwhile Bang-ladesh Ri� es (BDR) killed 74 people including 57 army o� cers and their family members during the carnage on February 25-26. The incident created a stir even in the international arena. Following the incident, trials against the accused were held under the force’s mutiny laws and the Criminal Code.

Hasina attended the parade on Feb-ruary 24, a day before the mutiny.

The Bangladesh Ri� es was later re-named Border Guard Bangladesh while changes were made in their uniform and their facilities increased. The num-

ber of personnel has now increased to around 50,000 in the paramilitary force from 38,000 before the mutiny.

Since the incident, described by many as a massacre, the premier has not attended any parade but she did join the � ag raising ceremony of the newly-formed regions and battalions in 2012. On that occasion, she also at-tended a darbar [assembly] but it was not arranged at the Darbar Hall.

“After the 2009 incident, the force has been reformed in the shortest pos-sible time. The o� enders have been brought to justice and punished. Your

adherence and � delity as BGB members is now beyond question. As a reformed force, BGB has been functioning with goodwill,” Hasina told the attendees at the Darbar Hall yesterday.

She said: “Do not do anything that might spoil the goodwill and image of the force and the country any more.” Respect and trust among the o� cers and members would strengthen the force further, she said.

Mentioning the current government as “pro-people,” the premier said: “ Do not hesitate to share if there is any PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

The prime minister awards medals to BGB personnel for their valour and feats, at the BGB Week 2014 held at the paramilitary force’s Pilkhana headquarters yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Militancy cases � led hastily, trials delayedn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The authorities concerned were quick in � ling a large number of cases and pressing charges against suspected militants after they had carried out se-ries of subversive activities since 2005.

However, the trial courts have failed to conduct the cases in a similar pace apparently due to non-appearance of the prosecution witnesses that also in-clude members of the law enforcement agencies.

Court sources say trial proceedings of 31 sensational cases against hun-dreds of militants have been underway at snail’s pace in di� erent Dhaka courts and speedy trial tribunals.

When police are failing to produce the witnesses before the designated courts on scheduled dates, it is alleged that the law enforcers, witnesses in a number of cases, are also not paying heed to the summons and arrest war-rants issued against them from time to time. Out of over 1,800 witnesses in the cases, around 300 are police members.

But so far, the law enforcers could produce only around 100, an inves-tigation conducted by the police has found. Apart from police, other wit-nesses include judges, physicians and explosive specialists.

On October 14, State Minister for Home A� airs Asaduzzaman Khan said the government had taken steps to speed up trials in the cases � led against militant suspects for quick disposal. But the situation has not changed yet.

Several hundred cases were � led against the militants of banned Islamist group Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangla-

desh (JMB) across the country in con-nection with the series bomb blasts of August 17, 2005. Many other cases were � led against a large number of mem-bers of other banned militant organisa-tions over other incidents.

Court sources said trials of 10 cas-es, inclining the one � led for planting bomb at Kotalipara to kill Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina, are pending with the Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal 2 as the witnesses remain absent. Only 20 out of 830 witnesses gave depositions in these cases until now.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Out of over 1,800 witnesses in the cases, around 300 are police personnel

Pakistan executes militants and bombards tribal areas

n Tribune Report

Pakistan hanged two convicted mili-tants Friday in the country's � rst ex-ecutions in years, while warplanes and ground forces pounded insurgent hideouts in a northwest region border-ing Afghanistan –part of a stepped-up response to the Taliban slaughter of scores of schoolchildren, reports The

Times of IndiaUnchastened by criticism from all

corners of the globe, the Taliban threat-ened earlier on Friday to kill more chil-dren if executions were carried out as promised.

"We can create a mourning situation at the homes of many army generals and politicians," spokesman Moham-mad Khurassani said in a statement

emailed to reporters.A key question now is whether at-

tacking children will undermine the sympathy many Pakistanis have for the militants. Analysts say the Islamabad government needs strong public sup-port to continue the � ght against insur-gents in the northwest.

Many Pakistanis believe the mili-tants are holy warriors taking up arms against Pakistan only because the government aligned itself with the unpopular US-led war in Afghanistan. A network of seminaries and religious schools promote religious hate, and some of their leading clerics command widespread respect in the country.

Maulana Abdul Aziz, a radical cleric in Islamabad, warned in his Friday ser-mon at the famous Lal Masjid mosque against the government about a back-lash in the event of executions.

Aziz expressed his sorrow over the school children's deaths but also called for ending the operation against the Taliban in the tribal regions of North Waziristan and Khyber. He called the Taliban "our brothers" and warned that if the military continues its bombard-ment, "there will be a reaction."

But there were signs, albeit small, that this type of speech will � nd a

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

A Pakistani soldier keeps watch outside the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore yesterday following a government decision to hang convicted militants AFP

‘The rate of GDP growth will totally outnumber the rate of salary growth’

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

Activists of Sammilito Samajik Andalon form a human chain in the capital’s Shahbagh area yesterday evening, protesting the price hike of oil, gas and electricity RAJIB DHAR

At Pilkhana Darbar Hall, Hasina lauds BGB role PAGE 1 COLUMN 6problem, anywhere. Speak up with an open mind. We do not want the heart-rending incident of 2009 to revisit us.”

Later she answered to some de-mands including sending BGB men to UN peacekeeping missions and receiv-ing two months’ advance salary while enjoying earned leave. BGB chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed also spoke.

Earlier in the morning, the BGB chief and State Minister for Home Asaduzzam-an Khan welcomed the premier at Bir Ut-tam Anwar Hossain Parade Ground.

Speaking to the parade and guests, Hasina described the measures her government had taken to rebuild and modernise the force.

She mentioned the enactment of the Boarder Guard Bangladesh Act 2010, decentralisation of its command by setting up four new sectors and four regional headquarters under a new or-ganisational structure with a view to making it more e� ective and dynamic.

She spoke about the construction of a proposed 935km road along the Bangladesh-India border and a 285km road along the border with Myanmar to strengthen the BGB’s monitoring of the land boundary.

The premier in her speech also de-scribed various steps taken for the wel-fare and development of the force and its members.

She stated that BGB’s intelligence wing had been strengthened, family members given 100% ration and med-

ical facilities while the status of junior o� cers upgraded to second class.

“We will do everything to develop your living standard,” the premier said.

Lauding the role of BGB in protect-ing the country’s frontiers, Hasina hoped that the force would continue its e� ort to curb the smuggling of goods including drugs and human tra� cking.

She thanked BGB members for as-sisting the civil administration in tack-ling natural disasters, accidents and emergency situations.

The premier said BGB had played a key role in decreasing the number of border killings in recent times.

Hasina appreciated BGB’s brave role during the January 5 election when its members had acted against the “evil plot of BNP-Jamaat-Shibir to create anarchy in the country” and in recon-structing the houses, shops and reli-gious establishments demolished by the BNP-Jamaat-Shibir men at that time.

She recalled the sacri� ce of a BGB naik subedar and two sepoys while per-forming their duties.

Mentioning the glorious history of the force, she said: “In 1971, the then EPR wireless operators sent Bangab-andhu’s proclamation of independence across the country from here. For this, the Pakistani Army killed Maj Showkat Ali and three others.”

Hasina termed Bir Sreshtha Lance Naik Noor Mohammad and Bir Sresh-tha Lance Naik Munshi Abdur Rauf the “symbols of heroes.” She also recalled

members of the force who had been given gallantry awards – eight Bir Ut-tam, 32 Bir Bikram and 77 Bir Pratik.

During the ceremony, the premier handed over President Border Guard Padak 2014 to 10 BGB members, Bor-der Guard Bangladesh Padak 2014 to 20, and President Border Guard (She-ba) Padak 2014 to 10 and Border Guard Bangladesh (Sheba) Padak 2014 to 20 BGB members for their contributions.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune last evening, the BGB chief said: “After the carnage and the trials, the BGB had a manpower shortage. Now we have overcome it.”

BDR had more than 38,000 mem-bers before the mutiny and after the trial, the number decreased to around 32,000, he added.

The BGB chief termed the presence of the prime minister an incident of pride for the paramilitary force. “We could not invite her in the past years as the force was going through reforma-tion. We could not even hold the Dar-bar and the parade regularly.”

The trialsCases were � led over three types of of-fences – mutiny, carnage and use of ex-plosives. BDR courts at di� erent battal-ions conducted the mutiny cases and handed down verdicts.

In the carnage case – involving kill-ings, loot and arson attacks, a total of 846 people were tried out of 850 ac-cused. Four of the accused died in jail

during the trial. Of the 846 accused, 778 were former BDR personnel and 23 were civilians.

A special tribunal conducted the carnage case and sentenced to death 151 former BDR personnel and one ci-vilian for the killings. The court also awarded life-term jail sentences to 161 accused including former BNP law-maker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and ward-level Awami League leader Torab Ali for their involvement in inciting and conspiring in the mutiny.

The other case � led over the use of explosives during the incident is cur-rently under trial.

The Darbar Hall massacreAccording to the carnage case, then se-poy Moin of the erstwhile 13 Ri� es Bat-talion entered the Darbar Hall with arms at 9:25am on February 25 when around 2,500 members were present. The main target of the mutiny was to kill then BDR chief Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed and other army o� cers deputed to the force.

A voice screamed: “Jago” [wake up]. Maj Gen Shakil then pleaded with the troops to calm down. He said he would listen to their demands and asked them not leave the Darbar Hall. Disobeying the orders, the agitating jawans opened � re killing some o� cers inside the hall. They asked others including Shakil to go outside in queue and killed them.

The mutineers also ransacked and looted the o� cers’ houses and set � re to vehicles.l

DB draws up terror ties list in hunt for militant � nanciers PAGE 1 COLUMN 6in Cox’s Bazar – France-based Medecins Sans Frontieres, the Action Against Hunger, and the UK-based Muslim Aid – asking them not to work on the Ro-hingya community.

Apart from these, operations of Al-Harmain Islamic Foundation and Rabita Al Alam Al-Islam were suspend-ed in Bangladesh in 2004 and 2007 for suspected militant funding.

Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was active in Bangladesh since it opened an o� ce in Cox’s Bazar in 1992 to help Rohingya refugees. It opened an o� ce in Dhaka in 1995 and ran four orphanages in Uttara, Nilphamari and Gazipur and 60 mosques across the country. It spread its network to 38 dis-tricts and received a � ve-year grant of Tk19.27 crore until 2001.

Rabita Al Alam Al-Islam’s country

director was Mir Quasem Ali, treasur-er of Jamaat-e-islami now accused of war crimes. The NGO played a signi� -cant role after 1971 in helping repatriate stranded Pakistanis to Punjab after the Liberation War.

Sanowar Hossain, chief of the coun-ter-terrorism unit and additional deputy commissioner of DB police, told the Dha-ka Tribune yesterday that investigations have yielded information about militant funding, including clues about support from local and foreign organisations.

He said while militants used bank accounts to move funds in the past, their modus operandi have now changed, he said.

Rawnak Mahmud, a director of the NGO A� airs Bureau, said his o� ce did not have a list of NGOs suspected of ties to militants.

“As of December 2, we have pre-

pared a list of 503 NGOs whose registra-tions have been cancelled as they were not renewed. It was not about militan-cy,” he said.

A major player in militant activity was the country’s refugee Rohingya community, he said.

Chittagong police recently arrested � ve Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) members including Global Ro-hingya Centre Vice-President Moham-mad Alam for suspected involvement in planning a militant attack.

The Global Rohingya Centre opened its most recent branch in New Delhi last September and was reportedly plan-ning to open a branch in Bangladesh.

Kushum Dewan, deputy commis-sioner of Chittagong DB police, said police were analysing the statements made by the arrestees in two sessions of a total of nine days’ remand, he said.

According to a high o� cial of the Chittagong police, they had collected Tk25cr from two Jeddah residents and were working to raise up to Tk50cr in aid of the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation.

Residents of South Africa reportedly also sent large sums of money to their accounts. Meanwhile, a three-day US state department-sponsored workshop on countering terrorist funding is being held in the capital.

Asked whether the conference had been arranged apprehending Bangla-desh was in imminent danger of an at-tack, participant Faiz Sobhan, research director of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, said: “The US embassy rou-tinely organises such programmes around the world.”

Bangladesh is one of the countries that has fought terrorism successfully, he added. l

Militancy cases � led hastily, trials delayed PAGE 1 COLUMN 5Police on July 20, 2000, recovered 76kg explosives planted near Sheikh Lutfor Rahman College at Kotalipara, only two days before her scheduled rally. Ko-talipara police � led a case under the Ex-plosives Act while charges were framed against 16 people including Mufti Han-nan, the chief of banned out� t Huji.

A Gopalganj court recorded the depo-sitions of 43 witnesses out of total of 89. But after the case had been transferred to the Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal in September 2010 for quick trial, it started recording the depositions freshly.

Only two witnesses gave deposi-tions in the case so far while the re-maining 87, including 23 policemen, did not appear before the court on scheduled dates. The court even issued arrest warrants against them.

Trial of another case � led with Joydebpur police against JMB men for exploding bombs in front of Gazipur DC o� ce in 2005 is pending due to non-ap-pearance of witnesses in the same tri-bunal. Only � ve witnesses out of 93 gave depositions.

Schoolboy Abdus Salam killing case is pending at the Second Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court in Dhaka as the witnesses have remained absent frequently.

Salam, 10, was killed in front of his house at Sobujbagh in Savar in a bomb blasted by the JMB men on August 17, 2005. Thirteen militants were indicted on July 2, 2008 and the trial began on June 4 the following year. Since then, the court recorded depositions of only 11 out of 25 prosecution witnesses.

The High Court on March 13 last year directed the trail court to dispose of the case within six months. But no witness came to the court to testify in the case after October 31 last year.

Over the JMB’s series bomb blasts, Savar police � led eight other cases. But these are stuck with the Dhaka’s Fifth District and Sessions Judge’s Court for non-appearance of witnesses. Only 10 witnesses out of 156 have so far given depositions.

The trials of two militant-related

cases � led with Tongi and Joydebpur police stations are pending at the Dha-ka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal 4 while three cases of Gulshan, Mirpur and Khilkhet police at the Dhaka’s Metropolitan Ses-sions Judge’s Court 1, 2 and 4.

Three more cases are under trial at the First Additional Metropolitan Ses-sions Judge’s Court, four at the Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court while three others with the Second Ad-ditional Session Judges’ Court in Dhaka because of the same reason.

According to sources, 475 JMB men were tried and convicted between 2007 and 2014 in 177 cases. Of them, 51 top leaders have been sentenced to death, 178 given life-term imprisonment while 246 jailed for various terms.

But the execution of verdicts has also been stalled after March 29, 2007 when top JMB leaders Shayakh Abdur Rahman, Siddiqur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai, Khaled Saifullah, Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal and Iftakhar Hasan Al Mamun were executed.

Faruk Ahmed, defence counsel in most of the militants’ cases in the Dhaka courts, said they also wanted that the cases are disposed of quickly. “A number of my innocent clients are su� ering jail term without being con-victed in the cases,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Public prosecutor Md Abu Abdullah of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court told the Dhaka Tribune that they were trying to complete the trials.

The Law Commission in an inves-tigation report, submitted to the gov-ernment in August expressed grave concern labelling the current judicial system and the case disposal rate as “shameful” and “intolerable.”

Among other suggestions, the com-mission said the police administra-tion must take prompt initiatives to produce the witnesses before the trial courts. They should also inform the court about the non-appearance of a witness. If needed, punishment should be given to anyone responsible for neg-ligence. l

Pakistan executes militants and bombards tribal areas PAGE 1 COLUMN 3tougher audience in Pakistan after Tuesday’s attack, when militants strapped with explosives broke into a military-run school in Peshawar and killed 148 people — almost all of them children.

A few hundred people protested on Friday night outside the Lal Masjid mosque, calling for an end to support for the militants.

“We wanted to also send this mes-sage that it’s not enough for the gov-ernment to take action against terror-ists but it’s equally important that we should also take action against these supporters of the Taliban,” said human rights activist Farzana Bari.

Outrage forces Pak to keep Lakhvi in jailIn schools across Pakistan, special classes were held on Friday, with schoolchildren chanting prayers in memory of the victims of the Taliban slaughter. In mosques throughout the country, worshippers also o� ered spe-cial prayers for the massacred inno-cents in Peshawar.

Another challenge for Pakistan will be creating a criminal justice system that can properly handle the militant networks. There are few convictions in militancy cases, partly because of a lack of protection for witnesses and

judges.A Pakistani prosecutor said the

government will try to cancel the bail granted by a judge on Thursday to Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, the main suspect in the 2008 attack that killed 166 people in Mumbai. An outraged India noted in a statement that “given the scale of the tragedy that Pakistan itself has faced in recent days, it is incumbent on it to realize that no compromise can ever be made with terrorists.”

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appears determined to show he understands that. On Wednesday, he announced that he would lift a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases. The military then promptly signed the death warrants of six “hard-core terror-ists” who had been earlier sentenced by military courts.

The home minister for Punjab prov-ince con� rmed the executions of the � rst two, Mohammed Aqeel and Ar-shad Mahmood, at a prison in the city of Faisalabad.

“We have started these executions by hanging two terrorists,” Shuja Khanzada told the Associated Press. “Today’s exe-cutions of terrorists will boost the mo-rale of the nation, and we are planning to hang more terrorists next week.”

Both Aqeel and Mahmood were tried in military courts so little is

known publicly about the cases. Paki-stani media reported that Aqeel was convicted in relation to a 2009 attack on army headquarters, and Mahmood for his role in a plot to kill former Presi-dent Pervez Musharraf.

Capital punishment had been sus-pended since 2008, though there was one execution in 2012 by the military. The reinstated death penalty a� ects both civilian and military cases.

It’s not just radical clerics who op-pose the executions. Human rights organizations have raised concerns about using the death penalty in a country where police investiga-tions are poor and confessions are said to be often induced by torture. There are an estimated 8,000 people on death row.

“It is extremely disappointing that the government has given into fear and anger by executing two people today. As horri� c as the attack on the Pesha-war school was, more killings - this time by the government - is never the answer to combating terrorism and crime,” said David Gri� ths, Amnesty Internation-al’s deputy Asia Paci� c director.

The other part of the government’s tough response in the wake of the school massacre has been its widening the military o� ensive against the mili-tants in the country’s northwest.

The military said 119 insurgents were killed in three di� erent o� ensives in the Khyber region Thursday and Fri-day — 62 in ground action and 57 in air-strikes. There was no immediate claim of civilian casualties.

Khyber borders Peshawar, where the school massacre happened, and mil-itants have traditionally attacked the city before withdrawing to the tribal region where police cannot chase them.

Even if the government wins pop-ular backing for an all-out military as-sault against the Pakistani wing of the Taliban, that doesn’t mean it will also attack militant groups that use the country as a safe haven from which to carry out attacks abroad.

Pakistan has long been accused of playing a double game when it comes to dealing with militancy — foster-ing some militant groups that oper-ate in Afghanistan and India as a way of maintaining in� uence there, while pursuing other militants who target the Pakistani state.

In June, when the military launched its operation in North Waziristan, it vowed it would go after all militants. Doubts remain, though, about how ag-gressively the army has pursued groups like the Afghan Taliban or the Haqqani network, which the US says is responsible for numerous attacks in Afghanistan. lPay body for rationalising sta� size

PAGE 1 COLUMN 2arguments as to why their recommen-dations will not burden the govern-ment.

Another NPSC member told the Dhaka Tribune that the commission had recommended implementation at one go also because it will be a politi-cally popular move.

Finance Minister Muhith recently told the Dhaka Tribune that the gov-ernment implemented 62% of the rec-ommendations proposed by the pre-vious commission in 2009. This time too, subject to the cabinet’s scrutiny, recommendations will be healthy, the minister said.

According to the proposed pay strcuture, Tk5,500 crore of the total expenditure goes to the salaries and allowances � rst and second-class em-ployees belong to a total of 10 grades.

For the top grade, that is for sen-ior secretaries, the NPSC proposes a hike from the existing Tk40,000 to Tk80,000. This is a 100% increment and is one of the highest proposed by this commission.

Welfare fund The Sena Kalyan Sangstha (army welfare organisation) began its journey after independence with only Tk2.5 crore capital. The tiny investment increased to Tk100 crore over the last 38 years.

At present, it has shares in real estate and four international service-oriented businesses and its asset stands Tk3,000 crore. These assets

generate healthy incomes from which the members of the armed forces reap great bene� ts.

According to a source, the NPSC recommends forming such an organisation for the government employees also. The proposed name is Government Employees’ Welfare Association.

At present, the government serv-ants contribute Tk50 per month to a “benevolent fund” which is of little use. If an employee applied to receive Tk2 lakh from the fund, he would get Tk2,000 at best, sources said.

Other proposals In the report, the commission says the increment trend should be compared graphically with the rate of growth of gross domestic product (GDP) on a year-on-year basis.

According to a source, if the � gures were put on a graph, the rate of GDP growth would be higher than the rate of salary growth.

The commission also recommends health insurance cards for government servants, increasing mobile phone al-lowances, additional allowances for employees working in Dhaka and out-side, and enabling an accomodation scheme so that employees can contrib-ute in groups to puchase � ats.

Currently, the Bangladesh govern-ment pays out around Tk38,000 crore in salaries and allowances to its em-ployees belonging to 20 grades. The commission proposes to slash the number of pay grades to 16. l

After NDTV Interview, Diplomat Devyani Khobragade Loses Post n Agencies

Diploma t Devyani Khobragade at the centre of a bitter row with the United States has been stripped of her duties over unauthorised statements to me-dia, a government source and reports said on Saturday.

Ms Khobragade was arrested and strip-searched in New York last Decem-ber while serving as India’s deputy con-sul-general on charges of mistreating her servant.

She had denied the charge and sub-sequently returned to India, but the incident triggered fury in New Delhi and led to the resignation of then US ambassador Nancy Powell.

Reports on Saturday said Ms Kho-bragade has been removed from her

current post in the foreign ministry for an unauthorised media interview and for not disclosing that her children held US passports.

“The reports are not incorrect. It is true that she has been placed on compulso-ry wait,” a source in the ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that Ms Khobragade now faces an ad-ministrative inquiry.

Compulsory wait implies that Ms

Khobragade remains in ministerial ser-vice but without a speci� c job.

The action comes a week after the mother-of-two spoke to NDTV about her arrest and strip search in New York.

During the interview, she said that her “kids were born in the US and are considered US citizens”, a statement that reportedly took the ministry by surprise.

Ms Khobragade returned to India under a deal a month after her Decem-ber 2013 arrest for allegedly paying a domestic worker a fraction of the mini-mum wage and for lying about the em-ployee’s salary in a visa application.

The row between the two countries saw weeks of feisty exchanges that strained bilateral ties and left resent-ment on both sides. l

‘The reports are not incorrect. It is true that she has been placed on compulsory wait’

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

Chhatra League vows to resist Khaleda’s rally, burns Tarique’s e� gyn Abu Hayat Mahmud

The ruling party’s student wing Ban-gladesh Chhatra League warned that they would not allow the BNP to hold any rally unless the party’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman with-drew his false and derogatory remarks about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

BCL also vowed to resist the upcom-ing rally called by the BNP Chief Begum Khaleda Zia if Tarique did not apologise to the nation for his comment.

The BCL leaders said these at a demonstration programme held at the party’s head o� ce at Bangabandhu av-enue in the capital yesterday. The event was organised to protest the recent comments by Tarique Rahman about Bangabandhu and Awami League.

“Tarique should withdraw his infu-riating comments against Bangaband-hu and should also seek apology imme-diately. Moreover, we demand the BNP to sack him [Tarique] from the post and expel him from the party,” Chhatra

League Central Committee President H M Badiuzzaman Sohag said.

“Unless he apologises, Chhatra League will organise rallies at the same time and same place to counter Khale-da Zia’s rally all over the country,” he added.

Also present in the event, food minister Kamrul Islam said for the sake of a de-cent politics, Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman should be banished from politics.

Later, a procession was brought out by Chhatra League, who also burnt an e� gy of Tarique Rahman in front of the

National Press Club in the evening.Earlier, on Friday the Awami League

called upon BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rah-man to seek apology to the nation for their adverse comments.

While addressing a programme in London recently, Tarique Rahman called Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a “razakar” - a term meaning “traitor.”

On Thursday, a Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against Tarique in a sedition and defamation case � led in this regard.

Tarique has been living in London since September 11, 2008 on medical grounds after securing parole in vari-ous cases including money laundering.

He faces 14 charges, of which four, including the August 21 grenade attack case, are on trial. The rest have been stayed.

Awami League leaders said Tarique was in London under the political shel-ter of the British Government to avoid the cases pending against him. l

BNP to probe Sundarbans oil spill n Tribune Report

The BNP has formed a seven-member probe body over the incident of the huge oil spill in Sundarban’s Sela river, said a press release.

The committee members are-- BNP Vice-Chairman Major (retd) Mohammad Ha� zuddin Ahmed, Khulna divisional unit Assistant Organising Secretary Naz-rul Islam Manju,Khulna city Mayor Mon-iruzzaman Moni,Bagherhat district unit President Abdus Salam, Khulna district unit General Secretary Advocate Sha� qul Islam Mona, Chairman of Save the Sund-arbans Dr Sheikh Faridul Islam and envi-ronmental journalist Kamrul Islam.

According to the press note, issued yesterday, the probe committee has been formed as per the direction of the party chief Khaleda Zia. The investiga-tion team has been asked to submit the report with Khaleda Zia by December 25.

On December 9, a tanker carrying 350,000 litres of furnace oil sank in the Sundarbans Sela river that was sal-vaged after 55 hours. The oil spread along at least 80km of the river, seri-ously threatening the delicate ecology of the mangrove forest.

While a major government-led clean-up operation is being delayed by indecision, local people in the area are manually sopping up the � oating fur-nace oil with sponges, encouraged by a Padma Oil o� er to purchase the furnace oil for Tk30 per litre.

The clean-up so far has covered an insigni� cant portion of the volume of the oil spill. A UN expert team that reached Thursday to help the clean up e� ort, has slammed authorities for fail-ing to organise a proper clean-up e� ort of the oil spill, which has now spread 350 sq km (135 sq m) inside the delicate mangrove forest area.

The Sundarbans delta contains the world’s largest unbroken mangrove forest, covering about 10,000sq-km across India and Bangladesh. The Un-esco-listed World Heritage Site is the home to globally endangered species.

The National Geography Traveller, India has listed 10 species at risk from this terrible disaster. They are the rare Irrawady dolphins, the Bengal Tigers, leopard cats, great egrets, rhesus ma-caques, endemic river terrapin, black-capped king� shers, chitals, saltwater crocodiles, and the horseshoe crabs – known as a living fossil as it has been dated to 400m years ago.

The massive oil spill in the Sundar-bans, has put many of the region’s fau-na at severe risk. l

Nahid: Action against errant pvt varsities can’t be taken for HC ordersn UNB

Education Minister Nurul Islam Na-hid yesterday said the government is unable to take tough actions against 12 private poorly performing private universities as they have already taken High Court orders to continue their ac-ademic activities.

“There’re some 80 private universi-ties in the country. Some universities are now more engaged in making mon-ey than providing education. We’ve made a list of 12 such universities. We’ll ultimately shut down all these universities, but we can’t do that right now due to High Court orders,” he said while inaugurating the Mobile Apps Contest-2015.

Ethics Advanced Technology Lim-ited (EATL), an IT � rm, organised the contest titled ‘In Search of New Cre-ation’ at Mirpur Indoor Stadium.

Vice-Chancellor of Asian University Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, ICT Sec-retary Shyamsundar Sikder, Prothom Alo Editor Motiur Rahman and EATL Managing Director MA Mubin Khan also spoke on the occasion.

Speaking as the chief guest, Nahid said Bangladeshi youths are talented and they will make their marks break-ing all the records of development and progress. l

Bangladesh opposes Chicago street sign for Zia n Tribune Report

Bangladesh has opposed the putting up of an honorary street sign for ex-pres-ident Ziaur Rahman on North Clark Street in Chicago’s Rogers Park, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Ambassador Mohammad Ziauddin said Zia was un� t to be given a street sign in his honour, citing what he said was his complicity in the 1975 assassi-nation of then President Sheikh Mujib Rahman and members of his family during a coup.

It is Bangladesh’s o� cial govern-ment position to oppose the Chicago recognition for Ziaur Rahman, Ziaud-din said.

“We believe the United States has a very strong record on the rule of law, human rights and good governance,” the ambassador said. “Ziaur Rahman ruled Bangladesh as a tyrant and an oppressor, and this honour stands in opposition to those values.”

The request to put up a pair of famil-iar brown street signs on North Clark Street in Rogers Park sailed through the Chicago City Council, joining the 1,500 other honorary roadways aldermen have approved for 50 years.

When 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore backed the street naming on be-half of a group of residents, including one who donated $1,000 to his cam-paign fund, he thought he was engag-

ing in the kind of retail politics that is a Chicago alderman’s stock in trade.

But Moore said he got a call from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s o� ce saying the US State Department had been con-tacted by the Bangladeshi ambassador, who objected to the honour.

Moore went ahead and put up the signs on the 6600 and 6800 blocks of North Clark despite the State Depart-ment request.

“Bangladeshi politics is pretty rough and tumble,” Moore said. On balance, he decided, Ziaur Rahman seemed like “one of the good guys.”

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Embas-sy has sent letters to cities across the US to try to enlighten mayors about Ziaur Rahman so he does not receive additional recognition of the kind he is getting in Chicago, Ziauddin said.

Moore noted, since 1997 part of Dev-on Avenue in the 50th Ward has had the honorary name “Sheikh Mujib Way” in honour of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“So the other side has its recogni-tion,” the alderman said.

Earlier, a group of Bangladeshi citi-zens sued, seeking to have the Ziaur Rah-man sign pulled down on the grounds he does not deserve the honour.

Their lawyer, Al-Haroon Husain, dismissed Moore’s argument that he’s equalising the Bangladeshi politi-cal calculus on Chicago streets. “You should consider the merits of the in-dividual...It should not be a question based on a political party.”

For some in Rogers Park, seeing Zi-aur Rahman so honoured is o� ensive, Husain said. “It would be like a Russian walking down the street and being con-fronted with ‘Honorary Joseph Stalin Way.’ You do not want to see that.”

On Tuesday, a judge ruled in the city’s favor and dismissed the lawsuit, but Husain said his clients were consid-ering re� ling it.l

Mozena praises Bangladesh’s progress in vital sectorsn BSS

Lauding Bangladesh’s tremendous progress in di� erent vital sectors during the last couple of

years, outgoing US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena yesterday said that the country had huge poten-tials to grow up as a developed nation.

“During my three-year tenure, I observed tremendous progress of the country’s most important apparel, tan-nery, generic pharmaceuticals and IT sectors which can help make Bangla-desh a developed country in future,” he added.

Speaking at a pre-departure press conference at American Club in Gul-shan here, Mozena said the country needs transformation to the apparel sector by ensuring labour rights and their safety in work place.

Mozena, who has been serving in Bangladesh since May 2011 as the US Ambassador, is set to leave Bangladesh this month as Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat is going to succeed him.

The US envoy said along with en-suring progress in economic sector, the country needs “Education revolution” with the aim of ensuring quality edu-cation in classrooms to cope with the modern world.

He said Bangladesh has hundreds and thousands of teachers who have passion to teach students, but due to lack of infrastructures and other facil-ities they could not provide quality ed-ucation to the children.

Mozena also praised tremendous development in the country’s agri-sec-tor that helped Bangladesh turn into a food su� cient one. “The develop-ment in agriculture is “amazing”, as how Bangladesh, a food de� cit country was turned into a food surplus one,” he added.

In this context, he gave credit to the people of the country who are hard working and resilient and the government as well for taking pragmatic measurers to boost agricultural production.

Referring to his visit in 64 districts across the country, he said that he had seen with his own eyes as how Bangla-desh has achieved progress almost in every sector.

“I never like to say Bangladesh as a poor country rather, I want to say Bangladesh a prosperous country that has thousands of hard working and resilient people to carry forward the

country towards development,” he ob-served.

The envoy thanked the government for providing allout support during his tenure as ambassador and facilitating his visits in every nook and cranny of the country.

Regarding Bangladesh-US relations, he said America’s partnership with Bangladesh is now broader, deeper and stronger than ever and it goes from “strength to strength” with each pass-ing day.

“Our partnership truly strengthens each day to the bene� t of the people of both the countries,” he added.

He said the partnership helps make Bangladesh historic achievements like slashing maternal and child mortality, reducing fertility rate, increasing food security, mitigating for the e� ect of cli-mate change, strengthening diplomatic institutions, enhancing security and bolstering preparedness to respond to disaster.

The envoy said the partnership is also helping the police transform the philosophy of policing to one based on engagement with the community and it also is working with the RAB to intro-duce o� ce.

Responding to a question, he said his country backs no political force in Bangladesh’s political race as it focuses on deepening partnership between the two countries.

He said institutionalizing partner-ship between the two countries is one of the signi� cant achievements in his three-year tenure in Bangladesh. l

Rangamati victims yet to get compensationn Abid Azad

Indigenous people in Naniarchar upazila of Rangamati are su� ering from lack of food, shelter and warm clothes as they are yet to receive adequate compensa-tion after the recent attack by local Ban-galee settlers.

They are living a measurable life since the attack was made in their locality at Suridas Para on December 16.

Fifty-four indigenous houses were reduced to ashes while seven shops

and a Buddhist temple were vandalised during the attack. But Rangamati Dep-uty Commissioner Mostafa Kamal yes-terday claimed that each of the families was given 20kg rice and 15 of the dam-aged houses were being rebuilt.

“The process to repair 16 more houses is also underway,” he said.

Kamal also claimed that the total number of houses and shops damaged in the attack was 31. Victims of the attack, however, said they were yet to see any rebuilding e� orts, and were still living

under the open sky.“We burn woods and bamboos to

make ourselves warm in cold. We got the rice but there is no reconstruction e� orts,” said Chandra Manik Chakma, who is living with his family members in a tent supported by four bamboo poles.

The indigenous people also lifted the blockade on Rangamati-Khagrachhari link road yesterday for two days consid-ering the woes of others.

O� cials of Amra, a charity organisa-tion, visited the a� icted area on Decem-

ber 18 and distributed Tk135,000 among 27 families. Its President Shayantani Twisha told the Dhaka Tribune the de-struction was massive.

“This is a remote area and the people had no option to douse the � re when the arson attack was carried out. We do not have su� cient funds to support all the families but we tried our best and hope we can help more families later,” she added.

Some other charities also tried to raise funds on Facebook. l

President Abdul Hamid returns after visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra yesterday, during his six-day state visit to India PID

The International Farakka Committee holds a human chain before the National Press Club yesterday to protest 16 newly-built barrages on the Ganges and the withdrawal of water from the Teesta and other common rivers by India MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

On Thursday, a Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against Tarique in a sedition and defamation case � led in this regard

A group of Bangladeshi citizens sued, seeking to have the Ziaur Rahman sign pulled down on the grounds he does not deserve the honour

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

Deal likely with French � rm to implement Smart NID project n UNB

Oberthur Technologies, a French com-pany, is likely to get contract for pro-duction and distribution of Smart Na-tional Identity Card (Smart NID) under an Election Commission project.

The tender evaluation committee has already made the recommenda-tion in this regard for preparing 9 crore Smart NIDs involving Tk 796.26 crore, according to o� cial sources. Mean-while, the EC has put forward the bid-der’s tender o� er to the Cabinet Pur-chase Committee (CPC) for its approval.

“If the CPC approves the EC’s propos-al in its Sunday’s scheduled meeting, it’ll be the government’s � nal nod for appointing the French company to do a very sensitive and important job like-production and distribution of Smart NID,” said a top o� cial at the Cabinet Division.

As per the Public Procurement Act, any public purchase proposal costing above Tk 50 crore shall have to be ap-proved by the CPC and it will be treated as the � nal approval.

O� cial sources said the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) has been providing � nancial support to implement the Smart NID project titled ‘Identi� cation System for Enhancing Access to Ser-vices (ISEA)’.

About the project, EC secretary M Sirajul Islam said the current National ID’s poor security features has prompt-ed the EC to go for introducing the Smart NID.

“The existing NID, a laminated card, is very easy to copy and prepare a fake one due to its poor security features. Many unscrupulous people are taking advan-tage of enjoying the service by using fake

NID,” he said in a summary sent to the Cabinet Division.

But the Smart NID, according to the EC secretary, will have more than 25 se-curity features that will not be possible to copy and produce a fake one. As a result, it will help accurately identify-ing a citizen using as a national identi-ty document, he mentioned. Besides, Sirajul Islam said, the proposed Smart NID will provide a scope to examine a citizen’s identity o� ine as well.

“Ultimately, the new card will help ensure accountability in taking public and private services and it will establish good governance through enhancing the e-governance,” the EC secretary said.

O� cial sources said the EC invit-ed international competitive bidding (ICBM) to implement Smart NID project between 2011 and 2016.

A total of 4 international bidders submitted their bids for the project.

Finally, three French companies came out to be responsive bidders. Of them, Oberthur Technologies’ was found to be the lowest competitive bidder consider-ing its technical and � nancial o� ers.

As a lowest bidder, the French company quoted a read out price at Tk 658.80 crore to produce 70 million Smart NID against the requirement of 90 million.

But to meet the requirement of 90 million Smart NID, the tender evalua-tion committee made a calculation of an additional Tk 133.23 crore cost for additional 20 million cards maintaining the same ratio of per unit cost of a card.

As a result, the tender evaluation committee recommended a total cost of the 90 million Smart NID at Tk 796.53 crore.

However, with a small revision, the Oberthur Technologies also agreed with the calculated cost and con� rmed its acceptance over the deal. The World Bank also gave its concurrence to the revised proposal. l

2 held with 8,000 pieces of yaban Our Correspondent,

Feni

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) 7 yesterday arrested two per-sons with eight thousand pieces of yaba, various drugs and money from Feni.

Acting on a tip o� , RAB-7 conducted a drive at a camp at the Pagla Mia area of Feni town and arrested Saiful Is-lam, 45 and his wife Shaha-na Akter, 40. They both hail from Maikbhangra village of Sandwip upazila.

Feni camp in-charge (acting) Commander SM Mobasher Hossain revealed the information at a press brie� ng at its o� ce yesterday.

He said they had seized 8,100 pieces of yaba, 300gm of heroin and cash Tk2.32 lakh during the drive. l

PM receives blanket contributions from banks n BSS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yes-terday directed the authorities con-cerned to distribute blankets in the cold-hit areas by giving priority to the people above 60 years, orphan chil-dren and the people with disability.She gave the directives while receiving 3.70 lakh pieces of blankets from 19

member banks of Bangladesh Associ-ation of Banks (BAB) at her o� cial Ga-nobhaban residence in the afternoon.

The banks contributed the blan-kets to the prime minister’s Relief and Welfare Fund for distributing those to the cold-hit people across the country.Chairmen and directors of the respec-tive banks handed over the blankets to the premier.

Having received the blankets, the prime minister thanked the bank au-thorities for their noble gesture and called upon the a� uent section of the society to stand beside the poor and cold-hit people.

She said the poor and the distressed people are ultimately bene� tted if the well-o� people donate to the prime minister’s Relief and Welfare Fund.

Hasina asked the o� cials of her of-� ce to distribute the blankets quickly among the cold-hit people.

President of Bangladesh Association of Banks Nazrul Islam Mazumder, who is also the chairman of EXIM Bank, conducted the function, while the pre-mier’s Military Secretary Major Gener-al Mia Mohammad Joynul Abedin was present among others. l

Jessore’s name for date juice under threat n Our Correspondent, Jessore

The name that Jessore has had for its date juice, patali and molasses across the country is under threat as date trees are fast disappearing in the district.

The villages – Khajura, Enayet-pur, Lebutola, Pantaparha, Jadavpur, Gobra, Jahurpur, Majhiali, Mothura-pur, Telkup, Mirzapur and so on – are known for date juice, patali and molas-ses, especially Nalengur.

Enayetpur village’s Zakir Hossain said: “We had over 80 trees but now that amount has come to a half. Since these trees were divided among his six brothers, juice has not been extracted from the trees as before.

“We just extract juice from the trees depending on what we need in a year and also make Nalengur a bit because it can be sold for a good price.”

Farmer Sha� ar Rahman said they had around 300-400 date trees but it

was now 60-70. Despite that, all the date trees had not been processed for extracting juice.

Farmer Atiar Rahman said: “I heard that date seedlings are being distribut-ed by the government in the district, but I have not seen any in our area.”

Jahrupur High School teacher Inta-jul Islam said date trees were declining in the district because people had been cutting them down to to make way for cultivation of paddy and other crops.

Besides, skilled date juice collectors became rare because most of them had switched to another profession, failing to manage their livelihood in it, he said.

When Nityaranjan Das, deputy direc-tor at the Department of Agriculture Ex-tension, was contacted, he admitted this all and said: We have taken up a project to preserve the date trees in the district.

“We already planted around 5000 date trees along roads under this proj-ect.,” he said. l

One held with wheat-laden truckn Our Correspondent, Natore

Police arrested an alleged robber with a wheat-laden truck in Do-yarampur area under Bagatipara upazila of Natore early yesterday.

The arrestee was identi� ed as Mahbubul, 32, son of Abdul Mon-naf of Barbaria village in the dis-trict.

Police also rescued truck driv-er Abdul Gafur, son of Ashraf Ali and his helper Uzzal, son of Nayeb Ali of village Shahjahanpur of Bogra, they were tied up with ropes by the robbers.

Abdul Motaleb, o� cer-in-charge (investigation) of Bagatipara police station said a wheat-laden truck (Dhaka metro-TA-18-1209) was bound for Bogra from Narayanganj on Friday night.

On the way, some � ve to six passengers got onto the truck

disguised as robbers from Joydeb-pur-Chourasta area.

While it reached the Padma crossing of Sirajganj, the robbers took the control of the steering after they tied the hands of the driver and the helper with ropes.

When the robbers reached Do-yarampur area of Bagatipara up-azila early Saturday, some of the robbers got down from the truck.

During the time, the driver jumped onto them after untying his hands using a trick.

Seeing the matter, locals rushed to the spot and detained one of the robbers.

However, the rest of the robbers managed to � ee from the scene.

On information, a team of Bag-atipara police rushed to the spot and arrested the detained robber.

They also seized the truck and rescued its driver and helper. l

Narimukti Kendra brings out a procession in the capital’s Paltan yesterday demanding exemplary punishment to the killers of 14-year-old Umra Ching Marma of Kaptai union in Rangamati. It also called for mass movement against communalism RAJIB DHAR

Muhith: Govt committed to women empowerment n BSS

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the present government, under the leader-ship of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is committed to empowering women for the development of the society and the country.

Addressing the platinum jubilee cel-ebration of Sylhet Government Wom-en’s College yesterday, the � nance minister said the government allocated

Tk100 crore in every � scal year for em-powering women.

As a result, he said the rate of wom-en employment rose signi� cantly in the recent years with increasing num-ber of female working in almost all sec-tors of the job market.

According to the minister, the rate of women employment rose from 7% to nearly 30% in the past three decades.

He called upon the women and in particular the female students of the

Sylhet Women College to step forward, shrugging o� all confusion to empower themselves.

He said there would be no lack of sup-port including the � nancial assistance from the government to help women take their own course towards develop-ment of the society and the country.

The minister advised them to come forward with the vision and the mis-sion of entrepreneurship so they can utilise more fund when a big portion

of the � scal allocation remain unused every year. According to him, this year so far Tk65 crore was utilised from the women empowerment fund, which was the highest ever implementation, but far below the � scal allocation.

Former adviser to caretaker gov-ernment Rasheda K Choudhury and founder of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed also addressed the celebration of 75 years of Sylhet Women College. l

Bangladesh Jatiya Manabadhikar Samity yesterday forms a human chain in front of National Press Club demanding legal proceedings be initiatied under speedy trial act against those responsible for the oil tanker capsize in the Sundarbans SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

As a lowest bidder, the French company quoted a read out price at Tk 658.80 crore to produce 70 million Smart NID against the requirement of 90 million

WEATHER

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:16am Sunrise 6:36am Zohr 11:56am Asr 3:40pm Magrib 5:16pm Esha 6:37 pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:16PM SUN RISES 6:37AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW29.8ºC 9.4ºC

Cox's Bazar Dinajpur

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 26 15Chittagong 27 16Rajshahi 26 10Rangpur 26 12Khulna 28 11Barisal 28 14Sylhet 28 14Cox’s Bazar 29 16

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

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CU BCL men beat up Shibir activist n FM Mizanur Rahaman

A Chhatra Shibir activist was injured af-ter he was beaten up by Chhatra League men at Chittagong University yesterday.

Md Shajahan, who is pursuing a graduate degree in sociology, received primary treatment at the university medical center.

Witnesses and police said � ve to six Chhatra League men, who are support-ers of Joint Secretary of the dissolved committee of Chittagong University Chhatra League Diaj Irfan Chowdhury, swooped on Shajahan near the Social Science Faculty around 2:30pm.

“The Chhatra League activists led by Sumon, a fresher of the Department of English, beat Shajahan up with iron pipes when he got out of a classroom after taking an exam,” said O� cer-in-Charge of Hath-azari police station Md Ismail Hossain.

“Police rescued him and sent him to the university medical centre. We are looking into the incident,” he added.

Sources said Sumon is the younger brother of Md Mamun, former sports a� airs secretary of the university unit of Chhatra League. l

Dr Kamal: Dialogue a must as election is not the last word for e� ective democracyn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Asserting that the country was passing through an abnormal time, speakers at a discussion programme said election was not the last word for upholding democracy. Dialogue was a must to overcome any political crisis. However, as a prerequisite to that, e� ective dem-ocratic institutions should be set up, they opined.

The programme participants also said economic and political develop-ment should march together and po-litical parties must do away with the culture of blame-game.

These remarks were made yesterday at a programme on releasing a study on The State of Governance Bangladesh 2013: Democracy Party Politics organ-ised by the Brac Institute of Govern-ance and Development (BIGD) of Brac University in the capital.

Speaking as a chief guest, Dr Kamal Hossain, Gono Forum president and an eminent jurist, called for holding con-structive national dialogue to resolve the political deadlock.

“Dialogue should not only be held between the Awami League and the BNP but also among all the parties. Accepting the basic principles of the constitution, all should sit for talks,” he said.

Dhaka University International Re-lations Professor Imtiaz Ahmed high-lighted how bad governance some-times become pro� table pushing good governance to the back seat.

“You can immediately get what you want [if you know the means]. You can be promoted. A contract can be award-ed to you. But when there is good gov-ernance, these are not so easy,” the pro-fessor said.

“I do not think any political party alone will be able to do that. It is the

structures that need to evolve to make good governance pro� table,” he added.

Discussants also debated over whether development was possible without democracy.

Binayak Sen said ine� ective democra-cy could not march with the economic de-velopment. “If there is lack of good gov-ernance, development cannot take place. Since the country is developing, it can be said that good governance is prevailing.”

In a counter argument, Professor Dilara Chowdhury asked what was the parameter of economic develop-ment. DU professor Asif Nazrul added that there was no democracy and the growth of development was slow in the country.

Also present in the event, Awami League advisory council member Suran-jit Sengupta said: “If January 5 election were not held, situation like another 1/11

would have been created in the country. It is the government’s responsibility to avert such situation and the grand alli-ance government did just that.”

Replying to the suggestions about holding dialogue, Sengupta said there was no scope for dialogue with a party that called Bangabandhu a ‘rajakar’.

BNP chairperson’s adviser Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said a representative government was a must

for any country along with a multi-par-ty democracy. “But a representative government is absent in the country. Space is required for democracy to sus-tain but due to state-sponsored terror-ism, no space was given to any party.”

Sultan Hafeez Rahman, executive di-rector of BIGD, chaired the programme where representatives of various polit-ical parties, civil society members, and former bureaucrats were present. l

Speakers: Climate news shouldnot serve NGO interests n Rafe Sadnan Adel

Journalists at a seminar yesterday said climate issues should not be reported to justify the goals of any donor agency or NGO.

They said producing news on cli-mate should be aimed at bene� tting the country, which would also help the state to face climate threats more e� ec-tively as awareness would grow.

Speaking at the daylong seminar titled “Building critical mass aware-ness of climate change”, they also said journalists working on climate issues should maintain professional integrity and have to plan their stories accord-ingly.

The seminar, which was held at the AS Mahmud Hall in the capital, was jointly organised by The Media Alli-ance, Forum of Environmental Journal-ists of Bangladesh (FEJB), Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Commu-nication, and Development Media Lim-ited.

“This is unfortunate to see that no one is loyal to the state right now. It is high time for us to draw the line when we report on issues concerning donor agencies,” said Saiful Huda, who works at a private TV channel.

Another employee at a TV channel Zahid Neaz Khan Jewel said climate is-sues should be prioritised by newsmen and they should get rid of the tendency to prepare climate reports only to re-ceive awards.

Dr A Atiq Rahman, executive direc-tor at Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, said the subject of climate has many scienti� c terms that are di� cult to understand for the masses.

“It is the duty of journalists to write about climate issues in a way that the people will easily understand,” he added.

Urban Planner Khondker Neaz Rah-man recommended an integrated plan-ning for climate news coverage.

He also slammed reporters, saying they tend to report more on world cli-mate rather than focusing on national

climate and also disasters that happen in the country.

“Journalists who want to do reports on climate issues should gather knowl-edge on the subject and the right per-son should be sent to cover the right event in order to get � awless and com-prehensive reports,” said Shahidul Is-lam Chowdhury, special a� airs editor at the Dhaka Tribune.

“A reporter must take preparations to cover climate issues because there is no scope for working as a generalist in this particular � eld,” he added.

Nusrat Islam Khan, Bangladesh Country Coordinator of The Media Alli-ance, told the Dhaka Tribune the sem-inar was organised to observe how the press can better highlight the social, hu-manitarian, environmental and sustain-able development implications of cli-mate change through editorial contents, public service advertising, use of social media and other digital platforms.

“We are excited to see the over-whelming response,” she said. l

Case � led over murder of two brothers in Chittagongn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A case was � led with the Chandgaon Police Station yesterday in connection with the killing of two brothers on Fri-day night in Chandgaon area of Chit-tagong city.

The deceased are Faridul Alam, 45, and Abu Siddique, 42.

The victims’ elder brother Md Moinuddin Mohsin � led the case against 20 people by name and eight other unnamed, said Chandgaon Police Station O� cer-in-Charge Abdur Rauf.

Yesterday, police arrested two ac-cused—Ziaur Rahman and Lokman—from Khaja Road area where the mur-der took place.

In the case statement, Mohsin men-tioned that the incident of the murder was a preplanned.

The miscreants swooped on Abu when he was returning to their home after attending funeral of one of their relatives, the case statement said.

After being attacked, Abu made a phone call to Farid seeking help to res-cue him. Farid was at their home when Abu made the phone call. The miscre-ants also attacked Farid when he was on his way to rescue Abu, it said.

“A syndicate of dishonest timber businessmen with help of some local terrorists killed my brothers as they stood in the way of their illegal busi-

ness,” Mohsin said.Chittagong Metropolitan Police

Deputy Commissioner (North Zone) Paritosh Ghosh said the incident of the killing might have taken place over a previous enmity.

The victims, who had timber and land businesses, had feud with some local businessmen over their business-es, he said. “We are trying to nab all the criminals who were involved in the murder,” he added.

On Friday around 11:00pm, some mis-creants attacked the two siblings with wooden planks on Khaja road, injuring them critically. Locals rushed them to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where doctors declared them dead.

Locals said Abu owned a timber shop at the city’s Bolirhat which is known as the largest timber business centre in the city. He had control over a large portion of timber business in the area.

Police, however, said a number of cases had been with Chandgaon Police Station against the siblings. l

Fast-track all CU student murder cases, SP orders Hathazari policen FM Mizanur Rahaman

Hathazari police have been ordered to swiftly deal with all the cases � led over murdering students at Chittagong Uni-versity.

Superintendent of Police AKM Ha� z Akhtar yesterday gave the order dur-ing a meeting with the university vice chancellor at the latter’s o� ce yester-day noon.

Hathazari police station O� cer-in-Charge (OC) Md Ismail Hossain con-� rmed this to the Dhaka Tribune.

Chittagong District (North) Addi-tional Superintendent of Police Md Shahidullah, Assistant Police Super (Hathazari circle) AFM Nizam Uddin, Md Salauddin, Inspector (investiga-tion) of Hathazari Police Station, were present at the meeting.

On December 14, Tapos Sarkar, a � rst year student of the Department of Sangskrit, was shot dead during a clash between shuttle train-based Chhatra League factions –Varsity Express and Choose Friend with Care – at a place be-tween Shah Amanat and Shah Jalal halls.

He used to stay at Shah Amanat Hall. His friend Ha� zul Islam of the same

department � led a case with Hathazari police against up to 42 persons over the murder on December 16. Of them, 30 BCL activists were named and the rest were kept unnamed in the case.

“We are also asked to arrest those who are accused of killing Tapos,” OC Ismail said, adding that they were even ordered to show zero tolerance to-wards any unrest situation on the cam-pus even if it was caused by the ruling party’s student wing.

Chhatra League faction Varsity Ex-press, which had been enforcing their non-stop blockade programme de-manding withdrawal of the case, yester-day halted it for two days. They claimed that the case was � led against those who were not implicated in the case.

CU Chhatra League chapter’s dis-banded committee’s Organising Sec-retary Ariful Islam told the DhakaTribune that they had halted their blockade programme because Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is to visit Chit-tagong today. l

Dr Kamal: Country has no rule of lawn UNB

Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hos-sain yesterday said now there is no rule of law in the country and people are being deprived of their security of life.

“There’s no rule of law…no account-ability and independence of judiciary in the country. People are being de-prived of their security of life as they are facing incidents of forced disap-pearance and killing,” he said.

Dr Kamal was addressing a discus-sion meeting organised by Nagarik Oik-ya at the Jatiya Press Club marking the Victory Day.

“No investigation has been carried out and no action taken against those who involved in the incidents of killing and forced disappearance,” he alleged.

The noted jurist urged people to get unit-ed against the misdeeds of the govern-ment. Speaking on the occasion, Nagarik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna slammed the government for what he said its irresponsibility in tack-ling the huge oil spill in the Sundarbans.

Taking a swipe at Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan for ‘making irrespon-sible comments’ over the oil tanker capsize issue, Manna said, “Making such comments, the government has already proved that the country is not safe in its hands.”

Noting that the shipping minister does not understand what the Sund-arbans actually is, Manna urged the prime minister to dismiss him. l

Brac Institute of Governance and Development, Brac University launched its study on “The State of Governance Bangladesh 2013: Democracy Party Politics” at Brac Centre yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Khetmajur Samity, farmers wing of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, organised a rally in front of the National Press Club in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Noting that the shipping minister does not understand what the Sundarbans actually is, Manna urged the prime minister to dismiss him

On Friday around 11pm, some miscreants attacked the two siblings with wooden planks on Khaja road

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

Aman paddy harvest starts amidfear of failing targetn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Farmers in Sylhet region have started har-vesting Aman paddy with expectations to meet the yearly target but the regions Agricultural department is in doubt as cultivation was interrupted repeatedly be-cause of � ooding in July and the drought that prevails now.

According to Sylhet’s Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the region had set a target to bring 141,927 hectares of land under Aman cultivation with a production target of 313,432 tonnes

but the target failed as the � ood in Julyhampered cultivation and reduced the cultivated area to 135,431 hectares, said an o� cial.

Last year, the target of cultivated land was 145,866 hectares but 152,030 hectares of was brought under cultivation which in-creased the production to 366,410 tonnes of Aman.

Deputy Director of Sylhet DAE Khairul Bashar said: “This year we faced repeated � ood and it is the main reason we were un-able to achieve the cultivation target.”

He said: “After the farmers started culti-

vation, inadequate rainfall then hampered the Aman production at di� erent upazilas. So, now we are fear that we would fail to achieve the target set but we are hopeful.”

“In the Jokiganj, Balaganj and Kan-aighat upazila, we have observed a better production. We will get a full report after harvesting the paddy � elds across the dis-trict,” said Bashar.

Monjur Ahmed, a farmer of Alirgaon vil-lage under Goainghat upazila, said: “This season � ood a� ected 11 times at Goainghat upazila. After the � ood, we cultivated land and now the drought prevails. l

A human chain demands law to ensure right to food as part of the week-long campaign yesterday at Shaheb Bazar, Zeropoint area of Rajshahi city. Organised by the local chapter of Khadya Nirapotta Network (Food Security Network), the event was attended by various members of the network AZAHAR UDDIN

10 houses torched in AL clashn Our Correspondent, Kushtia

At least 10 houses were set � re and 10 more vandalised following the death of a person in a � erce clash between two factions of the local unit of Awa-mi League at Poradah village in Mirpur upazila on Friday night.

Kazi Jalal, o� cer-in-charge of Mirpur police station, said the clash took place between the supporters of Poradah un-ion unit Awami League president Mos-harraf Hossain and Mirpur upazila unit Juba League joint general secretary As-aduzzaman Parvez over establishing su-premacy in the area in the evening, leav-ing six people from both sides injured.

The injured were taken to Kushtia General Hospital where Nurul Islam, supporter of Mosharraf group, suc-cumbed to his injures around 8pm.

As the news spread, the Mosharraf’s followers set � re to 10 houses and also vandalised 10 more houses of the sup-porters of Parvez at night.

On information, � re � ghting units from local � re station went to the spot and doused the � re.

Pralay Chisim, superintendent of police, said police arrested two people Rintu and Rocky in connection with the killing.

Additional police forces were de-ployed in the area. l

Farmers incur losses as radish prices fall dramaticallyn Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

A bumper yield of radish in Katiadi upazila has failed to make farmers hap-py as excessive harvest has led to a big fall in prices.

In many markets of the upazila, rad-ish is being sold at as low as Tk1 per kg. Despite the nominal price, sellers � nd it hard to sell their products even after waiting for the whole day as buyers are reluctant to buy the vegetable.

Many farmers chose to abandon their unsold products in the markets in order to save transport costs. The aban-doned products are also used as cattle feed in many areas.

Villages that saw abundant harvest of radish this year include Jalalpur, Nu-akandi, Charpukkia, Jakalia, Lohajuri, Chariakona, and Masua. Many farmers in the villages even chose not to collect the harvest from the � elds considering labour and transport costs.

Radish prices were high at the outset of winter but arrival of other seasonal vegetables has caused its demand to fall, leading to considerable losses, said farmers.

“I spent Tk34,000 to cultivate rad-ish on a 2-bigha land and the yield topped 500 maunds. I expected to make Tk50,000 but had to sell it all at Tk7,000 because of the sharp fall in prices in the past few weeks,” said Md Abul Hossain, a farmer in Charpukkia village.

Alamgir Hossain, a vegetable whole-saler in Pirijpur village, said the fall in price was unexpected.

“Wholesalers also had to count losses while buying radish because of labour costs. A worker had to be paid Tk250-350 to collect radish from the � eld but the product could not be sold at prices that would bring pro� ts. Pric-es went down as the supply is more than the demand,” he added.

“Radish was grown in 90 hectares of land in the upazila and the expect-ed yield is 3,600 tonnes. Favourable weather conditions led to a bumper production this year,” said Mozahar Hossain Ahmed, agriculture o� cer in Katiadi.

He also echoed farmers, saying the arrival of other winter vegetables caused radish prices to fall rapidly. l

Section 144 imposedn Our Correspondent,

Narsingdi

The local administration im-posed section 144 in the dis-trict town as two factions of local Awami

League called separate programmes at the same ven-ue yesterday.

Sources said Advocate As-aduzzaman, president of the district unit Awami League, called a meeting at Narshing-di Pilot High School ground in Duttapara area of the town.

On the other hand, Abdul Matin Bhuiyan, secretary of the district unit AL, called a separate meeting to be held at the same venue and same time. Apprehending possible trouble, Sadar upazila nirbahi o� cer HasinaBegum imposed the emergency section in the area from 11pm to 6pm. l

Smuggled goods seized n Our Correspondent,

Joypurhat

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh in separate drives arrested three persons and recovered huge quantity of smuggled goods worth about Tk17 lakh from di� erent fron-tier areas of the district yes-terday.

The arrested were identi-� ed as Tuhin, 27, Abdul Zalil, 25 and Badal Miah, 38.

Abu Sayed Mridha, assis-tant director of Joypurhat BGB-3 Battalion said during the raids the BGB team recov-ered huge quantity of Indian goods including cumin seed, steel materials, sarees and other goods.

Besides, the team also seized huge sex stimulating tablets, phensidyl and wine. l

Top smuggler held by BGB n Our Correspondent,

Sunamganj

A top listed smuggler of Su-namganj named Abdul Aziz was held by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members from the Boglabazar border area of the district yesterday.

Abdul belonged to a smug-gler group that tried to enter India yesterday by illegally crossing the border in Doara-bazar upazila of Sunamganj.

Chased by the Indian Bor-der Security Force, 40-year-old Abdul was caught by the BGB o� cials from near sub-pillar no 7 in Boglabazar area.

He is the son of late Nabab Ali of Jhumgaon village un-der Sunamganj sadar upazila.

Commanding O� cer of Sunamganj BGB battalion 8 Lt Col Md Golam Mohiuddin Khondoker said a case was � led in Doarabazar police sta-tion against him. l

7CareerDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!

Earl Nightingale, American motivational speaker and

author, known as the Dean of Personal Development

Is it time for a raise?

n Ahsan Sajid

Negotiating your salary is one of the � rst “tasks” that you will be doing at the job you are about to start, and as far as tasks go this is an extreme-ly tricky one – whether you are a sea-soned whale or a fourth year student. There are a number of di� erent issues one needs to be aware of, such as main-taining the right attitude, not making promises that cannot be kept, not get-ting emotional, etc.

While negotiating a salary is not an easy task for any individual, and par-ticularly less for more introverted, shy and “polite” individuals, following are

a few tips to do it in a sophisticated and professional manner.

Know what you want The best thing about an employer-em-ployee relationship, unlike other rela-tionships, is that there is a contract that one signs at the onset and both parties arrive at a mutually agreed upon ex-pectation from one another.

There is no reason to be shy as so many of us are likely to be when it comes to talking about money. You don’t want a particularly crafty employ-er to use your shyness to lowball you.

Thinking it is too rude, demanding or belittling to talk about money will be

the most expensive mistake you make. While most of us do not enjoy engaging in the “money-talk,” it is best to be � rm and courteous and negotiate the number.

Go through the contract It is common to focus on your consol-idated salary instead of heeding the breakdown, which allows for HR sleight of hand tricks to � y under your radar. There are a number of questions to ask both yourself and your employer.

What is your base pay? Are the bo-nuses discretionary or guaranteed? Who exactly decides whether you de-serve performance bonuses? Is your festival bonus’ percentage based on

your base or your consolidated salary?

Don’t be the first to blink An experienced negotiator will try to get you to name a number � rst. “What do you expect to earn?” is a simple but extremely high-pressure question to answer, and it is easy to give in to the pressure and fumble. If you really want the job, you will probably end up nam-ing a � gure lower than you are seeking, or that you know you deserve.

Nevertheless, when you really have to answer the question, it is best to an-swer it with another question: “What is the budget allocated for this position?”

Talk down A number can always be negotiated down, but never up. Do not be afraid to name a � gure that is too high (while re-maining realistic, as goes without say-ing). The numbers talk happens at the end of a drawn out interview period, so you need not be afraid that you will name a � gure so high the interview will immediately be terminated.

When you must name a number, if you stay within realistic bounds and still ask for a higher than expected number, you will enter a negotiation. By negotiating down bit by bit to the number both parties can work with, your employer will also feel like they are winning the negotiation.

Do not be difficult to deal withSometimes the best way to negotiate is to be � exible and let certain things that do not really mean that much to you go. A lot of people enter a negotiation with their mind completely made up, trying to slice o� every morsel they can get. If you are rude, uncompromising and di� cult, you may feel like you won the negotiation but you will be entering a new relationship on the wrong foot. A negotiation should leave all parties pleased with the outc ome. l

Seven things to remember while crafting résumén Nakibul Hoq

Résumés are feared by professionals of all ages. Regardless of age or expe-rience, people have a general proclivi-ty of procrastinating when it comes to preparing their curriculum vitae. And even more so when you are right at the start of your career, when you have a severe shortage of experiences to talk about.

At GradConnect, we have a dedicat-ed team of writers, editors and profes-sionals who work together to deliver a comprehensive résumé-writing ser-vice of international standards. The team is led by our Director of Strategy Naiian Yazdani who is currently doing his MBA at the Said Business School, Oxford. Our long-running experience in this sector has continuously under-scored that most of the professionals are doing things the wrong way. The following is a list of seven things all professionals creating their résumés should keep in mind.

Include statisticsEver saw Steve Jobs’ presentations for launching Apple’s signature products? One thing Jobs loved to use was statis-tics. Yes, statistics, regardless of how di� cult it is to prepare them, have their own magic. They lend credibility to generalised statements of your abilities and lend credibility to your capabilities.

Don’t include every single thing you achieved since birth

Almost all candidates forget that the person reviewing the résumé has a limited time frame to go through your accomplishments. This is why it is im-portant to leave out things that will add little value to your future life. Forget about the volunteering you did 5 years back for a community service organi-sation. Instead, try to include research positions you held even at your � rst year of undergraduate study.

A photo, even a small one, is a big no-noLet’s face the cultural stereotypical re-alities: people try to judge you through your appearance. This is why a photo should always be avoided unless and until it is speci� cally mentioned in the job advertisement or recruitment mes-sage. They are useless, and are a source of implicit, unconscious bias for people who go through your résumés to get a better sense of you.

ExaggeratePeople like to exaggerate on their ac-complishments. While this is highly unethical, reviewers assume that the candidate will have exaggerated, even if a little bit, to stand out in the ap-plicant pool. This is why a little bit of exaggeration isn’t that bad. However, don’t go way out of the line with your exaggeration; underscore and empha-sise only on truth as much as possible.

But, don’t lie!Lying is severely detrimental to your

professional life. Having your heads up high and telling the truth at all times goes a long way to prove your worth to the organisation. After all, most organ-isations believe in legal, ethical choices for their businesses. Remember, you will always get caught if you lie blatant-ly on any of the components of your ap-plication.

You are not the best, so don’t act like you areThere will always be candidates who are better than you, more experienced than you and much more quali� ed than you are. However, it is important to remember that when reviewing the curriculum vitae, people are generally looking for an appropriate � t for the va-cancy. Over- quali� cation is not good either, so be a stickler and project what you really are.

Avoid grammatical and spelling errors Trust me, the number of people making grammatical or spelling errors on ré-sumés is simply too damn high! While the fault can de� nitely be attributed to Facebook or autocorrect options, it is your responsibility to ensure your ap-plication is as perfect as it gets. l

Nakibul Hoq is the Lead Manager, Content & Analytics for GradInsights, the career intelligence service of GradConnect. Find him at nakib@grad-connect.com. For our signature career-related services, simply drop us a message via email or on our facebook page.

How to transition into a new job smoothlyn Career Desk

There are certain attitude adjustments and expectations to manage when starting a new job. Whether you are a fresh graduate on you � rst job, or a se-nior-level executive switching to a new organisation, starting a new job brings with it many of the same challenges and con� icts.

It pays to understand the culture of your organisation, and � nding your niche in it, which can be a very time-consuming process. Following are a few suggestions that may help you accelerate the development.

Don’t do too much too soonThis trait is as common in job starters as it is in seasoned workers – when starting a new job in a new company the pressure to impress leads one to go all out and chase assignments from day one. While this isn’t a bad thing and it certainly impresses the boss, it can get one in trouble.

You are bringing experience, con-nections, and a plethora of other in-tangible assets, but you don’t know the culture or the players. Your actions may alienate colleagues, disrupt the method and pace the company is comfortable with, or have long term repercussions you cannot yet fully see. Take time to do the groundwork and � gure out the company. Ask for your colleague’s per-spectives instead of just your boss. You won’t get a second chance.

Say less, learn moreThe � rst few days, take advantage of be-ing silent and observe and listen to your colleagues in di� erent circumstances. Process and analyse all the information that you collect from conversations and try to � gure out who you can trust and who you need to be wary of.

The less you say, the better you posi-tion yourself to learn how the company works. This doesn’t mean you should be rude or shy; it means not to volun-teer opinions or information unless they are asked for.

Make friends with diverse peopleIt is easy to talk to colleagues in your department or work with colleagues who are just around you, but to excel at your new job you must build a diverse circle of trust comprising of people in di� erent functions in the organisation. When you socialise with more than just your immediate colleagues you gain a more holistic understanding of your company and the way it works.

Furthermore, when you have peo-ple to count on throughout the com-pany, you have multiple sources feed-ing your important information, fresh

pair of eyes for any problems that mayarise, and ease of operations for proj-ects requiring interdepartmental col-laboration.

Don’t carry your baggage forwardEngage fully at your new position by showing loyalty and appreciation. The longer one spends at a job the more used to one gets to it; when starting a new job, let go of all your previous work habits, customs and team dynamics.

Di� erences in practice will be clear to you, but do not even mention your previous job unless asked about it. If you constantly bring up “At my old job, we did things this way” or “At my old job, I undertook this many projects” your new colleagues will soon tire of you, creating unnecessary friction. You earn the right to critique your new workplace once you’ve been there long enough to understand it. l

When starting a new job, let go of all your previous work habits, customs and team dynamics

A word or two on insurancen Career Desk

Actuary - a person who calculates risks for insur-ance companies

Assessor - a person who calculates the value of

something

Claim - an application for payment under an insurance policy; to make a claim

Comprehensive - (of an insurancepolicy) all-inclusive; providing complete protection

Consequential loss - a loss that hap-pens as a consequence of or as a result of another

Cover - the protection given by an insur-ance policy

Employer’s liability - liability or responsi-bility of a � rm for damage caused to one of its employees

Goods in transit - property, merchan-dise or any goods in the process of being transported

Insurance broker - agent who arranges insurance; middleman between insurer and policyholder

Liability - the state of being liable; any-thing for which a person is liable

Liable - legally obliged to pay for damage, injury etc; responsible

Loss - death, injury, damage etc that is the basis for a claim

Loss adjuster - a person who assesses the amount of compensation arising from

a claim Policy - a contract of insurance

Policyholder - the person to whom an insurance policy is issued

Premium - a payment, usually monthly, yearly etc, for an insurance policy

Product liability - liability or responsibility of a � rm for damage caused by one of its products

Public liability - responsibility of a � rm for damage caused to a member of the public

Reinsurance - the insuring of a risk by one insurance company with another

Risk - chance or possibility of injury, loss etc; person or thing causing risk

BIZVOCAB

WORDS OF WISDOM

Sunday, December 21, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Cairns deaths: Children’s mother arrested n BBC

The mother of seven of eight children found dead at a house in Cairns, Aus-tralia, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Mersane Warria, 37, is talking to o� -cers. She has not been charged.

She was found at her home with stab wounds, alongside the bodies of the eight children. A coroner is due to conduct post-mortem examinations.

The victims were aged 18 months to 14 years. Police have not said how they died. The eighth child was her niece.

Con� rming the arrest, Cairns De-tective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said: “The 37-year-old mother of several of the children involved in this incident has been arrested for murder overnight and is currently under police guard at the Cairns Base Hospital.”

Identi� ed by the local media, Ms Warria remains in a stable condition in hospital recovering from stab wounds. l

Raul Castro steps out of brother’s shadow with US deal n Reuters

Stepping out of his legendary broth-er’s shadow, President Raul Castro has scored a diplomatic triumph and a surge in popular support with the deal that ends decades of open hostility with the US.

For many Cubans, the restoration of diplomatic relations and President Barack Obama’s promise to dismantle economic sanctions against the com-munist-run island have raised hopes of a more prosperous future.

Just as important, in exchange for one American prisoner and dozens of lit-tle-known Cubans, Castro won the free-dom of three Cuban spies widely exalted at home as heroes who were wrongly im-prisoned in the US for 16 years. l

Human rights in spotlight after US-Cuba deal n AP, Havana

To many exiles and their allies, Pres-ident Raul Castro is a brutal dictator who locks up dissenters in gulag-like jails, snu� s out political discourse and condemns his people to socialist poverty.

Cuba’s supporters see the govern-ment as heroic, its sins justi� ed by the behavior of its giant enemy to the north, and o� set by the fact it pro-vides health care and education that most developing countries could only dream of.

As often is the case, the truth lies somewhere in between.

President Barack Obama said on Fri-day that he began his historic call with Castro earlier in the week by delivering a 15-minute lecture on human rights and political freedom, adding: “This is still a regime that oppresses its people.”

Even so, he said that US policy had failed to change Cuba for more than a half century and it was time to try something new.

Human rights activists welcomed the overhaul of US-Cuba relations, but added that the Communist govern-ment has much to answer for, includ-ing a denial of freedom of speech, the banning of independent labor unions and a lack of fair and competitive elections.

“I believe that President Obama is making the right decision, but that does not mean that our serious human rights concerns with regard to Cuba have gone away,” Jose Miguel Vivan-co, executive director for the Ameri-cas division at Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press. He said the abuses were “part of state policy, sys-tematic and widespread.”

Castro has defended the single-par-ty political system, saying open elec-tions would be tantamount to “legalis-ing the party or parties of imperialism on our soil.”

Accusations of human rights abuses have dogged the Cuban government since the beginning, starting with sum-mary trials and executions. l

Israel bombs Gaza militant base n Reuters

Israeli a ircraft bombed a Hamas mil-itant base in the Gaza Strip on Friday for the � rst time since the end of a war in the territory, in response to a rocket that militants launched earlier in the day, the army said.

The bombs struck in the Khan You-nis area in the southern Gaza Strip. Local hospital o� cials said there were no casualties. The militant rocket � red earlier landed in a � eld in southern Is-rael and did not cause casualties.

“The IDF (military) will not permit any attempt to undermine the secu-rity and jeopardise the well being of the civilians of Israel. The Hamas ter-rorist organisation is responsible and accountable for today’s attack against Israel,” military spokesman Lieu-tenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement.

Two previous cases of militant rockets landing in Israel have been re-corded but there was no retaliation to them.

Israel launched its Gaza o� ensive on July 8 with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas. The � ghting was ended by an Egyptian-brokered truce on August 26.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in sev-en weeks of � ghting, according to the Gaza health ministry. Sixty-seven Is-raeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed.

In a separate incident on Friday, four Palestinian protesters were shot in the legs by Israeli troops af-ter they ignored warnings to keep away from the border fence between the coastal territory and the Jewish state, the military and Gaza medical o� cials said. l

Obama: I’m not a lame duck n Reuters

If US Pr esident Barack Obama is feeling the pain from a rough year at the o� ce, he did a great job of covering it up on Friday.

Before boarding Air Force One for a vacation in Hawaii, the president gave a year-end news conference with a spring in his step, buoyed by a surge in US economic growth and newly con-� dent after having stymied his Repub-lican critics with unilateral actions on immigration and Cuba.

Bantering with reporters, granting questions only to women and wishing all the Hawaiian Christmas greeting, “Mele Kalikimaka,” Obama appeared energised and exuded an I’m-not-do-ne-yet attitude.

“There is no doubt that we can en-ter into the new year with renewed

con� dence that America’s making signi� cant strides where it counts,” he said.

The Washington Post declared re-cently that Obama had “the worst year in Washington,” a grim assess-ment after the president struggled to respond to a variety of foreign and domestic crises from beheadings by Islamic State to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

He was quickly labeled a lame duck after his Democrats’ dramatic mid-term election losses to resurgent Re-publicans in early November. Already a multitude of potential candidates are jockeying for position in the looming � ght to succeed him in 2016.

Obama’s actions in the weeks since the elections, however, have foiled the conventional wisdom that his

presidency is largely over. He bypassed a divided Congress to

reform immigration on his own, ig-nored congressional critics this week by moving to normalise relations with Cold War-era foe Cuba, and reached a compromise deal with Republicans on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to the cha-grin of some Democrats.

Perhaps the biggest factor in Obama’s improved mood has been stronger economic growth and job cre-ation after the long tepid period that marked much of a presidency that be-gan in early 2009 when the economy was mired in deep recession.

It is an old truth of American pol-itics that presidents have a greater ability to strike compromises and go against their party’s orthodoxy in their last two years in o� ce, when they don’t have to face the voters again. l

Russia calls new sanctions on Crimea n Reuters, Moscow

The Russian Foreign Ministry de-nounced new Western sanctions against Ukraine’s Crimea region yes-terday as a “collective punishment” on local residents who voted in a referen-dum last March to join Russia.

Both the European Union and Unit-ed States adopted tighter restrictions on investments in Crimea this week, targeting individuals, Russian Black Sea oil and gas exploration and tourism.

The referendum, which Ukraine and Western countries rejected as ille-gal, resulted in a 97% vote in favor of joining Crimea to the Russian Federa-tion. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree the following day to annex the

peninsula.“Introducing new unilateral sanc-

tions against the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sebastopol by the USA and European Union is a direct evi-dence that the West has acknowledged that the decision by the Crimeans to re-join Russia was unanimous and volun-tary,” the ministry said in a statement.

“That’s why they chose the ‘punish-ment’ to be collective,” it added. “It is sad that the countries which call them-selves democratic resort to such meth-ods in the 21st century.”

The West slapped sanctions on Mos-cow over Crimea and stepped them up as pro-Russian separatist unrest spread to the eastern Ukraine regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. l

UN asks Israel to pay Lebanon $850m for oil spill n AP, United Nations

The UN General Assembly overwhelm-ingly approved a resolution asking Israel to pay Lebanon over $850m in damages for an oil sp ill caused by an Israeli air force attack on oil storage tanks during its war with Hezbollah in July 2006.

The assembly voted 170-6 in favor of the resolution, with three absten-tions on Friday. Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and Marshall Islands voted “no.”

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but they do re� ect world opinion.

The resolution says “the environ-mental disaster” caused by the de-struction of the tanks resulted in an oil slick that covered the entire Lebanese coastline and extended to the Syrian coastline, causing extensive pollution.

Israel’s UN Mission said in a state-ment late on Thursday that the resolu-tion is biased against Israel.

“Israel Immediately responded to the oil slick incident by cooperat-ing closely with the United Nations Environment Programme, as well as other UN agencies and NGOs, ad-dressing the environmental situa-tion along the coast of Lebanon,” the statement reads.

“This resolution has long outlived the e� ects of the oil slick, and serves no purpose other than to contribute to institutionalising an anti-Israel agenda at the UN.”

The assembly acknowledged the conclusions in an August report by Sec-retary-General Ban Ki-moon that stud-ies show the value of damage to Leba-non amounted to $856.4m in 2014.

It asked Israel to provide “prompt and adequate compensation.”

The assembly also asked Ban to urge UN bodies and other organisa-tions involved in the initial assessment to conduct a further study, building on the work conducted by the World Bank, to measure and quantify the environmental damage sustained by neighbouring countries.

The resolution notes that “the secretary-general expressed grave concern at the lack of any acknowl-edgement on the part of the govern-ment of Israel of its responsibilities vis-a-vis reparations and compen-sation” to Lebanon and Syria for the oil spill.

It notes that Ban concluded that the spill is not covered by any international oil spill compensation funds and there-fore recognises “that further consider-ation needs to be given to the option of security the relevant compensation from the government of Israel.” l

With Cuba decision, Obama hands Hillary Clinton a giftn Reuters, Washington

Potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton knows a political gift when she sees one.

She was quick to embrace the step this week when President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat no longer having to face an electorate, relaxed US policy toward Cuba.

While assailed by Republicans opposed to restoring ties with the communist-led island, the action has the power to solidify support for Democrats among increasingly in� uential Latino voters and appeal to voters in farm states like Iowa eager to do business in Havana.

Obama’s unilateral move has gently shaken up the 2016 race to succeed him, exposing divisions among Republicans and possibly helping Democrats already buoyed by his decision to liberalise immi-gration policy.

Potential contenders Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio adhered to the traditional Republican hard line on Cuba and sharply criticised Obama. But Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who has a libertarian streak,

backed the new policy.A likely White House candidate, Paul

told a West Virginia radio station that the 50-year-old embargo with Cuba “just hasn’t worked.”

Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of state, also had asserted the previous policy was not working. In her memoir, “Hard Choices,” she wrote that she urged Obama to shift. She welcomed the change in a statement on Wednesday.

Democrats argue that Clinton’s embrace of Obama on Cuba could help her with Lati-no voters, especially younger ones in the key state of Florida, who are less inclined than their elders to be virulently opposed to the Cuban government.

Of America’s 1.5-million-strong Cu-ban-American population, about 80% live in Florida.

“I think it’ll help her with the younger folks,” Democratic strategist Bud Jackson said of Clinton.

Latinos already like what they see in Clinton. A Telemundo/NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found on Thursday that 61% of Latinos see themselves supporting Clinton in 2016, 11 points more than the

general population.More of a plusThe Cuba shift could also prove popular among those dependent on America’s agricultural businesses, major hotels and even sports fans who enjoy watching the best Cuban players make it to Major League Baseball.

“The political calculation has to be that this is more of a plus for a candidate for president than a minus,” said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll of more than 31,000 adults between July and October showed Americans largely open to forging diplomatic relations with Cuba. About one-� fth opposed such a move, while 43% backed it and around 37% were unsure.

But there are potential pitfalls for Clinton. She will need to stake out some positions of her own or risk criticism that she simply represents the third term of a president who is saddled with a 40% approval rating.

In their 2008 battle for the Democratic presidential nomination that Obama won, Clinton accused him of being “naive” for

o� ering to meet leaders of such renegade nations as Cuba without conditions.

Since � irting with a presidential race, Clinton for the most part has chosen not to separate herself from Obama other than to question his decision not to arm Syrian rebels, as her memoir reveals.

Lanhee Chen, a Hoover Institution scholar who advised Republican Mitt Rom-ney’s 2012 presidential bid, said if Clinton is “trying to draw some distance from the president’s foreign policy in some ways, it was not useful to have something where she’s perfectly aligned with him.”

There are also risks for Jeb Bush, a former Florida governor, and Rubio, a Flor-ida senator. In their criticisms of Obama’s policy, the two Republicans are aligning themselves with their party’s conservative base but their views could appear outdated to moderate voters.

“I think it’s kind of a blind cul-de-sac for people like Rubio and Bush to get pushed into,” said Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, who was Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s campaign manager in 2004. “It re� ects a Florida that doesn’t exist anymore.” l

Women ‘punished’ for marrying non-Jordanians n Agencies

Khaled al-Maani sat neatly on one of the brown velvet mattresses lining his par-ents’ living room in southern Marka, Jor-dan, � ipping through his schoolbooks.

The 13-year-old told Al Jazeera he “hated” school � ve years ago, when his teacher asked him to return textbooks she gave to him by “mistake.” He was not entitled to them, she said, because he was Egyptian.

“But my mother is Jordanian,” Khaled explained.

It was the � rst time he had encoun-tered the reality that in his family of eight, only his mother was a Jordanian citizen, while he and his six siblings - despite being born and raised in Jordan - remained “second-class citizens.” While Jordan’s citizenship law states that “children of a Jordanian [man] are Jordanian regardless of where they were born,” Jordanian women cannot pass on their citizenship if married to non-Jordanian men.

Khaled’s mother, Laila al-Maani, and thousands of Jordanian women have staged more than 50 protests over the past decade at sites ranging from government o� ces to the Royal Court, demanding full rights for their children. l

Turkish court issues arrest warrant for US-based Erdogan rivaln Reuters, Istanbul

A Turkish court issued an arrest war-rant on Friday for US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen whose followers are accused by President Tayyip Erdo-gan of leading a terrorist plot to seize power, according to media.

The warrant takes Erdogan’s cam-paign to root out Gulen supporters, including purges of the judiciary and police, to the international arena po-tentially testing strained relations with Washington. Newspapers said a pros-ecutor, � ling for the warrant, accused him of leading a terrorist gang.

Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. He was a close ally of Erdogan in the ear-ly years after his ruling AK Party took power in 2002 but has been in open con� ict with him since a graft inves-tigation emerged a year ago targeting the then-prime minister’s inner circle.

Erdogan portrays the investigation as part of a coup attempt and describes Gu-len’s followers as traitors and terrorists - all charges that Gulen, who runs a vast network of schools and business enter-prises in Turkey and abroad, denies.

O� cials at Gulen’s headquarters in Saylorsburg were not immediately available for comment. l

Police spray water canons to disperse a rally making its way to Kizilay Square in the capital Ankara, as mainly teachers demonstrated against the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s education policy yesterday AFP

Sunday, December 21, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World 9

Pakistan steps up campaign against � ghters n Agencies

Reports say 21 � ghters have been killed in aerial strikes in the Tirah Valley in Pa-kistan’s northwestern Khyber Agency.

The country’s leaders pledged de-cisive action in the wake of Tuesday’s school massacre in Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which left 149 people dead, most of them children.

The rampage brought international condemnation and fuelled calls in Pa-kistan for action against armed � ghters.

Saturday’s bombardment comes a day after Pakistan hanged two convict-ed men in the � rst executions since 2008 after the government ended a moratorium on the death penalty in the wake of the school massacre.

O� cials said that there may be 10 more executions in the coming days: six in Punjab province and four in

southern Sindh province.Meanwhile, US drone strikes in Data

Khel area of North Waziristan province left six people dead yesterday, Paki-stani security o� cials said.

“A US drone � red two missiles at a compound in Mada Khail neigh-bourhood of Data Khel area in North Waziristan killing � ve militants. The death toll is expected to rise,” a senior security o� cial requesting anonymity told AFP news agency.

Also yesterday, nine people in-cluding a policeman and paramilitary soldier were killed in two separate incidents when security forces hit suspected rebel hideouts in the north-west, o� cials said.

In the � rst incident, police and paramilitary soldiers raided suspected hideouts in the Mechani neighbour-hood of Shabqadar, a town around 30km north of Peshawar.

“A soldier of the Frontier Corps and a policeman embraced martyrdom in an exchange of � re with militants in Mechani neighbourhood of Shabqadar Saturday morning,” local police o� cial Wilayat Khan told AFP.

He said two � ghters belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the group behind Tuesday’s school massa-cre were also killed.

In the second incident, � ve mem-bers of the TTP including a local com-mander were killed o� cials said.

“Five members of the TTP were killed in a raid on their hideout in Gujjar Gadi neighbourhood of Matni, around 16 miles (25km) south of Pesha-war,” a senior security o� cial told AFP.

The Pakistani army has been waging a major o� ensive against longstanding Taliban and other rebel strongholds in the restive tribal areas on the Afghan border for the last six months. l

Modi’s party distances from religious conversions n Reuters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mo-di’s party said yesterday it does not support forceful religious conversions, distancing itself from a sensitive issue that has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties and hurt the gov-ernment’s reform agenda.

Modi has in recent weeks come un-der � re for being slow to rein in his hard-line a� liate groups that are allegedly trying to promote a Hindu-dominant agenda by luring Muslims and Chris-tians to convert to Hinduism.

Critics say such groups undermine the secular foundations of multi-faith India and have become more assertive since Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in May.

“BJP is not supportive of any force-ful conversions,” party president Amit Shah said, adding that his party was supportive of bringing in an anti-con-version law.

India’s 1.2 billion people are pre-dominantly Hindus, but the country has about 160 million Muslims and a small proportion of Christians.

Religious conversions are a hot button issue for Hindi nationalists in India, which was colonised for centu-ries by Muslim and Christian invaders. Some hardliners want the entire coun-

try to become a land of Hindus.Earlier this month, Muslim

slum-dwellers complained they had been tricked into a conversion cere-mony by Hindu groups who attracted them with promises of cheap govern-ment rations and voter identity cards. Indian police are investigating the case.

In another incident, a Hindu priest-turned-lawmaker of Modi’s par-ty planned a conversion ceremony on Christmas Day, but canceled the event after the prime minister intervened.

Supporters de� ne such events as a ‘homecoming’, saying families signing up for the ceremonies were originally Hindus.

“A police complaint has been reg-istered against the so-called home-coming program and the matter has reached the court. ... Let the court de-cide if it was a forceful conversion or not,” Shah said.

Modi’s agenda to push through re-forms to boost economic growth has hit a roadblock in India’s upper house of parliament, where opposition law-makers have demanded that the prime minister make a statement on the con-tested conversions issue.

The Hindu nationalist leader has so far refrained from doing so, and has let his colleagues fend o� criticism. l

Pak army chief: Hang 3,000 terrorists in 48 hours n Agencies

From a Twitter account purported to be of Pakistan Army chief, Gen Ra-heel Sharif tweeted on Wednesday, “Asked PM Nawaz Sharif to hang all terrorists. More than 3,000 terrorists should be hanged in next 48 hours.” A day later, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s command-er Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi was out on bail.

Gen Sharif, who has frontally tak-en on the Taliban, is credited to have changed the army’s approach towards extremist groups, from one of using them as allies — as “strategic assets” against “enemies” like India — to launching an uncompromising o� en-sive against them.

Gen Sharif’s Twitter pro� le makes for interesting reading. l

North Korea seeks joint probe with US on Sony hack n Reuters

North Korea said US accusations that it was involved in a cyberattack on Sony Pictures were “groundless slander” and that it was wanted a joint investigation into the incident with the United States.

An unnamed spokesman of the North’s foreign ministry said there would be “grave consequences” if Washington refused to agree to the joint probe and continued to accuse Pyongyang, the o� cial KCNA news agency reported yesterday.

On Friday, President Barack Obama blamed North Korea for the devas-tating cyberattack, which led to the Hollywood studio cancelling “The Interview,” a comedy on the � ctional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In its � rst substantive response to the accusation, the isolated North Ko-rea said it could prove it had nothing to do with the massive hacking attack.

“We propose to conduct a joint in-vestigation with the US in response to groundless slander being perpetrated by the US by mobilising public opinion,” the North Korean spokesman said.

“If the US refuses to accept our proposal for a joint investigation and continues to talk about some kind of response by dragging us into the case, it must remember there will be grave consequences,” the spokesman said.

Earlier, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it had deter-mined that North Korea was behind the hacking of Sony, saying Pyong-yang’s actions fell “outside the bounds of acceptable state behavior.”

Sony Pictures Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton insisted the company did not capitulate to hackers and said it is still looking for alternative platforms to release “The Interview.” This week, a spokeswom-an for Sony had said the company did not have further release plans for the

$44m � lm starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.

Despite Obama’s stern warning to North Korea, his options for respond-ing to the computer attack by the im-poverished state appeared limited. The president declined to be speci� c about any actions under consideration.

North Korea has been subject to US sanctions for more than 50 years, but they have had little e� ect on its human rights policies or its development of nuclear weapons. It has become ex-pert in hiding its often criminal mon-ey-raising activities, largely avoiding traditional banks.

The FBI said technical analysis of malicious software used in the Sony attack found links to malware that “North Korean actors” had developed and found a “signi� cant overlap” with “other malicious cyber activity” previ-ously tied to Pyongyang.

But it otherwise gave scant details on how it concluded that North Korea was behind the attack.

US experts say Obama’s options could include cyber retaliation, � nan-cial sanctions, criminal indictments against individuals implicated in the attack or even a boost in US military support to South Korea, still technical-ly at war with the North.

But the e� ect of any response would be limited given North Korea’s isolation and the fact that it is already heavily sanctioned for its nuclear pro-gram.

There is also the risk that an overly harsh US response could provoke Pyong-yang to escalate any cyber warfare.

Non-conventional capabilities such as cyber warfare and nuclear technology are the weapons of choice for the impov-erished North, defectors said in Seoul.

They said the Sony attack may have been a practice run for North Korea’s “cy-berarmy” as part of its long-term goal of being able to cripple its rivals’ telecom-munications and energy grids. l

N Korea says to boost nuclear power to counter US hostile policy n Reuters

North Korea vowed yesterday to boost its “nuclear power” to counter Wash-ington’s hostile policy, saying it had become apparent the United States aimed to invade the North under the guise of human rights abuses.

Member countries of the United Na-tions on Thursday urged the Security Council to consider referring North Ko-rea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity as alleged in a UN inquiry report released earlier this year.

“Now that the US hostile policy with an aim to invade our republic under the guise of human rights has become apparent, the idea of denu-clearising the Korean peninsula it-self is no longer valid,” the North’s foreign ministry spokesman said on KCNA.

“Our e� ort to strengthen our defen-sive military power including nuclear power will be doubly stepped up in every way,” the spokesman said in a statement.

A UN Commission of Inquiry re-port published in February detailed wide-ranging abuses in North Korea, including prison camps, systematic torture, starvation and killings compa-rable to Nazi-era atrocities.

It is unlikely to lead to action in the International Criminal Court at The Hague, which looks at serious abuses like genocide and other crimes against humanity, because China would likely use its veto power to block it.

North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests and is believed to have materials for up to a dozen atomic weapons but there is no independent assessment that it has mastered the technology to mount a warhead on a missile.

The unnamed spokesman of the North’s foreign ministry did not men-tion the � nding by the US Federal Bu-reau of Investigation that North Korea was behind a cyber attack on Sony Pic-tures and President Barack Obama’s vow to respond. l

Obama grants $1bn to Pakistan n Agencies

President Barack Obama has signed a massive annual defence policy bill which grants $1bn to Pakistan for the expenses made by its army in support of the US military operations in war-torn Afghanistan.

The National Defence Authorisation Act for the � scal year 2015, signed by Obama on Friday, sets overall defence spending at $578bn which has provision for release of Coalition Support Fund amounting to $1bn to Pakistan.

CSF is not a military aid but a reim-bursement to Pakistan for the expenses made by the its army in support of the US military operations in Afghanistan.

Though there are conditions attached for the disbursement of the amount to Pakistan, with regard to it taking action against terrorist organisations and in particular the Haqqani network, but as usual the defence secretary can waive o� these certi� cation under national in-terest, as has consistently been the case for the past several years.

US and Pakistan are now holding talks on extending CSF even after the with-drawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

The NDAA asks the defence secre-tary to submit a report to the Congress on US-Pak bilateral security co-opera-tion within the � rst 90 days of the pas-sage of this bill and every six months thereafter till December 2017. l

Obama vows US response to North Korea over Sony cyber attackn Reuters, Washington

President Barack Obama vowed on Fri-day to respond to a devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures that he blamed on North Korea, and scolded the Hol-lywood studio for caving in to what he described as a foreign dictator impos-ing censorship in America.

Obama said the cyber attack caused a lot of damage to Sony but that the

company should not have let itself be intimidated into halting the public re-lease of “The Interview,” a lampoon portraying the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“We will respond,” Obama told an end-of-year news conference. “We’ll respond proportionally, and we’ll re-spond in a place and time and manner that we choose.”

Obama said North Korea appeared

to have acted alone. Washington be-gan consultations with Japan, China, South Korea and Russia seeking their assistance in reining in North Korea.

It was the � rst time the United States had directly accused anoth-er country of a cyber attack of such magnitude on American soil and set up a possible new confrontation be-tween longtime foes Washington and Pyongyang. l

Xi Jinping defends ‘one-China’ principle

n BBC

Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Macau to mark the 15th anniversary of the former Portuguese colony’s return to China.

He urged people in the territory to respect the “one-China” principle.

Like neighbouring Hong Kong, Macau is a special autonomous region and has experienced pro-

tests by pro-democracy activists this year.

Correspondents say o� cials in Bei-jing do not want to the territories to become hotbeds of dissent.

“We must both adhere to the ‘one China’ principle and respect the di� er-ence of the two systems,” Mr Xi said at the inauguration of Macau’s Chief Ex-ecutive Fernando Chui.

“This is the only way leading to

sound and steady progress,” Mr Xi add-ed. “Otherwise a misguided approach from the beginning, just like putting one’s left foot into the right shoe, would lead us nowhere.”

Six months ago, demonstrators in Macau took to the streets to demand greater democracy. Mr Chui was the only nominee for the chief executive position, and was elected by a 400-per-son panel. l

Taliban threaten to kill politicians’ kids next n Agencies

After the gruesome killing of children in Peshawar this week, Tehrik-e-Tal-iban Pakistan has warned the Nawaz Sharif government that it will start eliminating children of politicians, in-cluding Sharif’s family, and army o� -cers if the Pakistan government keeps its commitment to hang militants ow-ing allegiance to the terror out� t.

The warning came in the form of a letter, written apparently by Moham-med Kharasani, believed to be a top commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah. It was received by Pakistan authorities on Friday eve-ning. TOI has access to the letter.

Top sources said they were trying to verify if the letter was genuine. The

letter justi� ed the killing of young chil-dren saying the kids were committed to following in the footsteps of their parents.

While the letter doesn’t mention In-dia, it is still of interest as one of those facing death sentence in Pakistan is Omar Sheikh, one of the terrorists re-leased in the Kandahar hijacking and also the killer of Daniel Pearl.

The letter says that if any incarcer-ated terrorist is killed, TTP will take re-venge by killing more young children. “Let us make it clear to Pakistan estab-lishment that if any of our associates is harmed, we will avenge ourselves by targeting your children. We would ensure that houses of army generals and political leaders become centers of mourning,” said the letter. l

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with the Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region Fernando Chui during his visit to Macau to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its handover to the mainland yesterday REUTERS

Sony Pictures canceled the December 25, theatrical release of its North Korea comedy after major US theater chains pulled out of showing the � lm following threats from hackers REUTERS

Towards a culture of accountabilityWith nearly two weeks having passed since the disastrous

oil spill in the Sundarbans, and its ecological and economic impacts having become apparent, it is unfortunate that no

action has yet been taken against those responsible for such gross negligence.

A parliamentary watchdog has held the Shipping Ministry liable for the catastrophe, citing its failure to con� rm the � tness of the vehicle and its pitiable response to the accident. The body has also voiced its disappointment with the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry’s e� orts to contain the situation.

It would be wise of the government to make its members answerable for their actions, or lack thereof. Accountability should apply to all levels of an organisation, and ministers need to be held responsible for their duties.

It is, then, appropriate that ministers should be sacked on the grounds of failing grossly and exhibiting denial and insensitivity, instead of contrition or even any belated intention to step up.

Taking such a step could help to start changing the culture of government in Bangladesh, and would be greatly bene� cial to the prime minister, as it would be a clear break from the past, and serve as evidence that this government is trying to do things di� erently and better.

The recent accident at the Sundarbans is as good a time as any to start sending a message.

Organic farming a win for allWe are pleased to see the Department of Agriculture

Extension (DAE) partner with BATB to spread awareness about organic farming and protecting the environment,

training people in better crop management, and taking a bio-diversity approach to farming. This is exactly the kind of venture the government should get behind.

Not only does organic farming make the best use of our natural resources while minimising human impact on the environment, but it is cost-e� ective and has proven to be pro� table for farmers, while giving a yield of fresh, high-quality food products in the market for consumers.

Due to high crop intensity, our nation’s soil has low organic matter content. This is where organic farming proves its use. “Dhaincha” (Sesbania sp) cultivation is one of the most e� ective, bio-friendly approaches to increasing the nitrogen and organic matter content of the soil. It decreases the need for chemicals and pesticides, thereby ensuring production and output costs are kept low, and prompting the use for agrochemicals and natural fertilisers, such as compost manure and cow dung.

Also, farmers are taught to use the wet and dry alternating method for rice cultivation to conserve water and fuel, and reduce irrigation costs.

It is evident that organic farming will be a boon to our economy and to our nation. The government can play a role by training and encouraging more farmers in this method.

Our natural resources are under threat due to waste and pollution. It is time for new ideas in farming.

Illegal hospital busted in capital, two jailedDecember 16

Aleha LucyAnything is possible in this country.

HC summons 26 school heads for charging extra SSC feesDecember 15Faisal Ahmed They should be punished for taking excess fees from students.

Writing our historyDecember 16Babul Sarwar And all that injustice, oppression, and despotism was done by so-called Muslims to Muslims and non-Muslims in the name of preserving Islam! Ours was a � ght against the oppressors – a pure jihad in the Qur’anic sense. And all those Arab countries, along with the US government with Mr Kissinger, supported the hypocrites!

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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

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It would be wise of the government to make its members answerable for their actions, or lack thereof

Organic farming is cost-e� ective and has proven to be pro� table for farmers

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Smart and fashionable (4)4 Decline in power (4)8 Spirit (3)9 Worshipped image (4)10 Cicatrix (4)11 Tempest (5)12 Eft (4)14 Bishop’s territory (3)15 Short sleep (3)17 Digit (3)19 Lair (3)21 Small secluded valley (4)23 Indistinct (5)26 Game of skill (4)27 Allege as a fact (4)28 Pale (3)29 Gull (4)30 Incline (4)

DOWN1 Pamper (6)2 Country (4)3 Remedies (5)4 Humour (3)5 Embellish (5)6 And not (3)7 Tree (3)11 Metal (5)13 Cleat (5)16 Fertilising powder (6)18 Keen (5)20 Himalayan state (5)22 Not any (4)23 Fermentation vessel (3)24 Hail! (3)25 Container for ashes (3)

CROSSWORD

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 19 represents L so � ll L every time the � gure 19 appears.You have one letter in the control grid to start you o� . Enter it in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZThe Muslimah pageant and a few other thingsDecember 9

BeepHer own religious beliefs aside, one cannot pretend some of what Taslima is saying in the article is incorrect. Islam does demand that women cover themselves, while men need not do the same, because apparently men are creatures incapable of keeping themselves under control when they lay their eyes upon a lock of luscious, silky hair. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issues with the hijab. I take issue with women being forced to wear them because their government tells them to.

astrophoenix Beep: Islam does require that a woman cover herself to a greater extent than a man – this is true. Islam also dictates there be no compulsion is religion. If someone chooses to follow the religion to that extent, it’s that individual’s decision. The problem arises when people force others, and that deserves fair criticism.

Boop Beep: Aren’t they though? Just joshing! Yes, that was indeed quite a ridiculous claim, but the gist of her opinion remains quite cogent, that religions and contradictions go hand-in-hand.

Anjali KhatunAs a feminist, the author ought to be seeking common ground with orthodox Muslims on the largely trivial and harmless, but nonetheless demeaning (and harmful to young girls’ self image), nature of beauty contests. Instead, she sticks to her personal hobby horses and assumes all Muslims and men think the same.

Saif AhmedThis pageant is stupid, like all other beauty pag-eants. It’s simply a money-making scam that peo-ple buy into. But Ms Nasrin uses it to generalise and propagate a negative image of Muslims. Not all “pious” Muslims as she puts it hate non-be-lievers and want to kill them. Not all “golden boys of golden Bengal” want to cover women in black garb. When she identi� es those groups, she fails to mention that it is only a tiny segment of a very, very large group of people.

Mr KahnThis was an interesting read. It is unfair criticism to say Ms Nasrin is attacking the religion. She is not. She is merely pointing a few contradictions and hypocrisies present in the behaviour of some people who claim to be pious, such as the whole beauty pageant thing. I don’t agree with each one of her arguments, but kudos for a brave and thought-provoking piece!

Dreampie Mr Kahn: This writer is someone truly worth paying attention to.

Karl Hungus Dreampie: Reading Taslima’s column has always been a guilty pleasure for me before, but this particular piece has really piqued my interest.

Son Zoo Excellent article. Although the writer does get a bit too personal in certain spots, she points out some of the consistencies embedded within “pious” Muslims with surgical precision.

A CitizenI love these deliciously provocative pieces from Taslima. She writes with conviction, and so predictably ru� es a few feathers. Maybe being abroad gives her the privilege to say some things that need to be said.

Muhaiminul Islam Jaan“Groups of Muslims are taking part in a sexual jihad. These girls travel for miles to reach the desserts of Iraq and Syria, so that they can sexually please some unknown men.”

How do you know that when there are no journalists in war zones?

Monkeyman Muhaiminul Islam Jaan: Don’t you read/watch the news? This is a pretty big story, well documented.

roseIt is true. We do not need to follow the culture of Saudi Arabia. We should be doing what is right for us, is that not the case?

Nazia Tariq RahmanThis piece is not my favorite. There’s a lot of dramatic � air in it that I do not care for, although the gist of it I get. Islamophobia is very real and should not be ignored, because of all the extremists, Islam comes o� as a very oppressive religion. Religion, like everything else, should be a choice and not forced.

astrophoenix“Islamic extremists today are freely preaching their religion on Twitter and Facebook. Religious terrorists are using modern technology to spread terror.

Fanatics are carrying mobile phones – an invention of the non-believers. Non-believers or atheists are inventing new technologies, and Muslims are all over those inventions.”

I am curious – is this an Islamic requirement that non-believers and Muslims cannot exchange knowledge/technology? Or is this only an issue with Muslims who show an overwhelming amount of hate for people who are not Muslims? If that’s the case, isn’t it also hypocritical for Muslim-hating groups to use algebra and algorithms?

“Pious Muslims don’t have any objections about enjoying such modern conveniences. At the same time, they do not have any objections about hating non-believers or atheists, cursing and swearing at them, or even executing them while screaming God’s name.”

Majority of the Muslims in the world would actually disagree that the people who are executing others in God’s name are “pious Muslims.”

11Op-Ed Sunday, December 21, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Saleemul Huq

Going into the Lima talks, there was a great sense of optimism buoyed by the

successful climate change summit held by the UN secretary general in September and with the many hundreds of thousands of marchers in New York and many other cities around the world.

This was followed closely with the historic agreement by President Obama and President Xi that the Unit-ed States and China, the two biggest polluting countries, will act together to tackle their respective emissions.

This positive mood lasted well into the two weeks of negotiations in Lima,

until it came to a crashing halt with a text which was so bad that country after country started objecting to it.

It led to Peru’s environment minis-ter, president of the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP20) to take over the process and called for an extra day of consultations.

This resulted in the end with the Lima Call for Climate Action which was adopted a full day-and-a-half after the o� cial end of the two-week long COP.

This agreement was essentially a watered down, lowest-common-de-nominator agreement that is much below the expectations going in.

The best that can be said about it is that it keeps the show on the road

until Paris next year.I will, therefore, argue that COP21

to be held in Paris, France in December 2015, where a new agreement is ex-pected to be negotiated (having failed to do so once before in Copenhagen) will indeed be the last-chance-saloon for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Reality has moved onTwenty years ago, when the UNFCCC was agreed, in climate change terms, is an era in which much has changed.

Countries are now engaged in tack-ling the real adverse impacts of climate change. Bangladesh, whose emissions of GHGs is miniscule, boasts one of the world’s fastest growing programs of

installing solar home systems.Driven through public private

partnerships, it has sold more than 3 million systems in just a few years.

There are many more similar stories around the world.

The good news is that as countries make such investments in cleaner en-ergy, they � nd it is indeed a good thing for their own development as well as being good for reducing emissions of GHGs.

There is also a movement, albeit still quite small, but growing fast, of disinvestment from fossil fuel companies that is quite independent of the UNFCCC process and involves institutional investors and is based on the riskiness attached to investments in fossil fuel companies.

The purpose of agreementThe very purpose of having a global treaty like the UNFCCC to tackle a global problem such as climate change is for all countries to agree collectively to taking actions and hold each other to account in a some legal form.

The Kyoto Protocol was one such legally binding agreement which was agreed at COP3 in 1997.

The degree of legal “bindingness” of any agreement is therefore a key attribute of any successful agreement with a protocol being the most legally binding and a “pledge and review” process much less binding.

What we seem to be heading for is a “pledge and chat” (ie without even any review) agreement which is even weaker.

Under such a regime countries, need not bother to come to the COP but could simply e-mail in their volun-tary pledges.

Financing climate change actionsOne of the key elements of any COP (and one that always gets resolved in the last few hours of the COP) is that on � nance, specially the promises by the rich countries to provide � nance to the poorer countries to tackle climate change (both for mitigation as well as adaptation).

This was also true in Lima.However, it can also be argued that

once the developed countries prom-ised to provide $100bn a year from 2020 onwards and all countries agreed to set up the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as the repository of these funds, there is no longer anything much left for negotiation in the UNFCCC COPs.

The countries that have pledged to provide the funds should simply deposit them to the GCF.

Indeed while we were in Lima the amount of money pledged to the GCF crossed the $10bn mark.

Coalitions of the willingAs it is so di� cult to reach consensus within the UNFCCC negotiations process, more and more coalitions of the willing are emerging to take concrete actions to tackle climate change.

One such coalition was formed the year before Copenhagen by then President Nasheed of the Maldives, who set up the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) with leaders from the three groups of vulnerable countries (namely AOSIS, LDC and Arica) as well as other vulnerable countries, to share action on tackling climate change (and not become another negotiating

group).Since then, this group has moved

on under the leadership of President Tong of Kiribati and then Sheikh Hasina and then the President of Costa Rica.

In Lima, the minister of Costa Rica handed over the chair of the CVF to the minister of the Philippines who will convene a summit meeting in the Philippines before COP21 in Paris.

The purpose of the forum is for countries to share positive experiences of tackling climate change, including both adaptation as well as mitigation.

UNFCCC prospectsAs the UNFCCC caravanserai moves on to Geneva in February next year and then to Bonn in June and possible another meeting in October before � -nally arriving in Paris in December, the negotiators will enhance their carbon footprint (while clocking up their own airmiles) while the outcomes are likely to remain disappointing.

One reason is inherent in the pro-cess of negotiations, which is that no country ever gives up anything until the very last minute.

So no matter how long the negotia-tions are allowed to go on, concessions will only be made in the last minutes of the last day in Paris (and that is if we are lucky).

So, from my point of view, I sin-cerely hope that COP21 in Paris � nally delivers the kind of agreement that we can all be proud of.

If not, it is time to call the process dead and to stop � ogging the dead horse that the UNFCCC will become if Paris fails. l

Saleemul Huq is Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London and Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University, Bangladesh. This article was previously published on rtcc.org.

Is UN climate change body still � t for purpose?

No country ever gives up anything until the very last minute

n Iffat Nawaz

Maybe we do not see the � re visibly, but those who had the heart to connect found eyes, and saw this � re

spreading fast without much organ-ised damage control.

When I heard about the Sundarbans oil spillage, the � rst thing I wondered about was, is this going to be another short-term damage control e� ort, or will anyone actually look at this mega problem with a long-term rehabilita-tion plan?

I am not blaming any bodies, but after living in this country on-and-o� for a good number of years, I have realised how so many problems are “solved” with just a torn masking tape. I am afraid the same will happen here, without thought given to changing patterns of disaster response methods.

When I � rst went to the bon, it was 1986. I was a little girl, and I don’t have too many memories from that trip, except that we took a launch called Os-trich, and we saw deer in the distance and it took us a day and a night to reach our destination. We went to my maternal grandmother’s home, who lived in a village near Satkhira where tigers visited looking for chicken and goats frequently.

I went back to the bon many years later again in 2010. This time as an adult and for work. I came back with typhoid and wild dreams. Then I returned again the year after during pouring monsoon, ten days on a small boat connected me to all that I could see and feel. Women of Burigoalni village, who only got to boil potatoes for food, showed me the big holes in their saris, their barren gardens, told me stories of their sisters and brothers eaten by tigers.

I do not know when I started caring about the bon, but I know I am not the only one. There are thousands of peo-ple like me who have a deep personal connection with the Sundarbans and a lot of you who are taking the time to read this will also have similar stories as mine and many more.

What are we to do now? That’s what people are asking each other. Some are running to the spot, a few of them are conducting surveys, mapping the oil spillage, the forest department is putting in their e� ort, some popular personalities are going to understand the damage so that they can give sup-port for the right cause.

Many so-called Sundarbans-friend-ly NGOs are already extending their hands to donors to help with disaster management without any proper plan. And then there are those who are just going for disaster tourism, the most damaging thing you can do to Sundar-bans in the name of oil spillage.

If you have nothing to give to the bon at the moment, isn’t it best that you wait for the opportunity to help when a trusted body of people give good guidance? I know things move slow here, but have patience?

Some of the clean-up e� orts are also harming the ecology, people are cutting through the mangrove, increasing further damage. Experts are

� nally coming together to � gure out the best way of oil spillage clean-up for mangroves, which is very di� erent from the oil-spillage clean up from other eco-systems.

Some specialists even recommend a no-action/natural recovery clean up, not to say that is the best solution here. But the need for selecting the best method of clean-up is extremely necessary at the moment and the gov-ernment will hopefully � gure that out without too much delay.

Because really, time is running out and the oil is spreading, due to natural reasons as well as human intervention (for example, if a tourism company illegally takes the route through the damage area instead of the designated alternative route, or if the disaster management group’s boats do not follow the speci� c guidelines of how to manouvre vessels without causing too many ripples and waves in the damaged area’s water).

What can we do now? If you are a scientist working with ecology,

and think your skills can be useful, come forward. If you are a passionate Sundarbans lover, believe me, there will be a lot to do in just a few days where you will feel like you gave back to the Sundarbans, hold tight and take stock of your best skills, the ones which may be useful for recovery e� orts.

Also, when using social media, Facebook, Twitter, please verify the source of information before promot-ing items which can also create a hype away from the constructive one. If you

are a tourist who had planned a winter trip in the bon, please make sure your boat follows the alternative route (away from the damage area).

We can be slow learners and mov-ers, but we are shakily hoping that this time the country will prove us wrong – if a united e� ort is given without power and ego play, or prior biases, or under political agendas, or in the hope of becoming famous through yet an-other cause (because this is really far more important than you and me).

Isn’t it time to come together as

one? The tigers were already disap-pearing, the deer can’t drink the water, the birds do not dive and catch � shes from the canals, bodies are turning the colour of tar, and green is turning black. It’s time now to join hands, join e� orts. Otherwise this will be another past we will lament over for years. Don’t we already have enough of those? l

I� at Nawaz is a writer and conservationist. The name of this column, Salt and Honey, was inspired by the Sundarbans.

The Sundarbans are burning S A L T A N D H O N E Y

Time is running out and the oil is spreading, due to natural reasons as well as human intervention

Green turns to black: Sundarbans in crisis SAADUL ISLAM

BIGSTOCK

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

Sport1413 Fighting Blatter says he will not abandon Fifa

Magic Johnson inspires Aussies to Gabba win

14 Atletico de Kolkata clinch maiden ISL title

Did you know? Andy Carroll has

scored his � rst PL goal for West Ham with his foot since April 2013, the last four all coming via

his head

Europa Group clinch corporate cricket titlen Raihan Mahmood

Europa Group emerged as the champi-ons of the 4th Marcel Twenty20 Cor-porate Cricket defeating Walton Group by nine wickets in the � nal held at Mo-hammedpur Eidgah Ground yesterday.

Walton opted to bat � rst after win-ning the toss and were skittled out for 101 in 16.3 overs. Johirul Islam of Wal-ton top-scored with 20 runs from 14 balls while Tushar of Europa grabbed four wickets conceding six runs only. In reply, Europa cruised to victory reach-ing 104 for the loss of just one wicket in 11.3 overs. Ratan’s blitzkrieg 54 o� just

24 deliveries paved the way for Europa to the facile victory. For the losing side, Nayeb Ali took the only wicket to fall.

Tushar of Europa was adjudged the man of the � nal while Sahel Mia of Wal-ton was named the player of the tour-nament.

Bangladesh Cricket Board vice pres-ident Mahbubul Anam and actor Elias Kanchan distributed the prizes among the winners.

28 corporate teams participated in the tournament that got underway on November 14, 2014. Sports event man-agement organisation ASEMS hosted the tournament.l

Old DOHS lose all 12 matches to go downn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Partex Sporting Club kept their sur-vival hopes alive in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League after trouncing fellow relegation battlers Old DOHS by 88 runs yesterday in Fatullah. National discard Rajin Saleh’s unbeaten century was the cornerstone of Partex’s com-fortable victory.

The defeat con� rmed Old DOHS’ (zero point) demotion to the First Divi-sion Cricket League. Partex (six points) and Kalabagan Krira Chakra (six points) will now face other tomorrow in Savar in what will virtually be a survival-de-cider. The losers of the tie will also drop down to the � rst division while the winning side will retain their place in the lone 50-over domestic competition of the country.

Deciding to take � rst strike, Partex posted a challenging 269/5 in their stip-ulated 50 overs, riding on the back of Rajin’s undefeated knock of 107 from 128 balls. The diminutive right-hander cracked 10 boundaries and two sixes

and was ably supported by cricketer Rony Talukder’s brother, Jony, who chipped in 93 runs of his own.

Jony pummeled 93 runs o� 109 de-liveries with the help of nine fours and three maximums and alongside Rajin, added 132 runs for the second-wick-

et partnership. Saleh Ahmed Shawon bagged three wickets for Old DOHS.

Chasing 270, a joint e� ort by the Par-tex bowlers saw Old DOHS end their in-nings on 181 in 47.2 overs. Nuruzzaman Masum and Sha� ul Alam picked up three wickets each for Partex.

Raihan Arafat’s 45-ball 44 was the highest score for Old DOHS. l

Adelaide’s Shakib on the verge of joining Melbourne Renegadesn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Premier Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan is most likely to join Mel-bourne Renegades in the ongoing Big Bash Twenty20 League 2014-15. Ac-cording to close associates of Shakib, the left-arm all-rounder has reached a consensus with Renegades over a deal and an o� cial announcement is due within a day or two.

Last week, Shakib con� rmed his participation in the premier Australian T20 domestic league that got underway last Thursday. The 27-year old, how-ever, did not disclose the name of his team as he said he only wants to do it after putting pen to paper – a process that is expected to be completed soon.

In his previous appearance in the tournament in the 2013-14 season, Shakib featured for the Adelaide Strik-ers. His contract, however, was ter-minated after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) handed out an overseas league ban on him. The ban was sup-posed to run till the end of next year. BCB cited a “severe attitude problem” on Shakib’s part.

However, BCB later lifted his em-bargo on playing in overseas domestic competitions, paving the way for him to take part in the Big Bash.

The Strikers have already signed their maximum quota of two overseas players – South African cricketer Johan Botha and West Indian all-rounder Ki-eron Pollard. Pollard though will leave midway through the tournament to attend national team duty. Thereafter, the Strikers will recruit someone else.

If Shakib � nalises his deal with the Melbourne out� t, he will play under the leadership of Australian opening bats-man Aaron Finch and share the dress-ing room with the likes of wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, Callum Ferguson, Tom Cooper, Jesse Ryder, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Peter Siddle, Alex Dool-an, Fawad Ahmed, James Pattinson and Ben Rohrer among others. l

BANGABANDHU GOLD CUP

Dhaka, Sylhet to host both groupsn Raihan Mahmood

In its bid to ensure an equal impact and add more glamour to the Bangabandhu Gold Cup, Bangladesh Football Feder-ation (BFF) is thinking of hosting the tournament in a di� erent manner.

Usually, two groups in a football competition play their matches in two di� erent venues. However, in order to promote the event properly, BFF is planning on utilising the two venues – Dhaka and Sylhet – for both the groups.

The idea of holding Bangladesh’s group stage matches in Sylhet has re-portedly ignited negative criticisms. And responding to the vitriol, BFF has altered its strategy. “We are now plan-ning to use the two venues for both the groups. It means, Bangladesh will now play one of their group matches in Dhaka and the other in Sylhet. This will be applicable for the other teams also,” said BFF general secretary Abu

Nayeem Shohag yesterday.Shohag said there will be nine

match-days in total with one semi� -nal slated for Sylhet. “As per our plans, there will be three match-days in Dha-ka on January 16, 17 and 18 while in Syl-het, the three match-days have been scheduled for January 19, 20 and 21. The � rst semi� nal will be held in Sylhet on January 23, the second in Dhaka on January 24. Following a two-day break, the � nal will take place on January 27 at Bangabandhu National Stadium.

“Although it will increase our cost a bit, it will still be convenient for the spectators.”

The Bangabandhu Gold Cup will feature hosts Bangladesh, Bahrain, Ma-laysia, Thailand and Singapore with all the � ve teams con� rming their partic-ipation.

The sixth and � nal team is likely to be either Pakistan or Maldives in place of Laos. l

Gazipur, Adamjee in rugby semis n Raihan Mahmood

Gazipur Cantonment College will meet Adamjee Cantonment College in the � rst semi� nal of the Quick City College Rugby at Paltan Ground today.

In the other semi� nal, Cambrian College and St. Joseph College will grind it out for the other � nal berth.

In the � nal group stage matches yesterday, St. Joseph College defeated Dhaka Commerce College 12-5 while Dhaka Imperial College beat Kabi Naz-rul Government College 10-3.

Bangladesh Rugby Union organised the four-day event while Bangladesh Business Consulting was the sponsor.l

Rapid Rating Chess starts todayn Raihan Mahmood

The Walton Home Appliance Victory Day International Rapid Rating Chess, comprising 120 players, begins at Ban-gladesh Chess Federation today.

The two-day event will adopt the nine-round Swiss League system and the fed-eration has arranged a total of Tk50,000 cash award for di� erent categories.

In a presser held at BNS conference room yesterday, chess federation gen-eral secretary Gazi Sha� ul Tareque pre-sented the competition to the media. Walton additional director FM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, federation vice presidents Syed Shahabuddin Shamim and Jahangir Islam, joint secretary Morsalin Ahmed were also present on the occasion. l

(L-R) National cricketers Shaiful Islam, Taskin Ahmed and Imrul Kayes, in their bid to maintain the � tness level, spend time at the SBNS gymnasium yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

National opener Anamul Haque lifts a tiny tot at Cardi� Int’l School yesterday MI MANIK

Rumi of Abahani plays a backhand against Jahangir Builders in the Agrani Bank Womens’s Table Tennis League yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Europa Group, the champions of Marcel Corporate Cricket, celebrate with the champion’s trophy at the Eidgah Gound, Mohammedpur yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

BRIEF SCOREPartex v Old DOHS

Partex 269/5 in 50 oversRajin 107*, Rony 93; Shawon 3/42Old DOHS 181 allout in 47.2 oversRaihan 44; Alam 3/30, Masum 3/30

Partex won by 88 runs

Cardi� Int’l School hosts inter-school sports n Raihan Mahmood

Commemorating the Victory Day of the country, Cardi� International School hosted an inter-school sports competi-tion at Mohammedpur Physical Educa-tion Training College yesterday. A total of 15 English medium schools partici-pated in the day-long event.

State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikder inaugurated the event as the chief guest. National Sports Council secretary Shibnath Roy, former cricket captains Faruk Ahmed, Khaled Mahmud, Habibul Bashar

and Mohammed Ashraful, national cricketer Anamul Haque, national football coach Saiful Bari Titu, former football captain Aminul Haque, Walton director Humayun Kabir and several actors and singers were also present on the occasion.

The programme was presided over by GM Nizamuddin, principal of the Cardi� International School. In his speech the principal hoped that all the English medium educational institu-ions will uphold the heritage and the rich past of the country through their sincere e� orts. l

Gemcon Victory Day Golf concludes n Raihan Mahmood

Brig. Gen. Refayet Ullah clinched the three-day long Gemcon Victory Day Golf while Shah Akibur Rahman � n-ished runners-up at Kurmitola Golf Club last Friday.

The award ceremony of the pres-tigious golf tournament has been sponsored by Gemcon Group for the last eight years. State Minister for Home A� airs, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal distributed the prizes among the winners. Gemcon Group vice chairman Kazi Nabil Ahmed MP, director Mrs. Ameenah Ahmed, director and CSO Dr. Kazi Anis Ahmed, director Mrs. Juditha Irene Ohlmacher, other o� cials of Gem-con Group and Kurmitola Golf Club, a large number of participants and civil and military o� cials alongside their spouses attended the elabo-rate award-giving ceremony. Prom-inent Rabindra Sangeet singer Mita Haque enthralled the audience with her songs. l

French paddler in Arunima n Raihan Mahmood

Dhaka Premier Table Tennis League side Arunima recruited a French pad-dler named Swarz while all the � ve teams who have roped in foreign play-ers, opted for Indian recruits in the on-going league.

Among the eight premier division out� ts, Armanitola and Ajax refrained from recruiting any overseas players. Defending champions Sheikh Russel

brought in Arnab Adhikari, Ciciron � ew in Sourav Sen Gupta, Dhaka Mariners signed Sourav Sen Gupta, Wari relied on Snehomoy Ganguly, and last year’s run-ners-up Palolik kept their faith on Nit-en Singh. Arunima also inserted Indian player Shuvom Kundo who retuned to India for his training commitment.

Meanwhile, Abahani beat Jahangir Builders in the Women’s League at Pal-tan Ground wooden-� oor gymnasium yesterday. l

AFC extend Meraj ban for match-� xingn Reuters

The Asian Football Confederation ex-tended the one-year ban on Bangla-deshi o� cial Mohidur Rahman Meraj for match-� xing continent wide on Fri-day as corruption in the region showed no signs of slowing.

Meraj, joint secretary at Wari Club, was banned from taking part in any kind of football activities by Bangladesh Foot-ball Federation in August after the body deemed the May � xture against Farash-ganj Sporting Club was rigged. Farash-ganj were deducted nine league points and Wari six, while a number of players were handed three and two match bans.l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Sunday, December 21, 2014

Star Sports 29:50 AMKerala v HyderabadSpanish La Liga12:00 AMElche CF v Malaga CF1:55 AMAthletic Bilbao v Atletico MadridStar Sports 42:00PMT20 Big Bash LeagueSydney Thunder v Brisbane HeatEnglish Premier League7:20 PMNewcastle United v Sunderland9:45 PMLiverpool v ArsenalItalian Serie A1:40 AMInter Milan v LazioStar Sports HD 1Spanish La Liga9:55 PMGranada CF v Getafe CFNeo Prime German Bundesliga 8:30PM Hertha Berlin v Ho� enheim 10:30 PMSC Freiburg v Hannover 96Ten SportsFrench Ligue 1 7:00 PMOlympique Marseille v LOSC Lille 10: 00 PMSaint-Etienne v Evian Thonon Gaillard 2:00 AMBordeaux v Olympique Lyonnais

DAY’S WATCH

India 1st innings408 (M. Vijay 144, A. Rahane 81; J. Hazlewood 5-68)Australia 1st innings505 (S. Smith 133, M. Johnson 88; U. Yadav 3-101, I. Sharma 3-117)India 2nd innings R B(Overnight 71 for 1)M. Vijay b Starc 27 39S. Dhawan lbw b Lyon 81 145C. Pujara c Lyon b Hazlewood 43 93V. Kohli b Johnson 1 11A. Rahane c Lyon b Johnson 10 8R. Sharma c Haddin b Johnson 0 2M. Dhoni lbw b Hazlewood 0 2R. Ashwin c Haddin b Starc 19 29U. Yadav c Haddin b Johnson 30 42V. Aaron c Hazlewood b Lyon 3 9I. Sharma not out 1 9Extras (lb2, w5, nb2) 9Total (all out; 64.3 overs) 224

Fall of wickets1-41, 2-76, 3-86, 4-86, 5-87, 6-117, 7-143, 8-203, 9-211, 10-224BowlingJohnson 17.3-4-61-4 (1nb, 5w), Hazlewood 16-0-74-2 (1nb), Starc 8-1-27-2, Watson 13-6-27-0, Lyon 10-1-33-2Australia 2nd innings R BC. Rogers c Dhawan b I. Sharma 55 57D. Warner c Dhoni b I. Sharma 6 12S. Watson c Dhoni b I. Sharma 0 8S. Smith run out (Yadav) 28 39S. Marsh c Dhoni b Yadav 17 17B. Haddin c Kohli b Yadav 1 2M. Marsh not out 6 7M. Johnson not out 2 3Extras (b4, 4lb, w1, nb6) 15Total (6 wickets; 23.1 overs) 130

Fall of wickets1-18, 2-22, 3-85, 4-114, 5-122, 6-122BowlingI. Sharma 9-2-38-3 (5nb), Yadav 9-0-46-2, Aaron 5.1-0-38-0 (1nb, 1w)

Australia won by 4 wickets; lead 4-Test series 2-0

AUSvIND, DAY 4

Australia’s unbeaten batsmen Mitchell Johnson (L) and Mitchell Marsh leave the Gabba ground in Brisbane in a joyous mood foolowing their victory against India on the fourth day of the second Test yesterday AFP

Magic Johnson inspires Aussies to Gabba winn Reuters

Mitchell Johnson’s brilliance with both bat and ball inspired Australia to a four-wicket second Test victory over India and an unassailable 2-0 series lead at the Gabba in Brisbane on Saturday.

Mitch Marsh hit the winning runs as Australia survived a few wobbles to chase down their target of 128 after tea on the fourth day of the conTest but there was little doubt that two in-terventions from Johnson set up the victory.

On Friday, Australia were 247-6 chasing India’s � rst innings 408 when Johnson came out and smashed 88 runs from 93 balls in a Gabba record seventh-wicket stand of 148 with skip-per Steve Smith that turned the match on its head.

On Saturday, India had resumed their second innings on 71-1 looking to quickly make up the 26-run de� cit on Australia’s total of 505 and build anoth-er imposing score.

Half an hour later, their hopes were shattered as Johnson (4-61), ably assist-ed by debutant paceman Josh Hazle-wood (2-74), ripped through the batting to leave India pondering yet another collapse at 87 for � ve.

In one dizzying 11-ball spell, John-son took three for 10 by removing Virat Kohli (1), Ajinkya Rahane (10) and Rohit Sharma (0). Hazlewood, who took 5-68 in the � rst innings, removed India skip-

per Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a duck in the next over.

“Mitch certainly turned it on for us in that little spell this morning, that re-ally cracked the game open for us,” said Smith after tasting victory in his � rst match as captain in place of the injured Michael Clarke.

“All the bowlers, to be fair, produced the goods for us. I thought Joshy Ha-zlewood was outstanding and Nathan Lyon came on and did a job here and there.”

It was another disappointing day on the road for the tourists, who had dom-inated the � rst day on the back of Mu-rali Vijay’s 144 as Australia’s bowlers wilted in the sweltering heat.

Australia’s run chase was far from perfectly handled either and question marks will be raised over the batting of Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh and Brad Haddin who were among the six wick-ets to fall.

Smith, who was also run out with six runs still required, was fairly relaxed about the high casualty rate before Mitch Marsh’s cover drive for four got them over the line.

“I would have liked to have been there in the end but I guess that’s crick-et and I’m just happy we got there,” he said.

“The wicket was still pretty good and the boys were going after them to try and get the runs pretty quickly to-night, so no real hiccup there.” l

Six-star Steyn � res SA to huge winn Reuters, Pretoria

Dale Steyn ripped through the West Indies top order to claim his 25th � ve-wicket haul in Test cricket and give South Africa an innings and 220-run victory on the fourth morning of the � rst Test on Saturday.

The West Indies’ frailties with the bat were cruelly exposed by the top-ranked South Africans, with Steyn leading the charge as he � nished with six for 34 having gone wicketless in the � rst innings.

The visitors resumed in the morning session on 76 for two in their second innings, still trailing by 275 runs, with hopes of batting deep into the day to save the Test.

But a � red-up Steyn sparked a pre-cession of wickets as the West Indies were bowled out for 131, unable to cope with the hostility of the home quicks.

“We didn’t expect it to � nish so early, but Dale bowled exceptionally well to get us started and the wicket

got di� cult to bat on,” Proteas captain Hashim Amla, who was adjudged Man of the Match for his 208, said at the post-match presentation.

He also gave credit to AB de Villiers, his partner in a South African record fourth-wicket partnership of 308 and the player who also donned the gloves with regular wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock injured on day three.

“Having AB in the team is a great blessing, he is a wonderful � elder, a great batsman and he even bowls a bit these days. He is also our spare keeper and he showed his class with the gloves on,” Amla said.

Steyn had limped o� on the third afternoon with a groin problem but showed no signs of discomfort as he steamed in to skittle the West Indies top order in a spell that lasted 90 min-utes.

The loss of Leon Johnson (39) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (four) early left the West Indies in trouble, but their situation became a hopeless one when

Marlon Samuels looped up a catch for Dean Elgar o� a rampant Steyn with his score on 17.

Captain Denesh Ramdin (four), who had called for greater grit and applica-tion from the batsmen in the lead-up to the Test, lasted just two balls as Steyn claimed his fourth by inducing an edge o� the shoulder of the bat to a leaping De Villiers.

The game was up for the tourists and Steyn picked up the � nal two wick-ets, with Kyle Abbott taking an easy catch o� Sheldon Cottrell at mid-wick-et to end the match with bowler Kemar Roach not batting in the innings as he rests his injured ankle. l

Waqar seeks improvement, Williamson hails achievementn AFP, Abu Dhabi

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis warned his team needed to improve before the World Cup while Kane Williamson hailed a “great achievement” after New Zealand win the one-day series 3-2 on Friday.

Pakistan fell 68 runs short in their 276-run chase which prompted Waqar to call for extra hard work in � elding and batting against the short ball.

“We need to improve our � elding,” said Waqar, after his team lost the � fth and � nal match in Abu Dhabi.

“It (� elding) is not up to the mark and must improve a lot and we also need to work hard on short balls as we have to go to Australia and both these things need to be spot on if you want to compete in the World Cup.” Pakistan now have just two one-day internationals in New Zea-land on January 31 and February 3 before the World Cup gets under way.

“I think we must keep hope, we are trying our best. I have full hope in this team for the World Cup, we will do well,” added Waqar.

New Zealand stand-in skipper Wil-

liamson described the series win as a “big achievement”.

“There is still time for the World Cup, it’s good it will be in our conditions and this series win is a big achievement,” said Williamson.

New Zealand’s win was more sig-ni� cant as they rested regular captain

Brendon McCullum and spearheads Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Williamson termed the rotation of players as important.

“It was important to keep adapting our plans, the personnel changed quite a lot, we had a lot of injuries,” he said.

“It has been a great series, an emo-tional series for many reasons and both teams put on some fantastic cricket.”l

Fifa to publish Garcia report in ‘appropriate form’n Reuters, Marrakech

FIFA’s executive committee has unani-mously agreed to publish an “appropri-ate” version of a report into the bidding process for the 2018/2022 World Cups but said Russia and Qatar would still stage the tournaments.

“The decision which has been taken on Dec 2, 2010, stands and there is no re-vote to take,” FIFA president Blatter told a news conference in a luxury Mar-rakech hotel. “We will go on by sticking to our decisions, both tournaments are in our calendar, and we also need to determine when 2022 will take place,” he added, referring to the controversy

over the timing of the tournament in the Gulf state.

“There must be huge upheavel, new elements come to the fore the change this, but the executive committee sees no need to change anything.”

Blatter added that the crisis FIFA has faced since the publication last month of a summary of former investigator Michael Garcia’s 18-month investiga-tion was over.

“We have been in a crisis (but) with the decision of the executive commit-tee today, the crisis has stopped.”

Soccer’s governing body had previ-ously said it could not publish Garcia’s 430-page report for legal reasons.l

New Zealand275 for 4 (Williamson 97, Taylor 88*; Irfan 2-62) Pakistan207 (Sohail 65, Shehzad 54, Henry 5-30)

New Zealand won by 68 runs

BRIEF SCORE

The New Zealand cricketers pose with the winners trophy after the � fth and � nal ODI against Pakistan at Zayed International Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday AFP

Talismanic South Africa speedster Dale Willem Steyn (L) successfully appeals for a lbw decision during the fourth day of their � rst Test against the West Indies yesterday AFP

Walton additional director FM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn (2L) speaks in the press conference at BNS yesterday COURTESY

South Africa, � rst innings552-5 dec (Amla 208, De Villiers 152, van Zyl 101*)West Indies, � rst innings201 (Smith 35; Philander 4-29, Morkel 3-55)West Indies, second innings R B(Overnight 76-2)K. Brathwaite c Petersen b Morkel 20 54D. Smith c sub b Philander 5 9L. Johnson c De Villiers b Steyn 39 88M. Samuels c Elgar b Steyn 17 52S. Chanderpaul c De Villiers b Steyn 4 9J. Blackwood c sub b Morkel 15 17D. Ramdin c De Villiers b Steyn 4 2J. Taylor c Amla b Steyn 9 10S. Benn not out 6 9S. Cottrell c Morkel b Steyn 4 6K. Roach absent injuredExtras (lb3, nb1, w4) 8Total (42.3 overs) 131

Fall of wickets1-8 (Smith), 2-52 (Brathwaite), 3-87 (John-son), 4-91 (Chanderpaul), 5-101 (Samuels), 6-105 (Ramdin), 7-117 (Blackwood)BowlingSteyn 8.2-2-34-6, Morkel 11.1-1-43-2 (1w), Philander 7-4-6-1 (inb), Abbott 3-0-11-0 (1w), Van Zyl 10-2-22-0 (2w), Elgar 3-0-12-0

South Africa won by an innings and 220 runs and lead the three-match series 1-0

SAvWI, DAY 4

Fifa to ban third-party player ownershipn AFP, Marrakech

Fifa will ban third-party ownership of players from May 1 next year, ending a system which critics claim breeds cor-ruption but whose advocates insist is a crucial � nancial lifeline for poorer clubs.

“The ban will come into force on May 1, 2015,” said a FIFA statement fol-lowing a decision taken by the world body’s executive committee on Friday.

“Existing agreements shall continue to be in place until their contractual ex-piry. New agreements made between 1 January and 30 April 2015 will be subject to a time limit (one year maximum).”

Critics of third-party ownership have long argued that such arrange-ments, which players including Bra-zilian Neymar and Argentina’s Carlos Tevez have been subject to, can lead to con� icts of interest and possible cor-ruption.

Supporters, however, have argued that it often enables poorer clubs to hang on to their best players by gener-ating funds to match the wages of big-ger and wealthier rivals.l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Sunday, December 21, 2014

EPLAston Villa 1-1 Man UnitedBenteke 18 Falcao 53

Hull 0-1 Swansea Ki 15

Man City 3-0 Crystal PalaceSilva 49, 61, Toure 81

QPR 3-2 West BromAustin 24-P, 48, 86 Lescott 10, Varela 20

Southampton 3-0 EvertonLukaku 38-og, Pelle 65, Yoshida 82

Tottenham 2-1 BurnleyKane 21, Lamela 35 Barnes 27

West Ham 2-0 LeicesterCarroll 24, Downing 56

Unhappy Kalou threatens to quit Herthan AFP, Berlin

Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou believes the Hertha Berlin team should be built around him and has threatened to leave the Bundesliga side unless he plays more.

Having made more than 70 interna-tional appearances in a career which included six years at Chelsea, where he won the 2012 Champions League title, the Premier League in 2010 and the FA Cup four times, Kalou feels he should be better used at Hertha.

“I think you should treat a player like me a little better,” the 29-year-old, who joined Hertha from Lille in August for a reported 1.8 million euros (US$2.2m), told Berlin-based newspaper BZ. “This is my humble opinion. If you bring in bring a big player in, then you should build the team around him.”l

Fighting Blatter says he will not abandon Fifan Reuters, Marrakech

Sepp Blatter declared FIFA’s crisis to be over on Friday and said he would not abandon soccer’s governing body.

“We have been in a crisis (but) with the decision of the executive commit-tee today, the crisis has stopped,” the 78-year-old Swiss told reporters.

“If there are problems inside FIFA as we have faced, then it’s not the mo-ment for the president, the man at the helm of FIFA, to say he will abandon his work.”

“Every day, hundreds and thou-sands of football matches are organised and they believe in FIFA,” he added.

“It’s not the � rst time that I have found myself as president of FIFA in a critical situation and I have to tell you that we will � ght.”

Blatter made his comments after an-nouncing that FIFA’s executive committee had agreed to publish former ethics in-vestigator Michael Garcia’s report into the 2018/2022 World Cup bidding process.l

Manchester United striker Radamel Falcao (C) celebrates after scoring during their English Premier League match against Aston Villa at Villa Park yesterday REUTERS

Disastrous Dortmund end year with lossn Reuters, Berlin

Borussia Dortmund completed their spectacular implosion this season, losing 2-1 at struggling Werder Bremen on Satur-day, their 10th defeat in 17 league games sending them into the winter break in 17th place, just a point o� the bottom.

Mats Hummels’ diving header in the 69th gave the visitors hope and Shinji Kagawa should have done better when he � red over the bar from 11 metres as Dortmund pressed for an equaliser.

The result left Dortmund, champi-ons in 2011 and 2012, on 15 points, two behind VfB Stuttgart who are in the relegation playo� spot. Freiburg, last on 14, could send Dortmund bottom if they beat Hanover on Sunday.

Borussia Moenchengladbach dropped to fourth, a point behind, af-ter losing 2-1 against in-form Augsburg, who joined them on 27 points.

Leaders Bayern Munich ended the year with a 2-1 victory at Mainz 05 on Friday thanks to a 90th-minute Arjen Robben goal to open up a 14-point gap on second-placed VfL Wolfsburg who play Cologne later on Saturday. l

City reel Chelsea in, United heldn AFP, London

Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 on Saturday to move level with Premier League leaders Chelsea, while Radamel Falco earned Manchester United a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa.

City were missing Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic due to injury, but they secured an eighth con-secutive win in all competitions thanks to David Silva’s second-half brace and a late Yaya Toure strike. Victory left City level on 39 points with Chelsea, who remain top by virtue of a superior goal di� erence (+23 to +22) ahead of their trip to Stoke City on Monday.

United spurned a chance to close on Chelsea after dropping points for

the � rst time in seven matches at Villa, who had Gabriel Agbonlahor sent o� in the 65th minute for a foul on former team-mate Ashley Young.

The draw ended United’s run of six straight wins and left Louis van Gaal’s side seven points o� the pace in third place, while West Ham United, South-ampton and Tottenham Hotspur all closed on them. Fourth-place West Ham are now just a point behind Unit-ed after beating bottom club Leicester City 2-0 at Upton Park.

Andy Carroll seized on West Ham old boy Paul Konchesky’s disastrous back-pass to put the hosts ahead in the 24th minute and Stewart Downing made it 2-0 in the 56th minute with an stunning 25-yard e� ort.

Southampton are two points further back after ending a � ve-game losing streak by beating Everton 3-0 thanks to a Romelu Lukaku own goal and sec-ond-half e� orts from Graziano Pelle and Maya Yoshida. Tottenham leap-frogged Arsenal, who host Liverpool on Sunday, by beating Burnley 2-1.

Charlie Austin took his tally for the season to 11 goals with a hat-trick as Queens Park Rangers came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion, who scored through Joleon Lescott and Silvestre Varela.

The win took QPR out of the relegation zone, but Hull City remain in the bottom three after Jonjo Shelvey’s shot de� ected in o� Ki Sung-yueng to earn Swansea City a 1-0 victory at the KC Stadium. l

Origi set to leave Lille for Liverpool in Januaryn AFP, Lille

Belgian forward Divock Origi will cut short a season-long loan at Lille in Jan-uary to return to parent club Liverpool, who will pay six million euros ($7.3m, £4.7m) for the privilege, according to a source close to the deal.

The 19-year-old, who was bought by Liverpool from Lille in the summer for a reported £10 million after impressing for Belgium at the World Cup, was im-mediately loaned back to the Ligue 1 side for the duration of this season.

However, the loan agreement in-cluded a clause allowing Liverpool to take Origi back in the January transfer window for six million euros if they needed attacking reinforcements. Lille coach Rene Girard had on several occa-sions denied reports that Origi was on his way out of the club despite rumours to the contrary. l

Rodgers, Wenger in An� eld spotlightn AFP, London

Two managers for whom criticism has become an unwelcome bedfellow this season face o� in the Premier League on Sunday when Arsene Wenger’s Ar-senal tackle Brendan Rodgers’s Liver-pool at An� eld.

Arsenal’s con� dence has been im-proved by back-to-back 4-1 wins over Galatasaray and Newcastle, but it was only two weeks ago that Wenger was barracked by fans of his own club fol-lowing a 3-2 loss at Stoke.

Rodgers, meanwhile, is under real scrutiny for the � rst time in his Liver-pool tenure following a return of just two wins from eight league matches.

Last weekend’s chastening 3-0 de-feat at Manchester United left last sea-son’s runners-up in 11th place, seven points below the Champions League places.

The highs of last spring now seem a dis-tant memory, but Wenger, who has been at the Arsenal helm for 18 years, believes it will only be a matter of time before Rod-gers’s side start climbing the table again.

“I’ve sympathy for every single man-ager in the Premier League. Everybody goes through periods where it goes a bit less well,” said the Frenchman, whose side began the weekend two points be-low the top four in sixth place.

Rodgers cut an unusually taciturn � gure in his pre-game media brie� ng on Friday, according journalists only four and a half minutes of his time and responding to their questions curtly.

But the Northern Irishman did be-come animated when asked to discuss the form of Raheem Sterling, who scored twice as Liverpool beat Championship leaders Bournemouth 3-1 in the League Cup quarter-� nals on Wednesday.

With Daniel Sturridge injured and new signings Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert toiling, Sterling has started as a ‘false nine’ in Liverpool’s last two games.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has set his sights on avoiding an un-wanted record in the Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland on Sunday.

Pardew’s side have been beaten by hated local rivals Sunderland in each of their last three meetings and no Newcas-tle boss has ever lost four derbies in a row.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play in cup � nals, but if any manager asked me, ‘What’s the biggest game you’ve been involved in’, I’d say Newcastle v Sunderland,” Pardew said.l

Suarez opens league account, Messi at doublen AFP, Madrid

Luis Suarez scored his � rst La Liga goal and Lionel Messi netted twice as Barce-lona moved to within a point of leaders Real Madrid with a 5-0 thrashing of

Cordoba in their � nal game of the year on Saturday.

The hosts got o� to a � ying start as Pedro Rodriguez, once again deputising for Neymar, opened the scoring with a smart � nish from Ivan Rakitic’s won-

derful through ball inside two minutes.Barca then struggled to build on their

lead for the rest of the � rst period, but Suarez capped another quick start to the second period when he poked home from close range to end a seven-game drought in the league since returning from a four-month ban for biting.

Gerard Pique headed in a third before Messi rounded o� the scoring with two stunning � nishes in the � nal 10 min-utes. Victory moves Barca six points clear of champions Atletico Madrid, who visit Athletic Bilbao on Sunday. 

Real Madrid will end the year on top despite having played a game less than the Catalans as they take on San Loren-zo in the � nal of the Club World Cup.l

Dortmund skipper Mats Hummels reacts after losing to Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga in Bremen yesterday REUTERS

Ganguly’s Atletico wins inaugural India leaguen AFP, New Delhi

Cricket star Sourav Ganguly earned bragging rights over former team-mate Sachin Tendulkar as his Atletico de Kol-kata won the inaugural Indian Super League football tournament in Mumbai on Saturday.

Substitute Mohammad Ra� que scored the 90th minute goal to give Kolkata a 1-0 victory over Tendulkar’s Kerala Blasters in the � nal.

A packed house of 40,000 at the D.Y. Patil stadium on the outskirts of Mumbai cheered as Ra� que’s header made it past former England goalkeeper David James, who is also manager of the Kerala team.

Kerala were left to rue a missed chance from close range by Michael Chopra in the 83rd minute when his shot was de� ected by Kolkata’s Arme-nian goalkeeper Apoula Edel.

Organisers and broadcasters had hyped the � nal as a Tendulkar vs Gan-guly show to attract viewers in the cricket-mad nation. Both stars were at hand to cheer their respective teams.

Former Liverpool mid� elder Luis Garcia, who did not play the � nal due to a hamstring injury despite being Kol-kata’s marquee player, said he was ex-cited to see his new team win the title.

“I am very excited, very happy,” the 36-year-old said. “To win the � rst tour-nament gives me a great feeling. The team played well and deserved to win.” 

The eight-team franchised-based tournament, modelled on cricket’s pop-ular Indian Premier League, was bank-rolled by Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV and backed by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and sports management giants IMG. Apart of Tendulkar and Ganguly, other team owners included Bollywood A-listers Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham.

The 10-week, 61-match tournament lured past greats like former Italy and Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero, 40, ex-France and Arsenal star Robert Pires, 41, Sweden’s Freddie Ljungberg, 37 and controversial Frenchman Nico-las Anelka. Brazilian great Zico was one of the coaches.l

Cricket legends Sourav Ganguly (L) and Sachin Tendulkar share a light moment during the � nal of the Indian Super League in Mumbai yesterday INTERNET

FIXTURES Newcastle v Sunderland Lievrpool v Arsenal

BUNDESLIGASchalke 04 0-0 Hamburg

Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 FrankfurtBellarabi 83 Meier 37-P

Augsburg 2-1 M’gladbachFeulner 20, Bodilla 51 Kruse 2-P

Werder Bremen 2-1 DortmundSelke 3, Bartels 62 Hummels 69

VfB Stuttgart 0-0 Paderborn

On Friday

Mainz 05 1-2 Bayern MunichSoto 21 Schweinsteiger 24, Robben 89

LA LIGABarcelona 5-0 CordobaPedro 2, Suarez 53, Pique 80, Messi 82, 90+1

Clash of the TitansWB,7:30pm

Perseus, mortal son of Zeus, battles the minions of the underworld to stop them from conquering heaven and earth.

Enemy at the GatesZee Studio, 1:30pm

A Russian sniper and a German snip-er play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Cli� angerMovies Now, 11:58pm

A botched mid-air heist results in suitcases full of cash being searched for by various groups throughout the Rocky Mountains.

Red LightsHBO Hits, 2:50pm

Psychologist Margaret Matheson and her assistant study paranormal activity, which leads them to inves-tigate a world-renowned psychic.

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Sunday, December 21, 2014 15

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

London-based drama troupe Komla Collec-tive will stage the show of their new produc-tion on “Birangona” in seven di� erent places in Bangladesh.

Earlier on December 16, the troupe has started its Bangladesh tour with a show at the Gulshan Club, and will end with the show at the Chittagong Theatre Institute on December 30.

Local drama troupe Jatrik will produce the Bangla version of the play, except the Red Shift show on December 28.

The play, which came on the stage early this year, unfolds an ugly history of the Lib-eration War of Bangladesh.

It depicts the stories of rape, imprison-ment, torture of the Birangona, the honour-ing label the then government gave to wom-en who su� ered sexual violence during the war.

The project of this outstanding produc-tion actually has started in 2010 when Leesa Gazi, one of the playwrights and actors of the play, came to Bangladesh, and met a group of Birangona women in Sirajganj.

During that visit, she talked to some 21 women who had been living a disgraceful life due to their wartime experiences for more than four decades.

Leesa returned to London with an intent to break the silence surrounding them.

And two years later, she went back to Sir-ajganj.

This time with the newly formed produc-tion company she founded with three other London-based artists.

They � lmed the testimonial of � ve Biran-gona women, and, along with a local play-wright, developed the script for a play.

The video footage used in the play to con-nect with the audience more directly and played the role of bonding the facts with the

story potently. The one-act play started with narration of

folk tale, the story of Komola, which resem-bles the central character’s (played by Leesa Gazi) vulnerable situation when she was cap-tured by the Pakistani occupation army.

The protagonist played a number of heart-rending characters that represent dif-ferent Birangonas.

Amith Rahman, the other actor of the play, played three di� erent character of the protagonist, the father, the husband and the son, behind the screen which with the help of shadow play.

Directed by Filiz Ozcan, the play wrapped in with out of the ordinary visual spectre as Filiz used few unique theatrical techniques – the Turkish tradition of shadow play.

The play is nominated for the O� e Award, the London based prestigious theatre award, which sorted the play in the productions that defy traditional categories. l

Film JOYJATRA to be screened today n Entertainment Desk

The � lm “Joyjatra”, based on the Libera-tion War, will be screened at the Libera-tion War Film Festival at the International Digital Cultural Archive, Bangladesh Shil-pakala Academy at 6:00pm today.

Directed by popular actor Tauquir Ahmed, the plot of the story revolves around a boat journey of some families in 1971.

It shows miseries of the people who were travelling by the boat toward Indian seeking safety as the Pakistani occupation army unleashed genocide in the country.

It also narrates the stories of the heroic operations of the freedom � ghters. The director upheld his spirit of Liberation War through his directorial venture.

The movie also pays a tribute of the freedom � ghter’s bloodshed for their motherland. l

NUSRAT FARIA endorsing for commercialsn Entertainment Desk

Model and anchor Nusrat Faria will be seen in two TVCs soon. Both the TVCs will be � lmed in India.

The � rst television commercial (TVC) will be for Mangolee Juice. Shidhartho will direct it in Kolkata.

Then, the popular host will � y to Mumbai for shoot-ing of another commercial, Nirala Washing Powder, di-rected by Shonok Mitra.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Nusrat said: “The two commercials have good concepts.”

“I will be shooting in Kolkata from December 23-24. After a break for two days, I will go to Mumbai on De-cember 27. I hope to arrive my country on December 29.”

Nusrat Faria’s popular show “Late Night Co� ee” is being aired every Saturday on RTV.

Besides, modelling for commercials and hosting show, Nusrat shared the silver screen in a movie titled Morichika, directed by Ridwan Roni. The movie is now in a pre-production stage. l

Komla Collective pays tribute to Birangonas

TISHA and JOHN seek for happiness

n Entertainment Desk

A single TV play titled “Happiness is” will be aired on NTV at 9:00pm today. The TV play starring Tisha and band Black’s vocalist John Kabir. The story revolves around Abir who is about to get married to Tisha. After � nalising the date, the news comes that the bride walks out from the marriage. Abir breaks down and could not accept the fact. Abir decides to leave the house and starts living alone. One night, in his apartment, Abir sees a girl laying in his bed. l

Best foreign language Oscar slimmed down to nine contenders n Entertainment Desk

The nine-strong shortlist for the best foreign language � lm Academy Award has been announced, part of the process towards the actual Oscar nomination due to be revealed early next year.

Arguably the most high pro� le of the shortlisted � lms are Russia’s “ Leviathan,” directed by Andrei Zvy-agintsev, and “Ida,” from Polish direc-tor Paweł Pawlikowski. The former is an anti-Putin fable that won the best screenplay award at Cannes, while the latter, about a novice nun who discovers she is Jewish, beat “Levi-athan” to best � lm at the European � lm awards earlier this month. Both have also been nominated in the same category at the Golden Globe awards.

Also on the shortlist, which has been slimmed down from the 83 eligible � lms, are well-reviewed Cannes entries “Timbuktu,” from Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, and Damián Szifrón’s “Wild Tales,” from Argentina. Two others on the list Estonia’s “Tangerines,” di-rected by Zaza Urushadze and Swe-den’s “Force Majeure,” from director Ruben Östlund, have also scored Golden Globe nods. The other three titles are Georgia’s “Corn Island,” from director George Ovashvili, “Ac-cused” from Dutch director Paula van der Oest, and Alberto Arvelo’s “The Liberator,” from Venezuela.

Six of the shortlist were the result of a vote by Academy members who watched all 83 entries, and three were added by a specially convened committee. l

ARBAAZ KHAN: Dolly Ki Doli will take Sonam Kapoor’s career to a new heightn Entertainment Desk

Actor-� lmmaker Arbaaz Khan, who has again turned producer with the up-coming Sonam Kapoor-starrer “Dolly Ki Doli,” says the � lm will prove to be a booster for the actress’ career.

Sonam, 29, plays the titular character, who runs away with groom’s mon-ey in the woman-centric romantic-comedy, directed by debutant Abhishek Dogra. Arbaaz feels Sonam was always on his mind and she � tted the char-acter’s requirements perfectly.

“She was excited about working with the cast and the story and she was the right person to do Dolly. When success is concern you just need one � lm to reach new heights and increase your level. It could be ‘Dolly Ki Doli’ for Sonam,” Arbaaz told PTI in an interview. l

Winslet stars in Australian period comedy The Dressmakern Entertainment Desk

The � rst photograph of Kate Winslet starring in the Australian � lm production “The Dressmaker” has been released. Based on a 2000 Australian book of the same name, written by Rosalie Ham, “The Dressmaker” is set in a � ctional Australian town in the 1950s. Wins-let plays the story’s protagonist Tilly Dunnage, who returns to the town and exacts revenge on � gures from her troubled past.

Winslet joined by an ensemble cast of prominent Australian ac-tors, including Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth and Hugo Weaving, for the eight-week � lm shoot, which has now concluded. The � lm is set for release in Australian cinemas on October 1, 2015.

This � rst image hints at cinematography that takes full advan-tage of the rich colours and dramatic landscapes of rural Victoria.

n Entertainment Desk

Jennifer Aniston snared the � rst movie act-ing award of her career last night at the in-augural People Magazine Awards.

The 45-year-old was honoured for her performance as a woman su� ering from chronic pain in indie movie Cake - a role for which she has also been nominated for the SAGs, Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards.

The most prominent Oscar hopeful in the room was fan fa-vourite Jennifer Aniston, the former Friendsstar-turned-se-rious dramatic actress, whose performance as a woman suf-fering from chronic pain in the indie Cake. l

Aniston wins � rst � lm-acting prize of career

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

Change of heart delays deep sea exploration dealn Aminur Rahman Rasel

A new government decision to limit the award of oil and gas exploration rights to two deep sea blocks per company or venture, has stalled the signing of pro-duction sharing contracts (PSCs) with a joint venture of ConocoPhillips and Statoil.

“We have observed their previous ac-tivities when signing for the blocks. We have taken a decision that we will only sign two instead of three blocks with them,” Secretary of Energy and Miner-al Resources Division (EMRD) Md Abu Bakar Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune.

A top EMRD o� cial, seeking anonym-ity, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the minister for power, energy and mineral resources, had directed the divi-sion not to award more than two blocks to a single company or venture.

The government now prefers that the joint venture bids for two adjacent deep sea blocks.

The signing of the PSCs has been fur-ther held up because US-based Cono-coPhillips and Norway-based Statoil ASA have expressed an interest in two non-adjacent blocks, 12 and 21, leaving block 16, which they do not want, idle between them.

Representatives of the joint venture, at a recent meeting with the state min-ister for energy, also requested that gas prices be increased above the previous o� er, the EMRD o� cial said. But the government did not agree to it, he added.

ConocoPhillips and Statoil earlier submitted bidding documents for three blocks, at a time when the government had not yet decided to limit awards to two blocks per venture.

In January, ConocoPhillips and Statoil jointly submitted bidding doc-uments to explore for oil and natural

gas in three deep-sea blocks in the Bay of Bengal – 12, 16 and 21 – under the amended Model PSCs 2012.

The bidding documents submitted at that time for the three blocks includ-ed provisions for 2D seismic surveys of each block and the sinking of explora-tory wells in each block, with an esti-mated outlay by the oil companies of $109m over several years.

On February 19, Petrobangla recom-mended that the EMRD sign the PSCs following necessary approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Af-fairs. But no progress has been made so far because the EMRD has taken no further steps in this regard.

“Regarding our bids on Blocks 12, 16 and 21, we seek award of all three blocks; however, we have been in-formed that the government may wish to award only two blocks to the Cono-coPhillips-Statoil joint venture,” Cono-coPhillips Bangladesh Managing Direc-tor Tom Early told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We have informed the Ministry and Petrobangla of our block preferences in terms of priority, which we believe will allow the joint venture to spread risk and increase our chances of success,” he said.

But because they are not adjacent blocks, the PSCs have not been � nalised.

“The government is saying that it is not possible to leave a block idle in the middle. The oil companies may either take blocks 12 and 16, or 16 and 21, but not 12 and 21, leaving 16 stranded in the middle because no other company will likely come for-ward to explore it,” an o� cial said.

In June 2011, a PSC was signed be-tween ConocoPhillips Bangladesh Ex-ploration 10/11 Ltd and Petrobangla for the exploration of o� shore blocks 10 and 11, the country’s � rst ever deep wa-ter hydrocarbon hunt. ConocoPhillips later relinquished blocks 10 and 11. l

Pranab tells Abdul Hamid: India maintains her commitmentsn Tribune Report

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has said India always maintains its com-mitments.

The Indian President made the comment regarding Bangladesh’s ea-gerly waiting for a solution to the much-awaited Land Boundary Agree-ment (LBA) and Teesta water sharing issues between the two countries.

Pranab said this during a meeting with Bangladesh President Abdul Ha-mid, who is now in New Delhi on a 6-day state visit, reports BSS.

Appreciating Bangladesh’s achieve-ment in social and economic sectors, Pranab Mukherjee said Bangladesh is going ahead remarkably.

“Despite global economic down-turn, Bangladesh is making tremen-dous achievement in di� erent areas... it is maintaining steady GDP growth and its per capita income and remit-tance earnings are also increasing,” Pranab said.

About boosting import from Bang-ladesh, the Indian president said India will have to invest more in Bangladesh to boost its import from it.

During the meeting, Abdul Hamid thanked Pranab Mukherjee for the hos-pitality extended to him and his dele-gation.

Abdul Hamid recalled with grateful-ness Pranab Mukherjee’s remarkable contribution during Bangladesh’s Lib-eration War in 1971.

Hamid also thanked the Indian peo-ple and its army for their support and cooperation during the Liberation War.

Pranab Mukherjee presented Abdul Hamid a book on di� erent programmes broadcast by ‘Akash Bani’ during Bang-ladesh War of Liberation. President Ab-dul Hamid also gave Pranab Mukherjee a book on the Liberation War.

After the meeting, President Hamid joined the banquet hosted by Pranab Mukherjee in his honour.

Indian Premier Narendra Modi, for-mer Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External A� airs Minister Sush-ma Swaraj, Chief Minister of West Ben-gal Mamata Banarjee, among others, attended the programme.

Meanwhile, Abdul Hamid yester-day visited Taj Mahal, the Mughal-era mausoleum known as testament to Emperor Shah Jahan’s love for his wife

Mumtaz Mahal, reports BSS. The president spent about 30 min-

utes at the monument of love, a 17th century monument and now a world heritage.

Abdul Hamid was briefed about the monument by the o� cials of Tourism Ministry of India.

The president also signed the visi-tor’s book of Taj Mahal, one of the uni-versally admired masterpieces.

Later, Abdul Hamid also visited Agra Fort, one of the architectural beauties of Mughal era.

Earlier in the day, he arrived in Agra as part of his six-day state visit to India.

A special � ight of Air India carrying the president and his entourage left Palam Airport of New Delhi at 11:50am and reached Agra Kheria Air Force Air-port around 1pm.

Divisional commissioner of Agra and other o� cials received the presi-dent.

Abdul Hamid was driven to Oberoi Amarvilas where he will stay during his visit to Agra.

The president came to India on De-cember 18 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee. l

13 killed, 35 injured in road accidents n Tribune Report

Thirteen people were killed and 35 others injured in road accidents in Chittagong, Kishoreganj, Jessore and Mushiganj yesterday.

In Chittagong, six people were killed in a road accident on Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway at Satkania upazila, re-ports our Chittagong correspondent.

The deceased are Soyeb, 22, Omullo, 55, Sahriar, 15, Jasimuddin, 25, Syed, 35, Shamsul Alam, 80.

Satkania police said the accident took place when a bus and a CNG auto-rick-shaw collided head-on around 6:10pm.Police seized the bus, but the driver � ed.

Our Kishoreganj correspondent re-ports that three people were killed and 30 others injured when a bus plunged into a roadside ditch in Kuliarchar.

The deceased are Tahera Khatun, 72, Jasim Uddin,60, and Omeda Begum, 52.

Local police said the bus fell into a ditch after its driver lost control 12:30am. The injured were admitted to di� erent local hospitals.

Meanwhile, a local Jubo League leader was killed and a rickshaw-puller injured in an accident at Bagachra Ba-zar in Sharsha upazila, reports our Jes-sore correspondent.

Deceased Abdus Salam Babu, 27, was the publicity secretary of local Jubo League. Locals said the accident took place when a bus of A� l Jute Mills hit the rickshaw carrying Babu.

A case was � led in this connection.In another incident, a man was

killed and four others were injured in a road accident in Arabpur area in the district town.

The dead was Mizanur Rahman, 35.Jessore Kotwali police said, the ac-

cident took place as a bus hit the rick-shaw when it was crossing the Arabpur intersection around 12:30pm, killing Mizanur on the spot.

In Mushiganj, two people were killed under in a road accident on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Gozaria upazla.

The dead were Mijhu Miah, 27 and Md Firoz. l

Illegal cigarettes, medicines seized at Shahjalal airportn BSS

Customs intelligence yesterday seized 320 cartons of contraband cigarette and a huge quantity of medicines used for abortion from Shahjalal Interna-tional Airport in the capital.

The cigarette and the medicine, which were smuggled of from Karachi, Pakistan, were seized from belt area 4 of the airport around 12pm, a customs intelligence o� cial said.

The seizure included 177 cartons of Esse Light, 80 Esse Special Gold, 58 Esse Black and � ve cartons of Benson, 4,200 pieces of 10mg Ritalin tablet, 450 pieces of Proluton Depot injection, and 40 pieces of Orabas Ointment. l

Antarctic photo science archive unlockedn BBC

Aerial photos from the 1940s and 1950s are being used to probe the climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula.

UK scientists are comparing the images with newly acquired data sets to assess the changes that have occurred in some of the region’s 400-plus glaciers.

The old and modern information has to be very carefully aligned if it is to show up any di� erences reliably.

And that is a big challenge when snow and ice obscure ground features that might otherwise act as visual anchors.

But the researchers from the British Ant-arctic Survey (BAS), Newcastle University and University of Gloucestershire believe they are cracking the problem.

“We want to use these pictures to work out volume and mass-balance changes in the glaciers through time,” explained Dr Lucy Clarke from the University of Glouces-tershire.

“There are tens of thousands of these historical images, held by the British Antarc-tic Survey and the US Geological Survey.

“So, they’ve long been around, but it’s only now that we’ve had the capability to extract the 3D data from them.”

Dr Clarke has been presenting the work at this week’s American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

The Antarctic Peninsula - the northern-most extent of the White Continent which stretches up towards South America - has experienced quite dramatic warming in recent decades.

The fronts of many of its glaciers have quite obviously retreated, and several of the marine-terminating ice streams have even

seen their � oating shelves disintegrate.But getting at the volume and mass

changes in the glaciers has been a thorny issue.

Satellites are used to track such trends today but their record spans only a few decades.

The archive of aerial photos, on the other hand, goes back to the 1940s, and it represents an extraordinary account of the pioneering days of polar exploration.

The men who ventured forth in their planes to capture pictures of the peninsula’s rugged ice-scape took huge risks, with none of the back-up that modern expeditions can count on.

“They had no idea what they were � ying into because no-one had ever been there before,” said Dr Clarke.

“And all the photographs, they would develop using nearby glacial stream water at the base camp they set up,” she told BBC News.

Dr Pauline Miller from Newcastle Uni-versity added: “The 1940s were just about � ying to see what they could � nd, but by the 1950s it was much more systematic - for topographic mapping purposes. It was all about staking a claim in Antarctica when nations were becoming more competitive.”

That these old images still have scien-ti� c value in the 21st Century is down to

novel techniques that are able to precisely position the pictures using newly created accurate, modern-day elevation models of the peninsula.

The team is using the latest optical satel-lite data to do this, as well as modern aerial photos acquired by BAS planes equipped with GPS.

Fundamental to these techniques is � nding visual cues in the ice-scape that allow historical and current information to be married up.

“These visual cues have got to have some kind of rock; white areas of snow are no good to us because obviously they can change and they’re not easy to identify.

We need stable areas like mountain peaks,” explained Dr Clarke.

The team’s approach is to use a large number of glaciers spread across the penin-sula to try to get some sense of the changes that have occurred through time, as well as pulling out detailed pro� les on a small selection of individual glaciers.

The project is not yet complete, but al-ready some interesting � ndings are starting to emerge.

These include the observation that many glaciers appear to have thickened at the rear, over higher elevations, even as their fronts have retreated.

“You can see there has been wide-spread glacier retreat across the Antarctic Peninsula; you can see that very easily in the photography. But somewhat surprisingly we’re � nding accumulation on the upper parts of the glaciers. It’s not enough to combat [the mass loss], but it means you do have this kind of dual reaction through time of steepening and accumulation at the rear and dramatic retreat and thinning at the front.”

Why and how this is occurring will be explored by ice sheet modellers at BAS in the next stage of the project, says Dr Miller.

“Together with the patterns we are � nd-ing, this will allow us to translate what has happened in the past and use that to cali-brate and validate models so that they can in turn forecast the contribution of ice loss from the Antarctic Peninsula with respect to processes such as sea level rise.

“We need to understand what’s hap-pened in the past, going back over multiple decades, to give us the foundation to an-chor these models and, in so doing, reduce the uncertainties associated with them.” l

4-day BGB-Myanmar Police Force meeting endsn BSS

A four-day border conference between Border Guard Bangladesh and Myan-mar Police Force ended at BGB’s Pilkha-na headquarters yesterday.

The conference started on Decem-ber 21 and ended yesterday with sign-ing a Joint Record of Discussion (JRC).

BGB Additional Director General and M Latiful Haidar led the 16-mem-ber Bangladesh delegation while Myan-mar’s Deputy Chief of Police Brigadier General Thein Oo led the six-member Myanmar delegation.

There were discussions on stopping smuggling of drugs such as yaba, hold-ing of next DG-level meeting and regu-lar Border Outpost, company, battalion and sector level � ag meetings.

It also discussed about the incidents of � ring by BGP without any prior no-tice and discussion, illegal entrance to Bangladesh territory by Myanmar na-tionals, and holding of friendly match-es and exchanging of training between the two sides.

The Myanmar delegation, which ar-rived at Dhaka on December 16 to attend the conference, will leave Dhaka today. l

A lamp post lies destroyed after being smashed by a bus near the Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2014

B3 Brent oil spirals below $60 in volatile week

B4 EU leaders agree investment package to boost economy

Mongla-Khulna railtrack cost to zoom up 70%n Kayes Sohel

The cost of setting up 52-kilo-metre-long railtrack to connect Mongla port with the divisional city Khulna is likely to rise more than 70% in four years due to slow implementation process and construction of Rupsha Bridge.

It is one of the 15 projects, which is now being implemented by spending from the $1 billion In-dian line of credit.

“The cost of railway project linking Mongla to Khulna would be increased to over Tk300 mil-lion from Tk175m,” said an o� cial close to the matter.

The construction of Rupsha Bridge is blamed for the rise in cost, sources said.

The government approved the project in December, 2010. Its cost had been estimated to be Tk1,721 crore, of which Tk1,231

crore will come from the Indian line of credit and the rest from the public co� er.

The rail link between Khulna and the country’s second seaport, Mongla, is expected to play a vital role as a transit route to neigh-bouring countries like India, Ne-pal and Bhutan.

Once constructed, goods could be carried easily from Mongla to Khuna and other parts of the coun-try, helping reduce transport cost.

The construction of Khul-na-Mongla railway line requires at least 1,525 acres of land, said an Economic Relations Division (ERD) o� cial.

According to the project pro-gress report prepared by the ERD almost two months back, the pro-ject cost might increase to $288 million from $175 million.

The construction work is ex-pected to start by March next year

and the project is scheduled to be completed by September 2018.

Of the 15 projects, only seven have been completed, according to a report.

The seven completed projects, mostly related to procurement of equipment from India, are procurement of double-decker, single-decker AC and articulat-ed buses for Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, 180 broad gauge (BG) tank wagons and six bogies of brake vans, 50 units of metre gauge (MG) � at wagons and � ve units of MG brake vans with air brakes for carrying containers, 30 units of BG diesel electric (DE) locomotives, 10 units of BG DE lo-comotives, 100 units of MG bogies of tank wagons and � ve units of MG brake vans with air brakes and air brake equipment for carrying aviation fuel, 170 units of MG � at wagons (BFCT) and 11 units of MG

bogie brake vans with air brake systems for carrying containers.

The report said 14 projects will be completed within the stipulat-ed time except the construction of Khulna-Mongla port railway line.

The total disbursement of fund by the Indian government till July 8, 2014 under the letter of credit stood at $169.78 million, it said.

Bangladesh Railway earlier planned to construct the track from Shiromoni to Mongla, some 12km north of Khulna Railway Sta-tion to avoid construction of rail-bridge over the wide Rupsha River.

The credit line is so far the sin-gle largest o� er by India to any country. The agreement provides for credit at 1.75% interest rate with a repayment period of 20 years, including a grace period of � ve years.

The rate of interest was later revised to 1% in May 2012. l

Dollar rises again on expectations of US Fed actionn AFP, New York

The dollar Friday continued its upward lurch after Wednesday’s US Federal Reserve meeting added to expectations that the US central bank will raise interest rates before other central banks.

The greenback has been trending higher against the euro, the yen and other currencies since the Fed kept interest rates low and said the US central bank would be “patient in beginning to normalise the stance of monetary policy.”

While the Fed did not accelerate the timing to raise interest rates, currency traders are betting the US will normal-ise policy more quickly than its coun-terparts.

On Friday, David Song, currency analyst at DailyFX, said the dollar was well-positioned to gain on the British pound because “market participants see the Federal Open Market Commit-tee normalising monetary policy ahead of the Bank of England.”

The US central bank “remains on course to remove the zero-interest rate policy in mid-2015, while its UK coun-terpart may further delay its rate hike,” Song added. l

REHAB fair begins Wednesdayn Tribune business desk

Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) will organise a � ve-day Winter Fair-2014 at Bang-abandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the city from Wednes-day next.

The REHAB leaders disclosed this at a press conference at national Press Club yesterday.

REHAB Vice President Liaqat Ali Bhuiyan, its Joint Secretary Sakil Ka-mal Chowdhury, Executive Members Sarwardy Bhuiyan and Mohamad So-hel Rana were present at the press con-ference.

The fair will be inaugurated on De-cember 24 and continue till December

28. The closing ceremony of the fair will be held on December 30. A total of 150 companies will participate in the fair this session while 13 organisations will be there as co-sponsor.

REHAB Winter Fair standing com-mittee member Rabiul Haque said REHAB has been arranging winter fair from 2001.

“Rehab with the help of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) will strongly monitor the fair to prevent display of unauthorised projects to the interested customers,” he added.

The fair will remain open from 10am-9pm everyday while the entry fee will be Tk 50 for each person. RE-HAB o� ers attractive prizes on en-trance ticket ra� e draw. l

41st Social Business Design Lab heldn Tribune business desk

The 41st Social Business Design Lab organised by Yunus Centre was held yesterday at the Grameen Bank Bhaban in the city.

The programme was chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and brought together more than 130 participators from Bangladesh and abroad.

The event was also live streamed by Yunus Centre and watched online by participants around the globe.

Welcoming the participants professor Yunus updated the audience that 496 social business projects had been presented in the 40 labs organised to date since January 2013, of which 471 had been approved for investment, most of which were already in operation.

At the 41st Lab, six new Nobin Udyokta (new entrepreneurs from Grameen Bank families) presented their business plans. Three of the six entrepreneurs were young women.

In addition, Grameen Telecom Trust signed two joint venture agreements with SDRS Solar Project and Red Worm Vermi Compost project for the launch of their social businesses. Grameen Shakti Samajik Byabosha Ltd also signed nine new Nobin Udyokta pro-jects. l

22% Bangladeshi adults have bank accounts n Kayes Sohel

Only 22% adults of Bangladesh have bank accounts and almost half of them lie dormant, says a report.

According to a survey on � nancial behaviour, Bangladesh is 6th among seven countries – Nigeria, India, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Pakistan – in the number of adults with bank accounts.

But the country stands 4th after Nigeria, India and Kenya in adult ac-tive bank account rate of 12% and its dormancy rate is second highest more than countries like Kenya, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda. The account dormancy or inactive bank account rate is highest in India (47%).

The survey, compiled by the Finan-

cial Inclusion Insights program, oper-ated by Washington based global stra-tegic research consultancy InterMedia, and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has assessed in its 2014 cross-country survey on � nancial behaviour.

The report published recently noted most people including Bangladeshis, save money through a bank, but in Pa-kistan, where access to banks is limit-ed, the preferred saving methods are cash and commodities.

“The � ndings will hopefully mo-bilise further innovation in the sector and promote the potential of digital technology in ensuring that people have an access to � nancial services,” said InterMedia’s Research Manager for

India Gayatri Murthy. The information contained in this

study will enable policy makers, regu-lators and bankers to identify priorities to improve � nancial inclusion, design initiatives to push the inclusion agen-da, and most importantly, measure the progress made, he said.

The survey also evaluated access and use of formal � nancial services, mobile devices, mobile money servic-es, as well as barriers and potential for future use.

According to the report, Bangla-desh has 18% bank account holders, followed by Uganda, Tanzania and Pakistan, but India leads the number of bank account holders with 48%, fol-lowed by Nigeria and Kenya, it said. l

Public o� er, capital issue norms tightenedn Kayes Sohel

Securities regulator BSEC has tight-ened public o� er and capital issue rules aimed at making the market more transparent and providing level-play-ing � eld to all.

The new conditions will not allow listed or re-listed companies to issue rights for a few initial years and any company to sell placement share before getting consent for raising its capital.

Bangladesh Securities Exchange Commission (BSEC) in a noti� cation released Thursday said the consent, already accorded by the commission to the issue of capital in Bangladesh, or public o� er of securities for sale, should be subject to certain further conditions in the interest of investors and the capital.

Under the conditions of rights issue, it said no issuer of listed securities must take decision to issue rights share with-

in two years from the date of publica-tion of prospectus for IPO and before full utilisation of fund raised through IPO or previous rights issue or repeat public o� ering, as the case may be.

If any security of a company was delisted from any stock exchange or traded through over-the-counter and again gets listed with any stock ex-change, issuer of that security must not take decision to issue rights shares be-fore completion of three � nancial years after the re-listing.

No issuer of a listed security shall utilise more than one-third of the fund raised through IPO for the purpose of loan repayment, according to the noti-� cation.

The regulator set the payment of bank loan from IPO fund after most com-panies like Bangladesh Building System, Moza� er Hussain Spinning and Central Pharma, had tendency to pay bank loan using largest portion of the fund.

Some of those companies also pro-posed to raise further capital from the market by issuing rights o� er for pay-ment of bank loan.

Under the conditions for issue of capital, the commission’s noti� cation said no company or its sponsors, directors, employees or appointed agents must take share money deposit from any person, other than existing shareholders, for subscribing to the shares of the company, before obtaining consent for raising capital from the commission.

It said if any existing sponsor or di-rector of any company transfers any share to any person, other than exist-ing shareholders, within preceding 12 months of submitting any application for raising of capital or initial public of-fering, all shares held by those transfer-ee shareholders are subject to a lock-in period of three years from the date of prospectus issuance for IPO. l

BTRC mulls selling unused spectrum of 2G & 3GFormulation of two separate guidelines is underway considering earlier 3G spectrum auction and 2G renewal guidelines n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The telecom regulator has started form-ing two separate guidelines for selling unused spectrum bands – 1,800MHz and 2,100MHz, which will be allocated through an auction to existing mobile phone operators by March next year.

Around 4,000 crore is expected to be earned by the government from the spectrum sale.

The regulator has in selling list 10.6 unused or unsold bandwidth in 1,800MHz which will be used for 2G services and 15 in 2,100MHz for fastest 3G data services, sources said.

“We have decided to allocate this spectrum bands, consulting with the cellphone operators and they are very much interested about it,” ATM Mon-irul Alam, commissioner (spectrum) of BTRC, told the Dhaka Tribune recently.

He said before going for an auction, formulation of two separate guidelines is underway considering the 3G spec-trum auction and 2G renewal guide-lines as the base.

“Before taking � nal decision, we need government approval of the guidelines and the auction’s � oor price and also its procedure,” the commis-sioner added.

The regulator had earlier planned to release 700MHz band next year for 4G technology, but later backtracked as the environment was not yet ready for 4G.

For a long term evaluation service, spectrum band, 700MHz, is a faster data transfer technology than 3G.

Monirul said the operators are not interested about the 700band now since equipment for 4G are not cost-ef-fective.

Recently in a meeting, top manage-ment of the mobile operators asked the regulator not to go for the release of 4G spectrum within next two years.

The management also asked for technological neutrality for 900, 1,800 and 2,100 bands, which will help the mobile phone companies to o� er

cost-e� ective service with less invest-ment.

The commissioner also said they will divide 10.6MHz into two slots and only two cellphone operators can have it through an auction.

It will help the operators deliver bet-ter voice services, added Monirul.

In 2011, the government renewed the 2G licences and reallocated the spectrums of the four private mo-bile operators – Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Citycell – for 15 years; and at that time spectrum prices were � xed for Tk150 crore per MHz in terms of market factor.

Earlier in 2008, the regulator al-located additional spectrum to three mobile operators, Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi, through an ad-ministrative process; the price for each MHz bandwidth for 18 years was Tk80 crore per MHz.

The regulator had then o� ered 17.5 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 band, but the three operators purchased 12MHz.

Last year, the government raised Tk4,081 crore ($525 million) with 5% vat by selling 25MHz (each MHz sold at $21 million) of the 40MHz spectrums in the 2,100MHz band through an auction.

Grameenphone purchased 10MHz while three other private operators Banglalink, Robi and Airtel 5MHz each for 15 years.

State-owned Teletalk purchased 10MHz bandwidth, but it is yet to pay.

This time BTRC is going to allocate the rest or the 15MHz to the three blocks, each with 5MHz.

The telecom watchdog in its rev-enue-earning plan for 2014-15 � scal � xed Tk9,300 crore from spectrum sale.

Since BTRC shifts its plan for 700 band, major earning of the regula-tor depends on 25.6MHz in 1,800 and 2,100 bands.

About this, the BTRC commissioner said auction � oor price may start form the allocated prices of the last sale. l

People are seen trading stocks at a broker house in Dhaka yesterday RAJIB DHAR

B2 Stock Sunday, December 21, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

News, analysis and recent disclosuresFixed Assets/Right/Investment:JUTESPINN:The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Com-pany has taken the following decision: The Mill will set up a sacking unit with 50 Looms and ancillary machines by invest-ing an estimated amount of Tk. 2.00 crore as soon as possible as a step to overcome the rough situation.ALARABANK: The Company has in-formed that the Board of Directors of the Company has taken decision, to purchase 51% share of Millennium Information Solution Ltd. i.e. 93,69,343 no. of share Tk. 16.01 (including premium) totaling Tk. 15.00 crore subject to obtaining approval from Regulatory Bodies.Credit Rating:PHARMAID: National Credit Ratings Limited (NCR) has announced the rating of the Company as BBB+ in the long term and ST-3 in the short term based on audit-

ed � nancial statements of the Company up to June 30, 2014.IAAMRATECH: National Credit Ratings Limited (NCR) has announced the rating of the Company as AA- in the long term and ST-2 in the short term based on audit-ed � nancial statements of the Company up to June 3BEDL: Credit Rating Agency of Bangla-desh Limited (CRAB) has announced the entity rating (surveillance) of the Com-pany as AA2 based on audited � nancial statements up to June 30, 2014 bank liability position as on October 31, 2014 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.BENGALWTL: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has an-nounced the entity rating (surveillance) of the Company as AA3 based on unaudited � nancial statement as on June 30, 2014

audited � nancial statement up to June 30, 2013 bank liability position as on Sep-tember 30, 2014 and other relevant quan-titative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.MiscellaneousFINEFOODS: The Company has further informed that due to inevitable circum-stances, the 20th AGM of the Company will now be held on December 28, 2014 at 11:00 AM instead of December 27, 2014 at 11:30 AM. Venue of the meeting (Head o� ce of the Company) will remain unchanged.ECABLES: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on December 21, 2014 at 3:00 PM to consider, among others, audited � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

Bearish spell hits stocks last weekn Tribune Report

Bearish spell gripped stock markets, as investors took cautious stance due to launching new automated trading system at the prime bourse.

In the past week that ended Thursday, the benchmark index DSEX closed at 4,800, gaining over 76 points or 1.6%.

The comprising blue chips DS30 index rose 73 points or 4.7% to 1,843. The DSE Shariah Index soared 54 points or 5% to 1,161.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange also saw steep rise with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was down 1% to settle at 9,102.

Trading in the past week remained slow after the launch of new trading platform at the prime bourse on De-cember 11 last. The bourses short-ened trading sessions to four out of � ve days due to public holiday on ac-count of Victory Day on December 16.

Turnover has su� ered signi� -cantly all through the week, as trad-ers need more time to settle in with the new trading platform.

The average daily turnover value amounted to Tk240 crore in the week compared to the previous week’s av-erage value of Tk360 crore. Activities were most buoyant in pharmaceu-ticals and engineering sector, each capturing 15% and 14% respectively of the week’s total turnover.

The week’s top gaining issues were from small-cap sectors – ce-ramic, IT, Jute and cement.

Issues from large cap companies declined. Telecommunication was

the worst loser dropping 3.4%, fol-lowed by service and real estate 2.6%, banks 2.5%, food & allied 2.3%, power 1.4%, non-banking � nancial institu-tions and pharmaceuticals 1% each.

IDLC Investments said encoun-tering a number of sell-o� s, market remained sluggish, with an excep-tion in the last session of the week.

It said adapting to new trading platform remained the key challenge of the week for investors-traders community. “Amid uncertainty, vol-atility ensued, with small cap scrips taking over gainers board. Overall, investors remained reluctant to make moves in the market, given the trading di� culties and absence of any trend formation.”

Lanka Bangla Securities said mar-ket experienced another week of bearishness as benchmark index lost 76.61 points.

During the � rst three trading ses-sions, benchmark index ended in red but it recovered some points at the last session of the week, it said.

“Though losers overtook the gainers during the week, neverthe-less, some individual scrips showed strength. Investors’ might be eying for companies which can show bet-ter corporate earnings during Sep-Dec period.”

Royal Capital said due to a major technology shift the market needs a few weeks for the investors to cope with. The trading pattern of the new software is materially di� erent from the previous one and thus it may hamper the smooth trading activity signi� cantly for some time, it said. l

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

2nd ICB M F -A -19.87 -19.87 250.00 250.00 250.00 250.00 0.005 71.88 3.5Standard Ceramic -A -18.54 -18.54 39.10 39.10 44.00 39.10 0.025 0.60 65.2BD Fixed Income MF-A -18.18 -18.18 5.40 5.40 6.60 5.40 0.005 0.48 11.3Jamuna Oil -A -16.46 -17.41 206.52 206.50 215.00 206.00 13.109 20.98 9.8Aziz PipesZ -16.37 -15.40 23.46 23.50 28.50 23.00 0.150 -0.37 -veProgressive Life-A -16.04 -16.04 89.00 89.00 95.40 89.00 0.025 2.30 38.7Alltex Industries -Z -12.54 -12.53 24.64 24.40 30.00 23.20 8.068 3.28 7.5National Tea -A -10.73 -9.88 687.58 681.10 720.00 681.10 0.048 -6.49 -veAIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A -10.42 -10.42 4.30 4.30 4.70 4.30 0.147 -0.08 -veACI ZERO Bond-A -9.29 -9.29 952.43 952.50 1,000.00 921.50 0.019 0.00 -

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Aziz PipesZ -23.49 -21.50 21.51 21.50 28.80 19.80 2.718 -0.37 -veJamuna Oil -A -16.69 -16.42 206.40 206.10 214.80 204.00 164.094 20.98 9.8Alltex Industries -Z -13.93 -12.61 24.53 24.10 29.50 23.10 42.676 3.28 7.5EBL NRB M.F.-A -10.20 -18.45 4.42 4.40 5.10 4.10 7.645 0.64 6.9R. N. Spinning-Z -10.06 -10.02 29.28 29.50 36.10 27.00 136.188 2.19 13.4Prime Islami Life -A -9.69 -7.31 63.75 63.40 68.50 63.20 3.681 4.95 12.9Prime Textile -A -8.51 -7.77 17.34 17.20 18.70 16.80 6.963 1.04 16.7EXIM Bank 1 MF-A -7.81 -7.81 5.90 5.90 5.90 5.80 0.011 0.64 9.2BD. Thai Alum -B -7.75 -5.95 49.44 48.80 53.70 48.00 149.978 1.09 45.4FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B -7.11 -8.04 19.80 19.60 21.90 18.90 3.790 1.27 15.6

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

WesternMarine -N 1,082,420 58.93 5.72 53.90 12.53 47.90 57.80 47.10 54.73R. N. Spinning-Z 1,712,939 56.81 5.52 30.00 -7.69 32.50 35.70 28.00 29.75BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 1,096,322 42.04 4.08 37.90 0.26 37.80 40.00 37.50 37.95Hamid Fabrics -N 912,009 40.61 3.94 42.90 -1.83 43.70 47.00 42.80 43.02Grameenphone-A 100,171 35.41 3.44 350.40 -3.92 364.70 369.00 346.20 352.85SummitAlliancePort.-A 391,922 33.38 3.24 84.20 -3.33 87.10 88.40 81.00 85.25Tung Hai Knitting -N 1,541,588 31.61 3.07 21.10 4.46 20.20 21.40 19.30 20.94Keya Cosmetics -A 1,081,529 29.88 2.90 27.70 2.97 26.90 28.40 26.80 27.44Fu-Wang Food A 892,109 23.13 2.25 27.20 13.81 23.90 27.60 23.50 26.55Khan Brothers-N 603,502 21.87 2.12 35.10 2.63 34.20 37.60 34.00 35.38Agni Systems -A 646,785 21.30 2.07 33.00 7.84 30.60 34.10 31.10 33.15RAK Ceramics-A 335,682 19.86 1.93 62.00 11.31 55.70 62.50 54.30 61.76LafargeS Cement-Z 163,697 18.78 1.82 115.10 2.40 112.40 119.00 112.30 115.81AB Bank - A 596,700 18.26 1.77 30.10 -4.14 31.40 31.50 29.80 30.14Beximco Pharma -A 268,372 17.03 1.65 63.20 -1.10 63.90 65.00 61.30 63.48UNITED AIR-A 1,698,821 15.60 1.52 9.10 -2.15 9.30 9.40 9.00 9.10Moza� ar H.Spinning-A 514,380 14.75 1.43 29.00 6.23 27.30 29.90 26.60 29.20

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Agni Systems -A 12,013,418 393.95 4.13 33.10 8.17 30.60 34.00 30.90 33.11Square Pharma -A 1,510,537 386.28 4.04 254.30 -2.49 260.80 261.00 252.00 253.68Fu-Wang Food A 11,545,688 300.05 3.14 27.50 14.58 24.00 27.90 23.80 26.67WesternMarine -N 5,275,189 290.57 3.04 53.70 13.29 47.40 57.90 48.00 54.73Keya Cosmetics -A 9,949,757 273.56 2.86 27.80 3.73 26.80 28.50 26.80 27.53SummitAlliancePort.-A 3,030,169 257.06 2.69 84.40 -3.43 87.40 89.90 80.00 85.61LafargeS Cement-Z 2,088,268 239.24 2.51 115.00 2.04 112.70 120.30 112.10 115.02Olympic Ind. -A 960,682 231.26 2.42 240.70 1.65 236.80 245.80 231.00 240.58Grameenphone-A 630,251 222.91 2.33 350.80 -3.39 363.10 370.00 347.00 352.27Quasem Drycells -A 2,800,679 216.30 2.26 79.70 2.97 77.40 82.00 73.10 79.82Beximco Pharma -A 3,385,055 214.26 2.24 62.90 -1.56 63.90 65.90 61.90 63.44Tung Hai Knitting -N 9,859,539 203.13 2.13 21.30 4.41 20.40 21.40 19.50 21.02BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 4,635,703 176.79 1.85 37.80 -0.26 37.90 40.30 37.30 37.87Jamuna Oil -A 781,757 164.09 1.72 206.10 -16.69 247.40 214.80 204.00 206.40Brac Bank -A 4,249,939 159.25 1.67 37.50 0.81 37.20 37.90 36.20 37.57Moza� ar H.Spinning-A 5,271,482 151.75 1.59 29.30 6.16 27.60 30.00 27.00 29.59

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Fu-Wang Food A 13.81 11.27 26.55 27.20 27.60 23.50 23.125 1.80 14.8WesternMarine -N 12.53 11.44 54.73 53.90 57.80 47.10 58.929 1.80 30.4Fareast Finance-Z 12.50 11.62 17.00 17.10 17.20 14.80 8.189 1.08 15.7Miracle Industries -B 12.27 10.58 18.08 18.30 19.50 16.70 5.923 0.40 45.2RAK Ceramics-A 11.31 10.96 61.76 62.00 62.50 54.30 19.859 1.68 36.8Premier Leasing-Z 10.75 8.64 10.19 10.30 10.90 9.00 1.810 0.08 127.4Deshbandhu Polymer-A 9.13 9.30 22.91 22.70 23.20 20.70 10.237 1.52 15.1Rupali Life Insur.-B 8.65 8.61 53.98 54.00 54.20 48.20 2.409 5.33 10.1Navana CNG-A 8.21 7.41 68.13 68.50 69.00 62.00 8.202 4.12 16.5Agni Systems -A 7.84 9.88 33.15 33.00 34.10 31.10 21.302 1.32 25.1

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Jute SpinnersA 38.45 36.25 64.98 65.90 66.00 47.70 1.508 -43.64 -veNorthern Jute -Z 15.04 15.04 299.00 299.00 299.00 260.00 0.201 1.00 299.0Fu-Wang Food A 14.58 11.87 26.67 27.50 27.90 23.80 300.045 1.80 14.8WesternMarine -N 13.29 13.01 54.73 53.70 57.90 48.00 290.572 1.80 30.4Shampur Sugar -Z 12.87 14.65 11.58 11.40 12.30 10.10 1.160 -52.72 -veFareast Finance-Z 12.42 9.90 16.99 17.20 17.30 15.30 34.266 1.08 15.7RAK Ceramics-A 11.49 11.51 61.83 62.10 62.80 54.00 139.868 1.68 36.8Miracle Industries -B 11.45 11.84 18.42 18.50 19.40 17.10 42.167 0.40 46.1Sonali Ansh -A 8.78 6.60 121.50 122.70 124.00 110.20 13.983 0.60 202.5Deshbandhu Polymer-A 8.57 9.13 22.84 22.80 23.30 20.80 119.738 1.52 15.0

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 878.85 9.20 83.24 7.68 962.09 9.05NBFI 625.34 6.55 51.70 4.77 677.04 6.37Investment 110.24 1.15 10.42 0.96 120.66 1.13Engineering 1336.92 14.00 148.50 13.70 1485.42 13.97Food & Allied 708.16 7.42 44.33 4.09 752.49 7.08Fuel & Power 948.09 9.93 86.05 7.94 1034.14 9.72Jute 15.69 0.16 0.00 0.00 15.69 0.15Textile 1102.23 11.54 219.88 20.29 1322.11 12.43Pharma & Chemical 1441.75 15.10 105.70 9.75 1547.45 14.55Paper & Packaging 53.45 0.56 25.49 2.35 78.94 0.74Service 367.19 3.84 45.28 4.18 412.46 3.88Leather 59.63 0.62 23.58 2.18 83.21 0.78Ceramic 158.55 1.66 21.80 2.01 180.35 1.70Cement 318.68 3.34 32.53 3.00 351.21 3.30Information Technology 517.96 5.42 31.47 2.90 549.43 5.17General Insurance 61.92 0.65 4.73 0.44 66.65 0.63Life Insurance 130.46 1.37 7.20 0.66 137.66 1.29Telecom 249.71 2.61 42.31 3.90 292.01 2.75Travel & Leisure 100.97 1.06 23.61 2.18 124.58 1.17Miscellaneous 364.53 3.82 75.76 6.99 440.29 4.14Debenture 0.00 0.00 0.16 0.01 0.16 0.00

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4856.41760 (-) 1.55% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1792.86382 (-) 1.69% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14954.6947 (-) 1.49% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12177.9419 (-) 2.13% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 9102.7814 (-) 1.66% ▼

DSE key features December 14-18, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

9,550.31

Turnover (Volume)

252,762,320

Number of Contract 318,712

Traded Issues 314

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

113

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

198

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,597.15

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.48

CSE key features December 14-18, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 1,037.36

Turnover (Volume) 32,213,972

Number of Contract 74,121

Traded Issues 268

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

79

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

184

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,509.73

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.42

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Market experienced another week of bearishness as benchmark index lost 76.61 points

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

CORPORATE NEWS

Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Windmill Advertising Ltd have recently signed a contract for managing the upcoming “Japan Fair in Bangladesh 2015”. Kei Kawano, country representative of JETRO and Sabbir Rahman Tanim, CEO of Windmill Advertising Ltd have signed the contract

Banglalink is going to hold 'Banglalink Bangladesh Utshob' on December 26 at Ramna Park in Shahbag. The company’s head of PR and communication, Sharfuddin Ahmed Chowdhury made the announcement recently

NCC Bank has recently provided scholarships to 275 poor but meritorious students of the country as part of its corporate social responsibility. Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Dr Atiur Rahman has inaugurated the programme as chief guest at the presence of Md Nurun Newaz Salim, chairperson of NCC Bank

BanglaCAT, an authorised dealer of Caterpillar Inc USA in Bangladesh has recently celebrated its 10 years of service in the country

Brent oil spirals below $60 in volatile week n AFP, London

Brent oil prices plummeted this week to � ve-year lows underneath $60 per barrel as markets were rocked by shrinking Chinese manufacturing out-put, economic turmoil in Russia and ample crude supplies.

Oil has now halved in value since June, due also to the stronger dollar and weak demand as the global econ-omy struggles.

Investors closely watched the situ-ation in crude producer Russia, as the ruble crashed to a series of record lows, despite a drastic interest rate hike.

“The combined e� ects of slumping oil, the Russian Central Bank’s inter-est rate hike and falling output from China have all come together to deliver a triple blow to the markets,” said ETX Capital analyst Daniel Sugarman.

“Lower output from China means less of a need for oil, while as a primary oil producer Russia really feels the pain of lower oil prices, compounded by the sanctions imposed earlier this year.”

Many commodities fell in line with oil, but sentiment was subdued on Friday with many traders away for an extended Christmas and New Year holiday.

Brent prices plunged late Tuesday to $58.50 - a low last seen on May 26, 2009 - and New York crude hit a similar low at $53.60 after OPEC signalled it has no plans to intervene to shore up plunging prices.

Brent had already breached the psy-chological $60 barrier earlier Tuesday as weak Chinese manufacturing data stoked global demand concerns.

The market however rebounded on Friday, in line with gains on global stock markets, as investors snapped up bargain crude.

“Until the issue of low global demand and oversupply is resolved, we will con-tinue to see this type of market volatility as investors test the waters,” Phillip Fu-tures analyst Daniel Ang told AFP.

“There are two camps in the mar-

ket at the moment. Some who believe prices can fall further, and others who are betting that it should be above $60.”

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the oil producers group that supplies about a third of global oil, has so far declined to cut output to curb the price plunge.

Top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia said Thursday that competitive pres-sures prevent it from reducing output,

and the kingdom can weather falling prices.

“It is di� cult, or even impossible, for Saudi Arabia or OPEC to undertake any measure that would lead to a re-duction in (their) share of the market and an increase in that of others” who do not belong to the cartel, said Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi.

The latest sello� s came after OPEC opted last month to maintain its collec-

tive output ceiling at 30 million barrels per day, where it has stood for three years.

“At OPEC’s meeting in November, we took two decisions,” added Kuwaiti oil minister Ali al-Omair on Tuesday.

“The � rst was to keep the production ceiling unchanged and the second to hold the next meeting in June. So far, nothing has changed and there are no calls for holding an

emergency meeting.” By Friday on London’s Interconti-

nental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February sank to $60.69 per barrel compared with $62.11 for the January contract one week earlier.

On the New York Mercantile Ex-change, West Texas Intermediate or light sweet crude for January dived to $56.23 per barrel from $58.15 a week earlier. l

A woman pumps gas at a station in Falls Church, Virginia REUTERS

IHS : Plunging oil price to reset global defence budgets n AFP, London

Global defence spending is likely to re-main constant for the next two years as tumbling oil prices cut the budgets of Middle East exporters, but swell the co� ers of Asia-Paci� c importers, de-fence analysts IHS said Friday.

With Brent crude recently falling below the symbolic $60 dollar (48.8 euros) mark - a 50 percent drop since mid-June - the defence budgets of countries in the Middle East and North Africa are likely to fall to normal levels, having grown by almost 30% between 2011 and 2014, according to the study, released in London.

By contrast, “falling oil prices are expected to have a net positive e� ect upon economic growth in China, India and Indonesia and will aid government � nances,” said Craig Ca� rey, senior de-fence budgets analyst at IHS Aerospace & Defence.

“Key regional markets such as Indo-nesia, Malaysia and South Korea have outlined plans for increases in military spending while growth in India and China is expected continue at rates above � ve percent in real terms,” he explained.

Global annual spending on defence grew by 0.85% to $1.597bn in 2014, the � rst increase in four years, aided by a slowdown in US budget cuts and a 17.8% growth in Russian military spending.

Defence budgets should continue to stabilise following the chaos of the � -nancial crisis, although global political developments could still play a major role, according to the report.

“Despite the continued importance of the global economic climate upon de-fence resourcing, the crisis in Ukraine and the emergence of Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria over the course of 2014 have demonstrated the extent to which geo-political developments can still have a signi� cant impact upon military spending,” it said. l

China total GDP revised up 3.4% in 2013 n AFP, Beijing

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) turned out to be 3.4% larger last year than originally announced, the govern-ment said Friday after a national sur-vey - a revision equal to about the size of Malaysia’s economy.

The world’s second biggest economy was valued at 58.80tn yuan ($9.5tn cur-rently) in 2013, the National Bureau of statistics (NBS) said in a statement, quot-ing a survey of 70 million businesses across the country. The amount is 1.92tn yuan ($308bn) more than the o� cial � g-ure released in January, the NBS said.

Malaysia’s GDP was $313bn last year, according to the World Bank.

Despite the revision, China’s econo-my is still far smaller than that of the United States, where GDP was $16.8tn last year, World Bank data shows.

The change was a result of China’s third “national economic census”, which is carried out every � ve years and focuses on industry and services to provide up-to-date � gures for govern-ment policy making. The latest survey

was conducted from the beginning of this year for three months by three mil-lion personnel, the NBS said previously.

The bureau said in a separate state-ment the revision “basically will not a� ect” the economic growth rate for this year, which is to be released next month, because the calculation is based on “comparable data”.

China’s economy grew 7.3% in the third quarter, the slowest since the height of the global � nancial crisis in early 2009. It is now facing multiple challenges including weakening manu-facturing, falling property prices, high debt levels, and what some economists see a looming threat of de� ation.

The government has set a target for growth this year at around 7.5% but it is widely expected to lower the goal for next year to as low as 7% due to slow-ing momentum.

China announced in January that its economy expanded by 7.7% last year. NBS o� cials told AFP that the growth rate could also be subject to change af-ter revisions on � gures between 2009 and 2012 are completed. l

Fed sees bigger fall in unemployment in 2015, 2016 n AFP, Washington

The Federal Reserve raised its annual outlook for US economic growth on Wednesday and projected a larger de-cline in unemployment over the next two years.

Staying the course on monetary policy and keeping interest rates near zero after a two-day meeting, the Fed said the economy was on track to keep expanding at “a moderate pace.”

And, in an update to its forecast, the central bank said gross domestic prod-uct would grow by between 2.3% and 2.4% this year, up from a September estimate of 2 to 2.2%. The estimate for GDP growth in 2015 was unchanged at 2.6 to 3.0%, while the 2016 range wid-ened slightly to 2.5 to 3.0%.

The most striking change in the Fed forecasts from three months ago was to the projected unemployment rate, which is now expected to end this year at 5.8%, instead of at between 5.9 and 6.0%.

The faster-than-anticipated im-provement should lower the jobless rate to 5.2 to 5.3% in 2015 and to 5.0 to 5.2% in 2016. l

Yen weakens in Asia after BoJ meeting n AFP, Tokyo

The yen weakened in Asia Friday after the Bank of Japan held o� fresh easing measures and struck a slightly more upbeat view of the world’s number three economy.

In Tokyo, the greenback rose to 119.31 yen from 118.87 yen before the BoJ policy announcement and 118.81 yen in New York.

The euro strengthened to 146.53 yen from 146.00 yen, while it was at $1.2281 against $1.2287 in US trade.

“Exports have shown signs of pick-ing up” while factory output has start-ed to “bottom out”, the BoJ said in a post-meeting statement.

“Japan’s economy is expected to continue its moderate recovery.”

Plunging oil prices have helped nar-row Japan’s gaping trade de� cit while a sharply weaker yen has been a plus for the country’s exporters.

But lower energy import prices are also digging into the BoJ’s e� orts to reach a 2% in� ation rate - aimed at end-ing years of de� ation and unimpressive growth - which has boosted specula-tion about further easing in 2015.

Crude prices have plunged roughly 50% since June owing to plentiful sup-plies, a stronger dollar and weak de-mand as the global economy struggles, analysts say.

The dollar has also won support from Wednesday’s US Federal Reserve announcement that it planned to keep interest rates low and said it would be “patient in beginning to normalise the stance of monetary easing”.

The comments suggested a rate hike was unlikely before mid-2015.

The ruble held steady at 61.08 against the dollar after President Vladi-mir Putin vowed Russia would soon re-cover from the worst � nancial crisis of his rule and said his grip on power was � rm - despite new Western sanctions and plunging oil prices, a key export for the country.

The ruble has gone through wild � uctuations this week - falling to a record low of 80 against the dollar at one point - with the central bank rais-ing interest rates to 17% and Russians snapping up imported goods ahead of expected price hikes.

The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Paci� c currencies. l

Labourers work at a construction site for a new building in Beijing REUTERS

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, December 21, 2014

DILBERT

BoJ strikes more upbeat view on economy, holds o� fresh measures n AFP, Tokyo

The Bank of Japan on Friday struck a more upbeat view of the world’s num-ber three economy, saying exports were showing signs of picking up while fac-tory output has started to “bottom out”.

The comments came as policymak-ers wrapped up a two-day meeting where they held o� fresh easing mea-sures, after announcing in late October a huge expansion of the BoJ’s asset-buying programme.

At a post-meeting press brie� ng, bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda re-peated a pledge to do whatever is nec-essary to achieve the bank’s 2.0 per-cent in� ation target in 2015, part of a wider bid to end the de� ation that has plagued the economy for years.

A plunge in crude oil prices is threat-ening the bank’s target, but cheaper energy should give the wider economy a shot in the arm and generate higher prices, he said.

The oil price drop has also narrowed Japan’s gaping trade de� cit while a sharply weaker yen has been a plus for exporters.

“The fall in oil prices has positive ef-fects on the overall economy,” Kuroda told reporters.

The central bank kept up its view that Japan was seeing a moderate re-covery, in line with other advanced economies including the United States.

“In this situation, exports have shown signs of picking up,” the BoJ said earlier in the day.

Private consumption remains “re-silient” while real-estate investment has “started to bottom out”, the bank said, echoing its view of factory output, which edged up 0.2 percent on-month in October, beating market expectations.

“Business sentiment has generally stayed at a favourable level, although some cautiousness has been observed,” it added.

Highlighting that caution, the BoJ’s quarterly Tankan survey this week showed con� dence among major Japa-nese manufacturers edged down in the three months to December.

A separate bank report Thursday showed � rms were holding a record amount of cash equivalent to almost

half the country’s gross domestic prod-uct, despite calls for more wage hikes and capital spending.

However, Tokyo’s e� orts to stoke the economy, which initially bore fruit, took a hit after an April sales tax rise slammed the brakes on growth as Japan sank into recession during the third quarter.

More easing possibleThe decline prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay a second sales tax rise initially planned for next year and call snap elections that he easily won on Sunday.

However, Fitch last week placed Ja-pan’s sovereign credit on Rating Watch Negative, warning that delaying a sec-ond tax rise would jeopardise e� orts to shrink one of the world’s heaviest pub-lic debt burdens.

The move came after Moody’s downgraded Japan’s credit rating, cit-ing “rising uncertainty” over the debt situation and Abe’s faltering e� orts to kickstart the economy.

The BoJ’s decision on Friday means it will keep trying to pump cash into the banking system at an annual pace of about 80tn yen ($670bn), a scheme designed to stimulate the wider econ-omy.

In October, the bank surprised mar-kets by announcing it would expand asset purchases by as much as 20tn yen annually to the current level, sending the yen into freefall.

It also slashed its economic growth forecast by half and trimmed consumer price expectations as its much-touted in� ation target looked increasingly out of reach -- stoking speculation of fur-ther easing measures in 2015.

“Wage growth is set to remain slug-gish next year and, with households also likely to be trying to rebuild their savings, we expect consumer spending to be subdued,” Capital Economics said in a note.

“This suggests that GDP growth in 2015 will be much weaker than many expect. Weak demand alongside recent falls in commodity prices will weigh on in� ation, triggering more easing by the Bank of Japan, perhaps as early as the spring.” l

EU leaders agree investment package to boost economy n Reuters, Brussels

European Union leaders endorsed a new investment programme intended to kick-start economic growth in the bloc at a summit in Brussels, which its chairman said would end late on Thurs-day, half a day earlier than planned.

“We agreed three things: one, we call for the urgent establishment of a European fund for strategic invest-ments; two, a renewed commitment to intensify structural reforms; three, con-tinued e� orts to ensure sound public � nances,” European Council President Donald Tusk said in a video statement.

“The three together form our strat-egy to speed up the recovery,” added Tusk, who also tweeted that leaders would not reconvene as planned on Friday but would conclude the summit after a discussion over dinner on Russia and Ukraine.

Tusk, the former Polish prime min-ister hosting his � rst summit in his new role, did not go into details of the agreement on the economic plans.

But draft conclusions of the meeting showed that governments contribut-

ing to the investment fund would not get into trouble if such contributions resulted in their de� cits breaching EU budget rules set out in the Stability and Growth Pact.

“The European Council takes note of the favourable position the Commis-sion has indicated towards such capital contributions in the context of the as-sessment of public � nances under the Stability and Growth Pact,” the text read.

While a formal Commission in-terpretation of how EU budget rules should treat such investment will only come in January, Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen told Reuters

in an interview on Thursday that fund contributors would not face negative consequences in budget assessments.

The fund, called the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), will be launched next year with 21bn euros ($25.8bn) of EU money. It is intended to attract 15 times more private capital for � nancing projects in energy and trans-port infrastructure as well as education and research.

The EFSI, whose � nal go-ahead to start operations is to come in June 2015, is designed to help boost feeble European growth and create jobs with-out in� ating public debts.

EU leaders also discussed how the EFSI should choose which projects in Europe to � nance and decided that de-cisions should be based only on busi-ness criteria.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was clear she wanted no politics in the selection: “It should not be decided politically, but on the basis of business criteria,” she said.

Tusk said no sectoral or geographi-cal criteria for project selection were discussed. l

Fed creating ‘unacceptable’ risks to in� ation n Reuters

The Federal Reserve is creating “un-acceptable” downside risks to US in-� ation by signaling it will gradually remove monetary stimulus next year despite low in� ation, Minneapolis Fed-eral Reserve Bank Narayana Kocherla-kota said on Friday.

Instead, Kocherlakota said in a statement to be posted on the regional Fed bank’s website, the US central bank should have pledged to keep rates near zero until the in� ation outlook im-proves. He added that the central bank should also have signaled its willing-ness to restart its controversial bond-buying program if that pledge does not work to bring in� ation expectations back to the Fed’s 2% target.

The U S central bank on Wednesday said it would be “patient” in deciding when to raise borrowing costs, a wait-ing period that as Fed Chair Janet Yel-len clari� ed could open the door to a rate hike as soon as April.

Yellen said she expects a recent de-cline in market-based in� ation expec-tations to be temporary, and suggested that the Fed could raise rates next year even if in� ation remains below the Fed’s 2% target.

Kocherlakota dissented from the decision, in what was his last vote on the Fed’s policy-setting panel before he steps down from his post in early 2016. Kocherlakota began his term in 2009 as a one of the Fed’s most ardent in� a-tion-� ghting hawks; today he is one of its most vocal policy doves.

On Friday he said the Fed was put-ting the United States at risk of a growth-sapping drop in in� ation.

“In my assessment, the (Fed)’s fail-ure to respond to weak in� ation runs the risk of creating a harmful down-ward slide in in� ation and longer-term in� ation expectations of the kind that we have seen in Japan and Europe,” Kocherlakota said. “I see this risk to the credibility of the in� ation target as unac-ceptable, given how hard it would be for the (Fed) to respond successfully if this eventuality did indeed materialize.” l

‘India should crank up public spending to revive growth’ n Reuters, New Delhi

India should increase public spending to boost economic growth in the me-dium term as there have been no signs of private investment picking up, chief government economic adviser Arvind Subramanian said on Friday.

India has had two successive years of below 5% economic growth and is still recovering from its worst slowdown since the 1980s, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vows to put the coun-try back on a high growth path.

“To revive growth going forward, public investment may have to play a greater role to complement and crowd-in private investment,” Subramanian said.

“Consideration should be given to ... � nding the � scal space to � nance such investment.”

Subramanian, a former US-based

economist who joined the � nance min-istry in October, will help Finance Min-ister Arun Jaitley design the � rst full-year budget of the new government that swept to power in May.

Economic growth expanded by 5.3% in the September quarter from a year earlier, and India is expected to grow 5.5% in the current � nancial year that ends in March, a � nance ministry re-port said on Friday.

Still, weak consumer sentiment, high interest rates and lack of invest-ment have dampened sentiment in Asia’s third largest-economy.

Infrastructure review Subramanian said India will have to review all revenue and spending esti-mates for a growth revival that is sup-ported by higher public spending.

After the � nance ministry’s mid-

year economic review was released, Subramanian said India needs to re-evaluate its private sector-led infra-structure model.

The report also said that India faces a “major challenge” in achieving its 2014/15 � scal de� cit target of 4.1% of gross domestic product.

However, Subramanian said the government is committed to achieving its � scal de� cit target and will have to consider all measures including spend-ing cuts.

Recent economic data has built a case for an interest rate cut. Industrial output contracted in October in its worst performance in three years, while retail in� ation has continued to decline.

However, the � nance ministry re-port said interest rates are expected to remain unchanged until the end of March. l

India tables ‘biggest tax reform’ since independence n AFP, New Delhi

India’s government introduced legis-lation Friday billed as the biggest tax reform since independence, with ana-lysts hailing it as a “game changer” that would cut the cost of doing business and boost economic growth.

The long-awaited goods-and-ser-vices tax (GST) would eliminate a slew of levies currently in place to create a single internal market.

One of various reforms undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, the GST would swell pub-lic co� ers by broadening the tax base, economists say.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called the GST the “single biggest tax reform since independence” of the country from Britain more than six de-cades ago.

“We will formally take it (the GST) up in the next session” which begins in February, Jaitley told parliament’s up-per house as the bill was introduced in the lower house.

“It is like creating internal trade lib-eralisation,” Jaitley said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won a crushing election man-date in May under leader Narendra Modi, aims to have the reform take ef-fect from April 1, 2016.

Jaitley said his party had succeeded in getting India’s 29 states to agree to the GST where the previous left-lean-ing Congress government failed.

He described the indirect tax as a “win-win situation” for both levels of government. Jaitley reassured India’s states the government would give “a constitutional assurance” in terms of compensating them for any loss of rev-enue from the tax change.

The GST would end India’s patch-work of taxes under which each state has used its powers under the constitu-tion to tax di� erent commodities at dif-ferent rates, levelling the competitive playing � eld. But creating a uniform tax structure is one of the most compli-cated reforms to achieve.

Enacting the GST requires a consti-tutional amendment involving consent of a majority of India’s states - some of which had objected to ceding their right to levy taxes - as well as approval by a two-thirds majority in both houses. l

German consumer con� dence grows at year-end n AFP, Berlin

Consumer con� dence in Germany saw a boost in December as shoppers hit the stores for Christmas and looked ahead to the new year with optimism, a poll found on Friday.

After stabilising in November fol-lowing several months of decline, “con-sumer sentiment showed solid devel-opment in December,” market research company GfK said in a statement.

“The consumer climate is continu-ing its upward trend.”

Looking ahead to 2015, GfK’s head-line household con� dence index was forecast to rise to 9.0 points in January from 8.7 points in November.

“Consumers apparently now as-sume that the period of economic weakness in Germany will pass and the domestic economy will return to

growth in the coming months,” it said in a statement.

The GfK reading is based on re-sponses from about 2,000 households regarding their expectations about pay and the economy as a whole in the coming months, as well as their will-ingness to spend money.

Sentiment in Europe’s top economy has stabilised recently, as concerns about the impact on investment of the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East have subsided.

On Thursday, the widely-watched Ifo business climate index showed solid gains in December after rising for the � rst time in seven months in No-vember.

The HDE retail association has fore-cast total sales from the Christmas sea-son of 85.5bn euros ($105bn), up 1.2% from last year. l

European � ags are seen outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels REUTERS

A labourer walks near a parked bulldozer at the construction site of a bridge being built over the river Yamuna in New Delhi REUTERS

It should not be decided politically, but on the basis of business criteria