B1 | Business

The just announced national budget is expected to o� er a good business opportunity for the commercial banks operating in the country, after having a hard time in last couple of years.

3 | NewsThe Cabinet Division has instructed all public o� ces under di� erent ministries and divisions to hold mass hearings every week to record public complaints and resolve the issues through appropriate measures.

6 | Nation

Residents of six villages under Sodullahpur union in Gaibandha have remained without power for the last two days since 10 electric poles were uprooted during a storm that swept over the distrcit on Monday night.

8 | WorldThe Iraqi prime minister has called for a national state of emergency after the city of Mosul and the northern province of Nineveh fell to al-Qaeda-inspired � ghters.

12 | Entertainment

Actor who are avid football fans, will be watching all the action of the upcoming World Cup closely and will be supporting their favourite teams.

13 | SportWith the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand less than a year away, new head coach of the Bangladesh cricket team Chandika Hathurusingha targeted a spot in the second round of the mega event while talking with the media at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

7 | BRING MANZOOR’S MURDERERS TO TRIAL

20 pages plus 8-page Treehouse children’s supplement | Price: Tk12WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Joishthya 28, 1421Shaaban 12, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 72

Treehouse | PEEK-A-BOO, I SEE YOU 14|’SPAIN CAN COPE WITH PACKED DEFENCES’

INSIDE

‘Big brother gave nodto get rid of Nazrul’n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj

The authority of Narayanganj Press Club has received a letter which was allegedly sent by Nur Hossain, the prime accused in the Narayanganj sev-en-murder case.

A letter typed in Bangla font and al-legedly signed by Nur Hossain arrived by post yesterday.

Halim Azad, the president of the press club, con� rmed the news to the Dhaka Tribune, adding that he had in-formed the o� ce of the district police superintendent about the letter, imme-diately after receiving it.

In the letter, Nur apprehended that he might be killed any time.

Addressing the people of Narayan-ganj, the letter stated: “I never want-ed that seven people will be killed. They [Nur did not mention who] did it against my will. This is why I told big brother [Shamim Osman] that I did not do this. Why, and by whose order, RAB did such a monstrous thing, I do not know.

“I � ed to India as per big brother’s order,” the letter also read.

Anticipating the possible su� erings of Narayanganj residents, the author

of the letter said: “I have considered it very necessary to inform the people of the Siddhirganj as well as Naryanganj about the fact.”

In the letter, the author mentioned that “the current situation resulted from my arrogance and ignorance.”

The letter also included an elabo-rate narration of the whole context of the abduction and killing, where the

author – allegedly Nur – said he had a long standing enmity with Nazrul over establishing supremacy in the area.

The letter also claimed that Nazrul tried to kill Nur several times. “Nazrul even hired professional killers.”

The letter’s author also claimed that he was abducted as per Nazrul’s plot, and was freed on ransom.

The letter further stated: “In recent time, when the rivalry reached its peak, Nazrul managed to get the favours of Mayor Ivy and MP Nazrul Islam Babu. Then I contacted big brother and he

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

BGMEA seals $1.2 billion deal with Chinese companyn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The BGMEA and Oriental Internation-al Holding, a Chinese company, have signed a billion dollar agreement to de-velop a new garment industrial park in Munshiganj.

“A memorandum of understanding has been signed today [Tuesday] with the Chinese company in the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang,” BGMEA Vice–President Reaz Bin Mahmood told the Dhaka Tribune.

Sheikh Hasina went to China on June 6 on an o� cial visit and she is scheduled to return home today.

Reaz said the industrial park will be built on 470 acres of land in Gazaria at an approximate cost of $1.2 billion.

Under the MoU, the Chinese com-pany will conduct a complete feasibil-ity study within three months and a framework agreement will be signed between the two parties.

“Oriental will also pay money tothe government to procure the land,” he said.

The company will develop land, roads, power plant and necessary

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Sultan, 15, performs a dribbling trick in front of a Brazilian � ag at Haridash Lane in Old Dhaka yesterday. Sultan, like all others, is getting ready to welcome a month when football will be the center of attention across the globe MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Delay in � xing project site jeopardises $5m in World Bank fundsn Abu Bakar Siddique

The government’s failure to select a site for a proposed wildlife centre in the last three years has prompted the World Bank to consider whether it should withdraw around $5m worth of funds from a $36m project.

Former forest minister Hasan Mahmud reportedly wanted to set up the wildlife centre near his hometown

in Chittagong’s Rangunia; the forest o� cials wanted the location to be Dha-ka’s Botanical Garden; while the World Bank demanded that the centre be set up in Gazipur’s Sal forest as per the pro-ject outline.

After the disagreements had con-tinued for three years running, a vis-iting World Bank mission reportedly decided to pull the $5m earmarked for the wildlife centre, as the government

could not utilise the money timely. However, Forest Minister Anwar

Hussain Manju told the Dhaka Tribune that discussion was going on to change the mind of the global lender as there was still two years left in the project deadline. The di� erence of opinion on selecting the location had been an im-pediment to the project, the minister said, adding that the World Bank was

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Flawed Acsu probe makes evidence lightICC’s anti-graft o� cials persuaded Dhaka Gladiators coach to playn Minhaz Uddin Khan

The three-member Bangladesh Pre-mier League tribunal headed by Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury has found that ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (Acsu) maintained no guidelines or protocols while investigating the match- and spot-� xing allegations that ravaged the second edition of Bangla-desh Premier League last year.

According to the tribunal’s complete judgement report, this was the main reason why the evidence placed by Acsu against the charged individuals lost its weight and was confusing to a certain extent.

The report pointed out that Ian Pont, the coach of Dhaka Gladiators was the � rst individual to inform Acsu of the

corrupted games in last year’s BPL. Ian informed Acsu o� cial Peter O’Shea of being approached by Dhaka Gladiators managing director Shihab Chowdhury to � x the match against Chittagong Kings on February 2, 2013. He also in-formed Peter of his intention to leave Bangladesh right away. But the Acsu o� cial persuaded Ian to play according to Shihab’s plans and told him that the � xed match should take place.

According to the plan, Dhaka Glad-iators’ regular captain Mashrafe Mor-taza should be rested and Mohammad Ashraful would captain in his place. Plan of who else might be interested in getting involved with � xing was raised and this brought in the name of English batsman Owais Shah. With Ian, Shihab shared the details of the plan regarding who would do what and what would they do if they batted � rst or bowled � rst in the game against Chittagong. Ian was informed of the inclusion of Dhaka team pacer Mahbubul Alam in the playing XI along with the inclusion of leg spinner Kaushal Lokurachchi in-stead of another player.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

The tribunal found it di� cult to rely on Ian Pont’s evidence as the English coach cooperated as instructed by Acsu

Letter arrives from Kolkata signed allegedly by Nur Hossain

They hate Neymar!n Raihan Mahmood from Sao Paulo

It may appear unbelieva-ble to millions of football fans across the globe but it is true that there are many Brazilians who are not admirers of the Se-lecao and hate Neymar.

While talking with me at the grand ave-nue of Paulista, the hub of all Brazilian festivals, Erika and Kate Suarez assured that they belong to a di� erent species.

What was interesting was that both of them could speak English, a rare phenomenon in Brazil, and they ap-proached me upon hearing that I could speak English. Little did they know that they were speaking to a reporter who had arrived from Bangladesh to cover the Fifa World Cup. When the identi-ty was revealed to them, they did not panic, instead they wanted to transmit their feelings.

Erika was white and Kate was black, please do not take it as a subject of rac-ism as it is just to describe the situa-tion. “The Brazilian government used all the policies to stop the anti-World Cup demonstration of the people and we believe that the World Cup is be-ing hosted with the people’s money. I do not believe that Brazil will win the World Cup as team spirit is not very high,” said Erika.

When asked whether the anti-World Cup spirit is higher than the pro-World Cup sentiment, Kate answered diplo-matically. “The anti-World Cup feelings are not very low. I believe millions of Brazilians have already demonstrated it. I can gather a lot of people around

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

11 | FLAGS IN OUR HEARTS

n Mohammad Zakaria

In violation of the election code of con-duct, Jatiya Party-backed candidate Selim Osman launched his election-eering in the upcoming Narayanganj 5 by-election with posters and banners decorating the constituency.

Four candidates of the by-poll yester-day started their formal election cam-paigning in the by-election as the returning o� cer allocated their election symbols.

The Election Commission says if any candidate starts election campaign be-fore the scheduled timeframe and hang any posters, banners and put up bill-boards it is in complete violation of the electoral code of conduct.

Visiting Bandar area in Narayanganj this correspondent found coloured banners, sponsored by Secretary of Bandar Thana Awami League and seek-ing vote for Selim Osman, hanging over roads. The personal secretary of late MP Nasim Osman also sponsored some banners for Selim.

The EC yesterday allocated elec-tions symbols to the four candidates of Narayanganj 5 by-election scheduled for June 26.

Returning O� cer Mihir Sarwar Mor-shed yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune

that if anyone put forward any allega-tions to the returning o� cer’s o� ce about the use of coloured posters, the commission would take actions.

When his attention was drawn to coloured banners and posters put up by Selim's supporters the returning o� cer said: “We have asked the authorities concerned to remove all posters, ban-ners and billboards.

“I myself did not see such banners or posters of Selim Osman.”

According to electoral code of conduct, candidates can hang onlyblack-and-white posters with their photos and symbols during election campaign.

EC o� cials said if a candidate vio-lates the electoral code of conduct, the EC’s electoral enquiry committee will investigate the matter and recommends cancellation of his/her candidature.

Independent candidate SM Akram got a Pineapple as his election symbol, Jatiya Party candidate Osman was allocated a Plough, Krishak Sramik Janata League candidate Sha� qul Islam Delowar Tow-el and independent candidate advocate Mamun Sirajul Majid was given a Shrimp.

The constituency fell vacant follow-ing the death of Jatiya Party lawmaker Nasim Osman, elder brother of Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman. l

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

‘Name Food Ministry as Paddy and Rice Ministry’n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The Ministry of Food should be re-named as Paddy and Rice Ministry as this entity’s only work is to procure paddy, wheat and rice, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee said about the ministry.

Abdul Wadud, the chairman of the 10-member watchdog who was tasked to ensure the transparency and ac-countability of the ministry, said the ministry had very little role in ensuring safe food for people.

“People think that the food minis-try is in charge of ensuring safe food for them, but actually all this minis-try does is focus on procuring paddy, wheat and rice.

“Food is a comprehensive word that includes all sorts of edible stu� includ-ing the health aspect,” Abdul Wadud told the Dhaka Tribune after the meet-ing at the parliament building yesterday.

He said people question him about whether the food ministry can stop use of formalin and other injurious sub-stances.

“Formalin import is under the juris-diction of the commerce ministry while the industries ministry takes actions for the misuse of formalin,” said Wadud, suggesting that the government should give more mandates to the ministry to ensure food safety issues.

In 2012, the Awami League govern-ment split the erstwhile the ministry of food and disaster management minis-try into two entities – food ministry and disaster management ministry.

Food Minister Quamrul Islam also attended the meeting. l

First-time MP verbally assaults chief whipn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Chief Whip ASM Feroz incurred the wrath of an Awami League lawmaker “for not allocating him a room.”

On Monday, � rst-time MP Bahaud-din Nasim, former assistant private sec-retary to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (1996-2001), called Feroz in lobby 4 and hurled abusive at him after the Maghrib recess in the presence of several MPs.

Both Nasim and Feroz traded hot words. Security personnel and parlia-ment sta� were sent out of the lobby.

Nasim took a swipe at the chief whip as he was using � ve rooms according to a newspaper report.

“You have locked my room but you are using � ve rooms. How dare you lock my room?” Nasim yelled at Feroz.

The MPs present intervened and took Nasim to another place to defuse the tension.

“I protested his comments and ag-gressive attitude; I have not misused my authority,” Feroz told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. He said Nasim’s al-legations were not right. l

PMO awarded ITU WSIS Award 2014n Tribune Report

The Prime Minister’s O� ce received the International Telecommunication Union’s WSIS Award 2014 yesterday in the e-governance category.

The ITU awarded the PMO’s Access to Information (A2I) programme’s “Ser-vices @ Citizens’ Doorsteps” initiative.

Junaid Ahmed Palak, state minister of the Information and Communica-tion Technology Division, accepted the award. Kabir Anwar, DG (admin) of the PMO and project director of the A2I programme, among others, were pres-ent at the event. l

Narayanganj 5 by-polls electioneering begins

Banners seeking votes for AKM Selim Osman can be seen almost everywhere in Narayanganj. The photo was taken at the port's second terminal yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Flawed Acsu probe makes PAGE 1 COLUMN 2But as per the report, the tribunal found it di� cult to rely on Ian’s evidence as the English coach cooperated as in-structed by the Acsu to assist in � xing the match despite his initial reluctance.

The tribunal found that Ian was obliged to act the way he did as he did not have any choice but assist Acsu.

According to the report, Ian was of-fered $6000 for � xing by Dhaka Gladi-ators’ managing director Shihab Chow-dhury. For assisting in � xing the match and cooperating with Acsu at the same time, Ian received the $6000 in cash af-ter the match was over. Although Shihab denied any such transaction, Ian stated that he had received this amount.

The receipt was reported to Peter who relayed the information to the head of Acsu in Dubai. This was fol-lowed by the Acsu instructing Ian to retain the amount which the tribunal found disturbing. Ian was unable to ex-plain the basis of keeping the money to the tribunal and this made the evidenc-es of Ian and Peter unreliable.

Acsu also presented two other co-conspirators – Mohammad Ashraful and Sri Lanka cricketer Kaushal Lokura-chchi as evidence.

However, considering the principle as applied in the case of Ian, the tribunal stat-

ed that to give such evidence full weight when it is replied upon to establish the guilt of another accused would be con-trary to the sporting imperatives and the principle of fairness and to give those evi-dences full weight might as well put pub-lic’s faith on the integrity and transperan-cy of the tribunal under serious threat.

Therefore, the tribunal admitted to the evidences but it was unable to give those evidences any weight, termed them unreliable and failed to establish any charge agaisnt the defendants be-yond reasonable doubt.

Overall, the tribunal’s report shed light on this whole issue on the basis of the admitted evidence. The investigators act-ing on behalf of Acsu devised their own methods of investigation which varied from time to time. Notes were kept or re-cordings were made of the interviews oc-casionally while no notes or recording of the interviews were made in most cases.

The tribunal also mentioned that there was no data available as to who recorded the witness’s statements for a witness or a defendant, or who was present during the interview. Most of the witnesses’ statements were not witnessed by anyone.

This resulted in the tribunal ques-tioning the dependability of the evi-dences placed by Acsu. l

Delay in � xing project site jeopardises $5m PAGE 1 COLUMN 5prompted to rethink on fund distribu-tion because of the three-year delay.

Manju also said he has assured the World Bank that his ministry would im-plement the project on time, but add-ed that he was not responsible for the sluggish progress of the project as he had taken charge of the ministry only recently.

Former forest minister Hasan Mahmud, however, denied allegations against him, telling the Dhaka Tribune that they had consulted with the World

Bank during his tenure and decided to set up the wildlife centre in Chittagong, as the Chittagong region contained 11% of the country’s total forest and Bangla-desh Forest Research Institute was also located in the region

However, there was no o� cial com-ment from the World Bank, as discus-sion on the issue was ongoing.

The WB-funded $36m project titled “Strengthening Regional Co-operation for Wildlife” was initiated on July 2011 to improve regional cooperation on wildlife protection among the South

Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Establishing a wildlife centre, which will facilitate training and research on wildlife, is one of the major compo-nents of the project.

Aparup Chowdhury, additional sec-retary to the ministry who is also the incumbent project director, said the ministry had formed a � ve-member search committee a few months ago to select the location for the centre.

However, the committee’s sched-uled visit yesterday to three probable

sites – Madaripur, Shariatpur and Mun-shiganj – was postponed along with two other scheduled visits to Chittagong’s Mirsarai and Rangunia on June 16.

Asked why the ministry needed a search committee when the draft pro-ject proposal mentioned Gazipur as the site, Forest Minister Manju said the government was trying to establish the wildlife centre in an easily accessible location and through a decentralised method. With this in mind, the south-ern regions of the country could be a probable location. l

BGMEA seals $1.2 billion deal PAGE 1 COLUMN 1constructions and build structures for selling it to the members of BGMEA and BKMEA. “Few accessories factories can be set up there to supply raw materials to the garment industry,” he added.

After completion of feasibility study, within three months OIH will produce all relevant documents from their au-thority and � nanciers for � nancing the project and full fund for the land pay-ment and other costs.

“OIH will devise a marketing plan in consultation with BGMEA so that it can sell assets to the members of BGMEA

and BKMEA,” Reaz said, adding that the buyers will pay the OIH in installments.

BGMEA will deliver to OIH a ‘letter of authorisation’ from the government within 14 days of signing the MoU un-der which the association will have full authority to negotiate with the Chinese company, he added.

Both the parties agreed that the agreement will be governed by British laws and if any dispute arises, they will resort to International Chamber of Commerce for settlement, Reaz said.

The government has allocated 470 acres of land at Baushia in Munshiganj

for setting up a readymade garment in-dustrial park.

It will have roads, water, power and gas supply, telecommunication, e� u-ent treatment plant, transportations, hospital, hotel and factory sheds.

The government has authorised Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to seek an investor for the project and it has struck the deal with the Chinese company.

Garment is the biggest export earn-ing sector of Bangladesh and accounts for about 90% of the total earnings.

However, China will construct a tun-

nel under the Karnaphuli River in Chit-tagong. In this regard, Bangladesh and China signed a memorandum of under-standing in Beijing on Monday night, reports BSS.

Communications Secretary Khanda-kar Anwarul Islam and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Commu-nication of China Chi-Kuo Mao inked the MoU on behalf of their respective sides, foreign ministry sources said.

As per the MoU, the Chinese govern-ment would construct the tunnel at an estimated cost of $1 billion, the sources added. l

They hate Neymar! PAGE 1 COLUMN 6me who will support my views,” said Erika.

Meanwhile, Kate described Neymar as a dire personality who has grown into a millionaire from a humble back-ground but forgot his roots. “He is not a good human. I dub him as a non-social who has disregarded his past after be-coming rich.

He now seems to forget his past and his attitude towards the people is not satisfactory. I don’t like him. I am an ad-mirer of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portu-

guese star who has a strong connection with the society,” said Kate to which Erika nodded positively.

It is mentionable that Neymar re-cently bought a triplex, an expensive Porsche and an Italian yacht signaling his riches that might have increased the jealousy among the deprived sec-tion of the society.

Whatever it is, discovering some Bra-zilians who are not impressed with the Brazilian national football team and are not admirers of Brazilian football’s hot-test star was amazing in itself. l

‘Big brother gave nod to get rid of Nazrul’ PAGE 1 COLUMN 3asked me to clear o� Nazrul from the way.”

The letter also mentioned that when RAB o� cer Arif was contacted for killing Nazrul, the o� cial also asked whether the “big brother” had given his consent.

“Big brother has settled the money to be paid for killing Ismail [missing since February after being abducted allegedly by RAB] and Nazrul in the presence of the RAB o� cial Arif,” the letter read.

The author of the letter also claimed that RAB o� cials wanted an additional

Tk1 crore for the killing of Nazrul to pay the higher o� cials, along with the pre-viously set Tk1 crore.

The letter also narrated how Nur along with his associates Shahajahan and Moti collaborated with RAB mem-bers to make the killing mission of Naz-rul and others successful.

He said: “After the killings, I came to India according to the direction of big brother.”

Despite repeated attempts over phone, the Dhaka Tribune could not reach Narayanganj Police Superintendent Khandakar Mahid Uddin for comments.

Recently, private television station Channel 24 broadcast a phone conver-sation between Shamim Osman, the ruling party lawmaker from Narayan-ganj, and Nur Hossain.

During the 103-second-long conver-sation between Shamim and Nur, the lawmaker asked the fugitive suspect if he had received his message; with Nur replying that he had. Shamim also asked Nur not to worry too much.

The letter, which has reportedly been sent by Nur, also mentioned the phone conversation.

Asked about the authenticity of the

letter, Narayanganj Press Club Presi-dent Halim Azad said: “The letter was signed by Nur Hossain. But we are yet to be sure whether it was really the sig-nature of Nur.

“The envelope shows that one Sub-rata Poddar from Lily-put Fashion House, 12/1, Marquez street, Kolka-ta-700016, has sent the letter. It arrived in the afternoon, with a date of deliv-ery on June 9 as sealed by Narayanganj post-o� ce,” he added.

The letter was written in Bangla Sutonni font, which is rare in Kolkata, added Halim. l

NOAB's new committeeformedn Tribune Report

Fresh committee of Newspaper Own-ers’ Association Bangladesh was formed at its executive committee’s meeting held on June 8.

Matiur Rahman, publisher of the Prothom Alo, was elected as the pres-ident while AK Azad, publisher of the Samakal, was elected as the vice presi-dent of the committee.

Matiur Rahman Chowdhury,chief editor of the Manabzaminwas re-elected as the treasurer of the committee.

The other members of the com-mittee are: Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of the Daily Star; Tasmima Hosen, acting editor of the Ittefaq; MA Malek, editor of the Dainik Azadi; Shahidullah Khan, president of the editorial board of the New Age; AHM Moazzem Hossain, editor of the Finan-cial Express; and Riazuddin Ahmed, editor of the News Today.

The members adopted a condo-lence motion on the demise of Mah-bubul Alam, NOAB’s former presidentand a veteran journalist, at themeeting. l

Hoisted foreign � ags in Jessore taken downn Tribune Report

As per a directive from the Jessore dis-trict administration, most of the for-eign � ags hoisted by the football fans ahead of the Fifa world cup were pulled down yesterday.

On Monday, Jessore DC asked the town people to take down all the for-eign � ags within 6pm that day.

“Paying respect to the country’s law, most of the people have taken down the foreign � ags that they had hoisted to show their support to their favour-ite teams in the upcoming Basil world cup,” Jessore district Nezarat Deputy Collector Najmul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune.

The administration also asked the others who have yet to pull downthe foreign � ags, the Nezarat contin-ued. The event was due to start onJune 12.

As per the Bangladesh Flag Rules, no foreign � ags can be hoisted within the territory of Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Liberation War A� airs Minister AKM Mojammel Haque asked countrymen to take down foreign � ags. In an interview with BBC Bangla, he also said in nowhere of the world for-eign � ags were hoisted. l

Foreign friends to get new crestsn Nazmus Sakib

The government has decided to send new gold crests to the foreign friends, who played vital roles during the 1971 Liberation War, “with a view to reviv-ing the country’s image.”

Supreme Court lawyer Manzill Mur-shid, who sent a legal notice to the Lib-eration War A� airs Ministry demand-

ing new crests be sent to the foreign friends, received a letter on Monday from the ministry.

He told the Dhaka Tribune: “The let-ter, which was issued by the ministry on June 4, said a parliamentary probe body has already investigated the scan-dal over sham gold crests. The Liber-ation War A� airs Ministry will take measures to send new crests to the for-eign friends through foreign embassies after getting the probe report.”

He said the letter signed by Assistant Secretary Md Ra� qul Islam mentioned

that the money of the new crests would be realised from the contracting company, which was allegedly involved in the scam.

Liberation War A� airs Minister AKM Mojammel Haque, however, denied the matter, saying he had no idea about the letter.

He said: “The ministry is yet to make any decision in this regard.”

Manzill Murshid � led a writ petition with the High Court on May 21 as he did not receive any response from the government regarding the legal notice within three days.

On Monday, the High Court bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Khurshid Alam Sarkar dropped the petition from the case list, saying it would not pass any order as the gov-ernment had taken the matter serious-ly and already launched a probe.

The government honoured 338 for-eign individuals and organisations from 2011 to 2013 for their contribu-tions to the country’s liberation. Each honouree was given a crest, which was supposed to be made of 1 tola (11.66g) of gold and 30 tolas (350g) of silver.

A test conducted by the Bangla-desh Standards and Testing Institution found that there was only about 2.2g of gold and 35g of brass and copper in each crest. l

Manzill: The letter says the money of the new crests would be realised from the contracting company

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

10 lakh people at risk of landslide n Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

Two committees, formed after a series of landslides on June 11 in 2007 which killed 126 people, made 36-point  rec-ommendations  to avert such inci-dents, but many of the  recommenda-tions have not been implemented yet.

More than 50 thousand people were living at vulnerable hill slopes in di� er-ent parts of the city during the series of landslides, but according to a survey, the number of people has risen to 10 lakh in the city and the district in re-cent times.

The committees, headed by then divisional commissioner MN Siddique, recommended evacuating people from the risky hill areas and taking mea-sures to rehabilitate them. 

The committees in the reports also recommended preparing a national hill management policy, imposing ban on brick kilns within 10 kilometres and on housing projects within � ve kilome-tres from hills.

Other  recommendations  include forming vigilance team to check new settlements in risky areas, construc-tion of retaining and boundary walls immediately in di� erent risky hills, massive a� orestation and harsh pun-ishment for hill cutters.

Department of Environment Dep-uty Director Zafar Alam, also head of a seven-member committee formed last year to detect vulnerable hills, told the Dhaka Tribune that 13 hills had been found risky in 2007 when 50,000 people were living at vulnerable hill slopes.

“We have found 30 hills vulnerable in the district during a recent survey while at least 10 lakh people have been living at hill slopes,” he said, adding that all the people living at hill slopes are not at risk.

According to the recent survey, CRB hill, Tiger-pass hill, Prabartak, Golpa-har, Ishpahani hill, Batali hill, DC hill, AK Khan hill, James Finley hill, Forest Research Institute hill, Lake City resi-dential area hill, City Corporation Hill,

the hill adjacent to Foy’s Lake and a number of hills at Salimpur at Sitakun-da upazila and Chittagong University, are among the vulnerable hills.

Divisional Commissioner Moham-med Abdullah told the Dhaka Tribune that the process was on to implement the  recommendations,  adding that they had undertaken short, medium and long-term measures as per the rec-ommendations of the committees.

“We have implemented many of short and midterm recommendations, but im-

plementation of long-term recommen-dations is not possible locally,” he said. They had forwarded the long-term rec-ommendations to the higher authority.

“We are trying to relocate the peo-ple living at vulnerable hill slopes, but it is not possible to relocate a huge number of people under any short term measure,” he said, adding that they had taken an initiative to relocate 666 families immediately.

He also said seven to eight thou-sand people were evacuated from the

risky areas after the landslide in 2007, but most of them had returned later as they could not be rehabilitated else-where.

A hill management committee also selected 27 acres of khas land in Hatha-zari upazila for relocating people from risky areas, but the plan was changed later.

Committee sources said they were forced to change the plan as the land falls into the � ring range of Bangla-desh Army, adding that they had later

selected six acres of land in Kalurghat area owned by the Bangladesh Rail-way.

The sources also said they had plans to set up a rehabilitation centre on the land with accommodation for 2,400 families.

Apart from the deaths of 126 people in 2007, landslides killed 17 people in city’s Ambagan area in 2011 and 11 peo-ple in Lalkhan Bazar in 2008. Also, sev-en were killed in landslide in 2002, 16 in 2000 and 19 in 1999. l

Hundreds of tin-shed houses have been built on Tankir Hill in Chittagong, putting thousands of lives at risk of landslides DHAKA TRIBUNE

Fake DB men put on remandn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court placed four arrested fake DB men on one-day remand each yesterday, in a case � led with Banani police station in the capital.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ataul Haque passed the order when Banani police produced them before the court seeking a 5-day remand for each of them for interrogation.

The accused are Md Mamun, Abu Bakar, Mostafa Kamal Liton and Al-Amin.

Earlier, police arrested the four fake DB men after a mugging incident in the city’s Banani area on Monday.

According to the case statement, the four accused introduced them-selves as members of DB police and snatched away Tk2.63 lakh from Jan-e-Alam Chowdhury, an o� cer at BD Thai Cosmo Ltd and Imam Mehedi, a peon, while they were going to the bank to

deposit the money.Pedestrians managed to catch the

four and rescued Alam along with the money when the criminals’ car was stuck in a tra� c jam in Banani Bazar area.

Later, the people beat them up and handed them over to police. l

HC refuses to hear bail plea of expatriate secretaryn Nazmus Sakib

The High Court yesterday declined to hear the petition of Expatriate Welfare and Oversees Employment Secretary Khandaker Shawkat Hossain who had sought anticipatory bail in three cor-ruption cases.

The bench of Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore refused to hear the plea saying they had personal di� culties, petition-er’s lawyer Sheikh Golam Ha� z said.

However, the bench said the expa-triate secretary could move to another bench. In April this year the Anti-Cor-ruption Commission � led three sepa-rate cases against him, accusing him of acquiring land for himself, his mother and his wife from the Uttara project through fraudulence. l

Ex-state minister’s APS placed on nine-day remandn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka Court granted a nine-day re-mand yesterday to Soumendra Lal Chandra Shoilen, former assistant per-sonal secretary to ex-state minister for religious a� airs M Shahjahan Miah, in connection with a amassing of illegal wealth and corruption case.

On Monday, an Anti-Corruption Com-mission team arrested him from Ramna police station area. ACC Deputy Director KM Mezbah Uddin produced him before the court, seeking a 10-day remand.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mosta� zur Rahman, however, granted the remand for nine days after hearing the remand and bail pleas. The ACC � led a case against him on charges of acquiring wealth through illegal means.

In the case statement, the ACC said they found that Shoilen’s net income was around Tk31 lakh and he had de-posits with several banks, including over Tk64 lakh in Sonali Bank, over Tk3 lakh in Mercantile Bank and over Tk4 lakh in Premier Bank.

Soumendra built a � ve-storey build-ing in the town and his wife owns sev-eral apartments in Dhaka. The case statement also says that the accused earned this money during the period when he worked for 4 years 11 months as assistant personal secretary to ex-state minister for religious a� airs M Shahjahan Miah. l

HC suspends Pintu’s BDR mutiny � ne of Tk5 lakhn Nazmus Sakib

The High Court yesterday suspended a � ne of Tk5 lakh slapped on BNP leader Nasir Uddin Pintu in the BDR mutiny case.

On November 5 last year, a Dhaka court imposed the � ne on Pintu and sentenced him to life for his role in the February 2009 mutiny at BDR headquarters in Dhaka.

Challenging the verdict, Pintu � led an appeal with the High Court in January this year.

Accepting the appeal for hearing yesterday, the bench of Justice Syed AB Mahmudul Huq and Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder halted the � ne imposed on Pintu until the disposal of the appeal.

The same bench is likely to hear a plea of the BNP leader today where he has sought � rst class facilities in jail. l

State to challenge bail of blogger Rajeeb murder accusedn Nazmus Sakib

The state has decided to challenge the bail of an accused of blogger Rajeeb Haider murder case who was freed from jail on June 4 on an interim bail of six months granted by the High Court.

Deputy Attorney General Khurshed-ul Alam yesterday told the Dhaka Tri-bune that the state would � le a petition today with the chamber judge of the Appellate Division to stay the bail and

also seek directives for the surrender of the accused, Sadman Yasir Mahmud.

On June 1, the High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed granted Sadman bail.

Rajeeb, 26, an organiser of the demonstrations at Shahbagh demand-ing death for all convicted war crimi-nals, was hacked to death in Dhaka’s Pallabi area on February 15 last year.

He used to write under the pen name “Thaba Baba” on di� erent blogs. In his

last Facebook status, he called for ban-ning the institutions owned by the Ja-maat-e-Islami, a component of the BNP-led 18-party alliance in Bangladesh.

A day after the murder, the victim’s father Nazim Uddin � led a murder case with Pallabi police station.

After two weeks, the IO arrested � ve NSU students, who reportedly confessed that they had killed Rajeeb upon directives of the chief of Ansarullah Bangla Team, a Bangladeshi follower of al-Qaeda. l

Another witness describes Hiramoni Santal rape n Udisa Islam

A new witness in the trial against al-leged collaborator Syed Mohammad Qaisar said yesterday that the accused had directed the Pakistani Army per-sonnel to violate indigenous woman Hiramoni Santal during the 1971 Liber-ation War in Chandpur Chhagolbazar Tea State in Habiganj.

Md Abdul Motaleb, 77, the 20th prosecution witness, told the Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal 2 that he had heard about the incident from the per-son who had rescued the Birangona.

The witness also said he had heard Hiramoni’s voice seeking help during the torture perpetrated by two army men. He was hiding in her house for shelter. On June 1, a nephew of survivor Hiramoni, who is now 80 years old, testi� ed in the case as the 18th prosecution witness.

Former Jatiya Party state minister Qaisar is facing 16 charges of crimes against humanity that he had allegedly committed in Habiganj and Brahman-baria areas in 1971.

Motaleb, then an informer for the freedom � ghters, said yesterday that he had been caught by the Pakistani occupation forces, accompanied by Qa-isar and two other Bangali men, on May 11 or 12 of 1971 at Dolna Tea Estate near Darga Beel outpost. The Pakistani forc-es were in � ve vans.

“When Sher Bahadur saw me, Qa-isar identi� ed me as a freedom � ght-

er. Then both of them questioned me about the other freedom � ghters. When I continued to deny, Sher Baha-dur certi� ed me as a ‘good man’ and recommended my release.”

But the accused did not agree. The witness said he had later been taken to Chandpur.

“When they reached Chhagolbazar Tea State, Major Yusuf told me to leave the place and I went to Hiramoni San-tal’s house for shelter.”

He said: “I never met her before. When I reached her house, I heard Hiramoni’s voice shouting ‘they are violating me, I want to die.’ When an old man [father of the victim] came to rescue Hiramoni, Qaisar and two un-known Bangali men beat him severely.”

The occupation forces and the col-laborators had left place after 40 min-utes. “A person who rescued Hiramoni told me that Qaisar had directed two Pakistan Army personnel to violate Hi-ramoni,” he said.

After his deposition, defence coun-sel Abdus Sobhan Tarafder started cross examining him. The tribunal 2 adjourned the trial until today, leaving it incomplete.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Mizan-ul Islam continued the cross-exam-ination of the prosecution’s 11th wit-ness yesterday in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maula-na Abdus Subhan. Later the tribunal 2 adjourned the hearing until today. l

CHITTAGONG MADRASA BLAST CASECharge framing in acid recovery case on June 25n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday � xed June 25 for the framing of charges in the acid recovery case lodged against Hefazat-e-Islam leader Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury and his son Harun Bin Izhar.

The court of Chittagong Metropol-itan Sessions Judge SM Mojibur Rah-man passed the order.

Abdus Sattar, counsel of Harun Izhar, told the court that no evidence was found in the investigation stage that could lead to framing charges against Harun.

“He was not on the spot and the acid was not found in his possession,” said the counsel.

Meanwhile, no lawyer moved on be-half of Mufti Izhar as he was abscond-ing, said the court sources.

On May 28, police submitted the charge sheet accusing Hefazat Senior Nayeb-E-Ameer Izharul and his son in the case � led under section 36 of the Acid Control Act 2002.

The case document said Mufti Izha-rul, also the founding director of the Jamiatul Ulum Al Islamia Madrasa in Lalkhan Bazar of the port city, and his son kept 18 bottles of picric acid in the madrasa’s o� ce room in order to make explosives.

Earlier, on October 7, 2013, a deadly blast at a hostel room in the madrasa killed three persons including two stu-dents. Three cases were lodged with Khulshi police station in this regard . l

Child labour census remains an empty promisen Udisa Islam and Mohosinul Karim

There has been no progress in carrying out a fresh child labour census, despite the government’s announcement in this regard a year ago on the occasion of the World Day against Child Labour.

In June last year, Labour Ministry’s Joint Secretary Mujibur Rahman, who is currently the secretary in charge, said the government was going to launch a fresh child labour census. Speaking at an event marking the day, he said the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic, in association with the International Labour Organisation, had already started preparations for the census, adding that the survey report would be available by early 2014.

However, no initiative has been

made in a year to start the census.When Dhaka Tribune asked him

about the promise, Mujibur need-ed some time to recall his earlier an-nouncement and said the ministry did not have any current plans on the issue.

He, however, said: “Under a proj-ect called ‘Jhukipurno Srom Niroson’ [elimination of hazardous labour] we are working with 50,000 children en-gaged in hazardous jobs. We are provid-ing them with non-formal education and developing their skills, so that they do not need to go back to the risky jobs.”

With technical support from the ILO, the government has so far funded around Tk65 crore to the project, which started in 2010 and is expected to end this June.

However, sources said the project cannot be considered successful be-cause its participants could not be sup-plied with the equipment needed to start their own businesses as the price of everything has risen over the last four years.

According to the last child labour survey conducted in 2003, about 3.2 million children, aged between � ve and 17, were engaged in active labour. Of them, at least l.3 million were involved in hazardous jobs, with boys compris-ing at least 91% of the child labourers.

Wahida Banu, executive director of child rights body Aparajeyo Bangla-desh, said a fresh census was necessary to make a total framework to eliminate child labour. Those who had received

training from the government also need-ed further � nancial support to start something fresh in their life, she added.

In 2009, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concerns over the number of child workers in Bangladesh who were working in high-ly risky areas.

On the other hand, ministry sourc-es said they have developed a national plan of action to implement National Child Labour Elimination Policy 2010. District-level committees have also been formed to implement the policy, they added.

The World Day against Child Labour is observed on June 12 every year, and the theme for this year is “Extend Social Protection: Combat Child Labour!” l

Following the blast, law enforcers recovered among other things 18 bottles of picric acid used to make explosives

Soumendra built a � ve-storey building in the town and his wife owns several apartments in Dhaka

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Most hospitals yet to open info centresn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Most public hospitals have failed to set up information centres on their prem-ises, ignoring a recent circular from the Health Ministry that directed the hos-pitals to introduce the centres to make healthcare more easily available.

On May 7, a circular signed by Depu-ty Secretary (hospital) Md Abdul Malek directed all district, medical colleges, tertiary and specialised hospitals to in-troduce information centres at their re-spective premises within three days.

The circular, which was sent to 126 major public hospitals, also directed hos-pital authorities to upgrade the standard of health services, make medical care more easily available and provide treat-ment-related information to patients.

The ministry speci� cally directed hospital authorities to ful� l several con-ditions including submitting the names and designations of the information of-� cers concerned and the centres’ phone numbers to the ministry. The hospitals were also told to put up signs on the hos-pital premises regarding the information centres as well as to publish advertise-ments on well-circulated dailies to create awareness about the centres.

Sources said so far, only a handful of the hospitals have carried out the minis-try directives.

Seeking anonymity, several o� cials from the Health Ministry and the health directorate told the Dhaka Tribune that such emergency decisions were made only after untoward incidents, but were also soon forgotten until the recurrence of a similar event.

The sources also claimed that as the ministry directive was not carried out,

the Directorate General of Health Ser-vices also issued a similar circular, signed by its Director-in-Charge (hospital and clinic) Dr ABM Abdul Hannan, on June 5 on its website.

Dr Hannan, who is also the DGHS director for medical education, said au-thorities were determined to introduce information centres, adding that any circular by the Health Ministry must be followed by the hospitals concerned. The directorate would carry out random inspections soon on whether the direc-tive had been carried out properly by the hospitals, he added.

O� cials from the ministry and the DGHS added that the authorities’ deci-sion to launch information centres was prompted by several incidents of unrest among doctors, patients’ relatives, and journalists at Dhaka and Rajshahi Med-ical College Hospitals and the capital’s Birdem Hospital over alleged medical negligence, they added.

During the clashes, allegations were raised that the doctors were negligent in their duties and unable to inform pa-tients about the correct medical status, while journalists also claimed that hospi-tal authorities refused to disclose infor-mation to them.

The doctors, on the other hand, blamed journalists for violating rules to collect information and entering hospi-tals’ restricted areas without permission.

Several senior o� cials of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) and Swadh-inata Chikitshak Parisad also told the Dhaka Tribune it was urgent to introduce information centres in hospitals to pro-vide healthcare-related data and also to reduce misunderstanding between doc-tors, patients and journalists. l

Students of Northern International Medical College form a human chain in front of their Dhanmondi campus ysterday, demanding intern doctors’ registration from authorities concerned NASHIRUL ISLAM

Education minister to sit with leading educationists todayn Mushfi que Wadud

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid will meet the country’s leading edu-cationists today to listen to their opin-ions and suggestions for the overall progress of the education sector.

The meeting will be held at the Edu-cation Ministry today at 10:30am. More than 50 educationists are expected to be present at the meeting.

O� cials at the ministry said ques-tion paper leakage will be the top agen-da in the meeting.

There have been allegations of ques-tion paper leakage in the recent public examinations. Dhaka Education Board postponed the English second paper exam in the Higher Secondary Certi� -

cate examination following allegations of question paper leakage.

In the meeting invitation letter, the education minister mentioned that in the last � ve years, opinions and sug-gestions of educationists had helped the ministry to improve the overall op-eration of the ministry.

He hoped that their opinions and suggestions would help the ministry to chalk out its future course of action, correct mistakes and improve the qual-ity of education in the country.

Professor Salahuddin Ahmed, Pro-fessor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui, Pro-fessor Rehman Sobhan and Professor Emeritus of Dhaka University Anisuz-zaman have been invited to the meet-ing, among others. l

Five more tra� cking victims repatriated from Iran n Rabiul Islam

Five Bangladeshi migrant workers rescued by Iranian police from the clutches of tra� ckers were repatriated from Iran yesterday.

The � ve, Abed, Rubel, Mostak, Nazmul and Jabed, reached Hazrat Shahajalal International Airport at 6:30 am, Assistant Director of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training Zahidul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.

Rights Jessore, a non-governmental organisation, brought them back home with the assistance of the Embassy of Bangladesh in Iran.

So far, 95 Bangladeshi tra� cking victims have been repatriated from Iran since January.

Executive Director of Rights Jessore Binoy Kirishna said the � ve tra� cking victims used to work as migrant workers in Dubai. They then fell into the trap of an unscrupulous section of Bangladeshi people, who had promised to take them to European countries, including Greece.

On the way, they ended up con� ned in Iran and their relatives were made to pay for their freedom. l

GIZ signs MoU with Huntsmann Tribune Report

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed yesterday between Huntsman, a global manufacturer of industrial chemicals, and ‘Promotion of Social and Environmental Stan-dards in the Industry’, a joint project of the government of Bangladesh and Germany, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusam-menarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooper-ation and Development (BMZ).

According to the MoU, Huntsman and GIZ will cooperate to improve the management of chemicals in 10 textile mills in Bangladesh. The initiative forms part of Huntsman’s role in the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals programme (ZDHC) of 17 leading apparel and foot ware manufacturers, to help the industry eliminate hazardous chemicals from their products by 2020.

By joining hands, both GIZ and Huntsman will be able to support the development of industry-wide best practices in chemical management and on-the-ground implementation to contribute to a cleaner environment and increased environmental accountability.

In his opening speech at the MoU signing ceremony, Magnus Schmid, program coordinator of PSES, said: “Textile factories in Bangladesh should take environmental issues more seri-ously. Our Chemical Management pro-gram has trained 60 consultants from at least 20 service providing organisa-tions so far, and we look forward to cre-ate a greater impact by partnering with Huntsman.

Through our training and this part-nership, we shall contribute to achieve the goal of eliminating the use of haz-ardous substances from the production process.” l

Speakers: Government overlooking agricultural sector n Tribune Report

Speakers at a discussion yesterday ob-served that the contribution of the ag-riculture sector in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has decreased by around 17% in the last 24 years as the government allocation for the sec-tor had been shrinking day-by-day.

They made the observations at a programme, titled “Discussion on agri-culture and food security issue in the proposed national budget 2014-15,” organised by Action Aid Bangladesh at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

In the � scal year (FY) 2012-13, al-location on agriculture was 8.52% of the national budget but came down to 5.68% in the revised budget for FY2013-14. In the development bud-get, the share for the sector came down to 2.2%.

Speakers also noted that although 3.77 crore metric tonnes of food grains were produced in FY2013-14, Bangla-desh, however, could not meet its local demands.

They further said the demand for lentil in Bangladesh is around 12-14

lakh metric tonnes, whereas the coun-try only produces 4.50 lakh metric tonnes. In a bid to boost production, farmers are now rampantly using chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which eventually reduces the fertility

of the land and creates an adverse ef-fect on the environment. The participants also warned that al-though the production has increased, but such rampant use of fertilisers and pesticides will cut down the country’s production capacity in the long run.

In the recent budget, the government allotted Tk19,100 crore (around 7.6% of the total budget) of which Tk9,000 crore has been set for subsidies.

Speaking at the event, MP Abdur

Razzak, president of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Minis-try A� airs, said: “The purchasing pow-er of people has lessened and thus they cannot buy food. The allocation for the sector should be increased to around 40 percent as there is no alternative in order to meet the food demand.”

Journalist Razu Ahmed, who pre-sented the key note speech of the pro-gramme, said: “Although the govern-ment is providing subsidy facilities, however, actual farmers are not getting the bene� ts. Rather, fertiliser dealers, importers and buyers are reaping the bene� ts by in� ating the prices.”

“Although agricultural research is an important issue, the government did not allocate any funds in this regard in the recent budget. Farmers are not getting the fair price due to a lack of storage fa-cilities and they are being pressurised to repay loans after harvesting,” he added.

He also noted that the government should ensure proper allocation and research in order to increase produc-tion and ensure fair prices for farm-ers and proper storage facilities for all kinds of crops. l

Joanne R Potter, principal of ICF International, USA speaks at a Seminar held at the IUB campus.

IUB holds seminar on climate changen Tribune report

The o� ce of Career Guidance and Placement (CGP) of the Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) organised a seminar titled “Climate change, miti-gation and sustainability” on June 8 at its campus in Dhaka.

Joanne R Potter, principal of ICF International, USA was the keynote speaker at the seminar. In the seminar,

Potter elaborated the challenges in ad-dressing climate change risks.

Professor M Omar Rahman, Vice Chancellor, IUB, also spoke on the oc-casion. There was a question-answer session following the presentation, which was attended by the faculty members and the students. The faculty members, management o� cials and a good number of students attended the seminar. l

BRACU holds career advising programn Tribune Report

The orientation session for ‘Professional Skills and Development Program (PSDP) Summer 2014’ was held at the indoor auditorium of the BRAC University on June 5 organised by its Career Service O� ce.

In his speech, Kumar Murshid, joint registrar and director of CSO, congratulat-ed the graduating students for reaching their � nal year and referred them as the future ‘Ambassadors’ of the university.

He said: “PSDP aims at the holistic de-velopment of the students and encour-ages them to be proactive in their profes-

sional venture.” Dean of Students’ A� airs, Professor

Riaz P Khan said: “BRACU is committed to re� ne the students’ skills and help them to choose the careers they are pas-sionate about.”

A total of 120 registered students were present at this program. The event ended up with an interactive session where the students put their queries to the speak-ers and CSO sta� members on di� erent aspects of professional development.

The PSDP program is designed to prepare the graduating class to pursue post-graduate employment and academ-ic opportunities. l

Call for an end to kafala system n Rabiul Islam

Speakers at a consultation yesterday said migrant workers are being deprived of their rights due to the ‘kafala’ system (sponsorship system) practised in the Middle East countries.

Terming it a sort of modern slav-ery, they also demanded the aboli-tion of such system. They said around 8,000,000 Bangladeshis are now work-ing in di� erent countries.

Under the system, a migrant worker cannot change assigned jobs without his or her employer’s permission. Without an employer’s co-operation, a migrant can-not have their residence permits issued or renewed. A sponsor has complete control over the mobility of workers.

National Alliance for Migrants Rights, Bangladesh organised the consultation titled “kafala violating migrant rights: Can FIFA help to abolish?” at BRAC

Centre. Sheepa Ha� z, Director, Gender, Justice and Diversity and Migration of BRAC, presented the keynote paper and moderated the consultation.

Like many Middle East countries, the kafala system exists in Qatar. If Qatar hosts the FIFA World Cup 2022, it would need around 500,000 workers for infra-structure development there.

NAMR,B called upon the FIFA to take measures so that the rights of mi-grants are not violated in Qatar.

Kazi Kalam, deputy secretary of the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Em-ployment Ministry, said under the kafa-la system, a migrant worker has to face di� culties. Under an employer, migrant workers become bonded slaves.

“The sending countries, including Bangladesh, have to unite in demanding abolition of the kafala system,” he added.

Ali Haider Chowdhury, senior vice-president of Bangladesh Association

of International Recruiting Agencies, said big companies of the UK and the USA are handling mega projects in Qatar.

On the one hand, these companies are talking about the human rights vio-lations, on the other hand they are vio-lating human rights, he pointed out.

Hassan Imam, coordinator of migra-tion programme said, “We have to raise our voice against the kafala system.”

Speaking on the occasion, Fatema, a re-turnee, alleged that she was not paid sala-ry in Lebanon. “When I asked for salary, I was beaten up severely,” she claimed.

Abu Taher of CARE Bangladesh said there is no alternative to migration. “If we want to turn Bangladesh into a mid-dle income country, we have to send our workers abroad for jobs,” he said.

“The government, BAIRA and civ-il society organisations have to work unitedly to protect the rights of migrant workers,” he noted. l

80 gold bars seized in the capital, 2 held n Kailash Sarkar

The Detective Branch has seized 80 gold bars weighing around 9.5kg and arrested the owners of two money exchange agen-cies in the capital for gold smuggling.

The arrested are AKM Shamsuddin, 51, owner of Amin Money Exchange, and Kamrul Ahsan, 48, owner of City Money Exchange.

During a press conference at the me-dia centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday, the DB o� cials claimed that both the businessmen were directly involved in gold smuggling under the guise of money exchange businesses.

Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam, Deputy Commissioner of DB North Sheikh Nazmul Alam and Assistant Commissioner Minhazul Islam attended the press conference, among others.

Shamsuddin was arrested on Mon-day afternoon from his o� ce, said the

DB o� cials. Following the information given by Shamsuddin, they arrested Kamrul at his residence early yester-day and recovered 80 gold bars worth around Tk4.5 crore.

The DB made the arrests following the information they had extracted from Nazrul Islam Liton, who was arrested at his Purana Paltan residence with 70 gold bars weighing around 8kg on June 2.

Nine of his associates were also ar-rested at the Shahjalal International Air-port in Dhaka, while they were trying to � ee the country, on the same day.

Liton and two others confessed their involvement in gold smuggling and are currently on remand as suspects in the case of the 106kg of gold that was recov-ered at the Dhaka airport on April 27.

The DB claimed that they had ar-rested 10 people in connection with the 106kg of gold recovery case based on the information given by Anis Ahmed

Bhuiyan, a Biman Bangladesh employee who was arrested with the gold at the airport immediately after the gold was smuggled into the country via a Biman Bangladesh Airlines � ight.

848g gold seized at the airportIn a separate drive, the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) arrested a man yes-terday morning for possession of three gold bars and a gold chain weighing 848 grams at the Dhaka airport.

Alamgir Hossain Shimul, assistant su-perintendent of the APBn at the airport, said they arrested Saiful Islam, 41, with the gold right after he arrived in Dhaka from Malaysia on a Biman � ight.

“We searched Saiful when he came out of the airport around 8:30am and found the gold in his underwear,” said the APBn o� cial, adding that Saiful was handed over to the customs department with the gold. l

The government allotted Tk19,100 crore (around 7.6% of the total budget) of which Tk9,000 crore has been set for subsidies

WEATHER

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 3:43am Sunrise 5:09am Zohr 11:58am Asr 4:38pm Magrib 6:45pm Esha 8:13pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:46PM SUN RISES 5:10AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW36.6ºC 222.8ºC

Ishwardi Dinajpur

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 37 29Chittagong 34 28Rajshahi 40 30Rangpur 33 26Khulna 38 29Barisal 36 29Sylhet 35 25Cox’s Bazar 33 28

THUNDERSHOWER OR RAIN

Rajuk to be reformed to root out corruptionn Abu Hayat Mahmud

The government is set to reshape the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk) in a bid to end corruption and crooked practices of a section of its o� cials.

Expressing concern over the exces-sive corruption of Rajuk o� cials, Hous-ing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain said: “We know that people are being continuously harassed by a few corrupted employees and o� -cials of Rajuk. To stop such public ha-rassment, Rajuk would be immediately reshaped and the process has already begun.”

The minister disclosed the govern-ment’s decision over Rajuk while ad-dressing a seminar, arranged by Inter-national Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB), at Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel in the capital yesterday.

“If needed, I will shift my o� ce to Rajuk to put an end to such corrupt practices,” he added.

Chaired by IBFB President Ha� zur Rahman, the seminar, titled “Well-planned urbnisation and development: Involving private sector under Public Private Partnership (PPP),” was also ad-dressed by Rajuk Chairman GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiya, IBFB leaders, realtors, among others.

The minister also informed the gov-ernment has already directed Rajuk high-ups to identify corrupted o� cials and to take punitive measures against them.

“Since 1996, our government has taken many steps regarding the devel-opment of the housing sector and in-troduced the National Housing Author-ity (NHA) to develop housing facilities even at the upazila level,” the minister said.

“Much like Singapore, the NHA has been providing � ats to the public at cheap rates and its activities would be increased gradually,” he added.

Noting that Rajuk was not a com-

mercial agency, the minister also add-ed that residential areas in Dhanmon-di, Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Uttara, Purbachal and Jhilmil would have nev-er realised if Rajuk was not there.

The minister, however, said the present government would not take any more new land development proj-ects in and around the capital.

“Now the government would only o� er � ats at cheap rates through Rajuk and PWD,” he added.

Meanwhile, echoing a similar view with the housing minister, Rajuk Chair-man GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiya said: “Rajuk is the capital’s prime city devel-opment regulator and has developed residential areas and satellite cities in and around Dhaka to reduce the pres-sure on the capital by increasing hous-ing facilities to public.”

Suhel A Chowdhury, former secre-tary of the housing and public works ministry, presented the keynote of the seminar. l

Closed police o� cial sued for torturing wife n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The wife of a closed police o� cial lodged a case with a Chittagong court yesterday afternoon against her hus-band and two others with allegations of torturing her in handcu� s in their residence recently.

Israt Sultana Promi, wife of the withdrawn Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Musa Mia of Sadarghat Police Sta-tion in the port city, � led the case with Judge of Women and Children Oppres-sion Prevention Tribunal-1 Md Rezaul Karim around 3:30pm.

Additional Deputy Commission-er (prosecution) Md Rezaul Masud of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) said the tribunal took the complaint into its cognisance and ordered Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to submit its report after judicial inquiry.

The accused are ASI Musa, his elder brother Siraj Mia and Siraj’s wife Dil Afroz Chumki, he said.

The case document said the ASI tor-

tured his wife Promi demanding dowry by putting her in handcu� s in his rent-ed house in Madarbari area in the port city at di� erent times in between June 4 and June 7 and left her alone in the residence.

Locals and Promi’s family members rescued her and admitted her into Chit-tagong Medical College Hospital in a critical condition, said the case docu-ment.

The CMP authorities on June 5 closed the ASI in connection with the incident while the departmental inquiry against the police o� cial was going on, said Harun-or-Rashid Hajaree, deputy commissioner of CMP North Zone.

ASI Musa and Promi come from Mirsarai upazila in Chittagong. They got married on September 13, 2013.

The victim’s family members said Musa demanded money from Promi’s family on di� erent occasions and when he was not given any money he tor-tured Promi. l

HC summons Rajuk chairman over contempt n Nazmus Sakib

The High Court summoned GM Joynal Abedin Bhuiyan, chief of the Rajuk, yesterday, on a contempt of court alle-gation charge.

He was ordered to appear before the court on July 8 to explain why a High Court verdict, which had directed the Rajuk to hand over plots to three per-sons in the Purbachal Project, was not implemented.

The bench of Justice Ashfaqul Is-lam and Ashraful Kamal passed the order in response to the pleas of the three aggrieved persons – Dilip Kumar Mukhargee, Nirmal Kumar Das and Kashinath Ghosh.

Asrarul Hoque, the petitioners’ law-yer, con� rmed the news to the Dhaka Tribune.

On July 19, 2012 the High Court di-rected Rajuk to allocate plots to the trio whose land had been absorbed by the Purbachal Project.

But the petitioners did not get the plots, which prompted them to � le contempt petitions against the Rajuk chief and three others. l

BCL dissolves CU BCL unit over clashn CU Correspondent

The central body of Bangladesh Chha-tra League (BCL) dissolved the existing committee of the Chittagong Universi-ty (CU) BCL unit yesterday, after a day long factional clash on the campus.

Con� rming the news, Sheikh Rasel, o� cial secretary of BCL said the BCL has dissolved the CU unit and post-poned all the organisational activities of the BCL men until further instruc-tion.

“The leaders of BCL CU unit cannot use their organisational designation in any kind of activities,” he said.

The central BCL leaders visited the campus yesterday, after an attack was made on assistant secretary of Awa-mi League (AL) sub-committee Nasir Haider Babul, and held an activist con-ference with the BCL men.

The BCL CU unit, comprising 214 members, was formed on June 25 in 2011, with Mamunul Haque as the pres-ident and MA Khaled as the general secretary. l

Barisal dope gang victim dies at DMCH n Our Correspondent, Barisal

A man who was hurt while being drugged allegedly by a dope gang, vast-ly known as aggyan party in Bangla, in Barisal. They did so to loot valuables from the man who eventually suc-cumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medi-cal College Hospital yesterday.

The victim, Ratan Shah, 45, was a local wholesaler, and a resident of Torki Ban-dar in Gaurnadi upazila of the district.

Ratan went to Muladi Bazar area on Monday noon to collect dues from the retailers, said Muladi police station OC Md Alauddin quoting the deceased’s family members.

While Ratan was on the way of his house, aggyan party members drugged him with food and looted the money and � nally they left his body in Mirganj

ferry ghat area, the OC stated.Afterwards, locals spotted the body

and admitted him to Barisal Sher-e-

Bangla Medical College Hospital and on following day, doctors referred him to the DMCH as his condition deteriorated, where he died at about 9am.

However, police recovered the body and sent it to Barisal medical college for an autopsy. l

RMG workers vandalise CEPZ factory for arrearsn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Several hundred workers of a factory in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone vandalised the workplace yesterday, demanding arrears and overtime dues.

Sources at the CEPZ said the unruly workers had locked the main gate of the factory to prevent law enforcers' entry.

Later, the workers held a protest ral-ly inside the factory.

Arifur Rahman Arif, inspector (in-telligence) of Industrial Police in Chit-

tagong, told the Dhaka Tribune that about 350 workers of NLZ Garments started demonstrating inside the facto-ry around 6:30pm and later vandalised factory equipment.

“The workers went wild since the factory’s owner refused to pay overtime as per their demand,” the inspector said.

The situation was brought under control around 10pm after the police assured the workers of negotiating on their behalf with the owner regarding their demands. l

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Family members, classmates, and locals form a human chain yesterday in front of the National Press Club, demanding justice to the Raian Rahman Avik’s murder and arrest of the killers NASHIRUL ISLAM

Milk Vita observes International Milk Day n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The state-run cooperative diary Milk Vita celebrated World Milk Day 2014 yester-day at Municipal Model Government Pri-mary School in Chittagong city.

Marking the day, Milk Vita, with the assistance of United Nations-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), distributed pasteurized milk to 850 students of the school.

Before that, an awareness building rally was held at the school playground where the speakers urged the people to make their children stop eating fast-food and adopt a habit of drinking milk regularly.

It is necessary that the country’s chil-dren, mainly those studying at schools, drink milk, the best source of protein, mineral and other vitamins, to build a healthy nation as they will be leading Bangladesh in future, they also said.

They, however, said though the rate of child mortality has come down sig-ni� cantly, the percentage of malnutri-tion among children is still very high at 37%-40% and needs to be reduced.

Managing Director Muhammad Mu-nir Chowdhury of Milk Vita said they had initiated the campaign to build an even healthy nation, and stop malnu-trition. He also urged the parents to be more careful about the � awed food cul-ture among the children.

Mike Robson, country representa-tive of FAO, praised the programme and said they were carrying out the programme to draw the government’s notice so that it too would come for-ward in this regard in a larger scale.

Meanwhile, the students were sworn in by Milk Vita saying that they would drink at least one cup of milk a day. Dr Anupom Sen, renowned sociologist, and Professor Tahmina Begum, distinguished pediatric surgeon, were present. l

1 killed, 4 injured in Chittagong road accidentsn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A garment worker was killed and four policemen injured yesterday in road accidents in Chittagong.

Sources at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital police outpost said a youth named Abdul Jabbar, 19, son of Abul Kashem of Rangunia upazila

in Chittagong, was critically injured when a speeding bus ran over him in the morning. He was declared dead a CMCH doctor.

Meanwhile, Sub-Inspector Md Shah-jahan and constables Md Selim, Md Ra-sel and Md Tuhin Ahmed were injured when their van crashed into a wall near Chittagong court building yesterday. l

US, UK partner with Bangladesh to expand healthcare services to urban poorn Afrose Jahan Chaity

The United States Agency for Inter-national Development (USAID) and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) announced part-nerships with Bangladesh in order to make quality healthcare widely avail-able for the impoverished families via the Smiling Sun network of health clinics.

The announcement came at a launching event held in the capital’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel at 11am yester-day.

A part of DFID’s broader urban health programme, the partnership aims to increase access to quality primary, maternal and neonatal healthcare and nutrition services

for the urban poor. It hopes to reach several million people with basic health services that focus on improving the health of women and children in the urban areas.

The partnership also includes Marie Stopes Clinic Society Bangladesh and will collaborate with Brac urban health services.

Sarah Cooke, country representative of DFID Bangladesh, said improving the health of poor mothers and their babies is a priority for the UK govern-ment.

“Through our urban health pro-gramme, we will continue supporting the poorest women to give birth safely and under skilled care, giving mothers and babies the opportunity to thrive, and helping to prevent tragic and un-

necessary deaths,” she added. Janina Jaruzelski, mission director

of USAID, said by working hand-in-hand with the Bangladesh govern-ment, USAID and DFID would enable the long-running Smiling Sun health clinic programme to reach new heights and ultimately bene� t more women and children in urgent need of health-care.

Under the new partnership, DFID will provide an additional $29m to the $54m USAID NGO Health Service Deliv-ery project.

A M Badruddoza, secretary at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Joya Ahsan, renowned actor and former brand ambassador for Smiling Sun clinics, were also present at the event. l

City dwellers stand in a line in front of an Open Market Sale (OMS) truck of TCB to buy essentials ahead of the month of Ramadan DHAKA TRIBUNE

Aggyan party members drugged him with food and looted the money and � nally they left his body in Mirganj ferry ghat area

Blackout in six villages after storm hits Gaibandha n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

Residents of six villages under Sodul-lahpur union in Gaibandha have re-mained without power for the last two days since 10 electric poles were up-rooted during a storm that swept over the distrcit on Monday night.

According to Power Devolopment Board, the people of six villages – Keshli-danga, Hatbamuni, Singikhamar, Dhop-danga, Bagchi and Kolabagan – have not been getting electricity since Monday night, when a storm hit the villages.

The storm also uprooted hundreds of trees and damaged crops on a vast tract of land. A good number of tin-shed and thatched houses have been damaged in the storm. Abdul Jalil, a resident of Keshlidanga village, said bussniessmen were su� ering the most in this situation.

Rashed Mia, a resident of Bagchi village, said if the PWD did not supply electricty by Wednesday [today], they would miss the inaguration ceremony of the FIFA World Cup.

But he expressed disappoinment that the authorities concerned were reluctant to mend the damaged electrict poles.

He said the students of Keshlidanga Governement Primary School were at risk as the electric poles were lying on the school play ground. He urged the PWD authorities to take measures to supply electrcity without any delay.

Sukumar Lal Sarkar, executive engi-neer of Gaibandha Power Devolopment Board said “We will take prompt meas-ures to repair the electric lines.” l

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

MP’S NEPHEW KILLING

BCL leader placed on six-day remandn Our Correspondent, Comilla

A Comilla court placed three people, including a leader of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, on a six-day remand yesterday in connection with the mur-der of Ahsan Habib Sumu.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Amlan Kusum Bishnu passed the order after police produced them before his court seeking a 10-day remand for in-terrogation.

The people who have been put on remand are Saleh Ahmed Russell, a BCL leader, Saiful and Shawkat.

Ahsan Habib Sumu, 40, the Comilla branch director of security-provider agency Guard Bangladesh and the son

of late Omar Faruk, cousin of MP from Sadar constituency AKM Bahauddin Bahar, was shot to death during a BCL intra-party clash in Comilla district town on May 29.

Habibus Sayerin Shayer, the victim’s brother, � led a case against 40 BCL leaders and activists with Kotwali po-lice station the following day.

Police arrested the trio from Anarko-li Super Market in the capital on June 6, seven days after the � ling of the case.

Other accused in the case include BCL activists Shahin, Ripon, Shakil ali-as Chhota Shakil, Zakir, Khokan, Shak-il, Shah Poran, Saiful, Jony alias Chika, Alauddin, Fahmid, Foysal, Shipu and Ashique. l

Punishment of U Pru’s killers demanded n Our Correspondent, Bandarban

Di� erent socio-cultural organisations formed a human chain in Bandarban district town yesterday, demanding punishment of the killers of U Pru Mar-ma, 24, a teacher at Ananda School run by a non-government organisation.

Donai Pru Nelly, district unit president of Human Rights Commission, Rumpa Das, an o� cial of Karitas, and Aong Chong Mong, an indigenous leader ad-dressed the programme, among others.

U Pru was found dead in Naresatong area in Roangchhari upazila of the dis-trict on Friday.

She had been missing since Thurs-day. She had gone to school on that day, but had not returned home.

Police suspected that she might have been killed after being raped.

Speakers at the human chain said the government was silent although incidences of murder, rape and abduc-tion continued.

“The criminal activities, including rape, murder and abduction, are hap-pening because the government has failed to bring Kalpana Chakma’s killers to book,” they said, adding that the dis-trict administration should arrest the killers as soon as possible to maintain law and order in the district.

They vowed to launch a tougher move-ment if the law enforcement agencies failed to punish U Pru’s killers.

It is to be noted that Muslim Uddin, an accused in the U Pru Marma killing case, was beaten to death by a mob on Saturday.

They also submitted a memoran-dum to the minister for Home A� airs through deputy commissioner. l

Village headman among two abducted n Our Correspondent, Rangamati

Two people, including the premier of the village, were abducted by miscre-ants at Nalbunia village in Kedharma-rauninon under Baghaichariupazila in the district yesterday.

The victims were identi� ed as Ram-ni Mahan Chakma, the premier of the village, and Bikash Chakma.

Azizul Haque, o� cer-in-charge of Baghaichhari police station, con� rmed the incident.

Locals said a gang of armed miscreants stormed the house of Ramani Mohon at Nalbunia village and kidnapped him at gunpoint around 11pm.

Later, the same group kidnapped Arun in the same manner from Baro Durchhari village at the same time.

Sajib Chakma, assistant publicity secretary of Santu Larma group of Par-batya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samity (PCJSS), blamed MN Larma group for the incident.

However, MN Larma group’s Public-ity Secretary Proshanto Chakma refut-ed the allegation. l

Harassed housewife commits suiciden Our Correspondent, Barguna

Unable to put up with the alleged har-assment by her husband and in-laws, a housewife commited suicide by taking poison at Taltoli upazila in the district.

The deceased was identi� ed as So-nia wife of Ismail and daughter of Ja-hangir Khan in Minipara village.

Jahangir said Ismail used to torture her demanding dowry.

Recently he claimed Tk60,000 for buying a motorcycle.

On the day, Ismail and his family members tortured her brutally as she failed to bring the money.

She took the poison as she could not bear the torture any longer. Later, she was taken to a local health complex where doctors declared her dead. l

Copyist hacked to death in Gazipur n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A copyist was hacked to death by some unidenti� ed assailents at his � at in Rajdighi Par area of Gazipur city early yesterday.

Quoting family members police said Shahidul Alam, 40, son of Fazlul Hoque of Tilsunia village in Kapasia village of the district and former president of Document Writters’ Association, was living at the house with his family.

Shahidul was asleep in a room on the third � oor of the building on Mon-day night while his wife and children went to sleep in another room.

Local people rushed to the spot hear-ing the victim’s wife scream on Tuesday morning as the door of the house was found to be locked from outside.

They found the body of Shahidul lying on the � oor and informed police about the matter.

Police said he might have been killed over previous enmity. Police recovered the body and sent it to sadar hospital morgue for an autopsy. A case was � led in this connection. l

Robbers loot valuables, injure two at Phulpurn Our Correspondent, Mymensingh

A gang of robbers looted gold orna-ments, cash and other valuables from a house at Sahapara village in Phulpur upazila of Mymensingh in the early hours of yesterday.

Motaleb Miah, o� cer-in-charge of Phulpur police station, said a gang of rob-bers, numbering 10-12, stormed into the house of businessman Asim Ray break-ing open the door. They looted valuables, including 25 tolas of gold ornaments, Tk50,000 in cash, from the house, hold-ing the residents hostage at gunpoint.

The robbers also assaulted Promila Ray, wife of Asim Ray, and his son Antu Ray, as they tried to resist the robbery.

The injured were admitted to My-mensingh Medical College Hospital. A case was � led with Phulpur police sta-tion in this connection.

Later, police arrested six people for their alleged involvement in the rob-bery yesterday morning. l

Manpower businessman murdered n Our Correspondent, Tangail

A manpower businessman was mur-dered at Mirzapur upaizla in the district yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as An-isur Rahman,35, son of Joyen Uddin in Oviram village.

Firoza Begum, wife of the deceased, said some of Anisur’s friends wanted to visit their residence at night.

Anisur had sent her to the neigh-bour’s house for the night after they arrived. In the morning, she found her husband dead.

On information, police recovered the body and sent it to Tangial General Hospital morgue for an autopsy. l

Lightening strike kills six including mother, son n Our Correspondent,

Chapainawabganj

Six people, including a mother and son, were killed in a lighting strike in Shib-ganj and Gomastapur upazilas Monday night.  

The deceased were identi� ed as Shi-rin Akter,24, wife of Ruhul a resident of Birahimpur village of Shibganj, and their son Abu Sayeed,3, Sadiqul Is-lam,40, son of Manjur Ali, a resident of Laughata village of the upazila, Ayesh Uddin,60, son of Mashiur Rahman, a resident of Baliadanga village of Sadar upazila, Amirul,24, son of Mostafa, a resident of Islampur village of the upa-

zila, Saiful Islam,46, son of Arep Ali, a resident of Imamnagar village in Go-mostapur upazila.

A thunderbolt hit Shirin at about 8:00 pm while she along with her son Sayeed were collecting mangoes during the nor’wester, leaving both of them dead on the spot.

Sadiqul was hit by a lightning strike and died while collecting mangoes as well.

Ayesh Uddin and Amirul were killed when lightning strike hit them at night.

In another incident, Saiful died on the spot when a streak of lightning hit him while he was returning home from a mango orchard during the storm. l

Ensuring rights a must for welfare of ethnic people n Tribune Desk

Ensuring social justice and develop-ment of living and livelihood condi-tions of the ethnic communities in the country’s northwest region including its vast Barind tract has become indis-pensable, speakers at post-rally discus-sion said.

They viewed showing due respect to all agreements and commitments relat-ing to ensuring rights of the ethnic com-munities is very vital. Besides, contri-bution to the society and their supreme sacri� ce need to be acknowledged.

Centre for Capacity Building of Vol-untary Organisation (CCBVO) and 26 Aboriginals Village-based Sustainable Food Security Program (Rakkshagola)’ organized the discussion at Godagari Upazila Complex Auditorium marking

114th martyrdom day of ethnic leader Birsha Munda yesterday.

With Ethnic leader Santosh Ekka in the chair, Assistant Commissioner (Land) Alamgir Kabir, former Deputy Director of Department of Social Ser-vice Mozammel Haque, BLAST Coordi-nator Advocate Abdus Samad, CCBVO Executive Chief Sarwar-E-Kamal, Re-gional Manager of Prip Trust Saiduzza-man Sipon, President of Godagari Press Club Alamgir Kabir and ethic leaders Niranjan Kujur, Jharna Lakra and Sa-heb Murmu spoke on the occasion, among others.

The speakers called for freeing the ethnic communities from the vicious cycle of poverty coupled with making them � t for all the nation-building ac-tivities, report BSS.

Stressing the need for protecting the

rights of the ethnic minority people he said importance should be given on protecting the underprivileged people from all sorts of deceptions.

They underscored the need for es-tablishing social justice towards the plain land ethnic communities through removing all sorts of disparity.

The aboriginal people are always de-prived of land rights, food, healthcare, education and cultural facilities and hoped that the government would en-sure their fundamental rights besides full-� lling other requisite demands.

They, however, opined that the abo-riginal people are hardworking and they have been playing a vital role in increasing farm production and laid stress on removing the disparity be-tween the aboriginal peoples of hill tracts and plain land. l

66 sued over AL activist Azu murder; one held n Our Correspondent,

Chapainawabganj

A case was � led against 66 people in the killing of local Awami League activ-ist Azizur Rahman Azu.

Azu’s wife Rina Begum on Monday night, lodged the case with Chapainawabganj sadar model police station quoting 46 people while the rest remains unknown, said its OC Jasim Uddin.

Earlier, police arrested one accused named Mizan who is the cousin of Kal-am, ringleader of BNP-blessed Kalam bahini that allegedly bombed Azu and then hacked him to death in broad day-light on Sunday. Azu was also the ring-leader of Azu Bahini which allegedly works for local AL.

On the other hand, followers of both the gangs locked into a clash and hurled crude bombs at one another at Ramchandrapur bazaar around 12pm.

Being informed, police and RAB members rushed to the spot and calmed the situation where no one was injured, said Sadar police station OC (investigation) Sarwar Hossain. l

A damaged electric pole lies in � eld in Keshlidanga village of Gaibandha yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Fire� ghters try to douse � re that broke out at a jute mill in Natore yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

U Pru was found dead in Naresatong area in Roangchhari upazila of the district on Friday

They looted valuables, including 25 tolas of gold ornaments, Tk50,000 in cash, from the house, holding the residents hostage at gunpoint

7Long Form Wednesday, June 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Dr M Anwar Hossain

A three year old girl, along with her infant brother (only a few months old), her mother, and a few friends of her father,

embarked on a perilous, uncertain journey under the cover of the dark night of July 25, 1971.

For more about this girl we will have to go back a little into the past:

The war for liberation has begun. It is the last week of July, year 1971. Village Kazla, deep set in the rural Bangladesh, known as an outpost of the liberation war, is our ancestral home. Like every other evening many have gathered to listen to the news broadcast by Shadheen Bangla Betar Kendra – Four Bengali o� cers of the Pakistani army have crossed the borders, and have joined the war for liberation. This news was aired that night.

The names of the o� cers were not revealed; we, however, were almost certain that our elder brother, Major Taher, was one of them. We had been anticipating such news. In a letter written to our mother by Taher, which reached her by mail read: “I will reach you at the � rst opportunity” (Ekattorer Chitthee, page 126).

Our forecast was not incorrect. A few days after we came to learn that with our brother Taher, Major Manzoor, Major Ziauddin, and Captain Patwary had defected from West Pakistan and joined the War for Liberation.

Towards the end of 1972, “From Abotabad to Devi Garh” by Colonel Ta-her was published in Bichitra, a weekly magazine of Dainik Bangla. I took the dictation of that thrilling and daring episode. Sialkot cantonment is not far from the Pakistan-India border. Major Manzoor lives there with his family. Major Taher, Major Ziauddin, and Cap-tain Patwary have come by a Volkswag-on car from Abotabad to spend the day at Major Manzoors house. That night, they will cross the border. Taher writes:

“Discussed a lot with Manzoor. At last we revealed to Manzoor of our plans to defect and we asked him to be our companion. Manzoor’s wife, his three-year-old daughter and a few months old son were there with Manzoor. Manzoor contemplated that

in his condition it was simply too risky and didn’t agree to go along with us. But Manzoor’s wife became adamant to come with us

“... Quarter to nine in the evening, some how we squeezed into the car and started. To keep the children calm Mrs Manzoor gave them sleeping pills

“... After two o’clock at night we reached the edge of a dried up ra-vine. In the depth of the ravine under torchlight we carefully studied the map again. This time we didn’t make any mistake, we are three miles inside the border. A few hundred yards is the Indian border outpost Devi Garh. Mrs Manzoor laid down her children under a tree. We breathlessly awaited the � rst rays of the dawn.”

The awaited dawn did arrive. The four soldiers fought with valour in the liber-ation war. Major Manzoor, commander of Sector 8, Major Taher, commander of Sector 11, Major Ziauddin, a battalion commander of the Z Force, and Captain Patwary, a company commander.

The three-year-old girl toddled through the War for Liberation. Some obscure memories may still be with her. The girl’s name is Rubana Manzo-or. I had seen her once in June 1981, when she was 13. They were living with a relative in Bhooter Golee in Dhaka. Theirs were the days of utter misfortune.

On 25 July in 1971 Manzoor, Rubana and the entire family defected from the enemy country of Pakistan and took refuge in the friendly country of India. To liberate the country, Manzoor had pledged his life, fought,

and won the war; his country, at that time, was back in the clutches of the war-criminal enemies.

They killed him. On the � rst day of June, 1981. For Manzoor, to protect his life and his family, a secure shelter couldn’t be found in his motherland.

After arresting Manzoor from the forests of Fatikchhori, the killers had snatched away and dragged Rubana’s father from her siblings and her moth-er. On that night, they had killed her ever smiling father, General Manzoor the GOC (General O� cer Command-ing) of the Chittagong Cantonment, inside the cantonment itself.

It was not only the utter grief, but also an implausible scene of atrocity that they witnessed before their very eyes, that left them thunderstruck. Disbelief and fright was smeared on their faces. Mrs Manzoor told me that in fear, no one called on them.

I had met Mrs Manzoor quite a few times after that. The last time I had met her, was at the end of November, 1981. I received an invitation to visit London at that time. At the end of 1981, after 5-years of imprisonment, I was released, and had joined my teaching profession in the University of Dhaka.

At the time Lawrence Liftschultz, an American journalist, was study-ing at the University of Cambridge. I thought of collecting a � rst hand nar-ration of the episode by Mrs Manzoor and handing it to Lawrence.

The Sepoy uprising of November 7, 1975, led by Colonel Taher; the camera trial inside Dhaka central jail; Zia’s conspiracy of killing Taher by hanging – these incidences were covered in detail by Lawrence Liftschultz in his book “Bangladesh: The Un� nished Revolution – Taher’s Last Testament,” published from Zed Press of London in July, 1979.

To unearth the truth behind the cruel killing of Manzoor, Taher’s comrade during the war for liberation, Lawrence Liftschultz seemed the most dependable and able person. I remember Mrs Manzoor, through-out the night, wrote, in detail, how her husband had nothing to do with Zia’s assassination. I reached London on November 27, 1981, carrying the detailed script written in English by Mrs Manzoor.

I met Lawrence Liftschultz, handed him the script and requested him to come forward and uncover the truth as he had done with regard to Taher’s killing.

By then, it was clear that the chief of the Army, General Ershad master-minded the conspiracy to kill Zia and Manzoor. Lt Colonel Matiur Rahman and Lt Colonel Mahbub, who allegedly took part in the killing of Zia, were mysteriously killed in a shoot-out. On the night of September 23, 1981, another 13 o� cers were killed by hanging after a hasty court martial.

Out of the thirteen, eleven were freedom � ghters. Among them, � ve had received gallantry awards for their unsurpassed bravery. Matiur Rahman and Mahbub were also recipients of such gallantry awards. Two of the youngest o� cers killed in the gallows

were commissioned in 1976 and 1978.On June 1, 2014, Rubana, Manzoor’s daughter, gave a heart wrenching description of the events of the day 33 years before in an interview. That in-terview was taken by none other than Lawrence Liftschultz. The words of Rubana, spoken in English, have been published by two national dailies.

What did she say in that interview? She appealed for a fair legal action. She also added, those who have killed her father should be brought to trial, and justice be ensured for them.

Then only, after so many years, her mother, and her four siblings will get some solace. The blood of Rubana and her family has been painfully trickling down for the last 33 years. After all this, Rubana’s words didn’t have a complaining tone or malice.

She said, the judiciary of Bangla-

desh should attain that worthy stature where everyone will be served justice. She prayed for justice not only for free-dom � ghters like her father, but also hoped that it should extend to every citizen of the country, which was once liberated by individuals like her father.

Rubana mostly remembers her father’s smile. She has mentioned about the traits of her father innate in his children.

June 1, 1981 – a day of immense grief. Rubana has o� ered a heart wrenching description of this day in her interview. She tells us: “I had my arms wrapped around his waist. I wouldn’t let go of him. I was crying. We were all crying. And then, they forcibly took him away from us. We never saw him again. They murdered him within just a few hours. Now all this is known. I cannot say anymore. It is too painful. Too di� cult. He was our father. We loved him. We love him still.”

Rubana said: “When a father or husband is murdered, the people that are most devastated by the death is his family. Others may feel bad, even sympathetic, and they may cry out for the truth. But, it is the wife and chil-dren who are given the life sentence of pain and su� ering.”

Rubana wants to know, in which hole her father was dumped. They yearn to visit his grave, and want to pray for her father. Why should a Bir Uttam be kept hidden in an unmarked trench?

She demands from the Army and the Government that they � nd that place where her father is resting. Is it too much to ask for a daughter of Bir Uttam freedom � ghter, an eminent sector commander?

She ends her interview by expressing hope that “the call for justice from the people of this country will rise up once again and be heard.” I could have ended my article at this point. Yet, a few important things about General Ershad deserve to be mentioned. From the meticulously researched chronology of Lawrence Liftschultz’s articles, it has become evident that, the mastermind of the Manzoor killing is General Ershad.

I will not elaborate on this perspec-tive. Rather I wish to discuss Ershad’s role during the War for Liberation. I will take help from the book “Nine years of Dictatorship (1982-90)” authored by Major Ra� qul Islam, PSC, and published by the University Press Limited.

I learnt from Major Shamsul Are� n, a freedom � ghter and researcher of the war for liberation, that Ra� qul Islam is no longer alive. Major Islam was an o� cer of the � rst batch during the liberation war. In the pages 31-36 of his book, Ra� qul Islam writes:

“When the people of Bangladesh were engaged in the battle for freedom; Ershad was the commander of the 7th East Bengal Regiment. It can be men-tioned in context that when 7th East Bengal was � ghting a war for Pakistan under Ershad’s command, the Freedom Fighters were engaged in a bloody battle to liberate Bangladesh under the Bangladesh-India joint command.

“At midnight of 25-26 March when the Pakistan Army went berserk in genocide and the liberation war of Bangladesh started, Ershad was on leave in Rangpur. He went back to Pakistan during the � rst days of April without considering taking part in the War of Liberation and joined back as commander of the 7th East Bengal. During the War of Liberation he had visited Rangpur in September to see his ailing father. This time too he didn’t join the War for Liberation and went back to Pakistan. In 1972 Lt. Col. Er-shad was appointed as the Chairman of the Tribunal to try the stranded Bengali o� cers and soldiers charged with treason. So for these reason, in liberated Bangladesh, he shouldn’t have been in armed service. Neverthe-less, he was inducted into the armed forces and the outcome of having a

dangerous person in the armed forces is evident to all.

“On 24 August 1975 the Army Chief Major Gen Sha� ullah and the Air Force Chief Air Vice Marshal AK Khandakar were deputed to the Ministry of Foreign A� airs. Major Gen Ziaur Rahman and Air Vice Marshal Tawab were ap-pointed as Army and Air Force Chiefs, respectively. To in� uence a balance between freedom � ghters and non freedom � ghters within the Army; on counsel of the then Defence Advisor General Osmani, Ershad at the time been in a training course in India, was called back and was promoted to the rank of Major General and appointed as the Deputy Chief of Sta� .

President Ziaur Rahman didn’t stop after rehabilitating the people against liberation in all levels. He appointed Major Gen. Ershad as the Chief of Sta� and promoted him to the rank of Lt. General.

“General Manzoor was most vocal in opposing the appointments and reha-bilitation of anti liberation forces in the administration. Manzoor’s candidness was used as a pawn’s move in a game of chess by Ershad.

“It is a matter of immense misfor-tune that Ershad being a repatriated person, by his cunning, could make his way up to occupy the top position of the armed forces which was built during the War for Liberation.”

On the basis of the information provided by Major Ra� qul Islam, Ershad can be termed as a traitor and a collaborator. Not only as the mastermind of Manzoor’s killing, Ershad should before his death also be charged and brought under trial as a despised collaborator.

I will end with a plea to the daughter of Bangabandhu, the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina: You have raged war against the culture of impunity. It is for this reason that justice has been established in the killing of the father of the nation. We have achieved the judge-ment on killing of Taher by Zia after a long wait of 35 years. General Manzoor’s killing through a conspiracy 33 years ago has been stalled since many years.

His daughter, Rubana Manzoor, had pleaded for a fair trial of her father’s killing in her heart-wrenching interview. She has thanked you in her interview, and said that you would de� nitely understand their agony as your father, mother, and members of your family were also killed by the anti liberation brutes.

She has also mentioned that her mother met you after the fall of Ershad. They exchanged sympathy because they had both lost those dearest to them. Rubana has men-tioned with deep anticipation that Sheikh Hasina will realise their severe anguish and will come forth to ensure justice.

Prime minister, I would like to place one more appeal before you. The role of Ershad during the War for Liberation and the nine years of dictatorship is known to you and all people who aspire for the triumph of democracy.

To save the nation from the wrath of Jamat-BNP you may have had to forge the grand electorate alliance with a dictator like General Ershad. You have also included their leaders in your ministries. The people will surely judge your stance without prejudice. But many have been deeply hurt by the appointing of Ershad as your special envoy.

Remove Ershad from this position without any further delay. Please issue � rm orders to conclude the � ndings of General Ershad’s involvement in Manzoor’s killing and bring him under trial. The trial of Manzoor’s killing will further ensure the rights of justice for every citizen of the nation and uphold the cause of the war you have waged against injustice and impunity.

Dr M Anwar Hossain is a professor at the University of Dhaka.

They killed him. On the � rst day of June, 1981. For Manzoor, to protect his life and his family, a secure shelter couldn’t be found in his motherland

Bring the murderers of Manzoor to trial

‘When a father or husband is murdered, the people that are most devastated by the death is his family. The wife and children who are given the life sentence of pain and su� ering’

BIGSTOCK

Wednesday, June 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Iraq and the ISILn Agencies

At the end of 2012, Sunni tribes in Iraq’s Anbar province began a series of protests that lasted throughout 2013, Aljazeera reported.

The initial demand was for the release of Sunni detainees; the detention of female detainees was a major grievance in the male-dominated culture of Anbar.

It quickly escalated into wider an-ti-government protests that were initially welcomed by many across the political spectrum.

Shia clerics, from the Grand Ayatol-lah Ali Sistani to Moqtada Sadr, publicly acknowledged Sunni grievances and Shia tribal leaders visited the demonstrations to express their solidarity.

Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki took note of the concerns and tried to push through a list of reforms in January 2013, but he was blocked by both Shia political parties and some Sunni parties.

The Sunni tribes in Anbar saw the move as a provocation.

ISIL formedThe events were followed in April by the formation of an armed group - Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - that waged a bloody campaign across Baghdad and beyond.

The group took advantage of the power vacuum caused by the lack of communication between Baghdad and Anbar, allowing ISIL � ghters to form safe havens and criss-cross the Iraqi-Syrian border. The group played on Sunni fears of Shia domination and the Anbar tribes uno� cially accepted their presence.

In December 2013, ISIL � ghters defeat-ed a whole faction of the Iraqi army and prompted Maliki to send troops into the towns of Ramadi and Fallujah to break up the protests.

One of the main Sunni tribal leaders in the province, Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha, decided to back government forces against ISIL, but another sheikh, Hatem Ali Sulieman, supported the armed group. The government encouraged the tribes to � ght ISIL them-selves, but a lack of consensus among senior � gures prevented it from entering Fallujah. l

‘Citizens to be armed’n AFP, Baghdad

The Iraqi government will provide weapons and equipment to citizens who volunteer to � ght against mili-tants, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said yesterday.

Maliki, in a statement broadcast on state television, said the cabinet has “created a special crisis cell to follow up on the process of volunteering and equipping and arming.”

The cabinet “praises the willingness of the citizens and the sons of the tribes to volunteer and carry weapons... to defend the homeland and defeat ter-rorism,” he said.

Maliki said the cabinet also decided to “restructure and reorganise” the se-curity forces, and to ask parliament to “announce a state of emergency.”

State television later reported that parliament had received a joint request from Maliki and the president’s o� ce to declare a state of emergency – the pro-cedure laid down in the constitution.

Militants have taken control of a swathe of northern territory including the city of Mosul, the latest in a series of major operations launched in � ve di� erent provinces in recent days that have killed scores of people.

Violence in Iraq is running at its highest levels since 2006-2007. l

Mosul seized, Iraq calls emergency

n Agencies

The Iraqi prime minister has called for a national state of emergency after the city of Mosul and the northern prov-ince of Nineveh fell to al-Qaeda-in-spired � ghters.

Nouri al-Maliki said he would ask parliament to declare the emergen-cy after the takeover by � ghters from groups including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overnight.

Jihadists yesterday seized Nineveh, whose capital Mosul is the country’s second-largest city, in a major blow to a government apparently incapable of stopping militant advances.

“All of Nineveh province fell into the hands of militants,” parliament speak-er Osama al-Nujai� told journalists in Baghdad, adding that the gunmen were heading towards Nineveh’s neighbour-ing province of Salaheddin, on the road to the capital.

An army brigadier general told AFP clashes with hundreds of militants from ISIL began late Monday.

An interior ministry o� cial earlier said Mosul “is outside the control of the state and at the mercy of the militants” and that some soldiers and police had � ed after removing their uniforms.

Military units � rst withdrew from the city’s east, heading to its west, and

then began leaving the city, along with thousands of residents, he said.

An AFP journalist, himself � eeing the city with his family, said shops were closed, a police station had been set ablaze and that numerous security forces vehicles had either been burned or abandoned.

The journalist saw hundreds of fam-ilies leaving Mosul. Some were on foot, carrying their belongings, and others in vehicles with goods piled on the roofs.

One east Mosul resident said his neighbourhood had been taken by the militants in just an hour, amid heavy gun� re. The assailants seized the pro-vincial government headquarters and

the Nineveh Operations Command as well as the airport, the general said. They also freed hundreds of prisoners from three jails.

Meanwhile, the Turkish consulate in Mosul con� rmed reports that 28 Turk-ish truck drivers, carrying diesel from the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun to Mosul, had been abducted by ISIL militants. No further details were im-mediately available.

Predominantly Sunni Muslim Nineveh has long been a militant stronghold and one of the most dan-gerous areas in the country.

ISIL, the most powerful militant group in Iraq, is also a key force in the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria. In April, it launched a new campaign in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province, which bor-ders Nineveh, aimed at carving out an Islamic state along the frontier.

Mosul, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Baghdad, is the second city af-ter Fallujah, west of Baghdad, that the government has lost this year.

Violence in other areas Violence also struck other areas of Iraq yesterday. In Baquba, two bombs ex-ploded and killed 20 people near a fu-neral procession for a teacher who was shot dead the night before, while three more died in Baghdad attacks.

Gunmen have launched major oper-ations in Nineveh, Salaheddin, Anbar, Diyala and Baghdad provinces since Thursday, killing scores of people and highlighting both their long reach and the weakness of security forces.

Travelling in dozens of vehicles, some mounted with anti-aircraft guns, they attacked the city of Samarra, south of Mosul, and occupied sever-al areas on Thursday. They were only dislodged after heavy house-to-house � ghting and helicopter strikes. l

Israeli law to force-feed Palestinian hunger-strikers gets initial nodn Reuters, Jerusalem

Israel’s parliament has given initial ap-proval to a law to enable the force-feed-ing of Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike, drawing de� ance from activists who said yesterday it would not deter the inmates. Some 120 Palestinians held by Israel began refusing food on April 24 in protest at their detention without trial. Since then the number has risen closer to 300. Israel’s Prisons Service say 70 have been hospitalized.

Israel says Palestinians suspected of security o� ences are sometimes jailed without trial to avoid any court pro-ceedings that could expose sensitive intelligence information - a practice that has drawn international criticism.

Legislation that would permit au-thorities to seek a court order to force medical treatment on prisoners whose health was at serious risk on Monday passed the � rst of four votes needed to become law. The measure, which is opposed by the Israeli Medical Associ-

ation (IMA) that represents most Israeli doctors, is backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Qadoura Fares, chairman of the Pales-tinian Prisoners Club, which advocates on behalf of Palestinians in Israeli cus-tody, said the strike would continue and that the proposed law “will not break the will of prisoners.” He said “forced feeding could kill prisoners,” citing the deaths in 1980 of two Palestinian pris-oners whom died in an attempt to force-feed them during a hunger strike. l

Rivlin elected as Israel’s 10th presidentn AFP, Jerusalem

Reuven Rivlin, a far-right member of Israel’s ruling Likud, was yesterday elected by parliament to be the nation’s 10th president when Shimon Peres steps down in July, the speaker said.

Announcing the results of a run-o� vote, parliamentary speaker Yuli Edelstein said Rivlin had defeated his centrist challenger Meir Sheetrit by 63 votes to 53 in a secret ballot of the Knesset’s 120 MPs.

Known for his a� able character and

quirky sense of humour, Rivlin, who served twice as parliamentary speaker, is � rmly against the establishment of a Palestinian state and is a strong backer of Israel’s sprawling settlement enterprise.

A lawyer by profession, the 74-year-old is also known for his determined defence of democracy and civil rights which earned him the respect of the left and even members of Israel’s Arab minority.

But he will have a tough act to fol-low in Peres, whose charisma and pop-ularity enabled him to transcend the

largely ceremonial position of the pres-idency and use it to promote a political message of peace.

Commentators say that Peres’s de-parture from o� ce at the end of July is likely to switch the presidency’s focus from international a� airs to more do-mestic matters.

In the � rst round, MPs voted for � ve candidates who also included Dalia Itzik, the � rst woman speaker of the Knesset; retired Supreme Court jus-tice Dalia Dorner; and chemistry Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman. l

Human remains found in Australian crocn Agencies

In the search for a man who was snatched from his boat in Australia’s Northern Territory, police killed a large crocodile at the scene of the attack and found human remains inside, BBC reported.

Police are now examining the remains to see if they match the DNA of the miss-ing person.

The 62-year-old man was snatched from his boat in the Kakadu National Park, in the Northern Territory. The 4.7m-long (15.4ft) reptile was one of two shot by park rangers near the scene of the attack.

The man’s wife, son and daughter-in-law were reported to have been with him on the South Alligator River when he disappeared on Saturday.

“The human remains have been taken for examination,” Sgt Andrew Hocking said. “There are a number of statements to be taken from witnesses and a � le will be prepared for the coroner.”

Experts said that it was unusual for a crocodile to attack during this time of year when Australia experiences cooler weather.

Saltwater crocodiles can grow up 7m long and weigh more than a tonne.

Crocodile numbers have increased since being declared a protected species in 1971. They are a common feature of Australia’s tropical north.

In March, the Australian government rejected a controversial plan to allow crocodile safari hunting in the Northern Territory.

Australian police shot two crocodiles dead in January while on a search for a missing 12-year-old boy attacked by a croc-odile in the Northern Territory. Another man was killed by a crocodile in August last year, when he swam in a river in the north during a birthday party. l

Ukraine president orders civilian corridor in eastn AP, Kiev

Ukraine’s new president yesterday ordered security o� cials to create a corridor for safe passage for civilians in eastern regions rocked by a pro-Rus-sian insurgency, as he began to form his government team by tapping a media mogul as chief of sta� . In a statement published online, Petro Poroshenko ordered security agencies to organize transport and relocation to help civil-ians leave the a� ected areas. Poroshen-ko’s brief statement gave no details on where the civilians could be relocated, or what accommodation was available.

Poroshenko’s move to create a safe passage for civilians comes in the wake of growing concerns that the govern-ment’s active campaign against the rebels has contributed to the rising civilian death toll in the east. Govern-ment o� cials say at least 200 people, including 59 servicemen, have been killed in the attacks. The United Na-tions’ refugee agency in May said Ukraine’s tensions had resulted in about 10,000 displaced people, both from Russia’s annexation of Crimea and from the violence in the east. l

Biggest UK political wager laid on Scottish ‘no’ voten AFP, London

A punter staked £400,000 ($670,000, 495,000 euros) yesterday on Scot-land voting against independence in the forthcoming referendum, in what is believed to be the largest po-litical bet ever made in Britain, the bookmaker said.

The middle-aged man, from the En-glish county of Surrey near London, placed the bet at odds of 1/4, meaning he stands to make a pro� t of £100,000 if Scotland votes to stay in the United Kingdom on September 18.

“As far as we can ascertain, this is the biggest political bet ever struck,” said Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for national bookmaker William Hill, which took the wager at one of its Lon-don branches.

Sharpe did not name the punter but said he did not have a Scottish accent.

The previous record for a political wager was a £200,000 bet, also laid on a “No” vote but earlier in the campaign, the bookmaker said.

The latest polling data compiled by the Financial Times found 48 percent of Scotland’s four million voters are against independence, compared to 35 percent in favour. Some 16 percent re-main undecided. l

20 young mothers abducted in Nigerian AFP, Maiduguri

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kid-napped at least 20 young mothers near a town in northeast Nigeria where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted nearly two months ago, sources told AFP yesterday.

There were con� icting reports of how many women were abducted from the nomadic settlement near Chibok in Borno state, with one local leader put-ting the number as high as 40.

But the latest kidnappings, which happened on Saturday in and around the village of Garkin Fulani, eight kilo-metres (� ve miles) from Chibok, were the latest in a spate in the area.

“Available information revealed that the gunmen came around noon (1100 GMT) and abducted 20 women and three young men left to keep watch on the village,” said Alhaji Tar, of a local vigilante group.

“All the males in the settlement were away in the bush with their herd (of cattle) for grazing when the abduc-tors came to the village.”

There was no immediate indication of where the women were taken and there had been no contact from the kidnappers.

A local o� cial of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) said 40 young mothers were singled out and put into vehicles before being driven to an unknown location.

MACBAN is the umbrella organisa-tion of the nomadic Fulani cattle herd-ers in Nigeria.

Similar kidnappings for ransom have been going on in the area for some time but locals were too afraid to speak out in fear of reprisals from the Islamist militants, the o� cial said.

“This is not the � rst time women are being kidnapped in this area and only released when we pay cattle ransom to the kidnappers. It has happened sever-al times,” said the o� cial.

“They come and go door-to-door bringing women outside and select young women and take them away in their vehicles and demand between 30 and 40 cows for their release,” he ex-plained.

Locals always paid the ransom but do not inform the authorities, he said.

A Borno state government o� cial, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the authorities were aware of the kidnapping of women from the village but denied knowledge of previous ab-ductions. l

People � eeing violence in the Nineveh province wait in their vehicles at a Kurdish checkpoint in Iraq. Suspected jihadists seized Iraq’s entire northern province of Nineveh and its capital Mosul in a major blow to authorities AFP

A pro-Russian militia man from the ‘Russian Orthodox Army’ stands at a check point near the airport in Donetsk city on June 10. Ukraine’s new Western-backed president ordered the creation of humanitarian corridors in the separatist east that could save civilians and advance his plan to end nearly two months of � ghting by the end of the week AFP

9Wednesday, June 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Karachi airport attacked againn AFP, Karachi

Taliban gunmen attacked a security post outside Pakistan’s Karachi airport yesterday, a day after an all-night siege by the militants left 37 dead and shred-ded a tentative peace process.

The latest assault on the airport raised further questions about the au-thorities’ ability to secure key facilities in the face of a resurgent enemy, and came as air force jets pounded suspect-ed militant hideouts in the northwest, killing 25 people.

The attack on the security post tar-geted an entry point to an Airport Se-curity Force (ASF) camp 500 metres (yards) from the airport’s main prem-ises, and around a kilometre from the passenger terminal.

Police, paramilitary rangers and army all raced to the site but o� cials reported there had been no casualties and they had not traded � re with the militants. “Two people came towards the ASF (Airport Security Force) check-post and started � ring,” Colonel Tahir Ali, a spokesman for the force told re-porters. “Nobody has been killed or in-jured,” he added.

Army spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa con� rmed the incident

was over, but said three to four assail-ants were involved.

“Three-four terrorists � red near ASF camp, ran away. No breach of fence, no entry. Chase is on, situation under con-trol,” he tweeted.

Flights resumed after temporarily being suspended for the second time in as many days, Abid Qaimkhani, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Au-thority, told AFP.

A senior rangers o� cial at the scene who wished to remain anonymous said the gunmen may have � ed to a nearby shanty settlement.

“We are chasing them, we will get them, its not easy to hide here, there are no buildings, no population except for two small shanty towns nearby,” he told AFP.

The Taliban later claimed respon-sibility for the attack, saying they were in response to air strikes in the tribal areas.

“Today’s attack on ASF (Airport Se-curity Force) in Karachi is in response to the bombardment on innocent peo-ple in Tirah Valley and other tribal ar-eas. We will continue such attacks,” spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said, referring to Pakistani air strikes of sus-pected militant hideouts. l

Congress to Modi: Don’t be arrogantn Agencies

The Indian National Congress yester-day tore into the agenda outlined by President Pranab Mukherjee in his ad-dress saying it is repackaging of work done by UPA, and asked the Narendra Modi government to implement the promises made without trumpeting and “arrogance.”

Congress, which has been reduced to 44 members in the Lok Sabha, told the government it will keep on the pressure to ensure implementation of people-oriented programmes irrespec-

tive of the small number of members it has in the House. In this context, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mal-likarjun Kharge invoked Mahabharta and said though Pandavas were few in number, as compared to Kauravas, still they could not be defeated.

Amid thumping of desks, including by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Kharge expressed con� dence that the party will bounce back to power and NDA should not think that it will con-tinue to be in power forever.

Speaking on the ‘motion of thanks’ to the President’s address, Kharge

commented point by point on the new government’s agenda and highlighted achievements of the previous UPA gov-ernment over the last ten years.

“Nothing new has been said. We need to put the record straight. Modi only repackages what is already done. All these things have been repackaged in the name of Modi,” Kharge said in his 45-minute speech appreciated by Sonia Gandhi as well as Rahul Gandhi.

Asking the government not to have “arrogance” because of its big mandate in the Lok Sabha election, Kharge said it should deliver. l

China warns of limits to Hong Kong freedom as protests loomn Reuters, Hong Kong

China warned Hong Kong yesterday that there were limits to its freedom and it should adhere strictly to the law ahead of a planned pro-democracy protest that could end up shutting down part of the � nancial hub’s business district.

As the most liberal city on Chinese soil, the former British colony has grap-pled with Beijing since its return to Chi-nese rule in 1997 to preserve its free-doms and capitalist way of life under a “one-country, two-systems” formula.

Over the past year, however, a push

by democracy activists to hold pro-tests, as part of a campaign for the right to choose candidates for a poll in 2017 to elect Hong Kong’s next leader, has stoked friction and unnerved Beijing leaders fearful of an opposition demo-crat taking the city’s highest o� ce.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, reiterated in a “white paper” on the “one-country, two-systems” formula that the city, despite its wide-ranging autonomy, comes under the control of China and has limits to its freedom.

“The high degree of autonomy of Hong Kong is not full autonomy, nor

a decentralized power. It is the power to run local a� airs as authorized by the central leadership,” the cabinet said in the o� cial report.

“There is no such thing called ‘resid-ual power’.”

Some Hong Kong residents saw the report by China’s highest administra-tive body as a warning to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp who have agitat-ed for full democracy in 2017. A group of activists plan to launch an online “refer-endum” on political reforms on June 22 before deciding on the scope of its civil disobedience street campaign. l

Five US troops killed in Afghan friendly � re n Reuters, Kabul

Five US servicemen were killed in southern Afghanistan in a friendly-� re air strike during a security operation, Afghan police and the Pentagon said yesterday, days before a run-o� round in the country’s presidential election.

The men died on Monday in Zabul province’s Arghandab district when their unit, part of the NATO-led In-ternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF), clashed with insurgents.

Local police chief Ghulam Sakhi Roghlewanai said: “The � ve killed were American soldiers who just returned from an operation when they were hit.

“ISAF troops were returning to their bases after an operation when they were ambushed by the insurgents. The air strike mistakenly hit their own forc-es and killed the soldiers.”

A Pentagon statement said inves-tigators were “looking into the likeli-hood that friendly � re was the cause.”

A spokesman for the Islamist Tali-ban, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said insur-gents had been attacking the foreign forces when the helicopters intervened and accidentally killed their own troops.

Taliban insurgents, meanwhile, kid-napped 35 professors from Kandahar University after stopping their van on the highway linking the southern prov-ince and Kabul, a spokesman for pro-vincial governor said. l

Japan vows resumption of Antarctic whalingn Reuters, Tokyo

An embarrassing court ruling that halted Japan’s Antarctic whaling will actually help Tokyo take whales in the name of science, a top whaling o� cial said just a day after the prime min-ister vowed to press for commercial whaling.

Tokyo’s decades-old and disputed “scienti� c whaling” program su� ered a blow in March when the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in a surprise rul-ing, ordered a halt to annual hunts in the Southern Ocean.

Though Japan abandoned its Ant-arctic hunt for this year, it immediately vowed to retool its research program with an eye to resuming it as early as the 2015-2016 season, and eventu-ally to resume commercial whaling as well.

It is carrying out a scaled-down version of its less known Northern Paci� c hunt.

The court ruling was actually good for Japan by upholding the legal basis for whaling, said Joji Morishita, Japan’s commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

“The assumption of the court is that Japan could ... look at a new research plan,” Morishita told a news conference in Tokyo.

“And that it’s okay for Japan to pro-pose a new plan which involves killing whales as long as it takes account of the reasoning and conclusions set by the ICJ at this time.”

Though anti-whaling nations say the IWC should be acting to conserve

whales, Japan and its allies argue that it was set up to manage whales as a resource, a stance Morishita said the court supported by saying the IWC’s purpose remains the same.

In consideration of the ruling, Japan did cut its quota for the Paci� c hunt, which extends from Japan’s coastline out into a broad swathe of the ocean, to 210 from 380.

Japan has long maintained that most whale species are not endan-gered and began what it called scien-ti� c whaling in 1987, a year after an international moratorium came into e� ect, despite growing global outrage, including from key allies such as the United States.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, himself hailing from one of Japan’s major whal-ing areas, told a parliamentary commit-tee on Monday that Tokyo would press ahead with its whaling plans.

“We will carry out surveys on whales with the aim of reviving commercial whaling,” Abe said. “I will also make further e� orts to gain international un-derstanding.”

Though few Japanese now eat whale, the government argues that the meat is a part of Japanese food culture.

“Even if some country thinks that whales are special or sacred, as long as whales are sustainably utilized that view should not be forced on others,” Morishita said.

“...If people in India tried to impose their way of treatment of cows on the rest of the world and tried to promote prohibiting of eating at McDonald’s or hamburgers, what would happen?” l

S Korean ferry crew face hostile crowd, judgesn AP, Gwangju, S Korea

Hostile spectators cursing, shouting and weeping behind them, 15 crew members from the sunken South Ko-rean ferry appeared in court yesterday to enter pleas on charges of negligence and failing to save more than 300 dead or missing passengers.

As the crew members stood with bowed heads before three Gwangju District Court judges, families of the victims struggled to contain their fury. Many wore yellow ribbons in memo-ry of those killed in the April 16 acci-dent, most of whom were students on a school trip. The crowd erupted when one crew member appeared to smile, and a judge asked the defendants to show respect. The judges also asked the crowd to be quiet.

“Everybody should be sentenced to death,” one spectator said. One crew member wept so hard she couldn’t identify herself to the judges.

Because of time constraints Tues-day, only 11 of the 15 entered pleas of not guilty. The remaining four are scheduled to appear at a hearing in one week.

All surviving crew members respon-sible for the ship’s navigation have been charged with negligence and with failing to do their duty to protect passengers. Several of the defendants acknowledged some responsibility at Tuesday’s hearing but denied that they caused the sinking, saying they had lit-

tle control over the stability of the fer-ry, which was overloaded with cargo.

After expressing his condolences to the victims’ families, Judge Lim Joung-youb emphasized the rights of the de-fendants to make their own arguments.

The pervading public hostility against the crew has raised questions about the fairness of the trial. They are be-ing defended by six state-appointed lawyers, three of whom started prac-ticing law only this year. The court said in a statement that it will guarantee the rights of both the defendants and the victims.

Capt. Lee Joon-seok and three other crew members are charged with ho-micide — a charge that could carry the death penalty, though South Korea has not executed anyone since late 1997. Prosecutors accuse them of tacitly col-luding to abandon the ship while being aware that the passengers would be trapped and killed when the ship sank. l

Japan’s Antarctic whale catch

Source: IWC/Japan Fisheries Agency/AsahiShimbun

For more than two decades Japan used a loophole in a 1986 IWC* ruling that allowed the killing of whales for “scientific research”,to conduct its Antarctic whale hunt

*International Whaling Commission

1988 2014Season ending

93 98 03 08

103

251

Highest catchin 2006: 866

273330

438 441551

Photo: Australian Customs Service

Antarctic waters, 2008

Annual catch

Tomato extract could save lives n BBC

Taking a tomato pill a day could help keep heart disease at bay, say UK scientists who have carried out a small but robust study.

The trial, which tested the tomato pill versus a dummy drug in 72 adults, found it improved the functioning of blood vessels. But experts say more studies are needed to prove it really works. The pill contains lycopene, a natural antioxidant that also gives tomatoes their colour.

Experts have suspected for some time that lycopene might be good for avoiding illnesses, including certain cancers and cardiovascular disease.

There is some evidence that eating a Mediterranean-style diet, which is rich in tomatoes (as well as other fruit and vege-tables and olive oil), is bene� cial for health.

Following a healthy diet is still advisable but scientists have been researching whether there is a way to put at least some of this good stu� into an easy-to-take pill.

Tomato pillA company called CamNutra has come up with its own “tomato pill.”

Working independently of CamNutra, and instead funded by the Wellcome Trust, the British Heart Foundation and the Na-tional Institute of Health Research, a team at Cambridge University set out to see if this pill would have the desired e� ect.

They recruited 36 volunteers known

to have heart disease and 36 “healthy” controls, who were all given a daily tablet to take, which was either the tomato pill or a placebo. To ensure a fairer trial, neither the volunteers nor the researchers were told what the tablets actually contained until after the two-month study had ended and the results were in.

For comparison, the researchers measured something called forearm blood � ow, which is predictive of future car-diovascular risk because narrowed blood vessels can lead to heart attack and stroke.

In the heart disease patients, the tomato pill improved forearm blood � ow signi� cantly, while the placebo did not. The supplement had no e� ect on blood pressure, arterial sti� ness or levels of fats in the blood, however.

Lead researcher Dr Joseph Cheriyan said the � ndings, published in PLoS One journal, were promising, but added: “A daily ‘tomato pill’ is not a substitute for other treatments, but may provide added bene� ts when taken alongside other medication. l

Pakistan rangers take part in a search operation after the � ring incident near Karachi airport in Karachi on June 10. The second attack on Pakistan’s Karachi airport in as many days ended without casualties, o� cials said, but with the escape of the two gunmen involved AFP

Because of time constraints, only 11 of the 15 entered pleas of not guilty. The remaining four are scheduled to appear at a hearing in one week

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Adulterate (6)5 Boring tool (3)7 First woman (3)8 Tempt (6)11 Favourite (3)12 Make up for (5)14 To let stand! (4)16 Courage (5)18 Singer (5)20 English river (4)21 Build (5)23 Ventilate (3)24 Widen (6)27 Perfect score (3)28 Place for pigs (3)29 Annoy (6)

DOWN1 Female deer (3)2 Wager (3)3 Airman (7)4 Religious denomination (4)5 Electrical unit (6)6 Units of capacity (6)9 Musical sound (4)10 Vast age (3)13 Stinging plants (7)14 Wanders o� (6)15 Exerted power (6)17 Outlet (4)19 Blushing (3)22 Quote (4)25 Insect (3)26 Corn spike (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 13 represents T so � ll T every time the � gure 13 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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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Bad news at the borderJune 4

MAKI commend the author for this timely and insightfully-written article on a topic that, in the thick of political mudslinging and self-adulation posturing, has since been either completely ignored or only benignly addressed.

As a nation, we have gone so low and made ourselves so weak that no one cares. The institutions that ought to act with principle and follow rule of law have instead become like sheep, lawless goons, are dim-witted, and/or sycophants. The country has never been at such a sorry state.

No amount of plodding the government is going to make any di� erence. To expect that our government will change its mind and do something good is like asking Idi Amin to study human rights. Our government is the source and not the solution of our problem.

Our rescue is our people. They have to rise and chuck out this government that has got neither the capacity nor the willingness to defend its people nor the territory. We need the people to rise and recreate a sovereign, self-respecting, and secure Bangladesh.

RoddersThe problem with Myanmar is that the military has become too powerful and, as a result, arrogant. Myanmar has nothing to show for itself, except its

military, and even that is not much, as Bangladesh has greater armed personnel than Burma. And this pride in its military has spread across to the civil society that barely extends beyond the military in the openly repressive country. Add to that a very xenophobic society, and you can understand somewhat why the military is doing what it’s doing along our border. They seem to be looking for something to bully, and think of us as an easy target. I have communicated with a few Burmese folks on Facebook, and they seem to be of the opinion that we are poorer than them, and an extremely backward country, although every single economic indicator puts us signi� cantly ahead of them.

I would hope, for Myanmar’s sake, that they apologise for this open act of hostility along our border. As far as it seems, our authorities seem to want to apply restraint, for the sake of diplomacy, but should the Burmese take things too far, I am sure we will react appropriately.

MaguraMAK: I agree completely. It is time Bangladesh steps up, and regains its democratic form. The power lies in the hand of the people.

Zero-AgendaThis is utter madness! What is it that makes border guards’ � ngers itch so badly?

Pardon?June 5

Ekram KabirGreat headline!

Raihan HadiPlease, please, please have this translated and published in Bangla as well!! People sooo need to learn social etiquette and behaviour! Good one!

ETP must for new capital housesJune 5

Muhammad EushaFarcical.

Dipu Moni hails PM’s daughter violating JS ruleJune 5

kabdullahThis parliament came into being through an extraordinarily farcical election and, hence, all parliamentary activities are “irrelevant” anyway.

We can take a little prideJune 5

Wahid ChoudhuryVery well written. Thank you.

Consensus is vital for RMGIt is concerning to note a lack of consensus between the two brand-led

stakeholder safety initiatives, Accord and Alliance, on key aspects of their safety inspection programs.

RMG factory owners are continuing to report confusion, which they claim is created by the lack of co-ordination on factory inspections. Some are complaining in particular about con� icting reports received from di� erent inspectors and engineers appointed by the di� erent organisations.

Accord and Alliance were expected to follow a uniform standard for their inspections, so as to reduce confusion and to avoid duplication in inspections for the 300 factories which they are assessing in common. As both groups publish details of their reports on their websites, it is possible more certainty and commonality may emerge over time.

However, this still leaves the question of the increasing amount of money which is being spent on multiple safety inspections.

All stakeholders share a common aim with the government and ILO in seeking to use inspections to improve safety standards throughout the RMG industry.

They must look to the big picture. What matters most for the long-term interests of workers in the industry is that consensus is reached on remediation costs. Achieving consensus on inspection standards can help move this forward.

Inspections in themselves cannot raise standards unless funds are available to invest in remediating problems. The government and stakeholder groups must collaborate better to avoid disputes which reduce certainty. This is essential to allow e� ort to be focused on securing more funds for remediation and relocation.

BTRC must be fair and e� cient

Reportedly, the BTRC has been allowing private telecom operator Banglaphone to dodge crores of taka in legal government fees, while also allegedly bestowing irregular favours to the company.

Comments from high-ranking BTRC o� cials over the issue have showed a complete and utter lack of knowledge about the issue, despite documentation being available revealing clear discrepancies over certain facts. This is not an acceptable reaction from a government-operated regulator.

BTRC has had a rather checkered reputation in terms of revenue-collection from other telecom operators, especially in relation to ensuring consistent and regular collection of fees owed by International Gateways (IGWs).

Government concerns have led it to start making sweeping changes to its system. Earlier this year, the watchdog body rejected an application by state-owned operator Teletalk to change its 3G spectrum allocation. A fair decision, as Teletalk still owes payments arising out of the auction for 3G allocation held in September 2013.

However, new or continuing allegations of bias only work towards undermining the regulator’s image reputation, after it had made moves towards improving its e� ectiveness.

BTRC has a clear directive in its duties of regulating the country’s various telecom operators, to give equal treatment to both private sector companies and state-owned companies which compete directly with each other.

There is no room for either bias or ine� ciency within or involving the BTRC.

It must make sure appropriate legal action is taken against all companies which fail to provide its revenues. There is no room for either bias or ine� ciency for the BTRC.

No room for either bias or ine� ciency

Stakeholders must focus on securing funds for remediation and relocation

Hasina defends OsmansJune 4SammyIn a civilised country, the chief executive would never dream of making any comments about “protecting” anyone from the rule of law. Ahh … the “chetona” style of democracy in full force.

KKBSammy: Look here boyo. What’s your problem with “chetona”? You are distracting us. But, as for the family from Narayanganj, the PM is only doing what she has learnt to do – put her sycophants above all other considerations.

Leading the � ght against povertyJune 4

23Interesting interview. Hopefully our planning minister will be successful in achieving his goals regarding eradicating poverty.

KhagrachhariI agree with the previous comment and I believe that it is important to eradicate poverty as soon as possible. As the planning minister puts it, it is important to educate the people of Bangladesh so that they can stand on their own two feet, and contribute to the economy to make Bangladesh a better place to live for future generations.

Evil people politicsWe need NGOs such as Shiree in our country in making poverty history.

Digging roads in the monsoonJune 5

SAMNaturally, digging up roads alongside heavy

tra� c, and especially in rainy weather, is indeed dirty and risky. The whole thing could well be the

result of usual public work procedure, linked with our � nancial year (July-June). The annual budget

is passed, say, by the last day of June. However roads and housing, and related public road-build-ing across the country get their funds released, at

the earliest, by the end of September or the � rst week of October. Then tenders are called for, of-

ten re-tendered, evaluated, and sent from across the country for the approval of the ministry or

department head o� ce, which is usually in Dhaka. The � nal approval, for issuing the work Order, is

received at the local o� ce, not before the end of November, at the earliest. Work orders are � nally

issued, say, by the end of January.The only sound and reasonable solution would

be to have the � nancial year the same as the calendar year (Jan-Dec). Then one can expect the

work to start at the site.

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 Z

n Ashikur Rahman

I write this piece knowing well that some may consider or categorise me as a neo-Marxist. I have no

reservation towards such observation, even though it will be grossly incor-rect, since, unlike Marx, I do believe in the idea of private property and the importance of markets in ensuring how any society deals with its resourc-es. Yet, there are issues and facts that are standing tall in front us, which we cannot and should not tolerate. This is because by tolerating these injustices, we belittle ourselves in front of our conscience. The subject that has trig-gered this judgement is the acute state of human inequality in our world.

To illustrate what I mean, a recent Oxfam report points out that global inequality has deteriorated sharply over the last few decades. In fact the report states three critical issues. To start with, the study pinpoints that ap-proximately half of the world’s wealth is now owned by 1% of the population. The study also notes that the wealth of the top 1% amounts to $110 trillion. That is 65 times the total wealth of the bottom 3.5 billion of world’s popu-lation. Lastly, the bottom half of the world’s population has the same as the richest 85 people in the world.

Of course, one can defend this economic phenomenon in two ways. First, some argue that those at the top 1% are there since they could create value for the industry through attaining innovation in their respective product or services, and there is no harm in realising the return to one’s decent labour.

Now, while this argument might appear convincing if you contemplate the top 1% only constitutes individuals like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs, the truth is the extreme concentration of global wealth we witness is a direct result of inequality in the distribution of political power.

Interest groups, corporations, or individuals who have the political lev-erage to shape policies have essentially used their positions to create rents in their industries, which we view as pro� ts, dividends, and bonuses in their � nancial statements. An anecdotal example is the � nancial industry that rewarded gamblers for taking the world economy to a recession, and then the political class bailed them out without even ensuring a thorough punishment for the previous movers and shakers of the industry. In essence, people at the top have implicitly handcu� ed the government from being e� ective regu-lators, a phenomenon that dispropor-

tionately bene� ts them. Second, it is often argued that ine-

quality in modern times simply means that while most are doing well, some are doing even better. Nothing could be further from the truth since what it means in contemporary times is that while some live quite lavishly, others live like mere animals.

To make this argument even more bluntly, it is worth revisiting the economic story of India that witnessed buoyant growth over the last two dec-ades and, at present, is home to a few billionaires. In colonial India, some restaurants carried a sign on their door that said dogs and Indians were not allowed. Six decades after independ-ence, can we really argue that the

opportunities that are available to the have-nots are any di� erent from those of a stray dog of India?

What is deeply disturbing is that our societies have not only started accept-ing such human inequality, but have also accepted the view that the de-velopment process that has produced such acute misery needs no revision. Probably that is why the dominant popular narrative in India views Am-bani’s billion dollar 27-storey private residence – in a city where the majority lives in – as slum as India’s jewel.

To illustrate what has happened, Kaushik Basu, World Bank’s chief economist notes: “The bulk of India’s aggregate growth is occurring through a disproportionate rise in the incomes at the upper end of the income ladder.” Consequently, at present, 43% of all Indian children below the age of � ve are undernourished, and 48% stunted. Nearly half of Indian women of child-bearing age are anemic. Other nations too have slowly realised this.

The protests surrounding the World Cup in Brazil opens up an imperative political debate concerning what the powerless will no longer accept in the name of super� cial prestige. That is, when millions struggle to make a basic living, extravaganza in the midst of ex-treme inequality will no longer work as

the opium that has historically allowed the haves to con the have-nots.

The truth is, the world that we have inherited intellectually knows that the way forward is not what is proposed by International Financial Institu-tions, or any super power. Today, the demand for greater distributive justice is not rooted in Marxist philosophy. Rather, it is an acknowledgement of the fact that most democracies are now e� ectively plutocracies, and

extreme concentration of political power within the global political order means that a “few” decide what the rules of the game should be for the general underprivileged “many.” Thus, without challenging how politics e� ec-tively functions, there is no hope for attaining an equitable society across human space. l

Ashikur Rahman is Senior Economist, Policy Research Institute.

11Op-Ed Wednesday, June 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Mohammad Ali Sattar

As the FIFA World Cup kicks o� tomorrow, it’s time to write a few lines about � ags, sports, and the ever-dominating politics

that dares to smear sports these days.Like entertainment and glamour,

politics and sports also make strange news. Add to that the bookies and their agents, going round corridors and lav-atories of sportsmen, organisers, and sponsors to get their betting right!

Amidst this clamour, the world is visited by the 20th edition of the World Cup tourney. Joy and enthu-siasm know no bounds. The world is brimming with ecstasy, fear and ex-citement. There is no expression to il-lustrate the feeling. No one knows the complexion of the rollercoaster ride that the Earth is likely to take along with the teams � ghting for honour.

Along with the fans watching the clashes, omnipresent nexuses will be at work stashing away billions in bets and stakes.

The World Cup wind is blowing very strongly across Bangladesh as well. We don’t know how things are shaping up in other places, we are sure that Bang-ladesh is set to greet the event with a full heart and cheers.

As you move along the roads and streets, and in the alleys of cities and towns, you will behold the � ags and streamers of di� erent countries � ying high.

Clean and elegant pieces of cloth displaying the colours of di� erent countries are � uttering in the breeze, giving the skyline a grand look. This excitement is absent in any other contest. It happens only in these times that come once every four years. Indeed a great time!

But all is not smooth about the � ags. Don’t we have reservations about the � ags in our country, even if it is on the wings at times of ongoing cricket or football matches?

Before we move on, let’s � nd out about � ags. People started waving � ags some 4,000 years back. Authentic � ag design of ancient peoples includes a metal � ag from Iran, ca 3,000BC.

The � rst type of � ag was vexilloid. These � rst � ags or vexilloids were met-al or wooden poles with carvings on top. About 2,000 years ago, pieces of fabric or material were added to some vexilloids for decoration. These looked more like the � ags we know today.

We have various types of symbols in

the � ags that carry di� erent meanings and show ideas. Apart from national and global events, � ags are also used at war fronts by soldiers. The history of battles and wars are full of instances when the winning party would hoist their � ags up in the skies of the occu-pied land. That, perhaps, is the strong-

est message given out to the world and the people about the emotions and sentiments attached to � ags.

We also use � ags on sad occasions. Flags are � own at half-mast to honour the dead, and draped over the co� ns of national heroes. So, � ags mean a lot to the people of the world!

During celebrations and while ex-pressing solidarity we have � ags � own across the boundaries. When hearts meet, � ags do not matter! It is the people that embrace each other during the time of peace and friendship, and at good times.

In the last ICC T20 World Cup, a certain quarter in Dhaka raised the question of our patriotism and sover-

eignty over the � ying of the Indian and Pakistani � ags in the cricket stands.

It was a game of cricket, nothing else! We have our preferred teams, we have our favourite players in any team, and we can be enthusiastic about them. We can support a certain team (if Bangladesh is not playing in that par-ticular game). We as individuals cannot be dictated over our liking and support.

Soon after the objections were raised, the guards at the stadium entrance seized the miniature (and also big) � ags from the supporters who toiled hard to get in to enjoy the proceedings of the day. Mind you, they paid for their seats. Who cares?

Politics came into play. The twisted minds don’t ever tire of playing with people’s sentiments.

Why don’t we hear objections about raising � ags atop households in every bend of the town? Bangladesh is light-years away from taking part in the � nals of the World Cup tourney, but we are there in the celebrations.

The � ags of Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and others are � ying high, and no one seems to be bothered. The reason for this smugness could be that there are no Indian or Pakistani � ags up in the air.

Lets learn to live in peace and har-mony, at least when it comes to sports. Remember, there are innumerable sports fans around the world, but much fewer politicians. l

Mohammad Ali Sattar is a DT columnist.

Flags in our hearts

n FS Aijazuddin

A seismic shift has occurred in In-dian foreign policy. Nothing has demonstrated the change more

than Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s selection of the � rebrand Sushma Swa-raj as his minister of external a� airs. It is as daring a step as the nomination by President Barack Obama in 2008 of Hilary Clinton as his secretary of state – a fearless opponent tamed into a feared subordinate.

Since 1947, with a few exceptions, Indian prime ministers felt comfort-able with external ministers of his/her choice only when they themselves occupied that post, eg Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, felt comfortable with an Rajiv Gandhi. Interestingly, non-Congress parties had no such qualms. They trusted their colleagues, which is why the names of IK Gujral, Jaswant Singh, and Yashwant Sinha appear later on the MEA’s walls.

The tenure of IK Gujral saw the enunciation of his doctrine, addressed initially to � ve countries – Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives. The two Saarc countries prominent by their absence were Paki-stan and Afghanistan.

Gradually, that doctrine (hawks within each country notwithstanding) gained acceptance as an aspiration, if not a commitment, by all Saarc coun-tries. It found consummation on May 26, 2104, when the Saarc leaders or their representatives submerged their di� erences and converged on New Delhi to attend Modi’s swearing-in as prime minister of India.

It was more than just a display to the world of regional good neigh-bourliness. Although an EU-style integration in this volatile area is still light-years away, their attendance served as a message addressed to a number of audiences. The Sri Lankans have a Tamil constituency to consider, the Nepalese trade imperatives. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided sagely to go, bearing an olive branch, not a swagger stick.

Whatever languages they speak at home, the Saarc leaders addressed their Indian host-public in a common lingua. Each Saarc member had come as an independent state, not from an admission of regional inferiority, and that the word cooperation was not an anagram for hegemony.

Modi’s plebeian coronation took place like many of his political rallies, in the open, on the footpath, except that on this occasion it was on the footsteps of the majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was a searing summer afternoon. Whoever chose the location had more than the number or the comfort of the invitees in mind. The solemnity of such occasions are supposed to over-

ride heat exhaustion.  Any complaining attendee would

have been well-advised to read Modi’s life. It is a supra-Gandhian exercise in self-control and self-abnegation. Modi eats alone, abjures salt and spices, bathes in cold water regardless of the season, and over many months has never slept in the same house twice. He will not be the � rst sanyasi to enter 3 Race Course Road. He will though be the � rst to occupy it.

His pilgrimage to New Delhi began in 1967 when, at the age of 17, Modi left his home in Vadnagar (Gujarat) to travel throughout India. He returned unannounced two years later, tasted his mother’s cooking and left again, never to return. 

Working his way up as a parachak of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), he put his party before his own ambitions. His loyalty to it remained unshakeable, despite being ostracised by an ungrateful BJP high command after a particularly successful yatra from Kanyakumari by Kashmir. He was forced to spend years in exile, like Deng Xiaoping, and like Deng, he survived and rebounded, vaulting over his detractors. 

Sushma Swaraj has never had to chew such bitter herbs of defeat. She became a state cabinet minister in Harayana at the age of 25. Deftly, she moved up the party ranks, and served in both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. In 2009, before she was 60, she became BJP’s leader of the opposition. Live coverage of Lok Sabha sessions gave her irrepressible voice a national reach her opponents now rue.

Experienced in parliamentary procedure (Modi had never seen the inside of the Lok Sabha before his elec-tion as PM), adamantine in her beliefs, she will be his Chamunda Devi, the Mahisha-mardini sent into the � eld to battle against the asuras of this imper-fect world.

Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh di� ered often, especially on Pakistan. There is unlikely to be a disconnect between Modi and his external a� airs minister. She has made up his mind. Their focus will be radial – on China, Russia and then the US – in that order, with India at its epicentre. 

As an adversary, Sushma Swaraj is known to give no quarter. She has conceded an eighth by having Modi’s speeches translated into Chinese. Her gesture had a Nixonian touch to it. For wasn’t it President Nixon who admitted to Premier Zhou Enlai 40 years ago, in February 1972, that “we believe your interest here is far greater than ours?”  l

 FS Aijazuddin is an author and art historian. This article was � rst published in Dawn.

Areas of concern 

The World Cup wind is blowing very strongly across Bangladesh. We are set to greet the event with a full heart and cheers

The concentration of global wealth is a direct result of inequality in the distribution of political power

Modi’s plebeian coronation took place like many of his political rallies, in the open, on the footpath

There is unlikely to be a disconnect between Modi and his external a� airs minister. She has made up his mind

Tolerating the intolerable

More fans than politicians SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

BIGSTOCK

A rendezvous with celebs cheering for Fifa World Cup

n Waliul Mukta

Actor who are avid football fans, will be watching all the action of the upcoming World Cup closely and will be supporting their favourite teams.

In a lively session with four actors in-cluding Ilias Kanchan, Misha Showdagar, Naim, and Nirob, wearing their favourite team’s jersey, we had a chitchat session in the Dhaka Tribune o� ce. Here is what we discovered:

Ilias KanchanIlias Kanchan is not only an actor but in the 1980’s, he was playing football well. “I have played football since childhood.” We asked him about how he got hooked on the game

and the actor recalling his old days said: “I and some of the artists organised a friendly football match for a charity cause during the horri� c � ood of 1988. We participated in a football game to raise funds for the victims. I never liked the idea being a goal keeper, but in that particular match I had to play the role.” The hero is supporting Argentina and Messi is his absolute favourite player.

Misha Showdagar Popular villain of Dhallywood, Misha Showdagar wanted to be a football player once upon a time. The sport has an in� u-ence over his acting career. Talking about his enthusiasm for football, Misha said: “From childhood, I have been introduced to this sport. I was a regular player almost

a decade ago. It is my believe that the sport has trained me to be a better actor. While playing in the � eld, I was conscious about my posture and also my attitude, which whetstoned my acting skills as well.”

When asked who will he be cheering the loudest for? The actor said: “I am support-ing Brazil but my favourite player is Portu-guese footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo.

NaimActor Naim seems to be a die-hard fan of team Germany. This time, his � nger is crossed and hopes that Germany would take the trophy home. In his school days, Naim was always in the � eld. He was quite well attuned in spot kicks. Unfortunate-ly, he only got the chance at the game till

his high school days. Naim said: “I was in a government school where I got the privi-lege of playing in a huge � eld. During every annual sports day, I use to be a candidate for the game and compete with the stu-dents from other grades.”

Nirob“My entire family supports Brazil but I feel left out as my favourite team is Argentina. There is always a hype in our home when Brazil plays against Argentina. During the World Cup season, my family and friends are going to be glued in front of the TV,” said Nirob.

His idol is Maradona and now he is a Messi fan. He dreams of spending time with Messi and take a “sel� e” with the player. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 201412

Exhibition Of Man and Earth IITime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Art Lounge,Gulshan AvenueRd-131, Circle -1

Unconsciously ConsciousTime: 9am to 9pm Alliance Francaise de Dhaka Road-3, Dhanmondi

Group Art Show By ChitralekhaTime: 3pm – 8pm

Dhaka Art Center, House 60, Road 7/A, Dhanmondi R/A

FilmThe Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3D)Pompeii (3D) & (2D)300 Rise of an Empire3 Days KillTarkataTime: 10am – 10pmStar Cineplex, Level 8Bashundhara City13/3 Ka, Panthopath

TODAY IN DHAKA

Rest in peace baul Abdul Karim Shahn Entertainment Desk

On June 10, veteran Lalon singer baul Abdul Karim Shah died at his residence in Kushtia from old age complica-tions. Winner of the Ekushey Padak in 2011, the 86 year old iconic baul singer was a devotee of Lalon Shah and like the mystic bard, he dedicated his life in search of the existence of God and humanity through his songs, till death claimed him.

Earlier, Baul Karim Shah was admitted in Kushtia Medical College Hospital on April 19 with acute bronchi-al problems and was brought to Dhaka later for proper medical attention. The district administrations of Kush-tia took over the duties of the treatment after local dai-lies reported that due to the lack of funds for treatment, the singer’s health is deteriorating. He returned home on June 4 to Chaurhash Canalpara in Kushtia after getting seeing doctors at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The � rst namaz-e-janaza was held at the Kushtia Chaurhash Eid ground and second namaz-e-janaza was held at the Kamarpara � eld of Mirpur Upazila in Kushtia. Complying with his last wish, the singer was buried at the Kamarpara � eld where he arranged a Baul festival with his fellows, said Rizia Khatun, wife of Baul Karim Shah.

The folk singer and lyricist performed in Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar along with several na-tional TV channels. He also performed live in USA, UK, Japan, India, and Australia. l

Psy and Snoop Dogg’s video a complete disaster?n Entertainment Desk

In of the oddest collaborations known to pop, Psy and Snoop Dogg have teamed-up for a new song called “Hangover.”

The video, which debuted in the US on Jimmy Kimmel Live, features the two singers trying various Korean cures to get rid of the detrimental side-e� ects of the night before.

“Hangover” has already re-ceived over 3.5 million views on YouTube in just over 24 hours, however some fans are not im-pressed with the K-pop king’s col-laboration with Snoop Dogg.

Snoop Dogg fans commenting underneath the video on YouTube expressed their disappointment with the rapper, with one writing: “This is the biggest insult to the history of rap since the birth of

Kanye West.”Psy fans seemed more con-

cerned that the singer had dis-owned his K-pop roots to sing

with a world-famous US artist, and commented that the song sounded more like “Snoop Dogg ft Psy” than “Psy ft Snoop Dogg.” l

Ranbir-Katrina’s spat on Jagga Jasoos setsn Entertainment Desk

It’s not a rosy time for Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif as they have got in-volved in a spat again. A while ago, the duo was spotted roaming around hand in hand at a shopping mall in South Africa.

Suddenly a ti� took place on the sets of “Jagga Jasoos.” As latest reports have revealed Ranbir was shooting an action stunt for the � lm while Katrina, who was also present on the sets at that time, told him that her “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” co-star Hrithik Ro-shan performed a similar stunt in their upcoming � lm, “Bang Bang.”

Ranbir was not comfortable with such a comparison with Hrithik and could not accept it in a right way.

After this comment Ranbir was quite upset and was reluctant to re-sume his shoot. Then Katrina stepped

in to apologise and promised that she won’t make such comparisons in fu-ture.

Now we wonder if Ranbir is appre-hensive about Hrithik as rumours have been doing rounds that Katrina has come closer to the “Jodha Akbar” ac-tor since his separation from his wife, Suzanne Khan. l

Heston’s Fantastical Foodn Entertainment Desk

Watch out for “Heston’s Fantastical Food” on TLC at 7:30pm. A cook-ery program starring chef Heston Blumen-thal, the programme follows Blumenthal as he super-sizes a variety of food for presenta-tion to members of the public. The premise of the show is for Heston Blumenthal, chef-pa-tron of the Michelin starred restaurants The Fat Duck, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and The Hinds Head, to super-size a variety of food on themed ep-isodes in order to excite the public. These challenges includes creat-ing a pub out of pies which included an arch made from pastry, and a cone which would hold one tonne of ice cream.

The show was produced by production company Betty TV with the titles and bumpers designed by Pete&Tom, and theme music by Ben Parsons. l

Final episode of popular serial, Nona Jol

n Entertainment Desk

The last episode of the popular serial “Nona Jol” will be tele-cast tonight at 8 pm on Boishakhi TV. The drama is written by Prantho Shahriar and co-directed by Shayeduzzaman Taluk-dar and Jaman Uddin Jamil.

After Sameer goes to Cox’s Bazaar with a group of tourists, their lives become mired with many complications. Many mys-terious events happen one after another, centred around an ar-chaeological statue made of gold. Will they � nally � nd the gold statue? Who is at the heart of this conspiracy – Masud, Amjad or a member of their own team? To � nd out how the mystery is � nally solved, keep your eyes on Boishakhi TV tonight.

The various roles in the serial are portrayed by Raisul Islam Asad, Wahida Mollik Jolly, Shatabdi Wadud, Masud Mahiud-din, Sharmin Joha Shashi, Moyeen Ahmed, Meherin Islam Nisha, Muntaheena Toya, Aditi Mahmud, Shansi Faruk and many others. The drama is produced under Tom Creation. l

From left, Nirob, Naim, Ilias Kanchan and Misha Showdagar cheering for the upcoming football World Cup SAZZAD HOSSAIN

Sonakshi Sinha in woman-centric actionn Entertainment Desk

Filmmaker A.R Murugadoss, who is basking in the success of his latest Hindi directorial “Holiday: A Soldier Is Never O� Duty”, is all set to direct ac-tress Sonakshi Sinha in a woman-centric action � ick in the language. The project is expected to go on � oors in November.

This will be the second time Sonakshi will be teaming up with him after “Holiday...”. “It’s o� -cial! My next is a woman-oriented action � lm di-rected by the genius behind Ghajini & Holiday @ARMurugadoss! We start in November,” Sonakshi posted on her Twitter account.

Murugadoss is currently busy wrapping up Tamil actioner “Kaththi”, which is slated for a Di-wali release. It features superstar Vijay in the lead. “Holiday...”, which was a remake of Murugadoss’ own Tamil � lm “Thuppakki”, has raked in good moolah in its opening weekend in the country. l

George Clooney is planning to marryin Venicen Entertainment Desk

The ‘Monuments Men’ actor and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin – who got engaged in April – are totie the knot in Italy in September and decided against holding their wedding at his Lake Como estate because they felt it wasn’t private enough.

A source told the New York Post newspaper’s Page Six column: ‘’George and Amal want to be married in Italy, but they need a location that o� ers them and their guests privacy.’’

George – who also didn’t

want to inconvenience his Lake Como neighbours with the attention his wedding would bring – and Amal were seen dining in Venice a few weeks ago after touring wedding venues and are said to be planning to marry at a palace in the city.

The pair visited Venetian restaurant Da Ivo along with the 53-year-old actor’s bodyguard and his girlfriend, and they enjoyed a feast of sauteed shell� sh, smoked tuna, mussel soup, cray� sh and artichoke risotto and charcoal-grilled seabass accompanied by Prosecco and white wine. l

13DHAKA TRIBUNEWednesday, June 11, 2014

Sport 14

Annual global bettingin cricket

US$30-50bn

Annual global legalbetting market

US$150-200bn

Illegal betting marketon each IPL match

US$100-120mTotal related turnover

in each seasonUS$11bn

SLH/

DT IN

FOGR

APHI

C

15 $150-200bn gambled every year in sport

Spain can cope with packed defences: Del BosqueDAY TO GO

1

Did you know?

France have failed to score in their three

World Cup openers, drawing two 0-0

& losing 1-0 to Senegal in 2002

Newly appointed Bangladesh cricket team coach Chandika Hathurusingha looks on as captain Mush� qur Rahim takes a catch during practice at Mirpur yesterday MUMIT M

Excitement yet to reach fever-pitch

With the inauguration of the Fifa World Cup just a day away, Sao Paulo, the city slated to host the opening game of the greatest show on earth appeared in a sombre mood with sporadic festivities. It may sound bizarre but in � rst sight a neutral person might � nd Dhaka, with its colourful � ags of di� erent countries � ying atop the roof, more passionate towards the soccer extravaganza.

The green and yellow Brazilian � ag is rarely sighted at any rooftop apart from all the commercial shops and shopping malls. The scene of a gigantic Brazilian � ag reaching the ground � oor from the roof of a � ve-storied building is likely to amaze the Sao Paulo resi-dents. Gigantic � ags are not visible in Sao Paulo with only one huge Brazilian � ag seen hoisted in front of the Federal

Court. Of course, it was an o� cial act, not a display of passion from a die-hard Brazilian football fan.

Bangladesh also has a tradition of � ying the � ags of respective countries in private cars and di� erent other vehi-cles; only one car was seen in Sao Paulo that had a Brazilian � ag attached with it.

Merchandising of counterfeit Brazilian jerseys in the roadside shops was being sold at the rate of knots and resembled Bangladesh where the law enforcement agencies occasionally chase them away to clear the pavements only for the vendors to come back to the scenario later onwards. The latest Brazilian jersey boasts a ‘Y’ type collar and in the roadside it costs 10 Brazilian Reals, equivalent to $5. Neymar

naturally topped the advertising and promotional acts and coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and forward Fred were the other notable faces among the promotional acts.

Apart from jerseys the latest style Vuvuzela, mainly merchandised by non-Brazilians, is a popular item. People do not have to put additional pressure on their lungs to blow the Vu-vuzela now, instead the attached hand-pump helps to create sound.

However, the media contents, both print and electronic, are � ooded with World Cup related stories and it some-how rings true that most of the football pundits know the Brazilian team better than the national coach ‘Big Phil’ or to some other just ‘Felipao’. The media

personnel continuously discusses the ins-and-outs of the ‘Selecao’. Khairul, a Dhaka resident living in Sao Paulo for the last couple of years, was busy help-ing around the Bangladeshi journalists grasp the Portuguese language. Globo TV on Monday transmitted a docu-mentary on Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Caesar displaying all his brilliant saves of the past. All the dailies were full of football reports and articles with big, colourful pictures.

Pele, the king of Brazilian football, was seen being chased around by nu-merous television and newspaper re-porters and in a spontaneous interview, ‘O Rei’ (the king) hoped that Brazil and Uruguay would contest the grand � nale on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro. l

Hathurusingha targets 2nd round in 2015 ICC WC

With the 2015 ICC World Cup in Aus-tralia and New Zealand less than a year away, new head coach of the Bangla-desh cricket team Chandika Hathurus-ingha targeted a spot in the second round of the mega event while talking with the media at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. Following his arrival in Dhaka on Monday night, the former Sri Lankan cricketer o� cial-ly took charge of the Tigers yesterday and witnessed his charges during prac-tice at Mirpur.

Bangladesh do not possess an en-couraging record in either Australia or New Zealand with their last tour of New Zealand four years ago ending in disappointment as the Tigers conceded both the Test and ODI series losing all of their games.

The 45-year old head coach, howev-er, said if the national side prepare well then a place in the second round is very much a possibility.

“It is going to be a challenge for sub-continent teams with the condi-tions. So if we prepare intelligently enough or speci� cally enough, we will go far. I am happy to be in the second round, that’s my � rst goal,” said Ha-thurusingha.

“The plan for us is to build on what we have. I haven’t spoken to the team yet. I haven’t seen them playing for the last four years because we hardly get to see them in Australia.

“I know the capabilities of some of the players when I was with Sri Lanka before 2010. Some of the players are coming into their peak. The main thing is we have to get the right combination and be prepared to play in Australia and New Zealand,” added Hathurusing-ha, who was the batting-cum-assistant coach of the Sri Lankan national side for

a duration of 18 months from 2006-2010. When queried about his immediate

plans, the former assistant coach of Australian club side New South Wales Blues informed that he would like to see Bangladesh win both at home and away on a consistent basis.

The former Sri Lanka A team coach’s � rst assignment with the Tigers will be the upcoming three-match ODI series at home against India.

“Overall, my goal is to improve the team as a whole and if I can, help the organisation (Bangladesh Cricket Board) to get better and support the team. That’s my main concern,” said Hathurusingha.

“There should be continuous suc-cess, not one or two series wins. My main goal is to make sure that when my two years (contract) are � nished, Ban-gladesh are in a good position to win matches at home and away,” he said.

Hathurusingha, who also served as the coach of Australian Big Bash side Sydney Thunder, was appointed head coach of the Tigers on May 19 after the sudden resignation of previous coach, Australian Shane Jurgensen. Despite the fact that Jurgensen’s contract ran till the next World Cup down under, he had resigned from his post citing the reason that he did not have enough freedom while working.

Hathurusingha though noti� ed that he was aware of the obstacles a foreign coach faces in Bangladesh and said cricket’s governing body in the coun-try is ready to provide him all kinds of support.

“It is something that I have spoken to them when they o� ered me the job. They are prepared to give us all the support. I think the current board re-ally wants to make change and that’s what they are doing. Me being here is a result of that,” said Hathurusingha. l

Committee formed to probe SDS incident

The Ministry of Youth and Sports formed a four-member probe committee yester-day, to investigate the boundary wall collapse at the newly-constructed Syl-het Divisional Stadium.

The committee has been given three working days to submit its report to the ministry after the completion of the inquiry.

According to police, the wall collapsed yesterday at 2am near the Chaptal workers’ colony of Lukkatura tea garden, due to heavy downpour.

The incident killed three members of the same family – Jahed, his sister Nasima Akhter and nephew Ruhul.

In a press release, Sha� qul Islam, the ministry’s public relations o� cer, claimed that the boundary wall was part of a separate project undertaken

by the then BNP-led government in FY2004-05, and not a part of the cur-rent government’s recently � nished FY 2013-14 stadium project.

The State Minister of Youth and Sports Biren Sikder ordered the author-ity concerned to form a probe commit-tee to � nd out the reason behind the collapse.

Sha� q also said those found respon-sible for the incident would be pun-

ished, adding that the state minister had instructed the authority to take steps in this regard.

The committee will be led by Manzurul Quader, joint secretary at the ministry, and will include Pijush Kanti Nath, project director of the National Sports Council, the director (admin) of the council, and a representative of the Sylhet divisional commissioner. l

Ticket sales start tomorrow

Tickets of the upcoming three-match ODI series between Bangladesh and India will be available at designated branches of United Commercial Bank (UCB) and UCash from tomorrow.

This time, VAT will be added with the purchase of tickets. The Bangla-desh Cricket Board has informed that one person will be able to buy tickets of all the three games together.

Tickets will be available at UCB branches located at Mirpur, Bijoynagar, Dhanmondi, Uttara and Bashundhara.

India will reach Dhaka on June 13 to take part in the series with all the three games slated to be held at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on June 15, 17 and 19.l

Brazilian national team player Neymar reacts while feeling discomfort during a training session in Rio de Janeiro on Monday REUTERS

Neymar gives Brazil momentary scare

Brazil brie� y held its breath when Neymar went down clutching his right ankle in training on Monday, but the in-cident turned out to be

nothing more than a momentary scare.The fact that the 22-year-old forward

went down when none of his national team colleagues were near him sug-gested a potential problem, just three days ahead of Brazil’s opening World Cup game against Croatia in Sao Paulo.

However, the striker quickly got back up and � nished the training game at the Selecao’s Granja Comary base in Teresopolis.

A sprain to Neymar’s right ankle ear-lier this year sidelined him from Barce-lona’s ranks for just under four weeks.

Monday’s training session indicated that coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will send out the same side that beat Serbia 1-0 in last Friday’s � nal warm-up friendly in Sao Paulo when they tackle the Croatians. l

Bangladesh red cards World Cup � ags

Authorities in western Bangladesh pleaded with football fans Tuesday to remove tens of thousands of Brazilian and Argentinian � ags from their rooftops as World Cup fever grips the normally cricket-mad nation.

Ahead of Thursday’s big kick-o� in Brazil, many Bangladeshi towns and cities have been turned into seas of either yellow and green or blue and white in a re� ection of the huge support for the South American giants.

But Musta� zur Rahman, government administrator of Jessore district, which is home to 2.7 million people, said the mass display of support for the tournament’s two favourites was disrespectful to Bangladesh’s own � ag.

“We don’t mind people wearing jerseys of their favourite teams or use billboards or banners. But it does not look good when � ags of foreign nations

� y on your rooftops.”Appeals had been issued through

newspapers for fans to take down their � ags while local government o� cials were driving around villages in remote areas with similar appeals, Rahman added.

Although Bangladeshis are better known for their love of cricket, football matches can draw big crowds here.

Bangladesh spent $4 million in appearance fees to host a friendly between a Lionel Messi-led Argentina side and Nigeria in September 2011.

Despite never qualifying for the World Cup, the South Asian nation � rst developed its obsession with Brazil and Argentina in 1982 when television began broadcasting the tournament matches live across the country.

During the 2010 World Cup, when power cuts hit television coverage, riots erupted and factories were ordered to close to avoid further blackouts.l

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Bosnia won’t man-mark Messi: coachBosnia coach Safet Susic said Monday he didn’t plan to man-mark Argentine superstar Lionel Messi for his side’s � rst ever World Cup showdown on Sunday in the Maracana. “We never put a player on another. We have Besic but putting him only on Messi wouldn’t be very good,” said Susic after a 5-1 warm-up win over Santos. Susic told reporters he preferred a zonal system and that whose job it would be to close Messi down would depend on where the Barcelona striker happened to be at any given time. –AFP

‘Come along and watch us Zlatan’Dani Alves is a former, and possible future, team-mate of Zlatan Ibrahimov-ic, and the Brazil full-back is hoping to see the big striker at the World Cup despite Sweden’s failure to qualify for the � nals. “Ibrahimovic is a special person, someone I like very much. It is a shame Sweden didn’t qualify but he is welcome to come here and watch the World Cup,” Alves said when

asked by a Swedish journalist about a campaign to get the Paris Saint-Ger-main striker to attend the tournament in Brazil. –AFP

Ayew hat-trick sparks GhanaJordan Ayew scored three goals and Asamoah Gyan netted another Monday in his return to the starting lineup as Ghana blanked South Korea 4-0 in a World Cup warm-up match. Ayew opened the scoring in the 11th minute, followed with another goal in the 53rd minute and completed the hat trick in the 89th minute. Gyan, the former Sunderland striker, scored in the 44th

minute. He had been among reserves earlier in Ghana’s World Cup tune-ups but was among 10 players moved into the starting lineup. –AFP

Balotelli set to marry model girlfriend

Temperamental Italian striker Mario Ba-lotelli ensured headlines of the positive sort on Tuesday announcing on his Twit-ter account he is to marry his girlfriend the Belgian model Fanny Neguesha.

The 23-year-old AC Milan star -- who is in Brazil with his country’s World Cup squad -- also posted a photograph on his Instagram account showing the beach in Rio de Janeiro where he pro-posed to his sweetheart.

“She said yes... The most important yes in my life. That was the place of my question! I Love you and happy birth-day too ! Je t’aime my WIFE,” tweeted Balotelli both in Italian and English. l

Beckham tells Hodgson to unleash young guns

David Beckham called on England manager Roy Hodgson to unleash his squad’s emerging young-sters at the World Cup.

Hodgson has selected several gifted prodigies including Ra-heem Sterling, Ross Barkley and Luke Shaw for the tournament in Brazil and former England captain Beckham be-lieves the coach shouldn’t be afraid to throw them into the fray in Brazil despite their lack of international experience.

Liverpool winger Sterling, 19, Ever-ton mid� elder Barkley, 20, and South-ampton left-back Shaw, 18, have just 12 caps between them.

But Beckham himself burst onto the global stage as a 23-year-old at the 1998 World Cup in France, scoring on his � rst start in the competition against Colombia.

And the former Manchester Unit-ed and Real Madrid mid� elder is con-vinced England would bene� t if Hodg-son puts his faith in a new generation of exciting talent.

Speaking at a charity event in Lon-don on Monday, Beckham said: “Peo-ple talked about how we’ve got young players going out to a World Cup, to one of the biggest competitions in the world, and are young players up for it? I’ve no doubt they’re up for it.

“These players play in the biggest

leagues in the world. They play against some of the best players, some of the biggest players, so without a doubt, it doesn’t matter how young they are, it doesn’t matter what age they are.

“They’re prepared, they’re ready for it. You can see the good thing about having young players go into a compe-tition is the fact that they’re not scared.

“Young players are not scared to go out there and perform and play for themselves and play for the team, and so they’ll be ready.”

England have been drawn in a tough group featuring Italy, their opening opponents on Saturday, Copa America champions Uruguay and Costa Rica.

But Beckham, who won 115 caps and played in three World Cups, is upbeat about England’s chances in Brazil.

“Yeah very optimistic,” the 39-year-old said. “Obviously I’ve been to a few myself and I know that going into a World Cup - I always believe going into any World Cup or any big competition that I used to go in as a player - that you can go all the way, and our players will be doing exactly the same.”

If England are to defy the critics in Brazil, they will need a strong showing from Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.

Rooney has struggled at previous World Cups, failing to score in eight ap-pearances in the competition, but Beck-ham is con� dent his old England team-mate will rise to the occasion this time. l

Gerrard struggles in England training

England captain Steven Gerrard managed only light training on Monday ahead of the World Cup as he struggled with what was termed as a minor groin strain.

Gerrard, 34, did only a few runs down the touchline as the main squad was put through a punishing schedule at the Urca military base in Rio de Janeiro.

The Liverpool mid� elder went in-side before the end of the session. En-gland sta� said it was a minor ailment and they had no doubt Gerrard would be ready for England’s � rst Group D match against Italy on Saturday.

England sta� are gradually build-ing up rehabilitation for Alex Ox-lade-Chamberlain as he recovers from a knee ligament injury su� ered against Ecuador last week. l

Portugal boss agonises over star duo

Portugal coach Paulo Bento is weighing up whether to gamble on both Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe in Tuesday’s friendly with the Repub-

lic of Ireland, as the star duo race to be � t for the World Cup.

The Brazilian showpiece begins on Thursday and the Portuguese face the strongly fancied Germany on June 16 in the so-called “Group of Death,” which also includes Ghana and the USA.

But neither of the Real Madrid aces have been able to play a full part in Por-tugal’s preparations and have missed the last two warm-up games, a barely

deserved 1-0 win over Mexico and a dull 0-0 draw with Greece.

Bento would have hoped that the game against the Irish in New Jersey, in the United States, would be a � nal chance to � ne-tune his squad with the Germany clash less than a week away.

But instead it has taken on extra sig-ni� cance and all eyes will be on how long -- if at all -- Bento gives Ronaldo, Pepe and Raul Meireles, another key player whose preparations have been disrupted by injury.

“Two of them trained on Saturday and Sunday and Pepe will train today,” Bento revealed on Monday.

“Their situation will depend on how they respond to training and we’ll see what our decision will be for tomor-

row’s match.“It’s always di� cult to train without

the full squad and it’s always di� cult to prepare for a big match like the Ger-man one without all the players � t.”

Ronaldo, 29, who has scored 49 goals in 110 matches for Portugal, has been struggling with left thigh and knee problems, while centre back Pepe has had a calf injury. Bento said he would have no qualms about risking any of the in� uential trio against Ire-land, who did not qualify for Brazil and are rebuilding under Martin O’Neill.

“We accept that British teams usual-ly play aggressively and are very strong in the duels, but we won’t be thinking about that (when it comes to picking Tuesday’s side),” Bento told reporters. l

Spain can cope with packed defences: Del Bosque

World champions Spain have the ability to vary their trademark posses-sion football if their World Cup Group B opponents pack their defences, ac-

cording to coach Vicente del Bosque.Spain start their bid to retain the tro-

phy on Friday against the Netherlands, who they beat in the � nal four years ago in South Africa when the Dutch used a physical approach under Bert van Marwijk to try and unsettle them.

The Netherlands are now coached by Louis van Gaal, whose philosophy continues the Dutch traditions of ‘To-tal Football’, but even he has admitted he will look to bolster their defence against Spain by playing � ve a the back.

“Possession without having depth doesn’t have any point,” Del Bosque

told Marca. “For that reason we are working so that the team can pressure to win back possession and then as a group attack.

“One thing � rst, football is played in many di� erent ways and there isn’t just one. We don’t have a magic formu-la, we have a plan based on the players that we have available. That doesn’t mean there aren’t others who are just as good and get results.”

Del Bosque said he was not con-cerned if Spain’s group rivals, who also include Chile and Australia in their group, choose to sit back.

“It’s � ne if they do. It suits us best being patient and looking for the gaps against teams that are defensive rather than being in games that are end-to-end and out of control,” he said.

Spain are enjoying a golden period, having also won the European Champi-onship in 2008 and 2012, but are back

in Brazil where they lost the Confed-erations Cup � nal last year against the home nation and had to face stadiums with hostile crowds.

“It is true that they whistled us in the stadiums but I think that there is a lot of respect with this as they see us as a dangerous threat,” said Del Bosque.

“We will go out and do our best. We � rst face Holland who are a well-organ-ised side, well coached and I am sure that they will cause us a lot of prob-lems. We now have nine or 10 places decided in the team and just have a couple of doubts.”

The Netherlands will be led in attack by Robin van Persie, who has struggled for � tness this season with Manchester United but now says he is � ne to play.

“I am improving and I am in good form. Basically for six years I have had one problem or another but I am used to that,” the striker told a news confer-

ence in Rio de Janeiro.“We are not used to so much heat

and humidity but we are ready and ac-climatising well.”

Australia are the weakest side in the group but Chile are strong opponents who play quick, attacking football inspired by Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez.

There is concern, though, over the � tness of mid� elder Arturo Vidal who has a knee injury and is a doubt for their � rst group match against Austra-lia on Friday.

“Chile have a clear style of play and we are going to give our all. We will play on the attack which is our way,” mid� elder Jose Fuenzalida told a news conference in Belo Horizonte.

“We are in good form with players that have been many seasons in Eu-rope, that have played before at a World Cup and know how to help us with the anxiety ahead of the � rst game.” l

Subway workers suspend strike

Subway workers in Sao Paulo suspended Mon-day a strike that has caused tra� c chaos in the World Cup host city but warned the

work-stoppage could resume when the tournament kicks o� .

The union’s vote will come as a relief to commuters in the business hub of 20 million people as the city prepares for the opening ceremony and the Bra-zil-Croatia game on Thursday.

After preparations marred by de-lays, overspending and protests, of-� cials want to avoid tra� c mayhem when the world’s eyes will be on Brazil for the next month.

Around a billion people worldwide are expected to watch the opening game on TV, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and 12 heads of state and government will be in the stadium, which workers are rushing to � nish on time.

The union decided to halt the � ve-day-old walkout after transport author-

ities � red 42 employees for “just cause” over actions they took during the strike, which was ruled illegal by a court.

“Whether we put down tools or not will depend on the re-hiring of the 42 workers,” union president Altino Melo dos Prazeres said after a heated debate among workers.

“I’m a fan of Neymar and I will root for the Cup,” he said. “Nobody here wants to mess up the Cup. But we see that there’s money for the tournament but not for the workers.”

Subway workers walked out last week to demand a pay raise in the lat-est wave of protests and strikes that have swept Brazil ahead of the World Cup and October elections.

The union wants a 12.2 percent pay hike, but the government is o� ering only 8.7 percent.

Early Monday, some 150 demon-strators supporting the strikers were dispersed by riot police using tear gas after the protesters set garbage bags on � re outside a metro station.

Later 1,000 marched downtown, changing “there won’t be a Cup, there will be a strike!” l (L-R) Germany defenders Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker and Kevin Grosskreutz dance with native Brazilians on the sidelines of a training session on Monday AFP

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque (L) sits beside his goalkeeper Iker Casillas before they attend a training session on Monday REUTERS

England’s Danny Welback (R) performs capoeira as teammate Sturridge looks on during their visit to a sport complex in the Rocinha slum in Rio de Janeiro on Monday REUTERS

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Somerset’s Thomas takes four in four ballsSomerset’s Alfonso Thomas became the � rst bowler in over a decade to take four wickets with four consecu-tive deliveries in a � rst-class match on Tuesday. Sussex were 33 without loss on the third day of four in a First Divi-sion County Championship match at Taunton when the 37-year-old Thomas sparked a collapse that saw the visitors lose � ve wickets in 10 balls without adding a single run. Cape Town-born Thomas, whose sole international appearance came in a Twenty20 match for South Africa in 2007, began his brilliant burst by bowling James Anyon for 18 and next ball had Rory Hamilton-Brown lbw before former England batsman Ed Joyce was caught behind to complete the hat-trick at the end of the 17th over of the innings. But if Sussex thought they were about to get some respite, they were mistaken as, four balls into the next over, Peter Trego dismissed Chris Nash with the help of a catch by James Hildreth.

–AFP

Gibbs, Oram pull out of T20 event after Pakistan attackPakistan cricket was dealt a new blow on Monday when former test players Herschelle Gibbs and Jacob Oram opted out of a Twenty20 competition because of a deadly attack by Taliban militants on a Karachi airport. At least 27 people were killed on Sunday when Taliban militants disguised as security forces stormed the Jinnah Interna-tional Airport. South African Gibbs and New Zealander Oram had been due to play for Omar Associates next month in a high-pro� le T20 tournament held annually in Karachi. “We spoke to them through their agent and they were keen to come but after this incident the agent has said they have been told not to travel to Pakistan,” entrepreneur Nadeem Omar told Reuters. “What happened is most unfortunate and dis-appointing because we were looking forward to hosting Gibbs and Oram but we are still trying to convince them they should come to Karachi.” No test-playing nation has toured Pakistan since an attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore in March 2009.

–Reuters

Villa sign former England player ColeFormer England mid� elder Joe Cole has joined Aston Villa on a free transfer, the Premier League club said on Tuesday. Cole, 32, has signed a two-year deal after being released by West Ham United. “This is a massive club and there’s a massive opportunity for the club to push on,” he was quoted as saying on BBC Sport. “I’ve been lucky enough to have a really good career but there’s still a lot more I want to achieve.” The London-born player, who won 56 caps for England, began his career at Upton Park before moving in 2003 to Chelsea, where he won three league titles. He joined Liverpool in 2010 but could not hold down a regular � rst-team place, and spent the 2011-12 season on loan at French club Lille. Cole is Villa’s second signing of the close-season, after Philippe Sen-deros on a free transfer from Valencia.

–Reuters

Australia’s Gilmour passes awayFormer Australia cricketer Gary Gilm-our, who dazzled in the inaugural World Cup, has passed away after a prolonged � ght with ill health, Cricket Australia said on its Twitter feed on Tuesday. The left-arm swing bowler, who was also known for his hard-hitting abilities with the bat, died at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at the age of 62. Gilmour took 54 wickets and scored a century in 15 tests but is remembered more for his heroics in the 1975 World Cup. His six wickets for 14 runs in the semi-� nal against arch-rivals England guided Australia to the � nal against West Indies in which Gilmour took � ve wickets in a losing cause.

–Reuters

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NBA Play O� 2013-14, FinalSan Antonio v Miami

DAY’S WATCH

A giant hot air balloon in the shape of Brazilís Christ The Redeemer statue in an Australian football jersey � ying over the Melbourne skyline yesterday in support of the Australian team ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil AFP

New Zealand508/7 (Williamson 113, Neesham 107; Benn 3-142, Shillingford 3-145)West Indies19/0 (Powell 11*, Gayle 8*)

BRIEF SCORE, DAY 2

Irregularities galore for Acsu

To ensure a � xing-free and safe playing environment during last year’s BPL, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) ap-pointed ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Se-curity Unit to provide its expertise and personnel as BCB had no infrastructure, expertise, experience or a system of its own to oversee such a serious issue.

The deal with Acsu was worth Taka 16.5 million. However, according to the BPL tribunal’s complete judgment report, not only did Acsu breach the terms of the Service Agreement on am-ple occasions, it also breached the Ban-gladesh Penal Code.

The tribunal mentioned with regret in the report that BCB and Acsu did share an e� ective cooperation between

them and so were in a harmonious po-sition to deal with any situation timely. The evidences placed before the tribu-nal illustrate that the BCB had left Acsu to ‘get on with the job’ without real-ising that the obligations for enforce-ment of any preventive action falls upon the BCB itself and that the ICC’s anti-graft team was only acting as its agent for limited purposes according to the Services Agreement.

BCB’s carefree approach towards Acsu’s role along with its lack of in-tiatives to monitor what Acsu was do-ing on its behalf during the domestic Twenty20 tournament left the tribunal bewildered.

After holding the hearings, the tri-bunal found that no systems were in place to deal with speci� c situations

if they arose, no discussions with the BCB, no liaison with the local law en-forcement authorities or consideration of the domestic laws of Bangladesh. No consideration was o� ered to the Ban-gladeshi spectators as Acsu, a regulato-ry body entrusted with the task to pre-vent such dishonesty, allowed a � xed match between Dhaka Gladiators and Chittagong Kings on 2nd February 2013 to take place and cheat the fee paying public consequently.

No weekly or daily meetings were held between BCB and Acsu at any point of time as required under the Ser-vices Agreement. If such irregularities were not enough, the tribunal also dis-coved to its utter dismay and disbelief that the Acsu representatives assigned on the ground were totally unaware of

the agreement and its terms.And the tribunal was dumbfound-

ed to learn that Acsu might have even breached the Bangladesh Penal Code. There are a number of provisions in the Bangladesh Penal Code 1860 which deal with dishonest conduct and cor-ruption by public o� cials. However, there are no speci� c provisions dealing with corruption in sports.

The tribunal accepted that arranging a � xed match, and having it played in the presence of a stadium full of unsus-pecting fee paying spectators who were cheated, may amount to the breach of certain provisions of the Penal Code. The tribunal concluded the issue rec-ommending that Acsu must maintain close liaison in future with the relevant law authorities of Bangladesh. l

$150-200bn gambled every year in sport

Most forms of gambling are legal under many jurisdictions, however, it is still illegal in many countries, for instance the sub-continent.

Gambling in sport, particularly in cricket, has been existing for some time. The sports-betting market started to grow in the 1980s and can be attributed to extensive television coverage, the advent of remote bookmaking, both online and mobile, and the development of news betting products like ‘spread’ betting, ‘in-play’ betting, ‘spot’ betting and betting exchanges.

The legal betting market for all sports is estimated to be around $150-200bn a year globally.

In cricket, the nuances and huge interest in sport are factors that encourage betting. The estimates relating to legal betting in cricket are about $30-50bn per year globally. Estimates of the illegal betting market in the Indian Premier League matches average around $100-120m for each match with a total related turnover in the region of $11bn for each edition.

With all this money directed to-wards gambling and betting, it is of no surprise that people resort to corrup-tion to better their chances of success in the bets placed by them. Betting syndicates come into existence and elaborate networks are formed to cheat the sporting public and bookmakers by abusing sporting activities. l

Annual global bettingin cricket

US$30-50bn

Annual global legalbetting market

US$150-200bn

Illegal betting marketon each IPL match

US$100-120mTotal related turnover

in each seasonUS$11bn

SLH/

DT IN

FOGR

APHI

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Defence Brazil’s best form of attack, says Pele

Brazil’s mesmeric attacking football has long delighted crowds on the world stage but a steely defence more syn-onymous with the likes of Italy or Ger-many is the biggest asset of this year’s World Cup hosts, according to Pele.

“For the � rst time in the history of football in Brazil, Brazil has the defence better than the attack. You see the mid-� eld back is fantastic, very organised,” the former Brazil forward, widely regard-ed as the greatest ever footballer, said.

Brazil, drawn in Group A with Mex-ico, Cameroon and Croatia, against whom they open the tournament on Thursday in Sao Paulo, boast a host of top defensive players such as Daniel Alves, David Luiz, Ramires, Thiago Sil-va and Fernandinho.

“This is the � rst time Brazil has this di� erence, I hope we can adjust the mid� eld forward,” Pele told the BBC.

Responsibility for the goals will fall squarely at the talented feet of striker Neymar, the young Barcelona frontman who already boasts some inspirational performances for Brazil and is capable of leading their charge, according to Pele.

“I wish Neymar will be the star of this World Cup!,” he said, listing sti� competition from players like Portu-gal’s Ronaldo and Argentina’s Messi.l

Neesham hits ton as New Zealand dominate

Jimmy Neesham became the � rst New Zealander to score hundreds in his � rst two Test matches to put the visitors in a commanding position after two days of the � rst Test against the West Indies at Sabina Park in Jamaica on Monday.

Neesham’s innings of 107 and a 201-run sixth-wicket partnership with B.J. Watling (89) lifted the Black Caps to a total of 508 for seven declared.

Left to negotiate a tricky nine overs before the close of play, West Indies reached 19 without loss with Chris Gay-le, in his 100th Test match on his home ground, to resume on the third morn-ing with Kieran Powell.

Powell has already enjoyed a moment of good fortune, being put down by Pe-ter Fulton at second slip in the third over of the innings o� Tim Southee.

Despite an encouraging e� ort in the morning session when three wickets fell for 20 runs to have New Zealand

at 279 for � ve from their overnight po-sition of 240 for two, the West Indies bowlers again laboured on a benign pitch throughout the afternoon.

Neesham, the 23-year-old left-hander from Auckland who launched his Test career with a century in a drawn match against India in Welling-ton last February, mixed watchful de-� ance with periods of bold aggression.

He smashed o� -spinner Shane Shill-ingford for two sixes in the same over and had 11 fours in an innings that occupied three-and-a-half hours before he fell to a catch at the wicket o� Sulieman Benn.

For Benn, who together with fellow returning spinner Shane Shillingford took three expensive wickets apiece, the experience over the � rst two days of the match reminded him of the tough nature of Test cricket.

Neesham’s century followed the � rst-day hundred of Kane Williamson, and New Zealand might have had a third century-maker except that the im-mediacy of the declaration in the � nal hour of the day forced Watling to be a bit more adventurous, the pugnacious wicketkeeper-batsman falling to a catch at deep midwicket o� Shillingford.

The second session of play had con-trasted sharply with the � rst, 129 runs being scored o� 35 overs to redress the balance from the morning stumbles. l

‘Violent’ Argentine hooligans barred from Brazil

More than 2000 Argentine hooligans will be prevented from entering Brazil ahead of the World Cup because they are considered to be violent, Brazil’s Interpol chief told AFP.

The 2,100 ‘barra bravas’ hooligans are already the subject of banning or-ders from attending domestic matches in their own country.

“The Argentine authorities have given us a basis of information and these fans will be identi� ed and prevented from en-tering,” said Luiz Eduardo Navajas.

“If they manage to get past the con-trols and are found in Brazil, they will be deported.”

Navajas said he had no worries about European hooligans disrupting the tournament as they are already banned from travelling to Brazil.

Police delegations from all 32 coun-tries taking part in the World Cup began working together at the International Centre for Police Cooperation in Brasilia on Monday to help World Cup security services. Their main role is to provide intelligence and even though they may be in uniform, they will not be armed. l

Blatter takes aim at Fifa ‘destroyers’

FIFA opens a congress Tuesday with under-� re president Sepp Blatter in a combative mood after he said racism was partly behind corruption allega-tions engul� ng Qatar’s winning bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

Global football chief Blatter blast-ed critics trying to “destroy” FIFA on Monday. Blatter, 78, who is poised to announce his candidacy for a � fth term as president of football’s global govern-ing body, launched a strong defence of his term during addresses to Asian and African o� cials.

Speaking to the Asian Football Con-federation (AFC) gathered in Sao Paulo ahead of FIFA’s 64th Congress, Blatter lashed out at his critics.

“Show unity and con� rm this unity, it’s the best way to reply to all the de-structors in the world,” Blatter said.

“They want to destroy, not the game, but they want to destroy the institution, because our institution is too strong,” he added. Blatter said FIFA was “so strong we are sure they’ll not destroy it.”

In separate comments to Confed-eration of African Football (CAF) dele-gates, Blatter said he believed unnamed critics of Qatar 2022 were motivated by “racism and discrimination.”

African o� cials in turn pointed the � nger directly at the British media over the Qatar claims, accusing news outlets of waging a “hateful, defamatory and degrading” campaign against “the en-tire African continent.”

The same statement meanwhile praised Blatter, citing his “continuous involvement in the development of football in Africa.”

Blatter’s rallying cry comes as FIFA faces mounting pressure over its 2010 decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.l

Mourinho turned down England because of wife

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has re-vealed that his wife, Matilde, was respon-sible for his decision to turn down the role of England head coach in December 2007.

“It was the right decision. My wife was right. She told me not to take it,” Mourinho told reporters in London.

“We are not speaking about the job

today. We are talking about seven years ago, and I cannot wait two years for a big competition. I cannot be spending two years playing against Kazakhstan and San Marino,” added Mourinho, who had left Chelsea by mutual con-sent in September 2007.

The FA ultimately appointed Fabio Ca-pello, who remained in the role until 2012, while Mourinho went on to join Inter. l

An Indian boy heads a football in front of gra� ti of Argentine football player Lionel Messi at the roadside in Kolkata yesterday AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15

A Jazzy eveningin Paulista

The Fifa World Cup is an event that has always reunited the people across the globe and the avenue of Paulista just proved it once again yesterday as Co-lumbian Bridgette and Brazilian Vin-isuse staged the true spirit of the mul-ti-national event with their Jazz music.

The avenue of Paulista is famous for holding all the big celebrations in Bra-zil and Paulista, that never falls asleep, was as usual buzzing with thousands of people.

Among them many people, who arrived from neighbouring countries like Argentina, Columbia and Paraguay were trying their luck by selling their local products like bangles, jewelry, earrings and little mementos of the World Cup.

Sensing me as a tourist and an Asian, Bridgette, who seemed busy with her belongings, asked to look around the jewelries in English and her accent instantly caught attention of us – the Bangladeshi reporters that also includ-ed reporters from Channel 24 and Kaler Kantho. Bridgette brandishing a guitar appeared to be a major discovery in the Portuguese oriented community.

Watching a TV camera focused on the Columbian made the people passing more curious who eventually stooped by to ignite a musical show! Interestingly Bridgette asked us to give her some time as she lit up a cigarette saying without it she does not feel re-laxed before crooning a song. Bridgette tuned her guitar as her partner settled with the tiny drums.

The combination of guitar and drum added with the sweet voice of Bridgette earned the duo much applause, before it turned into a true musical event with Vinisuse joining in with his saxophone.

Vinisuse and his friend Mike were also among the crowd just a while ago until Vinisuse, who practices Jazz, de-cided to hop in. It took few seconds for Vinisuse to pick the rhythm and indeed the the melody of the saxophone from a handshaking distance was a unique experience for us.

In the mean time the audience also grew and the mixture of saxophone and guitar gave the feel of a true clas-sic concert. Bridgette sang her number and stopped, but Vinisuse continued to amaze the audience playing his tunes. The array of his tunes, going up and down, high and low kept the audience glued to the place.

It was overwhelming to see Bridgette hug Vinisuse, after he stopped playing, as true admiration of respect while the audience gave them a big hand. World Cup really appeared to be a stage of unity where people from di� erent cul-ture and origin mix in the spirit of fair play. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

‘Move on to detect fake freedom � ghters’n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Intelligence agencies are verifying in-formation on freedom � ghters and the authorities will cancel their certi� cates if the reports go against them, a junior minister told parliament yesterday.

Replying to a question by M Abdul Latif, State Minister for Public Ad-

ministration Ismat Ara Sadique told the legislature that the governmenthad already cancelled the certi� cates of 116 freedom � ghters in line withthe reports of the National Security Agency.

The government maintains quota in the public service for freedom � ghters and their children. The certi� cates en-

title them to a lot of state facilities.During Sheikh Hasina’s previous

term (1996-2001) the Muktibarta, a publication by the freedom � ghters, registered 1,51,861 freedom � ghters.

But in 2012-13, the Ministry of Lib-eration War A� airs gave certi� cates to 2,09,028 freedom � ghters.

The Parliamentary Standing Com-

mittee on the Liberation War A� airs Ministry of the 9th parliament ob-served that many of the registered free-dom � ghters in the latest list were fake, recommending that the government should cancel those certi� cates.

IsmatAra said the government con-tinued to detect so-called freedom � ghters who were inducted into the

public service with fake certi� cates.“As of yet, total of 116 fake freedom

� ghter certi� cates have been cancelled, according to the report of the National Security Intelligence,” she said.

Moves will be taken in accordance with the investigation reports to cancel the certi� cates through gazette noti� -cation, said the state minist er. l

4 injured in DMCH clash centering autopsyn Adil Sakhawat

At least four people, including two po-licemen, were injured when relatives of two dead patients tried to obstruct law enforcers from conducting an autopsy on their bodies at Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital yesterday morning.

According to police, Tahmina Akter, 34, her grandfather Posir Khan, 95, and another woman named Sumi, 30, were rushed to DMCH after a speeding truck hit their auto-rickshaw in the capital’s Demra area on early hours of yesterday. Later, doctors declared Tahmina and her grandfather dead.

However, relatives of the deceased were not ready to allow police to con-duct the autopsies on the bodies, which is a legal requirement for unnat-ural deaths.

Jakir Hossain Khan, cousin of the deceased, told Dhaka Tribune, “Doc-tors at the emergency unit did not provide proper treatment and after my sister and grandfather died, the DMCH

outpost police declined to hand over the bodies without an autopsy. But, we did not want the autopsy.”

DMCH outpost police Inspector Mo-zammel Hauque said: “In accident-re-lated cases, it is mandatory to conduct an autopsy. If the relatives do not want that [the autopsy], they have to take permission from the respective police station of the area where the accident took place. But the relatives wanted to take the bodies out without the au-topsy and declined to take permission from the respective police station.”

“When we informed Demra police, they came and completed all formali-ties and then handed over the bodies to the family members,” he added. Dem-ra police seized the truck responsible for the accident, but could not nab the driver yet.

Meanwhile, a student of Dhaka In-ternational Polytechnic Institute died at DMCH yesterday after being critical-ly injured in a road accident at the capi-tal’s Airport road on May 30. l

GOLD SMUGGLING

Restriction on Dhaka airport sta� ’s phone usen Mohammad Jamil Khan and

Ashif Islam Shaon

Use of mobile phones in Dhaka air-porthas been made restricted for all of-� cials and employees including the law enforcers in the wake of recent reports that some of them are involved with smuggling rings.

As per a new decision, the � rst- and second-grade o� cials will have to take permission from the authorities to use personal or o� cial mobile phones in-side the airport.

Moreover, the low-level employ-ees both in civil and uniform will have to surrender their mobile phones at the airport’s entrance. They may use phones only in the case of emergency, but upon permission of the authorities concerned.

The decision was made by the Civil Avi-ation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) recently. It also served a notice to imple-ment the decision from June 2, sources said. The notice threatens the o� cials of dismissal for using mobile phones which are not authorised by the high o� cials.

The intelligence agencies have learnt about some incidents by tracking mobile phones of several airport o� cials. In fu-ture, the initiative might be implement-ed at Chittagong and Sylhet airports.

Some members of the law enforcement agencies, detectives, airport o� cials, cus-toms o� cials, even security guards and cleaners have been found to be involved with di� erent smuggling rings, especial-ly the gold smugglers. They use personal mobile phones to contact each other dur-ing the passage of the consignments. The airport authorities want to stop this.

Sources said over 350kg of gold had been seized in the last 10 months apart from various precious metals, curren-cies, electronic accessories and other valuables. Over 3,600 people, includ-ing cabin crews and CAAB personnel, and members of customs, immigra-tion, the National Security Intelligence (NSI) and the Ansar were arrested in the last three years for their links with smuggling and other illicit acts.

The smuggling incidents have risen remarkably in the recent months.

The new move comes following two recent reports of the Rapid Action Bat-

talion (RAB) and another intelligence agency to check smuggling.

Submitted to the Home Ministry and the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry, the RAB report says the Dhaka airport lacks security. Therefore, members of the law enforcement agencies and air-port o� cials allow the smugglers to run their activities in exchange of money.

The report states that the o� cials help the smugglers in two ways – either the low-level employees get directly in-volved in the smuggling process while the seniors help the smugglers by in-forming them about any raids in the airport through phones.

The CAAB letter, sent to di� erent departments operating inside the air-port,directs the employees and sta� not to use mobile phones while dis-charging duties. Without any designat-ed tasks, they have also been asked not to go to the customs, immigration and boarding bridge areas.

The law enforcement agency mem-bers will have to leave their unauthor-ised phones before they step inside the airport area. They will only use walky-talkies for security purpose.

Everyday, more than 50,000 passen-gers use the airport. At present, 18 do-mestic and international carriers operate � ights through the Dhaka airport. Besides these, 47 countries have connection with the CAAB to use the airport or air tra� c.

When contacted, CAAB Chairman Air-Vice Marshal Mahmud Hussain said they had taken the measures upon an intelligence report with a view to keep an eye on the airport sta� s.

“Actually, the decision to monitor mo-bile phones was taken in the past. Recent-ly we have decided to implement this as some o� cials and sta� s have been found keeping ‘ill contact’ with unscrupulous bad people. Some sta� also have the ten-dency of chit-chatting with friends and family by killing working hours,” he said.

He said the use of phones would be restricted primarily at certain spots and the authorities would monitor the em-ployees on close circuit TV cameras. “If caught with phones, the o� enders will be punished.

“It is not possible to ban mobile phone use. But we are trying to ensure that nobody usesmobile phones for mis-doings. However, they may be allowed for essential purpose upon permission.”

He also said if necessary,mobile phone network jammers would be set up at certain spots of the airport.

“We have noticed that some airliners’ employees do not have walky-talkies. We will ask them to apply for authorised mobile numbers,” Mahmud said. l

Columbian Bridgette and her two companions spontaneously form a band and play a number to amuse tourists gathering in the Brazilian city of Paulista yesterday RAIHAN MAHMOOD

Not CFLs, now LED bulbs more e� cientn Aminur Rahman Rasel

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid yes-terday said every consumer should use LED (light-emitting diode) lamps instead of CFLs with a view to save electricity.

“We cancelled a project to replace incandescent bulbs by energy-e� cient compact � uorescent lamps [CFLs] as the World Bank, the lending agency of the project, has withdrawn its support,” he said while addressing a seminar.

He also urged Finance Minister AMA Muhith to give some incentives in the budget by exempting duties for import-ing energy-saving LED bulbs.

The event on Energy E� ciency Strategies in Bangladesh: Problem and Prospect was organised by the Power Division at Bidyut Bhaban in the city. 

LED bulbs consume less energy. They are 300% more e� cient than a CFL bulb and 1,000% than a conventional incan-descent bulb. LED bulbs have a very long life – about 50,000 hours of use at 70% of their original power.

But the price of a same capacity LED lamp is more than three times a CFL bulb.

The junior minister also suggested incentives for renewable energy-related products to promote green energy across the country and for spare parts used in power transmission and distribution.

He said the real estate companies setting up green buildings by using energy-e� cient equipment and power system would get incentives.

“The production and use of conven-tional brick in the real estate sector is destroying our top soil and the envi-ronment as well,” Nasrul said. He also sought support from the Finance Min-istry to install pre-paid gas meters.

In his speech, Muhith said a time-lim-it could be � xed to shut down the brick-� elds in the country. He suggested that the conventional brick kilns be banned since it decreases fertility of land.

The � nance minister said: “It is very important to shut down the brick kilns. Public awareness is needed in this regard.” 

The country’s electricity generation capacity is more than 10,000MW, “but the supply is only around 7,000MW be-

cause of weakness in the transmission and the distribution system.”

He said there was a very small gap between electricity demand and peak-time supply. “We should examine the peaking power plants,” Muhith said.

Addressing the seminar, BERC Chairman AR Khan said stern action should be taken against illegal gas con-nections. “Di� erent gas distribution companies are disconnecting illegal gas lines in the morning, but those are being restored in the afternoon.”

Power Division Joint Secretary Sid-dique Zobair made a presentation at the seminar. He said the country could save around 2,650MW of electricity through using energy-e� cient air-conditioners, fans, refrigerators, lights and motors.

He suggested that the country needed to overcome some barriers to achieve en-ergy e� ciency. “The policy and the reg-ulatory barriers are likely to be removed through adopting appropriate rules and regulations,” Zobair said. “Technical bar-riers are continuously being addressed through capacity enhancement and de-velopment of energy auditors.” l

Relatives of a dead patient scu� e with policemen at DMCH to prevent the autopsy of the body yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

The law enforcement agency members will have to leave their unauthorised phones before they step inside the airport area

THE FESTIVITY BEGINS

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 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014

B3 OECD: Emerging coun-tries waver, advanced economies expand

B4 E-tailers growth en-snared in India’s logistics jungle

Big budget o� ers opportunity for banksChallenges are to balance between public and private borrowing with a� ordable interest raten Jebun Nesa Alo

The just announced national budget is expected to o� er a good business opportunity for the commercial banks operating in the country, after having a hard time in last couple of years.

Bankers have foreseen the prospect based on the measures proposed in the budget for next � scal year in enhancing both public and private investments.

They are, however, considering how the banking sector would face chal-lenges like the private investors do not su� er from non-availability of fund due to increased public � nancing.

The increased demand for fund might also push up the lending rate as well as the in� ation – which are also being con-sidered as other major challenges.

“High borrowing target is good for the economy as it re� ects the govern-ment’s e� ciency of implementation the mega project that has been taken in the new budget,” said NCC Bank Man-aging Director Golam Ha� z Ahmed.

He said more project implementation would raise demand for credit in the pri-vate sector as employment and import of raw materials would be increased. “When the demand will increase both in private and public sector, the credit-de-posit ratio will increase, which will help the banks to make more pro� t.”

The existing average credit-deposit ratio of the banks remained at around 70% and there is a chance it would be in-creased up to 81%. That means the banks now disbursing loans of Tk70 against de-posit of Tk100, despite they can disburse up to Tk81, he said. The banks’ have made pro� t less than expected, as a result.

“The lending rate though remained

on the down trend at present, it will climb up in the new � scal year due to the expected rise in credit demand,” said the senior banker.

He further said the private sector is unlikely to be crowded out if the proj-ects are implemented with foreign � -nancing. Foreign fund in� ow would have double e� ect as it would have to be converted into local currency after entering into the country, and it would enrich the reserve.

He was, however, skeptical about the banking business as all depend on the budget implementation and political stability. “If the projects are implement-ed e� ciently, the banks will get the op-portunity of doing good business.”

Though it is a challenge to maintain

a balance between public and private credit, “we hope the private invest-ment will not be a� ected as the gov-ernment borrowing will remain within the target,” said Pubali Bank Managing Director Helal Ahmed Chowdhury.

“The government cannot not utilise its full space of borrowing target ac-cording to our earlier experience. So, if the borrowing reaches even at the ceil-ing, private sector will not be a� ected much as the banks have enough liquid-ity to face the demand.”

The banking business went sluggish for more or less a couple of years due to poor credit demand amid prolonged political unrest, resulting in poor per-formance particularly in the just con-cluded year of 2013.

The banks had to take cover of a re-laxed loan rescheduling guideline to give some dividend for the year 2013.

“If the government reaches the borrowing target, it would put some pressure on in� ation,” said Bangladesh Bank Chief Economist Hassan Zaman.

“We do not think the government will reach the target as it could not reach there as of now. We think it will not be able to utilise the full space of the borrowing target eventually.”

Hassan Zaman foresees the big size budget would not be implemented ful-ly because it is not possible to improve implementation capacity over night.

“We see an implementation gap between actual and revised budget every year, which would be continued

in the new � scal year too. As a result, domestic borrowing target will not be ful� lled. So we do not have concerns about our monetary program.”

However, he said, if the government really reaches the borrowing target anyway, it would then be a risk on in-� ation, he added.

Bank borrowing from banking sys-tem by government remained slow since several months and it stood at Tk23,000 crore at the end of May this year while Tk20,000 crore has already been repaid, according to the Bangla-desh Bank data.

The borrowing target for the next � s-cal year has been set at Tk31,221 crore, which is 20% higher from Tk25,993 crore set for the outgoing � scal year. l

FRA likely to be passed in budget sessionn Tribune Report

The draft Financial Reporting Act is likely to be placed at the next meet-ing of cabinet committee for approval and in parliament for passage during the current budget session, said a se-nior � nance ministry o� cial.

“We hope the draft FRA Act will be approved at the cabinet in next week. It will also be placed as bill in the par-liament during the current budget

session,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. The FRA bill was sched-uled to be placed in the parliament in May. But the government missed it.

Enactment of the law was a condi-tion under the Asian Development Bank project titled “Capital market develop-ment programme II” to disburse $150m.

Earlier, the draft was placed in the cabinet committee twice for approv-al but the cabinet asked the Banking Division to do some corrections. But

the cabinet made no suggestions re-garding any speci� c changes.

The draft has been prepared by the Banking Division as per the recom-mendations and opinions of stakehold-ers. The last caretaker government ap-proved a � nancial reporting ordinance, but the Awami League-led government had not placed it in parliament for pas-sage after assuming power in 2009.

The FRA is expected to ensure transparency and accountability in

the � nancial sector and prevent in-cidents like Hall-Mark and the share market debacle.

As per the draft, a 12-member coun-cil will be formed, which will include Bangladesh Bank Governor, Bangla-desh Securities and Exchange Commis-sion Chairman, National Board of Reve-nue Chairman, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority Chairman and representative from Bank and Fi-nancial Institutions Division. l

BTRC halts 5 Internet packages of Banglalink, Robin Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The country’s two private mobile phone operators, Banglalink and Robi, have been asked to halt their � ve par-ticular Internet packages by the tele-com regulatory body BTRC.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had informed the two operators by send-ing an electronic mail on Monday last, without providing any reason behind the directive.

The halt packages include four-bun-dle data package of Banglalink while a 3G package of Robi.

Robi had introduced the 32MB package with Tk9 at the end of the last month after getting approval from the regulatory body, said a senior execu-tive of Robi.

Both the mobile phone oerators have already contacted the regulatory body BTRC, seeking an explanation be-hind the issuince of the directive.

However, BTRC o� cails have so far failed to provide any information in this connection as both the chairman and the vice-chairman of BTRC are currently out of the country, said an executive of Robi.

The move undertaken by the BTRC is likely to hamper the users, as they have to shift their packages to other di� erent packages from the halted � ve packages at the end of its validity period.

As the packages were duely ap-proved by the government, therefore BTRC would have required informing the government prior to issuing the di-rective, which was not followed in this case, sources said.

According to BTRC statistics, the total number of mobile Internet user stands at 3.6 crore while total Internet users sums up to 3.75 crore. l

EPB drafts $34.2bn export target for FY15n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) has set $34.2bn as export target for the � scal year 2014-15 with $27.5bn to be earned from the garment sector though the last two years records show failure in reaching the goals.

The draft target, which will be sent to the commerce ministry in a day or two, is 11.60% higher than that of the current year.

“We will send it (the draft target) to the commerce ministry in a day or two for � nalising,” said an EPB o� cial.

In the FY2013-14, the country tar-gets to earn $30.5bn from the export sector and has already bagged $24.65bn during the � rst 10 months. The achieve-ment is 0.40% higher than the strategic target set for the period.

But in last two years, the export sec-tor failed to reach its targets. In 2011-12, the target was $26.5bn and the earn-ings amounted to $24.3bn, according to EPB data which also showed in 2012-13 the achievement was $27bn against the target of $28bn.

However, the country enjoyed a big leap in exports compared to target during the FY2010-11. While the target was $18.5bn, the earnings exceeded $24bn in the year.

The performance could have en-couraged the EPB to set bigger targets in the following years.

However, the export sector has continued to grow over the last sever-al years even in the recent time when the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner garment industry faced trouble after the disastrous Rana Plaza inci-dence.

Bangladesh mainly depends on

garment, leather, agricultural prod-ucts, shrimp and jute and jute goods to achieve its export target.

“The draft target for the next � s-cal year is a little conservative as wewant to match the target with perfor-mance. Performance is more import-ant than setting targets,” said another EPB o� cial.

He said the draft of the export target has been � xed after having discussions with representatives from di� erent

stakeholders including Ministry of For-eign A� airs, Bangladesh Association of Software Information and Services (BASIS), Bangladesh Garment Manu-facturers and Exporters Association Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Exporters Association of Bangladesh and Minis-try of Livestock,

“Priority has been placed to apparel, leather, agricultural products, shrimp, jute and jute goods sectors to achieve export target,” the o� cial said.

For the next � scal year, the knitwear export target is $13.41bn and woven garments $14.05bn.

In the current � scal, the govern-ment set a target of $11.57bn for knit-wear and 12.57bn for woven sector.

During the � rst 10 months, knitwear earned $9.80bn and woven earned $10.16bn. l

Muhith: Decision on gain tax to be � nalised before budget being passed n Tribune Report

The proposed gain tax on the pro� t of the investors will be � nalised just a day before approving the budget in parlia-ment for the next � scal year.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith yes-terday disclosed this while talking to the reporters after attending a divi-dend handing over ceremony of the Bangladesh Security and Exchange Commission (BSEC) held at the � nance division auditorium in the capital.

We, usually, bring some changes in the revenue provisions just before the budget is passed in the parliament, noted the minister.

Referring to the bene� ts that all the investors have been enjoying tax-free share market pro� ts for the last couple of years, Muhith hinted that the gov-ernment could take any decision on the proposed gain tax on pro� ts of the investors in between June 26-27.

According to the budget proposal, the investors’ tax-free pro� t amount is upto Tk10 lakh and 3% tax was pro-posed in between the pro� t of Tk10 lakh and Tk20 lakh of the investors while 5% tax was proposed on the pro� ts of more than Tk20 lakh of the investors.

Coming down heavily on former BSEC chairman Faruk Ahmed Siddique for his stance not to impose gain tax on ordinary share holders, the minis-ter said,“It is nothing but an absolutely stupid statement on the impose of gain tax on the ordinary share holders.”

The former BSEC chairman said it was not the right time to impose any gain tax on the ordinary shareholders.

As asked, the minister also replied: There was no capital market in the country before, now, we have a capital

market for protecting the interest of the common investors with the help of the existing good laws and regulations.

“We can see headline news in the print media on the ups and downs of the share markets, which is not usual even in the western world as there is no such headline news on their share market,” said Muhith.

The minister also urged the people to come up with sugesstions on the im-provement of the two stock markets, so the common investors can be ben-e� ted as the investors and the general

people, as a whole, become worried when the share markets’ indice go down signi� cantly.

As a team, the BSEC is doing well, as result, the government has extended the tenure of the chairman and mem-bers of BSEC, Muhith pointed out.

BSEC Chairman Khairul Hossain handed over Tk66.83 crore dividend of last year to the � nance minister AMA Muhith and most of the dividendcame as the charge of Tk500 against the payment of the BO accounts of shareholders. l

Bankers’ pay scale stuck againn Asif Shwokat Kallol

The fate of separate pay scale for the bankers has been stuck again. The gov-ernment has decided to get pay com-mission’s recommendation about it.

The separate pay scale for Ban-gladesh Bank and four state-owned commercial banks would not be an-nounced before the national pay scale announcement, Bank and Financial Institutions Division Secretary Dr M Aslam Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“It would not be logical to announce the separate pay scale while preparing the new national pay scale,” he said. “We have missed the train as the au-thorities failed to announce the scale before January 5 election.”

Besides, the implementation divi-sion of the � nance ministry prepared a document on recommendation for the separate pay scale, which suggested taking advice from the permanent pay commission now working on the issue.

Last year, the law ministry had informed the implementation de-partment of � nance division that the separate pay-scale could be executed under the existing legal framework and amendment would not be required.

Bangladesh Bank and the four state-owned banks have a total of 61,000 sta� s. Bangladesh Bank has 4,958 sta� s while Sonali Bank 23,363, Janata Bank 15,146, Agrani Bank 13,558 and Rupali Bank 4,293. The separate pay scales for the banks got stuck due to legal complexities. l

We have missed the train as the authorities failed to announce the scale before January 5 polls

The draft target for the next � scal year is a little conservative as we want to match it with performance

Finance Minister AMA Muhith

ANALYST

B2 Stock Wednesday, June 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks inch down on pro� t booking n Tribune Report

Stocks inched down amid volatil-ity yesterday, as investors booked pro� t from previous session’s sharp rise.

The market rallied in the morn-ing but pro� t booking in midses-sion pushed down the main index that lost around 40 points. Later, modest buying pressure helped recover some points in the sec-ond-half of the session.

The benchmark index DSEX shed 14 points or 0.4% to settle at 4,401, hitting highest 4,425 at open and lowest 4,375 in the midsession.

The comprising blue chips DS30 lost 4 points or 0.3% to 1,624.

The Shariah index DSES closed at 1,013, declining 2 points or 0.3% to 1,012.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was down 5 points to 8,360.

The major sectors saw mixed performances with non-banking � nancial institutions rising highest 1.5%, pharmaceuticals 1.4% and power 0.6%.

The other large-cap sectors, in-cluding telecommunications, food, cement and banks lost marginally on price correction.

The total turnover at DSE stood at Tk452 crore – its highest in the last six and half weeks and 7.5% higher over previous session’s value.

IDLC Investments, in its dai-ly market analysis, said lately, trend-following investors started gripping pro� t alongside their fo-cus on sector-speci� c movements.

“Afterward, sentiment turned more cautious.”

Lafarge Surma Cement’s interim cash dividend disclosure concen-trated investors much on it and be-ing the mostly traded scrips of the day. The scrips captured 14.5% of the total turnover.

The company made its � rst div-idend declaration yesterday since its listing year in 2003. Besides, en-gineering led in sectoral turnover ladder, accounting for 21% of the total trade.

After Lafarge, other turnover leaders were Square Pharmaceuti-cals, BSRM Steel, Eastern Housing Ltd, GPH Ispat, Apollo Ispat and Navana CNG.

On the third day, following to Budget proposal of FY’15, market is factoring measures of proposed budget, specially the proposal of imposition of tax on capital gain, said Lanka Bangla Securities in its market analysis.

Bangladesh Securities and Ex-change Commission set a meeting with � nance minister yesterday to request him to scrape the proposed capital gain tax on individual in-vestors from the � nance bill for the year 2014-15. l

News,analysis and recent disclosersLAFSURCEML: The Board of Directors has declared 5% interim cash dividend for the year ending on 31 December 2014, out of the provisional net pro� ts of the Compa-ny for the period ended on 31 May 2014. Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 30.06.2014. The Company has also reported consolidated pro� t after tax of Tk. 1,144.16 million, consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.99, consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 10.51 and consolidated NOCFPS of Tk. 0.44 for the period ended on May 31, 2014.

IPO Subscription: Far East Knitting & Dyeing Industries Limited subscription date 15-19 June 2014, NRB upto 28 June 2014. @ taka 27, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shurwid Industries Limited subscrip-tion date 08-12 June 2014, NRB upto 21 June 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. Saif Powertec Limited sub-scription date 06-10 July 2014, NRB upto 19 July 2014. @ taka 30, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Ratanpur Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 13-17 July 2014, NRB upto 26 July 2014. @ taka 40, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGMASIAINS: 15% cash and 5% stock, AGM: 16.07.2014, Record Date: 19.06.2014.WATACHEM: 30% stock, AGM: 27.06.2014, Record Date: 11.06.2014.AMBEEPHA: 15% cash and 20% stock, AGM: 16.06.2014, Record Date: 28.05.2014.MBL1STMF: 3% cash, Record date: 02.06.2014. ORIONPHARM: 15% cash, AGM: 22.06.2014, Record Date: 21.05.2014. PURABIGEN: 15% stock, AGM: 29.06.2014, Record date: 21.05.2014. SALVOCHEM: 10% stock, AGM: 27.08.2014, Record date: 25.06.2014.ISNLTD: No dividend, AGM: 17.06.2014, RD May 20, 2014.GOLDENSON: 25% stock, EGM and AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. MERCINS: 10% cash, dividend for the Public Shareholders (B-Group) only, AGM: 16.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. CMCKAMAL: 12.50% stock, AGM: 30.06.2014. Record Date: 29.05.2014. RUPALIBANK: 15% stock, AGM: 31.05.2014, Record date: 14.05.2014. LEGACYFOOT: 5% stock, AGM:

21.06.2014, Record Date: 12.05.2014. BDTHAI: 5% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 25.05.2014. MEGHNACEM: 15% cash, AGM: 29.05.2014, Record Date: 14.05.2014. MONNOSTAF: 10% cash, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 19.05.2014. INTECH: 10% stock, AGM: 23.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. ISLAMIINS: 15% stock, AGM: 09.07.2014, RD: 12.05.2014. BXPHARMA: 10% cash & 5% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, RD: 18.05.2014. STANDARINS: 15% stock, AGM: 18.06.2014, RD: 15.05.2014. BAYLEASING: 17% cash & 15% stock, AGM: 29.05.2014, RD: 12.05.2014. JMISMDL: 15% cash, AGM: 24.07.2014, RD: 22.05.2014. SUMITPOWER: 15% stock, AGM: 30.06.2014. RD: 18.05.2014. KPCL: 25% cash & 5% stock, AGM: 18.06.2014, RD: 14.05.2014. PREMIERLEA: No dividend, AGM: 26.06.2014, RD: 25.05.2014. BEXIMCO: 15% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, RD: 18.05.2014.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Wata Chemicals -A -8.75 -8.67 365.33 365.00 366.00 365.00 0.219 6.24 58.5Kay & Que (BD) -Z -8.33 -8.49 11.00 11.00 11.00 11.00 0.039 -0.92 -veAIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A -8.06 -7.62 5.70 5.70 5.70 5.70 0.003 1.49 3.8Takaful Islami Insu-A -6.60 -6.60 29.70 29.70 29.70 29.70 0.015 1.76 16.9Imam Button -Z -6.33 -6.68 7.40 7.40 7.50 7.20 0.011 -1.85 -veStandard Insurance-A -6.00 -6.00 28.20 28.20 28.20 28.20 0.056 2.88 9.8LafargeS Cement-Z -5.58 -2.02 88.82 86.30 99.50 82.20 47.206 2.16 41.1 ICB -A -5.41 -5.41 1,730.00 1,730.00 1,730.00 1,730.00 0.087 53.53 32.3Paramount Insur-A -5.41 -5.41 17.50 17.50 17.50 17.50 0.009 1.64 10.7B I F C -A -5.22 -3.84 12.52 12.70 12.70 12.10 0.017 0.24 52.2

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Midas Financing-Z -7.43 -6.16 16.45 16.20 17.50 16.20 0.510 -6.91 -veLafargeS Cement-Z -5.98 -0.51 90.41 86.50 99.30 82.20 656.777 2.16 41.9Wata Chemicals -A -5.78 -5.95 363.76 360.40 383.00 355.00 35.648 6.24 58.3BGIC -A -5.26 -1.83 21.99 21.60 22.80 21.00 1.667 1.36 16.2Islamic Finance-A -4.65 -2.75 12.37 12.30 13.00 11.70 3.498 0.96 12.9B I F C -A -4.58 -2.09 12.67 12.50 13.20 12.40 0.293 0.24 52.8Phoenix Finance-A -4.18 -1.62 25.52 25.20 26.10 25.00 2.552 2.58 9.9Eastland Insur -A -3.98 -2.99 36.32 36.20 37.70 34.00 7.703 4.24 8.6Islami Ins.BD-A -3.83 -3.78 22.67 22.60 23.50 22.60 0.544 1.92 11.8I P D C -A -3.75 -1.60 15.42 15.40 16.00 14.40 0.502 0.64 24.1

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

LafargeS Cement-Z 531,500 47.21 16.19 86.30 -5.58 91.40 99.50 82.20 88.82Appollo Ispat CL -N 766,800 21.45 7.36 28.50 6.34 26.80 28.80 26.70 27.97Square Pharma -A 50,616 14.02 4.81 280.50 3.13 272.00 281.70 270.10 277.07BSRM Steels-A 134,475 12.33 4.23 91.50 -0.44 91.90 94.30 90.10 91.66Grameenphone-A 33,800 9.66 3.31 285.20 -0.90 287.80 288.80 284.70 285.85Generation Next-A 513,666 9.15 3.14 17.70 -1.67 18.00 18.10 17.50 17.81Eastern Housing -A 121,194 7.92 2.72 65.10 1.72 64.00 66.40 64.00 65.37BD Submarine Cable-A 43,411 7.83 2.69 179.20 -0.28 179.70 183.00 178.50 180.43Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 308,500 7.62 2.61 24.50 -3.16 25.30 25.40 24.40 24.70BSC-A 14,485 7.03 2.41 485.00 4.41 464.50 491.80 472.00 485.01BD Building Systems -A 116,000 6.88 2.36 58.10 2.65 56.60 60.80 57.80 59.32Aftab Auto.-A 78,363 6.80 2.33 87.10 -0.34 87.40 87.60 85.80 86.79Delta Life Insu. -A 26,250 5.19 1.78 197.60 1.96 193.80 202.00 195.00 197.89HeidelbergCement -A 10,000 5.01 1.72 494.60 -2.71 508.40 516.00 487.00 501.10Sinobangla Indu.-A 188,000 4.79 1.64 24.60 -1.99 25.10 26.00 24.50 25.51

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

LafargeS Cement-Z 7,264,500 656.78 14.52 86.50 -5.98 92.00 99.30 82.20 90.41Square Pharma -A 963,309 267.41 5.91 281.00 3.04 272.70 282.20 255.00 277.59BSRM Steels-A 2,213,836 203.84 4.51 92.20 -0.11 92.30 100.00 84.00 92.07Eastern Housing -A 2,832,838 184.63 4.08 64.90 1.72 63.80 66.40 58.00 65.17GPH Ispat Ltd-A 2,505,760 145.06 3.21 58.70 3.89 56.50 59.20 51.00 57.89Grameenphone-A 498,871 142.68 3.16 286.30 -1.04 289.30 290.00 270.00 286.01Appollo Ispat CL -N 5,033,600 141.27 3.12 28.70 7.09 26.80 29.00 26.90 28.07Navana CNG-A 1,481,471 94.80 2.10 65.00 5.18 61.80 65.70 56.00 63.99MJL BD Ltd.-A 1,038,944 90.49 2.00 87.30 -2.46 89.50 89.10 80.60 87.09HeidelbergCement -A 161,580 80.79 1.79 494.20 -2.72 508.00 518.00 490.00 500.03Golden Son -A 1,738,950 79.05 1.75 45.70 3.16 44.30 46.40 43.00 45.46Meghna Petroleum -A 294,149 78.58 1.74 266.50 -0.78 268.60 269.50 246.00 267.16Summit Power -A 2,189,091 69.70 1.54 32.40 5.88 30.60 32.60 27.60 31.84Aftab Auto.-A 779,111 67.65 1.50 87.30 -0.11 87.40 88.00 78.70 86.83Emerald Oil Ind. -N 1,398,500 66.33 1.47 47.90 3.23 46.40 48.40 46.20 47.43

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Sandhani Life -A 9.19 7.60 80.81 82.00 82.60 80.00 0.141 2.39 33.8Da� odil Computers -Z 7.62 8.43 11.32 11.30 11.50 11.20 0.108 0.68 16.6Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z 7.58 8.79 14.36 14.20 14.50 13.70 3.102 0.04 359.0Orion Infusions -A 6.77 5.96 48.56 48.90 49.90 47.50 1.233 4.81 10.1Appollo Ispat CL -N 6.34 4.06 27.97 28.50 28.80 26.70 21.450 1.69 16.6Bangladesh Welding -Z 6.31 8.90 11.99 11.80 12.20 11.50 0.558 0.48 25.0Summit Power -A 5.52 5.99 32.22 32.50 32.80 31.10 2.187 3.00 10.7GQ Ball PenA 5.14 4.40 127.89 128.80 129.30 127.50 0.237 2.81 45.5Keya Cosmetics -A 4.61 3.49 22.56 22.70 22.80 22.00 1.874 1.93 11.7Navana CNG-A 4.50 3.66 64.21 65.00 65.50 58.00 3.320 3.48 18.5

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Bangladesh Welding -Z 9.09 11.11 12.00 12.00 12.10 10.00 1.671 0.48 25.0Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z 7.35 7.58 14.62 14.60 14.90 12.40 21.453 0.04 365.5Appollo Ispat CL -N 7.09 4.31 28.07 28.70 29.00 26.90 141.273 1.69 16.6Shinepukur Cera-Z 6.86 7.31 10.87 10.90 11.20 9.50 3.341 0.64 17.0Kohinoor Chem -A 6.23 6.32 414.25 414.30 422.90 387.50 1.657 9.37 44.2Summit Power -A 5.88 5.43 31.84 32.40 32.60 27.60 69.698 3.00 10.6Navana CNG-A 5.18 3.59 63.99 65.00 65.70 56.00 94.796 3.48 18.4 ICB -A 5.13 4.50 1,723.05 1,732.50 1,744.00 1,679.00 8.472 53.53 32.2Keya Cosmetics -A 5.09 3.07 22.50 22.70 22.80 19.50 33.447 1.93 11.7Orion Infusions -A 4.74 5.25 48.50 48.60 49.70 46.70 32.396 4.81 10.1

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 254.44 5.63 14.63 4.09 269.07 5.51NBFI 86.16 1.91 7.22 2.02 93.38 1.91Investment 45.02 1.00 1.72 0.48 46.74 0.96Engineering 948.52 20.97 64.68 18.08 1013.20 20.76Food & Allied 226.19 5.00 13.27 3.71 239.46 4.91Fuel & Power 421.17 9.31 28.37 7.93 449.54 9.21Jute 1.83 0.04 0.00 1.83 0.04Textile 428.29 9.47 39.91 11.16 468.20 9.59Pharma & Chemical 597.86 13.22 33.31 9.31 631.16 12.93Paper & Packaging 0.28 0.01 18.94 5.29 19.22 0.39Service 190.05 4.20 8.93 2.50 198.98 4.08Leather 41.86 0.93 20.16 5.63 62.02 1.27Ceramic 12.96 0.29 1.14 0.32 14.11 0.29Cement 778.84 17.22 56.14 15.69 834.98 17.11Information Technology 32.11 0.71 2.83 0.79 34.94 0.72General Insurance 43.09 0.95 0.92 0.26 44.01 0.90Life Insurance 85.58 1.89 6.22 1.74 91.80 1.88Telecom 190.64 4.22 17.49 4.89 208.13 4.26Travel & Leisure 65.77 1.45 6.49 1.81 72.26 1.48Miscellaneous 71.59 1.58 15.37 4.30 86.96 1.78Debenture 0.15 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.16 0.00

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4401.88445 (-) 0.32% ▼

DSE Shariah Index : 1012.90316 (-) 0.25% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1624.45375 (-) 0.28% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 13563.09860 (-) 0.30% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 10995.04480 (+) 0.54% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8360.34980 (-) 0.06% ▲

DSE key features June 10, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

4,522.40

Turnover (Volume)

91,794,974

Number of Contract 95,816

Traded Issues 295

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

115

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

175

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,279.71

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.63

CSE key features June 10, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 301.02

Turnover (Volume) 7,427,088

Number of Contract 11,760

Traded Issues 220

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

101

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

115

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,182.90

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.46

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

Trend-following investors started gripping pro� t alongside their focus on sector-speci� c movements

OECD: Emerging countries waver, advanced economies expandn AFP, Paris

Emerging giants China, Russia and Brazil are losing some of the driving steam which helped prevent a global economic slump, but advanced econo-mies are now increasingly able to pick up the slack, according to key data published yesterday.

The OECD said its latest monthly report on leading economic indicators suggest that “the growth momentum is weakening in most major emerging economies” with the indicators show-ing weaker than usual growth in China, Russia and Brazil.

Conversely, the United States and Canada are showing stable growth momentum, the 18-member eurozone as a whole including Italy is improv-ing, and non-euro Britain is steadying at unusually strong growth rates, the OECD said.

The OECD’s report was published shortly after Britain and Italy both published strong industrial output for the month of April.

The British statistics o� ce reported that industrial output expanded 0.4% in April from the March level when it gained 0.1%, and over 12 months showed a jump of 3%.

That was far ahead of analysts’ ex-pectation of a 12-month rise of 2.8%.

At Berenberg bank, chief UK econo-mist Rob Wood commented: “Today brought yet more good news on the strength of the UK recovery, with man-ufacturing output rising solidly for the � fth consecutive month.

“The UK economy is increasingly � ring on all cylinders, setting up the second quarter for another strong growth reading.”

Italy’s industrial production also rose more than expected in April in a welcome boost for the eurozone’s third-biggest economy.

Industrial production was up 0.7% compared with output in March - the � rst increase for three months.

The Italian data “suggest that the economy might return to growth in Q2,” said Capital Economics analyst James Howat.

However, the analyst was less up-beat about yesterday’s French data,

which showed industrial output rallied in April by 0.3%, saying it suggested “that the recovery there remains pret-ty weak”.

The OECD said however, that for Germany and France, the signs were that these two economies were grow-ing steadily.

The signals for Japan pointed to an upset in its momentum towards growth, but this could re� ect one-o� factors, the OECD said.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that its leading indicators of trends sug-gested “that the growth momentum is weakening in most major emerging economies”.

But India looks as though it is pick-

ing up speed, the OECD said.These indicators, which are closely

watched by analysts and investors as reliable pointers to future activity, “point to growth below trend in Brazil, China and Russia.”

Russia is on the brink of recession, with the government forecasting up to $100bn in capital out� ows, as inves-tors jittery about the crisis in Ukraine pull out their funds.

But for India the indicators “ten-tatively indicates a positive turning point” which could suggest “a return to faster growth”, said the OECD.

In Poland, the biggest economy in former Communist central Europe, the government approved a budget for next year on Tuesday, forecasting

growth of 3.8%.Poland, a member of the European

Union but considered by economists to be part of emerging Europe, has escaped recession, growing continu-ously since 1992.

Separate data from emerging and non-EU Turkey showed that the Turk-ish economy grew at an annual rate of 4.3% in the � rst quarter of 2014 despite political turmoil and a sharp rise in in-terest rates.

The OECD is a policy research cen-tre and advice forum for 34 advanced democracies, and also monitors big emerging markets, and notably those in the so-called BRICS group compris-ing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. l

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

BGMEA and Sonali Life Insurance Company Limited yesterday have signed an agreement for a group insurance of forty lakh garment workers

Members of the Association of Asset Management Companies and Mutual Funds have recently met Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Finance Minister of Bangladesh to present their credentials. They are Fayekuzzaman, MD of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, Reaz Islam, CEO of LR Global Bangladesh AMC Ltd, Hasan Imam, CEO of Race Management PCL and Waqar Choudhury, MD & CE O of Vanguard AML

GIZ yesterday on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) hosted the signing ceremony of an agreement between Huntsman, a global manufacturer of industrial chemicals, and PSES (Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in industries) for a joint project of the governments of Bangladesh and Germany. Under the agreement, Huntsman and GIZ will cooperate to improve the management of chemicals in 10 textile mills in Bangladesh

Board of Pubali Bank has recently appointed two handicapped job applicants under humanitarian banking programmes as it has been doing so every year. The bank’s chair Ha� z Ahmed Mazumder handed over the appointment letters to physically disabled Sanjida Rahman and visually disabled Dewan Salamat Raza Chowdhury in a ceremony held in Sylhet

Photo shows an agreement for becoming the title partner of Campus Soundbox, is being exchanged between Bayezeed Hassan Shawon, marketing lead of Creinse Limited and SangHwa Song, general manager of SAMSUNG Electronics Limited. Campus Soundbox is the � rst campus based music talent search event in Bangladesh

The photo shows country manager of Coca-Cola Bangladesh Shadab Khan and ASM Mohiuddin Monem from Abdul Monem Ltd along with four winners of Coca-Cola Company’s competition for getting an opportunity football World Cup in Brazil. The winners are Mohammed Khalequl Islam, Khulna, Md Mahabub Alam, Rajshahi, Sayed Muhammad Sha� qul Alam, Chittagong, Abdul Baki Ahmad Sha� , Sylhet

Bangladesh Thai Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently held its board’s 4th meeting for the term 2013-2015 at its conference room. The chamber’s president Sajjatus Jumma presided over the meeting

Advanced Chemical Industries Limited (ACI) yesterday held its 41st annual general meeting in Dhaka. The company’s chair M Anis Ud Dowla presided over the meeting, where 85% cash and 20% stock dividends were approved on the stocks’ face value

Steel workers use a blow torch on a steel tube on the � oor of the HKM steel plant in Duisburg, western Germany AFP

China set for ‘Golden Age’ of natural gasn AFP, Paris

Demand for natural gas is set to nearly double within � ve years in China but the emerging market giant will meet half that with domestic supplies, the International Energy Agency saidyesterday.

In its latest medium-term fore-casts for the natural gas sector, the IEA trimmed its � ve-year outlook for con-sumption by 0.2 points to an annual increase of 2.2% as European countries step up use of renewable energy. How-ever, it said demand for cleaner-burning natural gas was likely to grow in China as air quality concerns prompted authori-ties to take measures to reduce pollution

“Driven by booming demand, the ‘Golden Age’ of natural gas that is now � rmly established in North America will expand to China over the next � ve years,” said the IEA.

“The power, industrial and trans-port sectors will drive overall Chinese gas demand to 315 billion cubic meters in 2019, an increase of 90% over the forecast period.”

The energy analysis arm of the OECD group of advanced countries said China was also set to bene� t from a boom in gas production.

“While China will remain a sig-ni� cant importer, half of its new gas demand will be met by domestic re-sources, most of them unconventional: Chinese production is set to grow by 65%, from 117 bcm (billion cubic me-tres) in 2013 to 193 bcm in 2019,” said the IEA.

The IEA was somewhat cautious about the outlook overall for natural gas given e� orts to switch to renew-ables, high prices for lique� ed natural gas (LNG) supplies, and competition from other fuels such as coal.

“High LNG prices are threatening to crimp demand as many countries are increasingly unwilling, or unable, to a� ord these supplies - and that could open the door to coal,” IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said in a statement.

That is of major concern as increased Asian demand for gas is expected to be met mostly by LNG supplies, which the IEA forecasts to increase by 450% to reach 450 bcm in 2019. l

Dollar mixed in Asia tradingn AFP, Tokyo

The dollar was mixed in Asia yester-day with few immediate trading cues to move markets, after sentiment got a boost from an upbeat US jobs re-port and better-than-expected Japan growth � gures.

In Tokyo afternoon trading, the greenback weakened to 102.28 yen from 102.53 yen on Monday in New York, while the euro drifted lower to 139.00 yen against 139.35 yen.

The European single currency slipped to $1.3587, compared with $1.3592 in US trade.

Dealers said the 0.85% decline in Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index was a key factor in driving down the dollar-yen rate.

“There are no other market-moving leads - traders are watching the stock market and the Nikkei’s fall is a� ect-ing” rates, said Marito Ueda, senior dealer at FX Prime Corp.

“There are just no factors to push the dollar up against the yen,” he told AFP.

The dollar-yen rate and Tokyo’s stock market are closely linked, with the value of the yen directly a� ecting Japanese exporters’ pro� tability and, in turn, movement in their shares.

On Friday, the Labour Department said the US economy added 217,000 jobs in May, while unemployment held at a multi-year low of 6.3%, unchanged from April.

That was followed on Monday by revised data that showed Japan’s econ-omy grew a better-than-expected 1.6% in the � rst quarter, its fastest pace in more than two years.

A marked improvement in Chinese manufacturing and trade has also helped to boost sentiment.

On Tuesday, investors were keep-ing an eye on new data that showed Chinese in� ation surging to a four-month high of 2.5% in May, although it was still below the government’s 3.5%target.

Dealers were also looking ahead to a Bank of Japan policy meeting later this week.

In other trading, the dollar rose to 43.67 Philippine pesos from 43.58 pe-sos, to 11,807.50 Indonesian rupiah from 11,787.50, to 32.48 Thai baht from 32.46 baht, and to 59.28 Indian rupees from 59.05 rupees. l

Oil prices rise on eve of OPEC meetingn AFP, London

Oil prices rose further yesterday, the eve of OPEC’s meeting to decide on crude output levels, while energy mar-ket investors kept a close watch over vital Ukraine-Russia gas talks.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in July climbed 18 cents to stand at $110.17 a barrel in London afternoon trading, compared with Monday’s clos-ing value. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for July gained 36 cents to $104.77 a barrel.

Prices had rallied on Monday as in-vestors cheered robust economic data from the US, China and Japan. A break-down of initial Ukraine-Russia talks to avert a gas cut-o� also boosted prices, traders said.

Brent, a benchmark for the pricing of Middle Eastern crude, “has been consolidating within the recent range of $109-110 per barrel ... as investors

remain cautious ahead of the crucial OPEC meeting in Vienna” on Wednes-day, noted Sucden brokers analyst Myrto Sokou.

“Market participants will watch carefully for any signs of clari� cation ... from major oil supplier countries.”

OPEC is widely expected to stick by its oil output ceiling on Wednesday, as supply tensions linked to global crises help to keep crude prices high, bene� t-ing producers.

The Organization for Petroleum Ex-porting Countries, whose dozen mem-ber nations together supply about one third of the world’s crude, is widely ex-pected by experts to keep its daily out-put ceiling at 30 million barrels of oil.

While OPEC is satis� ed with current price levels at about $100 a barrel, the cartel is in fact pumping below its col-lective target owing to abundant sup-plies in top crude consumer the United States. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, June 11, 2014

DILBERT

E-tailers growth ensnared in India's logistics junglen Reuters, Mumbai

Online retailers jostling for a chunk of India's $13bn e-commerce trade are so desperate to avoid snarled roads and ine� cient railways that they � y their packages in the passenger cabin of costly commercial � ights. The cargo, however, often gets bumped o� .

India's largest domestic e-tailer Flip-kart as well as bigger global rivals like Amazon and eBay Inc are widening their supplier networks or racing to build multi-million dollar logistics net-works to circumvent crumbling infra-structure, keen to attract customers by shrinking delivery times to same-day or even as short as nine hours.

In the meantime, they remain at the mercy of commercial airlines, which frequently remove their parcels to make room for passengers, highlight-ing one of the challenges to expanding in an e-commerce market that consul-tants say is growing at a compound rate of 34% a year, and which saw online re-tail sales of $1.6bn last year.

"It is unfortunate, but o� oading does happen and we have to make sure our delivery promises take that into consideration," Rahul Chari, vice-presi-dent, supply chain technologies at Flip-kart, told Reuters.

Up to 90% of goods ordered online in India are moved by air, which push-es up delivery costs by around half, according to several online retailers and logistics companies. Road and rail transport networks remain woefully underdeveloped and entangled in graft and bureaucracy.

With a population exceeding 1.1 billion, a burgeoning middle class and better Internet access, India's e-com-merce potential is huge. Online retail sales are expected to surge to $76bn by 2021, according to consultants For-rester, and the segment is growing at a much slower pace than other emerging markets, including China.

E-commerce is poised to get a boost as early as next month, when the gov-ernment is expected to allow online

retailers to sell directly to consumers.Logistics, however, remains the big-

gest barrier to growth and transport troubles are just the tip of the iceberg.

Most e-tailers use sometime unre-liable third-party delivery � rms, more than half of sales are paid for with cash-on-delivery, return rates are high and orders made to fake addresses are all too common.

"The biggest advantage of e-com-merce is the instant nationwide reach it enables sellers of all sizes, however, it is the delivery of that opportunity that

requires signi� cant focus and invest-ment from the industry," Amit Agarwal, Amazon's vice president and country manager, told Reuters in an e-mail.

Moving in-houseWith India's perennial infrastructure failings far from being resolved, most e-tailers are focusing their investment on setting up their own capital-inten-sive logistics businesses.

Flipkart, founded by two former Amazon executives in 2007 is aggres-sively growing its logistics arm E-Kart.

Amazon, the world's biggest online re-tailer, is pumping up the capacities at Amazon Logistics. That's in addition to existing partnerships with third-par-ty logistics � rms including GATI, Blue Dart and FedEx Corp.

"Having a control over what custom-ers want is a big driver because now we are able to have a channel through which we can gather a lot of feedback and tailor our services accordingly," said Flipkart's Chari. The company counts South Africa's Naspers Ltd as an investor.

To reduce air shipments, Flipkart is setting up regional warehouses and signing up more suppliers across the country to ensure customers get orders delivered by the nearest supplier, he said.

Having its own network now means Flipkart can handle delivery resched-uling requests better, manage prod-uct returns faster and help customers exchange products, services that are time-consuming when handled by a third-party operator. Amazon is using a similar strategy. In addition to building

its own warehouses, it is trialing using neighbourhood grocery stores and pet-rol stations as delivery points.

It also struck agreements with the Indian Postal Service to reach far-� ung places in the country, Agrawal said.

eBay, by contrast, is working with external logistics � rms to cut back on multiple state taxes for products shipped by road and the excessive doc-umentation required to move every parcel.

It is also intensively training its 45,000-strong supplier base, which holds all the inventory eBay sells on its platforms, to improve e� ciency.

"In this business, it is important we do what we are good at and let our lo-gistics partners do what they are good at," said Latif Nathani, eBay India's managing director.

From laptops to refrigeratorsThe anticipated boom in online retail is encouraging logistics � rms to better their services, but it will take several years before India gets an e� cient net-work, said Bablu Tewari, chief operat-ing o� cer for e-commerce and interna-tional business with Gati. The company is one of India's largest logistics � rms, delivering for Amazon and eBay.

"Nobody shipped products which weighed more than two kilos like say laptops and now suddenly people are moving refrigerators," Tewari said.

For the many Indian e-tailers that lack the deep pockets of Amazon and Flipkart, air freight and couriers are not an option. Instead, they are alter-ing their packaging and product lines to ensure they can reach customers via road and rail.

Pepperfry, one of India's largest online furniture and home products retailer, is training suppliers to make knock-down, foldable products, simi-lar to IKEA furnishings.

Flat-packaged goods reduce ship-ping costs, said founder and Chief Ex-ecutive O� cer Ambareesh Murty. The company also provides carpenters to assemble the items once delivered. l

Workers gather items for delivery from the warehouse � oor at Amazon's distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona REUTERS

Paul Polman says Russia still land of opportunitiesn Reuters, Moscow

Consumer goods maker Unilever is keeping faith in Russia as an import-ant growth market and is ready to plow money into factories and acquisitions there despite a slowing economy.

Unilever Chief Executive Paul Pol-man said he met Russian First Depu-ty Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich last week and they discussed the An-glo-Dutch company's long-term invest-ments.

"We talked other investments we continue to make to be sure that we grow our business here," he told Reu-ters during a visit to Moscow.

Foreign companies have been re-viewing their growth plans in Russia since it annexed Ukraine's Crimea re-gion in response to the overthrow of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president in February, provoking the deepest crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the Cold War.

The stand-o� has taken its toll on the economy, which is now close to re-cession. Russia's government already acknowledged last November that the economy would lag global growth over the next two decades.

Unilever's Russian businesses in-clude cosmetics maker Kalina, ice cream producer Inmarko, dressings maker Baltimor and its own factories producing Knorr soup and Lipton tea.

"Obviously (the Ukraine crisis) af-fects our business," said Polman. "The rouble is down, the Ukrainian currency is down. It is not helping the economic situation ... and there are rules and reg-ulations that have to be rewritten."

"Despite that, we are growing our market share in all our home and per-sonal care businesses... We have a good business in Russia and we don't com-plain about that."

With many developed economies growing only slowly, Unilever has moved to focus on emerging markets

including Russia and has been review-ing its range of global brands. It recent-ly sold Skippy peanut butter, Wishbone salad dressings and Ragu and Bertolli pasta sauces in the United States.

"You have to pull the weeds sometimes to let the � owers grow," Polman said in an interview.

He said Unilever was "nearly done" with a strategic review that is moving its portfolio away from mature, region-

al food brands to higher-growth, more pro� table personal care brands with global consumer appeal.

"We sold PF Chang's and Bertolli frozen food, Wishbone, Ragu - and we buy things like Kalina or Alberto Culver which are in our strategic categories that we have globally."

RUSSIA SALES GROWTH SLOWSUnilever last year announced an

upgrade of its cosmetics facility in Russia's second city of St Petersburg, allowing it to double production capac-ity, and a new industrial water puri� -cation facility. It also recently opened a research and development center for ice cream in Tula, south of Moscow.

"We prioritize organic growth, but we also continuously look at good bolt-on acquisitions and we have done some of them here. And we will contin-ue with that strategy," said Polman.

He said Unilever's revenue growth in Russia dropped to a high single-digit percentage about a year ago from dou-

ble digits but this did not worry him much as long as the company contin-ued to increase its market share.

Unilever said in April it could sell dietary brand SlimFast, concluding its US disposals. But analysts say more could come, such as a disposal of its underperforming spreads business that is mainly in the United States and Europe.

Polman said the spreads business, which accounts for around 7% of Uni-lever's sales, was not currently up for sale.

"We are growing market share now in spreads. We know how to run it e� -ciently ... and we generate quite a lot of cash from our spreads business that we then can use to � nance the expansion of the emerging markets," he said.

The business includes spreads like margarine, which are su� ering in many markets from a consumer shift toward products seen as more natural, such as butter. l

Zuckerberg, other Facebook directors are sued over pay plann Reuters

Mark Zuckerberg and other members of Facebook Inc's board have been sued by a shareholder who claimed a policy letting them annually award directors more than $150m of stock each if they choose is unreasonably generous.

In a complaint � led on Friday night in Delaware Chancery Court, Ernesto Espinoza said the board was "essential-ly free to grant itself whatever amount of compensation it chooses" under the social media company's 2012 equity incentive plan, which also covers em-ployees, o� cers and consultants.

He said the plan annually caps to-tal awards at 25 million shares and ind vidual awards at 2.5 million, and in theory lets the board annually award directors $156m in stock each, based on Friday's closing price of $62.50.

The lawsuit does not contend that such large sums will be awarded.

Espinoza also said last year's average $461,000 payout to non-employee di-rectors was too high, being 43% larger than typical payouts at "peer" compa-nies such as Amazon.com Inc and Walt Disney Co that on average generated twice as much revenue and three times

more pro� t. Facebook spokeswom-an Genevieve Grdina said in an email: "The lawsuit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously."

A spokeswoman for Robbins Arroyo, a law � rm representing the plainti� , had no immediate comment.

The lawsuit alleges breach of � du-ciary duty, waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment. It seeks to force directors to repay Facebook for alleged damages sustained by the Men-lo Park, California-based company, and to impose "meaningful limits" subject to shareholder approval about how much stock the board can award itself.

Among the other defendants is Face-book Chief Operating O� cer Sheryl Sandberg, a director whose compensa-tion was $16.15m in 2013, according to a regulatory � ling. She is worth $999m, Forbes magazine said on Monday.

Zuckerberg made $653,165 last year, a regulatory � ling shows, and Forbes said his net worth is $27.7bn.

Espinoza was also a plainti� in a 2010 shareholder case in Delaware against Hewlett-Packard Co concerning its han-dling of the resignation of Chief Exec-utive Mark Hurd over his relationship with a former contractor. l

Power minister warns Delhi to brace for more blackoutsn Reuters, New Delhi

Residents in Delhi should brace for more power cuts amid scorching sum-mer heat, the power minister said on Tuesday, warning that dilapidated power grids could not cope with the ex-tra electricity needed to meet demand.

North India has endured a heatwave in the last week, with temperatures in some parts of Delhi reaching a 62-year high.

The surge in demand from residents cranking up their air conditioning, and damage to power lines during a recent storm, has overwhelmed the grid, sparking outages across North India and forcing Delhi to introduce emer-gency power-saving measures.

Piyush Goyal, minister of state for power, coal, and new and renewable energy, said "inadequate" transmission lines meant Delhi could absorb 400 megawatts of power on top of its exist-ing 5,300 MW, falling short of current peak demand of 5,800 MW.

"Clearly the power grid as it stands today is outdated, needs augmentation and modernisation and may repeat-edly have outages and tripping prob-lems," he told a press conference after meeting with local power o� cials.

Three weeks after winning a na-tional election on pledges to boost the economy and improve basic services, Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a big challenge meeting the growing de-mands for reliable and a� ordable pow-er and water. In Uttar Pradesh, where less than half of homes have power, an-gry locals set electricity substations on � re and took power company o� cials hostage at the weekend in protest at the recent blackouts, media reports said.

Goyal said engineers in Delhi were working 24 hours a day to � x broken lines, while the government has or-dered GAIL to provide extra gas to a huge plant near the city functioning at a � fth of its capacity. l

We prioritize organic growth, but we also continuously look at good bolt-on acquisitions and we have done some of them here. And we will continue with that strategy

Clearly the power grid as it stands today is outdated, needs augmentation and modernisation and may repeatedly have outages and tripping problems

Cambodian models stand next to a Rolls Royce during a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Britain's Rolls-Royce o� cially launched its business in impoverished Cambodia while the company is expanding markets for its luxurious and expensive cars in the Asia Paci� c region AFP