Joishthya 14, 1421

Rajab 28, 1435

Regd. No. DA 6238
Vol 2, No 58

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Local AL and BNP

leaders plotted
Ekrams murder
Key suspect confesses before court,
murder weapons recovered
Khan with
n Mohammad Jamil Feni and Our
Correspondent in
Kailash Sarkar in Dhaka
Local leaders of both the BNP and Awami League were involved in the murder of
Ekramul Haq and plot of which was hatched
around three months before the murder.
Investigators of the case yesterday divulged the information after interrogation of
the arrestees.
The arrestees admitted that the killing
was financed by local BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar while disgruntled local Awami League leaders joined the plot to
kill the Fulgazi upazila chairman, they said.
Minar, who faced drubbing twice to
Ekram in upazila polls, was arrested by the
Detective Branch of police from the capitals
Mirpur area.
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner at the DMP Media Centre, said a team of
Detective Branchs North Division arrested
Minar from a house at Dhaka Cantonment in

Mirpur area in the afternoon.

Paritosh Gosh, superintendent of police
in Feni, also confirmed Minars arrest and
said the other culprits would also be arrested shortly.
Twenty-five-year-old Abidul Islam Abid, a
key accused in the case, yesterday provided
a confessional statement before a Feni court,
narrating how the murder was executed.
In his confessional statement to Senior Judicial Magistrate Khairul Amins court, Abid
son of district Mohila Awami League secretary Layla Jesmin said Ekrams enmity with
Jihad Chowdhury, the mastermind of the
killing, developed when Jihad failed to run in
the upazila election on Awami League ticket.
The conflict took a turn for the worse
between the two when Ekram suspended
Jihad from the local Awami League committee. However, local lawmaker Nizam Uddin
Hazari intervened and the suspension order
was withdrawn, police sources quoted Abid
as saying.
PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Police recovers sharp weapons, arms and ammunition from a bus owned by Nur Hossain, the prime
accused in the seven-murder case of Narayanganj yesterday
DHAKA TRIBUNE

Bangladesh racing to achieve

MDG on maternal mortality
n Moniruzzaman Uzzal
Maternal mortality rate in Bangladesh has
declined by more than 66% over the last
two decades. Authorities concerned express
hopes that the country would be able to
achieve the Millennium Development Goal
(MDG) target on time.
Speaking ahead of National Safe Motherhood Day, Abu Zafor Md Musa, director of
primary health care at the health directorate, told the Dhaka Tribune that the maternal mortality rate had been dropping around
5.5% each year and Bangladesh was likely to
achieve the target of 143 deaths per 100,000
live births under the MDG -2015.
According to a 2013 survey by different
UN organisations, the estimated maternal
mortality rate in Bangladesh stood at 170 per
100,000 live births, Musa said, adding that a
2010 study by the NIPORT found that 6,848
women died during childbirth each year.

The government also has plans for reducing the maternal mortality rate to 63 per
100,000 live births by 2030, he added.
In 1990, the rate was 574 per 100,000
live births, according to health directorates
health bulletin-2013; while the Bangladesh
Maternal Mortality Survey by National Institute of Population Research and Training
(NIPORT) in 2010 put the rate at 194 per
100,000.
Health specialists told the Dhaka Tribune
that around 65% of the mothers died during
PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

INSIDE
B1 | Business

Visiting Dutch minister said the compensation

provided by the Western retailers so far to the
Rana Plaza victims is not as much as promised
and called on the companies to give more.

4 | News

A healthy workplace and workforce are very

important for portraying a better image of the
industry, Danish Ambassador Hanna Fugl Eskjr
said yesterday.

6 | Nation

People in rural Pirojpur are unable to take care of

their cattle because there is a lack of medication
and vaccination facilities.

7 | Interview

Bernard-Henri Lvy
is Frances most
celebrated public
intellectual. A
renowned philosopher,
he has authored many
books over the years.
Popularly known as BHL, he is as well known for
his activism and celebrity, as for his academic
work.

8 | World

More than 50 pro-Russian rebels were killed in an

unprecedented assault by Ukrainian government
forces, which raged into a second day yesterday
after a newly-elected president vowed to crush
the revolt in the east once and for all.

11 | Op-Ed

Its time for Narendra

Modi to get down to
business to deliver
on what he promised
his countrymen. The
new Indian premier
is entrusted with an
overwhelming mandate to promote the best
national interests in keeping with the BJPs polls
manifesto.

15 | Sport

Heartbroken Caroline
Wozniacki suffered a
morale-sapping defeat
at the French Open
on Tuesday in her
first appearance since
the break-up of her
romance with star golfer Rory McIlroy.

20 pages plus 8-page Treehouse childrens supplement | Price: Tk10

Shahidul sings in Shamim Osmans tune

n Ashif Islam Shaon and
Ahmed Zayeef
Taking a U-turn, the father-in-law
of slain Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam yesterday claimed
that ruling Awami League lawmaker
Shamim Osman had no involvement
in the seven murders.
Shahidul Islam at a press conference in the capital said the MP was
a victim of dirty politics. He also

claimed that Shamim had saved

Nazrul from false cases and conspiracies many times. Now the killers
are threatening Osman, he alleged.

P2 INTERPOLE WARRANT
AGAINST NUR HOSSAIN
However, at a programme in
Narayanganj only three days back,
he had demanded death penalty
for the lawmaker when Shamims
phone conversation with the main

accused in the case, Nur Hossain,

was leaked by several media. Family
members of the six other deceased
also attended the programme.
Following the leak that made people
believe that Shamim had helped Nur
to flee, the lawmaker of Narayanganj 4
from a press conference at his Gulshan
residence admitted the matter.
Shahidul yesterday came to the
capital from Narayanganj to the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium to an-

nounce that he believed Shamim had

not been involved in the murders. He,
however, did not inform his daughter
Selina Islam about the conference.
He also did not answer any question of the reporters and left the
auditorium in a hurry amid police
protection.
If you ask me any question, I will
have a cardiac arrest, he said before
leaving.
PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Sheikh Hasinas Royal Bengal diplomacy

Bangladesh, Japan agree to strengthen bilateral relations

n Emran Hossain Shaikh

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has offered a pair of Royal Bengal Tigers to
Japan so that Japanese people, especially school children, can become acquainted with the nature and culture of
Bangladesh.
The gesture came as Bangladesh and
Japan have agreed to take their bilateral relationship to a new height after
the prime ministers of both countries
launched the Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership Agreement.
Both the prime ministers also decided to detail the modalities at the
earliest, said a joint statement issued by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
and her Japanese counterpart Shinzo
Abe, after they had an official talk on
Monday.
The prime minister went to Tokyo
on a four-day visit on Sunday at the
invitation of Abe and had an audience
with Japanese Emperor Akihito.
The Japanese prime minister announced his commitment to provide
up to 600 billion Yen (equivalent to $6
billion) of additional financial assistance, of which120 billion Yen (equivalent to $1.2 billion) will be given to
Bangladesh within the next four or five
years.
Prime Minister Hasina asked her
counterpart to consider a range of specific projects like a Ganges Barrage,
building multi-modal tunnels under
the Jamuna River, a railway bridge over
the Jamuna River, a multi-modal Dhaka
Eastern Bypass, and the ecological restoration of four rivers around Dhaka.
Abe expressed his decision to instruct relevant ministries to start reviewing rules of origin of generalised
system of preferences (GSP) for knitwear in order to boost Bangladeshs
exports.
The Japanese prime minister underscored the urgency of an improvement
of investment potentials in Bangladesh, including infrastructure development and stable energy supply, in order
to further facilitate and promote Japanese investment in Bangladesh.
The two prime ministers also welcomed the memorandum of under-

Khaleda: Hasina
will have to cry
one day
n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday said her partys movement would
continue till the resignation of the
government and warned that the
movement could not be stopped even
at gunpoint.
Khaleda made the comments when
family members of missing BNP leaders Laksam upazila BNP President
Saiful Islam and Laksam municipality
BNP President Humayun Kabir went
to her Gulshan residence to meet her.
She listened to them and asked
them to keep patience, and said programmes would be announced soon
after reconstituting the party and the
government would be ousted to ensure
peoples security.
People of the country have united
against the government. We will announce movement programmes soon.
Ousting the government, we will return
peace in the country, she said. l

Expressing concern over the recent killings and abductions, Awami League-led
14-party alliance urged the government
yesterday to bring the culprits of the
Narayanganj and Feni cases to justice.
They also urged Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina to appoint an experienced politician at the Home Ministry
to accelerate its activities.
The leaders of the 14-party came up
with the suggestions during a meeting
of the alliance at the Awami League
President and Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasinas political office in Dhanmondi.
It has become a tradition to search
for elements of conspiracies in every
incident. The government should uncover the facts of the Narayanganj and
Feni killings by carrying out proper investigations, said a party leader, quoting the Awami League Organising Secretary Bahauddin Nasim.
Nasim said though a vested quarter
had been hatching conspiracies against
the government, it was not logical to
smell conspiracies after every incident. l

Ershad issues
show-cause notice
on GM Quader
n Manik Miazee

BEPZA and JETRO signs an agreement in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday on the third day of her Japan visit
standing signed between JETRO and
Bangladesh Export Processing Zones
Authority, which reserves important
facilities in five EPZs in Bangladesh for
Japanese investors.
They reaffirmed the importance of
strengthening energy cooperation, including in the area of peaceful uses of
nuclear energy as a stable energy supply, stating that it is the key in the eco-

nomic development of Bangladesh.

Hasina also expressed her hope that
Japan will examine the possibility of
cooperating with Bangladesh for a nuclear power plant project in the future.
Japan has highly efficient and environment-friendly coal-based power
plant technology and Bangladesh underlined the need for that to be made
available to the countries in need.

Shirin: Modi to actively

consider Teesta deal
n Tribune Report

Newly elected Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi has said his new government would actively consider the
issue of signing the Teesta water sharing agreement and implementing border deal with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Dr
Shirin Sharmin Choudhury, who is now
on a visit to the Indian capital, told
journalist yesterday, reports BSS.
We have discussed different issues,
including expansion of trade and business and further strengthening of cooperation in economic development,
power and energy sectors between the
two countries, she said.
During the meeting, she on behalf of
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on her
own behalf and the people of Bangladesh had invited Modi to visit Bangladesh at a convenient time, Shirin added.
Modi accepted the invitation cordially and expressed willingness to visit Bangladesh, she added.

She said during the meeting she

told Modi that his (Modis) initiative to
invite the heads of government of the
SAARC countries to his swearing-in
ceremony as the prime minister was an
excellent initiative and through this
he (Modi) has given a message for development of the region after further
strengthening the SAARC activities.
When asked whether the existing
bilateral relations between Bangladesh
and India under the new administration would continue, Dr Shirin categorically said the ties would be further
cemented in the days to come as Bangladesh's relationship with India was
strengthened through the countrys
War of Liberation.
During the meeting, the Indian premier congratulated the Bangladesh
government, headed by Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, on its huge victory in
the last general elections, said Dr Shirin.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to
India Tarique A Karim was with the
Speaker at the meeting. l

Local AL and BNP leaders plotted Ekrams murder

PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

On May 19, Jihad called a meeting with

Abid, Shiblu, Ruti Sohel, Sifat and Adnan at the towns Salam Community
Centre after sunset, where he told the
men that he wanted help kill Ekram the
following day.
Another meeting was also held at
the Mizan Moydan later at 11:30pm,
where Jihad elaborated the murder plan. As per the plan, Jihad used
one of his relatives, whose name
could not be disclosed for the sake
of ongoing investigation, to send
three weapons and bullets in a
school bag to Abid on the morning of
May 20.
According to Abids confession, the
men waited for Ekram on the Academy
Road from 8:30am while Jihad kept
making phone calls to Ward Councillor
Shiblu, who split the men into different
groups.
One group was given the task of
blocking Ekrams vehicle, another was
assigned to launch gun attack while the
third one was for attacking the vehicle
with sharp weapons.
Around 20 more people also gathered at the scene to apply distraction

'Bring culprits of
Narayanganj,
Feni to book'

technique. Jihad updated them about

the slain upazila chairmans changing location which he was constantly
being reported by a close associate of
Ekram whose name also could not be
disclosed for the sake of ongoing investigation.
Just before the attack, Jihad phoned
the attackers saying Ekram had just
left the Diabetes Hospital and would
reach the entrance of Bilashi Cinema
Hall the scene of the crime within
minutes.
Being alerted by Jihad, the group of
attackers got ready to stop Ekrams vehicle with an auto-rickshaw.
In his confessional statement, Abid
also mentioned that Jihad asked Abid
and the others to meet him at the Feni
Rail Station on the evening of the attack, where Jihad told them that BNP
leader Minar Chowdhury had given
him Tk1 lakh. Jihad then gave Tk20,000
to the men who left for Dhaka the same
night.
Sources said Abid was asked by the
court what he had done to assure his
own safety after committing the crime
to which he answered that he had contacted district Awami League Joint

Secretary Jahangir Md Adel and ruling

party MP Nizam Uddin Hazari over the
phone soon after the incident.
However, no contact was made with
them after they arrived in Dhaka, Abid
added.

Murder weapons recovered

In other developments in the case,

police and RAB forces in Feni yesterday arrested four more people in connection with the killing and recovered
weapons assumed to have been used in
the murder.
Separate raids in the districts led to
the arrests of Mir Hossain Shwapan,
Jahidul Islam, Sajib, and Abdur Rauf.
A US-made 7.65mm pistol, two bullets
and two magazines were recovered
from Sajibs possession, said Feni RAB
Camp In-Charge Major Mohiuddin,
adding that the weapons were suspected to have been used during the murder.
Shwapan, Jahidul and Sajib are residents of Brinchi area in Feni, while Abdur Rauf is the general secretary of the
ALs Kazaribagh union unit.
They all are known associates of
Awami League leader Jahangir Adel

The two prime ministers shared

their intent to discuss and promote
wider regional development and improve the investment environment to
attract foreign businesses, including
from Japan.
Hasina reaffirmed Bangladeshs support for Japans aspiration to become
a permanent member of the United
Nations Security Council while Abe

FOCUS BANGLA

expressed his intention to share Japans experience, including dispatching experts for the proposed project of
establishing a Peace Building Centre in
Bangladesh.
The two prime ministers shared
the importance of an early reform of
the United Nations Security Council so
as to reflect contemporary geo-political
realities, the statement said. l

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has

reportedly issued a show-cause notice
to his brother and the partys Presidium member GM Quader for violating
party discipline.
When contacted, Ershad told the
Dhaka Tribune: Yes, I have served a
show-cause notice on him.
I have asked him to explain the
matter and withdraw his comments.
Regarding GM Quaders remarks,
the JaPa chief said: He should not
have made such comments in public
that tarnish the partys image.
GM Quader told the Dhaka Tribune
around 10pm that he had not yet received any such notice.
On Monday, the JaPa leader made
several remarks on the partys internal
issues while talking to a Bangla daily. l

Shahidul sings in Shamim Osmans tune

PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

During his speech, Shahidul ruled out

the allegations brought against the
controversial Narayanganj lawmaker.
I think those who leaked the phone
conversation were involved in the
murder. If they knew where the prime
accused was hiding, why did not they
arrest him? he said while reading out a
written statement.
A vested quarter is trying to implicate him. That is why he has been
blamed for the murders all of a sudden.
If talking with Nur is an offence, then
Shamim Osman will clarify that.
But I want to ask if this conversation had created such controversy,
the leaked conversation among Mayor
[Selina Hayat] Ivys close aide Abu Sufian, businessman Chan Mia, Selim and
Nurs bodyguard should have created
more uproar. But everyone is silent
about that, he alleged.
Shahidul also urged the police to
interrogate Abu Sufian who along with
his aides had been the planner and financier of the seven murders.
Shamim Osman talked with Nur
Hossain many times between April 27
and 29. This does not prove that he had
helped Nur. But it proves that those

and Councillor Shiblu both are key

suspects in the case.
Abul Kalam Azad, inspector of Feni
Model police station and investigation officer of the case, said they had
recovered four bullets and a US-made
7.65mm pistol used in the attack from a
TV box from the office of Jihad.
A special six-member probe team
led by Deputy Inspector General
of Chittagong Mahbubur Rahman
would reach Feni soon to collect more
information from the arrestees, Azad
added.
A list of 40 suspects has been prepared by the investigators. Rashedul
Islam, officer-in-charge of the DB police in Feni, told the Dhaka Tribune that
raids were being carried out in different
areas of the district to hunt down the
accused.
Two key suspects in the case Adel
and local Awami League leader Ziaul
Alam Mister have still remained out
of police net.
On May 20, Ekramul Haque, a twotime elected chairman of Fulgazi
upazila, was shot and burnt alive by
criminals in the Academy area of Feni
district town. l

who leaked the conversation, helped

Nur to flee, he said.
After the recovery of the six bodies,
Shahidul claimed that RAB had committed the abduction and murder in
exchange for Tk6 corer given to them
by Nur. Upon the allegation, three
RAB officials were sacked and later
arrested.
In the meantime, a senior RAB official claimed that Nur fled to Kolkata on
April 28 through Benapole border.
Shahidul yesterday claimed that on
April 27, Shamim asked Nur to appear
at the Rifles Club as the family members alleged Nurs involvement. In
front us, he at first quizzed Nur about
the abduction softly and then in harsh
voice. But Nur denied.
According to Shahidul, at that time
Nur misbehaved with the lawmaker. Why are you asking me the same
question repeatedly? You have become
lawmaker just a few months back. I
have been the undeclared MP of Shiddhirganj. I could have killed Nazrul
whenever I wished, he quoted Nur as
saying.
These all prove that Shamim Osman was not involved in the incident,
Shahidul said.

Nazruls wife in dark

When contacted, Selina said she had

seen the press conference on television. Asked if the written statement
was read out on behalf of Nazruls family members, she said: I do not know
what I should say now. I will not make
any comment now. First, I have to talk
to my father [Shahidul]. He did not inform me about the press conference.

Other families smell Shamims

mediation

Talking with the Dhaka Tribune last night,

several members of the families of six
other people said they thought Shahidul
had arranged the press conference being
influenced by the Awami League lawmaker and wanted to gain some benefits.
Shahiduls such move would also
harm the investigation, they feared.
Mizanur Rahman Khan Ripon, the
younger brother of Moniruzzaman
Swapan, said: We think the written
statement was prepared by someone
else. It indicates that he is influenced
by Shamim Osman.
Slain Sirajul Islam Litons brother
Saiful Islam echoed Ripon saying that
otherwise Shahidul would not shift his
stance. l

Bangladesh racing to achieve

PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

childbirth because of three complications: severe bleeding during pre and

post-delivery, epilepsy, and obstructive and belated labour.
The rest of the deaths were mostly
caused by indirect reasons including ischemic heart disease, jaundice, anaemia,
tuberculosis, congenital heart disease
and overall lack of essential health care.
According to Bangladesh Economic
Survey 2013, the rate of institutional
delivery was only 29%; while around
31.7% women used midwives during
childbirth; 61.2% women used contraceptive methods; 54.6% experienced
adolescent pregnancy; only 25.5%
women went through medical check up
during pregnancy, while around 70%
women suffered from malnutrition.
Professor Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub,
president of Health Rights Movement
Bangladesh, told the 6,000 people in
each ward of a union and it was not a
daunting task to identify the pregnant
Dhaka Tribune that the government
has already introduced a community
clinic for every mothers and bring them
under regular health check up.
Answering to a question on the low

percentage of institutional delivery, Dr

Mahbub said not all pregnancies required institutional delivery, but added
that there must be a system of referral
to send the obstructive patients for delivery at the health institutions.
Sources at the health and family
planning directorates said 8,428 community health care providers, family
welfare assistants and female health
assistants were trained as skilled birth
attendants in recent years. A three
years course on midwifery was also introduced at the NIPORT in 2012-2013,
with 525 students currently studying
the subject and 700 others expected to
enrol in the next session.
Apart from the district and upazila hospitals, safe child delivery is also
provided at 581 community clinics and
more than 1,500 union mother and
child family welfare centres.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is going to
observe Safe Motherhood Day 2014
today, with the theme Let us ensure
safe motherhood. Different public and
private organisations have drawn up
elaborate programmes to observe the
day, which has been observed in the
country since 1997. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

WB likely to give
budget support
for FY 2015-16
n Asif Showkat Kallol

The World Bank is likely to extend budget support to Bangladesh in the fiscal
year 2015-16 instead of the next fiscal
year (2014-15), official sources said.
An official said it is not possible for
them to give budget support in the
next fiscal year because of time constraints as the budget will be placed at
the parliament in the first week of next
month.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith earlier hinted that the government would
seek $500 million as budget support
from the global lender. But an Economic Relations Division official said
the figure would be of $300 million.
The matter was discussed briefly on
the sidelines of the spring meeting of
the WB and IMF which took place in
Washington DC in early April.
During his visit to Bangladesh, Executive Director for South Asia MN
Prasad advised that the finance min-

ister should seek budget support after

placing the budget for the next fiscal
year at the parliament. He also said obviously it is not possible to give budget
support this fiscal year.
Earlier, Bangladesh got budget support in 2008 with the conditions set by
the global lender.
The ERD official said the government will have to carry out reforms of
various sectors. After discussion with
the WB, it will be decided where reforms will be made, he added.
The official said the country would
not have much trouble in implementing the reform programmes as it is successfully running the IMFs extended
credit facility loan programme.
Arastoo Khan, additional secretary
of the Economic Relations Division,
said discussion on WB budget support
continues. We will seek offer from the
World Bank for budget assistance within a short time and hope that we will
get it for the fiscal year 2015-16. l

Some rickshaw and van pullers cross locomotive tracks, taking their lives at risk, only to save some time near Mohakhali in the capital yesterday

HC summons
expat secretary
n Nazmus Sakib

Sikder doctor found guilty

The High Court yesterday asked Expatriates Welfare Secretary Khandaker

Shawkat Hossain to appear before it in
person on June 3 to explain his failure
to implement a previous order on regularising the jobs of 77 officials-staff.
The bench of justices Ashfaqul Islam
and Ashraful Kamal passed the order
following a contempt of court plea by 11
officials and staff of a Manpower, Employment and Training Bureau project
under the ministry. The lawyer for the
petitioners said on April 7, 2011, the HC
had ruled for the regularising of 77 officials-staffs of the revenue sector. The
secretary has been summoned since
the order was not implemented. l

The
committee
formed
by
Bangladesh Medical and Dental
Council to investigate the alleged
assault on Shihir Morol, special
correspondent of the daily Prothom
Alo, by Dr Shafiul Azam has
submitted its report to the BMDC
president.
Prof Dr Abu Shafi Ahmed Amin,
president of BMDC, told the Dhaka
Tribune last night that they had
received the inquiry report, but he
refused to divulge any details right
now.
BMDC had formed the threemember committee headed by Prof Dr
Rashid-e-Mahbub, former president of

n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Bangladesh Medical Association. The

other two members were Additional
Attorney General Murad Reza and
Deputy Registrar of BMDC Dr Arman
Hossain. None of them is the members
of BMDC.
The BMDC president said the
primary inquiry report was sent to the
disciplinary committee.
The members of the committee
were asked to sit immediately to
review the report and submit it to the
executive committee which would
take the final decision, he added.
When asked about the findings,
Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub also denied
disclosing any information about the
report.
Seeking anonymity, a reliable

source told the Dhaka Tribune that

the probe committee found Dr Shafiul
Azam guilty of the attack. Finally,
BMDC would announce the temporary
cancellation of his registration,
according to the source.
On May 13, Shishir Morol went to
ZA Sikder Womens Medical College
Hospital to investigate an allegation
levelled against Dr Shafiul Azam.
But Shafiul and his associates
assaulted him. They also confined him
in a room for two and half hours and
beat him up severely.
Shafiul, assistant professor at
Chittagong Medical College Hospital,
was working full-time at ZA Sikder
Womens Medical College Hospital
without taking leave from CMCH. l

Buriganga recovery project

committee formed
n Mohosinul Karim
A 10-member committee has been
formed to make recommendations to
the government about implementing
the Buriganga River recovery project.
The committee, led by ALM Abdur
Rahman, additional secretary at the
Water Resources Ministry, was given
15 days to submit a report after visiting
the project sites.
It was asked to find out about damage that might be caused to bridges
in the area when the project is implemented, said an order issued by the
ministry yesterday.
There is a possibility of damaging
several bridges during the river recov-

TRIAL AGAINST MOBARAK

Prosecution replies to
enquiries of tribunal
n Udisa Islam

at this stage of the case. He added that

if the prosecution got the scope to explain its fault, then prejudice might be
garnered against the accused.
The tribunal then said it had asked
for the explanation for their satisfaction and the prosecution did it, stating:
There is nothing to oppose as the document was exhibited earlier and it is in
record of the tribunal.
The prosecution also placed a petition for a change in the formal charge
yesterday. Conducting prosecutor Shahidur Rahman pointed it out as a clerical mistake as there was a mismatch
of time (am and pm) mentioned in the
formal charges and the framed charges.
Tajul again opposed the matter saying that the correction could not be
accepted at the end of the proceeding.
He pleaded time to submit a written
objection on the matter and the tribunal set June 2 for the submission of the
petition. l

Farzana sells a cigarette to a man in front the capitals Hazaribagh fruit market yesterday. The nine-year-old girl whose parents refuse to take
care of her has to live with her grandfather at the market and earn what she can by selling cigarettes and betel leaves MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

In the trial of Mobarak Hossain alias

Mobarak Ali, the prosecution made replies yesterday to the enquiries of the
tribunal, which they had put forth at
the end of the closing argument session last week.
The trial was stalled since the prosecution, during its rebuttal on May 21,
failed to give explanations to many of
the tribunals questions.
Prosecutor Syed Haider Ali yesterday gave explanations for their unattested documents and the sources. He
said the documents had unfortunately
remained unattested since the deputy
commissioner of Brahmanbaria said
the main copy was in his office. The
DC is also the in-charge of the districts
Muktijoddha Council.
Defence counsel Tajul Islam opposed the explanation saying that the
prosecuting could not change anything

BNP: Khaleda can hold rally

anytime, anywhere she wishes

Another case to realise

Tk451cr from Hall-Mark

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The BNP said yesterday said its chief

Khaleda Zia can hold a party rally in
the capital whenever and wherever
she wished, even if the government
does not allow it.
Our leader can hold a rally whenever and wherever she wishes,
along with the people. Abandon any
thoughts of barring her from doing so.
Not even the pharaohs, Hitler or Yahiya could stay inpower for long, and you
have to face the same fate, said BNP
acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul
Islam Alamgir, gearing his comment at
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The authorities concerned recently prevented the party from holding
rallies in the capital.BNP Chairperson
Khaleda Zia was supposed to attend
the foiled gatherings at the Engineers
Institution auditorium and the Supreme Court premises on Thursday
and Saturday, respectively.
Addressing a discussion at the

National Press Club yesterday,Mirza

Fakhrul said the ruling Awami League
was killing democracy once again and
misleading the people.
Before the January 5 elections,
they told the people that it was a
constitutional obligation. Now they
are saying they will remain in office
for five years... Could anyone guess on
August 14 that the tragedy that would
occur on August 15? the BNP leader
said, referring to the coup in 1975 that
overthrew the then BKSAL government
headed by President Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman.
Fakhrul also claimed that Awami Leagues rebirth took place under
the auspices of BNP founder Ziaur
Rahman, and he played a vital role in
Sheikh Hasinas return homefrom exile
in India.
BNP never undermines Sheikh
Mujibs role and similarly, there is no
scope for undermining Ziaur Rahmans
role, he said.
Fakhrul said during ALs tenure,

Zia was portrayed as a villain in school

textbooks. Zia, a military ruler turned
president, held power from 1976-81.
Ziaur Rahman proclaimed the
countrys independence. Who says
what, does not mean anything, he
added.
Khaleda Zia, meanwhile, is scheduled to hold a rally this afternoon at the
ferry terminal in Munshiganj to protest
against the killings, abductions and
disappearances across the country.
At a press briefing yesterday, BNP
joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir
Rizvi said preparations for the rally are
almost complete and so far, they have
not received any objections from the
local administration in Munshiganj.
We still have not faced any obstruction, but whenever we are obstructed, we will inform you, Rizvi
told reporters.
Rizvi added that Khaleda willstart
for Munshiganj from her Gulshan residence at 1:30pm and address a rally
there at 3pm. l

Sonali Bank authorities yesterday filed

another fresh suit against Hall-Mark
Group Chairman Jasmine Islam and
Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud to
realise defaulting loan amounting to
Tk450.84 crore from Hall-Mark Fashions Ltd.
The case was filed against the duo
with the Artha Rin Adalat 1 (Money Loan Court 1) of Dhaka by Abdus
Salam, executive officer of Ruposhi
Bangla Hotel Corporate Branch of the
state-owned bank.
After a preliminary hearing, Judge
Md Rabiuzzaman took the case into
cognisance and ordered the defendants to submit their written statements by June 29.
Since March 25 this year, the bank
has filed 14 cases so far against the
Hall-Mark Group to realise an outstanding amount of Tk839.09 crore.
The case statement says the accused were given the loan in phases

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

from 2011 to February 28 this year. The

company imported deferent garment
accessories with the loan.
On January 12, the bank gave the accused a final notice to pay the amount.
But the company did not pay any heed.
Later the bank issued a legal notice
upon the company to give back their
dues. l

ery drive.The approved project will be

implemented through the channels
of the Dhaleshwari, Pungli, Bangshai,
Turag and Buriganga river systems.
The government would take steps to
relocate the bridges based on the suggestions, the directive said.
Committee members include WDB
Director General Sahidur Rahman,
Department of Environment Director
Sultan Ahmed, LGED Superintendent
Engineer Khalilur Rahman, BIWTA
Director Mohammad Ali, Roads and
Highway Department SE Tushar Kanti
Saha, Bangladesh Railway Director Abdul Haque, WDB Chief Engineer Sohrab
Uddin and Institute of Water Modelling
head of department Abu Saleh Khan. l

Eight killed at
Lohaigram in
Qaisars presence
n Udisa Islam

A new prosecution witness against accused war criminal Syed Mohammad

Qaisar said yesterday that the accused
and his cohorts, along with the Pakistani Army, had carried out atrocities
at Lohaigram Sahapur during the Liberation War and killed eight unarmed
civilians, including two women.
Phul Mia, 62, testified at the International Crimes Tribunal 2 as the ninth
witness against Qaisar, the former Jatiya Party state minister who is facing
16 charges of crimes against humanity
committed in Habiganj in 1971.
The witness is the incumbent secretary of Gazipur district unit Sramik
League, the labour wing of the ruling
Awami League. He is from Bhandarowa
Jamalpur of Habiganj.
During the war, he worked as an
informer for the freedom fighters in
Madhabpur-Noapara areas and used to
plant land mines.
In his testimony, Phul Mia said the
accused, along with the members of his
Qaisar Bahini and the Pakistani occupation forces, had gone to Lohaigram
on May 15, 1971 and he had heard the
sound of continuous firing.
When they left the place after an
hour, the villagers informed the witness that at least eight people, including his two uncles Abdul Aziz and Zahir
Uddin, had been shot to death. When
the Army killed the civilians, Qaisar
was present at the scene along with
his associate Lengra Hamid, Phul Mia
said.
After his daylong deposition, the defence counsel started cross examining
him. The tribunal later adjourned the
trial until today, keeping it incomplete. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Society should
consider workers
health and safety
n Tazlina Zamila Khan
A healthy workplace and workforce are
very important for portraying a better
image of the industry, Danish Ambassador Hanna Fugl Eskjr said yesterday.
Addressing a seminar Occupational Health and Safety Impact 99% - Together We Can Change organised by
Western Marine Shipyard (WMShL)
and GIZ, the German Development
Cooperation at Rupashi Bangla hotel
in the capital, she said: Health and
safety of workers is a prime concern
which must be brought under consideration by the society. And I am hopeful when industries in the country will
follow Western Marine in this respect it
will make a great change in Bangladesh
which shall take the country one step
forward toward progress.

Awareness on safety
issues, training on
safety procedures
and rules to enforce
safe workplaces can
prevent the safety
problem issue
Other speakers said the GIZ supported
the WMShL to implement and attain
a renowned international standard
in workplace health and safety. The
WMShL is the first shipyard, and one
of the few businesses in Bangladesh to
obtain OHSAS 18001 status.
OHSAS 18001 is internationally accepted as a method of assessing and
auditing occupational health and safety management systems.
A recent survey of the ILO (International Labour Organisation) says,
around two million people die every
year due to work-related injuries and

160 million suffer from work-related

diseases every year. As a result, it impacts the workers and their families. It
causes income loss, suffering, insecurity and disability. It also hampers the
reputation of the employers.
Hasnat Alamgir, associate professor
at the University of Texas, said: Work
and health are related. Work hampers
health. In our country, workers can
do jobs till the age of 40. Later, they
have to retire due to a lack of physical
strength.
Employers know how to protect
workers, but they still let the labours
die, which is very sad. When a worker
becomes disabled, the employers shift
the burden to the government because
having disabled workers is a burden to
the society.
He also stressed on engineering, education and enforcement to ensure occupational safety.
He said: Awareness on safety issues, training on safety procedures and
rules to enforce safe workplaces can
prevent the safety problem issue.
The publication Healthy Business,
Healthy Workers, Healthy Communities was formally launched in the
seminar by the speakers.
Labour and Employment Minister
Mujibul Haque Chunnu said: The
Government of Bangladesh and the
owners should prioritise safety for
the sake of workers. Western Marine
has achieved the OHSAS 18001 status
which is an example for others.
Syed Monjurul Islam, Shipping Ministry secretary, said safety brings peace
for both workers and owners. If the
owners follow a systematic process to
ensure safety like Western Marine, others will also do the same.
The Western Marine Shipyard Managing Director Sakhawat Hossain said:
We spend money on training and safety. Now all of our workers wear safety
tools like helmets and boots, and the
accident rate has also come down. l

RMG worker
murdered
n CU Correspondent
A readymade garment worker was
hacked to death early yesterday by unknown miscreants at her residence in
Shapla Residential Area in Chittagong.
The victim, Sajeda Begum,32, was
a worker at Gawus Fashion Limited in
the city.
Sarif
Rokonuzzaman,
assistant
sub-inspector of Akbar Shah police station, said some unidentified miscreants
entered the victims housearound 3am
yesterday and hacked her indiscriminately, leaving her dead on the spot.
In the morning, the locals found
the body after breaking the door of the
house as Sajeda did not respond after
being called several times.
On information, police recovered
the body and sent it to Chittagong
Medical College Hospital morgue for an
autopsy. l

A large number of passengers are seen at Kamalapur Railway Station yesterday because of the transport strike on bus routes to North
Bengal and greater Mymensingh
BANGLAR CHOKH

One held with 500

litres of liquor
n CU Correspondent

One more held in

siblings gang rape

Police arrested a pick-up van driver on

the Chittagong-Coxs Bazar highway in
Chadaha area under Satkania upazila of
Chittagong early yesterday and seized
around 500 litres of contraband liquor
from the vehicle.
The arrested Md Ilias, 23, is the son
of Abul Kamal, and is from Rahmaniya
Para of Chunti area under Lohagara
upazila of Chittagong, said police
sources.
AKM Emran Bhuiyan, assistant superintendent of police of Satkania circle in Chittagong, said on a tip-off, a
patrol team of Satkania police chased
the Chittagong-bound pick-up van on
the highwayat 3am.
Police detained the driver and
seized 500 litres of contraband liquor,
which was in 75 polythene bags, after
searching the van, said the ASP.
A case was lodged with Satkania police station. l

n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

No bar to holding
Muktijoddha Council poll
n Nazmus Sakib
The Appellate Division stayed an HC order
yesterday, which had blocked the polls of
Muktijoddha Kendriya Command Council,
scheduled for June 4, for six months.
Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, the chamber
judge, passed the order following a petition
lodged by the government, Attorney General
Mahbubey Alam told the Dhaka Tribune.
On May 25, the bench of justices M Moazzam Husain and Md Badruzzaman stayed

the elections in response to a writ petition

filed by Kabir Ahmed Khan, a candidate
and former chairman of the organisation.
On December 8 last year, the government appointed an administrator at the
freedom fighters organisation. However,
to hand over the responsibility to the elected representative, an election schedule
was announced on April 14. The petitioner
filed the plea arguing that elections of the
councils central, district and upazila levels
could not be held on the same day. l

10 hurt in Savar poll clash

n Our Correspondent, Savar
At least ten people were injured in a clash in Jirabo bus
stand area of Ashulia yesterday as supporters of two chairman candidates broke into a fight over the control of a polling centre during local union parishad by-elections.
Witness said the clash took place as some unruly followers of chairman candidate Soid Ahmed tried to enter
Dewan Edris College polling station to manipulate votes.
On information, police rushed to the spot and calmed the
situation immediately, during which they arrested two people.
During the clash, both sides exchanged blank fire to create a sense of panic. l

IUB honours Dr Anisuzzaman

n Tribune Report
Kazi Nazrul Islam-Abbasuddin Ahmed Research
and Study Centre of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) celebrated
National Poet Kazi Nazrul
Islams 153rd birth anniversary on Sunday at its
Bashundhara campus in
the capital.
While celebrating the
birth anniversary, the centre also launched IUB Journal on Nazrul-Abbasuddin
and honoured Bangla Acad-

emy President Professor

Emeritus Dr Anisuzzaman
of Dhaka University who
has recently been awarded
the Padma Bhusan by the
Indian government.
Dr Anisuzzaman attended
the programme as the chief
guest and IUB Vice-Chancellor M Omar Rahman presided over the programme.
The celebration included speeches by scholars
and musical performance
by noted artist Yasmeen
Mushtari and the students
of IUB. l

Police arrested another youth yesterday for his alleged involvement in the
rape of two sisters in Beanibazar of the
district on Sunday.
Selim Ahmed, 28, was arrested on
the information provided in the case
filed by the plaintiff, the victims father, said OC of Beanibazar police Abul
Kalam Azad.
Local police on Monday arrested
another suspect Nazrul Islam, who is
the brother of the main accused Joynul
Islam, the son of Makdam Ali from Pailgram of the same upazila.
We are interrogating the duo to get
information about the others responsible. If needed, we will take them to
court, seeking remand, the OC said.
According to the case, seven-eight
masked men entered the house at
Charkhai union early Sunday by break-

ing open the door and threatened the

parents with knives and sharp weapons. At one stage, they tied up my wife
and I and pounced on our daughters,
said the father.
The plaintiff could only identify Joynul.
Meanwhile, the victims, admitted to
Osmani Medical College Hospital after
the incident, were released yesterday
at noon after a forensic examination
was conducted, SI Abdus Sattar of the
hospitals One Stop Crisis Centre told
the Dhaka Tribune.
When contacted, Deputy Director of
the hospital Dr Tonmoy Bhattacharya
referred to the college authorities for
information about the examination.
College Principal Morshed Ahmed
Chowdhury did not answer the call
made to his mobile phone. However,
college sources said it might take two
more days to get the forensic report. l

Krishi Bank official

among 3 abducted
n Our Correspondent, Coxs Bazar
Police are conducting drives to rescue
the three people, including an official
of the local Krishi Bank branch, who
were abducted on Monday at midnight
from Eidgarh area of Ramu by unidentified criminals.
Two of the victims are Baishari Krishi Bank Cashier Jitendra Kumar and
businessman Md Selim Uddin. Police
could not name the third victim.
They were picked up from Bengdoba area of Eidgarh-Baishari road
around 11:30pm when they were going
to Ramu in a CNG auto-rickshaw. They
were later taken toward the hilly areas,
OC Saikul Ahmed of Ramu police said.
He said police teams are conducting
drives in and around the area to rescue
the victims. BGB personnel have also
joined the operation, the OC added. l

LOST
I am Jebin Akter, Fathers Name: D.M.
Obaidul Haque, Roll-562801, Reg. No870518 Session-2012-13, Board- Dhaka. I
lost my admit card. G.D No-1378, Narshigdi
Model Thana, Narshingdi.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Confusion over CNG auto strike withdrawal

Owners say the three-day strike to continue when the government claims to have strike a deal
sence of auto-rickshaws on the roads.
n Abu Hayat Mahmud
They said they had to wait for pubThe government and CNG-run Auto-rickshaw Owners Association made
confusing statements yesterday about
the withdrawal of the 72-hour ongoing
strike enforced by the auto owners.
The Ministry of Communications
and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority held a meeting at the ministry
yesterday evening with a section of
leaders of the Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation in an effort to
put an end to the strike.
Following the meeting, BRTA Chairman Nazrul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune:
Leaders of the auto-rickshaw owners
assured us that they would suspend the
strike from today [Tuesday evening].
But when contacted, Barkat Ullah
Bhulu, president of Dhaka Metropolitan
CNG-run Auto-rickshaw Malik Samity
Oikya Parishad said none of their members were present at the meeting and
there would be no withdrawal of their
strike till their demands were met.
The ministry did not contact us.
They only held a meeting with one of
our elder brothers, Osman Ali, the general secretary of the Bangladesh Sarak
Paribahan Sramik Federation, he said.
We have neither suspended nor
withdrawn the strike, he clarified.
The three-day-long strike came into
force yesterday.
The Dhaka Metropolitan CNG-run
Auto-rickshaw Malik Samity Oikya
Parishad called for a halt of traffic
movement, demanding an extension
of the economic lifespan of the vehi-

CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers did not come out with their vehicles because of the strike yesterday. The photo was taken from a Tejgaon
garage in the capital
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
cles by four more years, based on Buet
recommendations.
Bhulu hoped that the ministry
would call them today for a meeting.
If the government meets our demand, we will withdraw the strike, he
stated.
Meanwhile, the commuters in the

capital expressed mixed reactions to

the ongoing CNG strike.
Some sighed with relief at the
thought that traffic congestion would
ease, which they said was mostly created by the auto-rickshaws, and some
reacted with despair that the strike
would affect their daily commute.

No auto-rickshaw was seen operating over the city thoroughfares since

the strike started in the morning.
However, the CNG-run auto-rickshaws that are for private use only are
operating on the city roads as usual.
The auto-rickshaw commuters expressed their dissatisfaction with the ab-

lic buses for a long time and became

sandwiched in the heavily crowded
city transport.
Sajjad Hossain, a resident of Nakhalpara, said: The absence of auto-rickshaws on the city roads seems to have
given the citys busy thoroughfares a
relief in comparison with other days.
The number of CNG-run autos has
not only grown, but also outnumbered
the human haulier, other sorts of three
wheelers and battery-run and paddled
rickshaws, said Sajjad, a student.
According to Farida Aktar, a private
bank employee, she prefers taking
public buses rather than taxi cabs and
CNG-run auto-rickshaws, because of
their high fare.
She demanded that the government
take steps to reduce the number of
three-wheelers on the citys busy road.
A private university student Sadia
Islam who was waiting for a public bus
at Kakoli Bus Station in Banani, said: I
have been waiting for a bus for about half
an hour, but am unable to get into any
because of the overcrowding of people.
I used to take CNG-run auto-rickshaws, but today [Tuesday] none of
them are in sight, she added.
She alleged the auto-rickshaw strike
added to the transport crisis in the capital city.
The Dhaka Metropolitan CNG-run
Auto-rickshaw Malik Samity Oikya
Parishad said earlier that it would observe a 72-hour strike to press home a
number of their demands. l

5
USTC VC calls
emergency
syndicate meeting
n CU Correspondent
The vice-chancellor of University of
Science and Technology Chittagong
(USTC) expressed solidarity with the
demonstrating employees demand
yesterday and called on an emergency
syndicate meeting tomorrow to resolve
the ongoing deadlock.
The campus sources said the teachers,
doctors, officials and employees of USTC,
under the banner of Teachers-Doctors
and Officials- Employees Samannay Parishad, observed the four hours work abstention for nine consecutive days.
A protest rally was held at the Mowlana Bhasani auditorium of the campus
during the work abstention.
At the rally, Professor Dr M Rezaul
Karim, VC of USTC said: Due to the absence of Treasurer Professor Sisir Kumar Deb, who now stays in Dhaka, the
financial activities at the USTC and the
BMH hospital under the USTC are being
acutely disrupted.
Dr Kamal Uddin, joint secretary of
Teachers-Doctors and Officials- Employees Samannay Parishad, Anwarul
Islam Bappy, member secretary, Dr Badiul Alam, head of the surgery department, Professor Dr Mostafa Kalam of
the medicine department, were present, among others, at the protest rally.
The VC, also the chairman of the
USTC syndicate, called an emergency
syndicate meeting on May 29 regarding the issue, said campus sources. Demanding the implementation of service
rules, the teachers, doctors, officials and
employees started to observe daily work
abstention for four hours since May 18. l

Pond grabbing continues in Rajshahi, defying High Court rule

Abducted child
rescued in Coxs
n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi
Bazar, 4 held
A vested interested group is defying
the ban by the High Court by continuOur Correspondent, Coxs Bazar
n
ing to fill-up ponds and lakes in and
Detective Branch of Coxs Bazar police
rescued a boy and detained four alleged abductors in a drive from West
Larpara area adjacent to citys bus terminal a day after he was abducted.
Victim, Nur Kamal, 13, son of Nur
Bashar, from Ruhullardeba area under
Ratnapalang union of Ukhia upazila in
the district.
The arrested are Jahid Hosen, 25,
son of Omar Hakim, Md Jamal. 28, son
of Abdul Gafur, Lal Mia, 40, son of late
Ali Hosen all from the citys West Larpara area. Another arrestee Md Aiyub,
32, son of Piyar Ahmed, is from Tetoar
Sikdar area in Sadar upazila in Coxs Bazar, said police sources.
Officer-in-Charge Manzur Alam of
Coxs Bazar DB police told the Dhaka
Tribune that the boy was abducted
around 10am on Monday from the bus
terminal and Tk50,000 was sought as
ransom from the victims family by the
abductors.
The family informed the matter to
the DB police and they went on a drive
to rescue the boy after tracking down
the possible location of the abductors,
the OC said. l

around the Rajshahi city. They are taking advantage of the negligence of the
city authorities.
As a result, water bodies, including canals, lakes, ponds and wetlands
have declined to a great extent.
The High Court gave a directive to
stop filling of all kinds of wetland in
and around the city on December 13,
2010 following a writ petition.
According to Rajshahi Development
Authority (RDA), in 1961, there were
4,238 ponds, canals, wetlands in the
city, in 1981 the number was 2,271, in
2000 the numbers have stood at 729

and now city has only 214 water bodies which showed that the authorities
concerned do not have any control
over the vested interested groups activities.
In many cases, the RDA as well as Rajshahi City Corporation could not take
strict action against land grabbers as a
section of the public servants with institutions help facilitate such illegal occupation by preparing fake documents
and being reluctant to take any action.
Following the example of these influential quarters who have successfully carried out the grabbing of water
bodies, Al-Amin Rajshahi Ltd (ARL)
has the audacity to fill a pond stretching six-bighas.
A good number of labourers have been
involved in filling the pond for a week.

The labourers fill the pond at night

in a bid to dodge the eye of authorities.
Earlier, the owner of the Company tried to fill the pond in 2009. Then
the Rajshahi Development Authority
(RDA) noticed his activity and gave directives to the company to stop it.
Locals said the local ward councilor
Kamruzzaman Kamu was looking after
the filling work so that the pond was
filled smoothly without any hindrance.
Professor Nazrul Islam, city unit
Jamaat leader, and Mahbubul Islam
Bulbul, former president of city unit
Islamic Chhatra Shibir, are among the
directors of the company.
When contacted, Kamruzzaman
Kamu told the Dhaka Tribune that
he wanted to fill the pond so that a
mosque and graveyard adjoining the

pond could be saved.

Mujibur Rahman, one of the directors of the ARL, said he could not say
anything in this regard without the
permission of the board of directors.
But the he acknowledged that they
had not taken any permission from
RDA to fill the pond, adding that they
would submit an application to the authorities concerned seeking approval
to fill the pond.
Azmeri Ashraf, acting urban planner of
Rajshahi City Corporation, told the Dhaka
Tribune that they had already served two
show cause notice to the company, but
they have to receive a reply.
If the company does excavate the
pond within 10 days, strong action
would be taken against it, he added.
Mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation

SBMCH forms
probe body over
patients death
n Our Correspondent, Barisal

WEATHER
THUNDERSHOWER
WITH RAIN

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:40PM
SUN RISES 5:12AM
FORECAST FOR TODAY
Dhaka

34

27

Chittagong

32

26

Rajshahi

32

23

Rangpur

32

24

Khulna

34

25

Barisal

34

27

Sylhet

35

24

Coxs Bazar

32

27

YESTERDAYS HIGH AND LOW

35.0C
Kutubdia

23.6C
Rangamati

Source: Accuweather/UNB

Some day labourers, who crush bricks at a construction site in the capitals Mohammadpur area, return home by the improvised vehicle they use for crushing the bricks yesterday. They
use the vehicle apparently to cut transport cost
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Two shot in clash over cable TV business in capital

n Ashif Islam Shaon

PRAYER TIMES
Fajar
Sunrise
Zohr
Asr
Magrib
Esha

3:46am
5:11am
11:56am
3:17pm
6:40pm
8:06pm
Source: IslamicFinder.org

Mosaddak Hossain Bulbul said he hasnt

received a complaint in this regard.
Necessary actions would be taken
in this regard, he said.
According to Wetland Conservation
Protection Act, if anyone wants to fill a
wetland for any purpose he/she has to
take permission from the Rajshahi Development Authority and Department
of Environment, said Tonmay Shynal,
coordinator of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association Rajshahi
region.
In 2013, Rajshahi City Corporation
(RCC) has planned to conserve 53 natural water bodies in the city, in order
to retain its surface water resources
for protecting the environment from
further degradation, but hasnt implemented any actions as of yet. l

Violence erupted when two groups of

men, who are involved with the ruling party, collided over business rivalry that left two injured in the capitals
Mirpur area yesterday.
Witnesses and police said Jubo
League activists, along with leaders
Pallab, Riad and Hazrat Ali Bhutto, of
Ward 13 were hanging out in front of
Baishakhi Bhaban in the area when
another group of Jubo League activists

led by Mahbub and Kamrul arrived on

motorbikes around 2:15pm.
They suddenly opened fire at the first
group using small firearms, which injured Bhutto, 42, a local Awamil League
leader, and Mainuddin, 42, a passer-by.
Bhutto was hit by bullets in his
throat and right shoulder, while
Mainuddin was shot in his abdomen.
The first group retaliated with bullets and, with the help of the locals,
chased the attackers away.
However, Kamrul of the second group

was left behind by accident. He got

caught and was beaten by the first group
and then handed over to the police.
Both Bhutto and Mainuddin were
rushed to the Dhaka Medical College
Hospital for treatment. Doctors said
Bhutto is in a critical condition.
Sub-Inspector Emanur of Rampura
police station said they had rescued
Kamrul from the mob and recovered
two pistols and two rounds of bullets
from the spot. They also seized a motorbike used in the attack.

Imtiaj Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Mirpur Division, said they had arrested
some youths from the spot.
We will interrogate them. Besides,
police teams are conducting raids
in the area. The situation has been
brought under control, he said.
Accroding to locals, Riad and Pallab
have a cable TV business. Their feud
started with Mahbub and Kamrul when
they tried to take over Riad and Pallabs
market with their own business. l

Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College

Hospital authority formed a probe
committee regarding the alleged death
of patients due to inadequate oxygen
cylinders.
Dr Qamrul Hasan Selim, director of
SBMCH, said they decided to form a
three-member probe-committee headed by Dr Saidur Rahman, head of medicine unit.
The step was taken after allegations
over the death of three patients, including an elderly and infant patients,
within 48 hours this week. There was a
scarcity of oxygen cylinders in the child
and medicine departments as the available ones were being used in different
departments, the SBMCH director said.
The committee was asked to submit
their report within three working days.
The hospital now has a sufficient supply of oxygen cylinders, the SBMCH director observed.
However Dr Saidur Rahman, head
of the probe committee, said he is yet
to receive any letter about this and will
begin the investigation after receiving
the letter.
It was alleged by the relatives of the
deceased that two infants died last Friday night and the following morning
and one Kazi Nurul Islam, 60, admitted
at the medicine unit, died on Saturday
afternoon due to respiratory problems
as the oxygen cylinders were not supplied in time.
The relatives went on a rampage
when they found out that three oxygen cylinders were lying unused at the
nurses sickroom.
Habibur Rahman, SBMCH store incharge, said there was no shortage of
oxygen cylinders in the hospital since
all cylinders were immediately disbursed to the different wards as per
their demands and fresh there is always
a steady supply as they are bought a
couple of days before the stock is exhausted. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Manpower shortage hits Pirojpur livestock dept

n Our Correspondent, Pirojpur
People in rural Pirojpur are unable to
take care of their cattle because there
is a lack of medication and vaccination
facilities as a result of the livestock offices in the district being affected by a
multitude of problems, including manpower shortage.
Local sources said most of the livestock offices at all of the six upazilas in
the district are ill equipped with inadequate staff and medicine.
People in the villages assert that if
they are not provided with sufficient
vaccination for their livestock, an
epidemic might break out among the
poultry, cattle and other animals.
According to livestock office sources, a total of 30 posts have been vacant

at different livestock offices in the district which is responsible for the adverse effect on their services.
Official sources said the posts of additional livestock officer, office assistant and night guard at different livestock offices have been vacant for ages.
Last year, district Livestock Department could not achieve their target because of difficulties.
Only 93,000 dairy animals were vaccinated against the target of 253,000
last year.
Also, only 2.9 million poultry birds
were vaccinated against the target of
8.25 million, the Livestock Department
sources said.
Abul Basar, a resident of Indurkani
village under Zia Nagar upazila in Pirojpur, fears that his three cattle might

have contracted a disease as he could

not to vaccinate them last year.
He said when his cattle fell ill, he
took them to Pirojpur district town as
he could not get any support from Zia
Nagar livestock office.
When I went to their office, the officer advised me to go to the district
town saying that they do not have the
medicine.
Mohammad Masudur Rahman, office assistant of Pirojpur Livestock
Department, said there were 409,999
cows, 9,604 buffalos, 96,535 goats and
2,525 sheep in the district.
He said a livestock office at each
upazila should have one livestock officer, one veterinary officer, and a
livestock assistant, a veterinary compounder, one office assistant, but in

reality it is different.
He claims that if necessary measures are not taken immediately to fill
the vacant posts and supply medicine,
an epidemic will break out among the
poultry, cattle and other.
No livestock office in six upazilas except Bhandaria and Mothbaria have a
livestock officer while Swarupkati, Nazirpur and Mothbaria livestock offices
only have veterinary surgeons.
The post of livestock assistant officer
have also been vacant, but there is no
initiative to fulfil the posts, sources said.
Julfikar Ali Khan, veterinary field
assistant at Pirojpur Sadar upazila,
said there were seven unions under
the upazila. But there were only three
veterinary field assistants to cover the
vast area.

As a result we could not provide

satisfactory services to our clients, he
said.
Moreover, there is no refrigerator
at the livestock office where medicine and vaccines could be persevered
properly, he added.
District Livestock Officer Dr Abdul
Jabbar Sikdar said they are unable to
provide proper services to people as
they are faced with many problems
such as manpower and medicine shortages.
AKM Shamimul Siddik, deputy
commissioner, told the Dhaka Tribune
that as cattle is the main income sources for the people in the southern region
they would try their best to recruit
more staff to ease sufferings of people
there. l

11 BNP, Jamaat men

sent to jail
n Our Correspondent, Habiganj
Habiganj Juba Dal Organising Secretary Jalal Ahmed and Chhatra Shibir
President Khalilur Rahman were denied bail in an explosives case yesterday and sent to jail.
Habiganj Municipality Juba Dal General Secretary Shafikur Rahman, Organising Secretary Morshed Alam Sujon,
Jamaat activist Amjad Hossain Moni,
Krishakdal General Secretary Shafikur
Alam, Chhatra Dal activists Mahbubur
Rahman, Rabiul Alam, Habibur Rahman Pappu, Shipon and Mamunur
Rashid Mamun were also sent to jail.

Local people form a human chain in Jamalpur district town yesterday, demanding measures to establish a medical college hospital in
Bypass area
DHAKA TRIBUNE

BGB-smuggler
clash leaves
15 injured

n Our Correspondent,
Jessore

Members of Border Guard

Bangladesh and smugglers
engaged in a clash over the recovery of bottles of phensidyl,
which left at least 15 injured,
including BGB personnel, at
Muchipara of Baroanchra under Benapole port police station on Monday.
The smugglers entered
Bangladesh via the border
with sacks containing bottles of phensidyl and abandoned the drugs when the
BGB chased them.
When BGB men were returning to their post with
the confiscated drugs, the
smugglers ambushed them
and began a fight which left
15 injured. The BGB personnel later raided nearby villages and nabbed three of
the smugglers.
Jessore 26 BGB Lt. Colonel
Matiur Rahman said: A case
has been filed against a number of people, among whom
25 have been identified. l

Mother kills
her son

n Our Correspondent,
Jessore
A mother allegedly killed
her son at Biswaspara under
Chaugachha upazila in Jessore on Monday.
Police said Nargis Begum,
the mother cried out after
strangulating her one and a half
month old child, Nafis Hasan,
in absence of her husband at
night, in order to establish that
her son had died naturally.
Suspicious
locals informed the police about the
incident and the police recovered the body and sent
it to Jessore Medical College
Hospital for an autopsy.
The police arrested the
mother. Akram Hossain, officer-in-charge of Chaugachha police station said Nargis Begum
had confessed to the police that
she had killed her son. l

According to the police, on October

30, some people participating in a procession vandalised quite a number of shops
and bombed the Chowdhury Bazar area
in the district town with cocktails.
The next day, Sadar police filed a
case under the Speedy Trial Tribunal
Act against more than 50 Juba Dal,
Chhatra Dal and Shibir leaders and
activists and the abovementioned accused went on the run.
They surrendered to the court of
District and Sessions Judge Md Mahbubul Alam and sought bail from him,
but the court denied the request and
sentenced them to jail. l

Section 144 imposed

on Satkhira bus
terminal

n Our Correspondent, Satkhira

Local administration imposed Section

144, which prohibits the meeting of
five or more persons, on the Central
Bus Terminal in Satkhira Sadar upazila
yesterday.
The prohibition order was placed
because of a clash between two groups
of Awami League who were fighting for
control of the terminal on Monday afternoon. Three people were injured in
the fight.
Confirming this, Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Asaduzzaman said they
had imposed the order to maintain law
and order.
The situation is now calm here,
said Enamul Haq, officer-in-charge at
Satkhira Sadar police station. l

Schoolgirl yet to
be rescued

n Our Correspondent, Bandarban

A schoolgirl who was abducted 20 days
ago from Alikadam upazila of Bandarban district has not been rescued yet.
The victim, Sabina Yasmin, 14, is the
daughter of Saber Miah. She is a student of Class VII of Ali Kadam Moitree
Junior High School. Monowara Begum,
the victims mother, said Momena Sultana
Bebi, Sabinas maternal aunt, had gone to a
physician with Sabina on May 7. Sabina has
remained missing since that day.
Monowara alleged that Bebi had abducted Sabina. She added that Bebi had
a connection with human traffickers
and might have handed her daughter
over to them. Later, she filed a case accusing Bebi of abduction. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Jinnah made a mistake and I am

ashamed of being Pakistani

Pakistan is always plagued with one form of chaos or another

REUTERS

Mahwash Badar is a clinical psychologist by profession and one of a handful of liberal Pakistanis
who dare to speak the truth. On May 12 she wrote an opinion piece for Pakistans Express Tribune
Blogs, titled Jinnah made a mistake and I am ashamed of being Pakistani. However, due to the
invisible hand of the ISI both this article and her Twitter profile @MahwashB have vanished.
Below is a reproduction of the original article

n Mahwash Badar
nyone who has ever travelled abroad will tell you
that no matter where you
go, no matter how developed a country it is that
youre travelling to if youre a British
national or a Caucasian American, the
doors become friendlier. The security
becomes less pressurising. Visa queues
are shorter. Procedures are simpler.
If youre a brown Pakistani man
(or even woman) who is travelling to
another country thats a whole other
story. Youre working in the Middle

Jinnah didnt think of the obscurantist mindset that

he had propelled forward, the countless millions
that died at the hand of this vague agenda that
fails to unite us as a nation

East, chances are your salary is just a

little bit above the basic working wage
or anything that will get you a bedspace with seven other human beings.
Respect is minimal.
Youre not supposed to ruffle any
feathers. Or demand for rights. Your
children are thousands of miles away
studying (because you cant afford
education for them here), your wife
probably has another job to help
make ends meet and your job squeezes every drop of your blood into a
tiny container that helps build the
skyscrapers and that little container
is thrown away quicker than you can
say burj as soon as your company
decides to say bye bye.
Pretty much the equivalent of
well, I dont know. What is that the
equivalent of? What analogy do I draw
to represent the utter misery that is
being a Pakistani in this super-power
dominated world?
As if the current state of the country, what with its years of dictatorship
and lack of infrastructure, hasnt
driven us insane enough, there is
the added bonus of inviting religious
extremists and letting them destroy
everything we hold near and dear.

The media in Pakistan is under stringent scrutiny by the regulatory authority. Geo TVs license being suspended is an example of the
authoritys diminishing tolerance
REUTERS

Sure, apologists will reason it saying

this is not true Islam and whatnot.
But my question is when seriously
when do we set aside the debate of
what is true Islam and what isnt?
Let the clerics and the religious
scholars sit in their mosques. But once
and for all, eliminate and annihilate

stan on the news and everything that

is reported is about death, destruction,
squabbling politicians, ailing children,
extremists blowing up things and a
struggling economy.
I raise my eyes to our neighbouring
country and see what could have happened if we were still a United India.

I Google Pakistan on the news and everything that

is reported is about death, destruction, squabbling
politicians, ailing children, extremists blowing up
things and a struggling economy

the savage, beastly, cowardly, immoral

men who buy the bodies of fragile,
poverty-stricken, desperate men, strap
them with explosives and send them
into markets filled with innocent women and children. Finish these abhorrent
elements in the society that attempt to
throw us back to the Stone Age.
A recent article in the New York
Times reported on the World Health
Organisation (WHO) declaration of the
polio emergency in Pakistan.
Last year, a polio worker was killed
in Peshawar, as well as another who
was shot dead in Khyber Agency. Several were kidnapped in Bara. In January
this year, gunmen killed three health
workers taking part in a polio vaccination drive in Karachi, not Kabul, not
Sierra Leone, not Riyadh, Karachi.
My heart boils and burns as more
devastating news and reports flood
the channels. The New York Times
article further stated that according
to a report, the highest refusal rates
for polio vaccination were recorded in
wealthy neighbourhoods of Karachi
because they had little faith in public
health care. In North Waziristan, the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have
had vaccination forbidden for years.
Pakistan thus has 59 polio cases to
report, the highest in the world.
Being a mother, it scares me. It
keeps me awake at night. It reminds
me that even if I run far away from the
borders of my own land, its demons
will continue to haunt me and my
future generations. I Google Paki-

Maybe we would have been polio free

too. We would have been a unified part
of a process of being the worlds next
big force to reckon with, of being a
part of the next blazing economy.
I find myself deeply wishing that
Jinnah hadnt made this mistake that
he had thought about the future of
Pakistan. He didnt think of the obscurantist mindset that he had propelled
forward, the countless millions that

more like them than the Arabs we so

badly want to mimic and ape. I stare
at the green passport with the same
self-loathing as the fat 16-year-old girl
with pimples on her face who is told
that she cannot get married because
she will always be blind, diseased and
fat and her elder, stronger, prettier,
better-educated sister will snag all
the good catches because she ended
up with the better caretaker after the
divorce of their parents.
I am ashamed of being a Pakistani
today.
I am ashamed that I belong to a
country that kills human rights lawyers and sitting governors, and issues
death threats to university professors.
I am ashamed that we believe in
spaghetti monster theories and pie
in the sky conspiracies and risk the
future of our children.
I am ashamed that we have rejected
our scientists just because they believe
in a different dogma.
I am ashamed that we cannot
protect our women, we cannot protect
our children and we cannot protect
our men from the evil that is extremism, fundamentalism and the foolhardy idea that Pakistan is a great nation.
Pakistan is a fledgling, flailing state.
And those 59 children, whose legs
can never work anymore, the family

I am ashamed that we cannot protect our women,

children and men from the evil that is extremism,
fundamentalism and the foolhardy idea that
Pakistan is a great nation

died at the hand of this vague agenda

that fails to unite us as a nation. I look
at the years of struggles that Pakistan
faces, the fall of Dhaka, the provincial
wars, the stark separatist mindsets and
I wonder what Mr Jinnah was thinking
when he decided to leave the Indian
National Congress (INC).
We share more with our Indian
brothers than our ancestral DNA. Our
food, language, clothes, lifestyles are

of Raza Rumis driver, those who shed

tears for Salman Taseer, for Perveen
Rehman, for Rashid Rehman, for Dr
Murtaza Haider and his 12-year-old son
every single person who went out to
have a normal day and never made it
home alive are all paying the price
of the empathy, respect and awe YOU
show cowards like Mumtaz Qadri. l
Mahwash Badar is a clinical psychologist.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Over 50 rebels killed in biggest Ukraine assault

n Reuters, Donetsk
More than 50 pro-Russian rebels were
killed in an unprecedented assault by
Ukrainian government forces, which
raged into a second day yesterday after
a newly-elected president vowed to
crush the revolt in the east once and
for all.
Reuters journalists counted 20 bodies in combat fatigues in one room of
a city morgue in Donetsk. Some of the
bodies were missing limbs, sign that
the government had brought to bear
overwhelming firepower against the
rebels for the first time.
From our side, there are more than
50 (dead), the prime minister of the
rebels self-styled Donetsk Peoples
Republic, Alexander Borodai, told Reuters at the hospital.
The government said it suffered
no losses in the assault, which began
with air strikes hours after Ukrainians
overwhelmingly voted to elect a
48-year-old billionaire confectionary
magnate Petro Poroshenko as their
new president.
Russian President Vladimir Putin,
who has declared Moscows right to intervene to protect Russian speakers in
Ukraine, demanded an immediate halt
to the offensive. Moscow also said it
would not consider a visit by Poroshenko for any talks.
Until now, Ukrainian forces have
largely avoided direct assaults on the

Nigeria: Missing
schoolgirls located
n Agencies
Nigerias military has located nearly
300 school girls abducted by Boko Haram almost seven weeks ago, the countrys chief of defence said.
Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, Nigerias Chief of Defence Staff, said on
Monday that any potential armed rescue operation was fraught with danger
as the 223 girls still held hostage could
be caught in the crossfire.
Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276
girls from the remote northeastern
town of Chibok on April 14, leading to
global outrage.
The good news for the girls is that
we know where they are but we cannot tell you, Badeh told reporters in
the capital Abuja, as the hostage crisis
entered its seventh week. We cant go
and kill our girls in the name of trying
to get them back.
Nigerias government and military
have been sharply criticised for their
slow response to the mass abduction. l

A pro-Russian fighter takes position behind a car as a truck full of pro-Russian fighters heads towards the battle during clashes against
Ukrainian forces near the airport in Donetsk
AFP
separatists, in part out of what they
say is fear of precipitating an invasion
by tens of thousands of Russian troops
massed on the border.
But the government in Kiev appears

Palestinians to unveil unity

government by Thursday
n AFP, Gaza City

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is to unveil a unity government by

Thursday, ending seven years of rival
administrations in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, an official said.
We have finished consultations on
the national consensus government,
Azzam al-Ahmed, an envoy from Abbass
Fatah movement, told AFP Tuesday after
talks in Gaza with its Hamas rulers. The
announcement will come from the
president in the next two days.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation, which is dominated by Fatah,
signed a surprise reconciliation deal
with Hamas on April 23, giving the two
sides five weeks to draw up an independent government of technocrats
headed by Abbas.
Prime minister Rami Hamdallah of
the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority is to head the new government,
an official said Thursday.

Number of MEPs* by political affiliation

52

64

42

46
38
41

751

65

seats

Far left and Nordic greens

Socialists, social democrats
Greens and regional parties
Liberal democrats, centrists
Christian democrats, conservatives
Source: europa.eu

n AP, Cairo

213

190

Conservative anti-federalists
Right-wing eurosceptics
Non-aligned, inc. far right
Others

* Members of the European Parliament

Cameron to EU leaders: Dont

be railroaded by EU Parliament
n Reuters, London
British Prime Minister David Cameron
warned fellow European Union leaders
yesterday not to be railroaded by the
European Parliament into choosing a
candidate to head up the next European Commission.
In a series of phone calls to leaders
ahead of a summit in Brussels later on
Tuesday, Cameron stressed they should
choose who they want rather than be
strong-armed into selecting a candidate
backed by the European Parliament.
We need to follow the correct procedure for that, which is that the European Council has the right to nominate,
that we shouldnt be railroaded by the
parliament, a spokeswoman for Cameron said, referring to the body which
groups EU leaders.
Cameron conveyed the message in
phone calls on Monday and Tuesday to 10

Hamas, which has its own Gaza

prime minister, Ismail Haniya, saying it
had no objection to the decision.
Agreement on a unity government
would pave the way for long-delayed
presidential and parliamentary elections. Hamas won a landslide victory
in the last parliamentary polls, in 2006.
But the European Union and the
United States have refused to have any
dealings with the Islamist movement
until it renounces violence and recognises Israel and past peace deals.
Representatives of the rival factions
have held several rounds of talks to heal
the bad blood since Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza in deadly clashes in 2007.
The two sides signed reconciliation
deals in Cairo in 2011 and Doha in 2012,
but neither accord was implemented.
Hamas enjoyed Egypts support under president Mohamed Morsi of the
Muslim Brotherhood, but has been under unprecedented pressure from Cairo
since the army ousted Morsi in July. l

action.
After rebels seized the Donetsk airport on Monday, Ukrainian warplanes
and helicopters strafed them from the
air and paratroopers were flown in as

Ukraines premier said yesterday that

Kiev did not trust Russia enough to
open direct negotiations aimed at ending a deadly insurgency in the separatist east of the ex-Soviet country.
In current conditions, bilateral negotiations without the presence of the
United States and the European Union
are impossible, Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting a day
after pro-Western billionaire Petro Poroshenko was confirmed as the winner
of Ukraines presidential election.
If you sit down at the table with
them alone, they will definitely cheat
you, Yatsenyuk said in televised remarks.
Poroshenko had said on Monday
that he would welcome a chance to
meet Russian President Vladimir Putin
and that such talks could be arrange by
the middle of next month.
Yatsenyuk became prime minister
following the February ouster in Kiev
of a Russian-backed president and his
leadership has never been recognised
as legitimate by Moscow.
The two neighbours held talks under EU and US mediation in Geneva
in April that produced an agreement
to try to end the rebellion but whose
terms were broken by both Russia and
Ukraine within days. l

Iran court summons Facebook

CEO over privacy violation
n Reuters, Dubai

A conservative Iranian court opened a

case against instant messaging services
WhatsApp and Instagram while also summoning Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
over complaints of privacy violation, state
news agency ISNA reported yesterday.
The case underscores the growing struggle between moderate Iranian president
Hassan Rouhanis drive to increase internet
freedom and demands by the conservative
judiciary for tighter controls.
The Iranian court in the southern province of Fars opened the cases against the
social networks after citizens complained of
breaches of privacy.
According to the courts ruling, the Zionist director of the company of Facebook,
or his official attorney must appear in court
to defend himself and pay for possible losses, said Ruhollah Momen-Nasab, an Iranian

internet official, according to state news

agency ISNA, referring to Zuckerbergs Jewish background.
Zuckerberg, whose company owns

WhatsApp and Instagram, is unlikely to

heed the summons.
Iran is still under international sanctions
over its disputed nuclear activities and it is
difficult for US citizens to secure travel visas, even if they want to visit.
Internet use is high in Iran, partly because many young Iranians turn to it to
bypass an official ban on Western cultural
products, and Tehran occasionally filters
popular websites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Rouhani, in remarks that challenge hardliners who have stepped up measures to
censor the web, said earlier this month that
Iran should embrace the internet rather
than see it as a threat.
A Rouhani administration official said
Iran would loosen internet censorship by
introducing smart filtering, which only
keeps out sites the Islamic government considers immoral. l

El-Sissi backers scold Egyptians to vote

The new European Parliament

Provisional results
at 0800 GMT

to have interpreted Poroshenkos big

election victory - he won more than 54
percent of the vote in a field of 21 candidates, against 13 percent for his closest
challenger - as a mandate for decisive

part of the assault.

Shooting carried on through the
night and on Tuesday the road to the
airport bore signs of fighting. Heavy
machinegun fire could be heard in the
distance in mid-morning.
On the highway to the airport, a
truck - the kind that rebels have used
to ferry dozens of fighters across the region - had been obliterated by machinegun fire. Blood was sprayed across the
road and splattered as far away as a billboard seven meters above.
The airport is completely under
control, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told journalists in the capital Kiev.
The adversary suffered heavy losses.
We have no losses, he added.
Well continue the anti-terrorist
operation until not a single terrorist remains on the territory of Ukraine, First
Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema
said on the margins of a government
meeting.
Borodai, the rebel prime minister,
also said the airport was now under
government control. A hockey stadium
in the city had been set ablaze, but the
fire was put out.
The battle marks the first time the
government has unleashed the full
lethal force of its aircraft and ground
troops directly at the Donetsk rebels, a
group of local volunteers and shadowy
outsiders led by a Muscovite that Kiev
and Western countries say is a Russian
military intelligence agent. l

Ukraine PM rejects
direct talks with
Russia
n AFP, Kiev

EU leaders. He also spoke with European

Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
Under EU rules, leaders nominate
a candidate for the top job, which has
sweeping legislative powers, taking into
account elections to the European Parliament. Whoever they choose must be approved by a simple majority in parliament.
But Cameron is concerned that one
of the leading candidates is arguing that
EU leaders should choose him based on
the outcome of the European elections.
Cameron wants leaders to first identify
reform priorities and to then pick someone suitable, his spokeswoman said.
Cameron sees the candidate, former Luxembourg Prime Minister JeanClaude Juncker, as too federalist and
likely to damage his hopes of reforming
Britains EU ties. Juncker has been chosen by the EUs main centre-right political group, the European Peoples Party,
to be their candidate for the top job. l

The government and media harangued

voters to go to the polls yesterday in the
second and final day of Egypts presidential election, worried that turnout was
weaker than expected in a vote in which
the front-runner, former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, is trying to garner an
overwhelming show of support.
There were no official figures on
turnout in the previous days voting.
But monitoring groups said Monday saw
moderate in some places and often thin
or non-existent in other areas, particularly where Islamists el-Sissis top opponents dominate.
El-Sissi, who removed Egypts first
freely elected president last year, is
poised for an almost certain victory. His
only rival in the race is left-wing politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who finished
third in the 2012 presidential vote but is

not believed capable of taking more than

a symbolic amount of votes from the retired field marshal.

In strongholds of the
Brotherhood, which
has dominated all
other elections since
Mubaraks ouster, the
polls were virtually
deserted
But the 59-year-old el-Sissi and his supporters have been counting on a large
turnout to send a message to the West
as well as his domestic opponents,
particularly the Muslim Brotherhood
that his removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was not a coup
but a popular revolution, similar to the

2011 uprising that ended autocrat Hosni

Mubaraks almost 30-year-long rule.
For the past 10 months, el-Sissi has
had near unanimous support from
Egypts government and private TV networks, newspapers and radio, which
have been lauding him as the nations
savior and presenting him as the only
one able to lead Egypt. They have
praised authorities fierce crackdown on
Morsis followers, which has killed hundreds, as part of what they called the
war on terrorism.
After the impression that Mondays
voting was thin, many of the news
channels numerous political talk shows
were furiously berating people who
hadnt voted. By sitting at home, they
are wasting what we have accomplished
the past year ... our war on terrorism,
Hayat el-Dardiri, host of a talk show on
the pro-military Faraeen TV, said on her
Monday evening broadcast.

Northern hemisphere hits carbon

dioxide milestone in April
n Reuters, Geneva

Carbon dioxide levels throughout the

northern hemisphere hit 400 parts
per million (ppm) for the first time in
human history in April, an ominous
threshold for climate change, the World
Meteorological Organization said.
The 400 ppm level in the atmosphere, up 40 percent since wide use
of fossil fuels began with the Industrial
Revolution, is rapidly spreading southwards. First recorded in 2012 in the
Arctic, it has since become the norm for
the Arctic spring.
The WMO expects the global annual
average carbon dioxide concentration
to be above 400 ppm in 2015 or 2016.
Rising concentrations of the heat-trapping gas raise risks of more heatwaves,
droughts and rising sea levels.
Time is running out, WMO Secre-

tary-General Michel Jarraud said in a

statement.
This should serve as yet another
wake-up call about the constantly rising levels of greenhouse gases which
are driving climate change. If we are to
preserve our planet for future generations, we need urgent action to curb
new emissions of these heat-trapping
gases.
Almost 200 governments have
agreed to work out a deal by the end of
2015 to slow climate change as part of
efforts to limit the average temperature
increase to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial
times.
Temperatures have already risen
about 0.8C (1.4F).
In April, the UNs panel of climate
experts said that greenhouse gas concentrations, led by carbon dioxide,

would have to be kept below 450 ppm

to give a good chance of achieving the
2C goal.
The level of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere is seasonal, since plants
absorb more in the summer months,
causing a peak in the spring. The northern hemisphere, with more human-related sources of the gas, has a more
pronounced seasonal cycle.
Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. It is
emitted by fossil-fueled vehicles and
coal-fired factories and power plants
as well as by natural activities such as
breathing.
During the last 800,000 years, the
level of atmospheric carbon dioxide
fluctuated between 180 ppm and 280
ppm, and has probably not been above
400 ppm for millions of years, scientists say. l

She pointed to Mondays images of

dancing and singing by el-Sissi supporters who did turn out at the polls and
chided those who didnt.
One voter called in to private TV station Sada el-Balad, weeping as she said
there not enough people at her polling
station. I am going to die, the caller
said. Does this respectable man (el-Sissi) deserve this from us?
On Tuesday, many TVs were showing
empty polling stations. Egypts deep divisions were on full display Monday, the
first day of voting. At some Cairo polling stations, lines of el-Sissi supporters
waved Egyptian flags and wore clothes
in the national red-white-and-black colors. Men and women danced to pro-military pop songs.
However, in strongholds of the Brotherhood which has dominated all other
elections since Mubaraks ouster the
polls were virtually deserted. l

Iraq attacks kill 27

n AFP, baghdad

A wave of attacks in Iraq, including a

suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque
in Baghdad, killed 27 people yesterday, the latest in a protracted surge in
bloodshed. In the deadliest attack, a
suicide bomber blew himself up at the
entrance to a Shiite mosque in central
Baghdads Shorja neighbourhood as
worshippers were performing ablutions ahead of mid-day prayers.
At least 19 people were killed and 34
wounded in the blast at the Abu al-Timan Husseiniyah, near the headquarters of the Baghdad mayoralty, security
and medical officials said.
Security forces barred journalists
from taking photographs or videos of
the aftermath of the scene, a common
occurrence in the wake of deadly violence in the capital.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Sunni
militants often target Iraqs Shiite majority, whom they regard as apostates. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Thai troops swoop

on former minister
n AFP, Bangkok

Thai soldiers swooped to detain a fugitive former cabinet minister yesterday after he emerged from hiding to
become the first member of the ousted
government to publicly denounce a
military coup.
In dramatic scenes played out in
front of stunned journalists, Chaturon
Chaisang, education minister in a government ousted by the army last week,
was marched out of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand by troops.
The veteran politician was holding
a press conference in defiance of an order for him to report to the junta.
He decried the coup-makers as inexperienced, warning of burgeoning
resistance to the power grab as well as
the potential for the army to be more
cruel than you might expect.
Analysts say the juntas move to
detain scores of political figures from
across the kingdoms bitter divide is
aimed at quelling potential opposition
to the May 22 coup.
Despite warnings by the top general
of a widening crackdown on dissent,
protesters have been gathering in small
but vehement rallies in Bangkok.
They pose a direct challenge to a ban
on political assemblies -- under martial
law -- which is backed by sweeping curbs
on the media and an overnight curfew.
An army spokesman said former
premier Yingluck Shinawatra had been
released by the military and allowed to

return home, the first official confirmation of her whereabouts since she was
detained last week after reporting to
the junta.
Yingluck, who was removed from
office by a controversial May 7 court
ruling, signed an agreement to report
her movements to the military, Colonel
Winthai Suvaree told reporters.

Coup no solution

Chaturon was among the first batch of

people summoned by the military in
the hours after it took power, citing the
need to restore peace and order to the
kingdom following months of sometimes violent protests against Yinglucks government.
He refused to report to the authorities,
telling a packed press conference Tuesday that he wanted to show his opposition to the coup -- the latest in a string of
19 actual or attempted army takeovers in
the kingdoms modern history.
The coup is not a solution to problems of conflict in Thailand, he told reporters, cautioning from now on there
will be more and more resistance.
Army spokesman Winthai said the
ex-ministers case will now be handled
by a military court. The junta has said
that those who defy its order to hand
themselves in face up to two years in
prison and a 40,000 baht ($1,225) fine.
Thailand has been unable to heal a festering political rupture since 2006 when
Yinglucks brother Thaksin Shinawatra
was ousted by another military coup. l

Anti-coup protesters take part in a gathering at the Victory Monument in Bangkok yesterday. From teachers and tour guides to financial consultants, a small band of anti-coup
protesters from a spectrum of Thailands divided society is taking to the streets to defy the kingdoms new junta
AFP

Delhi court
In landmark talks, Modi and Sharif focus on terror Myanmar
orders Kejriwals n Agencies
mulls religious
release from jail
conversion curbs
n

Agencies

The Delhi high court yesterday ordered

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwals release from Tihar jail. The court
accepted the bail bond of Arvind Kejriwal filed by his advocate in a criminal
defamation complaint.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kejriwal agreed
to furnish personal bond to get bail in
the criminal defamation complaint
filed against him by BJP leader Nitin
Gadkari.
The former Delhi chief minister,
who has been lodged in Tihar jail, accepted to do so on the suggestion of
Delhi high court earlier in the day.
Kejriwals lawyer told HC that a personal bond of Rs 10,000 has already
been signed and filed before magistrate.
During the proceedings, the bench
suggested that Kejriwal should furnish
bail bond and challenge the magisterial
orders once he comes out of jail. It also
questioned how a habeas corpus, filed
on behalf of Kejriwal, applies against a
judicial order.
A writ of habeas corpus is used to
bring a prisoner or detainee before the
court to determine if the persons imprisonment or detention is lawful. Kejriwals counsel argued that his detention is totally illegal as only a person
in custody is required to furnish bail
bond. l

Indias new Prime Minister Narendra

Modi raised a broad swathe of vexed
bilateral issues with his Pakistani
counterpart Nawaz Sharif yesterday,
adopting an unexpectedly tough line
in a swiftly arranged dtente aimed at
rejuvenating frosty ties, the Hindustan
Times reported.
Held in the backdrop of rare bonhomie over Modis invitation to Sharif to
attend his inauguration, the two leaders appeared to stand their ground over
core issues that bedevil relations but
more willing to be flexible to push forward a slow-moving peace process.
Both sides described the meeting as
constructive and cordial, saying their
foreign secretaries will meet soon to decide how best to take things forward.
Reading from a prepared statement,
Sharif said it was possible to turn a new
page in bilateral relations given that
both prime ministers were in office
with clear mandates.
I urge that we should change from
confrontation to cooperation and not
engage in accusations and counter-accusations, Sharif said.
My government stands ready to
discuss all issues. We owe it to our people to overcome the legacy of mistrust.
Modi surprised many when he
invited South Asian leaders, including
Sharif, to his inauguration this week,
an unprecedented gesture that analysts
said was aimed at building strong ties

Indias newly sworn-in Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) talks with Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif as they shake hands during a meeting in New Delhi yesterday AFP
with neighbours.
While the move triggered a sense of
rare bonhomie and hopes that the two
sides would push to resolve their long
standing disputes, Tuesdays meeting
saw India raise its core concerns, including its unhappiness with the slow
progress in the 2008 Mumbai attack trial in Pakistan as well as border ceasefire
violations by Pakistani forces.
Indias Foreign Secretary Sujatha
Singh told a press conference that she
and her Pakistani counterpart will be in

touch to see how best to take the ties

forward.
PM (Modi) underlined our concerns related to terrorism, Singh
said, adding that New Delhi expected
speedy trials into the 2008 Mumbai attacks and for Pakistan to abide by its
commitment to prevent its territory
and territory it controls being used to
stage terror attacks on India.
Singh said the possibility of full trade
normalisation was also discussed.
The talks, also attended by top ad-

Malaysia releases satellite data on MH370

n AFP, Luala lumpur
Malaysia yesterday released raw satellite
data used to determine that missing Flight
MH370 went down in the southern Indian
Ocean, information demanded by passengers relatives who are frustrated over the
failure to find any wreckage.
The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA)
said it had worked with Inmarsat to provide 47 pages of data communication logs
recorded by the British satellite operator,
as well as explanatory notes for public consumption.
Analysts said it would take time to draw
any conclusions from the raw, highly technical data.
The families of the 239 passengers and
crew on board the Malaysia Airlines plane
had called for the information to be made
public after a massive and costly search for
the flight, which mysteriously diverted from
its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route 11 weeks ago,
found nothing.
Officials, relying in part on the Inmarsat
data, have said they believe the plane ended
up over the southern Indian Ocean where it
crashed into the sea, possibly after running
out of fuel.
The numerical data used the Doppler
effect -- the change in frequency of waves
from a moving object -- to decipher the Boeing 777s final flight path.
Inmarsats interpretation of the data was
subsequently verified by the international
investigation team, which includes the DCA

and the air safety boards of Britain, China

and the United States.
But, with no sign of the plane found since
its disappearance on March 8, relatives and
friends are sceptical.
The first thing were going to expect
feedback on is does the data look right, Sarah Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on
the missing jet, told CNN.
Is it as complete as were being led to
believe it is? the American said.
Another flight route?
Bajc and other relatives said in a May 20
report to the governments of Malaysia and
Australia, which is coordinating the search
effort, that they wanted to know if another
flight path had been possible.
There is no mention on why they are so
sure the Inmarsat data is highly accurate and
reliable, to the extent that they have thrown
all resources there, the report said.
Malaysian Selamat Umar, whose son
Mohamad Khairul Amri was on the ill-fated
jetliner, was also critical of the satellite data,
which is being released almost two months
after the incident.
I am not convinced at all by the data.
Why are they releasing it now? Before when
we asked for it, they did not want to release
it. What can we do with it now?
Malaysian authorities have been tightlipped on details, saying they can only divulge information once it has been verified
and when its release will not affect investigations into the planes disappearance. l

visers to the leaders, went on for about

50 minutes. Before walking into their
meeting held at a sprawling former
royal palace in the heart of New Delhi,
Sharif, wearing a dark suit and a red
tie, and Modi in a brown Nehru jacket
posed for the cameras, smiling warmly
and locked in a firm handshake.
Over the past year or so, relations
between the nuclear-armed rivals have
remained in a diplomatic freeze with
former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lacking political capital at
home to push ties. But a huge election
victory this month for Modi has raised
hopes that he can reach out to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in a way
Singh could not.
In South Asia, personality and personal relationships have a bigger role to
play ... Modis warm welcome has put
an end to negative voices from here (in
Pakistan), Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistans former foreign minister said, analysing Tuesdays meeting. Modi has
a thumping majority, Nawaz Sharif a
simple majority... there is a real chance
here to resolve core issues.
Modi and Sharif appear to have already struck a personal rapport. Hours
after the two interacted at Modis inauguration, the Indian prime minister
tweeted: Earlier in the evening in
my conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif he shared some very
emotional things...Nawaz Sharif ji told
me that he stays in Islamabad but goes
to meet his Mother once in a week. l

n AFP, Yangon

Myanmar is considering restrictions

on religious conversion, according to
a draft bill released in state media yesterday, the first of several controversial
proposals stemming from a rising tide
of Buddhist nationalism.
The proposed legislation, put forward by the ministry of religion and yet
to be debated in parliament, would require people who want to change their
faith to get approval from a specially-created local authority.
No one shall apply to convert religion with the intention to insult, defame, destroy or misuse any religion,
said the report in the Myanmar-language newspaper The Mirror.
It added that under the proposed
law any violation could attract a twoyear prison sentence.
Religion has become a deeply sensitive issue in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where several outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence in the last two years
have left around 250 people dead.
A highly controversial plan to impose restrictions on interfaith marriage
is also being considered but details
have yet to be revealed.
Rights groups have reacted with
alarm to the proposed marriage curbs,
saying they would threaten religious
freedom and womens rights. l

Vietnam, China trade barbs

after Vietnamese boat sinks
n Reuters, Hanoi/Beijing
Vietnam and China traded accusations
yesterday over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat not far from where
China has parked an oil rig in the disputed South China Sea, as tensions fester between the two countries over the
giant drilling platform.
Hanoi said some 40 Chinese fishing
boats surrounded the Vietnamese craft
on Monday before one of them rammed
it and it sank. Vietnamese fishing boats
operating nearby rescued the 10 fishermen on board, the government and the
coastguard said.
Chinas official Xinhua news agency,
citing a government source, said the
vessel capsized after harassing and
colliding with a Chinese fishing boat.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
Qin Gang said Vietnam caused the incident with its insistence on forcefully
disrupting Chinas normal operations
and its dangerous actions on the seas.
We urge the Vietnamese side once
again to immediately stop all disruptive
and damaging (activites), he added.
Scores of Vietnamese and Chinese
ships, including coastguard vessels,
have continued to square off around
the rig despite a series of collisions this
month after the platform was towed to
the site. Each side has blamed the other
over those incidents. Until Monday, no

ship had sunk.

The disputed incident took place
around 17 nautical miles from the Haiyang Shiyou 981 rig, which is drilling
between the Paracel islands occupied
by China and the Vietnamese coast.
China calls them the Xisha islands.
A Vietnamese boat from the central city of Da Nang was deliberately
encircled by 40 fishing vessels from
China before it was attacked by a Chinese ship, the head of Vietnams coastguard, Nguyen Quang Dam, told Reuters by telephone.
Xinhua said: Crew aboard the boat
were saved after their ship jostled a
fishing boat from Dongfang City in
southern Chinas Hainan province and
overturned in the waters near Chinas
Xisha Islands.
Vietnam has said the rig is in its
200-nautical mile exclusive economic
zone and on its continental shelf. China
says it is operating within its waters.
In another area of the sea, to the
north, one fisherman was killed and
one disappeared when their boat was
rammed by a strange vessel on Sunday, a Vietnamese official said.
We havent had enough information
to say where that strange boat came
from. In this sensitive time, of course
we think its a Chinese boat, Pham Thi
Huong, vice chairman of the Ly Son government, told Reuters by telephone. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Government land
for RMG relocations

eports to the parliamentary standing committee on the labour

ministry indicate around 11,000 workers at 16 factories have lost
their jobs so far following government safety inspections.
With inspections continuing by the Accord and Alliance, industry
sources privately fear that many more, possibly hundreds, of factories
may be found unsafe and forced
to close.
The outlook for workers is
bleak as factory owners are
focusing on retrenchment of
jobs in order to pay for the
cost of building and safety
improvements.
In principle, long-term
co-operation between buyers
and factory owners may well
help bring new investment and
better factories offering more
secure jobs.
However, this does not change the immediate picture and the
government is convening a crisis committee to look at ways of
alleviating the unrest which these job cutbacks are expected to
create.
While this committee may help bring up the issue of job losses, it
does not address the cause of the crisis, only its symptoms.
The government can and should be far more pro-active. It owns
or controls a large amount of idle land which can used to create new
export processing zones, where new, safe factory buildings can be
developed and leased to factory owners.
Both owners and workers in factories which are closing due to
safety issues can benefit from such freeing up of underutilised state
land.
This would be the most effective way for the government to
alleviate hardship and help the industry to invest for future growth.

The government
should be proactive in providing
land to help the
industry invest for
future growth

Be heard
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We cant find our conscience

May 21

nds
They should know that arrogance will never pay,
that their power is not permanent. It is indeed for a
short while and will vanish with time.
How unfortunate one will be to leave the world
as a corrupt soul, for he will be a sinner in this world
and also in the eyes of God.
Nobody pays any heed to the sermon contained
in the last paragraph, propagated since time
immemorial, for it sounds like a clich.
This sort of sermon might have some appeal to the
timid millions, but it is of zero value to the mighty
ones.
If there is anything new to say, then please do
try, but stop wasting your time and energy on this
sort of outdated lecture.

How to solve: Each number in our

CODE-CRACKER grid represents a
different letter of the alphabet. For
example, today 16 represents G so fill G
every time the figure 16 appears.
You have two letters in the control grid
to start you off. Enter them in appropriate squares in the main grid, then use
your knowledge of words to work out
which letters go in the missing squares.
Some letters of the alphabet may not
be used.
As you get the letters, fill in the other
squares with the same number in the
main grid, and the control grid. Check
off the list of alphabetical letters as you
identify them.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

ZA
Words such as conscience and faith are not included
in the modern mans vocabulary. Get with the program.
Ashraf Khan
ZA: Modern mans vocabulary? When you dont
have faith and conscience, you suggest having
violence, bombs, killing, and brutality? Is this the
modern mans vocabulary? May God save us from
the likes of those who believe in this!
Ahmed sarkar
Ashraf Khan: I agree! What did ZA mean by modern
mans vocabulary?? What program is he talking
about? Programs of violence, looting, and setting
people on fire? Ah modern man!!

SUDOKU
BNP: Withdraw army officials
from RAB

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 numberrepeating.

May 21

The greener,
healthier transport

yclists are becoming a much more common sight again on the

roads of Dhaka.
Dedicated user groups have been critical to reinvigorating
the image of bicycling in the city. Given the capitals traffic problems
and the environmental and health benefits of encouraging more
people out of cars, this is a trend which should be encouraged.
Meanwhile, there is a nascent but very promising industry
developing around bicycle
manufacturing. A number of
companies have already made a
name for themselves as cuttingedge cycle producers in the
international market. With cities
as different as Copenhagen and
New York undertaking cycling
initiatives, the government
would do well to pay more
attention to this industry as an
area of export growth.
Cycling provides an
economic and environmentallyfriendly option to reduce the
heavy congestion and pollution that plagues Dhakas streets. It also
has great health benefits for cyclists themselves.
However, this practice is still limited to a few because of the
dangers cyclists face, such as potholed roads and aggression from car
drivers. Initiatives by the municipal government to install dedicated
bike lanes will encourage many more people to take to cycling. Having
more people on bikes in turn will help more people feel safer to pedal
on the roads and make it more common for our commuter culture to
include cycling.
In tandem with improving public transport options by investing
in better bus services, this will go a long way towards improving the
urban environment and the happiness and health of Dhaka residents.

Cycling is an
economic and
environmentallyfriendly option to
be encouraged

Fish traders attack a

mobile court
May 23

VK
Incredible! Those traders try to poison people and
become angry when action is taken against their
crimes. Poisoning people is an attempt of murder
and the authorities should treat the criminals
involved accordingly!

Bigshots causing accidents in

Coxs Bazar
May 21

Vihan
Nobody is above the law, NOBODY!

Ways of being human

May 22

Endi
This is called the exercise of hair splitting. On
reading this article one may also ask how human
is to be defined. Some parameters will be set up,
which will again be treated as our fancy, and the
arguments will continue ad infinitum. Yes, to attain
full citizenship many rights have to be surrendered
but, more tragic than that, one has to surrender
his common sense to attain the identity of super
intellectuals like this author. Please, stop this
sterile intellectual exercise. We understand what
civilisation is very well with our bare common sense.

BSF captures another

Bangladeshi
May 22

MZ
BSF is out of order. What is with our government?
Why doesnt it do something constructive?
Thousands of our people have been killed by BSF!

khanadil
I fully support this. RAB has been totally
politicised and turned virtually into an extortionist
murderous group of the AL government. Among all
institutions, that are either incompetent or corrupt,
Army is the only institution in the country that
people still have high regard for. By withdrawing its
personnel from RAB, the Army must help restore
its dignity and integrity, at the earliest possible.
Anon
Well, I am afraid this band-aid solution may be
futile. The root cause of the pervasive anarchy
and lawlessness is the systematic weakening and
destruction of state organs by the successive
governments (and it raises my ire when I hear
criticism coming from the opposition camp; when
in power they did exactly the same thing, and
would do it again with a vengeance once back in
power).
Today, theres no accountability, no oversight,
no responsibility anywhere, so everything goes.
How many serious crimes like murder, arson,
rape, extortion, you name it, ever get solved?
Zilch, nada. Welcome to Anarchistan.

Is Modi trouble for us?

May 21
NS
What more trouble can Modi cause us than what
our own leaders, both legally or illegally elected,
have already caused?
Curious reader
NS: We can only smile! Yes, our troubles are
with us although others are causing some, too.
Dear writer, Mr Modi is not referring to what
you referred to. Be sure he would deliver what
he pledged. I dont see any reason why some
Bangladeshis are anxious about illegal migrants
at such numbers generated in the minds of Mr
Modis campaign strategists, whereas there is no
basis for such allegations. Rather more than 4 lakh
Indians are working illegally in Bangladesh (fifth
largest source of Indias remittances).

CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Festive jollity (5)
6 Top airman (3)
7 Gather for oneself (5)
10 Approaches (5)
12 Given shoes (4)
13 Scolds (5)
15 Water pitcher (4)
16 Slender stick (3)
18 Was ahead (3)
20 Back of the neck (4)
22 Advantage (5)
23 Jetty (4)
25 Combine (5)
27 Coming after (5)
28 Sister (3)
29 Large antelope (5)

DOWN
1 Worked by hand (6)
2 Frozen treat (3)
3 Brought up (6)
4 Moves quickly (7)
5 Tree (3)
8 Donkey (3)
9 Alone (4)
11 Uncooked (3)
14 Obliteration (7)
16 Part of the eye (6)
17 Protect (6)
19 Wicked (4)
21 Female swan (3)
22 Craft (3)
24 Consume (3)
26 Large cask (3)

New York the Great

#ThrillingCities

CALVIN AND HOBBES

May 20

Osmania
Prefer the Lou Reed album to this puff piece. Its
curiously dated (Times Square is cleaned up/
boring, the Commies have left Moscow and that
London is vibrant enough to make its own case).
NYC certainly has the best film directors
making films about the city though (Marty/
Woody/Spike etc).

PEANUTS

Zero-Agenda
New York didnt exactly leave the best of impressions on me when I visited the city as a wee
child; however, I have fond memories of sifting
through stacks and stacks of CDs and records
with my older brothers in a tiny little record
shop in Madison Avenue (if memory serves)
called Coconut. For some reason Hootie and the
Blowfishs Cracked Rear View was the only CD
I insisted listening to while at that store.
Jay
New York is one of the most fun cities to live in.
There are amazing opportunities in New York
for the people who are willing to work really
hard to make their dreams come true.

Padma bridge cost up by

Tk3,000cr
May 22

Vikram Khan
Cost is up by Tk3,000 crore extra because the
government flatly refused to punish those involved in corruption.

YESTERDAYS SOLUTIONS
CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

11

We rot along with

our politics
n Mohammad Ali Sattar

Time to get down to business

AFP

Facing up to Modi

n Khawaza Main Uddin

ts time for Narendra Modi
to get down to business to
deliver on what he promised his
countrymen. The new Indian
premier is entrusted with an
overwhelming mandate to promote
the best national interests in keeping
with the BJPs polls manifesto.
For Sheikh Hasina, who retains
premiership through constitution of
the 10th parliament even without a
ballot, its time to react to the unwanted regime change in New Delhi.
She lacks a popular mandate and
thus seeks blessings from the BJP the
way Congress patronised her Awami
League.
Modi invited Saarc leaders to the
swearing-in ceremony and US President Barack Obama was welcome.
Hasina, who failed to manage the West
after her reelection, described Modi
as a great friend of Bangladesh and
her country as his second home. The
appeasement suggests her team is
Modi-fying party policy.
The landslide has presented Modi
with the luxury to become rude or
generous, whatever deemed suitable,
with others. Contrarily, Hasina, handicapped by deficiency in legitimacy,
cannot afford to assert what a national
leader should bargain for.
Opinion analysts are locked in
debates over whether Narendra Modi,
after assuming office, would really
deport illegal migrants or infiltrators. I
dont find any reason why it would be
a concern for Bangladesh.
As someone who has earned a reputation for his service as Gujarats chief
minister, Modi cant afford not doing
something on this issue. He should be
appreciated for any move to send back
Bangladeshi criminals from India for

we will then be able to try them.

But, in his references, Modi is
wrong on a few counts. The number
of illegal migrants is exaggerated,
and the absconding criminals are not
infiltrators as they chose India as a safe
haven. Hindus who migrated to India
after 1947 would be excluded from the
deportation drive as the BJP manifesto
confirms.
Now, Delhi should be told to take
back more than 420,000 of the Indian
nationals who are working illegally
in Bangladesh (out of 500,000) and
are sending money through dubious
channels. Is it a matter of pride for a
bigger country to have a smaller one as
the fifth largest source of remittances
in such a manner?

Those who say that Modis postpolls policy would be different from
his pre-election rhetoric are probably
unaware that the crackdown on the socalled illegal migrants is an electoral
agenda. BJP will, its manifesto says,
address the issue of infiltration and
illegal immigrants in the Northeast
region.
Modis corporate backers would
want to see Bangladesh as an undisturbed market. Accordingly, his men
have started the propaganda BJP is
making a U-turn, or a Teesta deal is in
the offing.
Modi may be proactive, only to
serve corporate India, about removal
of some barriers to trade in selected
cases. He may act restlessly on issues

If New Delhi wants friendship with Dhaka, a shift in

Indias policy towards Bangladesh is essential

India has been a beneficiary of smuggling that often instigates Bangladeshis being killed. Indian authorities
should be ashamed of the factories
manufacturing illicit drugs (ie phensidyl) near the border, to be smuggled
into Bangladesh.
These issues may not draw the
attention of the Modi government as
the Hasina administration is far from
making eyeball-to-eyeball arguments,
so the prospect of issues such as sharing the waters of common rivers and
settlement of land boundary disputes
being resolved is not bright.

such as road transit through Bangladeshi territory or the use of Chittagong

port by Indian traders. Now or never
may be Modis overture to Hasina.
Dr Gowher Rizvi ruled out a regime-centric perception in Indo-Bangladesh relations. But he addressed a
gathering at Dhaka University a few
years ago, saying that with Congress
ruling India and AL Bangladesh, it was
the golden opportunity to strike deals
like the one on transit. Professor Harun-or-Rashid contested him, saying it
was a matter of the foreign policies of
two nations.

It was more of a relation between

Congress and the AL. If New Delhi
wants friendship with Dhaka and if
track-II diplomacy of people-to-people contact is to be upheld, a shift in
Indias policy towards Bangladesh is
essential.
If Delhi strives for mere gains from
Dhaka by initiating, for example, a
transit from India-to-India through
Bangladesh (to connect seven
sisters), it will not be sellable to the
Bangladeshi people. Transit or trade
cooperation through multilateral
arrangement is not a choice for India,
as bilateralism is the mantra of not
only the Indian establishment, but also
of the intellectuals.
When Indias President Pranab
Mukherjee refrained from voting in the
national elections to maintain neutrality, External Affairs Secretary Sujatha
Singh took an arrogant position in the
electoral affairs of another country
only to rescue an unpopular AL. The
top Indian diplomat has offended the
Bangladeshi people by joining the
conspiracy to hold a farcical election
on January 5.
If MODI (modern outlook for development of India) means business
with Bangladesh as a whole, the new
administration has to break the status
quo built in an atmosphere of honeymooning between Congress and the
bureaucracy. He has the authority to
bring changes.
What will the equation between
a politically bankrupt regime and a
representative government be? Well,
Sheikh Hasina can follow India and
allow the election of a strong, popular
leader in Bangladesh who can best
serve the national interest. l

he wound that the country

received from the seven murders is still raw. A pall of gloom
looms in the air, confusion runs high
in peoples minds as the law takes its
own course.
Even before the blood could dry
out in the bloated corpses of the seven
souls, we have another gruesome killing in Feni. Then another in Noakhali,
then in Laksham, and then
Shocking revelations are meted out
to the members of the public each day.
We wait with baited breath for more
truths to unveil. Our patience and
perseverance is being tested every day.
We did not deserve this. We have the
right to live our lives, so says the state.
The alleged complicity of the law
enforcing agencies, local political
goons, and high-ups of the society
makes the matter even more awful,
distressing, and repulsive. The outcome of all this would be the ultimate
loss of conviction in every individual
and institution. Thats the peril one
ought to be apprehensive about.
Ekram was murdered in broad
daylight. This was more brazen, more
furious, more pathetic. The way it
was carried out speaks of the nature
of revulsion those killers carried in
their hearts while committing the act,
thanks to the instigator who succeeded in instilling malice in their tender
minds.
Gunshots, indiscriminate stabbing,
and setting the bleeding body ablaze
to burn him alive making sure he does
not breathe anymore the charred remainder was all that could be rescued.
It was political rivalry that took his
life. Look at the young healthy boys
who were involved in the killing. I
was taken aback to see the youngsters
paraded before the TV camera.
These youngsters could have easily
been a boon for their families and the
nation. If only they were guided on
the right path. But they were not, and
thats the tragedy of this nation.
Things have been deteriorating so
fast that we have actually lost track.
Trackless minds hardly keep pace with
the events that are taking place in
every corner of the land.

Pointing fingers is
so simple, because
it doesnt need the
authorisation of the law

Khawaza Main Uddin is Executive Editor at

ICE Business Times.

From Feni we travel to Noakhali and

Laksham to collect another account
of death and murder. It is a recurring
cycle. The only difference is that
every new act is committed with more
vengeance and horror.
We understand from the later revelations that these were the outcomes

admissible categories of human

behaviour and collective action have
to be measurable ones and efficient
from the point of view of industrial
planning the ritual of representation
being amenable to measurement
and efficiency computations deified
as the source of legality.
Ethico-moral principles are much

The next connection is not hard to

make. Legality also flows from this
representativeness. The silent but
real weeding out of the ethico-moral
core from legality and the right of
governance has ominous implications.
The rulers of today, unlike erstwhile
ones who had to come up with
complex connections with the divine,

of political rivalry. If that is so, our

politics is undoubtedly in ugly hands.
These hideous hands need to be
neutralised. How should we go about
it? Who is the saviour? Where is the
ideal theorist who is going to come up
with a solution to cleanse our politics?
We say the politicians are responsible for all of this. Will they take it
sportingly and admit their faults? We
know the answer.

The police chief

informs us that these
are stray incidents.
Our conscience
doesnt move
Rather, these leaders, enjoying
everything at peoples cost, would
hark back claiming their innocence
and putting the blame on anyone else.
Pointing fingers is so simple, because
it doesnt need the authorisation of
the law. So if the leaders do not take
responsibility, who will? Who is going
to ensure the security of our children?
The contention between the differing factions of the ruling party is now
in the open. Since the opposition has
been effectively drawn to the sidelines, the field is now only left to the
ruling party members.
They have taken over the law of the
land. A sense of impunity has grasped
their thoughts and actions. They have
turned so desperate that elimination of
their rivals is the only solution to their
internecine struggle.
The crime is never carried out
perfectly, but these people have a
way of getting away with anything.
They commit horrid crimes following
carefree planning with the unending
blessings of the godfathers. They
are sometimes even backed by law
enforcers who help with the maiming
and killing.
Then they can simply go into hiding
or flee abroad. And chances are they
might just make good on their escape
for the time being. They have the
golden opportunity to re-emerge after
a few days, months, or even a decade,
only to come back and say the allegations were false. They start their lives
over and plan the next target.
The police chief informs us that
these are stray incidents. Our conscience doesnt move, our lips dont
flutter, our speech doesnt slur, and
our visions are not blurred. Our hearts
dont ache when we tacitly give in
to the barbarity of these blemished
humans.
We embrace the same person to
make him the next commissioner, next
mayor, or the next member of the parliament. We have started rotting along
with our politics. The stench in the air
is overwhelming. l
Mohammad Ali Sattar is a DT columnist.

The new rajahs

n Garga Chatterjee

ith every passing day, the

praxis of representative democracy is getting hollowed
out. I consciously borrow this term
oft-used by Arundhati Roy. This is true
all over the world, including the Indian
Union. Here, I would like to focus on
a specific type of hollowing a very
insidious one at that.
There are elected institutions and
bodies that claim representation
legally. What has been a part of the
hollowing out process is the result
of a conflation of representation and
legality, and the reversal of the causal
relationship between them that exists
in human collectives. This has dangerous implications for our future.
Power and resources per se do not
confer a legal right of governance
- without the ethico-moral principles that creates a semblance of that
right. Even extreme asymmetries
in power between the ruler and the
ruled does not take away the value of
these principles even if the extreme
asymmetry, does create, in transience,
a milieu of governance that is bereft of
disturbance.
However, in the mind of the ruler,
and in the impression of the ruled,
there is a tension a tension of
having no claim to such power. In the

past, what conferred such power and

hence, legality? And what were the
ethico-moral underpinnings of such
claims?
Monarchy from empires to small
feudal domains was till very recently
the commonest system of governance.
The king of Nepal claimed to be Vishnu
himself, in a human form. Muslim rulers in India mostly ruled in the name
of the ruler above him, in a system
of hierarchical allegiances, all with
obeisance to Allah and essentially part
of a Caliphate. Most Hindu rulers claim
descent from the Sun or the Moon or
other celestial deities.

The new rajahs, both

the legal and the
illegal ones, are
godless

This was true for caucasians

whosekings ruled in the name of
many gods and their orders and in
later days, as the representative of the

Christian God on earth. The underlying point is the claim to rule legally,
came from a body or power which in
some sense represented collective
welfare and destiny in these cases,
divine powers.
Without the hinge of an ethico-moral
frame from where power emanates, a
legal right to govern and rule was not
without dispute. Also, the disputes
of who the ruler is and wars between
rulers, would finally be reconciled at
the end to such claim of speaking for
or representing the divine the divine
being important as it, in a sense, had a
connection with all humans.
It was, by definition, imagination
and reverence, something in which
most had a stake. What is to be gathered from this is that even in the mind
of a monarchic ruler the right to rule
and the legality of the strictures of the
ruler did not flow solely from material power of law enforcement, though
that is how that right was executed.
Representativeness is a constitutive
part of that legality.
Here is where the present comes
in. A ritual of representation is
different from the human, ethicomoral process of representation.
While the ritual is at best a medium
of representation, it is certainly
not an end in itself. In a rationalscientific society, where the only

Rulers of hollowed out democracies are confident of

their legal right to wield power and at the same time
have, in their minds, nothing to reconcile or prove

more problematic they cannot be

measured and the form of democracy that is best hold within itself such
ethico-moral underpinnings, that is participatory democracy, is inefficient.
In this machine view of the democratic process, whatever you feed in
from one end of this quasi-industrial
process, if it involves non-banned
thoughts, election notifications, voting
booths and candidates, the output at
the other end is, by definition, representative.

can outsource those itchy doubts on

their own legality to the said industrial
process itself.
In some sense, this makes rulers
of hollowed out democracies more
dangerous, as they are more confident
of their legal right to wield power and
at the same time have, in their minds,
nothing to reconcile or prove. With
that confidence comes a reversal of
the causal chain of how rights
emanate.
Now, what is legal is necessarily

representative. And then as a

corollary, what is illegal is necessarily
unrepresentative. The ever-shrinking
fate of dissent in such societies, in
particular, contemporary India, is hard
to miss. This is also inextricably tied
to the development of other sources
of representation in these societies
some of them illegal.
Some of the illegals are also
rituals unto themselves in turn term
the dominant ritual as illegal.
Given the ideologies of unitary
representation they share with
dominant forces, it is sad but true
the space for a plural, participatory
democratic process with an ethicomoral core is disappearing in India.
The new rajahs, both the legal
and the illegal ones, are godless. The
rituals, backed either by high court
and police or peoples court and
red guards, both increase this process
of making a democratic society full
of catacombs. This is not a longwinded argument to return to some
old despotism. One must continue to
hope that life lurks there in spite of
the legal and illegal assaults on
democracy. After all rituals can only
exclude ethico-moral churnings and
not destroy them. l
Garga Chatterjee is a freelance contributor.
He can be followed on twitter @gargac .

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Is Mim replacing Faria in Morichika?

n Afrose Jahan Chaity
Redoan Ronys second film Morichika has been in the news again
as the rumour of Nusrat Faria being replaced by Bidya Sinha Saha
Mim is in the air.
Rony, whose directorial debut Chorabali won the National Film Awards in five categories, confirmed the name
of the film to the news media.
He also announced Tahsan and Nusrat Faria to be the
leading actors of his upcoming flick. Several national
newspapers including Dhaka Tribune published the
news after talking to the stars.
But, a leading national daily reported yesterday
that Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, a sizzling star of the
filmdom nowadays, will be seen opposite to
Tahsan in Morichika.
When Mim was approached to learn
about the issue, she said: I think Redoan
Rony can clarify this issue once and for
all. I do not have the liberty to comment
on the issue at this moment.
Dhaka Tribune tried contacting the director on his mobile several times, he did
not answer.
On the other hand, Nusrat Faria also
expressed her shock when she was questioned about the switch. She said: I signed
for the role which is of a photographer who
is a fun-loving girl.
I have received some surprising phone
calls asking whether Mim is replacing me.
I seriously dont have any idea. Redoan Rony
did not tell me anything about including Mim.
However, Tahsan did clarify a few things.
He said: I guess there are two leading female
characters in the film. But, Rony is the best
person to answer your inquiries. l

Theatre festival marks

Enamul Huqs 72nd birthday
n Shadma Malik
On the occasion of Dr Enamul Haques
72nd birthday on May 29, a theatre
festival has been organised by Nagarik Natyangan to honour the veteran
theatre activist. The festival begins
today at the National Theatre Hall of
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

The event will open with the staging of Shei Shob Dingulo, a play
based on the Liberation War. Written
by Dr Enamul Huq, the play is directed by Haques wife Lucky Enam,
who is also a seasoned theatre activist. The play highlights the contradiction of opinion amongst people
when it comes to the Liberation War.
On the thespians birthday, Nagarik will stage Pushi Biral O Ekjon
Prokrito Manush, a translated version of Arthur Millers Pussy Cat
and a Real Man. Adapted by Proitee Huq, the play written on the

context of the Second World War

depicts different social problems
including corruption, greed, dishonesty, and is relevant to the existing
societal context.
On the concluding day, the festival will showcase Manik Bandopadhyayas Pragoitihashik, which is
based on the ancient ethnicity of Bengal. The play has been adapted
by theatre activist Mahmudul
Islam Selim under the direction
of Lucky Enam.
Dhaka Tribune had the opportuniy to catch up with Dr
Enamul Haque and learn about
his take on theatre, culture and
the Liberation War.
I have been involved with
cultural activities as I consider
it to be the way to understand
ones country and its people.
We can reach the core of humanity, which was the true
spirit of our Liberation, through
cultural activities, said Haque.
Through our plays, we
showcase our social realities
and bring forward the possible solutions in overcoming the prevailing challenges. Also, we inspire
the young generation to get involved
in the art of theatre and be a responsible citizen, he added.
An actor-director-playwright, Dr
Enamul Haque won appreciation for
his performance in stage plays such as
Acholayotan, Bishorjan, Dewan Gazir Kissa, Baki Itihash, Nurul Diner
Sharajibon, Janotar Rangoshala,
Shoroma and others. Plays directed
by him include Chirokumar Shobha,
Kholosh, Janotar Rangoshala and
Amra Kobore Jabo Na. l

Moushumi and Golam

Rabbani's face-off
n Entertainment Desk
A new reality show titled Seylon
Gold Twenty20 Star will be aired
tonight at 8pm on ATN Bangla. Today's episode will feature Moushumi
and director Golam Rabbani who will
compete in a face-off round with their
teams.
The game show is named after
crickets popular form Twenty20 as
each competing team faces 20 questions. All the participants of the show
are film actors, sportsmen, television
actors, directors, models and singers.
The show commenced with six teams
and 36 participants. Four teams will
play the semi final round. The win-

Hillol-Tinnis custody battle

n Entertainment Desk

About a year ago, TV actor Hillol filed

a case claiming the custody of his
daughter after the couples marriage
ended on a bitter note.
In 2012, Hillol and Tinnis marriage
broke down causing quite a stir in the
entertainment industry.
Their daughter Warisha was placed
in her mothers care after the divorce. Recently, Tinnis Facebook post
caused people to take notice of the divorced couple once again.
Tinni wrote: Hillols drama is never ending. He is suppose to move forward with his life, being married to
Nawshin and all.
Instead, he is trying to take my
child away from me. If Allah exists,
he will surely give fair judgment. She
asked her well-wishers to pray for her
and the child.
Dhaka Tribune caught up with Hillol after coming across the Facebook
status and the indignant actor defended himself by stating that Tinnis lifestyle is inconsistent. He said: Its
natural that a normal parent will ask
for his/her childs custody.
We all know that Tinni leads an inconsistent life and her schedule is not

A old photo shows the duo with their daughter

favourable to raise a child, I am worried about my daughters security and
think it is unhealthy for her to remain

TODAY IN DHAKA
Exhibition

Bornil Pandulipi
Time: 12pm 8pm
Gallery Shilpangon
Second Sight
Time: 12pm 8pm
The Daily Star Centre, 64-65
Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue
Dhaka

Mukh O Mukhosh 5
Time: 11am 8pm
Galleri Kaya, House no. 20
Road no. 16, Sector no. 4, Uttara

Theatre

Dog, Woman, Man

Time: 7pm 9pm
Goethe Institut Bangladesh
Road 9(new), House 10
Dhanmondi

Brazil World Cup song hits the

wrong notes
n Entertainment Desk

Coldplays Ghost Stories tops

British music charts
n Entertainment Desk
British band Coldplays new album
Ghost Stories went straight to number one in the charts on Sunday, the Official Charts Company said, becoming
the fastest-selling album of the year.
The groups sixth studio album and
sixth successive British number one album, it sold 168,000 copies since going
on sale on May 19, a figure the Charts
Company called staggering.

A new Coldplay album always makes

a huge impact, and Ghost Stories is no
exception, Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, said
in a statement. The boys have made it a
perfect six number 1s out of six albums
today. That is some achievement!
Coldplay knocked last weeks number one album, Xscape, a collection
of previously unreleased songs by the
late US singer Michael Jackson, off the
top perch into second place. l

ning team will be announced as the

Star of the show, while the celebrity
who will give the highest number of
correct answers will win the title of
Man of The Series.
Moushumi is the captain of the
team Film Star with members Omar
Sunny, Shimla, Nipun, Amin Khan
and Jayanto Chattopadhyay as participants. On the other hand, Golam
Rabbani Biplob is leading the Star Director team with Nargis Akter, Shah
Alam Kiran, Jakir Hossain Raju, Aruna
Biswas and Giasuddin Selim as participants.
The programme is directed by
Ashraful Islam Rony and Jillur Rahman. l

The official World Cup song is definitely striking the wrong chord with many,
in host country Brazil.
Since the recent release of Fifas We
Are One (Ole Ola), hordes of fans in
Brazil have been slamming the official
2014 Cup theme song. Many expressed
their frustration on Twitter under the
tag (hash)Volta Waka Waka a plea for the
return of the widely loved song that the
Colombian artist Shakira performed for
the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
Although Brazilian Claudia Leitte
is also featured in the official theme,
critics say they do not understand why
Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and
Bronx-born Puerto Rican singer Jennifer Lopez were chosen for the song.
They also complain that the song is
mostly in English and Spanish, leaving
only a few seconds at the end for Leitte
to sing in her native Portuguese.
What I dont like about the mu-

sic is that its a poor, dull, generic pop

theme, said Gaia Passarelli, a Brazilian
music journalist and a former VJ for
MTV Brazil. Its a shame considering
Brazils rich musical tradition, which is
admired all over the world.
Shakira does have a song on Fifas
official World Cup album, the driving
Dare (La La La). Featuring Barcelona players such as Argentinas Lionel
Messi and Brazils Neymar had been
viewed nearly 27 million times on YouTube in the three days since its release.
But its not the designated official song
for the event.
Naming an official Fifa song dates
back to the 1966 Cup in England. Since
then, fans have hummed to favorites
like Unestate italiana by Edoardo
Bennato and Gianna Nannini in Italy
1990 and La Copa de la Vida by Ricky
Martin in France 1998. While Shakiras
catchy Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) was popular, Placido Domingos El
Mundial for Spain 1982 was less so. l

in Tinnis custody.
I face obstacles whenever I try to
meet my daughter or even talk to her

over the phone. Such actions on her

part provoked me to claim my daughters custody. l

Vidya Balan tries 122

looks for Bobby Jasoos
n Entertainment Desk
Vidya Balan is back! As an aspiring
Hyderabadi woman detective in director Samar Shaikhs Bobby Jasoos.
The first look of the film was recently
revealed at an event in Mumbai. Produced by Dia Mirza, Sahil Sangha and
Reliance Entertainment, the film has
Vidya playing the central character
with Ali Fazal playing the male lead.
For the role of a female detective in
the movie, Vidya has tried 122 looks
during shooting of the film, reported
Hindustan Times.
Apparently, she invested two weeks
to decide on the various looks required
to enact the role. She underwent 122
changes, out of which around 12 were
shortlisted. Each one required her
to wear a different costume and
sport complementing make-up.
She would try six to eight looks
every day and was extremely
patient while selecting which
ones fit the narrative of the
story, says a source close
to the films team.
Some of the looks
tried by Vidya were of
a dabbawala, a peon,
a teacher and a
fisher-woman
among others.
Film producer, Dia Mirza,
also commented on this long
process of shortlisting: It was

one fun-filled experience of discoveries

and experiments. Our costume designer
Theia Tekchandaney and our make-up
artiste Vidyadhar worked tirelessly to
conjure images that would be entertaining to watch, whilst remaining in sync
with the demands of the script. I am
thrilled and wowed by the many transformations of the versatile Vidya Balan.
The trailer of the film will be
launched by the end of this month and
the
film will be released on
July 4, 2014. l

Did you know?

Brazil are the only
country to have
appeared in every
World Cup finals, 19
finals tournaments from
1930 to 2010. And they
have automatically
qualified for the 2014
tournament as hosts

Sport

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

14 Lukaku hattrick
leads Belgian
romp in warm-up

14 Makelele signs
for Bastia amid
tax inquiry

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Wozniacki beaten
on court after
losing in love

Mashrafe backs
Imran to shine
Veteran Bangladesh paceman Mashrafe
Mortaza praised the appointment of
assistant coach Sarwar Imran at the
Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday, informing the media that it will be
easier for the cricketers to communicate
freely with the former national coach
ahead of the home series against India.
We have all worked with him (Sarwar Imran) before and the biggest advantage will be the level of communication with Imran sir. We can discuss
freely with him and I think its a very
good decision, said Mashrafe.
Its important to discuss our weak
points with him and language will play
an important role, he said.
The 30-year old fast bowler notified
that he has been working with Imran
since the tour of Zimbabwe in 2001
before going on to acknowledge the
fast-bowling mentor as one of the most
experienced coaches in Bangladesh.
Mashrafe heaped praise on Imran,
thanking the assistant coach for making him learn the trade of the in-swinging delivery.
I started my career working with
him. Especially, I learned the art of inswing from Imran sir. And I am eagerly
waiting to discuss about my bowling,
said Mashrafe.
I think its a great opportunity for
the other young fast bowlers to discuss
and work with Imran sir as he has a lot
of experience, he added.
Mashrafe also reserved special mention for new bowling coach of the Tigers,
ex-Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak,
appreciating the former fast bowlers

career. Although Mashrafe said he has

very little idea about Streaks coaching
skills, he expressed his hope that the
newly recruited bowling coach will
have a good time in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the Narail Express, who
has often experienced turbulent times
throughout his career owing to injuries
and several operations, informed that
he was targeting a new start after returning to fitness from his latest injury.
You can say its a new start for me
as a player constantly battles with himself during the period of injury. Its natural for a player to get upset mentally
after an injury and the same has happened with me, said Mashrafe.
I think its very important to
bounce back physically after suffering an injury but the most important
thing is to make a comeback mentally
as I think cricket is all about mental
strength, he added.
Ahead of the home series against
India where the hosts will be taking
part in three one-day internationals,
Mashrafe said Bangladesh will need to
play as a team as they have a dearth of
match-winners in their side.
Every team has match-winners in
their side except Bangladesh. I think
only Shakib (Al Hasan) will not be able
to turn the fortunes around of a game
single-handedly, said Mashrafe.
You can remember when Shakib
was man-of-the-match in the Asia Cup
[against India in 2012], we had three
other half-centuries in that game. So
we have to play as a team which we
have been unable to do in the last six
months. That is why the results went
against us, he concluded. l

(L-R) Sabbir Rahman, Mithun Ali and Soumya Sarkar quench their thirst with coconut after a heavy fitness session during the Bangladesh national teams camp at Sher-e-Bangla
National Stadium yesterday
MUMIT M

BANGLADESH A TOUR OF THE WEST INDIES

Robiul, Taijul keep Sagicor at bay

The Bangladesh A bowlers did an impressive job on the opening day, Monday, of their first four-day match in the
West Indies as they restricted hosts Sagicor High Performance Centre from running away with a big first innings total.
Fast bowler Robiul Islam and leftarm spinner Taijul Islam claiming
three wickets each in particular led
the visitors bowling unit as Bangladesh A crawled back in the game to restrict Sagicor to 292 despite a brilliant
140 from Jermaine Blackwood and two
big partnerships upfront.
Captain of the A side Nasir Hossain
invited the hosts to bat first and the
decision took just four balls to prove
right. Robiuls outswinger was too

much to handle for Sagicor skipper

Kraigg Brathwaite who returned without troubling the scorers. However, Nasir and his troops had to wait 22 overs
for the next celebration as Blackwood
joined Assad Fudadin to reconstruct
the early damage with a 112-run partnership.
The 22-year old Blackwood was the
dominant force in the partnership and
also scored at a good strike-rate. When
Fudadin fell victim of a run out for 22,
Blackwood and Leon Johnson added 85
runs to set a platform for a big total.
Nasir shuffled his bowlers and eventually part-time off-spinner Naeem
Islam brought the breakthrough by
claiming the dangerous Blackwood
who hammered 23 fours and a six off
just 160 balls.

Taijul broke the brief 28-run fourth

wicket partnership between Jonathan
Carter and Johnson which still left
the home side on 225-4. Taijul first removed Carter for 12 before he trapped
the set batsman Johnson leg-before for
a well-made 56.
The dismissals enabled the second-string Bangladesh side to regroup
and the bowlers carried the momentum to strike down the last five wickets
for 52 runs. Robiul claimed the tail in
consecutive deliveries and the rightarm quickie will be on a hat-trick when
he bowls his first ball in the second innings.
Bangladesh A openers Imrul Kayes
and Shamsur Rahman added five to
their total in the only over they faced
before the days play ended. l

Womens
cricket league
begins today
Mohammedan Sporting Club will
take on Indira Road KC in the opening
game of the Metropolitan Womens
Cricket League 2014 at the Dhanmondi
Cricket Stadium today. Bangladesh
Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul
Hassan will inaugurate the 14-team
competition.
Mohammedan, Dhaka Cricketers,
Khelaghar SK, Indira Road, Ansar and
VDP, Kalabagan KC and Rayer Bazar
Athletic are pitted in Group A of the
league while Abahani Ltd, Dipali Jubo
Sangha, BKSP, Jahurul Islam City Cricket Club, Urban Sports, Gulshan Youth
Club and Orient Sporting Club will
compete in Group B. l

Lone 3-dayer ends in draw

The rain-affected three-day game between Bangladesh Under-19 and Madhya
Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) U-19
concluded in a draw at BKSP yesterday.
Replying to Bangladesh U-19s first
innings total of 221 all out, MPCA resumed their first innings on their overnight score of 167 for the loss of three
wickets. However, following two and a

BRIEF SCORE

Bangladesh U-19 (1st innings)

221 allout in 59.2 overs
MPCA U-19 (1st innings)
274 allout in 112.1 overs
Bangladesh U-19 (2nd innings)
100/4 in 37 overs
(Munim 27, Zakir 19, Shreyansh 2/25)
Match Drawn

Third straight win for MSC

Mohammedan
captain Zahid
Hasan Emily (R)
congratulates Tapu
Barman after the
latter scored a superb
goal against Feni
Soccer Club during
their Bangladesh
Premier Football
League match at
the Bangabandhu
National Stadium
yesterday
MUMIT M

Mohammedan
Sporting
Club extended their fine
run in the Nitol Tata Bangladesh Premier Football
League to three consecutive victories beating Feni
Soccer Club 3-2 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The visitors went ahead in the 21st
minute courtesy of a Mathew Mendy
strike which was canceled out by Nigerian defender Ubom Henry in the
same half to give balance to the scoreline. However, Tapu Barman and Zahid
Hasan Emily netted one apiece in the
second half to salvage all three points
for the Black and Whites. The victory
helped Mohammedan to reduce the
gap to two points with arch rival Abahani with a game in hand. The Independence Cup champions, however,
remain at third place with 32 points
from 17 matches while Feni find themselves at second place from bottom in
the points table.
Fenis Gambian coach Omar K Sisse
had to play a starting eleven without
his key midfielder Landing Darboe
for the first time since the start of the
second phase of the league. Darboe
missed the match due to suspension

and his coach later admitted missing

his services dearly in the midfield.
Mathew Mendy broke the deadlock
in the 21st minute with a brilliant solo
effort. The Gambian midfielder dribbled past two defenders as he drifted
into the penalty area before skipping
past another defender to slot home
past Mohammedan keeper Titumir
Titu. Titu rescued Mohammedan from
conceding another in the 32nd minute

Tapu Barman scored a

wonder goal five minutes
into the second half to
put his side in front for
the first time in the match
when their defense collapsed which let
Kabba Jobe run free towards the goal.
Titu sprinted out of the box to clear the
ball away before Kabba could find full
control of the ball.
Mohammedan equalized in the 37th
minute through Nigerian defender
Ubom Henry to give parity to the scoreline as he headed home from a high
corner by his compatriot Damian Chigozie. Wahed Ahmed almost produced
an assist which could have put Black
and Whites ahead a minute later. The
national striker used his pace to enter

into the penalty area and showed great

skill to skip past a defender before cutting the ball into the middle which was
blocked by a Feni defender before it
could find Emily who was ready to pull
the trigger. But the Black and Whites
didnt have to wait long as Tapu Barman scored a wonder goal five minutes
into the second half to put his side in
front for the first time in the match.
The right-back apparently seemed to
have attempted a curled cross from
the right flank which, however, bamboozled everyone as it flew inches over
Feni keeper Nehal to find the back of
the net.
Zahid Hasan Emily extended Mohammedans lead to two goals in the
73rd minute as the unmarked forward
calmly provided the finishing touch to
a low cross of Wahed Ahmed inside the
box to make it 3-1. It was Emilys eighth
goal in the league this season. Feni
Soccers substitute midfielder Azmal
Hossain Bidduit reduced the margin of
defeat from penalty in the 90th minute
after Tapu had brought down Sayed
Rashid Torza inside the box which left
the referee with no option but to award
a spot-kick.
Table toppers Sheikh Jamal will face
reigning champions Sheikh Russel in a
crucial tie today at 5.30pm. l

half hours of play in the third and final

day, rain interrupted proceedings with
MPCA batting on 244 for eight wickets.
Without much delay, the game
continued as MPCA lost their last two
wickets for 30 runs to be all out for 274
in 112.1 overs.
Opening batsman Arpit Gauds 64 was
the highest score for the visitors while
Mehedi Hasan and Saleh Ahmed picked
up three wickets each for the home side.
Later, the hosts posted 100 runs
in their second innings from 37 overs
losing four wickets before the umpires
removed the bails to call it a day as the
game ended in a draw.
Munim Shahriar scored 27 runs with
the help of five boundaries while Zakir
Hasan added 19 to the tally.
The first four-day game of the series
will begin tomorrow at Khan Shaheb
Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah.l

Siddik fails to
qualify for US Open
Siddikur Rahman failed to qualify for
next months US Open Championship
as the Bangladesh golfer finished joint
68th among 105 participants in the England section at the Walton Heath Golf
Club yesterday.
The two-time Asian Tour winner
carded two-over (74) and four-over (76)
in his two rounds to total six-over (150)
over the 36-hole qualifiers conducted
by the USGA.
Meanwhile, Chinas Liang Wenchong and Shiv Kapur of India are set
to make their US Open debuts next
month after coming through sectional
qualifying.
Kiyoshi Miyazato, Lee Kyoung-Hoon
and Toru Taniguchi were tied for second
and Azuma Yano and David Oh, who
were joint fifth, also earned tickets to the
June 9-15 US Open at Pinehurst Resort.
Separately Kapur, who also played
the British Open in 2006 and 2013, totalled 131 to place fifth at Walton Heath
Golf Club and qualify for his third major tournament.
Further sectional qualifiers will be
held in the United States on June 2.
Siddikur is expected to return home
briefly before flying off for the Queens
Cup in Bangkok which starts on June 5.l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Brazil team bus attacked

Sport

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Eng midfielder Wilshere fit for WC

The bus carrying Brazils World Cup squad to their first day of training on
Monday was kicked and punched by demonstrators angry at what they consider exorbitant spending on football and not enough on social programmes.
A small group of striking teachers attacked the bus as it left Rio de Janeiro
for the mountain town of Teresopolis, where the squad will be based during
the tournament. The teachers covered the bus with stickers as Barcelona
players Neymar and Dani Alves looked on from inside.
Reuters

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, who missed the last two months of the
season after fracturing his foot, says he will be fit to play for England at the
World Cup. The 22-year-old, who has won 15 caps, told Sky Sports that he
had been training for the last six weeks and was over the injury he sustained
playing for Arsenal against Stoke City on March 1. Asked if he was close to
peak fitness, he replied: I am. I have been training for a long time. I am
yet to play a game, but I have been training for six weeks.
Reuters

Injured Falcao trains in Argentina

Star Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, boosted hopes that he will be fit
for the World Cup, as he trained with the national squad in Argentina on
Tuesday. The 28-year-old Monaco player, who has scored 20 goals in 51 intl
appearances, suffered serious knee ligament damage in a French Cup tie
on Jan 22 and has not played since. Despite his 4-month absence, he was
named in Colombias provisional 30-man squad with June 2 set as the
deadline day for the final list of 23 players to be decided.
AFP

Torres gets a
foothold in Spain
World Cup squad
Chelsea striker Fernando Torres considers it a spectacular prize just to
get back into Spains squad for a World
Cup friendly, but has vowed to fight to
secure a ticket on the plane to Brazil.
The 30-year-old, who last played for
Spain almost a year ago at the Confederations Cup in Brazil, was named by
coach Vicente del Bosque in the national squad for a warmup game against
Bolivia on Friday.
The announcement gave a sliver of
hope to the 50 million pound ($84 million) striker, who suffered an alarming
slump after becoming one of the worlds
most feared goalscorers at his peak.
I am delighted to be here after almost a year since the Confederations
Cup. Delighted. Keen to get started,
Torres told reporters at the squads Madrid training ground on Monday.
Del Bosque has put off naming the
full World Cup squad until at least May
31 to check on the fitness of key players
at Real and Atletico Madrid after their
Champions League final clash.
Team doctors are particularly wor-

ried about Atleticos Brazilian-born

striker Diego Costa, who left the pitch
after just nine minutes because of a
hamstring problem.
Team doctors say Costa will have to
rest for at least 2 weeks, taking him perilously close to the opening Group B match
against the Netherlands on June 13.
But Torres knows he has only made
the list for Fridays Bolivia friendly, so far.
I am going to take advantage of this
week and enjoy it, he said. For Brazil,
being here is a big step but not definitive.
Bosque brought in Torres for the
friendly while omitting rivals Alvaro
Negredo and Fernando Llorente.
Torres, known as El Nino - The Kid
- said the past year had been strange
with lots of changes at Chelsea.
Its been a disappointing year because we did not win anything after
many years in a row of achieving titles.
On a personal level, too, Torres said.
So it has been a spectacular prize to
be able to be here and forget the clubs
and focus on the World Cup. A World
Cup that is around the corner. And to
fight to be on the definitive list and be
able to go to Brazil. l

Fifa President Sepp Blatter (C) smiles as he visits a football academy named after him, near the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday

Lukaku hattrick leads Belgian romp

Russia win, Japan toil to beat Cyprus in warm-ups
Romelu Lukaku scored a hat-trick as
World Cup dark horses Belgium eased
to a 5-1 win over minnows Luxembourg
in the first of three pre-finals friendlies
they will play before travelling to Brazil.
Meanwhile, Defender Atsuto Uchida spared Japans blushes with a
43rd-minute winner against Cyprus in
their final home World Cup warm-up
Tuesday while Russia on Monday started their World Cup countdown with a
1-0 win over Slovakia while Australia
were held to a 1-1 draw by South Africa.
Lukaku, who had an excellent season on loan with Everton from Chelsea
scoring 15 goals in the Premier League,
was joined on the scoresheet by Tottenham Hotspurs Nacer Chadli and
VfL Wolfsburgs former Chelsea attacking midfielder Kevin de Bruyne.
The game was also notable for the
first appearance in the Belgian colours
by Adnan Januzaj, the Manchester
United teenager who had been coveted
by several other countries for whom
he was eligible to play before he finally
opted for the Red Devils in late April.
Januzaj did not disappoint after
he replaced playmaker Eden Hazard
displaying some nice deft touches,
though, he will face far sterner examinations come the finals in Brazil.
Belgian coach Marc Wilmots despite
the weak opposition selected a first

Belgiums Romelu Lukaku (R) celebrates next to Kevin De Bruyne after scoring against
Luxembourg during their international friendly match in Genk on Monday
REUTERS
choice side, save goalkeeper Thibaut
Courtois, who was rested following his
side Atletico Madrids 4-1 Champions
League final defeat by city rivals Real
on Saturday.
Lukaku fired the Belgians into a
third minute lead but a lapse of concentration allowed Aurelien Joachim to
level 10 minutes later.
Lukaku, though, restored the one
goal advantage in the 23rd minute and
completed his hat-trick with a brilliant
individual goal in the 53rd.
Lukaku gave way on the hour mark
as Wilmots blooded another young
debutant in Divock Origi, who plays in

Makelele signs for

Bastia amid tax inquiry
Former Chelsea and Real Madrid star
Claude Makelele on Tuesday signed a
two-year deal to coach Ligue 1 side Bastia as a tax fraud investigation against
him gathered pace.
Swiss authorities have agreed to a
French request to help with an inquiry
into Makeleles assets.

Makelele, 41, will take up his first full

managerial post with the Corsican side,
having been assistant coach at Paris
Saint Germain since December 2011 with
Carlo Ancelotti and then Laurent Blanc.
Its an exciting challenge, a difficult one but I feel ready - Ill be bringing all my experience and hunger for
football, said Makelele, who played 71
times for France.
Makelele succeeds Frederic Hantz,
who in a four- year spell gained Bastia
promotion to Ligue 1 and a 10th place
finish last term.
The Swiss governments official bulletin released Tuesday announced an
accord to help investigate Makeleles assets held in the UBS bank in Switzerland.
When the request was made in April,
Swiss media said it could be linked to
Makeleles investment in the Swiss side
Servette FC. Former Servette president
Marc Roger, who organised the sale of a
stake to Makelele in 2004, has said he
owned between five and 10 percent of
the clubs shares. l

the French championship for Lille the

club where Hazard made his name before his move to Chelsea.
Chadli added a fourth after being
set up by De Bruyne, and the provider
turned goalscorer in the dying seconds
as he converted a penalty.
Belgium, who will also play Sweden
away on June 1 and then Tunisia in Brussels on June 7, will be appearing in their
first World Cup finals since 2002 where
they have been drawn in Group H.
They begin their World Cup campaign proper against Algeria on June 17
before going on to play Russia (June 22)
and South Korea (June 26). l

Deco cleared
of doping
Former Chelsea, Barcelona and Porto midfielder Deco was on Tuesday
cleared of doping and had a one year
ban lifted by the Court of Arbitration
for Sport (CAS).
Decos decorated career ended under a cloud last September when he
was found guilty of taking a banned diuretic by a laboratory in Rio de Janeiro.
But CAS, upholding the players appeal, ruled that Deco was completely
innocent of the charge, claiming there
were major doubts as to the validity of
the Brazilian control.
A fresh test was ordered by world
footballs governing body FIFA by the
official anti-doping laboratory in Lausanne which detected nothing untoward with the sample. l

REUTERS

Milan to sack Seedorf,

hire Inzaghi as coach
AC Milan are set to fire coach Clarence
Seedorf and replace him with youth
team coach Filippo Inzaghi, Italian media said on Tuesday.
Seedorf is only four months into
a two-and-a-half year contract and
has overseen a considerable improvement in results, but rumours about the
Dutchmans future have been rife for
several weeks.
Club president Silvio Berlusconi met
chief executive Adriano Galliani to discuss the move at the formers villa in
Arcore, around 20 kilometres outside
Milan, late on Monday night, media reported.
Italys three sports papers, Gazzetta

dello Sport, Corriere dello Sport and

Tuttosport, all carried similar reports,
which were unsourced.
Seedorf, 38, who spent 10
years of his playing career at Milan,
took over at the end of January to
replace Massimiliano Allegri, who
was fired after two-and-a-half years in
charge.
Former Italian prime minister Berlusconi had been chasing Seedorf for
several months before finally appointing him, yet the Dutchman quickly fell
out of favour.
Although Seedorf had no previous
coaching experience, results improved
markedly under him with 11 wins in 19
league games, compared to five in the
previous 19 under Allegri. l

Italy unhappy over food problems

Italy are unhappy to hear that food unfit for consumption has been found and
confiscated from their World Cup hotel
in Brazil but say it will not be a problem
for them.
Team doctor Enrico Castellecci told
reporters that Italy were planning to
take most of their food in any case and
everything served to the players would

be checked by their own staff.

Obviously, we are not pleased
about this news, were not happy that
its happened exactly at the place we
are going to, he said at Italys training
camp outside Florence.
The Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper
said Italy would travel to Brazil with 20
tonnes of goods, including food and
sporting equipment.
Brazilian health and safety officials

GREAT WORLD CUP SHOCKS

raided the England and Italy team hotels for the World Cup on Monday and
confiscated fish, butter, ham and other
food past their sell-by dates.
Officials discovered 25kg of seafood
and margarine past the sell by date at
Italys hotel in Mangaratiba, around
100 kilometres from Rio de Janeiro,
and another 24kg of meat, sauces,
cheese and sugar that had no visible
sell-by date. l

Episode

United States 1 England 0 (1950)

England arrived at what their first World Cup finals appearance in, hailed as potential winners having lost
just four times in 30 matches. Faced with a team of part-timers, England selectors rested star player Stanley
Matthews. It proved to be a fatal error as with substitutes not yet permitted Matthews sat helplessly on the
sidelines as a goal by Haiti-born Joe Gaetjens, who earned his keep as a dishwasher in a restaurant, earned
the Americans a 1-0 win. Neither side made it through to the next round. The match was immortalised in a
book and in a film called the Miracle Game.
AFP

Brazilian fans carried Joe Gaetjens off the field after the US shocked England in the 1950 World Cup

This photo is often said to depict Joe Gaetjens goal against England
and goalie Bert Williams. However, a closer look reveals the ball
appears to be on the outside of the net and Gaetjens isnt diving on
the play, as teammates remember

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

15

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Romario criticises
former team
mate Ronaldo

QUICK BYTES

Zia, Saiful on
equal points
Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman and Saiful
Islam Chowdhury gathered 2.5 points
each after 5th round in the Elite Group
of the 6th KIIT International Chess Festival at Bhubaneswar, India yesterday.
Among the other Bangladeshi players
Mohammad Jamal Uddin, Mohammad
Sirajul Kabir and Sarwar Hossain Ullash
earned 2 points each, Kazi Mahbub Afzal
posted 1.5 points, FM Mohammad Fahad
Rahman, Mohammad Abul Kashem and
Monir Hossain Monir bagged 1 point
each. Zia lost to Ravi Teja of India in
the 5th round while Sheraj and Jamal
beat Kashem and Monir respectively
and Saiful got a walk-over. Ullash lost to
GM Semcesen Denial of Sweden, Fahad
lost to Michelle Catherina of India and
Afzal lost to Vaishali of India in the same
round. Earlier in the 4th round, Zia drew
with Indias Saravanan Krishnan, Ullash
won against Manoj Kumar, Saiful lost to
GM Petrosian Davit of Armenia and Fahad lost to Indian Chakravarthy Reddy.
RM

REUTERS

Former World Cup winner Romario

launched another attack on Brazils organisation of the World Cup on Monday
and accused former team mate Ronaldo of inconsistency.
The once deadly striker said comments by Ronaldo, who works on the
tournaments organising committee but
professed himself embarrassed at Brazils shortcomings in an interview with
Reuters last week, were opportunism.
Everyone knows what I stand for,
the outspoken federal deputy was
quoted as saying by UOL, a leading Brazilian news website. I dont change
sides depending on how the game is
going.
However, Romario said the organisational problems, including stadium
construction falling behind, blown
budgets and the failure to deliver
much-needed transportation projects,
did not mean he would be cheering
against the home side.
Weve already lost off the pitch, he
said. Now we have to hope and pray
that we do well on it.
The World Cup starts on June 12 and
Brazil will be bidding to win a record
sixth title and their first on home soil. l

having seen off the Croat on the way.

The 35-year-old Karlovic, whose
last win in Paris was seven years ago,
has now equalled his best French Open
performance and next faces either Daniel Brands of Germany or Austrias Andreas Haider-Maurer.
Romanian fourth seed Simona Halep
reached the second round with a 6-0, 6-2
win over Russias Alisa Kleybanova and
next plays Heather Watson of Britain.
Other early winners were Svetlana
Kuznetsova, the Russian 27th seed and
2009 champion, who beat Georgias
Sofia Shapatava 6-3, 6-1 while 43-yearold Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, a
semi-finalist in 1995, lost 6-3, 0-6, 6-2
to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova,
the 24th seed.
Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer,
last years runner-up to Rafael Nadal,
began his 12th Roland Garros by
coasting past Igor Sijsling of the
Netherlands, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1. Ferrer, 32,
has reached the quarter-finals or better
at his last nine majors. l

Frances Kristina Mladenovic celebrates

after winning her French tennis Open first
round match against Chinas Li Na at Roland
Garros in Paris yesterday
AFP

MPCA U-17
dominate day one
Bangladesh Under-17 team began their
25-day long tour of India with their
first three-day game against Madhaya
Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA)
Under-17 at Holkar Stadium, Indore
yesterday. After being put in to bat first,
hosts MPCA rode on Rishabh Choubeys
91 to end the fist day on 259 runs for
the loss of just four wickets. Rishabh
clobbered 12 boundaries in his 161-ball
innings. Top order batsman Sanket Shrivastava also added 51 off 103 balls. Afif
Hossain Dhrubo picked up two wickets
for Bangladesh while Kamil Ahmed and
Shafiul Hayet bagged a wicket each.
Tribune Desk

Bale out of
Wales friendly
Champions League hero Gareth Bale
will miss Waless friendly international
away to the Netherlands next week,
the Football Association of Wales
announced Tuesday. The former
Tottenham Hotspur winger scored Real
Madrids key second goal in extra-time
against city rivals Atletico Madrid in
Lisbon last weekend as the Spanish
giants won the Champions League final
4-1 and lifted the European Cup for an
unprecedented 10th time. However,
injury has now seen him withdraw
from the squad Wales manager Chris
Coleman will take to Amsterdam.
AFP

Moroccan champions
book Club WC place
Moghreb Tetouan qualified for the 2014
FIFA Club World Cup by winning the
championship of host nation Morocco
at the weekend. Other qualifiers for the
tournament include Spanish giants Real
Madrid, Mexicans Cruz Azul and New
Zealand outfit Auckland City. The South
American, Asian and African champions
will complete the seven-club line-up for
a competition won last year by Bayern
Munich. A 2-1 home win over Renaissance Berkane gave Tetouan 58 points
in the 30-round league, three more than
defending champions Raja Casablanca,
who lost 1-0 at Olympique Safi.
AFP

Palestine into AFC

Challenge final
Palestine took a step towards qualification for next years Asian Cup in Australia
with a 2-0 win over Afghanistan in the
semi-final of the AFC Challenge Cup in
Male on Tuesday. Ashraf Al Fawaghra
scored both goals, either side of halftime, as Palestine continued their unbeaten run in the eight-nation tournament.
Palestine will play the winners of Tuesday
nights second semi-final between the
Philippines and hosts Maldives in the final
on Friday. The champions will secure a
place in the Asian Cup.
AFP

DAYS WATCH
Sony Six
Indian Premier League
4:30PM
Qualifier-1: Kolkata v Punjab
8:30PM
Eliminator: Chennai v Mumbai
7:00AM
NBA Play Off 2013-14: Conf Final
Oklahoma City v San An
Star Sports 2
7:00PM
England v Sri Lanka
Third ODI
Neo Sports
5:00PM
French Open, 2nd Round
Womens & Mens Singles

A woman walks past a graffiti referencing the 2014 World Cup and with Brazilian soccer player Neymars face covered with a mask, in Rio de Janeiro on Monday

Li stunned at French Open

Former champion Li Na, the second-seeded Chinese superstar and Australian Open winner, was sensationally
dumped out of the French Open in the
first round Tuesday, beaten by a tearful
Kristina Mladenovic.
Li, the 2011 champion, went down
7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to the 103rd-ranked blonde
Frenchwoman -- the Roland Garros junior champion in 2009 -- to suffer her
first opening round defeat in Paris in
eight visits.
The 2hr 06min loss on a windswept
and chilly Suzanne Lenglen court saw
Li undone by 37 unforced errors.
Mladenovic, who was Australian
Open mixed doubles champion this
year with Daniel Nestor, goes on to face
Alison Riske of the United States.
It is a familiar scenario for Li who
failed to get beyind the fourth round of
the six Grand Slams which followed her
2011 Roland Garros breakthrough.
Mladenovic, who was 36 in the

world last August, was in tears after her

victory, her third over a top 10 player.
Lis shock defeat means that both
Australian Open champions have been
knocked out in the first round after Stan
Wawrinkas listless defeat on Monday.
Also making an early exit on Tues-

day was Bulgarian mens 11th seed

Grigor Dimitrov who lost 6-4, 7-5, 7-6
(7/4) to giant Croat Ivo Karlovic.
Karlovic fired 22 aces and wasnt
broken by Dimitrov who won the Bucharest claycourt title this spring and
was a semi-finalist at the Rome Masters

Wozniacki beaten on
court after losing in love
Heartbroken Caroline Wozniacki suffered
a morale-sapping defeat at the French
Open on Tuesday in her first appearance
since the break-up of her romance with
star golfer Rory McIlroy.
The 23-year-old Danes three-year
relationship with the Northern Irishman
ended last week after McIlroy got cold
feet over their future while sending out

wedding invitations.
The break-up did not have an immediate
impact on his form as he swept to victory
at the European Tours PGA Championship at Wentworth at the weekend.
But it was a different story for former
world number one Wozniacki who slipped
to a 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2 defeat to Belgiums
Yanina Wickmayer on a chilly Court Two.
It was 13th-seeded Wozniackis earliest
defeat in Paris since her debut in 2007.l

Younis wants
World Cup call-up

(L-R) German national football team general manager Oliver Bierhoff, Mercedes Formula
One driver Nico Rosberg of Germany and German golfer Martin Kaymer pose after a German
national soccer team news conference in St Martin, northern Italy yesterday
REUTERS

Glamorgan sign Sammy for T20

Glamorgan have signed West Indies
all-rounder Darren Sammy to play in
English county crickets Twenty20
Blast tournament, the club announced
Tuesday.
Former West Indies captain Sammy
is set to head straight to Welsh county

Glamorgans Cardiff base from the Indian Premier League in time for their
first home match of the Blast campaign
against unbeaten Sussex on Friday.
He will stay with Glamorgan, who
although a Welsh side play in all of Englands senior county competitions,
until the start of the Caribbean Premier
League, another domestic T20 event. l

Pakistan batsman Younis Khan said

Tuesday he hopes to revive his one-day
career in time for next years World Cup.
The 36-year old has been out of the
one-day side since March last year following a run of wretched form, with the
last of his six hundreds coming against
the West Indies in 2008. But Khan, who
is one of Pakistans modern Test batting
greats, insisted he wanted to end his
limited-overs career on his own terms.
My desire is to walk away on my
own conditions, playing in every form
of the game I am available to play, rather than being dropped, he told reporters at a team camp ahead of the teams
tour of Sri Lanka in August.
I surely would like to grab the opportunity to play the World Cup, he added.
Next years edition is to be held in
Australia and New Zealand, and Pakistan is due to get plenty of practice
against the hosts in a UAE series from
October to December. l

Root desperate to avoid

more England agony
Joe
Root
has
said
Englands
much-vaunted attempt to rebuild their
standing with their fans, let alone the
rest of the cricket world, will come to
nothing if they suffer yet more humiliation during the ongoing one-day series
with Sri Lanka.
England, in classic early season English conditions, were bowled out for
just 99 as Sri Lanka cruised to a huge
157-run victory in the second ODI at
north-east county Durhams Chesterle-Street headquarters on Sunday to
level the five-match series at 1-1 after
the hosts won in a rain-affected opener
at The Oval.
The series continues at Manchesters Old Trafford on Wednesday and
with crowds appearing to be down after
Englands 5-0 Ashes series loss in Australia, Root -- bowled for a third-ball
duck by Lasith Malinga at the weekend

- knows a repeat of the Durham debacle wont go down well with the paying
public.
We dont want fans turning up for
games and seeing a performance like
that, said the Yorkshire batsman after
Sundays drubbing. Its quite embarrassing.
The one way to get people to come
and watch you is to win games of cricket and we have to make sure we can
do that consistently, earn the right for
people to want to come and watch us.
But Root insisted England, who will
hope to welcome back captain and
opener Alastair Cook at Old Trafford
after he missed Sundays match with a
groin strain, had not lost faith in their
collective ability to win the series.
We played some really good cricket
at The Oval, which was not even a week
ago now, said Root .
If we do play at the top of our game
were going to beat sides like Sri Lanka. l

Prime, Surjodoy
post wins in
premier handball

South Bangla
Bank National
Junior TT begins

Prime Sporting Club and Surjodoy Krira

Chakra registered victories in the Cute
Premier Division Handball League at
the handball stadium yesterday.
Prime Sporting, who led the firsthalf by 15-7 goals, outplayed Bangla
Club 33-12 with Imran netting 10 goals
followed by Ashik with nine goals.
Mushfiqur of Bangla Club scored three
goals.
Later, Surjodoy Krira Chakra
reigned over Old Ideals by 28-16
goals. The eventual winners led the
opening half 16-9. Abdur Rab of Surjodoy was the highest scorer with nine
goals while Sanjib contributed six goals
in the rout. Bilal of Old Ideals also
scored six goals. l

Dhaka, Rangpur, Narail and Bangladesh Army moved into the third round
of the girls team event of the South
Bangla Bank 2nd National Junior Table
Tennis at the Shahid Tajuddin Wooden
Floor Gymnasium yesterday.
In the boys team event, Bagerhat,
Rangamati, Barguna, Manikganj, Rangpur, Narail, Sylhet and Gaibandha won
their respective first-round matches to
progress into the second round.
State minister for youth and sports
Biren Sikder inaugurated the meet as
the chief guest. Bangladesh Table Tennis
president Abdul Karim, general secretary
Zobera Rahman Linu and South Bangla
Bank managing director Md. Rafikul Islam were also present on the occasion. l

Suede Bangladesh felicitated the intellectually challenged players who finished 4th in the Dhaka Metropolis School Table Tennis
Championship at its New Eskaton office yesterday. Shamsur Rahman Sharif, the minister for lands was the cheif guest. AFM Iqbal
bin Anwar Dawn, the additional director of Walton was alspo present and handed over the gift hampers to the players. It would be
mentionable that the players competed with normal players
COURTESY

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Power to get 2.4%

budget hike
Expenditure of Tk7,200 crore to be
provisioned for subsidy
pany of Bangladesh Tk810 crore; Den Aminur Rahman Rasel
sco and DPDC will get Tk50 crore and
The power division is getting Tk9,284
crore in the upcoming budget, which
is Tk224 crore or 2.4% higher than the
allocation for the outgoing fiscal year,
officials have said.
They said an expenditure of Tk7,200
crore will be provisioned for subsidy in
the power sector,which is higher than
the subsidy of about Tk5,500 crore in
the outgoing fiscal years budget.
Industry insiders said although the
government had hiked the power tariff during the current financial year, its
mounting dependency on expensive
oil-fired power plants might be the reason behind higher allocationfor subsidy.
In FY 2009-10, the allocation for
the sector was Tk2,102.2 crore and it
was Tk5,981.88 crore in FY 2010-11. In
FY2011-12, the allocation increased to
Tk7,185.8 crore, which then went up to
Tk7,889 crore in the next fiscal.
Sources said in the primarily-fixed
budget of FY2014-15, Tk3,294 crore
will be kept for the Power Development
Board; the Rural Electrification Board
will get Tk98.90 crore; the West Zone
Power Distribution CompanyTk204
crore; the Electricity Generation Com-

Tk147 crore, respectively.

Additionally, the government is allocating Tk521 crore for the development
of power transmission under the Power
Grid Company of Bangladesh.
The Dhaka Tribune has also learnt
about allocations of Tk250 crore for
the Coal Power Generation Company of
Bangladesh; Tk104 crore for the North
West Power Generation Company and
Tk885 crore for the Ashuganj Power
Station Company.
Buet professor and energy expert
Ijaz Hossain stressed the installation of
low-cost coal-based power plants in order to reduce the electricity tariff.
It is unfortunate that we are paying
a lot of money but have not yet gotten
rid of load-shedding, he said.
Summit Group Chairman Muhammad Aziz Khan told the Dhaka Tribune:
I think that the power sector is the most
important infrastructure of a country.
The government should not roll out only
five-year projects or plans... The governments ambition should span over
10-15 years. The present government has
come up with the 2021 outlook for the
sector. I think that should continue. l

Retractable spikes installed only five days back on the citys Hare Road to prevent vehicles
from going the wrong lane goes out of order, causing further annoyance to vehicle owners
and drivers
RAJIB DHAR

RAB to be on duty Tipoo blames law ministry for confusion

during Ramadan
the team stopped working on the case. from the position of chief coordinator
n Udisa Islam
Members of the team think that the re- the following day.
n Mohosinul Karim
The chief prosecutor said yesterday:
After almost one month of silence, sponsibility of the case might be given
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman
Khan Kamal yesterday said the Rapid
Action Battalion would be deployed to
maintain law and order during the month
of holy Ramadan and Eid shopping.
The RAB authority earlier announced that the elite force would not
patrol city streets and carry out duties
at check posts anymore.
Meanwhile, Inspector General of
Police Hasan Mahmood Khandakar
said, The announcement of the RAB
authority was a strategic stance. RAB
personnel will perform duties during
Ramadan, if necessary.
The minister and the police boss
made the disclosure after a meeting
held in the ministry.
Special security measures will be
taken at markets, bus stops and railway
stations during Ramadan. Closed-circuit television cameras will be installed
in all shopping malls in the capital in
Ramadan, said Asaduzzaman. l

Chief Prosecutor of the International

Crimes Tribunal Golam Arif Tipoo admitted yesterday that there had been a
conflict persisting within the team over
his holding office and blamed the Law
Ministry for creating the confusion.
He said the conflict was delaying
the case against Jamaat-e-Islami even
though a seven-member prosecution
team was at the final stage of pressing the formal charges. He, however,
hoped that the case would continue
once the ministry resolved the issue.
He made the comments while talking to reporters at his residence.
Tipoo formed the team in March to
deal with the Jamaat case with Tureen
Afroz as its coordinator. In a resolution
taken during a prosecution meeting on
May 11, the team was asked to hand
over the case documents to the acting
chief prosecutor.
In response, Tureen wrote to Tipoo
seeking directives on the matter and

to some other prosecutors.

The chief prosecutor came to the tribunal on Monday for the first time after
he had joined the prosecution office on
April 30 after his treatment abroad.
The confusion was created because
th Law Ministry, in a gazette notification
on April 13, said in Tipoos one month
absence, senior prosecutor Syed Haider
Ali would work as the acting chief prosecutor. The ministry, however, neither
issued any further notice nor withdrew
the gazette after Tipoos return.
The chief prosecutor said yesterday
that there was no provision for such a position in the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 and that he had never faced
such a situation in the last four years.
Tipoo had earlier termed as illegal,
the appointment of MK Rahman as the
chief coordinator of the prosecution
team who was relieved from his duties as the additional attorney general
on May 19. MK Rahman stepped down

Lonely, rare Painted Stork to get a home

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong
A young Painted Stork locally known as
Rongeela Bok was found alone on a hill
in Chittagong City on Thursday. It was later
handed over to the Wildlife Management
and Nature Conservation Department on
Monday for release in the Bangabandhu
Safari Park in Gazipur.
Currently, a few can be seen in the
coastal areas.
The three-feet tall bird is the biggest
ever Painted Stork found in the Chittagong
region, said Bangladesh Forest Research
Institute (BFRI) Director Dr Md Mokhlesur
Rahman.
Sayedul Alam Sohel from Paschim Pahar
Residential Area of the BFRI found the bird
lying on a hill slope there and informed the
authorities.
During the rescue drive, the bird, which
still cannot fly, was found to be sick. Later
the BFRI authorities gave it treatment
and food, said BFRI Field Investigator
Mainuddin.
He said the storks nest was found in a
bamboo-clump on the BFRI campus where
it had grown up.
On Monday night, BFRI Director
Mokhlesur handed the stork over to
Divisional Forest Officer Abdul Khaleque
of the Wildlife Management and Nature
Conservation Department in Chittagong. It
will be released in Gazipurs Bangabandhu
Safari Park.
According to 2012 Birdlife International of the IUCN, the Painted Stork, named
for their distinctive pink tertial feathers, is
a large wading bird of the stork family. It is
found in the wetlands of the plains of tropical Asia, south of the Himalayas in India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh and extending
into Southeast Asia.
As per the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species published in 2012, the Painted
Storks are former residents of Bangladesh

Those who ordered the handover of all

the materials related to the Jamaat case
are not ready to try the party for some
reason. But there is no scope to become
hopeless as we are committed to do it.
He confirmed that none of the higher authorities had asked them to stop
the proceedings against Jamaat. If
there is any possibility of a U-turn from
the government side, then someone
would have told us before the investigation agency submitted its report, he
explained.
He said: The ministry will have to
solve the problem as they have created it
by going beyond the law. We are waiting
for the end of the conflicting situation and
seeking immediate action as we know the
government is committed to the trial.
Hopeful about the Jamaat trial, Tipoo
said: The people of Bangladesh want
to try Jamaat and there is no reason to
hold the process back. No doubt, the
proceedings will be in progress again. l

63inches) in wingspan and they weigh

about 2 to 3.5kg.
Males and females appear alike but the
males of a pair are usually larger than the
females.
The Painted Storks eat small fish,
frogs and occasionally snakes in groups in
shallow wetlands. They forage mainly in
the day but may forage later, even at night,
under exceptional conditions.
Their breeding season begins in the
winter months, shortly after the monsoons. They breed in their platform nests,
materials of which are carried by the bird.
Those nests are typically placed in a tree
on an island or in an otherwise undisturbed
area. l

n Tribune Report
Interpol has
issued the
red warrant
against Nur
Hossain,
the
prime
accused in
Narayanganj
seven-murder case.
The France-based international organisation of police yesterday posted Nur
Hossains profile on its Red Warrant
page on wanted people.
According to the Interpol website,
the red warrant was issued against
Nur for his alleged involvement with
six crimes, including murder, hiding
evidence of the crime, kidnapping/abducting persons with intent to wrongful confinement, wrongful restraint,
impersonating a public servant and

group involvement in crime.

On May 22, Bangladesh police
sought the help of Interpol for the capture of Nur Hossain.
A letter had been sent to the Interpol
authority in this regard, Narayanganj
Superintendent of Police Khandaker
Mahid Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune.
On May 12, Rapid Action Battalion
Additional Director General (operations) Col Ziaul Ahsan said they had
specific information that Nur Hossain
had fled the country through the Benapole border on the night of May 2 and
he had been in Kolkata.
However, police officials were still
uncertain about Nurs whereabouts.
Narayanganj ward councillor Nazrul
Islam, lawyer Chandan Sarkar and five
others were abducted on April 27 by some
criminals who were allegedly assisted by
three top officials of RAB 11. Their bodies
were later found in the Shitalakkhya River on April 30 and May 1. l

Transport strike in Dhaka, Rajshahi

divisions halted
n Tribune Report

and now a straggler to the coastal regions.

However, Ronald R Halder, in his book
Birds of Bangladesh published in 2010,
termed the Painted Storks migratory birds.
The Painted Stork generally has a heavy
yellow beak with a down-curved tip. The
head of the adult is bare and orange or reddish in colour. The long tertials are tipped
with bright pink.
The body of the adults is whitish while
the primaries and the secondaries are
black with a greenish gloss. Their legs are
yellowish to red. The short tail is black with
a green gloss.
The common size of a standing Painted
Stork is about 93 to 102centimetres (37
to 40inches) tall, 150 to 160cm (59 to

Interpol issues red

warrant against Nur

Transport owners and workers in Rajshahi division called off their strike for
10 days yesterday evening hours after
a similar strike had been suspended in
eight Dhaka division districts until tomorrow.
The association of Dhaka divisional
northern bus-truck owners and workers called off their strike that started
at 6am in Gazipur, Dhaka (north), Mymensingh, Netrakona, Kishoreganj,
Jamalpur, Sherpur and Tangail to press
home their seven-point demand.
The demands include removal of the
Netrakona deputy commissioner, withdrawal of illegal vehicles from roads,
ending police extortion on vehicles and
execution of a deal with the government.
Communication Minister Obaidul
Quader, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan and top police officials
sat in a meeting with the leaders of
the association and assured the transport owners and workers that their demands would be met.
In view of the assurances, the strike
had been put on hold until tomorrow,
Mamtazuddin, president of Mymensingh District Motors Owners Association,
told reporters yesterday.
On Sunday, transport owners and
workers in Rajshahi division called a
strike in all eight districts of the division, demanding fulfilment of their sixpoint demand, which is similar to the
seven-point demand of the association
in Dhaka.
Our correspondent in Rajshahi reported that the transport leaders and
workers held a meeting around 7pm

yesterday about calling off or suspending the strike.

We sat in a meeting upon a request
from the central leaders, Manzur Rahman Peter, convenor of the Rajshahi
association, told the Dhaka Tribune.
The meeting decided to suspend the
strike for 10 days.
Meanwhile, people in these districts
suffered terribly because of the strike.
Businesses came to a halt at many places as no freight-carrying trucks operated for a long time.
Our Gazipur correspondent reports:
Sufferings of long-route commuters
mounted as long-distant buses did not
operate through the district.
A passenger named Bokul Begum
said she had waited for a bus for around
an hour from 11am to go her Gazipur
home but had not got any.
Gazipur Traffic Sergeant Md Kamrul
Islam said passengers were going to
their distant destinations through the
local bus services.
The picture of passengers sufferings
was worse in Sirajganj than anywhere
in the eight districts, with people getting stuck on both
sides of the Bangabandhu bridge,
reports our correspondent in the
district.
A large number
of people were
seen waiting for
train at the Sadanandapur Railways Station.
The inter-city
Silk City Express
bound for Dhaka

from Rajshahi arrived at the station

around 12 at noon although it was
scheduled for around 10am.
Passengers were seen scrambling
into the train, which had already been
packed with passengers. Many passengers struggled for room on the engine
of the train, failing to get into the train.
There were allegations of extortion
by the police.
When the superintendent of police
was informed about it, an extortionist
was arrested.
A clash between bus and truck workers took place over realising extortion,
leaving at least five people injured.
Our Bogra correspondent reports:
Earlier in the day, transport leaders and
workers vowed to continue their strike
until their six-point demand, including
their deal with the government, was
fulfilled.
Vice President Abdul Mannan of Rajshahi Regional Committee of Bangladesh Sarak Sramik Federation said they
had sat in a meeting with the administration on Monday but there had been
no results. l

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 Office: 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

B3 IMFs Lagarde says bank

reforms slowed by fierce

industry pushback

B4 As Indias new government gets to work, a

promise to investors

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Retailers compensation inadequate

Says Dutch minister on payment to Rana Plaza victims. Tofail
rules out possibility of labour unrest amid factory closures
n Tribune Report
Visiting Dutch minister said the
compensation provided by the
Western retailers so far to the Rana
Plaza victims is not sufficient and
called on the companies to give
more.
She assured of talks with the
European Union colleagues to collectively convince the companies
in this regard, expecting positive
outcome in the coming weeks or
months.
We will interact with stakeholders and meet our EU colleagues to
see what we can do jointly to reach
out to the companies and encourage them (for compensation). You
will see some actions in the coming weeks or months, said Lilianne
Ploumen,
Minister for Foreign
Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands.
We feel that victims needed
compensation, she added while addressing a joint press conference of
Bangladesh and the Netherlands at
a hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

The
press
conference
was
preceded by a consultative meeting
between the two countries, which
was attended by representatives from
International Labour Organisation
(ILO), the EU and Australian
government.
Bangladeshs Commerce Minis-

or remediation, which made thousands of workers jobless.

He said if such closures continued making workers unemployed,
the countrys RMG sector might
face another labour unrest ahead of
Ramadan.
Dutch envoy to Bangladesh Ger-

We will interact with stakeholders and meet

our EU colleagues to see how to reach out to
the companies. You will see some actions in the
coming weeks or months
ter Tofail Ahmed also spoke at the
presser.
He ruled out any possibility of labour unrest for factory closures as the
jobless workers are being employed
by other factories new and old.
On Monday, State Minister for
Labour and Employment Mujibul
Haque Chunnu expressed anger
at the closures of flawed factories
without giving time for relocation

ben de Jong and Bangladeshs Senior Commerce Secretary Mahbub

Ahmed were also present at the
press conference.
The consultative meeting discussed the initiatives taken to
improve safety in Bangladeshs
ready-made garment sector and the
progress made with the initiatives.
Dutch minister said Bangladesh
has done a lot of things to improve

TOAB tourism fair begins Friday

n Tribune Report

A 3-day international tourism fair begins in Dhaka on Friday to promote

the countrys tourism industry.
Tour Operator Association of
Bangladesh (TOAB), apex body
of the countrys tour operators,
will organise the fair titled EBLBTTF-2014 International Tourism
Fair at Bangabandhu International

Conference Centre (BICC).

It would be the 5th event TOAB is
organising with around 100 exhibitors from six countries Malaysia,
Thailand, India, Nepal, Bhutan and
host Bangladesh, a pre-event press
conference was told at a hotel in the
city yesterday. Tourism Malaysia
will have a major stake.
Commerce
Minister
Tofail
Ahmed is scheduled to inaugurate

the fair and Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon
would conclude close it on Sunday
next.
The participants include national tourism organisations (NTOs),
airlines, tour operators, hotels, resorts, travel trade bodies, financial
and educational institutions.
During the exhibition, the exhibitors would offer special discounts

the RMG sector in last one year after

Rana Plaza collapse.
She said almost one third of total factories have been inspected
and out of 1,500 factories inspected, only 19 were found with serious
flaws, which faced complete or partially closure.
Besides,
publicly
accessible database of workers has been
launched, Labour Act has been
amended, 130 trade unions have
been registered and minimum wages increased by 77%.
But the challenges remain regarding the appointment of all 200
factory inspectors, making workers
database more elaborate, stopping
harassment of workers and addressing some remedial issues.
Tofail Ahmed said only 2% of total factories inspected were found
flawed, which is same of the global
average of vulnerable factories, he
said.
About the recruitment of 200
factory inspectors, he said 67 have
already been appointed and others
will be recruited soon. l

on airfares, tour packages and a

host of other promotional offers.
Colourful cultural shows will be
staged every evening.
A seminar titled Memorials of
Liberation War and Our Tourism
and a discussion titled Tourism
and Skilled Workforce will be held
on the sidelines of the fair.
The fair will remain open from
10am to 8pm on all the three days. l

FY15 budget allocation to see

lowest growth in 5 years
n Asif Showkat Kallol

The budgetary allocation for the next fiscal year is going to be increased by 12.5%
from the original allocation of the outgoing fiscal year.
It would be the poorest growth in public spending in last five fiscal years.
The total outlay is being increased from
Tk2,22,491 crore in 2013-14 to Tk2,50,302
crore in 2014-15 which is little over
what Finance Minister AMA Muhith has
long been saying, it would not cross
Tk2,50,000.
The growth of budgetary allocation
was over 16% in 2013-14, over 17.21% in
2012-13, about 24% in 2011-12 and over
16% in 2010-11.
Despite the lowest growth, economists
were critical of the huge allocation as the
government has to cut the size due to under utilisation as well as weaknesses in
resource mobilisation. They also apprehended that the huge revenue target is
unlikely to be achieved based on which
the huge budget is going to be allocated.
Eminent economist Dr Mirza Azizul

Islam would, however, term it a big

budget that would create huge pressure
on the credit market, crowding out the
private sector loans and putting pressure
on the investment situation in the next
fiscal year.
The price situation would also be affected due to the deficit to be created out
of the huge budget, he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The finance minister would finalise the
budget size after holding discussion with
the Prime Minister after her returning
home from Japan, said an official.
According to finance division sources, the bank borrowing target would be
Tk31,509 crore in the next fiscal year. This
is due to more ADP outlay than what was
estimated earlier.
The total budget deficit is estimated to be
of Tk67,500 crore, which is 5.08% of GDP.
We had no plan to cross the budget
outlay of Tk 2,50,000 crore, but it is now
crossing the threshold due to increased
ADP, said a senior official of the finance
division. We are under pressure to raise
the allocation. l

B2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

56,710,645
59,670

Traded Issues

294

Issue Gain
(Avg. Price Basis)

153

Issue Loss
(Avg. Price Basis)

134

Unchanged Issue (Avg.

Price Basis)

Market Capital Equity

(Billion. Tk.)

2,265.39

Market Capital Equity

(Billion US$)

27.46

CSE key features

May 27, 2014
Turnover (Million Taka)

177.04

Turnover (Volume)

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index :

2,401.56

Number of Contract

non and its behavioral impact.

It said as the cloudy phenomena
sustained in the last few sessions,
participants could not drive much
certainly, keeping total turnover
still low.
Lanka Bangla Securities said a
firm up move amid improved market turnover value indicts that the
investors are gaining confidence to
buy stocks at current level after a
month long bearish tone.
It said investors might have got
a positive vibe hearing approval of
$169m for 13 projects under foreign
aid Japanese governments pledge
for $6bn economic assistance.
Experts have considered it a
time befitting way of stabilising the
currency rate and squeezing the
deficit in balance of payment.
Market bellwether banking issues gained 1.2%, followed by cement, food and allied, tannery,
pharmaceuticals and telecommunications.
Lafarge Surma Cement was the
top turnover leader with shares
worth Tk17 crore changing hands
followed
by
Grameenphone,
Square Pharmaceuticals, Mercantile Bank, Heidelberg Cement,
Eastern Housing Ltd, BSRM Steel
and Meghna Petroleum.l

Stocks rallied after two consecutive flat sessions yesterday on buying pressure mainly on financials,
food and allied, cement and telecommunications issues.
The benchmark index DSEX
rose 37 points or 0.85% to close at
4,416.
The comprising blue chips DS30
rose 13 points or 0.8% to 1,602. The
Shariah index DSES gained 7 points
or 0.78% to close at 985.
Chittagong Stock Exchange
(CSE) Selective Categories Index,
CSCX, was up 60 points to close at
8,478.
Turnover at the DSE stood at
Tk240 crore, up by 1.8% over the
previous session. Out of 294 issues
traded, 161 advanced, 82 declined
and 51 closed unchanged on the
DSE floor.
Market bounced back and
surpassed its tri-sessions bearish
spell, said IDLC Investments, in its
market analysis.
The consequent buying motive
in some of large caps stepped up
DSEX above 4,400 points level, it
said. Since national budget 201415 is on its way, investors has been
monitoring the market phenome-

Company

Turnover
(Million Taka)
Turnover
(Volume)

5,257,949

Number of Contract

7,421

4415.75168

(+) 0.85%

Traded Issues

208

985.51150

(+) 0.78%

Issue Gain
(Avg. Price Basis)

107

1602.32375

(+) 0.81%

Issue Loss
(Avg. Price Basis)

97

CSE All Share Index:

13628.51240

(+) 0.78%

Unchanged Issue (Avg.

Price Basis)

CSE - 30 Index :

11216.92380

(+) 1.02%

Market Capital Equity

(Billion. Tk.)

2,173.33

8478.03750

(+) 0.72%

Market Capital Equity

(Billion US$)

26.34

DSE Shariah Index :

DSE - 30 Index :

CSE Selected Index :

DSE LOSERS

Standard Insurance-A
Savar Refractories-Z
Rupali Life Insur.-A
BD Fixed Income MF-A
Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A
Samata LeatheR -Z
Salvo Chemicals-B
Imam Button -Z

-6.50
-5.29
-5.17
-3.61
-2.89
-2.60
-2.53
-2.41

Average (%
change)
-6.35
-4.31
-4.94
-2.77
-3.50
-2.60
-0.85
-3.57

AFC AgroBiotech-N
Renwick Jajneswar-A

-2.13
-2.01

-2.03
-1.22

Company

Closing (%
change)

CSE LOSERS

Phoenix Insur -A
PragatiLife Insu. -A
Samata LeatheR -Z
ISN Ltd. -Z
Argon Denims Limited-A
AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A
Apex SpinningA
Rupali Life Insur.-A

-8.40
-8.13
-7.14
-4.55
-3.97
-3.85
-3.75
-3.69

Average (%
change)
-8.40
-8.13
-7.11
-4.78
-3.86
-1.83
-3.75
-6.55

Meghna Life Ins. -A

Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A

-3.25
-3.23

-3.19
-4.36

Company

Closing (%
change)

ANALYST

Closing
average

Closing

Bank
NBFI
Investment
Engineering
Food & Allied
Fuel & Power
Jute
Textile
Pharma & Chemical
Paper & Packaging
Service
Leather
Ceramic
Cement
Information Technology
General Insurance
Life Insurance
Telecom
Travel & Leisure
Miscellaneous
Debenture

DSE
Million Taka
335.21
64.08
42.23
199.42
196.12
152.63
0.91
309.31
348.72
0.25
66.74
53.29
7.25
274.54
14.15
30.71
92.41
141.38
18.58
53.49
0.17

Turnover
in million

Daily low

Latest
EPS

Latest
PE

33.21
55.50
78.16
8.07
27.26
30.00
23.32
8.10

33.10
55.50
77.00
8.00
26.90
30.00
23.10
8.10

34.00
55.50
82.10
8.20
28.00
30.00
24.00
8.10

32.00
55.50
73.10
8.00
26.80
30.00
21.40
8.10

1.979
0.003
19.334
0.117
53.138
0.105
14.673
0.016

2.88
0.52
5.33
0.56
4.64
0.09
1.16
-1.85

11.5
106.7
14.7
14.4
5.9
333.3
20.1
-ve

55.51
300.78

55.10
296.70

57.00
307.50

54.70
296.10

20.956
3.459

2.32
3.92

Eastern Housing -A
Modern Dyeing -Z
Kay & Que (BD) -Z
Rahima Food -Z
BATBCL -A
Apex Tannery -A
Midas Financing-Z
Stylecraft -A
Reliance Insur -A
Southeast Bank-A

Closing (%
change)
8.19
5.96
5.60
4.86
4.61
4.50
4.40
4.31
4.27
3.96

CSE GAINERS
Company
Eastern Housing -A
Delta Brac HFCL-A
NLI 1st M F-A
Rahima Food -Z
Mercantile Bank -A
Hakkani P& Paper -B
Apex Tannery -A
City G Insu.-A
Bangas -A
Eastern Bank - A

Closing (%
change)
8.03
6.40
5.49
4.70
3.91
3.90
3.89
3.77
3.52
3.45

Average (%
change)
4.40
6.67
4.68
5.71
3.91
3.03
5.55
4.57
3.90
2.52
Average (%
change)
4.99
6.40
4.03
6.42
3.37
4.27
4.23
3.53
2.91
3.83

Closing
average
60.76
80.00
13.20
59.79
2,235.67
143.99
19.20
1,030.00
63.21
20.74

Closing
average
60.79
66.50
9.55
60.17
18.41
29.30
144.73
22.00
512.97
27.10

Closing
62.10
80.00
13.20
60.40
2,251.00
146.40
19.00
1,027.50
63.50
21.00

Closing
61.90
66.50
9.60
60.20
18.60
29.30
144.30
22.00
517.70
27.00

Daily high
62.70
80.00
13.20
61.00
2,259.20
147.70
19.30
1,040.00
66.40
22.00

Daily high
62.70
66.50
9.80
61.00
18.70
29.30
147.00
22.00
520.00
27.50

Daily low
52.10
80.00
13.20
57.90
2,100.00
130.00
19.00
1,015.00
58.00
18.20

Daily low
58.40
66.50
9.30
58.00
17.80
29.30
142.00
22.00
504.00
26.20

Turnover
in million
63.501
0.020
0.013
7.504
26.600
10.893
0.048
0.206
0.447
51.316

Turnover
in million
3.263
0.033
0.019
0.872
5.620
0.015
0.767
0.007
1.154
0.044

Latest
EPS
1.56
1.61
-0.92
-1.01
82.80
4.35
-6.91
47.83
5.84
3.04

Latest
EPS
1.56
5.05
1.36
-1.01
1.16
0.28
4.35
1.84
5.87
4.72

Latest
PE
38.9
49.7
-ve
-ve
27.0
33.1
-ve
21.5
10.8
6.8

Latest
PE
39.0
13.2
7.0
-ve
15.9
104.6
33.3
12.0
87.4
5.7

News from trade server

ICB: ARGUS Credit Rating Services Limited
(ACRSL) has rated the Corporation as
"AAA" for long term and "ST-1" for short
term in consideration of financials of the
Corporation up to 30 June 2013 (audited),
Q3FY14 (unaudited) and other relevant
quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.
NBL: Credit Rating Information and
Services Limited (CRISL) has rated the
Company as "AA-" in the long term and
"ST-2" in the short term in consideration of
financials of the Company up to 31st December 2013 (audited) and other relevant
quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.
ONEBANKLTD: The Company has
informed that it has credited the bonus
shares for the year ended on December 31,
2013 to the respective shareholders' BO
Accounts on May 20, 2014. Cash Dividend
and proceeds of Fractional Dividend have
also been disbursed through Bangladesh
Electronic Fund Transfer Network (BEFTN)
system on May 21, 2014.
IPO Subscription: Tung Hai Knitting &
Dyeing Limited subscription date 18-22

May 2014, NRB upto 31 May 2014. @

taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot
500. Far East Knitting & Dyeing Industries
Limited subscription date 15-19 June 2014,
NRB upto 28 June 2014. @ taka 22, face
value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shurwid
Industries Limited subscription date 08-12
June 2014, NRB upto 21 June 2014. @ taka
10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500.
Saif Powertec Limited subscription date
06-10 July 2014, NRB upto 19 July 2014.
@ taka 10, face value taka 30 and market
lot 200.
Dividend/AGM
AMBEEPHA: 15% cash and 20%
stock, AGM: 16.06.2014, Record Date:
28.05.2014.
MBL1STMF: 3% cash, Record date:
02.06.2014.
AIBL1STIMF: 5.5% 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.

23.9
76.7

Closing
average

Closing

Daily high

Turnover
in million

Daily low

Latest
EPS

Latest
PE

32.70
157.10
28.60
10.37
55.76
7.50
77.00
78.42

32.70
157.10
28.60
10.50
55.70
7.50
77.00
80.80

32.70
157.10
28.60
10.50
57.00
7.50
77.00
81.50

32.70
157.10
28.60
10.30
55.00
7.50
77.00
77.00

0.007
0.079
0.014
0.016
0.201
0.011
0.015
1.882

3.00
2.38
0.09
0.20
4.04
1.49
1.85
5.33

10.9
66.0
317.8
51.9
13.8
5.0
41.6
14.7

119.08
27.22

119.00
27.00

119.50
28.00

118.10
26.80

0.149
7.062

6.45
4.64

18.5
5.9

The cloudy phenomena sustained in

the last few sessions, participants could
not drive much certainly, keeping total
turnover still low

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company
LafargeS Cement-Z
Grameenphone-A
Square Pharma -A
Mercantile Bank -A
HeidelbergCement -A
Eastern Housing -A
BSRM Steels-A

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector

Daily high

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features

May 27, 2014

Stocks rally
as flat session
breaks
n Tribune Report

Stock

% change
13.96
2.67
1.76
8.30
8.17
6.36
0.04
12.88
14.52
0.01
2.78
2.22
0.30
11.43
0.59
1.28
3.85
5.89
0.77
2.23
0.01

Million Taka
32.15
4.47
2.29
12.56
12.47
17.19
30.22
19.42
16.60
3.52
19.03
0.77
25.54
1.01
0.45
4.48
13.80
4.15
6.66
0.01

CSE

% change
14.17
1.97
1.01
5.54
5.50
7.58
0.00
13.32
8.56
7.32
1.55
8.39
0.34
11.26
0.45
0.20
1.98
6.09
1.83
2.94
0.01

Million Taka
367.35
68.55
44.53
211.99
208.59
169.82
0.91
339.52
368.14
16.85
70.26
72.31
8.02
300.07
15.17
31.16
96.89
155.19
22.73
60.14
0.18

Total

% change
13.98
2.61
1.69
8.07
7.94
6.46
0.03
12.92
14.01
0.64
2.67
2.75
0.31
11.42
0.58
1.19
3.69
5.90
0.86
2.29
0.01

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and
audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility
if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Meghna Petroleum -A
Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A
Southeast Bank-A

Bangas -A
BD Submarine Cable-A
Olympic Ind. -A
Matin Spinning-N
CMC Kamal Tex. -A
CSE TURNOVER LEADERS
Company
LafargeS Cement-Z

BD Submarine Cable-A
Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A
Grameenphone-A
Mercantile Bank -A
Square Pharma -A
Southeast Bank-A
UCBL - A
BSRM Steels-A
BEXIMCO Ltd. -A
Hwa Well Textiles-N
UNITED AIR-A
Eastern Housing -A
Appollo Ispat CL -N
HeidelbergCement -A

Volume
shares
2,494,000
369,665
345,102
4,115,166
136,000
1,045,143
788,800
199,574
1,949,500
2,474,583

86,863
237,589
188,920
892,000
1,592,179

Volume
shares

277,500
44,600
259,500
21,400
305,365
20,440
253,111
176,941
58,340
167,280
89,000
302,219
53,682
117,200
6,000

Value in
million
174.35
98.11
92.76
75.85
71.48
63.50
58.62
55.83
53.14
51.32

44.35
43.27
42.91
39.62
39.29

Value in
million

19.38
8.13
7.06
5.67
5.62
5.50
5.18
4.68
4.32
3.82
3.74
3.46
3.26
3.23
3.16

% of total
turnover
7.26
4.09
3.86
3.16
2.98
2.64
2.44
2.32
2.21
2.14

1.85
1.80
1.79
1.65
1.64

% of total
turnover

11.49
4.82
4.19
3.36
3.33
3.26
3.07
2.78
2.56
2.27
2.22
2.05
1.93
1.91
1.87

Daily
closing
70.60
266.00
269.40
18.60
529.00
62.10
74.10
279.10
26.90
21.00

517.60
181.60
227.20
44.30
24.70

Daily
closing

70.50
181.90
27.00
265.30
18.60
269.40
21.10
26.60
74.00
22.70
41.90
11.40
61.90
27.50
529.60

Price
change
2.62
0.72
1.20
3.91
2.20
8.19
0.27
0.25
-2.89
3.96

Daily
opening
68.80
264.10
266.20
17.90
517.60
57.40
73.90
278.40
27.70
20.20

Price
change

Daily
opening

3.48
2.19
1.56
-0.45
1.65

2.62
2.13
-3.23
0.61
3.91
1.05
4.46
1.53
-0.13
-0.87
-0.48
-0.87
8.03
-0.36
2.40

500.20
177.70
223.70
44.50
24.30

68.70
178.10
27.90
263.70
17.90
266.60
20.20
26.20
74.10
22.90
42.10
11.50
57.30
27.60
517.20

Daily
high
70.90
266.30
270.00
18.80
530.10
62.70
75.10
281.50
28.00
22.00

519.80
183.50
228.80
44.90
25.10

Daily
low
68.60
260.00
243.00
16.20
500.00
52.10
68.00
255.00
26.80
18.20

500.00
160.20
205.00
43.90
22.00

Daily
average
69.91
265.40
268.79
18.43
525.61
60.76
74.31
279.73
27.26
20.74

Daily
high

Daily
low

Daily
average

70.70
183.70
28.00
266.00
18.70
270.00
21.20
26.70
75.00
23.20
42.40
11.50
62.70
27.90
533.00

68.70
179.50
26.80
262.30
17.80
262.20
20.10
26.10
67.00
22.60
41.70
10.40
58.40
27.40
517.00

510.58
182.13
227.15
44.42
24.68

69.85
182.31
27.22
265.09
18.41
268.85
20.47
26.47
74.13
22.85
42.04
11.44
60.79
27.57
526.72

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Banks, FIs urged

to finance only
green projects
n Tribune Business Desk
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur
Rahman has suggested banks and financial institutions (FIs) not to finance
any venture that can harm the nature,
saying that financing green and environment-friendly ventures can facilitate Bangladesh clean its environment.
Weve to keep the nature unharmed for our existence and, banks
and FIs should not finance any venture that will harm the nature they
need to be careful that their finance is
not used to fell trees and fill up ponds,
rivers and canals, he told the opening
session of Green Bankers Conference
2014 in Dhaka yesterday.
Deputy Governor S. K. Sur Chowdhury, Country Manager of International
Finance Corporation (IFC) Bangladesh
Kyle Kelhofer, Professor Saiful Haque
of Institute of Energy, Dhaka University and BBs Executive Directors M.
Mahfuzur Rahman and Ataur Rahman
also spoke at the session.
Atiur said the central bank has created refinancing windows to promote
banks and FIs in financing green and
environment-friendly ventures.
Were committed to practice digital, nearly paperless, sustainable, green
banking operations by making the best
use of the information technology and
related professional skills, he said.
The governor said BBs different
initiatives particularly IT-based green

banking activities through online

banking, e-banking, e-commerce, online CIB, automated clearing house,
e-tendering, e-recruitment are moving
ahead in full swing. Were now thinking to introduce e-noting.
He said the central bank is heading
the banks and financial institutions to
a new horizon of green banking, where
six green products were offered for refinancing initially, 44 green products
are now open under BB refinancing
scheme in 2014.
And good news is, an avenue has
been opened for innovation and research if any bank or FI comes up
with innovative green product that truly contributes in environmental conservation, BB will seriously study that
for further decision, he added.
BB will also try to enhance the size of
its refinance scheme to facilitate large
scale investments in green alternatives, he said, adding that in addition,
the FIs should take initiatives to attract
green bonds, green private equities for
enhancing sustainable financing.
About the challenges, Atiur said all
banks have their general credit policy
for the lending sectors but the nature
of different sectors varies from the environmental perspective. For example,
he said polluting industries like tannery differs from the investment in
poultry. So preparing sector-specific
environmental policy guideline for
banks is a big challenge, he added. l

Business

IMF's Lagarde says bank reforms slowed

by fierce industry pushback
n Reuters
Progress in completing banking reforms to plug gaps highlighted by the
2007-09 financial crisis is too slow and
is being hampered by fierce industry
lobbying, the International Monetary
Fund said yesterday.
IMF Managing Director Christine
Lagarde said banks were holding more
capital now than they did in the runup to the financial crisis when taxpayers had to shore up the sector.
The bad news is that progress is
still too slow, and the finish line is still
too far off, Lagarde told a conference
on economic inclusion in London.
While the task of reforming banks
is complex, progress is also being held
back by fierce industry pushback
and fatigue that is bound to set in at
this point in a long race, she said.
A big gap is that the too-big-tofail problem has not yet been solved,
Lagarde said, referring to the belief
in markets that governments will still
step in to rescue the biggest banks to
avoid the mayhem seen when Lehman
Brothers collapsed in 2008.
The IMF estimated that the implicit
subsidy or cheaper funding costs
from being too big to fail amounted to
about $70bn in the United States and
up to $300bn in the euro zone. Mark
Carney, chairman of the Financial
Stability Board, a regulatory task force
for the Group of 20 economies (G20),
has said he wants the too-big-to-fail
phenomenon cracked by Christmas
but faces challenges in Europe and
Asia.
Lagarde also called for regulators
across the world to agree a framework

for winding down big banks in trouble.

This is a hole in the financial architecture right now, and it calls for countries to put the global good of financial
stability ahead of their parochial concerns, Lagarde said.
After the bruising experience of
the financial crisis, trust among in-

ILO: Developing countries see swelling middle class

n AFP, Geneva
Workers in developing countries are
increasingly moving to better jobs and
joining the middle class, but 839 million workers still earn less than $2 a
day, the International Labour Organization said.
The developing countries are generally in a process of catching up with
the advanced economies, ILO chief
Guy Ryder told reporters in Geneva
ahead of the release of the agencys annual World of Work Report yesterday.
Between 1980 and 2011, per capita
income in the developing countries
like Senegal, Vietnam and Tunisia on
average grew 3.3% each year, which is
far faster than the 1.8% growth seen in
advanced economies, the report said.
Today, more than four in 10 workers
in the such countries are considered to
be in the so-called developing middle
class - meaning that they earn more
than $4 a day - up from fewer than two
in 10 two decades ago, it said.
Yet, more than half of all workers in
the developing world - some 1.5 billion
people - are in precarious positions,
without contracts and social protections and often wallowing in poverty.
Around 839 million of them - a full

third of all workers in such countries earn less than $2 a day. That however is
down from more than half of all workers in such countries in the early 2000s,
the report said. Improve worker rights,
create growth
In its analysis of the situation in
140 developing and emerging economies, the ILO concluded that nations
that tackled working poverty, invested
in creating quality jobs and in getting
workers out of precarious employment
had weathered the global financial crisis far better than those that did not.
The investment in human capital is
coming through in improved growth,
Ryder said, adding: one needs to depart from any simplistic notion that
development can be kick-started by reducing worker rights.
Since the global financial crisis of
2007, the convergence between conditions in the developed and developing
worlds has picked up speed.
Some 30.6 million more people have
been added to the global ranks of the
unemployed since the crisis began,
leaving a total of 199.8 million people
jobless last year, with the number set to
swell to 213 million by 2019.
The global unemployment rate has
stabilised at around six percent - a level

B3

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

expected to remain through 2017 - but

advanced economies have suffered the
biggest rise in jobless numbers.
Developed countries have on average seen their unemployment rate
stabilise at around 8.5%, up from 5.8%
before the crisis, while developing
countries suffered only a brief hike
before their jobless rate fell back to
around pre-crisis levels of 5.4%, the report said.
And the crisis has affected working
conditions everywhere.
Many developing countries, notably in Latin America and Asia, are making efforts to tackle inequalities and
improve job quality as well as social
protection, lead author of the ILO report Moazam Mahmood said.
By contrast, he said, a number of
advanced economies, notably in Europe, seem to be going in the opposite
direction.

Migration patterns shifting

The shift in opportunities is meanwhile

impacting migration patterns.
Some 231.5 million people last year
were living in a country other than the
one they were born in, the report said.
While the European Union by far remains the favoured destination, with

51% of migrants settled there, migrants

have since the crisis increasingly been
moving between developing countries,
the ILO said.
More and more educated young
people from crisis-hit developed countries are also emigrating to emerging
economies, the report found.
Already south-south migration is
on the rise while workers are also leaving advanced economies, particularly
some hard-hit European countries,
for work opportunities in developing
countries, Mahmood said.
Some 213 million people will enter
the labour market over the next five
years - 200 million of them in emerging
and developing countries, the ILO said,
voicing optimism that most of the new
jobs created will provide a decent living.
For the first time in history, over
the next several years, most new jobs
in the developing world are likely to
be of sufficient quality to allow workers and their families to live above the
equivalent of the poverty line in the
United States, the report said.
Despite its optimism, ILO acknowledged that 85% of the workforce in the
developing world will still be living below the US-equivalent poverty line in
2018. l

ternational regulators is still not high

enough as some countries continue to
take extra initiatives on bank capital to
keep local taxpayers off the hook.
The FSB is worried that such measures, like the Federal Reserves plans
for extra capital requirements on foreign lenders in the United States, will

split capital markets.

Lagarde said, We need to be mindful of the risks of fragmenting the
global financial system and hampering the flow of credit to finance investment.
But complexity is not an excuse for
complacency and delay, she said. l

Euro rallies in Asia after

ECB chiefs comments
n AFP, Tokyo
The euro rallied in Asia yesterday after
the single currency tumbled on weak
German business data which boosted
speculation of further monetary easing measures by the European Central
Bank (ECB).
In midday Tokyo trading, the euro
rose to $1.3662 and 139.29 yen from
$1.3618 and 138.80 yen in Tokyo on
Monday. US financial markets were
closed Monday for a public holiday.
Gains in the European single currency
came as investors look to key US data later in the day for guidance about the state
of the worlds number one economy.
The euro found some footing
against the dollar after 4 consecutive
days of drops and economic releases today will likely cap dollar strength again
as both durable goods orders and consumer confidence could come in below
expectation, Credit Agricole said.
On Monday, ECB chief Mario Draghi
said the bank was alert to the risks of
persistently low inflation, amid speculation of further interest rate cuts to

avert possible deflation.

At present, our expectation is that
low inflation will be prolonged but
gradually return to close to 2%, Draghi
told a central banking forum organised
by the ECB in Sintra, Portugal.
Our responsibility is nonetheless to
be alert to the risks to this scenario that
might emerge and prepared for action
if they do. he added.
Inflation in the 18 countries that
share the euro is currently way below
the ECBs 2% target, picking up only
fractionally to 0.7% in April.
Further measures from the ECB
would tend to weigh on the euro, but
the central bank was likely to hold off
launching huge bond-buying measures
similar to that unleashed by the US
Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan.
There was a modest euro-positive
response to Draghis comments even
though he made clear that the risk of a
pernicious negative spiral of low inflation and weak lending risk derailing the
eurozones fledgling recovery, mandated fresh ECB action, National Australia
Bank said. l

China President stresses

market forces in reforms
n Reuters

Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd and Ellicott Dredges LLC, a dredger manufacturer in
US are assisting the countrys government by supplying dredgers for maintaining the
navigability of rivers to improve irrigation, check bank erosion and reduce flood damages.
State Minister of Water Resources Mohammad Nazrul Islam Bir Pratik visited the yard of
Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd at Meghnaghat yesterday

City Bank recently signed a merchant acquiring agreement with Biman Bangladesh Airlines
under which the City Bank American Express card members will be able to purchase air
tickets from Biman using their cards from Bimans sales outlet in Bangladesh. Mashrur
Arefin, the banks DMD and COO and Mohammad Shah Newaz, director of marketing and
sales, Biman Bangladesh airlines signed the agreement

Lotto Bangladesh recently held a prize giving ceremony of the competition named Sonar
Bangla Gorbo, which about drawing pictures and writing stories. The former president of
Khulna Press Club, Begum Ferdoushi Ali was present at the ceremony as chief guest along
with the companys CEO Abdullah Al Mosaddek

Bangladesh Dyed Yarn Exporters Association has recently signed a group insurance
contract with Pragati Life Insurance Limited for its employees. Managing director and CEO
Md Jalalul Azim of Pragati Life Insurance and Salahuddin Alamgir, president of Bangladesh
Dyed Yarn Exporters Association are seen exchanging the contract

China President Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of free markets in

the countrys economic reforms, state
media said yesterday, another indication
that the government is persevering with
plans to bring about sweeping changes.
Allowing market forces to allocate
resources would mark a new stage of
growth in the worlds second-biggest
economy, Xinhua news agency said Xi
told the Politburo on Monday.
As part of plans to alter the economy
and reduce dependence on exports and
state investment, Beijing unveiled in
November its most ambitious plan for
change in 30 years that would allow
free markets to have a bigger role.

The key question is how to handle

the relationship between the market
and the government, Xi told the Politburo, an elite body made up of the
countrys 25 most powerful leaders.
China, he said, had to reduce the
amount of resources directly allocated
by the government and cut the amount
of direct state intervention in microeconomic activity. Remaking Chinas
growth engine is one of the most important jobs faced by Xis government,
which is under pressure to produce results before some leaders retire at the
next change in leadership in 2017.
But change has been made trickier
still by Chinas slowing - and maturing economy, which is expected to cool to a
24-year-low in growth of 7.3% this year. l

The board members of Prime Bank Limited

unanimously elected Azam J Chowdhury
as the new chair of the board at the banks
417th board meeting. Azam J Chowdhury
is the chairperson and owner of East Coast
Group. In addition, he is the chairperson of
The Consolidated Tea & Lands Company
Bangladesh Limited and Bangladesh Trade
Syndicate Limited, an associate of TNT
Express, a global express company

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

As Indias new government gets to

work, a promise to investors
Smaller government

Arun Jaitley is administered oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee (unseen) as a Cabinet minister at the presidential palace in
New Delhi
REUTERS

n Reuters
Indias new finance minister, Arun Jaitley, committed himself to repairing public finances and restoring investor confidence as a new administration took
charge yesterday promising better days
for millions of discontented Indians.
Jaitley, an urbane corporate lawyer and close party colleague of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, was formally
named to the key finance post, a day
after the cabinet was inaugurated following a sweeping election victory for
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Modi campaigned on a promise to
cut bureaucratic sloth and fight corruption. Analysts say his partys decisive

win gives him the mandate to advance

reforms that stalled under the scandalridden government of his predecessor,
Manmohan Singh.
On Tuesday, he met his Pakistani
counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, whom he
had invited for his inauguration in an
unprecedented gesture that his team
said was aimed at building strong ties
with neighbours.
The BJP has long taken tough positions on national security, Pakistan in
particular.
However, the BJP did seek to make
peace with Indias nuclear-armed rival
while in power more than a decade ago,
and Modi is expected to stress the need
for a peaceful region to keep the focus

on restoring economic growth. Growth

dropped to a decade-low of below 5%
under the outgoing government.
We have to restore back the pace of
growth, contain inflation and obviously concentrate on fiscal consolidation
itself, Jaitley told reporters.
Public finances are in dire straits as
government spending has outpaced
revenues. The new administration will
immediately need to take a decision
on slashing subsidy spending which is
threatening a budget blow-out and a
sovereign ratings downgrade.
Jaitley, a student leader who was
jailed during a period of emergency in
1975, will also be handling the important defence portfolio for the transition.

Modi, who built his reputation as an

economic moderniser by putting his
home state of Gujarat on a high-growth
path, has moved to streamline the cabinet towards a more centralised system
of governing.
Several government ministries have
been clubbed under one minister,
aimed at breaking decision-making
bottlenecks widely blamed for dragging
down economic growth. The new administration has 45 ministers compared
with 71 in the outgoing government.
Many supporters see Modi as Indias
answer to the former US President Ronald Reagan or British leader Margaret
Thatcher, committed to shrinking the
size of government. One foreign editor
has ventured Modi could turn out to
be Indias Deng Xiaoping, the leader
who set China on its path of spectacular economic growth.
I am sure the political change itself
sends a strong signal to the global community and also domestic investors,
Jaitley said. I think over the next few
months by expediting decision-making
processes, I am sure we will be able to
build that.
The chief of the BJP, Rajnath Singh,
will be the countrys new home minister, charged with the task of ensuring
internal stability and calming the anxieties of Indias religious minorities who
see his party and its hardline Hindu affiliates as pursuing a partisan agenda.
Modi himself has been dogged by
allegations that he didnt do enough
to protect Muslims during an upsurge
of violence in 2002. He has denied the
charge and a Supreme Court-ordered
investigation acquitted him of any responsibility.
He named Sushma Swaraj, one of
the partys best-known faces in parliament, as foreign minister. Swaraj, who
has led the health ministry in the past,
is seen as a moderate within the BJP. l

Researchers: Twitter
sees growth in
emerging markets
n AFP, Washington
Twitter is seeing strong user growth
in the Asia-Pacific region, helping the
messaging platform compensate for a
slowdown in the US and Europe, a research report said yesterday.
The report by eMarketer forecasts
that Twitters global user base will increase 24.4% in 2014, led by big gains
in countries such as Indonesia and India, and to a lesser extent Argentina,
Mexico and Brazil.
The research firm said its figures on
current Twitter usage are lower than
company estimates - 183 million at the
end of 2013 - because we rely heavily
on consumer survey data to weed out
business accounts, multiple accounts
for individual users and other sources
of potential double-counting.
Twitter in April estimated the
monthly active users at 255 million,
which led to a slump in its share price
because it suggested sluggish growth.
The eMarketer report said Twitters
worldwide users will hit 227 million
this year, and nearly 400 million by
2018.
In its analysis of worldwide users,
eMarketer said the Asia-Pacific region

had already overtaken North America

with more than 30% of all Twitter users.
And the figures exclude China,
which bans the US messaging service.
In 2014, the Asia-Pacific region will
account for 32.8% of all Twitter users,
compared with 23.7% in North America, the report said.
And by 2018, Asia-Pacific will more
than double North Americas share,
breaking the 40% mark in terms of
worldwide market share. If China is
on the Twitter map by that point, that
share is likely to be significantly higher.
The research said Twitter user
growth in the US is maturing and will
taper off into single digits by 2015.
Twitters US user base gets outsize
- but appropriate - attention because
it accounted for nearly three-quarters
of Twitters total ad revenues in 2013,
according to company reports, said
eMarketer.
The US will remain the single largest country in terms of the number of
individual Twitter users throughout
our forecast, but currently, it still represents just over 20% of all Twitter users worldwide. l

Bank of Japan, more confident about

recovery, quietly eyes stimulus exit
n Reuters
The Bank of Japan has begun shifting
its focus from supporting growth to
ways of phasing out its massive stimulus, taking first tentative steps towards
a potentially momentous move for the
world economy.
Current and former central bankers familiar with internal discussions
say an informal debate is under way
on how to prepare for an exit from the
BOJs 13-month-old quantitative and
qualitative monetary easing.
The stimulus is a centerpiece of
Prime Minister Shinzo Abes campaign
to end two decades of deflation and
fitful growth, and BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has vowed to keep cheap
cash flowing until his 2% inflation target is in plain sight.
But with inflation now past the halfway mark and signs that the economy
has weathered last months sales tax increase, Japanese central bankers are already thinking about the next chapter.
First of all, Kuroda and his team are
keen to avoid market confusion and
volatility that the U.S. Federal Reserve
triggered in May 2013 when it first signaled the possible tapering of its extraordinary stimulus.
With the BOJ churning out 60-70
trillion yen per year ($589-687 billion),
withdrawal symptoms could be similarly acute and the lesson for the BOJ
is that signaling a tapering too soon or
being too specific could backfire.
With that in mind, the BOJ has no
plans to trim the stimulus or publicly
suggest the eventual drawdown any
time soon, say those familiar with the
internal debate.
But whereas weeks or months ago
that debate would center on the potential need for more easing, now there is a
strong sense within the BOJ board that
the stimulus so far has worked well and
the next step, albeit distant, could be
policy tightening, not further easing.
Deputy Governor Kikuo Iwata underscored that shift, reminding markets that
the 2% inflation goal worked both ways.
The BOJs current policy intends to
prevent not just deflation but inflation
from well exceeding 2%, such as to 4%
or 5%, for a medium- to long-term period, Iwata told a seminar on Monday.
Hideo Hayakawa, a former top BOJ
economist who maintains close contacts with those inside, says the central
bank needs to clarify what will it do after the battle with deflation is won.
If 2% inflation comes into sight, the
BOJ should taper its asset purchases,
Hayakawa, a senior executive fellow at
private think-tank Fujitsu Research In-

stitute, told a Reuters Investment Summit last week.

In public, Kuroda has become more
vocal about the need for government
structural reforms, which shows he
wants the BOJ to shift from boosting
economic demand to playing a supporting role as Abe promises deregulation to boost Japans growth potential.

Securities Japan, explaining why yields

have stayed low despite an improving
economy.
But things may change if consumer
inflation exceeds 1.5% around autumn
of this year, he said. That will prompt
investors to price in the chance of a future tapering.

Mixed views

The key concern, for now, is to prevent premature expectations of tapering from disrupting the bond market,
where the government continues to
pay 0.6 percent interest on 10-year
bonds despite its heaviest debt load in
the industrial world.
BOJ officials do not want to discuss
how long the stimulus may last and
what might trigger its withdrawal,
which in part reflects considerable
differences within the BOJ on how to
communicate its plans.
Some say the BOJ should clarify the
conditions under which tapering might
start, possibly in October when it updates
its twice-yearly economic projections.
The BOJ may need to change its
message to markets at some point later
this year, said a person familiar with
the banks thinking. The key is to
avoid a spike in bond yields.
Others worry that even mentioning a
possibility of an exit could jolt markets.
Yet the very fact such discussions
are taking place marks a change for the
BOJ and Kuroda, whose prime concern
has long been that the stimulus could
be scaled back prematurely.
Last month, he surprised markets
by saying the BOJs massive easing has
boosted demand enough to essentially
eliminate any slack in Japans economy.
At a news conference last week followed by interviews with two major
business newspapers, Kuroda went
further, stressing that demand has
been revived enough and it was now
up to the government to remove supply
bottlenecks by bringing more women
into the workforce and making it easier
to start new businesses.
Some academics argue the BOJ is
too coy about tapering and should start
talking about it now rather than wait
until markets start fretting about a possible exit.
They should be talking about tapering at a minimum, and they should begin
preparing financial markets for a regime
after 2 percent, a shift from stimulating
aggregate demand to stimulating aggregate supply, Harvard economist Dale W.
Jorgenson told the Reuters Summit.
Its not too soon to begin managing
expectations of changes that will take
place within next 12 months. l

Keen to shore up public confidence in

the BOJs inflation goal, Kuroda regularly brushes off questions about an
exit strategy saying the focus should
remain on battling deflation.
There is no hard deadline for curtailing asset purchases and Kuroda keeps
reminding investors that the BOJ will
not hesitate to ease further if economic
recovery appears at risk.
But central bankers are now expressing more confidence in their policy and
if the economy keeps improving the debate will intensify about how long the
BOJ should maintain its stimulus after it
reaches the two-year mark in April 2015.
Right now, there is no agreement yet
among the nine policy board members
on that.
Some, including Kuroda and former
International Monetary Fund economist Sayuri Shirai, stress the openended nature of the policy. They argue
the BOJ can keep buying government
bonds and other assets until there is
convincing evidence that 2% inflation
will be sustained, say people familiar
with the internal debate.
Former market economist Takahide
Kiuchi, however, wants the current
framework to be reviewed next April
because he fears loading up on too
much debt will make an exit difficult.
Since the launch of its extraordinary
asset-buying scheme in April 2013, the
BOJ has been scooping up about 70 percent of newly issued government debt,
including nearly all new 10-year benchmark bonds sold by the government.
Public remarks and private conversations with some of the central
bankers suggest the rest of the board,
including two former business executives, stands somewhere in between.
According to central bank insiders,
at least two policymakers believe the
BOJ should stay ahead of the curve
and seek the exit once there are early
signs that inflation is approaching 2%.
Such debate may have been academic when inflation was well below 2%, but
will matter more if prices near the target.
Bond market players dont want to
think about an exit and dont see any
need to think about it yet, said Noriatsu Tanji, bond strategist at Barclays

Change of heart

An itinerant merchant uses the new Caisse dEpargne Dilizi billing system, that allows credit card payments thanks to a credit card
reader and a smartphone, on May 27 in Lille, northern France
AFP

With London fix under fire, China

seeks bigger sway in gold trade
n Reuters
China has approached foreign banks and
gold producers to participate in a global
gold exchange in Shanghai, people familiar with the matter said, as the worlds
top producer and importer of the metal
seeks greater influence over pricing.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE)
got the go ahead from the central bank
last week to launch a global trading
platform in the citys pilot free trade
zone, a move that could challenge the
dominance of New York and London in
gold trade and pricing.
Beijings plans to open up gold trading comes at a time when the benchmark price-setting process for precious metals is under scrutiny. Barclays
Plc became the first bank to be fined
over attempted manipulation of the
95-year-old benchmark London gold
market daily fix last week.
State-backed SGE has asked bullion banks such as HSBC, Australia and
New Zealand Banking Group, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered and
Bank of Nova Scotia to take part in the
global trading platform, two people approached by the exchange said.
SGE, the worlds biggest physical
gold exchange, where domestic banks,
miners and retailers buy and sell gold,
could also open up the international

platform to foreign brokerages and

gold producers, they said.
China wants to have more voice in
gold prices, said Jiang Shu, an analyst
with Industrial Bank, one of 12 banks allowed to import gold into China. The
international exchange is the first step
towards gaining a say in gold pricing.
If you dont allow foreign players to
participate in your market actively, or do
not push Chinese financial institutions
to participate in the international market, then Chinas strong gold demand is
only a number, not a power, he said.
HSBC and Standard Bank declined
to comment, while the other banks and
SGE were not immediately available for
comment. The global platform will first
host spot physical contracts for gold and
other precious metals, before aiming to
launch derivatives down the line, said a
third source who is directly involved in

DILBERT

the launch of the international exchange.

We are not just encouraging foreign
banks but also producers and other entities, added the source.
China, the worlds biggest buyer of
raw materials from copper to coal, is
pushing hard to establish pricing benchmarks for a number of commodities.
Gold, along with oil, could be among
the first to be opened up to foreign
players. The free trade zone in Shanghai is set to see international energy
trading by hosting the countrys first
crude oil futures. l

Asian voice

The Shanghai exchange is looking to

launch three yuan-denominated physical
gold contracts, of 100 grams, 1 kg and the
bigger London good delivery bar weighing 12.5 kg, said another source who has
received a draft prospectus from SGE. l