11 burnt in bomb attacks in Feni, Netrakonan Tribune desk

At least 11 people, including a truck-er and his helper, su� ered burn inju-ries in separate petrol bomb attacks in Noakhali, Feni and Netrakona last night.

In Feni’s Dagaonbhuyan, nine peo-ple, including a woman, were burned as hartal supporters hurled a petrol bomb at their Noakhali-bound bus at Chironia Bazar on the Feni-Noakhali highway around 9pm, said local ASP Saidul Haque.

Badly injured, a woman named Mo-hsena, 40, was taken to the local Sa-dar Hospital while the rest were taken to the Dagonbhuiyan Upazila Health Complex, doctor Ashim Saha told the Dhaka Tribune.

Of the injured, Monir Hossain, 35, Milon, 33, from Barura of Comilla, Belal Ahmed, 63, Belal Hosain 60, Ab-dus Sobhan, 50, from Companyganj in Noakhali, and Sabuj, 24, from Dagaon-vuan were identi� ed.

Medical o� cer Ashim also informed that a police member named Saidul Haq, 38, was admitted to the hospital; four splinters were recovered from his body. He was on-duty at the police outpost on the Shahidullah Kaisar road in Feni.

Meanwhile, a truck driver named Ashraful, 35, and his helper Sohagh, 30, sustained burn injuries after hartal supporters tossed a petrol bomb at their vehicle on the Durgapur-Netrakona highway at Birishiri Bridge in Durgag-pur upazila of Netrakona around 9pm.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

‘Unusual’ deaths at Sylhet hospitaln Mohammad Serajul Islam

and Abid Azad

Within only a span of 24 hours, at least 32 people including ten children have died at the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital – a number that doc-tors themselves admitted was “unusu-al” for a single day.

The relatives of the deceased blamed the “negligence” of the doctors for the deaths; but the hospital author-ity said all of the deaths since Monday morning were natural – with many of the fatalities being caused by chronic life-threatening conditions.

Among the dead, there are ten chil-dren including � ve newborns; all of

them were between the ages of only one day and three-and-a-half years.

Many of the family members of the deceased children claimed that it was either wrong treatment or the negli-gence of the doctors that had caused the deaths.

However, the hospital’s Deputy Di-rector Dr Abdus Salam claimed that since 8am Monday ten children had died from natural reasons including postna-tal attack, bronchopneumonia, neonatal sepsis and intestinal obstruction.

“Three to four children die every day in the hospital because of di� erent post-delivery complexities. But this time the number of deaths is unusual,”

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Since democratic process began in 1991 through the toppling of HM Ershad’s military regime, none of the civil soci-ety initiatives to resolve political crises has ever brought any results.

On Monday, Nagorik Samaj, a plat-form of civil society members, sent letters to President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, urging them to take steps to initiate talks to end the political unrest that has already claimed about 70 lives in over a month.

While the BNP appeared to welcome the initiative because it is in harmony with their current demand, the ruling Awami League gave the matter a cold shoulder. Senior ministers and ruling party leaders expressed suspicion that the platform might be serving their ri-val’s agenda.

The history of distrust between pol-iticians and civil society members is nearly as old as the journey of democ-racy in Bangladesh.

It dates back to 1994, when the � rst of a series of political crises erupted just three years after a BNP govern-ment had come to power through the � rst democratic election in a couple of decades since independence.

Following the ruling party’s massive victory in a by-poll, the Awami League, then in the opposition, questioned the neutrality of arrangements by a politi-cal party.

That gave rise to a political brawl that rolled on for another two years.

The civil society took an initiative to mediate talks between the two battling camps, but that initiative never got any response from the political arena.

Eventually, the parties reached a political settlement paving way for the � rst non-partisan interim government to oversee the 1996 national election.

Although the Awami League and the BNP refused to sit in civil society-me-diated talks, the interim polls-time government included several members from among them.

Just like what the losing sides did af-ter some of the other national polls ad-ministered by caretaker governments

that followed in the next one and a half decades, the BNP never accepted the 1996 results and blamed the then administration of favouring the Awami League.

Political scientist Professor Roun-aq Jahan told the Dhaka Tribune yes-terday: “The civil society played an

important role in bringing all political parties to a common platform when the Awami League and the BNP were � ght-ing during the anti-Ershad movement. They managed to do that because everyone was part of a movement to bring back democracy.”

She explained how the political par-ties and civil society later took contra-dictory positions on several issues.

“After 1991, the civil society got di-vided into two camps – the pro-Awami League and the pro-BNP. A small group that maintained neutrality, has always had to face the music from the sides that lost in elections or were in power,” she said.

Noted economist Rehman Sobhan, journalist Foyez Ahmed, barrister Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed, former Justice Kamal Uddin Hossain and former ambassador Fakhruddin Ahmed were among those who tried to mediate talks in 1996.

Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangla-desh (TIB), told the Dhaka Tribune: “It was a ‘common threat perception’ dur-ing the anti-Ershad movement. That was why together they [politicians and civil society members] managed to de-throne the regime.

“But after multi-party democracy was revived, it changed to a ‘mutu-al threat perception.’ The two major camps became enemies. Therefore, whenever the civil society tried to move in favour of a cause, the politi-cal camps started looking at them with suspicion and disbelief,” Iftekhar said.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

PETROL BOMBS AND KRISHNOCHURAS

11 | OP-ED

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Magh 29, 1421Rabius Sani 21, 1436Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 307

20 pages plus 8-page Treehouse children’s supplement | Price: Tk12

PRIDE OF CHINA

TREEHOUSE

BCB PLANS CONCERTS TO CREATE WC HYPE

12 | SPORT

visit our website @

www.dhakatribune.com

THE ARAB SPRING’S LONE SUCCESS STORY

7 | LONG FORM

Divided civil society no silver bulletAnalysts say the gap between politicians and the civil society got wider during 2007-08

Ruling alliance leaders reject citizens’ callsfor dialoguen Abu Hayat Mahmud

Leaders of the ruling 14-party alliance have rebu� ed a citizen platform’s calls for an Awami League-BNP dialogue, saying such a demand was unrealistic, unacceptable and unconstitutional.

Claiming that the country was not in a situation where the government should hold a dialogue with the BNP, the leaders said there can be no com-promise with “terrorists.”

On Monday, Nagorik Samaj, a plat-form of eminent citizens, sent separate letters to the president, prime minister and the BNP chairperson, urging them to hold talks to end the ongoing polit-ical unrest that has already claimed over 70 lives.

Speaking at a press brie� ng at the secretariat, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday termed the Nagorik Samaj proposal “unrealistic and unac-ceptable.”

There was no scope of dialogue with the people who killed innocent peo-ple, created anarchy through terrorist activities and destroyed public prop-erties, said Tofail, adding that the gov-ernment cannot support terrorism by holding a dialogue with the BNP.

Talks with this type of parties would be a “compromise” and would inspire terrorism and violence in the future, the minister added.

Drawing comparison with the global stage, Tofail said if the world saw dia-logues being held with terrorist groups,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Hartal extended again for 48 hoursn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP-led 20-party alliance has ex-tended its 72-hour hartal, which ended at 6am today, for another 48 hours.

Salahuddin Ahmed, joint secretary general of the BNP, issued a press re-lease yesterday afternoon, announcing that the countrywide general strike will now continue until 6am on Friday.

The opposition combine had called the 72-hour hartal from Sunday, ignor-ing calls for sparing the ongoing SSC and equivalent examinations.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Modi mauledin Delhi pollsn AFP

India’s Narendra Modi yesterday suf-fered his � rst major election defeat since becoming prime minister last May, as anti-corruption campaigner Arvind Kejriwal won a landslide victo-ry in Delhi state polls.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist party won just three of the 70 seats in the Delhi as-sembly in elections held over the week-end, dealing a setback to his e� orts to consolidate power and push through much-needed economic reforms.

Former Delhi chief minister Ke-jriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man Party) won 67 seats, according to o� cial results released hours after Modi conceded defeat and promised the city’s new leader his government’s

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Hartal January 15 24 hours

January 21 48 hours

February 1 108 hours

February 8 120 hours

Blockade since January 6

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

‘Unusual’ deaths at Sylhet hospital PAGE 1 COLUMN 3Dr Abdus Salam said. He, however, as-sured that there was no reason for panic.

During January, a total of 433 pa-tients including 62 children died at the hospital – averaging a little over 14 deaths a day, the hospital deputy direc-tor said.

To make sure there was no negli-gence involved in the children’s deaths, the hospital authorities also formed a six-member probe committee, head-ed by the hospital’s chief of medicine Dr Ismail Patwari. The committee has been asked to submit its report within seven working days.

According to hospital sources, the adults who died during the 24-hour span had passed away from various medical conditions. Four had died after su� ering a stroke, two died following a road accident, two from myocardial infarction or a heart attack, four from septicemia, two from cardiac arrest, two from metastatic cancer, and one each from encephalitis, poisoning, as-

sault, pulmonary tuberculosis, and di-abetic ketoacidosis, while one person was brought dead to the hospital.

Heartbreak for the familiesThe � rst-born son of Al-Amin from Brahmanbaria was born at the hospi-tal on Sunday; but the family’s joy was short-lived as the infant died at around 3am yesterday.

The father told the Dhaka Tribune that the newborn stopped drinking breast-milk from Monday evening. After doctors were noti� ed, the infant was given an injection at around 10pm; two hours later, the child started to have a seizure.

A doctor then came and supplied ox-ygen to the child, Al-Amin said, while another injection was given at around 12:30am. The child’s condition continued to deteriorate and he died hours later.

Blaming wrong treatment by the doctors, the father claimed that the two injections might have led to his child’s death.

“Around 6am, I was looking for a doc-tor to complaint about this issue, but I could not � nd any physician. When I went to the nurses, I was scolded and turned away,” said Al-Amin, a � sh trader.

Visiting ward numbers 22, 23, and 24 – the three paediatrics wards where the children died – the Dhaka Tribune yesterday found that the rooms were overcrowded with patients and their caregivers.

Tahmina Begum, who had been stay-ing at the hospital since giving birth last week, said she saw a child – Mehedi – at a neighbouring bed die because there was no doctor to attend to his needs.

“Two-and-a-half-year-old Mehedi’s mother frantically searched for the respective doctor for the paediatrics ward. Despite looking for him � ve or six times, she could not � nd him. At one point, the child died right in front of the mother,” Tahmina said.

Roksana Begum, mother of a child admitted at the hospital, claimed that doctors and nurses were not taking

care of her daughter Sheuli, who had been su� ering for the past six days with diarrhoea at the hospital.

Health Ministry’s reactionMeanwhile, the Health Ministry formed a three-member committee, led by Joint Secretary (hospitals) Mosharraf Hossain, to look into the deaths and submit its report within seven days.

In a press brie� ng yesterday, State Minister for Health Zahid Maleque told journalists that the government was considering the deaths with im-portance. He also mentioned that the ongoing hartals and blockade were de-laying patients from reaching the hos-pital, making it di� cult for the doctors to treat them.

When contacted by the Dhaka Trib-une, Abul Kalam Azad, additional DG of the Directorate General of Health Services, said authorities concerned at the hospital have informed him that the deaths of the children were “not unusual.” Four of the children had died

because of conditions related to prema-ture births, he quoted Sylhet doctors as saying, adding that the others had died from natural causes as well.

Dismissing any possible negligence at the hospital, the ADG said if there was any mismanagement at the hospi-tal – such high numbers of death would have been a regular occurrence. l

11 burnt in bomb attacks in Feni, Netrakona PAGE 1 COLUMN #The injured were � rst taken to the Durgapur Health Complex but doc-tors referred them to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital because their conditions were critical.

The attacks come a day after the government banned plying of long-route buses on highways after 9pm to avoid arson. l

Ruling alliance rejects citizen platform’s calls PAGE 1 COLUMN 6then the US would have held talks with the Islamic State. The commerce min-ister further claimed that the call for di-alogues by Nagorik Samaj was nothing but an attempt to divert the focus from recent terrorist activities.

Replying to a question, Tofail said the ongoing violence would be resolved soon, as the law enforcement agencies would take action within the existing rules and regulations of the state.

’Khaleda conspiring again’Meanwhile, at a separate programme, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu blamed BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for conspiring to change the constitution.

“BNP chief Khaleda Zia had directed criminals to attack the people and cre-ate anarchy in the country with an aim to come to power.

Recently Khaleda and her close as-sociates have started a new conspiracy to change the constitution in the name of a movement.

“But none of Khaleda Zia’s conspira-cy would succeed, because the govern-ment will take every decision as per the existing constitution and there is no al-ternative outside the constitution,” Amu told a discussion in the capital yesterday.

‘No compromise with criminals’On the other hand, at a book launch-

ing ceremony at the Ekushey Boi Mela, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said there could be no compromise with criminals.

“The political villains are creating vio-lence and burning innocent people. There can be no compromise with the criminals. At � rst, the government will tackle the vi-olence and save people, then think about sitting for a political dialogue.”

Inu, also president of Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Jasad), said there can be no compromise between the Free-dom Fighters and the rajakars.

“Dialogue will only be possible, if BNP-Jamaat would take the responsi-bility for killing the people and surren-der after stopping the violence,” the information minister said.

‘1/11 masterminds behind proposal’Elsewhere at a human chain in Moti-jheel, Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon said the masterminds of one-eleven had proposed the dialogue between a democratic government and criminals.

“These masterminds of one-eleven will not be found a few days later. They [citizens platform members] come only during country’s crisis to catch � sh in troubled water,” said Menon, also pres-ident of Workers Party of Bangladesh.

He also urged the law enforcement agencies to arrest Khaleda for issuing

directives to burn people in the name of blockade and hartals. l

Hartal extended PAGE 1 COLUMN 1About 1.5 million students are taking the exams this year.

The SSC and equivalent exams could not be started as per schedule because of the alliance’s previous spell of hartal last week. Two papers of the examina-tions scheduled for Sunday and Tues-day this week have already been post-poned. A few exams are scheduled for tomorrow.

The BNP-led alliance has been ob-serving the strike protesting what it said killings, mass arrests and torture of party activists and “restoration of democracy.”

The country has witnessed nation-wide strike on all weekdays since Feb-ruary 1.

The BNP alliance had earlier en-forced 12 hours’ strike for January 15 protesting attack on BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s adviser Reaz Rahman and another 48-hour nationwide strike from Janu-ary 21 protesting repression of its lead-ers and activists.

Meanwhile, British High Commis-sioner to Bangladesh Robert W Gibson is scheduled to meet Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan o� ce in the afternoon today. l

Divided civil society nosilver bullet PAGE 1 COLUMN 5The Awami League lost trust in the civil society because they think thecivil society highlighted their misrules before the 2001 elections which they lost.

Similarly, the BNP think that one of the reasons behind their 2008 election debacle was civil society highlighting their corruption, analysts say.

The gap between the political par-ties and the civil society got wider during the two-year tenure of the ar-my-backed interim government in 2007-08.

That government had several ad-visers who represented the civil so-ciety and that administration wasblamed for the repression of manypoliticians.

Former chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda, who signed the letter sent to the president, PM and the BNP chief on Monday, told the Dha-ka Tribune yesterday: “Let me assure everyone of one thing: we do not have any political interest and certainly we are no rival to any of the political par-ties.”

Imtiaz Ahmed, professor of inter-national relations at Dhaka University, said: “Because there are loopholes in

the state mechanism, the civil society has to raise voice. It is a positive ges-ture. The more the civil society takes initiatives, the more it will bene� t the state.”

Political analyst Mizanur Rahman Shelley hailed the civil society’s latest initiative but said: “The way the ruling party has rejected the proposal, it puts the future of the initiative into dark-ness. The president has nothing to do in this regard because he cannot put a step forward without the prime minis-ter’s advice.

“But someone had to take the ini-tiative and the civil society did it this time. It is hard to say now whether they will be successful or not, but this will most de� nitely remain as a good refer-ence for the future.”

TIB Executive Director Iftekharuz-zaman said: “This letter is a collective expression of concerned citizens. It should be welcomed. It is a re� ection of what the people believe. The political parties can see this as complementary to their endeavours.

“Anyone can try to � nd loopholes if they want. But even if this initiative was taken by someone entirely neutral, even then the politicians would not have faith,” Iftekhar said. l

Modi mauled PAGE 1 COLUMN 3“complete support.” Analysts said the result was a blow for a prime minister who has enjoyed an extended honey-moon with voters since his landslide general election victory.

Kejriwal’s win marks a stunning comeback for the anti-graft champion and self-styled anarchist, who resigned following a chaotic 49-day spell in charge of the Delhi state government a year ago.

“Thanks for the unprecedented victory,” Kejriwal, a former tax o� -cial-turned politician, told hundreds of cheering supporters outside AAP head-quarters in Delhi.

“But it’s very scary, the kind of sup-port the people of Delhi have extended and the mandate we have been given, I appeal to the AAP workers and lead-ers not to be arrogant,” Kejriwal said, as supporters showered him in petals.

After apologising this month for leaving voters without an elected gov-ernment for a year, Kejriwal was the star of the election campaign, outshin-ing a former policewoman who was the BJP’s pick for chief minister.

Rattled by Kejriwal’s popularity, Modi headlined several major rallies, portraying his rival as a “back-stabber” who betrayed voters last time round by quitting so early.

But Kejriwal’s pledges to tackle en-trenched corruption and lower utility bills won over legions of working-class voters willing to give him a second chance. He will be sworn in as chief minister on Saturday. l

Mothers of ailing babies turn anxious after 10 children including � ve newborns die at MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital yesterday in Sylhet AH ARIFF

ACC to � le charge sheet against Mirza Abbasand four othersn Adil Sakhawat

The Anti-Corruption Commission is set to � le charge sheet against � ve people, including former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas and state minister Alamgir Kabir, in a case � led over causing the state loss worth Tk16 crore.

The ACC � ndings reveal that the duo during 2001-2006 made the loss to the state by allocating a Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) land to a journal-ists’ cooperative society at a rate lower than the actual price.

The others accused in the charge sheet are former joint secretary of housing and public works ministry Bi-jon Kanti Sarker, and National Housing Authority (NHA) Cashier Monsur Alam and Assistant Cashier Motiar Rahman.

The commission approved � ling of the charge sheet at a meeting yes-terday, Public Relation O� cer Pranab Kumer Bhattacharya con� rmed to the Dhaka Tribune. The charges would be pressed in a day or two.

The case was � led on March 6 last year with Shahbagh police accusing Alamgir, then NHA deputy director Ajharul Haque, Monsur and Motiar. After investigation, the commission added the name of Mirza Abbas and

dropped Ajharul. The anti-graft body interrogated Mirza Abbas on October 12 and 29 last year and quizzed 28 o� cials including three former chairmen of the NHA. The commission also took state-ment of incumbent Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan regarding the case as he had been the president of “Jhilmil Multipurpose Cooperatives Society.”

According to the case, Alamgir in 2002 sent a letter to then prime min-ister Khaleda Zia with a proposal to develop a housing area for journalists, writers, artists and cultural activists, although they never requested him to do so.

In response, Khaleda asked the public works secretary to take further steps in line with the housing policy.The then junior minister directed the secretary to allocate the land for per-sonal gain.

Without taking permission from the ministry, the accused NHA o� cials and Alamgir allocated seven acres of land in Mirpur area to Dhaka Journalists’ Coop-eratives Ltd at only Tk3.39 crore against the market value of Tk19 crore, violat-ing the housing policy (amended) 1993.

“The allocated land was planned for Jhilmil Multipurpose Cooperative So-ciety,”an ACC o� cial said, requesting anonymity. l

C harge sheet against MP Mahbubur okayedn Adil Sakhawat

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday approved the charge sheet against Patuakhali 4 lawmaker and former water resources state minister Mahbubur Rahman, nearly six months after � ling of the case for accumulation of huge wealth illegally.

The charge sheet, okayed by a regu-lar meeting of the commission, would be submitted to the court very soon, Public Relation O� cer Pranab Kumer Bhattacharya said.

The case was � led with Ramna po-

lice against the lawmaker on August 21 last year for amassing wealth worth over Tk5.19 crore illegally and concealing in-formation about more than Tk1.24 crore.

Mahbubur had failed to provide rel-evant documents to justify the wealth shown in his a� davit.

As per the probe report, the commis-sion has found that his wealth expand-ed more than 12 times in � ve years.

Deputy Director and Investigation O� cer Farid Uddin Patwary submitted the report to the commission.

The AL lawmaker in his 2010-11 in-come tax return showed that he had

borrowed Tk1 crore from his wife, but the latter’s income tax return for the same � scal mentioned that she earned only Tk3.80 lakh. Mahbubur also tried to establish that he had borrowed Tk50 lakh from one Bipul Hawlader in 2011-12 � scal year. Asked by the ACC, Bipul denied having lending the amount to Mahbubur.

This reporter attempted to contact Mahbubur over the phone for com-ments. First he received the call, but after learning about the reason, he cut o� the phone and did not answer when tried repeatedly. l

Rizvi’s third-time remand grantedn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Ka-bir Rizvi Ahmed was placed on a � ve-day fresh remand yesterday in a case � led over torching a bus in Jatrabari, the third remand since his arrest on January 31.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Haque passed the order after Md Siddiqur Rahman, a DB sub-inspec-tor and investigation o� cer of the case, sought 10 days’ remand.

Rizvi was taken to the court after completion of his � ve days’ remand in

another case � led with Jatrabari police station for torching a bus of Torab Pori-bahan in front of Kajla Women Madrasa on January 23.

He was earlier taken into three-day remand in another arson case � led with Badda police.

In the remand prayer, the IO men-tioned that Rizvi had directed his party activists to carry out the Jatrabari arson attack. “So he needs to be remanded to � nd out clues about the incident and for arresting the fugitive accused in the case.”

Opposing the remand prayer, de-

fence lawyer Md Sanaullah Miah � led bail petition claiming that Rizvi was implicated in the case as part of a con-spiracy to harass him politically.

One person was killed and at least 28 people su� ered burns as two petrol bombs thrown by suspected blockaders exploded inside the bus. On February 1, another injured succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia has been made accused as abettor in two of the three cases � led over the Jatrabari ar-son incident. l

Dhaka Tribune reporter muggedn Tribune report

Adil Shakhawat, a reporter at Dhaka Tribune, was mugged at Hemayetpur in Savar near Dhaka last night when he was returning home from work.

The muggers took his Bajaj Discov-er motorbike, wallet and two mobile phones. He is unharmed.

Adil Shakhawat said the muggers came in an old white Toyota Corolla. They were following from Boliarpur.

When he reached near the Lalon pump, the car cornered him to a stop and four people cordoned him knives and sticks.

Then they took away his belongings; one � ed on his motorbike and the oth-ers on car. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Businessmen demand loan rescheduling againReal estate businesses claim Tk800 crore losses due to blockaden Asif Showkat Kallol

Borrowers have started seeking loans rescheduling facility from the state-owned banks and � nancial institutions, saying their businesses have been af-fected by the current political unrest.

“Businessmen have estimated losses incurred during this period and on the basis of their estimates they may have sought rescheduling of their loans,” Bank Division Secretary M Aslam Alam yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune.

The secretary held a coordination meeting with the managing directors of the state banks and � nancial institu-tions yesterday.

He said a political decision by the government was required to meet the businesses’ demand.

Aslam said the businessmen had wanted to meet Finance Minister AMA Muhith to tell him about their losses.

“But I wonder how real estate busi-nessmen could have incurred losses of Tk800 crore during the current block-ade and hartal,” the secretary said.

“Some unscrupulous businessmen might use the unrest as an excuse to seek the facility against their bank loans,” he added.

As of June last year, the state banks regularised a total of Tk18,552 crore un-der the relaxed loan-rescheduling rules, which were formulated in December 2013 to assist businesses a� ected by the political unrest ahead of the January 5 election last year.

According to Bangladesh Bank’s statistics, the eight state-owned and specialised banks accounted for al-most half of the rescheduled amount (Tk9,174 crore).

Monitoring capacity, loan, auditAslam Alam said the Micro-credit Regulatory Authority (MRA) and the Insurance Development Regulatory Authority (IDRA) have less capacity to monitor activities in those sectors compared to that of Bangladesh Bank.

Even the monitoring capacity of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) is also not strong enough to cover the two stock exchanges.

“We are trying to enhance the monitoring capacity of these bodies. The issue was discussed at the meeting,” Aslam said.

He said loans decreased in the state-owned banks during September-December last year compared to the same quarter in 2013, but classi� ed loans increased in last calender year.

Defaulted loans of the state-owned banks increased 26.39% in the last quarter of 2014, according to a report of the central bank.

On December 31 last year, the defaulted loans stood at Tk20,797 crore while on September 30 that year the � gure was Tk16,454 crore.

Aslam said they usually ask for strong internal audits of the state-owned banks and � nancial institutions.

He said Sonali and Rupali banks have delayed the process for the banks’ full automation, which will help resolve the “ghost accounts” problem.

World Bank projectThe secretary said the World Bank will introduce a project to strengthen the � nancial sector this � scal year. He said they also want funding from the World Bank for strengthening the central bank.

MDs of Sonali, Agrani, Janata and Rupali banks, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnyana Bank, BASIC Bank and � nancial institutions and representatives from the BSEC, Bangladesh Bank and IDRA and MRA attended the meeting. l

BNP leader among two arrested for allegedly committing war crimesn Tribune Report

Police yesterday arrested two alleged razakar leaders from Baniachong upazila of the district for their involvement in crimes against humanity including killings and rape in the area during the 1971 Liberation War.

A special team of Habiganj police arrested Mozibur Rahman alias Angur Miah, 52, chairman of Khagaura union of the upazila, and his elder brother Mohibur Rahman alias Boro Miah, 55, a former BNP leader, at their houses in the morning, Police Superintendent Joydev Kumar Bhadra told reporters.

Mohibur is the former chairman of the same upazila.

The siblings were produced before media at noon, our Habiganj correspondent reported. Until � ling

of the report, they were kept at the district detectives’ o� ce.

Earlier in the day, the International Crimes Tribunal 2 issued arrest warrant against the duo in a case � led by Bhin-graj Bibi of Khagaura village with the tribunal on November 2 last year.

According to the investigation agen-cy, the duo raised a group of razakar force in Baniachong and established torture camp at a house.

The collaborators led by the duo raided the houses of freedom � ghters and pro-liberation people, looted those and set those on � re. They also tor-tured women at the camp.

Meanwhile, the tribunal 1 yesterday ordered the counsel of war crimes ac-cused Shamsuddin Ahmed, hailing from Karimganj area of Kishoreganj, to submit a list of properties he owns, BSS reported.

The lawyer, Atiqur Rahman, was

asked to submit the list along with the necessary documents by February 19 as it is scheduled to pass an order on February 22 on a bail petition submitted for the accused.

The defence yesterday took part in hearing on the bail plea, citing social and professional status of his client. Shamsuddin has been in jail custody since November 27.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Sultan Mahmud Simon pleaded for two months’ time more to submit the formal charges in the case. “The investigation agency is doing their duty sincerely and found the involvement of the accused in another new charge. They need two more months to wrap up the probe work,” he said.

The tribunal set March 30 for submitting progress report on investigation or formal charge.

According to the investigation

agency, Shamsuddin along with his brother Nasiruddin Ahmed is accused of raising a group of razakars in their locality and carrying out heinous crimes.

On a contempt rule against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, the tribunal 1 yesterday set February 16 for holding further hearing since lawyer for the accused did not appear before the court and pleaded for time, BSS reported.

The tribunal on January 12 issued notice upon Jamaat acting ameer Maqbul Ahmed, its Nayeb-e-Ameer Mujibur Rahman, lawyer Tajul Islam, acting secretary general Sha� qur Rahman Tajul, Islami Chhatra Shibir president Abdul Jabbar and its General Secretary Md Atikur Rahman.

Tajul pleaded unconditional apology through lawyers on January 28.

Yesterday was set for holding hearing

on the notice. But Nazrul Islam, counsel for the accused, failed to turn up and pleaded for adjournment through his junior Gazi MH Tamim.

The prosecution in their petition on January 1 said after the pronouncement of verdict in the trial of Jamaat Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam, defence counsel Tajul held a press brie� ng and made adverse comments against the verdict.

Jamaat too called two-day shutdown in protest against the death sentence handed to its leader. The tribunal, however, exempted Jamaat, from the contempt notice.

Witness: Siraj killed three HindusKalipada Mandal, 70, from Dakra village of Rampal, yesterday testi� ed in the trial of Bagerhat razakar trio Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias Siraj Master,

Khan Akram Hossain and Abdul Latif Talukder as the 21st prosecution witness.

“On May 21, 1971, around 6,000 Hindus from di� erent areas of Bagerhat, gathered at Dakra Kali Temple, on their way to India. Razakars led by Rozob Ali and Siraj Master attacked them around 1:30pm and opened � re. They also started chopping them with knives and bayoneting them. At one point, I hid myself behind a bush and saw Siraj shooting at Kumod Thakur, Rashik Thakur and Sushil and later chopped them to death.”

After the deposition, defence counsel Abul Hasan started cross examining the witness.

The tribunal 1 indicted the trio and framed seven charges of crimes against humanity against them on November 5 last year. l

No major incidents in Dhaka on day 3 of hartaln Tribune Report

The third day of the ongoing nation-wide hartal, enforced by BNP-led 20-party alliance, went relatively peacefully in the capital without any reports of major incidents.

In the capital, tra� c movement was as usual; the number of vehicles on the streets increased as the day progressed. Shops, businesses and o� ces ran as usual too.

Launches and trains left their sta-tions as per schedule, but only a small number of long-haul buses left the city for di� erent parts of the country.

In the morning, a passenger su� ered splinter injuries as miscreants hurled a crude bomb at a bus in Mohammad-pur area around 5:30am. The victim, Aminul Islam, who came to Dhaka from Gaibandha, received treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said Mozammel Haque, in-charge of DMCH police outpost.

Later in the afternoon, the Detective

Branch of police detained a young man named Poran, 24, for hurling a stone at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gul-shan o� ce. Police picked him up from outside the building’s main entrance around 1:30pm.

Talking to reporters, Poran said: “My brother was killed in a petrol bomb attack on a bus. I came to show my an-ger towards her (Khaleda) who has en-forced the blockade.”

Gulshan police station OC Ra� qul Islam said Poran had been taken to the DB o� ce for interrogation.

In Chittagong, Bakalia police arrest-ed Jubo Dal leader Idris Alam, 38, at Ra-jakhali area in the city early yesterday, on charge of being involved with some recent arson attacks.

In another incident, an angry mob caught a youth named Rubel red-handed while blasting several crude bombs at the Customs intersection area in front of Bandar Bhaban around 11am and gave him a good beating, said Zahidul Islam, OC at

Bandar police station.On information, police arrested res-

cued the youth from the crowd and ar-rested him.

In Dinajpur, police arrested BNP ac-tivists Mostakim Sarkar, 25, and Sahi-nur, 35, in Ranibandar area on charge of being involved in arson attacks. Po-lice also seized four crude bombs from their possession.

In Gaibandha, pickets hurled petrol bombs at two Rangpur-bound trucks on Dhaka-Rangpur highway near Dhaperhat Chandipur area in Sadul-lapur upazila around 7am. One of the trucks was entirely destroyed by � re, while the driver’s cabin in the other one was damaged. No one was injured.

Sub-inspector Jalal Uddin of Dhaperhat police station said one truck was carrying fertiliser, and the other one steel sheets. As the pickets hurled the bombs, the drivers and their help-ers quickly got o� the trucks to save themselves.

In Jhalakathi, pro-hartal activists

torched the car of Younus Laskar, chairman of Nalchity upazila parishad early yesterday. The car was parked in-side the garage of the upazila parishad o� ce, sources said. Police arrested two Jubo Dal activists in this connection.

In Madaripur, police recovered re-mains of two petrol bombs on Dha-ka-Khulna highway near Kaorakandi ferry terminal in Shibchar upazila yesterday morning. Locals said pick-ets had hurled those bombs at two trucks earlier in the morning, but they missed target. Madaripur police have announced a bounty of Tk50,000 for the attackers.

In Rajshahi, Islami Chhatra Shibir called a two-day strike at Rajshahi University from today protesting the death of a Shibir leader in a “shootout” with law enforcers.

The leader, Sahabuddin Ripon who was Shibir’s information and technol-ogy a� airs secretary in the university, was killed in an “encounter” with po-lice on Friday. l

Fear of petrol bomb attack by pro-blockade pickets at night leads goods-laden trucks ply the streets of Dhaka during day time. Trucks carrying goods are otherwise allowed to enter the capital after 9pm. The photo was taken at Simrail of Narayanganj yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Stipends o� ered to over 1.7m higher secondary students n Tribune Report

The government has o� ered stipends to poor higher secondary-level stu-dents, in an e� ort to curb dropout rates, particularly of female students.

As many as 1.7 million underprivi-leged students, of whom 40% are fe-male and 10% male, will be eligible for this stipend, to be provided in two cate-gories – science and other sections.

Under the Tk513 crore project, a sci-ence student will receive a monthly sti-pend of Tk175 and tuition fee of Tk50, along with a one-time allocation of Tk1,600 for book purchases and exam-ination fees.

Conversely, a student from a di� er-ent section will get Tk125 and Tk50 as a monthly stipend and tuition fee, respec-tively, along with a one-time allocation of Tk1,200 for books and examination fees.

The project, carried out under the su-pervision of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary, will come to an end by June 2017. The government will

bear all of the project costs. Presently, the government is carrying

out � ve stipend projects, of which three are being implemented at the secondary, higher-secondary, and graduate levels.

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Ka-mal said after a meeting the destitute students of di� erent areas who are yet to be eligible for this project would be cov-ered soon.

He hoped the move would help pre-vent dropouts and encouraged students to study the Sciences.

Around 65% of students drop out by the time they reach the twelfth grade, a World Bank research report revealed last year.

The above project was one of the six projects, valued at Tk1,347 crore, which gained the approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in its meeting with chairperson, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, yesterday at the NEC conference room.

The government also plans, under a revised project, to convert a private school into a model school, in 315 upazi-

las with no public schools.Called the “Transforming of a select-

ed private school into a model school in 315 upazilas sadar without public school (2nd revised) project,” which expired last December, it has been extended to June 2016.

The project cost has also been raised to Tk558 crore, from Tk92 crore. Un-der this project, new secondary schools will be incorporated in � ve upazilas, 29 buildings of existing schools extended upward, and science laboratories and multimedia classrooms set up in schools at 315 upazilas.

The planning minister said the imple-mentation period and cost of this project has been increased due to the incorpora-tion of new schools in � ve upazilas.

Ecnec also gave its nod to another project to extend the under-construction 7 March Bhaban in Dhaka University’s Rokeya Hall compound to an 11-story building, so as to accommodate 500 fe-male students.

This project, to be implemented by June 2017, involves a cost of Tk44cr. l

Community police members under Motijheel police station form a human chain at Motijheel yesterday calling upon everyone to help arrest perpetrators of arson and bomb attacks MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

The World Bank will introduce a project to strengthen the � nancial sector this � scal year

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

SAGAR-RUNI KILLING

RAB searching for two unidenti� ed suspectsn Mohammad Jamil Khan and Md

Sanaul Islam Tipu

The Rapid Action Battalion, investiga-tion agency of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi murders, has claimed that they found DNA identity of two yet unrecognised male persons, who were present at the crime scene.

Although the development is noth-ing signi� cant three years after the kill-ing, RAB is considering it as a lead to resolve the mystery.

The latest progress report on inves-tigation was submitted before a met-ropolitan magistrate court on February 2. Investigation O� cer Wares Ali, also RAB’s senior assistant superintendent, submitted the report, the � fth one, complying with a court order.

“RAB is now conducting the investiga-tion thoroughly to � nd out the duo,” the report said which was prepared based on the � ndings of two renowned US-based DNA laboratories – Pioneer Forensic and Independent Forensic Service.

Maasranga Television news editor Sagar Sarwar and his wife ATN Bang-la senior reporter Meherun Runi were stabbed to death in their bedroom of the rented � at at West Rajabazar of the capital on February 11, 2012.

The elite force has so far recorded statements of 158 witnesses, including 27 journalists and Mahin Sarwar Megh, the only son of the couple.

Earlier, the Detective Branch of Po-lice was dealing with the probe.

The law enforcers detained a num-ber of suspects at di� erent times. Among the arrestees, Abu Sayeed, Ba-

kul Mia, Ra� qul Islam, Mintu Islam, se-curity guards of the house Rudra Palash Pal and Enamul Haque alias Humayun Kabir, driver Kamrul Hasan Arun are now in custody. Friend of the couple Tanvir Rahman was granted ad-interim bail by the High Court on December 2.

The IO said to acquire information on the call records of Palash and Enam-ul, they sent letters to several mobile companies through the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Com-mission (BTRC), but were yet to get de-sired information.

Responding to a RAB letter, the BTRC on January 29 sent a directive to sev-eral mobile companies asking them to provide information about the couple’s personal laptop which had been lost from the house on the day of the mur-der. The RAB intelligence wing is now analysing the information they have already received.

Wares told the Dhaka Tribune that they became con� rmed about the pres-ence of the two unidenti� ed men after analysing the DNA reports of 21 people and the case evidence.

“We are investigating this sensation-al case very seriously, but none of the developments are signi� cant for dis-closure,” he added.

RAB’s legal and media wing Director

Mufti Mahmud Khan said they were still optimistic about the investigation. “We are analysing the information we have got,” he said.

Meanwhile, Metropolitan Magis-trate Md Yunus Khan on Monday asked the elite force to submit another prog-ress report on investigation by April 1.

The government high-ups and law enforcers just after the killing made a number of contradictory statements.

After visiting the crime scene, then home minister Sahara Khatun told re-porters that the law enforcers were or-dered to � nd out and arrest the killers within 48 hours. After that time, then police chief Hassan Mahmood Khanda-ker claimed that “substantial progress” had been made in the investigation and that positive announcement would be given any time.

Amid speculation over arrests and detentions, DMP Spokesperson Monir-ul Islam on February 16, 2012 said some suspects were under “close watch.”

But, as there was delay in investiga-tion, the investigation task was handed over to RAB from the DB police in April following a High Court order. Family members of the slain couple have be-come frustrated and lost hope of getting justice because of the delay in probe.

“Now we do not think that someone will really be able to unearth the mo-tive behind the killings,” Runi’s brother Nawsher Alam Roman, who � led the murder case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police, said.

“How long do we have to wait for jus-tice?” Sagar’s mother Saleha Munir ques-tioned when asked for comments. l

Liberation War Museum to hold conference on genocide and justicen Tribune Report

The Liberation War Museum will hold the fourth International Conference on “Bangladesh Genocide and The Issue of Justice from February 27 to March 1 at the International Convention Centre of Cirdap in the capital.

The three-day conference will com-prise of daily seminars and panels that seek to link the national process of justice with international experiences, and also contextualise genocide and the justice process in Bangladesh be-fore the global community.

Twelve to fourteen foreign experts will take part, and nearly 100 delegates

from Bangladesh, including academics, jurists, prosecutors, press members, vic-tims’ representatives, civil society mem-bers, and activists from Bangladesh are expected to attend the conference.

Director of Centre for the Study of Genocide and Justice and Trustee of the Liberation War Museum Mo� dul Haque will address the opening ceremony, to be held at 4pm on the � rst day.

International guest speaker and panelists will include Daniel Feier-stein from International Association of Genocide Scholars, Helmut Scholz, Member of the European Parliament, Germany, Professor Irene Victoria Mas-simino from Argentina, Judge Agniesz-

ka Klonowiecka-Milart from ECCC in Cambodia, Patrick Burgess from AJAR in Indonesia, and Ashis Nandy from the Centre for the Study of Developing So-cieties in India.

The International Crimes Tribu-nal of Bangladesh is engaged in the trials of the accused who committed international crimes during the 1971 Liberation War. This justice process has experienced both challenges and achievements since its establishment, where the role played by national and international media is immensely per-tinent in reporting and researching on relevant legal and other issues relating to the ICT-BD. l

NAYAPALTAN TORCHING, VANDALISM CASE

Court issues arrest warrant against three BNP leaders n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday issued an ar-rest warrant against three leaders and activists of BNP’s youth and student wings as they did not appear before the court in a case � led over torching, vandalism and assault in the capital last year.

Metropolitan Magistrate Tareq Mainul Islam Bhuiyan passed the or-der against Jubo Dal General Secretary Saiful Islam Nirob, Jatiyatabadi Chha-tra Dal former president Sultan Sala-huddin Tuku and BNP activist Abul Mansur Khan Dipak.

Defense counsel Md Sanaullah Miah � led time petition for them. But the court rejected the time petition and is-sued the warrant.

The court also recorded for depo-sition of the witness, SI Habibur Rah-man, and set the February 25 for depo-sition of another prosecution witness.

Police � led the case with Paltan

Police Station against more than 40 leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies on charge of their in-volvement in vandalism, arson and as-sault during a demonstration at Paltan in the capital on March 6 last year.

On September 2 last year, the same court indicted BNP Standing Com-mittee members Barrister Moudud Ahmed, Mirza Ababs and Gayesh-war Chandra Roy and 38 leaders and activists of the BNP-led 20-par-ty alliance for torching vehicles and assaulting police in the capital’sNayapaltan.

The other accused are—BNP leaders Abdullah Al Noman, Barkatullah Bulu, Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee, Joint Secretary General Aman Ullah Aman, Jubo Dal President Moazzem Hossain Alal, Habibunnabi Khan Sohel and former Chhatra Dal president Sultan Salauddin Tuku, Islami Chhatra Shibir former president Delwar Hossain and Dr Sha� qul Islam Masud. l

Listed criminal injured in shootoutn FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

A listed criminal was bullet-hit and two police constables were injured during a gun� ght be-tween a local terrorist group and police at Raozan upazila of Chit-tagong early yesterday.

The injured criminal Kam-rul Islam Titu, 38, is the sec-ond-in-command of local terror-ist group Fajal Haque Bahini of Raozan.

Kamrul was admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) and police constables Rubel and Towhid were admitted to Upazila Health Complex, said Sub-Inspector Md Monsur Ali of Raozan police station.

The SI said a light gun, six rounds of bullet and three pet-rol bombs were recovered from Kamrul’s possession.

He was wanted in a case � led with Raozan police station in connection with police camp attack by the terrorist group

in 1996 where a police was killed and 17 ri� es were looted,he added.

SI Monsur said police arrested the criminal from the Sarakvhata area of Boalkhali upazila in the early hours following a tip-o� . During primary interrogation, the criminal confessed his in-volvement with di� erent cas-es and told police he had the looted ri� e in his possession,the SI said.

Based on the confession, po-lice then conducted a drive at Suryasen Polli village of Raozan upazila and recovered the arm and ammunition from area, the o� cial said adding that when Kamrul was being taken to the station, other members of Fajal Bahini opened � re at the police prompting them to � re back.

Kamrul received a bullet-hit on his leg.

Police sources said Kamrul was accused in 16 cases includ-ing murder, abduction, extor-tion and other charges � led with Raozan police station. l

NSU holds orientation for Health and Life Science studentsn Tribune Report

North South University arranged an orientation programme for the gradu-ate students of its School of Public Health and Life Sciences on its campus in the capital on February 6.

Zahid Maleque, state minister, Ministry of Health and Family Wel-fare, addressed the pro-gramme for spring semes-ter 2015 as the chief guest while Prof GU Ahsan, dean of NSU School of Public Health and Life Sciences, chaired the ceremony.

The newly enrolled students of Public Health, Environmental Science, Pharmacy, Microbiology and Biochemistry joined in the ceremony that end-ed with a cultural pro-gramme organised by NSU Pharmacy Club. l

Newlywed couple commit ‘suicide’n Tribune Report

A newly married couple allegedly com-mitted suicide by hanging themselves from the ceiling in their room in Demra area of the capital yesterday.

The deceased are Mohammad Aslam, 32, owner of a motor parts shop at Dholaikhal, and his wife Priya Akter, 20, police said.

Police recovered the bodies from their rented house after breaking down the door at Bamoil Purba Para around 3pm, said Demra police station Sub-In-spector Ra� qul Islam.

Quoting neighbours, police said the couple got married around six months ago but their parents did not accept their marriage. They, however, had no conjugal feud.

The bodies were sent to Sir Salim-ullah Medical College morgue for au-topsy.

SI Ra� qul said: “We suspect they had decided to take their own lives because of of feud between their both families over their marriage.”

“An autopsy will reveal whether they were murdered or they have actu-ally committed suicide,” he said. l

ITHS 5th Inter-school Bangla Olympiad Postponedn Tribune Report

International Turkish Hope School (ITHS) has postponed its this year’s In-ter-school Bangla Olympiad due to the ongoing nationwide political unrest, says a media release.

To pay tribute to all the martyrs of 1952, the ITHS celebrates the Interna-tional Mother Language Day by organ-ising a Bangla Olympiad every year.

This is a grand programme where

di� erent schools and colleges, both En-glish and Bangla medium, take part.

Last year the 4th Bangla Olympiad took place on the 15th Februar y where twelve di� erent institutions with a total number of eighteen separate branches participated in four di� erent categories.

Around 250 competitors participat-ed in that day long programme.

The new date for the programme would be re-announced as soon as pos-sible, the release added. l

VU Mobile becomes MMA membern Tribune Report

VU Mobile has become the � rst compa-ny to join Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), a premier global association of 800 companies from 50 countries around the world.

The Mobile Marketing Association strives to stimulate the growth of mo-bile marketing and its associated tech-nology.

“MMA has had great success in cre-ating a community of brands, agencies and technology providers and helping with the adoption of the best practices of mobile advertising in all parts of the globe,” said Kaymun Amin, the VU Mo-bile CEO.

He said: “We want to work with MMA to expand the mobile advertising industry in Bangladesh.”

Founded in 2005, VU Mobile is an entertainment and advertising compa-ny focusing on emerging markets.

VU Mobile’s advertisement plat-form AdPlay is the biggest mobile ad network in Bangladesh and of-fers unique targeting and features for advertisers, publishers and mobileoperators. l

Sagar and Runi were stabbed to death in their bedroom in February 2012

The National Garments Workers Federation demonstrate in front of the National Press Club in the capital yesterday demanding reopening of the factory of Camarina Knit Composite Limited and immediate payment of due wages MEHEDI HASAN

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

WEATHER

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:18am Sunrise 6:34am Zohr 12:13am Asr 4:15pm Magrib 5:51pm Esha 7:08pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:51PM SUN RISES 6:34AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW31.8ºC 11.9ºCTeknaf Srimangal

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 28 16Chittagong 28 16Rajshahi 28 13Rangpur 28 13Khulna 28 14Barisal 29 16Sylhet 29 13Cox’s Bazar 29 20

DRY WEATHER

LIKELY

Unhappy with the sales, DITF stall-owners head home as fair closes Commerce minister points at Tk15 crore increase in exports, blames politics

n Abid Azad

The Dhaka International trade fair ended yesterday as unhappy stall owners packed-up their pavilions having failed to generate expected returns.

The commerce minister, however, pointed to higher export orders than previous years, and claimed had the BNP-Jamaat alliance not pressed their political programmemes, the initiative would be even more successful.

“If BNP and its allies had not announced their programmeme that included hartals, blockades, petrol bombing, much more people would gather in good manner in this fair. But we have ended the fair without any hazards and troubles,” said Tofail Ahmed, the commerce minister.

The chief guest of the closing ceremony of this year’s trade fair – the Export Promotion Bureau � agship – continued: “We have received export orders for goods worth Tk95 crore this year which was Tk15 crore higher than the previous year. This shows, no obstacles, hartals, blockades or any other militant activity can hamper our economic growth.

“It is now proven that we can continue the country’s largest month-long fair in any political situation,”

Painting a di� erent picture, when several stall owners and representatives shared their experience with Dhaka Tribune, they expressed frustration and anxiety.

Walton Additional Director (Marketing) Md Raihan said: “It is true that because of the heated political situation, the public turnout was lower than previous years. Since the fair is a platform for rising companies

to promote their products and also for the established companies to promote their new products, the depleting turnout has harmed such companies greatly.”

Md Riaz Uddin, a salesman endorsed the notion that turnout was poor: “I have been working as salesman at the DITF for 8 years. This is � rst time I have passed lazy hours in most fair days.”

Even a ten-day extension was unable

to pick-up the low sales volume, said fair participants. The fair, scheduled to close on January 31, was extended to February 10 at their request.

The closure of the traditionally month-long fair had been delayed for ten days last year as well, due to the unstably political scenario surrounding the Januray 5 elections.

However, such a long extension never occurred in the last 18 DITFs.

Other speakers at the closing ceremony, instead of talking about the business success, emphasised on the proper completion, and sound management of DITF 15.

The programme, held at the traditional DITF premises at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, was presided over by EPB vice-chairman Subhasish Basu while president of parliamentary standing committee on commerce Tazul Islam

Chowdhury, commerce ministry Senior Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun, The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmad were also present at the programme as special guest.

This year 41 companies from 14 countries participated in the fair, Pakistan, India, Thailand, USA, UK, UAE, Iran, Turkey, South Korea, China, Germany were among the participants. l

Hi-tech park in the o� ng in Rajshahi cityn Nazim Mridha, Rajshahi

The necessary paperworks behind building a hi-tech park in Rajshahi is nearing its end, to the delight of locals.

On April 3 last year, the government approved a proposal to set up three in-formation technology villages in Dhaka and Rajshahi, and a hi-tech park in Syl-het, according to the authorities con-cerned.

The cabinet committee on economic a� airs then gave its nod to the ICT divi-sion’s proposals to set up an IT village at Karail in the capital, two in Rajshahi, and a hi-tech park in Sylhet under the Public Private Partnership.

After the proposal was made, di� er-ent rights and civil groups in Rajshahi held discussions and other events, and formed a human chain, to speed up the formalities.

Nonetheless, a 50-acre site has been � nally selected in Bulanpur, under the Rajpara police station in the city, for an IT village and agriculture biotechnology

park, to be named “Varendra Silicon City.”The primary procedure of acquiring

13 acres of the land has been completed, and within a short time, the parties con-cerned will be asked for bids, said Mejbah Uddin Chowdhury, Deputy Commission-er of Rajshahi, at a press brie� ng at his of-� ce on Monday, as part of informing the public about the government’s achieve-ments and development options.

“The hi-tech park will bring massive opportunities to locals in the city and neighbouring areas, as well as modern technology in di� erent practical � elds, including agriculture,” Mejbah added.

“Likewise, it will provide employ-ment for a large number of people in this area, including ICT bu� s and pro-fessionals,” he said.

“According to the government deci-sion, the purpose behind building a hi-tech park and IT village is to attract for-eign companies to invest in Bangladesh’s IT sector, as well as develop home-grown technological capabilities in our develop-ing local industries,” Mejbah added. l

Ammo recovered in Chittagongn Tribune Report

Police yesterday recovered huge am-munition of Light Machine Gun (LMG) in an abandoned condition in Chit-tagong city’s Bandar area.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Additional Deputy Commis-sioner (ADC) (Port) Mostak Ahmed told Dhaka Tribune that laborers found an iron-box during cutting earth at a pond named Kalamma Pukur Par in Mashrapara area of Kalshi Dighir Par under Bandar police station. l

National University students agitate demanding convocationn Tribune Report

Students of di� erent colleges under National University yesterday agitated over the fact that the university had not arranged a single convocation pro-gramme for its graduates yet since its inception in 1992.

Whereas, public universities arrange such programmes following a regular schedule, said the students at a human chain formed in front of the Chittagong Press Club yesterday.

They gave a 30-day ultimatum to the NU authority to announcedate for their convocation andthreatened of boycotting classesotherwise.

A mass signature campaign will be held on March 10 while a human chain will be formed in front of the National University on March 18 in Dhaka, they announced.

“On March 18, the results of the signature campaign and the mem-orandum will be placed to NU Vice-Chancellor, Prime Minister SheikhHasina and President Abdul Hamid,” said Bipul Kumar Dey, a participating student.

Chittagong College, Government Hazi Mohammad Mohshin College, Government Commerce College, Gov-ernment City College, Chittagong Govt Women’s College, Patiya College, Gash-baria Government College and Ranga-mati College took part in the human chain.

Meanwhil, students of National Uni-versity students formed a human chain in front of Jessore Press Club yesterday for the same demand.

Under the banner ‘ We are Nation-al University Students’ the students organised the programme. Iqbal Zahir Chunnu, Prosenjit, Mintu, Rashed , Sawpana, Habibur Rahman, Raju, Bi-jon, Zahid Hasan, Russel, Sanjida and Pritom spoke on the occasion.

All the universities of the country are giving the certi� cates to the grad-uates via convocation at the end the Bachelor courses except the National University.

There was no convocation held since the establishment of the universi-ty. Students of this university had been deprived of the convocation, they said.

They also urged the authorities to take step for convocation. Otherwise they would go for a tougher move-ment. l

SBMC vacates hall following collapse of some parts of the dormn Our Correspondent, Barisal

Authorities of Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College have asked students to leave hostel following a recent collapse of some parts of the female students hostel building.

All the resident students have been asked to leave the hostel within yester-day afternoon.

Dr Bhaskar Saha, principal of the col-lege, said the decision was taken in a meeting of the academic council to en-sure safety and security of the students.

Alternative residential arrange-ments for 75 � nal-year girl-examinees were made, he said.

Reopening of the college would be decided after ending of piling works and taking views of the construction experts and engineers to ensure safe residency of the girl students in the old hostel, he added.

Some parts of the hostel collapsed due to vibration created because of

piling work of an under-construction building on the campus, said sources in the medical college.

During a recent visit to the college, it was found that the construction work of a new � ve-storied building was go-ing on adjacent to the existing hostel.

Total piling works of 225 pillars at the depth of 65 feet each has begun and piling works of 136 pillars has already been done, construction worker said.

In the past few days, residents of the existing hostel were complaining of un-usual vibration on the � oor of the build-ing during the piling works, they said.

Some scratches were found on the walls and roof of the hostel. Plasters fell down from di� erent parts of the building, the college’s female resident students said.

Against this backdrop, college au-thorities asked the construction com-pany to stop the erection of piling im-mediately and discussed the matter with the engineers on February 7.

But the engineers said the building of the existing building has become risk-prone not because of their piling work.

However, some part of a pillar of the old hostel again fell down spreading panic among the residing students in the hostel on Tuesday morning.

The girl students of the hostel start-ed leaving the college after 2pm.

Rituporna Hoimontika, a resident of the hostel, said: “We informed the col-lege authorities about unusual vibra-tion in the rooms and scratches on the roofs and walls of the hostel.”

“It created panic among us since starting of the piling works for new hostel about three months ago.”

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, some students who are hailing from distant districts alleged that the college au-thorities did took into consideration theirs problems as they were facing problems to go their homes due to blockade and hartal enforced by BNP-led 20-party alliance. l

Sex stimulant worth Tk2.5 crore seizedn Our Correspondent, Savar

Rapid Action Battalion personnel have seized 250,000 pieces of Viagra pills worth Tk2.5 crore from a covered van in Baishmile bus stand area of Savar early yesterday.

Members of the elite forces also re-covered a huge quantity of three-piece and saree worth about Tk50 lakh from the vehicle.

RAB sources acting on a secret in-formation that a huge consignment of Viagra was coming to Dhaka from Jes-sore, a team of RAB 4 conducted a drive in Baeshmile area under Ashulia police station and intercepted the covered van.

Covered van driver Tarique Hossian

Mintu and Habibur Rahman were de-tained during the drive.

Sahabuddin Ahmed, captain of RAB 4, told the Dhaka Tribune that these sex stimulating tablets and fabrics had been smuggled into the country from the neighbouring country India and were being carried to the capital.

The contraband items were sup-posed to take to Chawkbazar in the capital. A case has been � led under Special Tribunal Act.

The RAB o� cial said taking the ad-vantage of political situation, a racket had become active in smuggling.

He said: “We are looking for other people who are behind the smuggling consignment.” l

Students of Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College leave campus as authority yesterday asked them to vacate their hall following a recent collapse of some parts of hostel building DHAKA TRIBUNE

'If BNP and its allies had not announced their programme that included hartals, blockades, petrol bombing then ... '

A number of visitors poured in the Dhaka International Trade Fair 2015 yesterday as the fair o� ered attractive discounts on its last day MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

DHAKA TRIBUNE Nation6 Wednesday, February 11, 2015

EFFECT OF POLITICAL TURMOIL

Hike in agri-inputs a setback for Boro growers n Our Correspondent, Hobiganj

Farmers in Hobiganj are facing di� -culties in cultivating Boro paddy as the prices of diesel and fertilser have increased to a great extend since the begging of the countrywide political unrest last month.

Boro paddy growers are appre-hending that they would not be able to achieve production target because they were not properly nourishing their pad-dy � eld for lack of water and fertiliser.

The prices of both urea and non-urea fertilisers and diesel have rised as those transportation are being hampered for the non-stop blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance since Janu-ary 6, local sources said.

O� cials of Department of Agricul-tural Extension, however, said they had achieved 80% success in bringing

land under the cultivation of boro. The DAE sources said there was no

reason to be concerned as the neces-sary supplies would timely reach the farmers under protection of law en-forcement agencies.

The price of fertilisers has increased by Tk5 to Tk10 per kg at retail while the price of diesel shoot up by Tk3 to Tk5 per litre, farmers said.

Agriculturalists said the production cost might increase by about 20% due to abrupt hike in the agri-inputs.

According to the DAE, a total of 109,000 hactares of land have been brought under boro cultivation this year.

Farmers told the Dhaka Tribune that taking the advantage of the ongoing political, traders increased the prices of diesel and fertiliser.

Farmers said if they bought the

agri-inputs which prices had been in-creased logically, the production cost of boro would increased in such level that they would not be able to make pro� t selling the food grains after harvest.

Anjab Ali, a resident of Bohula vil-lage under Sadar upazila, said: “I have cultivated boro on my 17 acres of land this year. If I apply fertiliser on my � eld, I have to spend extra money which is a burden for me.”

Abdul Mannaf, a resident of the same village, said in the pretext of har-tal and blockade fertiliser dealers had increased the prices of the agri-inputs.

He also urged the government to look into the matter to ease the su� er-ings of paddy growers.

Aliur Rahman, a dealer of fertiliser and diesel, told the Dhaka Tribune that transport workers are not interested to come to the district with the agri-in-

puts amid life risk during the ongoing political turmoil.

“We have to count Tk2 to Tk3 for per litre diesel and per kiligram fertiliser.”

He also said as they had to spend more money for buying the agri-in-puts, they were asking additional mon-ey from paddy growers.

“When the situation will be normal, we will sell diesel and fertiliser at the government � xed rate.

Deputy Director of the DAE Shah Alam told the Dhaka Tribune that har-tal and blockade were not hampering transpiration of the agri-inputs. The supply of diesel and fertiliser was suf-� cient, so there is no scope for dealers to take extra price from paddy growers.

He also assured the correspondent that he would look into the matter.

He also said � eld-level o� cials were monitoring the entire situation. l

Diarrhoea breaks out in Kurigram, number of child patients on risen Our Correspondent, Kurigram

Malnutrition and lack of hygiene have resulted into an outbreak of diarrhoea in Kurigram district, af-fecting a large portion of the dis-trict’s child population.

Thirty-� ve children a� ected with diarrhoea reportedly got ad-mitted to the Kurigram Sadar Hos-pital yesterday which has only six beds allocated for such patients.

Dr Nazrul Islam, residential medical o� cer of the hospital, said: “The number of diarrhoea a� ected patients, most of whom are children, has drastically risen. There are six beds allocated for di-arrhoea a� ected patients, however,

currently 35 patients are admitted here.”

Alongside diarrhoea, patients with di� erent cold-related com-plications are � ooding the outdoor section of the hospital, said the hospital authorities.

Physicians opined that most of the children su� ering from diar-rhoea and cold-related diseases were deprived of proper nutrition.

During a visit yesterday, this correspondent found a number of patients su� ering from diarrhoea lying on the � oor of the Kurigram Sadar Hospital. An on-duty nurse told that Dhaka Tribune that six children with dirrhoea got admit-ted to the hospital until 12noon yes-

terday.In Roumari upazila of Kurigram,

more than 50 children poured into the upazila sadar hospital in last two days su� ering from the same disease.

Roumari Upazila Health Com-plex O� cer Shahjahan Kabir said physicians and nurses were having a hard time in attending the � ow of child patients, most of whom are aged around three.

Senior Consultant of Kurigram Sadar Hospital Children unit Dr Mokhtar Ali said: “Lack of nutrition was the central reason for the out-break of the disease. For preven-tion, intake of hygienic and nutri-tious food is necessary.” l

Aspiring Saudi workers face trouble to get registrationn Our Correspondent, Chandpur

The workers who want to go to King-dom of Saudi Arabia with job have been struggling to end the registration process as the local Manpower and Em-ployment o� ce lacks of necessary sta� and logistics facility.

Consequently the workers had to visit the o� ce for several times due to the odds, many of whom were from re-mote areas of the district

Sources at Chandpur Manpower and Employment o� ce said photocopy of passport or a copy of national ID card

of an aspirant is essential to � ll up the registration form. Later, an SMS of suc-cessful registration is sent to his or mo-bile number requesting to collect regis-tration card from the o� ce concerned.

On the � rst day of the registration, above 50 people � lled up the form and the authorities advised them to come later for card.

It was learnt that the registration for Malaysia was done in di� erent local ad-ministration o� ces, but the latest task was going on only in the o� ce and that was why it was struggling to cope with the increased pressure with the limited sta� .

The o� ce has � ve employees in lieu of seven.

Two KSA aspirants named Jahid Hossain and Manik Tarafder from re-mote Faridganj area said after a long struggle they managed to � nd out the manpower and employment o� ce and

� lled up the registration form, but � -nally the process had remained pend-ing owing to internet problem.

Later the authorities requested them to come the following day to end the task, which was very tough for them as a whole day and excess fare are re-quired to come there again, they added.

Halima Begum, assistant director of local Manpower and Employment of-� ce, said they has been facing hurdle to run o� ce as only one MSO-rank stu� was available there on deputation from Dhaka.

“Besides the situation has worsened due to not having any computer opera-tor although we have assigned the MSO to the job. Since this is common sce-nario of the o� ce, we are struggling to do the new enrollment task of aspirant Saudi workers. In this situation, we ur-gently need a computer operator who would be brought by a special arrange-ment,” the AD went on.

The director termed the registration task continuous process that would continued until any decision comes from the head o� ce.

Later, the list of the registered work-ers would be sent to the head o� ce as per direction from the higher authori-ties, Halima continued.

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

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

The middle east country, the biggest labour market for our country, lifted a six-year ban on recruitment of work-ers, reopening the Bangladeshi labour market in the realm on February 1, this year. l

Man to die for killing sister-in-law in Noakhalin Tribune Desk

A court here yesterday convicted a man of killing his sister-in-law here in 2006 and sentenced him to death.

The condemned convict was identi� ed as Alamgir Hossain, 40, a resident of Kasba upazila in Brah-

manbaria district.The court also sentenced Fazlul

Karim, 35, maternal uncle of victim Lucky Akhter for abetting Alamgir in the crime. Alamgir was present in the dock when the judge pro-nounced the verdict while Fazlul was tried in absentia.

According to the prosecution, Lucky was stabbed to death by her brother-in-law Alamgir, who was then a conservancy worker of Dhaka Club, at the residence of her anoth-er brother-in-law Mohammad Alam at the Sweeper Quarters of Noakhali Jail on September 9, 2006.

Alam � led a case against Alamgir and four other people, including her maternal uncle Fazlul Karim, with Sud-haram Model police station the follow-ing day. After examining the records and witnesses, Special Session’s Judge Shirin Kabita Akhter handed down the verdict acquitting three accused. l

This is common scenario of the o� ce, we are struggling to do the new enrollment task of aspirant Saudi workers

Strawberry farming gains momentum in Rajshahi region this year as the fruit is highly pro� table. Two youths pick up the fruits from the � led to sell it in the local market as the products cannot be sent to the town because of on going violence during hartal and blockade programmes called by BNP 20-party alliance. The picture was taken yesterdy from a � eld in Paba upazila AZAHAR UDDIN

Students of National University students formed a human chain in front of Jessore Press Club yesterday demanding convocation DHAKA TRIBUNE

Youth gunned down; AL leader heldn Our Correspondent, Narail

A youth was shot dead in AL factional clash at Kalia upazila in the district yes-terday.

The deceased was identi� ed as Enamul Haque Sheikh,30,son of Walier Rahman Sheikh, of Kunjupur village under Baranal-Eliachabad union.

Locals said the followers of local Awami League leaders Monirul Islam and Nazrul Islam locked into the clash

in the morning, following an alterca-tion over Perkhali High School manag-ing committee’s chairman election.

Supporters of both the groups at-tacked each other with lethal weapons leaving Enamul dead and 20 others in-jured, said witnesses.

Con� rming the incident, Kalia po-lice station O� cer-in-Charge Moham-mad Motier Rahman said: “The police arrested local AL leader and also the UP Chairman Monirul Islam for his in-volvement in the killing.”

The OC said: “Enamul received bul-lets and died on the spot after the sup-porters of Monirul opened � re on the followers of Nazrul.”

Superintendent of Police Sarder Raqibul Islam along with other top-lev-el o� cials visited the spot.

Additional police forces had been deployed in the area to avert further clash, said the SP. l

Additional police forces had been deployed in the area to avert further clash

HSBC ‘TAX DODGE’

The tip of the Icebergn AFP, Geneva

The former HSBC employee who leaked sensational secret documents alleging the bank helped wealthy cus-tomers dodge millions of dollars in taxes warned Tuesday that the revela-tions are just the “tip of the iceberg.”

The � les created global shockwaves on Monday, spotlighting the � nancial dealings of the world’s ultra-rich and prompting British lawmakers to launch an inquiry into the London-based bank.

The cache of � les made public in the so-called SwissLeaks case includes the names of celebrities, alleged arms dealers and politicians – though inclu-sion on the list does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.

Published at the weekend, the � les claim HSBC’s Swiss division helped cli-ents in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing $119 bil-lion (104 billion euros).

Herve Falciani, an IT worker turned whistleblower, stole the � les in 2007 and passed them to French authori-ties, but they had not been previously made public.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) ob-tained the � les via French newspaper Le Monde and shared them with more than 45 other media organisations worldwide.

But Falciani said the media reports on the documents’ contents were based on just a fraction of the � les he gave to the French state.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg,”

the Franco-Italian told France’s Le Parisien newspaper in an interview published Tuesday.

“There’s more than what the journalists have. Several million transactions (between banks) are also in the documents I transmitted. These � gures could give an idea of what lies at the bottom of the iceberg.”

The � les were used by the French government to track down tax evaders and shared with other states in 2010, leading to a series of prosecutions.

Dubbed the “Snowden of tax evasion” and “the man who terri� es the rich,” Falciani remains wanted on data theft charges, but France and Spain have o� ered him protection by refusing to extradite him to Switzerland.

‘Secretive industry serving the elite’Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the British parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, told the BBC that lawmakers were launching an “urgent inquiry” and would order HSBC to give evidence if necessary.

“Today’s shocking revelations about HSBC further expose a secretive global industry serving a wealthy elite,” she told the broadcaster on Monday.

The documents show that HSBC opened Swiss accounts for international criminals, businessmen, politicians and celebrities, according to the ICIJ.

The revelations renewed calls for a crackdown on sophisticated tax avoid-ance by the wealthy and multinational companies. Tax avoidance is legal, but

tax evasion is not.“HSBC pro� ted from doing

business with arms dealers who channelled mortar bombs to child soldiers in Africa, bag men for Third World dictators, tra� ckers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws,” the ICIJ said.

HSBC’s reputation has been tarnished in recent years by a string of high-pro� le controversies, including oversight failures which meant Mexican drug tra� ckers could launder money through its accounts.

Shares in the bank were down 1.64% at the close of trading in London on Monday.

A range of current and former politicians from Russia, India and various African countries, as well as Saudi, Bahraini, Jordanian and Moroccan royalty, and the late Australian press magnate Kerry Packer were named in the � les.

There were calls for a Swiss probe against the bank, which is already facing prosecution in France and Bel-gium.

Switzerland has so far only launched an investigation against Falciani.

Global fallout on Monday included a Belgian judge said to be considering international arrest warrants for direc-tors of HSBC’s Swiss division.

Hidden money?HSBC’s Swiss banking arm insisted it has undergone a “radical transformation.”

Franco Morra, the head of HSBC’s Swiss unit, said the bank had closed

the accounts of clients “who did not meet our high standards.”

HSBC now has “strong compliance controls in place,” he told AFP in an email, adding that the revelations are “a reminder that the old business mod-el of Swiss private banking is no longer acceptable.”

Notes in the leaked � les indicate HSBC workers were aware of clients’ intentions to keep money hidden from national authorities.

Of one Danish account holder, an employee wrote: “All contacts through one of her 3 daughters living in London. Account holder living in Denmark, ie critical as it is a criminal act having an account abroad non de-clared.”

The � les provide details on over 100,000 HSBC clients, including peo-ple targeted by US sanctions, such as Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and Gennady Timchenko, an associate

of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Alguadis told the ICIJ it was pru-

dent to keep savings o� shore, while a spokesman for Timchenko said he was fully compliant with tax matters.

Other individuals named on the list include designer Diane von Fursten-berg, who told the ICIJ the accounts were inherited from her parents, and model Elle Macpherson, whose law-yers told the ICIJ she was fully compli-ant with UK tax law. l

Wednesday, February 11, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

21.7

12.513.4

14.8

7

4.3

$2.48 million

7

France

$44.6

$12.2

$81,247

9.1

$1.6

$41.8

$73

$27.5

International investigation reveals the names of thousands of people holding bank accounts at HSBC Geneva*

‘Swissleaks’

Source: ICIJ. Le Monde. media * Inclusion on the list does not necessarily imply wrongdoing

15 main countriesin billions of dollars

Formula 1. Italy

10

7.5

6.3

5.8

4.8

4.6

4.4

billions of dollarspassed throughthese accounts

clients were involved+ 100,000

+ 100

United Kingdom

Venezuela

USA

Israel

ItalyBahamas

Brazil

Belgium

SaudiArabia

Lebanon

Netherlands

Germany

CaimanIs.

Hairdressing empire, France French actor

Jacques Dessange

Flavio Briatore

Daughter of China’sformer prime

minister Li Peng

LI Xiaolin

Gad Elmaleh

King of Jordan

Abdullah II

King of Morocco

Mohammed VIBritish musician

Unknownamount

$272,191

HSBC Private Bank, Geneva

Sums in2006-2007

Public �gureslinked to one

or more account

10 membersof the Saudiroyal family

Sultan of Oman

Sultan Qaboos

million

Australiansupermodel

Elle MacPherson

million

Britishactress

Joan Collins

Phil Collins

US actor

Christian Slater Rami Makhluf

million

million

million

million

Cousin of PresidentBashar al-Assad

of Syriamillion

Australian mediabaron, died

in 2005

Kerry Packer

Russian billionaireclose to Vladimir Putin

Gennady Timchenko

Between November 2006 and March 2007

Switzerland 312

Source: WB/Internetworldstats.com/*China media, end 2014

3.04 billion people or 42 percent of the world’s populationuse the Internet as of mid-2014, according to Internet worldstats.com

The half-connected world

0-10

10-20

20-30

40-50

30-40

50-60

60-70

70-80

80-90

90-100%

By country, percent of population

China

1.36b

648*

India

1.24b

243

Japan

110127

Australia

2023

Nigeria

70

177

Iran

45

81

AFRICA

298M. EAST

112 OCEANIA

27ASIA

1,386EUROPE

582N. AMERICA

310 million users

LAT. AMERICA / CARIB.

320

46

87

Egypt

5266

France

7081

GermanyUnited States

319 million Total population

Online277 million

203

110

Brazil

113

Cuba

120

59

Mexico

1827

SaudiArabia

89

UAE

42 49

South Korea

World Bank data 2013

Internet penetration

Selected countries

Africa26.5 percent

Asia34.7

Europe70.5

Oceania72.9

NorthAmerica87.7

Latin America/ Caribbean52.3

MiddleEast48.3

Regionalpenetration

rates

Twitter says goverment data queries risingn AFP, Washington

Twitter said Monday it saw a 40% jump in government request for user data in late 2014, with sharp rises coming from both Turkey and Russia.

The “transparency report” released by the messaging platform showed the United States remained the largest source of data queries with 1,622 over the last six months of the year, but that notable increases came from Turkey and Russia.

The total number of requests global-ly was 2,871, up from 2,058 in the � rst six months of the year.

Turkey – which blocked Twitter and other social media last year for leaking data about government corruption – vaulted to the number two spot with 356 requests, the Twitter report said.

“Requests from Turkey increased over 150 percent... We did not provide information in response to any of those requests,” Twitter senior manager Jer-emy Kessel said in a blog post.

In Russia, where authorities de-manded last year that Twitter block “extremist” accounts, Kessel said “we went from having never received a request to receiving more than 100 re-quests for account information during this reporting period.” Twitter did not provide any data to the Russian re-quests.

Twitter said the jump followed the

passing of a “blogger’s law” in Russia that requires those with more than 3,000 daily readers to register and ad-here to stricter rules or face a large � ne.

In the United States, the number of requests increased by 29% during the period, and Twitter complied in 80% of those cases.

Japan was third with 288 requests, and Twitter complied in 36% of those cases.

Twitter said Turkey made the larg-est number of requests to take down content – 328 of the global total of 376.

“We received 328 court orders and 149 requests from Turkish government agencies directing Twitter to remove content ranging from violations of per-sonal rights to defamation of private citizens and/or government o� cials,” the report said.

“We � led legal objections with Turkish courts in response to more than 70% of Turkish orders received.”

Twitter was required by the Turkish courts to remove at least some materi-al in 50% of the cases. Globally, it took down content in 13% of cases.

Most major US tech � rms have pub-lished transparency reports in the past two years, with more joining following revelations from leaked documents about government surveillance.

But the reports may only reveal lim-ited data, with a delay, about requests from secret US national security court. l

Isis-held American hostage is dead, says Obaman Tribune Desk

The White House has con� rmed yes-terday that an American Islamic State (Isis) hostage, 26-year-old aid worker Kayla Jean Mueller, has died.

“It is with profound sadness that we have learned of the death of Kayla Jean Mueller,” Obama said in a statement. “I convey our deepest condolences.”

Several Isis-linked Twitter accounts have claimed that the American aid worker was killed in the bombing raid on the Syrian city of Raqqa early in Friday.

“Isis is a hateful and abhorrent ter-rorist group whose actions stand in stark contrast to the spirit of people like Kayla,” reads the statement.

The Mueller family also released a statement con� rming the death of their daughter.

“We are heartbroken to share that we’ve received con� rmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life,” her par-ents and brother said on Tuesday.

The statement from Mueller’s family did not elaborate on how it had learned of Mueller’s death or the circumstances behind it.

Mueller – who had worked as a hu-manitarian aid worker – was captured in Syria in August 2013. Last week, ISIS claimed she had been killed in a Jorda-nian airstrike in Syria. At the time, US o� cials said they could not con� rm ISIS’ claims. l

Rebels in new push to cut o� Ukraine rail hub ahead of talksn Reuters, Vuhlehirsk/Kramatorsk

Rebel � ghters made a push on yesterday to cut o� a government-held road and rail junction in east Ukraine, vowing on the eve of peace talks that they would not cease � re until they had achieved their aim of taking more territory.

Some 30 miles (50 km) north of the front line, in government-held Krama-torsk, rockets slammed into the head-quarters of Ukraine’s local military operation and a nearby district of res-idential apartment blocks. The rebels denied � ring on the town.

Russia, Ukraine, France and Germa-ny are due to hold a summit in Minsk on Wednesday under a new Franco-Ger-man initiative to halt � ghting that in re-cent weeks reopened a war which has killed more than 5,000 people.

European o� cials have so far held out minimal hope for the talks, saying the rebels and Moscow have few reasons to halt while they are taking new ground.

In Vuhlehirsk, a small town captured by rebels last week, volleys of artillery

crashed in both directions as the rebels pushed to encircle government forces holding out in the nearby garrison of Debaltseve, the main target of the rebel advance. Rebels sounded triumphant and said they had no intention of halt-ing until they have trapped the govern-ment troops in the town, which con-trols vital road and rail links.

“The Debaltseve bubble has been shut � rmly. We will not let them out. There is no way they can get out,” said a commander of a reconnaissance unit who identi� ed himself by the nom de guerre of Malysh - “Little One.”

Asked whether the rebels sought a cease� re now, Malysh, who said he was a Russian � ghter and not a Ukrainian, replied: “We are absolutely against it. They will have time to regroup. We have them now.”

Kiev announced on Tuesday that its forces had launched a counter-o� en-sive in the southeast to relieve separat-ist pressure on the coastal town of Mar-iupol, the biggest city in the rebellious provinces still in government hands. l

‘Spy mania’ is backn AFP, Moscow

What do a nuclear scientist, a young mother of seven, a church employee and a former military factory boss have in common?

They’ve all been charged with high treason, espionage or disclosing state secrets in newly spy-phobic Russia.

With ex-KGB President Vladimir Pu-tin staking his reputation on Russia’s takeover of Crimea and the success of pro-Moscow separatist � ghters in east-ern Ukraine, Russia is seeing “an up-surge of spy mania,” prominent lawyer Anna Stavitskaya told AFP.

The start of the Ukraine crisis more than a year ago has coincided with a ramping up of Kremlin e� orts to squelch dissent by further sideling op-ponents and muzzling what’s left of Russia’s independent media.

But the speed and sweeping nature of the crackdown, based on new leg-islation, has been surprising, lawyers and activists say.

Stavitskaya represented arms con-trol expert Igor Sutyagin, who was sen-tenced in 2004 to 15 years in jail over handing classi� ed information to a British company, although he says the information was available in the public sphere.

She remembers the � rst wave of “spy mania” when the security service targeted scientists in the late 1990s.

Today, she says, the FSB security service, successor to the feared KGB, appears to be casting a much wider net.

“The entire spectrum of Russian civ-il society” has been targeted with trea-son accusations, Stavitskaya said.

The state’s message, she added, is: “Everyone needs to think seriously about what to say and where.”

Meeting foreigners equals treason?After Putin returned to the Kremlin

for a third term in 2012, Russia broad-ened its de� nition of treason and espi-onage, alarming rights groups that said nearly anyone could fall afoul of the new law.

The wording of the amended legis-lation is so vague that nearly anyone – including those without access to state secrets – can now be accused of a grave crime against the state, experts warned.

“Once an investigator moves to use his imagination, any contact with a for-eigner can be deemed high treason,” Ivan Pavlov told The New Times oppo-sition magazine.

Pavlov represents the interests of mother of seven Svetlana Davydova, who has become a cause celebre for the country’s embattled civil society.

Her arrest last month for alleged-ly calling the Ukrainian embassy with information on Russian troops move-ments stunned a country where many have become inured to injustice. Davydova maintains that she was not spying, saying she is just a housewife with no access to state secrets, but had become worried that troops from her town were apparently being sent to Ukraine – where Russia claims it is not � ghting.

After tens of thousands signed a petition calling on Putin to release the young mother, Davydova last week walked out of the high-security Lefor-tovo prison but the charges against her remain in place.

It emerged soon after that several more Russians – and Ukrainians – have been arrested on similar charges over the past year and face up to 20 years in prison. l

Study: Hackers can get into most ‘connected cars’n AFP, Washington

Virtually all “connected cars” on the road are vulnerable to hackers who could steal data or gain control of the vehicle, a report from a US senator said Monday.

The report prepared by the sta� of Senator Ed Markey said the wireless connectivity and Internet access avail-able on the vehicles opens up security gaps that could be exploited for mali-cious purposes.

The study found these security weaknesses in “nearly 100% of cars on the market” and noted that most auto-mobile manufacturers were unaware of or unable to report on past hacking incidents.

The senator’s sta� , which collected data from 16 major auto manufactur-ers, cited earlier studies on some ve-hicles which showed how hackers can get into the controls of some popular vehicles, causing them to suddenly ac-celerate, turn, de-activate brakes, acti-vate the horn, control headlights, and modify the speedometer and gas gauge readings.

The report also noted that many of these connected cars collect data on driving that could be kept in violation of privacy.

It said that the “alarmingly inconsis-tent and incomplete state of industry security and privacy practices” raises questions about the need for new US rules from the National Highway Traf-� c Safety Administration (NHTSA) or other federal agencies.

“Drivers have come to rely on these new technologies, but unfortunately the automakers haven’t done their part to protect us from cyberattacks or pri-vacy invasions,” Markey said in a state-ment.

“Even as we are more connected than ever in our cars and trucks, our technology systems and data security remain largely unprotected.”

The report said the manufacturers appeared to take little or no action fol-lowing disclosures from researchers in 2013 and 2014 about these vulnerabil-ities.

The report pointed out that hackers can gain access to a car via Bluetooth wireless connections, the OnStar sys-tem for remote assistance, malware in an Android smartphone which is paired with the vehicle, or even an in-fected CD in the car sound system.

“These � ndings reveal that there is a clear lack of appropriate security mea-sures to protect drivers against hackers who may be able to take control of a vehicle or against those who may wish to collect and use personal driver infor-mation,” the report said.

The report obtained responses from 16 major global manufacturers: BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. l

Erwiana: from domestic helper to human rights activistn AFP, Hong Kong

From a “simple village girl” too petri-� ed to report the torture she was fac-ing, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih has be-come a con� dent advocate of workers’ rights in a city where maids often live in slave-like conditions.

Shocking pictures emerged of a se-verely beaten Sulistyaningsih looking frail and skinny and in a critical condition at an Indonesian hospital in January last year, and focused the spotlight on the rights of domestic helpers in Hong Kong.

The photos and her account of the abuse she received shocked the Asian � nancial hub and sparked anger amongst the migrant worker commu-nity, renewing concerns over the abuse of domestic helpers.

Sulistyaningsih, who according to the judge’s verdict “described herself as a simple village girl, coming from a village where her parents are farmers,” was sent back to Indonesia by her for-mer employer, Law Wan-tung, when she became too weak to walk.

She told the court that Law covered her in makeup to hide her injuries for the trip to the airport and strapped a nappy on her as she could not use the toilet.

A little over a year later, a healthier looking Sulistyaningsih was back in Hong Kong and won a landmark case against Law, who was convicted Tues-day for beating and starving her, and keeping her prisoner.

“To employers in Hong Kong, I hope they will start treating migrant workers

as workers and human beings and stop treating us like slaves,” Sulistyaningsih told a press conference after the Tues-day verdict.

But the 24-year-old, who has been hailed as a hero, had initially wanted

the case against Law to be low-pro� le.During the six-week trial, prosecu-

tors said Law turned household items such as a mop, a ruler and a clothes hanger into “weapons” against her maids. l

DECODING DELHI VERDICT

Why Kejriwal won, What Modi’s loss meansn Sushil Aaron for Hindustan Times

The straightforward reason for Arvind Kejriwal’s resounding victory is that the Congress vote – which amounted to 24% in the 2013 assembly elections – signi� -cantly switched to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The land ordinance, whose impli-cations the AAP was quick to pick up on, also turned rural notables against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

But this victory is about so much more; it is about where the urban poor belong in mainstream politics, what this does to the authority of Narendra Modi and what this impact will have on na-tional politics at large.

Kejriwal’s win is an important re-minder that the politics of expressing a “preferential option for the poor” can be a successful strategy in electoral de-mocracy. The thing that strikes you as you listen to AAP supporters either on videos posted on Facebook or the auto driver who happens to support him is the intensity, the vehemence and the air of de� ance that is imbued in their sup-port for Kejriwal. There is also a festive exuberance of a hitherto silent urban in-surgency, reared on cynicism about the empty spectacle of power, now � nding utterance.

And why not? The AAP stood by its urban poor base literally through thick and thin, making a decisive impression during its stint in power by o� ering free water, halving power bills and enforcing a measure of discipline and restraint on Delhi Police which, in most accounts of the poor, had never happened be-fore. Kejriwal and acomplices endured withering criticism from their own supporters over resigning in haste and yet kept in touch with underprivileged communities, helping to rebuild slums, and o� ering a range of services includ-ing legal advocacy through its stream of volunteers. The AAP grew out of an eco-system of social movement activ-ism – featuring civil society leaders and academics – that is marked a no-frills te-nacity that other political parties strug-gle to match. The RSS does have that lev-el of commitment but its e� ectiveness is hamstrung by its lack of inclusivity and its problematic relationship with capital and the entrepreneurial political class that populate its allied out� ts like the BJP.

Kejriwal has no such ambiguity. He makes explicit the connection between someone’s power and a� uence and oth-er’s deprivation. The themes are clear: the public good is being corralled into private interests. Politicians, big busi-ness and power companies are all com-plicit in this process robbing the com-monweal of resources that can bene� t all. Poverty and the absence of power is a derivative of the rich man’s agency and Kejriwal wants to use the state to restore a level-playing � eld. Others have tried this narrative before but in the person of Kejriwal this has particular velocity owing perhaps to his technocratic ex-pertise, his � uency in English and the vernacular and his distinctive, studious

delivery that works well both in public meetings and on TV. While Prime Min-ister Modi can scarcely bring himself to be asked two back-to-back questions in a press conference, Kejriwal handles any TV anchor with an assurance that bor-ders on rudeness, which works as an as-set if you have a reputation for speaking for the poor. They see in his clarity their own rage articulated and radiated to the rich and powerful. He o� ers to the ur-ban poor the delight of someone speak up unapologetically for the underclass without so much mentioning caste and religious divisions and, for the volun-teers, there is the moral spur of partici-pating in that endeavour.

Kejriwal’s command of the TV inter-view, alongside Yogendra Yadav, has disrupted middle class constituencies that Modi has come to take for grant-ed. You only have to see the reaction of the upwardly mobile English speaking young people watching Barkha Dutt or other anchors interviewing Kejriwal to see that his responses provoke grudging admiration even from young sceptics. No anchor gives him / AAP an easy time and their sheer determined engagement with the public sphere has gradually ex-panded their circle of in� uence.

The BJP, Amit Shah and Modi made several mistakes. They picked two lead-ers to take on Kejriwal. Kiran Bedi was to

counter his activist credentials, but she was a disaster from the start committing a series of ga� es and, in Mihir Sharma’s memorable words, “towed away the PM’s victory.” Picking her at the expense of Harsh Vardhan and other leaders served to severely undermine morale of the party cadre. Nirmala Sitharaman was projected an upright, technocratic counter who would pose � ve daily ques-tions to Kejriwal. The irony of posing questions to an activist who had active-ly courted the media while the govern-ment prided itself on keeping away from scrutiny wasn’t lost on many. Who were the questions supposed to impress any-way? They were hardly any undecided voters by the time Sitharaman’s ques-tions came along and all they ended up doing was undermine her standing a bit.

Modi’s failing More than anything this was Narendra Modi’s failing. And because Delhi is a mi-crocosm of India, he may well pause to re� ect on the e� ects on the way he is pro-jected. He came across in the Lok Sabha election as the person to end Congress’s policy stupor and be the man in charge. He portrayed himself as the man to ful� l the aspiration of urban youth struggling to succeed in a globalised economy. But in the intervening time that it takes for trickle-down economics to work, leaders

still have to relate to the lived experienc-es of the poor which must be re� ected consistently in the idiom they usually employ. But Modi has in recent months been all aspiration and no perspiration. Building relationships with world leaders is � ne so long as you handle optics care-fully. The Rs 10 lakh suit was an unmiti-gated disaster. The vast underclass which silently asks itself why it is not entitled to a pay hike each time its employer ac-quires a smartphone, a car or any gadget will have quickly concluded that this is not a poor man’s PM. Nobody is more nimble than the poor in discerning where the emotional investments of power are.

There are those who will maintain that the PM’s standing remains high and that this is about Assembly elections. But the BJP will have to contend with the many in the middle class, both English and Hindi speaking, who voted for him in May and yet picked Kejriwal this time.

It must not escape BJP’s notice this time that liberal issues do matter for the upwardly mobile. Persistently toxic vili� cation of minorities by BJP � gures and ideological a� liates, sa� ronisation of education instead of preparing the young for a globalised workplace and loony rhetoric about ancient science and reproductive obligations of women are all real turn o� s for large sections of the urban middle class.

The Delhi election has also shown the limits of gaming mainstream media through embedded journalism, while there is an entire social media universe out there openly and obliquely back-ing the opposition, challenging the BJP narrative in the face of organised trolls. Buzzfeed India’s story on the 10 lakh suit caused untold damage. There were plenty of dissent in mainstream media too. Ravish Kumar’s walkabout con-versations on NDTV gently questioning BJP leaders about the state of roads in the age of Swachh Bharat, the anomaly of smart cities rhetoric when women wait for 4-8 hours for water were a daily headache for the BJP.

There are of course national implica-tions from this win. The AAP can now con� dently project itself as the secular, national alternative to the BJP and being all the Congress could have been. The immediate e� ect will be on the Congress which is likely to have a desertion crisis, given the entrepreneurial instincts of the political class.

The � ckle nature of political discus-sion is such that the conversation will quickly move to questions about AAP and Kejriwal’s capacity to govern. All that is for the future. Let the poor enjoy their moment and others savour that there is now a feisty opposition to con-tend with. l

Wednesday, February 11, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World 9

“Slave-like conditions”: Amnesty International

Chain of abuse

From recruitment to termination, Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong are vulnerable to abuse and slave-like conditions, according to an Amnesty International report released in 2013

Restrictionson freedom of movement

Confiscation of documentsby agents,employers

Manipulationof debt byagents

Common from beginning to end

Risk of arbitrary terminationThreat of deportationunless new employment found within two weeks of termination

A demonstratorat a rally forforeign domesticworkers’ rights in Hong Kong,February 2014Photo by Alex Ogle

Live-in requirement

Additional sources: Indonesia govt/HK govt

Forced into domesticwork for agency staffduring “training”and “internships”

Workers routinely deceivedabout salariesand fees

Agenciesinvolved in trafficking

INDONESIA

HONG KONG

Training

Charge feeshigher thanlegal limitIllegal wagedeductions

Recruitment

AgenciesTermination

Employment

Threats, verbaland physicalabuse

Interviewees workedan average 17 hoursa day28 percent ofrespondents saidthey were paid belowthe legal minimum

Main source:Amnesty International“Exploited for profit, failed by governments”

All eyes on anarchist Arvindn AFP, New Delhi

Arvind Kejriwal, a former tax inspector with a record of campaigning against graft in India’s notoriously dirty politics, in now a heavyweight in indian politics.

The 46-year-old quit his comfortable and highly sought-after government job in 2001 and embarked on a career as an anti-corruption campaigner that lead him to national fame.

He was catapulted into the Delhi chief minister’s post after his anti-cor-ruption Aam Aadmi (Common Man) party made a stunning breakthrough at the capital’s last election in late 2013.

But he resigned 49 days later after a chaotic spell in charge, leaving the city without a government for a year and sparking accusations that he was � ee-ing the tough job of administration.

During the campaign this time around, Kejriwal apologised for aban-doning the city and went on to become the star of the show, winning over le-gions of working-class voters willing to give him a second chance.

“We have to serve people of Delhi and develop it into a city so that both rich and poor will feel proud of it,” Ke-jriwal said on Tuesday outside AAP’s headquarters, as hundreds of support-ers showered him with petals.

“I appeal to the AAP workers and leaders not to be arrogant” because of the massive victory, said Kejriwal, who is known as Mu� er Man for often wear-ing scarves around his head at rallies.

According to the election commis-sion, the AAP was set to capture 67 seats in Delhi’s state assembly, trouncing Mo-di’s Hindu nationalist party on three.

He is expected to be sworn in as Del-hi chief minister on February 14.

‘Common man hero’The victory caps a remarkable come-back for Kejriwal, whose party � opped at national elections last May when Modi stormed to power also pledging to clean up government.

During his last brief tenure as chief minister, Kejriwal initially won rave headlines with his no-nonsense ap-proach to endemic corruption and for shunning the VIP culture of Indian pol-itics, including by riding the metro to his inauguration.

But the radical tone of some of his announcements were widely criti-cised, and his administration was soon embroiled in a series of stand-o� s with authorities.

The self-styled “anarchist” staged a sit-in on the pavement close to the national parliament, triggering chaos in the city centre, as part of a push to be given greater powers of control over the police.

This time around, Kejriwal pledged to stay in power for the long haul and see through policies for the “common man” including lower utility bills and free wi� .

“He’s put everything on the line for people like you and me and everyone else here. He’s a common man hero,” said 36-year-old accountant Poulomi Gupta as she celebrated his win on Tuesday. l

Hong Kong woman guilty in Indonesian maid abuse casen AFP, Hong Kong

A Hong Kong woman was convicted yesterday of beating and starving her Indonesian maid and keeping her pris-oner in a case that sparked internation-al outrage and highlighted the plight of migrant domestic workers.

The verdict, read out to a packed courtroom, was met with cheers by activists and supporters of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, a former domestic helper who has become the face of a campaign for improved workers’ rights in the � nancial hub.

Pictures of the injuries sustained by the 24-year-old, who was admitted to hospital in her home country ema-ciated and in a critical condition after being abused by mother-of-two Law Wan-tung, fuelled anger in Indonesia and shocked Hong Kong.

Sulistyaningsih hailed the ruling but called for reforms to ensure Hong Kong employers no longer treated domestic workers “like slaves.”

She said that while she forgave her abuser, she hoped Law would receive the maximum seven year jail term when sentencing is announced on February 27.

“She was, for want of a better word, a prisoner in those premises,” Judge Amanda Woodcock said, referring to Sulistyaningsih.

“She was completely isolated, and (this) helps explain why this abuse could go on for so long without her re-taliating or anyone knowing.”

“When Erwiana left Hong Kong she was a shadow of her former self.” l

Anwar jailed for 5 years after losing appeal in sodomy trialn Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia’s highest court Yesterday rejected on Tuesday an appeal by op-position leader Anwar Ibrahim against a sodomy conviction, sending the pol-itician who poses the greatest threat to the long-ruling coalition back to prison for � ve years.

The UN Human Rights o� ce and Australia said they were disappointed by the ruling. Human Rights Watch condemned it as persecution and Am-nesty International said it would have a chilling e� ect on freedom of expres-sion.

Anwar, the ruling party’s rising star in the mid-1990s before he fell out with then Prime Minister Mahathir Moha-mad, denied the charge that led to his second conviction for sodomy as a fab-rication aimed at ending his political career.

“I will walk again for the third time into prison but rest assured that I will walk in with my head held high,” a de-� ant Anwar said in a statement he read out in court.

“I maintain my innocence.”Prime Minister Najib Razak’s gov-

ernment has rejected any suggestion of interference in the case.

“Malaysia has an independent ju-diciary, and there have been many rulings against senior government � g-ures,” the government said in a state-ment after the ruling.

The United States said it was “deep-ly disappointed” with the conviction. “The decision to prosecute Mr. Anwar and the conduct of his trial have raised a number of serious concerns about rule of law and the fairness of the ju-dicial system in Malaysia,” National Security Council spokeswoman Berna-dette Meehan said.

Anwar criticised the court say-ing that in rejecting his appeal it was “bowing to the dictates of the political masters.”

“You chose to remain on the dark side and drown your morals and your scruples in a sea of falsehood and subterfuge,” he told the judges who walked out of the court as he spoke.

“I will not surrender,” he said.Anwar later comforted his wife and

children and had a meal with them be-fore being taken to the Sungai Buloh prison, about 30 km (20 miles) from Kuala Lumpur.

A court found the 67-year old for-mer deputy prime minister guilty in March last year of sodomising a former political aide.

The conviction disquali� es him from political o� ce and contesting the next election that must be held by 2018.

Nurul Izzah, Anwar’s daughter who is also a political leader in his Parti Keadilan Rakyat, was also de� ant.

“This is not the end,” said told re-porters outside the court. l

A worker of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) takes a nap in front of the party’s campaign billboard featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and the BJP’s president Amit Shah at a party o� ce in New Delhi yesterday REUTERS

Leaders should not fear compromiseThe nation’s political leaders are stuck in a vicious cycle of

confrontation.It is easy to see reasons why both sides keep hardening their

stance and prolonging the downward spiral. What is often overlooked, however, is the underlying factor that

lies behind the failure to peacefully resolve their di� erences through dialogue.

Political parties have shackled their prestige and their policies to their ability to exert and demonstrate power, lawfully or otherwise. They, and many of their supporters, have become so conditioned to this way of doing things that many measure successes in terms of their ability to crush their opponents.

Everyone knows this is not what democracy is about. Political leaders should not fear being the � rst to initiate dialogue and o� er compromise.

The public pays the price for the crisis. Politicians must trust the public to reward those politicians who can bring an end to the crisis through mutual compromise and dialogue.

Many avenues are available to put an end to the deadlock. The mooted Dhaka city corporation elections o� er a window of opportunity to open up political space and bring calm. Calls for presidential mediation and the suggestions put forward by the platform of eminent cittizens involved in Nagorik Oikya, should also be followed up by all parties.

For the BNP to show it is serious about disowning violence, it must call o� its blockade, as this has demonstrably been shown to give license to those who commit brutal acts.

As the ruling party, the onus falls on the government to take a lead by freeing BNP leaders who have been detained without due cause, and allowing the party to hold peaceful rallies.

Both sides should not see compromise as weakness, when it is the best way forward.

Target welfare where it is neededIt is more important than ever that grassroots e� orts to support

development for the poor continue to receive strong backing.The millions of Bangladeshis living in poverty are the most

adversely a� ected by the political crisis. Those most in need can ill a� ord matters being made even worse by e� ective anti- poverty programs being harmed or derailed due to the crisis.

Much of the country’s success over the past two decades in meeting Millennium Development Goals and providing a platform for economic growth is attributable to the accurate targeting and delivery of grassroots development programs.

Every possible e� ort must be made to keep such programs free from disruption.

All across the world, targeting health and welfare provision to poor mothers has been found highly bene� cial in improving opportunities for the poorest children.

We are encouraged to see continuing new innovation in e� orts to improve welfare for poor expectant women and mothers of young children.

Improved district-level poverty maps are enabling the government and IDA to identify and provide direct � nancial assistance to the poorest half-a-million pregnant women and mothers of young children in the nation.

The Aponjon project supported by the Bangladesh government and USAID is successfully providing maternal and neonatal health information through mobile phones to over a million new and expectant mothers.

Such approaches are highly cost-e� ective in ensuring e� orts to improve child nutrition and making sure heath checks reach the most vulnerable and needy. They are vital in helping reduce poverty and preventing it from passing to the next generation.

Hartal on Thursday in 9 districts, including DhakaJanuary 28MSDialogue is not possible between an illegal government and a dead party. BNP committed suicide last year. Fair elections are impossible in Bangladesh, under any circumstances. The philosophy in Bangladesh’s election is: “If I get elected it is fair, and if he/she is elected it is unfair and rigged.” Again, if one person does not take part in an election, it is illegal.

What a wonderful philosophy! Truly unique. Nobody is talking or demanding for an inde-pendent election commission, because every-one is interested to rig the election. It is a waste of time and money to conduct any election in this country. Why not toss a coin and decide which party or person will be in the government next time?

Responsibilities to rightsJanuary 28John A Brown“Religion has provided the foundation and blue print of Western societies, just as it has in other parts of the world. Australia is a case in point. To read the history of settlement, the churches’ role in developing and designing its education, its mores, its institutions, its laws and govern-ment is essentially and in details a religious story. ” Survivors of these abuses understand that it is for these reasons that they have been denied justice.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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

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

www.dhakatribune.comJoin our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

Stop seeing compromise as a sign of weakness

Reaching poor mothers a proven and cost e� ective way to reduce poverty

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Australian river (4)4 Small � sh (5)9 Poor actor (3)11 Flower (4)12 Proverb (5)13 Eastern ruler (4)14 Linear indentation (4)15 Sparse (5)19 Constellation (5)21 Spoken (4)25 Wicked emperor (4)26 Hang � uttering (5)28 Eager (4)29 Before (poet) (3)30 Kills (5)31 Defect (4)

DOWN1 Former Iranian leader (4)2 Bundle of notes (3)3 Gather for oneself (5)5 Quickly (mus) (6)6 Eternal city (4)7 Continent (4)8 Teaching periods (5)10 Tree (5)16 Settlement (6)17 Recess (5)18 Cries of geese (5)20 Fictitious prose (5)22 Scottish dance (4)23 Region (4)24 Ship’s company (4)27 Period of time (3)

CROSSWORD

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

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 8 represents W so � ll W every time the � gure 8 appears.You have one letter in the control grid to start you o� . Enter it in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z5 people rewarded for helping police catch anarchists

January 27m SirajullahThis is not enough! All the miscreants should be shot on sight and killed, irrespective of party a� l-iations. People must come forward and help law enforcement agencies to punish these hooligans.

Adnan ZahidIs that a Real Madrid fan?

A brief for the ambassadorJanuary 29

Mohammad A SattarShe could be lady luck for Bangladesh! Welcome madame! Have a nice stay.

SammyShe will be just like her predecessor … a largely silent supporter of an unelected regime which clamps down on press freedoms, engages in extra-judicial killings with a vengeance, and violates the constitutional rights of citizens with impunity. Typical of President Obama’s envoys in most of third world dictatorships.

Mamun RashidSammy: USA has changed much after George W Bush. Withdrawn forces from many territories. Public power is becoming a centre-of-the-plate issue for them. Look at Obama coming to India. Cheers.

MichaelSammy: But I thought Mozena was known to be working heavily against the regime. At least that’s what the government thought!

Barely Legal AlienSammy: Optimism, guy.

Muhith: Bangladesh will be free of poverty by 2018January 28JoseSchroederPink Floyd want their pig back Mr Muhith.

roseI really hope that Bangladesh does become free of poverty by 2018.

Fight another dayJanuary 28

Zero-AgendaSome excellent food for thought from DT’s resident � rebrand SM Shahrukh.

Parliament blasts BNP’s behaviour with PM

January 26Adnan Qader

Give it a rest will you? “Manusher jonno kichu kor. Toder ego packet

kor” – enough of your games!

Wali Milon AshrafAbsolutely agree with the above comment from

Adnan. What are you doing for the people?

Bangladesh loses appeal among global � rms for political unrest

January 25Ra� qul Islam

What good are all these “oborodhs” and “hartals” doing for Bangladesh? The politicians are too

consumed by their own dramas and monetary gains to develop the country and help improve the economy. For every step we take forward, we take

ten backwards.

Online activists fuelling violenceJanuary 26

Humaira ChowdhuryIt is good to see that a mainstream paper has pub-

lished about these sites. We have been alarming people about the propaganda these sites were

doing and the scams their pathetic admins have been posting for long. Please be aware and stop

being misguided.

Bowed but not beatenJanuary 27

Jitu Sheikh Jinat MahmidSalute!

Zubair murder verdict on Feb 4January 28

Dr Ahsan HabibJust look at it. The murder happened three years

ago in 2012. What speedy service of justice?

11Op-Ed Wednesday, February 11, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Golam Faruque Khan

When our national liberation movement was shaping up in the 1960s, two cultural

organisations named Sundaram and Amra Samudramukhi were very active in a district town, Mymensingh, with their acts of culture kindling people’s aspirations for liberation, much in the same way as Amilcar Cabral postulated in the high noon of decolonisation.

A young college teacher, and progressive writer, Jatin Sarkar, aided by some of his radical students, was the prime mover in launching those e� orts. But the Intelligence Branch of Pakistan Police was hard on its heels to put paid to everything they were doing.

Then the principal of the local gov-ernment college – a reputed institution named after the proverbial Ananda-mohan Basu – came forward to shield them from the menacing police gaze by presiding over all their programs and explaining in lucid terms what Bengali language and literature, the Pohela Boishakh festival, Ra-bindranath Tagore, and all that consti-tute Bengali culture meant to them.

The principal’s name was Kabir Chowdhury – a name I had heard in my boyhood from those cultural activists who were e� usive about his courage, scholarship, and oratorical skills. Word soon spread that when a gang of the infamous National Student Federation (NSF) workers, led by the students’ un-ion vice-president, had stormed into that principal’s room trying to force him to do something unfair, he had just taken out his revolver and driven them out straight away.

And, needless to say, all this happened at Abdul Monem Khan’s own town, at a time when he was the “mighty” governor of the then East Pakistan.

A year or so later, I got a copy of a book titled Prachin Greecer Birkahini that led me into a fascinating mythical world, narrating the thrilling exploits of the epic heroes and gods and god-desses of ancient Greece. The author of the book was none other than that brave and scholarly principal Kabir Chowdhury, who had already become something of a legend in the Mymens-ingh area.

It was only a few days before I found myself gleefully clasping a

copy of Swargacharan – a book he had translated from John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven. Soon after, a cou-ple of Jack London novels and Eugene O’Neill dramas in his translation came along to � re my imagination and boost my curiosity about him.

By then, I had come to know much about Kabir Chowdhury. Some of his radio talks on literature in the early 70s helped me take very useful lessons and accept him as my Dronacharya from afar. But, I had still a long way to go to reach him. When, in the late 70s, it came to getting into the department he was heading at Dhaka University, I often wondered worriedly if he would take me as one of his students.

Oh yes, he did. To my great relief! At long last I was his student! Happily, for me, he started teaching us Greek classics – a treasure-trove of which he had opened my eyes with long ago.

The more I saw him in the class and outside, the more I was convinced that he was cast in the Apollonian mold. He was no less handsome and wise than a Greek god. The clarity, order, and symmetry that characterised the clas-sical worldview were his hallmarks. He had a genius for simplifying complex

things and presenting them in very easy terms.

His love for simplicity tempted some pedants to downplay his schol-arship, but I believe that in their heart of hearts they knew he was much superior to them.

Sometime, in 1979, I got the much-cov-eted opportunity to get closer to him when it fell to me to take him to my hometown Netrakona, where he was invited to a literary conference as chief guest. The memories of staying near him for a couple of days, listening to his insightful comments on life and literature, still stick in my mind.

With his record as an extraordinari-

ly brilliant student of Englishliterature, which was reportedly second only to Buddhadeb Bose’s, he could have entered the Indian Civil Service or any other glamorous profession.

But he preferred to teach and write

because he thought that was the best service he could render to his coun-try. He was a deeply political being in the Aristotelian sense, and he never pretended to be neutral on issues that demanded engagement.

As this country has long turned into a battle� eld of con� icting identities, he was disliked by many who took him as an ideological opponent. But the

fact remains that he was always stead-fast in his struggle against what we know as communalism and religious fundamentalism, and he never strayed away from what he perceived as the road to progress.

He would have just turned 92 had he been alive. I lack words to express my huge debt of gratitude to him as one of his students and readers. I only wonder what he would have done if he were still here – his country is burning, and innocent men, women, and children are being roasted every day for the breakfast of unscrupulous politicians.

Sir, we have mastered the art of looking the other way, especially when our air is thick with the smell of burnt human � esh and all kinds of pervert-ed logic is used to condone heinous crimes in the country you wanted so passionately to be born. Would you please care to come back for a while with your revolver, and teach us a les-son the way you taught the NSF goons at Anandamohan College more than four decades ago? l

Golam Faruque Khan is a freelance contributor.

Remembering Professor Kabir Chowdhury

He never looked the other way

When a gang had stormed into that principal’s room trying to force him to do something unfair, he had just taken out his revolver and driven them out

n MJ Akbar

As the ceaseless season of 30x12 cricket (for the uninitiated that means round-the-year) enters

another one-day caper, my thoughts stray to a 26-year-old Pakistani player, Haris Sohail, who has just seen a ghost. It left him both shaken and stirred.

This nasty ghost did not appear in the fog of a desolate moor, or on the ramparts of a deserted castle, but in a sleek, modern hotel room in Christchurch, New Zealand, where Pakistan was on tour, preparing for the February World Cup. Sohail woke up when his bed began to move violently. A colleague found him feverish. His cricket form has collapsed. Let us hope that his career survives.

If nothing else, an episode such as this should provoke curiosity. Where do ghosts, if they exist (and there was no earthquake in Christchurch that night), disappear during the day? Why don’t they ever upturn a table at teatime?

Is their Earth-bound roost eternal? Did a ghost disturb a sleeping Sohail or did Sohail provoke a dormant ghost? Do ghosts get personal, or are they merely pranksters with questiona-ble taste? Might they have a loftier purpose, to remind atheists that there is an afterlife, so better watch out? But then why chase young Sohail, who, like everyone else in the Pak team, must certainly be pretty devout? Why convert the converted?

Should one be sceptical? Given the death rate since Adam, both the ether and hotel rooms should be su� ering from over-crowding rather than rarity. Even if we buy into the proposition that ghosts are restless spirits denied a safe haven in the Great Beyond, then surely there should be many more without rest? That lifelong sceptic, Voltaire, pointed out, when asked on his deathbed to denounce the devil, that this was no time to be making new enemies.

Whatever the empirical evidence through the laws of physics, most people actually believe in ghosts. They are certainly real enough in human imagination and literature, from fairytale to Shakespeare. If you belong to any faith, you believe that death is a door to another existence. Every door opens in two directions.

The management of Rydges Latim-er, the Christchurch hotel, closed the matter with a statement that should be top entry in the Collected Works of Safety Clauses. It made the prim an-nouncement that it knew of “no active ghost” on the hotel premises. If the chap � ew through a closed window, it was not the hotel’s fault.

And if there were inactive ghosts hanging around in the cupboard, waiting for Pakistanis to appear, then all Rydges Latimer could do was shrug. Cool. And a lesson for the rest of us: Beware of both ghosts and lawyers. You can never tell when a phantom or a lawsuit will descend upon you. Both are nationality-neutral.

Phantoms do not pay exclusive

attention to Pak cricketers. BBC reports that last July the English fast bowler Stuart Broad changed his hotel room because the bathroom taps kept coming on for no reason whatsoever. This occurred at one of the priciest hotels in the heart of London, Langham, not in a bedsit next to Hampstead Heath.

One can imagine Broad dismissing the � rst time as an accident, the second time as a coincidence and the third as a message: Get the hell out of here. He did. If Broad was an agnostic before July, he must be a believer now. Some-one should have checked the next day if all that the taps needed was a better plumber, or it was a Force From Afar making the night miserable for a humble fast bowler.

There is also the Curious Incident of the Colourful Spinner and the Castle. This story has form. No respectable English castle comes without a resi-dent ghost, and this one was at Chester le Street in Durham. The Australian cricketer Shane Watson was staying there while on tour, when along came the castle spectre and frightened the bejesus out of him. Watson sped o� to teammate Brett Lee’s room. Lee, being an unfussy Australian, gave him a pillow and told Watson to � nd a place on the � oor. Harrowing.

Question: What happened the next morning? Did the ghosts of Christchurch, London, and Durham disappear from these rooms, their work done? Are these rooms being o� ered to other guests? One presumes so. No hotel is going to sacri� ce sacred revenue for a mere � it of a ghost.

Are ghosts as frightening as we make them out to be? Logic suggests that we should welcome them. They are, after all, proof that there is life after death, and all is not lost in the grave. Judging by the stories, ghosts seem to retain human qualities like revenge, which makes them scary.

But this also means that there might be a good number of ghosts who absolutely love cricket, play it on pitches along the Milky Way, and all they have done is dropped by to check how to bowl the doosra. They can’t possibly � nd out if Watson or Broad or Sohail keeps sleeping, so they shake the bed, or the � oor, a bit. All very simple, isn’t it? l

MJ Akbar is an Indian journalist. He is the founder of The Sunday Guardian. This article was � rst published in The Sunday Guardian.

Ghosts of cricket past

Did a ghost disturb a sleeping Sohail or did Sohail provoke a dormant ghost?

n SM Shahrukh

I made the mistake of turning on the TV after waking up. The news is now a horror show. The inevitable and gory scenes of burn units, not only of Dhaka

Medical College, but from all over the country, are haunting to say the least – mothers wailing, children forgetting to blink in their stupefaction.

The children break my heart. Real-ity has forced itself on us like an un-wanted, incurable disease. What does it say of a country where the DMC burn unit chief or an associate has to hold press conferences to update reporters about victims, old and freshly arrived? A sad commentary of a country aspir-ing to be in the annals of the economic elites of the world.

The TV is also a scene of frothing politicians, from both sides of the aisle, speaking 19 a dozen, they have all the answers. Riddle me this Mr Politician: How will putting A in power instead of B soothe the burns of the hundreds maimed and dying in several burn units of the country?

How am I assured that the incum-bent B will remember a single doomed victim of the avarice of all? What guarantee is there that a victim will be assured state/private funding in his/her endeavours to stay alive – nothing fancy, just food, clothes, and a shack to live in?

Will you remember the danse maca-bre once you settle the issues at (your) hand and while you relax treating a blocked cardiac artery in a Singapore hospital? How much food can your

stomach accommodate?A passenger bus late last night, Dha-

ka-bound from Gaibandha in the north, had a meeting with the keepers of hell – � ve dead, more to follow, I fear.

Maybe this current impasse started as a political struggle a month back, but Bangladesh is fast becoming a land of domestic terrorism – no IS, no al-Qaeda, just home grown terrorists actively pursuing their nefarious agen-da of creating a failed state.

The current state is not a political one anymore, it’s pure terrorism. It’s the dream-come-true of all the fundamen-tal elements, Jamaat and others, who would like nothing better than to keep people on tenterhooks and spread their toxin by sounding the terror tocsin.

They would like nothing better than the muddled world of terrorism to further their target of achieving a totalitarian state, a state of terror, a state of oppression, a state of no human rights, a state of absolute power.

Geroge Orwell’s words in 1984 ring

in my ears: “The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is mur-der. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?”

The bus attacked a few days ago was within a police cordon, but it mattered little. How can you � ght a little kid who throws a petrol bomb in the dark night and then merges with the darkness himself? Yes, little kids or

juveniles are used to perpetrate these attacks. They are paid a pittance, but even that puny amount seems lucra-tive to them.

The month-long atrocities have created a vicious circle. Even if at the beginning, the active members of the terrorist groups had to go to action, the month-long shock has proven too much as many small businesses and owners have let go of many of the peripheral sta� – young kids in most cases, a shop assistant or a gofer.

These kids have fallen prey to the lure of a few hundred bucks o� ered to them to throw a petrol bomb and help

create terror. One can only sigh at this state of a� airs.

I turn on the dreaded idiot box again. A laden truck torched in Gournodi of Barisal – three dead. And the litany continues as the sky brightens.

At eight in the morning on a week-end, I was driving. Yes, the sun shined bright, but the scene was unusual. Why were so many cars out so early on a weekend? Kids rushing in school uni-forms instead of getting dragged out of beds by ever-exasperated moms, but still keeping their eyes shut for another hour?

Weren’t they supposed to spend the day having fun? Oops … a car almost hit me in a mad rush. I was driving my son to school on a Saturday morning. We would both prefer a di� erent activ-ity at that time of the weekend. A sigh was all I could manage.

At midday, it was a beautiful spring day. The day before went well with almost no irregular occurrences, but only till late at night. The next day started with a rude shock of the torch-ing of the truck at Barisal. I wanted the rest of the day to be a day of cheer that this season has to o� er.

I hope, when I am forced to the TV and eventually the news, it will bore me to death, not sadden me. Spare me the � re from the petrol bombs; nature will be alight soon enough with the � aming orange of the krishnochura.

Mercy on the people as the season bursts into a plethora of colours. Mercy! l

SM Shahrukh is a freelance contributor.

Petrol bombs and krishnochuras

Maybe this current impasse started as a political struggle a month back, but Bangladesh is fast becoming a land of domestic terrorism

DHAKA TRIBUNE

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

SportDid you know?3 - Number of runs

scored by Glenn McGrath in World

Cups. He has only batted four

times in 39 games - 0*, 0, 0*, 3*

3 DAYSTO GO3 DAYSTO GO1413 Timely win for

India, Scotland thrash Ireland

Dhaka duo continue to dominate

WILL THE TIGERS ROAR? TESTING TIMES FOR BANGLADESHIf I were Mashrafe and his band of brothers, I would not want to put too much emphasis on Bangladesh’s year-ending wins against Zimbabwe and would also put behind the painful results of 2014 in-cluding the memory

of the ignominious loss to Afghanistan in the Asia Cup played in home conditions. A total of 18 ODIs in the year resulted in only 5 wins, all of which were against the touring Zimbabweans, a team that was in total disarray, which saw them being compre-hensively beaten in both the ODI and Test series. Kudos to Bangladesh, nevertheless!

Bangladesh, like its batters, has been a “hit and miss” side over the years. They have, at times, been a bee in the bonnet that forced several title contenders to not take them lightly. Since their entry into the World Cup in 1999, they have beaten Pa-kistan, Australia, England, India and South Africa once.

But by the same token, they have also regressed when the team lost to Afghan-istan, Ireland, Kenya and Canada in ODI matches including matches in the World Cup. So the question that is still asked of them is this. “Has Bangladesh progressed at the pace that it should have with all the support its cricket enjoys?” In 2007, Bangladesh beat India, a loss that literally enhanced India’s early exit from the World Cup. Seven years have gone by since that victory, which broke the heart of more than a billion people and Bangladesh is still the same, a side stagnated with a few surprise wins. A nation where cricket is life, its fans deserve and, rightfully can demand a lot

more from its cricketers on the � eld than what they have been delivering for more than a decade. There have been far too many disappointments than celebrations over the years and it is time fortunes change for the better.

Bangladesh has been thrown in a cauldron of � re, especially with Afghanistan in the group. The Afghans are on the hunt. A decade ago, this war-torn nation with no home turf to identify itself with, was playing at Division 7 level of the ICC, the lowest level group that the ICC has. Now they are playing in the World Cup in Australia. Is there a better success story in world sports? Bangladesh’s � rst encounter will be against the Afghans, a must win game for them. The result of this match will set the tone for both teams. While Afghanistan will fancy its chances against Bangladesh, much will depend on how com-posed the Bangladesh players are in Canber-ra if they are to win this encounter and there is no reason, other than an implosion within, why they should not win the opener.

The other teams in the group are Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, England and Scotland. Mashrafe has very bluntly and honestly pointed out that Bangladesh’s goal, even though it is to make the last eight, will be a tough one to accomplish. He also expressed that the team was not targeting any particular side and that they would have to win the Afghanistan and Scotland � xtures and then win two more to guarantee a place in the quarter � nals. It may be somewhat pessimistic but he is being an astute leader by informing the fans not to feel dejected if they don’t make the quarter � nals.

We all know that in an ODI match, any team can have a bad day and that’s why we have results that are termed as “upsets.” Other than its matches against the two Associate Members, Bangladesh’s match against England is in Adelaide where there

is a chance that the wicket may aid the spinners, Bangladesh’s primary arsenal. This is a match that Bangladesh could be positioning itself to create a sensational headline. England will not have forgotten the loss in Chittagong four years back and as such it won’t be a cakewalk. The English team is well balanced with a potent bowling attack. This is one � xture that the pundits will watch closely even though the scale is tipped in favour of England.

I don’t think anyone is giving the team much of a chance against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. But then, there is always that chance of “glorious uncertainty” coming into play in favour of Bangladesh. With far too much heartbreak far too frequently, it is time we have a “Bangladesh friendly” God calling the shots Down Under.

The team’s success will depend much on how Shakib turns up to play. Shakib is a smart bowler and knowing his quality as an impact player, most opposition batters will play him with caution and try to milk ones and twos o� him. The lesser bowlers will be targeted. So unless the others step up and pick up wickets, Shakib has to go after wickets, which will then cost runs. In the warm up matches, we saw some success from the seamers early on; however, this initial success did not develop into match winners. The lost match against Pakistan is a perfect example.

Shakib has been named the world’s best all-round cricketer in all three formats, which is a remarkable achievement. Truthfully, the World Cup will be the realistic platform to prove the authenticity of his

ranking as the leading ODI all-rounder. For Bangladesh to create an impact in

this World Cup, the team needs to plan every match in great detail, which I am sure the coaching sta� will do. What is absolutely imperative is that each player understands his role in the team based upon the situation of the match. A score of 250 is no longer considered a par score only because the rules have changed favouring the batting side. These days the number has been bumped up to 270-280. Again, check out the warm-up match against Pakistan. Another 25 runs and things could have been di� erent. Bangladesh’s top order will need to bat with discipline and purpose. The top order must bat into the 35th over and beyond. A re-organised and rejuvenated Tamim Iqbal should focus on getting runs

playing long into the innings. Bangladesh’s batting should and can be built around him, especially with the likes of Mominul, Mah-mudullah, Mush� q and Shakib all of whom are quite capable of getting decent scores.

As I mentioned earlier, considering Shakib’s reputation, every opposition batter will play him with a certain degree of caution and respect unless it is someone like Shahid Afridi who really throws caution to the wind and bats with a brashness that is more brutal than anything else. However, to Bangladesh, Afridi does not matter. What must happen on the � eld is that the others must step up and produce wickets for the team. This will be critical in the two must-win matches against Afghanistan and Scotland and hopefully be carried over into the other matches. If Bangladesh can pro-duce a brand of positive cricket and excel in at least two of the three departments (batting, bowling and � elding), the chances of winning becomes greatly enhanced.

The team’s journey in the 2015 ICC World Cup is being closely followed by Bangla-deshis at home and abroad. Bangladeshis abroad have started to identify themselves with cricket for quite some time, especially in nations that are involved in this sport. The players have this great opportunity to make 160 million people proud. Not many cricket-playing nations can boast of this phenomenon. This is adequate impetus for the players to step up and produce the best cricket of their lives. “Cholo Bangladesh”, Grameenphone’s commercially launched theme song for the team linked to the 11th ICC World Cup is a be� tting piece that needs to be heard all across the globe. l

The writer is a former national cricketer, vice captain and � rst centurion of Bangladesh. He writes from New York for Bangladesh fans all across the globe.

Hawk Eye

YOUSUF RAHMAN(BABU)

Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hasan inaugurates the “Wish Well” campaign for the national cricket team at BCB headquarter in Mirpur yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

BCB plans concerts to create WC hypen Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh were highly praised as a co-host following the successful hosting of the 2011 ICC World Cup alongside In-dia and Sri Lanka. Three years later, the newest Test nation were also applaud-ed in several quarters after holding the ICC World Twenty20 in the grandest manner possible.

This time, although the 2015 ICC World Cup will be held Down Under, thousands of miles away from Bangla-desh, the Bangladesh Cricket Board will be looking to maintain the nation’s bludgeoning reputation through sever-al initiatives.

In a press conference at Sher-e-Ban-gla National Stadium yesterday, BCB president Nazmul Hasan informed that concerts will be held in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna to create hype ahead of the global showpiece event.

The concert in Khulna will be held today at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium. Popular music bands Miles, Nemesis and Shuvo & Friends will perform.

The concert in Chittagong will be held tomorrow at MA Aziz Stadium. Renowned music bands LRB, Warfaze and Tirondaz will perform in the port-city. The concert will begin at 1:30pm and tickets will be

available at United Commercial Bank, Dampara branch. Tickets will also be sold at the venue on the day of the concert.

Dhaka will host the third and � nal concert at SBNS this Friday. Miles, LRB, Warfaze and Bappa & Friends will per-form. Tickets will be available at UCB, Dhanmondi and Bashundhara branch. Tickets will also be available at the ven-ue on the day of the event.

At the same time, the BCB will also run a “Wish Well” campaign in the up-coming days across the 64 districts of the country through which the sup-porters will be able to convey their messages of support to the Bangla-desh cricket team. The campaign was launched yesterday.

Such activities undertaken by the board have given birth to several ques-tions with many questioning the va-lidity of the heavy funding that will be needed to carry out these activities. Nazmul, however, defended the World Cup promotional campaign.

“Given the ongoing unrest in the country, you will � nd that most of our boys are worried for their families and friends. Through this campaign, I be-lieve they will get positive vibes and will know that the whole nation is be-hind them,” said Nazmul. l

Kruif emphasises on youths n Shishir Hoque

The newly appointed Bangladesh Un-der-23 coach Lodewijk de Kruif be-lieves this country has enough young talents to � ll the shoes of iconic booters Mamunul Islam, Jamal Bhuiya etc.

After a successful Bangabandhu Gold Cup with the national team, De Kruif was handed the responsibility of the U-23s ahead of the AFC Champion-ship quali� ers where Bangladesh are pitted alongside Syria, Uzbekistan and India in Group E.

The Dutchman will return to his home country today and will rejoin his troop prior the start of the Champion-ships in Dhaka from March 27 to 31.

De Kruif, however, will not get the service of Jamal, Emily and skipper Mamunul who he termed as the “back-bone” of the team but also added,

“There are lots of talented players in the age groups. What they miss is train-ing, regular football and international exposure.”

“My concern is not only about the � rst 10-11 players who are already in my (senior) team. They are trained and prepared and physically � t. My concern is about the rest of the players who have not played regularly in past months. My biggest concern is to pick the right players and make them � t,” said Kruif.

The football season in the country is expected to kick o� with the Fed-eration Cup on February 15 followed by the Bangladesh Premier League. Kruif was happy to know about the tournaments because that will ensure the players continuous game time and practice while the � tness level will also be developed in the process. l

Narrow defeat for Russel n Raihan Mahmood

Bangladesh Premier Football League out� t Sheikh Russel KC bowed out of the AFC Cup play-o� s after a 0-1 defeat to Khayr Vahdat, the Tajikistan League run-ners-up, away at Dushanbe yesterday.

The decisive goal in the intense match came in the 22nd minute from Hasan Rustamov.

“We tried, but Khayr were stronger tonight. I congratulate them and wish them luck in the next game,” said Rus-sel coach Dragan Dukanovic. “We had some problems before the game and we couldn’t solve them. Seven of our main players were called to the national team and they didn’t help us in this match. It was also a hard trip to arrive here, it took us 22 hours. This aspect meant my team did not play as expected,” he added. l

Bangladesh top order batsman Mominul Haque bats in the nets during their practice session at Sydney yesterday BCB

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Wednesday, February 11, 2015

BFF lottery draw heldThe o� cial draw of BFF Lottery 2014 took place at the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) House in Motijheel yesterday. There were a total of 1165 prizes worth Tk5m with the � rst prize being Tk3m. The � rst prize was won by Uma 406393 while the second (Tk0.5m) and third (Tk160000) prizes were won by Kha 445701 and Cha 262675 respectively.

–Tribune Desk

Diego Forlan denies cheating taxesUruguayan soccer player Diego Forlan on Monday denied evading taxes by hiding money in Swiss accounts with the British bank HSBC Holdings PLC. Forlan was among a list of rock stars, Hollywood actors, royalty and arms dealers named by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) as having been helped by HSBC to dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars in assets. The ICIJ said Forlan became an HSBC client in 2006 while playing in Spain for Villarreal. The report said Forlan was connected to two client accounts that together listed four bank accounts, and which held as much as $1.4 million in 2006/7.

–Reuters

Becker turns down Davis Cup job o� erBoris Becker has ruled himself out as a possible candidate to take over as Ger-many’s Davis Cup captain while he con-tinues to coach world number-one Novak Djokovic. The 47-year-old German took over as Djokovic’s coach last season and helped the Serbian star claim his eighth Grand Slam title by beating Britain’s Andy Murray in the recent Australian Open � nal. “The job as Davis Cup team boss, I can’t imagine right now,” the three-time Wimbledon champion told Germany’s Tennis Magazin. Germany face 2014 � nalists France in Frankfurt on March 6-8 in a World Group � rst-round tie. Becker was linked to the vacancy over the week-end when German Tennis Federation (DTB) vice-president Dirk Hordor� told Munich-based newspaper the Sueddeut-sche Zeitung that Becker “was not at the bottom” of a list of candidates. Even though Becker has uno� cially turned down the job, Hordor� told SID, an AFP subsidiary, that he “prefers to have a per-sonal interview with candidates” and “did not want to rule out any possibility”. –AFP

Senna and McLaren names reunited in sportscarsThe Senna name will be back on a McLaren this year after Brazilian Bruno Senna, nephew of the late triple Formula One champion Ayrton, was announced as a factory McLaren GT sportscar driver on Monday. “It is a great honour for me to be joining McLaren; a team my uncle enjoyed such huge success with,” the 31-year-old said in a statement. The former Formula One and Le Mans driver will race in selected events with the new McLaren 650S GT3 car.

–Reuters

QUICK BYTES

Star Sports 19:15AM ICC Cricket World Cup Warm Up MatchEngland v Pakistan

1:45AM English Premier League Stoke City v Manchester City

Star Sports 27:30PM Hockey India League Dabang Mumbai v Uttar Pradesh Wizards

1:45AM English Premier League Manchester United v Burnley

Star Sports 401:45AM English Premier League Chelsea v Everton

Ten ActionCopa del Rey

1:00AM SF: Barcelona v Villarreal

3:00AM SF: Athletic v Espanyol

03:30PM ATP World Tour 500ABN AMRO Tennis Round 3 Session 1

Sony SixNBA Season

7:00AM Phoenix v Houston

9:30AM LA Lakers v Denver

DAY’S WATCH

BRIEF SCORES, DAY 3Dhaka v Chittagong

Chittagong 155 allout & 245/6 in 81 oversTasamul 114, Shukkur 74; Mosharraf 3/68Dhaka 616/5 dec in 140.3 oversRony 201, Shuvagata 119, Majid 113, Rakibul 89, Taiabur 50*; Nayeem Jr 2/68, Younus 2/155

Chittagong trail by 216 runsKhulna v Rangpur

Rangpur 310 allout & 218/8 in 90 oversTanvir 83, Dhiman 61; Mosta� zur 4/33 Khulna 213 allout

Rangpur lead by 315 runsRajshahi v Sylhet

Rajshahi 482 allout Sylhet 324 allout in 109.2 overs & 42/0 in 13 oversKapali 82, Roman 78, Sadiqur 56; Sanjamul 5/84, Forhad 2/45

Sylhet trail by 116 runsDhaka Metro v Barisal

Dhaka Metro 400 allout & 193/4 in 45 oversShadman 69*, Asif 53 Barisal 261 allout in 82 oversShahriar 91, Saif 63, Elias 7/73; Shohid 2/46

Dhaka Metro lead by 332 runs

Dhaka duo continue to dominaten Mazhar Uddin

Dhaka division are on the verge of yet another big win after declaring their � rst innings on 616/5 with Shuvaga-ta Hom registering a hundred against Chittagong on the third day of the Na-tional Cricket League yesterday.

Meanwhile, despite a strong start Barisal were bundled out for 261 in their � rst innings as Dhaka Metropolis posted 193/4 to lead by 332 runs. Else-where, Sylhet were forced to follow on in reply to Rajshahi’s 482.

Dhaka Division v Chittagong, BKSP 3Shuvagata made 119 as Dhaka added 98 to their overnight 518befor declaring with a gigantic 461 � rst innings lead.

Chittagong appeared a better bat-ting unit scoring 245/6 in their second innings with Tasamul Haque making a valuable 114. Irfan Shukkur played a vi-tal 74. Following his � ve-for in the � rst innings, left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain bagged three wickets yesterday.Rangpur v Khulna, SBNSRangpur will resume the fourth and � nal day on 218/8 in their second in-nings with a lead of 315 runs. Tanvir Haider scored highest 87 o� 237 deliv-eries smashing seven boundaries while wicketkeeper-batsman Dhiman Ghosh added 61 for Rangpur.

Mosta� zur Rahman bagged four wickets while Ziaur Rahman, Abdur Razzak and Murad Khan took a wicket each for Khulna.

Sylhet v Rajshahi, BKSP 2Despite recovering well from over-night’s 96/4, Sylhet’s eventual 324 fell short as they were asked to follow on by Rajshahi who made 482 in the � rst innings. Skipper Alok Kapali struck 82 from 176 balls while Roman Ahmed scored 78 for Sylhet.

Left arm spinner Sanjamul Islam picked up 5/84 while Saqlain Sajib and Forhad Hossain picked up a couple

each for Rajshahi. Rangpur, however, will resume the � nal day today with 42 runs on their scorecard.

Barisal v Dhaka Metro, FatullahDhaka Metro took the all important � rst innings lead after Barisal were all out for 261 despite a brilliant 161 runs opening stand between Shahriar Na-fees and 16-year-old Saif Hasan.

National discard Nafees depart-ed after scoring 91 o� 126 deliveries smashing 13 fours and a six before his side experienced their familiar batting collapse. Left arm spinner Elias Sunny wrecked through the Barsial line-up with 7/73.

In reply Metro at stumps were 193/4 with Shadman Islam unbeaten on 69.l

Dhaka division’s Shuvagata Hom (L), Abdul Majid and Rony Talukder (R) who scored 119, 113 and 201 respectively against Chittagong pose for a photo after the end of the third day’s National Cricket League encounter at BKSP yesterday COURTESY

Dominican claims milestone ATP winn Reuters, Quito

Victor Estrella Burgos became the old-est player to lift a maiden ATP Tour title and the � rst from the Dominican Republic when he upset world number 14 Feliciano Lopez to win the Ecuador Open on Sunday.

The 34-year-old beat the Spanish � rst seed 6-2 6-7(5) 7-6(5) in the ATP 250 clay court tournament, a day after he played in and lost his � rst doubles � -nal on tour. The world number 73 rated his good preparation for the rare� ed air at nearly 3,000 metres in Quito, saying: “I felt very good on court.” l

India will get into World Cup groove, says Aussie quick Hazlewoodn Reuters, Melbourne

Australia paceman Josh Hazlewood has played down India’s 106-run drubbing in a World Cup warm-up against the co-hosts on Sunday, saying it was a matter of

time before the champions clicked.Australia dominated India in bat-

ting, bowling and � elding in the Ade-laide match to bolster their status as favourites to win the global showpiece which starts on Saturday.

India have been in wretched form Down Under, however, going winless from their three matches in the tri-se-ries against England and Australia in recent weeks.

“It’s just a matter of time until their

batting order clicks,” Hazlewood told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.

“They’ve got some outstanding players and they’ve all got great re-cords. I think it’s just a matter of time before they get going. They’re a very dangerous side.”

Australia have been in ominous form in the lead-up, going undefeated to win the tri-series despite missing injured cap-tain Clarke, who is nonetheless expected to play in the team’s warm-up match on Wednesday against United Arab Emir-ates at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

James Faulkner’s side strain has been the only major � y in the oint-ment and Hazlewood underscored the fast bowling all-rounder’s value as “an edge” over the 13 other teams who will compete at the World Cup.

“I think it’s just that batting edge,

probably especially when Faulkner is in that team, to have him at eight at full strength is probably the key,” he said.

“Where other teams probably have bowlers who can bat a bit, we’ve got Jimmy down there who can � nish it o� .

“I think our quicks as well (are an edge). We’ve got great depth in our quicks. Probably those two things are ... above the other teams.”

With Mitchell Johnson to lead the at-tack and Faulkner almost certain to be included if � t, Hazlewood will compete with left-armer Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins for the remaining pace spots.

Though one of the junior members of the pace battery, Hazlewood has been impressive in his eight one-day matches and said he would have no problem being picked for “death bowl-ing” duties during the World Cup.l

I’ve no problem with Djokovic: Murrayn AFP, Rotterdam

Australian Open � nalist Andy Murray says there is no need for Novak Djokov-ic to explain himself after their contro-versial Australian Open � nal.

Djokovic struggled through to an eighth Grand Slam title eight days ago - looking beaten physically but pulling through for a four-set victory at the ex-pense of a furious Murray, who came close to accusing him of theatrics on court.

“Everything has been made out to be much bigger than what is was,” said the number four Scot on Monday at the Rotterdam World Tennis.

“That happens all the time these days.

“In reality, you can go through peri-ods of being very tired, then get better. You can get a second wind.

“As the � nishing line gets closer, you can feel better. If Novak feels he has something to explain, I’d be pleased to speak with him, But I don’t feel he real-ly needs to explain anything.”

Murray added that while media may try and beat up the story of his own an-ger at losing the Melbourne � nal for a fourth time into a feud, he and Djkoivic remain on excellent terms.

Last year’s Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka meanwhile said he is

happy to shake up his February sched-ule as he makes a return to Rotterdam for the � rst time in a decade.

The Swiss 29-year-old was to have played here 12 months ago, but a com-bination of injury plus the sheer shock of lifting a � rst Grand Slam title kept him away.

Now, Wawrinka, whose ranking has slipped to ninth after going out in the Melbourne semi-� nals to Djokovic, has come good on his vow to shake up his scheduling.

“I haven’t played indoor in February for 10 years,” said Wawrinka, who lost in the 2005 second round here to Roger Federer.l

Sledgers to face match bans at WCn Reuters, Melbourne

The International Crick-et Council will crack down on excessive sledging between play-ers at the World Cup, saying � rst o� enders can expect heavier � nes

while repeat o� enders face suspension from matches.

ICC chief executive David Richard-son also said players with already poor records of on-� eld behaviour could face immediate match bans if found guilty of a single breach of the ICC’s code of conduct during the Feb. 14 - March 29 tournament.

“That issue has been addressed at all the pre-event team brie� ngs,” Richardson

told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.“I suppose it started a few months

back already that the behaviour in some matches by some players was deemed to be unacceptable and not a good example to young fans watching the game.

“I think there’s been something like 12-13 code of conduct charges laid in the last few months in bilateral series.

“So the crackdown had already started. I think the teams are going to be told that the umpires intend to re-mains � rm, that the penalties handed out by the match referees will be per-haps a little bit more serious or higher than before but that hopefully every-one will be treated equally and fairly.

“For a � rst o� ence, you’ll likely end up with a � ne which no players likes,

handing back most of his match fee.“But certainly a repeat o� ence, not

only in this tournament but some play-ers already sitting with o� ences behind their name, will be punished with a suspension.”

The crackdown may give Australia opening batsman David Warner some pause before charging into a verbal altercation given he has been found guilty of breaching the code of conduct twice in two months.

Pundits have suggested a soc-cer-style yellow and red card system to better stamp out poor on-� eld be-haviour but Richardson said cricket would continue to rely on post-match reviews with on-� eld umpires and o� -� eld referees to analyse incidents and lay charges where necessary. l

Williams sisters see US through in Fed Cupn Reuters, Buenos Aires

A persistent, nagging cough bothering world number one Serena Williams since her Australian Open victory gave Argentina a chink of light in their one-sided Fed Cup tie against the Unit-ed States on Sunday.

However, Argentine number one Pau-la Ormaechea’s 6-4 6-4 win over Coco Vanderweghe, standing in for Williams, was a minor setback on the Americans’ way to a 4-1 victory in the World Group II tie at Pilara outside Buenos Aires.

“Since last night, we’d seen that (Serena) wasn’t going to play much... I knew I would have revenge,” Ormae-

chea, beaten in two sets by Venus Wil-liams on Saturday, told reporters.

Venus Williams dispatched Maria Irigoyen 6-1 6-4 as the record 17 times champions U.S. cruised towards a pro-motion playo� in April in their bid to regain World Group I status.

“It was a great atmosphere, we played well and I’m proud of the win,” said Venus Williams.

The Williams sisters had put their team 2-0 up on Saturday with wins over world number 121 Ormaechea and num-ber 197 Irigoyen whose country were seeded and had a choice of court, opting for clay, despite the huge gap in world rankings favouring the Americans. l

Pakistan pacer Mohammad Aamer bowls during a domestic match in Lahore yesterday AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Wednesday, February 11, 2015

At Adelaide

India364-5 in 50 overs(Rohit Sharma 150, Ajinkya Rahane 88 not out, Suresh Raina 75)Afghanistan211-8 in 50 overs (Nawroz Mangol 56)

India won by 153 runsAt Sydney

Scotland296-6 in 50 overs(Matt Machan 103, Preston Mommsen 56, Richie Berrington 52)Ireland117 all out in 27 overs (Alasdair Evans 4-17)

Scotland won by 179 runs

WARM-UP BRIEF SCORES

Timely win for India, Scotland thrash Ireland in warm-upn Reuters

Opener Rohit Sharma smashed 150 in India’s 153-run romp against Afghanistan in their � -nal World Cup warm-up match on Tuesday, help-ing the holders register

their � rst win in Australia since they landed in November.

Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane (88 not out) and Suresh Raina (75) made merry against Afghanistan’s limited bowling resources to propel India to 364-5 at the Adelaide Oval.

The two-time world champions then restricted Afghanistan to 211-8 to � nally taste victory before they begin their title defence against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday.

Opting to bat � rst, India lost quick two wickets before Sharma and Raina (75) added 158 runs in the next 25 overs.

Worryingly for them, however, open-er Shikhar Dhawan’s lack of footwork once again led to his dismissal while batting mainstay Virat Kohli and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also could not spend enough time in the middle.

Sharma, the only cricketer to hit two 200-plus ODI scores, appeared to have recovered fully from a hamstring injury as he hit seven sixes and 12 boundaries in his 122-ball knock.

Contrary to expectations, Sharma did not retire after his century to allow other team mates some batting practice.

Nawroz Mangal (60) and Usman

Ghani (44) shone with the bat for Af-ghanistan who begin their World Cup campaign against Bangladesh on Feb. 18.

India lacked sharpness in the � eld with Mohammad Shami and Ambati Rayudu dropping regulation catches.

In contrast, Dhawan and Umesh Ya-dav collaborated to take a spectacular catch to remove Ghani.

Dhawan ran back from short mid-wicket to take a tumbling catch but the ball popped out of his hands and he juggled with it before � icking it into the hands of Yadav, who had rushed from long-on to catch the skier before halt-ing to avoid a collision.

Meanwhile, Matt Machan scored a century and Alasdair Evans took four for 17 as Scotland romped to a 179-run victo-ry over Ireland in a World Cup warm-up match at Blacktown Oval on Tuesday.

Ireland have caused huge upsets at both their previous World Cups but it was Scotland, who have yet to taste victory in two tournaments, who won the battle of the Celtic minnows with 23 overs to spare.

Scotland won the toss and chose to bat and score 296 for six in 50 overs.

Ireland started their run chase with a solid opening stand of 57 between skipper William Porter� eld and Paul Stirling (37) before Evans struck with a three-wicket blitz in two overs.

The right-arm seamer returned to remove Porter� eld for 23 and the Irish were really on the ropes at 77-5 when Andrew Balbirnie followed for eight in the following over. lIndia’s Rohit Sharma hits a boundary from the bowling of Afghanistan’s Merwias Ashraf (not in picture) during their ODI warm up match in Adelaide yesterday AFP

Blatter faces three rivals in Fifa electionn AFP, Lausanne

A FIFA electoral committee on Monday approved incumbent Sepp Blatter and three rivals for an election for the pres-idency of football’s global governing body to be held on May 29.

Blatter, who has been in the post since 1998, is opposed by Dutch fed-eration president Michael van Praag, Jordanian Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, a FIFA vice-president, and Portuguese football great and former Ballon d’Or winner Luis Figo.

A FIFA statement said all four had passed “integrity checks” so they could be allowed into the election. At the FIFA Congress the winner has to get the majority of the 205 FIFA members.

Blatter, who will be 79 by the time of the vote, is strong favourite to win a � fth term but faces a strong Europe-an-led opposition. l

Cup � nal place at stake for in-form Barcelonan AFP, Madrid

Barcelona will be targeting a tenth con-secutive victory and taking a big step towards the Copa del Rey � nal when they host Villarreal in the � rst leg of

their semi-� nal clash on Wednesday.The Catalans have clicked into form

ever since the club seemed on the brink of an institutional crisis following a dressing room revolt after a shock 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad to start the year.

Even more judicial activity against the club and its president Josep Maria Bartomeu for tax irregularities in the

signing of Neymar hasn’t disrupted Barca’s rhythm. Neymar has played a starring role in the run alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

All three were on target in Sunday’s 5-2 win at Athletic Bilbao as Barca closed to within a point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid, taking Luis Enrique’s men’s tal-ly to 34 goals in their last nine games.

“We are getting better every day, but we need to continue working hard to improve,” said Neymar, who has scored 23 times in 27 appearances this season.

Captain Xavi Hernandez returned to the side for Barca’s � rst league victory in the Basque country since 2010 and the veteran is determined to keep their momentum going on all fronts, with a return to Champions League action against Manchester City also to come at the end of the month.l

Fabregas returns to boost Chelsea’s title chargen AFP, London

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been handed a major � tness boost af-ter revealing Cesc Fabregas will be back in his side for the visit of Everton on Wednesday.

Spain star Fabregas came o� during the Blues’ League Cup semi-� nal vic-tory over Liverpool with a hamstring injury and missed the draw with Man-chester City and Saturday’s win at As-ton Villa.

But Mourinho con� rmed Fabregas will be back in mid� eld for the show-down at Stamford Bridge as the Blues aim to maintain their seven-point lead over City at the top of the table.

“I think he (Fabregas) plays Wednes-day because on Saturday it was a deci-sion to protect him,” Mourinho said.

“We didn’t want to risk two players at the same time. We risked with Wil-

lian and to start two players with a risk is a big gamble and we gambled with only one.”

In the absence of Fabregas, Ramires had been selected in mid� eld, along-side Nemanja Matic, following his own return to full � tness and Mourinho ad-mitted it was a great help to have such quality back-up.

“The best Ramires is back and the best Ramires played against Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa,” Mourinho added.

“He is a di� erent pro� le of player

(compared with Fabregas) but he is a fantastic player for us.”

Mourinho also hailed Branislav Iva-novic following his superb winning goal in the 2-1 success at Villa.

Everton have not won in the league at Stamford Bridge since November 1994, but defender Bryan Oviedo be-lieves Roberto Martinez’s side can defy recent history and end that barren run.

One win in eight league games doesn’t suggest an upset is on the cards with Everton 12th in the table and only seven points above the relegation places.

But the To� ees’ only defeat in their last six games was a penalty shoot-out FA Cup exit at West Ham and they head to London after drawing 0-0 with Mer-seyside rivals Liverpool last Saturday thanks to a third successive clean sheet in the league.

Juan Mata has warned his Manches-ter United team-mates they can’t a� ord

another slip-up when they face Burn-ley at Old Tra� ord on Wednesday.

United have not lost at home to Burnley since 1962 and nothing less than victory will do in their quest to qualify for the Champions League via a top-four � nish in the Premier League.

The Clarets, who are just one place above the relegation zone, will once again be massive underdogs when they take on Louis van Gaal’s fourth placed side.

But, after taking just one point from a 1-1 draw at West Ham on Sunday, and that thanks only to a stoppage-time goal from Daley Blind, Spanish mid-� elder Mata knows United can’t a� ord another lacklustre performance.

“We must win this one because the race for the Champions League spots is now very close,” Mata said.

“We have to get the three points at home, we know that, and that’s what we are working for. I’m sure we will

make it with our people’s help.”However, Yaya Toure believes Man-

chester City can win all of their remain-ing Premier League � xtures and suc-cessfully defend their title.

Manuel Pellegrini’s team have slipped to seven points behind leaders Chelsea with 14 matches left to play, the � rst of which is against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Wednesday.

City have failed to win in their last � ve matches, a run that has coincided with Toure’s absence due to Africa Cup of Nations commitments with Ivory Coast.

However, Pellegrini has said it would be “impossible” for Toure or compa-triot Wilfried Bony to feature against Stoke and that their return to the Pre-mier League is likely to come against Newcastle United on February 21. After triumphing with his country, Toure, 31, is ready to inspire his club to glory.l

Ibra proud as punch to be cast in waxn AFP, Paris

Swedish football great Zlatan Ibra-himovic professed himself to be ex-tremely proud to have his waxwork model unveiled at the Grevin Museum in central Paris on Monday.

The 33-year-old striker -- who was honoured for his goalscoring exploits for champions Paris Saint Germain since he joined in 2012 -- is portrayed in a PSG shirt with his arms raised to the sky.

“It is really incredible to be here. It is a huge honour. Don’t forget to take plenty of photos of me!” said the char-ismatic Swede.

The waxwork model of Ibrahimovic, who has played over 100 times for his na-tional side, has been placed close to the player widely believed to be the greatest ever footballer Brazilian maestro Pele, France’s multiple rally world champi-on Sebastien Loeb and another French sporting great Judoka Teddy Riner. l

Liverpool o� er Sterling ‘great deal’n Reuters, London

Liverpool’s exciting young forward Ra-heem Sterling has been o� ered “an in-credible deal” to stay at An� eld for the foreseeable future, manager Brendan Rodgers said on Monday.

Sterling, 20, who has made 112 appearances for the club, is now a regular starter with nine goals in 33 appearances this season, but there has been considerable speculation he is being courted by Real Madrid and Barcelona.

“He has been o� ered a wonderful deal, an incredible deal for a young player of 20 who is still developing,” Rodgers told reporters on Monday. l

Massive crowds welcome home victorious Elephantsn Reuters, Abidjan

Hundreds of thousands of supporters at the airport and on the streets of Ivo-ry Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan welcomed home the national football team on Monday after its victory at the African Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea.

The West African state won its � rst Nations Cup title in nearly a quarter of a century on Sunday, edging neigh-bours Ghana 9-8 in a dramatic penalty shootout after extra time ended in a goalless draw.

Supporters, who had watched their Elephants team lose in two � nals

during a decade that saw their coun-try descend into political turmoil and two civil wars, poured into the streets following the win in a party that lasted much of the night.

“This cup must bring us peace. The politicians must be like the players. They must be united and create peace for us, their people!” said supporter Ba-kary Diomande.

President Alassane Ouattara, who travelled in his motorcade through the celebrating crowds Sunday night, de-clared Monday a national holiday and called upon Ivorians to come to the lagoon-side national stadium to show their appreciation for the team.l

Reus extends Dortmund dealn Reuters, Berlin

Borussia Dortmund winger Marco Reus signed a surprise contract extension with the Bundesliga club until 2019 on Tuesday, ending persistent speculation about a move Spain or England at the end of the season.

Reus, who had an injury-plagued 2014 when he also missed the World Cup which Germany won, looked to be on his way out after Bayern Munich revealed he had a buyout clause in his contract, angering Dortmund.

Dortmund did not reveal details of the deal but it reportedly does not in-clude a buyout clause. Dortmund are struggling this season, lying in the rele-gation playo� spot.l

EPL FIXTURES Chelsea v Everton Man United v Burnley Southampton v West Ham Stoke City v Man City Crystal Palace v Newcastle West Brom v Swansea City

FIXTURES Barcelona v Villarreal Athletic Bilbao v Espanyol

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara (centre L) sits with Ivory Coast captain Yaya Toure, at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny stadium in Abidjan on Monday. Hundreds of thousands of supporters at the airport and on the streets of Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan welcomed home the national football team on Monday after their victory at the African Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea REUTERS

Paris Saint-Germain Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (L) poses next to his wax e� gy during its inauguration at the Grevin museum in Paris on Monday AFP

Sony and Marvel to partner on SPIDER-MAN movie

n Entertainment Desk

Sony Pictures and Marvel Studies have reached a deal to partner on the next instalment of the $4 billion “Spider-Man” franchise, uniting the web-slinging superhero with Marvel’s comic book universe. Kevin Feige, president of Walt Disney Co’s Marvel Studios, will co-produce the next � lm set for July 2017 release with Sony’s Amy Pascal, according to a statement from the � rms.

Under the agreement, the “Spider-Man” will also appear in an upcoming Marvel � lm, and

Marvel characters, which include “Iron Man,” “Thor” and “Captain America,” could appear in later “Spider-Man” � lms, the statement said.

Sony Pictures Entertainment, a division of Sony Corp, will continue to own the cinematic rights to “Spider-Man,” a Marvel superhero, the statement said.

“Spider-Man has more than 50 years of his-tory in Marvel’s world, and with this deal, fans will be able to experience ‘Spider-Man’ taking his rightful place among other Super Heroes,” the statement said. l

KING ARTHURStar Movies Action, 10:30pmCast: Owen, Dillane, Keira Knightley A demysti� ed take on the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

THE SPECIALISTHBO Hits, 11:20pmCast: Stallone, Stone, James Woods A woman entices a bomb expert she’s involved with into destroying the ma� a that killed her family.

RUSH HOURWB, 3:45pmCast: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Leung Two cops team up to get back a kidnapped daughter.

A TRIBUNE Entertainment Wednesday, February 11, 2015 15

ExhibitionTaste of Light and DarknessTime: 6pm – 9pmAlliance Française de Dhaka

Light, Dark, SpaceBy MD TokonTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Art Lounge

The Paradoxical NowTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Gallery of Fine Arts

Film DandrologiumTime: 6:30pm – 8:30pmEMK CenterMIDAS Center (9th Floor)

Theatre Tragedy Polashbari By PrachyanatTime: 1st show at 6:30pm2nd show at 8:15pmNational Theatre HallShilpakala Academy

WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3DI ZERO DEGREE I ROMEO V/S JULIET I SEVENTH SON 3D I JESSABELLE@ Star Cineplex

SEVENTH SON 3D I ROMEO V/S JULIET I EXODUS 3D I INTERSTELLAR I NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB I THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES I THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE

@ Blockbuster Cinemas

THEATRE

Film festival begins at AFD n Entertainment Desk

A two-day � lm festival will start at Alliance Française de Dhaka today. Organised by Dhaka University Film Society (DUFS) and Renoir Film Club (RFC), four � lms will be screened at the festival. Films will be screened at the auditori-um of Alliance Française de Dhaka, 26 Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi. The festival is open for all on � rst-come-� rst-serve basis; no entry pass is required.

NAFEES receives his second Oscar n Entertainment Desk

Nafees Bin Zafar, the � rst Bangladeshi to win an Oscar, has received another Academy Award for his outstanding contribution to the movie industry.

Margot Robbie and Miles Teller pre-sented the award to Nafees at a cere-mony held at the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Nafees and his colleagues were giv-en the award for their work in the Drop Destruction Toolkit, used to create vi-sual e� ects in � lms like 2012.

“I would like to dedicate my award to my father for teaching me to per-severe against very di� cult prob-lems,” Nafees said in his speech at theceremony.

Nafees considers his mother, Na-feesa Zafar, an important artistic in-� uence. She herself comes from a long

line of artists, two of whom have re-ceived Ekushey Padak awards for their contributions to Bangladesh.

His great-grandfather Golam Mo-stafa, famed poet of the still-in-print classic tome Bishsho Nobi; and his uncle Syed Mainul Hossain, the archi-tect of the National Memorial in Saver.

His uncle Mustafa Monowar is a well-known puppeteer and TV personality.

Nafees is currently the director of research and development for Dream-Works in Shanghai, China. His previous � lmography includes: “Madagascar 3,” “Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Shrek Forever Af-ter,” “Flags of Our Fathers.” l

Album TROYEE available in the market n Entertainment Desk

A semi-classical album titled Troyee is now available in the market. A joint collaboration of West Bengal and Ban-gladesh, featuring classical artistes include Indian singer Haimanti Sukla, Bangladeshi singer Priyanka Gope and Sumona Bardhan. The album was re-leased on Monday and in Kolkata on Saturday. The tune and music arrange-ments have been done by Basu Dev.

Mahmud Akash, one of the lyri-cists, told to the Dhaka Tribune: “The album consists nine songs. The songs explores love, sadness, patriotic and religious song, and also nature.” l

ANANTA JALIL to star in two action � icks n Entertainment Desk

Superstar Ananta Jalil is set to appear in two new action � lms titled “The Spy” and “Soinik.” The actor-direc-tor-producer will play the protagonist in both the � lms, while his wife A� ea Nusrat Barsha is in talks to play the fe-male lead.

Earlier during an interview with the Dhaka Tribune, Ananta talked about the project “Soinik”.

“It is going to be a mega project and is based on our country’s army. I will play the role of an army o� cer, working

with the real army members. The story is aimed at sending out a message about how the army works to support the de-velopment of our country,” he said.

The � lm will also show how the army uses state-of-the-art technolo-gies to execute their missions, the ac-tor said.

“The Spy,” on the other hand, is a suspense thriller action � lm.

Screenplay of both the � lms have been written by Chhotku Ahmed. Film-ing of “Soinik” has yet to be scheduled, while the shooting of “The Spy” is set to start in mid-March. l

Amour (2012)Director: Michael Haneke Time: 4:00pmGeorges and Anne are an octogenarian couple. They are retired music teach-ers. Their daughter, also a musician, lives in Britain with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple’s bond of love is se-verely tested.

The Intouchables (2011) Director: Olivier Nakache, Eric ToledanoTime: 6:00pm An irreverent, uplifting comedy about friendship, trust and human possibil-ity. Based on a true story of friendship between a handicap millionaire and his street smart ex-con caretaker.

La Classe (2008)Director: Laurent CantetTime: 4:00pm François is a tough but fair teacher working in one of France’s toughest schools, and his honest demeanour in the classroom has made him a great success with the students. But the year things are di� erent for François.

The Artist (2011)Director: Hazanavicius Time: 6.00pm Hollywood, 1927 George Valentin is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into obliv-ion. For young extra Peppy Miller, it seems the sky is the limit.

TODAY TOMORROW

DEEPIKA to make her singing debut in Tamashan Entertainment Desk

Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone’s turn to lend her voice to one of the songs of her upcoming movie “Tamasha.”

The actress, who has excelled in athletics and has proved her potential in acting, is now entering the arena of singing.

“Tamasha” is being helmed by director Imtiaz Ali, who has given hits like “Highway,” “Rockstar” and “Jab We Met” in the past.

This is the second movie after “Highway” where Imtiaz is ready to give something new to his fans. Initially AR Rahman’s association with Alia Bhatt was a hit for “Highway.”

Deepika Padukone was also seen with music maestro AR Rahman recently which is where he gave his nod to lend her voice to a song of “Tamasha.” l

Bollywood welcomes its new villain KARANn Entertainment Desk

Filmmaker Karan Johar, known for his glamorous movies, sharp one-liners and sense of humour, is seen in a new avatar in a poster of his acting project “Bom-bay Velvet.” His villainous look with a shrewd smile and a moustache has got a thumbs up from his friends and col-leagues from tinsel town.

In the Anurag Kashyap directori-al, Karan plays Kaizad Khambatta, an arch rival of street � ghter John-ny Balraj, played by Ranbir Kapoor.

Karan said: “As wild as my imagination can be... playing an an-tagonist in an Anurag Kashyap � lm was nowhere in my thought radar. Now it’s done and I hope I don’t have to leave the city and hide when it releases.” Bombay Velvet is jointly produced by Phantom Films and Fox Star India, and is set for release May 15. l

Another initiative taken to bring back Noor Chowdhuryn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The government has taken another in-itiative to bring back Noor Chowdhury, self-confessed and convicted killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to Bangladesh from Canada.

“I will raise the issue at a formal meeting with top o� cials of the Cana-dian government next week,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.

Bangladesh earlier asked the Cana-dian government to send back Noor Chowdhury but it was turned down by Ottawa, where death penalty is banned. According to the Canadian le-gal system, Ottawa cannot deport any foreign citizen who might face death penalty in his or her home country.

The secretary said both the countries never had the opportunity to formally discuss bilateral issues at the political level. “We want to get engage more with the North American country,” he said.

The � rst formal foreign o� ce con-sultation with Canada will be held in Ottawa on February 16.

Shahidul left Dhaka yesterday and will visit New York, Ottawa and Wash-ington to attend three events. He will attend a migration conference at the United Nations on February 12-13.

He will travel to Washington from Ottawa to attend “Counter Violent Ex-tremism Summit” to be held in White House and State Department on Febru-ary 18 and 19.

Extremism SummitForeign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will take part in the two-day summit as he was invited by Secretary of State John Kerry. The inaugural programme would be held at the White House and concluding session at the State Depart-ment, the secretary said.

This is a part of the global move to contain radicalisation at the communi-ty level while an initiative titled “Glob-

al Community Engagement and Resil-ience Fund (GCERF)” has already been launched to contain the malice.

“Bangladesh is a board member of the GCERF and it wants to share its experience with other countries,” Sha-hidul said. Bangladesh along with four

other countries will have fund from the GCERF by this year to launch pilot pro-jects in the country.

Migration conferenceUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will have an interaction with delegation from Bangladesh, Sweden and Turkey at the conference on migration at the UN Headquarters. These countries are involved with the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), Shahidul said.

Bangladesh will host the GFMD con-ference next year. Sweden is its current chair of the conference and Turkey was its previous chair.

The UN chief is directly involved with the formation of the GFMD and he wants to share his thoughts and vision about the forum with the three coun-tries, the secretary added. l

Mobile network in Gulshan 2 area back onn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regu-latory Commission (BTRC) has restored operations of mobile networks in Gul-shan 2 area after receiving complaints of poor telecom and internet services from foreign embassies in the capital.

However, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Press Wing o� ce Shamsudin Di-dar told the Dhaka Tribune that mobile network in their o� ce was very weak and there is no internet and land phone connection as yet.

A senior BTRC o� cial noti� ed the mobile operators verbally to resume service in the area yesterday afternoon; a letter was sent to the operators in the evening.

The letter read: “It is learnt that some of the diplomatic missions in Baridhara/Ghulshan area, particularly

those of Japan, Spain, and the Nether-lands, are facing complete obstructions in mobile communication. I am, there-fore, directed to instruct you to imme-diately restore mobile phone commu-nications at all missions and render full cooperation to the law enforcers.”

At least three embassies, includ-ing that of Japan, � led the complaints at the Ministry of Foreign A� airs last Thursday, saying they were not re-ceiving smooth telecom services and uninterrupted internet connection, prompting the ministry to write to the BRTC about the matter.

According to sources, 40 base trans-ceiver stations, out of the 60 which were deactivated earlier, has been re-activated.

Earlier on January 31, following an email from the BTRC, all six mobile phone operators in the country and

three WiMax operators suspended their networks at the BNP chief’s o� ce, which a� ected parts of Gulshan 2 and the diplomatic zone in Baridhara.

The BTRC also ordered a few internet services providers in that area to block internet services to Khaleda’s o� ce.

Sources said thousands of residents in Gulshan 2 and nearby diplomatic zone have also been facing disruption.

This correspondent visited that area yesterday noon and found severe prob-lems around Road 86.

Before the three embassies, mobile operator Grameenphone also wrote a letter to the BTRC informing about the inconvenience of its subscribers, in-cluding the US Embassy.

The senior BTRC o� cial said they had no information as to when the bar on telecom services at Road 86 would be withdrawn. l

Novels, � ctions and ghost storiesat the top of sales chart

n Nure Alam Durjoy

Sales of novels, science � ction, and ghost sto-ries, are at the top on day 10 of Amar Ekus-hey Book Fair, said attendants

at many well-known stalls at both Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Ud-dyan yesterday.

Despite the ongoing hartal and blockade, book lovers are visiting the fair in increasing numbers, and the excitement at the fair remains high.

Visitors of all ages were seen in a long queue that stretched from TSC to the Bangla Academy, before the fair opened yesterday at 3pm.

Most children’s book stalls in Bangla Academy kept busy. The � rst hour of the fair each day saw more and more children and their guardi-ans visiting.

Three words described the scene – “Sales are good.” Umme Habiba, an attendant at Knowledge View publi-cations, said: “Fairy ghost stories are best liked by the children here.”

Yesterday, the start of the fair saw a mother with her three children

browsing the Jhinge Ful Publication stall. The oldest demanded his moth-er buy him a book about ghosts, like “Bhuter Shathe Ek Raat” by Moajjem Hossain Alamgir.

This was a common scene in near-ly all children’s book stalls at Bangla Academy.

“Ghost stories have drawn many

children and youth. It is, perhaps, the best-selling genre at all children’s stalls,” said Imrul Kayes Khan, an at-tendant at Jhinge Ful Publication.

On the other hand, “Serina,” a sci-ence � ction tale by Muhammed Za-far Iqbal and “Mayer Kachhe Fera,” a novel by Anisul Hoque, have drawn the most readers, according to stall attendants at Shomoy Prakash.

Nazmul Hasan at Somoy Prakash said they have been selling a great many novels and science � ction tales, by Mu-hammed Zafar Iqbal and Anisul Hoque.

Attendants at Annya Prokash said they have sold more Humayun Ahmed novels, than any other, from the very start of this year’s fair.

Attendants at Ananya, Oitiijjo, and a few other publication houses shared the same sentiments about their sales yesterday.

With the new arrival of 125 books yesterday, the number of newly-pub-lished books at the fair now stands at 1,264, in total. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

AMAR EKUSHEYBOOK FAIR 2015

As usual, the pavillion of Onno Prokash, known for publishing books written by late Humayun Ahmed, attracts a good number of visitors at the Ekushey Book Fair 2015 yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

With 125 new inclusions yesterday, the number of new publications at thefair now standsat 1,264

RAB to probe actor Salman Shah death casen Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday ordered fur-ther investigation into the death of � lm actor Salman Shah.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jahangir Hossain directed RAB to conduct the re-probe and submit report by April 12.

The court passed the order after hear-ing a no-con� dence petition � led by Salman’s mother Nilufar Chowdhury, rejecting a judicial probe report that did not found any evidence of murder. The report said he had committed suicide.

On September 6, 1996, the country was shocked at the untimely death of Salman. His body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his Eskaton resi-dence. His father Kamaruddin Chowd-hury � led an unnatural death case with the Ramna police station.

Later, he applied to turn the lawsuit into a murder case. Later court ordered the CID to investigate the case.

On November 3, next year, the CID police submitted a � nal report that stated that the reason behind the ac-tor’s death was suicide. The court also accepted the report.

But Salman’s father � led a revision case with a CMM court which on May 19, 2003 ordered to run the judicial in-quiry in the case.

On July 9, last year, Metropolitan Magistrate Emdadul Haque who con-ducted the probe submitted the report before a court of chief metropolitan magistrate Bikash Kumar Shaha.

On December 21, last year, Salman’s mother Nila Chowdhury � led the no-con� dence petition against the lat-est report. l

KSA signs deal to resume importing manpowerThe minimum wage for a domestic help in KSA will be SR800 or Tk16,000n Shohel Mamun and

Adil shakhawat

Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia signed a deal yesterday under which the Middle Eastern country will resume importing manpower from Bangladesh gradually.

The process will start with the re-cruitment of household helps.

At the end the deal signing at the Probashi Kallyan Bhaban in the city yesterday afternoon, Expatriates Wel-fare and Overseas Employment Sec-retary Khandaker Iftekher Hyder said: “The minimum wage for a Bangladeshi domestic help in Saudi Arabia will be SR800 [Tk16,000].”

On Monday, Expatriates Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the minimum wage would be be-tween SR1,200 and SR1,500.

The secretary yesterday told re-porters: “In addition to the wage, the employers will provide Bangladeshi housemaids food, accommodation, festival bonuses and medical allow-ances. So, in e� ect, their wages will be more than SR1,200...The Bangladeshi workers will not have to spend any money for staying in KSA.”

Replying a query, Iftekher said: “As per ILO [International Labour Organ-isation] convention, the workers will work eight hours per day and will be entitled to overtime allowances.”

Sources said several countries in-cluding Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines have refused to export housemaids to the KSA at SR800 min-imum monthly wage.

The deal follows a two-day visit to Bangladesh by an in� uential Saudi del-egation.

Secretary Iftekher Hyder and KSA Labour Ministry’s Deputy Minister for International A� airs Dr Ahmed Al Fa-haid signed the deal on behalf of their respective sides.

“We issued around 1.3 million new visas last year for recruiting foreign workers. So, there is a huge employ-

ment opportunity for Bangladeshis,” the Saudi minister said after a meeting with a Bangladesh delegation yesterday.

He said: “We have ensured security for the workers. If the worker has quali-ties, then their wages may rise.”

Meanwhile, Expatriates Welfare Minister Mosharraf yesterday told parliament that Bangladeshi workers can go to Saudi Arabia spending just Tk15,000-Tk20,000 within a short time.

Discussion with BairaEarlier yesterday, Saudi National Re-cruitment Committee, the sole man-power exporter in KSA, met a dele-gation of Bangladesh Association of

International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) at a city hotel. They negotiated wages and facilities for the workers and also inked an agreement.

Con� rming the matter to the Dhaka Tribune, Baira President Mohammed Abul Basher said: “According to the agreement, KSA employers will bear the costs of visa, medical tests and air tickets...They will gradually import 200,000 domestic aides and chau� eurs from Bangladesh.”

At present, most of the country’s re-mittance comes from Saudi Arabia, home to more than 1.5 million Bangladeshis.

In 2013-2014, Bangladeshi workers remitted $3.12bn. Bangladesh can earn another $1.5bn a year if it can send an-other 1 million.

On February 1, following a six-year ban centring anomalies in recruitment processing, the Saudi government an-nounced that it would hire workers from Bangladesh again. l

Migration seekers vandalise pavilion at Digital World Fairn Tribune Report

Saudi-Arabia migration seekers vandal-ised a pavilion of the Expatriates’ Wel-fare and Overseas Employment Minis-try at “Digital World-2015” yesterday.

The incident took place around noon at the four-day long IT fair organ-ised by Bangladesh Association of Soft-ware and Information Services (BASIS) at Bangabandhu International Confer-ence Centre.

Witnesses said the vandalism began after authorities stopped distributing mi-gration forms because of overcrowding.

A form seeker, Abdul Momen, from Gazipur, said: “When we heard about the registration, we came here, despite the hartal. But instead, we found a large crowd and few form distributors. Then many forcefully entered the pavilion and vandalised it after the authorities concerned stopped distributing.”

Amjad Hossain, another Saudi Ara-bia migration seeker, asked: “Why is there an analog system for registra-tion at a digital fair? The ministry can provide information at a stall but why should we � ll and submit forms here?”

He added: “If we had � lled forms on-line, such a dangerous situation would not have happened, and we would not have su� ered.”

The police brought the situation un-der control, while the authorities con-cerned shifted their pavilion’s goods and equipments elsewhere.

Tejgaon Zone Deputy Commission-er Biplob Sarkar told Dhaka Tribune: “Although the venue is the same, the pavilion was separated from the fair. If we were informed earlier, this situation would not have occurred.”

The authorities later announced migration seekers would come to Probashi Kallyan Bhaban on February 11 for registration.

BASIS president Shamim Ahsan could not be reached for comments.

However, BASIS Public Relations O� cer Badruzza Mahmud Tuhin said: “The incident occurred because too many papers were distributed from the same stall. But to calm the situation, we temporarily stopped the form dis-tribution.”

Ministry PR O� cer Shahidul Alam Majumder said: “I know nothing about this. The Bureau of Manpower Employ-ment and Training (BMET) has respon-sibility over this.” l

Failing to get registered because of overcrowding, aspiring overseas workers vandalise the stall of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment at an online registration fair organised at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

I will raise the issue at a formal meeting with top o� cials of the Canadian government next week

‘In e� ect, their wages will be more than SR1,200. The workers will not have to spend any money for staying in Saudi Arabia’

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business

Banks asked to check terrorist � nancingn Tribune Report

To check terrorist � nancing in the wake of growing violence, all the scheduled banks have been asked to monitor the transactions taking place in some are-as prone to petrol bomb attacks during the countrywide hartals and blockade.

Bangladesh Bank conveyed the instructions to scrutinise the recent transactions carefully at a meeting with the managing directors of the banks held at its headquarters in the city yesterday.

“We’ve asked the banks to be more cautious about the recent transactions being held in more vulnerable areas to help stop any kind of � nancing through banking channel for the recent petrol bomb attacks”, said Mahfuzur Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Bank.

Banks have also been asked to � nd out the last six month’s transactions to check whether there was any sus-

picious � nancing link with the recent political violence.

Managing Directors of banks will informed all their respective branch managers across the country about the central bank’s instruction today.

Banks will have to inform the central bank soon after discovering any suspi-cious transaction. In this regard, Bang-ladesh Bank has already issued a written instruction to the Bank’s MDs and CEOs.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina re-cently asked the banks and � nancial institutions to identify the � nanciers of the ongoing militant and destructive activities and to strictly monitor the banks’ transactions to check any possi-ble terror � nancing.

She said the patrons of terrorists and militants are still using the banks to transfer money at home and abroad. She made the statement at a meeting with the o� cials of the Ministry of Fi-nance at the Secretariat. l

Body formed to set common occupational safety standardn Tribune Report

The Ministry of Labor and Employ-ment has formed a committee to � x a common standard for ensuring work place occupational safety and health in the industrial sector.

The decision to form the committee was made in the � rst meeting of the National Industrial Health and Safety Council held yesterday. National In-dustrial Health and Safety Council was established earlier in December 2014.

As per the decision, the newly formed committee has been asked to submit a work plan within the next three months for the implementation of the policy.

“The committee will work to formu-

late a common standard for e� ectively implementing the National Occupa-tional Safety and Health Policy 2013 to ensure health safety in the workplac-es,” said Mujibul Haque Chunnu, state minister for the Ministry of Labour and Em-ployment, while talking to the reporters at his secretariat o� ce in the capital yes-terday.

The minister said, “As this com-mon standard will be applicable for

all the industrial sectors, we want to � x a uni� ed standard, which will be suita-ble for all the di� erent sectors within the purview of existing laws.” l

ADP implementation remains sluggishn Kayes Sohel

The pace of government’s spending on development projects for improving living standards remained slow as usu-al in � rst seven months of the current � scal year.

During July-January period of the � scal year 2014-15, the government spent only 32% or Tk27,163 crore ( in-cluding self-� nance of di� erent public agencies) out of total Tk80,315 crore allocated for the entire year for de-velopment, according to the Planning Ministry.

It was 31% or Tk22,937 crore in the same period a year earlier, according to Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Ka-mal.

He said Annual Development Pro-gramme (ADP) implementation in the � rst seven months of this � scal year is one percentage point higher than the same period a year ago.

However, according to the Imple-mentation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) data, the ADP fund spending by the government agencies in the current � scal year during the period was one percentage points low-er than that of the previous � scal year when it was 33%.

The minister, however, did not give details about the progress report of the development projects under the cur-rent original ADP.

Replying to a question, he said the Planning Commission has started re-vising the ADP which could be trimmed down.

The seven-month reading of this � s-cal indicates that the remaining 68% of the total ADP size will be implemented in next � ve months, which is highly unlikely, people familiar with the situ-ation said.

The minister, who was earlier hopeful to spend 100% of entire ADP allocation in the current � scal year,said: “If the ministries let me know that they would fail to spend theallocated fund, the planning commis-sion would divert the money to other projects.”

His comment came following many ministries and public agencies have already sought to slash from fund al-located for spending in the entire � scal year, as they are set to spend less due to supply disruption of materials required for implementing several development projects due to non-stop blockade that began from January 5, called by the

BNP-led 20-party alliance. The blockade-a� ected ongoing

development projects include the country’s biggest infrastructure pro-ject Padma Bridge, the four-lane Dha-ka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Maymensin-gh highways, o� cials said.

Bridge Division has already sought Tk7,865 crore in the upcoming revised Annual Development Programme (ADP), which is down Tk235 crorefrom original allocation of Tk8,100 crore.

It is the highest allocation in a de-velopment project for the current � -nancial year.

The Bangladesh Bridges Authority, implementing agency of the Padma, has spent Tk2,500 crore out of total dis-bursement of Tk3,225 crore till January 20, sources said. l

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

B3 Methodology change sees Indian economy grow faster

B4 Only partial rebound in oil prices, feeble growth boost

Tosrifa Industries gets IPO nodn Tribune Report

Tosrifa Industries Limited yesterday got IPO nod from the securities regula-tor to mobilise about Tk63.9 crore from the stock market.

The company will issue about 2.5 crore ordinary shares with an o� er val-ue of Tk26 a share, including a premi-um of Tk16, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission said in a state-ment.

The raised funds will be used for the company’s business expansion and meeting its IPO expenses. According to the company’s � nancial statement as of December, 2013, its net asset value with revaluation stood at Tk34.41 per share and earnings per share Tk2.49.

The commission also approved the plan for raising paid up capital from other than existing shareholders of the Paper Processing and Packaging Lim-ited that was currently traded at the over-the-counter market of the Dhaka Stock Exchange. l

Plan to build software export zone in Dhakan Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Prime Minister’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy said the government would establish Software Export Zone (SEZ) in Dhaka.

He said it is to ensure 1% of the coun-try’s GDP coming from its ICT sector.

Sajeeb was presenting the keynote paper at a ministerial conference at the country’s largest technology fair “Digi-tal World 2015” yesterday.

He requested Finance Minister AMA Muhith to extend tax holiday facili-ty for the ICT sector for next 10 years so the sector could move forward smoothly.

The current ICT tax holiday tenure will end this year.

“Our goal is that the ICT sector should contribute 1% to the gross do-mestic product.”

He said the government has planned

to build 12 high technology parks in several districts including one in Kali-akoir near Dhaka; also a special ICT zone like the export processing zones to attract foreign investors.

“We have done remarkably well in di� erent � elds of ICT in the past couple years as the present government de-clared the Vision-2021 of building Dig-ital Bangladesh by 2021,” he said.

AMA Muhith presided over the ses-sion.

He said if tax holiday in the ICT sec-tor would be extended or not could not be announced in the meeting as it is related with the national budget an-nouncement.

“The government’s response to the request will be seen in the next budget,” � nance minister said.

Shameem Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), re-

quested � nance minister to withdraw value added tax (VAT) on e-commerce.

He said the USA government had done it for 10 years to boost the e-com-merce sector.

At the meeting, three ministers of Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives and secre-tary general of the 150-year old Interna-tional Telecommunication Union (ITU) were present as panel discussants.

Dina NathDhungyel, information and communication minister of Bhu-tan, invited the Bangladeshi people to invest in the ICT sector in his country.

He said 195 administrative areas out of 205 are connected with optical � bre cable infrastructure.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman moderated the session.

He assured the Bhutanese minister that if Bangladeshi people want to in-vest in that country, the central bank will provide help to them.

He said Bangladesh wants to share its experience of digitisation process with the neighboring countries and wants to learn from them as well.

Houlin Zhao, secretary general of the ITU, suggested building informa-tion infrastructure in Bangladesh for the ICT development.

He also suggested the Bangladesh government supporting the small and medium enterprises so that young en-trepreneurs can come forward with new business ideas.

On the second day of the Digital World, seminars and conference on mo-bile application development, global sourcing, hybrid game development, IT project management, digital marketing and e-commerce policies took place.

The four-day digital expo, being held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, will remain open till Thursday. l

Services waiver likely before WTO ministerial meetn Tribune Report

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said Bangladesh is likely to avail preferen-tial treatment for its services export before the next ministerial meeting of the WTO as per a Bali decision.

He informed a press brie� ng at the Commerce Ministry yesterday about the outcome of the high-level meeting of World Trade Organisation (WTO), held in Geneva, Switzerland on Febru-ary 5-6.

At the meeting of the WTO Services Council on February 5, the members discussed measures which would sup-port the growth of services trade in least-developed countries (LDCs) by providing their services exports with preferential treatment.

This is regarded as an important step in implementing a key Bali deci-sion in support of LDCs, which aims to enhance their participation in world services trade.

At the meeting, over 25 members in-dicated services sectors and modes of supply from LDCs to which they would give preferential treatment.

Tofail Ahmed said the services waiv-er will help Bangladesh boost its trade and commerce in achieving middle-in-come status by 2021.

Under the preferential market fa-cility scheme from the developed and developing countries, Bangladesh will get the services waiver to expand busi-ness.

It is expected to bene� t Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES), business operations processing ser-vice, auditing, accounting, � nancial service, hotel, tourism and independ-ent professionals like engineers, ar-chitects, landscape designers, doctors, nurses, lawyers and also computer re-lated service people.

The countries that had participated in the meeting said they considered the demands of service waivers by the developing countries realising impor-

tance of it. Tofail Ahmed said the coun-tries would soon issue a noti� cation to the WTO after internal approval of the respective countries on preferential market scheme.

On behalf of the LDCs, he urged the developed and developing countries to notify the preferential market facility for the service sector like as productive sector’s duty and quota-free market fa-cilities.

As per the decision of the high-level meeting, the Council for Trade in Ser-vice will hold a meeting by March 2015, where a progress report on the LDCs would be placed.

Preferential facilities provider coun-tries will notify the preferential market facilities sector and try to submit it to the WTO by July this year.

Commerce minister described the meeting as an important step towards implementing a key Bali decision in support of the LDCs, which is expect-ed to help enlarge the participation in global trade of services.

He hoped the visa process and � nd-ing overseas jobs would be easier if the services waiver was given to the LDCs including Bangladesh.

On the sidelines of the Geneva meeting, Tofail Ahmed held a meet-ing with the WTO director generalRoberto Azevedo, where he had pre-sented the outcome of a high-level meeting and urged to implement the Bali package.

The minister also held separate meetings with secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Mukhisa Kituyi and Uganda’s trade, industry and cooperatives minister Amelia Anne Kyambadde.

He urged the Uganda minister to extend to 2021 the duration of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver for the pharmaceutical products.

TRIPS will expire on December 31 this year. l

Prime Minister’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wajed Joy speaks at a ministerial conference at the Digital World technology fair in Dhaka yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

JULY-JANUARY ADP IMPLEMENTATION TREND

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

33%

34%

38%

33%

32%

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-14

(Including self-�nanced Projects)

Sour

ce: P

lann

ing

Com

mis

sion

The unrest-hit projects include the country’s biggest project Padma Bridge, the four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Maymensingh highways

B2 Stock Wednesday, February 11, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

News, analysis and recent disclosuresREPUBLIC: The Company has informed that Mr. A.M.M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury has been appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive O� cer of the Company.PREMIERBAN: The Premier Bank Ltd. has informed that Mr. Khondker Fazle Rashid has assumed the O� ce of the Managing Director of the Bank with e� ect from February 01, 2015.DESCO: Dhaka Electric Supply Co. Ltd. has informed that Eng. Zul� quar Tahmid, Superintending Engineer has been joined as Company Secretary of the Company on 5 February 2015.LANKABAFIN: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on February 16, 2015 at 3:00 PM to consider, among others, au-dited � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2014.GP: The Board of Directors has recom-mended 65% � nal cash dividend (i.e. total 160% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 95% Interim cash dividend which has already been paid) for the

year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 21.04.2015, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Center-2, Block-C, Bashundhara R/A, Baridhara, Dhaka-1219. Record date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 19,803.28 million, EPS of Tk. 14.67, NAV per share of Tk. 23.23 and NOCFPS of Tk. 23.15 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.SAPORTL: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. The Board has also decided to issue Rights shares at the rate of 1R:5 (i.e. one Rights share for � ve shares held) at an issue price of Tk. 25.00 each including premium of Tk. 15.00 per share subject to approval of shareholders and regulatory authorities. Date of AGM: 14.03.2015, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Police Convention Hall, Eskaton Garden Road, Ramna, Dhaka-1000. Record Date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 0.82, NAV per share of Tk. 42.29 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.91 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be noti� ed later after obtaining approval from BSEC.IPO Subscription: Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 01 to 05 Febuary 2015, NRB upto 14 Febuary 2015. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGMCNATEX: 11% stock, AGM: 15.03.2015, Record Date: 18.02.2015.RAKCERAMIC: 25% cash, EGM and AGM: 25.03.2015, Record date: 17.02.2015.GSPFINANCE: 55% stock, AGM: 23.02.2015, Record Date: 05.02.2015.HRTEX:12.50% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record date: 12.02.2015.MARICO: 225% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 29.01.2015.ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 26.02.2015, Record Date: 05.01.2015.JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015, Record date: 22.12.2014.

Stocks clock steep rise shrugging o� political strifen Tribune Report

Stocks witnessed sharp gain yester-day, shrugging o� prolonged politi-cal turbulence.

The market opened higher and the momentum continued till close of the session, as few investors who remained sidelines were attracted by the market’s fourth consecutive rally in the previous sessions.

After gaining marginally in the last four sessions, the benchmark index DSEX gained 74 points or 1.6% to close at 4,786.

The Shariah index DSES moved up 20 points or 1.9% to 1,140. The com-prising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,788, rising more than 38 points or 2%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, ended at 8,884 with a rally of 140 points.

Total turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange reached nearly Tk300 crore, which was the highest in the last 18 sessions and was 11.7% high-er over previous session. The trade was dominated by energy and engi-neering issues which accounted for more than 34% of the total turnover.

All the major sectors closed in green. Cement and Power post-

ed high returns gaining 2.63% and 2.15% respectively.

Telecommunication also post-ed decent gain of 1.9% and tex-tile 1.55%. In the � nancial sectors, banks and non-banking � nancial institutions advanced by 0.6% and 0.9% respectively.

Pharmaceuticals reckoned posi-tive return of 0.9% and food & allied went up by 0.4%. Out of 307 issues traded, 236 advanced, 39 declined and 32 remained unchanged.

IDLC Investments said despite no virtual improvement in politi-cal scenario, market experienced a sharp takeo� , as investors were con-cerned whether they were missing any lucrative opportunity.

It said the idea got interpret-ed into abrupt curiosity to scrips that got steeply corrected in recent downturn.

However, it said the sudden hike was not matched in terms of activ-ities. Lanka Bangla Securities said stocks of Motijheel street spotted six winning streaks in a row with grad-ual increase in market participation.

“Market might have reacted pos-itively to the news of falling NPL in banking sector,” it said.

Banks’ default loans dropped 12.45% in the last quarter of 2014 af-ter rising in the three previous quar-ters, according to the central bank.

Mobil Jamuna Limited Bangla-desh topped the turnover list with shares with Tk14.3 crore changing hands, followed by IFAD Autos, La-farge Surma Cement, Square Phar-maceutical and Grameenphone. l

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Samata LeatheR -Z -9.09 -8.54 18.11 18.00 18.50 18.00 0.016 -0.46 -veMidas Financing-Z -8.05 -7.12 13.70 13.70 13.70 13.70 0.001 -3.24 -veCity G Insu.-A -4.57 -4.57 16.70 16.70 16.70 16.70 0.013 1.89 8.8Monno Ceramic -B -2.40 -2.30 28.50 28.50 28.50 28.50 0.001 0.20 142.5Prime Bank 1st MF-A -2.27 -1.59 4.33 4.30 4.40 4.30 0.007 0.76 5.7Maksons Spinning-A -2.26 -0.91 13.08 13.00 13.50 12.90 1.833 0.88 14.9Delta Brac HFCL-A -1.96 -1.96 75.20 75.20 75.20 75.20 0.035 4.26 17.7NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A -1.82 -2.37 5.36 5.40 5.50 5.30 0.613 0.43 12.5Shahjibazar Power-N -1.82 -1.58 156.23 162.00 162.00 153.00 0.433 8.68 18.0Usmania Glass -A -1.67 -1.78 99.86 100.00 99.50 100.00 0.104 -0.88 -ve

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A -7.55 -0.78 5.06 4.90 5.60 4.80 3.720 0.66 7.7GeminiSeaFood-B -4.65 -5.88 183.15 182.30 194.00 180.00 1.161 -6.36 -veProgressive Life-A -3.65 -3.61 71.23 71.20 71.40 70.10 0.104 2.30 31.0Modern Dyeing -Z -3.55 -3.30 81.43 81.40 85.00 79.00 0.057 -0.50 -veIFIL Islamic M.F.1-A -3.17 -0.49 6.05 6.10 6.20 6.00 0.600 1.04 5.8Maksons Spinning-A -3.01 -0.84 13.03 12.90 13.30 12.90 12.247 0.88 14.8Jute SpinnersA -2.74 -3.28 49.23 49.70 50.10 49.40 0.032 -43.64 -vePrime Bank 1st MF-A -2.22 -1.35 4.40 4.40 4.50 4.40 0.076 0.76 5.8EBL NRB M.F.-A -2.17 -3.70 4.43 4.50 4.60 4.40 0.071 0.64 6.9Trust Bank 1st MF-A -1.96 -1.38 5.02 5.00 5.20 5.00 3.432 0.74 6.8

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 715,391 22.02 8.44 31.60 9.72 28.80 31.60 29.00 30.77Ifad Autos -N 339,969 19.74 7.56 61.90 2.48 60.40 63.70 55.20 58.06LafargeS Cement-Z 84,609 10.64 4.08 125.90 2.36 123.00 127.00 123.50 125.78WesternMarine -N 194,678 9.24 3.54 47.80 3.91 46.00 48.00 45.80 47.44UNITED AIR-A 978,944 8.14 3.12 8.40 5.00 8.00 8.60 8.00 8.32Beximco Pharma -A 134,637 7.96 3.05 59.50 6.44 55.90 60.30 56.60 59.15C & A Textile -N 386,165 7.51 2.88 19.90 3.65 19.20 20.00 19.00 19.45SummitAlliancePort.-A 118,789 7.30 2.80 63.90 9.61 58.30 64.10 58.80 61.45MJL BD Ltd.-A 58,460 7.29 2.79 125.20 5.21 119.00 127.00 121.00 124.78National Feed-N 234,661 6.44 2.47 27.50 1.48 27.10 27.70 27.10 27.42RAK Ceramics-A 110,412 6.40 2.45 58.00 3.02 56.30 58.50 56.50 57.96Grameenphone-A 17,383 6.00 2.30 346.60 1.67 340.90 348.00 342.70 344.88BD Submarine Cable-A 51,949 5.53 2.12 107.20 4.48 102.60 107.80 103.50 106.36Singer BD -A 20,003 4.49 1.72 225.20 1.58 221.70 225.50 223.10 224.36SAIF Powertec-N 65,823 4.28 1.64 65.40 2.99 63.50 66.00 63.90 64.99

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

MJL BD Ltd.-A 1,146,805 142.62 4.75 125.80 5.98 118.70 127.50 120.00 124.36Ifad Autos -N 2,288,080 133.07 4.43 62.50 3.99 60.10 64.00 55.00 58.16LafargeS Cement-Z 929,108 117.11 3.90 127.30 3.41 123.10 128.00 123.70 126.04Square Pharma -A 415,999 108.06 3.60 258.50 -0.31 259.30 261.30 257.50 259.76Grameenphone-A 301,258 103.78 3.46 346.00 1.76 340.00 348.00 340.60 344.49Beximco Pharma -A 1,556,139 91.67 3.05 59.30 6.08 55.90 60.20 56.20 58.91BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 2,757,913 85.27 2.84 31.70 10.07 28.80 31.70 28.90 30.92CVO PetroChem RL-A 137,536 64.15 2.14 463.70 -0.94 468.10 472.90 462.30 466.39SummitAlliancePort.-A 974,354 60.24 2.01 64.10 9.57 58.50 64.40 58.10 61.82DESCO Ltd. -A 876,623 59.43 1.98 67.70 0.45 67.40 68.30 67.00 67.79RAK Ceramics-A 961,730 55.65 1.85 57.90 3.02 56.20 58.50 56.10 57.87ACI Limited- A 138,705 54.14 1.80 391.10 1.11 386.80 394.20 383.00 390.31Barakatullah E. D.-A 1,571,157 53.22 1.77 33.80 0.30 33.70 34.20 33.60 33.87Agni Systems -A 1,592,350 49.67 1.65 31.60 3.27 30.60 31.90 30.70 31.19WesternMarine -N 972,597 45.97 1.53 47.80 3.91 46.00 48.10 46.00 47.26

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 221.54 7.38 16.88 6.47 238.42 7.31NBFI 148.50 4.95 10.17 3.90 158.67 4.86Investment 39.24 1.31 4.15 1.59 43.39 1.33Engineering 506.04 16.86 46.72 17.90 552.76 16.94Food & Allied 86.27 2.87 6.60 2.53 92.87 2.85Fuel & Power 508.46 16.94 26.38 10.11 534.83 16.39Jute 0.67 0.02 0.00 0.67 0.02Textile 227.60 7.58 30.06 11.52 257.66 7.90Pharma & Chemical 436.35 14.53 22.43 8.60 458.79 14.06Paper & Packaging 21.93 0.73 2.15 0.82 24.07 0.74Service 108.43 3.61 11.87 4.55 120.30 3.69Leather 25.10 0.84 1.00 0.38 26.10 0.80Ceramic 60.83 2.03 7.23 2.77 68.07 2.09Cement 139.35 4.64 14.10 5.40 153.45 4.70Information Technology 92.63 3.09 7.45 2.85 100.07 3.07General Insurance 26.69 0.89 0.50 0.19 27.18 0.83Life Insurance 48.03 1.60 1.67 0.64 49.69 1.52Telecom 133.15 4.44 11.52 4.41 144.67 4.43Travel & Leisure 39.06 1.30 9.45 3.62 48.51 1.49Miscellaneous 132.29 4.41 30.67 11.75 162.96 4.99Debenture 0.03 0.00 0.02 0.01 0.05 0.00

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4786.69084 (+) 1.57% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1788.21267 (+) 2.20% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 14680.43480 (+) 1.70% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 12025.99960 (+) 1.40% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8891.63220 (+) 1.59% ▲

DSE key features February 10, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

2,994.18

Turnover (Volume)

72,952,680

Number of Contract 88,778

Traded Issues 309

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

244

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

58

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,579.57

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.27

CSE key features February 10, 2015Turnover (Million Taka) 261.01

Turnover (Volume) 8,503,936

Number of Contract 14,640

Traded Issues 239

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

191

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

45

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,502.71

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.34

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

Total turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange reached nearly Tk300 crore, which was the highest in the last 18 sessions and was 11.7% higher over previous session

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

7th ICB M F-A 10.00 10.00 88.00 88.00 88.00 88.00 0.010 12.76 6.9BD Fixed Income MF-A 10.00 10.00 6.60 6.60 6.60 6.60 0.000 0.48 13.8BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 9.72 6.51 30.77 31.60 31.60 29.00 22.016 1.01 30.5SummitAlliancePort.-A 9.61 5.80 61.45 63.90 64.10 58.80 7.299 0.82 74.9Hakkani P& Paper -B 9.32 9.28 25.79 25.80 25.90 25.50 0.106 0.42 61.4Imam Button -Z 9.28 10.99 10.60 10.60 10.60 10.50 0.856 -1.48 -veLegacy Footwear -A 9.28 5.03 25.27 25.90 26.00 24.00 0.720 0.28 90.3Rupali InsurA 8.74 8.54 22.36 22.40 22.50 21.00 0.025 2.52 8.9Wata Chemicals -A 8.42 8.70 213.05 212.50 213.50 212.50 0.023 5.37 39.7Continental Insur. -A 7.39 7.61 18.94 18.90 19.00 17.30 0.104 2.27 8.3

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 10.07 6.99 30.92 31.70 31.70 28.90 85.267 1.01 30.6Imam Button -Z 9.89 10.54 9.96 10.00 10.00 9.70 1.400 -1.48 -veSummitAlliancePort.-A 9.57 6.53 61.82 64.10 64.40 58.10 60.235 0.82 75.4Legacy Footwear -A 9.28 5.07 24.86 25.90 26.10 23.80 5.372 0.28 88.8Beximco Syn.-Z 8.33 5.42 11.48 11.70 11.80 10.80 0.809 0.08 143.5Kay & Que (BD) -Z 8.03 7.37 14.71 14.80 14.90 14.70 0.027 -1.41 -veQuasem Drycells -A 6.60 3.55 58.66 59.80 60.40 55.20 31.527 2.16 27.2Beximco Pharma -A 6.08 5.03 58.91 59.30 60.20 56.20 91.673 4.19 14.1MJL BD Ltd.-A 5.98 5.11 124.36 125.80 127.50 120.00 142.619 5.11 24.3Hakkani P& Paper -B 5.93 4.98 24.87 25.00 25.20 24.30 0.258 0.42 59.2

ANALYST

Out of 307 issues traded, 236 advanced, 39 declined and 32 remained unchanged

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

National Bank Limited has recently organised a workshop on prevention of money laundering and combating � nancing of terrorism. The bank’s deputy managing director, Syed Mohammad Bariqullah inaugurated the workshop as chief guest

Managing director and CEO of Standard Bank Limited, Md Nazmus Salehin has recently attended a two daylong workshop on loan classi� cation and provisioning, organized by the bank’s training institute

Union Bank Training Institute has recently organised a concluding ceremony of a month long foundation training course for probationary o� cers of Union Bank. The bank’s managing director, Md Abdul Hamid Miah was present at the ceremony as chief guest

Methodology change sees Indian economy grow fastern Reuters, New Delhi

Taken at face value, India on Mon-day became the fastest growing major economy in the world after its stat-isticians changed the way they mea-sure Asia’s third-largest economy and showed it clocked faster growth than China in the December quarter.

It marks a dramatic turnaround for an economy that a fortnight ago was assumed to be struggling to gain mo-mentum under Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi’s reform-minded govern-ment. Prior to Modi’s election last May, the economy had endured its weakest phase of growth since the 1980s.

The statistical recovery is in large measure due to changes both in the way authorities calculate gross domes-tic product (GDP) and the base year.

Under the new method, the economy expanded 7.5% year-on-year during the last quarter, higher than 7.3% growth recorded by China in the latest quarter.

New Delhi also revised up growth for the � rst half of � scal 2014/15 to 7.4 percent from the 5.5% reported earlier and forecast the full-year GDP growth to accelerate to 7.4% from a revised 6.9% a year earlier.

The new estimate is sharply higher than the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) growth projection of around 5.5% for the year under the old method.

The reading has left economists confounded as it is at odds with other indicators such as industrial produc-tion, trade and tax collection � gures, which suggest the economy is still suf-fering from slack.

“The government has itself been saying that tax collections are slow due to a slowdown in the economy, but the other wing of the government is saying that GDP growth has been good,” said A. Prasanna, economist at ICICI Securi-ties Primary Dealership Ltd.

“That means either one part of the economy is not taxed or there is an is-sue with the data.”

India now measures GDP by market prices instead of factor costs, to take into account gross value addition in

goods and services as well as indirect taxes. The base year has been shifted to 2011/12 from 2004/05 earlier.

The government’s statistics depart-ment says the new method is more in line with global practices and gives a

better picture of economic activity.But the statistical fog makes it hard-

er for policymakers to assess the size of the � scal and monetary aid required to help spur even faster growth needed to generate jobs for millions of young In-

dians entering the labour force.Monday’s data is key for Finance

Minister Arun Jaitley as he drafts the annual budget.

Presenting the 2015/16 blueprint on Feb 28, Jaitley is widely expected to

boost capital spending and o� er tax breaks to an under-performing manu-facturing sector.

But with GDP data showing the economy suddenly motoring again, the � scal stimulus could stoke in� ation.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, who switched the monetary policy to a new easing cycle in January with the � rst interest rate cut in 20 months, faces a similar dilemma; whether to lower in-terest rates again.

“After this number, the RBI will need to understand the dynamics of the high GDP numbers,” said Saugata Bhattacha-rya, chief economist at Axis Bank.

“This pushes back the timeline for rate cuts. Any hope of an o� -cycle rate cut in March, even if the budget is con-sistent with low in� ation-driven � scal policy, does not exist now.”

Despite the statistical adjustments, India’s growth outlook has been bol-stered by falling oil prices, cooling in� ation and Modi’s steps to make it easier to do business.

Portfolio investors have pumped more than $7bn so far this year into the country’s � nancial markets.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month also predicted India would overtake China next year as the fastest growing major economy with 6.5% annual growth compared with 6.3% for China.

However, listless corporate spend-ing and mounting bad loans at Indian banks remain a drag. While stressed corporate balance sheets are hindering a recovery in private capital spending, rising bad banking assets are making banks wary of lending to companies.

“There is clearly the need to look at the credibility associated with these numbers,” said Jyotinder Kaur, principal economist at HDFC Bank. “Nothing on the ground has substantially changed to show that we are out of the trenches.” l

Hong Kong warns over digital currencies amid alleged bitcoin fraudn Reuters, Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s central bank has warned people against investing in virtual cur-rencies amid local media reports that a bitcoin exchange may have run o� with $387m in client funds - making it poten-tially the biggest bitcoin scandal after last year’s bankruptcy at Tokyo-based Mt.Gox.

The South China Morning Post re-ported on Monday that clients of Hong Kong-based MyCoin had approached a local lawmaker alleging the company absconded with their money. An as-sistant for Legislative Council mem-ber Leung Yiu-chung told Reuters that Leung had received more than 15 com-plaints from MyCoin clients regarding the alleged fraud, and these would be passed on to the police on Wednesday.

The Hong Kong Monetary Author-ity (HKMA) said in a statement late on

Monday that the case “may involve fraud or pyramid schemes,” adding: “Given the highly speculative nature of Bitcoin, we have all along urged the public to exercise extra caution when considering making transactions or in-vestments with Bitcoin.”

Calls to MyCoin in Hong Kong could not be connected. Calls to the compa-ny’s China customer service line were not answered. Bitcoins are created through a ‘mining’ process where a computer’s resources are used to per-form millions of calculations.

Advocates say the virtual currency is revolutionary as it’s not controlled by a central bank and has potential as an alternative means of online payment. But the rise of bitcoin, which is un-regulated in many countries including Hong Kong, has stoked concerns it can be used as a vehicle to launder money

and � nance extremist groups.Mt.Gox, once the world’s largest

bitcoin exchange, � led for bankruptcy a year ago after it claimed to have lost around $500m worth of customer bit-coins in a hacking attack.

On its website, MyCoin claims to be a “leading global Bitcoin trading platform and application service provider,” with a China-based research and develop-ment team. MyCoin promised clients a HK$1m ($128,976) return over a 4-month period based on a HK$400,000 invest-ment that would produce 90 bitcoins on maturity, the South China Morning Post reported, adding MyCoin claimed to have 3,000 customers each investing an average of HK$1m .

The price of a bitcoin has slumped from a late-2013 high of above $1,000 to around $220, according to CoinDesk’s price index. l

Walton receives best VAT payer award at DITFn Tribune Report

Walton, country’s leading electronics, automobile and home appliances man-ufacturing company, received an award for paying highest VAT (Value Added Tax) at the just concluded 20th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) 2015.

In addition, Walton Pavilion at the DITF 2015 received the second prize under the premium pavilion category for its beautiful construction, out-standing exterior design, attractive in-terior decoration and choice of visitors and customers.

As VAT, Walton Pavilion contrib-uted Tk12 lakh to the national exche-quer while Walton Plaza gave a total of Tk1,63,282 from their total sales at the DITF’15.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed handed over the two awards to the lo-cal brand at the closing ceremony of the month-long 20th DITF-15 at the fair premises Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital on Tuesday.

Like every year, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Ministry of Com-merce (MoI) jointly organised the coun-try’s mega fair DITF this year.

Md Raihan, � rst senior additional di-rector (marketing) of Walton, received the second prize under the premium pavilion category from Commerce Min-ister Tofail Ahmed while Shoaib Hos-sain, executive director (C&F and Au-tomobile) of Walton) received the best VAT payer award from FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed.

EPB’s Vice Chairman Shubhasish Bose presided over the function while Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce Md Tajul Is-lam, Senior Commerce Secretary He-dayetullah Al Mamun, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, among others, were present at the award giving ceremony. l

Indian IT services exports seen growing 12-14%in year aheadn Reuters

The Indian IT outsourcing sector is ex-pected to see export revenue growing 12-14% in the � nancial year starting in April, an industry lobby group said yes-terday.

The sector’s exports in 2015/16 are forecast to rise to as much as $112bn, according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).

That compares with an estimated rise of about 12% from the previous 12

months, in the � scal year ending on March 31, Nasscom said.

Top Indian outsourcing companies Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and In-fosys Ltd have been seeing bene� ts of a global economic recovery spill over their clients’ technology budgets.

This has boosted business for out-sourcing � rms, who make as much as three-quarters of sales by providing services including technology infra-structure management and develop-ment of software applications to clients in the United States and Europe. l

Russian business woos Japan despite sanctionsn AFP, Tokyo

A Russian business lobby group made a push yesterday for Japanese invest-ment as its economy struggles under Western sanctions linked to its role in the Ukraine crisis.

Even as the United States and Eu-rope delayed another round of mea-sures while they push a peace plan, Moscow is looking for cash to replace money that has � ed, hoping to tempt resource-poor Japan with oil and gas.

“Now is the time for Japanese and Russian businesses to see a sunrise - rather than a sunset - of a day of vic-

tory for us,” Alexey Repik, President of the Russian-Japanese Business Council told a news conference ahead of a busi-ness meeting.

“What we’ve been working together (on) in recent years... will bear fruit a few years later because both of us share a long-term viewpoint,” he said.

The comments came as EU foreign ministers postponed new sanctions against Russia for a week to boost the chances of success at a four-way summit Wednesday aimed at broker-ing peace in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists are � ghting Kiev’s forces.

US President Barack Obama on Mon-day agreed to hold o� a controversial decision on sending arms to Ukraine until German-led e� orts to broker a cease� re with Russia are given a chance as he hosted German Chancel-lor Angela Merkel at the White House.

Japan’s position with Moscow is a delicate one; while it must stand be-hind Washington, its chief ally, it is keen to tap much-needed commodities from Russia’s far east.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would also like to resolve a decades-long territorial row that has prevented the signing of a peace treaty between

Tokyo and Moscow.The two sides are at odds over Rus-

sian-administered islands o� Japan’s far north, annexed by Soviet troops in the dying months of World War II.

Repik said the international squeeze on Russia -- the economy is expected to shrink three percent in 2015 owing to collapsing oil prices and a capital � ight -- presented a possible opportunity for Japan.

“There are two sides to a coin... it makes it more appealing for Russia and Japan to jointly invest in production” in Russia because of the relative falling cost of Russian labour, he said. l

A worker climbs up to a pillar of a metro railway under construction in Kolkata REUTERS

A Bitcoin (virtual currency) coin is seen in an illustration picture taken at La Maison du Bitcoin REUTERS

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, February 11, 2015

DILBERT

Only partial rebound in oil prices, feeble growth boost

n AFP, Paris

Global oil prices will recover only par-tially from their spectacular lows of last year, which can be expected neither to spur economic growth nor kill o� US shale production, the International En-ergy Agency said yesterday.

Citing a major shakeup in the oil markets, the IEA said in its � ve-year forecast that crude prices will recover from current levels of around $50-55 per barrel to $73 per barrel in 2020.

That level is considerably below the more than $100 price tags reached be-fore they began to fall last June.

“The global oil market looks set to begin a new chapter of its history, with markedly changing demand dynam-ics, sweeping shifts in crude trade and product supply, and dramatically dif-ferent roles for OPEC and non-OPEC producers in regulating upstream sup-ply,” the IEA said.

Ample supply and subdued demand caused oil prices to tumble as much as 60 percent, but the IEA said it sees market rebalancing occurring “relatively swift-ly” with increases in inventories halting mid-year and the market tightening.

However the IEA foresees “prices

stabilising at levels higher than recent lows but substantially below the highs of the last three years”.

The sharp fall in oil prices has cheered oil-consuming nations as lower fuel prices usually translate into stronger economic growth.

But the IEA said the net impact “will be more modest than might be expect-ed” because of a lingering hangover

from the global economic crisis in 2008 and weak investment.

No ‘potent’ economic stimulus “Oil price declines against a backdrop of slowing demand growth will not be as potent an economic stimulus as they would be in a context of strong under-lying income gains,” said the Paris-based agency, which advises industrial

nations on energy policies.It noted that despite the oil price de-

cline the IMF last month revised down-ward its forecast for global growth this year to 3.5% from the 3.8% it predicted in October. It lowered its 2016 forecast to 3.7% from 4%.

The drop in oil prices was acceler-ated by OPEC’s decision in November not to cut production, saying it did not

want to cede market share. Analysts saw this as an attempt to drive out higher priced competitors, particularly US shale or “LTO” oil output that has been the largest source of new supply to the market in recent years.

It was uncharacteristic as the 12-na-tion cartel that supplies 30% of global crude has usually played the role of swing producer, reducing output in

case of excess supplies on the market so that prices stabilise.

US king of ‘swing’ “OPEC’s move to let the market rebal-ance itself is a re� ection of... how shale oil has changed the market,” said IEA Ex-ecutive Director Maria van der Hoeven.

“It may have e� ectively turned LTO into the new swing producer, but it will not drive it out of the market,” she said. “LTO might in fact come out stronger.”

The IEA sees US shale oil production growth slowing to a trickle this year, but quickly bouncing back, to post a 50% rise from 2014 levels to hit 5.2 mil-lion barrels per day (mbd) in 2020.

Overall, the IEA sees non-OPEC out-put rising modestly to 60 mbd in 2020, which is a drop of 1.4 mbd from its pre-vious mid-term forecast.

Global demand is forecast to rise from 92.4 mbd in 2014 to 99.1 mbd in 2020, 1.1 mbd below its previous fore-cast.

Russia oil market ‘loser’ However Russia is unlikely to emerge unscathed.

“Russia, facing a perfect storm of collapsing prices, international sanc-tions and currency depreciation, will likely emerge as the industry’s top los-er,” the IEA said.

The agency last June saw Russian output continuing to climb, but now it sees production having peaked at 10.97 mbd in 2013 and sliding by 5.5% to 10.37 mbd in 2020.

Because of lower oil prices, many of the deposits that Russia was hoping to tap in its far north and Arctic regions will not be pro� table, and Western sanctions have cut access to needed technology and � nance. l

Oil prices fall as IEA predicts weak reboundn AFP, Singapore

Oil prices fell in Asia yesterday after the In-ternational Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that global oil prices will recover only par-tially over the next � ve years, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery slipped 74 cents to $52.12, while Brent crude for March eased 77 cents to $57.57 in afternoon trade.

Citing a major shakeup in the oil mar-kets, the IEA said in its � ve-year forecast that prices will recover from current levels of around $50-55 per barrel to $73 per bar-rel in 2020. That is considerably below the more than $100 price tags reached before they began to fall in June.

“The global oil market looks set to begin a new chapter of its history, with markedly changing demand dynamics, sweeping

shifts in crude trade and product supply, and dramatically di� erent roles for OPEC

and non-OPEC producers in regulating upstream supply,” the IEA said.

It added that it sees market rebalancing occurring “relatively swiftly”, with increases in inventories halting mid-year and the market tightening.

“This morning’s slight dip is likely due to the IEA report that predicts only a slow recovery for oil prices. However this is only in the short term as the market funda-mentals have not changed,” said Shailaja Nair, associate editorial director at energy information provider Platts.

Prices have plunged from their mid-2014 peaks largely owing to a surge in global reserves boosted by robust US shale production and weak global demand. l

G20 pledges decisive monetary, � scal action if needed n Reuters, Istanbul

The Group of 20 (G20) leading econo-mies will pledge to act decisively on monetary and � scal policy if needed to combat the risk of persistent stagna-tion, according to a draft communique obtained by Reuters yesterday.

The communique, intended for adoption by G20 ministers later yester-day at a meeting in Istanbul, pointed to the risk of prolonged low in� ation, sluggish growth and demand weakness in some advanced economies.

“Accordingly, we will continuously review our monetary and � scal policy settings and act decisively, if needed,” the draft document said.

The draft welcomed the favourable outlook in some key economies but gave a gloomy assessment of the global economy as a whole, saying growth was uneven and trade growth slow.

“In some countries, potential growth has declined, demand contin-ues to be weak, the outlook for jobs is still bleak, and income inequality is ris-ing,” it said.

It noted slow growth in the euro area and Japan and said some emerging mar-ket economies were slowing down, while some low-income developing countries were seeing continued strong growth but with some recent moderation.

The draft communique welcomed the European Central Bank’s (ECB)

quantitative easing - despite German concern about the policy - and said the move would further support recovery in the euro area.

In a nod to expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, the draft said some advanced economies with stronger growth pros-pects were moving closer to “policy normalisation”.

But it cautioned: “In an environment of divergent monetary policy settings and rising � nancial market volatility, policy settings should be carefully cali-brated and clearly communicated to minimize negative spillovers.”

It said the sharp decline in oil prices would provide some boost to global growth but noted that the outlook for prices remained uncertain and said the G20 would monitor commodity mar-kets closely.

G20 members will keep � scal policy � exible to re� ect near-term economic realities, a nod to � scal doves, while also pledging to put debt as a share of output on a sustainable path, a nod to hawks, the draft said.

It made passing reference to the need for � exible exchange rates, pledg-ing to “stick to our previous exchange rate commitments”. The draft also said G20 members were disappointed with the continued delay in IMF quota re-form and urged US action to enable it to move ahead. l

China Jan in� ation hits � ve-year low n Reuters, Beijing

China’s annual consumer in� ation hit a � ve-year low in January while fac-tory de� ation worsened, underscoring deepening weakness in the economy and heaping pressures on policymak-ers to inject more stimulus to underpin growth.

The risk of de� ation is rising for the world’s second-largest economy as a property market downturn and wide-spread factory overcapacity have been compounded by an uncertain global outlook and falling commodity prices.

A collapse in global oil prices have already unleashed a wave of easings around the world as central bankers from Europe to Canada to Australia sought to defuse the de� ationary pres-sures and bolster their economies.

And more policy support is expected from Beijing after the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday that China’s consumer price index rose 0.8% in January year-on-year, undershooting expectations of a 1.0% rise and mark-ing the weakest reading since Novem-ber 2009.

“Today’s data con� rmed the eco-

nomic slowdown in January, while intensifying disin� ation will weigh further on � rms’ pro� t margins,” said Julia Wang, Greater China economist at HSBC.

“This increases the need for fur-ther monetary easing. We continue to expect another 25bps cut to the policy rate in Q1.”

Analysts also said that factory de� a-tion remains a big worry.

The data showed producer price index dropped 4.3% in January from a year earlier, worse than a 3.8% fall expected by analysts and extending factory de� ation to nearly three years. Price cuts have sapped pro� tability of Chinese manufacturers.

“The PPI really shocked us,” said Zhu Qibing, a macro-strategist at Minzu Securities in Beijing.

Zhu expects the People’s Bank of China bank to cut interest rates around March and April to support the econo-my.

The central bank is widely expected to loosen policy further after cutting bank reserve requirements last week for the � rst time in over two years, seen as a mostly defensive move against

capital out� ows.That followed a surprise cut to

benchmark interest rates in November, also the � rst such move in more than two years, to lower borrowing costs and support growth.

Mainland stock indexes rose around 1% after the data, led by � nancial shares. Traders say investors hope for signs of fresh liquidity injections in response to slowing growth although markets have largely priced in more easing.

“This will likely be the low point for CPI in� ation given that oil is rebound-ing. Still, the data will increase rate cut expectations and we see a cut in March,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior econo-mist at Credit Agricole in Hong Kong.

Distortions caused by the timing of the Lunar New Year may have exagger-ated weakness in the headline in� ation number due to stronger pre-holiday spending in January last year. The new year fell on January 31 in 2014 but will be on Feb 19 this year.

Food price rises eased to 1.1% in Jan-uary from 2.9% in December, contribut-ing about 80% of the decline in January in� ation, the statistical bureau said.

Data over the weekend showed a surprising plunge in China’s imports, suggesting the economy is continuing to lose momentum despite a raft of stimulus measures. Still, analysts say the impact of holidays may have dis-torted the extent of the downturn.

The statistics bureau will release combined data for January and Feb-ruary next month to help smooth out distortions from the Lunar New Year holidays.

Yu Qiumei, a senior statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics, said worsening factory price de� ation in October was mainly caused by a drop in global oil and commodity prices.

The government is expected to set an in� ation target for 2015 at the open-ing of the annual parliament meeting in March. Sources have told Reuters that the government is looking at lowering its in� ation target to around 3% this year.

Consumer prices rose 2% in 2014, coming in well below a target of 3.5% as de� ation fears intensi� ed.

The government is also expected to lower its GDP target to around 7% this year, after the economy grew 7.4% in 2014 - the slowest pace in 24 years. l

Facebook brings Internet push to India n Reuters, Mumbai

Facebook Inc has tied up with India’s Reliance Communications Ltd to o� er free access to a handful of online ser-vices in India, broadening its campaign to boost Internet use in the developing world.

India, the world’s second-biggest mo-bile market, will become the � rst coun-try in Asia to get the new Internet.org app, which targets mobile phone users.

The app, aimed at low income and rural users, will o� er access to more than 30 web services, including job

listings, healthcare and education sites, as well as Facebook’s own social network and messaging services. It will be provided via the Android operating system.

Facebook has partnered with more than 150 wireless providers over the past four years to o� er free or discount-ed access to its social network, but the new app is the � rst time the company has added services beyond its own website.

The service comes to India after having launched in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Colombia. l

India’s FY16 budget to assume growth over 8% n Reuters, New Delhi

Revisions to India’s economic output data mean that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s upcoming budget should assume that the economy will grow by at least 8% in the 2015/16 � scal year, a government source told Reuters on yesterday.

A downward revision in nominal gross domestic product in the current � scal year to March 31 would require spending cuts of around 91bn rupees ($1.5bn) to hit Jaitley’s � scal de� cit tar-get of 4.1% of GDP, the source added. l

Signs of economicpick-up in euro zonen Reuters, Paris

Economic growth prospects have im-proved in key areas of the euro zone, the OECD’s latest leading indicator publication said on Monday.

The leading indicator, designed to detect turning points in major econo-mies, signalled stable growth in most big economies and signs of a pick-up within the euro zone in Germany, Italy and Spain, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

“The CLIs (indicators) indicate stable growth momentum also in the

OECD area as whole and in some of the major economies, including the United States, Canada, Japan, China and Bra-zil,” said the Paris-based OECD.

“In the United Kingdom, the CLI points to an easing in growth momen-tum, though from relatively high levels.”

For India, the indicator � agged � rm-ing growth while in Russia it continued to point to a loss in growth momen-tum,” the OECD said.

Versus a long-term average of 100, the aggregate euro zone reading in the latest monthly survey remained at 100.6. l

A � ame shoots out of a chimney at a petro-industrial factory in Kawasaki near Tokyo REUTERS

The IEA foresees 'prices stabilising at levels higher than recent lows but substantially below the highs of the last three years'

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan (right) and US Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen shake hands before the G20 � nance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Istanbul REUTERS

Prices have plunged from their mid-2014 peaks largely owing to a surge in global reserves boosted by robust US shale production