Second Italian national attacked in Bangladeshn Arifur Rahman Rabbi and

Kamrul Hasan

An Italian priest was shot by un-identi� ed gun-men in Dina-jpur yesterday morning, which is the latest in a series of attacks made on foreign nationals in the country recently.

The victim, Piero Parolari, 50, has lived and worked as a missionary in the country for 25 years - 12 years in Dinajpur alone – and is also a physician at Suihari Catholic Mission Church in the district.

Yesterday’s attack was made at a time when police are still investigating the mur-ders of Cesare Tavella and Hoshi Kunio.

Parolari was riding a bicycle to St Vincent Hospital, which is run by the church, after his morning prayers when he was attacked.

Three persons on a motorbike followed him and shot him after he reached the BRTC bus depot at Mirzapur around 8:30am.

Locals said the gunmen targeted Parolari’s head but the bullet � red from behind grazed his neck, causing him to fall o� his bicycle. The attackers took a nearby lane and sped away.

“Parolari was whisked o� to Dinajpur Medical College Hospital but was � own to Dhaka by a helicopter of Bangladesh Air Force around 4pm for better treatment,” said Dinajpur Kotwali police station O� cer-in-Charge Khalequzzaman.

Dr Zillur Rahman of Dinajpur Medical Col-lege Hospital said the injury in Parolari’s neck was deep.

He also said a CT scan of the victim’s head was performed.

One man associated with Suihari Catholic Mission Church told the Dhaka Tribune that Parolari’s condition was stable.

The attack is the third on foreigners in the country in less than two months. Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella was killed in Dhaka’s Gulshan in late September and Japanese citi-zen Hoshi Kunio in Rangpur’s Kaunia upazila on October 3.

Deputy Inspector General of Rangpur range Humayun Kabir visited Parolari at

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

n Ashif Islam Shaon

Condemned for committing crimes against humanity including genocide in 1971, notori-ous war criminals Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mu-jahid and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury are now left with one option to save themselves: seeking presidential clemency.

In that case, they will have to admit the crimes proved against them at the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

If rejected, the government will execute the death-row convicts by hanging them from the neck, as ordered by the Internation-al Crimes Tribunal.

The process began yesterday after the top court bench of Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha rejected two review petitions � led by the convicts seeking acquittal. “Dismissed … both are dismissed,” the chief justice pro-nounced.

The bench heard Mujahid’s case on Tues-day and Salauddin’s case yesterday.

After the top court verdict, war crimes tri-al campaigners brought out victory proces-sions in Dhaka and some other parts across the country.

On the other hand, Jamaat-e-Islami called a dawn-to-dusk hartal for today in protest against the death sentence of Mujahid, the party’s secretary general. After holding a brief procession in Moghbazar, party leaders demanded release of Mujahid and all Jamaat leaders.

Security measures were beefed up across the country to thwart untoward incidents as the members of Jamaat and its radical stu-

dent front Islami Chhatra Shibir had resorted to massive violence following verdicts in the past couple of years.

Both the convicts were kept at Dhaka Central Jail yesterday. They have been in jail since 2010.

During the review hearing, Mujahid’s law-yer argued that the Jamaat leader could not be held responsible for the crimes al-Badr

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015 | Agrahayan 5, 1422, Safar 6, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 213 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

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TIMELINEMujahidJune 29, 2010: ArrestedJune 21, 2012: IndictedJuly 17, 2013: Sentenced by tribunalJune 16, 2015: Appeal verdictOctober 2, 2015: Death warrantNovember 18, 2015: Final verdict

SalauddinDec 16, 2010: ArrestApril 4, 2012: IndictedOctober 1, 2013: Tribunal verdictJuly 29, 2015: Appeal verdictOctober 2, 2015: Death warrantNovember 18, 2015: Final verdict

Clemency only option nowCourt � nds SQ Chy’s documents forgedn Ashif Islam Shaon

The Supreme Court yesterday lambasted the counsel for condemned war criminal Salaud-din Quader Chowdhury for their persistent e� orts to establish that the BNP leader had been staying abroad during the War of Inde-pendence by placing forged and inconsistent documents and submissions.

“Your submission and document do not match. You have told [the court] lies and to cover up one lie, you are now telling hun-dreds of lies,” Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha said when counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain submitted a duplicate certi� cate of Punjab University before the court.

Mahbub, also an adviser to the BNP chief, said that they had submitted defence wit-nesses’ depositions as a� davit before the In-ternational Crimes Tribunal. But the tribunal did not believe those documents since those

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

News2DTTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Clemency only option nowhad committed in 1971, and also claimed that the witnesses and evidence were not ade-quate to give him death sentence.

The prosecution argued that Mujahid had full authority over al-Badr, a notorious mi-litia force formed with members of Islami Chhatra Sangha that had carried out system-atic abduction and killing of intellectuals.

Mohammadpur’s Physical Training Insti-tute was used as an army camp during the war where al-Badr established its headquar-ters. Witnesses said that they had seen Mu-jahid along with other Jamaat and Chhatra Sangha leaders including Ghulam Azam and Motiur Rahman Nizami.

Mujahid, now 69, had always instigated, actively suggested, intentionally aided and supported his al-Badr force for the commis-sion of brutal killings in the name of Islam and defence of United Pakistan. He also in-stigated his fellows to kill the freedom � ght-ers addressing them as miscreants, agents of India, dogs and traitors.

He was also given death for the murder of nine Hindu civilians in Faridpur.

Meanwhile, former BNP lawmaker Sa-lauddin’s counsel argued that he had been in Pakistan during the war, and therefore, the charges brought against him were baseless.

But in the judgements, both the tribu-nal and the Appellate Division mentioned that Salauddin had left the country in late September, after being injured in an attack launched by the freedom � ghters in Chit-tagong. He was given death for the murders of Nutan Chandra Singha, Sheikh Moza� ar

and Sheikh Alamgir, and genocides in Uno-sottor Para, Banik Para and Madhya Gohira.

Salauddin, now 66, and his father, Con-vention Muslim League leader Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, converted their Goods Hill resi-dence into a torture cell.

The apex court started hearing Salaud-din’s review plea around 9:10am yesterday. It lasted for more than an hour.

During the hearing, the court found that the defence documents claiming that the convict had been studying at a Punjab University in 1971 were acceptable. There were a lot of anom-alies in the certi� cates signed by a professor.

The defence claimed that Salauddin had gone to Pakistan on March 29, 1971 for study and returned in 1974.

A six-time lawmaker from Raozan of Chit-tagong, Salauddin was given capital punish-ment for committing murders and torture of freedom � ghters and local Hindus. On the other hand, Mujahid was sentenced to death for masterminding the abduction and mur-ders of intellectuals at the fag end of war.

After the verdicts Khandker Mahbub Hos-sain, chief counsel of Mujahid and Salaud-din, said that no one could refute the verdict coming from the Appellate Division. “A law-yer does not support a criminal … I have no personal reaction to express [before media]. We fought but lost.”

Asked about their next steps, he said: “It depends on the government and the con-victs. The government can pardon the con-victs, if it wants, or the convicts can seek presidential clemency.”

Mujahid’s son Ali Ahmed Mabrur claimed that his family had been deprived of justice. No direct allegation was brought against his father. “We will decide on � ling the mercy petition within a day or two if the govern-ment allows us to meet with him.”

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam wel-comed the verdict. He said: “Now there is no legal bar to the execution of the verdicts. The jail authorities will follow the government order to � x the date and time for the execu-tion.

“This is for the � rst time in the country’s history that a criminal is awarded death pen-alty for killing the intellectuals. Through the killings, Mujahid and his al-Badr men wanted the nation to su� er after independence.”

He also said that Salauddin had been a ter-ror in his area in 1971.

Asked if the jail authorities needed the short order to execute the convicts, he re-plied in the negative, saying that there was no stay order against the verdict. “As the review petitions were rejected, the death warrants issued by the tribunal have now be-come e� ective,” he added.

In the full verdict published on October 1, the judges said that Mujahid along with some other members of his force had rushed to the cantonment and met with the high of-� cials of the Pakistan Army, on the morning of December 16, 1971 and demanded arms for � ghting against the freedom � ghters, though the Pakistan Army had already decided to surrender.

“...It will be a mockery of justice to permit

the accused to escape the extreme penalty of law when faced with such evidence and such cruel acts … The sentence awarded by the tribunal for intellectuals’ killings is not dis-proportionate in view of the nature of charge and evidence adduced. The people of this earth did not forget Hiroshima and Nagasa-ki. This nation did not and shall never forget 1971,” the court said.

In the full verdict of Salauddin’s case, the top court said that he had persecuted, killed and caused disappearance of civilian people solely on religious and political grounds. He had direct involvement in the killing of inno-cent people.

The judges also mentioned about his be-haviour during the trial at the tribunal. “He showed no repentance or remorse for his conduct at any point in time rather he ne-glected the process of trial. The tribunal re-corded his demeanour observing that he was arrogant and violated the decorum of the tribunal by shouting o� and continued such conduct throughout the process of the trial despite warnings.

So far, two war criminals have been exe-cuted after completing all legal procedures. They are Jamaat leaders Abdul Quader Mol-la and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman. An-other death-row convict Delawar Hossain Sayedee’s sentence was commuted to life-term jail after appeal hearing. None of the three convicts sought presidential clemency.

Two more appeal cases are pending with the apex court – Motiur Rahman Nizami and Mir Quasem, both Jamaat leaders. l

Court � nds SQ Chy’s documents forgedwere not attested by the Bangladesh High Commission in Pakistan.

They had also submitted a testimonial given by a professor of political science de-partment at Punjab University. Yesterday, the defence submitted a certi� cate claiming it genuine.

Earlier, Salauddin and his witnesses told the tribunal while his counsel placed the same arguments during the appeal hearing that he had been in Pakistan during March 29, 1971–April 20, 1974.

But their claim was dismissed by the courts. The prosecution proved that Salaud-din had been present in Chittagong when the incidents took place.

At one stage, the chief justice said that the certi� cate had been issued in 2012 and attested in 2015. He also asked the defence why they had placed the documents during the review hearing stage instead of the ap-peal hearing.

He said that the chairman of a department or a professor cannot issue a certi� cate on behalf of a university. Only the university au-thorities can do that. “The tribunal has ana-lysed the documents the defence had placed and found them forged.”

Though the certi� cate submitted yes-terday stated that Salauddin had secured a second class, the testimonial said that he got 233 marks out of 233, the chief justice men-tioned. “These two documents are showing two di� erent scores. Which one should we believe? Besides, if a student wants to get his certi� cate from a university, he has to apply by himself. But Salauddin is in prison. You [defence lawyer] did not place any document

regarding the application,” SK Sinha said.In response, Mahbub only claimed that

the certi� cate was genuine and urged the court to examine it.

The chief justice said that someone has to bring certi� cates from abroad through the embassy. “But there is no seal or signature of any embassy o� cer in the certi� cate,” he added.

Mahbub replied that they had not in-formed the high commission fearing that they would not help since the convict was from an opposition party. They had attested the duplicate certi� cate through the chief of protocol o� cers of the Pakistan High Com-mission.

The court said that it was not the proper time to examine any document.

The chief justice said that Salauddin had gone to the international forum to stop the trial. Pakistan is against the trial of the war criminals. From the beginning they

have been trying to stop the trials. Even if Salauddin brings an a� davit from the Pa-kistan prime minister or president, the court would not accept it. “We have serious doubt about it.”

Following the rejection of Salauddin’s review petition, the attorney general told reporters that the convict had submit-ted forged papers to prove that he was not in the country during the war. “Salauddin himself gave deposition before the tribunal in 2013. But he did not mention anything about the certi� cate at that time,” Mahbubey Alam said.

“As the Bangladesh High Commission in Pakistan did not sign the a� davit, there is no legal scope of accepting it,” he said. The duplicate certi� cate also mentioned Salaud-din’s academic session as 1971. An academic year cannot be like that, Mahbubey said.

They claimed that Salauddin had taken admission in Dhaka University in 1968 and � ew to Pakistan transferring his credits. “I was a student of Dhaka University at that time. There was no semester system. The credit system was introduced after the semester system,” the country’s top law o� cer said.

“So, passing from a Pakistan university in such a short time was not possible in 1971,” he said.

Salauddin testi� ed at the tribunal as the � rst defence witness. He also placed two relatives and a school friend. But the defence did not produce any travel or residential documents to show the date of the so-called visit.

On the other hand, the investigation of-

� cer submitted a paper clipping of the daily Pakistan dated September 29, 1971 that says the son of Fazlul Quader sustained severe injury and the driver killed when miscreants attacked his car on September 20.

Then deputy inspector general of Special Branch in East Pakistan in a fortnightly re-port of political situation, prepared on Oc-tober 2, also mentioned about the injury of Salauddin on September 20 due to the attack by freedom � ghters.

Moreover, 14 prosecution witnesses sub-mitted at the tribunal that they had seen Sa-lauddin accompanied by the Pakistan Army and razakars at di� erent villages of the local-ity and at Goods Hill. l

Italian nationalDinajpur Medical College Hospital and told reporters that the attack was linked to the two previous attacks.

“But nothing further can be said until the investigation ends,” he said.

“It is not yet clear why Parolari was at-tacked. We have recovered a bullet shell from the scene,” added the police o� cial.

On October 5, 52-year-old Bangladeshi Christian priest Luke Sarker was attacked at his home in Pabna’s Ishwardi. Three men at-tempted to kill him by slitting his throat but � ed after the priest screamed for help.

Police arrested � ve members of banned militant group Jama’atul Mujahideen Bang-ladesh for their suspected involvement in the attack. A sixth arrest was later made and police described the arrestee as the prime suspect. l

From the beginning they have been trying to stop the trials. Even if Salauddin brings an a� davit from the Pakistan prime minister or president, the court would not accept it.

News 3D

TTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Mujahid’s brutal al-Badr forcen Ashif Islam Shaon

When the country was close to victory and every day and the Pakistanis were smelling clear defeat, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, then chief of Islami Chhatra Sangha, was hatching a barbarous conspiracy.

Becoming the chief of al-Badr, an auxilia-ry of the Pakistan Army formed with Chhatra Sangha men, Mujahid plotted to kill univer-sity teachers, scientists, doctors, journalists and professionals at the fag end of the war.

Al-Badr highups prepared lists of free-dom � ghters and intellectuals and the armed members abducted and tortured them to death. Around 200 people were killed during December 10-16, 1971.

They used Mohammadpur Physical Train-ing Institute as their base where the tortures had taken place. The bodies were dumped in Rayerbazar and Mirpur. Most bodies could not be found or identi� ed.

As the chief, Mujahid asserted his e� ective in� uence and control over al-Badr men and urged them to kill the pro-liberation people in the name of Islam and defence of Pakistan.

The 69-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami leader had served as social welfare minister (technocrat) during the BNP-Jamaat alliance’s 2011-06 ten-ure. He was arrested in 2010.

Jahir Uddin Jalal, a guerilla � ghter, said he had seen Mujahid addressing a rally in Chawk-bazar in Dhaka on December 4, 1971. Mujahid expressed his resolve not to spare the support-ers of Bangladesh’s independence.

Jalal had been con� ned at an army camp at Nakhalpara Old MP Hostel with many others.

One Rustom Ali Molla of Physical College provided Jalal and his co-� ghters with all the information. However, they could not carry out any operation at the al-Badr base because of the presence of Pakistani soldiers. The day after victory, Jalal went to Physical Training College and found nine human skulls.

Witness Rustom, son of an employee at the

college, used to stay inside the campus. He had the opportunity to experience the activ-ities carried out at the camp. He saw several hundred gouged eyes at an abandoned brick � eld behind the college.

He said that al-Badr men had brought to the camp several intellectuals, artists and freedom � ghters around seven days before the victory. Before � eeing the camp on December 16, al-Badr members had slaughtered the Bangali doctor who used to live inside the camp.

Being the top leader of Chhatra Sangha and al-Badr, Mujahid visited many districts and held meetings with his followers, provoking them into killing freedom � ghters as well as pro-liberation people addressing them as mis-creants, agents of India, dogs and traitors.

Mujahid had mentioned that it had been a war waged by India and that their spies (free-dom � ghters) should be killed.

He addressed a rally of Chhatra Sangha at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque on Novem-ber 7, 1971 on Badar Day and announced four-point declaration – not to take rest until India is diminished from the map, burning books written by Hindus or pro-Hindu people, stay-ing alert on campaigns against the volunteers of Pakistan, and continuing the � ght to recov-er Baitul Mukaddes from the enemies.

He asked the fellow workers to implement the declaration with inspiration from the Qur’an and if needed, by conquering New Delhi.

Even two hours before the surrender of the Pakistan Army on December 16, Mujahid gave a speech at the headquarters, terming the day painful and the surrender a tragedy. He urged his men to spread out and keep no feelings of shame of what they did.

Before that Mujahid along with some other members of his force had rushed to the can-tonment and met with the high o� cials of the Pakistan Army, on the morning of Decem-ber 16, 1971 and demanded arms for � ghting against the freedom � ghters, though the Paki-stan Army had already decided to surrender.

Witness accounts of Salauddin’s brutality n Ashif Islam Shaon

Nutan Chandra Singha was performing his prayers when the Pakistani Army led by Sa-lauddin Quader Chowdhury burst into the Kundeshwari Aushadhalay complex in Gohi-ra between 9am and 10am on April 13, 1971.

Salauddin told the Pakistan occupation force that his father, Fazlul Quader Chowd-hury, wanted Nutan Chandra dead. The army men opened � re on the 70-year-old, causing him to fall to the ground.

As Nutan Chandra lay bleeding in his � -nal moments, Salauddin shot him again – to make sure he was dead.

Witness Gouranga Singha said his father Nilambar Singha and uncle Nutan Chandra Singha lived together with their families in the Kundeshwari complex in 1971. Gouranga was a member of the joint family.

On that fateful day, he and Himangshu Baidya, Brojohari Karmakar and Gopal Das were trying to take Nutan Chandra to safe-ty away from Kundeshwari complex. But he would not agree to go.

While they were discussing getting Nutan Chandra out, a military vehicle arrived at the complex. Salauddin, several Rajakars and sev-eral Pakistani soldiers got out of the vehicle.

Seeing the soldiers, Monaranjon Singha and Himangshu Baidya � ed into the jungle on the south side of the house. Brojohari Kar-makar and Gopal Das hid on the � rst � oor.

Brojahori Karmokar and Gopal Das wit-nessed Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, local collaborators and Pakistani Army personnel enter the house and then leave after speaking with Nutan Chandra.

After a brief interval, Salauddin and his associates returned and pulled Nutan Chan-dra out of the temple. The Pakistani soldiers opened � re on Nutan Chandra at point blank. Minutes later Salauddin shot him as well.

Nutan Chandra’s bullet-riddled remains lay there, untouched for two or three days without being cremated. Everyone had � ed in terror, there was nobody around to per-form the last rites.

Shortly after Bangladesh’s independence, Satya Ranjan � led a criminal case against Salauddin on the charge of murdering his fa-ther Nutan Chandra Singha.

Mass killingsAround 1pm the same day, Salauddin and his accomplices led the Pakistan occupation force to Bonikpara in Sultanpur where they opened � re on unarmed Hindu civilians

based on a pre-arranged plan. Nepal Chandra Dhar Monendra, Lal Dhar and Opendra Lal Dhar were killed in the slaughter. The houses of Bonikpara were set on � re.

Anil Baran, a victim as well as a witness, said Salauddin, some of his father’s follow-ers and Pakistani army personnel entered Bonikpara chanting slogans. Arriving at their house, the military personnel dragged him and his father, Opendra Lal Dhar, from their room to the courtyard.

His uncles, Monendra Lal Dhar and Nepal Chandra Dhar, were also present in the court-yard.

The military men and their militia allies, lined them up in a row and opened � re.

Anil Baran fell unconscious. When he re-gained consciousness, he realised he had been hit in the hand and the side of his back. His fa-ther and two others lay dead next to him.

A doctor was able to remove the bullets, but the procedure left him an amputee.

His father and the two other victims were buried by Muslim neighbours in a mass grave in the courtyard of Tezendralal Biswas.

Again on April 13, between 4pm and 5pm, Salauddin and his accomplices led the Paki-stani Army and attacked Unsattur para, an area with a large Hindu population in Raozan

upazila.The local Hindu populace was told they

were to attend a peace meeting and brought to the bank of a pond behind the house of Khitish Mohajan. Once assembled, the sol-diers opened � re on them.

The massacre left Chandra Kumar Paul, 49 others who have been identi� ed and another 20 unidenti� ed people dead.

Januti Bala Paul sustained injuries to her abdomen and her brother Hemonto had his left hand severed by a bullet. He later suc-cumbed to his injuries.

Three or four days later, villagers buried 93 bodies on the western bank of the pond. Hindus from the area � ed and became refu-gees in India.

Several days later at around 11am on April 17, the founder of the Chittagong Awami League, Sheikh Moza� or Ahmed, and his family were intercepted as they travelled from Raozan to Chittagong city.

At a three-way intersection in Khagracha-ri, Moza� or’s private car was pointed out to Pakistan army personnel by Salauddin. The military men stopped the car, forced Mozaf-for and his son Alamgir from the vehicle and took them to a nearby army camp. They were subsequently killed by their captors. l

BGB members patrol city streets yesterday, ahead of today's dawn-to-dusk hartal enforced by Jamaat-e-Islami in protest against Supreme Court's rejection of Mujahid's review petition RAJIB DHAR

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015News4DT

Umrah services resume under six authorised agenciesn Adil Sakhawat

Saudi Arabia has again opened its doors for Bangladeshis to perform Umrah, but from now on only six authorised travel agencies will be allowed to send people to the pilgrimage.

Qasswa, the certi� ed Umrah provider agency from the Saudi Arabian government, reached an agreement with six travel agen-cies of Bangladesh to resume the Umrah ser-vices from Bangladesh.

Addressing a press conference in the cap-ital’s Banani, the visiting director of Qasswa, Riaj Mahmud, said only six agencies have initially been allowed send Bangladeshi pil-grims to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.

The six travel agencies are Bicon Travel Agency, Jumar Travel and Tours, Panbright Travels, Priyanka Travels, Heritage Air Ex-press and Ali Air Travels & Tourist.

Meanwhile, the Religious A� airs Ministry cancelled licences of 69 travel agencies after an investigation found their involvement with illegal human tra� cking to Saudi Arabia in the name of Umrah.

Talking to journalists in a press conference at the secretariat, Religious A� airs Minister Motiur Rahman said the security deposits of these 69 agencies have been seized, while 26 others have been issued di� erent � nes.

Sources said the accused travel agencies have been slapped with � nes between Tk5 lakh to Tk2 crore. l

Nutan Chandra’s family wants sentence executedn Anwar Hussain, Chittagong

Forty years after his father was gunned down by enemy forces, Prafulla Ranjan Singha said justice had � nally been served.

Nutan Chandra Singha’s son expressed satisfaction after the Supreme Court re-jected the death penalty review petition of BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, who was found guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.

Nutan Chandra was killed by the Pakistan Army and its collaborators in 1971.

On April 13, 1971, a group of army men led by Salauddin Quader Chowdhury stormed into Nutan’s house. The soldiers sprayed the 70-year-old with bullets. Salauddin then shot Natun two or three more times to ensure that he was dead.

“We have waited an agonising four dec-ades for this trial. At long last, justice has been delivered,” Prafulla said.

“We are happy. But we want the imme-diate implementation of the verdict,” said Prafulla, who testi� ed against Salauddin Quader Chowdhury before the war crimes tribunal on June 20, 2012.

Nutan Chandra Singha, social worker, en-trepreneur and philanthropist, was born on December 1, 1900. He was a popular � gure who fostered education and social work in

his locality by establishing a number of ed-ucational institutions, a post o� ce and an herbal medicine factory – Sree Kundeshwari Aushadhalaya Limited.

During the Liberation War in 1971, many, including Chittagong University teachers and their families, took refuge at the educational institutes he founded.

Acknowledging Nutan Chandra’s philanthro-py, the Bangladesh government issued a stamp bearing his likeness on December 14, 1993.

Satya Ranjan Singha, one of Nutan Chan-dra’s sons, � led a case against Salauddin, his father Fazlul Quader Chowdhury and several others with Raozan police station in January 1972. However, the case did not proceed.

Sharing his pain before the tribunal, Prafulla had said at the time: “I am such a hapless son that I could not even light the fu-neral pyre of my father.”

Kazi Nurul Absar, a witness of the case against SQ Chowdhury and a freedom � ght-er, said he was delighted at the verdict. “We testi� ed before the tribunal about the car-nage wrought by SQ Chowdhury and his men in Chittagong during the Liberation War. We demand a speedy execution of the verdict.”

Additional law enforcers were deployed on the premises of the Kundeshwari Complex, residence of Prafulla in Raozan upazila.

The Chittagong unit of Gonojagoron Mon-

cho yesterday brought out a procession and distributed sweets to celebrate the uphold-ing of the death penalty for Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

People from all walks of life, including cultural activists, freedom � ghters and pro-fessionals took part in the procession. The youth platform demanded the quick imple-mentation of the verdict.

Sharif Chowhan, Chittagong unit coordina-tor of Gonojagoron Moncho said the verdict was a triumph of the truth and they wanted to see a speedy implementation of the verdict.

The procession started from the city’s Cheragi Pahar and travelled through Momin Road and Anderkillah.

Additional security forces were deployed in Chittagong city and district after the ver-dicts were announced.

“Security has been tightened in the city as a precaution. Security has been tightened on church premises in the city to preclude unto-ward incidents,” Chittagong Metropolitan Po-lice (CMP) Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) Debdas Bhattacharya said.

Lt Col Emarat Hossain, commanding of-� cer of 18 Border Guard Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune that six BGB platoons had been deployed in Chittagong and another four were on standby. l

2 police o� cers land in jail for custodial deathn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday sent two police of-� cers to jail rejecting their bail petitions in a case � led over alleged custodial death of a Bi-hari youth Istiaq Ahmed Jony in the capital.

Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Kamrul Hossain Molla passed the order after two sub inspectors – Kamruzzaman Mintu and Rashedul Islam – surrendered before the court and sought bail in the case.

However, the court � xed January 14 for charge framing hearing against � ve accused in the case following a time petition � led by defence counsel Faruk Ahamed.

On April 5 the same court issued warrants for the arrest of three accused including the two police o� cers – Mintu and Rashedul – after it took a charge-sheet into cognisance against � ve accused.

The three other accused are then sub-in-spector Jahidur Rahman Khan of Pallabi Po-lice Station and two police informants – Su-mon and Russel.

Of the accused, SI Jahid, also prime ac-cused in another case � led over the murder of custodial death of garment waste trader

Mahbubur Rahman Sujan, is now in jail while Sumon and Russell have been on the run since � lling of the case.

On August 7, last year the court ordered to conduct a judicial inquiry into the custodial death of Jony, a Bihari community member, after his brother Imtiaz Hossain Rocky � led a murder case.

After a judicial inquiry on February 17 this year, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Maruf Hossain submitted a probe report before the court against the � ve accused.

According to the case statement, an alter-cation took place between police informant Sumon and Jony over teasing girls at a wed-ding party at Irani Camp under Pallabi Police Station in the early hours of February 9, 2014.

As Jony slapped Sumon, he threatened him with dire consequences. Half an hour later, a team of 25-26 policemen, including SI Jahid, swooped on the ceremony and van-dalised the stage. They also picked up Jony, Rocky and some other people from the cer-emony and took them to the police station.

The detainees were tortured at the police custody and SI Jahid jumped on the chest of Jony and spit into his mouth when he sought water.

Later, seriously ill, Jony was taken to National Heart Foundation where doctors declared him dead. The complainant also al-leged that police cooked up a false story to hush the actual incident where they claimed that Jony was killed in a clash between resi-dents of Irani Camp and Rahmat Camp. l

Teacher arrested for sexually harassing � rst gradern Tribune Report

A teacher was arrested yes-terday from a school in the capital’s Mirpur for sexually harassing an eight-year-old girl.

The arrested Enamul Haque, 23, was a teacher at Fame International School in Mirpur’s Pallabi. He was arrested after a complaint was lodged with Pallabi po-lice station by the parents of the � rst grader. Police sourc-es con� rmed that a case has been � led in this connection.

Quoting the parents, the station’s O� cer-in-Charge Dadon Fakir said the accused had made several attempts of sexually harassing the girl within the school premises. He was arrested after a verbal complaint was made to the police, he added.

The victim’s family said they � led the complaint af-ter their daughter informed them about the matter.

Fame International School acting principal Jharna Akter said they received no such complaint about the attempts from the girl. l

SI Jahid jumped on the chest of Jony and spit into his mouth when he sought water

Cox’s Bazar 29 24Dhaka 30 19 Chittagong 30 22 Rajshahi 30 18 Rangpur 29 17 Khulna 30 16 Barisal 29 19 Sylhet 30 14T E M P E R AT U R E F O R E C A S T F O R TO DAY

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015News 5

DT

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:11PM SUN RISES 6:16AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW31.4ºC 18.4ºCJessore RajshahiTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19

DRY WEATHER

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Fajr: 4:57am | Zohr: 11:44am Asr: 3:51pm | Magrib: 5:12pmEsha: 6:31pm

PRAYERTIMES

Five to walk gallows for killing child in Jamalpurn Our Correspondent, Jamalpur

A Jamalpur court yesterday condemned � ve men to death after they were found guilty of killing a six-year-old back in 2001.

The � ve – Tofayel Ahmed Hira, Sohel Rana Shipon, Anwar Hossain, Lokman Ali and Ainul Haque – were also � ned Tk5,000 each.

Waheduzzaman Shikder, judge of Ja-malpur Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court, pronounced the verdict.

Three of the convicts - Tofayel, Sohel and Anwar - are currently fugitives.

Faruq Hossain, another accused in the case, was acquitted as he was found innocent.

On the night of May 31, 2001, Tofayel took six-year-old Mustakim Billah out of the house in Jamalpur’s Amlapara area and smothered him with the connivance of four others.

They then dumped the body at the site of a building which was under construction in Nandina Kharkharia area.

Tofayel is the victim’s cousin and Lutfor is an expatriate in the US. It was found that To-fayel killed the child with an ill motive for grab-bing properties owned by Mustakim’s family.

Police detained Tofayel after the killing, and recovered Mustakim’s body after 79 days based on information obtained from him.

The victim’s maternal uncle Ashraf Hos-sain later � led two cases – one for abduction and another for murder – accusing six peo-ple, including Tofayel. l

Three more suspects held in Niloy murder casen Kamrul Hasan

Police have arrested three suspects in con-nection with the murder of blogger Niladri Chatterjee Niloy.

The Detective Branch arrested Abdul Gaf-far, who issued a death threat to Niloy in May, from Sonargaon; and detained two more Chhatra Shibir leaders for allegedly claiming responsibility for the murder. Martuza Faisal Sabbir was held from Narayanganj’s Kachpur and another suspect named Tarek from Chit-tagong on Tuesday.

DB chief Monirul Islam made the disclo-sure at a press conference yesterday. With the latest arrests, seven suspects have so far been arrested in the Niloy murder case.

A Dhaka court yesterday placed the three arrested suspects under a � ve-day remand each after they were produced with a ten-day remand plea.

On May 15, Ga� ar threatened Niloy on Facebook, saying he would hack the blogger to death with a machete. The DB said Ga� ar admitted that he had issued the threat but de-nied having any involvement with the murder.

Meanwhile, detained suspect Faisal is the secretary of Vatiary ward Chhatra Shibir, while Tarek is Shibir’s secretary for Sitakundu thana

unit and has around 20 cases � led against him.At the press conference, DMP Joint Com-

missioner Monirul said Faisal had tried to contact al-Qaeda and was operating pages re-lated to Shibir and other extremists. The two detained Shibir men claimed responsibility of the attack using the name of Ansar Al Is-lam, he added.

Some miscreants were trying to take ad-vantage of the tensed situation in the coun-try, the DB chief claimed.

Although the culprits were using the names of di� erent organisations, they all belonged to the same organisation, Monirul said, adding that the suspects had di� erent faces but had the same blood. l

Recommendation to cancel TIB’s registrationn Tribune Report

The parliamentary standing committee on the Law Ministry yesterday recommended cancellation of registration of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).

The standing committee on Law, Justice and Parliament Chairman Suranjit Sengupta told journalists at a press conference at the media centre of the parliament.

“Parliament should have to be protected and NGOs should come into the purview of accountability,” he said.

Pointing his � nger at the TIB, Suranjit said: “Crow should act like crow, crow could not act as peacock. TIB’s registration should be cancelled as it humiliated parliament.”

The veteran lawmaker said none of the NGOs has the right to criticize the parliament. “NGOs could be criticised. There are people, mass media, opposition party and also BNP to criticise the parliament but NGO cannot do it.”

He said the standing committee does not have any objection to TIB’s research report but it cannot term parliament Stage of Puppet Show and the opposition B team.

“As the organisation did not seek any apology, we recommended cancelation of its registration.”

Suranjit said detailed discussion took place on the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Bill, 2015.

He said the committee did not incorporate anything new to ensure the punishment of the NGOs.

He said civil society members will not be discouraged to criticise the parliament if action against TIB is taken.

“NGO’s are not watchdogs. People, media and the opposition party are the watchdogs. Any individual and NGO is not the same thing. They (NGO) have to be accountable.” l

Social networking platforms blockedn Tribune Report

Citing security reasons, the government yes-terday blocked Facebook and online messag-ing services WhatsApp and Viber until fur-ther notice.

Also, for the � rst time ever, the entire country’s internet connection was brie� y blocked for an hour and a half, before being restored around 2:30pm.

The decision to block the social network-ing platforms came around 12:15pm, soon after the Supreme Court rejected review pe-titions by war criminals SQ Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regu-latory Commission (BTRC) issued letters to mobile phone operators and internet servic-es providers, ordering them to stop the ser-vices immediately.

“I am directed to instruct you to stop Face-book, Viber and WhatsApp services in your network with immediate e� ect until further instruction,” the letter signed by BTRC Assis-tant Director (system and services division) Touseef Shahriar read.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, BTRC Chair-man Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said Facebook and other online messaging and calling ser-vices have been blocked on security grounds. “We hope they will be unblocked soon,” he added.

The BTRC chief however said the shutting down of internet was a case of misunder-standing.

Sources in the telecom regulator said in-ternet was inaccessible in the country be-tween 1pm and 2:30pm.

Seeking anonymity, a senior o� cial of one of the leading mobile operators said the tele-

com operators blocked the social networking apps immediately after receiving the letter from BTRC.

The blocking of social media is not a new phenomenon in the country. On January 18 this year, the BTRC blocked WhatsApp, Viber, Mypeople, Line and Tango across the country for security reasons. The apps were unblocked after four days.

The latest move follows a warning by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who on No-vember 11 said the government was contem-plating on temporarily blocking Viber and WhatsApp to track down cyber criminals.

DMP Joint Commissioner Md Monirul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “The govern-ment ordered blocking the services on secu-rity ground as criminals often use these ser-vices to plan and carry out subversive acts.”

Replying to a query whether the police de-

partment recommended the suspension, he said: “A number of agencies are working to ensure the security of citizens. So the recom-mendation may have come from any of those.”

Suman Ahmed, chief strategy o� cer of International Internet Gateway (IIG) Fibre@Home, said the IIGs in Bangladesh were shut under orders from authorities.

MA Hakim, president of Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISP-AB), also said internet service was shut down from 1pm to 2:30 pm in accordance with a government order.

“Unlike mobile phone, the government is yet to use social media for day-to-day func-tions; therefore shutting down the media does not a� ect the government at all,” said Abu Saeed Khan, senior policy fellow of Co-lombo-based regional ICT policy and regula-tion think tank LIRNEasia. l

Detectives present the three suspects, who were arrested in the Niloy murder case, in front of journalists at the DMP Media Cell yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015News6DT

Maxima: Netherlands to support development e� ortn UNB

Visiting Dutch Queen Maxima Zorreguieta Carruti yesterday assured that the Nether-lands will extend its all-out support to Bang-ladesh to accelerate its development e� orts to materialise its Vision 2021.

She came up with the assurance during a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her o� cial residence Ganobhaban.

Queen Maxima arrived in Dhaka on Mon-day on a three-day o� cial visit to Bangladesh in her capacity as the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for De-velopment.

After the meeting, Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.

Maxima said she was very impressed seeing various development projects and � nancial activities, especially digitisation scheme of the A2I Programme and mobile banking services in Bangladesh. It is very much impressive that

29 million people of Bangladesh are currently receiving mobile-banking services, she added.

The queen highly appreciated Bangladesh’s stunning progress in socioeconomic � eld as well as digitisation programme saying Bangla-desh government has done many good jobs in these areas.

Maxima also shared the experience of her visit to a number of places in Bangladesh and said she talked to the general people during her inspection to di� erent projects.

Noting that di� erent development institu-tions like the World Bank and the UNDP have been extending their assistance to Bangla-desh’s development strides, the Dutch queen stressed building a strong infrastructure in the country.

Pointing out that both the Netherlands and Bangladesh are delta countries, Maxima said they can share their experiences for further development in the agriculture sector.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangla-

desh and the Netherlands have unique geo-graphical similarities in terms of the presence of a large Deltaic coastline.

She noted with satisfaction that the two countries are working together for the ongoing joint activities under Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 in the areas like river dredging, land rec-lamation, construction of infrastructure, crea-tion of green belt in coastal regions and other climate adaptation measures.

In an e� ort to promote social justice and inclusive growth, Hasina said, the government has given importance to � nancial inclusion of all segments of people, with particular focus on farmers, women, students as well as per-sons with disability.

Highlighting a massive rise in cellphone users in Bangladesh, the prime minister said it reached millions of people with the expansion of networks and its opening for private sector.

She also talked about the success of her government in digitisation of the country and

said steps have also been taken to turn 8,000 post o� ces into e-centres.

Over 3,000 post o� ces have already been working as e-centres, the prime minister added.

Elaborating other e� orts of her government for the welfare of rural people, the prime min-ister said various steps have been taken for the development of the agriculture sector.

Hasina mentioned that farmers are getting collateral-free loans while they could now open a bank account only for Tk10. Nearly 16 mil-lion bank accounts have so far been opened by farmers only for Tk10 per account, she added.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmod Ali, Prime Minister’s Media Advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowd-hury, Principal Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman and Dutch Ambassador to Bangladesh Leoni Cuelenaere were, among others, present.

Earlier on her arrival, the Prime Minister welcomed the Dutch queen at Ganobhaban by presenting a bouquet. l

‘Rampal plant to meet growing electricity demand’n Abu Bakar Siddique

Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hus-sain Manju has said setting up Rampal power plant is the right decision as it will meet the country’s increasing demand for electricity.

He also said the plant would not harm the ecosystem of the Sundarbans as it is located 14 kilometres from the forest and the tech-nology adopted for the plant would ensure environmental safety.

Despite oppositions from di� erent quarters, including environmental activists, the govern-ment has moved forward with the plan of es-tablishing the 1320MW coal-� red power plant at Rampal area which is adjacent to the Sunda-rbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest.

The minister, while addressing a discus-sion on Bangladesh-India Sundarban Region Cooperation Initiative organised by Policy Research Institute at its conference room yesterday, said the people having anti-Indian sentiments are opposing Rampal plant. “The government has plans to set up the plant for the development of the country.”

At present, the country produces 6,350MW electricity a day against the peak

demand of 7,000 MW. The government has set a target to achieve 24,000MW electricity production by 2021.

The plant is a joint collaboration of Bang-ladesh Power Development Board and Na-tional Thermal Power Corporation of India. To set it up, the Bangladesh government has already acquired 1,834 acres of private land.

Earlier, several environmental organisa-tions, including Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, urged the government to relocate the proposed plant on the grounds that the site of the facility is just 10 kilometres from the Sundarbans.

According to rules regarding the protection of Ecologically Critical Area, setting up an in-dustry that produces toxic matters should be banned within 10 kilometres of such zones.

Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon’s General Secretary Dr Abdul Matin said Rampal plant would destroy the ecological balance of the Sundarbans and its adjacent areas as the fa-cility would produce huge amounts of waste materials that are extremely harmful for the environment.

He also said the thermal plant would pose a big threat to the dolphins in the nearby Pashur River as the facility would release hot water. l

Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad forms a human chain on High Court premises yesterday demanding that SQ Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid be hanged MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

INSIDE

7D

TWorldTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Paris attacks reshape US debate on immigration, security US lawmakers called on Tuesday for even tighter scrutiny of Syrian refugees � eeing to the US as last week’s deadly Paris attacks recast America’s debate over immigration and national security, prompting a sharp rebuke from President Barack Obama, who said attempts to block entry were “o� ensive and contrary to American values”. PAGE 8

Terrorism index: Boko Haram surpasses IS as deadliest terrorist organisation Terrorist group Boko Haram has overtaken jihadist Islamic State (IS) as the world’s most deadly terrorist organisation, according to the 2015 edition of the Global Terrorism Index. PAGE 8

The terror cell that devastated Paris Investigators probing the deadly Paris attacks have so far identi� ed � ve of seven gunmen and suicide bombers whose bodies were found at three sites across the city, while the hunt is on for others.

PAGE 9

100 m Rue du Corbillon

732

Crack police units exchanged fire with suspects at a Saint-Denis apartment Wednesday,part of efforts to catch the suspected planner of the November 13 attacks

Massive police operation north of Paris

1

1

were hidingin the rubble

the renterof the apartmenthis friend/relative

at the apartment

people arrested

2 killed

The toll so far

woman blew herself upsuspect killed1

1

Some of the schools,universities, collegesclosed

Suicide bombersNovember 13

Sources: French police, judicial sources

SEINE-SAINT-DENIS

PARIS

Marne

Seine

5 km

A1

A86

Rue de la Republique

Bld Marcel Samba

Bld Carnot

IUTUniversity

Cathedral

Stadede France

Hospital

St-Denis

St-Denis-Porte de Paris

Legiond’HonneurPark

City hall

Saint-Denis

PlaceJean Jaures

Two die in police raid targeting suspected Paris attack mastermind n Reuters, Saint Denis

A woman suicide bomber blew herself up and another militant died on Wednesday when police raided an apartment in the Par-is suburb of St Denis seeking suspects in last week’s attacks in the French capital.

Three sources said the raid stopped a ji-hadist cell that had been planning an attack on Paris’s business district, La Défense, after coordinated bombings and shootings killed over 130 people across the city.

Officials said police had been hunting Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian radical militant accused of masterminding the November 13 carnage, but more than nine hours after the launch of the pre-dawn raid it was still unclear if they had found him.

Seven people were arrested in the oper-ation, which started with a barrage of gun-� re, including three people who were pulled from the apartment, o� cials said.

“It is impossible to tell you who was ar-rested. We are in the process of verifying that. Everything will be done to determine who is who,” Paris prosecutor Francois Mo-lins said at the end of the operation.

Molins said the assault was ordered after phone taps and surveillance operations led police to believe that Abaaoud might have been in St Denis, near to the Stade de France football stadium which was site of one of the attacks that hit Paris last week.

French prosecutors have identi� ed � ve of the seven dead assailants from Friday - four Frenchmen and a man who was � nger-printed in Greece last month after arriving in the country via Turkey with a boatload of refugees � eeing the Syria war.

Police believe two men directly involved in the assault subsequently escaped, includ-ing Salah Abdeslam, 26, a Belgian-based Frenchman who is accused of having played a central role in both planning and execut-ing the deadly mission.

French authorities said on Wednesday they had identi� ed all the November 13 vic-tims. They came from 17 di� erent countries, many of them young people out enjoying themselves at bars, restaurants, a concert hall and a soccer stadium.

Until Wednesday morning, o� cials had said Abaaoud was in Syria. He grew up in Brussels, but media said he moved to Syr-ia in 2014 to � ght with Islamic State. Since then he has travelled back to Europe at least once and was involved in a series of planned attacks in Belgium foiled by the police last January.

Two police sources and a source close to the investigation con� rmed that the St Den-is cell was planning a fresh attack. “This new team was planning an attack on La Défense,” one source said, referring to a high-rise neighbourhood on the outskirts of Paris that is home to top banks and businesses.

A man in St Denis told reporters that he had rented out the besieged apartment to two people last week.

He was later arrested by police. lFire� ghters and policemen are gathered in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis city centre, on Wednesday, as special forces raid an appartment, hunting those behind the November 13 attacks AFP

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015World8DT

SOUTH ASIAPakistan refuses to accept deportations from EuropePakistan will refuse to accept any citizens deported from mainland Europe, halting repatriations at a time when European leaders facing an in� ux of migration are desperate to streamline procedures, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear exactly how many came from Europe, he said. European Union nations signed a deal with Pakistan in 2009 allowing them to repat-riate illegal immigrants and other nationalities who transited through Pakistan on their way to Europe. -REUTERS

INDIACongress leader’s controversial tweet on terrorists sparks rowSenior Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad made it to the headlines on Wednesday for his controversial tweet on notorious crime boss Chhota Rajan and Ulfa leader Anup Chetia. “Thankfully Chhota Rajan & Anup Chetia are not Muslims. Had they been Muslims Modi govt would have a di� erent narrative altogether,” Ahmad said in a tweet. As his re-marks raked up a row, Ahmad clari� ed saying he was simply trying to expose the “double standards and double speak” of the BJP . -TOI

CHINASuu Kyi: China ties deserve close attentionMyanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to pay “special attention” to ties with China when her party takes o� ce after its election triumph, and said foreign investments would need public support to help improve relations. China was Myanmar’s lifeline for two decades when sanctions prevented most Western businesses and � nancial institutions from engaging with the country during military rule from 1962 to 2011. Ties have been strained over Myanmar’s domestic border con� icts. -REUTERS

ASIA PACIFICSE Asia faces threat of Islamic State-styled terror attacksSouth east Asia faces the threat of IS -in-spired attacks designed to “glamorise terrorism”, a Malaysian minister said on Wednesday, voicing fears of battle-hardened � ghters returning from Syria to launch Paris-style attacks. Estimates suggests that more that 500 Indonesians, over 40 Malaysians and a handful of Singaporeans have gone to � ght in Syria and Iraq. Hundreds of others were arrested or detained before they could leave the country. -REUTERS

MIDDLE EASTQatar slavery museum aims to address modern exploitationThe Bin Jelmood house in Doha is the � rst museum to focus on slavery in the Arab world, and it opens as the Gulf monarchy faces accu-sations by rights groups of modern-day slavery of migrant workers before the 2022 World Cup. The museum is funded by the government and was inaugurated last month Slavery in Qatar was abolished only in 1952. -REUTERS

Terrorism index: Boko Haram surpasses IS as deadliest terrorist organisation n Adil Mahmood

Terrorist group Boko Haram has overtaken jihadist Islamic State (IS) as the world’s most deadly terrorist organisation, according to the 2015 edition of the Global Terrorism Index.

The Nigerian-based terror group, also known as Islamic State’s West’s Africa prov-ince (ISWAP), was responsible for 6,644 deaths in 2014. In comparison, IS is believed to have killed 6,073 people in the same period.

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the group, also known as Dae’sh in Arabic acro-nym, in March of this year.

However, this tally doesn’t include the tri-fecta attacks that IS had claimed responsibil-ity for in late October and November this year alone-- The Russian plane that was downed by a bomb at Sinai peninsula in Egypt where 229 people lost their lives, The Beirut suburb bomb-ing that claimed 43 lives and the Paris raid that killed more than 130 people. On October 10, an-other massive blast rocked the Turkish capital, which took away more than 100 souls.

Boko Haram carries out most of its atroci-ties in north Africa. Over the past year, Nigeria witnessed a 300% rise in fatalities from terror acts to 7,512, as per the report. This is the larg-est increase in terrorist-caused deaths ever re-corded by any country, and is predominantly down to Boko Haram’s expansion.

Boko Haram is not limited to Nigeria: in 2014 the group doubled its attack and ex-panded into Chad and Cameroon, in 2014 staging 46 attacks and claiming 520 lives.

While increased use of explosives and bombs – thanks to training from other ter-rorist out� ts – has characterised more recent Boko Haram attacks, the majority of attacks remain armed assaults using automatic or semi-automatic weapons.

Islamic State has certainly sought - and achieved - global notoriety since it an-nounced its creation of a caliphate across Syria and Iraq in June 2014. It has its own media arm which pumps out propaganda videos and messages to either inspire sup-porters or strike fear into those it regards as enemies with graphic footage glorifying ex-ecutions and torture.

The data, published in the third edition of the Global Terrorism Index, was pro-duced by the Institute for Economic and Peace, and drawn from data collected by the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), collated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

The 2015 Global Terrorism Index high-

lights that terrorism continues to rise. The total number of deaths from terrorism in 2014 reached 32,685, constituting an 80% increase from 18,111 the previous year.

This is the highest level ever recorded. The signi� cant majority of these deaths, over 78%, took place in just � ve countries; Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria.

While terrorism is highly concentrated in a small number of countries, the number of countries which have had a terrorist attack is also increasing. In 2014 terrorism impact-ed more countries than ever before. Attacks were recorded in 93 countries, up from 88 in 2013. This continues the trend from 2011 with more countries experiencing terrorist attacks and deaths each year. l

2000

1,021 1,229

3,477

6,0736,644

4000

6000

Number of death

Source: Global Terrorism Index

Al-Shabaab Fulanimillitants

Taliban Isis Boko Haram

THE DEADLIST TERROR ORGANISATIONS IN THE WORLD

Paris attacks reshape US debate on immigration, security n Reuters, Washington, DC

US lawmakers called on Tuesday for even tighter scrutiny of Syrian refugees � eeing to the US as last week’s deadly Paris attacks re-cast America’s debate over immigration and national security, prompting a sharp rebuke from President Barack Obama, who said at-tempts to block entry were “o� ensive and contrary to American values”.

Republican leaders in the US House of Rep-resentatives, worried about radical attacks following Friday’s killings of over 130 people in France, threatened to suspend the Obama administration’s e� orts to allow 10,000 more Syrian refugees into the country.

Democrats also called for close vetting of refugees from the four-year-old civil war in Syria in case they are linked to extremist groups such as Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the Paris killings.

The attacks focused the spotlight in Washington on national security with the November 2016 presidential election cam-paign heating up and Obama in the � nal year of his presidency.

“This is a moment where it is better to be safe than sorry,” the Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters.

Separately, two in� uential senators, Republican Je� Flake and Democrat Tim Kaine, responded to the Paris attacks by re-newing their push for Congress to vote on a formal authorisation for the use of military force for the campaign against Islamic State.

But most of the emphasis in the Repub-lican-controlled Congress has been on the backlash against Syrian refugees.

Ryan called for a pause in Obama’s pro-gramme, announced in September, to ac-cept 10,000 Syrian refugees in a year. The number of Syrians destined for the US is low compared with � gures in European coun-tries such as Germany.

Obama, speaking on the sidelines of the Asia-Paci� c Economic Cooperation summit in Manila early on Wednesday, accused pol-iticians at home of trying to score political points.

“We are not well served when, in re-sponse to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic. We don’t make good deci-

sions if it’s based on hysteria or an exaggera-tion of risks,” he said, occasionally showing � ashes of anger.

“I cannot think of a more potent recruit-ment tool for ISIL (another acronym for Is-lamic State) than some of the rhetoric thats been coming out of here during the course of this debate,” he said, referring to another name for Islamic State.

Obama said refugees are screened for 18 to 24 months before being cleared to enter the US, with the intelligence community ful-ly vetting applicants.

“When candidates say we should not ad-mit three-year-old orphans, that’s political posturing. When individuals say we should have religious tests, and only Christians, proven Christians, should be allowed, that’s o� ensive and contrary to American values.”

Republican Senator John McCain backed scrupulous vetting but also strongly op-posed discrimination.

“All of us are God’s children ... so I disa-gree with that assumption that only Chris-tian children should be able to come to the US,” he said. l

IN-DEPTH

Terror attacks revive debate on surveillance n AFP, Washington, DC

The deadly Paris attacks have reignited de-bate on encrypted communications by ter-ror cells and whether law enforcement and intelligence services are “going dark” in the face of new technologies.

The exact means of communication in Friday’s strikes were not immediately clear, but media reports have said the Islamic State organisation has increasingly turned to encrypted communications and applica-tions to avoid detection.

The latest carnage in France has revived concerns that law enforcement and intelli-gence lack the ability to tap into new com-munications technologies, even with appro-priate legal authorisation.

CIA Director John Brennan, speaking at a Washington forum Monday, warned that some technologies -- without speci� cally mentioning encryption -- “make it excep-tionally di� cult, both technically as well as

legally, for intelligence and security services to have the insight they need to uncover it.”

Brennan echoed concerns voiced by lead-ers of the FBI and National Security Agency that terrorists are using encryption to hide their tracks.

‘Game changing’But in light of the bloodletting in France, the debate may change, observers say.

Many technology experts and civil lib-

erties activists say allowing special access to law enforcement would weaken online security overall -- and could mean activists, journalists and people living under authori-tarian regimes would lack the ability to free-ly communicate.

Good guys, bad guys“We’ve never been able to create a ‘back door’ that can discriminate between good guys and bad guys,” said Joseph Hall at the digital rights group Center for Democracy & Technology.

Creating special access “would mean engineering vulnerabilities” into these sys-tems, Hall said.

Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer who is a fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for internet and Society and chief technology officer at the security firm Resilient Systems, said the Paris attacks may be used “to scare people” to weaken encryption. l

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015World 9

DT

USABobby Jindal drops White House runLouisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, poll-ing near the bottom of the crowded 2016 Republican presidential � eld, suspended his campaign on Tuesday, saying: “This is not my time.” Jindal, 44, was the � rst person of Indi-an-American heritage to run for US president. A Christian who converted from Hinduism as a teenager, he struggled after entering the race in June to separate himself from the pack seeking the Republican nomination for the November 2016 election. -REUTERS

THE AMERICASArgentine central bank raided in case over sale of dollarsPolice raided the trading desk of Argentina’s central bank on Tuesday after a prosecutor accused the monetary regulator’s president of directing the bank to sell US dollar reserves at a rate below that on the international futures market. The case stems from a complaint � led by two opposition lawmakers who said the price at which the bank sold the dollar futures - for fewer pesos than they fetch on the international market - constituted a serious � nancial loss for the state. The central bank denied any wrongdoing and said it was a politically motivated witch-hunt against the bank’s chief, Alejandro Vanoli. -REUTERS

UKUK proposes closing all coal-� red power plants by 2025Britain wants to close all of its coal-� red power plants by 2025 and lower their output from 2023, the government said on Wednes-day, making it the � rst major economy to put a date on shutting down polluting coal plants to curb carbon emissions. Coal-� red power plants provided around a third of Britain’s electricity last year but many of the ageing plants have been due to close over the next decade due to tightening EU environmental standards. Britain hopes to � ll the supply gap with new lower-carbon gas and nuclear power plants. -REUTERS

EUROPEFresh clashes in Kosovo over Serbia accordPolice and protesters clashed in Kosovo for a second day on Wednesday in a deepening crisis over relations with former ruler Serbia. Police � red tear gas at a crowd of around 150 people lobbing rocks, bottles and petrol bombs outside the government building in central Pristina. The opposition is angry in particular at an agreement to grant ethnic Serb areas in Kosovo greater local powers and the possibility of some � nancing from Belgrade. -REUTERS

AFRICAKenya to build cruise ship terminal at its biggest portEast Africa’s biggest port of Mombasa will spend almost $1m to build a new cruise ship terminal aimed at boosting tourism, port management said on Wednesday. Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean struck a major dent into cruise tourism in the region, but the industry has rebounded since 2011, with enhanced naval patrols and deployment of armed guards on vessels. -REUTERS

PROFILE

The terror cell that devastated Paris Investigators probing the deadly Paris attacks have so far identi� ed � ve of seven gunmen and suicide bombers whose bodies were found at three sites across the city, while the hunt is on for others. Here is a look at the men behind France’s worst-ever terror attacks, which struck a concert venue, bars, restaurants and a stadium.

Omar Ismail MostefaiThe 29-year-old French national blew himself up at the Bataclan music venue. His identity was con� rmed using a severed � ngertip found at the scene. Born on November 21, 1985 in the poor Paris suburb of Courcouronnes, Mostefai was known to police as a petty criminal with eight convictions between 2004 and 2010 but spent no time in jail. He had been identi� ed by the authorities in 2010 as having been radicalised but had never been previously “implicated in a terrorist network or plot”, the Paris prosecutor said. He is believed to have travelled to Syria in 2014, slipping under the authorities’ radar.

Samy AmimourThe second Bataclan suicide bomber to be iden-ti� ed was 28-year-old Samy Amimour from Dran-cy, a northeastern suburb of Paris. He worked as a bus driver for the Paris transport authority for 15 months until 2012, when he became radicalised and known to anti-terror investigators. He was charged on October 19, 2012 with “conspiracy to commit terrorism” over an attempt to travel to Yemen but was released on bail. He left for Syria on September 11, 2013, violating the terms of his bail, and prompting judges to issue an interna-tional warrant for his arrest.

Brahim AbdeslamThe 31-year-old French national living in Belgium was born on July 30, 1984. He is one of three brothers linked to the probe. Dutch media re-ports said his name appears in police � les along-side that of leading Belgian jihadist Abdelhamid Abaaoud in relation to criminal cases in 2010 and 2011. Local media reported that Abdeslam used

to run a bar in Brussels’ impoverished Molenbeek district, which is known as a hotbed of radicalism.

Salah Abdeslam, fugitiveHis younger brother, 26-year-old Salah Abde-slam, is being sought by French investigators who have issued a photograph of him -- describ-ing him as “dangerous” -- while Belgium has issued an international warrant for his arrest.

Bilal HadfiInvestigators say the 20-year-old Had� was a French national who was living in Belgium and had spent time in Syria.

Ahmad al-Mohammad?Close to the body of a second bomber outside the Stade de France, investigators found a Syrian pass-port in the name of Ahmad al-Mohammad, 25, who was born on September 10, 1990, in the Syria.. A passport bearing that name had been registered on the Greece’s Leros on October 3, with the attacker’s � ngerprints matching those taken. The holder of the passport was later registered as crossing from Macedonia into Serbia where he formally applied for asylum. But French investigators believe the passport may have belonged to a Syrian regime soldier killed several months ago. l

Source: AFP

The best known of the 500 or so Belgians who have gone to fightfor the Islamic State group in Syria or Iraq

Abdelhamid Abaaoud

Takes his 13-year-old brotherYounes, to Syria and joins otherBelgian fighters in an IslamicState brigade

Born in Molenbeek, Brussels

Claims to have planned a seriesof thwarted attacks in Belgium

July 2015A Brussels court sentenced himin absentia to 20 years in prison

Nov 18, 2015 Suspected of havingorganised the Nov 13attacks. Target of theSaint Denis operation

Early February 2015

Early 2014

1987The Nov 13 attacks inParis and at Saint Denishave been claimed bythe Islamic State group

Took to calling himself Abou OmarSoussi, a�er his family’s homeregion in Morocco; or Abou Omaral-Baljiki (Abou Omar "the Belgian")

BIGSTOCK

Advertisement10DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

INSIDE

We welcome the launch of a special Bangladesh-themed issue of the internationally renowned literary journal Wasa� ri, at this year’s Dhaka Lit Fest.

This is the � rst time an international European literary journal has devoted an entire issue to covering Bangladeshi writing and writers.

As a sign of the increasing interest the world is taking in Bangladesh, it points the way forward to a new era in which promising, talented individuals from Bangladesh can interact more with peers from around the world in coming together to promote culture and share their knowledge.

In the � ve years since it launched in co-operation with the world famous Hay festival, Dhaka Lit Fest has helped build an invaluable relationship between writers and audiences.

DLF is proving highly successful in providing a international platform for Bangladesh and in inspiring new writers. It is both simulating interest in world literature and English language writing and helping to bring the creativity and talent of Bangladeshi writers to the world stage.

It is complemented in its success by the growth of new English literary journals such as Bengal Lights and Six Seasons Review and the development of the Library of Bangladesh by the Dhaka Translation Centre, which exists to promote English translations of Bangla works to the world at large.

We are delighted to see DLF play its part in helping the world to sit up and take notice of the vibrant culture and people our nation holds. DLF is a remarkable showcase for the very best of Bangladesh. We are con� dent that it will continue to grow even faster and � ourish further in future years.

Dhaka Lit Fest plays an invaluable role in bringing international attention to Bangladeshi literature and writers

Solidarity for all

State of paranoiaThe North Korean state has been found to be comprehensively violating the UN genocide convention by targeting for destruction every group protected by the international treaty while also employing every method de� ned as genocidal

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207

Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com

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What’s in a name?Hindu nationalists have argued that all streets in Delhi named after Mughal rulers ought to be renamed. Thus, this name controversy a� ects Hindu-Muslim relations, both in the past and the present -- at least, on a symbolic level. To the BJP, such proposals seem to represent conscious attempts to de� ne India as a Hindu nation

Individuals calling out the mainstream media for its supposed Francophone bias would do well to remember that they themselves did very little to mourn other incidents until it became fashionable

Putting Bangladesh on the world stage

11D

TEditorialTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

BIGSTOCK

n Ibtisam Ahmed

The simultaneous gun and bomb attacks in Paris have been the deadliest incident in Europe since the Madrid train bombings. The

hostage taking in Bataclan brought back memories of the Moscow theatre siege and the Peshawar school shooting. The co-ordinated nature of hitting multiple targets was akin to Mumbai. If there is one thing that has been made clear by the act itself, it is that the scale and scope of human su� ering is tragically familiar.

Yet, even as we come together in our grief for the City of Lights, we run the risk of letting this familiarity get the better of us by becoming desensitised to such horrors.

Hours into the crisis, a series of � res broke out in Calais Jungle refugee camp. This was not a new occurrence; the cramped quarters and the use of open � re to tackle the winter freeze has resulted in � res over the past few weeks. Yet, the regularity of the now ongoing refugee crisis and the situation in France’s capital suddenly meant the coverage of Calais took on two disturbing dimensions.

The � rst was how the previous incidents all went unremarked outside of local French media and a few speci� c social media

outlets dedicated to monitoring the refugee situation. The su� ering of these groups has become such a mundane part of our daily routine that no one could be bothered to remark on the challenges they continue to face.

The second, more worrying aspect of the coverage was how the very � rst reaction to the blaze was summed up in one sentence: “This is de� nitely a retaliatory attack and it is inevitable.”

Even as news outlets rushed to verify the speculation, and since proven false of revenge, the story went viral across Facebook and Twitter at the same time as the Bataclan siege came to its tragic end. Most chilling of all was how every account that shared the story took it for granted that the � re was to be expected.

It would seem that humanity’s default reaction to violence is more violence.

With over 130 deaths in Paris at the time of writing this piece, there is no denying the scale of the su� ering caused by that one horri� c night. Yet, amidst the outrage, another thread has emerged. Even as the world is united in its grief for one part of the world, it appears to be divided in its concern for the rest.

Beirut su� ered an IS strike in the same 24 hour period as Paris. The civil war in Syria and the violence in Iraq continued unabated, feeding into the refugee crisis. There were protests and violence in Argentina about civil rights which resulted in multiple fatalities. There were also six deaths in India over the past week related to freedom of religion. Local media outlets covered these incidents, but they barely got any traction on international sites.

To suggest that Paris should not be given its due coverage and respect is

wrong. There should be no question of sti� ing or criticising any expression of grief that centres on France. Individuals calling out the mainstream media for its supposed Francophone bias would do well to remember that they themselves did very little to mourn other incidents until it became fashionable. On that note, targeting anyone for online abuse just because they have changed their pro� le picture to the French tricolour is categorically wrong.

At the same time, there is no denying that one of the key factors behind such a strong reaction is its unexpectedness and its location as much as it is the actual abhorrent violence.

We are no longer surprised when the Global South faces tragedy and su� ering. Of course there are deaths in South Asia and the Middle East. Of course South America is unstable. Of course the refugees will be discriminated against even more now. Of course countries like Poland will now pull back their humanitarian e� orts. Of course, of course, of course.

The truth is that empathy has long abandoned us, leaving behind a world where death is the norm. We talk eloquently of equality when our everyday interactions prove no such thing exists.

Pray for Paris. Praise the citizens who opened their doors to terri� ed strangers through the night. Support the volunteers in Calais, and also pray for the world. Remember Beirut, Syria, Iraq, Argentina, the Bataclan, and the Sinai, just not one at the expense of the other.

Make sure that when we say solidarity for all, we mean all, not some. l

Ibtisam Ahmed is a PhD candidate at the University of Nottingham.

Solidarity for all

Individuals calling out the mainstream media for its supposed Francophone bias would do well to remember that they themselves did very little to mourn other incidents until it became fashionable

The lack of outrage at the � re at the Calais Jungle refugee camp reveals something disturbing in our attitude towards violence REUTERS

One crisis should not make us forget all the others

Opinion12DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Opinion 13D

TTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

n Ataur Rahman

One of the most complex stories in the world today is that of East Asia, with the growing in� uence of China’s 1.3 billion people on one

side, the “Hermit Kingdom” of North Korea on the other, and numerous contentious relationships throughout the region. It is, however, most agonising to watch how Kim Jong-un, immediately after taking over power in 2011 after his father Kim Jong-il’s death, became a ruthless and paranoid ruler.

He punished dissidents, including his own uncle Jang Song Thaek, with capital punishment and executed by a special military tribunal. Indeed, his provocative attitude and use of state institutions transformed North Korea into a rogue state and a threatening nuclear power while a huge number of people continued to starve for want of food and denied basic human rights and dignity. The US and its allies have for years been unable to � nd a solution except for applying sanctions and appealing to China. Obviously, the recommendations of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) remain as moral force

The COI of the UN Human Rights Council, established in March 2013, documented “un-speakable atrocities” and “systematic, wide-spread, and gross human-rights violations” committed by North Korea, its regime, state institutions, and o� cials. The Commission accused the regime of six main human rights abuses: Arbitrary detention and torture, star-vation, denial of freedom of thought, denial of freedom of movement, foreign abductions, and discrimination.

The strategic environment that has complicated international nuclear non-pro-liferation e� orts in North Korea also makes it di� cult to enforce any indictment of the North Korean leadership for crimes against humanity and serious human rights viola-tions.

There has been no discernible improvement in human rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea or North Korea since Kim Jong-un assumed power.

Although North Korea has rati� ed four key international human rights treaties and technically possesses a constitution with some rights protections, in reality, the government represses all forms of freedom of expression and opinion and does not allow any organised political opposition, independent media, free trade unions, civil society organisations, or religious freedom.

The government also imposes collective punishment for supposed anti-state o� enses, e� ectively enslaving hundreds of thousands of citizens, including children, in prison camps, and other detention facilities with deplorable conditions and forced labour.

Torture and inhumane treatmentNorth Korean refugees living in exile -- some of who � ed after Kim Jong-un took power -- told Human Rights Watch that people arrested in North Korea are routinely tortured

by o� cials seeking confessions, bribes, and obedience. Common forms of torture include sleep deprivation, beatings with iron rods or sticks, kicking and slapping, and enforced sitting or standing for hours. Guards also sexually abuse female detainees.

ExecutionsNorth Korea’s criminal code stipulates that the death penalty can be applied for vaguely de� ned o� enses such as “crimes against the state” and “crimes against the people.” A December 2007 amendment to the penal code extended the death penalty to additional crimes, including non-violent o� enses such as fraud and smuggling, as long as authorities determine the crime is “extremely serious.”

Political prisoner campsNorth Korean refugees also con� rm that persons accused of political o� enses are usually sent to brutal forced labour camps, known as kwan-li-so, operated by North Korea’s National Security Agency.

Modern slaveryNorth Korean workers party cadres collect a big portion of wages earned by North Korean workers working abroad, and those foreign currencies are used for bribes and buying supportive technology of nuclear weapon, an investigation report said. With the money accumulated through such a method, North Korean senior o� cials abroad bribe their way to success and contribute to the Kim Jong-un

regime’s governing funds. And the rest are used to purchase gifts for their families.

PovertyThe North Korean government spent an estimated $1.34bn on its rocket program last year. An o� cial with the ministry stated these resources could have taken care of food shortages within the country for “four to � ve years.” Recent missile tests have taken place at a time when North Korea’s famine is reportedly at one of the worst points in the nation’s history.

An October report from the International Food Policy Research Institute indicated that North Korea’s hunger situation is at the “serious level,” with its Global Hunger Index at 19 points, substantially higher than that of 15.7 in 1990. This is very alarming news, especially since the famine in the 1990s claimed the lives of between 2 to 3.5 million people. 

Mass atrocityNorth Korea’s mass atrocity situation contin-ues annually to be the subject of a vast and growing body of documentation. In recent years, the North Korean state has been found to be comprehensively violating the UN gen-ocide convention by targeting for destruction every group protected by the international treaty while also employing every method de� ned as genocidal in Article 2.

Genocide Watch, a non-partisan NGO that exists “to predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide” and whose board of advisers

includes respected anti-genocide activists such as the retired Canadian general Roméo Dallaire and Samantha Power (current senior director for multilateral a� airs and human rights for the US National Security Council), published a report on December 19, 2011, that determined conclusively that North Korea has committed genocide as de� ned by Raphael Lemkin’s 1948 convention, stating that there is “ample proof that genocide has been committed and mass killing is still under way in North Korea.”

Paranoid leadershipThe bizarre mind of Kim Jong-un can be explained through his still-immature state where he orchestrates temper tantrums and threats of punishments to get his way in the international world.

It was agonising to watch how Kim Jong-un, immediately after taking power, punished dissidents, including his own uncle -- executed by a special military tribunal. Indeed, his provocative attitude and use of state institutions transformed North Korea into a “rogue” state and a threatening nuclear power while a huge number of people continued to starve for want of food and denied basic human rights and dignity.

The US and its allies have, for years, been unable to � nd a solution except for applying sanctions and appealing to China. Obviously, the recommendations of the UN Commission of Enquiry remain as moral force. The lack of enforcement mechanism has been a serious blow to the UN resolution.

The COI recommendation that the North Korean leadership be referred to the International Criminal Court remains an empty threat. The past examples in Iraq and the former Yugoslavia suggest that high-level o� cials charged with crimes against humanity are generally untouchable until they lose power or the regime falls. l

Ataur Rahman is President of Bangladesh Political Science Association & Chairman, Centre for Governance Studies, Dhaka.

State of paranoia

The North Korean state has been found to be comprehensively violating the UN genocide convention by targeting for destruction every group protected by the international treaty while also employing every method de� ned as genocidal

Kim Jong-un’s paranoia could spell trouble for the whole world REUTERS

The case against North Korea’s gross violation of human rights is gaining momentum with every passing minute

Opinion14DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

n Lars Tore Flaten

In Delhi, a debate concerning the name of one of the streets in the city -- Aurangzeb Road -- has been raging for years. Aurangzeb, who belonged to the Islamic

Mughal dynasty, ruled large parts of today’s India in the 1600s.

Earlier this fall, the controversy reached its climax as the name of the road was changed to APJ Abdul Kalam Road. India has witnessed several similar name controversies in recent decades.

This article explores what is often referred to as the “politics of naming,” namely the many political issues raised when names are given to streets, sports facilities, and cities.

Abdul Kalam, who died in July this year, was a scientist and became a national hero for his role when India conducted nuclear tests in 1998.

Kalam’s status was further strengthened when he, in 2002, became the Indian president, with support from both the BJP and the Congress party -- which was then in opposition.

Naming the street after Kalam was, therefore, not controversial. The key issue was rather why the street could no longer bear the name Aurangzeb.

The BJP representative Mahish Girri was responsible for proposing the name change, and it was legitimised with reference to Aurangzeb’s brutal conduct towards both Hindus and Sikhs.

For Girri, who had the full support of the BJP in this matter, changing the name represented an opportunity to correct problematic aspects of Indian history.

Opponents of the proposal, among whom were representatives of the Congress party and several historians, did not try to defend Aurangzeb’s actions.

They rather argued that it was necessary to learn how to live with the past, to accept that there had been both good and bad leaders throughout Indian history, instead of constantly invoking historical wounds.

Such a principal argument has to be understood against the background of many other similar controversies in India’s recent history.

Hindu nationalists have argued that all streets in Delhi named after Mughal rulers ought to be renamed.

The same solution has been proposed for Lodhi Road and Tughlaq Road, both named after Muslim rulers from the Delhi Sultanate, who ruled northern India from the 13th to the 16th century. Thus, this name controversy a� ects Hindu-Muslim relations, both in the past and the present -- at least, on a symbolic level. To the BJP, such proposals seem to represent conscious attempts to de� ne India as a Hindu nation.

Other name changes have both historical and linguistic motives. From the 1990s and onwards, several Indian cities have been renamed: Bombay became Mumbai, Calcutta became Kolkata, Madras was renamed Chennai, and Bangalore is now Bengaluru.

These changes were less controversial, and

the new names were closer to the regional languages in the areas in which the cities are located.

These changes, however, also have to be understood in relation to India’s colonial legacy, since many of the former names originated during the colonial era.

Moreover, the BJP advocated additional changes, which also dealt with the Islamic legacy, and suggested that Ahmedabad should be changed to Karnavati and Allahabad to Prayag. These proposals are yet to be approved.

Choosing names also concerns the recognition of certain groups in a wider context. This became apparent when Mayawati Kumari ruled India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, between 2007 and 2012. Mayawati -- who represents the Dalit-based Bahujan Samaj Party -- spent enormous sums building parks with statues of Dalit heroes, such as the Ambedkar Memorial Park and Kanshi Ram Smarak Sthal.

Mayawati claimed that the elites had a monopoly when it came to naming public places, particularly through � gures such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, and Indira Gandhi. For Mayawati, these building projects symbolised that Dalits demanded

their rightful place in the public sphere, and through that, in the nation.

How signi� cant is this politics of naming? In India, as we have seen, it is of great importance, particularly since it often concerns uneven relations and struggles between di� erent communities. Moreover, the American researcher, Michael Billig, has reminded us of the importance of everyday symbols when it comes to our sense of belonging.

With his theory on banal nationalism, Billig points to the constant reminder of

national a� liation when seeing the outline of the country on the weather forecast or a portrait of certain national heroes on coins or stamps.

The selection of such everyday symbols can therefore be understood in terms of identity construction. As such, there are good reasons to expect that the maps of India and of Indian cities will undergo further changes in the times to come. l

Lars Tore Flaten is an Associate Professor at the University of Oslo.

What’s in a name?Behind the names of streets, monuments, and cities, there is always politics

Hindu nationalists have argued that all streets in Delhi named after Mughal rulers ought to be renamed. Thus, this name controversy a� ects Hindu-Muslim relations, both in the past and the present -- at least, on a symbolic level. To the BJP, such proposals seem to represent conscious attempts to de� ne India as a Hindu nation

You won’t � nd Bombay, Madras, or Calcutta on this board BIGSTOCK

15D

TBusinessTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Winter income tax fair begins todayA three day-long income tax fair begins today to encourage people for paying income tax to widen the tax net for ensuring increased reve-nue collection. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is organising the fair in seven division-al headquarters including Dhaka where the event will be held in two locations. PAGE 16

All work and not much pay for India’s manufacturersIn the o� ce of the small paint factory he helps run, Pramod Patel is clear on the problem holding back India’s manufacturing growth: cash, or a lack of it. PAGE 18

Gold hits lowest since 2010 as dollar � rmsGold prices hit their lowest in nearly six years yesterday as the dollar rose and inves-tors braced for the � rst US interest rate rise in nearly a decade next month. PAGE 17

FBCCI demands single-digit rate for SME loans Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry suggested giving loans at 9% rate to the small and medium enterprises. PAGE 17

Capital market snapshot: WednesdayDSE

Broad Index 4,496.7 0.0% ▲

Index 1,082.0 -0.1% ▼

30 Index 1,706.3 -0.1% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 3,471.7 -13.7% ▼

Turnover in Mn Volume 94.2 -8.8% ▼

CSEAll Share Index 13,724.7 0.0% ▲

30 Index 12,133.4 0.2% ▲

Selected Index 8,350.2 0.0% ▲

Turnover in Mn Tk 239.4 -10.6% ▼

Turnover in Mn Volume 7.6 -3.6% ▼

INSIDE

Sectors Cases inADR

Revenue Involved

(Tk crore)

Cases Settled

Revenue Realised

(Tk crore)Customs Duties

88 9 67 3

Income Tax

478 4,569 450 116

VAT 5 59 1 0.6Total 571 4,637 518 120

Big income tax cases lie unsettledRealised revenue through ADR in three years is less than 3% of the total � gure involved with more than 550 pending casesn Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Major income tax cases involving around Tk3,500 crore revenue have remained un-settled although three years on since the launch of alternative dispute resolution system in 2012.

There were a total of 478 cases related with income tax disputes involving more than Tk4,500 crore, of them, 450 cases were decided through the ADR in last three years, o� cial data shows.

But most of the resolved cases involved petty amounts as they helped the NBR get only Tk116 crore. The unsettled 28 cases amount to the rest of the � gure – nearly Tk3,500 crore.

O� cials said there is a little interest among the taxpayers to settle the big cases.

In the past three years, the NBR realised a “very dismal” � gure of revenues – some Tk120 crore including the income tax’s Tk116 crore, using the ADR. It indicates that the collections from other two deparments – value added tax and customs duty – were some Tk4 crore only.

The total number of cases referred to the ADR was 571 – income tax 478, VAT � ve and customs duty 88. The total amount of rev-enue involved Tk4,637 crore - income tax Tk4,568 crore, VAT Tk59 crore and customs duty Tk9 crore.

The settled cases were 518 – income tax 450, VAT one and customs duty 67. The re-alised amounts totalled some Tk120 crore – income tax Tk116 crore, VAT Tk590,000 and customs duty Tk3.35 crore.

The realised amount is less than 3% of the total � gure referred to the ADR.

O� cials said the collection of revenue from the cases resolved using the ADR was “very dismal” compared to the total � gure as a large amount has remained still undecided.

Currently, a total of 24,572 cases are pend-ing with the Supreme Court, which involve an amount of Tk30,947 crore revenues in income tax, customs duty and VAT.

The NBR data shows that the pending revenue with court cases is 17.55% of the total revenue target for the current � scal year.

The VAT wing still has 3,226 cases un-resolved which amount to Tk17,938 crore revenue, the highest of all other wings, followed by income tax with Tk8,183 crore

revenue in 3,876 cases and customs duties with Tk4,825 crore revenue in 17,470 cases.

The tax authorities have identi� ed � ve core reasons on why tax issues are taken to the courts and why settlement of such cases becomes slow.

The reasons include de� nitional di� er-ences on legal issues between taxpayers and the tax law enforcers, tendency to de-lay tax payment, lack of benches in the High Court to settle tax cases, lack of law o� cials required to deal with tax cases in the Attor-ney General O� ce, and procedural com-plexities in getting certi� ed copies of case documents.

During a seminar on revenue suit man-agement and alternative dispute resolution on Tuesday, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha pointed to a number of challenges including insu� cient dedicated benches at the High Court, manpower shortage at the Attorney General O� ce and lack of skilled lawyers for speedy settlement of revenue related cases for such a poor situation.

The Chief Justice put emphasis on mod-ernisation of existing laws, changes of atti-tudes of taxmen, expansion of tax base to upazila level, and strengthening the Law Commission to ease backlog of cases.

Appointment of law o� cials to deal with tax cases, training to legal o� cials on in-come tax, customs and VAT laws; bringing amendment in laws if required and prior-itising cases for settlement which involved a huge amount of revenues are some of the recommendations that the NBR has provid-ed to imrove the situation. l

Default loan rises to 9.89% of outstanding in � rst quarter n Jebun Nesa Alo

The default loans in the banking sector in-creased to 9.89% of the total outstanding loans of Tk5,53,075 crore in the � rst quarter of the current � scal year.

The amount of default loans stood at Tk54,708 crore in July-September quarter of 2015-16 compared to Tk52,518 crore in April-June quarter when it was 9.67% of the total outstanding loans, according to Bang-ladesh Bank � gures.

The International Monetary Fund re-cently advised Bangladesh to bring down the amount of default loans to a tolerable level.

During a recent visit, an IMF delegation said the amount of default loans would have declined had the authorities ensured transparency and accountability in the banking system.

Earlier under the IMF pressure, Bangla-desh Bank had forced the scheduled banks

to bring down the default loan rate as it came down to single digit in December last year.

Though the default loan rate came down to 9.69% in October-December quarter, it did not sustain long and the rate jumped to double digit again at 10.47% in Janu-ary-March quarter.

The banks had been going through a hard time over the past two years as it had failed to do busi-ness amid political unrest that shot the default loan up, said a senior executive of a private bank.

Moreover, banks cut their lending rate faster in last one year to compete with foreign loan in� ow which will ultimately a� ect the pro� t of the banks, he said.

The growth of default loan rate for private banks and foreign banks rose to

6.09% and 8.79% respectively in September compared to 5.67% and 8.25% in June, ac-cording to the central bank data.

The default loan rate of state-owned banks dropped slightly to 21.82% in the � rst quarter of the current � scal year com-pared to 21.89% in last quarter of � scal year 2014-15. l

VAT wing still has 3,226 cases unresolved which amount to Tk17,938 crore revenue, the highest of all other wings

Business16DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Winter income tax fair begins todayn Tribune Report

A three day-long income tax fair begins today to encourage people for paying income tax to widen the tax net for ensuring increased rev-enue collection.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is organising the fair in seven divisional head-quarters including Dhaka where the event will be held in two locations.

The event has been styled as “Winter Tax Fair,” which will be organised for the � rst time in Bangladesh.

The inaugural ceremony of the central programme will be held at the O� cers’ Club in the city with NBR Chairman Nojibur Rah-man in the chair.

As chief guest, Finance Minister AMA Mu-hith is expected to attend the programme while Law Minister Anisul Huq and Bangla-desh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hasan will attend the ceremony as special guests.

Usually, the NBR holds a weeklong na-tional income tax fairs across the country on September 16-22 every year, but the winter edition of income tax fair had been intro-duced as the NBR saw a huge interest among taxpayers in such events.

According to the plan, the winter tax fair will take place in Dhaka O� cers Club premises and in the income tax zone-9 commissioner’s o� ce. In others divisional headquarters of Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal

and Rangpur, the fair will be organised at the respective income tax commissioner’s o� ces.

The fair will provide one-stop services in-cluding registration of electronic taxpayers identi� cation number (eTIN), submission of income tax returns and online payment fa-cilities.

During the nationwide fair in September, the NBR collected a record Tk2,035.32 crore as income tax and received 161,000 income tax returns. A weeklong fair provided service to around 758,000 visitors across the country.

The NBR is assigned to collect a gigantic revenue collection target of Tk176,370 crore for the � scal year 2015-16. Of the amount, the lion’s share of Tk65,932 crore will come from income tax. l

BB appoints observers in four state-owned banks n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has appointed observers in four state-owned banks-Sonali, Janata, Agra-ni and Rupali.

The decision was made by the central bank Governor Atiur Rahman and a letter has al-ready been sent to each of banks in this regard.

The central bank has appointed observers to enhance supervision on the state-owned banks, said SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy gov-ernor of Bangladesh Bank.

He said the banks could not comply with the MoU conditions and lacks of good gov-ernance, which prompted central bank to appoint observers.

Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Mo-hammad Naushad Ali Chowdhury has been appointed as observer at Sonali Bank, Ahmed Jamal at Janata Bank, Nirmal Chandra Bhak-ta at Agrani Bank and Abdur Rahim at Rupali Bank.

Bangladesh Bank had earlier warned the boards of the state-owned banks of appoint-ing observers if they failed to comply with MoU conditions.

The warning came at a meeting held on August 9 with the chairmen and managing directors of the four state-owned banks in-cluding Sonali, Agrani, Rupali and Janata.

Currently, only BASIC Bank, among the state-owned banks, has an observer appoint-ed by the central bank.

A presentation was made over the � nan-cial performance of the four state-owned banks at that meeting.

The presentation has identi� ed four major loopholes in the banking sector, which include poor cash recovery, lack of internal compli-ance, automation and good governance.

The meeting also focused on the non-per-forming loans and capital shortfall of the banks.

The chairmen and managing directors of the banks were asked to enhance their in-come by strengthening their loan monitoring to stop capital eroding.

However, the banks not only failed to improve their � nancial health but also their default loan rate and CAMELS ratings also deteriorated further against the strict BB warning. l

ILO launches training to boost RMG workplace cooperation n Tribune Report

The International Labour Organization in collaboration with the Bangladesh Institute of Management (BIM) has launched capacity development training on e� ective workplace cooperation for workers’ representatives and mid-level managers in the ready-made gar-ment sector.

Some 2,700 workers and managers from 100 RMG factories would be incorporat-ed into the training programme by the end of this year, said a statement of ILO yes-terday.

The training will be implemented in technical collaboration with BIM and in partnership with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Ex-porters Association (BKMEA), National Coor-dination Committee for Workers’ Education (NCCWE) and IndustriALL Bangladesh Coun-cil (IBC).

The capacity building activities will en-sure that workers, employers and their rep-resentatives are better equipped to engage in meaningful dialogue and labour relations on workplace issues of mutual importance.

The programme will see a series of two-

day workshops take place, each bringing together an equal number of workers’ repre-sentatives and managers.

Srinivas Reddy, ILO country director for Bangladesh, said: “The more the workers and employers engage in social dialogue the better for harmonious industrial relations and good workplace cooperation.”

“This training will help develop skills that will bene� t Bangladesh RMG sector and all who work in it.”

Some 28 master trainers including seven management counsellors from BIM, who have been trained on e� ective workplace cooperation by ILO’s International Training Centre (ITC), will carry out the training. Five training modules developed by the ITC and translated into Bangla will be used to support the sessions.

Similar training activities will be held in collaboration with the BGMEA and the BK-MEA while ILO is also in contact with the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Author-ity (BEPZA) to introduce parallel capacity de-velopment activities for workers and manag-ers in factories in EPZ.

The training activities are being carried out with the � nancial support of the govern-ments of Norway and Denmark. l

Stocks end � at amid volatility n Tribune Report

Stocks ended � at amid volatile trade yester-day as risk-averse investors went for quick pro� ts from the previous two-day rally.

As soon as the market opened, indices dipped, losing more than 30 points and it re-covered entire losses in the � nal hour.

Another foreigner killing and upholding death penalty of two war criminals on the day subdued enthusiasm. However, it was spurred by � nance minister’s announce-ment of deadline extension of bringing down banks investment exposure to stock market, analysts say.

The benchmark index DSEX witnessed a fractional rise of 0.4 points to 4,496.

The Shariah index DSES was down over 1 point to 1,081.

The blue chip comprising index DS30 closed at 1,706, shedding 1 points.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX settled at 8,350 with a rise of almost 3 points.

Trading activities remained lackluster as the DSE turnover stood at Tk347 crore, down around 15% over the previous session.

Telecommunication and non-banking � -nancial institutions su� ered most, dropping almost 1% each, after gaining higher in the previous session.

Cement, banks and textile decreased mar-ginally while food and allied, power, engi-neering and pharmaceuticals edged lower.

IDLC Investments said enthusiasm that sprang from the news of the � nance mister’s announcement of an extension for banks to lower their stock market exposure slowed and

was seriously challenged as heightened secu-rity concern reminded the safety issue again.

It said shooting of another foreign nation-al and verdict review regarding war crime tribunal returned alertness in sentiment and made investors cautious.

“In this situation, the market commenced in downbeat but found some support quickly which helped indices close � at.”

The market breadth remained negative as out of 308 issues traded, 136 advanced, 138 declined and 34 remained unchanged.

Saif Powertec continued to become the most-traded stocks with shares worth nearly Tk24 crore changing hands.

Other turnover leaders include Titas Gas, IFAD Autos, Beximco Pharma, Qusem Dryce-ll and United Power Generation and Distribu-tion Company Limited. l

US FDA approves Beximco Pharma’s blood pressure drug n Tribune Report

Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited has be-come the � rst Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company to receive approval for blood pres-sure drug to be manufactured in the country for export to the USA, said the company in a statement yesterday.

It said the company has been granted for-mal approval from the US Food and Drug Ad-ministration (US FDA), following an exten-sive review of the submitted dossier and its manufacturing processes.

This approval allows the company to manu-facture a popular blood pressure drug ‘Carve-dilol’ in di� erent strengths at its Tongi plant which recently achieved GMP approval from the US regulatory authority.

This is a major milestone for the company as well as for the industry, as this is the � rst time the US FDA has approved a medicine to be manufactured in Bangladesh for supply into the US market.

The company expects to commence ex-port of Carvedilol in the � rst half of 2016.The full-year export revenue from this product is projected to be $3-$4 million initially.

Beximco Pharma is a leading exporter of medicines in the country with its facilities already accredited by the regulatory authori-ties of USA, European Union, Australia, Can-ada, and Brazil, among others.

Managing Director of Beximco Pharma Nazmul Hassan said: “We are increasingly focused on building our presence in the US generics market, and this approval marks the beginning of a new era for the Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry.” l

The company expects to commence export of Carvedilol in the � rst half of 2016

Business 17D

TTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Gold prices hits lowest since 2010 as dollar � rmsn Reuters, Beijing

Gold prices hit their lowest in nearly six years yesterday as the dollar rose and inves-tors braced for the � rst US interest rate rise in nearly a decade next month.

The other precious metals followed gold down, with silver dropping to a fresh 2-1/2-month low and platinum tapping a sev-en-year low.

Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,068.6 an ounce at 0353 GMT, after falling to $1,064.95 earlier in the day, the lowest since February 2010. US gold futures for December delivery were down 0.12% at $1,067.3.

Bullion prices have fallen for 15 out of 16 sessions under pressure from expectations that the US Federal Reserve is set to raise in-terest rates next month.

Data on Tuesday showing US consumer prices increased in October further fuelled those expectations. The dollar sat near a 7-month high against a basket of currencies as the euro slid on expectations for more monetary easing by the European Central Bank in December.

“We saw a pop in the last few days, but the knee jerk reaction didn’t really last. The over-riding factor has been the rising dollar and the expectation of Fed hiking rates in Decem-ber,” said Victor Thianpiriya, analyst at ANZ.

However, heightened security concerns in Europe after Friday night’s attacks in Paris in which 129 people were killed continue to un-derpin gold’s safe-have appeal.

German authorities have called o� a soccer game which Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to attend, citing threats of bombing. l A saleswoman places a gold necklace on a shelf at a showroom in Mumbai REUTERS

FBCCI demands single-digit rate for SME loans n Tribune Report

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry suggested giving loans at 9% rate to the small and medium enterprises.

The country’s apex trade body made the call at a views exchange meeting on the pros-pects and problems of the SME sector yester-day in the capital.

“The main problem of SME sector is about � nancing. Entrepreneurs have to pay 17-18% interest against loans, which fails them have the expected growth,” said FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad.

“We suggest the government provides loans at 9% interest to the SME sector to re-tain economic growth.”

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu was present as chief guest. He said the gov-ernment is working to make the rural econ-omy stronger.

FBCCI director Prabir Kumar Saha thinks an SME entrepreneur should prove himself or herself that he is capable to repay loans.

Director Md Abu Naser blamed Bangla-desh Bank’s “rigid policy” in loan disburse-ment for accumulation of idle money in the banking sector.

He called for lowering interest rate grad-ually and taking steps to provide collater-al-free loans to the SME sector.

According to a SME entrepreneur present at the meeting, the main challenges of the SME sector are access to � nance, quality of products and high bank interest rate.

Ex-vice president of FBCCI Abul Kashem emphasised the need to develop a “proper supply chain marketing” for the SME prod-ucts. l

Business18DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

NCC Bank has recently concluded its 64th month-long foundation training course. The bank’s MD & CEO, Golam Ha� z Ahmed attended the closing ceremony as chief guest

Executive committee of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited has recently held its 643rd meeting. The committee’s chairperson, Alhaj Akkas Uddin presided over the meeting

All work and not much pay for India’s manufacturersn Reuters, Vadodara

In the o� ce of the small paint factory he helps run, Pramod Patel is clear on the prob-lem holding back India’s manufacturing growth: cash, or a lack of it.

Clients, he says, are taking months to pay, sometimes 150 days compared to the stand-ard 30, choking up businesses like his Reli-able Paints and hampering the creation of much-needed jobs.

“We have a lot of potential in our business, but we have no con� dence in the payments,” says Patel, speaking over the noise of a mixer whirring behind him. Workers around him prepare paint to be decanted by hand into cream and grey coloured cans.

While there is no comprehensive data for the cash cycle of India’s manufacturing in-dustry, manufacturers interviewed by Reu-ters in the industrial heartland of Gujarat say cash is moving at a glacial pace.

All those interviewed by Reuters reported clients delaying payments, sometimes for the best part of a year, evidence of an une-ven recovery and of India’s credit drought as banks tackle $100bn of troubled loans.

Central bank data shows that loans to me-dium-sized industrial companies were down 10% by mid September, compared to the start of the � nancial year in April. Loans to small companies dropped more than 3 per-cent in the period.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who once ran Gujarat as chief minister, India has sought to improve life for manufacturers. He wants to boost a sector that accounts for un-der a � fth of the economy, compared to a third for China, the world’s largest manufacturer.

But the reality on the ground is tough.Even India’s industrial bellwether, Larsen

& Toubro, has reported deterioration. Chief Financial O� cer R Shankar Raman says pay-ments take around 100 days after they fall due, compared to a standard 60-75 days.

That is hovering around the longest pay-ment period in over a decade, he said.

“Made in india”India badly needs manufacturing to fuel its recovery and create jobs. After all, India will

be home to a working age population of 900 million people by 2020, roughly a � fth of the world’s potential workers.

Modi’s government has promised to make it simpler to operate in the country, with plans for a uni� ed bankruptcy code, a uni� ed goods and service tax, and more � exible labour laws. Last week, it lifted restrictions on foreign in-vestment in 15 sectors, including defence.

But in this corner of Gujarat - a state that was ranked top in a World Bank-supported study on the ease of doing business in India’s 29 states - manufacturers say the smallest and weakest among them could be pushed to the wall, unless reform is implemented and recovery arrives swiftly.

A plethora of di� erent taxes still wrap small � rms like Reliable Paints in red tape. Others report battling outdated factory rules: some are � ned for a lack of spittoons, for ex-ample, in areas where spitting on the � oor is forbidden.

There are signs of hope. L&T’s Raman says he expects the numbers to have hit the bot-tom, provided promised government spend-ing kicks in and banks pass on lower rates.

“The way the recovery is structured right now, it is not broad based,” said economist Sonal Varma at Nomura. Government spend-ing, however, could improve cash � ows even for smaller � rms within six to 12 months, she estimates.

Gujarat, for one, has pushed taxes online, cutting down on the paperwork and opportu-nities for corruption, and manufacturers say that had made processes smoother.

But until reforms come in, the bureaucra-cy is overhauled and real spending starts, factory managers in this baked corner of Gu-jarat - where paints, pumps and engineering parts dominate production - say their clients will continue to struggle.

“Our big problem is client liquidity,” said the director at one European � rm supplying the construction industry. “And of course we have to deal with bureaucracy and corruption.”

Four years after shutting an o� ce in Mum-bai, he said he was still battling to conclude the process.

And with lots of workers, India needs more skilled ones. l

Netherlands Queen Maxima, special envoy to the UN Secretary General for Inclusive Finance for Development, is being welcomed by Bank Asia Board Executive Committee Chairman Rumee A Hossain during her visit to an agent banking outlet of the bank at Rajabari Union Digital Center in Sreepur Upazila, Gazipur on Tuesday

Tarana: Teletalk to come under scanner n Tribune Report

The government will form a high-powered committee to investigate the state-owned operator’s alleged involvement with illegal VoIP business and corruption.

“The committee will be formed compris-ing a neutral panel of IT experts, academi-cians and researchers to look into the mat-ter,” Tarana Halim said this in a meeting held with Teletalk o� cials in the city yesterday.

During her � rst visit to Teletalk, the Jun-

ior minister said the investigation com-mittee will help � nd out the real fact of the company.

“The operator has to work in line with the government with an aim to implement new strategy,” she said.

Gias Uddin Ahmed, managing director of Teletalk, and high o� cials of the telecom op-erator were present at the meeting.

She asked the telecom company to in-crease quality services, recruiting fresh blood and training them up. l

News 19D

TTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

WORLD PUBLIC TOILET DAY TODAY

Ctg city women deprived of public toilet facilitiesn FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong

The number of working women in the port city has increased signi� cantly, but there is no public toilet for them due to indi� erence and negligence of Chittagong City Corpora-tion (CCC).

According to estate department of the CCC, there are 43 public toilets in the city un-der CCC jurisdiction against 6,000,000 res-idents, but surprisingly there is not a single toilet for women.

Of the 43 public toilets, six are reserved for challenged people while three are installed for transgender in the city, said CCC sources.

The CCC sources said leaseholders of toilets sometimes make their own arrangement with

little access for women at incumbent toilets.“During rush hours, it is quite di� cult to

enter public toilets,” said a woman who sells cake on the roadside.

Chief (acting) of Estate department Ah-madul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune that the CCC could not even think such kind of initiative while the present condition of the incumbent public toilets are in miserable condition and not for suitable for women.

At the election manifesto, Mayor AJM Na-sir Uddin said adequate number of public toi-lets would be set up for residents of the city especially for female.

Conducting a study over public toilets in the city, a research titled “State of Cities: Governance for a Livable Chittagong” by

BRAC Institute of Governance and Develop-ment says qualities of public toilets is matter of concern while around 57% people report-ed that they did not have access to public toi-lets. The low access to public toilets is attrib-uted to lack of cleanliness.

Monowara Akhtar, a readymade garment worker at Chittagong Export Processing Zone, told the Dhaka Tribune that she did not use toilets outside of home as there was no public toilet or access for women.

Monowara added sometimes female workers have to wait in long queue because of huge rush at toilets of the working place as the number of toilets are insu� cient.

Tania Akhtar, a student of Communica-tion and Journalism of Chittagong University,

told the Dhaka Tribune that female students had to wait for CU-bound train in Sholos-hahar Railway Station area in the morning everyday. But there is only one toilet for both male and female person and condition of the toilet was unhygienic.

“If there was a public toilet for the female students, the girls could easily use it”, she added.

Jobaida Nargis Khan, a councilor of re-serve seat for women (4,5 and 6 wards) said: “We knew the CCC is going to set up few pub-lic toilets for women, but I do not know any details regarding the issue”.

Chief Executive O� cer of the CCC Kazi Mohammed So� ul Alam said: “We will dis-cuss the matter with mayor.” l

12 small vessels � ned in Ctgn Tribune Report

A mobile court of Chittagong Port Authority yesterday � ned 12 small vessels with Tk3.50 lakh on charges of blocking the port chan-nel, operating without having no license and safety equipments, overloading of cargo and driving without masters.

CPA Executive Magistrate Md Abul Hashem conducted the mobile court around 2pm. l

20 shops sued for cheating in weightn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institu-tion (BSTI) yesterday lodged 20 cases against 20 businesses in Chittagong city for fraudu-lence in weight.

BSTI, Chittagong Inspector Mohammad Anisur Rahman � led the cases with the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate after con-ducting a drive in di� erent areas in the city.

During the drive conducted at Chowmu-honi, Saltgola Rail Crossing, Steel Mill Bazar and Narikel Tala areas in the city, the BSTI team found that the errant shops were using sub-standard measures for weighing goods and the businesses had no weight veri� ca-tion certi� cate. l

82 gold bars seized at Chittagong airportn Tribune Report

Members of Directorate of Customs Intelli-gence and Investigation seized 82 pieces of gold bars worth about Tk4 lcrore and held a person at Chittagong Shah Amanat Interna-tional Airport yesterday evening.

The detainee was identi� ed as Md Saiful Alam, 46, hailing from Raozan upazila in Chittagong, said Assistant Director in Chit-tagong Pranay Chakma. The assistant direc-tor said Saiful had arrived in the airport from Muscat by � ight WY 311 at 6pm.

“Customs o� cials nabbed the person sus-pecting his movement while he was crossing

green channel and seized 82 pieces of gold bars weighing 9.50 kilogrammes worth of Tk4 crore from his possession, said Pranay Chakma, adding that the gold were concealed in two bags tied with a belt in his waist.

Legal actions was taken against the per-son in this regard, he added.

According to the existing law a person to carry highest 200 grammes of gold from abroad paying necessary duty at the airport while the passenger can bring highest two kilogrammes of gold by giving early notice to the concerning authorities and paying nec-essary duty according to a circular issued by Bangladesh Bank. l

Testimonies of two more recorded in Kibria murder casen Our Correspondent, Sylhet

A court in the district yesterday recorded testimonies of two witnesses in former Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria murder case.

District and Session Judge Court public prosecutor (PP) Advocate Kishore Kumar said Sylhet Special Tribunal had recorded the testimonies of Nazrul Islam and Mizanur Rahman.

The PP said 12 accused including Lutfoz-zaman Babar, former Minister of Home Af-fairs, and suspended Sylhet City Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury were produced before the court. Later, they were sent to jail.

The Trial Tribunal Judge Makbul Ahsan yesterday set Today for next hearing.

Kibria, a technocrat minister during the Awami League-led government’s 1996-2001 tenure, and four others were killed in the gre-nade attack when he was returning to Dhaka after attending a rally in Habiganj on January 27, 2005. Two cases were lodged in connec-tion with the attack.

Thirty-two people including Babar, Ariful and Harkat-ul-Jihad leader Mufti Hannan are accused in the case.

Of the accused, 15 are in jail, eight on bail while nine others are on the run.

The murder case is currently under trial at the Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal. l

Riding on elephants two people realise extortion from di� erent shops at Panthapath in the capital causing severe tra� c congestion in the area. The photo was taken on Monday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

News20DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Five held for snatching RMG products-laden covered van n Tribune Report

Police in a drive yesterday arrested � ve people from dif-ferent parts in Chittagong on charge of snatching a covered van carrying a huge quantity of readymade garment (RMG) products of a Sri Lankan fac-tory.

The arrestees were Miza-nur Rahman, 32, Md Mohsin Mollik, 35, Abu Bakkar Sid-dique, 26, Jakir Hossen, 30 and Jasim Uddin, 26.

O� cer-in-Charge of Ban-dar police station Md Mo-hiuddin Selim said police arrested Mizan, Mohsin and Bakkar from Sitakunda upazi-la while Jakir and Saddam from Saraipara and East Col-ony area.

A group of miscreants posing them as members of DB police had snatched the covered van carrying RMG products for Mars Intimate Bangladesh Limited which was coming from Benapol on November 12.

Later, being informed police recovered the RMG products conducting raids in city’s Teri Bazar area and the covered van was recovered from Rowfabad area under Bayezid police station at the same night.

OC Mohiuddin said the arrested � ve persons were the active members of organised covered van thieves-gang while they were accused in several cases � led for covered lifting. l

Man beaten to death over trivial matter n Our Correspondent, Chapainawabganj

A man was beaten to death by villagers at Da-katpara, Shibganj upazila, Chapainawabganj over trivial matter on Tuesday night.

Local people said corpse of a goat was found at the maize � eld of one Monsur Mia. Humayun Kobir, owner of the goat, alleged that Monsur and his supporters had killed the goat since the goat had been found in his � eld.

In the evening, an arbitration meeting was held to settle down the issue. At one stage of altercation, supporters of Humayun beat Monsur indiscriminately that left him dead on the spot. Three people – Ataur, Anisur and Tezammel – were injured.

O� cer-in-Charge of Shibganj police sta-tion said the body was sent to Chapainawab-ganj Sadar Hospital for a post-mortem exam-ination. A case was � led in this connection. l

Fifth-grader gang-raped in Narail n Our Correspondent,

Narail

A 14-year-old girl was hospi-talised in Narail’s Lohagara upazila after she was gang-raped on Tuesday evening.

The victim, a � fth-grader at a local school in Gandhabar-ia area, was violated by four men after she eloped with her boyfriend Monirul Islam.

Police said the four youths, led by Tuhin of Kalna village, confronted the girl and Mon-irul in Maitkumra area, and

took them forcefully to a near-by orchard.

The four took turns to rape the girl in front of Monirul, and also took away a mobile phone and Tk20,000 in cash from them before � eeing, ac-cording to police.

Lohagara police station Of-� cer-in-Charge Md Kamruz-zaman said police had detained Monirul for questioning.

“The girl has undergone a medical test,” he said, adding that a case would be � led in this connection. l

Farmers start preferring banana over paddy, wheat for more pro� t n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

Farmers in the district have shifted to banana cultivation instead of other crops as the cultivation of the fruit has proved pro� table.

According to Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources, banana was cultivated on 1200 hectares of land in � ve upazilas of the district this year.

The main crops of the district are paddy, wheat, jute, potato. Generally the farmers cultivate these crops. But in recent times, the nutritious fruit banana becomes a pro� table crop.

The banana varieties cultivated are Sagar, Sobri and Champa.

The farmers are cultivating the fruit

extensively in di� erent areas as the fruit brings a handful amount of money to them.

Besides, the soil, temperature, rainfall and other factors are suitable for banana cultivation. So, more and more farmers are being engaged in cultivating the fruit.

Cultivators Shaherul, Rabiul and Abdul Kader of di� erent villages of Sadar upazila said to cultivate banana on one bigha of land Tk30,000 to 35,000 is required. But after selling, the farmers get Tk50,000 to Tk60,000 on the same quantity of land.

They further said that once banana is transplanted, it gives crop for the four consecutive years.

After transplanting banana sapling,

banana can be harvested within 9 to 11 months. In one bigha of land, 300 to 400 banana saplings can be planted.

Banana trader Abdul Ga� ar of Birpara village under Akcha union of Sadar upazila said he purchases 100 clusters of banana at the rate of Tk15,000 to Tk16,000 which he sends to Dhaka, Chittagong and other parts of the country.

The fare of a truck-load of banana fruits is Tk15,000-17,000 from Thakurgaon to Dhaka, and he sells one truck-load at Tk100,000-105,000.

DAE Deputy Director Arshed Ali said: “Banana now becomes a cash crop. So the farmers have been cultivating banana extensively in the district.” l

21D

T

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015Dhaka Lit Fest

10:00AM – 10:45AMMUSIC: GHAASHPHORING CHOIR | Main StageLed by singer-songwriter Armeen Musa, the choir ensemble performs a medley of classics and original compositions.

11:00AM – 12:00PMINAUGURAL | Main Stage Keynote speech by Nayantara Sahgal. O� cial opening of DLF2015 by Honourable Minister for Finance, Mr Abul Maal A Muhith.

12:15PM – 1:30PMOPENING PLENARY: THE WORLD IS ROUND | Main Stage The opening plenary takes stock of the world as we � nd it with journalist Jon Snow, academic Ramachandra Guha, and founder of WOW – Women of the World Festival Movement Jude Kelly. Moderated by novelist and DLF directorK Anis Ahmed.

1:00PM – 2:00PMRvZxqZvev‡`i eË ‡f‡O | Bhasha Stage wbR¯̂ ms ‹̄…wZ‡K Rvb‡Z wkK‡o AvuK‡o _vKv bq, wkKo‡K, wbR ms ‹̄…wZ‡K Ab¨‡`i Rvbv‡Z RvZxqZvev‡`i e„Ë †f‡O AvšÍR©vwZK cvV‡Ki mvg‡b Kxfv‡e Dc ’̄vcb Ki‡eb, Avcbvi mvwnZ¨ Avcbvi ms ‹̄…wZ|Emerging from the con� nes of nationalism. Featuring Papree Rahman, Chanchal Ashraf, Ahmed Mostofa Kamal and Mahbub Aziz. Moderated by Faruk Wasif.

1:00PM – 2:00PMBOMBAY DUCK AND ALL THE MADE UP WORDS | KK Tea StageRenowned author, screenwriter and playwright Farrukh Dhondy discusses an ersatz journey into the hodge-podge that is Indian English. Where exactly do expressions like Bombay Duck and Gone Doolally come from? And is a language’s ability to invent endless nonsense a sign, too, of its health and vitality? In conversation with Khademul Islam.

2:15PM – 3:15PMA LIFE IN THEATRE | Main StageTwo veteran actors discuss a life in the cultural space. Asaduzzaman Noor in conversation with Aly Zaker.

†dmey‡Ki hy‡M mvwnZ¨ | Bhasha Stage¸nvwPÎ, ZvjcvZv A_ev KvM‡Ri eË †Q‡o I‡qe `Lj K‡i wb‡”Q Avcbvi Abyf~wZ cÖKv‡ki Ab¨Zg gva¨g| GB mg‡q †dmeyK Kx ai‡bi cÖwZeÜKZv wKsev Kx ai‡bi mn‡hvwMZv Ki‡Q wkí-mvwnZ¨ RM‡Zi gvby‡li|Literature in the age of Facebook: Social media and the literary world. Featuring Sakira Parveen, Zahid Sohag, Harun Rashid and Fatema Abedin Nazla. Moderated by Hammad Ali.

DISPLACEMENTS | KK Tea StageFeaturing Benyamin, Kunal Basu and Meike Ziervogel with Antara Ganguli.

WORLD ENGLISH POETRY | LawnLaunch of the contemporary World English Poetry anthology, published by Bengal Foundation, with poet and editor Sudeep Sen and literary critic Fakrul Alam.

UNWRITTEN | Cosmic Tent Storyteller Muthoni Garland enthralls with oral tales from Africa. For children aged 9-16 years.

3:30PM – 4:45 PMiex›`ª b„Z¨aviv | Main Stage A journey in the creation of Tagore’s dance forms, presented by Nritya Nandan.

WASAFIRI: BANGLADESH ON THE WORLD STAGE | Bhasha StagePresenting: The � rst time an acclaimed international literary journal has brought out a special issue on Bangladeshi writing. Guest editor Bangladeshi writer and poet Ahsan Akbar and writer K Anis Ahmed, in discussion with Wasa� ri editor Susheila Nasta. Sponsored by Wasa� ri, the Magazine of International Contemporary Writing.

mg‡qi KweZv mgvšÍ‡ii KweZv| | Lawnevsjv‡`‡ki wewfbœ cÖR‡b¥i Kwe‡`i KweZv cvV|Recitations by Bangladeshi poets from a cross-section of generations. Featuring Ruby Rahman, Asad Mannan, Nasir Ahmed, Jharna Rahman, Mohammad Sadique, Muhammad Samad, Farid Kabir, Shihab Shahriar, Kabir Humayun, Altaf Shahnewaz, Pias Majid, Quazi Rosy, Shamimul Haque Shamim, Musta� z Sha� , Shihab Sarkar and Sajjad Are� n. Moderated by Habibullah Sirajee.

FLY ON THE WINGS OF WORDS | Cosmic Tent A performance storytelling from Wingless by Paro Anand. For children aged 8 years+.

4:00PM – 5:00PMUNPLUGGED | Bardhaman House Presented by singer-songwriter Moon.

5:00PM – 6:00PMTHE PURPOSE, POTENTIAL, AND POLITICS OF SCIENCE | Main Stage Nobel Prize-winning scientist Harold Varmus gives a wide-ranging talk covering the excitement of basic science research, government and science policy, and the future of global healthcare.

BLAME | Bhasha StageBangladeshi-Swedish novelist Dilruba Z Ara in conversation with Shamsad Mortuza, marking the launch of her novel Blame, published by University Press Limited and set against the backdrop of Bangladesh’s War of Independence.

ROOTS | KK Tea StageAward-winning Palestinian poet, novelist and editor Ghassan Zaqtan, and translator and Palestinian–American poet Fady Joudah, talk to litterateur and academic Fakrul Alam.

THE BANGLADESH PARADOX | LAWN Panel discussion and launch of Himal Southasian’s

special issue on Bangladesh with contributors Afsan Chowdhury, Prashanta Tripura, Kasia Paprocki and Garga Chatterjee. Moderated by Himal editor Aunohita Mojumdar.

6:15PM – 7:15PMA CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE SEXES | Main Stage WOW founder Jude Kelly and veteran journalist Jon Snow on being a woman in a man’s world, and a man in a woman’s world. A WOW – Women of the World festival talk.

FIRE IN THE UNNAMEABLE COUNTRY |Bhasha Stage The launch of Canadian-Bangladeshi writer Ghalib Islam’s debut novel exploring existential themes in a post-apocalyptic setting, which has garnered international buzz for originality. Moderated by Ikhtisad Ahmed.

MAKING THE OBSCURE COMPELLING | KK Tea Stage Launch of the translation of a collection of Nasreen Jahan’s short stories by University Press Limited, which re� ect upon the enigma of the human condition, trapped within fragile mortal limits.

wkï mvwnZ¨ I AvewË | LAWN cvuPRb wkïmvwnwZ¨K KweZv co‡eb|Rhymes in Bangla featuring Ra� qul Haque Dadu Bhai, Mahamudullah, Faruk Nawaz, Anjir Liton, Raju Alim. Alam Talukdar and Jahanara Jaani. Moderated by Aslam Sani.

COMEDY: WHAT CAN’T IT SAY? | Cosmic TentComedians Naveed Mahbub and Asif Baul in conversation, mark the launch of Mahbub’s book Humorously Yours and Counting by Daily Star Books.

** The schedule is subject to change,check out the website to stay updated

Featured workshops

Looking to grab a bite in between sessions? Take a peek at one of these stalls if you’re craving something hot, cold, spicy or sweet.

• Thanda-Gorom• Utsho• Nawabi Catering• KK Tea• Roll Express• Bloop• Meena Sweets/Meena

Herbal• Just Juice• Kiva Han• Pizza Roma

11:00AM–11:40AM – PAPER-BASED ART WORKSHOPA look at the art of origami with Saudia Afrin“Origami is not as di� cult as it is thought to be. Ideal for children, this workshop will demonstrate some easy tutorials for making ordinary elements such as trees, houses, birds, look extraordinary. Let your creative juices � ow as you experiment folding those colourful papers.”- Saudia Afrin, Dhaka Tribune

12:15PM–12:55PM – ART WORKSHOP An Art Workshop led by Wedrawstu� will provide an opportunity to explore basic and intermediate drawing and sketching techniques.

1:30PM–2:00PM – POETRY WORKSHOPLed by Samira Sadeque, the participants will experience the process of composing short poems.Ampersand, a spoken word group, will be conducting a two-part workshop - the � rst leg of it will be held today and focus on the writing aspect. Participants will work with writing prompts provided by facilitators on the spot.“Our aim is to bring together people who tend to distant themselves from poetry. We want people to know that spoken word is for everyone - you don’t have to be a literature enthusiast for that. If you have a story in you, it’s a matter of writing it out. You don’t need fancy vocab, or excellent grammar skills - you just need to show up.”- Samira Sadeque, Dhaka Tribune

Ampersand will be holding their own spoken word performances on Saturday at 3:45pm at the Cosmic Stage.

4:15PM–5:00PM – SHORT WRITING WORKSHOP Join Dhaka Tribune’s features editor, Sabrina Fatma Ahmad, as she puts together a “light workout for the literary muscles” and let’s get writing.“Whether you’re a beginner writer, an experience but out of practice wordsmith looking to polish o� some cobwebs, or a seasoned scribbler just wanting to join in on the fun, we’ve got just the ticket.”- Sabrina Fatma Ahmad, Dhaka Tribune

Food stalls to look out for

Our top picks from today’s sessions

News22DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Sunday marked the first night of Le Méridien Dhaka, one of the capital city’s largest upscale hotels. Over 500 dignitaries from political, business and the art world gathered to experience the French brand’s signature programs intertwined with local arts and culture. The Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism of Bangladesh, Rashed Khan Menon, was the chief guest.

“We are excited to unlock the latest destination of Le Méridien in Dhaka through the celebrations, bringing a passion for contemporary arts to life amid a bustling city,” said Dilip Puri, managing director, India, and regional vice president, South Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. “The official opening event of Le Méridien Dhaka creatively weaves stark contrasts together through completely sensory elements to trigger curiosity, inspire, and encourage dialogue among our guests.”

Guests were welcomed at Le Méridien Hub, the innovative reinterpretation of the traditional lobby. The Hub features inspiring art installations, including Le Méridien Arrival artwork – an achromatic wooden masterpiece featuring the aerial view of Dhaka City’s cross-section. The work also encapsulates a time in history when the hotel was being constructed.

“We are honoured to partner with Starwood Hotels and Resorts for the first Le Méridien hotel in the country,” stated Amin Ahmad, chairman of Best Holdings Limited, the organisation which owns Le Méridien Dhaka. “Starwood is associated with crisp and professional

hospitality, while Le Méridien is a brand that personlises the experience for guests enhancing on elements of local hospitality. The combination seemed right for Bangladesh where the industry is now on the cusp of evolution.”

While Ashwani Nayar, the hotel’s general manager, who has been living in Dhaka the past two years, could confidently say, “I have come to observe that Dhaka is evolving. Always an enclave of rich cultural experience, the city is embracing modern forms of expression every day. The hotel, combining chic modern design with a focus on the arts, creative cuisine and inspiring local culture, elements that are integral to Le Méridien as a brand, will create uniquely memorable experiences and strengthen guest loyalty, one customer at a time.”

Following the opening ceremony which took place at the rooftop ballroom on floor 16, guests enjoyed a lively performance by popular folk band, Joler Gaan (Songs of the Water), known for their contemporary reinterpretation of Bangladeshi rural music, and a gourmet spread with live buffet stations featuring signature dishes from the hotel’s six dining venues.

To coincide with the First Night, Le Méridien Dhaka also invited members of the international media to explore the city through its 3C Discovery Tour (coordinates, culture, cuisine). The guests visited iconic architectural landmarks of the city, the Insitute of Fine Arts in Dhaka University, as well as the Bengal Art Lounge, the hotel’s Unlock Art partner, which curates

and documents contemporary art from Bangladesh. To experience authentic cuisine, the media persons also dined with celebrity chef Tony Khan.

Le Meridien Dhaka is located at 79/A

Commercial Area, Airport Road, Nikunja 2, Khilkhet, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh. For more information or to book, please visit www.lemeridien.com/dhaka. l

First night of Le Méridien Dhaka

For the � rst time in Bangladesh daraz.com.bd is bringing the concept of Black Friday in the name of FATAFATI Friday on November 27, 2015. On FATAFATI Friday there will unbelievable discounts on each and every category of product available on Daraz. 30% to 80% discount will be o� ered on favourite brands and more. Brands like Samsung, Lenovo, HP, Sharp, Microsoft, Sports World, Bata, Apex, including top fashion brands are participating at the biggest sale of the year.

Daraz always intends to give the best deals to its customer base, with their cash on delivery method, it ensures a reliable and hassle-free customer experience. Therefore, to make FATAFATI Friday even more fatafati, Daraz has tied up with EasyPayWay, as their Online PaymentPartner.

The signing ceremony took place on November 15 at the Daraz Bangladesh Ltd o� ce in Banani. Present at the event were Sumeet Singh, md and co-founder, Daraz Bangladesh Ltd and from EasyPayWay there were Riad Mohammad, managing director and Saaqeb Nayeem, CEO. Together they have introduced “Double Taka Voucher” to add double fun and double discounts during FATAFATI Friday.

The voucher can only be purchased online from daraz.com.bd using your

credit/debit card. It is available now and will only be sold until November 25, midnight. The voucher will be applicable from midnight of November 27-30.

This voucher will give you double the value of its purchase value. Which means, if you buy a Tk10,000 voucher and exercise it during FATAFATI Friday, you will get Tk20,000. Users will also get all the crazy discounts and deals available only on FATAFATI Friday, on top o� the voucher discount.

Categories of Double Taka Voucher

How the “Double Taka Voucher” works1. Visit the Double Taka Voucher

pagehttps://www.daraz.com.bd/fatafati-friday-double-taka/

2. Place your Double Taka Voucher order using your debit/credit card

3. The voucher will be delivered to you via e-mail within three hours of placing your order. Please note, THERE IS NO PHYSICAL DELIVERY OF VOUCHERS.

4. The voucher is pre-paid only through credit/debit card.

5. The vouchers are inactive now but will be double the value of the paid price during FATAFATI Friday Sale

from November 27-30, 2015 from midnight to midnight.

6. The voucher can be applied online during check-out point.

7. This deal is not applicable on cash on delivery.

8. One voucher per person, multiple purchases are not allowed. l

Daraz brings double taka voucher for FATAFATI Friday

Dhaka Lit Fest 23D

T

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

5 questions with Kunal BasunShuprova Tasneem

Kunal Basu is an Indian author of English � ction who has written � ve novels - The Opium Clerk (2001), The Miniaturist (2003), Racists (2006), The Yellow Emperor’s Cure (2011) and Kalkatta (2015). He has also written a collection of short stories, The Japanese Wife (2008), the title story of which has been made into a � lm by the Indian � lmmaker Aparna Sen.

He is one of the few Indian practitioners of historical � ction, and has recently published his latest novel, Kalkatta, and is set to participate in two sessions at the Dhaka Literary Festival 2015.

What role does history play in your latest novel, Kalkatta?While my previous historical novels were set in distant times, Kalkatta takes o� from the Partition. It harks back to the painful history of displacement, the cruelty of rejection that several thousands were forced to undergo through no fault of their own. While this novel is set in the present, it bears the scars of 1947 in the psyche of the key players.

Tell us about your latest novel. What motivated you to make the lead character a refugee from Bangladesh?The riots in the subcontinent during Partition left Bihari Muslims homeless. They left for what became East Pakistan. Sadly, there was no “home” to be found there, rendering them refugees for generations. My lead character Jamshed Alam, Jami, was born in Geneva camp in Bangladesh, as a third-generation refugee and arrived in Kolkata as a young boy with his family. For the likes of him, the dream is to belong, to become a permanent part of society which will accept them as one of their own. For his mother Ruksana, there is no greater dream than for her children to become true Kalkatta-wallahs and Kalkatta-walis, to forget the horror of camps. This dream powers Jami’s life, as it propels the story of this book. Will Jami succeed in breaking the curse of history, or will life defeat him yet again?

Tell us about your session at the Dhaka Literary Festival.As I understand, my session will be one of introducing Kalkatta to the audience - the crux of the novel, the settings and characters, as well as my journey as a writer as I navigated this story.

Have you ever travelled to Bangladesh before? I had visited Bangladesh - rather, the border areas - during the liberation war in 1971, carrying in supplies for the Muktibahini. I was very, very young then, and the trip was tinged with a great deal of romanticism, as you can imagine. This will be my � rst proper visit. Which Bengali isn’t enthralled with Bangladesh? This is my country, notwithstanding the sins of Partition. Three quarters of my ancestry is from here. But as a post-Partition person, I am not teary-eyed nostalgic about Bangladesh. I plan to cross immigration as a legitimate son of this soil.

Bangladeshi writers have recently been attacked by fundamentalists, and Indian writers are also protesting against right-wing Hindu nationalism. What is it like to be a writer in these times?I have just recently returned to Oxford from Paris, where I was witness to the 13th

November carnage. In French, the word “livre” for book and “libre” for liberty are similar sounding and almost synonymous. Books and writers stand for freedom. Writing back is the best o� ensive against the deranged lot of fundamentalists wherever they might be. l

Thursday, November 192:15PM – 3:15PMDISPLACEMENTS| KK Tea StageFeaturing Benyamin, Kunal Basu and Meike Ziervogal with Antara Ganguli.

Saturday, November 2110:30AM – 11:30AM KALKATTA | Bhasha StageNovelist and short story writer Kunal Basu in conversation with writers Wasi Ahmed and Tilottoma Majumdar. Moderated by Poulomi Sengupta. Marking the Bangladesh launch of Basu’s new novel Kalkatta.

Find Kunal Basu at:

Dhaka Lit Fest24DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Himal Southasian to explore Bangladeshi paradoxesnPromiti Prova Chowdhury

Dhaka Tribune interviews Aunohita Mojumdar, the editor of the magazine, Himal Southasian, which will launch a special issue at Dhaka Lit Fest today. Indian by birth, Mojumdar describes herself as a “South Asian by temperament.” She has spent 25 years reporting from parts of South Asia. She has been published in Al Jazeera, the Guardian, Outlook Magazine, the Hindu, Hindustan Times, Financial Times, BBC, NRC Handelsblad (Dutch), Times of India, and the Christian Science Monitor among others. Before arriving in Kathmandu in 2012, Aunohita was based in Kabul, Afghanistan for eight years as a freelancer.

What are your comments about the launch of the magazine at the Dhaka Lit Fest?We are delighted to have this opportunity to launch our special issue “The Bangladesh Paradox” at the Dhaka Literary Festival. While Himal has been reporting on Bangladesh for many years, we feel we need to do more and activate our relationship with old and new writers. So for us, this issue marks the beginning of a renewed engagement, not the culmination.

Our special issue on Bangladesh was planned quite some time ago, long before the current spate of violent attacks which have focused attention on the country. One key reason for the special issue was that despite sporadic bursts of interest, Bangladesh does not get the attention warranted by a country of its size, complexity and relevance, both within and beyond Southasia.

What do you look forward to experiencing at the fest?I think the festival is really important and also being held at an important time. Participating is an act of solidarity against e� orts to curb freedom of expression through violence, not just in Bangladesh but also in India. It is also important to be in Dhaka to counter e� orts to see this country through a single simplistic lens.

I can see from the festival programme that there are fantastic people participating, and the sessions all seem so interesting that I am having a real problem choosing.

As a lay person I look forward to being intellectually stimulated; as an editor I am hoping to interest some writers and journalists to write for our magazine; and as a Bengali I am looking forward to the chance to practice my mother tongue and to listen to a lots of poetry!

Can you please shed some light on the session that you are leading at the fest?Why doesn’t Bangladesh get the global attention it deserves? What explains the paradoxes that the country seems to present. For example the country’s ability to make advances in the area of health despite high levels of poverty or the con� ict between the democratic and authoritarian tendencies within the same policy.

The country o� ers many paradoxes, both positive and negative and it has a critical role in key debates in the region and beyond, as the frontier for many of the issues facing Southasia.

Our session, I hope, will explore some of these issues with some of our contributors who are in Bangladesh and have written about issues related to history, identity, development and climate change for our special issue.

Himal Southasian has already published analysis over the genocide during the Bangladeshi Liberation War 1971. Does it intend to focus on the recent killings of foreigners, bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh?We certainly think the attacks on Bangladeshi bloggers and others singled out for their views, or their identities is a serious issue. The threat perception it creates has a wider restrictive impact on freedom of speech and expression. However, we, in Himal Southasian do not allow any single issue to de� ne our reportage on a country. Through our consistent coverage we hope to make more people aware of why this country deserves far more attention.

These murders and the recent attacks in Paris indicate a jeopardy of secularism across the globe. How does Himal plan to work on that?Himal has been carrying a lot of articles on the threat to secularism in Southasia. However, we try and re� ect a more nuanced debate on some of these issues than the black and white polarised discussion that takes place around such attacks. After Charlie Hebdo, for example, we carried an article that raised questions about seeing freedom of expression as an absolute. Himal absolutely condemns the horri� c violence in Paris as elsewhere where ISIS has perpetrated it. However, I think it is important to also examine other forms and locations of violence, including those perpetrated by “legitimate” actions, and to examine the contexts of the violence as well.Nor should the focus be limited to the violence in the name of Islam. India has seen an increase in violent attacks as a result of a surge in the ultra right wing Hinduism. They are, according to me, part of the same continuum and should be examined within a broader social, economic and political context that can look at both causality and linkages. l

Bangladesh does not get the attention warranted by a country of its size, complexity and relevance, both within and beyond Southasia

25D

TSportINSIDE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Federer � oors Djokovic for semi-� nals spotRoger Federer got one over on world number one Novak Djokovic as the Swiss maestro booked his World Tour Finals last four spot with a straight sets victory on Tuesday. Federer triumphed 7-5, 6-2 in their group stage clash in London to hand the Serb his � rst indoor defeat in 39 matches. PAGE 26

All Blacks legend Lomu passes away at 40New Zealand rugby legend Jonah Lomu, who revolutionised wing play to become the sport’s � rst global superstar, breathed his last yesterday in Auckland at the age of 40, prompting a global outpouring of grief. Lomu had su� ered from kidney dis-ease for two decades and had a transplant in 2004. PAGE 27

I sent their entire country into retirement: ZlatanIt had been widely speculated that if Swe-den did not qualify for the tournament in France, Ibrahimovic would retire from international football; but he hit back at those suggestions in his own inimitable fashion. “Many questioned us, but we still had a chance.” PAGE 28

Bomb scare scraps Germany friendlyPolice called o� Germany’s friendly against the Netherlands in Hanover on Tuesday, citing a “serious” bomb threat just days after the Paris terror attacks left at least 129 people dead and more than 350 injured. It was the second high-pro� le friendly to be cancelled in the wake of Friday’s attacks. PAGE 29

Sylhet Super Stars captain Mush� qur Rahim greets former Bangladesh and current Rangpur Riders coach Shane Jurgensen (L) during their respective team practice for the Bangladesh Premier League at the BCB Academy ground yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Sylhet eye spot in BPL top twon Mazhar Uddin

After roping in a productive bunch of local and foreign cricketers in the players’ draft ceremony, Sylhet Super Stars will be eyeing the summit under the leadership of Tigers Test captain Mush� qur Rahim when the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 rolls on the � eld this Sunday.

The Super Stars will face a strong Chit-tagong Vikings side in their opening en-counter this Monday and according to Mush� q, his initial target will be to � nish in the top two at the conclusion of the group-stage matches.

“Obviously every cricketer has his own personal target but I think we want to play as a unit. What we could not achieve the last time, we want to overcome that and want to be in the race for the championship. However, it requires a great amount of luck and at the same time we have to display better cricket. But my � rst target would be to � nish in the top two after the � rst round as there are very little margins for error,” Mush� q informed the media yesterday at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

The Super Stars have a nice mixture of local and foreigners like Shahid Afridi, Kier-on Pollard, Ravi Bopara, Brad Hodge, Ajan-tha Mendis, Josh Cobb and Chris Jordan.

As far as the local cricketers are con-cerned, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Mo-

minul Haque and Nazmul Hossain Milon are likely to play pivotal roles for the Super Stars this season.

Rubel however, will be unavailable for the � rst few matches as the right-arm pace-man is recovering from a side-strain injury but Mush� q is con� dent that they will be able to put up a good show, irrespective of whether the national paceman plays or not.

“I think our team do not have any lack-ings as we have some very good fast bowl-ers and spinners in the side. We also have some hard-hitting batsmen and our top-or-der is pretty strong. We have a good mixture but have ensure of forming a formidable starting XI,” he said.

The wicketkeeper-batsman said BPL 3 will serve as good preparation ahead of the upcoming 2016 ICC World T20, sched-uled to be hosted by India, and added that the youngsters will also bene� t immensely from the cash-rich tournament. l

SLC � nally releases Dilshan and six more for BPLn Agencies

Sri Lanka Cricket took a u-turn from its pre-vious stance and agreed to release seven of its high-pro� le cricketers to play in the third Bangladesh Premier League. It was under-stood that the decision was taken in order to maintain a good relationship between the two cricket bodies - SLC and the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

As a result, SLC pushed back its domestic one-day tournament by a week. It was also learned that the decision might have come be-cause the SLC also want foreign cricketers, in-cluding Bangladeshis, to participate in its own Elite Championship Twenty20 in January.

SLC said the inaugural Elite Championship T20 would appear more attractive to sponsors and broadcasters if two foreigners featured in each of the � ve teams. Given the current international schedule and the money that is likely to be on o� er, SLC believes cricketers from Pakistan and Bangladesh are most likely to be drawn by the Elite Championship T20.

Jeevan Mendis, Ajantha Mendis, Tilla-karatne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, This-ara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake and Seek-kuge Prasanna are the seven players who obtained the No Objection Certi� cate.

Earlier last week, SLC opposed issuing NOCs to its centrally-contracted players largely be-cause their absence would have diluted the quality of the forthcoming Premier Limited Over Tournament. That tournament was originally scheduled to begin tomorrow, but it now appears likely to be put o� until around November 27, thanks to prevailing bad weather in Colombo.

As the BPL runs from this Sunday to De-cember 15, the cricketers leaving to Bangla-desh will miss several rounds of the Premier Limited Over Tournament in any case. How-ever, SLC o� cials said the home clubs had agreed to release these seven centrally-con-tracted players, and some players themselves had made appeals to be allowed to play in the BPL. The players had argued that BPL experi-ence would stand them in good stead come the Asia Cup in February next year, which will also be played in Bangladesh. All seven players released are likely to be in contention for Sri Lanka's Asia Cup squad, and indeed the 2016 ICC World T20 to follow.

In addition to the seven centrally-con-tracted players, two other Sri Lankans had already been con� rmed in the BPL - Kumar Sangakkara, who had been awarded a central contract but is now retired from internation-al cricket, and Dilshan Munaweera, who does not have a central contract. l

SQUADMush� qur Rahim (C), Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Mominul Haque, Nazmul Hossain

Milon, Ajantha Mendis, Chris Jordan, Shahid Afridi, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Bopara, Brad

Hodge, Josh Cobb, Nurul Hasan, Mohammad Shahid, Nazmul Islam Apu, Junaid Siddique,

Abu Sayem, Sohail Tanvir.

NOC RECEIVERSJeevan MendisAjantha Mendis

Tillakaratne DilshanChamara Kapugedera

Thisara PereraSachithra Senanayake

Seekkuge Prasanna

Sport26DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Federer � oors Djokovic for semi-� nals spotn AFP, United Kingdom

Roger Federer got one over on world num-ber one Novak Djokovic as the Swiss great booked his World Tour Finals last four spot with a straight sets victory on Tuesday.

Federer triumphed 7-5, 6-2 in their group stage clash in the packed 17,800-ca-pacity O2 Arena in London, winning the key points at crucial moments to hand the Serb his � rst indoor defeat in 39 matches - a winning run stretching back to 2012.

Triple defending champion Djokovic, on a 23-match winning streak, su� ered his � rst defeat since losing to Federer in the Cincinnati � nal on August 23.

But after becoming the � rst man through to this year’s semis, world num-ber three Federer insisted Djokovic was still the favourite to win the season-ending tournament, which is disputed between the top eight players on a hard court.

Earlier in the same group of four, Ja-pan’s Kei Nishikori gave his hopes of reaching the semis a major boost with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

“I know it’s a big win. Could help me for what’s to come in this tournament. It’s going to help me for next year. It’s always good beating Novak or any top player.

“Still, to me, Novak is still the favour-ite of the tournament.

“He should make his way to the semis somehow... and he’ll be the favourite in that probably, too, with the year he’s had. He’s far from gone.

“The way I know Novak, he’s going to � nd a way to be tougher to beat from now on.”

Victory for Djokovic in the � nal group match against Berdych on Thursday would see the Serb through to the semis; it would also prevent Nishikori from pro-gressing, regardless of whether the Japa-nese beats Federer. l

RESULTSKei Nishikori (JPN x8) bt Tomas Berdych

(CZE x6) 7-5, 3-6, 6-3Roger Federer (SUI x3) bt Novak

Djokovic (SRB x1) 7-5, 6-2

FIFA rejects Blatter, Platini appealsn AFP, Zurich

A FIFA appeal committee yesterday rejected a bid by long-time president Sepp Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini to overturn their 90-day suspensions while Swiss police pur-sue a criminal investigation.

The committee said it had “rejected in full” the appeals made by Blatter and Platini.

Both were suspended for 90 days on Octo-ber 7 after Swiss prosecutors launched a “crim-inal mismanagement” inquiry against Blatter who made a 2million dollar payment to Platini in 2011 for work carried out a decade earlier.

The suspension has been a severe blow to Platini’s hopes of winning a FIFA presidential election in Zurich on February 26 when Blat-ter stands down after 17 years in the post.

The sanction, banning him from all foot-ball-related activity, means that he is unable to campaign in the FIFA presidential race against the � ve con� rmed candidates, who have al-ready passed the required integrity tests.

Both Blatter and Platini have the pos-sibility of next taking their appeals before the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport for a � nal ruling.

Platini’s lawyers had already said that their client was “astounded” at how slow the process was for FIFA to decide on his appeal against the suspension.

The appeal was lodged with FIFA by the lawyers on October 10.

Platini’s suspension triggered a � urry of activity with the powerful Asian football chief Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa,

Prince Ali Al Hussein, former FIFA o� cial Je-rome Champagne, South African anti-apart-heid campaigner Tokyo Sexwale and UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino all throw-ing their hats into the ring.

The race is likely to be heavily shaped by whether the former France and Juventus mid� eld star is ultimately admitted, with In-fantino indicating he would stand aside if his UEFA boss quali� es for the vote.

But the rejection of the appeal means that, barring a successful approach to the CAS, everyone involved will have to wait until January 5 when the 90-day suspension ends.

The sanctions against Platini and Blatter come amid twin Swiss and US investigations into alleged widescale fraud and corruption at the heart of world football’s governing body. l

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is racing back to � tness in a bid to play against Real Madrid in the El Clasico at the Bernabeu on Saturday. But presum-ably during a few quiet minutes away from shuttle runs and burpees, the Argentine took the time to show o� his new boots, apparently designed spe-

cially for the clash. Named ‘Messi15’, the boots are notable for � ashes of red and green to form what is

rather referred to as the ‘Messi M-Shield’ logo

CLASSICO AWAITS ‘MESSI15’

Young Tigers up against Japann Tribune Report

High-� ying Bangladesh will lock horns with Japan in the second quarter-� nal of the Men’s Junior Asia Cup at Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan, Malaysia today at 2pm.

The young Tigers are just a step away from realising their dream of qualifying for the World Youth Hockey. If Bangladesh beat Japan and India beat Oman in their respective last-eight match-up then the youngsters in red and green will seal a berth in the WYH. Bangladesh earlier created a stir when they overcame Asian powerhouse South Korea 2-0 in their � nal Pool B match last Tuesday to � nish runners-up.

Before that, Bangladesh beat Oman 5-4 and lost to Pakistan 3-1. If Bangladesh defeat Japan today, they will face India in the semi-� nals. l

Sport 27D

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Boost for Klopp as injury-prone Sturridge returnsStriker Daniel Sturridge has returned to full training, taking him a step closer to making a � rst appearance under manager Juergen Klopp when Liverpool take on his former employers Manchester City on Saturday. The injury-prone England international missed the start of the season after returning from hip surgery and has made just three appearances this campaign.

–REUTERS

David Beckham named ‘Sexiest Man Alive’Retired English soccer star David Beckham, an international celebrity both on and o� the � eld, was named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” on Tuesday. “It’s a huge honor,” Beckham, 40, told People of being handed the title on its 30th anniversary. “I’m very pleased to accept.”

–REUTERS

De Villiers’ rain-ruined 100th Test ends in drawAB de Villiers’ 100th test � zzled out into a tame draw yesterday with cyclonic rains and a wet out� eld wiping out a fourth successive day in the second Test between India and South Africa at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The match had already seen three rained-out days on the trot and the morning drizzle prompted the match o� cials to call o� play around lunch time, with only 81 overs of the Test bowled.

–REUTERS

Neymar Sr: We’ll quit Spain if you continue probeNeymar’s transfer from Santos to Barca has been the subject of more than one long-running investigation and his native Brazil have also looked into the arrangement, with the tax o� ces of both countries involved. “We are talking about a contract renewal but we’re waiting to resolve some things that concern us,” Neymar Sr told Cadena SER, according to Marca.

–AGENCIES

O’Keefe a surprise call-up in Australia Test squadSteve O’Keefe was a surprise inclusion yesterday in Australia’s squad for the historic day-night Test next week against New Zealand, while Shaun Marsh and James Pattinson earned recalls. Left-armer O’Keefe, who made his Test debut against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates last year and has remained on the selection panel’s radar since, was added as an extra spin-bowling option ahead of Ashton Agar and Glenn Maxwell.

–AFP

Taylor steers Eng to 2-1 series lead over PakistanJames Taylor made a calm unbeaten 67 to lead England to a comfortable six-wicket victory over Pakistan in Sharjah on Tuesday and a 2-1 lead in the four-match one-day international series.

–REUTERS

QUICK BYTES

As part of their preparation for the upcoming Sa� Championship in India next month, Bangladesh football team left here for Kunming yesterday afternoon to take part in the Yunnan-Asean International Tournament in China, scheduled to kick o� tomorrow. Nasiruddin Chowdhury, Yeamin Munna and Sohel Rana did not travel with the 20-man squad, led by Italian head coach Fabio Lopez BFF

PARTICIPANTSLijiang, China Sondy Football Club and

Puer Marriott Football Club, Thailand SCG Muang Thong United, Hantharwady United FC in Myanmar, Sabah Football Association Kota Kinabalu Sabah Malaysia, Laos Golden

Triangle Special Zone Football, Vietnam (Hanoi T&T Football Club), Cambodia, Sri

Lanka and Bangladesh national team

VENUESMangshi City and Ruili City

in Dehong Prefecture

WINNERS POT1st RM 150,000

2nd RM 100,0003rd RM 80,0004th RM 50,000

BANGLADESH OFF TO CHINA

Shahriar not counting on foreigners onlyTigers discard not fretting over national return through BPLn Mazhar Uddin

Among all the local and foreign cricketers of Barisal Bulls, the forthcoming third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 will perhaps be the most important for for-mer Tigers vice-captain Shahriar Nafees.

The 30-year old southpaw, who last fea-tured for the Tigers two years ago across any format, will surely treat BPL 3 as a great opportunity to perform and stake a place for himself in the national set-up.

Following a successful � rst-class season in which Shahriar smashed back-to-back centu-ries, the money-spinning BPL comes at ex-actly the right time for the opening batsman.

The stylish opener however, informed the media yesterday at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium that he is only thinking about his own individual performance, rath-er than a much-deserved call-up to the na-tional side.

“Actually I am not thinking about the national team at the moment. I have been saying this a lot recently. Many would have thought that I am saying this out of anger but truth be told, I am only focusing on my per-formance,” he said.

And if I am able to perform and the selec-tors think that I will be appropriate for the national side, then I am ready for it. I have just � nished a good season in the NCL (Na-tional Cricket League) and if can continue to perform in the BPL, that can only be a good thing,” he added.

The Bulls will take on Shakib al Hasan’s Rangpur Riders in their opening match this Monday and captain Mahmudullah will no doubt be content with the formation of the Barisal side.

Besides the big-hitting Chris Gayle, the Bulls can also count on the likes of Kevon Cooper, Imad Wasim, Evin Lewis, Moham-mad Sami, Seekkuge Prasanna and Brendan

Taylor while the local players’ line-up com-prises Sabbir Rahman, Taijul Islam, Al Amin Hossain and Sohag Gazi.

Mehedi Maruf and Nadif Chowdhury, who are consistent domestic performers, com-plete the local cricketers’ quota.

Although the bulk of the work is expected to be done by the foreigners, Shahriar said a lot will depend on the local cricketers too if the Bulls are to progress to the latter stages of the tournament.

“Chris Gayle is a huge name but if we are not able to perform as a unit then we are not going to get the result in favour of us. We do not only want to depend on our foreign players. We want to win the title and in order to become champions, I think the local players should also try to perform. And I think our local players are � t and in form. If the local and foreign players can perform together then we will get our desired result,” he added. l

All Blacks legend Lomu diesn Reuters, Wellington

New Zealand rugby legend Jonah Lomu, who revolutionised wing play to become the sport’s � rst global superstar, died yesterday in Auckland at the age of 40, prompting a global outpouring of grief.

Lomu had su� ered from kidney disease for two decades and had a transplant in 2004 but former All Blacks doctor John Mayhew said his death was a complete shock.

“It was totally unexpected,” Mayhew said. “Jonah and his family arrived back from the United Kingdom last night and he suddenly died this morning.”

Lomu, who was awaiting another trans-plant and undergoing dialysis treatment, had undertaken commercial obligations at the

recent Rugby World Cup in England, won by New Zealand.

His death took the rugby-mad country by surprise and triggered a � ood of messages of condolence from around the world.

New Zealand’s parliament expressed their sorrow before they began proceedings yesterday.

“Anyone who was living in New Zealand in the 1990s would not have failed to notice the massive impact Jonah Lomu had not only on sports fans but the wider community in this country,” Sports Minister Jonathan Coleman said.

Lomu’s record of 37 tries in 63 tests was an impressive haul, all the more so considering he played much of his career with nephritic syn-drome, the disease that attacked his kidneys. l Jonah Lomu (1975-2015)

28DT Sport

Brazil’s Neymar Jr (L) controls the ball next to Peru’s Carlos Zambrano during their 2018 Fifa World Cup South American Quali� er in Salvador de Bahia on Tuesday while Colombia’s Carlos Bacca (R) vies for the ball with Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero and defender Ramiro Funes Mori in Barranquilla on the same day

PHOTOS: AFP

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

n Agencies

It had been widely speculated that if Sweden did not qualify for the tournament in France, Ibrahimovic would retire from international football; but he hit back at those suggestions in his own inimitable fashion.

“All of the chat before, and we took our-selves to the play-o� s. Many were disap-pointed with that, but we still had a chance.

“We got Denmark, everything was against us. We hadn’t won [against them], I hadn’t scored a goal, but we stayed patient.

“We knew what we wanted: the people who wanted to go to the European Championships most would get there, and that was us.”

The 34-year-old went on to add that he in-tends to bow out in style on the international stage next summer.

“It’s destiny that I get the chance to � nish at the European Championships,” he said.

“A lot of people complain that I’m old and weak, but it doesn’t look like that.”

Sweden overcame Denmark 4-3 on aggre-gate over the two legs after closing out a tense 2-2 draw at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen with Ibrahimovic’s brace proving vital. l

Sweden forward and team captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2L) celebrates with his teammates as they qualify for Euro 2016 in France after the second leg play-o� against Denmark at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on Tuesday AFP

I sent their entire country into retirement: Zlatan

Argentina, Brazil back on track, Chile crashn AFP, Uruguay

Argentina and Brazil reignited their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaigns with im-portant victories on Tuesday as Copa Ameri-ca champions Chile crashed to defeat in their grudge match with Uruguay.

Two-time World Cup winners Argentina - who had taken just two points from their � rst three matches - claimed their � rst win, downing Colombia 1-0 in Barranquilla thanks to a � rst half goal from Lucas Biglia.

Brazil meanwhile produced their best per-formance of the qualifying campaign to date with a 3-0 defeat of Peru in Salvador.

Bayern Munich star Douglas Costa scored one goal and created two others as Brazil swept aside the challenge of the Copa Ameri-ca semi-� nalists.

In Montevideo, Uruguay gained revenge for their stormy Copa America quarter-� nal defeat to Chile earlier this year with a 3-0 win.

The victory pushed Uruguay up to second

place in the standings with nine points from four games, three points adrift of surprise early pacesetters Ecuador, who made it four wins out of four on Tuesday with a 3-1 win over Venezuela.

Brazil’s victory over Peru left them in third place with seven points, ahead of Paraguay and Chile on goal di� erence.

Argentina’s win in Colombia lifted them to sixth, just outside the top � ve qualifying spots.

But the Argentinians will feel con� dent that they can mount a charge back up the ta-ble when quali� ers resume in March, when injured stars Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez should all be � t and available once more.

The pressure on coach Gerardo Martino was eased by Biglia’s 19th-minute goal, the Lazio mid� elder tapping in after Cristian Zapata failed to deal with Ezequiel Lavezzi’s low cross.

“We deserved to win, it is fair. We could have scored another goal,” said Martino, who

said his happiness was more for his players than for himself.

Five-time champions Brazil had a virtuoso performance from Costa to thank for their win.

The Bayern star opened the scoring with a tap-in on 22 minutes from Willian’s low cross and then turned provider with a jinking run and pass for Renato Augusto for Brazil’s sec-ond on 57 minutes.

Brazil’s third came when Costa’s � erce strike was parried away by Peru keeper Diego Penny, leaving a simple � nish for Filipe Luis on the rebound.

In Montevideo, all eyes were on Chile defender Gonzalo Jara and Uruguay strik-er Edinson Cavani as the two men lined up against each other for the � rst time since their infamous clash in the Copa America in June.

On that occasion Cavani was sent o� after lashing out at Jara when the Chilean defend-er attempted to poke a � nger into the Uru-guayan striker’s backside. l

STANDINGS P W D L PTS

Ecuador 4 4 0 0 12

Uruguay 4 3 0 1 9

Brazil 4 2 1 1 7

Paraguay 4 2 1 1 7

Chile 4 2 1 1 7

Argentina 4 1 2 1 5

Colombia 4 1 1 2 4

Bolivia 4 1 0 3 3

Peru 4 1 0 3 3

Venezuela 4 0 0 4 0

Colombia 0-1 Argentina Biglia 19

Venezuela 1-3 EcuadorJ. Martinez 84 F. Martinez 14, Montero 22, Caicedo 60

Uruguay 3-0 ChileGodin 23, Pereira 61, Caceres 65

Paraguay 2-1 BoliviaLezcano 61, Barrios 64 Duk 59

Brazil 3-0 PeruCosta 22, Augusto 57, Filipe Luis 76

RESULTS

Sport 29D

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Star Sports 27:20 PMIndian Super LeagueDelhi Dynamos FC v FC Pune City Star Sports 48:00 PM, 2:00 AMATP 1000 MastersBarclays ATP World Tour Finals London Ten Action3:00 PMA-LeagueMelbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners

DAY’S WATCH

The France team are pictured as they sing their national anthem before the start of the friendly football match against England at Wembley Stadium in west London on Tuesday AFP

Russia 1-3 CroatiaSmolov 15 Kalinic 57, Brozovic 60, Mandzukic 82

Azerbaijan 2-1 MoldovaKarp 33-og, Antoniuc 44Ramazanov 50

Macedonia 0-1 Lebanon Oumari 47

Estonia 3-0 St. Kitts and NevisAntonov 29, Vassilijev 50, Puri 57

Turkey 0-0 Greece

Luxembourg 0-2 Portugal Andre 31, Nani 88

Austria 1-2 SwitzerlandAlaba 13 Seferovic 9, 38

Italy 2-2 RomaniaMarchisio 55-P, Stancu 8, Gabbiadini 66 Andone 88

Poland 3-1 Czech RepublicMilik 3, Jodlowiec 12, Krejci 41Grosicki 70

Slovakia 3-1 IcelandMak 58, 61, Duris 84 Finnbogason 8

England 2-0 FranceAlli 39, Rooney 48

RESULTS

MU wonder-boy Martial leaves Wembley on crutchesn Reuters, London

France’s Manchester United striker Anthony Martial left Wembley Stadium on crutches with his left foot strapped after su� ering an injury in the 2-0 friendly defeat by England on Tuesday.

France coach Didier Deschamps did not reveal the extent of the injury to 19-year-old Martial, who was substituted in the 67th minute, but played down concerns it was serious.

“He was in quite a bit of pain after the match,” said Deschamps. “He got a kick in the penalty area. I think it’s just a knock rather than anything else to the top of his foot.”

United have lost Antonio Valencia (foot) for � ve months while Michael Carrick (ankle) had to pull out of the France game. They visit Watford in the Premier League on Saturday. l

Bomb scare scraps Germany friendly, tributes paid at Wembleyn AFP, Paris

Police called o� Germany’s friendly against the Netherlands in Hanover on Tuesday, cit-ing a “serious” bomb threat just days after the Paris terror attacks left at least 129 people dead and more than 350 injured.

It was the second high-pro� le friendly to be cancelled in the wake of Friday’s attacks in the French capital, following an earlier decision by Belgian authorities to postpone the country’s game against Spain in Brussels amid security fears.

At London’s Wembley Stadium, a moving rendition of the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise”, reverberated around the ground as players and fans from both England and France paid tribute to Friday’s victims.

The French anthem was also played ahead of Italy’s game against Romania at Bologna’s Rena-

to Dall’Ara stadium, to honour the Paris victims as well as those who perished in a Bucharest nightclub � re that killed 56 people last month.

Germany’s players and coaching sta� were already shaken by Friday’s events in Paris, having stayed at the Stade de France until the early hours of Saturday morning be-fore returning home.

Head coach Joachim Loew had labelled Tuesday’s match as “a symbol of freedom”, but instead it was scrapped just 90 minutes before the scheduled 20:45 kick-o� local time (1945 GMT) with fans evacuated from the 49,000-capacity HDI Arena.

Hanover city police chief Volker Kluwe said there had been “serious plans to cause an ex-plosion” inside the stadium and that authori-ties had acted on a “concrete threat scenario”.

Meanwhile, France’s friendly with Eng-land went ahead as scheduled, serving as the

focal point of tributes.Armed police patrolled Wembley, where

many among a crowd of around 80,000 that included British Prime Minister David Cam-eron and Prince William stood to sing “La Marseillaise” as the words were displayed on the stadium’s big screen.

Prior to the anthems, and a solemnly ob-served minute’s silence, � gures including Prince William, France coach Didier Des-champs, England manager Roy Hodgson, French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet and his English counterpart Greg Dyke laid � oral tributes beside the pitch.

19-year-old mid� elder Dele Alli scored a stunning long-range goal on his full England debut with captain Wayne Rooney netting a second goal early in the second half as the hosts beat a grieving France 2-0 on a particu-larly emotional night. l

Euro-2016 pots unveiledUEFA yesterday revealed its coe� cient seeds for Euro 2016, determining which nations go into which of the four pots for the December 12 draw.

Performances at Euro 2012 (20 percent), the 2014 World Cup (40) and results during the Euro 2016 quali� ers (40) were taken into account to settle upon the seeds and there-fore which team went into which pot.

One team from each pot will be drawn to go into each of the six groups.

The 2016 tournament (June 10 - July 10) is the � rst to feature 24 nations. From the initial six round-robin groups from which the top two teams and the four best third placed teams then go into a last-16 direct knock-out format. l

Downtime30DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 15 represents N so � ll N every time the � gure 15 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them 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.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS1 Puzzling questions (6)6 Rodent (3)9 Old saying (5)10 Large volume (4)11 Fruit (5)12 Monkey (3)13 Male honey-bees (6)15 Period of time (4)18 Part of a castle (4)21 Long narrow eleva-tions (6) 24 Tool (3)25 Sun-dried brick (5)28 Colour (4)29 Finds pleasing (5)30 Attempt (3)21 Held principles (6)

DOWN 1 Paralysis (5)2 Lyric poem (3)3 Dance (5)4 Self (3)5 Tear (4)6 Soft sheepskin leather (4) 7 Electrical unit (6)8 English river (4)14 Tree (3)16 Panacea (6)17 Floor covering (3)19 Summon (5)20 Newspapers (5)21 Deeply engrossed (4)22 Refuse to admit (4)23 Auction (4)26 Loud noise (3)27 Wager (3)

SUDOKU

Showtime 31D

TTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

n Nadira Sultana Ava

Rahul Ananda, the leading lyricist, composer and vocals behind folk-fusion band Joler

Gaan, mesmerised audience at Dhaka International Folk Festival (DIFF) at the Army Stadium. With DIFF concluding on Saturday, Ananda and Joler Gaan stages a thrilling performance.

The band performed only six of their magni� cent numbers including Pakhir Gaan, Bakul Phul, Jhora Patar Gaan, Ai Pagol, Patar Gaan and Chondoni. At the end of their performance, they paved way for the Irish band Niamh Ni Charra with a fusion piece which was the perfect example of East meeting the West.

Recently, Rahul sat with this reporter to talk about the band’s performance in the DIFF and more.

“I intentionally fuse folk tunes and traditional elements in contemporary songs like the song Ai Pagol. The song is about contemporary men but I

added a traditional Kirton tune and music to it,” he revealed when discussing how he adds the fusion element to his music.

Rahul also justi� ed why they render patriotic songs such as Dhono dhanno pushpo bhora in their performances. He said: “If you can’t make your audience a part of your creation, can’t make them feel involved; it fails to qualify as a form of art.”

“Personally, I worship beauty and try to do anything that’s beautiful– sometimes using Joler Gaan’s platform, sometimes through my pen and sometimes through theater. My aim is to represent the culture of my country as beautifully and humanely as possible,” he continued while talking about his perception of art and how he practises this artform.

About the fusion piece with Irish Band he added, “Joler Gaan and the Irish Band were able to connect through the universal language of music – that universal language that transcends the barriers of any language.”

“In the country, such large-scale concerts seldom take place. The festival was a welcome move, and quite a successful one at that. It provided a platform for the reunion of souls, an occasion for rejoicing with friends and families all coming together to listen to music,” Rahul’s commented on the � rst staging of DIFF.

A multi-instrument player, Rahul, is adept in di� erent types of wind instrument and at DIFF, he stunned audiences when he mastered the Shonkho. He blew through this instrument, with the music lasting a couple of minutes, all done using one single breath. Sometimes, he also tries to invent new instruments and one such instrument called “Pagli” was played at the festival.l

In conversation with Joler Gaan’s frontman Rahul Ananda

Godzilla9:30pm HBOGodzilla 2014 is a movie where a giant eating monsters known as Godzilla comes into the world after 15 years of human scienti� c discovery who turn large, destructive & threaten to humanity. Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston

Transporter 35:08pm WBFrank Martin puts the driving gloves on to deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukranian government o� cial, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he has to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina’s safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.Cast: Jason Statham, Robert Knepper, Natalya Rudakova

WHAT TO WATCH

Back Page32DT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

PEN expresses solidarity with DLFn Tribune Desk

Two members of PEN have expressed solidarity with the Dhaka Lit Fest (DLF) that kicks o� today.

In a letter signed by Jo Glanville, director of English PEN, and Salil Tripathi, chair of the Writers in Prison Com-mittee of PEN International, and sent to the organisers of the DLF yesterday, they said the festival should go ahead as planned.

“We believe that it is important for the festival to go ahead as planned, and we hope that the writers you have invited will be coming to the festival,” the letter addressed to Kazi Anis Ahmed, Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi and Ahsan Akbar reads.

“However, the tragic events of the last few months may make some participants feel concerned. We under-stand that a number of writers invited to attend the festival are considering pulling out or have already done so due to concerns regarding safety and security in the country.

“We also understand that you have reached out to all

invitees to reassure them,” the letter reads.

Glanville and Tripathi said the recent murders of blog-gers Ananta Bijoy Das, Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahman Babu and Niloy Chakrabarti and publisher Faisal Are� n Dipan have been of grave concern to them.

They said writers’ not attending the festival does not re� ect on the event. “Some who would wish to attend and to show solidarity with you, the organisers, simply do not feel safe enough to do so, de-spite the signi� cant steps the festival has taken to improve security.”

The letter ends with: “We stand with you in solidarity and hope that the Bangladeshi government will do all in its power to ensure that the festival is able to go ahead by providing the necessary protection and security measures.”

PEN International is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual cooperation. Eng-lish PEN is the founding centre of PEN International. l

Dhaka Lit Fest begins todayn Nure Alam Durjoy

The preeminent international literary con-clave of the country, Dhaka Lit Fest, begins today at the Bangla Academy on the Dhaka University campus.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith, a student of literature himself, will open the three-day event at 10am.

The � rst day is being especially antici-pated for featuring Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus. He will talk from 5pm to 6pm on the Main Stage on the excitement of basic science research, government and science policy, and the future of global health care.

An original composition of a musical choir by Armeen Musa will be the special attrac-tion of the opening ceremony.

Doors will remain open for visitors from 9am to 7pm until Saturday. Visitors will have to register for free – either online or with the booths at the venue – to join the festival.

Yesterday afternoon, the organisers were nearly done with the preparations – the entire Bangla Academy complex was decorated col-ourfully and around 40 stalls have been set up.

Seven stages have been set up at di� er-ent points on the premises; the guests from home and abroad will grace the numerous

sessions with their presence, speeches, dis-cussions and dialogues.

Dhaka Tribune, the title sponsor of the event, and Bangla Tribune have published special bulletins in English and Bangla re-spectively, detailing schedule, map to the venue and brief biographies of participants.

The information is also available on the festival’s o� cial website http://dhakalitfest.com.

The road adjacent to the Bangla Acade-my – leading from the TSC roundabout to the Doyel roundabout – will be a one-way road. Only participants will be allowed to use that road.

Registered participants bringing person-al vehicles will able to enter through the TSC point only and leave through the Doyel point. They will also have to collect parking stickers for their vehicles from a booth set up at the TSC.

The festival-bound vehicles with stickers can be parked in the Suhrawardy Udyan near the Ramna Kali Temple, opposite the festival venue.

The Shahbagh police station authorities said yesterday that they have made special security arrangements for the festival in and around its venue. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial 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