july 23, 2015

Resolute Tigers eye � rst-innings leadn Minhaz Uddin Khan from Chittagong

Half-centuries from opener Tamim Iqbal and middle-order batsman Mahmudu-llah saw hosts Bang-ladesh continue

their good run over the world’s number one Test side South Africa following the second day’s play of the opening � ve-dayer at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.

Prior to yesterday’s start of proceedings, the Tigers were in the driving seat, thanks to the bowlers, and the batsmen ensured capi-talisation of the advantage as they ended the day on 179/4, trailing the visitors’ � rst-innings tally by 69 runs.

The rain-break in the post-tea session should come as a blessing for the Proteas bowling department. Despite occasional breakthroughs, the South Africans largely

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

PAGE 3Zafrullah given more time to explain his comments

PAGE 9India, Japan, US plan Indian Ocean war games

PAGE 4Ctg mayor, Feni MP acquitted from murder attempt charges

PAGE 329th grader gang-raped in Lalbagh

PAGE 5Home minister: E� orts on to extradite Rajon’s killer

SECOND EDITION

$2BN INDIAN CREDIT LIKELY BY AUGUST PAGE 3

‘OLDEST’ QURA’N FRAGMENTS FOUND IN UKPAGE 32

DHAKA-ASHULIA EXPRESSWAY HALVED PAGE 5

THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015 | Shraban 8, 1422, Shawwal 6, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 97 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

The what-not-to-do manual of politics

Over the last nine years, the BNP has typically dealt with its own failures by taking time to regroup and reorganise. But the much touted – and much needed – reorganisation of the party has never actually taken place. Instead, the party has experienced an unrelenting losing streak and fallen into increasing disarray. In this series, the Dhaka Tribune looks into why the party has not been able to put its house in order in nearly a decade. This is the second part of the report

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

When the BNP stepped down in 2006 after completing its third tenure, nobody would have thought that it was the closest the party was ever going to get to having state power again.

Nine years later in 2015, with no rep-resentation even in parliament because of a national election boycott in 2014, the party that ruled the country three times since 1979, now appears to be the farthest from forming a government.

This is also the � rst time that the party has ever been totally out of the Jatiya Sangsad – neither as the treasury nor the opposition – since parliamentary democracy was rein-stalled in Bangladesh in 1991.

Given the importance of being part of the legislature in parliamentary democracy, the boycott and failure to prevent the election despite bloody street protests meant that the BNP – who had never had any shortage of public support – was now on the wrong side of the political spectrum.

According to noted political researcher Rounaq Jahan: “Political leaders have recent-ly been promising that they would strengthen

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Nine minors among 155 repatriatedfrom Myanmarn Adil Sakhawat with Our

Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

Myanmar yesterday repatriated 155 Bangla-deshi people including nine children, who had been rescued at sea on May 29 on their way to Malaysia illegally.

Myanmar’s immigration department and Border Guard Police (BGP) handed them over to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) per-sonnel after a brief � ag meeting at Bekubunia BGP camp in Maungdaw.

The BGB delegation, led by BGB 17 Com-manding O� cer Lt Col Md Rabiul Islam, returned to the country with the identi� ed Bangladeshis around 3:30pm through the Ghumdhum border in Naikkhyangchhari upazila of Bandarban, says a press release is-sued by the Ministry of Foreign A� airs.

After the handover process, Sha Naing, PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

The third batch of 155 Bangladesh nationals, who were rescued from Myanmar’s sea territory on May 29, are being repatriated yesterday. The photo was taken at Ghundum border point in Naikhyongchhari upazila of Bandarban district DHAKA TRIBUNE

NEWS 3D

TTHURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015

$2bn Indian line of credit likely � nalised by Augustn Asif Showkat Kallol

A second line of credit from India worth $2bn is likely to be � nalised in August, as Bangla-deshi o� cials meet to work out the terms of the loan contract, described by some o� cials as “harsh.”

The Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank), which will extend the loan, proposes to invest in seven sectors, namely, power, railways, road transportation, information and communication technology, shipping, health and technical education.

An inter-ministerial meeting has been called by Bangladesh’s Economic Relations Division (ERD) on August 2 to review the “harsh conditions” set by Exim Bank and to prepare for negotiations with the Indian side, an ERD o� cial, asking not to be named, said.

ERD Additional Secretary Mohammad Asif-uz-Zaman is likely to preside over the meeting, the o� cial said.

The ERD o� cial said the $2 billion loan con-tract would be signed with India’s Exim Bank within the next two months. The Indian and Bangladeshi governments have signed a mem-orandum of understanding in this regard.

According to the draft loan agreement, the contract will be signed between the govern-ment of Bangladesh and the Export-Import Bank of India.

The proposed interest rate for the dol-lar-denominated line of credit is 1% per year, but in the event of default, the interest rate will increase to 2% per year. The proposed commitment fee for the credit line is 0.5% per year, according to the draft agreement.

Under the proposed agreement, goods

and services, including consultancy services, worth at least 75% of the contract price must be supplied by Indian � rms, but will be pro-cured by Bangladesh. The remaining 25% of goods and services to be procured by Bangla-desh must have Indian consent.

Procurements will be made via competi-tive bidding and will be publicised in the lo-cal and Indian press, but India’s Exim Bank will approve Indian bids. Moreover, the Ex-port-Import Bank of India will not be held li-able for the cancellation or suspension of the procurement of any good or service, accord-ing to the draft agreement.

Bangladeshi authorities will inspect the goods and services and will submit a status report on the execution of each contract every six months until the contracts are ful� lled.

A Finance Division o� cial said if the Indi-

an side invests in the two proposed economic zones at Bheramara and Mongla, the funds will be released quickly. But if the $2bn In-dian credit line is invested in an assortment of development projects, disbursements will take longer.

Before the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays, Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran visited the proposed economic zones at Bheramara and Mongla and spoke about the construction of connecting roads and development infra-structure there, the � nance o� cial, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

The � nance o� cial said the Indian cred-it line had not been included in this year’s budget allocation.

India provided Bangladesh the � rst $1bn soft loan in 2010, during the tenure of former prime minister Manmohan Singh. l

Zafrullah given more time to explain his commentsn Tribune Report

The International Crimes Tribunal 2 has giv-en Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury two more weeks to explain his comments on its judges.

A Magsaysay award-winner and a freedom � ghter, Zafrullah was supposed to place his reply yesterday. But he sought more time ap-

pearing before the tribunal earlier in day.Accepting his petition, the three-member

tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan � xed August 5 for submission of the explanation.

On July 12, he was asked to appear before the tribunal and explain “why he would not be punished for contemptuous remarks.” The tribunal order came in response to a petition � led by pro-government activists on July 6.

The petition says that Zafrullah made con-temptuous comments before the media on June 10. On that day the court found him guilty of contempt of court, imprisoned him at the courtroom for an hour and � ned him Tk5,000 for criticising the punishment of Bangla-desh-based UK journalist David Bergman.

According to media reports, Zafrullah said: “Today’s contempt of court verdict is the

proof of mental sickness of the three judges.”On June 16, the Supreme Court stayed until

July 5 the tribunal’s verdict that � ned Zafrul-lah Tk5,000. However, on June 18, the tribu-nal issued arrest warrant against the freedom � ghter “for his failure in paying the money.”

On June 21, the tribunal recalled it after Za-frullah submitted a Supreme Court stay order with his petition. l

Charge sheets � led against 58 BNP leadersn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The police have submitted two charge sheets against 58 BNP leaders and activists, including standing committee members Barrister Ra� qul Islam Miah and MK Anwar, in a case � led over an arson attack on a vehicle on January 23.

Md Muraduzzman, sub-inspector of Jatra-bari police station and also the investigation o� cer of the case, submitted the charge sheets with the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court yesterday.

The IO also � led a petition for discharging 16 other accused from the allegations as the allegations brought against them were not proved during primary investigation.

One of the charge sheets was submitted under the Explosive Substances Act while the other was submitted under the penal code.

General Recording O� ce Sub-Inspector Ujir Ali said the charge sheets would be pro-duced before the court on August 2.

The other charge-sheeted accused include Ad-vocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Amanullah Aman, Barkatullah Bulu, Seli-ma Rahman, Serin Sultana, Maruf Kamal Khan, Shimul Biswas, Journalist Shawkat Mahmud, Mir Sharafat Ali Sapu, Azizul Bari Helal, former MP Salauddin Ahmed and Nabiullah Nabi.

According to the case statement, mis-creants hurled a petrol bomb and torched a vehicle of Tarab Paribahan in front of Kajla Mohila Madrasa at the capital’s Jatrabari area on January 23 during the blockade-hartal pro-gramme of the BNP-led alliance.

A day after the incident, SI Abdullah Biswas � led a case with Jatrabari police sta-tion in this regard. l

A girl uses an empty drum in an e� ort to scoop out the ankle-deep rainwater that had inundated her family's room near the DND dam area in Kodomtoli of Narayanganj yesterday. During monsoon, water inundation becomes a regular headache for the locals in the area DHAKA TRIBUNE

NEWS4DT

THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015

Ctg mayor, Feni MP acquitted from murder attempt charges n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday acquitted city Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin, Feni-based Awami League lawmaker Nizam Uddin Hazari and 16 others in a case � led over the murder attempt on a Bangladesh Chhatra League leader in 1993.

Chittagong District and Sessions Judge SM Nurul Huda delivered the verdict in the morn-ing about 22 years after of the case had been lodged, said court sources.

Apart from Nasir and Hazari, Chittagong city Panel Mayor Chowdhury Hasan Mahmud Hasni, former Chhatra League leaders Khor-shed Alam, Shahidul Islam Mintu, Simanto Talukder, Shamsul Huda Mintu, Wahidul

Alam Shimul, Sha� Dobhas, Shakil Mahmud, Shahnewaj Saki, Faruk Ahmed, Sokul Chan-dra Das, Minhajur Rahman, Raihan Yusuf, Sohrab Hossain Majumder, Imran Yusuf and Abdul Mannan were also acquitted.

Apart from three on the run, 15 of the ac-cused appeared before the court yesterday.

“There were also dissimilarities among the depositions given by the witnesses and the plainti� said he did not want any preven-tion,” said Chittagong Public Prosecutor Abul Hashem.

On January 24, 1993, Chittagong city unit Chhatra League’s then publicity secretary Su� -an Siddique � led the case against 19 people ac-cusing them of trying to kill him during a clash at a rally of Sheikh Hasina at Laldighi ground.

Police submitted charge sheet against 18 accused on March 7, 1993. Eight out of the 12 witnesses testi� ed at the court. A defence plea for reexamination was turned down.

Later, AJM Nasir lodged a revision case with the High Court in 1994 after which the proceed-ings of the cases remained stalled until 2014.

On March 9, 2014, an HC bench ordered for the disposal of the revision, � nishing the case procedures in six months and recalling the � rst eight witnesses. Following that order, proceedings resumed on April 6.

The court rerecorded the deposition of those eight witnesses and seven new ones mentioned in the charge sheet. Finally, all the proceedings of the case were wrapped up on July 14. l

CU BCL president ditches murder allegationn FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong

Alamgir Tipu, the newly-selected president of Bangladesh Chha-tra League’s Chittagong University unit, has denied having any involvement with the 2013 double murder that took place in the port city’s CRB area.

“I have no involvement with the double murder incident. I even did not know about the killings before my arrest,” Chhatra League President Tipu said during a press conference at Chit-tagong Press Club yesterday.

“My name is not mentioned in the case � led by the mother of a deceased. Kotwali police arrested me along with my senior po-litical brother Saiful Islam Limon the day the murder took place,” he said citing the case statement.

Dhaka Tribune ran a report tiled “Murder suspect made presi-dent of CU Chhatra League committee” on July 21.

Two people were killed on June 24, 2013 when members of two rival groups of Chhatra League clashed in CRB area over the submission of tender documents.

Apart from the victim’s family, Kotwali police � led anoth-er case in which Tipu, then organising secretary of the unit, is named as an accused.

He was freed on bail on August 4 the same year. The Detective Branch of police is investigating the case.

The new general secretary, HM Fazly Rabbi Sujon, is also ac-cused in a case � led under the explosives act over trading gun shots between two groups of Chhatra League on September 27 last year at a dormitory. He is also on bail.

The new committee was formed on July 20. Central General Secretary Siddique Nazmul Alam earlier told the Dhaka Tribune that they had selected the leaders based on information gathered from the detectives, locals and political leaders in Chittagong and the local policymakers.

The previous committee was dissolved on June 10 last year af-ter a factional clash on the campus.

At least � ve bloody clashes took place after the committee had been dissolved leaving a Chhatra League activist killed.

At yesterday’s press conference, the top Chhatra League lead-ers promised to stop factional clashes, making the campus free from anti-liberation forces and ensuring congenial atmosphere on the campus.

The new committee leaders also placed 10 demands asking the university authorities to ease session jam, increasing shuttle train compartments and arranging residential facilities for the female students. l

Cricketers receive electricity connectionsn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Rural Electri� cation Board (REB) has given electricity connections to 238 sub-scribers in Mohishdanga village under Sat-khira’s Ashashuni upazila including Soumya Sarkar, an allrounder and a top-order bats-man of Bangladesh cricket team.

The task was done on July 14, upon the completion of construction of a two-kilo-metre electricity line in the area following the order of REB chairman, said a press release.

Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque, former MP Monsur Ahmed, Satkhira District Admin-istrator Nazmul Ahsan, Ashashuni Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Momtaj Begum were present at the inauguration. Power connection was also given to the house of Mosta� zur Rahman, a Bangladeshi left-arm fast bowler, in Tetulia village under Kaliganj upazila of the same dis-trict two months back, the release said. l

NEWS 5D


CNG-run autorickshaws banned on highwaysn Shohel Mamun

The government has decided to ban CNG-run autorickshaws on the country’s highways with a view to reducing road accidents, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday.

Speaking at a press brie� ng in his o� ce at the Secretariat, the minister further said the authorities had also decided to make it man-datory to assign at least two drivers to every long-haul bus during a trip.

He said reckless driving was the main rea-son behind the road accidents that claimed the lives during the Eid holidays, refuting the allegations of faulty roads.

Talking about accident-prone areas on the highways, the minister said: “We have identi� ed four such black spots in Sirajganj. We have taken some steps to solve this problem, and will start with construction of road divider on the roads, similar to Dhaka-Aricha road.”

He said tra� c situation on Dhaka-Tangail highway collapsed before Eid because eight vehicles had broken down on the road at the same time.

“We stepped in to resolve the issue and cleared out the road in a short time.”

He further said although the bus owners had promised not to use un� t vehicles for Eid trips, they clearly did.

“We have decided to punish the bus own-ers who ran their un� t vehicles during Eid rush, as well as the o� cials who did not mon-itor the roads properly.”

However, the o� cials who did their jobs well during Eid holidays would be rewarded as well, Quader added.

Speaking of road development, the minister said the construction of 70-km four-lane highway from Joydebpur, Gazi-pur to Elenga, Tangail would begin inSeptember.

Following that project, the road between Elenga to Bonpara-Hatokomrul via Bang-abandhu Bridge will be upgraded. “This project will cut down the number of roadaccidents.” l

Home minister: E� orts on to extradite Rajon’s killer Kamruln Our Correspondent, Sylhet

The government has taken all necessary measures to extradite Kamrul Islam – one of Rajon’s killers – back to Bangladesh from Sau-di Arabia, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said.

However, there remains some legal com-plications regarding his repatriation, the min-ister told reporters yesterday after visiting the family of Sheikh Samiul Alam Rajon, who was mercilessly beaten to death by a group of men on July 8.

Following his meeting with Rajon’s parents at their Sylhet home, the minister added that

the government is trying to use its friendly re-lations with Saudi Arabia to expedite the pro-cess of bringing Kamrul back.

Replying to a query, Asaduzzaman Khan said a probe committee is currently looking into alle-gations of police negligence and bribery regard-ing the case. Steps would be taken for a speedy resolution of the sensitive case, he added.

During his visit to Rajon’s home in Kandi-gaon union’s Ali village, the minister handed over a cheque of Tk1 lakh to Rajon’s family.

Meanwhile, Muhitul Alam, the main sus-pect in Rajon’s murder, has submitted a con-fessional statement before the court of Sylhet Metropolitan Magistrate Anwarul Haque.

Deputy Commissioner (media) Md Rahmat Ullah of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police con-� rmed the news to the Dhaka Tribune.

On July 8, thirteen-year-old Rajon was beaten to death in Kumargaon by some men who falsely accused the teen of stealing a van. The video of the brutal beating soon spread on social media platforms, triggering massive outrage among the public.

So far, 11 arrests have been made in con-nection with the murder, while investigation is still going on regarding claims that two po-lice o� cials of the Jalalabad police station took Tk6 lakh in bribe to let Kamrul � ee to Saudi Arabia. l

The road in front of the Postogola bridge in Jurain, Old Dhaka, has been in a dilapidated condition due to the incessant rain for the last couple of days. Locals’ attempts to make the road somewhat usable by placing stones hardly eases the woes of passengers MEHEDI HASAN

Dhaka-Ashulia elevated expressway halvedn Shohel Mamun

The government has decided to reduce the length of Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Express-way to 22km, saying the original design is no longer necessary.

The expressway’s original plan depicted it to be 42km long, connecting Dhaka airport with National Martyrs’ Memorial in Savar via Abdullahpur, Ashulia, Dhaka EPZ and Chan-dra, with four intersections at Turag, Ashulia, Baipali and Chandra, said a report by Bangla-desh University of Engineering and Technolo-gy (Buet), which was assigned by the Bridges Division for the project’s initial study.

However, according to the new plan, the expressway is now 22km and will connect Dhaka Airport with Baipali via Ashulia, with

no intersections. The construction work will begin next

month, said Road Transport and Bridges Min-ister Obaidul Quader at a press brie� ng yester-day.

“We are backing away from the 42km plan because the road between Savar and Baipali is a four-lane road now, which was two-lane when we formulated the plan. There is also an immediate plan to upgrade it to a six-lane road in place. So the elevated expressway need not be 42km long,” Bridge Division Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.

Obaidul Quader said: “The elevated ex-pressway will connect Baipali and Ashulia and the road between those two places can-not be upgraded to four-lane or six-lane road

due to problems with land acquisition.” The Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway

is supposed to be an extension of the 26km Dhaka Elevated Expressway that will link the airport with Dhaka-Chittagong highway near Shanir Akhra to enable quick entry and exit of vehicles to and from Dhaka and facilitate transit trade with India, Nepal and Bhutan.

On January 22, the Bridges Division inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China National Machinery IMP & EXP Corp (CMC) to construct the elevated expressway.

The project was approved in June 2011 at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Eco-nomic A� airs with an estimated cost of nearly $2 billion.

However, the CMC estimated almost dou-ble the original cost after completing their

feasibility study in May, which the Bridges Division did not � nd acceptable.

“We have yet to cancel the MoU. The Eco-nomic Relations Division (ERD) has been giv-en the charge of taking decisions regarding this project,” Anwarul Islam said.

The government had initially decided to implement the project under public-private partnership, and a notice was issued inviting tenders from investors by July 31, 2011, as per the directive of the cabinet committee.

But the tender invitation did not receive positive response and the government has not been able to � nd any investor to build the PPP project, which is why it decided to run the project under a government-to-govern-ment agreement, resulting in the MoU with the CMC. l

NEWS6DT

Over 50,000 in danger as dam faces collapsen Tribune Report

Over 50,000 people of 20 villages at Sharonk-hola upazila, Bagerhat are in danger as a dam of Water Devlopment Board (WDB) on the bank of Baleshwari River has developed seri-ous structural weaknesses and is on the verge of collapse.

Sources said two constriction � rms – Mess-ers SS and Alam Construction - started the work of the dam in 2014-2015 � scal year at cost of Tk32 crore donated by World Bank. They completed the work two months ago.

Locals said a large portion of the dam near 35/1 holder in Tafalbari collapsed yesterday due to high tide.

According to WDB sources, the people of 20 villages of Southkhali and Raenda unions are in danger as the dam might collapse any time if proper steps are not taken.

Meanwhile, many people of the area in-cluding Abdul Halim Sheikh, Abdur Sabur

Akhond, Muhidul Islam, Abdul Haque, Dulal, Liton and Zakir Ghorami went another plac-es in last two days for shelter leaving their homesteads.

They said the dam might collapse anytime as about 700 kilometers of the dyke had al-ready been grasped by the river.

If proper steps are not taken, many impor-tant structures including Tafalbari police out post, Southkhali Union Parishad, Tafalbari Bazar, bazars, hundreds of homesteads, crop-lands, schools, roads will go into the river bed as cracks have been found in several places of the dyke.

Ten villag-es including Bogi, Tebereka, Gabtola, Chal-itabunia, Ray-enda, Bilbunia, Rajeshar,Lakur-tala of South-khali union council were � ooded after breaking open the dam.

Jalil How-lader, Delwar Hossain, Abul Hossain, Yousuf Hossain living nearby the dam

said that they could not sleep at night sensing the fear of collapse of the dyke.

Sarankhola Upazila Chairman Kamaluddin said most of the houses of the common men on both sides of the dam were collapsed or blown away by the attack of cyclone SIDR in 2007.

As cracked developed at the dam within a short period, the common people got afraid thinking it if natural disasters like SIDR will happen again.

“The concern authorities should proper steps to repair the damaged dam immediate-ly,” he said.

The upazila vice-chairman Hasanuzzaman

said that the major portion of the dam was damaged due to heavy rain in the last few days.

He alleged that poor quality materials were used for the purpose of construction.

Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Atul Mondol said low quality sand was mixed with the materi-als and those parts were damaged where the sand was used heavily.

Md Mynuddin, executive engineer of the WDB, said when the dam was built, the river was in a long distance. “Due to erosion, the river reached near the dam and it is on the verge of collapse,” he said. l


Muggers kill youth n Our Correspondent,

Bhola

A youth was hacked to death by a gang of muggers at Char Nurul Amin village, Charfash-ion upazila, Bhola yesterday.

Police arrested four people in this connection. The arrest-ed were identi� ed as Farid, Ha-bib, Shahjahan and Sumon.

O� cer-in-charge of Char-fashion police station Abul Bashar told the Dhaka Tribune that the four youths tried to

snatch mobile phone of Abdul Mannan, son of Ali Ahmed, When Mannan tried to put up resistance against the muggers, they stabbed him severely.

She was taken to Charfasion Upazila Health Complex where on duty doctor declared him dead.

Local people said the trio - Habib, Shahjahan and Su-mon – came to the house of Farid from Munshiganj with intention to snatch phone from people. A case was � led in this connection. l

One dies in Gaibandha clash over land disputen Our Correspondent,

Gainbandha

A young man was killed and 11 others were injured in a clash over the ownership of a piece of land at Mohipur village, Sadullahpur upazila Gaiband-ha yesterday morning.

Police have arrested eight people, including two women, over the killing of Saharul Fa-kir, 40, after the clash.

O� cer-in-Charge of Sadul-lapur police station told the Dhaka Tribune that there had been a long-standing dispute between Mo� z Mia and Ram-jan Ali over the ownership of a

piece of land. A case remains pending in this regard.

The clash ensued between the supporters of Mo� z Mia and Ramjan Ali when they went to the land to sow sap-lings. The rivals used lethal weapons during the clash, leaving 12 people injured.

Sub-inspector of Dhaperhat police outpost Rezaul Karim said on receiving information police rushed to the spot and sent three people to Rangpur Medical College Hospital while nine others to Polasbari Upazi-la Health Complex. Saharul died at Rangpur Medical Col-lege Hospital. l

Ten villages including Bogi, Tebereka, Gabtola, Chalitabunia, Rayenda, Bilbunia, Rajeshar,Lakurtala of Southkhali union council were � ooded after breaking open the dam


Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:47PM SUN RISES 5:23AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

34ºC 24.5ºC

Rajshahi Tangail

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 33 26Chittagong 32 26Rajshahi 32 26Rangpur 31 26Khulna 31 26Barisal 32 26Sylhet 31 25Cox’s Bazar 30 26

PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:00am

Sunrise 5:23amZohr 12:05am

Asr 4:42pmMagrib 6:47pm

Esha 8:11pm

WEATHER

THURSDAY, JULY 23

RAIN ORTHUNDERSHOWERS

Bangladesh Air Force hands over the Indian Hawker Hunter � ghter aircraft that was used in Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War to the Liberation War Museum in Agargaon yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Bus service through Hatirjheel project area soon n Shohel Mamun

The government is going to introduce a bus service through Hatirjheel area with a view to easing su� erings of townspeople as well as re-duce tra� c congestion in the capital.

Project Director of Hatirjheel Major Kazi Shakil Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that the proposed bus service through Hatirjheel would start within the next two months. Un-der the service, buses will run from FDC inter-section to Rampura.

“We have already purchased six buses for the service. Of the buses, two are air-condi-tioned,” he said.

He also expressed hope that the bus service would start before Eid-ul-Ajha. The projector director also said a committee was working to � x the fare of the route.

The o� cial said when the services would start the city dwellers would be able to easily visit Hatirjheel area, a place of tourists’ attrac-tion.

Commuters who travel from eastern part to western part of the city every day are suf-

fering immensely as they have to brave tra� c congestion and travel more areas since the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) had not giv-en permission to run public transport through Hatirjheel project area.

Consequently, commuters who travel on public transport on the route especial-ly from Rampura, Bonosri, Merul, Badda and Baridhara areas are the worst su� erers. Hence, commuters have been demanding public transport service through the project area for long.

Taking the advantage, some transport owners in collaboration with DMP o� cials are running human hauliers in the area and charging higher fare from passengers.

Currently, a number of illegal microbuses are carrying passengers from Karwanbazar to Rampura route through Hatirjheel area.

Joint Commissioner of the DMP (tra� c) Mosleh Uddin, however, denied their involve-ment with the plying of microbuses on the route.

During a visit to Karwan Bazar area, this correspondent found that fare of microbus

has been � xed at Tk20. Some passengers said when they asked

transport workers about higher transport charge, they said authorities had � xed the fare.

But transport workers were reluctant to reveal who was the authorities that � xed the fare.

About the microbus transportation, Kazi Shakil said: “The services are totally illegal. When we will start the bus service on the route, we will strictly impose a ban on the plying of such illegal vehicles in the area.” l

Faulty drainage system makes 100 families marooned n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A faulty drainage system has resulted into severe waterlogging in Gazipur’s Sreepur upazila leaving more than a hundred families marooned.

Since July 10, the families in Beraiderh-ala village and surrounding areas under the upazila are bearing untold miseries due to the incessant rainfall.

Upon a visit, this correspondent found absence of a proper drainage and sewerage system and a number of streets and tin-shed houses almost � ooded in the village.

Rainwater has entered many of the house-holds leaving the people in dire straits.

Many of the inhabitants of the area claimed that the drainage system was built in such a manner that rainwater could not pass through it. It was higher than the level of water clogged in the area. So pedestrians often have to fold their clothes up to knees and walk through the dirty rain water on the streets during monsoon.

A number of houses go under water after heavy downpour, they described with anger.

Shirin Sultana, a housewife living in the area, said: “It has been 14 days since we are living in knee-deep water inside our house. We have built a makeshift structure and hung it from the roof where we stay awake at night.”

“Unplanned dumping of land and a faulty drainage system is responsible for the situa-tion,” alleged Alauddin, chairman of Golden Star Academy in Beraiderchala village.

Sreepur City Corporation Engineer Sa-nowar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune: “The water-logging was caused due to the Eid vaca-tion as many of the garment factories in Gazi-pur had dumped their industrial wastes in a haphazard manner which blocked the drains thus blocking the rainwater to pass away. Necessary steps for removing the rain water will be taken soon.” l

8 die in road accidentsn Tribune Report

At least eight people were killed in accidents on roads in Munshiganj and Gazipur.

In Munshiganj, four people were killed in an accident on the Dhaka-Mawa Highway at Nimtoli under Sirajdikhan upazila.

Police said a bus of Ilish Pribahan rammed into a three wheeler locally known as ‘Lguna’ on the highway leaving Russel,30, Ershad, 32, and two unidenti� ed persons dead on the spot. Locals vandalised several vehicles at the incident and blocked the highway.

In Gazipur, four people, including a stu-dent of Notre Dam

Police said a Dhaka-bound bus hit Zakir Hossain, 18, Class XI student of Notre Dame College, in Cherag Ali area on the Dhaka- My-mensingh Highway while he was crossing the road. Locals rescued him and sent to Tongi Hospital. Later, he died. An unidenti� ed youth was crushed under the wheels of a speedy bus in Tongi on the highway, added the SI.

Former UP member Ahsan Ullah was killed as a truck hit him in Bhabani Bazar area around 9pm when he was returning home. Besides, a bus driver was killed in a triangular collision among two buses and a CNG run au-to-rickshaw. l

Commuters who travel on public transport on the route especially from Rampura, Bonosri, Merul, Badda and Baridhara areas are the worst su� erers

NEWS 7D

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WORLD8DT


Suicide bomber kills 19 in Afghan marketn AFP, Mazar-i-Sharif

A suicide bomber killed 19 people including women and children yesterday when he blew himself up in a northern Afghan market, as militants intensify their annual summer of-fensive despite nascent peace talks.

The attack in Almar district of Faryab prov-ince, bordering Turkmenistan, highlights the heavy toll of such attacks on civilians after 13 years of war.

No group claimed responsibility for the su-icide bombing.

The suicide attacker detonated his explo-sives-laden vest in the main market of the vol-atile district of Almar, killing at least 19 peo-ple, according to Faryab police chief Subhan Quli Ebrahimi and the United Nations.

“Women, children and at least one Afghan army soldier were among those killed,” Far-yab governor Abdul Sattar Barez told AFP, adding that around three dozen others were wounded.

Almar district chief Saleh Mohammad Saleh said that some of the wounded were in a critical condition and had been taken to the provincial capital Maimanah. l

Greece to vote on second bailout bill n AFP, Athens

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday faced a new test of his authority in parliament, where lawmakers were to vote on a second batch of reforms to help unlock a huge new bailout for Greece’s stricken economy.

The second bill covers civil justice reforms, a bank deposit protection scheme, and meas-ures to shore up the liquidity of the nation’s banks, which reopened only Monday after a three-week closure that was imposed to avert a run on banks and a catastrophic collapse of Greece’s � nancial system.

The government received a boost Tuesday when Standard & Poor’s raised its credit rating on Greece by two notches to CCC+ from CCC-, still in junk territory, but a step in the right direction.

Yesterday Tsipras met with executives from the banks, which have seen some 40 bil-lion euros withdrawn since December by cus-tomers anxious over the safety of their cash.

“The priority right now is to normalise the [� nancial] system, but at the same time to protect low-income citizens,” state news agency ANA quoted Tsipras as saying. l

19-year-old Palestinian shot dead in West Bank raidn Reuters, Ramallah

Israeli security forces on an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank shot and killed a Pales-tinian yesterday when clashes broke out with residents, Palestinian sources said.

A Palestinian hospital o� cial said Mo-hammed Alawneh, 19, was shot in his chest and taken to hospital where he died of his wounds. The witness said Alawneh picked

up a stone to throw at a policeman and was shot.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli military de-scribed the stone-throwing as “a violent riot.” Israeli troops enter Palestinian-controlled ter-ritory frequently to detain people suspected by Israel of militant activity.

The Palestinians condemn this practice as an encroachment on the limited self-rule they hold in parts of the West Bank. l

Tennessee shooter’s uncle to be interrogated in Jordann Reuters, Amman

US investigators are in Jordan to interrogate the Jordanian-American uncle of a suspect in the shooting of � ve US servicemen in Tennes-see last week, the man’s lawyer said yesterday.

The suspected gunman, 24-year-old Mo-hammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, was killed in a gun� ght with police on July 16 after he opened � re at a military recruitment centre in Chatta-nooga and the nearby Naval Reserve Centre.

The suspect’s family say he had long-stand-ing psychological and substance abuse issues and went to stay with his uncle, Assad Ibra-him Abdulazeez Haj Ali, in Amman to help his recovery. Investigators say he had been searching for jihadist material that may have inspired the attack.

Jordanian authorities arrested Haj Ali on Friday and he was being interrogated by both Jordanian and US investigators, his lawyer said. l

After labelling, EU think-tank proposes banking steps on Israeln Reuters, Jerusalem

The EU agreed this week to push ahead with introduction of labels that speci� cally identi-fy Israeli goods made in settlements in the oc-cupied West Bank, a policy that has angered Israel; but now an in� uential European think-tank is proposing going much further, includ-ing the targeting of Israeli banks.

The European Council on Foreign Rela-tions, which frequently informs EU policy, argued in a paper yesterday that the EU is in breach of its own laws. It had to go further to distinguish its dealings with Israel from Isra-el’s activities in the West Bank and East Jeru-salem, which it has occupied since 1967.

European diplomats have long said that labelling - to make clear the goods originate

in settlements - is only the � rst in a series of steps the EU could take against Israel over its settlements policy, one that in � nancial terms is expected to have a relatively minor impact on the Israeli economy.

But the new proposals would go much deeper and further, reaching into banking, loans and mortgages, quali� cations earned in settlement institutions and the tax-exempt status of European charities that deal with Is-raeli settlements.

“Under its own regulations and principles, Europe cannot legally escape from its duty to di� erentiate between Israel and its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories,” says the report.

The most signi� cant proposal is on bank-ing, where large Israeli institutions have daily

dealings with major European banks.Under European Commission guidelines

from 2013, EU- and member-state-funded lending cannot be provided to Israeli entities operating in the occupied territories.

The issue extends into loans and mort-gages: settlement property cannot be used as collateral for a European loan since Israeli-is-sued property deeds are not recognised.

Another area relates to quali� cations from academic, medical and other Israeli institutions based in the West Bank since the EU does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territory.

Likewise, there is a question mark over whether the EU should deal with Israeli insti-tutions - such as the Ministry of Justice, the building ministry and the national police head-quarters - which are based in East Jerusalem. l

Signed petitions supporting French tobacconists fall on demonstrators who stage a protest march in Paris, France yesterday. France’s tobacconists are protesting plans to force cigarette companies to use plain, unbranded packaging, as part of anti-smoking legislation. The placard reads: ‘President Hollande, stop using a smokescreen’ REUTERS


Pakistan Supreme Court to hear Christian woman’s blasphemy casen Reuters, Lahore

Pakistan’s Supreme Court yesterday tem-porarily suspended the death sentence of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, her lawyer said, in a case that hit global headlines after the murder of two politicians who tried to intervene on her behalf.

Asia Bibi, a farm worker and mother of four, became the � rst woman to be sentenced to death under Pakistan’s controversial blas-phemy law in 2010.

The Supreme Court will soon begin hear-ing an appeal against her conviction, said law-yer Saif-ul-Malook.

“The execution of Asia Bibi has been sus-pended and will remain suspended until the decision of this appeal,” Malook said. No date had been set for her execution, he added.

The prosecution lawyer was not available for comment.

The law in predominantly Muslim Pakistan does not de� ne blasphemy but stipulates that the penalty is death.

While convictions for blasphemy are fairly common, with most cases involving members of religious minorities, a death sentence has never been carried out.

But many people have been killed by angry mobs after being accused of blasphemy. Hu-man rights activists say accusations of blas-phemy are sky rocketing because the law is often abused to settle grudges and seize mon-ey or property.

Attacks on those who have questioned the blasphemy law and called for reform, includ-ing the murder of two politicians who tried to intervene on behalf of Bibi, have sti� ed debate.

The governor of Punjab province, Salman Ta-seer, was shot dead by a bodyguard in 2011 after he had sought a presidential pardon for Bibi. The judge who later sentenced Taseer’s killer had to � ee the country.

Islamist militants claimed responsibility for the murder later in 2011 of the then sole Christian government minister for challeng-ing the blasphemy law.

The case against Bibi followed accusations by two sisters who accused her of making de-rogatory remarks about Islam.

Her lawyers say her neighbours had a grudge against Bibi because of an earlier dispute.

Malook said key witnesses had not ap-peared during hearings by the High Court.

“The real eyewitnesses ... never appeared before the court and backed out,” he said.

Evidence in blasphemy trials often cannot be reproduced in court for fear of committing another o� ence and judges and lawyers often refuse to hear cases because they fear being attacked.

A prominent human rights advocate de-fending a professor accused of making a blas-phemous Facebook post was murdered last year. l

India, Japan, US plan Indian Ocean naval exercisesn Reuters, New Delhi

Japan is set to take part in joint naval exer-cises with India and the United States in the Indian Ocean in October, military and diplo-matic sources said, a drill that so riled China eight years ago that Delhi has not since host-ed such a multilateral war game.

The Indian Ocean has emerged as a new arena of competition between China making inroads and India trying to recover its posi-tion as the dominant maritime power in the region.

New Delhi’s decision to expand the “Mala-bar” exercises that it conducts with the Unit-ed States each year to include Japan suggests a tightening of military relations between three major maritime powers in Asia, analysts said.

Military o� cials from India, the US and Ja-pan met at a US navy base in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, yesterday and today to plan the exer-cises, a navy and a diplomatic source in New Delhi said.

A Japanese government o� cial in Tokyo con� rmed the meeting and said representa-tives from the three navies were discussing Tokyo’s participation in the war games. He declined to be identi� ed.

The o� cials will decide the type of war-ships and planes the navies will deploy for the exercises in the Bay of Bengal in the north-eastern Indian Ocean, said one of the sources familiar with the initial planning.

“They are discussing platforms, logistics and interoperability between the three naval forces,” said the source. India and the United States have � elded aircraft carriers and nucle-ar submarines in previous bilateral exercises.

An Indian defence ministry o� cial de-

clined any comment on Malabar 2015, saying announcements will only be made closer to the event. A spokesman for Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Force said no decision had yet been taken on Japan’s participation.

Je� Smith, a South Asia specialist at the American Foreign Policy Council, said Japan was keen to take part in the exercises this year at a time when it is expanding the role of its military against a more assertive China.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inclusion of Japan after some hesitation was part of a trending pattern of forging close ties with the US and its allies.

“I’d view aircraft carrier participation in this year’s drill as yet another signal from the Modi government that it was shedding the [previous] government’s anxiety about a more overt balancing posture toward China and a more robust strategic embrace of the US and Japan,” Smith said.

India last hosted a multilateral exercise in 2007 when it invited Japan, Australia and Sin-gapore to join its drills with the US navy in the Bay of Bengal, prompting disquiet in Beijing where some saw it as a US-inspired securi-ty grouping in the making along the lines of NATO in Europe.

At the time, Beijing activated diplomatic channels seeking an explanation from the participating nations, said Gurpreet Khurana, Indian navy captain and executive director of the government-funded Maritime Founda-tion of India.

The exercises held in the Indian Ocean were scaled back in the following years, with India participating in three-way events only when it was away from its shores, such as last year’s drills o� Japan’s Nagasaki coast.

But China’s expanding naval footprint in the Indian Ocean including submarines docking in Sri Lanka, just o� the toe of India last year, and again in Karachi in May, has prompted Modi’s administration to acceler-ate naval modernisation as well as shore up ties with maritime nations.

“Modi’s Delhi is no longer willing to give Beijing a veto over its defence partnerships,” said C Raja Mohan, a top Indian foreign pol-icy expert who has just published a book, “Modi’s World: Expanding India’s Sphere of In� uence.”

Just as China had overridden India’s con-cerns about arch-enemy Pakistan and was building ports and roads under a $46 billion economic corridor, New Delhi was free to pursue closer security cooperation with the West and its partners, Mohan said.

The Indian Ocean has become the new global centre of trade and energy � ows, ac-counting for half the world’s container tra� c and 70 percent of its petroleum shipments.

More than three quarters of China’s oil transits through the Indian Ocean and its choke points such as the Malacca Straits, prompting its search for friendly ports and islands to secure the shipping lanes backed by an expanding Chinese navy, Chinese com-mentators say.

“India alone cannot assure the security of the Indian Ocean, even if it regards [it] as its backyard and wishes no one to compete with it there,” wrote Zhou Bo, an honorary fellow at the Beijing-based Academy of Military Sci-ence in the China Daily.

“If the Paci� c Ocean is big enough to ac-commodate China and the US, so is the Indian Ocean to accommodate India and China.” l

People gather at the site of car bomb in New Baghdad yesterday. Iraqi security forces and Sunni tribal � ghters launched an o� ensive on Tuesday to dislodge Islamic State militants and secure a supply route in Anbar province, police and tribal sources said REUTERS

Pakistani law does not de� ne blasphemy but stipulates that the penalty is death

WORLD 9D

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WORLD10DT


Berlin demands answers over NSA spying allegations n AFP, Berlin

Germany said yesterday it was “demanding answers” from the United States over fresh allegations of o� cial US espionage, this time against the German foreign minister.

Berlin “confronted” Washington with Ger-man media reports based on Wikileaks doc-uments indicating that the National Security Agency (NSA) “systematically” spied on For-eign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a min-istry spokesman said.

The spokesman, Martin Schaefer, told re-porters that the revelations, “if true,” were “damaging” relations between Germany and the United States. A high-ranking ministry o� cial, Stefan Steinlein, phoned the US am-bassador to Berlin, John Emerson, Tuesday.

“He confronted him with the accusations and stressed that we expect the necessary clari� cations and explanations on this case and all the other cases that remain unre-solved,” Schaefer said.

Schaefer said that during the nearly two-year-long scandal over NSA spying against

Germany, information had only emerged “bit-by-bit and via media outlets.”

Meanwhile both Berlin and Washington “have all the reason in the world to have good and fruitful and constructive ties” given the diplomatic and security issues facing them as partners, he said.

The daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and pub-lic broadcasters NDR and WDR reported this week that the NSA had tapped a mobile phone number used by Steinmeier as early as 2005, at the beginning of his � rst term as for-eign minister.

German-US relations were badly strained after fugitive US intelligence contractor Ed-ward Snowden in 2013 revealed widespread US foreign surveillance, although a probe into the alleged tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone was dropped due to lack of proof.

Earlier this month Merkel’s chief of sta� called Emerson to the chancellery over re-ports the United States did not just listen in on Merkel’s mobile phone but also eaves-dropped on several ministers. l

Italy seizes 2bn eurosin ma� a assetsn AFP, Rome

Italian police said yesterday they had seized assets worth two billion euros ($2.2 billion) belonging to a powerful organised crime syn-dicate, in the latest sting against the ma� a.

The assets snatched from the ‘Ndrangheta ma� a, which controls much of Europe’s cocaine trade, included more than 1,500 betting shops, 82 online gambling sites and almost 60 companies, as well as numerous

properties, the police said.Prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 28

people suspected of running the gambling empire and placed 23 others either under house arrest or ordered them to check in with the police.

The crew is believed to have been headed by mobster Mario Gennaro, who made his way up through the mob in the southern re-gion of Calabria from local to regional chief because of the gambling ring’s success. l

11D

TEDITORIALTHURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015

INSIDE

We welcome this week’s launch of the New Development Bank in Shanghai.

This new $50bn body established by the � ve BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- has a

mandate to help developing countries � nance infrastructure projects.It will be a valuable addition to the new Asian Infrastructure Investment

Bank and complement existing lenders like the ADB and IMF.For Bangladesh, the new institutions not only o� er extra options for

funding vitally needed infrastructure programs, but provide a platform for developing relations with and increasing exports to the BRICS economies.

Economic growth in Bangladesh is acutely constrained by bottlenecks created by aging and overstretched infrastructure. Only about 3% of our GDP is currently spent on infrastructure, compared to up to 15% in China.

According to the World Bank, Bangladesh needs to invest $74bn in infrastructure to bring its power grids, ports, roads, and water supplies up to global standards. This level of investment amounts to 7.38% of the country’s GDP, and is at least three to � ve times the levels which the country has managed in the last decade.

The government needs to follow up all possible avenues to plug the nation’s infrastructure gap.

While it is encouraging that multilateral institutions are planning to increase infrastructure funding across Asia, Bangladesh also needs to nurture a more attractive climate for investors in order to take advantage of new funding possibilities.

Bringing political stability and guaranteeing rule of law to encourage investors are imperative to attracting more FDI and building the virtuous cycle of increased investment and trade which Bangladesh needs to boost economic growth rates. The government must do more to listen to businesses and increase incentives for investment in infrastructure if the economy is to live up to its potential.

Government needs to nurture a more attractive climate for investors to help the economy live up to its potential

Build upon the BRICS Bank

Convicted for contempt, but no right of appeal

Tajuddin Ahmad: Our tragic heroHe was not inclined to verbosity. He was not an orator. It was his organisational abilities which complemented the in-spirational leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

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Lessons from GreeceGreece’s debt can now only be made sustainable through debt relief meas-ures that go far beyond what Europe is ready for

Absence of a right of appeal in the ICT Act is de� nitely a step backwards when one considers the global trend in rela-tion to contempt of court

BIGSTOCK

OPINION12DT


n Syed Badrul Ahsan

Tajuddin Ahmad would be 90 years old today.

He was a mere 50 when he died. Yet, in those � ve brief decades of his

life, Tajuddin Ahmad achieved a feat rare in the history of political men. He rose to the peaks of leadership in the brilliance emitted by Bangabandhu and remained there till almost the very end. In between, he managed to pull o� what was certainly the most signif-icant success for the Bengali nation, the for-mation of the very � rst Bengali government in history and the liberation of Bangladesh.

In recent years, a necessary revival of interest in the life and career of Tajuddin Ahmad has served to add the missing links to Bangladesh’s national history. Much of the revival is again a result of the strenuous ef-forts put into the story of the wartime leader by his daughters Sharmin Ahmad and Simeen Hussain Rimi. They have been instrumen-tal in having Tajuddin’s life, in the form of biographies, letters, and diaries, researched and transcribed in Bangla and published in immaculate form.

Beyond Maidul Hasan’s Muldhara ’71 and Faruk Aziz Khan’s Spring 1971, not much has emerged to expand on the contributions Tajuddin Ahmad made to history in South Asia, indeed around the globe. Sharmin and Rimi, in recent years, have served as the driving forces behind a necessary retelling of the life and contributions of Tajuddin Ahmad

in Bangladesh’s history. Their works are touching tributes to the

humble, austere man who has, especially since his assassination in 1975, become an icon for students of history. They have o� ered his legacy anew to a nation that might well have been blown o� course had he not been around to take charge.

Back in March 1971, the risk for Bengalis was double-edged. On the one hand, there was the spectacle of a captive Bangaband-hu. On the other, there was no clear sign of anyone else in the Awami League hierarchy, at least up to that point, taking control and reassuring the country that everything was on course, or soon would be.

The call of duty was one that Tajuddin Ahmad heard loud and clear. By the time he found himself on Indian soil, he knew that exile, his and that of everyone else in those times of horror, would need to be purposeful. He lost little time in meeting Indira Gandhi and laying out before her his plans of leading Bangladesh to liberation.

Tajuddin was clearly not happy at being relegated to the job of � nance minister once Bangabandhu took charge as prime minis-ter, but his acute sense of loyalty precluded demonstrating any hint of his displeasure. Discipline was a lesson he had learned early on in life. He was not inclined to verbosity. He was not an orator. It was his organisation-al abilities which complemented the inspira-tional leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

These two men, more than all those others

in the party, were the reason why Bangladesh needed to be. On their watch in the early 1960s came the Six Points. In early March 1971, as Yahya Khan and ZA Bhutto resorted to chicanery, it was the elemental Mujib-Tajuddin strength that kept them at bay, until the junta let loose the dogs of war.

That was not the only tragedy. Somewhere between cobbling the Mujibnagar govern-ment into shape in 1971 and making his way out of government in 1974, Tajuddin was a lonely traveller.

Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani and his band of Mujib loyalists took it upon themselves to undermine the nation’s � rst prime minister even as he de� ned military strategy for a nation at war. There were other troubles as well. Tajuddin had to constantly look back, behind his shoulder, for there was a smell of conspiracy in Khondaker Mostaq.

Tajuddin’s loneliness took on newer dimensions in early 1972. The men who had

never forgiven him for taking control of the liberation struggle now drove a wedge between him and his leader. Bangabandhu never sought to know from Tajuddin how he had organised the armed struggle.

It seared the soul in the battle� eld leader to know that the Father of the Nation had little time for him. Worse was his feeling that Bang-abandhu had opted for a de� nitive shift in for-eign policy. A clear trend towards developing ties with the United States and towards closer association with donor institutions such as the World Bank left Tajuddin perturbed.

He had studiously ignored Robert Mc-Namara in Delhi in early 1972. And yet it was McNamara he was compelled by circum-stances to meet in 1974, a time when famine stalked the land and socialism did not appear to hold out much promise for Bangladesh.

There was something abrupt about Tajuddin’s departure from government. He spoke of resignation and told perhaps a lot of people about it. In the end, the satisfaction of leaving the government voluntarily was not to be his. It was Bangabandhu who asked him, in the larger national interest (as his brief note to Tajuddin pointed out), to submit his resignation.

Tajuddin Ahmad complied with the directive. Between that low point in his life and the end of life itself, he would lapse into silence. The assault on pluralist democracy, through the rise of the one-party BAKSAL system of government in January 1975, ap-palled him. It was the statesman in him that informed him of the tragedy ahead.

Bangabandhu would destroy himself,

he reasoned. And with Bangabandhu gone, Tajuddin and everyone else would be pushed towards doom. And that was precisely the way things happened. As he went down the stairway of his residence in August 1975, a man in army custody, Tajuddin told his wife he might be going away forever. He was to return in November, shot and bayoneted to an ugly death.

It is the quiet legend of the man that was Tajuddin Ahmad we recall today. In the dark-ness that swept across the country on August 15, 1975, there were yet the intimations of light at the end of the tunnel. Someday, Tajuddin Ahmad might again take charge, as he had taken charge in April 1971, and restore the nation’s self-esteem.

But that was not to be. That has been our long agony, our own Greek tragedy. l

Syed Badrul Ahsan is Associate Editor, The Daily Observer.

Tajuddin Ahmad: Our tragic hero

He was not inclined to verbosity. He was not an orator. It was his organisational abilities which complemented the inspirational leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Tajuddin remained loyal to Mujib, in spite of being relegated to � nance minister

OPINION 13D


n Mamun Rashid

Though the crisis emerged out of the North American meltdown and the PIIGS crisis in Europe, it is Greece that has been in the headlines for

the last month or so. Most are, by now, aware that the debt/GDP ratio of the Greek govern-ment has risen too high. While the size of their GDP is about $238bn, their government debt has risen to almost $320bn, ie 180% of their GDP.

There is a saying: Don’t borrow beyond your means. In the banks, we were taught how net cash generation in the borrowing entity must be higher than its � nancial obligations. Some analysts feel that Greek authorities might have not done enough to manage its escalating debt.

Certainly, the Hellenic Republic came into the debt crisis with hemorrhaging budget de� cits, and they could have done more over the past few years to prevent that debt rise. However, the � scal adjustment that the gov-ernment has undertaken over the past � ve years is nothing short of being tantamount to swallowing many bullets.

The revenue increases and spending cuts that the Greek government has enacted over the past � ve years have led to a correction in the cyclically-adjusted budget balance worth almost 20% of the nation’s GDP.

Questions may arise if the Greek gov-ernment has done a good job in reducing its budget de� cit -- if so, why then has the country’s debt/GDP ratio escalated by 80% since 2007? As a Wells Fargo report shows, between 2008 and 2011, the Greek govern-ment debt rose about 40%.

Although Greece was undergoing some serious � scal adjustments during those years, it was still facing sizeable budget de� cits, and these de� cits added to the outstanding debt amount.

Debt fell sharply in early 2012, when private investors were forced to accept a debt restructuring that included cuts in excess of 50% of the face value of the bonds they held. Government debt rebounded a bit over the next few quarters, but outstanding debt bal-ance has remained more or less unchanged in recent years.

The real GDP of Greece is currently down by 27%, from its Q2-2007 peak. It will proba-bly fall further in the near term due to the freezing of commerce that has occurred with banks being closed over the past three weeks. As history shows, the real GDP in USA plunged 26% between 1929 and 1933.

However, positive economic growth resumed in 1934, and by 1936, the level of the US’s real GDP had reclaimed its 1929 peak. Greece has endured a US-like depression, but after eight years, the economy has not even begun to recover.

Rather, the signi� cant � scal consolidation that the government has undertaken over the past � ve years has reportedly pushed the economy deeper into a hole. It is likely to be years, if not decades, for the real GDP in Greece to reach its peak.

The country recently reached a condi-tional agreement with its lenders for a third bailout that could total more than 80bn euros. IMF recently raised eyebrows when it announced that Greece’s debt dynamics were not sustainable, and that Greece’s debt can now only be made sustainable through debt relief measures that go far beyond what Europe is ready for.

If the Greek government makes strin-gent � scal choices, it will achieve a primary budget surplus of 4% of its GDP in 2019, and with a fasten-your-seat-belt 4.5% in each year in the next decade, the government debt/GDP ratio will recede to less than 100% in 2030.

However, the IMF tells us that a few countries have managed to maintain primary budget surpluses of 3.5% of its GDP for decades. If the primary budget surplus slips back to 1.5% of the GDP in the next decade, then the debt/GDP ratio will go much higher.

Widening budget de� cits in the immediate aftermath of the global recession contribut-ed to the increase in the Greek government debt in those years. However, Greece has undertaken an extraordinary amount of

� scal consolidation since 2009, and the level of Greece’s government debt has remained more or less unchanged over the past two years. The increase in the debt/GDP ratio over the past few years, therefore, re� ects the continued slump in the country’s nominal GDP.

The activities which are required to bring about a sharp reduction in the country’s debt/GDP ratio in the coming years sound too optimistic. The government would need to undertake further � scal consolidation and maintain austere budgets into the next decade.

Additionally, the country would need to experience strong economic growth. A recession or inability to maintain austere budgets would slow down, if not completely arrest, the decline in the debt/GDP ratio, which could then raise renewed concerns about the sustainability of the country’s debt, or possibly even the country itself.

The Greece government and its lenders may reach an agreement in the coming weeks for a third bailout package, and market attention with Greece may then dampen. However, unless Greece enjoys the bene� ts of low borrowing costs, austere budgets, and strong economic growth on a sustained basis, concerns about the country’s debt sustaina-bility will continue, or even increase.

The lenders, who hold the majority of its debt, may eventually need to take large cuts on their holdings. Otherwise, it will be true that “we learn from history that we learn nothing from history.” l

Mamun Rashid is a business professor and � nancial sector entrepreneur.

Lessons from Greece

Greece’s debt can now only be made sustainable through debt relief measures that go far beyond what Europe is ready for

There’s no money left in Greek pockets to buy things REUTERS

OPINION14DT


n Rashna Imam

In the light of a series of contempt proceedings drawn by the Internation-al Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh, the debate on the law of contempt of court

has taken centre stage once again. In a recent program organised by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and UNDP, the honourable chief justice of Bangladesh, Justice Surendra Ku-mar Sinha, very succinctly summarised the law in this regard, inviting and encouraging fair criticism of judgments and the judici-ary, but strongly discouraging irresponsible criticism.

While the importance of the law on con-tempt is undeniable in maintaining public con� dence in the justice delivery system as a whole, it has the potential of unreasonably restricting freedom of speech and expression, a right that is the hallmark of any functioning democracy, and in our case, guaranteed as a fundamental right by the constitution.

The modern trend in democracies is increasingly to con� ne contempt of court cases to instances where either there has been a substantial interference in ongoing legal proceedings, or there has been a de� ance of court order. The common law of England and Wales, from which our contempt of court law has originated, no longer contains scandalising the court as a category of contempt: England has abolished it by the Crimes and Courts Act 2013.

This category of contempt, which is still recognised and punishable in Bangladesh, has the potential of signi� cantly restricting freedom of speech and expression. The attitude of the Indian judiciary has also increasingly been more and more charitable in the face of scathing criticism of its judgments, as long as those criticisms have been made out of bona � de concern for improvement of the law and the legal system in general.

A recent example of this is an article on the political website www.thewire.in criticis-ing a decision by the Karnataka High Court acquitting the former Tamil Nadu chief min-ister, J Jayalalithaa, in a corruption case. The article contained scathing criticism of the Karnataka High Court’s decision, referring to the judgment as containing “errors,” stating that jurists are “spitting � re” because of the poor quality of the judgment, that the judi-ciary is “giving legal sanction to corruption,” that the High Court is setting “a bad prece-dent, one that encourages bribery,” and that the judgment “will bring down the image of the Indian judiciary in the world.”

Does the law of contempt of court in Bang-ladesh conform to this modern trend which allows free speech to � ourish? The Supreme Court of Bangladesh derives its power to pun-ish for any contempt of itself from Article 108 of the constitution. The Contempt of Courts Act 1926, which merely deals with the High Court’s powers, in this regard is outdated and inadequate to say the least. There is no

statute containing similar provisions with respect to the Appellate Division. In the light of the inadequacies of the 1926 act, the Law Commission headed by our former chief justice, late Justice Mustafa Kamal, prepared a draft of the Contempt of Court Bill, which was then � nally enacted. While the new act was not without its share of � aws, it was a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, it did not live long. Imme-diately after its enactment, a writ petition was � led in the High Court challenging the constitutionality of several sections of the new act. The judgment that followed declared the entire act to be unconstitutional and therefore void and of no legal e� ect. At present, the case is pending in the Appellate Division and as the operation of the High Court judgment was not stayed, the new act has no legal e� ect. Therefore, the main source of the law of contempt of court is not codi� ed law but English common law as adopted by our judicial decisions.

In recent times, it may tend to give an impression that the Bangladeshi judiciary has taken a hard-line approach to contempt of court, as evidenced by the International Crimes Tribunal drawing up to nine contempt proceedings in three years. Others may argue that the tribunal has shown magnanimity that be� ts a judicial institution of its stature in dealing with these nine contempt proceedings by mostly cautioning and exonerating the accused contemnors for criticising the tribunal’s judgments.

There is always room for debate when the issue is free speech, vis-a-vis contempt of court. However, the same should not apply when the issue changes to the rights of

convicted contemnors of the tribunal. There should not be any room for debate as to whether a right of appeal should be a� orded to a convicted contemnor, especially given the very nature of contempt jurisdiction where the court is both the prosecutor and the judge, rolled into one.

Unfortunately, the International Crimes Tribunal Act 1973 (ICT Act), as it stands, does not a� ord a right of appeal to those convicted for contempt of the tribunal even though the ICT Act provides such right to convicted war criminals and the government. On the face of the law, there seems to be no rational

justi� cation or legitimate governmental ob-jective for discriminating between convicted contemnors and convicted war criminals. This absence of a right of appeal becomes even unacceptable when one considers that, (i) appeal has been granted as of right by Article 103 of the constitution to those convicted and punished for contempt of the High Court, and (ii) a conviction for contempt of the tribunal carries a harsher punishment than a conviction for contempt of the High Court.

While a maximum of six months’ imprisonment or up to Tk2,000 � ne or both

has been prescribed for contempt of court by the Contempt of Courts Act 1926, a maximum of one year’s imprisonment or Tk5,000 or both has been prescribed for contempt of the tribunal by the ICT Act.

Absence of a right of appeal in the ICT Act in a case where a person may be put behind bars for up to a year is de� nitely a step back-wards when one considers the global trend in relation to contempt of court. This lacuna in the ICT Act requires amendment, especially because the tribunal’s power to punish for contempt has the potential to a� ect three important fundamental rights of the citizens of Bangladesh, namely, the right to personal liberty, the right to freedom of speech and expression, and the right to freedom of press.

As we have seen, the ICT Act is far from � awless, and has been amended multiple times till date. One of the amendments extended the right of appeal to the govern-ment when it was previously only given to convicted war criminals. It is now time for another amendment to extend the right of appeal further. l

Rashna Imam, an Oxford Scholar, is a practicing Barrister and the Managing Partner of Akhtar Imam & Associates.

Absence of a right of appeal in the ICT Act in a case where a person may be put behind bars for up to a year is de� nitely a step backwards when one considers the global trend in relation to contempt of court

England abolished scandalising the court as a category of contempt in 2013 BIGSTOCK

Convicted for contempt, but no right of appeal

BEZA seeks Tk420cr fund for CEIZn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) has sought funding from the � nance division to set up a special economic zone at Anwara upazilla in Chittagong for attracting the Chi-nese investors especially.

The authority has recently sent a proposal to the � nance ministry seeking over Tk420 crore interest free fund for land acquisition of land in the Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone (CEIZ).

Bangladesh and China had earlier signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Es tablishment of the Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone in Bangladesh during Bang-ladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to China.

The China Harbour Engi-neering Company Limited is working to establish the eco-nomic zone on 774 acres of land in Anwara.

BEZA in its proposal said, “The authority needs the fund

as they have to handover the land to the Chi-nese authority in the designated time as men-tioned in the Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.

The fund is expected to come from Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Bangla-desh, said an o� cial.

As contacted, BEZA Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune that BEZA was conducting the feasibility study on establishing the economic zone. l

15D

TBusiness THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015

Return of Iranian oil may cause more OPEC tensions

17 Stocks end � at on pro� t booking 19

Global regulators may soften rules for asset-backed � nancing

16 All used car customers explore online20

FBCCI seeks gas for new factories by Augustn Tribune Report

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Com-merce and Industry urged the government to provide gas connection to newly established factories by August to start production.

The country’s apex trade body also sought the energy supply to the factories willing to relocate out of the capital as part of compli-ance matter.

At a press conference on “prospects of in-dustrialisation and steps to implement it” in Dhaka yesterday, FBCCI suggested resuming operation at the closed and old power plants and running rental power plants under Public Private Partnership initiative to tackle power shortage.

“Gas connection should be provided to those factories, which already are issued de-mand notes by Titas Gas and others, by Au-gust,” FBCCI president Abdul Matlub Ahmed told the reporters.

He said as the readymade garment manu-

facturers were relocating their factories from the capital to meet compliance issue set by the international buyers, they need gas con-nection in the new place.

Matlub also demanded uninterrupted gas supply to the factories generating own power from gas.

“Local industries ensure sustainable growth. For expansion of the industrial sec-tor, comprehensive steps are needed to be taken,” FBCCI chief stressed.

He said they had taken steps to create en-trepreneurs in the district level.

About gas connection to the factories, ex-FBCCI president AK Azad said: “About 80 organisations so far have been issued demand notes for gas connection, of which, only 8-10 have got connections.”

Former FBCCI president Kazi Akramud-din Ahmed, International Chamber of Com-merce, Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman and FBCCI vice president Mahbubul Alam were also present. l

RMG makers want price hike to retain businessn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The readymade garment manufacturers want price hike to remain in business as the pro-duction cost has gone up as a result of facto-ry upgradation and also increase in workers’ wages.

“Recently, the buyers have become tricky in setting prices of RMG products and in-troduced cost breakup system,” BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim told the Dhaka Tribune.

They collect prices of raw materials used to make certain products from several manu-facturers and set the lower price based on the average cost, said Azim.

The new system put manufacturers in tough competition and it should be scrapped, otherwise the garment sector will fall in trou-ble, which will ultimately put the workers’ jobs at risk, he added.

The production cost has gone up by around 12% because of the factory upgradation to make it compliant and also hike in wages by 219% in the last four years, BGMEA President Md Atiqul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.

Before launching the inspection pro-gramme to improve safety standards in the RMG sector, the global buyers promised to raise prices of apparel products, but did not do so, rather they took the opportunity to lower the prices, said Atiqul.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday requested the foreign buyers to raise the pric-es of Bangladeshi garment products, accord-ing to a UNB report.

The PM made the request when Dutch Am-bassador to Bangladesh Gerben de Jong paid a farewell call on her at her o� ce.

Citing her government steps about the

welfare of RMG workers, Sheikh Hasina said the workers’ wages have been hiked by over 200% since 2009.

“After the collapse of Rana Plaza building, Bangladesh RMG sector had to spend a lot of money to meet the prescription of global buyers to make the sector compliant,” Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Exporters As-

sociation of Bangladesh (EAB) told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We have installed � re doors, sprinklers and been implementing Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) outlined by the Accord and Alli-ance, but the buyers are still unwilling to in-crease prices and the prime minister’s call for price hike is a timely and rational steps, said Salam.

If prices are not increased, manufacturers might opt for job cut to avert losses, he add-ed.

During a visit in mid-June, the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of Netherlands, Lolianne Ploumen, under-scored three challenges, including fair price for Bangladeshi RMG products, unauthorised subcontracting and rights to orgainse.

According to the study conducted by Mark Anner, associate professor, Penn State Uni-versity, prices of men and boys cotton trou-sers exported to the US market declined by 40.89% over the last 14 years.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports displayed the poorest per-formance in six years with 4.1% rise in the just-concluded � scal year while the country’s overall export growth also slumped to 13-year low.

The RMG sector earned $25.49bn in the just-concluded � scal year compared to $24.49bn in the previous year. l

Garment workers seen busy in a RMG factory FILE PHOTO

BUSINESS16DT


Global regulators may soften rules for asset-backed � nancingn Reuters, London

Global regulators may ease restrictions on asset-backed or pooled-debt in a policy shift that banks and European policymakers say is needed if � nancial markets are to play a big-ger role in funding economic growth, two � -nancial industry sources said on Tuesday.

Pooled-debt or asset-backed securities (ABS) based on poor quality US home loans were blamed for triggering the 2007-09 � nan-cial crisis, leading to tougher rules for these � nancial instruments.

This tarnished the asset-backed market that is roughly still only half its pre-crisis size in Europe, though it has rebounded in the United States.

The European Union is working on re-forms of asset-backed securities to try to re-vive the market so it can contribute to fund-ing for businesses that in Europe largely rely on banks for money. These reforms would seek to cut capital charges on high quality se-curitized debt.

Now the global Basel Committee of bank-ing supervisors has also begun a fundamen-tal review of how much capital banks should hold against assets such as pooled or secu-ritized debt on their trading books.

This week it sent a questionnaire to banks to test the impact of lower capital charges on securitized debt based on high quality loans.

“They have lowered the capital require-ments on securitization, which is going with the political wind,” a senior European bank-ing source who has read the questionnaire told Reuters.

Until now there has been no sign that global regulators were willing to follow the European Union’s lead and thereby avoid fragmenting the asset-backed market, which currently operates as a global market, with-out regional constraints.

Basel’s questionnaire follows calls in Feb-ruary from three lobby groups, the Interna-

tional Swaps and Derivatives Association, the Global Financial Markets Association, and the Institute of International Finance, for more � exibility on securitized debt.

The three trade bodies have said it is impor-tant to avoid making the product uneconom-ic at a time when political objectives in many countries focus on reviving the market and broadening the available sources of funding.

Basel’s questionnaire is a sign of possible � exibility in its trading book review in other ways too. The questionnaire also tests the cli-mate for ditching so-called “asymmetric cor-relations” or capital charges for covering less well-hedged positions in the asset-backed market.

Banks argued the original proposal could lead to unrealistically high capital charges for well-hedged positions as well.

“It looks much better,” the banking source said of the latest questionnaire.

But the Basel committee is also testing opinions about a new capital charge to cov-er products that are not covered by broader rules on asset-backed securities.

Basel wants to wrap up work on its trading book review by the end of this year and then decide on when the changes must be intro-duced. l

The skyline of the banking district is pictured in Frankfurt REUTERS

Governance, performance woes put investors o� emerging Asian stocksn Reuters, Singapore

Global investors are more conservative on emerging Asian stocks compared with equi-ties elsewhere, as concerns about poor cor-porate governance and lack of transparency are taking some of the gloss o� the region’s outperforming markets.

The problems are particularly acute in China, South Korea and Taiwan, which make up more than half of the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets index.

As a result, international investors are more selective about where they put their money and are underweight Asian equities even as economic growth and stock returns in the region continue to outpace other emerg-ing markets such as those in Latin America.

“While there are opportunities among selected companies in Asia, we have reser-vations about the quality of companies that make up a signi� cant portion of the index,” said Matthew Vaight, London-based manager of M&G Global’s Emerging Markets fund. “We will struggle to move to a signi� cant over-weight in Asia.”

Global emerging markets funds had only 63% of their investments in Asia as of May 31, below the benchmark’s weighting of 69.7%, according to a survey of 51 funds by JP Mor-gan last month.

Among major emerging markets, coun-tries with the biggest gaps between investors’ positions and the benchmark were Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea and China, according to the survey.

Governance struggleThe underweight position on emerging Asia comes despite the outperformance of the broader index.

The MSCI Asia Emerging Market index has fallen only 5.3% over the past year, compared with a 32% slide in its Latin American coun-terpart and an 18% decline in European and Middle Eastern emerging markets.

“We struggle to � nd companies that satis-fy our quality criteria,” particularly in north Asia, said Christopher Wong, senior invest-ment manager at Aberdeen Asset Manage-ment in Singapore, who runs its emerging markets fund. “We are uncomfortable with the opaque business structures and the gen-erally poor corporate governance standards.”

Take the case of China and South Korea, for example. Although Beijing is undertaking reforms, the ine� ciency of its state-owned enterprises, including its Big Four banks - In-dustrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of Chi-na and Bank of China - has long been one of the country’s thorniest problems.

In South Korea, Samsung Group’s founding Lee family - which controls global electronics giant Samsung Electronics - last week scored a narrow win in a landmark proxy battle, led by activist U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates.

The rare challenge by a foreign fund has stirred public debate about the country’s corporate-governance standards, especially amid growing disenchantment with fami-ly-owned businesses running rough-shod over minority interests.

Aberdeen’s emerging markets fund had 55.9% of its investments in Asia as of May 31. It has been underweight Asia, particularly China, Taiwan and Korea, for 10 years.

Indian opportunityIn contrast, while Latin American economies aren’t exactly brimming with con� dence, the fund is more exposed to the region than the benchmark.

Companies including retailer Lojas Renner and fuel distributor Ultrapar in Brazil, and Mex-ican convenience store operator and bottler FEMSA, are well managed, have healthy balance sheets and strong business models that ensure their survival in tough times, Aberdeen’s Wong said. To be sure, some funds are taking the op-portunistic approach in places like South Korea.

M&G Global’s Vaight says concerns about corporate governance have compressed val-uations to the point where they’re attractive.

Korean companies are trading at 11.6 times earnings, which for instance compares with 15.8 in Indonesia and 16.7 in Thailand.

India, home to the biggest number of over-weight positions among emerging market funds and favored by global equities funds, is an exception despite the Sensex’s high 20.5 times earnings multiple.

“The only appealing investment right now in Asia is India,” said Chris Semenuk, manag-er of TIAA-CREF’s $4.3bn international equi-ties fund, which is underweight Asia.

“India, in its development, is where Chi-na was 10 years ago. The runway for future growth in Indian companies is quite long.” l

Four rental power plants get extensionn Tribune Report

The government has extended the tenure of purchasing power from four gas-run rental power plants.

The Cabinet Committee on public purchase yesterday cleared the proposal to extend the contracts.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith presided over the meeting.

Three of the power plants are of Aggreko International Project Limited while the other is of Energy Prima Limited.

“The contract with Aggreko for the Brahmanbaria 85MW power plant and Ashuganj’s 95MW plant has been extended by a year,” said Cabinet Division’s Additional Secretary Mosta� zurRahman after the meeting.

“Aggreko’s Ghorashal 145MW plant and Energy Prima’sFenchuganj 50MW have also got three more years extension.”

Rahman also disclosed that the government would buy power at Tk 3.26 per megawatt from these plants in the extended period.

When the contracts were signed for three years, the government agreed to buy power at Tk4.8 per MW from the plants at Brahmanbarhia and Ashuganj, Tk4.75 from Ghorashal, and Tk4.65 from Fenchuganj.

“The price of power has dropped, as the overhead cost decreased,” said Rahman. l

BUSINESS 17D


Return of Iranian oil may cause more OPEC tensionsn AFP, London

The return of oil from Iran following the land-mark nuclear energy deal with world powers could create fresh tensions within OPEC but may reinforce the cartel’s output strategy, an-alysts say.

Tehran and major powers - Britain, Chi-na, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - clinched a historic agreement in Vi-enna on Tuesday aimed at ensuring Iran does not obtain a nuclear bomb, and which paves the way for the removal of sanctions and the gradual return of Iranian oil to the global mar-ket next year.

The accord puts strict limits on Iran’s nu-clear activities for at least a decade. In return, sanctions that have slashed the oil exports of OPEC’s � fth-largest producer will be lifted and billions of dollars in frozen assets un-blocked.

The Islamic republic’s exports could reach a potential 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, from 1.6 million bpd in 2014, according to data from economist Charles Robertson at investment bank Renaissance Capital.

The Organization of the Petroleum Export-ing Countries - whose 12 members including Iran pump one third of global oil - is mindful that Iranian oil could worsen a global supply glut and depress oil prices further.

OPEC decided at its last meeting in Vienna in June to maintain output levels, extending its Saudi-backed strategy to preserve market share and fend o� competition from booming US shale.

Oil prices sank last week, hit by the Iran nuclear deal and the strong dollar, raising jit-ters among some OPEC members who next meet on December 4.

London Brent oil slid to about $56 per bar-rel and New York’s West Texas Intermediate dropped to around $52 a barrel.

Divisions in cartelPoorer OPEC members Angola, Algeria and Venezuela - whose budgets are heavily reliant on oil revenues - may again argue for less out-put to support prices, analysts say.

Richer Gulf producers, led by OPEC king-pin Saudi Arabia, remain eager for the cartel to preserve valuable market share and force out high-cost US shale producers with lower oil price levels.

“Clearly there is a divide between the countries on this new policy of seeking new market share,” Ann-Louise Hittle at consul-tancy Wood Mackenzie told AFP.

“So it could be a contentious (OPEC) meet-ing and there could be pressure for an emer-gency meeting before December.”

Faced with stubbornly low prices, Alge-ria’s energy minister Salah Khabri indicated to state news agency APS last week that an emergency OPEC meet could be needed.

“The real problem starts when OPEC mem-bers begin to � ght for quotas amid oversup-ply and market share disputes,” said Jassem al-Saadun, head of Kuwait’s Al-Shall Econom-ic Consultants.

“If Iran, Venezuela, Algeria and Libya - all of which need to pump more - enter into a dispute with the Gulf producers, then it could be the end for OPEC,” he warned.

Danske Bank analyst Jens Naervig Peder-sen said such countries had been “really hit” by low oil prices.

But he added: “Their collective power is probably not great enough to turn the mind of Saudi Arabia and the core members of OPEC

in the Middle East.”

Global demand keyIn June, OPEC’s collective output ceiling was left at 30 million bpd - where it has stood for three and a half years - despite an oil price collapse between June 2014 and January that slashed precious revenues.

The organisation appeared to shrug o� calls from some members, including Iran, for a “reasonable” oil price of between $75 and $80 per barrel.

Oil is forecast to languish at an average of just above $62 per barrel next year, according to French bank Natixis.

Hittle cautioned that low price levels could slow down US shale energy production and make room for returning supplies from Iran - provided that global energy demand does not falter.

“When we look at fundamentals (of supply and demand) in the next year, with prices at this level we do expect to see a much slower growth in US oil supply,” she said.

“So there might actually be some room for Iranian production to start up, as long as oil demand growth holds up and continues.” l

Developing nations give up on global tax plann AFP, Addis Ababa

Developing nations have abandoned their push to create a global tax authority during a key United Nations global development sum-mit being held this week in Ethiopia, o� cials said yesterday.

Poorer countries, as part of the 134-member G77 bloc, had been lobbying hard for an end to multinationals’ pro� t shifting, which the UN’s trade and development body UNCTAD says costs poorer countries some $100bn a year.

They wanted a UN-managed intergovern-mental body charged with overseeing a new set of global � scal regulations to be creat-

ed, replacing the current set-up where such matters are managed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the so-called “rich man’s club”.

Richer countries, led by Britain and the United States, were opposed to the plan.

The dispute has been at the centre of the summit, which has been tackling the ques-tion of how to plug an estimated $2.5tn gap in development � nancing.

Th United Nations hopes the meeting will pave the way for a fairer world of inclusive, low-carbon growth, set out in its 2015-2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The � nal text of the summit, obtained by

AFP, shows developing nations dropped their demands for a global tax body, with the text only mentioning that a subsidiary commit-tee of the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) - which only has a consultative role - will handle the matter.

It says members of this committee will in future be appointed by their governments and that it will be more geographically repre-sentative.

“This question has become a political foot-ball,” explained Paddy Carter, a researcher at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a London-based development think-tank.

“It’s easy to understand why developing

countries need a global tax body instead of being told by OECD what they should do. But it’s harder to say how e� ective a UN body could be to increase tax revenues for these countries,” he said.

The � nal text from the summit, the third of its kind after talks in Monterrey in 2002 and Doha in 2008, is expected to be formally adopted later Thursday.

This in turn will enable the world body to push ahead with its 2015-2030 Sustainable De-velopment Goals, which are due to be formally adopted in New York in September. There are 17 in all, ranging from ending poverty to pro-viding universal access to sustainable energy. l

Oil prices resume decline on supply glut worriesn AFP, Singapore

Oil prices resumed their declines in Asia yes-terday following a US report showing stock-piles surged last week, with analysts warning for further weakness ahead.

Ahead of an o� cial report, the indus-try-funded American Petroleum Institute (API) said stockpiles had increased by 2.3 mil-lion barrels last week.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery fell 70 cents to 50.16 a barrel and Brent crude for September tumbled 53 cents to $56.51 in late-morning Asian trade.

Both contracts had posted gains Tuesday.“Crude prices remain under pressure as

the supply overhang continues to persist,” said Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Mar-kets Singapore.

Wednesday’s o� cial Energy Information Agency data “will be closely monitored, al-though it is evident that the supply glut prob-lem is expected to stay for a while longer”, Aw added.

Oil prices have tumbled from more than $100 a barrel in June last year as strong pro-duction from the United States and the Or-ganization of the Petroleum Exporting Coun-tries led to supplies outpacing demand. l

New York Fed: A 10% rise in dollar cuts US GDP by 0.5%n Reuters, New York

A 10% increase in the dollar in a quarter would reduce US economic growth by half a percent-age point over a year and by another 0.2 point the following year, according to a New York Federal Reserve blog post on Friday.

The greenback has gained 12% against other major currencies since mid-2014 on im-proving jobs conditions and in anticipation of a Federal Reserve rate increase by late 2015.

This has raised worries among Fed o� cials and economists about the impact of a sturdier dollar on US exports. US gross domestic prod-uc t contracted 0.2% in the � rst quarter, with exports falling 5.9% and imports rising 7.1%, the government said in June.

While a stronger dollar makes imports cheap-er for consumers and domestic producers, it seems not enough to o� set the drag for US ex-porters, New York Fed analysts Mary Amiti and Tyler Bodine-Smith wrote in the blog post. l

An All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) plane � ies over a chimney of an oil re� nery in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo REUTERS

BUSINESS18DT


SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 263.27 3.68 14.50 2.80 277.78 3.62NBFI 255.78 3.58 23.82 4.60 279.60 3.65Investment 75.37 1.05 2.92 0.56 78.29 1.02Engineering 1143.73 15.99 96.47 18.61 1240.20 16.17Food & Allied 268.91 3.76 9.82 1.90 278.73 3.63Fuel & Power 1765.35 24.68 128.63 24.82 1893.98 24.69Jute 4.59 0.06 0.00 4.59 0.06Textile 351.58 4.92 27.70 5.34 379.28 4.95Pharma & Chemical 1441.38 20.15 63.54 12.26 1504.92 19.62Paper & Packaging 20.22 0.28 2.90 0.56 23.13 0.30Service 103.04 1.44 6.98 1.35 110.02 1.43Leather 42.80 0.60 1.18 0.23 43.98 0.57Ceramic 155.40 2.17 6.74 1.30 162.14 2.11Cement 392.13 5.48 37.04 7.15 429.16 5.60Information Technology 60.40 0.84 3.14 0.61 63.54 0.83General Insurance 30.23 0.42 1.15 0.22 31.38 0.41Life Insurance 82.58 1.15 5.59 1.08 88.17 1.15Telecom 282.92 3.96 31.36 6.05 314.29 4.10Travel & Leisure 134.98 1.89 23.82 4.60 158.80 2.07Miscellaneous 275.45 3.85 30.91 5.97 306.36 3.99Debenture 1.59 0.02 0.02 0.00 1.61 0.02

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

News, Analysis and Recent DisclosersMEGHNALIFE: (Q1 Un-audited): As per un-audited quarterly ac-counts for the 1st quarter ended on 31st March 2015 (Jan-15 to March-15), the Company has re-ported an increase in life revenue account of Tk. 79.25 million with total life insurance fund of Tk. 13,485.93 million as against Tk. 222.94 million and Tk. 12,307.53 million respectively for the same period of the previous year.PURABIGEN: (H/Y Un-audited): Net Pro� t after tax from Jan’15-June’15 was Tk. 20.88 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.60 as against Tk. 15.84 million and Tk. 0.46 respectively for the same period of the previous year. However, considering proposed bonus share @ 15% for the year 2014, restated basic EPS will be Tk. 0.52 as on 30.06.2015 and Tk. 0.40 as on 30.06.2014. Whereas Net Pro� t after tax from April’15-June’15 was Tk. 11.86 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.34 as against Tk. 7.84 million and Tk. 0.23 respectively for the same period of the previous year. However, considering proposed bonus share @ 15% for the year 2014, restated basic EPS will be Tk. 0.30 as on 30.06.2015 and Tk. 0.20 as on 30.06.2014.IPDC: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the rating of the Company as ‘AA2’ in the long term and ‘ST-2’ in the short term along with a Stable outlook based on audited � nancial statements of the Company up to December 31, 2014 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.RANFOUNDRY: The Company has informed that the Dividend

Warrants for the year 2014 will be credited to respective sharehold-ers’ Bank Accounts on July 16, 2015. The Dividend for the folio holders will be distributed on July 22, 2015 from the registered o� ce of the Company at PRAN-RFL Centre, 105, Middle Badda, Dhaka-1212 from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM. Dividend Warrants not collected by the folio holders within the time mentioned would be mailed to their respective addresses from July 23, 2015.PARAMOUNT: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2014 to the respective shareholders’ BO Accounts. Fraction dividend will be disbursed after sale procedure of the same.

Dividend/AGMGP: Interim cash dividend 80%, Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 29.07.2015.SQURPHARMA: 30% cash and 12.50% stock dividend, AGM: 16.09.2015, Record Date: 13.08.2015.MEGHNALIFE: 13% cash and 20% stock, AGM: 27.08.2015, Record Date: 30.07.2015.FAREASTLIF: 35% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 16.08.2015, Record Date: 23.07.2015.STYLECRAFT: 60% cash, AGM: 27.08.2015, Record Date: 30.07.2015.BIFC: No dividend, AGM: 03.09.2015, Record Date: 23.07.2015.SANDHANINS: 22% stock, AGM: 01.09.2015, Record Date: 12.08.2015.PRIMELIFE: 15% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 31.08.2015, Record Date: 14.07.2015.

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Islami Bank BD - A 10.00 11.78 20.88 20.90 20.90 20.00 1.099 1.00 20.9National Polymer -A 9.92 9.92 92.38 93.10 93.10 84.70 3.135 3.36 27.5Shahjibazar Power-N 9.76 7.55 202.83 207.00 207.40 190.00 46.090 8.44 24.0Dutch Ban. Bnk- A 9.62 9.69 92.33 92.30 92.60 92.00 0.042 8.40 11.0Midas Financing-Z 9.32 9.79 12.90 12.90 12.90 12.90 0.009 -1.55 -veContinental Insur. -A 8.11 6.49 15.76 16.00 16.20 15.00 0.018 2.84 5.5Eastern InsurA 7.69 7.74 23.81 23.80 24.30 22.50 0.014 3.52 6.8Fareast Finance-A 7.62 5.79 11.32 11.30 11.50 10.20 3.360 1.88 6.0Islami Ins.BD-A 7.14 7.07 14.99 15.00 15.40 13.00 0.065 1.32 11.4Samata LeatheR -Z 6.67 5.34 28.80 28.80 28.80 28.80 0.009 -0.05 -ve

DSE GAINER


Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Islami Bank BD - A 10.00 11.02 20.86 20.90 20.90 19.40 33.057 1.00 20.9Shahjibazar Power-N 9.91 7.98 201.59 205.20 205.30 188.00 653.574 8.44 23.9National Polymer -A 9.90 6.87 89.76 92.10 92.10 85.10 78.343 3.36 26.7PragatiLife Insu. -Z 9.68 8.28 87.60 89.50 89.60 82.00 2.938 2.38 36.8BD. Autocars -Z 9.48 9.16 23.11 23.10 23.20 22.00 0.245 0.19 121.6MeghnaCement -A 9.26 7.99 121.85 123.90 124.70 114.20 20.556 8.52 14.3Eastern InsurA 8.05 5.47 24.87 25.50 25.90 24.20 0.366 3.52 7.1Wata Chemicals -A 6.76 5.24 165.32 168.90 174.00 155.20 7.273 3.80 43.5Hakkani P& Paper -B 6.43 0.91 46.36 48.00 48.30 43.60 8.788 0.29 159.9Renata Ltd. -A 6.25 6.73 1,184.11 1,196.80 1,196.80 1,130.00 133.070 36.04 32.9

CSE LOSER


Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Rahima Food -Z -9.87 -9.87 35.60 35.60 35.60 35.60 0.018 -0.47 -veFine Foods A -7.55 -0.41 9.80 9.80 9.80 9.80 0.005 -0.27 -veShinepukur Cera-Z -6.42 -3.85 10.48 10.20 10.80 10.10 0.017 0.12 87.3Imam Button -Z -6.36 -5.63 10.39 10.30 10.60 10.30 0.055 -1.21 -veDa� odil Computers -Z -5.76 -2.17 13.52 13.10 13.60 13.10 0.041 0.80 16.9Provati Insur.-A -5.63 -5.49 13.43 13.40 13.50 13.40 0.024 1.84 7.3Padma Islami Life*-N -4.62 -3.20 31.46 31.00 32.00 31.00 0.022 1.10 28.6Premier Leasing-Z -4.60 -0.93 8.53 8.30 8.90 8.20 0.083 0.07 121.9Rangpur Dairy-Z -4.29 -0.43 13.81 13.40 14.00 13.40 0.095 0.80 17.3Khan Brothers-N -4.07 -1.10 28.84 28.30 30.60 28.20 5.936 1.52 19.0

DSE LOSER


Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

EXIM Bank 1 MF-A -9.09 -9.09 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 0.004 0.56 10.7Samata LeatheR -Z -7.24 -6.09 28.51 28.20 30.00 28.00 0.691 -0.05 -veRangpur Dairy-Z -5.00 -2.80 13.56 13.30 14.00 13.30 1.788 0.80 17.0Saiham Cotton-A -4.52 -3.42 21.44 21.10 22.10 20.80 11.244 1.43 15.0Bengal Windsor-A -4.31 -2.95 67.66 66.60 69.30 66.00 21.459 3.35 20.2AramitCementA -4.09 -3.97 35.83 35.20 37.80 34.50 5.985 0.72 49.87th ICB M F-A -4.04 -4.04 95.00 95.00 95.00 95.00 0.001 9.73 9.8Global Heavy Chemicals-N -3.89 -1.63 42.97 42.00 43.70 41.50 4.065 2.08 20.7Anlima Yarn -A -3.79 -1.73 20.49 20.30 21.70 20.00 1.510 0.83 24.7Popular Life 1st M.F.-A -3.77 -1.72 5.13 5.10 5.30 5.00 2.090 0.63 8.1

DSE key features July 22, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

7,151.69

Turnover (Volume)

141,017,801

Number of Contract

142,275

Traded Issues 317

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

162

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

147

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

8

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,683.32

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.53

CSE key features July 22, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

518.26

Turnover (Volume)

12,925,714

Number of Contract

20,113

Traded Issues 247

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

125

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

118

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,589.82

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.39

BUSINESS 19D


Stocks end � at on pro� t booking DSE turnover crosses Tk700crn Tribune Report

Stocks closed � at amid volatility yesterday while investors booked pro� ts on earlier rally with buoyant trading activities.

Fresh fund injection after a long vacation has helped turn-over of the prime bourse cross Tk700 crore after nearly two months.

The benchmark of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, rose over 10 points or 0.3% to close at 4,741, extending gaining streak for the eighth consecutive session. The Shariah index, DSES, edged 7 points or 0.6% higher to 1,171.

The blue chip comprising index, DS30, witnessed fraction-al losses of 0.8 points to 1,857.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange was down 4 points to set-tle at 8,848.

The DSE turnover stood at Tk715 crore, a jump of more than 45% over the previous session’s value and highest since July 1 this year. Almost all the major sectors closed in posi-tive territory with tannery surging the highest almost 3%.

Among the heavyweights, pharmaceuticals outshone all the sectors rising 1.6%, driven by the sector’s second largest market capitalisation company RENATA that moved up 6.3%.

Non-banking � nancial institutions continued to gain, soaring 1.4%. Food and allied that was in red in previous session rallied over 1%. Power and bank performed positive while textiles closed marginally lower.

After making a signi� cant rally in the previous sessions, cement sector declined 1.4% on pro� t booking.

Lanka Bangla Securities said after showing a sporty move in the previous session, the market posted a marginal gain amid a volatile trading session.

Banks and multinational � rms’ stocks remained on the buyers’ radar hoping for a lucrative earning declaration.

Investors keyed up after a week-long vacation and were busy playing on stocks totaling the daily market turnover value Tk715 crore which is close to around two months’ high.

IDLC Investments said quick booking of pro� t accrued in the latest rally slowed down indices’ upward movement.

Though the number of issues that declined almost matched the number of issues that advanced, fearless gain-ing streak in most of the multinational scrips assisted a higher close for the aggregate market.

In anticipation of more upside in coming days, investors moved in from sideline and increased activities level, yield-ing a higher turnover, it said. l

Investors keyed up after a week-long vacation and were busy playing on stocks totaling the daily market turnover value Tk715 crore which is close to around two months’ high.

ANALYST

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 12045.26190 (+) 0.23% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1857.44854 (-) 0.05% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14530.51480 (-) 0.06% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12045.26190 (+) 0.91% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8848.29920 (-) 0.05% ▼

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Shahjibazar Power-N 227,229 46.09 8.89 207.00 9.76 188.60 207.40 190.00 202.83BSRM Ltd. -N 414,165 35.14 6.78 84.10 -0.94 84.90 87.00 82.60 84.83LafargeS Cement-A 255,644 30.85 5.95 118.70 -2.70 122.00 124.00 118.00 120.66United Power-N 141,048 23.36 4.51 162.90 -2.80 167.60 171.80 161.50 165.61MJL BD Ltd.-A 200,129 22.77 4.39 114.70 3.61 110.70 115.50 110.00 113.76UNITED AIR-A 1,889,775 20.62 3.98 10.70 -3.60 11.10 11.20 10.70 10.91BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 611,508 20.62 3.98 33.40 -1.76 34.00 34.40 33.20 33.72BD Submarine Cable-A 134,929 18.91 3.65 141.50 3.82 136.30 142.90 137.00 140.13Olympic Accessories -N 298,515 17.19 3.32 56.60 -4.07 59.00 59.60 56.50 57.58Khulna Power-A 211,736 16.30 3.15 75.70 -2.70 77.80 79.00 75.40 76.99Grameenphone-A 37,278 12.46 2.40 333.80 -0.54 335.60 338.90 332.50 334.13Square Pharma -A 44,741 11.63 2.24 261.10 1.56 257.10 262.00 256.60 260.01Beximco Pharma -A 164,255 10.71 2.07 64.20 -3.17 66.30 66.80 64.00 65.19FAR Chemical-N 178,737 8.59 1.66 48.00 2.56 46.80 49.00 47.30 48.06Active Fine Chem.-A 134,920 8.58 1.66 63.70 2.41 62.20 64.40 62.20 63.61

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Shahjibazar Power-N 3,242,142 653.57 9.14 205.20 9.91 186.70 205.30 188.00 201.59BSRM Ltd. -N 4,297,592 365.52 5.11 84.60 0.36 84.30 87.00 82.50 85.05LafargeS Cement-A 2,388,214 289.37 4.05 119.80 -1.40 121.50 124.50 119.00 121.17MJL BD Ltd.-A 1,932,224 219.66 3.07 114.90 3.61 110.90 115.70 111.10 113.68Active Fine Chem.-A 3,291,752 209.28 2.93 63.80 2.41 62.30 64.50 62.30 63.58Khulna Power-A 2,633,533 201.54 2.82 75.60 -2.70 77.70 78.40 75.00 76.53ACI Limited- A 329,218 197.12 2.76 591.50 -2.05 603.90 614.80 590.70 598.75Square Pharma -A 753,593 195.92 2.74 261.50 1.79 256.90 262.50 257.00 259.97BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 5,120,564 172.57 2.41 33.40 -1.76 34.00 34.40 33.20 33.70United Power-N 1,012,458 167.49 2.34 163.10 -2.86 167.90 172.00 160.70 165.43Grameenphone-A 475,232 158.50 2.22 333.60 -0.51 335.30 338.80 332.20 333.53FAR Chemical-N 3,156,166 152.04 2.13 48.00 2.56 46.80 49.10 47.30 48.17Ifad Autos -N 1,437,609 145.88 2.04 101.10 -2.03 103.20 104.70 100.00 101.48RAK Ceramics-A 1,838,131 145.64 2.04 78.40 -1.38 79.50 81.10 77.80 79.23Olympic Ind. -A 533,724 141.45 1.98 268.90 2.32 262.80 269.80 258.00 265.02Renata Ltd. -A 112,380 133.07 1.86 1196.80 6.25 1126.40 1196.80 1130.00 1184.11

July 22 WED

July 21 TUE

July 14 TUE

July 13 MON

July 12 SUN

July 09 THU

Change of DSE Broad Index vs Sectoral Index

-6%

-4%

-2%

0%

2%

4%

6%

11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11

FuelPowerIndex DSE BroadIndex

BUSINESS20DT


All used car customers now buy cars online n Tribune Business Desk

Nearly all of reconditioned car and 80% of new car customers have started online shop-ping experience as the e-commerce enables them to buy at any hour of the day, says on-line vehicle marketplace site Carmudi.

According to a Carmudi analysis, millions of people visit to the company’s classi� ed website, and the data shows that car buyers around the world, including Bangladesh, are predominantly searching for cars late at night.

Late night car search is a growing trend with more than 40% of global car buyers now searching for cars between 5pm and mid-night.

With e-commerce booming and increasing use of mobile phones to make purchase on-line, major goods are now being traded online.

Traditionally, consumers bought a car af-

ter visiting several dealers and verifying doz-ens of vehicles.

With the average car dealer closing by 6pm, car buyers are now able to save valuable time by researching car brands, and shopping for the best price from the comfort of their own home.

From arranging test drives to applying for � nancing, the majority of the purchasing cy-cle takes place online.

Dealers continue to play a vital role in the pro-cess, particularly when it comes to test driving.

Another insight gleaned from the Carmudi data shows that car consumers are transition-ing from searching for vehicles on a desktop, to using mobile apps, most notably in the evening hours.

During working hours, only 15% of con-sumers visit Carmudi via the mobile app, but from 6pm to midnight more than 55% of vis-

itors search for cars on their mobile app, as opposed to their computer.

The car buying experience has remained stagnant for decades, but in the world of AM-AZON and UBER, the car classi� eds market is ripe for disruption, starting with the ability to � nd customer’s dream car at midnight from the comfort of their own couch.

Carmudi was founded in 2013 and is cur-rently available in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mexi-co, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Viet-nam and Zambia.

In Bangladesh, the vehicle marketplace of-fers buyers, sellers and car dealers the ideal platform to � nd cars, motorcycles and com-mercial vehicles online at www.carmudi.com.bd. l

Rahman Rahman Huq in BSEC’s auditor panel n Tribune Report

Rahman Rahman Huq, a renowned chartered accountants � rm in Bangladesh, is in the pan-el of auditors of securities regulator.

Last week, Bangladesh Securities and Ex-change Commission published the full lists of 36 chartered accountants � rms eligible for au-diting � nancial statements of listed securities.

From next month, it is mandatory for all listed � rms to have their � nancial statements audited by only the commission’s panel of auditors. l

Cabinet committee okays ICT infra-network projectn Tribune Report

The cabinet committee on public purchase yesterday approved “Development of ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh Government Phase-III (Info-Sarkar Phase-3).”

Under the project, the government will provide optical � bre connections to up to 1,200 union parishads across the country.

A total of 171 video conference systems, 554 business process outsourcing (BPO), pi-lot-based cloud platform, increased capacity of the existing network management system, set-ting up of network equipment and establishing help desk will be needed on an urgent basis to expedite the ICT infra-network project.

Chinese Exim Bank will provide loan worth $167m under a government to government ar-rangement, o� cial sources said.

The Information and Communication Tech-nology (ICT) Division has undertaken the pro-ject with an aim to give all the Union Information Service Centres (UISC) an institutional shape.

The proposed loan would be used to pro-cure all the necessary products, infrastructural eqipment and services from the Chinese state-owned � rm M/S China Railway International Group Company Limited (CRIG) through a direct purchase method, according to a summary of the report of the cabinet committee on econom-ic a� airs. The Chinese government has already nominated the CRIG to implement the project.

The incumbent Awami League-led govern-ment announced “Vision 2021” in its election manifesto as a political commitment as part of its bid to build “Digital Bangladesh.” l

Germany to provide 208m Euro as development assistancen Tribune Business Desk

Germany will provide 208 million Euro in assistance to Bangladesh for combating the adverse impacts of climate change, develop energy e� ciency and strengthen governance.

The newly appointed German Ambassador to Bangladesh, Dr Thomas Heinrich Prinz, said this while paying a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her o� ce on Wednesday, reports UNB.

PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

He said Germany would continue its part-nership in Bangladesh’s development e� orts, saying it has made tremendous success in so-cioeconomic development.

“Bangladesh is on the right track,” he said.Referring to Bangladesh’s progress in the

IT sector, the German envoy expressed his high hope to bring some investment from his country to this sector.

He said some 1,500 Bangladeshi students are now getting German visas on average every year for higher study and this time it might be increased.

Mentioning that Bangladesh’s potentials in bio-gas, Dr Thomas Heinrich Prinz said 26% of the total energy consumption of his coun-try comes from renewable energy. “We want to increase it to 50 percent,” he said.

The German ambassador said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu was a great orator and the people of Germany hold him in high es-

teem. He mentioned that he recently visited the Bangabandhu museum and he said: “His-tory speaks.”

Referring to his visit to the burn unit of Dha-ka Medical College Hospital after the country-wide violence and petrol bomb attacks by the BNP-Jamaat alliance, he said he witnessed the unbearable su� erings of burn victims.

He said Germany would help Bangladesh set up a separate burn institute in the country.

Welcoming the new German ambassador to Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she appreciates the sustained commit-ment of Germany to Bangladesh through de-velopment cooperation since its birth.

She said Bangladesh is a very lucrative destination for investment and sought more

investment in the country as it has a very lib-eral investment policy.

Mentioning Bangladesh’s growing ship-building industry in Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said there is scope of cooperation in this sector.

Talking about the establishment of a sep-arate burn institute in the country, Sheikh Hasina said her government has already tak-en a decision in this regard.

She recalled that Germany was one of the � rst European countries which recognised Bangladesh right after its independence.

The Prime Minister also invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel through the Am-bassador to visit Bangladesh at her conven-ient time. l

The picture symbolises how easy it is to buy a used car online COURTESY

21D

TTHURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015T

-JUN

CT

ION

22Hot Topic

These tiles tell a story

24Ticket

Light up!news

Kolpokushol:Bringing the art of innovation to the youth

INSIDE

Photo: Bigstock

On a roll

Hot TopicTHURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015

T-JUNCTION22DT

These tiles tell a storyA tribute to those brief moments, when the release of that new movie you wanted to watch isn’t what you want to ‘come out’ the most

As a nine year old boy, I was aware of the horrors of the

school lavatory. However, victimised by my bad luck,

it so happened that I had to use the school toilet and that

too for number two. Upon relieving myself (with great

difficulty, I assure you) I knew the worst was yet to come

when I could not see any soap around me. In my moment

of panic, I did not know what to do. After calling out to the

bua (janitor) a few times, I realised no one was coming for

me. So I calmly wiped my hands in the dirty towel, went

to class and went about my business. Upon reaching home

I washed my hands a million times and have never visited

the school lavatory again. - Samia Zaman, 16

It was a rainy day and by no mere coincidence, I slipped

and fell onto a puddle of mud. Knowing how it would look, I immediately sneaked into the school toilet, disgusting as it is, and turned on the tap only to find that the one thing that a bathroom was reliable for wasn't there. Yes I am talking about water, in case you thought school toilets have much of anything else. I had no option but to go to the classroom and assume my friends would be mature 15-year-old's. But as you know, there is no such thing, and I leave it to you to guess how that went.- Tasmia Ekram Farhana, 14

Photos: Bigstock

Hot Topic T-JUNCTION 23D

T


n Mustafi d Raiyan Khan

To most kids and teenagers all around the world, the worst place in school they dread ending up in is the principal’s office - unless of course you’re in Bangladesh, in which case it’s probably the second worst place. Air permeated with the rancid stench of urea, ground checkered with mud, water, other unidentified liquids and little pieces of sullied Lux soaps scattered, we present to you the average Bangladeshi school toilet, the scariest place to have to end up in school.

Now it’s common knowledge that the toilets in Bangladeshi schools, to make a major understatement, isn’t quite up to par. Whether it’s a broken flush, dirty floors, lack of toilet paper, shortage of water, or even weird handwritten messages on the walls asking you to call them (no, I am not looking for a good time), almost everything about the place screams neglect. You go in for relief and exit scarred, your nose protesting in distress and you are simply grossed out. That is, assuming the overwhelming smell of urea didn’t black you out and you actually managed to exit the place.

And what these conditions do is instill in you immense fear of the number two. In fact, you probably can’t scare Bangladeshi students in schools enough to make them release in their pants because they’re more afraid of the latter! Jokes apart, this has grown to be serious issue. There are countless cases of students “holding it

in” during school hours, their minds far from their lessons, only because they deem holding back a smaller torture than visiting the school lavatory. As the war rages in the lower part of your body, your entire being is invested into generating that extra bit of energy to support your muscles. Questions fade in and out of your head: will I make it? Is this the end? This feeling is commonly termed constipation, which can be a facial expression as well because it almost always shows on your face (someone inevitably finds out from your feverish expressions and suppressed replies). This usually ends with them cracking a few jokes, sharing a hearty laugh. But deep down inside, they too can relate because they’ve all been there.

So how can institutions like schools where children are educated have places of such unhygienic stature? This is a fundamental error on the part of a school’s administrative board. Schools take pride in not just educating students, but also teaching them discipline and structure for the rest of their lives. But nurturing proper hygiene practices is an essential part of instilling that discipline and structure, something a Bangladeshi schools usually fail to see. When a school’s toilet lacks the basic amenities a person needs to complete his/her business, students avoid it like a plague. If a school’s toilet isn’t clean or hygienic, students will use it carelessly.

One solution is establishing basic toilet etiquette classes in school so students don’t misuse the toilet (make sure their

streams hit the mark, not the wall) and follow standard procedures (flushing would be great). The school itself should train janitors to make sure toilets are constantly cleaned, and amenities like soap, toilet paper and water (deem yourself lucky if you can’t relate) is never absent. If the school makes an effort into making the toilet a hygienic

and convenient environment, students will make an effort to maintain that environment.

If we can dare to dream of a digital Bangladesh, we can dare to dream of a toilet with soap and water, can’t we? Because constipation; it demands to be released. l

Let me tell you about a nightmare I once had. No, it

does not involve Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Loch Ness monster or any other terrifying entity. Imagine having diarrhoea and rushing to the school washroom only to find that there is no tissue, no hand spray, a dirty toilet seat and a flush that doesn’t work. Then imagine reliving that dream again and again throughout the day. Needless to say I have never taken the risk to go to school with even the slightest suspicion of food poisoning.-Nadir Rahman, 17

Imagine staying in school all day for a certain event with you

knowing how dirty and disgusting the bathrooms are. Now add the fact that you have to change into informal clothes in those very bathrooms. Well, this is what you would have to do. You change into your new clothes, biting onto your old ones, hopping on one foot and hoping nine ways to Sunday that you don’t slip on the dirty water mudded on the � oor. Next, you get the hell out and avoid drinking and using water for the rest of the day until you are in the save haven that is your home and your home bathroom. Try doing that in your next music video Beyonce.-Saria Kareem, 15

I was in grade six when suddenly I realised....code red! It was during lunch break when I made my way to the toilet and realised what had happened. I was

embarrassed, � ustered and absolutely devastated. And of course, on top of that, I had no idea who to go to. Embarrassed and unable to reach out to my friends, I ended up locking myself in the dirty bathroom until an ayah started knocking. She took me out, was kind enough to explain to me what had happened and tried to take matters into her own hands. Since it was impossible to continue classes that day, I had to undergo a walk of shame to the sick room until my mom could come pick me up. It was an utter nightmare!-Farhana Samia, 16

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news

n Samira Sadeque

The Summer 2015 workshop by Kolpokushol, an initiative by Massachusetts Institute of Technlogy (MIT) students and alumni, begins today, with 60 participants taking part from Bangladesh. The workshop will continue for six days and will have students and young professionals from across the country.

Kolpokushol is a platform for students and alumni of MIT to engage with the

youth of Bangladesh and inspire and create new ideas and possibilities for the local community.

The initiative was founded on the belief that our society needs beyond what is being taught inside the classrooms today. It aims to direct and provide the youth with ideas and skills of technical innovation, which they may utilise to bring about social change.

60 participants were selected from a pool of more than 400 applicants for

Kolpokushol:Bringing the art of innovation to the youth

This monsoon, Kaymu has introduced a collection of lamps. It comes in shapes of � owers, mushroom-trees, pearls as well as lava lamps, with prices ranging from Tk320 to Tk1,300. To know more, log onto http://www.kaymu.com.bd

Illuminating toys

Light up!

this workshop, coming from a range of backgrounds including business, the arts, science and technology.

“For innovation, we need the right set of knowledge and skills. Unfortunately in Bangladesh, the education system does not nurture what is required.” says Saif Kamal, founder of Toru - The Idea Tree, the facilitator for this workshop.

“Despite their interest in making changes in various sectors, the youth is unable to develop marketable products

and services, and that is what we aim to address,” he added.

The first three days of the workshop will be live and virtual lectures, followed by three days of product development. The last leg of the event, on June 29, will be a day to present the product the participants developed during their workshop.

The final product demonstration will be open to the public, and will be held University of Liberal Arts Campus A, from 3-6pm. l

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GOTZE ANSWERS SUSHI GAFFE WITH CHINA GOAL

LANGEVELDT KEEPS TIGERS AHEAD

26 2927

South African batsmen Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince shared

the highest � rst-class partnership for Lancashire when they added

501 runs for the third wicket against Glamorgan on Monday. Petersen

smashed 286 while Prince scored 261

THE PARTNERSHIP

SportMAHMUDULLAH CONFIDENT OF GOING AHEAD

Mominul’s rare failureTop-order batsman Mominul Haque has established himself as a wall in the Bangladesh batting line-up. Eleven � fties in back-to-back Tests boosted his image as an ideal Test bats-man. Replying to South Africa’s � rst-innings tally, Bangladesh were at a steady point when Mominul walked in to the middle following Imrul Kayes’ dismissal. The left-hander was expected to carry on from there but he could survive only 14 deliveries and add six runs to the board – a rare failure for Bangladesh’s best Test batsman with a staggering average of nearly 57 after 16 matches.

Steyn’s strugglesSouth Africa spearhead Dale Steyn was expected to pose the main challenge for the Bangladesh batsmen. Prior to the Chittagong � ve-dayer, there is no doubt that the visitors were relying on the world’s premier Test bowl-er to be lethal against the hosts. But the op-posite happened as the right-arm fast bowler struggled for most of the second day’s play at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. Yesterday, Steyn bowled 13 overs in four spells and leaked 46 runs, failing to bag a single wicket and make inroads to the 400-wicket club.

Tamim-Mahmudullah resistanceTwo quick dismissals, that of opener Kayes and Mominul, could have pushed Bangladesh on the brink of a collapse. But the pressure was eased o� by Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah. The duo was clam and resolute against the South Africa bowlers, who were o� ering them with playable deliveries. But Tamim and Mahmudullah ensured of not giving in to a rush of blood and milked runs at 2.83 per over. The third-wicket pair were together for 31.4 overs and put on 89, the second highest partnership for any wicket against South Africa. The association enabled Bangladesh to cruise to 144 from 55 for 2.

Tamim-De Kock skirmishCricket being a non-contact sport discourages physical contact. However, the ongoing series between Bangladesh and South Africa seems to have overlooked that notion. Following a conversation, Bangladesh opener Tamim and South Africa wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock got involved in an incident of shoulder barging at the stroke of lunch. Proteas captain Hashim Amla swiftly intervened to disperse the situation. This was the second such instance in this series. The previous one also involved Tamim as he was pushed on the shoulder by Rilee Rossouw during the second one-day international. The South Africa cricketer was found guilty of breaching the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct and was slammed with a � ne. l

–MINHAZ UDDIN KHAN

TALKING POINTS BANvSA, 1ST TEST, DAY 2 THE HALF-CENTURIONS

South Africa fast bowler Morne Morkel cuts a frustrated � gure as Bangladesh batsmen Mahmudullah (C) and Tamim Iqbal take a run during their 89-run partnership on the second day’s play of the � rst of two Tests at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

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IN NUMBERS

7 Number of times in Tests that both open-ers of one team were dismissed by the

openers of the other team. On the second day in Chittagong, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes were dismissed by Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl respectively.

2 Previous instances of two Bangladesh batsmen making a 50-plus score in an

innings against South Africa - in Chittagong, 2003 and Centurion, 2008. Bangladesh have never had three half-century scores in an innings against South Africa.

89 The partnership between Tamim and Mahmudullah, the highest

third-wicket stand - and the second highest for any wicket - for Bangladesh against South Africa. Habibul Bashar and Javed Omar had added 131 for the second wicket, also in Chit-tagong, in 2003.

5 Number of partnerships among Bangladesh’s top-ten stands against

South Africa that have come in Chittagong. Bangladesh have posted 17 stands of 50 or more against South Africa, and seven of those in Chittagong.

1 Number of times Bangladesh have taken a � rst-innings lead in eight Tests against

South Africa - in Dhaka, in 2008.

46 The stand between Tamim and Im-rul, Bangladesh’s joint second best

opening partnership against South Africa. The only time Bangladesh’s openers posted a 50-plus stand against South Africa was when Al Sahariar and Hannan Sarkar had a 52-run partnership in Potchefstroom in 2002.

13 Overs bowled by Dale Steyn without taking a wicket. He has never bowled

10 or more overs previously against Bangla-desh without taking a wicket.

67 Number of 50-plus scores for Tamim in international cricket, the most

for any Bangladesh batsman. He has 27 such scores in Tests, 37 in ODIs and 3 in T20Is. Second on the list is Shakib Al Hasan, with 63 scores of 50 or more.

BANvSA, DAY 2SOUTH AFRICA 1ST INNINGS(T. Bavuma 54; Musta� zur Rahman 4-37, Jubair Hossain 3-53)BANGLADESH FIRST INNINGS R B(7-0 overnight)Tamim Iqbal b Elgar 57 129Imrul Kayes st de Kock b van Zyl 26 73Mominul Haque v Harmer 6 14Mahmudullah lbw b Philander 67 138Mush� qur Rahim not out 16 44Shakib Al Hasan not out 1 5Extras (lb 5, nb1) 6Total (for four wickets; 67 overs) 179

Fall of wickets1-46 (Imrul), 2-55 (Mominul), 3-144 (Tamim), 4-178 (Mahmudullah)BowlingSteyn 13-3-46-0, Philander 12-1-22-1 (nb1), Morkel 11-2-28-0, Harmer 19-3-59-1, van Zyl 9-2-13-1, Elgar 3-0-6-1

Overcast skies form over the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday during the second day of the � rst Test between Bangladesh and South Africa. Only 10 overs were possible in the � nal session before rain came pouring down, bringing an end to the second day’s play MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Mahmudullah con� dent of going aheadn Minhaz Uddin Khan from Chittagong

Bangladesh middle-order batsman Mahmud-ullah, one of the chief architects behind the Tigers’ solid start in their � rst innings of the opening Test against South Africa, believes the home side are in an advantageous posi-tion following the second day’s play at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.

Captain Mush� qur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan will resume the third day’s proceed-ings today with the Tigers on 179/4, requiring another 69 runs to draw level with South Af-rica’s � rst-innings tally.

Mahmudullah informed that with Liton Kumar Das still to follow, he is hopeful of a substantial � rst-innings lead.

“The � rst session will be very important for us [today]. If there is no loss of wicket and if Shakib and Mush� q put up a partnership, I think that will put us � rmly on the driving seat. So, our momentum will pretty much de-

pend on the � rst [session]. We ended the day with con� dence and hope we will be able to carry it forward to [today],” Mahmudullah told the media in the post-day press conference.

The Tigers were slightly taken aback after opener Imrul Kayes and top-order � xture Mom-inul Haque were dismissed but a cautious part-nership between Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudu-llah took them to safety. The third-wicket pair chipped away for 31.4 overs, adding a valuable 89 runs, and Mahmudullah stated that it was hard work for them at the middle.

“I think it was due to the wicket that we were cautious and took things slow. One will need to work hard to score on this wicket and at the same time, they were also bowling at good areas. Tamim and I had planned to put up a partnership and stretch it as much as possible. But Tamim got dismissed and I fol-lowed him soon after. We are still hopeful and expect that Mush� q and Shakib will take it from here,” said the 29-year old all-rounder.

On the eve of the � rst of two Tests against the Proteas, many had predicted that the Bangladesh batsmen might struggle against a dangerous bowling attack, comprising Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander, three of the world’s top-10 Test bowlers.

The picture however, came out the exact opposite as the tourists’ bowlers were left frus-trated for most parts of the second day. Yester-day was the � rst instance of Steyn walking back to the dressing room after a day’s play against the Tigers without a single wicket to his credit.

“We watched videos of the South Africa bowlers ahead of the series. This is a regular practice and we do it ahead of every series. We saw videos of Morkel, Steyn, Philander and many others who can bowl. That has helped us a lot I believe. I was personally very comfortable while batting [yesterday]. South Africa have got the best bowling attack at the moment. I think we did a good job [yester-day],” Mahmudullah concluded. l

Broad threatens to call o� Chittagong Test n Minhaz Uddin Khan from Chittagong

Chris Broad, match referee of the ongoing Test between Bangladesh and South Africa, threatened the local organisers that he was mulling calling the match o� after the visitors complained of racial abuse by the spectators during the second day’s play at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.

According to the venue’s manager, Fazle Rab-bi Rubel, a few South African cricketers, includ-ing speedster Dale Steyn, were racially abused by the port-city crowd when the tourists were practising at the nets during the lunch-break.

“I was told that some spectators abused Steyn and had thrown a pebble towards him. There was also a cricketer who was racially abused for his colour,” Rubel told the media yesterday.

The South Africa team management later informed about the incident to match refer-ee and former English cricketer Broad, who threatened to call o� the match if any such events take place again, informed Rubel. It was later found that the miscreants were only two kids and therefore, no action was taken. l

South African speedster Dale Steyn tries to cool down Tamim Iqbal following the scu� e between the Bangladesh opener and wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock during the second day of the � rst Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday. After the 30th over, the two teams were on their way to lunch when De Kock and Tamim engaged themselves in a war of words. Proteas skipper Hashim Amla, and later Steyn, intervened and cooled down the situation. This was the second such instance of Tamim being involved in a skirmish in the ongoing series. During the second ODI against South Africa, Tamim was involved in a heated exchange with Rilee Rossouw. Rossouw was � ned 50 percent of his match fee MI MANIK

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Bairstow replaces Ballance in England Ashes squadEngland have brought in batsman Jonny Bair-stow to replace his Yorkshire team mate Gary Ballance in the only change to their squad for the third Ashes test against Australia starting next Wednesday at Edgbaston. Ballance paid the price on Tuesday for labouring to 23 and 14 in his two innings during England’s heavy 405-run defeat in the second test at Lord’s, which allowed Australia to level the series at 1-1.

–REUTERS

Filipe Luis poised for Atletico return: presidentChelsea’s Brazil left back Filipe Luis is poised to return to Atletico Madrid after one season at Chelsea where he failed to hold down a regular � rst team place, Atletico president Enrique Cerezo said on Tuesday. The 29-year-old made a mere 26 appearances in all competitions in 2014-15, with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho preferring to use Spain international Cesar Az-pilicueta, and Mourinho con� rmed on Tuesday that Filipe Luis was on his way.

–REUTERS

Gabon denies paying Messi millionsGabon’s presidency on Tuesday denied paying four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi millions of dollars to lay the foundation stone for a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations stadium last week-end. “The Republic of Gabon denies having paid, or even promised to pay, such a sum of money to the Argentinian international footballer Lionel Messi,” the presidency said in a statement.

–AFP

Mourinho rules out transfer splurgeChelsea manager Jose Mourinho insists the Premier League champions have no plans to make signi� cant additions to his squad, revealing that he is relishing the prospect of mounting a title defence with the same set of players. Apart from the arrival of striker Ra-damel Falcao and the departure of goalkeeper Petr Cech, Chelsea have been largely inactive in the summer transfer window while rivals such as Manchester United have spent heavily.

–AFP

Venus comes crashing to earth against BondarenkoTop seed Venus Williams’s bid to win the WTA Istanbul Cup ended at the � rst hurdle on Tues-day as the American icon lost 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) to Ukrainian quali� er Kateryna Bondarenko.

–AFP

World T20 quali� er to be investigated by ACSUAn investigation is to take place into the World T20 quali� er between Afghanistan and Hong Kong played in Dublin on Tuesday. News of the investigation may take some of the gloss o� Hong Kong’s � ve-wicket victory, which booked them a place at the 2016 World T20 in India. The match has not eliminated Afghanistan, though. They play Papua New Guinea on Thurs-day in the third qualifying play-o� .

–CRICINFO

QUICK BYTES

A jubilant Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team pose for photographs following their arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from Durban yesterday. The triumphant junior Tigers thumped their South African counterparts 5-2 in the recently concluded seven-youth ODI series DHAKA TRIBUNE

Langeveldt keeps Tigers aheadn Tribune Report

South Africa’s bowling coach Charl Lan-geveldt believes the � rst Test is evenly poised at the moment although he kept the hosts ahead in the long run. After rain cut short the second day’s play at Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Bangladesh were 179-4 and trail the visitors by 69 runs in the � rst innings.

Half centuries from Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah, and their 89-run third wicket stand, ensured the Tigers reach a comforta-ble zone as the former Proteas paceman Lan-geveldt thinks they will be in trouble if the home side register a lead over 100 runs.

“I think it was a really tough day. Bangla-desh really batted well. They were patient. Normally they have the second highest scor-ing rate. I think our guys bowled really well and Bangladesh batted well.

“I think it is 60-40 in their side. The game is fairly even. If they get a 100-run lead against us, we will be struggling. At the mo-ment, it is fairly even,” said Langeveldt after the end of day two.

The 40-year old expects a better show from the world class pace bowlers at his disposal. “For any bowling coach you would want more but you will take that. Tomorrow you could take two wickets up front. Both their best batsmen are in now – Mahmudullah played

unbelievably and Tamim also batted well. To-morrow could be a di� erent story. It could be overcast. The second new ball is due,” he said.

The Proteas skipper Hashim Amla used part-timers Stiaan van Zyl and Dean Elgar, both picked a wicket each, but kept o� -spin-ner JP Duminy from action. Langeveldt praised the bowlers and felt Amla did what felt right to him.

Meanwhile, fast bowler Dale Steyn re-mained wicket-less in his 13 overs and gave away 46 runs. The right-arm quickie did not get any assist from the slow wicket, but Lan-geveldt backed up his former team-mate and said Steyn is a big match player and he will comeback strongly in the game. l

Muktis hold Mohammedan, Ctg Abahani win at homen Shishir Hoque

Veteran striker Enamul Haque’s strike earned Muktijoddha SKS their � rst point in four games as the all reds held second placed Mo-hammedan SC to a 1-1 draw in the Manyavar Bangladesh Premier League at the Bangab-andhu National Stadium yesterday.

Enamul successfully converted from the penalty spot in the 34th minute to cancel the Mohammedan lead taken by Guinean striker Ismael Bangoura 10 minutes earlier. Bangou-ra’s 14th goal in the league this season came o� a goal-mouth melee following a free-kick from Sohel Rana Jr. Meanwhile, for Emily it was his 11th goal in the league. Emily could have dou-bled the lead inside the � rst half but Moham-medan goalkeeper Ashraful Haq Rana produced a brilliant save to deny the striker’s diving head-er. The black and whites appeared stronger after

the breather and although they dominated with maximum possession, lack of quality inside the opponents’ terrain nulli� ed their e� ort.

The result saw the black and whites regain their second spot although it made Sheikh Jamal DC’s passage to glory more easier as Mohammedan now have 31 points from 16 matches, eight less than the table toppers. Muktijoddha remained sixth with 22 points.

Meanwhile in the day’s other match, hosts Chittagong Abahani registered their second victory when they edged past Rahmatganj MFS 1-0 at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong. Yoko Samnick scored the all-important goal for the port city out� ts in the 78th minute.

With the win the Chittagong sky blues, who have 10 points from 15 matches, closed the gap to just one point with Rahmatganj MFS at ninth place. They are two points clear of bottom-placed Farashganj. l

Bangladesh Under 19s grouped with formidable Uzbeksn Tribune Report

Bangladesh have been pitted alongside Uz-bekistan and Sa� nations Pakistan, Sri Lan-ka and Bhutan in Group of the AFC Under-19 Championship quali� ers, con� rmed Asia’s football regulatory body Asian Football Con-federation yesterday.

The men in red and green will host the Group A quali� ers after Sri Lanka stepped down from hosting the matches citing internal di� culties. The quali� ers will run from September 28 to October 6, with all of the matches slated to be held at Bangabandhu National Stadium.

A total of 43 teams have been split into 10 groups with 16 nations qualifying for the � nal round, scheduled to be held in Bahrain next year from October 13-30. The 10 group win-ners and � ve best runners-up sides will join the hosts in the � nal round. l

Sport28DT


Memphis Depay (C) of Manchester United scores against the San Jose Earthquakes during the � rst half of their International Champions Cup match at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California on Tuesday AFP

Barcelona edge LA Galaxyn Reuters, Madrid

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was pleased they got straight back into their stride with Tuesday’s 2-1 friendly win over the Los Ange-les Galaxy but saw plenty of room for improve-ment before the season begins next month.

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez and Spanish mid� elder Sergi Roberto struck either side of halftime at a packed Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena in the Spanish and European champions’ opening match of their pre-sea-son tour.

“Considering it was the � rst pre-season game, after seven days of training with some double sessions, I have good feelings,” Luis Enrique told a news conference after the In-ternational Champions Cup clash.

“I liked the team a lot because we played with intensity and we did not make any serious errors but we can still improve in

everything,” added the former Barca and Spain mid� elder.

“Without doubt, we are going to be the team to beat and we have to keep improving every aspect of our play. We did things well today but we have to do it again and better. And we are working on that.”

Luis Enrique and his LA Galaxy counter-part Bruce Arena made a host of changes at halftime to give some of their younger players a chance to impress, with Tommy Meyer scor-ing late on for the Galaxy.

The Barca coach admitted his knowledge of the MLS was patchy but said it was clear the quality of soccer in the United States was improving.l

Cambiasso bids farewell to Leicestern Reuters, London

Esteban Cambiasso has rejected a new deal with Leicester City and will not return to the Premier League club, the former Argentina in-ternational said on Tuesday.

Cambiasso, 34, joined Leicester last Au-gust on a short-term contract that has now expired. He helped them avoid relegation in his only campaign at the Midlands club.

“I would like to announce that I have decided not to renew my contract with Leicester City,” he said in a statement on his Facebook page.

“I have taken this decision only 24 hours after receiving the proposal from Leicester because I want to give the club as much time as possible to � nd an alternative.”l

Van Gaal fury over ‘very bad’ United n AFP, San José

Louis van Gaal criticized new signing Bastian Schweinsteiger and his Manchester United team mates after the Premier League giants eased to a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Earth-quakes.

United recorded a second straight victory on their US tour and never really looked trou-bled against their mid-table opponents from Major League Soccer.

Juan Mata and man-of-the-match Mem-phis Depay scored � rst half goals for United before Brazilian youngster Andreas Pereira added a third in the second half.

But United boss van Gaal was furious at the performance of his team after the break

when he made 10 changes, including the in-troduction of Schweinsteiger.

“The � rst half I was satis� ed -- the players have performed what we wanted in the de-fensive organization, and they have created a

lot of chances, 10, and they scored two goals so I was satis� ed,” van Gaal said.

“But the second half I thought we played very bad -- a lot of ball losses, very unnec-essary. The only highlight was the goal from Pereira.

“We didn’t give many chances away but we gave possibilities away.

“It was a threat always and that was not necessary.

“Our positions in mid� eld were not so good as in the � rst half.”

Asked to assess the performance of new signing Schweinsteiger, van Gaal didn’t mince his words.

“He was also bad,” the Dutchman said, warning it would take time for the German World Cup-winner to settle in at United after arriving from Bayern Munich.

Van Gaal however would have drawn en-couragement from the display of Depay, who completed a $38.9 million move to Old Traf-ford in June.l

Luis Suarez (C) of FC Barcelona is blocked by Leonardo (L) as goalkeeper Brian Rowe of the Los Angeles Galaxy blocks a shot during their International Champions Cup game at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California on Tuesday AFP

RESULTLos Angeles Galaxy 1-2 BarcelonaMeyer 90+1 Suarez 45, Roberto 56

RESULTSan Jose Earthquakes 1-3 Manchester UnitedAlashe 42 Mata 32, Depay 37, Pereira 61

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Gazi TV, BTV, Star Sports 19:30AM South Africa Tour of Bangladesh 1st Test, Day 3Ten Sports 7:35PM Tour de France 2015: Day 18 Sony Six3:00AM Caribbean Premier League Eliminator: Red Steel v TallawahsStar Sports 28:20PM Pro Kabaddi League 2015 Kolkata v Hyderabad Star Sports 4ICC World T20 Quali� er 2015 2:30PM Afghanistan v PNG 6:45PM Namibia v Oman

DAY’S WATCH Bayern’s Gotze answers sushi ga� e with China goaln AFP, Shanghai

A cool � nish by Mario Gotze -- who made headlines days earlier over a culinary ga� e -- ten minutes from time propelled Bayern Munich to a 1-0 exhibition match victory over Inter Milan in Shanghai on Tuesday.

The scorer of Germany’s World Cup � nal winning goal just over a year ago in Brazil

latched onto a defence-splitting pass to calm-ly round Inter keeper Samir Handanovic and slot the ball into the empty net.

Gotze had hit the headlines in China this week for telling local media he “loved Chi-nese food, especially sushi”. The dish is in fact a Japanese delicacy.

However the German striker showed where his real expertise lay by providing a match winning goal which delighted the vast majority of the lively 37,431-strong crowd at Shanghai Stadium.

The goal was undoubtedly the highlight of a somewhat dull game played on a very mug-gy summer evening.

Both teams started brightly but the tempo of the match soon slowed as the European heavyweights struggled to � nd their rhythm.

Bayern triumphed 4-1 over Valencia on Saturday in Beijing in the � rst game of their Chinese tour. l

River Plate reach Libertadores � naln Reuters, Asuncion

River Plate came back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Guarani on Tuesday and secure a 3-1 aggregate win that takes them into their � rst Libertadores Cup � nal since 1996.

Guarani, bidding to become the third Para-guayan team in three years to reach the � nal of South America’s equivalent of the Champions League, took the lead in the 61st minute when Fernando Fernandez latched on to a cross after Marcelo Palau had hit the post with a header.

The home side had chances to get the sec-ond goal that would take the game to penal-ties, but also left space at the back and River took advantage in 78th minute when they killed the tie o� with a vital away goal on the counter attack. l

Buoyant Australia still face selection issuesn AFP, London

Australia may have thrashed England by 405 runs at Lord’s on Sunday to level the � ve-match Ashes series at 1-1, but they still have to make some selection decisions ahead of the third Test in Birmingham.

The sight of opener Chris Rogers, who made a Test-best 173 in Australia’s � rst in-nings at Lord’s, su� ering a dizzy spell early on Sunday morning when batting second time around sparked fears the 37-year-old left-hander was su� ering from delayed con-cussion after being hit on the helmet by James Anderson on Friday.

Rogers, who plans to retire after the Ash-es, missed Australia’s recent Test series win in the Caribbean after being concussed while batting in the nets.

Australia also have a tricky dilemma to solve when it comes to the question of their wicket-keeper at Edgbaston, where the third Test begins on July 29.

Peter Nevill impressed on debut at Lord’s with seven catches and a breezy 45 in his only innings. But he only got his chance behind the stumps after the experienced Brad Haddin, his mentor at New South Wales, withdrew be-cause of unspeci� ed “family reasons”.

Haddin is still with the tour party, howev-er, and Australia could use their upcoming three-day tour match with Derbyshire start-ing on Thursday as a way of testing his readi-ness to return to the international arena.

Far more straightforward was the per-formance at Lord’s of all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, called into the side after Shane Wat-son was dropped following Australia’s 169-run defeat in the � rst Test in Cardi� .

Marsh weighed in with handy wickets, looking a far more threatening bowler than fellow seamer Watson, and some useful runs.

“It’s always tough to have those decisions to make, one forced and one unforced,” said

Australia coach Darren Lehmann of his side’s changes at Lord’s.

“We were really pleased with both perfor-mances, from Mitchell and Peter.

“I thought they did a really good job for us and injected some enthusiasm in the group, played really well and did their job.”

Australia are still waiting on the latest medical update regarding Rogers’s condition but Lehmann said: “He’s all right.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what the medical sta� come up with.”

With Rogers’s participation in the third Test set to be a matter of medical clearance alone, the issue of who keeps wicket in that match promises to be the most taxing issue for Australia.

However, it is one they are particularly well-quali� ed to answer this trip as panel chief Rodney Marsh, one of Australia’s great-est wicket-keepers, is the on-tour selector.

“Selection’s always di� cult, so Rodney and I will have to sit down and work out which way we go,” said former Australia bats-man Lehmann.

“We have to get Brad back playing cricket before we cross that bridge.

“It’s just trying to work out what happens moving forward, and we hope he’ll be availa-ble for the Derby game.”

Australia left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was mocked by some spectators while going wicketless in the � rst innings at Cardi� .

But there were no such jeers at Lord’s where a six-wicket haul left him one shy of taking 300 wickets in Test cricket.

“He’s had some di� cult times in England in the past, but he’s a di� erent Mitchell John-son you see playing for Australia now,” said Lehmann.

But just as Australia recovered after losing the � rst Test, Lehmann warned that England could bounce back as well.l Australia captain Michael Clarke bats during training at the County Ground, Derby yesterday REUTERS

RESULTGuarani (PAR) 1-1 River Plate (ARG)Fernandez 62 Alario 79

River plate win 3-1 on aggregate

DOWNTIME30DT


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 14 represents B so � ll B every time the � gure 14 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 Self-satis� ed (4)4 Male sheep (4)8 Financial burden (3)9 Malarial fever (4)10 Spoken (4)11 Garden tool (5)12 Stringed instrument (4)14 Tool (3)15 Fairy (3)17 Plant juice (3)19 Tree (3)21 First man (4)23 Even (5)26 Venomous tooth (4)27 Region (4)28 Lair (3)29 Direction (4)30 Repose (4)

DOWN1 Mars (6)2 American state (4)3 Small cockatoo (5)4 Sharp blow (3)5 Variety of quartz (5)6 Wet, soft earth (3)7 Observe (3)11 Rate of progress (5)13 Kingly (5)16 Fail to recall (6)18 Forms walkingsurface (5)20 Thin biscuit (5)22 Neck hair (4)23 Jurisprudence (3)24 Before (poet) (3)25 Consume (3)

SUDOKU

SHOWTIME 31D


CELEBS ON SOCIAL

Justin Bieber@justinbieberVery soon...

Demi Lovato @ddlovatoSurround yourself with those who pick you up when others put you down.

KATY PERRY @katyperrySHAME on schools that allow students to have their cell phones on them in class! I imagine it incredibly impairs the learning environment...

n Mithul Roy

You may remember Theodore Bikel as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music on Broadway and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, for which he was known best. The 91-year-old Tony award nominee took his last breath yesterday, at the UCLA medical center in California.

The actor played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof more times on stage than even Chaim Topol, who played the role on the big screen. He also starred in several TV shows including The Twilight Zone, Charlie’s Angels, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Worf’s father.

Born in Vienna in 1924, Bikel moved

from Austria with his parents after the Nazi occupation of Austria to British-occupied Palestine, where he began acting in a Hebrew theatre in his teens. He then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London where he was spotted by Michael Redgrave who recommended him for the West End premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire. Bikel made his Broadway debut after moving to the US in 1954 and was Tony-nominated for The Rope Dancers in 1958 and The Sound of Music the subsequent year.

His multilingualism and talent for accents allowed him to play a wide range of roles on the big screen as a German o� cer, French commander, Russian submarine captain and US sheri� to name a few, along

with the acclaimed role of the Hungarian voice coach in My Fair Lady. From the 1950s, he began recording albums of folk songs, and co-founded the Newport folk festival where he sang beside Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in 1959. Bikel received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles in 2005.

Dedicating much of his life to the betterment of the acting society, he was also president of Actor’s Equity from 1977 and 1982, and later presided the Associated Actors and Artistes of America.

In Bikel’s words: “Retiring – within that word is tiring, and I’m not tired. I don’t believe in retirement, really.” l

Theodore Bikel passes

The TerminalZee Studio 6:25pmViktor Navorski leaves his home in Eastern Europe and arrives in New York airport. Unfortunately, war breaks out after he left his country and now Viktor � nds that the US refuses to recognise his country and refuses entry. He cannot be deported for security reasons. Viktor is forced to remain in the airport until his status can be made de� nite. But how long would that take?Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna

Transformers: Age of Extinction HBO 9:00pmAfter an epic battle, a great city lies in ruins, but the Earth itself is saved. As humanity begins to pick up the pieces, a shadowy group emerges to try to take control of history. Meanwhile, an ancient and powerful new menace sets its sights on Earth. A new group of humans, led by Cade Yeager, helps Optimus Prime and the Autobots rise up to meet their most fearsome challenge yet: a worldwide war of good versus evil.Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Sophia Myles, Li Bingbing

A Nightmare on Elm StreetWB 11:33pmDeath stalks the dreams of several young adults to claim its revenge on the killing of Freddy Kruger. Chased and chastised by this � nger-bladed demon, it is the awakening of old memories and the denials of a past of retribution that spurns this hellish vision of a dreamlike state and turns death into a nightmare reality.Cast: Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz

WHAT TO WATCH

Jatra Biroti bulletinn Showtime Desk

Thursday July 23“Bhaab” featuring Shri ShankarTickets: Tk500Shri Shankar is one of the senior most mridangam artistes of Kolkata and has been playing this reverberating Carnatic percussion instrument for the past three decades. He is the disciple of late Shri L V Vaidyanathan, who later underwent advanced training from Prof Velukutty Nair of Trivandrum.

Friday July 24Open mic (line-up depending on audience’s participation) Tickets: Tk300

Saturday July 25 Electro/Acoustic featuring The Speakeasy crew, Don Donadoni and more.

Tea and Phukcha are included in the ticket price. Tickets are available online on www.imdhaka.com.

Venue: Rooftop, 60 Kemal Ataturk Ave, Dhaka 1213 l

Beacons 2.0Multidimensional art exhibition, Beacons showcases Bangladeshi young talents by exhibiting their works on unorthodox art forms like comics, graphic novels, digital illustration, manga, animation, concept arts and so on. The first exhibition held at Zainul Gallery, Charukola last year present different pop-culture based fan art to general art lovers. With similar intentions, the second version is to be held at Drik Gallery from July 24 to July 28.

Drik GalleryHouse 58, Road 15A (New),Dhanmondi Residential Area,Dhaka, Bangladesh

BACK PAGE32DT


MAHMUDULLAH CONFIDENT OF GOING AHEAD PAGE 26

THEODORE BIKEL PASSES PAGE 31

ALL USED CAR CUSTOMERS NOW BUY CARS ONLINE PAGE 20

9th grader gang-raped in Lalbaghn Kamrul Hasan

Police found a 17-year-old girl at Lalbagh in the capital who was allegedly gang-raped in the early hours of yesterday.

Sources said the victim, a Class IX student, was visiting Lalbagh with her boyfriend Sujon and was on her way home at Mirpur when she was grabbed and taken to an under-construc-tion building, where she was raped.

The victim � led a case in this regard with Lalbagh police station against three men, one of whom she identi� ed as Saikat Islam Rana, 23, a resident of Lalbagh and a shop attendant at Gausia market, sources said. Police arrest-ed Rana following the case, and also detained the girl’s boyfriend for questioning.

During questioning, Sujon, a bus driver of Zanzabil Paribahan on Babubazar-Gabto-li route, said he was taking the victim home after visiting his uncle’s house in Kamrangir-char on Tuesday evening. It got late as they also visited a few of his friends’ houses and started towards Mirpur around 1am.

When they reached Lohagora Bridge area in Shaheednagar, near Sujon’s house, around 1:30am, he asked his girlfriend to wait beside the road and went to a tea stall to drink water.

When he came back, he found the girl missing. He searched for her for a while be-fore � nding out from a pedestrian that his girlfriend had been abducted by three men.

Sujon then noti� ed police, and a po-lice patrol team started looking for her and

found her in the under-construction building around 4:30am, said Inspector Paritosh Chan-dra of Lalbagh police station.

The girl was sent to Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital for medical examination around 1:30pm yesterday, he added.

During interrogation, Sujon also claimed that he did not know any of the men who raped his girlfriend, but police suspect that he may be involved with the incident.

“Sujon’s role in all this is suspicious. His statements do not match,” said Lalbagh police OC Moniruzzaman.

But police have yet to get any speci� c alle-gation against Sujon, and he is being held for interrogation, he said. Drives are underway to arrest the other two accused, police said. l

‘Oldest’ Qur’an fragments found in UKn BBC

What may be the world’s oldest fragments of the Qur’an have been found by the University of Birmingham.

Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence.

The pages of the Muslim holy text had re-mained unrecognised in the university library for almost a century.

The British Library’s expert on such man-uscripts, Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, said this “exciting discovery” would make Muslims “rejoice.”

The manuscript had been kept with a col-lection of other Middle Eastern books and doc-uments, without being identi� ed as one of the oldest fragments of the Qur’an in the world.

Oldest textsWhen a PhD researcher, Alba Fedeli, looked

more closely at these pages it was decided to

carry out a radiocarbon dating test and the re-sults were “startling.”

The university’s director of special col-lections, Susan Worrall, said researchers had not expected “in our wildest dreams” that it would be so old. “Finding out we had one of the oldest fragments of the Qur’an in the whole world has been fantastically exciting.”

The tests, carried out by the Oxford Uni-versity Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, showed that the fragments, written on sheep or goat skin, were among the very oldest surviving

texts of the Qur’an.These tests provide a range of dates, show-

ing that, with a probability of more than 95%, the parchment was from between 568 and 645.

“They could well take us back to within a few years of the actual founding of Islam,” said David Thomas, the university’s professor of Christianity and Islam.

“According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad received the revelations that form the Qur’an, the scripture of Islam, between the years 610 and 632, the year of his death.”

Prof Thomas says the dating of the Bir-mingham folios would mean it was quite possible that the person who had written them would have been alive at the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

He says that some of the passages of the Qur’an were written down on parchment, stone, palm leaves and the shoulder blades of camels - and a � nal version, collected in book form, was completed in about 650. l

Last merit list for college admissiondue todayn Tribune Report

The results of the 4th and the last merit list for college admission for the academic session of 2015-16 will be published today.

The results will be available on the website www.xiclassadmission.gov.bd any time on Thursday, said Dhaka Board’s college inspec-tor Ashfaqus Salehin.

Around 82,500 students have applied through the online and SMS system for a placement in the fourth merit list from July 13 to 21.

The Dhaka Board inspector further said a to-tal of 10,47,000 students had already enrolled in their preferred colleges according to the � rst, second and third merit lists. And more than one lakh students are yet to be admitted.

However, 35,000 students from the merit lists could not be admitted as they did not get their preferred institution.

Introduced for the � rst time, the smart ad-mission system for the XI class faced criticism as it faltered several times due to technical glitches.

The board authorities had to change ad-mission dates resulting in delays for the whole process.

The � rst merit list was published on June 28, three days after the scheduled date, and around 9,23,105 students were selected.

On July 6, the second merit list picked 17,647 applicants for college admission. And the third merit list, which was published on July 11, nominated 1,08,639 students as eligible.

Salehin said students who would be select-ed from the fourth list would be able to get admitted in the colleges from July 25-26.

“No one will be left out of the admission process. Everyone will be able to enrol either manually or through the online system,” he added. l

With the end of Eid holidays the transport terminals of Dhaka become crowded as people enter the capital in large from their village homes. The photos were taken at Sadarghat launch terminal and Kamalapur Railway Station yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU/DHAKA TRIBUNE

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: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.dhakatribune.com

july 23, 2015

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