Lax security a concern atSonali Bank Vault rooms, buildings lie unguardedn Jebun Nesa Alo

Sonali Bank is lacking adequate secu-rity measures set by the Bangladesh Bank safety directives.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) � nds lax security in vault rooms of Sonali Bank. The branches of the bank are also housed in inappropriate buildings (in most cases they are old, run-down and with faulty structure).

Very often the vaults cross their lim-it and insurance on those vaults are not taken out properly.

The BB carried out inspection at eight chest branches – Kishorganj, Narsing-di, Mymensingh, Netrokona, Tangail, Gazipur, Jamalpur and Sherpur – after the bank burglary in Kishoreganj Sadar branch on January 26.

The branch where government transaction takes place is called chest branch.

Burglars looted Tk16.4 crore from a branch of Sonali Bank Limited in Kishoreganj Sadar by digging a tunnel. Just after one month Tk32.51 lakh was stolen from another branch of Sonali

Bank in Adamdighi upazila of Bogra on Saturday.

The central bank may ask the Son-ali Bank to inform it about what safe-ty measures it had taken after the Kishoreganj branch burglary, said a senior executive of the BB.

The BB formed an investigation committee headed by its Executive Director Subhankar Saha after the Kishoreganj branch burglary.

The team found some common se-curity problems in those branches. Of them, most of the branches have no vault and insurance security. Moreo-ver, money deposited in those branch-es exceeded the vault limit.

The investigation was carried out from January 29 to February 5 this year.

The central bank has served notices several times to those branches of Son-ali Bank to take safety measures but they did not pay heed and as a result recurrence of burglary happened, Sub-hhankar Saha said.

The central bank also carried out regular security inspection of the Kishorganj branch of Sonali Bank and just before the burglary it warned the bank about its lack of vault security and asked it to take safety measures. But the bank did not follow the instruction.

The bank should be located at a safe distance from the structures of

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

News3 The government primary school headmasters got an upgrade in their ranks. The headmasters will nowenjoy the status of class II employees instead of class III.

Nation6 Lack of fair price has made a noticeable dent in cultivation ofwheat in Dinajpur, once known asthe storehouse of grains.

20 pages | Price: Tk10

Falgun 25, 1420Jamadiul Awal 8, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 346

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13 | TIGERS CAPTAIN EYES REVENGEBusiness | RMG CONTRACTORS WORRIED 8 | SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 34 IN IRAQ

MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

7 | DIVIDED BY BORDERS, UNITED BY RIVERS

Most of the branches have no vault or insurance security

Khaleda: No transit for India until Teesta treaty signedn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yester-day said if Teesta Treaty was not inked and border killings were not stopped transit would not be given to India.

“Road transit was given to India in the name of connectivity but we are yet to get our due water share,” said the former premier.

She said recently the prime minis-ter talked to the Indian prime minister during her visit to Myanmar. Indian prime minister said they could not give water and Teesta Treaty would not be inked. Nothing positive discussion was hold on border killings.

“They have supported us during the Liberation War and that does not mean we have been sold to them,” she said bitterly criticising the Indian stance on

water sharing issue and border killing.She said her party was not seeking

help of foreigners rather it was Awami League that was asking for their sup-port to cling to the power.

Issuing a note of warning Khaleda said if the government does not hold an election immediately then it has to pay dearly.

She was speaking at a reception or-ganised to welcome the newly elected committee of the Dhaka Bar Council at the Institution of Engineers, Bangla-desh auditorium in the capital.

The former premier claimed the for-eigners said people did not vote in Jan-uary 5 elections and the election had no acceptability and a few days back the Centre for Policy Dialogue also ex-pressed the same view.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Missing Malaysian jet may have disintegrated in mid-air n Reuters, Kuala Lumpur/Phu

Quoc Island, Vietnam

O� cials investigating the disappear-ance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 239 people on board suspect it may have disintegrated in mid-� ight, a sen-ior source said yesterday, as Vietnam reported a possible sighting of wreck-age from the plane.

Late yesterday, the Vietnamese au-thorities said possible debris from the plane had been spotted in the sea o� south Vietnam.

“We received information from a Vi-etnamese plane saying that they found two broken objects, which seem like those of an aircraft, located about 50 miles to the south-west of Tho Chu Is-land,” an unnamed o� cial from the Na-tional Committee for Search and Res-

cue told AFP news agency, reports BBC.“As it is night they cannot � sh them

out for proper identi� cation. They have located the position of the areas and � own back to the land,” he added.

The potential debris was in a similar area to a possible oil slick seen by Viet-namese navy planes on Saturday, but o� cials have cautioned that this too may be nothing to do with the disap-pearance of Flight MH370.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said on its website that a Vietnamese navy plane had spotted an object in the sea suspected of being part of the plane.

International police agency Inter-pol con� rmed that at least two pass-ports recorded in its database as lost or

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A boat sails across the murky waters of the Turag River near Tongi on Saturday. Rampant dumping of chemical and non-degradable solid wastes has turned a water body into a stinky drainage SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

State banks asked to tighten securityn Tribune Report

The government has directed all state-owned banks to reinforce their security systems, especially at their vaults by building them with concrete and steel and setting up electronic alarm mech-anism.

In the wake of the latest heist at a Sonali Bank branch in Bogra, it has also asked the bank’s authorities to take ac-tion against their high o� cials and the branch’s control o� cer after investiga-tion.

In a letter to Sonali Bank CEO Pradip

Kumar Dutta, the Bank and Financial Institutions Division (BFID) yesterday asked him to immediately suspend the Adamdighi branch manager, deputy general manager and general manager controller.

Signed by BFID’s Deputy Secretary M Rajnul Huda, the letter said prima-ry investigation had revealed that the high o� cials of the branch had lack of awareness and were irresponsible.

The letter also said security should be increased at all branches of Sonali Bank across the country during week-ends and general holidays.

Robbers looted Tk32 lakh from the Adamdighi upazila branch of the bank in the district by digging a tunnel to the bank’s vault room on Saturday.

The BFID yesterday asked the board of directors of Sonali Bank to form teams to review the security at all the branches of the bank.

It asked the Adamdighi branch au-thority to lodge a general diary (GD) with the local police against the own-ers of the building housing the branch, and shops and business establishments around it.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Oishee, 3 others indicted for‘killing’ parents n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Upon completion of investigation into the murders of Special Branch Inspec-tor Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Swapna Rahman, the Detective Branch of Police yesterday pressed two charge sheets against Oishee, the couple’s only daughter, and three others.

The other accused are Oishee’s friends Asaduzzaman Jony, 27, and Mi-zanur Rahman Rony, 25, and domestic help Khadiza Akter Sumi, 11.

Oishee, an O level student of Oxford International School, her boyfriend Jony and Rony are now in prison for their complicity in the killings. Sumi is at the National Juvenal Correction Cen-tre in Gazipur.

DB Inspector Abu Al Khair Matub-bar, also investigation o� cer of the case, submitted the charge sheets be-fore the Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court.

Of the two, one charge sheet is against Oishee and her friends while the other against Sumi separately as she is now under 18-year-old.

According to the charge sheets, Oishee is the lone accused in the case who killed her parents while Jony and Rony were chargesheeted for instigat-ing and giving her shelter. Sumi has been accused of assisting Oishee in hiding the bodies.

Before killing the couple at the night on August 14 last year, Oishee fed them sedatives along with co� ee.

The investigators said he had � nal PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

THE TURAG DYING A SLOW DEATH

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

Leave granted to appeal against house of Moudud’s brothern Tribune Report

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday permitted the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkya and the govern-ment to appeal against the verdict of High Court that ordered for mutation announcing Manzoor Ahmed, broth-er of BNP standing committee mem-ber Moudud Ahmed ,as the owner of a house in Gulshan under the capital.

The � ve-member apex court bench led by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the order following three petitions- two of Rajuk and the other of government, Deputy Attorney General Ekramul Haque said.

The court asked the Rajuk to � le re-quired documents by April 6.

The HC on August 12, 2010 deliv-ered the judgement for mutation of the house. Ekramul said Rajuk had not yet done mutation. l

Aspirants of the women’s reserved seats in the 10th national parliament submit their nomination papers to the Election Commission in the capital yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

2 o� cials transferred over Sonali Bank burglaryn Hasibur Rahman Bilu, Bogra

Two o� cials of the burgled Sonali Bank’s Adamdighi upazila branch have been transferred to Bogra Zonal o� ce yesterday.

The o� cials were branch manager Samsuddin Sharif and cashier Azhar Ali.

Bogra zone Sonali Bank Deputy Gen-eral Manager Abdus Samad con� rmed the Dhaka Tribune regarding the transfer.

O� cer-in-Charge Md Nazrul Islam of Adamdighi police station said they had de-tained 10 people in this connection, includ-ing four Ansar members and the cashier of the branch. Two probe committees have been formed to investigate into the bur-glary at Sonali Bank branch in Bogra.

Sonali Bank formed a four-member committee headed by Rajshahi zone Gen-eral Manager ATM Afzal Hossain. Bangla-desh Bank also formed a three-member probe body with Deputy General Manag-er Murtoza Ali as its chief. l

2 gun-wielding men arrestedn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Police arrested two persons with arms in connection with the clash occurred on Saturday between followers of two Awami League backed candidates in Sreepur upazila of Gazipur.

The arrestees were identi� ed as Sah-jahan Kamrul, 40, son of late Foizuddin of Angiadi village under Pakundia upa-zila of Kishorganj and Masum Khan, 43,

son of Ibrahim of Vurulia village under Sadar upazila of Gazipur.

They were arrested from an un-known place, claimed police.

Abdul Baten, superintendent of po-lice, Gazipur, brought the arrestees be-fore the media in his o� ce auditorium yesterday. Were rescued from them. He claimed they were arrested with two shotguns between 12pm to 3pm yesterday. l

n Tribune Report

A total of 50 women aspirants yester-day submitted their nomination papers to the Election Commission (EC) for contesting polls to reserved seats for women in the tenth parliament.

On the last day of submission of nomination, Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam submit-ted 41 nominations, all from its allies, to returning o� cer Jesmin Tuli at the EC secretariat.

Opposition chief whip Tajul Islam, meanwhile, submitted six nomination papers in presence of all the aspirants. Besides, three nomination papers of independent contestants were also submitted. 50 nomination papers were submitted against a total of 50 reserved seats for women in the tenth parliament.

Among the AL-backed 41 candi-dates, only one was from the Workers Party of Bangladesh and another one from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal.

Farhad Hossain, senior assistant secretary of the EC and also the polling o� cer, said 50 nominations had been submitted against 50 seats.

“The commission has sent letters to the authorities concerned asking whether any of the candidates are loan defaulter and bill defaulter,” he said.

Farhad said nomination papers would be scrutinized on March 11 while the last day of withdrawing nomina-tion was March 18. “Voting will not take place as the number of seats is equal to the number of nomination papers. That is why after the last day of withdraw-al of nomination, the commission will announce them as elected unopposed.”

Replying to a query, Syed Ashraful Islam said women would contest par-liamentary polls directly in the future and 20% of the seats would be kept for women. “Polling for reserved seats for women will not be required in the fu-ture as we are targeting nearly 20% of the seats for women.”

Speaking of local body polls, Ashraf

said like other countries, those would be held in a partisan manner in the future. He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had issued instruction to examine the laws.

The AL-backed candidates are Se-lina Jahan Lita, Safura Begum Rumi, Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia, Umme Kulsum Smriti, Akter Jahan, Selina Akter Banu, Laila Arjuman Banu, Shirin Noyeem

Punam, Kamrul Laila Jali, Hepi Baral, Rifat Amin, Nasima Ferdawshi, Lut-funessa, Mamtaj, Tarana Halim, Mon-wara Begum, Mahjabin Khaled, Fatema Johra Rani, Dilara Mahbub Asma, Fate-ma Tujjahura, Fajilatun Nessa Indira, Pinu Khan, Sanjida Khanam, Sabina Akter Tuhin, Rahima Akter, Hosne Ara Babli, Kamrun Nahar Chawdhury, Nilu-

far Zafar Ullah, Rokhana Yasmin, Nava-na Akter, Asmatul Kibria Keya Chowd-hury, Shamsun Nahar, Fajilatun Nessa Bappy, Wasifa Aysha Khan, Jahanara Begum Surma, Shabiha Nahar and Feroja Begum Chinu.

The opposition Jatiya Party-backed six candidates are Nur-e-Hasna Lili Chowdhury, Mahzabin Morshad,

Shahanara Begum, RawshanaraMannan, Khurshada Haque and Marina Rahman.

Kazi Rozi, Nur Jahan Begum and Umma Razia Kajol submitted nomina-tions as independent candidates.

The JSD-backed candidate is Lutfa Taher and Hazera Khatun is the candi-date of the Workers Party. l

WOMEN RESERVED SEAT POLLS

Aspirants submit nominations against 50 seats

State banks asked to tighten security PAGE 1 COLUMN 5The directives to Sonali Bank and oth-er state-owned banks were to prevent recurrence of such heists, Finance Min-ister AMA Muhith yesterday told re-porters after a meeting of the purchase committee at the Secretariat.

He said the internal accounting, au-diting and security of the banks had now become stronger following the Hall-Mark scam and the robbery at the Kishoreganj Sonali Bank branch, but incidents of digging tunnel for bank heist would not stop soon.

He said o� cers and other sta� mem-

bers of the state-owned banks would not change overnight – it would take 10-15 years even after increasing their salaries, he said.

The � nance minister said the gov-ernment had already increased their salaries by 65% and the next pay scale might have another 62% raise.

Following investigation into the robbery of Tk16.9 crore from Sonali Bank’s Kishoreganj branch in a similar manner, the BFID suggested 10 secu-rity measures for the six state-owned banks – Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali, BASIC Bank and Bangladesh Develop-

ment Bank Limited.The directives included setting up of

closed circuit cameras in vault rooms, having vault room on the � rst � oor of the branches, and getting the vault rooms of all ventilations.

The BFID also directed Sonali Bank to move its chest branches to their own houses or land and arranging security as per the Bangladesh Bank’s direc-tives.

It directed transfer of a Sonali Bank branch in Chandpur to a separate building immediately as there was a hotel on the ground � oor of the building. l

Khaleda: No transit for India until Teesta Treaty PAGE 1 COLUMN 3“We want to say the government peo-ple are eagerly waiting for an election. If you do not listen to them you have to pay the price,” she said.

Welcoming the elected lawyers, Khaleda said: “People do not have any con� dence in the government which has re� ected in the Dhaka Bar elec-tions. If we can remain united, we will win everywhere.”

Mentioning various irregularities of upazila parishad elections, the for-mer premier said the ruling party men stu� ed ballot papers with the help of with the law enforcers.

Urging the government, Khaleda said: “Stop rigging votes and let the law

enforcers carry out their duties neu-trally.”

The BNP chief alleged the govern-ment was using police and Rab like the party’s associated and front organisa-tion.

Claiming her decision of boycotting the January 5 election was right, Khale-da said: “It has proved that fair elec-tions could not be held under Awami League. People responded to our call and did not go to the polling centres.”

Terming the parliament illegal the BNP chief said the government was running the parliament illegally and there was no opposition there. “There is a domestic opposition party.”

She also alleged that the govern-

ment had politicised the judiciary: “Now the judiciary is not independent. Judges cannot work independently and they are compelled to carry out illegal orders. Now judiciary is con-trolled and shackled in the hand of Awami League.”

The former prime minister alleged that in the name of joint force drive people were being killed and abducted every day. “Not only we but the world is saying human rights is being violat-ing every day.”

Party’s standing committee member Ra� qul Islam Miah chaired the meeting while Moudud Ahmed, Jamiruddin Sir-car, Shahjahan Omar and other senior leaders addressed the programme. l

Oishee, 3 others indicted PAGE 1 COLUMN 6ised the charges after getting evidence of Oishee’s presence in the murder scene from DNA report.

Earlier the bodies of the couple were recovered their Chamelibagh residence in the capital on August 16 last year. Twenty-two hours later, Oishee turned up at Paltan police station. Later, de-tectives arrested Jony, Rony and the domestic help the same day. On August 24, Oishee and Sumi gave confession-al statements before a magistrate. The murder case was � led by Mahfuz’s broth-er Moshiur Rahman with Paltan police station against some unnamed people.

The charge sheet says: “Oishee had plans to go Dubai alone with her boy-friend Jony two months before the mur-der and for that she demanded Tk30,000 from her father. But Mahfazur prevent-ed his daughter from going to Dubai.

“After getting more freedom, Oishee became obsessed with external envi-

ronment and she was losing interest in her family. So she considered her par-ents’ behaviour as brutal regime.”

One month before the incident, Oishee had lived 15 days with Jony at a rented house in Rampura area. She planned to kill her parents during that time, says the charge sheet.

“Oishee come back to her Chameli-bagh residence 15 days before the murder. Then her parents imposed restrictions on her movement and use of mobile phone. Later Oishee � nely killed her parents.”

The investigator named 57 people as witnesses while mentioned about 80 kinds of sample in the charges sheets.

IO Abul Khair said: “The charge sheet against Sumi was submitted before the court separately as she is minor. Her tri-al will be held at a juvenile court.”

On January 19, a Dhaka court sent Oishee to jail after rejecting her bail pe-tition. So far, she has been denied bail four times. l

Missing Malaysian jet may have disintegrated PAGE 1 COLUMN 5stolen were used by passengers on the � ight, raising suspicions of foul play.

An Interpol spokeswoman said a check of all documents used to board the plane had revealed more “suspect passports” that were being further in-vestigated. She was unable to say how many, or from which country or coun-tries.

Nearly 48 hours after the last con-tact with Flight MH370, mystery still surrounded its fate. Malaysia’s air force chief said the Beijing-bound airliner may have turned back from its sched-uled route before it vanished from ra-dar screens.

“The fact that we are unable to � nd any debris so far appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have dis-integrated at around 35,000 feet,” a source involved in the investigations in Malaysia told Reuters.

If the plane had plunged intact from close to its cruising altitude, break-ing up only on impact with the water, search teams would have expected to � nd a fairly concentrated pattern of de-bris, said the source, speaking on con-dition of anonymity because he was

not authorised to discuss the investiga-tion publicly.

Asked about the possibility of an explosion, such as a bomb, the source said there was no evidence yet of foul play and that the aircraft could have broken up due to mechanical causes.

Dozens of military and civilian ves-sels have been criss-crossing waters be-neath the aircraft’s � ight path, but have found no con� rmed trace of the lost plane, although oil slicks have been re-ported in the sea south of Vietnam and east of Malaysia.

Widening search“The outcome so far is there is no sign of the aircraft,” Malaysian civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said. “On the possibility of hijack, we are not ruling out any possibility,” he told reporters.

The passenger manifest issued by the airline included the names of two Europeans - Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi - who, accord-ing to their foreign ministries, were not on the plane. Both had apparently had their passports stolen in Thailand during the past two years.

Four suspectsMalaysian Transport Minister Hisha-muddin Hussein said authorities were also checking the identities of two oth-er passengers. He said help was also be-ing sought from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). However, an at-tack was only one of the possibilities being investigated.

The 11-year-old Boeing 777-200ER took o� at 12:40am on Saturday (1640 GMT Friday) from Kuala Lumpur In-ternational Airport, with 227 passen-gers and 12 crew on board. It last had contact with air tra� c controllers 120 nautical miles o� the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu. Flight tracking website � ightaware.com showed it � ew northeast after takeo� , climbed to 35,000ft (10,670 metres) and was still climbing when it vanished from tracking records.

There were no reports of bad weather.The airline has said 14 nationalities

were among the passengers, including at least 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, � ve Indians, four French and three Ameri-cans. l

Lax security a concern PAGE 1 COLUMN 2individuals and organisations which Subnankar terms alarming.

“We hold bank o� cials responsible for such incident,” he said.

He said, almost all branches of the bank store money much more than its capacity and as a result they are to keep money outside the vault. We asked the bank several times to increase the vault limit. But they did not do so.

The central bank last week decided to carry out inspection in eight more chest branches of Sonali Bank across the country. The branches are Rajbari, Faridpur, Habiganj, Comilla, Brahman-baria, Feni, Lakshmipur and Noakhali.

We asked the bank to tighten its secu-rity by increasing manpower, said Bangla-desh Bank General Manager Saiful Islam.

Sonali Bank Director Zaid Bakht, however, said: “It is a long process to change the branch location.”

After the Kishoreganj branch bur-glary as a safety measure we formed a risk management committee, he said.

Sonali Bank is su� ering from image

crisis due to repeated burglary. We will soon recover from the crisis by taking security measures, he said.

Under the structural security mea-sures, banks are to set up security-test-ed doors with steel wall around the vault space of the banks. The � oors and roofs around the vaults also have to be certi� ed by an engineer, according to the Bangladesh Bank instruction.

As part of technical security measure, there must be a security alarm round the clock with a closed-circuit television camera at the vaults. There should be an uninterrupted connectivity between the bank’s central information system and the vault’s security system.

Automated � re extinguishers are also a must for the security of the vault.

As far as insurance coverage is con-cerned the insurance on the money de-posited at the vaults has to be covered completely. “We have formed 61 teams to examine the security measures in the 61 principle branches of the bank situat-ed across the country,” said Sonali Bank Managing Director Pradip Kumar Dutta. l

Hearing in Sagar-Runi murder case deferred againn Nazmus Sakib

The hearing on the progress of inves-tigation and bail petitions of three suspects in journalist couple Sagar Sa-rowar and Meherun Runi murder case did not take place yesterday as the case documents did not reach the High Court in time.

The matter was on the cause list of the bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed for hearing. Inves-tigation o� cer Zafar Ullah, an assistant superintendent of police, was present in the courtroom around 10:30am to in-form the court about the latest status.

Defence lawyer Masud Hossain Do-lon told the Dhaka Tribune that the hearing would be held today.

“We informed the bench of the mat-ter on March 5 and the court � xed Sun-day [yesterday] for hearing,” he said.

On March 5, the bench of Justice Md Shawkat Hossain and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam declined to hear the prog-ress of the investigation and the bail pleas, saying it had no jurisdiction to conduct the matter. l

OIC chief: Extremists will not be allowedto hijack Islamn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Iyad Ameen Madani, secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Coopera-tion, has said Muslims cannot allow ex-tremists interpreting Islam from a “nar-row perspective” to hijack the religion.

The visiting OIC chief made the statement after holding meetings with Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque in Dhaka yesterday.

Terming Islam as a religion of tol-erance, Madani said: “We cannot al-low ourselves to be taken away by literal translation of narrow minded extremists.”

The secretary general arrived in the capital yesterday on a three-day o� cial visit. He is leading a � ve-mem-ber delegation on his � rst visit to Bangladesh.

Terming the con� icts between Shia and Sunni Muslims, and Sunnis and Sunnis, a sectarian violence, Madani said the OIC would not get involved in the domestic politics of any country.

Regarding Bangladesh’s January 5 general election, he said the OIC wel-comed the results and looked forward to working with the new government.l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

Tribunal for new defence lawyer in Mobarak case n Udisa Islam

A war crimes tribunal yesterday asked the defence of former Awami League leader from Brahmanbaria Mobarak Hossain to have alternative counsel if conducting lawyer Ahsanul Huq again failed to appear during proceedings due to his sickness.

Yesterday was set for placing the second witness in the case. Upon a plea

submitted by defence counsel Tajul Is-lam, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 deferred the proceedings until March 18. Tajul said Ahsanul was under treatment.

Mobarak, an alleged razakar com-mander from Brahmanbaria, testi� ed in the case as the � rst defence witness.

On the other hand, senior prosecutor Syed Haider Ali opposed the defence plea alleging that the defence was trying to kill time. “The last hearing in this tri-

al was held on December 15, 2013. After that, it was deferred twice for various reasons. So I am pleading for closing the defence witnesses.”

After hearing both sides, the tribunal accepted the petition and asked the de-fence to have alternative preparation for that day.

Ahsanul remained absent in most of the proceedings during the opposition’s hartals and blockades in December last

year. The same tribunal yesterday ad-journed the proceedings in Jamaat-e-Is-lami leader ATM Azharul Islam’s case un-til March 16 after the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness.

Defence lawyer Abdus Sobhan Tarafder questioned Moklesar Rahman Sarker, son of martyr Mamtaz Ali from south Ramnathpur of Badarganj under Rangpur district, who testi� ed on last Wednesday. l

BNP to reconstitute city committee after upazila polls Young leaders to feature new body along with seasoned onesn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP has reinitiated its plan to re-constitute its Dhaka city unit commit-tee very soon, dissolving the existing one for its failure to play due role dur-ing the party’s movement against the January 5 national poll.

The party has also decided to com-plete upazila and district committees before holding its national council.

“The convener committee of Dhaka city unit will be announced very soon and young and dedicated people will get priority in the new committee be-sides the experienced ones,” a member of the party’s Standing Committee told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The decisions were made at a meet-ing of the Standing Committee mem-bers with Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan o� ce last night.

The BNP leader also said they had talked about the split of the city unit but had not decided anything. “The is-sue will be settled after the announce-ment of the convener committee.”

The leader also said they had collec-tively decided to complete the upazi-la and district committees after the completion of the upazila elections on March 31.

The initiatives to reorganise the BNP and its front and associate bodies have come to a halt with no major develop-ment in the process, reportedly caus-ing frustration among the party ranks.

On February 10, Khaleda met with the Dhaka city leaders and reportedly bashed them for their “failed roles” in staging the party’s movement against the election. She told them that the city committee would be reconstituted soon. l

Diagnostic centres running without doctors, technologists n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Directorate General of Health Ser-vices o� cials yesterday found two diag-nostic centres in Green Super Market of the capital running without any doctor and technologist.

The Hospital and Clinic Department of DGHS conducted the drive on the 3rd � oor of the market and found no doctor or medical technologist at Del-ta Diagnostic Centre and Bangladesh Diagnostic Centre. There were only lab attendants who did not have any kind of professional training.

The inspection team seized a bunch of blank papers meant for pathological reports with the signatures of patholo-gists.

Expired chemical reagents used for

medical tests were found in refrigera-tors.

The diagnostic centres’ licences were not updated and they could not also provide the patients’ register.

Inspection team leader Swapan Ku-mar told the Dhaka Tribune that there were no police with them, and so they could not take any action against the owners of diagnostic centres.

Prof Dr Abdul Hannan, director of the Hospital and Clinic Department, said they would issue show-cause notice to the owners of the diagnostic centres.

Swapan said an application was sub-mitted to the DGHS for opening a diag-nostic centre named BD Zin Limited, but the address mentioned in the appli-cation form was not found in the Green Super Market. l

Fresh arguments on Nizami case to start todayn Udisa Islam

Fresh hearing of closing arguments in the war crimes case against Motiur Rah-man Nizami is set to start today amid tension in the prosecution camp over squabbles among team members.

Most of the tension has been attrib-uted to certain negative remarks about the team as a whole, made by a member to the local media.

Earlier, on November 13 last year, the International Crime Tribunal 1 had announced that the verdict in the case might be made any day.

However, the arguments are being heard once again, as the former chair-man went into retirement on December 31 before delivering the verdict.

Last time, conducting prosecutor Mohammad Ali placed the arguments before the tribunal when Tureen Afroz also submitted arguments on several charges.

Tureen on March 3 appealed to the chief prosecutor for action against Ali for his comments in a TV interview on March 1, involving her and other team members. The tribunal’s chief prosecu-tor on March 5 forwarded the written complaint to the law ministry, drawing attention of the secretary, and recom-mending proper measures.

Later, Ali submitted a letter to the chief prosecutor where he explained his position mentioning that he had been irritated by Tureen’s statement. This time, Ali alone is taking the preparation.

Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor yes-terday issued a letter mentioning that in the trial against Nizami, the arguments would be submitted by Ali and Tu-reen as earlier. Five senior prosecutors including Zead al Malum, Haider Ali and Rana Das Gupta would coordinate them. l

One held for making o� ensive pictures of a girl n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj

Locals detained a youth for making up indecent pictures of a girl in Fatulla upazila of Narayanganj around 10:30pm on Saturday.

The detainee was identi� ed as Jahangir Alam, 22, son of Firoz Mia of Kashipur Khilmarket area under Fatullah police station. He was held in front of Hazi Uzir Ali High School while putting up the picture of the girl on school gate.

Enamul, sub-inspector of Fatulla Model police station said: “Locals detained Jahangir and later handed him over to the police.”

School Managing Committee President Saifullah Badal said: “The young man made up the indecent image of our school girl with computer software. Jahangir proposed her some days ago on her to the school. But she rejected his proposal. Jahangir made up those o� ensive images and tried to put it on the school gate just to take his revenge over the refusal.”

He also informed locals detained four more teenagers from the school gate on last Wednesday. They used to tease girls and give proposals to them. Later, the youth was released after he apologized and his family members gave undertaking that the incident wouldn’t occur again.

Akter Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Fatulla Model police station said: “Although Jahangir was arrested, no one had � led any case in this regard. So, we showed him arrested under section 54 and sent him to the court.” l

Pry head teachers’ status upgradedn Mushfi que Wadud

The government primary school head-masters got an upgrade in their ranks.

The headmasters will now enjoy the status of class II employees instead of class III.

The salary of headmaster and assis-tant teachers were also increased.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina an-nounced the upgrades yesterday at the inaugural Primary Education Week.

With this, the Awami League gov-ernment ful� lled a long-standing de-mand of teachers and educationists.

Primary schoolteachers had been demonstrating for a long time to up-grade their status.

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education o� cials said from now on, an experienced headmaster of a gov-ernment primary school would be on a Tk6,400 monthly pay scale instead of Tk5,500 that they were on before.

Similarly, an untrained headmaster will be on a Tk5,900 monthly salary scale instead of Tk5,200 of the present salary structure.

The pay scale of untrained assistant teachers will be increased to Tk4,900 from Tk4,700 and those trained to Tk5,200 from Tk4,900.

The primary and mass education ministry issued a circular on this later.

At present, there are 37,000 government primary schools. The

government has recently nationalised 23,000 more government primary schools.

Speaking at the Primary Education Week 2014 at Osmani Memorial Hall, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the government had a plan to elevate the level of the country’s primary educa-tion up to Class-VIII from existing Class V, making it compulsory for every chil-dren, reports BSS.

The premier said computer educa-tion would also be compulsory at pri-mary level along with taking all steps to ful� ll her party’s election pledge to achieve 100% literacy rate.

Saying that her government is com-pletely aware about the demand of the

primary teachers, the prime minister said the government would continue e� orts to develop professional, social and economic conditions of primary schoolteachers.

In a reaction, Bangladesh Primary Teachers Association President Abul Bashar said the decision would help improve primary education.

He said because of low social status, they did not play a role in the society.

Abul Ehsan, a professor at Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research, said due to low status, many talented job seekers did not come to primary teaching.

He said to ensure quality primary education, teachers’ salary should be

increased. However, the assistant teachers of

government primary schools termed the increase in salary disproportionate.

“We are thankful for the announce-ment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but we expected that the salary of as-sistant teachers would increase in pro-portion to that of the head teachers,” Shahinur Alamin, secretary general of Bangladesh Assistant Teachers Society, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said their salary was increased only Tk200 from the previous struc-ture.

“We are disappointed over compar-atively slight increase in the assistant teachers’ salary,” he said. l

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia waves to the audience after arriving at a reception organised to welcome the newly elected committee of the Dhaka Bar Council at the Institution of Engineers auditorium in the capital yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hands over an award to a school girl at the inaugural programme of the National Primary Education Week 2014 at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital yesterday BSS

Qaisar misusing bail, alleges prosecution n Udisa Islam

The prosecution in the trial against war crimes suspect Syed Mohammad Qaisar yesterday claimed that the accused was violating bail conditions by trying to in� uence a prosecution witness.

The tribunal 2 yesterday also recorded the testimony of the � rst prosecution witness.

Former state minister of HM Ershad regime, Qaisar was indicted on February 2 on 16 charges of crimes against humanity he had committed as the chief of “Qaisar Bahini” in Habiganj. The International Crimes Tribunal granted him conditional bail on health ground on August 5 last year.

The tribunal then asked him not to make contacts with any political lead-ers, the media and any witnesses of the war crimes trials, and that he has to surrender his passport, if he has any, to the tribunal’s registrar o� ce.

In the beginning of yesterday’s pro-ceedings, prosecutor Rana Das Gupta drew attention of the tribunal saying that some unknown persons called a witness repeatedly over the phone and tried to in� uence. The callers said they had been working for the accused and his sons.

The tribunal then asked him to � le a general diary with police. Jus-tice Obaidul Hassan, chairman of the three-member panel, said: “It is com-pletely a new scenario before us. So far, we have granted bail to two accused – Abdul Alim and Syed Qaisar. No such allegation was raised before this. We will look into the matter.”

After that, � rst prosecution witness Kazi Kabiruddin, 72, started his deposi-tion against the accused. The tribunal adjourned the proceedings keeping the testimony incomplete.

The witness said on April 12 of 1971, he came to know that Maulana Khaleque, an assistant to former Ja-maat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam, Syed Mohibul Huq and Kamrul Hassan from Muslim League had gone to the house of the accused. They formed a Peace Committee that day and Qaisar was made one of the members.

“On March 23, we hoisted our � ag at Jagadishpur School with Mahbub Ud-din Chowdhury, one of the accused in Agartala Conspiracy Case. The next day Syed Uddin and his son, accused Qaisar, came and forced us to hoist Pa-kistani � ag there.”

He said Qaisar along with his brother Faisal had tried to take down the Bang-ladeshi � ag. “We resist them together.”

Kabiruddin said on April 15, Manju Mia, uncle of accused, had created an anti-liberation group – known as “Qa-isar Bahini” as the accused was made its chief.

Then the witness described about the atrocities the group had commit-ted in the area. “They invited and wel-comed the Pakistani occupation army near Shahbazpur. Following this, the Qaisar Bahini along with the Pakistani Army killed Shahjahan, chairman of Budunti Union. At that time, Shahja-han prayed for his life but Qaisar said ‘this culprit is a pro-liberation element, shoot him.’” l

Manju Mia, uncle of accused, had created an anti-liberation group – known as ‘Qaisar Bahini’

275,364 government posts lie vacant n Tribune Report

Nearly 2,75,964 posts in di� erent min-istry were lying vacant, State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadeque told parliament yesterday say-ing � lling these posts was a continuous process.

She disclosed the information in the parliament in reply to the question of Jatiya Party Lawmaker A K M Mayeedul Islam.

According to Minister, there are now 2603 o� cials, deputy secretaries and secretaries. Among them 265 have been made o� cer on special duty (OSD), meaning they have no work to do.

The minister said there were 3 Hin-dus out of 62 secretaries. Whereas 40 Hindus, 2 Christians and 4 Buddhists are working as additional secretaries out of 304.

Among the top bureaucrats, there is no representation from 29 districts. The highest numbers of secretaries are from Barisal.

In Khagrachari, there is no deputy secretary o� cial, whereas there are 116 o� cials in Chittagong and Comilla dis-tricts. l

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

City High Low

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:57am

Sunrise 6:12amZohr 12:09am

Asr 4:26pmMagrib 6:05pm

Esha 7:21pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Weather to remain unchanged n UNB

Weather is likely to remain mainly dry with temporary partly cloudy sky over the country until 6pm today with the day and night temperature remaining nearly unchanged over the country, Met O� ce said.

The sun sets in the capital at 6:06pm today and rises at 6:12am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 32.4 degrees Celsius was recorded yesterday in Cox’s Bazar and lowest 8.5 degrees in Srimangal. Highest and lowest tem-perature recorded in some major cities yesterday were:

Dhaka 30.2 16.3 Chittagong 30.8 17.5 Rajshahi 29.6 14.0 Rangpur 28.0 13.5 Khulna 30.8 17.0 Barisal 30.2 15.5 Sylhet 31.2 14.6 Cox’s Bazar 32.4 20.5

2 migrants’ bodies arrive from Libya n Rabiul Islam

The bodies of two migrant workers killed in a gun� ght in Libya arrived in Dhaka on a Turkish Airlines � ight dur-ing the early hours of yesterday morn-ing.

“We have handed over the bodies to their relatives and a cheque of Tk 35,000 to each family,” Zahidul Islam, assistant director of Expatriates’ Wel-fare Desk of Shahjalal International Air-port told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday over the phone.

The o� cial also said each of the families would get Tk 3,00,000 as � -nancial assistance.

Sha� qul Islam, hailing from Pirojpur, and Abul Kalam, hailing from Barguna were killed on February 21 this year when their taxi got caught in the middle of a gun� ght near the port city of Bengazi.

Abdus Salam, elder brother of Abul Kalam told the Dhaka Tribune over the phone yesterday that he had received his brother’s body at 9:00am and was going to their village home where his brother will be buried Monday morning.

Earlier, Ahsan Kibria Siddiqui, � rst secretary at the Bangladesh embassy in Libya said the two migrants worked as cleaners at a company named Sharikat Kazi in Benghazi, about 650 kilometres east of Tripoli.

Ahsan said the duo was going to Benghazi city in a taxicab for the week-end. The taxi was caught in a gun� ght between two local groups, and the men, along with the cab driver, were shot dead at the spot.   

He also said the law and order situ-ation in Libya had been deteriorating, and such incidents take place at times.

Around 40,000 Bangladeshi mi-grants are now working in Libya. l

New DG for Family Planning and PGCBn Tribune Report

The public administration ministry yesterday made Nur Hossain Talukder the director general of the Directorate of Family Planning, and Power Division Joint Secretary Mohammad Sha� qul-lah the executive director of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).

Nur Hossain was serving as the DG of the Directorate of Public Library and replaced Ganesh Sarker.

Sha� qullah replaced Zinnatul Haque, who was made an o� cer on special duty (OSD) at the public admin-istration ministry.

The public administration also re-shu� ed 22 additional secretaries and joint secretaries in di� erent ministries.

Among additional secretaries, Quamrun Nahar Khanam of water re-sources ministry was made DG of the National Museum; Directorate of Mili-tary Land-Properties Director Miah Abdullah Mamun was made DG of the Department of Jute.

Additional Secretary to the public administration ministry Sohrab Hos-sain and OSD Additional Secretary AS Mahmud were posted to education ministry and OSD Additional Secretary Begum Porag was posted to the indus-tries ministry.

Among the joint secretaries, Direc-tor of the National Savings Directorate Mahmuda Aktar Meena was promoted as DG; Shah Md Aminul Haque of ERD was made project director of the Board of Investment’s head o� ce construc-tion project; Director of BCS Adminis-tration Academy Mosta� zur Rahman was made director of the Directorate of Military Land-Properties.

Among the OSD joint secretaries, Mohammad Mosaddek Ali was made di-rector of the Bangladesh Energy Regula-tory Commission; Kajal Islam was made secretary of SPARSO, Gazi Mohammad Zulhas was made deputy managing di-rector of the Expatriate Welfare Bank, and Mohsina Yasmin was made director of BCS Administration Academy. l

ZUBAIR MURDER CASE

JU probe body member testi� es at tribunal n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The Speedy Trial Tribunal 4 yesterday re-corded the deposition of Jahangirnagar University teacher Prof Dr SM Badiur Rahman in Zubair Ahmed killing case.

Judge ABM Nizamul Haque recorded his testimony and cross-examination.

The tribunal 4 also � xed March 12 for the next witness. There are 37 pros-ecution witnesses in the case � led by the university administration.

A teacher of biochemistry and mo-lecular biology department, Prof Ba-

diur is the 13th prosecution witness in the case. He was a member of the probe body that investigated the killing and held all the 13 accused – activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s JU unit – responsible for the murder.

Honours � nal year student of Eng-lish department and former Chhatra League activist Zubair was beaten and hacked severely on the campus on Jan-uary 8, 2012 by the accused and their accomplices, who are members of a ri-val faction. He succumbed to injuries at a hospital the next morning.

In his deposition, the witness said: “We formed an investigation commit-tee. According to the committee report, the university administration took le-gal action against the accused.”

Humayun Kabir, then sub-inspector of Gulshan police station, who con-ducted the inquest report of the victim, gave deposition on February 23 as the 12th prosecution witness.

All the accused are currently on bail. However, on February 23, four of the accused � ee from the dock after the bail had been cancelled. Two other

accused have been absent from their court appearance since January 23.

Soon after the death, the university authorities � led the murder case with Ashulia police. The Syndicate on Janu-ary 30, 2012 expelled seven of the ac-cused activists of Chhatra League and suspended six others for two years as their direct involvement in the killing was proved in the preliminary inves-tigation conducted by the administra-tion.

On April 8, 2012, police submitted the charge sheet accusing 13 students. l

'Combined movement a must to make country free from militancy' n Arif Ahmed

Eminent citizens of the country stressed the need for waging a combined move-ment to make the country free from communalism and extremism.

They made the suggestion while speaking at a national conference against communalism and militancy or-ganised by Sector Commanders’ Forum-Muktijoddha 71 at Teacher-Student Cen-tre of Dhaka University yesterday.

With the Sector Commanders’ Fo-rum’s Chairman Air-Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandakar in the chair the event was addressed by Human Right Com-mission Chairman Mizanur Rahman and Bangla Academy Chairman Profes-sor Anisuzzaman.

Human Right Commission Chair-man Mizanur Rahman said it was not possible for us to eradicate militant and communal forces with the current con-stitution.

He said: “Ensuring appropriate punishment for all communal, mili-tant forces as well as the war criminals through free, fair and unbiased trail can wipe out the militant and commu-nal forces from our country.”

The government should expedite war criminals’ trial process, he said, adding that coordination among pro-liberation organisation was a must to uphold the spirit of Liberation War and to establish a non-communal demo-cratic Bangladesh.

Bangla Academy Chairman Professor emeritus Anisuzzaman, addressing the programme as the chief guest, said: “The spirit of 1971 Liberation War is yet to ma-terialise and it is high time to � ght against the anti-liberation and militant forces through combined and national unity.”

AK Khandakar called upon the countrymen to get involved in the move against militant activities.

Cultural personality Nasiruddin Yousuf Bacchu called for dissolving the economic institutions of Jamat-Shibir as they had very strong economic sup-ports. l

Food adulteration a ‘silent killer’n Tribune Report

A silent mass killing is going on across the country through unsafe foods pos-ing a major health issue for all of us, said speakers in a press brie� ng at the Poribesh Bachao Andolan o� ce (Poba) in Dhaka yesterday.

Speakers said the food, which is supposed to be produced to sustain lives and keep people healthy, has be-come hazardous to health.

The process to add poisonous and substandard ingredients in foods starts from the production level and contin-ues till the retail shopkeeper sells it, they added.

Poba and Doctors for Health & En-

vironment (DHEN) will jointly start a month-long awareness programme from March 14 this year. A committee, com-prising of 101 members, had been formed to run this month long programme.

The month-long programme in-cludes human chain, lea� et distribu-tion, discussion programmes and send-ing recommendations of the discussion programmes to the authorities and ministries concerned.

Among others, Abu Naser Khan, Poba chairman, Abdus Sobhan, Poba general secretary, Md Ziarul Islam, vice-president of Bangladesh Health Association and Dr Lenin Chowdhury, chairman of Health and Hope, were present in the press conference. l

Third deal on Rooppur plant in AprilConstruction of the nuke plant starts in 2016 n Aminur Rahman Rasel

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commis-sion (BAEC) will sign a third deal with the Russian company Atomstroyexport on the preparatory stage work of the Roop-pur Nuclear Power Plant by this April.

“We wanted to sign the deal in De-cember but it was delayed because of violent political situation at that time,” Project Director Mohammad Shawkat Akbar told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

All primary work of the physical construction and inevitable construc-tion facilities of the plant would be en-sured under the deal, he said.

A pit foundation would also be built as preparation for setting up the plant’s

reactor unit, he added. The construction of the � rst

1,000MW unit of Rooppur Nuclear Pow-er Plant is expected to begin in 2016.

The pre-construction work of the country’s largest power plant with a ca-pacity of 2,000MW – feasibility evalua-tion, environment impact assessment, engineering survey and acquiring site licence – would be completed by No-vember this year, Shawkat said.

The BAEC is implementing the proj-ect under the science and technology ministry.

“Work on the project has been un-derway smoothly. We are very much on the target regarding completion of all activities in time,” he told the Dhaka

Tribune yesterday. “As per our plan, the construction of

the � rst unit will be completed by 2021 and the second by 2022. The tenure of the plant will be 60 years with options to extend it by another 20 years,” he said.

“We will also complete technical documentations, � rst priority design, working documentations and engi-neering survey for the design stage by June 2016. We hope to get the construc-tion licence by June 2016,” he said.

Bangladesh signed a deal with Rus-sia in January last year during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Mos-cow for the extension of state export credit to � nance the preparatory stage

work at the nuclear power plant. The � rst deal worth $45.9m was

struck with Atomstroyexport on June 27 last year. The amount would be spent on the pre-construction work at the site. On October 2, the government penned the second deal worth $265m for the preparatory stage work, includ-ing the development of design docu-mentation, � rst priority working docu-mentation and engineering survey for the design stage.

The $45.9m and $265m were parts of a total $500m loan which Russia agreed to provide to � nance the ground work by Atomstroyexport, which will run a series of 63 tests as part of the pre-con-struction work. l

'Shahjahan’s statement on cross� re irresponsible'n Tribune Report

The Transparency International Bangladesh has condemned a recent statement by Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan condoning extrajudicial killings in cross� re as “necessary” to eradicate terrorism from the country.

Expressing its concerns, the TIB demanded that the minister withdraw the “irresponsible” statement made during a BBC Bangladesh Sanglap programme on Saturday.

“No citizens are above the law. The statement of a minister to eradicate terrorism through cross� re is unconstitutional, undemocratic and against the rule of law,” said TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman.

“I hope the government does not support the statement. We also hope the prime minister and Jatiya Sangsad will give an explanation on this soon,” he said, demanding the minister withdraw the remark.

A TIB press release also said the minister’s statement � outed a High Court order on cross� re issued on December 14, 2009.

Meanwhile, the Ain O Salish Kendra also protested the minister’s remarks.

“Whatever the name, cross� re or encounter, all these are extrajudicial killings,” ASK acting executive director M Nur Khan said.

Citing article 31 of the constitution, the ASK said every citizen was entitled to enjoy protection of the law and be treated accordingly.

“As a minister of a democratic government, the role of the minister is to respect, elevate and protect these rights,” it said in a press release. l

Discussion on Kazi Shahid’s autobiography heldn Rabiul Islam

“Jiboner Shilalipi”, Kazi Shahid Ahmed’s autobiography, would attract readers for its humour and simplicity of language, speakers at a discussion programme said yesterday.

Mohit Ul Alam, vice chancellor of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam Univer-sity, said the book was full of humour, which would attract readers.

“While reading the book, I burst into laughter several times. And at a stretch, I read 180 pages out of around 550 pag-es of the book,” Mohit said at the pro-gramme, held at the auditorium of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) in the capital’s Dhanmondi area.

The book was released on Febru-ary 15 through a function at the Bangla Academy auditorium.

Mohit also noted that the book was not only an autobiography, but also a real picture of society.

Among others, president of ULAB’s board of trustees, Kazi Shahid Ahmed,

ULAB Emeritus Professor Ra� qul Islam and ULAB Vice Chancellor Imran Rah-man addressed the programme. Writer and professor, Niaz Zaman, was the chief guest, but she did not make any remarks. l

Sector Commanders Forum and Muktijudha 71 jointly organise its national conference against communalism and militancy at Dhaka University’s Teacher Student Centre yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Kazi Shahid Ahmed

‘Minorities remain vulnerable’n Abu Bakar Siddique

Minorities in Bangladesh remain in a vulnerable state and they lack con-� dence on the government, noted economist and CPD (Centre for Policy Dialogue) chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan said yesterday.

He was addressing a seminar styled ‘Religion, Minority Status and Trust: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Bangladesh and India’ at the Daily

Start Centre.“Lack of trust in the state is prevalent

among the minorities, which isn’t ex-pected after 42 years of independence,” Sobhan said.

Speaking of the attack on the Hindus in the recent past, the CPD chairman said such kind of attack would not have happened in an ideal society.

“We are living in a very undemo-cratic society,” he said, adding that the country had to � nd a way out of such

discriminatory attitude.Minhaz Mahmud, head of research

of Institute of Governance Studies and Brac Development Institute, presented the keynote paper which stated that individuals belonging to the minority group trust members of their own group more while those from the majority group do not exhibit such discrimina-tory attitude and show trustworthy be-haviour towards the minorities.

He also said the conclusion had

been drawn from a research conducted among people of 18 villages mostly in-habited by the Hindus and the Muslims. The villages are located in Dhamrai and Manikganj while data was also collected from two Indian villages, namely South 24 Parganas and Diamond Harbour.

Dr Binayak Sen, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, and Dr Sultan Ha� z Rahman, executive director of IGS also addressed the seminar. l

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

Bahrain � re victims laid to rest n Our Correspondent, Comilla

Three Bangladeshi workers, who died in a � re in Bahrain’s capital Manama on February 28, were laid to eternal rest at their native villages under Burichang upazila in Comilla yesterday.

They were buried following namaz-e-janazas after Johr prayers.

Earlier, the bodies arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by a � ight of Emirates Airlines on Saturday evening. Later, the bodies were handed over to the families around 10pm.

On February 28, three Bangladeshi nationals died and two others received minor injuries in the � re that took place in a two-storey residential building in the Mukha Rekha area of Manama.

The deceased were Dulal Mia, 30, son of Siddiqur Rahman from Mainamati union’s Ziapur village in Burichang upazila, Jalal Uddin, 30, son of Abdul Gafur from Rampur village of Varel union under the same upazila and Mosharraf Hossain, 32, son of Naz-im Mia from the same village.

After seeing the bodies, family members and relatives of the deceased started wailing, which created an at-mosphere of gloom at the two villages.

Losing the earning members of the families, they said they did not know how they would pay back creditors for loans taken out to send the men to Bahrain. l

DMCH eviction drive removes over 100 illegal structures n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

As part of a drive conducted by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, more than a hundred illegal establish-ments outside Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital in the capital were evicted yesterday, also the second day of the ongoing drive.

Beginning at 11:00am, the drive was carried out in presence of the execu-tive magistrate of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), top o� cials of the Health Ministry, Directorate General of Health Services and Mitford Hospital as well as members of the law enforce-ment agency.

Equipped with bulldozer, city cor-poration workers cleared footpaths oc-

cupied by illegal makeshift stalls out-side the hospital. Establishments were also demolished from the footpath on Nolgola road, located near student hos-tel across the west side of the hospital.

Mohammad Atul Mandal, executive magistrate of DSCC, told the Dhaka Tri-bune drive was carried out to remove illegal establishments set up outside and west side of the hospital and also on adjacent roads.

A day before the drive was carried out, DCC issued a notice asking owners of illegal establishments to leave the area unoccupied but a few took heed of the notice and relocated their goods. Most of them, however, did not care to respond and act accordingly.

Brigadier General Zakir Hossain,

director of Mitford Hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune the illegal establish-ment had been polluting the environ-ment of the hospital’s entrance and also the west side.

Health Ministry sources say DSCC will conduct similar drives outside Dhaka Medical College Hospital today.

On the � rst day of the drive, Dhaka North City Corporation evicted around 300 illegal establishments from Sha-heed Suhrawardy, National Heart In-stitute, National Institute of Trauma-tology and National Institute of Eye Science Hospital.

Directed by Health Minister Moham-med Nasim, the ministry took the de-cision to conduct the eviction drive at public hospitals on March 3. l

JnU halls recovery demonstrations continueOld Dhaka businessmen show solidarity with protesters n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Association of traders in Old Dhaka expressed solidarity with teachers and students of Jagannath University (JnU) yesterday as the latter continued their ongoing demonstration by holding pro-cession and protest rally on the cam-pus demanding recovery of illegally grabbed dormitories.

The association held a press brie� ng outside Islampur Jahangir Alam Tower around 11:00am and urged Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina to take steps in or-der to resolve this crisis soon.

Addressing the brie� ng, speakers said although the ongoing protest was

legal, they were passing days in fear. They said some wholesalers were also reluctant to come to Old Dhaka to buy or sell goods for fear of � nding them-selves in any untoward situation.

Asked about allegations that some traders had also occupied properties illegally, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, convener of the association, said legal actions could be taken if any establish-ment had been built on the property of the university.

“We should extend our help in this regard,” he said.

Executive members of nearly 16 business associations of Old Dhaka, in-cluding Islampur Clothing Traders’ As-

sociation, Tantibazar Goldsmith Asso-ciation and Clock Traders’ association, attended the brie� ng among others.

Earlier in the day around 10:00am, JnU students brought out procession and protest rally on the campus. The procession paraded through the cam-pus before it ended in front of JnU liber-ation war sculpture at around 11:00am.

Members of JnU Teachers’ Associa-tion, like the previous days, held a pro-test rally around 11:00am in front of the university’s Shaheed Ra� q building. There were cultural activities jointly at-tended by teachers as well as students.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, JnU Bangladesh Chhatra League unit presi-

dent Shariful Islam said the university authorities had failed to arrange even a single dorm for the students after eight years of establishment.

“That’s why we are demonstrating peacefully to press home our demand. A mass rally will be held in front of the cen-tral shaheed minar on March 16,” he said.

Yesterday’s demo ended around 02:00pm.

JnU students and teachers have been demonstrating since February 12 to press home their demand for recov-ery of grabbed dorms. To date, no step has been taken by the government, though several ministers said action would be taken to resolve the crisis. l

Work of Karnaphuli Tunnel to start next yearn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said the construction work of Karnaphuli Tunnel would be started in the next � scal year yesterday in Chit-tagong.

He told this while talking to the journalists after inauguratingAktaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu Bridge at Kalarpole area in Patiya up-azila of Chittagong district yesterday morning.

The minister said the construc-tion cost of the much awaited tunnel would be in between Tk6,500 crore and Tk7,000 crore while China Com-munications and Construction Compa-ny Limited (CCCC), a state company of

China, would � nance the construction of the tunnel.

“A Chinese delegation will come to Bangladesh to negotiate on the project within a few days,” he added.

After the construction of the tunnel, a new dimension would be added in the connectivity sector of the region, he said.

The trade and commerce will also mushroom in the region after its con-struction, he added.

Besides, tra� c congestion will be eased to a great extent by the tunnel, he hoped.

Meanwhile, Quader said the work of Dhaka-Chittagong Highway four-lane up-gradation project would be com-pleted by December this year. l

Demand for IELTS on the risen Tribune Report

The demand for International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is growing all over the world including Bangladesh as it is widely recognised to educational institutions, British Coun-cil o� cials said yesterday.

They said almost 2 million people took the test last year.

“Globally, the demand for IELTS is high, including students from Bangla-desh who take the test for admission to educational institutions in the Unit-ed Kingdom and many other destina-tions,” Sanjiv Malhotra, acting country director of British Council Bangladesh, said while speaking at a celebration programme marking the 25 years of IELTS.

The organisation held a celebration programme at a city hotel yesterday. Among others, Steve Adams, direc-tor, examination services, South Asia, Deep Adhikari, director examination services, British Council Bangladesh spoke at the occasion.

Steve Adams said IELTS played a sig-ni� cant role in people’s education and career.

IELTS is the world’s most popular English pro� ciency test for higher edu-cation and global migration with accep-tance among international employers, professional associations and govern-ments in 135 countries around the world.

Student engagement agencies and coaching centres that work closely with British Council examination unit were also present at the programme. l

Three BNP leaders get bailn Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Three BNP leaders were released on bail from Rajshahi Central Jail yester-day over police constable Siddhartho murder case on 26 December, 2013.

The leaders are Rajshahi city mayor Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul, Mizanur Rahman Minu, BNP joint secretary general and Sha� kul Islam Milon, Rajshahi city unit BNP general secretary.

Jailer Ismail Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that they had freed the BNP top leaders at 4.00pm as they got bail from the High Court.

He also said on 4 March, a bench of judge Naima Haidar and Jafor Ahmed granted the bail of the three leaders.

The order of the bail reached yester-day through the Rajshahi chief metro-politan magistrate court.

Following bail, the jail authority freed them.

Earlier, on 24 February Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court rejected bail pleas of 36 BNP leaders and activists and sent them to jail in the same case.

On December 26, 2013, Siddhartha Sarker died after he along with eight others were wounded as miscreants hurled several crude bombs at a police car in the city.

BNP-led 18-party alliance was hold-ing processions at that time.

Siddhartha succumbed to his inju-ries in Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka after he had been � own from Rajshahi to the capital.

Police � led two separate cases against Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul, Mi-zanur Rahman Minu, Jamaat city unit secretary general Mohammod Jahangir and 485 others on charge of killing the police constable. l

n Abu Hayat Mahmud

The encroachment into water bodies and land continues unabated while the Rajuk and BIWTA have yet to take sus-tainable measures to stop such illegal activities.

Hundreds of housing companies, group of industries and sand traders appear nonchalant and are grabbing the rivers and wetlands in and around the capital at their own sweet will.

A vast area of � ve rivers – Burigan-ga, Turag, Balu, Shitalakhya, Dhalesh-wari – forty canals and � oodwater � ow zones and even croplands are in the grip of land grabbers.

The government just makes plans and formulates rules, regulations and acts like Detailed Area Plan (DAP), Town Development Act 1953, butall those done over the yearssimply remain on paper only, urban planners say.

The DAP aimed to facilitate Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan and protect canals, wetlands, retention ponds, roads, open spaces, croplands and all topographical features.

“It could not be said that the DAP was fully successful. A large number of land developers continue to � ll up � ood � ow zones and grab embankment of rivers around Dhaka,” said Prof Jami-lur Reza Choudhury, who headed the DAP expert team.

He said structural and industrial

disaster might occur repeatedly as de-velopment had taken place defying the authorised land use plan.

“The DAP remains far from being implemented due to negligence of the authorities concerned and the land de-velopers are using the land violating the Rajuk plan,” Prof Jamilur added.

Prof Sarwar Jahan of the Depart-ment of Urban and Regional Planning, Buet, said: “Land developers have � lled up most designated wetlands and � ood � ow zones in and around Dhaka.”

“The grabbing of � ood-prone zones and water bodies will lead to waterlogging and destruction of ecology,” he said.

During several visits to di� erent riv-er banks and � ood plain areas around Dhaka-Purbachal New Town Project, Rupganj upazila in Narayanganj, Jhil-mill New Town in Keraniganj upazila, Tongi, Ashulia and Aminbazar, the Dhaka Tribune correspondent came to see that the land developers and sand traders were still � lling up water bodies and cropland violating the DAP.

Sources said the Rajuk would

conduct eviction drive immediately against such illegal housing projects and sand traders who ran their busi-ness on the river banks.

Rajuk Chairman Nurul Huda said they planned to divide the DAPinto eight areas to apply acts and laws properly.

Asked about any drive, he said: “Drive against such illegal activities of the land developers goes on. It is the routine work of Rajuk,” he said.

Dr Md Samsuddoha Khandaker, chairman of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, told the Dhaka Tribune, “We have been informed of the continuous encroachment upon the river around Dhaka.”

“A meeting was held in the Ministry of Shipping last month on how to save the rivers from grabbers,” he added.

A joint committee of the deputy commissioner o� ce of Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayanganj and BIWTA demarcated the river area and set up pillars, leaving a large area on both sides of the rivers around the capital.

The demarcation pillars were in-stalled in the heart of the water body, applying wrong process, he regretted, adding that a further demarcation would be done as per the decision of the meeting.

The BIWTA chairman vowed that ac-tion would be taken against those grab-bing the rivers and polluting the water body by dumping waste. l

Rajuk, BIWTA going soft on land grabbersDhaka Metropolitan Development Plan yet to be fully implemented

ABM MohiuddinChowdhury: No confusion over CMCH upgraden Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The former mayor of Chittagong City Corporation yesterday urged o� cials and employees of Chittagong Medical College Hospital not to be misguided and confused over the decision to up-grade the institution.

ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, who is the chairman of Chittagong Medical University Bastobayon Parishad and also the president of city unit Awami League, made the appeal in a press conference organised by the parishad at Chittagong Press Club in the after-noon.

He said the misunderstanding be-tween o� cials and employees over the upgrading decision of CMCH into a uni-versity was unexpected.

The former mayor said: “Do not mis-understand and do not be confused. We will not tolerate the loss of employ-ees and workers over the issue.”

He said if the medical college was upgraded into a university the medi-cal facilities would be developed and people would receive facilities at a low cost.

“Through the upgrade we can save many expenses too,” he added. “If the medical college turns into a university, the o� cials and employees of CMCH will enjoy more facilities than they are receiving currently.”

Chittagong Premier University Vice-Chancellor Anupam Sen, city unit Awami League General Secretary AJM Nasir Uddin and Peshajibi Somonnoy Parishad President AQM Sirajul Islam were present at the conference among others.

The employees of CMCH has been protesting the upgrade decision after its announcement. lJagannath University Teachers’ Association organises a sit-in programme on the campus yesterday, protesting the recent assault on demonstrators by police DHAKA TRIBUNE

‘A large number of land developers continue to � ll up � ood � ow zones and grab embankment of rivers around Dhaka’

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

Dinajpur wheat farming shrinkson low price Inferior quality seeds also a reason n Tribune Report

Lack of fair price has made a noticeable dent in cultivation of wheat in Dina-jpur, once known as the storehouse of grains.

Unavailability of good quality seeds is also to be blamed for the situation. For the sharp fall in wheat farming acreage, the crop is now being culti-vated in mango or lichi orchards in the district.

Experts, however, are giving advice to the farmers about certain types of crops on their demand nationwide and suitability of land for their farming.

According to statistics, 120 to 130 maunds of maize is produced on one acre of land against 40 to 45 maunds of wheat on the same quantity of land.

During peak season, per maund wheat is sold at Tk 800 while per maund maize is available at Tk 600.

The statistics show that production of wheat on one acre of land costs Tk 36,000 while it takes Tk 78,000 to pro-duce maize on the same quantity of land.

Farmers’ sources said due to lack of fair price and good seeds, they are losing interest gradually in cultivating the crop. They are getting inclined to cultivation of maize as an alternative to wheat.

Dinajpur Department of Agriculture Extension deputy director Anwarul Is-lam said wheat cultivation per acre of land is shrinking. Farmers are cultivat-ing maize instead of wheat in absence of fair price of the latter.

Dinajpur Agricultural Product Price Commission member Zadab Chandra Roy said farmers will be interested in cultivating wheat if they get fair prices and good seeds.

He demanded government steps in this regard.

Dinajpur Wheat Research Centre’s chief scienti� c o� cer Dr Md Zahidul Islam Sarkar said wheat cultivation is needed to meet the country’s increas-ing demand for the cereal item, reports UNB.

Farmers are now feeling the pinch of lack of fair price and good seeds of wheat, he added. l

Land dispute kills one in Madaripurn Tribune Online Report

A person has been killed and 15 others have been injured in a clash between two groups of villagers over land prop-erty at Akalborish village under Kalkini upazila in Madaripur.

The deceased was identi� ed as Shahjahan Talukdar, 40, son of Rashed Talukdar of the village.

Shahjahan, who was injured in a clash, succumbed to his injuries early Sunday. Police said there was a long-time dispute between Abul Hossain Bepari and Shah-jahan Talukdar over a land property.

Following the same matter, they got into an altercation that triggered a clash between the groups of Saturday evening, leaving 16 people injured.

Later, Shahjahan was rushed to Kalkini Upazila Health Complex where he succumbed to his injuries around 3am on Sunday. l

Computer lab of Pabna Edward College burgledn Our Correspondent, Pabna

Unidenti� ed miscreants on Sun-day broke into the computer lab of Pabna Edward College and de-camped with 30 computers, val-ued at Tk 15 lakh.

According to sources, the cyber centre was introduced in the col-lege in 2008 providing 30 comput-er sets with internet connection.

The lab is kept open during the college hour as the students use internet.

“A computer training course is also run in the centre,” said Nu-rul Alam, assistant professor of Management department of the college also the head of the IT laboratory.

When the lab was opened in

the morning, no computer was found, Nurul Alam said.

Kazi Haniful Islam, o� cer-in-charge of Pabna Sadar police station said: “A gang of crimi-nals looted the computer lab in planned way. Police is investing into the matter.”

The miscreants entered the lab by breaking grill and � ed with the computers, sources said.

The college authority � led a case against unidenti� ed persons.

The police also picked up Sagor and Paritosh, night guards of the college.

When contacted, Naid Md Sam-sul Huda, principal of the college said: “A three-member inquiry committee will be formed to inves-tigate into the matter.” l

Attack on Pabna science university teacher protestn Our Correspondent, Pabna

Teachers and sta� of the Pabna Univer-sity of Science and Technology formed a human chain on the campus yester-day, demanding immediate arrest of the people who attacked Dr Mush� qur Rahman, president of the university teachers’ association.

They also threatened to wage tough-er movement if the criminals are not arrested soon.

Campus sources said some uniden-ti� ed criminals attacked the Dean of Business Studies Faculty Dr Mush� kur Rahman on Wednesday afternoon.

On that day, a case was � led, but po-lice are yet to arrest anyone in this con-nection.

Earlier, teachers and employees of the university also formed a human chain and held a protest rally in front of the Pabna Press Club on Sunday morn-ing with the same demand.

Bijon Kumar Brommo, SM Golzar Hossain, Shahanshah, Md Sohrab Ali, Imrul Hasan, Faruk Hossain Chowd-hury and Johurul Islam Prince, among other university sta� s, spoke on the oc-casion.

“Criminals attacked our teacher in-side the university campus openly. But the criminals are yet to identify since � ve days of the incident has passed.The teachers and sta� s are feeling insecure as the attackers are roaming freely.” said a teacher.

They also urged district administra-tion to take measure to ensure safety of the university teacher.

O� cer-in-Charge of Pabna Sadar po-lice station Kazi Haniful Islam said po-lice were investigating the matter and the criminals would be arrested soon.

Asked about the reason behind the attack, the OC said the attack might have been taken place over previous enmity. l

10 shops guttedin Pabna n Our Correspondent, Pabna

A � re gutted at least 10 shops at Dublia Bazar under Pabna sadar upazila in the early hours of yesterday.

Sources at � re brigade said the � re had originated from electric short cir-cuit at a shop of the market at about 5pm and soon engulfed the adjoining shops. l

A goods-laden truck fell into a roadside ditch at Charmatha near Hili land port yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Under-construction roof caves in, injures twon Our Correspondent, Barisal

Two construction workers were in-jured after an under construction roof of a petrol pump collapsed yesterday afternoon at Zero-Point of Barisal-Patu-akhali-Bhola highway under Nalchhity upazila of Jhalokati district.

Acting deputy director Kazi Alaud-din of Barisal � re service said Zakir Hossain, 40, and Riazul, 31, the two construction workers, were rescued and sent to Barisal Sher E Bangla Medi-cal College Hospital.

Witnesses said the under construc-tion roof caved in around 2pm while construction was in progress.

A 20-member team of Barisal � re service went to the spot and started rescue operation with the help of the local people.

Mahfuz Khan, owner of the petrol pump, said the double stretching of the iron rod slipped due to loose bindings and collapsed during the casting of the roof on ground � oor.

The � re service o� cial said it is be-ing assumed that the use of sub-stand-ard materials and negligence in con-struction caused the accident. l

Locals lay siege to Maddhapara Granite Mining Companyn Our Correspondent, Dinajpur

Hundreds of locals put up a barricade on the main entrance of Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Ltd yester-day to press home their � ve-point de-mands, including compensation for the people, who were directly and indi-rectly a� ected by the mining company.

People from Gurguri, Maddhapara, Khagrabondho, Uttara Rasulpur and Sultanpur villages under Dinajpur sad-ar upazila gathered in front of the com-pany, which meets one-third of the of the country’s demand for hard-rock, in the morning and staged a sit-in in front of it.

Their demands include: proper management for waste disposal, pro-viding compensation to the land own-ers, whose land have been leased for the mingling company, and compensa-tion for the house owners, whose habi-tation were damage during a blast and

proving jobs to the victims’ family. Parbotipur Upazila Nirbahi O� cer

Rahenul Islam tried to remove the blockade with the help of law enforce-ment agencies.

Later, the protesters suspended blockade programme for the next sev-en days after getting assurance from the UNO that he would talk with the authorities of the company so that they take measures to full-� ll the demands.

The UNO received a written com-plaint from the agitators in this regard.

Sources said the programme was organised under the banner of ’10 no Harirampur Jonokollyan Committee’.

President of the committee Masu-dur Rahman said houses of around 86 families of the � ve villages got dam-aged because of underground explo-sion caused by extraction of hard rocks.

Cracks had developed at many earthen and wood-made houses, he said, adding � nding no alternative, vil-

lagers have been living at their dilapi-dated houses with risk risks.

Waste-mixed waters of the company have been hampering crop cultivations in the locality, local people alleged.

As toxic water enters into the culti-vable land, farmers cannot be able to harvest their agri-produce for that rea-son they incur huge loss every year.

The villagers are not getting jobs in the mining company while people from other districts were recruited, they added.

In 1980s, the mining company au-thorities took lease of a vast tract of land, but it yet to pay 10% of the lease amount to the farmers.

Director General (marketing) Mir Abdul Hannan of the company refused to make any comments in this regard.

When contacted, Managing Director Sayed Abdul Fazal Nazmul Ahsan Hy-der could not be reached despite sev-eral attempts. l

A rally was held on the premises of Tangail Shaheed Minar yesterday, demanding fair prices of all kinds of agri-produces DHAKA TRIBUNE

7DHAKA TRIBUNE Long Form Monday, March 9, 2014

n Promiti Prova Chowdhury

Guwahati, Assam – a milieu of tea, rhino and Bhupen Hazarika.  Late Hazarika, the Bard of Brahmaputra, rendered the voice of riv-

ers in South Asia. Therefore, no other place on this earth would have been better to hold a dialogue on river.

On November 14 last year, 20 young scholars and professionals from India and Bangladesh met at Guwahati to discuss on trans-boundary water resources management during an Indo-Bangladesh Dialogue titled “Water Futures: A Dialogue for Young Scholars and Professionals.”

“Water: is it just a scienti� c com-pound? An essential element for the survival of the living entities? The riv-er streams that had given birth to the greatest civilisations over the ages? It seems the so-called H2O is more than that, it is H2OP4 – power, politics, pollution, and pro� t.”

This is how Professor Imtiaz Ahmed of the International Relations department of Dhaka University, also the coordinator of the dialogue from Bangladesh, shed light on the seem-ingly “ecological subject,” making it much more comprehensive to partici-pants like me.

With � lms, lectures, discussions and � eld visits to the banks of river Brahmaputra in India and Jamuna in Bangladesh, the dialogue disclosed a window of insight to enhance the India-Bangladesh relationship, which, instead of being smooth and free of con� icts, appears strained today.

Jointly organised by Jamia Millia Is-lamia, India and University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, the venture incorporated young professionals, environmen-talists, journalists, creative artists, researchers, and government o� cials from both countries.

Bilateral negotiations: Who is the third party?

A concern that came from a num-ber of resource persons was a river must be allowed to � ow in its natural course for sustainability. If the � ow is reduced by constructing dams and barrages, the river loses the natural force damaging the ecosystem.

Prof Asif Nazrul, department of law, DU, said the river itself should be the third party in the negotiation. The river water should be utilised, devel-oped and managed in a way that every community feels bene� ted through whatever the project is, a dam, a bar-rage or any hydropower project.

Roles of politicians, policy makers, environmentalists

“There has to be two platforms for negotiation: political platform and technical platform. Technical platform cannot overrule the political plat-form. Political platform takes the � nal decision. Unfortunately in terms of India and Bangladesh, the political people talk on technical issues and the technical people go by the political people because those are the ones who ultimately make the decision,” said Dr Ainun Nishat, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University and a member of the government negotiating team on the Teesta issue in 1989.

During a question answer session with Prof Asif Nazrul, the partici-pants raised concern over the roles of government o� cials and environ-mentalists in Bangladesh. Asif said: “They [government] would invite some engineers, environmentalists and journalists who are more political

than their professional identity. So these people reiterate the words of the government.”

Joint River Commission: Lacking mandate, independence

Asif Nazrul criticised the limited man-date of JRC.

“JRC members are government o� -cials. They cannot protest decisions of the government.”

“There is a provision for appointing a technocrat honorary member in JRC. Dr Ainun Nishat had been one. But, in the last regime of government, they did not appoint any such member. Some JRC members told me that India was not agreeable whenever Bang-ladesh wanted to appoint any local expert, although there were some proposals from Bangladesh’s side dur-ing the last tenure of BNP to appoint a neutral independent expert,” he said.

On the other hand, Ritwick Dut-ta, an environmental activist and Advocate of the Supreme Court of India, said: “No country in the world would ever give the decision making power to water resource specialists. They may be a part of the team but ultimately the ministry of water resources, the Prime Minister’s O� ce or the ministry of foreign a� airs would decide, because they are the real parties to guide it. The ministry of water resources will be at the prime to negotiate or appear to negotiate.

“These are the issue which a� ects security of the whole region. There-fore, ultimately the policy decisions will be taken by bureaucrats and diplomats. Engineers come second in the policy making structure.”

Treaties: Bi-lateral or multi-lateral?

A source in JRC Bangladesh alleged that they wanted to build a sub-re-gional framework. For instance, the Brahmaputra basin is shared by Nepal, Bhutan, China, India and Bangladesh. Therefore, they wanted to engage Nepal and Bhutan in the negotiation.

“But India was highly against it. They said they would negotiate with us and Nepal or other countries sepa-rately,” claimed the source.

Advocate Dutta said: “If you look at the river system, you will � nd that interest of Bangladesh and Nepal are completely di� erent. For example, Nepal will be interested in building more storage dams, which will restrict the � ow into India, whereas India would want to make more diversion channels that will a� ect the move-ment to the lower riparian country. Nepal is upstream of India and Bangla-

desh is the lowest. So how do we merge the interest of all three?

“I personally do not understand what can be the issues of common in-terest between Nepal and Bangladesh. I can see commonalities between India, Bhutan and Nepal, because they are the upstream Himalayan states.

“I do not think a multi-lateral treaty is possible in near future. In our current geo-political situation, there is no way that Bangladesh would be able to convince India to involve Nepal. The answer will be “no” for a simple reason that it would complicate the discussion which no one wants.

“Throughout the world, most of the rivers are shared by more than two countries but the treaties tend to be bi-lateral. It is easier to negotiate between two countries,” opined Dutta.

Joint River Commission: a misnomer?

A sub-divisional engineer of JRC Bang-ladesh, seeking anonymity, alleged

that though the statute indicates to hold at least two joint meetings a year, the meetings do not take place even in years. The regular meetings are always postponed by the Indian counterpart. In June this year, India cancelled the regular meeting at the last minute showing “unavoidable circumstance.”

He noted that in last 41 years, only 37 meetings were held.

“The number of meetings depends on timing and willingness. Two countries might be at di� erent political stages at a time. It may not be a na-tional election in India, but it can be a ‘panchayet’ election in Calcutta, a state election in West Bengal or in Delhi. In such circumstances India will not be willing to hold a meeting,” Dutta said.

The day before leaving India, in a friendly chat with the participants, Mahbub Hassan Saleh, deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh High Commission to India denounced the terms “common” and ”trans-bound-ary” and suggested that rivers were and should be called “international natural resources” crossing through international boundaries.

Lamenting over the present condition of JRC, he said: “JRC is not supposed to be the way it is today. It is supposed to be a joint platform, but in reality, the chairmanship is held by water resource ministries, as in, the politicians who do not have the time to focus on human-centric subjects.

“It is more like two separate na-tional river commissions headed by respective ministries. They should do research and present those technical studies in every meeting. The present JRC could not produce the desired results in accordance to the spirit it was born with,” he said.

Now is a time to revive the statute and meet as frequently as possible, he suggested.

Approach: ecological or commercial?

Saleh stressed on adopting a “pick-free approach.”

“We should not take cluster of rivers but, take one, try and resolve. It took 25 years to conclude one and there are � ve major river systems in Bangladesh.

“‘Individual river centric bi-lateral approach’ is something that should be abandoned,” he opined.

Prof Asif Nazrul proposed for basin-wise organisations instead of country-wise organisations. He said instead of India-Bangladesh or India-Nepal river commission, there should be commissions like Brah-maputra Water Commission where all the basin countries can become a part. An organisation possessing inde-pendence, decision-making authority, technical e� ciency, knowledge base e� ciency, and logistical e� ciency.

Prof Nazrul convened for a blend of commercial and ecological approach in water sharing agreements to which Professor Imtiaz added that a mecha-nism should be developed that would be eco-friendly as well as � nancially productive.

Democracy and water sharing management: Let the community be heard

“Around 21bn people living on the ba-sin of Teesta were unheard while ne-gotiating over the river. Human issues are always ignored while designing any treaty which is a dangerous prac-tice. We just focus on augmenting the � ow but we have to keep in mind that we are the lowest riparian country and Bangladesh gets extremely less amount of water in the lean period. For example, Teesta � ows 60bcm (bil-lion cubic meter) year round where-as, during the lean period which is September to May, the � ow reduces to only 5bcm,” Saleh said.

He stressed on the term “equitable utilisation” of water which ensures rightful share of the stakeholders of the river keeping the minimum � ow of the river intact – the minimum � ow that is needed for the survival of the river. Moreover, it is a concern of bio-diversity. Water has to be utilised judi-ciously as it is a depleting resource.

He said the users were the ultimate bene� ciaries. “Farmers are the ones who actually know where and what quantum of water � ows at di� erent points of the year. So they should be heard through representatives. The think tanks and technical experts have to consider the local interest,” he said.

Loopholes in existing practices, faulty models

Prof Nazrul pointed out several loopholes in the previous agreements shared by the two countries. For example, in the Ganges Water treaty, there was no mention of the word “pollution” which is a sign of ignoring the issue of environmental impact, an issue which is comprehensively talked about in all European and American water sharing treaties.

Highly criticising the Ganges River Treaty, Asif said: “Bangladesh cannot even ask what amount of water is being shared. After � owing through West Bengal and Bihar, whatever amount is left, (the residual � ow) en-ters Bangladesh. Then India says that it is distributed honestly,” Asif said with discontent.

Drawing examples from di� erent global law, like UN Watercourses Convention 1997 and Helsinki Rules, he mentioned a number of factors to de� ne “equitable utilisation” includ-ing population, impact of the project in the area, available alternatives, etc.

Instead of building on Ganges, the Farakka barrage could be shifted to the Hugli port, he said.

He convened JRC India to come and negotiate with all these informa-tion. “Come with the information like what amount of water that had been withdrawn in Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and how much is available. Then you decide on the sharing, taking other factors of equity into consideration.”

Professor Jayanta Bandhopadhyay, retired Professor of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, asserted in his presentation that shifting of river course was an integral part of geo-morphology of Ganges, Brah-maputra and Meghna (GBM) system. He elaborated on the construction of Farakka Barrage as an outcome of faulty design of engineers who sought

to force river water diversion through structural intervention.

Role of civil society

Dr Partha J Das, Programme Head, Water, Climate and Hazard, Aranyak, a Guwahati-based NGO for preservation and restoration of environment, said: “Today, civil societies in India feel that the central government has not done enough. Therefore, they have taken the form of protests. In such a

situation, movements and campaigns by civil societies and student organi-sations have played an important role to mobilise the public in India.”

He mentioned about All Assam Students Union (AASU) that created a mass protest in Assam against the Indian government. Their demands were recognising � ood and erosion as a national problem, allocating more funds in the � eld, and most importantly, checking the detrimental impacts of dams in the region.

Dr Arupjyoti Saikia, associate professor, department of humanities and social science at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, shed light on a civil society group KMSS (Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti). This organisa-tion had been able to wage democratic movements like the anti-dam move-ment in last few years in Assam.

The KMSS has done substantial work in mobilising people at the grass root level. It explained them the impacts of dam, like, disappearance of char, loss of grazing grounds for ani-mals, disappearance of driftwood etc.

AASU also play a key role to persuade the government to form a committee to look into the downstream e� ect. It has initiated interaction be-tween the experts and the communities by training them on river development programmes. This constant negotia-tion has led to the re-thinking of river science and engineering. It has also helped to bring di� erent civil society organisations and the public to major political debates, described Saikia.

KMSS, considered as a classic ex-ample of how a civil society learns and unlearns argues on the points: Whose river is the Brahmaputra? Government or people? What kind of engineering will be used? Will science and tech-nology take care of the environmental hazards? These are burning questions at our side as well.

Right to Information: What is happening in the JRC?

Dutta stressed on the need for civil

society vigilance and greater transpar-ency for disseminating public domain regarding the decisions and agree-ments in case of trans-boundary river system.

He suggested that civil society ought to make use of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and collect in-formation from the Ministry of Water Resources. Contents and reports of JRC meetings ought to be made public which otherwise mostly appear diplo-matic and arbitrary at large.

Water Future: Breaking the prejudice

After returning from the dialogue, a report published on the Dhaka Trib-une on last November 30 caught my eyes. Parts of the article titled “Mighty Teesta turning into a narrow channel,” read:

“Teesta, the second biggest river in Gaibandha, is drying up quickly and the drastic fall in its water level is impacting on agriculture, commu-nication systems, employment and ecology in the region.

O� cials of Bangladesh Water De-velopment Board said the water level started falling sharply in September and now most of the river has dried up at an alarming rate, leading to a num-ber of chars forming on the riverbed.

People living by the riverbanks attribute the present situation to the unilateral construction by India of a barrage at Gazoldoba over the Teesta, around 100km upstream of  the Teesta Barrage Irrigation project (TBIP) at Dalia of Lalmonirhat district.

The char dwellers have urged the government to take up necessary measures to resume the navigability and water � ow in the river and contin-ue it all the year round by rolling on the water sharing treaty with India as early as possible.”

To that, I want to narrow down. Among many things, we share mighty rivers that have not only created our landmarks, but also moulded our livelihood.

We both have our share of con-� ict and concerns, and negotiations regarding water sharing that have failed to produce any tangible result. If we focus on the future, wiping o� the blame game and putting a fresh perspective towards the art of negotia-tion, then we can produce the desired results. An e� ective strategy with technical understanding that assures sustainability of the eco-system re-sulting in enhanced well-being of the people is what we look forward to.

Promiti Prova Chowdhury is a journalist.

Divided by borders, united by rivers

Water sharing between Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, according to young scholars and professionals

Instead of India-Bangladesh or India-Nepal river commission, there should be commissions like Brahmaputra Water Commission where all the basin countries can become a part

If we focus on the future, wiping o� the blame game and putting a fresh perspective towards the art of negotiation, then we can produce the desired results

A satellite image of the region’s waters WIKIMEDIA

Monday, March 10, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Maliki accuses Saudi, Qatar of funding violencen Reuters

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accusedSaudi Arabia and Qatar of openly funding the Sunni Muslim in-surgents his troops are battling in west-ern Anbar province, in his strongest such statement since � ghting started there early this year.Security forces have been � ghting in-surgents from the al Qaeda-a� liated Islamic State ofIraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Anbar’s two main cities - Fal-lujah and Ramadi - since January after the arrest of a Sunni lawmaker and the clearing of an anti-government protest camp prompted a tribal revolt and al-lowed ISIL to set up � ghting positions in the cities.

Maliki’s remarks play to Iraqi fears of the Sunni Arab states as he tries to burnish his standing as a defender of the mainly Shia country before elec-tions at the end of April.

Violence has escalated in the last 12 months - ISIL has led a devastat-ing campaign of suicide bombings since mid-2013 - and Maliki said in a mid-February speech that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were o� ering money to re-cruit � ghters in Fallujah.

More than 700 people died in vio-lence in Iraq in February, not including nearly 300 reported deaths in western Anbar province and last year was the deadliest year since 2008 with nearly 8,000 being killed.

“I accuse them of inciting and en-couraging the terrorist movements. I accuse them of supporting them polit-ically and in the media, of supporting them with money and by buying weap-ons for them,” he told France 24 televi-sion late on Saturday.

Maliki has long had chilly relations with the Gulf states, who view him as too close to Iran, and has long suspect-ed them of funding al Qaeda-linked groups in order to bring down his Shia-led government. l

Israeli army unloads ‘Iran weapons ship’n AFP, Eilat

The Israeli army was yesterday unloading a ship which it intercepted in the Red Sea allegedly transporting arms from Iran to Gaza and escorted to the port of Eilat.

An AFP correspondent said dozens of containers from the Panamanian-� agged Klos-C were being unloaded and trans-ferred on trucks to a nearby navy base.

Naval commandos seized the vessel on Wednesday in the Red Sea between Er-itrea and Sudan, and it was escorted into Eilat on Saturday by two Israeli warships.

The military said it was carrying an Iranian shipment of M-302 rockets destined for the Gaza Strip which is controlled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

The army chief, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, said: “Each one of these rockets poses a threat to the safety of the citizens of Israel - each bullet and each rocket that was discovered had an Israeli address.”

The military is to hold a news con-ference on Monday to display the seized weaponry.

Iran has � atly denied any involve-ment with the shipment, which the Israeli army said was carrying missiles capable of striking anywhere in the Jewish state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the seizure of the ship served “to thwart the arrival of lethal weapons to Gaza terror groups, and to expose the true face of Iran which was behind it.”

“Iran denies involvement, it is bra-zenly lying. We will show evidence tomorrow,” he said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting. Netanyahu also criticised EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who was in Tehran the same day for top-level meetings.

“I’d like to ask her if she asked her Iranian hosts about the weapon de-livery to the terror groups, and if she didn’t ask, why not?” he said.

“Nobody has the right to ignore the true, murderous actions of the Iranian regime,” he added.

Israel has been pressing the interna-tional community to maintain crippling economic sanctions on Iran over its nu-clear drive. World powers have eased the sanctions on Iran as part of a land-mark interim deal struck in November, under which Tehran undertook to curb its nuclear activities for six months.

The United States, other Western powers and Israel have long suspect-ed Iran of using its nuclear energy programme as a cover for developing atomic weapons, a charge denied by the Islamic republic. l

Israeli teen activists say no to army draftn Agencies

A group of Israeli teenagers have told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will refuse to serve in the military because of its role in the oc-cupation of Palestinian land, reports Aljazeera.

“The main reason for our refusal is our opposition to the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the army,” about 50 youths wrote in a letter to Ne-tanyahu, published on Saturday by an Israeli paci� st group.

The group referred to “human rights violations” in the West Bank, including “executions, settlement construction, administrative detention, torture, col-lective punishment and unfair distri-bution of water and electricity.”

“Any military service perpetuates the current situation, and therefore we can-not take part in a system that carries out these deeds,” read the letter posted on the Facebook page of Yesh Gvul. l

Netanyahu opposed to settlement freezen AFP, Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Net-anyahu said Sunday he is opposed to freezing construction in settlements as a means to extend US-sponsored peace talks with Palestinians.

Such a freeze “would serve noth-ing,” Netanyahu told public radio.

“We imposed one in the past and it brought no results,” the premier said of the 10-month construction morato-rium he issued during the last round of peace talks with Palestinians that end-ed in 2010.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been struggling to get Israel and the Palestinians to agree a framework for extending direct peace talks, launched in July, beyond an April 29 deadline.

But Israel and the Palestinians re-main divided on all the major issues, including borders, security, settle-

ments, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

Starts on new settlement building in the West Bank increased by 123.7% last year, according to recently-published data from Israel’s statistics bureau.

Palestinian president Mahmud Ab-bas has said that his side would not agree to extend negotiations without Israel releasing further prisoners and halting settlement construction.

According to Netanyahu, who met with Kerry and US President Barack Obama in Washington last week, a framework agreement to extend talks would not necessitate Israeli and Pal-estinian signatures but rather only by “an American document on American positions.”

“I’m not sure the Palestinians will accept it,” Netanyahu told public radio of the framework agreement.

Obama is due to meet Abbas on March 17 at the White House. l

Yemen panel to draft charter on six-region federationn AFP, Sanaa

President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has ordered a panel to draw up a constitu-tion that would transform Yemen into a six-region federation, state media re-ported, despite opposition in the north and south.

The 17-member panel, which in-cludes four women, is expected to im-plement a decentralization plan agreed at a national conference last year to create four regions in north Yemen and two in the south.

The presidential decree gives the panel one year to draw up the constitu-tion to be put to a referendum within a year, after being adopted by a commis-sion overseeing its work, the o� cial Saba news agency reported Saturday.

The plan aims to meet demands for autonomy in the south and will be accom-panied by compensation for its residents, who have risen up against what they call discrimination in favor of the north. l

Suicide bomber kills 34 at crowded Iraq checkpointn AFP, Hilla

A suicide bomber killed 34 people, in-cluding two state television employ-ees, at a checkpoint near Baghdad yesterday, after Iraq’s premier accused Riyadh and Doha of fuelling bloodshed in the country.

Iraq has been hit by a year-long surge in violence that has reached lev-els not seen since 2008, driven princi-pally by widespread discontent among its Sunni Arab minority and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Analysts and diplomats have urged Iraq’s Shiite-led authorities to reach out to disa� ected Sunnis but with elec-tions due next month, political leaders have not wanted to be seen to compro-mise and have instead pursued a hard line against militants.

The suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged minibus during morning rush hour at a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Hilla, the confessionally-mixed but mostly-Shi-ite capital of Babil province south of Baghdad.

The attack killed 34 people and left 167 others wounded, a police captain and medical sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Among the fa-talities were � ve policemen, two wom-en and � ve children, according to the sources.

“I saw a huge � re that covered the entire checkpoint and many cars near-by,” Salam Ali, who su� ered wounds to his chest and one of his hands, said from his bed in Hilla hospital.

“Many victims could not get out of their cars because the pressure of the

explosion fused the doors shut.”Another witness, 18-year-old

Kadhim Abdulhussein said he saw pieces of metal from the checkpoint scattered dozens of metres (yards) from the scene of the attack.

Iraqiya state television said two of its employees, Muthanna Abdulhus-sein and Khaled Abed Thamer, were among the dead.

Militants carry out frequent attacks on security forces, and also target areas where crowds of people gather. The checkpoint combined the two.

In Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, gunmen shot dead at least two soldiers and wounded one at an army check-point, while � ve attacks north of Bagh-dad killed a police colonel and two po-licemen and left nearly 40 other people wounded. l

Saudis, Emiratis quit Qatari media outletsn AFP, Riyadh

Saudi and Emirati pundits have quit major media outlets in Qatar, including the broadcaster of top-� ight European football, they said yesterday, as tensions soar between Doha and Gulf states.

In an unprecedented decision on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain withdrew their envoys to Qatar, which they ac-cused of meddling in their internal af-fairs by supporting Islamists. Doha has dismissed the charge, citing instead di� erences in regional politics.

Saudi columnist Samar al-Mogren, who writes for Al-Arab Qatari daily, tweeted yesterday that the “Saudi min-istry of culture and information has de-cided to end the collaboration of Saudi writers with Qatari newspapers.”

She said that two other Saudi writ-ers, Saleh al-Shehi and Ahmed bin Rashed al-Saeed, had also stopped

writing for Qatari newspapers based on the ministry’s orders.

Another writer, Muhanna al-Hubail, had received similar orders from the ministry, said Mogren.

Meanwhile, Emirati commentators and analysts announced they had quit BeIn Sports, which exclusively broad-casts matches from the English Pre-mier League and the Spanish La Liga to millions of football fans across the Middle East. Ali Saeed Al Kaabi and Fares Awad announced on Twitter Saturday their resignation from BeIn, without giving any reasons.

Emirati football pundit Sultan Rashed said he would stop contributing to BeIn, while analyst Hassan al-Jassmi said he would no longer appear on both BeIn and Alkass, another Qatari sports channel. Qatar is a staunch supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, viewed by most conservative monarchies of the Gulf as a threat to their grip on power. l

Russian forces tighten grip on Crimea despite US warningn Reuters, Simferopol

Russian forces tightened their grip on Crimea yesterday despite a US warning to Moscow that annexing the southern Ukrainian region would close the door to diplomacy in a tense East-West stando� .

Russian forces’ seizure of the Black Sea peninsula has been bloodless but tensions are mounting following the decision by pro-Russian groups that have taken over the regional parlia-ment to make Crimea part of Russia.

The operation to seize Crimea began within days of Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich’s � ight from the country last month. Yanukov-ich was toppled after three months of demonstrations against a decision to spurn a free trade deal with the Euro-pean Union for closer ties with Russia.

In the latest armed action, Russians took over a Ukrainian border post on the western edge of Crimea at around 6 a.m. (0400) GMT, trapping about 30 personnel inside, a border guard spokesman said.

The spokesman, Oleh Slobodyan, said Russian forces now controlled 11 border guard posts across Crimea, a former Russian territory that is home to Russia’s Black Sea � eet and has an ethnic Russian majority.

In Simferopol, Crimea’s main city, pro- and anti-Russian groups held rival rallies. About 300 opponents of Rus-sian-backed plans for Crimea to secede gathered around a monument to na-tional hero Taras Shevchenko, carrying blue and yellow balloons the colour of the Ukrainian � ag. The crowd sang the national anthem, twice, and an Ortho-dox Priest led prayers and a hymn.

Vladimir Kirichenko, 58, an engi-neer, opposed Crimea joining Russia. “I don’t call this a referendum. It asks two practically identical questions: Are you

for the secession of Ukraine or are you for the secession of Ukraine? So why would I go and vote?”

Soviet SongsAround 2,000 Russian supporters gath-ered in Lenin Square, where there is a statue of the Soviet state founder, clap-ping along to nostalgic Soviet era songs being sung from the stage.

Alexander Liganov, 25 and jobless, said: “We have always been Russian, not Ukrainian. We support Putin.”

President Vladimir Putin declared a week ago that Russia had the right to in-vade Ukraine to protect Russian citizens, and his parliament has voted to change the law to make it easier to annex territo-ry inhabited by Russian speakers.

At a rally in the eastern city of Do-netsk, home to many Russian speakers, presidential candidate Vitaly Klitsc-hko, a former boxing champion, said Ukraine should not allowed to split apart amid bloodshed.

“The main task is to preserve the stability and independence of our country,” he said.

The worst face-o� with Moscow since the Cold War has left the West scrambling for a response, especially since the region’s pro-Russia leader-ship declared Crimea part of Russia last week and announced a March 16 refer-endum to con� rm it. US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to Russia’s foreign minister for the fourth day in a row, told Sergei Lavrov on Saturday that Russia should exercise restraint.

“He made clear that continued mil-itary escalation and provocation in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine, along with steps to annex Crimea to Russia, would close any available space for diplomacy, and he urged utmost re-straint,” a US o� cial said. l

Demonstrators kneel in front of riot police during a protest against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. Armed with cooking pots in a potent symbol of Venezuela’s chronic food shortage, thousands took to the streets Saturday in the latest public rally against the government. At least 20 people have now died since protests � rst erupted, giving Maduro his biggest test since succeeding late leader Hugo Chavez almost a year ago AFP

FEARLESS BEFORE WEAPONS

9Monday, March 10, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

India far-right party supports Modin AFP, New Delhi

A far-right wing Indian party yester-day publicly threw its support behind opposition Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi for prime minister ahead of next month’s general elections. The � re-brand head of the Maharashtra Navnir-man Sena (MNS), Raj Thackeray, said he would back Modi, while announcing that his party would also � eld a handful of candidates for the elections.

“We will support Narendra Modi for the prime minister’s post. Modi should become the prime minister of the coun-try,” 45-year-old Thackeray told support-ers in Mumbai where his party is based.

According to sources, the MNS, a ri-val o� shoot of the hardline right-wing Shiv Sena, has a record of inciting riots and other violence mainly in its opposi-tion of migrants in western Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital.

Despite the support, however, it is unclear whether Thackeray’s move will help Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

According to reports, a BJP lead-er urged Thackeray days earlier not to � eld MNS candidates to preserve the BJP’s ties with traditional ally Shiv Sena and avoid splitting the vote against Congress in Maharashtra.

After Shiv Sena took power in the Maharashtra government in 1994, it changed the city’s name from Bombay to Mumbai to underline the region’s Marathi identity. l

Libya authorises use of force against NK-� agged tankern Reuters

Libya’s defense ministry has issued or-ders to its military authorising the use of force to stop a North Korea-� agged tanker loading crude oil sold by armed rebels seeking to bypass the Tripoli gov-ernment, state media said yesterday.

The rebels, who have seized three major Libyan ports since August to press demands for a greater share of oil revenues and political autonomy, re-ceived the tanker on Saturday at the Es Sider port in the volatile east.

The docking and loading of crude es-calates a seven-month blockade of key oil ports and is just one facet of deep-ening turmoil in the OPEC producer, which is struggling to control militias that helped oust Muammar Gadda� in 2011 but kept their weapons and now challenge state authority. Prime Min-ister Ali Zeidan said on Saturday Libya would bomb the 37,000-tonne tanker if it tried to exit the port, one of Libya’s biggest oil export terminals.

State news agency LANA said yes-terday the defense ministry had issued orders to the military and warned the tanker’s owner. “The order authorises the use of force and puts the respon-sibility of any damages resulting from this on the ship owner.” l

India set to challenge US for election-spending recordn Reuters, New Delhi

Indian politicians are expected to spend around $5bn on campaigning for elections next month - a sum sec-ond only to the most expensive US presidential campaign of all time - in a splurge that could give India’s � oun-dering economy a temporary boost.

India’s campaign spend, which can include cash stu� ed in envelopes as well as multi-million-dollar ad campaigns, has been estimated at 300bn rupees ($4.9bn) by the Centre for Media Stud-ies, which tracks spending.

That is triple the expenditure the centre said was spent on electioneering in the last national poll in 2009 - partly a re� ection of a high-octane campaign by pro-business opposition candidate for prime minister, Narendra Modi, who started nationwide rallies and ad-vertising last year.

“They started much before, and they are also focusing on states where they are traditionally not strong. They are leaving no area untouched,” said N. Bhaskara Rao, chairman of the Centre for Media Studies.

The campaign spending for this election could give a boost to the econ-omy, which has been heading for its longest slump since the 1980s. Econ-omists have forecast a second year of

growth below 5% in the � nancial year ending this month.

Candidate and party funding in India is opaque and the source of much of the spending is hard to ascertain, but the Centre for Media Studies and other trans-parency advocates say the main con-tenders have built up large war chests.

“This election spending largesse will help to boost Indian consumption ex-penditure over the second quarter of 2014, but this will be a temporary spike,” said Rajiv Biswas, the Asia-Pacif-ic chief economist at IHS Global Insight.

India’s projected campaign spending is only rivaled by the $7bn spent by can-didates, parties and support groups in the 2012 US presidential race, the world’s most expensive, according to data pro-vided by the US election commission.

Spending on previous Indian elec-tions have bene� ted a wide range of businesses, from media groups and ad-vertisers that rake in campaign-ad reve-

nues to consumer-based � rms that cap-italize indirectly on the overall jump in spending, such as motor-bike manufac-turers and brewers like United Spirits.

India’s advertising industry expects to see an $800 million injection during the election season, according to an outlook by the country’s largest local agency, Madison Media. That should bene� t media � rms, such as DB Corp, which owns the high-circulation Hindi language daily Dainik Bhaskar.

Much of India’s campaign spend will remain in its thriving black economy.

Rules allow candidates to spend 7 million rupees ($114,000) on cam-paigns for a parliament seat but the real cost of winning is about 10 times that, thanks to spending on rallies, fuel and media campaigns that often include payments for coverage.

Indian politicians regularly bribe voters with cash payouts or alcohol to secure their support. Recent state elections have seen innovations such as getting money to voters via mobile phone credit and envelopes of cash de-livered in morning papers.

In the last three years, election au-thorities seized from politicians a total of about $32.65 million in the form of con-cealed cash, some if it stashed in helicop-ters, milk trucks and even funeral vans, a former election commissioner said.l

Pilot of missing jet an aviation tech geekn Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

The pilot of a Malaysia Airlines jet that went missing on Saturday enjoyed � ying the Boeing 777 so much that he spent his o� days tinkering with a � ight simulator of the plane that he had set up at home, current and former co-workers said. Za-harie Ahmad Shah, 53, captain of the airliner carrying 239 people bound for Beijing from the Malaysian capital, had always wanted to become a pilot and joined the national carrier in 1981.

Airline sta� who worked with the

pilot said Zaharie knew the ins and outs of the Boeing 777 extremely well, as he was always practicing with the simulator. They declined to be identi-� ed due to company policy.

“He was an aviation tech geek. You could ask him anything and he would help you. That is the kind of guy he is,” said a Malaysia Airlines co-pilot who had � own with Zaharie in the past.

Zaharie set up the Boeing 777 sim-ulator at his home in a suburb on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital where many airline sta� stay as it pro-

vides quick access to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Pictures posted by Zaharie on his Facebook page show a simulator with three computer monitors, a tangle of wires and several panels. “We used to tease him. We would ask him, why are you bringing your work home,” said a pilot who knew Zaharie for 20 years. Zaharie’s passion for aviation went beyond the Boeing 777. Other photos posted up by him on Facebook show he was an avid collector of remote-con-trolled, miniature aircraft. l

Malaysian missing plane ‘may have turned back’ n AFP, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia yesterday said a missing air-liner carrying 239 people may have inexplicably turned back as authorities launched a terror probe into the plane’s sudden disappearance, investigating suspect passengers who boarded with stolen passports.

The United States sent the FBI to in-vestigate after Malaysia Airlines � ight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished from radar early Saturday somewhere at sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, but stressed there was no evidence of terrorism yet.

Indications that the plane may have deviated from its route only com-pounded the anxiety of relatives, many of them Chinese, desperate for news of their loved ones.

“There is a distinct possibility the airplane did a turn-back, deviating from the course,” said Malaysia’s air force chief, General Rodzali Daud, cit-ing radar data.

But Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the Boeing 777’s systems would have set o� alarm bells.

“When there is an air turn-back the pilot would be unable to proceed as planned,” he said, adding authorities were “quite puzzled” over the situation.

Malaysian authorities have expanded their search for wreckage to the coun-try’s west coast after initially concentrat-ing to the east in the South China Sea.

A total of 40 ships and 22 aircraft from an array of countries including Malaysia’s neighbours, China and the US are now involved in the hunt across the two areas, o� cials said, with two Australian surveillance aircraft also due to join the search.

After it emerged that two people boarded the � ight with stolen European passports, Malaysia’s transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he was looking at four suspect passengers in all.

The minister declined to o� er details, saying authorities were examining “the entire manifest,” but con� rmed the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was dispatching personnel to Malaysia.

“At the same time our own intel-ligence has been activated, and of course, the counter-terrorism units... from all the relevant countries have been informed,” Hishammuddin said, refusing also to rule out the possibility of a hijack.

A Malaysian civil aviation o� cial said authorities still so far believe only two passengers had used stolen passports and were examining CCTV footage of them.

“We will review all security proto-

cols and, if needed, we will enhance them,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying in The Star newspaper. He stressed: “If necessary, because we still do not know the cause of the incident.”

Flight MH370 had relayed no distress signal, indications of rough weather, or other signs of trouble. Both Malaysia’s national carrier and the Boeing 777-200 model used on the route are known for their solid safety records.

The � ight vanished about an hour af-ter taking o� from Kuala Lumpur. A total of 153 Chinese nationals were on board, and relatives camped out at the main in-ternational airport in China’s capital be-moaned the lack of news Sunday.

“The airline company didn’t contact me, it was a friend,” a mid-dle-aged woman surnamed Nan told reporters, holding back tears, after finding out her brother-in-law was on the flight.

“I can’t understand the airline com-pany. They should have contacted the families � rst thing,” she said.

MAS insisted it was doing its best to keep relatives informed given the con-fusion surrounding the plane’s fate, and was preparing to � y some of them out to Malaysia today to be closer to the search-and-rescue operation.

As nightfall approached yesterday, the Vietnamese o� cial in charge of coordinating the search said there was still no trace of any wreckage at sea. l

North Koreans vote in parliament ‘election’n AFP, Seoul

North Koreans voted yesterday in a pre-determined election for a rub-ber-stamp parliament – an exercise that doubles as a national head count and may o� er clues to power shifts in Pyongyang.

The vote to elect representatives for the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) was taking place as scheduled, the state-run KCNA news agency said, add-ing that voter turnout was a whopping 91% as of 2.00 pm (0500 GMT).

Those who are ill or in� rm and cannot travel to polling stations are casting votes at special “mobile ballot boxes,” it added.

“Overjoyed” voters rushed to polling stations across the country from early in the morning, it claimed, adding many danced and played music on the street in praise of the leader, Kim Jong-Un.

The North’s state TV showed hun-dreds of people across the country clad in brightly-coloured traditional dresses dancing in circle on the street.

State-run media have in recent weeks stepped up propaganda to pro-mote the election, with a number of poems produced to celebrate voting under titles including “The Billows of Emotion and Happiness” and “We Go To Polling Station.”

Apart from the physical casting

of votes, there is nothing democrat-ic about the ballot. The results are a foregone conclusion, with only one ap-proved candidate standing for each of the 687 districts.

It was the � rst election to the SPA under the leadership of Kim, who took over the reins of power on the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il, in December 2011. And like his father before him, Kim stood as a candidate – in constitu-ency number 111, Mount Paektu.

Koreans have traditionally attributed divine status to Mount Paektu and, ac-cording to the North’s o� cial propagan-da, Kim Jong-Il was born on its slopes.

TV footage showed hundreds of sol-diers queuing up at a polling station in constituency number 111 and dancing in unison on the street to festive music.

Portraits of Kim’s late father and grandfather were hung on the wall behind the ballot box. Soldiers deep-ly bowed to the portraits after casting their votes.

“I gave the vote, the evidence of my loyalty, to our supreme leader com-rade,” one soldier said in a TV interview.

Elections are normally held every � ve years to the SPA, which only meets once or twice a year, mostly for a day-long session, to rubber-stamp budgets or other decisions made by the ruling Workers’ Party. l

Afghanistan’s powerful vice president diesn Reuters

Afghanistan’s powerful vice president, Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, died of natural causes yesterday, only weeks before the country is due to elect a new leader. He was 57.

Once one of Afghanistan’s most feared warlords, Fahim had been a top commander in the Northern Alliance, a group of anti-Taliban militia leaders, after the 1992-96 civil war.

“It is with deep sadness that we learn of the passing away of Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, the First Vice-president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. May his soul rest in peace,” President Hamid Karzai’s o� ce said, de-claring three days of national mourning.

The United Nations mission in Af-ghanistan called Fahim “a good and trusted partner of the UN.” Back in 2009, UN o� cials and diplomats had criticized Fahim’s appointment be-cause he was accused of serious hu-man rights abuses. It was unclear what, if any, role Fahim had planned for next month’s presidential election.

Human Rights Watch said in a 2005 report that Fahim was “one of the most notorious warlords in the country, with the blood of many Afghans on his hands from the civil war.” l

Supporters of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) hold placards during a protest over expulsion of dozens of Kashmiri students from a university after they cheered for the Pakistani cricket team during a televised match against archrival India last week. Six more students, including four Kashmiris, were also expelled yesterday following an alleged clash over the same matter AP

This handout photo taken yesterday shows Malaysian Maritime Enforcement personnel looking through binoculars during search and rescue operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Boeing 777-200 AFP

A total of 40 ships and 22 aircraft from an array of countries are now involved in the hunt

India’s projected campaign spending is only rivaled by the $7bn spent in the 2012 US presidential race

PROTEST OVER KASHMIRI STUDENTS’ EXPULSION

Egalitarian Uncle MoneybagsMarch 4

KamrulIt is startling that the writer not only manages to highlight a problem in politics but also in society. How often do we look down at the poor in disdain and the filthy rich with admiration, instead of looking at the former with empathy and the latter with distrust? Make no mistake, this is a problem that needs solving right now.

SameeraA timely reminder that the ruling elite in Bangladesh is just that – an elite, separate group. Time after time, we as a nation seem to forget that the opposition that stands for us and with us now was just as corrupt and destructive five years ago as the current government is now. The only way to break this cycle is to reshape the system or to get more involved and get our agency recognised.

RonnieThe � rst short paragraph reads eerily like a tiny snap-shot of the larger and hideous life and times of the incumbent ruling regime in our country. The second paragraph is a far less honest, somewhat harsh swipe at the only real “opposition” party that exists today.

To be fair, the remainder of the article speaks of a number of some sad, self-evident truths that remain the scourge of social, political and economic justice in Bangladesh. But the author’s righteous laments are tainted by a recurring barb – only this time even more acerbic and embarrassingly erro-neous – aimed at what he insists on calling the “old opposition.” The allusion to Tom Perkins here ap-pears blatantly bombastic. And the author’s awfully dishonest association of the “chairperson’s” party’s political and economic philosophy with Perkins’s

demented theses goes utterly beyond the pale. I’d gladly remind him that this “old opposition” that he cannot resist sniping at here, actually spearheaded the return of “democracy” in this country (however dysfunctional it subsequently became). And they presided over what still seems to me like the most productive � ve years of rapid and broad economic advancement in Bangladesh’s “democratic era.” And oh, even the non tax-paying, poorest of the poor in Bangladesh still have the “right to vote.” So, invoking Tom Perkins here is intellectually insincere. It detracts from the author’s otherwise satirical, but fair swipes at the intrinsic iniquities of the “ruling classes.” That said, it’s clear that Mr Ahmed’s bigger gripe is with “capitalism” itself. I’ll never share his animus toward capitalism. I’d prefer to quote Milton Friedman instead:

“The most important central fact about free market capitalism is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”

ParthoRonnie: While I admire your convictions, I do have to agree with the majority of the comments here and say that I am in favour of what the writer is saying. Also, and I think this is not something that has ac-tually been said by anyone here including yourself, the writer has not defended one party and criticised another completely. He has been particularly critical of one, that is true, but that does not discredit his work. Genuine criticism does not work on an egali-tarian basis; just because something is wrong with party A does not mean that party B must be found equally guilty for it to be a valid point. The same logic works here – one party is the bigger target but that does not make the criticism unfair.

BCB to impose new ‘rules’March 3

The reason is simple. The BCB is corrupted, and young cricket players’ talents have been destroyed. They play with public emotion. Why don’t the media express this? Perhaps we’ve been too receptive of this kind of blind corrup-tion. Is that not true?? :-(

Riyasat Azim Sunvy

Singapore world’s most expensive cityMarch 4

In my opinion, it is the world’s most robotic city as well! :-/

Wa� Stalinofskivitchdavitovichsky

Bangladesh set a 327-run target for PakistanMarch 4

Yay! Good going Bangladesh! Keep it up.Gaulbert Randolph

Quality education is an economic priorityA dismal new report from the World Bank suggests that the

majority of � fth grade students in Bangladesh do not have the necessary academic competence typically expected at

that level. Sobering statistics suggest that even in the early years of prima-

ry education, the vast majority of children are failing to meet their minimum competency targets.

This clearly indicates that although Bangladesh has made vast strides in achieving near universal access to primary education, the quality of education needs to be improved as well .

At the root of the problem is that money is not being e� ciently spent when it comes to educa-tion. Bangladesh’s budg-etary allocation for the sector is also the lowest in the South Asian region, limiting the amount of funding available.

The problems which result include unimag-inative and poorly delivered curricular, the hiring of poor quality teachers and ine� ciently run and managed school administrations.

Fixing our primary education system should be the key chal-lenge for the government. The education ministry must give more attention to improving the quality of primary education in order to ensure that everyone has a high quality educational foundation.

The unpalatable truth is that the unevenness of primary educa-tion is also an economic problem. Children from poor households are more likely to perform poorly academically than children from economically well-o� households. It is an unacceptable cost to the nation to allow such discrepancies to continue.

Improving the quality of primary education is essential to over-come this for the bene� t of the nation.

Looking east is a natural move for Bangladesh

After last week’s BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative) meeting in Myanmar, many people are noting its potential to improve co-operation and trade among its member states, Bangla-

desh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.The US ambassador has re� ected that the combination of

Bangladesh’s geographical location and large population makes it a natural hub for international commerce and trade generally.

Within the context of developing links between South Asia and South East Asia in particular, Bangladesh’s location clearly gives it added scope for growth.

It is important then for Bangladesh to keep looking eastwards in its diplomatic and econom-ic policies. While links have grown with China over the years, our trade links with our immedi-ate neighbour Myanmar have only recently begun to be actively nurtured, even though its economy is attracting a huge amount of overseas interest and investment.

We must not neglect our geographical closeness and neighbour-ly potential. As fellow BIMSTEC members, Myanmar and Thailand have much to o� er Bangladesh to help develop better connectiv-ity and economic integration with the economic powerhouses of South East Asia.

It is imperative for our economy that the government maximise the potential of multilateral groups such as BIMSTEC and SAARC to lower trade barriers and increase economic opportunities.

Looking eastwards to our closest neighbours beyond India is a natural place to start, but should only be the beginning. The government should encourage and negotiate mutually bene� cial bilateral treaties and trade deals with as many di� erent countries as possible.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Looking eastwards is a natural place to start, but should only be the beginning

Fixing primary education should be the key challenge for the government

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20% supplementary duty on tea importMarch 7

It was recently reported that the National Board of Revenue (NBR) had prepared a summary to introduce a 20% supplementary duty in addition to the 61% existing duties on tea imports, following a demand by the Bangladesh Tea Association and on the recommendation of the Commerce Ministry (MoC). It seems that NBR and MoC did not consider the interest of consumers.

The tea estates pay Tk70 per day to their workers, the lowest wages in Bangladesh. It is not believable that they cannot compete with growers in foreign countries, even after imposing a 61% protection duty. Are 61% duties on imports not enough to protect the interest of local growers? Are they so ine� cient? If the tea estates cannot compete even after this 61% aggregate protective import duty, then the govern-ment has to make a major decision. The land used by the estates, leased from the government should be allocated to entrepreneurs interested in growing co� ee. The government must balance between the interests of growers as well as consumers.

I would like to urge the � nance minister not to approve the proposal of increasing duties on tea im-ports.

Md Ashraf Hossain

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Bishop’s territory (3)3 Matured (4)6 Fruit (4)7 Adhesive (3)9 Purplish brown (4)10 Vegetable (3)11 Muslim leader (4)13 Of the kidneys (5)16 Biblical character (5)18 Highland dagger (4)19 School of whales (3)20 Thunder god (4)21 Mineral spring (3)23 Prolonged pain (4)24 Summit (4)25 Respectful fear (3)

DOWN1 Sweetener (5)2 Flightless bird (3)4 Gloomily sullen (4)5 Stain (3)6 Apple of the eye (5)8 Person under age (5)9 Wan (4)12 Disguises (5)14 Eastern ruler (4)15 Token of membership (5)17 Gap (5)18 Bird (4)20 Beverage (3)22 Animal’s foot (3)

How to solve Sudoku: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 num-ber repeating.

SUDOKU

n Towheed Feroze

Seven or eight years ago when I � rst saw this drug, it hardly appeared to be capable of doing serious harm. It was pink! Obviously, each colour

creates in our subconscious mind an image, so pink hardly conjures up devastation.

Yet today, the capital as well as all major towns are hostage to the pink pill. Reportedly, when it comes to “pinik” or high, nothing comes near. Going back to 2007, yaba was a “designer product” with hardly any information available about it. To give its usage legitimacy, the fact that Hitler’s soldiers were given the tablet to stay awake during prolonged wars, was widely used.

Nothing was spelt of the harmful sides. In Dhaka’s elite areas, the rise of abuse rose when it was found to be a powerful libido and stamina enhancer. That means one could be at it all night long and also carry on with normal work the next day, or the day after.

Recently, a report caught my at-tention – yaba is delivered at home by smart, well-spoken couriers.

I am not shocked. I heard of such a system seven years

ago where cycle-riding men threw tab-lets packed in plastic onto the veran-dah of users. Someone told me that for clients living in higher level � ats, ropes were used to send up the tablets.

Lovers addicted to the product and staying in the same apartment building use the same rope system to share a high – reportedly, pink pills were wrapped in a love letter and tied to the rope.

 Talk about romancing on the dead-ly side.

But laughs aside, yaba is now the top drug in major cities, slowly but treacherously making way into rural areas. The selling line is perhaps as old

as human civilisation – take it and be the king in bed.

Most fall for this because the desire to be the ultimate lover lies dormant in all.

Interestingly though, in the initial days of abuse, sexual urge may see a surge, the nerves soon become numb, unable to feel anything in the latter days of addiction. Meanwhile, con-tinuous nights of sleeplessness wreak havoc on health, creating pressure on kidneys on the side.

But what many people do not know is that regular use of this makes a person short-tempered, morose, and desperate. 

If we refer to the killing of a police o� cer and his wife by their yaba ad-dict daughter last year, we see to what level of crime yaba-induced reckless-ness can trigger.

But beyond the surface of common drug related social problems lies a festering lower level where yaba is vi-ciously acting out as the main catalyst in stripping society, especially women, of moral values.

Let’s shed the pseudo façade of morality for a minute: Prostitution had always been present around us, though kept under wraps through a carefully crafted air of discretion.

Women working as sex workers mostly resided within a recognised quarter and lived almost their entire lives within a boundary. Not going into the argument of whether that is ethically right or not, brothels have followed this pattern for ages with little alterations here and there.

However, as we became engulfed by consumerism and hard-core material values, the issue of paid sex insidious-ly crept out of a centuries old bounda-ry to carve out a place within main-stream society, luring a large number of young women from the middle and the lower middle classes.

These women have become carri-ers, sellers, and dealers of yaba, oper-ating within the secure environment of � ve-star establishments, exploiting the safety o� ered by a� uent commer-cial places to peddle drugs.

From time to time, we hear of law enforcers busting yaba syndicates, though the main masterminds are never nabbed while top entertainment centres remain outside the dragnet.

The solution to regulate the trade is simple – in� ltrate the entertainment industry to terminate insulated lines of the trade.  

It won’t be surprising to � nd many

ostensibly “clean” people involved.Just to give a personal anecdote – a

few years ago, I was having a conversa-tion with a rising model/actress and at one point she bluntly asked if she and her friends can come over and use my place to take Baba (as yaba is common-ly known).

Having observed International Women’s Day and acknowledging wholeheartedly the strides women have made in the last two decades, the murky side of gender empowerment, where many opt to dive into the world of crime to get rich quick, cannot be overlooked.  

These women, armed with their beauty and charm, prowl the Dha-ka night spots with the sole aim of entrapping new victims either in their web of physical allure or within the con� nes of the pink pill. In some cas-

es, victims fall for both …If asked about the prospect of a re-

formed life, some will quickly put up an act of a martyr while the scarred ones will reject such a proposition outright.

Sorry for sounding unre� ned: For them, it’s about making money which they seem to enjoy. Usually, talks about a straight life bore them.

Perhaps, one side of the vice can

be overlooked, though yaba tolerance is not the one. Law enforcers have recognised the need to curtail this trade with the Bangladesh government making an o� cial plea to Myanmar

to take steps to crack down on yaba factories near the border.

However, taking a lesson from the drug of rage in the 80s and 90s, Phensidyl, which came relentlessly

from the other side of the border with India despite countless futile appeals made from Bangladesh, expectations of cooperation from Myanmar should be realistic.

If there is genuine desire to control yaba, the inner layers of the scourge need to be addressed, which means of course, baring a lot of unsavoury facts about society.

Yes, many so-called closely held stereotypical beliefs will crumble, proving us to be just as decadent as many others.

The question is – do we carry on pretending as if nothing is amiss or, do we take a bold step and address a facet of the yaba menace which has been kept at bay? l

Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

Yaba’s pinik rising

11Op-Ed Monday, March 10, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n FS Aijazuddin

There are moments in a city’s life when its performance sometimes equals its reputation. Lahore,

once synonymous with learning and the arts, showed that when called upon, it can exceed expectations.

The Lahore Literary Festival de� ed armchair pundits by being held at all, by being a success, and after it was over, by leaving its audiences gasping for more, which surely is the best measure of such an event.

The LLF was spread over three days, an ambitious adventure considering that each day contained six one-hour sessions, almost back-to-back, starting from 10.00 am until 6.00 pm, with mu-sical entertainments on two evenings thrown in for those with any stamina left. The LLF commandeered not only the three auditoriums of the AlHamra Arts Complex but augmented its capac-ity by converting an unused lobby into an intimate “baithak.”

For one shining, glorious weekend, the Al Hamra Arts Complex (which won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998) ful� lled the potential inherent in its imaginative design, as crowds milled through its open spaces, and famous names delegates basked in the soft winter sun on couches covered with shimmering yellow satin. This was the celebration of Basant that o� cialdom had denied Lahore. A young student watched open-mouthed as every famous name he had ever heard about or read about in class passed before him in the � esh.

It would seem like namedropping to recite the names of the delegates. The accomplishments of each would take up many columns. But a few made the LLF especially memorable: Vikram Seth – shorter than one expected, ine� ably er-udite, e� ortlessly brilliant; Zehra Nigah, a nightingale who trills poetry and has a gossamer-like temperament; Shobhaa De, the Taliban’s nightmare – an edu-cated, liberated, articulate female; Zia

Mohyeddin, for whom the word timing was invented; Mira Nair, who loves La-hore only less than Lahore dotes on her; Shazia Sikander, who deserves to fed praise, not cups of hemlock; and Vali Nasr, the erudite bureaucrat turned aca-demic, whose specialty is Af-Pak a� airs, and whose multi-faceted versatility reminded his audience of Shashi Taroor, without the uxoriousness.

Considering their individual expertise, each speaker would have had every right, once handed the microphone, to speak interminably, but it was a credit to their mature self-restraint that each spoke with economy, to the point and with riveting clarity. Each hourly ses-sion began on time, ended on time, and before each event there was an orderly queue of attendees. Lahoris could not have been better behaved. 

The range of topics that were tabled for discussion by more than a hun-dred Delegates – drawn from all over the world – could not have been more eclectic. Where else in Pakistan would one have been able to watch Shazia Sikander showcase her talent, or to see on a large screen her breathtaking installation, in which the horizon grad-ually fragments into starling-like shapes that sweep across the sky in changing shapes, and then disappear in an echo of colour?

 Where else could one have heard an informed civilised debate on Afghan-istan by a panel consisting of a former ambassador to the US (Maleeha Lodhi), Ahmed Rashid whose textbooks on the Taliban are now mandatory reading, the

elegant and articulate former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, and Vali Nasr? They held their audience en-thralled, and when their session ended, people wondered why the government does not surrender its foreign policy to them, rather than fumble with it itself. 

 Where else could one have heard two South Asian designers exchange views –India’s Rajeev Sethi and our own Noorjehan Bilgrami? Both have leapt out of their South Asian identities and become international names.

 Where else would one have heard a talk on the role of satire in society by Jugnu Mohsin – Pakistan’s answer to Joan Rivers?

And where else would have the wife of a serving chief minister – Te-hmina Durrani – talk about her latest book Happy Things in Sorrow Times? Some wondered whether the title had been a subconscious comment on LLF’s contribution to our political circum-stances.

The � nal session on Sunday after-noon focused on the war on culture. The four member panel was moderated with a deft touch by the deceptively fragile Mishal Husain of the BBC. She in turn was introduced by the US Ambas-sador Richard Olson who found himself afterwards (certainly not for the � rst time in his career) having to answer barbed questions from young men – two irrepressible voices from the back rows of FATA and South Waziristan.

 The LLF ended, borne aloft on a tsunami of goodwill and bonhomie. Crowds left the auditoriums and then milled about in the open areas, reluc-tant to go home. Could there have been a greater tribute accorded by Lahore to itself?

 Three brothers – Razi, Fasih, and Attiq Ahmed – headed the team of LLF’s organisers. This fertile trinity gave form to a spirit, and to Lahore its lost Basant. l

 FS Aijazuddin, OBE, is the author of more than a dozen books. This article was � rst published in Dawn.

n Shazia Omar

Last week I travelled to Bandarban to understand the troubles of the extreme poor living in the hills.

One lady who touched my heart was Aung Mei. She came to my attention because she has been struggling to graduate out of extreme poverty de-spite the assets she received from our partnering NGO. Our survey showed that she was unable to eat protein even once a month, so I wanted to hear from her about the obstacles she faces.

She looks about thirty, with long straight hair and laughing eyes. She wears a traditional skirt that she wove by herself, and one might think that she leads a happy life just by looking at the brightness of her smile. Only upon closer inspection do you notice the quiver on her lips. Clinging to her leg is her four-year-old son, (not much bigger than my own three year old son). His name is Tututei. It is apparent from his vacant eyes and the numerous tabiz (amulets) on his neck that something is not right.

Mei said she was born into poverty. Her mother died when she was an infant and that she was raised by her grandmother. Her father was a day labourer who had nothing to bequeath her when he died. She married at � f-teen, and her husband was also a day labourer. They had two sons and were not planning to have a third. When her husband was struck by jaundice and was unable to work for four whole weeks, she and her sons took to the � eld. In such conditions of desperation she neglected her regular visit to the local hospital for birth control pills and soon after, she conceived.

Within months of his birth, it became apparent Tututei was pagol (mentally retarded). Mei does not know exactly what his condition is and uses the generic term pagol no matter how much I try to probe. Mei has spent thousands of taka visiting witchdoctors. She showed the shrine

of amulets hanging from a hook on her bamboo wall. Each one cost Tk3000-Tk4000. I asked why she didn’t visit a medical doctor. She explained that the hospitals were far from her home and required costly transportation and the opportunity cost of a few days of labour forgone.

Furthermore, the few hospitals they had visited were meagerly sta� ed. Many hospitals had no doctors on a permanent basis, only ones that visit-ed weekly. Those doctors only spoke Bengali and she was not even able to communicate her son’s symptoms to them. I asked why she wasted money on witchdoctors when clearly the prayer necklaces had not worked. She indulged me with an explanation: At least the witchdoctor understood her and o� ered her hope.

I asked about her other sons. She said her ten year old is in school and, as she said this, she beamed. Upon this boy’s shoulders were all her dreams. I asked how they a� orded his school, as I had already learned that there were no schools in the area. She said her older son paid his fees. Her older son is six-teen and works as a bonded labourer a few miles away. The farmer he works for gives him food, shelter, and an an-nual income of Tk6000. I asked if she meant that was his monthly income. Sadly, she didn’t. All his hard earned money went into his younger brother’s education.

She showed me a light switch on her bamboo wall and turned on a bright white light. Solar powered, she

explained. She had bought it with a down payment of Tk1000 and a monthly installment of Tk400 which she would have to pay for 24 months. To me it seemed an impractical expenditure when she could barely eat. She explained that her second son, the bearer of all their hopes, had asked for the light so he could study after dark.

I asked her what she dreamed of for her future. She wanted nothing more than for her second son to learn a bit of Bangla so he could secure a small job, perhaps at a garment factory, and live a better life than hers, one where he did not have to work as hard every day, as his father did. She said she loved all her children, but she did not have any dreams for the other two because this was the most she could a� ord.

From this trip, I have come to some dire conclusions. Poverty reduces people to inhuman conditions. Poverty denies parents the joy of giving and forces them to make heart-breaking sacri� ces. Poverty strips people of their capacity to dream. Dreams are for the privileged. The joy of giving is for the privileged (those who can read, write and talk to government o� cials/donors/NGOs). It is up to us to create a free and fair Bangladesh, one we can be proud of to call our own, one where all children are entitled to an educa-tion, where no mother has to make the choices my dear Mei has made.

*Names have been anonymised. l

Shazia Omar is Head of Advocacy at shiree.

If there is genuine desire to control yaba, the inner layers of the scourge need to be addressed

Basant manqué A painful choice

How long can we pretend that it’s all � ne? BIGSTOCK

S E R P E N T I N E D E N

Today, the capital as well as all major towns are hostage to the pink pill

The LLF de� ed armchair pundits by leaving its audiences gasping for more

She loved all her children, but she did not have any dreams for the other two because this was the most she could a� ord

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 201412

FilmEnders Game Avatar 3DAakash Koto Dure Thor: The Dark World 3D The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 3D Frozen in 3D AgneeTime: 10am - 10pmStar Cineplex, Bashundhara CityRobocop, GravityCaptain Phillips, ElysiumTime: 12:30pm – 9:30pmBlockbuster CinemasJamuna Future ParkKa- 244, Pragati Avenue, Kuril

ExhibitionFragments of the UnknownBy Najma Akhter Time: 12pm – 8pmBengal Gallery of Fine Arts House 42, Road 16 (New) / 27 (old) Dhanmondi

War and Colonies 1914-1918Rare photographs of World War IITime: 3pm – 9pmAlliance Francaise de Dhaka

ConspiratualBy Ra Kajol Shilpangan Gallery House 47, Road 13 ,Dhanmondi

TODAY IN DHAKA Kaanchi to break the myth that it’s a man’s worldn Entertainment Desk

Trailer of Subhash Ghai’s Kaanchi was launched at a glitzy event on March 7. Director Imtiaz Ali and Producer Ra-mesh Taurani graced the event, and loved the promising trailer, with style characteristic of showman Subhash Ghai. They were presented the � rst trailer CDs for Kaanchi by the debu-tante leading actors, Mishti and Kartik Aryan, respectively.

Making a comeback after 5 years, director Subhash Ghai was present with his actors at the launch. Subhash Ghai said: “The concept of a � lm has to interest me. It is very important for me. The subject of Kaanchi excited

me. The movie has an inspirational story for young women of today. It is a commercial � lm. In my � lms, happiness, sadness, action, drama, music, everything should be together. This � lm has everything that our audience, classes or masses desire. I have made this � lm with a lot of passion.”

Directed by Subhash Ghai, Kaanchi is the story of an innocent rural beauty and her � ght against power. Starring Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Kartik Aaryan, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Rishabh Sinha and introducing Mish-ti, the musical drama is produced by Mukta Arts and is slated to release on April 25. l

Five days Television Festival 2014 promotes single episode plays n Shadma Malik

Charuniram Television Fiction Fes-tival started yesterday and will run until March 13 at the Public Library. Organised by Charuniram School of Acting, the inaugural ceremony com-menced with the showing of single episode plays including Shahid Minar, Phul Pori Rajputro Amittir Golpo, Dhoa Ghor and Koila Kobi. Today’s screen-ing schedule will include Chera Ronger Khoaab, Highway, Pataley Hashpata-ley and Tithi Tumi Bhalo Theko. Every day, four plays are listed for showcas-ing.

Founder Director of Charuniram School of Acting, Gazi Rakayet or-ganises this festival every year since 2008. With a host of talent at his � n-gertips, the versatile entertainer has popularised one hour single episode plays. In conversation with the Dha-ka Tribune, Gazi said: “We are losing the importance of hour-long single episode plays. The festival aims to promote the popularity of these dra-mas. In every festival so far, we have received good responses. This time, we will be screening twelve debut di-

rector’s plays, in order to encourage them to produce hour-long plays. The festival is presenting dramas of 2012-2013, which were most appreciated by the viewers.”

An award ceremony to honour di-rectors, screenwriters, actors, actress-es, editors and many others will take place on the month of April. l

Single episode drama Koila Kobi to be screened today

International Women Film Festival unveils today

n Entertainment Desk

The � rst International Women Film Festival in Bangladesh is going to be unveiled today at the National Muse-um Auditorium at 4pm. The festival will screen around 25 � lms directed by women � lmmakers from 20 coun-tries and is organised by the Women’s Film Society Bangladesh.

The three day programme is the country’s � rst international � lm fes-tival which is going to showcase only � lms by women and will pay tribute to the country’s � rst woman � lm-maker, Rebeka. She made her debut with the � lm Bindu Theke Britta alter-natively called Circle from Dot, under the Film Development Corporation before the Liberation War in 1970.

National Film Award winner Shahnewaz Cacoly’s Uttarer Sur is the curtain opener of the festival, while another � lm And Nothing Around by Polish � lmmaker Marta Prus will also be showcased on the opening day.

Meher Afroz, the minister of Wom-en and Children A� airs, Shamim Akhter, renowed women � lm maker and Advocate Sultana Kamal gave their consent to attend the inaugu-ration ceremony, informed Mehedi Hasan, the festival director. Women’s Film Society Bangladesh initiated to honor six celebrated women � lm makers of the country, Shanewaj Cac-oly, Shamim Akther, Kohinoor Akhter Suchanda, Nargis Akter, Arifa Parvin Moushumi and Samia Jaman on the opening day.

All the � lms will be screened at two venues, the National Museum Auditorium and Poet Su� a Kamal Auditorium of the Public Library, Shahbagh. On March 11 and 12, the � lms from home and abroad will be screened at 11 am, 2 pm and 5 pm at the two venues and the entire festival is open for all.

Women’s Film Society Bangladesh started its journey with a mandate to promote women in � lm with the con-sideration of learning the cultures of the society in Bangladesh. Its focus is on women as writers, directors, actors, and producers, in which to ex-plore the aesthetic values of � lm and to develop interest in the technical skills of � lm video and media arts. l

National cricketer Sakib al Hasan was chosen to represent one of the country’s largest mobile operators, Banglalink Limited for the next two years. The cricket superstar has been spotted shooting for the telecom’s new promotional � ick few days back in the city. Banglalink introduced national cricketer Sakib al Hasan as their new brand ambassador on February 1. The 26-year old all-rounder will take part in various of promotional activities for the telecom company

Documentary play Seven today at Chhayanautn Entertainment Desk

An internationally acclaimed doc-umentary play Seven is touring Dhaka as part of Danish Embassy’s week long events marking Interna-tional Women’s Day this year. The renowned documentary play will have its premiere in Dhaka this evening at the auditorium of Ch-hayanaut.

Seven is based on the stories and destinies of seven women who are all active rights champions today. It is a powerful manifestation for democratic and human rights. The play is presented as a staged read-ing and has been performed around the world, including in Sweden, in the EU parliament in Brussels and in New York, where Hillary Clinton introduced the play and Acade-my Award-winning actress Meryl Streep portrayed the role of wom-en’s and human rights activist Inez McCormack.

The play is created by seven award-winning playwrights: Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Krie-gel, Carol K Mack, Ruth Margra� , Anna Deveare Smith and Susan Yankowitz. The script is based on interviews conducted in 2007. The play is directed and produced by Ms Hedda Krausz Sjögren.

The show is organised by the Embassy of Sweden along with the Embassies/High Commissions of Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UNFPA and UN Women. l

Partha Pratim gets lifetime achievement awardn Entertainment Desk

Internationally renowned mime ar-tiste Partha Pratim Majumder was bestowed with an award by the Sha-hittya Academy of Brahmanbaria at the local Shaheed Dherandranath Datt Basha Chattar recently. Acad-emy President Poet Joydul Hossain handed over the crest to Majumder.

Majumder said: “I bear our � ag across nations and I wish that the new generation also lives up to con-tribute towards their country. There is no alternative to enriching one-

self. Making oneself worthy, compe-tent and devoted to one’s country is how one gives meaning to liberation and independence. ”

Poet Joydul Hossain said: “Unrest prevails in the society as we fail to accredit and acknowledge the talents and su� er from an inferiority com-plex. We are proud to honour a tal-ented internationally acknowledged artiste like Partha.” Among others, Film Maker Ja-Nesar Osman, Shahdin Khurshed, Chandan Reza, Manbard-han Paul, Mizanur Rahman, Kollol Roy were present at the ceremony. l

n Entertainment Desk

Angelina Jolie is yet to face an operation following the double mastectomy she had last year.

The Hollywood megastar has been battling to restore her curves ever since the operation and still has a surgery left, reports Entertainment Weekly.

Angie also confessed that talking to the people who deal with similar problems makes her feel closer to them and she has been overwhelmed by all the love, kindness and support of her fans.

The actor confessed that she is happy with her de-cision and is very fortunate to have a good recovery.

The 38-year-old talked about her life post sur-gery in an interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine, reports hu� ngtonpost.com.

“I’m great! I’m very happy I made the decision. I was very fortunate to have great doctors and very, very fortunate to have a good recovery and have a project like ‘Unbroken’ to have something to be really focused on, to be getting healthy for, and to be able to just get right back to work,” said Jolie.

Jolie � rst decided to undergo a total of three surgeries for a preventive double mastectomy af-ter her doctors discovered that she had an 87 per-cent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. l

Jolie to go under the knife post double mastectomy

Brine Pickles launches Patchwork Pagesn Mohammad Atiqur Rahman

Brine Pickles, an English performance literature group launched its second an-thology on Saturday evening at Edward M Kennedy center in the capital. The an-thology titled Patchwork Pages is a com-pilation of ideas, thoughts and challeng-es of the daily lived lives in Bangladesh.

The compilation is comprised of prose, poetry and epiphany with sketches spread throughout the book.

Hasan Ameen Salahuddin, coordi-

nator of Brine Pickles told the Dhaka Tribune that the compilation came into the publication after a two and a half years long journey of creative writing workshops and dialogues with men-tors, which was supported by the Amer-ican Center Small Grants Award (2011).

Poet Professor Kaiser Haq of Uni-versity of Dhaka, Niaz Zaman, Su-pernumerary Professor of University of Dhaka, and Professor Christopher Merill, director of International Writ-ing Program, University of Iowa, were

the workshop coordinators and were involved with the publication. Haq and Zaman are the editors of Patchwork Pag-es, while Merill gave an introduction.

Sabrina Binte Masud, project di-rector of the creative writing grant re-ceived from the American Centre said: “The book stands for what we do, pro-moting emerging creative writers of English and turning their works into performance pieces.”

The book launching was followed by performances of some pieces of the

writers of Patchwork Pages. The audi-torium was full of audience and the show gave the audience an ambience of the rich Bangla culture.

Two reviewers of Patchwork Pages Professor Fakrul Alam of University of Dhaka, a recipient of Bangla Academy Award, Professor Nurul Islam of Eastern University and MK Aref, Director, EMK Centre, were present in the book launching. Reviewers said that they found the book promising and experimental. l

Aranyak to stage Rarang n Entertainment Desk

Aranyak will stage a star-studded show of its acclaimed production Rarang, at 7pm at the Experimental Theatre Hall today.

The play written and directed by Mamunur Rashid speaks of the struggle of the Santal com-munity, an ethnic minority group living in the northern part of Bangladesh, � ghting against feudalism and religious racism during the British Raj. Highlighting the life of a great Santal leader Alfred Soren, who died a valiant death, the play depicts the Santal Revolt in 1855 against the British colonial power and the corrupt Zamindari system. It also touches some burning social issues of that time including remarriage of widows, social negligence and others.

The play is endorsed with the performances of popular theatre activists such as Tamalika Karmakar, Chanchal Chowdhury and Mamunur Rashid in a small role. l

13DHAKA TRIBUNEMonday, March 10, 2014

Sport 14 Juventus go 14-point clear

15 Nadal survives Stepanek scare

#AFGHANISTAN #WOMEN #CRICKET #RESPECT

0 0 6

Did you know? Jonathan Walters

is the 13th player in PL history to score a penalty and get sent o� in the same game

DAYS TO GO

BPL to resume on March 16

The crucial Bangladesh Premier League match between defending champions Sheikh Rus-sell and Sheikh Jamal will be held on March 16, it was decided in a meeting of the Bangla-

desh Football Federation’s Professional League Committee yesterday.

The committee decided to resume the league on the very next day after BFF gets possession of the Bangaband-hu National Stadium. BFF is poised to get back the big bowl on March 15 after the completion of ICC World Twenty20 celebration concert organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

Sheikh Jamal, who � ew to Kolkata to play in the IFA Shield where they

� nished runners-up, will also play Ut-tar Baridhara on March 19 to complete their BPL � rst phase campaign.

The second transfer window of the top � ight league will start form March 20 and will be open until April 5.

The signing ceremony of the Indepen-dence Day Football, which is scheduled

to begin from March 20, will take place on March 5 though BFF did not disclose the sponsor’s name before the draw of the tournament on March 17. However, the date of the � nal will be decided later as it is will be held after the � nal of the ICC World Twenty20 cricket on April 6.

Meanwhile the meeting also decided to send the case of Sheikh Russell coach Maruful Haque to the Disciplinary Com-mittee of the BFF. Maruf a few days ago slammed the BFF for postponing the scheduled tie with Sheikh Jamal on Feb-ruary 28. He said the federation is biased towards the defending champions Jamal. On this account, the Professional League Committee sent a show-cause letter to Maruf on March 2 asking him explana-tion within three days. Maruf sought apology regarding the matter after which the committee sent the case to the Disci-plinary Committee for � nal decision. l

Tigers captain eyes revenge

Bangladesh cap-tain Mush� qur Ra-him eyes revenge over Afghanistan when the two Asian sides will meet in the opening match of the ICC World

Twenty20 � rst round. The Tigers’ aw-ful time on the � eld cost them dearly against the Afghans as the home side lost in their Asia Cup tie recently, but Mush� q insisted they will bounce back and go hard at their opponents in the World T20.

Hosts Bangladesh and Afghanistan belong to Group A alongside Nepal and Hong Kong. Only one team out of the four will progress further in the world event, and it can easily be said it will be either of the � rst two given their strength over the other two associate nations.

Bangladesh’s dreadful time began in January and since then they have not been able to register any international win, be that be in Tests, ODIs or T20s. However, the wicketkeeper-batsman is looking to turn the tables when they get on the � eld on March 16.

“They [Afghanistan] will also be under pressure. They would like to do something in such a big event but we want to take revenge after being beaten in the Asia Cup. Our � rst target is to cross the � rst round, but more importantly, we are concentrating on the � rst game against Afghanistan.

“We have two matches after that against Nepal and Hong Kong,” said Mush� q during the ICC World Twenty20 captain’s press conference yesterday.

Afghanistan also troubled Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the Asia Cup and one of the big reasons was no one had any idea of their strength or weakness. 

However, Mush� q believes they did their homework for the game and they look forward to a positive result.

“We have found out more information about them [Afghanistan] lately. We have played against them, which helped in that regard. They might know enough about us but Shakib [Al Hasan], Mashrafe [Mortaza] and Tamim [Iqbal] didn’t play the

Asia Cup match against them. They must have seen these players on TV, but it is a di� erent ball-game when they play against them,” said the 25-year-old.

Injury has also been concern for Bangladesh since their busy cricket schedule began with the Sri Lanka se-ries in January.

Tamim Iqbal was ruled out of the Asia Cup after su� ering a neck strain during the Sri Lanka series while o� -spinner Sohag Gazi injured his right thumb during the Afghanistan clash in Asia Cup. Former captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza also su� ered from a side strain during their opening match against India.

Mush� q was also a part of the list when he su� ered from a hairline fracture on his � nger during the second Test against Sri Lanka. As a result he is just playing as a batsman while Anamul Haque has been carrying the job behind the wicket in the last seven ODIs.

“I had another X-ray. I will start keeping from tomorrow, and the pain has been less. I hope to keep wickets from March 16. I believe that we will � nd everyone fully � t which will make us stronger. I think it is important to do well on the particular day and overcome the pressure,” said Mush� q.

Bangladesh does not have a very impressive record when it comes to the World T20 and to top it with the poor run in recent times, Mush� q believes these are enough reasons to make them hungry for a win and perform better on � eld.

“We beat West Indies in the 2007 tournament but haven’t quite played consistently. We don’t play too many T20s like the other international teams which hinders our consistent perfor-mance. Recently we have played some domestic T20 competitions, where our players have done well.

“We are more focused on working hard, and showing our performance. We are hungrier now. We want to show that Bangladesh can take up a big chal-lenge in this World T20.

“We need to be calm under pres-sure, and there are guys in the dress-ing-room who play better in pressure situations. I hope they do that in the coming days,” added Mush� q. l

Indian women top Bangladesh

India women’s cricket team defeat-ed Bangladesh by 16 runs in the � rst Twenty20 of the three-match series at the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox’s Bazaar yesterday.

Opting to bat � rst, India struggled to get runs but lost only one wicket to score 101 runs. Opening batsman Mith-ali Raj was the highest scorer of the match with 55 o� 64 balls while Poo-nam Raut added 42 runs from 46 de-liveries. The home side, in reply, were bowled out for 85 runs in 20 overs. Rumana Ahmed and Ayesha Rahman scored 21 and 18 runs respectively. Sra-vanthi Krishnamurthy picked up four wickets for the visitors, giving away only nine runs.

The second match will be held to-morrow at the same venue. l

Bangladesh skipper Mush� qur Rahim pose with the ICC World Twenty20 trophy during the captain’s press conference at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Afghan girls play cricket on the grounds of a school in Herat yesterday. Womenís sports participation in Afghanistan has increased since the 2001 fall of the hardline Islamist Taliban AFP

POINTS TABLE Teams P W D L GD Pts 1 Abahani 9 5 4 0 7 192 Sk Jamal 7 4 3 0 8 153 Muktijoddha 9 4 3 2 6 154 Mohammedan 9 3 5 1 5 145 BJMC 9 3 3 3 5 126 Russell 8 3 3 2 5 127 Brothers 9 2 4 3 -3 108 Baridhara 8 1 3 4 -17 69 Ctg Abahani 9 1 2 6 -8 510 Feni Soccer 9 0 4 5 -8 4

Monday, March 10, 2014

Stuttgart sack SchneiderStuttgart have signed Dutch coach Huub Stevens to save them from relegation

after predecessor Thomas Schneider was sacked on Sunday following a record run of defeats. Stevens, 60, becomes Stuttgart’s third coach this season as Schneider, who had only been in charge for six months, was sacked in the wake of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Bundesliga bottom side Eintracht Braunschweig. Stuttgart are win-less in their last nine games and su� ered a club record of eight consecutive defeats under the 41-year-old Schneider, who replaced Bruno Labbadia in August. –AFP

Bucks guard Mayo banned one game Milwaukee Bucks guard O.J. Mayo was suspended one game without pay

Saturday after striking a rival player in the throat. Mayo was deemed to have committed a � agrant foul and ejected Friday for a punch to the throat of New Orleans Pelicans center Greg Stiemsma with 1:52 remaining in the � rst quarter of Milaukee’s 112-104 road loss. The ban took Mayo o� the roster for Milwaukee’s home game Saturday against Washington. Mayo is averaging 11.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists for the Bucks, who are an NBA-worst 12-49. –AFP

SA, Australia � rst T20I abandonedThe � rst Twenty20 international between South Africa and Australia at St

George’s Park was abandoned because of rain without a ball bowled on Sunday. Rain fell steadily for most of the day, although at one stage the covers were removed and the pitch was rolled while match o� cials and some team members looked on. But a heavy shower ended any chance of play. The three-match series provides both teams with an opportunity to prepare for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh later this month. –AFP

‘Old man’ Eto’o mocks 'Special One'

Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o made fun of man-ager Jose Mourinho’s doubts about his age with an ‘old man’ cel-

ebration during his side’s 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Mourinho sparked controversy last month when footage of him suggesting that Eto’o may be older than he claims – 32 – was broadcast by a French TV channel.

After putting Chelsea ahead in the 56th minute, Eto’o raced to the cor-ner � ag, but abruptly slowed down, putting his left hand on his back and stooping to mimic old age. The celebra-tion met with a � urry of approval on Twitter, with one picture quickly gar-

nering more than 1,000 retweets.Mourinho claimed to have enjoyed Eto’o’s celebration, telling Sky Sports:

“It was fantastic. We knew it, because he was preparing something.

“I think he’s amazing. The way he copes with the situation in the last cou-

ple of weeks, I think he’s fantastic. And today I told him before the game: ‘You are going to score for sure.’”

In the clip broadcast on French television, which showed Mourinho in conversation with a Swiss busi-nessman during a commercial event in Switzerland, the Portuguese said: “The problem with Chelsea is we lack a striker. I have one (Eto’o), but he’s 32. Maybe 35. Who knows?”

Mourinho subsequently rebuked the channel for showing the footage, claiming that it showed a “private conversation” not intended for public consumption.

Eto’o, who laughed o� the a� air, has a birthday on Monday and when Mourinho was asked on Saturday which milestone the striker will celebrate, he replied: “I think now he’s 33.” l

Atletico go top

Atletico Madrid took ad-vantage of Barca’s slip up to move top of the table thanks to their better head-to-head record against Real Madrid as a double from

David Villa handed them a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo at Balaidos on Saturday.

However, Real can retake their place at the top and move four points clear of Barcelona with victory over Levante at home on Sunday.

Atletico, meanwhile, recovered from their own travel sickness as they put two consecutive away league de-feats behind them in Vigo.

After a � rst-half short on clear-cut op-

portunities, Villa pounced on a defensive error from Jonathan Castro to � re low past Yoel Rodriguez just after the hour mark.

The Spanish international then made the game safe barely two min-utes later with another composed � n-ish from Jose Sosa’s cut-back for his 15th goal of the season. l

Pep warns Bayern as Arsenal loom

Coach Pep Guardiola has warned re-cord-breaking Bayern Munich to ex-pect ‘big problems’ against Arsenal if they gift the Gunners too much posses-sion in Tuesday’s Champions League last 16, second-leg.

“If we give Arsenal too much posses-sion, we will have big, big problems,” warned Guardiola. If we keep the ball, we’ll get into the quarter-� nals, if they control it, they’ll go through.”

Arsenal prepared for their trip to Bavaria with a 4-1 FA Cup quarter-� nal win over Everton. l

I’d rather be in City’s shoes, says Mourinho

Jose Mourinho insisted he would prefer to be in Manchester City’s position in the Premier League title race despite his Chelsea side moving seven points clear.

Chelsea’s 4-0 victory over Tot-tenham took Mourinho’s team to 66 points, while Liverpool and Arsenal lie second with 59 points having played a game fewer.

City are two points further adrift but have three games in hand on Chelsea and have a superior goal di� erence, prompting Mourinho to claim the ad-vantage in the battle to become champi-ons lies with Manuel Pellegrini’s team.

“I would like to be in their position. If they win the matches, they’re top of the league,” he said.

“If City win the 12 matches they have, they’re champions. They have the destiny in their own hands. I would prefer to have destiny in my own hands. It doesn’t depend on us. It de-pends on them.”

The Chelsea manager did concede that his side had all but achieved their initial objective of guaranteeing a top four place after moving 13 points clear of Tottenham in � fth place. The man-ager added: “The top four is for us to lose. We are 13 points from Tottenham, and 15 from Man United and Everton.l

Juventus go 14-point clearDi Natale eyes place among Serie A legends

A � rst-half strike from Juventus winger Kwad-wo Asamoah secured a 1-0 win over Fiorentina and stretched the cham-pions’ lead over nearest

rivals Roma to 14 points on Sunday.Second-placed Roma, who have a

game in hand, travel to Napoli later looking to reduce the arrears and stretch their six-point lead over Rafael Benitez’s side.

But on this performance, Roma will have to hope Juventus – who face Fiorentina home and away in the Europa League in the next 11 days – su� er a major slip-up on what looks like a clear path towards a third consecutive scudetto.

Claudio Marchisio stepped into An-drea Pirlo’s deep-lying mid� eld role as the Italy veteran served a one-match ban, while Carlos Tevez and Fernando

Llorente, who have scored 26 league goals between them, led the Bianconeri attack against Vincenzo Montella’s men.

Fiorentina had handed Juve their only defeat of the season, a 4-2 come-back win in Florence last October, but had only one win in their last 21 visits to Turin.

Juve started with plenty of intent, Tevez and Stephan Lichsteiner threat-ening with early chances while defend-er Andrea Barzagli did well to block Al-berto Aquilani’s strike for the visitors.

Asamoah � red a � rst warning shot just before the half hour with a de� ect-ed e� ort which forced Neto into a one-handed save, while from the resulting corner the Ghanaian’s e� ort from a tight angle � ashed wide.

Meanwhile, Antonio Di Natale moved into select company after scor-ing his 185th Serie A goal on Saturday, the winning strike in Udinese’s 1-0 vic-tory over AC Milan.

The 36-year-old’s 62nd-minute tap-in lifted Di Natale past Gabriel Batistuta into 10th spot in the all-time Serie A scorers’ chart.

Now the former Italy interna-tional is eyeing a place further up the table, with former Lazio forward Gi-useppe Signori and World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero only three goals away on 188. l

PSG continue to cruise

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was at his enigmatic best as cham-pions Paris Saint-Germain continued their inexorable march towards retaining the Ligue 1 title with a 3-0 win at Bastia on Saturday.

The big Swedish forward scored the opening goal and then set up Ezequiel Lavezzi for the second with an outra-geous back-� ick.

He also teed up the diminutive Ar-gentine for the killer third two minutes from time with a headed � ick-on.

The result brie� y sent PSG 11 points clear of their only remaining potential title rivals Monaco, who then brought the

gap back to eight points with a 2-1 home win over lowly Sochaux later on Saturday.

This was the � fth straight win for Laurent Blanc’s PSG team since a 1-1 draw at Monaco in the league in early February and the team have racked up 16 goals in that period.

Deprived of record-signing Edin-son Cavani, held over in Uruguay for personal reasons, they even could af-ford the luxury of keeping centre-back Thiago Silva on the bench throughout the game ahead of Wednesday’s Cham-pions League last 16 second leg tie with Bayer Leverkusen.

Although that tie looks to be noth-ing more than a formality having al-ready won the away leg 4-0.

“Winning matches is always the best preparation,” said Blanc looking forward to the Leverkusen clash. l

Sturridge must accept new role, says Hodgson

England manager Roy Hodgson has told striker Daniel Sturridge that he must be prepared to adapt his game if he wants to play an important role at the World Cup.

Sturridge scored the only goal of the game as England beat Denmark 1-0 at Wembley earlier this week in their � nal friendly match before Hodgson names his 23-man squad for WC.

It took his tally of goals to 12 in his last 13 matches for club and country, but

the 24-year-old found himself deployed in a slightly di� erent position to the one he usually adopts with Liverpool.

Selected in a � uid front three along-side Wayne Rooney and Raheem Ster-ling, he started the game wide on the left and at one point in the � rst half tracked Denmark right-back Lars Jacobsen all the way back to the England byline.

During his time at former club Chel-sea, Sturridge complained about being asked to play wide, although he said after the game against Denmark that he would be happy to play anywhere for England. l

Wenger hopes Cup stroll serves as Euro boost

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal can use their march into the FA Cup semi-� nals as a springboard for a great es-cape in their Champions League tie at Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

Wenger’s side cruised into the last four of the FA Cup for the � rst time since 2009 thanks to their 4-1 win over Everton on Saturday.

That stroll in the spring sunshine in north London should serve as a morale-booster before the far more daunting task of taking on reigning Eu-ropean champions Bayern in their own backyard.

Arsenal need to overturn a 2-0 de� -cit in the last-16 second-leg tie in Ger-many and Wenger said: “It was impor-tant for us to win on a psychological front for a good mind.

“We can be inspired by our focus of the day and we need that same desire to go to Bayern with the same spirit.

“The statistics are against us going to Bayern. But we have to make sure the performance goes for us.”

Arsenal, who beat Bayern in Munich at the same stage of the competition last season but still bowed out on away goals, face an uphill task to keep alive their European hopes and their Premier League title charge appears to be fading.

But Saturday’s FA Cup success means they do at least remain on course to end their nine-year trophy drought. l

Juventus' Ghanaian mid� elder Kwadwo Asamoah (L) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal during the Italian Serie A match against Fiorentina yesterday AFP

Atletico Madrid's David Villa celebrates his goal against Celta Vigo during their Spanish La Liga match at the Balaidos stadium in Vigo on Saturday REUTERS

Samuel Eto'o celebrates scoring during the EPL match against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge in London on Saturday AFP

RESULTSJuventus 1 0 FiorentinaAsamoah 42SaturdayUdinese 1 0 AC MilanDi Natale 67

Catania 1 1 CagliariLodi 62 Vecino 53

RESULTSBastia 0 3 PSG Ibrahimovic 6, Lavezzi 19, 88

Guingamp 0 1 Evian TG Cambon 49

Monaco 2 1 SochauxBerbatov 6, Rodriguez 55-P Butin 83

Nantes 2 2 AjaccioGakpe 8, Mostefa Sbaa 5, Djordjevic 76 Si. Diarra 90+2

Toulouse 3 2 ReimsAurier 75, Eden Ben Basat 79, Krychowiak 22-P, Ben Yedder 88 de Preville 35-P

Valenciennes 2 1 RennesDossevi 54, Waris 76 Toivonen 48

RESULTSCardi� 3 1 FulhamCaulker 45, 67, Riether 71-og Holtby 59

Chelsea 4 0 TottenhamEto’o 56, Hazard 60-P,Ba 88, 90

Crystal Palace 0 1 Southampton Rodriguez 37

Norwich 1 1 StokeJohnson 56 Walters 73-P

RESULTSValladolid 1 0 BarcelonaRossi 17

Real Betis 2 0 GetafeBaptistao 16, Ruben Castro 39

Celta Vigo 0 2 Atletico Madrid Villa 62, 64

Granada 2 0 VillarrealRico 23-P, El-Arabi 33

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014 15

Star Sports 4La Liga1:00AMOsasuna v Malaga3:00AM Real Sociedad v Rayo Vallecano

DAY’S WATCH

CondolenceRasheda Chowdhury, the noted social worker and the mother of former BCB president and current member of par-liament of Dhaka-9 constituency Saber Hossain Chowdhury, passed away due to old age complications at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital on Saturday. She is survived by three sons. Bangladesh Football Federation expressed deep shock over the death of Rasheda Chowdhury and prayed for the salva-tion of the departed soul.

–Tribune Desk

Abbas makes racial abuse claims in A-League derby Former Iraqi international Ali Abbas has accused opposing players of racially, religiously and culturally abusing him during Saturday’s A-League Sydney derby, reports said Sunday. The claims made against unnamed Western Syd-ney Wanderers players are reportedly to be investigated by Abbas’s Sydney FC club. The furious Iraqi-born player protested vehemently to the referee in the � nal minutes of the volatile local derby, and later said his outburst was triggered by what he alleged to be racial slurs. “We are not here to attack religion or culture; we are here to play football,” Abbas told Fox Sports. “I come from a di� erent country, I respect everyone here. I should get it back. If I don’t get it back, I’m going to attack. That’s what happened.”

–AFP

Ogier in command in Rally of Mexico World champion Sebastien Ogier built up a commanding lead in the Rally of Mexico on Saturday, winning � ve of the day’s special stages and � nishing second in the remaining two. Ogier took his Volkswagen into the day with a slender 26-second advantage over Nowegian Mads Ostberg, but Ostberg’s involvement came to an abrupt end when he su� ered a broken suspension in his Citroen. By the end of the day, Ogier was a minute ahead of team-mate and world championship leader Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland. Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was in third but was more than four-and-a-half minutes o� the lead. With only Sunday to go, barring accidents Ogier looks almost certain to win the race for the second year running. “We had a bit of a scare on the 14th special, but we got away with it,” Ogier said. “I hit a rock which it was impossible to avoid, but these things happen in rallying.”

–AFP

Raja Casablanca pay penalty against Guineans Moroccan club Raja Casablanca were knocked out of the CAF Champions League this weekend just three months after � nishing runners-up in the Club World Cup. The three-time African champions defeated Guinean visitors Horoya 1-0 at Stade Mohamed V only to lose 5-4 on post-match penalties. A dramatic � nish to the � rst round quali� er in the premier African club competition saw Mouhssine Iajour net the lone goal just three minutes from time. But Horoya, regular but largely unsuccessful participants in CAF competitions, recovered from the disappointment to display greater spot-kick accuracy. Raja were among the favourites for the $1.5 million (1.1 million euros) � rst prize this year having greatly exceeded expectations in the Club World Cup hosted by Morocco last December.

–AFP

Putin says Russian Grand Prix on trackPreparations for the � rst ever Grand Prix in Russia are on track, President Vladimir Putin told Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone, Saturday, on the sidelines of the Winter Paralympics. The October 10 to 12 race meet, the � rst on Russian soil, will take place at the Sochi Olympic Park in the Black Sea resort, where athletes this week began competing in the Paralympic Games. Putin, under international pressure over the situation in neighbouring Ukraine, where thousands of pro-Russia troops have fanned out across the Crimean peninsula, told Ecclestone the race would be a good use of the specially-built Olympic venue.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

Moyes relief as United show some winning attitude

Manchester United manager David Moyes hailed the transformation by his players as they bounced back from a Champions League defeat with a 3-0 victory at West Bromwich Albion.

Goals from Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck eased pressure on the under-� re Moyes as United moved into sixth place in the Premier League on Saturday.

It was the ideal response in United’s � rst game since a chastening 2-0 defeat at Olympiakos in the � rst leg of their last-16 Champions League clash on February 25.

“Their attitude was changed com-pletely,” Moyes said. “The players showed their e� ort and commitment, not just good play. I think it showed in the performance as well.

“What pleased me the most was the goals. The team played very well in

all areas.“There were some very good per-

formances, Marouane Fellaini did re-ally well, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling were excellent.

“I thought the two boys up front, Wayne and Robin van Persie were re-ally good with Juan Mata and Adnan Januzaj out wide.”

Moyes insisted it was an easy deci-sion to substitute van Persie because the Dutch striker was one mistake away from a red card.

In a week in which Moyes has been forced to � eld questions over whether van Persie is happy at Old Tra� ord, the Dutch international stirred the debate over his state of mind when he gave a shake of the head after being substituted.

Having already been cautioned for an ugly tackle from behind on Morgan Amal� tano � ve minutes into the sec-ond half, van Persie risked a second

yellow card minutes later for a lunge which grounded Steven Reid.

The former Arsenal star cut a frus-trated � gure when he was replaced by Welbeck, trudging o� the � eld before returning his manager’s o� er of his hand with a limp shake.

“Robin knew exactly what was hap-pening,” Moyes said. “I walked over earlier and told him that I was going to have to take him o� but it was the right decision.

“It was a foul, not a second booking, that was for sure.

“It was a foul, but I just felt that one more foul could have led to something else. It made my job easy.

“He played 90 minutes for Holland in midweek and I was never going to play him for another 90 minutes.”

Moyes picked substitute Wel-beck out for praise after he converted Rooney’s pass late on to add gloss to the � nal score. l

Rahmatullah win school rugby

Rahmatullah Model High School emerged as the champions of the Health First Mini Rugby beating St. Gregory’s School 19-16 in the tie-breakers in the � -nal held at the Paltan Ground yesterday.

In the stipulated time, the match ended in a 7-7 tie and the � nal went to the tie-breakers where Rahmatullah prevailed. Md. Mamun of Rahmatullah Model High School was adjudged as the best player of the tournament.

Meanwhile in the third place decid-er earlier, Karatitola C.M.S. High School beat Ali Ahmad High School 17-0.

Former national women table tennis champion and national awardee Zobera Rahman Linu distributed the prizes as the chief guest. Bangladesh Rugby Union general secretary Zobera Rahman Linu, tournament committee secretary Saeed Ahmed, o� cials Parvin Nahar Putul, Sirajul Islam, Din Islam were also present on the occasion. l

Marcel Club Cup Bodybuilding starts today

Marcel Refrigerator Club Cup Open Bodybuilding comprising 250 body-builders from across the country starts at the National Sports Council gymna-sium today. The participants will be � ghting to prove their superiority in seven weight categories.

State minister for youth and sports Biren Sikder will be inaugurating the

two day meet as the chief guest.  In a press conference held at the

hockey federation conference room yesterday, Maj. Gen. (rtd) Subid Ali Bhuiyan MP presented the meet to the press. BBF general secretary Nazrul Is-lam, executive director of Walton Zahid Hasan, additional director A. F.M.Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, and Marcel head of marketing Mosharraf Hossian Rajib were also present on the occasion. l

Rahmatullah Model High School celebrate their Health First Mini Rugby title at the Paltan Ground yesterday COURTESY

Banagladesh Bodybuilding Federation president Maj. Gen. (rtd) Subid Ali Bhuiyan receives the sponsorship money from Walton additional director AFM Iqbal bin Anwar yesterday   

Nadal survives Stepanek scareLi Na, Murray and Federer all win

Top seed Rafa Nadal survived a scare from Radek Stepanek before winning his BNP Paribas Open second round match in three tight sets at Indian Wells on Saturday.

The Spaniard, in his � rst match as defending champion, was stretched to the limit before prevailing 2-6 6-4 7-5 in night match that lasted two hours, 24 minutes in the California desert.

Nadal served eight double faults and was broken three times, but he also broke his Czech opponent three times, including twice in the � nal set. The piv-otal moment came in the sixth game of the third set, when Nadal fended o� three break points to hold serve.

Earlier, Briton Andy Murray recorded his 300th hardcourt victory when he beat Stepanek’s compatriot Lukas Rosol in three sets.

Fifth seed Murray recovered from a slow start to beat his Czech opponent 4-6 6-3 6-2 as the top seeds took to the courts for the � rst time after receiving � rst round byes.

“I got broken three times in a row the end of the � rst set, beginning of the sec-ond,” Murray told reporters. “I just kind of kept going and found a way to win, which is always the most important thing.”

Only � ve active players have won more tour-level hardcourt matches, headed by Roger Federer (575).

Seventh seed Federer dominated the � rst set but was taken to a tie-break in the second before prevailing 6-2 7-6(5) against French quali� er Paul-Henri Mathieu, while Swiss compatriot and Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka clinched a 6-3 7-5 win over Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic.

Australian Lleyton Hewitt failed to notch his 600th career win when he was beaten by South African Kevin Ander-son 7-6(5) 6-4.

The veteran Hewitt saved 10 of 11 break points but was unable to break the tall 17th seed’s powerful serve in the match.

There was high drama in another match as Colombian Alejandro Falla saved a match point at 5-2 down in the third set to beat Polish 18th seed Jerzy Janowicz 6-3 2-6 7-6(5). On the women’s side, top seed Li Na beat Chinese compa-triot Zheng Jie 6-1 7-5.

Australian Open champion Li notched six breaks as Zheng struggled on serve.

Defending champion Maria Sharapo-va made short work of her � rst match, beating German Julia Goerges 6-1 6-4 in barely an hour. l

She� eld United reach Wembley

English third-tier club She� eld Unit-ed kept alive their FA Cup dream on

Sunday when two goals in as many min-utes gave them a 2-0 victory over Charl-ton Athletic and a place in the semis.

They were joined in the last four by Hull City, who overcame a missed penalty by Sone Aluko to trounce Sun-derland 3-0 in their all-Premier League quarter-� nal at the KC Stadium.

Hull’s Curtis Davies, David Meyler and Matty Fryatt scored in a nine-min-ute spell - capitalising on two wretched

mistakes by Sunderland mid� elder Lee Cattermole - as Steve Bruce’s club ad-vanced to the semi-� nals for the � rst time since 1930.

At Bramall Lane, second-half strikes from Ryan Flynn and John Brayford caught second-tier Charlton cold, as the Blades became the � rst third-tier team since 2001 to reach the competi-tion’s last four.

Mid� elder Flynn put four-times

Cup winners United ahead in the 65th minute, when he sneaked in at the far post to nudge home from an awkward height a left-wing cross from United’s man-of-the-match Jose Baxter.

One minute, 42 seconds later the home side doubled their lead. Jamie Murphy’s surging run down the left set up defender Brayford.

“I’m just delighted for everyone we’re going to Wembley,” United man-ager Nigel Clough, who was part of the Nottingham Forest side that lost the 1991 FA Cup � nal to Tottenham Hotspur, told BT Sport. Winning nine games on the spin, and to keep so many clean sheets, we deserve it,” Clough added. l

Tiger leaps into hunt at Doral with sizzling 66

Top-ranked Tiger Woods � red a six-under par 66, the best round of the week at the Cadillac Championship, to charge into contention Saturdayat the $9 million World Golf Championships event.

Woods stood on one-under 215 after 54 holes, leaving him in a share of fourth after three rounds, three o� the pace.

American Patrick Reed shot a 69 to lead on 212 with countrymen Jason Dufner and Hunter Mahan two back and Woods and Welshman Jamie Don-aldson another stroke adrift.

A week after pulling out of the � nal round of the US PGA Honda Classic with back spasms, Woods displayed the form that has made him a 14-time major winner but has been seen incon-sistently of late. l

Kohli reclaims No 1 ODI ranking

India’s Virat Kohli has reclaimed the No 1 position in the latest ICC rankings for One-Day International (ODI) bats-men released Sunday at the conclusion of the Asia Cup which was won by Sri Lanka.

Kohli had entered the Asia Cup, trailing No1 ranked AB de Villiers by two points. Kohli’s tournament aggre-gate of 189 runs in three innings, with 136 against Bangladesh as his series best, earned him 12 points which has put him ahead of South Africa ODI cap-tain by nine points.

Other Indian batsmen to head in the right direction include Shikhar Dhawan in eighth (up by three places), Rohit Sharma in 22nd (up by one place) and Ravindra Jadeja in 50th (up by 12 places).

Jadeja and Ravichandaran Ashwin are the biggest gainers in the top 20 of the bowlers rankings.

Jadeja earned four places and is now in � fth position after claiming seven wickets in four matches while Ashwin’s nine wickets in the series has given him a lift of seven places that has put him in 14th.

India have been guaranteed to re-tain their No 2 position in the team rankings at the April 1 cut-o� date.

India � nished with 113 points, just one ahead of third-ranked Sri Lanka, to walk away with a prize of $75,000. There was no other change in the table with all sides retaining their positions.l

Rafael Nadal of Spoain celebrates breaking Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic during the BNP Parabas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Saturday AFP

No limits for pole vault star Lavillenie

Newly-crowned pole vault world re-cord holder Renaud Lavillenie insisted Sunday he was a risk-taker whose lim-its knew no bounds.

The 27-year-old Frenchman last month cleared 6.16 metres in Donetsk to break by one centimetre Ukraine legend Sergei Bubka’s 21-year-old world record.

“It was a strange feeling, because it’s not a big di� erence between jump-ing 6.16m and 6.01,” said Lavillenie, speaking on the sidelines of the World

Indoor Athletics Championships which he is sitting out through injury.

“In the pole vault you always know what you’re going to do.

“When I saw the bar staying on stands and that it was not going to fall, some-thing crazy happened in my head. It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had!”

Lavillenie insisted he did not re-gret immediately attempting a vault at 6.21m after his new record in Do-netsk. He injured his foot in the land-ing, hence his absence from the world indoor pole vault. l

SEMIFINAL DRAW Hull City v She� eld United Man City/Wigan v Arsenal

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

Female RMG workers stress education to attain full potentialsn Tazlina Zamila Khan

Most female readymade garments workers have identi� ed lack of safety, access to education, unawareness of la-bour rights and health insecurity as the major hurdles in attaining their highest potential in the sector.

The workers shared their experience and recommendations at a programme titled – “Lives Beyond Machines - A re-� ection on priorities for women in the RMG sector” -- to celebrate Interna-tional Women’s Day held at the capi-tal’s Cirdap auditorium yesterday.

Jointly organised by CARE Bangla-desh, the European Union, Austrian Development Cooperation and She-va Nari O Shishu Kallyan Kendra, the programme was attended by around a hundred RMG workers.

During the programme, the partici-pants also stressed the need for prioritis-ing education to reduce gender biasness.

A study, conducted on 256 workers by CARE Bangladesh, revealed that around 39% of them believe high posts are allot-ted only for men, while 40% identi� ed misbehaviour of supervisors as the rea-son behind their dissatisfaction at work.

The study also showed that 79% of workers were employed without an appointment letter and 75% live in un-

healthy conditions. The study also con-cluded that 42% of labours experienced a � re incident at least once during their career. Four workers are members of a trade union, however, their participa-tion in the unions remain negligible.

“The government should introduce evening classes so that we can have ac-cess to an education. It will not hamper our work,” said Manisha, an RMG worker.

Another worker, Mariam, said: “There should be a committee in every garment

factory with at least 30 female workers. Then, others female labours will be able to share their problems easily.”

“Raising voices against violence would be easier if there was a united female committee,” she added.

Demanding that garment owners provide housing for women to ensure their safety, another female worker told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are contribut-ing to their factories, so why cannot they do something for our wellbeing?”

EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Wil-liam Hanna: “Before we buy a shirt, we should think of the women who stitched it, who should be treated well at the work place.”

“Bangladesh has been enjoying quo-ta free access for all exports in Europe, which had been given to improve the livelihood of the workers. This [privi-lege} should not be exploited. This is a clear message,” he added.

“I heard some factories are not giv-ing the minimum wages. The govern-ment should inspect this,” he said.

UN Women Country Representative Christine Hunter said: “Less education, safety standards and sexual harassment are the big challenges of the RMG sector in Bangladesh. The country has failed to meet one of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals -- decent work for women.”

“It is very important that the voices of women are heard,” she added.

The study was conducted under ‘Solidarity and Empowerment through education, motivation and awareness’, a project of CARE Bangladesh. l

No JRC meeting, no water sharing A foreign ministry delegation will soon visit India to discuss the issue

n Mohosinul Karim

The issue of sharing common river wa-ter between Bangladesh and India has remained unresolved for long as the ministerial level meeting of the Joint River Commission (JRC) has not been held for the last four years.

It has also become di� cult to pro-tect the river banks from erosion along the border in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Kuri-gram and Sylhet districts as it requires solution at ministerial level JRC meet-ing, said the ministry and Bangladesh Water Development Board o� cials.

However, an o� cial of the water re-sources ministry the government had taken an initiative to hold the meeting soon. A foreign ministry delegation led by the foreign secretary will soon visit India to discuss the issue.

Water Resources Secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune: “The foreign secretary will visit New Delhi soon to address the outstanding issues, especially water sharing and land boundary. We wish, it would be resolved soon.”

Admitting the issue of getting the Teesta River water less than any other period he said: “Though we are getting expected water from the Ganges, the Teesta is getting less than previous. We have expressed our concern to India on the availability of water on the com-mon rivers vital for irrigation in north-ern region of the country.”

The concern was expressed during the JRC technical committee meeting held last Friday and Saturday in Dhaka to review the water sharing of common rivers.

The experts from both Bangladesh and India had attended the meeting. Later the technical expert team has gone to Kolkata to monitor and review the water sharing of the Ganges.

O� cials of the ministry and WDB said as per Mujib-Indira treaty in 1974 the midstream of the river constitutes the border of the two countries but due to river erosion three to four kilometres of Bangladesh land went into the Indi-

an side.On the other hand, heavy withdraw-

al of water in the upstream where India has constructed at least 13 tunnels for hydro-electricity production at dams resulting in very poor � ow on the river Teesta � owing from Sikkim high above the mountains, they said.

Zafar Khan said the unresolved water issues between two countries are being tried to be resolved through diplomatic and political channels. We hope that we would be able to solve the problem as we have reached closer to a consensus after the speaker’s recent visit to India.

“But it’s better to sign a treaty with a stable government. India has already announced its election schedule by next April 15. We would go forward after the new government will take its charges,” he said.

The sources said unwillingness of the state government particularly in West Bengal, posed the biggest prob-lem for the central government of India so far to resolve the Teesta and land boundary issues.

There are 54 common rivers be-tween Bangladesh and India. Of the 54 rivers, India has signed only one treaty in 1996 for the Ganges water.

The strategy to share the waters of the Teesta, Dharala, Dudhkumar, Monu, Khowai, Gomti and Muhuri riv-ers are still pending.

The 37th JRC ministerial level meet-ing took place in New Delhi in March 2010 while the next was supposed to have been held in Dhaka in 2011.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh had asked their ministers to hold a JRC meeting three months before the Indian prime minister’s visit to Dhaka in September, 2011.

Despite repeated reminder by Ban-gladesh the Indian side is yet to � x any date for the meeting.

JRC member Mir Sajjad Hossain met his Indian counterpart in New Delhi on August 27-28 and reminded him about the JRC meeting in 2012. l

90 gold bars seized, 4 heldn Kailash Sarkar

Police and customs o� cials yesterday seized 90 bars of smuggled gold weigh-ing around 9 kgs at the capital’s Banani and Hazrat Shah Jalal International Air-port and arrested four persons in con-nection with smuggling of the gold.

Of them, 60 gold bars weighing around 6 kgs were recovered by po-lice searching the luggage of three auto-rickshaw passengers at Banani around 4:00pm yesteraday when they had been on their way to the capital’s Purana Paltan from the airport.

Meanwhile, the 30 gold bars were re-covered by customs o� cial when they searched the luggage of a Malaysia ex-patriate immediately after his arrival at

the airport early yesterday.The arrestees with 60 gold bars were

identi� ed as Mohammad Sahabuddin Ahmed, 45, Shahinur Rahman, 30, and Abull Kashem, 40, while the man ar-rested with 30 gold bars was identi� ed as Siyam Ahmed, 35.

In Banani, those three persons were arrested when police searched their luggage following an incident of a col-lision between a private car and the au-to-rickshaw, which had been carrying the arrestees.

Khandaker Lutful Kabir, deputy commissioner of police for Gulshan Di-vision, said: “The recovery of the gold was a coincidence as the arrestees were searched following a collision between a car and the auto-rickshaw.” l

Bangabandhu satellite to breakevenin 7 years n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in its draft business proposal said the coun-try’s � rst satellite Bangabandhu-1, a project costing Tk3,243 crore, will reach its breakeven within seven years of its launch.

The BTRC placed the proposal be-fore Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, at his o� ce yesterday.

According to the BTRC’s presentation, Bangabandhu-1 satellite can save at least $14 million every year, which was now being paid to di� erent foreign satellite companies by the country’s 24 television channels for transmission.

The BTRC’s presentation also reads that 70% of the income revenue would come from neighbouring countries while the rest will be from local sourc-es.

“We are expecting that more invest-ment will come through Bangaband-hu satellite project,” Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told the journalists after the purchase committee meeting.

Sources also said that participants of the meeting raised questions on the BRTC’s proposal.

A source in the meeting quoted participants as saying: “How do you calculate that neighbouring countries, like India and Thailand, will give you the business as they already have their own satellites? Can you make it man-datory for the local televisions to buy satellite connectivity from you?”

In reply, BTRC said though some neighbouring countries have their own satellite, they still need more connectiv-ity and at the same time, if private tele-visions come even after two years into the launching, it will not be a problem.

Earlier, BTRC drafted a project cost-ing Tk3,243 crore, where BTRC will � -nance Tk1,555 crore while the rest will come from foreign sources.

Six international banks and institu-tions had expressed interest in � nancing the satellite project.

Earlier in January 2012, Execu-tive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the Tk30bil-lion project, which will start from July 1 this year and will be completed by June 30, 2016. Ecnec initially had set the timeframe for the project from July 2011 to June 2015.

During the meeting, the � nance minister also suggested the telecom regulator to inform him, within a short time, on the challenges regarding the launching of the Bangabandhu-1.

The Dhaka Tribune has found that the project director and the consul-tants of the project were engaged in a series of meetings even at evening.

Meeting source also added that the telecom regulator was in a hurry to ink a deal with Inter-Sputnik, a Russian satellite company.

The BTRC will purchase an orbital slot on 119 degree East from Inter-Sput-nik, at a cost of $2.8m (Tk22 crore) with a single lifetime of 15 years. l

HC cautions media over publication on sub-judice mattern Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday cautioned the media saying that it would issue contempt of court rule consecutively against the media who would not re-frain from publishing statements, arti-cles or anything except for the reports of proceedings, on the ongoing con-tempt of court allegation against Ban-gla daily Prothom Alo.

The court also issued a contempt of court rule against editors, publishers and printers of the two Bangla news-papers – the Samakal and the Naya Diganta – for publishing statements of several organisations which demanded apology from Supreme Court lawyer Rokanuddin Mahmud for his com-ments during a hearing on Thursday.

The court also ordered Dhaka Re-porters Unity President Shahed Chow-dhury and General Secretary Ilias Khan to appear in person before the court on Wednesday to explain their statements.

The bench of Justice Naima Haid-er and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the orders saying: “On Thursday, we cautioned the Prothom Alo to abstain from any publication except for reports on the contempt of court allegation as the matter is sub-judice. But the daily Samakal and the Naya Diganta did not bother as they published statements against Rokanuddin’s submission which is also a part of the court pro-ceedings hence get privileges. So con-tempt rule is issued against them and will be issued against those who will not care [the court’s directives].”

On March 2, the same bench on its own motion summoned Mizanur Rah-

man Khan, the Prothom Alo joint edi-tor, for writing a column which ques-tioned the anticipatory bails granted by the bench. The court also issued a contempt of court rule against its Edi-tor Matiur Rahman and Mizanur.

The two accused yesterday had to stand in the dock from 2:20pm. At 3:30pm, Mizanur was provided with a chair following a plea through defence lawyer Shahdin Malik.

At the outset of the second day hearing, lawyer Rokanuddin around 2:40pm drew the attention of the court to the statements of DRU, Dhaka University Journalists’ Association, Jagannath University Journalists’ Association and Barisal Division Journalists’ Associa-tion against the lawyer.

Rokan on Thursday said: “There is no organisation to regulate the journalists. As a result, they write whatever they wish. They think themselves above the law. They discredit others after being bribed. They think themselves very powerful.”

Justice Naima Haider, during yester-day’s hearing, asked whether it would be against the principle of natural jus-tice if the same bench, against whom an alleged contempt committed, conduct could the proceedings of the matter.

Rokan said it was the inherent juris-diction of the bench to try this. Then the judge said: “We made the question so that no question is raised in the mid-dle of the case.”

On the matter, SC lawyer Ahsanul Karim said as per article 108 of the con-stitution, the bench has all the power to try a contempt matter against them. He also labelled Mizanur as a “habitu-al contemnor” against who four con-tempt petitions were pending.

Justice Naima observed that those matters should have been disposed of.

Lawyer Salauddin Dolon said Mi-zanur had tried to break up the relation between journalists and lawyers by writing such articles. “If he was really a well wisher of the judiciary, he should have � led public interest litigation against mass bail,” he said.

The lawyer also said by granting anticipatory bail, the bench brings the fugitives under the law as they were ordered to surrender before the lower court. In 90% of the cases, they were sent to jail after surrender.

Pro-BNP lawyer Ruhul Quddus Ka-zal said as per the constitution, the HC has to give same sentence to Mizanur like daily Amar Desh’s acting editor Mahmudur Rahman who had been giv-en six months’ jail by the Appellate Di-vision of the Supreme Court.

SC lawyers Ajmalul Hossain QC, Zainul Abedin, Asad Ullah and Kazi Aktar Hamid also placed arguments against Mizanur.

The bench will sit today at 2:15pm and hear defence arguments on the col-umns and ordered Mizanur to appear in person at that time. l

Contempt rule issued against the daily Samakal and the Naya Diganta for publishing observation on the prothom Alo contempt matter

A newly wed bride being carried on a palki to her new home while her groom rides a horse beside her in the traditional way yesterday. The photo was taken in front of the Curzon Hall in the capital SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

EU Ambassador to Bangladesh William Hanna attends a programme on women in the RMG sector, at the capital’s Cirdap auditorium yesterday RAJIB DHAR

ONCE IN A LIFETIME...

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Business

www.dhakatribune.com/business MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

B3 RMG accessories fairs get better response this year

B4 A washing machine factory tests Italy's industrial future

4 MLM companies get licencesn Tahmidur Rahman

The government yesterday awarded licences to four Multi-Level Market-ing (MLM) companies to operate their business in the country.

The companies are Sadhin Online Public Limited, World Mission 21 Lim-ited, Rich Business System Limited and MXN Modern Herbal Food Limited. A total of 21 � rms had applied for the li-cences.

The companies have already showed their presence on the web, ac-cording to licence document uploaded on the website of Rich Business System Limited.

The licences were issued on March 5. Registrar of the Joint Stock Compa-nies and Firms (RJSCF) issued separate letters to the companies while reject-ing 17 others, according to commerce ministry sources.

Meanwhile, controversial Density has submitted an appeal to the com-merce ministry for the licence.

Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of the other salespeople they recruit. l

GP to launch smart handset with Mozilla n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Telenor, parent company of the coun-try’s leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone, will launch smart handsets with Mozilla by 2014.

Anders Hallin, chief strategic o� cer of Telenor Digital, said they have a spe-cial plan for Bangladesh market.

“We are planning for this market with Grameenphone as it is our biggest venture and Telenor has priority about this market,” he told the Dhaka Tribune in a interview on Saturday. “I saw the handsets, but can’t share any informa-tion right now.”

Grameenphone is trying to launch a handset at Tk3,900 next month as the company CEO informed earlier.

Hallin said they have some other plans with facebook and other social media as Bangladesh is a huge market. l

Bangladesh plans trade deals with Nigeria and Malin Asif Showkat Kallol

The government plans to sign two sep-arate free trade agreements with Nige-ria and Mali to explore non-traditional markets in the African countries for enhancing bi-lateral trades and tap-ping the investment potentials.

Besides, Bangladesh Tari� Com-mission (BTC) also recommended the commerce ministry recently to include an issue related to the vast lands of the two African countries in the deals so Bangladesh could make a proper use of it in the long run.

“The BTC has identi� ed the two Af-rican countries for signing two trade deals after conducting a comprehensive feasibility study to � nd out whether signing of any Free Trade Area Agree-ment (FTA) or Preferential Trade Agree-ment (PTA) with the African countries will be worthy or not,” said a senior o� -cial of the commerce ministry.

The BTC study also revealed that Bangladesh would not be bene� tted in the short term if it goes for signing free trade agreements with three other Af-rican countries – Morocco, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

Both the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or Preferential Trade Agreement

(PTA) on goods and investment with Nigeria and Mali could bring very good results in the long run, opined the BTC survey.

However, an inter-ministerial meet-ing will be held soon to � nalise the rec-ommendations outlined by the BTC.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry held a meeting at the secretariat on Thursday last to discuss about the pos-sible initiatives to sign the FTA or PTA with two African nations.

An inter-ministerial meeting will also be held soon for � nalising the pro-posal.

Nigeria had already lifted the bar to import various apparel items including shirts, trousers, skirts, blouses, and lace fabrics since last year.

Besides, there are still lot of scopes to export more products like pharma-ceuticals, jute, ceramic products, san-itary wares, leather, processed foods, tobacco and shoes in the market.

The nation of 16,247m people, with a per capita income of US$2,533 could be a promising export market for Bangladesh if the potential is prop-erly identi� ed by the private sectors. Export to Nigeria stands at $10.91bn against the import of around $4.71bn, said BTC in its report.

There are scope to exportBangladeshi products like pharmaceu-ticals, processed foods, plastic, leath-er, jute goods, rubber, electronic gad-gets, and light engineering products in Nigeria.

According to BTC, there are also ample scope for Bangladeshi products like pharmaceuticals, processed foods and garment items to enter into the un-tapped market Mali.

The nation of 1,584m people, with a per capita income of US$1,091, could be a promising export market for Ban-gladesh products. The amount of Ban-gladeshi export item stands at $1.99bn against the import of $4.76bn.

“We need more time to � nalise any deal with any countries. We have just received a feasibility study done by BTC on possible FTA and PTA with Ni-geria and Mali, and now we are going to send the proposal to our diplomatic missions in Nigeria and Mali to get their feedback about the prospect and possi-bilities,” commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune.

The decision to send the propos-al to the two Bangladeshi missions in the African countries was made at a commerce ministry meeting held on Thursday last. l

RMG subcontractors fear factory shutdown as CM charge not hikedn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The factories that make garments in sub-contracts fear factory closures as buyers have not increased making charges following the new wage struc-ture was introduced.

Payment of wages has become a dif-� cult challenge for them, the owners said, adding supply orders have also fallen .

The subcontracting factories cut and make garments in contracts and are paid for it, which is known as cut-ting and making (CM) charge.

Of the payment made by the buy-ers for a manufactured product, the subcontractors get 40-50% while the exporters receive the remaining part.

Around 1,200 factories do such jobs in Bangladesh employing nearly 10 lakh workers, said Bangladesh Gar-ment Manufacturers and Exporters As-sociation (BGMEA).

Wishing anonymity as a sub-con-tracting factory owner said the buyers promised to increase the CM charge after the implementation of the new wage structure,“but they have not in-creased it so far.”

Apart from it the subcontractors were also su� ering fall in orders com-pared to their factory capacity, he said, fearing the situation may even lead to the closure of some factories.

“I have not received any order this month yet, but I will have to pay the workers’ salaries,” said another appar-el subcontractors.

“If the situation continues, there will no choice left but shut down the factory where over 700 workers are employed,” he said.

While talking to the Dhaka Tribune,

a group ofsuch factory owners sug-gested three points to overcome the present problems.

They include implementation of the government-proposed incentives, special utility service rate including gas, electricity and waterand continuation of incentives for searching new markets.

The most important thing is to in-crease the CM as the production cost has increased substantially in last few years, they said.

“New wage has become a burden

for the sub-contracting factory own-ers. We have urged the buyers to raise payment for products,” said BGMEA president Atiqul Islam.

He stressed the need to enhance workers’ productivity to minimise cost.

The bank loans at low interest rate and government incentives can im-prove � nancial conditions of sub-con-tracting factories, said Atiqul Islam, He added a proposal in this regard had been placed for government consider-ation.

Currently, the subcontracting facto-ries are not allowed to perform the job for the supplier without permission of the respective buyers.

“It is another problem for the mak-ers in getting orders,” said Shahidullah Azim, vice president of BGMEA.

“A good number of factory owners are on the brink of lay-o� s, risking the jobs of around 8 lakh workers,” he said.

On November 21 last year, a mini-mum wage of Tk5,300 was announced for the garment workers, with 77% rise from the previous structure. l

RMG owners burst out Accord and Alliance inspectio nTofail tames them with assurance to form multi-stakeholder committee to solve the crisisn Tribune Report

Apparel manufactures have come down heavily on the inspection being conducted by the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker safe-ty as some of the factory owners fear shutdown of their units following their strict check-up.

They came up with their anger at a meeting titled “Sharing of Views on Current Scenario of RMG Sector” at Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) o� ce in the city yesterday.

The meeting was aimed at exchang-ing views with Commerce Minister To-fail Ahmed on the latest conditions pre-vailing in the country’s apparel sector.

Tofail, however, tried to calm down the agitated RMG owners just saying: “We would soon be able to sort out the crisis by forming a multi-stakeholder committee comprised of BGMEA, BK-MEA, ILO and related ministries.”

He assured them that the committee will identify the real cause of the prob-lems and � nd out solutions to the crisis – a strategy policymakers always try.

“As I don’t have all the power to solve the crisis, I can only cooperate you, please come to me and if nec-essary, I will take you to the � nance minister with a request to hear your concerns,” Tofail told the RMG makers.

Assuring them to sit with Accord and Alliance, the minister said, “We can also get good lessons from our for-eign friends Accord and Alliance.”

Accord, a platform of 150 European retailers and Alliance another platform of 27 North American retailers has made commitment to improve � re and structural integrity of RMG sector.

As of Friday, March 7, the Alliance has inspected over 240 factories while the Accord engineers inspected around 70 factories and following the inspec-tion a review panel ordered to suspend production of two factories.

They made it after the catastrophic incident at the Rana Plaza building col-

lapse that killed over 1,100 workers.Accord will inspect 1,500 factories

and Alliance over 600 factories follow-ing a common set of standards.

Although the buyers did not in-creasethe prices as per their promise, they are shutting down our factories in the name of compliances, alleged SM Mannan Kochi, second vice president of BGMEA.

“A vested quarter is hatching a con-spiracy to destroy this sector in the name of safety and security issue.’’

It is feared that around 60% facto-ry are likely to face shut down in the backdrop of the ongoing inspection conducted by Accord and Alliance and it is really di� cult to get rid of this, said Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, � rst vice president of BGMEA.

Managing Director of Patriot Group-Md. Iqbal Hossain alleged that the In-ditex had wrongly classi� ed his factory as risky even after a thorough inspec-tion.

“Besides, the buyers pulled out orders from us as the Inditex sent a wrong message to all the buyers about our factory safety, which ruins my business.’’

But, the BUET and American en-gineers after an inspection positively certi� ed our factory just with an ad-vice to remove the tinted-roof, said Hossain, who was seemingly crying for justice, protection and preventionform any sort of conspiracy.

If the trade unionism is forcibly es-tablished in the factories in the name of compliance, it would be di� cult to maintain law and order in the RMG sector, said Sha� ul Islam Mohiuddin, former BGMEA president.

After the Rana Plaza building col-lapse, we are under severe pressure on safety issues, while our competitors India and Pakistan are emerging as a threat to us, said a factory owner Dhali who also categorically mentioned that India imported huge machinery in a year whereas Bangladesh could not import such a bulk amount of machin-ery even in the in last ten years. l

Bank account with Tk10 for street childrenn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has allowed bank ac-count with Tk10 for the street children to save their income.

The central bank issued a guideline yesterday through a circular with im-mediate e� ect.

Bangladesh Bank will prepare a list of NGO (non government organization) who interest to conduct bank account of street children, said the circular.

Interested NGOs asked to apply to be included in the list to the Green Bank-ing and CSR Department of Bangladesh through a scheduled bank.

NGO’s good will, credibility, expe-rience and infrastructure facilities will be considered in case of enlistment.

No service charge will be taken from the accounts. Account holder will be al-lowed to conduct the account reaching the 18 years old.

Bangladesh Bank introduced a pol-icy for school banking last year, where young people between 6-18 years can open account starting from Tk100 and use the opportunity to save their money for education, stipend money and so on.

From November 2, 2010 till Decem-ber 31, 2013, some 2,86,000 school stu-dents have opened bank accounts. l

BPC to import 16.6 lakh tonnes of re� ned fuel oil n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will import 16.6 lakh tonnes of re� ned fuel oil from eight foreign com-panies for the � rst half (January-June) of this year.

The purchase involves moderate premiums as compared to previous contracts.

The country’s sole importer and distributor of oil would have to spend around Tk11,666 crore for the imports, while the total import from the eight companies during the January-Decem-ber period is expected to be around 32.9 lakh tonnes.

O� cials said the premiums (freight and other costs) for all petroleum products except gas and oil had not

increased as freight charges have gone down globally. The premiums – trans-portation, insurance and other costs – are reviewed every six months.

Cabinet committee on public pur-chase approved the energy ministry proposals for import of re� ned fuel oil from eight countries, presided over by Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

After the meeting, the � nance minister said most of the import is being done through government to government purchase deals so there is no scope for commission in this regard.

Through government-to-govern-ment contracts, the BPC has signed two-year (minimum) deals with in-terested national oil companies of the eight countries. l

Telcos asked for Tk15cr for T-20, record national anthem n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has sought Tk15 crore from the country’s mobile phone operators for T-20 beau-ti� cation works and holding of national anthem with record participation.

The government is now implement-ing beauti� cation works in Dhaka as T-20 World Cup starts on March 16.

Besides, Bangladesh will make re-cord by singing national anthem with 3 lakh people’s participation on its up-coming Independence Day, March 26.

“Mobile operators have been asked for Tk15 crore for the two purposes,” said Citycell CEO Mehboob Chowdhury.

The minister sought the money at a meeting yesterday with the chief exec-utives of six mobile companies.

Post, Telecommunication and In-formation Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddiki and general secretary of Association of Mobile Telecom Opera-tors of Bangladesh (Amtob) TIM Nurul Kabir were also present.

The operators have been asked to provide the money by March 14.

At a meeting on Saturday, the � -nance minister made a same request to the business community also.

AMA Muhith said the government had sought a total of around Tk100 from dif-ferent communities for the two purposes.

“We have arranged around Tk100 crore in pursuit of these ends,” said Muhith while talking to the journalists after a purchase committee meeting yesterday.

This was the � rst meet between � -

nance minister and chief executives of mobile operators since the present government assumed o� ce in January.

Meeting sources said the Tk15 core � gure was surprisingly low to the opera-tors. Even one CEO was confused by the � gure and made clarifying question to the minister, “Is it 15 core or 50 crore?”

In return of the money, the oper-ators will get advertising facility like billboard displays, but the logo of ICC T-20 World Cup will not be allowed in those ads.

The meeting was attended by Grameenphone CEO Vivek Sood, Banglalink CEO Ziad Shatara, Robi CEO Supun  Weerasinghe, Airtel CEO Chris Tobit, Teletalk MD Mujibur Rahman and AMTOB secretary general TIM Nurul Kabir. l

Sub-contracting factories say the buyers have not increased the CM charge althouth they promised it RAJIB DHAR

ANALYST

B2 Stock Monday, March 10, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks open week on back foot n Tribune Report

Stocks opened week on the back foot yesterday with benchmark in-dex edging lower with volatility.

Like the previous session, the market swung between green and red throughout the session with the intra-day volatility hitting around 30 points.

The benchmark index, DSEX was marginally down by 12 points or 0.3% to close at 4,687, extending the losses to two consecutive ses-sions.

The Shariah-based index DSES rose marginally by 8 points or 0.9% to 1,019. The blue-chip comprising DS30 ended at 1,685, shedding 5 points or 0.3%. Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX fell 48 points to close at 9,159.

The large cap scrips continued to show strong performance, but their performance was overshad-owed by the shed-o� of small and mid-cap � rms. The market breadth also remained negative as out of 293 issues traded at the DSE, 83 advanced, 185 declined and 25 re-mained unchanged.

After three sessions of poor ac-tivity, the bourse observed some improvements in participation, pushing turnover up more than Tk500 crore, which was almost 24% higher than the previous session.

“For the last few sessions, the bourse maintained � at movements with some volatility. In terms of

volatility and selective large cap movements, the session mimicked earlier sessions to some extent,” said IDLC Investments in its daily market analysis.

LankaBangla Securities said on account of market movement, some stocks seemed to lose inves-tors’ appetite, while others were on the peak of choice.

Previous day’s rout in heavy-weight banking sector, which saw a 0.9% lose in market capitalisation on the closing of last week extend-ed alongside headlong rush towards the manufacturing stocks, it said. Pharmaceutical, cement and textile sectors regained their poise with stocks continued to test new high.

Cement sector shined with high-est rally of over 4%, driven by La-farge Surma Cement that gained more than 9% and topped highest turnover leader with shares worth Tk40 crore changing hands.

It was followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Square Tex-tile, Bangladesh Submarine Ca-ble, Grameenphone, Singer Ban-gladesh, Meghna Petroleum and Olympic Industries.

“Market lacked strength and suf-fered as index once again subsided down the line on the � rst day of the week,” stated Zenith Investment in its analysis.

It added: “The main index and the blue chip index were seen to lose its steam faster than the Shari-ah-based stocks.” l

News from trade serverNBLThe Company has informed that it has purchased � oor space measuring 5,405 sft. at the 1st and 2nd � oor with 2 Car Parkings at the basement of the ‘KB Aman Ali Tower’, situated at 947 (30 old), Anderkilla, Chittagong at a price of Tk. 9,53,87,500.00 only.

PUBALIBANKTrading of the shares of the Company will remain suspended on record date i.e., 10.03.2014.

SINGERBDTrading of the shares of the Company will remain suspended on record date i.e., 10.03.2014.

BSRMSTEELNews: Normal trading of the shares of the Company will resume on 10.03.2014 after record date.

UNIQUEHRLThe Board of Directors has recommended

25% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The Company has also informed that an EGM will be held to extend time for implementation/utilization schedule of IPO fund. Date of EGM and AGM: 08.04.2014, Time of EGM and AGM: 10:00 AM and 10:30 AM respectively, Venue: Spectra Convention Center, House #19, Road #7, Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212. Record Date for EGM and AGM: 18.03.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 3.44, NAV per share of Tk. 87.40 and NOCFPS of Tk. 5.34 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

RIGHT SHARE: ARAMITCEMSubscription 23.03.2014 to 17.04.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 09.01.2014. RUPALILIFE- Subscription 06.04.2014 to 05.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 16.01.2014. BRACBANK: Subscription 20.04.2014 to 15.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 10.02.2014. GENNEXT: Sub-scription 18.03.2014 to 09.04.2014, Record date: 25.02.2014.

BANKASIAThe Board of Directors has recommended 10% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 31.03.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Dhaka Ladies Club, 36 Eskaton Garden Road, Dhaka-1000. Record date: 16.03.2014. The Company has also reported consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.92, consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 20.99 and consolidated NOCFPS of Tk. 15.17 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

ULCThe Board of Directors has recommended 5% cash dividend and 10% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 10.04.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Trust Milonayaton, 545 Old Airport Road, Dhaka Cantonment, Dhaka. Record date: 18.03.2014. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 266.42 million, EPS of Tk. 2.09, NAV per share of Tk. 16.98 and NOCFPS of Tk. 6.09 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

IDLC Finance -A -23.92 -21.98 59.40 58.20 61.00 57.50 4.206 3.33 17.8SonarBangla Insu. -A -9.39 -9.39 25.10 25.10 25.20 25.00 0.025 1.85 13.6Kay & Que (BD) -Z -6.91 -7.18 17.45 17.50 17.90 17.00 0.017 -0.89 -veH.R. Textile -A -6.83 -7.02 34.05 34.10 34.10 34.00 0.034 1.56 21.8Rahima Food -Z -5.83 -7.32 55.61 56.50 56.50 55.10 0.501 -1.00 -veB I F C -A -4.73 -3.98 16.18 16.10 16.40 16.10 0.105 0.13 124.5BD Finance-A -4.50 -4.15 19.18 19.10 19.70 18.00 0.119 0.40 48.0LankaBangla Fin. -A -4.42 -2.45 63.64 62.70 65.70 62.00 4.073 4.36 14.6Bangladesh Welding -A -4.35 -4.48 22.19 22.00 22.60 22.00 0.710 0.57 38.9Bank Asia -A -4.23 -6.41 18.10 18.10 19.10 17.10 0.100 1.92 9.4

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

IDLC Finance -A -24.05 -21.79 59.58 58.10 62.10 57.80 50.905 3.33 17.9Northern Jute -Z -10.00 -10.00 57.60 57.60 57.60 57.60 0.035 -10.24 -veAl-Haj Textile -A -7.13 -7.30 128.55 126.40 135.00 125.40 17.554 2.06 62.4Rahima Food -Z -6.42 -5.71 56.44 55.40 59.70 55.00 6.999 -1.00 -veUnited Leasing - A -5.61 -4.60 29.05 28.60 31.00 28.40 8.778 2.09 13.9BD Finance-A -5.47 -3.94 19.50 19.00 22.00 19.00 1.569 0.40 48.8Imam Button -Z -4.76 -4.95 8.06 8.00 8.30 8.00 0.250 -2.58 -veAFC AgroBiotech-N -4.74 -2.98 61.48 60.30 63.60 60.10 30.680 1.53 40.2Pubali Bank - A -4.24 -2.14 34.22 33.90 36.50 32.00 9.677 2.90 11.8Bank Asia -A -4.17 -2.25 18.67 18.40 19.50 18.00 4.857 1.92 9.7

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

LafargeS Cement-Z 924,000 41.85 9.13 47.20 9.77 43.00 47.30 42.60 45.30BD Submarine Cable-A 177,652 40.55 8.85 223.40 -2.06 228.10 233.00 210.00 228.28Square Pharma -A 113,398 32.47 7.09 289.20 3.32 279.90 291.00 255.50 286.36Grameenphone-A 113,800 24.80 5.41 217.80 1.73 214.10 219.00 214.00 217.95BSC-A 37,075 23.22 5.07 618.25 -1.05 624.80 636.00 615.25 626.39Square Textile -A 186,561 22.14 4.83 119.90 6.20 112.90 120.10 112.00 118.66Unique Hotel RL - A 124,400 9.74 2.13 77.50 -3.25 80.10 82.00 77.20 78.31Singer BD -A 35,874 9.31 2.03 259.40 1.25 256.20 263.50 234.00 259.64UCBL - A 317,945 8.82 1.93 27.90 -1.41 28.30 29.00 26.50 27.75AFC AgroBiotech-N 138,000 8.49 1.85 60.60 -3.96 63.10 63.40 60.10 61.50Southeast Bank-A 361,394 8.25 1.80 22.90 -0.43 23.00 23.00 21.00 22.83Appollo Ispat CL -N 273,000 7.92 1.73 28.70 -2.71 29.50 30.00 28.60 29.01Olympic Ind. -A 32,775 7.22 1.58 218.70 -2.19 223.60 224.70 217.00 220.34Apex Footwear-A 12,000 6.94 1.51 576.00 0.61 572.50 588.00 570.00 578.29UNITED AIR-A 437,215 6.55 1.43 14.90 -1.32 15.10 15.20 14.00 14.97

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

LafargeS Cement-Z 8,966,500 408.98 8.01 47.00 9.30 43.00 47.30 43.00 45.61Square Pharma -A 1,203,212 344.31 6.74 289.60 3.50 279.80 290.00 265.00 286.16Square Textile -A 1,730,949 203.62 3.99 119.30 5.86 112.70 120.00 109.00 117.64BD Submarine Cable-A 807,454 183.29 3.59 222.50 -2.41 228.00 235.00 208.10 226.99Grameenphone-A 811,304 176.97 3.47 218.30 1.68 214.70 219.50 212.00 218.13Singer BD -A 679,144 176.32 3.45 259.50 0.74 257.60 275.00 249.00 259.63Meghna Petroleum -A 594,779 167.69 3.28 281.30 -0.92 283.90 285.00 260.00 281.93Olympic Ind. -A 487,022 107.61 2.11 218.90 -2.28 224.00 224.30 210.00 220.95Jamuna Oil -A 448,427 103.38 2.02 230.30 -0.39 231.20 235.00 220.00 230.53BSC-A 162,305 101.39 1.99 618.25 -0.92 624.00 635.00 616.00 624.69Delta Life Insu. -A 376,750 99.35 1.95 262.20 -0.61 263.80 267.80 261.80 263.69Padma Oil Co. -A 276,193 90.81 1.78 327.30 -0.67 329.50 340.00 302.00 328.79Southeast Bank-A 3,790,346 86.46 1.69 22.70 -1.30 23.00 23.10 20.80 22.81HeidelbergCement -A 169,850 79.10 1.55 466.30 1.68 458.60 468.10 462.60 465.69IFIC Bank - A 2,082,960 71.25 1.40 33.70 3.37 32.60 34.70 30.00 34.21

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Samata LeatheR -Z 9.80 9.71 26.88 26.90 26.90 26.50 0.242 -0.04 -veLafargeS Cement-Z 9.77 6.04 45.30 47.20 47.30 42.60 41.854 2.19 20.7Eastern Cables-Z 8.14 7.74 132.37 132.90 133.50 129.00 0.172 1.40 94.6Apex SpinningA 7.39 7.80 91.87 91.50 93.00 90.00 0.202 1.85 49.7Square Textile -A 6.20 5.89 118.66 119.90 120.10 112.00 22.138 6.40 18.5Monno Ceramic -B 5.67 4.49 35.17 35.40 35.80 33.90 0.851 0.38 92.6Envoy Textiles Ltd-N 5.26 4.21 53.50 54.00 55.60 46.20 6.359 1.12 47.8Samorita Hospital -A 5.05 5.09 95.63 95.60 95.90 95.20 0.143 2.74 34.9Bata Shoe Ltd. -A 4.62 5.72 944.82 935.00 956.20 831.30 1.364 52.75 17.9Orion Infusions -A 4.57 4.88 43.64 43.50 44.00 43.00 0.838 1.78 24.5

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

GeminiSeaFood-Z 9.68 10.91 177.45 177.90 178.30 170.00 0.488 6.44 27.6LafargeS Cement-Z 9.30 6.32 45.61 47.00 47.30 43.00 408.982 2.19 20.8Progressive Life-A 7.31 7.88 157.90 157.10 160.60 140.00 15.826 2.30 68.7Square Textile -A 5.86 5.54 117.64 119.30 120.00 109.00 203.622 6.40 18.4Dulamia CottonZ 5.06 4.14 8.30 8.30 8.30 8.30 0.001 -4.02 -veSonali Ansh -A 4.88 4.64 141.86 141.80 144.90 135.90 12.831 0.88 161.2Monno Ceramic -B 4.73 4.44 35.08 35.40 35.90 33.80 8.032 0.38 92.3Bata Shoe Ltd. -A 4.50 4.98 944.75 940.50 960.00 880.00 27.606 52.75 17.9Desh Garments -B 4.44 4.78 101.24 101.10 105.00 95.60 12.574 1.18 85.8Samorita Hospital -A 4.43 4.10 95.73 96.60 97.90 85.00 6.608 2.74 34.9

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 449.26 8.80 37.09 8.08 486.35 8.74NBFI 208.90 4.09 19.35 4.22 228.25 4.10Investment 77.14 1.51 5.15 1.12 82.29 1.48Engineering 559.38 10.95 35.60 7.76 594.98 10.69Food & Allied 219.06 4.29 16.20 3.53 235.26 4.23Fuel & Power 522.32 10.23 22.68 4.94 545.00 9.79Jute 12.95 0.25 0.00 12.95 0.23Textile 607.49 11.90 50.64 11.04 658.14 11.83Pharma & Chemical 636.56 12.47 59.78 13.03 696.34 12.51Paper & Packaging 0.79 0.02 0.51 0.11 1.30 0.02Service 17.85 0.35 1.60 0.35 19.44 0.35Leather 127.85 2.50 14.32 3.12 142.17 2.55Ceramic 19.37 0.38 2.50 0.54 21.87 0.39Cement 600.35 11.76 53.29 11.61 653.63 11.74Information Technology 35.46 0.69 4.14 0.90 39.60 0.71General Insurance 46.89 0.92 6.51 1.42 53.40 0.96Life Insurance 391.72 7.67 16.47 3.59 408.19 7.33Telecom 360.26 7.05 65.36 14.24 425.61 7.65Travel & Leisure 54.16 1.06 16.29 3.55 70.45 1.27Miscellaneous 158.23 3.10 31.44 6.85 189.66 3.41Debenture 0.53 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.54 0.01

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4687.19606 (-) 0.26% ▲

DSE Shariah Index : 1019.62491 (+) 0.82% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1685.32843 (-) 0.28% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14527.3470 (-) 0.30% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12309.4467 (-) 0.10% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 9159.7104 (-) 0.52% ▼

DSE key features March 9, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

5,106.50

Turnover (Volume)

84,159,083

Number of Contract 109,103

Traded Issues 293

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

95

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

196

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,309.25

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.99

CSE key features March 9, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 458.33

Turnover (Volume) 8,264,930

Number of Contract 14,376

Traded Issues 222

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

72

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

140

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

9

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,206.14

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.74

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

Market lacked strength and su� ered as index once again subsided down the line on the � rst day of the week

RMG accessories fairs get better response this yearn Tribune Report

A four-day GAP Expo-2014 along with two other fairs, Garmentech Bangla-desh-2014 and International Yard and Fabric Sourcing, held simultaneously at Bangabandhu International Confer-ence Centre (BICC) in the capital con-cluded yesterday, exceeding visitors’ turn out of the previous year.

Foreign exhibitors have witnessed a better response from the potential buy-ers compared to the local participants as the fair was crowded during the last couple of days. Bangladesh Garment Ac-cessories and Packaging Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), Zakaria Trade and Fair International and AKS Trade and Exhibitions jointly organised the fairs to bring the buyers and sellers under a same platform.

“The overall response has surpassed our expectations and we are now going to put more focus on Bangladesh market, where yarn business has always been a pro� table one,” said Manoj Prabhakar of Sudhan Yarns, an Indian company.

Being cheered up with the success of the fair, he also hinted that his com-pany was mulling to expand its busi-ness plan to capture a greater a good portion of Bangladeshi market.

Over half a thousand participants from 25 countries across the globe dis-

played a wide-range of garment acces-sories, packaging and related machinery including labels, zippers, tags, tapes, thread, ribbon, buttons, rivets, laces, hooks, transfer � lm, paper and ink.

The displayed products also include pre-press equipment, mounted corru-gated machine, sheet cutter and press-ing, rotary cutting, creasing machine

and trouser hooks � xing machines.“It was a great relief for us to see

some orders after a long break follow-ing an end to the countrywide political unrests, which had virtually pushed us out of business for couple of months,” said Forhad Hossain, manager of Bang-kor Trading Corporation.

The show was aimed at showcasing

the latest garment manufacturing tech-nologies, yarn and fabrics and garment accessories and packaging under one-roof to attract country’s readymade garment (RMG) entrepreneurs.

Total export of the garment acces-sories and packaging manufacturers amounted to $4.1bn during the last � scal year. l

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

Godrej’s rolls out specialist insect killer aerosol “HIT” for the � rst time in Bangladesh

Ispahani Tea’s two hundred retailers and their families from di� erent parts of the country visited Cox Bazaar recently by air

Bank Asia has provided higher studies scholarship to 7 insolvent meritorious students of Tarail Upazila of Kishoreganj district on Saturday as a part of its corporate social responsibility. M Irfan Syed, the bank’s director handed over the scholarship money to the students

Prize giving ceremony of the 3rd Apex Children’s Art Competition took place at the conference hall of Apex Footwear Limited on Friday. Ex-dean of Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka and eminent artist Ra� qun Nabi chaired the ceremony

AKM Sha� qur Rahman has been appointed as managing director of National Bank Limited (NBL). Prior to his appointment, he was additional managing director of the bank. Rahman started his career as probationary o� cer in Bangladesh Krishi Bank in 1974 and worked as head of di� erent branches and divisions till 1988. Subsequently he joined National Bank Limited. A K M Sha� qur Rahman holds M A with Honors in Economics. He completed a certi� cate course on “Program on Investment Appraisal and Management” from Harvard University, USA in 1999

Dhaka Bank Limited Shariah Supervisory Committee held its 32nd meeting on February 27 at the bank’s head o� ce. The meeting approved the shariah based product for stock brokerage under DBL Securities Ltd along with discussing other shariah related matters of the bank. The meeting was presided over by M Azizul Huq, chairperson of the committee

EU aims for deal on tackling failing banks next weekn Reuters

European Union governments and parliamentarians will try to reach a compromise this week on how to wind down failing banks, in marathon talks intended to settle who decides to close banks and who picks up the bill.

A deal in the negotiations, set to span three days, would be the � nal step in a European banking union that would mean one supervisor for all euro zone banks, one set of rules to close or restructure those in trouble and one common pot of money to pay for it.

The banking union, and the thorough clean-up of banks' books that will accom-pany it, is meant to restore banks' con� -dence in one another and boost lending to other businesses and households.

New lending has been throttled by banks' e� orts to raise capital and re-duce the bad loans that proliferated in the recession triggered by the global � -nancial crisis and deepened by the euro zone's own sovereign debt crisis.

Policymakers agreed last year that the European Central Bank (ECB) will be the single supervisor for all euro zone banks and the ECB will take on its new responsibilities from November.

But talks on a single European agen-cy to wind up or close failing banks, and on a single fund to back it up, have en-tered a crucial stage: EU governments, represented by � nance ministers of the 28-nation bloc, and the European Par-liament must reach a deal next week. l

Greece, lenders will miss March 10 deadline for rescue loan dealn Reuters, Athens

Greece and its international lend-ers will miss a self-imposed March 10 deadline to clinch a deal that will re-lease the next tranche of the country’s rescue loans, three senior Greek gov-ernment sources said late on Friday.

Greece and representatives of the European Union (EU) and the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) had hoped to conclude the latest review of the country’s reform progress under the terms of its international bailout by Monday, when euro zone � nance min-isters meet in Brussels.

But the talks will not be over by then because the two sides are still at odds over a range of issues, mainly on struc-tural measures to boost the economy’s competitiveness and over Greek lend-ers’ capital needs.

“The distance between us has nar-rowed but we will still have work to do next week,” one Greek senior govern-ment o� cial told reporters after a new round of talks with lenders.

Greece’s ongoing review has been dragging on since September, making it the longest ever since the country’s 237bn euro bailout began in 2010.

Austerity-weary Athens has be-come increasingly de� ant towards its lenders, who on their part are pushing

for reforms as the bailout is nearing its end. Greece has already obtained 218bn euros of rescue loans but may need further funds to stay a� oat.

Another two senior � nance ministry o� cials said that the heads of the EU/IMF mission will return to Athens shortly after Monday’s � nance ministers’ meeting, with a view to clinch the deal by the end of March. Greece has no pressing funding needs before May, when 9.3bn euros of its bonds expire, the biggest re� nancing hump the country will face in the next three decades.

“We’re on a very good road for an agreement,” one of the two � nance ministry o� cials said. Greece is hoping to get euro zone � nance ministers on Monday to make a statement that the talks have made good progress. l

Foreigners to be mostly kept out of China’s privatisationsn Reuters, Shanghai

As China embarks on a new wave of opening up state-dominated industries to private capital, foreign � rms will largely be kept out and authorities are likely to look to institutions like do-mestic pension funds and insurers.

State giants China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Sinopec Corp and China Railway Corporation have said they were seeking investments from private capital and also social capital, or funds sourced from pension funds and insurance companies.

“I think those are going to be the key groups that the SOEs (state-owned en-terprises) will � rst partner up with,” said Sun Lijian, deputy director of the School of Economics at Fudan University.

“It will also � t in with Beijing’s strat-egy to diversify investment channels for its vast, locally managed pension funds.”

The move re� ects China’s desire to avoid adding further debt on to the federal government’s books while in-jecting much-needed cash into vital sectors, but without ceding control.

On Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang said on the opening day of the annual parliament session on Wednesday that the � scal de� cit would be maintained at 2.1% of GDP in 2014, the same as last year.

Analysts said recent announcements by some of China’s largest state-owned

enterprises to diversify ownership pro-vides a hint of Beijing’s public-private partnership model as it opens up its petroleum, railway, � nance, power and telecom sectors to private investors for the � rst time.

Investments by local insurers and pension funds will not only allow Beijing to tap into massive savings to fund investments as economic growth slows, but it will also allow these insti-tutions to diversify their portfolio away from a dependence on bonds and other � xed income products.

Assets under management in Chi-na’s pension system totalled $1.2tn at the end of 2012, according to newspa-per reports.

Insurance companies had assets of 8.289tn yuan at the end of 2013, o� cial data shows. Invested funds totalled 7.687tn yuan, of which 29% was in bank deposits, 43% in bonds, and 10% in stocks and related securities.

Opportunities in energyFor the energy sector, however, ana-lysts said there would be more op-portunities for foreign players in areas where they have technological advan-tages, particularly in the development of unconventional gas resources.

“In areas where the SOEs lack the technological know-how, they will open the doors to foreign companies, otherwise the priority is still local companies,” said Michael Yuk, a senior

energy analyst at China Merchants Securities.

Sinopec, Asia’s biggest oil re� ner, said last month that it would sell up to 30% of its marketing arm, which owns more than 30,000 petrol stations, in a multi-billion dollar asset restructuring.

While analysts said Sinopec could bring in strategic foreign players, such as Royal Dutch Shell or BP, executives at overseas energy � rms are less san-guine.

“None (of the international energy companies) have the illusion that Sin-opec will reach out to us in its divest-ment ... there’s no such possibility,” said an o� cial with a global energy � rm, adding that fuel retailing is a sec-tor where Beijing wants to limit foreign participation.

State-owned China Railway Cor-poration plans to seek private invest-ment for a railway development fund that could be launched this year, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday.

Details of the investment fund are still being formulated and a framework may be established by the � rst half of this year, deputy general manager Peng Kaizhou was quoted as saying.

Peng said the company was consid-ering setting up a national rail develop-ment fund, with a � xed rate of return, or establishing an investment fund for speci� c projects. l

GM must address recall soon to avoid damage to reputationn Reuters

General Motors Co needs to get through its ignition-switch recall and the result-ing federal investigation quickly to avoid any lasting damage to its brand, but the federal probe could keep the problem in the public eye for at least six months.

Analysts and academics warn that a misstep by GM could leave it with a lingering headache, something Toyota Motor Corp experienced from 2009 to 2011 with recalls linked to sudden accel-eration. The Japanese automaker was criticized for being slow to react to com-plaints and initially blaming the drivers.

GM is currently interviewing em-ployees dating back to the discovery in 2004 of the problem with the ignition switch, which has since been linked to 13 deaths, sources previously said. Meanwhile, US safety regulators have opened an investigation into whether the No. 1 US automaker reacted swiftly enough in its recall last month of more than 1.6 million vehicles.

GM Chief Executive Mary Barra on Tuesday in a letter to GM employees said she deeply regretted the circum-stances but was pleased with the com-pany’s response and the focus will be on customer safety and satisfaction.

Moving past the recall and related fallout will be critical to ensure the De-troit company continues the rebound

since its 2009 bankruptcy reorganiza-tion, analysts said.

“They need to get past this as quick-ly as possible,” said George Cook, a mar-keting professor at the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester.

“You cannot be reactive in dealing with the American car-buying public,” added Cook, formerly an executive at Ford Motor Co for 10 years. “You have to be proactive and I think they’ll be forgiving if it’s not really, really serious. People have short memories about that stu� .”

GM’s recall was to correct a condi-tion that may allow the engine and other components, including front air-bags, to be unintentionally turned o� .

GM has said the weight on the key ring, road conditions or some other jarring event may cause the ignition switch to move out of the “run” posi-tion, turning o� the engine and most of the car’s electrical components. GM has recommended that owners use only the ignition key with nothing else on the key ring.

The company said last week that the initial replacement parts will be avail-able in early April. Trent Ross, senior vice president of reputation and risk management at Ipsos Public A� airs, said GM needs to take ownership of the issue right away. Several analysts lauded Barra for her letter. l

An executive seen displaying fabrics at a RMG backward linkage fair in the capital yesterday TAHMIDUR RAHMAN

A washing machine factory tests Italy's industrial futuren Reuters

The boxy white and grey factory of this rainy northern town makes fewer than half the washing machines it did when Italy joined the euro. It is one of the many symbols of Southern Europe's industrial decline.

Currently, however, the Porcia plant is also a testing ground for the region's industrial future.

Home appliance maker Electrolux, which owns the factory, wants to cut the salaries of some 5,000 workers at the plant and three other factories across Italy by up to 15% over the next three years. The Swedish company says lowering labour costs is the only way its washing machines, fridges and other home appliances can compete against rival products made in eastern Europe and Asia.

The Italian government, unions and workers say any wage cut would impoverish thousands of families who rely on the plant and its suppliers.

"It's a matter of survival," says Anna-rita Licci, a 38-year-old mother of two, who moved to Porcia in 2000, the year after Europe introduced its single cur-rency.

Then, Italy was the leading world exporter of home appliances. Now it is ranked third, far behind China, which has grabbed more than one-third of the 100bn euro ($140bn) global market. Like many others, the Porcia plant has progressively downsized.

Last year Licci's partner took a com-pany buyout. If Electrolux cuts her 1,000-euro salary by 130 euros - in line with the ballpark reduction estimated by the company - Licci says she will no longer be able to a� ord monthly expenses, which include a 600-euro mortgage.

"The company wants to lower its

labour costs and starve us," she says. "What about investing in developing better products for this factory in-stead?"

The battle over Electrolux wages is at the heart of one of the most pressing dilemmas facing the battered econo-mies of Italy and other southern Euro-pean countries: The competing needs to both cut costs, and spark growth.

Companies across Europe's south-ern rim struggle because wages and prices have risen higher than their products can justify. But euro zone countries can no longer depreciate their currencies to make their products cheaper in foreign markets. That leaves so-called "internal devaluation" - push-ing down wages and prices - as the best way to stay competitive.

Spain, Greece and Portugal have pushed through deep wage cuts and

made it easier to hire and � re, allowing � rms to trim the price of their goods. This has helped Spain's economy grow for the � rst time since 2011. Italy, where labor costs are still high, is � atlining.

But there are risks. A squeeze on pay could choke o� already feeble con-sumer spending because workers have less money to spend. And as producers lower prices, it risks triggering what economists call a "de� ationary spiral" in which consumers no longer buy goods, in the expectation that prices will continue to fall - a belief that cre-ates an ever deeper recession.

The most dramatic recent example is the two-decade great de� ation from which Japan is only just emerging. In Spain, there is growing concern that the e� ects of wage cuts on the coun-try's feeble internal consumption could cripple long-term recovery.

In� ation helps countries lower their debt by increasing the money at their disposal to pay it o� . De� ation, on

the other hand, makes reducing debt harder because money is more expen-sive. It also puts companies o� borrow-ing and investing. That's a problem in Italy, which has 2tn euros in debt - the second-highest in the euro zone after Greece, as a share of Gross Domestic Product.

"Pushing down wages is danger-ous: The most worrisome consequence would be depressing consumption where there is already a demand cri-sis," said Carlo Devillanova, economics professor at Milan's Bocconi University.

Steady declineIn many ways the factory in Porcia mir-rors Italy's economic rise and decline.

It was built in the 1950s, just as the economic miracle that lifted Italy from the rubble of World War Two got start-ed. Lino Zanussi, whose blacksmith

father Antonio had started out making stoves and ovens in a workshop in Por-denone in 1916, used the plant to help transform Zanussi into a top European home appliance maker.

Along with Germany, Italy became the world's leading exporter of home appliances. Porcia was a vibrant artery of Italy's industrial heartland. Locals in the Pordenone province called the area the "Manchester of Italy" for its huge output.

By the 1980s, though, Zanussi had run into � nancial troubles and in 1984 the family sold to Electrolux.

The Swedish � rm kept a big pres-ence in Italy until the mid-2000s when competition prompted it to move a chunk of its production to low-wage eastern Europe. Over the past 14 years, Electrolux has shed 71% of its work-ers in western Europe and 60% in the United States. At the same time, the company's sta� in eastern Europe has risen by one-third to 8,480.

Luigi Bidoia, economist and co-founder of research � rm StudiaBo, says that after the mid-2000s it made little sense to keep producing in Italy. "Other countries now o� er the same skills and pay at a half, a quarter, a tenth in wag-es," said Bidoia.

High end or nothing?Cutting wages is not the only way for Italy to compete. The southern economies would all bene� t if Germany, the euro zone's strongest economy, boosted its internal consumption and encouraged more imports from its neighbours. The European Central Bank could also do more to try to stimulate southern European economies, allowing in� ation to rise from its current 0.8%.

So far, though, there are no signs of either happening. ECB President Mario Draghi has welcomed "relative price adjustment" - wage cuts - in Spain, Por-tugal and Greece.

Such an adjustment has not hap-pened in Italy. According to the Euro-pean statistics agency Eurostat, unit labour costs rose 4.2% between 2000 and 2012 in Italy, against a fall of 2.8% in the European Union.

Part of the reason is that Italy's la-bour laws make it di� cult for compa-nies to adjust pay and hours to � uc-tuations in the economy. The cost of employing workers is also pushed up by the high labour taxes and social contributions employers must pay. Ac-cording to the OECD, those make up just under half the cost of employing a worker in Italy. In other developed countries they total 35.6%, on average.

At the end of February when he � rst took o� ce, Italy's Prime Minis-ter Matteo Renzi promised to reduce the burden on companies, citing the Electrolux stando� as a key issue for his new government. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has criticized Italy's rigid labor market rules and in 2011 reached a deal with workers at the car marker's main factories, introducing more � ex-ible conditions in exchange for invest-ments.

Better productsThe other way to compete is to produce high-value products that warrant high-er prices, innovating to create products that people crave. Italy already suc-cessfully makes high-end goods from luxury clothes to food and small elec-tronics.

But as spending on research and development has shriveled - Italy's is among the lowest in the developing world - the country has steadily lost out in other areas, including home ap-pliances. In a speech last year, Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco singled out the sector as emblematic of the coun-try's industrial decline. One example: Italy made two million refrigerators last year and 10 million in 2001.

"A country like ours has to position itself as a maker of high-end products through innovation and research," said Claudio De Vincenti, a top o� cial in Italy's economic development ministry recently appointed by Renzi. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 10, 2014

DILBERT

Two men work on a wall as preparations are under way for the CeBIT technology trade fair yesterday in Hanover, central Germany. In 2014, Great Britain is partner country of the fair considered as the world's biggest high-tech fair running from today AFP

Russia wants IMF to move ahead on reforms without USn Reuters

Russian o� cials are pushing for the International Monetary Fund to move ahead with planned reforms without the United States, which could mean the loss of the US veto over major deci-sions at the global lender, sources said.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Si-luanov brought up the idea at a meet-ing of top � nance o� cials from the Group of 20 nations in Sydney late last month, two G20 sources told Reuters this week.

The failure of the US Congress to ap-prove IMF funding has held up reforms agreed in 2010 that would double the Fund's resources and give more say to emerging markets like China.

The United States is the only coun-try that holds a controlling share of IMF votes, meaning its approval is necessary for any major decision to go forward.

Moving ahead on reforms without Washington would likely require com-plicated changes to the IMF's rules. But the discussions show the level of frus-tration within the G20 with the Obama administration's inability to win the needed congressional support.

A third source would not con� rm it was Russia that brought up the issue, but said the G20 generally agreed to give the United States until the April

meetings of the IMF and World Bank before taking more aggressive mea-sures, a point con� rmed by one of the other sources. All three sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It was agreed that in the absence of progress by the United States on the 2010 package by the April meeting of the IMF and G20, that there will be for-mulated a list of 'bad options,' which will allow to move forward in this mat-ter, excluding the opinions of the Unit-ed States," the third source said.

For a year, the Obama administra-tion has been trying to get Congress to approve a shift of some $63bn from an IMF crisis fund to its general accounts in order to make good on its 2010 com-mitment.

The U.S. Treasury is now seeking to attach the funding to a � nancial aid package for Ukraine that is under con-sideration in Congress. It argues the re-forms would allow crisis-hit countries like Ukraine to borrow more money from the IMF.

"It is imperative that we secure passage of IMF legislation now so we can show support for the IMF in this critical moment and preserve our leading in� uential voice in the insti-tution," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told lawmakers on Thursday during a hearing in the US House of Represen-tatives. l

Flipkart, India's reply to Amazon, sees $1bn salesn AFP, New Delhi

Flipkart, India's answer to US online giant Amazon, said Saturday its sales would cross the milestone $1bn-mark this year, ahead of schedule, in the coun-try's exploding e-commerce market.

Founded in 2007 by two ex-Ama-zon.com employees and university friends, Flipkart.com has become In-dia's biggest shopping portal hit and has drawn backers such as New-York based venture capitalists Tiger Global Management LLC.

"In March 2011 we announced by 2015 we wanted to hit $1bn" in sales when they stood at just $10m, said founders Sanchin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who happen to share the same surname but are unrelated.

Now the privately held � rm expects to hit $1bn in sales "one year before our target" which means "we've grown 100 times in the last three years," the pair, who pool operational responsibilities, said in a statement. The � gures rein-force Flipkart's leadership position in the Indian e-retail market.

The founders, now both 32, said they were "happy and proud" at the progress of Flipkart in which they in-vested an initial $10,000.

The Bansals are seen as typical of the new risk-ready breed of entrepre-neurs that has emerged in India amid years of fast economic growth, relying not on inherited wealth but their own-start up talents to launch businesses.

"E-merchandise retailing sales stood at $1.6bn in 2013. By 2018, we think they will be $14bn and in 2023 they will reach $60bn," Saloni Nangia, president of leading consultancy Tech-nopak Advisors, told AFP.

While there were already Indian online sellers, Flipkart helped sales take o� by allowing customers to pay cash-on-delivery, a move Nangia calls a "game-changer".

An increasing number of Indians are going online but they are uncomfort-able giving credit card details over the Internet. Others do not have a credit card and the Flipkart method allows them to place orders.

"This cash-on-delivery system helped consumers gain trust in online shopping - they saw products arrive," Nangia said.

Flipkart began selling books but then expanded to mobile phones, tele-visions, cameras, computers and home appliances.

It has yet to report a pro� t in the � ercely competitive market with its nearest rival, eBay-backed Snapdeal, targeting $1bn turnover by mid-decade. The world's biggest online retailer, Am-azon, also entered the market last June.

More retailers are seen going online as real estate is costly "so it makes it hard to have bricks-and-mortar stores", said Nangia.

India's vast young population, rap-idly embracing the Internet, would "drive the e-tailing story", she added. l

Shanghai Exchange gets approval for tradingplatform in free-trade zonen Reuters, Beijing

The Shanghai Stock Exchange has se-cured approvals from regulators to set up an international trading center in the free-trade zone, the chairman of the bourse said on Saturday.

The move could pave the way for more foreign investors to tap the world's fourth-largest stock market by capitalization and also for foreign com-panies to issue shares in the world's second-largest economy.

Gui Minjie, chairman of the Shang-hai Stock Exchange, said signi� cant progress has been made in recent years allowing Chinese � rms to list on over-

seas markets. However, no foreign companies are allowed to issue shares on Chinese bourses.

Speaking to reporters at the side-lines of the parliament session in Bei-jing, Gui said the exchange was prepar-ing a team to study ways to develop the trading platform. China opened the Shanghai free-trade zone in late September to fuel development of the country's � nancial-services sector.

Beijing has said that it would allow a trial of a fully convertible yuan capital account in the free-trade zone, spark-ing hopes for an easing of controls that bar foreign companies from raising capital through IPOs. l

Electrolux factory workers participate in a union-led protest outside a factory in Porcia, northern Italy REUTERS