France strike late to see o� Nigerian AFP

A Paul Pogba header and a Joseph Yobo own goal saw France edge a hard-fought contest with Nigeria 2-0 in Bra-silia on Monday to reach the World Cup quarter-� nals.

Pogba broke the deadlock in the 79th minute, nodding into an empty net after Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who plays for French club Lille, failed to collect a corner.

It was a cruel moment for Enyeama, but rewarded a barrage of French pres-sure sparked by the introduction of An-toine Griezmann, who forced Yobo to put through his own goal in injury time.

Didier Deschamps’s France will now

await the winners of Monday’s other last-16 tie between Germany and Alge-ria, who they will meet at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro on July 4.

While France, who showed six changes, started purposefully, their � nal ball frequently let them down, which handed Nigeria opportunities to

use their pace on the counter-attack.Emenike thought he had put Nige-

ria ahead in the 19th minute when he deftly prodded in an in-swinging cross from Musa, but the o� side � ag allowed French heart rates to return to normal.

Late in the � rst half Emenike took aim from range, but Hugo Lloris was able to parry.

Nigeria su� ered a blow early in the second period when Lazio mid� elder Ogenyi Onazi had to be stretchered o� after an ugly, ankle-high challenge by Blaise Matuidi, who escaped with only a caution.

It was to prove a temporary reprieve.Yohan Cabaye, back from suspen-

sion, saw a 20-yard half-volley crash back o� the bar before Enyeama had to produce a � nger-tip save to touch a Benzema header over the bar.

It was the second � ne stop of the match from the 31-year-old, but seconds later his failure to claim Valbuena’s left-

wing corner allowed Juventus mid� eld-er Pogba to head in at the back post.

Enyeama then palmed a shot from Griezmann over the bar, but France made it 2-0 at the death when Yobo, under pressure from Griezmann, in-advertently steered Valbuena’s drilled cross into his own net. l

20 pages plus 16-page T-Mag tabloid | Price: Tk12TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Ashar 17, 1421Ramadan 2, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 91

TMAG | TAKING A LEAP OF FAITH! 11 | A BANG AND A WHIMPER

4 | NewsTwenty-one indigenous families in Khagrachhari, claim they were forcefully evicted from their own land for the establishment of a BGB battalion headquarters, have been living in crammed conditions at a local school since June 10. 5 | News

The Chittagong Metropolitan Police yesterday launched three new online-based tech based

services for the port city dwellers as well as for maintaining law and order situation in the commercial capital of the country.

6 | NationDespite laying the foundation stone three years ago, the construction of a bridge on a localriver linking popular

Miarhat and Barchakathi bazars under Swarupkathi upazila of the district has yetto begin.

8 | WorldIraqi troops battled to dislodge an al-Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit yesterday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria.

INSIDE

2nd Round Details on page-15

July 1, 201410pm Argentina vs Switzerland

July 2, 20142am Belgium vs United States

WC SECOND STAGE MATCH SCHEDULE

France mid� elder Paul Pogba (L) heads to score during their 2014 World Cup round of 16 game against Nigeria at the Brasilia national stadium in Brasilia yesterday REUTERS

Ershad’s iftar discriminates orphansn Manik Miazee

Jatiya Party President HM Ershad yes-terday had his � rst Iftar with the or-phans in the holy month of Ramadan, but these children failed to overcome discrimination at the programme.

Unlike every year when Ershad ob-served his � rst Iftar with poor people, this year he held his � rst Iftar party with the orphans from Nurul Quran Madrassa at a city hotel in the capita’s Mohakhali.

Witnesses said JaPa leaders along with Ershad had plates full of delicious

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

DMP boss: Police no contract killerSources say the DB team members that conducted Sunday’s operation were rewarded for killing two ‘security threats’ n Mohammad Jamil Khan and

Tazlina Zamila Khan

Dhaka police chief Benazir Ahmed has categorically said the members of his force were not involved in any “con-tract killing.”

His comment comes only a day after the death of two people – identi� ed by families as Sramik League leaders Ak-mal and Ramzan – in an alleged gun-� ght with law enforcers in the capital.

Their families alleged that police were “hired” by political rivals for the “killing.”

The “gun� ght” took place only hours after they and four others were allegedly detained in the capital’s Press Club area.

While speaking at a programme in the capital yesterday, the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) also said neither would anyone be spared if they shot at police, nor would police � re bullets at the public.

According to a witness, around 2:15am on Sunday, police cordoned o� six men, travelling on two motorbikes in front of the T&T High School in Moti-jheel.

“The bikers � red gunshots at police and hurled a crude bomb. In reply, po-lice also opened � re. I heard the sound

of at least 40 rounds of gunshots,” said the witness who saw the incident from the window of his room in the adjacent AGB Colony.

“After the gun� re exchange, I saw two men fall on the road. Police left the two bodies there and took the four oth-ers on a van. A little later, police came back and took away the bodies,” the witness said.

DMP boss Benazir told yesterday’s programme: “Police have the law and power to take action against criminals and they will apply all of these for en-suring security.”

According to the employees of resi-dential Boishakhi Hotel near the Press Club in the capital, deceased Ramzan and Akmal and four others were de-tained from the hotel around 9pm on Saturday.

However, the � rst information re-port (FIR) of one of the two cases � led by police in connection with the in-cident on Sunday says that the four others are still absconding. Moreover, the FIR mentions the two deceased as unidenti� ed.

There are questions as to how the six men came near the T&T High School if they had already been detained. Po-lice have never admitted picking them up from the hotel.

DMP sources said that in a high-lev-el meeting on Sunday, top o� cials of Dhaka police thanked the Detective Branch team that conducted the opera-tion in which Akmal and Ramzan were killed and gave Tk25,000 to each mem-ber of the team for getting rid of two “security threats.”

Benazir also said yesterday: “No PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Latif, Inu convince PM to approve halving call termination raten Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Two cabinet members yesterday re-portedly convinced the prime minister to give her approval for halving the in-ternational incoming voice call termi-nation rate, a proposal that had been twice rejected by the Finance Ministry in recent months.

Following a cabinet meeting yester-day, Post, Telecommunication and In-formation Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddique and Information Minis-ter Hasanul Haq Inu raised the issue to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Latif bhai placed the issue to the premier after the cabinet meeting and I just joined in with him,” Inu told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting.

“I told the prime minister that if the call termination rate was slashed, illegal calls will come to a regularised route, something we had also done pre-viously; and the prime minister asked us to do so for the betterment of the in-dustry,” Inu added.

Earlier, the Finance Ministry twice rejected the BTRC recommendation for lowering international call termi-nation charges to 1.5 US cents ($0.015)

per minute from the existing 3 US cents ($0.03) for the international gateway (IGW) operators.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) also recommended reducing the govern-ment revenue sharing to 40% from the existing 51.75%.

In July last year, the telecom watch-dog made its initial proposal for slash-ing the rates, noting that the cuts would cost the government around Tk1,073 crore. However, after the Finance Min-istry rejected the proposal this March,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

TIB ‘� nds’ irregularities in 22 private universitiesn Mushfi que Wadud

Transparency International Bangla-desh has claimed to have found “wide-spread” irregularities – many of them monetary – in at least 22 private univer-sities, without mentioning any name and disclosing details about data col-lection methods.

The TIB study, titled “Private University: Challenges for Good Governance and Ways to Overcome them,” was conducted from June 2012 to May 2014 among the universities. The report was published at a

programme in the capital yesterday.Asked why the report did not men-

tion the names of the universities, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said disclosing such information was against their policy.

If the government wanted, only then they would disclose the informa-tion, he told reporters.

The summary of the report says among the 22 institutions studied, only four were based outside Dhaka – two each in Chittagong and Sylhet.

But there is no information at all PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

‘Police have the power to take action against criminals; they will apply all for ensuring security.’

7 | DON’T TREAD ON OUR DREAMS, PLEASE

SEHRI & IFTAR TIME

Day Sehri IftarRamadan 2/July 1 – 6.54pmRamadan 3/July 2 3.42am 6.54pm

France Nigeria Goals scored 2 0 Total shots 15 8 Shots on target 9 6 Corners 12 9 O� sides 3 2 Fouls committed 12 14 Yellow cards 1 0 Red cards 0 0 Ball possession 49% 51%

MATCH STATS

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Cabinet approves oceanographic research institute n Mohosinul Karim

The cabinet yesterday refused to sepa-rately approve three proposed acts for public servants, and instructed the au-thorities concerned to prepare a com-prehensive act by compiling the three drafts.

“The drafts of the three di� erent acts were placed before the cabinet meeting for approval. The acts were prepared to legitimatise three ordi-nances issued during two previous

military rules, which became invalid following court orders,” Cabinet Secre-tary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after the meeting.

“The public administration ministry will prepare a comprehensive draft and place it before the cabinet again,” he added.

The proposed acts included “Public Servants (special provision) Act, 2014”, “Public Servants (suspension for con-viction) Act, 2014” and “Public Serv-ants (regular attendance) Act, 2014”.

The drafts of the three acts regard-ing disciplinary procedures for public servants were prepared in Bangla.

The cabinet agreed in principle to approve the comprehensive act, Musharraf said.

“As soon as the draft of the new comprehensive act is placed before the cabinet, it will get approval,” he added.

The cabinet, meanwhile, approved the draft of “National Oceanographic Research Institute Act”.

The proposed act would be placed

in the ongoing session of parliament for passage, the cabinet secretarysaid.

According to the draft, the research institute will be an autonomous organ-isation, with a director general as its chief executive.

An 18-member board, led by the sci-ence and technology secretary, will be formed to advice the institute. Science and technology experts and represent-atives of relevant ministries will be its members. l

Suranjit: Disclose names of Bangladeshis with Swiss bank accountsn Emran Hossain Shaikh

Awami League lawmaker Suranjit Sen-gupta has asked the government to dis-close the names of Bangladeshi nation-als who have deposited money with banks in Switzerland.

“The government has to take the in-itiative to publish the list, bring back the money from Swiss banks and take action against money laundering,” Sur-anjit, a member of the ruling party’s Advisory Council, said while address-ing a rally in the capital yesterday.

The rally was organised by Nouka Samarthak Goshti, a group of support-ers of Awami League’s “boat” symbol, at the Diploma Engineers’ Institution in the capital.

In response to BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir’s recent statement demanding a neutral, international-level investigation com-mittee for exposing the Bangladeshi de-positors with Swiss banks, the former minister said it was the government’s duty to bring back the money, and BNP did not need to worry about the matter.

“The UNDP has not disclosed the holders of the money. So, why is the BNP so upset about the matter?” Suranjit said, adding that the previous AL government was able to repatriate money laundered

by Arafat Ranman Koko, the younger son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

A study by the United Nations De-velopment Programme (UNDP), pub-lished last week, said Bangladesh lost over $800m a year on average in capi-tal � ight through trade mis-invoicing, unreported remittances and balance of payment leakages. The total capital � ight accounted for 30.4% of the coun-try’s GDP of $100bn in 2010.

On Thursday, Switzerland’s central bank disclosed that deposits by Bangla-deshi citizens at di� erent Swiss banks rose by 62% last year. Swiss National Bank data show that the deposits stood at Tk3,236 crore at the end of 2013, up from Tk1,991 crore in 2012.

On a di� erent topic, the senior AL leader said bad relations between poli-ticians and the media were not accept-able all. “The relation between politi-cians and the media is supplementary to each other. Politicians keep ties with people through the media,” Suranjit said, referring to party lawmaker Sham-in Osman’s recent derogatory remarks against journalists.

“Politicians should talk to the me-dia in logical language, and not express their arrogance. There should be an end to the bad relationship between politicians and journalists.” l

MARKET MONITORING

Exclusion of police,magistrates suggestedn Asif Showkat Kallol

One of the market monitoring teams formed by the Commerce Ministry has recommended that the authorities con-cerned should monitor the market with-out magistrates and police protection to get the real picture of kitchen markets.

The monitoring team made its sug-gestion on Thursday after monitoring kitchen market at New Market and Palassey Bazar. Earlier, the Commerce Ministry had formed 14 teams to mon-itor the kitchen markets in the capital during the month of Ramadan.

Traders, especially, retailers re-duced the prices of essentials when the market monitoring team visited the markets with police protection, said a member of the monitoring team.

He said the actual prices of essentials were not quoted during the kitchen market observation by the monitoring team. “As a result, market monitoring does not work at all.”

The monitoring team found that the retailers were unaware of rules and regu-lations. So, the monitoring team should distribute lea� ets among the retailers to make them aware of the rules and regu-lations. Without police protection, mon-itoring teams will be able to easily moti-vate the traders for not raising prices of essentials, the memmber said.

He added that the retailers were not maintaining the original vouchers for pur-chasing essential commodities and moni-toring team also found vouchers without signature and mobile phone numbers.

The monitoring team also suggest-ed launching a campaign through the internet and television channels as to

how traders will � x the prices of essen-tials during Ramadan.

Beef was selling at over Tk300 per kg against Tk280 � xed by the city corpora-tion for the month of Ramadan.

The price of Najirshail rice might go up within a couple of days and the monitoring team saw a hike in the pric-es of potato, green chilli, � our and on-ion in the two kitchen markets.

Najirshail rice sold at Tk55 per kilo-gram yesterday while a week ago, it was Tk48. The price of per kilogram potato (white) increased from Tk20 to Tk28 and that of potato (red) from Tk35 to Tk40.

Green chilli was selling at Tk80 per kg while a week ago it was Tk50. Per kg lentil was selling at Tk110 while a week ago it was Tk80. In the two kitch-en markets, sugar sold at Tk48 per kg while a week ago it was only Tk40.

The price of chickpea selling at Tk55 per kg remained stable. The price of a � ve-litre can of Rupchanda soybean oil sold at Tk560 and Tk550, but the mark-up price is Tk 570. As a result, potential buyers get confused over the prices of Rupchanda soybean oil, according to the monitoring team.

Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune that if the prices of essentials remain stable in the markets, they do not want to de-ploy police for monitoring the market during the month of Ramadan. “We are considering the suggestions made by the monitoring team,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of the National Consumer Rights Protection which is under the ministry had inten-si� ed its ongoing market monitoring drive during Ramadan. l

Five Shibir men heldn UNB

Police arrested � ve Shibir activists from Baro Bazar area in Meherpur town yesterday morning. The arrestees were Sayeed Hossain, 22, Halim Miah, 24, Ashraful, 20, Sohel Rana, 19, and Ab-dullah, 21.

Sheikh Atiar Rahman, o� cer-in-charge of Sadar police station, said on secret information, a team of police conducted a drive around 6am and arrested the � ve Shibir activists while they were pasting anti-government posters in the area. l

WB: South Asia primary education not satisfactoryn Tribune Report

A World Bank report issued yesterday says around a quarter to one-third pri-mary school graduates in South Asia lack the basic numeracy and literacy skills that would enable them to pursue further education.

The report is the � rst comprehen-sive study to analyse the performance of South Asian education systems in terms of student learning.

It also noted that much of what South Asian students are taught is “proce-

dural,” or rote-based, and students are inadequately prepared in practical com-petencies such as measurement, prob-lem-solving and writing meaningful and grammatically-correct sentences.

“Just spending time in school is not enough. There has to be a signif-icant gain in skills that requires an improvement in the quality of edu-cation,” Philippe Le Houérou, World Bank vice-president in the South Asian region, was quoted in a press release is-sued by the organisation yesterday.

There is an increase in the net en-

rolment rate in South Asia’s primary schools – from 75% in 2000 to 89% in 2010 – bringing the region closer to the enrolment rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (94%) and East Asia and the Paci� c (95%), according to the report.

Afghanistan and Pakistan still lag signi� cantly behind other South Asian countries in almost all education indi-cators.

“The poor quality of education in South Asia is a major obstacle to the re-gion’s future economic prospects,” said Halil Dundar, a lead education specialist

at the World Bank and one of the report’s authors. “Raising the education quality is an urgent priority that could trans-form the region’s economic landscape.”

The report recommends a mul-ti-pronged strategy that includes initia-tives outside the education sector to ad-dress South Asia’s education challenges. The recommendations include ensuring nutrition for young children, improve quality of teaching, using � nancial in-centives to boost said quality, bring in private investments, and improving the measurement of students’ progress. l

Ershad’s iftar PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Iftar items, but the poor children were deprived of the menu, rather they were restricted to relishing the opportunity to do Iftar with ordinary food.

In addition, the orphans had to share their Iftar items in a plate with three to four children in a group, they said.

However, the oblivious orphans seemed happy to just think about their celebration of Iftar with Ershad.

Addressing the Iftar party, Ershad said Islam is a religion of peace.

The whole world was trying to brand Islam with the criminal lifestyle, which was not at all true, he said.

“We have to deliver the true thought of Islam to ordinary people,” he added.

Asked about the apparent discrimi-nation, a JaPa leader who was present at the Iftar party said the sight of such thing was very common. l

Latif, Inu convince PAGE 1 COLUMN 3the BTRC sent another proposal with changed numbers to claim that the cuts would allow the government to earn an additional Tk162 crore.

To make claims of potential pro� ts, the BTRC allegedly manipulated the number of international incoming calls to show that 3.5 crore minutes of daily calls were being made on average. However, sepa-rate BTRC � gures show that the daily call volume had not gone below four crore minutes over the past year, while it is cur-rently around six crore minutes per day.

Inu, who was the chairman for the standing committee on Telecom Min-istry during the last government, said the Finance Ministry had no chance to reject the proposal any more as the prime minister had accepted it.

“They [Finance Ministry] will accept the proposal and I am sure they cannot present any excuse to avoid it,” he added.

Earlier, sources told the Dhaka Tribune that the BTRC had prepared false estima-tions to favour the cause of IGW operators who got licences with political backing.

The BTRC’s recommendation also claimed that neighbouring countries’ call termination rates were much lower than Bangladesh, which sources said was also a lie. Legal specialists said the government cannot arbitrarily change the revenue sharing structure as the rate was � xed by an open auction.

The structure had been � xed through a public auction in 2008 and only four companies were given licens-es through an auction when IGW ser-vice was introduced in Bangladesh.

The Awami League-led government in 2012 awarded 25 more licenses – most-ly to people linked to the ruling party.

The regulator had proposed at best 10 more licenses, but the government in last year awarded 25 IGW and 23 ICX licenses. l

TIB ‘� nds’ irregularities in 22 private universities PAGE 1 COLUMN 5about which method has been followed for selecting the universities.

According to the report, while crores of taka has changed hands for big issues such as getting approval for universities, amounts as small as Tk500 have been exchanged for mat-ters such as ensuring passing marks forstudents.

The TIB has found that amounts ranging from Tk50,000 to Tk2 lakh are being exchanged for getting names of VCs, pro-VCs and treasurers approved; Tk1 lakh for inspection; Tk10,000-Tk20,000 for settling complaints; Tk1 lakh for preparing illegal audit reports; and so on.

However, the report says nothing at all about the payers and the receivers of these amounts.

About data collection, it says indi-viduals from the Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC), vice-chancellors, pro-VCs, o� -cials, students and teachers were inter-viewed; there were focus group discus-sions; and the universities in question were observed.

Although the summary says the study was a qualitative one and some quantitative data was also collected, there is no detail about which respond-ents gave out which of the � ndings.

Although none of the universities were named, the study speci� es some of the “representative characteristics” of these institutions: there were specialised and general universities; some had permanent campus and others did not; some were NGO initiatives; and some featured in the preference list of students and guardians and others did not.

One of the key � ndings of the study is that one of the universities in ques-tion awarded certi� cates to 300 stu-dents without actually taking any class and examination in exchange for Tk3 lakh for each certi� cate.

Another � nding is that a tripartite nexus of the o� cials of the Education Ministry and the UGC and the author-ities of some of these universities are creating the scope for such irregulari-ties.

However, the report is not entirely harsh on these private educational in-

stitutions.Under one of the sections titled

“positive achievements,” the report praises the institutions for now having more students than public universities and emerging as alternatives to going abroad for higher studies.

More than once, the TIB mentions a UGC report that uses terms such as “ownership disputes” to describe the private universities.

According to the TIB, this is a prob-lem because although the private uni-versities are not for pro� t organisations on papers, the government body sees them as pro� t-making entities.

When contacted for immediate reac-tion, UGC Chairman AK Azad Chowd-hury told the Dhaka Tribune: “It seems that they [TIB] are writing whatever they want...Such a study will a� ect TIB’s credibility.”

He also said the UGC ensured the highest kind of accountability in not only approving universities but also in every other activity.

He said a three-member committee had been formed to look into the alle-gations. l

DMP boss: Police no contract killer PAGE 1 COLUMN 2matter what the families said, the two deceased were involved with all kinds of illegal trade... Police have dozens of allegations against the deceased.”

According to the families, one of the deceased Zakir Hossain Akmal, 35, a resident of the capital’s Gopibagh area, was the president of the Sayedabad unit of Sramik Leauge, ruling party’s labour front.

The other deceased Ramzan Zabed, also 35 and resident of the capital’s Demra area, was the general secretary of the same unit of the ruling party wing.

Akmal had his auto parts business while Ramzan was in the cloth trade and both of them were highly respect-ed in their areas, the families said.

However, Md Masudur Rahman,

deputy commissioner of DMP, said Ramzan had a total of 93 cases against him � led with di� erent police stations.

Ramzan’s wife Nusrat Jahan Jhorna has repeatedly mentioned the name of one Saiful Islam Khokon alias “Blade” Khokhon while talking about her hus-band’s death.

She claimed that it was planned kill-ing and Khokhon was the mastermind. He had good connections in DB and “hired” the law enforcers for killing his political rival Ramzan, she alleged.

She also said her husband came out of their home around 5:30pm Saturday. Kokhon and one Babu were with him and they rode away on a motorbike.

When the reporters were talking to the families of the deceased at the Dha-ka Medical College Hospital on Sunday, where the two bodies were kept for

autopsy, Khokon went there to see the dead bodies.

Ramzan’s sister-in-law Jahanara yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that such “cruelty” of police was nothing new for their family. She alleged that DB police also killed her husband three years ago.

Jahanara said; “My husband Rabiul Islam was a supporter of the Awami League and used to attend every poli-tial programme. He went missing three years ago. I still do not know what happened to him. I am happy that we have at least found my brother-in-law’s body.”

According to the autopsy report, several bullet wounds were found on the bodies of Ramzan and Akmal. All those marks showed that they had been hit several times from the front. l

Ex-army man run over by train, dies n Tribune Report

A retired bri gadier general of the armed forces was killed after a train ran over him in the capital’s Mohakhali yes-terday. He was identi� ed as AshfaqFaruq, 65.

Faruq was hit by the train while crossing the rail tracks talking on the

phone, said inspector Abdul Majid Khan, o� cer-in-charge of Kamalapur General Railway police station.

“Local people and police took him to Combined Military Hospital in a crit-ical condition where doctors declared him dead,” he said.

The former army o� cial lived in Gulshan with his family. l

DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed puts up a sticker on a car in the capital's Motijheel area yesterday as part of an anti-formalin awareness campaign MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

International pressure for recognising Rohingyas easingn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The external pressure on Bangladesh for recognising illegal Myanmar na-tionals as refugees has come down as Dhaka was able to convince the inter-national community that the Rohingya in� ux was caused by internal con� icts in the neighbouring country, Foreign Ministry o� cials say.

While brie� ng on the Bangla-desh-Myanmar relations, the o� -cials yesterday told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Minis-try that the illegal Rohingyas had been eating away at the opportunity cost in Cox’s Bazar and its adjacent areas, risking the possibility of social unrests there.

Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mah-mood Ali told the 10-member watch-dog, headed by former foreign minis-ter Dipu Moni, that Bangladesh must take con� dence-building measures to improve the bilateral relations with Myanmar.

“The international pressure [to rec-ognise the illegal Rohingyas as refugees] on us has come down as we have suc-cessfully made the international com-munity understand that the Rohingya problem is a result of the internal dis-turbances in Myanmar,” Suhrub Uddin, a committee member, quoted a foreign ministry o� cial telling the watchdog.

All Rohingya nationals entering Bangladesh are not refugees. Refugees are those living in two camps in Noyap-ara and Kutupalong of Cox’s Bazar.

According to the trilateral agree-ment involving the governments of Bangladesh, Myanmar and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refu-gees (UNHCR), the refugees number-ing over 33,000 get free food ration,

education and health services from the donors.

But, according to a previous esti-mate of the Standing Committee, over 2 lakh Myanmar Muslims were living in Cox’s Bazar in shanties. The locals have already formed bodies to stop Rohing-ya in� ux, believed to be the most per-secuted minorities in the world.

The western countries had been pressing Dhaka to recognise the Ro-hingyas living inhumane conditions in shanties. They also urged Dhaka to al-low assimilation of the Rohingyas.

Their recognition as refugees would open up the � oodgate for the Rohing-yas in Bangladesh, the government fears.

“They have been causing the local opportunity losses amounting to croes of Taka every year. Besides, they have been increasing the population in Ban-gladesh,” said Suhrub, referring to the growth rate of population in the refu-gee camps – four against the Bangla-desh’s national average of 1.3.

Director General Saida Muna Tas-neem, who briefed the MPs about the Rohingya problems that started in late

1970s, told the Dhaka Tribune that the government would ask the Unit-ed Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to launch family planning activities among the Rohingyas.

“We have to build con� dence so that any trust de� cit can be overcome. We need more engagement with Myan-mar,” Col Faruk Khan, a committee member, told the Dhaka Tribune.

State Minister for Foreign Af-fairs Shahriar Alam, and lawmakers Razi Mohammad Fakhrul, Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Selim Uddin and Mahjabin Khaled attended the meeting at the cabinet committee room of the Jatiya Sangsad with Dipu Moni in the chair.

Saida Muna said the government should not only engage with the central government of Myanmar, but also the Rakhine state government as the Ro-hingyas � ee from the province which has a border with Bangladesh.

Due to communal violence by Buddhist fundamentalists and periodic crackdown from authorities, the Rohingyas often cross the border, sometimes bribing the guards to get into Bangladesh. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Life term jail suggested for formalin misusen Mohosinul Karim

The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of Formalin Control Act, 2014 re-ducing the maximum punishment to a life-term imprisonment from capital punishment, proposed earlier, for vio-lation of the law.

The highest punishment would be given for producing, selling, buying, possessing and carrying formalin with-out having any license from the gov-ernment authorities concerned.

The chemicals that are known as for-malin, formaldehyde and para-formal-dehyde or any solution of any limit of formalin would be considered as forma-lin under the proposed law. Producing, selling, buying, possessing and carrying such chemicals without having licence would be considered as o� ence.

The regular cabinet meeting approved the proposed law with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Brie� ng reporters after the meet-ing, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the act might be placed in the current session of parlia-ment for passage.

The law would come into e� ect when the Commerce Ministry formu-lates rules and regulations regarding this. Until then, anti-formalin drives would be conducted under mobile courts in line with the existing system to control the misuse of formalin, the cabinet secretary said.

The law would be enforced under the jurisdiction of mobile court or civil courts. If a mobile court thinks the trial of any case is beyond its jurisdiction, they would refer the case to the court concerned, he said.

The government will also form for-

malin control committees in all district- and upazila-levels across the country.

The DMP on June 11 launched a mas-sive anti-formalin drive in the capital, armed with electronic device Formalde-hyde Meter Z-300. However, the initia-tive faces huge criticisms since the tool is termed “unscienti� c.” Many experts say it is basically made to test the concentra-tion level of formaldehyde in the air.

“The objective of the proposed law is not banning the use of formalin since it is widely used by industries as pre-servatives. The law will only control the misuse of formalin by issuing li-cense for the users,” Musharraf said.

According to the proposed law, the misuse of formalin without having license is a non-bailable and non-mu-table o� ense.

The law proposes a provision of two to seven years’ in prison and Tk2-5 lakh as penalty for violation of the provi-sions regarding licensing, possessing or selling formalin. For possessing the equipment to produce formalin with-out having any license, an o� ender would be sentenced to two to 10 years’ jail and � ned Tk5-20 lakh.

Earlier, the ministry proposed to keep the provision of capital punish-ment as the highest punishment. But, it was later changed due to extreme pressure by the trade leaders.

A minister who attended the meet-ing told the Dhaka Tribune that the government wanted to control the use of the chemical without creating any obstruction for the actual users.

“The limits of using the chemical [Formalin] must be � xed. The scientists or chemists can do that. We will set the limit of using the chemical after con-sulting the experts,” the minister said. l

Bangladesh yet to decide on mega connectivityn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

China and Japan have asked Bangla-desh to join their separate mega con-nectivity initiatives to boost trade and investment in Asia.

“Both the countries asked Bangladesh to join their separate initiatives,” said a senior o� cial of the Foreign Ministry.

Beijing is pursuing a “One Belt, One Corridor” initiative to revive the old Silk Road and new maritime route while Tokyo has � oated a Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initia-tive to connect the coastal countries to expand Japan’s trade.

The BIG-B Initiative was proposed at the summit talk by Japanese Prime Min-ister Shinzo Abe to his Bangladesh coun-terpart Sheikh Hasina in Tokyo in May.

During the o� cial talks with Hasina in Beijing in June, Chinese Prime Min-ister Li Keqiang also proposed that Ban-gladesh join the One Belt, One Corridor initiative.

“Our o� cials are in touch with the o� cials of Japan and China to know more about the initiatives and how Bangladesh can � t in,” the o� cial said.

The countries have yet to share the concept papers of the initiatives, he added.

BIG-B initiativesThe proposed BIG-B initiative is a stra-tegic concept of Japan’s cooperation with other countries, said the Japanese embassy in Dhaka.

“BIG-B is stated as the vision of fu-ture cooperation along with the current comprehensive ODA of Japan,” it said through an email.

During his visit to Dhaka in June, Jica President Akihiko Tanaka talked about the concept of BIG-B.

The BIG-B has three pillars – trade and industry, energy and transporta-tion, Tanaka said.

“Bangladesh can provide a gateway to the ocean for Bengal regional econ-omies and play a nodal role between Southeast Asia and South Asia,” he said.

Bangladesh and Jica jointly identi-� ed Matabari, located 60km south of Chittagong, as the tipping point for car-rying out the BIG-B initiative, Tanaka said.

Jica will provide $406 million to build the 1200mw Matarbari Ultra Su-per Critical Coal-Fired Power project with the country’s � rst deep sea port for coal imports.

However, when contacted, another senior Foreign Ministry o� cial said the government has yet to examine the po-tential of the initiative.

“Japan has yet to share the concept paper with us. Unless we get it, we are not in a position to make any com-ments,” he said.

During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-na’s visit to Tokyo in May, the Japanese government pressed for a mention of the initiative in the joint statement which was issued, but Dhaka refused.

“We refused their proposal as the whole issue is still not clear to us,” said the o� cial.

One Belt, One Corridor initiativeUnder the initiative, China has taken a two-pronged approach – one is through land and rail, and the other through sea routes – to boost connectivity in the re-gion.

“They wanted to revive the old Silk

Road,” said a Foreign Ministry o� cial.In addition to that, China has taken

the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route, which will connect China with other coastal countries along the Indian and Paci� c oceans, he said.

“Both the initiatives are jointly called One Belt, One Corridor,” he added.

Chinese o� cials discussed the issue with Prime Minister Hasina during her visit to China this month, the o� cial said.

Like Japan, China also wanted to mention the One Belt, One Corridor is-sue in the joint statement issued during Hasina’s visit to Beijing in June, but Dhaka refused.

“We are open to all connectivity ini-tiatives as long as it brings a good im-pact to Bangladesh,” he said.

Bangladesh joined the BCIM EC (Bangladesh, China, India and Myan-mar Economic Corridor) initiative as it has an immense impact on the so-cio-economic condition of the country, he added.

“We will continue to negotiate with Japan and China about our joining their initiatives,” the o� cial said. l

CID again fails to submit Rana Plaza probe reports n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to submit 13 the investigation reports in August for the two cases � led over last year’s Rana Plaza collapse in Savar.

Dhaka’s Senior Judicial Magistrate Wasim Sheikh passed the order as the CID failed to submit the report yesterday.

On November 24 last year, a Dhaka court show caused Investigation O� -cer Bijoy Krishna Khar, an assistant su-perintendent of police of CID, for fail-ing to submit the probe reports.

Police and a victim’s family � led two

murder cases while Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) � led another case against the building owner for construct-ing the structure using substandard ma-terials and violating building code.

The CID is investigating all the cas-es and has been asked to deal the two murder cases together. However, since the agency is yet to complete the in-vestigations, proceedings in the cases have been delayed.

In the deadly collapse of April 24 last year, more than 1,138 people mostly fe-male garment workers were killed and over 2,500 injured. The eight-storey building housed � ve garment factories. l

15th case � led against Hall-Mark bosses n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

State-owned Sonali Bank yesterday � led another case against Hall-Mark Chairman Jasmine Islam and its Man-aging Director Tanvir Mahmud to real-ise a defaulted loan amount of Tk13.62 crore from Boby Flatbed Printing Ltd, a concern of the group.

Abdus Salam, executive o� cer of Ruposhi Bangla Hotel Corporate Branch of the bank, � led the case through their

counsel on behalf of the Bank.To realise the money, the bank issued

� nal notice to the group. But as the com-pany did not take any step, the bank is-sued a legal notice. At last, the bank � led the case yesterday with the Money Loan Court 1 of Dhaka (Artha Rin Adalat 1).

After a primary hearing, Judge Md Rabiuzzaman took the case into cog-nisance and ordered the accused to submit their written statements to the court by August 13.

The bank has so far � led 15 cases against the Hall-Mark Group to realise their outstanding loan amounting to Tk852.72 crore.

Plainti� Salam told the Dhaka Tri-bune: “Hall-Mark took the loan from Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel Branch to import and purchase machin-eries for Boby Flatbed Printing Ltd.”

The case statement says the defen-dants were given the loan in phases from 2011 to April 30 this year. l

Assistant Commissioner of Police Tobibur is seen carrying the keys of motorbikes belonging to photojournalists, which he took away after stopping four bikes at the city’s Banglamotor, moments after a VVIP motorcade passed the intersection. Although other motorbikes were allowed to pass, the police o� cial left the journalists’ bikes in the middle of the road, causing tra� c congestion in the area. He also misbehaved with the photojournalists before � nally returning the keys NASHIRUL ISLAM

With the city roads experiencing long tailbacks throughout the day, hundreds of people wait at the capital’s Farmgate intersection in the afternoon looking for a place in a public transport that could take them home before iftar MEHEDI HASAN

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Indigenous families and government dispute over land ownership in Khagrachhari 21 Chakma families living in classrooms claim that BGB built battalion headquarters on their land n Abid Azad back from

Khagrachhari

Twenty-one indigenous families in Khagrachhari, who claim they were forcefully evicted from their own land for the establishment of a BGB battal-ion headquarters, have been living in crammed conditions at a local school since June 10 following clashes be-tween law enforcers and the families over land acquisition disputes.

Although the indigenous families claimed that they had been living on the local land for generations, author-ities concerned alleged that most of the families were making false claims of being permanent residents, while the UPDF and local political forces were also trying to take advantage of the ex-isting tension surrounding the issue.

Following the recent clash, 21 fami-lies from the local Chakma communi-ty have been living in only two class-rooms of the Babuchhara High School in Dighinala upazila, claiming that the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had set up its 51 battalion headquarters on their land last month.

“We had to come here [the school] carrying only the clothes we had on. We could not bring our clothes, house-hold materials, or even our domestic animals and harvested crops,” said Su-darshana Chakma, who has been living in this school since the clashes.

“We cannot even harvest our own paddy � eld. When we try to go to our house to bring back our stu� , the BGB members halt us,” said Shantash Ku-mar Chakma, 76, who is the karbari or leader of Shashi Mahan para.

Visiting the school, the Dhaka Tri-bune found that around 84 people – who were from Shashi Mahan Karbari Para and Jatna Mahan Karbari Para – were living in crammed conditions without proper supply of food, clothes or medical facilities.

The government and BGB o� cials claimed that most of the disputed 45 acres of land in the two paras (neigh-bourhoods) was khash land that had not seen any habitations since 1986.

According to the district adminis-tration, the government started ac-quiring the 45 acres of land from 2005 to build the Babuchhara BGB battalion headquarters in 51 Dighinala Mouza, where 13.90 acre land was private land and 31.10 acre was khash land of the government.

“Some 10 indigenous people � led a writ petition with the High Court in 2005, for which the government start-

ed their action for acquiring only 29.81 acre that included 2.20 acre of private land and 27.61 acre of khash land. But the government excluded a primary school on a 2-acre area inside the ac-quired land,” said district Deputy Com-missioner Masud Karim.

“The government is yet to acquire 10.27 acre land as the High Court issued a stay order upon this land,” he added.

On May 15, the district administra-tion handed over 29.81 of acquired land to the BGB, Masud added.

The BGB has since then set up its 51 battalion headquarters on the land; while barbed wire fences have been erected to mark the property, with around nine outposts and Baghaich-hari Government Primary School-2 fall-ing inside the fenced territory.

Interestingly, around 5 acre of land remain missing from the equation for land acquisition. Although the initial land acquisition target had been set at 45 acre; the BGB had received 29.81 acre with decision on 10.27 acre still pending at the court.

Asked about the 5 acres of unac-counted land, the DC and BGB o� cials evaded any reply; with DC Masud say-

ing: “Now we are only concentrating on the 29.81 acre land.”

On the other hand, the indigenous people claimed that they had been liv-ing on the disputed land for many years.

“We had been living in Babuchhara for generations. During the insurgen-cies in 1986, hundreds of families in-cluding us became refugees in India’s Tripura. After the peace accord in 1997, we returned to our land upon an agree-ment that said we will be given our land back,” said Mrinal Kanti Chakma, 42, who was now living in the school with his family.

“However, we are yet to get back our land. For this, we had been living and cultivating on this land in a tensed situation. Now, for the second time, we are being displaced from our land,” he added.

Bishwa Kallyan Chakma, the chair-man of Kabakhali union parishad, said: “During 1977-79, I lived at my relative’s house which was situated on the 45 acre land. At the time, there were more than 30 families living there. There was also a Kyong [a religious house].

“During 1986-89, many families were forced to leave their land and go

to India. After they left, an army camp was established in the area in 1986. When the displaced people returned, they found an army camp on their land. As they did not get back their land since then, they could not build any perma-nent house.

“We are neither against the govern-ment nor the BGB, but we request them to establish the headquarters on any land where no one would be displaced” Bishwa added.

Asked if the indigenous families had any documentation showing proof of their ownership of the land, Santo Shi-ta Chakma, the secretary for refugee welfare organisation Jumma Sarana-rthi Kallyan Samitte, said: “How can we have any papers? When a 20-point deed was made in 1997, we were told that we will be given our land back with all necessary papers. But we are yet to get our land back or any paper.”

However, both the Khagrachhari DC and BGB o� cials denied claims of the 21 families’ ownership of the land.

“Since 1986, there was a sub-zone army camp in Babuchhara area. There was no family living on the 45 acre land. As the government now realised

that the border area was unsafe, a BGB battalion headquarters was established withdrawing the previous army camp,” said Babuchara 51 BGB o� cial Maj Ka-mal Uddin.

“The area still belongs to the army camp,” he added.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Masud Karim claimed that the area had no habitation a year ago, while some people recently built some new houses in order to be compensated for land ac-quisition.

On April 10, the government pro-posed compensation to ten indigenous people as part of the land acquisition drive; with two of the families to be compensated for acquisition of their private land and the rest compensated for their trees on the land. The com-pensation amount was proposed on the basis of their land area and trees, with the lowest amount proposed at Tk2,636 and the highest at Tk69,000.

Lolito Mohan Chakma, who was proposed to get Tk69,000 as compen-sation for his 1.5 acre land, said: “I do not need any compensation money. I want my land back.”

Meanwhile, local o� cials suggested that an organisation of the hill tracts area were encouraging the families to not accept the compensation.

The DC said: “An anti-peace accord group was always against the estab-lishment of a BGB battalion here. Here, only two families are the real victims while others want to prevent the es-tablishment of the BGB battalion head-quarters in this area.”

On June 17, the Dighinala upazila nirbahi o� cer submitted a report to the DC o� ce that said: “The present law and order situation is normal. But it is thought that United Peoples Dem-ocratic Front (UPDF) along with some local political parties are trying to make the situation worse using the land ac-quisition issue.”

However, UPDF central member De-badanta Tripura denied the allegations and claimed that the government and the BGB were blaming the UPDF in or-der to discard their own responsibility and secure their own interest.

Earlier, State Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts A� airs Bir Bahadur U Shwe Sing told the Dhaka Tribune that only two families were a� ected by the land acquisition of 29.81 acres of government khash land in the area. The other families were not victims, he said, claiming that a group was trying to divert the situation to their bene� t. l

Victim testi� es against Subhan n Udisa Islam

A prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Abdus Subhan yester-day described the killing of villagers, in presence of the accused, on the prem-ises of a mosque in Pabna during the 1971 Liberation War.

Eighteenth witness Abdul Aziz, 62, from Bharara under Pabna sadar police station, claimed that Subhan and his men had captured at least 17 people and killed 10 of them. The accused cap-tured him too but freed him later as his name was not included in the list.

Aziz said one Mazid Sheikh was killed in front of his eyes as Maulana Subhan had hinted his accomplices to shoot him. Mazid was killed as he had

taken time to respond when Subhan called his name from his list, the wit-ness said.

He said: “Subhan and Bonder Chair-man came to Dilbar’s house on 5th Jaishthya [the second month of Bang-la calendar] and captured him. I went there to see what was happening and Subhan captured me from there. That day they also captured at least 17 peo-ple. Subhan called some names from his list and asked them to stand in queue.”

After he had been freed, Aziz spoke to Dilbar wanting to know about the 11 people who were taken to Noorpur power station army camp. Dilbar told him that 10 of them had been killed by gunshot. Dilbar also told the witness that villagers from Debottorpara buried

six bodies in a hole after Subhan and his fellows had left the place.

The 17th witness testi� ed on the same charge on Sunday.

After his deposition, defence coun-sel Mizanul Islam questioned him. The witness became restless when the counsel grilled him for over 30 minutes. Aziz said he had given true statement at the tribunal and refused to be questioned for so long. The tribu-nal and the prosecution then told him about the trial proceedings and asked him to answer the questions.

The witness then said: “If Maulana Shaheb was a good man, then why did he support West Pakistan and why did he leave the country after liberation?”

After his cross-examination, the tri-bunal set July 8 for further witness. l

Tribunal slams prosecution for skipping Tipoo’s name n Udisa Islam

The con� ict within the prosecution came to fore again yesterday as the prosecution of the International Crimes Tribunal avoided mentioning the name of the chief prosecutor in a petition, breaching its rules.

The tribunal 2 headed by Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan slammed the prosecution for doing so and ordered to resubmit the petition following cor-rection.

The prosecution yesterday submitted to the tribunal a petition � led by the in-vestigators seeking its order for show-ing alleged razakar commander Forkan Mallick arrested in a case � led for kill-ing people in Mirzaganj of Patuakhali during the 1971 Liberation War.

They mentioned the name of act-ing chief prosecutor Syed Haider Ali, instead of Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipoo, and others.

The tribunal took notice and asked Mokhlesur Rahman Badal the reason. As he could not give any reply, the tribunal asked them what the Interna-tional Crimes (Tribunals) Act said re-garding � ling of a petition.

“The chief prosecutor assigned you to do your job. Why did not you mention his name on the petition? Is

he dead or out of o� ce?” the tribunal asked.

The prosecutor was totally silent facing such sudden grilling.

The petition even had the name of Rezaur Rahman, a prosecutor who did not even come to the tribunal in the last two years. Only the name of the chief prosecutor was deleted.

The tribunal said mentioning sec-tion 6 of the ICT Act: “Whatever you do [outside court] is a your own matter, but when you come to us, try to follow the law.”

Later it asked the prosecution to in-clude the name of chief prosecutor and said: “We will wait for the correction.”

The tribunal also asked the inspec-tor general of police (prison) to produce war crimes suspect Forkan Mallick be-fore it on July 3 in the case � led against him for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity.

Detective Branch of Police arrested Forkan from Rupatoli Bus Stand area of Barisal on June 25.

The prosecution said Forkan had been arrested in the killing case � led with Mirzaganj police station in Patu-akhali.

After police investigation, the case was sent to Patuakhali District and Sessions Judge’s Court that issued the arrest warrant against Forkan last year. After his arrest, the court ordered to send him to jail.

Abdul Hamid of Soilabunia of Mir-zaganj upazila � led the case on July 21, 2009 against Forkan, 62, a razakar com-mander of the upazila.

In the case, the complainant alleged that Forkan had abetted the Pakistani occupation forces to kill then presi-dent of Subidkhali unit Awami League Abdul Quader Jomaddar and activist Yazuddin Khalifa; Dr Debendranath and his wife and some Hindu people in the area during the war. l

Tribunal: Submit charges against Hassan on Aug 5 n Udisa Islam

The International Crimes Tribunal 1 yesterday asked the prosecution to submit on August 5 the formal charge against alleged razakar commander Syed M Hassan Ali alias Hachhen Ali.

The three-member tribunal headed by Justice M Enayetur Rahim passed the order after receiving the investiga-tion report submitted by the prosecu-tion. Hassan, 65, had carried out atroc-ities as a razakar commander of Tarail, Kishoreganj in association with the Paki-stani occupation forces, the report says.

The investigators have found fugi-tive Hassan’s involvement in six counts of o� ences including killing, mass kill-ing, arson, looting, torture and kidnap-ping. The tribunal on April 4 issued the arrest warrant against the suspect.

Meanwhile, the same tribunal yes-terday set August 31 for passing order upon a pending contempt charge is-sued against Fakhrul Islam, the coun-sel for death row convict BNP lawmak-er Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

In another case, against Jamaat-e-Is-lami leader ATM Azharul Islam, de-fence counsels continued cross-exam-ination of Investigation O� cer Idris Ali for the third session.

When the defence questioned the IO about his case diary, the tribunal asked them not to question on the case dia-ry as it was contrary to the law. In the following one hour, the prosecution and the defence argued whether the defence could question on the case di-ary or not.

The tribunal later expressed discon-tent over some blurred parts of the ICT Act and told the defence: “The Act does not allow the defence to use case diary. Here the word ‘use’ means to examine, to grill upon this.”

After half session, the tribunal ad-journed the trial until today. l

Strategic leadership training soon for health o� cials n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University is going to conduct Strategic Leadership and Training Programme for district health and family planning o� cials in mid-August.

Under the programme, more than 80 district civil surgeons including se-nior deputy health directors and upa-zila health and family planning o� cers will take part in the � ve-day extensive training on strategic leadership.

Several senior o� cials of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told the Dhaka Tribune that initially seven high-ups of the health directorate would participate in the programme that would continue from August 13 to 17.

The programme will be held at BIAM auditorium in the capital in associa-tion with the Health and Informatics Department of BSMMU, Save the Chil-dren, Dhaka and John Hopkins Blum-berg School of Public Health.

Prof Dr Pran Gopal Datta, vice-chan-cellor of BSMMU, has already sent let-ters to seven selected district civil sur-geons to attend the � rst batch training programme. l

Members of the families who have been living inside the school talk to reporters DHAKA TRIBUNE

Biman o� cials lay seige to the o� ce of their MD yesterday, pressing home their 14-point demand DHAKA TRIBUNE

The prosecutor was totally silent when the tribunal said: ‘The chief prosecutor assigned you to do your job. Why did not you mention his name on the petition? Is he dead or out of o� ce?’

Trustee of Bengal Foundation dies n Tribune Report

Subir Chow-dhury, direc-tor of Ben-gal Gallery of Fine Arts and one of the trustees of Bengal Foundation, died at 61 at a hospital in

Sydney, Australia yesterday morning. He was su� ering from brain tumour and was under treatment at the time of his death.

Subir was renowned for his service to the country’s art scene. He promoted Bangladeshi art in many countries by organising several exhibitions. His con-tribution in the Asian Biennial Fine Arts Exhibition is particularly remembered.

He went to Australia with a team of 10 contemporary artists on March 16 for an exhibition titled “Jonmobhumir Gaan” to be held in three cities of the country. He fell ill at the inauguration of the exhibition in Canberra and later was diagnosed with brain tumour. His treatment immediately began at Syd-ney’s Westmead Hospital.

He is survived by his wife, a son, a daughter and numerous friends and well-wishers. l

Port city people to relish CMP techno servicesn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The Chittagong Metropolitan Police yesterday launched three new on-line-based tech based services for the port city dwellers as well as for main-taining law and order situation in the commercial capital of the country.

The services include Digital Surveil-lance System, CMP Mobile Application and Vehicle Theft and Recovery Data-base, CMP Commissioner Md Sha� qul Islam said, while inaugurating the ser-vices at the conference room of CMP headquarters in the morning.

Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder, Ad-ditional Commissioner (Tra� c, Finance and Administration) AKM Shahidur Rahman, Deputy Commissioners, Addi-tional Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and o� cers-in-charge of di� erent police stations of CMP were present at the programme.

Additional Deputy Commission-er (ADC) Babul Akhter of Detective Branch of CMP, also the spokesman of CMP, described di� erent aspects of the three services at the programme.

He said three types of cameras – Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ), Face Detector and 1200 TBL – have already been setup on 17 spots of the port city under Dig-ital Surveillance System while the CMP would install more cameras on 37 spots

within next two to three months.“A total of 56 cameras were installed

at 17 points while 111 will be installed at 37 other points,” he also said.

PTZ cameras can track autos and detect any object within 100 metres at night while it can also be operated by android mobile phone sets.

Face Detector Camera could take many peoples’ faces at a time which would help police � nd out criminals easily, the ADC said, adding that 1200 TBL cameras could take an overall view of a place and the snaps could also be examined by zooming in.

The CMP spokesman said any an-droid mobile phone could download the CMP’s application from Google Play Store from where people could get every kind of answers of their desired queries.

With the help of newly launched ser-vices, people who lost their vehicles from theft or mugging could get information about their vehicles' recovery through mobile phone SMS, said the ADC.

If the owner of the stolen vehicle en-ters all required information into the da-tabase, the database system will preserve that information and send them to all po-lice stations across the country while the vehicle owner will be informed as soon as his vehicle is recovered, he said.

The CMP commissioner said they were trying their best to provide citizen services for people in the port city. l

WEATHER

RAIN OR THUNDER-SHOWER

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 3:47am Sunrise 5:13am Zohr 12:02am Asr 4:43pm Magrib 6:50pm Esha 8:18pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:50PM SUN RISES 5:15AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW34.1ºC 24.2ºCSylhet Chittagong

TUESDAY, JUly 1

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 33 27Chittagong 31 26Rajshahi 31 27Rangpur 31 27Khulna 29 25Barisal 30 26Sylhet 34 26Cox’s Bazar 30 26

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

EIB gives 100m euros loann Tribune Report

European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided 100 million Euro loan to the government to � nance a new sustain-able surface water supply system in Dhaka.

The � nancing contract was signed in Dhaka yesterday, said a press release.

The main project component is a new sustainable surface water supply system comprising of a raw water in-take in the Meghna River, about 30km east of Dhaka, and 21km raw water transmission pipeline.

The project will also include 14km treated water transmission pipeline from the Gandharbpur water transmis-sion pipeline to the injection point of the existing distribution network and distribution reinforcements in the tar-get area with an estimated population of approximately three million.

The water supply project compo-nent is complemented by a distribution network improvement component that will be implemented in 16 district me-tered areas (DMAs) with a population

of approximately 1.3 million. The proj-ect will be implemented between 2014 and 2019.

In line with the European Union mandate guiding the EIB lending man-

date for Asia, the project will promote the development of social and eco-nomic infrastructures.

It will improve availability, quali-ty and reliability of water supply ser-vices in Dhaka with positive healthand environmental bene� ts for the population.

The operation will also contribute to

EIB’s Climate Action as it will improve the resilience to adverse impacts from climate change, in particular drought.

This is the second lending operation to public sector in the country, the � rst one being euro 82 million in support of more e� cient power generation was signed in November 2013.

EIB is granting this loan under the current lending mandate for Asia and Latin America (ALA IV), which enables it to support investment designed to develop the local private sector, build social and economic infrastructures and mitigate the e� ects of climate change.

Since 1993, EIB has operated under four successive Asia and Latin Ameri-ca mandates. Under these mandates,from 1993 until 2013, EIB has already provided euro 5.6 billion for projects in Asia.

European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its mem-ber states. It makes long-term � nance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. l

Vegetable prices skyrocket in Ctgn CU Correspondent

Prices of daily commodities, especially vegetables, have shot up at the kitchen markets in Chittagong city on the oc-casion of Ramadan, in spite of having ample supply of vegetables and others items.

The prices of most vegetables have been on the rise, causing di� culties for the lower- and middle-income people.

In the city’s Kazir Dewri, Karna-phuli, Chowmuhani and Chawk Bazar kitchen markets, prices of aubergine, cucumber, green chilli, onion, tomato and lemon went up, forcing the con-sumers to buy the items at high rates.

Aubergines are being sold at Tk90-100 a kg, which was Tk70 only the day before. Cucumbers are Tk70-80 a kg,

against last week’s price of Tk30 per kg.Rahim Mia, a vegetable retailer at

Kazir Dewri market, said the price of aubergines shot up to Tk100 from Tk80 per kg, while tomatoes were being sold at Tk70.

Mohammad Eliash, proprietor of Eliash Store in the same market, said the price of onion rose to Tk45 from Tk34 in a day, and the Indian garlic was also being sold at Tk95.

“We are forced to sell the items at high price to the customers as the wholesale traders have hiked the price,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Md Shah Alam, a retired Bangladesh Railway employee, said there was no political strike or any other obstruction in the supply chain that could cause the price hike.

Because of this, every essential commodity is going out of reach for the general people, he said.

Md Sakib, a road side vegetable ven-dor in Kazir Dewri market, said prices of four standard seized lemons was Tk25, while a kg of carrots was being sold at Tk100.

Venting his frustration, a consum-er named Md Belal Hossain in Bandar area said although the government had announced to monitor the prices of es-sential commodities in market to check the price during Ramadan, there was no visible result.

“This is a common phenomenon ev-ery year,” he said.

The shopkeepers said the prices would keep increasing in the coming days of Ramadan. l

Domestic worker commits suiciden Tribune Report

A domestic worker committed suicide yesterday by hanging herself, report-edly after being deceived by her � ance.

The deceased was identi� ed as Khadiza, 17, daughter of Rezina Begum and Khorshed Alam. She is from Bot-mari village of Kaliganj upazila in Lal-monirhat.

Khadiza had been working as a do-mestic help at a house in the capital’s Razabazar area.

Khadiza's mother said: “Her cousin Alam was supposed to marry her, but he betrayed my daughter and married another woman. Alam got married three months ago, but my daughter was unaware of this matter. She came to know about the matter recently.”

Rezina came to Dhaka before six to seven months and started working as domestic worker in Nababganj area.

Khadiza’s employer Tapon Halder said: “She was totally heart-broken after hearing about the marriage. She used to cry a lot and had become men-tally ill. She couldn’t even work prop-erly. We have noticed some abnormal behavior in her.” “She used to say, no-body will marry her ever and she had become a burden to her mother, and her death would reduce the burden of her family. She had said that, just four days ago,” Tapon added. l

Dhaka University Day todayn DU Correspondent

The Dhaka University Day will be cele-brated on the campus premises today with traditional festivity and enthusi-asm, marking the 93rd founding anni-versary of the university.

A press release of the university says the day would be celebrated with the slogan “Higher education for economic development and social justice devel-opment.”

The university authorities have chalked out elaborate programmes, including hoisting � ags at the top of all student dormitories and main build-ings of the university, cutting cake, bringing out colourful procession, re-search exhibition, discussions, remi-niscence and cultural session, sports and debate competitions, drama and short � lm show.

Speaker of the parliament Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury will inaugurate the day long programmes in the morning.

The University of Dhaka was estab-lished during the British rule in 1921. Academic activities started on July 1, 1921 with 3 faculties: Arts, Science and Law; and twelve departments: Sanskrit and Bengali, English, Education, Histo-ry, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Persian and Urdu, Philosophy, Economics and Politics, Physics, Chemistry, Mathe-matics, and Law; three dormitories for students: Salimullah Muslim Hall, Dac-ca Hall [present Shaidullah Hall] and Jagannath Hall.

At present, around 33,000 students study at the university with 13 faculties and 11 institutes. l

Over 100 illegal structures demolished n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

The Gazipur Tra� c department demol-ished over 100 illegal structures, in-cluding shops and resturants, along the Tongi-Kaliganj road in Tongi station road area yesterday.

A team of tra� c department led by Assistant Police Super of Gazipur Shakh-wat Hossain conducted the drive in the area and demolished the structures.

Shakhwat Hossain said tra� c con-gestion had become a common phe-nomenon in the area because of illegal structures on both sides of the road.

He said they had warned traders of demolish drive several times, but they did not pay heed to the warning.

He said they had taken the decision to demolish the structures at a meeting held between law enforcers and local businessman.

At the meeting, o� cer-in-charge of Tongi police station was given respon-sibility to conduct the drive, but the OC

could not do so for unknown reason. Later, the ASP conducted the drive

and demolished the structures. Local sources alleged that the OC

regularly extorts from traders, who built structures on government land and for that reason the OC was reluc-tant to demolish these structures.

Kazi Ismail Hossain, o� -cer-in-charge of Tongi police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that it was true that he was reluctant to evict traders because these people’s livelihood is running their roadside shops.

Additional Superintendent of Gazi-pur police Sonjit Kumar Roy said they would continue drive against illegal structures.

Asked about the reluctance of the OC to evict traders, he said he had nothing to do if anyone felt upset re-garding demolition of the shops.

He said if any trade built structure along the road, they would take stern actions against them. l

CMP o� cials take a look at the Digital Surveillance System, a new addition to the agency, yesterday to maintain law and order of the port city DHAKA TRIBUNE

Two Pakistanis held with Rs1.71 crore fake currency at Dhaka airportn Kailash Sarkar

Customs o� cials yesterday arrested two Pakistani nationals and seized fake Indian currency amounting to Rs1.71 crore and 195 cartons of Esse, a Korean brand cigarette, from them at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka city.

Abu Zahir, 50, and Yeasmin, 18, residents of Karachi, reached Dhaka on tourist visas by a Pakistan Airlines � ight about 2pm.

Director General of the Customs In-telligence and Investigation Director-ate (CIID) Mainul Khan said they were seen moving around suspiciously after landing at the airport, when customs o� cials approached them and checked their luggage they discovered the fake Indian currency and the cigarettes.

Earlier in the day, 413 cartons of cig-arettes and huge amount of medicine worth around Tk50 lakh was aban-doned and recovered at the airport. Customs o� cials said the contraband goods might have been at the Customs Hall after smuggling those from Dubai.

In the last few years, according to customs intelligence o� cials and other law enforcement agencies, around 60 Pakistani nationals had been arrested in possession of fake Indian currency amounting to around Rs200 crore.

Most arrestees were found to be linked to di� erent militant organisa-tions in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh –Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

CIID Director General Mainul was asked whether they were trying to discover the duo's link to any militant organisation, he said the two would be handed over to police and sued for smuggling fake currencies and foreign cigarettes.

Assistant Commissioner (customs)

Qamrul Hasan said: “Almost 90 percent of the currencies, which have so far been recovered from Pakistani nation-als, are found to be fake.”

On April 3 of this year, Pakistani na-tional Asimullah Khan, 40, was arrest-ed with fake Rs8.8 million at the Dhaka airport.

Detective Branch of police arrested 12 militant leaders, including 4 Paki-stani nationals, with fake Indian cur-rencies worth Tk1.29 crore in March of last year.

Pakistani nationals Sabbir, Md Danish and his Bangladeshi wife Fatema were arrested with fake Rs10 lakh at Rampu-ra on January 18, in 2010.

On December 18, in 2009, Pakistani woman Rubina and Bangladeshi na-tional Solaiman Majumdar, who was said to be linked to the ISI and LeT, was arrested with fake Rs10 lakh.

Among other Pakistani nationals, Mobasshar Shahed was arrested with fake currencies of Rs15 lakh, Zahid Hasan with Rs10 lakh, Abdullah Ali with Rs1 crore, Sabakat Ali with Rs41 lakh, Wahid Ali with Rs90 lakh, Sa-hadat Ali with Rs40 lakh from 2011 to April this year.

Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam of Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Met-ropolitan Police (DMP) had earlier said fake Indian currencies usually go to JMB, HuJI and other militant out� ts. l

Businessmen ready with di� erent kind of delicious iftar items in the capital's Chawkbazar on the � rst day of Ramadan yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

This is the second lending operation to public sector in the country, the � rst one being euro 82 million in support of more e� cient power generation was signed in November 2013

'Almost 90% of the currencies, which have so far been recovered from Pakistani nationals, are found to be fake'

Over 3,000 trees chopped down by miscreantsn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A gang of miscreants chopped down at least 3,000 acacia and 40 jackfruit trees from a garden at Sripur in Gazipur on Sunday morning.

The miscreants also assaulted Sultan Uddin, owner of the trees, and his niece as they tried to stop the tree felling.

Sultan Uddin � led a case with Sripur Model police station accusing his 12 co-villagers, including Ataur Rahman, Liton Mia, Shah Jamal, Sumon Mia, Uz-zal and Shakil.

According to local sources, Sultan Uddin has planted 3,000 acacia and 40 jackfruit trees in 2003.

The sources said people from ad-jacent village used to cut branches of trees. Sultan tried to raise his voice several times but then the miscreants threatened him with dire consequences.

On Sunday morning, a gang of local goons equipped with lethal weapons entered the forest and started cutting down trees.

Sultan Uddin and his niece tried to resist them, but could not as they beat them up severely.

Chopping down the trees within an hour, the intruders left the place along

with logs riding on a human haulier. After � ling of the case, police picked

up Mozzamel from the spot and ques-tioned him. Abu Jafar, Sripur Forest Range o� cer, told the Dhaka Tribune

that they had visited the spot. He said they would take action

against the people who are behind the tree chopping. He said, “The investiga-tion is going on.” l

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Jamaat leader held for vandalising AL o� cePolice yesterday arrested a Jamaat-e-Islami leader for vandalising and setting � re to Belkuchi upazila Awami League o� ce in Sirajganj. Majnu Mia, 45, is the current head of Ward No 8 at the upazila’s Bera Union Parishad. He is also a rokon (full member) of the upazila Jamaat. Belkuchi police station O� cer-in-Charge Abdul Hai said there was an arrest warrant against Majnu. – Our Correspondent

Elderly tailor diesin road accident An elderly tailor was killed in a road accident at Chauhali upazila in Sirajganj yesterday. The deceased was identi� ed as Ramzan Ali, 62, of Khashkawlia Choudda-rashi village in the upazila. Chauhali police station O� cer-in-Charge Shamsul Haq said Ramzan was going home from his work-place on Sunday night, when a locally as-sembled vehicle, named Nasiman, ran him over. He was critically injured and rushed to hospital, where he died immediately. – Our Correspondent

Schoolboy dies from electric shockA 15-year-old school student died as he came in contact with a live wire at Sadar upazila in Sirajganj yesterday. The deceased was identi� ed as Niamul islam, 15, son of Fazlu Sheikh of Bonbaria village. He was a class nine student of Paikpara Model High School. Witnesses said Niamul had climbed up a tree to cut o� a branch, when he came in direct contact with a live wire, fell to the ground and died on the spot. Sadar police station O� cer-in-Charge Habibul Islam said he had heard of the incident but had not got any complaint from anybody about this. – Our Correspondent

Woman held with illegal drugs in ChapainawabganjPolice arrested a woman allegedly in pos-session of 1800 bottles of phensidyl syrup at Bholahat upazila in Chapainawabganj yesterday. The woman was identi� ed as Sagira Begum, wife of Atabul of Poladanga village. Bholahat police station O� cer-in-Charge Farhad Hossain said they arrested

Sagira on Sunday night in a raid at her house. However, her husband was then able to � ee. – Our Correspondent

Motorcyclist diesin road crashA motorcyclist yesterday died in a road accident at Sadar upazila in Jamalpur. The deceased was identi� ed as Saddam, 25, son of Hafez Ali at Jamtali Bashchara area. He was a mechanic by profession. Witness-es said Saddam was riding a motorcycle, when he was hit by a pick-up van at the upazila’s Jamtali area. He died on the spot. Sub-Inspector Mahabbat Kabir, who is in-charge of Narayanpur police investigation centre, con� rmed the incident. – Our Correspondent

Mother, child diein road accident A woman and her four-year-old daughter on Sunday evening died as a speeding truck ran over them at Gobingaganj upazila in Gaibandha. The deceased were Maksuda Begum, 30, wife of Sirajul islam of Kalitola Singhojani village, and their daughter Sumai-ya Akter. Gobindaganj police station O� cer-in-Charge ABM Jahidul Islam said Maksuda along with her daughter were returning to her in-laws’ house at Kalitola Singhajani after visiting her parents at Santalpara village. They were returning in a CNG-run auto rick-shaw when a truck hit them from behind on Dhaka-Rangpur highway at Katakhali Bridge area. They died on the spot. – Our Correspondent

Khagrachhari Pourasabha budget declaredBudget worth over Tk59.93 crore for the 2014-15FY of Khagrachhari Pourasabha was declared yesterday without imposing any new taxes. Khagrachhari Mayor Ra� kul Alam read out the budget at a programme jointly organised by the pourasabha authorities and Socheton Nagorik Commit-tee. Deputy Commissioner Masud Karim was present at the programme as the chief guest. Additional Deputy Commissioner Abdul Khalek, Additional Police Super Enayet Hossain and pourasabha council-lors were present among others at the programme.– Our Correspondent

NEWS IN BRIEFWage discrimination against women still largely evident n Our Correspondent, Rajbari

Breaking the century-old tradition of remaining con� ned to their household chores, women are now getting en-gaged in physical labour outside their homes to support their poor families along with their fathers and husbands.

Taking advantage of their poverty and lack of awareness, middlemen hire them for low wages. Both the demand and employment of female labourers have considerably increased recently, but em-ployers still often tend to exploit them.

“Although female workers are said to be more sincere and active than their male counterparts, the female workers are paid far less,” said Mim, 26, a sewing worker of the Ayesha-Abed Foundation at Rajbari BSCIC under Ramkantopur union of Sadar upazila in the district.

In a recent visit to the Ayesha-Abed Foundation, a good number of female workers were seen working there, as well as in rice mills, � our mills and some other factories in the district.

Every year labour organisations ob-serve the May Day with huge enthusi-

asm and spirit in our country to reduce the wage discrimination, but the reality at the ground level suggests quite the opposite picture which again points at the meaninglessness of observing those programs.

Women are engaged in almost every sector, be it in menial labour in crop lands, brick kilns, hotels, houses, small industrial units, construction sites. However, they have to remain “satis-� ed” with half, even one-third of the wages than their fellow male workers for the same amount of work.

In fact a section of them, mostly widows or divorcees are the lone bred earners of the family.

Several female labourers, working for the road construction at Daulatdia in Goalondo upazila, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were hired for a daily wage of Tk200 to 225, while a male la-bourer was given Tk350 to 400 for the same job.

“I am a labourer for road repairing work at village Ghee Komla under Mrigi union in Baliakandi Upazila for a mea-gre pay of Tk200 daily. We know we

are being deceived by the middle men due to lack of unity among the female labourers,” said Khodeja Begum, 40, a divorcee living in that area.

Zaheeda Begum, 35, a widow at vil-lage Hosnabad in Rajbari Sadar upazila, was seen working at a block painting shop.

“I and all other female labourers get Tk250 per day each while the male la-bourers get Tk350,” she said.

Shirin Begum, 30, an unskilled worker of the shop, said she was only getting Tk75 per day.

Sha� qul Islam, a contractor of Roads and Highway Division (RHD) of Rajbari Sadar upazila said the female labourers usually remain satis� ed with a daily wage of Tk200, although they are not less active in work than the males.

Wahiduzzaman, general secretary of a day labourers' organisation of Ra-jbari Sadar upazila, said at least 5,000 female labourers are working at di� er-ent places in the district. We are trying to unite them under a female works' council to ensure that they get proper wage like their male counterparts. l

Work on Swarupkathi upazila bridge yet to see lightn Our Correspondent, Pirojpur

Despite laying the foundation stone three years ago, the construction of a bridge on a local river linking popular Miarhat and Barchakathi bazars under Swarupkathi upazila of the district has yet to begin.

A total of 10,000 people have long been facing di� culties to cross the In-derhat River in absence of the bridge as a result.

While visiting, the correspondent found that Miarhat bazar is belonged to Sutiakathi union while Barchakathi un-der Sohagdal union. The bridge, which 72 metre in length and 7.3 in width, will work as linking bridge for the bazars.

The local bazars attract large groups of buyers and sellers from both the unions on Monday and Thursday each week.

Sources at Pirojpur Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) said a total of four tenders have been � outed for the bridge until 2012 end.

On June 4, 2011, the then local MP Shah Alam and LGED chief engineer Wahidur Rahman set the foundation stone of the bridge, at an estimated cost of Tk9 crore and later a tender was announced.

Naim, a resident of the upazila, said especially about 3,000 dwellers of Bar-chakathi village would be bene� ted from the bridge and it would be less

time consuming to reach the Miarhat bazar as well.

Asaduzzaman, a businessman of Mi-arhat bazar, said about � ve thousand people cross the river daily and they have to face untold su� ering particu-larly during the rainy season.

Mahbubur Rahman, general secretary of Miarhat bazar traders' association, echoed the Asaduzzaman’s opinion.

Contacted, Pirojpur LGED Executive Engineer Md Ra� qul Islam said no con-tractor expressed interest in the bridge construction despite � outing tender for several times.

“We are trying best to end the task as early as possible by issuing another fresh tender,” the engineer continued.

When he was asked why the founda-tion stone of the bridge was placed, he declined to make any remarks in this regard. l

Two indigenous women burnt aliven Our Correspondent,

Khagrachhari

Two ethnic minority women were burnt alive in remote Moratila area un-der Panchhari upazila in Khagrachhari district Sunday night.Sources said Ut-tari Tripura,13, daughter of late Babu Ram Tripura of Horonsing Para, and her aunt Shanti Rani Tripura,48, died as � re engulfed their thatched house within moments.

Panchhari police station O� cer-in-Charge Abdus Samad Morol said: “At � rst, four members of the family came out of the house except Uttori Tripura, who came to visit her aunt in the after-noon. When her aunt Shanti Rani Tripu-ra rushed inside the burning house to rescue her niece Uttori, both of them were engulfed by the devas-tating � re that subsequently burnt them alive.”

Police visited the spot for investigating the incident whether it was a natural one or a planned murder, the OC said, adding that legal action would be taken on comple-tion of the investigation. l

Two AL men killedn Tribune Report

At least two AL men were murdered in Kushtia and Pabna districts yesterday.

According to our Kushtia correspond-ent, a local Awami League activist was hacked to death by some miscreants at Gopalpur village in Mirpur upazila.

Shahidul Islam Shahin, o� cer-in-charge of Mirpur police station, said 3 to 4 miscreants had entered the house of Mamun Gazi, 35, an activist of Chith-lia union unit of the ruling party and son of late Amjad Gazi of the village. He was sleeping at around 2am, when they stabbed him indiscriminately with sharp weapons, leaving him dead on the spot.

In Pabna, a local Awami League leader was hacked to death and another activist was injured by some unidenti� ed miscre-ants at Haturia Purbapara in Bera.

Tofazzel Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Bera police station, said that miscreants had stabbed Md Mosaddek Ali Mukul, 45, secretary of Haturia-Nakalia union unit AL and also the headmaster of An-wara Quader Girls’ High School and son of Shiker Ali and his fellow Hazrat Ali at around 11:30pm when they were return-ing home riding a motorbike.

Hazrat was rushed to hospital in Sirajganj where doctors on duty de-clared him dead. l

A gang of miscreants chopped these trees on Sunday morning DHAKA TRIBUNE

The foundation stone of Inderhat bridge was laid on June 4, 2011, but the authority is yet to begin the bridge. The photo was taken yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sources at Pirojpur Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) said a total of four tenders have been � outed for the bridge until 2012 end

7Long Form Tuesday, July 1, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Korvi Rakshand and MH Kawsar Rudro

When bad men combine,the good must associate;else they will fall one by one,an unpitied sacri� ce in a contemptible struggle.

- Edmund Burke

In political campaigns and discus-sions, our politicians often brag about the power of youth – youth can change the world; youth are the power and whatnot. The

political parties run special campaigns to impress the young voters before an election as the youth is the major vote bank that determines who will come to power.

They talk about how they will give the youth jobs, a better place to live in, endless promises. Listening to their fairytale, the youth start dreaming – this time, Bangladesh will change, people will � nd a country where everyone will have equal rights to education, no one will die starving, every child’s face will be lit up with a smile, and we will live happily ever after. But their dreams never come true as the unemployed and frustrat-ed youth walk the lonely road – waiting for the happy days to come.

In Bangladesh, there are an esti-mated 30 million adolescent boys and girls, between the ages of 10-19, who represent 20% of the population, while 40% of the population com-prises of children alone. In a country where nearly half the population is aged below 18, the existence of prom-ising youth goes uncounted, and their stories remain unheard.

Yet, the youth of Bangladesh struggle every day, they wake up every morning with dreams of a better country to live in. As the sun rises and starts spreading light, the darkness of corruption and systematic discrimina-tion engulf their dreams. Our history of winning the title of world cup of corruption for several times, testi� es how corruption and misuse of political power eat up the fruits of peoples’ hard work.

Not an anomaly

Despite the odds we face every day in Bangladesh, many youth-led initia-tives are raising hope to bring changes to the system that nurtures poverty and social injustice, and caters to the need of the powerful.

Jaago Foundation started its jour-ney in 2007 with a vision of breaking the cycle of poverty through education for the disadvantaged children who would be deprived of quality educa-

tion otherwise. Having Started with a small room, with only 17 children from slums in Rayerbazar, Jaago Founda-tion currently runs a total of eight free of cost English Medium Schools, educating approximately 1,400 un-derprivileged children from disadvan-taged families in di� erent districts of Bangladesh.

With the partnership of Grameen-phone, Jaago also introduced online

schooling in Bangladesh in � ve of the schools where students in the remotest areas are o� ered quality education through video-conferencing technology. We are also opening � ve more schools this year with a vision of establishing schools in all 64 districts

of Bangladesh.Madaripur School is one of the

online schools that enabled disadvan-taged students of the area get free of cost education with the support of our sponsors and well wishers. About 30 disadvantaged children were enrolled in the play – group of our Madaripur School, and the students were attend-ing classes regularly until “mighty” politics entered their classroom.

In May 2014, Shobuj, the nephew of Rehana Parveen Lipa, Secretary of women’s a� airs of the Awami League in Madaripur District, applied for the role of project o� cer at the Jaago Madaripur School. Not having met the criteria, his application had been

rejected in favour of another local candidate.

On June 15, Rehana Parveen Lipa threatened Jaago o� cials over the phone as her nephew Shobuj was not recruited. As we explained that her nephew is not eligible for the post, she directly threatened that the new project o� cer would have to face dire conse-quences, and even the school would be shut down if things goes against her wishes. Next morning, her nephew along with � ve other men came to the school and forced the newly recruited o� cer to leave the premises, and said, no project o� cer can work here unless he is recruited. Strengthened with threats to Jaago from his politician aunt, Shobuj, who also forced the previous project o� cer to leave, often enters the school since then, with local goons, to make sure the newly recruit-ed project o� cer doesn’t attend o� ce.

As we were contacting the may-or and administration of the area for help, Lipa asked us to mention her name to them, and to tell them that it’s her order. We went to every contact we have to do something to save the school: mayor, MPs, minister and administration; but still, Shobuj with local goons often enter the school premises creating fear and panic among the little students.

It seems, Rehana Parveen Lipa

doesn’t care about anyone, neither does her nephew and his friends. We are in between the power play, a toy for leaders. Whoever has more power will take over the school and the dreams of the underprivileged children studying in the school.

Entrapped in a corrupted system

Thanks to Lipa and her fellows, we have experienced a cruel reality where power game engulfs the pillars of state and even the media – the watchdog of society. As we couldn’t get help from the administration or political leaders, we contacted some journalists for help. Only one newspaper reported the incident, and the rest avoided it for mysterious reasons.

May be, the story was not a hot cake. The media, may be, didn’t � nd the incident newsworthy as no one died, or no politician said something spicy, or Justin Bieber didn’t lose his keys. But no one saw how systematic deprivation and a culture of impunity is killing our dreams, and hopes gener-ation after generation.

This story is not an anomaly, and such misuse of political power adds fuel to corruption that skews governance in favour of the wealthy who can a� ord to “buy” politicians and o� cials – thereby exacerbating socio-economic, judicial and political inequalities. The culture of impunity deeply undermines the rule of law, trust in government and its institutions, and develops disrespect for the judiciary.

The love we share

In Jaago, there is no passive aggressive power struggle or ulterior aspirations that bubble under its surface; it is sim-ply a group of motivated young people united by their shared desire to edu-cate tomorrow’s generation, and break the cruel poverty cycle which holds so many of the country’s children in its grasp.We provide free of cost education to these disadvantaged children with your money. Each child’s education expenses are met by individuals like you who pay 1,500 taka per month to ensure the child’s nutrition and

health care as well. The sponsor parent not only pays money, they also visit the school, some celebrate their birthdays together, and few even come to Bangladesh and spend their holidays at Jaago – bringing smiles on the children’s faces by giving them gifts.

Each school we run is a gift of love from kind people and well wish-ers. Take our Madaripur School for example, the land of the school was donated by a philanthropist and her family; they even provided the cost of building construction. Likewise, our sponsor parents bear the cost of every child and they stands beside them, embracing the children who are considered expendable by the society.

In that sense, each school is like a family, where the privileged class of the society share their love with the underprivileged. Bangladesh is advancing in every � eld only because some people still care about others, they share whatever little they have, embracing the underprivileged and deprived.

The dreams we dare

The youth of Bangladesh are dreamers and optimists who struggle every day, and never stop dreaming. The glorious birth of Bangladesh carries the mark of their blood, their sacri� ce. The lan-guage we speak are a gift of our brave young who gave their lives for it.

Through our journey, we have met many young minds and explored im-mense potential among the youth of Bangladesh. We bet, like us, thousands of youth, have the wish to contribute for the society and change the existing system for a better country. A country, where no one goes to sleep hungry, no child is deprived of education, no youth is unemployed, no mother dies without treatment, no one is burnt alive, and no human life is wasted. Please, don’t tread on our dreams l

Korvi Rakshand is the Founder Chairman of Jaago Foundation and President of Volunteer for Bangladesh. He can be reached at korvi@jaago.com.bd and can be followed on twitter via @KorviRakshand. MH Kawsar Rudro is Assistant Manager at Jaago Foundation.

Don’t tread on our dreams, please

Despite the oods, many youth-led initiatives are raising hope for children WIKIMEDIA

The dreams the youth are promised are worth saving from the clutches of corruption and discrimination WIKIMEDIA

We are in between the power play, a toy for leaders. Whoever has more power will take over the school and the dreams of the underprivileged children studying in the school

Our history of winning the title of world cup of corruption for several times testi� es how corruption and misuse of political power eat up the fruits of peoples’ hard work

Tuesday, July 1, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

N E W S B I T E S

Alarm, ridicule for declaration of Islamic staten AP, Baghdad

The audacious declaration of the estab-lishment of a new Islamic state made by the al-Qaida breakaway group that has overrun much of northern Syria and neighboring Iraq sparked celebra-tions in the group’s Syrian stronghold but was condemned by rival rebels and authorities in Baghdad and Damascus.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant unilaterally announced the creation of a new Islamic caliphate — a state governed by Shariah law — in an audio recording released late Sunday. The group proclaimed its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of its new state, and demanded that Muslims ev-erywhere pledge allegiance to him.

Through brute force and meticulous

planning, the Sunni extremist group — which said it was changing its name to just the Islamic State, dropping the men-tion of Iraq and the Levant — has carved out a large chunk of territory that has e� ectively erased the border between Iraq and Syria and laid the foundations of its proto-state. Along the way, it has battled Syrian rebels, Kurdish militias and the Syrian and Iraqi militaries.

Following the group’s announce-ment, Islamic State � ghters in their northern Syrian stronghold of Raqqa paraded through the city to celebrate. Some of the revelers wore tradition-al robes and waved the group’s black � ags in a central square, while oth-ers zoomed around in pick-up trucks against a thundering backdrop of cel-ebratory gun� re. Video of the celebra-

tions was posted online, and activists in the city con� rmed the details.

The announcement was greeted with condemnation and even ridicule elsewhere in Syria, including from rival Islamist rebel groups who have been � ghting the Islamic State since January across northern and eastern Syria.

“The gangs of al-Baghdadi are living in a fantasy world. They’re delusional. They want to establish a state but they don’t have the elements for it,” said Ab-del-Rahman al-Shami, a spokesman for the Army of Islam, an Islamist reb-el group. “You cannot establish a state through looting, sabotage and bombing.”

Speaking over Skype from Eastern Ghouta, near the capital Damascus, al-Shami described the declaration as “psychological warfare” which he pre-

dicted will turn people against the Islam-ic State. In Iraq, where the government has launched a countero� ensive to try to claw back some of the territory lost to the Islamic State in recent weeks, the decla-ration is viewed through the prism of the country’s rising sectarian tensions.

“This is a project that was well-planned to rupture the society and to spread chaos and damage,” said Hamid al-Mutlaq, a Sunni lawmaker. “This is not to the bene� t of the Iraqi people, but instead it will increase the di� er-ences and splits.”

The Islamic State has seized upon widespread grievances among Iraq’s Sunni minority and opposition to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shi-ite-led government to help fuel its blitz through northern and western Iraq. l

As caliphate declared, battle continues in Iraqn Reuters, Baghdad

Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an al-Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit yesterday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria.

Alarming regional and world powers, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed universal authority when it dropped the local element in its name and said its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghda-di, as leader of the Islamic State, was now caliph of the Muslim world - a me-diaeval title last widely recognized in the Ottoman sultan deposed 90 years ago after World War One.

“He is the imam and caliph for Mus-lims everywhere,” group spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in an online statement on Sunday, using ti-tles that carry religious and civil power. The declaration came at the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

The move, which follows a three-week drive for territory by ISIL mili-tants and allies among Iraqi’s Sunni Muslim minority, aims to erase interna-tional borders drawn by colonial pow-ers and defy Baghdad’s US- and Irani-an-backed, Shi’ite-led government.

It also poses a direct challenge to the global leadership of al Qaeda, which has disowned it, and to conservative Gulf Arab Sunni rulers who already view the group as a security threat.

The Iraqi government has appealed for international help and has accused Sunni neighbors, notably Saudi Arabia, of having fostered Islamist militancy in

Syria and Iraq. Iraqi army spokesman Qassim Atta said declaring a caliphate could back� re by underlining Baghda-di’s group posed a risk to other nations:

“This declaration is a message by Is-lamic State not only to Iraq or Syria but to the region and the world. The message is that Islamic State has become a threat to all countries,” he said. “I believe all coun-tries, once they read the declaration, will change their attitudes because it orders everybody to be loyal to it.”

Fighters from the group overran the Iraqi city of Mosul on June 10 and have advanced toward Baghdad, prompting the despatch of US military advisers. In Syria, ISIL has captured territory in the north and east, along the desert fron-tier with Iraq.

The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, with the help of Shi’ite sectarian militias, has managed to stop the militants from reaching the capital but security forces have been unable to take back cities they abandoned in the � ghting. The army attempted last week to take back Tikrit but was unable to seize the city.

International roleThe � ghting has started to draw in inter-national support for Baghdad, two and a half years after US troops pulled out. Armed and trained by the United States, Iraq’s armed forces crumbled in the face of the ISIL onslaught and have struggled to bring heavier weaponry to bear. Only two aircraft - turboprop Cessna Cara-vans normally used as short-range pas-senger and cargo carriers - are capable of � ring the powerful Hell� re missile.

The US is � ying armed and unarmed aircraft in Iraq’s airspace but says it has not engaged in � ghting. Russia has sent its � rst warplanes to Baghdad, � lling an order for � ve second-hand Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack jets. The government said they will be operational within a few days.

The Islamic State has used alliances with other, less radical Sunni armed groups and tribal � ghters who are disillusioned with Maliki. Members Saddam’s secular Baath party have also fought in the revolt. l

Europe rejects Cameron’s ‘empty threat’ about UK leaving EUn Agencies

European countries have warned David Cameron that his threats about the Brit-ish people voting to leave an unreformed EU may back� re, undermining the Prime Minister’s hopes of winning major con-cessions, The Independent reported.

Diplomats from countries sympa-thetic to Britain have told the Foreign O� ce there will be a limit to sweeten-ers the prime minister can win before putting his new deal to voters in a ref-erendum promised for 2017.

The warnings emerged after Cam-eron failed to block the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission. Cameron believes Juncker will stand in the way of reform.

A senior o� cial from a pro-British EU nation told The Independent: “The threat to leave may prove an empty one. It is not the best way to get what you want. Cameron may � nd that other

people will call his blu� .”Another EU diplomat said: “The view

around Europe is that Britain will come to its senses and would not be stupid enough to leave. That means the rest of us will only go so far to help Britain.”

A Brussels insider also said people were “sick of Britain’s complaining tone” and would only help to avoid its exit if ministers made a “positive case” for EU membership.

Meanwhile, Labour has launched a scathing attack on Cameron’s approach to the negotiations. Writing on The In-dependent website, the shadow For-eign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, said Britain had less chance of achieving reform to the EU following the Prime Minister’s “personal defeat and diplo-matic humiliation.”

The Government claims Cameron’s unyielding stance against Mr Juncker’s appointment will strengthen his hand when he negotiates new EU member-ship terms by 2017.

Leaders of Germany and Sweden made conciliatory noises towards Brit-ain after Cameron was outvoted by 26-2 at an EU summit on Friday which nom-inated Mr Juncker. But the diplomats’ views suggest the Prime Minister’s hardline tactics may rebound on him. l

More than 50 dead in Nigeria attack on churchesn AFP, Kano, Nigeria

More than 50 people were killed in the latest attack blamed on Boko Haram Islamists which targeted churches in Nigeria’s embattled northeast, a Borno state government o� cial said yesterday.

“So far we have 54 dead,” said the o� cial, who requested anonymity, of the raid on four villages just outside Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April.

A local leader in Chibok, who also asked that his name be withheld, said residents had discovered at least 47 bodies in the surrounding bushland, but told AFP the search was ongoing and � gures were still being collated. l

Blasts kill 2 o� cers at Egypt palacen AP, Cairo

Three homemade bombs went o� yes-terday near Egypt’s presidential palace in Cairo, killing two senior police o� cers and wounding eight people, security o� cials said, in an attack that fell on the � rst an-niversary of the mass protests that led to the ouster of then-President Mohammed Morsi. The o� cials said the � rst bomb slightly wounded three street cleaners, while a second and third exploded while bomb squad teams were trying to defuse them, killing a police colonel and a lieu-tenant-colonel and wounding � ve other policemen, the o� cials said.

Another device in the area was dis-covered and defused, said the o� cials.All the devices were planted less than 20 meters (yards) away from the walls of the Ittihadiya palace in the upscale Heliopolis district in eastern Cairo. It was not immediately clear whether President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who as army chief ousted the Islamist Morsi, was inside the palace when the blasts went o� .

An Associated Press video showed the immediate aftermath of the second explosion, with plainclothes policemen carrying away the dead colonel and an injured policemen on stretchers as a cloud of white smoke rose from the cite. Security forces also sealed o� roads leading to the scene, with police dogs arriving at the scene. l

Russian cameraman 5th journalist killed in Ukrainen AP, Moscow

A veteran cameraman working for Rus-sia’s Channel One was killed in eastern Ukraine when a bus carrying journal-ists and soldiers’ mothers was hit by gun� re, the station said yesterday.

Anatoly Klyan, 68, who had worked for the state channel for 40 years, was the � fth journalist to be killed since the � ghting began in April between Ukrainian government troops and armed pro-Russia separatists.

Channel One said its crew was trav-eling late Sunday to a Ukrainian mili-tary base with mothers of conscripts hoping to bring their sons home when their bus came under attack near Av-diivka, a village just north of the city of Donetsk.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry blamed the attack on Ukrainian soldiers and demanded an objective investigation into the attack and for those responsi-ble to be punished.

Video footage of the attack broad-cast on Channel One showed Klyan continuing to � lm inside the bus even after he was shot in the stomach, stop-ping only when he grew weak and telling his colleagues “I can’t hold the camera any longer.” Other journalists helped him into a passing car to be tak-en to a nearby medical center, but the television station said doctors were un-able to save him.

The bus driver also was hit in the head. He was � lmed holding his left hand to his bloody, shaven head while continuing to drive with his right hand until it was safe to stop.

Channel One said the trip was orga-nized by the rebel � ghters and that the bus, whose driver was wearing camou-� age, came under � re as it approached the military base.

Ukrainian conscripts serving in east-ern Ukraine tend to be from the region, where the majority of the population is Russian-speaking. l

Presidential race highlights Erdogan’s reshaping of Turkish politicsn Reuters, Istanbul/Ankara

A quick glance at the emerging candi-dates for Turkey’s � rst direct presiden-tial poll illustrates the dramatic change wrought in the country by Tayyip Erdo-gan’s 11-year premiership; an old secular-ist elite has yielded the stage to two men of Islamist pedigree and a third from a long-suppressed Kurdish minority.

“It is certainly novel, a new republic,” says Soli Ozel, a professor in political science at Istanbul’s Kadir Has Universi-ty. “We really are in uncharted waters.”

Prime Minister Erdogan, his pop-ularity unscathed by a � are-up of an-ti-government riots and a corruption scandal, is widely expected to an-nounce his presidential bid on Tuesday for August elections that could further strengthen his hold on power.

Many see his victory as inevitable. Since his AK party came to power in 2002, he has built huge support among conser-

vative Muslims, many of them poor, who had felt treated as second-class citizens in a secular society - pious women, for instance, excluded from state buildings because they wore headscarves.

Erdogan, now 60, himself served a brief prison sentence in 1999 on charges of Islamist activity. Taking the reins of power only four years later, he tamed the army that had seen itself as � nal guarantor against Islamism and had top-pled four governments in four decades.

Rather than taboo, religion is now a front-and-center political issue. The no-tion of a secularist president has become politically toxic for many of Turkey’s 77 million citizens. So much so that Tur-key’s foremost secularist party, the CHP, the party of secular state founder Mus-tafa Kemal Ataturk, and the nationalist MHP have chosen as joint nominee Ek-meleddin Ihsanoglu, a diplomat who was at the helm of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for nine years until 2014. l

People walk past an advertising board showing an image of Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko at a public transport station in central Moscow. The board reads ‘Impolite people (top). We screwed up in Crimea, we will screw up in the whole country too’ REUTERS

‘ W E S C R E W E D U P I N C R I M E A ’

The move aims to erase international borders drawn by colonial powers and defy Baghdad’s US- and Iranian-backed, Shi’ite-led government Iraqi soldiers load artillery shells onto a vehicle during clashes with Sunni militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar. Iraqi troops yesterday

battled to dislodge the al-Qaeda splinter group from Tikrit after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized across a swathe of Iraq and Syria REUTERS

9Tuesday, July 1, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

China strikes key blow in battle against pervasive graftn Reuters, Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping struck a key blow in his � ght against pervasive graft yesterday with the expulsion from the Communist Party of a former high-ranking military commander who had risen to near the very apex of pow-er in China.

Xu Caihou, who retired as vice chair-man of the powerful Central Military Commission last year and from the par-ty’s decision-making Politburo in 2012, is the highest-ranking military o� cer to be accused of corruption in China.

Xu will be handed over for a court martial after being accused of taking bribes, the o� cial Xinhua news agency said. “The party will never allow a hid-ing place for corrupt elements, the mil-itary will also never allow corrupt ele-ments any place to hide,” Xinhua said.

Both the party and the army, the agency said, had to understand “the

long-term, complicated and arduous battle against corruption, and the need for the � ght against corruption to be put in a more prominent position.”

“Upon investigation, Xu Caihou took advantage of his o� ce, helped others be promoted to positions and accepted bribes directly or through his family, used his position to in� uence others for pro� t and his family mem-

bers accepted valuables from others.”Xu has been under virtual house

arrest for months while helping in the probe into Gu Junshan, who has been under investigation for corruption since he was sacked as deputy direc-tor of the logistics department of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in 2012, sources have previously told Reuters.

Gu was charged with corruption ear-lier this year.

Reuters has not been able to reach either Xu or Gu for comment. It is not clear whether they have lawyers.

The Xinhua dispatch made no men-tion of Gu.

President Xi has launched a sweep-ing campaign against graft since be-coming party chief in late 2012 and president last year, vowing to take down powerful “tigers” as well as low-ly “� ies.”

Xu is the most senior person to have been felled to date. l

Half Japanese voters oppose Abe’s security shiftn Reuters, Tokyo

Half of Japanese voters oppose drop-ping a ban that has kept the military from � ghting abroad since World War Two, a survey showed yesterday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe readied a landmark shift in security policy that would ease the constraints of the pac-i� st constitution on the armed forces.

A man set himself on � re at a busy Tokyo intersection on Sunday in an apparent protest against the policy change, police and witnesses said, a rare form of protest in Japan.

The change will signi� cantly widen Japan’s military options by ending the ban on exercising “collective self-de-fense” or aiding a friendly country un-der attack. It will also relax limits on activities in UN-led peacekeeping oper-ations and “grey zone” incidents short of full-scale war, according to a draft government proposal made available to reporters last week.

The change is likely to anger Chi-na, whose ties with Japan have chilled markedly due to a territorial row, mu-tual mistrust and the legacy of Japan’s past military aggression. But it will be welcomed by Tokyo’s close ally Wash-ington and some Southeast Asia na-tions, also wary of an increasingly asser-tive Beijing. Abe’s cabinet is expected to adopt as early as Tuesday a resolution revising a long-standing interpretation of the US-drafted constitution to lift the ban, after his ruling party � nalizes an agreement with its junior partner.

Fifty percent of Japanese voters op-pose dropping the ban compared to 34% who support the change, a survey by the Nikkei business daily showed. The rest were undecided. Fifty-four percent of respondents to the June 27-29 survey were against making the change by reinterpreting the paci� st charter rather than going through polit-ically more di� cult formal amendment procedures, the Nikkei said. l

Tapas Pal: ‘Will ask my boys to rape CPM women’n Agencies

Tapas Pal, popular Bengali actor and a Member of Parliament from Mama-ta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, has been caught on camera purportedly saying, “I will ask our boys to go and rape CPM women, if necessary.”

The footage aired by local TV chan-nels is hazy, but Mr Pal is clearly heard making the shocking threat while ad-dressing party workers and assuring them that members of other parties will not be allowed to harm them. He also allegedly made other threats.

The Trinamool Congress quickly distanced itself from the comment. “Statements made by Mr Tapas Pal are very insensitive. We do not in any way endorse what he said weeks ago, being played on TV today (yesterday),” said Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien.

There is, however, no word yet on whether the party will act against Mr Pal, who is a two-term MP from Krish-nanagar in West Bengal.

The CPM’s Malini Bhattacharya said her party will move the National Com-mission for women against Mr Pal and also complain to the Lok Sabha speaker. “What has been reported in the media as a public statement is condemnable...We are going to approach NCW and the speaker. We want to ask parliament to inquire into this.” l

Modi asks space scientists to develop Saarc satellite

n Agencies

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday asked the Indian Space Re-search Organisation (ISRO) to develop a satellite which will serve all the Saarc nations.

Addressing Indian space scientists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota after the successful launch of PSLV C23 rocket, the prime minister said the fruits of India’s space missions should reach other developing nations, especially India’s neighbours.

“You should develop a Saarc satel-lite,” he told the scientists. “We should dedicate this satellite to our neighbour-hood as India’s gift ... India is rooted in our age-old ethos of ‘Vasudeva Kutum-bakom’. Our space science re� ects that. We should share the fruit of this with our neighbouring countries,” he said.

Minutes earlier, PSLV C23 had in-jected � ve foreign satellites into the speci� ed orbits. The rocket lifted o� at 9.52am and completed all four phases with textbook precision. Modi went around congratulating the scien-tists after promising bigger thrust on space science.

He sought to dispel the notion that space science is for the elite. “This is the biggest mistake some people make. Space science ultimately works to change the lives of the poor. Space sci-ence empowers a child in the farthest village with education. It delivers tele-medicine,” he said.

“GIS (Geographic Information Sys-tems) has applications in urban plan-ning and watershed development. Space imagery helps in land manage-ment, coastal management. It is an in-valuable asset in disaster management. By predicting cyclones, it has saved mil-lions of lives,” the Prime Minister said.

He called upon space scientists to enlarge the footprints of India’s satel-lite-based navigation system to cover the whole of south Asia.

“Space should be our national mis-sion. We should have bigger satellites with larger power. We also have to fur-ther our international partnership in space technology. Extend our launch-ing capabilities to heavier satellites,” he said, urging Isro to tie up with uni-versities and colleges to develop future scientists and leaders. l

Pakistan begins ground o� ensive against militantsn AP, Islamabad

Pakistan launched a ground o� ensive against militant strongholds near the Afghan border yesterday after evacu-ating nearly half a million people from the tribal region, the army said.

The ground o� ensive is the second phase of a long-awaited operation against militants in the North Wa-ziristan tribal area, a lawless, moun-tainous stretch of land in northwest Pakistan. The military announced the operation on June 15 but has mostly limited its tactics to airstrikes while giving time to hundreds of thousands of people to pack up their belongings and leave to safer areas.

The US has long pushed for such an operation to go after militants that use the area as a safe haven from which to attack targets in both Pakistan and Af-ghanistan.

The army began a house-to-house search in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, the army statement said. It said nearly 15 militants were killed in the initial ground advance. The town is also the headquarters for a number of di� erent militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban.

The operation began days after mil-itants attacked the main airport in the southern port city of Karachi, killing 26 people. The 10 assailants were also killed in the roughly � ve-hour siege that shocked Pakistanis by showing how vulnerable the country’s institu-tions have become.

Pakistani forces killed 376 militants during the � rst 15 days of the o� en-sive, the statement said, adding that 17 troops also died. North Waziristan was already a di� cult area for journalists

to access but the operation has made it even more di� cult to independently verify reports of casualties.

The military said infantry troops and commandos are leading the ground ad-vance. Three soldiers were wounded in an exchange of � re, the statement said.

The Pakistani army has already con-ducted several military operations in the tribal badlands along Afghan bor-

der, including o� ensives in 2009 in the scenic Swat valley and in South Wa-ziristan, the onetime headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban.

The Pakistani Taliban is a loose net-work of several local militant groups who want to overthrow the country’s government in a bid to install their own harsh brand of Islamic law. In their decade-old deadly campaign of

bombings, shootings and other at-tacks, they have killed thousands of Pakistanis.

The government of Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif ever since he took o� ce last summer had been trying to negotiate a peace deal with the mil-itants. The operation has e� ectively ended prospects of any such move in near future. l

Thai junta begins overhaul of electoral systemn Reuters, Bangkok

Thailand’s military government said yesterday it had begun an overhaul of the electoral system following an an-nouncement by junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha that polls could take place by late 2015.

The military took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of street demonstrations that contributed to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. A court had already ordered her to step down after � nding her guilty of abuse of pow-er on May 7.

Permanent secretary for defence Surasak Kanchanarat said political party reform, decentralisation of power and “investigations and penalties for those

groups that commit electoral fraud” were top on the military’s agenda.

“We will talk about obstacles to an election and corruption,” Surasak told reporters ahead of a meeting later on Monday with the Election Commision.

The junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order, has scrapped the constitution and its leader, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, said on Friday that a new, temporary charter would be ready in July.

The army chief said this would al-low an interim cabinet to be installed by September and a reform council would then start work on a longer-term constitution. He also said in his weekly televised speech that a general election could be held around October 2015, the � rmest date he has given until now.

The United States and European Union downgraded diplomatic ties with Thailand after the coup. Washing-ton has called for a quick return to ci-vilian government and a move toward “free and fair elections.”

The junta’s plans for sweeping elec-toral reforms echo demands made by the anti-government demonstrators who hounded Yingluck. They wanted reforms before a new election and dis-rupted a Feb. 2 vote that was later an-nulled by a court.

Yingluck’s government and the Elec-tion Commission, which was accused of bias by Yingluck’s supporters, failed to agree on a new election date prior to the military seizing power.

The toppling by the army of her brother, former premier Thaksin Shi-

nawatra, in 2006 ignited a long-run-ning struggle between the conservative middle-class and Thaksin’s largely ru-ral supporters. The military has said it wants to put an end to Thailand’s often violent political cycle.

The protesters accused Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile abroad to avoid a corruption sentence handed down in 2008, of rampant vote-buying and said they wanted to eliminate his “toxic” political in� uence.

Meanwhile, the junta has widened a purge of Thaksin-linked government o� cials. On Friday, it announced a re-shu� e of senior civil servants, trans-ferring 10 Thaksin allies to inactive posts, including Tarit Pengdith, chief of the Department of Special Investi-gation, the equivalent of the US FBI. l

Thai military aims to revive peace talks with Muslim rebelsn Reuters, Bangkok

Thailand’s military government is to revive talks aimed at bringing peace to the troubled south, where Muslim sep-aratists have fought the government for over a decade, a senior military of-� cial said yesterday.

Udomdet Sitabutr, secretary-gener-al of the military’s National Council for Peace and Order, said talks, brokered by Malaysia, with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgent group would restart after stalling last year.

A low-level insurgency in the south has claimed more than 5,700 lives since

2004 following the resurgence of a dor-mant Muslim separatist movement.

“The talks are still alive but the de-tails must be � eshed out so that we can move forward and draw up a road map to peace,” Udomdet told reporters. “Thailand trusts Malaysia as the medi-ator. We must prepare details to go into the talks.”

Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south, in particular the three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, are majority Mus-lim and resistance to central govern-ment rule has existed there for decades.

Attempts by the state to impose Bud-

dhist Thai culture on the region and Thai language in schools have only helped to create animosity on both sides.

Successive governments have failed to bring an end to the violence, which includes shootings, beheadings, bomb-ings and arson attacks. Rights groups say both the rebels and the Thai army have committed war crimes.

The recently ousted government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra began peace talks last year with the BRN, or National Revolutionary Front, in Malaysia although critics said the meetings did not have the support of all rebel groups. l

Pakistanis � ee their villages after receiving relief supplies at a distribution point in Bannu, North Waziristan. Pakistan launched a ground o� ensive against Taliban strongholds near the Afghan border yesterday after evacuating nearly half a million residents from the tribal region, the army said AP

Village volunteers train during a self-defense practice session organized by Police and the Thai army in Yala province, Thailand. The country’s military government said yesterday it had begun an overhaul of the electoral system following an announcement by the junta leader that polls could take place by late 2015 REURTERS

President Xi has launched a sweeping campaign against graft since becoming party chief in late 2012 and president last year, vowing to take down powerful ‘tigers’ as well as lowly ‘� ies’

Nizami’s illness eases after verdict postponedJune 25vihanIt is so strange that all arrested war criminals or mass murderers (worldwide) always seem to get “sick” when they face justice. It is as if they try to show themselves as “weak” and “vulnerable” in order to receive some com-passion and sympathy from the public.

Jul� kar Ali Manik wins Gerald Loeb AwardsJune 26Tareq SalahuddinCongratulations Manik Bhai. A well-deserved win.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Glittering particles (6)6 Passing craze (3)9 Riverside embankment (5)10 Fruit (4)11 Wide open (5)12 Mineral spring (3)13 Light colour (6)15 Soft powder (4)18 Excuse (4)21 Spruce (6)24 Consumed (3)25 Man’s name (5)28 Swarm (4)29 Permission (5)30 Serpent (3)31 Rocked under a blow (6)

DOWN1 Incline (5)2 Laundry item (3)3 Be of use (5)4 Corded fabric (3)5 Part of a castle (4)6 Clenched hand (4)7 Electrical unit (6)8 Business transaction (4)14 Undermine (3)16 Lessens (6)17 Drinking vessel (3)19 Con� ned to an area (5)20 Ventilated (5)21 Facts given (4)22 Sly look (4)23 Acting part (4)26 Observe (3)27 Hail! (3)

CROSSWORD

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

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 5 represents R so � ll R every time the � gure 5 appears.You have one letter in the control grid to start you o� . Enter it in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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What does India want?June 26

Mohammad MunshiI wouldn’t expect anything substantive from Sush-ma Swaraj except more promises. India’s objective is simply to achieve hegemony over the South Asian region, and pro� t from smaller countries and make them follow its lead.

matthewislam Mohammad Munshi: Thank you very much for reading Mr. Munshi.

Mohammad Munshi matthewislam: You are welcome. Good article.

Richard ParkerIndia does not care about smaller neighbours, un-less, of course, you happen to have a nuke or two. We must therefore learn to live with Indian indi� er-ence and hostility. A small size, however, has also its advantages and we must craft an all-weather, bi-partisan India policy. As for LBA, water sharing and the like, we must take them to UN for arbitration. Bilateralism with India hasn’t work for forty-plus years, and is unlikely to work any time soon.

By the way, great write-up, Matthew.

matthewislam Richard Parker: Thank you for reading. By the way, are you still stuck on the boat with Pi Patel?

Raihan HadiFantastic article! But I’m afraid India has a way into

this country through “in� uential” businessmen who pay our politicians and play them on strings as and when necessary. If we are to solve this problem, the proper way is we must face the enemies inside and break and rebuild the infrastructure if necessary; otherwise it’s all just words from us.

In my eyes, India was never willing to befriend us in the � rst place. India is never really friends with anyone; all they mean is business and they’ll stick to you as long as you are bene� cial to their businesses. Besides, to take the easy way out, a lot of businesses in our country tend to import goods from India, and that way we are once again bene� ting their economy. And, seriously, thank you for mentioning how their cricket and entertainment don’t really count.

They think we can all just sing and dance bhangra away while they take everything they can from us through the backdoor, not knowing that we only let our idiots dance away. I know this comes o� like a hate message and I’m blabbering too much, but it is what it is and once again, Matthew, gracias! India must think a million times more before sever-ing ties with us any further.

matthewislam Raihan Hadi: Thank you for reading. It is a complex issue but at the least we need to be cognizant of the fact that we are getting a raw bargain for quite a while now and there is no need for it. There are many people who are standing by to provide more and accord due respect.

Better buses neededBRTC needs to overhaul the bus system in Dhaka city and its ad-

joining areas. At present, there is an insu� cient number of buses plying on the roads. Of the ones that are running, many o� er

poor service, are overcrowded, do not make enough daily runs, or do not travel to all the points in the city.

Many private bus services have tried to cover up for this shortfall, yet their services are also still not up to the mark.

Such unsatisfactory standards for our buses force many people to use private cars, thereby adding to congestion. In a country su� ering from poor air quality, reducing congestion should be more of a priority for the govern-ment, not only to free our roads but also for public health.

We should have good, clean, safe bus services for all. It is imperative that women in particular feel safe and can travel free from harassment.

The BRTC has a duty to change our public transport situation around. Right now, the BRTC is holding millions of commuters hostage. Internal corruption and a broken system is holding us back. The BRTC needs to let private operators operate and break up the control of the cartels. It also needs to make public transport a line item in the budget and buy more buses.

The availability of better, safer, and more accessible buses would be greatly bene� cial to our citizens, and what is good for the people is good for the government as well.

Don’t restrict imports

It is good news that some 49 countries have just allowed duty-free access of Bangladeshi goods to their markets, and Bangladesh should similarly open itself up to the world.

Trade restrictions, such as import duties and import quotas, have been widely used to protect the interests of domestic businesses. While it is in our interest to encourage and spur the growth of Bangla-deshi industries, restricting the import of foreign goods is not the best strategy for us in this competitive globalised economy.

Import duties and quotas try to save certain sectors by protecting them from the � ood of foreign goods entering our local market, undercutting our prices, thereby standing in the way of the growth of some of our infant industries.

However, this strategy is fraught with problems. Arti� cially controlling the local price level can create disequilibrium in the mar-ket, giving rise to unethical practices such as admin-istrative corruption with certain importers vying for the favour of customs o� cials. Furthermore, quotas tend to incentiv-ise criminal practices where businesses may try to bypass the quota by smuggling in foreign products to meet local demand.

We cannot do away with import duties fully – there is a need for it in some cases. However, the world is moving in the direction of duty-free access.

Instead of restricting imports, we should help our domestic indus-tries in other ways. For example, the government could subsidise or give tax breaks to local businesses. This will help our local businesses without hurting local consumers or closing us o� to the world.

The government could subsidise or give tax breaks to local businesses

The availability of better, safer, and more accessible buses would be greatly bene� cial to our citizens

The doyen takes his leaveJune 25

Evil people politicsA true pioneer in the � eld of journalism for our country.

Alphabet for ideal livingJune 26

SA MansoorAccept di� erences; be kind; count your blessings; dream happily; express thanks; forgive all faults; give freely; harm no one; imagine vividly; jettison anger; keep smiling; love truly; master a capa-bility; nurture hope; open your mind; persevere unfailingly; quell rumours; respect others; support the needy; try your best; understand people; value honesty; win gracelessly; xenophobia is to be avoided; yearn for peace, and zealously support the needy.

No one should have to live in fearJune 27

imzyThat’s because the Biharis are stranded Pakistanis. You revisionists need to look at your history. No mat-ter what “laws” were introduced in 2008 against the will of the people, the Biharis belong in Pakistan. It seems to be merely another way of Pakistan to hu-miliate Bangladesh by not taking their people back.

As for how they’re treated here, they need to be treated well. There are some instances of bad ac-tions, but it is misleading to say they are persecut-ed etc. On the whole, they are treated amazingly.

Disservice with violenceJune 27

SAMBefore anything else, the MD of Biman should

extend a public apology to all, for unacceptable violence by a Biman sta� member. All women’s organisations should take this case up with the

authorities concerned. The inquiry by Biman has nothing to do with the visible physical violence. It is to see if the

violence was justi� ed or not? If I owned the airline, the top executive management o� cer

would have been sacked by now. Why has he not done so with the o� cer who has sullied Biman with his violence? That speaks volumes about

Biman’s management, which seems to be nothing more than a sales organisation that ignores

customers (present and future) in a typically wrong, monopolistic and bureaucratic mindset. This event pinpoints to that attitude. Would the

authorities concerned please ask the MD why he has not issued a public apology?

Most airlines advertise and try to practice “service with a smile”; not so in Biman’s o� ce,

it seems to me. Has the Biman management forgotten that they are dependent on the

taxpayers, who are the real owners of Biman? This incident points to the popular feeling among

Biman passengers that it is an untrustworthy airline. Can the Biman management justify

violence against a customer? No way! An apology should come � rst, not an inquiry. I think, from now on, all prospective passengers should avoid Biman

altogether.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

n Mohammad N Miraly

The past has a ripple e� ect on the present. Unless we know who we were, we cannot know who

we are. Aamer Rahman, an Australi-an-Bangladeshi comedian, sheds an ingeniously skewed perspective on the value of history in his “reverse racism” bit that now has over a million YouTube hits. By � ipping the history of colonialism, he brings to light many of the power dynamics we take for granted in today’s society.

He speeds through the highlights of colonialism, arguing that the only way he could be a “reverse racist” is if he went back in time and convinced the leaders of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Central America to occupy Europe and steal their resources (and set up a trans-Asian slave trade).

His irony-laden history lesson gets even more poignant when he suggests that those leaders “set up systems that privilege black and brown people at every conceivable social, political, and economic opportunity, so white people would never have any hope of real self-determination.” And, “just for kicks, subject white people to coloured people’s standards of beauty.”

Rahman’s alternate Bizarro World holds up a mirror to our own accepted notions of how things ought to be. The supremacy of the West over the last few centuries was by no means a fore-gone conclusion. It came on the heels of Europe’s very Dark Ages, a term that is itself loaded with the conception that nothing of any worth transpired during that period. Truth is, while con-tinental Europe was in its Dark Ages, Asia was at a cultural apogee and the Middle East was a global hub for new knowledge.

The fact that we don’t learn this in school is no accident. It is re� ective of Rahman’s “systems of privilege” that

modern Western history deliberately includes no mention of the scienti� c, philosophical, and cultural heritage it owes to the Middle East and Asia.

For almost half a millennium – from the 15th to 18th centuries – while most Europeans were living in gutter-ridden mud streets, the Ottoman Empire was a beacon of shining sophistication, and Indian maharajas lived lives so lavish that their individual wealth would have surpassed that of whole countries on the continent. But, it was a Chinese invention that would change the fate of the West – and the rest – for with the introduction of Chinese gunpowder to the continent, Europe was able to lay siege to the entire world.

In a way, colonialism has been more of a European obsession than that of other continents, who chose the paths of isolation, in the case of China, or of inclusion, in the case of the Otto-mans. Nevertheless, the point here is that even a simple understanding of the contours of history can radically change our perspective on our world. Why is European Renaissance art con-sidered a global standard today when Chinese art has the world’s richest heritage? Why is English the lingua franca today when Arabic was the language of learning in Europe until 500 years ago?

What we are today is a result of what happened yesterday. Question-ing why things are is the only way to understand who we are. Rahman’s comedic bit subversively questions the ruling power dynamics of today’s society, and silently asks the right question: “Why do things have to be the way they are?” The unspoken answer, of course, is: “They don’t have to be.” l

Mohammad N Miraly is an educator and � lm producer. He holds a PhD from McGill University in religion, ethics, and public policy, and is the author of themiralyblog.wordpress.com.

11Op-Ed Tuesday, July 1, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Ikhtisad Ahmed

The parochial, bigoted inter-pretation of politics being about ruling with absolute power and without any accountability endorses,

as part of its philosophy, homicide and genocide as equitable remedies. Personal or societal equity, or greed and gain disguised as such, does not justify the taking of a human life. Assassinations, political, or otherwise, are therefore, ignoble and illegal. Nev-ertheless, international relations have leaned heavily on this Faustian crutch from ancient history, especially in the New World that the West built for itself following the two World Wars.

Those in power have not been the only ones guilty of concocting elaborate plots to rid themselves of their enemies. Those ruled over have, unfortunately, also resorted to this de-vice to usurp their rulers, particularly when said rulers were viewed as being authoritarian and tyrannical.

On June 28 – a hundred years ago – one man, who thought himself and his kind to have been egregiously wronged, sought to rally troops behind the cause for justice by assassinating a senior � gure of a near six and a half century-old empire. The symbolic act was to be a catalyst for self-determi-nation. The success of the ill-trained, ill-equipped, and short-sighted, if not downright foolish, Gavrilo Princip’s plan did worse.

The � rst shots of the Great War

were � red by the Austro-Hungarian Empire exactly a month after the assassinations of the pious, methodi-cal, and arrogant heir presumptive to its throne and his wife in Sarajevo. In the era of the Triple Alliance, stem-ming from the 1882 defensive pact, and the Triple Entente, e� ective from 1907, they inevitably led to the overtly opposing forces facing o� against one other.

A cursory glance at a 1914 map of the world would inform that the vast majority of the planet’s total land mass belonged to the six empires (the French Third Republic was one in all but name, while the other � ve brazen-ly identi� ed themselves as such).

Their expansionist tendencies that had been kept under control by prag-matism and treaties were unleashed once more. The handful of remaining independent nations and regions were obliging or unwilling allies over the course of the four and a half years that followed.

The Paris Peace Accords of 1919 es-tablished the League of Nations, which

was charged with maintaining world peace. One of its key covenants was the creation of Mandates, such as the British Mandate for Palestine, whereby areas of the defeated forces – the Cen-tral Powers – would be divided among the victors on a temporary basis.

These areas would not be part of the victorious empires inde� nitely, and were promised sovereignty and independence. This did not, in itself,

spell the end of imperialism. Howev-er, it sowed the seeds for nationalist movements in the existing parts of the various empires that were not made Mandates, and added momentum to the principle of self-determination.

Amongst such developments was the rise of nationalism in the Indian subcontinent following the huge losses su� ered by Indian troops as part of the British Armed Forces with little or no compensation. World War I marked the end of the Age of Empire, being fully borne out after World War II.

The major con� icts and crises – from Africa to the Middle East and South Asia – plaguing the world, date

back to the unwise realpolitik of impe-rialists reluctantly surrendering their crowns on their own ill-advised terms. It ended the Age, but made provisions for future empires that would repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. Notably, American isolationism gave way to an easily excitable doctrine of intervention that feeds its bellicose 21st century empire.

Many have been lulled into believ-ing in the principles of Gavrilo Princip that assassinations are positive actions in the political arena that resolve dire situations. The ones in power and the bereaved underlings – be they in the American and European corridors of power or in Africa and the Indian sub-continent – have fallen into this trap have all been wholly wrong.

That does not seem to be enough to make these aspiring assassins and belligerents shun this ideology. Gavrilo Princip was two weeks short of his 20th birthday, and could not be sentenced to death under Austro-Hun-garian law for killing a man who, ironically, had insisted that war would be a disaster. Ravaged by skeletal tu-berculosis, he died in a prison hospital just over six months before the end of the war that his actions had triggered. Although the assassination led to the fall of empires of the time, the world continues to su� er because of what happened a hundred years ago. l

Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer. He can be contacted on Twitter via @Ikhtisad.

A bang and a whimper

Many have been lulled into believing in the principles of Gavrilo Princip that assassinations are positive actions

What we are today is a result of what happened yesterday

In a way, colonialism has been more of a European obsession than that of other continents

Will people hate me if I say that I now hate Dhaka though I fell in love with it in my childhood?

You’re history

F R O M T H E M A R G I N S

n Mushfi que Wadud

Every day, when I am traveling on a bus or walking the streets of Dhaka, I battle with myself

about whether I should continue following the teachings of my parents and teachers.

From my childhood, I was taught to love my motherland. And I remember the poem of Jibanananda Das that I read in school: “Abar ashibo phiire dhanshiritir tire ei Banglai, hoito manush noi, hoitoba shongkho chil shaliker beshe …”

Till today, I have been following this teaching. I love my motherland and I

will continue to do so.But one question had come to

my mind recently: Will it be against everything I have been taught to hate my own city? Is it a sin to hate Dhaka, where I was born?

I encounter this question every moment I am in the city. Should I continue to pretend I love Dhaka when I actually don’t? Will people hate me if I say that I now hate Dhaka though I fell in love with it in my childhood? These are the questions I face every day.

Dhaka changed very rapidly. I have witnessed how a loving city can turn into a loathing city. Recently, I discov-ered that one should have four eyes to cross the roads in Dhaka as vehicles come from both sides. Two eyes are required to carefully watch one side, and another pair for the other side.

I discovered that footpaths are made for motorbikes and not for walk-ing. The other day, I asked a motorbike owner who was driving on the foot-path if the footpath was made for rid-ing motorbikes. He answered: “When law enforcers don’t say anything, why should you be bothered? It is not your

duty to look after footpaths.”Yes, it is not my duty. But whose

duty is it? Sometimes I think it is the duty of

hawkers as they occupy the footpaths as if it were their property. It seems that footpaths were built for hawkers. And Dhaka’s transportation system is even worse than its footpaths.

When I am in a public bus, I feel like I am not a human being. I am sure even cows or goats have a better jour-ney when they come to Dhaka. The conductors of the city’s bus services always seem to follow a policy – to � ll every inch of space in the bus. And sometimes, even the roofs of buses are not spared.

I � nd many passengers who think some city buses are (in a way) like prison vans. And they are not wrong. In some busses, you hardly get any ventilation.

And what if a passenger experienc-es a sudden cardiac arrest inside a bus? I am sure he or she will not survive as it is not possible to get out of a crowd-ed bus.

And if you share your objections with the conductor, his answer will

surely be: “Buy a car, otherwise you have to face this.” As if a person who cannot a� ord to buy a car has no right to live in this city.

But even if you have a car, you are not free of problems in this city. The � rst problem everyone faces is lack of cleanliness. You will hardly � nd any place in the city without a bad smell, and if you are unlucky enough, you will � nd some open dustbins in impor-tant parts of the city.

The whole city is a public toilet. The smell of urine is overwhelming in every bus stop. In many places, waste is dumped on the busy roads.

Our city corporation is responsible for looking after the city, but ironically the surroundings of the city corpo-ration o� ces are the dirtiest. Just go to Gulistan, which is just a few yards of Dhaka South City Corporation, and if you do not vomit, you should test whether your nose is working properly.

All these problems only get worse during the rainy season.

There are many poems in Bangla lit-erature about the rainy season. A rainy day is always an enjoyable event for

Bangalis. But for city-dwellers, this is the worst season. In many parts of the city, roads are inundated for days after a rainy day. Throughout the season, most roads are in such a bad condition that it is really di� cult to walk or drive vehicles.

And then there is tra� c congestion. I came across a cartoon the other day and thought it was the best thing to explain our city’s tra� c problems. A person seeks three days’ leave from his boss. The boss asks him whether he is going anywhere and the person answers: “Yes, I am going to my in-laws’ house in Uttara. One day is required to go from my house in Jatrabari to Uttara, and another to return. And I will stay there for one day.” Very soon we will need one whole day to go from one part of the city to another.

These are only a few of the many problems in Dhaka. I am in a dilemma – is it possible to love a city with all these problems? Or should I admit that I am no longer in love with it? l

Mush� que Wadud is an education reporter at the Dhaka Tribune.

Is it a sin to hate my own city?

Gavrilo Princip’s action a hundred years ago a� ects the world today WIKIMEDIA

Aamer Rahman has over a million hits on YouTube

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 201412

FilmTransformers:Age of Extinction3DX-Men: Days of Future Past 3D NonStop(2D)Walking with DinosaursTime: 10am – 10pmStar Cineplex, Level 8Bashundhara City 13/3 KaPanthopath

Noah 3DTarkaataGodzilla 3DAmi Shudhu Cheyechi TomayMr Peabody & Sherman 3DJamuna Future Park, Blockbuster CinemasKa- 244, Pragati AvenueKuril

Exhibition Second SightTime: 12pm – 8pmThe Daily Star Centre64-65, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue

Artistic Musings of Great Collector Nasir Ali MamunTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Road No 16Dhanmondi

Shadow of ConcaveTime: 12pm – 8pmGallery Shilpangon

TalkPrakriti and PurushaTime: 3:30pm – 5:00pmDaily Star-Bengal Arts PrecinctThe Daily Star CentreKarwan Bazaar

TODAY IN DHAKA

Ed Sheeran’s X becomes fastest-selling album of 2014n Entertainment Desk

Ed Sheeran’s “X” becomes fastest-selling album of 2014. It has sold 182,000 copies in its � rst week, 14,000 more than Coldplay managed with “Ghost Sto-ries” in May.

The singer’s second album, which is pronounced as “multiply” rather than the letter “X,” also includes his � rst number one single, “Sing.”

Ed Sheeran appeared on stage at Glastonbury this weekend after coun-try-singer Dolly Parton, 68, who drew more than 80,000 music fans to her show.

He performed on the Pyramid Stage on Sunday evening and kicked o� his performance with a rendition of his 2011 single “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.” l

Special culinary shown Entertainment Desk

A special culinary programme titled “Radhuni Ramzan-e Shuswade, Shuswasthe” will be aired on Maasranga TV at 4:02pm throughout the month of Ramadan. Produced by Foyez Reza and anchored by Aporna, every episode will showcase a noted female guest who will share their success story along with their favourite recipes.

Another culinary programme titled “Zerocal Drinks and Dessert” will be aired on the same channel at 4:20pm everyday. Di� erent recipes of drinks and des-serts will be presented in the programme which are considered healthy during Ramadan. The programme is anchored by Moutusi and produced by Ajoy Poddar. l

n Entertainment Desk

Watch out for the documentary “Amer-ican Digger” on the Discovery Channel today at 8pm. Follow former profes-sional wrestler-turned modern-day rel-ic hunter, Ric Savage, and his team as they travel around America uncovering hidden treasures from the backyards of everyday Americans hoping to strike it rich. The only thing standing in their way are the homeowners themselves. Ric must convince to allow them to dig up their property, using state-of-the-art metal detectors and heavy-duty exca-vation equipment. What artefacts they � nd they sell for a substantial pro� t, but not before negotiating a deal to divide the revenue with the property owners. What buried treasures will they discov-er and what will they be worth? l

Parineeti Chopra toback to bankingn Entertainment Desk

Parineeti Chopra has managed to make a mark for herself in Bollywood, but the actor says she still keeps banking sector as an alternative ca-reer option. The 25-year-old, who made her Bollywood debut with “Ladies vs Ricky Bahl” (2011) said: “I have a backup plan and I think everyone should have one. The day when my � lms start � opping, I will go back to banking. To run my house, banking is the safe option for me.”

Once an aspiring investment banker, Parineeti worked as a marketing profession-al at a prominent production house before her foray in � lms. “There are very few peo-ple who are lucky and don’t have to struggle much to get into � lms. If one has an interest (in acting), then one must try, but should also have a back up plan because the � lm in-dustry is very unpredictable,” she says.

The actor, who made it clear that she got her debut o� er directly from director Manish Sharma and producer Aditya Chopra and that her sister, actor Priyanka Chopra, had no role in it, revealed that she considers Manish and Aditya as her mentors. She adds that she often consults them regarding her � lms. “Manish has been my mentor. Manish and Adi are two people, who I ask for suggestions and opinions,” she said. l

n Entertainment Desk

Tele� lm “Ar Ekbar Phirey Ashtey Jodi” will be aired on Wednes-day at 2:45pm on Channel i. The story is about the pain of losing someone very dear. A son, who shared a cold relationship with his father wishes he could have him back again. Only after his father passed away did he real-ise how special their bond was.

Directed by Picklu Chowd-hury, the tele� lm features Abul Hayat, Shamol Maula, Hasin and many others. l

Rick Savage uncovers hidden treasures

Grief of losing a father portrayed in tele� lm

Poets and artists express urban experiencen Shadma Malik

A group exhibition titled “Urban Ex-perience” where the participant artists and poets explore both the positive and negative aspects of urban life is going on at the Bengal Art Lounge in Gulshan.

The show is an outcome of a week-long workshop. With the help of two visiting artists, Whitney Baker on poetry and Andrew Saftel on print-making, the theme given is to get an outlook of the formidable challenges and opportunities of urban life. The workshop was conducted in Dhaka and Rajshahi organised by the Bengal Foundation and American Center of the U S Embassy.

The unique show presents combi-nation of poetries and prints. Some-times the poetries compliment the artworks, while some paintings are visual expressions of the verses. As the theme suggests, most of the works present high-rise buildings, rickshaws and di� erent vehicles to represent city life.

Through the artworks, the artists and poets try to � nd out answers of some questions: Is living in a city an advantage, or a curse? How to express oneself in enclosed urban spaces? How to interpret the often contradictory issues raised by rapid urbanisation – where congested urban centres are sources of both formidable challenges and opportunities?

The artists came from di� erent ar-eas including students from Fine Arts to professionals. They have expressed congested urban centres without liv-ing any space on the canvases. The prints narrate the sprawl of urbanisa-tion.

Representing urban experience, artist Abdullah Al Bashir has depicted two boys on a street over a huge net. At the background, birds can be seen sitting unru� ed on an electric wire which is a common scenario of the city where there is no security for the birds.

Rahul Amin Tarek's artwork depicts a sketch of a man who is observing � ying and � oating objects made out of paper such as kites and boats. The person inside the wall perhaps has an urge to become a paper objects which are free.

Using a red pen, Nityananda Gaine has marked the most congested plac-es of the capital city like Airport Road, Motijheel, Farmgate, to name a few on his canvas. On a gloomy background, Saurav Chowdhury has represented high-rise buildings which deprive us from the bright blue sky and soothing greenery.

On the contrary, Anika Marium Ahmed presents a remote village in her artwork which, perhaps, express her inner self that still seek for the se-renity of rural life.

The show will continue until 8pm, July 29. l

Amitabh Bachchan sports no makeup look in Yudhn Entertainment Desk

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will be seen without make-up in his much await-ed TV show “Yudh.”

The 71-year-old actor plays the character of a real estate baron, Yudhisthir Sikarwar, in the upcoming show.

Anurag Kashyap, the creative director of the show, took a deliberate deci-sion of “no makeup” for the artists and the entire cast welcomed it.

“Keeping in mind that it was a directorial decision to make visuals look as real-life as possible, it was essential that the actors looked natural. That helped in the way our scenes were lit up and there were no special e� orts to conceal defects, if any, on our faces. These factors work well in the overall look of the product,” Bachchan said in a statement.

The show is likely to go on air from mid-July on Sony Entertainment Tele-vision. l

Apu, Shakib and Bobby promote Hero: The Superstarn Entertainment Desk

A special celebrity show “Moments with Stars” will be aired on RTV during Eid. Along with the besotted on-screen couple Apu Biswas and Shakib Khan, actor Bobby who shares a good camaraderie with the duo will accompany them. The trio will be seen in an upcoming movie “Hero: The Su-perstar” which is set to release soon and will be appearing in the show to promote the movie.

The celebrities will share many pro-

fessional and personal stories with the audience, some of which have never been revealed before. Shakib, Apu and Bobby will be playing short games including a blindfold segment where Shakib will be asked to identify the la-dies after he is blindfolded.

About pairing up with Shakib, Apu said: “Shakib and I have worked in 45 � lms together and the audience has embraced us as an onscreen couple. We have been entertaining them for the last 8 years and is grateful for their love and appreciation.”

Dhallywood megastar Shakib Khan

and his leading lady Apu Biswas’ spar-kling chemistry not only created a sensation on-screen but also grabbed headlines. The duo has gifted many hits at the Box O� ce which created a vibe in the � lm industry.

The stars also shared their marriage plans in the show where Shakib said: “I hope to tie the knot within three years.” Apu and Bobby both replied: “Not before � ve years.”

The programme has been produced by Shumon Mahmud and anchored by Mahbuba Islam Shumi. l

Abul Hayat in Ar Ekbar Phirey Ashtey Jodi

DHAKA TRIBUNE13Sp rt

Abahani slip away from title n

Two biggest crowd-pull-ers Abahani Limited and Mohammedan SC shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in the Nitol-Ta-ta Bangladesh Premier Football League at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The Sky Blues’ Ghanaian striker Osei Morrison’s early strike was cancelled out by Mohammedan’s in-form striker Wahed Ahmed in the second-half of the game that experienced the lowest turn-out in a Dhaka derby in recent years.

The draw shattered any hopes Abaha-ni had of catching up with table toppers Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club. With 40 points from 22 matches Abahani are now 11 points behind Jamal with only � ve games left to play in the league. Mean-while Mohammedan sit third with three points behind their arch rivals.

Ghanaian mid� elder Awudu Ibra-him’s header in the ninth minute almost put the Sky Blues ahead but woodwork came to Mohammedan’s rescue. Morri-son, however, broke the deadlock a min-ute later after � ne work by Portuguese forward Leonildo Soares. Soares’ lobbed pass found Morrison inside the box who simply slotted home past Mohammedan goalkeeper Mamun Khan.

The Black and Whites regrouped during the breather and it took them just three minutes in the second-half to level the score. A pin point cross from Zongo found national striker Wahed Ahmed who headed past Abahani custodian Shahidul Alam Sohel with ease.

The game could have been in Mo-hammedan’s bag but Wahed squandered a golden opportunity to seal the winner in the 80th minute as his angular strike from inside the box went just wide of the target. l

ICC chief warns against nepotism in Bangladeshn Former Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president AHM Mostofa Kamal who be-came the � rst ever Bangladeshi to head the International Cricket Council (ICC) after he was o� cially given the charge of the cricket’s governing body at its annual conference in Melbourne re-cently, received a warm reception from the BCB directors and former players when he arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday.

Interestingly, the former BCB president sounded critical of the velocity of the players’ getting married when he com-mented, ‘You call this Sakib, Tamim, Mashrafe and Mush� q bad. Their prob-lem is six of them queue up together to get married if one gets married.”

The former BCB boss, however, did not forget to raise questions over the recent lackluster performance of the Bangladesh team and the cricketers, and blamed the media for ruining the cricketers as they are more involved in shooting for TV commercials rather than practicing.

The ICC president also opined that the authorities should be stronger and warned if nepotism in cricket contin-ues, it will not usher in good result for the nation. “Listen, if you have uncles-nephews and other relatives involved in cricket, it will cause a bad impact on Bangladesh cricket. We have to be strong and disciplined, and if New Zealand and West Indies can do so then why not Bangladesh? We have beaten New Zealand and West Indies so many times before,” he said.

The � rst ICC president from Bangla-desh further warned that this achieve-ment of his would go in vain if Bangla-desh fail to produce better cricket on the � eld.

Kamal became the eleventh ICC president in the annual conference in Melbourne and will be at the helm for twelve months. The new ICC president, however, expressed his intentions as the new president of ICC upon arrival.

“I will work for cricket in the next one year and as I am now the president of ICC, I can’t work only for a speci� c country. I am an optimistic individual and I believe cricket will reach its ulti-mate goal. May be we are yet to achieve that under the new management but I hope we can,” said Kamal.

Kamal said he is happy with the role, “The president’s title is really good for me. It is an ornamental post. I will speak in conferences, give awards in tournaments and chair the ICC’s an-nual conference. Then after my time is up, I will hand it over to the next presi-dent,” he said. l

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

1966 WORLD CUPENGLAND 4 WEST GERMANY 2

It’s hard to ignore this one. England’s � nest half hour on a football � eld came courtesy of Sir Geo� Hurst with a little help from an Azerbaijani linesman. History was made. “We didn’t realise the importance and magnitude of the occasion, how when you win a World Cup and it a� ects the national psyche of everyone in the country,” said Hurst last year. “That’s when you realise how big it is. It’s a long time ago but for many people it’s a big part of their lives.”However, not everyone is convinced it has a� ect-ed the country in a positive way. Former England manager Glenn Hoddle believes the achievement of Sir Alf Ramsey’s side have shaped everything that has followed. He said, “After Ramsey’s success, all our teams started playing 4-4-2. We got stuck in that rigid system.” Talk about a de� ning moment.

1970 WORLD CUPITALY 4 WEST GERMANY 3

West Germany’s last-minute equaliser to send this semi-� nal into extra time was a blessing. In front of over 100,000 in the Estadio Azteca, what followed was one of the great games and to date the only occasion in which � ve goals have been scored during the extra period. Even more extraordinary was some of the defending. The winner came straight from the kick-o� . Gianni Rivera sidefooting home after a lung-busting run in the Mexico heat by Roberto Boninsegna. A game that had been 1-0 to Italy after 89 minutes was 4-3 to the Azzurri after 111 minutes. Intense stu� and perhaps no surprise that the Italians looked jaded against the might of Brazil just four days later.

1982 WORLD CUPWEST GERMANY 3 FRANCE 3

Regarded as one of the best World Cup matches of all-time, it’s worth remembering that four of the six goals came in extra time. The game looked to be going France’s way when Marius Tresor’s volley de-� ected in just two minutes into the extra period and Alain Giresse then doubled the lead. But the introduc-tion of Karl Heinz Rummenigge changed things. France coach Michel Hidalgo had to use his second and � nal substitute to replace the previous one. Only 10 minutes after coming on, Patrick Battiston was cynically taken out by West Germany goalkeeper Har-ald Schumacher. Rummenigge pulled one back before Klaus Fischer came up with an equaliser in the second period of extra time with a trademark bicycle kick. All that remained was for Schumacher to save twice in the penalty shootout for a German win. Naturally.

1990 WORLD CUPCAMEROON 2 COLOMBIA 1

Cameroon versus Colombia provided one of the most memorable moments from Italia ’90. It didn’t look that way in normal time with the score goalless after 90 min-utes. Colombia’s charismatic goalkeeper Rene Higuita was among the more impressive performers. But in the � nal 30 minutes the narrative shift was swift. It was all about Roger Milla. Milla could have gone to ground under a challenge from Andres Escobar but stayed on his feet to beat Higuita with a left-footed shot. Shortly afterwards came Higuita’s nadir. Robbed by Milla, ITV commentator John Helm could barely hide his con-tempt. “That is always the danger,” he told the audience. “Made to look an ass.” Colombia pulled one back but the night belonged to the oldest swinger in town.

2002 WORLD CUP SOUTH KOREA 2 ITALY 1

The words Byron and Moreno remain ones of the dirty variety in Italy after his o� ciating in the 2002 World Cup match between the Azzurri and hosts South Korea. A dubious penalty and a controversial second yellow card for Francesco Totti angered Italy but more was to come. Damiano Tommasi had a goal ruled out in extra-time before Ahn Jung-Wan enjoyed the sweetest of moments.The South Korea forward had been playing his club football in Italy for Perugia, later claiming he was “an outcast” in the dressing room and bullied by Marco Materazzi. Revenge was brutal as he outjumped Italy’s captain Paolo Maldini to score the golden goal – winning the match in an instant.

WORLD CUP EXTRA-TIME CLASHES5

Mohammedan striker Wahed Ahmed (L) celebrates a goal with teammate during their Nitol-Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League match against Abahani at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

‘Too much class in one frame’ -

British journalist and television

host Piers Morgan takes a sel� e

while training with Sachin

Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan

and discarded English cricketer Kevin Pieterson

yesterday. The cricketers are practicing for

the MCC match against the Rest

of the World to commemorate

Lord’s Bicentenary on

July 5

‘You call this Sakib, Tamim, Mashrafe and Mush� q bad. Their problem is six of them queue up together to get married if one gets married

Wozniacki, Wawrinka join clock campaign to � ght time-wasters n

Former world number one Caroline Wozni-acki and Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka joined calls Monday for on-court

clocks to be installed to clamp down on Wimbledon time-wasters.

Wozniacki claimed she was the lat-est victim of the growing problem as she crashed out against Barbora Zahla-vova Strycova, the unseeded Czech who claimed another famous scalp to move into the quarter-� nals with a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

Danish 16th seed Wozniacki was unhappy with the length of time Zahla-vova Strycova took between points,

claiming the Czech’s routine stopped her establishing any rhythm.

“I thought she was very slow. But I guess the referee, she has the time on it. If she’s within the time, I guess it’s okay. It’s up to the referee or up to the umpire to say if she is or not,” said the Dane.

She also agreed with Roger Federer’s opinion that clocks may have to be in-stalled on court to hurry up the slower players, with the seven-time Wimble-don champion fearing that the pedes-trian pace of some matches could lead to fans turning their backs on the sport.

However, Zahlavova Strycova be-lieves clocks are not necessary as the � nal call should remain with the chair umpire.

“I like to take time between points, but the referee didn’t tell me anything

about it, so I was continuing in my rhythm,” said the Czech player who has made the last-eight at a major for the � rst time at her 32nd attempt.

“So if the referee would tell me speed up or hurry up on your serve, I would maybe change it. But I didn’t get any warning or something like that, so I was just following the rhythm I had.”

Federer’s comments over slow play came just hours after world number one Rafael Nadal, notorious for his lengthy breaks between each point, had been criticised for time-wasting by Lukas Rosol following the Spaniard’s second round victory.

Nadal took an average of 25 seconds to resume play when the maximum al-lowed in the sport’s rulebook is 20 sec-onds. l

Kaka leaving Milan to join Orlando Cityn Former Brazil playmaker Kaka will sign for new Major League Soccer team Or-lando City after terminating his con-tract with AC Milan by mutual consent.

“I’ve always said I wanted to play in the USA and now I have reached an agreement to play there,” Kaka told Mi-lan’s TV channel on Monday.

Initially Kaka is likely to be on loan until January 2015 at Brazilian side Sao Paulo, where he was developed as a youth and where he played the � rst two years of his professional career be-fore being sold to Milan in 2003.

Kaka returned to Milan in 2013. They � nished eighth in Serie A last season and missed out on Europe for the � rst time since 1998 in a wretched cam-paign that saw them sack two coaches, Allegri in January and Seedorf at the end of the season.

DHAKA TRIBUNE14 Sp rt

Robben confessed penalty unfair, says Mexico captainn Mexico’s captain Rafael Marquez said Arjen Robben had admitted to him that the Dutch forward should not have been awarded the penalty that decided Sunday’s last-16 clash.

With extra time looming, the pacey Robben went down in the box under a challenge from defender Marquez, giv-ing the Netherlands a penalty that won the game 2-1 but brought accusations of play-acting from Mexico.

Robben told him after the game in the players’ changing area “that it wasn’t a penalty, though one of the pre-vious (tackles) was,” Marquez told jour-nalists in comments that were translat-ed from Spanish.

The Dutch forward went down sev-eral times in the box during the match with replays suggesting at least one of the incidents could well have been giv-en as a penalty.

“I believe it was not a penalty,” Mar-quez added of the last-gasp action that lost his team the game. “I felt I touched the ground but I didn’t touch him, maybe he touched me.”

The Mexico captain said Robben, 30, who has had a brilliant career but often been accused of diving, had abused the spirit of the game. “For 10 fouls that he receives, he lets himself fall over for � ve, and that’s not fair play,” Marquez said. l

Greek Karagounis hangs up his bootsn Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis an-nounced his retirement from an inter-national football career spanning 139 caps over 15 years following his team’s World Cup round of 16 exit to Costa Rica on penalties on Sunday.

“This was my last game for Greece,” the 37-year-old told reporters.

“We wanted to stay on another week or even longer but you can’t change it now.”

The mid� elder, who had his biggest moment when he helped Greece sur-prisingly win European Championship in 2004, said he would move aside for younger players.

“The national team has grown up, younger players have won invaluable experiences. This is no small thing and as we helped the team come of age we

hope it will continue to be as successful in the future.”

The hard-working Karagounis, who scored 10 goals for Greece, made his � rst appearance in 1999 against El Sal-vador and went on to play in three Eu-ropean Championships as well as two World Cups.

He scored the opening goal in their successful Euro 2004 run against Portu-gal in the group stage but missed the � -nal due to suspension. He also scored the winner against Russia at Euro 2008 that saw Greece advance to the semi-� nals.

While he had lost his starting spot in recent years, Karagounis played the entire 120 minutes of their 5-3 shootout loss to the Central Americans after a 1-1 draw following extra-time, bringing down the curtian on his international career with another tireless perfor-mance. l

Costa Rica revel in unfamiliar dark siden Costa Rica proved on Sunday they were not just an exciting attacking team but could also defend when they knocked Greece out of the World Cup 5-3 on penalties after playing with 10 men for more than an hour.

The Central Americans took a page out of Greece’s book and beat the Eu-ropeans at their own ugly defensive game, matching them tackle for tackle and relying on several superb saves by man-of-the-match goalkeeper Keylor Navas.

The Greeks, playing in the World

Cup knockout rounds for the � rst time, found themselves in the unusual posi-tion of having to attack as Costa Rica lured them into a false sense of security.

Long the underdogs at international tournaments, the Greeks took the bait, hook, line and sinker and Costa Rica proceeded to pick-pocket their ticket to the last eight for the � rst time with a disciplined defensive performance.

The Central Americans looked noth-ing like the sprightly aggressive team which beat former World Cup winners Italy and Uruguay in the group stage to progress as winners.

They relinquished possession and

with lone forward Joel Campbell hav-ing to endure constant crunching tack-les by the rugged Greek defenders, they

were content to soak up pressure before hitting them on the break.

With the Greeks lured out of their defensive shell for the � rst time in years knowing that one goal could be enough to decide the match, Costa Rica struck when captain Bryan Ruiz scored after a � ne move down the left wing.

They were reduced to 10 men when Oscar Duarte was sent o� after a second booking but kept the Greeks at bay until a last-gasp equaliser sent the game into extra-time at 1-1.

There ‘Los Ticos’ did exactly what Greece had been doing against stronger opponents for years, letting them come

forward while waiting to strike on the counter.

They held on even as Greece coach Fernando Santos brought in two more forwards to � nish the game in extra time and Navas saved their skin on sev-eral occasions.

He then stopped a penalty in the shootout to complete Costa Rica’s most memorable footballing moment which was undoubtedly not their prettiest.

With the prospect of facing attacking Netherlands in the quarter-� nals, foot-ball fans around the world are relishing the clash and rejoicing that Greece were not the party-poopers yet again. l

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Costa Rica Greece Goals scored 1 1 Total shots 6 24 Shots on target 2 13 Corners 3 11 O� sides 0 10 Fouls committed 23 16 Yellow cards 6 2 Red cards 1 0 Ball possession 43% 57%

MATCH STATS

Robben in World Cup diving storm n Dutch star Arjen Robben remained at the centre of a diving storm Monday after the Netherlands’ controversial 2-1 World Cup win over Mexico.

Mexico coach Miguel Herrera said the penalty was “invented” and debate intensi� ed after the Bayern Munich striker admitted he had dived in the � rst half in a bid to get a spot kick.

Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar led a late Dutch � ghtback to beat Mexico 2-1 while Costa Rica advanced with a dramatic 5-3 penalty shoot-out win over Greece. France play Nigeria and Germany take on Algeria in Monday’s last 16 games.

Robben, who is often accused of go-ing to ground too easily, fell in injury time after a tackle by Mexico’s Rafael Marquez. Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca pointed to the spot and Hunt-elaar stepped up to bury the winning penalty.

It came just moments after Sneijder had scored an 88th-minute equaliser to cancel out Giovani dos Santos’s superb

goal for Mexico.Robben admitted to diving in an

unsuccessful attempt to win a penalty earlier in the � rst half.

“I really have to say and at the same time apologise in the � rst half I took a dive and I really shouldn’t do that,” Robben said.

“That was a stupid, stupid thing to do but sometimes you’re expecting to be struck and then they pull their leg away at the last minute.”

But he insisted he had been fouled in injury time. Mexico were furious however and coach Herrera lashed out at referee Proenca for awarding the penalty.

“The penalty was invented,” said Herrera who added that Robben should have been punished.

“The determining factor was the man with the whistle. He put us of the World Cup,” said Herrera, whose coun-try has now lost in six consecutive last 16 games.

The Dutch now face a new Latin American test when they play Costa Rica in the quarter � nals in Salvador on Saturday. l

Herrera blames refereen Mexico coach Miguel Herrera blamed referee Pedro Proenca for his side’s last 16 World Cup exit on Sunday after his decision to award a stoppage-time pen-alty allowed the Netherlands to seal a thrilling 2-1 comeback victory.

With two minutes to play Mexico led 1-0 but Wesley Sneijder equalised with a � erce drive before captain Rafa-el Marquez was judged to have tripped Arjen Robben and Klaas Jan Huntelaar calmly scored to put the Dutch in the quarter-� nals.

“It seems to me the reason (we lost) was the referee, the man with the whis-tle. He left us outside the next stage of the World Cup,” Herrera told reporters.

“If the referee starts marking fouls that don’t exist, you leave the World Cup to circumstances out of your hands. We expect the referee committee to take a look at that and that this gentleman goes home, just like us.”

With victory in their grasp on a scorching afternoon at the Castelao are-na, the defeat was a particularly sore one for Mexico who have reached the last 16 at six consecutive World Cups and have lost every time.

“It’s a World Cup where everything

was against Mexico... Out of the four matches that we had, three of them were referee disasters... Unfortunately we didn’t achieve what we wanted.”

He said the spot kick for the Dutch could also have been avoided had Rob-ben been booked for diving earlier in the game, suggesting the winger may not have risked going down so easily under the challenge of Marquez for the late penalty.

“He dived three times, he should have cautioned him the � rst time,” said Herre-ra, who also questioned why Portugal’s Proenca had been selected for the game, suggesting a referee from Africa, Asia or South America would have been fairer. l

Coach Santos rues waste of extra time as Greece exitn Greece wasted a golden opportunity to beat 10-man Costa Rica in extra time be-fore exiting the World Cup on penalties, coach Fernando Santos said on Sunday.

Leading 1-0, the Costa Ricans strug-gled to hold on following the dismissal of defender Oscar Duarte after 66 min-utes of the last 16 clash.

Greece hauled themselves back into the game to level in stoppage time, but failed to make their numerical advan-tage count in extra time, eventually los-ing 5-3 on penalties.

“I don’t think we used the 30 minutes (of extra time) as well as we should. We started it as if it was the last minute of the game, but there was still 30 left,” the Portuguese-born Santos told a news conference.

“We just needed to pass it around well and go into their half of the � eld and do things well. We were controlling the game, but then we wanted to try to � nal-ise things individually,” said Santos, who was sent to the stands for arguing with the referee before the penalty shootout.

He praised Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas, whose superb acrobat-ic save from Theofanis Gekas’s fourth spot-kick proved to be the di� erence be-tween the two sides.

“Navas, he was the real protagonist today, he saved three or four goals, two in particular were very good moments for him,” said the 59-year-old, whose contract as Greece coach runs out on June 30.

“Obviously he has to be congratulat-ed, I think if it wasn’t for him the result would have been di� erent.” l

Costa Rica players celebrate after the deciding goal during a penalty shootout in their 2014 World Cup round of 16 game against Greece at the Pernambuco arena in Recife on Sunday REUTERS

DHAKA TRIBUNE15Sp rt

USA plan to go on o� ensive against Belgiumn United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann says attack will be the best form of de-fence when his American underdogs tackle Belgium on Tuesday for a place in the World Cup quarter-� nals.

The United States confounded all pre-tournament predictions by battling their way out of a daunting Group G, � n-ishing behind Germany but claiming the runners-up spot ahead of Portugal and Ghana.

Klinsmann acknowledged, howev-er, that his team must improve on last Thursday’s 1-0 defeat by the Germans in Recife if they are to provide another shock by eliminating Belgium, regarded by many as tournament dark horses.

Of particular concern to Klinsmann is his team’s attack. According to FIFA sta-tistics compiled after the completion of the � rst round, the United States had just 72 attacks in three games -- putting them 31st among 32 teams.

Klinsmann says he wants to buck that trend against a Belgium side who may be missing centre-backs Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen, both of whom are battling to recover from injuries.

“It’s de� nitely something we learnt out of the Germany game,” Klinsmann said. “We were too deep, especially the � rst 20 minutes.

“I was screaming my lungs o� there to get the back line out and to move the entire unit higher up the � eld.

“So we’ll work on that over the next couple of days in training, to shift the entire game forward and through that put more pressure on the opponent and create more chances. This is really one of our goals.

“It was good at the other end. We didn’t give away too many chances. But this is something we have to do better,

we have to bring up the players higher and create chances.”

Klinsmann was criticised by sections of the US media on the eve of the tour-nament for stating that his side had no realistic chance of success.

But since reaching the knockout phase, Klinsmann has changed tack, bullishly telling his players they can go beyond the last 16 and ordering them to change their return � ights for the Mon-day after the July 13 � nal. l

BTV, Maasranga TV, Gazi TV2014 World Cup10:00PMArgentina v Switzerland2:00AMBelgium v USAStar Sports 1, 4

4:30PM & 6:00PMWimbledon Championship

DAY’S WATCH

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

For more info visit our FB event page ‘World Cup in Bangladesh’ Photography ContestDhaka

WORLD CUP IN BANGLADESH PHOTOGRAPHY CONTESTSend us your photographs to WorldCupBD@dhakatribune.com

KEY STATS Belgium are playing in their � rst World Cup � nals since 2002.

Belgium’s best World Cup result is fourth place in 1986.

The only time the U.S. have beaten Belgium was at the 1930 World Cup, winning 3-0 in the group stages on their run to the semi-� nals.

This is the United States’ seventh successive appearance in the � nals, a consistent run bettered only by Bra-zil, Italy, Argentina, Germany, Spain and South Korea.

Previous meetings Belgium and the United States have met � ve times with the Belgians victorious on four occasions and the Americans just once. Last meeting 29 May, 2013, Cleveland, United States, friendly - U.S. 2 Belgium 4

Petulant Lukaku likely to lead line for Belgiumn Striker Romelu Lukaku is set to return but concern over captain Vincent Kom-pany is still clouding Belgium’s build-up to their World Cup last-16 meeting with the United States in Salvador on Tuesday.

Kompany skipped training again on Sunday as he battled with a groin prob-lem, having now not worked out with the rest of the squad since before Bel-gium’s last game against South Korea which he sat out.

Coach Marc Wilmots suggested Lu-kaku would be restored to the starting line-up for the match at the Fonte Nova arena after also missing the 1-0 win which ensured Belgium a 100 percent record in the � rst round.

The striker jerked his arm away as

Wilmots reached over to grab it and shake his hand after taking Lukaku o� for a second successive match.

But it seemed to have been forgot-ten at a news conference at Mogi das Cruzes on Sunday.

“I still count on him,” Wilmots said.“The ankle injury he su� ered against

Tunisia (in Belgium’s last warm-up international before the World Cup) slowed him down. That you can clear-ly see here. Previously, he had good momentum but now we need to give a boost to his mental con� dence.

“Vincent is following a special pro-gramme,” Wilmots added. I hope he’ll be able to train tomorrow. He is on track and feels better. He’s been working in the swimming pool and done two ses-sions daily outside as well. l

Greece defender Sokratis Pa-pastathopoulos’ surname is the longest (single) second name of any goalscorer in World Cup history

The eighth penalty has the worst suc-cess rate of the opening 10 in World Cup penalty shoot outs

At the 2010 World Cup, seven of the eight group winners advanced through their last-16 match, with US missing out.

Costa Rica have reached the quarter � nals of the World Cup for the � rst time in their history

The last eight World Cup shoot outs have been won by the team going � rst

There have been 145 goals scored at the 2014 World Cup already; as many as at the entire 2010 tournament

Costa Rica have scored with their � rst shot on target of the match against Greece

The last team from CONCACAF to go further than the last 16 at the World Cup were the USA in 2002

Arjen Robben has won � ve penalties in 14 Champions League + World Cup games this season

Mexico have failed to win any of their last seven knockout matches at the World Cup (D2 L5)

The Netherlands have now turned their last four WC games in which they fell behind in regular time into a victory.

Wesley Sneijder has scored � ve goals in his last � ve WC knockout matches for Netherlands

No team has seen more players (6) score for them in this World Cup than Netherlands

Mexico have scored a goal in each of their last 12 WC matches against European nations

Each of Mexico’s four matches at this World Cup have been 0-0 at halftime

WC IN NUMBERS

Belgium’s national players ride their bikes before their training session in Mogi das Cruzes on Sunday REUTERS

Neymarmania goes to Brazilians’ headsn Anderson Guimaraes walked into a bar-ber shop decorated with Brazil � ags to get the latest popular hairstyle in Rio’s slums: The face of football star Neymar sculpted in the back of his head.

World Cup fever and Neymarmania have literally gone to some Brazilians’ heads. Fourteen barbers work seven days a week at the barbershop lying be-tween the Manguinhos and Jacarezinho favelas, as Brazilian slums are known.

Each barber pays $9 a day to rent one of the rundown chairs in the shop, which quickly � lls with clients who want to get a shave, chat and watch a football game.

The house special is the “jaca cut.” Invented a decade ago in the nearby Jac-are slum, the hair is shaved around the ears and neck, leaving the top longer.

But customers can get variations on the cut, courtesy of Marcelo Ferreira, the barbershop’s 22-year-old “craque” -- or whiz. With a razor, Ferreira will turn a neck into Neymar’s face, Brazil’s � ag, the tournament’s armadillo mascot Fuleco or the six stars representing the sixth World Cup title that the nation hopes to capture. Guimaraes, 24, came to get the Neymar special for a second time.

He held up a tablet with a black and white picture of the Barcelona forward. Ferreira used a black pen to carefully trace the face in the back of the client’s head and sharpened his razor before getting to work.

The � rst time he got the haircut, at the start of the Cup, “people wanted to take pictures with me,” Guimaraes said.

“When I took the subway, people asked where I got it and the barber-shop’s phone number. I had a lot of suc-

cess with the girls,” he said, laughing.It takes Ferreira three hours to � n-

ish his masterpiece. It costs $45, quite a sum for favela residents.

Yuri Nascimento, 11, would love to get the Neymar special, but his mother has no job and raises three children with govern-ment welfare checks of $191 per month. He � nally settles for a $6 “delta wing:” A curly mohawk with the sides shaved.

“Some clients want their hair cut like Messi’s. Others like Cristiano Ronaldo’s. But what I like the most is drawing Ney-mar,” Ferreira said.

His Neymar � gures are precise, fea-turing the player’s diamond earrings, baseball cap and blondish hair. A few months ago, the Manguinhos resident won a “barber battle” thanks to his hair masterpieces. His prize was a barber les-son in Copacabana, an upscale tourist zone that is an hour away by bus. l

Belgium

VBelgium USA

Arena Fonte Nova Salvador 01 Jul 2014, 17:00 (2:00BST)

Monday, June 16, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

16 DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

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Motorhomes – the best possible means to travel

The passion of football and the love towards the national team inspired the Villanueva family to overcome all the obstacles and barriers as they travelled more than 10,000 kilometers in their

motorhome before Chile bid adieu to the greatest show of the world - the World Cup.

The motorhomes, small trucks with attached structure that imitates a house, are not an uncommon phe-nomenon and a good number of the vans were seen adjacent to the venues prior to Chile’s matches. Many football fans have chosen these motorhomes as means of accommodation and trans-port during the World Cup in di� erent cities of Brazil while the authorities also provided special arrangements for parking the vehicle.

The La Roja fans started their journey from Chilean capital Santiago on June 6 and followed the national team to Cuiaba, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo be-fore Chile’s run stopped at the Belo Hori-zonte to the hosts in the Round of 16.

Businessman Manoel Villanueva (56), his wife Ruth, son Jose, Jose’s son and granddaughter Julica are frequent visitors to Brazil and they knew the routes and obstacles of the journey will not be a barrier. Travelling such a long distance itself is very tiring, but yet the Chilean family was on their toe follow-ing the success of their national team.

“All of our discomforts and the sore-ness vanished after the national team’s success, driving thousands of kilome-ters is not an easy job, specially the four thousand kilometer from Cuiaba to Rio was a tough one,” said Manoel.

There were two double beds and one single and one of the beds is used as the dining table with four small chairs, a stove, a microwave oven, a fridge and some utensils also accommodated inside the van. Though a TV could be found

inside, the van however did not have any toilet. The Villanueva family packed enough dry foods and of course lot of water bottles, juice and beer with them to Brazil. Jose Barrios, the 35-year old son echoed his father’s sentiment and said, “We love Chilean football team. Vidal, Medel and Vargas has lifted the counties image, Chile has played super football.”

Their 22-day travel came to end with the exit of Chile in the second round, they were ready to follow the team to Fortaleza, about 2000km away from Belo Horizonte though they did not posses any ticket. The motorhome was rented for US$12000 for 35 days but now the bill will go down. The World Cup as-sembles football fans across the world with di� erent identity and di� erent cul-ture and the motorhome added a di� er-ent taste among the festive mood. l

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

13 1514 USA face Belgium in � nal last-16 game

Abahani slip away from title

One of the great things about not living in America is that I hardly have to think about Ann Coulter anymore. For those blissful people who don’t know Ann Coulter, she is a conservative blowhard who has made a lot of money calling Arabs ragheads and implying that all U.S. immigrants, and espe-cially Muslims, are living breathing terrorist cells.

If there is an intolerant and cruel po-litical position to be taken, Ms. Coulter is usually in pole position to take it. It is very di� cult to ignore her or her bigoted broth-ers like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity if you are living in the � fty states, since they are everywhere. I am happy to say that in this poor country of mine, I can go months without re� ecting on their unnecessary existence.

I cannot, therefore, forgive my col-league Nader for diverting my attention Ann Coulter’s latest attempt at being the most horrible bully on Earth. Ms Coulter has recently written an article in the Clari-on-Ledger, a Mississippi based newspaper with a dour history of racism, where she as-serts that any growing interest in what she calls soccer is a sure sign of America’s moral decay. She writes, and I quote:

“If more “Americans” are watch-ing soccer today, it’s only because of the demographic switch ef-fected by Teddy Kennedy’s 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grand-father was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.”

Like I said before, I am more than happy to ignore Animal Ann in the normal course of things. But this time she has peed in my

corner and I will not turn the other cheek. So here is my appeal; to Suarez.

Dear Luis, Since you are going to spend the next

four months not being very useful to Liv-erpool, use the time to bring some joy to the world. Go to America. Seek out a blond woman with maniacal eyes called Ann Coulter and bite her.

Yours truly,Iresh ZakerIf the reader thinks that my measures

are a little extreme then he or she has little idea about people like Ann Coulter. She is the kind of person who hates you and me, and makes a living trying to make other white people hate us. Then she claims that WE are the ones who cannot stand her for her American prosperity.

There is little nuance in the Coulter world and de� nitely no kindness. She does not expect nor will she appreciate a clever repartee. She wants me to bite back. Being a good Bengali Muslim boy, however, I will

remember the oft repeated adage from my childhood. If a dog bites me, I will not bite back. I will use Suarez instead. After all him and Coulter have nothing better to do. At least for the next four months.

On a more serious note, I loved living in the United States. Even at its paranoid post 9/11 worst, the American society boasted a level of tolerance and respect that is hard to come by in any other part of the world. If there really is a land of the free, then the U.S. can claim to be it.

No one screams about freedom more than Ann Coulter and her ilk, yet few try as hard to destroy freedom and tolerance as they do. They pose the same kind of dan-ger to America that the most uneducat-ed fundamentalist poses to Bangladesh. Only in Coulter’s case, she knows better. Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh, and others like them are a disgrace to humanity, and America’s sagacious founding fathers. The sooner America realizes this better for the world. l

Be kind to football and the worldHissing back at the American Right

n Switzerland’s ‘Alpine Messi’ Xherdan Shaqiri, hot from a hat-

trick against Honduras in his last game, meets the real Messi whose goals have � red Argentina into the World Cup last 16 but they will look for a better all-round perfor-mance when they meet Today.

The diminutive four-time player of the year has � nally sparked for his country, hitting four of their six goals as Argentina

quali� ed top of Group F.But Argentina needed Messi’s

late winner to overcome Iran 1-0 and they also shipped two goals before

beating Nigeria 3-2, lowering expec-tations of a third world title.

They will face their toughest op-ponents yet in Switzerland, who put seven goals past group opponents Ec-uador, France and Honduras, includ-ing three from Xherdan Shaqiri.

“Now we can’t make any mis-takes as any error will see us getting knocked out,” Messi warned after Argentina negotiated the group stage.

“There is nothing more beauti-ful than to be world champion, to

achieve that with my coun-try.”

In Argentina’s favour is that more than 100,000

of their fans are expected

to � ood Sao Paulo ahead of Tuesday’s game, including many inside Corinthi-ans Arena.

But they will have to cope with the loss of Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero, who is out with a muscle inju-ry after going o� in the � rst half against Nigeria.

Both Messi and coach Alejandro Sabella acknowledge that Argentina are a work in progress but they will now hope to raise the heat on their slow-burning campaign.

“We’ve got nine points, but we can always get better,” Sabella said.

Former Bayern Munich coach Ott-mar Hitzfeld will relish the clash against one of the pre-tournament fa-vourites in what he says will be his last hurrah before retirement.

Despite their 5-2 hammering by France, Switzerland have twice bet-tered Latin American opposition al-ready after their 2-1 and 3-0 wins over Ecuador and Honduras respectively.

Their attack will be spearheaded by one of the revelations of the tourna-ment, 22-year-old Shaqiri, who hit all three goals against Honduras to secure Switzerland’s quali� cation.

The winger, the � rst Swiss player to score multiple goals in a World Cup match since 1954, has hit the headlines after making just 10 league starts for Bayern Munich this season.

Switzerland have never beaten Ar-gentina in six attempts. And they know

all about Messi, who struck his � rst i n t e r n a t i o n a l hat-trick in their 3-1 friend-ly win in Bern in February 2012.

“We’ll prepare our-selves to face Messi, as well as their other play-ers, but of course he has the quality to decide games,” said goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

“It will be relatively hard to shut him out, but he’s not the only dangerous player in a very good team.

“Argentina don’t re-volve just around Messi even though he’s their superstar. But we know all about the skills he has and it helps that we’ve seen a lot of him.”

Hitzfeld’s attack-ing options have been reduced by a cruciate knee ligament inju-ry su� ered in train-ing by forward Mario Gavranovic, an un-used substi-tute in all three group games. l

Argentina practise penalties ahead of Swiss gamen After � ve misses in the World Cup’s � rst penalty shootout, Argentina wise-ly practised spot-kicks on Sunday be-fore � ying to Sao Paulo for their last-16 clash with Switzerland.

The South Americans are heavily fa-voured to beat the Swiss on Tuesday, but underdogs have been making a mark in Brazil so coach Alejandro Sabella clearly aims to leave nothing to chance.

Attackers Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel Di Maria, joined by mid� elder Javier Mascherano and defender Martin De-michelis, all practised penalties against goalkeeper Sergio Romero at their Belo Horizonte training camp.

They were no doubt mindful of Sat-urday’s drama nearby when � ve play-ers missed penalties during Brazil’s 3-2 shootout victory over Chile after a 1-1 draw in normal and extra time.

Argentina have been involved in four World Cup penalty shootouts, winning three, against Yugoslavia and Italy in 1990, and England in 1998. They lost against Germany in 2006. l

VArgentina Switzerland

Arena de Sao PauloSao Paulo 01 Jul 2014, 13:00 Local (10:00BST)

‘Messi of the Alps’ out to conquer Argentinan Xherdan Shaqiri, dubbed ‘the Messi of the Alps’ thanks to his World Cup hat-trick, hopes to conquer new peaks when Switzerland faces Argentina in Tuesday’s last 16 clash.

Shaqiri lived up to his � attering nickname with a hat-trick in his team’s 3-0 romp against Honduras in their � -nal group match to set up Tuesday’s last 16 clash in Sao Paulo against Lionel Messi and Argentina.

“It’s a dream tie for us, little Switzer-land is facing a big challenge,” said the 22-year-old as Swiss newspaper Blick proudly boasted “We have our own Messi. We have achieved something big as little Switzerland, I am proud of my three goals. Anything is possible now in the last 16.”

Switzerland have never beaten Ar-gentina in six previous attempts and are also bidding to reach the World Cup quarter-� nals for the � rst time in 60 years.

Shaqiri proved his form with a hat-trick in their � nal group match to set up Tuesday’s last 16 dream clash. l

Probable teams

Argentina

1-Sergio Romero; 2-Ezequiel Garay, 4-Pablo Zabaleta, 16-Marcos Rojo, 17-Federico Fernandez; 5-Fernando Gago, 7-Angel Di Maria, 14-Javier Mascherano; 22-Ezequiel Lavezzi, 9-Gonzalo Higuain, 10-Lionel MessiSwitzerland

1-Diego Benaglio; 2-Stephan Lichtstein-er, 13-Ricardo Rodriguez, 20-Johan Djourou, 22-Fabian Schaer; 8-Gokhan Inler, 10-Granit Xhaka, 23-Xherdan Shaqiri, 11-Valon Behrami; 18-Admir Mehmedi, 19-Josip DrmicKey stats:

In the teams’ six meetings, Argentina have scored 14 goals to Switzerland’s three

Both teams are among the cleanest so far in the World Cup. They each received just one yellow card in their opening three games.

Switzerland have not made the quar-ter-� nals of the World Cup since 1954 when they hosted the tournament.

Argentina are one of just four teams to have won all three of their World Cup group games.

Previous meetings The teams have faced each other six times, with Argentina winning four and two draws.Last meeting Feb. 29, 2012 - Switzerland 1 Agentina 3 Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick for Argentina.

FACT BOX

Messi’s Argentina look to conquer Swiss peak

Costa Rica revel in unfamiliar dark side

www.dhakatribune.com/business TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2014

B3 Global bank pro� ts hit $920bn as Chinese lenders boom

B4 Following long ban, US could dominate global light oil supply

NBR set to curb tax evasion by MNCsn Tribune Report

National Board of Revenue is set to try stopping tax evasion, if there is any, by multinational companies as the Trans-fer Pricing Law becomes e� ective from today.

The law was initially framed under the Finance Bill 2012 to identify and prevent tax evasion by foreign compa-nies operating in Bangladesh.

The law, however, took two years more to come into e� ect due to lack of expertise and attitude among both the taxmen and the taxpayers, a high o� -cial of NBR said.

“It took two more years as the NBR o� cials were not capable enough to deal with the capital � ight, which re-quires knowledge of international tax-ation methods.”

He said around 50 o� cials are now trained up with international practices to audit the � les. The issue would now be dealt by the Transfer Pricing Cell at NBR having 7 to 8 trained o� cials.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech said the cell will start working from July 1 and will play e� ec-tive role in preventing money launder-ing and tax evasion.

According to the Finance Act 2012, transactions worth of Tk3 crore in a � -

nancial year by the multinational com-panies with their associate enterprises will come under the scrutiny.

There are some 200 foreign com-panies now operating in Bangladesh in sectors, including consumer goods, telecom, energy, beverage, cement, readymade garments and banks.

Under the NBR plan, a number of companies in a limited manner will be brought under the law in the � rst two years while the number would in-crease gradually from the next years.

NBR o� cials have found MNCs evade tax through abusing the trans-fer pricing in ways including capital � ight, transfer of dividend and pro� t to its permanent establishments or parent companies, over-invoicing and under-invoicing during transactions of goods and services within their associ-ated enterprises.

Di� erent studies show, the country lost a huge amount of tax and capital each year by way of transfer mispricing.

According to a study by the Wash-ington-based Global Financial Integ-rity in 2011, Bangladesh su� ered the highest amount of illicit � nancial � ow of $34.8 billion from 1990 to 2008, and it is losing $1.8 billion every year through capital � ight due to misuse of transfer pricing. l

$78m WB loan to add 480,000 solar home systemsn Tribune Report

World Bank has given $78.4m addi-tional � nancing to further scale-up support for the solar home systems (SHS) programme of Bangladesh.

The project will help install an ad-ditional 480,000 solar home systems that has emerged as a viable electri-� cation option for areas without grid access to electricity.

The credit for the additional � nanc-ing to the Bangladesh Rural Electri� ca-tion and Renewable Energy Develop-ment II (RERED II) Project is provided from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group’s soft loan arm, said a press re-lease yesterday.

Additional Secretary of Economic Relations Division Arastoo Khan and Acting Head of World Bank Bangladesh Christine E Kimes signed the agree-ment in this regard on behalf of their respective organisations. Implement-ed as a public-private partnership, the SHS programme is currently installing over 70,000 solar home systems every month, making it the fastest growing SHS programme in the world.

In Bangladesh 3 million systems have already been installed with sup-port from World Bank and other devel-

opment partners.“Together, Bangladesh and the

World Bank are scaling up a program that delivered development results for millions of rural Bangladeshis,” said Arastoo Khan, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division.

“This repeater project is building up on our e� orts to support the govern-ment’s vision of providing universal access to electricity.”

Christine E Kimes, acting head of World Bank Bangladesh said: “This is a proven model that works. Investing in electricity in rural areas empowers both men and women, leading to in-creased income and growth opportu-nities and reducing poverty.”

Currently, only 42% of the people in

rural Bangladesh have access to elec-tricity, and reliance on the grid alone will not achieve the government’s vi-sion of universal access by 2021.

The bene� ts of using solar homes systems include increased study time for children, empowerment of women through knowledge from TV viewing, income generation from mobile phone recharging services, as well as contri-bution to emissions reduction as a re-sult of kerosene replacement.

The project has also started dis-semination of improved cook stoves with a target to provide clean cooking solutions to over 1m rural households. Access to clean cooking bene� ts wom-en and children in particular, reducing respiratory diseases. l

Stocks remain range bound in H1 Good stocks perform well, bad-speculative ones slide during January and June period of 2014n Kayes Sohel

The stock market remained range bound in the � rst half of this year end-ed yesterday as some investors were cautious in trading.

The benchmark DSEX Index only ranged within the band of 4,300 and 4,800 points without making any big movement during the January to June period of 2014.

After reaching its highest level since the beginning of the year, over 4,800 points on February 6, the index could not surpass the 500-point threshold. The DSEX closed nearly 4,500-mark yesterday, the last trading day of the � rst half.

This fact has caused di� culties to individuals and institutions.

Some investors are still having cau-tious views on the future prospect of the market in the second half of 2014, despite somewhat active supports from the budget passed on Sunday last.

Volume of trade at the Dhaka Stock Exchange remained volatile with a de-crease of more than 3% to Tk387 crore yesterday from Tk400 crore in January 1. It had crossed Tk800 crore –mark in the second week of January and sank to year lowest below Tk200 crore in the � nal week of May.

Managing Director of IDLC Invest-ments Md Moniruzzaman said the changes in the market from the begin-ning of the year have truly re� ected the investors’ cautious sentiment.

“No big move, no major fall during the period,” he said. But the immediate concern is private investment that still struggling to wriggle out of sluggish situation despite government’s e� orts, he said.

“Investors look for level playing � eld and stability in the political � eld for going long term investment,” he said.

Moniruzzaman sees a good sign that the companies having good fun-damentals performed well and poor fundamentals and speculation were on the slide during the past six months.

An analyst at the top brokerage � rm said along with the concerns from the

political side, views on the market prospect in the rest of the year remain cautious.

He evaluated that in the near fu-ture, there would still be unpredictable changes in the market and said those changes could put negative impact on the market, leading to concerns.

The � rst concern is about the pub-lic bank borrowing to � nance the new budget de� cit, the slowdown in

private investment, which together would cause negative psychological impact on the market.

The next concern is the market’s drying-up despite huge liquidity in the banking system due to ful� llment of regulatory requirements, including gradual cutting down of bank expo-sure to the stock market.

Managing Director at the Union Capital Akter H Sannamat said the market in the six months of the year grew moderately, as most investors, particularly big one, preferred to stay sidelines.

“But the market still bears the shock of stock market debacle in late 2010,” he said adding that purchasing capac-ity of many still remained negative, contributing to lower volume of trade.

The decreasing trend of interest rate ground is the positive signs for the stock market, said a market player. But the central bank’s requirement might put curb on market’s moving forward, he said.

However, he noted there is a nega-tive factor besides the positive ones, which is the unstable psychology of investors in local stock market.

While small investors still domi-nate stock market, the unprofessional investment and crowd psychology are unavoidable, he said. l

NBR set to curb tax evasion by MNCsn Tribune Report

National Board of Revenue is set to try stopping tax evasion, if there is any, by multinational companies as the Trans-fer Pricing Law becomes e� ective from today.

The law was initially framed under the Finance Bill 2012 to identify and prevent tax evasion by foreign compa-nies operating in Bangladesh.

The law, however, took two years more to come into e� ect due to lack of exper-tise and attitude among both the tax-men and the taxpayers, a high o� cial of NBR said.

“It took two more years as the NBR o� cials were not capable enough to deal with the capital � ight, which re-quires knowledge of international tax-ation methods.”

He said around 50 o� cials are now trained up with international practices to audit the � les. The issue would now be dealt by the Transfer Pricing Cell at NBR having 7 to 8 trained o� cials.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech said the cell will start working from July 1 and will play e� ec-tive role in preventing money launder-ing and tax evasion.

According to the Finance Act 2012, transactions worth of Tk3 crore in a � -nancial year by the multinational com-panies with their associate enterprises will come under the scrutiny.

There are some 200 foreign com-panies now operating in Bangladesh in sectors, including consumer goods, telecom, energy, beverage, cement, readymade garments and banks.

Under the NBR plan, a number of companies in a limited manner will be brought under the law in the � rst two years while the number would increase gradually from the next years.

NBR o� cials have found MNCs evade tax through abusing the trans-fer pricing in ways including capital � ight, transfer of dividend and pro� t to its permanent establishments or parent companies, over-invoicing and under-invoicing during transactions of goods and services within their associ-ated enterprises.

Di� erent studies show, the country lost a huge amount of tax and capital each year by way of transfer mispricing.

According to a study by the Wash-ington-based Global Financial Integrity in 2011, Bangladesh su� ered the high-est amount of illicit � nancial � ow of $34.8 billion from 1990 to 2008, and it is losing $1.8 billion every year through capital � ight due to misuse of transfer pricing. l

4,000

4,100

4,200

4,300

4,400

4,500

4,600

4,700

4,800

4,900

January 1, 2014 March 31, 2014 June 30, 2014

MOVEMENT OF DSEX INDEX IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS

It took two more years as the NBR o� cials were not capable enough to deal withthe capital � ight

Biman employees to continue agitation for pay hiken Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Employees of national � ag carrier Bi-man Bangladesh Airlines have threat-ened continuing their agitation to press home their 14-point demands, including hikes in pay and perks.

They con� ned the acting manag-ing director at his o� ce for two hours. Several hundred employees besieged the o� ce of AM Mosaddek Ahmed, the chief executive o� cer of the airlines, between 11 am and 1pm at the Biman headquarters.

They also handed over a memoran-dum to the CEO, seeking immedi-ate implementation of their de-mands, which the authorities had earlier pledged.

CBA President Moshikur Rah-man, who led the agitation, an-nounced they would also con� ne the chairman’s o� ce on July 3 over the same demands.

Their demands include recruit-ing skilled manpower for ground handling, arranging personal pay for employees along with regular salaries, ensuring free treatment by revoking a 25% cut of the sal-ary for treatment, making perma-nent the temporary sta� mem-

bers who have been working for more than � ve years, and making e� ective the dearness allowance from July 1.

Employees union has been agitat-ing since long to press home their demands, which have already been

turned into 14-points from its earli-er 6-point demand. Recently, they launched their movement to full � ll the demands on 25 June and also an-nounced a programme to seize the MD o� ce.

Mosharraf Hossain, general manag-er (public relations) of Biman said the employees submitted a memorandum to the managing director after the ag-itation.

He said a board meeting of the Bi-man would be held on July 5. “The meeting will decide about the de-mands of the employees,” he added. l

Plastic sector fails to take full advantage of export market preferencen Tribune Report

Bangladesh has failed to take full ad-vantage of preferential market access in case of plastic goods export due to the supply-side related constraints and lack of skilled manpower, trade ana-lysts said in Dhaka yesterday.

“Bangladesh has not yet emerged as an exporter of plastic products with considerable share as it has only 0.01% share against the global demands of US$590bn,” observed Khondakar Gol-am Moazzam, an additional research director of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), while presenting a key-note pa-per on “Export-Oriented Plastic Indus-try of Bangladesh Challenges and op-portunities” at a seminar in the capital.

Bangladesh Export Promotion Bu-reau (EPB) and Bangladesh Plastic Manufacturers and Exporters Associ-ation (BPMEA) jointly organised the seminar to address problems and pros-pects of this sector at its Karwan Ba-zaar o� ce. Urging the government to take measures for establishing a plastic industry park, BPMEA president Jasim Uddin said: “Compliance is a big con-cern for this sector as the global buyers are concentrating on this issue before placing any orders.”

He also said Bangladesh would be

able to earn $2bn by 2012 if the all the constraints were removed.

According to BPMEA, there are 5000 plastic factories in the country with an employment of 12 lakh people. Out of the 5000 factories, 65% locat-ed in Dhaka, especial in the old part of the city, 20% in Chittagong, 10% in Narayanganj and rest 5% in other parts of the country.

“To make this sector compliant, the relocation of these factories to envi-ronmentally compliant area is needed,” said Moazzem. He also urged the gov-ernment to provide necessary funds needed for establishing a plastic Palli.

“As the country’s export items are very few, we have to increase export items to maintain the export growths,” opined EPB vice-chairman Shubhash-ish Bose. He also put emphasis on in-troducing courses in the private and public universities to generate skill manpower for the plastic sector.

“Despite global recession, Bangla-desh’s economy remained stable as the country exports basic products,” reminded Bose.

Bangladesh will witness more FDI in this sector as the production cost of China and Thailand has been increased while this factory will be relocated in Bangladesh, he added.

Withdrawal of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) put pressures par-tially on competitiveness as Bangla-deshi products face duty from 3-15% depending on the products.

During his presentation of the study, Moazzem identi� ed some chal-lenges that include lack of machinery use in a proper way, skilled manpower, testing laboratory, technological e� -ciency, mold manufacturing, proper management of waste, and also short-age of gas and electricity supply.

He also stressed the need for at-tracting more local and foreign invest-ments for the development of this po-tential sector.

The plastic sector people urged the EPB to separate plastic export from the deemed export to understand the contribution of this sector. Currently, deemed export is accounted for more than 75% of the total export.

Currently, Bangladesh manufac-tures products worth $1.2bn of which $330m are of high-quality products.

In July-May 2013-14, Bangladesh earned $76.50m exporting plastic products, which is 2.14% less com-pared to $78.17m of the same period of last � scal year. In the last � scal Bangla-desh’s export earnings from the sector was $84.51m. l

‘The board meeting (on July 5) will decide about the demands of the employees’

ANALYST

B2 Stock Tuesday, July 1, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Pro� t booking ends rallyn Tribune Report

Stocks ended � at with volatility on the � rst day of the month of Rama-dan yesterday, as late pro� t book-ing selling pressure erased some of early gains.

The market was in the positive territory almost entire session but pro� t booing sale mainly on bank, power and pharma issues has sent the market to the negative territory.

The benchmark DSEX lost over 6 points or 0.2% to end at 4,480, breaking its � ve-day rally.

However, the Shariah index DSES rose marginally 2 points or 0.3% to 1,019. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,645, inching up almost 6 points or 0.4%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, fell 34 points to 8,506.

Turnover remained sluggish given that the trading hours at DSE have been shortened by an hour during the month of Ramadan. Turnover stood at Tk387 crore, which was 0.7% lower over the pre-vious session.

Majority of stocks declined, as out of 289 issues traded, 98 closed in green, 161 declined and 30 re-mained unchanged.

Lanka Bangla Securities said intraday movement in index was shaky as investors prompted to

cash in on the gain of last two trad-ing sessions.

IDLC Investments said closing with FY2013-14, session absorbed the last stance of June-impact. The � nancial year booked 9.16% gain in DSEX with an average turnover of Tk471 crore, despite tremendous setbacks caused by pre-election vi-olence.

Half-yearly book closing fell in the � rst day of holy Ramadan, leav-ing a sign of mixed trading pattern, it said.

Zenith Investments said after � ve days of stretch, the market takes a breather as the bulls made little attempts to take control over the bears.

“However, neither group was able to make much of a statement as the downtrend of main index was weighed against the uptrend of other two indices,” it said.

Participation of investors is quite vibrant and it is perfectly nor-mal for the market to underperform after few days of advancement and on the � rst day of Ramadan, it said.

Beximco Ltd was the most trad-ed stock of the session with turn-over Tk21 crore changing hands, followed by Square Pharmaceu-ticals, Grameenphone, Meghna Petroleum, United Airways and Bangladesh Submarine CableCompany. l

News, analysis and recent disclosersORIONINFU: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the entity rating (surveillance) of the Com-pany as "BBB3" based on audited � nancial statements of the Company up to June 30, 2013; bank liability position as of September 30, 2013 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.GRAMEEN1: Grameen Fund, the Trustee of Grameen Mutual Fund One, has informed that at the meeting of the Unit holders of the Fund held at 11 AM on June 26, 2014 the Unit holders elected to extend the tenure of the scheme for another 10 years term from July 01, 2015 to end on June 30, 2025 under the relevant provisions of the SEC (Mutual Fund) Rules 2001. Notwithstanding anything con-tained in any other document of the scheme or the fund, as the said Rules provides for the time being, the scheme may not be eligible for any further extension. In other separate motions, the Unitholders also re-con� rmed continuation of the appointment of Grameen Fund as the Trustee and AIMS of Bangladesh Limited as the Asset Manager of the scheme for the extended period.

IFIC: BSEC is not in a position to consider the application of IFIC Bank Ltd. for extension of time as applied for as the Company has failed to comply with the rule 7(1) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Rights Issue) Rules, 2006 regarding submission of application for issuing rights share along with the o� er document which was required to furnish to the Commission for approval within 15 working days of approval of such issue by the shareholders of the Company in a general meeting.PROVATIINS: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on June 26, 2014.RENATA: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on June 26, 2014.KPCL: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respec-tive shareholders' BO Accounts on June 23, 2014. The Company has also informed that

the cash dividend including the payment of sale proceeds of fractional shares will be dis-bursed to the respective bank account of the shareholders and whose bank accounts are not found, dividend warrants will be issued and dispatched to the registered address of the shareholders through courier within stipulated time.CMCKAMAL: The Company has further informed that the 19th AGM of the Company will be held on June 30, 2014 at 11:30 AM at Factory Premises of the Company at Kaicha Bari, Bashbari, Ashulia (Savar), Dhaka.NTC: The Company has further informed that the 36th AGM of the Company will now be held on July 12, 2014 at 11:00 AM at 'Hotel Purbani' 1, Dilkusha C/A, Dhaka.NORTHERN: The Company has informed that the Registered O� ce of the Company will be shifted to Navana DH Tower, Plot-06, Panthapath, Tejgaon Dhaka-1215 with e� ect from 14th July 2014.NHFIL: The Company will be placed in "A" cat-egory from existing "B" category with e� ect from June 30, 2014 as the Company reported disbursement of 12.50% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

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EPSLatest

PE

Pragati Gen. I -A -9.32 -9.32 39.90 39.90 39.90 39.90 0.056 2.52 15.8Midas Financing-Z -7.19 -7.19 14.20 14.20 14.20 14.20 0.021 -6.91 -veApex SpinningA -4.82 -4.82 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 0.015 1.85 40.5Imam Button -Z -3.95 -3.95 7.30 7.30 7.30 7.30 0.022 -1.85 -veRupali Life Insur.-A -2.95 -2.95 65.80 65.80 65.80 65.80 0.066 5.33 12.3Premier Leasing-Z -2.63 -1.07 7.42 7.40 7.50 7.40 0.156 0.12 61.8Active Fine Chem.-A -2.59 -0.02 64.90 63.90 66.70 63.50 3.687 3.72 17.4Da� odil Computers -Z -2.52 -2.27 11.63 11.60 12.00 11.60 0.082 0.68 17.1Federal Insu.-A -2.40 -2.22 20.29 20.30 20.40 20.20 0.041 1.36 14.9Grameen M F One-A -1.87 -1.28 42.27 42.00 42.80 42.00 0.254 3.40 12.4

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Active Fine Chem.-A -4.10 -1.94 64.05 63.20 67.00 61.00 58.538 3.72 17.2GeminiSeaFood-Z -3.77 -7.14 130.00 130.00 130.20 130.00 0.052 -11.90 -veSavar Refractories-Z -3.65 -3.33 58.00 58.00 58.00 58.00 0.003 0.52 111.5Central Insur -A -3.54 -4.99 24.17 24.50 24.70 23.70 0.029 3.64 6.6AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A -2.78 -1.39 7.09 7.00 7.40 7.00 0.397 1.49 4.8Imam Button -Z -2.53 -2.88 7.77 7.70 8.10 7.70 0.167 -1.85 -veBD Fixed Income MF-A -2.47 0.00 8.00 7.90 8.10 7.70 0.020 0.56 14.3Samata LeatheR -Z -2.18 -2.07 27.00 26.90 27.20 26.90 0.162 0.09 300.0Modern Dyeing -Z -2.16 -4.35 76.52 76.90 77.10 75.10 0.088 1.61 47.5Al-Haj Textile -A -2.15 -1.52 156.65 154.70 161.70 150.00 26.548 2.00 78.3

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 936,827 30.89 9.57 33.80 8.33 31.20 34.00 31.10 32.97LafargeS Cement-Z 355,000 29.61 9.17 83.00 0.48 82.60 84.10 82.10 83.42UNITED AIR-A 1,980,156 26.61 8.24 13.70 5.38 13.00 13.90 12.90 13.44Grameenphone-A 49,600 14.67 4.55 293.70 -1.24 297.40 302.00 293.00 295.85BD Submarine Cable-A 58,811 11.18 3.46 188.80 -0.58 189.90 192.50 188.10 190.15The Peninsula CTG.-N 325,600 11.18 3.46 34.20 0.59 34.00 34.70 34.10 34.33Appollo Ispat CL -N 375,000 10.60 3.28 28.30 3.28 27.40 28.70 27.60 28.26BSRM Steels-A 98,280 8.45 2.62 85.40 4.15 82.00 87.50 84.00 85.94BSC-A 13,470 7.14 2.21 531.30 2.17 520.00 541.00 511.00 530.39National Bank - A 568,207 6.23 1.93 11.30 7.62 10.50 11.40 10.40 10.96AramitCementA 132,000 6.11 1.89 46.70 1.08 46.20 46.90 45.60 46.28Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 237,500 5.83 1.81 24.30 -0.41 24.40 25.10 24.20 24.56G Next Fashions-A 301,836 5.48 1.70 18.20 0.00 18.20 18.30 18.00 18.15Eastern Housing -A 74,778 4.68 1.45 62.10 3.50 60.00 63.50 61.70 62.62Keya Cosmetics -A 188,010 4.55 1.41 24.40 5.63 23.10 24.60 23.80 24.20

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 4,124,520 344.35 8.83 83.30 0.85 82.60 84.30 82.80 83.49BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 8,060,346 265.62 6.81 33.80 8.33 31.20 34.10 28.10 32.95Grameenphone-A 655,762 193.94 4.97 294.70 -0.81 297.10 298.90 290.00 295.75UNITED AIR-A 10,053,810 135.13 3.46 13.70 5.38 13.00 14.00 11.70 13.44Square Pharma -A 388,149 107.80 2.76 277.10 0.22 276.50 279.20 265.00 277.73BD Submarine Cable-A 538,682 102.34 2.62 188.50 -0.68 189.80 193.50 175.00 189.99Eastern Housing -A 1,537,630 96.34 2.47 62.00 4.03 59.60 64.00 53.70 62.66BSRM Steels-A 1,050,506 90.47 2.32 85.40 4.02 82.10 87.50 79.40 86.12BSC-A 150,275 79.56 2.04 531.00 1.68 522.25 543.00 513.50 529.40Appollo Ispat CL -N 2,600,200 73.72 1.89 28.30 3.66 27.30 28.70 27.60 28.35HeidelbergCement -A 145,250 72.87 1.87 505.00 1.61 497.00 506.90 497.00 501.71ACI Limited- A 259,655 69.99 1.79 265.70 0.38 264.70 272.40 250.00 269.57Active Fine Chem.-A 913,997 58.54 1.50 63.20 -4.10 65.90 67.00 61.00 64.05Mercantile Bank -A 3,723,100 56.29 1.44 15.00 0.00 15.00 15.50 13.50 15.12Meghna Petroleum -A 199,480 53.10 1.36 266.00 1.41 262.30 268.00 240.00 266.21

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Fine Foods A 9.93 9.16 15.37 15.50 15.50 13.00 0.564 -1.01 -veAziz PipesZ 9.38 9.20 14.00 14.00 14.00 14.00 0.002 0.68 20.6National Housing Fin.-B 9.12 9.66 29.86 29.90 30.10 29.00 0.911 2.32 12.9BD Finance-A 8.87 8.01 13.35 13.50 13.60 12.70 0.451 1.22 10.9In Tech Online -A 8.80 8.83 13.44 13.60 13.70 13.10 0.551 -0.80 -veRangpur Dairy-N 8.77 7.14 18.30 18.60 18.80 17.60 1.504 1.12 16.3BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 8.33 9.14 32.97 33.80 34.00 31.10 30.886 0.59 55.9Shinepukur Cera-Z 8.20 7.25 12.87 13.20 13.40 12.40 0.896 0.64 20.1National Bank - A 7.62 5.08 10.96 11.30 11.40 10.40 6.226 0.92 11.9SummitAlliancePort.-A 7.20 6.49 24.94 25.30 25.50 24.00 3.504 1.08 23.1

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Fine Foods A 9.93 7.68 15.29 15.50 15.50 12.70 3.240 -1.01 -veNational Housing Fin.-B 9.67 9.24 29.44 29.50 29.50 26.00 4.601 2.32 12.7Union Capital -A 9.27 7.68 22.14 22.40 22.50 18.50 10.484 2.08 10.6Shinepukur Cera-Z 9.17 6.39 12.82 13.10 13.20 10.80 6.614 0.64 20.0BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 8.33 9.11 32.95 33.80 34.10 28.10 265.617 0.59 55.8Rangpur Dairy-N 8.19 6.07 18.18 18.50 18.70 15.50 18.239 1.12 16.2BD Finance-A 8.00 7.12 13.24 13.50 13.60 11.30 3.915 1.22 10.9In Tech Online -A 7.20 5.91 13.27 13.40 13.50 12.00 2.220 -0.80 -veNational Bank - A 6.73 5.72 11.09 11.10 11.40 9.40 38.604 0.92 12.1Fu-wang Ceramic-A 6.67 4.49 15.82 16.00 16.20 13.50 11.402 0.49 32.3

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 396.34 10.16 32.62 9.52 428.96 10.11NBFI 162.67 4.17 13.33 3.89 176.00 4.15Investment 51.15 1.31 4.43 1.29 55.58 1.31Engineering 357.90 9.17 34.70 10.13 392.60 9.25Food & Allied 168.50 4.32 9.44 2.76 177.95 4.19Fuel & Power 300.74 7.71 22.22 6.48 322.96 7.61Jute 2.20 0.06 0.00 2.20 0.05Textile 308.22 7.90 24.95 7.28 333.17 7.85Pharma & Chemical 522.89 13.40 23.19 6.77 546.07 12.87Paper & Packaging 0.43 5.67 1.65 6.09 0.14Service 111.53 2.86 8.19 2.39 119.72 2.82Leather 38.45 0.99 6.67 1.95 45.12 1.06Ceramic 22.37 0.57 2.37 0.69 24.74 0.58Cement 474.48 12.16 43.61 12.73 518.09 12.21Information Technology 24.68 0.63 2.92 0.85 27.60 0.65General Insurance 36.99 0.95 0.65 0.19 37.64 0.89Life Insurance 72.57 1.86 4.15 1.21 76.72 1.81Telecom 296.28 7.59 25.86 7.55 322.14 7.59Travel & Leisure 191.20 4.90 38.53 11.25 229.73 5.41Miscellaneous 361.09 9.26 39.11 11.42 400.20 9.43Debenture 0.56 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.58 0.01

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4487.07318 (+) 1.76% ▲

DSE Shariah Index : 1017.17358 (+) 1.09% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1638.9007 (+) 1.38% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 13820.75760 (+) 1.60% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11375.76650 (+) 1.56% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8540.83730 (+) 1.66% ▲

DSE key features June 30, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

3,901.23

Turnover (Volume)

103,930,420

Number of Contract 100,047

Traded Issues 297

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

238

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

53

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,315.01

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.06

CSE key features June 30, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 325.64

Turnover (Volume) 10,871,140

Number of Contract 14,812

Traded Issues 225

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

191

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

29

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,218.30

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.89

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

Participation of investors is quite vibrant and it is perfectly normal for the market to underperform after few days of advancement and on the � rst day of Ramadan

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Global bank pro� ts hit $920bn as Chinese lenders boom n Reuters, London

China’s top banks accounted for almost one-third of a record $920bn of pro� ts made by the world’s top 1000 banks last year, showing their rise in power since the � nancial crisis, a survey showed yesterday.

China’s banks made $292bn in ag-gregate pretax pro� t last year, or 32% of the industry’s global earnings, ac-cording to The Banker magazine’s an-nual rankings of the pro� ts and capital strength of the world’s biggest 1,000 banks.

Last year’s global pro� ts were up 23% from the previous year to their highest ever level, led by pro� ts of $55bn at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). China Construc-tion Bank, Agriculture Bank of China and Bank of China � lled the top four positions.

Banks in the United States made ag-gregate pro� ts of $183bn, or 20% of the global tally, led by Wells Fargo’s earn-ings of $32bn.

Banks in the eurozone contributed just 3% to the global pro� t pool, down from 25% before the 2008 � nancial crisis, the study showed. Italian banks

lost $35bn in aggregate last year, the worst performance by any country.

Banks in Japan made $64bn of pro� t last year, or 7% of the global total, fol-lowed by banks in Canada, France and Australia ($39bn in each country), Bra-zil ($26bn) and Britain ($22bn), The Banker said.

The magazine said ICBC kept its po-sition as the world’s strongest bank, based on how much capital they hold - which re� ects their ability to lend on a large scale and endure shocks.

China Construction Bank jumped to second from � fth in the rankings of strength and was followed by JPMor-gan, Bank of America and HSBC.

ICBC, which took the top position last year for the � rst time, was one of four Chinese banks in the latest top 10.

Wells Fargo has this year jumped to become the world’s biggest bank by market value, after a surge in its share price on the back of sustained earnings growth. Its market value is $275bn, about $75bn more than ICBC.

The Banker said African banks made the highest returns on capital last year of 24% - double the average in the rest of the world and six times the average return of 4% at European lenders. l People stand in front of the headquarters building of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) in Beijing REUTERS

Dollar sinks deeper after poor US data n AFP, Tokyo

The dollar drifted lower in Asia yester-day as a string of disappointing US data last week put pressure on the currency.

The greenback sank to 101.30 yen in afternoon Tokyo trade from 101.45 yen in New York Friday afternoon.

The US unit brie� y fell to 101.23 yen in earlier trade, its lowest since late May. The euro fetched $1.3643 and 138.24 yen against $1.3646 and 138.45 yen in US trade.

Market reaction was muted after Japanese data showed factory output rose a smaller-than-expected 0.5 per-cent in May from a month earlier after a 2.8% fall in April.

The dollar’s downturn came as US Treasury yields fell.

“US interest rates continue to languish on the back of consistent buying of Trea-surys, which is keeping the dollar down,” Hiroyuki Fukunaga, chief executive at In-vestrust, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Dreary data on the US economy prompted market players to � ee to Treasurys as they sought safe invest-ments but expectations are that the Federal Reserve will keep ultra-low in-terest rates well into 2015.

On Thursday US consumer spend-ing data for May showed a mere 0.2% increase from April, but adjusted for in� ation, spending actually fell 0.1%.

News of the weakness in consumer spending, the main driver of the US econ-omy, came a day after the government

slashed its � rst-quarter gross domestic product estimate to a 2.9% contraction.

Investors are now waiting for the re-lease of manufacturing data Tuesday, the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting Thursday and US jobs data on Friday.

“We expect the ECB to leave rates unchanged” at the upcoming meeting, Credit Agricole said in a note. The bank cut rates in June in a bid to fend o� de-� ation as price rises remain minimal in the eurozone.

The dollar was mostly lower against other Asia-Paci� c currencies.

It dipped to Tw$29.86 Monday from Tw$29.88 Friday, to 43.62 Philippines pesos from 43.79 pesos and to 1,012.17 South Korean won from 1,013.75 won.

It also declined to 60.04 Indian ru-pees from 60.14 rupees, to 32.45 Thai baht from 32.47 baht, to 11,942.50 In-donesian rupiah from 12,103.00 rupiah. But it rose to Sg$1.2490 from Sg$1.2486.

The Australian dollar slipped to 94.22 US cents from 94.37 cents, while the Chinese yuan traded at 16.33 yen against 16.28 yen. l

Global M&A at seven-year high as big corporate deals return n Reuters, New York

Investor support for large acquisitions and a desire to trump rivals in consoli-dating markets have led chief execu-tives to strike big transactions so far in 2014, raising year-to-date global deal volumes to their highest level in seven years.

Corporate buyers did not shy away from going hostile if their targets proved unwilling to sell, while more US companies rushed to buy overseas peers to lower tax rates and access cash held o� shore in a practice known as in-version.

The dealmaking frenzy could last for several months absent geopolitical or economic shocks, with buyers keen to take advantage of their strong stock prices, ample cash reserves and cheap available � nancing.

“Companies have strategic impera-tives to do deals, they have the cash to do deals, and they can borrow ad-ditional cash at record-low rates,” said Frank Aquila, a mergers and acquisi-tions lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. “It really is a bit of a perfect storm when it comes to dealmaking.”

Unlike the most recent heyday of dealmaking, which was back in 2007 when private equity used cheap money to load up companies with debt, this year’s merger boom is being led by cash-rich corporations with strong bal-ance sheets, such as P� zer Inc, Com-

cast Corp and General Electric Co. “What is notable about the deal ac-

tivity we have seen in the � rst half of the year is the blue-chip nature of the companies who are doing the acquir-ing. We have � nally seen the return of the strategic acquirer,” said Gregg Lem-kau, co-head of global mergers and ac-quisitions at Goldman Sachs Group.

Year-to-date global deal volume as of June 26 surged to $1.75tn, up 75% from the year-ago period, according to

Thomson Reuters data. That was the highest level since 2007, when deal vol-ume reached $2.2tn.

This year’s increase came despite the number of global deals dropping slightly to 17,698 from 17,820 the year before.

At over $1tn, the second quarter of 2014 was the highest in deal volume since the second quarter of 2007 and was up signi� cantly from the $680m in the � rst quarter of 2014.

Thirty-eight unsolicited or hostile bids, worth more than $150bn, were

launched in the � rst six months of the year, compared with 19 such deals worth $8bn in the same period last year.

P� zer made an abortive $118bn bid for AstraZeneca Plc, Valeant Pharma-ceuticals International Inc is trying to buy Botox maker Allergan Inc for more than $5bn , and AbbVie Inc plans to ap-peal to Shire Plc’s shareholders after an unsolicited $46bn bid was rebu� ed.

“With both the target and acquirer’s

stock generally up after deals are an-nounced, buyers see value creation and tend to be more aggressive even if targets are not willing to sell,” said Ravi Sinha, executive vice chairman of glob-al corporate and investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

More CEOs and boards are willing to pull the trigger on transactions that have been contemplated for a while, with a view that � nancing conditions are at their peak and unlikely to im-prove, said Marc-Anthony Hourihan, co-head of Americas M&A at UBS AG. l

Oil prices down in Asian trade n AFP, Singapore

Oil prices eased in Asia yesterday on soft-er US demand, but tensions in the Mid-dle East where jihadists have declared an Islamic state straddling Iraq and Syria will likely keep prices high, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Interme-diate for August delivery was down 43 cents at $105.31 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent crude dropped 37 cents to $112.93.

Analysts said investors are con-cerned after data last week showed that consumer spending in the United States, the world’s biggest economy, rose by a mere 0.2 percent in May after � attening in April.

US jobless claims, another barom-eter for the giant American economy, totalled 312,000 in the week ending June 21, down just 2,000 from the week before.

As the world’s top oil consuming na-tion, the health of the US economy is a key in� uence on oil prices.

Investors were also monitoring the latest news from the oil-producing Middle East, after militants said Sun-day they were establishing a caliphate covering wide areas of Iraq and Syria.

The jihadists said their caliphate would spread from Aleppo in northern Syria to Diyala in eastern Iraq, and or-dered Muslims in those areas to “obey” and pay allegiance to their new leader.

French bank BNP Paribas has raised its average oil price forecasts for 2014 and 2015 by 4-6 percent because of the developments in the Middle East. l

'With both the target and acquirer’s stock generally up after deals are announced, buyers see value creation and tend to be more aggressive even if targets are not willing to sell'

Marcel, an electronics maker has recently opened an exclusive showroom named Rahi Electronics at Beanibazar in Sylhet. Amin Khan, � lm actor and the company’s brand ambassador inaugurated the showroom at the presence of

Rupchanda Mustard Oil Inter -College Pickle and Essay Competition 2014 has recently come to an end. Team from Government Victoria College, Comilla stood with the � ag of � rst position and NorthSouth University claimed the second position of the pickle competition while the essay competition winners are Jannatul Ferdous Binte, � rst position and Suhrat Jamil Chowdhury secured the second position. A total of 74-college/university team participated in the competition. Along other food personalities, Bangladesh Edible Oil’s general manager Inam Ahmed was also present at the prize giving ceremony

RSPL Health Bangladesh Ltd has recently appointed HAVAS Media Bangladesh for all media buying and strategic planning. Rakibul Matin, head of marketing at RSPL Health and Syeda Shamima Baly, vice president of HAVAS Media signed the agreement in Dhaka

Mustafa Mart has recently introduced world-renowned perfume brands Brut and Denim in Bangladesh through a ceremony held at Mustafa Mart in Bashundhara City Shopping Complex, Dhaka. General manager of Mustafa Mart Bangladesh, Alan Loo was present at the ceremony among others

G Hari, president of TAFE & TMTL, India and Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, MD of Pubali Bank Ltd held a breakfast meeting at a hotel in Dhaka recently. Engr Aminul Islam, chairperson of The Metal Ltd & Metal Plus Ltd, also attended the meeting along with its managing director Engr Sadid Jamil

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited has recently announced Bhuvnesh Khanna as its head of commercial banking in Bangladesh. Bhuvnesh has over 19 years of diverse experience in various frontline and management roles including investment banking, corporate banking, business banking and retail banking. Immediately before joining HSBC Bangladesh, he was the head of business management, commercial banking in HSBC China. Bhuvnesh joined the HSBC group in 2004 in India

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

DILBERT

Following long ban, US could dominate global light oil supply n Reuters, New York

After decades of isolation, the United States is set to become a major player in the global trade of ultra light oil as recent government export approvals attract interest across the world.

Following rulings disclosed this week, US companies can now export the light, gaseous petroleum known as condensate after a forty-year ban, giv-ing them access to needy markets in Latin America and Asia and potentially threatening the dominance of other es-tablished producers in the Middle East and Africa.

Companies are ready to ship con-densate from some of the United States’ massive oil and gas � elds within weeks. By the end of the year, as much as 300,000 barrels could be exported each day, according to analysts at Citi in New York, a timely event as Asian countries increase capacity to import and export-ers elsewhere face headwinds.

“It could have an enormous impact,” said Al Troner a condensate expert and president of Asia Paci� c Energy Con-sulting. “It could happen within the next two weeks.”

Up to one million barrels of conden-sate is produced each day in the United States, all of which can be exported after some basic re� ning to reduce volatility, known as stabilizing, accord-ing to the US ruling. That is double the amount exported by Qatar, the world’s leading condensate producer.

The amount exported and where it goes depends on the kind of condensate that is produced and whether it is the right grade to feed petrochemical plants in China or Japan or to dilute heavy crude produced in Latin America.

Enterprise Products Partners and Pi-oneer Natural Resources this week both said that they have received private go-ahead from the Commerce Department to export condensate. Enterprise said it is ready to start exporting anytime.

Exports of condensate, a major feed-stock for the petrochemical industry, will provide the � rst outlet for the vast amounts of oil and gas now produced in the United States. It will also give an inkling of the impact that a US drilling boom could � nally have abroad if other types of crude are approved for export.

Buyers are already interested, not just in nearby Latin America - the clos-est destination for U.S. condensate - but further a� eld in India and east Asia, traders and sources said.

In Latin America, companies could use condensate as a substitute for naphtha to lighten local heavy crude. Venezuela’s state-run oil producer PD-VSA and � rms operating in Colombia including Ecopetrol and Paci� c Rubia-les, some of which already buy from West Africa, are “lined up waiting to buy light crudes and condensates if the price is right” said one trader working in crude purchases, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

In India, Essar Oil’s chief executive L K Gupta said “we will look at buying condensate from the United States if the pricing is right. We do buy conden-sate and if a new source is opening up that is good for us”.

It is unclear what the cost of US con-densates would be, given that the price depends on the density and where it is produced. Some condensate from the Ea-gle Ford play in Texas does appear to be cheaper than some grades currently ex-ported from Australia’s North West Shelf, according to traders and Reuters data.

“According to an internal analysis at

our company, the US condensate based upon (US ) WTI pricing appears to have cost competitiveness compared with those from the Middle East based upon Dubai crude,” said one Seoul-based re� ning source, adding that competi-tive US exports could help bring down global prices.

Length to tightness The Middle East dominates supply of condensate. Qatar and Iran export 760,000 barrels per day combined, about half daily global supply, accord-ing to a presentation in November by analysts at Facts Global Energy. Austra-lia and Africa make up most of the rest.

The majority of supply heads to Asia, where importers like China, Japan and South Korea have build processing plants known as splitters that can turn condensate into naphtha and other oil-related products. In Asia Paci� c, splitters can process up to 900,000 barrels per day of condensate, according to Facts.

But as demand rises, production from existing exporters is faltering. In

Australia, where condensate is a by-product of lique� ed natural gas pro-duction, exports are already declining in part because new gas produced is “drier” than before. In Qatar, domestic demand is set to slow exports. Iranian output has been hampered by sanc-tions.

“The condensate market East may move from length to tightness,” the Facts report said.

It remains to be seen if the United States can � ll the gap, and it is expected to take time to determine whether US condensate is compatible with Asian im-porters’ needs. Some said that no moves have been made to export condensate to Asia from the United States. Sampling could take months, others said.

But with demand on the rise, the United States could o� er unexpected respite.

“What we hope is this (US) export will help pull down prices of shipments from the Middle East as overall sup-plies in the global market increase,” the Seoul-based re� nery source said. l

An oil re� nery is seen in Louisiana REUTERS

China banks’ pro� t growth to slow, risks rising -industry body n Reuters, Beijing

Annual pro� t growth of China’s banks could slow to 9% in 2014 as they face increased liquidity and lending risks due to slower economic growth and Beijing’s battle on excessive factory ca-pacity, the banking industry body said a report.

Concern about huge growth in Chi-nese corporate debt since the global � nancial crisis and the risk of defaults has intensi� ed this year as growth slows and authorities allow markets to play a bigger role in deciding winners and losers.

“Banking � nancial institutions face challenges from increased volatility of short-term liquidity and rising credit risks due to the impact from economic slowdown, structural adjustment and e� orts to reduce overcapacity,” the China Banking Association said in the report.

“Market risks will rise along with interest rate liberalisation, increased exchange rate � exibility and more frequent capital � ows, but there will be no large-scale outbreak of liquidity risks.”

Commercial banks made a combined 1.42tn yuan (134.53bn pounds) in net pro� t in 2013, up 14.5% from 2012, the association said. But the growth rate could slow to around 9% this year.

Banks may see a rise in non-per-forming loans (NPLs) this year from small � rms in the export sector and companies gripped by excessive capac-ity, it said.

But commercial banks have set aside su� cient provisions to write o� possible bad loans, it added.

Average NPL ratios for commer-cial banks were at a three-year high of 1.04% at the end of March, above the 1% red line for China’s banking regula-tors. Given the opacity of the banking system, many analysts believe the real levels are much higher.

Banks should closely check on loans for the property sector and local gov-ernment � nancing vehicles, the asso-ciation said.

The chances for the central bank to loosen monetary policy aggressively remain small this year, even as the cen-tral bank uses targeted easing to sup-port the economy, it said.

The government has unveiled a se-ries of modest stimulus measures in recent months to give a lift to economic growth, which dipped to an 18-month low in the � rst quarter. l

Euro zone price in� ation stays low but stable in June n Reuters, Brussels

Euro zone in� ation in June was � at, o� cial data showed yesterday, easing immediate pressure on the European Central Bank to act again soon to tackle slow price rises.

The year-on-year June in� ation rate in the 18 countries sharing the euro stood at 0.5% for the second month in a row, the European Union’s statistics of-� ce Eurostat said.

It was the ninth straight month that in� ation remained within what Eu-ropean Central Bank President Mario Draghi has called a “danger zone” of below 1%.

Prices of food, alcohol and tobacco fell by 0.2% in June, while the prices of services rose by 1.3% and energy costs were up by 0.1% year-on-year, Eurostat data showed.

Core annual in� ation - excluding en-ergy, food, alcohol and tobacco - rose by 0.8% year-on-year in June after a 0.7% increase in May.

Earlier this month, the ECB reacted to vanishing price in� ation with a raft of measures, including cutting the de-posit rate below zero and o� ering long-term loans to banks aimed at boosting lending to business. l

Germany to push for economic reforms in G7 n AFP, Berlin

Germany wants to promote structural economic, � nancial market and tax reform when it takes over the presidency of the G7 club of rich nations next week, German media reported on Sunday.

Member states must “join forces to support an even stronger economic recovery”, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and central bank chief Jens Weidmann said in a written message to other G7 members, the Handelsblatt business daily said.

They stressed the need for “sound public � nances and energetic struc-tural reforms ... to achieve sustainable growth in the G7 countries and the global economy,” according to the Ger-man-language report.

Amid the eurozone crisis, Schaeuble has been a champion of tough austerity and � scal discipline as opposed to the stimulus spending advocated by crisis-hit countries in the single currency union. l

In corporate tax reform, Abenomics giveth, and taketh awayn Reuters, Tokyo

For corporate Japan, burdened by one of the industrialised world’s steepest tax rates, a tax cut at the centre of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s latest growth strategy will end up giving with one hand - and taking back with the other.

While the headline tax rate will fall, Tokyo, under pressure to shore up its � nances with a public debt twice its annual GDP, is seeking to o� set the tax cut by scaling back exemptions and deductions favouring small and loss-making companies.

That regime - in which fewer than a third of � rms shoulder the entire cor-porate tax burden - has been seen as essentially subsidising ine� ciency and punishing pro� tability.

“Corporate tax cuts and broaden-ing the tax base would make Japan’s taxation fairer and more stable, even though it would impose a burden on unpro� table companies that are not paying corporate tax, many of which are small and unlisted,” said Hiroshi Watanabe, senior economist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

“If the government continues to levy high tax on pro� table � rms, that would drive more � rms out of Japan.”

The changes, part of the latest instal-ment of Abe’s “Third Arrow” of growth-promoting structural reforms, will mean short-term pain for the 70% of Japanese � rms that pay no corporate tax, espe-cially among the small � rms that employ seven out of 10 Japanese workers.

In other developed economies such as the United States and Britain, by contrast, more than half of � rms pay corporate tax.

But in the longer term, the changes are expected to nurture more pro� table � rms, while it is hoped the lower tax rates will encourage foreign direct in-vestment and capital spending to spur growth under the re� ationary policies dubbed “Abenomics”.

A number of foreign companies with Japan-listed units, including Oracle Corp and The Coca-Cola Co, will also be among the main bene� ciaries of the tax cut, according to SMBC Nikko Secu-rities.

Carrying forward losses Abe’s cabinet approved on June 24 the plan to cut Japan’s corporate tax rate - among the highest in the world at above 35% - to less than 30% over sev-eral years.

Decisions on how to o� set revenue losses and other details were deferred, but a government tax panel has issued proposals that included expanding tax-ation to companies with less capital, meaning that even loss-making � rms will have to pay local corporate tax.

The panel also proposed changes to deferral provisions, which let compa-nies carry forward losses to o� set fu-ture taxes.

Those generous carry-forward pro-visions resulted, for example, in Toyota Motor Corp - one of Japan’s most pro� t-able manufacturers and its most valu-

able by market capitalisation - paying no corporate tax for the � ve tax years from the onset of the global � nancial crisis in 2008.

The Ministry of Finance estimates that each percentage point of tax cuts would reduce government revenue by about 470bn yen ($4.6bn) a year. Cut-ting the tax rate below 30% would cost some 2.8tn yen in terms of lost revenue.

Nomura Securities estimates that a 6 percentage point cut in corporate tax could boost GDP by around 0.3% over time, although the e� ect would be smaller if revenue losses were � nanced by alternative sources.

“The immediate impact of the tax cut may be small. But in the long run, lower corporate tax rates would en-courage foreign direct investment and boost cash � ow at pro� table � rms and encourage them to raise capital spend-ing and wages,” said Minoru Nogimori, economist at Nomura Securities.

Among the 34-member OECD econ-omies - whose average rate is around 25% - Japan’s corporate tax rate ranks second after the United States. In Brit-ain, Germany and Canada, the rate is below 30%.

In Asia, China and South Korea im-pose a corporate tax around 25% and Singapore at 17%.

Timing right Some observers believe the e� ort to encourage foreign direct investment is coming just as Japanese small and me-dium size enterprises (SMEs) are look-ing attractive to foreign buyers.

“Many foreign companies want to buy mid-cap Japanese � rms. We are at the crest of a good wave of interest, possibly the � rst and last,” said Takashi Mitachi, Co-Chairman Japan at Boston Consulting Group.

“The 2011 Fukushima disaster was an unfortunate event, but the resulting supply chain disruption also showed the world that there are many lucrative SMEs in Japan that boast large global shares.” l

A Google employee demonstrates the Android Auto interface for a conference attendee at the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco REUTERS