17 May, 2016

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016 | Jyoishtha 4, 1423, Shaban 9, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 25 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

SECOND EDITION

India to 'divert rivers' to tackle droughtn BBC

India is set to divert water from its rivers to deal with a severe drought, a senior minister has told the BBC.

Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati said transferring water, including from major rivers like the Brahmaputra and the Ganges, to drought-prone areas is now her

government's top priority.At least 330 million people are

a� ected by drought in India.The drought is taking place as a

heat wave extends across much of India, with temperatures in excess of 40C.

The Inter Linking of Rivers (ILR) has 30 links planned for wa-ter-transfer, 14 of them fed by Him-

alayan glaciers in the north of the country and 16 in peninsular India.

Environmentalists have op-posed the project, arguing it will invite ecological disaster but the Supreme Court has ordered its im-plementation.

'First in India's history'“Interlinking of rivers is our prime

agenda and we have got the people's support and I am determined to do it on the fast track,” Bharati said.

“We are going ahead with � ve links [of the rivers] now and the � rst one, the Ken-Betwa link [in Ut-tar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh] is going to start any time now.

“And then we will have the PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

US o� ers help in stopping terror plotsn Mohammad Jamil Khan

A team of US counterterrorism spe-cialists has o� ered to help Bangla-desh pre-emptively stop terrorist attacks, the home minister has said.

A 15-member team of coun-terterrorism experts, including several individuals specialising in identifying terror plots found on social media websites, was o� ering

its technical support to strengthen security in Bangladesh, Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said.

He made the comments follow-ing a meeting with US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat and Wil-liam E Todd, the visiting princi-pal deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asian A� airs at the US Department of State.

The counterterrorism team was also present during the meeting at

the Home Ministry yesterday.Kamal said he told the US o� -

cials that Bangladesh was seeing scattered attacks by home-grown terrorists, but the government was keen on identifying terror plots and preventing such attacks.

The minister also told the US diplomats that Bangladesh was a peace-loving country where people of all religions could live happily. No big terrorist activities or attacks

have taken place in Bangladesh be-cause the citizens were against ter-rorism, Kamal said.

The US team agreed that Bangla-desh was on the right track of com-bating crime, the home minister said, adding that both sides have agreed that the main issue was working together against terrorists.

Replying to a query on letters to the ministry from several embas-sies citing security concerns, Ka-

mal said the letters followed a cou-ple of incidents in the country; but there was nothing to worry about as foreign o� cials were now happy after security was increased in the embassy area.

‘In this global fight together’US Ambassador Bernicat said it was a very fruitful meeting with the home minister and the US would

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

The Gajoldoba Barrage on the Tees-ta River looks like it is straight out of a movie set.

Tucked away in the far north of Bangladesh, one may witness here the holocaust that has followed in the wake of India’s policy of dam-ming up rivers.

The river banks are lush and full of life on one side of the dam, where calm waters lap up against the thick walls.

Death marks the other side: bar-ren earth dotted with the stubble of dry roots where once plants grew.

Located 80 kilometres from the Bangladesh-India border, it takes the better part of four hours to reach the Bangladeshi portion of the trans-boundary river.

Not even the faintest of trickles of water escapes the greedy mouth of the barrage, a result of India's poli-cy on the Teesta River.

It has become clear that the Indian government has diverted and withdrawn as much water as deemed necessary at Gajoldoba, unconcerned with Bangladesh’s needs or even those of the farmers downstream from the barrage.

The West Bengal irrigation min-ister told the BBC Bangla Service as much in an interview on March 14, 2014. Rajib Banerjee said the state had in fact been planning to ex-pand farming coverage and would need more water for irrigation.

He pointed out that there was no legally binding treaty on Teesta

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Draining the Teesta dryThe DhakaTribune’s Abu Bakar Siddique reports from the banks of Teesta Riveron the e� ects of Indian river diversion on Bangladesh’s rivers and land

A PHOTO STORYAPPEARS ON PAGE 5

Downstream on the Bangladesh side, sand bars and silt predominate as the gates, at right, of Gajoldoba Barrage on the Teesta River in India’s West Bengal guard their reserve of water. The photo was taken on April 15 this year ABU BAKAR SIDDIQUE

News2DTTUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

India to ‘divert rivers’ to tackle droughtDamnaganga-Pinjal interlink which will sort out the Mumbai drinking water facility.”

Bharati said the river-linking project would be the � rst in Indian history since independence in 1947.

There were also other projects aimed at supplying water for irri-gation and drinking in the next few years and the ILR was a long-term scheme, she added.

Following two consecutive bad monsoons, India is facing one of its worst droughts.

Of its 29 states, nearly half were reported to have su� ered from se-vere water crisis this dry season.

The worst hit have been Mahar-ashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, among others.

The federal government in Delhi has had to send trains carrying wa-ter to the worst a� ected places.

India has faced a water crisis for years. Its ground waters have de-pleted to alarming levels, mainly because of unsustainable extrac-tion for agriculture and industries.

“The water crisis will be there [in the future] because of climate change but through this [inter linking of rivers] we will be able to help the people,” Bharati said. “The public has welcomed it and they

are happily ready to be displaced.”

‘No scientific study’Critics say the project is not viable � nancially, environmentally or socially. The government has also been accused of granting environ-mental clearances without proper assessments.

“It is even more impossible in the context of climate change as you don’t know what will happen to the rivers’ � ows,” says Himan-shu Thakkar of the South Asia Net-work for Dams, Rivers and People.

“The project is based on the idea of diverting water from where

it is surplus to dry areas but there has been no scienti� c study yet on which places have more water and which ones less.” The govern-ment says the scheme will irrigate 35,000 hectares of land and gener-ate 34,000 megawatts of electricity.

BJP campaigned for the project when it was in power in the 1990s.

But it lost elections to the Con-gress Party which did not seem keen on the scheme.

In 2012, however, when the Con-gress-led coalition was still in pow-er, the Supreme Court ordered the government to implement the pro-ject in a “time-bound manner.” l

Draining the Teesta drywater sharing, which according to him meant that India was free to use as much water as it saw � t.

That is what is happening at the moment, as a trip to the other side of the border clearly revealed.

Whatever water the river brings into Bangladesh is the result of accu-mulated rainfall and a handful of es-tuaries feeding into the Teesta � ow-ing downstream from Gajoldoba.

India has been diverting Teesta water using feeder canals through Baikunthapur forest in West Ben-gal’s Jalpaiguri district towards dis-tant areas of the state for irrigation.

There were high hopes that a water sharing agreement on the Teesta would be inked during the then Indian premier Manmohan Singh’s visit to Bangladesh in 2011. But the hopes were crushed to dust by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who staunchly opposed such a pact.

Prof Ainun Nishat who has long been involved with river water ne-gotiations commented that India did not even have any regard for the ecology of the river in its own terri-tory let alone the millions of Bang-ladeshis dependent on Teesta water.

“Our neighbour seems to have

forgotten that there is a country downriver the barrage and they need water. They do not even think that the river itself has a life. If they did then they would have kept a minimum downstream � ow,” said Ainun Nishat, a lead Bangladeshi hydrologist.

Impact on agricultureThe environs of the Teesta in its Bangladeshi portion turn almost into a desert during the dry season.

The Water Development Board says that the water � ow falls dras-tically during the dry season, and has been lean of late.

“This year, we have seen 935 cu-bic feet per second (cusecs) of wa-ter during the 2nd 10-day tenure of March,” said the Bangladesh Water Development Board.

While, during the same period last year, the water � ow at Dalia point was only 312 cusecs.

But between 1973 and 1985 when Gajoldoba did not start op-erations, the average water � ow at the same point was 5,149 cusecs.

The Boro farmers dependent on irrigation projects based on Teesta water su� er greatly because they are simply deprived of water. This

leads them to use shallow and deep tube wells exploiting ground water but at the same time raising the cost of production.

“I was forced to set up a shallow pump to irrigate my 5 acres of boro although there is a canal of the Teesta Irrigation Project just ad-jacent to my � eld,” said Monsurul Islam, a farmer of Jaldhaka upazila of Nilphamari district.

Similar to Bangladeshi farm-ers depending on Teesta water, the farmers of Haldibari, located downstream from Gajoldoba but still in India, also su� er.

Subol Sarker, living in the area said: “We are not su� ering as much as Bangladeshi farmers. But I also set up shallow pumps to dig out underground water to ensure irri-gation during the dry season.”

On the other hand, the farmers lucky enough to have lands adja-cent to the canals carrying water from the Teesta get enough to irri-gate their land.

Moloy Dey of Nirmal Palli village near Gajoldoba said: “Water for ir-rigation is not a problem in these parts. We always get Teesta water through the canals.”

Paresh Rajbonshi at Gatebazar of

Jalpaiguri district echoed Moloy Dey. “During monsoon, we get

enough from rainfall. And in the dry period, we get water from Tees-ta canal for Rs200 (about Tk235) per acre for the Boro season,” he said.

Mir Sajjad Hssain, a former member of the Joint Rivers Com-mission said: “What Bangladesh receives during the dry season is the accumulated � ow of ground water discharge and run-o� from small channels and creeks but cer-tainly not Teesta � ow.”

Shifting agricultureFarmers across the northern districts, especially those inLalmonirhat, are shifting away from the water-dependent Boro paddy and switching to maize and tobacco.

According to the Department of Agriculture Extension, this year around 15,000 hectares of Boro land shifted to cash crops like maize and tobacco in Lalmonirhat.

“The cultivation of maize and to-bacco increased by 4,000 and 4,500 hectares while the boro decreased by about 15,000 hectares,” said Sa-fayet Hossain, deputy director of Lalmonirhat agriculture extension. “This is a threat to food security.” l

US o� ers help in stopping terror plotswork as a partner with Bangladesh in � ghting all kinds of crime and terrorism issues.

Following the return of the prin-cipal deputy assistant secretary with counterterrorism experts, there has been a very good discussion on how to expands cooperation on the ter-rorism issue, Bernicat said. “We � nd a very very strong partner in Bangla-desh and we are in this global � ght together.”

Replying to a query on recent meetings with civil society mem-bers and BNP leaders, Bernicat said the � ght against terrorism needed the support from everyone in the country.

Saying that the government and the police were not able to do everything in the country, she said the US was working on bringing everybody to � ght together to keep Bangladesh safe.

Bernicat also said that the visit-ing US o� cial brings the message that the US wants to coordinate with the Bangladesh government about the needs of the citizens and to o� er the right kind of assistance.

Meeting with IGP Meanwhile, a � ve member team, led by US Bureau of Counterter-rorism Deputy Coordinator Marie Richards, met with Inspector Gen-eral of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque at the Police Headquarters yester-day, according to a statement by the Police HQ.

In the meeting, the delegates and the IGP agreed to work togeth-er about combating militancy.

The delegates also ensured that they would support tracing militant activities on social mediasites and increase the capacity of Bangladesh Police by providing their technical support in this re-gard. l

Two Bangladeshi peacekeepers killed in Malin Tribune Desk

Two Bangladeshi policemen who were on a UN peacekeeping mis-sion in Mali were killed in a cyclone that hit the West African country on Sunday.

The two are Constable Md Samidul Islam and Constable Mot-

ahar Hossain.AKM Kamrul Ahsan, senior

information o� cer at the police headquarters in Dhaka, said the duo joined the mission on May 2 this year.

“The constables died when the cyclone hit a contingent of Bang-ladesh police stationed in a coastal

area around 5:30pm (local time). Five more police o� cials were also injured in the cyclone,” he said.

Kamrul said the process for bringing the bodies back to Bangla-desh had been initiated.

AKM Shahidul Hoque, inspec-tor general of police, mourned the deaths in a press release. l

Aslam remanded for 7 daysn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday placed BNP Joint Secretary General Md Aslam Chowdhury on a seven-day remand in connection with the alleged plot with Israel to topple Bangladesh government.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sarafuz-zaman Ansari passed the order after Gulam Robbani, inspector of Detec-tive Branch (DB) of Police, produced him before the court seeking a 10-day remand for interrogation.

Opposing the remand petition, his counsel Md Sanaullah Miah

� led a bail petition before the court but the court rejected the plea after hearing.

Meanwhile, the court also grant-ed a seven-day remand for Aslam Chowdhury’s aide Asaduzzaman Mia for interrogation in connection with the same allegation. l

Man confesses to killing RU Prof Rezauln Dulal Abdullah, Rajshahi

Rajshahi police have announced that a man has confessed to the killing of Rajshahi University Pro-fessor Rezaul Karim Siddique.

He gave a confessional state-ment at the Rajshahi Metropoli-tan Magistrate’s Court yesterday evening, Rajshahi Police Commis-sioner Md Shamsuddin said.

Although the police disclosed the name of the arrestee to be Maskawat Hossain Sakib alias Ab-dullah, they did not disclose any other detail. A press conference has been called at noon today.

Commissioner Shamsuddin said

all details would be given out at the press conference.

Maskawat is not among the ar-restees in the murder case whose names police have already revealed.

Two days into the murder police arrested Ha� zur Rahman, the sec-retary of Islami Chhatra Shibir of ward 19, Rajshahi city.

The next day they arrested mosque Imam Raihan Ali, 32, and Madrasa teacher Munsur Rahman, 48 from Dargamaria, the victrim’s home village.

Professor Rezaul was hacked to death by assailants at walking dis-tance from his home in Rajshahi city’s Shalbagan area on April 23. l

News 3D

TTUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016

Polycarbonate driving licenses from November n Asif Showkat Kallol and

Shohel Mamun

Bangladesh government will pro-vide new polycarbonate motor driving licences to 15 lakh licence holders from November 4 this year in a bid to avoid duplication and forgery.

New polycarbonate motor driv-ing licences are likely to be costly for motor car owners as the pro-jected cost of manufacturing new licences is 50% higher compared to the cost of the existing digital smart licence project.

Road Transport and Highways Di-vision (RTHD) recently sent a pro-posal to the cabinet committee on public purchase to appoint a � rm to make new biometric licences for 15 lakh license holders. The proposal will be placed before the commit-tee tomorrow.

However, RTHD Secretary MAN Siddique assured that increased cost of the new polycarbonate driving licence project does not mean that the licencing fees will increase.

The distribution of new polycar-bonate motor driving licenses will

start from the � rst week of Novem-ber, he also said.

The proposal paper said poly-carbonate licences cannot be du-plicated and their authenticity can easily veri� ed by the authorities.

Local � rm Tiger IT Bangladesh Limited has secured � rst position in the bidding and another � rm, Madras Security Printers Private Limited, also participated in the tender process. Tiger IT will man-ufacture a total of 15 lakh personal-ised Dual Interface polycarbonate motor driving licences, according to the proposal. The total cost of producing the new licences will be Tk74.98 crore, the proposal said.

The proposal said the per unit cost of existing smart card driv-ing licences was Tk328.50 while the per unit cost of polycarbonate motor driving licences would be Tk499.90.

According to the proposal, the government has already provided 11.5 lakh digital smart licences to motor vehicle drivers in the country.

That project was also carried out by Tiger IT Bangladesh Limit-ed, which provided the technical facilities for manufacturing the digital smart licences with a cost of Tk37.77 crore. The project has been extended to November 3 this year from April 5 this year.

The manufacturing of digital smart licences was launched on April 6, 2011, according to the pro-posal. The validity period for pro-fessional licences are � ve years while the period for non-profes-sional licences are 10 years. l

NIZAMI EXECUTION

Erdogan criticises Europe’s silencen Tribune Desk

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan’s slammed European Union to keep silent over war criminal Mo-tiur Rahman Nizami’s execution.

Erdogan, who earlier this year defended Saudi Arabia’s medie-val-style executions as domestic issues, apparently had decided to maintain his own double standard on the issue by blasting European leaders for remaining silent over Nizami’s execution, reports AFP.

The controversial Turkish lead-er, who is at loggerhead with the EU for ongoing military campaign against the Kurds and controversial anti-terrorism law which kept death penalty as punishment, accused the West of “double standards” for keeping mum over Nizami.

“If you are against political exe-

cutions, why did you remain silent to the execution of Nizami who was martyred a couple of days ago,” Er-dogan said in a televised speech in Istanbul. “Have you heard anything from Europe? ... No. Isn’t it called double standards?” Erdogan said.

Turkey, an important Nato mem-ber and an important EU ally in dealing with largest exodus of refu-gees to Europe after the World War II, had been � ghting a long bloody war against the Kurdish separatists.

Allegations of crimes against hu-manity in the ongoing campaign had surfaced on numerous occasions against the Turkish army, of which Erdogan is the commander-in-chief.

Nizami, the top leader of the Ja-maat-e-Islami, was hanged at Dha-ka Central Jail late Tuesday for war crimes during the 1971 Independ-ence War with Pakistan. l

Khaleda shocked at country's present staten Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yes-terday questioned the country's present state, asking why Bangla-desh had turned into a safe haven for militants.

“Why are the clergy being killed? How many days people have to live in a dreadful atmos-phere? The government has lost its ability to reply to these questions because it is busy cashing in on po-litical bene� ts instead of carrying out its actual duties,” she said in a

press statement. The former premier said it

seemed to her that the ruling party had surrendered to evil forces.

She said foreigners and religious people were being killed and it was happening due to the government's poor attention to such incidents.

The BNP chief said the Awami League was blaming the opposition for all the heinous acts as an act of political vengeance.

“It seems the government's key objective is not to arrest the crim-inals involved in killings but to use

such barbaric incidents for political purposes. That is why the oppo-sition parties, including the BNP, have been blamed for the inci-dents, and also that is why militant out� ts are encouraged to carry on with such murders,” she said.

Khaleda said contradictory state-ments of a minister over the exist-ence of militancy in the country had raised questions in peoples' minds.

She condemned Saturday's kill-ing of Buddhist monk Maung Shue U and demanded that the perpetra-tors be brought to book soon. l

WB: No internet access for 90% Bangladeshis n Ishtiaq Husain

Despite the government's e� orts in making a digital Bangladesh, a new study has found that around 90% Bangladeshis still do not have any internet access.

As many as 148 million of Bang-ladesh's 159 million people do not have access to the internet, accord-ing to the World Bank's “World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends.”

Bangladesh is � fth among na-tions where the web remains large-ly unavailable to the vast majority of people, read the report.

Deepak Mishra, co-director of the report, presented it at a pro-gramme in Dhaka yesterday in the presence of Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT, and Qimiao

Fan, World Bank country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

In the report, India topped the list of citizens without internet with 1.11 billion people still o� ine, trailed by China with 755 million. In Pakistan, some 165 million people are without internet connections.

According to telecoms regulator BTRC, Bangladesh had more than 61 million internet subscribers as of March this year.

Although the number of inter-net users worldwide has more than tripled since 2005, nearly four bil-lion people still did not have access to the internet, the World Bank found.

According to the report, digital technologies were spreading rap-idly in Bangladesh with around 130 million mobile phone subscribers.

“Bangladesh can accelerate growth, create more jobs and deliv-er better public services by enhanc-ing access to digital technologies,” it read.

World Bank's Qimiao Fan said: “The World Bank Group is sup-porting the government’s vision of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ through var-ious complementary investments for the country to fully bene� t from the digital dividends.”

The report's co-director Deepak Mishra said: “There is little doubt about the transformative potential of digital technologies.”

Bangladesh should focus on clos-ing the digital divides by making the internet universal, a� ordable, open, and safe; but digital development strategies need to be much broader than ICT strategies. l

Bangladesh Buddhist Federation form a human chain in front of National Press Club in Dhaka yesterday protesting the murder of Buddhist monk Maung Shue U in Naikhongchhari, Bandarban and demanding immediate arrest of his killers MEHEDI HASAN

The government has already provided 11.5 lakh digital smart licences to motor vehicle drivers in the country

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016News4DT

Veteran journo Sadeq Khan dies at 83n Tribune Desk

Veteran journalist, Language Movement hero and freedom � ghter Sadeq Khan passed away at

his Baridhara residence in Dhaka yesterday. He was 83.

Sources close to the family said he fell unconscious in his bathroom in the morning. When his family members took him to the United Hospital, the doctors pronounced him dead, reported UNB.

The contributing editor of the Weekly Holiday is survived by his wife and a son as well as a host of relatives and well-wishers.

His body will be brought to Na-tional Press Club at 10am today for his namaz-e-janaza and also so that his colleagues could pay last respects.

Another namaz-e-janaza will be held at Gulshan Azad Mosque after Zohr prayers, after which he will be buried in his father's grave at Ba-nani graveyard.

An Ekushey Padak recipient in 2002, Sadeq was and active mem-ber of the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

He was the brother of Civil Avi-ation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon and son of late Jus-tice Abdul Jabbar Khan, who was the speaker of Pakistan National Assembly during the Ayub Khan regime.

Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and BNP Chair-person Khaleda Zia have expressed condolences over his death in sep-erate messages.

National Press Club President Muhammad Sha� qur Rahman and General Secretary Quamrul Islam expressed deep shock at the death of the veteran journalist and con-veyed sympathy to his bereaved family members. l

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016Spotlight 5

DT

PRAYERTIMES

Cox’s Bazar 32 28Dhaka 38 28 Chittagong 34 28 Rajshahi 41 28 Rangpur 33 24 Khulna 38 28 Barisal 38 29 Sylhet 31 23T E M P E R AT U R E F O R E C A S T F O R TO DAY

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:35PM SUN RISES 5:15AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW36.7ºC 20.0ºC

Chuadanga RangpurTUESDAY, MAY 17Source: Islamic Foundation

Fajr: 4:45am | Zohr: 1:15pmAsr: 5:15pm | Magrib: 6:40pmEsha: 8:30pm

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

1 Water is abundant upriver the Gajoldoba Barrage on the Teesta River in India’s West Bengal state

2 Downstream, in Bangladesh, sand bars and silt predominate. The great gates of the barrage, at right, guard their reserve of water

3 Feeder streams like this are the work horses of India’s water diversion scheme

4 Sluice gates o� an Indian feeder canal, pictured on April 15 this year at Gatebazar in Jalpaiguri district, divert water in yet another direction

5 Some 20km west of the main barrage, a sub-feeder canal takes water to thirsty Indian hamlets, leaving Bangladeshi villages thirstier still

6 The high water in a Teesta sub-feeder canal, 50km away from the barrage, shows how water-rich this part of India has become

T H E G R E A T D I V I D E

1 2

3

4

5 6

PHOTOS: ABU BAKAR SIDDIQUE

Bogra Nawab Palace to be restored soonn Md Nazmul Huda Nasim,

Bogra

At last Bogra Nawab Palace laced with memories of former Pakistan prime minister Syed Mohammad Ali is going to be resorted soon as the government has published a gazette noti� cation asking it’s restoration.

Following a directive from Presi-dent Md Abdul Hamid, a gazette no-ti� cation signed by Senior Assistant Secretary of Cultural A� airs Minis-try Sonia Akter was received by Re-gional Director of Archeological De-partment Nahid Sultana yesterday.

Nahid Sultana said she had al-ready informed district adminis-tration about the matter.

Three buyers who recently bought the palace have also been informed about the gazette, she added.

She said: “The Nawab Place is an archeological property, nobody will not be allowed to renovate the building without government’s ap-proval.”

The palace was built on three acres and 75 decimals of land at Sutrapur, Bogra in 1884.

After the independence of the country, successors of Syed Moham-mad Ali sold out the property exclud-ing one acre and 58 decimals of land.

A number of establishments, Al-Amin complex, TMSS Women’s Complex, Sarif Uddin Super Market and Rana Plaza, have been built on

the land. Local cultural activists have

long been demanding conversation of the palace as it has the merit to be considered as an archeological heritage site.

But ignoring their demands, the palace was sold out to three in� u-ential local businessmen for just over Tk27.45 crores on April 15, when Cultural Ministry was taking preparation to announce the palace as an archaeological heritage site.

The buyers are Bogra Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Masudur Rahman Milon, Vice-Pres-ident Sha� qul Hasan Jewel and former vice-president Abdul Gofur. Milon is the son of district Awami League unit chief Momtaj Uddin.

Earlier, on April 19, Senior Assis-tant Secretary Sania Akter of Cultur-al Ministry issued a letter to repair

the palace which is the long-cher-ished desire of local people.

Bogra Deputy Commissioner Ashraf Uddin then received a letter from the Cultural A� airs Ministry asking the local administration to take necessary steps in this regard.

The DC said the district admin-istration would take measures as per the ministry directive.

But sources at district admin-istration then said they would not start restoration work of the place without any directive from the Ar-cheological Department as it was entrusted with the maintenance of any archeological site.

The sources also said they had to acquire the palace before doing any renovation there. When contacted, Abdul Gafur, one of buyers, told the Dhaka Tribune that they would com-ply with government’s directive. l

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016News6DT

Mentally challenged girl raped in Gazipur, 3 heldn Raihanul Islam Akand,

Gazipur

A 13-year-old mentally challenged girl has been raped at Kaliakoir of Gazipur.

Three persons – Moshiur, 18, Abdul Mannan, 20, and Roni, 22 – were arrested on charge of raping the girl. The incident took place in Munshirtek area of the upazila on Sunday night.

Locals and police sources said four youths took the girl to an abandoned house near rail line on Sunday evening and raped her.

When the girl was returning home, locals noticed her crying and then took her to local councilor Sarwar Hossain Akul.

Kaliakoir municipality councilor Sarwar Hossain Akul said the girl was bleeding when local brought her to him around 10pm.

Later, locals caught some youths and then the girl identi� ed three rapists among them.

Being informed, Kaliakoir police arrested them.

Kaliakoir police station Sub-In-spector Monirul Islam said the three were arrested on charge of rape.

The girl was admitted to Sha-heed Taj Uddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital. The hospital’s resident doctor Abdus Salam Sarkar said they found the evidence of rape after examining the girl. l

BNP man among 24 sued in double murder casen Raihanul Islam Akand,

Gazipur

A case has been � led accusing a BNP activist and 23 others in con-nection with the Sunday’s killings of two youths in Ershadnagar area under Tongi of Gazipur city.

Yanur Begum, mother of de-ceased Sharif, lodged the case with Tongi Model police station on Sunday night, said duty o� cer Sid-diqur Rahman.

Local BNP man Kamrul Islam was named as the prime suspect in the case. The names of 11 people were also named in the case while 12 more people were unnamed. Police sources said Kamu was accused in 21 cases, including extortion and mur-der, � led with Tongi police station.

Police recovered the bodies of two youths – Jumman Miah, 26, son of Md Harun and Shariful Islam Sha-rif, 32, son of Ala Uddin – from the area being informed by the locals.

Meanwhile, police arrested three suspects in connection with the killings.

Quoting family members, Ton-gi police station Sub-Inspector Ja-hirul Islam earlier said Sharif and Jumman were called out of their houses by some people around 12:30am Sunday. After that they did not return back to home. Later, local people found their throat-slit bodies in the morning. l

A view of Bogra Nawab Palace FILE PHOTO

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016News 7

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BUDDHIST MONK MURDER

Police looking into 3 causesn S Bashu Das, Bandarban

Police are looking into at least three possible motives behind the barbaric murder of Buddhist monk Maung Shue U at Naikhongchhari upazila in Bandarban.

“We are considering three dif-ferent possibilities – the problems with the construction of Maung’s temple, his family feuds, and the militants,” said Mizanur Rah-man, superintendent of police in Bandarban.

He further said there was anoth-er possibility of Rohingyas being involved in the murder.

The monk, 70, was found in a pool of blood by his daughter-in-law around 5am on Saturday when she went into the temple to give him food, local sources told the Dhaka Tribune. Police said the monk had been hacked in the neck.

Maung’s family claimed that he did not have any enmity or dispute with anyone in or outside his fam-

ily. His son Ching Sa U Chak � led a murder case with Naikhongchhari police station on Saturday evening.

According to locals, the Bud-dhist temple in Chakpara was es-tablished two years ago in a quite place. As part of religious rituals, Maung had been living in the tem-ple alone for two years, meditating.

Police sources said drives were in progress around Naikhonchhari to detain suspects of the murder, and additional teams had been de-ployed to patrol the area.

In addition to the local police, six senior o� cials from the district Detective Branch have been sent to investigate the murder, said Naik-honchhari police station OC Abul Khayer.

Police have already arrested three people in connection with the case. They were picked up on early Sunday in the upazila’s Bais-hari union.

The arrestees are Ziaur Rah-man, 25, Abdur Rahim, 40, and

Chha Mong Chak, 45. Of the trio, Zia and Rahim are Rohingyas, po-lice said.

Superintendent Mizan said po-lice did not obtain any signi� cant information during the primary in-terrogation of the detainees, which is why they would petition to place the arrestees on remand.

“We are hopeful that we will be able to solve this mystery soon.”

Maung’s funeral was held yes-terday afternoon in Chakpara. The ceremony was attended my Buddhist monks who came from around the country.

Protests have been taking place to demand justice for the slain monk. The murder has created widespread panic among the mi-norities in the area.

“We still cannot believe that someone like Maung would get killed. He was a calm personwho lived by himself,” said Mong-baching Chak, local Awami League leader. l

‘2 JMB groups active in Rangpur region’n Liakat Ali Badal, Rangpur

Two JMB militant groups are cur-rently active in the eight districts of Rangpur division, carrying out at least 12 recent operations includ-ing the killing of Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi, the region’s police DIG has said.

Golam Farukh, the deputy in-spector general of the Rangpur Range, told the Dhaka Tribune that militant out� t Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh wasalso behind the recent killing of a Hindu priest in Panchagarh and the attack on Dinajpur’s Kantaji tem-ple.

The two groups – one based in Rangpur and the other in Dinajpur – were working in smaller units of seven to eight members each; but they were also getting support from local sympathisers to carry out their operations.

The information came out dur-

ing interrogation of arrested JMB militants, said DIG Farukh.

So far, 39 JMB militants have been arrested in connection with 12 separate attacks in the region in-cluding the murders of Hoshi and a Kaunia mazar Khadem named Rah-mat Ali and the attempted murder of Baha’i leader Ruhul Islam.

Charge sheets would soon be � led against the arrested men as the investigations were nearing their end, the DIG said, adding that e� orts were on to detain some more suspects.

The senior police o� cial also said di� erent units of law enforce-ment agencies were trying to iden-tify the sympathisers and � nanci-ers of the JMB groups.

However, Farukh added that the Rangpur region was currently out of any militant threat after JMB ac-tivity in the region became limited following the arrest of most of their killers. l

BNP: Aslam’s connection with Mossad absurdn Anwar Hussain, Chittagong

The leaders of Chittagong BNP con-demned the arrest of Aslam Chow-dhury saying that the connection of the BNP leader with Israeli secret service Mossad was ridiculous, un-founded and � gment of imagina-tion.

In a joint statement issued yester-day, the BNP leaders said the govern-ment made a mountain out of a mole-hill over some photos of a personal tour of Aslam Chowdhury to India.

“The government is spreading propaganda to mislead the people. As a matter of fact, Aslam Chowd-hury is a highly educated politician with a clean image,” claimed the BNP leaders in the press statement.

The press statement was jointly signed by Chittagong city BNP Pres-ident Amir Khasru Mahmud Chow-dhury, Central Organising Secre-tary and Chittagong city secretary Dr Shahadat Hossain, south district president Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, City Vice-President Abu Su� an and north district BNP leader Kazi Ab-dullah Al Hasan.

The BNP leaders also demanded immediate release of Aslam Chow-dhury, newly-appointed joint sec-retary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

It may be mentioned that Aslam was arrested from Khilkhet area in the capital on Sunday evening along with two of his associates. l

Level crossing accidents claim lives of 13 in 5yrsn FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

Two women were killed and four others injured when an oil-lad-en railway wagon rammed into a BRTC bus at a rail crossing in Chit-tagong city’s Sholoshahar gate yes-terday morning.

Following the accident, the Bangladesh Railway (BR) East Zone formed a probe team headed by Di-visional Tra� c O� cer (DTO) Firoj Iftekhar to investigate the incident and asked it to submit the probe report as early as possible, said BR sources.

With the latest incident, a to-tal number of 13 people had been killed in train-tra� c accident in Chittagong in last � ve years from 2011 to 2016, said railway police sources.

One of the deceased was iden-ti� ed as Bibi Morium, 35, wife of Dubai expatriate Shahdat Hossain, hailing from Sitakunda upazila in Chittagong, while the identity of the another victim could not to be identi� ed immediately, said Sub-In-spector (SI) Jahirul Islam, in-charge (IC) of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police outpost.

Police said the accident took place when a Hatahzari-bound oil-laden train rammed into a bus carrying the six persons at the Sholoshahar rail crossing around 11am, leaving three persons critically injured”.

Following the collision the train drag the bus nearly 150 yards, add-ed the OC.

Witnesses said defying the sig-nal the bus driver put the bus on

the track where the train rammed and drag it causing the causalities.

Being informed, police and � re service personnel rushed to the spot and started rescue operation and sent the injured to the CMCH.

SI Jahirul Islam of CMCH said : “Six persons were rushed to the CMCH where the on-duty doctors declared two female dead”.

However, the train service resumed in Chittagong- Chit-tagong University (CU) route and Chittagong-Dohazari and Chit-

tagong-Hathazai after rescue oper-ation, he added.

13 killed in last 5 yearsAt least 13 people were killed in train-tra� c accidents in last � ve years from 2011 to 2016 in di� er-ent rail crossings in Chittagong city and outside according to the BR sources and GRP sources.

Five passengers of a private car were killed when train rammed their car in a rail crossing in Si-takunda upazila in 2011.

Four female readymade gar-ment (RMG) workers were killed and 15 other were sustained inju-ries when a train smashed into a human hauler in a level crossing in Chittagong city’s Chandgaon area in March 11, 2014.

In Chittagong city’s AK Khan Is-pahani rail crossing and Sitakunda rail crossing one person was killed in each accident in 2015’s Decem-ber 25 and August 25 respective-ly when trains rammed a human hauler and a lorry. l

Police and � re� ghters start rescue operation after an oil-laden railway wagon rammed into a BRTC bus leaving two women killed and four injured at the rail crossing in Chittagong city’s Sholoshahar gate yesterday morning RABIN CHOWDHURY

8TOP STORIES

DT World

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016

Exit polls put BJP on top in Assam, Trinamool in West Bengal India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should win power this week in the northeastern state of Assam for the � rst time, exit polls showed on Monday, but trail regional groups in four other areas that have held polls. PAGE 9

Governments seek rules for Paris climate dealGovernments began work on Monday on a rule book to imple-ment the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming, with the UN urging stronger action after a string of record-smashing monthly temperatures.

PAGE 10

Thousands of Afghan Hazaras join power line protest in KabulThousands of demonstrators from Afghanistan’s Hazara minority marched in protest through Kabul on Monday, accusing President Ashraf Ghani’s government of cutting them out of a multi-million dollar power transmission line project. PAGE 9

World powers in crunch talks on Islamic State in Libyan AFP, Vienna

Major powers including the US dis-cussed in Vienna on Monday the growing threat posed by the Islam-ic State group in con� ict-wracked Libya, just across the Mediterrane-an from Europe.

IS has taken advantage of the chaos left by the toppling and death of longtime dictator Moam-mer Gadda� in 2011, which left ri-val militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

A recently formed unity govern-ment backed by the international community has been slowly as-serting its authority in Tripoli, but it still faces a rival administration in the east.

In a bid to stabilise the country, the � edgling regime of Prime Min-ister Fayez al-Sarraj has drawn up a list of requests for Western part-ners to assist its forces with arms, training and intelligence.

The Vienna conference is be-ing co-chaired by the US and It-aly, Libya’s former colonial ruler which has faced a major in� ux of migrants from the North African nation braving the perilous sea voyage.

A total of 25 top diplomats were in attendance, including the UN’s special envoy to Libya Martin Ko-bler and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

“The key question is wheth-er Libya remains a place where terrorism, people-smuggling and instability continue to � ourish or whether we can regain state-hood with the new unity govern-ment,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

“We have a lot to do,” US State Secretary John Kerry told reporters

before he held brief talks with Sar-raj at Vienna’s plush Bristol Hotel.

‘No boots on the ground’ The Libyan leader has insisted his country needed assistance, not in-tervention.

“We are not asking for foreign boots on the ground, but we are requesting assistance with train-ing, and lifting the arms embargo on Libya,” Sarraj wrote in a column published in the British newspaper The Telegraph on Monday.

Formed in late March, his Gov-ernment of National Accord (GNA) has won international support as well as backing from key institu-

tions like the central bank and the National Oil Corporation.

But it has failed to get the en-dorsement of the elected parlia-ment and its ally Khalifa Haftar, a self-declared army chief who has launched a crusade against Isla-mist � ghters across the country.

A rival government in the east-ern city of Tobruk has also refused to recognise the GNA.

Amid the chaos, IS has carved itself a bastion in Libya where it overran last year the Mediterrane-an coastal city of Sirte, Kadha� ’s hometown, transforming it into a training camp for militants.

Europe fears the jihadists, who have in recent weeks made new advances, will use Sirte’s port and airport as a springboard to launch attacks on the continent.

IS “is a threat not only to Liby-ans and the wider region, but also to Europe,” warned French For-eign Minister Harlem Desir at the start of Monday’s conference.

“We are calling on Libyan politi-cal powers to form an alliance with Sarraj and create the necessary in-stitutions to combat (IS).”

The warnings have also struck a chord with Washington, where o� cials say plans are being drawn up to loosen an arms exports ban imposed � ve years ago by the UN.

A senior US administration o� -cial told AFP that Libya’s interna-tional partners were willing to help if the GNA presented a “detailed

and coherent list” of what it needs to � ght IS.

“There is a very healthy desire inside of Libya to rid themselves of (IS), and I think that is something we should be supporting and re-sponding to,” the o� cial said.

But diplomats have warned that the GNA may struggle to come with a concrete request for help.

Race for Sirte Libya’s divisions have once again deepened in recent days, with the GNA and Haftar’s forces each an-nouncing their own plans to � ght IS and “liberate” Sirte.

“This is a mistake. It must be prevented... we can no longer ac-cept this division,” said Nicola Latorre, chairman of the defence committee of the Italian senate and an IS expert.

Claudia Gazzini, a Libya analyst at the International Crisis Group, has also warned that the race for Sirte is pushing any hope of a po-litical solution further away.

IS is estimated to have around 5,000 � ghters in Libya, and it is trying to enlist hundreds more.

This month the jihadists launched suicide attacks on key checkpoints in government-held territory along the Mediterranean coast.

The move allowed them to build a defensive line along part of the coastal highway that links the east of Libya where Haftar is based with Tripoli in the west. l

Displaced Libyan children who � ed the eastern Libyan cities of Abu Grein and Sirte look out of window at a school where they are taking shelter in Bani Walid, nearly 200km south of Tripoli, on May 10 AFP

Libyans hold banners as they take part demonstration in Benghazi calling for military forces to recapture the southern city of Sirte from the Islamic State group without foreign intervention on May 6 AFP

Thousands of Afghan Hazaras join power line protest in Kabuln Reuters, Kabul

Thousands of demonstrators from Afghanistan’s Hazara minority marched in protest through Kabul on Monday, accusing President Ashraf Ghani’s government of cut-ting them out of a multi-million dol-lar power transmission line project.

Protesters demanded that the planned route for the 500kV trans-mission line linking Turkmenistan with Kabul be changed to pass through two provinces with large Hazara populations, an option the government says would cost mil-lions of dollars and delay the bad-ly needed project by years.

It says the current plan ensures that the two provinces of Bamyan and Wardak will get ample electrici-ty even if the main transmission line does not pass through them directly.

The line, intended to provide power to 10 provinces, is part of a wider TUTAP project backed by the Asian Development Bank linking the energy-rich Central Asia republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The mainly Shia Hazaras have long faced persecution but they are politically well organised and thousands gathered in a square away from the city centre chant-ing “TUTAP is our right!” but they dispersed peacefully.

Only about 30% of Afghanistan is connected to electricity and mod-ernising the creaking power system, which is subject to frequent black-outs, has been a top priority.

Under current plans, due to be implemented by 2018, the line would pass from a converter sta-tion in the northern town of Pul-e-Khumri through the mountainous Salang pass to Kabul.

Demonstrators want an earlier version of the plan that would see a longer route from Pul-e-Khumri through Bamyan and Wardak, to the west of Kabul.

The government says that switching the route would delay the project by as much as three years, leaving millions without se-cure electricity. l

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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016World

SOUTH ASIAMyanmar religious tolerance activists face police actionMyanmar police said Monday said they have begun legal action against 5 protesters over a week-end rally intended to promote reli-gious tolerance. The move came as rights groups raise concerns about e� orts by the new pro-democracy government to amend draconian laws on demonstrations. Police said they decided to take action against 5 rally leaders because the campaigners had deviated from the agreed protest route. -AFP

INDIA18 killed as overcrowded boat sinks in eastern IndiaRescuers say they’ve recovered 18 bodies from a river in eastern India’s West Bengal state where an overcrowded boat sank following a village fair over the weekend. District Magistrate Saumitra Mohan says the vessel overturned Saturday night as the villagers were return-ing to their homes across the river despite the crew’s warning that the boat was overcrowded. -AP

CHINAChina: Afghanistan backs Beijing stance on South China SeaChina on Monday said landlocked Afghanistan has expressed support for Beijing’s stance on the South China Sea dispute, the latest coun-try from outside the region to line up behind China’s calls for bilateral talks on the issue. Chines Foreign Ministry said Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah made the state-ment in a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing. -AP

ASIA PACIFICUS, S Korea, Japan to hold joint drill against N KoreaSouth Korea, Japan and the US will hold their � rst anti-missile drills together next month to guard against threats from nucle-ar-armed North Korea. The drill will be held in the waters near Hawaii on June 28, said an o� cial at the Seoul’s defence ministry, ahead of the US-led Rim of the Paci� c naval exercises. -AFP

MIDDLE EASTCoalition forces hit IS in Syria, kill 27 Turkish and US-led coalition forces struck Islamic State targets north of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, killing 27 � ghters. Turkish artillery and rocket launchers � red into Syria while warplanes from the US-led co-alition carried out three separate air campaigns. 5 forti� ed defence posts and 2 gun posts were destroyed in areas less than 10km from Turkey’s Syria border. -REUTERS

WHO ARE THE HAZARA? Ü Most Hazara live in central Afghanistan in an area known as the Hazarajat. Others live in areas north of the

Hindu Kush. The Hazarajat and other Hazara territories are mountainous.

Ü The Hazaras are one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan and are estimated to comprise 20%-25% of the total Afghan population. The Hazara are roughly estimated to number between 1m-1.5m in Afghanistan and between 17,000 and 70,000 in Pakistan, but some estimates suggest a total of 6m Hazara.

Ü The term hazara is a Mongol-Persian blend. It means “thousand” in Farsi, and is believed to be the Persian equivalent of the Mongol word for thousand, minggan.

Ü Hazara are thought to have several a� nities with the Mongols, including physical appearance, language, and kinship system. Although the Hazara lack the characteristic epicanthic eyefolds, many believe they are clearly Mongoloid.

Ü Hazaragi, the traditional language of the Hazara, is an Indo-Iranian language with many Mongol loanwords.

Ü The Hazara were traditionally nomads who subsisted by herding sheep and goats; they also raised horses for � ght-ing feuds. Mixed grain farming is now their primary subsistence activity.

Ü Hazara kinship is organised in lineages; descent is traced through the male line. The males in a speci� c area consider themselves descendants of a common ancestor

Ü The Hazara are one of Afghanistan’s most impoverished ethnic groups and one of the most resistant to central-gov-ernment control

Sources: WORLD HAZARA COUNCIL, THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, EVERY CILTURE.COM

Demonstrators from Afghanistan's Hazara minority attend a protest in Kabul REUTERS

Exit polls put BJP on top in Assam, Trinamool in West Bengal n Reuters, New Delhi

India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should win power this week in the northeastern state of Assam for the � rst time, exit polls showed on Monday, but trail re-gional groups in four other areas that have held polls.

Voting in stages over the past month ended on Monday in As-sam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala states and the union territory of Puducherry. Results are due on Thursday.

A victory in Assam would testi-fy to the continuing appeal of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while defeat elsewhere would re� ect Modi’s di� culties in making inroads against popular regional parties.

An exit poll by India Today-Ax-

is My India predicted victory for the BJP in Assam, which borders Bhutan and Bangladesh. “Our his-toric victory in Assam will open new frontiers for the BJP in the northeast,” BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav said.

Modi waged a polarising elec-tion campaign in a bid to form the party’s � rst government there. In campaign rallies, he vowed to dis-enfranchise millions of Muslim im-migrants in a response to rising dis-content among the state’s Hindus.

The results should be a snap-shot of Modi’s performance as he approaches the half-way mark of his � ve-year tenure.

A separate poll by ABP Ananda showed the party will be defeated in the West Bengal and two south-ern states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Victory in these states could have given Modi greater control over the upper house of parliament, which would put him in better po-sition to push through key policies.

A majority of his key eco-nomic reforms are stalled, his

push to turn the country into a manufacturing powerhouse has � oundered and sizeable minority groups blame him and his party for pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda at their expense.

Yet his government has made progress elsewhere, most notably in the power sector where change is reaching distressed rural com-munities in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.

Modi must win in the Uttar Pradesh state poll next year to sustain his hope of one day gain-ing full control of parliament and a second term in 2019.

Opinion and exit polls have a patchy track record in India and surveys get carried out with sample sizes ranging from a few hundred to several thousand voters. l

WEST BENGAL, ASSAM EXIT POLL PREDICTION by India Today

WEST BENGAL Trinamool Congress:233-253 seats Left: 38-51 seatsBJP: 1-5 seatsOthers: 4-8

ASSAMBJP: 79-93 seatsCongress: 26-33 seats

INSIGHT

Democrats use Trump as bogeyman to get people to voten Reuters, New York

Democratic Party activists in some US states are using Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candi-date who has stirred controversy with his comments about illegal im-migrants and women, as the center-piece of their “get out the vote” cam-paign for the November elections.

In California, canvassers from the Orange County Democrats car-ry pictures of Trump when they knock on doors ahead of the June 7 California primary. They ask if peo-ple will vote in the primary, and warn that if they don’t help pick the strongest possible Democrat, “this guy will win,” said Henry Vandermeir, the local party chair-man in Orange County, a tradition-ally Republican island in the state.

Democrats in New Hampshire have unveiled Trump/Sununu lawn signs, looking to tie Republican gu-bernatorial candidate Chris Sununu to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on issues such as climate change (Trump is a skeptic) and healthcare.

One sign reads: “Trump/Sununu. Because Health Care Is For Losers,” a swipe at Trump’s vow to repeal the A� ordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s sig-nature healthcare law.

“Every state party is trying to maximise what they can get out of this di� erence (between candi-dates) and to tie Trump to the Re-publicans in the state,” said Holly Shulman, a spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

To be sure, Republicans appear likely to use Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination who is also a polaris-ing � gure, in a similar fashion.

“There is no better volunteer recruitment tool, fundraising pitch, or uni� er for the Republican Party than the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency that will sure-ly take us further backwards,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement.

‘Retrumplicans’Democrats are also looking to tie Trump to Republican Senate can-didates on the Nov. 8 ballot as they seek to regain control of the cham-ber they lost in the 2014 congres-sional elections.

The Democratic Senatorial

Campaign Committee last week released so-called “Trump cards” online, equating several Republi-can senators’ policy positions with those of the New York developer.

For Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey and New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, for example, the DSCC high-lighted how they and Trump oppose a federal minimum wage hike.

The DSCC also launched a website in March, partyoftrump.com, which labeled some senators “Retrumplicans” and asked for do-nations to help � ght senators who support Trump.

Recent polls suggest that a Trump/Clinton matchup could be a tight race. The two candidates were in a dead heat in the three key swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania in a Quinnipiac

University poll earlier in May.And a Reuters poll this month

showed that much of the backing for Clinton and Trump comes from people whose primary motivation is to stop the other side from winning, rather than any love for either of the two candidates or their policies.

The strategy of highlighting op-posing candidates is not without risks, according to Bruce Newman, the author of “The Marketing Rev-olution in Politics: What Recent US Presidential Campaigns Can Teach Us About E� ective Marketing.”

If Trump - who shocked pun-dits by beating 16 other Republi-can hopefuls for the nomination - proves more attractive to the gen-eral electorate than Hillary Clinton, then tying him to other Republi-cans could hurt Democrats. l

10DT

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016World

USAObama slams Trump in speechUS President Barack Obama on Sun-day criticized the populist campaign of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, decrying “anti-intel-lectualism” and noting that “igno-rance is not a virtue.” Obama did not speci� cally name during his remarks at a university graduation ceremony in New Jersey, but it was clear he was referring to the candidate who is running on a slogan of “Make America Great Again!” -AFP

THE AMERICASColombia claims largest cocaine seizure in its historyColombian authorities say they’ve made the biggest cocaine seizure in the history of a country long plagued by tra� c in the drug. The National Police agency said Sunday that 50 commandos backed by helicopters seized about 8 tons of cocaine on a banana plantation in the northwest-ern department of Antioquia. -AP

UKOver 300 corporate bosses urge UK to leave EUMore than 300 business chiefs on Monday urged Britain to vote to leave the EU in June’s referendum, arguing in a joint letter that its bu-reaucracy sti� ed companies’ ability to grow. The letter comes days after the British government seized on warnings from the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund on the � nancial consequenc-es of leaving the EU. -AFP

EUROPEUN urges Greece to stop detaining migrant children A top United Nations o� cial urged Greece on Monday to stop detaining refugee and migrant children, some of whom are locked up in police cells for weeks, and to develop child protection services instead. The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Cre-peau, said he had met unaccompa-nied children held in police stations for more than two weeks without access to the outdoors. -REUTERS

AFRICAUN: 9.2m Lake Chad residents need food aidMore than 9 million people in the Lake Chad region are in desperate need of food aid as the violent insurgency being waged there by Boko Haram rages, the UN said Monday. Half of the region’s residents are facing chronic food insecurity and malnutrition as the violence around Lake Chad contin-ues to deteriorate, the UN’s O� ce for the Coordination of Humanitari-an A� airs said in a statement. -AFP

Governments seek rules for Paris climate dealn Reuters, Oslo

Governments began work on Mon-day on a rule book to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming, with the UN urg-ing stronger action after a string of record-smashing monthly tem-peratures.

Nasa said at the weekend that last month was the warmest April in statistics dating back to the 19th century, the seventh month in a row to break temperature records.

The meeting of government ex-perts is the � rst since 195 nations reached a deal in Paris in Decem-ber to limit climate change by shifting from fossil fuels to green energies by 2100. It will begin to work out the detail of the plan.

“The Paris Agreement rep-

resents the foundations ... Now we have to raise the walls, the roof of a common home,” French Environ-ment Minister Segolene Royal told a news conference.

The agreement sets targets for shifting the world to green energies by 2100 but is vague, for instance, about how governments will report and monitor their national plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Many government delegates at the start of the May 16-26 UN talks, in Bonn, Germany, expressed con-cern about rising temperatures and extremes events such as dam-age to tropical coral reefs, wild� res in Canada or drought in India.

“We have no other option but to accelerate” action to limit warm-ing, Christiana Figueres, the UN climate chief, told a news confer-

ence, asked about the Nasa data.She said record temperatures

were partly caused by a natu-ral warming e� ect of an El Nino weather event in the Paci� c Ocean, magni� ed by the build-up of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

She said national promises for curbing greenhouse gases put the world on track for a rise in tem-peratures of between 2.5°C and 3°C , well above an agreed ceiling in the Paris text of “well below” 2°C with a target of 1.5°C.

“Certainly we are not yet on the path” for the Paris temperature targets, she said.

Last month, the Paris Agree-ment was signed by 175 govern-ments at a New York ceremony, the most ever for an opening day of a UN deal, and including top

emitters China and the US.The agreement will enter into

force once 55 nations represent-ing 55% of world emissions have formally rati� ed. Royal said she would submit a bill on Tuesday to the French National Assembly seeking rati� cation. l

Protesters embrace during an anti-Trump rally at Capitol Hill in Washington,DC on Thursday REUTERS

BIGSTOCK

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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016Advertisement

12DT Business


Capital market snapshot: MondayDSE

Broad Index 4,288.6 0.3% ▲

Index 1,053.2 0.2% ▲

30 Index 1,666.4 0.4% ▲

Turnover in Mn Tk 2,886.4 11.9% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol 98.7 48.2% ▲

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30 Index 12,323.4 0.4% ▲

Selected Index 8,036.0 0.4% ▲

Turnover in Mn Tk 152.6 7.6% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol 6.2 33.5% ▲

No district budget likely from next FYThe government plans to stop district budget allocation from next � scal year mainly because of failure in e� ectively implementing the experimental ones, o� cial sources said. The district budget was introduced in the FY2013-14 with an allocation of Tk1,907 crore for Tangail district on a pilot basis. PAGE 13

DSE share index ends in greenShare prices at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) yesterday ended in green, breaking a-three day losing streak as optimistic investors took position to purchase stocks at lower prices. DSEX, the key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) increased by 13 points closing at 4,289 points. PAGE 13

Why China’s private sector needs a ‘high degree of attention’Xia Xiaokang and Bruno Chen, who both run private-sector companies, are the sort of businessmen that Chinese lead-ers are increasingly concerned about as economic growth slows. PAGE 14

PMO smells rat in BTCL’s costlier � len Ishtiaq Husain

Prime Minister’s O� ce on Sunday sent back the bidding � le of tele-communication network modern-isation project for further assess-ment.

It was sent for � nal approval � outing rules as the authorities reportedly favour a Chinese � rm to award the work in an additional cost of $31m.

As per o� cial documents, Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited (BTCL) has by-passed all rules and recommenda-tions to award the project to the Chinese ZTE Holdings and ZTE Corporation at $231.5m although a BTCL technical evaluation com-mittee report says the cost will in no way exceed $200m.

Besides, the project � le was sent to the PMO for � nal approval of the Modernisation of Telecommunica-tion Network project without carry-ing out any feasibility study in a gross violation of BTCL Company Act.

The project is aimed at giving a complete overhaul to the coun-

try’s TNT network as it has be-come outdated and no renovation has been made for long.

But the Chinese � rm selected for such big and important pro-ject related with the country’s telecommunication system has records of failure in at least one BTCL project and also made head-lines for showing poor perfor-mance overseas.

Taking such records into ac-count, the Economic Relations Division in a letter in November, 2015 advised the authorities to

follow “limited tender” procedure allowing � rms only from the do-nor state to participate in the bid-ding. The project will be funded by the Chinese government.

The letter was sent to the eco-nomic and commercial councillor at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka, secretary of Post and Telecommu-nication Division and BTCL man-aging director.

But the BTCL didn’t follow the advice and rather formed a tech-nical evaluation committee to de-termine the nature of the bid and

to evaluate the performance of all the � ve companies that showed interest in the project.

The committee rated the ca-pacity of the proposed Chinese company as “poor.” However, all its observations were completely ignored in the process.

Later in August last year, a ne-gotiation committee was formed on the directives of the Telecom-munication Division Secretary Faizur Rahman Chowdhury, who is also the chairman of BTCL.

The advice of State Minister for Posts and Telecommunication Tarana Halim was also allegedly ignored in this regard.

The report compiled by the ne-gotiation committee stated that the process followed to award the con-tract to ZTE failed to meet the rules of Public Procurement Act 2008 and Public Procurement Rules, 2006.

Faizur Rahman Chowdhury on Saturday said: “Please call me on Sunday during o� ce.”

But on Sunday the secretary did not pick up his mobile phone though several calls were made. l

BUILD for package VAT to help SMEsn Tribune Business Desk

A public-private dialogue plat-form called upon the government to enforce the new value-added tax law with continuation of mul-tiple VAT rates to bene� t private sector, particularly small and me-dium enterprises.

Implementation of the new VAT and Supplementary Duty Act 2012 will hinder the private sector in general and SMEs in particular, said Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD).

If the VAT is imposed at the rate of 15%, it will encourage SMEs to skip VAT payment, according to a BUILD statement, signed by its Chief Executive O� cer Ferdaus Ara Begum, which expressed con-cerns over the new law.

“Our concern is full imple-mentation of the new VAT and SD Act 2012. We apprehend that our SMEs are not ready yet to embrace the imposition of VAT as they will see a high rise of prices of con-sumer goods,” it said.

The full implementation of the new act will signi� cantly cause price hike and a� ect � xed income earners who are the main contrib-utors to the GDP, BUILD said.

“..without increasing imports and extension of the income tax net, only focusing revenue gener-ation from VAT will breed serious impact on domestic production

while the government is looking for manufacture-based growth and increasing investment from the present level of 26% to 34% as per the target of 7th FYP,” the platform pointed.

It recommended that the gov-ernment implement the law in phases with multiple VAT rates instead of the uniform rate of 15% for all sectors to help SMEs and business growth.

“More than 90% of enterpris-es of the country are SMEs and their size is quite small. Main-tenance of a quality account-ing record is nearly a big job for them. In case the package VAT continues as proposed by di� er-ent chambers, the private sector

could be bene� ted,” it added.It also stressed development

of a clear idea and understanding between private and public sector so that bene� ts of new law can create more SMEs and bring more business and investment in the country, it added.

The new Value-Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act 2012 will come into e� ect from July 1, 2016, introducing a � at rate of 15% VAT for all sectors. But the law has al-ready drawn widespread criticism from di� erent quarters, mostly from leading business associa-tions as it will have no provisions for package VAT or the truncated value-based VAT system.

With the introduction of the law, all levels of business have to pay a unique and single VAT rate at 15%. l

BOJ negative rates hit Japanese megabank earnings

The Bank of Japan’s shock negative rate policy is taking a bite out of pro� ts at major banks, with Mitsubishi UFJ yester-day warning over its bottom line. PAGE 14

We apprehend that our SMEs are not ready yet to embrace the imposition of VAT as they will see a high rise of prices of consumer goods

Banglalink pro� t rises 6% in Q1n Ishtiaq Husain

Banglalink, the second largest mo-bile operator, recorded revenue growth of 6% compared to the same period of last year.

The company has witnessed an increased revenue of Tk1,220 crore. The rise was mainly driven by a 60% increase in data revenue and a 3% increase in voice revenue com-pared with the � rst quarter of 2015.

Mobile operator Banglalink came up with the disclosure at a press conference held at a city ho-tel yesterday.

Addressing the press conference, Banglalink Chief Executive O� cer (CEO) Erik Aas said: “During the � rst quarter of 2016, Banglalink’s data revenue increased due to new PAGE 2 COLUMN B14

TOP STORIES

Business 13D


No district budget likely from next � scal yearn Asif Showkat Kallol and Syed

Samiul Basher Anik

The government plans to stop dis-trict budget allocation from next � s-cal year mainly because of failure in e� ectively implementing the exper-imental ones, o� cial sources said.

The district budget was intro-duced in the FY2013-14 with an allocation of Tk1,907 crore for Tan-gail district on a pilot basis.

Although the government

planned to introduce such budget � rst in the FY2009-10, it could not be implemented as there was no le-gal framework to support this.

The budget was adopted to en-sure transparency and accountabil-ity in the use of public money.

Later, the district budget was grad-ually expanded to six more districts on pilot basis- Sylhet, Khulna, Chit-tagong, Barisal, Rajshahi and Rangpur - in FY2014-15 and FY2015-16.

A total of Tk32 crore has been

allocated for district budgets in the current � scal year.

Finance ministry o� cials said the district budgets, however, did not have any signi� cant impact on the districts due to poor local gov-ernment administration.

Despite having a separate budget, the districts did not pro-duce any expected outcomes.

Besides, since the demands of local people were said not to be re� ected on these budgets, they failed to produce

expected results, o� cials said.In some cases, the district ad-

ministrations concerned also failed to be speci� c in expenditure for di� erent sectors, o� cials added.

“In such circumstances, the government is unlikely to continue with the idea of separate budget for districts from the next � scal year,” said an o� cial.

A high o� cial of Finance Divi-sion said the implementation of district budget is not possible and

it is also not a practical idea.He said such budget will not work

even if there is a law to support it.“How do the authorities cal-

culate district budget outlay? It is not right to calculate a big project investment in the district budget,” the o� cial said.

He said an amount of Tk1,200 crore, for example, has already been allocated for the construc-tion of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project in Pabna district. l

DSE share index ends in greenn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Share prices at Dhaka Stock Ex-change (DSE) yesterday ended in green, breaking a-three day losing streak as optimistic investors took position to purchase stocks at low-er prices.

DSEX, the key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) increased by 13 points closing at 4,289 points.

The blue chip index DS30 went up by 0.39% or 6 points to end at 1,666 points, while the Shariah-based in-dex DSES posted a 3 points gain to 1,053 points closing in green.

“Dhaka stocks went about a vol-atile ride yesterday (Monday) amid lackluster trading and fears of a new VAT law to be e� ective from July,” said LankaBangla Securities in its market commentary.

However, market got some com-fort as benchmark index broke the three days of losing streaks, clos-ing above the weekly support level 4,275 points mark, the report said further adding that earning decla-

rations by the � nancial stocks and sponsor directors’ buy supported day’s trading session.

Out of the major banks, three have already got the policy support to streamline their capital market exposure without selling shares, said the report quoting Bangladesh Bank.

Day’s turnover stood at Tk289 crore, which was 11.9% higher than the previous session’s value. Issues traded at the DSE trading � oor, 167 gained prices 95 declined and 53 re-mained unchanged

Among the major sectors, Bank, Cement, Engineering and Textile increased by 1.01%, 0.45% 0.42% and 0.53% respectively while Food and Allied and Fuel and Power sec-tor decreased by 0.59% and 0.19% respectively. Bangladesh Building Systems, up by 2.5% was the most traded share with a turnover worth around Tk14 crore.

Dragon Sweater was the highest gainer of the day, posting a gain of 9.90%, while BD Finance was the worst loser, plunging by 11.54%. l

FBCCI calls for relocation of Japanese factories to Bangladeshn Tribune Business Desk

The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (FBCCI) urged Japanese entre-preneurs to relocate their indus-tries to Bangladesh and facilitate more export of Bangladeshi prod-ucts to their market.

The request was made to Masa-to Watanabe, Japan ambassador to Bangladesh, at a meeting with the FBCCI held in the capital yesterday.

Md Sha� ul Islam Mohiuddin,

FBCCI � rst vice-president, request-ed the ambassador for relocation of Japanese industries to Bangladesh as there is a huge opportunity for investment. He also called for steps to do more export of Bangladeshi products to Japan.

“Bangladesh is developing very fast. The country expects Japan to be in its development process,” said FBCCI president Abdul Matlub Ahmad.

He emphasised the need for technical assistance from Japan

and transfer of technology to Bang-ladesh.

Matlub requested the ambassa-dor to arrange a “business meet-ing” between the businessmen of two countries when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Japan this month.

Masato Watanabe expressed his deep interest of Japanese coopera-tion in the development process of Bangladesh. He emphasised holding a regular diaIogue between the busi-ness community of both countries. l

visit our website @

www.dhakatribune.com

Business14DT


BOJ negative rates hit Japanese megabank earningsn AFP, Tokyo

The Bank of Japan’s shock nega-tive rate policy is taking a bite out of pro� ts at major banks, with Mit-subishi UFJ yesterday warning over its bottom line.

The huge lender said its net prof-it fell 8% to 951.4bn yen ($8.7bn) in the � scal year to March, blam-ing the drop on a slowdown in the economy, sluggish equity markets, and low interest rates.

Rivals Sumitomo Mitsui Finan-cial Group and Mizuho Financial Group said last week that negative rates were also squeezing their lending margins.

In January, Japan’s central bank surprised markets with the neg-ative rate policy, which was de-

signed to boost lending to people and businesses, and stoke growth in the wider economy.

But the move - which e� ective-ly charges commercial banks for keeping excess in Bank of Japan vaults, giving them an incentive to lend more - was widely criticised as a desperate bid to prop up Tokyo’s faltering economic growth blitz.

Bankers were among the policy’s biggest critics including Mitsubishi UFJ’s chief executive Nobuyuki Hirano, who warned it would hurt lenders’ � nances as they battle to drive up already sluggish lending.

“We expect to see an accelera-tion in the contraction of domes-tic interest margins associated with the BoJ’s introduction of negative rates,” said Akira Takai, a

Tokyo-based analyst at Daiwa Se-curities Group. Separately, Mitsub-ishi UFJ yesterday for the � rst time appointed two women to executive positions in its core banking unit.

The relatively unusual move - Japan Inc’s top ranks are over-whelmingly male - comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called on � rms to boost the role of women as part of his wider bid to kickstart the world’s number three economy.

The BoJ’s new policy has hurt lenders’ share prices, making them the worst performers on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this year.

Their earnings have also been under pressure owing to a slow-down in Asian economies and while they’ve had to boost their al-lowances for bad debts. l

A man walks past the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s headquarters in Tokyo REUTERS

Why China’s private sector needs a ‘high degree of attention’n Reuters, Beijing

Xia Xiaokang and Bruno Chen, who both run pri-vate-sector companies, are the sort of businessmen that Chinese leaders are increas-ingly concerned about as eco-nomic growth slows.

Beijing is counting on the private sector to invest more in the economy and take up the slack as the government tries to engineer a shift away from

largely state-run heavy indus-try to more entrepreneurial and services-led growth.

Unfortunately, just when China needs the private sec-tor to step up, they look to be stepping back.

“We plan to downsize our business rather than expand,” said Chen, who runs Ning-bo Tengsheng Garments Co in the coastal export hub of Zhejiang province in eastern China. l

Banglalink pro� t rises 6% in Q1data customers and an in-crease in data usage from the existing customers. The ex-pansion of 3G-coverage and an industry-wide increase in Smartphone penetration also contributed to a sharp rise. Customers also increased their voice usage, leading to an increase in voice revenue.”

Despite aggressive price competition, Banglalink’s Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) increased by 4% in the same quarter of the previous year mainly because of grow-ing data usage, he added.

Compared to the same quarter in 2015, there was a slight decline in Banglalink’s customer numbers as the in-troduction of strict identity veri� cation procedures con-tributed to a slowdown in cus-tomer growth in the market.

In the � rst quarter, Banglalink’s underlying EBIT-DA, excluding one-o� s main-

ly related to performance transformation costs, reached at Tk500.9 crore representing 26% year-on-year growth. The increase was driven by both revenue growth and Opex control initiatives, in particular, maintenance cost optimisation.

As a result, the underly-ing EBITDA margin reached 48.1% during the quarter. Banglalink’s capital ex-penditures in the � rst quar-ter amounted to over Tk100 crore posting a 44% increase compared with a year earli-er as it continues to invest in high-speed data networks. Banglalink’s 3G network cov-ered 34% of the population at the end of the � rst quarter.

Banglalink is the second largest mobile telecom oper-ator in Bangladesh with over 31.6 million subscribers, and a subsidiary of Netherlands based VimpelCom Ltd. l

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

Advertisement 15D


Dhaka Tribune

Dear friends,

Today, Norwegians celebrate Con-stitution Day. It is the birthday of our 1814 Constitution, the oldest in

Europe that is still in use and the second oldest in the world. Our Constitution is founded on the principles of sovereignty of the people, separation of powers, and ensuring human rights for all. It re� ects universal values, which were central in the process towards independence. Rule of law established by the constitution in-spired the building of a modern, diverse and democratic state.

Here in Bangladesh, we also celebrate the close ties between Bangladesh and Norway, which dates back to Bangladesh’s independence. Over the past decades, Bangladesh and Norway have forged a rich partnership in development, private sec-

tor cooperation and investments, as well as dialogue and cooperation in the po-litical � eld. Human rights, climate change, disaster preparedness, and promotion of women’s participation are among the ar-eas where we have worked much together and share objectives.

Through many years, we have worked together with Bangladeshi authorities and a number of partners – Bangladeshi and international agencies and organizations, who work hard to transform ambitions and projects into reality and results. Thanks to the professionality and the e� orts of our trusted partners, we have together been successful in improving people’s lives and in strengthening rights.

We want the story about our good co-operation to be told today. From among our many partners, we have invited a few, from di� erent sectors, to write in this supplement about their cooperation with Norway. I thank our dear and trusted partners, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, United Nations Development Programme together with the Ministry of Disaster Pre-paredness, and the International Labour Organisation for celebrating together with us by sharing their stories.

On behalf of all of us at the Norwegian Embassy, I wish the members of our com-munity, and all our partners and friends a Happy Constitution Day. l

16-17DHAKA TRIBUNETuesday, May 17, 2016

CELEBRATING CONSTITUTION DAY OF

NORWAYGreetings fromthe Ambassador

Merete Lundemo

From Left: front row: Haidar Ali, Morshed Ahmed, Nasreen Hossain, Merete Lundemo, Shaheen Ismail, Shaheen Islam, Nikhil Halder, Francis Gomes. Back row: Terhi Width, Syed Bayzid Muntasir, Henrik Width, Maksudur Rahman, Faruq Hasan, Jenny K Sundsbø, Md. Shiraj

United Nations Development Program – Disaster ManagementLooking at Norway and Bangla-

desh on a map, you notice a com-mon de� ning feature of both

countries – their long coastline. In Ban-gladesh, tens of millions of people de-pend on the land and river systems of the Bengal Delta for their livelihoods. However, unlike Norway, two thirds of Bangladesh is located less than � ve meters above sea level – this makes Bangladesh one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the e� ects of climate change and weather related loss. In Bangladesh, tens of millions of people are threatened by rising sea lev-els, saline intrusion, water logging and river bank erosion.

Building disaster resilient habitats reduces the vulnerability of the poor-est and most vulnerable in Bangladesh. These are often the people with fewest resources and living in the most haz-ardous areas of the country. Norway has been working with the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and UNDP – along with partners of Aus-tralia, European Union, Sweden and UKaid – to support over 40,000 small

and medium size initiatives to protect the lives and assets of more than 3 mil-lion people in Bangladesh.

The Local Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (LDRRF) is a unique initiative that has brought together local knowl-edge, human capacity and � nancial

resources in implementing community driven models to disaster management and climate change adaptation. Con-struction of small scale infrastructure, such as embankments to protect from � ood and tidal surge, shelters and kil-las (raised earthen platform) to protect

lives and livestock, and excavation of ponds to provide safe water and food supply, are some simple measures that communities have put in place, but that have the largest of impact on their lives.

For the disaster vulnerable people

of Bangladesh, Norway has been a vi-tal partner. CDMP is one of the largest single development cooperation in-vestments of Norway in Bangladesh. The successes are still unfolding, and we hope to see Bangladesh continue to build its resilience. l

Key results of the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme

● Robust disaster management pol-icy and institutional framework at the national and district levels. At least 13 Ministries and Depart-ments have taken measures to re-duce disaster and climate risk in their sectors.

● 22 million school students access curriculum content on disaster risk reduction and climate change ad-aptation through their textbooks.

● 115 million cell phone users can access � ood and cyclone early warning.

● Warning time received of impend-ing � oods has been extended from 3 to 5 days in the country’s four major river basins. This means that 19.5 million households (88 million people) are now able to protect 70% of their assets.

● A network of over 48,000 volun-teers have been trained in disaster response.

● Local level � nancing in rural and urban areas has reduced vulner-ability of more than 3 millionpeople.

QUOTES“The raised ground has changed our lives. Before we had to think all the time about how to save crops from the fl ood water. Now we can focus on our earning and well being of our families”

Munni BegumSingle mother and only income earner of

the family, Kurigram

“Most of villagers were uneducated and work in agriculture … Before we suffered a lot from fl ooding every year, losing houses and crops and livestock. The killa (raised ground) has made life much easier for us”

Tofajjal HossianFarmer, Rangpur

“The brick wall has been a blessing for us. It keeps the fl ood water away. We can carry on with our farming and our homes and families are well protected”

Ms. Parvati RaniSunamganj

“Very few people suffer due to water borne diseases after the initiatives of CDMP in this area”

Mr. Nur IslamChairman, Negeshwari Upazila, Kurigram

Thanks to raised ground villagers can focus on agriculture and livestock instead of � ghting the � ood water

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad – Women’s EmpowermentBangladesh Mahila Parishad

(BMP) works for gender equal-ity and women’s empowerment

through multi-dimensional approach with the vision to establish a demo-cratic, secular and equality based hu-man society and state.

BMP is a national voluntary activ-ist-based women’s human rights or-ganization. The organization is non-pro� t and without political a� liation, established on April 4, 1970. Norway and BMP have been partners for more than a quarter of a century. Norway supports BMP’s work for women’s rights, against early marriage and gen-der based violence.

Recently, Norway as a core devel-opment partner has supported BMP’s project “Promotion and Protection of Women Human Rights in Bangladesh (2010-2015)”.

The goal of the project was to re-duce gender inequality through wom-en’s increased participation and up-hold women’s dignity in the broader political administrative and social context. The purpose was to strength-en and intensify women’s human rights movement and consolidate the social movement to empower women and initiate programme intervention to resist any form of violence against women.

Some of the project’s outputs: so-cial movement has accelerated in re-sisting violence against women and political empowerment of women

has been strengthened. Women’s hu-man rights movement has also fur-ther intensi� ed through networking at the same time as BMP is e� ectively functioning as a lobby and advocacy agent. The project has also strength-ened BMP through capacity building towards sustainability and institution-alization.

The project was carried out in 60 organizational district branches and 2376 grass-root branches throughout the country.

Norwegian support has contributed

in creating a strong institutional de-velopment of BMP. BMP’s principles and philosophy are similar to those of the Norwegian government, and thus the long partnership has been very smooth.

As a development partner, Norway’s non-interference policy is a very positive experience for BMP. BMP’s core values of democracy, human rights, secularism and equity are strengthened and help to create a positive impact not only within the organization but also in the society. l

ILO – Improvement of Labour RightsWork is part of everyone’s

daily life and it is crucial to a person’s well-being and

development as a human being. How-ever, economic growth should include the creation of jobs and working con-ditions in which people can work in freedom, safety and dignity.

International labour standards are there to ensure that economic devel-opment remains focused on improv-ing human life and dignity.

Norway has been a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) since the ILO was formed in 1919, ratifying all eight Fundamental Conventions as well as the four Gov-ernance Conventions. This clear com-mitment to ILO’s mandate of creating Decent Work for all underpins Nor-way’s collaboration with ILO.

The Norwegian Government has supported a project called Promoting Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and Labour Relations in Export Oriented Industries in Bangladesh (FRLP). Working to promote better compliance with international labour standards, the initiative focused on the ready-made garment, shrimp pro-cessing, and shoe and leather sectors.

Actions carried out included e� orts to create better knowledge and under-standing of labour rights. Support was provided to workers, employers and their representatives so they can engage in meaningful dialogue and labour rela-tions. Meanwhile the capacity of gov-ernmental authorities and labour courts has been improved to help them better perform core functions and mandates.

The Norwegian funding was impor-tant as it allowed the ILO through

the FRLP project to continue work on labour rights issues in a highly chal-lenging context and build the founda-tion for social dialogue in Bangladesh. The project was innovative, as for the � rst time in Bangladesh a workers education programme was carried out while the relatively novel concept on workplace cooperation has been intro-duced and awareness on labour rights and obligations raised. Meanwhile, a complaints handling mechanism was also launched.

The FRLP project was instrumental in forming a basis for reform agenda in the country and future continuation of the work on social dialogue on a more advanced level. l

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad raises women’s rights awareness with the help of folk songs and street drama

Ready-made garment worker at a factory in Dhaka area

The FRLP project was instrumental in forming a basis for reform agenda in the country and future continuation of the work on social dialogue on a more advanced level

18DT

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016Tech

In� nity and not beyond after all

Jadoo’r baksho

n Tahsin Momin

You hardly need any clues to recognise the pattern here: Jadoo Digital released a set-top-box, we approve of it - it’s as straightforward as there can be.

Like the underappreciated factory worker who punches the holes in Polos, the HP IP Hybrid set-top-box knows its role and gets on with it.

Whether this talented set-top-box is worth the Tk3,500 spend will depend upon your speci� c needs, but not the quality of the work it does.

FeaturesThis is a HD digital set-top-box plus a digital TV recorder, which essentially means, if you subscribe to the Jadoo Super HD package worth Tk500, then we have got access to 200 channels including 15 in high de� nition. And if you go for slightly more expensive Tk600 package called the Jadoo Premium HD, then you get access to 230 channels, which include 30 high de� nition channels in it. Moreover,

it can record your desired TV shows and movies so that you never miss out on them.

Furthermore, you can begin watching your programme even if it’s halfway through recording, and you also have the power to pause and rewind live TV.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But

this is precisely what we mean by HP IP knowing its part and playing it. Well, this is of course, more than just a television recorder.

Unlike your regular cable TV, it has a well-stocked suite of smart features, including catch-up channels and access to internet, as well as sharing photos via its USB

port.The remote control isn’t the

most substantial we’ve grasped, but it’s comfortable and no trouble to use. Set-up is as simple as plugging in power, TV aerial, Ethernet cable (not available at the moment) and HDMI into our TV.

Switching the box on, we breeze

through the opening set-up menus, and that’s about it. There’s nothing more to it; within � ve minutes we’re ready to � ick through the channels.

PerformanceTurning on, we stick to BBC and are prompted immediately to press OK for the HD service, a shortcut available wherever there is an HD alternative, but we must admit that the picture in standard de� nition is admirable too.

Flicking between the two broadcasts, it’s clear that if the HP IP Hyper box is giving us as good quality as the direct feed from our TV, and the di� erence is relatively signi� cant. The sound quality too, is superb; switching to MTV, and we would be enjoying a dynamic and expressive performance.

Verdict All in all it does what it claims to accomplish on the box. At the end of the day, the HP IP Hyper is a formidable set-top-box that enhances the joy of getting your eyes stuck to the telly. l

We might sound a little biased, but this is a quality set-top-box from Jadoo Digital

Disney is no longer making games

n Mahmood Hossain

It’s a tad puzzling why the heads of Disney have decided to discontinue the Disney In� nity video game franchise. If it had

not been inde� nitely cancelled, the new In� nity 4.0 would have featured content from the upcoming movies Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, along with new 12-

inch � gures.The new plans, according to

a report published by Kotaku, would have brought gamers a new story mode and gathered characters from Star Wars, Marvel

and Disney universes. There were also plans of revealing larger � gures that traditionally come with the In� nity games. With Disney’s current success in the movie industry, one can only slip

into bewilderment. More revenue would only mean more games or tag-along content for the new blockbuster � lms to come.

The company went even further to state they will no longer be publishing their own video games. Instead, for future video games, Disney will be teaming up or outsourcing to other tech/video game companies. We already know of their collaboration with Electronic Arts, who are more famous for their sports division. The EA team-up includes future sequels to Battlefront and third-person game from game developers Respawn. It seems there will also be a new Star Wars project in the works between EA and Visceral Games.

Disney In� nity 3.0 will be the last release, as it was � rst available to the public in August of last year for consoles and PC. The company still plans to release new characters from Alice Through the Looking Glass this month, followed by Finding Dory Play Set additions in June. l

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T

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016Auto Connect

Elegant velocityToyota Harrier - a crossover SUV with elegance and class

n Tahsin Momin

Ever since its debut in 1998, the Toyota Harrier has been a � rm favourite among buyers looking for a crossover SUV, wooing them with its good looks, great build quality, and decent practicality. Its biggest draw was perhaps that it was a Lexus with a much lower price tag. And now in its third generation, the Harrier has done quite well to hold on to its ground as a luxury crossover SUV.

ExteriorThe Harrier is without doubt a head turner. It manages to carry the

curves on its body without looking too busy. The chiselled front nose, a grille with 3D slats, and chrome surrounds on the fog-lights, add to the bold look of the car.

Around the back, the curved lines are concentrated towards the rear LED lights, giving the car plenty of character. While the car was given a complete makeover, the design cues can still be linked to the ones from the previous generation; the rear quarter windows with the signature upward kink and the tapered tailgate, were both found in the second generation Harrier.

InteriorOn the inside, the cabin is full of quality materials. There are no signs of cheap and hard plastics, instead everything has been made of premium plastics and lush leather, matched with contrast stitching on both the door panels and dash trimmings. However, the shiny plastic trim on the centre console is a magnet for � ngerprints.

While there are bunch of features available on the Harrier, the model we tested came with front seats that are electrically operated, the dual-zone air conditioning controls, and a full panoramic roof to play with.

The seats, also wrapped in the same lush leather with contrast stitching, are very comfortable and o� er plenty of support. The rear seats have plenty of legroom and the backrests can be adjusted for tilt.

PerformancePerformance wise, things could have been better. To drive, the Harrier is a tad light, but the car is able to tackle corners and bends quite con� dently.

It is powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine rating at 151HP and 192Nm of torque. However, when pushed to its limits the engine does sound slightly rough and while dragging the 1600kg body around, we felt that it is missing the ‘oomph’ factor.

The ride comfort is fairly good over imperfect road surfaces and interestingly enough, during our test drive, we felt that the ride on the rear seats felt smoother than on the front seats.

SafetyThe Harrier has gotten a � ve-star NCAP safety rating, and an array of electronic safety features including ABS brakes

with electronic brake-force distribution, stability, and traction control. Airbags such as front, side and full-length curtain, they all come with roll-over sensors that measure the tilt of the vehicle and activates during an imminent roll-over.

VerdictAt the end of the day, the Toyota Harrier is a car that aims to provide its occupants with comfort while giving the driver a hassle-free driving experience. It is without doubt one of the best SUV in its class that � ts the bill for a luxurious family car or an executive’s runabout. l

Novelty of the Paint Job

Price: 58 lakhs and onwards

Available at:Sal-Sabeel Cars

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n ASM Foysal

It is common for us to park our cars indoors, which protects it from the harsh environment. You would only need a couple of waxing sessions a year to protect the � ne paint job on it. However, if your car is exposed to the harsh elements: rain, hail or even battering wind, or if it just spends most of its time outdoors, you should probably wax it every three to four months.

Not only does wax give your car a gleaming radiance, it provides an extra layer of protection against harsh weather, bird droppings,

tree sap, ultraviolet rays, vehicular and industrial pollution, and other various grime found in the air and on roads. Waxing your car regularly would prevent these eroding substances from damaging the clear coat: the � nish on top that seals the paint, and stop from exposing the paint below. On top of that, if you have to rub and scrub an un-waxed car to clean it, you risk cha� ng through the clear coat and into the paint.

Washing your car regularly would stave away much of the regular contaminants, but some, such as bug splatters and tar, can require additional e� orts

to remove. Whether you do it yourself or hire someone, thoroughly cleaning the exterior and applying a good-quality wax by hand at least twice a year can make the paint in your car appear brand new, like the day you bought it.

Rust isn’t nearly as common on cars as it was 30 years ago, but it is still the silent killer if you let water or other corrosive materials to accumulate. Driving in Bangladesh, where most roads are unpaved, and puddles seems to appear out of nowhere, being battered by sand water and small pebbles is a common scenario. If

you live near an ocean, or a place where the water itself is salty, the best remedy for protecting your car from salt damage is to get it washed on a regular basis, such as weekly. Even if it hasn’t rained, there is still salt residue on the roads that winds up on your car, especially underneath on brake,

suspension, and other parts not easily visible or accessible.

Though some vehicle owners avoid car washes because of the cost it bears, most car washes give the bottom of vehicles a good cleaning, so minerals and road dirt doesn’t build up and cause corrosion. l

TODAY

Sunday’s protest and closure of chain stores by the Bangladesh Supermarket Owners’ Association came about after repeated instances of police and RAB misapplying the law in high-pro� le raids.

In addition to not using scienti� c methods to examine foods inspected in such drives, o� cials have not been giving sta� or store owners any opportunity to show records documenting their source and supply.

As well as being unfairly applied, this publicity-led approach does not make strategic sense.

By their very nature, chain stores are dependent for their custom and reputation on investing a lot of money to ensure a uniform level of quality and service.

They have a big stake in building public trust and con� dence and in developing robust quality monitoring systems for their food supply chains. This makes them better placed to enforce hygienic practices and root out rogue suppliers, than most smaller retailers and street markets.

It is their investment in modernising retail stores which is incentivising food producers to invest in new cold chain networks to ensure less food is wasted and more fresh, hygienic foods are made available to consumers. They are also the key driver for the fast growing food processing and frozen food sectors in Bangladesh

Authorities need to follow a fair evidence-based approach to target food safety risks.

The present policy is unduly focused on carrying out high pro� le raids to capture maximum publicity, while ignoring many areas and sectors where safety risks are higher and standards often lower.

It would be far better to spend resources targeting rouge suppliers and in raising public awareness of hygiene standards and processes.

Supermarkets and the thousands of workers, farmers, and producers involved in supplying them, should not be unfairly targeted, especially while higher risk retailers are being ignored.

Follow a fair evidence-based approach to target food safety

The Turkey-Pakistan opprobrium

Four point somethingAnd, as their grades plummet and CGPAs fall, they can’t quite understand how, with their 5.0 CGPAs, they are not the best students in the classroom. They see students, less studious than them, speeding ahead of them without even trying

PAGE 22

PAGE 21

PAGE 23

Extremism 2.Ois glocalThe internet is fast breaking the di� erence between global and local. We live in a glocalised world, where terror organisations are glocal and empowered by new innovations and business plans

By denouncing the conviction and hanging of the leader of an Islamist party, he was expressing solidarity not only with Pakistan, an ally, but also for the greater Muslim Umma, whose leadership he aspires for

Target food safety drives better

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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Tribune or its publisher.

BIGSTOCK

EditorialTUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016

DT 20

n Ziauddin Choudhury

Turkish President Erdogan’s reproach of our war crimes trial and hanging of Maulana

Nizami for the crimes did not come unexpectedly. That such denunciation from Turkey should come in the heels of similar criticism by Pakistan was also no big surprise.

After all, Turkey and Pakistan have been on the same wavelength in their attitude towards Bangladesh since the Liberation War.

Turkey had sided with Pakistan forces since the beginning of our independence struggle, o� ering Pakistan both moral and international support, and did not recognise Bangladesh until February 1974 just before the � rst meeting of the newly formed Organisation of Islamic Conference in Lahore.

That this recognition happened within days of Pakistan’s recognition of Bangladesh is not a coincidence. It is a show of solidarity of the two countries in international diplomacy.

Pakistan and Turkey were welded together since the birth of Pakistan through a variety of treaties, to promote trade and culture ostentatiously, but mostly to unite these countries with western powers through defense treaties orchestrated by the US to thwart Soviet and communist in� uence in the region.

The third country that would join this axis was Iran. Close diplomatic and defense ties among three countries began with the Central Treaty Organisation or CENTO, a central Asian association formed in 1955 somewhat similar to South East Asia Treaty

Organisation in objectives.The second, Regional Co-

operation for Development, was formed by three countries in 1964 to promote socio-economic development among the partners through collaboration. Unlike CENTO, RCD was not a military alliance, but the three countries were aligned through defense ties with the US and the UK.

CENTO fell apart after the fall of Shah in Iran, and the rise of anti-American forces in that country. RCD also evaporated gradually. But political changes in Iran or even the changes in Turkey from military-led democracy to popular democracy did not make any dent in the Turkey-Pakistan relationship. The Pakistan government, from Ayub Khan through Bhutto, from Ziaul Huq to Nawaz Sharif, has been able to maintain a steady relationship of mutual support and friendship throughout Pakistan’s existence.

This relationship goes beyond the two countries’ similarity in religion (both are Muslim and predominantly Sunni), geographic proximity, and somewhat closeness in culture. There is a bigger similarity, the tradition of a strong and politically active army.

Turkey has had a strong history of army intervention in the government. In fact, until Erdogan

was successful in curtailing the army’s role through constitutional changes, no government could last in the country without the army’s blessing and support.

The current Turkish Republic was set up by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) following World War I who emerged as the country’s political and military leader. He transformed the shrunken

and broken Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-state with the help of a newly energised army. In other words, Turkey’s modernisation process was again led by the military.

Although Mustafa Kemal sought to exclude the army from open involvement in politics, and a law was passed to ensure that, he never wanted to remove the army from exercising its in� uence in politics. He viewed the army as the guardian of the new constitution, which was secular, and the mod-ern state of Turkey. As a result, the army in Turkey practically was in the king-making position, with the civilian government responding to its commands.

In striking similarity, Pakistan has had also a powerful military that came to wield power in Pakistan and dictated its politics for much of its existence. However, unlike Turkey, the military in Pakistan did not come

through the front and build a country from the ravages of war.

It came through the back door, through machination and manipulation, and held its sway over the country primarily through force and intimidation.

Unlike Turkey, the Pakistan army not only did not build a new country, but it broke a country. Unlike Turkey, it did not nurture or

protect a secular constitution or a secular country, but helped evolve a non-secular idealism and foment radicalism.

I wish the similarities and mutual friendship between Pakistan and Turkey and their military past could explain the latest reproach of our war crimes trial. It is natural for Pakistan to denounce any e� ort by Bangladesh to hold those accountable for the atrocities committed in the war of our liberation.

It is natural for them because the war of 1971 was never viewed by Pakistan as a struggle for freedom by Bengalis. It was viewed by Pakistan as a foreign-inspired (read: Indian inspired) rebellion of anti-states to break a Muslim country apart.

It was a conspiracy against Muslim Umma by enemies of Muslims. Therefore, all those who have been tried by Bangladesh for war crimes were actually patriots

and true Muslims who wanted to defend their country and religion. But why Turkey?

To understand this, one has to read beyond the historical support of Turkey for Pakistan and its original denial of support for Bangladesh.

Turkey’s Erdogan rode to presidency on the shoulders of an Islamist Party that had to change its name to an ambiguous seemingly non-religious party, Justice and Development Party (or AKP in Turkish), adhering to Turkey’s secular constitution.

His political support is still rooted in Turkey’s resurgent Islamic elements who he would not dare displease. By denouncing the conviction and hanging of the leader of an Islamist party, be it far removed from Turkey, he was expressing solidarity not only with Pakistan, an ally, but also for the greater Muslim Umma, whose leadership he aspires for.

In the current world of global diplomacy, it is di� cult to denounce a foreign leader and shun a country. We have to maintain our relationship with countries that we may disapprove of for our own image of showing tolerance.

We also have to have a strategy to deal with adverse publicity and a campaign through our diplomatic channels to make other countries better acquainted with what the war crimes were, and why we need to prosecute those who participated in one of the greatest massacres of the past century. l

Ziauddin Choudhury has worked in the higher civil service of Bangladesh early in his career, and later for the World Bank in the USA.

Opinion

Erdogan’s political support is rooted in Turkey’s resurgent Islamic elements REUTERS

By denouncing the conviction and hanging of the leader of an Islamist party, be it far removed from Turkey, he was expressing solidarity not only with Pakistan, an ally, but also for the greater Muslim Umma, whose leadership he aspires for

Turkey’s denunciation of Bangladesh’s war crimes trial is nothing unexpected

The Turkey-Pakistan opprobrium

21D


Opinion22DT


n SN Rasul

What is the point in a � ve-point-oh GPA? This year, at SSC level, more than

109,000 students were awarded a perfect � ve. More than 88% of students passed this year. The former is slightly lower than last year, and the latter is slightly higher.

But, really, what is the point? Does this prove anything, that almost 90% of our students passed their exams and that more than a lakh of them have scored “perfect” results? Does this mean that our national examinations are producing students carrying the weight of knowledge with them as they embark on their Higher Secondary level education?

With the HSC exams still ongoing, one can only guess that the statistics will be something similar, though not as much of a walk amongst roses and sunshine. Last year, 34,721 people received GPA 5 while the pass rate was around 65%.

Gritty realities, but let us forget the 35% who’ve slipped through the cracks. Let’s hone in on the 34,000 or so candidates who passed with perfect scores. Do these people represent a slice of the Bangladeshi youth who o� er great potential in their minds? Are these students about to step into life, ready to conquer all of its challenges with the education they’ve received and what they’ve achieved?

They’re not. I have no science on my side to say that with such certainty, but few would disagree. The problems within the Bangladeshi school education system (to say nothing of it at university level) are manifold.

I do not mean to deny that education in English medium schools is much better, but the fact remains that it is. What is being said here isn’t anything new: It is known that Bengali medium schools continue to practice rote memorisation as a method of study, with students coming out having learned little or nothing of the subjects they are being taught.

Recently, when an aunt of mine, while vying for a place for her daughter at one of the top schools, was asked what was the point of these “top schools,” in fact, what really made these schools so di� erent. Her answer was blunt: When cheating, they can cheat o� of better students, and hence, get better results.

Cheating is as common a

feature of the education system as pencil and paper. Students complain about “strict” teachers who do not allow them to cheat, as if this is a bad thing, as if not being allowed to do so is a disservice, a cruelty, an injustice.

This doesn’t stop at school level either. At university, there is widespread impunity for this kind of behaviour. Students and teachers alike laugh it o� , with warnings and second warnings and third warnings which � y through the air as meaninglessly as the results they receive. Sure, one could stand their ground, o� er a no-tolerance policy so that the students are forced to come into shape, but that is a double-edged sword. It brings down pass rates, and brings the teacher’s methods under question.

But understand this, there’s no method to this madness. This has been the norm for as far as my young memory can go back. These students, when they enter their university lives, look for “common” questions, so that they can vomit it out word for word.

But of course, there’s nothing doing. They can barely understand the language in which the course is being taught, and cannot understand the concept of just that: Understanding. Suddenly, they � nd themselves stranded

across a sea of unbeknownst learning, where the books aren’t enough, and the words that are coming out of their lecturers’ mouths, they don’t quite register.

At university level, lecturers do not have the time or the patience for individual guidance. At that level, they’re not supposed to. It’s not school anymore, where each student’s needs will be catered to, not anymore.

And, as their grades plummet and CGPAs fall, they can’t quite understand how, with their 5.0 CGPAs (or maybe four point something), they are not the best students in the classroom. They see students, less studious than them, speeding ahead of them without even trying. Because they’ve been taught not things, but how to learn. To understand, digest, formulate information instead of breathing it in and regurgitating it out. That is a far more useful attribute in a world

that already has information at its � ngertips.

Undoubtedly, the Bangladeshi education system needs a complete overhaul. And this doesn’t mean a little change here and a little change there in the curriculum, but schools, teachers, administrative sta� , all of it needs to be rebooted to suit the needs of a newly emerging world.

It needs to be understood that results don’t mean anything when you’re struggling to write a simple sentence in English (not to bow down to our colonial masters of times gone past) or if you don’t have a very rich guardian or uncle ready to foot your daily needs for the rest of your life.

It’s time to learn to learn, read for pleasure, and write because we can. It’s time to treat knowledge with the respect it deserves. l

SN Rasul is a Sub-Editor at the Dhaka Tribune. Follow him @snrasul.

Is our grading system broken? BIGSTOCK

And, as their grades plummet and CGPAs fall, they can’t quite understand how, with their 5.0 CGPAs (or maybe four point something), they are not the best students in the classroom. They see students, less studious than them, speeding ahead of them without even trying

It’s time to treat knowledge with the respect it deserves

Four point something

Opinion

n Habibul Haque Khondker

The terrorist attacks in the recent months in Bangladesh were organised by small

groups of extremists, for which, organisations beyond the national boundaries of Bangladesh have taken responsibility.

There is no denying that there are groups, with links or blessings from outside, carrying out targeted killings in Bangladesh, and now, after the capture of extremists in Singapore, it is evident that small groups of radicalised Bangladeshis are planning attacks on high-value targets in Bangladesh from the safety of hideouts overseas.

There are two schools of thought with regard to the presence of extremist organisations in Bangladesh: One school of thought, armed with research � ndings, claims that the terrorist groups are internationally linked, carried out by local units of international terror organisations.

The other school of thought, mostly represented by the o� cials, claims that there are no international links to local terrorist acts.

They claim that the terrorist attacks are locally organised. So, are the terrorist attacks global or local? They are actually both -- they are glocal. To put it in plain English, these organisations are both global and local at the same time.

It is important to re-orient our thinking about this grave threat. First, concerned authorities in Bangladesh must come out of denial and accept the reality that there is a problem.

I don’t want to sound alarmist, but want to warn about the possibility of the rise of this menace in light of recent happenings. In trying to tackle this threat, one has to think clearly and pay attention to the various developments in technology and business models.

Some people mistakenly view Daesh (or ISIS) as a traditional organisation with a top-down, command and

control (C&C) structure. This is probably an old-fashioned notion. Organisationally, this is the opposite of a C&C structure. It is probably a de-centralised, loosely structured organisation -- more like a social movement, or something in between a social movement and an international organisation.

A sociology professor once compared al-Qaeda with an international research-funding organisation like the Ford Foundation.

A local group of extremists would approach the foundation with a project, and if the project is considered viable, it will receive some funding.

The rest -- planning, execution, etc -- may rest in the hands of the local organisation. Here, some conceptual discussion may be helpful. Sociologist Manuel Castells states that, in the 21st century, we have entered a networked society. Concepts such as organisation, structure, etc

need re-formatting.Think of hotel chains and taxi

services. In the new globalised society, a growing number of tourists do not check into hotels, they look for more a� ordable Airbnb and share a coach. Rather than hiring taxis they use Uber.

If you have a spare room, you can sign up with Airbnb and rent your extra room for cash.

Similarly, if you have a car and a driving license you can start the process of signing up with Uber. Airbnb is an alternative to hotels, as Uber is an alternative to taxi services. These are the new bottom-up business models that are catching on.

People cloud -- another new idea -- is a variation of cloud computing, like a giant storage system of data. People cloud or outsourcing is when you reach out to people for ideas or services.

It is a smart way of outsourcing your job at low operational cost. Rather than hiring expensive consultants, you can use people cloud to get new ideas, personnel, etc at a much lower cost.

All these developments are

made possible thanks to new, smarter, and faster internet technologies with a variety of applications for di� erent purposes.

A huge number of people --- netizens -- are joining the new economy, driven by the desire for pro� t and excitement. The ideology they are working with is the ideology of market capitalism overlaid by individualism.

A recent idea in this vein is “Jugaad,” a low-cost innovation system. Following this model, increasingly, people will make their own appliances, gadgets, tools in a local workshop rather than buying these products from a mega company.

This will bring down the cost and weaken the power of the industrial giants. 3D printers have aided this new mode of production. In the not too distant future, a variety of things will be 3D-printed in your own home.

In thinking about the extremist groups in the 21st century, one has

to assume that the new extremists are internet-savvy techies, combining the models of Uber and Airbnb with a vicious ideology.

These groups are more likely to be local, yet some of the members can be well-travelled with a tour of duty to some of the dangerous places.

The spread of internet-enabled smartphones has led to a veritable connectivity revolution. Rather than likening a trans-national terror organisation to an international bank or food chain, one should compare it with Airbnb or Uber.

A small extremist group can sign up with a network and run their operations with loose links with Uber central. The internet is fast breaking the di� erence between global and local.

We live in a glocalised world, where terror organisations are glocal and empowered by new innovations and business plans.

It is time our law enforcers understand the paradigm shift. l

Habibul Haque Khondkeris a sociologist and a part-time columnist.Daesh does not operate with a top-down command structure REUTERS

The internet is fast breaking the di� erence between global and local. We live in a glocalised world, where terror organisations are glocal and empowered by new innovations and business plans

Extremism 2.O is glocalWe need to understand terror in the digital age

23D


24DT Sport

Kalabagan CA shock Abahanin Minhaz Uddin Khan

Mahmudul Hasan’s second List A century provided the biggest upset of this season’s Dhaka Pre-mier League yesterday after 11th placed Kalabagan Cricket Acade-my beat the much fancied Abaha-ni Limited by three wickets.

It was their � rst win in the tournament, having lost their � rst six games. Abahani su� ered their fourth defeat in seven games.

In the other two match-es, Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club rose to second place with a six-wicket win over Mohammed-an Sporting Club while Legends of Rupganj missed the chance to go top of the points table after they lost to Prime Bank Cricket Club by 60 runs.

Kalabagan CA v AbahaniConsecutive defeats had made Abahani frustrated this season. The side until yesterday had got only three wins out of six match-es and to make it worse comes the

defeat against Kalabagan CA in Fatullah.

Abahani posted 282/7 in 50 overs with Avishek Mitra’s 63 be-ing the highest. Captain Tamim Iqbal, Mosaddek Hossain and their new foreign recruit Manoj Tiwary, made 48, 42 and 40 runs respectively.

Mahmudul picked up three

wickets before heading their su-perb chase though Abahani with their high score were favourites at the halfway stage.

But Abahani felt the absence of a strike bowler as Kalabagan CA were barely troubled. Mahmudul’s 111-ball 106 with eight boundaries and three sixes nearly took them to victory.

At the start of the 47th over, Kalabagan CA needed only 10 runs to register the win with three wickets in hand. A single came in the second ball of the over while two sixes by Bishwanath Halder, in the fourth and � fth, gave them the last smile.

Mohammedan v DoleshwarBatting � rst, Mohammedan had a shaky start losing four wickets for 42. Opening batsmen Ezaz Ahmed and Nazimuddin were dismissed for two and nought respectively while Upal Tharanga and captain Mush� qur Rahim could add only 10 and eight runs each.

Naeem Islam had a slow ap-

proach but to some extent had pulled the side out of trouble with his � rst century of the season. But since Naeem got dismissed with only � ve overs to spare, the innings could hardly progress. Farhad Reza and Al Amin Hossain picked up three wickets each for Doleshwar.

Later with Imtiaz Hossain’s 88, Doleshwar had a walk in the park. Nasir Hossain remained unbeaten on 37 o� 39 with four boundaries and a mighty six.

Prime Bank v RupganjNurul Hasan’s 108 backed by for-eign recruit Sachin Rana’s four-for inspired Prime Bank to a 60-run win over Rupganj.

Mehedi Maruf’s early blast got him 75 runs, with nine bounda-ries and three sixes, followed by Nurul’s century, allowing Prime Bank to post 299/9 in 50 overs.

The Rupganj batsmen failed to give the thrust as they were bowled out for 239 runs in the 46th over. Opener Jalaj Saxena scored 52. l

TOP STORIES


Barca claim La Liga, Stuttgart relegatedLuis Suarez notched his third hat-trick in � ve games as Barcelona won 3-0 at Granada to clinch their 24th La Liga title. Suarez � nished the season as La Liga’s top scorer with 40 goals, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s grip. PAGE 28

Siddikur back in Top 10 AT Order of MeritFour weeks, four consecutive victories around the world by Asian golfers. These are indeed great days for the Asian Tour, as was evident by Siddikur Rahman’s entry to the top 10 of the AT Order of Merit. PAGE 25

Tearful Terry tells fans: ‘I want to stay’Tearful former England captain John Terry made an emotional address to his devoted Chelsea fans on the Stamford Bridge pitch on Sunday, telling them that he still wanted to stay at the west London club. PAGE 26

Murray takes Rome title, Djoker beaten Great Britain’s Andy Murray enjoyed the perfect 29th birthday present on Sunday, puncturing Novak Djokovic’s air of dominance by beating the out-of-sorts Serb in straight sets in the � nal of the Italian Open in Rome. PAGE 27

BRIEF SCORESABAHANI LTD 282/7 (Mitra 63,

Tamim 48, Tiwary 40) lost to KALABAGAN CA 286/7 (Mahmudul 106, Taposh 47, Saxena 43) by three

wickets

PRIME BANK CC 299/9 (Nurul 108, Maruf 75, Rana 40) beat LEGENDS OF RUPGANJ 239 (Jalaj 52, Asif 47, Rana

4/37) by 60 runs

MOHAMMEDAN SC 188 (Naeem 100, Farhad 3/26, Al Amin 3/34) lost to PRIME DOLESHWAR SC 192/4

(Imtiaz 88, Nasir 37*, Ariful 2/34) by six wickets

DPL 8th, 9th rounds pushed backn Tribune Report

The eighth and ninth round match-es of the ongoing Dhaka Premier League have been bodily shifted from this Friday to next Tuesday due to the Annual General Meeting of the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s umpires committee.

“The umpires committee has given a letter to the BCB, request-ing to reschedule the league owing to the AGM, which will take place from May 20-21. They will be busy during that time. And the Shab-e-Barat is on May 22 and the next day is a holiday so the board has decided to shift the games to May 24,” said Amin Khan, co-ordinator of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, yesterday.

He also informed that all the other domestic leagues will also be rescheduled due to the same rea-son.

In the eighth round, defending champions Prime Bank Cricket Club are up against Mohammedan Sporting Club, Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club face Kalabagan Cricket Academy and Abahani Limited take on Gazi Group Cricketers.

Following the eighth round next Tuesday, the ninth round will be held on May 28. l

Kalabagan Cricket Academy’s Mahmudul Hasan pierces the cover and mid-o� region during their Dhaka Premier League clash against Abahani Limited at Fatullah’s Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport 25D

T


AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open winner Jeunghun Wang of Korea (L) embraces Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman following the conclusion of the fourth and � nal round on Sunday in Mauritius COURTESY

ASIAN TOUR ORDER OF MERIT

Siddikur back in Top 10Asian golf celebrates record runn Agencies

Four weeks, four consecutive vic-tories around the world by Asian golfers. These are indeed great days for the Asian Tour and golf in the region, as was evident by Siddi-kur Rahman’s comeback to the top 10 of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Elsewhere, Korea’s Jeunghun Wang, 20, completed back-to-back victories with a come-from-behind one-shot triumph in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on Sunday, a week after he had broken through in Morocco.

The slender Wang pipped Bang-ladeshi Siddikur on the last hole with a birdie to win the tourna-ment tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and Sunshine Tour. He became the youngest player at 20 years and 263 days to win consecutive events on the Eu-ropean Tour.

Although disappointed that he failed to land a third Asian Tour vic-tory in Mauritius, Siddikur’s conso-lation was that he moved back into the world’s top-300 at 274th posi-

tion which will enhance his hopes of qualifying for the Olympics.

“I didn’t even think I was going to be able to reach second position. Before we came here, I was really struggling with my golf. I’m really

happy to get second position,” said the Bangladeshi history-maker, who has been hampered by a back injury in recent years.

“I am happy with how I � nished. This is a good boost for me on my world rankings. Hopefully I can get

back into the running for the Olym-pics. I will take the positives from this week. I am looking forward to the rest of the season and hopeful-ly I can cap a good year.”

Prior to Wang’s heroics, coun-tryman and close friend Soomin Lee, 22, and China’s Li Haotong, also 20, were victorious in Europe-an Tour events in China which left quite a few observers and players buzzing with optimism about the future of the Asian Tour.

Wang’s win was worth US$189,841, which moved him up to second place on the latest Asian Tour’s Order of Merit on US$470,338, some US$166,000 behind leader Marcus Fraser of Australia.

Filipino Miguel Tabuena, who is 21, is third on the Asian Tour rank-ings with US$336,258 while Lee is fourth, some US$17,000 further behind.

Add in those victories by Lee and Li in China, Asian golf cele-brated a small slice of history by notching four straight wins on the European Tour which has never been recorded previously. l

ASIAN TOUR ORDER OF MERIT

Player Earnings (US$)1. Marcus Fraser (Aus) 637,2612. Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 470,3383. Miguel Tabuena (Phi) 336,2584. Soomin Lee (Kor) 319,3015. Scott Hend (Aus) 313,3996. SSP Chawrasia (Ind) 310,5517. Younghan Song (Kor) 224,7728. Swangarunporn (Tha) 197,9859. Shaun Norris (Rsa) 166,36810. Siddikur Rahman (Ban) 153,245

MSC thrash Azad SCn Tribune Report

Mohammedan Sporting Club began their Green Delta Pre-mier Division Hockey League campaign in style as they handed Azad Sporting Club a crushing 12-0 loss at Maula-na Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Tasvar Abbas netted four goals for the Black and Whites in the 45th, 53rd, 57th and 60th minutes while Omar Bhu-tto bagged three in the 23rd, 34th and 54th minutes of the game. Shahidullah Titu, Imran Hasan, AHM Kamruz-zaman, Salman Sadik and Mohammad Shakil added one apiece for the Motijheel based out� t.

Meanwhile in the day’s other game, Dhaka Wanderers Club defeated Sonali Bank 7-4 at the same venue. Bishal and Sarwar Morshed scored two each for the winning side while Nahian Shubho, Hosne Mobarak and Sajin notched one apiece. Rocky registered a consolation hattrick for Sonali Bank while Irfan scored the other.

Rangpur division win Development Cup U16n Tribune Report

Rangpur emerged as the champions in the Development Cup Under-16 Football Tournament for the � rst time ever when they defeated Dhaka 3-2 in the tiebreaker in the � nal at the Government Physical Education College � eld in Mo-hammadpur yesterday.

After the stipulated time failed to yield any goals, the game rolled into the penalty shootout where three Dhaka players were unable to convert their spot-kicks. Despite the � nal loss, Dhaka’s Shehab was adjudged the player of the tournament. This was the third edition of the age-level Development Cup. Chittagong clinched the title in the � rst two editions but this time around, they crashed out in the last four. l

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri is all smiles alongside Danny Simpson, Kasper Schmeichel, Riyad Mahrez, Andy King, Danny Drinkwater, Leonardo Ulloa, Robert Huth and Jamie Vardy during the parade in Leicester yesterday

REUTERS

RCB beat KKR by nine wickets to stay aliven Tribune Desk

Thirty-two runs, 43 balls, and less than an hour spent at the crease while bat-ting in a total of eight matches. Those are Chris Gayle's numbers during his lean run since his hundred in West In-dies' World Twenty20 opener against England exactly two months ago. On a humid night at the Eden Gardens, he struck form again to help Royal Chal-lengers Bangalore stay alive in their hunt for the playo� s, with a nine-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Royal Challengers' top order made light work of the 184 target as Virat

Kohli and AB de Villiers carried their stellar show from Bangalore to Kolkata, after Gayle's 31-ball 49.

Gayle trudged to one o� seven balls before unleashing the big hits. He started with a four o� a full delivery in the sec-ond over, but was more brutal against

the short balls. He pulled those that was directed towards him, he upper cut one on the o� side, slapped one down the ground, and welcomed Sunil Narine with consecutive fours to race to 35 o� 21. Amid the carnage, Kohli exhibited one classical inside-out drive for six that showed that the Royal Challengers party was on at both ends, and only 11 people at the packed ground were not dancing to it.

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan experienced a mixed day in the o� ce as he went wicketless in his four overs, conceding 39 runs. Earlier with the willow, the left-hander struck an 11-ball 18, studded with a four and a six. l

BRIEF SCOREKOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 183/5 (20 ov)

Gambhir 51, M Pandey 50, Russell 39*, Aravind 2/41

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE 186/1 (18.4 ov) Kohli 75*, De Villiers 59*, Gayle

49, Narine 1/34

26DT Sport


PREMIER LEAGUETeam GP W D L GD PTS

1 Leicester CL 38 23 12 3 32 81

2 Arsenal CL 38 20 11 7 29 71

3 Tottenham CL 38 19 13 6 34 70

4 Man City CLQ 38 19 9 10 30 66

5 Saints 38 18 9 11 18 63

6 Man United 37 18 9 10 12 63

7 West Ham 38 16 14 8 14 62

8 Liverpool 38 16 12 10 13 60

9 Stoke City 38 14 9 15 -14 51

10 Chelsea 38 12 14 12 6 50

11 Everton 38 11 14 13 4 47

12 Swansea 38 12 11 15 -10 47

13 Watford 38 12 9 17 -10 45

14 West Brom 38 10 13 15 -14 43

15 Palace 38 11 9 18 -12 42

16 Bournemouth 37 11 9 17 -20 42

17 Sunderland 38 9 12 17 -14 39

18 Newcastle R 38 9 10 19 -21 37

19 Norwich R 38 9 7 22 -28 34

20 Aston Villa R 38 3 8 27 -49 17Chelsea's John Terry is thrown in the air by team mates after the English Premier League game against Leicester City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday Reuters

Tearful Terry tells Chelsea fans: 'I want to stay'n Reuters, London

Tearful John Terry made an emo-tional address to his devoted Chel-sea fans on the Stamford Bridge pitch on Sunday, telling them that he still wanted to stay at the club.

Yet the club’s greatest idol stopped short of con� rming that he would be taking up Chelsea’s new one-year contract o� er, revealed on Friday, which is believed to fea-ture a pay cut and whatTerry him-

self calls a “di� erent role”.Terry was suspended for Chel-

sea’s � nal game of the season, a 1-1 draw with champions Leicester City but, with club owner Roman Abramovich watching from the stands, took the microphone to talk to the fans.

“We all want the same,” Ter-ry said. “I’ve said for a long time I want to � nish my career here. I’ll be speaking to the club over the next few days. I want to stay, the

club knows that, the fans know that. I want to stay.”

The 35-year-old’s eyes then began to well up as the fans inter-rupted him to chant: “John Terry, we want you to stay!”

It led Terry to continue in what also felt a little like a farewell ad-dress. “On a personal note I’d like to thank everyone,” he said. “This season has been tough for me, very emotional, so thank you for the support.

“Chelsea is my life, as it is yours. The best moments of my life have been in this stadium. You’ve been a big part of that.”

Earlier, in the 26th minute of the match, a host of fans held up post-ers reading “John Terry 26”, refer-ring to the captain’s shirt number, leading him to acknowledge the show of support.

“I’m happy that they are now in contact and are talking. Personally, I hope they manage to come to a

solution,” Chelsea interim manag-er Guus Hiddink said. “When they are talking then I mustn’t spoil it by starting to speculate.

“He is 35, when people normal-ly say goodbye. But he’s physically very � t and mentally very � t, so he can contribute a lot wherever he wants to play.”

Terry made his Chelsea debut in 1998 and has played over 700 games for the London club, leading them to four Premier League titles. l

United face multi-million billn AFP, Manchester

A fake bomb inside Old Tra� ord that forced the abandonment of Manchester United’s last Premier League game of the season trig-gered angry calls yesterday for ac-tion as the club faced a multi-mil-lion pound bill for the “� asco”.

As inquiries started into the in-cident which led to bomb disposal experts blowing up a mobile phone attached to a gas pipe, United vowed to reimburse the tickets of 75,000 fans who were evacuated Sunday ahead of the game against Bournemouth.

They will also give them free entry to today’s rearranged match against the south-coast side. That gesture alone could cost United more than three million pounds (3.8 million euros/$4.3 million).

Tony Lloyd, Manchester’s may-or and police and crime commis-sioner, said: “It is outrageous this situation arose.

“A full inquiry is required to ur-gently � nd out how this happened, why it happened and who will be held accountable.

“This � asco caused massive inconvenience to supporters who had come from far and wide to watch the match, wasted the time of huge numbers of police o� cers and the army’s bomb squad, and unnecessarily put people in dan-ger, as evacuating tens of thou-sands of people from a football sta-dium is not without risk.”

O� cials said a company which

conducted a security exercise at Old Tra� ord had left the fake bomb - a mobile phone attached to a gas pipe - in a stadium toilet. The de-vice was found just before Sun-day’s kick-o� and the evacuation ordered.

British media named the com-pany that left the device in the sta-dium as Security Search Manage-ment and Solutions. l

n AFP, London

Manchester United’s teenage sensation Marcus Rashford and Newcastle United winger Andros Townsend were named in a provi-sional 26-man England squad for Euro 2016 yesterday.

The uncapped Rashford, 18, has burst onto the scene with United this season, scoring seven goals in 16 games, while Townsend, who won the last of his 10 England caps

in October, has impressed since joining Newcastle from Tottenham Hotspur in January.

Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Liv-erpool’s Jordan Henderson were both included after recent spells on the sidelines, but there was no place for Wilshere’s club-mate Theo Walcott.

Explaining Rashford’s call-up, England manager Roy Hodgson told a presser at Wembley: “He de-serves to be selected." l

Rashford in 26-man England squad

A police dog sni� s the seats after the EPL match between Manchester United and Bournemouth was abandoned at Old Tra� ord on Sunday REUTERS

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (City), Fraser Forster (Southampton), Tom Heaton (Burnley).

Defenders: Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Chris Smalling (United), John Stones (Everton), Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Danny Rose (Tottenham), Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool).

Mid� elders: Dele Alli (Tottenham), Ross

Barkley (Everton), Fabian Delph (City), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Danny Drinkwa-ter (Leicester), Jordan Henderson (Liver-pool), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), James Milner (Liverpool), Raheem Sterling (City), Andros Townsend (Newcastle), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).

Strikers: Wayne Rooney (United), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Daniel Sturridge (Liver-pool), Marcus Rashford (United).

Sport 27D

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DAY’S WATCHFOOTBALL

TEN 112:45AM

Sky Bet Championship 2015/16Hull City v Derby County

CRICKET SONY SIX8:30PM

Indian Premier League Pune v Delhi

Andy Murray of Great Britain returns the ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the Italy Open � nal on Sunday REUTERS

Djoker su� ers rare loss as Murray takes Rome titlen Reuters

Andy Murray enjoyed the per-fect 29th birthday present on Sunday, puncturing Novak Djokovic’s air of dominance by beating the out-of-sorts Serb in straight sets in the � nal of the Italian Open in Rome.

Just a week after Djokovic had beaten him in the � nal of the Madrid Open, the Scot gained his revenge over the world num-ber one in another claycourt � -nal with a superb 6-3 6-3 win in one hour and 35 minutes.

Djokovic was not at his best and in a grumpy mood, com-

plaining on several occasions to the umpire about the slip-pery court surface on a damp day at the Foro Italico.

Yet the defeat, just his third of the entire season, could not be totally put down to hints of weariness from Djokovic after a tough week’s work as he told Murray afterwards: “Well done Andy, you were just too good.”

It was an emphatic triumph, after � nishing runner-up in Madrid and making the semi-� nals in Monte Carlo, to convince Murray that he now must have his best shot yet at winning the French Open. l

Ayesha, Rumana steer Rupali Bank to victoryn Tribune Report

Opening batter Ayesha Rah-man’s 80-run knock and leg-spinner Rumana Ahmed’s four-wicket haul guided Ru-pali Bank to a 42-run win over BKSP in the Dhaka Premier Di-vision Women’s Cricket League yesterday.

Taking � rst guard, Rupali

Bank posted 171 runs on the board for the loss of seven wickets, thanks to Ayesha’s 90-ball 80 featuring two fours and half a dozen sixes. In pursuit of 172, BKSP made a good start with opener Morsheda Khatun adding 62 runs to the tally but as the innings progressed, they lost regular wickets and even-tually managed 129. l

28DT Sport

Barca claim La Liga title, Stuttgart relegatedSPAIN

Luis Suarez notched his third hat-trick in � ve games as Barce-lona won 3-0 at Granada to clinch their 24th La Liga title.

Suarez � nished the season as La Liga’s top scorer with 40 goals, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s grip on the honour since 2009.

Barca ended with 91 points, one ahead of Real Madrid.

At the other end of the table, Sporting Gijon beat Villarreal 2-0 to prevail in a gripping three-way battle to avoid relegation as Getafe and Rayo Vallecano dropped into the second tier. They joined Le-vante, who had been relegated two weeks previously and � nished bot-tom on 32 points.

ENGLAND

Manchester City secured fourth place in the Premier League and Ar-senal leap-frogged their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur to � nish sec-ond on the � nal day of the season.

City drew 1-1 at Swansea City to earn the point they needed to book the last Champions League quali-fying spot, Arsenal crushed Aston Villa 4-0 and Spurs were routed 5-1 at relegated Newcastle United.

Champions Leicester City drew 1-1 at Chelsea to end the campaign 10 points clear at the summit with only three league defeats all season.

The game between Manches-ter United and Bournemouth was abandoned after a security alert at Old Tra� ord.

ITALY

Serie A champions Juventus rounded o� their campaign by thrashing Sampdoria 5-0. Napoli sealed second spot after Gonzalo Higuain bagged a hat-trick to break a 66-year goal record and help his side � oor Frosinone 4-0.

The hat-trick took Higuain’s tal-ly for the season to 36 league goals, which broke the record for most goals in a Serie A campaign set by Gunnar Nordahl for AC Milan in 1949-50.

Napoli secured the second Champions League berth while AS Roma � nished third.

Carpi’s stay in the top � ight end-ed after only one season and they will be joining Frosinone and Ve-rona in Serie B next season despite ending the season with a 2-1 win at Udinese.

BUNDESLIGA

Former champions VfB Stuttgart were relegated for the � rst time in 41 years after losing 3-1 at VfL Wolfsburg in the top- � ight season � nale.

Werder Bremen needed an 88th-minute goal by Papy Djilo-bodji to beat visiting relegation rivals Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 and keep their spot in the Bundesliga, with their opponents going into a playo� against Nuremberg, third in the second division.

Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski took the honours as the league’s top scorer with 30 goals after netting in the champi-ons’ 3-1 victory over relegated Han-

over 96.

FRANCE

Zlatan Ibrahimovic closed his Ligue 1 account with two goals as cham-pions Paris St Germain thrashed Nantes 4-0 at home.

Lucas Moura and Marquinhos scored the other goals as Laurent Blanc’s side ended the season with a record points haul of 96.

Olympique Lyonnais fell to a surprise 4-1 defeat at relegated Sta-de de Reims, but pipped Monaco to second place on goal di� erence.

Toulouse avoided relegation on the � nal day after coming from be-hind to beat Angers, with Gazelec Ajaccio dropping into Ligue 2.

PORTUGAL

Ben� ca clinched a record 35th Por-tuguese league title with a thump-ing 4-1 victory over Nacional, end-ing the season two points clear of rivals Sporting Lisbon.

Nicolas Gaitan scored twice, with top scorer Jonas and Pizzi also � nding the net as Ben� ca cruised to their third consecutive champi-onship.

BELGIUM

Club Bruges claimed the Belgian championship for the � rst time in 11 years when they produced an emphatic display to thump closest challengers Anderlecht 4-0 for an unassailable lead in the standings.

Abdoulay Diaby scored twice within � ve minutes in the � rst half and Hans Vanaken and Tim-my Simons added two more goals after the break to hand Michel Preud’homme’s club the title. l


LA LIGATeam GP W D L GD PTS

1 Barcelona CL 38 29 4 5 83 91

2 Real Madrid CL 38 28 6 4 76 90

3 Atletico CL 38 28 4 6 45 88

4 Villarreal CLQ 38 18 10 10 9 64

5 Athletic EL 38 18 8 12 13 62

6 Celta Vigo ELQ 38 17 9 12 -8 60

7 Sevilla 38 14 10 14 1 52

8 Málaga 38 12 12 14 3 48

9 Real Sociedad 38 13 9 16 -3 48

10 Real Betis 38 11 12 15 -18 45

11 Las Palmas 38 12 8 18 -8 44

12 Valencia 38 11 11 16 -2 44

13 Espanyol 38 12 7 19 -34 43

14 Eibar 38 11 10 17 -12 43

15 Deportivo 38 8 18 12 -16 42

16 Granada 38 10 9 19 -23 39

17 Sporting 38 10 9 19 -22 39

18 Vallecano R 38 9 11 18 -21 38

19 Getafe R 38 9 9 20 -30 36

20 Levante R 38 8 8 22 -33 32

SERIE ATeam GP W D L GD PTS

1 Juventus CL 38 29 4 5 55 91

2 Napoli CL 38 25 7 6 48 82

3 Roma CLQ 38 23 11 4 42 80

4 Inter Milan EL 38 20 7 11 12 67

5 Fiorentina ELQ 38 18 10 10 18 64

6 Sassuolo 38 16 13 9 9 61

7 Milan 38 15 12 11 6 57

8 Lazio 38 15 9 14 0 54

9 Chievo 38 13 11 14 -2 50

10 Empoli 38 12 10 16 -9 46

11 Genoa 38 13 7 18 -3 46

12 Torino 38 12 9 17 -3 45

13 Atalanta 38 11 12 15 -6 45

14 Bologna 38 11 9 18 -12 42

15 Sampdoria 38 10 10 18 -13 40

16 Palermo 38 10 9 19 -27 39

17 Udinese 38 10 9 19 -25 39

18 Carpi R 38 9 11 18 -20 38

19 Frosinone R 38 8 7 23 -41 31

20 Verona R 38 5 13 20 -29 28

Palermo 3-2 Hellas VeronaVazquez 28, Maresca 51, Viviani 48, Gilardino 64 Pisano 84

Lazio 2-4 FiorentinaLulic 2, Klose 74-pen Vecino 31, 70, Bernardeschi 40, Tello 45

Udinese 1-2 CarpiDi Natale 79-pen Verdi 36-pen, 38

Chievo 0-0 Bologna

Empoli 2-1 TorinoMaccarone 13, Zielinski 54 Obi 56

Genoa 1-2 AtalantaPavoletti 58 D’Alessandro 52, Kurtic 82

SERIE A

Supporters wave FC Barcelona � ags as their team parades on a bus through the streets of Barcelona to celebrate their 24th La Liga title on Sunday AFP

Ben� ca goalkeeper Paulo Lopes rises the trophy to celebrate their 35th Portuguese league title at Luz stadium in Lisbon on Sunday AFP

Malaga 4-1 Las PalmasCop 28, Charles 48, 87, Willian Jose 33Atsu 83

Espanyol 4-2 EibarMoreno 12, 78, Baston 57, Asensio 31, 67 Enrich 90

Rayo Vallecano 3-1 LevanteHernandez 12, Verza 59-penTrashorras 23, Miku 73

Real Betis 2-1 GetafePezzella 56, Medran 84Ruben Castro 73-pen

Sporting Gijon 2-0 VillarrealJony 7, Alvarez 79

LA LIGA

Downtime 29D

T


CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 19 represents M so � ll M every time the � gure 19 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Top room (5)4 Drinking vessel (3) 6 Elliptical (4)8 Tribal symbol (5) 9 Female horse (4)11 Single entity (4)12 Emits fumes (5)15 Dissolves (5)18 Authoritative decree (4) 20 Pimply condition (4)21 Country (5)22 Capital of Norway (4)23 Period of time (3)24 Scottish dances (5)

DOWN 1 Thespian (5) 2 Tenth part (5)3 Hairdressing items (5) 4 Tribe (4)5 Writer of verse (4) 7 Entertain (5)10 Fissure (4)13 Poem of heroism (4)14 Flying toys (5)15 Army rank (5)16 Fall into disuse (5) 17 Curving recess (5)18 Destiny (4)19 Dwarf bu� alo (4)

SUDOKU

30DT

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016Showtime

n SK Farhan Rahman

During a Valentine’s day trip to Coconino National Forest in Sedona, Arizona, Vanessa Hudgens carved a heart into a rock and has now been � ned USD1,000. The act came to light after the actress took to Instagram to share a photo of the carving which had the words “Austin + Vanessa.” The post has since been deleted.

A misdemeanour was issued against the 27 year old for vandalising protected forest land, one that could have potentially

earned her six months in prison and a hefty USD5,000 � ne.

According to Associated Press, Coconino National Forest service spokesman Brady Smith said, “She was caught in the act because she publicised it and she’s famous.”

The spokesman had previously told US Weekly, “This incident is currently under investigation, so there is not much I can share speci� cally since I am not privy to the details of an investigation until it is complete.”

“However, I can say that the issue of people carving their

names and other things in rocks in the Sedona and surrounding area is always a challenge that we face, and try to inform people about its destructive nature,” he continued.

Back in February, the former Disney star admitted that she had indeed, defaced the rock. Her � ne was used by a volunteer group called Friends of the Forest, to restore the rock wall.

A federal magistrate approved the � ne after an agreement was reached between the actress and authorities on April 19. lSource: Dailymail, People Magazine

Vanessa making news for all the wrong reasons

n Showtime Desk

Darkroom, the � rst ever photography show of Bangladesh has completed its 75th episode, recently. In order to promote and encourage the photography industry, this is the very � rst attempt by popular satellite channel ATN Bangla to bring about promising photographers and related subjects, in front of the

audience. The show is being hosted

by young photographer Prito Reza and produced by Faruk Azam. Darkroom is a live program which is being telecast every Thursday, at 5.15pm. The show has several exciting segments like the photographer’s biography, photographic lessons, tips and so on. The show repeats on the next day of the live airing, at 1.15am. l

n Rajnin Farzana

The most precious gift of this world from the Creator, is one’s mother. The word “Ma” is imprinted in various dimensions in one’s heart.

In order to celebrate this years Mother’s Day, a two-week-long,

group exhibition titled “MA,” was inaugrated at Gallery Cosmos-2, House-115, Lane-6, New DOHS, Mohakhali in the capital on May 13.

Prominent artists including the likes of Samarjit Roy Chowdhury, Biren Shome, Farida Zaman, Jamal Ahmed, Nasreen Begum, Rokeya Sultana, Ivy Zaman, Shameem Subarna, Fareha Zeba, Gulshan Hossain, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Bipasha Hayat and others are participating in this

exhibition. A total of 37 paintings from 22 painters are being showcased.

Since the exhibition solely focuses on the artworks representing motherhood, everyone’s expectations from it is high enough for art enthusiasts to

visit the exhibition of renowned artists and see what they have to o� er.

Spectators were dazzled to � nd out in exactly how many ways a mother and motherhood can be portrayed. One can � nd here, the ideal image of a mother feeding her baby on her lap to one who is seen adorning her girl.

A powerful picture where a mother is standing with four little children, facing an endless river or sea, may well make someone nostalgic. It is one of Jamal Ahamed’s paintings, where the body language of the subjects is seemingly calm, but with a strong wish to be carried out by the boatman who seems to have left them.

Spectators may be amused to see the visually-stunning painting by Sourav Chowdhury where a � sh is seen feeding four baby � shes. Or the painting by Dilruba Latif,

where there is a heavenly zeal in the mother’s face while holding her baby tightly in her arms. The painting of the classic clay doll of Bengal by Samina Na� s, where a mother is seen holding her baby in one lap and a pitcher in another, may well remind one of a perfect

village scene. Right in the middle of the art

gallery, a few saris, the traditional attire of a Bengali mother, are used to decorate a wall. And who doesn’t know about the sari being the classic imagery of a Bengali mother with all its motherly smell and beauty?

Samarjit Roy Chowdhury is famous for using classic folk motifs which is also present in his paintings that are being featured in this exhibition. From tiny birds to � owers; his paintings have them all in its attempt to demonstrate the classic a� ectionate presentation of a Bengali mother.

Gallery Cosmos-2 is holding the exhibition which renders the various imagery of mother in myriad angles, dimensions and colours. The exhibition will run till May 26 with visiting hours from 12:00pm to 8:00pm, daily. l

Shades of motherhood

Darkroom crosses 75 episodes

n Showtime Desk

Donning an elegant and classy gown paired with neatly done hair, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan blew away the minds of onlook-ers, triggering both criticism and appreciation, by wearing a purple lipstick on her third visit at the Cannes, this year.

The actress, who has always been a fashion icon and a trend-setter, made the daring move at the premiere of Sarbjit.

While many loved the colour and her look, others seemed shocked, who took to Twitter as soon as Ash walked out on to the red carpet.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan completed 15 years at Cannes this year. Who knows? Purple lips might just become the latest trend! But for now, here are a few examples of what people tweeted:

“Forget everything, wear pur-ple lips @Aishwarya rai bachchan”

“Someone naturally beautiful like Aishwarya Rai made herself look ugly (purple lips wtf?) for Cannes. What’s wrong with the world”

“#SarbjitPremiereAtCannesMy � rst reaction on Aishwar-

ya’s lips was like.. omg!! why did she used her daughter’s crayons on her lips?”

“I think Aishwarya’s makeup artist is sabotaging her. Wtf??? Like not just the lip colour but it made her lips look dry Af.”

“Urban rich: Aishwarya’s lips look like she had black current ice cream.

Urban poor: Aishwarya’s lips look like she had kala khatta gola.”

“I am totally loving this! Aish-warya Rai breaking the law with purple lips and looking stunning #CannesFilmFestival”

“The best bit is the lips!! If Loréal is not gonna set trends via Aishwarya at Cannes than who else will!!” l

31D


Showtime

Purple rain on the red carpet

Graphically AminulRahul Anand in hospital after accidentn Showtime Desk

The modern day media depends heavily on motion graphics. Aminul Islam is one of those young talents, who loves to play with graphic art and has built up his career in motion picture arena. Aminul has been working with Somoy TV for quite a long time and is contributing from his vast expertise in real time motion graphics.

He has already gathered work experience in several segments of the industry like dramas, TVCs, movies and

documentaries. Aminul wishes to create a suitable environment for aspiring motion graphic designers to pursue the trait as a career and set an example among young promising graphic artists. l

n Showtime Desk

Popular band Joler Gaan’s vocal Rahul Anand, who is also known for his acting for Prachyanat theatre troupe and on the small screen, was severely injured in a road accident in front of the Prime Minister’s o� ce in the capital on Sunday around 6pm. The prominent musician underwent surgery on Sunday, May 15 in the capital.

He was immediately taken to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation and was later transferred to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he went through with the surgery.

“Dada’s physical condition is better now. He will be taken to the general cabin in the evening today

[yesterday]. He might be able to return home after a week,” said Konok Adittya, another member of the popular band Joler Gaan.

Rahul is currently staying at the post-operative recovery room under observation.

The doctors decided to conduct a surgery when Rahul was brought to the hospital with a gravely injured knee. The operation took place from 9pm to 12:30am.

Hearing about his accident, Cultural Minister Asaduzzaman Noor rushed to the hospital where di� erent cultural personalities including Mamunur Rashid, Azad Abul Kalam, Afsana Mimi, Saju Khadem, Shotabdi Wadud, Sanjida Priti, journalist Munni Saha and other members of Joler Gaan and Prachyanat were present. l

I, RobotStar Movies, 7:06pmThe � lm is set in the year 2035 when everyone is dependent on robots that are programmed to help make human life easier. Del Spooner (Will Smith) of the Chicago Homicide Department does not trust robots. He has no speci� c reason. Cast: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood

The Hobbit:The Desolation of SmaugHBO, 11:28pmA sequel to the � rst part - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, this � lm too follows the character Bilbo Baggins as he accompanies Thorin Oakenshield and his fellow Dwarves on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and to steal the Arkenstonefrom the dragon Smaug. During the dangerous journey, they � ght against giant spiders, Orcsand Elves. Cast: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace

MacheteWB, 11:36pmThe highly skilled federale Machete (Trejo) is hired by some unsavory types to assassinate a senator. But just as he’s about to take the shot, he notices someone aiming at him and realises he’s been set up. Cast: Danny Trejo, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Je� Fahey, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan

WHAT TO WATCH

Back Page32DT


NO DISTRICT BUDGET LIKELY FROM NEXT FISCAL YEAR PAGE 13

KALABAGAN CA SHOCK ABAHANI PAGE 24

PURPLE RAIN ON THE RED CARPET PAGE 31

Unfair removal attempt behind Narayanganj teacher humiliation?n Tanveer Hossain, Narayanganj

Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, headteach-er of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Narayanganj Bandar upazila, has alleged that he was humiliated on Friday as part of the school’s man-agement committee’s plan to un-justly remove him from his post.

The three-member probe com-mittee formed in this connection also said the initial investigation had found conspiracy behind the incident as well as information about a con� ict between Shyamal and the management committee.

Besides, the upazila nirbahi of-� cer, Mousumi Habib, who visited the scene said the complaint � led by the student, who Shyamal had been accused of beating, had no mention of the teacher hurting re-ligious sentiment.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid condemned the incident yesterday, and said the next course

of action would be decided after the investigation ended.

Shyamal told the Dhaka Tribune the school’s management commit-tee had been trying to remove him for the past few months in order to replace him with Parveen Akhter, sister of the committee’s President Faruqul Islam.

“I have been working at the school since it opened. Now I am a victim of conspiracy of the man-agement committee. Motiur Rah-man and Mobarak Hossain of the committee, and peon of the Upazi-la Nirbahi O� ce Mizanur Rahman are the three persons who made se-rious attempts to remove me from my post. The whole thing has been stage-managed,” he claimed.

He also claimed Mizanur and Mobarak assaulted him on Friday at the order of Motiur, and they tried to kill him. “Just a day before, Motiur threatened me. The man-agement committee would want

me to handle their a� airs with compromise, but I would not do it. For this rigid stance, I had been reprimanded and threatened on several occasions in the past.”

According to Shyamal, he was forced to sign a resignation letter. “They also forcefully took away my education and experience certi� -cates, and the keys to the school.”

But the management committee denied Shyamal’s allegations, with Parveen and Motiur saying that no attempts were made to remove the headmaster.

Motiur said an administrative investigation into the incident was on.

Mobarak said a student and his mother were asked to come to the school based on an allegation that the pupil had been beaten by Shy-amal. “We did nothing that led to the humiliation of Shyamal.”

Locals meanwhile said a poor-ly-erected boundary wall of the

school that collapsed in less than a week after it was built inSeptember last year led to Shy-amal’s discord with the manage-ment committee.

They said lawmaker Selim Os-man donated Tk50 lakh for erect-ing the wall and three separate committees were formed to ensure proper utilisation of the money, but the committees misappropriat-ed the fund instead of cooperating with each other.

Committee to probe furtherThe probe committee said informa-tion they had obtained after talking to several witnesses suggested conspiracies behind the incident.

AKM Nurul Amin, the upazila secondary education o� cer who heads the committee, said Shyamal was attacked at a meeting called over the beating of a student.

“Our investigation revealed that Shyamal had beaten up the stu-

dent, but we also received infor-mation that the attack on the head-master was part of a conspiracy. The loudspeaker announcement that provoked the mob to assault Shyamal was also false,” he said.

“We learned about the con� ict between Shyamal and the manage-ment committee. We will give a de-tailed account in the probe report,” he added.

Narayanganj District Teachers’ Association harshly condemned Shyamal’s humiliation and called an urgent meeting for today.

President of the association Brajendranath Sarker said the next course of action would be dis-cussed at the meeting.

Kalagachhia union parishad Chairman Delwar Hossain Pradhan said he had learned about Shy-amal’s disagreement with the management committee and the ongoing investigation would reveal more details. l

DNA tests con� rm Tonu was gang-raped

n Mohiuddin Molla, Comilla

Three people gang-raped Victoria College student and theatre activ-ist Sohagi Jahan Tonu before kill-ing her inside the Mainamati Can-tonment on March 20, CID o� cials said yesterday.

“The evidence of rape has been found on her clothes,” Special Su-perintendent of Police in Comil-la Nazmul Karim Khan said. “We have almost solved the case, and hope to identify the killers soon.”

Asked whether they had matched the DNA results with the suspects, he evaded a direct an-swer, and said that they had been analysing every information to identify the killers.

The � rst post-mortem exami-nation did not � nd the evidence of

rape, and also could not ascertain the reason behind Tonu’s death. Later the body was exhumed for DNA tests.

Tonu’s parents on May 10 blamed army sergeant Jahid, his wife and soldier Jahid for the mur-der, saying that Tonu had turned down a request made by the ser-geant Jahid to sing at an army pro-gramme.

The CID has so far interrogated more than a dozen suspects includ-ing two army o� cers in connection with the sensational case.

“To con� rm about the occurrence of rape, we contacted with the physician. They did not � nd any evidence of rape saying that no specimen was preserved. Later we sent Tonu’s clothes to the CID o� ce for DNA tests,” Nazmul said.

Dr Kamda Prasad Saha, leader of the team conducting the second post-mortem examination, said that the report would be submitted to the court very soon. l

A small child, restrained by his mother to keep him from wandering away as she concentrates on breaking bricks to earn the day’s livelihood, tries to break free as something in the distance sparks his curiosity. The photo was taken yesterday in Keraniganj, Dhaka SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

TONUMURDER

CASE

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.dhakatribune.com

17 May, 2016

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