THREAT OF SHAMIM OSMAN

ASP Bashir Uddin fears for his lifen Ashif Islam Shaon and

Mohammad Zakaria

The Narayanganj assistant police com-missioner, who prevented a local union parishad chairman from ballot stu� ng and allegedly received threats from law-maker Shamim Osman for this, is now concerned about the security of his life.

ASP Bashir Uddin is scared of even carrying out his daily routine duty in Narayanganj as he thinks Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman will anyhow avenge his refusal to allow Shamim’s man to rig votes.

Top police o� cials of the district are also silent over the alleged misbehav-iour of the lawmaker and the Election Commission too said they would not intervene in the matter.

Bashir says the Special Branch of police is investigating his involvement with the Jamaat-e-Islami, the party which opposed the birth of Bangla-desh, or the BNP.

He claims he was a leader of Bang-ladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League, and many of his family members are involved in the politics of the present ruling party.

“I am now in Dhaka and will go to Narayanganj tomorrow [today]. I fear that Shamim’s men might swoop on me or set a trap for me,” Bashir told the Dhaka Tribune last night.

Shamim allegedly threatened Bashir and hurled abusive at him over cell

phone on June 26 morning, the day of Narayanganj 5 by-election.

“But our police superintendent will be by my side as what I did was lawful and logical. But talking before the me-dia was wrong,” he said.

The police o� cial said he had up-dated SP Khandakar Mahid Uddin four to � ve times on the incident and the SP ordered him to arrest the UP chairman. The SP assured him of being on his side.

Bashir said Shamim was now trying to link him to Jamaat-Shibir or BNP poli-tics to prove that I had done everything to tarnish the government’s image.

After the incident, admitting the fact of calling the ASP, Shamim Osman said: “A local chairman had brought al-legations of unlawful activities against the police o� cial. It was conveyed to the Election Commission and police high-ups.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Health o� cials galloping for foreign tripsn Moniruzzman Uzzal

With the � scal year set to end on June 30, health o� cials have reportedly been busy over the last week to secure arrangements for making trips abroad with funds allocated under the outgoing � scal.

Sources claimed that several teams of health o� cials were already o� on foreign trips or were readying them-selves for tours under di� erent opera-tion plans (OP) of the Health Ministry’s Health Population and Nutrition Sector Development Programme (HPNSDP). Their destinations include countries

like Vietnam, China, Malaysia, USAand India.

The Health Ministry has already sent four letters to the O� ce of the Control-ler General of Accounts (CGA) seeking permission to withdraw Tk1.86 crore in advance from the allocated funds under the outgoing � scal, for arranging

foreign trainings for 51 health o� cials. Two of the letters issued were dated June 18 and 19.

Ministry sources, however, could not con� rm how many of the o� cials had been actually sanctioned for the foreign tours.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Delhi ready to work with DhakaChange of govt will not a� ect friendship, says Sushma before leaving

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The newly formed Indian govern-ment is ready to work with the Awami League-led government of Bangladesh, Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of the Indian Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

He was talking to the press at the airport before Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj departed for New Delhi.

“All other issues internal to Bang-ladesh will need to be addressed and resolved by the people of Bangladesh,” Akbar said in response to a question.

Sushma arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday on a goodwill visit, her � rst trip abroad as the foreign minister.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Sushma had o� cial talks on Thurs-day. Sushma also met President Ab-dul Hamid and Prime Minister SheikhHasina.

Akbaruddin said Sushma had also met BNP Chief Khaleda Zia, Leader of the Opposition Rawshan Ershad and two advisers to the prime minister – Gowher Rizvi and Mashiur Rahman.

“The external a� airs minister goes back to India and hopes to build on what we feel is an excellent start in our new government’s relationship with Bangladesh,” he said.

Sushma hopes to continue to work with the leadership of Dhaka to take the India-Bangladesh relationship for-ward, he added.

“We take back home with us an un-derstanding that across the widespread spectrum of Bangladeshi government and society, there is a desire for and feeling of greater friendship, greater cooperation and greater interaction with India,” he said.

Meanwhile, after the meeting with Sushma, prime minister’s Economic Adviser Mashiur Rahman said they had discussed cooperation in development.

“After the change of the government in India, the foreign minister recon-� rmed that the friendship and coop-eration with Bangladesh will remain intact, will move forward and deepen,” Mashiur said.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

8 | GUIDELINE FOR DIABETIC PATIENTS

16 pages plus 24-page supplement Avenue-T | Price: Tk12SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Ashar 14, 1421Shaaban 29, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 88

Avenue-T | GO VELVETY RED 9 | THE THOROUGHFARE OF ISLAM 11 | CLOTHES MAKETH A WOMAN?

7 | WorldIraqi helicopters � red on a university campus in Tikrit on Friday to dislodge insurgents who overran the city in an onslaught that has given them control of most majority Sunni regions and brought them close to Baghdad.

12 | EntertainmentA new production of the country’s leading theatre troupe Nagorik Natya Sampradaya titled “Nam Gotrohin Mantor Meyera” staged at the National Theatre Hall of BSA on June 26.

3 | NewsCollege teachers are under huge pressure as in� uential people are lobbying to secure places for their children or relatives’ children in the higher secondary class, even though they do not qualify for the seats.

6 | Nation Moheshpur municipal authority has started construction work of a road in upazila headquarters but did not feel the need to � oat a tender invitation, which is illegal.

INSIDE

‘I told Shamim bhai what he was planning to do would harm the party and the government’s image. I prevented them as my conscience dictated me to do so’

Have we seen the last of CR7 in a WC?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s face was stone cold when he led his team

onto the pitch of the National Stadium in Brasilia named after legend Garrin-cha. He left the pitch in the same mood. The only di� erence was that there was a glimpse of hope in the beginning but at the end there was frustration.

The Fifa world player of the year failed to steer Portugal to the second round of the World Cup and now has to experience the agony of seeing his rivals Lionel Messi and Neymar shining for their respective countries.

Ronaldo probably knew his destina-tion as he commented beforehand that his team was an average one and Portu-gal did not produce any electrical per-formances till date to change that tag. He might have taken his team through the rigours of the qualifers but failed to spark in the ultimate stage.

In Portugal’s � nal Group G game

against Ghana, Ronaldo was not trying anything special. He simply appeared con� dent, was willing to wait for his chances and started in his favourite left � ank as Portugal tactician Paulo Bento deployed a 4-3-3 formation.

His � rst touch was a typical in-side-out movement and a quick side-footer to his attacking partner Eder. Ronaldo did not show much frustra-tion when his cross-cum-shot kissed the Nigerian crosspiece but wore a demoralised look after seeing his pow-erful header from a Joao Pereira cross

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Khaleda to Sushma: Bangladesh lacking democracy n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP told visiting Indian External A� airs Minister Sushma Swaraj yes-terday that Bangladesh was lacking democracy and the “so-called” parlia-ment does not re� ect the people’s will.

“Regional development will be ham-pered in the absence of democracy in Bangladesh. We believe development is impossible without democracy and, therefore, it must be restored,” party standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan quoted Khaleda Zia as telling the Indian foreign minister.

In her 40-minute-long meeting with Khaleda Zia, the Indian foreign min-ister said India wanted to establish a good relationship with the people of Bangladesh, and not with any speci� c political party.

The meeting started around 10:25am at Hotel Sonargaon. Khaleda and Swa-raj also had a 15-minute-long private meeting.

Khaleda had met Sushma once in 2012 during her Delhi visit. Sushma was then the opposition leader in In-dia’s Lok Sabha.

Quoting the visiting Indian minis-ter, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said: “The Indian government is interested in keeping a good relationship with the people of Bangladesh, not with any speci� c political party. It wants people-to-people contact, which was Saarc’s main goal.”

The Indian foreign minister said the new Indian government, in line with the Saarc goal, will take new initiatives so that the South Asian people can work together in a peaceful and demo-cratic atmosphere.

The BNP has also urged India to take quick steps in order to resolve the long-standing bilateral issues between the two countries.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after missing a chance to score a goal during a Group G match against Ghana in the World Cup at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia, Brazil AP

Leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League take out a procession from the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan after the party’s rally marking its 65th founding anniversary yesterday. The rally created huge tailbacks on all major roads in the capital RAJIB DHAR

from Brasilia, Brazil

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, June 28, 2014

Ismat Jahan re-elected Cedaw membern UNB

Ismat Jahan, ambassador of Bangladesh in Brussels, has been re-elected member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimina-

tion Against Women (Cedaw).Previously a member of the commit-

tee for the 2011-2014 term, she will now serve as the new member for the next four years (2015-2018), said a release of the Foreign A� airs Ministry.

The election was held at the United Nations on Thursday and 18 candidates contested for 12 vacant posts of the body. l

2-day-old found abandoned n Mohammad Jamil Khan

A two-day-old newborn girl was found abandon, wrapped inside a cloth, in the capital’s Hazaribagh area yesterday.

After recovering the baby yesterday evening, police admitted her at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The girl is now undergoing treatment at neonatal ward no 211 of the hospital.

Dr Firoz Ahmed of the DMCH told the Dhaka Tribune that the baby was in good condition and seemed to be all right. However, some samples were sent to laboratory to trace whether the baby had any complications.

Emarat Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Hazaribagh police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that locals informed po-lice about the newborn. After recover-ing the baby from a lane beside house No 13 of road 4/A in the area, the girl was � rst admitted at Renesa Hospital in Dhanmondi and later shifted to DMCH as there were some laws regarding the

girl’s future, he added. Visiting the neonatal ward of DMCH

yesterday, Laizu, a lady constable, was found feeding the girl powdered milk, though the girl should be taking her mother’s milk at this stage. l

AL-backed candidates win in Madaripur Sadar, Banchharampur upazila electionsn Tribune Report

Pavelur Rahman Sha� que Khan, organ-ising secretary of Awami League’s Ma-daripur unit, was uno� cially declared elected chairman in the Sadar upazila election held on Thursday.

He received 107,770 votes, while his nearest rival, 19-party-backed Kazi Abul Bashar, bagged 10,794 votes, re-ports our correspondent in Madaripur.

Awami League-backed candidate Sahabuddin Hawlader was elected as vice-chairman. He got 77,769 votes, while his nearest rival, 19-party-backed Monirul Islam Tushar Bhuiyan, re-ceived 32,555 votes.

Parveen Jahan Sharif of Awami League was elected as vice-chairper-son, bagging 96,375 votes against Awa-

mi League rebel Amena Khatun Baby, who boycotted the election and later got 10,466 votes.

Voting in the seventh phase of the upazila parishad election started at 8am peacefully, but the voter turnout was comparatively low. More than 50% of the enlisted voters cast their votes. Sadar upazila comprising Madaripur municipality and 15 unions has a total of 231,484 voters – 117,333 male and 114,151 female.

In Banchharampur upazila, Brah-manbaria, Awami League-backed can-didate Nurul Islam was uno� cially declared elected chairman, reports our Brahmanbaria correspondent.

Assistant Returning O� cer Zahid Hossain Siddique said Nurul Islam bagged 122,043 votes, while his his

nearest rival independent candidate Sayeed Uddin Khan Zabed got 10,071 votes and BNP-backed candidate Mah-bub Hasan Babu got 5,926 votes.

Awami League’s Mintu Ranjan Saha was elected as vice-chairman, re-ceiving 120,678 votes against nearest rival Sha� qul Islam, who bagged 11,025 votes.

Joly Amir of Awami League was elect-ed as vice-chairperson, bagging 101,115 votes against independent candidate Sonia Akter Suchi with 35,654 votes.

In Sherpur, BNP-backed candidate and former upazila chairman Mahbub Ali Chowdhury alias Munir Chowdhury was uno� cially declared elected chair-man in Nakla upazila, our district cor-respondent reports.

He bagged 22,320 votes, while his

nearest rival Jubo League leader Munir Hossain got 16,145 votes.

Awami League’s Sarwar Alam Ta-lukder was elected as vice-chairman, while BNP-backed candidate Dewan Kohinur was elected as vice-chair-person. Sarwar got 22,211 votes, while Kohinur bagged 27,162 votes.

Voting started at 8am and continued until 4pm without any break. Howev-er, voter turnout was low due to fear of violence. There were a total of 132,604 voters in Nakla upazila.

Seven candidates contested for the post of chairman, while three candi-dates for the post of vice-chairman and � ve candidates for the post of female vice-chairperson. Two BNP and three Awami League rebel candidates con-tested in the elections. l

Indian External A� airs Minister Sushma Swaraj meets with Opposition Leader Rawshan Ershad and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Health o� cials galloping for foreign trips PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Earlier this month, health o� cials were reportedly refusing to sign-up for foreign trips as reshu� ing was going on at the top-level posts of the sector. The panic, however, has now vanished as there were no more chang-es of being made at the moment, sourc-es claimed.

With time running out, a team of o� cials has reportedly gone abroad without withdrawing any money; while a company that is coordinating the trip has paid the costs “condition-ally,” following assurances from health o� cials that the funds would certainly be approved.

There are allegations that only the in� uential o� cials of the sector were “repeatedly” being chosen to make

trips abroad, while the others were be-ing deprived.

Under the OP of National Nutrition Services (NNS), three teams consisting of 36 members will go to Hanoi Medical University of Vietnam to be trained in Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and community-based nutrition pro-gramme management.

The Health Ministry has issued a let-ter to the CGA o� ce to release over Tk1 crore in advance, to meet the expenses for the teams.

A four-member team under the OP of Health Education and Promotion has also been approved to withdraw Tk35.6 lakh and is now set to � y to Malaysia for a14-day training on information ed-ucation and communication material development.

The ministry has also asked the CGA o� ce to release Tk31 lakh for a sev-en-day trip to China by a four-member team under the OP of Hospital Servic-es Management to be trained in a pro-gramme titled “Management Devel-opment Program for hospital services providers.”

Under the OP of in-service training of the HPNSDP, a two-member team has already been given Tk6.96 lakh for a 10-day exchange programme with the Massachusetts General Hospital in the USA. A separate � ve-member team un-der the same OP was also allowed over Tk5.4 lakh for a week-long exchange visit to India’s Bangalore.

Health specialists said the practice of arranging last-minute foreign train-ings were immoral, even though the

training was important for enhancing skills of the o� cials. The country could have bene� ted greatly if the authorities had properly planned the tours before-hand, they added.

Dr Md Shah Newez, line director of NNS operation plan, however claimed that they were always forced to plan tours at the end of � scal years as funds were never given on time.

According to the Health Ministry, there are certain stipulations that need to be ful� lled, including following the Public Procurement Rules 2006 and the Public Procurement Act 2008, for spending money that was raised in ad-vance. The touring team must also sub-mit the expenditure details of the � rst instalment before receiving the second instalment of the fund. l

‘Delhi ready to work withDhaka’ PAGE 1 COLUMN 2However, he said they did not discuss issues related to the Teesta water shar-ing, the land boundary agreement and the border killing.

When asked if they discussed internal politics, he said: “It was not discussed with us, but it has been conveyed by the Indian government that they have no intention of interfering in the domestic a� airs of Bangladesh.”

When asked about Khaleda Zia’s meeting with Sushma, Mashiur said: “I do not deal with those issues. The foreign minister can say more about it.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana and daughter Saima Wazed Putul too met Sushma at the Hotel Sonargaon yester-day morning. l

Khaleda to Sushma PAGE 1 COLUMN 1Mobin said: “During the meeting, the BNP chief discussed a number of bi-lateral issues with the visiting Indian minister.

She requested the Indian foreign minister to take quick steps to resolve the longstanding bilateral issues be-tween Bangladesh and India.”

In reply, Sushma assured her of looking into the matter sincere-ly, saying they have already made progress in solving the pending is-sues. “But, they are placing their ef-forts in forging a national consensus on the issues,” Mobin said, quotingSushma.

Responding to a query about wheth-er the party sought Indian assistance for the arrangement of midterm elec-

tions in Bangladesh, Mobin said: “We did not discuss the issue as it is our in-ternal issue.”

Mobin said Khaleda congratulated the newly elected Modi government again saying a ray of hope has arisen among the people of Bangladesh which will open up a new chapter in the Bang-ladesh-India bilateral issues.

When asked about whether India invited Khaleda to visit India, Mobin said: “The issue was not discussed in the meeting.”

Among others, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Khaleda’s Advisers Shamser Mobin Chowdhury, Reaz Rahman and Sabih Uddin Ahmed and BNP Standing Com-mittee Member Abdul Moyeen Khan attended the meeting. l

Have we seen the last of CR7 in a WC? PAGE 1 COLUMN 4from the right � ank cleared to safe-ty with a re� ex save by the Ghanaian goalkeeper Fatawu Dauda in the 19th minute.

He was quite at ease when Dauda � sted away his free kick for a corner earlier.

Ronaldo’s excitement though was clearly evident when Portugal went ahead courtesy an own goal by John Boye.

Only a � urry of goals coupled with a defeat for USA against Germany would have been enough for Portugal to progress to the round of 16.

And so Ronaldo ran inside the post in desperation and collected the ball before kicking it towards the centre spot. Whilst doing this, a Ghanaian defender was seen hurling some words towards him.

Although Ronaldo was also involved in some defending acts when Ghana

earned a series of corners in both the � anks, he was never seen in the com-manding role that he was duly expect-ed to take up as the captain of the team.

It was clear that Ronaldo failed to transform his club form to the national frontier.

Who knows if he was su� ering from the after-e� ects of his latest injury. He skipped training more than once and a Spanish newspaper claimed that the doctors advised him not to take part in the World Cup in fear of aggravating the injury further.

Ronaldo has so far scored only three goals in the three World Cups he has participated in. Three goals in 14 matches does not do justice to his extraordinary talents. In 2006 against Iran, he scored from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win. In 2010 against North Korea, it was the sixth goal in a 7-0 rout and on Thursday his left-footed winner came courtesy of the suicidal e� ort of the

Ghanaian goalie. With very little time to go to the end

of the game and with Portugal requiring more goals to go through as USA were losing 1-0 to Germany, Ronaldo did not celebrate the strike as he stood � rm before his teammates surrounded him.

After the � nal whistle was blown, it was Germany and USA who went through as their game ended in a 1-0 loss for the Americans. And despite Portugal’s 2-1 victory over the Black Stars, the Iberian side’s run ended in the group stage.

Ronaldo took o� his captain’s arm-band from the left hand, waved it in the air and was staring towards the bright blue sky. He is 29 now and will be 33 in the next World Cup in Russia. Is it then the last World Cup for the lad who grew up in the modest surroundings of Ma-deira? A burning question indeed that can only be answered with the passage of time. l

ASP Bashir Uddin fears for his life PAGE 1 COLUMN 6“I just asked him [over phone] whether he had done anything wrong. I have in-formed the higher authorities about his activities. By this time departmental inquiry is going on.”

When the Dhaka Tribune called Shamim OSman for his comment yesterday his cell phone was found switched o� .

Asked if he had to face any kind of inquiry, Bashir said: “O� cials of the Special Branch of police have started collecting information about my fam-ily’s political background. But, be sure they will not � nd anything suspicious.

“I was the president of Khulna Uni-versity of Engineering and Technology unit Chhatra League during 2004-2006. At present I am a member of Bangab-andhu Prokousholi Parishad. There is no member of our family who do not hold a post either in the Awami League or its associated bodies. There was no

political purpose in my protest.“But I cannot do what he [Shamim

Osman] asked me to do wearing the uni-form. I cannot open a polling centre for vote-rigging. I told Shamim bhai what he was planning to do would harm the party and the government’s image.

“I prevented them as my conscience dictated me to do so.”

When contacted, the SP of Narayan-ganj said they would not make any comment on the issue.

When asked about the matter, Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Ha� z told the Dhaka Tribune that the commis-sion would not intervene in the matter.He also said the police o� cial concerned should � le a case as per the laws.

Returning O� cer Mihir Sarwar Morshed told the Dhaka Tribune that the EC had not been informed about ASP Bashir having been threatened by Shamim Osman over telephone on the Narayanganj 5 by-election day. l

Policeman beats wife, mother-in-law for divorcen Our Correspondent, Savar

An Ashulia police station policeman beat up his wife and mother-in-law, as his wife refused to divorce him 13 days after they tied the knot.

Jahidur Rahman, the policeman, beat up his wife Amena Akter, 20, and his mother-in-law, Shahina Begum. Both women were admitted to Enam Medical College Hospital in Savar since the beat-ing had left them seriously injured. The incident happened on Thursday night.

The injured said, and police sources corroborated, that Jahidur had mar-ried Amena on June 14 at a kazi o� ce (where marriages are registered) in Sid-dhirganj of Narayanganj and had rent-ed a � at near Ashulia police station a few days later.

On June 20, Jahidur’s � rst wife Nasi-ma Begum showed up at the � at but the

police o� cial had beat her and forced her to leave that night.

“For several days, Jahidur had been requesting us to come to Ashulia to re-solve the issue and we arrived at Ashu-lia police station on Thursday evening. When we three went to home that night, he suddenly became violent and forced my daughter to sign the divorce documents. When I attempted to re-sist, he assaulted us,” said Shahina.

At one point during the attack, when Shahina managed to rush to the police station, she was able to get police to arrive and rescue Amena. Police sent Amena to Habib Clinic and Hospital.

Amena and her mother were later ad-mitted to Enam Medical College Hospital.

Amena said she and Jahidur had started a relationship three years ago when he was working at Siddhirganj po-lice station. He had then enticed her into

having a physical relationship with him, by promising that he would marry her.

“I kept pressing him to tie the knot but he was delaying it, making excuses about promotions. In the end, we got married on June 14,” said Amena.

The marriage documents showed that Jahidur had mentioned himself as an unmarried man and had complete-ly kept the information regarding his � rst marriage hidden. He could not be reached for comment over the phone, despite several attempts.

O� cer-in-Charge of Ashulia police station Sheikh Badrul Alam said he was aware of the incident, adding, “I sug-gested they should resolve it through a discussion, as it is a family issue.”

Rasel Sheikh, assistant superinten-dent of police of Ashulia and Dhamrai Circle, said steps will be taken after looking into the matter. l

PM to Khaleda: Stop complaining to foreigners n Emran Hossain Shaikh

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day asked BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to stop complaining to foreigners about the country and shun acts of killing.

“It was your [Khaleda] mistake to boycott the January 5 elections and now you are crying before foreign lords. They will not put you in power. So I tell you to stop complaining about the country to foreigners,” Hasina said while address-ing a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital organised by her party to mark its 65th founding anniversary.

“Awami League does not believe in foreign lords. Rather, we believe in the power of people and they have put Awami League in power several times,” she said.

The January 5 election was essential for continuity of the country’s democ-racy, said Hasina.

Describing BNP founder Ziaur Rah-man’s family as “a family of killers”, the premier said Zia was a traitor as he resorted to arms to assume power following the assassination of Bang-abandhu. “You [Khaleda] are a killer, your son is a killer and even you hus-band was a killer. Your whole family is a killer family,” Hasina said.

She also questioned Khaleda’s where-abouts when her husband was killed.

“I want to ask the BNP leader where she was during the killing of her hus-band. Why did not you and your son want to see the body of Zia?” she said.

Hinting at Zia’s link to the killing of Bangabandhu, Hasina said now it was explicit who was involved with the conspiracy.

“Khandakar Moshtaque was the black sheep of Awami League. He along with Ziaur Rahman betrayed the na-tion,” she said.

Although there was no post of dep-uty chief in the army, Bangabandhu appointed Zia in the post to save his conjugal life, the prime minister said.

She said there were many conspir-acies against Awami League but none would be able to destroy the party.

“Awami League is like � inders of di-amond. It will shine more if attempt is to break the party,” said Hasina.

The Awami League president said the government would bring back the money deposited in Swiss Bank.

“We will draw up a list of Bangla-deshi people who have money in Swiss Bank and undoubtedly we will see her name [Khaleda] on the list,” she said.

The premier rea� rmed her commit-ment to turn the country into a mid-dle-income one by 2021.

“Although we planned for 2021, I be-lieve we will be able to do that earlier. Per capita income has already risen and the country has a reserve over $21bn,” she said.

Recalling the dream of Bangaband-hu, the premier said her father dreamt of building the country like Switzer-land. “Awami League has been working to achieve that goal,” she added. l

Malaria vector elimination programme takes place in three hilly districtsn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The health directorate carried out a week-long malaria vector control and elimination crash programme at 100 identi� ed hotspots of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in three hilly districts – Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrach-hari.

The Communicable Disease Control (CDC) unit of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) carried out the programme at the hotspots. Each of the hotspots has around 100 households.

A group of entomologists, epidemi-ologists and medical technologists from Dhaka conducted the programme with the help from local NGOs, health work-ers and locals.

DGHS sources said malaria has been prevalent in 13 districts across the coun-try, with most cases recorded in the three hilly districts of Chittagong divi-sion.

Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, director of the CDC, told the Dhaka Tribune that an earlier pilot programme in four villages of Bandarban had achieved positive re-sults in 2012, prompting the DGHS to go for a crash programme at the hotspots.

Under the programme, the entomol-ogists � rst surveyed and mapped the reproductive sites of Anopheles mos-quitoes – the vector for malaria – and

later cleared the places where the mos-quitoes left their larvae, said the CDC director.

On the other hand, the epidemiol-ogists met with the locals to seek out patients who may have malaria and pro-vide them with necessary treatment. Mass awareness programmes on malar-ia control and elimination were also car-ried out in the local communities.

“We want to build con� dence among the locals and include them with the programme so that they do not think it is just a routine work of government, but consider it as their own job. We also sought army o� cials’ help in this pro-gramme,” Be-Nazir said.

Although a previous malaria control

programme had aimed at distributing special mosquito nets to residents of the hilly districts, the latest programme focused on eliminating malaria vectors.

Bangladesh has reportedly wit-nessed a 70% reduction in the number of malaria patients in the past � ve years.

In 2008, the number of malaria pa-tients was 83,000, but it has now come down to 26,000. Over the same period, malaria-related deaths also dropped by 90%, coming down to 15 from 194.

Early detection, proper treatment and use of specialised mosquito nets were reportedly behind the success. Bangladesh is expected to become a ma-laria-free country by 2020 if the trend continues. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, June 28, 2014

HSC ADMISSION

Hectic lobbying for the unquali� edn Mushfi que Wadud

College teachers are under huge pressure as in� uential people are lobbying to secure places for their children or relatives’ children in the higher secondary class, even though they do not qualify for the seats.

Teachers said the pressure is more in the reputable and government colleges.

In some cases, local politicians and student leaders are demanding certain quotas to admit students according to their choice.

“We are in an awkward situation. If we give in to the student leaders and politicians, some deserving students will not be able to get admission,” said a Dhaka College teacher.

The HSC admission process began on May 28. Classes are scheduled to start on July 1. Admission based on the merit list has already been completed in most colleges, and now admission is going on based on the wait list.

Many students and teachers said there are many irregularities in the admission of the students on the wait list.

In Dhaka College, activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s unit in the college vandalised campus properties on Thursday because the authorities did not admit students of their choice.

Moniruzzaman, inspector at New Market police station, con� rmed the incident.

Chhatra League activists in

Rajshahi Government City College also vandalised the campus, alleging irregularities had been committed in the admission process.

However, Kabirul Islam, principal of the college, told the reporters that the Chhatra League activists vandalised the campus to create panic among students so that they could get the students of their choice admitted.

There were also reports of clashes in Rajshahi College on Monday and in Rajshahi New Government Degree College on Wednesday centring the admission process.

There are allegations that student leaders take money from students in exchange of the assurance that they would get those students admitted despite their not being quali� ed.

A teacher of a reputed college in the capital’s Baily Road area told the Dhaka Tribune that they were also receiving requests from local politicians to admit their children or their relatives’ children even though they do not have the required quali� cations.

Another teacher of a reputed college in Motijheel area said his college was also under pressure to admit the children of local politicians.

When contacted, Taslima Begum, chairperson of the Dhaka education board, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had not received any complaints in this regard.

However, she said the board had instructed all colleges that students must be admitted according to the merit list, and nothing else. l

Mystery of Jessore traders’ leg injuries revealed n Adil Sakhawat

It was one’s � at refusal to part with the money allegedly demanded by the lawmen while another’s incapacity to comply with the demand cost the two dearly.

Such was the ordeal the two busi-nessmen in Jessore went through and received serious gunshot wounds al-legedly from police in the wake of their denial of meeting the demand.

The revelations came yesterday when the Dhaka Tribune correspondent talked to the injured traders – Salman Sikder Viky and Masudur Rahman – now admitted to National Orthopaedic Hos-pital and Rehabilitation Centre, running the risk of amputations of their legs.

The lawmen gave the version that they � red on them to repel their bomb attacks and branded them as the ac-cused on police list.

The two injured traders claimed that they were not listed criminals and there were no cases against them with police station.

Salman Sikder Viky who deals in mo-tor parts said: On June 15 night, some 10-12 policemen came to my house at Bejpara under Sadar police station and took me to Cacra area blindfolded.”

“They asked me to tell my father to part with Tk10 lakh to the police team led by Sub-Inspector Shoaib.”

Salman said as he turned down their demand outright and wanted to know the reason police started beating him mercilessly.

“The sub-inspector also told me if I was unable to pay the money he would make me lame forever, and as I denied again, he shot me in the left leg.”

Contacted, Reshma Sharmin, senior assistant superintendent of police (Sa-dar circle), said: “We had information that Salman was making preparation

for hijack. We conducted a collective drive along with BGB. Sensing our presence he attacked us � rst and that is why we shot him.”

He was a listed terrorist in this area and locals were terri� ed for his act of terror, she said, adding that there were three cases � led against him earlier.

The other injured trader, Masudur Rahman, a fruiterer, in Monihar cine-ma hall area, was arrested on May 31.

Masudur said on the fateful day seven to eight plain-clothes policemen came to his shop and asked him to ac-company them.

“As I asked the reason, SI Shoaib held me and forced me out of my shop. He took me to many places blindfolded and demanded Tk25 lakh.”

“How can I give you so much money being a mere fruit trader?” I asked the police o� cial.

“Without paying any heed, he threatened to kill me in a cross� re if I fail to come up with the demand.”

Masudur said since he kept express-ing his inability to give them the mon-ey, police allegedly shot him in the leg.

“Not only they shot me but also � led cases against me,” he added.

Asked about it, Reshma Sharmin said: “Masudur was an accused in eight cases and he runs a hijacking gang un-der the cover of his fruit business.”

In reply to a question about de-manding bribe by SI Shoaib, she said after coming across the report pub-lished in di� erent media they investi-gated the matter and found no proof of wrongdoing by the police o� cial.

Shoaib, however, denied all allega-tions against him when asked. He said both the businessmen were terrorists and all in Monihar cineman hall area knew about their activities. l

29,000km power lines to be installedn Aminur Rahman Rasel

The government is planning to under-take four projects – with an estimat-ed cost of Tk4,842 crore – to install 29,000km of new electricity distribution lines, including 96 new sub-station and 210 switching station in four divisions.

“We have sent the proposal through the Power Division seeking the ap-proval of Ecnec [Executive Committee

of the National Economic Council],” said Rural Electri� cation Board (REB) Chairman Brig Gen Moin Uddin.

Expressing hopes that the proposal will be placed before Ecnec on July 1, he said: “After the completion of the projects, we will be able to provide electricity to 11.5 lakh new consum-ers.” If passed, the projects is expected to be implemented by June 2018.

The four projects are: rural elec-

tri� cation expansion in Dhaka with 10,000km distribution lines including 35 sub-stations for Tk1,645 crore; in Rajshahi and Rangpur with 8,500km line including 30 sub-stations for Tk1,385 crore; in Chittagong and Syl-het with 10,500km line including 31 sub-stations for Tk1,687 crore, and 210 switching stations for Tk125 crore.

Moin said 11 ongoing REB were esti-mated to end by 2018. l

Abducted trader rescued, 4 ‘Jubo League’ men heldn Hasibur Rahman Bilu, Bogra

An abducted businessman was rescued by the police yesterday evening from Fultala area of Bogra.

According to the police, four linked with local Jubo League were arrested in connection with the abduction and three others were on the run.

O� cer-in-Charge Mizanur Rahman of Bogra Sadar police said businessman Jew-el from Kaliganj village under Singra upazi-la of Natore came to Bogra in the morning.

The OC said Jewel was abducted from Shaktala area in the town with Tk19,000 around 12 noon. Later, the abductors contacted his family and de-manded Tk1 lakh as ransom.

After receiving information from the family members, plainclothes police were sent with the ransom to Fultala area. Two abductors, Hasan Shahid and Selim Reza, were arrested when they came to collect the money, OC Mizan said.

He said upon information gleaned from Hasan and Selim, two more in-volved with the kidnapping – Abdul Han-nan and Poly Begum – were arrested from a house in the same neighbourhood.

Abducted businessman Jewel was rescued from the house. l

BTRC’s international call termination rate cut proposal rejectedn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The Finance Ministry has rejected a BTRC proposal for lowering interna-tional call termination charges; a re-quest that was reportedly based on false information about the volume of legal international incoming calls.

In a letter sent to the BTRC this week, the ministry recommended that Bangladesh Telecommunication Reg-ulatory Commission (BTRC) appoint a consultant to prepare a fresh proposal, saying: “The BTRC should conduct a comprehensive baseline study to anal-yse the impact on the industry and the risk to the stakeholders rather than suggesting piecemeal steps.”

Sources said the � nance minister also sent a DO (demand order) letter to the Telecom Ministry and requested them to appoint a consultant and give the Finance Ministry a conclusive proposal about the di� erent types of telecom li-cense fees, charges and annual fees.

Earlier, the BTRC recommended the government to lower international call termination charges to 1.5 US cents ($0.015) per minute from the existing 3 US cents ($0.03) for the internation-

al gateway (IGW) operators. They also recommended reducing the govern-ment revenue sharing to 40% from the existing 51.75%.

Legal specialists, however, said the government cannot arbitrarily change the structure as the rate was � xed by an open auction.

In July last year, the BTRC sent its � rst round of recommendations that was rejected in March this year as it claimed that the cuts would cost the government around Tk1,073 crore. Later in May, the telecom watchdog sent an-other proposal – with changed numbers – to lower international call termination charges, but this time claiming that the change would allow the government to earn an additional Tk162 crore.

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

Sources said the false estimations

were prepared reportedly to favour the cause of IGW operators who got licenc-es with political backing.

In its previous proposal, the BTRC showed that the government would earn Tk777.99 crore every year if the rate was reduced to $0.015; however, in the latest proposal the estimated earn-ing was changed to Tk2,012.72 crore.

In the second proposal, the telecom regulator also claimed that the existing daily 3.5 crore minutes of incoming in-ternational call volume would cross 9 crore minutes if the termination rate was halved from the existing $0.03 per minute.

Both the BTRC proposals claimed that the government was currently earning around Tk1,851 crore annually from this sector.

The BTRC’s recommendation also claimed that neighbouring countries’ call termination rates were much lower than Bangladesh, which sources said was also a lie.

According to the VoIP Service Pro-viders Association (VSPA), internation-al call termination rate in Sri Lanka is 9 US cents, 9.5 cents in Nepal, 8.8 cents in Pakistan and 25 cents in Maldives. l

Electronic system to be introduced for land mapsn Mohosinul Karim

The government is likely to introduce an electronic system to ease the pro-cess of obtaining land maps using mo-bile payments.

People intending to get a land map from the Directorate of Land Records and Surveys will be able to collect it from their local Banglalink o� ce, a mere three days after paying Tk310, once the system is introduced.

The Land Ministry is going to in-troduce the new electronic system af-ter Eid-ul-Fitr in association with the United Commercial Bank Limited and Banglalink.

“We have already met the top o� -cials of the bank and the mobile oper-ator and they consented to introduce the system, considering how easy it will be for people to get things done,” State Minister for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said: “It would be the prima-ry step to reduce the inconveniences people face while receiving necessary services from the ministry and o� ces under it. We are planning to automate land services. It will also be introduced

for the mutation of lands.”According to the proposed system,

land owners who intend to get a land map from the department need to pay Tk310 to the local Banglalink centre.

An agent at the centre will note down the customers’ demands and will then submit the fees using a spe-ci� c number through the ‘U-Cash’ method.

The customer will immediately get a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) requesting him to collect his desired land map from the centre af-ter three days. Banglalink authorities will collect the map from the director-ate and will later hand it over to the customer.

Saifuzzaman Chowdhury said, in addition to Tk310, the customers might be charged a minimal amount which would not be more than Tk10-15, thus making the total expense Tk325 at most.

According to ministry o� cials, the process of getting a map from the di-rectorate takes at least a month. Ap-plicants need to travel to the capital to apply for the maps but with the intro-duction of the new system, this draw-back will be removed. l

One of the two traders from Jessore, who were allegedly shot by the police, receive treatment at the capital’s orthopaedic hospital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Goods from an overloaded truck fall on the road in the capital’s Shahbagh intersection yesterday, after the driver abruptly stepped on the brake at high speed RAJIB DHAR

4 AdvertisementDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, June 28, 2014

WEATHER

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, June 28, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 3:47am Sunrise 5:13am Zohr 12:02am Asr 3:20pm Magrib 6:50pm Esha 8:17pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:50PM SUN RISES 5:14AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW33.5ºC 25.0ºC

Rangamati Feni

SATURDAY, JUNE 28

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 34 28Chittagong 31 26Rajshahi 33 27Rangpur 31 26Khulna 32 26Barisal 32 26Sylhet 32 25Cox’s Bazar 30 26

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Gas reserve won't a� ect Purbachal plot ownersRajuk unable to provide land to Bapexn Abu Hayat Mahmud

The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk) has said plot owners of the capital's Purbachal New Town Project would not be a� ected by the recent dis-covery of a gas reserve in the area.

The city development authority also said some 24 plot owners in Sector 20, where the gas � eld had been discov-ered, have already been allotted alter-native plots of the same size in other parts of the project.

On June 21, Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Com-pany Ltd (Bapex) discovered a new gas reserve at the Purbasha area inRupganj, where it initially estimated the reserve to contain 50 billion cubic feet of gas, adding some 10-15 million cubic feet of gas per day to the National Grid.

The Purbasha � eld is located near the now-defunct Kamta gas � eld in Ka-liganj upazila under Gazipur.

Following the discovery, Rajuk allo-cated three acres of land from Sector 20, which included 24 residential plots,

two playgrounds and three plots, to Bapex to facilitate the drilling work at the reserve.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Purbachal New Town Project Director Md Anwar Hossain said: “The new gas � eld discovery will not a� ect the plotowners. We have already handed over a signi� cant area to Bapex some two years ago to develop the gas � eld.Alternative plots had also been hand-ed over to the land owners in Sector 20 long ago.”

When asked about Bapex's estima-tion that more land might be needed for the gas � eld, the Rajuk high-up said Bapex would not be allotted further land from the Purbachal project and added: “Roads and other infrastructure have already been built in the areas around the gas � eld. So it is not pos-sible for us to provide any more land from the residential project.”

The 24,697-plot Purbachal housing project is situated between the Balu River and the Sitalakhya River in Rup-gonj upazila of Narayanganj and Ka-liganj upazila of Gazipur. l

In� ated power bill hits consumersin Chapainawabganjn Anwar Hossain,

Chapainawabganj

The power consumers in the district are facing extra electricity bills for not installing digital meters in their houses.

The consumers alleged that they had not been noti� ed that they had to pay extra.

The Power Development Board rea-lises the extra charges though the con-sumers who are paying their electricity bill on time, the PDB subscribers say, adding that they have to count the ex-tra till they set up digital meters.

The city residents laid blame on the PDB o� cials. They said they were yet to get anything in writing in regard to the payment of additional charges.

A power consumer, Ra� qul Islam, regretted that he had to replace the analogue meter he set up in his house

seven years ago. Long-time power us-ers said their analogue meters had not caused any problems thus far and had described the government plan to instal digital meters as a way of cover-ing the system loss created by the PDB itself.

Some alleged that the digital meters produced readings of power consump-tion that were higher than they should actually be.

When questioned, Executive Engi-neer of Power Development Board Md Jakir Hossain turned down the con-sumers' allegations. He said the old analogue meters could hardly read the power consumption well enough and that was why the digital meters were needed to replace them.

He said; “We are acting on the direc-tives issued in May 2011 by the ministry concerned.”

The o� cial claimed that the power subscribers were informed of the re-placement of their analogue meters.

They were being charged extra as they had paid no heed to the directives, he added.

The engineer said 70% of the power consumers had installed digital meters in their houses in about three years and the rest would comply with the direc-tive within the next one or two years.

He also said the government direc-tive to install digital meters had been announced through mics in the city on last Wednesday.

There are some 44,000 power con-sumers in Chapainawabganj under the Power Development Board that earns revenues of Tk45,000,000 every month while the electricity bills the subscribers need to pay amounts to about Tk45,000,000. l

Passengers su� er as rainfall damages Dhaka-Chittagong highwayn Our Correspondent, Comilla

Thousands of passengers have been su� ering since Thursday night as heavy rainfall damaged the Iliotganj bridge and created big potholes on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway from Chan-dina to Madhaiya.

Sources said a long 50km tra� c con-gestion was created from Podua Bazar to Raypur when a truck and a covered van broke down at Iliotganj bridge and Nimasa, respectively.

Iliotganj highway police Sargeant Md Asadul Islam said the vehicles broke down because of the potholes created on the highway due to heavy rainfall. Tra� c movement resumed af-ter the vehicles were removed from the

road that night, he added.Though vehicular movement re-

sumed, it was very slow because of the potholes on the road, the police o� cial said.

All the vehicles on the highway were moving very slowly at the time of the � ling of this report, yesterday evening.

When contacted, Sub-Divisional En-gineer of Comilla zone Md Mazharul Islam said that contractor companies were responsible for the maintenance of the highway from Daudkandi to Moynamoti.

Meanwhile, Daudkandi highway police station O� cer-in-Charge Md Mizanur Rahman said police had been trying to retain normal vehicular move-ment on the highway. l

Indian sarees worth Tk61 lakh seized by BCGn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Coast Guard (East Zone) seized a truck loaded with 2,050 pieces of Indian sarees yesterday from Chit-tagong city’s Kacha Rasta area under Double Mooring police station.

The paramilitary force, however, were unable to arrest anyone in this connection, said a BCG press release.

According to the release, acting on a tip-o� , a team of coastguard conducted a drive in the area and seized the truck around 10:30am. Lieutenant Com-mander M Rajibul Islam of Bangladesh Coast Guard (East Zone) said the truck driver and the helper had � ed the scene after sensing the team's presence.

The seized items, worth Tk61 lakhs, was handed over to Double Mooring po-lice station and a case was lodged with the station in this regard, he added. l

Housewife dies after being torturedn Our Correspondent, Barisal

A housewife who was tortured for dowry on Thursday at Rajapur of Jha-lakathi, died at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) yesterday.

Deceased Sumi Begum, 22, was the wife of Mithun Haoldar, 26, from In-drapasha village under Rajapur upa-zila of Jhalakathi. Matin Haoladar, the father of the deceased, said Sumi had married Mithun after divorcing her � rst husband four years ago.

Within few days of their marriage, Mithun and his family members had started torturing Sumi, demanding dow-ry and for other di� erent family disputes.

On Wednesday night, Sumi was severely tortured by Mithun and his mother Hawa Begum. Neighbours hear-ing her scream and rescued her and took her to Rajapur Upazila Health Complex in a critical condition, he added.

Sumi was referred to SBMCH on Thursday morning when her condi-tion deteriorated and she died there yesterday morning, he said. The body was sent to SBMCH morgue for an au-topsy after an unnatural death case was lodged by Barisal Kotwali police.

Masuduzzaman, Rajapur police station o� cer-in-charge, said no alle-gation was lodged in that regard yet. Police will take proper action if anyone lodges any case, he assured. l

2 forest workers injured in attack by land grabbersn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Two forest workers were injured in an attack yesterday when they went to evict two houses, made of corrugated iron sheets, from the forest land in Sri-pur upazila, Gazipur.

Injured Satkamair Bit boardman Ra� qul Islam, 50, and Sripur Sadar Bit gardener Sha� qul Islam, 45, were ad-mitted to the upazila health complex,

said Sripur Forest Range O� cer Abuf Zafar.

He said around 11am, a team of for-est sta� , led by Satkhamair Bit O� cer Rais Uddin, had gone to evict the two houses that were built on Tepirbari mouja of Satkhamir Bit by Kamal, a lo-cal in� uential person, when Kamal and over 100 people attacked them.

Ra� q and Sha� q were injured in the attack.

Rais protested and was con� ned and harassed by Kamal and his men when he tried to resist the attack.

Sripur model police station Sub-In-spector Saiful Islam said upon receiving information, they had stepped in and rescued Ra� q, Sha� q and Rais from the clutches of Kamal and his men. l

Brazil fan dies from electrocution n Our Correspondent, Savar

A schoolboy died yesterday afternoon at Dhaka Medical Collge Hospital (DMCH). He had been electrocuted ear-lier, when hoisting a Brazilian � ag onto the rooftop of a building in Savar.

The victim, Ra� l, who was the son of Anwar Hosen of Palashbari area in Savar

and a grade V student of Ashulia Canton-ment Board School, used to live with his family in a rented apartment in the area.

Anwar Hosen told the Dhaka Tribune that his son was supporting Brazil in the football World Cup and he had climbed onto the building's roof on Monday around 4:30pm to hoist a Brazilian � ag.

At that point, Ra� l had come in contact

with an electric wire that passed through the building and had received an electric shock that had left him critically injured. He was initially rushed to a local clinic but was shifted to DMCH when his condition deteriorated further, Anwar added.

O� cer-in-Charge Sheikh Badrul Alam of Ashulia police station con� rmed the news to the Dhaka Tribune. l

Kidnapped boy rescued in Dhaka n Tribune Report

Police rescued a two and a half year old boy, who was abducted from the port city on Sunday, from city's Mirpur area yesterday.

Police arrested four people – Moham-mad Yahia, 27, Humayun Kabir, 26, Anu-pa, 26, and Sanju, 38 – in this regard.

Police said Mohammad Yahia, an aspiring migrant, paid some money to the victim's father Raju for getting an Oman visa.

When victim's father Raju failed to provide the visa, Yahia and three oth-ers had abducted the boy, Debraj, in or-der to pressurise his father into giving back the money. He also demaded Tk6 lakh as ransom.

“Raju’s family lodged a case with Kotwali poice station on that very day and after bargaining, the kidnappers agreed to lower the ransom amount to Tk3 lakh,” said SI Kamruzzaman. l

Research gets less allocation in CU budgetn CU Correspondent

Chittagong University senate approved a budget of Tk168.5 crore for FY 2014-15 yesterday afternoon, allocating less funds for the education and research sectors, like previous years.

Alamgir Chowdhury, acting registrar of the university, formally announced the budget at the 26th senate meeting held at the vice-chancellor’s conference room.

CU Vice-Chancellor Professor An-warul Azim Arif chaired the meeting while Pro-VC Professor Dr Iftekhar Ud-din Chouwdhury was present, among others.

In the budget, the University Grant Commission allocated TK152.4 crore for the university, as opposed to its demanded TK193.66 crore, where the university would be able to contribute only Tk14 crore from its own fund.

Payment of teachers, o� cials and sta� of the university got higher pri-ority in the budget and was allocated Tk108.1 crore.

Only TK10 lakh was allocated for the research sector.

TK1.4 crore was allocated for buying and collecting assets, TK2 crore was allocated for maintenance and repair work, and Tk31 crore was allocated for pensions. l

Members of several organisations form a human chain at Chawkbazar in the capital yesterday, demanding an end to food adulteration including all iftari items MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Police personnel enjoy at a concert arranged in observance of the 22nd founding anniversary of the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Rais protested and was con� ned and harassed by Kamal and his men when he tried to resist the attack

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, June 28, 2014

n Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah

Moheshpur municipal authority has started construction work of a road in upazila headquarters but did not feel the need to � oat a tender invitation, which is illegal.

According to LGRD construction rules, if any government organisation does development work that involves more than Tk2 lakh, it has to publish a tender invitation.

To complete the construction of the road, stretching about 800 metres from Mahespur upazila headquaters to Ha-midpur area, Tk5 lakh will be needed.

Moreover, there was nobody to su-pervise the construction work and so labourers have been forced to use substandard materials in the road con-struction, which greatly reduces the longevity of the road.

Sources at the municipality o� ce said they had started the construc-tion work with a quotation instead of a tender invitation, although there is no provision that permits them to do any construction work worth Tk2 lakh with only a quotation.

Despite protests from local contrac-tors, the municipality did not stop the construction.

Locals said they had witnessed that labourers were constructing the road with substandard materials.

Labourers are using old brick chips along with the fresh building materials for the construction, they said.

During a recent visit to the project site, this correspondent found that road construction work had been start-ed in front of a livestock o� ce in Mo-heshpur that led to Hamidpur road in the municipal area.

Nur Islam, a labourer said, the exec-utive engineer of the municipality had ordered him to start the construction work there.

He said the labourers had dug up the road and placed some new brick chips with the old ones and then compacted the road with roller machines as per the engineer's orders.

He was reluctant to provide any further details about the construction process.

When asked about the violation of government rules regarding the con-struction work, Mijanur Rahman, exec-utive engineer of the municipality, said sometimes emergency work in the in-

terest of the municipality's people can be done without tender invitations.

At one point he said they had select-ed Ruhul Amin as a contractor.

But Ruhul Amin could not say any-thing about the budget, the operation area or the name of his site. He claimed that his name had just been used there.

Some local contractors under the Moheshpur municipality, requesting anonymity, said the work done by the municipal authority was substandard in nature.

To ensure quality and road stand-ards, the brick chips and other materi-als used on the roads, must be removed and fresh materials should be used as

per the rules of construction work, they said.

The � nal thickness of the road should be at least four inches, they added.

A ward counselor of Moheshpur municipality Hazzel Haque said no ap-proval was taken from any legal forum to start the construction work in his municipality.

The mayor of the municipality Amirul Islam Khan said the road con-struction work was necessary and so they had started the work on an emer-gency basis, using a quotation.

He said they would de� nitely try to ensure quality work. l

No tender bid � oated, but road construction begins in Moheshpur

A labourer is engaged in the construction work of a road at Mohespur upazila in Jhenaidah yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

PBCP leaders urge govt to stop conspiracy against CHTn Our Correspondent,

Khagrachhari

Leaders of Parbattya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad (PBCP) urged the government to resist all sorts of conspiracies against the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and its people.

They also urged the government to take action against the conspirators, instigators and brokers, who have been acting against the CHT.

They made the request at a discus-sion held in the hill town’s party o� ce yesterday afternoon, with its central Assistant Secretary Engineer Abdul Majid in the chair.

PBCP leaders alleged that some eth-nic leaders were involved in anti-state activities and wanted full autonomy for the CHT.

Pointing at the recent attack on 51-Babuchhara BGB Battalion Head-quarters, the PBCP leaders said us-

ing hundreds of females, some ethnicleaders had made their dirty plans suc-cessful.

“Now the same groups are trying to spread false propaganda against BGB personals through media,” they said.

Journalists have to know that some ethnic leaders do not want that the government should boost security along the 139 kilometre border between Bangladesh and India, so that criminal activities can be run smoothly, they added.

They also requested journalists and civil society leaders to visit Babuch-hara BGB Battalion of Dighinala upazila in the district and write the actual facts of the issue.

Matiranga Upazila PBCP President Lokman Hossain and Mohalchhari Upazila PBCP President Shahdat Hos-sain, District PBCP member Anwar Hossain and Ra� qul Islam spoke on the occasion, among others. l

S choolgirl is still missing in Kushtian Our Correspondent, Kushtia

Police have yet to recover a schoolgirl who went missing two days ago from the Garai River in Kushtia.

Sanya, 12, the daughter of Chand Ali of Char Thanapara area of the district and a grade VI student of Chand Sul-tana Girls’ High School, her elder sister Papya, a grade IX student and two of her friends, went for a bath at the Char Thanapara point of the Garai river on Thursday afternoon, said witnesses.

All the girls were swept away by tide. Later, on Thursday night, locals were able to rescue three of the girls, includ-ing Papya, but they couldn’t trace San-ya’s whereabouts, said sources.

Supported by the local administra-tion, the locals continued the search for the missing girl and early yesterday, they were joined by a team of divers from Khulna. l

Contraband items seizedn Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah

The Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) seized Indian contraband items worth about Tk2 lakh on Moheshpur frontier in Jhenaidah yesterday.

The BGB men had run a drive at Shy-amkur and Kushumpur villages in the early hours of the day.

During the drive, the law enforcers had seized 6,490 pieces of tablets and some abandoned clothes. l

Syndicate of middlemen active prior to Ramadan n Our Correspondent, Magura

A syndicate of middlemen has alleged-ly increased the prices essential com-modities in Magura prior to the Rama-dan in a bid to do brisk business.

Locals said the consortium every year raise the price of daily commodi-ties before Ramadan because of a lax monitoring system implemented by the authority concerned.

This correspondent visited several kitchen markets in the district on Mon-day and found that rice of the coarse

variety is being sold at Tk35 per kg while this quantity of rice was sold at Tk30 three weeks ago, onion being sold at Tk30 per kg against Tk24, potato sold at Tk22 against Tk14, aubergine is being sold at Tk40 per kg against Tk24.

Price of sugar and chickpea has also registered a sharp rise. One kilogram chickpea is being sold in the at Tk55 against Tk45 one month ago while sugar is Tk45 per kg against Tk42 two weeks ago.

Pu� ed rice is being sold at Tk55 to Tk60 per kg as against Tk45 to Tk50 two weeks ago in local markets.

The rise in price of daily commodi-ties has raised concern among the peo-ple of the district. Abu Taher, a trader in Magura town, said, as middlemen were stocking necessities before Rama-dan to cash in, as a result price of es-sentials are increasing.

He said monitoring by the govern-ment is not satisfactory to check prices

of essentials.Abdur Rashid, an easy bike driver,

said, “In recent time my expenditure has increased by 20%, but my income is still the same.”

He expressed concern that the mar-ket condition may deteriorate during Ramadan unless proper monitoring by the government is ensured right now.

Golam Rabbani, a rice whole seller in Notun Bazar area, denied making syn-dication. He explained that the price of rice had increased as millers could not supply rice to the market because of the recent heavy rainfalls.

Akram Mollah, a vegetable and spice whole seller in Katcha Bazar of Magura, said the government had increased duty on onion import and that is why the price of onion had increased.

The prices of potato and aubergine have risen as transport cost of the crops have increased as a result of waterlog-ging caused by heavy downpour.

Shimul Mollah, a whole seller, said consumers preferred to stock some goods like chickpea, sugar, pulse and pu� ed rice before Ramadan out of ap-prehension that prices of these commod-ities might increase during the period.

As a result, the demand of these types of commodities is higher than supply.

Mrinal Kanti, a whole seller of pu� ed rice in Puratan Bazar area, the prices of pu� ed rice increased because of the hike in the price of paddy in rural areas.

When contacted, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Magura AKM Tareq de-nied that there is a weakness in moni-toring. He said, “We are properly moni-toring the market price. Market prices are now more controlled compared to previous years.

He added, if speci� c allegation of il-legal stocking comes against any trader, stern action will be taken in this regard. l

Five killed in separate road accidentsn Tribune Report

At least � ve people were killed in sepa-rate road accidents yesterday in Baris-al, Feni, Bogra and Gopalganj.

A school girl was crushed under the wheels of a “Tomtom,” a locally made human haulier, at Guthia in Wazirpur, Barisal yesterday.

The deceased Fatema Begum, 10, was the daughter of Saidur Rahman of Daroga Bari area, and was a class three student of a local primary school.

The deceased's father said Fatema was hit by a Tomtom when she was crossing the road. She was rushed to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital where on duty doctors pro-nounced her dead. Sub-Inspector Hu-mayun Kabir of Wazirpur police station said the body was handed over to the deceased's family members since they refused to lodge any case.

In Feni, two people were killed when two trucks collided head-on near Kalipal area around 12 noon.

However, police and hospital au-thorities could not con� rm the identi-ties of the deceased immediately.

Mohipal highway police station O� cer-in-Charge Saleh Ahmed con-� rmed the incident, and said the bod-ies were sent to Feni Sadar Hospital for autopsies.

In Bogra, a motorcyclist was killed and his passenger was injured when the vehicle collided with a truck near Erulia area of the district town.

The two were critically injured and Shahidul Islam, 48, died after he was taken to a hospital, while Emdadul Haque was under treatment at Bogra Medical College and Hospital, said duty o� cer Su� a Begum.

An unidenti� ed person, aged 45, was crushed under the wheels of a bus yesterday morning near Debgram of Kotalipara upazila, Gopalganj.

Kotalipara police station O� cer-in-Charge Md Abdul Latif said the deceased was a mentally challenged person, adding that the bus had run him over while he was crossing the road. The body was sent to Gopalganj morgue, he added. l

Lime production in Jhalakathi drops to half the targetn Tribune desk

Production of lime (Kagozi Lebu) has fallen � fty percent short of the target in the district this season thanks to unfavourable weather and onslaught of an unknown disease in the fruit’s orchards.

Farmers and agriculture o� cials said most � owers dropped from the lime plants during fruiting stage this year due to lack of rainfall and pro-longed dry spell seriously a� ecting the fruit production.

Besides, some fruit bearing plants are dying following attack of an un-known disease, reports UNB.

Sources concerned said the juicy and vitamin-C enriched fruit was cultivated on 10,000 hectares of land, including in homesteads and � sh enclosures, in four upazilas of the district this season.

Farming of the lemon variety fruit

has increased gradually in the district due to its high demand and good mar-ket prices. Local farmers usually plant 100 lime saplings on one bigha of land.

Each of the trees yields 1,000-1,500 fruits after � owering.

One kind of lime tree, however, gives yield all the year round.

Local agriculture o� cials said farm-ers are cultivating limes on commercial basis after setting up orchards, adding that the orchards cover area ranging from 30 decimals to eight bighas.

Prashanta Howlader of Shata-dashkathi village in Sadar upazila, who cultivated the fruit on his four bighas of land, said he did not get the expected yield this year due to prolonged dry spell and inadequate rainfall as well as spread of the disease.

“I’ve got 50 percent less fruits (than the expected amount) this year,” said the frustrated grower.

Echoing Prashanta, another big lime grower, Atul Mondal, of the same vil-lage said lime production has been low this year as the trees were infected with disease.

Contacted, A Aziz Khalifa, deputy di-rector of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Jhalakathi, said lime trees might have died being infect-ed with one kind of disease named ‘Diebak’.

The DAE o� -cial, however, said the disease can be checked if branch-es of the trees are cut o� and sprayed with insecticides in case of appear-ance of symptoms of the disease. l

Lack of government monitoring of market price blamed for the hike in price of essentials

Labourers busy with packing pu� ed rice at a factory in BISCIC area of Comilla yesterday as Ramadan starts in a couple of days DHAKA TRIBUNE

7Saturday, June 28, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Andhra pipeline blast: 16 dead, locals accuse GAIL of negligencen Agencies

In a second industrial disaster this month, a state-owned gas pipeline in Andhra Pradesh exploded on Friday morning, killing at least 16 people, injuring 18 others and gutting scores of homes.

The � re that set o� the blast around 5am in East Godavari district’s Nagaram village broke out apparently after a tea vendor lit a stove, said inspector general of police (north coastal zone) Atul Singh.

A GAIL o� cial, quoting its chairman BC Tripathi, however, said only an in-quiry will ascertain the exact cause of the blast.

Television pictures showed � ames at least 30 feet high leaping into the

dawn sky, scorching trees in a sur-rounding coconut grove and burning � imsy huts.

Bodies of 13 people were recovered from these huts. Three others suc-cumbed to injuries during treatment at various hospitals. Among the dead are � ve women, three girls and a boy.

The � re on the 18-inch pipeline, which feeds gas to Lanco’s Kondapalli power plant near Vijaywada, was ex-tinguished by mid-morning. The blaze occurred barely a few hundred metres from ONGC’s Tatipaka Re� nery located at the village.

“Fire has been controlled. The gas pipeline has been shut. This is a very serious situation and I have ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident,”

petroleum minister Dharmendra Prad-han said in Delhi.

A group of angry local residents re-portedly entered an o� ce belonging to GAIL near the accident site and pelted it with stones.

State � nance minister Y Ramakrish-nudu was quoted by PTI as saying that the local residents were angry because “they feel GAIL authorities did not bother though smell was coming from the rusting pipeline.”

Two weeks ago, six people were killed by a poisonous gas leak in Chhat-tisgarh’s Bhilai Steel Plant. But Friday’s incident was the deadliest to hit India’s energy sector since last August, when 28 people were killed in a � re at an oil re� nery in nearby Vishakhapatnam. l

EU, Cameron face summit showdown over top job for Junckern AFP

European leaders meet in Brussels on Friday facing a damaging row over Jean-Claude Juncker’s likely nomina-tion as European Commission pres-ident which has left Britain isolated and angry.

Although Juncker’s appointment is expected to be con� rmed at the sum-mit, Prime Minister David Cameron will force an unprecedented vote on the issue, playing out in public major disagreements about the EU’s future.

While leaders could try and appease Cameron by o� ering London a top job in Brussels, the dispute threatens to fuel eurosceptic sentiment in Britain before a referendum on leaving the EU slated for 2017.

Leaders are clearly expecting to be able to announce a decision on Friday.

A draft of the summit conclusions obtained by AFP and dated Wednes-day contains the paragraph: “The Eu-ropean Council adopted the decision proposing to the European Parliament X for the President of the European Commission.”

But Cameron could “retaliate” against Juncker’s nomination by refus-

ing to sign the conclusions, according to the EU Observer website.

The disagreement comes a month after anti-EU parties made sweep-ing gains in European elections, with outright victories for the UK Indepen-dence Party in Britain and the National Front in France.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader, on Thursday urged EU colleagues to “compromise” with Britain to defuse tensions.

“I think we can � nd compromises here and make a step towards Great Britain,” she said.

“I repeatedly spoke of a European spirit which is needed and which will help us to � nd good solutions.”

Her comments came shortly be-fore EU leaders gathered in the Bel-gian town of Ypres, among World War I’s bloodiest battle� elds, to mark 100 years since the con� ict started.

Facing a rising tide of euroscepti-cism at home, Cameron has vowed to keep � ghting for EU reforms including the repatriation of powers ahead of a likely referendum despite his campaign against Juncker being abandoned by al-lies like the Netherlands and Sweden. l

EU signs ‘historic’ accords with Ukraine, Georgia, Moldovan AFP, Brussels

The European Union signed “histor-ic “association accords with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova Friday as the three former Soviet republics pledged themselves to a future in Europe in the face of bitter Russian opposition.

“This is a great day for Europe... the European Union stands by your side today more than ever before,” Euro-pean Council head Herman Van Rom-puy said at the ceremony with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and prime ministers Irakli Garibashvili of Georgia and Iurie Leanca of Moldova.

Van Rompuy said the deals con-tained “nothing that might harm Russia in any way” and o� ered all sides the chance “to chart together a safer future.“

EU o� cials insist Russia has no rea-son to fear the accords, which o� er closer political and economic ties, but Moscow condemns them as harmful to its interests and an intrusion into what has traditionally been its sphere of in� uence.

It did so again Friday immediately after the signing ceremony in Brussels, warning of “serious consequences” to follow.

“We will take all the necessary mea-sures to protect our economy,” Krem-lin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the ITAR-TASS state news agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Ukrainian society is split after being forced to choose be-tween Europe and Russia.

Friday’s signing is a bitter pill to swallow for Putin who wanted Ukraine to join his own Eurasian Customs Union, aimed at bringing the former Soviet states back into the Russian fold.

Even if Ukraine has eluded him, Pu-tin can, however, claim partial success.

The EU originally o� ered the same deals to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Be-larus but they changed tack once Mos-cow warned of serious consequences.

Accords o� er new futurePoroshenko said the deal would

open up a whole new future for Ukraine, including Crimea which Mos-cow annexed in March, adding it set the country � rmly on course for member-ship of the European Union.

Ukraine had paid a high price in recent months for its ambitions to be-come part of Europe, he said, but it was worth it because the country’s future as a European state, sharing European values, was at stake.

“Long Live Ukraine, Long Live Eu-rope,” he said in closing his address at the ceremony, attended by all 28 EU leaders.

Garibashvili said Georgia shared the European values of democracy and freedom, switching into his native lan-guage so he could “share his emotion with the Georgian people.

“Signi� cantly, he said Abkhazia and South Ossetia, breakaway regions recognised by Russia as independent since a 2008 war with Tbilisi, would also see the advantages of closer ties with the EU.

“You are sharers in this project,” he said.

Leanca pledged Moldova would make the most of its association agree-ment, promising that after “many ups and downs ... we will do everything to modernise” the country.

The accords open up the huge EU market of 500 million consumers to its new partners and o� ers them aid and help in modernising their economies.

In return, they have to match EU norms on protection of human rights, civil society, good governance and an independent judicial system. l

UN report: Over one million out-of-school children in Indian Agencies

India has more than one million out-of-school children, according to a UN report. The report says global progress towards universal primary education has halted.

The policy paper, jointly released by the Unesco Institute for Statistics and the Education For All Global Monitor-ing Report, says, “New data show that the world will not ful� l one of the most basic commitments: to get every child in school by 2015.”

According to the report, India is among countries like Indonesia, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sudan which face the greatest challenge.

It shows that, as of 2011, India has 1.4 million out-of-school chil-dren. The country brought in the Right to Free and Compulsory Edu-cation Act 2009 to make it manda-tory for all children between six and

14 years to attend school.The report also says the problem

of children dropping out of school is signi� cant. Sub-Saharan Afri-ca and South and West Asia have the highest rates of early school leaving. “Across these regions, more than one in every three students who started primary school in 2012 will not make it to the last grade,” the report said.

In Central, South and West Asia, most out-of-school children would probably never receive any formal ed-ucation, the report says.

The silver lining is that while India is still in the red, the report puts it among the countries that have shown the way forward by showing rapid progress in reducing the number of out-of-school children in relatively short time. India has reduced its out-of-school popula-tion by more than 50% compared to a decade earlier. l

Iraq helicopters � re on university campus in insurgent-held cityn Reuters, Baghdad

Iraqi helicopters � red on a university campus in Tikrit on Friday to dislodge insurgents who overran the city in an onslaught that has given them control of most majority Sunni regions and brought them close to Baghdad.

Tikrit, the hometown of former dic-tator Saddam Hussein, fell a fortnight

ago to Sunnis led by � ghters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which split from al Qaeda.

A rights group said analysis of pho-tographs and satellite imagery “strong-ly indicate” that ISIL staged mass exe-cutions in Tikrit after seizing it on June 11 early in their o� ensive.

ISIL killed as many as 190 men in at least two locations over three days,

Human Rights Watch said. Numbers may be much higher but the di� culty of locating bodies and getting to the area had prevented a full investigation, it added.

Iraqi forces launched an airborne assault on Tikrit on Thursday, � ying commandos into a stadium in helicop-ters, at least one of which crashed after coming under � re from insurgents. l

Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric calls for prime minister to be chosen by Tuesdayn Reuters, Baghdad

The most in� uential Shi’ite cleric in Iraq called on the country’s leaders to choose a prime minister before parlia-ment sits next week to begin forming a government, to blunt a Sunni insur-gency that threatens to dismember the country.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who commands unswerving loyalty from many Shi’ites in Iraq and beyond, said political blocs should agree on the next premier, parliament speaker and pres-ident before the newly elected legisla-

ture meets on Tuesday.Sistani’s extraordinary intervention

into politics forces the pace of a process that took nearly 10 months after Iraq’s last election in 2010, and means the fate of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki - serving as caretaker after an election in April and battling to keep his job - could be decided within days.

The United States and other coun-tries are pushing for a new, inclusive government to be formed as quickly as possible to counter the insurgency led by an o� shoot of al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Over the past fortnight, militants have overrun most majority Sunni ar-eas in north and western Iraq with lit-tle resistance, advancing to within an hour’s drive of Baghdad.

Iraq’s million-strong army, trained and equipped by the United States, largely evaporated in the north after the militants launched their assault with the capture of the north’s biggest city Mosul on June 10.

Thousands of Shi’ite volunteers have responded to an earlier call by Sistani for all Iraqis to rally behind the military to defeat the insurgents. l

China explores security cooperation with Pakistan, India: reportn Agencies

Beijing is exploring a trilateral security cooperation with its neighbouring countries India and Pakistan, said a report published on NDTV on Friday.

Journalists representing the Global Times, an a� liate of the ruling Communist Party of China’s (CPC) People’s Daily publication group, paid a visit to Pakistan and sought views from scholars of Islamabad Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) on a likely India-China-Pakistan trilateral cooperation.

Analysts based in Beijing consider it a vital initiative on China’s part to further its relations with India over rising concerns of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the possible shattering e� ect it could posit to the region, particularly Chi-na’s Xinjiang province where security forces were currently engaged in dealing with attacks launched by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. l

Thousands march on Afghan president’s palace to protest electionsn Reuters, Kabul

Thousands of angry protesters marched on the Afghan president’s palace on Friday in support of candi-date Abdullah Abdullah’s allegations that mass fraud had been committed during the presidential election by organisers and state o� cials.

The run-o� pitting the former Northern Alliance leader against ex-� nance minister Ashraf Ghani on June 14 has fallen into a deadlock over Abdullah’s decision to drop out last week.

The impasse has revived long-standing ethnic tensions in Afghan-istan because Abdullah’s base of support is with the Tajiks, the second largest ethnic group while Ghani is Pashtun, the largest group.

“Our beloved president is Abdullah Abdullah,” shouted many supporters, along with additional cries blaming the incumbent, President Hamid Karzai, for the political stand-o� . Karzai was constitutionally barred from running for third time.

Abdullah has accused Karzai, provincial governors and police of complicity in e� orts to rig the election.

At least 10,000 people joined the protest, according to Reuters witnesses. Some demonstrated their outrage by destroying posters of Karzai and shouting angry slogans against the president and the inde-pendent election commission.

The march was otherwise largely peaceful and well coordinated by its organisers. l

Hong Kong lawyers to march in defense of rule of lawn Reuters, Hong Kong

Hundreds of Hong Kong lawyers are expected to stage a silent march on Friday in protest against Beijing’s policy towards the judiciary, in a sign of growing concern about the rule of law in the former British colony.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under the formula of “one country, two systems,” with the promise of a high degree of auton-omy. Unlike on the mainland, Hong Kong’s judiciary enjoys a level of independence similar to that in the West.

But Beijing raised alarm when it released a white paper this month, spelling out its interpretation of the one country, two systems model, in which it said “loving the country” is a basic requirement for the city’s administrators, including judicial personnel, enraging many in the city’s legal circles.

“They’re redrawing the boundary,” said Dennis Kwok, a lawyer and a member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, who is organising the march. “They’re lumping everyone together, because in their eyes, they’re no di� erent.

“That’s how it works in the main-land. Judges are no di� erent from government o� cials. But they have seriously misunderstood the legal system in Hong Kong.”

Kwok said he expected 500 legal professionals to show up for the march, which will end at the Court of Final Appeal. l

N E W S B I T E S

The site of a blast and � re at a gas pipeline at Godavari district in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh REUTERS

Shi’ite volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to � ght against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical ISIL REUTERS

Taking medicines in RamadanThe compatibility of fasting with the various drug administration routes and their choice duringRamadan remains a matter for the doctor’s own judgment. The di� erences of opinion andthe choice of routes have been settled for nown Prescription Desk

While fasting, one can take many medi-cines like drops and ointments and can go through important investigations, provided it is advised by a doctor. Many people think that taking this type of medicines and going through investi-gations during fasting are strictly pro-hibited. On the confusion about taking medicines and doing medical tests dur-ing fasting, there was a religious-medi-cal seminar entitled “An Islamic view of certain contemporary medical issues” was held in Morocco in June 1997. In this seminar, one of the main topics dis-cussed was the substances and actions that nullify fasting which was published in renowned British Medical Journal in 2004.

The participants – distinguished Muslim jurists and religion experts, medical practitioners, pharmacolo-gists, and specialists in other human sciences – agreed unanimously that the following administration routes do not nullify fasting.

n Eye and ear dropsn All substances absorbed into the

body through the skin, such as creams, ointments, and medicated plasters

n Insertion into the vagina of pes-saries, medical ovules, and vaginal washes

n Injections through the skin, muscle, joints, or veins, with the exception of intravenous feeding

n Oxygen and anaesthetic gasesn Nitroglycerin tablets placed under the

tongue for the treatment of angina

n Mouthwash, gargle, or oral spray, provided nothing is swallowed into the stomach.

A majority of participants addedn Nose drops, nose sprays, and

inhalersn Anal injectionsn Surgery involving general anaesthe-

sia, if the patient decided to fast.

Dosing scheduleDosing schedules of a medicine have to be altered during Ramadan. In fact, drug doses can be taken only between sunset and dawn. Nowadays, a lot of medicines are available, which are enough to con-trol di� erent acute and chronic diseases with a dose of once or twice daily. So, according to the opinion of religion ex-perts and medical practitioners, that Ra-

madan is not any obstacle on the way of any treatment of many diseases.

Two or more daily dosesDuring Ramadan, accurate distribu-tion of drugs prescribed twice a day is di� cult to achieve between the break from fasting, and the beginning of fast-ing. Refraining from fasting according to the Islamic rules could be a wiser

prescription. Nonetheless, patients with two doses could take the � rst one at the break of fasting and the second one before the beginning of fasting, in which case the dosing time and the time span between the doses are both altered. These alterations could a� ect the drug’s e� cacy. l

Medical misconceptions about Ramadann Dr Sajol Ashfaq

It is commonly known that blood cholesterol and uric acid levels are sometimes elevated during the month of Ramadan.

Contrary to popular thinking, it was found

that intake of a moderately high-fat diet, around 36% of the total energy (calories), improved blood cholesterol pro� le. It also prevents the elevation of blood uric acid.

During Ramadan, increased gastric acidity is often noticed, exhibiting it-self with symptoms such as a burning feeling in the stomach, heaviness in the stomach, and a sour mouth.

A person taking whole wheat bread, vegetables, humus, beans, and fruits in Iftar, dinner and Sehri can get rid of gastric acidity.

These foods are excellent sources of dietary – � ber triggering muscular action of stomach, churning and mix-ing food, breaking food into small par-ticles, binding bile acids and enhanc-ing movement of food particle to small intestine.

Thus, dietary � ber helps reduce gastric acidity and excess bile acids. In view of dietary � ber’s role in mov-ing food particles, it prevents consti-pation. It’s strongly suggested that peptic ulcer patients avoid spicy food and consult a doctor for appropriate

medicine and diet. Diabetic subjects, particularly severe type I (insulin de-pendent) or type II (non-insulin de-pendent), must consult their doctor for the type and dosage of medicine,

and diet and precautions to be taken during the month.

Generally diabetes mellitus, type II, is manageable through proper diet during Ramadan. l

for a long time which is needed in Ramadan fasting.One cup of mixed vegetable salad (lettuce, carrot,

parsley, cucumber, broccoli, coriander leaves, cauli� ower or other vegetables as desired) with two teaspoons of corn oil and two teaspoon of vinegar should be added with the meals.

3/4 cup of plain yogurt/ lassi without sugar is ideal as the � nishing of dinner. Milk and dairy products are good sources of protein and calcium, which is essential for body tissue maintenance and several physiologicalfunctions.

Then take one orange or any citrus and other fruits like 1/2 cup grapes, 1 oz of nuts-mixed roasted-without salt.  Eat fruits as the last item of the dinner or soon after dinner, to facilitate digestion and prevent many digestive problems.

Pre-dawn Meal (Sehri)Consume a light sehri. Eat 2 slices of whole wheat bread or 1 cup of rice, 1 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of vegetable salad with two teaspoons of corn oil and two tea-spoons of vinegar, 1 skinned apple or any fruit, 2 teaspoons of sugar with tea or co� ee. It is better avoiding tea/co� ee because they are act like diuretics, increase urine production and body gets dehydrated.

Prescription8 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, June 28, 2014

| Compiled by: Shirsho Saaeadat

| Source: Int J Ramadan Fasting Research, 3:1-6, 1999

QUICK TIPS FOR WC

FOOD THERAPY

MYTH &FACT

Guideline for diabetic patients

Diabetics who control by diet alone, can fast and hopefully, with weight reduction, their diabetes may even be cured or at least improved. Diabet-ics who are taking oral hypoglycemia agents along with the diet should exer-cise extreme caution if they decide to fast. They should reduce their dose to one-third and take the drug not in the morning, but in the evening at the time of ending the fast. If they develop low blood sugar symptoms in the daytime, they should end the fast immediately. Diabetics taking insulin should not fast. If they do, at their own risk, they should do so under close supervision and make drastic changes in the insu-lin dose. Diabetics, if they fast, should still take a diabetic diet during the pre-dawn meal, the ending of the fast meal, and dinner. The sweet snacks common in Ramadan are not good for their disease. They should check their blood sugar before breakfast and after ending their fast.

Guideline for hypertensive or cardiac patients

Those who have mild to moderate high blood pressure along with being overweight should be encouraged to fast, since fasting may help lower their blood pressure. They should see their physician to adjust medication. For ex-ample, the dose of water pill (diuretic) should be reduced to avoid dehydra-tion, and long acting agents can be given once a day before the pre-dawn meal. Those with severe hypertension or heart diseases should not fast at all.

For overweight peopleNormal or overweight people should not gain weight. For overweight people Ramadan is an excellent op-portunity to lose weight. Underweight or marginally normal weight people are discouraged from losing weight.Analyzing a diet’s energy and nutri-tional component, using food compo-sition tables or computer software, willbe useful in planning an appropriate diet.

Healthy Ramadan dietary plan for adultsResearchers said, a diet that is less than a normal amount of food intake, but balanced diet, is su� cient enough to keep a person healthy and active during the month of Ramadan.

According to Sunna (the practices of Prophet Muhammad, Pbuh) and re-search � ndings a dietary plan is given below:

Items in iftar3 dates, 1/2 cup of fresh orange juice, 1 cup of vegetable soup, 2 plain cracker biscuits or Bakorkhani or small amount of any other dry food made of wheat or � our.

The body’s immediate need at the time of iftar is to get an easily available energy source in the form of glucose for every living cell, particularly the brain and nerve cells. Dates and juices are good sources of sugars. Dates and juice in the above quantity are su� cient to bring low blood glucose levels to normal levels. Juice and soup help main-tain water and mineral balance in the body.

DinnerIt is better to cook main dishes in dinner with 3 tea spoon of oil. Dinner may have 2 oz of meat (chicken/ beef/lamb/ goat) or � sh, 1/2 cup of okra (Lady’s � ngers), 4 oz of cooked whole chana (chickpea) or any other beans.

Meat and beans are a good source of protein, minerals, and certain vitamins. Beans are a good source of dietary � ber,

as well. 2 slices of whole wheat bread or 1 cup of cooked rice or combinations can be taken. This group is a good source of complex carbohydrates, which are a good source of energy and provide some protein, minerals, and dietary � ber.

Complex carbohydrate provides energy very slowly and

BIGSTOCK

| Source: BMJ. Oct 2, 2004

BIG

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IGST

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BIGSTOCK

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9Heritage Saturday, June 28, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Tim Steel

I have often been told that Islam arrived in the lands that are now Bangladesh in the 13th century, under the protection of Turkic invaders, who were, most prob-

ably, seeking refuge from the Mongol hordes who were sweeping across Asia at the time.

This is, clearly, to deny these lands their true place in the history of Islam.

Not only is there evidence, from at least a thousand years before the life-time of the Prophet, of trade from these lands with Europe and Africa, and certainly with Arabia, from long before the Common Era, but the history of Islam in Central and East Asia gives a fair indication that Islam spread, even during the Prophet’s lifetime.

Amongst the most interesting pieces of tangible “evidence” for the spread, even during the Prophet’s lifetime, are mosques in Kerala, and

the famous Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou, China.

Whilst there appears to be little archaeological evidence to support the early claims of either of these mosques the circumstantial evidence to support the claims is substantial.

The denizens of Kerala tell of Arab traders of the time constructing the mosque; well, there is a great deal of compelling evidence that, in fact, Ker-ala was, at best, a trading centre itself, but, above all, was a stopping place on the voyages to the region’s main centre of trade in the Ganges Delta.

Guangzhou, previously known as Canton, stands on the famous Pearl river, with origins in Yunnan Province of China.

Since I commenced my researches into the Silk Road that runs through Bangladesh, I have often wondered why, if water is widely acknowledged as the highway of the ancient world, early traders would have willingly tak-

en to their feet to traverse the hazards of the northern foothills of the Himala-yas, along and dangerous route by all accounts, when they could travel by water to north Assam.

From north Assam, the route across northwest Myanmar would take them, a comparatively short trek, to Yunnan, and the waters of Pearl river.

It is claimed that the founder of the Huaisheng Mosque, said to be the Prophet’s maternal uncle, Sa’d ibn Ali Waqqas, a merchant, himself travelled through the lands of Bangladesh to reach China.

Such evidence con� rms what we already knew, from the shrine in Chittagong, dedicated to the Persian Su� , Bayazid Bostami, that Islam certainly arrived in these lands earlier than commonly accepted tradition maintains.

Born early in the ninth century, it remains debatable whether Bostami ever actually left his homeland, and the shrine represents a memorial built by his adherents. Nevertheless, it is certainly three centuries earlier than the 13th century of conventional wisdom, that there would appear to have been su� cient of an Islamic community in Chittagong to construct such a shrine.

In fact, of course, logic de� es the conventional wisdom. It is, clearly, very unlikely that early converts to Islam were not amongst the Arab traders who, we now know, were do-ing business in, and almost certainly through, the Ganges Delta from, in all likelihood, at latest the middle of the last Millennium BCE.

Since, living as they do, so close to death, in their travels, merchants throughout the world have often been early, and devout adherents, to religious causes, and it seems absurd to suggest that early converts to Islam were not amongst those traders.

By that de� nition, we may assume that Islam arrived, almost certainly, in the lands that are now Bangladesh, in the early to mid-seventh century.

Certainly, the Chinese develop-ment of early Islam suggests that, like Buddhism, nearly a thousand years

earlier, Islam spread into Central Asia along what is now widely accepted as, perhaps the � rst, Silk Road that ran through Bangladesh.

It also seems reasonable to suppose that this trading centre may have accounted for the spread beyond, into South East Asia.

That the religion was not estab-lished in the lands of the Delta itself for another six or seven hundred years seems improbable. The question I have asked, many times, therefore becomes, where is the evidence for such an establishment?

If, and it may still be a rather big if, mosques were founded, both en route to the Delta, at Kerala, and at the ultimate destination on the east coast of China, why was none founded at the crossroads of such trade, where, presumably, subject to the vagaries of the monsoons, merchants were left idle for weeks and months?

The question I have asked before in Bangladesh is, “Where are the mosques.”

The, now somewhat infamous, and much disputed, “Lost Mosque” near Lalmonirhat has been dismissed as being too early in the accepted history of Islam. Increasingly, my response would be, that it is, perhaps, rather late, its dating tablet, in Tajhat Museum in Rangpur, suggesting Hijri 69, would give us a foundation date of 691, about 50 years after the death of the Prophet.

Whilst it is the dating tablet that sug-gests its period, it is more the circum-stances of its � nding, in close proximity to a � ne, early period Mughal Mosque, and the bricks and style of construction that persuade me of its origin. I doubt, in view of its proximity to the Mughal masterpiece, a suggestion that the ruin is, in fact, 17th century.

Its location, too, is interesting. Close to the junction of Brahmapu-tra and Teesta rivers, both widely acknowledged as ancient river trading routes, it also lies close to the location of the sixth century, Buddhist city of Bhitagarh, described as a � ourishing trading centre in itself.

There remain, however, real myster-ies that surround the identi� cation of the lands of Bangladesh as both an early centre of Islam, and a base from which

this great religion reached places north and east from the Delta, along ancient, well established, routes of trade.

The � rst of those mysteries is why a secular, though Muslim dominated nation like Bangladesh should be in so much denial about its own, rich history. Especially, denial about 600 years of Islam.

It may be understandable, though reprehensible, to deny its extraordi-nary history as a major foundation of both Hindu and Buddhist faith groups, and, possibly, Jain as well. After all, as the Prophet, himself, is reported to have instructed his adherents, “Go in quest of knowledge, even unto China. Seek ye knowledge, from the cradle to the grave.”

Clearly, this was not advice to seek only Islamic knowledge, but rather, an instruction for education. The reference to China, however, may be regarded as signi� cant; at the very least, it may make it easier to accept his maternal uncle’s foundation of the Guangzhou Mosque.

As great a mystery may well be the absence of any early mosques, other than the possible at Lalmonirhat.

We have every reason to believe that, until the Sunga Dynasty, religious, or communal, warfare was unknown in these lands. And we have no reason to suppose that rulers, even of the Sunga dynasty, were in the business of threatening their own sources of wealth ... trade. And, certainly, there is plenty of evidence that much of the religious heritage survived changes in the religion of rulers and overlords.

A far more likely explanation for the absence of mosques may well be that their remains lie beneath the great alluvial � ood plains of the country.

The evidence seems conclusive that the lands that are now Bangladesh was once a great thoroughfare of philoso-phies, as much as of cargoes. Whether Islam � ourished before the ninth century, has yet to be established, but certainly seems probable. Yet another aspect of the incredibly rich, but much neglected, heritage of these extraordi-nary lands.l

Tim Steel is a communications, marketing and tourism consultant.

The thoroughfare of Islam

We may assume that Islam arrived, almost certainly, in the lands that are now Bangladesh, in the early to mid 7th century

The Prophet’s maternal uncle, Sa’d ibn Ali Waqqas, a merchant, himself travelled through the lands of Bangladesh to reach China

Prayer hall of the Tara Masjid, Dhaka WIKIMEDIA

Mosque_in_Quanzhou, Fujian, the oldest mosque in China WIKIMEDIAChinese-style minaret of the Great Mosque, Xian, China WIKIMEDIA

A mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China WIKIMEDIA

A panoramic view of the Shat-gumbad mosquein Bagerhat, Shatkhira WIKIMEDIA

The elephant in the roomJune 24

ZeenatOkay, let’s look into Bangladesh. We can blame it on rice, because after consuming large portions of it, we sit and do not move. Which means the people’s activity level is not compatible with the huge amount they are eating every day. Chinese and Japanese people eat rice, but how are they thinner? Because they eat it as a side dish, not a main course! If people don’t increase their activity level, and not eat controlled portions of rice, they are going to get fatter and fatter. We need high-energy foods, such as rice, to fuel our bodies, but we need to do portion control. Or is it still a new concept in Bangla-desh? After eating, instead of sitting in front of the television to watch endless games of soccer or cricket, go for a walk and burn some calories. If we continue to eat carb-heavy diets and live sedentary lives, we are going to be signi� cantly more overweight by time we reach 2015. Happy walking!

JayThe solution is simple: Either work out or eat less if you want to get thinner, or be ok with the fact that you are fat. Doesn’t matter what others think about you. But if you have health problems then you should try new diets and exercises.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, June 28, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Helpful hints (4)3 Defect (4)7 Wrath (3)8 Decree (5)11 Exploit (4)12 American elk (5)13 Abnormally fat (5)15 Wild male pig (4)18 Disencumbers (4)19 Become void (5)20 Select group (5)21 To let stand! (4)23 Danger (5)24 Vegetable (3)25 Specialised skills (4)26 Second-hand (4)

DOWN1 Vibration (6)2 Charged (6)4 Falsehood (3)5 Sporting enclosures (6)6 Marry (3)9 Pamper (6)10 Digit (3)11 Discussion (6)14 Acrimonious (6)16 Musical dramas (6)17 Staggered (6)19 Pouring edge (3)21 Mineral spring (3)22 Consume (3)

CROSSWORD

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

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 10 represents L so � ll L every time the � gure 10 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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Fakhrul: President betrayed nationJune 21

HBReadout of the secretary-general’s meeting with HE Abdul Hamid, President of Bangladesh, in New York, on June 19.

“The secretary-general met with HE Mr Abdul Hamid, president of Bangladesh, on June 19.

They discussed Bangladesh’s achievements in disaster risk reduction, lowering mortality rates and reducing extreme poverty.

The secretary-general thanked the president for Bangladesh’s contributions to UN peacekeeping operations. President Hamid informed the secretary-general that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would participate in the climate summit in September.

The secretary-general expressed his regret at the failure of political parties to reach an agreement that would have allowed for inclusive elections in January 2014.

He emphasised the importance of engaging the extra-parliamentary opposition and encouraged

progress in social and political reconciliation.”

SomeoneI hadn’t known of this. But if President Abdul Hamid’s reported remarks to UNSG Ban Ki-Moon, about the January 5 election and inter-party dia-logue are true, then clearly Mr Fakhrul’s reaction is entirely appropriate.

It’s no exaggeration at all to say that the president’s remarks are patently partisan, and frankly, a dishonour and diminution of the dignity of his o� ce.

Whatever semblance of credibility he had has now completely deserted.

Tangled Abstract FallacyThe shameless proponents of anti-liberation forces (of Jamaat/Shibir/al-Badr/Rajakar/BNP) criminals and thugs have no moral authority to question the honesty and integrity of our honourable president.

BNP should seek a middle groundThe BNP chief Khaleda Zia is once again threatening to take a

tough and non-cooperative stance, coupled with hartals and blockades, if the ruling Awami League government refuses to

sit for dialogue about holding fresh elections under a non-partisan government.

Ever since the run-up to the January 5 elections, the BNP has been adamant in its demand for a non-party caretaker government, refusing to listen to other possible options. The party’s chairperson has unequivocally announced that elections under a non-partisan system must take place whether talks between the two parties take place or not.

This unyielding stance is a throwback to the grim political deadlock the country witnessed last year during the BNP’s stubborn refusal to participate in the national elections. The party’s stance only ended in a largely uncontested, but constitutionally valid election taking place, where the BNP did not participate and was subsequently left out of parliament without a legitimate political voice. The AL’s victory, though not beyond reproach, was seen as legal and constitutional.

It would not be a good strategy for the BNP to go down the same road again. As the nation is poised to su� er from political déjà vu, we sincerely hope the BNP would consider alternative avenues of negotiation.

We are supportive of the BNP’s demand for reinstatement of the caretaker government, as polls suggest that that is what the public would prefer. However, a caretaker government system is not the only way to ensure a free and fair election, and the BNP should be open to other solutions as well. A middle ground can be reached between the two parties if they negotiate in good faith.

Invest in our workersOur labour productivity and GDP growth rate have slowed down

signi� cantly. In order to turn things around, the government needs to invest in programs that will increase the skill level of

our workers, the foundation of which lies in improving our education system.

First of all, the government needs to spend more, and wisely, on education. Second, it needs to focus more on training programs with the goal of training and teaching students to increase their value and marketability.

As we have editorialised before, when it comes to education, money is still being spent ine� ciently, leading to unimaginative and poorly delivered curricula, the hiring of poor quality teachers, and ine� ciently run and managed school administrations.

Our focus should be on improving the quality of our schools, hiring better teachers, and thus creating an environment that encourages learning. Existing training centres need to be developed, and new ones built, with capable instructors who can teach workers new skills, and help them to improve on their skill sets.

With a better educational foundation, employment opportunities will open up, and future workers will be able to contribute better to our economy.

At the moment, the key reason our export partners are attracted to our businesses is because of the low wage level. If, in the future, living standards were to rise, we would lose that competitive advantage. Therefore, improving our labour productivity is crucial. This will not come about if we do not make education and training for our workers a priority.

Existing training centres need to be developed, and new ones built, with capable instructors

A caretaker government system is not the only way to ensure a free and fair election

We don’t need no educationJune 21VHSJust one of the many ways in which our primary education system is failing our children.

Lisa_54The school teachers should realise how much they a� ect their students’ lives. Even after growing up, we can all remember our teachers who in� uenced us either positively or negatively. School teachers can shape the minds of their students, but not by punishing them. They can do so by setting good examples for them and by being patient with them. Hitting someone is out of the question here.

RonnieTeachers hitting students is absolutely indefen-sible and unacceptable in all circumstances, any-where in the world. The fact that this abhorrent practice is still prevalent in many of our country’s schools is an indictment of the abysmal state of many teachers’ own education, their low levels of competence, a pervasive lack of accountability, a traditionally tacit tolerance of physical punishment shaped by our cultural attitudes, and sundry other issues that conspire to perpetuate this dark side to the teacher-student relationship in our schools. All forms of physical punishment and humiliation of students by teachers are intolerable, and ought to be stamped out by social opprobrium and legal enforcement.

Seven things we learned so farJune 23

TJA good read. The writer pointed out the most noticeable incidents of this World Cup. So far, this year’s games have been the most unpredictable and most exciting ones! Looking forward to the next games.

Teach, don’t preachJune 24

FahadFinally, someone has the guts to call out the reli-

ance of religion in schools to teach morals! Morals are universal but the minute someone imposes

an identity on them, it implies that others cannot have them. I applaud the writer for this piece and

I hope he keeps up his honesty and hard-hitting style.

AmitSchools have long been used to manipulate

thought and sti� e creativity, rather than foster a genuine love of learning. I recently completed uni-

versity abroad and the nature of education could not be more di� erent from my own experiences in Bangladeshi high school and my friends’ university experiences in Dhaka. An overhaul of the system is de� nitely required; it is shameful that children are

so often scared of school and a large part of it is ex-actly the problems highlighted by the writer here.

MadihaA wonderful and extremely important piece. There

are many times when I question the teaching of Islamiat in our secular schools, not because the les-sons themselves are necessarily “bad,” but because it forces children of di� erent faiths to conform to a

faith-based syllabus. Not to mention the fact that it does not allow for any discussions on what faith and belief really are. I think the UK has been mak-

ing many mistakes with its current government and, as we rightfully laugh at them, we should also

learn from these errors and � x our own.

ZAI cannot stress enough how absolutely relevant this article is in the context of our country! Very

well written.

ShabnazVery well written, again, and a topic that is so

relevant and yet so ignored. Thank you for this!

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

11Op-Ed Saturday, June 28, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Esam Sohail

Several rather painful lessons come to the fore when the re-cent Shakib Al Hasan dustup incident is looked at in hind-sight: A lack of sportsman-

ship, resorting to violence to retaliate for uncouth language, and the power of money and connections in getting the police and courts to move faster than they would for ordinary people. But the greatest lesson of all – and the most shameful – is found in the Face-book pages of the various news media, where the story generated comments that should worry us far more.

Across the social media websites of half a dozen reputed news organisa-tions – in Bengali and English – I read hundreds of comments from read-ers in Bangladesh who blamed the former cricket skipper’s wife for being inappropriately dressed, � irtatious, or otherwise deserving of the teasing she received. And those were just the kindest comments, scores upon scores of other comments called for her to be abused, beaten, raped, and even killed. Granted, this may not represent the majority of people in Bangladesh, but the fact that even a cross section of the population with access to the internet has such feelings is troubling.

Many of the commenters, as I looked at their visible pro� les, were physicians, businessmen, lawyers, students, and political activists of all stripes … in other words, the educated elite of society. Can we blame outsid-ers then, when we are stereotyped as misogynistic?

Those of us who grew up in middle-class households will hardly � nd such reasoning shocking. We are a people obsessed with how women dress and liberally apply terms like “behaya” and “nirlojjo” to those whose fault is no more than having an out� t that does not meet the censorious scruples of society’s self-appointed monitors of sartorial morality.

I went to school in one of Dhaka’s oldest English medium institutions, where the students were drawn largely from the upper middle classes, even there such a bizarre mentality was present and thriving amongst teachers who had no problems humiliating their pupils for imagined transgressions of the length and snugness of their out� ts. In one of the more idiotic edicts of our principal – who still holds sway at the said school – there was a mandate that from the following week, skirts would no longer be allowed to be worn since they were “immoral” attire … the coeds had to change their uniforms to “shalwar kameez” in the space of a weekend to accommodate the phony morality

czars (and czarinas).Three decades removed from that

telling lesson on how our society viewed women, I had hoped that the times had changed for the better, that men and women are judged more by their respective knowledge and skills rather than the shape and size of their everyday clothes. If anything, the comments on the news media’s

Facebook sites assure me that not only have we not moved forward, but perhaps even taken a step or two backwards.

The proverbial icing on the cake was an op-ed from a well known and unabashedly “secular” journalist in another English daily earlier this month, where this British-educated gentleman commented on the Shakib Al Hassan incident by bemoaning disapprovingly about the “West-ernised” habits of modern Bengali women. If this kind of commentary is the pinnacle of intellectual secularism, I shudder to think what intellectual fundamentalism looks like.

Does the manner of a woman’s attire re� ect her knowledge or skills

or professional competence? Should she be subject to violence because her clothes on a given day don’t conform to the prudish dictates of beholders? The answer to both those questions should be a vehement “no” in 2014, at least in civilised societies. The fact is that in Bangladesh the answer is, at best, ambivalent. At worst, when such questions are raised, we tend to immediately go into defensive mode and either deny the seriousness of the concerns or bring up the tried and test-ed tripe of how our culture/religion/heritage is the most “pro woman” of all, etc etc.

At the end of the day, such an obsession with what a woman wears is unbecoming at best, and indecent to the core. The � x lies not in govern-ment mandates but in parents and schools raising children who are re-spectful of the sartorial choices of their siblings, cousins, friends, and cowork-ers. De� ning deviancy downward by accommodating the sick mentality of pathologically obsessed “eve teasers” is not the way forward to ensuring greater gender equity.

Some clothes are certainly inap-propriate or in poor taste in some circumstances, but neither that lack of propriety, nor the de� ciency in taste, rises half to the level of the utter immorality of blaming the victims of sexual harassment in lieu of calling into account the depravity of their perpetrators. l

Esam Sohail is an educational research analyst and college lecturer of social sciences. He writes from Kansas, USA.

Clothes maketh a woman?

Does the manner of a woman’s attire re� ect her knowledge or skills or professional competence?

The discussants at these talk shows are all the same people. Sometimes, we watch a single person talking on three di� erent TV channels

n Dwitiya Jawher Neethi

Population: Over 15 million. More people arriving every day. Dhaka is on the verge of a breakdown.

It becomes even more obvious dur-ing monsoon when waterlogged roads make commuting unbearable. Add Eid shoppers to that and voila! Shonar Bangla it is!

This is an everyday agony. But is there no solution to this problem? Like almost every other problem, there is.

Of course such an expanding city needs sky trains, trains, more � yovers, highways, etc. But how many more governments will promise us that and not deliver is unclear. So what can be done now?

Public transportation can be improved The mark of a good city is not when everyone drives a fancy car, but when the rich can also use public transporta-tion. Public transportation in Dhaka is unpredictable, unsafe, and uncomfort-able. Only one of these three is enough to rule it out.

Buses in good condition (with more parts than a brake and a steering) that operate on a schedule and from a given bus stand is ideal for commuters during o� ce time. Dhaka-su� erers saw such buses come and go (and burn), but this needs to be a perma-nent option.

Carpooling should be made mandatoryO� ces and schools must have carpooling and/or buses. Massive tra� c congestion is caused in areas such as Dhanmondi, primarily because almost every student arrives at school in a private car. School buses are a simple solution to this problem.

Exclusive lanes for public transport can be introducedSuch lanes which are reserved only for public buses will make buses a more reliable mode of transportation. They will be able to avoid congestion, run faster, and thus be able to stay on schedule.

Parking restrictions should be effectively imposedParked private vehicles can take a long time to maneuver in and out of their space and are a major cause of delay and congestion. Strict rules for parking and loading along with turn restrictions can improve the tra� c condition.

Rickshaws need to be regulatedRestricting rickshaws to certain areas only is necessary because fast and slow paced vehicles on the same lane not only increase congestion but are also highly unsafe. This is already in practice but a better and stricter design is required given current conditions.

Such regulations will mean that some rickshaw pullers will lose their jobs. This shows the urgent need to create jobs and diversify out of Dhaka. It does not fall into this list of short-term solutions, but the state of desperation in Dhaka will not end unless migration to this city can be controlled.

Improved drainage and waste managementIt rains in Bangladesh. This is not news.

Dhaka needs a better drainage system. Even Baridhara, one of the more posh areas in the city, is easily waterlogged. This exhibits negligence not only on the part of the govern-ment, but also the community. Surely resourceful residents of such areas can take a stand against it.

While � xing drainage systems can take time, waste management plays a crucial role during monsoon. Plastic bags and other such materials block existing drainage systems and cause severe waterlogging and tra� c congestion. This can be prevented through e� cient waste management by the government and by the community.

A good re� ection of our broken system is a CNG ride. The driver will demand almost twice that of the metre rate and then say: “Apa, police jigaile koiben metre e” (Apa, if the police o� cer asks, tell them you are paying the metre rate). The police o� cers will almost never ask, and if and when they do, you are faced with the ethical dilemma of breaking your verbal con-tract with the CNG driver or reporting the driver’s delinquency. Reporting also means that you have to get o� and wait for the o� cers to � nd you another such CNG. The plight of Dhaka commuters!

The strategies mentioned above can help mitigate the problem, if not solve it. In the short run and at minimum ex-penditures, they are e� ective solutions.

After work and my formalin-infused lunch, can it also not take hours to get home? l

Dwitiya Jawher Neethi is Research Focal Point at DFID Shiree.

n Ekram Kabir

It won’t perhaps be unfair to comment that sometimes a few en-forced-upon ideas on a Bangladeshi

TV audience evoke quite a lot of laugh-ter. Some programs don’t at all seem very well thought-out shows – shows which could convince the audience to watch that particular channel again.

This became obvious in the evening of World Cup 2014 kick-o� , when two news presenters of a TV channel showed up wearing football jerseys of Argentina and Brazil. Maybe the

planners of that day’s bulletins and programs had the World Cup craze and emotions in their minds, but to the common audience, it was unexpected. It seemed like a gimmick.

The planners surely thought this would grab quite a lot of attention from the audience. But ultimately, it didn’t seem to work out as the TV channel wanted. The channel was criticised for this.

This showed the lack of good ideas among the program planners of our TV channels. I remember watching a show on an Eid evening with four celebrities of di� erent ages. The presenter was asking them about how they had spent Eid festivals when they were children and how they celebrate it as adults.

Fine, we don’t have any problem with that. We would love to know about how our celebrities used to have fun on Eid days. But when the pre-senter asked one celebrity about her children’s whereabouts during the Eid, it became truly irritating. The celeb re-plied that one daughter was spending her Eid in Japan and another was in

Canada. Now, the question is: Why on Earth did the program planners think the audience would want to know about that particular celeb’s daugh-ters? Quite di� cult to answer.

Then, I switched on to another channel. I saw two lady presenters talking to two well-known musicians. First, it bit my wits to see two present-ers on a show. And then, I heard the two musicians explaining what good friends they were and the presenters were grinning. It seemed the present-ers were enjoying the show a lot. Now the question is: Do we, the audience, want to know about their (two musi-cians) friendship? Again, quite di� cult to answer.

When any program is planned, most TV channels think in the same manner. If one channel starts a new program with some new ideas, almost every channel tends to emulate that particular show with a slight di� er-ence. Almost all TV programs in this country look the same, all talk shows look the same, all bulletins look the same. There’s hardly any di� erence

between one and the other.The reasons for this, perhaps, could

be the lack of professional program committees in these TV channels and their unwillingness to spend for making a good program. Most of the programs are designed by the program departments where the decisions of the heads of the program get the priority. I haven’t seen any TV channel (maybe there is) hiring a � rm for run-ning a real survey on the expectations of the audience.

Research of that kind would have made their task much easier and more interesting. However, at the moment, there’s no evidence to work on. Day in and day out, the TV channels are churning out programs which they think are interesting.

I spoke to a few people in the industry and they replied that most of the times the channels are com-pelled to follow the instructions of the sponsors and advertisers. If that’s true, the advertisers might also rethink their strategies. The sponsors also need to do real research work before

they prescribe any program for the TV channels.

Now, coming back to what TV channels are doing, the talk shows are a good case to think about. These shows occupy quite a lot of on-air chunks, especially during the evenings and nights. We all take it for granted that the people are watching these talk shows, but do we have any real evidence of how many among the au-dience are actually watching them?

Not really. The discussants at these talk shows are all the same people. Sometimes, we watch a single person talking on three di� erent TV channels. By now, we can also assume what the discussants would talk about, and which political line they would be taking.

Perhaps, the time has come for a change in our TV media. Otherwise, our TV channels will continue to remain cocooned inside a box – they will con-tinue to be criticised, and they might continue to lose their audience. l

Ekram Kabir, a journalist, is a Dhaka Tribune columnist.

Poverty of on-air ideasL A R G E R T H A N L I F E

On the verge of breakdown

Choice of wardrobe is not the real issue BIGSTOCK

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, June 28, 201412

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

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

Print & Art Exhibition Time: 10am – 8pmGallery Chitrok

Shadow of ConcaveTime: 12pm – 8pmGallery Shilpangon

FilmX-Men: Days of Future PastThe Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3D)Pompeii 300 Rise of an EmpireTarkataTime: 10am – 10pmStar Cineplex, Level 8Bashundhara City 13/3 KaPanthopath

TODAY IN DHAKA

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

A new production of the country’s leading theatre troupe Nagorik Natya Sampradaya titled “Nam Gotrohin Mantor Meyera” staged at the National Theatre Hall of BSA on June 26 in the capital.

Based on Saadat Hasan Manto’s no-vellas “Kaali Shalwar,” “License” and “Hatak,” the play is directed by famed Indian theatre activist and director Usha Ganguly.

The 44th production of the troupe saw a house-full audience and though the staging started late, the patience of the audience was well rewarded.

The play opened with six narrators on stage who stated their reason for staging Manto’s stories and introduced the characters to the audience.

“Kaali Salwar,” the � rst story por-trays Sultana, a sex worker who recent-ly migrated from Ambala to Delhi with her escort Khodabox. Because of war and poverty, Sultana and Khodabox su� er and she presses Khodhabox to return to their previous living arrange-ment. But he refuses her as he was busy spending time with fakirs in pursuit of a better future. In a while, Sultana meets a male sex worker Shankar and they become well acquainted. He promis-es to get her a black salwar which she saw on her friend Anwari. On the day of Moharram, Sultana gets the salwar but in return she sees that Anwari is wear-ing her earrings. Sultana realises that Anwari had been exploited by Shankar and the vulnerable situation of women in a male dominated society becomes clear to her. Manto was sued for writing

this novella which represents the sup-pression of women.

The second story was on Manto’s “License,” which showed how a wom-an cannot get a license to drive a horse carriage but can easily get to sell her body and dignity on the backdrop of a patriarchal society.

In the third story “Hatak,” Sugond-hi is approached by a police constable who promises to meet all her expecta-tions and demands, in return he wants her to leave her profession as a sex worker and lead an honourable life. The impressed Sugondhi starts living in a fantasy. The menageries of sorrow in her life seems to lift as she begins to believe that someone truly cares for her.

About the play, Sara Zaker said: “We planned on co-producing a play for

quite a long time. Usha Ganguly and I both feel that Manto’s stories are rel-evant to both our societies and that is why we agreed to work on them.”

The drama is dedicated to AK Azad, an associate of Nagorik Natya Sampr-adaya who died recently. He did the background music which adapted to the mood and milleou of the stories quite remarkably.

Saka Zaker was prominent on stage and gave a brilliant performance as is expected from an actor of her calibre. As a debutant on stage, Shriya Shar-bojoya made quite an impression with her superb acting and smooth dialogue delivery. Aupee Karim played the char-acter of Sultana. Pantho Shahriar, Mo-sta� z Shahin, Rajib Dey, Naomi Kam-run Bidhu and others formed the rest of the cast. l

The bold women of Manto

From left, Aupee Karim and Pantho Shahriar in Kaali Salwar, Shriya Sharbojoya and Mosta� z Shahin in License and Sara Zaker and Pantho Shahriar in Hatak SADIA MARIUM

Andaz Apna Apna 2: Salman and Aamir are ready to work in the � lmn Entertainment Desk

Director Rajkumar Santoshi, who is working on the sequel of “Andaz Apna Apna” says both Salman Khan and Aamir Khan are ready to work in the second installment, and that he will repeat them if the they produce the movie.

Released in 1994 “Andaz Apna Apna” didn't fare well at the box of-� ce. But over the years it's funny one-liners, entertaining drama and melodious songs have turned it into an all-time favourite comedy.

When asked about casting Salman and Aamir in “Andaz Apna Apna” sequel, he said: “It is not possible to repeat them in the sequel. It was a dif-ferent scenario at that time but today they are big stars of the industry.”

However, he is ready to rope in Sal-

man and Aamir if they will produce the � lm.

“They both (Salman and Aamir) keep saying that they will love to do the � lm, so once I am ready with the script, I will approach them,” he said.

“They want the script to be good and full of comedy so the ball is in my court now and I have to get the script ready for them,” he added while speaking at the � rst-look launch of "Chaarfutiya Chhokare."

However, he is working on the script with Salman-Aamir as well as young actors in mind.

“I am working on the script con-sidering the two point of views. I am working on the characters keeping the age factor of Salman and Aamir and also youngsters. Let's see what comes as the end product,” Santoshi said. l

Nekabborer Mohaproyan: Anxietyof food and love

n Mosabber Rahman

The nicest thing anyone can tell us is not “I love you,” the nicest thing anyone can tell us is “Have you eaten?” Whoev-er asks this question the most, loves us the most. After all, everything we do is ultimately to put food on the table, for us and our loved ones. All of us - man, beast, bird, insect and even bacteria - need food to survive. Man and nature are in-extricably interwoven by the struggle for food.

The main theme of “Nekabborer Mohaproyan,” a � lm based on Nirmalendu Goon’s poem, is the struggle for sur-vival in rural Bengal. Peasants are working hard to make ends meet but are subdued by the evil Munshi who cheats them out of fair prices. One of the peasants, the Christ-like

Nekabbor- straight out of Pasolini’s “Gospel According to St Matthew” and trained in SM Sultan’s “Gymnasium” - rises up to the challenge of facing evil Munshi. The second theme is love: Nekabbor’s passionate love for Fatema; and his uncon-ditional love, the greatest kind of love, for nature. Fatema’s father happens to be evil Munshi’s close associate and soon it turns out Munshi himself wants to marry her. This dual food/love clash with evil Munshi lead Nekabbor to leave his beloved village which for him is akin to leaving one’s plan-et. Just as we are bound to mother-earth by the umbilical cord of gravity, so is he bound to the earth of his village. In the background of all this is the war theme which becomes the heart breaking prologue and epilogue. It begins and ends with the real poet Nirmalendu Goon in a blood-red punjabi walking on deep green grass, weeping for an unknown man who just died.

The � lm has a certain rawness, it has Ritwik Ghatak’s not-clinically-disinfected-poverty feel, that makes it look realistic; but the night scenes have such low-contrast pho-tography it is di� cult to make out what is going on. The approach is quite original; but the story is a cliché spun a million times. The songs are quite good, I particularly liked “Istetion” and “Tomar Sobuj Jole,” but it felt incongruous with the hard-hitting � lmmaking. Non-actors gave � ne per-formances, for example, the poet Asim Saha’s speech to the farmers brought a rare authenticity; but veteran actor Ma-munur Rashid’s evil Munshi is nonchalant at best. The jewel in the crown, however, is Nekabbor himself. Jewel Jahur in “Nekabborer Mohaproyan” is as good as Prosenjit Chatterjee in “Moner Manush.” It is his terri� c performance that made it worth the trip to the cinema- an actor to watch out for.

Ultimately the � lm is a mess. It feels that the director does not really care for the narrative, he is more interested in forming images, framing painterly shots, stitching up a montage of visual metaphors. The story is just an excuse, a framework for some abstract ideas. Thus we have shots of - a huge tree of life, a top spinning, frog in a bowl, birds in a cage, a mouse trapped - that sort of things. Unfortunately, these could not be tied up with the � lm itself and the whole thing becomes an editor’s worst nightmare, completely alienating the audience as a result. It feels someone did not do the homework.

“Nekabborer Mohaproyan” got a barebones release in Bala-ka 2 and it was projected from a computer. The marketing was minimum, so I am guessing they depended on word of mouth publicity. It is important to realise that � lms might get only two weeks to get back their cost, so how it is released is ex-tremely important. Cinema is the commercialisation of an idea usually tied up in a story and the producers want enough peo-ple to buy tickets so the � lm industry would continue to exist. Cinema is not the Pharaoh’s tomb that ensures immortality. l

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan to reunite in Ithacan Entertainment Desk

If all goes well, Hanks will make a cameo in the � lm adaptation of William Saroyan’s classic 1943 novel “The Human Comedy,” which also marks the directorial debut of Meg Ryan, said the Hollywood Reporter.

Ryan, 52, will start shooting for the � lm next month in Virginia. The actor is also in talks to executive produce the � lm. Hanks, 57, and Ryan gave hits like “Joe Versus the Volcano,” “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail.”

Erik Jendresen has adapted the story, which is set in a small town in Cali-fornia’s San Joaquin Valley in 1942. The � lm recounts the story of 14-year-old Homer Macauley, a telegraph bike messenger. His elder brother has gone to � ght in World War II, leaving him to care for his widowed mother, his older sister and his four-year-old brother, Ulysses.

The e� ects of the war are revealed as Homer delivers messages of love, friendship, pain and death, including one message that alters his own life forever. Hanks would play the boy’s father. l

Ben Kingsley to voice Bagheera in The Jungle Bookn Entertainment Desk

Jon Favreau has been collecting A-list stars left and right to join the cast of his upcoming adaptation of “The Jun-gle Book.” The process began back in March when Idris Elba was hired to play the story’s central villain, Shere Kahn the Tiger, but the production has since kept busy by adding both Scarlett Johansson and Lupita Nyong’o as Kaa, the hypnotic python, and Rakcha, the wolf mother who raises Mowgli as her own, respectively. Now the Walt Disney Company has announced yet another big casting coup for the project, reveal-ing that Academy Award-winner Ben Kingsley has signed on to provide the voice of Bagheera, the friendly black panther.

Based on the classic story writ-ten by Rudyard Kipling and adapted by screenwriter Jason Marks (“Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”), “The Jungle Book” will tell the story of a young boy named Mowgli, his adven-tures with various animals in the rain-forest, and, presumably, his reintro-duction to human society. Bagheera is classically one of the good guys, having spent years as Mowgli’s protector and ward. Disney’s classic animated ver-sion of the story from 1967 featured the character voiced by British performer Sebastian Cabot, also known for being the narrator in 1977’s “The Many Ad-ventures of Winnie the Pooh.” l

Bear Grylls shares survival techniquesn Entertainment Desk

Watch out for “Man vs Wild” on TLC to-day at 3:30pm. In this thrilling series, host Bear Grylls shows the viewers how to sur-vive the toughest and most visited envi-ronments on the planet by putting himself in the position of a stranded tourist. He parachutes into rainforests, abseils into deserts and lakes, and onto the highest, most inhospitable peaks in America. Us-ing his specialist survival techniques to � nd his way out of these wildernesses he climbs sheer cli� s, navigates white water and icy crevasses, encounters snakes, spi-ders and predators and forages for food, from maggots and raw � sh, to roots and berries. l

n Entertainment Desk

Tishma remakes Shakira’s world cup hit “La La La.” The “Rock Prin-cess of Bangladesh” sings a Bangla version of the song with music composition done by the singer herself. A music video is made of the song as an initiative of the news portal Banglanews24.com and Tishma is one of the models of the video along with commoners.

The music video will launch today at 11am at the o� ce of Ban-glanews24.com located at the Basundhara residential area. Jewel Mazhar translated the song from English and Portuguese while Jay-onto Rojario directed the music video. l

Tishmaremakes Shakira’sLa La La

DHAKA TRIBUNE13Sp rt

Saturday, June 28, 2014

We all hope that our progeny do not engage in violence. At least most of us do. As much as we may wish otherwise, the brutal truth is that our o� spring will, at some point in their childhood, get into a � ght. Now the question you must ask of yourself is, should your precious baby get into a playground scu� e, do you want him or her to win or lose? The answer is where footballers as role models kick in.

I grew up in a sports friendly en-vironment, yet neither of my parents expected me to take behavioral cues from multimillionaire athletes running around a football � eld as if their lives, much less the hopes of a nation, depended on it.

Yet after Suarez did what he did with his over-developed dentures, there has been a chorus of complaints from parents all over the world. What do we tell our children, they ask. If my child’s favorite player bites someone, how can I tell him to keep his teeth to himself, they contem-plate. First of all, let me tell you that if your child is biting people at a precocious age, it is probably the right time to give him some counseling or take him to a counselor. That is possibly the kind of intervention that might have helped Luis in his formative years.

Amongst the � ood of complaints pouring in from concerned parents all over the world in the last 48 hours, however, I have failed to notice a single one regarding the Adonis-like striker Olivier Giroud from France. This perfectly coi� ed gentleman tried every kind of manual trick in the book to ward o� his defenders in the game against Ecuador. He tried to slap them like a weak and enraged partner. He tried

to elbow them like an enervated Massotti encountering Luis Enrique in 1994. Yet Giroud continues to take part in the World Cup because he was violent without suc-ceeding to cause physical or psychological damage (the only damage caused was, ironically enough, to his hair).

Seriously parents, what are we imply-ing to our children here? That it is okay to engage in animalistic behavior so long as you don’t draw blood? That is the kind of lesson that will get a child pulverized in the playground. Trust me when I tell you this, if your child gets into a � ght for the right reasons, and I have been bullied plenty, it is much better if he or she is the one who delivers the killer blow. Should the shoe be on the other foot, prepare for several trips to the emergency room and hefty medical bills, not to mention the psychological trauma that accompanies the knowledge that your o� spring is a taker not a giver of pain.

A sucker punch is not a killer blow. A bite

that leaves the victim stunned out of Virgin Mary or a Leonardo elbow, which leaves the recipient bloodier than the reign of terror, is. Therefore, on grounds of childhood development education, if anyone deserves to be punished it is Giroud. Suarez stopped Chiellini in his tracks, Massoti made Enrique a feed for vampires, and Leonardo pushed back US football for another decade or so. Yet Leonardo got banned from the World Cup, Massoti got an 8 game ban, and Suarez cannot play for Liverpool for the � rst nine games of next season. Olivier, on the other hand, roams the world free to meekly elbow people while cheating on his wife with supermodel girlfriends and scoring the occasional goal for Arsenal.

Seriously, what are we teaching our children here? l

Farshed Mahmud made some ‘beautiful changes’ to this article and is thus credited as a co-author. Sub-editors of the world rejoice your e� orts are worth it.

Early childhood developmentUseful stu� if done right

An amazing tale of a passionate fan

It was June 24, 2014. Local powerhouse Sheikh Jamal were playing against a bottom-ranked side in Feni Soccer Club. There were only 42 spectators in the western gallery but they were pay-ing little attention to the game. One ex-ception though was an old man on the brink of being a septuagenarian, clad in the traditional black and white jersey of Mohammedan. He was the oldest of the lot but the most cheerful as well.

On his right wrist he was wearing an Argentina wristband and a Brazil one on his left wrist. There was also an Argentina headband on top of a Brazil one on his forehead which was slight-ly covered by a red and green cap over his head. The Mohammedan jersey had his name on the back. He was wearing a Bangladesh � ag on his chest. The sur-roundings were very familiar to him. He has been there since most of the spectators were not even born.

Ataur Rahman, usually referred to as Ata bhai inside the stadium, will be

70 next month and has been following Dhaka football for more than 50 years and is still going strong. He is a die-hard Mohammedan faithful but his identity is more than that of a passionate fan. He rarely misses any domestic football game, no matter whether it involves Mohammedan or an unglamourous tie between two relegation battling sides, say, for instance - Uttar Baridhara v Chit-tagong Abahani. He is there with two � ags in his hand - one of Mohammedan and the other is that of Bangladesh.

Once in every four years, the World Cup ushers in memories of his past, his family and his passion for football, of which, he cannot clearly remember all due to his old age. He is not a fan of Bra-zil or Argentina but he wore their colors to keep his nearest ones close. His wife was a fan of Argentina and passed away 11 years ago, a few months after the 2002 World Cup and his only daughter supports Brazil and is happily leading her own life after marriage.

Like every top-� ight game at the sta-dium, Ataur is also following this World

Cup closely on television. He is amazed by the performance of Chile, Costa Rica and Ghana and believes in the power of Dutch football this time around. “Chile are playing beautiful football and the players are giving their best on the pitch playing as a proper team. Costa Rica and Ghana also impressed me but the Netherlands look most threatening in this World Cup,” said Ataur at the Bang-abandhu National Stadium on Monday.

Despite backing the Dutch, Ataur still thinks either Brazil or Argentina will eventually clinch the crown but among the South American giants, he wants Argentina to win. Why, of course, for the memory of his deceased wife.

Courtesy Bangladesh Football Fed-eration president Kazi Salahuddin, Ataur managed one ticket to watch Ar-gentina against Nigeria in action at the Bangabandhu National Stadium three years ago. He saw Lionel Messi in � esh. He, however, put Portuguese goal-machine Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Messi as his favourite player and both Neymar and Messi are tied for second

place. But, for now, he wants Messi to lift the title because of his wife.

The glory days of football in Ban-gladesh seem long gone and what still remains in the heart of football lovers are the ashes of the memories of the late 1970s or 80s. Talks and questions surrounding the loyalty of football fans in world football is often discussed and in this regard, Bangladesh were never a formidable force.

The reason is understandable. The Bangabandhu National Stadium is rarely found to be half-packed in any domestic football game. Not even the high-volt-age derby between archrivals Abahani and Mohammedan can pull crowds like the yesteryears. Even then there are a few football devotees like Ataur who still come to the stadium regularly.

Ataur believes match-� xing is very common here which, in his words, is destroying Bangladesh football. He urges the federation to organise inter-national matches and keep alive the game of football in the country that has long lost its glory days. l

Muslim World Cup players face Ramadan decision

With the knockout rounds of the World Cup coinciding with the beginning of Ramadan, Muslim players must decide whether to observe the month-long re-ligious fast which begins this weekend.

France, Germany, Switzerland, Bel-gium, Algeria and Nigeria are among the teams that have Muslim players who may choose to observe the 30-day period of fasting and re� ection.

During Ramadan, the ninth and ho-liest month in the Islamic calendar, all healthy adult Muslims are expected to refrain from eating and drinking during daylight hours.

Such a scenario could play havoc with the tightly-controlled diets of elite professional athletes, especially in the hot, humid conditions in which some World Cup games in Brazil are being played.

“The challenge is mainly trying to maintain hydration on a daily basis, and secondly trying to maintain energy levels,” Emma Gardner, performance nutritionist at the English Institute of Sport, told Reuters.

“Muscle mass is also an issue. Re-search suggests that people can lose muscle mass through the period of Ra-madan, although it tends to be during the early period,” she said.

Gardner’s comments appear to be at odds with those of Jiri Dvorak, FIFA’s chief medical o� cer, who told a media brie� ng on Monday that players ob-

serving the fast should not su� er any deterioration in their physical condi-tion.

“We have made extensive studies of players during Ramadan, and the conclusion was that if Ramadan is fol-lowed appropriately, there will be no reduction in the physical performances of players,” Dvorak told reporters.

All healthy adult Muslims are ex-pected to observe the month-long fast, although exceptions can be made and the fast postponed.

One player who has made up his mind is Germany’s Mesut Ozil.

“Ramadan starts on Saturday, but I will not take part because I am work-ing,” he told a press conference on

Wednesday. Nutritionist Gardner has previously

worked with a player from the British hockey team who fasted during a major tournament. She describes her experi-ence with the athlete as being “a case study” in how to handle the issue.

“For players observing the fast during the World Cup, the optimal tim-

ing for games would be evening kick-o� s, as it’s closest to the time when they can replenish and rehydrate,” she said, explaining strategies to o� set the impact of fasting.

“Some athletes choose to use mouth rinsing, where they basically rinse their mouth our with water but don’t ingest any,” said Gardner, who has previously

worked with English soccer club Black-burn Rovers.

“There is research to show that there are cognitive bene� ts, it makes them feel like they’re drinking. Other-wise you can use things like cold towels to help them cool down.”

Dehydration can have a negative ef-fect on performance, with a loss of one to two percent of body � uids by weight leading to problems with concentration.

However, the nutritionist said that the best way to help fasting players was to consult with their coaches to ensure that their physical activity and recovery were properly planned, rec-ommending they train only once a day.

“Ideally, from looking into research, the best time for athletes who are par-taking in Ramadan to train is either early in the morning or late at night, as near to a time when they can hydrate and eat.”

Refueling the body under such cir-cumstances is not easy, as a whole day’s intake has to be made up during the hours of darkness.

“I found at the break of the fast, to get back to a hydrated state the athlete had to drink around six liters of � uid,” Gardner said. “Standard guidelines say two and a half to three liters of � uid a day, so many people are surprised when they hear six.

“On its own, that amount of water can have a diuretic e� ect, so we had to make sure there was some sodium or that it was consumed with food.” l

BENZEMA (FRA) MUSA (NIG) SHAQIRI (SWISS) OEZIL (GER) FELLAINI (BEL) FEGHOULI (ALG)

Ataur Rahman waves a Bangladesh � ag during the Nitol-Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League game between Sheikh Jamal and Feni Soccer Club at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Tuesday MUMIT M

Rain refused to dampen the spirit of the Kolta Bazar residents at Old Dhaka as they still visited their nearest projector to watch the World Cup games on Thursday nightMUMIT M

DHAKA TRIBUNE14 Sp rt

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Belgium send South Korea packing

Jan Vertonghen led 10-man Belgium to a 1-0 victory over South Korea on Thursday that gave them top place in their World Cup group and ended Asian hopes in the competition.

The stand-in captain hit the win-ner 12 minutes from time as Belgium � nished with a perfect three wins in Group H. They now play the United States in the last 16.

South Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-Gyu could only parry a � erce shot by substitute Divock Origi and it went to the feet of Vertonghen, who buried the rebound and leapt into the stands to celebrate.

Belgian coach Marc Wilmots dis-missed criticism over the style of the victory and said his team had “made history” by winning all three group games.

“We ful� lled our mission with nine points,” he said. “It’s never happened before and what’s important for me is whether we can get into the quarter-� -

nals. I don’t care about anything else.”South Korea had needed a big win to

stand any chance of qualifying, and they were given hope when Steven Defour was sent o� for a stamp just before half-time.

But they failed to create clear-cut opportunities and depart the tourna-ment winless, as did regional rivals Ja-pan, Iran and Australia.

“My goal was not to have any re-grets. I think we weren’t good enough but we nevertheless did our best,” said South Korean coach Hong Myung-Bo.

“More than anything, I think it was important for our players to play on such a big stage and gain experience.”

Wilmots made seven changes from the team that beat Russia 1-0, giving Manchester United 19-year-old Adnan Januzaj his World Cup debut, to keep players fresh for the knock-out stages.

Despite their extra man, South Ko-rea could not penetrate the packed Bel-gian defence and Lee Chung-Yong and Koo both saw dangerous opportunities snu� ed out before they could shoot. And they paid for their failures when Vertonghen scored. l

Algeria seal historic last-16 quali� cation

Algeria progressed to the last 16 of the World Cup for the � rst time in their history as Islam Slimani’s second-half header was enough to earn them a 1-1 against Russia in Curitiba.

Alexander Kokorin had put the Rus-sians in front after just six minutes with an accurate header into the top corner.

However, Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev’s nightmare tournament con-

tinued when he tried to claim Yacine Brahimi’s free-kick on the hour mark and missed the ball completely allow-ing Slimani the easiest of tasks to nod home his second goal of the tourna-ment.

However, television replays showed the CSKA Moscow ‘keeper may have been distracted by a green laser pen be-ing shone in his eye seconds before the goal was scored.

The Desert Foxes will now have the chance to avenge their controversial exit from the 1982 World Cup when West Germany and Austria played out a mutual bene� cial 1-0 win for the Ger-mans when they face Joachim Loew’s men in Porto Alegre on Monday.

Belgium topped the group with

a maximum nine points from three games after they beat South Korea 1-0 in the other game.

Algeria had gotten o� to the worst possible start as with So� ane Feghou-li o� the � eld receiving treatment for a head injury, Russia used the extra space a� orded to them down Algeria’s right to open the scoring.

Left-back Dmitry Kombarov saun-tered forward and his cross was ex-pertly nodded into the top corner by Kokorin.

Feghouli immediately tried to make amends with a bustling run past a host of Russian defenders, but the Valencia man was eventually crowded out and the ball cleared to safety.

Oleg Shatov then came within inch-es of doubling Russia’s advantage with a dipping shot from range that � ew just past the post.

However, Algeria were posing the greater threat and Akinfeev went some way to redeeming himself for an awful error which cost his side a goal in their opening game against South Korea with a � ne save from Slimani’s � rst ef-fort of the evening.

Russia came � ying out of the traps in the second period, though, looking to kill the game o� and should have done when a lovely one-two between Kokorin and Aleksandr Samedov put the latter clean through on goal, but Rais Mbolhi stood up well to block his e� ort.

And that save was to prove vital on the hour mark as Akinfeev � apped at Brahimi’s free-kick and Slimani headed home into an unguarded net.

Russia continued to push for a win-ner, but when Aleksei Kozlov’s header sailed wide in stoppage time their last chance was gone. l

Belgian PM o� ers Obama beer bet over WC clash

Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo challenged U.S. President Barack Obama to a bet over Belgium’s impend-ing World Cup knock-out match against the United States, o� ering the prospect of some “great Belgian beers” should the U.S. team win.

On Thursday, Belgium beat South Korea 1-0 to top Group H, setting up a clash with the United States after Juer-gen Klinsmann’s team pipped Portugal to second place in Group G on goal dif-ference despite losing to Germany.

“Hey @BarackObama, I am betting some great Belgian beers that our @BelRedDevils will make it to the quar-ter � nal!” Di Rupo tweeted in the early hours of Friday. l

Controversy overshadows Algeria win

Algeria progressed to the last 16 of the World Cup for the � rst time in their his-tory with a 1-1 draw against Russia on Thursday, but controversy surrounded Islam Slimani’s equaliser as Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev appeared to have been distracted by a laser pen.

Russia boss Fabio Capello said there was no doubt Akinfeev had been dis-tracted by the laser beam.

“He was blinded by the laser beam. There are pictures and you can see that in the footage,” said the Italian, who for a second successive time has failed to translate his success as a club coach onto the World Cup stage.

“About the lasers it is not an excuse. The goalkeeper was unable to do his job. The laser beam was in his face.”

Algeria boss Vahid Halilhodzic said he has not seen the laser beam inci-dent, but is relishing the chance for the Desert Foxes to avenge their controver-sial exit from the 1982 World Cup when they face Germany in Porto Alegre on Monday.

Back then West Germany and Austria played out a mutually bene� -cial 1-0 win for the Germans to ensure Algeria were eliminated on goal di� er-ence.

“We have not forgotten about it. Ev-eryone talks about Algeria and Germa-ny from 1982,” said Halilhodzic.

“Thirty-two years is a long time, but I am very proud of what we have achieved tonight and we deserve to be here.

“Algeria played a heroic match and our quali� cation for the second round is perfectly deserved.”

Belgium topped the group with a maximum nine points from three games after they beat South Korea 1-0 in the other game.

Algeria had gotten o� to the worst possible start as with So� ane Feghou-li o� the � eld receiving treatment for a head injury, Russia used the extra space a� orded to them down Algeria’s right to open the scoring. l

Algeria Russia Goals scored 1 1 Total shots 8 11 Shots on target 6 7 Corners 3 4 O� sides 2 3 Fouls committed 15 13 Yellow cards 3 2 Red cards 0 0 Ball possession 47% 53%

MATCH STATS

S Korea Belgium Goals scored 0 1 Total shots 18 15 Shots on target 12 10 Corners 7 4 O� sides 1 4 Fouls committed 16 11 Yellow cards 1 1 Red cards 0 1 Ball possession 51% 49%

MATCH STATS

Pupils of Kishori Club took part in a football game at the Motijheel T & T school � eld yesterday. Organised by BRAC, the two teams played as Argentina and Brazil with Argentina winning the game 2-1 MEHEDI HASAN

Greece have the worst chance conversion rate (7.7%) of the 16 teams to make it past the World Cup Group Stage

Colombia have converted the highest percentage of chances (31%) into goals in the Group Stage

Germany have lost both inter-national games against Algeria

Russia have failed to qualify for the World Cup knockout stage for the third time in a row (1994, 2002, 2014)

Algeria became the 6th African team to make the knockout stages of a World Cup tourna-ment (Morocco, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal & Ghana)

Thomas Muller has the best shot conversion rate (67%) at this World Cup so far

Leo Messi is the player with the most dribbles (17) completed in this World Cup group stage

The Netherlands conceded 68 fouls in the group stages of this World Cup, at least 9 more than any other team

Fabio Capello has won only one of his seven matches as a World Cup manager

This is the � rst time that two countries from Africa have pro-gressed beyond the First Round at the same World Cup � nals

Brazil have allowed fewer shots on target (6) against them than any other team in the World Cup 2014

Portugal are the � rst team to use three goalkeepers in a single World Cup since Greece in 1994.

Asamoah Gyan is now the top-scoring (6) African in World Cup history.

Honduras have played more matches (9) at the World Cup without winning than any other side

WORLD CUP IN NUMBERS

7.7

31

2

3

6

67

17

68

1

2

6

3

6

9

10 players who excelled in group stage

The World Cup has lived up to its bill-ing. The standard of football has been scintillating, with only � ve goalless draws from the opening 48 games. This comes despite highly revered attackers Marco Reus, Falcao and Franck Ribéry, among others, missing the tournament through injury.

Lionel Messi is our highest rated player (9.2) after the group stages, hav-ing dragged La Albiceleste to the round of 16. He scored four of Argentina’s six goals, with Marcos Rojo and an own goal from Sead Kolasniac making up the other two.

Messi is the leading goalscorer in the tournament, but he also created more clear-cut goalscoring chances (four) than any other player. While he failed to register an assist, that in part due to poor � nishing from his team-mates. Messi won the man of the match award in all three of Argentina’s group games, a feat matched only by Arjen Robben.

Robben was vital to Holland’s pro-gression as Group B winners, provid-ing three goals and one assist, and his rating of 8.95 was the second highest of the group stages.

Robin van Persie, like Robben, also

scored three times as the Oranje be-came the leading goalscorers (10) in the opening three games of the tour-nament. This came despite the striker missing the last game of Group B due to suspension, so he may have added to his goal tally had he been available to face Chile.

France may well rival Holland as the best European team in the last 16. Karim Benzema has endured his trou-bles on the international stage and after a shaky start for Real Madrid last sea-son, has proven to be one of the stars of the tournament so far. No player has bettered Benzema’s combined tally of

goals and assists (� ve: three goals and two assists).

His France compatriot Mathieu Val-buena also features in the top 10. With Didier Deschamps opting against call-ing up Samir Nasri to the France squad, and Ribéry sidelined for the competi-tion, the pint-sized Marseille star has shouldered the creative responsibility.

Valbuena is one of only 15 players to have both scored a goal and registered an assist in a single game at the compe-tition, something Miralem Pjanic also achieved. The 24-year-old recorded the feat in Bosnia’s 3-1 win over Iran. The Roma player excelled under Safet Susic

despite their early exit, with no player executing more key passes (12) in the group stages than Pjanic.

James Rodríguez has also shone for Colombia. Despite starting from the bench in Colombia’s 4-1 win over Ja-pan, Rodríguez registered two assists and scored late on after coming on as a half-time substitute; his rating of 9.37 was the best of all substitutes in the group stages.

Rodríguez will hope to help Co-lombia reach the quarter-� nals, where they could face Chile and Alexis Sán-chez. Only Messi (5.7) has averaged more dribbles per game than Sánchez (5.3) and he will need to maximise this quality if they are to overcome Brazil in their last-16 match.

The hosts secured safe passage to the last-16 with relative ease and have both Oscar (8.4) and Neymar (8.39) to thank for that. While Neymar has had his mo-ments of brilliance, Oscar was vital to Brazilin their opening 3-1 win over Cro-atia. His performance was the highest rated (10.0) of every individual display, while only Daley Blind (nine against Chile) made more tackles in a single group stage match than the Chelsea man (eight against Mexico) to reinforce his credentials on the international stage. l

Referee shows Belgium’s Steven Defour red card during their 2014 World Cup Group H match against South Korea at the Corinthians arena in Sao Paulo on Thursday REUTERS

Messi, Robben, Van Persie, Neymar, Valbuena and Pjanic have all impressed

APPS GOALS ASSISTS MOTM RATING Lionel Messi 3 4 - 3 9.2 Arjen Robben 3 3 1 3 8.95 James Rodriguez 2(1) 3 2 2 8.68 Karim Benzema 3 3 2 2 8.57 Robin van Persie 2 3 - - 8.56 Oscar 3 1 2 1 8.4 Neymar 3 4 - 1 8.39 Miralem Pjanic 3 1 1 1 8.2 Alexis Sanchez 3 1 1 1 8.13 Mathieu Valbuena 2 1 1 - 8.13

TOP 10 RATED PLAYERS (GROUP STAGE)

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Subs set scoring record

Substitutes at the World Cup in Brazil have already scored more goals (24) in the group stage than the total number scored in entire tournaments before, surpassing the record of 23 goals set for all of the 2014 World Cup.

Just over 18 percent of the 133 goals scored at the � nals in Brazil so far were by substitutes, according to data provided by Fifa. The previous highest percentage was in 1990, when 17.4 percent (20 out of 115 goals) were scored by substitutes.

Following is a table provided by FIFA with goals scored by substitutes in the World Cup since 1970. Prior to that tour-nament substitutes were not allowed. l

SUPER SUBS Year Goals by subs (out of total goals)

2014 24 (out of 133, 18.05%) 2010 15 (out of 145, 10.34%) 2006 23 (out of 147, 15.65%) 2002 21 (out of 161, 13.04%) 1998 14 (out of 171, 8.19%) 1994 13 (out of 141, 9.22%) 1990 20 (out of 115, 17.39%) 1986 11 (out of 132, 8.33%) 1982 16 (out of 146, 10.96%) 1978 6 (out of 102, 5.88%) 1974 5 (out of 97, 5.15%) 1970 5 (out of 95, 5.26%)

Uruguay seek to stop � ying Colombians

Uruguay must recover from the shock of losing star player Luis Suarez, who was kicked out of the World Cup for biting an opponent, if they are to stop high-scor-ing Colombia in an all-South American, second-round clash on Saturday.

Uruguay have long relied heavily on Suarez in attack and the controversial striker scored half of their four goals so far in the competition in Brazil.

He was thrown out of the World Cup on Thursday for biting Italian defend-er Giorgio Chiellini in a group match, dealing a huge setback to Uruguay, who battled their way to the semi-� nals of the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

Colombia head to the Maracana sta-

dium in Rio de Janeiro in more buoy-ant mood, having won all three of their group games and racked up nine goals in the process, a tally surpassed so far only by the rampant Netherlands.

There had been fears that the loss of striker Radamel Falcao to injury before the tournament would be a big blow for Colombia, appearing at their � rst World Cup in 16 years.

But Falcao’s understudy Jackson Martinez has been one of the tourna-ment’s revelations so far, helped in large part by playmaker James Rodriguez.

With those two in � ne form, Colom-bia, under Argentine coach Jose Peker-man have wowed crowds in Brazil with the kind of fast, � owing play that the locals demand of their own team. They have also entertained fans with their salsa-inspired goal celebrations.

A place in the quarter � nals against either Brazil or Chile is at stake on Sat-urday and Uruguay will be seeking to channel the spirit of 1950 - when they shocked Brazil by beating them to win the World Cup in Rio.

It will probably fall to veteran striker Diego Forlan to take the place of Suarez in the starting 11 in the Maracana as he did in their shock opening loss to Costa Rica in Group D while Suarez was still completing his recovery from injury.

Uruguay played poorly in that match which they lost 3-1 but looked better in their next, a 2-1 win over England when Suarez scored both their goals.

After overcoming Italy 1-0 in the now infamous game in which Suarez lost his self-control, they must now cope without him again. Captain Diego Lugano vowed the team would not be distracted by his loss.

“Nothing will hold us back,” Lugano wrote on his Facebook page. “We will press on with humility, unity, determi-nation, aware of the mistakes that have been made and with our heads always held high.” l

Fifa may as well throw Suarez into Guantanamo, says Maradona

Diego Maradona blasted FIFA’s ban on Uruguay striker Luis Suarez as “crimi-nal” and said world soccer’s governing body might as well handcu� the striker and lock him up in Guantanamo prison.

“Who did Suarez kill?” Maradona said during his soccer commentary programme broadcast on Venezuela’s Telesur and Argentine public television on Thursday night.

“This is football, this is contact,” the Argentine legend said. “They may as well handcu� him and bring him to Guantanamo directly.”

The controversial U.S. prison in Cuba, opened during the Bush administration, is heavily criticized by human rights groups for inde� nite imprisonment of many detainees without charge or trial.

Temperamental 1986 World Cup winner Maradona, known for his � am-boyant declarations, is echoing outrage in Uruguay, where many are fuming at a ban they deem exaggerated, hypo-critical or outright biased.

Many abroad, however, were hor-ri� ed by brilliant but volatile Suarez’s biting of Italian defender Giorgio Chiel-lini on Tuesday.

Suarez was given longest sanction imposed at a World Cup by soccer’s governing body on Thursday, suspend-ed from all football-related activity for four months and banned for nine inter-national matches.l

Suarez ban ‘excessive’: Chiellini

Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini has said the ban FIFA handed down to Luis Su-arez is ‘excessive’ and that he feels no anger towards the controversial Uru-guay striker.

Suarez was given longest sanction imposed at a World Cup by soccer’s gov-erning body on Thursday, suspended from all football-related activity for four months and banned for nine internation-al matches for biting Chiellini in their � -nal Group D match in Natal on Tuesday.

Suarez will miss the � rst two months of Liverpool’s Premier League and Champions League campaigns, and may not appear for his country in a non-friendly match again until 2016.

“Now inside me there’s no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Suarez for an incident that happened on the pitch and that’s done,” Juventus centre back Chielli-ni said in a statement on his website.

“There only remain the anger and the disappointment about the match.

“At the moment my only thought is for Luis and his family, because they will face a very di� cult period.

“I have always considered unequiv-ocal the disciplinary interventions by the competent bodies, but at the same time I believe that the proposed formu-la is excessive.

“I sincerely hope that he will be al-lowed, at least, to stay close to his team mates during the games because such a ban is really alienating for a player.”l

Suarez � ies home

Luis Suarez � ew home to Uruguay on Friday after being thrown out of the World Cup in Bra-zil and banned from soccer for four months for biting Italian defender Gior-gio Chiellini in a Group D match earlier this week.

The Liverpool striker was met by President Jose Mujica when he land-ed at a military base next to Uruguay’s main airport before dawn, an air force spokesman said.

Mujica had joined hundreds of fans who gathered at the airport on Thurs-day night to show their support for Suarez but they left after a few hours when it became clear he had not yet left Brazil.l

VColombia Uruguay

Estadio do Maracana, Rio De Janeiro (BRA)28 Jun 2014 - 17:00 Local (02:00 AM BST)

Uruguay will be without star player Luis Suarez after he was kicked out of the World Cup by Fifa, banned for four months and Uruguay’s next nine com-petitive internationals for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini on Tuesday.

Colombia and Uruguay have met 38 times with Uruguay winning 18 times, Colombia 11 times with nine games drawn.

Their last meeting was on Sept. 10 2013 in Montevideo with Uruguay winning 2-0.

The last time Uruguay played a World Cup match at the Maracana they beat Brazil 2-1 in 1950 to become world champions.

KEY STATS

Fans of Uruguay’s national team await the arrival of Uruguay player Luis Suarez at Carrasco International Airport in the outskirts of Montevideo, Uruguay on Thursday AP

My lovely son is a Brazil fan!

Djokovic survives, Li knocked out

Top seed Novak Djokovic survived a shoulder injury scare to reach the Wimble-don fourth round on Friday with a 6-4, 6-2,

6-4 win over France’s Gilles Simon, his seventh successive victory over the Frenchman.

Djokovic, the 2011 champion, need-ed a medical timeout to receive treat-ment and take a painkiller after hurting his left shoulder in a spectacular diving attempt to reach a Simon drive in the sixth game of the third set on Centre Court.

But the Serb overcame the scare to set up a clash with French 14th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the quarter-� nals.

Djokovic admitted he was shaken by his fall and � nished the match in some discomfort, but the world number two hopes the damage isn’t severe enough to impede his chances of continuing in the tournament.

Djokovic has won 10 of his 11 meet-ings with the big-serving Tsonga, in-cluding in the 2011 Wimbledon semi-� -nals and the quarter-� nals at the 2012 Olympic Games, which were staged at the All England Club.

But the Serb knows the � amboyant Tsonga, twice a Wimbledon semi-� nal-

ist, is a dangerous opponent on grass.Chinese second seed and Australian

Open champion Li Na was knocked out of Wimbledon on Friday, losing 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) in the third round to Bar-bora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.

The defeat followed a � rst round exit for Li at the French Open last month as Wimbledon again proved her undoing.

In eight appearances at the All England Club, the 32-year-old has still never got beyond the third round.

The match ended in bizarre circum-stances with Li, facing match point, successfully challenging a forehand which had been called long. l

Uruguayan Football Association president Wilmar Valdez:

“We are going to appeal today ... there isn’t de� nitive evidence that allows us to say that this kind of sanction can be applied. We are talking nine games, four months and a � nancial penalty, so to me it really seems like a completely exaggerated and abusive sanction.”

Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce:

“I think the punishment handed out by Fifa to Luis Suarez is fully justi� ed. Hopefully, he will realise now that behaviour of this type will not be tolerated under any circumstances.”

Uruguay captain Diego Lugano:

“Indignation, impotence, I think that’s what we all feel. We’d all like a fairer world, but that world simply does not exist. Those who rule, rule, and the strong ones are the strong ones... Keep feeling proud of him, he deserves it. Nothing will stop us. We will carry on with humility, union, determina-tion, recognition of mistakes, and with our heads always high.”

Brazil forward Fred:

“It was unfair because it could end a player’s life. Four months, nine games, everyone on top of you, criticising his error.

He has to be punished, yes, but I’d like to see Suarez still playing in this World Cup.”

Sports equipment � rm Adidas:

“Adidas fully supports FIFA’s decision. Adidas certainly does not condone Luis Suarez’s recent behaviour and we will again be reminding him of the high standards we expect from our players. We have no plan to use Suarez for any additional marketing activities during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.”

Chile forward Alexis Sanchez:

“This is really bad for the World Cup, for the

show, and it is really bad for Uruguay and the world of soccer.”

Former Brazil striker Ronaldo:

“I never bit anyone, I know bites hurt. (If) my kids bite me they are punished in the dark room with the big bad wolf: that’s the soccer equivalent of not playing soccer for four months.”

Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre:

“Liverpool Football Club will wait until we have seen and had time to review the FIFA disciplinary committee report before making any further comment.” l

REACTION TO SUAREZ’S NINE-GAME BAN

Record-breaking Shaw joins United

England left-back Luke Shaw became the most expensive teenage footballer in history after joining Manchester United from Premier League rivals Southamp-ton on Friday in a four-year deal worth a reported £30 million ($51 million).

The fee for the 18-year-old, who has just returned from England’s worst-ev-er World Cup campaign, surpassed the £25.6m fee United paid Everton for Wayne Rooney in 2004.

“Manchester United is delighted to announce the signing of Luke Shaw from Southampton Football Club,” a United statement said.

While both clubs refused to con� rm

the exact transfer fee, a statement on Southampton’s website said Shaw had become “the most expensive teenager ever”.

His arrival at Old Tra� ord meant United had taken their spending on new players to an estimated £60m in two days as they rebuild after a dire 2013/14 season.

Thursday saw United complete their � rst signing since Louis van Gaal, cur-rently coaching the Netherlands at the World Cup, became their manager after mid� elder Ander Herrera joined from Athletic Bilbao for a reported £28.5m.

“I am thrilled and excited to be joining Manchester United,” Shaw told his new club’s website after passing a medical. l

Monday, June 16, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

16 DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

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Saturday, June 28, 2014

13 1514 Uruguay seek to stop Colombians

Algeria seal historic last-16 quali� cation

An amazing tale of a passionate fan

World Cup favourites Brazil have re-discovered their swagger and boast a superb past record against Chile but go into Saturday’s do-or-die game know-ing their rivals have enough attacking prowess to wreck the hosts’ party.

Seeking a sixth World Cup on home soil, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men hit their stride in a 4-1 demolition of Cameroon that won them Group A and showed striker Neymar at his very best with two great goals and crowd-pleasing trickery on the ball.

Now facing Chile in the � rst game of the tournament’s knockout round, Bra-zil will be encouraged by recent history. They easily knocked out Chile at the same stage in the last two World Cups “La Roja” (The Red) featured in, 1998 and 2010.

Brazil have in fact won nine of their last 10 meetings.

Yet this fast and attack-minded Chile side could be the best version yet, claiming one illustrious scalp al-ready when they beat reigning cham-pions Spain 2-0 en route to their own quali� cation behind the Netherlands in Group B.

The Brazil of their opening two group games, a win but an unconvinc-ing one against Croatia and a draw against Mexico, have not struck fear into the Chileans.

“Brazil has often been Chile’s nemesis but football changes, new generations come and new players appear,” said mid� elder Arturo Vidal, known to fans as “King Arthur”, who

returns from a knee injury that kept him out of the match against the Dutch.

“We’ve beaten the world champi-ons, so we can beat Brazil.”

For that to happen, strikers Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez will have to be at their cut-throat best as they were against both Spain and Australia whom they also beat, 3-1, before the Dutch got the better of them in the � nal group game.

Like other Latin American nations’ fans, Chileans have � ooded Brazil in their tens of thousands and are dream-ing of at least emulating their best ever showing of third in 1962.

They were knocked out then by, guess who, Brazil.

With both teams more comfortable in attack than defence, the match in Belo Horizonte’s Minei-rao stadium could be a rip-roarer

as they go straight for each other’s defensive weak points.

Political protests and worries over infrastructure have fad-ed into the background now, so Brazilians are embracing the World Cup in the way foreign-ers assumed they would - with parties, � reworks and yellow national colours everywhere.

Even the normally staid state capital and business centre, Belo Horizonte, is turning ever more yellow in the run-up.

The team, who are con� -dently predicting World Cup glory, are likely to reshu� e a bit from the Cameroon game, with Fernandinho set to replace Paulin-ho from the start to give the mid-� eld more thrust and � uidity in feeding Neymar and Hulk. l

VBrazil Chile

Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte (BRA)28 Jun 2014 - 13:00 Local (10:00 PM BST)

Probable teams:

Brazil12-Julio Cesar; 2-Daniel Alves, 3-Thiago Silva, 4-David Luiz, 6-Marcelo; 5-Fernandinho, 11-Oscar, 17-Luiz Gustavo, 7-Hulk; 9-Fred, 10-NeymarChile1-Claudio Bravo; 4-Mauricio Isla, 17-Gary Medel, 18-Gonzalo Jara, 2-Eugenio Mena; 20-Charles Aranguiz, 21-Marcelo Diaz, 5-Francisco Silva, 8-Arturo Vidal; 7-Alexis Sanchez, 11-Eduardo VargasKey stats:

Brazil have eliminated Chile three times in previous World Cups. The Brazilians beat them in the semi-� nals when Chile hosted the tournament in 1962 and again in the last 16 at France 1998 and South Africa 2010.

The two sides have met 68 times with Brazil winning 48. Chile have celebrated just seven wins against their fellow South Americans with 13 matches ending in a draw.

Brazil forward Neymar and Chile striker Alexis Sanchez are team mates at Barcelona and close friends. They are both carrying the hopes of their nations to score.

Last meetingToronto, Canada, November 19, 2013, Brazil 2 Chile 1

FACT BOX

Chile face nemesis Brazil in knockout

We will � ght like pitbulls: Sanchez

Chile will go into their World Cup round of 16 game against hosts Brazil on Saturday with all guns blazing as they look “to make history” against the tournament favourites, forward Alexis Sanchez said.

The Chileans, eliminated three times by Brazil in past World Cups, are eager to con� rm their status as dark horses in this tournament with a major upset.

“We came here to make history. We already beat World Cup holders Spain (in the group stage),” Alexis told re-porters at their training base in Belo Horizonte.

“The next game is about who has more endurance and who has the mentality to go a long way. We may not all be friends but on the pitch everybody runs for the other and this team is like a pitbull dog.”

Alexis and teammate Mauricio Isla were asked repeatedly by Chilean reporters whether they had thought about the referee and the potential in� uence he could have on the outcome for a game that is of massive importance to the hosts and the tournament.

“The best defence at this moment is Brazil’s. I am really happy to play against Brazil but I am worried about the referee. But we will see,” Alexis said without elaborating further.

Several of his teammates have faced similar questions regarding the refer-ee, who has yet to be announced, on Wednesday. Sanchez said if Chile were to outmuscle � ve-time champions Bra-zil at the Mineirao stadium they only had to look at neighbouring Argentina’s winning mentality and � nally start be-lieving in themselves. l

Brazil players Neymar (L), Daniel Alves (C) and Thiago Silva share a light moment during a training session in Teresopolis on Wednesday REUTERS