Foreign envoys hail RMG reformsn Tazlina Zamila Khan

Ambassadors and high commissioners of di� erent countries at a programme yesterday praised the Bangladesh government for its e� orts to reform the readymade garment sector and stressed the need for implementation of the pledges which still remain unful� lled.

The Labour and Employment Minis-try and the International Labour Organ-isation jointly arranged the programme titled “One year after Rana Plaza: Pro-gress and the Way Forward” at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the capital marking one year of the Rana Plaza collapse.

Ambassador of Netherlands Gerben Sjoerd de Jong said: “Many challenges still remain to be tackled. More labour inspectors need to be recruited; the

public database needs more details on status of factory and labour inspec-tions; harassment of labour activists needs to be addressed; new minimum wage needs full implementation; and remedial safety measures in the in-spected factories must be undertaken.

And besides all that, the issue of com-pensation to the victims has to be ad-dressed with utmost priority.”

He added: “The rapid and unfet-tered growth of the readymade gar-ment industry has led to a lack of com-pliance with both social and labour standards in too many of the factories. Consequently, this has resulted in un-safe working conditions, sexual har-assment in the workplaces, poor wages

and intimidation and violence against labour activities.”

Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden said: “Many of the commitments of the tripartite plan have partially been implemented. For example, only a small number of the promised 200 additional labour inspec-tors have been hired so far. The data-base does not yet contain information on the inspections of factories. There continue to be cases of harassment and persecution of labour union leaders. Workers are at the heart of the indus-try and must have a more active role through workers’ committees.”

US Ambassador Dan W Mozena said: “I believe Bangladesh is making impressive progress toward that end, toward ensuring that the workers of

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

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BusinessB1 The government has decided not to take the World Bank’s proposed fund for the state-owned commercial banks as conditions are ‘not possible to be met,’ o� cial sources said.

News5 Despite a government plan to crack down on un� t vehicles in the capital from next month, public transport owners will get six more months to replace their rundown vehicles.

Nation6 A prolonged drought in Kurigram is taking a heavy toll on farmers as they are unable to cultivate jute along with other crops.

International8 Ukrainian forces killed up to � ve pro-Moscow separatists in the east of the country as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of ‘consequenc-es’ if Kiev used the army against its own people.

Op-Ed11 Let me say that I am a � rm believer in Intelligent Design, and that a Supreme Force created all of mankind whether Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jew, or Buddhist. Question is, did God sepa-rate us, or did we separate ourselves?

INSIDE

FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

9 | FRUSTRATION OVER RESCUE EFFORTS7 | THE FRENCH CONNECTIONWT | FIVE QUESTIONS ON RANA PLAZA 14 | BENZEMA GIVES REAL ADVANTAGE

Survivors of the Rana Plaza tragedy take part in a play at the CRP in Savar, marking the � rst anniversary of the biggest disaster in the history of the RMG sector SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Capital experiences highest temperature in 54 yearsn Abu Bakar Siddique

Dhaka city yesterday experienced the highest temperature in 54 years as mercury reached 40.2 degrees Celsius. The country’s highest temperature was recorded 42.4 degrees Celsius in Jessore.

The previous highest temperature in the capital was recorded 42.3 degrees on April 30, 1960, according to Bangla-desh Meteorological Department. The highest temperature on April 24 last year in Dhaka was 34.2 degrees.

Met O� ce Director Shah Alam told the Dhaka Tribune that the current heat wave was likely to continue for a few more days, with the temperature reaching up to 43 degrees since there was little possibility of rainfall. “But that should not go beyond April 27,”he said.

On the causes for no rainfall, the o� cial said the Westerly wind which causes rainfall at this time of year was yet to be active.

Shah Alam said the average April rainfall in Dhaka division was 127mm but it had experienced only 39mm rain-fall as of yesterday – with no rainfall at all in Dhaka city since April 8.

Climate change experts consider this extreme weather to be a result of changing patterns in world climate.

“Such kind of abnormal attitude of PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

PADMA BRIDGE TENDER

Only one pre-quali� ed company respondsn Mohosinul Karim

The Bridges Division of the govern-ment has not got expected response from the pre-quali� ed international construction companies for the tender � oated for building the proposed Pad-ma bridge, with two companies seek-ing more time to submit proposal.

Only the China Major Bridge Engi-neering Company Ltd responded to the tender for the work order for building the main structure of the bridge.

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader made the disclosure yesterday afternoon as the deadline for submit-ting o� cial proposals expired.

Quader said: “We waited for o� cial proposals and tender documents from the pre-quali� ed companies. Out of the three companies, only the China Major Bridge Engineering placed a proposal.

“Samsung C&T Corporation and-Daelim-Bam-VCI did not respond be-

cause the government did not extend the submission deadline,” he said.

The minister also said:“We have extended the deadline several times considering the political situation. We also positively considered the requests of the pre-quali� ed companies. But it is not possible to extend the time again as it may delay the start of construction.

“We have to move forward with the proposal that we received today. Everything will be done according to the suggestion of the international con-sultant of the project and the technical evaluation committee. After proper evaluation, they will advise the gov-ernment about further steps.”

When asked whether the govern-ment was going to give work order to the only company that had responded, Khandaker Anwarul Islam, secretary of the Bridges Davison, told the Dha-ka Tribune: “There is no problem in

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A saga of heartrending storiesHundreds gather at Rana Plaza site to pay respect to the lost onesn Ashif Islam Shaon

Yesterday was di� erent from just any other day at the Rana Plaza collapse site not because people came to pay visits as relatives of dead victims rum-maging through the rubbles is a pretty much normal scene.

What made yesterday unique was the number of people that gathered at the site in Savar – some 20km o� Dha-ka. Hundreds of people gathered on the � rst anniversary of the deadly collapse that ranks top among the deadliest of industrial disasters in human history.

Among those hundreds were those who lost their dear ones in the ruins;

there were others who once worked with those who were killed in the collapse; and there were those who were lucky to survive the tragedy that claimed a staggering 1,136 lives.

Some injured victims came on wheelchairs; some with crutches. Some relatives, who still have not traced their loved ones, came with the lost ones’ photographs, roaming around and ask-ing people about their whereabouts.

Many people, both from the local-ity and outside, who volunteered and risked their own lives to rescue the trapped ones, could not keep away ei-ther; just like the way they could not

hold themselves back when the disaster actually took place exactly a year ago.

Although it has been a year, one thing has remained unchanged. When they crawled inside the debris with � oors pil-ing up like pancakes one year ago, none of them thought of any reward. Yester-day too, there was no reward on o� er, but still they had to be there.

Maksuda Begum comes to the site on the 24th of every month. One year ago, she lost her daughter in the col-lapse. Yesterday, she was surprised to see to so many people at the place. The bereaved mother was talking to the de-bris as if they were her lost child.

Middle-aged Meherina lost her son Babu when the Rana Plaza came down.

“[On that day] he called me up and told me that there was something wrong. Some of his fellow workers gathered in front of the gate [of Rana Plaza]. They were reluctant to enter the building because a crack had devel-oped on the building. I asked him not to enter, but he did not listen to me. 18 days later, they gave me his lifeless body,” the mother said.

“Please tell me where can I get my son back from... tell me please... whom will I scold over phone now... whom will I tell not to go inside the factory,” she kept sobbing.

Babu’s sisters Irin and A� a were by their mother’s side, splashing water over their mother’s face because she was losing consciousness every now and then.

The place where the building came down has been bordered by a steel fence. Yesterday, the relatives cross the fence, lit incense sticks, o� ered prayers

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

A group of relatives chanted slogans, demanding death penalty for Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana

Survivors’trauma largely unaddressedn Ashif Islam Shaon

Skin deep wounds are easy to heal – a simple amputation can ensure surviv-al. But remedying invisible injuries that are rooted deep inside the psyche of human beings, especially those who have witnessed terrible disasters, are never so simple.

Things get particularly di� cult for people belonging to low income groups such as the readymade garment work-ers, who used to make apparels for the factories housed by the fateful Rana Plaza. The fact that there is very little awareness and few treatment facilities in Bangladesh for mental disorders make things even more di� cult.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Immediate rescue of eight missing persons demandedn Mohammad Jamil Khan

Family members of eight people al-legedly picked up by the members of Rapid Action Battalion from the capi-tal’s Bashundhara area several months ago demanded that the government let them know the whereabouts of their missing relatives.

They said they just wanted to know if their missing relatives were still alive or dead. They were picked up allegedly by the RAB members on December 4 last year.

They made the demand from a press brie� ng at the National Press Club yes-terday.

The missing people are ward 38 BNP Secretary Sajedul Islam Sumon, 36; Su-mon’s cousin Jahedul Touhid Tanvir, 30; Kawsar of Shahinbagh; West Na-khalpara’s Abdul Kader Bhuiyan Ma-sum, 24; East Nakhalpara’s Mazaharul Islam Rasel, 24; Mugda’s Asaduzzam-an, 27; North Badda’s Al-Amin, 26; and AM Adnan Chowdhury, 28.

During the brie� ng, Hazera Begum, mother of Sumon, said he along with

seven others were gossiping and eating peanuts in Bashundhara area on the day of the incident. A couple of microbuses with sticker of RAB 1 pulled over in front of them and took them away at gunpoint.

Since then they have been missing, she said. “We contacted the RAB o� ce and police stations a number of times but no one has been able to give any positive answer until date.”

Kismat Hayath, director of RAB 1, told the media that they were quite sure that no one from the RAB 1 was in-

volved in it. He, however, said the elite force was investigating the matter.

Following the incident, the family members � led general diaries with Gul-shan, Tejgaon Industrial, Mugda and Badda police stations. Besides these, a case was � led with Bhatara police sta-tion accusing unidenti� ed people.

Sultana Kamal, formeradviser to a caretaker government and executive director of rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, who was present at the brie� ng demanded immediate rescue of the missing persons.

“Law enforcers do not belong to a group or party and they should trace all missing persons without giving priority to their political ideologies.”

Sultana Kamal said the law enforc-ers should be held accountable if they failed to maintain law and order.

Prominent lawyer Dr Shahdeen Malik and founder of Gonoshasthaya Kendra Zafrullah Chowdhury were also present at the brie� ng, among others.

In reply to a question, Dr Shahdeen Malik said, as per the constitution and

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 2014

Minister: Charge sheets in Rana Plaza cases soonn Rabiul Islam

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said charge sheets in the cases � led over last year’s deadly Rana Plaza collapse would be submitted soon.

The Home Ministry yesterday organ-ised a press conference to inform the newsmen about the government steps since the collapse until now. Before it commenced, the attendants observed one-minute silence to show respect to the victims.

Senior Secretary of the Home Min-istry CQK Mustaq Ahmed, IGP Has-san Mahmood Khandker and RAB DG Mokhlesur Rahman were also present.

About identifying vulnerable build-ings and demolishing them, Asaduz-zaman said preparation of making a list was underway and that 1,050 buildings had already been identi� ed.

At least 1,136 people, mainly female workers of � ve garment factories housed in the faulty Rana Plaza at Savar, died af-ter it had collapsed on April 24 morning last year. As many as 2,458 persons were rescued alive from under the rubbles.

The state minister said so far 21 persons who are accused in two cases – one � led by police for homicide and another by Rajuk for violating building code – had been arrested, and eight of

them secured bail from the High Court. “We have been working so that the

charge sheets are prepared properly,” the state minister said. “We hope to sub-mit the charge sheets soon to the court.”

Explaining the reason behind delay in submission of the charge sheets, Has-san Mahmood said: “Sometimes it takes time for investigation. However, we as-sure you that it will be possible to sub-mit the charge sheets very soon and the guilty persons will be brought to book.”

Rajuk � led a case on April 25 for breaching building construction act and building code while the murder case was � led the same day with Savar police station by Sub-Inspector Wali Ashraf.

Primarily, CID found 39 accused as per evidence. Investigators later put the total number of accused at 21 in the murder case and 12 in the other.

The prime accused in the police case and Rana’s father, Abdul Khalek, got bail in October. Eighteen other accused are now absconding.

Another murder case was � led with the Dhaka Judge’s Court by deceased garment worker Jahangir Alam’s wife Sheuli Akter. Two other cases were � led with Dhamrai police station under Arms Act by DB Inspector Shahin Shah Parvez. The CID started investigating the three cases soon after the incident. l

Two criminals held with arms in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion arrested two wanted criminals with weapons and ammunitions from Chit-tagong’s Raozan upazila early yester-day.

The arrested men, identi� ed as Ab-bas and Belal, were allegedly involved in kidnapping returning Bangladeshi expatriates to extract huge ransoms, Additional Superintendent of Police Mo� zul Islam, a spokesman for RAB 7, said.

Mo� zul told the Dhaka Tribune that acting on a tip-o� , the two suspects were picked up around 4:30am from a residence at Boro Thakur Para in the area.

The elite anti-crime unit seizedan AK-47 submachine gun with a maga-zine and 58 rounds of bullets, a light gun and three rounds of cartridges from their possession.

The RAB spokesman saidAbbas, who heads a criminal gang, is an ac-cused in at least 10 cases, including murder, lodged with di� erent police stations of the district.

“The duo used the name of the rul-ing party as their safeguard, but they are not activists of any political party,” he added. l

RMG workers stage protest at Baddan Manik Miazee

Hundreds of readymade garment work-ers yesterday held a demonstration at capital’s Badda demanding toughest pun-ishment to Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana and ensuring compensation for all a� ect-ed families of the catastrophic disaster.

The demonstration, which was called to observe the � rst anniversary of Rana Plaza tragedy, also demanded the clo-sure of the area’s Tuba Fashion which was housed in a building that recently developed cracks and higher salaries.

Not only Tuba Fashion, they also demanded the closure of all garments factories buildings where cracks had been witnesses.

Garments Workers’ Union President Alia Akhtar told the Dhaka Tribune: “We urge the government to award the toughest punishment to Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana. If he (Sohel) is not punished accordingly, then the coun-try’s garment sector will turn to ashtray.”

Over the last one year, cracks had been found in many RMG factory building, including Frame Sweater and SS Sweater Factory in Gazipur.

Just after the Rana Plaza collapse on April 24 last year, crack was reportedly found at Tuba Fashion Limited, which is housed at a 12 stories commercial building named Hossain Market at the capital’s North Badda. Tuba Fashion is part of a group that owned Tazreen Fashion, where a blaze killed around 117 workers on November 24, 2012.

“Actually, a pillar of the building had developed a minor crack a year ago. It had been repaired. A group of engineers had visited the building some 15 days ago,” said the building’s Shop Owners’ Associa-tion President Yusuf Khan. He, however, mentioned that he was yet to get the re-port from the engineering team.

BGMEA chief engineering Liakat Hossain told Dhaka Tribune that a team from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) had been conducting the inspection at respective building and has � nalised a report on the basis of their � ndings.

He further added a team of experts from the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment of the Ministry of Labour and Employment had visited the site some 15 days back.

“The BGMEA was yet to receive the outcome of the ministry’s inspection. However, if any problems are found with the inspection, we will take the matter seriously,” he added.

While contacted, Buet's Mehedi Ahmed Ansari said he cannot comment on the issue without having the report which is not possible before Sunday (April 27).

Meanwhile, BGMEA President Atiqur Islam said there may not be any life-threatening issue regarding the Tuba Fashion building.

“If there is any risk, we will close down the factory. Earlier, we had shut down around 21 factories and will do so for the same for this building if needed.”l

RANA PLAZA COLLAPSE

Eleven Labour Court cases stuck in tangles n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The trials in 11 cases � led with the La-bour Court following the Rana Plaza collapse have yet to begin even though one year has passed since the deadly incident took place.

The Labour Ministry lodged the cases against its owner Sohel Rana, his father Abdul Khaleque, and the owners and top o� cials of the � ve garment fac-tories housed in the building.

The eight-storeyed building situ-ated beside the Savar-Dhaka highway collapsed on the morning of April 24, last year, leaving at least 1,135 people, mostly workers of the � ve garment fac-tories housed in that faulty building, dead and over 2,500 injured.

The accused were charged with keeping the authorities in the dark over the appearance of cracks on the building before the collapse and with negligence in ensuring safety in the workplace.

As the trials have been delayed since the police have not submitted their re-

ports, the a� ected workers and labour rights leaders have expressed their doubt about whether justice will be achieved in time.

Of the 11 cases, Sakib Mubarrat, an inspector of the Labour Court, � led � ve cases on April 25, 2013 under the applicable sections of the Bangladesh Labour Law 2006. Md Shahidul Islam, another inspector, � led six separate cases on April 28.

The accused include Chairman Ba-zlus Samad Adnan and Executive Di-rector Delwar Ahmed of New Wave Bottoms and New Wave Style; Man-aging Director of New Wave Style Md Monir Hossain; Director of New Wave Bottoms AR Ayub Hossain; Chairman Aminul Islam and Managing Director David Mayor Rako of Phantom Tac and Phantom Apparels; Chairman of Ether-tex Md Anisur Rahman and its Director Md Nazrul Islam; Ethertex and Phan-tom Tac Director Jannatul Ferdous; Phantom Apparels directors ABM Sid-dique and Suraya Begum; and Director of Phantom Apparels Zafar Ahmed.

Of the accused, Delwar, Aminul, Suraya and Siddique are now out on bail while the court issued arrest war-rants for the other accused. But the warrants have not been executed as the accused are already in jail for other cas-es � led against them for homicide and � outing the building code.

Shah Alam, the bench assistant of the Labour Court, told the Dhaka Trib-une that the maximum punishment in such cases is four years’ imprisonment and a � ne of Tk1 lakh.

He also said: “Arrest warrants were issued against the accused including Sohel Rana and his father Abdul Kha-leque. But the Savar police did not submit the execution reports before the court as warrants are not executed against someone already in jail.”

Shahidul Islam, the inspector of the Factory and Establishment Directorate under the Labour Ministry who is deal-ing with the cases, claimed that the trials have been delayed as all the fac-tory owners have been in jail for other cases. l

A saga of heartrending stories PAGE 1 COLUMN 2seeking peace for the departed souls.

Khodeja Begum, who was injured in the accident, came on a wheelchair. She got � nancial help from various organisa-tions and was on her way to full recovery.

“I have come here to pay tribute to my colleagues, who died here. They were smashed under the pillars right in front of my eyes,” she described the ordeal.

Soon after, the agony of losing the loved ones turned into exasperation. A group of relatives started chanting slo-gans, demanding death sentence for Sohel Rana, the owner of the building who convinced the factory owners to force their workers into the factory on that day.

At one point, the Dhaka-Aricha Highway got clogged with the visitors.

They also chanted slogans demanding compensation for the victims and the families.

The Center for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) has been giving treat-ment to many victims of the collapse.

One such was Yunus Ali Sarder Yousuf, who su� ered some major in-juries while volunteering in the rescue operation. He has been taking treat-ment at the CRP for 11 months. He sang a song for this reporter.

“I used to be a theater artist. But the in-juries have not only robbed me of my abil-ity to sing, but also to move. I was released from the hospital only two days ago. My new life has begun on a wheelchair.

Everyone, who came to the place yesterday, had stories of their own to tell – all of those stories equally worthy. l

One pre-quali� ed PAGE 1 COLUMN 5giving them the work order because they are pre-quali� ed.”

The secretary also said the international consultant of the project and the technical evaluation committee had already started evaluating the proposal. “We will take the � nal decision after getting their recommendation and approval from government high-ups.”

The international tender for build-ing the main infrastructure of the bridge was � oated on Jun 30, 2013. In-itially, September 9 last year was set as the deadline for submission of tender.Later the timeline was extended twice – � rst until October 27 last year and then to March 24. l

Foreign envoys hail RMG reforms PAGE 1 COLUMN 5Bangladesh will never again � nd their lives forfeited at the altar of callous greed as workers’ lives are put at risk for undue pro� t.”

He also said that all of the powerful forces that came together to transform the country’s RMG sector will create a new way to do business in the sector to create a regimen that closes the door forever to another Rana Plaza disaster.

EU Ambassador William Hanna said: “Bangladesh’s ability to ensure safety and health at work, and free-dom of association must continue to improve. Bangladeshi authorities need to make sure that new legislation is ef-fectively implemented in practice, and that Bangladeshi industry keeps to its commitments in this respect.”

Speakers at the programme stressed the need for dealing with the issues of freedom of association and collective

bargaining agent in garment sector.Roy Ramesh Chandra, secretary

general of IndustriAll Bangladesh, said: “Rana Plaza was the result of combined failure of all stakeholders. US guidelines made it mandatory for brands to protect the safety of the gar-ments from where they are sourcing, but they didn’t follow it. Brands should pay compensation which is the rights of workers. Consumers have to play their role by contributing to the donor fund for compensation.”

He suggested creating welfare trust fund for RMG workers where brands, employers and government would con-tribute for retired garment workers.

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said: “Implementa-tion of legal changes and policies and coordination of all stakeholders is a must.” l

Capital experiences highest temperature in 54 years PAGE 1 COLUMN 3weather is a clear indication of chang-ing patterns of climate,” said Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Centre for Global Changes, adding that usually normal rainfall was ex-pected at this time.

In addition to irregular rainfall and rise in temperature, the frequency of depression in the Bay of Bengal also rose in the last decade, he told the Dha-ka Tribune yesterday.

Referring to the � ood in Germany and Pakistan, Ahsan said the whole world had been experiencing this ab-normal attitude of weather.

The searing subtropical heat started last month and has a� ected the whole

country, causing heat-related illness and prompting people to get admitted to hospitals.

A record number of 786 patients had been admitted to the ICDDRB in the last 24 hours and about 60% of them were infants su� ering from wa-ter-borne diarrhoeal diseases, said ICDDRB’s Chief Physician Sunil Kumar Bardhan yesterday evening.

Physicians suggest that people should drink plenty of � uids and re-main cautious while taking food to pre-vent heat-related illness. They also sug-gest avoiding being in the sun and using protection such as sunglasses, umbrella and cap while going out in daytime.

The highest temperature in the

country in the past 10 years was re-corded 43.2 degrees Celsius in Jessore in 2009; however, the highest temper-ature recorded in the country’s history was 45.1 degrees on May 18, 1972.

Despite Dhaka’s comparatively lower temperature, it feels much hotter than in other areas of the country, which the meteorologists attribute to the capital’s high population density, fewer plan-tation and a large number of concrete structures that contain the heat.

Many people are seen buying sea-sonal fruits – green coconut and wa-termelon – although a� ording them goes beyond the ability of poor people as the prices go soaring along with the temperature. l

Survivors’ trauma largely unaddressed PAGE 1 COLUMN 6The results are even more disastrous for these people, who struggle relent-lessly to get rid of the poverty jinx. The government’s indi� erence towards such predicaments often results in trig-gering suicidal tendencies, leaving en-tire families in rags and many of them losing their livelihoods altogether.

Razibul Rahman Kari, 20, was a sewing machine operator in one of the factories inside the Rana Plaza. He was pinned by a heavy slab after the build-ing came down.

A volunteer might have pulled him from under the rubble, but in his mind, he has never quite been out.

After he went home, he tried to break one of the walls in his room. When his mother would ask him to eat food, he would say he could not be-cause he was trying to break the wall to rescue himself.

The young man also tried to kill him-self twice.

A recent study by ActionAid Bangla-

desh has found that 24% of the survi-vors and the rescue workers have been su� ering from traumas of di� erent scales.

They either have di� culty sleeping or get uncontrollable � ts. Their phobia of multi-storeyed buildings, concrete roofs and darkness has been hurting them.

Many of them see dead bodies in their dreams. The haunting memories severely encumber the performance of those who have new jobs.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), with support from the World Health Organisation, provided psychological � rst-aid, counselling and medicine to around 4,000 survivors af-ter the collapse. But a good number of the a� ected remain unattended.

“The activities ended on Novem-ber 30 last year due to an absence of funds,” said NIMH Director Waziul Alam Chowdhury.

Many of the traumatised survivors have turned to local doctors and their

conditions have gotten even worse. There are still over 100 deeply trauma-tised workers who need to be admitted for psychological treatment, the study says.

“But they are not coming to the hos-pitals,” Waziul regretted.

“Providing psychological support to the disaster victims is new in our coun-try. Family members do not bother about these problems. Apart from the survivors, a total of 78 rescuers have received treatment from us,” he said.

According to doctors, seven of them su� ered from acute stress disorder, 23 from post-traumatic stress disorder, � ve from bipolar mood disorder, four from conversion disorder, two from general anxiety disorder, one from pan-ic attacks, one from drug addiction and one su� ered from manic disorder. Six of them were admitted to the NIMH.

Waziul said many of the workers who had mental illness were yet to be addressed. They should be treated as soon as possible. l

Immediate rescue PAGE 1 COLUMN 5the laws of the land, the law enforc-ers must place arrestees before a court within 24 hours of his/her arrest.

Zafrullah said people should raise their voice against disappearance. The lawyers needed to take courageous role in such cases.

At the same brie� ng, Mohammad Abdul Latif, father of another missing person, urged the government to bring his son back.

He said some people identifying them as Detective Branch of Police of-� cials had taken away his son Moham-mad Ashiqur Rahman, 25, on March 27.

A general diary was � led with Ram-na police station in this regard and an application was also submitted to the state minister of home a� airs.

Following the media brie� ng, the families formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club demanding that their missing near and dear ones be rescued immediately. l

An RMG Workers' Union leader stands on a barricade and addresses a rally near National Eidgah yesterday, demanding compensation for the victims, full trade union facilities and implementation of the increased wages. The rally was marching towards the BGMEA building when it was intercepted by the police RAJIB DHAR

University student dies; father accuses roommates n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Mystery shrouded centring the death of a private university student who succumbed to burn injuries early yes-terday in the capital.

His roommates at a mess in Dakkh-inkhan area said the victim, Shohag Mia, 26, was burnt when he had come into close contact of an electric wire on the rooftop on April 18 morning.

Police believed the roommates’ ver-sion but were analysing other possible reasons.

It is learnt that the wire was at least nine feet far from the edges of the roof-top.

The father of the victim, however, said Shohag was burnt while sleeping in his room and accused the room-mates of setting him on � re.

Mohammad Saiful, sub-inspector of Dakkhinkhan police station, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We sent the body for a post mortem examination as the victim’s father � led a complaint with

us. We are looking for the roommates as they went into hiding soon after the incident.”

Shohagh was a BBA � nal year stu-dent at Queens University in the capi-tal. He hails from Herondopara of Del-ghor of Tangail. He is the son of Abdus Salam, a tea stall owner.

“Shohagh Mia died with 80% burn injury. His respiratory system was also damaged from the burns,” Dr Iqbal Ahmed, registrar of the burn and plas-tic surgery unit at Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Salam told the Dhaka Tribune that he used to send hard-earned money to his son for studies. Shohagh was the eldest among six children.

While undergoing treatment, Sho-hagh told him in low voice that his two roommates Sarowar and Mehedi along with house owner Khorshed Alam had gone for a walk at a nearby rail track in the night of April 17 and stayed there until 3am.

Later he came back home and slept

until 10am when he felt that his body was burning. Hearing him screaming, Sarowar and Mehedi came and took him to a clinic in Uttara area, Salam said.

The father came to Dhaka hearing the incident and paid Tk59,000 as hos-pital bill. “I admitted my son to Dhaka Medical College Hospital at 9pm on April 19. But he died while undergoing

treatment.” Although Shohag’s body was caught

� re while sleeping, his roommates claimed that he had been burnt on the rooftop as he came into close contact of an electric wire. “I � led a case with Dakkhinkhan police soon after the in-cident but the police also said same version as they took huge money from them.” l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 2014

Amu: BNP’s Teesta long march new strategyn Emran Hossain Shaikh

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu yesterday said the long march of the BNP towards Teesta was its fresh polit-ical strategy.

“After failing to distort the coun-try’s history, BNP announced the long march as part of its new strategy. However, the party failed again and achieved no success this time either,” Amu, also a member of the ruling Awa-mi League’s advisory body, said while addressing a discussion at Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in the capital.

The BNP had done nothing about Teesta water sharing when it was in power, he said.

Referring to the Ganges Water Pact and settlement of maritime bound-ary, the minister claimed: “All the achievements of Bangladesh, both at national and international level, were

made during the rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. No development was done under other governments.”

He also said BNP Senior Vice-chair-man Tarique Zia’s controversial claim on the � rst president of Bangladesh should not be taken seriously.

Awami League Joint General Secre-tary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif criticised BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir for his assertion that water � ow in Teesta increased as a result of the party’s long march.

“You [Fakhrul] should continue the long march if water � ow really in-creased in Teesta because of it,” he said.

Water problems would be solved once the new government in India took o� ce following the ongoing general elections there.

The discussion was arranged by Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad mark-ing the Mujibnagar Day. l

By-polls to 97 unions on May 27n Mohammad Zakaria

By-elections will be held at 97 Union Parishads in 46 districts on May 27.

The Election Commission yesterday issued a circular on this, said its Senior Assistant Secretary Farhad Hossain.

In the circular, all the relevant district election o� cials have been asked to appoint returning o� cers informing the Commission, he said.

This by-election procedure will not be di� erent from that of the Local Government (Union Parishad) Election, 2010, said Farhad quoting from the circular.

A Union Parishad has a chairman, nine members (per ward) and three women members (per three wards) directly elected by voters of the Union. l

Next witness in Qaisar case April 28n Udisa Islam

The defence of Syed Mohammad Qais-ar yesterday ended cross-examination of the eighth prosecution witness who said the accused was responsible for the abduction and murder of his father. The International Crimes Tribunal 2 ad-journed the hearing until April 28.

Wounded freedom � ghter Shah Hussain Ali alias Sabu Mia, 63, testi� ed against the former Jatiya Party state minister on April 22. He said his leg had been crippled following the torture of Qaisar and his cohorts at a camp.

During the cross-examination, the witness apologised several times for taking much time to narrate the inci-dents. He was overwhelmed to get the opportunity to elaborate the crimes committed by Qaisar Bahini led by the accused in Habiganj during the war.

The defence counsels asked him about time and place of the incidents

that he had mentioned in his deposition. They tried to create controversy about his identity as freedom � ghter since he does not get any allowance. But the wit-ness claimed that his name had been included through gazette during HM Ershad’s regime. In response to another query, Sabu Mia said he had � led a case against Qaisar in Habiganj in 1972, but it had no further development. “After 1975, there was no scope to continue any case � led against the war criminals.”

The witness identi� ed Qaisar in the dock. During the proceedings, Sabu Mia expressed satisfaction at least three times to Almighty Allah for making him able to tell the tribunal about the days of torture in 1971.

The tribunal indicted Qaisar on Feb-ruary 2 on 16 charges of crimes against humanity he had allegedly committed in and around Habiganj to help the Paki-stani occupation forces on the pro-liber-ation people. l

Gas cylinder blast injures 25 at Chankharpul n Kailash Sarkar

At least 25 people have been injured as a gas cylinder burst at Chankharpul next to Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday.

Three of them have been critically injured. Several business houses were also damaged due to the explosion at Kazi Gas Co around 12:30pm, said po-lice, � remen and witnesses.

The shop, situated on an open space beside the road, sells compressed am-monium gas, which is used in storing gold.

At least 19 of the injured were ad-mitted to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of the hospital, said its Registrar Dr Iqbal Ahmed, talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

The victims include employees

of di� erent shops in the area, rick-shaw-pullers and pedestrians.

They were Shyamal Kumer Mondol, 30, Md Ripon, 25, Sabbir Ahmmed, 23, Parul Begum, 25, Shamsur Rahman, 35, Md Shahed, 25, Zahirul Islam, 30, Khokan MIah, 45, Azizur Rahman, 39, Shushil Kumer, 25, six-year-old child Meem, her mother Moni Begum, 40, Swapan, 30, Shahidul Huq, 42, Rahim Mollah, 34, Moklesur Rahman, 28, Ab-dur Rahman, 32, and Safura Begum, 32.

All the injured, admitted to the hos-pital, have been put on oxygen as they were injured due to smoke/gas inhala-tion, said Registrar Iqbal.

Chawkbazar police station’s o� -cer-in-charge Abdur Rashid said, “Af-ter talking to relevant people, we have learnt that this cylinder exploded due to heavy heat inside.” l

Ershad’s radar graft case at last stagen Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday set May 15 for examination of the � ve accused – for-mer military dictator HM Ershad and four others – in connection with the radar purchase corruption case � led in 1992.

On that day, the court will examine the accused whether they are guilty or not, after taking di� erent points from the statements of 12 prosecution wit-nesses.

Divisional Special Court Judge Md Abdur Rashid set the date after re-cording cross-examination of the last prosecution witness in the case, Abdus Sattar Sarker. Ershad’s counsel Sheikh Sirajul Islam questioned him.

An Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director, Sattar is the investiga-tion o� cer of the case.

A special envoy to the prime minis-ter and Jatiya Party chief Ershad was

not present during the proceedings. His lawyer represented him at the court. Two other accused – former Air Force chiefs Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Sultan Ahmed and Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed were in the dock.

Deposition of prosecution witnesses began on August 19, 2010 with plainti� Md Ali Haider, assistant superinten-dent of now-defunct Anti-Corruption Bureau. His testimony ended on March 1, 2012.

Haider � led the case with Canton-ment police station of the capital on April 4, 1992. Investigation O� cer Manzur Ahmed, an o� cial of the Bu-reau, pressed the charges against the � ve on October 27, 1994, and named 38 people as prosecution witnesses.

On August 12, 1995, the charges were framed against the accused. But, the trial proceedings at the lower court had been stalled for a long time upon an order of the High Court.

The case details say Ershad while serving as president had purchased radar for the Air Force by abusing pow-er and in collusion with the four oth-ers causing the state a loss of around Tk64.04 crore.

Another accused – Director of Unit-ed Traders AKM Musa – has been ab-sconding since the beginning of the trial. The name of Shazed Ali, propri-etor of the � rm, was dropped from the charge sheet. l

Hili port remains closed for Lok Sabha pollsn Our Correspondent, Dinajpur

The land port of Hili under Dinajpur district was kept closed yesterday because of the Lok Sabha polls in India’s West Bengal and North Dinajpur districts.

However, people with passports were allowed to pass through the immigration check post.

General Secretary of the port’s C&F Agents’ Association Abdur Rahman Liton quoted Indian C&F Agents’ Association General Secretary Ashok Kumar Mal as saying the authorities had decided to keep the port activities suspended on Thursday to assist the Lok Sabha polling. Port activities will resume tomorrow as Friday is weekly holiday, sources said.

Assistant Manager of Panama Hili Port Link Limited SM Hayder said loading and unloading in Bangladeshi side of the port would continue these two days. l

ROW OVER OWNERSHIP

No new Grameen Bank branch in 2 years n Asif Showkat Kallol

The authority of Grameen Bank could not open any new branch in last two years because of a row with the gov-ernment over its management and ownership.

Grameen Bank data showed that the micro-credit organisation failed to set up new branch o� ces in last two years since March 2012 despite good credit recovery rate.

O� cial sources said the GB author-ity sent the latest data on the bank to Bank and Financial Institutions Divi-sion last week.

Grameen Bank had a total of 2,567 branches till March in 2012 while 2,565 branches in 2010. Only two branches opened during this period.

The loan recovery rate of GB was 97.37% in March 2014 while it was 97.11% in March 2013, according to GB data.

The number of total members of GB

had also increased from 84 lakh to 86 lakh in last one year, the data show.

Tahsina Khatun, one of the nine borrower members of the existing board, told the Dhaka Tribune that no new branch o� ces had opened in last two years due to the dispute between the government and the Grameen Bank authority. “So, it puts negative impact on operation of the bank.”

Ordinary members of Grameen Bank have also expressed their con-cern over the row between the GB and the government, she said, adding that manpower will be required for setting up a new branch o� ce, but the process has now been stalled on the instruc-tions of the board of directors.

Khondaker Muzammel Huq, chair-man of Grameen Bank appointed by the government, told the Dhaka Tri-bune that he resigned his chairman-ship of the bank in last August.

“I cannot talk about the mac-

ro-credit institution. Even I do not know whether the institution was do-ing good or bad in last couple of years,” he added.

The � nance minister did not accept his resignation, he said. “The govern-ment knows better about the matter.”

Tahsina Khatun, however, claimed that Khondaker Muzammel Huq did not resign his post as he chaired the board meeting of GB on January 29.

The board of directors of GB last week protested the government’s move to elect a new board of the mi-cro-lender by October 5, terming it “a conspiracy to destroy” the bank.

“We, the elected directors, strongly protest the government’s conspiracy to destroy Grameen Bank and demand that the existing system through which the bank members have been electing their directors for more than three de-cades, be retained,” said a bank state-ment recently. l

WORLD MALARIA DAY TODAY

Malaria still a burdenn Tazlina Zamila Khan

As many as 13.1 million people are cur-rently at high risk of contracting malar-ia in the country. Last year, the number of a� ected people was 25,891, while 15 died from the disease.

The statistics was revealed in the re-cently released annual report of Brac’s Malaria Control Programme.

According to the report, malaria contraction is largely concentrated in 13 districts in Bangladesh. Among them, Bandarban, Khagrachhari, Ran-gamati and Cox’s Bazar see 80% of the reported deaths caused by malaria ev-ery year during two peak times: Before monsoon (March-May) and after mon-soon (September-November).

The other endemic districts are: Chittagong, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Moul-vibazar, Habiganj, Mymensingh, Ne-trokona, Sherpur and Kurigram.

Dr M Moktadir Kabir, programme manager of Malaria Health at Brac, said: “In order to eradicate malaria, we have to � nd all the malaria patients in Bangladesh.”

Compared to the capital, the num-ber of patients is high in the endemic districts, according to Dr Kabir.

However, the number was a lot less

than before, he said.“Malaria is not only our problem,

but also a problem in India. Some of the people who illegally cross borders carry malaria into our country. We need to diagnose and treat them as well,” Dr Kabir added.

As the Brac report states, despite global e� ort, malaria is still at large around the world and a signi� cant threat to world population. The dis-ease disproportionately a� ects poor nations, especially the rural and the socio-economically disadvantaged population. About 219 million malar-ia cases were diagnosed in 2010 glob-ally, of which 6,60,000 died. Most of the children who died were under � ve years of age.

Dr Md Kamar Rezwan, national professional o� cer of Vector Borne Disease at World Health Organisation Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune that malaria patients needed early di-agnosis and prompt treatment.

“We have to provide treatment to the people who live in the remote ar-eas, and children and pregnant wom-en should be given special care. The population of anopheles mosquitoes that spread malaria is bigger in those districts. To eradicate the disease, we have to remove the mosquitoes,” he said.

Dr Mohammad Zahirul Karim, dep-uty programme manager of Nation-al Malaria Control Programme, said: “The government is in talks with the army about providing medical help to the remote areas in the country as voluntary work is di� cult to provide in those areas. It is tough to eradicate the disease fully, but it has reduced a lot than before.”

He added: “As we share borders with Myanmar and India, the government needs to take joint initiatives with our neighbours to eradicate malaria. Oth-erwise, it is going to be very di� cult as mosquitoes travel across the borders.” l

Malaria situation in 13 endemic districts of Bangladesh

Years 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Number of malaria cases 59857 84690 63873 55873 51795 29518 8719

Number of deaths 228 154 47 37 36 11 15

A platform of woven garment owners BGMEA brings out a condolence rally in the capital yesterday, marking the one year of the collapse of Rana Plaza that housed � ve factories MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Ershad while serving as president purchased radar for the Air Force in collusion with the four other accused causing the state a loss of around Tk64 crore

Spotlight4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 2014

Fateful April 24The catastrophic collapse of the Rana Plaza on April 24 a year back took lives of 1,136. Over 2,000 were injured – of them some have been rehabilitated in one way or another, and yet some are left with no choice but to su� er what fate brought to them. In the last two days, the air at the site became heavy with wails of the relatives of the victims, their demands for justice and compensation. Commemorative programmes took place throughout the capital, especially at the Rana Plaza site and Jurain graveyard.

People held candle-light prayer, brought � owers to pay their love and respect to the victims. Mothers brought their infants who will have no memory of their fathers – except for the photographs portraying their faces. Relatives still fumbled through the remaining debris, looking for any belongings of their loved ones. In spite of all the agonies, survivors look forward to a normal life.

PHOTOS: SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:14am Sunrise 5:32am Jumma 11:58am Asr 4:25pm Magrib 6:23pm Esha 7:42pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Source: Accuweather/UNB

SUNNY

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A Y

Dhaka 35 27

Chittagong 36 27

Rajshahi 40 27

Rangpur 39 25

Khulna 40 25

Barisal 40 27

Sylhet 41 24

Cox’s Bazar 35 27

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:24PM SUN RISES 5:28AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW42.4ºC 19.7ºCJessore Srimangal

WEATHER

FRIDAY, APRIL 25

CTG EIGHT MURDER

Appellate Division upholds acquittal of Shibir cadres n Tribune Report

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday did not put stay order on a High Court verdict that acquitted four death row convicts, sentenced for the killing of eight activists of Bangla-desh Chhatra League in Bahaddarhat of Chittagong in 2000.

Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, chamber judge of the top court, passed the order following a petition of the state. So the acquitted persons can be released from jail, Deputy Attorney General Moniruz-zaman Rubel told the Dhaka Tribune.

He, however, said after the release of full text of the High Court verdict of April 17, the state would move the Appellate

Division by lodging a regular appeal. The case says activists of Ja-

maat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir opened � re on the mem-bers of ruling party’s student front who were on a microbus on July 12, 2000 centring establishment of supremacy on Government Commercial Institute of Chittagong campus.

The shooting killed the eight Chha-tra League men including vice-presi-dent of the unit Hasibur Rahman Helal. 

Sazzad Hossain Khan, Alamgir Kabir, Azam and Md Solaiman were handed down death penalty on March 27, 2008.

Sazzad reportedly � ed to India in 2004 but was nabbed in 2012. Proce-dures are underway to bring him back. l

Local centre for CRP trainers to serve Rana Plaza victims n Tribune Report

Orthotics and Prosthetics School for the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Par-alysed (CRP) trainers started its maid-en journey in the country yesterday in a bid to give local training facilities to especially help the permanent disabled in Rana Plaza disaster along with oth-ers.

Roswitha Amels, � rst Secretary from the German Embassy, inaugurat-ed the training centre at the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) situated in Savar, which will run with the � nance of CRP, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the German Development Cooperation.

The task of CRP professional train-ers is to teach the use of arti� cial limbs

to the permanent disabled so that they e� ectively get accustomed to the in-struments.

At present, the professionals have to go abroad to get training in this regard.

During the inauguration, Amels said the German government was commit-ted to give 2.5 mn Euro to the Rana Pla-za Building collapse victims and their family members, and her government would also give support to the CRPs.

Through the school, the disabled would get professional training so that they can establish small businesses outside the garment industry.

Moreover, German Development Cooperation is going to support 500 Rana Plaza victims as well as 1,500 RMG workers by providing them sew-ing operator and � oor supervisory training. l

Nasim invites foreign investors to health sectorn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Health minister Mohammed Nasim has invited potential foreign investors to invest in Bangladesh’s health sector, of-fering them a bureaucratic hassle-free experience as well as free-of-cost lands and necessary support from the gov-ernment in the shortest possible time.

He made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration of Omron Health Care Bangladesh Ltd, a Japan-based manufacturer of health equipments and health management software, at the city’s Hotel Sonargaon on Wednesday.

Also present there, State Minister for Health Zahid Malek urged Omron to make arrangements for starting pro-duction in Bangladesh so that people would be able to a� ord the products at a� ordable prices.

Minoru Yoshimura, chairman of Om-ron Health Care Bangladesh, said the company’s mission was to contribute to the Bangladeshi people’s health and

to prevent lifestyle diseases. He said Omron’s products include automatic blood pressure monitor, ultrasonic and compressor nebulisers, digital pencil and ear thermometers, digital weight scales and body composition monitors, and electronic nerves stimulators.

Omron representatives at the pro-gramme also claimed that the company controlled over 51% of the worldwide market share of high-tech blood pres-sure monitors.

Among others, the programme was attended Bangladesh Medical Associ-ation President Dr Mahmudul Hasan, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Pran Gopal Datta, and Hiroyuki Mi-nami, minister at Embassy of Japan, were present at the programme.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Omron also met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday and donated 2,000 blood pressure monitors and 1,000 sugar calculators for use at di� er-ent community clinics. l

Six injured in BCL factional clash at CU n CU Correspondent

At least six BCL activists were injured in a factional clash on Chittagong Uni-versity campus around 12:30pm yester-day when police detained 11 of them for interrogation.

Witnesses said the clash erupt-ed following an altercation between the senior and the junior activists of “Ekakar”, a shuttle train compart-ment-based faction of BCL in “Jupri” area of Social Science Faculty.

At one point of altercation, a group equipped with wooden sticks and iron rods attacked another, leaving six indi-viduals injured.

The injured were Proshenjit of An-thropology Department, Imran Hossain of Economics Department, Nazmul of Journalism Department and Tanvir and Jahangir of Law Department – all were in their sophomore year. The injured received � rst aid at CU medical centre.

On information, proctor and police came in and nabbed 11 BCL men from the spot. l

POBA’S SURVEY IN CHITTAGONG

Water bodies contaminated to alarming level n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Water bodies in Chittagong, including Karnaphuli and Halda rivers, are being polluted at an alarming level and will pose a threat to biodiversity if it con-tinues, said Poribesh Bachao Andolan (Poba) leaders yesterday.

Foods contaminated with formalin, which are being sold in the markets of the port city in violation of laws, are causing many diseases, they said.

Poba leaders were addressing a press brie� ng at Chittagong Press Club around 11am. It was arranged to reveal the � ndings of a two-day rapid survey conducted by Poba on the port city’s

water bodies and markets on April 22 and 23.

Poba Joint Secretary and keynote speaker Engineer Md Abdus Sobhan said the amount of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) should be six milligrams per litre or more in river water if it was to be used as drinking water.

“But the DO is between 3.37 and 6.37 milligrams per litre in Karnaphuli and it is less than � ve milligrams where in-dustrial waste is being discharged,” he said, adding that the standard value of DO was not found in Halda which might be the reason for many wa-ter-borne diseases.

Poba survey team visited nine big markets in Chittagong and found that

most of the food items, especially car-rost, grapes, bananas, mangos, pine-apples, apples and lychee, contained large quantities of formalin.

“Vegetables and fruits that are rip-ened arti� cially have very detrimental e� ects on our body,” said President of Sachetan Nagarik Committee Dr Provat Chandra Barua.

Food sellers and producers use chemical colours in vast quantities instead of food colour sin many food products as the latter is costlier and is also harmful for humans, he said.

Speakers suggested proper imple-mentation of existing environment and food laws and raising awareness among people to get rid of the problems. l

Drive against un� t vehicles from M ay Owners to get six more months to replace old vehicles n Mohosinul Karim

Despite a government plan to crack down on un� t vehicles in the capital from next month, owners of public transports will get six more months to replace their rundown vehicles to avert transport shortages.

The decision was taken by the road transport advisory council yesterday at a meeting, held at the communication ministry’s conference room.

After the meeting, Communication Minister Obaidul Quader, who heads the council, said, “Although we have taken a decision to withdraw all unfit public transports, it would not be possible to remove all at one time. That would affect the transport sector.”

Admitting that Dhaka faced shortag-es of public transport, the minister said the number of buses in the city had fall-en to 4,000 from 7,000.

The capital is home to more than 15 million people, according to o� cial statistics.

“We should remove un� t vehicles from the city after arranging adequate

replacements. So, we will give six months’ time to replace them,” the minister said, adding, “We will ensure that un� t transports do not run in the city after that time.”

The council also decided to form a taskforce to implement its decisions.

The taskforce, to be led by the chair-man of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, will monitor and take neces-sary steps to remove un� t vehicles and evict illegal occupiers from city roads to ease tra� c problems.

Quader said the authorities would start a drive in the city from next month to prevent accidents, remove un� t transports, eliminate tra� c con-gestions and evict illegal occupiers.

At present, the system is dually con-trolled by the police and the two city corporations.

The operation of tra� c signals would get easier under DMP’s control, Quader said.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, State Minister for Cooperatives Mashi-ur Rahman Ranga, transport leaders and members of law enforcement agencies attended the meeting. l

Thousands relish horse racing in Gopalganj n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

Thousands of people have enjoyed a two-day horse racing at Latenga � eld in Gopalganj’s Kotaliparha, marking New Bengali Year, 1421.

Former Upazila Chairman Bimal Krishna Biswas inaugurated the event organised by people from Latenga vil-lage on Tuesday.

Thirteen horses from Gopalganj, Narail, Madaripur, Bagerhat, Satkhira and Khulna took part in the racing event that ended on Wednesday.

The horse of Mohammad Sheikh hailing from Tekerhat in Madaripur became champions in the horse racing.

“I take care of my horse all the year round and also feed it special food ev-

ery day. I also train it to run a race,” said Mohammad Sheikh.

Retired teacher Tarani Kanti Adhikari, who was the chief guest on the prize-giving ceremony, gave away the prize to the owner of the champion horse.

A sixty-year-old man, Chhaya Biswas came to enjoy the event along with his grand children on Wednesday.

Hailing from Naiyarbarhi, a nearby village, he said, “I come to enjoy this event along with my grand children ev-eryyear. It increases harmony among people.”

Over 100 shops were put up at the venue over the two days, when locals did a brisk business selling sweets, pu� ed rice and things made up of bam-boos, canes, clay and wood. l

Road crasheskill three in Chittagongn CU Correspondent

At least three persons were killed and another was injured in separate road mishaps in AK Khan area in the city and Patiya upazila in Chittagong early yesterday.

The deceased were identified as MdRubel, 26, and Imam Hossen,24, of Sitakunda upazila and Hazi Ahmed, 65, of Satkania upazila, said police sources.

Sub-Inspector of Pahartalipolice station MdSahjahansaid the helper of a mini-truck was killed on the spot and the driver injured critically as the vehicle hit a covered van from behind on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in New Mansurabad area around 3am.

On receiving information, police recovered the body and sent it to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital for autopsy, added the SI.

Meanwhile, the driver and a passen-ger were killed as a pick-up van hit a ce-ment laden truck on Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar Highway at Patiya upazila.

Sub-inspector (SI) Fakrul Islam of Highway police outpost at Patiya crossing said the pick-up van was twisted after being hit with a truck of Diamond Cement Ltd that was parked on the highway in ChakrashalaBhay-erDigirpar area, leaving the duo dead on the spot.

A case was lodged with Patiya police station in this connection, added the SI. l

Locals enjoy horse racing at Latenga � eld in Kotaliparha of Gopalganj yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Roswitha Amels, � rst secretary from German Embassy, left, inaugurates a centre for CRP trainers to serve Rana Plaza victims in Savar yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 2014

Barguna SP, OC among 5 cops sued for false cases, bribery n Our Correspondent, Barguna

A case was launched here yesterday against the Barguna Superintendent of Police and the Sadar police station OC, as well as three other police o� cials, on a charge of � ling false cases to harass peo-ple and demanding bribes from them.

Retired BGB member Mukhlesur Rahman, a resident of the Lotabaria vil-lage in Sadar upazila, � led the case with the Barguna Senior Judicial Magistrate Court in the morning, whose judge Mai-nuddin Noman took on the case.

The accused are the Barguna SP Shaymal Kumar Nath, the sadar po-

lice station OC (investigation) Pulak Chandra Rai and two Sis from the same police station, Jahidul Islam and Zafar Hossain, and ASI Badal Mridha.

According to the statement, the ac-cused, being biased toward certain locals, � led a total of ten false cases against Mukhlesur’s kith and kin. They had been harassing them in such a way for a very long time.

Later, they demanded Tk50,000 as a bribe for closing those cases.

When contacted, the SP said the incident occurred due to a misunder-standing with the plainti� , stating, “We are trying to solve it.” l

Groundwater level falls in Rajbarin Our Correspondent, Rajbari

The people of the district have to face an acute crisis of drinking water in the current summer season because of drastic fall in groundwater level.

River, ponds, canals, open wetlands and the other water reservoirs have vir-tually gone waterless.

District Fisheries O� cer (DFO) Rat-tan Dutta said:”Scanty rainfall and scorching heat are causing habitat degradation a� ecting productivity of the water bodies.”

The scorching heat has drastically reduced the attendance in the school and college and most of the town people now stay indoors, making the streets deserted at the noon.

Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension o� ce sources said they had recorded the temperature of 42-43 degree Celsius on Wednesday.

He also said the open water bodies were important not only for the � sh production but also for human beings.

Bangladesh Power Development Board(BPDB) Executive Engineer Md Serajul Islam said:”The demand for power in the district is about 16-18MW but we are getting only 10-11MW dur-ing peak hours.”

He also said the demand of power supply had increased due to heat wave but the supply had decreased.

As a result, the people were facing

huge load shedding which was causing su� erings to Boro farmers and HSC ex-aminees, he added.

Villagers sometimes are not getting drinking water from tube wells. A little

amount water is coming out through ir-rigation equipment at boro � eld.

Serajul said the ground water level in some parts of the district went down by 20-25 ft more than its usual level.

River Padma, Goari,Hori , Chan-dana, Kumerits are now nearly dead.

Due to severe hit and lack of drink-ing water, children and old people are su� ering from many diseases. l

Yaba trader arrested after gun� ght with police n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

Police have arrested a yaba trader who received bullet wounds during gun-� ght with law enforcers in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar.

Syed Nur, 26, belongs to the Roh-ingya community and is the son of late Md Sultan, who lived at an unauthor-ised Rohingya refugee camp at Leda in Nila union of Teknaf. He was arrested on Wednesday night.

Police and yaba traders � red at least 20 rounds at each other during the gun battle at Alikhali in Teknaf around 11:30pm on Wednesday. Police have claimed to recover a home gun, two rounds of fresh cartridges and 2,000

pieces of yaba pills from the scene. The gun� ght left Assistant Sub-in-

spector Joynal Abedin, police consta-ble Jasim Uddin and Mahmudul Haque wounded. “Yaba traders began � ring at us when a team of police led by me ar-rived on the scene after being informed about yaba tra� cking,” said o� cer-in-charge of Teknaf Model police station Ranjit Kumar Barua.

“We responded by � ring at the trad-ers to protect us and the gun� ght last-ed for nearly half an hour,” he said.

Bullet-hit Syed Nur, who has a crim-inal record against him, was found at the scene when yaba traders � nally backed o� , Ranjit said, adding that he was sent to hospital for treatment. l

Minor found dead in Chuandanga n Our Correspondent, Chuadanga

Police recovered the body of a four-year-old girl from a pond at Joyrampur village in Damurhuda upazila here yesterday.

The dead is Helena, daughter of Helal Uddin, of Manirampur village of the upazila.

Damurhuda police station OC Sikder Mashiur Rahman said Helena’s mother Hajera Khatun and her second husband Jahangir Alam have been loggerheads for long over sending the minor girl else-where as she was from her � rst marriage.

Following the incident, Jahan-gir went out of house taking Helena around 11pm on Tuesday night and since then they had been missing.

Later, local � shermen spotted the body in a pond around 6am on the fol-lowing day and informed police who recovered the body and sent it to Chua-danga sadar hospital morgue. l

Mobile court destroys formalin laced fruits n Our Correspondent, Chuadanga

A mobile court in Chuadanga destroyed around 5,000 pieces of watermelons and 10kg grapes because of excessive use of formalin in the district’s Boro Bazar on Wednesday.

In the drive, the court also � ned 12 fruit sellers in the market for using ex-cessive formalin in the fruits.

Chuadanga Executive Magistrate Mohammad Mokhlesur Rahman said excessive amount of formalin in the fruits were con� rmed following forma-lin tests in the market.

The drive began in the evening, add-ing that executive magistrates Moham-mad Reza Hasan and Sarker Ashim Ku-mar were present during the drive, he added. l

Sramik Dal leader murdered in Pabna n Our Correspondent, Pabna

A local leader of Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, an associate body of BNP, was hacked to death by unknown miscre-ants at Hyderpur village of Atghoria upazila here yesterday.

  The deceased, identi� ed as Md Ripon Hossain, 32, was secretary of Pabna district unit Shramik Dal.

 Atghoria police station OC Seikh Le-lin Alamgir said a gang of unidenti� ed miscreants hacked Ripon, a resident of Poida village in sadar upazila, indiscrim-inately at Hyderpur village in the morn-ing as he was visiting a piece of his land there, leaving him critically injured.

  He was whisked o� to Atghoria Upazila Health Complex where duty-doctors declared him dead. Being in-formed, police recovered the body and sent it to the morgue of Pabna Medical College Hospital for an autopsy.

“Political opponents of Ripan might have killed him,” the OC suspected, saying no case was � led in the incident as of � ling this report yesterday evening. l

DROUGHT IN KURIGRAM

Uncertainty looms over jute production target n Our Correspondent, Kurigram

A prolonged drought in Kurigram is taking a heavy toll on farmers as they are unable to cultivate jute along with other crops. This is not only raising jute cultivation cost for farmers but has also put production target at risk.

Although the period of sowing jute seeds is almost over, a vast amount of land is still left uncultivated. It is two weeks into Baishakh but rainfall is still awaited. Soil in the lands has dried up and has turned into dust because of the sizzling heat wave.

Farmers have sown jute seeds but those are not sprouting despite irriga-tion. Besides, seeds that are sprouting are dying fast because of lack of water in the soil. Many farmers have sown

seeds multiple times in the same � eld but to no avail. Meanwhile, Boro, corn and vegetables � elds are required to be irrigated every day.

Department of Agricultural Exten-sion sources say as per the target of this year, jute will be cultivated in 24,421 hectares of land. However, cultivation has so far been done on only 11,000 hectares. Of the 1,62,288 hectares of land in the district, the amount of land dependent on irrigation stands at 1,40,772 hectares.

Although it is mid-Baishakh, farm-ers are forced to cultivate a large area of land through irrigation. Yet, there are many jute � elds that have been left uncultivated.

According to government statis-tics, 45,094 pumps, including low-lift

pumps and deep as well as shallow tube wells, are required for irrigation purposes in the district, though only 36,581 are available. A severe irrigation

crisis now exists as irrigation pumps are increasingly going out of order be-cause the water table has gone deep down. Weeds and di� erent diseases of

jute seeds have developed in the � elds. Farmers are paying Tk120-150 for an hour of irrigation which is raising the cultivation cost.

“I have sown jute seeds in four bighas of land and have irrigated. But the lack of moisture in the soil because of the drought has prevented seeds from sprouting despite irrigation,” said Abdul Khaleq, a farmer from Kathal-bari.

“We usually have rainfall at this point in the year. The rain keeps the soil wet which reduces the need for irrigation. This year, however, the soil has not got a single drop of water which is why we are largely dependent on ir-rigation now,” Badiar Rahman from Sukhyati village in Nageshwari told the Dhaka Tribune.

Only 47mm rainfall has been record-ed in this season in the district, with some areas where there was no rain at all.

Department of Agricultural Exten-sion, however, has suggested that farmers irrigate lands to grow crops. Pratib Kumar Mondol, Deputy Director of the district unit of the department, said despite pitfalls, we would suggest farmers to irrigate lands for cultivating jute.

“If there is no rain, jute cultivators will face losses. Besides, cultivation targets in the district will be hampered because lands will remain uncultivated. Yet, farmers should irrigate to cultivate jute even it raises production cost. The same should be followed for rice, corn and vegetables � elds,” he added. l

Indian national held with gold n Our Correspondent, Jessore

Border Guard Bangladesh person-nel detained Putul Rani Mondol, 35, an Indian national of Charuigazi vil-lage of Bangaon, along with gold bars weighing 60 tola in Benapole land port area.

She was detained at Ghiba frontier under Benapole port police station, said the BGB.

Lieutenant Colonel Matiur Rahman, commanding o� cer of 26 Border Guard Battalion, told the Dhaka Tribune that gold smuggler Putul Rani was picked up from Ghiba frontier as she was try-ing to trespass the frontier with � ve pieces of gold bars.

“She is a listed gold smuggler,” the BGB o� cial added.

A case was � led with Benapole port police station in this regard. l

The tube well at Gonopotta Government Primary School has been inoperative for the last couple of months as underground water in the locality has fallen drastically DHAKA TRIBUNE

A human chain was formed in Kurigram town yesterday, protesting attack on an assistant teacher of Nageswary Beparir Haat College DHAKA TRIBUNE

Although it is mid-Baishakh, farmers are forced to cultivate a large area of land through irrigation

7Long Form Friday, April 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Arif Jamal

The year 1971 was an im-portant milestone in the current context of history, the importance of which has yet to be grasped by the

historians. This is the year when the hitherto secular Pakistan Army and Is-lamists came together and established a bond that remains intact even after the passage of four decades.

When the people of the former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) rose up to demand their democratic rights, the ruling Pakistan Army generals made no secret of their belief that they cared only for the land that is the subject of so many romantic stories.

The then Pakistani General Tikka Khan, who later earned the nickname “The Butcher,” publicly announced that the Pakistan Army was interested only in the land and was ready to � ght with the last remaining Bangali.

Tikka Khan and succeeding gener-als honoured those words and killed as many Bangalis and raped as many Bangali women as they could before India, which had been inundated by the waves of � eeing refugees, inter-vened to save the situation.

All that butchery awoke one soul in France, André Malraux. Malraux was one of Europe’s leading intellectuals who, during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, had called for, helped form, and actually commanded an interna-tional brigade of Western intellectuals and ordinary people to � ght in defence of democracy.

In 1971, Malraux saw the danger and made a similar call. A little over a hundred French youths and former of-� cers answered that call. One of them was a very young man named Ber-nard-Henri Lévy, who later emerged as a leading European philosopher.

However, the proposed Internation-al Brigade never came into existence. Malraux was too old to put his ideas into practice and constitute the bri-gade. Furthermore, the then Indian

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi did not know what to do with such a brigade, and for all practical purposes, vetoed the proposal, although she did use the name and fame of André Malraux to the fullest.

But, Malraux had inspired young Bernard-Henri Lévy, who was already burning with passion to do something practical, and Malraux’s call showed him the light. Bernard-Henri Lévy was the only one who actually made it to East Pakistan, forming a one-man international brigade. He knew that an even bigger war than the Spanish Civil War was being fought in Bengal.

Bernard-Henri Lévy had grown up under the in� uence of the revolution-ary 1960s. At the age of 18, Lévy had been admitted in the prestigious Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) of the Rue d’Ulm in Paris, which had produced intellectuals such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Louis Althusser, Jacques Derrida and Raymond Aron; names that shaped and de� ned modern Western thought as Lévy is shaping our age.

People in� uenced by the atmos-phere of the ’60s burned with passion to do something, to change the world, to create a New Man. They were ready to burn their bourgeois and reaction-

ary books, at least symbolically. At the ENS, Bernard-Henri Lévy came under all these in� uences more directly; yet he was di� erent from his generation.

Bernard-Henri Lévy was already into his third year at the ENS, when he responded to Andre Malraux’s call on September 17, 1971, to join the Inter-national Brigade on the pattern that one of the European intellectuals had created in the 1930s. According to con-temporary witnesses, Bernard-Henri Lévy was di� erent from his colleagues at the ENS - he wanted to change the world rather than reinterpret it one more time.

Although Malraux’s idea collapsed, Lévy went ahead. Several decades later, reminiscing about those days, he said, “A true revolutionary has to get close, very close, to the things

themselves; he has to move into the places where History, with a capital H, really happens; and he has, therefore, to leave Europe.”

Lévy was only 22 at the time and had not made a name for himself. No one could at that time have guessed how much Lévy would in� uence modern discourse. But the Lévy era was beginning.

One thing that drew the young Bernard-Henri Lévy to Bengal was the local Maoist movement, “Naxalites.” He soon discovered that there was not much in common between the Maoist students in Paris and Maoist guerrillas in the jungles of Bengal despite some similarities. Fascinated with the idea of sharing his brotherhood with the Naxalites, he ignored their criminal side, at least for a time.

Accompanied by his � rst wife Isabelle Doutreluigne, Bernard-Henri Lévy left Paris for the � rst real � ight of his life on October 2, 1971. He was representing the French daily Combat. His � rst stopover was Islamabad, where he interviewed Zul� kar Ali Bhutto, who, like Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in East Pakistan, was also a contender for power but was op-posed by the military regime. After a brief stopover, he headed to New Delhi, whenceforth he immediately went to East Bengal, leaving Isabelle Doutreluigne behind in Kolkata. In the ensuing months, he moved in and out of East Bengal.

In East Bengal, Lévy followed a Mukti Bahini unit led by Akim Muk-herjee, who still practises medicine to-day. He took part in the fall of Satkhira in the Khulna District in the southwest of the emerging nation. In December, he was in Jessore just before Indian troops entered the war, leading to East Pakistan’s � nal victory. On December 4, according to military archives I had access to, he found himself in the middle of the battle of Besantar, where the Mukti Bahini, with the help of the Indian troops, pushed the Pakistani troops back.

The Maoist and the journalist coexisted in Bernard-Henri during the war. He continuously searched for the Naxalite leader Mohammad Toha. After an eight-day search around Chit-tagong, he succeeded in interviewing him during the height of the war. It was here that he caught malaria, which left everlasting e� ects on him. Politically, interviewing Toha was a cardinal mistake and ultimately led to his expulsion from the country.

On December 5, the journalist in Bernard-Henri Lévy stirred again, and he convinced o� cers of General Aurora’s army to embed him within the advancing troops. He travelled with the Indian Army from west to east, and entered Dhaka with one of the � rst units of the Indian Army. In Dhaka, he rejoined Akim Mukherjee’s

Mukti Bahini unit and participated (according to papers in Mukherjee’s private archives) in liberating RA Ba-zaar, where the Pakistan Army had set up the most despicable torture cells.

After playing a part in the libera-tion of East Bengal, which emerged as Bangladesh that same month, Bernard-Henri Lévy settled in Dhaka, and began the second phase of his new career as a philosopher-revolutionary. In Dhaka, he met Sheikh M ujibur Rah-man, who was quite impressed with the fact that the young Bernard-Henri Lévy, in spite of being at the Ecole Normale Superieure, had participated in his country’s war of independence and wanted to contribute to building the new nation.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman under-stood that Bernard-Henri Lévy had forgone advancement in his own country. He o� ered Lévy a position in the Ministry of Economy and Plan-ning, which Lévy accepted immediate-ly. He worked there till mid-June 1972.

In Dhaka, Bernard-Henri Lévy shared the small house of a Muslim family which had two girls and three boys, he became the sixth child. The neighbourhood of Gulshan, like most neighbourhoods in those days in Dhaka, was often � ooded, either from rain or from over� owing rivers. However, he spent most of his time in the o� ce, working as a Bangladeshi bureaucrat rather than as an imported consultant.

During frequent meetings with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he suggested that the tens of thousands of women who had been raped and abandoned by the soldiers of the Pakistan army and their Islamist collaborators in al-Shams and al-Badr (the armed wings of the Jamat-e-Islami) should be hon-oured as Birangona, or national hero-ines. In many traditional societies, in-cluding Bangladesh, raped women live terrible lives, stigmatised by the rape they su� ered and often demonised by their own families, becoming no more than living dead women.

During his stint in Bangladesh, according to some accounts, Ber-nard-Henri Lévy also tried to convince Home Minister AHM Qamaruzzam-an to bring the collaborators of the Pakistani military in al-Shams and al-Badr to justice. Unfortunately, the new government ignored it, as politics overshadowed justice.

Lévy tried to convince Mujibur Rahman to account for the death and destruction of the war and build a war memorial to honour the sons of the young nation. This, too, never came to fruition. In the early years of inde-pendence, the search for international recognition and the task of safeguard-ing the young nation’s independence took all of Sheikh Mujib’s time. Ulti-mately, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated by his own army.

In June 1972, Bernard-Henri Lévy ran out of luck. On the very � rst day of that month, Home Minister Qamaruzzaman received an anony-mous denunciation condemning Lévy as pro-Chinese, which in South Asia, meant pro-Pakistan. Bernard-Henri Lévy had committed two cardinal sins since he came to South Asia – he visited Kashmir with Isabelle

Doutreluigne and he interviewed Naxalite Mohammad Toha, who had opposed the independence of Bang-ladesh. This was enough for Home Minister Qamaruzzaman, who gave him 48 hours to leave Bangladesh. All his contributions to the independence of Bangladesh was ignored.

Thus ended Bernard-Henri Lévy’s struggle for freedom for the Banga-lis — the � rst of many such struggles the philosopher would wage in the decades to come. Much of what Lévy did in Bengal in 1971–72 lives on, as Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim countries where the forces of democ-racy are successfully opposing the forces of darkness. Bangladesh gives hope to me and many others like me in the Muslim world.

While � ghting the � rst war of his life, Bernard-Henri Lévy � led dis-patches with Combat and worked on this thesis under the supervision of economist Charles Bettelheim. Although the thesis was never com-pleted, Lévy did write his � rst book, Les Indes Rouges, a witness to the struggle of the people of Bangladesh. Among the very few accounts of the heroic struggle of the Bangali Muslims against oppression, Les Indes Rouges is the best account of those days that I have come across. Lévy’s work lives on in those pages. l

Arif Jamal is a Pakistani journalist living in the United States. He is the author of ‘Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir (2009),’ ‘A History of Islamist Militancy in Pakistani Punjab (2011),’ and the forthcoming ‘Call for Transnational Jihad: Lashkar-e-Taiba, 1985–2013.’ He is presently a fellow at New York University and Harvard University.

The French connection

Inspired by André Malraux’s call for assistance in the � ght to defend democracy, Bernard-Henri Lévy was the only one who actually made it to East Pakistan, forming a one-man international brigade

During his stint in Bangladesh, according to some accounts, Bernard-Henri Lévy also tried to convince Home Minister AHM Qamaruzzaman to bring the collaborators of the Pakistani military in al-Shams and al-Badr to justice

Bernard-Henri Lévy took part in the fall of Satkhira in the Khulna District in the southwest of the emerging nation. In December, he was in Jessore just before Indian troops entered the war, leading to East Pakistan’s � nal victory

WIKIMEDIA

UK enlists Muslim women to help stop Syria jihadistsn AFP, London

British police reached out to Muslim women yesterday in an attempt to prevent young people going to � ght in Syria, after a sharp rise in arrests related to the con� ict.

Counter-terrorism o� cials launched a national campaign to raise awareness of the risks of travelling to Syria, especially for those who just want to o� er humanitarian aid.

The campaign was prompted by an increase in the number of Britons caught travelling or returning from Syria, from 25 arrests last year to 40 in the � rst three months of 2014.

Several of those arrested were subse-quently charged with terrorism-related o� ences. Only last week, a father from Brighton, Abubaker Deghayes, revealed that three of his sons had gone to � ght in Syria, one of whom was killed in a battle.

Abdullah Deghayes, 18, died earlier this month after leaving Britain in January, while his 20-year-old brother Amer suf-fered a bullet wound to the stomach in the same � ghting.

“We are increasingly concerned about the numbers of young people who have or are intending to travel to Syria to join the con� ict,” said Helen Ball, senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism.

“We want to ensure that people, particularly women, who are concerned

about their loved ones are given enough information about what they can do to prevent this from happening.

“We want to increase their con� dence in the police and partners to encourage them to come forward so that we can intervene and help.”

She added: “This is not about crim-inalising people, it is about preventing tragedies.”

The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London estimates that between 200 and 366 British nationals have gone to Syria to participate in the con� ict.

Police will hold meetings across Britain on Thursday with women from di� erent community groups, charity workers and government o� cials involved in prevent-ing extremism.

A lea� et has been prepared outlining the risks of travelling to Syria, which will be handed out at airports and ports.

The Charities Commission is also involved in the campaign, to advise people on how they can help send humanitarian aid to Syria without the money falling into the hands of extremists.

The commission’s chairman, William Shawcross, warned at the weekend that charities should be particularly vigilant about how their aid is used in countries such as Syria and Somalia. l

Ukraine forces kill � ve rebels, Putin warns of consequencesn Reuters, Slaviansk

Ukrainian forces killed up to � ve pro-Moscow separatists in the east of the country, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday, as Russian Presi-dent Vladimir Putin warned of “conse-quences” if Kiev used the army against its own people.

Interior Ministry forces backed by the army removed three checkpoints manned by armed groups in the sepa-ratist-controlled town of Slaviansk, the ministry said in a statement.

“During the armed clash up to � ve terrorists were eliminated,” it said, add-ing that one person had been wounded on the side of government forces.

Under an international accord signed in Geneva last week, illegal armed groups, including the rebels oc-cupying about a dozen public buildings in the largely Russian-speaking east, are supposed to disarm and go home.

However, the Kremlin, which has deployed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine’s border, maintains it has the right to protect Russian-speakers if they come under threat, a reason it gave for annexing the Crimean penin-sula from Ukraine last month.

In St Petersburg, Putin said that if the authorities in Kiev had used the army in eastern Ukraine, this would be a very serious crime against its own people.

“It is just a punitive operation and it will of course incur consequences for the people making these decisions, in-cluding (an e� ect) on our interstate re-lations,” Putin said in a televised meet-ing with regional media.

The Geneva agreement, signed by Russia, the United States, Ukraine and the European Union, is already in trou-ble as Kiev launches its o� ensive to re-gain control of the east.

East and West have put the onus on each other to ensure the accord is

implemented on the ground. US Pres-ident Barack Obama said earlier he was poised to impose new sanctions on Moscow if it did not act fast to end the armed stand-o� .

Moscow also � exed its economic muscles in its worst stand-o� with the West since the Cold War, with the gov-ernment suggesting foreign � rms which pull out of the country may not be able to get back in, and a source at Gazprom saying the gas exporter had slapped an additional $11.4 billion bill on Kiev.

Washington accuses Moscow of fo-menting unrest in the east. Russia de-nies this and counters that Europe and the United States are supporting an il-legitimate government in Kiev.

Obama said the Russian leadership was not abiding by the spirit or the let-ter of the Geneva agreement so far.

“We have prepared for the possibility of applying additional sanctions,” he told a news conference on a visit to Japan. l

Friday, April 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Businessman second hopeful for Syria presidential voten AFP, Damascus

A businessman who studied in the United States yesterday became the second hopeful to register for Syria’s controversial June presidential elec-tion which is expected to return incum-bent Bashar al-Assad to o� ce.

Like the � rst would-be candidate to declare, Hassan Abdullah al-Nuri is a member of the regime-tolerated oppo-sition. The authorities have not spelt out how they plan to hold a credible election amid a raging civil war in which they have lost control of large swathes of the country to rebel groups and militias.

The Syrian opposition has slammed the planned vote as a “farce,” while the United Nations and the Arab League have warned it will deal a heavy blow to e� orts to broker a negotiated peace.

“We announce the candidacy of Has-san Abdullah al-Nuri for the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic,” said parlia-ment speaker Mohammad al-Lahham.

His candidacy was announced a day after that of independent member of parliament and former communist Ma-her al-Hajjar. l

Anti-graft group accuses EU of complacency on corruptionn Reuters, Brussels

European lobbyists carry out much of their work in secrecy and there is wide-spread complacency in Brussels about tackling corruption or con� icts of in-terest, Transparency International said yesterday.

In the � rst report of its kind, the anti-graft campaign group shone an un� attering light on the bodies that draft and police law for the European Union’s 28 member states, conclud-ing their lack of interest could prompt more corruption scandals.

The criticism of institutions such as the European Parliament, which re-searchers said had refused to cooper-ate with the study, may provide further ammunition to eurosceptics, who are already on track to widen support in EU elections in May.

“The rule book is there to prevent corruption or con� icts of interest but the rules are not enforced,” said Carl Dolan, one of the experts involved in the study.

“There is an atmosphere of complacen-cy in Brussels in the way, for example, that con� icts of interest are checked or sanctioned. It’s often reduced to box ticking, where the declarations are not veri� ed,” he said, referring to the prac-tice of putting “old boys” in charge of enforcement. “There are no indepen-dent committees that oversee the rules.”

Transparency International said this lax approach at the European Commis-sion and other institutions was especial-

ly risky given that there are no proper re-cords in Brussels of lobbyists or of those with whom they have contact.

‘Secret meetings’Much lawmaking in Europe, includ-ing a sweeping overhaul of banking, is wrapped up in talks between diplomats and lawmakers with no public record of who attended or what was said, it said.

“Important legislation is being agreed in secret meetings, where there is no public record of what happened,” said Dolan.

In its 240-page report, the anti-graft group recommended a mandatory reg-ister for the more than 15,000 lobby-ists in Brussels, a record of how they in� uence legislation and independent checks to prevent con� icts of interest.

The recommendations came after John Dalli was forced to quit as health commissioner last year when his as-sociate was accused of asking for 60 million euros from Swedish Match in return for Dalli’s help in in� uencing EU tobacco law. l

Monitor: Air raid kills 25 at Syria marketn AFP, Beirut

An air strike on a market yesterday killed at least 25 people, including three children, in a village of the north Syrian province of Aleppo, a monitor-ing group said.

The deadly raid comes amid a mas-sive aerial o� ensive targeting opposi-tion-held areas across Aleppo city and province that began in mid-December.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing campaign has killed hundreds, mostly civilians, and forced thousands of families to � ee their homes.

“The number of people killed in an air strike this morning on the market area of Atareb village has risen to 25, including two women and three chil-dren,” said the Observatory, updating its toll from 21 dead.

Activists distributed video showing scenes of chaos, with bodies lying amid mounds of grey rubble in what was clearly a market.

The amateur footage shows a wom-an in a white headscarf screaming as she leaned over the body of a loved one. Another image showed a man at-tending to a boy whose leg had been ripped o� . It was unclear whether the child was alive or dead.

“The area that was struck today is a market area, that’s why there were so many civilians killed,” said Alep-po-based activist Abu Omar.

“The regime is hitting back against the civilians who support the revolt” against President Bashar al-Assad, he added.

Swathes of Aleppo city and province have been out of army control since 2012.

Human Rights Watch has accused Syria’s regime of “wreaking disaster” with its air strikes on the area.

Elsewhere, the army pounded Mleiha east of Damascus amid � erce clashes pitting rebels and their jihad-ist Al-Nusra Front allies against troops backed by Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah and other paramilitary groups, said the Observatory. l

US: Hamas-PLO govt would prompt aid reassessmentn Reuters, Washington

The United States would have to recon-sider its assistance to the Palestinians if Islamist group Hamas and the Palestin-ian Liberation Organization form a gov-ernment together, a senior US adminis-tration o� cial said yesterday.

Gaza-based Hamas - which is listed by the United States as a terrorist orga-nization - and President Mahmoud Ab-bas’s West Bank-based PLO announced a unity pact on Wednesday, complicat-ing US-brokered peace talks with Israel that Washington is already struggling to extend past an April 29 deadline.

Both the United States and Israel greeted the announcement of the unity pact with dismay.

“Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly com-mit to non-violence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties,” the US o� cial said, listing terms Hamas has long rejected. l

Israel mulls reprisals for Palestinian unity dealn AFP, Jerusalem

Israel’s security cabinet met yesterday to weigh its retaliation to a unity deal struck between the Palestinian leader-ship and the Hamas rulers of Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to Wednesday’s agree-ment between the rival factions ac-cusing Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas of choosing “Hamas, not peace.”

Public radio said ministers were likely to announce fresh retaliatory measures on top of a raft of � nancial sanctions unveiled this month when the Palestinians applied to join 15 inter-national treaties.

They were not expected to order a complete halt to US-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians, however, despite the announcement by a Ne-tanyahu aide of the cancellation of a scheduled meeting on Wednesday eve-ning, the broadcaster said.

Netanyahu’s o� ce described the deal between Abbas and Hamas, which

opposes all peace talks with Israel, as “very serious.” But it said it was for ministers to decide whether to an-nounce any new measures after Thurs-day’s meeting.

The deal between the Palestinian leadership and Hamas came as the US-led peace talks teetered on the brink of collapse just days before their sched-uled April 29 conclusion.

US envoy Martin Indyk has held re-peated meetings with the two sides in a last-ditch bid to salvage the negotia-tions. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat denied any three-way meeting has been planned for Wednesday but acknowledged he would meet Indyk on Thursday without the Israelis.

Meanwhile, Abbas said he will not extend the negotiations unless Israel agrees to a freeze on all settlement con-struction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, and frees a group of Arab prisoners who had been earmarked for release this month. l

Putin calls the Internet a ‘CIA project’n AP, Russia

President Vladimir Putin has mocked the Internet as a CIA project and pledged to protect Russia’s interests online.

The Kremlin has been anxious to exert greater control over the Internet, which opposition activists — barred from national television — have used to pro-mote their ideas and organise protests.

Russia’s parliament this week passed a law requiring social media websites to keep their servers in Russia and save all information about their users for at least half a year. Also, businessmen close to Putin now control Russia’s leading social media network, VKontakte.

Speaking yesterday at a media fo-rum in St. Petersburg, Putin said that the Internet originally was a “CIA proj-ect” and “is still developing as such.” l

American middle class no longer world’s richestn Agencies

T he American middle class, long the most a� uent in the world, has lost that dis-tinction. While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.

After-tax middle-class incomes in Can-ada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.

The numbers, based on surveys con-ducted over the past 35 years, o� er some of the most detailed publicly available compari-sons for di� erent income groups in di� erent countries over time. They suggest that most American families are paying a steep price for high and rising income inequality.

Altho ugh economic growth in the United States continues to be as strong as in many other countries, or stronger, a small percent-

age of American households is fully bene� t-ing from it. Median income in Canada pulled into a tie with median United States income in 2010 and has most likely surpassed it since then. Median incomes in Western European countries still trail those in the United States, but the gap in several — including Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden — is much smaller than it was a decade ago.

In European countries hit hardest by recent � nancial crises, such as Greece and Portugal, incomes have of course fallen sharply in recent years.

The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20th percen-tile of the income distribution in this coun-try makes signi� cantly less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands. Thirty-� ve years ago, the reverse was true.

LIS, which complied the income data, counted after-tax cash income from sala-ries, interest and stock dividends, among other sources, as well as direct govern-ment bene� ts such as tax credits. l

New military exercises on Ukraine bordern AFP, Moscow

Russia yesterday ordered new military exercises in Russian regions bordering Ukraine in response to Kiev’s operation against militants in the east.

“We are compelled to react to such a situation,” Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by Rus-sian news agencies at a meeting of the defence ministry.

“From today, military exercises have started in regions bordering Ukraine involving battalions of tactical forces of the southern and western military districts,” he said.

He said that the exercises were a forced measure in response to fatali-ties during Ukraine’s military operation against separatists who have occupied

eastern cities close to the Russian border.“The situation in Ukraine provokes

serious concern. From April 22 the new Ukrainian leadership has begun the so-called active phase of an operation in the southeastern borders of Ukraine. There are already people killed,” Shoigu said.

“A start has already been made in using weapons against peaceful citi-zens of their own country. If this war machine is not stopped today, then it will lead to a large number of dead and wounded.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned earlier that the deployment of military forces in east Ukraine by the Kiev authorities was a crime against its own people that will “have conse-quences.” l

Palestinian doctors treat a wounded child at a hospital following an air strike by Israeli warplanes in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, on April 23, 2014. The raid came as thousands took to the streets of Gaza City to celebrate the announcement by Hamas and the PLO of an agreement to form a unity government to end seven years of divided administration AFP

The criticism of institutions such as the European Parliament, which researchers said had refused to cooperate with the study, may provide further ammunition to eurosceptics

9Friday, April 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Clashes in Kashmir as India heads back to the polln AFP, Anantnag

Tens of millions voted yesterday in dif-ferent regions of India in the latest stage of its election, but militant threats kept many Kashmiris away from polling sta-tions while others clashed with police.

The Muslim-majority and volatile Kashmir valley, where a separatist move-ment against Indian rule is centred, posed a heightened challenge for secu-rity forces on the � rst of three days of polling there. Police faced stone-throw-ing protesters in 20 di� erent locations in Anantnag constituency, forcing them to use tear gas and batons to disperse the crowds, one senior o� cer told AFP. Sev-eral journalists received minor injuries.

Voting was light at the heavily guard-ed polling stations after a campaign of intimidation by local militant groups, who killed three people this week and warned locals not to take part. “I voted because if we send the right person to the Indian parliament he will raise our voice for azadi (freedom),” said de� ant resident Umair, re� ecting widespread separatist sentiment in the area.

Turnout was a mere 23.5% at 5:00pm, the Election Commission said. l

Classes resume at school scarred by ferry disastern AFP, Ansan

Senior classes resumed yesterday at the South Korean high school devastated by the loss of around 250 students in a ferry disaster that has made the school a focus of profound national grief.

The � nal-year students from Dan-won High School in Ansan city just south of Seoul returned to their class-rooms which have remained empty since the ferry carrying 325 students on a school trip to the southern resort island of Jeju capsized and sank on April 16.

Junior classes will start next Mon-day, a provincial education o� cial said, adding that he was “unsure” when the surviving members of the 11th grade class – which was taken on the Jeju trip – would resume their studies.

Across the road from the school, thousands of people paid their respects for a second day at a special memori-al to the student victims in an indoor sports stadium.

More than 12,000 mourners visit-ed the memorial when it opened on Wednesday.

Danwon High students made up the vast majority of the 476 people on board the Sewol ferry and an even larg-er portion of the victims.

Of the 174 people who were rescued only 75 were students. l

Modi � les nomination from Varanasi, ‘overwhelmed’ by mass support n AFP, Varanasi

Indian election frontrunner Narendra Modi said he was “overwhelmed” yes-terday by a huge show of support in Va-ranasi as the Hindu nationalist leader entered the contest to become the holy city’s member of parliament.

The streets of the ancient city on the banks of the river Ganges were � ood-ed by people keen to greet or at least glimpse the right-wing Bharatiya Jana-ta Party (BJP) leader as he came to � le his nomination papers.

“I feel overwhelmed by the love the people of Kashi (the ancient name of Varanasi) have shown me and I bow to this land and its traditions,” said the 63-year-old at the nomination centre.

“It feels like Mother Ganga has called me here. The way a son goes back to his mother’s lap, that’s how I feel today.”

India’s multi-phase general election began on April 7 but does not wrap up until May 12 when Varanasi and a host of other constituencies in the state of

Uttar Pradesh go to the polls.The contest in Varanasi is the most

keenly watched of the election as Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the � edgling anti-corruption Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party, is also standing.

Modi has largely steered clear of ad-vancing his party’s Hindu nationalist agenda on the campaign trail, present-ing himself as an economic reformer and sound administrator.

But analysts say his decision to run from the sacred city of Varanasi is an e� ective way of burnishing the Hin-du credentials of the chief minister of western Gujarat state.

Dressed all in white, he was � anked by his top aide Amit Shah, who was brie� y banned from campaigning for in� ammatory comments he made this month in an area hit by anti-Muslim ri-ots last year.

The streets were a sea of sa� ron, the BJP’s colour which is associated with Hinduism, with the mainly male crowd decked out in BJP caps or carrying par-ty � ags. l

Thai opposition leader seeks compromise to avert bloodshedn Reuters, Bangkok

Alarmed by the prospect of bloodshed in Thailand as a six-month political crisis nears a critical juncture, former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has called for talks between the govern-ment and its foes, urging compromise to restore stability.

The 49-year-old leader of Thailand’s main opposition Democrat Party has joined street demonstrations in Bang-kok aiming to force out Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and his party boycotted a February 2 election, which was nulli� ed by a court in March after widespread disruption.

But now Abhisit appears to be put-ting some distance between himself and the protesters.

Violence is threatening to increase, he told foreign media in an interview late on Wednesday. “Given the accu-mulated frustration and loss of oppor-tunity for the country, it’s really time that people begin to speak up for the middle ground.”

“I think there are many people who want to see common ground emerg-ing. My intention, this week, is to say that: isn’t it time we all accept the re-ality that neither side can get its way,

and even if it did, it couldn’t bring long-lasting stability.”

The protests, which attracted more than 200,000 people at their height, have dwindled but hard-core demon-strators say they will continue to ha-rass the government and disrupt any new election until Yingluck’s govern-ment is toppled.

Abhisit’s comments were met with skepticism by the government.

“What the Democrat Party says it will do and what it does are not the same thing,” said Sunisa Lertpakawat, a deputy government spokeswoman.

“If he’s sincere, why didn’t he join Tuesday’s talks aimed at discussing a date for the next election?” she added, referring to a meeting arranged by the Election Commission that was attend-ed by nearly 60 parties.

Abhisit stayed away, citing security concerns.

Yingluck’s opponents have taken to the courts to remove her, alleging abuse of power and other infractions, and in response her “red shirt” sup-porters say they, too, will take to the streets if she is removed by what they say are politicized judges. Verdicts in some of these cases could come in May. l

Rights group: Violence against Pakistan minorities rising alarmingly n AFP, Islamabad

Sectarian killings rose by more than a � fth in Pakistan last year, a leading rights group said yesterday, warning of an alarming increase in violence against religious minorities.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said 687 people were killed in more than 200 sectarian attacks last year, a rise of

22 percent on 2012.The group warned that ongoing

peace talks between the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the hardline militant Islamists of the Pa-kistani Taliban could make minorities even more vulnerable.

Around 97 percent of Pakistan’s 180 million population is Muslim, the vast majority Sunnis. Violence against Shiite Muslims, who make up around

20 percent, has been growing in re-cent years, much of it led by extremist sectarian groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The country’s small Christian, Hindu and Ahmadi communities also su� er discrimination and occasional outbursts of violence.

The Taliban, whose seven-year in-surgency has claimed thousands of lives, want to impose strict sharia Is-lamic law across Pakistan. l

Policeman guns down three Americans at Kabul hospitaln AFP, Kabul

An Afghan policeman opened � re at a Kabul hospital run by a US charity yes-terday, killing three Americans, includ-ing a doctor in the latest deadly attack targeting foreign civilians in the city.

The gunman was injured in the in-cident outside the CURE International hospital and detained by police, o� -cials said, adding that the motive for the shooting was not immediately known.

“He opened � re as the foreign na-tionals were entering the hospital, tragically killing three and injuring one

more,” Seddiq Sediqqi, spokesman for the interior ministry, told AFP.

“Another policeman in the area shot the attacker, injuring him.”

Health minister Soraya Dalil told reporters the victims were a US doctor who had worked for CURE for seven years and an American father and son visiting the hospital.

She added that the attacker, who had been on duty guarding the hospi-tal, was now being treated inside for his injuries.

“With great sadness we con� rm that three Americans were killed in the

attack on CURE Hospital,” the US em-bassy said on its Twitter account. “No other information will be released at this time.”

Kabul has been hit by a spate of at-tacks targeting foreign civilians this year, including a Lebanese restaurant where 21 people died, an attack on a luxury hotel and the daylight shooting of a Swedish radio journalist.

Last month Taliban militants at-tacked a Kabul guesthouse used by Roots of Peace, a US anti-landmine charity, killing two people including a girl. l

Anger, frustation over rescue e� ortsCon� rmed death toll from the South Korean ferry disaster now stands at 171

n AFP, Seoul

Furious relatives of missing victims from South Korea’s ferry disaster at-tacked a top coastguard o� cial yester-day, accusing him of lying about e� orts to retrieve bodies still trapped in the submerged vessel.

Around 20 relatives forced their way into the o� ce of Choi Sang-Hwan, the Deputy Director of the Korea Coast-guard, and pulled him outside, ripping his shirt and punching and slapping him around the face and neck.

The relatives accused Choi of exag-gerating the scale of the recovery ef-fort, saying the scene they witnessed during a boat trip to the disaster site earlier yesterday did not match with his brie� ngs.

The bereaved families have continu-ally criticised what they see as delays in the rescue and recovery operation and a lack of committed resources. The crowd held Choi until other o� cials arrived and then subjected them to a lengthy grilling on the recovery operation.

The con� rmed death toll on Thurs-day stood at 171, but 131 were still missing as dive teams searched in near pitch-black conditions for bodies trapped in the ferry’s interior.

More than a week after the 6,825 tonne Sewol capsized and sank with 476 people on board, most of them high school students, there is still widespread anger over the pace of the initial rescue e� ort.

It took divers working in di� cult and dangerous conditions more than two days to get into the sunken ferry and two more days to retrieve the � rst bodies.

Autopsy queries “We have received a number of enqui-ries about autopsies,” said a member of the forensic team on Jindo island working on identifying the bodies re-covered from the disaster site.

An o� cial responsible for legal and medical issues at the emergency sit-uation desk on Jindo said there was nothing to prevent families having an autopsy carried out.

The belief that some passengers might have survived the initial capsize was very strong in the days immediate-ly after the Sewol sank on April 16, fu-elled in part by fake postings on social network sites that claimed to be text messages from passengers begging to be rescued.

Yellow ribbons at the harbourHundreds of yellow ribbons were tied

yesterday to the guard rail on the quay-side of Jindo harbour, some with simple handwritten messages like “I miss you” and “Farewell.” A coastguard o� cial said divers were concentrating on accessing cabins on the third and fourth decks in their grim search for more bodies.

According to the Yonhap news agen-cy, one of the bodies recovered was of a high school student who made the � rst distress call from the ferry. l

Abdullah in lead as Afghan election set for run-o� n AFP, Kabul

Former foreign minister Abdullah Ab-dullah retained a clear lead in the latest Afghan presidential election results re-leased Thursday, but he remained be-low the threshold needed for a decisive � rst-round victory.

Abdullah has secured 43.8 percent of the vote, with his main rival Ashraf Ghani on 32.9 percent, election o� cials said, after about 80 percent of ballots were counted.

If no candidate gains more than 50 percent, a second-round run-o� be-tween the two leading names is sched-uled for May 28.

“With the percentage of votes (still to be counted), I suspect there will not be a winner in the � rst round, but I cannot say decisively,” Ah-mad Yusuf Nuristani, head of the Independent Election Commission, told reporters.

Both Abdullah and Ghani, a former World Bank economist, have vowed to � ght on. But a run-o� election could be avoided by negotiations between the candidates in the coming weeks.

Eight men ran in the April 5 elec-tion, with polling day hailed a success by Afghan o� cials and foreign allies as the Taliban failed to launch a ma-jor attack despite threats to disrupt the vote.

Full preliminary results are due on Saturday before the � nal o� cial result is announced on May 14 after a period for adjudication of complaints.

Hundreds of serious fraud allega-tions are being investigated after the vote for a successor to Hamid Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan since the

Islamist Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.

The 2009 election, when Karzai re-tained power, was marred by fraud in a chaotic process that shook con� dence in the multinational e� ort to develop Afghanistan and also started a sharp decline in relations with the US.

Turnout from this month’s poll is set to be nearly seven million voters from an estimated electorate of 13.5 million – well above the 2009 � gure.

The eventual winner will have to oversee the � ght against a resilient Taliban insurgency as 51,000 US-led combat troops leave Afghanistan this year.

Karzai, who is constitutional-ly barred from serving a third term, pledged to stay neutral in the election. But he was widely thought to have backed former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul, who took just 11 percent of the vote on Thursday’s results. l

People attend a memorial for the victims of the sunken South Korean ferry ‘Sewol’ at the Ansan Olympic memorial hall AFP

India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate and Chief Minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat Narendra Modi (C) waves to supporters as he arrives to � le his election nomination papers in Varanasi. Modi said he was ‘overwhelmed’ by a huge show of support on streets of Varanasi as the Hindu nationalist leader entered the contest to become the holy city’s member of parliament AFP

Full preliminary results are due on Saturday before the � nal o� cial result is announced on May 14 after a period for adjudication of complaints

Abduction of AB SiddiqueApril 18

Thè Kíñg Øf Hèàrt’sI think that if a kidnapping group, linked to a major political party member, was involved, then their course of action would have been to hide him for as long as possible. The people who kidnapped him didn’t really know who he was. If the kidnappers end up dead, or don’t get caught, then I am 100% right and someone important is involved in it.

Zebrul Hossain The police can do anything if only they put their minds to it. This case is proof of that.

Waziuddin Chowdhury Glad to see the family reunited. And that’s all that matters these days!

Swamy: ‘Bangladesh should compensate with land for in� ux’

April 20

WaliulHaqueKhondkerWe want water, they want land. Time for our politicians to put their heads together across the party lines and work out a strategy to raise global awareness against such an existential threat to Bangladesh

KKBI agree, we need to stop wasting time with petty internal bickering – there are larger issues that require our urgent attention.

Well-wisher KKB: Being spineless is when you cannot save the people of your country, and you force them to leave their homes and run to other countries searching for a place to live in peace. It is intelligence if the problem in a home is solved by family members, and not by involving the whole neighbourhood in it.

RonnieUpon hearing some of these politicians talk, one could be forgiven for wondering aloud if India seriously even belongs in this current era.

They need to hit the books, get properly informed and not make these ludicrously populist comments during the election.

Well-wisher Ronnie: If you are well informed, speak on facts. The in� ltration has created a demographic inver-

sion in many places like Tripura. This has created problems for India. There are internal security problems being faced in West Bengal, Assam etc. I am not saying this because of government reports; I have known people (Muslims) who have been harassed by “Hindu” in� ltrators as they were agitated against Muslims in general (because of bad experiences in Bangladesh).

My cook has come from Bangladesh and has described all the problems her family has faced, and how and in what circumstances she had to run away. Her nephew, who sometimes visits her, says “Allah Ha� z,” “Insha’allah” etc, and the reason he provided was the Muslims in the area (who are a majority) do not like it if they don’t speak that way! I was completely shocked to hear this!

The solution lies in creating a bond between di� erent people in the nation. First of all, the slayings of “Hindu” Bangladeshis on your own soil must be stopped! You should demand a better life for all citizens so they do not feel the need to leave their homes and go to other countries. When it is illegal in� ltration, it is extremely di� cult for a country of 1.2 billion (and counting), with scarce resources (such as police personnel), to ensure accountability.

We all are good people (unlike some of our poli-ticians). So let us bear in mind how we can harness the bene� ts from our cultural a� nity, our proximity to each other, and help each other out in solving such a serious problem.

RMG and improving our international image

We welcome remarks by foreign envoys at the opening of a photo exhibition on the lives of garment workers at the Drik gallery this week, on the need to build a new

image of the country internationally. The High Commissioners of Canada and the UK and the Neth-

erlands’ Ambassador called on stakeholders to work together to improve the country’s image through improved conditions for factory workers.

While acknowledging that major challenges remain in achieving this, they noted the sector has been responsible for signi� cant increases in women’s employment and economic empower-ment in the country.

They expressed hope that if the various initi-atives to improve safety continue to develop and build con� dence, it may be possible to transform the image of the RMG sector from one that is marred by images of Rana Plaza to a picture of a large and internationally valued industry which employs and empowers women on a large scale.

Moves to urge buyers to take more responsibility for their supply chain and for the industry to improve conditions need to be supported and extended further.

The support given by trade partners to programmes to devel-op the industry by improving worker training and sharing good practice, is valuable and should be emulated by more brands and producers.

Implemented properly with investment in better buildings, such projects can not only deliver safer conditions but boost productivity, thereby helping to secure the future growth of this vital industry.

Diversi� cation and initiative needed to access Indian market

With the exception of 25 products, goods from Bangla-desh have had duty free access to India since 2011.

However, a large number of factors including regula-tory bottlenecks, poor infrastructure and non-tari� barriers are preventing Bangladeshi businesses from exploiting their poten-tial to export to the Indian market.

Even though Bangladeshi exports to India have jumped � vefold to $563 million in the past decade, there is still an over $4bn trade gap between Bangladesh and India. Proportionally, the barri-ers limiting trade, a� ect Bangladesh far more adversely as it relies on India for a much larger proportion of its global trade.

The government should be more assertive in calling for a simpli� -cation of export proce-dures and a reduction in red tape between our two countries.

It should also take a more strategic view in its use of credit arrangements with India. According to the Centre for Policy Dialogue which held a seminar on the subject this week, much of this � nance is being used to buy trucks instead of developing better transport infrastructure.

Non-tari� barriers and physical infrastructure may take time to improve, but there are also other ways in which businesses can bene� t from the existing duty free facilities.

Diversi� cation of exports and developing more competitive products for the Indian market are needed to help grow trade and to boost calls to bring down trade barriers. We should also build on the historical linkages between Bangladesh and neigh-boring parts of North East India to encourage a more mutually bene� cial trading relationship.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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The government should be more assertive in calling for a simpli� cation of export procedures

Such projects can not only deliver safer conditions but boost productivity, thereby helping to secure future growth

A melancholy noteA young girl seemed to be sharing something with her sister near the Malibag intersection one evening while I passed by. Suddenly the sister started crying, but the girl remained silent. Being curious, I saw an elderly woman torturing the sister and demanding money. After the woman left, I asked the girls what was the matter.

What 10-year-old Laily told me was heartbreaking. “I work at a home, where I have to wash clothes, clean dishes, wipe the � oor, take care of the children, among other tasks, but I am paid only Tk1,000. When I requested a raise, my employers told me that because they have to take into account expenses for my food and clothing, it was not possible. Moina is my younger sister, and has worked as a domestic helper the past eight months. But she has not received her salary. For this reason, that elderly woman was torturing her, as she is our owner. We are required to pay her Tk300 per month. She owns many children in this city, most of whom have to do hazardous work to be able to pay her.”

There are some laws to improve conditions for domestic helpers in our country, but they are rarely imposed. As these youngsters are the future of our nation, the Ministry of Women and Children A� airs and authorities concerned must take apposite action to ensure a decent life.

Bipul K DebnathDhaka College

Mobile courts ‘estimate’ � ne for violating speed limit April 19Alhamdulillah! At last Bangladesh is up to some-thing good.

Shaheen Akhter

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Employer (4)4 Wounds with a knife (5)9 Insect (3)11 Spoken (4)12 Farm birds (5)13 Deep mud (4)14 Accept (4)15 Slow (mus) (5)19 Slender supports (5)21 Sword handle (4)25 Region (4)26 Company of lions (5)28 Talk wildly (4)29 Fastener (3)30 Finished (5)31 Marshes (4)

DOWN1 Containers (4)2 United (3)3 Metal (5)5 Native drum (6)6 Operatic air (4)7 Tree’s outer covering (4)8 Glossy (5)10 Intended (5)16 Landed property (6)17 Speed and rhythm (5)18 Portion allotted (5)20 Glisten (5)22 Country (4)23 Give for temporary use (4)24 Obtains (4)27 Mouse-coloured (3)

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

SUDOKU

11Op-Ed Friday, April 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Syed Ishtiaque Reza

Six top o� cials of the state-owned Bangladesh Small Industries and Commerce Bank (BASIC) Limited

have been suspended for alleged mal-practices, the bank’s Deputy Managing Director Monaiem Khan being one of them. The decision was made recently by the board of directors of the state-owned bank, following prolonged communication with the central bank.

BASIC bank has been su� ering from an acute shortage of capital because of its aggressive loaning policy and many other irregularities that often contra-vened to banking norms.

Despite a series of reports in the media, and suggestions from econo-mists and bankers, the central bank, for reasons unknown, remained silent on the irregularities of BASIC bank.

An incumbent high-up and a former top ranking o� cial of Bangladesh Bank recently had a long discussion with this scribe regarding the Hallmark scam of Sonali Bank, and the BASIC Bank irregularities. The former o� cial was of the opinion that the central bank can now only control the private banks as the state-owned banks are directly taken care of by the ministry of � nance. The incumbent o� cial said the central bank lacks the autonomy to control activities such as the BASIC Bank irregularities.

But many bankers, including some former central bank o� cials, believe that the central bank has failed in con-trolling state-owned banks, including BASIC Bank, which in turn is hamper-ing investment.

When the media, both print and electronic, were doing reports on the gross irregularities of BASIC Bank, no e� ort was seen on the part of the cen-tral bank to exercise the authority it has. In fact, Bangladesh Bank refrained from exercising its regulatory power fully as per the amended Banking Company Act, to contain irregular-ities. As the central bank remained silent, BASIC bank continued to � out rules even after the media ran several reports on its massive irregularities.

The banking sector, especially the state-owned banks, turned into a haven for wrongdoings because of dual control. The banking division in the ministry of � nance and the Bangladesh Bank are playing the roles of guardians in the sector. The state-owned banks particularly are facing the dual guardianship where the min-istry is certainly getting an edge over the central bank.

The central bank’s freedom from the � nance ministry is needed at this time. The government comes with di� erent agendas. These agendas may be good and sound, but the job of keeping the � nancial sector on track is the sole responsibility of the central bank. The central bank is the country’s monetary watchdog and its key policy issues keep the banks operating smoothly. While the central bank has control over private banks, the � nance ministry’s interference with many banking matters, particularly those relating to the state-owned ones, is reportedly causing many unexpected complications. Recently, members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also talked about the complexities

which have arisen out of dual supervision of the central bank and the banking division of state-owned banks.

Many � nancial sector specialists believe that, despite the presence of the banking division, the central bank itself can think of exerting its authority e� ectively. To perform its functions e� ciently, the central bank requires bolstering manpower and enabling conditions that will facilitate it to se-lect the right individuals for the right positions, from within and outside.

On the other hand, if the govern-ment wants genuine discipline in the banking sector, the � rst step will be dissolving the banking division from the Ministry of Finance, so that the state-owned commercial banks can be brought under the central bank’s direct supervision. The Hallmark scam and the BASIC Bank irregularities proved that there was weakness on the part of Bangladesh Bank to apply its strong supervisory powers and authority. Whatever autonomy it has, Bangladesh Bank needs to apply it to the fullest.

The central bank’s robust super-visory role can help avoid any loan scams (like Hallmark), improve the recovery of non-performing loans, and ensure proper use of bank credits. The banking sector has been demanding a separate pay scale for Bangladesh Bank and other state-owned � nan-cial institutions. The government can think of it to stop the exodus of e� cient and skilled bankers to private banks, where payment is much higher under given market-driven circum-stances.

However, many things depend on the psychology of the central bank people. It is up to them, how they would contribute in eliminating the weaknesses of state-owned banks. Bangladesh Bank has ample powers under the Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972, the Bank Companies Act, 1991, and the Financial Institutions Act, 1993. The central bank holds the au-thority of inspection and investigation of the banks. It can actively think of high-powered or special investigation committees to investigate serious fraud-forgery cases and irregularities in the banking sector.

It’s possible that these lapses require some amendments to the existing laws, but many things depend on the capacity of doing pragmatic analysis and taking actions by the central bank. The willpower of the Bangladesh Bank high-ups can ensure its own e� ec-tiveness. We all must understand that mismanagement in the banking sector hurts the economy.  l

Syed Ishtiaque Reza is Director of News, Ekattor Television.

n Yusuf A Choudhry

Let me say that I am a � rm believer in Intelligent Design, and that a Supreme Force created all of mankind whether Muslim, Hindu,

Christian, Jew, or Buddhist. Question is, did God separate us, or did we sepa-rate ourselves?

The annals of history point to the latter. Imagine Noah today if he had to make a choice about who to take aboard the ark. The point is, we humans, in our thirst for control, have shaped divinity to our liking. Anyone who does not agree with us is the oth-er side. That would still be okay if we could at least co-exist just like every other thing in nature does. The worst thing that God ever gave man is the power to think, which has been used forever to raid and destroy others who may not think alike.

When there was no organised religion, they did it with force, but then they developed an easier way. Convince the masses with facts or fictions about God, and lead them into doing the things. Check out history and you will see this happening in every religion there has been.

The question is, how does one reconcile it with the modern society’s needs? Again, history would show that as humans advanced economically, there arose the necessity of recon-ciliation and religion as perpetuated by the upper echelons of the feudal class started taking a backseat. People developed liberalism and tolerance. The Western world lead this evolution of thoughts because it went through religious persecution of the worst sort in the wake of the Roman Catholic Church.

The rest of the world also saw its bene� ts and started emulating. In the Islamic world, the renaissance started with Turkey, Egypt, and Algeria from

the mid 1940s to the 1970s, where visionary leaders like Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Habib Bourguiba, and Gamal Abdel Nasser led the revolution of thoughts towards a secular society shedding the dominance of religion as preached under the earlier Islamic orthodoxy.

This was not an easy process, because many Muslims believed in the inseparability of religion and statecraft. To bring the semblance of a secular society, separate rules had to be enacted for di� erent religious sects governing physical life according to their religious beliefs particularly in such areas as marriage, divorce, laws of inheritance, freedom of worship, etc. Many Muslim majority countries that followed them embraced secular-ism with the same multiplicity of laws and rules.

This worked well for a while and everybody was happy – all except the deeply entrenched Islamists who considered all that to be quite sacrile-gious. Their opposition, however, was muted and con� ned to the conserva-tive layers of the rural society and not really impacting the core of politics and statecraft emanating from the more educated urbanites.

Then resurgence took place of the old thinking that religion should be at the centre of public life, not the fringe. Two essential forces brought this about. One was the arrogance of power and corruption that infected the

ruling class, and brought miseries and injustice to the rest exempli� ed by the monarchy in Iran.

Religion is like opium, it tends to ease the pain, but at the same time, the more you have of it the more you want. Radicalisation of Islam perhaps can be traced to this more than any other cause. The other factor was a growth of unconstrained Islamism promoted by the followers of Abdul Wahab in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian revolution of 1978-79 provided the initial push that radicalised a whole nation in a very short time. The force of Wahhabism permeated more subtly through religious schools and the infusion of money into the rural society. The great economic liberator of many poor Muslim countries, and employment in the more orthodox Is-lamic countries of the Middle East also

worked as a catalyst very much under the radar of secularists.

Bangladesh has been a victim on both side of the religious divide. The people, by and large, have been conservative but not conservative extremes. This played into the hands of the Pakistanis who painted the sec-ular people as anti-Islamist. When the country emerged from the civil war, it retained its character and made space for secularism to grow.

But somehow, the suspicion towards India drew people more towards Islam candidly abated by Saudi in� uence. Money poured in to

support Islamic ideology of the more extreme variety through the madrasas and charities plus o� ers of jobs in the Middle East. The ignominious end of the Awami League regime in 1975 gave its opponents the opportunity of using Islam as a political weapon.

Starting with Khondokar Mushtaq Ahmed who declared the country to be an Islamic Republic, followed by Ziaur Rahman to some extent, and then Er-shad, the country went through a quiet insurgence of Islam. The later tenure of Khaleda Zia further reinforced the Islamists’ rise. The current AL gov-ernment, although it resorted back to constitutional secularism of the early 1970s, did it with a wary eye towards the growing force of the Islamists in the country.

The question now is: Where do the people of Bangladesh want to head in the future? Do they want to stay with the liberal Islam of the past, or adopt the more conservative theology of the Middle East? A tough question, which I do not believe has been candidly asked yet. It is time for the people to make a choice which will at least settle the � ght between the extreme right and the extreme left.

Of course, the people also have a third choice. Could a Muslim democ-racy be conceived in the true spirit of secularism where individuals, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, could choose between Sharia law and the civil code for their rights and privileges?

Could the Islamists live with that? Before one answers that question, con-sider a quote from Sandra Day O’Con-nor: “Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a di� cult question: Why would we trade a sys-tem that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?” l

Yusuf A Choudhry is a former civil servant in Bangladesh and is currently a professor at American University, Washington DC.

n Mamun Rashid

Judging by every sign and symp-tom, Bangladesh is a transition economy. Unlike many developing

and transitioning economies, it enjoys a very good demographic divide, with a young and energetic population to boot. However, many things depend on how we could make the best use of this young and vibrant popula-tion. The future thus lies in how we transform this large population into human capital. There’s no doubt that an optimum investment in educational development is the key here.

The best international practices tell us that a country has to spend 6% of its GDP, or 20% of its annual budget, on education. The Dakar declaration signed in 2000, where Bangladesh was also a signatory, endorsed this. Bangladesh has allocated little more than 2% of its GDP, or around 11% of its budget for education in the outgoing � scal year.

Our best was 16% of the annual budget. Surprisingly, many poor coun-tries in Africa allocate more for educa-tion than us. Reports tell us, countries

like Tanzania have allocated 26% of its annual budget on education. The num-bers are 24% for Lesotho, 22% for Burun-di, 17% in Togo, and 16% in Uganda.

On the contrary, Bangladesh is much larger than these countries, as far as GDP is concerned. In � scal year 2013, Bangladesh had a GDP size of $137bn, whereas Tanzania had a GDP size of $28.25bn, Uganda $21.2bn, Togo $3.68bn, Burundi $2.47bn, and Lesotho $2.61bn.

Despite a lower allocation, a large chunk of the education budget goes towards the non-developmental sec-tor, or mainly for teachers’ salaries and wages. Budgetary allocation for educa-tion in the outgoing � scal is Tk25,930 crore. Out of this, only Tk8,380 crore is spent for education development. The rest is spent on salaries and wages.

In � scal 2013, the total allocation was Tk20,996 crore. The development sector only received Tk6,169 crore. Fiscal year 2012 saw an education budget of Tk18,736 crore. Only Tk4,275 crore was spent towards development. Thus the government budget for education was split between revenue and development. A large portion of the revenue budget

(about 98% for primary, and 99% for sec-ondary) is allocated to personnel costs, with the development budget primarily funding non-salary recurrent spending, including free textbooks for all children every year, and stipends to encourage children to attend school. These two alone account for more than 75% of expenditure at the primary level.

Though education has always been one of the highest priorities, these days the budget experiences a higher allocation in public administration, with an increasing number of public servants and the creation of senior posts. The defence budget is also growing year on year. Like many other transitioning economies in the world, or even South Asia, our government may think of reducing the allocation for these two sectors and increase the allocation for education.

Analysts say, reaching a target of 20% of the annual budget may be too ambitious as of now, but we could easily start with 14% from the next � scal year and increase the number by 1% each year. Intervention from the private sector, or NGO support, can augment this e� ort manifold in

areas where public sector allocation is meagre or not possible to reach the tar-geted segment. Public-private partner-ship to establish quality secondary and higher secondary schools and colleges, at least in the 64 districts and gradu-ally 470 sub-districts, could generate fantastic results, and may very well be treated as impact investment.

The ongoing sixth � ve-year plan emphasised much on human resource development, and recommended 4% of the GDP allocation for education. However, never in the past years were we able to allocate more than 2.4% of the GDP towards education. For the past � ve years it was 2.2% of the GDP. We need to increase the allocation

for education mainly for education development. In India it is 3.7%, in Nepal 3.8%, and in Pakistan 2.9%. The populist approach of covering more educational institutions or teachers under MPO, to utilise their “vote bank,” should be de-emphasised.

We should look for qualitative inter-vention for educational development.

More allocation for MPhil or PhD pro-grams could see a shift in quality for higher education like in many other competing countries. E� orts to reduce drop-out numbers for female students could also create miracles.

What we are teaching at the pri-mary and tertiary levels should be revaluated. Curriculum development,

teachers’ training, increasing the skill levels of science and mathematics teachers, developing an education administration or management cadre, and education research warrant much attention. We should look at teachers not as polling centre managers or pre-siding o� cers, but as the catalysts for developing our future generations.

While mainstreaming madrasa education or launching an all-inclusive or one-for-all education policy is of paramount importance, our budget should see serious e� orts taken for re-ducing corruption in education. While it is easier said than done, we should � nd a way for the reduction in the politicisation of the rural education infrastructure and facilities.

While the government alone can’t take care of all investment in this sector, increased savings and lowered corruption can easily divert further in-vestment in the hungry streams of the education sector, and thereby focus more on the enhancement of national capital. l

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

Keeping an eye on the banks

The open society and religion

Many bankers believe that the central bank has failed in controlling state-owned banks

Where do the people of Bangladesh want to head in the future? The liberal Islam of the past, or the more conservative theology of the Middle East?

The future lies in how we transform this large population into human capital. Educational development is the key here

Spending on educationT H I R D E Y E

Can Muslims reconcile with the true spirit of secularism? BIGSTOCK

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 201412

ExhibitionExile in Calcutta by Thomas MeyerTime: 3pm – 8pmDrik GalleryHouse 58,Road 15/A (New)Dhanmondi

Serenading SuchitraTime: 12pm – 8pmShilpangan GalleryHouse-7Road-13Dhanmondi

Last Summerby I� at Ara DewanTime: 12pm – 8pmBengal Art LoungeGulshan Avenue

Film Captain America:Jonakir Alo, BoishommoThe Legend of Hercules 3DAvatar in 3D , Frozen in 3DTime: 10am – 10pmStar Cineplex, Level 8, Bashundhara City

TODAY IN DHAKA

n Mahbub Hassan Joti

A new TV series Nojir Bihin Nojor Ali is airing at 9:50pm on RTV from Wednesday to Saturday. Written and directed by Himu Akram, the drama features popular small screen star Zahid Hasan as the protagonist. The adept actor has skil-fully rendered the role of Nojor Ali, who is a BA graduate from Avirampur village. After a struggle for � nding lodg-ing in town, the helpless Nojor Ali returns home only to be exploited by his loved ones including his girlfriend Nupur, Alauddin who has returned from Dubai, his sister Shefali and brother-in-law Harun – all takes advantage of his naive-ty. Annoyed by their lack of understanding and daunting be-haviour, Nojor eventually leaves home and moves to Dhaka. The capital presents him with new challenges and all sort of obstacles which he must learn to overcome.

Time and again, Zahid Hasan has entertained his fans through a range of characters. Dhaka Tribune caught up with the versatile actor to talk about his role in Nojir Bihin Nojor Ali.

“After several years, the viewers will see me in a di� er-ent character. I always prefer variety in roles. This drama is one of the best piece of work by director Himu Akram,” said Zahid.

The character of Nojor Ali is quite versatile and has his � aws. About the protagonist not being an exemplary person, Zahid said: “A character is created in a writer’s imagination. Sometimes, the protagonist doesn’t have to be a perfect per-son. However, I have tried my level best to portray the role of Nojor Ali and have coped quite well with the script.

“If a protagonist is enough to convince an audience, I would say, the actor is successful in his role.”

Talking about the decreasing number of viewers, the ac-tor said: “ We are loosing our audience for too many TVCs. The viewers get distracted and loose concentration while watching a drama series.”

About directing TV serials, Zahid said: “I am always in-terested in directing TV plays. Now a days, many actor are also involved in directorial projects. But their main focus remains in acting. I have the same notion. I want to create my image as an actor and directing will always be my side interest.” l

I always prefer variety in roles: Zahid Hasan

Upcoming movie Honeymoonto premiere on Eidn Entertainment Desk

Contemporary popular duo of the silver screen, Mahi and Bappy will be seen in Honeymoon, an upcom-ing romantic action movie which is scheduled to premiere during Eid. The producing company Jazz Multi-media con� rmed the news. For the � fth time, the duo has paired up for the silver screen.

The movie is directed by Sa� Ud-din and has received uncut censor-ship. Jaaz Multimedia is managing the theatre booking and preparing other prerequisites to release the movie on schedule.

Honeymoon is a big budget cinema which is set to release on a special oc-casion like the previous superhit pro-duction Agnee which was released on Valentine’s Day 2014.

The director of the movie Sa� Uddin said: “It’s a hearwarming � lm with the combination of romance and action. I have applied all the tricks of the trade to make the � lm vivid and attractive. The shooting is being conducted at eye-catching lo-cations and a change will be seen in the attires of the characters and the images of the songs. I hope the mov-ie will be a pleasant surprise to the audience.”

Mahi, one of the lead actors of the

movie said: “I don’t want to reveal the story or my character in the mov-ie and spoil the surprise, but I hope my fans will see in a new light.”

Bappy, Mahi’s male counterpart in the movie, said: “I think my chem-istry with Mahi is unbeatable as all the movie we have worked for so far

were hits, except for Dabir Saheber Sangsar and I hope the box o� ce failure will be washed away by the vast success of our upcoming movie Honeymoon.”

Syed Hasan Imam and Ahmed Sharif are playing other vital charac-ters in the � lm. l

Karma Co� ee to be staged

for charitable cause

n Enteratinment Desk

A play Karma Co� ee will be staged today at 7pm at the In-ternational School Dhaka audi-torium. Written by Shazia Omar and directed by Amit Ashraf, the proceeds of the show is go-ing towards the building of a clinic (Amirabad Clinic) in the rural Faridpur area.

The story is about a young man’s search for a soulmate. The play is a tingly comedic study of human nature, cele-brating relationships and emo-tions, and the search for one-self by understanding others.

Tickets are priced at Tk1000 and is available at ISD school, Panini, Red Shift Cafe, Crepe Au Lait, Beans and Bagels and Hakasa. l

Shemonty Monjari’s debut album hits the marketn Limana Solaiman

Promising singer Shemonty Monjari’s debut album titled Rangiye Diye Jao hits the mar-ket today. The audio album consisting of ten tracks from the Boshonto segment of Gitabi-tan is launched by the Bengal Foundation.

In conversation with the Dhaka Tribune, the aspiring singer said: “My father did not want me to record my � rst album at this mo-ment. To his understanding, I am still too young to have a solo album of my own. As my niche is Rabindra Sangeet, he wanted me to be more mature before I went for record-ing. But fortunately, there are many people around me who admires my work and they persuaded my father to give his consent.

“I contacted Prattyush Banerjee, my music di-rector and he also showed interest to work with me. Then, I went to India and � nished my record-ing in January. After my return, I gave my CD to Bengal Foundation. They have a committee who decides on which CD’s to release and within a few weeks, I was informed that they liked my record and would like to launch it. My album contain 10 songs and my theme is on spring.”

Shemonty started her musical journey at

an early age. She trained in Rabindra Sangeet at the prestigious Chhayanaut Sangeet Vidy-ayatan in Dhaka, where she completed her 8 years long course and achieved � rst class � rst position in the � nal certi� cate examination. She also achieved � rst class � rst position in the national competition on Rabindra San-geet arranged by the Jatiyo Rabindra Sangeet Sammilon Parishad in 2011. l

n Entertainment Desk

2 States starring Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor has man-aged to collect approximately Rs 500 million net in just � ve days and is on its way to become the biggest hit of 2014.

The � lm has touched the right chord with the youth and has maintained great business at the Box O� ce during the weekdays. One can also not negate the fact that 2 States has a huge advantage of two extra holidays besides the weekend; one being Easter and the other being an election holiday in several states.

Alia Bhatt thanked her fans via twitter for the suc-cess of the � lm and wrote: “Thank You all for all the love. So overwhelmed with the response to 2 States. We do this for you and just you. Thank You and I love you.”

Aali Bhatt is on a high post the success of 2 States and is planning to take a holiday.

“Yes, I am going on a holiday to Paris and London. My mother and sister would accompany me. I want to get back to my normal life for a few days at the least. Once I return, I would resume shooting of Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya with Varun Dhawan,” said Alia in an interview.

2 States, a Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala co-produced romantic comedy � lm, has made fabulous collection at the Overseas Box Of-� ce in the � rst weekend as well. Directed by Abhishek Verman, the � lm was released in about four hundred screens at the Overseas Box O� ce in the � rst weekend. l

Alia Bhatt overwhelmed with the success of 2 States

Quentin Tarantino’s case against Gawker dismissedn Entertainment Desk

A judge in the US has dismissed Quen-tin Tarantino’s case against gossip website Gawker, who he claimed helped leak his screenplay The Hate-ful Eight.

The writer and director � led legal papers seeking $1m in compensation from the site, after scrapping plans to � lm the movie.

US district judge John F Walter said Tarantino had failed to demonstrate “direct infringement” of his copy-right.

Gawker posted a link to the leaked 146-page script in January.

Tarantino accused Gawker Media of “predatory journalism,” but the publisher argued it had only provid-ed a link to Anon� les.com, an anon-ymous online location where the screenplay could be viewed.

Gawker said it was not a “scoop” as the document was already available and did not violate Tarantino’s “right to � rst publication” as the script was already online.

It added “Tarantino himself set in motion the circumstances by which the script circulated” by giving it to several people.

The judge ruled Tarantino’s lawyers had failed to demonstrate whether anyone had actually seen the script as a direct result of the link on Gawker. l

Apur Panchali to hit the cinemas today

n Entertainment Desk

Apur Panchali will hit the cinemas of West Bengal, India today. The � lm is inspired by the real-life story of Subir Banerjee, the child actor who played Apu in Satyajit Ray’s epic � lm Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road, 1955). Kaushik Ganguly, who directed acclaimed movies like Arek-ti Premer Golpo and Laptop, is the di-rector of the � lm.

Popular actor Parambrata Chatter-jee portrays a younger Subir Baner-jee, while Ardhendu Bannerjee plays the role of the aged Banerjee.

Director Kaushik Ganguly won the award of best director for Apur Panchali in the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in No-vember 2013.

The director mentioned in an in-terview that he found similarities be-tween certain parts of the life of Sub-ir Banerjee and the iconic character

Apu. The � lm uses several minutes of footage from Pather Panchali in its narrative.

In an interview given to the Press Trust of India about Apur Panchali, Kaushik said: “Despite being one of the most celebrated child actors in the industry once, nobody cares to � nd out what he is doing now, no one remembers him. My � lm is a take on that. The USP of the � lm is the sub-ject which has never been explored in Bengali cinema before. Interest-ingly, Subir’s life has an uncanny resemblance to what Ray had de-picted in The Apu Trilogy. And that’s what inspired me to make this � lm. Though Pather Panchali was Subir’s � rst and last � lm, but if you study the man’s life, you’d sit and ponder if Satyajit Ray had written The Apu Trilogy keeping Subirda in mind. I would like to make it clear that my � lm is a work of � ction and not Subir Banerjee’s biography.” l

Based on the Liberation War of 1971, a single episode drama titled Onuchchhed 71 will be aired on ATN Bangla tonight at 8:50pm. Directed by Shanta Rahman, popular TV actor Tareen will be seen as the protagonist of the play

Zahid Hasan in Nojir Bihin Nojor Ali

Mahi and Bappi in a scene of Honeymoon

13DHAKA TRIBUNEFriday, April 25, 2014

Sport 1414 Arab-Israeli women break ground on pro soccer team

Benzema strike gives Real advantage

15 No promises, no pressure as Phelps plunges back in

Did you know?KKR captain Gautam

Gambhir has the most IPL ducks (10) and

joint-most 50+ scores (20, with Chris Gayle

and Suresh Raina)

Muktijoddha’s three Nigerian attackers(from left) Sunday Chizoba, Eleta Kingsley and Nkowcha Kingsley and Bangladeshi mid� elder Md. Ibrahim celebrate one of their four strikes against Team BJMC at the BNS yesterday MUMIT M

BCB to invite bidders for media rights

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has issued a tender to sell worldwide media rights for six years until 2020. Two India tours to Bangladesh and a slightly enlarged international schedule during this period are what the BCB are hoping would attract bidders, who have to submit their proposals by May 8.

Interested parties can start buy-ing tenders from April 27 till May 8. There will be an open auction on May 12, which Kazi Inam Ahmed, the BCB’s marketing and commercial committee chairman, believes will ensure the best valuation for the board. He has laid the groundwork to devise the best way to � nd a suitable broadcaster, which now includes an eligibility clause that will en-able Bangladeshi TV channels to apply.

“We are going to hold an open auction on May 12 which we believe will allow us to � nd the best possible o� er,” Inam said. “This time the tender will be slightly dif-ferent as broadcasters with a year’s ex-perience in the business can also apply.

Over the last two years, we have found out that local TV channels are capable of handling this type of work.”

This is BCB’s second attempt to � nd a new broadcaster, having been frus-trated by the lack of considerable o� ers two years ago.

Their last such long-term deal was with Nimbus, which lasted till early 2012. It was a botched-up six-year deal, from which the BCB has not received the full contracted amount till date. There-fore, BCB had to opt for local single-se-ries broadcasters like Channel 9 and Maasranga TV for the last three home bilateral series (West Indies in 2012, New Zealand in 2013 and Sri Lanka in 2014).

BCB president Nazmul Hassan con� rmed in February that India had signed the Members’ Participation Agreement to tour in 2014, 2015 and 2020. This year a tri-series involving Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka plus a Test series against Zimbabwe are planned, while Pakistan, South Africa and Australia are also sc heduled to tour next year. l

Muktijoddha ride high on Nigerian trio

Nigerian forward Nkwo-cha Kingsley scored a brace to help Muktijoddha KC earn a comfortable 4-2 victory over Team BJMC in the Nitol Tata Bangla-desh Premier League at the Bangabandhu Nation-

al Stadium yesterday. Nkwocha netted either side of the half while his com-patriots - Eleta Kingsley and Sunday Chizuba scored one apiece for the All Reds. The Nigerian trio’s indomitable supremacy was just too much for BJMC to negotiate as Samson Iliasu and Ismael Bangoura could only manage to reduce the margin for them in the second half.

Muktis initiated the attack as early as four minutes into the game when Sun-day ran free towards BJMC goal follow-ing a headed-pass from Nkwocha King-sley. He took a shot on target but BJMC keeper Ariful Islam dived to his right to make a decent save.  The Nigerian then put Muktis ahead in the 23rd minute

from a free-kick by Sunday. BJMC goal-keeper Arif failed to grip Sunday’s free-kick which was taken from just outside the box. The loose ball fell to Nkwocha who took the chance gleefully and bur-ied the ball into the back of the net.

The other Kingsley, Eleta, doubled the lead in the 42nd minute with a brilliant solo e� ort. The BJMC defense seemed lethargic and glued to their po-sition as Eleta skipped past a defender to break into the penalty area. The Ni-gerian then dribbled past two more de-fenders inside the box before slotting home past a helpless Arif to end the � rst half with a 2-0 lead.

Ariful Islam was called into action once again as he produced a lovely save to deny Eleta’s e� ort after just four minutes into the second half. Howev-er, Arif couldn’t deny Nkwocha from netting his second of the evening two minutes later. Sunday was involved again as his pass from the top of the box found Nkwocha, whose angular shot blasted into the far post to extend Mukti’s lead to an unassailable 3-0.

BJMC, however, managed to put one back in the 58th minute when Nigerian mid� elder Samson Iliasu tapped in to score from a Mahadi Hasan Tapu cross. But only three minutes later, Sunday restored the 3 goal cushion for Mukti-joddha and it was a stunner. The Nige-rian striker made an audacious attempt as he curled a chip from the top left cor-ner of the box which sneaked into the far post to make it 4-1.

Sunday almost added another in the 67th minute when the Nigerian’s pow-erful strike from the middle of the box hit the woodwork. For BJMC, Masud Rana hit the bar also in the 76th minute.

However, Ismael Bangoura scored a consolation in the 79th minute from the spot after Shamol Ahmed Rony’s handball and the Guinean striker made no mistake to send the keeper wrong way to only reduce the margin of a de-feat which was never in doubt.

The win saw Muktijoddha move to third place with 18 points from 11 matches while BJMC remain at seven with 12 points. l

National Women’s Football begins next week

The 43 team KFC National Women’s Football Championship starts at Rajshahi and Feni simultaneously from April 30 this year.

Global fast-food franchise KFC is the title sponsor of the meet and will provide a purse of tk. 1.5 million.  Part of Fifa’s $30000 donation for the wom-en’s wing will also be used for the meet. The champions of the will be awarded Tk. 500000.00 while the runner-up will receive Tk. 30000.00. Besides the prize money, all the participating teams will receive Tk. 10000.00 each as participation money while each win-ning team in the qualifying round will

get Tk. 5000.00 as the winner’s purse. Sirajul Islam Bachchu, the chairman

of BFF’s women’s wing said that after the completion of the qualifying round in the six zones, defending champions An-sar and the hosts of the � nal round would play in the � nal round and it would be played in league basis. Last year the number of participating teams was 37 and this time it has been increased to 43. “We are moving ahead and the increase in numbers clearly shows it. The stan-dards are also on a rise,” said Bachchu.

BFF women’s wing deputy chairman Mahfuza Akhter Kiron, KFC regional manager Mizanur Rahman and BFF general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag were also present on the occasion. l

Wahed secures late win for Mohammedan

A goal by substitute striker Wahed Ahmed at the eleventh hour of the match helped Moham-medan Sporting Club sal-vage all three points with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Uttar Baridhara in

the Bangladesh Premier League match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

It was a game full of wasted chanc-es and just when it seemed the match would � nish in a goalless stalemate - Wahed Ahmed, who replaced Zahid Hassan Emily at the beginning of sec-ond half, scored the all-important win-ning goal in the 90th minute to seal the victory for the men in Black and White. Arup Kumar Baidya set up the goal with a low cross from the right � ank that found Wahed who was inexplica-bly unmarked at the second bar and the national striker tapped home into an empty net.

The victory helped Mohammedan reduce the gap with their arch-rival

Abahani to only two points as they now sit third in the points table with 20 points from 11 matches.

After a dull � rst half, the men in Black and White were unlucky not to take the lead within 10 minutes into the second half where they created two great chances. In the 52nd min-ute, Portuguese forward Hardy Pinto’s diving header hit the woodwork and a minute later, Yousuf Sifat’s powerful goal bound shot was blocked by a Uttar Baridhara defender.

Uttar Baridhara mid� elder Ahsanul Kabir Masud tried his luck with an au-dacious attempt from 25 yards which was saved brilliantly by Mohammedan keeper Mamun Khan. Nigerian striker Lucky Divine saw his shot sail over the bar from inside the middle of the box in the 64th minute.

Zongo’s close-range e� ort in the 70th minute was saved by Baridha-ra goalie Osman Goni, two minutes before Pinto’s header from an Arup Kumar cross � ew inches over the bar. In the end, Wahed stole the show with his late winner to win the match for his club. l

Asian Games Fun Run today

The Fun Run will be held at the capital today to create the hype for the next edition of the Asian Games scheduled to be held in Incheon, Korea.

Fun Run, a concept emulating the Queens Baton Relay of Commonwealth Games, will comprise of children, the athletes of the country, the sports or-ganizers of all sectors and the sports lovers of the country. The run will start from the Bangladesh Shishu Academy at 8:30 am and will � nish at the Bang-abandhu National Stadium.

The Fun Run has already taken place in 22 countries of Asia and its next des-tination is Philippines.

In a press conference held at the Bangladesh Olympic Association audi-torium yesterday, its secretary general Syed Shahed Reza revealed the details to the press. He said, “a high pro� le delegation of the Asian Olympic Coun-cil is in the city to be a part of the run and that’s a great honor for the coun-try.” Su Jun GhiSu, the deputy secre-tary general of the Asian Games Orga-nizing Committee was also present on the occasion. l

Mental remedy begins for Tigers

The three day-long mental grooming session of the Bangladesh national cricket camp began at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. The Ban-gladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was very keen to muscle up the players’ mental strength and therefore, appointed life success coach Ali Khan, a Canadian of Bangladeshi origin, to help the current senior cricketers of the country to over-come their mental trauma.

Bangladesh’s performance at home so far in the World Twenty20, the Asia Cup and the series against Sri Lanka, was way below par and the players openly admitted their failure in han-dling pressure. Bangladesh has been the busiest team in the � rst quarter of the year and but yet could win only two T20s and managed a draw in a Test against Sri Lanka. The burden of expec-tation from all quarters saw the team crumble to its lowest ebb against Af-ghanistan in the Asia Cup and against Hong Kong in the ICC World Twenty20.

Those two embarrassing defeats along with their overall poor show on the pitch have shoved the players’ as well as the team’s morale further back as they now struggle to � nd their way up from this nadir of misery.

“We are working on the men-tal state,” said Ali. “One gets mental toughness from positive mental state. You cannot buy this from the market and install it. One needs to have control over it through focus, body language and language pattern. These three ele-

ments make the mental state right. We are doing some exercise with the crick-eters with music and other things to take their con� dence level to a higher state,” Ali explained.

Ali informed that the job on the � rst day wasn’t tough for him as his analysis of the players were based on following the players and their performance regularly.

“The one common issue I found was trouble with their mental strength. I had one-on-one session with Tamim Iqbal, Nasir Hossain and Mush� qur Ra-

him and all of them had the same issue. They are not being able to hold onto the positive enforcement,” said Ali.

Ali also found insecurity as an issue among the cricketers but stated it to be a very normal and a positive thing. “One will never work hard if there is no insecurity but its harmful if that in-security is hampering your work,” he added.

National spinner Abdur Razzak was among the 32 cricketers who attended yesterday’s session. The veteran spinner thinks it will be better for the

cricketers to have such sessions on regular basis.

“One might get relaxed or demoti-vated playing too much of cricket. So this kind of sessions do help to get into tone mentally. I don’t know if this will have e� ect on the performance but will surely help mentally,” said Razzak.

The cricketers will have one more common session today before they head into one-on-one session which will continue till tomorrow. The wom-en cricketers will also have a common session with Ali on April 27. l

Life success coach Ali Khan (L) conducts a mental grooming session with the Bangladesh cricketers at Sahara-BCB Academy yesterday

Narail team celebrate their Walton Inter District Volleyball title at the volleyball stadium yesterday COURTESY

Friday, April 25, 2014

Diaby closing on return: Wenger Arsenal mid� elder Abou Diaby is close to a return from a 13-month injury lay-o� after playing for the club’s under-21 side, manager Arsene Wenger

revealed on Wednesday. “He hasn’t played for a year, but physically he is ready to play, completely,” Wenger told the club website. “It is now just decision-making, getting used to challenges again. Everybody (counted him out), but he is � t and ready.” Diaby, whose Arsenal career has been blighted by injuries, has not played for the � rst team since su� ering a cruciate ligament injury in a Premier League game against Swansea City in March last year. –AFP

Mavericks beat mistake-prone Spurs Monta Ellis tallied 21 points and Shawn Marion scored 20 as the Dallas Mav-ericks routed the error-prone San Antonio Spurs 113-92 to level their opening

round NBA playo� series at 1-1 on Wednesday. Dallas took advantage of some slop-py play by the Spurs and could easily be ahead two games to none in the Western Conference series. They led by double digits in the fourth quarter of the � rst game but ended up losing 90-85. San Antonio turned the ball over 24 times Wednesday, leading to 33 Dallas points. “That’s the been the weak link for us throughout the year and it showed up tonight,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. –AFP

Pacquiao lost his ‘pop’: Mayweather Floyd Mayweather says Manny Pacquiao has lost a step and that the Filipino’s superstar slide has coincided with his decision to split from former strength

trainer Alex Ariza. The 37-year-old undefeated welterweight champ Mayweather weighed in Wednesday on the latest performance by Pacquiao who beat Timo-thy Bradley on April 12 in Las Vegas in a rematch of their � rst bout in June 2012. “Actually, I did watch the � ght,” said Mayweather. “You know, I haven’t seen Pacquiao � ght in years. I’ve seen highlights, but I haven’t seen Pacquiao � ght since he fought Miguel Cotto.” –AFP

Arab-Israeli women break ground on pro soccer team

When the Israeli women’s football team Hapoel Petah Tikva lost a number of its players to Israel’s national team ahead of World Cup quali� ers, found-er Ra� Subra made a decision that sets the team apart from many of its rivals — he recruited from the Arab villages of northern Israel.

Arab Israelis, who complain of de-cades of discrimination in day-to-day life, are rare in the Israeli Women’s Pre-mier League. Though one other team has a full Arab-Israeli roster, other men and women’s teams hardly � eld Ar-ab-Israelis onto their squads.

For Hapoel Petah Tikva, the addition of � ve Arab-Israeli women has made waves in the league despite not being in the top rankings.

“The fact is, they integrated well,” Subra said. “They’re happy. We’re hap-py. The mix has been very successful.”

The Arab minority make up about 20 percent of Israel’s 8 million citizens. Many have relatives among the Pales-

tinians in Gaza and the West Bank, em-pathizing with Palestinians as they ne-gotiate with Israel over making a future state. The strains especially become hard during times of violence between

the two sides.Though having full rights under Is-

raeli law, Arab Israelis experience dis-crimination in the country. The soccer � eld is no exception.

Noura Abu-Shanab, one of the Ar-ab-Israeli players on Hapoel Petah Tikva, said she faced taunts like “dirty Arab” and “go back to where you came from” during games. However, she and other Arab-Israelis continued to play.

“The atmosphere of the team is pos-itive,” she said.

Abu-Shanab said her Muslim fam-ily was supportive of her playing in a mostly-Jewish women’s league after she turned pro at 16.

Shiran Schlechter, an Israeli play-er on the team and its team manager, said both the Jewish and Arab players got along well during the season, which saw Hapoel Petah Tikva have a 5-2-7 re-cord.

“It’s funny because within the team we don’t have” that hate, Schlechter said. “I think to our credit we all fought together against that. None of us liked it. It bothered us all.”

Abu-Shanab, who is now a team cap-tain, agreed that despite the racism she had faced from other teams, there was no con� ict within the team itself. l

‘Be optimistic about Brazil’

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has en-couraged fans to be optimistic that the World Cup in Brazil will be a success, amid growing concerns over security and public unrest as workers scramble to � nish stadiums on time.

The Swiss said similar public scep-ticism had accompanied preparations for previous World Cups and yet the tournaments had proved to be suc-cesses, despite not all the work being � nished.

“It is my 10th World Cup... and I can

tell you I have never seen a World Cup that everything is ready, completely ready before the kick-o� ,” Blatter told reporters in Hong Kong on Thursday.

“Football, with more than 300 mil-lion active participants, more than one billion fans, they are now waiting for this World Cup. It is in Brazil, it is a coun-try where football has been, let’s say the best footballers of the world are from.

“It will be a great tournament. Be optimistic as we are optimistic, football is optimistic. Football is giving emo-tions to the world today in this per-turbed world we are living in.” l

Late Matuidi goal gives laboured PSG victory

Blaise Matuidi struck in the 89th min-ute to give Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win against struggling Evian at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday and take the capital club to the brink of the title.

It looked like PSG would have to settle for a point against their 10-man opponents until Lucas played in fellow substitute Matuidi and the France mid-� elder slotted the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Jesper Hansen at the near post.

The result leaves the reigning cham-pions 10 points clear of nearest chal-lengers Monaco with only four games

remaining and means they can clinch a second consecutive title with a win away to Sochaux on Sunday, or 24 hours earlier if Monaco lose at relegat-ed Ajaccio.

However, the nature of the perfor-mance left coach Laurent Blanc far from satis� ed at full time.

“The � rst half was very bad. We ap-peared to be lacking in motivation and were very slow moving the ball,” said Blanc.

“There wasn’t enough movement and Evian could even have been in front. We had a word with the players at half-time and the second period was better.

“Of course it wasn’t our best perfor-mance but we did the job in the end.”

Fresh from winning the League Cup by beating Lyon 2-1 in the � nal last Sat-urday, Blanc’s side were looking for re-venge on Evian, who beat them 2-0 in the reverse � xture back in December.l

Madrid ‘athletes’ too much for Bayern: Guardiola

Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola said his side had strug-gled to contain Real Madrid’s pace on the counter-attack as Los

Blancos secured a 1-0 advantage from the � rst leg of their Champions League semi-� nal on Wednesday.

Karim Benzema scored the only goal of the game on 19 minutes from one of a series of Madrid counter-attacks in the � rst-half that caught the European champions wanting at the back.

“Madrid have athletes. They are footballers, but they are real athletes,” said the former Barcelona boss after su� ering his � rst defeat in eight games as a coach at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“It is easy to say we need to play more vertically, but the quicker we move the ball forward, the quicker it comes back and that can be very dan-gerous for us.”

Bayern enjoyed 63 percent of the possession, but failed to create many clear-cut opportunities as Madrid de-fended in numbers.

And Guardiola expects more of the same when his side try to turn the tie around on home soil at the Allianz Are-na on Tuesday.

“I think the next game will be exact-ly the same. We need to control their counter-attacks, but it is a question of � nding the right balance.

“Madrid are a complete team and it is true that not scoring away from home makes the tie very di� cult.

“However, we will be at home, with our fans behind us, and we will give ev-erything to reach the � nal.”

Real boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted he didn’t like having to relinquish con-trol of the ball for large spells to the Germans. However, just as in Madrid’s Copa del Rey victory over Barcelona last week, the Italian believed his side had played to their strengths.

“I don’t like to give up the ball. It is clear that you cannot control the ball for the whole game, but especially against Barca and Bayern it is very di� -cult to control it.

“Football, though, is not just about possession, but defending, counter-at-tacks and many other things. What we had tonight was the sacri� ce of the play-ers, but I don’t like not having the ball because you have less chance to score.”

Ancelotti had recalled World Play-er of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo to his starting line-up after four games out through injury.

The Portuguese was involved in the build up to the goal and had anoth-er glaring opportunity to make it 2-0 when he blasted over soon after before being replaced by Gareth Bale with 20 minutes remaining. l

Moyes will survive: Martinez

Everton manager Roberto Martinez believes that sacked Manchester Unit-ed boss David Moyes will bounce back quickly and � nd himself a new job.

The Scot lasted just 10 months at Old Tra� ord before paying the price for what had become a disastrous season by United’s standards.

Defeat last weekend to Everton, where Moyes spent 11 years as manag-er, was the � nal straw for the United board who are now looking for a new chief.

But despite the damage to his repu-tation, Martinez is con� dent that Moy-es will rebound.

“It is not a nice situation when a manager loses his job, especially some-one who has such strong links with our club,” said the Spaniard.

“It has been a di� cult experience, but any experience is a good experi-ence in this game unfortunately.

“We know David Moyes will look forward to the next footballing chapter.

“We all know he is a very success-ful man and has a real strong winning mentality and he will get ready to

bounce back straight away.“It is very di� cult to get that experi-

ence, the amount of years he has been working at the highest level, and the know-how he has is a real strength.

“I am sure he will be ready to get into another job as quick as he can and I

am sure he won’t have a lack of o� ers or opportunities when you have someone who is so hard-working, focused and dedicated in his job.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has advised Moyes to take some time out from the game before deciding his

next step.“I wouldn’t advise him to come back

into the game sooner. I would come back later if I were him. He has done 15 years continuously - maybe even lon-ger,” he said.

“To take some time with the fami-ly and re� ect and enjoy life a little bit more without the pressures of partic-ularly Premier League football will do him the world of good and then when he emerges again, he will come back a better manager than he already has been, and he has been one hell of a manager.”

Allardyce feels the process of Moy-es’ departure could have been handled better.

“For Manchester United as an insti-tution and a football as large as they are, the process looked like it was � oored which was a great shame for Manchester United as a brand, and of course David Moyes knowing his fate before he was even told.

“That is how it looks from the out-side. If that is the case, it is a great shame for David and a great shame that Manchester United chose to use that process.” l

Benzema strike gives Real advantage

Real Madrid took a huge step towards their � rst Champions League � nal in 12 years as Karim Benzema’s � rst-half goal gave them a 1-0 � rst-leg lead over holders Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Frenchman was on hand to turn home Fabio Coentrao’s cross on 19 minutes and Ma-drid’s advantage could have been even greater had Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria not missed � ne chances before the break.

Bayern had the overwhelm-ing majority of possession but failed to convert it into many sights of goal as Iker Casillas’ save from Mario Goetze � ve minutes from time was the only signi� cant stop the Spanish cap-tain was forced into all evening.

Defeat leaves the Germans with it all to do next Tuesday, if they are to continue their quest to become the � rst side to retain the trophy in the Champions League era.

“We played with a lot of per-sonality, we had a lot of posses-sion we will have to improve in Munich, but I am very proud,”

said Bayern boss Pep Guardiola.“I have experience of how dif-

� cult it is to come here and play at the Bernabeu but I congratu-late them because they won and if they own it is because they played better.”

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, meanwhile, hailed the e� ort of his players to keep out Bayern for 90 minutes despite their lack of possession.

“In terms of individual quali-ties it is true that we played with a lot of forward players, but the important thing is the sacri� ce they all make.

“When you have the com-bination of quality players and sacri� ce that is all you can ask for.”

Ronaldo was returning after four games out with a hamstring injury as he replaced Gareth Bale, who had been su� ering from � u in the days before the game, in the only change from the Real side that beat Barcelo-na in the Copa del Rey � nal last week.

And after a bright early spell by Bayern, it was Madrid who created the clearer openings in the � rst-half.

Real stung the Germans with

a stunning counter-attack to open the scoring as Ronaldo’s ball down the left for Coentrao was timed to perfection and the Portuguese full-back’s low cross was tapped home at the back post by Benzema.

Ronaldo missed a gilt-edged chance to make it 2-0 when an-other quick break caught Bayern hopping and the World Player of the Year blasted over Benzema’s low cross from close range.

Di Maria was next to go close as he latched onto a deep cross at the back post but wastefully volleyed over with just Neuer to beat.

Real defender Sergio Ramos admitted Madrid knew they could catch Bayern on the break.

“It is a good result to go to Munich with,” he told Canal Plus.

“It was a very hard game, we had to work so hard. They are a team with players of an incredible level and they like to dominate the ball, but we knew we could create danger on the counter-attack.”

The second-half produced more of the same as Neuer was forced into an early save by Ron-aldo. l

Benzema 191 0

POSSESSION(%)

TOTAL ATTEMPTS

ON TARGET

CORNERS

OFFSIDES

FOULS COMMITTED

PASSES

36

9

7

3

4

10

410

64

16

11

15

3

10

840

Cruz Azul’s captain mid� elder Gerardo Torrado (L) and Gerardo Flores celebrate with the trophy after defeating Toluca in their Concachampions tournament football � nal at Nemesio Diez stadium in Toluca, Mexico on Wednesday AFP

In this Tuesday’s photo, Francisco Forastiere points out trading cards of players, from his collection of World Cup memorabilia, in Mexico City. The former sports announcer has collected more than 1,500 Word Cup � gurines and says he continues to expand on his collection 44 years after he started it. Forastiere estimates he has spent more than $75,000 on his collection AP

(L-R) Israeli Arab players Hanin Gamal Nasser, Walaa Hussien and Noura Abu-Shanab pose with their coach during a practice session in Petah Tikva, Israel on Tuesday AP

RESULTSPSG 1 0 EvianMatuidi 89

Toulouse 0 0 Lyon

I wouldn’t advise him to come back into the game sooner. I would come back later if I were him. He has done 15 years contin-uously - maybe even longer

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

Friday, April 25, 2014

Sony SixIndian Premier League4:30PMHyderabad v Delhi 8:30PM Chennai v Mumbai NBA Play-o� 2013-146:00AM Oklahoma City v Memphis8:32AM La Clippers v Golden StateTen Golf12:00AMCimb Niaga Indonesian Masters Day 2Star Sports HD211:30AMGolf: China OpenStar Sports 44:30PMTennis: Barcelona Open1:00AMLa LigaElche v LevanteStar Sports 2, HD112:45AMItalian Serie AAS Roma v AC Milan

P oor start for Siddikur Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman posted a 4-over 76 in the � rst round to share the 109th spot at the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters yesterday. Siddikur who started the tournament with two straight bogeys, carded more four later along with two birdies on the opening day at the US$750,000 showpiece event. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung continued his dazzling form by tak-ing a share of the � rst round lead with Korean-American Anthony Kang who surprised even himself with an opening � ve-under-par 67 at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club. Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat, a three-time Asian Tour winner, signed for a 68 to take a share of third place with defending champion Bernd Wiesberger, Jazz Janewattananond, Sujjan Singh, Jake Higginbottom and Cameron Smith.

–Tribune Desk

Zia loses in 7th roundBangladesh Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman lost to GM Jumabayev Rinat of Ka-zakhstan in the 7th round of the Open Section of the Asian Continental Chess Championships on Wednesday which is now being held in Sharjah in United Arab Emirates. Zia played with white pieces used London Colle systems and lost after 64 moves. Zia earned 4 points after the end of 7th round. Meanwhile in the women’s section, WFM Nazrana Khan Eva drew with Faqeeh Aseel of Palestine.

–Tribune desk

Djokovic to become father World number two tennis star Novak Djokovic announced on Thursday that he and girlfriend Jelena Ristic are expecting their � rst child. The Serbian six-time Grand Slam winner is currently sidelined with a right wrist injury picked up at last week’s Monte Carlo Masters but announced the good news on his twitter account. “Jelena is pregnant !!! We will soon be parents,” the 26-year-old winner of 43 ATP titles tweeted on his account @DjokerNole. The expectant couple have been dating since 2005 and recently got engaged in September 2013. Djokovic, who is unsure when he will be � t enough to return, is recovering from his injury by spending a few days in Athens.

–AFP

Liverpool reveal An� eld renovation plans Premier League leaders Liverpool on Wednesday published plans for the redevelopment of their An� eld home that would raise the stadium’s capacity from 45,276 to around 54,000. The club plan to add 8,500 seats to the arena’s Main Stand, which would also become the new home of the memorial to the 96 Liverpool fans killed in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster. Liverpool have also presented separate “outline proposals” to expand the An� eld Road stand by adding around 4,800 extra seats.

–AFP

F1 boss denies bribery at German trialFormula One supremo Bernie Eccle-stone went on trial in Germany on Thursday, denying charges of bribery that threaten to land the British billion-aire in jail. Ecclestone, 83, is accused of paying a German banker tens of mil-lions of dollars to ensure his continued grip on the motor sporting empire he built up virtually single-handedly over four decades. The mop-topped said only: “I’m con� dent, the sun is shining”.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH

QUICK BYTES

Bodybuilders of di� erent weight categories � ex their muscles in the opening ceremony of the Walton Muscle Mania Bodybuilding at the NSC auditorium yesterday COURTESY

Farbrace appointed England assistant coach

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) continued the restructuring of the England coaching set-up on Wednesday by announcing the ap-pointment of Paul Farbrace as assistant coach.

The 46-year-old will leave his role as coach of Sri Lanka to work alongside Peter Moores, who returned for a sec-ond stint as England head coach last Saturday.

Farbrace only joined Sri Lanka in De-cember and achieved instant success by winning both the Asia Trophy and the ICC World Twenty20.

His departure was secured after ne-gotiations between ECB chief execu-tive David Collier and managing direc-tor Paul Downton and the Sri Lankan Cricket Board (SLC).

“We are grateful to SLC for their un-derstanding and co-operation in releas-ing Paul from his contract in order to achieve his desire to return to England and to allow him to work with Peter Moores,” Collier said.

Farbrace, who previously worked at English county sides Kent and Yorkshire, said he was grateful to have been asked to join the England coaching team.

“It’s fantastic to be given the oppor-tunity to work with your own country’s national team and this was an o� er that I could not turn down, much as I have

enjoyed working with the Sri Lankan players and sharing in their recent suc-cess,” he said.

“I am particularly relishing the chance to work more closely with Peter as we undertook the Level Four Coach-ing programme together and have known each other since we were both young wicketkeepers on the county cir-cuit together.

“It will also be great to renew ac-quaintances with (England captain) Alastair Cook and other senior play-ers whom I worked with earlier in my coaching career with England’s age-group teams.”

Moores said: “I am looking forward to getting down to work with Paul in the next few days. We have a lot of work to do in a short time as we prepare for the fast-approaching international season.

“There is no doubt Paul will bring a lot of recent international experience to the England set-up.” l

Nadal wins but Ferrer crashes out in Barcelona

Rafael Nadal began his bid for a record ninth title at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 defeat of journeyman Albert Ramos with his chances also boosted as four-time � -nalist David Ferrer crashed out.

Nadal, the top seed, put his loss last week in the Monte Carlo quarter-� nals to Ferrer out of his mind in a match last-ing just over two hours against compa-triot Ramos in a battle of left-handers.

Nadal’s second-round win lifted his record at the event to 41-1.

Nadal spent 64 minutes in claiming the opening set against Ramos, ranked 103, who also lost to Nadal here in a 2013 quarter-� nal.

Nadal found his comfort zone in

the second set to secure the win and a Thursday match against Croatian Ivan Dodig, who hammered Spanish 13th seed Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4.

Ferrer, 32, lost 6-4, 6-2 to Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili. Last season Fer-rer was defeated at the same stage, going out to Dmitry Tursunov after los-ing a quartet of � nals to Nadal over the years in the Catalan capital.

Gabashvili won the opening set in 44 minutes with a break in the � nal game, when Ferrer hit the net trying to return a forehand drive.

In the second, the challenger did not let up, breaking the unsteady Fer-rer for 2-0 and � nishing o� the upset as he broke Ferrer to win it on a second match point, with the Spaniard putting a forehand long into the corner. l

Michael Phelps plunges back into com-petitive swimming on Thursday, un-sure if his comeback will yield more Olympic glory but con� dent it won’t diminish his past achievements.

“I just missed being back in the wa-ter,” said the 28-year-old American, who walked away from the sport with-out a backward glance after wrapping up his stellar Olympic career at the 2012 London Games.

Phelps isn’t saying yet that this comeback is aimed at a � fth Olympic appearance at the 2016 Rio Games – nor is he ruling that out.

“I am looking forward to wherever this road takes me, and I guess the jour-

ney will start tomorrow,” a relaxed Phelps said Wednesday as he looked ahead to racing in the 100m butter� y at the Mesa Grand Prix swim meet on Thursday.

Phelps, originally entered in the 100m butter� y and 100m freestyle on Thursday, said he’ll swim only the 100m � y – one of three individual events in which he still holds the world record. He is also entered in the 50m freestyle on Friday.

Both he and coach Bob Bowman say the meeting in suburban Phoenix will serve a chance for Phelps to gauge his conditioning with the US championships – a selection meet for the 2015 World Championships – looming in August.

“I know if I really want to compete at a high level, I have to be ready by this

summer,” said Phelps, who still must meet the qualifying standard for the US championships.

Phelps was last seen on a competi-tion deck receiving the plaudits of his peers at the conclusion of swimming events in London.

In a record four straight Olympics he won 22 medals. Eighteen of those were gold, and eight of those came in his unparallelled performance at the 2008 Beijing Games.

When he departed London, Phelps said he had “achieved everything I ever wanted to do,” and he chuckled as those words were quoted back to him.

“I always have goals and have things I want to achieve, and I have things that I want to achieve now,” Phelps said. l

British tennis player Andy Murray, left, receives the Freedom of Stirling presented to him by Stirling Council Provost Mike Robbins during a special council meeting at his old school Dunblane High, in Dunblane, Scotland on Wednesday. Murray said he feels honored to receive the freedom of Stirling and an honorary degree from the university where he trained as a boy AP

MICHAEL PHELPSBorn: June 30, 1985Residence: Baltimore, Maryland, USHeight: 1.93 mWeight: 83.9 kg

Olympic Games: 22 medalsAthens

2004

2

6

8

Beijing 2008

4

2

London 2012

World Championships:

33 medals

26 6

1

Career highlightsQualified for Olympics at 15, the youngest male Olympian since 1932

Youngest male to break a world record (200 m butterfly in 2001, aged 15 and 9 months)

Set 7 world records at 2008 Games, 4 in 2007 World Championships

Only man to win5 US nationaltitles at a singlechampionship(2003)

No promises, no pressure as Phelps plunges back in

We are grateful to SLC for their understanding and co-operation in releasing Paul from his contract in order to achieve his desire to return to England and to allow him to work with Peter Moores

Inzamam backs Waqar as Pakistan cricket coach

Pakistan batting legend Inzamam-ul Haq on Thursday backed Waqar Younis to be given another chance as the country’s national cricket coach, saying he had proved his credentials in the past.

Pakistan is looking for a permanent coach after former Australian batsman Dav Whatmore’s two-year tenure ended in February.

Fomer Test wicketkeeper and cap-tain Moin Khan was appointed interim coach, but his two-month contract was not extended by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after a poor showing at the World Twenty20 last month.

Waqar, who served as coach in 2010

and 2011, is favourite to take over and Inzamam said he was the right man for the job.

“Pakistan team bene� ted during Waqar’s last tenure so I think he is the best choice as he knows the players and is familiar with our culture,” Inzamam told reporters.

Inzamam, who played 120 Tests and 378 one-day international during an il-lustrious career, demanded a change in Pakistan’s attitude.

“I think it’s about time we change the culture of changing captains and coaches after one defeat because we need to correct the wrongs and change is not the solution,” said Inzamam.

Inzamam backed Misbah-ul Haq as one-day captain for next year’s World

Cup in Australia and New Zealand.“Misbah should lead the team be-

cause we have less than a year for the World Cup and it would not be possible to groom a new captain.”

Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez stepped down after the team’s failure to reach the World Twenty20 semi-� nal in Dhaka earlier this month.

Allrounder Shahid Afridi was tipped to take over but young opener Ahmed Shahzad’s name was also mentioned in Pakistani media as a potential replacement.

Inzamam said that with no T20 matches until August and no tourna-ment in the format until 2016, now was the right time to bring in new blood. l

Narail lift inter-district V’ball title

Narail lifted the title of the Walton Inter District Volleyball beating Pabna by 3-1 games in the � nal held at the volleyball stadium yesterday.

Narail stamped their authority by winning the � rst two games 25-18, 25-23. However, Pabna fought back hard by winning the third game 25-18 but Narail regained their form of the � rst two games to emerge as the champions as they won the fourth game 25-15.  

Khulna beat Satkhira by 3-1 games in the third place decider.

Harshit of Narail was adjudged the best attacker while Al-Amin of Satkhira was chosen as the best setter and the honor of the most valuable player went to Sohel of Narail.

Syed Shahed Reza, the secretary general of Bangladesh Olympic Asso-ciation distributed prizes among the players as the chief guest. l

Muscle Mania Bodybuilding starts

The Walton Muscle Mania Bodybuild-ing Championship comprising the top bodybuilders of the country started at the auditorium of the National Sports Council yesterday.

After the pre-judging, the top � ve bodybuilders were selected for the � -nal round of the six weight categories of 60, 65, 70, 75, 80 and 80+ KGs.  The top three of all the weight categories will receive monetary award, later the best of the best competition will be held with the top six of the six weight categories and he will be declared as the Mr Muscle Mania.

AFM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, the ad-ditional director of Walton inaugurated the meet as the chief guest. Nazrul Is-lam, the general secretary of Bangla-desh Bodybuilding Federation, Muscle Mania Gymnasium managing partner Abdur Rahman Razib and o� cial De-bashish Ghosh were also present on the occasion. l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15

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Chittagong University teacher sacked over fake publicationn CU Correspondent

Chittagong University authorities yes-terday sacked an associate professor of the Arabic Department on charges of resorting to  forgery  during submit-ting articles for promotion.

The decision was made at the 492th Syndicate meeting with Professor Anwarul Azim Arif, vice-chancellor of the university, in the chair.

Imran Hossain, dean of Arts and Humanities Faculty and also a Syndi-cate member, said Dr SM Ra� qul Alam had presented a forged publication to the university authorities during his promotion.

The Syndicate made the decision as it had found the teacher guilty of com-mitting the forgery, Imran Hossain said.

Ra� qul had also been involved with some other irregularities at the depart-mental planning committee. l

n Abu Hayat Mahmud

Authorities of Dhaka South City Corpo-ration yesterday placed two signboards on the main gate of the capital’s Dhan-mondi playground, saying the ground had been made open to all.

A DSCC mobile team, led by the Ex-ecutive Magistrate Mohammad Atul Mandal and Kabir Mahmud, in cooper-ation of police installed the signboards at 1:30pm to announce the declaration. Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club securi-ty chief Sergeant Marafat Ali was also present during the installation.

The signboards read: “Dhanmondi playground is open to all.”

The DSCC decision came days af-ter continuous protests by activists of 50 environmental and social organi-sations and Dhanmondi residents de-manding the playground be opened to the all and all illegal structures by the club be demolished.

When contacted, Atul Mandal, told the Dhaka Tribune: “As it is a public playground, everyone has the right to use it.”

He further added that no one was al-lowed to interfere over the playground position without prior permission of the city corporation.”

However, authorities of Sheikh Ja-mal Dhanmondi Club declined to com-ment over the DSCC action.

Visiting the playground after the declaration, this correspondent found that a large numbers of children and youths had been playing football and cricket at the playground. Later, the Sheikh Jamal Club Football team also came in � eld to practice football.

The private club’s football coach Joseph told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our football team and locals played in the playground separately.

“We were practicing in one part of the � eld while and the local youths played on the other side. Thus, we faced no di� culties during our practice.”

Moreover, many local, who found the opportunity to enter the play-ground freely in the evening, also ex-pressed their satisfaction over the city corporation’s declaration.

Meanwhile, the green activists have expressed their dissatisfactionand noted that signboards declaring the playground as open to all was not enough.

Institute of Architects Bangladesh former president Architect Mubasshar Hussain, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The city corporation only installed sign-boards on gates of the public play-ground and that was all.

The city corporation did not take any step to remove establishments from the playground.”

He further added that movements would continue until illegal establish-ments were removed from the public playground.

In 2004, following a petition � led by Bangladesh Poribesh Andalan (Bapa) and IAB, the High Court directed the then city corporation

(now Dhaka South City Corporation) to free Dhanmondi playground from the illegal occupation of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club. l

Five genericdrugs bannedfor side e� ects n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Directorate General of Drug Ad-ministration has banned manufactur-ing and importing of raw materials of � ve generic drugs of local pharmaceu-tical companies, terming the drugs threats to public health.

The � ve drugs – Pioglitazon, Rosigl-itazone, Gati� oxacin, Tegaserod and Sibutramine – were banned as they had excessive adverse reaction; while decision on Flupenthixol-Melitracen – another drug which was previously recommended for a ban – would later be made following another review by the ADRAC.

The decision was made on April 21 by the National Adverse Drug Reaction Advisory Committee, led by Health Secretary MM Niazuddin.

A previous meeting by the DGDA’s Adverse Drug Reaction Advisory Com-mittee (ADRAC) had recommended a ban on six generic drugs.

Selim Barami, director of the DGDA, con� rmed the bans and said no compa-ny would be allowed to further manufac-ture or import raw materials of the drugs.

When asked why Flupenthixol-Meli-tracen was not banned, Barami told the Dhaka Tribune that leaders of the Bang-ladesh Association of Pharmaceuticals Industries (BAPI) recently met with DGDA o� cials and submitted a letter saying there was no de� nite proof of any adverse e� ect of Flupenthixol-Me-litracen. BAPI leaders also claimed that the drug has been used by several de-veloped country including Switzerland.

Following their request, authorities decided to send the issue of the drug for review at the ADRAC again, Barami added.

The DGDA could not provide the exact number of companies current-ly manufacturing the banned drugs. However, an o� cial, seeking anonym-ity, said the number would be around 20-25, adding that most of the banned drugs were still in the market.

Out of the banned generic drugs, Pi-oglitazone and Rosiglitazone are used for the treatment of diabetes, while Gati� oxacin (except eye drops), Te-gaserod and Sibutramine are used for treating patients with bacterial infec-tions, irritable bowel syndrome and obesity respectively. l

Proposal made to increase ICT scholarship tenfoldn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The government is planning to increase funds for scholarship and fellowship for ICT-related research to make it ten times the existing amount.

The Information and Communica-tion Technology (ICT) Division under the Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology Ministry has proposed to amend the existing innova-tion scholarship policy on ICT develop-ment, which was formulated last year.

According to the proposal, the ICT Division sought approval of Tk20 lakh as the highest scholarship for any out-standing research proposal in the � eld of ICT; which is currently Tk2 lakh only.

However, after receiving the propos-al, the Finance Ministry placed its own recommendation and said up to Tk25 lakh might be granted in this regard.

“If the research proposal is found to be reasonable, up to Tk25 lakh can be allotted in two instalments,” the minis-try’s recommendation added.

The ICT Division also proposed an amendment to the policy for increas-ing the lowest amount of scholarship to Tk5 lakh from existing Tk10,000.

It also proposed creating two more scholarship categories of Tk5-10 lakh and Tk10-20 lakh ranges.

“We have placed our proposal ac-cording to our plan, as ICT is a very dy-namic and innovative sector,” ICT Divi-sion Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said they recommended to in-crease funding, while allocation would depend on e� ective proposals. l

Four Bangladeshi visa frauds arrested in Qatarn Rabiul Islam

Four Bangladeshi visa frauds that used to cheat their compatriot migrant workers out of their fortune have been arrested in Qatar recently.

The frauds were all Bangladeshi taxi drivers in Qatar. They were identi� ed as Makbul, Enamul, Babul and Darul Islam.

First Secretary (labour) Sha� ul Azim

told the Dhaka Tribune over phone on Wednesday, “We have received a num-ber of allegations against a section of unscrupulous middlemen cheating the migrant workers.”

He said four such Bangladeshis were arrested on April 16 while anoth-er named Kalam hailing from Comilla managed to escape.

Though they were mere taxi drivers

by profession, they could manage tour-ist visas and cheat scores of innocent migrant workers out of their fortune.

The � rst secretary said they had no o� ce, nor were they recruiting agents, but they could bring people to Qa-tar on visit visas. They sold a visa for Tk3,00,000, he said, adding that when a Bangladeshi migrant came to Qatar, after one month the middlemen sug-

gested the worker for a checkup.“Then the middlemen claimed that

you were medically un� t and you got to return home. Thus the migrants had been cheated,” Sha� ul Azim mentioned.

Tourist visas were issued for a peri-od of three months.

The o� cial said: “Unless such illegal activities are stopped, our prospective labour market might be a� ected.” l

208 hajj agencies penalised for irregularitiesn Mohosinul Karim

The government has taken punitive measures against 208 agencies for their involvement in irregularities and mis-management including human tra� ck-ing and providing substandard service to the pilgrims during the hajj season last year.

Of the total, licenses of eight agen-cies were cancelled while 43 others suspended, Religious A� airs Secretary Chowdhury Babul Hassan told report-ers at a press conference at the Secretar-iat yesterday. Two other agencies were also sued for not sending pilgrims to hajj despite taking money from them.

Nine hajj agencies were relieved from the charges or enlisted.

As many as 87,854 persons per-formed hajj held in October last year. Of them, 262 persons have not returned from Saudi Arabia.

The measures were taken following in-vestigation into the allegations of human trafficking in the name of hajj, violating commitment of providing comfortable ac-commodation, inadequate arrangement of transports, supplying sub-standard food and inadequate arrangement of tour guides.

The eight agencies are Janus Travels and Tours, United International Trav-els, Cascade Travels and Tours, Salam Trading International, Jiarat-e-Kaba Tours and Travels, Al-Zia Air Interna-tional, Minra Travels and Tours, and Homayera Hajj Travels. They were also � end TK1.82 lakh to Tk8 lakh.

According to the decision, licenses of 38 agencies have been suspended until further instructions from the Gov-ernment of Saudi Arabia. Among those, 20 � rms have been � ned Tk4 lakh each.

Licenses of � ve other agencies have been suspended for various terms. They also face � nes of various amounts rang-ing from Tk3 lakh to Tk5 lakh. Of the other accused � rms, 121 hajj agencies have been � ned Tk1.5 lakh each, nine Tk2.5 lakh and 17 others Tk3 lakh each. Five agencies have been � ned Tk4 lakh each and � ve more Tk5 lakh each.

Babul added that the government had already � led criminal cases against two agencies – Saudi Air Service and Ra� que Travels – for not sending pil-grims despite taking money. The licens-es of these two � rms were cancelled while the government con� scated their deposits and slapped � nes. l

‘2 joint secretaries' enmity leaks scam over golden crests for foreigners’n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The scandal involving distribution of sub-standard gold-coated crests given to foreign friends for supporting the liberation war would not have come to light if the two joint secretaries of the Liberation War A� airs Ministry had been on good terms, an ex-minister told a parliamentary watchdog.

Captain AB Tajul Islam, a former state minister for Liberation War Af-fairs Ministry and chairman of the Par-liamentary Standing Committee on the ministry, said the two joint secretaries had had hostile relation over promo-tion to the rank of additional secretary.

At its � rst meeting in the parlia-ment building the standing commit-tee formed a three-member sub-com-mittee headed by former primary and mass education minister Afsarul Amin.

Two Awami League MPs Iqbalur Ra-him and Golam Dastagir Gazi are the

other members of the sub-committee that would submit report to the panel detecting persons involved in the cor-ruption in making 300 crests.

AB Tajul Islam was the minister in-charge of the ministry when the crests were made and handed over to the for-eigners who helped Bangladesh's nine-month war of independence against Pakistan.

According to the government deci-sion, each of the foreign friends was supposed to get a 30 bhori silver crest coated with one bhori gold. The Bang-ladesh Standard and Testing Institu-tion (BSTI) under the Industries Min-istry examined the crests and found at best 25% gold and 351 grams of iron alloy instead of silver.

"The BSTI examined the crests on March 18 and sent them to the ministry but the report was shelved in the section. It was not brought to the notice of the secretary. On March 20, we handed over

the crests to the recipients," Tajul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting.

He said the two joint secretaries, one of whom was in charge of making the crests without � oating any tender had bitter personal relation.

"One of them was freedom � ghter and promoted to the rank of additional secretary while the other felt deprived. They were always busy in speaking ill of each other. So, one of them leaked it to the media," said Tajul Islam.

"If they had maintained good rela-tion people would never have known about it," said the former minister who came under the attack of an MP.

A committee member, Iqbalur Rahim, � rst raised the issue of scam over mak-ing the crests. Other members supported him and demanded an inquiry into it.

AKM Mozammel Huq, liberation war a� airs minister, also supported the proposal.

The government recently relieved a

joint secretary Abul Kashem of his re-sponsibilities while another Joint Sec-retary Golam Mostofa was promoted to the rank of additional secretary.

In line with the proposal of Iqbalur Rahim, the 10-member standing com-mittee recommended that the educa-tion ministry should force all schools, colleges, madrasas and kindergarten school to sing national anthem.

Meanwhile, the watchdog also de-cided that the information ministry should convince the private TV chan-nels to show a short video on the lib-eration war before start of every news hours. The cinema halls should screen such video too.

The committee members Afsarul Amin, AKM Shahjahan Kamal, Nurun-nabi Chowdhury, Golam Dastagir Gazi, Asheq Ullah Ra� q, Swapan Bhattacha-rjee and Kamrul Laila Jolly attended the meeting with AB Tajul Islam in the chair. l

Dhanmondi playground reopened to publicGreen activists not satis� ed, demand removal of illegal establishments

Picture shows the DSCC signboard installed on the Dhanmondi playground main gate yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Mother of Al Amin, who went missing after being allegedly picked up by RAB members, breaks down in tears during a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday. Story on Front Page RAJIB DHAR

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

Muhith slams RMG factory closures n Tribune Report

Finance Minister AMA Muhith criti-cised the closure of garment factories which were found structurally � awed during inspections.

He said the closing of factories was not a good idea and the owners should have been given time to correct the faults.

According to the � nance minister, “Noting can be changed overnight.”

AMA Muhith said the government has adopted various plans to over-come the garment sector crisis which followed the deadliest Rana Plaza col-lapse.

Accord suspended 26 factory units after its � rst-phase inspections.

Muhith was responding to the issue while addressing at the annual general meeting (AGM) of International Busi-ness Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) yes-terday.

The function was also addressed by State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan, US Ambassa-dor Dan W Mozena, FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, SBAC Bank

Chairman Amzad Hossain and IBFB President Ha� zur Rahman Khan.

About the power situation, AMA Muhith said: “In last � ve years the government has taken many projects, some expensive though, to increase electricity production capacity, but de-mand remains high.”

He said the power generation capac-ity has, however, increased to 11,000 megawatt from 3,500 megawatt when Awami League assumes o� ce in 2009.

Referring to Bangladeshi workers in abroad, he said 80 lakh Bangladeshi workers are employed around the globe and the number will increase to 1.2 crore soon.

“The expatriate workers, who are e� ectively participating in their home country’s development, must be counted in the value of national asset.”

Besides, the minister appreciated the private sector’s role in increasing the revenue income of the govern-ment.

US Ambassador in Bangladesh Dan W Mozena said April 24 was a day of “unspeakable, unimaginable horrors as tonnes of fallen concrete crushed

the lives of so many.” The stakeholders of Bangladesh’s

readymade garment industry have taken important steps down the path towards ensuring international stan-dards in factory structures and work-ers’ rights, said Ambassador Mozena.

“Nonetheless, the road ahead is long and the obstacles will be many as some endeavor to thwart this transformation of Bangladesh’s RMG sector, but I am con� dent that Bangladesh will succeed in this historic undertaking.”

On Trade and Investment Cooper-ation Forum Agreement (TICFA), Dan Mozena said the next week will wit-ness the inaugural session of the Ticfa meeting in Dhaka.

“TICFA will also include a discus-sion of e� orts underway in Bangladesh to restore generalised system of prefer-ences (GSP) in the United States.”

He said the e� orts are largely syn-onymous with Bangladesh’s campaign to transform the apparel sector to bring worker safety and labour rights to in-ternational standards in the wake of the Rana Plaza building collapse and the Tazreen Fashions � re. l

www.dhakatribune.com/business FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2014

B3 India may cede top rice ex-porter spot under South-east Asian price onslaught

B4 Globalisation: A bloom or a gloom for develop-ing countries?

Mobile operators for SIM tax withdrawaln Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Country’s mobile phone oper-ators have urged the Nation-al Board of Revenue (NBR) to withdraw Tk300 tax from Subscrib-ers Identi� cation Number (SIM) cards for ensuring the growth of the telecom sector.

The leaders argued that the ex-isting SIM tax is not only against the growth of mobile sector, but also contradictory to the government’s vision for establishing a Digital Ban-gladesh.

Mobile operators have already reached with their services even in the rural remote areas by subsi-dising the SIM tax from their own funds, said leaders of the Associa-tion of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) yesterday at a pre-budget meeting held at NBR headquarters in the capital.

“The removal of SIM tax will put a positive impact on GDP by enhancing purchasing power of people and thus mobile operators can also contribute further in government exchequer,”

they said.Currently, telecom operators are

to pay Tk300 taxes on SIM cards, in-cluding Tk109.96 as value added tax (VAT) and Tk190.05 as supplementa-ry duty.

Chief Operating O� cer at Robi Ax-iata Limited Mahtab Uddin Ahmed placed the demand before NBR chair-man Md. Ghulam Hussain.

“Bangladesh market has huge potential as voice services is yet to reach to 100% people as the penetra-tion rate is still 68% in the country comparing to 141% in Malaysia and 120% in Thailand,” said Mahtab.

He also requested the NBR to � x a uniform corporate tax rate for the mobile operators, which is now being enjoyed by other corporate compa-nies in various sectors by and large.

As the existing corporate tax rate on mobile operators is the highest in Bangladesh among all the South Asian countries, the investors are staying away for further investment in technology sector, they added.

Currently, listed mobile operators are paying 40% corporate tax while it

is 45% for the non-listed companies. The general listed companies are now paying 27.5% tax while non-list-ed companies are paying 37.5% cor-porate tax.

The association leaders also de-manded withdrawal of the imposed minimum 0.5% tax on gross receipts saying, “It is against the spirit of the related law.”

The other demands include pro-viding SRO bene� t for custom duty on import of telecom equipments, au-thorisation of license fees for telecom operators, VAT exemption on modem at all stages, and exemption of VAT on mobile � nancial services etc.

In reply NBR chairman Md. Ghu-lam Hussain said: All these proposals will be thoroughly examined consid-ering their both positive and negative sides.

The meeting was attended, among others, by NBR members Syed Aminul Karim, Barrister Jahangir Hossain, Airtel Bangladesh Chief Fi-nance O� cer S K Mukhopadhyay and Robi Axiata Limited managing direc-tor and CEO Supun Weerasinghe. l

BGMEA chief: Families of missing workers will get help n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Atiqul Islam said the body will rehabilitate and compensate families of missing workers of Rana Plaza factories.

He said BGMEA has not closed its doors for Rana Plaza workers and would continue supporting them in future.

“If any a� ected family comes to us, we will take the responsibility of them,” announced Atiqul Islam while addressing a rally or-ganised remembering Rana Plaza victims yesterday

The worst industrial ac-cident killed 1,135 workers and injured over 2,500 on April 24, last year.

BGMEA, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers

and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Associa-tion (BTMA) organised the rally. A doa mah� l was also held in the BGMEA premises.

BGMEA and the RMG factories across the country hoisted black � ags and prayed for the eternal peace of the souls of the deceased workers.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Industry Minister Amir Hossain Amu, State Minister for Foreign A� airs Shahriar Alam, former BGMEA presi-dents Abdus Salam Murshedy, Sha� ul Islam, Anwar-Ul Alam Chowudhury Parvez and BKMEA � rst vice president Mohammad Hatem, among others, participated in the rally. l

WB fund for state banks to be refused due to ‘tough’ conditions n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has decided not to take the World Bank’s proposed fund for the state-owned commercial banks as conditions are “not possible to be met,” o� cial sources said.

The assistance proposal came last year on the government’s request after the state banks had faced staggering capital shortfalls.

“The WB’s lending proposal has been rejected due to the government’s inability to follow the tough condi-tions,” said Banking Division Secretary Dr M Aslam Alam.

Besides, the loan interest would cause a rise in the government’s cost, the secretary added.

Economic Relations Division ad-vised the government not to agree with the World Bank’s proposal after an assessment of the conditions.

The secretary, however, said the government will take the World Bank’s project worth Tk60 crore for strength-ening of Bangladesh Bank. The pre-vious such project was, however, of Tk150 crore.

In August last year, a World Bank team held a series of meetings with the � nance ministry and Bangladesh Bank o� cials.

Then the global lender sent a draft “aide-memoire” to the government.

It said: “The mission was informed that the government appreciated the past involvement of the WB in the re-structuring of the state banks through the Enterprise Growth and Bank Mod-ernisation Project, and would like the WB to remain engaged.”

The banks’ � nancial health im-

proved due to the World Bank project taken during the last BNP regime, the aide-memoire said.

But the lender put some conditions for the government to regain � nancial support.

One of the conditions to divest part of the government shares in state banks to ease its control over them.

Besides, the WB said the Bangla-desh Bank would have to appoint di-rectors for the state banks from a list of 150-200 professionals.

The list will be prepared by the cen-tral bank.

An expert panel would have be formed by the central bank in consul-tation with the BB for determining cap-ital needs of the banks.

World Bank said the government will not provide the capital in a chunk, but in phases.

Before providing the capital, the panel will conduct an assessment about the banks’ performance indica-tors every three months.

After assuming o� ce in 2009, the Awami League-led government ap-pointed political directors for the state banks, followed by large-scale loan scams.

The scams were damaging for the banking sector and prompted the gov-ernment to bring changes in top man-agement.

The World Bank has promisedBangladesh authorities to provide a re-cord amount of about $2.8m this � scal year.

In 2010-11, the commitment was $2.1m, although $1.2m promised for Padma Bridge projectwas cancelled later. l

Bundesbank for more scrutiny of BB proposed law against fake notesn Asif Showkat Kallol

The Deutsche Bundesbank has ad-vised the central bank of Bangladesh to further scrutinise the proposed law against fake note circulation before en-acting it.

The central bank of Germany came up with the suggestion as Bangladesh Bank had earlier sought their recom-mendations.

Bank and Financial Institutions Division of the � nance ministry re-cently received the recommendations through Bangladesh Bank, said an of-� cial.

The Bundesbank said there has been no separate law against fake note circulation in the countries of this subcontinent such as India, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka and Nepal.

“Bangladesh Bank should have sec-

ond thought before enacting such an act against circulation of fake notes, keeping the provision of special pun-ishment and mobile courts,” said the bank.

Earlier, Bangladesh Bank had decided to enact an act against fake note circulation before the beginning of holy month of Ramadan with a provision of keeping mobile courts to stop the circulation of fake notes in the market.

However, there has been a strong law against circulation of fake notes in other developed countries like USA, Canada and Australia, said a Bangla-desh Bank source.

According to the proposed law, a person, who would be found guilty in involving with the fake note business, will be awarded 10 years of imprison-ment.

Meanwhile, a total of 5000 such cases have been remained pending in the courts. At least 21 fake notes syn-dicates become active in the market ahead of the Eid festivals.

The fake notes syndicates became active when Tk1000 new notes were release from Bangladesh Bank. Usu-ally, the syndicates turn Tk100 notes into Tk500 fake notes using unfair means, sources said.

The executive director of BB Dasgup-ta Asim Kumar noted that the central bank of Germany mainly opposed a certain provision of the proposed law against the fake note circulation and we are now examining the matter.

Nine wings of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) under the ministry of home are now keeping strong vigilance on the syndicates of the fake notes makers. l

USTR o� cials due today for TICFA meet n Asif Showkat Kallol

A two–member US delegation is due in Dhaka today to attend the � rst-ever meeting on Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA).

The meeting will be held on April 28.

The US delegation includes Mara Burr, deputy assistance of United States Trade Representative (USTR) for South and Central Asia, and Michael O’ Donovan, international labour econo-mist of the International Labour A� airs Bureau Department.

Two international trade specialists in o� ce of South Asia, Department of Commerce of US, Jonathan Goldberg and Toby Glucksman will also join the delegation.

Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed said the meeting would be held as per the schedule at Pan Paci� c So-nargoan Hotel.

As per agenda, the TICFA meeting will review bilateral trades and invest-ment between the two countries, Ban-gladesh Action Plan for GSP and the US investment in Bangladesh, he said.

Discussions will be held on the mar-ket access of goods and services.

The US will raise issues like tari� cut on the import of � re safety, electrical and structural safety equipment, pub-lic tender speci� cation, diabetic drugs, insurance, currency issues and delay payment.

The other US government’s issues are intellectual property rights and re-gional development.

Both the US and Bangladesh will deliver a joint press statement after the meeting.

TICFA delegation will visit Square Fashion in Mymensingh on April 29 and will meet local businessmen at Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry on April 27.

The US delegation visit Chittagong Export Processing Zone on April 26 and leave Dhaka on April 30. l

NBR urges business to help seal tax loopholesn Tribune Report

National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md. Ghulam Hussain has urged the businessmen to help the government through giving sugges-tions on how to plug loopholes to check the substantial amount of tax gap of the country.

“To materialise the vision to be-come a middle income country by 2021, the revenue collection target will have reach to Tk300,000 crore after � ve years, the last year of the present government’s tenure,” he told a pre-budget meeting with the Foreign Investors Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (FICCI).

FICCI President Rupali Chowd-hury proposed NBR to set tax mea-

sures through dialogue to make those friendly to the foreign investors. 

“There should be a win-win situa-tion and level-playing � eld for both the local and foreign investors,” she said.

She also said the government should sit with FICCI members to � nd out the measures that could help attract foreign direct investment.

“Currently, foreign investors are being discouraged by long proce-dures of investment registration pro-posals, obtaining environmental cer-ti� cates,” she said. The chamber can play an e� ective role to help inves-tors resolve the problems, she added.

Representatives of Nestlé, Singer, Berger, British American tobacco, Glaxo SmithKline, Reckitt Benckiser, G4S placed their respective propos-

als on issues related to income tax, value added tax and customs duty.

FICCI budget coordinator Abdul Khalek proposed the NBR to include the outsourcing activities in the In-come Tax Ordinance 1984.

“Government can collect a good amount of revenue from the sector if it is brought under the tax net,” he said, adding that Bangladesh has earned US$20 million from the sector in 2013.

Khalek said foreign investors are investing in the sectors through o� -shore banking, but the investment is being hindered due to 42.5% corpo-rate tax, which should be made uni-form for the both o� shore and on-shore banking. The rate is below 20% in other Asian countries.

B 3 COLUMN 1

Finance Minister AMA Muhith speaks at Annual General Meeting (AGM) of International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) in Dhaka yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

ANALYST

B2 Stock Friday, April 25, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks � nish � at with higher turnover n Tribune Report

Stocks � nished � at yesterday with higher volume of trade as investors opted for short-term pro� t book-ing, taking advantage of reducing share trading settlement period.

The benchmark index DSEX closed at 4,702 with a slight rise of 8 points or 0.2%, extending its gaining streak for the sixth straight session and hitting its seven-week high.

Shariah Index DSES witnessed marginal gain of 1 point to 1,040. The blue-chip comprising DS30 edged 5 points lower to 1,720. Chit-tagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, closed at 9,081 with a gain of 33 points.

With increased focus on some large and small cap scrips, the trad-ing activity increased. As a result, turnover increased by 23% to Tk673 crore, which is highest since Febru-ary 10 this year. The large cap stock accounted for more than 13% of to-tal market turnover.

Small cap scrips revamped along-side extending rhythm in some large cap scrips. The heavyweight Grameenphones’s entrance in wi-max services stimulated investors for the second consecutive day.

The stock gained by almost 2%

this session and was on top of the turnover chart, taking telecommu-nications sector in leadership pad-dle, again. Grameenphone contin-ued to become top traded stock with shares worth Tk88 crore changing hands. “Since investors’ prefer-ence was changing day by day, they started swapping across sector and scrips,” said IDLC Investments.

Pharmaceuticals and banks ad-vanced by 1.6% and 1.2% respec-tively. Non-banking � nancial insti-tution, food and allied, and power closed lower on price correction.

Lanka Bangla Securities said earnings season continued throughout the week and sent mixed signals to investors, where mostly multinational companies and manufacturing stocks attracted the investors’ eyes.

It said corporate declaration of some banking stocks grabbed the buyers’ interest to the sector. The market took some breath in last hour closing the index � at as in-vestors prompted to cash in some stocks at high price, it said.

After GP, other top turnover leaders included Olympic Indus-tries, Meghna Petroleum, Heidel-berg Cement, Lafarge Surma Ce-ment, Padma Oil, Southeast Bank and Square Pharmaceuticals. l

News from trade serverNCCBANK: The Board of Directors has rec-ommended 6% cash dividend and 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 02.06.2014, Time: 11:30 AM, Venue: Police Convention Hall, Eskaton Garden Road, Ramna, Dhaka. Record Date: 06.05.2014. The Company has also reported consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.49, consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 17.36 and consolidated NOCFPS of Tk. 4.07 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.KAY&QUE: The Board of Directors did not recommend any dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 08.06.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Sundarban Hotel, 112, Bir Uttam C R Dutta Road, Dhaka-1205. Record Date: 15.05.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. (3.55), NAV per share of Tk. 2.49 and NOCFPS of Tk. 3.92 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.IFIC: The Board of Directors of the Company has decided to place the following decision as special agenda in the 37th AGM: In order to meet the future capital requirement of the Company, the Board has recommended for raising the Paid-up Capital of the Company by issuing Rights shares at the ratio of 1R:1 (i.e.

1 Rights share for every existing 1 share) of Tk. 10.00 each at an issue price of Tk. 20.00 per share (including a premium of Tk. 10.00 each) on paid-up capital after considering Bonus shares for Stock dividend subject to the approval of the shareholders in the 37th AGM of the Company to be held on June 01, 2014, BSEC and other Regulatory authorities. Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be noti� ed later after obtaining approval from BSEC.ABBANK: The Company has informed that the shareholders of the Company in its EGM held on April 21, 2014 have approved the following: "Resolved that approval is hereby given by the Shareholders to increase Tire II capital of the Bank through Issuance of fully redeemable Non-Convertible 7 years variable rated (11%-13%) Subordinated Bonds up to BDT 250 Crore where the interest will be payable semiannually in arrears through Private Placement wherein the Lead Arranger and Trustee would be two di� erent Institutions as approved by the Board of Di-rectors of the Bank and subject to obtaining approval from the concerned Regulatory Authorities."SIBL: Emerging Credit Rating Limited (ECRL)

has assigned the surveillance rating of the Company as "AA-" in the long term and ECRL-2 in the short term along with a stable outlook to the Company based on � nancials of the Company up to December 31, 2013 and other relevant qualitative information up to the date of rating.FIRSTSBANK: Emerging Credit Rating Limit-ed (ECRL) has assigned the surveillance rating of the Company as "A+" in the long term and ECRL-2 in the short term along with a stable outlook to the Company based on � nancials of the Company up to December 31, 2013 and other relevant quantitative and qualitative information up to the date of rating.ATLASBANG: (Q3): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 3rd quarter ended on 31st March 2014 (Jan'14 to March'14), the Company has reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 9.08 million with EPS of Tk. 0.38 as against Tk. 14.59 million and Tk. 0.62 respectively for the same period of the pre-vious year. Whereas net pro� t after tax was Tk. 53.15 million with EPS of Tk. 2.24 for the period of nine months (July'13 to March'14) ended on 31.03.2014 as against Tk. 70.88 million and Tk. 2.99 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Samata LeatheR -Z -9.51 -9.51 29.50 29.50 29.50 29.50 0.030 -0.04 -veUsmania Glass -A -9.11 -7.51 176.58 172.60 188.50 172.40 2.137 4.07 43.4Eastern Cables-A -8.16 -5.85 133.54 129.50 140.00 128.10 0.895 1.40 95.4Federal Insu.-A -7.02 -5.25 27.08 26.50 27.60 26.40 0.468 1.79 15.1Dhaka Ins. Ltd.-A -5.35 -5.35 33.60 33.60 34.20 33.00 0.168 2.43 13.8LafargeS Cement-Z -4.85 -3.70 63.28 62.80 65.00 62.50 18.699 2.19 28.9Sa� o Spinning-A -4.70 -3.25 22.64 22.30 23.50 22.30 0.125 1.04 21.8The Ibn SinaA -4.58 -3.92 117.41 116.60 121.00 113.10 0.282 4.48 26.2Intl. Leasing-B -3.62 -4.02 13.36 13.30 13.50 13.30 0.140 0.68 19.6Standard Bank -A -3.60 -3.30 13.49 13.40 13.70 13.40 2.108 1.77 7.6

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Usmania Glass -A -8.56 -7.99 175.78 173.10 195.00 171.90 47.847 4.07 43.2Eastern Cables-A -8.44 -6.10 134.29 129.10 142.50 127.50 12.261 1.40 95.9Kay & Que (BD) -Z -8.43 -8.26 16.33 16.30 17.40 16.10 0.098 -3.55 -veRenwick Jajneswar-A -6.97 -7.62 372.32 364.20 400.00 358.00 19.435 3.92 95.0Kohinoor Chem -A -6.69 -5.91 346.00 346.00 346.00 346.00 0.173 7.88 43.9Atlas BD-A -6.45 -6.00 169.94 168.30 175.00 166.60 32.196 2.99 56.8Samorita Hospital -A -5.61 -4.88 93.99 92.60 95.90 92.00 7.002 2.20 42.7Eastern Lubricants -A -5.59 -5.45 546.61 534.90 570.00 531.00 5.958 6.02 90.8Central Insur -A -5.15 -4.37 26.02 25.80 26.50 25.60 1.020 1.98 13.1Standard Bank -A -5.00 -5.03 13.41 13.30 14.00 13.00 26.076 1.77 7.6

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Grameenphone-A 126,200 34.15 8.51 269.90 1.85 265.00 275.40 267.00 270.63UCBL - A 689,112 19.24 4.80 28.00 1.82 27.50 28.20 27.60 27.93LafargeS Cement-Z 295,500 18.70 4.66 62.80 -4.85 66.00 65.00 62.50 63.28National Bank - B 1,325,976 17.71 4.41 13.60 7.09 12.70 13.70 12.90 13.35Meghna Petroleum -A 50,000 15.46 3.85 309.10 -1.47 313.70 312.90 307.50 309.11BD Submarine Cable-A 70,700 14.31 3.57 200.50 -2.29 205.20 206.00 200.00 202.36Southeast Bank-A 630,501 13.82 3.45 22.00 2.33 21.50 22.10 21.50 21.92HeidelbergCement -A 19,250 11.79 2.94 612.60 3.06 594.40 622.00 596.00 612.46Jamuna Oil -A 45,160 10.30 2.57 228.40 -1.30 231.40 231.00 226.70 228.16Matin Spinning-N 238,200 10.01 2.49 42.00 2.44 41.00 42.50 41.20 42.01Padma Oil Co. -A 28,891 9.99 2.49 344.80 -1.43 349.80 349.50 344.00 345.71LankaBangla Fin. -A 155,250 8.52 2.12 54.30 -3.21 56.10 56.40 54.00 54.90Square Pharma -A 27,757 7.76 1.93 279.10 -0.89 281.60 282.50 278.20 279.52BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 250,818 7.11 1.77 28.20 0.00 28.20 28.80 28.10 28.33BSC-A 12,165 7.06 1.76 576.50 -3.00 594.30 595.00 573.00 580.00

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Grameenphone-A 3,263,400 883.70 13.12 270.30 1.92 265.20 276.20 266.00 270.79Olympic Ind. -A 2,360,552 576.04 8.55 244.70 0.00 244.70 245.90 230.00 244.03Meghna Petroleum -A 953,359 294.99 4.38 308.50 -1.53 313.30 314.80 286.00 309.42HeidelbergCement -A 477,640 291.67 4.33 612.70 2.96 595.10 624.80 595.00 610.65LafargeS Cement-Z 3,169,500 199.86 2.97 62.90 -3.08 64.90 64.80 62.70 63.06Padma Oil Co. -A 573,868 198.31 2.94 344.90 -1.46 350.00 355.00 333.00 345.56Southeast Bank-A 7,005,237 153.78 2.28 22.10 2.79 21.50 22.50 19.50 21.95Square Pharma -A 545,614 152.44 2.26 278.70 -1.14 281.90 295.00 271.00 279.39Renata Ltd. -A 127,445 147.33 2.19 1175.60 5.98 1109.30 1178.00 1109.30 1155.99 Prime Bank-A 6,168,089 146.58 2.18 24.00 4.80 22.90 24.70 21.20 23.76UCBL - A 4,430,256 124.03 1.84 28.20 2.17 27.60 28.50 25.00 28.00Jamuna Oil -A 516,689 118.12 1.75 227.90 -1.38 231.10 231.10 211.00 228.61Bengal Windsor-A 1,886,464 90.21 1.34 47.70 5.30 45.30 49.80 42.00 47.82Con� denceCement A 600,281 88.70 1.32 146.70 1.10 145.10 149.20 131.00 147.77BD Submarine Cable-A 437,014 88.30 1.31 200.20 -2.10 204.50 206.60 199.70 202.06

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Prime Bank-A 9.17 10.50 24.31 25.00 25.00 23.60 0.346 0.56 43.4ACI Limited- A 7.95 4.60 203.01 209.20 210.00 185.00 5.372 1.57 129.3Standard Insurance-A 7.89 7.89 36.90 36.90 36.90 36.90 0.018 2.96 12.5Northern G Insur-A 7.49 7.60 40.23 40.20 40.40 40.00 0.080 1.82 22.1National Bank - B 7.09 5.87 13.35 13.60 13.70 12.90 17.708 -3.63 -veGPH Ispat Ltd-A 6.71 6.59 49.19 49.30 49.40 48.00 0.820 2.42 20.3Imam Button -Z 6.67 6.52 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 0.004 -2.58 -veAFC AgroBiotech-N 6.57 6.85 52.54 53.50 54.20 49.10 2.601 1.54 34.1 Argon Denims Limited-A 6.55 5.86 61.28 61.80 63.00 59.30 0.181 2.74 22.4Reckitt Benckiser -A 5.65 5.02 1290.00 1290.00 1290.00 1290.00 0.129 41.12 31.4

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Northern Jute -Z 9.00 8.86 122.14 122.30 123.40 120.00 0.171 -10.24 -veACI Limited- A 8.35 5.59 203.68 209.00 210.00 177.00 47.917 1.57 129.7AFC AgroBiotech-N 7.62 6.12 51.86 53.70 54.70 49.60 25.310 1.54 33.7National Bank - B 7.09 5.17 13.43 13.60 13.80 11.50 82.773 -3.63 -veMeghna PET Ind. -Z 6.67 5.26 6.40 6.40 6.40 6.40 0.003 -1.30 -veSavar Refractories-Z 6.62 6.54 58.00 58.00 58.00 58.00 0.015 0.60 96.7Berger Paints-A 6.24 7.06 1,085.77 1,090.10 1,090.20 1,045.00 56.243 57.68 18.8Marico BD Ltd-A 6.24 4.89 1,297.59 1,300.20 1,300.20 1,286.20 26.341 46.53 27.9Renata Ltd. -A 5.98 4.93 1,155.99 1,175.60 1,178.00 1,109.30 147.325 41.39 27.9GlaxoSK (BD) -A 5.89 5.84 1,797.13 1,798.10 1,798.10 1,770.00 28.754 45.35 39.6

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 988.21 14.67 93.74 20.50 1081.95 15.04NBFI 187.20 2.78 15.73 3.44 202.93 2.82Investment 114.14 1.69 4.36 0.95 118.50 1.65Engineering 450.29 6.68 27.24 5.96 477.54 6.64Food & Allied 718.72 10.67 22.85 5.00 741.57 10.31Fuel & Power 882.89 13.11 53.60 11.72 936.49 13.02Jute 3.61 0.05 0.00 3.61 0.05Textile 433.64 6.44 37.47 8.20 471.11 6.55Pharma & Chemical 721.79 10.72 32.27 7.06 754.06 10.48Paper & Packaging 1.47 0.02 16.15 3.53 17.62 0.24Service 59.56 0.88 2.38 0.52 61.95 0.86Leather 100.98 1.50 20.59 4.50 121.56 1.69Ceramic 17.00 0.25 1.79 0.39 18.79 0.26Cement 650.76 9.66 40.93 8.95 691.69 9.62Information Technology 74.40 1.10 7.22 1.58 81.62 1.13General Insurance 53.61 0.80 2.88 0.63 56.49 0.79Life Insurance 106.17 1.58 5.55 1.21 111.72 1.55Telecom 972.01 14.43 48.46 10.60 1020.47 14.19Travel & Leisure 41.54 0.62 7.12 1.56 48.65 0.68Miscellaneous 157.41 2.34 16.94 3.71 174.35 2.42Debenture 0.72 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.72 0.01

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4702.45020 (+) 0.18% ▲

DSE Shariah Index : 1040.24160 (+) 0.12% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1720.19632 (-) 0.29% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14506.3535 (+) 0.23% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 12095.2398 (-) 0.36% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 9084.5595 (+) 0.41% ▲

DSE key features April 24, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

6,736.09

Turnover (Volume)

124,542,762

Number of Contract 118,072

Traded Issues 296

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

140

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

151

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,399.23

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.08

CSE key features April 24, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 409.23

Turnover (Volume) 10,901,330

Number of Contract 14,664

Traded Issues 221

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

115

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

102

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,293.64

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.80

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

As the investors’ preference was changing day by day, they started swapping across sector and scrips

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 2014

Omron Healthcare Bangladesh Ltd was recently inaugurated at a local hotel in Dhaka. Health Minister Mohammed Nasim was present on the occasion as chief guest

United Commercial Bank Limited yesterday made an agreement with Green Life Hospital Ltd at the bank’s corporate head o� ce. The bank’s managing director Muhammed Ali is seen at the signing ceremony along with Green Life Hospital Ltd o� cials

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited and Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh recently signed a memorandum of understanding at Islami Bank Tower. The agreement was signed by Mohd Shamsul Haque, the bank’s deputy managing director and Md Ebrahim Bahar, president of the association

Prime Bank’s anti money laundering department of its head o� ce recently organised a workshop on prevention of money laundering and terrorist � nancing at the Jessore branch. The bank’s SEVP and head of internal control and compliance division, Md Anwarul Islam inaugurated the workshop as the chief guest

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd recently held its 256th board meeting at its board room. The board’s chair, Badiur Rahman presided over the meeting that reviewed overall business performance of the bank

ICMAB names Rupali Bank as the best corporate award winner for 2013n Tribune Business Desk

Institute of cost and management accounts of Bangladesh (ICMAB) has declared Rupali Bank Limited as the winner of the best corporate award of 2013 for transparency, accountability

and establishing the good governance. A letter signed by chair of ICMAB Mahmmed Salim, and chair of the best corporate awards committee, Muja� or Ahmed on this regard was sent to the bank’s managing director M Farid Uddin. l

British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company Limited held its 41st annual general meeting at a hotel in the capital on Wednesday in the presence of Golam Mainuddin, the company’s chair

India may cede top rice exporter spot under Southeast Asian price onslaughtn Reuters, Mumbai

India’s rice exports could slide by near-ly a quarter this year and knock the country o� its perch as top exporter of the grain due to sti� competition from Southeast Asian rivals that have re-cently slashed prices, Indian industry executives said.

A drop in Indian exports could help Thailand trim a record inventory chalked up under a controversial rice-buying scheme. Thailand may also be able to reclaim its status as the world’s biggest rice exporter, which it lost to India two years ago.

It will also leave more rice in Indian hands at a time when the country’s stocks are bulging and it faces the pros-pect of a record harvest, creating prob-lems of storage.

“We are almost out of the market now. Thailand and Vietnam are selling aggressively and it is di� cult for Indian exporters to match those prices,” BV Krishna Rao, managing director at Pat-tabhi Agro Foods Pvt Ltd, India’s biggest non-basmati rice exporter, told Reuters.

“Thailand will again become the world’s biggest rice exporter. Our non-basmati rice exports could drop to 4 million tonnes,” Rao said.

India toppled Thailand in 2012 to be-come the world’s biggest rice exporter after the government lifted a four-year-old ban on non-basmati rice shipments in 2011 to trim a growing mountain of the grain following bountiful harvests.

In the 2013/14 � nancial year that ended on March 31, India’s total rice exports stood at a record 10.5 million tonnes, comprising 4 million tonnes aromatic basmati rice and 6.5 million tonnes of the non-basmati variety.

While India’s shipments of the bas-mati variety are likely to remain steady in 2014/15 at around 4 million tonnes, total rice exports could drop to 8 mil-lion tonnes due to the slide in exports of non-basmati rice, industry o� cials said.Desperate for revenues, Thailand has this year been selling larger quan-tities of the grain from state ware-houses at low prices to private traders. Thailand-origin rice was o� ered at the lowest price in an international tender from Iraq’s state grains buyer to pur-

chase at least 30,000 tonnes, European traders said on Tuesday.

The push could boost Thailand’s rice exports to 9 million tonnes in the 2014 calendar year from 6.7 million a year ago, according to a March report issued by a US Department of Agriculture attache in Thailand. India’s exports in the 2014 cal-endar year are expected to be lower than that, industry executives said.

Thailand is now o� ering 5% broken rice at $390 to $395 per tonne free-on-board basis, compared to India’s o� er price of $400.

The Southeast Asian nation usually charges a premium over Indian rice due to its longer grains

“India and Thailand are quoting nearly the same price for 5% broken rice. Thailand’s prices need to go up by $40 per tonne to make Indian exports viable,” said M Adishankar, executive director at Sri Lalitha, a leading rice exporter based in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Problem of plentySince the � rst week of February, Thai-land has cut export prices of 5% broken rice by nearly 12%, compared with a 2% drop in export prices from Vietnam, the world’s second-biggest exporter. Indian prices rose 2% during the same period as the rupee strengthened.

“For some grades Thailand has been o� ering discounts compared to Indian prices. Indian exporters can’t lower pric-es substantially due to the appreciating rupee,” said MP Jindal, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.

A strong rupee cuts the returns of exporters. The Indian currency has risen nearly 3% since the start of Feb-ruary.

The imposition of a 110% import duty on rice last year by Nigeria, a ma-jor importer of the grain from India, could further hamper exports from the South Asian country.

India mainly exports non-basmati rice to African countries such as Nige-

ria, Senegal and Benin, while Iran, Sau-di Arabia and United Arab Emirates are key buyers of its basmati rice.

“Shipments to Nigeria are hit due to the new duty structure,” said Adishan-kar of Sri Lalitha.

Other African buyers are switch-ing to Thailand as the government has been aggressively selling stocks from its warehouses, the exporters said.

Slowing exports will add to India’s problem of plenty in foodgrains. Rice inventories with India’s state-run agencies have already jumped above 30 million tonnes as on April 1, government data shows, against a target of 14.2 million tonnes. Moreover, the country is estimated to produce a record 106.19 million tonnes rice in the year to July 2014.

“Slowing exports mean more and more farmers will sell their crop to the government, but it doesn’t have enough storage space,” said a rice miller based in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. l

A Kashmiri man works in his paddy � eld REUTERS

Dollar weaker in Asia as US, Japan fail to seal trade dealn AFP, Tokyo

The dollar weakened in Asia yesterday as the United States and Japan failed to break a deadlock holding up a Paci� c-wide trade deal, with US President Barack Obama urging Tokyo to take “bold steps” to reach agreement.

The greenback changed hands at 102.30 in Tokyo, down from 102.50 yen in New York Wednesday.

The euro was at $1.3822 and 141.40 yen, against $1.3816 and 141.61 yen in US trade, where the single currency won support from an upbeat report on eurozone business activity.

Obama, who arrived in Tokyo Wednesday on the � rst leg of a four-nation tour, held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday morning. Among the top items on his agenda was moving ahead on the Trans-Paci� c Partnership trade agree-ment.

Talks over the proposed pact - which

encompasses 12 nations including the US and Japan and about 40% of the global economy - have been held up as Tokyo and Washington locked horns over key details, including Japanese tari� s on agricultural products.

Top negotiators from both sides have spent days seeking a breakthrough over the dispute, which will entail painful political choices that could in-� ame anti-free trade advocates on both sides of the Paci� c.

After a summit with Abe, Obama told a joint press conference that “now is the time for bold steps”.

He added: “I think it’s fair to say that there are a certain sectors of the Japa-nese economy, the agriculture sector, the auto sector, in which market access has been restricted historically.”

He added that those stumbling

blocks “at some point have to be re-solved ... (and) I believe that point is now”.

Japanese economy minister Akira Amari is scheduled to talk to reporters later Thursday after holding the latest round of meetings with US Trade Rep-resentative Michael Froman in Tokyo.

The dollar also faced pressure af-

ter US new-home sales dived 14.5% in March from a year earlier, the second successive month of slower sales.

The euro was steady against the dol-lar after Markit Economics said its Eu-rozone Composite Purchasing Manag-ers Index for April, a leading indicator of manufacturing and services activ-ity, jumped to its highest reading since May 2011.

Against other Asia-Paci� c currencies the dollar was at Tw$30.30, unchanged from Wednesday, while it edged up to 44.66 Philippine pesos from 44.63 pesos.

The greenback eased to Sg$1.2569 from Sg$1.2577, to 11,625.00 Indone-sian rupiah from 11,655.00 rupiah, to 1,039.25 South Korean won from 1,039.45 won, and to 32.34 Thai baht from 32.38 baht.

The Australian dollar fell to 92.91 US cents from 93.21 cents, while the Chi-nese yuan fetched 16.40 yen against 16.42 yen. l

Japan business lobby plans corporate governance rulesn Reuters, Tokyo

Japan’s most powerful business lobby, Keidanren, plans to introduce corpo-rate governance rules that will require better disclosure, a person familiar with the matter said, but they will stop short of bolder reforms sought by many investors.

The lobby, whose member � rms in-clude most of Japan Inc’s biggest names such as Canon Inc and Nippon Steel, will launch a study group later this year with an eye to announcing the new guidelines in 2016, the person said.

The Keidanren’s rules will not re-quire independent directors or any par-ticular governance structure, re� ecting its belief that such decisions should be left up to individual companies, the person familiar with the matter said.

But they will demand companies give a detailed explanation on a set of impor-tant matters, such as why it has or has not employed independent directors or adopted a company with a committee governance structure, the person said.

As such, the guidelines will e� ec-tively incorporate only the “explain” portion of the “comply or explain” regu-latory approach common in Britain and other parts of Europe, the person said.

The move is an attempt by the con-servative lobby to in� uence a growing debate in Japan over how to bolster corporate governance. Keidanren has traditionally opposed rules mandat-ing independent directors and other reforms seen by some investors as vi-tal to lifting Japan’s corporate perfor-mance and protecting the interests of shareholders.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is working on a governance code that will be part of an economic growth strategy to be announced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in June. The gov-ernment also recently introduced a stewardship code aimed holding insti-tutional investors more accountable and encouraging better communica-tion with corporate boards.

The rules will be applied to all of Keidanren’s roughly 1,300 members. l

Oil prices rebound in Asian traden AFP, Singapore

Oil prices rebounded in Asian trade yesterday as heightened tensions in Ukraine overshadowed data show-ing US commercial crude inventories reaching an all-time high.

New York’s West Texas Intermedi-ate for June delivery, was up 30 cents at $101.74 a barrel in afternoon trade, and Brent North Sea crude for June rose 24 cents to $109.35.

Both contracts tumbled Wednesday on the US stockpiles data, which indi-cate softer demand at a time of robust production in the world’s biggest oil consuming nation.

Stocks rose 3.5 million barrels to 397.7 million for the week ended April 18, o� cial � gures showed, larger than the 2.4 million expected by analysts.

“While key economic data from US and Europe will be released this week, oil markets will continue to be in� u-enced by geopolitical events,” said

Sanjeev Gupta, who heads the Asia-Pa-ci� c Oil & Gas practice at professional services � rm EY.

In Eastern Europe an agreement between Ukraine, Russia and Western powers in Geneva last week to pull the country from the brink of civil war ap-peared shaky after a gun� ght on Sun-day killed at least two pro-Moscow rebels.

On Wednesday, Russia hinted it will strike back if its “legitimate interests” in the former Soviet state are attacked after Kiev sent in forces to dislodge militants who have occupied govern-ment buildings there.

Moscow wants Ukraine’s pro-Western government to withdraw its forces.

Ukraine, a major conduit for Russian natural gas to Western Europe, is moni-tored closely by investors who are con-cerned that a full-scale armed con� ict will disrupt supplies and send prices rocketing. l

The euro was at $1.3822 and 141.40 yen, against $1.3816 and 141.61 yen in US trade, where the single currency won support from an upbeat report on eurozone business activity

NBR urges business to help seal PAGE 1 COLUMN 3He requested the NBR to set a rational corporate tax on o� shore banking by comparing the rate with other coun-tries to attract more foreign invest-ments.

The association also proposed re-ducing the corporate tax for non-pub-licly traded companies from the exist-ing 37.5% to 32.5%, raising inadmissible expenses from existing Tk2.50 lakh

to Tk4 lakh, tax bene� t on transfer of technical knowhow, royalty, import of services, household goods etc.

The association also alleged that � eld level taxmen are harassing the business by misusing price declaration rules of VAT.

In response, the NBR chairman as-sured the chamber leaders to resolve the problem by issuing instruction to the � eld o� ces. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, April 25, 2014

DILBERT

Globalisation: A bloom or a gloom for developing countries?n M Jalal Hussain

The proponents and opponents of glo-balisation do have unanimous view that globalisation always brings mammoth gains for some countries while in contrast, brings gargantuan pains for some others. Glo-balisation is a doctrinaire and much-talked about issue for the present century. The impacts of globalisation, whether gainful or painful, are felt by businesspersons, busi-ness leaders, politicians, political leaders, social scientists, economists, analysts, and the common folk around the globe.

Globalisation induces reorganisation of businesses and industries at the sub-national, national, and international levels. It brings forth restructuring of production, services, domestic and international trade, integration of capital markets, and diversi-� cation of investment strategies worldwide to get the maximum economic bene� ts. The advent of modern science and technol-ogy brings the world under one umbrella known as the “globalised world.”

The process of globalisation started a while ago, back in 15th century, and gath-ered momentum in 1990s. In 2000, the In-ternational Monetary Fund (IMF) identi� ed four basic aspects of globalisation: Trade and transaction, capital and investment, migration and movement of people, and the dissemination of knowledge. To cope with and meet the corresponding processes, the concept of “globalisation” evolved.

Globalisation a� ects economic and social relations through multilaterism, multinationalism, and microeconomic phe-nomena, as production, services, and busi-ness competiveness at both national and international levels. Industrially developed countries were hyped from globalisation as they were well advanced in education, science, and technology. On the other hand, the underdeveloped and developing countries have bene� ted in some areas, but in most areas they lose because of tough competition in the global market, a lack of education, technology, capital structure, and leadership qualities.

Various researchers, analysts, econo-mists, and academics around the globe have expressed highly favorable views on globalisation and its economic e� ects on developed countries. But the ill-e� ects of globalisation on developing and underde-veloped countries remain unabated and unresolved.

An online debate on “Globalisation and Poverty,” organized by the World Bank Development Forum, echoed the loud and aggressive protests against globalisation and expressed its negative impact on the

distribution of income and wealth between and within the countries. “Globalisa-tion may improve growth rates, increase productivity and enhance technological capability, but it cannot redistribute created wealth and income in favor of the poor. In fact, it does the opposite, it redistributes wealth and income in favor of the not-so-poor,” expressed the Forum.

The IMF, the World Bank, WHO, and the industrially developed countries are held responsible for in� uencing and largely determining the course of globalisation. They are considered to be the driving forces behind the policy reforms that the developing and underdeveloped countries have to implement as part of the structural programs under the stewardship of the IMF, World Bank, and WHO.

East Asian countries made “miracle” changes in their economies through the transfer of technology, by increasing ex-ports under the globalisation process. Glo-balisation caused a boom in the economies of East Asian countries. In contrast, most of the Sub-Saharan countries, some South-Asian countries, a few countries in Africa,

Latin America, and the Caribbean, didn’t get benedictions from globalisation. These countries are burdened with problems that plagued their economies and globalisation caused a gloom for these countries.

Various schools of thought argue that globalisation has led to an increase in child labor and slavery in the developed and underdeveloped economies. Globalisation is responsible for unplanned industrialisa-tion that causes cities and towns to be used as garbage-dumps, with pollution at sky-high levels.

Climate change and global warming are called the byproducts of globalisation. The globalisation of industries has changed the outlook of the economy of a country at the cost of the environment. Natural resources are depleting, deforestation is taking place in many countries like Bangladesh for the establishment of environment-unfriendly industries. These cause climate change, global warming, CO2 emission, lower levels of rainfall, and so on.

According to social scientists, geolo-gists, and environmentalists, Bangladesh will be the country worst a� ected due to

climate change and global warming.Globalisation opens the door to inter-

national trade, which gives birth to arthritic and intense competition. Due to cut-throat competition, the products of developed economies occupy the local market, leading the underdeveloped economies far abaft. Uneven distribution of wealth is let to take place, and the rich keep getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. The gap between the elite and the underprivileged would be a never-ending road.

Globalisation creates disparities between developed and developing econo-mies by exploiting cheap-labor countries around the world. The developing countries can reap the bene� ts of globalisation only by adopting intransigent and hardheaded planning such as swift-transfer of technolo-gies, education to all policies, improving leadership qualities, and following the eco-nomic and transition plans of the “Eastern Asian” economies that achieved the loftiest bene� ts of globalisation. l

M Jala Hussain is Group Financial Controller of a Private Group of Industries.

Ifo: German business con� dence rises in Apriln AFP, Frankfurt

German business con� dence re-bounded this month after a slight fall in March in Europe’s biggest economy when companies worried about the Crimea crisis.

The Ifo economic institute’s closely watched business climate index rose to 111.2 points in April against 110.7 the month before, beating market expecta-tions.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones News-wires had predicted a slight decline to 110.5 points.

Christian Schulz of Berenberg Bank said the data showed German busi-nesses had shrugged o� their worst fears over a military escalation in the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

“The situation in eastern Ukraine remains volatile and dangerous and poses the most serious risk to the euro-zone recover at the moment,” he wrote in a note.

“But German businesses seem to es-timate that the worst-case scenario of a war between Russia and Ukraine and escalating sanctions all the way to dis-ruptions of Russian energy supplies to Europe remains unlikely.

“The Ukraine crisis is clearly far from over, but unless it escalates dra-matically, it seems unlikely to leave more than a temporary dent in con� -dence, if at all.”

He said the more upbeat mood came as “Germany is increasingly enjoying the bene� ts of its strengthening do-mestic demand as well as the broaden-

ing recovery in its most important ex-port markets, the eurozone and other developed economies”.

Ifo calculates its headline index on the basis of companies’ assessments of their current business and the outlook for the next six months.

The sub-index measuring current business increased slightly to 115.3, from 115.2 in March.

The outlook sub-index, which had fallen for two months in a row, re-bounded to 107.3 in April from 106.4.

Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING-DiBa, said the � gures indicate that “currently German businesses stick to the facts and do not get concerned by eventualities”.

“And the facts up to now speak a clear language. Order books, both domestic and foreign, are still growing, invento-ries are low and activity in both manu-facturing and services is picking up.”

He also pointed out an unusually mild winter had boosted construction in the � rst months of the year, making it “an important growth driver for the entire economy”.

However, Brzeski warned that “de-spite today’s surprisingly strong Ifo and the expected growth acceleration of the German economy in the � rst quar-ter, it would be foolish to turn a blind eye to possible downside risks”.

“With the Ukraine crisis, Chinese un-certainties and emerging markets slow-ing down, more and more gusts of wind, particularly from the East, could easily disturb the current spring fever on the eurozone’s island of happiness.” l

Nokia says India plant unlikely to be part of Microsoft dealn Reuters, New Delhi

Nokia said that due to an ongoing tax dispute its Indian mobile phone handset plant was unlikely to be in-cluded in a deal due to be concluded by today for the sale of its global handset business to Microsoft.

Nokia will instead operate the fac-tory as a contract manufacturing unit for Microsoft after the deal, a spokes-woman for the Finnish company’s In-dian unit said yesterday.

“It’s highly unlikely that the plant will transfer, given that the (deal) clos-ing with Microsoft is tomorrow,” the spokeswoman said. “If the asset doesn’t get transferred, we are entering into a service agreement with Microsoft.”

Nokia has yet to agree to conditions set by an Indian court, including pay-ment of a guarantee for potential tax dues in a dispute with Indian authori-ties, before it transfers the plant to Mi-crosoft.

The plant, which Nokia says em-ploys about 6,600 employees, is one of its biggest factories globally.

Nokia this month o� ered a voluntary retirement scheme to factory employees.

Nokia lawyers have previously told the Delhi High Court that the com-pany can run the plant as a contract manufacturer in case it is not allowed to be transferred to Microsoft, but not beyond 12 months after closing their 5.4bn euros ($7.5bn) global deal. l

Pakistan raises $1.1bn with 3G, 4G licence auctionn AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan on Wednesday raised more than $1.1bn in its long-delayed auction of next-generation telecommunications licences, snapped up by the country´s four existing mobile network providers.

The government sold o� four licenc-es to provide 3G services, which allow broadband-speed internet on mobile phones, and one for superfast 4G con-nections.

The total is close to the $1.2bn esti-mated for the sale in the federal budget for 2013-14 but below a bullish predic-tion of $2bn made by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in January.

The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was elected last year on a platform of boosting Pakistan´s � oun-dering economy and ministers hope the licence sale will bring a boost by improving communications.

Pakistan has more than 132 mil-lion mobile phone subscribers but has lagged behind its neighbours in setting up 3G, which is now the norm in many countries.

Even Afghanistan, Pakistan´s far less developed western neighbour with a weaker economy and more fragile state, has had the technology since 2012.

The successful bidders for 3G ser-vices were Norway´s Telenor, Russian-owned Mobilink, Ufone, owned by the Pakistani government, and Zong - part of China Mobile.

All four operators are already es-tablished players in the Pakistani mo-bile market.Zong also won one of two

licences available for 4G services. The second will be auctioned later.

Sikanadar Naqi, a Zong advisor, told AFP the company would begin 3G services in the cities of Lahore and Karachi immediately.

The � nal bids for the 3G licences to-talled $902.82m, while the 4G licence went to Zong for the reserve price of $210m. Dar said the government would receive half of the money up front and the rest in � ve annual installments.

The chief executive of Mobilink congratulated fellow bidders and the Pakistan Telecommuncations Author-ity (PTA) on what he said had been a “transparent” process.

“After this auction, not only 132bn subscribers but the whole Pakistani nation has taken the road of progress,” Rashid Khan said. A study by the UK-based Plum consultancy in August last year said 3G could boost Pakistan´s GDP by between 380bn and 1,180bn rupees ($3.8bn to $11.8bn) by 2020.Up to 900,000 extra jobs could be created and between 23bn and 70bn rupees in additional tax revenue generated by 3G, the Plum report said.

Cheap mobile phone telephony took Pakistan by storm in the early 2000s, but only 3.3 million people are signed up to broadband internet, according to PTA � gures, o� ering a huge, untapped market for faster web speeds.

Information Technology Minister Anusha Rehman hailed the auction as a boon for Pakistanis unable to a� ord computers and � xed-lined internet connections. l

Obama urges Japan to take ‘bold steps’ in huge trade dealn AFP, Tokyo

US President Barack Obama yesterday urged Japan to take “bold steps” to seal a Paci� c-wide trade deal after Washing-ton failed to wrestle key tari� conces-sions from Tokyo.

The Trans-Paci� c Partnership (TPP), a vast trade agreement that would cov-er about 40 percent of the global econ-omy, is a key plank in Obama’s bid for a renewed focus on Asia.

It is also seen as crucial for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pledge to shake up his country’s long-lumbering economy.

But the ambitious 12-nation deal has stalled as Tokyo and Washington lock horns over key details, including Japa-nese tari� s on agricultural products and US access to its ally’s major auto market.

Speculation that a deal would be announced during Obama’s Asia tour, which o� cially kicked o� on Thursday in Tokyo, were dashed at a joint press brie� ng following talks between the leaders of the world’s number one and three economies.

“Now is the time for bold steps,” Obama told reporters.

“I think it’s fair to say that there are a certain sectors of the Japanese econ-omy - the agriculture sector, the auto sector - in which market access has been restricted historically.”

He added that those stumbling blocks “at some point have to be resolved ... (and) I believe that point is now”.

The deal is a crucial part of Abe’s promises to reform Japan’s economy and stoke long-tepid growth, the US leader said.

“TPP is consistent with those reforms and, as Prime Minister Abe said, there is a strategic importance to this as what’s happening now is shaping the economic environment for the fastest growing re-gion in the world - not just for this year or next year, but potentially for this de-cade and the next decade,” Obama said.

The two leaders told their trade del-egations to press on with talks to “set-tle the remaining issues and work for an early conclusion” of the agreement, Abe said.

Japanese economy minister Akira Amari is scheduled to talk to reporters later Thursday after holding the latest round of meetings with US Trade Representative Michael Froman in Tokyo.

Japan was hoping that a free trade agreement with Canberra this month,

which will see tari� s on Australian beef slashed, would help bounce Washing-ton into compromises, but US diplo-mats appear to have stood � rm.

Washington and many of the other parties to the talks - including Chile, Mexico, Canada and several Asian countries - say Japan’s unwillingness to open its lucrative agricultural market is a deal-breaker.

Critics have long complained that sky-high Japanese tari� s - on rice they are nearly 800% - and non-tari� bar-riers, like overly-strict safety require-ments, are naked protectionism.

Negotiators missed the end-of-2013 deadline they had set themselves - a target that always looked ambitious, but became much more so when Ja-pan got involved in the talks during the year. No new end-date has been set. l

US President Barack Obama speaks with Emperess of Japan Michiko while next to Emperor Akihito at the Japan State Dinner at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo yesterday REUTERS