16 march, 2015

PAGE 11Taliban attacks on Pakistan churches kill 15, spark riots

PAGE 7Water crisis in Chittagong to go by October

PAGE 6Goods stolen from fertiliser factory site

PAGE 9Elusive gas connection a boon to corruption

CALL RATE CUT INCURS $51M LOSS PAGE 3

GOVT GETS $50M BELARUS CREDIT PAGE 4

MOLLAH MASUD ARRESTED IN INDIA PAGE 5

SECOND EDITION

MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 | Chaitra 2, 1421, Jamadiul Awal 24, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 2, No 340 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

Where in the world is Salahuddin?No one knows his whereabouts even after � ve days of the BNP leader’s disappearance n Mohammad Al Masum Molla,

Ashif Islam Shaon andMohammad Jamil Khan

Law enforcement agencies, including the police, CID and RAB, claim ignorance of BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed’s whereabouts over � ve days after his disappearance.

All his family is able to say is that the for-mer state minister for communications was

picked up by plainclothesmen on the night of March 10 from an Uttara appartment.

Law enforcers appear to be equally clue-less. They deny ever picking up the BNP joint secretary general.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia alleged on Friday that the government was behind his disap-pearance, while the prime minister hinted that Khaleda was orchestrating the whole farce having told Salahuddin to go into hiding.

Salahuddin had been acting as the BNP spokesman since the arrest of the party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and his immediate predecessor Ru-hul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, also a joint secretary general.

BNP’s press releases and announcements – mostly relating to the routine calls of gen-eral strikes – were sent to media outlets underhis name.

E� ectively the political opposition, BNP and its allies have been waging a violent an-ti-government campaign, calling for the rul-ing Awami League to step down and announce new elections for over two months now.

Although Salahuddin did not make any public appearances – and perhaps wisely so given the fate of his predecessors – the au-thorities were looking to arrest him since

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A clash ensues between a group of hill people and security forces in Babuchhara of Dighinala in Khagrachhari district yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

17 hurt in marchers’ clash with security forcesn Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

At least 17 people including eight indigenous people were injured in a clash between a group of hill people and security forces in Babuch-hara of Dighinala in the district yesterday.

The indigenous people under the banner of Dighinala Land Protection Committee were marching towards the under-construction Babuchhara battalion headquarters of the Border Guard Bangladesh. They were barred in at least four spots by the combined security

forces having members of the army, BGB, po-lice and Ansar – accompanied by a magistrate.

Army personnel � red at least 20 rounds of bullets to disperse the agitators, who pelted stones and bricks, and used catapult against the law enforcers during the clashes.

Boalkhali Ashram’s teacher Arun Shanti Chakma and another unidenti� ed day labour-er were picked up during the daylong clashes, police and locals say.

The demonstrators alleged that the army men had tortured at least two indigenous

people – grade X student Subikash Chakma and Tridib Chakma. Six other hill people in-cluding Shushil Bikash Chakma, Rabi Ranjan Chakma and Lalon Chakma were also injured.

Sajek Land Protection Committee, Sa-jek Women’s Society, Uzo Bazar Protection Committee, Pahari Chhatra Parishad and Democratic Youths’ Forum participated in the march demanding relocation of the BGB headquarters and withdrawal of the false case � led against the indigenous people last year.

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Law enforcers deny Salahuddin’s arrestn Ashif Islam Shaon

Law enforcers yesterday said they knew noth-ing about the whereabouts of BNP leader Sa-lahuddin Ahmed, who has been missing for � ve days.

In their reports submitted to the attorney general’s o� ce yesterday, the Special Branch of police, Criminal Investigation Department, Rapid Action Battalion, Dhaka Metropolitan Po-lice and the police headquarters all claimed that they had not detained or arrested Salahuddin.

Salahuddin’s family members have, how-ever, complained that lawmen had picked him up from a Uttara apartment � ve days back.

In response to a petition � led by his wife Hasina Ahmed, the High Court on Thurs-day asked the government to explain why it should not be directed to trace and produce Salahuddin in the court by 10:30am yesterday.

The bench of Justice Quamrul Islam Sid-diqui and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore asked eight defendants, including the inspec-tor general of police, director general of RAB, CID, Special Branch of police, and DMP com-missioner, to answer the ruling.

During the hearing yesterday afternoon, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam cited DMP’s report as saying it did not detain or arrest Salahuddin. “They are trying to locate him,” he said.

RAB said Salahuddin was not in their cus-tody while the CID said they had not picked him up as there was no case against him it was investigating.

The SB, too, said they were trying hard to � nd him out.

Quoting the police report, Mahbubey Alam said on March 11 Hasina Ahmed went to the Uttara police station with 20-25 TV reporters

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MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Law enforcers deny Salahuddin’s arrestand photojournalists around 10:45pm. She told the police that law enforcers had picked up Salahuddin from an Uttara sector 3 apart-ment between 9pm and 10pm the night be-fore.

Hasina did not clearly say from who she had got the information � rst that her husband had been picked up.

She � rst said some unknown men had called her over phone giving the information; later she said she had heard the news from a person in Dubai over phone, the report said.

The police also said it was not clear to them why the family members took more than 24 hours to inform them about the incident and why they had gone to the police station with journalists.

When police o� ered her to go with them to the house for investigation Salahuddin’s wife refused. She also refused to � le any GD.

She left the police station after 40 minutes and the police lodged the GD themselves.

The attorney general, quoting the po-lice report, further said the Uttara police went to that apartment and found that it was owned by late Sirajuddowla. A per-son named Reza, who lives in Dhanmon-di, takes care of the house on behalf ofSirajuddowla’s daughter.

“The ground � oor of the building has a ga-rage on the west and a vendor named Ahsan set up a warehouse on the east. A delivery-

man named Saiful lives there,” said the report.On the � rst � oor, one Sukontho Karim lives

on the east side � at and First Security Bank’s DMD Habib Hasnat and his wife Sumona live on the west side � at.

On the second � oor engineer Khoshru I Jewel and his wife live and on the west side Nestle Manager Maj (retd) Hasib live with his wife and child.

The ground � oor accommodates guards Ashraful and Akhter.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the court that police found the Hasnat-Sumo-na’s � at locked from outside when they went there for investigation.

In an interrogation guard Akhter told the police that the couple had gone some-where four days ago. Before leaving Hasnat told the guards that a guest would stay inthe � at.

“Usually tenants come to and go out of the house until 11pm. On March 10, four-� ve men went to Hasnat’s � at around 9pm.

“Around half an hour later, the guest went out with those men in a car. The guard could not ascertain that the guest was Salahuddin. The men who took him did not have any uni-form,” said Mahbubey.

The guard told the police that the car did not seem to belong to law enforcers. The men had no handcu� s with them and it did not seem that the guest was picked up forcefully.

The police also interrogated the tenants, who said they were unaware that law enforc-es had picked up anybody from the building. They also had no idea where the couple had gone leaving the guest in the � at.

Police came to know that Hasnat had taken a leave from his bank and Sumona was not in her father’s home. The couple lived alone in the � at and since the incident their phones have been switched o� .

“In this situation, police could not be sure if Salahuddin Ahmed was in the � at or anyone arrested him or just abducted him,” the attor-ney general said.

“Maybe he hid since the police had al-ready been looking for him,” he said, urging the court to dispose of the ruling as the law enforcers could not do anything else in this regard.

BNP leader and senior lawyer barrister Moudud Ahmed opposed the disposal of the ruling, saying they did not get the police re-port’s copy. He also argued that the reports submitted to the AG o� ce were not endorsed with a� davit.

The court said: “Why should we take much time for such a subject? We can dispose the ruling with the observation that e� orts of � nding him [Salahuddin] should be contin-ued. We have other cases to deal with.”

In reply Moudud urged the court to consid-er the case on humanitarian grounds. l

Where in the world is Salahuddin?there were cases against him. Barkatullah Bulu, another joint secretary general of the BNP, has replaced Salahuddin since his arrest.

The law enforcers have hardly been either forthcoming or cooperative, according to Sala-huddin’s wife Hasina Ahmed, who is a former member of parliament too. She could not even � le a general diary with the police. They would not accept it, she had alleged. Law enforcers had told her “the complaint was baseless.”

The police have, however, categorically said Salahuddin was not in their custody.

While law enforcement agencies – the Inspec-tor General’s O� ce, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Criminal Investigation Department, Special Branch and the hybrid crime-� ghting unit Rap-id Action Battalion – claimed ignorance about Salahuddin’s location before the High Court yesterday, DB o� cials told the Dhaka Tribune

that they continued to look for a woman, most likely the domestic aid at Salahuddin’s hideout, who also went missing after a few hours that hewas picked up.

Police detectives say they have found out that the Uttara apartment where Salahuddin was staying belonged to a person named Ha-bib Hasnat, a deputy managing director of First Security Bank. According to the security guard of that apartment, Habib Hasnat went out of his house on March 8 and told the guard to attend to any needs his guest might have.

He told detectives that the woman left the apartment a few hours after the BNP leader was taken away blindfolded.

A high o� cial of a law enforcement agen-cy, requesting anonymity, said both Salahud-din and Habib used Dubai-based roaming SIM cards to communicate. While Salahuddin’s

SIM is found inactive, the other one is cur-rently being answered by one Helal.

The BNP has, meanwhile, demanded that the government produce Salahuddin before the court, evidently implying that the gov-ernment was behind the disappearance. Cur-rently the spokesman of BNP, Bulu said in a statement yesterday, also refraining from making a public appearance, the prime min-ister’s suggestions were “illogical, unrealistic and cruel.”

Another BNP leader and an MP, Ilias Ali had also disappeared under suspicious cir-cumstances on April 17, 2012 during the Awa-mi League government’s previous tenure, leading to similar allegations and counter-al-legations between the BNP and the ruling par-ty. Ilias is yet to be found. l

17 hurtArmy’s Dighinala Zone Adjutant Captain Towhidul Islam said the clash had taken place around 12:30pm in Karbari Para area. At that time, eight army personnel sustained inju-ries. He, however, could not give identities of the injured.

Regional Commander Brig Gen SM Mahbubul Alam said the hill people had attacked a patrol team of the army in Noapara area with bricks and catapult, leaving several army men injured.

Later in the day, Dighinala Land Protec-tion Committee Convener Poritosh Chakma in a statement announced daylong transport strike in Dighinala for today protesting the at-tack of security forces, torture and gunshots on the demonstrators.

He demanded that the 21 families who had been evicted last year for the BGB headquar-ters defying a High Court status quo be given back their land.

Also former Babuchhara union chairman, Poritosh said the marchers were � rst obstruct-ed near Maini Bridge. For that, they held a ral-ly there. Later they were barred at Nu-o Para, Banchhara and Rangapanichhara (Karbari Tila) Model School and Babuchhara. The law enforcers � red blank shots as a portion of the demonstrators reached near Rangapani area.

Earlier, the local administration and the army stopped road communication so that the indigenous people could not join the march, organisers alleged adding that around 14,000 hill people gathered for the march. Chairmen and vice-chairmen of the local un-ions were also present.

On May 14 last year, BGB personnel from its 51 battalion took position in Dighinala’s Jatna Kumar Karbari Para and Shoshi Mohon Karbari Para and forcibly evicted 21 indige-nous families on June 10. At that time, 18 lo-cals mostly elderly women were injured. The BGB later � led a case against 150 people in-cluding 111 named. Police arrested a number of indigenous people in the case.

Both the Khagrachhari DC and BGB of-� cials had denied claims of the 21 families’ ownership of the land.

Being evicted, the families took shelter in two classrooms of Babuchhara High School. “The families are now staying at the o� ce of Babuchhara deputy assistant agriculture of-� cer,” reads a statement signed by Dighinala Land Protection Committee member Secre-tary Dharmo Jyoti Chakma. l

BNP condemns PM’s comments on Salahuddinn Tribune Report

BNP yesterday condemned Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s comment on the disappear-ance of BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed as il-logical, unrealistic, and cruel. It demanded that the missing leader be presented to court.

“The PM’s remark that Salahuddin might have been taken out of the capital in sacks of trash is illogical, unrealistic, and cruel; we do not have words to condemn the remark,” said a press release signed by Joint Secretary Bar-katullah Bulu.

The party demanded that the government produce Salahuddin in court in the shortest pos-sible time to avoid any untoward consequences.

“People expect responsible statements from the prime minister, and the government cannot avoid responsibility by making sarcas-tic comments on such an important issue,” the statement read further.

Referring to housecleaning at Khaleda Zia’s o� ce, Hasina at a programme on Saturday said: “Who knows maybe he [Salahuddin] was driven out with the junk; Khaleda Zia will have to answer it.”

On Friday, Khaleda alleged that the gov-ernment may have arrested the BNP leader.

Salahuddin’s family had claimed that plainclothesmen picked him up from a house in Uttara last week. Both police and RAB have denied having arrested or detained him. l

Fire at jute bag factoryn Tribune Report

Fire last night gutted jute bag manufacturing factory Oporajeo, which was founded in 2013 in Savar with the injured workers of Rana Plaza.

The � re broke out around 9:45pm, Chief Executive Worker of the unique-styled fac-tory Kazi Monir Hossain said. He, however, could not con� rm how the � re had originated.

There was no worker inside the factory, lo-cated on the ground � oor of a building in Tha-na Bus Stand area, at the time of � re, he added.

Fire � ghters, who brought the blaze under control around 10:45pm, said the � re might not have generated from a short-circuit.

They also said a narrow back door at the factory was found broken.

The factory has 50 workers, victims of the Rana Plaza building collapse, and manufactures jute bags for local and international clients. l

Motijheel � re doused after 14 hours n Tribune Report

After 14 hours of frantic e� orts, � re � ghters were able to extinguish the devastating � re that broke out at the multistorey Mia Amanul-lah Tower in the capital’s Motijheel yesterday.

Fire Service control room duty o� cer Shahjadi Sultana said � re � ghters doused the � ame around 5:30am.

A � ve-member body was formed to investi-gate the incident and estimate the loss, she said.

Although no casualties in the blaze were reported, � re service o� cial Ra� qul Islam fell ill during the operation. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and was soon discharged after primary treatment.

The � re broke out on the � rst � oor of the building on Saturday afternoon. l

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BTRC pushes for call rate cut that caused $51m lossn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The government has lost more than $51.44m in the last � ve months alone following a decision to halve the international incoming call termi-nation rate and rearrange a revenue sharing structure.

However, despite the massive losses, the telecom regulator – which earlier lobbied for the reduced rates – is now again recommend-ing that the slashed termination rate stays in e� ect for six more months.

When the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission asked the government last year to cut the call termination rate from US 3 cents to 1.5 cents per minute, the BTRC also assured that the move will increase the call volume and bring in an extra Tk200 crore in pro� ts.

But the reality turned out to be a stark con-trast to their proposal, as the six-month-long temporary arrangement caused $51.44m in losses to the BTRC since September 18 last year.

According to the proposal, the government share in international call termination earnings was also cut down from 51.75% to 40%, mean-ing the government received 40% of 1.5 cents per minute.

The revised revenue sharing structure re-sulted in only the IGW operators pro� ting from the change; while the burden of losses fell on the BTRC along with other mobile and land-phone operators and ICX operators.

However, with the temporary arrangement set to expire on Tuesday, March 17, the BTRC has asked for the arrangement to be extended. A letter on this regard, signed by BTRC system and service wing Director Lt Col Mohammad Zul� kar, was sent to the government on Thurs-day.

BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose said six months was a very short time to � nd out the outcome of this issue.

“Every day incoming calls are increasing and we think that if we get some time, the gov-ernment’s earnings will increase and we can make up the losses,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Asked about the BTRC letter, Md Feroz Salah Uddin, additional secretary of the Tele-communication Division, told the Dhaka Trib-une on Thursday that they would go through the BTRC proposal before sending it for the Fi-nance Ministry’s approval.

However, sources inside the BTRC said there was disagreement within the telecom regulator about the purpose of the fresh rec-ommendation.

“After a huge loss of public money, the BTRC is once again going for it; which means they are doing it in favour of losing hundreds crores of taka of public money,” a senior BTRC o� cer told the Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity.

Mobile operators also expressed their con-cerns about six more months of reduced rates, saying they were losing large amounts of mon-ey for the changes introduced last September.

The Association of Mobile Telecom Oper-ators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) sent a letter to the BTRC yesterday saying: “We would also request the commission to organise a consul-tation meeting before revising the internation-al incoming call termination rate and revenue sharing model.”

According to BTRC data, since the slashing of rates in last September, the volume of calls has increased but revenue collection has de-creased.

Between September 18 and the end of Feb-ruary this year, the International Gateways (IGW) carried 13,616 million call minutes, a big rise from the 8,576 million minutes during the previous � ve month period of April to Septem-ber 17 last year.

The previous 51.75% revenue sharing struc-ture and 3 cent price meant the BTRC received $133.14m during last year’s April-September period, while the Inter Connection Exchanges (ICX) and the call receivers operators (ANS) also received greater shares of pro� ts.

But the reduced price and 40% revenue share allowed the BTRC to collect only $81.69m during September-February period, while the ICX and ANS also su� ered losses, and only the IGW pro� ted $6.75m. l


EARNINGS & LOSSES OF GOVERNMENT REVENUE FOR THE LAST TEN MONTHSParticulars Total call minute Total Revenue BTRC share IGW share ICX share ANS share

April ‘14- 17 Sept ‘14 8,576m $257.28m $133.14m $34.08m $38.59m $51.45m

18 Sept ‘14 – Feb ‘15 13,616m $204.24m $81.69m $40.84m $36.76m $44.93m

Loss/Gain (+)5,040m (-)$53.04m (-)$51.44m (+)$6.75m (-)$1.82m (-)$6.52m

Tk5 lakh bounty for Redwanul Ranan Tribune Report

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday de-clared Tk5 lakh bounty for helping them to ar-rest North South University student Redwanul Azad Rana, who is a fugitive accused in the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajeeb Haider and at-tack on another blogger Asif Mohiuddin.

“The amount will be given to the people who will help police to detain Rana or give information about his hideout,” DMP Deputy Commissioner (media and public relations) Masudur Rahman said.

The Detective Branch of police, now inves-tigating the killing of secular blogger Avijit Roy, also suspect that Rana might have mas-terminded the attack on the US citizen and his wife Ra� da Ahmed Bonya on February 26.

Earlier, the DB sent letter with Rana’s photo-graph to the Immigration Police and the BGB so that he would not able to leave the country. l

Shibir got tech-savvy men to spread propagandan Mohammad Jamil Khan

At least 50 activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir trained on technology from abroad have ac-tively been carrying out over one hundred blog sites and Facebook pages since 2010 to promote Jamaat-e-Islami’s propaganda among Bangladeshis across the world, detectives say.

All the tech-savvy operatives of Chhatra Shibir, Jamaat’s student front, maintain several email accounts and Facebook pro� les while act as administrators of the pages which have been involved in spreading propaganda and inciting violent attacks against the government.

Detectives have come up with such infor-mation after interrogating KM Ziauddin Fa-had, a Chhatra Shibir leader who is believed

to be chief editorial administrator of Facebook page Basherkella. Yesterday was the second day of his eight-day remand in police custody.

According to intelligence sources, analys-ing the Facebook statuses of Fahad, they have traced some pro� les suspected for inciting vi-olence. The detectives are now trying to trace location of those instigators.

Chhatra Shibir’s online activities increased signi� cantly in 2013 when the International Crimes Tribunal started delivering verdicts in war crimes cases, in which mostly the top leaders of the party that sided with the Paki-stani occupation forces in 1971 were tried.

After the tribunals pronounced verdicts in the cases against senior Jamaat leaders Abdul Quader Molla and Delawar Hossain

Sayedee early 2013, the Chhatra Shibir sup-porters started inciting violent attacks on law enforcers, state properties and pro-liberation people through some Facebook pages having no direct mention about the persons behind the scene.

Those pages also posted photos and false information about the prime minister, min-isters, media personalities, bloggers and war crimes activists provoking their fans, mainly those who support Jamaat-Shibir, to kill them. Moreover, supporting the radical Islamist plat-form Hefazat-e-Islam, these pages also tried to establish that the government was acting against the innocent Muslims of the country.

Detectives say their main agenda is to cre-ate chaos by misleading the ordinary Muslims.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the Detective Branch of police, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have came to know that at least 50 people, who are expert in technology, have been controlling the administrative activities of social media pages run by Jamaat-Shibir.”

He said the detectives had learnt about such activities � rst in 2010. “At that time, we got information that 30 Chhatra Shibir men took training on technology from abroad,” Monirul, also the DMP spokesperson, said.

A large portion of Chhatra Shibir lead-ers and activists are now engaged in cyber crimes. “We are making a list of the key lead-ers and will launch drives shortly to arrest them,” Monirul said. He, however, could not con� rm the source of funds. l

The sale of old tyres had been on the decline since the 20-party enforced hartal and blockade programmes began in January. But as vehicle numbers gradually increase on streets, these tyre sellers return to a busy routine again in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur Beribadh yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

NEWS4DTMONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Govt gets $50m Belarusian bank credit for municipal equipmentn Asif Showkat Kallol

The government will take $50 million cred-it from the Development Bank of Belarus to procure equipment and motor vehicles for construction and maintenance services need-ed by the country’s city corporations and mu-nicipalities, o� cial sources said.

Bangladesh has 321 municipalities and 11 city corporations. A Local Government Divi-sion o� cial said: “It was a long negotiation between Belarus and Bangladesh last year to � nalise the $50 million credit programme.”

“We will take a loan from the Development Bank of Belarus JSC at one percent simple interest, which is quite a low rate compared to that o� ered by local private commercial

banks,” the o� cial said.A proposal by the Local Government Divi-

sion to procure 11 types of equipment and mo-tor vehicles with credit from the Development Bank of Belarus will be placed at the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase. The proposal was signed by Abdul Malek, the secretary in charge of the Local Government Division.

The proposal reads: “The Local Govern-ment Division will acquire equipment and mo-tor vehicles at European standard at a low cost which is good for the government exchequer.”

According to the proposal, Bangladesh and Belarus have already signed a framework agree-ment on the provision of export commodity credit. This covers the procurement of equip-ment and motor vehicles for city corporations

and municipalities without any service charge. Bangladesh will put up a 15% advance to

import equipment and the remaining 85% in loans will be repaid over 11 years at 1% inter-est, according to the proposal.

Moreover, the Development Bank of Bela-rus will give a three-year grace period for its credit programme.

The Belarusian government will provide a two-year warranty for the import of the equipment, as per the proposal.

The municipal shopping list includes wheel loaders, excavators, combination asphalt roll-ers, log grapples with kickouts, log grapples, hydraulic hammers, twin drum vibratory roll-ers, bulldozer blades, drill machines, backhoe loaders and skid steer loaders. l

Mosharraf blasts Rajuk for questionable rolen Tribune Report

Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain has slammed the Rajuk for failing to play due role in the capital.

“Some unauthorised commercial estab-lishments have been erected in the residential areas in the capital due to the inertia of Rajuk that has su� cient manpower, but does not work properly. There are some corrupt o� -cials as well,” said minister Mosharraf.

He made the remarks while addressing a press conference hosted by Bangladesh Sec-retariat Reporters’ Forum (BSRF) in the Secre-tariat yesterday.

The minister blamed the corrupt o� cials for the construction of the buildings.

“We face hurdles to take legal action against them [the illegal building owners] as they manage stay order from the High Court in this regard,” Mosarraf continued. l

Noakhali dam adjustment attempt fails 4th timen Our Correspondent, Noakhali

The closure dam on the bank of the Chhoto Feni River in Companiganj upazila was de-stroyed by high tides for the fourth time on Saturday, just two hours after it was adjusted.

Sandbags were placed to � nish the adjust-ment but the structure still could not with-stand the force of water.

There were three previous attempts to ad-just both sides of the dam but to no avail.

In 2013, Tk49.48 crore was allocated for the project but the allocation was later in-creased to Tk150 crore as work could not be completed. The current allocation stands at Tk174 crore.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated

the construction on January 8, 2013, but work was suspected after two months and 14 days.

The project, once completed, will bring 80,000 hectares of arable land under irriga-tion facilities. This will boost harvest and will result in the annual production of an addi-tional 2,46,113 tonnes of food estimated to be worth around Tk200 crore.

Noakhali Water Development Board Exec-utive Engineer Imu Riazul Hasan said the pro-ject would largely contribute to the economic development of the area.

“The project area will get a facelift while the dam will resist intrusion of saline water into the 1.30 lakh hectares of land. Employ-ment opportunities will also be created for the poor,” he added. l

The closure dam on the bank of the Chhoto Feni River in Companiganj upazila was destroyed by high tides, just two hours after it was constructed DHAKA TRIBUNE

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TMONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Wasa: No water crisis this summer n Abu Hayat Mahmud

There will be no scarcity of drinking water in the capital this summer, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) o� cials have told the Dhaka Tribune.

Similar promises made in previous years by the state-owned utility have not always been kept.

During the warm season, the capital typ-ically su� ers from water shortages and poor water quality.

Shortages of drinking water in di� erent parts of the city in previous summers, report-edly forced residents to purchase bottled wa-ter to meet their demand for drinking water.

Residents describe summer water supplies as “foul smelling” and “dirty,” and say the utility company has done little to solve the problem.

Arifa Islam, a resident of South Shewrapa-ra, said: “We faced a severe crisis in March last year because the water supplied by Wasa

smelled awful. We did not drink, bathe or cook with the � lthy water it supplied.”

“There has not been a problem, so far, this year,” she added.

Shukrabad resident Shafayet Hossain said in his neighbourhood last year, people could not get fresh water from Wasa pipes because the water was contaminated.

High-ups in the water and sewerage utility said pipelines had been checked this year in most areas of the capital, and said the company was on standby to troubleshoot any problems.

Dhaka Wasa Managing Director Taqsem A Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that Wasa would continue to supply the city with water from its treatment plants.

He denied that there was any trouble with Dhaka’s water supply.

But several Wasa o� cials, who asked not to be named, told the Dhaka Tribune that fall-ing groundwater levels had repeatedly caused Wasa to fail to provide adequate supplies of water during the dry season.

They said the utility company was increas-ingly seeking to tap surface water resources.

The o� cials claimed that the quality of water at Wasa’s treatment plants was unlikely to improve before the monsoon because the Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers were high-ly polluted.

In order to develop environmentally sus-tainable water supplies for Dhaka, Wasa in-tends to produce 500 million litres of water per day from the Meghna River at Bishnandi Point in Araihajar upazila, Narayanganj.

Tapping water from the Meghna River will help Dhaka Wasa source 70% of its supply by 2021 from surface water sources, o� cials said.

It will also halt the depletion of ground water levels which have been severely dimin-ished in recent years.

Dhaka Wasa currently has the capacity to produce 2.25 billion litres of water per day. Dhaka city residents require 2.2 billion litres per day, o� cials said. l

Inu: BNP chief must surrender before court n Tribune Report

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu has said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia must sur-render before the court, or else the govern-ment will be compelled to arrest her.

Speaking at a press brie� ng in the Secre-tariat yesterday afternoon, he said: “If she [Khaleda] does not show respect towards the law and refuse to surrender, the government will be compelled to arrest her.

“Her place is not at the dialogue table any-more; rather, it is in Kashimpur jail as she has killed many people with the hartal and block-ade programmes,” he said.

Ruling out Khaleda’s claim that a fresh election is the only solution to the current po-litical crisis, Inu said there is no crisis in the country over election.

The government did not stop anyone from participating in the election, and it will not bar anyone in future as well, the minister said.

“We want to make it clear: no responsible government can allow this wanton destruc-tion of lives, livelihoods and property just because one particular party remains out of power. The country needs peace to prosper and the government will do everything possi-ble to make that happen,” he said. l

Teenager’s body found in Chittagongn CU Correspondent

The police found the body of an 18-year-old man at Dewanbazar in Bakalia area, Chit-tagong yesterday morning.

The deceased, Md Sazzad Hossain, 18, from Satkania upazila, worked in a mobile shop at Riazuddin Bazar in the city, said Mohammad Mohsin, OC of Bakalia police station.

He said locals spotted Sazzad’s body on the rooftop of a six-storey building at Nirapad Housing Society in Dewanbazar in the morn-ing and informed the police.

The OC said, adding that initial inspection revealed bruises around Sazzad’s neck.

Sazzad was a resident in the building his body was found at, living with his employer Sohel who moved to a new house in Mousumi residential area at Chawkbazar two days ago.

Police raided Sohel’s new residence, where they found 1,000 yaba pills and arrested his wife Nargis Akhter. They are now looking for Sohel, who has a criminal record. l

Top criminal Mollah Masud arrested in India n Tribune Report

The Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal in India has recently arrested Mollah Masud, one of the top terrorists of Bangladesh and a criminal on the red-alert list of Interpol.

A press release of Bangladesh police head-quarters issued yesterday said the Indian CID arrested Masud under section 14 of the For-eigner’s Act of India and a case was � led on March 8 in this connection.

The police also said India’s New Delhi In-

terpol con� rmed the arrest of Masud. There are a number of cases against Masud

in the capital’s Ramna police station. The police headquarters also said Masud

would be brought back soon and a process was going on.

Additional Inspector General Mahbubur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have al-ready taken initiatives to bring him back. But I cannot say for sure how long it will take.”

Mollah Masud was a madrasa student and later studied at Siddheswari College. He vied for the general secretary post of the college’s

student union. He was also the body guard of Ghulam

Azam, a convicted war criminal. However, as the trial of war criminals be-

gan he joined the Seven Star group, an under-world criminal gang operating mainly in Dha-ka. Following a con� ict with other members of the gang Masud formed another criminal gang named Aga 5.

He later � ed to India when the home min-ister declared a reward for the news leading to his arrest along with other top-listed 22 criminals. l

Law practitioners cast votes in the election of the High Court Bar Association in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

3 hurt in BCL attackn Tribune Report

Three people were injured when around 40 men, allegedly Chhatra League activists, at-tacked an electronics shop in Chittagong‘s Lalkhan Bazar area yesterday evening.

The three injured are sta� of AC Bazar Lim-ited, the store which was attacked, have been admitted to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital, said Khulshi Police station Sub-In-spector Munir Hossain Mian.

The police said the attack - carried out by men equipped with sticks and rods - was an act of a lingering grudge. No arrest has been made in connection with the attack. l


Goods stolen from fertiliser factory siten Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Police in Sylhet have detained two men sus-pected of trying to move iron goods worth Tk50 lakh from the construction site of a fer-tiliser factory illegally to Dhaka.

Harun Mia, 40, and Abdul Majid, 38, were detained on Saturday in Madhabpur, and the goods of Fenchuganj Shahjalal fertiliser fac-tory were seized from the lorry those were loaded onto.

Police were tipped o� about the crime and later detained the two men. The lorry and the goods of 62 varieties were also taken to police station.

Harun, who hails from Lakshmipur, is the driver of the lorry while Majid of Manikganj is a crane operator.

The factory authorities formed a three-member committee to investigate the incident. They also brought the goods and

the detainees from Madhabpur to Fenchuganj yesterday.

Sources said the miscreants were able to bypass the factory’s security arrangements as they set o� for their destination. The goods were said to be bound for Demra in Dhaka.

Additional General Manager of the con-struction project, ANM Shariful Alam, said the probe committee was asked to submit a report soon.

He also said the factory’s assistant secu-rity o� cer, Sajidul Haque, had lodged a case with Fenchuganj police station against � ve persons.

Amir Uddin, sub-inspector of the police station and the investigating o� cer of the lawsuit, said police were trying to nab all those involved in the incident.

Local lawmaker Mahmud Us Samad had called for a fair investigation. The construc-tion of the factory began in 2012. l

Journalist Saiful Islam diesn UNB

Veteran journalist Saiful Islam Talukder died of cardiac arrest at his Go-pibagh residence in the capital around 11pm on Saturday. He was 56.

He was a joint secre-tary general of Bangla-desh Federal Union of

Journalists (BFUJ) and a special correspond-ent of the daily Amader Samoy.

His namaz-e-janaza was held twice in the capital – on the National Press Club premis-

es and at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity – before his body was taken to Chandpur for burial at his family graveyard yesterday.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina expressed profound shock at his death.

In a condolence message, the president said Saiful Islam had worked for the welfare of the journalists apart from performing his professional duties.

The president prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sym-pathy to the bereaved family members.

Saiful is survived by his wife, a son, three daughters, a host of relatives and well-wishers. l

54,481 learners get scholarship n Shohel Mamun

A total of 54,481 students, who earlier passed this year’s Primary School Certi� cate (PSC) examinations, have been awarded with schol-arship based on their results.

Primary and Mass Education Minister Mosta� zur Rahman yesterday afternoon an-nounced the scholarship at a press conference held in the Secretariat.

Of the awardees, 21,983 students gained position in the talent-pool quota and they were entitled to get Tk200 each per month

while the rest 32,498 in the general quota are to receive Tk150.

Monipur High School and College became the country’s highest scholarship holders with 145 students.

One student from each ward of the city ar-eas across the country and four pupils from each union were selected for the scholarship.

The students’ list has been made available on www.dpe.gov.bd.

A total of 2,628,083 students passed the PSC examinations this year. Of them, GPA 5 achievers were 224,411. l

DU student commits suiciden Tribune Report

Police recovered the body of a Dhaka Univer-sity student from his Dhanmondi residence yesterday early morning.

Selim Reza, Sub-Inspector of Dhanmon-di police station, said they had found the body hanging from the ceiling of a verandah around 8am.

The deceased was identi� ed as Sabbir Hasan, 18, 3rd year student of Dhaka Univer-

sity’s Computer Science and Engineering De-partment.

Badrul Alam, father of the deceased, said: “We found him hanging from the ceiling of a verandah of our 5th � oor � at and informed the police.”

Amzad Ali, acting proctor of Dhaka Univer-sity told the Dhaka Tribune that Sabbir com-mitted suicide over love a� airs.

However, SI Selim Reza said they would in-vestigate the death. l

Shunning the foot over-bridge, pedestrians risk their lives to cross the busy in Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue in the capital yesterday RAJIB DHAR

NEWS 7D


WEATHER

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:08PM SUN RISES 6:06AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW35.5ºC 15.5ºC

Faridpur & Patuakhali Srimangal

MONDAY, MARCH 16

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 34 24Chittagong 34 24Rajshahi 32 22Rangpur 32 20Khulna 35 21Barisal 35 20Sylhet 35 20Cox’s Bazar 34 24

PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:51am

Sunrise 6:06amZohr 12:07am

Asr 4:27pmMagrib 6:08pm

Esha 7:23pm

DRY WEATHER

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City water crisis to go by Octobern Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Following several rescheduling of project deadlines, the implementation of Karnaphuli Water Supply Project is � nally on its course to be � nished by this October, with around 75% of the work now completed.

AKM Fazlullah, managing director of Chit-tagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, expressed hopes of achieving the October target for the project in Chittagong’s Rangunia upazila.

Once the project is complete, around 70% water demands of the Chittagong city resi-dents would be met by a new water treatment plant that will supply an additional 140 mil-lion litres of water per day (MLD), he added.

“Firstly, the project cost was estimated Tk967 crore in 2006; the cost was revised to Tk1,510 crore in 2010; however, the � nal sum up cost may stand at Tk1,800 crore on com-pletion of the project,” Fazlullah told a press brie� ng following a visit to the project site in Rangunia yesterday.

The project’s initial duration was supposed

to be March 2006 to June 2010, but the land acquisition of the project was not complet-ed until 2009 – resulting in the revision of the project implementation schedule to July 2010-October 2014.

However, construction was hindered dur-ing 2013 and for several months in 2014 be-cause of political unrest and some local prob-lems, the Chittagong Wasa MD said.

“But the project’s construction work is now going on in full swing, and if the momen-tum is continued, the entire work will be con-cluded this October,” he added.

The Chittagong Wasa MD said the Ran-gunia site on the banks of the Karnaphuli was chosen as it was possible to collect water from that point throughout the year, while the wa-ter salinity there was less than any other point of Karnaphuli River.

“We will daily acquire 145MLD water from the river, which is only 3% water of the riv-er, and will supply 140MLD puri� ed water to the city through our newly set up 68.09km of pipelines,” he said.

Project Director Jan-e-Alam said the water treatment plant would be bigger than the port city’s lone existing plant at Chandgaon’s Mo-hora area. Once another ongoing water treat-ment project in Hathazari’s Madunaghat is completed, around 97% water demand of the city dwellers would be met, he added.

If it is completed by October, the city res-idents would reap the bene� ts by December, Jan-e-Alam added.

At present, Chittagong Wasa has 582km of pipeline network for 52,000 service connec-tions and is capable of supplying 210-220MLD water, which is 42% of the city’s total demand.

On June 29, 2006, the Japan Internation-al Cooperation Agency (JICA), signed a loan agreement worth 12,224 million yen (over $100.75m) with the Bangladesh government for the project comprising of 143MLD water treatment plant construction, conveyance, transmission and distribution pipelines in-stallation, a new reservoir construction in the city’s Nasirabad, Batali Hill reservoir and Khul-shi Booster Pump Station modi� cations. l

BCL factional rivalry sparks tension at SUSTn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Tension arises at the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology again after four stu-dents belonging to a faction of the universi-ty’s Chhatra League unit beat up a member of their rival group on the campus yesterday.

Around 1pm, four students, all studying in the anthropology department of the univer-sity attacked Arif, a third semester student of Environmental Science in front of the E build-ing inside the campus.

Panicked, many students have already left the dorms while many are passing hours in anxiety on campus.

The attackers are the members of “An-jan-Uttam” group formed by Chhatra League Vice-president Anjan Roy and BCL leader Ut-tam Kumar, claimed Arif who works for Chha-tra League General Secretary Imran Khan.

After receiving primary treatment, at the university’s medical centre, Arif talked with

reporters at the proctors o� ce. He said: “Out of nowhere the members of

Anjan-Uttam group attacked me. They beat me with iron rods without any reason.”

The four attackers are third year students, Roni and Shakhawat, and second year stu-dents, Limon and Roni, he identi� ed.

Divided into di� erent groups the activists of Anjan-Uttam group have taken position in-side the campus, said Imran Khan.

“The attack on Arif is unfortunate and con-demnable. I have talked with the VC urging him to hand over the attackers to police as soon as possible. Arif is a meritorious student and is involved with the kind of healthy pol-itics that we do. That is why some terrorists attacked him posing as Chhatra League activ-ists,” he said.

Ackowledging the incident, acting proctor of SUST Assistant Professor Emdadul Hoque said: “We will take action after discussing with the Vice-Chancellor.”

Jalalabad police station O� cer-in-Charge Akhter Hossain said: “Additional police forces have been deployed on the campus. At pres-ent the situation is calm.”

On March 8, despite a ban on political activ-ities, two rival factions of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League, � exed their muscles at SUST.

Witnesses said the faction, led by BCL committee President Sanjiban Chakrabarty Partha, entered the campus around 3pm with 30-40 men and staged a demonstration. Im-ran Khan and BCL leader Sajedul Islam Sabuj were present at the time.

Hearing about the demonstration, the An-jan Roy and Uttam Kumar came to the campus with 20-25 people. They also brought out sev-eral processions.

On November 20 last year, a BCL man named Sumon Das died during a clash be-tween two rival factions over establishing su-premacy at the university. l


Four killed in road accidents in 3 districtsn Tribune Report

At least four people were killed in separate road accidents in Khulna,Jamalpur and Chit-tagong districts yesterday.

Our Khulna correspondent reports: Two workers were killed in a collision between a truck and a motorcycle at Maltia Bottola on the Khulna-Satkhira Highway. The deceased were identi� ed as Mahbur Rahman, 32, and Anwar Hossain, 28, of Dumuria Betagram.

SI Saifur Ahmad of Chuknogor Highway police outpost said the accident took the

place due to dense fog.Meanwhile, police seized the truck and de-

tained its driver Abul Kha.Jamalpur correspondent said a brick-� eld

worker was killed in an accident at Bakshiganj upazila under the district yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as Lalchan,25, Bakshiganj police station O� cer-in-Charge

Mosta� zur Rahman said the accident took place when a fertilizer laden truck coming form opposition direction ran over Lalchan, leaving him dead on the spot while he was re-turning home by bye-cycle.

CU Correspondent said a minor girl was killed and four others were injured in a road accident on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar High-way at Patiya upazila in the district.

The deceased was identi� ed as Moni Akhtar, 08, daughter of Nabi Islam of the upazila.

ASI Harunur Rashid of Patiya Highway po-lice outpost said a three wheeler-run human hauler carrying six persons was rammed by a BRTC passenger bus from behind around 12:30 pm in Monsa Chowmuhony area. Four were critically injured during the accident.

Moni died on the way to Patiya Hospital. l

Withdrawal ofcases against Anu Mostafa demandedn Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Members of civil society demanded quick withdrawal of three cases � led against jour-nalist Anu Mostafa in Rajshahi.

Civil society members also threatened to go on tougher movement if the cases are not withdrawn soon.

They issued the threat in a human chain organised by “Rajshahi Rokkha Sangram Pari-shad”, a leading social organisation in Rajsha-hi city.

The human chain which also protested the countrywide violence during the BNP-spon-sored blockade and hartals, was held at Sha-heb Bazar Zero point yesterday morning.

General Secretary of the organisaionJamat Khan said destructive acts should not be let to go which was taking lives of innocent people.

Speakers, however, condemned � l-ing of three cases against senior journalistAnu Mostafa, Rajshahi bureau chief of daily Jugantor.

The three cases were � led recently against Anu Mostafa with the Rajshahi city’s Boalia police station.

The cases were � led following a news over realising extortion by o� cer-in-charge of Boalia police station was published in the dai-ly, the speakers said.

Civil society leaders, however, issued a threat to the police high o� cial with a tough-er movement if the alleged cases against Anu Mostafa were not withdrawn unconditionally soon.

Shahin Akter Reni, a noted social leader, Hasan Millat and Mamun Ar Rashaid, presi-dent and general secretary of Rajshahi Sang-badik Union and SM Saju, president of Rajsha-hi TV reporters union, addressed the human chain. l

Garment worker strangled in Ashulian Our Correspondent, Savar

A man has allegedly strangled his wife in Ashulia.

The dead, Salma Akter, 25, used to work at a readymade garment factory named Shomsh-er Knit Garments located in Sreepur, Ashulia.

Relatives of Salma and police informed that Salma and her husband Aynal used to live in a rented house in Sreepur area. The couple used to engage in altercations over di� erent familial issues. On Saturday night, following such a dispute, Aynal strangled Salma and left after locking the house.

Yesterday morning, through window, the neighbours spotted Salma’s body lying inside her room and informed police. Ashulia police recovered the body and sent it to Dhaka Medi-cal College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Ashulia police station O� cer-in-Charge Mostafa Kamal said there were marks of inju-ries on Salma’s neck. Police primarily suspect that she was strangled. A case was � led in this connection. l

A bulldozer destroys a huge amount of various liquor and drugs worth Tk76 lakh on BGB premises in Naogaon yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Berbari-Dariapur road in dire state due to lack of maintenancen Our Correspondent, Tangail

The Berbari-Dariapur road in Sakhipur upazi-la of Tangail has been lying in dire state for a few years due to lack of maintenance.

Local people said the road has turned un� t for vehicular movement as no repair work was done in last 12 years.

The unpaved road dotted with numerous potholes has turned into virtually a ditch for thousands of passengers who travel on the road every day.

During the dry season, the road is covered in dust, but in rainy season, commuters’ suf-ferings have no bound.

About 50,000 inhabitants of 30 villages of Sakhipur and Basail upazilas of the district de-pend on the road which connects Sakhipur and Basail headquarters and Tangail district town.

The Local Government Engineering De-partment (LGED) had completed construction work of the � ve-kilometre road in 2003.

Mostly CNG-run autorickshaw, battery-run

autorickshaw and rickshaw van run on the road and these types of small vehicles have to go slow taking hours to travel � ve-kilometre distance.

Abdur Razzak, a van puller of Akandapara village of Sakhipur upazila, said: “It is very di� cult to drive vehicle with passengers on the dilapidated road.

Sometimes, passengers fall down from the van and get hurt.”

“Why the authorities are not taking steps to repair the road?,” Abdur raises question.

Runa Akter, a resident of Jadubpur village, told the correspondent said it was a must to repair the road immediately as it had become un� t to move.

Faruque Ahmed, CNG driver and also res-ident of Dariapur village, said it took 20 to 25 minutes to cross the road in a better condi-tion, but now it took almost an hour.

Zamir Uddin, headmaster of Nakshala High School, said students had to su� er a lot as the road houses a number of schools.

“Students of my school fall in di� culties for the dilapidated road.

“Their su� erings had no bound during the rainy season,” he said.

In rainy season, students fall in pothole as they cannot see because it is covered by rain-water, he added.

Md Baized Hossain, owner of Siyam poul-try feed in Nakshala Bazaar, said he faced trouble while carrying goods.

“Drivers of feed-leaden trucks do not want to come here for the run down state of the road. They demand higher rent from us. I beg the authorities concern to repair the road as soon as possible.”

Badsha Miah, a farmer of Jadubpur village, said: “I need to pay more to carry my pro-duced paddy.”

Manas Mandal, engineer of LGED, Sakhipur upazila, said: “We have informed the higher authority to allocate money to repair the road. But the money is yet to be sanctioned for the purpose.” l

NEWS 9D


NEWS IN BRIEF

Ban on passenger vessels on risky coastal routes startsn Our Correspondent, Barisal

The annual seven-month ban on passen-ger vessels plying the accident-prone routes touching the Meghna estuary and the coastal area along Barisal division became e� ective yesterday.

Aiming to protect travellers, the ban is im-posed on transports that do not have valid licences or sea-survey � tness certi� cates to travel on these routes as the region, where water transports are the main mode of trav-elling, is vulnerable to natural calamities such as cyclones and storms at this time of the year, said Abul Bashar Mazumdar, deputy director of marine safety and tra� c management at the Barisal o� ce of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).

The ban was � rst enforced by the Depart-ment of Shipping, under the Ministry of Ship-ping, on June 18, 2000 following a series of

fatal accidents on around 3,000km of river routes in the area, Bashar told the Dhaka Trib-une yesterday.

The BIWTA authorities have already issued an order regarding the ban to stop all passen-ger-carrying trawlers and postpone route per-mits of 14 launches that travels between dif-ferent points in the area, said Sourav Hossain, inspector of BIWTA Barisal o� ce.

However, the ban creates an acute crisis of passenger vessels in the area and con� nes a large number of people living in isolated river shoals and islands due to lack of proper trans-portation, said Dr Mizanur Rahman, mem-ber-secretary of Barisal Nagarik Parishad and a local resident.

“Alternative arrangement for transportation needs to be in place, because the people living in the isolated areas will be forced to travel using small boats and trawlers, putting themselves at risk,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. l

Man sued three days after deathn Our Correspondent, Madaripur

Three days after death, a case has been booked with Sadar police station against a man who was murdered during a reported clash in Ghunsi village here on March 7.

Murdered Hero Sheikh was made number � ve accused in the arms case � led on Tuesday.

In this regard, Shirkhara UP Chairman Ma-jibur Rahman Hawlader who claimed himself a freedom � ghter said two cousins named Habi and Mofez from the village had been log-gerheads over establishing supremacy there for long. Earlier, both were accused in about ten cases including murder case, he added.

As sequel to the incident, muscle-men of Mofez killed Hero by � ring shots and hack-ing for taking side with Habi. Later, the rivals claimed that a gun� ght as well as clash with them led to the death. Madaripur Assistant Superintendent of Police Abu Bakkar Sid-dique said: “Police � nally will take legal steps after looking into the lawsuits.” l

Alleged robber lynchedin Madaripur An alleged robber was beaten to death at Miarchar village under Bahadurpur union of the district yesterday. The identity of the deceased could not be known yet. Quoting the locals, Assistant Superintendent of Police Abu Bakar Siddique said: “A gang of robbers entered the house one Sikim Ali Matubbar in Miarchar around 9am. Sikim’s son Arbis received severe head injuries as the robbers hit him with sharp weapons.” Hearing the victim’s scream, the locals went to the spot and chased the robbers. “They managed to capture one of the robbers and beat up severely, leaving him dead on the spot,” said ASP.– Our Correspondent, Madaripur

Krishok League leader killed A local leader of Krishak League, a front organ-isation of Awami League, was killed at Ram-chandrapur village in Sadar upazila yesterday. The deceased was identi� ed as Mintu Sarder. Sources said Mintu was arranging a religious function at the village at night. At one stage, he went home and did not return. His son went to � nd out him but he found the body lying near the home. On information, police recovered the body. The police suspected he might be strangulated to death. A case was � led in this connection.– Our Correspondent, Jhalokathi

Smuggled drug worthTk77 lakh destroyed Smuggled drugs, such as phensidyl syrups, wines, cannabis and banned injections, worth about Tk 77 lakh were destroyed in presence of high o� cials of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in Naogaon yesterday. The drugs were seized by the anti-smuggling squads of BGB during sev-eral drives in last 10 months in di� erent frontier areas of the district. The drugs, including 13,192 bottles of phensidyl syrup,33 liters re� ned wine, 69 bottles of Indian wine,1,266 di� erent kinds of banned injections, 3 kilogrammes of hems and tobacco related drugs, were destroyed by bulldozers at the BGD headquarters. BGB com-mander Colonel Zahid con� rmed the incident.– Our Correspondent, Naogaon

Elusive gas connection a boon to corruptionn Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

Hundreds of clients of Brahmanbaria munic-ipality and adjacent areas have been facing immense su� erings due to delay in new gas connections.

According to the citizen charter of Bakhra-bad Gas Distribution Company Ltd (BGDCL), which is in charge of providing new gas con-nections in Brahmanbaria, a consumer should get the connection within 15 working days of placing application. But the new connection remains elusive even after more than a year.

About seven thousand new consumers in Brahmanbaria have been waiting for gas con-nections. BGDCL authority said they were not able to provide new connection due to short-age of equipment.

However, many consumers alleged that

some unscrupulous employees of the company had been providing illegal connection to con-sumers who paid about Tk20-30,000 as bribe.

The government fee for a new domestic gas connection is Tk4,400, which was increased to Tk8,600 in September, 2014. Though many clients have paid the increased amount, they were yet to get gas connection.

Taj Md Yasin, resident of Birasar area of Brahmanbaria municipality and former chair-man of Natai Uttar union, said he had deposit-ed the money accordingly. “But since then 14 months have passed and I am still waiting for gas connection.”

“I cannot � le a case fearing that I may not get gas connection if I do that,” he added.

Meanwhile on last Friday, Sub-Inspector of Brahmanbaria Sadar police station Abu Bakr Siddique seized a large amount of equipment

meant for illegal gas connections for 85 fami-lies in Sindhura village of Sadar upazila.

“We conducted a drive on a tip o� and seized the gas connection equipment. How-ever, no one could be arrested since they � ed the scene.”

He also informed that a general diary had been � led and a case could be lodged if BGD-CL wanted to.

Md Al-Amin, president of Bakhrabad Con-tractors’ Welfare Samity, said they had to face the wrath of clients due to corruption of BGDCL.

“We have been told that the company did not have the necessary equipment to provide new gas connections. But it is not true. Ti-tas, the other gas distribution company, has been providing connections without any has-sle. They get their equipment from National Tubes, the same company that supplies to

Bakhrabad,” he said.He alleged that some o� cials of BGDCL

had been creating arti� cial crisis to make some extra cash.

“Bakhrabad company did not even � oat any tender for acquiring equipment. But they are blaming National Tubes for equipment shortage,” Al-Amin added.

Contacted, Raifqul Islam, managing direc-tor of BGDCL, said: “We provide connections as per the demand of consumers. However, there is a shortage of equipment like MS pipe, locking cork, gas bulb and other items. Na-tional Tubes, which is our supplier, does not have the equipment now.”

He however claimed that a lot with the equipment was expected to come from India within a week and then they would start pro-viding new connections. l

Children walk across a dried up river bed with sacks full of harvest. With the onset of Chaitra, the end of spring and the beginning of summer, rivers and canals in some parts of Rajshahi are already drying up in the scorching heat. The photo was taken at Bypass area of Poba upazila yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

WORLD10DT


Feared Iran general tops person of year polln AFP

An Iranian general who has been a key advis-er in Iraq’s � ghtback against the Islamic State group was voted Iran’s person of the year in an annual poll released yesterday.

General Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, won 37% of the votes cast in the survey to mark the Persian New Year, Nowruz.

Once rarely seen, Suleimani is now fre-quently pictured in social media near the front line in Iraq and has been spotted close to this week’s battles in Tikrit.

He has become the public, if uno� cial, face of Iran’s support for the Iraqi and Syrian governments against IS jihadists, reported-ly landing in Baghdad hours after IS overran Iraq’s second city Mosul last June.

Suleimani beat last year’s winner, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in the poll, which is conducted by KhabarOnline, a mod-erate conservative news website.

Zarif, who heads Iran’s negotiating team in nuclear talks with the world powers, scored 28% this year.

According to KhabarOnline, 463,000 votes were cast between March 7 and March 14, with the results being released one week be-fore Nowruz, which falls on March 21. l

An Indian responds to ‘India’s daughters’n Tribune Desk

Indian media is reporting about a tit-for-tat video made by an Indian man that attempts to draw attention to Britain’s own rape problem. Titled “United Kingdom’s Daughters” and produced by Harvinder Singh, it was upload-ed to YouTube earlier this week and became a Twitter trending topic in India on Thursday.

The video is an Indian’s respose to the BBC documentary “India’s Daughters.”

The video, a low-budget production, begins with a series of “facts” about sexual assault and rape in Britain, set to music and still im-ages. In this section, it asserts that 250 people are raped daily in Britain, and that 10% of rape cases result in a conviction. Pointedly, it says that a third of Britons believe women are re-sponsible for rape – apparently a reference to the horri� c comments made by a rapist in “In-dia’s Daughter” – and that fewer women die as a result of rape in Britain as they “resist less.”

Some of the facts featured at the start of the documentary match up with attributable sourc-es: Statistics suggest that there around 230 rape cases a day in England and Wales. Rape convic-tion rates are around 10% in Britain, and at least one study has shown a third of Britons blame the victims in rape cases. Other statements are much harder to comprehend. One simply says “United Kingdom 5th at the World’s Rape List,” apparently a reference to a dubious list pub-lished a few years ago. Importantly, there ap-pears to be no real evidence women in Britain resist any less than Indian women.

After this, the � lm then cuts into what appears to be a British documentary about sexual assault in Britain, before again cutting to another British show on the same subject – ironically, both appear to have been initially shown on the BBC, which broadcast “India’s Daughter.” The video ends with a message that suggests rape is a global problem, not simply one for India. l

Monitor: More than 215,000 dead in four years of Syria war

n AFP

More than 215,000 people have been killed in Syria in four years of con� ict, a monitoring group said yesterday as the brutal civil war entered its � fth year.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 215,518 people in Syria since March 2011, among them more than 66,000 civilians.

Some 5,000 people have been killed in the past � ve weeks alone.

The civilian death toll includes 10,808 children, and nearly 7,000 women, according to the group.

While civilians accounted for nearly a third of the deaths, the majority of those killed in the con� ict have been combatants.

On the government side, 46,138 soldiers

have been killed, along with more than 30,000 Syrian pro-regime militiamen, the Observatory said.

In addition, 3,401 Shiite � ghters from abroad have been killed in battle alongside regime forces, among them hundreds from Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

On the rebel side, the Observatory gives separate death tolls for � ghters from jihadist and non-jihadist groups.

It reported the deaths of nearly 27,000 ji-hadists, from the Islamic State group and the Al-Qaeda a� liate Al-Nusra Front.

It said more than 39,000 other rebel � ght-ers had been killed, but included in that � g-ure Kurdish militia killed battling jihadists in the north and east.

It reported the deaths of a further 3,147 people who had not been identi� ed.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rah-man said the � gures were almost certainly not complete.

The death toll “is certainly higher than the more than 215,000 we have recorded because of the large number of missing people whose fate is unknown.”

He said some 20,000 people had disap-peared in regime custody.

The fate of many thousands more civilians and � ghters from all sides who have been kid-napped also remains unknown.

“More than 215,000 people have been killed and the international community re-mains silent and not a single crime has been punished by an international court,” Abdel Rahman said.

“This impunity only encourages the mur-derers to continue their crimes.” l

Moshe Kahlon: Likud exile, now kingmakern AFP

Once a popular minister from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, Moshe Kahlon could well � nd himself in the position of kingmaker after Tuesday’s general election.

Kahlon’s centre-right Kulanu party, which he formed after leaving Likud, is project-ed to win between eight and 10 seats in the 120-member Knesset – trailing a fair distance behind his former party’s 21, and the 24 of the centre-left Zionist Union.

There are 25 lists contesting the polls but under Israel’s complex electoral system, the task of forming a new government does not

automatically fall to the party that wins the largest number of votes.

The winner will be the one who can suc-ceed in cobbling together a coalition com-manding a parliamentary majority of at least 61 seats.

And with polls predicting the rightwing and religious bloc will take up to 57 man-dates, compared with 54 for the centre-left and Arab parties, Kahlon’s decision on who to back is likely to play a crucial role.

Both Likud and the Zionist Union have already o� ered him the � nance portfolio, he says, in return for his backing.

The 54-year-old, who has a justi� ably wide smile, announced he was stepping down

from politics just before the last election in 2013, which he did not contest.

But he returned to the political stage in October at the head of a new party called Ku-lanu, Hebrew for “All of Us”.

Two months later, Netanyahu called snap elections after � ring two centrist ministers: � nance minister Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid; and justice minister Tzipi Livni who leads HaTnuah.

Kulanu’s campaign has focused almost exclusively on the housing crisis – a key concern for voters who are struggling with soaring property prices, with Kahlon pledg-ing to lower costs which have hit the middle classes hardest. l

Syrians dig through the rubble of a building in search of survivors in the rebel-held area of Douma, east of the capital Damascus, following reported air strikes by regime forces on Friday AFP

WORLD 11D


Maldives defends controversial jailing of ex-leadern AFP

The Maldives government yesterday told its critics to respect a controversial decision to jail the honeymoon islands’ � rst-ever demo-cratically-elected president for 13 years amid a growing global backlash over the verdict.

The US, European Union and regional power India have expressed concern over the jailing of Mohamed Nasheed on anti-terror charges for ordering the detention of a judge in 2012 when he was president.

President Abdulla Yameen said Nasheed had the right to appeal and urged internation-al partners to engage with his government “constructively”. l

Taliban attacks on Pakistan churches kill 15, spark riotsn AFP

Fifteen people were killed and more than 70 injured when two Taliban suicide bombers attacked churches in Pakistan’s Lahore yes-terday, sparking mob violence in which two other suspected militants died.

Up to 4,000 Christians later took to the streets of the eastern city, many armed with clubs as they smashed vehicles and attacked a city bus station in a rare show of anger by the beleaguered minority.

The bombings occurred during prayers at two churches located around half a kilo-metre apart in the city’s Youhanabad neigh-bourhood that is home to more than 100,000

Christians, o� cials said.Doctor Mohammad Saeed Sohbin, medical

superintendent of the nearby General Hospi-tal, told AFP: “We have received 15 dead bod-ies and 70 injured,” adding that the � gure did not include the suspected militants who were lynched or the bombers.

Zahid Pervez, the top health o� cial in La-hore, con� rmed the death toll and told reporters that 78 people were wounded in both attacks.

Broken window panes, blood and shoes were scattered across the blast sites.

Police spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar said two policemen guarding the churches were among those killed in the attacks, while two people were beaten to death by protest-

ers who took to the streets after the blasts.“Policemen on duty at both the entranc-

es tried to stop them but the bombers blew themselves up,” she told AFP.

“The angry mob protesting after the blast beat to death two people whom they suspect-ed of being associates of the attackers.”

An AFP photographer saw the bodies of the two suspected militants on � re after the beatings. It was not clear whether they were still alive at the time.

The Pakistani Taliban’s Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction described the blasts as suicide attacks and vowed to continue their campaign for the enforcement of Sharia Islamic law, in a state-ment emailed to the media. l

O� cials: US to keep more troops in Afghanistan than plannedn AP

The Obama administration is abandoning plans to cut the number of US forces in Afghanistan to 5,500 by year’s end, bowing to military leaders who want to keep more troops, including many into the 2016 � ghting season, US o� cials say.

While no � nal decision on numbers has been made, the o� cials said the administra-tion is poised to slow withdrawal plans and probably will allow many of the 9,800 Ameri-can troops to remain well into next year.

There also are discussions about keeping a steady number of counterterrorism troops

into 2015, including options under which some would remain in the country or be near-by beyond 2016.

Currently, about 2,000 US troops are con-ducting counterterrorism missions, and mil-itary leaders have argued that they will need to continue pursuing the remnants of al Qa-eda and to monitor Islamic State militants looking to recruit in Afghanistan.

O� cials say President Barack Obama prob-ably will use a Washington visit by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani this month as the time to announce his decision on a new with-drawal timeline.

US o� cials familiar with the debate said it’s not clear yet whether the White House will agree to a small, symbolic decrease by the end of this year or insist on a larger cut.

They note that there is some sti� opposi-tion to any change, largely from national se-curity adviser Susan Rice.

In recent weeks, Pentagon leaders, in-cluding Defense Secretary Ash Carter, have acknowledged the discussions about slowing the pace of troop withdrawal.

But they increasingly are con� dent that the military will get its way and keep a robust force in Afghanistan beyond year’s end. l

Pope calls for an end to persecution of Pakistani Christiansn Agencies

Pope Fra ncis told the faithful in St. Peter’s Square that he was pained by the news of two terror attacks against churches in Pakistan and called for an end of persecution against Christians.

The ponti� said during his traditional yes-terday prayer that the numerous dead and in-jured were persecuted “only because they are Christians”.

Pope Francis said he felt great pain over bomb attacks outside two churches in Paki-stan, departing from scripted remarks in his customary address to decry “persecution” of Christians.

“These are Christian churches. Christians are persecuted, our brothers spill their blood simply because they are Christians,” the pon-ti� said after his Angelus address. l

People and rescuers gather outside a church after a suicide attack in Lahore yesterday REUTERS

Ir aqi Kurds say Islamic State used chlorine gas against themn Reuters

Iraqi Kurdish authorities said on Saturday they had evidence that Islamic State had used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against their peshmerga � ghters in northern Iraq in January.

The Security Council of the semi-auton-omous Kurdish region said in a statement to Reuters that the peshmerga had taken soil and clothing samples after an Islamic State car bombing attempt on Jan. 23.

It said laboratory analysis showed “the samples contained levels of chlorine that sug-gested the substance was used in weaponized form.” The Kurdish allegation could not be in-dependently con� rmed.

Chlorine is a choking agent whose use as a chemical weapon dates back to World War One. It is banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits all use of toxic agents on the battle� eld.

Peter Sawczak, spokesman for the Dutch-based Organization for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons, said: “We have not had a request from Iraq to investigate claims of use of chemical weapons in Iraq, and the OPCW cannot immediately verify the claims.” l

EDITORIAL12DT


Better co-ordination and targeting is needed to ensure social safety net programs deliver the most positive impact for the funds spent.

Over 11.5% of the government’s budget, Tk25,370cr, is allocated this � scal year to support schemes such as food for work and vulnerable group feeding which are aimed at helping the nation’s poor.

With 99 di� erent such programs being undertaken by 19 di� erent ministries, there is ample scope for improving co-ordination of safety net schemes to enhance their e� ciency and e� ective-ness.

The government also needs to ensure better monitoring of funds. Many ben-e� ciaries have alleged favouritism and local political in� uence plays a part in the allocation of assistance. It is imperative to improve transparency and tighten oversights so that the right bene� ciaries are reached.

Experience shows that good targeting delivers good results. The govern-ment should use data from improved district level poverty maps to better target the poorest people in the poorest communities.

It is well established that money spent on improving childcare and encour-aging education makes the most di� erence in the long term to reducing pov-erty rates. Programs for poor children and mothers are particularly crucial. Social inequality means that our nation’s achievements in reducing poverty by around 1% each year still lag far behind increases in GDP.

Directing more funds to invest in education and skills is the best way to overcome inequality and to prevent poverty. Building human capital so that more people can gain useful employment is key to lifting the multiple disad-vantages that poverty imposes on so many people.

Better co-ordination and focus can help lift more people out of poverty

Improve targeting of safety nets

The government needs to make a clear and unequivocal statement on the case of BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed, who disap-peared on Tuesday.

Law enforcement agencies responding to a High Court order reported on Sunday that they are not holding him and have been trying unsuccessfully to trace his whereabouts.

Salahuddin’s family is entitled to a full explanation as to how and why several plain clothes men apparently showing Detective Branch IDs were able to pick him up from a house in Uttara on Tuesday evening. If this is not the case, the au-thorities must look into his disappearance urgently.

The government’s credibility is already in question because in several past cases of BNP o� cials disappearing, they have been ultimately con� rmed to be held by law enforcers and brought before a court.

More recently, the Nagarik Oikya con-venor Mahmudur Rahman Manna, was eventually traced and taken to court, after a 20 hour absence about which there is still no o� cial explanation for who held him for much of this period.

The lack of adequate and plausible explanations in these cases, where authorities have repeatedly altered their story, places the onus on the government to con� rm that it has no involvement and that this is a case of abduction, as they claim.

Given the circumstances reported by Salahuddin ‘s family, speculation from senior government o� cials that he has gone into hiding is unhelpful and possibly prejudicial, and should best be avoided.

The most urgent need is for authorities to � nd Salahuddin and ensure his safety, whatever turns out to be the true story as to his disappearance.

Please clarify position on Salahuddin

Lack of adequate explanations in past cases places the onus on government

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207Email [email protected]

Send us your Op-Ed articles:[email protected]

www.dhakatribune.comJoin our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

The � fth columnFebruary 20

Karl HungusHaha! I can at least rest assured that my cur-rent level of intelligence will keep me above the threshold required for prime ministerial candidature. I don’t know what case Ms Hasina is trying to make with this � asco, but it is most de� nitely worrying.

SAM MOHSINShabbash Zafar Sobhan!

ShottobadiMahfuz Anam is a known sycophant of

Sheikh Hasina, which really puts a lot of pressure on him, given that he also runs a newspaper that has to show a modicum of impartiality. This is Hasina’s way of keeping Anam in line. Won’t have a big impact, and he will continue to do what he does best, be a puppet and run his newspaper like his personal dairy.

SAM MOHSINShottobadi: So, Mr, Shottobadi, just one question to you: If Mr Anam is a known sycophant of Hasina, how come we are not aware of such known facts? I myself get to talk to many NRBs and never found one commentator like yourself here in the USA. However, it is true that in BD there are people who have such biases.

Hafeejul AlamAs the matter is in the court of law, it’s better to wait for the court’s verdict. However, I be-lieve TDS will never go for yellow journalism.

‘It’s the govt’s duty to protect people from violence’ February 20

Molla A LatifAt the same time as expressing concern over the human rights of the criminals killed by law enforcers is equally contradictory. Prescribing dialog with the killers also goes against the principles of the state and international norms of rule. Application of force is inevitable in controlling the barbaric terrorism, and asking for restraint in it means in� ating the terrorists with further extremism.

WDBut is it not the responsibility of the opposition to stop killing people in order to grab power? Did you not call the PM to stop the execution of Quader Molla? Makes perfect sense now.

Facebook post of Mynamar Air force taken down

February 20

Baran ChakmaWhat’s the problem with Myanmar showing

her weapons?

Tarik ChowdhuryBaran Chakma: They can show whatever

weapons they like, but they are not entitled to show a sovereign nation under their

territory. We believe in harmony with our neighbours, but that doesn’t mean we are

weak. Cheers.

Baran ChakmaTarik Chowdhury: Did they commit any

harm to the Bangladeshi people? Are they being aggressive towards the Bangladesh

Army? We have learned that the Bangla-desh Army is � nancing Rohingya muslims in

Bangladesh! Is this true or false ?

Tarik ChowdhuryBaran Chakma: Could you provide any proof

on the allegation you made?Also, it is a matter of common sense.

DT

OPINION 13D


n Towheed Feroze

How time changes social and political equations -- Mahatma Gandhi, termed scornfully as “the half-naked Indian

Fakir” by Winston Churchill, has now found a larger than life presence in London Parlia-ment Square.

And who else but the current British PM to scatter some � owers at the foot of the statue of the man who advocated protests by peace and not through agitation. Gandhi’s philoso-phy divides people -- pragmatists and cynics look at it as being somewhat Utopian, while millions still � nd value in his ideals. Whether one is a supporter of Ghandiji’s ideology or not, one thing is clear, he commands, more or less, wide global respect.

The interesting thing about human history is that we may not approve of romantics, and decide to take their ideals with pinches of salt, but deep inside, there grows a venera-tion for them simply because, in a world of too much cynicism, their ways touch a chord somewhere deep within us, where perhaps a romantic remains dormant.

Think of Che Guevara rationally: There was no chance that he could have managed to spread the revolution of the masses across the world; dying in a Bolivian jungle was -- sorry to hurt the sentiments of Che a� cionados -- the best thing that happened to him.

If he had been alive, given the equations of the cold war and how the international communism-capitalism machinations were

unfolding, Guevara as a living man would have descended into long-term depression. People like him are not made to live in Cuba and make a world of their own in their little revolutionary paradise. They want to propagate, take new challenges, and there he would have failed eventually.

Anyway, as British leaders, plus noted Indi-ans, pay tribute to the man represented by a large statue, one cannot help but ask how the current UK generation will reconcile the anti-British stance of Gandhi to the ferocious imperialistic ideals of Winston Churchill, whose statue is also not far away.

If Gandhi was a devoted proponent of Indian independence, Churchill was the opposite. In fact, Winston Churchill, the much-feted prime minister, also recognised for his unwavering e� orts towards securing victory in World War II, has been found to be

a key player responsible for the Indian famine of 1943 (known in Bengali as the Akaal).

Reportedly, three million people died of starvation, whereas the response from the then colonial masters was simply callous. Controlling the intricate mechanism of food supply was Winston Churchill. As Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell writes in his memoir: “ Apparently it is more important to save the Greeks and liberated countries than the Indians and there is reluctance either to provide shipping or to reduce stocks in this country.”

In addition, a scorched earth policy was adopted in coastal Bengal where, fearing possible Japanese intrusion, all rice collec-tions were destroyed, thus precipitating the misery of the masses. Anyway, this is not a history lesson, but a few basic facts need to be kept in mind, because when people come to see the statues, how will they relate or reconcile the social/political stands of the men represented?

Churchill is deemed a great Englishman, but perhaps the future faces of Britain, com-prising, to a large extent, of ethnic minorities, will dare to question that and decide to look at several dimensions instead of blindly giv-ing in to accepted wisdom.

A few years ago, some British politician was referring to the glorious past of the country, which is somewhat disconcerting, because the past of a colonial power is re-plete with incidences of repression, shenan-igans, avarice, and blatant invasions of other nations. Of course, there are plenty of note-

worthy deeds, like improving the judiciary, communication, education, and all that, but often the negatives are simply expunged.

I am curious to know how the two statues will be explained to young people who come to visit Parliament Square. This man was an avid imperialist, with all his actions motivat-ed by interest of his country, securing victory in the last Great War, while the other rose against foreign rule with messages of peace -- both are heroes.

Such explanations will surely inspire a few to look for a deeper answer to reach his/her own conclusion, whereas most visitors will listen and then move to the other statues in the common “I am a tourist and all details are to be taken casually” sort of manner. To end on a positive note, though the past cannot be brushed clean, in a changed world, the complex equations of another time hardly matter anymore.

Look at Germany appearing as the saviour of most European nations -- this would have sounded implausible in the post WWII peri-od! If grudges can’t be discarded, the world will go stagnant so while it’s good to know the truth, life also needs to adapt.

For the current Great Britain, Gandhi’s statue also sends out a message, albeit a subtle one: Whatever the stance, a true great (despite being an opponent once) is always respected in a democracy. How about a pint of Guinness on that! l

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

A fakir among sahebs

n Syed Shahbaz Sikandar

So Sajeeb Wazed Joy alleges on social me-dia that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party planned to kidnap and kill him in the US,

and the Internet breaks down in Bangladesh? Not quite. In this soap operatic political cul-ture, there is far more than meets the eye. The prime minister’s son and ICT adviser brings this allegation after a federal case lasting near-ly two years draws to its routine conclusion.

Rizvi Ahmed, a native of Bangladesh living in Connecticut, and his acquaintance Johannes Thaler, also living in Connecticut, were arrested on August 2, 2013. The US De-partment of Justice has stated that both men pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy, ad-mitting to colluding with former FBI special agent Robert Lustyik to obtain con� dential law enforcement data regarding a Bang-ladeshi political � gure. They admitted to soliciting bribes in exchange for federal infor-mation from September 2011 to March 2012. The former FBI special agent was arrested on September 17, 2013 and also pleaded guilty to engaging in a bribery scheme.

Lustyik worked in the counter-intelligence squad at White Plains, New York. He was a childhood friend of Johannes Thaler. The entire case started as Rizvi Ahmed wanted a suspicious activity report on a Bangladeshi � gure from a rival political party.

In the US, these reports usually deal with potential � nancial crimes. According to text

messages retrieved for the court case, Rizvi Ahmed was asked to pay a $40,000 retain-er and $30,000 monthly fees in return for documents to “set up [the victim] and get the inside from the party.” He and Johannes Thaler also admitted that the con� dential data would be used to locate and harm the intended victim and others associated with the victim.

Upon reviewing the Southern District Court of New York’s criminal docket for this case, one sees no mention of a plot to kidnap and murder anyone. As Sajeeb Wazed has stated that he provided a victim statement, one can hypothesise that he was the subject of the suspicious activity report that was sought illegally. As certain portions of a court hearing can be closed, the publicly available transcript does not include his name.

However, the fact remains that Rizvi Ahmed has been sentenced only for the bribery scheme, and no one in the US has yet been apprehended for plotting to kidnap and murder anyone a� liated with this case.

Moreover, unless someone is in the wit-ness protection program, where US Marshals provide witnesses with a new identity and location in return for testimony, one does not need to pay an FBI special agent such a huge sum to discover someone’s whereabouts. To � nd out about a prominent Bangladeshi political � gure in the US, simply scan through the multitude of US-based Bangladeshi news-papers, websites, and community events to

know all you need to know and then some.This case was about garnering damaging

con� dential law-enforcement data on a po-litical rival, and it ended up devastating the lives of the culprits. Rizvi Ahmed has been sentenced to 42 months imprisonment, and Johannes Thaler was given 30 months. Fur-

thermore, former FBI special Agent Lustyik’s sentencing is scheduled for April 30th. In the high-stakes gamble of Bangladeshi politics, even those in the US can wage their lives away. l

Syed Shahbaz Sikandar is a freelance contributor.

The curious case of Bangladeshi politics in the US

If Gandhi was a devoted proponent of Indian independence, Churchill was the opposite

BIGSTOCK

OPINION14DT


n SM Shahrukh

Besides the dazzling batsmanship on display in the Cricket World Cup 2015, there is the television cover-age, the commentary, the analyses,

the pre and post match shows, and, oh yes, there are bowlers! With the two new balls and the batting power-play rules, the bowlers are proving to be, more or less, toothless, and are totally at the mercy of the batsmen and waiting for them to make mistakes in wielding the tree-trunks that they use for bats these days.

The two new balls have taken the reverse swing out of the picture, and that has given an unnecessary advantage to batsmen. The obvious absence of quality wrist spinners is also glaringly obvious. Imran Tahirs of this world can never hope to achieve anything like a Shane Warne or Abdul Qadir or Anil Kum-ble, even though Kumble was not the classical wrist spinner. Besides Tahir, Rangana Herath, Shahid Afridi, Shakib-al-Hasan, Ravichandran Ashwin are providing spin bowling for their respective teams, but till now, the veteran Daniel Vettori looks most threatening, at least in checking the � ow of runs.

Ashwin and Shakib are doing average jobs but no spinner looks good enough to set the world on � re as yet. I will be pleasantly sur-prised if things change drastically from the quarter � nals onwards when it comes to the e� ectiveness of the current crop of spinners. An o� -spinner anywhere near the genius of a Muralitharan or a Saqlain Mushtaq is absent from this World Cup as well. The dual ab-sences of Saeed Ajmal and Sunil Narine have taken away two premier exponents of spin bowling from this World Cup.

The dropped-in pitches being used are a major disappointment too. RK Gupta writes in Kidangan.com: “One charm of cricket is the role of host pitches that can completely trans-form the game on a given day. The current

tournament is being staged in multiple venues in Australia and New Zealand, where pitches have unique properties. In Australia, host pitches promote pace and bounce whereas New Zealand ground conditions are more suit-ed to seam and swing. One major change that the 2015 World Cup brings is about 'dropped-in' pitches for � ve out of seven knockout games. These pitches are being curated away from the venues and they will be installed just before the games to alter the special peculiari-ties of local playing conditions.”

Traditionalists are decrying this prac-tice as veering too much away from, well, traditions. An irate Australian cricket writer has gone to the extent of calling the tourna-ment “the rental World Cup.” Being a long time follower of the game, I tend to agree with his ire. Brett Lee, the now retired fast bowler, has voiced his dissatisfaction with this practice too. I wonder what choice words someone like Dennis Lillee would have used had he been forced to bowl on these pitch-es. Old-timers may remember his disgust at Pakistani pitches way back in 1979; he never came to India as a player.

The traditional bounce and pace of the Australian pitches are almost absent and it takes gira� e-like fast bowlers such as Morne Morkel or Muhammad Irfan to push the batsman deep into their creases.It is amazing to see batsmen charging at blitzmen like Dale Steyn or Mitchell Johnson with impunity. The swing of the New Zealand pitches has also been nulli� ed even though NZ bowlers like Tim Southee and Trent Boult are doing quite okay. It helps to be closer to home, I guess.

And the batsmen are � ourishing! Kumar Sangakkara has already scored four blazing centuries and looks good for a couple more. Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers are making merry. The Indian and Australian batsmen are not doing badly either, Shikhar Dhawan having scored two centuries already and Glenn Maxwell and David Warner are looking

ever more menacing. Though sluggish at the beginning, Bangladeshi premier batsmen have joined the bandwagon too and hopeful-ly not too late.

Ever since Kerry Packer punched the “old guard” of cricket down in the mid 1970s, cricket has become more of a television sport than the age-old idea of going to the ground with hampers full of sandwiches and bev-erages and making a day of it, and snoozing a session in the process too. For those of us unable to travel to the land down under, there is but the one choice -- sit in front of the television and enjoy the matches.

Television coverage has also gone through changes over the decades and it is no surprise that the tournament is more of a commer-cial package. I have no problems with that; after all, cricket is no more the poor man’s game and restricted to the “Commonwealth” states. It has gone global and with an ever expanding diaspora in the Americas and the world over.

The cricket coverage packages include, as touched on before, pre and post match shows, highlight packages, and in-depth analyses. Also, the introduction of a live game is made by an attractive lady usually with Bollywood razzmatazz. However, how attractive Mayanti Langar looks in her skimpy dresses is another debate altogether.

In the spirit of globalisation, there is a congregation of commentators and analysts from all over the world, though no Bangladeshis have been included. Overall, the presentations are adequate, albeit with some obvious biases and inept assessments. As the tournament nears the closing stages, the commentators from England seem a bit de� ated, even though they have eaten enough humble pie since the last Ashes triumph and people like Mike Atherton, Ian Botham, and Nasir Hussain have learned their lessons and keep demeanours of equanimity, but nothing can dampen the

exuberance of David “Bumble” Lloyd and his Lancashire accent.

Nasir Hussain has always impressed me with his analysis of the game and it is no wonder that Ian Botham considers him England’s best captain since the philosopher-batsman Mike Brearley. Sourav Ganguly has always been forthright about his passion for the game and his captaincy of India, but his analysis is also well thought-out and he keeps his emotions under control. India’s best captains since the Nawab of Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjrekar can’t always keep their bias under check, Wasim Akram is unashamedly rooting for his home country, and of course, his knowledge of swing bowling shows that behind a great bowler works a great mind too.

Ian Bishop is an epitome of patience and self-control considering the pathetic state of West Indian cricket. Rameez Raja is an unc-tuous character and after attaining the favour of his masters (the satellite channel owners mostly), he is making forays into an area where his bias for and against certain teams is glaringly obvious. Pommie Mbangwa and the South Africans are new to this trade and seem quite amenable, Shaun Pollock is the gentleman personi� ed.

The Australians can’t keep their on-� eld sledging habits of their playing days away from their commentary, at times, and just the other day Shane Warne and Michael Slater made such fun of the mobility (or lack of it) of former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatun-ga that Russell Arnold couldn’t help but voice the umbrage he took at the comments of the Aussies.

Then there is the ubiquitous Harsha Bho-gle, with facts and � gures at his � ngertips -- he reminds me of the nerdy boy in class who is a tattle-tale and with whom no one ever wants to be friends. l

SM Shahrukh is a freelance contributor.

More than a gameREUTERS

15D

TBusiness MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Helpline launched to receive complaints from garment workers n Tribune Report

A helpline has been introduced on a pilot basis to record garment workers’ com-plaints about their workplace safety, se-curity and rights so steps can be taken to resolve them.

The government launched the pilot project yesterday for six months in Ashu-lia, and if it is successful, such helplines will be set up across the country.

The workers can drop complaints sim-ply making a call from their mobile phone handsets.

“This is to take e� ective steps to ad-dress the workers’ concerns about safety, security and rights,” said Labour and Em-ployment Minister Mujibul Haque at the launching ceremony at his o� ce.

He hoped it would be helpful for the workers regarding the prevailing problems in the country’s largest industrial sector.

“It (the project) can also reduce the worker-owner dispute to zero level and help increase productivity in the facto-ries,” the minister added.

The Help Line – 0800 44 55 000 – will be run by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE).

It will be set up with the support from the International Labour Organization and Royal Norwegian Government.

A trained supervisor and four other agents will be available to receive calls and provide services through the helpline.

The helpline will remain open from 9am to 10pm throughout the year.

Calls received through the helpline will be logged and forwarded to either DIFE, the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department or the Directorate of Labour to deal with.

After the veri� cation, if the allegation is proved, necessary steps would be taken to resolve it.

“Over the last two years, unprecedent-ed e� orts have been made to enhance workplace safety and improve workers’ rights in the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh,” ILO Country Director Srinivas B Reddy.

“By providing workers with the chance to air grievances this Help Line gives a voice to the voiceless,” Reddy stressed, adding “It will also play an important role in facil-itating better workplace relations by help-ing address grievances that may otherwise escalate into mass protests or court cases.”

The workplace safety and workers rights at the country’s RMG industry emerged as a concern after the deadliest collapse of Rana Plaza building that killed over 1,135 workers and injured 2,500 people.

Labour and Employment Secretary Mikail Shipar, DIFE Inspector General Syed Ahmed and Director of Labour SM Ashrafuzzaman were also present at the function. l

US dailies join ‘micropayments’ news startup Blendle

Nerves set in as ECB unbottles policy genie

ADB awards best performing project teams in Bangladesh

201716

Study: Bangladesh to be 23rd largest economy by 2050 UK-based PwC warns political instability, natural disasters to act as headwinds n Kayes Sohel

Bangladesh is projected to become 23rd big-gest economy in the world in next 35 years, joining for the � rst time a list of newly emerg-ing and established emerging economies, said a study.

The country, now in 31st in the ranking, is seen to move up to 29th by 2030 and could grow at an average annual rate of over 5%.

Gross domestic product at purchasing power parity (PPP) terms is expected to stand at $1,291bn by 2030 and $3,367bn by 2050 from $536bn now.

However, in order to realise this, Bangla-desh needs to tackle the adverse shocks such as political revolutions and natural disasters, said the study of PwC, a UK-based global con-sulting � rm.

According to it, Bangladesh is among eight newly emerging economies to be included in the latest update of its “World in 2050” report for indicating signs of sustained rapid growth in the long term.

The other new entrants are the Philippines, Colombia, Egypt, Iran, the Netherlands, Paki-stan and Thailand.

The top ten fastest growing economies are all developing countries: seven are from South and Southeast Asia and three are from Africa, according to the latest PwC update entitled “The World in 2050: Will the Shift in Global Economic Power Continue?”

The report, with a release date of last month 2015, presents the long-term projec-tions of potential GDP growth up to 2050 for 32 of the largest economies in the world, cov-ering 84% of total global GDP.

“We project the world economy to grow at an average of just over 3% per year in the period 2014-50, doubling the size by 2037 and nearly tripling by 2050,” it said.

The global economic power shift away from the established advanced economies in

North America, Western Europe, and Japan will continue over the next 35 years despite a projected slowdown in Chinese growth after around 2020, it added.

China will clearly become the largest economy by 2030, dislodging the United States, while India could challenge the US for second place by 2050. Indonesia, Mexico, and Nigeria could push the United King-dom and France out of top 10.

In fact, in global GDP rank-ing in PPP terms, China has already overtaken the US in 2014, the report said.

Indonesia, together with Vi-etnam, is regarded as a fast-ris-

ing economy in the global GDP rankings in the long term, re� ecting relatively high projected average growth rates of around 4.5% to 5.5% per annum over the period.

Of the other countries in Southeast Asia mentioned in the report, Indonesia, currently in ninth place, is forecast to move up to � fth by 2030 and fourth by 2050 “if it can sustain growth-friendly policies,” said the report.

Thailand, occupying number 21 in the ranking, is seen to stay in place in both 2030 and 2050.

Malaysia, at number 27, is seen to climb to 24th in 2030 and remain there until 2050. It is projected to grow at around 4% per annum on average in the period to 2050, “an impressive performance for what is already a middle in-come country.”

Vietnam is predicted to move up from number 32 to number 28 then number 22.

These projections assume, however, that emerging markets will follow broadly growth-friendly policies, said the report. “In practice, not all may do so and therefore, not all of these economies will ful� ll the poten-tial indicated by the PwC growth projections, although some could also exceed the projec-tions if they can accelerate their investment rates and institutional reforms.” l

BUSINESS16DT


Facebook buys shopping search engine TheFindFacebook on Friday waded further into e-com-merce with the acquisition of shopping search engine TheFind.com. “For the last nine years we’ve worked hard to bring you a shopping experience that’s easy, e� cient and fun - searching all the stores on the web to � nd just the right products you’re looking to buy,” TheFind said in a message at its website. “We are now starting our next chapter by combining forces with Facebook to do even more for consumers.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Members of TheFind team are joining Facebook, where they plan to put their technology to work making ads at the leading social network “more relevant,” according to the post. The acquisition will result in TheFind.com shutting down in the next few weeks. Facebook has been playing catch-up regarding searching for information at the social network and becoming a middle-man of sorts for online commerce. “Together, we believe we can make the Facebook ads experience even more relevant and better for

consumers,” the social network said in statement. TheFind - “Everything you need when shopping to quickly decide what to buy and where to buy it” - will shutter the Silicon Valley base it has operated from since launching in 2006 and move team members to Facebook’s campus in Menlo Park, California. – AFP, San Francisco

Microsoft seen as gaining in cooling tablet marketGlobal sales of tablet computers will see only slim growth in 2015, in a further cooling of a segment that was red-hot two years ago, a market tracker said Thursday. IDC said it expects tablet sales growth of just 2.1% this year, after an increase of 4.4% in 2014 and more than 50% in 2013. Tablets appeared to be on a tear two years earlier, but the market is being eroded by use of large-screen smartphones or “phablets” as well as slimmed-down laptop computers. IDC said it expects “low but pos-itive growth” for the market, with increased focus in the business sector and some gains for Microsoft Windows in the tablet market. – AFP, Washington

NEWS IN BRIEF

US dailies join ‘micropayments’ news startup Blendle n AFP, Washington

Three major US daily newspapers announced plans Thursday to make their articles availa-ble through a Dutch-based startup pioneering the use of “micropayments” for news.

The New York Times, The Wall Street Jour-nal and The Washington Post agreed to work with Blendle, which describes itself as a “digital newsstand” allowing readers to buy individual articles online, according to a joint statement.

“It’s a great honor that three of the most important newspapers in the world will start working with us,” said Blendle-founder Alex-

ander Klopping in the statement released by the New York Times.

The New York Times and German publish-er Axel Springer agreed last year to invest in the platform founded by two young Dutch ex-journalists, which charges an average of 20 cents on average per article.

“We are glad to be one of the � rst American media organizations in Blendle’s internation-al rollout,” said Steve Hills, president and gen-eral manager of the Washington Post.

“As the Post’s global audience continues to grow, this platform o� ers readers a new way to engage with our journalism.”

The price per newspaper or magazine arti-cle is set by the publisher and the revenue is split between the publisher and Blendle.

Last year, Blendle said all major Dutch newspapers and magazines had signed up for the service.

Blendle’s entry comes with many publish-ers struggling to adapt to a move to digital news, with mixed results from paywalls and online subscriptions.

Blendle has some 220,000 users in the Netherlands who pay mostly between 0.15 and 0.30 euros per article, according to its website. l

The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post agreed to work with Blendle, which describes itself as a “digital newsstand” allowing readers to buy individual articles online, according to a joint statement AFP

IEA supply warning sinks oil market n AFP, New York

World oil prices sank Friday after the Interna-tional Energy Agency warned that US crude inventories were nearing storage capacity amid a global oversupply.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for April lost $2.21 to close at $44.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, the global benchmark, Brent North Sea crude for April delivery, settled at $54.67 a barrel, down $2.41 from Thursday’s closing level.

“The petroleum market is coming under renewed selling pressure after a monthly re-port from the International Energy Agency highlighted rising US inventories, echoing market concerns regarding storage capacity,” said Tim Evans of Citi Futures.

“It was a very bearish week,” said Matt Smith of Schneider Electric, citing the high inventories, and adding that “the super, su-per-strong dollar has pressured crude back to the mid-forties.”

A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies, weighing on the market.

The Paris-based IEA warned that US crude output “so far shows precious little sign of slowing down. Quite to the contrary, it con-tinues to defy expectations.”

“The unwinding of seasonal re� nery main-tenance may slow US crude stock builds in 2Q15 but will not stop them, and stocks may soon test storage capacity limits,” it said in its monthly report.

The IEA said that the recent rebound in oil prices, after the 60% collapse between June and January, would probably be � eeting.

“Behind the facade of stability, the rebal-ancing triggered by the price collapse has yet to run its course, and it might be overly op-timistic to expect it to proceed smoothly,” it said.

Meanwhile the latest Baker Hughes US rigs report, released Friday, showed the number of crude-oil drilling rigs in the United States continued to fall, by 56 to 866 this week, down 41% from a year ago. l

Musleh Ahmed, vice president of Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort has recently received an award for ‘Best NRB Investor’ at British Bangladeshi Business Award from the British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was the chief guest of the ceremony that took place in Birmingham, United Kingdom

BUSINESS 17D


Nerves set in as European Central Bank unbottles policy genie n Reuters, Frankfurt

For the � rst time in years, the European Cen-tral Bank is embarking on a policy course with a following wind. But already some o� cials are fretting that the gale they are unleashing may turn into a hurricane.

The concern is that the bond-buying plan launched on Monday to pump more than a trillion euros into the 19-country economy will send stronger members such as Germany that could arguably do without the support into overdrive, while fostering complacency among laggards.

The plan is aimed at lifting euro zone in-� ation from below zero back up toward the ECB’s target of just under 2%. But the risk is that it in� ates real estate and share price bub-bles and might cause Europe’s biggest econo-my, which already has record low unemploy-ment of 6.5%, to overheat.

Such a scenario could widen the gap be-tween rich and poor member states, further stretching the already strained fabric of Euro-pean integration, tested again this week when Greece’s � nance minister accused the ECB of “asphyxiating” Athens.

On the face of it, the ECB is upbeat. The central bank projects its plan to print

money to buy sovereign bonds – so-called quantitative easing (QE) – will turbo-charge a frail euro zone recovery that is already be-ing helped by lower oil prices and a revival in bank lending.

This is crucial. Had the ECB launched the plan last year when growth was stagnant and banks were reining in credit, the new money would have had a harder time � nding its way into the economy - and the stimulus might have fallen � at.

“We did it just at the turning point,” one senior euro zone central banker said of the QE launch, con� dent the plan can help buoy the

economy and lift in� ation. The ECB and its constituent nation-

al central banks plan to spend 60bn euros ($63.66bn) a month, mainly on sovereign bonds, until at least September 2016.

Buying sovereign bonds will hold down governments’ borrowing costs and keep market interest rates low, encouraging investors to move into riskier assets that will spur growth, while also pushing down the euro currency.

However, the speed and the extent of the euro’s EUR= fall - it has tumbled 12.5% against the dollar so far this year, well on track for the biggest quarterly loss since its launch in 1999 - has taken many at the ECB by surprise.

Too successful? some ECB policymakers are concerned about the e� ects of the policy genie they have un-bottled, particularly the risks attached to pin-ning market interest rates below zero.

“I’m a bit nervous about this - that there might be something like too much success,” Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said this week. “I have the feeling we do not understand the full e� ect of negative interest rates in many instances.”

Updated forecasts by ECB sta� this month projected the QE program will raise growth rates in the euro zone and lift in� ation from below zero up to 1.8% in 2017 - in line with the ECB’s goal of just under 2%.

The ECB was conservative, predicting growth accelerating from 1.5% this year to 2.1% in 2017. In December, it predicted growth of just 1% this year. Private economists say fur-ther falls in the euro mean growth and in� ation could outpace the upgraded ECB estimates.

The risk is that QE will, as Nowotny says, bring too much success -- particularly in those countries that need it least. The dynamics of the program will pin down borrowing costs in Ger-

many just as a consumer-led boom is taking o� . Under the plan, the overall volume of cen-

tral bank bond purchases will be constant in a given country even if yields on some ma-turities hit the -0.2% level the ECB has set as a � oor for purchases - equivalent to its over-night deposit rate.

The national central bank in the coun-try concerned - such as Germany - would have to redirect its � repower to buy other ma-turities to keep the total volume of the plan steady.

With yields on German sovereign bonds with maturities of up to 3 years around or be-low -0.20 percent, the lower limit for ECB pur-chases, a disproportionate amount of money will be thrown at longer-dated German secu-rities compared to other countries.

The bottom line: borrowing costs will stay particularly low for Germans - just as in� a-tion-beating wage deals and a little more government investment point to a robust re-bound this year.

Some economists acknowledge that QE may not be appropriate for Germany but are resigned to the plan given the one-size-� ts-all nature of monetary policy in the single cur-rency area.

“In Germany, you have a situation where we’re moving towards over-potential,” an adviser to the Berlin government said. “But we’re in the monetary union, so there is one (monetary) policy.”

Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann told Reuters on Thursday the German economy’s “very robust shape” meant the national cen-tral bank would raise its growth forecast for this year to around 1.5% from 1% seen in De-cember.

Klaas Knot, the Dutch central bank chief, warned that ECB bond purchasing may cause asset bubbles in some high-yield bonds, gov-ernment debt, and stocks. l

In� ated euro sign is seen outside the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt REUTERS

Greek minister: If Greece leaves euro zone, Spain and Italy would be next n Reuters, Berlin

If Greece were to leave the euro zone, Spain and Italy would also end up quitting the com-mon currency bloc, Greek Defence Minister Pa-nos Kammenos told German newspaper Bild in an interview to be published on Saturday.

“If Greece explodes, Spain and Italy will be next and then at some point, Germany. We therefore need to � nd a way within the euro zone, but this way cannot be that the Greeks keep on having to pay,” he said, according to an advance extract of the broad-ranging interview.

He also said Greece did not need a third bailout but rather “a haircut like the one Ger-many also got in 1953 at the London debt con-ference.”

Athens and Berlin have become engaged in a war of words and Greece has submitted a formal protest to the German Foreign Min-istry, accusing Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble of having insulted his Greek coun-terpart, Yanis Varoufakis. Schaeuble denies having called Varoufakis “foolishly naive”, as reported by some Greek media.

On Schaeuble, Kammenos was quoted as say-ing: “I don’t understand why he turns against Greece every day in new statements. It’s like a psychological war and Schaeuble is poisoning the relationship between the two countries through that.”

The relationship has already been strained by Berlin’s tough stance on Greece’s debt crisis.

Kammenos said Schaeuble needed to put up with the new Greek government because it had been elected by the Greek people. He accused Berlin of interfering in Greek domes-tic a� airs, adding: “I get the feeling that the German government is out to get us and some really want to push us out of the euro zone.”

This week Greece has renewed its cam-paign to seek compensation for the Nazis’ brutal occupation in World War Two, an issue that Berlin says was settled decades ago.

Kammenos called for reparations in the interview, saying, “The gold that the Nazis took to Berlin from Athens was worth a lot of money. We expect compensation for that and also for the forced loan and the destruction of archaeological statues.”

Kammenos also suggested Greece would stop taking refugees in the case of a “forced” Greek exit from the euro zone.

“Then no agreements would be valid an-ymore, no treaties, nothing. We would no longer be obliged to take in refugees as a country of arrival. Whoever wants to push us out of the euro zone should know that.”

He also said Greece was losing a lot of mon-ey due to European Union sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, adding that Athens therefore needed compensation from the EU. “Otherwise we can’t and don’t want to take part in sanctions against Russia, which are only damaging our economy,” he said. l

I get the feeling that the German government is out to get us and some really want to push us out of the euro zone

BUSINESS18DT


SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 155.65 6.13 17.73 8.35 173.38 6.31NBFI 64.49 2.54 5.36 2.52 69.85 2.54Investment 28.49 1.12 1.07 0.51 29.57 1.08Engineering 300.36 11.84 26.40 12.44 326.76 11.88Food & Allied 75.73 2.98 4.66 2.19 80.39 2.92Fuel & Power 572.49 22.56 42.55 20.05 615.04 22.37Jute 6.73 0.27 0.00 6.73 0.24Textile 239.45 9.44 31.87 15.01 271.31 9.87Pharma & Chemical 420.42 16.57 18.88 8.89 439.29 15.98Paper & Packaging 6.89 0.27 0.41 0.19 7.30 0.27Service 152.34 6.00 8.84 4.17 161.18 5.86Leather 16.15 0.64 0.73 0.34 16.87 0.61Ceramic 15.64 0.62 1.16 0.55 16.80 0.61Cement 161.29 6.36 11.98 5.64 173.27 6.30Information Technology 46.09 1.82 5.19 2.45 51.28 1.87General Insurance 13.50 0.53 0.28 0.13 13.78 0.50Life Insurance 48.09 1.90 1.99 0.94 50.08 1.82Telecom 122.82 4.84 18.17 8.56 140.98 5.13Travel & Leisure 23.01 0.91 3.05 1.44 26.06 0.95Miscellaneous 67.63 2.67 11.91 5.61 79.54 2.89Debenture 0.08 0.00 0.03 0.01 0.11 0.00

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 [email protected] or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

News, analysis and recent disclosuresSANDHANINS: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has decided to purchase � oor spaces measuring 7,994.34 sft. including 2 car parking space at BGIC Tower (ground � oor and 1st � oor), 34 Topkhana Road, Dhaka at the rate of Tk. 13,134.29 per sft. with total Tk. 10.50 crore (excluding stamp, registration fee and other relevant expenses) subject to the approval of Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority.PTL: Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL) has rated the Company as A+ in the long term and ST-3 in the short term along with a stable outlook in consideration of au-dited � nancials up to June 30, 2014, unaudited � nancials up to December 31, 2014 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.BSRMSTEEL: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has decided to purchase 335.45 dec-imal land at Chapatoli & Kaudala, Bandar, Narayanganj for con-struction of its warehouse. The approximate cost to purchase the land will be Tk. 11.30 crore. The cost of construction of the warehouse will be approximate-ly Tk. 50.00 crore.SIBL: The Company has further informed that the 20th AGM of the Company will be held at Savar Golf Club, Savar Canton-ment, Dhaka at 10:30 AM. The date and other information of the AGM as announced earlier.

IPO Subscription: Tosrifa Industries Limited Subscription March 24, 2015 to March 31, 2015; NRB UPTO April 09, 2015. O� er Price per share Tk. 26.00, Market Lot (Shares) 200.Dividend/AGMFIRSTSBANK: 10% stock, AGM: 09.05.2015, Record date: 02.04.2015.RELIANCINS: 15% cash and 15% stock, AGM: 30.04.2015, Record date: 19.03.2015.UNITEDFIN: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 23.04.2015, Record date: 18.03.2015.LAFSURCEML: 5% � nal cash dividend (i.e. total 10% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 5% interim cash div-idend which has already been paid), AGM: 11.06.2015, Record Date: 07.04.2015.UNIONCAP: 10% stock, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record date: 16.03.2015.TRUSTBANK: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record date: 15.03.2015.DUTCHBANGL: 40% cash, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record date: 15.03.2015.SOUTHEASTB: 15% cash, AGM: 29.03.2015, Record date: 15.03.2015.ALARABANK: 14% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record Date: 15.03.2015.PRIMEBANK: 15% cash, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record Date: 10.03.2015. PUBALIBANK: 10% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record Date: 10.03.2015.SIBL: 18% cash, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record Date: 10.03.2015.

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Bangladesh Welding -Z 7.69 6.54 16.77 16.80 17.00 16.00 0.264 0.44 38.1PrimeFin. 1st MF-A 7.14 4.37 13.15 13.50 13.50 13.00 0.047 1.13 11.6Eastern Cables-A 6.73 4.29 136.04 139.50 140.00 131.00 0.909 1.52 89.5Ifad Autos -N 6.46 4.79 65.02 65.90 66.50 63.20 13.882 1.92 33.9Berger Paints-A 6.22 6.21 1679.18 1679.20 1679.70 1679.00 0.034 49.25 34.1Fareast Finance-Z 6.04 6.85 15.76 15.80 15.90 15.30 0.974 1.88 8.4SummitAlliancePort.-A 5.89 3.01 59.83 61.10 62.00 58.00 7.803 0.78 76.7Da� odil Computers -Z 5.69 5.69 13.00 13.00 13.00 13.00 0.013 0.86 15.1Marico BD Ltd-A 4.85 6.04 1284.83 1300.00 1300.00 1235.00 0.076 48.72 26.4MJL BD Ltd.-A 4.78 4.28 123.72 125.00 125.30 120.00 10.913 5.11 24.2

DSE GAINER


Aver-age (%

Change)


in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

GeminiSeaFood-B 9.41 8.46 200.44 203.40 203.40 192.00 3.905 -6.36 -veEastern Cables-A 6.51 5.12 135.89 139.10 140.00 130.30 6.178 1.52 89.4Ifad Autos -N 6.44 3.89 64.56 66.10 66.50 62.90 130.766 1.92 33.6SummitAlliancePort.-A 5.89 2.27 59.54 61.10 61.70 57.60 131.495 0.78 76.3PragatiLife Insu. -Z 5.76 3.90 116.26 119.30 119.90 113.90 1.053 2.38 48.8Bangladesh Welding -Z 5.63 5.76 16.89 16.90 17.20 16.10 2.115 0.44 38.4PrimeFin. 1st MF-A 5.56 5.16 13.24 13.30 13.50 12.70 2.875 1.13 11.7Standard Insurance-A 5.22 6.11 24.32 24.20 24.50 23.30 0.697 3.07 7.9MJL BD Ltd.-A 5.13 4.98 123.95 125.00 125.40 120.00 156.555 5.11 24.3Fareast Finance-Z 4.73 4.35 15.36 15.50 15.60 14.90 5.423 1.88 8.2

CSE LOSER


Aver-age (%

Change)


in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Bengal Windsor-A -9.98 -9.97 55.91 55.90 56.00 55.90 0.013 4.10 13.6Eastern Bank - A -7.06 -8.36 24.65 25.00 25.00 24.30 0.007 3.50 7.0Paramount Insur-A -6.76 -2.34 13.80 13.80 13.80 13.80 0.024 1.13 12.2BGIC -A -6.56 -6.14 17.13 17.10 18.00 17.00 0.002 2.35 7.3Republic Insu.-A -6.31 -6.36 19.29 19.30 19.40 19.20 0.066 2.56 7.5Phoenix Insur -A -5.97 -5.97 25.20 25.20 25.20 25.20 0.013 3.88 6.5City G Insu.-A -5.81 -5.74 14.61 14.60 15.50 14.30 0.002 1.89 7.7Pubali Bank - A -5.66 -4.99 20.39 20.00 21.00 20.00 0.585 3.54 5.8Jamuna Bank -A -5.65 -4.02 11.94 11.70 12.30 11.70 0.140 0.84 14.2Sonargaon Tex -Z -5.56 -4.76 10.20 10.20 10.20 10.20 0.035 -0.84 -ve

DSE LOSER


Aver-age (%

Change)


in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

2nd ICB M F -A -7.83 -8.43 261.90 263.60 266.10 261.00 0.055 43.96 6.0Pubali Bank - A -6.45 -4.46 20.77 20.30 21.90 20.20 7.860 3.54 5.9Bank Asia -A -5.52 -1.65 14.30 13.70 15.10 13.60 1.515 2.40 6.0Uttara Bank - A -5.45 -2.26 21.64 20.80 22.10 20.20 8.520 3.19 6.8R. N. Spinning-Z -5.38 -4.99 24.95 24.60 26.10 23.40 5.564 2.19 11.4Dulamia CottonZ -4.88 -4.65 7.80 7.80 7.80 7.80 0.004 -4.02 -veContinental Insur. -A -4.82 -4.04 15.91 15.80 16.40 15.70 0.583 2.27 7.0HeidelbergCement -A -4.70 -6.12 472.68 476.80 483.00 466.10 44.494 20.88 22.6National Bank - A -4.50 -4.04 10.68 10.60 11.00 10.50 15.432 1.13 9.5Karnaphuli Insur -A -4.35 -2.31 15.64 15.40 15.90 15.00 0.486 1.40 11.2

DSE key features March-15, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

2,537.34

Turnover (Volume)

52,350,994

Number of Contract

71,675

Traded Issues 307

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

116

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

181

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

10

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,497.23

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.27

CSE key features March-15, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

212.24

Turnover (Volume)

5,527,523

Number of Contract

10,733

Traded Issues 222

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

70

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

146

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,365.98

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.68

BUSINESS 19D


DSEX sinks to 7-month lowTrade volume declines steeplyn Tribune Report

Stocks registered losses for the fourth straight session with volatility yesterday with the benchmark index DSEX sinking to seven months low.

The two-month long po-litical crisis continued to drive away investors from the market, dragging down the trading activities.

The benchmark index DSEX lost 20 points or 0.5% to close at 4,536, its lowest since August 13 last year.

The Shariah Index DSES witnessed fractional loss of 0.1 points to 1,104. The com-prising blue chips DS30 was down 5 points or 0.3% to 1,709. Chittagong Stock Ex-change (CSE) Selective Cate-gories Index, CSCX, shed 50 points to 8,385.

Last few sessions’ slow ac-tivity trend collapsed, as the turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange stood at Tk250 crore, steeply down 20% over the previous session.

In this depressing sce-nario, investors kept their concentration unchanged on Shahjibazar Power Com-pany Limited and Mobil Ja-muna Limited Bangladesh, accounting for 16% of the day’s total turnover.

Tannery was the biggest gainer rising 2.4%, powered by heavyweight Bata Shoe that rallied 3.5%. Telecom-

munication, pharmaceuti-cals, engineering and real estate showed positive per-formance.

Banking sector stocks continued to take hit, slip-ping 1.6%. Textile, cement, non-banking � nancial insti-tutions and IT sectors were also heavily down.

LankaBangla Securities said after a short pit-stop in the morning, investors showed their concern on po-litical impasse in the country.

“They remained watchful as market has reached to an oversold situation,” it said.

Among the major indus-try updates, advance-depos-it ratio in the banking sector remained stuck at around 70% in the recent months due to a dull business situ-ation amid political unrest and uncertainty.

IDLC Investments said optimistic portion of the market is overrun by pan-icked sentiment continu-ously amid the bleak invest-ment scenario.

The session failed to de-liver any resistance, sub-mitting to the strong down-trend, it said.

Zenith Investments said it seemed that investors who were already stuck with unrealised losses need to endure further periodical correction relating to ongo-ing political concerns. l

Optimistic portion of the market is overrun by panicked sentiment continuously amid the bleak investment scenario

ANALYST

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4536.39755 (-) 0.45% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1709.40647 (-) 0.29% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 13852.38970 (-) 0.60% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 11349.01270 (-) 0.95% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8379.24900 (-) 0.63% ▼

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

Shahjibazar Power-N 100,476 19.43 9.15 199.00 0.40 198.20 208.90 180.70 193.37Shasha Denims -N 454,959 17.27 8.14 37.60 -2.34 38.50 38.80 37.30 37.96Ifad Autos -N 213,493 13.88 6.54 65.90 6.46 61.90 66.50 63.20 65.02BD Submarine Cable-A 100,698 12.69 5.98 124.30 -1.35 126.00 128.80 124.00 126.04MJL BD Ltd.-A 88,207 10.91 5.14 125.00 4.78 119.30 125.30 120.00 123.72LafargeS Cement-Z 64,730 8.04 3.79 123.60 -0.16 123.80 125.30 122.70 124.15SummitAlliancePort.-A 130,420 7.80 3.68 61.10 5.89 57.70 62.00 58.00 59.83ACI Limited- A 14,218 6.55 3.09 462.90 1.96 454.00 464.00 450.10 460.70CVO PetroChem RL-A 14,965 6.45 3.04 203.20 2.52 198.20 208.90 180.70 431.19BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 198,528 6.38 3.01 32.10 0.00 32.10 32.50 31.90 32.16Grameenphone-A 16,617 5.47 2.58 331.20 1.35 326.80 332.00 326.90 329.41National Bank - A 405,369 4.39 2.07 10.60 -5.36 11.20 11.00 10.60 10.83ACI Formulations-A 29,561 4.18 1.97 141.40 0.93 140.10 143.00 135.00 141.34aamra technologies-A 107,445 3.96 1.87 36.80 -1.08 37.20 37.20 36.60 36.87Square Pharma -A 15,299 3.95 1.86 258.60 -0.04 258.70 260.00 257.70 258.34

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

Shahjibazar Power-N 1,371,650 257.08 10.13 200.20 1.11 198.00 209.50 180.50 187.42MJL BD Ltd.-A 1,263,099 156.56 6.17 125.00 5.13 118.90 125.40 120.00 123.95SummitAlliancePort.-A 2,208,504 131.50 5.18 61.10 5.89 57.70 61.70 57.60 59.54Ifad Autos -N 2,025,493 130.77 5.15 66.10 6.44 62.10 66.50 62.90 64.56ACI Limited- A 282,132 129.89 5.12 463.90 2.16 454.10 464.70 449.00 460.37LafargeS Cement-Z 835,918 104.32 4.11 124.00 -0.48 124.60 126.20 122.80 124.80Shasha Denims -N 2,466,201 94.24 3.71 37.70 -2.58 38.70 39.10 37.50 38.21Grameenphone-A 280,839 92.53 3.65 330.30 1.60 325.10 332.00 325.00 329.47ACI Formulations-A 368,085 52.29 2.06 142.60 2.00 139.80 143.30 140.30 142.05HeidelbergCement -A 94,131 44.49 1.75 476.80 -4.70 500.30 483.00 466.10 472.68Square Pharma -A 165,315 42.68 1.68 258.50 0.15 258.10 259.00 257.00 258.17Renata Ltd. -A 36,682 41.86 1.65 1137.10 1.47 1120.60 1148.80 1130.00 1141.16BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 1,101,920 35.42 1.40 32.10 0.00 32.10 32.60 31.90 32.14WesternMarine -N 740,119 30.83 1.22 41.40 -1.43 42.00 42.40 41.20 41.66BD Submarine Cable-A 241,922 30.29 1.19 123.80 -1.51 125.70 128.90 123.50 125.20

BUSINESS20DT


ADB awards best performing project teams in Bangladesh n Tribune Report

Asian Development Bank has awarded four of its best performing project teams in Bang-ladesh as part of e� orts to promote e� cient project implementation.

ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Ka-zuhiko Higuchi handed over the awards to the winning teams for the year 2014 at a ceremony in Dhaka yesterday, according to a statement.

The winning project teams are Sustainable Rural Infrastructure Improvement Project, executed by the Local Government Engineer-ing Department (LGED); City Region Devel-opment Project also executed by the LGED; and, Third Primary Education Development Project executed by the Directorate of Prima-ry Education.

The Second Capital Market Development Program, executed by the Bank and Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Fi-nance, won a special program award for out-

standing e� orts in 2014. “The project teams were selected for e� -

ciency, results delivery, e� ective project im-plementation, e� orts to empower women, transparency, and other criteria,” said Higu-chi.

The best project team recognition pro-gramme was initiated in 2001, and has been a regular annual exercise by ADB to promote development e� ectiveness of ADB-assisted projects in Bangladesh.

The Sustainable Rural Infrastructure Improvement Project (with the $60m loan from ADB) is helping to reduce poverty and raise incomes in 21 districts of north-west and south-west Bangladesh by improving climate-resistant road connectivity, and up-grading marketing facilities with speci� c pro-vision for women.

The City Region Development Project (with the $120m loan from ADB) is support-ing Bangladesh to overhaul urban planning,

infrastructure, and services in two big city regions.

The project is improving energy-e� cient and environment-friendly urban services, and strengthening management capacity for Dhaka and Khulna city corporations and ad-joining secondary towns.

The project’s outcome will include im-proved urban environment and infrastruc-ture services based on e� ective regional and urban planning.

The Third Primary Education Develop-ment Project (with the $320m loan from ADB) is supporting the government’s priorities of providing quality primary education to all children of the country.

The Second Capital Market Development Program (with the $300m loan from ADB) is supporting the government initiative to meet the long-term � nancing requirements and thereby address the current infrastructure in-vestment gap in Bangladesh. l

Regulator � nes United Insurance board Tk8 lakh n Tribune Report

Insurance Development and Regulatory Au-thority (IDRA) has � ned Tk8 lakh against all the board members of the United Insurance for violating the rules in appointing its man-aging director.

The decision was made at a hearing held at its headquarters on March 5. IDRA Chairman

M Shefaq Ahmed chaired the hearing while all the board members of the United Insurance were present, said a press release issued by the authority yesterday.

According to the release, all the eight di-rectors of the company including its chair-man Syed Aziz Ahmad, board member Saiful Islam, Shah Alam, M A Azim, Harunur Rashid, M Alam, Ha� zullah and Wahiuddin Mahmood

have been penalized Tk1 lakh each. The board of the insurance company had ear-

lier made a decision to reappoint the managing director Syed Shahriyar Ahsan till the year 2016.

Later on, the company sent a proposal to IDRA for its approval in December last, eight months after making the decision by board in March in the same year, which is violation of rules.

As per the Insurance Act 2010, an insurance

company will have to inform the authority in written about MD appointment or removal within 15 days of taking decision.

Earlier, in 2007, the company had got the approval of the then Insurance Directorate for appointing Syed Shahriyar Ahsan as MD.

But, it failed to ful� ll the condition of the appointment agreement within seven days of submitting the appointment proposal. l

FIs asked to introduce KYC forms for opening accounts n Tribune Report

The country’s � nancial institutions have been asked to introduce KYC (know your customer) form as well as uniform account opening form by June 30.

The decision was made for the storage of actual information about clients by the � nan-cial institutions to comply with the anti-mon-ey laundering act, said a Bangladesh Bank cir-cular issued yesterday.

“The FIs will have to use three kind of forms at the time of account openings. The forms are-account opening application form, account opening form and KYC pro� le form,” said the circular.

All FIs must use the uniform information in the account opening form, but additional information may be attached if any institu-tion needs. l

Government, ADB join hands to improve development works n Tribune Report

Bangladesh government and Asian Develop-ment Bank (ADB) yesterday concluded a 15-day joint review of ADB-assisted projects to further improve development results.

Senior government o� cials, project direc-tors, and ADB sta� members from its head-quarters and the Bangladesh resident mission participated in the review.

The review program ended through a wrap-up meeting chaired jointly by Moham-mad Mejbahuddin, Senior Secretary, Eco-nomic Relations Division, and Kazuhiko Hi-guchi, ADB Country Director for Bangladesh.

“The country portfolio reviewis an impor-tant annual exerciseto discuss a wide range of issues and agree on actions to enhance per-formance and achieve development results,” said Higuchi.

“The review identi� ed and agreed on spe-ci� c actions to further improve project readi-ness, reduce project startup delays, expedite procurement and fund disbursements, re-solve project-speci� c issues, improve audit-ing, and accelerate land acquisition, resettle-ment and project implementation.”

As of 31 December 2014, ADB’s cumulative lending to Bangladesh stood at $16.1bn for 253 projects, while the technical assistance amounted to $242m for 439 projects.

ADB focuses its cooperation in Bangladesh on six sectors—energy; transport; water and other urban/municipal infrastructure and services; education; � nance; and agriculture, natural resources, and rural development. l

To maintain the government authorised prices of essentials, the Dhaka South City Corporation puts up a board in front of the Hatirpool kitchen market which never saw any update after July 25, 2014. The photo was taken yesterday on the World Consumer Rights Day RAJIB DHAR

21D

TMONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015T

-JUN

CT

ION

Celticcool Photo: Sabiha Akond Rupa

23beauty game

Cool it!

hair care

Brush up

24� tness

Heartbreak decoded

teen health

Your ideal weight

Good housekeepingWondering how to make your favourite liner or gloss last longer? Just stash them away in the fridge.

Attentive to the coreWant to score those extra brownie points with your favourite teacher at school? Find out how to go about it.

INSIDE

MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015T-JUNCTION Schoologistics22D

T

n Raisa Rahim

Choose your teacherIt’s very evident and self-explanatory in itself as to why you can’t always please all your teachers. Hence, decide what teacher you want to impress. Is it going to be your Art teacher, PE coach or the teacher of your favourite subject? Once you have done that, � nd out what your teacher is like, what ticks her o� and what she expects from her/his students.

First impressionBe presentable. First impression is very important. Teachers are also responsible to see if the students abide by the rules of the school, so, make their work easier. Follow the rules like a nice kid and you’ll get one step ahead in your mission. Try to look neat and clean, making sure that your nails and hair aren’t overgrown, your uniform is ironed and please, remove that ink stain

from your shirt’s pocket; that thing is nasty my dear.

Raise your handYou don’t have to be a genius to get your teacher’s attention; you’ll get it anyway the moment you giggle with your friends when she says, “turn to page ‘six’” but that’s not the route we’d want you to take. If you are to become the teacher’s pet, try drawing her attention by participating in the lecture and asking questions or adding your views on the topic at hand.

Come prepared to classTeachers love and appreciate students who submit their homework and assignments on time. Don’t leave out any problems in your homework, attempt all of it, that way even if you get any of them wrong, your teacher will know you’ve put in a lot of effort and might as well give you extra points if you’re lucky. On top of that,

you could also read the chapters before next class so you can be more active and participating when she discusses it in class, because any answer or insight you give goes to show that you were listening and paying attention in class. In other words “make her/him feel like she is doing her job well.”

May I?Teachers love pupils who are helpful - to their friends, classmates and the teachers. Insist on carrying the heap of books/copies for her/him. Prepare the classroom before she/he enters, that means you clean the board; organise the markers, chalks, dusters, etc. l

n Sabrina Fatma Ahmad

The winds of spring bring in the scent of mango blossoms, reminding us that very soon, we’ll be able to chomp down on that delicious sweet fruit. And where there are mangoes, there’s our favourite atomic mango-powered superhero - Shabash.

This week, we take a look at Issues #4 and #5 of this well-loved home-grown comic. The creators from Mighty Punch Studios explain that, since their last story took two issues to complete, this time, they’re going for smaller, standalone stories, packing three into each issue.

Issue 4 is called Shabash at the Comicon, and the cover story, so to speak, centres around Shabash and his experiences of the recently concluded Dhaka Comicon. It’s a pretty meta story, featuring real characters such as the folks at Mighty Punch as well as Saadi Rahman of the Museum of Toys. If you like classics like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Space Jam, or, for a more recent offering, the deliciously baddictive Once upon a Time, this one is right up your alley, blending reality with fiction, and

peppering it with plenty of pop-culture references. Other stories in the collection have Shabash meeting his match at a game of para cricket. There’s also an MMORPG-style depiction of the Brazil vs Argentina rivalry that springs up in our country during every World Cup football.

Issue #5 is another collection of shorts, bringing back some familiar faces from the previous comics. We meet Dr Keramoti again in “The Spoiler King Manifests,” and his time-travelling television sends Shabash on a major binge, as a result of which, he finds himself committing that most heinous of crimes - spoiling television shows for fans. Aside from nailing just how irritating it is to be around the compulsive “spoilers,” it also provides a tongue-in-cheek jab at how TV producers love their unholy mashups. If you were wondering what happened to King Blatt at the end of Issue #1, be prepared for a dark teaser in one of the other stories in this issue. Finally, there’s a little vignette about the unique culture in Old Dhaka.

The comics marry quirky and endearing artwork with witty, inter-textual storytelling. The level of detail (both in terms of art and text) is truly impressive. Find out for yourself. Copies of these are available at Meena Bazar, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Jamil’s Comics. l

Pet project

School edition

Mighty Punch packs a double whammy

Do you want to win the label of a “teacher’s pet?” Here’s how you can do it

school survival

comic review

Tempt T-JUNCTION 23D

T



As the weather gets warmer, it’s time to pay attention to how the changing temps may a� ect the performance of your skincare products. Here are four types whose e� ectiveness increase with a little cooling.

Under-eye creams Notice how, when you go to get a facial, they put something cool and soothing over your eyes? The cold itself goes a long way to

reducing pu� ness and dark circles, so it makes sense to give your under-eye cream an extra boost by storing them in the fridge.

Pro tipWhen applying the eye cream, rub in very gently, because any dragging motion can actually cause sagging in the under eye region and can defeat the purpose of using these creams.

Home-made/natural face/hair maskWhether it’s a basic turmeric/� our mask you whipped up at home, or a store-bought uptan mix to which you added water, the very fact that these things have all-natural ingredients mean they need to be refrigerated or they’ll go bad. Treat them as you would any cooked food in the house.

Face sprays and tonersFor the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about creating rosewater face sprays as revitalisers for tired skin. Since these also


You might be pretty thorough about yanking out the stray hair caught in your combs and brushes after you’ve used them, but the pools of gunk that accumulate at the points where the bristles and teeth meet the base, are harder to get out. Here’s how to battle them.

Eww, gross!It sure is. That spongy dark substance is a combination of scalp grease, styling products, dust, and dead cells. Needless to say, left to collect in your brush or comb, it becomes the perfect breeding ground for fungus and bacteria, and can lead to skin diseases.

Cool it !

Brush up

4 beauty products to store in the fridge

Cleaning tips for your hair grooming tools

hair care

beauty game

use all-natural ingredients, it’s best to store them in the fridge. Keeping toners in colder temperatures will also give you the added boost of tightening visible pores when you apply them.

Eyeliner pencilsLike your cat-eye super precise? Pop your kohl liner in the fridge 10-15 minutes before you’re ready to use them. Take them out and sharpen while still cold, and then try lining your eyes. You’ll be surprised by the sharpness of the lines. Time to try some fierce angles. l

Combs and plastic/metal brushesDissolve a little baby shampoo in lukewarm water. Immerse the brush and combs inside this and swirl around before letting them soak for a few minutes, to soften up the dirt. Use an old toothbrush to scrub between the teeth of the comb and through the bristles of the brush. Once the goo is gone, rinse in clean water, and then wrap in a towel to dry.

Round brushesGetting the hair out of round brushes with the fabric bases is much harder. Use a small pair of scissors to snip through the little balls of hair stuck stubbornly at the bottom, before you yank it out. Once it is cleaned, follow the same procedure for washing the brush, and then use a hairdryer to dry. Be careful as to not hold the hairdryer too close or you may damage the brush. l

How often brushes and combs should be

deep cleaned - Once a month

T-JUNCTION Take Care24DT


n Naveen Rahaman

A split, regardless of how it happens, always leads to insurmountable pain for the one who has lost a loved one. Unsettled, and completely out of place, the moment we decide to call it quits, our world comes to an instant pause, triggering all sorts of disconcerting feelings. Whether they’re long, serious relationships or a short long-distance love, the moment we reach our � nale, no matter how horribly stressful our relationship was, we cannot help but feel desperately and embarrassingly at a loss. In the wake of these situations, heartbreak is no longer just a word. It’s an agonising, full-� edged physical pain, one that stems from every nerve of our lovelorn bodies. Today we look at the scienti� c reasoning behind heartbreak.

What your brain says:According to experts, when we’re in the ultimate throngs of heartbreak, we feel a physical pain, often in our stomach or in our chest. The pain can feel like anything from a light ache to a physical stab.

Scienti� cally speaking, the pain can be attributed to either a sympathetic activation system or the parasympathetic activation system. The former is a “� ght-or-� ight” stress that revs up action in the heart and lung while the latter is a “rest-and-digest” response which slows down the heart. When both these actions occur simultaneously, it’s as if the heart’s brake and accelerator work together to create a con� ict of action that resembles or feels like the heart breaking. Studies of the MRI result of heartbroken individuals showed that both physical pain and rejection are located in the same place in the brain. In other words, when you do feel the loss of a loved one, the pain is no longer just a metaphor.

In a study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology in 2010, when heartbroken participants were asked to look at photos of their exes, their MRI showed that there


One of the biggest body image concerns a teen has is about his/her weight. And if it isn’t bad enough that adolescents have to deal with constant, confusing changes in their bodies, they get bombarded with mixed messages about this. There are magazines screaming at us about losing weight, there are feminists screaming just as loud against fat-shaming, and neither party is bothered about what the doctors have to say. So let us correct this by talking about something called the “BMI.”

Bodies grow and develop differentlyYou and your friend might be the same height, but have completely different weights. Don’t let this get you down. When you hit your puberty, what your natural body shape is, and also what genes you

have, as well as, of course, your lifestyle – all of this figures into what your ideal weight should be, from a strictly health perspective.

And particularly during your teen years, when your hormones are revving up and you’re seeing a growth spurt and changes

Why love hurts

Balancing the scales

Uncovering the neuroscience of a heartbreak

What’s the right weight for my height?

teen health

� tness

was activity in that part of the brain that registers pain. Interestingly, since physical and emotional pain share the same neural pathways, when one does have a breakup the body signals them to feel the pain.

According to the brain, love is quite like a drug addiction. When you’re with someone, you somehow feel dependent on that partnership and get used to feeling part of a couple. The moment the relationship is over you feel lost and worthless. A study conducted by Stony Brook University compared the brains of people in love

with those of drug addicts. The studies found that being addicted to love and a relationship is similar to a drug addiction. It is one of the reasons why dealing with rejection is so di� cult to cope with.

The good part about all this is, that despite all the pain and su� ering, our brains will soon be accustomed to the single life, as long as you give it enough time. The way drug addicts can get over their addiction, given enough time and e� ort, similarly, our neural circuits will adjust to the new found love for singledom. l

in muscle composition, it’s normal to experience a weight gain. But there’s more to fitness than the reading on your scales.

BMIDoctors use something called a BMI, or Body Mass Index, to calculate whether you’re healthy or obese. This is a ratio of your height to your weight. You measure your weight in kilograms over your height squared in centimetres. The resulting numbers are measured in a chart to see how you stack up against the average BMI for your height and age range. There’s a big range of “normal” on the chart, so if you’re anywhere between the 5th percentile and the 85th, you’re at a healthy weight.

Conventional wisdomAt the end of the day, what’s more important than a bunch of numbers is your lifestyle. If you’re eating a balanced diet, putting in about 30 minutes of physical activity a day, and getting enough sleep, it doesn’t matter what the scales say. You’re healthy, and that’s what counts. l

25D


BANGLADESH FANS TRULY WAITING FOR THE ‘MAUKA’

PAKISTAN, WEST INDIES INTO QUARTER-FINALS

THE MONTH OF MARCH, MANZARUL AND INDIA

26 27 29

Lionel Messi’s double for Barcelona in the 2-0 win against Eibar on

Saturday has seen him move ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the European Golden Shoe. Messi

struck a 31st minute penalty - his 31st Liga goal, one more than Ronaldo.

LEADER

Sport

Hasta la vista, baby!n Mazhar Uddin from Melbourne

How often in our lives do we get the chance to see Terminator 2 star Arnold Schwarzenegger in � esh? Well, I had the rare, lifetime oppor-tunity to witness my all-time favourite action hero at Langham Hotel yesterday.

The two-time former California Governor came to Melbourne to watch the Rolex Aus-tralian Grand Prix, the Formula 1 season’s cur-tain-raiser, which took place yesterday.

The Tigers are staying at the same hotel and I was waiting there yesterday for some news when I suddenly saw the big guy walk-ing towards a car which was waiting for him outside the hotel. I was surprised to see him! I became a huge fan of him after watching one

of his epic movies, Terminator 2, back in my childhood days.

However, to my utter disgust, I was una-ble to take a picture with him due to security reasons.

I came to learn that the Bangladesh crick-eters also wanted to take a picture with the Hollywood superstar but failed in their pur-suit as the security o� cials did not allow them.

In the meantime, Soumya Sarkar must also be a F1 fan like Schwarzenegger. Apparently, it was Soumya’s childhood dream to watch a F1 race right in front of his own eyes. And, the Tigers’ latest batting sensation got his wish as he witnessed two-time champion and British star Lewis Hamilton strolling to victory at Al-

bert Park yesterday.Soumya was accompanied by Bangladesh

Cricket Board media manager Rabeed Imam and later posted a few pictures on his face-book pro� le.

As for the other cricketers, Nasir Hossain and Taskin Ahmed were spotted at a restau-rant having lunch while senior cricketers like Shakib al Hasan and Mush� qur Rahim en-joyed some leisure time with their wives at the cosmopolitan city.

Yesterday was the Tigers’ last rest-day. They will begin their quarter-� nal mission from today and will train at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ahead of their last eight clash against defending champions India this Thursday. l

Times, they are a changingn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Following a below-par 2014, the only booster Bangladesh received heading into the World Cup was the clean-sheet over Zimbabwe at home. The Tigers dominated the southern African nation in both the Tests and ODIs, winning 3-0 and 5-0 respectively, and erased the bitter memories of the previous events that included losses against Associates Af-ghanistan and Hong Kong in the Asia Cup and World Twenty20 respectively.

The bilateral series sweep over Zimbabwe gave the cricketers con� dence ahead of the mega event but the general sentiment was di� erent. Majority in the country’s cricketing arena harboured low hopes and expectations. Many even thought that Bangladesh might re-peat their dismal showing in the 2003 World Cup where they � nished bottom of Pool B af-ter su� ering defeats against Associates Cana-da and Kenya.

In the past one month, fast bowler Al Amin Hossain landed himself in hot water after breaking the team curfew and was later sent home while team manager Khaled Mahmud was also among the headlines following an impromptu visit to a casino in Melbourne.

However, the cricketers barely paid any attention to the o� -� eld distractions as they romped past Afghanistan, Scotland and Eng-land on their way to the last eight.

The Tigers are now just three wins away from the title, the closest they have ever been in the � agship event. Many are even considering this achievement as the Tigers’ third most memorable moment alongside the ICC trophy triumph in 1997 and the 2012 Asia Cup � nal berth.

Two people are largely responsible for the Tigers’ upturn in fortunes – skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza and coach Chandika Hathurusingha.

Mashrafe has been a courageous leader and has led the side admirably, taking risks at the right moment. Hathurusingha on the oth-er hand brought about several positive chang-es ever since taking the helm in the middle of last year. One of Hathurusingha’s best deci-sions has been to promote Mahmudullah up the batting order. The right-handed batsman has revived the Tigers’ batting, striking con-secutive hundreds, not by taking undue risks but by rotating the strike sensibly.

The Tigers will now head into the quar-ter-� nal against India with a lot of con� dence.

In the recent past, the Tigers overcame the India challenge in two major tournaments – the 2012 Asia Cup and the 2007 World Cup. It is no surprise therefore that former Indian cricketer and commentator Sunil Gavaskar is asking his compatriots not to take Bangladesh lightly. l

Soumya Sarkar takes a sel� e while watching the Rolex Melbourne Grand Prix at Albert Park yesterday. (Inset), Soumya poses with a Scuderia Ferrari. Britain’s two-time world champion Lewis Hamilton had to grind out a tough win as seven among the 18 drivers were unable to � nish the race.

Sport26DT


Bangladesh fans truly waiting for the ‘Mauka’n Mazhar Uddin from Melbourne

The exciting quarter� nal clash between neighbour-ing rivals Bangladesh and India is still three days away, but the social medias are already heating up with videos uploaded by fans of the respective na-tions.

Indian television channels don’t easily let go the chance of bragging about their team and what was funny at the beginning is now irritating the majori-ty of the cricket followers all over the world. “Mau-ka Mauka”, meaning “opportunity, opportunity”, the dialog from an ad that was initially launched to mock Pakistan have reached a new height after it continued with all the other teams India have faced in their group and all having a tagline #We-Won’tGiveItBack meaning India will defend their title successfully.

India face the high-� ying Tigers next and it is needless to say unlike the other nations’ supporters the Bangladeshis have been up to the task in making several versions of the ad on their own.

The issue shouldn’t have been dragged thus far but the sparks were created after an Indian home-made video upload indicated “India are like the big brother to Bangladesh as the former helped the latter in winning the liberation war against Pakistan in 1971.”

The reactions were not supposed to be calm and it wasn’t as the Bengal fans logically critcised the In-dians for their “dry sense of humour” and why not.

However, Bangladesh’s crazy cricket fans also re-plied back with their own version of “Mauka, Mau-ka” in which they highlighted India’s defeat in two major tournaments to Bangladesh – one in the 2007 World Cup group stage that eliminated the Blues while the other in the Asia Cup in 2012.

The Indian critics have also made controversial statements earlier on live TV shows including former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu who termed Bang-ladesh’s cricket as “poor.”

However, the good thing is that the players from both sides are focused on the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and they are not involved in any of the o� -� eld battles taking place. l

POOL ATeam P W L N/R Pts NRRNew Zealand 6 6 0 0 12 +2.564Australia 6 4 1 1 9 +2.257Sri Lanka 6 4 2 0 8 +0.371Bangladesh 6 3 2 1 7 +0.136England 6 2 4 0 4 -0.753Afghanistan 6 1 5 0 2 -1.853Scotland 6 0 6 0 0 -2.218

POOL BTeam P W L N/R Pts NRRIndia 6 6 0 0 12 +1.827South Africa 6 4 2 0 8 +1.707Pakistan 6 4 2 0 8 -0.085West Indies 6 3 3 0 6 -0.053Ireland 6 3 3 0 6 -0.933Zimbabwe 6 1 5 0 2 -0.527UAE 6 0 6 0 0 -2.032

FIXTURES

Quarter� nal 1March 18 In Sydney (9:30am BST) South Africa v Sri Lanka

Quarter� nal 4March 21 In Wellington (7am BST) New Zealand v West Indies

Quarter� nal 2March 19 In Melbourne (9:30am BST) India v Bangladesh

Quarter� nal 3March 20 In Adelaide (9:30am BST) Australia v Pakistan

FinalMarch 29

in Melbourne(9:30am BST)

Semi� nal 1March 24,

in Auckland(7am BST)

Semi� nal 2March 26in Sydney

(9:30am BST)

While the Bangladesh cricketers are practising on the � eld, their fans are also busy preparing for the much-anticipated quarter-� nal against India at Melbourne Cricket Ground this Thursday. The non-resident Bangladeshis have backed the players closely in the past one month in the World Cup and Fahmid Ahmed, Farah Shams, Sabrina Sadique, Zarifa Chowdhury, Rezvi Yasin, Reza Ali, Mush� qur Rahman, Farha Rahman Rishnat Choudhury and Shomik Choudhury are just a part of the Tigers unit in Melbourne COURTESY

UAE thank South African quicks for showing no mercyn AFP, Napier

World Cup amateurs United Arab Emirates prepared to head home to their day jobs Sun-day with words of thanks to Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and one regret over a dropped catch against Ireland.

The UAE’s World cup comeback, 19 years after their one and only previous appear-ance, ended with a sixth straight loss when the West Indies pulled o� a six-wicket win at McLean Park in Napier.

“It was a satisfactory performance from us, but we know we could have done better,” cap-tain Mohammad Tauqir said.

“Overall the whole tournament has been very special for the whole team.”

Morkel and Steyn were singled out for a ferocious spell of intimidatory bowling which Tauqir took as recognition that his team of part-timers deserved to be part of cricket’s ODI showpiece.

“I’m very thankful to them for bowling to us they way they did,” said Tauqir, who scored three before he was bowled by Steyn.l

Sport 27D

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IRE v PAKIRELAND R BW. Porter� eld c Afridi b Sohail 107 131P. Stirling lbw b Adil 3 8E. Joyce c Akmal b Wahab 11 18N. O’Brien c Akmal b Rahat 12 10A. Balbirnie c Afridi b Haris 18 36G. Wilson c Wahab b Sohail 29 38K. O’Brien c Maqsood b Wahab 8 16 S. Thompson c Akmal b Rahat 12 15J. Mooney c Akmal b Wahab 13 19G. Dockrell run out (Wahab) 11 8A. Cusack not out 1 1Extras: (lb2, w10) 12 Total (all out, 50 overs) 237

Fall of wickets1-11 (Stirling), 2-56 (Joyce), 3-86 (N. O’Brien), 4-134 (Balbirnie), 5-182 (Porter� eld), 6-189 (Wilson), 7-204 (Thompson), 8-216 (K. O’Brien), 9-230 (Mooney), 10-237 (Dockrell) BowlingSohail 10-0-44-2 (2w); Adil 7-0-31-1 (2w); Rahat 10-0-48-2 (2w); Wahab 10-0-54-3 (3w); Afridi 10-0-38-0; Haris 3-0-20-1 (1w);PAKISTAN R BAhmed Shehzad c Joyce b Thompson 63 71Sarfraz Ahmed not out 101 124Haris Sohail run out (Balbirnie/Dockrell) 3 7Misbah-ul Haq hit wkt b Cusack 39 46Umar Akmal not out 20 29Extras: (b1, lb1, w13) 15 Total (3 wkts, 46.1 overs) 241

Fall of wickets1-120 (Shehzad), 2-126 (Haris), 3-208 (Misbah) BowlingCusack 10-1-43-1 (3w); Mooney 9-1-40-0 (3w); Thompson 10-0-59-1 (3w); Dockrell 6-0-43-0; K O’Brien 10-0-49-0 (4w); Stirling 1.1-0-5-0; Result: Pakistan won by seven wickets

MOST RUNSPlayer Inns Runs Ave SRKC Sangakkara (SL) 6 496 124.00 119.51BRM Taylor (Zim) 6 433 72.16 106.91AB de Villiers (SA) 6 417 83.40 144.29TM Dilshan (SL) 6 395 79.00 98.25Mahmudullah (Ban) 5 344 86.00 82.89SC Williams (Zim) 6 339 67.80 109.00S Dhawan (India) 6 337 56.16 94.13Misbah-ul Haq (Pak) 6 316 52.66 77.64Shaiman Anwar (UAE) 6 311 51.83 91.47HM Amla (SA) 6 307 51.16 98.08

MOST WICKETSPlayer Inns Wkts Ave EconMA Starc (Aus) 5 16 8.50 3.67Mohammed Shami (Ind) 5 15 12.60 4.39TA Boult (NZ) 6 15 15.60 4.17JH Davey (Scot) 6 15 20.73 6.22JE Taylor (WI) 6 14 18.35 5.08Wahab Riaz (Pak) 6 14 22.42 5.49DL Vettori (NZ) 6 13 13.69 3.21M Morkel (SA) 6 13 16.38 4.08TG Southee (NZ) 6 13 20.76 4.82R Ashwin (India) 6 12 21.50 4.52

Top score

CH Gayle (215 o� 147 balls) v ZimbabweHighest batting average

Sarfraz Ahmed (Pak) 150 Most hundreds

KC Sangakkara (SL) 4Most � fties

Misbah-ul Haq (Pak) 4Most sixes

AB de Villiers (SA) 20Most ducks

Krishna Chandran (UAE) 3Highest Partnership

CH Gayle, MN Samuels (372 runs) v Zimbabwe

Best bowling � gure

TG Southee ( 7/33) v EnglandBest bowling average

MA Starc (Aus) 8.50Most dismissals by WK

D Ramdin (WI) 13Most catches by � elder

UT Yadav (India) 8Highest total

Australia (417/6) v AfghanistanLargest victories

By runs: Australia (275 runs) v Afghanistan By balls remaining: NZ (226 balls) v Eng

By wickets : India (9 wickets) v UAE

HOW IT STANDS AFTER WC GROUP STAGE

Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed celebrates his century during their World Cup match against Ireland at the Adelaide Oval yesterday REUTERS

Pakistan, West Indies into quarter-� nalsn AFP, Sydney

Pakistan and the West Indies secured the two remaining places in the quarter-� nals of the World Cup on Sunday after coming through must-win matches in the last of the tourna-ment’s group games.

The 1992 champions, Pakistan beat Ireland by seven wickets in a winner-takes-all clash in Adelaide.

Earlier in Pool B, the West Indies saw o� the United Arab Emirates by six wickets in Napier. West Indies’ win saw the 1975 and 1979 champions them edge out Ireland for a last-eight place on net run-rate.

The quarter-� nals begin with Sri Lanka’s match against South Africa in Sydney on Wednesday, while defending champions India faced Bangladesh in Melbourne on Thursday.

Australia take on Pakistan in Adelaide on Friday and fellow tournament co-hosts New Zealand play the West Indies in Wellington on Saturday.

The Ireland-Pakistan match took place almost eight years to the day since the Irish knocked the Asian giants out of the 2007 World Cup. That defeat for Pakistan in Jamai-ca was followed the day after by the death of coach Bob Woolmer.

There was no repeat of Ireland’s celebrated victory in the Caribbean as Pakistan posted their fourth straight win of this World Cup, including a victory over highly-fancied South Africa, after starting the tournament with two straight losses.

Sarfraz Ahmed scored his maiden one-day international hundred and Pakistan’s � rst of this World Cup as they � nished on 241 for three, chasing 238 to win, with 23 balls to spare.

Pakistan had dismissed Ireland for just 237 despite a century from Irish captain William Porter� eld, who won the toss.l

0 Centuries by Pakistan wicketkeepers in the World Cup before this game. Before

this game, Pakistan were one of two teams - Afghanistan being the other - whose batsmen hadn’t hit a century in this World Cup.

7 Hundreds by wicketkeeper-batsmen in this World Cup. Overall, there have

been 15 centuries by wicketkeeper-batsmen in World Cups, 11 of which have come in the last-two World Cups. Kumar Sangakkara has hit � ve of those.

0 Captains from Associate member teams to hit a century in the World Cup before

William Porter� eld.

32 Runs conceded by Pakistan in the batting powerplay - the most

they have conceded in these overs in this World Cup.

8 Number of batsmen to get out hit-wick-et in the World Cup before Misbah-ul

Haq in this match. Regis Chakabva was the last player to be dismissed in this manner, against UAE earlier in this World Cup.

Misbah eyes victory over Australia and world titlen AFP, Adelaide

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said the em-phatic seven-wicket win over Ireland on Sun-day had given his team strength and belief that favourites Australia can be beaten in the World Cup quarter-� nals.

Pakistan are due to clash with the co-hosts on Friday at the same Adelaide Oval where they knocked the non-Test nation out of the tournament in what was a must-win game.

“Of course we can beat Australia,” Misbah told reporters after the match.

“Nothing is certain in one-day cricket and no one can take victory for granted.

“Obviously Australia will be playing at home and are used to the conditions. They will also get a lot of backing from their sup-porters.

“But you can never predict what will hap-pen. One good spell or one good innings can change the course of a match. I think any team is beatable, especially in one-day cricket.”

Misbah said the experience of playing two matches at the Adelaide Oval - Pakistan had lost to India in their � rst match on February 15 - will stand his team in good stead.

Misbah had already insisted -- in the imme-diate aftermath of the win over Ireland -- that there was no reason why Pakistan could not be crowned world champions on March 29.

“Of course we can win the World Cup. We have the momentum. The bowling is doing really well, the batting is beginning to do its part,” said Misbah.

Pakistan � nished third in Pool B behind de-fending champions India and South Africa.l

Sport28DT


BANGLADESH U23 SQUADRayhan Hasan, Yeasin Khan, Sohel Rana, Rubel Mia, Toklis Ahmed Tonmoy (Sheikh Jamal); Nahidul Islam, Atiqur Rahman Fa-had, Shahedul Alam Shahed, Aminur Rah-man Sajib, Shakil Ahmed, Tutul Hossain Badshah, Omar Faruk Babu, Wahed Ahmed (Abahani); Russel Mahmud Liton, Tapu

Barman, Hemanta Kumar Vincent Biswas, Yousuf Sifat (Sheikh Russel), Nurul Naeem, Jewel Rana, Sujan Hossain (Mohammed-an), Anisur Rahman (Muktijoddha), Mez-bah Uddin, Kaiser Ali (Brothers Union), Mo-hammed Naeem (Team BJMC), Nurul Absar (Rahmatganj) and Masud Uddin (BKSP).

Archers � y for Thailand todayn Raihan Mahmood

With the aim of creating future stars who will take up the responsibility in the 2017 Asian Archery Championship, billed to be held in Bangladesh, a young and talented Bangladesh archery team will � y to Bangkok today to par-ticipate in stage two of the Asia Cup.

Sheikh Shajib is the lone recognised name among the eight male and four female mem-bers of the archery team, who will � ght in the recurve and compound bow events. A total of 30 countries will take part in the week-long event. Bangkok’s famous Rajamangala Stadi-um will host the competition.

NRB Global Bank, Bashundhara Group and Bangladesh Army are the sponsors of the ar-chery team.

In a press conference held at the Dutch-Bangla Bank auditorium of the Ban-gladesh Olympic Association yesterday, Kazi Razibuddin Ahmed Chapal, general secretary of the Bangladesh Archery Federation, pinned bright hopes on the archers. “Yes, there is a lack of experience but no dearth of talent. I have every belief in this team. They will per-form well and bring laurel for the country,” said Chapal, whose son Kazi Ra� d Ibne Razib is also among the archers.

Long-serving coach Nishith Das also echoed the same sentiment. “They have done well in training. The di� erence is not huge with the recognised names. Moreover, the females are better in some comparison,” said Nishith.

The archers are Shajib, Mohammed Tamimul Islam, Mohammed Nurul Huda, Mo-hammed Jabed Alam, Mohammed Anwarul Kader, Aliul Islam, Sumon Kumar Das, Ra� d, Tamanna Parvin, Sushmita Banik, Roksana Akter and Shyamoli Roy. Shoaib Chowdhury will be the team leader while Rahatus Sattar is the manager.

Ra� kul Islam Tipu, convenor of the feder-ation’s media committee, was also present on the occasion. l

Singapore friendlies called o� n Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh Under-23 football team’s sched-uled friendly against Singapore U-23 has been called o� due to a lack of su� cient time and visa complications.

Bangladesh Football Federation, earlier, planned to play two friendlies against Singa-pore at their backyard as part of their prepa-ration for the upcoming AFC U-23 Champion-ship Quali� ers in Dhaka but a lack of enough time and visa complications forced the feder-ation to call o� the plan.

Meanwhile, after returning to Dhaka last Thursday, Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif trimmed the 36-member national U-23 squad to 26.

Abahani’s Milon, Sheikh Russel’s Rakibul, Sohel and Fazley Rabbi, Mohammedan’s Ibrahim, Muktijoddha’s Javed, Shahed and

Biswajit Ghosh, Rahmatganj’s Krishna Mali and Farashganj’s Ra� were ousted from the list.

All the 26 players along with the coaches went to BKSP yesterday for the residential training camp ahead of the Group E Quali� ers.

Bangladesh have been placed in Group E

alongside Syria, Uzbekistan and India. The men in red and green will face Syria in the opening match on March 27. Bangladesh will then take on Uzbekistan and India on March 29 and 31 respectively.

Only the group champions will progress to the � nal round. l

Bangladesh archery team pose with the federation o� cials after the presser at the BOA House yesterday COURTESY

An action in the match between Municipal Preparatory and Dinajpur District School in the First Security Islami Bank National School Hockey at the hockey stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

NATIONAL SCHOOL HOCKEY

6 schools con� rm last-8 slotn Raihan Mahmood

BAF Shaheen School, Chittagong, Dinajpur District School, Ra� kuddin Memorial School, Comilla, Khanjanpur High School, Joypurhat, Moyejuddin High School, Faridpur and JM Sen School, Chittagong con� rmed quarter-� -nal slots in the First Security Islami Bank Na-tional School Hockey yesterday.

In the last matches of the di� erent groups yesterday, BAF Shaheen School beat Faridpur Muslim Mission 1-0, Ahmed Bawani Academy thrashed VJ Govt. High School 7-0, Fatullah Pilot High School overpowered Arjat Atarjan School 6-2 and Dinajpur District School out-played Municipal Preparatory, Jessore 5-1.

The two remaining quarter-� nal slots will be decided today. l

PIONEER FOOTBALL

Narayanganj pip Sha� uddinn Raihan Mahmood

Narayanganj Football Academy edged past Commissioner Sha� uddin Smriti Sangsad 4-3 in the Dhaka City Corporation Pioneer Foot-ball League at the Bashabo ground yesterday. In the other match at the same venue, Ilu Smriti Sangsad beat Tarek Rahman Sporting Club 1-0.

At the Mohammedpur Eidgah ground,

Kishore Football Club, Mohammedpur regis-tered a solitary goal victory over Kamrul Sport-ing Club while Dhanmondi Football Academy beat Becharam Dewry Boy’s Club 2-1.

At the Haji Abdul Alim Eidgah ground in Lalbagh, Sat Raoja Nabin Sangha beat Haji Mo� z Football Academy 1-0 while Abdul Hadi Lane Jubo Sangha outplayed Amligola Foot-ball Club 3-1 in the other match of the day.l

Sport 29D

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Star Sports 212:00AM Italian Serie A Fiorentina v Milan Star Sports 41:45AM English Premier League Swansea City v Liverpool Ten Sports 12:00AM ATP: BNP Paribas Open IW Round 3 Day 1

DAY’S WATCH


The month of March, Manzarul and arch-rival India n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Exactly eight years ago on this day, Bangla-desh cricket was rocked with the untimely demise of left-arm spinner Manzarul Islam Rana. The Khulna cricketer, following the end of a National Cricket League match, rode on the back of his teammate Sajjadul Alam Shetu’s motorbike to a local restaurant, but losing control the duo collided with a minibus on their way which took away both of their lives. At 22, Manzarul was the youngest Test cricketer to pass away.

Bangladesh lost a bright prospect in March, but for some reasons the cricket team have always managed to make the month memo-rable by pulling great wins in this month and dedicating it to Manzarul.

At time of the accident, the Bangladesh team were in West Indies participating in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 and they re-ceived the shocking news just ahead of their tie against India in Trinidad and Tobago.

The players were distraught, but not short of motivation as they wanted to beat India for Manzarul. Current national captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who was more than just a friend to Manzarul, picked up four wickets in the

match to eventually cause one of the major upsets.

On March 16, 2012, Bangladesh defeated India again in their Asia Cup tie. Mashrafe was the leader of the bowling in that game too, with 2 for 44. The Tigers were not car-ried away with the win rather the historic � ve-wicket win was right away dedicated to Manzarul by the then Bangladesh skipper Mush� qur Rahim.

Consequently, Bangladesh stands at the door-step of yet another do or die � xture against India. The Tigers will face the defend-ing world champions in the second quarter� -nal of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Mel-bourne on Thursday.

People are saying Bangladesh will de� -nitely look for inspiration from those wins in 2007 and 2012. No doubt, Manzarul will be smiling from up above, giving inspiration to his team and making the ongoing mega event a more memorable and special one.

Rana has played in six Tests and 25 one-day internationals.

The left-arm all-rounder played six Tests and 25 ODIs for Bangladesh and took � ve and 23 wickets respectively. He also scored 257 runs in Tests and 331 runs in ODIs.

He made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in 2004 and played his maiden ODI against England in 2003.

Manzarul used to bat in the lower order and was an useful left-arm spinner. l

50* Carter’s score, his maiden half-cen-tury in ODIs, in his eighth innings.

107 The partnership between Amjad Javed and Nasir Aziz, which equals

the highest for the seventh wicket in World Cup history.

3 The number of times a No. 8 batsman has scored more than 60, which was

Aziz’s score, in World Cup history.

2 The number of times West Indies have had the opposition � ve down for less

than 30 in this tournament - they also had Pakistan at 25 for 5 in Christchurch.

4 Wickets for Jason Holder, the third time he has taken four in an ODI.

6 The number of batsmen bowled in the UAE innings, only the � fth instance of six

or more batsmen being bowled in an innings in a World Cup game.

UAE v WIUAE R BAmjad lbw b Holder 5 19Berenger c Ramdin b Holder 7 7Chandran c Smith b Holder 0 6Khurram b Taylor 5 5Shaiman b Taylor 2 6Patil b Holder 6 20Javed b Russell 56 99Aziz c Holder b Samuels 60 86Naveed b Russell 14 9Tauqir b Taylor 2 19Guruge not out 4 10Extras: (lb4, w10) 14Total: (all out, 47.4 overs) 175

Fall of wickets1-13 (Berenger), 2-16 (Chandran), 3-17 (Amjad), 4-21 (Khurram), 5-26 (Shaiman), 6-46 (Patil), 7-153 (Javed), 8-167 (Naveed), 9-167 (Aziz), 10-175 (Tauqir)BowlingTaylor 8.4-0-36-3 (2w); Holder 10-1-27-4 (4w); Roach 8-0-54-0 (2w); Russell 8-3-20-2 (2w); Samuels 10-4-25-1; Sammy 1-0-4-0; Smith 2-0-5-0;WEST INDIES R BSmith c Patil b Guruge 15 9Charles c Chandran b Javed 55 40Samuels c Berenger b Guruge 9 18Carter not out 50 58Russell c and b Javed 7 8Ramdin not out 33 50Extras: (lb4, w3) 7Total: (4 wkts, 30.3 overs) 176

Fall of wickets1-33 (Smith), 2-53 (Samuels), 3-109 (Charles), 4-118 (Russell)BowlingAziz 6-0-47-0; Naveed 6-0-34-0 (1w); Guruge 7.3-1-40-2; Tauqir 3-0-22-0; Javed 8-0-29-2 (2w)Result: West Indies won by six wicketsMan of the Match: Jason Holder

Manzarul Islam Rana (4 May, 1984-16 March, 2007)

No rift in team, says Holdern AFP, Napier

West Indies skipper Jason Holder dismissed talk of a rift in the ranks Sunday as he led his side to a likely World Cup quarter-� nal against New Zealand.

Holder, a surprise choice to lead the West Indies to the World Cup, appeared to be in-volved in an on-� eld argument with former captain Darren Sammy during their must-win � nal Pool B match against the United Arab Emirates in Napier.

The West Indies’ eventual six-wicket victo-ry all but propelled them into the knock-out phase, with only an unlikely tie in the � nal match between Pakistan and Ireland in Ade-laide able to derail them.

The mission seemed in the bag when Hold-er won the toss, put UAE into bat and rapidly reduced them to 46-6 before Nasir Aziz and Amjad Javed staged a 107-run stand.

Sammy was brought on to try to break the

partnership with the score at 108-6 after 30 overs and was not happy when taken out of the attack after just one over that yielded four runs.

Sammy and Holder appeared have strong words which Holder later played down as “a little banter on the � eld” saying they wanted to have some fun but “unfortunately it proba-bly didn’t look that way.”

He later conceded they “had a little tussle there. It’s just part of the game. At the end of the day we shake hands and still smile together.”

Sammy later posted a picture on Instagram of him enjoying a beer with Holder in the locker room although his conciliatory smile was in stark contrast to his captain’s stony-faced expression.

The West Indies World Cup campaign, which started with a shock loss to Ireland, has been dogged with suggestions of unhap-piness in the camp with the 23-year-old Hold-er struggling to get the respect of the senior players.l

Minnows Burley burn Man City, Blues heldn AFP, London

Chelsea edged towards the Premier League ti-tle with a draw against Southampton in what was a superb contest at Stamford Bridge yes-terday. Diego Costa’s 18th league goal of the season gave Chelsea the lead before Dusan Tasic equalised from the spot after Nemanja Matic had fouled forward Sadio Mane.

Manchester City wasted a chance to put pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea as the champions crashed to a shock 1-0 de-feat at struggling Burnley on Saturday.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side would have moved within two points of Chelsea with a victory, but instead they departed Turf Moor with their hopes of retaining the title hanging by a slender thread after a lacklustre performance was punished by George Boyd’s second half winner.

City remain � ve points behind Chelsea. To make matters worse for City, Jose Mourinho’s side will still have one more game in hand af-ter facing Southampton.

The dismal defeat, their � rst against Burn-ley since 1974, was the worst possible warm-up for City’s Champions League last 16 second leg trip to Barcelona in midweek and added to the growing pressure on Pellegrini.

Arsenal cemented their position in the top four as Olivier Giroud’s blistering strike in-spired a 3-0 rout of West Ham. l

West Indies captain Jason Holder (2R) celebrates the wicket of United Arab Emirates batsman Amjad Ali (L) during their Pool B 2015 Cricket World Cup match at McLean Park in Napier yesterday AFP

DOWNTIME30DT


CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 20 represents C so � ll C every time the � gure 20 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS1 Festivity (4)5 Storehouse (5)8 Handsomethoroughfare (6)9 Curve (4)10 Doctrine (3)12 Enigma (6)13 Christian festival (6)15 Stanzas (6)18 Compels (6)20 Flightless bird (3)21 Dislike intensely (4)23 Combined (6)24 Cavalry weapon (5)25 Refuse to admit (4)

DOWN1 Legend (5)2 First woman (3)3 Looks after (5)4 Conclude (3)5 Longings (7)6 Discharged a debt (4)7 Large volume (4)11 Blackthorn (4)12 Income (7)14 Minute particle (4)16 Flood (5)17 Shabby (5)18 Tumbled (4)19 Downfall (4)21 Concealed (3)22 Perfect score (3)

SUDOKU

SHOWTIME 31D


BRITNEY SPEARS @britneyspears Who else is listening to @Madonna’s #RebelHeart today? Totally feeling this album! http://smarturl.it/RebelHeart

ADAM LEVINE @adamlevine #FBF #MSG https://instagram.com/p/0MGh2QqjfK/

FARHAN AKHTAR@FarOutAkhtar MIT Manipal..!! Love you all, you crazy crazy people. We had a blast today.. Full points to the audience. Shine On!! @FarhanLiveBand

CELEBS ON SOCIAL

WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION

OBLIVION Star Movies 01:16pmCast: Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. After decades of war with the alien Scavs, the surface of the earth become devastated. One of the few remaining drone repairmen assigned to Earth, discovers a crashed spacecraft with contents that bring into question everything he believed.

CHAK DE! INDIA SONY MAX 03:00pmCast: Shahrukh Khan, Vidya Malvade. Kabir Khan, a convicted former captain of an Indian Hockey team is given an opportunity to coach the Woman’s National Hockey team, which is will provide a platform for him to get his honour and dignity back.

Mehreen releasesmotivational song for women

n Showtime Desk

On the eve of International Womens Day, the well known singer, Mehreen released a a single to motivate members of the fairer sex. The infamous Ayub Bachu, who needs no introduction, wrote and composed this number called “Ami Nari Ami e Pari”. A music video was also released on Youtube as well as other hot sites. Brought to you by the Go Girls Production house, this song inspires women to live their dreams and overcome common obstacles. The best part? Ayub Bachu actually wrote the lyrics. How cool is that? l

n Showtime Desk

This week we have a very special play list to share. The one and only Shakib Chowdhury, the awe-inspiring front man of the local rock sensation Cryptic Fate, who sported a beard before beards became all the rage gives us a peek into what he’s listening to on repeat.1. Skeleton Christ – Slayer

Well, what can I say? It’s Slayer. And they’re as good as they've ever been.

2. Lorbe Bangladesh – Cryptic FateWe made this song speci� cally for World Cup Cricket and Bangladesh is winning, so the song is always on my play list.

3. Lion heart –Of Monsters and Men This Icelandic folk rock band is awesome and so is this song. It’s so inspiring.

4. A Thousand days before – Sound-gardenThis song is from Soundgarden's comeback album. It’s a unique song with a magical groove. You hear it and you fall in love. It takes you places.

5. Mind your manners – Pearl JamWhatta song! Vintage Pearl Jam. 'Nu� said!

6. Only Time – EnyaI heard this song in the Van Damme Volvo truck ad. Been listening to it ever since. Another one of those songs that take you places.

7. Know your enemy – Green DayA rocking song about absolute power and absolute corruption. A song for this age.

8. Akromon – Cryptic FateI've been waiting 13 years to make a song like this. So I can't get enough of it.

9. No more tears – Ozzy OsbourneA haunting melody. Really immerses you.

Aces High – Iron MaidenMy favorite song of all time. So, it’s always on. l

Turn it up

n Showtime Desk

The Army Stadium sure was the place to be on March 7th to witness the wonder that was the Joy Bangla Concert, an event to mark the historic speech given by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Young Bangla, the organisers behind the concert is a platform for the youth, initiated by Centre For Research and Information (CRI). This star studded event had it all from laser shows to music by local superstars. We asked the band members of the rock giants, Cryptic Fate to tell us what their thoughts on having been a part of this important show.

“The joy Bangla concert was a life time experience for me. Playing in front of an enormous crowd was mind blowing. It was great to see the profound unity of the like minded people.”- K. Sarfaraz Latifullah

“The Joy Bangla concert was the best concert I have ever played in. The stage, the set, lights and sound, everything was awesome. The crowd was amazing and we had our own green room with an attendant who took care of us. It was very well organised and great to perform at an event commemorating the great speech by Sheikh

Mujib on 7th March.”-- Shakib Chowdhury

“It was a great experience. The crowd was awesome and what a fantastic initiative”-Farhan Samad

“It was a blast of good sound and out of the world stage experience. Communications with the crowd seemed a bit hard cause of the distance and I believe we need more responsible bouncers in the crowd. Cause Bangladesh did reach up to a glorious scale of live gig standard with the Joy Bangla concert.

I hope to see more concerts like these in the future to pay tribute to our heroes who helped shape up this country.God bless”- Rafa l

Quotes of joy

Sound bytesn Showtime Desk

The return of James James has just � nished recording his latest track “Ami akasher kachey jantey chai” for “Sweetheart”, an upcoming Bengali movie. For this song, Sha� q Tuhin will play the role of music director, lyricist, and composer. They completed the recording for this song last week.

Sha� q Tuhin said, “James is one the most highly sought-after musicians in Bangladesh. Before this song, he sang another song that I have composed for the movie “Desha: The Leader.” Hopeful-ly audience and viewers will like the new song by James.”

Runa Laila set to wow UK audiencesRuna Laila is currently visiting the United Kingdom to participate in a concert scheduled to be held on Moday, March 16th, organised by Bangladeshi expats there. After this trip, she will return to Dhaka and attend “Celebration of Music” on April 10. This one is a tribute concert for the 50th Anniversary of her illustrious musical career.

Entourage Entertainment is the brand behind the show and it will take place at Bangabandhu International Conference Center. Indian signer KK and Pakistani singer and actor Fawad Afzal Khan will also join the crew at this concert. l

BACK PAGE32DT


n Rehman Sobhan

There are few prec-edents for what is going on in Bang-la Desh today. In a matter of one week a de facto transfer of power from the Islamabad govern-ment to the people’s representatives has

been e� ected. This has not been achieved by any spec-

tacular victory on the battle front or by for-eign intervention, or a formal surrender of power by the rulers, but largely by peaceful means.

One says this in spite of the massive death toll in the last week because these deaths were at the cost of the people of Bangla Desh and the forces of oppression.

The unique feature of this condition springs from the fact that peaceful non-co-operation has been taken a stage beyond to active cooperation with the people’s rep-resentatives. In most freedom struggles non-cooperation was a vital element in the struggle. This was designed to paralyse the economy and administration and make life for the rulers untenable.

Such a move could not be sustained in-de� nitely because the ruling power could always depend on a class of collaborators from the ranks of the administration, busi-ness and property-owning classes.

These elements have made it possible for even the French to enforce their writ in Indo-China at the height of the resist-ance and even the Germans and Japanese to keep the society functioning during the period of occupation in Europe and South

East Asia. In the freedom struggle in India, the civ-

il service, judges and other elements, were always available to keep the show on the road and the police force was there to en-force law and order at all times. Only very rarely were troops required and this too in support, rather than in substitution, of the local administration.

What is therefore unprecedented for Bangla Desh is the fact that non-coopera-tion with the rulers in Islamabad is total. For the last week, not a single element in the administration has been available to collaborate, from the chief justice of East Pakistan to the chief secretary. This has never happened to my knowledge in any other country, in contemporary history.

In the extraordinary case of Radio Paki-stan, when the military arbitrarily suspend-ed the broadcast of Sheikh Mujib’s speech at the Race Course, after having given prior permission, the sta� simply closed shop and went horne.

This created a major crisis in the dis-tricts where the abrupt cancellation of an announced broadcast threatened to create a law and order situation as people suspect-ed that Mujib had been arrested.

When this prospect was intimated to the military authorities, along with the fact that no news at all would henceforth be broadcast from any radio station in Bangla Desh, they agreed to let the news be broad-cast on the 8th morning.

On such terms did the radio network here resume operations and continue to operate their own news bulletin from Dac-ca Betar Kendra, leaving Radio Laos from Karachi to tell us all about news in Laos and the Middle East -- anywhere but about Bangla Desh. l

M A R C H 1 9 7 1 D I A R Y

From non-cooperation to People’s RajThis extract is part of a series that will run until March 25, in which we reproduce Rehman Sobhan’s contemporaneous account of the events of that momentous month in Bangladeshi history. This was � rst published in Forum on March 13, 1971

BANGLADESH 23RD LARGEST ECONOMY BY 2050 PAGE 15

MEHREEN’ S MOTIVATIONAL SONG FOR WOMEN PAGE 31

HASTA LA VISTA, BABY! PAGE 25

Fair for couples promotes marriageFirst of its kind in the city, to be held every yearn Tribune Report

A unique gathering of couples named “Dampati Mela” (Couples’ Fair) took place at Bishwa Sahitya Kendra in the capital yester-day evening.

The � rst of its kind in Dhaka, the event was organised by Dampati Society, a newly formed organisation that aims to promote the value of marriage and development of family bonding through regular study and eventual discourse.

The fair received good response, as quite a number of couples were present at the open-for-all event, exchanging their views on mar-riage and how to have a happy married life.

“We are happy to be here. I feel like a 25-year-old man right now,” said Saleh Ahmed, attending the fair with his wife of 41 years, Sahida Karim.

“The young generation should always re-member that faith is a huge part of a success-ful marital relationship. It should never be compromised,” Saleh told the Dhaka Tribune.

Sahida said she was feeling nostalgic. “There are so many memories. We have been together for around 41 years, but it seems as though all those years went in a blink of an eye.”

Quazi Rawnaq Hossain and Ulka Hossain, married for 28 years, were seen enjoying the evening with some friends at the fair.

“Love should be sustained and nurtured all throughout a marriage; it should never be lost. There may be ups and downs in a mar-riage, but love must not be forgotten in times of trouble,” Rawnaq said.

Ulka said theirs was a happy family. “We have two children: one is 26 years old, and the other is 21. We are happy.”

Abdullah Abu Sayeed, founding chairper-son of Bishwa Sahitya Kendra, inaugurated the event at 7pm. While giving the inaugu-ration speech, he reminisced his married life, while his wife Rawshan Ara stood byhis side.

“Good things and bad things will happen in every family, but people have to cope with that and keep the love for each other alive,” he said.

The event also gave special recognition to couples who have been married for at least 50 years. Honourees included Hayat Mahmud and Firoza Begum, and Syed Hasan Imam and Laila Hasan, among others.

Rahim Sarwar, member of the Dampati So-ciety, said the event will be held every year on March 15 from now on. l

Engineer Mo� zuddin Ahmed and Ferdousi Akter were one of the many couples who enjoyed the Couples’ Fair held by Dampati Society at Bishwa Sahitya Kendra auditorium yesterday. They have been married for 48 years 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: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.dhakatribune.com

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16 march, 2015