Bedlam on SC premises,lawyers beaten n Udisa Islam and Nazmus Sakib

Awami League men on Sunday barged into the Supreme Court premises to prevent pro-BNP lawyers from agitat-ing against the government, with the law enforcers playing the role of silent spectators.

This was the � rst time countrymen have seen an incident like this on the premises of the apex court; when stick-wielding Awami League forced open the main gate of the court around 3:20pm to chase the demonstrating lawyers.

Earlier, around 11:30am police used water cannons on the protesting pro-BNP lawyers when they tried to march to Nayapalton. Some � ve lawyers fell sick. There were reportedly many outsiders including lawyers from lower court.

As over two hundred lawyers of pro-BNP tried to bring out a procession the law enforcers locked the main gate of the SC.

Law enforcers with water cannons and armoured vehicle were stationed out-side. They lobbed two sound grenades to disperse the lawyers.

The pro-BNP lawyers then left the main gate and went to the gate next to the bar counsel building. As they found the gate locked too they split into two groups and took positions at the two gates.

BNP Chairperson’s adviser Osman Faruk, party leader Sanaullah Mia,former commerce minister AltafHossain Chowdhury and lawyers ofthe Dhaka Judge Court were with the lawyers.

After 3pm Awami League men stormed into the SC premises. They torched a motorcycle  in front of the Supreme Court Bar Association. The lawyers taking shelter in the Bar build-ing hurled glass bottles at the Awami League activists. The AL supporters also retaliated by hurling brick chipsat them.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

n Tribune Report

Being barred from staging the “March for Democracy” and the Nayapaltan rally, the BNP-Jamaat-led opposition alliance have announced a continua-tion of the march today and staging sit-ins at the transport terminals around the country until the polls schedules are cancelled.

On the other hand, the ruling Awami League has said their leaders and activ-ists will remain vigilant on the streets of Dhaka to resist the opposition’s pro-gramme.

Yesterday, opposition leader Khale-da Zia, who had earlier said she was de-termined to attend the Nayapaltan ral-ly, was not allowed to come out of her Gulshan residence by law enforcers.

In a rare unscheduled encounter with journalists in front of her residence, the former premier announced an exten-sion the Dhaka march today.

In a press conference soon after at the National Press Club, BNP Vice-Chair-man Major (retd) Ha� z Uddin Ahmed, who was later arrested, announced that the opposition would stage sit-ins at the bus, train and launch terminals around the country until the schedule for the 10th parliamentary polls were cancelled.

Dhaka city unit Awami League Sec-retary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya told the Dhaka Tribune that the leaders and activists of the ruling par-ty would continue to roam around the streets to counter the oppositionactivists.

In light of the opposition announc-ing to continuing its march today, Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rah-man said yesterday that around 6,000 RAB members would remain deployedtoday.

Col Ziaul Ahsan, additional director general of RAB, said 31 check-posts in and around the capital would continue

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

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Obstructed, Khaleda shifts march18-party alliance to stage sit-ins until polls schedule revoked; AL men to remain on streets

Awami League activists beat up a female lawyer on the Supreme Court premises yesterday as pro-BNP lawyers extended support to the opposition’s Dhaka march RAJIB DHAR

BNP chief criticises PMn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

More than 200 journalists had been waiting in front of the Gulshan resi-dence of opposition leader Khaleda Zia since yesterday morning in anticipa-tion that she might come out.

With heavy security measures taken since Saturday night and sand-laden trucks barricading the entries to her residence, it was clear that it would not be easy for her to get past the tightsecurity.

By 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the

journalists learnt from di� erent sourc-es that Khaleda might come out any moment.

Even the law enforcers stationed around the house – more than 100 of them – got active.

Around 3pm, � nally, the opposition leader appeared at the main gate of her house and got into her white Nissan Patrol.

However, despite waiting for around half an hour, her car could not move an inch. Around 3:30pm, she got out of

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Hasina bashes civil society n Tribune Report

Taking a swipe at a section of the coun-try’s eminent citizens who suggested the government defer the January 5 polls, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the actors of 1/11 have become active again.

“I have seen in today’s [Sunday] newspapers that some eminent citi-zens have given some suggestions to us. I don’t want to say anything about them. But many of them whom we saw after the 1/11 have now become vocal

again,” she said, according to BSS.The prime minister said: “Why was

their spirit was not awakened when BNP-Jamaat stopped the JSC and JDC examination by enforcing hartal?”

She asked why they could not tell the opposition not to call a har-tal during the exams of the children. “Why did they remain silent when the BNP-Jamaat terrorists killed sleeping people, including children, by hurling bombs at the buses and uprooting trees rampantly in the name of so-called

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

People su� er for security measuresn Ashif Islam Shaon

The family of 60-year-old Mabia Be-gum tried to enter the capital from a nearby village for her emergency treat-ment yesterday. But she died on the way as the relatives could not arrange transport and were stuck at Gabtoli.

“From our Kaukandi village at Darussalam we hired a boat to Gabto-li but there we waited for hours for a transport. At last we managed a rick-shaw van but she died before we could reach the Technical Intersection,” said Mohammad Ali, Mabia’s son.

The shortage of transport has caused su� ering for people from all walks of life in the capital as the security meas-ures imposed by the government since Friday evening continued yesterday, the day of the opposition alliance’s “March to Dhaka” programme.

Police, Rab and BGB were deployed at every major intersection, stopping and searching anyone they foundsuspicious. Army personnel wereseen at some entry points including Jatrabari.

The city streets were almost empty. On almost every important road, com-muters walked long distances to reach destinations.

“I presumed that the roads would be empty and I would have to walk. There was no alternative for me,” said NGO sta� Moksedul Karim, who talked

with this correspondent near the May-or Hanif Flyover at Kutubkhali. He was heading to Narayanganj. There were no vehicles until the Kachpur Bridge.

Our correspondent from Babuba-zar Bridge reported that until 5pm po-lice, Rab and Awami League activists searched every small vehicle passing the area. They also forced some pas-sengers to walk and made drivers turn around.

At Abdullahpur, one of the key en-

try points of the capital, law enforcers occupied the Tongi Diversion Road and its adjacent areas. Our correspondent saw several commuters waiting in lines and giving interviews to the cops to get permission to enter the capital.

“I was released after convincing them that I am a normal o� ce-going guy,” said Muktadir Alam, who usual-ly goes to his o� ce in Uttara from his home in Tongi every day.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A patient is brought to the DMCH on a rickshaw-van as other transport was scarce because of BNP’s ‘March for Democracy’ programme yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

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Bedlam on SC premises PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Awami League cadres beat advocate Sim-ki Imam Khan brutally. At one stage she kept lying motionless on the pavement with her dressed soaked in blood. Some photojournalists came to her rescue.

Another lawyer, loyal to the 18-party alliance, Rehana Parvin was also beaten.

The ruling party goons also hit some lawyers and tweaked their ears asking them repeatedly: “Will you ever come to the March? Will you?” Some of the attackers wrapped the national � ag around their foreheads.

BNP supporters had positioned themselves on the roof of the court building while Awami League held the ground below.

Both factions were seen pelting stones at each other. At 4:05pm a force

of police led by Ramna Zone DC Maruf Hasan entered the court premises to control the situation. After two min-utes a � re service unit came and put the � re out.

Supreme Court Registrar AKM Sham-sul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that many outsiders joined with the protest of pro-BNP lawyers. Three lawyers – Re-hana Pervin, Abu Zafar Manik and Naz-rul Islam Pappu received minor injuries.

Meanwhile, about 15 pro-BNP-Ja-maat journalists received injuries when some ruling Awami League men hurled brick chips at them as they were demon-strating inside the National Press Club.

Immediately after the incident, the pro-government journalists led by former president of Bangladesh Fed-eral Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Iqbal

Sobhan Chowdhury held a rally pro-testing the presence of outsiders inside the press club.

UNB added: Pro-opposition teach-ers of Dhaka University were manhan-dled by activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jubo League near the High Court on Sunday afternoon.

Prof Dr Mamun Ahmed, a teacher loyal to BNP, told UNB that they were going to BNP’s Nayapaltan central of-� ce in a procession to join the opposi-tion’s “March for Democracy”.

However, police obstructed them in front of Kadam Foara near the High Court. Being resisted, the teachers staged a sit-in there. At one stage, some BCL and Jubo League men attacked the sit-in and physically assaulted the teachers, Mamun said. l

Hasina bashes civil society PAGE 1 COLUMN 5movement,” she asked.

The prime minister said this while receiving this year’s JSC and JDC exam results at her o� cial Ganabhaban res-idence yesterday morning. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and chair-men of nine education boards handed over the results to the prime minister.

About 60 prominent members of the civil society yesterday made the suggestion to the government to stop the January 5 election. They said this at a discussion jointly hosted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Ain o Salish Kendra, Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik and Transparency International Bangla-desh.

Sheikh Hasina said the ensuing elec-tions have reached such a stage when

the eminent citizens want to stop the polls. “We will have to opt for uncon-stitutional way if the polls are stopped at this moment. I don’t know whether they are inviting such an unconstitu-tional way,” she said.

The prime minister said the remain-ing work of the eminent citizens are accomplished when democracy and constitutional process do not exist in the country and when those grab pow-er unconstitutionally.

“The ‘kadar’ (importance) of the eminent citizens increases and they can move with � ags at that time. This is their (eminent citizens’) consideration, I don’t see other thing,” she said.

The Prime Minister also said the eminent citizens now remained united and are giving advices and suggestions

to the government about many issues. “But why they were silent when the Hefajat-e- Islam carried out rampage and burnt thousands of copies of Qu-ran,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina said the eminent citi-zens did not say anything when the op-position leader turned down her o� er for dialogue. “Why their spirit was not awakened at that time. They always wait for such a situation when they would be called and their importance will increase,” she said.

Criticizing yesterday’s call by a sec-tion of civil society members, Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashra-ful Islam said at a press conference in dhaka the so-called think tanks made the call in an attempt to create another situation like 1/11, according to UNB. l

BNP chief criticises PM PAGE 1 COLUMN 3the car with a national � ag in her hand and waved her hands at the photojour-nalists, who had climbed onto the roof-tops of the adjacent buildings and the sand-laden trucks to get a clear view.

Then Khaleda tried to get past the gate on foot, but the law enforcers barred her.

In the meantime, a few journal-ists had crossed the wall of her house and got inside the compound and Rab members, who arrived around 3pm, cleared all the roadside tea and food stalls in the vicinity. Some foreigners could be seen among the curious crowd gathered in the area. They refused to disclose their identities to the journal-ists.

After having failed to go out of the gate, Khaleda came back and sat in a chair for about 10 minutes and then spoke to the journalists. The former premier was so angry that she could barely speak. The weather was chilly all right, but she was shivering from sheer anger.

Here is the excerpt of what she told the journalists:

“Journalist brothers, you are the pro-tector of democracy. The police force cannot protect the country...It is a de-mocracy... Our [March to democracy] programme will continue  tomorrow. I want to tell the people that democracy has been destroyed today... Today, the government has closed all the roads, suspended transportation out of fear...so that people cannot come out. But this programme will continue. This government is illegal. This government is autocratic and undemocratic. This government does not have any right to stay in o� ce. It should step down im-mediately if it has shame.

“…You [law enforcers] will come every day and sit in front of the gate. All right. I will also get out [of the res-idence]. Let us see how long it can go on.

“What are you [the government] thinking? Is the country your sole prop-erty? Has the Awami League inherited the country that it wants to prevent our programme using its thugs and police?

“If you [the Awami League] have courage, you could stage a counter pro-gramme! You do not have the courage…

not even 10 people would join your programmes. They hire people through the DCs and SPs for their programmes. I understand that. Otherwise, how could its situation become so pathetic that 154 seats become uncontested? What else does remain? The rest will do the same. This is not an election, it is selec-tion...

“We have no con� ict with you [law enforcers]. You are carrying out your duties. But I think you should carry out your responsibilities properly so that we can work with you with dignity and vice versa. Not allowing me to come out of my house is not right. Where is your o� cer in-charge? Where did he go? I want to talk him. Why did he block my way? Where is he? Why did he not come in front of me?

“[To a female law enforcer] Who are you, lady? Why you are tight-lipped? Tell me what you were saying…Where are you from? Is it Gopal [Gopalganj, the home district of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina]? The name of Gopalganj will be changed, keep that in mind. Gopalganj will exist no more.

“... Today we see many unknown

faces whom we do not know. It is hard to know whether they are actually Ban-gladeshis or not.

“Today’s programme was called to save democracy. You [law enforcers] do not want democracy, you do not want to protect democracy. Will you be slaves? Will you work as agents? This slavery will not work. [The gov-ernment should] read the history of [Kazi] Lhendup Dorjee [the � rst chief minister of Sikkim, India]. He could not serve for long. He had to step down…by brokering…by selling the country. So, Hasina’s plan to sell the country will not work.

“[Pointing at the female law en-forcers] Stop tussling! None of us have come here to tussle. Stay away and be at your places. Why have you come into the house? Why are your girls � ghting? Shut up, you unruly girls! How many days have you been working that you talk so much? Shut up, you impudent! Where is your o� cer? Tell him that I want to talk to him. Do you under-stand? Do you not understand? I am speaking in Bangla. Or should I speak in any other language?” l

People su� er for security measures PAGE 1 COLUMN 3He called the barrier a harassment and blamed both the political parties for it.

Our correspondent from Savar reported that the law enforcement along with Awami League activists checked people’s vehicles and bags on the Chandra highway, at Nabinagar, Ashulia, Savar town, Hemayetpur and Aminbazar.

Work-bound commuters, particularly day labourers and garments workers, alleged that they were harassed by Awami League activists and were barred from going to their workplaces. The security loosened up around 3pm in Savar area.

Buses were seen standing idle at the Gabtoli bus terminal, and the bus counters were closed. Hundreds of people entered Dhaka by foot. Law enforcement agencies checked all the vehicles, and allowed only some, after asking the commuters why they were entering Dhaka.

The “government blockade” also hit people outside the capital.

Our Chittagong correspondent

reported that the inter-district buses, particularly the Dhaka-bound ones, had remained o� the road. Train service was also disrupted on Dhaka-Chittagong route. However, in the city, transport services remained normal like any other day.

In Barisal, over 3,000 passengers boarded on six Dhaka-bound triple-deck launches as the launch o� ces assured them that they would be able to move in the evening after the end of the opposition’s programme.

However after 5pm law enforcers rushed to the station and forced the passengers to leave the vessels and the station area. After that, the vessels were also forced to leave the jetty and anchor in mid-river.

Our Munshiganj correspondent reported that police turned away a Dhaka-bound launch from Madaripur at the launch terminal in the morning. More than 200 passengers were not allowed to get down at the town to go to Dhaka by other means. Besides, eight other launches were compelled to anchor in mid-river from 5am to 2pm with passengers. l

Protests in Gopalganj following Khaleda Zia’s remarkn Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

People from di� erent walks of life in Gopalganj district burst into agitation yesterday following the remark made by the opposition leader and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia regarding changing the name of the district.

In the evening, leaders and activists of the district Awami League, Chhatra League, Jubo league, Sammilita Sangskritik Jote and di� erent groups of professionals put up demonstrations in phases inside the town.

The BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia asserted that the Gopalganj district be renamed. She made the remark at the entrance of her Gulshan residence yesterday afternoon, without mentioning who would rename the district.

The district Chhatra League arranged a rally at the city centre, Chowrongi, protesting Khaleda’s remark. They demanded Khaleda seek

an apology for her derogatory remark.Protesting the remark, Awami

League candidate from Gopalganj-2 constituency for the 10th parliamentary polls Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim said: “The father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on this soil of Gopalganj. Bangladesh would not have born if Bangabandhu was not born.”

“Who is she [Khaleda Zia] to change the name of the land? If they tried to erase the name of Gopalganj, they would be erased automatically,” he added.

Khaleda Zia does politics only to save the war criminals belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami, Selim said.

The Awami League lawmaker re-quested everyone to cast vote for “boat,” the election symbol of Awami League.

People from Tungipara, Kotalipara, Muksutpur and Kashiani upazila hold demonstrations. l

All parties have the right to express views: USn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Washington is of the view that all in a democracy have the right to freely and peacefully express their views.

“The United States believes that in a democracy all parties and Bangladeshi citizens have the right to freely and peacefully express their views,” Press and Information O� cer Kelly McCa-rthy of the US Embassy in Dhaka told the Dhaka Tribune in an email reacting to BNP programme yesterday.

The government foiled BNP's “march for Democracy,” programmeyesterday.

The government was responsible for providing space for such activity, and equally the opposition was responsible for using such space in a peaceful man-ner, Kelly said.

“We believe it is more urgent than ever for the major parties to redouble their e� orts to engage in constructive dialogue to � nd a way forward, and hold free and fair elections that are credible in the eyes of the Bangladeshi people.” Violence was not acceptable because it subverted the democratic process and it must stop immediately, she added. l

PM to join election rally January 2 n Emran Hossain Shaikh

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will ad-dress the nation on January 3, and the previous day, she is set to join an elec-tion rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.

The decision was made at a meeting of senior party leaders and the govern-ment allies late last night at Ganabhaban.

According to sources, Hasina assert-ed that the government would remain strict to resist the opposition’s upcom-ing activities.

Party sources said the PM had thanked all leaders and activists for remaining vigilant at di� erent points of the capital to resist the opposition’s programmes.

She also asked the party men to stay on the streets until the elections slated for January 5.

Presidium member Abdul Latif Sid-diqui, General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, Joint General Secretary Dipu Moni, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, State Min-ister for Law Quamrul Islam, Workers’ Party chief Rashed Khan Menon and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasa-nul Haq Inu, among others, attended the meeting. l

Obstructed, Khaleda shifts Dhaka march PAGE 1 COLUMN 1to remain in place to alongside special drives by police and Border Guard Ban-gladesh.

Yesterday morning, a Shibir activist was killed in a clash with police at Malibagh. In the afternoon, a railway security personnel was killed in a bomb blast at the Kamalapur Railway Station.

Opposition leaders had been saying for the past few days that hundreds of thousands of their leaders and activists had converged to Dhaka to make the Nayapaltan rally successful, for which they had been denied permission by Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

However, in reality, the ruling party activists were more active on the city streets.

The pro-BNP-Jamaat journalists ag-itating at the National Press Club and lawyers on the Supreme Court prem-ises were the only visible presence of opposition men in Dhaka.

In the afternoon, stick wielding ac-tivists of the Awami League stormed into the Supreme Court premises, physically assaulting some pro-BNP lawyers, who were demonstrating at the main gate. They dragged a female

lawyer out, nearly stripping her.“The response to the Dhaka March

has caused two problems for the government. If they allow us next day, it will be a victory for us. Again, the government will have to enforce strikes to stop us,” said BNP Standing Committee Member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman.

The city streets wore a deserted look yesterday with virtually no public transport available because of tight se-curity measures.

Most people had to rely on rick-shaws or on their feet to reach their destinations, although every now and then they were frisked by law enforc-ers at the numerous check-posts set up around the city.

Meanwhile, at a separate press con-ference, Awami League Secretary Gen-eral Syed Ashraful Islam said: “The Awami League led the country to in-dependence. It is the Awami League’s responsibility to protect the lives and properties of people. The Awami league will do so.”

According to sources, around 50,000 personnel from RAB, BGB and police were deployed in the capital and elsewhere in the country yesterday. l

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia talks to the media standing at the gates of her Gulshan residence yesterday. She was barred by law enforcers from leaving her house to participate in the party’s Dhaka march programme NASHIRUL ISLAM

Awami League activists beat a pro-BNP lawyer on Supreme Court premises yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

Clockwise from top leftAn AL activist runs away after set-ting a motorcycle on � re yesterday on Supreme Court premises;Pro-BNP lawyers chant slogans inside the Supreme Court com-pound as police use water cannon on them;AL activists throw bricks at pro-BNP lawyers;Ferdousi, sister of Islami Chhatra Shibir activist Mansur Rahman, 25, breaks down in tears at DMC morgue while giving a relative the news of her brother’s death over mobile phone. Mansur was killed during a clash between police and Jamaat-Shibir men at Malibagh ;People carry away the dead Shibir activist yesterday in the capital’s Malibagh

PHOTO: MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU AND RAJIB DHAR

Two killed, 50 injuredn Kailash Sarkar and Asif Islam Shaon

A Railway security guard was killed in a bomb attack in Kamalapur railway station and a Shibir activist was shot dead at Mal-ibagh during the ‘March for Democracy’ programme called by the BNP-led 18-par-ty alliance yesterday.

Over 50 people, including police and journalists, were injured during the pro-gramme as BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men clashed with police and ruling party men. Around 200 opposition men, including BNP Vice-Chairman Maj (retired) Ha� z Uddin Ahmed, were also arrested.

Ruling party men made separate at-tacks on the pro-BNP-Jamaat lawyers at the Supreme Court, journalists at the Na-tional Press Club, and Dhaka University teachers at Nayapaltan.

The opposition men exploded a score of crude bombs and threw brickbats at police, prompting them to retaliate with teargas, � rearms and water cannons.

A tense atmosphere prevailed across the capital all day, despite the deploy-ment of around 50,000 personnel from the police, Rab and BGB and army.

City roads remained almost deviod of vehicles. Most shopping malls, markets, educational institutions and o� ces re-mained shut.

Railway security guard Md Abul Kashem, who was a sepoy of the Rail-way Nirapotta Bahini (RNB), was killed when two teenagers hurled two hand-made bombs at him in the station around 3:30pm. The teenagers also sustained in-juries from the bombs.

Kashem, a 26-year-old, hailed from Gopalganj while the injured teenagers were identi� ed as Aminul and Alam, aged about 12 and to 14 years respectively. Po-lice arrested them after a short chase.

Mojibur Rahman, the o� cer-in-charge of RNB, said Sepoy Kashem was attacked when he asked to search a bag as part of the security measures around the opposi-tion programme.

In Malibagh, a clash between Ja-maat-Shibir and police left Shibir man Md Mansur Ahmed, 22, dead and more than 15 others injured, including � ve police-men. Around 20 men were arrested.

The condition of Constable Hasan Ali, 40, was critical. He was undergoing treat-ment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Mansur, hailing from Chandpur, was the president of the Ward 3 unit of Shibir in the Airport area, and a 1st year student

of City University in Banani.Witnesses said the clash erupted when

around 12pm Jamaat-Shibir men brought out a procession in Malibagh Chowd-hurypara and police tried to intercept them.

The clash lasted for over an hour. Ja-maat-Shibir men hurled crude bombs and brickbats at law enforcers, who retaliated with teargas and bullets. At one stage, Mansur was hit by a bullet and died on the spot.

Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam of Dhaka Metropolitan Police said the Shibir man sustained a bullet from .22 calibre pistol, which is not used by police.

“He might have been killed by his own people,” the joint commissioner said and added that police were investigating.

He said the railway security guard was killed as part of the subversive acts of the opposition.

Meanwhile, the joint forces and po-lice arrested around 200 people over 24-hours, including BNP Vice-Chairman Ha� z Uddin Ahmed and Khaleda Zia’s Ad-visor Inam Ahmmed Chowdhury. How-ever, Chowdhury was later freed.

Of them 87 people were arrested from a mess building in capital’s Kalabagan.

Police detained a youth for his al-leged involvement in exploding three hand bombs at Panthapath, near Russel Square, around 7:10pm.

Detained Toriqul is a second year stu-dent of World University. He was held at a mobile shop in Kathalbagan, said Sub-In-spector Jalal Uddin of Kalabagan police station. The detainee would be produced in front of a court today after further questioning, he added.

Ha� z Uddin Ahmed was arrested by the Detective Branch (DB) of Police at the National Press Club around 7pm, imme-diately after he held a press brie� ng on the next opposition programme.

Inam Ahmed Chowdhury was de-tained around 1pm in Paltan area and was taken to the DB o� ce. The joint commis-sioner did not elaborate on the reason be-hind Ha� z’s arrest.

Ruling party men attacked pro-BNP-Jamaat lawyers around 3:30pm while they were clashing with the police inside the Supreme Court premises.

Earlier pro-BNP lawyers and journal-ists attempted to attend the ‘March for Democracy’ programme, but they were foiled by police who used teargas and wa-ter cannons against them. l

Mess inmates in trouble n Kailash Sarkar

It was only their young age and state of being inmates of a mess building for why the police picked up 87 youths from the capital’s Kalabagan early yesterday, only few hours ahead of the opposition’s programme at Nayapaltan.

Police admitted that they had detained the youths only on suspicion.

SI Moniruzzaman, who led the arrest, said those youths had been taken in custody just for questioning to � nd whether they had links to any crimes centring the opposition’s programme.

Asked, the SI said none of them was arrested in any speci� c case and no

case was � led against them. Moreover, the police did not recover anything from their possessions.

Iqbal Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Kalabagan police, said they would free the youths after questioning.All those detainees, aged between 22 and 30, were picked up from a seven-storey building at Dolphin Goli of Kalabagan just after midnight. Most of them were students while some others just have completed their studies or joined jobs.

Syed Latif Hossain, an uncle of detainee Safwan Bakee, said the security issue had become a matter of concern for the people.

Sources said the tight security

situation, centring the opposition programme, had created scopes for a section of policemen to make money through malpractice of laws through detentions.

Like those 87 youths, a signi� cant number of students, service holders or job seeking youths had to su� er detention after the joint forces had begun a special drive ahead of the national election on January 5.

The joint forces in separate drives in capital earlier arrested 25 people on December 26 – on the launching day, 152 on December 27 and 203 on December 28 while more than 1,500 people across the country in the last one week. l

‘March for Democracy’ ends in � asco: Ashrafn Emran Hossain Shaikh

Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said the Dha-ka march programme by the opposition was a complete failure.

“Where is the Long March? We have not seen any march,” Ashraf wondered claiming that countrymen had rejected the “March for Democracy” programme called by Khaleda Zia.

He claimed the government had not obstructed movement of vehicles. “The tra� c movement was very much normal

all over the country.” Ashraf, also the LGRD minister of

election-time interim government, was speaking at a party press conference at the party chief Sheikh Hasina’s political o� ce at Dhanmondi.

Referring to the BNP he said the party that was born in the cantonment could not hold a programme like “March for Democracy”.

People as well as BNP activists did not respond to Khaleda Zia’s call meaning that people are not with her, Ashraf said.

The rally was scheduled for 10am but

she (Khaleda Zia) came out of her house at 3pm, he went on saying that a section of media made banner headlines on the Dhaka march programme but nothing has happened.

Ashraf blasted Khaleda Zia’s behav-iour with law enforcers: “Despite a re-sponsible political leader and former prime minister she should not behaved like that.”

Explaining the incident on the Su-preme Court premises he said the court went into winter vacation. The lawyers demonstrating there were not lawyers.

Lieutenant general (Rted) Mahbubur Rah-man, Altab Hossain Chowdhury and Os-man Faruque led the agitation who are not lawyers. He alleged that Juba Dal, Chattra Dal and Jamaat-Sibir men sporting uni-form of lawyers attended the demonstra-tion.

AL Presidium Member Obaidul Quad-er, Joint Secretary Dipu Moni, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Organising Secretary Abu Syed AL Mahmud Khokhon, BM Mozam-mel Haque, Hasan Mahmud, Habubur Rahman Siraj, among others, were pres-ent at the press conferences. l

At least 105 people arrested across the countryPolice seize explosives and lethal arms, water vessels obstructed in mid-rivern Tribune Report

At least 105 people were arrested yester-day across the country for their suspi-cious movement centring the BNP-led opposition’s “march for democracy” programme in the capital, police said.

These people reportedly BNP-Jamaat activists were nabbed during separate drives conducted in the wee hours and throughout Sunday.

The move came after the opposition leader Khaleda Zia on Friday instructed her activists to head for the capital to ob-serve the programme at Nayapaltan.

Our Chittagong correspondent re-ported 57 people were arrested from the port city while police seized explosives and lethal arms in an overnight drive in di� erent areas of Satkania, Lohagara and Sitakunda upazilas.

Satkania police station O� cer-in-Charge Khaled Hossain said acting on a tip-o� , they arrested a local Jamaat-e-Is-lami activist, Mohammad Yusuf, with 400 grammes of gunpowder, two kilo-

grammes of lead, three machetes and a saw from Chaumohoni area in Satkaha-nia.

Of the arrestees, 25 were held from Satkania, 15 from Lohagara and 16 from Sitakunda upazilla on charges of involve-ment in violence on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar Highway and Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in recent times, said police.

Meanwhile, 14 Jamaat-Shibir ac-tivists, including Jamaat leader and Vice-Chairman Emdadul Haque of Baralekha upazila, were arrested, our Moulvibazar correspondent reported quoting police.

Besides, Brahmin bazar union BNP general secretary Aftab Ahmed was also arrested in another drive Sunday morning.

In Brahmanbaria, at least 15 BNP and Jamaat activists were arrested from Sat-urday night to Sunday morning and were charged with di� erent cases including sabotage.

In Chandpur, 16 BNP-Jamaat activ-ists were arrested from di� erent areas

including 12 from BNP and four from Jamaat during a drive conducted from Saturday night to Sunday morning.

Chandpur police Super Amir Zafar told the Dhaka Tribune many of the ar-restees were accused in di� erent cases and the rest were arrested for suspicious movement.

In addition, clashes between police and 18-party activists occurred at sever-al places of Chandpur where at least 25 vehicles, including two police covered vans, were vandalised and some were torched.

Meanwhile, some water vessels were forced to return from the mid-river cre-ating trouble of the passengers. At Mun-shiganj, police forced MV Tarikat 2, a launch carrying 200 passengers, to go back to Madaripur, our correspondent reported.

At Barishal port station, law enforcers forced passengers to leave vessels and station area declaring cancellation of wa-ter transport trip and forced the empty vessels to anchor at the mid-river.

Meanwhile, law enforcement agen-cies sets up barricades and check posts at di� erent parts across the country. A good number of check points were es-tablished at all four entry points of the city while barricades were established at southern part of Tongi bridge and at Gabtoli-Aminbazar intersection.

Di� erent points, roads and intersections in the city’s Fakirerpool, Nayapaltan, Bijoynagar, Nightingle, Kakrail, Shantinagar, Purana Paltan, Mahakhali, Farmgate, Uttara, Kallyanpur, Shyamoli, Rajarbagh and other areas were heavily guarded with additional deployment of law enforcers.

Meanwhile, seven check posts were established at di� erent points from Mawa Ferry Ghat to Buriganga and Ba-bubazar bridge at Keraniganj respec-tively.

People from all classes were checked by the lawmen at these points, and those who failed to satisfy the queries of the law enforcers were not allowed to enter the city. l

Mozena meets PM’s defence adviser n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

US Ambassador in Bangladesh Dan W Moze-na held a meeting with the PM’s Defence Ad-viser Tarique Ahmed Siddique on Saturday.

“Ambassador Mozena and Tarique Sid-dique met and discussed a full range of is-sues including the UN PKO [peacekeeping operation] augmentation in South Sudan, the BNS Shumodro [sic] Joy and more broadly the US-Bangladesh partnership,” Kelly McCarthy, US embassy spokesperson told the Dhaka Tribune through an email yesterday. “Ambassador Mozena regularly meets with counterparts in the diplomatic community and civil society as part of his normal day-to-day activities in Bangla-desh,” she said. l

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

City High LowDhaka 21.8 13.2Chittagong 24.6 13.3Rajshahi 19.7 09.9Rangpur 17.6 11.3Khulna 24.5 12.0Barisal 24.6 11.9Sylhet 24.0 13.0Cox’s Bazar 27.5 14.2

PRAYER TIMESFajar 5:19am

Sunrise 6:40amZohr 12:01am

Asr 3:46pmMagrib 5:22pm

Esha 6:42pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Temperature likely to remain unchangedn UNB

Weather may remain dry with tempo-rary partly cloudy sky over the country until 6pm today.

Moderate to thick fog might occur over the country during night till morn-ing, Met O� ce said.

A mild cold wave is sweeping over the regions of Sitakunda, Srimangal, Ra-jshahi and Pabna and it may continue. Night and day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:22pm today and rises at 6:41am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 28.0 degree Celsius was recorded at Teknaf and lowest 9.0 degrees at Ishwardi yes-terday.

Highest and lowest temperatures re-corded in some major cities yesterday were:

Recalled witnesses’ cross examination heardn Udisa Islam

The defence for war crimes accused AKM Yusuf yesterday ended the cross-exam-ination of two prosecution witnesses who were recalled by the tribunal.

They questioned 15th witness Sunil Kumar Dakua and 16th witness Lutfor Rahman Nakib on the deposition they had given at the tribunal.

On December 17, the tribunal 2 al-lowed a defence petition to recall seven prosecution witnesses as their cross-examination had been closed earlier, because of the conducting defence lawyer’s repeated absence during the proceedings.

Lawyer Syed Mizanur Rahman was also ordered not to enter the tribunal.

On the other hand, the tribunal 2

yesterday heard cross-examination of the � rst prosecution witness against al-leged war criminal ATM Azharul Islam. The witness earlier gave her deposition in camera.

Abdus Sobhan Tarafder, the new counsel for Azhar, cross examined her. Later the tribunal set January 9 for the next witness.

In the case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Kashem Ali, the tribunal 2 adjourned the scheduled proceeding as both the prosecution and the defence urged for some time.

Yesterday was � xed for placing the second prosecution witness. But the prosecution pleaded for timesaying that the witness was sick. The tribunal then � xed January 15 for fur-ther witness. l

AL submits manifesto to ECn Mohammad Zakaria

A � ve-member delegation of the rul-ing Awami League yesterday submitted its election manifesto to the Election Commission.

The United Nations Residential Co-ordinator for Bangladesh, Neal Walker, yesterday held a meeting for half an hour with the Chief Election Commis-sioner, Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad.

Awami League O� ce Secretary Ab-dus Sobahan Golap yesterday submit-ted the 48-page election manifesto to the EC secretary.

Abdus Sobahan told reporters Awa-mi League had submitted its election manifesto to the commission as per the previous tradition. l

Mild cold wave hits northern districtsn Abu Bakar Siddique

Mild cold wave has started hitting the northern parts of the country giving birth to cold-related diseases and suf-ferings to the poor.

Yesterday morning the Met o� ce recorded the lowest temperature-nine degrees Celsius-in Ishwardi. This sea-son, the lowest temperature has been recorded as 8.5 degrees Celsius till date on December 28 in the same district.

Pneumonia, Asthma and di� erent complications related to the respiratory system are becoming dominant in Kuri-gram district.

Dr Nazrul Islam, residential medi-cal o� cer of the District sadar hospital yesterday said: “141 people including 60 children were admitted with cold-relat-ed complications yesterday.”

At least 800 people had taken treat-ment at the outdoor unit of the hospital in last few days, he added.

Civil Surgeon Dr Lokman Hakim said they had introduced a control room to attend the increasing rush of patients in the hospital.

“We have already formed 85 medical teams to provide treatment at the � eld level and cancelled all kinds of leave of the sta� s,” Hakim said.

Alongside the chilly wind, dense fog had been disrupting road and water way communications for the last few days in the northern districts.

The water transports are taking hours longer to reach their destinations because of the fog. Ferry operations on the Mawa-Keurakandi route remained suspended for 12 hours because of the heavy fog on Saturday at night creating a two-kilometer long tailback on both the sides of the river.

Sirajul Islam, manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation, Mawa, said water transports and ferry services remained suspended to avoid accidents. l

EWG to undertake limited observation of Jan 5 pollsn Tribune Report

The Election Working Group (EWG) will not undertake comprehensive election observation as initially planned, according to a statement the group issued yesterday.

In the statement, the group said the environment required a transparent, inclusive and credible election,which does not currently exist in Bangladesh.

They also said the existing security situation, which was likely to get worse in the upcoming days ahead of the elections, was not favourable to holding free and fair elections.

The statement stated that if security conditions permit, the EWG would

undertake limited observation activities on January 5 to report on voter turnout and the overall security environment.

The statement also said the EWG would continue to monitor the situation leading up to the election and review its strategy depending on how events develop. The group would continue with its long term observation activities, which are focused on monitoring and reporting on the overall election environment.

The EWG is a non�partisan network of 29 civil society organisations that share a common commitment to free and fair elections, good governance, and the attainment of higher standards of democratic process and accountability in Bangladesh. l

High Court clears way for two candidatesn Mohammad Zakaria

Just days before the general elections, two candidates secured their candida-cies following a High Court order that cleared the last remaining hurdles in their way.

The candidates are Mahfuzur Rah-man of Chittagong-3 constituency and Jatiya Party-backed Zafar Iqbal Siddiqi of Nilphamari-1 constituency.

The Election Commission has al-ready given them the go-ahead and instructed returning o� cers to add their names to the list of participating candidates, said Basudev Roy, deputy

secretary of its legal wing.However, the commission is yet to

decide on the candidacies of two more aspiring contenders, from Comilla-8 and Chittagong-3 constituencies.

With the latest additions, the num-ber of candidates participating in the January 5 elections stands at 388, while 154 candidates are set to be elected un-contested. Elections will be held in a to-tal of 146 parliamentary constituencies.

O� cials at the commission said bal-lot papers would have to be reprinted following the latest additions. There are 332,785 voters in Nilphamari-1 and 176,872 in Chittagong-3. l

Ex-minister calls hunger strike protesting AL candidate’s intimidationn Our Correspondent, Jessore

Former energy minister and an inde-pendent contestant for Jessore-2 con-stituency Ra� qul Islam has alleged that Monirul Islam, an Awami League nomi-nated candidate from the same constitu-ency, had been conducting subversive activities in the area and hindering his election activities.

The Awami League leader announced to go for a hunger strike on January 1 de-manding an end to the terrorism alleg-edly created by Monirul.

“They [supporters of Monirul Islam] have killed AL unit president in Gadkhali union and also my election worker Rabi-

ul Islam. They had tried to gun down an-other worker Liakat Ali,” Ra� qul said at a press brie� ng in the city yesterday.

“They are attacking my election workers every now and then,” he added.

Yesterday, some unidenti� ed miscre-ants torched an election campaign ve-hicle of AL lawmaker Tipu Sultan Khan, also an AL nominated candidate for Jes-sore -5 constituency, at Hazraial village under Monirampur upazila.

Mir Rezanul Islam, o� cer in-charge of Monirampur police station said none was hurt in the incident.

However, he said police could not trace who carried out the attack until � l-ing of this report. l

Government � nalises plan to deploy law enforcers at polling centresn Mohosinul Karim and

Rabiul Islam

The government has � nalised the de-ployment of law enforcement to main-tain law and order in the 10th parlia-mentary elections.

The home ministry issued a circular on December 26 about the preparations for the national elections scheduled on January 5.

The circular, a copy of which was ob-tained the Dhaka Tribune, read that a policeman, two armed ansars, 10 ansars with sticks (four women and six men)

and village police with sticks, would be deployed at each ordinary polling centre outside the metropolitan areas.

Outside the metropolitan areas, at each vulnerable centre, two police-men, two ansars with arms, nine ansars with sticks (4 women and 5 men) and village police will be deployed.

Under the metropolitan areas, three policemen, twelve ansars with sticks and village police, will be deployed at each ordinary polling centre.

At each vulnerable centre, two addi-tional policemen will be deployed.

In the special areas (hill tracts, is-

lands and haors), two policemen, two ansars with arms, ten ansars and vil-lage police, will be deployed at each polling centre. At vulnerable centres, there will be one more policeman.

The elections will be held in only 146 out of 300 constituencies as the candidates in 154 constituencies have already been elected unopposed.

Home Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have instructed law enforcement agen-cies to show restraint in handling ordi-nary people.”

The law enforcers would ensure the

voters can cast their votes peacefully, he said.

During the election, the Army, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Coast Guard, Police and Armed Police Battalion will work as a mobile team and strike force.

Returning o� cers would be respon-sible in maintaining overall security and the security of poling centres. Con-sulting with the returning o� cers, po-lice supers, and police commissioners in metropolitan areas, would instruct mobile teams and strike forces in the election areas. l

JCD men tortures BCL activistn Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

A Bangladesh Chhatra League activist was tortured allegedly by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal activists in Munshiganj on Saturday night.

A group of miscreants tortured Ma-habub Alam Khan, 22, the Chhatra League activist, con� ning him at a house in Ballabari village and stabbed him.

Locals rescued Mahabub yesterday morning and took him to Munshiganj General Hospital in a critical condition.

Munshiganj sadar police station Sub-Inspector Sultan Uddin said a group of Chhatra Dal activists, led by Shajahan, Fazal and Ali of Rampal union, were the culprits, adding that police were looking for them. l

Miscreants set � re to election o� cen Our Correspondent, Sherpur

A group of miscreants set � re to the election o� ce in Sherpur sadar upazila yesterday, torching a number of draft voter lists.

Around 8.30am, they laid the � re through a broken window of � rst � oor of the o� ce.

Alongside the draft voter lists, three chairs and one typewriter were burned down.

Locals and police present doused the � re before the � re service reached the o� ce.

Upazila Election O� cer Md Saiful Is-lam said: “I rushed to the location and saw smoke coming out of the windows.”

Sherpur Fire Station O� cer Mosta� -zur Rahman said: “The cause of the � re will be identi� ed after investigation.” l

Left: A police member checks two passengers of a rickshaw in the capital’s Jatrabari area; law enforcers check a Dhaka bound car on the western side of Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge as part of security measures surrounding the opposition called ‘March for Dhaka‘ yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Law enforcers put barricade in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central o� ce yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Economist journos acquitted of contempt charges, others warned n Udisa Islam

The war crimes tribunal yesterday disposed of a contempt of court petition against two editors of London-based magazine Economist for publishing Skype conversation between a sitting judge and Ahmed Ziauddin, a Belgium-based Bangladeshi expat last year.

Chief Editor Rob Gi� ord and South Asia Bureau Chief Adam Roberts of the weekly were discharged as the tribunal said it had not found any clue that the duo was involved in the hacking of the Skype conversation.

The tribunal in its order said: “We perused the petition and the reply, and got no involvement of the opponent [accused] in the hacking. So the con-tempt petition is disposed of with some observations.”

While passing order, the three-member International Crimes Tribu-nal 1, headed by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, also gave � ve observations on how journalists and media personnel should collect information while cov-ering an ongoing trial.

According to the observations, no journalists can communicate with any tribunal judge directly or over phone or using any personal means to gather information.

Secondly, if anyone wants some in-formation about any case, they have to approach through their lawyers.

The tribunal said: “If a journalist has any administrative query or informa-tion, they can directly contact with the registrar of the tribunal who is the des-ignated person for the task.”

It also said journalists should not publish any report which is collected “illegally.” And � nally, the tribunal

asked journalists to refrain from “scandalising” the court.

The tribunal, however, did not ex-plain the directives.

On December 6 last year, the tri-bunal issued the show cause notice against the duo asking them to explain why contempt of court proceedingsshould not be taken against them for “interfering in ongoing trial and violat-ing privacy of a judge.”

The notice was issued when a person had called Justice MdNizamul Huq, formerly chairman oftribunal 1, to verify the hackedmatter of his Skype conversation with Ziauddin.

The Skype controversy, which led to the resignation of Justice Huq on De-cember 11, began after Bangla national daily Amar Desh published full tran-script of the conversation.”

On May 14, defence counsel Mokhlesur Rahman told the tri-bunal that the Economist had not violated any law by communicat-ing with a judge. He also pleaded to resolve the contempt accusation against them.

Terming “hacking” an o� ence, prosecutor Sultan Mahmud said in his submission that publishing report on hacked information was liable to o� ence. He claimed that it had been done to make tribunal controversial. l

On May 14, defence counsel Mokhlesur Rahman told the tribunal that the Economist had not violated any law by communicating with a judge

News 5DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

Khastagir Government School tops in Chittagong n Tribune Report

“Students of our school topped the list of successful schools in the Junior School Certi� cate Examination-2013 under Board of Intermediate and Sec-ondary Education, Chittagong this year,” said headmistress of Khastagir Government Girls’ High School.

The Board of Intermediate and Sec-ondary Education, Chittagong has at-tained the ever highest 86.13% pass in the JSC examination of the board since launching the JSC examinations system.

Headmistress of Khastagir Govern-ment School Hasmat Jahan said: “A to-tal of 320 students out of 322 achieved GPA-5 from our school.”

A total of 140,579 students from 1,103 institutions took part in the JSC examinations this year.

Pass rate has risen to 86.13% from last year’s 78.36%. Among the institutions, 105 achieved cent percent pass rate.

The number of GPA-5 achievers rose too, standing at 14,105. It was only 3,531 last year.

The top 10 schools under the educa-tion board were chosen on the basis of

several factors including the number of GPA-5 achievers and the pass rate.

Khastagir Government Girls’ High School became the � rst with 95.80 points. Next comes Chittagong Colle-giate School with 95.52 points (326 GPA 5 achievers) while the third place was tak-en by Bangladesh Mohila Samiti Girls’ High School with 94.60 points (360 GPA 5 achievers) Chittagong Government Muslim High School, secured the fourth position with 94.60 points (311 GPA-5 achievers) while Silver Bells Girls’ High School attained the � fth place with 92.31 points (172 GPA-5 achievers).

Nasirabad Government High School secured the sixth position with 92.08 points (252 GPA-5 achievers) while Chittagong Public School and College earned the seventh place.

Faujderhat Cadet College secured the eighth position with 91 points (57 GPA-5 achievers) while the ninth place was taken by Ispahani Public school and College with 80.64 points (121GPA-5 achievers). Nou-Bahani High School and College secured the 10th position with 90.45 points (396 GPA-5 achievers). l

Viqarunnisa topsin Dhaka boardn Tribune Report

Viqarunnisa Noon School and College attained the top position in the Junior School Certi� cate (JCD) examination in 2013.

Besides, Rajuk Uttara Model School obtained third position in the country which was � rst in two previous years.

On the other hand, Motijheel Ideal School and College achieved the sec-ond position in the examination.

The results of Junior School Certi� cate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certi� cate (JDC) examinations were published Sunday with average pass rates 89.94 percent.

A total of 1675,109 students passed in the examinations. Some 87.93 per-cent in Dhaka Board, 90.45 percent students were passed in Comilla Board, 91.15 percent in Sylhet Board, 96.60 in Barisal Board, 86.13 in

Chittagong Board, 88.91 in Dinajpur Board, 93.88 in Rajshahi Board and 89:00 percent passed in Jessore Board.

Like the previous years, female stu-dents are leading the results this year.

This year, 172,208 students got GPA-5 in all boards. Of them, 55,223 students secured GPA-5 in Dhaka Board and 20,523 students in Rajshahi Board. l

Madrasa students perform better than general studentsn Mushfi que Wadud

Students of the madrasa education system have performed better in the Junior Dakhil Certi� cate, equivalent to Junior School Certi� cate, examinations this year.

An analysis of the results which was published yesterday and showed, that in terms of pass rate, the percentage of madrasa students was higher than that of students from the general education system.

This year 91.11% madrasa students passed. A total of 313,680 students took the Junior Dakhil Certi� cate ex-aminations of which 285,796 students passed.

In eight general education boards the pass rate was 89.71%. A total of 1,48,700 students took part in the ex-aminations, and of them 1,507,675 passed.

Last year the pass rate was also higher among madrasa students with 90.87% compared to the 86.11% of gen-eral education system students. l

Quadruple success for Chittagong junior examineesn FM Mizanur Rahaman

A total of 14,105 students secured GPA-5 in their Junior School Certi� cate (JSC) examinations in Chittagong this year, marking an almost fourfold increase in the number of students achieving the highest average result last year.

Dr Pijush Dutta, exam controller of Chittagong Secondary and Higher Sec-ondary Education Board, disclosed the information during a press conference held yesterday.

“The results show a signi� cant im-provement over the results of the pre-vious years, with the highest number

of students securing GPA-5 this year,” he said.

A total of 140,579 students sat for this year’s JSC exam. Of them, 85.16% male and 87.34% female students man-aged to secure passing marks.

Female students outperformed their male counterparts in achieving GPA-5, with a total of 7,656, while the number of male achievers stood at 6,449.

“Only 3,531 students managed to achieve the same result last year,” Pi-jush added.

Dr Khastagir Govt Girls’ High School secured the top position with all of its 320 examinees securing GPA-5, while Collegiate School secured 326 GPA-5 out of its 331 examinees andBangladesh Mohila Samiti Girls’ High School secured 360 GPA-5 out of 402 examinees.

Sumon Barua, college inspector of the board, Mahbub Hasan, deputy secretary, Kazi Najimul Islam, a school inspector, were also present during the press conference. l

Record pass rate, GPA 5 despite political instabilityTwo reasons contributed to increased JSC, JDC pass raten Mushfi que Wadud

Despite the political instability during the examination and the rescheduling of several tests in the Junior School Certi� cate and Junior Dakhil Certi� -cate examinations, both the pass rate and the number of GPA 5 achievers have increased this year.

Teachers and board o� cials said two reasons contributed to this achieve-ment – teachers were more generous in checking the scripts and the board had decided to include the number of the fourth subject or the optional subject to the total number.

A record 89.94% of the students passed the examination this year. The

pass rate was 86.97% in 2012. The number of GPA 5 scorers also

increased this year. A total of 172,208 students earned GPA 5. In 2012, 46,942 students got GPA 5, a di� erence of 125,266 students. The results were pub-lished yesterday.

Students sat for the JSC, JDC ex-aminations this year amid sheer un-certainty. The � rst two exams were pushed back because of hartals called in by the opposition. The exams were scheduled to begin on November 4 but began on November 7 instead. A total of 17 JSC and JDC tests were resched-uled because of hartals.

“Students faced utter uncertainty in taking JSC, JDC examinations this year.

It is not normal that the pass rate and GPA 5 scores would increase in such a situation,” said the headmaster of a city school.

When asked, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid told reporters that keeping in mind the experience of poorer results in this year’s Higher Sec-ondary Certi� cate exams they had tak-en some measures.

“That is why the political instability did not a� ect results,” he said.

However, board o� cials and teach-ers said teachers had been asked to be generous in scoring the scripts.

“There was an overall instruction that teachers should be generous in scoring the scripts,” said an examiner in Dhaka.

Chairman of the Board of Intermedi-ate and Secondary Education, Dhaka, Taslima Begum, however, denied that teachers had been asked to do any such thing.

She said the obvious reason for in-crease in the pass rate and GPA 5 was a new system that the education board had applied. From this year, the boards included the number of the fourth sub-ject or the optional subject in the total, and this contributed to the increased pass rate and number of GPA 5s.

Like the results for SSC and HSC, the pass rates in JSC, JDC have been in-creasing over the years.

The JSC and JDC exams were � rst introduced in 2010. On that year, 73%

students passed the examination. The pass rate was 83.71% in 2011, 86.97% in 2012, and 89.94% this year.

Former director and a professor of Dhaka University Institute of Educa-tion and Research Siddiqur Rahman, said, “We want to believe that the pass rate is increasing as the students’ qual-ity is increasing. But there should be a research on the trends of the result.”

Earlier Nahid ceremonially hand-ed over the results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the morning. The minister o� cially announced the re-sults at 1PM at the secretariat.

A total of 1,862,380 students took the exams throughout 2,420 examina-tion centres. A total of 93,268 female

students earned GPA 5 compared to 78,940 of their male counterparts.

Like previous years, madrassa stu-dents performed better than the stu-dents of the general education system in terms of pass rates.

The pass rate among madrassa stu-dents was 91.11% while the pass rate among general students was 89.71%.

A total of 475 students took the ex-amination in seven examination cen-tres abroad. The pass rate among those students was 97.05 %, and of them 198 students earned GPA 5.

Among the eight general education boards, the highest pass rate was in Barisal education board, 96.60%, with the lowest in Chittagong, 86.13%. l

JSC examinees of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in the capital, Barisal Government Girls School and Rajshahi Government PN Girls School rejoice on their school premises after receiving examination results yesterday at their respective DHAKA TRIBUNE

New rule puts cadet colleges down in JSC result indexn Mushfi que Wadud

Cadet colleges, which usually top the merit list of the education boards in all public examinations, showed a di� er-ent performance in this year’s Junior School Certi� cate examinations.

This year only Jhenaidah Cadet College, Barisal Cadet College and Syl-het Cadet College had made to the top three lists of all education boards.

However, Pabna Cadet College, Ra-jshahi Cadet College, Rangpur Cadet College, Faujdarhat Cadet College, Co-milla Cadet College, Mymensingh Girls’ Cadet College, Feni Girls’ Cadet College and Joypurhat Girls’ Cadet College se-cured 100% GPA 5, but that was not enough to enlist them in the top chart.

When asked, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the education ministry was working to eliminate dis-

parity in the education sector, adding that the fact that there was a competi-tion among the schools in topping the list was a proof that the initiatives were working.

While preparing the top chart, � ve aspects – rate of regular students, pass rate, rate of GPA 5, total examinee and average GPA of the institution – are considered.

In Dhaka Education Board, Viqarun-nisa Noon School and College, Ideal School and College and Rajuk Uttara Model College have topped the list.

In Rajshahi, the top three schools are Cantonment Public School and Col-lege, Bogra, Bogra Zilla School, Bogra Government Girls’ High School.

In Comilla, the top three are Comilla Zilla School, Nowab Faizunnesa Gov-ernment Girls’ High School and Comilla Modern High School.

In Jessore, Government Corporation Secondary Girls’ School, Khulna, Jhe-naidah Cadet College and Khulna Zilla School have made the top list.

In Chittagong, the top list consists of Dr Khastagir Government Girls’ High School, Collegiate School Chittagong and Bangladesh Mahila Samity Girls’ High School.

In Barisal, the top three schools are Barisal Government Girls’ High School, Barisal Cadet College and Barisal Zilla School,

In Sylhet, Sylhet Cadet College, Jalalabad Cantonment Public School and College and Blue Bird High School have topped the list.

In Dinajpur, the top three schools are Cantonment Public School and Col-lege, Amena-baki Residential Model School and Thakurgaon Government Boys’ High School. lStudents of Milestone School and College show victory sign after the announcement of results DHAKA TRIBUNE

A total of 140,579 students sat for this year’s JSC exam. Of them, 85.16% male and 87.34% female students managed to secure passing marks

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

Shivering cold wave sweeping over northern districtsn Tribune Report

The shivering cold wave continues to sweep the northern districts a� ecting normal life and causing miseries to the common people for the third consecu-tive day yesterday.

O� cial and local sources said only fewer people were found out of their homes since yesterday afternoon and the public places, hats, bazaars, bus stands and other places started becom-ing deserted from this afternoon due to extreme cold.

The day farm-labourers could hardly work in their respective � eld to earn livelihoods amid biting cold amid dense fogs, clouds and mists in the air forcing the sun to remain invisible yesterday.

The district and upazila adminis-trations, other authorities, agencies, organisations, NGOs, public and pri-vate bodies, business bodies and banks have further intensi� ed distribution of warm clothes among the distressed cold-hit people everywhere.

Reports from remote areas said bit-ing cold coupled with cooler winds made life miserable for over 15 lakhs people living in over 200 char villages in Rangpur, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Jamalpur, Bogra and Sirajganj districts.

The Met O� ce recorded the mini-mum temperature of 11.3 degrees Celsius at 6am and maximum of 17.6 degrees at 4 pm at Rangpur today against Saturday’s 12.5 degrees and maximum of 15.5 de-grees Celsius respectively, reports BSS.

Besides, the minimum tempera-tures recorded were 12.5 degrees Cel-sius at Syedpur, 11.8 degrees at Bogra, 11.8 degrees at Dinajpur and the coun-try’s lowest of only 9 degrees Celsius at Iswardi yesterday.

“We got another allocation of 3,000 pieces of blankets today for distribu-tion among cold hit people of Rang-

pur after distribution of 6,700 pieces of blankets here,” District Relief and Rehabilitation O� cer of Abdus Salam said yesterday evening.

Rangpur Divisional Director (Health) Dr Shahadat Hossain said ade-quate steps have been taken in all gov-ernment hospitals and upazila health complexes to provide proper treatment to the increasing number of cold- relat-ed patients.

“However, we have received no re-port of any cold-related death from an-ywhere in Rangpur division so far and the child specialists have been con-ducting their duties round the clock in the hospitals at district and upazila levels,” he added.

Registrar of the Paediatrics Depart-ment of Rangpur Medical College Hos-pital Dr Mohammad Kamruzzaman said a total of 266 cold related child patents were admitted to the RMCH during the past one week.

“Of them, eleven newborn babies aged between zero to � ve days died and three more aged between two to � ve years died of pneumonia, septice-mia and meningitis at the RMCH and none of them died from cold-related complications,” he said.

Civil Surgeon of Rangpur Dr Reajul Islam visited the Paediatrics Depart-ment of the RMCH and found no cold-related death there so far till yesterday.

Agriculture and Environment Coor-dinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid the deteriorating situation has caused immense su� erings to the peo-ple due to the adverse impacts of the climate change.

If the situation continues for few more days, normal growth of crop plants including Boro seedlings can be stranded and crop plants may fail to prepare their foods through photosyn-thesis process due to extreme cold and lack of sun light, he said.

Dealers, smuggling syndicate increase urea fertiliser price in Sirajganjn Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

Some dishonest fertiliser dealers of Sirajganj and some other districts of the country’s northern region have al-legedly created an arti� cial fertiliser crisis in the areas and have been selling fertiliser at a higher rate, showing the excuse of recent blockades and hartals.

On the other hand, Baghabari urea fertiliser syndicate was active in smug-gling urea fertiliser, local dealers, sub-dealers and retail shopkeepers alleged, adding that the syndicate was storing urea in Baghabari river port instead of in their respective godowns.

Locals alleged that the agricultural o� ce, local administration, port au-thority, BCIC and agriculture extension directorate have no surveillance of the anomaly.

Belkuchi upazila Agriculture Extension O� cer Sahadat Hossain Siddiq had sealed o� the shop of dealer Abdus Salam in front of Belkuchi Degree College, and seized 63 sacks of urea fertiliser on Friday. The dealer was charging Tk170 extra per sack of fertiliser.

Retail seller Saiful at Khukni village of Anaeytpur was found selling urea at higher price. He claimed that he had

to buy fertiliser at a higher rate from Vangura instead of the assigned Abdul Hakim of Anna Enterprise.

Sirajganj district Dealer Samity Pres-ident Md Abdus Samad Talukder and Sahjahadpur upazila fertiliser Dealer Samity president denied the accusa-tion of selling urea fertiliser at black market, saying that they did not get enough supply of urea from the agri-cultural o� ce

However, Baghabari BCIC Godown-in-Charge Sudeb Bhattacharja said the dealers had already taken the allocated fertiliser – 8,600 tonnes for November, 4,777 tonnes for December – and the

processing of taking allocated fertiliser for January was going on.

It was the responsibility of the lo-cal administration and agricultural de-partment to oversee where the dealers were taking the fertiliser, he added.

Deputy Commissioner Md Billal Hossain said o� cials of agricultural department were also given responsi-bility along with the upazila executive to “strictly” monitor the sale of urea fertiliser in the � eld level.

The allegations of selling fertiliser at an extra rate by the dealers or smug-gling fertiliser would be scrutinised, he added. l

Explosives seized in Bandarbann Our Correspondent, Bandarban

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have recovered around 39 Improvised Explo-sive Device (IED), a homemade bomb from the no mans’ land area on the Dha-ka-Myanmar border in Naikhongchari upazila under Bandarban district.

Sources said a specialist team of BGB conducted the drive and recovered the bombs from the upazila in the evening on Saturday.

BGB sources said earlier they had alerted the locals to avoid going to the area. However, panic triggered among the locals after hearing the announcement. l

Two killed as rival groupsclash in Ashuganjn Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

Two people were killed and 25 people, including women and children, injured when two rival groups clashed at Shohagpur village under Ashuganj upazila in Brahmanbaria yesterday afternoon.

O� cer-in-Charge of Ashuganj police station Golam Faruq told the Dhaka Tribune that an altercation had ensued between the residence of “Mollah Bari” and “Chowdhury Bari” over a trivial matter around 2pm.

At one stage of the altercation, residents of Chowdhury Bari attacked Mollah Bari and tried to vandalise the

house at about 2:15pm. As the news of attack spread, about

200 people of both groups rushed to the spot and engaged the clash, killing Sharif Miah 15, son of Shahjahan Miah and Hira Miah, 55, on the spot and leav-ing 25 people injured.

The injured were sent to Brahman-baria Sadar Hospital and the body was sent to morgue for autopsy.

The OC said police had been de-ployed in the area to avoid any unto-ward incident.

However, a tense situation is pre-vailing in the locality and male persons have already � ed the village to avoid arrest. l

46,500 hectares to be brought under Boro cultivation n Tribune Desk

The Department of Agriculture Exten-sion has taken massive programmes to cultivate Boro paddy in all � ve upazilas of the district during the current Rabi season.

The DAE sources said, under the pro-gramme, a total of 46,500 hectares of land would be brought under Boro cul-tivation with the production target of 3,72,000 metric tons of paddy.

Of the total, 40,000 hectares of land would be brought under high yielding variety and 6,500 hectares under hybrid

and local variety of the paddy.The farmers have already setup seed-

beds on over 1,000 hectares of land by spreading improved quality Boro seeds there, the sources said, reports BSS.

The crop specialists and � eld level of-� cials of the DAE have started providing their service to the cultivators following directives of the government.

The Deputy Director of the local DAE Md Nazrul Islam told BSS that di� erent state run commercial banks including Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RKUB) have disbursed Agricultural loan to the farmers. l

Integrated e� orts stressed for eradicating child marriage n Tribune Report

Comprehensive e� orts of professional forums and groups, administrations and public representatives could eradi-cate child marriage and violence against women from the society, speakers told a discussion.

They were addressing a divisional workshop on ‘Role of Professional Fo-rums and Federations to Prevent Early Marriage and VAW’ organised by the Women Rights Unit of Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service Bangladesh at Begum Rok-eya auditorium in Rangpur city yesterday.

Head of Programme Coordination of RDRS Bangladesh Monjusree Saha pre-sided over the workshop while Assistant Coordinator of its Women Rights Unit Mezbahun Nahar delivered the keynote presentation.

A total of 105 participants including Presidents of district and upazila units of professional forums, youth forums,

union fede rations, women community leaders, human rights activists and pro-fessionals from all eight districts in Rang-pur division participated, reports BSS.

Secretary of Rangpur unit of Shush-ashoner Janno Nagorik Akbar Hossain, former Kurigram municipality Mayor Kaziul Islam, women community lead-ers Advocate Shameema Shirin and Ira Haq, Nilphamari Press Club President Tahmin Haque Bobby and Jatrapur un-ion chairman Abdul Gafur addressed the programme.

Taking part in the open discussion, the participants blamed discriminatory attitude towards female children at the family levels, superstitions, religious misinterpretations, eve-teasing, illiter-acy, dowry, poverty etc as the main rea-sons behind child marriage.

They suggested for proper implemen-tation of the Child Marriage Prevention Act, increasing punishments and � nes, creating social awareness, considering

child marriage as o� ence, registering marriage through a� davits checking national identity cards etc for preventing child marriage.

The speakers narrated the grievous impacts of child marriage on the prema-ture girls leading them to shattered and catastrophic lives destroying their future and increasing neonatal, maternal and children deaths in rural areas.

They suggested for rectifying previ-ous mistakes through launching social movement involving people from all walks in the society to create renaissance against the curse that has engulfed the backward rural people creating unrest in family life and society.

They highly lauded the role of the pro-fessional groups, forums and federations of RDRS Bangladesh in preventing hun-dreds of child marriages, hilla marriages, violence against women, extending legal and social supports to such victims over the years. lPolice personnel are searching a Dhaka-bound private car in Sirajganj DHAKA TRIBUNE

People are trying to � ght the bone chilling cold with the heat from burning straws at a Kurigram village DHAKA TRIBUNE

15 shops gutted in BholaAt least 15 shops were gutted in a devastating � re at Dular Bazar under Char Fashion upazila in the district early Saturday. Sources said that the � re originated from electric short circuit around 3:30am. On information, two � re� ghting units of Char Fashion � re service rushed to the spot and doused the � re after anhour e� orts. Con� rming the matter, Char Fashion Thana O� cer-in-Charge Abul Bashar and � re service station o� cer SirajulHaque Mridha told banglanews, “The � re originated from a stationary shop and soon engulfed the adjacentshops.” The shop owners claimed that the extent of loss from the � re could go up Tk30 lakhs. –Tribune Report

Youth held with heroin in GodagariMembers of Rapid Action Battalion arrest-ed a youth with one kilogram of heroin in Pirizpur area under Godagari upazila of the district yesterday afternoon. According to the RAB sources, the arrested person was identi� ed as Mamun, 30, son of Fazlur Rahman of Matherpur village under the same upazila. On a tip-o� , a team of the elite force conducted a sudden raid at the areas around 3 pm and arrested Mamun and recovered one kilogram of heroin after searching his body. The arrested person along with the seized contraband item was handed over to Godagari Police Station,

the sources added. – Tribune Desk

Ferry services Mawa-Kawrakandi route halted for 13-hrsFerry services on the Mawa-Kawrakandi river route resumed Sunday morning after a 13 hours suspension due to poor visibility for dense fog. Eight ferries started carry-ing vehicles from 10:30am. Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation Mawa Assistant Manager (commerce) Chandra Shekhar con� rmed the matter. Earlier eight ferries got stuck in the mid of Padma River due to poor visibility for dense fog at around 9pm Saturday. – Tribune Desk

NEWS IN BRIEF

7Long Form Monday, December 30, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Jamil Majid

Professor Arthur Schlesinger Sr taught history at Har-vard for three decades. His areas of specialty were urban history and social history.

Schlesinger is perhaps best remem-bered today as the pioneer of the genre of appraising American presidents. In 1948, he polled 55 eminent historians in a survey to rank presidential great-ness. The experts were invited to eval-uate presidents of the past, and place them in categories ranging from Great to Failure. The then president of the US, Harry Truman, was not covered by the survey. The � ndings of the survey represented the consensus of an elite group of academics as to presidential performances and ratings.

The six presidents in the category of Great were in descending order: Lincoln, Washington, Franklin Roo-sevelt, Wilson, Je� erson and Jack-son. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Cleveland, John Adams and Polk were rated Near Great. Eleven presidents, including John Quincy Adams, Mon-roe, Madison and Hoover, comprised the Average group. Presidents Pierce, Buchanan, Coolidge and three others were deemed Below Average, while Harding and Grant were in the lowest class of Failure.

In 1962, Professor Schlesinger re-peated the exercise. He chaired a group of 75 scholars to rank former presi-dents. The pecking order of the seven highest-rated presidents remained unchanged from the earlier survey. Of these, Lincoln, Washington, Frank-lin Roosevelt, Wilson and Je� erson retained their places in the category of Great. President Jackson was moved down to the Near Great category in the company of Theodore Roosevelt, Polk, Truman, John Adams and Cleveland. There were twelve presidents, includ-ing Madison, John Quincy Adams, Monroe, Hoover and Eisenhower, in the Average class. Six, including Coolidge, Pierce and Buchanan, were considered Below Average. Presidents Harding and Grant were the two Fail-ures. The then incumbent, President Kennedy, who was not included in the survey, wondered aloud with some

asperity as to how anyone who had not experienced the pressures of the presidency could presume to judge those who had occupied the o� ce. Not everyone would concur with such a perspective.

Arthur Schlesinger Jr, like his father, was professor of History at Harvard. During 1961-63, he served as special assistant to the president; his book on the Kennedy presidency won him his second Pulitzer Prize. In 1996, he polled 32 scholars and experts in the same exercise as his father’s. The results were not radically di� erent. Lincoln, Washington and Franklin Roosevelt were rated great. In the Near Great class by Je� erson, Jackson, The-odore Roosevelt, Wilson, Truman and Polk followed them. Seven presidents, including Eisenhower, John Adams, Kennedy, Cleveland and LBJ, were above average. Twelve, including John Quincy Adams, Clinton, GHW Bush, Reagan, Carter and Ford were consid-ered average. Four, including Coolidge and Tyler, were below average. The failures included Harding, Buchanan, Nixon, Hoover, Grant and two others.

The rating or ranking of past US presidents has, since the 1960’s, become something of a feature with American scholars of presidential history and politics. In 1991, Profes-sor Tim Blessing, eminent scholar of the American presidency, polled 500 experts in a survey to rate presidents of the past. This was the � rst such exer-cise to include Ronald Reagan, whose second term ended in January 1989. The � ndings of the poll were present-ed at a meeting of the Organisation of American Historians in April 1991. Four presidents, Lincoln, Franklin Roo-sevelt, Washington and Je� erson, were rated great. The Near Great category consisted of Theodore Roosevelt, Wil-son, Jackson, and Truman. Presidents John Adams, LBJ, Eisenhower, Polk, Kennedy, John Quincy Adams, Cleve-land and two others were rated Above

Average. Hoover, Hayes, Ford, Carter and � ve others were considered Av-erage. Reagan, Tyler, Coolidge, Pierce and two others constituted the Below Average group. The � ve failures were Andrew Johnson, Buchanan, Nixon, Grant and Harding.

In a study sponsored by the Fed-eralist Society and the Wall Street Journal in the year 2000, a balanced group of 78 scholars were surveyed to rank presidents of the past. Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt were rated great. The Near Great category comprised Je� erson, Theodore Roosevelt, Jackson, Truman, Reagan, Eisenhower, Polk and Wilson. The Above Average group included Cleveland, LBJ, Kennedy and four oth-ers. JQ Adams, GHW Bush, Clinton and � ve others were rated average. Ford, Carter, Grant, Nixon and � ve others were considered Below Average. The failures were Harding, Buchanan and two others.

In 2010, 47 British scholars were invited to rate American presidents of the past. This was the � rst ever UK academic poll of American presidents. Certain broad criteria were applied for the exercise. These included vision, domestic leadership, foreign policy, moral leadership and historical impact or signi� cance. The ten highest-rated presidents were in descending order: Franklin Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washing-ton, Je� erson, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, Truman, Reagan, Jackson and Eisenhower. The � ve at the bottom of the list were in descending order: A Johnson, Tyler, Harding, Pierce and Buchanan.

Surveys of presidential perfor-mance, conducted at di� erent times over decades, show more consistency than variation. This is especially so of those at the higher and lower echelons of ratings. Variations in respect of some presidents may be attributed to two reasons. Experts polled at di� erent times di� er in their political leanings, and this may a� ect the process of appraisal. Secondly, over time more information, including declassi� ed documents, becomes progressively available to scholars, and this adds to the perspective of historical events and personalities.

As experts gain perspective, the rating and reputation of a president may rise and also fall. For example, Eisenhow-er, who left o� ce in 1961, was rated Average in the Schlesinger poll of 1962. In subsequent surveys conducted at much later dates, however, he has been placed in the Above Average or Near Great category. Ike’s was a “hid-den-hand or passive style” of leader-ship; archival material suggests that he was a strong and decisive leader behind the scenes.

The attribute of greatness is essen-tially a value judgment, and not easy to de� ne with any precision. Greatness is not synonymous with goodness, but the two are not mutually exclusive either. Among other things, greatness relates to accomplishments, ideas and the quality of moral and political lead-ership. Great men, as Adlai Stevenson once put it, are those who “have in� u-enced the implacable forces of time.” A great leader is identi� ed with policies, principles and institutional arrange-ments that serve to de� ne his era.

Three presidents, Lincoln, Washing-ton and Franklin Roosevelt, have been persistently rated Great, and are clearly in a class by themselves. Following them, not in any particular order, mostly in the categories of Near Great or High Average, are Presidents Je� er-son, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, Jack-son, Polk, Truman and also Cleveland. Eisenhower and Reagan, among post World War II presidents, have received High Average or Near Great ratings in recent polls, while Kennedy and LBJ have been rated above average.

President James Knox Polk has been described as the “least known consequential president.” He was an unabashed expansionist. During his single term of o� ce, 1845-49, there was considerable expansion of American territory at the expense of Mexico. Pres-ident Nixon’s foreign policy achieve-ments were not inconsiderable. He opened up to China, and moved to end

the Vietnam War, although only after he had expanded and intensi� ed the con� ict. He is also the only president to have resigned from o� ce to avoid impeachment by the House, and almost certain conviction in the Senate. In some ways Nixon was a divisive � gure. The following comments about him are suggestive as to how he was perceived by a good many people who, to be sure, di� ered from him politically, like former president Harry Truman: “I don’t think the son-of-a-bitch knows the di� erence between telling the truth and lying.”

Professor Richard Neustadt, scholar of the US presidency and founder of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard: “The great division in retrospective appraisal of Nixon will be between those who regard his as the most inept of presidential performanc-es, and those who will regard it as the most vicious.”

Norman Cousins, world peace advo-cate, author and journalist: “President Nixon’s motto was if two wrongs don’t make a right, try three.”

President Carter has received only modest ratings, Average and Below Average, in successive surveys. And yet, his image is one of great decen-cy, goodwill and moral conviction. Carter placed human rights high on the international agenda, and wanted to make government “competent and compassionate.” His policies, it has been said, were rooted in moral values; foreign policy, he felt, should re� ect the highest moral principles. He was the architect of the Panama Canal Treaties, which restored sovereignty over the Canal Zone to Panama, and facilitated the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. The Camp David Accords led to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty of 1979 and the Nobel Peace Prize for Anwar Sadat and Men-achem Begin. Carter assumed o� ce at a time of international stagnation and in� ation, and, during his single term of o� ce, had to contend with major chal-lenges and crises – the 1979 energy cri-sis, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran hostage crisis. In the 1980 elections, he lost to Ronald Reagan.

Elections can be a “no-holds barred” contest, and there have been allega-tions that “dirty tricks” were used to boost Reagan’s electoral prospects. Ahead of a crucial television debate between the two candidates in the last week of October, Reagan’s campaign sta� , somehow or other, obtained copies of Carter’s brie� ng books. The

Republican candidate was briefed ac-cordingly, and, armed, as he was, with inside information, enjoyed an unfair advantage in the debate. Another, and more serious, allegation relates to the Iran hostage crisis, and is known as the October Surprise Conspiracy theory. On October 22, 1979, President Carter, not without misgivings, had allowed the ailing former Shah of Iran to enter the US for medical treatment.

Only days later, a militant student group stormed and occupied the Amer-ican Embassy in Tehran. They demand-ed, among other things, that the former Shah be returned to Iran to stand trial. 66 Americans employed at the Embassy were taken hostage. Earnest e� orts – at the bilateral and multilateral planes – to resolve the matter promptly and peace-ably made no headway. Special envoys, sent to Tehran by President Carter on November 7, returned empty-hand-ed, and even a UN Security Council resolution on December 4, asking for the release of the hostages, was to no avail. On November 17, 13 hostages, 8 African-Americans and 5 women, were released, and another hostage, who was ill, was freed on July 11, 1980. The remaining 52 continued to be held in captivity.

The prolonged hostage issue was humiliating for the US, and damaging to President Carter’s image and leadership. An unsuccessful military operation to rescue the hostages in April 1980 com-pounded matters. In September 1980, only weeks from the American presi-dential elections, Carter was trailing his Republican challenger in opinion polls. By that time, however, some develop-ments on the international scene had made for a situation that was more con-ducive to the resolution of the hostage problem. In July 1980, the former Shah passed away, and on September 22, Iraq invaded Iran. Release of the hostages ahead of the elections would clearly be a major boost for Carter. There have been allegations – by among others former Iranian president Bani-Sadr and former US National Security Council member and Middle-East specialist, Gary Sick – that important � gures in the Reagan campaign clandestinely met representatives of Iran in European cap-itals to delay the release of the hostages until after the American elections. The Iranians were told that such a delay would virtually ensure Reagan’s victory in the elections, and, once in o� ce, a Reagan administration would provide much-needed arms to Iran. Israel would

be the conduit for the covert arms trans-fer. Iranian � nancial assets, frozen in US banks, would also be unblocked. The allegations have never been conclusive-ly proved. Coincidentally, or otherwise, the hostages were released within minutes of Reagan’s assumption of o� ce on January 20, 1981. And second-ly, the Iran-Contra a� air, which is not dissimilar in substance to the “hostage conspiracy theory,” became public in November 1986. Senior o� cials of the Reagan administration had orchestrat-ed the sale of American arms to Iran, covertly and illegally, via Israel. The funds generated were used to support the Contras in Nicaragua, in violation of a ban by Congress. There was another aspect to this a� air; Iran would use its in� uence to secure the release of 7 American hostages being held by Hez-bollah in Lebanon. Several o� cials were indicted on di� erent counts; eventually all were pardoned.

Carter’s modest ratings as president notwithstanding, many would concur that he is perhaps the greatest former president the US has had. He has travelled widely – to far-� ung places like Bosnia, Ethiopia, Sudan and North Korea – to promote peace, to con-duct peace negotiations, to observe elections, and also to advance disease prevention and eradication in develop-ing countries. In 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring e� ort to � nd peaceful solutions to international con� icts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

Ronald Reagan’s ratings have been the most variable of all presi-dents, ranging from “below average” to “near great.” He had a simple, almost simplistic, view of the world, and a few core beliefs. He believed in a laissez-faire philosophy, small government, supply-side economic policies, less taxes, and reduction in government spending. The then Soviet Union was, for him, “an evil empire.” Reagan’s admirers – and they are le-gion – take pride in his legacy; victory in the Cold War – due in large measure

to his policies and leadership – and a prosperous economy. His critics con-tend that the prosperity of the Reagan years was built upon “unsustainable borrowing,” and resulted in huge de� cits, that his policies favoured the rich and widened the gap in wealth. It is generally agreed, though, that Reagan was an enormously in� uential president, who restored American pride and morale. He may well be the most overrated and also, at the same time, underrated of all presidents. His brand of unquenchable optimism is perhaps something that an electorate likes in leaders.

When the � rst American Secretary of State, Thomas Je� erson, assumed o� ce in 1790 he had a total sta� of 6 people. Today his successor in o� ce many times removed has over 15,000 people spread across the world working under him. In 1981 Professor David Porter of William Penn College,

Oskaloosa, Iowa, polled 50 diplomatic historians to assess former American Secretaries of State, from Je� erson to Muskie. Some criteria were suggest-ed for the survey; the incumbent’s success in de� ning and achieving dip-lomatic goals, his political and moral leadership exerted on foreign a� airs, and the impact of his policies and actions on the course of American his-tory. The 10 best Secretaries, according to the results of the survey, were in descending order: John Quincy Adams (1817-25), William Seward (1861-69), Hamilton Fish (1869-77), Charles Ev-ans Hughes (1921-25), General George Marshall (1947-49), Dean Acheson (1949-53), Henry Kissinger (1973-77), Daniel Webster (1841-43 and 1850-52), Thomas Je� erson (1790-93), and John Hay (1898-1905). Adams, who topped the list, and Je� erson, who was placed at 9, later served as president. Singu-larly enough, as president, Adams has mostly received average ratings, while Je� erson has been placed in the “near great” or “great” categories.

The concluding part of this article will appear tomorrow.

Jamil Majid is a freelance contributor.

The brightest and the bestThis is the � rst of a two-part article on the legacy of American presidents

Elections can be a ‘no-holds barred’ contest, and there have been allegations that ‘dirty tricks were used to boost Reagan’s electoral prospects. Ahead of a crucial television debate between the two candidates in the last week of October, Reagan’s campaign sta� , somehow or other, obtainedcopies of Carter’s brie� ng books

‘The great division in retrospective appraisal of Nixon will be between those who regard his as the most inept of presidential performances, and those who will regard it as the most vicious’

The fall of fame: Greatest American presidents, Abraham Lincoln (left), George Washington, and Franklin Roosevelt, clockwise WIKI COMMONS

Monday, December 30, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE InternationalDHAKA TRIBUNE8

517 dead in fortnight of regime strikes in Aleppon AFP, Beirut

Regime air strikes on the northern Syr-ian province of Aleppo have killed at least 517 people since December 15, in-cluding 151 children, a monitor said on Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a string of regime aerial attacks on the province, including sec-ond city Aleppo, with raids using ex-plosives-packed barrels, had also killed 46 women.

At least 46 opposition � ghters, in-cluding 34 rebels and 12 jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Le-vant, but the majority of the dead were civilians, the Observatory said.

Recent weeks have seen a relentless

aerial campaign targeting towns and villages across Aleppo province.

On Saturday, helicopters dropped TNT-packed barrels on a vegetable market and next to a hospital in Aleppo city, killing at least 25 civilians, includ-ing children.

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground, strongly condemned the raids, and urged the international community to intervene.

“The Observatory considers all those who remain silent in the interna-tional community as complicit in the massacres that have been committed and continue to be committed by the Syrian regime,” it said. l

Anxious wait for stranded Antarctic shipn AFP, Sydney

Passengers on a Russian research ship trapped in thick Antarctic ice faced an uncertain wait Sunday for one last ice-breaking attempt with no guarantees of success.

The MV Akademik Shokalskiy has been marooned by heavy ice since Tuesday about 100 nautical miles east of the French Antarctic base Du-mont d’Urville, with two icebreaking ships so far failing in attempts to reach it.

China’s Snow Dragon came tan-talisingly close on Saturday, getting to within six-and-a-half nautical miles of the passenger vessel carry-ing 74 scientists, tourists and crew before impenetrable ice forced it to turn back.

The Australian government’s re-supply ship Aurora Australis is now en route to make one � nal bid to free the icebound boat and is expected to reach the Akademik at 11pm Australian time (1200 GMT).

“It will then assess if it can make it through the ice to the Akademik Shokalskiy,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority told AFP.

“If the Aurora Australis is not capa-ble of getting through the ice, then we will look at utilising the helicopter on board the Chinese-� agged vessel (the Snow Dragon) which AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre has tasked to re-main in the vicinity.” l

Bahrain frees opposition chiefn AFP, Dubai

Bahrain has freed Shia opposition lead-er cleric Ali Salman after a day of ques-tioning, charging him with incitement to hatred and banning him from travel, the prosecution said.

Salman had been charged with “incitement to religious hatred and spreading false news likely to harm national security,” attorney general Abdulrahman al-Sayyed was quoted as saying by the o� cial BNA news agency late Saturday.

The prosecution had ordered the release of the head of the opposition Al-Wefaq bloc after he had been sum-moned on Saturday, but “forbade him from any travel for the purposes of the investigation,” he added.

During his questioning, Salman had been asked about the content of a speech he gave on Friday.

The attorney general said Salman was charged with “inciting hatred against a religious community” in the Sunni Muslim-ruled country during the address.

He was also alleged to have “ac-

cused institutions of the state of engag-ing in illegal practices.”

The speech was followed by “distur-bances, acts of violence and aggression against the security forces that caused injuries in their ranks,” the chief prose-cutor added.

Six opposition groups including Al-We-faq have issued a statement denouncing Salman’s detention as an “attack on free-dom of expression in Bahrain.”

Al-Wefaq, the most important oppo-sition grouping in Shia-majority Bah-rain, wants a constitutional monarchy in the Gulf nation ruled by the Al-Khal-ifa dynasty.

It repeatedly says it rejects violence, but the authorities in turn blame its supporters for the trouble.

A month-long protest that erupted on February 14, 2011, was dispersed in a mid-March deadly crackdown helped by security forces from neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

At least 89 people have been killed in Bahrain since the Arab Spring-in-spired protests erupted, according to the International Federation for Hu-man Rights. l

Benghazi attack not work of al-Qaedan AFP, New York

Al-Qaeda had no direct involvement in the attack on the US mission in  Beng-hazi  that left four Americans dead on September 11 last year, The New York Times reported Saturday. In an investiga-tion published on its website and based on extensive reporting in the Libyan city, the Times said the killing of US ambassa-dor Chris Stevens and three of his coun-trymen was the work of local � ghters.

The report could likely stir up con-troversy in Washington, where the Obama administration has repeatedly been accused of covering up what hap-pened in Benghazi – a charge it denies.

The newspaper also said the attack may indeed have been sparked by citizens who headed to the US mission after being angered by an anti-Islamic video that had aired on local television channels.

Based on interviews with Libyans in Benghazi that the Times said had di-rect knowledge of the attack, the news-paper “turned up no evidence that Al-Qaeda or other international groups had any role in the assault,” it said.

“The attack was led, instead by � ght-

ers who had bene� ted directly from NATO’s extensive air power and logis-tics during the uprising,” against the country’s long-time dictator Moamer Kadha� , killed in October 2011.

The newspaper, citing American o� cials briefed on a criminal probe into the killings, alleged that a local rebel leader named Ahmed Abu Khat-

tala, said to have disdain for the Unit-ed States despite its help to overthrow Kadha� , is the prime suspect for or-chestrating the Benghazi killings.

The Times report placed him at the US mission at the time of the attack and in an interview with the newspaper he said he was indeed present, but denied he was responsible. l

Suicide bomber kills 14 in Russian AP, Moscow

At least 14 people were killed and scores were wounded Sunday by a fe-male suicide bomber at a railway sta-tion in southern  Russia, o� cials said, heightening concern about terrorism ahead of February’s Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

No one immediately claimed re-sponsibility for Sunday’s attack in Vol-gograd, but it came several months af-ter Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for new attacks against civilian targets in  Russia, including the Sochi Games.

Volgograd, 900km south of Moscow, lies about 650km northeast of Sochi, a Black Sea resort � anked by the North Caucasus Mountains.

Suicide bombings and other attacks linked to Islamic rebels roaming the North Caucasus have rocked Russiafor years. The government has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers, police and other security personnel to pro-tect the Olympics, President Vladimir Putin’s pet project, and the organizers have pledged to make the Sochi Games will be the “safest Olympics in history.”

Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the nation’s top investigative agency, the Investigative Committee, said the suicide bomber detonated her explo-sives in front of a metal detector.

Markin put the death toll at 14, while Volgograd’s regional governor, Sergei Bozhenov, said 15 died.

Russia’s Health Ministry said about 50 people were injured.

In October, a female suicide bomb-er blew herself up on a city bus in Vol-gograd, killing six people and injuring about 30. O� cials said the attacker came from the province of Dagestan, which has become the centre of an Isla-mist insurgency that has spread across

the region after two separatist wars in Chechnya.

Russian state television reported that Sunday’s explosion occurred at the security gate at the station’s en-trance. The Interior Ministry said that one police o� cer died in the explosion and three others were wounded.

Images caught by a security camera facing the station, broadcast by Rossi-ya 24 television, showed the moment of explosion: a bright orange � ash in-side the station behind the main gate followed by plumes of smoke.

“We heard a loud bang from be-hind, saw a bright � ash and fell on the � oor,” local resident Svetlana Dem-

chenko, who witnessed the explosion, was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Numerous ambulances were parked outside the station, and several mo-tionless bodies were placed on the pavement.

On Friday, three people were killed when a car rigged with explosives blew up on a street in Pyatigorsk, the centre of a federal administrative district in-tended to stabilize the North Caucasus region.

Russia in past years has seen a series of terror attacks on buses, trains and airplanes, some carried out by suicide bombers.

Twin bombings on the Moscow sub-way in March 2010 by female suicide bombers killed 40 people and wound-ed more than 120. In January 2011, a male suicide bomber struck Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people and injuring more than 180.

Umarov, who had claimed responsi-bility for the 2010 and 2011 bombings, ordered a halt to attacks on civilian targets during the mass street protests against President Vladimir Putin in the winter of 2011-12. He reversed that or-der in July, urging his men to “do their utmost to derail” the Sochi Olympics which he described as “satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors.” l

Lebanon mourns ex-minister killed in bombingn AFP, Beirut

Lebanese mourners gathered in Beirut on Sunday to bury Mohamed Chatah, a prominent critic of the Syrian regime, killed in a car bombing that revived painful memories of political assassi-nations.

Chatah, 62, a Sunni Muslim for-mer finance minister and close aide to ex-prime minister Saad Hariri, was killed on Friday along with six other people.

Dozens of others were wounded in the blast in the heart of Beirut, raising fears about the fragile situation in Leb-anon, which has seen the war in neigh-bouring Syria regularly spill over.

Heavy security was in place on Sunday, as the body of Chatah and his bodyguard Tarek Badr were transported from western Beirut to a mosque downtown for prayers and burial.

“There is no God but God, the mar-tyr is the beloved of God,” mourners chanted as the bodies arrived.

Chatah will be interred at the mau-soleum of Hariri’s father Ra� q, who was also killed in a huge suicide bomb-ing on the Beirut seafront on February 14, 2005.

His supporters blamed Hariri’s death on the Syrian regime and its ally, the powerful Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah. l

Over 50,000 Ukrainians rally after reporter beatingn AFP, Kiev

Tens of thousands of irate Ukrainians rallied Sunday amid swelling anger over the brutal beating of a pro-Euro-pean reporter who exposed the lavish lifestyles of President Viktor Yanu-kovych and his ruling elite.

The angry crowd of more than 50,000 also planned to drive dozens of cars toward Yanukovych’s heavily guarded Mezhygirya residence on the banks of the Dnipro River that jour-nalist Tetyana Chornovol accused the Ukrainian leader of illegally “privatis-ing” in one of her exposes.

“We plan come out here until the day the authorities make changes to the constitution and limit the powers of the president,” said Kiev pension-er Tetyana Kornienko amid a sea of Ukrainian � ags � uttering across central Kiev’s iconic Independence Square.

Chornovol – a prominent � gure in the pro-EU protests that have rocked Kiev since Yanukovych abandoned a historic agreement with Brussels in fa-vour of closer ties with old master Mos-cow last month – was pulled out of her car and assaulted on Tuesday night.

The attack and graphic hospital im-ages of Chornovol’s bloodied and swol-len face have added fuel to the � re of weekly pro-EU protests that intially drew hundreds of thousands but began to peter out last Sunday.

The opposition appeared to be tak-en aback by a $15 billion (11 billion euro) bailout package that Yanukovych struck with Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 17 that also slashed

the price Ukraine had to pay for natu-ral gas imports on which its teetering economy depends.

The deal removed the immediate threat of a painful Ukrainian currency devaluation and debt default but also dimmed the prospects of a so-called Association Agreement being struck with the European Union in the com-ing months.

EU diplomats said that talks with Ukraine can resume only after Kiev spells out its commitment to the terms of a deal with Brussels that the two sides had agreed through years of pain-ful talks.

But opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk of jailed ex-premier Yulia Ty-moshenko’s Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party said Chornovol’s beating showed

that the authorities were ready to take grievous measures against their rivals, and called for still stronger protests.

“We intend to conduct a ‘political auto rally’ on Sunday. First we will drive to the president’s residence. From there, we visit the speaker’s res-idence. And from the speaker’s – to the residence of the prime minister,” Yatsenyuk said in a statement. l

South Sudan abusers must be brought to justice: Bann AFP, Juba

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has reiterated a call for perpetrators of vio-lence in South Sudan to be brought to justice.

“All violence, attacks and human rights abuses must end immediately,” Ban’s spokesman said in a statement late Saturday.

“The secretary general reminds those responsible that they will be held accountable. He calls on the gov-ernment and all concerned to ensure the rights and security of civilians are protected,” said the statement, issued in New York.

The government on Saturday mean-while accused sacked former vice pres-ident and rebel leader Riek Machar of recruiting up to 25,000 young men of the Nuer tribe in eastern Jonglei state.

But rebel spokesman Moses Ruai Lat denied the allegation, telling AFP that Machar was “not mobilising his tribe,” South Sudan’s second biggest ethnic group.

Those young people were regular soldiers turning their back on the gov-ernment and had not been drafted by Machar, he said.

The con� ict, fuelled by an old rivalry between President Salva Kiir and Mach-ar, has fanned ethnic di� erences be-tween Kiir’s Dinka group and the Nuer.

The accusations came as East Afri-can and Horn of Africa peace brokers set a Tuesday deadline for Kiir and Machar to start face-to-face talks. l

Yemen court condemns al-Qaeda suspect to deathn AFP, Sanaa

A Sanaa court on Sunday sentenced to death a Yemeni al-Qaeda suspect for his role in a deadly attack on a security head-quarters in Aden in 2011, an o� cial said.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a franchise of the global jihadist network, is active in Yemen and is seen by the United States as its most dangerous branch.

The court convicted Ahmad Kadi-ri Ahmad Turki of belonging to AQAP and setting up the cell that planned and launched the attack in the southern city, the judicial o� cial said. The June 2011 at-tack killed nearly 20 members of the in-telligence services in Aden, the terrorism court said. The same court handed nine other suspects sentences of between two and 10 years in prison for belonging to Al-Qaeda and attempting to assassinate President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

The prosecution said the group plant-ed an explosive device in Sanaa with the aim of blowing up Hadi’s convoy as it drove past, but the bomb was discovered and defused by security forces. l

The wreckage of burnt cars outside the main gate of the US consulate in Benghazi AFP

The bodies of victims lie on the ground as Russian security personnel inspect the damage at the train station following the suicide attack AFP

Interior Ministry members stand guard as pro-European integration supporters hold a rally near the president’s residence REUTERS

9Monday, December 30, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE International

Bleak future for Afghanistan, says US intelligence reportn AFP, Washington

Progress in Afghanistan over the past three years is likely to be seriously eroded by 2017 even if Western powers continue to support Kabul � nancially, the Washington Post reported, citing an intelligence assessment.

A new National Intelligence Esti-mate – which includes input from 16 US intelligence agencies – predicts that the Taliban and other powerbrokers will increase their in� uence even if the United States leaves behind a few thousand troops and continues to fund authorities in Kabul, the Post said in its Sunday edition.

US-led NATO forces are withdraw-ing from Afghanistan after more than a decade of � ghting the Taliban, but negotiations have stalled on a security accord that would allow some US and NATO troops to stay after 2014.

President Hamid Karzai � rst en-dorsed the deal – which lays out rules for US troops, and would be the basis for other NATO forces – but later said it might not be signed until after the April election that will choose his successor.

Signing the agreement is a precondi-tion for the delivery of billions of dol-lars in Western aid for Afghanistan over

the next years.The Post, citing o� cials who have

seen the intelligence report, said that Afghanistan will likely plunge into chaos if the security agreement is not signed.

“In the absence of a continuing presence and continuing � nancial support,” the intelligence assessment “suggests the situation would deterio-rate very rapidly,” a US o� cial familiar with the report told the Post, speaking on condition of anonymity.

However one o� cial told the Post that the assessment was too pessi-mistic, and that there were too many variables to accurately predict Afghan-istan’s future.

Some o� cials also believe that Af-ghanistan’s security forces are better prepared than the report states.

“I think what we’re going to see is a recalibration of political power, territo-ry and that kind of thing. It’s not going to be an inevitable rise of the Taliban,” a US o� cial who thought the report was too negative told the Post.

The previous National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan came out three years ago, in December 2010. Such reports are typically produced ahead of major policy decisions. l

47.1 % of Japanese say PM Abe’s shrine visit ‘not good’n AFP, Tokyo

A majority of Japanese voters want Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to heed the diplomatic fallout after his visit to a controversial war shrine, but neverthe-less largely approved of his job perfor-mance, a poll showed Sunday.

In a telephone survey taken by Kyodo News on Saturday and Sunday, 69.8% of respondents said the conser-vative leader should pay attention to the implications of his recent surprise visit to the Yasukuni shrine.

It also showed that 47.1% said it was “not good” that Abe visited the shrine.

The news agency did not imme-diately release details of the nation-wide survey, such as the number of participants.

Abe on Thursday visited the Ya-sukuni Shrine, which is believed to be the repository of around 2.5 million souls of Japan’s war dead – most of them common soldiers, but also in-cluding several high-level o� cials exe-cuted for war crimes after World War II.

The visit – which came at a time when Japan’s ties with China have turned particularly sour over a terri-torial dispute regarding islands in the East China Sea – prompted an angry reaction from Beijing, which sees the shrine as a symbol of Japan’s war-time militarism.

Three Chinese government ships en-tered the territorial waters around the East China Sea islands, called the Sen-kaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, for several hours Sunday, according to the Japanese coastguard.

Seoul also reacted angrily to Abe’s visit to the shrine, while Japan’s ally the United States said it was “disap-pointed” by the prime minister’s deci-sion as it will raise regional tensions. l

Musharraf says army backs him over treason ‘vendetta’n AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Sunday denounced trea-son charges against him as a “vendet-ta,” and said he had the backing of the country’s powerful army.

The 70-year-old told reporters the “whole army” was upset with the trea-son allegations, in his � rst comments to international media since he was put under house arrest in April.

The treason claims are the latest and potentially most serious in a � urry of criminal cases relating to Musharraf’s nine-year rule that he has faced since returning to Pakistan in March.

The case puts the government on a possible collision course with the all-powerful army, which is seen as be-ing reluctant to witness its former chief su� er the indignity of being tried by a civilian court.

“I would say the whole army is up-set. I have led the army from the front,” Musharraf told reporters.

“I have no doubt with the feedback that I received that the whole army is...

Totally with me on this issue.”The military, which has ruled Paki-

stan for more than half of its 66-year history and still wields great in� uence, has not made any clear public com-ment on Musharraf’s legal woes.

The treason charges relate to Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule in November 2007, and if found guilty he could face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

An initial hearing in the case, being heard by a special tribunal, was halted on December 24 after explosives were found along the route Musharraf was to take to court. The case is due to re-sume on January 1, but Musharraf said he had not yet decided whether or not he would attend. “The way this tribu-nal was formed, which involved the prime minister and the ex-chief justice, this itself smacks a little bit of a vendet-ta,” he said Sunday.

Musharraf’s lawyers have dismissed the charges as an attempt by the govern-ment of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, to settle old scores through the courts. l

Vigil as India remembers gang-rape victimn AFP, New Delhi

With vigils and prayers, India on Sunday marked the � rst anniversary of the death of a student savagely gang-raped on a Delhi bus – a tragedy that sparked nationwide protests.

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died on December 29 last year, nearly two weeks after being attacked by a gang of six men on a moving bus as she returned home from the cinema with a male companion.

The attack and her subsequent death shook the country, shone a global spotlight on India’s treatment of women and un-leashed seething public anger about sexual violence and harassment of women.

The victim’s family are holding a religious ceremony in their ancestral village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, away from the constant media attention they have faced since the attack, her brother said.

“We want to remember her in a quiet way, away from all the glare. We want it to be a private family moment,” the brother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told AFP before the anniversary.

The family will follow traditional Hindu rit-uals, with a prayer ceremony and symbolic of-ferings to their ancestors, which are believed

to bring peace to those who have died.The student, who was repeatedly as-

saulted with an iron rod during her ordeal, has been praised for her determination to report her attackers to the police before she died of her injuries.

Four of her attackers were convicted and given the death penalty in September after the case was fast-tracked, while a juvenile was sentenced to a detention centre.

The sixth man died in prison in March in an apparent suicide.

The angry and sometimes violent protests against the attack jolted India’s parliament, which this year passed tougher laws against rapists and other sex-crime o� enders.

Women’s groups say some improve-ments have also been made in the last 12 months to India’s notoriously slow, ine� -cient and sometimes corrupt police and ju-dicial systems, which has encouraged some victims to report sexual crimes.

Despite the reforms, new cases of rape continue to be reported daily from across the country in the Indian press. An ambu-lance driver allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl after he drove her sick mother to hospi-tal in the central state of Chhattisgarh, the Press Trust of India reported. l

Suu Kyi’s party to run in Myanmar electionsn AP

The party of Myanmar’s pro-democ-racy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has declared that it will take part in 2015 parliamentary elections even if the country’s constitution barring her from running for president is not amended.

Nyan Win, spokesman for National League for Democracy (NLD), said at a news conference on Saturday that the party would contest the polls, which Suu Kyi had said cannot be fair unless the constitution is changed.

Article 59 of the constitution says anyone whose spouse or children owes allegiance to a foreign power cannot become president or vice president. Suu Kyi was married to the late British scholar Michael Aris, and her two sons are foreign citizens.

Myanmar’s parliament formed a Constitution Review Committee in July to recommend changes to the constitu-tion before the 2015 elections.

The NLD decided at a meeting on Saturday to send suggestions on changing 168 points from 14 chapters of the constitution, including the arti-cle that disquali� es Suu Kyi from be-coming president, said Win Myint, a senior party member. Constitutional amendments require the consent of more than 75% of lawmakers, followed by more than 50% approval in a nation-wide referendum. l

Thai army chief refuses to rule out coupn AP,

At least one person killed and three in-jured overnight as a gunman opened � re at a group of protesters near Cha-mai bridge in Bangkok.

Earlier on Friday, Thailand’s army chief urged both sides in the country’s bitter political dispute to show re-straint, but did not explicitly rule out the possibility of a coup.

Thailand has been wracked by two months of political tensions and occa-sionally violent street protests pitting the government of Prime Minister Yin-gluck Shinawatra against protesters seeking to oust her.

The army has staged 11 successful coups in the country’s history, so its intentions are being watched carefully.

“That door is neither open nor closed,” the army chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, said on Friday in response to questions from reporters as to whether military intervention was likely.

“It will be determined by the situation.”

Prayuth also reiterated a request that people stop asking the army to take sides in the dispute.

“Please don’t bring the army into

the centre of this con� ict,” he said.The protesters have been eager for

the army to intervene in the crisis.Late last month, they forced their

way onto the grounds of army head-quarters to deliver a letter asking the military to support their campaign to topple Yingluck.

The protesters stopped short of calling for a coup, but urged military leaders to “take a stand” in the political crisis. Prayuth responded by insisting that the army would not take sides.

Military securityOn Thursday, the protesters, who

are seeking to disrupt elections sched-uled for February 2, battled with police in clashes that left two people dead and moe than 140 injured. Thirty of the in-jured remained hospitalised on Friday.

As Thursday’s violence unfolded, Thailand’s election commission called for a delay in the polls, a blow to Yin-gluck. The government rejected the call.

Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on Friday that he would ask the military to provide secu-rity for the elections.

Prayuth said the army had shown “red tra� c lights to both sides, so things will calm down,” and called for an end to street violence.

“You ask, ‘Who wins?’ Who wins?’ No one,” he said.

Police have made no move to ar-rest the protest movement’s ring-leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, who is demanding the country be led by an unelected council until reforms can be implemented. l

Thousands of Cambodians rally to demand PM step downn Reuters, Phnom Penh

Tens of thousands of Cambodian oppo-sition supporters, backed by striking gar-ment-factory workers, rallied on Sunday to demand long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen step down and call an election.

The garment workers have in recent days joined the opposition protests to press their demand that the govern-ment raise the minimum wage to $160 a month from $95, as recommended on December 24.

“Hun Sen and his illegal govern-ment can hear us, they can’t ignore us,

the people show their will for change,” Sam Rainsy, leader of the main opposi-tion Cambodia National Rescue Party, told the rally in a Phnom Penh park.

“We demand that Hun Sen to steps down and a new election,” Sam Rain-sy, a former � nance minister, told the crowd, some of whom have been camp-ing out in the park since December 15.

Hun Sen’s long-dominant Cambo-dian People’s Party won a July elec-tion but with a reduced majority. It has rejected opposition complaints of vote-rigging. Hun Sen, who has been in power for 28 years, has ignored opposi-

tion demands for an investigation into the election and says that he will not resign or call a new election.

Under Hun Sen, Cambodia has been transformed from a backwater scarred by the “Killing Fields” rule of the Khmer Rouge, into one of South-east Asia’s fastest growing economies, helped by a burgeoning garment indus-try and growing political and invest-ment ties with China.

But his authoritarian rule has earned the condemnation of rights groups and that, along with widespread corrup-tion, has alienated many voters. l

A Nepalese mahout gives his elephant a morning bath at Sauraha in Chitwan, some 150 kms southwest of Kathmandu, during the Chitwan Elephant Festival. The ongoing � ve-day festival is celebrated with elephant soccer games and an elephant beauty pageant AFP

Leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, Sam Rainsy, greets supporters during a demonstration in Phnom Penh AFP

Indian students take part in a candle-light vigil commemorating the fatal gang-rape AFP

ELEPHANT FESTIVAL

The army has staged 11 successful coups in the country’s history, so its intentions are being watched carefully

A haven for BookwormsDecember 23

shuvoNice! Need some more features about these beautiful places of Dhaka amidst this chaotic time. Thanks.

RonnieI like the place, and occasionally visit. I’d visit more frequently and buy more if only Bookworm had the kinds of books I’ve always loved. I’m most passionate about classic American fiction and have a slew of favourite American authors, spanning the last two centuries. Sadly, there’s always been a woeful lack of such books. It seems to be purposely and predominantly stocked with mass-market popular fiction, known best-sellers, South Asian fiction/non-fiction etc. Even the non-fiction that I love on subjects like Architecture, Politics, Philosophy, Sports, etc are virtually non-existent. And the store is admittedly rather small for the serious, avid book-lover. I have even placed orders of several books that I wished to buy. Alas, I’m disappointed to say that only about a fifth of my listed titles ever arrived, even after waiting for 3-4 months. I’ve always bought most of my books from overseas, but the best in Dhaka (at least for my own preferred purchases) is Zeenat Books Supply at New Market.

Amina RahmanRonnie: Mass-market popular fiction is not our forte, though I wish it were. You must not have been there very recently.

Ronnie Amina Rahman: Thanks for replying. Much appreciated!

Oh well, I have seen varied pop � ction titles at your store over the past few years. I certainly feel rather de� ated to see a bevy of titles by, arguably, very “mass-market” authors like Sidney Sheldon, Judith McNaught, Paulo Coelho, Nora Roberts and sundry others, clogging up precious shelf space. As for the consistent and broad visibility of South Asian literature

at Bookworm, I fully appreciate the myriad reasons for that, despite my continuing lack of enthusiasm for it.

It’s cool to see you (somebody in Dhaka, � nally) share my undying fondness for the legions of out-standing American novelists. The only one I haven’t yet read is Zora Hurston. My perennial favourites include Faulkner, Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, Lovecraft, Ellroy, Updike, Vonnegut, Capote, Chandler, DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, Sinclair Lewis, James Baldwin, Ray Bradbury, Willa Cather, Ayn Rand. I also love a ton of American short stories, plays, and poetry. I’ve also enjoyed a bunch of very good contemporary books (� c-tion) out in the last two years. Reading proli� cally since I was a boy, I have had plenty of time to cover this vast, captivating realm of American � ction. I seek out choice non-� ction, too, on topics I cited in my previous post.

Amina, would you consider bringing in some quality sci-fi titles, too? I know of a dozen great reads in that genre, from as recently as 2012 and 2013. At any rate, I’m always going to drop by Bookworm, if only to chance upon even a single book that I couldn’t resist bringing home. Wish you the best! Cheers.

Amina RahmanRonnie: I’m sorry you’ve had that experience. Re-sponse time has been admittedly slow as we source most of our titles from abroad, and some titles are not always in stock so are not quick to come. As I get sav-vier with the business, I’m learning ways and means of obtaining titles quickly and at lower costs. Hopefully our customers will see this change in the coming year. A little patience will be the best aid we can get. In the meantime, I’m also a great fan of American classics and have been planning a special on some of my favorite authors, including Ken Kesey, Kurt Vonnegut, JD Salinger, Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Joseph Heller, Zora Neale Hurston and many more, as well as a special on African American writers - some of the greatest. It’s a dream to make our little bookstore � owing with books of every kind. Cheers.

Staying within boundsWe had suggested the government should have allowed the

BNP march to show its commitment to democratic precepts. The government chose to put public safety � rst and stands

somewhat vindicated by the relatively low occurrence of violence.However, this prevention of violence has not come as a result of

e� ective policing, but from virtual suspension of normal life, which cannot be an enduring solution in a democracy.

It is the government’s responsibility (and we concede that it is neither an easy nor an enviable one) to � nd a way to normalise the sit-uation while providing security. That is the challenge they must meet.

A further concern is that the government is resorting to increasingly more heavy-handed measures to deal with the situation.

To attempt to counter the oppo-sition’s demonstration by shutting down inter-city and intra-city trans-port left the government causing the same hardship to the public that the opposition has been this past month.

Furthermore, the arrest of senior BNP leaders and refusal to let Khaleda Zia leave her house were unnecessary and excessive. While we appreciate the need to keep public order, we feel that on these occasions the government went too far.

Finally, the actions of ruling party student front activists in attacking professional group supporters of the BNP cannot be condoned. It was this utterly unacceptable action that brought most discredit to the government’s handling of yesterday’s protest.

We do not excuse or condone the unconscionable violence that the opposition has been responsible for over the past few months or suggest that the ruling party is by any means alone in its culpability. However, while the extraordinary violence of the past few months may require special measures, the government must be sure to avoid excesses and act with as much restraint as possible.

PM does not have to agree, but she should not dismissThe PM’s response to a citizens’ dialogue that called for the

deferment of the January 5 elections, by suggesting that the instigators of 1/11 have become active again, is disappointing and

ungracious, revealing once again her inability to distinguish between real enemies and imagined ones.

Many of the participants in the dialogue were well-wishers and supporters of the PM and the AL, but since she did not appreciate the message, she was happy to tar all of them with the same brush.

The PM may disagree with the suggestion that it would be better to defer the upcoming elections, but there is no need for her to question the motives of those who believe that it would be in both the country’s and the ruling party’s best interests to do so.

Indeed, even one of the partici-pants in the event conceded that if no solution was reached within the 90 days after dissolving parliament, then that too could pose a serious problem.

The fact that such caveats were raised at the event means it was open to real discussion. It’s a pity that the ruling party did not see � t to take part in it. It might have been a good place to make their arguments and widen support for their stance.

Many from the ruling party and government were invited to participate and share their thoughts. In the event, no one from the ruling party attended, with Rashed Khan Menon the sole representative of the government.

That a notable section of the public was virtually unanimous in their belief that it would be preferable to defer the upcoming elections should in itself give the PM pause and incline her to question the wis-dom of the course of action she has chosen.

Sadly, however, not only is she utterly dismissive of the idea that anyone could question her decision to forge ahead with the elections, but she has imputed ill motivation to those holding dissentingopinion.

One expects far greater tolerance from a democratic leader. The PM’s dismissive and disparaging response is regrettable.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

EC worried by possibility of low voter turnoutDecember 23

Low? In 154 areas there will be “no” voter turn-out. This is turning out to be more of a selection process than an election process.

Ahnaf Saber

Polls creditability to remain unclear till mid-JanuaryDecember 23It’s clear that whatever is going on has no con-nection with what the voters want!

JSM

How about a national referendum?December 25

Syed Ziad Rahman For the past one year, I have been posting on Facebook and other social media networks to let the people decide through a referendum whether we should have the caretaker government or not before national polls.

NrbThe referendum may reveal what people want, so it will never happen. The political parties will join hands to prevent it.

One expects far greater tolerance from a democratic leader. The PM’s dismissive and disparaging response is regrettable

It is the government’s responsibility to � nd a way to normalise the situation while providing security

Government can stop the unrestDecember 27

This article clearly tells us that the Bangladesh government can stop the killings, arson, and unrest. Let there be more and more combing operations all over Bangladesh, everyday if needed.

I thank (from my heart) the Government of Bangladesh for bringing peace to Satkhira. We don’t want anyone to destroy our beloved motherland. Most Bangladeshi citizens (I believe 99% of them) want peace there.

Muktijuddho Dr Emarat Hossain Pannah USA

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

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Pick out (6)5 Dry, as champagne (3)7 Anger (3)8 Obstruct (6)11 Cereal (3)12 Stop (5)14 Writer of verse (4)16 Wash lightly (5)18 Lazy person (5)20 Heavy substance (4)21 Proverb (5)23 Perform (3)24 Meditate (6)27 Top card (3)28 Conclude (3)29 Drowsy (6)

DOWN1 Snow runner (3)2 Pouring edge (3)3 Built (7)4 Yield (4)5 Calm (6)6 Masticated (6)9 Emotional state (4)10 Corn spike (3)13 Absence of sound (7)14 Sea-robber (6)15 Jubilant (6)17 Unharmed (4)19 Sharp blow (3)22 Target (4)25 Scottish river (3)26 Narrow beam (3)

Crossword

Code-Cracker

SUDOKU

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11Op-Ed Monday, December 30, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Salma Sobhan

To paraphrase Voltaire: “If Tasli-ma Nasreen did not exist, the Ja-maat would have had to invent

her.” The focus by the international media and national and international human rights and feminist activists on her plight – the threat to her life and the warrant for arrest for a statement which she denied having made – was very necessary and needs to continue despite her recent surrender to the court and release on bail.

However, posing this issue in terms of yet another manifestation of Mus-lim intolerance, rather than seeing it as the deliberately orchestrated assault by fanatics and zealots it was, played into the hands of obscurantists who use religion for political purposes. A political party of the religious right, the Jamaat-e-Islami, has been the prime mover in this matter. To un-derstand the signi� cance of what has been happening in Bangladesh over the last few months, it is necessary to explain the background to all these happenings.

While the Jamaat has very little public support and has gained few seats in fair elections, they wield an in� uence out of proportion to their numbers because successive governments have pandered to their claims for fear of being seen to hurt public sentiment instead of challenging the Jamaat’s claim to speak for Islam.

The Jamaat never supported the Muslim League before 1947, during the struggle for independence from the British. The Jamaat opposed the Mus-lim League’s demand for a homeland for the Muslims in India. However, once Pakistan came into existence

they started to campaign for political power in the new state by demanding the introduction of Islamic Law, the contents of which would be de� ned by their theologians.

Pakistan had two wings, the west wing which alone constitutes present day Pakistan and an east wing, East Bengal in undivided India, which attained sovereignty in 1971 after a war of liberation against the western wing. The new state was Bangladesh.

All wars are brutal. This was par-ticularly so because of the political use of religion to marshal forces against the Bengalis. The Pakistani army was mobilised against the citizens of EastPakistan. The Jamaat not onlycollaborated with the army but they were directly responsible for many atrocities.They were thus totally discredited when Bangladesh became independ-ent. This experience crystallised the determination in Bangladesh never to allow religion to be used for political purposes and secularism was written in as a fundamental principle of the new Constitution.

It is beyond the scope of this article to catalogue the strategies of the Jamaat to become politically acceptable again. Ironically, the principles of freedom of speech and democracy enabled them to start making a comeback. In this they were helped by the removal of the principle of secularism from the constitution in 1979, the removal of prohibition on the use of religion for political ends, and � nally the introduction of Islam as the State religion in 1988.

In the political movement against General Ershad’s autocratic regime in 1990, the Jamaat did not make

its earlier mistakes but joined in the mass demonstrations against Ershad’s government. As usual, they did not win many seats in parliament but they were again in business up front.

In 1992 a member of the Jamaat ta-bled a bill to amend the Penal Code to allow for draconian punishments to be in� icted on persons presumed to have spoken disrespectfully of the Prophet Muhammad (SM) and the Quran. This tabling was not publicised until mid 1994. The bill has been copied word for word from a bill passed in Pakistan in 1986.

Thus the campaign for a so-called blasphemy law (so-called because disrespect to the Prophet Muhammad, however provocative and injurious to the sensitivities, is not blasphemy as Muslims do not arrogate divine status to the Prophet) which appeared to have started because of Taslima’s alleged utterances was, in fact, onethat would have had to be mounted sooner or later debate. Withouthaving whipped up a su� cient public hysteria to intimidate the parliament there was little chance of the suc-cessful passage of the bill through the legislative process. Which is why one started o� with Voltaire’s famous aphorism.

Let us look at the sequence of events. Taslima was already being targeted by fanatics because her novel, “Lajja,” on the communal riots in Bangladesh in 1992 showed that Bang-ladeshi Hindus had been targeted in retaliation following the destruction of the Babari Mosque in India by Hindu fanatics. The book was banned by the Bangladesh government “in order to preserve communal harmony.”

It was used by a communal Indian political party, the BJP, which had instigated the destruction of the mosque. They got it translated into several Indian languages and started a massive promotion campaign to create a hysteria among the Muslims in India. This further exacerbated the govern-ment who con� scated her passport.

All this was very useful to the Jamaat. Their opportunity came when

having successfully got her passport back, Taslima on a visit to India was misquoted in an interview with the Statesman. Her interview was not re-ported in Bangladesh, and she issued a refutation immediately afterwards. However, the extreme rightist paper Inquilab ran the alleged statements and launched their campaign for the introduction of a blasphemy law using Taslima’s alleged remarks as a basis for their campaign.

The question may be asked: Why campaign for a blasphemy law? The law is really a law against free speech. It has nothing to do with religion. It is worth noting that the Jamaat trans-literates the word blasphemy into Bengali rather than using the religious (Arabic) term: Kufr, which has a very clear connotation and would not cover the occasions for which the Jammat would use the law.

The answer is that the Jamaat is af-

ter power, and anything which brings this within their grasp is grist to their mill. The women’s movement is under continual attack from the Jamaat who are well aware that if they can control one section of society they will be able to shackle all of society.

The point to be borne in mind is that Taslima was central to the Jamaat’s campaign not because their religious sentiments were outraged but because to them free speechis an outrage. It was unfortunate that so much of international media accepted uncritical statements about the nature of Islam made by thosewho are engaged in using religion to further personal agendas of political control. l

Salma Sobhan was a prominent female barrister, human rights activist and academic. December 29was her 10th death anniversary.

n Towheed Feroze

That most people want an honest government is re� ected in the recent election of Indian anti-

corruption crusader, Arvind Kejriw-al. Perhaps a few years ago, the sudden rise of a new force in politics would have been unthinkable. But today, it appears that Indians are realising the need for adding more transparency in the government, because with corrup-tion, a nation may move ahead until a certain level, but after that, she will sputter and stall.

Corruption and progress are oppo-site forces. Not even the most resolute of e� orts can make venality within the government a working component of a long-term development plan. For a certain period, this may work or give the impression that it’s working, and then all is destined to go awry.

Right, apart from corruption ad-dressing and infusing accountability, the election of Kejriwal as the 7th chief minister of Delhi shows that the civil society and the masses are willing to give a new voice of optimism a chance.

This means if there is someone who is willing to stand up with a new set of ideals, giving up the usual power-plus-wealth-hungry attitude, the general people won’t hesitate to give support.

For Indians, this is indeed a new wave – a beacon of hope in a system that had been, in the last few years,

tainted by a series of high level in-volvement in irregular practices.

But if such a progressive move can happen in India, why shouldn’t it be replicated in Bangladesh? Interesting-ly, while Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party

(common man’s party) was making ripples, none of the local politicians found the courage to use Kejriwal’s campaign as a reference in their often bombastic spiels.

Well, we are not surprised because if there is too much talk of how a for-mer government tax o� cial decided

to resign his post to take up a cause to establish integrity within the adminis-tration, people here may get ideas.

To be honest, one cannot think of a tax o� cial in Bangladesh who would say goodbye to the job to launch a war against corruption. In fact, the mood among the potential young government service employees is the opposite.

This writer had a chat with a group of successful BCS candidates the other day, who had gathered at the universi-ty campus to discuss their future.

Interestingly, almost all of them had either police or customs as their most preferred job disciplines. When this writer asked why, the answer was sim-ple – one can easily earn a considerable amount in � ve years.

Yes, the response was direct and bold! It reminded me of another university junior who sought the

writer’s blessings by the line: “Boss, doya koiren (pray for me), if I become a police o� cer, I will be totally solvent in � ve years.”

One of the young men didn’t look so upbeat because he failed to get the desired � elds and ended up in educa-tion. “I will give the test again,” was his � rm resolution. Such intense an-tipathy for the education sector makes one wonder as to who will really end up in this discipline and what their principles will be.

Education is not among the top � ve disciplines. Surprisingly, very few want foreign-service nowadays.

“Arey bhai, maal nai, maal nai,” – the crass line which in English means, there is no bucks in it!

A couple of years back, I came across another BCS candidate who looked despondent after the exams. Assuming that his preparation was not

up to the mark, I asked him about the downtrodden look and found that he was sad since he could not get an idea of the questions before the test!A leaked question would have made him happy!

So these are the young people who will one day be the rulers of the country.  When their visions of making wealth are set prior to entering a service, it’s not hard to speculate what sort of administrators they will be in � fteen years.Come to the realm of politics where in recent times there has been a collec-tive disgruntlement among leading politicians since their wealth state-ments, much in� ated than the ones submitted � ve years ago, were made public.  

These revelations show that some have accumulated immense wealth, though the source of such richness in their accounts has not been mentioned.

What is most revolting is the way in which this sudden windfall among the politicians was supported by senior politicians. The justi� cation line: Peo-ple in power always have huge money stinks.

Well, to a lot of people this line may be an indirect way of passing the mes-sage that if you are in power, all follies are overlooked and thus, becoming rich is kosher.  

Coming back to Kejriwal, though the task ahead of him is mammoth, the good news is: It has begun.  When a movement born out of a passion for integrity reaches a certain level, there will be some results.

Unquestionably, India will reap the bene� ts of those positive outcomes.

As for us, a crusader like Arvind Ke-jriwal is still a fantasy. Maybe someone from the conscience-driven Shahbagh movement will stand up. l

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

The red herring

Ironically, the principles of freedom of speechenabled Jamaat to start making a comeback. In this they were helped by the removal of the principleof secularism from the constitution in 1979

All you can think of is short-time tactical moves. All that we really want is an honest � ght between parties

S E R P E N T I N E D E N

How about a party of the common people?

When will we have our own Kejriwal? SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Though the task ahead of Kejriwal is mammoth, the good news is: It has begun. When a movement born out of a passion for integrity reaches a certain level, there will be some results

It’s time to take our country back from such terrors DHAKA TRIBUNE

Gauahar Khan wins Bigg Boss season 7n Entertainment Desk

With four � nal contestants, name-ly Ajaz Khan, Tanishaa Mukherjee, Sangram Singh and Gauahar Khan, battling out for the trophy, Gaua-har has been crowed as the winner of Bigg Boss season 7.

The actress said she was not sure of victory when she was pit-ted against co-contestant Tanishaa Mukherji, actress and the sister of Bollywood megastar Kajol.

Gauahar won Rs 50 lakh in cash and a trophy after managing to stay in the house with other con-testants for 104 days.

Inside the house, her romance with co-contestant Kushal Tandon caught everyone’s attention and the two declared their love openly. l

Marking Ustad Akhtar Sadmani’s death anniversary n Shadma Malik

Eminent classical vocalist Ustad  Akhtar Sadma-ni’s 10th death anniversary is today. The founder of Sur Rang Academy of Classical Music which was es-tablished in 1980 solely devoted to promote Indian Classical Music.

Ustad Akhtar Sadmani was born in Dhaka, but was brought up in Kolkata. The musician was always keen to spread his knowledge of Indian Classical Music in his homeland Bangladesh. To create and establish a platform for classical musical practice and appreci-ation in Bangladesh, Sur Rang Academy of Classical Music in Pallabi cateres to spread the knowledge of Indian classical music to the enthusiasts in Bangla-desh.

At present the academic institution is being run by his son Asif Akhtar and daughter Mily Akhtar Sad-mani. Mily is the tutor of the institution and trains instrumentalists on harmonium, tanpura and tabla. Ustad Akhtar Sadmani’s dream was to enrich the classical music not only to elites, also to the common people in Bangladesh. The academic institution’s motive is to inspire common people to learn classi-

cal music and get accustomed to the legacy of Ustad Akhtar Sadmani .

“After the departure of his soul in 2003, the family members had faced di� erent crises to run the acade-my. At present, the institution is settled and we have around twenty students in the school,” says his son Asif  Akhtar. “Renowned media personalities such as Akhi Alamgir, Nusrat Imroz  Tisha, Shampa Reza took their music lesson from this institution,” states Asif Akhtar.

At the age of ten, Ustad Sadmani received the ini-tial training from Prof Bobby Daniel. In 1955, Prof Bobby Daniel took him to the renowned musician Ustad Omar Khan. Ustad Omar Khan was utterly im-pressed by his talent and took young Akhter as his son and continued teaching him. In 1957, Ustad Omar Khan personally introduced Akhtar Sadmani to one of the legends of Indian Classical Music, Ustad Amir Khan. The result was overwhelming as his voice re-sembled that of Ustad Amir Khan and he could de-liver the sarod skills of Ustad Omar Khan through his vocal.

In 1961, Ustad Akhtar Sadmani returned home and joined Radio Bangladesh a year later as an artiste.

He became a Music Director in Radio Bangladesh in 1966. The maestro received posthumous Ekushey Padak in 2011. l

Blockbuster Cinemas brings Gravityn Entertainment Desk

Jamuna Future Park’s Blockbuster Cin-emas is bringing Gravity which starts showcasing from January 1 for Dhaka viewers.

The 3D-thriller which was released in US in October stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts involved in the mid-orbit destruction of a space shuttle and their attempt to return to Earth.

The story of the � lm revolves around Dr Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) ,a bril-liant medical engineer on her � rst shut-tle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last � ight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness.

Gravity is directed, co-written, co-produced and co-edited by Alfonso Cuarón. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 201312

ExhibitionShilpacharya and his Outer World of ArtTime: 12pm-8pmBengal Gallery of Fine Arts,House 42Road 16 (New) / 27 (old), Dhanmondi

City of RhythmSecond phase of Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed Time: 12-8pm Shilpangan, House 7Road 13 (New) Dhanmondi

FilmPaci� c Rim in 3DEscape PlanThe ConjuringThe Hunger Games: Catching FireStar CineplexBashundhara City

TODAY IN DHAKA

10 OF THE BIGGEST EXHIBITIONS OF 2013

MOVIE7:00pm Fox Movies PremiumThe Other Guys7:35pm WBThe Hangover

DRAMA10:30pm Star WorldAlmost Human11:00pm Star PlusVeera

COMEDY1:30pm Comedy CentralThe Exes5:00pm ColorsComedy Nights With Kapil

ON TV

Unseen Splendour82 artworks of the legendary paint-er SM Sultan were showcased by the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts for the very � rst time. Some of these unseen sketches and paintings were done during Sultan’s early days as an artist.

Nirobodhi JanasrotA 13-day solo exhibition titled Niro-bodhi Janasrot held at the Dhaka Art Centre. This exceptional display showcased works of the gifted young artist Md Mainuddin who depicts the faces of ordinary people and their struggles.

Banglar Shekore SwapnoVibrant scroll paintings by renowned artist Raghunath Chakraborty was held at the Gallery Cosmos 2 in April. In the last 400 years this rich medium has become almost extinct, Raghu-nath not only brought it back but also modernised it with his approach and selection of subjects.

Mukh O MukhoshA unique and modern display of masks organised by Gallery Kaya, titled Mukh O Mukhosh 4 was the fourth exhibition of the series and started on May 31 at Gallery Kaya. The display of masks at the exhi-bition consists of astounding 106 brilliant pieces of work by 19 con-temporary artists.

In search of Kalpana ChakmaShahidul Alam’s photo-forensic study established through an ex-hibition titled In search of Kalpana Chakma held at the Drik Gallery from June 12-21.

Chobi Mela VIIThe seventh instalment of the largest photography exhibition in Bangla-desh was held from January 25 to February 7, at various venues, including Alliance Francaise de Dhaka, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Drik Gallery and Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts. The exhibition, which featured both local and foreign photographers, gained massive coverage in both national and international media.

Print exhibition by Biren ShomeEminent artist Biren Shome brought out a solo exhibition of his print works at the Kibria Printmaking Studio of the Dhaka Art Centre. The prints were made through etching, collagraph and relief print making processes. Most of the relief print works were black and white.

Quest for RealityOn the occasion of the 70th birthday of noted artist Ra� qun Nabi, a remark-able exhibition titled Quest for Reality was an extensive display of 120 art-works, including an elaborate collection of Nabi’s water colours, oil paint-ings, wood engravings and many other mediums. It was held at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts from December 7-19.

Daag-Tamasha Shishir Bhattacharjee held a solo art exhibition titled Daag-Tamasha at the Dhaka Art Centre. Fantasy, humour and satire have always prevailed in his works.

Con� ict WithinInternationally acclaimed Indian artist KS Radhkrishnan’s solo show, which was listed as one of the top � ve solo exhibitions by Indian artists in Asia by ArtInfo, was held at the Bengal Art Lounge. The exhibition displayed a multitude of bronze � gures in ascending and descending shapes that call to mind the similarities shared by the humankind despite their continuous � ghts in the name of religion, gender, class and caste.

Shabnoor embraces motherhood n Entertainment Desk

Famed actor of Dhallywood Shabnoor gave birth to a baby boy yesterday at Sydney.

Once a leading lady of the � lm industry, Shabnoor had been irregular in the showbiz for quite a few years and the news of her marriage to Anik was kept hidden from the media. Shabnoor disclosed her marriage a few days back with the news of being pregnant which was a buzzing news of the year.

Shabnoor is one of the most popular and successful Bangladeshi � lm actors who made her debut on screen in Chaandni Raate. However, her commercial successful movie was Tomakey Chai with co-actor Salman Shah in 1994.

Shabnoor earned the National Film Award in 2006 for the � lm Dui Noyoner Alo. She has also achieved Meril Prothom Alo Awards more than once. Chawa Theke Pawa, Anando Osru, Jibon Sangsar, Swapner Thikana and Bhalobasha Kare Koy are a few remarkable � lms by the actor. l

Rock star James entertained a houseful audience on December 28 at Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Gulshan SADIA MARIUM

Ranveer and Arjun celebrate friendship in Gundayn Entertainment Desk

Yash Raj Films’ is ready to let loose best � nds Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor together in upcoming action drama � lm Gunday.

Set in Bengal, Gunday tells the tale of two friends Bikram and Bala, who grow up from being small time wagon breakers and coal thieves to becoming the biggest and most powerful ma� a coal men. Not only are the duo thick as thieves, but they are also in love with the same girl – Nandita. The Ali Abbas Zafar � lm is set to release on

February 14.The makers released a

reverberating track Jashn e Ishqa featuring the lead male actors on December 26.

The track, like the � rst trailer of the � lm, does not introduce the � lm’s lead female actor Priyanka Chopra. The song is a celebration of Bikram (Ranveer Singh) and Bala’s (Arjun Kapoor) friendship and power in Kolkata of 1970s. Jashn e Ishqa introduces the audience to ‘Kolkata’s most loved, celebrated, reckless, fearless and powerful goons. l

Popular faces of showbiz, Prova, Niloy and Romana will be seen together � rst time on small screen. Currently they are working on drama Chhuye Gelo Mon, directed and written by Shamima Sammi. Romana will be seen as Chhoa, Prova as Borsha and Niloy as Abir

Abahani Ltd v Prime Bank CCPrime Bank175/6 in 20 overs (Anamul 69, Sabbir 26, Mahmudullah 2/20, Nabil 2/40)Abahani159/5 in 20 overs (Milon 46*, Sohrawardi 35*, Sabbir 1/3, Shakib 1/24)

Prime Bank won by 16 runs

MSC v UCB BCB XIUCB BCB217/4 in 20 overs (Tamim 130, Mithun 41, Dewan 2/53)MSC188/10 in 18.4 overs (Jahurul 80, Juniad 36, Muktar 3/29)

BRIEF SCORES

Bangladesh U-19 169/10 in 45.1 overNazmul Hossain Shanto 58, Mosaddek Hossain 25Abdullah Adil 26/3, Sayed Shirzad 33/3

Afghanistan U-19 153/10 in 48.4 overNasir Ahmadzai 53Musta� zur Rahman 19/2, Mehedy Hasan 23/2

Bangladesh won by 16 runs

BRIEF SCORE

13DHAKA TRIBUNEMonday, December 30, 2013

SportDid you know?

Arsenal end 2013 having collected at least � ve more Premier League

points (82) than any other side

14 Giroud helps Arsenal regain top spot

15 Ruthless Australia march to 4-0 Ashes lead

DAYS TO GO

0 7 6

UCB BCB XI batsmen Tamim Iqbal celebrates his century against Mohammedan at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

BPL suspended n Raihan Mahmood

Football su� ered an unwanted disrup-tion due to the ongo-ing political turmoil

as Bangladesh Football Federation suspended the Bangladesh Premier League yesterday.

The 3rd match of the Bangladesh Premier League between Abahani Ltd and Brothers Union was supposed to have taken place yesterday but was de-ferred to Monday. Furthermore, with the political turmoil showing no signs of abating, BFF had no option but to stop the league, though not for an in-de� nite period. The general secretary of BFF Abu Naeem Shohag said lack of se-curity was the main cause for the step. “We analysed the overall situation and saw that the existing political situation is not favourable for running the league.

The most important point is lack of security for the players and also the spectators, the authority of police said that they would not be able to put police personnel in the stadium, so we had no option apart but suspend-ing the league. However, we will start the league as soon the situation cools down,” said Shohag.

The seventh edition of the Bangla-desh Premier League started on Friday and only two matches were held before yesterday’s declaration. l

Kallis responds to his school head-master’s plean Bipin Dani

On hearing the  Jacques Kallis’ sud-den retirement news, his school prin-cipal Keith Richardson has sent him a good-luck message to him and wished him to score a century in his farewell Test. 

“Owing to my prior commitment in the family, I won’t be going to Durban to watch his last Test match but Kallis has texted me a message (in reply to my SMS) saying that every e� ort will be made by him to make this Test memorable”, Keith Richardson, the head-master at Wynberg Boys’ High in Cape Town, where Kallis studied, said over telephone.

“The cricket world is fortunate to have experienced the careers of two outstanding cricketers (Kalllis and Tendulkar) over the last two decades. Comparisons between the two are in-evitable - but the true worth of com-paring these two wonderful cricketers is to reveal just how really gifted they both are”, he said. 

“Older by one year, Sachin Ten-dulkar has played in 35 more Tests than Jacques Kallis and has amassed over 2700 more runs. Amazing.

The durability and consis-

tency of this brilliant cricketer is astounding.   Cricket lovers around the world will be in for a treat if anyone ever scores more than his nearly 16,000 runs”, he says about Tendulkar.

“But there are two of Kallis’ achieve-ments that Tendulkar could not beat.   The � rst is that Kallis has 292 Test wickets and secondly that he has held about 200 catches. I predict that it will take a superhuman all-rounder to match Kallis’ remarkable achieve-ments in the future.

If his wickets and catches are taken into account, then we are witnessing one of the most marvellous cricket-ers to have graced the cricket � elds of the world.”,he added before the com-mencement of the Test in Durban on Thursday.

“I have no idea about his post Test- retirement plan, though he is willing to play the World Cup. No wonder so many people visit the school where Kallis made his name – Wynberg Boys’ High in Cape Town.

When they do visit, they always have their picture taken next to the rock which bears his name on the bank above his � eld   -   the Jacques Kallis Oval”, he signed o� . l

Blistering Tamim guides UCB BCB XI into � naln Minhaz Uddin Khan

Prime Bank Cricket Club and UCB BCB XI emerged as the � nal-ists of the Amber Vic-tory Day Twenty20 at Sher-e-Bangla Na-tional Stadium (SBNS)

yesterday. In the � rst game Prime Bank defeated Abahani to secure their spot in the � nal and in the second match, UCB BCB XI clinched victory over Mo-hammedan Sporting Club.

Prime Bank CC and UCB BCB XI will lock horns in the � nal at the SBNS to-morrow.

UCB BCB XI v Mohammedan SCOpening batsman and skipper Tamim Iqbal’s maiden Twenty20 ton aided UCB BCB XI to post a mammoth 217/4 from their 20 overs which was 29 runs too many for Mohammedan to chase down. 

Losing the toss, UCB BCB were sent in to bat � rst and Tamim and Rony Ta-lukder got them o� to a good start with a 34 run stand. After the latter was dis-missed for 11, Tamim and wicket-keep-er batsman Mithun Ali were involved in a massive 137 run stand, with Tamim contributing 94 of the runs. 

The captain, who made a duck in the last match, reached his � rst Twen-ty20 century o� 52 balls. He went on to � nish with 130 o� 64 balls (16 fours, four sixes). Mithun supported him ably with a 27-ball 41 (three fours, two six-es).

 Dewan Sabbir took two wickets for Mohammedan, but conceded 53 runs in his four overs.

In reply, Mohammedan opening batsmen Johurul Islam and Junaid Sid-dique made a fast start and reached 100 in just 7.2 overs. However, with the fall of Jahurul with the total at 118, the wheels came o� for Mohammedan, who then proceeded to lose wickets at regular intervals.

Jahurul made 80 o� 31 balls (seven fours, six sixes) and the ball after he was dismissed playing an unneces-sary shot, Junaid also fell for a 21-ball 36. After Mominul Haque was removed cheaply, Shariar Nafees (16), Taiabur Parvez (19) and Nurul Hasan (18) all chipped in but could not go on. Mo-hammedan were eventually bowled out in the penultimate over for 188.

Paceman Muktar took three wickets for UCB BCB and was at one point on a hat-trick. Emanmul Haque Jr and Shaid

took two wickets each as well. Restricted bowling attack and sharp

� elding by Prime Bank CC saw them march into the � nal after defeating Abahani Limited by 16 runs yesterday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Prime Bank v AbahaniAfter being sent in to bat, Prime Bank lost opener Liton Kumar (3) in the sec-ond over to spinner Nabil Samad, but Anamul Haqe and skipper Shakib al Hasan proceeded to put on 48 runs for the second wicket.

Shakib struck a 19-ball 25 (three fours, one six) while Anamul, who was later named man-of-the-match,

went on to make 69 from 43 balls (� ve fours, three sixes). Middle order bats-men Sabbir Rumman also made a use-ful contribution with 26 o� 25 balls and Prime Bank reached a total of 175/6 from their 20 overs. For Abahani, Nabil and Mahmudullah both claimed two wickets.

In reply, Abahani were unable to put together a substantial partnership and kept losing wickets at regular in-tervals. Openers Shamsur Rahman and Mizanur Rahman were dismissed for 16 and 15 respectively. One down Soumya Sarkar fell cheaply, while stand-in cap-tain Mahmudullah and Mehedi Maruf were unable to go on after getting a start.

A sixth wicket stand of 68 between Nazmul Milon and Sohrawardi Shuvo was the best Abahani could manage but it was not enough. Milon remained unbeaten on 46 o� 38 balls (three six-es) while Shuvo was 35 not out from 27 balls at the end. Abahani � nished at 159/5.

Shakib, Sohag, Taijul Islam and Sabbir took one wicket each for Prime Bank. l

Tamim makes record breaking hundredn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Hard-hitting batsman Tamim Iqbal’s 130 o� 64 balls for UCB BCB XI in the Amber Victory Day Twenty20 at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium led his side into the � nal yesterday.. The left-hand-ed batsman returned to competitive cricket at the Twenty20 tournament after having been out of action with an abdomen injury he sustained in the home series against New Zealand in October-November this year.

“I had not held a cricket bat for a month when I started playing this tournament. I was recovering from an injury… a century no matter what level it is scored at, gives you a lot of con� -dence,” Tamim told the media after the match yesterday. 

Tamim further informed that the century will also help him set his mind and rhythm ahead of the home series against Sri Lanka in January and later the Asia Cup. The blistering innings is the highest by a Bangladeshi player in Twenty20 and the eight highest over-all. It was also the fastest hundred by a Bangladeshi, coming up in just 52 balls.

“It was a do-or-die match and it feels special to have performed. I can actually learn a lot from this kind of an innings and it will help me in the World Cup and the T20 series,” he added. 

Rather than following a concrete plan, Tamim stated that he just “went with the � ow”. 

“I tried nothing di� erent. I am the kind of batsman that if I can hit bound-aries within the � rst six balls, then my con� dence level increases. I hit two fours in the � rst two balls, I was going with the � ow,” he said. l

Bangladesh U-19 edge Afghanistann Mazhar Uddin

Bangladesh U-19 registered their sec-ond win in the Asia Cup as the young tigers beat a strong Afghanistan U-19 side by sixteen runs at the Sheikh Za-yed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

Afghanistan started the Asia cup campaign with a bang, beating Sri Lan-ka in their � rst match and they came hard against Bangladesh after winning the toss and opted to � eld. The young tigers struggled in their innings and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

However, middle order batsmen Mosaddek Hossain (25) and Nazmul Hossain Shanto (58) somewhat re-paired the damage, but Bangladesh were bowled out for 169 in 45.1 overs. Abdullah Adil and Sayed Shirzad took three wickets each for Afghanistan.

Chasing the target of 170, Afghani-stan had to contend with a � ne bowl-

ing performance from Bangladesh and also lost wickets regularly. Skipper Nasir Ahmadzai kept his side’s hopes alive with a patient 53 but was run out by his counterpart Mehedy Hasan. Af-

ghanistan went on to be all out for 153 in 48.4 overs.

In the other matches of the day, In-dia U-19 beat Nepal U-19 by nine wick-ets. Nepal were bowled out for 136 in 44.4 over and India easily chased down

the target in 25 overs for the loss of one wicket to claim their second win the tournament.

Sri Lanka U-19 side posted their � rst win against Malaysia. The Lankan’s scored 287/7 from their 50 overs and proceeded to run through Malaysia, who were bowled out for 32 runs in 22.3 overs to give Sri Lanka a 255 run win.

Pakistan U-19 also won their second match of the tournament against host UAE by 150 runs, after totaling 274/9 and restricting UAE to 124 all out in 38.5 over.

Earlier on Saturday, Bangladesh U-19 started their Asia Cup campaign with a big win with left arm fast bowler Abu Haider’s � ve wicket haul crushing Malaysia U-19 side by nine wickets.

Bangladesh U-19 opener Shadman Islam remained unbeaten on 25 with Joyraj Sheikh scoring 10 not out to take Bangladesh to their target (51) in just 10.2 overs. l

Schumi in hospital after ski accident n AFP, Lyon

Formula One legend Michael Schum-acher is receiving treatment in hospital for head injuries after a ski accident at Meribel yesterday, o� cials at the French ski resort reported.

The seven time German world champion, who reportedly owns prop-erty at the resort, was skiing o� -piste with other skiers when he sustained a knock to the head in a fall.

The 44-year-old was hospitalised at the nearby town of Moutiers, o� cials said, before being taken to hospital in Grenoble.

The extent of his injuries was un-clear but according to Christophe Ger-nignon-Lecomte, director of the Meri-bel resort, he was not seriously injured.

Gernignon-Lecomte told Radio Monte Carlo Sport: “He was shocked, a little shaken but conscious. l

India’s Zaheer Khan (L) shakes hands with South Africa’s Jacques Kallis on day four of their second and � nal Test match at the Sahara Stadium Kingsmead in Durban yesterday AFP

Giroud sends Arsenal back to the top, Chelsea down Liverpooln AFP, London

Olivier Giroud ensured Arsenal will � nish 2013 on top of the Premier League as his second half goal clinched a 1-0

win against Newcastle, while Chelsea kept the pressure on the leaders with a 2-1 win over title rivals Liverpool on Sunday.

Arsene Wenger’s side had surren-dered � rst place after Manchester City’s win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, but just 24 hours later the Gunners reclaimed pole position with a hard-fought victory at St James’ Park.

Giroud’s � rst goal since November 23 was enough to give Arsenal their sec-ond successive win and move them one point ahead of second placed City head-ing into the new year.

Arsenal, who were without German playmaker Mesut Ozil, took the lead

when France forward Giroud bagged his 11th goal of the season with a glancing header from Theo Walcott’s free-kick in the 65th minute.

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea came from behind to win the weekend’s mar-quee match-up thanks to goals from Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto’o.

Jose Mourinho’s third placed team are now two points adrift of Arsenal and one behind City, with Liverpool slipping down to � fth spot.

Liverpool had made a dream start when Martin Skrtel bundled home from close-range after Chelsea failed to clear Phillipe Coutinho’s inswinging free-kick.

But Brendan Rodgers’ side also took the lead and still lost at Manchester City on Boxing Day and once again they were unable to hold onto their advantage.

It took the Blues just 14 minutes to equalise as Oscar’s shot hit Mamadou Sakho and bounced towards Belgian mid-� elder Hazard, who seized possession

and blasted an unstoppable shot into the top corner of Simon Mignolet’s goal.

And Chelsea struck again in the 34th minute when Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o met Oscar’s low cross with a prod-ded strike that eluded Mignolet’s weak attempted save.

Liverpool twice appealed in vain for a penalty when Luis Suarez went down under challenges from John Terry and then Eto’o and the Reds were unable to

avoid a second successive defeat.Earlier, Everton climbed into the top

four with a 2-1 win over Southampton at Goodison Park. Romelu Lukaku’s winner meant Roberto Martinez’s side moved above Merseyside rivals Liver-pool into fourth place.

Irish defender Seamus Coleman opened the scoring for Everton with a � ne strike in the ninth minute.

The To� ees were rocked in the 71st minute when Adam Lallana picked out Gaston Ramirez and the Southampton star advanced before smashing a dipping shot past Everton keeper Joel Robles.

But on-loan Chelsea striker Lukaku struck three minutes later to seal Ever-ton’s third win in their last four matches.

Elsewhere, Tim Sherwood celebrated his � rst victory as Tottenham’s perma-nent manager as Stoke were beaten 3-0 at White Hart Lane.

Sherwood had been frustrated by a 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion

in his � rst match since being handed an 18-month contract to replace the sacked Andre Villas-Boas.

But the former Tottenham mid� eld-er, who had overseen a win at South-ampton during his brief spell as Spurs’ caretaker boss, got the � rst victory of his o� cial reign in emphatic fashion.

The north Londoners took the lead in the 37th minute when Ryan Shawcross blocked Emmanuel Adebayor’s acrobat-ic shot with his arms in the penalty area.

Roberto Soldado stepped up to take the penalty and the Spanish striker � red home for his � fth goal of the season and his fourth from the spot.

Belgium mid� elder Mousa Dembele added the second for Spurs in the 65th minute with a low shot into the bottom corner. And Aaron Lennon delivered the knockout blow four minutes later, the England winger curled a cool � n-ish into the top corner for his � rst goal since March. l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 201314

Cech chasing Bonetti’s Chelsea record for most shutoutsn Reuters, London

Petr Cech will reinforce his status as Chelsea’s most decorated goalkeeper if he equals the club record for most clean sheets in Sunday’s heavyweight Premier League showdown against Liverpool.

The 31-year-old Czech international recorded his 207th shutout in the 1-0 victory over Swansea City on Thursday and another one against Liverpool will move him alongside Stamford Bridge great Peter Bonetti.

Bonetti kept 208 clean sheets in 729 appearances in all competi-tions between 1959-79 while Cech has only played 455 games for the Lon-don club.

“It is a great milestone for a goal-keeper,” Cech told the club website (www.chelseafc.com) on Saturday. “It would obviously be fantastic to get the record.

“Beating Swansea ... was an impor-tant three points and now we are in a good position to go face to face with Liverpool.”

Former England international Bonetti won the 1965 League Cup, 1970 FA Cup and 1971 European Cup Win-ners’ Cup but never won the domestic championship.

Cech has lifted the Premier League title three times since joining Chelsea from French club Stade Rennes for a transfer fee of seven million pounds ($11.55 million) in 2004 and also won the Champions League in 2012.

Manchester City are top of the Pre-mier League after Saturday’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace gave them a total of 41 points. l

Fulham coach apologises to travelling fansn Reuters

Coach Rene Meulensteen apologised to Fulham’s travelling fans after his third-from-bottom team were thrashed 6-0 at Hull City on Saturday, their heaviest defeat in the English Premier League.

The Dutchman, who replaced the sacked Martin Jol at the start of the month, made six changes to the side that won 2-1 at Norwich City on Thurs-day and the move back� red as Rob-ert Koren (2), Ahmed Al-Muhamadi, George Boyd, Tom Huddlestone and Matt Fryatt struck for Hull.

“The important thing is we take this on the chin, we learn from it, we bounce back from it and we react,” Meulensteen told reporters.

“I’d also like to issue an apology to the travelling fans. It’s something I didn’t see coming after the good result against Norwich. Losing is hard to take but losing in such a manner is hard for any professional. We need to make sure we don’t look back, we shrug it o� and be ready to react against West Ham United on New Year’s Day.” l

Hair-raiser Huddlestone gets pitch-side trimn AFP, Kingston Upon Hull

Hull City’s Tom Huddlestone scored his � rst goal in over two and a half years on Saturday, before honouring a bet by getting an impromptu pitch-side haircut.

The English mid� elder made a bet during his time with previous club Tot-tenham Hotspur that he would not cut his hair until he next scored a goal.

Having last found the net in Spurs’ 3-3 draw with Arsenal in April 2011, his hair has swelled into a huge afro, but he � nally ended his drought in Hull’s 6-0 victory at home to Fulham.

Huddlestone put Hull 4-0 up in the 67th minute, smashing home from the edge of the area, before running to the

touchline, where a member of the Hull sta� produced a pair of scissors and cut o� a sizeable lock of his hair.

“That (the celebration) has been sorted out since the beginning of last season at Tottenham,” said Huddle-stone, who was also celebrating his 27th birthday on Saturday. “I’ve had to wait until today for it to happen.”

Huddlestone also con� rmed that he had been sponsored for letting his hair grow and would be donating the mon-ey to charity.

“That was the main thing,” he said. “It started as a bit of banter with some of my friends from Nottingham and I set it up for charity. It lasted longer than expected, but it’s for a good cause.

“Thankfully I can cut it now.” l

Michu six weeks out after ankle opn AFP, London

Swansea City forward Michu will be out for around six weeks after under-going surgery on an ankle injury in Portugal, the Premier League club re-vealed on Saturday.

The Spaniard last played in the 1-1 draw at Norwich City on December 15, with manager Michael Laudrup subse-quently revealing that he was due to have an operation.

“Swans striker Michu has today un-dergone a successful ankle operation which will keep him out for six weeks,” read a statement on the club website.

“Michu, who has scored six goals in 19 games this season, missed the fes-tive � xtures with Everton, Chelsea and Aston Villa due to the injury. l

FA to probe Anelka anti-Semitic gesturen Reuters, London

The FA is to investigate an alleged anti-Semitic gesture made by West Brom-wich Albion striker Nicolas Anelka dur-ing Saturday’s 3-3 Premier League draw at West Ham United.

An FA spokesman said his organisa-tion would be launching a probe after Anelka’s actions provoked widespread criticism. The former France striker celebrated the � rst of his two goals against West Ham with an apparent “quenelle” hand signal, made famous by French comedian Dieudonne, which is linked to anti-Semitism.

“Anelka’s gesture is a shocking prov-ocation, disgusting,” French Sports Minister Valerie Fourneyron said on Twitter.

The former Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City

and Paris St Germain striker tried to play down the incident.

“This gesture was a special dedica-tion to my friend Dieudonne,” Anelka said on Twitter.

The 34-year-old was backed by West Brom caretaker coach Keith Downing.

“It is dedicated to a French comedian he knows very well,” said Downing. “I think speculation can be stopped now, it is absolute rubbish really. He is totally unaware of what the problems were or the speculation that has been thrown around, he is totally surprised by it.”

The ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out Of Foot-ball’ campaign group issued a state-ment on the Upton Park incident.

“The campaign is in contact with partners in England and France regard-ing this matter and has o� ered its sup-port to the Football Association in any forthcoming investigation,” it said. l

Russian football great Tsymbalar dies at 44n AFP, Moscow

Former Russian international and Spar-tak Moscow champion Ilya Tsymbalar has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 44 after a glittering career that saw him crowned the country’s top player.

Russia’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta govern-ment daily said the diminutive mid-� elder died on Saturday evening of heart disease.

“Tsymbalar had a reputation as the most talented player in contemporary Russian football history,” the state daily wrote on its website. His calling card was his elegant dribbling and his shot. And as any leader should, Ilya often scored

vital goals,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta said.Tsymbalar was one of the stars of a

glorious Spartak squad that won seven titles in the 1990s and was renowned for its skillful passing reminiscent of Lionel Messi’s present Barcelona side.

The team also included the likes of central defender Yury Nikoforov and Valery Karpin – two of the � rst post-Soviet stars to establish reputations in top western European leagues. Tsym-balar scored 54 goals in 204 matches for Spartak.

He also netted the ball on four occa-sions in 28 caps for Russia during per-formances that included the 1992 World Cup in the United States and the 1996 European Championship in England. l

Pellegrini targets four-pronged challengen AFP, Manchester

Manchester City manager Manuel Pel-legrini believes his side can challenge for four trophies this season after mov-ing top of the Premier League with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

Edin Dzeko struck in the second half of a nervy encounter at the Etihad Sta-dium on Saturday as City maintained their 100 percent home record after � nally breaking down a resolute and enterprising Palace side.

With City also still in contention in the Champions League, the League Cup and the FA Cup, Pellegrini says that they are exactly where he had hoped they would be at the turn of the year.

“We know we are in the position we wanted to be at the beginning of the � rst half (of the season),” he said.

“We are playing in all competitions. In the Capital One (League) Cup we are in the semi-� nal, we quali� ed in the Champions League and we are at the top of the Premier League.

“Maybe eight games ago, nobody believed we could discount six points to Arsenal. We did it. We won the last seven games and we drew one. We must continue this way but we are just in the � rst half of the Premier League.

“The second half will be exactly the same as the � rst one, with � ve or six teams � ghting for the title to the end.”

Dzeko turned in Jesus Navas’s cut-back in the 66th minute to secure the three points that sent City top, but Joe Hart’s performance in goal was also a crucial factor.

Hart pulled o� three � ne saves in the second half to deny Jason Pun-cheon, Mile Jedinak and Joel Ward.

The England international only re-turned to City’s starting line-up for league games in December having be-ing dropped by Pellegrini after a string of poor performances, but he now looks back to his best.

“I think he always knew what we think about him,” said Pellegrini.

“He needed a rest. He worked al-ways very hard but he was always con-� dent he would return to his position. He is playing at his normal performance (level) as the good goalkeeper he is.”

Hart su� ered a nasty cut below his eye when denying Cameron Jerome in the � rst half, which led to the Palace forward going o� with an ankle injury and left the City goalkeeper needing lengthy treatment.

Pellegrini said that Hart’s facial injury was “not serious”, but City later revealed that he had required six stitches.

The City manager also bemoaned Palace’s defensive approach that made it di� cult for his side, which showed six changes from the 2-1 Boxing Day win over Liverpool. l

Arsenal's Olivier Giroud (C) heads and scores his goal against Newcastle United during their English Premier League match at St James' Park in Newcastleyesterday REUTERS

Hull City's English mid� elder Tom Huddlestone (R) celebrates scoring their fourth goal and has his hair cut after pledging not to cut it until he scored during the English Premier League match against Fulham at the KC Stadium in Hull, north-east England on Saturday AFP

RESULTSChelsea 2-1 Liverpool Hazard 18, Eto’o 34 Skrtel 4

Tottenham 3-0 StokeSoldado 37-P, Dembele 65, Lennon 69

Everton 2-1 SouthamptonColeman 9, Ramirez 71Lukaku 74

Newcastle 0-1 Arsenal Giroud 65

15SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

New Zealand, West Indies ODI rained outThe second one-day international be-tween New Zealand and the West Indies was abandoned Sunday due to persis-tent rain. Although it was not heavy rainfall, ground o� cials said part of the out� eld had become too wet to be read-ied for play in time for even a reduced 20-over match. The West Indies lead the � ve-match series 1-0 after winning the opening ODI in Auckland on Boxing Day by two wickets. The next game is in Queenstown on Wednesday.

–AFP

AC Milan hit by El Shaarawy absenceItalian international striker Stephan El Shaarawy’s troubled season got worse on Saturday as AC Milan revealed he would be out of action for almost three months after undergoing a left foot operation. The 21-year-old -- who has rarely played this term through a mixture of injuries and lack of form -- had to undergo the operation after the pain got worse. “Today (Saturday), Stephan El Shaarawy underwent an operation on his foot and will be out of action for around 10 weeks,” the club said in a statement. His long absence will see him miss several Serie A games as well as the Champions League Last 16 � rst leg clash with Spanish side Atletico Madrid on February 19.

–AFP

Sunderland striker Borini hospitalisedSunderland striker Fabio Borini was taken to hospital during the club’s 2-2 draw at Cardi� City on Sunday after complaining of feeling unwell, manager Gus Poyet re-vealed. Borini was substituted at half-time of the match at the Cardi� City Stadium, with Sky Sports reporting that the 22-year-old Italian had subsequently collapsed in the changing room. “He’s at hospital now,” Poyet said after the game. “Fabio was feeling very bad before the game. Just before the game he was sick. We decided together to play, but then at half-time it was impossible for him. “Now to make sure everything is all right we’ve taken him to hospital. Let’s hope it is nothing and he can go back on the plane (to Sunderland) now.” Jack Colback scored a 95th-minute equaliser in the match, which left bottom club Sunderland two points from safety in the Premier League.

–AFP

Djokovic looking forward with BeckerNovak Djokovic saw o� David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 in the � nal of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship on Saturday and wasted no time looking forward to the season ahead with his new coach Boris Becker. The world number two was just too strong for the Spanish world number three and stormed to victory in the ex-hibition title for the third time in a row. It was also his � fth straight title since losing the US Open � nal to Rafael Nadal – and nothing looks likely to stop him going into next month’s Australian Open, where he is aiming for a fourth consecutive title. He also has his sights set on wresting back the world number one slot from Nadal. The 26-year-old Serbian hired former Wimbledon champion Becker to improve his game after a disappointing 2013 by his own high standards. Becker has said he will spend around 20 weeks per year on the ATP Tour with Djokovic and says his young son Amadeus and wife Lilly will join him on occasion. With Becker courtside, Djokovic overcame an early de� cit and said: “I have to say I’m really glad to have Boris on the team. “It’s great that it started with winning this trophy right here. Hopefully, we can win more.” Asked what he expected Becker to bring to the table, Djokovic laughed. “We’ll see, ask me in half a year,” he was quoted as saying by The National. “It’s still too early to say where he is going to take us.”

–AFP

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DAY’S WATCH

Australian batsman Shane Watson (R) celebrates hitting the winning runs against England with teammate Michael Clarke on the fourth day of their fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), in Melbourne yesterday AFP

Lee could have killed Morgan: Hadleen AFP, Wellington

“Incensed” New Zealand cricket great Richard Hadlee claims TV host Piers Morgan could have been killed by Brett Lee in an exhibition over and he wants the former Australian speedster pun-ished.

During Saturday’s tea break in the England-Australia Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Lee left Morgan battered and bruised as he pounded the Englishman with an over of short-pitched deliveries.

“As a former fast bowler I was ap-palled and outraged at what I wit-nessed,” Hadlee said in a column writ-ten for Fairfax News.

The exhibition was organised after Lee challenged Morgan to face an over when the television interviewer ques-tioned the courage of some England batsmen.

“Lee’s brutal assault on Morgan was extremely dangerous and unnecessary. It was clear that Morgan could not bat or defend himself against Lee’s pace

and intimidation,” Hadlee said.“This was a brain explosion of the

highest order. It was a deliberate at-tempt to hit, injure, hurt and maim his opponent that I viewed as a form of grievous bodily harm or a human as-sault that could have proved fatal.”

Morgan, 48, was hit four times on the body by the 37-year-old Lee who only retired from international cricket 17 months ago.

“If he was hit on the head or across the heart the result could have been devastating. Lee bowled only one ball at the wickets, and the other � ve were directed at the batman’s middle to up-per body and head.”

Morgan had only 0.4 of a second to react to the deliveries which were hurled at him at 140 kilometres per hour (87 mph).

Cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, has an edict of fair play and upholding the spirit of the game, and that exhibition compromised those values, Hadlee said. l

Sharapova looks forwardn AFP, Brisbane

A refreshed and relaxed Maria Sharapova believes an injury-enforced break from the game has rekindled her enthusiasm for tennis. Sharapova has not played since August when she was forced to withdraw from the US Open with a right shoulder injury.

The glamorous Russian had earlier su� ered a hip injury, which saw her pull out of two tournaments in July, be-fore a shock � rst-round loss to Sloane Stephens in Cincinatti in early August.

“I’ve had a really healthy o� -season,

something quite unusual because in the last few years I always had a little injury here and there,” she said.

“So that was nice, because I gave myself time to recover and get better.

“I knew from the moment I with-drew from the (US) Open that I was go-ing to give myself the right amount of time that I needed -- whether that was a week, a month, a few months, I didn’t know. Nobody really knew,” she said.

“I’ve played with an injured shoulder for a while, so it was really important for me to take that time,” she added. l

Rogers slays own demons with clinching tonn AFP, Melbourne

Veteran Chris Rogers has bought some extra time for his late-blooming Test ca-reer after becoming the oldest Australia opener for 60 years to score an Ashes cen-tury, in Sunday’s big win over England.

The 36-year-old left-hander had fret-ted before the fourth Test that he was under pressure to hold on to his place.

But Rogers laid that ghost to rest with a match-clinching 116 o� 155 balls to bury England’s victory hopes and put Australia 4-0 up in the series ahead of this week’s � nal Sydney Test.

Despite Rogers’ jitters about his Test place, Clarke said he was an important member of the Ashes-winning side.

“I think it was a fantastic innings. A match-winning innings and he de-serves a lot of credit for it,” Clarke said. “The way he played in the � rst innings was special as well.

“I think some people thrive on that expectation and that extra pressure and Chris certainly seems like one of

those players. I think him and Davy Warner are a very good combination, two very di� erent people, two very dif-ferent players but I think they comple-ment each other really well.” l

Ruthless Australia march to 4-0 Ashes leadn Reuters, Melbourne

Chris Rogers struck a sparkling century to � re Australia to a dominant eight-wicket win in the fourth Ashes test on Sunday, leaving an insipid England star-ing down the barrel of a humiliating se-ries whitewash.

The victory, completed before tea on day four, pushed Australia to a 4-0 series lead and the prospect of sweeping Eng-land in the � fth and � nal test in Sydney seven years after Ricky Ponting’s team whitewashed the tourists in 2006-07.

Needing quick wickets to have any chance of salvaging pride at the Mel-bourne Cricket Ground, England were let down badly by their captain Alastair Cook, who put down two catches at � rst slip in the � rst half-hour to re-prieve Rogers on 19 and his opening partner David Warner for 22.

Though Warner lasted only three

more runs, Rogers combined with num-ber three batsman Shane Watson to � og a demoralised attack, their carefree part-nership of 136 putting the hosts within 31 runs of victory before the opener suc-cumbed for 116.

Australia captain Michael Clarke (six not out) joined Watson (83 not out) to ad-minister the last rites for England, who played out the � nal sessions with a de-� ating weariness that allowed the hosts to mow through the 231 runs required for victory without breaking sweat.

Watson whipped a boundary square to secure the win in style, and charged down the sun-bathed pitch with arms raised as a crowd of more than 38,000 roared their approval. In truth, England surrendered the match on day three when their batsmen collapsed to be all out for 179 after tea, having lost their last � ve wickets for six runs to hand the ini-tiative straight back to the hosts. l

Under-� re Cook wants to stay England captainn AFP, Melbourne

Under-� re Alastair Cook says he wants to carry on as England captain but if the selectors think there is a better man for the job then he would take it on the chin.

Cook’s position is under scrutiny given England’s woeful series, and he ratcheted up the pressure by dropping two crucial catches in the � rst half-hour of Sunday’s play which could have put the Australians under pressure.

It has been a dramatic turnaround from England’s last tour in Australia in 2010-11 when Cook amassed 766 runs at 127.66. Three years later he has scored 232 runs in eight innings at 29.00.

But Cook insists he wants to continue as captain, leaving the big call on his post-Ashes future to the England selectors.

“I’m totally responsible as captain for the team and if, at the end of the series, the selectors decide I’m not the best man for the job, then so be it,” Cook told re-porters after England’s dispiriting loss. It would hurt and I’ve got no plans of going anywhere. I’m desperately trying to use as much of my experience of playing 100 Tests to help turn this team around.

“I’m 100 percent wanting to carry on. If someone makes that decision, and says ‘We think there’s a better man’ or ‘You’re not good enough to do it’, then I have to take that on the chin because as a cap-tain, you’re responsible for the team.” l

ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS 255

AUSTRALIA FIRST INNINGS 204

ENGLAND SECOND INNINGS 179AUSTRALIA SECOND INNINGS(overnight 30-0)C. Rogers c Bairstow b Panesar 116D. Warner c Bairstow b Stokes 25S. Watson not out 83M. Clarke not out 6Extras (nb-1) 1Total (two wickets; 51.5 overs) 231

BOWLINGAnderson 11-2-26-0, Broad 10-0-58-0, Panesar 7.5-0-41-1, Stokes 12-0-50-1 (1-nb), Root 4-1-8-0, Bresnan 7-1-48-0 RESULTAustralia won by 8 wicketsSERIESAustralia lead the � ve-match series 4-0

SCORE CARD

TV host Morgan Piers raises his bat after facing an exhibition over against Brett Lee

Kallis ton sets up Proteas assaultn AFP, Durban

Jacques Kallis hit a century in his � nal Test match and steered South Africa into a strong position on the fourth day of the second and � nal Test against In-dia at Kingsmead on Sunday.

South Africa took a � rst innings lead of 166, then put India under pressure as the tourists reached 68 for two at the close, still trailing by 98 runs.

Kallis made 115, his 45th Test cen-tury. A sixth wicket partnership of 86 with nightwatchman Dale Steyn (44) was achieved with largely cautious batting but set the foundation for a bat-ting assault by Faf du Plessis and Robin Peterson after lunch as South Africa reached a total of 500.

Du Plessis and Peterson hammered 102 runs in the 14.1 overs of play that was possible between lunch and tea.

Peterson was particularly aggres-sive, hitting 61 o� 52 balls, before he was caught going for a big hit.

Rain brought an early tea but the weather cleared in the late afternoon and South Africa bowled 36 overs be-fore bad light � nally stopped play.

Murali Vijay was caught at � rst slip o�

Vernon Philander but Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan dug in before the latter, after batting for two hours and fac-ing 87 balls while scoring 19, fell to a sen-sational catch when he tried to hit left-arm spinner Peterson over midwicket. Du Plessis, � elding about 12 metres from the bat, leapt at full stretch to hold a full-blooded shot with his right hand.

Kallis is second on the all-time list of Test century-makers behind Sachin Tendulkar, who hit 51 hundreds be-fore retiring at the end of India’s series against the West Indies last month.

He moved into third place on the Test run-scorers list on 13,289, one run ahead of India’s Rahul Dravid and behind only Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting of Australia.

There were rare signs of emotion from Kallis after he completed the sin-gle o� Ravindra Jadeja which took him to his hundred. He was hugged by bat-ting partner Dale Steyn and removed his helmet as he acknowledged the ap-plause, seemingly wiping away a tear.

It was one of his slower centuries, ground out over 334 minutes and 273 balls, but it was a vital innings on a slow, turning pitch on which a � rst in-nings lead could prove crucial. l

INDIA, FIRST INNINGS, 334

SOUTH AFRICA, FIRST INNINGS(overnight 299-5)J. Kallis c Dhoni b Jadeja 115D. Steyn c Dhoni b Zaheer Khan 44F. du Plessis run out (R. Sharma) 43R. Peterson c Vijay b Zaheer Khan 61V. Philander not out 0M. Morkel c and b Jadeja 0Extras (b3, lb15, nb3, w2) 23Total (155.2 overs) 500

BOWLINGZaheer Khan 28-4-97-2, Mohammed Shami 27-2-104-1, I. Sharma 31-7-114-0, Jadeja 58.2-15-138-6, R. Sharma 11-1-29-0INDIA, SECOND INNINGSS. Dhawan c Du Plessis b Peterson 19M. Vijay c Smith b Philander 6C. Pujara not out 32V. Kohli not out 11Extras 0Total (2 wkts, 36 overs) 68

BOWLINGSteyn 7-5-5-0, Philander 6-2-9-1, Morkel 6-2-11-0, Peterson 9-2-23-1, Duminy 8-2-20-0

SCORE CARD, DAY 4

Lisicki cruises in heatwave conditionsn AFP, Brisbane

Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki cruised into the second round of the Brisbane International with a straight-sets win over Slovakia’s Magdalena Ry-barikova on Sunday.

Lisicki had no trouble with the Slova-kian or the 42 degrees Celsius heat on Pat Rafter Arena, winning 6-3, 6-4 in 89 min-utes. The popular German in� icted one of only four defeats on Serena Williams in 2013 when she shocked the world number one in the fourth round of Wimbledon. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

HUMAN BODY PARTS AT MATUAIL LANDFILL

Fund shortage halts identi� cation of victimsn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Although three months have passed since 29 human body parts were found in sacks at the Matuail land� ll, no progress has been made in identifying the victims.

There are claims that Jatrabari police station – in charge of the investigation– has placed the much talked-about case in its list of less prioritised cases.

It has been learnt that the process of identifying the victims is on hold now because of negligence on part of the police station, as it has not paid the DNA test fee of Tk1,45,000 (Tk5,000 for each sample test) to the National DNA Pro� ling Laboratory at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The samples had been sent for DNA testing by Jatrabari police station, which requested necessary DNA tests to know the gender identity of the samples.

Sources said a letter was sent by Abu Su� an, scienti� c o� cer of the DNA laboratory, to Sub-Inspector Kazi Jashimuddin, the investigating o� cer of the case, requesting a deposit of

Tk1,45,000 as the DNA test fee; but the police did not respond to it.

Seeking anonymity, a senior o� cial at the DNA lab said the tests could not be carried out without receiving Tk5,000 for each test as per government rules, and there was also a shortage of chemicals to test the DNA samples.

When contacted, Abu Su� an, however, told the Dhaka Tribune that the DNA tests were being carried out, despite the police’s failure to deposit the fee.

On the other hand, SI Jashimuddin admitted to being unable to pay the fees, saying: “I have written two letters to the inspector general’s o� ce requesting funds for the DNA test. As far as I know, the letters had been received but funds have not yet been released.” He expressed hope that the funds would be released soon.

On August 23, a few boys found seven limb-� lled sacks at the Matuail garbage dump and informed the police. It has been learnt that the 29 human body parts included femurs, humeri, tibiae, vertebrae, radii, ribs and molars. l

A day in the realm of terrorn Mohammad Jamil Khan, from

Nilphamari

Before December 14, Ramganj was very much like any other village in Nil-phamari, or for that matter any other around the country.

But things have changed drastically after that fateful day when legendary actor and Awami League Lawmaker Asaduzzaman Noor’s motorcade was attacked by Jamaat-Shibir men and � ve of his associates were killed.

The place is only about 10km away from the o� ce of the Nilpharami dis-trict police chief (SP) and about 6km from the district police lines. That fact that it should not be more than a few minutes’ drive for police, has not been able to comfort the villagers, especially the Hindus.

At 6pm on Saturday, this corre-spondent asked a rickshaw puller if he would take him to the Ramganj village from the Nilphamari district township.

The reply was overwhelming: “I would not go there in the dark of the night even if you gave me Tk1,000.” The usual rickshaw fare should not be more than Tk70-80.

Some other rickshaw pullers and au-to-rickshaw drivers also said the same

– they were not ready to travel into Ramganj at night no matter how much they were o� ered.

The next morning, however, one of the rickshaw pullers agreed to go to Ramganj in exchange for a double fare and on condition that he would take the fare and leave this correspondent if something happened on the way.

On the way, Asad, the rickshaw pull-er, said: “Since the attack on Noor’s motorcade, nobody dares go there [Ramganj] at night. They are scared to go there even in daylight.”

He said the local Awami League leaders and activists had not been stay-ing at home at night fearing attacks by Jamaat-Shibir men. The Hindus had been living in utter fear for their lives. The Jamaat-Shibir men had been van-dalising all vehicles that had been pass-ing Ramganj Bazaar – the place where Noor was attacked.

About a kilometer away from Ramganj village, Asad stopped and asked this correspondent to get down and pay his fare because he did not dare go any closer.

As this correspondent walked in, the atmosphere was unlike anything that could be seen in a normal quiet Bangla-deshi village. The village was quiet all

right, but it was from the tension and fear that has gripped the area since that deadly attack.

Very few men could be seen around because most were hiding fearing at-tack by Jamaat-Shibir men.

Sonatan, a resident of Jelepara, warned me: “Opposition men vandal-ised a potato-laden truck last night [Saturday night] when it was passing through the area.”

The Hindu � sherman could not hold his tears as he gave an account of the predicament. “They [Jamaat-Shibir men] threatened us. They told us to leave the village. I have three small kids. Where will I go if they throw me out? They said if something happened to them, they would attack us � rst.”

About 500 Hindu families from the Ramganj village have been pass-ing their days and nights in utter fear. Some of them have been sleeping at the local Hari Temple at night with bows and arrows, to protect it from the Ja-maat-Shibir vandals.

“We have around � ve and a half thousand arrows with which we guard the temple at night by rotation,” said villager Bidhan.

When asked about police, Bidhan said: “What would police do? They just

patrol the area once or twice a day and raid one or two houses. They do not � nd anyone because the Jamaat-Shibir men leave the area after being tipped o� and come back after the raids are over.”

“Our Nilphamari district has always been a peaceful area. We have never seen anything like this in the last 40 years,” said 55-year old Ziaul, a resident of the village.

The district police super, however, had a completely di� erent view of the situation.

“There is nothing to fear from the Jamaat-Shibir men as police have been continuously chasing the criminals down. We have already made some arrests,” Mohammad Zubayedur Rah-man, Nilphamari police super, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Then why have the Hindus been guarding their temple with bows and arrows?

He replied: “They are doing it from their religious faith. Nothing has hap-pened in the area that might scare them. Who would attack a village that is almost empty, especially when the criminals know that we have beenraiding the area and arresting thecriminals?” l

Polls-time government takes policy decisionsn Asif Showkat Kallol

The polls-time government has ap-proved two major policy proposals, allowing American multinational bev-erage-makers the Coca-Cola Company to invest in Bangladesh, and the import of fertiliser from Canada.

After yesterday’s meetings of the cabinet committee on economic a� airs and the cabinet committee on pur-chase, Finance Minister AMA Muhith admitted that the government had ad-opted a policy decision.

The practice had started with the last caretaker government, which made policy decisions, he said.

“We had no choice but to make policy decisions, because the country needs fertiliser, wheat and more in-vestment. The government must go on. But we have made this decision care-fully,” the minister said.

Sources said despite being acknowl-edged by the prime minister and ap-proved by the � nance minister, and even though there had been time be-fore the polls-time government took over, the cabinet could not make a de-cision to give the go-ahead to the Co-ca-Cola Company proposals.

On November 20, in a speech to the parliament, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the ministers of the inter-im cabinet would not make any policy decisions and would only be doing rou-tine work during the election period.

The cabinet division o� cial said the election time government had suspended the cabinet committee on economic a� airs’ meetings, but three days ago it directed the division to hold a cabinet committee meeting on eco-nomic a� airs.

The committee approved a railway ministry proposal to set up shopping mall and guesthouses on railway land at Chittagong and Comilla, under a public-private-partnership initiative.

The cost of investment will be Tk92.70cr on the 2,129 acres of land in Chittagong, while in Comilla the cost will be Tk294.5cr on a 4432 acres of land, according to the railway ministry proposal.

A proposal from the ministry of lib-eration war a� airs said the Coca-Cola Company, based in the USA, was ready to pay $16m to clear o� all outstanding debts of the state-owned Tabani Bev-erage Co Ltd of Bangladesh, one of the franchisees of Coca-Cola in this country.

After all the debts of Tabani are cleared, the company wants to in-vest another $50m (Tk3.89bn) to start afresh the production of Coca-Cola in Bangladesh.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the government would sign a govern-ment-to-government agreement with Canada on the import of the Muriate of Potash (MOP) fertiliser. As per the proposal, the government will import one lakh tonnes of MOP from Canada and the price will be lower than thefertiliser from Belarus, he said. As per the proposal, BADC and Canadian Commercial Corporation will sign the agreement.

“The Canadian Ambassador in Dha-ka Heather Cruden requested me to get the deal signed within a short time of the import of MOP,” Muhith said.

The cabinet committee on public purchase approved a power division proposal to extend the timeframe of the 55MW Khulna HSD power plant now operated by the UK company Ag-greko International Power Project Ltd, for the next � ve years. Per unit, the cost of power from the plant will be Tk19.55, down from the current Tk21.21 per unit. The committee approved an-other � ve year time extension proposal for the 110MW Khulna Power Company Limited, which will now sell power for Tk15.13 per unit whereas before it was Tk19 per unit. l

1st Bangladeshi Idolgets bail in attemptedmurder casen Our Correspondent, Bandarban

Mong Uching Marma, the � rst Bangla-deshi Idol, secured bail in an attempted murder case lodged about a year ago.

The chief judicial magistrate’s court in Bandarban gave the release order af-ter a bail hearing yesterday.

Mong was accompanied by his law-yer Ikbal Karim when he arrived at the court of chief judicial magistrate Rama-ni Ranjan Chakma around noon.

The court granted him a temporary exemption from personally appearing in court because of an impending tour of the accused.

His lawyer will go to court on his be-half until further notice, sources said.

Mong was charged with “attempt-ed murder” and “drunken brawling” after an investigation into a clash be-tween Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) and United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) about a year ago.

He had long been an active mem-ber of PCP, a student wing of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti. He rose to fame after becoming the � rst Bangladesh Idol on December 13 in the grand � nale of the local version of the popular American reality television show franchise. Hailing from Bandar-ban, Mong is a student of Bandarban Government College and the lead vo-calist of a band called Chikkhhok. l

Yet another two children, now undergoing treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, received injuries in a crude bomb explosion. The bomb went o� as they picked it up after mistaking it for ball DHAKA TRIBUNE

Locals tie a couple to bamboo poles at Rajshahi’s Lakshmipur Bhatapara to shame them for their marriage. Their only fault was that the man, in his mid-20s, married the woman who was about 10 years older than him, which the locals see as a social taboo DHAKA TRIBUNE

Extension of retirement age shelved n Mohosinul Karim

The initiative of increasing the retire-ment age of public servants has been postponed because of strong opposition from a section of bureaucrats and the refusal by the Prime Minister’s O� ce to approve such a policy decision during the polls-time government period.

The public administration ministry has already shelved the proposal to in-crease the retirement age to 60 from 59 years along with another – increasing the age of entry-level public servants to 32 from 30 years. The initiative was taken around a year back.

Though the opposing quarter con-� rmed to the Dhaka Tribune about the hurried move, public administra-tion ministry’s Senior Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder denied working on the issue.

He said the ministry had no such move in the last one year. “It is complete-ly a policy decision. The election-time government will not take or approve any policy decision during this period. We did not get instruction from the govern-

ment high-ups to initiate the move.” According to the ministry o� cials,

Sikder, home ministry’s Senior Secre-tary CQK Mustaq Ahmed, Parliament Secretariat’s Senior Secretary Ashraful Maqbul, BCS Academy’s Rector Sha� q Alam Mehedi and some other high o� -cials would go on pre-retirement leave within a month a two.

Local Government Secretary Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan is set to go to PRL from January 17, said a circular on Tuesday. The contractual appointment of Secretary to the PMO Mollah Wahed-uzzaman is also about to end.

The senior o� cials allegedly were pursuing the government to extend the retirement age so that they could stay in service for one more year, claimed the o� cials opposing the proposal.

The government earlier extended the retirement age of public servants by two years from 57 to 59 on Decem-ber 19, 2011. It was � xed at 57 years af-ter the independence in 1971.

The retirement ceiling was in-creased considering that people’s aver-age life expectancy had increased to 67

from 46 years, and the entry-level age limit to 30 years from 27 in comparison to the post-independence era.

Sources say a section of secretaries, additional secretaries and junior o� -cers, mostly from the 1984 batch, are opposing the proposal fearing that they would be deprived of promotion in due time. Most of them have quali� ed with su� cient scores and are waiting to get promotion to the higher posts.

The objectors are led by some of the additional secretaries at the PMO, local government ministry and communica-tions ministry.

The o� cials in favour of increasing the entry and retirement age stopped the move in the wake of mixed reaction from the civil bureaucracy.

The mid-level o� cials questioned whether the move had been taken in the public interest or for the interest for a few senior o� cials, as around 10 of them would retire next month.

There are around 12 lakh o� cials and employees in government service and around 40,000 retire every year, according to o� cials. l

The election time government had suspended the cabinet committee on economic a� airs’ meetings, but three days ago it directed the division to hold a cabinet committee meeting on economic a� airs

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

Continue to the Business section...

Business

www.dhakatribune.com/business MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2013

E X C H A N G E R A T E SAverage selling rates to public in BDT

Banks Rupali Bank Sonali BankCurrencies SELL BUY SELL BUY

USD 77.4 77.8 77.4 77.8

EURO 105.329 108.5498 105.8082 108.2602

INR 1.1797 1.3361 1.18 1.28

SAR 20.5372 21.0055 20.5341 21.0101

DSE to install new trading engine soonn Kayes Sohel

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) is set to launch a new trading engine soon to put o� repeated technical glitches, par-ticularly on occasions of every debut stocks.

Failure of existing decade-old trad-ing platform to entertain huge buy-sale orders at a time has prompted the prime bourse to look for new trading engine.

The existing trading engine TESA and trading terminal MSA Plus will be re-placed by a new trading software as early as possible, said a DSE o� cial.

As part of the process, NASDAQ OMX, the world’s largest exchange company based in the US, alreadycompleted design study of DSE’srequirement and submitted a � nal re-port.

Millennium IT, a leading Sri Lankan information technology solutions pro-vider, specialised in IT solutions for the � nancial and telecom industries, will implement the system.

It currently provides IT solutions for Chittagong Stock Exchange.

“We are seriously working on mak-ing everything � t for smooth trading,” said DSE chief technology o� cer ASM Khairuzzaman.

The decade-old trading engine will be replaced with modern world-class technology to remove concern of tech-nical glitches, he said, adding that the trading system up-gradation is acontinuous process of the stock ex-change.

Investors were losing trading hours at di� erent times and faced di� cul-ties in placing buy and sell orders ofstocks, including Appollo Ispatand Orion Parma on their � rst debut day.

The present system fails to take huge buy-sale order for single compa-ny stocks, depriving many to execute trading.

“The performance of the present trading platform was faulty as it failed to execute transactions on a number of occasions when a new company made debut,” said a stock broker.

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission instructed the DSE to re-place its trading software in July fol-lowing losses of trading hours over frequent technical glitches on the MSA Plus trading platform.

In February, the DSE board formed a � ve-member panel to look after the matter.

The body found the MSA Plus plat-form, acquired from UK-based soft-ware vendor Xchanging for around $600,000, is faulty and recommended replacing by a new one.

The DSE started its journey of au-tomation on August, 1998 and it made a major up-gradation in DSE trading system and its infrastructure on 2005. At the end of 2010, DSE enhanced its ICT Infrastructure Capacity to six lakh trades per day.

To meet the potential growth of the trades and prospective investors, DSE upgraded its trading application MSA to MSA-Plus (upgraded TESA client part), which started on June 2012. l

Sluggish credit growth to shrink banks’ pro� tn Jebun Nesa Alo

Fall in credit growth may a� ect the yearly pro� t earning of the country’s commercial banks in 2013, said a senior banker.

He said as the banks’ deposit could not be mobilised during the year due to intensifying political unrest, the annu-al pro� ts will drop.

“This is a very bad situation for the banking sector. Unrest will push the pro� ts down,” said Ehsan Khasru, managing director of Prime Bank.

Bangladesh Bank data showed over-all credit growth in the � rst 11 months of the year slowed to 9.5% against the central bank’s target of 15.5% in its monetary policy.

The credit has been growing at sin-gle-digit rates since June.

Credit demand from the entrepre-neurs has been sluggish as they are not willing to make any investment in such a situation gripped by political chaos.

Ehsan Khasru said the non-perform-ing loans (NPL) will be higher as the amount of idle money in the banks has soared thanks to the ongoing politicalunrest.

“Currently, NPL is 12%, which may exceed 15% at the end of the year. This is very bad for the banking sector.”

According to Bangladesh Bank data, the private sector credit in � rst quarter of current � scal year grew by 12% com-pared to 19.3% a year ago.

The banks’ advances to the trans-

ports and communication sector had fallen to 43.5% in � rst quarter of this � scal.

The credit to the industrial, con-struction and business sectors de-creased respectively by 8.9%, 9.9% and 12.9% in the period.

The highest share of bank advances went to the business sector, which was 38.7%, followed by industrial sector’s 19.9% and working capital � nancing’s 15% in the period.

“Banks’ credit is falling sharply due to many factors. Political uncertainty is a major factor,” said Ehsan Khasru.

He also said the banks have also be-come now the target of attacks by the political activists.

“We could not re� ll ATM booths and meet demand for last one month due to political unrest.”

The banking business would be hit hard if money remained stuck and could not be mobilised, he said.

According to the central bank data, the state-owned commercial banks also witnessed fall in credit.

The credit grew by 2.79% in 11 months of 2013.

The provision shortfall of the bank-ing sector increased to Tk3,280 crore in September from Tk2,460 crore in June.

Return on assets, an important measure of bank pro� tability, declined marginally to 0.61% at the end of June, 2013 from 0.64% at the end of Decem-ber 2012, according to the Bangladesh Bank’s quarterly report. l

Carrying � shes on their heads, the vendors are walking towards the doorsteps of city-dwellers. They buy � sh from wholesalers and retail them in residential areas. Due to political unrest, the consumers now face di� culties to reach kitchen markets. The photo was taken yesterday from the capital’s Jatrabari area MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Foreign aid up 2% in � rst 5 months of FY14n Tribune Report

Foreign aid � ow to Bangladesh in-creased by almost 2% in the � rst � ve months of the current � scal year, de-spite prolonged political turmoil.

In July-November period of the current � scal (2013-14) it stood at US$ 987m, a marginal increase of 1.9% or $18m from $969m recorded in the same period a year earlier, accord-ing the Economic Relations Division (ERD).

“There is nothing to be happier about it as the foreign aid � ow should have been higher at least by $600-$700m during the period,” said former � nance adviser to the caretaker gov-ernment Mirza Azizul Islam.

Islam sees foreign aid � ow might take heat of ongoing political unrest in the coming days. “Recent stance of USA and EU countries about the Ban-gladesh political issue might in� uence on major donors like World Bank and IMF about aid disbursement,” he said.

The ERD statistics showed that out of total $987m aid � ow during the peri-od, the government received $740.8m in loans and $246.7m in grants. Of $1,437.4m aid commitments from the donor agencies, $1,262.5m came in the form of loans and $ 174.9m in grants in � rst � ve months of the current � scal.

Of the major multilateral and bilat-eral donors, the World Bank disbursed the highest amount of over $287m as loans and around $55m grants.

The implementation of aid-depen-dent development projects slowed down due to the ongoing restive politics, which resulted in moder-ate aid disbursement, said an ERDo� cial.

The former � nance adviser said the project implementation will be slowed down in days to come as supply of ad-ministrative machineries will be dis-rupted by the political programmes. But the aid receiving countries should implement the projects in a speedy manner to get the aid released quickly.

According to the ERD, the govern-ment had received foreign assistanc-es of $2.8bn in FY2013 and $2bn inFY12.

The government has set a target of $3.3bn in foreign aid for the current � s-cal year to support the socio-economic development of the country. l

The decade-old trading engine will be replaced with modern world-class technology to remove concern of technical glitches, adding that the trading system up-gradation is a continuous process of the stock exchange

S T O C K SDSEX 0.21% 4209.69 ▲

DS30 0.16% 1450.29 ▲

CSEX 0.19% 8269.71 ▲

Yen faces selling pressure in Asian tradingn AFP, Tokyo

The yen faced selling pressure in Asia Friday as speculation of more Bank of Japan monetary easing weighed on the unit, while upbeat US data supported the dollar.

The greenback was trading around � ve-year highs in Tokyo, buying 104.77 yen against 104.82 yen in New York Thursday.

The US unit brie� y topped the 105 yen level earlier Friday, after US week-ly jobless claims fell more than expect-ed - o� ering more evidence of a � rm-

ing US economy.“Players adjusted their dollar-long

position after the dollar topped 105 yen,” said Yosuke Hosokawa, a dealer at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

“But yen-selling pressure appears strong. It would be no surprise to see the dollar rise to 110 yen in the Janu-ary-March quarter,” Hosokawa told Dow Jones Newswires.

The euro jumped past � ve-year highs to 143.88 yen from 143.51 yen in US trade while it fetched $1.3733 against $1.3692.

The yen has been in retreat for most

of this year as the BoJ’s aggressive eas-ing programme held down the unit, while the US Federal Reserve’s deci-sion last week to start scaling back its own bond-buying programme in Janu-ary gave the dollar a lift.

The pullback on Fed asset purchas-es means fewer dollars in the � nan-cial system, boosting demand for the greenback.

While the BoJ held o� fresh poli-cy measures following a meeting last week, its chief Haruhiko Kuroda met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thurs-day, helping to stoke speculation of more easing after Japan’s third-quarter growth slowed markedly.

In upbeat news, consumer price data published Friday showed that Ja-pan’s war on de� ation got a boost last month with a key in� ation indicator rising at its fastest pace in 15 years.

Reversing years of falling prices is the centrepiece of Abe’s bid to kickstart the world’s third-largest economy.

The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Paci� c currencies. It slipped to Sg$1.2677 from Sg$1.2681 the previ-ous day, to Tw$29.97 from Tw$30.00, to 1,055.00 South Korean won from 1,059.10 won and to 44.35 Philippine pesos from 44.41 pesos.

The dollar also declined to 32.81 Thai baht from 32.82 baht while it strengthened to 12,278 Indonesian ru-piah from 12,140 rupiah and to 62.10 Indian rupees from 61.97 rupees.

The Australian dollar rose to 88.85 US cents from 88.83 cents. The Chinese yuan was unchanged at 17.26 yen. l

BB extends time to reschedule loansn Tribune Business Desk

Bangladesh Bank has asked all banks and � nancial institutions to allow small and medium enterprises (SME), agriculture and all other productive sectors six more months up to June 30 next to reschedule loans.

The sectors would be entitled to take advantage of the extension if they are a� ected by the on-going political dead-lock, said a circular issued yesterday.

The central bank said the persisting political unrest already had negative impact on agriculture, industries and other business, particularly disrupting the normal transportation of goods and eraw materials.

It asked banks and � nancial institu-tions to consider the impact of political unrest on various productive sectors and business to receive down payment and allow loan rescheduling.

The banks and � nancial institutions should, however, obtain permission from their respective authorities and no objection from BB before allowing anyone the extended time for the loan rescheduling. l

The sectors would be entitled to take advantage of the extension if they are a� ected by the on-going political deadlock

B3 Kay & Que worstDSE loser

B4 Top business story in 2013: Booming stock markets

B2 Stock Monday, December 30, 2013

DSE turnover dips 2-month lowHigh political tension dampens investor moodn Kayes Sohel

The Dhaka Stock Exchange turnover plunged two-month low yesterday as investors were increasingly wor-ried over the current high political tension.

But stocks ended � at after three consecutive sessions of loss-es backed by institutional buying supports, particularly from state-owned Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), sources at the DSE said.

The prime bourse turnover – a ba-rometer in gauging investor partic-ipation in trading – slipped to over Tk264 crore – the poorest turnover since October 27 this year and a sharp fall of 28% over the previous session.

The benchmark DSEX index closed at 4,209 with a slight rise of nearly 9 points or 0.2% to 4,209. The DS30 Index comprising blue chips also gained marginally over 2 points or 0.1% to 1,450.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, rose 16 points to 8,269.

Every trading � oor were empty as investors failed to make presence at the brokerage houses due to trans-port crisis caused by the govern-ment-enforced blockade to thwart

BNP-led opposition’s pre-scheduled programme “March for Democracy.”

Gainers took a marginal lead over the losers as out of 280 issues trad-ed, 127 advanced, 124 declined and 29 remained unchanged.

“While the nation gave in to deep fear of chaos, market responded with a puzzling session,” said IDLC Invest-ment in its daily market analysis.

Turnover plunged 28% as most of the investors adopted wait and see approach, it said. Despite severe po-litical crisis and miserable econom-ic scenario, cement and industries from � nancial sector performed positively.

On the other hand, combined ef-fect of natural correction and nega-tive outlook valued textile declined 1.2%, extending its losing streak.

Activities continued to concen-trate on textile that made up 20% of the total turnover, followed closely by engineering and � nancial insti-tutions.

Lanka Bangla Securities said market lacked interest of investors. Due to political tension regarding opposition called “March for De-mocracy,” investors could not freely go to brokerage houses for trading, it said. “That was apparent in to-day’s low turnover.”

Union Capital was the most trad-ed stocks, followed by Argon Den-im, Appollo Ispat, RN Spinning, Bay Leasing, National Life Insurance, Generation Next Fashion and Lanka Bangla Finance. l

ANALYST

News from trade serverMITHUNKNIT: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on June 30, 2013 to the respective shareholders’ BO Accounts.

TALLUSPIN: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on June 30, 2013 to the respective shareholders’ BO Accounts.

DESHBANDHU: The Company has further informed that due to unavoid-able circumstances, the 7th AGM of the Company will now be held on December 29, 2013 at 9:00 AM at Factory Premises of the Company at Kawadi, Charsindur, Palash, Narsingdi instead of Jamuna Resort, Eastern Approach of Bangabandhu Bridge, Bhuapur, Tangail at 10:00 AM. Other information of the AGM will remain unchanged.

GHAIL: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on June 30, 2013 to the respective shareholders’ BO Accounts on December 26, 2013.

BIFC: Alpha Credit Rating Limited (AlphaRating) has rated the Company as “A-” in the long term and “AR-3” in the short term along with a stable outlook based on audited � nancial information of the Company up to 31st December 2012 and relevant qualitative information up to November 30, 2013.

PRIMEBANK: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors has accepetd the revaluation report on the assets (Land and Building) of the Company. As per revaluation, an increase of Tk. 148.22 crore will be accounted for in the Balance sheet of the Company as at 31.12.2013 subject to approval of the regulatory authorities.

RIGHT SHARE: RUPALILIFE- Subscription 06.04.2014 to 05.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 16.01.2014.

IPO Subscription: Emerald Oil Industries Limited subscription date 06-12 January 2014, NRB upto 21 Januray 2014. At per, face value taka 10 and market lot 500.

Dividend/AGMECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 01.03.2014, RD: 29.12.2013.

BDCOM: 10% Stock, AGM: 25.12.2013, RD: 17.11.2013.

FUWANGCER: 10% Stock, AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 13.11.2013.

STANCERAM: 10% Cash, AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 19.11.2013.

MONNOCERA: 5% Cash, AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 13.11.2013.

LIBRAINFU: 20% Cash, AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 12.11.2013.

FUWANGFOOD: 10% Stock, AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 20.11.2013.

OLYMPIC: 10% Cash and 50% Stock, EGM and AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 21.11.2013.

ZAHINTEX: 5% Cash, 15% Stock, AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 07.11.2013.

PHARMAID: 15% Cash, AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 04.12.2013.

RAHIMAFOOD: 10% Cash to the share-holders other than the Sponsor sharehold-ers, Directors and Deposed Directors, AGM: 26.12.2013, RD: 28.11.2013.

USMANIAGL: 11% Cash & 10% Stock, AGM: postponed, RD: 07.11.2013.

PRIMETEX: 10% Cash, AGM: 28.12.2013, RD: 12.11.2013.

DELTASPINN: 10% Cash, AGM: 28.12.2013. RD: 21.11.2013.

ATLASBANG: 50% Cash, AGM: 28.12.2013, RD: 01.12.2013. EPS of Tk. 9.14, NAV per share of Tk. 222.05.

DESHBANDHU: 5% Stock, AGM: 29.12.2013, RD: 29.10.2013.

METROSPIN: 10% Stock, AGM: 30.12.2013, RD: 17.11.2013.

DAFODILCOM: No dividend, AGM: 30.12.2013, RD: 21.11.2013.

HAKKANIPUL: 5% Cash, AGM: 30.12.2013, RD: 13.11.2013.

GEMINISEA: No dividend, AGM: 30.12.2013, RD: 04.12.2013.

PTL: 12% Stock, AGM: 30.12.2013, RD: 12.12.2013.

DESCO: 10% Cash & 15% Stock, AGM: 04.01.2014, RD: 05.11.2013.

ANWARGALV: 7% Case for general share-holders, AGM: 13.01.2014, RD: 11.11.2013.

MPETROLEUM: 70% Cash & 20% Stock, AGM: 17.01.2014, RD: 28.11.2013.

POWERGRID: 15% Cash, AGM: 18.01.2014, Time: 10:00 AM. RD: 01.12.2013.

EASTRNLUB: 30% Cash, AGM: 25.01.2014, RD: 04.12.2013.

JAMUNAOIL: 90% Cash & 10% Stock, AGM: 25.01.2014, RD: 04.12.2013.

SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 30.01.2014, RD: 19.12.2013.

PADMAOIL: 90% Cash, 10% Stock, AGM: 15.02.2014, RD: 23.12.2013.

SAMORITA: 30% Stock, AGM: 11.01.2014, RD: 25.11.2013.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Yearly

highYearly

lowTurnover in million

Meghna Life Ins. -A -9.91 -11.81 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 128.5 87.2 0.010Delta Brac HFCL-A -9.32 -8.98 53.50 53.50 53.50 53.50 74.0 48.0 0.027Northern G Insur-A -7.82 -7.82 34.20 34.20 34.20 34.20 54.5 27.5 0.051Janata Insur -A -7.63 -7.81 24.20 24.20 24.20 24.20 317.0 24.2 0.019ACI ZERO Bond-A -6.82 -6.82 820.00 820.00 820.00 820.00 900.0 760.0 0.003Usmania Glass -A -6.47 -6.69 130.08 130.10 130.20 130.00 192.0 66.2 0.065Nitol Insurance -A -5.88 -5.88 32.00 32.00 32.00 32.00 47.0 27.6 0.016Rahima Food -Z -5.78 -7.86 59.65 60.30 69.00 57.60 92.9 13.0 2.088Appollo Ispat CL -N -5.21 -6.06 36.76 36.40 37.80 36.10 41.8 35.1 49.639ACI Formulations-A -5.17 -5.19 75.20 75.20 75.20 75.20 96.0 65.1 0.008

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Yearly

highYearly

lowTurnover in million

Kay & Que (BD) -Z -8.70 -8.35 16.80 16.80 16.80 16.80 24.8 12.5 0.034Kohinoor Chem -A -7.43 -7.44 355.00 355.00 355.00 355.00 570.0 145.0 0.178CVO PetroChem RL-Z -6.77 -7.38 576.97 574.10 610.00 569.70 943.7 87.0 18.117BD. Autocars -Z -4.47 -8.25 26.79 27.80 28.10 26.20 60.0 17.5 0.935Modern Dyeing -Z -4.31 -4.04 71.43 71.10 71.50 70.10 183.9 45.2 0.0254th ICB M F-A -4.04 -4.04 192.50 192.50 192.50 192.50 242.1 122.1 0.019Fine Foods A -3.96 -3.65 21.94 21.80 22.70 21.60 33.0 13.2 2.109Appollo Ispat CL -N -3.68 -6.13 36.78 36.60 37.90 36.20 41.5 32.0 106.590Mithun Knitting -A -3.61 -3.27 75.32 74.80 79.00 70.00 140.0 48.9 3.735BD Building Systems -A -3.29 -3.39 68.17 67.70 71.00 63.00 81.7 35.1 25.822

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Appollo Ispat CL -N 1,350,400 49.64 14.02 36.40 -5.21 38.40 37.80 36.10 36.76Golden Son -A 281,257 17.68 4.99 63.80 2.24 62.40 64.90 61.10 62.86R. N. Spinning-A 452,875 16.65 4.70 36.60 -1.88 37.30 37.50 36.40 36.76People`s Leasing-A 617,523 15.56 4.40 25.60 8.02 23.70 25.90 21.40 25.20Bata Shoe Ltd. -A 18,500 12.95 3.66 691.00 0.00 691.00 691.00 691.00 700.00IBBLMPB-A 13,050 12.85 3.63 960.00 -1.03 970.00 985.00 960.00 984.99Islamic Finance-A 609,016 11.45 3.23 19.30 6.63 18.10 19.50 18.00 18.80UNITED AIR-A 628,010 10.33 2.92 16.40 -1.20 16.60 16.70 15.00 16.45Paramount Textile Ltd.-N 184,000 9.65 2.73 51.70 -1.34 52.40 55.80 51.40 52.46Bay Leasing.-A 186,024 7.27 2.05 40.30 4.95 38.40 40.70 37.50 39.10

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Golden Son -A 2,555,265 160.21 6.06 63.80 2.57 62.20 64.90 56.00 62.70BATBCL -A 78,150 132.56 5.02 1610.80 0.68 1600.00 1700.00 1600.00 1696.23 Argon Denims Limited-A 1,355,920 128.90 4.88 95.00 -1.04 96.00 96.30 87.00 95.06Appollo Ispat CL -N 2,898,000 106.59 4.03 36.60 -3.68 38.00 37.90 36.20 36.78R. N. Spinning-A 2,730,627 100.28 3.79 36.60 -1.88 37.30 37.40 34.00 36.72Bay Leasing.-A 2,130,656 85.11 3.22 40.90 5.96 38.60 41.40 35.00 39.94National Life I -A 233,404 71.80 2.72 307.90 2.36 300.80 314.00 280.00 307.62Generation Next-A 1,876,620 67.75 2.56 36.00 -1.10 36.40 36.60 33.00 36.10LankaBangla Fin. -A 952,166 61.29 2.32 65.20 2.03 63.90 65.60 60.00 64.36People`s Leasing-A 2,385,176 60.06 2.27 25.40 6.72 23.80 25.80 21.50 25.18

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Yearly

highYearly

lowTurnover in million

Union Capital -A 9.01 11.94 35.17 35.10 35.40 34.10 38.0 18.0 2.919People`s Leasing-A 8.02 6.28 25.20 25.60 25.90 21.40 38.7 18.7 15.565I P D C -A 7.49 6.49 20.02 20.10 20.20 19.70 22.2 14.6 0.140Islamic Finance-A 6.63 4.33 18.80 19.30 19.50 18.00 25.7 13.0 11.450Samata LeatheR -Z 6.60 6.86 22.60 22.60 23.20 22.00 25.4 9.0 0.023Mercantile Insur -A 5.04 3.41 26.65 27.10 27.20 26.50 35.1 21.0 0.107Bay Leasing.-A 4.95 3.66 39.10 40.30 40.70 37.50 43.5 23.0 7.274First Lease- A 4.91 2.64 33.78 34.20 34.40 33.20 51.9 22.0 3.865Intl. Leasing-B 4.67 3.46 15.56 15.70 15.70 15.30 22.7 12.0 1.923Prime Bank-A 4.66 2.44 24.35 24.70 25.00 21.60 40.0 15.5 0.400

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Yearly

highYearly

lowTurnover in million

Samata LeatheR -Z 9.44 8.34 19.75 19.70 19.80 18.20 27.5 10.7 0.237Union Capital -A 8.95 11.36 34.89 35.30 35.60 30.00 39.9 18.5 7.943Standard Ceramic -A 7.80 6.54 39.77 40.10 40.10 37.00 47.8 19.9 0.022Reliance Insur -A 6.99 7.05 76.54 76.50 78.60 74.10 95.2 54.0 2.258People`s Leasing-A 6.72 6.24 25.18 25.40 25.80 21.50 38.5 18.3 60.064Sinobangla Indu.-A 6.29 2.59 29.67 30.40 31.00 28.50 33.9 17.8 6.482Bay Leasing.-A 5.96 5.55 39.94 40.90 41.40 35.00 43.7 22.5 85.105LafargeS Cement-Z 5.75 4.57 32.72 33.10 33.40 31.20 36.7 28.4 44.550Midas Financing-Z 5.57 9.61 37.76 37.90 39.40 34.80 52.5 24.9 3.342Islamic Finance-A 5.52 4.77 18.90 19.10 19.40 17.00 25.8 12.6 26.221

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 230.85 8.73 23.06 6.51 253.91 8.47NBFI 449.08 16.99 63.07 17.82 512.15 17.09Investment 51.60 1.95 3.73 1.05 55.33 1.85Engineering 446.49 16.89 83.87 23.69 530.37 17.70Food & Allied 217.22 8.22 18.29 5.17 235.51 7.86Fuel & Power 142.24 5.38 13.10 3.70 155.35 5.18Jute 0.90 0.03 0.00 0.90 0.03Textile 514.68 19.47 52.44 14.81 567.12 18.92Pharma & Chemical 144.74 5.48 18.18 5.14 162.92 5.44Paper & Packaging 0.55 0.02 0.17 0.05 0.72 0.02Service 11.94 0.45 0.86 0.24 12.80 0.43Leather 21.22 0.80 15.24 4.31 36.46 1.22Ceramic 25.51 0.97 2.43 0.69 27.94 0.93Cement 72.06 2.73 3.59 1.01 75.65 2.52Information Technology 23.43 0.89 5.39 1.52 28.82 0.96General Insurance 42.09 1.59 2.33 0.66 44.42 1.48Life Insurance 140.38 5.31 5.90 1.67 146.28 4.88Telecom 33.32 1.26 6.73 1.90 40.06 1.34Travel & Leisure 36.58 1.38 11.52 3.25 48.10 1.60Miscellaneous 38.01 1.44 11.23 3.17 49.24 1.64Debenture 0.15 0.01 12.86 3.63 13.01 0.43

MON

TUE

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index 4209.69 (+) 0.21% ▲

DS - 30 Index 1450.28 (+) 0.16% ▲

CSE All Share Index 13035.69 (+) 0.03% ▲

CSE - 30 Index 10688.23 (+) 0.30% ▲

CSE Selected Index 8269.71 (+) 0.19% ▲

DSE key features - December 29, 2013Turnover (Million Taka)

354.00

Turnover (Volume)

10,173,811

Number of Contract 14,750

Traded Issues 207

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

70

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

134

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

1,954.60

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

23.69

CSE key features - December 29, 2013Turnover (Million Taka)

2,643.03

Turnover (Volume)

66,355,387

Number of Contract 73,640

Traded Issues 281

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

84

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

195

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,031.00

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

24.62

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Due to march for Democracy, investors could not freely go to brokerage houses for trading. That was apparent in today’s low turnover

DHAKA TRIBUNE

'While the nation gave in to deep fear of chaos, market responded with a puzzling session'

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

Rajshahi Division Head of First Security Islami Bank Limited Mohammad Jahangir Alam inaugurated its Dhupoil Bazar branch at Natore recently. Among others Bogra Branch Manager Md Anowar Hossain Shah, Rajshahi Branch Manager Md Abdul Awal Akand and Dhupoil Bazar Branch Manager Md Nurul Islam were present

NBL holds scholarship and award giving ceremonyNational Bank Limited arranged a scholarship programme to distribute scholarship, certi� cate of appreciation and crest among the children of the employees of the bank under ‘NBL Em-ployees Welfare Scheme’ at National Bank Training Institute (NBTI) recent-ly. Sixty-six students have been award-ed with scholarship for outstanding re-sult in the HSC and SSC examinations held in 2013.

Additional Managing Director of National Bank Limited AKM Sha� qur Rahman attended the function as chief guest. Deputy Managing Directors Shamsul Huda Khan and Abdul Hamid Mia, Senior Executive Vice President Syed Mohammad Bariqullah spoke at the meeting.

Among others EVP and Head of Sys-tem and Operations division Moham-mad Salim, VP and Head of GBD Md Abdul Wahab, senior executives, o� -cers and sta� s of the bank and parents of scholar students were present. l

NCC Bank Limited launches its 100th branchNCC Bank Limited opened its 100th branch named NCC Bank Bhaban branch at Motijheel, Dhaka yester-day. Chairman of the bank Md Nurun Newaz Salim inaugurated the branch as chief guest.

Managing Director Md Nurul Amin presided over the function while Vice Chairman ASM Mainuddin Monem, Directors MA Awal and Khairul Alam Chaklader attended as special guests. Deputy Managing Director Akhtar Ha-mid Khan gave the vote of thanks.

Chairman Md Nurun Newaz Salim in his speech emphasised on extending modern banking facilities to the cli-

ents. He also stressed on social respon-sibility of the bank and mentioned that the bank is not only working as a pro� t earning organisation but also for social welfare.

Managing Director Mohammed Nurul Amin in his welcome speech cited various schemes of the bank and mentioned that NCC Bank is continu-ing its progression by acquiring satis-faction and trust of the clients.

He emphasised on rendering best possible services to the business com-munity of the area and requested the businessmen to avail the services being o� ered by the bank. l

NRBCB opens new branchThe 10th branch of NRB Commercial Bank Limited (NRBCB) was opened at Mograpara, Sonargaon yesterday. Chairman of the bank Farasath Ali in-augurated the branch.

The inaugural ceremony was at-tended among others by the sponsor

Dr Ra� qul Islam Khan, Managing Di-rector and CEO Dewan Mujibur Rah-man, Senior Executive Vice President Arif Mohammad Sahedul Haque, Vice President Kazi Md Safayet Kabir, Vice President Md Mostahaque and Head of Branch Delwar Hossain. l

Union Capital topgainer for 2nd straight session on DSEn Tribune Business Desk

Union Capital Limited shares yester-day closed at Tk35.3 each, registering highest gain of 8.95% on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

The stock prices rose on the news that the company decided to issue non-convertible preference shares worth of Tk50 crore to strengthenits tier II capital, according to stock brokers.

Holders of non-convertible prefer-ence shares do not have the right to covert their holdings into ordinaryshares, within a speci� ed period of time unlike convertible preference share holders.

Shares of the company ranged be-

tween Tk34 and Tk35.6 during the trading session with a volume worth Tk78.3 lakh.

The company’s pro� t halved due to higher provision of Tk10.6 crore for diminution in value of investment since January 2013, said its unaudited � nancial reports.

The third quarter net pro� t of the non-banking � nancial institutions stood at Tk1.6 crore against Tk4.6 crore in the same period a year earlier.

Its nine-month (January-Septem-ber) pro� t has declined to Tk2.3 crore from Tk5.3 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

According to the unaudited reports, the company stocks have an EPS of Tk0.21 each and a price to earnings ra-tio of 126.07.

The company has a restated net as-set value per share of Tk17 as on year-end of 2012, which is 51.2% of the cur-rent market price.

The company has given out only stock dividends since its listing in 2007 with an exception in 2011 when it paid out 10% cash dividend and same per-centage stock dividend.

Sponsors-directors hold 55.97% and public 27.43% stakes in thecompany. l

Kay & Que worst DSE loserSetback in sales takes on Q3 performancen Tahmidur Rahman

The price of Kay & Que shares erod-ed by 8.7% to close at Tk16.8 each on the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday, with a traded volume worth around Tk33,600.

The “Z” category stock recently rose up to Tk20.7 on December 11, which is six-month high.

The stock increased by 39% during the � rst two weeks of December and brokers believe the recent price hike and fundamental weakness of the company have resulted in yesterday’s price fall.

Kay & Que is the pioneer in man-ufacturing carbon products such as carbon rods for dry cell batteries. The company has also diversi� ed its busi-ness to CNG refuelling stations, pro-cessing and packaging of chemicals alongside the distribution of tar and pitch for the local markets.

Previously, in response to a quarry by Chittagong Stock Exchange on De-cember 11, the company informed the next day that there was no undisclosed price sensitive information for the re-cent unusual price hike.

The company’s cost of goods sold reduced to 85% of sales in the third quarter from 90% of sales in the same period last year. On average, the com-pany’s cost of goods sold has been

more than 87% of sales annually during last � ve years.

The company incurred losses de-spite lower costs as sales dropped substantially – around 50% in the last quarter.

Annual report of 2009 showed that cost of goods sold percentage to sales in 2008 was 83%, same as the year 2009. The company used to make prof-its in the earlier years mainly due to the company’s miscellaneous income.

The company has been consistent-ly reducing its operating expenditures that had no e� ect on the pro� tability because of the signi� cant fall in sales.

Earlier, the company disclosed a quarterly (July 2013 to September 2013) loss of Tk4.3 lakh against a loss of Tk35.3 lakh during the same period last year.

The company has also shown some improvements on the performance during the last nine months. The un-

audited report said losses during last nine months have reduced to Tk33.1 lakh from Tk50.9 lakh of the same pe-riod last year.

The accumulated loss of the compa-ny as on September 30, 2013 stood at Tk2.27 crore.

The company has a net asset value of Tk5.45 as of 2012, which is less than its face value of Tk10.

The stock price ranged between Tk13 and Tk20.7 in last six months. l

Top India Bitcoin operator halts trade after bank warningn AFP, New Delhi

India’s biggest Bitcoin trading plat-form said on its website Friday it had suspended operations after the central bank warned against the risks of using virtual money.

BuySellBitCo.in closed its platform, citing an advisory by the Reserve Bank of India issued on Christmas Eve high-lighting the risks of trading in digital currencies.

“We are suspending buy and sell op-erations until we can outline a clearer framework with which to work,” Buy-SellBitCo.in said on its website, adding the move was “to protect the interest of our customers”.

The central bank’s warning comes after Bitcoin, which can be stored either virtually or on a user’s hard drive and o� ers a largely anonymous payment system, had begun gaining popularity in India. The emergence of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies in India has come despite a traditional preference for assets backed by prop-erty and other tangible goods.

“There is no underlying or backing of any asset for virtual currencies and as such their value seems to be a mat-ter of speculation,” the bank said in its December 24 advisory.

The “huge volatility in the value of

virtual currencies has been noticed”, it added. The central bank stopped shy of issuing a ban on Bitcoin or other vir-tual currencies.

However, because the currencies were not authorised by any monetary authority there was no established recourse for customers in the case of problems, the bank noted.

The move comes weeks after the People’s Bank of China ordered � -nancial institutions not to provideBitcoin-related services and cautioned against its potential use in mon-ey-laundering.

Bitcoin was invented in the wake of the global � nancial crisis by a myste-rious computer guru using the pseud-onym Satoshi Nakamotoby.

At the last rate posted by BuySell-BitCo.in, which was conducting about 12m rupees worth of Bitcoin transac-tions monthly, according to Indian me-dia, one Bitcoin was selling for 48,039 rupees ($776).

The dollar worth of a Bitcoin has

rocketed from just cents in 2010 to a $1,200 peak in early December, but has since fallen back.

Various India-based Bitcoin trading exchanges have emerged in the last few months, allowing Indian users to purchase Bitcoin using the local rupee currency. The Reserve Bank of India noted several media reports of the use virtual currencies, including Bitcoins, for unspeci� ed illegal activities in sev-eral jurisdictions.

The absence of information around who is trading in the currency could expose users to “unintentional breach-es of anti-money laundering and com-bating the � nancing of terrorism laws,” the bank added.

An end-of-year report by Kaspersky Security Bulletin said there appears “little doubt they (e-currencies) are also popular with cybercriminals, who are looking at ways to evade the law”.

It suggested governments may crack down “on the (virtual currency) exchanges in a bid to put a stop to their illicit usage”.

Even though India’s central bank issued no formal ban on e-currencies, The Hindu newspaper quoted an un-named senior banking o� cial as say-ing most virtual currency exchanges in the country saw the RBI advisory as a precursor of a potential clampdown. l

Top French court approves 75% company tax on high salariesn AFP, Paris

France's top court Sunday approved a proposal for companies to pay 75% tax on annual salaries exceeding one mil-lion euros in line with President Fran-cois Hollande's drive to limit executive pay at a time of economic hardship.

The Constitutional Council had ear-lier in the year thrown out one of Hol-lande's key campaign pledges to impose a 75 percent tax on individuals earning more than one million euros ($1.35m).

The rejection of that proposal ex-empted those who had a signi� cant in-heritance but low incomes from com-ing under the 75% tax bracket.

After that setback, Hollande in March mooted a proposal to make companies pay for top earners.

He had said the idea was "not to pun-ish" but added that he hoped it would spur companies to lower executive pay at a time when the economy is su� ering, unemployment is soaring and workers are being asked to accept wage cuts.

Hollande has pledged to rein in spi-ralling unemployment by the end of 2013. The government's belt-tightening budget for 2014 aims to bring down the public de� cit from the current level of 4.1% to 3.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) through spending cuts totalling 15bn euros ($20bn) and new taxes. l

Global property investing to reach seven-year highn Reuters

Global property investing activity is set to hit a seven-year high by volume in 2014, led in part by growing con� dence in � nancial markets and with activity in Europe and Asia expected to heat up, a report said on Friday.

Property consultant Cushman & Wake� eld said it sees global invest-ment volumes rising by up to 15% next year, after climbing an estimated 8.4% to $978bn in 2013.

This would be the highest level since the year before the 2008 � nancial crisis when investors ploughed $1.25tn into property deals.

“The growing level of optimism and activity we are seeing in most regions has its roots in a belief that the global economy is set for calmer waters ahead and that � nancial imbalances are on the mend,” said David Hutchings, head of EMEA region research at Cushman & Wake� eld.

“This is leading to an increase in risk appetites which is manifest in a push to invest across borders,” he added.

Global property growth is expect-ed to be led by the Americas, where

deal volumes have risen the most rapidly and climbing 18-20% nextyear, with investors targetingemerging economies such as Mexico and Brazil.

Activity in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where the e� ects ofthe economic recovery aredeepening, is expected to see a revival due to foreign investment after a sub-dued year.

“With austerity easing and econom-ic growth slow but generally up, better news will continue to spread out in occupier as well as investor markets,” said Jan Willem Bastijn, Cushman & Wake� eld’s head for European Capital Markets.

“Supply will be the big factor for occupiers not just investors in 2014, with a lack of development impacting on choice and leading to higher pricing and in likelihood better performance in some non-core markets,” he added.

Volumes in Asia are expected to climb by up to 7% in 2014, delivering a slower but less volatile performance in recent years as investors looks towards emerging markets such as Indonesia and Philippines. l

The third quarter net pro� t of the non-banking � nancial institutions stood at Tk1.6 crore against Tk4.6 crore in the same period a year earlier

'We are suspending buy and sell operations until we can outline a clearer framework with which to work'

Oil prices down ahead of US stockpiles reportn AFP, Singapore

Oil prices edged lower in Asian trade Friday as dealers looked ahead to a US stockpiles report expected to indi-cate bullish demand in the world’s top crude consumer, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for February de-livery, was down 15 cents at $99.40 in mid-morning trade while Brent North Sea crude for February eased 27 cents to $111.71.

Despite crude coming under pres-sure in Asian trading hours, Ric Spoon-er, chief market analyst at CMC Mar-kets in Sydney, said prices retained support as traders anticipated the US report would show a signi� cant fall in petroleum supplies.

Traders are “positioning themselves for the possibility of some good inven-tory � gures”, Spooner told AFP.

The report from the US Department of Energy is usually released on Wednes-days, but it has been delayed until Fri-day due to the Christmas holidays.

Analysts expect a decline in US sup-plies of 2.2 million barrels, according to a survey by the Wall Street Journal. This would mean a fourth consecutive drop after a 10-week run of rises that added 35 million barrels to total stockpiles.

A dip in US stockpiles indicates strong demand in the world’s biggest economy and oil consuming nation, propping up prices. l

Top business story in 2013: Booming stock marketsn AP

It was an easy year to emulate War-ren Bu� ett even as Congress almost wrecked the US economy.

US stocks rocketed to new heights, and markets in Japan and Europe jumped, too. The gains enriched inves-tors and de� ed a still-subpar economic rebound from the Great Recession.

Budget � ghts closed much of the US government for 16 days. Leaked classi� ed documents showed that the National Security Agency collected pri-vate online communications via Inter-net companies. The disastrous rollout of President Barack Obama’s health care law con� rmed fears of a bureau-cratic train wreck.

Central banks embarked on a shop-ping spree. JPMorgan Chase paid a re-cord $13bn for its role in the housing bust. General Motors � ashed signs of its old horsepower. A colossal merger for American Airlines and US Airways took � ight. Twitter’s IPO recalled the dizzy dot.com era. And the heartbreak-ing deaths of 1,100 garment workers in Bangladesh showed that some over-seas factories serving US companies remain unsafe.

The stock market boom was cho-sen as the top business story of 2013 by business editors at The Associated Press. Washington’s gridlock and dys-function came in second, followed by revelations involving the NSA.

Here are the top 10 business stories of 2013:

1. Stock markets surgeThe Dow Jones industrial average set a record in March and hardly stopped to celebrate. The blue chip average has soared roughly 25 percent so far, its best performance in a decade. Stocks stand out as among the few areas of the economy to fully recover from the 2008 � nancial crisis.

The Federal Reserve’s bond pur-chases helped cut long-term interest rates, making stocks more alluring than bonds. Also, companies boosted share prices through an unusually large $751 billion in stock buybacks. And corpo-rate pro� ts achieved a record share of the US economy. The explosiveness of the stock rally prompted fears of a bub-ble because economic growth has been tepid by historical standards.

2. Federal chaosCongress nearly derailed the economy — not once but several times. Lawmak-ers allowed a Social Security tax cut to

lapse after Jan. 1, which shrank Amer-icans’ paychecks. Then they let deep federal spending cuts take e� ect in March because they couldn’t agree on a budget. The dysfunction peaked in October: Unable to pass a 2014 budget, Congress shut down part of the gov-ernment for 16 days. National parks were closed. Federal employees stayed home. The government even risked a default on its debt until, with just hours to spare, Congress reopened the government and by December forged a two-year budget deal.

3. Tech companies and NSABig Brother has logged on. The US government gathered data on online messages through a program that’s intended to stop terrorism but that touches the communications of ordi-nary Americans. Internet companies already track users and then sell cus-tomized digital advertising. But they reacted indignantly after documents

leaked by a former NSA contractor said the agency had backdoors at Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. The companies said they provided data only as required by federal courts. They tried to mend any public fallout by pressing the Obama administration to curb electronic snooping and to let the companies disclose more informa-tion about government requests for their users’ online activities.

4. Jpmorgan chaseThe biggest US bank agreed to pay $13bn for its part in the housing fren-zy that sparked the � nancial crisis. The agreement dwarfed the previous record settlement with the govern-ment: $4bn against BP for its 2010 oil spill. JPMorgan Chase and banks it had acquired had misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about mortgage bonds it sold them that later went belly up. The settlement represented 60% of JPMor-gan’s 2012 net income. On the bright

side for the bank: Most of the penalty is tax-deductible.

5. Health care lawThe medicine didn’t go down smooth-ly when the new health care law launched in November. It was almost impossible for uninsured individuals and small businesses to sign up on the glitch-ridden federal website. The Obama administration swung into emergency mode to � x the site. But businesses would need to enroll with paper applications until November 2014. The insurance plans o� ered on-line also drew sour reviews. Premiums rose for some small businesses. Others were unhappy with the limited plans and doctor networks. But some busi-nesses were spared the mess. Before the launch, the government delayed until 2015 the mandate that companies with more than 50 employees provide health coverage or pay penalties.

6. Central banks go lowThe Fed and other central banks sup-ported growth by keeping rates ul-tra-low. Investors, home buyers and corporations bene� ted. But many who depend on income from savings accounts su� ered. Chairman Ben Ber-nanke kept the Fed’s key short-term rate near zero and abandoned previous guidance about when a rate increase might eventually occur. The Fed � nally decided in December to pare its bond buying program but will do so very gradually. The Bank of Japan has held rates near zero and pledged to double that country’s money supply by buy-ing bonds. And the European Central Bank cut its rate twice to 0.25%.

7. Bangladesh factoryCheap jeans and T-shirts can impose a human cost. That was driven home in April, when a building in Bangladesh that housed garment factories col-lapsed and killed more than 1,100 peo-

ple. The tragedy put pressure on cloth-iers and retailers such as Wal-Mart, the Gap and H&M to upgrade their working conditions in that nation. The overstu� ed building had cracked from the weight of industrial machines. An-gry garment workers in Bangladesh burned down a nine-story building in November. Protesters managed to se-cure a 77% minimum wage increase to the equivalent of $3.17 a day for new unskilled workers.

8. Airlines mergeAmerican Airlines emerged from bank-ruptcy with a bang — merging with US Airways to form the world’s biggest air-line. The new American Airlines Group handles 6,700 � ights a day to 339 des-tinations. Despite closing the merger in December, the combined company will have to operate as two carriers until their � eets get approval to com-bine, likely within two years. Just four airlines now control 80% of the US market. Less competition has returned airlines to pro� tability, but tickets are getting pricier as carriers limit seats. Analysts said fewer competitors and a more concentrated control of routes will likely mean higher fares.

9. Twitter IPOThe business of 140-character blast communiques thrilled Wall Street. Twitter went public in November at $26 a share; the price has since more than doubled. It was among 222 IPOs this year, the most since 2000. But Twitter is trading at an extremely high 50 times its projected annual revenue. That’s evidence of both hype and the expectations being imposed on social media companies to deliver growth. Facebook’s shares rebounded after its IPO � op last year. LinkedIn and Yelp also gained. But there were losers in the social media world: Shares of Grou-pon and game-maker Zynga tanked.

10. Gm comebackJust six years ago, General Motors — and, by extension, much of the US manufacturing base — needed taxpayer life support. But the automaker behind Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and GMC has roared back. The Treasury Department unwound its stake in GM this year at a $10.5bn loss. But the government res-cue saved more than 1 million jobs and helped return once-dominant GM to pro� table health. It boasts $26.8bn in cash, $1.3bn to upgrade � ve Midwest factories and a new CEO: Mary Barra, the � rst female head of a major US car company. l

EU banking union too complicated, too slown AFP, Brussels

An EU system to prevent a repeat of the massive bank bailouts which crip-pled the economy is a major step but it is also too complicated when speed is absolutely essential, analysts said.

“From the moment a bank is identi-� ed as being at risk, up to the moment it is closed, the new system might require approvals from as many as 100 people,” said Annalisa Piazza of Newedge.

The authorities must wind up a fail-ing bank as quickly as possible, and above all, while the markets are closed if they want to limit the fallout and the possibility of a run on deposits.

Fail to do that and the risk is one prob-lem bank will bring down others, set-ting o� a disastrous chain reaction and sucking in governments, as in Ireland, which eventually had to seek an inter-national bailout.

EU � nance ministers agreed Wednesday a Single Resolution Mech-anism to close problem banks, with the cost covered by a special bank levy to be phased in by 2025.

The SRM will work alongside an al-ready agreed new supervisory regime run by the European Central Bank.

The last element, a common deposit guarantee system to reassure nervous savers, was put in place Tuesday after European Parliament approval.

This banking union system was drawn up in response to the � nancial and then debt crises which brought down many banks and drove the euro-zone into a deep and damaging reces-sion.

It involves possibly the biggest

transfer of national sovereignty to Brussels since the euro was created and as a result, required painful com-promises which show up clearly in its workings.

For example, some countries such as EU powerhouse Germany were re-luctant to give Brussels too much pow-er over their banking system.

France, in contrast, pushed for a ful-ly centralised ‘single system’ covering all eurozone banks, not just the larger ones, arguing that problems often arise � rst in the smaller lenders.

For Paris, it was the European Com-mission that should oversee the SRM and so have the last word on a bank closure decision.

In the event, an SRM board will de-cide and while the Commission has the right to object, it will have to get the EU � nance ministers to back it up -- a pro-cess likely to take much too long to be a practical option.

A Berenberg Bank research report said the banking union was a “historic step” but also a compromise between countries “worried about the stability of their banks and those unwilling to put their taxpayers’ money at risk”.

In the end, it was the latter - cham-pioned by Germany - which largely won out but with the result that there are “certain weaknesses in the small print of the plan,” it said.

“The Single Resolution Mechanism is ‘single’ only in name compared with the Single Supervisory Mechanism at the ECB,” said Nicolas Veron of the Bruegel Institute in Brussels.

“In the supervision system, there is real pooling of sovereignty but (with the SRM), it is still everyone for them-selves,” Veron said.

Martin Schulz, head of the Euro-pean Parliament which must now approve the accord, warned bluntly the SRM could not work fast enough, precisely because the Commission has been e� ectively sidelined.

The process “is comparable to deal-ing with an emergency admission to hospital by � rst convening the hospi-tal’s board of directors instead of giv-

ing the patient immediate treatment,” Schulz told an EU leaders summit Thursday.

“If a bank cannot be wound up

within a weekend in order to prevent a run on the banks, the system is too complicated,” he said.

A banking union built on this ba-

sis “would be the biggest mistake yet in the resolution of the crisis” and could even “jeopardise � nancialstability.” l

CareerB4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, December 30, 2013

McDonald’s shuts worker websiteMcDonald’s Corp. has shut down a website intended to provide employ-ees with work and life guidance after it generated negative publicity for the fast-food company. The McResource program has been criticized as creat-ing unrealistic budgets and o� eringadvice that was out of touch with its workers’ pay. The website, which was run by an outside company, also re-portedly discouraged workers from eating fast food. McDonald’s, based in Oak Brook, Ill., said Thursday that it was having its vendor take down the web-site. “Between links to irrelevant or out-dated information, along with outside groups taking elements out of context, this created unwarranted scrutiny and inappropriate commentary,” the com-pany said in a statement. – AP

US mortgage rates rise to 4.48%Average US rates for � xed mortgages crept higher this week but remained low by historical standards. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan increased to 4.48% from 4.47% last week. The average on the 15-year � xed loan rose to 3.52% from 3.51%. Mortgage rates peaked at 4.6% in August on expectations that the Federal Reserve would reduce its $85bn a month in bond purchases. Those purchases push mortgage and other long-term rates lower, and encourage borrowing and spending. – AP

US economic growth gauge strengthens slightly: ECRIA measure of future US economic growth increased last week while the annualized growth rate slowed, a re-search group said on Friday. – Reuters

Apple asks US court to ban Samsung phones, tabletsApple has asked a federal judge to bar US sales of Samsung smartphones and tablet computers in the blockbuster patent case involving the two electron-ics giants.

NEWS IN BRIEF

European Central Banksupervises

130 biggest banks

Single SupervisoryMechanism

If a bank fails:

(18 as of Jan 1, 2014)

National authoritiessupervise

the other 6,000

Common wind-up fund

Paid for by levies onall eurozone banks

55 billion eurosin fund by 2025

Central authority

European Banking UnionFor all eurozone states

Single ResolutionMechanism (SRM)

Transition phase (2015-2025) Smaller savers protectedIf a bank fails before 2025, the SRM can borrow money from governments, marketsor the eurozone’s country bailout fund (the European Stability Mechanism)

Deposit guarantee schemeprotects savers with less than100,000 euros when a bank fails

which covers costs of closingor bailing out banks

with power to closefailing banks

From the moment a bank is identi� ed as being at risk, up to the moment it is closed, the new system might require approvals from as many as 100 people