SECOND EDITION

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 | Ashwin 16, 1422, Zilhaj 16, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 165 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

2 NOTCHES UP IN GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS PAGE 15

AUSTRALIA TOUR DECISION LIKELY TODAY PAGE 32

MUSLIM COUNTRIES: IT’S NOT A TERRORIST ACT PAGE 3

n Ashif Islam Shaon

As the Supreme Court yesterday released the full text of verdicts in the appeal cases of war criminals Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, the defence are now preparing for � ling review petitions against the judgements that con� rmed the duo’s death penalty.

Chief Justice SK Sinha, who heads the four-member Appellate Division bench, wrote the main part of judgement in BNP

leader Salauddin’s case, delivered on July 29. The other members of the bench are Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

Justice Hasan prepared the main part of Mujahid’s verdict. The top court on June 16 upheld his capital punishment given by a war crimes tribunal in 2013.

Lawyers for the death row convicts will have a chance to � le review petitions within 15 days from the publication of the full ver-dict. Defence lawyer Shishir Monir yesterday

told reporters that they would � le review pe-titions within the stipulated time.

The government will begin the processes to execute the war criminals after the tribunal receives the verdict’s copy and issues death warrants.

The tribunal registrar received the full text yesterday evening.

Upon receiving the warrants, the jail au-thorities will read them out to the convicts. If the review petitions are disposed of and their death sentences are upheld, the convicts will

have the opportunity to seek mercy from the president admitting the crimes and meet the family members.

If they are denied pardon or if they decline to appeal, the government will execute the convicts through the jail authorities.

A notorious al-Badr leader during the 1971 Liberation War, Mujahid is currently in Dhaka Central Jail. Former BNP lawmaker Salaud-din, who had taken part in the annihilation of the Hindus in Chittagong during the war,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Mujahid, SQ Chy get 15 daysDefence has two weeks to � le review petitions as apex court publishes full verdict

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid

Instigated and aided his al-Badr force in abduction and murder of intellectuals in the name of Islam and defence of a united Pakistan

Termed freedom fighters miscreants, dogs, agents of India and traitors

Sought arms from the Pakistan Army on December 16, 1971

Salauddin Quader Chowdhury

Planned and took part in genocide at three places of Raozan, killings of Nutan Chandra Singha and two others

Had specific intention to exterminate the Hindu community and his political opponents from that locality

Was rude towards tribunal judges, questioned the trial process

Home minister: Italy also � nds no IS linkn Shohel Mamun

Similar to Bangladeshi investigators, Italy has also not found any link of the Islamic State’s involvement in the murder of Italian citizen Cesare Tavella in Dhaka, Home Minister Asa-duzzaman Khan Kamal has said.

“Italy also collected information on the murder, but they did not � nd any involve-ment of the IS,” the minister told journalists after a meeting with Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Mario Palma at his secretariat of-� ce yesterday.

“The Italian ambassador opined that there is no existence of the extremist out� t IS in Bangladesh,” Asaduzzaman added.

“He [Palma] also termed the incident [kill-ing of Tavella] unexpected,” the minister said.

He added that primary investigation by Bangladeshi law enforcers has also found that the IS was not involved with the death of Tavella, who was shot and killed on Monday by unidenti� ed assailants in the capital’s Gul-shan diplomatic zone.

Following Tavella’s death, Site Intelligence PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

PM seeks global unity to address terrorismn Tribune Report

Observing that terrorism and violent extrem-ism remain as two major impediments to global peace and development, Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina yesterday called for a unity of all the countries to e� ectively address the threats.

“Terrorists do not have any religion. Ter-rorism and violent extremism are global chal-lenges. All the countries should be united to e� ectively address these,” she said.

Hasina was delivering her speech at the general debate of the 70th session of the PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

No leads yet in Tavella murder casen Kamrul Hasan

Forty-eight hours after three unidenti� ed gunmen shot dead an Italian aid worker in the heart of Dhaka’s diplomatic zone, investiga-tors yesterday said they had no leads into the murder that has left the expatriate communi-ty on edge.

Police said they had nothing new to add about their investigation into the assassina-tion-style murder of Cesare Tavella or about possible motives for the killing.

Speculations that the murder was an actof international terrorism have been rifesince a terrorist-watch organisation published an online intercept that claimed the murder on behalf of extremist organisation Islamic State.

Bangladeshi investigators have refuted the claims that Islamic State (IS) or its proxies were involved in the murder.

But they admitted that neither CCTV foot-age from around the crime scene nor the vic-

tim’s personal e� ects had yielded any clues about the crime or its motives.

DB Additional Deputy Commissioner (north) Mahfuzul Alam said: “The footage that we collected was unclear. So no visible advancement has been made in the case.”

Asked about a possible IS link, he said no evidence of its involvement had been found. “We have checked his background. He was never in the Middle East, in particular Iraq or Syria, for his job.”

The Detective Branch of police yesterday formed an 11-member committee led by Dep-uty Commissioner (east zone) Mahbub Alam. Additional deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners and inspectors of all the four zones of the DB have been included in the body.

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sources said that they had provided a list of 10 o� cials to be included in the investigation assistance committee to be led by CID Special Superintendent Md Rezaul Haider.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015NEWS2DT

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Mujahid, SQ Chy get 15 daysin kept at the Kashimpur High-Security Jail.

So far, the government has executed two war criminals following legal procedures. They are Jamaat leaders Abdul Quader Molla and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman. The apex court earlier commuted the death penalty of another Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee to im-prisonment until death. None of the convicts admitted to committing the crimes.

The International Crimes Tribunal on Oc-tober 1, 2013 sentenced Salauddin, son of Con-vention Muslim League leader Fazlul Quad-er Chowdhury, to death on four out of nine proven charges including the murder of Nutan Chandra Singha and genocides in Unosottor Para, Banik Para and Madhya Gohira. Salaud-din and his father had used their Goods Hill residence as a torture camp. He � led the appeal seeking acquittal on October 29 the same year.

On the other hand, al-Badr commander Mujahid, 69, � led the appeal on August 12, 2013 seeking acquittal from all the charges. Social welfare minister (technocrat) during the BNP-Jamaat alliance’s 2011-06 tenure, Mujahid was sentenced to death by the tribu-nal on July 17 the same year.

Mujahid was given capital punishment on two charges – for abetting and facilitating the torture and murder of intellectuals at the fag end of the war, and the murder of nine Hindu civilians in Faridpur.

As a leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha – Ja-maat’s then student wing – Mujahid in 1971 had led “death squad” al-Badr. He is the incumbent secretary general of Jamaat, which the tribunal labelled as a criminal organisation.

In the full judgement, the apex court said that Mujahid and his paramilitary force had

been involved directly in the killing of intel-lectuals and atrocities between December 10 and December 16, 1971.

Mujahid had always instigated, actively suggested, intentionally aided and supported his al-Badr force for the commission of brutal killings in the name of Islam and defence of United Pakistan. He also instigated his fellows to kill the freedom � ghters addressing them as miscreants, “Dalals of Hindustan,” dogs, and traitors. “...It is clear from his activities, speeches and conduct that he instigated his subordinates to commit such brutal o� ence...”

Mujahid and other members of Chhatra Sangha had formed al-Badr taking support of the Pakistan Army and started � ghting against the mass people at large and the free-dom � ghters in particular. At one stage, they kidnapped and killed the intellectuals, who were the best sons and daughters of the soil, just before the victory.

The judges also said that Mujahid along with some other members of his force had rushed to the cantonment and met with the high o� cials of the Pakistan Army, on the morning of December 16, 1971 and demanded arms for � ghting against the freedom � ght-ers, though the Pakistan Army had already decided to surrender.

“...It will be a mockery of justice to permit the accused to escape the extreme penalty of law when faced with such evidence and such cruel acts...The sentence awarded by the tri-bunal for intellectuals killings is not dispro-portionate in view of the nature of charge and evidence adduced. The people of this earth did not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This nation did not and shall never forget 1971.”

Mujahid was arrested on June 29, 2010 on charges of hurting religious sentiment and defying court orders. He was later shown ar-rested the war crimes case on August 8. The tribunal indicted him on June 21, 2012.

In the full verdict of Salauddin’s case, the top court judges said that he had persecut-ed, killed and caused disappearance of civil-ian people solely on religious and political grounds. He had direct involvement in the killing of innocent people.

The judges also mentioned about his behav-iour during the trial at the tribunal. “He showed no repentance or remorse for his conduct at any point of time rather he neglected the pro-cess of trial. The tribunal recorded his demean-our observing that he was arrogant and violat-ed the decorum of the tribunal by shouting o� and continued to such conduct throughout the process of the trial despite warnings.

“In view of his conduct and behaviour, and also in view of his direct participation, and the brutality exerted in those incidents, awarding of death sentences was proportionate to the gravity of those crimes,” the full verdict reads. “...His participation was intentional with a motive to eliminate a religious community as a whole for political vengeance.”

Salauddin, now 66, committed the crimes with the highest ruthlessness and extreme atrocity at his Goods Hill residence and the localities of Raozan in Chittagong.

“The o� ences were not the one envisaged in the penal laws of any country, the accused in committing those crimes in the synchro-nised plan and design that were developed and put into execution with cool blood.”

He had thoroughly designed plan and

common objectives to commit those crimes with speci� c intention to exterminate the Hindu religious community and his political opponents from that locality. “...We � nd no cogent ground to interfere with the sentences of death,” the full verdict reads.

Salauddin, who had served then prime minister Khaleda Zia as her parliamentary af-fairs adviser during 2001-06, was arrested on December 16, 2010, and shown arrested in the war crimes case on December 19 the same year. The tribunal indicted him on April 4, 2012.

The convict, however, refuted all the charges claiming that he had been in Pakistan from March 29, 1971 to April 20, 1974, and three other defence witnesses echoed him. His counsel reiterated the claim during the appeal hearing, but failed to prove it.

On the other hand, seven people includ-ing Salauddin’s family members, lawyer and manager were sued for their alleged involve-ment in leaking the draft verdict from the tri-bunal’s computer. l

Home ministerGroup, a website that tracks online activity of Jihadi organisations, reported that Islamic State had claimed responsibility for killing the Italian national.

“We have collected a few video clips of the incident, but those are not clear. A number of the street lights were not working at the time,” Asaduzzaman said.

On another note, the minister said it was “unexpected and sad” that the US, the UK, and Australia issued travel alerts for their citizens living in Bangladesh citing militant threats. l

No leads yet in Tavella murder caseHaider told the Dhaka Tribune that the 10 CID o� cers, members of the Special Branch of Police and the Armed Police Battalion would also be included in the committee.

“The assistance committee will not have fewer than 15 members,” he added.

This is the � rst murder investigation in Bangladesh to have every branch of the police force participating in it.

He said: “As this has become a national is-sue, all the forces will work together directly for the national interest.”

On Tuesday, the Police Headquarters formed a committee with DB chief Monirul Islam.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday told journalists after a meeting with Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Mario Pal-ma that primary investigations did not indi-cate the involvement of IS in this case.

“Italy too agrees that there is no IS connec-tion in the Tavella murder case,” he added.

Police’s Rapid Action Battalion chief Bena-zir Ahmed yesterday visited the crime scene. He criticised travel warnings issued by sev-eral embassies about Bangladesh. “This re-action from the international community is not acceptable...but it is true that any loss of live is not acceptable to us,” he said. “We are assisting the Detective Branch. But RAB will conduct a shadow investigation,” he added.

Cesare Tavella, 51, was the project manag-er of PROOFS, a food security project of the Netherlands-based ICCO Cooperative.

He was shot on road 90 in Gulshan 2 on Monday evening and declared dead at United Hospital around 7pm that night. l

PM seeks global unity to address terrorismUnited Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. Like the previous years, she delivered it in Bangla.

“I urge the comity of nations to renew our collective resolve to achieve a peaceful, sta-ble and prosperous world free from poverty and inequality, violence and extremism, cli-mate change and con� ict, and oppression and injustice,” she told her audience.

The prime minister also noted that it would not be possible to sustain the devel-opment endeavours if climate change cannot be e� ectively dealt with. “The new develop-ment agenda makes it clear that all our ac-tions need to be underpinned by our strong commitment to protect and preserve our planet, our biodiversity and our climate. We have only a small window of opportunity, and we must succeed to set the world on a safer, greener and more prosperous path,” she said.

Hasina said this is a critical year for sus-tainable development. The Financing for De-velopment Summit in Addis and the just con-cluded UN Development Summit here have ushered in a new hope for people around the world. “With our drive to arrive at a mean-ingful climate change agreement in Paris this year, we hope to transform our future by end-ing poverty, limiting climate change and pre-serving our planet.”

‘No to snap polls’Earlier on Tuesday, Hasina again ruled out the possibility of holding a mid-term election be-fore the one stipulated for 2019 as per the con-stitution.

Addressing a press conference at the Per-manent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN, the

ruling Awami League president said that those who believed in militancy and terrorism might demand general election before the schedule.

They do not want progress and develop-ment of the country, the premier said rejecting BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s demand for snap polls next year, reports BSS.

“Development will reach a momentum as long as the Awami League remains in power,” she said.

Hasina � rmly said that the next election would be held as per the schedule and accord-ing to the constitution, and no one should be worried about it.

She said that BNP and Jamaat were political parties, but they acted like militant and terror-ist organisations.

Terming her visit to New York successful, Hasina said that the UNGA had adopted the crucial Post-2015 agenda, a very “pro-people” goal for sustainable development of the na-tions, particularly the poor ones.

Acknowledging the risk of international ter-rorism and militancy in Bangladesh, the prime minister said that people who had plunged the country into politics of killing and coup had connection with international terrorism.

‘No IS link’On the recent murder of an Italian citizen in Dhaka, Hasina said that the government was trying to � nd out the culprits of the heinous murder. “A BNP leader who is delivering mis-guiding statements on the sad murder will be interrogated,” she warned.

“Some stray incidents always happen not only in Bangladesh but everywhere in the world.” Even in the New York City, she said, two

Awami League leaders had been killed in broad daylight.

Refuting the link of Islamic State with the murder, the premier said: “A message from Chi-cago claimed the link of IS with the killing. But no one from Bangladesh claimed it so far. Our intelligence has no such information.”

She, however, observed that there must be a strong force behind the killing. “They want to create a situation. Terrorism and militancy are not only happening in Bangladesh, it is a global phenomenon.”

Hasina said: “Bangladesh believes in peace and certainly not in militancy. We do not want the emergence of militants in Bangladesh. We are really very sad for the murder of a foreign national. It is a pathetic incident.”

The prime minister also expressed surprise as some diplomatic missions in Dhaka issued security alert for their nationals after the mur-der of Italian citizen Cesare Tavella.

“There is no justi� cation of issuing red alerts. We saw no such red alert when Nazmul was killed in New York.

“The US government did not announce a red alert when two Bangladesh nationals were killed in New York few years ago. Other diplo-matic missions also did not issue any such alert to their citizens. I do not know why diplomatic missions in Dhaka did this.

“I saw suspicious activities of a BNP leader after the murder. I think the clue of the murder can be be revealed if the BNP leader is interro-gated. I will take the measure after returning home,” she said.

Meanwhile, Awami League Presidium Mem-ber Mohammed Nasim yesterday said in Dhaka that there would be no polls before 2019.l

NEWS 3D

TTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

KILLING OF ITALIAN CITIZEN

Muslim countries believe it’s not a terrorist act n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Arab and other Muslim countries are of the view that the killing of Italian national Ce-sare Tavella in Dhaka was a criminal act, not a crime committed by any terrorists.

Their view is just the opposite of the West-ern countries which are trying to portray it as “terrorist crime.”

“I am the dean of Arab ambassadors now. We will convene a meeting probably in the next week. We will reiterate that this is not a terrorist act,” Egyptian Ambassador and Dean of the Arab Diplomatic Corps Mahmoud Yehia M Ezzat Mostafa told the Dhaka Tribune yes-terday.

Ezzat had an informal discussion with top diplomats of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Pakistan and all of them agreed

that the killing had nothing to do with terrorism.

“Yesterday [Tuesday] evening, on the side-lines of the Saudi national day reception, I in-formally talked with Arab and OIC countries’ envoys and we all agreed that this was not a terrorist act and it does not represent any kind of danger against the foreigners,” Ezzat said.

Asked about the views of the Western countries who termed this as a terrorism crime and issued travel alerts, he said: “I don’t share their ideas or assessments.

“I also don’t share what the Canadians, Americans and Europeans did by issuing alerts for their citizens not to come to Bangla-desh or leave Bangladesh. This is really over-doing.”

He also said that before the completion of investigation, it is unfair to comment that it was a terrorist crime.

European Union (EU) Ambassador Pierre Mayaudon issued a press release on Tues-day terming the incident as “terrorist crime” while the Italian embassy Tuesday said: “It’s still not clear the motive behind the murder – crime or terrorist act – of the aid worker Ce-sare Tavella.”

The Egyptian ambassador said that the Western countries claimed that they had “re-liable information” but they have yet to share that with other countries.

He said that almost all foreign ambassa-dors had a meeting at the residence of British high Commissioner Robert Gibson on Tues-day but the reliable information issue was not discussed.

“The Western countries have not shared the reliable information with us,” he said.

The Egyptian ambassador said Islamic State [IS] are busy in Syria and Iraq and as far

as they know, they do not have any opera-tions in Bangladesh.

He fee;s that not only the diplomats but also all foreigners are safe in Bangladesh and they are not exposed to any terrorist act.

Egyptians living in Bangladesh contacted him and he advised them not to send their families to Cairo, he said.

He, however, said that this was the � rst time any foreign national had been killed in the diplomatic zone.

“It is the � rst one and it is very dangerous because this is a protected zone,” Ezzat said.

He also said that even during the last year’s political turbulence period, they felt secured.

He said extra security arrangements are needed in the diplomatic zone so that this never happens again.

“We want to know what is happening,” he added. l

Court accepts charges in Oyasiqur murdern Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday accepted charges against � ve Ansarullah Bangla Team mem-bers in a case � led over the murder of blogger Oyasiqur Rahman in the capital on March 30.

After examining the case diary and all rele-vant documents, Additional Chief Metropoli-tan Magistrate Lutfar Rahman Shishir accept-ed the charge sheet in the murder case.

The court also issued arrest warrants against two accused fugitives following an appeal by the investigation o� cer (IO) of the case.

Sub-Inspector Altaf Hossain, General Re-cording O� cer of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s (CMM) court, said: “The court has also asked police to submit a report upon

executing the arrest warrant by October 29 in the case.”

On September 2, DB Inspector Moshiur Rahman, the IO of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Dhaka CMM court.

The � ve charge-sheeted are Zikrullah alias Hasan, Ariful Islam alias Mush� q, Saiful Islam alias Mansur, Akram Hossain Hasib alias Ab-dullah and Maulana Junayed alias Taher.

Abdullah, known as “Boro Bhai” among Ansarullah Bangla Team members, and Taher are on the run while the three others accused are in jail.

Abdullah masterminded the murder, trained the killers for three months and provided them with arms, according to the charge sheet.

In the charge sheet, the IO said that the ac-cused at � rst had planned to kill Oyasiqur af-ter meeting at Ariful’s residence at Mirpur-11 of the capital on December 15, 2014.

The killers also gathered at a house in South Kajla of Jatrabari some days before the murder.

The accused had been enraged by Oyas-iqur’s comments on Facebook and other so-cial networking sites on March 16-17 this year, and they took part in the murder on March 30, said the charge sheet.

On that day, Zikurullah and Ariful, the two madrasa students wielding cleavers, were caught by locals while � eeing after they had hacked Oyasiqur to death at Begunbari in Te-jgaon Industrial Area in the capital. l

3,000 Hajj pilgrims return n Tribune Report

A total of 3,000 Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims have returned from Saudi Arabia over the last four days after performing the Hajj.

Assistant Manager (PR) of Biman Bangladesh airlines Tasmin Akter said the national � ag carrier has transported all of the pilgrims on seven � ights, � ve of which were dedicated as of yesterday.

Biman management has deployed its Mak-kah and Madina-based sta� to the Jedda Air-port hajj terminal to ensure smooth departure for all Bangladeshi pilgrims from Saudi Ara-bia, she added.

A delay in return Hajj � ights is a regular phenomenon of the national � ag carrier at the start of the return � ights, which began from September 27. l

New fares for CNG-run buses from todayn Shohel Mamun

The revised fares for CNG-run buses and min-ibuses in the cities of Dhaka and Chittagong, along with several other districts, will come into e� ect from today.

The new fare for CNG-run auto-rickshaws, however, will be enforced from November 1.

The districts where the new rates would be e� ective are Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Gazi-pur, Manikganj and Narsingdi.

According to the new rates, bus passengers will have to pay Tk1.70 for each kilometre of travel instead of the existing Tk1.60, while minibus fares will be Tk1.60 per kilometre from the existing Tk1.50. The existing mini-mum fare – Tk7 and Tk5 for bus and minibus respectively – will not be changed.

However, commuters expressed their con-cerns that bus operators would take advantage of the lack of monitoring and overcharge them.

Transport and Highways Division Secre-tary MAN Siddique said: “A high-powered committee headed by the director (admin-istration) of Bangladesh Road Transport Au-thority (BRTA) has already been formed to monitor possible anomalies, such as passen-gers being charged extra. l

Police search a motorcyclist’s bag in the capital’s Gulshan area yesterday as security was beefed up in the wake of the killing of an Italian national in the neighbourhood on Monday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015NEWS4DT

ACC sues four Sonali Bank o� cials, three others n Tribune Report

The Anti- corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday sued four o� cials of Sonali Bank Limited along with three others allegedly for embezzling Tk6.15 crore from a local branch of the bank.

ACC Deputy Director Mir Jainul Abedin Shibly � led the case with Motijheel police sta-tion against the seven yesterday, con� rmed ACC Public Relation O� cial Pranab Kumer Bhattacharya.

The accused are Senior Executive O� cer of Narayanganj branch Kamal Hossain, Com-milla Branch manager and Executive O� cer Jakir Hossain, former senior executive o� cer Kazi Enamul Haq and former executive o� cer

Mo� jul Islam Chowdhury of the local branch of Sonali Bank, Pellucid Textile LTD Chairman Mohsin Ahmed, Managing Director Mahbub Ul Azam Khan and Director So� ul Amin.

Accordingly to the � rst information report, even after the Pellucid Textile Ltd repeat-edly failed to export their textile items the bank granted it Tk7.91 crore as a demand loan

against its securities before 2010. On top of that, the bank again granted it

Tk73,00000 as demand loan against its three securities and the bank then classi� ed it as a bed loan meaning the money may not be re-covered in future.

In 2010, the textile mill yet again applied for another loan facility. This time too the accused bank o� cials disbursed a loan of Tk5.40 crore against two export securities even before the bank received the price of ex-porting items, the FIR reads.

The ACC after receiving the complaint it started inquiry and found the accused bank o� cials and the textile mill owners guilty of embezzling Tk6.15 crore from the local branch of Sonali Bank in the capital. l

Billboard removal deadline now Oct 10n Tribune Report

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has ex-tended the deadline to remove all billboards to October 10 for all owners and advertise-ment companies concerned, while yesterday was the last day of the previous deadline.

DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq made the an-nouncement to extend the date when he spoke at a press conference at the city corpo-ration o� ce in Gulshan of Dhaka yesterday.

“We have repeatedly requested the Out-door Advertising Owners Association to re-move all billboards to build a green and clean Dhaka. We even published a notice in a na-

tional daily, but have not seen any results as billboard owners are yet to act,” Annisul said.

“We have shared the matter with urban planners, architects, and civil society mem-bers about removing billboards in the interest of making plans for a clean Dhaka,” he said.

“We are now giving a last chance to the au-thorities concerned with billboards under the DNCC jurisdiction. If they fail to remove all of their billboards, every company concerned with billboards will be � ned thousands of taka,” the DNCC mayor added.

He also warned each company that vio-lating this directive will result in its being marked as blacklisted. l

Channel i’s founding anniversary todayn Tribune Report

Channel i celebrates its 16th founding anni-versary today, with an elaborate string of pro-grammes chalked out for the day.

A colourful rally in the morning will set o� day-long activities that includes cultural pro-grammes by some of the country’s biggest stars.

An o� cial cake-cutting ceremony is also scheduled at 7pm, where guests would in-clude cabinet members, political leaders and

civil society representatives.The president, the prime minister, and the

information minister have issued separate messages to mark Channel i’s founding anni-versary.

On October 1, 1999, Channel i started its journey with the slogan “Hridoye Bangladesh” or “Bangladesh at heart.” Since then, it has be-come one of the leading private TV channels in the country, thanks to its innovative and constructive programming over the years. l

IWM, Sheltech to work togethern Tribune Report

Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) and Shel-tech Consultants Pvt Ltd have signed a deal to collaborate on various environmental, social and other development issues.

The deal was inked between IWM Executive Director Prof Dr M Monowar Hossain and Shel-tech Managing Director Dr Engineer Tou� q M Seraj at the IWM o� ce in the capital yesterday.

Other senior o� cials of both organisations were also present at the function, said a press release.

The deal aims to develop cooperative e� orts in applied research, education and capacity building, with a focus on hydrolog-ical, water resources, ecosystem, urban plan-ning, climate change, environmental and so-cio-economic research and modeling of urban � ood plain basins and sub-basin levels both nationally and internationally for the present and the future. l

The National Committee to Protect Waterway Road and Railway forms a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday demanding the quick opening of Mongla-Ghasiakhali water route to protect the Sundarbans SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

The bank granted Pellucid Textile Tk7.91 crore as a demand loan even after it repeatedly failed to export its textile items

NEWS 5D

TTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

Tobacco surcharge funds wait to be spentn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The amount collected from charging a 1% health development surcharge on tobacco products remains unused because guidelines on how to use the funds have not yet been drawn up.

The surcharge was widely praised when it was announced, but it has not bene� ted anyone because there are no rules yet on how to spend it.

World Health Organisation studies have found that tobacco taxes are the most e� ective way to reduce tobacco use, especially among young people and poor people. A tax increase that increases tobacco prices by 10% decreases tobacco consumption by about 4% in high-income countries and by up to 8% in low- and middle-income countries.

The government estimated that it would raise Tk200 crore from the 1% surcharge, based on existing data on government revenue from the tobacco sector. But only Tk2 crore 17 lakh was deposited into the government exchequer under code 2212, the health development surcharge account.

The rest of the money has been deposited under other codes, somehow eluding the oversight of the authorities.

A committee under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been tasked with determining how the money should be spent.

A source in the Tobacco Control Cell said the committee had met thrice and more meetings were expected to take place soon.

“The guidelines will be framed soon. The collected surcharge amount will be spent on non-communicable disease, anti-tobacco

campaign, strengthening the Tobacco Control Cell, research and to create alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers,” he told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity.

The WHO has said that there are more than 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.

In Bangladesh, 43% of adults use some form of tobacco. Smokeless tobacco is used by 28% of women and 26% of men, whereas 45% of men and 1.5% of women smoke cigarettes.

Some 57,000 people die every year from tobacco related diseases and 382,000 people were su� ering from diseases and disabilities due to tobacco use.

Anti-tobacco alliance PROGGA has demand-ed that a National Tobacco Control Programme, under Tobacco Control Cell, be formed. They

demand awareness programmes, research on tobacco consumption, mass campaigns and alternative livelihood programmes for tobacco cultivators to be implemented.

Almost half of all children here regularly breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke in public places.

Over 40% of children have at least one smoking parent. Tobacco users who die prematurely deprive their families of income, raise the cost of health care and hinder economic development.

Professor Dr Sohel Reza Choudhury, of the department of epidemiology and research at the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute, said: “The surcharge amount should be invested in tobacco-related disease prevention and in programmes to assist people who want to quit smoking.” l

700 base phones go dead in Hatirpooln Tribune Report

Around 700 telephones in the capital yester-day went dead due to a � re originating from a short circuit in the telephone cabinet near Motalib plaza at Hatirpool.

The telephone cabinet of Hatirpool caught � re yesterday morning.

Soon after the � re about 700 telephones of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Com-pany Limited (BTCL) in Paribag, Nahar plaza and Sonargaon road went dead.

The BTCL authorities yesterday in a state-ment said it would take � ve to six days to re-pair all the telephones in those areas. l

Fakrhul: Government trying to shift blamen Tribune Report

The killing of Italian citizen Cesare Tavella has shown how the government is failing to maintain law and order, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said.

“An Italian citizen was killed in Dhaka on Monday; we harshly condemned it. We are apprehending that this sort of incident has been taking place as there is no democratic space in the country and there is a poor law and order situation,” Fakhrul said.

The only way to overcome this situation

is to hold a free, fair and credible election, Fakhrul told journalists after entering the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters for the � rst time since his arrest on January 6. Some hun-dred party leaders and activists welcomed Fakhrul at the party o� ce with � owers.

The acting secretary general of the party said it was the responsibility of the govern-ment to ensure security of foreigners.

Responding to a query, the BNP leader fur-ther alleged that the government was trying to pass on the blame for their own failure to others’ shoulders.

On Tuesday, BNP Standing Committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan condemned Ta-vella’s murder and said the government itself has been the victim of the same communalism that it had been making the people afraid of.

Later, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said a BNP leader who had been delivering mis-guiding statements on the murder would be interrogated.

Meanwhile, regarding his physical con-dition, Fakhrul said: “I am still undergoing treatment. I have to go abroad again to be treated.” l

HC: Submit report on Tangail police � ring in 60 daysn Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday asked the govern-ment to submit the inquiry report on Kalihati of Tangail, where four people were killed in police � ring, in 60 days.

In response to a writ petition, the bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Jus-tice Jafar Ahmed also issued a rule upon the government to explain how police had fol-lowed the relevant legal provisions in � ring, within four weeks.

The writ petition was � led by Salma Ali, the executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA).

In the petition, she sought directives on the authorities to submit the report and to pay compensation to the family members of the victims.

The IGP o� ce, the DIG of Dhaka range and the deputy commissioner of Tangail are car-rying out the inquiry.

Following the order, they will have to sub-mit the report to the High Court in 60 days from the day they received the order from the court. l

Kamalapur Railway Station is crowded yesterday as holidaymakers begin returning to the capital after celebrating Eid-ul-Azha in their hometowns with family members and relatives SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015NEWS6DT

Man gets death sentence for killing rickshaw-van puller n Our Correspondent, Jessore

A court in the district yesterday sentenced a man to death for killing a rickshaw-van puller at Nirbaskhola village under Jhikargachha upazila of the district in 2008.

Special and Sessions Judge Court Nitai Chandra Saha handed down the verdict.

According to court o� cial, the convict Faruq Hossain, son of Abid Ali, a resident of the village hacked Billal, son of Amir Sheikh to death on August 31, 2008.

After the incident, victim’s father � led a murder case with Jhikargachha police station.

After investigation, police submitted charge-sheet to the court against Faruq.

Judge examining witnesses and relevant evidences pronounced the judgment. l

Un� t buses plying on highway defying govt bann Our Correspondent,

Sirajganj

Un� t buses are still plying on the Sirajganj-Dhaka Highway in the district despite a recent ban announced by the govern-ment.

According to police and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) sources, owners of 50 buses launched the drive of the vehicles named ‘Eid Special’ on the highway making false documents.

The rundown buses have been seen plying on the highway de-spite a government ban during the Eid rush of vehicles carry-ing home-bound vacationers, said the sources.

Police carried out spot checks on vehicles on the road to check their road-worthiness and take action accordingly.

The also sized 10 vehicles on the highway and � led cases against the owners of it yester-day.

“Special teams of police on the highway check a vehicle for brakes, lights, side mirrors, condition of the body and en-gine,” said Superintendent of Police Md Mirajuddin.

“The government is work-ing out a scheme to take the

old, mechanically unsound vehicles o� the roads as such vehicles pose a danger to other road users and to the environ-ment,” said he.

Md Ashrafuzzaman, assis-tant secretary of BRTA said: “We have submitted a paper against the owners of un� t vehicles to additional district magistrate.”

Md Kamrul Hasan, the mag-istrate, said: “The drive against the rundown vehicles will be taken soon.”

Road Transport and Bridges minister Obaidul Quader on 18 September said the vehicles without license will not be al-lowed to use highways across the country.

Assuring that the home-go-ers will not face any trouble on highways during their jour-neys, Quader says the engi-neers of Roads and Highways department in every district will remain ready to immedi-ately solve any road-related problems.

Highway police will also remain alert to avoid road ac-cidents and tra� c jams, he added.

The minister also urged the authorities concerned to re-move all the billboards, includ-ing the political one, installed beside highways as early as possible.

The minister said this while talking to reporters after inau-gurating a road adjacent to the Bangabandhu Bridge in Siraj-ganj. l

Eid boom for Khagrachhari tourismn Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

The eid holidays have provided the tourism sector in Khagrachhari a massive boost, just what the hotels and tourist-reliant local in-dustries needed after heavy rains caused a recent drop in visitor numbers.

“We faced losses last month [August] as tourist numbers were fewer because of continuous rain, but we can overcome the loss this month as we are getting expected number of tourists,” said BM Omar Faruq, manager for the Khagrachhari Parjatan Motel.

The motel, which o� ers 50 rooms, is reach-ing its daily Tk30,000 earning target from accommodation as well as earning another Tk40,000 each day from its dining facilities, Faruq said.

The turnaround in tourist numbers has been possible as all motel services have been

overhauled, the manager added.Ananta Bikash Tripura, managing director

for Hotel Gairing, also told the Dhaka Tribune that they have been getting more guests ever since monsoon ended.

The increase in tourist arrivals has also been a boon for the local industries.

Rupna Chakma, who works at a shop called Pahari Textile, said they have earned over Tk1 lakh in just three days by selling products to out-of-district tourists.

Rupali Marma, a salesperson at Khagrach-hari Boyan Textile, said locally made garment products including Thami, Gamchha and Lungi have been on top of the shopping list for tourists.

Hasan Mahmud, a tourist from Dhaka, however pointed out Khagrachhari has been unsuccessful to draw a lot of tourists as au-thorities had failed to promote the infrastruc-ture and transport services available in the

scenic district.Ismat Ara Mahi, another tourist, told the

Dhaka Tribune that authorities concerned needed to improve road transport facilities to Khagrachhari along with other infrastruc-tures.

The district’s Deputy Commissioner Mu-hammad Wahiduzzaman said Khagrachhari has all the potential to become a major tourist destination as it o� ers true wilderness, scenic geographical features, and a diverse cultural community.

Road connection to Khagrachhari is going to be better soon as road expansion is cur-rently ongoing while some transport compa-nies now o� er comfortable bus services to the district, he said.

District Superintendent of Police Md Mazid Ali said law enforcers are working to provide all necessary security measures for both local and foreign tourists. l

‘The drive against the rundown vehicles will be started soon’

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015NEWS 7

DT

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:46PM SUN RISES 5:50AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

36.6ºC 23.7ºC

Sylhet Sitakunda

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 35 26Chittagong 35 26Rajshahi 35 25Rangpur 34 25Khulna 35 26Barisal 35 27Sylhet 36 25Cox’s Bazar 34 26

PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:36am

Sunrise 5:49amZohr 11:49am

Asr 4:13pmMagrib 5:47pm

Esha 7:02pm

WEATHER

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1

PARTLY CLOUDY

Rawhide crisis hits Dinajpur market, traders worriedn Our Correspondent, Dinajpur

The crisis of cattle rawhide has hit the Ram-nagar market in Dinajpur as well, and both the regular and the seasonal rawhide traders are fearing huge � nancial loss.

Supply is around 55-60% less than last year in the second largest rawhide market in North Bengal, according to the regular raw-hide traders, who claimed that the low price � xed by the government was the main reason behind the crisis.

The bulk of annual cattle rawhide supply comes during Eid-ul-Azha, the festival of sacri-� ce when Muslims sacri� ce cattle in the name of the Almighty. At this time, seasonal traders collect the rawhides and sell at the market, to

the regular traders.However, this year the problem arose when

the government announced the price all of a sudden.

“Many of the seasonal traders collected the rawhides at last year's price, which is much higher than the government rate. That is why most of them have not brought their collection to the market, fearing loss,” said Tajedur Rah-man, a local rawhide businessman.

But because of the low supply, regular trad-ers are being forced to buy what is available at a high price. “This has put us at risk of loss as well. If the tannery owners don't increase the price this year, we are sure to incur huge loss,” said Sha� qul Islam, another local trader.

The traders also fear that the rawhides that

are not in the market may get smuggled to India for a higher price.

“There are at least 200 regular rawhide trad-ers in Dinajpur. All of them together have been able to buy only 40% of the usual amount of rawhides that is produced in the season of Eid-ul-Azha. But the number of sacri� ced animals was as usual. Where did the rest of the rawhides go?” said Sadiqur Rahman, former president of rawhide traders' association in Dinajpur.

“This has happened because of the govern-ment rate; many traders and owners are now storing their collection. There is a high possibil-ity that these stored rawhide will be smuggled out of the country – most probably to India,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. “The government needs to make sure that it does not happen.” l

Suspected robber killed in Lakshmipur gun� ghtn Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur

A man, who police said was a robber, died in a gun battle between his cohorts and law enforcement o� cials in Lakshmipur Sadar upazila early yesterday.

Abu Jaher alias Dama Kalu, 33, was the son of Abu Taher of Panchpara village in the upazila.

Police said the shootout took place when they raided Paschim Latifpur village after a tip-o� that a gang of robbers were preparing to commit a robbery.

“The robbers, sensing the presence of police, opened � re at us, forcing us to � re back. Abu Ja-her sustained bullet injuries during the gun� ght and died on the spot,” said Lakshmipur Assis-tant Superintendent of Police Junayed Kawsar.

He said four police o� cials were also in-jured when both sides exchanged bullets and were taken to a local hospital. l

Bangladesh, US navies begin joint exercise in Chittagongn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The � ve-day joint exercise of Bangladesh Navy and US Navy titled the Cooperation A� oat Readiness and Training (Carat) 2015 be-gan in Chittagong Naval Area yesterday.

The US Navy Logistics Group Western Pa-ci� c Commander Rear Admiral Charles Wil-liams, also the commander of task force 73, inaugurated the exercise at the School of Mar-itime Warfare and Tactics in Chittagong Naval Area’s BNS Isha Khan.

He said both countries would be bene� t-ed by such exercise while the continuation of such activities would also assist personnel from both countries to review their previous training sessions.

“Besides, navy personnel of the two coun-tries can gain technological and warfare knowledge through this exercise. The US Navy always helps the navies of the developed

countries to address their local problems.”Chittagong Naval Area Commander Rear

Admiral Akhter Habib, who was the special guest at the inaugural session, said the main objectives of the exercise were to enhance regional cooperation, build friendship and strengthen professional skills between the na-vies of Bangladesh and the US.

Commodore Commanding BN Flotilla Com-modore M Khaled Iqbal presided over the pro-gramme.

The two-phase exercise - Shore phase from September 29 to October 4 and Sea Exercise phase from yesterday to October 2 - would end on October 4.

US navy ships USNS Fort Worth and USNS Safeguard with an organic helicopter MH 60R, P 3C MPA and Special Forces Units are taking part in the exercise while Bangladesh navy ships BNS Bangabandhu, BNS Somudra Joy, BNS Abu Bakar, BNS Bijoy, BNS Dhaleshawary, BNS Shah

Jalal and BNS Khadem, Maritime Patrol Aircraft and special force SWADS are also participating.

The joint exercise in the Bay of Bengal in-cludes a number of bilateral exercises and training packages, search and rescue opera-tions at sea, disaster management, emergen-cy medical treatment, appropriate implemen-tation of military law and special training on maritime patrol aircraft and helicopter oper-ations.

The Carat series has been regularly conduct-ed among the US Navy and the armed forces of nine partner nations in South Asia and South-east Asia, including Bangladesh, Brunei, Cam-bodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singa-pore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

Bangladesh, which is taking part in the ex-ercise since 2011 and continues to make steady progress each year, stands out as the only South Asian nation in the Carat series, speakers said at a press brie� ng after the inaugural ceremony. l

20 shops evictedn CU Correspondent

A Chittagong City Corporation mobile court evicted 20 shops temporarily set up on the footpath in the city’s KC Road area yesterday.

Police assisted the mobile court while CCC Executive Magistrate Nazia Shirin led the eviction drive. The shops were evicted as ven-dors set those up on both sides of the road, thus blocking the footpath and forcing pedes-trians to walk on the road. Magistrate Nazia said the drive was conducted from Cinema Palace area to Theater Institute area. l

This playground in the capital’s Dhupkhola is in a shambles after its use as a venue for cattle market before Eid-ul-Azha. The photo was taken on Tuesday MEHEDI HASAN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015WORLD8DT

Babies plea India’s top court over pollutionn AFP, New Delhi

Three babies have been named on a petition urging India’s top court to ban air-polluting � reworks in New Delhi, saying the city’s chok-ing smog poses a “clear and present danger” to their health.

India’s Supreme Court allows minors to � le petitions through their parents where there is a threat to their fundamental rights.

The parents of the three babies, all aged six months and under, argue that they have a con-stitutional right to breathe clean air.

They say children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, which can cause a range of prob-lems from lung disease to retarded development of the nervous system, and want the court to ban the sale and use of smoke-belching � recrackers.

The petition was � led on Tuesday, six weeks before the Hindu festival of light known as Di-wali, when Delhi neighbourhoods traditionally � ll with acrid smoke from celebratory � recrack-ers set o� day and night.

“The imminent advent of festivals that in-volve widespread � reworks are a clear and present danger to the health of the applicants and the other children who are residents of Delhi,” it said.

A World Health Organization study of 1,600 cities released last year showed Delhi had the world’s highest annual average concentration of small airborne particles known as PM2.5 – higher even than Beijing.

These extremely � ne particles of less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter are linked to in-creased rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease as they penetrate deep into the lungs and can pass into the bloodstream.

India will on Thursday unveil its carbon emis-sions pledges before the start on November 30 of the Paris conference, which aims to seal a far-reaching new global climate agreement. l

ANALYSIS

Billions spent on Hajj safety proven futilen Reuters, Dubai

Pilgrims reported feeling the hands of their relatives slip away into the crowd on Thurs-day morning when a crush at the Mina camp in Mecca reportedly killed at least 769 in the deadliest Hajj disaster in a generation.

Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on making the world’s biggest gathering of people safe. For nine years, there had been no major disasters at the Hajj, a much lauded success after a period from 1990-2006 when crowd crushes and � res that killed hundreds of people took place every 2-3 years.

But Thursday morning’s crush - as mil-lions of people tried to reach three walls to pelt them with stones in a ritual intended to drive out Satan - proved that those prepara-tions were inadequate for the world’s greatest crowd control challenge.

“There was no way out. You saw parents leaving their children and the elderly to sur-vive,” said a Nigerian survivor, Dahiru Shittu Ibrahim, 37.

Saudi Arabia’s management of the annual pilgrimage has been a divisive issue in parts of the Muslim world for decades as the Hajj

has grown in scale and danger.Witnesses have described police closing

o� roads, although they are not able to say why. Closing routes in one location is a stand-ard measure to control crowds building up elsewhere.

Saudi o� cials have suggested that the crush may have been caused by crowds fail-ing to stick to the complicated schedules laid out by its government to control the move-ment of millions of people across the site.

An o� cial inquiry into the disaster an-nounced by King Salman is to be carried out by Saudi o� cials alone.

But whatever the immediate cause of the bottleneck, it appears to have taken place at a location not previously identi� ed as a ma-jor choke point, suggesting that the Saudi au-thorities underestimated the work needed to make the haj safe.

Stoning the devilAt midnight on Wednesday, two million pil-grims ended the day’s 20-kilometre trek at Muzdalifah, a rocky plain east of Mecca. There, they rested under the stars and gath-ered pebbles for the next day’s ritual: hurling

stones at three walls known as Jamarat, to reenact the stoning of Satan by the prophet Ibrahim at a bridge.

The stoning has long been the most dan-gerous part of the Hajj, requiring a high level of coordination to ensure that huge crowds arrive and clear away in time for the next group.

Between 1990 and 2006, stampedes and crushes occurred regularly at the Jamarat site, killing hundreds of people.

Much of the billions of dollars Saudi Arabia has invested in crowd safety at the Hajj has been spent upgrading the Jamarat. Access routes were widened. Vertical tiers and entry and exit points were added to increase capac-ity and safety. Advanced crowd monitoring software and video cameras allow the author-ities to control access, to make sure people do not arrive faster than they can leave.

Jamarat is not the only danger point. Be-fore the masses descend on the walls, they � rst camp at Mina, a dense, grid-like tent city built into the bottom of a narrow valley and split into camps by nationality.

The main danger at Mina for years was from � res in the tents, which could sweep

across the camp, trigger stampedes and kill hundreds of people.

The authorities have invested in exten-sively upgrading the tents and making them � reproof in Mina. But less attention appears to have been paid to controlling crowd move-ment there than at the Jamarat site itself.

Upgrades of Mina are di� cult because al-though religious tradition requires pilgrims to camp there, it is located in a small area, bounded by steep rocky walls to the sides and other religious sites at each end.

The Hajj is overseen by its own ministry within the Saudi government, with a depart-ment known as Mutawwif that provides guides and other services for pilgrims. Mutawwif sta� work with police to schedule the movements of huge crowds, with timetables posted around the camp at Mina in six languages.

If a delay occurs elsewhere, the police tell the Mutawwif, who are then responsible for rescheduling movements.

Saudi Arabia’s Health Minister Khalid al-Falih suggested that the disaster was caused by a failure to stick to the schedule.

“Some pilgrims moved without following instructions,” he said. l

Five to walk gallows for 2006 Mumbai train blastsn AFP, Mumbai

An Indian court sentenced � ve men to death on Wednesday for a series of bomb blasts that ripped through packed trains in Mumbai in 2006, killing nearly 200 people and injuring many more.

Another seven people found guilty of in-volvement in the attacks in India’s � nancial capital were sentenced to life imprisonment by the special court, their defence lawyer told reporters.

The 12 men were convicted of murder, conspiracy and waging war against the coun-try over the coordinated attacks that killed 189 people and wounded more than 800.

Defence lawyer Wahab Khan said all 12 would appeal the verdict.

“We still believe they have been framed and the court has relied on confessions and not on mitigating evidence,” he told reporters outside the court.

The bombs were packed into pressure cook-ers and then placed in bags and hidden under newspapers and umbrellas in the trains.

The seven blasts ripped through the sub-urban trains during the evening rush hour on July 11, 2006.

In all, police charged 30 people over the bombings including 13 Pakistani nationals, who along with four Indian suspects have yet to be arrested.

Prosecutors accused Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of being behind the 2006 attacks, although a little-known out� t called Lashkar-e-Qahhar claimed responsibility. l

Multiple explosions kill 6 in Chinan AFP, Beijing

Six people were killed on Wednesday when 15 suspected letter bombs exploded in southern China, state media said, with blasts reported in more than ten locations including govern-ment o� ces.

Dozens more were injured by the explosives apparently placed in express delivery packag-es, the o� cial Xinhua news agency said.

The explosions occurred in at least 13 loca-tions in a rural county in the Guangxi region, the Nanguo Morning News, a local newspa-per, cited police as saying.

They included a prison, a government of-� ce and a shopping centre, it said.

Pictures posted online, which could not be veri� ed, showed portions of six-storey build-ings gutted and collapsed, and streets littered with glass, bricks and other debris. l

National League for Democracy Party (NLD) supporters cycle during a campaign rally on the streets of Minglar Taung Nyunt township ahead of the upcoming general elections in Yangon, Myanmar REUTERS

Russia launches air strikes in Syrian Reuters, Moscow/Washington, DC

Russia said it launched air strikes against Is-lamic State in Syria on Wednesday after Pres-ident Vladimir Putin secured his parliament’s unanimous backing to intervene to prop up the Kremlin’s closest Middle East ally.

Moscow gave Washington just an hour’s notice of the strikes, which set in train Rus-sia’s biggest play in the region since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, a US o� cial said.

Targets in the Homs area appeared to have been struck, but not areas held by Islamic State, the US o� cial said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said how-ever that its attacks were directed at Islamic State military targets.

Putin said the only way to � ght “terrorists” in Syria was to act preemptively. Russia’s mili-tary involvement in the Middle East would only involve its air force and would be temporary.

“The military aim of our operations will be exclusively to provide air support to Syrian government forces in their struggle against ISIS (Islamic State),” Sergei Ivanov, the Krem-lin’s Chief-of-Sta� , said before reports that the strikes had begun.

Russia has been steadily dispatching more and more military aircraft to a base in Latakia, regarded as an Assad stronghold, after the Syrian government su� ered a series of battle-� eld reverses.

Ivanov said Russia’s missions would be limited and not open-ended. He precluded the use of ground troops.

“As our president has already said, the use

of ground troops has been ruled out,” said Ivanov.

Russia’s involvement in Syria will be a fur-ther challenge for Moscow, which is already intervening in Ukraine at a time when its own economy is su� ering from low oil prices and Western sanctions.

Opinion polls also show Russian voters have little appetite for a long campaign, with painful memories of the Soviet Union’s 1979-89 intervention in Afghanistan, in which thousands of Soviet troops were killed, still fresh. l

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015WORLD 9

DT

Q&AWhat has Putin achieved on Syria after UN showdown?Russian President Vladimir Putin made a dramatic push on Syria at a United Nations face-o� with US counterpart/rival Barack Obama. Here are some titbits of what does the Kremlin strongman want and, more importantly, what has he achieved so far.

Q1: What does Putin want?A1: Putin called in his speech to the General

Assembly Monday for a broader UN-backed coalition to replace the current US-led group-ing of Western and Sunni regional powers bombing Islamic State jihadists. Crucially the Russian proposal is for the West and its partners in the region to join forces with Mos-cow’s ally President Bashar al-Assad to � ght IS and then try for a political solution in Syria. The Russian proposal so far remains vague.

Q2: What has Putin actually achieved?A2: Little so far, in terms of his stated ob-jectives on Syria. None of the nations that Putin wants to enlist to � ght IS alongside Assad – whether Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the US or the EU – has expressed any willing-ness to sign up. Russia has established an intelligence-sharing center in Baghdad with the Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian military.

Q3: What happens next?A3: Putin has said Russia will start sound-ing out other powers at the UN in the coming days over the chances of pushing through a resolution on its anti-IS coali-tion. For now it looks almost impossible for the Russians to get past the Security Coun-cil a resolution involving any requirement to back or cooperate with Assad. l

Source: AFP

Europe’s migrant crisis, Syria in the United Nations’ spotlightn AFP, United Nations

The war in Syria and Europe’s migration cri-sis take center stage at the United Nations on Wednesday as world leaders work to over-come deep divisions over how to confront the turmoil.

Russia presides over a special Securi-ty Council meeting on countering terrorist threats that is bound to throw up sharp di� er-ence of views between Moscow and Washing-ton over the crisis in Syria.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sepa-rately hosts a meeting aimed at agreeing on a global response to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe, many of whom have � ed the war in Syria.

The UN chief opened the General Assembly this week with a call to Europe “to do more” to ensure migrants are treated with dignity as countries shut down borders and police use water cannons to push back refugees.

“We should not be building fences or walls, but above all we must look at root causes, in countries of origin,” said Ban.

At the Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will chair a debate on terrorist threats amid intense diplomacy over reaching a political solution to the four-year war in Syria.

Russia will propose a UN Security Council resolution on combating terror groups during the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail

Bogdanov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.

This year’s UN debate kicked o� with a public clash between President Barack Oba-ma and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin over � ghting the Islamic State group and the fu-ture of President Bashar al-Assad.

At a US-led counter-terrorism summit on Tuesday, Obama bluntly declared that defeat-ing IS jihadists in Syria “requires a new lead-er,” pressing demands for Assad to step down.

A key ally of Syria, Putin used his UN speech to call for a broad coalition against IS that would include Syria’s army.

Global responseEurope’s worst migration crisis since World War II looms large over this year’s gathering as international e� orts to end the war in Syria

are in disarray.On the eve of the migration talks, Hungary

urged the United Nations to set global quotas on accepting migrants, saying it was unfair for Europe to take so many refugees � eeing Syria.

“We suggest that all major players should bear some burden. We should introduce some world quotas,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters.

“Europe is not in a shape to accept hun-dreds of thousands or even millions of eco-nomic migrants,” Szijjarto said.

Almost 300,000 migrants have entered Hungary this year.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country has taken in some two million Syrian refugees, will address the meeting at-tended by some 70 countries.

With European countries deeply divided over the migrant issue, it remains unclear whether the meeting at the United Nations will yield results.

“There is long way to go still to come to a more comprehensive long term policy in-stead of addressing the short term needs,” William Swing, the head of the International Organization for Migration said.

Countries need to “come to an under-standing that migration is a mega-trend of our century and depoliticise it,” he said.

“It is important to try to do this in a more organised fashion.” l

Syria: More than 240,000 dead

11,964 59,817Children Adults

Toll since March 2011

Analysis published August 7 by theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights

Civilians71,781

Syrian and foreign militia, Hezbollah Soldiers38,046 50,570

Pro-regimeforces

88,616

Syrian rebels + jihadists, KurdsForeign jihadists42,38434,375

Anti-regimeforces

76,759

3,225Unidenti�ed

Source: OSDH

With European countries deeply divided over the migrant issue, it remains unclear whether the meeting at the United Nations will yield results

US court quashes Sept 11 victims’ suit against Saudi Arabian Reuters, New York

A US judge on Tuesday dismissed claims against Saudi Arabia by families of victims of the Sep-tember 11, 2001, attacks, who accused the coun-try of providing material support to al-Qaeda.

US District Judge George Daniels in Man-hattan said Saudi Arabia had sovereign im-munity from damage claims by families of the victims, and from insurers that covered losses su� ered by building owners and businesses.

“The allegations in the complaint alone do not provide this court with a basis to assert jurisdiction over defendants,” Daniels wrote.

The victims had sought to supplement their lawsuit with new allegations to avoid that result, including based on testimony they secured from Zacarias Moussaoui, a im-prisoned former al-Qaeda operative.

Daniels said even if he allowed the plain-ti� s to assert those new claims, doing so would be “futile, however, because the addi-tional allegations do not strip defendants of sovereign immunity.”

Lawyers for the plainti� s said they would appeal.

The case against Saudi Arabia has had a complicated history, with trial judges includ-ing Daniels twice before ruling that Saudi Ara-bia was entitled to immunity under the feder-al Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

But in 2013, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Ap-peals in New York revived the lawsuit, in light of a 2011 decision that allowed similar claims to proceed against Afghanistan. l

WORLD10DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

ANALYSIS

Kunduz: The resurgence of the Talibann AFP, Islamabad

The Taliban’s lightning seizure of Kunduz is an unnerving vic-tory for a group which many had believed was fraying and a di-saster in symbolic terms for Afghanistan and its Western allies, analysts warn.

The hardline Islamists stormed the northern provincial capi-tal on Monday, e� ectively overrunning it in their biggest triumph since being ousted from national power in 2001.

By Tuesday Afghan troops backed by US air support had launched a counter-o� ensive.

But even if it succeeds, the militants appear to have shut down speculation over � ssures in their leadership, boosting the author-ity of the incumbent, and starkly exposed Kabul’s inability to counter the insurgency.

“It is a disaster for the Ghani government,” Pakistani militancy expert and author Ahmed Rashid said, describing Kabul as “total-ly disorganised.”

The Afghan troops in Kunduz numbered 7,000 including local militias, he said, while local reports put the number of Taliban at-tackers at fewer than 1,000.

But the government had “no strategy, no ability to defend the city,” Rashid said, comparing the Taliban o� ensive to sweeps by the Islamic State group which controls large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

“The timing of it is very important,” Rashid said. “It certainly shows the Taliban are still a united � ghting force,

which is di� erent from being a united political force. They are still determined to overthrow the machine.”

That contrasts with recent speculation of internal rifts under a new and divisive leader scrabbling to hold the group together in the face of a growing recruitment threat by Islamic State.

InsurgencyLast December Nato ended its combat mission, leaving Afghan troops to � ght the insurgents without the full support of foreign forces.

In July Taliban o� cials and government representatives met for the � rst time for talks near Islamabad, raising hopes of a ne-gotiated peace.

But the talks were scuppered when news emerged of the death of Mullah Omar, the Taliban’s talismanic but reclusive founding leader.

His deputy Mullah Akhtar Mansour was named as replace-ment, but there was bitterness about his succession and some hardliners thought he was too close to Pakistan’s shadowy mili-tary establishment to be his own man.

The cracks seemed to present an opportunity for IS to recruit disgruntled former militants and strengthen its foothold on Tal-iban turf. Since January IS has been joined by dozens of former Taliban commanders from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But Mansour trumpeted Monday’s incursion into Kunduz as a “major victory.”

The Kunduz assault will also undoubtedly boost Mansour’s im-age within insurgent ranks as he seeks to cement his authority by burnishing his credentials as a commander.

It will discourage those in the Afghan government who had sought to capitalise on Taliban divisions to weaken the group.

What happens next depends on how much the Taliban value their symbolic gains, said Rifaat Hussain, a leading Pakistani aca-demic and analyst.

Those may be so great that they do not mind ceding control of Kunduz, he said.

But, he added, if the Taliban do prepare for the long haul, they could set their sights next on the western city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

“If the objective is to get a toehold to expand their in� uence, the future doesn’t look promising for Afghan forces,” he said. l

11D

TEDITORIALTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

INSIDE

We are deeply concerned by reports that large ships and vessels are still continuing to travel through the Sundarbans.

After December’s catastrophic oil spill on the Sela river, there is no excuse for permitting vessels which pose a threat to the bio-diversity and sanctity of the mangrove forest.

Use of the Sela water-way was supposed to have stopped on June 1, the date by which Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan had said the Mongla-Ghasiakhali channel would re-open to river tra� c. It also � agrantly violates the Forest Department’s order back in September, prohibiting all kinds of medium and large engine-run boats and trawlers from entering the Sunderbans.

It is disgraceful that the slow pace of dredging is still delaying the re-opening of the safer Mongla-Ghasiakhali route, which had been shut down in 2010, forcing vessels to use the Sela River instead.

The government must urgently rectify its failure to re-open the Mongla-Ghasiakhali channel to large ships and oil tankers.

There is no excuse for the shipping minister not acting with more urgency. Although the long-term impact of December’s spill e� ects remain to be observed, considerable damage was clearly done to the habitats and food chains of dolphins and endangered tigers.

The government has an overriding duty to act with the utmost caution in safe-guarding the unique national symbol and World Heritage Site of the Sundarbans.

It must take a stronger stance in ensuring stringent protections for the Sundarbans, and in holding to account those responsible for the negligence and law-breaking which led to the Sela oil spill in the � rst place.

Act with more urgency to safe-guard the Sunderbans and hold to account those responsible for the negligence which led to the Sela oil spill

Reopen safer routes to stop threat to the Sunderbans

Clean foods matter,Mr. Mayor

A death in Gulshan and hysteria in the etherFor the last few years, pretty much every incident is traced to IS no matter how far-fetched. Even murders of individuals low on the visibility spectrum, though it boggles the mind to think they would in any way attract the attention of anyone in Syria or elsewhere

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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A prayer for lifeSaudi seniors may believe they are doing a great job by allowing so many Muslims to visit the holy mosques and perform Hajj rituals, but the truth is that they are not ready -- the place is not organised, and most pressingly, they are failing to manage non-Arabic speaking pilgrims

One would assume most consumers aware of the issue will automatically want to consume safe, unadulterated fruits and vegetables, but that isn’t the case in Bangladesh and other developing countries. Whole-sale markets don’t attract individual consumers, they attract traders who purchase in volume and are more concerned with price then food-safety

SYED

ZA

KIR

HO

SSA

IN

OPINION12DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

n Mamun Rashid

I performed hajj back in 2006. Thanks to a few secretaries of the government from back then and one former secretary, my-self and my roommate from Faujdarhat

Cadet College managed to get government passes -- the only bene� t being that we we were able to hold on to our passports instead of surrendering them to the Mutwallis’ peo-ple. Credit must be given to our Hajj agent MKR. Their people in the holy cities made our time there very comfortable

We were so engrossed in the Hajj rituals and asking for forgiveness from the Almighty, that we didn’t even have the time to look around and inspect our surroundings. I also performed Umrah a few times afterwards, twice during the month of Ramadan. All along, we were more focused on o� ering our prayers at the holy mosques and performing the required rituals.

Even the most ardent critic among my friends, who once said that he would engage

an agent to throw stones at the devil or visit the Haram Sharif after a good night’s sleep, was found to have run into the Haram Sharif once he had sighted the minar. He told me how he could not resist once he saw the “House of Allah.” When I look back now, I can tell you, things were not at all well-organised back then.

From immigration at the airport to every other place of importance, the Saudi police acted arrogantly. Everything was haphazard-ly managed, with construction work going on in many places, a severe lack of hygiene around us, and most importantly, the total lack of any planning. The Mina experience wasn’t very good either -- the showers and toilets were in miserable conditions. Many pilgrims in Arafat had to walk to Muzdalifah due to the unnecessary tra� c jams created by “� rst time to Arafat/Hajj” drivers. We all kept mum and remained focused on our goal.

This time, while two of my sisters were performing their Hajj in Makkah, our attention was again arrested at the overall Hajj management, and the role of Saudi Arabia as a host and as custodian of the two holy mosques. More than 700 people were reportedly killed and 800 injured during the stampede near Jamarat, where pilgrims throw stones at the devil.

Back in 2006, we were told by some of our friends close to the Saudi bosses that the Saudi government was committed in making Hajj a better experience, how they were going to put up an escalator or an electric walkway between Arafat and Muzdalifah, and had planned a high-rise to be built at Jamarat, where pilgrims can throw stones at the devils from di� erent storeys without falling on each other.

One may obviously have questions about why there are so many accidents even today. The Saudi government expressed its wishes to reduce the number of pilgrims in order to manage the pilgrimage better, and be done with the numerous incomplete construction work everywhere. Ironically, the number of pilgrims reached 3 million in 2012, while the development work to facilitate their safe passage keeps on lagging behind. This year, though the number came down to 2 million, the mis-management keeps continuing.

Another question usually raised is whether it is possible to cater to so many pilgrims, given the state of the location and the rites. Saudi seniors may believe they are doing a great job by allowing so many Muslims to visit the holy mosques and perform Hajj rituals, but the truth is that they are not ready -- the place is not organised, and most pressingly, they are failing to manage non-Arabic speaking pilgrims.

This time, the number of casualties is right up there next to that of the 1990 tunnel incident, which took 1,426 lives. Almost every international media house, not to mention the social network, are full of criticism against Saudi Arabia and its Hajj management. It is all the more worrying when � ngers are pointed at a Saudi prince, and the Saudi Police fail to take any actions against a member of the royal family.

It is no doubt a question of management, exacerbated by deeper-rooted issues such as the Saudi Royal Family’s lack of accountability. Capacity comes into play as well. From immigration at the airport, the airport itself, and the roads and the premises of the holy mosques, everything needs to be improved. The Saudi Hajj ministry should consider outsourcing some of the work, if it’s too much for them to handle. The Saudi police, though mostly ill-mannered, are capable of being useful, if they could muster up the courage to say “no” to any o� ending members of the Saudi royal family.

Certain political seniors, including the religious mullahs, appear to be very rude and unscrupulous, seeing how they just chalked everything up to fatalism. More shocking was the Haram Sharif mufti telling us: “We could not do much against the act of God” -- this statement revealed how helpless a Mufti could be in the supposed Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where there is no freedom of press, with a massive hole in the shape of a civil society left at its core.

A host should not invite guests unless they are well-prepared and have checked every nook and cranny. How should they be welcomed? What about their belongings? What about food arrangement? What about their individual safety? During Ramadan, when we invite someone to our homes, we � rst arrange for their iftar and make surehow and where they are going to pray.Saudi Arabia has no doubt failed to playthe role of even an average host. Theyneed to re-evaluate their priorities immediately. l

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

A prayer for lifeIs performing Hajj worth risking one’s life for?

Saudi seniors may believe they are doing a great job by allowing so many Muslims to visit the holy mosques and perform Hajj rituals, but the truth is that they are not ready -- the place is not organised, and most pressingly, they are failing to manage non-Arabic speaking pilgrims

The Saudi Arabian government’s indi� erence towards Hajj pilgrims can prove to be fatal REUTERS

OPINION 13D

TTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

n Shams Al-Majhi

The problem for a nation with a weak state, befuddled civil society, and eviscerated public intellectuals is that anyone and everyone can use

your territory for their own project.You won’t be able to battle the invisible

enemy, and in many cases you’ll invite their creation with your hysteria. In Bangla we call this “khal kete kumir ana” (cutting the canal that brings crocodiles to your land). Add to this the toxic pill of over-population (as the encyclopedias are fond of saying, Bangladesh is the size of Wisconsin but carries half the

population of that of the US), and you have a combustible witches’ brew.

One day in 2005, 500 bomb explosions occurred at 300 locations across the country, within a half hour period, starting at 11:30am. The media was agog about the supposedly “Al Qaeda-inspired” JMB. One of the few sceptical voices was the late Tareque Masud who said: “Bangladesh’e kono Al Qaeda lage na, amra nijerai nijederke BeQaeda’e feli,” (we don’t need Al Qaeda to cause trouble here, we are experts at putting ourselves in a mess). Sure enough, once the government had been proven incompetent in the war on terror and replaced by a military government, JMB vanished after the arrest and hanging of six of its leaders.

Connect the dots slowly -- a group that had the infrastructure to pull o� 300 coordinated bomb blasts within a 30 minute window suddenly collapsed after six leaders are arrested? Tasneem Khalil, a journalist, did try to connect the dots. He wrote an expose for the Daily Star’s Forum, tracing JMB to the country’s own National Security Agency (ie, it was a false � ag op), and, for his troubles, was arrested and soon after went into exile. The story died with his departure.

Fast forward a lot of years, and the war on terror has a new bogey, IS, or Da’esh. For the last few years, pretty much every incident is traced to IS no matter how far-fetched. Even murders of individuals low on the visibility spectrum (ie, they wrote in Bangla, for small blogs), though it boggles the mind to think

they would in any way attract the attention of anyone in Syria or elsewhere. This can be traced back even to the tragedy of the BDR mutiny, where parts of the media were quite certain there was an Islamist link. Why would these murders be an Islamist project? Why do we still � nd it unacceptable to believe that it was a misguided, murderous mutiny from within and that, yes, such brutality exists in our nation and no “foreign hand” is needed?

The government and media regularly write about “Islamist links” -- it has become the de rigueur plotline. Naturally, if you keep invoking someone’s name, they also start noticing. Where tiny Bangladesh did not rate

a pin-prick in whatever imaginary global war-on-terror map is being chalked out, it does now, thanks to our own media’s hysterical coverage. You keep saying “bagh ashche” (the tiger is coming), and eventually, some variation of it will come true.

I have no idea why this Italian aid worker was killed, but it stretches credibility that if Da’esh wanted to make an example, the � rst target they would pick in Dhaka is the Italian project manager for a Dutch NGO that works on food security. I mean seriously, why would this be the “high value” target?

But sure enough, within three hours of the shooting, a website claiming to be IS (well anyone can claim that, can’t they, and how can you prove or disprove it?) took “credit” for the killing, and the news was instantly ampli� ed by good old Rita Katz of SITE. Not familiar with Rita Katz? She’s from the Daniel Pipes’ school. Here’s a quote to give you shivers: “The New Yorker said in 2006, Katz’s clients were ‘people in government […] frustrated by how long it takes to get information through o� cial channels’ as well as ‘people in corporate security and in the media.’” Sounds like the perfect set of clients from whom could come a false � ag planter. Business slow, need new terrains, why not Bangladesh? The willing � elds.

Twenty years ago, there was some buzz that there may be oil in the Bay of Bengal. A journalist wrote, expressing his fear, that if oil was found, Bangladesh would develop a corrupt oil-patronage network in the Nigeria

model. The wide-open frontier of Bangladesh was far too eager to please, and open to all. It was our fortune (I think) that oil was never found and the fever broke. Now the war on terror has given us a new in� nite resource to keep pumping, the gift of fear and the solution of panopticon militarised security. In the coming days of hysteria, maintain a skeptical mind. Run from big media. Build your own media. Ask questions, then ask them again, and keep asking until things start to make sense. l

Shams Al-Majhi is a blogger. This article was � rst published on AlalODulal.org.

A death in Gulshan and hysteria in the etherDon’t believe everything the media tells you

For the last few years, pretty much every incident is traced to IS no matter how far-fetched. Even murders of individuals low on the visibility spectrum, though it boggles the mind to think they would in any way attract the attention of anyone in Syria or elsewhere

Let’s dial down our imaginations a notch

LONG FORM14DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

n Mishal Karim

Bangladesh su� ers from a chronic food adulteration problem where a signi� cant amount of vegetables, fruits, and � sh are riddled with

chemicals which are harmful for human con-sumption in the medium and longer terms.

It is well known that this issue occurs for a variety of reasons:

Farmers use excessive pesticides and fer-tiliser, resulting in chemical-ridden produce harmful for human consumption.

The lack of a cold chain and price sensitiv-ity of the market results in traders using car-bides, formalin, and other chemicals to elon-gate the fresh appearance of � sh and fruits. Excessive use of these chemicals destroy the nutritional value of the produce and, in fact, could be harmful for human consumption, causing a wide variety of ailments.

Most produce arrives from all over the country to major wholesale markets like Karwan Bazaar and is distributed from there to the rest of the city. The issue here is that there is no traceability and nobody knows where the produce originated from, and which batch of produce or � sh is contaminat-ed and which batch isn’t. Fact.

Hundreds and thousands of crores of vegetable and fruits are traded in this way, through the various whole-sale markets across the capital city.

Here are two popular “donor agency suggested solutions” to combating food adulteration:

“Let us train the farmers on the best prac-tices of farming so they have the knowledge of how to farm safely” -- admittedly knowl-edge transfer, training, and awareness are always good things, but currently there is no local certi� cation for farmers who follow good agricultural practices. Furthermore, there is no checking if the farmer continues to farm safely six months down the road.

“Let us build warehouses and cold storag-es so that we can help the farmers connect to the market” -- cold chains and warehouses cost money to operate. Currently, no cold chain is being maintained for most vegeta-bles and fruits being transported to the mar-ket, so anyone maintaining a cold chain will � nd their produce more expensive than the rest of the market and will, in all likelihood, incur a loss.

The starting point and essence of combating the adulteration of vegetables and fruits in Bangladesh is by creating an incentive to not do it. Currently, not only is there no incentive to not do it, but the adulterer will make signi� cantly more money than the farmer not using chemicals to elongate the shelf life or improve the appearance of his produce. For example, consider pineapples, a fruit that doesn’t have that long a shelf life. By using various chemicals, one can keep the pineapple looking fresh for three times longer than a fresh pineapple that is harvested and sent to market the following day. Logic prevailing, the adulterating farmer will make more money because he incurred far less wastage than the farmer that didn’t

adulterate. Furthermore, the adulterator’s produce fetched higher prices because it was aesthetically better to look at than the normal nutritious pineapple that starts looking shabbier on a daily basis and looks even worse when put next to super chemically-enhanced pineapples!

How can the mayors of Dhaka city save the day for the residents of the capital?Economic fundamentals and market forces can solve the food safety issue over time far more e� ectively than other e� orts that lack synergy with the market or cannot be sus-tained or monitored in the long run. Create a demand for safe produce, and supply will follow. What do we mean by saying “cre-ate demand for safe produce”? One would assume most consumers aware of the issue will automatically want to consume safe, unadulterated fruits and vegetables, but that isn’t the case in Bangladesh and other devel-oping countries.

Whole-sale markets don’t attract indi-vidual consumers, they attract traders who purchase in volume and are more concerned with price than food-safety. The desire of the individual for safe produce is lost in this supply-chain system.

The mayors of Dhaka can change this by creating “safe produce booths” at the major whole-sale markets. They would need to set up a simple application and pre-qualifying procedures for farmers and companies wanting to sell through the safe produce booths. There would be a testing laboratory established to test produce being sold through the safe booths, and produce being sold through these booths would be tested regularly to ensure authenticity.

What do we envisage will happen?First of all, more farmers and companies would switch to safe farming because they get a prime sales channel at major wholesale

markets. It would be a matter of time before major retailers, hotels, and other institu-tions will insist that their respective vendors supply them by purchasing from the safe produce booths at the wholesale markets. This would lead to a special receipt being generated from safe produce booths so that the end buyer can trace the produce being supplied was from a safe booth. This would automatically generate a premium for safe produce, which in turn would attract more farmers to switch to safe farming, pressuring the mayors to increase the area dedicated to safe produce booths.

As the safe produce booth area expands, good things start happening. There will be more traceability so that end buyers can actually see where the produce they bought originated from. Farmers and companies will slowly be able to switch to using a cold chain because now the market gives them a premium for their produce. Everything would evolve as it did in more developed markets, one just needs to implement good governance and create the platform, after which the market will take care of everything else organically.

Here are some answers to questions both mayors or their respective o� ces may have:

Who pays for all of this?The money and expertise is already in place. Donor agencies are sitting on millions of dollars and would love to fund an initiative like this one.

Who builds the labs and takes care of all testing to make sure that the safe booths actually pre-qualify safe farmers only and safe farming companies?Approach the HORTEX foundation which has a project called NATP, that could be lever-aged for funds and expertise to establish the lab testing and authenticity aspect to this initiative.

Who actually sets all of this up?It would be prudent to let a donor agency actually set all of this up and get the entire initiative operational, and then a hand over to either/or city corporation or the Depart-ment of Agricultural Marketing could happen gradually.

Where do we start?A round-table where potential stake-holders, government agencies, donor agencies, and relevant individuals could be invited for a discussion to develop the safe produce booth initiative.

The Ministry of Agriculture already has departments such as the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation, the Department of Agriculture Extension, and the Department of Agriculture Marketing, which could all play a role, including foreign institutions like the United Nations FAO. To conclude, the safe produce booth scheme at major whole-sale markets is, in my opinion, a winning idea that will work, the institutional support, donor funding are all accessible, but what the situation needs is good leadership and ownership.

In my opinion, the ownership of the scheme should be with the respective city corporation, since it is their space at the markets and the leadership to drive the scheme would then naturally be the mayor. The scheme can be piloted in Dhaka but can be implemented nation-wide.

The safe produce booth scheme can start immediately at all the existing wholesale markets, but would work better if there were better developed infrastructure for these wholesale fresh produce markets in Bangladesh. Karwan Bazaar, the largest fresh produce market, operates 24 hours seven days a week, which is basically stalls on the street. The market has not changed much since it was established in the 19th century. Our honourable mayor, Anisul Huq, has the complex task of overcoming the powerful lobby of traders and actually shut the market down and shift it to Gabtoli facilities, where the government has built a modern market, spending Tk2cr.

Testing, storage, handling of fresh produce will happen in� nitely better at this new facility, which was built at great expense, but shifting the market to this location is being halted by no more than a few hundred Karwan Bazaar traders, that don’t want their existing business a� ected. Irrespective, the in� uence of this lobby should not be underestimated, and I am sure that Mayor Anisul Huq has his work cut out for him to actually push the shift to the new facility through.

Bill Gates once said: “Complex problems need innovative thinking to solve them.” If the Karwan Bazaar shift happens, I will be quoting Anisul Huq in my next article, be-cause he would have delivered a big win for the city and all its residents. l

Mishal Karim is Managing Director and Co-founder of Direct Fresh Limited, a company engaged in online food retailing (www.directfreshbd.com) and safe farming (www.essentialperishables.com).

Clean foods matter, Mr. MayorDhaka's mayors can do a lot to rid the city of its food adulteration woes

Gabtoli: The proposed location for the current produce market at Karwan bazaar COURTESY

15D

TBusiness THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

IMF warns of market breakdown potential due to low rates

17 Stocks end � at with volatility 19

India talks tough on black money in hunt for hidden billions

16BTRC reviewing Airtel-Robi merger application

20

2 notches up in competitiveness indexn Tribune Report

Bangladesh has scaled up two places on the Global Competitiveness Index, according to the latest rankings released by the World Eco-nomic Forum (WEF) yesterday.

It now ranks 107th among 140 countries, against 109th in 2014-15. But, despite this jump, Bangladesh experienced negative changes in the sub-indices on institutions, � -nancial market sophistication, goods market e� ciency, technological readiness and busi-ness sophistication.

Switzerland retained the top spot in the latest rankings, followed by Singapore, the US, Germany and Netherlands.

Among South Asian countries, India leads the way at 55th, followed by Sri Lanka (68th, up � ve), Nepal (100th, up two), Bhutan (105th, down two) and Pakistan (126th, up three).

The report was launched in 140 nations si-multaneously and in Dhaka. Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) launched the report as a part-ner institute of WEF.

CPD Executive Director Prof Musta� zur Rahman who joined the event through Skype from Geneva said: “Bangladesh needs to run rather than walking for faring well in compet-itiveness.”

“Though the score increased, the country did not make breakthrough in e� ciency, pro-ductivity and labour market,” he said.

He suggested that Bangladesh needs infra-structural development, reforms and enabling environment in public administration to grad-uate into an upper middle-income country from its current lower-middle income status.

The WEF report attributes the jump in Bangladesh’s ranking to better performance in basic requirements but at the cost of weak-ening “e� ciency enhancers”.

The Global Competitiveness Index is an annual assessment to gauge the factors driv-ing productivity and prosperity across 140 countries.

It measures a country’s performance on 12 pillars – institutions, infrastructure, macroe-conomic environment, heath and primary ed-ucation, higher education and training, goods market e� ciency, labour market e� ciency, � nancial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistica-tion and innovation.

The World Bank’s ease-of-doing-business survey published early this year ranks Bang-ladesh at 173rd.

The latest WEF rankings shows Bangla-desh’s institutions are judged not favourably (ranked 132nd against 131st in 2014-15).

The report says performance in e� ciency enhancers declined two places to 105th in ranking.

A big improvement was seen in the coun-try’s macroeconomic stability through the past year, with its ranking jumping 23 places to 49th in 2015-16. Part of this could re� ect the recent moderation in in� ation and the fall in the current account de� cit.

On infrastructure, the ranking moved up four notches. Now, it ranks 123rd on the qual-ity of railroad infrastructure.

But on other key parameters, it fares poor-ly, ranking 113rd on the quality of roads and 120th on electricity supply. Ground and water transport networks have further worsened.

About governance, the report says the governance-related issues have remained un-changed and even deteriorated with 68% re-spondents believing that the parliament is in-e� ective as law-making institution, and 96% believe that politicians maintain poor ethical standards.

Health and primary education is seen as an area of improvement, with Bangladesh’s ranking jumping 1 place to 101st.

On innovation, Bangladesh ranks 127th from 129th in 2014-15.

The report lists corruption, instability of the government, higher tax, poor work ethic and complexity of tax regulations, access to � nancing, government instability and inade-quate supply of infrastructure as the top con-cerns in terms of doing business in India.

According to an analysis of Bangladesh’s Business Environment in 2015, most Bangla-deshi entrepreneurs have identi� ed energy price shock, underdeveloped infrastructure and weak governance as the foremost risks for doing business in Bangladesh within the next 10 years. l

Decision for less costly transit fee for Indian goods n Asif Showkat Kallol

A recent inter-ministerial meeting at the ship-ping ministry has decided to � x less expen-sive fee and provide a simpli� ed system for the transit of Indian goods through Bangla-deshi land.

The meeting also accepted a proposal by the National Board of Revenue to set service charge at Tk130 per tonne with no police es-cort and Tk180 with police escort for the tran-sit of Indian goods.

Nine decisions were made at the meeting, which, except two, will be placed at the Joint Technical Committee meeting with Indian authorities later.

Bangladesh will request the Indian author-ities to give more funds in dollars for naviga-tion of local river routes. Currently, the Indian authorities provide Tk1 crore to Bangladesh for navigation of local river routes.

The meeting reviewed the current transit

fees, service charges and bank guarantee un-der the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade between the two countries and in line with the World Trade Organization rules.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan presided over the meeting.

According to the meeting sources, the ex-isting service charge of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is going to remain as it is now, which was also earlier approved by the Indian authorities.

The meeting also accepted a BIWTA pro-posal to charge a paltry supervision fee of Tk10 on the same volume of cargo transit.

Roads and Highways Department will sub-mit a new proposal of toll or service charge, which will also be placed at the JTC meeting with the Indian authorities, under Bangla-desh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) framework.

BBIN framework of Motor Ve-hicle Agreement was signed last June in Thimphu under a sub-re-gional cooperation within the eight-member bloc - South Asian Association for Regional Cooper-ation.

Other guarantee money will not be taken by Bangladesh for allowing transit to Indian goods. A security money is now being taken, which is also regarded as guarantee money.

The shipping ministry will submit an an-nual report to the � nance ministry on earn-ings from freight charges, other fees and tran-sit charges.

As per the inter-ministerial meeting, the shipping ministry will inform nine decisions to the � nance and commerce ministries. l

2015/2016 ranking based on a studyof 14,000 company heads in 140 countries

Selected countries,ranked from 1 - 7

World competitivity

Source: The World Economic Forum2

3

4

5

6Switzerland

Singapore

USAGermany

NetherlandsJapan

Hong KongFinland

SwedenUK

Most competitiveLeast competitive

QatarMalaysia

BelgiumLuxembourg

AustraliaFrance

Austria

ChileRussia

South Africa

MyanmarVenezuela

Mozambique

HaitiMalawi

BurundiSierra Léone

Mauritania

ChadGuinee

‘Though the score increased, the country did not make breakthrough in e� ciency, productivity and labour market’

The meeting also accepted a BIWTA proposal to charge a paltry supervision fee of Tk10 on the same volume of cargo transit

BUSINESS16DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

Jamuna Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Electro Mart Limited for providing the bank’s credit card holders with interest free installment payment facilities on all electronic products of Electro Mart Limited. The bank’s DMD, AKM Saifuddin Ahamed and Mohammed Nurussafa Mazumder, director of Electro Mart Limited have signed the agreement

India talks tough on black money in hunt for hidden billionsn AFP, New Delhi

When an Indian deadline for declaring illegal assets expires yesterday, billions of rupees hidden in foreign bank accounts or funnelled into property abroad will emerge into the light - or so the government hopes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power last year pledging to crack down on the “men-ace” of so-called black money - vast piles of wealth kept secret from the tax authorities -- with a battalion of new measures.

A three-month window ending on Sep-tember 30 allows tax evaders to declare their stash and pay a softer penalty, with immunity from prosecution, or risk up to ten years in jail if they get caught.

“The era of tax havens has come to an end. It is no longer safe to keep your assets over-seas illegally,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in May, shortly after the Black Money Act was passed.

On the campaign trail two years ago, Modi claimed 1.5m rupees ($23,000) could be given to every citizen if illegal funds were brought back from overseas.

But the challenge of cajoling back into the economy the $439.59bn that � ed India illicitly from 2003-2012, according to estimates from the Global Financial Integrity group in Wash-ington, is dizzying.

India is one of the most cash-intensive so-cieties in the world, corruption is endemic, and strict tax laws encourage people to keep money o� the o� cial books.

The wealthy channel money to tax havens such as Switzerland or Singapore, convert it into jewellery, antiques, paintings or proper-ty, or send a relative abroad for half the year to avoid tax.

“The intention is clearly to target Indian citizens who have stashed wealth overseas and want to come clean,” Sonu Iyer, partner for India tax services at EY (Ernst & Young) said of the declaration window.

“It is a warning before the government

brings in a very harsh law.”

Tough talkThe Black Money Act is the latest in a widen-ing crackdown by India’s government, which has set up a team of regulators and ex-judges to identify illicit account holders and repatri-ate hidden funds.

It has started bringing in biometric iden-tity cards tied to bank accounts and last year handed a secret list of 627 people suspected of concealing money abroad over to the Su-preme Court.

The tough stance comes as the global net tightens on tax evaders, with new informa-tion-sharing accords between countries and even secretive Switzerland releasing the names of suspect account holders in May.

“Those days when people could hide things abroad and think they will never be found out are largely behind us,” V. Ananda-rajan, Joint Secretary of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, told a forum last week.

On the domestic front, targets for investi-gation include temples and ashrams, where lavish donations can be a front for money

laundering, and cricket betting. The property sector too is awash with black money, with analysts saying cash is a component in most transactions.

“Realty is one area where black money is huge. Politicians, investors, entrepreneurs park money, then cash it out later,” Pankaj Kapoor, managing director at Liases Foras, a real estate research � rm in Mumbai, told AFP.

But the Black Money Act and another new law that seeks to stop properties being acquired in another person’s name have spooked buyers, with sales already taking a hit, Kapoor said. l

Forbes: Gates richest American, 3 tech chiefs join top 10n AFP, New York

Microsoft founder Bill Gates retained his title as wealthiest American, while three founders of online companies joined the top 10, accord-ing to the Forbes 400 list released Tuesday.

Gates held onto the number-one spot in the annual list of the 400 wealthiest Ameri-cans for the 22nd straight year, with net worth of $76bn, down $5bn from 2014.

Warren Bu� ett, the head of conglomer-ate Berkshire Hathaway, ranked second with $62bn, while former Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison is third with $47.5bn.

Forbes said the average net worth of the 400 members on the list stands at a record $5.8bn, above the $5.7bn last year. Total wealth is $2.34tn, up from $2.29tn in 2014.

Entering the top 10 richest rank this year

were three founders of e-businesses. Amazon founder Je� Bezos bolted from 15th to fourth place at $47bn, thanks to the surging value of Amazon stock.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who jumped from 11th to seventh place, had net worth of $40.3bn. And Larry Page, CEO of Google, moved from number 13 in 2014 to land the 10th spot, with $33.3bn.

The business magazine also spotlighted Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, who has claimed wealth of at least $10bn . Forbes came up with a lower � gure, rating the billionaire in 121st place.

“After interviewing more than 80 sources and devoting unprecedented resources to val-uing a single fortune, we’re going with a � gure less than half that - $4.5bn, albeit still the high-est � gure we’ve ever had for him,” Forbes said. l

A banker seen counting Indian rupee REUTERS

BUSINESS 17D

TTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

Google counters Apple with Nexus phones, new tabletn AFP, San Francisco

Google � red back at Apple yesterday with a pair of new smartphones, a “convertible” tab-let and other gadgetry ahead of the year-end holiday shopping season.

The California tech giant unveiled two new Nexus smartphones with enhanced features including � ngerprint sensors and improved cameras aimed at the high end of the market dominated by Apple and Samsung.

Google said it was partnering with South Korea’s LG for its 5.2-inch screen Nexus 5X, and with China’s Huawei for its “phablet” sized 5.7-inch Nexus 6P.

Both handsets will be sold unlocked, with Google hoping to capitalize on a trend in the US and other markets away from smartphone subsidies as part of long-term contracts.

“We care about making sure there are af-fordable, high quality smartphones for users around the world,” said Sundar Pichai, the Google product chief who is slated to head the company’s largest unit under a reorganization announced earlier this year.

The phones, which aim to showcase the Google Android operating system, were avail-able for ordering in the United States, Britain, Japan and Ireland, with more countries to be

added next week, Google said as it unveiled the phones at a San Francisco media event.

The Nexus 5X starts at $379 for US custom-ers and the 6P starts at $499.

Marshmallow poweredThe devices will feature the new Android op-erating system known as Marshmallow, which allows for � ngerprint sensors for unlocking and other features including Android Pay.

The phones are priced below the premium devices from Apple such as the new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, and similar o� erings from Sam-sung. With the Nexus-branded devices, Goog-le is able to control much of the hardware and software in a manner similar to Apple, which has its own operating system.

“We try to push the next generation of computing forward; to do that we build hard-ware,” Pichai said of Google making its own branded devices.

The new software allows for a voice-com-manded Now On Tap virtual assistant to be summoned by holding down the home screen button.

Google makes Android mobile software available free to device makers, but makes its Nexus line to showcase capabilities of the op-erating system.

While Android is used on some 80 percent of smartphones worldwide, many devices use older versions of the software with carriers often slow to release upgrades.

Convertible tablet The Pixel C is the � rst tablet built ground-up by Google and is seen as an alternative to the iPad Pro unveiled this month and Microsoft’s Surface.

The “C” in the name stands for “converti-ble” because it features an optional keyboard that doubles as a cover and connects magnet-ically for laptop-computer style use.

“We think the Pixel C tablet and keyboard experience really unlocks ways to play and be productive across one device,” Google’s An-drew Bowers said while showing o� the new hardware.

Pixel C tablet will be available in time for the year-end holidays at a starting price of $499, with the keyboard priced at $149, ac-cording to Google.

Google unveiled an upgraded version of its popular Chromecast device that plugs into television screens to stream content wireless-ly from the internet, with smartphones or tab-lets serving as controls.

The company also introduced Chromecast

Audio, a pendant sized device designed to plug into stereo speakers for streaming mu-sic, podcasts, YouTube or other audio content through home sound systems.

“Now you have a simple way to amplify your experience to the biggest devices in the home,” said Rishi Chandra of the Chromecast team.

Spotify tunes in Chandra announced that the mobile app of music-streaming service Spotify will work with Chromecast Audio, which avoids Blue-tooth connectivity hiccups.

Chromecast Audio promised to provide a low-cost way for people to out� t homes with Internet “smart” stereo systems, according to Gartner analyst Brian Blau.

“It is an interesting play on having your music anywhere you want,” Blau said.

Both new Chromecast devices kept the $35 price of the earlier version.

Gartner analyst Werner Goertz saw the new Google o� erings as aimed mostly at the consumer market, and playing catch-up with devices launched by rivals.

“The major innovation was around the Pix-el,” Goertz said after the presentation.

“Everything else was pretty much catch-up. I was hoping for a little more disruption.” l

IMF warns of market breakdown potential due to low ratesn AFP, Washington

Financial markets face a higher risk of liquid-ity squeezes in a sell-o� due to the e� ects of the long period of low interest rates, the Inter-national Monetary Fund said.

In a semi-annual report on global � nancial stability, the IMF said that markets for trading equities, bonds, currencies and other instru-ments generally appear liquid at the moment.

But that liquidity - the ability of traders to easily buy or sell a large volume of an asset - could be more “prone to evaporate” in the current environment, causing more volatility and undermining � nancial stability.

“Central banks and � nancial supervisors need to be prepared for episodes of liquidity breakdowns,” said IMF economist Gaston Ge-los, one of the authors of the new report.

“The level of liquidity in � nancial markets ... has not shown a marked decline in most asset classes; however, low interest rates may be masking an erosion of its underlying resil-ience,” the report said.

It said that the low interest rates at the hands of the world’s leading central banks in the United States, Europe and Japan have en-couraged more risk taking.

At the same time, the central banks’ quan-titative easing stimulus programs have bol-stered liquidity, especially in bond markets.

But other changes in market structure have heightened the risks: the investor base has become less diverse; high-frequency and computer-based trading has become more powerful; there has been a rise in small bond issues; and many banks have pulled back from actively trading in � nancial markets, in part due to post-� nancial crisis regulations.

Because of that, the IMF said, once interest

rates rise, market liquidity will probably de-cline and could do so to an unnerving degree.

“In extreme conditions, a sharp drop in li-quidity can threaten � nancial stability since several asset markets, for example, bond and repo markets can freeze altogether -- as seen in the global � nancial crisis,” it said.

It noted that in that crisis in 2008, a liquid-ity shock in one market caused a chain reac-tion in other markets that led to a shock in the entire � nancial system.

Part of the problem, too, is that the low rates have encouraged many more companies across emerging markets to borrow funds o� -shore, especially via bond issues.

Borrowing by � rms has quadrupled in

the past decade, the IMF pointed out, with a surge tied to the ultra-low rate stance of the US Federal Reserve since 2008.

But the report asked whether borrowers, most importantly those in emerging markets, have prepared themselves for higher interest rates, and for falls in their home currencies.

“These developments make emerg-ing-market economies more vulnerable to a rise in interest rates, dollar appreciation, and an increase in global risk aversion,” said Gelos.

The report warned that emerging- mar-ket governments should prepare themselves for more corporate distress and failures, and should reform rules to make it easier to re-solve corporate insolvencies. l

The logo of the International Monetary Fund_AFP.jpg

German in� ation back to zero in Septembern AFP, Frankurt

Consumer prices in Germany, Europe’s big-gest economy, did not rise in September, data showed on Tuesday, raising pressure on the ECB to prevent the wider euro area from slip-ping into a dangerous cycle of falling prices.

Germany’s national in� ation yardstick, the consumer price index, showed zero change this month, after rising by a meagre 0.2% the previous month, the federal statistics o� ce Destatis said.

And using the Harmonised Index of Con-sumer Prices (HICP) -- the barometer used by the European Central Bank - the in� ation rate in Germany actually declined by 0.2% year-on-year in September, the statisticians said.

The ECB regards annual in� ation rates of close to but just under 2% as conducive to healthy economic growth and has recently launched a raft of measures to kickstart prices and push area-wide in� ation back up nearer that level. A controversial programme of sov-ereign bond purchases, known as QE or quan-titative easing, was rolled out in March and initially appeared to work.

But the economic slowdown in China and depressed oil prices have pushed in� ation ex-pectations back down again.

The in� ation data on Tuesday were a pre-liminary � ash estimate calculated from con-sumer price data for six of Germany’s 16 re-gional states.

Final data based on all 16 states were scheduled to be published on October 13.

Analysts said the data will raise the heat on the ECB to step up its anti-de� ation measures.

“With in� ation � irting with negative terri-tory, the ECB should get a little bit more nerv-ous, although the fresh weakness in in� ation looks to be a temporary blip due to oil prices,” said Natixis economist Johannes Gareis. l

BUSINESS18DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 645.99 13.04 23.90 7.18 669.89 12.67NBFI 451.59 9.12 29.98 9.00 481.56 9.11Investment 95.82 1.93 2.09 0.63 97.91 1.85Engineering 722.71 14.59 60.00 18.01 782.71 14.81Food & Allied 136.04 2.75 8.46 2.54 144.50 2.73Fuel & Power 497.13 10.04 33.39 10.02 530.52 10.04Jute 4.48 0.09 0.00 4.48 0.08Textile 262.76 5.30 13.72 4.12 276.48 5.23Pharma & Chemical 831.84 16.79 61.12 18.35 892.96 16.89Paper & Packaging 9.44 0.19 0.74 0.22 10.18 0.19Service 340.69 6.88 25.36 7.61 366.05 6.92Leather 35.83 0.72 1.64 0.49 37.48 0.71Ceramic 87.01 1.76 5.59 1.68 92.60 1.75Cement 153.12 3.09 10.37 3.11 163.49 3.09Information Technology 20.94 0.42 1.58 0.47 22.52 0.43General Insurance 25.42 0.51 0.87 0.26 26.29 0.50Life Insurance 32.84 0.66 0.65 0.19 33.49 0.63Telecom 283.28 5.72 18.42 5.53 301.70 5.71Travel & Leisure 105.74 2.13 11.32 3.40 117.07 2.21Miscellaneous 210.12 4.24 23.95 7.19 234.07 4.43Debenture 0.69 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.69 0.01

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

News, analysis and recent disclosuresDBH: The Board of Directors has recommended 30% cash dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2015. Date of AGM: 08.12.2015, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Hotel Amari Dhaka, House - 47, Road - 41, Gulsan - 2, Dhaka - 1212. Record date: 20.10.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 5.90, NAV per share of Tk. 27.32 and NOCFPS of Tk. (0.98) for the year ended on June 30, 2015 as against Tk. 5.15, Tk. 23.92 and Tk. (3.82) respectively for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

Dividend/AGMPREMIERCEM: 20% cash, AGM: 29.10.2015, Record Date: 18.10.2015.

BEACHHATCH: 5% stock, AGM: 08.12.2015, Record Date: 28.10.2015.

SAIFPOWER: 29% stock, AGM: 12.11.2015, Record Date: 15.10.2015.

APOLOISPAT: 3% Cash and 12% Stock dividend, AGM: 19.11.2015, Record Date: 14.10.2015.

MATINSPINN: 27% cash, AGM: 27.10.2015, Record date: 08.10.2015.

BSCCL: 10% stock, AGM: 18.10.2015, Record Date: 28.09.2015.

MODERNDYE: 10% cash, AGM: 15.10.2015, Record Date: 23.09.2015.

GPHISPAT: 17% cash, AGM: 08.11.2015, Record date: 20.09.2015.

SAIHAMCOT: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 28.10.2015, Record date: 17.09.2015.

BBS: 20% stock, EGM & AGM: 15.10.2015, Record date for EGM & AGM: 20.09.2015.

APEXFOODS: 20% cash, AGM: 30.09.2015, Record date: 13.09.2015.

APEXTANRY: 45% cash, AGM: 04.10.2015, Record date: 09.09.2015.

PRAGATILIF: 17% cash and 5% stock dividend AGM: 29.09.2015,. Record Date: 20.08.2015.

APEXSPINN: 20% cash AGM: 30.09.2015, Record date: 18.08.2015.

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

LR Global BD MF1-A 10.00 9.00 5.45 5.50 5.50 5.30 0.170 0.40 13.6NLI 1st M F-A 9.30 9.18 9.40 9.40 9.40 9.40 0.000 1.50 6.3National Life I -A 8.57 8.57 190.00 190.00 190.00 190.00 0.010 12.46 15.2BD Fixed Income MF-A 6.67 6.67 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 0.000 0.83 9.6GSP Finance-A 5.84 3.35 14.18 14.50 14.60 13.60 2.258 1.10 12.9Prime Finance-A 5.56 3.73 13.06 13.30 13.30 12.60 2.421 -1.70 -vePhoenix Finance-A 4.35 5.64 19.10 19.20 19.50 18.50 0.651 1.54 12.4BD Finance-B 4.20 2.54 12.11 12.40 12.50 11.80 3.602 0.06 201.8The Peninsula CTG.-A 4.02 3.75 20.47 20.70 20.90 19.70 3.468 1.39 14.7Eastern Cables-A 3.88 3.88 134.00 134.00 134.00 134.00 0.040 1.12 119.6

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

GSP Finance-A 5.88 2.54 14.13 14.40 14.60 13.70 32.294 1.10 12.8LR Global BD MF1-A 5.77 9.65 5.57 5.50 5.70 5.20 28.484 0.40 13.9The Peninsula CTG.-A 5.08 4.19 20.37 20.70 20.90 19.80 18.372 1.39 14.7BD Finance-B 5.04 3.54 12.30 12.50 12.60 12.00 18.018 0.06 205.0Prime Finance-A 4.76 3.34 13.01 13.20 13.30 12.70 16.277 -1.70 -veBD. Autocars -Z 4.56 1.25 37.98 39.00 39.40 37.30 0.287 0.19 199.9DBH 1st MF-A 4.55 3.40 4.56 4.60 4.70 4.40 1.814 0.45 10.1ISN Ltd. -Z 4.42 2.92 11.64 11.80 11.90 11.40 0.537 -0.20 -vePhoenix Finance-A 4.35 4.75 18.97 19.20 19.40 18.50 12.167 1.54 12.3NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A 4.08 0.99 5.10 5.10 5.20 5.00 2.499 0.94 5.4

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

BD Submarine Cable-A -7.37 -7.08 113.48 113.10 114.50 113.00 8.846 0.86 132.0Delta Brac HFCL-A -6.56 -2.07 103.50 99.70 99.70 100.00 1.872 6.04 17.1Tallu Spinning -Z -6.28 -2.69 23.12 22.40 23.70 22.10 0.550 -0.21 -veKohinoor Chem -A -5.24 -5.24 380.00 380.00 380.00 380.00 0.021 8.25 46.1S.B. 1st M. F.-A -4.88 -4.88 7.80 7.80 7.80 7.80 0.000 1.41 5.5Peoples Insur -A -4.79 -4.73 15.90 15.90 15.90 15.90 0.003 2.20 7.2Envoy Textiles Ltd-A -4.72 -3.48 50.49 50.50 50.50 50.20 0.012 4.73 10.7MeghnaCement -A -4.70 -5.00 113.51 113.50 113.60 113.50 0.068 7.30 15.5Popular Life Insu. -A -4.55 -4.14 84.36 84.00 88.00 84.00 0.046 2.89 29.28th ICB M F-A -4.26 -4.26 65.10 65.10 65.10 65.10 0.005 17.26 3.8

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

BD Submarine Cable-A -7.12 -7.12 113.69 113.50 115.00 112.00 44.732 0.86 132.2Delta Brac HFCL-A -7.00 -3.17 102.19 99.60 109.90 98.00 32.419 6.04 16.9EBL NRB M.F.-A -4.55 -2.07 4.25 4.20 4.30 4.10 2.792 0.41 10.4Jute SpinnersA -4.46 -4.07 55.85 55.70 63.80 54.00 0.095 -31.68 -veZahintex Ind.-A -3.93 -2.41 22.30 22.00 23.40 21.80 3.662 1.03 21.7Prime Islami Life -A -3.78 -3.62 43.65 43.30 44.20 43.00 0.819 4.95 8.8Northern Jute -Z -3.67 -0.21 325.21 319.90 335.90 317.00 3.136 1.75 185.8Beach Hatchery -A -3.47 -3.24 17.00 16.70 17.60 16.60 14.457 0.54 31.5Fu-wang Ceramic-A -3.45 -0.70 14.18 14.00 14.60 13.90 7.937 0.36 39.4FAR Chemical-A -3.44 -0.52 51.57 50.50 53.50 50.20 209.704 3.23 16.0

DSE key features September 30, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

4,953.49

Turnover (Volume)

136,800,246

Number of Contract

106,505

Traded Issues 321

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

141

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

172

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

8

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,698.39

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.71

CSE key features September 30, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

333.15

Turnover (Volume)

9,963,294

Number of Contract

14,471

Traded Issues 248

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

112

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

129

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,591.31

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.41

BUSINESS 19D

TTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

Stocks end � at with volatility n Tribune Report

Stocks closed � at yesterday as investors continued to book pro� ts for the second straight day, but volatility returned to the market.

The market moved be-tween red and green heavily in the very beginning and bore beat bulls at the end. Financial sectors performed well, but failed to provide enough support for the over-all market rally as almost all other sectors landed in neg-ative terrain.

The Dhaka Stock Ex-change benchmark index DSEX was marginally down 1 point to 4,852.

The Shariah index DSES declined 5 points or 0.5% to 1,180. The blue chip com-prising index DS30 shed 6 points or 0.4% to 1,847. The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX fell 11 points to 9,035.

Banks and non-banking � nancial institutions gained almost 1% and 0.05% re-spectively, extending their gaining streak for the second consecutive session.

Telecommunications sec-tor lost 1.8%, extending its losing streak over the last several sessions driven by Grameenphone falling 2%. The sector remained un-der pressure since Robi and Airtel merger news, which sparked anticipation of dis-mal portability of the sector.

Consequently, telecom-munication again was the worst performing sector and descended to be the third largest sector in the market in terms of market capital-isation. Almost all other sectors, including cement, power and pharmaceuticals, went down.

Activities were robust main-ly due to strong selling pres-sure as the DSE turnover stood at Tk495 crore, up nearly 14% over the previ-ous session.

IDLC Investments said the market barely moved from previous level, yielding a � at session while investors returning from vacation kept pumping up the activities.

“Despite improved par-ticipation, the market lacked momentum and rhythm as quarterly earnings expecta-tion is taking time to form.”

Grameenphone topped the liquidity chart with turnover worth about Tk24 crore. It was followed by Saif Powertec, Square Phar-maceuticals, Islami Bank, Far Chemical Industries and BSRM Steel. l

Despite improved participation, the market lacked momentum and rhythm as quarterly earnings expectation is taking time to form

ANALYST

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 12899.12000 (-) 0.02% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1847.97040 (-) 0.33% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14845.04320 (-) 0.14% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12899.12000 (+) 0.03% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 9035.12470 (-) 0.12% ▼

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

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

FAR Chemical-A 698,162 36.43 10.93 51.00 -3.23 52.70 52.20 50.40 52.17SAIF Powertec-A 204,455 18.48 5.55 91.10 3.76 87.80 92.90 87.00 90.37BSRM Steels-A 102,823 9.81 2.94 95.60 1.92 93.80 96.50 93.80 95.41Appollo Ispat CL -A 418,489 9.74 2.92 23.40 2.18 22.90 23.50 22.80 23.28Grameenphone-A 33,320 9.58 2.88 285.90 -1.82 291.20 291.00 285.50 287.47BD Submarine Cable-A 77,955 8.85 2.66 113.10 -7.37 122.10 114.50 113.00 113.48Aman Feed-N 132,961 8.61 2.59 64.40 0.63 64.00 66.20 64.00 64.79UNITED AIR-A 743,475 7.74 2.32 10.40 -0.95 10.50 10.50 10.30 10.42LankaBangla Fin. -A 210,034 7.35 2.21 35.00 2.34 34.20 35.90 34.30 35.00Beximco Pharma -A 98,189 7.00 2.10 71.40 0.28 71.20 72.00 71.00 71.33LafargeS Cement-A 61,921 6.69 2.01 108.00 -0.55 108.60 108.90 107.10 107.96Baraka Power-A 182,365 6.53 1.96 35.90 1.13 35.50 36.00 35.40 35.79United Power-A 44,139 6.45 1.94 145.50 -1.22 147.30 148.00 145.20 146.19BSRM Ltd. -A 48,408 6.42 1.93 131.70 -0.75 132.70 135.50 131.20 132.62Ifad Autos -N 57,724 6.42 1.93 110.60 0.09 110.50 112.60 110.10 111.20

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

Grameenphone-A 833,000 238.55 4.82 285.10 -1.96 290.80 290.80 284.50 286.37SAIF Powertec-A 2,573,588 231.90 4.68 91.10 4.00 87.60 92.80 87.10 90.11FAR Chemical-A 4,066,785 209.70 4.23 50.50 -3.44 52.30 53.50 50.20 51.57Square Pharma -A 816,059 203.92 4.12 249.40 -0.48 250.60 251.20 248.20 249.88Islami Bank BD - A 5,458,105 167.12 3.37 30.60 -0.33 30.70 30.90 30.50 30.62BSRM Steels-A 1,366,340 130.73 2.64 95.80 2.02 93.90 96.70 94.30 95.68Brac Bank -A 3,135,857 129.20 2.61 41.20 1.48 40.60 41.60 39.40 41.20Appollo Ispat CL -A 5,238,648 122.12 2.47 23.30 1.75 22.90 23.50 23.00 23.31Beximco Pharma -A 1,498,073 107.02 2.16 71.50 0.14 71.40 71.90 71.10 71.44IDLC Finance -A 1,486,899 95.70 1.93 64.50 0.31 64.30 64.70 63.80 64.36LankaBangla Fin. -A 2,583,357 90.39 1.82 35.00 2.04 34.30 35.90 34.30 34.99Ifad Autos -N 796,442 88.83 1.79 111.10 0.45 110.60 113.70 110.20 111.53SummitAlliancePort.-A 1,397,855 83.89 1.69 60.00 0.84 59.50 60.40 59.60 60.01LafargeS Cement-A 745,955 80.52 1.63 107.60 -0.65 108.30 109.50 107.30 107.94UNITED AIR-A 7,699,970 80.13 1.62 10.40 -0.95 10.50 10.60 10.30 10.41

Market barely moved from previous level, yielding a � at session

BUSINESS20DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

USAID gives $22m for RMG safetyn Tribune Report

The United States Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID) on Wednes-day signed two new credit guarantee fa-cilities that will make up to $22 million available to � nance factory upgrades and safety improvements in Bangla-desh’s ready-made garment industry.

This landmark partnership between USAID, Prime Bank Limited, and Unit-ed Commercial Bank (UCB) will make a� ordable, long-term credit more available to small- and medium-sized suppliers in Bangladesh to make crit-ical safety upgrades and structural improvements to better protect their workers and meet international stand-ards, according to the US Embassy in Dhaka, reports UNB.

The � rst agreement will guaran-tee up to $18 million in bank loans to

ready-made garment factories that supply brands which are members of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (the Alliance).

This guarantee partnership with Prime Bank and UCB was also made possible through a � nancial commit-ment by the Alliance of one million � ve-hundred thousand dollars ($1.5 million) to support the guarantee.

The second agreement will guaran-tee up to $4 million in bank loans to target � nancing opportunities to fac-tories that are part of the Bangladesh Accord for Fire and Building Safety (the Accord) and the Government of Bang-ladesh’s Tripartite Action Plan that is supported by the International Labor Organization.

Under the new agreements, qualify-ing ready-made garment suppliers will have the opportunity to access long-term

Taka and US Dollar-denominated loans.The two facilities together will sig-

ni� cantly improve a� ordability and access to � nancing for ready-made gar-ment suppliers and improve the safety and working conditions for garment factory workers.

The US Government, through US-AID, has provided over $6 billion in development assistance to Bangladesh since 1971. In 2014, USAID provided nearly $200 million to improve the lives of people in Bangladesh.

USAID supports programmes in Bangladesh that expand food security and economic opportunity, improve health and education services, pro-mote democratic institutions, and in-crease resiliency to climate change.

USAID is committed to improving the safety and working conditions in the ready-made garment industry. l

BTRC reviewing Airtel-Robi merger applicationn Ishtiaq Husain

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has started reviewing the merger application of Robi Axiata Limited and Airtel Bangladesh Limited before giving them the nod.

Robi and Airtel recently applied to the tel-ecom regulator for permission to merge into a single entity.

Requesting anonymity, a BTRC o� cial said the telecom watchdog lays emphasis on the job certainty of the employees after the two operators get merged.

“The issue was raised at the commission

meeting where its members discussed var-ious aspects of the merger including law as-pects. The application now requires the tele-com division’s approval,” he said.

Following the approval, both the operators will have to go to the company matter bench of the High Court. If anyone does not raise any objection there, BTRC will give � nal approval, the o� cial added.

Indian telecommunication giant Bharti Airtel and Malaysia-based Axiata Group be-gan talks to merge their operations in Bangla-desh last month to create the second-largest operator in the country.

Robi will have a 75% stake in the merged

entity while Airtel 25%, according to the joint application signed by Supun Weerasinghe, chief executive o� cer of Robi, and PD Sarma, managing director of Airtel Bangladesh, to the telecom regulator.

Of Robi’s 75% stake, 70% will be owned by Axiata Group, Robi’s Malaysia-based parent company, and 5% by Japan’s NTT DOCOMO.

Airtel bought a 70% stake in Warid Tele-com in Bangladesh for $100,000 in January 2010, prompting the o� ce of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh to raise questions about the deal price.

Airtel is the fourth largest telecom operator in Bangladesh while it is number one in India.

According to Bangladesh Telecommu-nications Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Grameenphone — promoted by Telenor — has 53.98m mobile subscribers, Banglalink 32.4m, Robi Axiata 27.9m, Airtel Bangladesh 9m and Paci� c Bangladesh Telecom 1.1m as of July 2015.

Airtel Bangladesh is present across 64 dis-tricts with a distribution network comprising 152,000 retailers across the country. Airtel has 3G network with more than 2,000 3G sites across the country.

Airtel revenue from South Asia compris-ing Bangladesh and Sri Lanka dipped 11% to Rs3,886m in June 2015. The telecom operator invested Rs992m in South Asia. l

Biometric SIM registration begins on December 16n Tribune Report

SIM registration with biometric identi� cation will begin on De-cember 16 this year while its trial is going to take place on No-vember 1.

TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom of Bangladesh (AMTOB), revealed this at a press confer-ence in the capital yesterday.

“We are ready to engage all our e� orts in SIM registration pro-cess to continue the task smoothly. Ultimately, unregistered SIMs will be blocked, but later they could be reopened by providing proper information with NID,” Nurul said.

The entire process will be completed within six months, he said, urging the government to revise the guideline on SIM regis-tration, in case the subscribers do not have any NIDs.

Nurul Kabir said all mobile operators had submitted millions of subscribers data to the NID wing of Election Commission for veri� cation.

To reduce customers su� erings, all mobile operators will send a CODE to their subscribers to let them know about the registra-tion, he said.

In case the operators fail to provide the CODE, the subscribers will stil be able to know about their registration status by sending SMS to their respective operators. l

Tofail urges India to lift ban on jute importn Tribune Report

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday urged his Indian counterpart to withdraw ban on jute import from Bangladesh and additional tax on cotton import.

He made the call at a meeting with Indian Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the latter’s o� ce in New Delhi, said a press release.

Bangladesh commerce minister went to India to participate in the South Asia Economic Conclave held in the Indian capital.

During the meeting, Tofail Ahmed urged Sitharaman to en-hance trade facilities for Bangladesh to reduce trade gap, which is now largely in favour of India.

He also sought support on the LDC package to be placed at the 10th ministerial conference of World Trade Organisation. The conference will take place on December 15-18 in Nairobi, Kenyan capital. In response, Sitharaman gave a positive nod.

Recently, the O� ce of the Jute Commissioner of India issued a notice, cancelling earlier registrations of raw jute and jute prod-ucts importers.

According to the notice, importers have to have a no-objection certi� cate from the authorities concerned for every consignment. It also sought detailed information of the buyers.

According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned $868.5m exporting raw jute and jute goods in the last � s-cal year, of which about $100m came from India. l

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22Written in the Stars Prodigy in the making

24diy

Burn and mouldnews

Direct Fresh partners with Thrive to provide meals to the underprivileged

INSIDE

Bound to freedomPhoto: Bigstock

Written in the StarsTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 , 2015

T-JUNCTION22DT

Prodigy in the makingWith young entrepreneurs sprouting out left and right, one caught our eye, going to his own office still in his school uniform. With the rare traits of honesty and humble modesty, we had a little conversation with Ahmed Fahad during recess, as he astonished us with his story

n Rad Sharar Bin Kamal

How young were you when you � rst took an entrepreneurial step? I was a 13-year-old, and in 8th grade. My friends and I were very enthusiastic about sports, football in particular. There were so many of us who wanted to play but there weren’t any tournaments being organised for our age group. So we decided to start hosting football tourneys of our own, and soon � gured out that this could be turned into a business. I founded an event management startup named “Enlighten Events” with � ve of my friends.

What was your � rst business about? Did it go as planned? What did you learn from it?Given our knack for football, almost everything we did at the time was surrounding the sport. We loved the game and wanted to promote it through football tournaments, FIFA gaming competitions and match screenings. My time with Enlighten exposed me to diverse situations and made me a better speaker. Be it approaching big local brands for sponsorships or engaging with crowds of 150+ people, my work with Enlighten taught me to be more con� dent. A quality that would be crucial in the years to come.

Written in the Stars T-JUNCTION 23D

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Photos: Courtesy

The plan was to expand to hosting all sorts of events. We tried to start a series of concerts under the label of “Live Inc.” We planned a series called “Clash of the schools,” which was a tournament featuring 12 competitions such as debates, football, cricket, swimming and stu� like that. It was basically a “mini Olympics” for all schools in Dhaka. These were good ideas, but they weren’t executed.

During my time with Enlighten, we had a lot of good ideas for businesses, but truth be told, we got lazy. This is where I learnt that ideas aren’t worth a dime without proper execution.

Who supported you the most in the hardest of times? Who is your biggest inspiration?If you’re going to do something unconventional, be ready to fail, and when you fail, make sure you have someone to help put the pieces back together. Doesn’t matter how emotionally detached you think you are, everyone needs a support system. Someone who loves you unconditionally, someone who understands your thoughts, feelings and goals, a voice of reason at times when it’s impossible for you to think clearly. For me, it’s been my mother.

Inspiration comes in di� erent forms, at di� erent stages of life. From an early age, my mother has inspired me many times, in di� erent ways. But above all, she has taught me never to give up. We live in a noisy world where almost everyone is following the crowd. You need courage to � nd your own path, to keep going even when society tells you with certainty that you’re going to fail. But most of all, you need to have the stomach to constructively handle failure.

Did your studies su� er because of your extra-curricular activities?I’m currently studying in the 12th grade at Scholastica school. I go to the o� ce each day after attending school. Initially it felt weird entering the o� ce wearing the school uniform. But then again, everything I do, in a way, is di� erent. Taking job interviews of people at least a decade older than you, spending late nights working at the o� ce and being able to build things, at scale, that

can improve the lives of people around you, are not experiences every 17-year-old goes through. I don’t mind putting in extra hours to get good grades when I know that it’ll enable me to do the kind of work that I love.

So far, the hard work has paid o� . I’ve received an academic achievement award from a national daily for my O’level grades, and have been able to be a part of three promising startups in the past year.

What were the biggest hurdles you had to cross?It was di� cult accepting the fact that my � rst business, Enlighten Events, wouldn’t work out the way I visioned it to. It was my � rst real company, and it was di� cult letting it go. I spent about a year unsure about what to do next. I started coding when I was 12, and started learning graphic design soon afterwards. I sucked at both at � rst, but kept practicing. Three years later, those were the invaluable skills I used to build my � rst real products.

Your recent initiative “Dhaka Rides” has been getting much attention. Tell us about how you gained the inspiration and how it started.Dhaka Rides is a service with which you can share an air conditioned car ride to anywhere in Dhaka. As we all know, our city’s tra� c scenario is worse than ever. There isn’t enough public transport, as a result, we have ridiculously overcrowded buses and expensive CNG fares. We believe the most realistic to way tackle this problem is to promote carpooling in the country. We’re building a safe, comfortable and a� ordable transport service for everyday use. The goal is to help solve Dhaka’s tra� c problem.

Dhaka Rides is one of three promising startups currently incubated at HackHouse Dhaka. We have hardly scratched the surface in terms of what we want accomplish with Dhaka Rides. There’s a long way to go and we have wonderful team working hard to get us there. We’re constantly looking for feedback to improve our service so if you’re reading this, check out www.dhakarides.com and let us know how you think we can build a better service for you.

What are your future plans, personally, and with your ventures?I’m still split between studying engineering or business, after high school. I’m fascinated by both and believe that brilliant things are possible at the intersection of these � elds. I see myself spending more time and energy working on Dhaka Rides in the future. Focus and perseverance are needed to make good things happen, and those are things I’m willing to put into this project. l

Favourite place to eat in Dhaka: Star KababFavourite hangout spot in Dhaka: George’s CafeSporting interests: FootballHobbies: Reading and playing FIFA

Insider info:

During my time with Enlighten, we had a lot of good ideas for businesses, but truth be told, we got lazy. This is where I learnt that ideas aren’t worth a dime without proper execution

Try OutT-JUNCTION24 DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 , 2015

diy

news

Burn and mould n Raisa Rahim

Learn this simple hack to make the perfect plastic rose pendant

It’s even easier done than said. This DIY project will teach you how to make a beautiful, almost real rose pendant for yourself or a loved one.

Supplies:• 10-17 plastic spoons• a candle• a fl at ceramic or glass surface (to fl atten

the bottom of the rose)• paint (if you want your pendant to be any

other colour than white)

Start by lighting the candle (duh!) and since we will be burning the plastic spoons, which tends to cause an unpleasant smell, you may want to carry out the process outdoors. First, let’s start with the center petal of your rose. Hold one of the spoon’s concave down over the � ame (make sure you place it an inch or above the � ame). Be watchful of when it starts to melt and wrinkle and then remove it from the � ame. Carefully pinch it into a bud by pulling the outside edges inwards, and cut the handle.

Now let’s make the outer petals and to do so, repeat the previous process with the other spoons one at a time, but with the concave side up. Once the spoons are pliable, form the petal by pulling the tip downwards and stretching it. This time around, do not cut the handle, leave about a 1⁄4 inch (0.6 cm) of handle on the spoons.

The farther away from the bud, the longer and � atter the petals should be.

Do not fret if your petals look di� erent in size and shape. They ought to be. Keep adding petals to your rose until you get your desired shape and size. Add a hook to the bottom of the plastic rose when it’s still hot and leave it to cool down. Slide through the chain into the hook and wear it like a princess! l

Professor Tanvir Ahmed Khan was appointed as the vice-chancellor of Hamdard University Bangladesh on September 22, by president Abdul Hamid, chancellor of the university for the next four years.

Professor Khan completed his Honours and Masters program in Economics from Dhaka University in 1976. He obtained his PhD from the University of She� eld in 1989 as a commonwealth scholar and retired as the registrar of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) in February this year. He served in projects of the UN, CIDA, Dutch, Swiss and more, and also in BARD. He has many publications in local and international journals as well. l

“Direct Fresh, Dhaka’s premium online grocery store, and Thrive, a non-pro� t organisation run by three American expat moms have partnered to provide nutritious meals to children living in the slums of Dhaka,” announced Thrive president Priscilla He� el� nger.

Direct Fresh has made a commitment to Thrive to prepare and deliver food—eggs, carrots, vegetables, seasonal fruit, milk, and other healthy items—to the non-profit organisation at cost. This will result in cost savings for Thrive, and because Direct Fresh has agreed to deliver the food to the doorsteps of Thrive’s volunteers, it will save volunteers from the difficulties of battling Dhaka’s notorious traffic to travel to the market to obtain food.

In addition to providing discounted food to Thrive, Direct Fresh is encouraging its customers to make donations to Thrive. Each time Direct Fresh’s customers checkout from the online grocery store, they will be prompted with a request to make a donation to Thrive.

“This partnership makes perfect sense,” said He� el� nger. “Thrive’s mission to feed children nutritious meals will greatly bene� t from Direct Fresh’s expertise in food delivery and their focus on premium, healthy produce.”

Direct Fresh’s founder and CEO, Mishal

Karim said, “Our company is committed to charitable work in Bangladesh. When we saw the great work that Thrive was doing to feed some of the most vulnerable children in Dhaka, we knew that we could help them. It has been a great partnership that we hope continues well into the future” l

New VC of Hamdard University, BangladeshDirect Fresh partners with Thrive to provide meals to the underprivileged

25D

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LEWANDOWSKI SMASHES 10 GOALS IN 3 MATCHES

SPURS, FIORENTINA BID TO CARRY MOMENTUM

26 2927

Tottenham mid� elder Erik Lamela has been called up by Argentina

for their opening 2018 World Cup quali� ers after captain Lionel Messi

and Ever Banega withdrew with injuries, the Argentine FA said

BACK IN FAVOUR

SportLINE-UP CONFIRMED AS TIGERS RETURN TO CHAMPS TROPHY

It’s getting pretty tight: Lehmannn Cricket.com.au

Darren Lehmann says while he would be dis-appointed if the Bangladesh Tour did not go ahead, player safety must come � rst as he ad-mitted that as time goes on, it becomes less and less likely Australia’s tour of Bangladesh will go ahead.

With Australia’s Test cricketers instructed to re-join their state squads for training while deliberations on the tour continue, Lehmann said he expected a decision to be made within 24 hours.

“It’s getting pretty tight now, to be hon-est,” Bupa Support Team Head Coach Leh-mann told 5AA radio.

“At the end of the day we have to wait and see what the boards and the security come up with, but we have to make the right decision for player and sta� safety.

“We’re still on hold. The security guys got back from Bangladesh today so they’re obvi-ously speaking to board as we speak. Hope-fully we come to some sort of answer in the next 24 hours or so.”

Cricket Australia o� cials today continued their talks on the security situation in Bangla-desh with the Department of Foreign A� airs and Trade, the Australian Cricketers’ Association player union and independent security advisors.

CA's security delegation arrived home from Dhaka late on Tuesday having received brie� ngs and reassurances from the highest levels of Bangladeshi government and secu-rity organisations.

Lehmann said he would be disappointed if the tour did not go ahead, but player welfare had to come � rst.

“The young side is exciting,” he said.“It will be an exciting time if we get there

and play, if we don’t we’ll go to plan B.“I can’t say what plan B is. But they’re back

in their state squads at the moment. We’ve put them back into training with their state sides and we’ll make a decision from there.”

The 15 players lead by new skipper Steve Smith had been expected to � y out on Mon-

day morning for Bangladesh, and have been on standby since while CA sent a security del-egation to Dhaka to assess the risks.

Visits by the cricket teams of South Africa, Pakistan and India have passed without incident this year but the situation changed with last Fri-day's warning from the Australian government of "reliable information" of militant action.

The governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have all fol-lowed suit in warning their citizens of possi-ble militant attacks.

The situation was further clouded on Mon-day when an Italian aid worker was gunned down in Dhaka, with multiple international media agencies since reporting the Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attack.

A DFAT spokesperson said it was aware of the Islamic State claim but it had not yet been veri� ed.

"We are aware that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibil-ity for this attack," a spokesperson for DFAT said in a statement.

"If con� rmed, this further highlights the credible and serious nature of the current threat."

The BCB president played down the link between the murder and the Australian crick-et team's proposed visit. l

Bangladesh women begin with defeatn Mazhar Uddin

Bangladesh women’s cricket team began their tour of Pakistan on a sour note as they suf-fered a 29-run defeat against the hosts in the � rst of two Twenty20 internationals at Sou-thend Club Ground in Karachi yesterday.

The home side made things di� cult for the visitors as Ayesha Rahman (23), Farjana Hoque (23) and Rumana Ahmed (22) were the only Bangladesh batters who reached double � gures.

Anam Amin (2/17) was the most successful bowler for Pakistan while the rest of the bowl-ing attack all took a wicket apiece with the ex-ception of Asmavia Iqbal.

Earlier, Pakistan posted a competitive 124/5 deciding to take � rst guard. Javeria Khan (44) and top-order batter Bismah Maroof (65 not out) were largely responsible for guiding their side to a challenging total as the second-wick-et partnership added 87 runs. Otherwise, the Bangladesh bowlers fared well as none of the other Pakistan batters reached double digits.

Nahida Akter bagged two wickets for the tourists while Fahima Khatun and Jahanara Alam shared two scalps between themselves. The second and � nal T20I will be held today. l

PAKISTAN WOMEN INNINGS R BMarina run out (Nigar) 1 3Javeria st Nigar b Nahida 44 43Bismah not out 65 57Nida st Nigar b Nahida 4 7Iram b Jahanara 4 8Asmavia c Nigar b Fahima 1 2Extras (lb 1, w 4) 5Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 124FoW: 1-1 (Marina), 2-88 (Javeria), 3-101 (Nida), 4-117 (Iram), 5-124 (Asmavia)BowlingJahanara 4-0-10-1, Panna 2-0-14-0, Salma 3-0-28-0, Lata 1-0-10-0, Rumana 4-0-27-0, Nahida 4-0-17-2, Fahima 2-0-17-1BANGLADESH WOMEN INNINGS R BAyesha Rahman c Sana b Bismah 23 27Sharmin Akhter c Aliya b Anam 0 4Farjana Hoque st Rabiya b Nida 23 36Rumana Ahmed c Nida b Sana 22 23Lata Mondal st Rabiya b Sumaiya 6 9Fahima Khatun c & b Anam 1 3Salma Khatun c & b Aliya 5 10Jahanara Alam not out 5 8Nigar Sultana not out 1 1Extras (lb 1, w 7, nb 1) 9Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 95FoW: 1-19 (Sharmin), 2-49 (Ayesha), 3-51 (Farja-na), 4-75 (Lata), 5-80 (Fahima), 6-84 (Rumana), 7-91 (Salma)BowlingAsmavia 3-0-22-0, Sumaiya 4-0-17-1, Anam 4-0-17-2, Sana 3-0-11-1, Bismah 3-0-14-1, Nida 2-0-9-1, Aliya 1-0-4-1

Pakistan women won by 29 runs

Bangladesh wicket-keeper Nigar Sultana (L) shouts after successfully running out Pakistan cricketer Marina Iqbal (C) during their � rst T20I at Southend Club in Karachi yesterday AFP

Sport26DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

Line-up con� rmed as Tigers return to Champions Trophyn ICC

Bangladesh will return to the ICC Champions Trophy for the � rst time since 2006 after the eight sides were con� rmed for the 2017 tournament, which will be hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from 1 to 18 June.

Bangladesh has replaced the West Indies, which � nished outside the top eight in ninth position, in the  ICC ODI Team Rankings  on the 30 September 2015 cut-o� date.

The eight sides to play in the short and sharp, nation-versus-nation ICC Champions Trophy 2017 are (in rankings order): world champion Australia, title holder India, 1998 winner South Africa, 2000 champion New Zealand, 2002 co-winner Sri Lanka, host Eng-land, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Bangladesh’s last participation in the ICC Champions Trophy was in India, when it fea-tured in the qualifying round. It lost to Sri Lanka (by 37 runs) and the West Indies (by 10 wickets). Its only victory was against Zimba-bwe by 101 runs.

Since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, Bangladesh cricket has been on a high and has produced very strong performances. It won ODI series against Pakistan, India and South Africa, which has helped it jump from ninth to seventh in the ICC ODI Team Rankings.

The ICC Champions Trophy 2017 will be a 15-match tournament, with teams split into two groups of four, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the semi-� nals. The groups and the schedule for the ICC Champi-ons Trophy will be announced in due course.

With the sides for the ICC Champions Tro-phy 2017 now con� rmed, the next impor-tant quali� cation date in the diaries of the 12 teams on the ICC ODI Team Rankings will be 30 September 2017.

That is the date when the top eight ranked sides on the ICC ODI Team Rankings will earn direct quali� cation for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 to be hosted by the ECB. The bottom four sides will get a second chance to complete the 10-team line-up in the ICC Cricket World Cup when they will be joined by teams from the ICC World Cricket League Championship and the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 in the ICC Cricket World Cup Quali� er 2018.

As such, all bilateral ODI cricket in the lead up to  30 September 2017, including the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, will now have greater importance as only 27 points separate second-ranked India from ninth-ranked West Indies. l

ICC ODI RANKINGS(As on 30 Sep 2015)

Rank   Team Points 1          Australia         127 2          India                115 3          South Africa   110 4          New Zealand   109 5          Sri Lanka        103 6          England           100 7          Bangladesh     96 8          Pakistan          90 9          West Indies     88 10        Ireland             49 11        Zimbabwe       45 12        Afghanistan    41

With the upcoming two-Test series against Australia hanging in the balance, ace Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan had nothing else to do yesterday but gear himself up during training at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

The Bangladesh Under-19 footballers yesterday put the � nishing touches to their preparation ahead of their opening AFC U-19 Championship quali� er against Sri Lanka tomorrow MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Smith and Co sent back to states for Matador Cupn Reuters, Melbourne

Australia’s Test cricketers have been sent back to their home states to train while awaiting a decision on whether their tour of Bangladesh will proceed amid increasing security concerns.

The team was scheduled to depart on Mon-day for a two-Test series but was told to stay back after the Australian government warned of a potential security risk from militants in the Asian nation.

Australia captain Steven Smith, wicket-keeper Peter Nevill and spinner Nathan Lyon were among those who turned out for train-ing for New South Wales state on Wednesday ahead of a domestic one-day tournament.

Fast bowler Peter Siddle and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell had also returned to training in Melbourne, a Cricket Victoria spokesman said.

A decision on whether the tour will go ahead has to be made soon because Australia

is scheduled to host New Zealand in a three-Test series, starting in early November.

The security concerns in Bangladesh could also impact on Australia’s qualifying cam-paign for the soccer World Cup.

Australia are due to play a return quali� er in Bangladesh in November after beating the southern Asians in Perth earlier this month.

Football Federation Australia said they were closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and seeking advice from security experts and government authorities. l

Steven Smith, Peter Nevill and Nathan Lyon were among those who turned out for training for NSW state ahead of a domestic one-day tournament

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

Juventus suspend defender CaceresJuventus defender Martin Caceres will miss Wednesday’s Champions League Group D encounter with his former club Sevilla after he was suspended and � ned for involvement in a drink-driving incident. According to a report by Italian news agency Ansa, the Uruguayan was over the alcohol limit when his Ferrari crashed into parked cars and a bus shelter in Turin on the night of Sept. 28.

–REUTERS

Venus chalks up 700th career victoryFormer world number one Venus Williams claimed the 700th win of her career on Tuesday, beating Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-4 6-3 in the second round of the Wuhan Open in China. The 35-year-old American became the ninth woman to chalk up 700 victories since tennis turned professional in 1968 but still has a long way to go to catch all-time leader Martina Navratilova (1,442).

–REUTERS

Palace sign Belgian teenagerCrystal Palace have signed Belgian teenager Jason Lokilo from Anderlecht after receiving in-ternational clearance, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday. The 17-year-old winger has been training at south London side Palace since the end of July. “I’m very happy to have signed with Crystal Palace,” Lokilo told the club’s website (www.cpfc.co.uk).

–REUTERS

Pistol-wielding Brazilian football referee sees redA Brazilian football referee didn’t bother with a red card. He went straight for his pistol. Things started to go wrong during the weekend ama-teur league game in southeastern Brazil when the subs and coach of Amantes da Bola poured onto the pitch in response to what they con-sidered a dangerous play by rival Brumahdinho.

–AFP

United can win Champions League, EPL by 2017: LVGManager Louis van Gaal has said Manchester United have a “realistic” chance of winning the Champions League and the Premier League by the time his contract expires in 2017. Van Gaal has won league titles with every club he has managed and also lifted the Champions League with Dutch club Ajax in 1995 and � nished runner-up with Bayern Munich in 2010.

–REUTERS

Vigouroux returns to Swindon after 1p rowLiverpool goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux has returned to Championship side Swindon Town on loan after apologising for paying a � ne with 5,000 one pence pieces. The 21-year-old had been sent back to An� eld on Monday after he used the coins to pay his � ne for turning up late to training. “Lawrence is going to come back, he is very humble and very apologetic,” manager Mark Cooper told the BBC.

–REUTERS

QUICK BYTES

Delhi Dynamos FC’s Brazilian head coach Roberto Carlos (R) kicks the ball during a training session at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi yesterday AFP

Spurs, Fiorentina bid to carry momentumn AFP, Paris

As the Europa League group stages contin-ues on Thursday, AFP Sports picks � ve of the matches to look out for in the second round of pool matches:

After thrashing Manchester City 4-1 in the Premier League last weekend, Spurs will be in good heart for their Group J trip to France to take on Monaco.

Serie A leaders Fiorentina travel to Belen-enses in Portugal looking for their � rst points of the group as they sit bottom of Group I follow-ing a 2-1 loss at home against Swiss side Basel.

Under-� re Liverpool handler Brendan Rodgers breathed a sight of relief last week-end as Daniel Sturridge scored his � rst goals since March in a 3-2 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League with England mid� eld-er James Milner also on the scoresheet. Liv-erpool fans will receive Sion and their 2000 travelling fans with a certain trepidation.

Borussia Dortmund travel to PAOK Salon-ika in Greece looking to build on their open-ing group win that put them top of Group C. Dortmund have won all � ve of their European games under new coach Thomas Tuchel by re-covering to beat Russian out� t FC Krasnodar 2-1 in their opening European group match.

The Germans will also be keeping one eye on the home front as they look to build for next Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash at Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich. The Bundesliga side can take heart from their rivals having not won against German opposition in over three dec-ades, despite a squad that boosts many play-ers who have plyed their trade in Germany.

Celtic host Fenerbahce with coach Ron-ny Deila warning his side will have to be more clinical if they are to pick up any points against the Turkish giants. Celtic held Dutch giants Ajax to a 2-2 draw in Amsterdam in their opening Group A match despite being reduced to ten-men, even then they might have won, having conceded a late equaliser. Celtic also closed the gap behind Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premiership at the weekend, pull-ing to within four points despite being held to a goalless draw at home to Hearts.

Former Manchester United duo Nani and Robin Van Persie will travel to Celtic Park on the back of a 3-1 drubbing by Norwegian side Molde in their opener. The Istanbul giants with the distinctive black and yellow stripes have invested heavily in recent seasons and are reportedly chasing Arsenal ace Mesut Ozil for the close seaon. The ambitious side sit lev-el top in Turkey, but are bottom of Group A.l

West Indies suspend coach Simmonsn Reuters

West Indies have suspended Phil Simmons af-ter the coach criticised the selection policy for next month’s tour to Sri Lanka.

“The management of the WICB has taken action to suspend the head coach pending an investigation into the issue,” the West Indies Cricket Board said in a statement on Monday.

“The head coach will not now travel with the team on the tour of Sri Lanka. The man-agement has advised that the responsibilities of the head coach will pass to (former test all-rounder) Eldine Baptiste, a member of the WICB selection panel, until the matter is cleared up,” read the statement.

Former test batsman Simmons, who took charge earlier this year, had queried the con-tinued omissions of all-rounder Dwayne Bra-vo and Kieron Pollard, saying he was not get-ting the “best 50-over ODI squad”. West Indies will play two Tests, three ODIs and two T20s.l

EUROPA LEAGUE FIXTURES Celtic (SCO) v Fenerbahce (TUR)

Molde (NOR) v Ajax (NED)

Liverpool (ENG) v FC Sion (SUI)

Rubin Kazan (RUS) v Bordeaux (FRA)

Krasnodar (RUS) v FK Qabala (AZE)

Salonika (GRE) v Dortmund (GER)

Club Brugge (BEL) v Midtjylland (DEN)

Legia Warsaw (POL) v Napoli (ITA)

Dinamo Minsk (BLR) v Rapid Vienna (AUT)

Villarreal (ESP) v Viktoria Plzen (CZE)

Marseille (FRA) v Slovan Liberec (CZE)

Sp Braga (POR) v Groningen (NED)

Lazio (ITA) v Saint-Etienne (FRA)

Rosenborg (NOR) v Dnipro (UKR)

Besiktas (TUR) v Sp Lisbon (POR)

Lokomotiv (RUS) v Skenderbeu (ALB)

Belenenses (POR) v Fiorentina (ITA)

FC Basel (SUI) v Lech Poznan (POL)

FK Qarabag (AZE) v Anderlecht (BEL)

Monaco (FRA) v Tottenham (ENG)

Schalke (GER) v Asteras Tripolis (GRE)

Sparta Prague (CZE) v APOEL (CYP)

AZ Alkmaar (NED) v At Bilbao (ESP)

Augsburg (GER) v Partizan (SRB)

Changes in the WI squadsODIsIn: Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Andre Fletcher, Jason Mohammed, Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine and Darren BravoOut: Chris Gayle Darren Sammy, Lendl Simmons, Sulieman Benn, Sheldon Cottrell, Nikita Miller, Kemar Roach, Dwayne Smith

T20IsIn: Samuel Badree, Darren Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Johnson Charles, Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Jerome TaylorOut: Sulieman Benn, Carlos Brathwaite, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Gayle, Ashley Nurse, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith

28DT Sport

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

POINTS TABLE P W D L PtsGroup E

Barcelona 2 1 1 0 4

Leverkusen 2 1 0 1 3

BATE Borisov 2 1 0 1 3

Roma 2 0 1 1 1Group F

Bayern Munich 2 2 0 0 6

Dinamo Zagreb 2 1 0 1 3

Olympiakos 2 1 0 1 3

Arsenal 2 0 0 2 0Group G

Dynamo Kiev 2 1 1 0 4

FC Porto 2 1 1 0 4

Chelsea 2 1 0 1 3

Maccabi Tel Aviv 2 0 0 2 0Group H

Zenit 2 2 0 0 6

Valencia 2 1 0 1 3

Gent 2 0 1 1 1

Lyon 2 0 1 1 1

RESULTSGroup E

Barcelona (ESP) 2-1 Leverkusen (GER)Sergio Roberto 80, Papadopoulos 22Suarez 82

BATE Borisov (BLR) 3-2 AS Roma (ITA)Stasevich 8, Gervinho 66, Mladenovic 12, 30 Torosidis 82

Group F

Bayern Munich (GER) 5-0 Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)Lewandowski 22, 28, 55, Costa 13, Goetze 25

Arsenal (ENG) 2-3 Olympiakos (GRE)Walcott 35, Sanchez 65 Pardo 33, Fortounis 40, Finnbogason 66

Group G

Porto (POR) 2-1 Chelsea (ENG)Andre Andre 39, Willian 45+2Maicon 52

Maccabi (ISR) 0-2 Dynamo Kiev (UKR) Yarmolenko 4, Junior Moraes 50

Group H

Zenit (RUS) 2-1 Gent (BEL)Dzyuba 35, Shatov 67 Matton 56

Lyon (FRA) 0-1 Valencia (ESP) Feghouli 42

ARSENAL 2-3 OLYMPIAKOS Ospina for Cech? Massive mistakeWith the stakes high, Arsene Wenger’s decision to rotate his goalkeepers and play David Ospina instead of Petr Cech proved detrimental. The Colombian’s chance to prove himself on the biggest stage resulted in a shocking performance and an own goal. The worst element about the own goal was the fact that there wasn’t even a striker anywhere near him, really. It back� red spectacularly and Arsenal went into the break trailing and never really recovered. Arsenal fans have waited a long time to sign a top goalkeeper and to have him watching from the sidelines for a crucial European game will leave many of the fans bemused, upset, and frustrated.

Goals! Goals! Goals!End-to-end attacks and non-stop action is how you would describe the football at The Emirates on Tuesday night. It was an open game with plenty moments of anxiety for Arsenal, while opportunities kept coming for the hosts. Olym-piacos caught out the Gunners down the � anks and Ospina’s shocking display gave the Greeks the luck they needed to bag the three points.

Next up Bayern for pointless ArsenalArsenal kept pushing and the Greeks put up shields – spending the dying minutes of the match camped in Olympiacos half, but it proved fruitless as the Gunners su� ered their second successive loss in Europe. With zero points from two games, it’s fair to say that the panic should set it in, as their remaining games are away from home. With back-to-back games against Bayern Munich next up in this competition, things look bleak for the Gunners. Some of their players were on their knees after the � nal whistle and understandably so, Bayern Munich have been on a rampage in Europe winning both their matches with clean sheets and average of three goals a game.

PORTO 2-1 CHELSEAMourinho’s changes backfire“To be a winner you must have a strong mentali-ty every game, every day. At this moment, I don’t have untouchables.” Jose Mourinho stayed true to his word. After warning his players that their starting spots were not guaranteed, the Chelsea manager demoted Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic to the bench and left Oscar, Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao out of his squad.

Ivanovic’s struggles continueJohn Terry, Gary Cahill, Hazard and Matic have all been dropped at various points this season, but Branislav Ivanovic somehow continues to cling to his place. Despite a string of sub-par performances, the Serb has played every minute of every game with the exception of their 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv. Mourinho refused to criticise his players after the game, but privately his patience must be wearing thin.

Diego Costa returnsAll eyes were on the striker to see if he could keep his temper in check, and aside from a brief con-frontation with Vincent Aboubakar he managed it. In fact, he was arguably Chelsea’s top performer. There was some excellent build-up play to lay on a shooting chance for Cesc Fabregas, and he also struck the underside of the bar with a superb, curling e� ort from outside the box shortly after Porto’s second goal. Costa had more shots (3) and completed more dribbles (4) than any of his team-mates, and his pass accuracy of 85 per cent was also the highest among Mourinho’s starting XI. l

TALKING POINTS

Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina (C) drops the ball over the line from a corner taken by Olympiakos mid� elder Kostas Fortounis (unseen) for the visitors’ second goal during their UEFA Champions League Group F match at the Emirates stadium in north London on Tuesday AFP

Arsenal, Chelsea crash as Bayern cruisen AFP, Paris

Arsenal and Chelsea had a Champions League night to forget on Tuesday as a Robert Le-wandowski hat-trick helped Bayern Munich crush Dinamo Zagreb.

And champions Barcelona, with injured icon Lionel Messi watching from the stands, followed up their opening Group E draw at Roma with a stirring come-from-behind 2-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen.

With Roma sent on their way 3-2 by BATE Borisov it left Barca shading Group E.

Jose Mourinho’s return to Porto, the team who the Portuguese guided to the 2004 title, proved an unhappy a� air.

Andre Andre’s opener for Porto late in the � rst half was quickly cancelled out by a superb Willian free-kick, but Maicon’s 52nd-minute header proved to be the di� erence in this Group G clash played at a rip-roaring pace.

Dynamo Kiev, 2-0 winners over Maccabi Tel Aviv, top the table on goal di� erence with

Chelsea in third.It was a good performance with two ridicu-

lous mistakes,” said Mourinho. Arguably the most stunning result of the

evening emerged from the Emirates Stadium, where Greek champions Olympiakos shocked Arsenal 3-2 to leave the Gunners stone last in Group F. The Greeks, ending a 12-match los-ing run in England, left pointless Arsenal and their coach Arsene Wenger ashen-faced, and the team’s fans jeering at the � nal whistle.

After falling behind to Felipe Pardo’s de-� ected opener, Arsenal equalised through Theo Walcott.

Bayern top the table, Pep Guardiola’s side cruising towards the knockout stages after Lewandowski’s treble, and goals from Doug-las Costa and Mario Goetze steamrollered Di-namo Zagreb 5-0.

Elsewhere, Zenit St Petersburg remained unbeaten with a 2-1 home win over Belgian out� t Gent to top Group H from Valencia, 1-0 winners at Lyon. l

Barca hit by injuries, � rst signs of fan angern Reuters, Barcelona

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique woke up on Wednesday confronted with the twin prob-lems of a lengthening injury list and the � rst signs of discontent this season among the de-manding fans at the Nou Camp.

Barca’s Spain playmaker and captain An-dres Iniesta was the latest to be sidelined, fol-lowing the likes of Lionel Messi and Ra� nha, picking up a thigh muscle strain that local media suggested could keep him out for more than a month.

To make matters worse, some supporters began whistling the team when they were trailing Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in Tuesday’s Champions League Group E game, although they were soon silenced as Barca stormed

back to win 2-1 thanks to late goals from Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez.

It may seem incredible that some home fans are angry a mere four months after Bar-ca secured a treble of Champions League, La Liga and King’s Cup titles but their perfor-mances of late have been less than convinc-ing and supporters in Spain are notoriously impatient.

Luis Enrique said Barca would remain competitive despite the rash of injuries and hit back at the disgruntled fans, saying the players deserved greater respect.

“We need more support from people when things aren’t going our way,” Luis Enrique told a news conference.

“You can clearly hear the whistles from beside the pitch,” added the former Barca and

Spain mid� elder.“If we are not running enough � ne but the

team made a big e� ort. There are going to be players out there (due to the injuries) who need con� dence not whistling.”

One reason Barca have been left short is a FIFA ban on registering players for the past two transfer windows.

Barca bought Turkey playmaker Arda Tur-an and versatile Spain mid� elder Aleix Vidal in the close season but as things stand neither can play until January.

Tuesday’s victory lifted Barca to the top of the section on four points from two matches, with Leverkusen second on three points, level with BATE Borisov. BATE beat AS Roma 3-2 on Tuesday and the Serie A side are bottom on one point.l

Sport 29D

T

Robert Lewandowski

of German Bundesliga � rst division club FC Bayern Munich

and his wife Anna pose as they arrive at

the Oktoberfest in Munich,

Germany yesterday

REUTERS

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

Uefa Europa League Ten Sports 11:00PM Lazio v AS Saint-Etienne 1:00AM PAOK FC v Borussia Dortmund Ten Cricket11:00PM Besiktas JK v Sporting Clube de Portugal

11:00AM Legia Warszawa v SSC Napoli Ten Action11:00PM AS Monaco FC v Tottenham Hotspur 1:00AM Liverpool FC v FC Sion Ten Cricket01:00PM Pakistan Tour of Zimbabwe 2015 : 1st ODI

DAY’S WATCH

Lewandowski smashes 10 goals in 3 matchesn Dailymail.co.uk

With 10 goals in his last three games, Bay-ern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has swiftly become the most feared marksman in Europe.

The Poland international scored a hat-trick on Tuesday as Bayern thrashed Dinamo Za-greb 5-0 in the Champions League, which fol-lowed his double against Mainz on the week-end and his � ve-goal haul in nine sensational minutes after coming on at half-time against Wolfsburg last week.

In his last three appearances, he averages a goal every 22-and-a-half minutes. It’s a stat

that would shine on the long list of scoring feats achieved by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

And with Messi out injured for two months at Barcelona and Ronaldo’s composure in front of goal going AWOL (he missed 13 chances against Malaga on Saturday), it is not unreasonable to suggest that, for the open-ing half of this season at least, Lewandowski can continue to dethrone the duo as the most dangerous scorer in the game.

He has 10 goals in his last three games, 10 overall in the Bundesliga for Bayern after only seven matches and he tops the scoring charts in both the German League and the Champi-

ons League, level with Ronaldo on three.His third goal against Zagreb on Tuesday

was pure artistry; timing his run to precision to receive a pass on his left foot and with his back to goal, before a magical swivel and a nonchalant right-footed � ick over the on-rushing Zagreb goalkeeper Eduardo from the edge of the penalty area. He oozes con� dence and right now, appears unstoppable.

The 27-year-old’s proli� c scoring is at its zenith but Lewandowski spearheads a Bayern side in possession of a gluttony of creative talents at the disposal of Pep Guardiola. If he stays � t, it is perfectly feasible he will continue to � nd the back of the net at a

merciless rate.But Lewandowski is not just thriving at

Bayern, where he is aided by the likes of Mario Gotze, Douglas Costa, Xabi Alonso and Arturo Vidal.

On the international stage, Lewandowski shoulders the hopes of Poland as captain and he � ourishes with the weight of expectation.

He is the top scorer in Euro 2016 qualify-ing with 10 goals in eight games, guiding Po-land to second in Group D, two points behind World Cup holders Germany with two quali� -ers remaining.

Once again, Lewandowski’s stats are mesmerising. l

DOWNTIME30DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 1 represents L so � ll L every time the � gure 1 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS1 School of whales (3)3 Soft feathers (4)6 Cast o� (4)7 Corded fabric (3)9 Wither (4)10 Domestic animal (3)11 Send out (4)13 Conceals (5)16 Valleys (5)18 Young horse (4)19 Hawaiian dish (3)20 Jester (4)21 Mineral spring (3)23 Dutch cheese (4)24 Tide attaining least height (4)25 Respectful fear (3)

DOWN1 Australian city (5)2 Lyric poem (3)4 Leave out (4)5 Fastener (3)6 Religious denominations (5)8 Foot lever (5)9 Sagacious (4)12 Dissolves (5)14 Worshipped image (4)15 Hatred (5)17 Garden tool (5)18 Deep sleep (4)20 Merry amusement (3)22 Church seat (3)

SUDOKU

SHOWTIME 31D

TTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

WHAT TO WATCHMission Impossible IIIHBO | 9:30pmAgent Ethan Hunt comes into con� ict with a dangerous and sadistic arms dealer who threatens his life and his � ance in response.Cast: Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhame

Rush HourMovies Now | 11:45pmTwo cops team up to get back a kidnapped daughter.Cast: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Ken Leung

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon EmperorStar Movies | 7:00pmIn the Far East, Alex O’Connell, the son of famed mummy � ghters Rick and Evy O’Connell, unearths the mummy of the � rst Emperor of Qin a shape-shifting entity cursed by a witch centuries ago.Cast: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello

Ghost Rider: Spirit of VengeanceWB | 7:35pmAs Johnny Blaze hides out in Eastern Europe, he is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba

Con AirZ Studio | 3:30pmA newly released ex-con and former US Ranger � nds himself trapped in a prisoner transport plane when the passengers seize control.Cast: Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich

Mohakal’s play on transgender to be staged

Rezwana Choudhury Bannya to perform at IGCC

n Showtime Desk

After a hiatus of more than four months, Mohakal Natya Sampraday will bring to the stage one of the troupe’s most acclaimed productions, Shikhandi Kotha, tomorrow at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 7:00pm.

The production has become the bedrock of this theatre troupe and tomorrow’s staging marks its 157th show. Depicting the struggles of the transgender community in Bangladesh, the play has been a success on stage for more reasons than one.

Written by Anan Zaman and directed by Haroon Rashid, the play narrates the story of a transgender individual named Ratan. When the boy reaches adolescence, Ratan discovers a different gender in him and eventually becomes a “hijra” with a feminine gender identity.

After identifying Ratan’s gender, the family refuses to accept him. Ratan joins others like him and takes the name Ratna. The story revolves around Ratna and other hijras’ woes as well as their rare moments of joy.

The play has also triggered a film produced in 2013 by Impress Telefilm. l

n Showtime Desk

The Indira Gandhi Cultural Center (IGCC) has organised a musical soiree of Rabindra Sangeet and recitation programme at the center’s auditorium at the capital’s Gulshan 1 on October 3 at 6:30pm.

Rezwana Choudhury Bannya, one of the most prominent Rabindra Sangeet singers of the country, will perform a selected number of Rabindra Sangeet at the event. At the end of Bannya’s performance, Ranjit Biswas, writer-columnist and former secretary of the Government of Bangladesh, will recite.

Bannya, awardee of the Ananda Sangeet Puroshkar for being the best female Rabindra Sangeet artist, has travelled to almost all parts of the world to present Rabindra Sangeet to a global audience.

Initially trained under legendary musicians like Sanjida Khatun and Atiqul Islam, Bannya’s love and passion for Rabindra Sangeet intensi� ed and � ourished at Shantiniketan where she went on to continue her music training.

Ranjit Biswas is a connoisseur of music and recitation who has 25 books to his credit. A short story writer, columnist, satirist and a cricket analyst of countrywide repute, he also contributes to national and regional daily publications.

The programme is open for all. l

Medical exam protesters allege police attack, 10 in custody n Kamrul Hasan with FM Mizanur

Rahaman in Chittagong

Police yesterday denied claims that they had attacked students demonstrating to have this year’s medical school admissions results an-nulled.

But students demonstrating at Shahbagh crossing maintain that they were attacked by uniformed personnel around noon yesterday.

Witnesses said police detained 26 protest-ers at Shahbagh crossing belonging to two separate processions, 10 from the � rst proces-sion and 16 Bangladesh Chhatra Front activ-ists from the second.

Addition Deputy Commissioner (Ramna Zone) Jasim Uddin claimed many of the pro-testers were not students. “They were block-ing the road, so they were taken to Shahbagh police station.”

Police con� rmed that 10 people had been brought to Shahbagh police station and were being held in detention. The other 16 were picked up and brie� y brought to the station, but were later let go, police said.

Police said the protesters’ identities and addresses were being veri� ed and their mo-tives for protesting investigated.

Around 9:30am yesterday morning, sev-eral hundred students and a number of their guardians participated in a sit-in at the Cen-tral Shaheed Minar under the banner of the “Student-Guardian Oikya Forum.”

On seeing the police, the group gathered near Raju Bhaskarjo, and then marched to-wards Shahbagh crossing around noon.

Police allegedly scu� ed with demonstra-tors and then dispersed the crowd as the pro-cession reached the National Public Library, protesters said.

Tamanna Sultana, a former student of Holy Cross College and a medical college applicant, said police attacked the group and held 10 people, injuring several demonstrators in the process.

Within thirty minutes of the incident, the Bangladesh Chhatra Front, a left-wing stu-dent organisation, brought out a procession

protest the incident of police violence. As the Chhatra Front procession neared

the public library, police moved in to detain some of their participants.

Chhatra Front leaders claim that 16 of their leaders and activists, including central com-mittee General Secretary Snehardi Chakra-barty Rintu and Dhaka University (DU) unit Organising Secretary Salman Siddiqui, were taken to the police station.

Chhatra Front DU unit President Rashed Shahriar told the Dhaka Tribune: “Sixteen ac-

tivists were detained in the police attack, of whom four were injured and taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. Police later brought them to Shahbagh police sta-tion.”

Mohammad Khaled Saifullah adjourned the demonstrations yesterday around 2:30pm, saying protests would resume today at 9am at the Central Shaheed Minar.

On September 18, some 83,000 students sat this year’s medical college admissions ex-aminations. On September 20, the authorities announced that 48,448 students had passed.

The day after the results were published, protests broke out amid allegations of re-peated question paper leaks on Facebook the night before and the morning of the exam.

Students have been demanding the gov-ernment nullify the results and hold fresh exams since the exam took place in disputed circumstances. The government has rejected protesters’ demands and are enrolling new medical students.

Our correspondent in Chittagong reports that medical college applicants demonstrated yesterday at the Chittagong Press Club around 11:00am, demanding fresh entrance exams.

Around a hundred applicants participated in the rally at which speakers said there was no doubt the question papers for the crucial entrance examination had been leaked in ex-change for money.

Speakers denounced the government’s decision to begin the enrolment process, and threatened tougher measures if the current results were not annulled and a retest held. l

BACK PAGE32DT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015

MOHAKAL’S TRANSGENDER PLAY TO BE STAGED PAGE 31

BTRC REVIEWING AIRTEL-ROBI MERGER PAGE 20

LEHMANN: IT’S GETTING PRETTY TIGHT PAGE 25

Police detain a student during a protest held in the capital’s Shahbagh demanding that a fresh medical admission test be held in the wake of widespread allegations of question leak SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Australia’s tour decision likely todayn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Cricket Australia has released its Test players as captain Steve Smith and his teammates have returned to training with their state col-leagues and are now expected to feature in the Matador Cup, the domestic one-day com-petition, starting Monday.

The Aussie cricketers were blocked from departing for Bangladesh on Monday by the Department of Foreign A� airs and Trade, cit-ing information about militants plotting to target Australian interests.

The scenario worsened after an Italian citizen, Cesare Tavella, was shot dead at the Gulshan diplomatic area in Dhaka on Monday.

Although Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)

President Nazmul Hassan termed it an “iso-lated” incident and assured the Aussies VVIP security protocol during their stay, it was not enough to convince the � ve-time world champions.

“We are still waiting for their decision. We have made the best possible e� orts to enter-tain their security concerns. Now the ball is in their court. For now I can say at least the three-day tour game [starting October 3] will not take place according to the schedule,” said BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury yesterday.

The release of Australian players prompt-ed BCB to direct the national cricketers to join their respective National Cricket League sides for the second round of the 17th edition of the � rst-class competition that resumes Saturday. l

Tax return deadline extended to Nov 30 n Tribune Report

The taxpayers who have not yet submitted their income tax returns will get another two months as the National Board of Revenue has extended the deadline to November 30.

Due to the celebrations of Eid-ul-Azha and Durga Puja, and performing of hajj, the NBR decided to extend the September 30 deadline to help the taxpayers submit their returns, ac-cording to a statement issued yesterday.

The statement read that the decision was made after considering the situation and fol-lowing requests from Bangladesh’s apex trade body FBCCI, other trade bodies, professional organisations and individuals.

The NBR said the response was “poor” be-

fore the deadline expired yesterday, which prompted the body to take the decision.

According to the income tax ordinance, the NBR can � ne Tk1,000 at a time and Tk50 for each day if any TIN holder fails to submit the returns within the deadline.

However, the ordinance allows taxpayers to seek extension of deadline on valid grounds. The deputy commissioner of taxes can give maximum two months to respective taxpayers.

The new e-Tin holders will be penalised with the highest Tk5,000 if they fail to � le their returns by the deadline, according to a new section incorporated in the Finance Bill 2015.

Usually, the NBR extends the deadline each year to entertain the requests made by taxpayers. l

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