PAGE 4Suraiya to be transferred to cabin on Sunday

PAGE 7Charge framing hearing in Tazreen � re case on Sept 3

PAGE 8Greek ruling party splits before bailout vote

PAGE 3Janakantha publisher, executive editor guilty of contempt

SECOND EDITION

BD-INDIA JOINT DRIVE AGAINST FAKE CURRENCY PAGE 5

NAHID SEEKS REPORT ON OWN CAMPUS PAGE 32

MAHMUDUR JAILED, WARNS OF MOVEMENT PAGE 3

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015 | Shraban 30, 1422, Shawwal 28, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 120 | www.dhakatribune.com | 36 pages plus 24-page Weekend | Price: Tk10

PAGE 32VAT protesters end up at Shahbagh instead of PMO

Mujib killer Rashed Chy political refugee in USn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Self-confessed Bangabandhu killer Rashed Chowdhury has political asylum in the US; another killer Moslem Uddin, who was be-lieved to be in India, is also located in the US, diplomatic sources have con� rmed.

This is the � rst time Washington has made the status of Rashed Chowhdury clear.

State Minister for Foreign A� airs Moham-mad Shahriar Alam in a meeting with US Am-bassador Marcia Bernicat yesterday discussed the issue of repatriating the killers.

After the meeting, the state minister

said: “She [the US ambassador] told me that Rashed Chowdhury is in the USA under polit-ical asylum...Now that we know that he has political asylum, it would make deciding our next course of action easier,” he said.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the � rst president of Bangladesh, was assas-sinated along with all of his family members except two daughters on August 15, 1975.

12 killers were awarded death penalty, � ve of them were hanged, one had a natural death and six are absconding. The absconders are Rashed Chwodhury, Noor Chwodhury, Abdur

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

n Mohammad Jamil Khan

A number of police superintendents from dif-ferent districts have alleged that they were fac-ing interference from the ruling party leaders while investigating di� erent criminal cases.

Addressing a quarterly crime conference at the Police Headquarters in Dhaka yesterday, the senior police o� cials said that the Awami League leaders tried to create barriers to inves-tigations whenever the police moved against criminals having a� liation with those leaders.

Responding to these allegations, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque direct-ed the SPs to ignore any attempts by the ruling party men to hinder the ongoing investiga-tions, and ordered legal action against all crim-inals irrespective of their political allegiance.

Seeking anonymity, several o� cials pres-ent at the conference told the Dhaka Tribune that complaints raised at the event included allegations of how a Savar ruling party leader had been using his in� uence to hinder police action against his relatives, involved in crim-inal activities.

Other claims were against a Joypurhat lead-er who interfered with police action against drugs-related issues, and a Jhenidah leader who used his powers to delay a murder case.

Top police o� cials told the conference that the law enforcers needed to be more meticulous in their investigation to prevent criminals from securing bail using loopholes left by the probes. Investigations should in-corporate the use of information technology PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

COMPARATIVE CRIME STATISTICS

2015 (Jan-Jul)

396

DACOITY

MURDER

WOMEN OPPRESSION CASE

POLICE ASSAULT

KIDNAPPING

2013

1,2572014

702

2013

8792014

920

2015 (Jan-Jul)

12,1122013

19,6012014

21,291

2015 (Jan-Jul)

2,4602013

4,3932014

4,514

2015 (Jan-Jul)

3072013

6132014

651

ASMAUL HOQUE MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHIC

2015 (Jan-Jul)

464

SPs vent anger at AL leaders Minister’s nephew among two heldover Niloy murdern Tribune Report

Police’s Detective Branch yesterday arrested two key members of banned militant out� t Ansarullah Bangla Team for their suspected involvement in several incidents of murder and attack on secular activists including blog-ger Niladri Chatterjee.

One of them, Saad Al Nahiyan, is the neph-ew of State Minister for Labour Mujibul Huq Chunnu. He was arrested in Mirpur in the evening, detectives said. He is an evening MBA student at Dhaka University.

Another Masud Rana was arrested in Ut-tara last afternoon. He is a relative of Ariful Is-lam, one of the key accused in secular writer Oyasiqur Rahman Babu murder case. Arif was caught red-handed along with another killer Zikrullah – both having academic background at Hefazat-e-Islam’s Hathazari Madrasa.

Nahiyan is a charge-sheeted accused in a case � led over the attack on blogger Asif Mo-hiuddin in 2013. He was arrested on March 31, 2013, but got bail on September 25 last year. He also gave confessional statement in that case.

On the other hand, Masud was also made an accused in the case, but his name had been dropped from the charge sheet.

DB Deputy Commissioner (east) Mahbub Alam, supervising Niloy murder case probe, con� rmed to the Dhaka Tribune about the arrests. He said that the duo had been interro-gated at the DB Headquarters.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

BNP leaders puzzled over Khaleda’s birthdayn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP leaders and activists are in a state of con-fusion over celebrating party chief Khaleda Zia’s birthday tomorrow as she has cancelled her London trip.

Khaleda was scheduled to � y to London tonight for medical check-up as well as to meet her elder son Tarique Rahman, senior vice-chairman of the party.

Besides, she was scheduled to hold meet-ings with high pro� le politicians of the United Kingdom including Commonwealth Secre-tary-General Kamalesh Sharma.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Two shot deadin AL in� ghtingn Kamrul Islam

Two leaders of the ruling Awami League were shot dead while two others sustained bullet injuries in an attack by members of the rival group in the capital’s Badda area last night.

The incident took place around 9:30pm near Al Jami Hospital in Madhya Badda area.

Shamu Mollah and Manik died on the spot, Badda OC Abdul Jalil said adding that the inci-dent had taken place due to an internal feud.

The injured are Abdus Salam and Mah-bubur Rahman Gama. They were � rst taken to United Hospital. Salam was later shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, our DMCH correspondent reports.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Minister’s nephew heldThree other Ansarullah members accused in Asif’s case – Md Kawser Hossain, Kamal

Hossain Sardar and Md Kamal Uddin, who are now on bail – would be interrogated in Niloy murder case too.

The detectives are now searching for An-sarullah operations wing chief Redwanul Azad Rana, sleeper cell leaders Nabir Hos-sain Nabin and Abdul Kabir alias Zaber. They might be behind the recent killing of several bloggers, detectives said adding that they were conducting drives to arrest the trio.

Former North South University student Rana is considered as the alleged mastermind in the killing of bloggers Ahmed Rajeeb Haid-er in 2013, and Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur and Anan-ta Bijoy Das this year. Tk5 lakh bounty was

also declared for his arrest. DB o� cials earlier claimed that Rana had � own to Australia.

The charge framing hearing in Asif’s case has been delayed because of the absence of the plainti� , now staying in Germany. The attack was made on January 14, 2013, but he survived.

Rajeeb was murdered by Ansarullah mem-bers on February 15 the same year. He actively participated in the Shahbagh movement.

Investigators said that accused in Asif’s case, Zaber might be present during Niloy mur-der as the writer’s wife alleged that one of the four killers had been a left-hander. The eight deep wounds found in Niloy’s throat were done by a left-hander, hospital sources said.

Nahiyan’s father school teacher Nazrul

Huq Nannu, however, alleged that his son had been picked up by the DB police on Sunday.

Nannu, a two-time union parishad chairman in Tarail of Kishoreganj, claimed that Nahiyan had not been involved in the attack on Asif.

Nahiyan said that he had got involved with Ansarullah since 2012 after listening to the sermons of its chief Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahm-ani, now in jail. He went to Rahmani’s den in Mohammadpur area with Redwanul Rana.

A follower of international terrorist groups al-Qaeda and Taliban, Rahmani used to pro-fess killing of atheists in the name of protect-ing Islam.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Saiful Is-lam said that they were conducting drives to ar-rest the militants freed on bail. “We have already

found the trace of some of them. They will be arrested soon,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

GD probe: It was KabirulNiloy’s friend Dev Jyoti Rudro yesterday claimed that no one had contacted him over police’s re-fusing the slain writer to � le a general diary on May 14. Rudro accompanied Niloy on that day when the latter had been feeling insecure.

After the killing of Niloy, a committee was formed by the police to probe the matter.

The investigators have found that on that day Khilgaon OC Musta� z Bhuiyan and Duty O� cer SI Shamsul Islam were on leave, and Inspector Kabirul Islam was the acting OC. Kabirul is now working as an inspector of the DB police. l

BNP leaders puzzledHowever, on Wednesday night, the former premier called o� the trip.

“Madam [Khaleda] was scheduled to go to London to avoid controversies. But now as the trip has been cancelled, it is di� cult to make any comment on how her birthday will be celebrated. She might spend the day at home with family members,” a senior BNP leader told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity.

Another senior leader said: “It would be tough for her to avoid the celebrations as party leaders and activists will surely go to her o� ce with cakes and � owers. It has become a tradition.”

On cancelling London trip, the leader said: “Some changes were made in the schedule of meeting with the UK leaders; probably that is why she changed her mind at the eleventh hour.”

The visa processing for Khaleda’s London trip was done and she could � y to London anytime now. A fresh date for her departure would be announced after her meetings with the UK politicians were � xed, he said.

“It is a matter of Khaleda’s personal prefer-

ences. We have nothing to say about it,” said BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan.

Party insiders told the Dhaka Tribune that Khaleda Zia has decided to celebrate her birthday tomorrow in a simple manner to avoid controversy.

Every year, BNP leaders and activists throng her Gulshan o� ce at 12:01am to wish her with cakes and � owers. However, this year Khaleda is likely to skip the programme and stay home instead, they said.

Celebrations of Khaleda’s birthday on Au-gust 15, the death anniversary of Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has always been controversial as Khaleda had never celebrat-ed this day as her birthday before mid-1990s. Moreover, in the past, various media reports point to di� erent dates of her birth.

According to one such report, Khaleda had mentioned September 5, 1946 as her birth-day in her matriculation examination form. Her marriage certi� cate and the record of her prime ministerial oath mention August 5,

1944 and August 19, 1947 as her birth dates.Recently two images of her passports – one

that expired in May 2014 and a machine-reada-ble one – have been circulating on Facebook and both mention August 5, 1946 as her date of birth.

If these images are not fake, the total num-ber of Khaleda’s birthday stands at � ve: Au-gust 5, 1944; August 5, 1946; August 19, 1947; September 5, 1946 and August 15 – the last one does not mention the year.

The Awami League has called upon Khale-da several times not to celebrate her birthday on August 15 as a gesture of respect to the Fa-ther of the Nation. The BNP has, however, de-fended the celebration, saying it was indeed her birthday. It even asks whether people can be born on the day.

When Sheikh Hasina came to power in 1996, she declared August 15 as a national holiday with the status of a national mourning day. When Khaleda was elected to power in 2001, she scrapped the status. This was restored after Hasina again came to power in 2009. l

SPs vent anger at AL leadersto streng.then the cases against the culprits, they said.

According to a press statement issued by the Police Headquarters, Additional Deputy Inspector General of Police Jahirul Islam pre-sented a quarterly crime data report at yester-day’s conference. The police chief chaired the event and Chief Justice SK Sinha was present as the chief guest.

The chief justice said that the police and

the judges were both connected in trial pro-cedures and it was impossible to think about a fair trial when either one was absent in the process.

In his speech, IGP Shahidul urged the law enforcers to uphold the honour of the force by ensuring security of the citizens and taking action against the criminals. He also issued directives to take all necessary measures for ensuring the security of women, children and

bloggers.Telling police o� cials to show zero-toler-

ance against drug smugglers and human traf-� ckers, Shahidul further urged all to remain alert about the country’s militancy situation.

The police chief suggested that police pa-trolling should be increased on highways to prevent road accidents, while calling on di� erent agencies concerned to coordinate among themselves to reduce road fatalities. l

Mujib killer Rashed ChyRashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Abdul Mazed and Moslem Uddin.

The junior minister said the government had taken steps to bring them back but de-clined to elaborate. He said there was scope to appeal to have Rashed Chwodhury’s political asylum revoked.

Asked why they had not appealed before, Shahriar said the government was not clearly aware of the development. He, however, add-ed that they had appealed before Rashed got asylum, but the appeal was not successful.

Rashed Chwodhury is now living in Cali-fornia, diplomatic sources con� rmed.

A diplomat, asking not to be named, said Moslem Uddin is now in the US but without political asylum.

“The state minister and the ambassador discussed the repatriation of Rashed Chowd-hury and Moslem Uddin,” he said.

In April, the Dhaka Tribune obtained a copy of a Law Ministry letter that said the govern-ment was appointing top New York-based law � rm Skadden to � ght the legal battle to bring back the fugitive killers of Bangabandhu.

At that time, Law Minister Anisul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune that the government had signed a one-year contract with Skadden, who had started working to bring them back.

Junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam yes-terday said the government was yet to know the status of Noor Chowdhury, said to be liv-ing in Canada.

“He [Noor Chowhdury] applied for politi-

cal asylum but the matter has been pending for the last � ve or six years,” he said.

Canadian law bars the repatriation of any foreign national who has been awarded the death penalty at home, he said.

The Bangladesh government cannot change Canadian laws, he said, adding: “It is complicated. We do not have an extradition treaty with Canada ... We hope to bring back at least one killer.”

He said the government did not have spe-ci� c information about the status of Shariful Haque Dalim. “If we get a lead, we will ask the country he is in to locate him.”

Asked about the whereabouts of Abdur Rashid, he said there was no speci� c informa-tion about him either. There are rumours that

he is engaged in business in Libya and Kenya.Shahariar said the Bangladesh mission in

Kenya inquired but the government of the African country did not provide any speci� c information.

About the location of Abdul Mazed and Moslem Uddin, he said the Indian govern-ment has con� rmed that they were notin India. l

Two shot deadSalam is a leader of Badda unit Jubo League, the youth wing of Awami League, locals said. Position of the three others in the party could not be con� rmed immediately. l

Mizanur: Fragilerule of law leadsto brutalityn UNB

Chairman of the National Human Rights Com-mission (NHRC) Mizanur Rahman yesterday said the fragile state of the country’s rule of law leads to brutality in a society.

“The fragile state of the country’s rule of law is one of the prime reasons behind rise in the incidents of brutality and social unrest. In some cases, it’s hard to believe there’s rule of law in our society. We must come out of the culture of lawlessness,” he said.

The NHRC boss came up with the remarks while addressing a discussion on citizens’ responsibility to stop brutality organised by Swammilito Nagarik Samaj.

Taking a swipe at IGP AKM Shahidul Haque’s recent remarks that “bloggers and free-thinkers shouldn’t cross the limit,” Miz-anur said such comments conveyed a wrong message to people and it would provoke reli-gious fanatics as they might think the govern-ment is in favour of them.

Observing that political leaders and political parties are also responsible for provoking bru-tality among people, he said if there is a belief in society that who have link with a political party are above the law, no matter whatever crime they do, it instigates them to be violent.

Mizanur stressed modifying the education system and eliminating corruption from soci-ety in a bid to prevent degradation of moral and social values. l

NEWS2DT

NEWS 3D

TFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

Mahmudur jailed, warns of movementn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced the daily Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman to three years’ imprisonment in a 2010 case � led for not submitting his wealth statement.

Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar of the Dhaka’s Third Special Judge’s Court handed down the verdict in presence of Mahmudur in the dock.

The court also � ned him � ned Tk1 lakh. In default, he would have to su� er one more month in jail in the case, � led by the Anti-Cor-ruption Commission in 2010.

In the verdict, the judge detailed how and why the issue had been raised. He said that Mahmudur had been made accused in the

case for violating the ACC Act 2004. He did not � le his wealth statement within stipulat-ed time in response to several ACC notices. He also concealed his source of income, accord-ing to the case statement.

The judge also said that his jail terms would be deducted from for the days he al-ready passed in jail.

Mahmudur, the former executive chair-man of Board of Investment and also energy adviser to then prime minister Khaleda Zia, was arrested at his the newspaper o� ce in Karwan Bazar on April 11, 2013 in connection with a sedition case.

ACC Deputy Director Nur Ahammad � led the case with Gulshan police on April 13, 2010. The charge sheet was submitted to the court on July 15 the same year. Mahmudur then

� led a petition with the High Court to stay the case proceedings. After it was rejected in 2013, he lodged a leave to appeal.

The special court began the trial on May 28 last year. Nine prosecution witnesses testi� ed during the trial.

On September 11 last year, the High Court summarily rejected the petition � led by de-tained Mahmudur seeking to revoke the charge framing order against him.

Mahmudur and his lawyers expressed dis-appointment over the judgement while the prosecution was happy.

Syed Abdal Ahmed, deputy editor of the newspaper, said that Mahmudur had asked them to carry out movement against the gov-ernment. “We did not get justice in the case,” he claimed.

Defence counsel Tajul Islam said: “We will go to the higher court against the judgement as we denied justice by this court.”

According to Mahmudur’s counsels, after the verdict he claimed that he had been vic-timised by the government for news reports against the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-na and her energy adviser.

He also questioned why the government had not � led any case against the authorities of the daily Janakantha and Ekattor TV. They committed the same o� ence the daily Amar Desh had done by publishing conversation of a war crimes tribunal judge and an expatriate Bangladeshi.

Mahmudur claimed himself innocent and warned of continuing his struggle against the fascist government. l

Court accepts charges against MP’s son in double murder casen Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday accepted the charge sheet against Awami League lawmaker Pinu Khan’s son Bakhtiar Alam Rony in a case � led over the killing of two people in Dhaka’s Dilu Road.

After accepting the charges, Dhaka Metro-politan Magistrate Md Aminul Haque sent the case documents to Chief Metropolitan Mag-istrate Sheikh Ha� zur Rahman for the next course of action.

On July 21, DB Sub-Inspector Dipak Ku-mar Das, also investigation o� cer of the case, submitted the charge sheet in the court under section 302 of the penal code. A total 37 peo-ple have been made prosecution witnesses, said the investigation o� cer.

According to the charge sheet, Rony, while in a drunken stupor, indiscriminately � red gunshots from his car near Dilu Road on April 13, leaving two people — rickshaw-puller Ab-dul Hakim and daily Janakantha’s auto-rick-shaw driver Yakub — injured.

Hakim succumbed to his injuries at Dha-ka Medical College Hospital on April 15 while Yakub died on April 23. l

Janakantha publisher, executive editor guilty of contemptn Ashif Islam Shaon

The Supreme Court has found the daily Janakantha Editor and Publisher Atiqullah Khan Masud and its Executive Editor Swadesh Roy guilty of contempt of court.

The six-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday sentenced the contemnors to con-� nement until rising of the court. The verdict was pronounced around 10:15am and the judges left the courtroom around 1:15pm.

The court also ordered each of them to pay a � ne of Tk10,000 to be contributed to two charitable organisations within one week; in failure, they will have to su� er seven days’ simple imprisonment.

In its short order, the court said that it would give some guidelines in the detailed judgement as various questions were raised

regarding the authority of the highest court to give punishment for contempt of court.

After the verdict, the court held proceed-ings of some other cases.

Other members of the bench were Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, Justice Md Imman Ali and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

“We have accepted the verdict. After the full verdict is pronounced, we will take the decision of seeking a review,” contemnors’ lawyer Salahuddin Dolon told reporters.

At a brie� ng, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said: “The court said in its observation that the slandering of the judiciary and the judges cannot be tolerated. Free speech does not mean it will be unbridled.”

On July 29, after the apex court gave its � -nal verdict in the appeal case of war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury upholding his

death penalty, the Supreme Court issued a contempt rule over an article published in the daily Janakantha that questioned the conduct of judges in the case.

In the article, Swadesh Roy questioned how Salauddin’s family members had met one of the judges. He also said that the prime min-ister had to prevent some judges from going on a foreign tour, initiated by an organisation a� liated with the BNP-Jamaat alliance.

During the hearings, the defence submitted a petition for the formation of a new bench without the chief justice. He also produced a transcript of a telephone conversation be-tween the chief justice and another judge.

The court yesterday said: “Article 39 of the constitution has given freedom of thought and conscience to the citizens of the country but such freedom of thought and conscience is subject to reasonable restrictions imposed

by law in the interest of the security of the state, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court.”

It said that any publication during the pen-dency of any matter in any court of law is also contempt.

“In determining this e� ect, the intention of the printer or author in the publication is not of any consequence. What we are concerned with is that we should not permit any one to poison the fountain of justice. This would be a grave interference with the administration of justice.

“...If the chief justice is criticised for acts done in his administrative capacity this also amounts to contempt. The criticism should be fair and not made with oblique motive or with the object of maligning the justice delivery system and lowering the majesty of the law and dignity of the court in the estimation of the public.” l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina brings out her inner artist and takes up a paint brush along with artist Shahabuddin at the inauguration of a photo exhibition in the capital yesterday. Organised by Dhaka North City Corporation on the occasion of the 40th death anniversary of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the exhibition is taking place at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban BSS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015NEWS4DT

Suraiya to be transferred to cabin Sundayn Kamrul Hasan

Doctors at Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital have decided to keep bullet-hit Suraiya Begum with her mother in a cabin from next Sunday.

The baby, which sustained bullet injuries while still in her mother’s womb during a fac-tional clash of Jubo League in Magura on July 23, was closely monitored by doctors and was not allowed to stay with her mother.

The mother, Nazma Be-gum, breastfed the child for the last one and a half weeks, six to seven times a day.

Doctors said Suraiya was gradually gaining weight and her overall condition was also

good, but it could not yet be decided whether she would need to undergo an operation in her right eye.

Dr Kaniz Hasina, associate professor at the hospital’s pae-diatrics department, yester-day said the baby could soon be declared out of danger.

She said the mother and the child might be discharged by the end of next week.

“But they will be trans-ferred to a cabin on Sunday and we will continue to moni-tor their condition.”

Suraiya’s mother was in the eighth month of her preg-nancy when she was shot. The clash between two Jubo League groups left a person killed and another injured. l

Khilafat demands death penalty for Latif, Ga� arn Abu Hayat Mahmud

Khilafat-e-Islami Bangladesh has urged the government to take steps to ensure capital punishment for sacked minis-ter Abdul Latif Siddique and Abdul Ga� ar Chowdhury for their alleged derogatory re-marks against Islam and Allah.

Its leaders also demanded punishment for the country’s atheists, saying they have been continuously hurling de-rogatory comments on Islam in the name of secularism.

The demands were raised at a rally of the party in front of the north gate of Baitul Mukarram Mosque yesterday.

During the event chaired by Khilafat chief Abdul Hasnat Amini, the activists chanted slogans demanding arrest and death penalty for former post and telecommunications min-ister Latif and Ga� ar.

“Latif and Ga� ar have hurt Muslims by making derogato-ry remarks against Islam and almighty Allah. The trend of

such unacceptable remarks and the number of atheists like Latif Siddique and Ga� ar Chowdhury are increasing owing to the government’s negligence,” Hasnat said.

He blamed several media houses for helping the rise of atheists and controversial re-marks against Islam. He urged the government to pass an act in parliament to bring to book anti-religious groups.

Terming many ministers of the coalition government atheists, he said they would adopt such sort of law if his party is voted to power.

Latif was sued in some 30 cases for his comments on hajj, Prophet Muhammad (SM), Tablig Jamaat and PM Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy during a pro-gramme in New York on Sep-tember 28 last year.

Ga� ar Chowdhury at a seminar in the USA made re-ported o� ensive remarks on Allah’s 99 names sparking criticism across the country. l

Khelafat-e-Islami Bangldesh brings out a huge procession in front of Baitul Mokarram in the capital yesterday demanding severe punishment against Latif Siddiqui and Abdul Ga� ar Chowdhury for committing blasphemy MEHEDI HASAN

NEWS 5D

TFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

Speakers discuss the progress made and challenges facing road safety in the country at a seminar organised by Advocacy for Social Change at the Daily Star Centre in Dhaka yesterday RAJIB DHAR

‘20-party alliance still going strong’n Tribune Report

Accusing the government of hatching a con-spiracy, the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance yester-day said that nobody would be able to break their integrity.

“The government hatched a conspiracy to create division in the alliance during the far-cical national election. The 20-party alliance’s unity is still strong,” said Nazrul Islam Khan, a standing committee member of BNP, in a press brie� ng at party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan o� ce.

On Wednesday night, Khaleda held the � rst meeting of the alliance in nine months at the Gulshan o� ce.

Nazrul said: “The government is trying to get the world’s sympathy by projecting Bangla-desh as a militant state. That is why, incidents of killing, abduction, child killing, women re-pression and blogger killing are on rise.”

The senior leader also said that only a gov-ernment that is accountable to people can solve the prevailing crisis.

Saying that people sacri� ced their lives for restoring democracy in the country, he pledged that his camp will evaluate those people properly in future.

Terming the prevailing situation in the country as dreadful, Nazrul said: “It does not seem that we are living a civilised society. [It seems like] there is no government in the country. Blogger killing is going on. People are not safe today.”

Asked about their plans for any move-ments in the near future, he said: “We want to do peaceful democratic movements. But every time we tried to do that, we had to face the wrath of security forces or armed ruling party cadres. If we wish to continue with movements, then we have to engage in con-� icts. But we do not believe in politics of kill-ing and violence.”

Asked when Khaleda Zia will � y to London, Nazrul said: “It is Khaleda Zia’s personal matter because she will be going there on treatment purposes. I cannot say when she will go.” l

No major progress in politicised road sector yetn Shohel Mamun

The absence of proper road engineering, lack of awareness of road safety and a faulty tra� c management system are to be blamed for the spike in road fatalities, said speakers at a sem-inar in the capital yesterday.

They said the transport sector saw no ma-jor progress over the past few years in spite of the marked rise in the number of deaths on the road as the sector is highly politicised.

The seminar styled “Road safety in Bangla-desh: progress and challenges” was arranged by Brac.

It was shown in a presentation at the sem-inar that a total of 1,817 road accidents had been reported in the press last year, with 2,351 killed and 5,408 injured.

In 2013, 1,845 people were killed and 3,848 injured in 1,313 road crashes.

Speakers slammed the government for its claim that the number of road accidents had gradually gone down.

They said a total of 797 accidents had been reported from January to June this year, with 1,034 killed and 2,060 injured.

Hossain Zillur Rahman, Power and Partic-ipation Research Centre executive chairman and former adviser to the caretaker govern-ment, said the government had not yet suc-ceeded in ensuring discipline in the sector.

“This is due to the fact that the sector is heavily politicised. But in economic terms, this sector is very prosperous if smooth oper-ations can be ensured,” he said.

“The government has also failed to pass a motor vehicle act yet even after taking initia-tives in 2012 because of pressure from bene� -ciary groups.”

Former director of the Accident Research Institute at Buet, Shamsul Hoque, said inquir-ies into the cause of some of the recent road accidents had revealed how poor condition of roads was leading to casualties alongside carelessness on the part of drivers.

“The high death tolls on roads can be re-

duced if Bangladesh Road Transport Author-ity (BRTA) rigorously maintains procedures for issuing � tness certi� cates for vehicles,” he said.

Nirapad Sarak Chai Chairman Ilias kanchan stressed the need for stern enforcement of the motor vehicle act in order to reduce road ac-cidents.

Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association President Faruk Talukder Sohel claimed that drivers want to be issued licences in accord-ance with the rules but the BRTA gets in the way. “That is the fault of BRTA o� cials.”

BRTA Director (enforcement) Bijoy Bhu-shan Paul said some inspectors had been sus-pended for issuing � tness certi� cates without comprehensive investigations.

“We also have manpower crisis that pre-vents us from executing our tasks properly. Be-sides, we have arranged some awareness pro-grammes to reduce road crashes,” he added.

The seminar was moderated by Asif Saleh, senior director of Brac. l

n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Bangladesh and India are planning to carry out a joint drive against currency counterfeit-ers and smugglers once both countries pre-pare and share respective criminal databases.

Bangladesh has already completed its own database of counterfeiters, terrorists and smugglers, and is now waiting for its neigh-bour’s database, said Additional Inspector General of Police Mokhlesur Rahman. As soon as the Indian database is received, the two sides would conduct the joint operation, he added.

Mokhlesur made the comments at the po-lice headquarters following a two-day meet-ing of a joint task force with India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA). SK Singh, inspec-tor general of the NIA, led a 15-member del-

egation that arrived in Bangladesh last Tues-day.

During the meeting, a memorandum of understanding was also signed. Although the main agenda was to discuss ways to stop counterfeiters, the top law enforcement o� -cials also talked about the smuggling of gold, arms and drugs across the borders.

Additional IGP Mokhlesur said counterfeit money has had a negative impact on both countries’ economy, adding that the Indian delegation has expressed concerns about a large amount of counterfeit Indian rupees coming from Bangladesh. Bangladesh, on the other hand, expressed concerns about drug smuggling, he added.

Joint e� orts were on to seek out the sourc-es of counterfeit money, Mokhlesur said, add-ing that Indian law enforcers have agreed to

provide all technical support and training in this regard.

Addressing the press brie� ng, NIA In-spector General SK Singh said the Indian government was very concerned about the counterfeit currency menace, as it not only e� ected the economy but was also linked to other criminal activities.

Earlier, during Indian Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi’s Dhaka visit in June, the two countries also signed an MoU regarding the drug and counterfeit money issue.

A delegation from Bangladesh also trav-elled to India on July 12 to hold a two-day meeting on the counterfeit currency issue. Of-� cials from both countries’ Foreign and Home Ministries were present at that meeting.

According to sources at the meeting, dis-cussions were held on how the counterfeit

money was the main source of funding for banned Islamist out� ts Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Indian Mujahideen.

In their investigation, the Indian NIA team found that the accuracy of the counterfeit money produced by the terrorists made it di� cult to trace it even in laboratory exam-inations. Di� erent militant groups in Bang-ladesh, India and Pakistan exchanged fake money across the borders, the investigation also found.

Sources said the routes for smuggling counterfeit notes included Sherpur, Sunam-ganj, Jessore, Comilla and Satkhira in Bang-ladesh; and Muridabad and Malda in India. Di� erent security initiatives like joint petrol, surveillance and permanent check posts have so far failed to put a stop to counterfeit money being smuggled. l

Bangladesh-India to go for joint drive against currency counterfeiters

NEWS6DTFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

16 su� er from unknown diseasen Our Correspondent, Barguna

At least 16 students of Haritana Adarsha School at Pathorghata upazila in Barguna dis-trict fell sick in last two days due to unknown disease. Utpal Kumer Mitra, headmaster of the school, said 13 female students fell sick on Wednesday and they were admitted to Pathorghata Hospital. Three more students

fell sick yesterday and they were also admit-ted to the hospital, he said.

Contacted Dr Anwarul Haque of the hos-pital, said the victims were given treatment. Nothing could be said speci� cly about the disesae, he said.

Pathorghata Upazila Health Complex Of-� cer-in-Charge Ramesh Chandra said it might be one kind of hysteria. l

Section 144 imposed on Gaibandhan Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

Authorities imposed a Section 144 ban on public gatherings at Phulchari under Gai-bandha yesterday after two rival groups of the Bangladesh Chaatra League (BCL) called meetings on the day at the same spot.

The clampdown was imposed at noon as tensions mounted among the upazila BCL

men and Udkhali union BCL activists over two meetings, said Md Atiar Rahman, o� cer-in-charge of Phulchari police station. He said the upazila and union level BCL activists arranged meetings in Kalibazar area di� erently to ob-serve August 15 as National Mourning Day.

Phulchari Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Abdul Awal imposed the ban at noon over the tension. Extra police forces were deployed in the area. l

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015NEWS 7

DT

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:34PM SUN RISES 5:33AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

35.3ºC 25.4ºC

Rajshahi Sylhet

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

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

PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:11am

Sunrise 5:32amJumma 12:03am

Asr 4:39pmMagrib 6:33pm

Esha 8:03pm

WEATHER

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

Charge framing hearing in Tazreen � re case on Sept 3n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court has � xed September 3 for the hearing on charge framing in the Tazreen � re case against 13 accused, including Tazreen Fashions managing director Delwar Hossain.

Judge SM Quddus Zaman of Dhaka District and Sessions Judge’s Court deferred the hear-ing on charge framing, for the second time, yesterday after the prosecution sought more time to prepare for the hearing on the peti-tions submitted by the defence.

The defence counsels had submitted peti-tions before the court seeking discharge of the accused from the charges.

The court took the charge sheet against 13 accused, including Delwar and his wife Mahmuda Aktar who was also the chairman

of Tazreen Fashions, into congnisance on June 16.

The rest of the accused – Dulal Uddin, Hamidul Islam, Al Amin-1, Anisur Rahman, Rana, Al Amin-2, Shamim Miah, Mahbubul Morshed, Mobarak Hossain Manju, Abdur Razzak and Shahiduzzaman – were all top of-� cials and sta� at the RMG factory.

The last four accused are still on the run, while the others are on bail.

The � re at Tazreen Fashions – dubbed as the worst industrial � re in the country’s history – killed at least 112 workers, mostly women, and injured scores of others on November 24, 2012.

On December 22, 2013, Inspector AKM Mohsinuzzaman Khan of the Criminal Investigation department (CID) submitted a charge sheet bringing homicide charges

against the 13 accused in the case.According to the charge sheet, Delwar and

his wife constructed the building following a faulty plan and illegally used the ground-� oor walkway as a warehouse.

Managers and security guards were charged as they forcefully kept the workers inside the building even after � re alarms went o� and smoke was seen billowing out from the spot that caught � re.

Two cases were � led in connection with the incident. One was � led by police with Ashulia police station, accusing 15 sta� mem-bers of negligence leading to murder.

The second case was � led against Delwar and 30 others on May 29 with Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court by Abdul Matin, brother of a missing worker named Rehana. l

5 BCL men sued over killing of Madan Mohan College studentn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

At least � ve activists of the Bangladesh Chha-tra League Madan Mohan College unit have been sued in connection with the killing of Abdul Ali.

Aklis Mia, father of the deceased, � led the case with Kotwali police station in the after-noon.

Accused of the case are Pranjit Das, Angur Mia, Rahul Kanti Dey, Masud and Tajjib.

Police arrested Pranjit and Rahul from dif-ferent places of the city in the afternoon.

Abdul Ali was stabbed to death by rivals on the second � oor the of college’s academic building around 12:30pm on Wednesday.

Quoting the case, o� cer-in-charge of Kot-wali police station Suhel told the Dhaka Trib-une that he had been killed over establishing supremacy on the campus.

A source in the college’s Chhatra League unit said the two factions of the student wing of the ruling party have been involved in a � ght for dominance in the college for a while.

Meanwhile, a source said he might has been killed over lending money. l

Six remanded again in liquid cocaine casen Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday again put six people on remand, who were arrested in the case � led over the seizure of liquid cocaine at Chittagong port in June.

Metropolitan Magistrate Rahmat Ali gave the order after Md Kamruzzaman, Chittagong Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch assis-tant commissioner (north) and the investigat-ing o� cer of the case, pleaded with the court to remand each of the arrestees for 10 days.

Chittagong Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Md Fakhruddin said the court remanded the six persons for di� erent periods.

Golam Mostafa Sohel, manager of Prime Hatchery which is a sister concern of the al-leged importer of the cocaine consignment Khan Jahan Ali Limied, was put on a � ve-day remand. He was earlier questioned during a 10-day remand.

The consignment’s C&F Agent Saiful Islam

Sumon and Sohel’s cousin Mehedi Alam, who works at a securities � rm, were placed on a � ve-day remand each. They were earlier re-manded for � ve days each.

Besides, Cosco Shipping Agency Manager AKM Azad, Mondol Group Commercial Exec-utive Atiqur Rahman and real estate company o� cial Mostafa Kamal were placed on a two-day remand each. Earlier, they were quizzed during a 13-day remand each.

A total of six people have so far been arrest-ed in the sensational case but alleged import-er of the consignment Nur Mohammad, who is the chairman of Khan Jahan Ali Limited, is still on the run.

On June 6, the Directorate of Customs In-telligence and Investigation, upon police in-formation, sealed the container at Chittagong port. The container was suspected to have brought 2,140kg liquid cocaine. It was board-ed on ship from Uruguay after being imported from Bolivia and arrived at Chittagong port on

May 13 via Singapore.On June 27, the existence of cocaine was

found in a drum in a laboratory test in Dhaka. There were 107 drums in the container.

Police on June 28 lodged a drugs case with Bandar police station and the Detective Branch is investigating it.

On July 8, the investigating o� cer collect-ed samples from the drums again in compli-ance with a court order and sent those to the Armed Forces Food and Drugs Laboratory, Narcotics Control Department’s lab and Crim-inal Investigation Department’s lab for further tests. The existence of cocaine was found in the tests.

The investigating o� cer was asked by court to speed up probe while a 10-member body of Chittagong Metropolitan Police led by Detec-tive Branch Chief Kusum Dewan is also investi-gating the case. Bakul Miah, a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was found to be involved in smuggling the consignment from Uruguay. l

Students of Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital bring out a procession in the capital yesterday with a call to reinstate carry-on system in their professional examinations DHAKA TRIBUNE

WORLD8DTFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

Turkish airbases used by anti-IS forces

TURKEYTURKEY

SYR IASYR IAAleppoAleppo

RaqaRaqa

HassakehHassakehKobaneKobane

EuphratesEuphrates

Tal AbyadTal Abyad

SurucKilisAdana

Incirlik

Primary airbase

Emergency airbase

Diyarbakir Batman

Malatya-Erhac

50 km

The US has launched its � rst manned air strikes against Islamic State targets from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on Wednesday. The US-led coalition had launched � ying, unmanned missions against the militants earlier this month, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement. Turkish � ghter jets were not involved in the manned US air strikes on Wednesday, Turkish security sources said. Turkey agreed last month to open its strategically important bases to the US-led coalition, a major policy change after years of reluctance to take a frontline role against the Islamist � ghters pressing on its borders. But Ankara has been reluctant to play a leading role in the � ght against the militants, who control parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq, citing fears of a backlash.

Source: REUTERS

Greek ruling party splits before bailout voten Reuters, Athens

Greece’s ruling Syriza party edged towards a formal split yesterday, hours before rebel left-ist lawmakers plan to vote against a new bail-out deal to keep the country a� oat.

With opposition support, the government is asking parliament to approve a €85bn billion euro bailout deal that Greece needs to avoid defaulting on a debt repayment next week.

The vote, expected in the early hours To-day, will test the strength of a rebellion by anti-austerity Syriza lawmakers, which could raise pressure on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to call snap elections as early as September.

The rebels’ leader, former energy minis-ter Panagiotis Lafazanis, took a step towards breaking away from Syriza, a coalition of left-ist groups which stormed to power in January promising to reverse austerity policies de-manded by the euro zone and International Monetary Fund creditors.

“The � ght against the new bailout starts to-day (Thursday), by mobilising people in every corner of the country,” said a statement signed by Lafazanis and 11 other Syriza members posted on the far-left faction’s Iskra website.

The statement called for founding a “unit-ed movement that will justify people’s desire for democracy and social justice” although it did not explicitly call for a new party or a split from Syriza.

Parliament, however, is expected to ap-prove the bailout agreement by a comfort-able margin since opposition parties have promised their backing for the government to ensure Greece does not return to � nancial chaos.

Tsipras has faced a rebellion among about a quarter of his 149 lawmakers since agreeing last month to the bailout deal under the threat of a banking collapse and euro zone exit.

He has long argued Greece cannot repay all its huge debts and demanded a partial write-o� . However, the Troika creditors - the Eu-ropean Commission, European Central Bank and IMF - have agreed to consider the issue only after a review in October of the govern-ment’s implementation of its side of the deal.

An analysis seen by Reuters on Thursday said the creditor institutions had “serious concerns” about the sustainability of Greek public debt.

However, the creditors’ analysis said sus-tainability could be achieved without the need for any write-o� by extending grace pe-riods before Athens has to start paying inter-est and principal on its bailout loans.

The IMF favours some sort of debt “hair-cut” but the government in Germany, where public opinion is hostile to any help for Greece, implacably opposes such relief. Berlin is more open to extensions of debt, however. l

Fire� ghters work at the site as smoke and � re rise from the debris after the explosions at the Binhai new district in Tianjin, China on late Wednesday. Two massive explosions caused by � ammable goods ripped through an industrial area in the northeast Chinese port city, killing 50 people and injuring as many as 700, Chinese o� cials reported REUTERS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

TIMELINE

Maggi noodles rowThe Bombay High Court in India yesterday over-turned a central government ban on Nestle’s huge-ly popular Maggi noodles brand, but ordered fur-ther tests before the product can go back on sale.

The court backed Nestle’s challenge against the nationwide ban ordered by India’s food safety watchdog in June, calling it “arbitrary” and saying it violated the “principles of national justice.”

Tests by some Indian states had found lead levels in the product exceeded statutory limits, but the Swiss food giant has always maintained it is safe to eat, and has continued to sell it in other countries.

Here are some of the key events regarding the Maggi Noodles conservatory so far–

May 20: Uttar Pradesh orders recall of Nestle’s Maggi Noodles allegedly containing dangerous lead levels.

May 21: Maggi Noodles being tested inde-pendently, will share results, Nestle an-nounced.

May 29: Film star Madhuri Dixit served notice by Food and Drug Administration for en-dorsing Maggi.

May 31: Case lodged against � lm stars Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta for endoring Maggi.

June 2: Samples fail test in Delhi, found unsafe

for consumption.June 5: Nestle CEO says Maggi noodles in In-

dia safe for consumption. Nestle India bows down to pressure, takes Maggi o� the shelves across the country after ban in � ve states.

June 16: Nestle sees more than Rs3.2bn (approx $50m) hit from Maggi ban.

June 18: Nestle chief Paul Bulcke wants Maggi noodles back in India.

July 3: Canada food regulator � nds Maggi safe.July 7: Nestle India pays Ambuja Cements

Rs200m (apporx $30m) to destroy Maggi noodles.

July 18: Nestle tells Bombay High Court that Maggi test results cannot be relied upon Business Standard

July 23: Maggi ban: Alcohol should be banned � rst as it is injurious to health, says Bombay High Court.

July 24: Amid Maggi row, Nestle’s India CEO Etienne Benet steps down.

August 11: Indian central government moves con-sumer panel; seeks Rs6.4bn (approx $98.15m) in damages from Nestle Busi-ness Standard.

August 13: Maggi Ban Lifted, But Fresh Tests Are Required- Bombay High Court.

Myanmar ruling party chief removed as army tightens gripn AFP, Naypyidaw

The leader of Myanmar’s ruling party was ousted by the country’s president in a dra-matic swoop Thursday as the army and its al-lies strengthened their political grip ahead of crucial elections.

The ruling Union Solidarity and Devel-opment Party (USDP) has been gripped by in-� ghting in the run up to the November polls – billed as the freest and fairest for dec-ades in the former-junta ruled nation.

After a night of high political drama which saw security forces enter the USDP base in Naypyidaw, Shwe Mann – who is also the par-liamentary speaker – was ousted in an unex-pected party putsch.

The USDP, which served as a vehicle for former junta � gures to transform into MPs, is-sued a statement Thursday con� rming Presi-dent Thein Sein had stepped in to appoint a new leader, Htay Oo, in order for the party to be run more “e� ectively.”

“The party needed to be reformed for par-ty unity,” it said.

The move comes a day before the deadline for candidates to register to contest the up-coming polls.

Recent months have seen rumours of

animosity between Shwe Mann and Thein Sein, both former generals who shed their uniforms to play central roles in Myanmar’s reforms.

While Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party is expected to make major gains at the No-vember polls, the Nobel laureate is barred by a junta-drafted constitution from becoming the president.

Shwe Mann had been tipped as a possible compromise candidate for the presidency, a role selected by a parliament he is well ac-quainted with from his role as speaker.

Army red lines?O� cials sought to downplay the signi� -cance of Thursday’s power play so close to an election.

“This is just a party leadership a� air, there is no reason to worry,” Zaw Htay of the Presi-dent’s O� ce said.

Newly-appointed senior USDP o� cials told reporters in Naypyidaw that the ousted leader would continue to hold his position in parliament and was still a member of the par-ty, though not in a senior position.

But observers were left scrambling to de-cipher meaning from Thursday’s surprise move. l

Charity report: Sri Lanka’s torture on Tamils persists n Thomson Reuters Foundation, London

The torture of minority Tamils in Sri Lanka by the police and military remains a major problem six years after the end of the civil war with victims beaten, burned and sexually abused, a UK-based charity providing medi-cal care to survivors said.

In a report released on Thursday, Freedom from Torture said that in 2014, for the third year in a row, Sri Lanka was the top country of origin of those the charity helped.

The report, published ahead of elections next week in which wartime president Ma-hinda Rajapaksa hopes to reclaim power, was based on medical evidence relating to 148 Sri Lankan torture survivors, 94% of them Tamils.

Eight months after he was ousted as pres-ident, Rajapaksa is challenging the reformist coalition that replaced his government and that enjoys the broad support of Sri Lanka’s Tamil and Muslim minorities.

“All this will be addressed after the � nal report of the UN Human Rights Commission will be made available,” Prime Minister Ranil Wikremesinghe said on Thursday when asked about Freedom from Torture’s � ndings.

Wikremesinghe was referring to a UN in-vestigation into civil war atrocities whose publication has been delayed until after the August 17 vote.

All the victims, who had been tortured be-tween 2009 and 2013, had been beaten, some with pipes � lled with cement or pistol butts, Freedom from Torture said.

Nearly 80% had been burned with ciga-rettes or heated pieces of metal and 71% had su� ered sexual violence. Some were subjected

to waterboarding or su� ocated with the fumes of burning chillies or petrol, the report added.

“Despite the fact the civil war ended in May 2009, torture has been ongoing in Sri Lanka in every year since, right up to the present time,” Sonya Sceats, Freedom from Torture’s policy and advocacy director, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“As an organisation we’ve continued to receive very high volumes of referrals of Sri Lankans and in fact, we’ve had a couple of cases of torture this year after the change of president,” she added.

Torture on returnIn January, President Maithripala Sirisena de-feated Rajapaksa, whose crushing of a 26-year insurgency by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka in 2009 won him support among the island’s Sinhalese majority.

Reviled by some who accuse him of brutal-ity and abuses while in power, Rajapaksa has now set his sights on becoming prime minis-ter - a position that has been given more pow-ers under constitutional reforms.

Sceats said Tamils associated with the Ta-mil Tigers, or perceived to be involved with the group - even if they were not frontline � ghters but had supplied medicine or food during the war - “remain at very serious risk of torture in Sri Lanka.”

More than one third of the torture cases in-volved people who had returned to Sri Lanka from Britain after the end of the war.

“In all of our 30 years, we’ve never seen an-ything like this in terms of the numbers of peo-ple who’ve been tortured after returning from the UK to a particular country,” Sceats said. l

A year on, no answers to Greek tomb mysteryn AFP, Amphipolis, Greece

A year after being hailed as one of Greece’s greatest archaeological � nds and a possible resting place of Alexander the Great, the larg-est tomb ever discovered in the country lies almost forgotten in the blazing summer sun.

The buzz of cicadas and wasps gives no hint that Amphipolis, some 60km from the northern city of Serres, drew a media stampede in August 2014 after authorities declared it a “unique” � nd.

“No one works here any more. The project is frozen, like everything else in Greece,” says a young guard, referring to the country’s economic crisis that in addi-tion to mass layo� s and revenue cuts has also hit spending on cultural projects.

“We still don’t know if the country is go-ing to run out of money,” he adds, refusing to give his name.

At the time of its discovery, there was speculation that archaeologists had found the tomb of Alexander the Great (356 BC to 323 BC) – or perhaps someone close to him like his mother Olympias or wife Roxana.

But a room-by-room search of the mas-sive box-like tomb has failed to give conclu-sive answers to date.

Though the remains of an elderly wom-an were found – raising hopes it could be Alexander’s mother – the bones of two men, a newborn baby and animals includ-ing a horse were also discovered.

Culture Minister Nikos Xydakis has pub-licly criticised the previous conservative administration over its handling of the ex-cavation.

“The way the excavation was carried out and (its) promotion... had elements of a show,” Xydakis said in a televised interview in March. l

AFP

WORLD 9D

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Advertisement10DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

11D

TEDITORIALFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

INSIDE

It has become virtually impossible for a student without distinction grades in HSC exams to get into government-funded universities for a bachelor’s degree.

Of the 1 million students taking this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations, nearly 43,000 achieved the top grade point average of � ve. With only around 38,000 places available in the 32 public universities, this means even getting a top mark is no guarantee of a place.

The minimum GPA requirement to take the Dhaka University admission test is 3.5. Growing competition now makes it far less likely that students with less-than-outstanding scores are likely to be even considered when they might have been in the past.

While this logjam arises out of a general trend of higher scores in exams, it does not actually make it easier for universities to pick the most capable students. Indeed, the concerns expressed by academics and employers about the capability of some graduates, suggests that over-balance on GPA scores does not guarantee the most e� ective selection.

One way to address this would be for universities to sharpen their focus at the admission stage, by looking beyond GPA scores, and also assessing candidates on factors such as bespoke admission tests and indicators of potential and capability that can be provided by interviews and records of voluntary and extra-curricular activities.

Increasing � exibility would do more than widen the pool for selection to top public universities. It would help send the message that the school system needs: That it should be less driven by an overly narrow focus on exam scores.

This focus results in a never-ending race to cram unimaginative curricular, often supported by coaching centres which bene� t mainly students from wealthier families, solely for the purpose of doing well in unimaginative exams, which neither accurately measure nor deliver genuinely improved educational attainment.

An embedded � xation with memorisation and rote learning stunts creativity, and is one reason why we now have the High Court seeking to set weight limits on the bags of primary school children.

Top public universities provide the benchmark for our schools. If they take a lead in putting less emphasis on unimaginative exams and teaching methods, it will improve the quality and e� ectiveness of the entire education system.

An embedded � xation with memorisation and rote learning stunts creativity, and is one reason why we now have the High Court seeking to set weight limits on the bags of primary school children

A sound education is about more than GPA 5

Imran’s Marxism

Where is the justice?As the nation slowly but surely slides towards more and more entropy, they, by the grace of God, keep on talking lovely about democracy

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The Indian serial phenomenonThey rarely show women with jobs, women who aren’t either wives, mothers, or daughters. They also portray an unbelievable standard of living

It is clear that Imran follows not the doctrinaire ideology of Karl Marx, but the ambivalence of the comedian Groucho Marx

Thoughts on leadershipTo be a leader, you need to give up many of your own natural wishes and desires

BIG

STO

CK

OPINION12DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

n Mohammad Zaman

The tempest in a teacup is over. It seems that the murderer of Rajon is not coming back any time soon. Kamrul must have kept Noor Hos-

sain in mind when he had his tryst with the police o� cer in his bid to � ee. In the mean-time, the nefarious police who let the “dog” go, got a simple slap on the wrist. In no time, I bet, he will be back to his old ways, some other beat and repeat.

On the hilt of Rajon comes Rakib. Hullaba-loo ensues. Talk shows go haywire. Ministers talk tough. And there is Niloy, a born-again atheist in the mould of Rajib and Oyasiqur and Avijit.

The prime minister has to keep her famous silence. However, her surrogates, includ-ing her son, and lately, the home minister, decidedly and loudly, has made it clear that the government shall not tolerate anti-reli-gious slants by Avijit et al. There is no inkling that they have any intention of catching the marauding murderers.

Well, murders of this nature don’t occur in a void. The milieu is littered with the trails of hundreds of murders and gruesome crimes, where the perpetrators remain out of reach of the supposedly long arm of justice.

Despite great leads by di� erent investigat-ing out� ts, including the elite RAB, justice for Twoki remains in perpetual limbo. Limon’s perpetrator remains untouched. AB Sid-dique’s allegedly well-built, stout, and profes-sional-like kidnappers also remain at large.

The mastermind of the N-7 murder report-edly posited that the government is afraid to get him back home. The investigation of an erstwhile minister of AL (Shah Kibria) still remains shrouded in mystery. And Avijit’s wife may get to speak to her friends at PEN International, but the pencil of justice in Bangladesh, as it pertains to her husband’s murder, shall keep doodling forever.

Twoki’s father goes to jail for writing a bad cheque (if the news reports are correct), but those cousins of Borgi bandits who have plundered the banks and the money-houses of the Dhaka Stock Exchange over and over still remain free to roam the alleys of power in style.

Those Epicurean virtues like simplicity, courage, honesty, and moderation are not the forte of today’s leaders -- both in power and in opposition. Save a few, they are the mod-ern-day epicures enjoying � ne wine, gourmet food, classical music, and � ner-than-muslin raiment.

As the nation slowly but surely slides towards more and more entropy, they, by the grace of God, keep on talking lovely about their puny democracy and development. They taunt any opposing view by touting

Bangladesh’s promotion to the lower rungs of a middle-income economy.

In a country where unnatural death in the hands of nefarious out� ts is a constant fear, where accidental deaths on the highway are so prevalent, and where the supposed blindness of justice is blind -- does it matter if the per capita income is few hundred dollars more than it was a few years ago? l

Mohammad Zaman is a physician and occasional writer.

n Runa Khan

Leadership is having the ability to guide and hold the people together for a common vision. The con� dence and courage to say that you are

wrong and to make changes accordingly for the bene� t of the people and the vision.

It is having the ability to truly and deeply love the people you are leading, who are with you, and those who believe in you. To have your actions re� ect your words and ideas.

To have verity and be true in thoughts, words, and deeds. Respect is thus earned. It is to have transparency of action and show justice towards those whom you lead. To be a leader, you need to give up many of your own natural wishes and desires. You need to show leadership not only to be a leader.

I founded and am leading an organisation which has over 650 sta� who serve more than 300,000 people monthly.

Having the ability of management is

crucial, but leadership gives the unity of making thousands of people into a committed family. l

Runa Khan is the Founder and Executive Director of Friendship Bangladesh. This article � rst appeared in The Hu� ngton Post.

Thoughts on leadership

To be a leader, you need to give up many of your own natural wishes and desires

Where is the justice?With murder and mayhem rampant, our nation’s progress might be an illusion

As the nation slowly but surely slides towards more and more entropy, they, by the grace of God, keep on talking lovely about democracy

Not everyone is cut out to be a leader BIGSTOCK

With violence being a daily facet of existence, can we say our lives have improved? BIGSTOCK

OPINION 13D

TFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

n Nibir Mostafa Khan

American comedian Bill Hicks once said watching television was like taking black spray paint to your third eye, but I, for one, despite

being negligible compared to someone of Bill’s stature, disagree. Apparently, so does the majority of the privileged population in the world, whose favourite pastime is, without a doubt, watching television.

There are lots of amazing programs on the telly, teaching and showing us things that we would never have had the chance to see if it wasn’t for this wonderful creation. But of course, there are downsides to it, with one of the cons being Indian soap operas and their e� ect on Bangladeshis.

The word “serial” has become immensely common in Bangladeshi culture, and it refers to these Indian soap operas which hog the

screen, from around dusk until midnight, with repeats of the same episode during the day. These shows are aired, obviously, on Hindi or Indian-Bengali channels.

The primary audience of these programs is women of no speci� c age or social class; all women are targeted. And the makers of these soaps have been tremendously successful in popularising them -- almost every household has at least one woman who watches these soap operas obsessively.

So, why is it that the Bangladeshi audience devours these Indian-made serials and turns a blind eye towards the Bangladeshi tele-� ms and series? This is even more surprising because Bangladeshi-made “natoks” are de� nitely better in quality and content than their Indian counterparts -- I believe even regular watchers of Indian serials will attest to this. We have equally good, if not better, actors than them, and de� nitely better sto-ries to tell.

One of the reasons behind this phenom-enon is that they are very punctual. For instance, one knows exactly when the show is going to start, go to a break, come back, and precisely when it is going to end. This is not the case for Bangladeshi programs.

One is never certain when the show is going to begin because of the ridiculous number of advertisements. And once the commercials start rolling, you’re bound to forget what you were watching, or what the plot was.

Secondly, there is a bit of peer pressure

involved. People discussing the show insti-gate the will to participate in the talk and � t in. This might sometimes lead to someone beginning to follow a certain show.

Recently, many viewers have switched to watching serials from Kolkata, which has eliminated the language barrier entirely. The other factor is ending episodes in a cli� anger and creating suspense in such a way that it forces the viewer to watch the next episode. This is done with craft, and I applaud the makers on this end.

I wish the matter would end like thus: A large group of people watch a few foreign programs regularly. So what? No harm done. But unfortunately, it doesn’t end just there. There are certain consequences and detrimental e� ects to this seemingly innocent form of entertainment.

Firstly, the content of the shows are highly questionable. Most of the time, they depict the marriage of a woman from a not-so-a� u-ent background to a business tycoon or some other such ridiculously wealthy individual, and the saga continues with all the problems that the woman keeps having in the house-hold. They rarely show women with jobs, women who aren’t either wives, mothers, or daughters. They also portray unbelievable standards of living.

Often, this is craved by the viewer but seldom found. As a result, the viewers might feel upset. These shows constantly show relatives trying to outfox or harm the protagonist in some way. Mostly, these are heinous ploys which would only occur to the lowest of minds.

Sometimes, children are exposed to these sorts of programs and only bad things can come out of that. Additionally, the market is � lled with products inspired by these “se-rials.” Especially during Eid, dresses named after the protagonists of these shows are sold feverishly. The characters have even made into the cover page of exercise books! This shows what a dive our culture has taken.

Not only is this hampering the business of the local producers of dresses (and copies, but I believe those are made in Bangladesh), but also it is also a terrible example to set for the youngsters.

Additionally, the Bangladeshi producers and directors are not getting enough viewers and are being discouraged from producing the great content that they have been putting out. Both the economy and the art sector are taking hits due to this practice.

I think it’s high time we take steps to prevent the detrimental e� ects of this serial culture. Banning the channels is an option, but that would just be an infringement of people’s rights. I would rather suggest pro-moting Bangladeshi programs by controlling advertisements and giving subsidies to young directors. Hopefully, then we will stop watch-ing these Indian serials that show the same thing over and over again, in which people go to bed and wake up in full make-up. l

Nibir Mostafa Khan is an intern at the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute.

The Indian serial phenomenonIndian drama serials are highly popular in Bangladesh, but what are the consequences?

They rarely show women with jobs, women who aren’t either wives, mothers, or daughters. They also portrayan unbelievable standard of living

We need to change the channel away from Indian soap operas BIGSTOCK

OPINION14DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

n FS Aijazuddin

Imran Khan has been outed. What was suspected for some time has been con-� rmed: Imran is a closet Marxist.

It is clear that Imran follows not the doctrinaire ideology of Karl Marx, but the ambivalence of the comedian Groucho Marx who wrote to his club: “Please accept my resignation. I don’t care to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.”

Imran Khan’s prevarication regarding his membership of our National Assembly echoes Groucho Marx’s ambiguous remonstrance. 

Pakistan went to the polls in May 2013, 27 months ago. Within another 33 months (de-pending upon the con� dence of the incum-

bent PML-N), there must be another general election. PTI MNAs are half-way between a past election they do not accept and a future election they have yet to contest. Their leader, meanwhile, is trapped between the devil of his ambitions and the deep blue sea of political reality.

It does not require e� ort to recall the tortuous route that led the PTI from Parliament House to the streets, from long marches to even longer sit-ins, from o� ensive oratory to conciliatory collaboration, from the demand for the resignation of our prime minister to the humbling acceptance of his mandate, from the clamour for a Judicial Commission to the dismissal of PTI’s own Election Tribunal Head, from blocking the gates of Parliament House to using them to re-enter the same chamber.

A lesser party would have retracted its claws, spent time sharpening its teeth. But then, the PTI is not such a party. Like the Pakistan People’s Party in its greener days, it is a party led by an extraordinary man who has charisma, credibility, persistence, and tenacity. Like Mr Zul� kar Ali Bhutto, Imran Khan is determined to become prime minis-ter -- sooner not later, at any price to himself, and at any cost to the nation.

Again, like Mr Bhutto, Imran Khan has never faced the spectre of failure. Mr Bhutto’s career took a young ambitious Sindhi Icarus from the minister-ship of commerce in Ayub Khan’s cabinet to the foreign minister-ship, through the contradiction of a presiden-cy-cum-CMLA-ship to the coveted prime

minister-ship. Imran Khan’s career has soared from

the Cricket World Cup to Shaukat Khanum Hospital to Namal College University, and now to the chairmanship of the PTI. It is for them that John Keats wrote: “I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest.”  ZA Bhutto in his day, and today Imran Khan, can be regarded as giants, tall Gullivers astride a land of Lilliputians.

The PTI has the second largest vote bank in the country. It has the potential to sweep the next general elections, if it can wait that long. Look around it. The PPP is orphaned, its inheritance squandered by self-appointed trustees.

The MQM is beleaguered, its absent leader threatening � re, fury, and fattening fasts. The JUI and other rightist parties wait like perennial bridesmaids, for the bouquet of governance to be tossed towards them. The PML-Q is as quiet and as still as waters that run shallow. That leaves the PML-N.

It would have been all too easy for Mr Nawaz Sharif to have crowed over the decision of the Judicial Commission that exonerated his PML-N of organised and pre-meditated rigging. 

The PTI -- its original target having been snatched away -- has reacted by shifting its guns towards the Election Commission. The PTI now demands that the EC reforms its election procedures.

Even if an All-Party Commission could be cobbled together to recommend reforms

to the EC (who more than the political parties has an interest in e� ecting such improvements?), and assuming that the EC does succeed in implementing such improvements in time, that bene� t would accrue only in 2018, 33 months from now.

Meanwhile, the PTI should encourage its shy council members to speak, whenever Imran Khan pauses. What does its member on agriculture, Shahid Zia, have to say about the current � oods and their devastating impact on our agriculture?

Does the member on labour intend acti-vating somnolent labour unions? Does the member on textiles, Zafar Iqbal Sarwar, have a proactive textile policy?

Can the member on foreign policy and internal security, Dr Shireen Mazari, give adequate time to either? Does the member on water and power, Shahid Sattar, have a solution in mind for our Hydel and Thermal energy shortfalls? Or are they all simply wax-en cyphers who have lent their names, but not their tongues to the PTI?

If Imran Khan is to follow a Marx, let it be Karl Marx. His advice to future impatient leaders read: “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circum-stances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.” l

FS Aijazuddin lives in Lahore, and is a columnist for Dawn, Pakistan’s main English-language newspaper. This article was � rst published in Dawn.

Imran’s MarxismImran Khan has gone from cricketer to chairman. But is he a Marxist?

It is clear that Imran follows not the doctrinaire ideology of Karl Marx, but the ambivalence of the comedian Groucho Marx

A giant like Bhutto? REUTERS

15D

TBusiness FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

China’s CB halts ‘regular’ yuan intervention

21 Stocks post modest decline23

More women entrepreneurs to come under banking services

16Cheap oil taking longer to subdue rival suppliers

24

Japan keen to build economic zone in Narayanganjn Asif Showkat Kallol and

Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Japan wants to have an economic zone in Narayanganj for their own investment while process to start construction of another zone in Gazipur is close to be completed.

“They (Japanese investors) are interested in setting up an economic zone in Narayan-ganj and have already selected a plot,” Bang-ladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) Ex-ecutive Chairman Paban Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

BEZA sources said Japan was willing to build economic zones in and around Dhaka and Chittagong cities to increase the number of Japanese enterprises in Bangladesh. The Japanese investors have taken Bangladesh’s

cheap labour and large domestic market into account to expand their ventures here.

Paban Chowdhury said BEZA has already acquired the land for the Gazipur project.

“It will take nearly a month to � nalise everything with Japanese government and respective agencies before starting imple-mentation of the project in Gazipur,” he said. The project will be implemented on 510 acres of land at Sreepur upazila.

He said the BEZA would sit with the Japanese agencies on August 19 to discuss the issues.

BEZA recently sought Tk826.87 crore from Finance Division for development of lands for Japan and China economic zone projects.

Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone (CEIZ) will be developed at 774 acres of land at Anwara upazila in Chittagong for the Chinese

entrepreneurs. The funding for land development for the

mega economic zones will be generated from Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Bangladesh, according to a government deci-sion � nalised on January 21, 2015.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has preferred lands in � ve locations close to the two cities. It plans to organise trips for the Japanese and local investors to explore the pos-sibility of direct and joint-venture investments.

BEZA sources said the JICA would make � -nancial proposal for the proposed zones after the sites were selected.

Japanese investors interest to develop eco-nomic zones came after reciprocal visits by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Japa-nese counterpart Shinzo Abe last year. l

BTRC to allocate VHF spectrum to Japan Embassy n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has decided to allocate VHF (very high frequency) spectrum to Japan Embassy in Dhaka.

The regulatory body took the decision in a recent meeting.

The Japan Embassy sought spectrum on VHF band for smooth operation of its o� cial activity.

A BTRC o� cial said the spectrum will be allocated according to the National Frequen-cy Allocation Plan (NFAP).

The embassy submitted its radio instru-mentation catalogue and network plan while applying for it.

VHF is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves from 30MHz to 300MHz, with corresponding wave lengths of ten to one meters. l

Young visitors throng the Robi Smartphone & Tab Expo on the � rst day of a three-day fair held in Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday. Story on Page 16 RAJIB DHAR

WB’s $250m budget support may be okayed in Novembern Asif Showkat Kallol

The Bangladesh government hopes to get $250m budgetary support from World Bank at the end of this year as it says signi� cant progress has been made towards meeting the attached conditions.

The global lender, earlier, promised to pro-vide Bangladesh with $500m fund as budg-etary support and tagged some conditions including signing MoU with state banks to improve their � nancial condition.

“Most of the conditions have already been ful� lled. MoUs have been signed with state banks to make speci� c progress within speci� ed time in improving their � nancial conditions,” a Finance Division o� cial told the Dhaka Tribune.

In last board meeting in Washington, the World Bank and Bangladesh agreed to do more to develop the country’s transport and energy infrastructure and continue the dia-logue on necessary reforms that would merit a development policy credit.

As per the agreed decisions, Bangladesh will get $500m as budget support.

The country will place the progress in meeting the conditions at the Bank’s board meeting in November this year at which the $250 fund is expected to be approved.

Budget support is a form of aid that is transferred straightly into a country’s budget on the condition that its government imple-ments a number of reforms.

After the Washington decision, the tech-nical committee of the Finance Division’s budget wing started negotiation with the Bank authorities for the fund.

The lender has listed nine areas for reforms under the budget support initiative to Bang-ladesh, which include public fund manage-ment, banking, energy, transport, ICT, public private partnership and migrant workers.

Reforms in these areas have been asked to be implemented in three � scal years, starting from FY2015-16. The Bank also asked to introduce pricing formula for petroleum and electricity so the prices of these products go through changes following the international market. l

Tarana intercepts footpath SIM trading n Tribune Report

State Minister for Post and Telecommu-nication Tarana Halim stormed into the Paltan footpaths in Dhaka yesterday and seized mobile phone SIM cards being sold without proper registration.

She con� scated at least 15 such SIM cards from a makeshift shop. But two other traders nearby managed to escape

the scene.After taking o� ce recently Tarana has

warned tough actions against all anoma-lies in the country’s telecom sector.

O� cials said the SIM cards seized were of all leading four mobile phone operators of the country.

Tarana Halim said she would seek clari� cation from the operators how their SIMs could make way to footpath

vendors who were not following the registration rules. “They will have to answer in � ve days.” She said help from home ministry and telecom regulator would also be sought to stop the unau-thorised trading of mobile SIMs.

Later, the state minister went to Gen-eral Post O� ce in the capital and talked to the clients present there about the service. l

BUSINESS16DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

Marico Bangladesh Limited has recently held its 15th annual general meeting in Dhaka. The company’s chairperson, Saugata Gupta presided over the meeting

Union Bank Ltd has recently opened its Panchaboti Branch at Enayetnagor, Potullah in Narayongang. The bank’s managing director, Md Abdul Hamid Miah inaugurated the branch

More women entrepreneurs to come under banking servicesn Tribune Report

Around 9,000 new women entrepreneurs across the country will come under banking services in the year 2015.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman came up with the disclosure while attending a conference of the � nancial sector’s o� cers who are involved with the women entrepre-neurship development programme.

The conference, which was organised by the central bank, was held at Bangladesh Bank Training Academy (BBTA) in the capital with the governor in the chair.

Expressing his dissatisfaction over the progress of new women entrepreneurs’ selec-tion, the governor said, “Only a total of 1,014 new entrepreneurs are selected by 64 banks till middle of the year, which is regrettable.”

He asked the � nancial institutions to be more pro- active in this regard as he hoped that 9,000 bank branches would select at least 27,000 new women entrepreneurs across the country.

Noted that, on April 9 this year Bangladesh Bank issued a circular asking every branch of the banks and non-banking � nancial institu-tions to � nance at least a woman entrepre-neur each year.

According to the circular, all the bank branch-es have to � nd out at least three new women en-trepreneurs, who did not take any loan before

from any bank or � nancial institutions. Later, the selected women entrepreneurs will

be trained for their capacity building on busi-ness and banking activities, reads the notice.

“Of the three trained entrepreneurs, one will be provided with micro-credit.”

As per the circular, banks have to select 27,000 women entrepreneurs from across the country through 9,000 branches by Decem-ber this year.

But, only some 1,014 entrepreneurs were selected during the last four months since the

issuance of the circular. BB Governor, however, stated that the rate

of SME loans, out of the total loans, has im-proved to 25% from 19% in the last six years.

The loans of Tk886 crore were disbursed among the women entrepreneurs during the � rst three months of the year 2015, said SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of Bangla-desh Bank.

The total loans of Tk14,254 crore were disbursed among the women entrepreneurs since 2010, he added. l

Robi Smartphone & Tablet expo kicks o� n Tribune Report

A three-day technology carnival titled Robi Smartphone and Tab Expo kicked o� yester-day at Bangabandhu International Confer-ence Centre (BICC) in the capital.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT Division, inaugurated the fair. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the largest exposition of digital smart devices in the country, Zunaid said: “We are well-known as users of smart-phone, laptop, tab, etc, but soon our identity will be changed. We will emerge as the manu-facturer of those pieces of equipment.”

Mentioning Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-na’s recent order to produce digital devices, technology specialist Mustafa Jabbar said Bangladesh will make all digital devices soon and export to foreign countries.

In his address, the � rst Bangladeshi Mount Everest conqueror, Musa Ibrahim, said there is an urgent need to provide broadband inter-net to the remote areas of the country so that people can avail themselves of the ICT and internet services.

The event organiser, ExpoMaker, arranged the event for fourth time of its kind.

Local and international technology brands are showcasing their smartphones and tab-lets with special o� ers and gifts, with some new models, including new brand handsets, launched on the � rst day of the exposition, according to the organisers.

They said the visitors will be able to get in touch with the latest technology as well as buy smart devices at special prices.

Samsung, Apple, Symphony, Stylus, Glold-berg, ZTE, Oppo, Huawei, Maximus, Sony, Rangs, Elite, Asus, Lenovo, MyCell, Twimns, Prestigio, Contigo, Shawmi, One Plus, HTC, ADATA, HPS, gadget Gang Seven, Miuju, Inol, DX generation are taking part in the fair.

The fair is open from 10am to 8pm for the visitors with entry fee Tk20, but is totally free for schoolkids wearing either uniform or having ID and for persons with impairments.

The participating companies will display their products in one mega pavilion, 13 pavilions, 5 mini pavilions and 10 stalls at the expo.

There will be a special pavilion remem-bering the Father of the Nation Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This pavilion will show rare photographs and videos of the greatest leader in the country. l

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman addresses the Conference on Women Entrepreneurs Development Unit at Bangladesh Bank Training Academy in the captial yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

International Monetary Fund welcomes China’s new currency valuation mechanismn AFP, Washington

The International Monetary Fund welcomed Beijing’s newly announced system to value the country’s currency, saying it will allow market forces to play a greater role in the nation.

China cut the yuan’s value against the dollar for a second day Wednesday, sending ripples through � nancial markets and raising fears that the currency could fall further.

After Tuesday’s devaluation Chinese au-thorities said they were seeking to push mar-ket reforms in a one-time move.

O� cials say they will now use the previous day’s close, foreign exchange demand and

supply and the rates of other major curren-cies to decide the daily rate around which the Chinese currency can trade.

The IMF said the step could be a boon in the long run.

“The new mechanism for determining the central parity of the renminbi (yuan) an-nounced by the PBC (People’s Bank of China) appears a welcome step as it should allow market forces to have a greater role in deter-mining the exchange rate,” an IMF spokes-man said in a statement.

“Greater exchange rate � exibility is im-portant for China as it strives to give market forces a decisive role in the economy and is

rapidly integrating into global � nancial mar-kets,” the statement said, adding that China “can, and should” achieve a � oating exchange rate within two to three years.

“The exact impact will depend on how the new mechanism is implemented in practice,” the spokesman said. China has been criticized by some for keeping its currency undervalued to gain a trade advantage for its exports.

Beijing also seeks to have the yuan in-cluded in the IMF’s basket of special drawing rights (SDR) basket reserve currencies.

The new change has no “direct implica-tions” in the measure used for creating that basket, the spokesman said. l

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China’s CB halts ‘regular’ yuan interventionn Reuters, Shanghai

China’s central bank said yesterday that there was no basis for further depreciation in the yuan given strong economic fundamentals, in a bid to reassure jittery global markets after it devalued the currency earlier in the week.

As the yuan fell for the third straight day, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said the country’s strong economic environment, sustained trade surplus, sound � scal posi-tion and deep foreign exchange reserves pro-vided “strong support” to the exchange rate CNY=CFXS.

China’s decision to devalue the currency on Tuesday by pushing its o� cial guidance rate down 2% sparked fears of a “currency war” and roiled global � nancial markets, dragging other Asian currencies to multi-year lows.

It also drew accusations from US politi-cians that Beijing was unfairly supporting its exporters.

The PBOC said at the time that the move was a one-o� depreciation, but sources in-volved in the Chinese policy-making process told Reuters that powerful voices within gov-ernment were pushing for the yuan to go still lower, suggesting pressure for an overall de-valuation of almost 10 percent.

PBOC Vice-governor Yi Gang dismissed such talk as groundless.

But even if the central bank succeeds in putting a new � oor under the yuan for now, weak July economic data and expectations of more interest rate cuts later in the year are likely to fuel expectations that authorities could allow it to slip further.

Reforms at risk?Fitch ratings agency said on Thursday that the depreciation in the yuan “highlights wider pressures on the economy”, but also demon-strated that authorities remained committed to market-oriented reform, a commitment that many had questioned after Beijing’s heavy-handed interventions to stem a plunge in its stock markets in June.

Vice-governor Yi said China would quick-en the opening of its foreign exchange market and would attract more foreign investors as it liberalizes its � nancial markets.

O� cials said the PBOC had stopped “reg-

ularly” intervening in the foreign exchange market but allowed that it could conduct “ef-fective management” of the yuan in cases of extreme volatility.

Traders said major state banks had been buying yuan and selling dollars on Wednesday, causing the exchange rate to recover sharply in late trade, which in� uences the PBOC’s o� cial guidance rate for the following day.

Though the yuan opened slightly weaker yesterday, the gap between the guidance rate and the traded spot market rate closed sharp-ly as the central bank tried to slow a sharp sell-o� that has knocked around 3.2 percent

o� the currency since Monday’s close.The PBOC set the guidance rate CNY=SAEC

at 6.4010 per dollar prior to the market open, weaker than the previous � x of 6.3306.

The spot market CNY=CFXS opened at 6.3880 and was changing hands at 6.4076 after the PBOC comments, 206 pips weaker than the previous day’s close and only 0.1% away from the guidance point, the closest it has traded to the guidance rate since November 2014.

The spot rate is currently allowed to trade within a range of 2% above or below the of-� cial � xing on any given day, and had been consistently trading over 1% weaker than the midpoint since March.

The o� shore yuan was trading 1.02% weak-er than the onshore spot at 6.4764 per dollar.

Economy losing steamTuesday’s yuan devaluation followed a run of poor economic data and resulted in the big-gest one-day fall since 1994, raising market suspicions that China was embarking on a longer-term depreciation of its exchange rate that would make Chinese exports cheaper.

Data on Chinese factory activity growth and retail sales on Wednesday underlined sluggish growth in the world’s second-largest economy, while � scal expenditures jumped 24.1% in July, re� ecting Beijing’s e� orts to stimulate economic activity.

Weighed down by weak exports, sluggish domestic demand and a cooling property market, growth in the world’s second-larg-est economy is expected to slow from 7.4% in 2014 to 7% this year, its slowest pace in a quarter of a century. l

A customer holds Chinese Yuan notes as she pays for pork at a market in Beijing REUTERS

Asian currencies recover after yuan-cut routn AFP, Tokyo

Asian currencies gained yesterday, rebound-ing from the worst two-day rout in almost 20 years after China reassured markets it would not engage in a currency war.

Emerging market currencies including the Indonesian rupiah, Philippine peso and South Korean won rose slightly against the dollar after China Thursday trimmed its yuan refer-ence rate 1.1%.

The cut, which was smaller than those in the previous two days, and news the cen-tral bank intervened to stablise the yuan on Wednesday reassured dealers Beijing would not allow its currency to slump.

“It’s likely the worst is over,” Patrick Ben-nett, a strategist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News.

“PBOC intervention has calmed the mar-ket. There is not a sense that the onshore yuan will weaken forever.”

In Tokyo afternoon trade the dollar changed hands at 124.39 yen, up from 124.24 yen in New York, where it took a hit on fears Beijing’s moves underscored weakness in China’s economy and could delay a US inter-est rate hike.

China’s latest devaluation comes after two previous cuts, on Tuesday and Wednes-day, sparked concerns that the world’s num-

ber two economy, long an engine for world growth, is weaker than previously thought.

The move sent Asia-Paci� c currencies plummeting, pushing the Malaysian ringgit to 17-year lows, on fears the cut could hurt oth-er regional economies and spark a race to the bottom by central banks in a bid to keep their exports competitive.

On Wednesday, Vietnam doubled the trad-ing band for the dong, allowing the currency to weaken to try to make exports more com-petitive as China falls.

Analysts warned, however, that Asia-Pa-ci� c currencies are still at risk after su� ering their worst two-day sello� since 1998.

“The talk of China joining a currency war could set out a round of competitive valu-ation in the region,” said Aidan Yao, senior emerging market economist at AXA Invest-ment Managers.

“This, coupled with the anticipated Fed tightening, may trigger massive capital out-� ows that lead to catastrophic consequences for Asia.”

In other trading, the euro exchanged hands at $1.1136 and 138.62 yen against $1.1159 and 138.63 yen in New York.

Traders are keeping an eye out for US retail sales data later this week, with upbeat results likely to boost speculation the Federal Re-serve could lift rates this year. A rate rise is a plus for the dollar. l

China cuts yuan rate more than 1% against dollarn AFP, Shanghai

China cut the reference rate for its currency for the third straight day yesterday, authorities said, after their surprise devaluation of the yuan this week unsettled global � nancial markets.

The central bank put the yuan’s central parity rate at 6.4010 yuan for $1, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System said, a drop of 1.11% from the previous day’s 6.3306.

It was also lower than Wednesday’s close, and comes after China adopted a more mar-ket-oriented method of calculating the curren-cy rate in a move widely seen as a devaluation.

The cuts have put � nancial markets on edge, sparking worries of a “currency war” as other countries feel pressure to devalue and raising questions about the health of the world’s second-largest economy, where growth is already slowing.

European stock markets in London, Frank-furt and Paris closed lower Wednesday on wor-ries China’s economy is struggling more than previously thought. But US stocks overcame early weakness and � nished mostly higher.

Asian markets were mixed yesterday, but China’s benchmark Shanghai index was up 0.74 percent by mid-morning. China keeps a tight grip on the yuan, allowing it to � uctuate up or down just two percent on either side of the reference rate, which it sets daily.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) on Tues-

day announced a “one-time correction” of nearly two percent in the yuan’s value against the greenback as it changed the mechanism.

Previously, it said it based the � xing on a poll of market-makers, but declared it would now also take into account the previous day’s close, foreign exchange supply and demand and the rates of major currencies.

It has since lowered the central rate twice more, and the week’s combined drop is the biggest since China set up its modern foreign exchange system in 1994, when it devalued the yuan by 33% at a stroke.

Analysts viewed the move as a way for Chi-na to both boost exports by making its goods cheaper abroad and push economic reforms as it seeks to become one of the reserve cur-rencies in the International Monetary Fund’s SDR (special drawing rights) group.

But the volatility in the normally unusually stable unit has raised concerns, and Bloomberg News reported Wednesday the central bank had intervened in the market to prop it up.

PBoC economist Ma Jun on Wednesday said China could stabilise the yuan through direct market intervention.

“The central bank, if necessary, is fully ca-pable of stabilising the exchange rate through direct intervention in the foreign exchange mar-ket to avoid (the) herd mentality resulting in ir-rational movements of the rate,” Ma was quoted as saying by the o� cial Xinhua news agency. l

BUSINESS22DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 639.62 10.60 36.01 7.37 675.63 10.36NBFI 124.72 2.07 8.42 1.72 133.14 2.04Investment 119.49 1.98 4.83 0.99 124.32 1.91Engineering 1307.41 21.67 99.08 20.29 1406.49 21.57Food & Allied 274.17 4.54 20.19 4.13 294.36 4.51Fuel & Power 905.30 15.01 96.09 19.68 1001.39 15.36Jute 11.15 0.18 0.00 11.15 0.17Textile 914.43 15.16 94.20 19.29 1008.63 15.47Pharma & Chemical 718.76 11.91 37.48 7.68 756.24 11.60Paper & Packaging 12.59 0.21 1.49 0.30 14.08 0.22Service 99.98 1.66 6.67 1.37 106.65 1.64Leather 43.52 0.72 2.96 0.61 46.48 0.71Ceramic 34.89 0.58 1.67 0.34 36.57 0.56Cement 186.07 3.08 18.22 3.73 204.29 3.13Information Technology 51.42 0.85 3.76 0.77 55.18 0.85General Insurance 22.44 0.37 0.64 0.13 23.08 0.35Life Insurance 150.11 2.49 6.47 1.33 156.58 2.40Telecom 156.21 2.59 17.11 3.50 173.32 2.66Travel & Leisure 102.54 1.70 13.26 2.71 115.79 1.78Miscellaneous 157.47 2.61 19.76 4.05 177.23 2.72Debenture 0.15 0.00 0.05 0.01 0.21 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

News, analysis and recent disclosuresICBSONALI1: 10% cash divi-dend, Record Date: 02.09.2015. EPU= of Tk. 1.03, NAV per unit of Tk. 9.69.IFILISLMF1: 10% cash divi-dend, Record Date: 02.09.2015. EPU= Tk. 1.02, NAV per unit of Tk. 9.86.ICB3RDNRB: 5% cash dividend, Record Date: 02.09.2015. EPU= Tk. 0.51, NAV per unit of Tk. 7.58.PF1STMF: 5% cash dividend, Record Date: 02.09.2015. EPU= Tk. 0.53, NAV per unit of Tk. 7.86.PRIME1ICBA: 7% cash divi-dend, Record Date: 02.09.2015. EPU= Tk. 0.56, NAV per unit of Tk. 8.37.ICBEPMF1S1: 7.5% cash divi-dend, Record Date: 02.09.2015. EPU= Tk. 0.62, NAV per unit of Tk. 8.13.ICBAMCL2ND: 5% cash divi-dend, Record Date: 02.09.2015. EPU=Tk. 0.54, NAV per unit of Tk. 8.50.ICB2NDNRB: 10% cash divi-dend, Record Date: 02.09.2015. EPU= Tk. 0.87, NAV per unit of Tk. 10.99.ICB1STNRB: 32% cash divi-dend, Record Date: 02.09.2015.EPU= Tk. 2.46, NAV per unit of Tk. 24.17.PRIMEINSUR: (HY): EPS for April-June, 2015 was Tk. 0.61 as against Tk. 0.41 for April-June, 2014, EPS for Jan-June, 2015 was Tk. 0.90 as against Tk. 0.64 for Jan-June, 2014. NOCFPS was Tk. (0.69) for Jan-June, 2015 as against Tk. 0.70 for Jan-June, 2014. NAV per share was Tk. 16.18 as of June 30, 2015 and Tk. 15.16 as of June 30, 2014.

PTL: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors has taken decision to purchase cap-ital machinery under the credit facilities of Pubali Bank Ltd. from Germany for smooth function-ing of the company’s business operation. Name of Machinery: Cold Pad Dyeing Machine with a total price of £63,000.00.Dividend/AGMATCSLGF: 7.50% Cash and 2.50% Unit Dividend Record date: 01.09.2015.SEBL1STMF: 12.50% cash, Record date: 31.08.2015. NLI1STMF: 13.00% cash, Record date: 31.08.2015.8THICB: 140% cash. 7THICB: 150% cash 6THICB: 120% cash 5THICB: 250% cash. 4THICB: 300% cash. 3RDICB: 300% cash. 2NDICB: 450% cash. 1STICB: 1,000% cash. Record date: 12.08.2015. BERGERPBL: 100% interim cash dividend. Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 20.08.2015.PRAGATILIF: 17% cash and 5% stock dividend AGM: 29.09.2015,. Record Date: 20.08.2015.SHASHADNIM: 10% interim cash dividend for 2015, Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 20.08.2015.NAVANACNG: 15% cash general shareholders (excluding Sponsors), AGM: 16.09.2015, Record Date: 18.08.2015. SUNLIFEINS: 6% stock, AGM: 15.09.2015, Record Date: 18.08.2015.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

EXIM Bank 1 MF-A 9.52 9.52 6.90 6.90 6.90 6.90 0.000 0.56 12.3H.R. Textile -A 9.01 8.96 24.19 24.20 24.30 23.80 0.181 0.85 28.5Dutch Ban. Bnk- A 8.96 6.03 95.85 98.50 98.50 93.00 0.125 11.16 8.6Monno Ceramic -B 8.36 8.20 36.30 36.30 36.30 36.30 0.000 0.16 226.9Reliance1 M.F.-A 8.22 7.67 7.86 7.90 7.90 7.50 1.454 0.62 12.7Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 7.80 6.44 15.05 15.20 15.40 14.30 32.872 2.92 5.2ICB AMCL3rd NRB MF-A 6.98 5.81 4.55 4.60 4.70 4.40 0.185 0.48 9.5Continental Insur. -A 6.67 6.67 16.00 16.00 16.00 16.00 0.005 3.02 5.3EBL NRB M.F.-A 6.00 6.00 5.30 5.30 5.30 5.30 0.001 0.61 8.7Islami Bank BD - A 4.53 6.13 29.77 30.00 31.00 28.30 18.190 4.22 7.1

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 7.75 6.69 15.15 15.30 15.40 14.20 241.207 2.92 5.2H.R. Textile -A 7.14 6.06 24.14 24.00 24.60 22.90 7.588 0.85 28.4Progressive Life-A 5.55 5.81 59.01 59.00 61.00 56.00 0.294 2.30 25.7ICB Emp. PMF-A 5.26 2.41 5.95 6.00 6.10 5.70 3.596 0.61 9.8Apex Foods -A 5.06 5.42 137.23 134.90 140.00 130.30 26.374 0.36 381.2Pragati Gen. I -A 4.80 6.69 26.15 26.20 26.80 24.70 0.077 1.44 18.2ICB AMCL3rd NRB MF-A 4.55 3.66 4.53 4.60 4.60 4.40 3.006 0.48 9.4Islami Bank BD - A 4.53 6.17 30.10 30.00 31.20 28.40 428.730 4.22 7.1Paramount Textile Ltd.-A 4.19 5.37 20.00 19.90 20.40 19.40 32.113 1.81 11.0Prime Bank 1st MF-A 4.08 3.68 5.07 5.10 5.10 4.90 1.542 0.75 6.8

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Sandhani Life -A -17.74 -17.25 43.85 43.60 44.40 42.00 0.085 2.16 20.3Beach Hatchery -A -8.06 -5.48 20.02 19.40 20.80 19.20 10.325 1.29 15.5Usmania Glass -A -6.60 -4.02 117.10 114.60 122.00 112.00 0.358 -1.39 -veAnwar Galvanizing-B -6.54 -6.21 50.14 50.00 50.50 49.80 0.699 0.68 73.7BD Fixed Income MF-A -6.25 -6.25 7.50 7.50 7.50 7.50 0.004 0.51 14.7Rangpur Foundry -A -6.13 -4.95 108.71 107.20 115.50 107.10 0.913 3.42 31.81st ICB M F -A -6.12 -6.12 1,488.00 1,488.00 1,488.00 1,488.00 0.036 142.00 10.5MutualTrust Bank-A -5.78 -5.56 16.30 16.30 16.30 16.30 0.003 2.70 6.0Sonargaon Tex -Z -5.56 -4.68 8.56 8.50 8.80 8.40 0.056 -2.26 -veBangladesh Welding -B -4.80 -2.48 24.37 23.80 25.00 23.60 1.945 -0.80 -ve

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Sandhani Life -A -17.17 -17.49 43.73 43.90 44.00 43.30 3.080 2.16 20.28th ICB M F-A -9.96 -10.28 67.80 67.80 67.80 67.80 0.018 17.26 3.96th ICB M F-A -9.94 -10.42 58.90 58.90 58.90 58.90 0.060 13.93 4.27th ICB M F-A -9.73 -14.19 100.00 106.70 107.00 106.40 0.002 20.76 4.84th ICB M F-A -8.42 -8.50 210.00 210.00 210.00 210.00 0.011 36.29 5.8Beach Hatchery -A -7.55 -5.67 19.95 19.60 21.10 19.20 44.107 1.29 15.5Monno Sta� lers -A -7.00 -7.82 268.69 269.60 279.90 265.00 1.010 0.70 383.82nd ICB M F -A -6.84 -6.95 290.00 290.00 290.00 290.00 0.058 55.89 5.2Sonali Ansh -A -6.69 -4.87 131.77 129.80 139.00 129.00 9.169 0.87 151.51st ICB M F -A -6.11 -6.00 1440.00 1440.00 1440.00 1440.00 0.019 142.00 10.1

DSE key features August 13, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

6,032.45

Turnover (Volume)

161,511,046

Number of Contract

136,350

Traded Issues 322

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

158

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

160

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,702.27

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.75

CSE key features August 13, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

488.35

Turnover (Volume)

14,400,979

Number of Contract

20,543

Traded Issues 255

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

134

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

109

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

12

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,610.14

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.64

BUSINESS 23D

TFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

Stocks post modest declinen Tribune Report

Stocks posted modest fall yesterday on pro� t booking after showing feeble turna-round in the previous ses-sion.

The market opened in buoyant mood in the morn-ing but this early enthusi-asm evaporated by mid-day, as sellers took control of the movement of most shares.

The Dhaka Stock Ex-change benchmark index, DSEX, lost over 12 points or 0.3% to settle at 4808.

The Shariah index, DSES, edged over 1 point or 0.2% to 1,191.

The blue chip comprising index, DS30, closed at 1,859, shedding 8 points or 0.5% to 1,859.

The Chittagong Stock Ex-change Selective Category Index, CSCX, declined near-ly 18 points to 9,000.

Almost all sectors except banks that were marginally up closed lower, with food and allied losing the highest, more than 1.3%, followed by market bellwether telecom-munication 1%, power 0.9% and cement 0.5%.

Non-banking � nancial institutions and pharmaceu-ticals experienced marginal correction.

Despite the decline in RMG export following GSP suspension, textile sector relatively performed well in the market, backed by divi-

dend expectations.Loser outpaced gainers,

as out of 321b issues traded, 92 closed higher, 174 lower and 54 remained unchanged.

The DSE turnover stood at Tk600 billion, a slightly down from previous ses-sion’s Tk616 crore.

Lanka Bangla Securities said Almost all major sectors ended red as pro� t booking prompted.

Adding to worries about the future market direction, EPB released weak export data that showed the coun-try’s RMG export earnings registered a 12% decline to $2.22bn in July this year, the � rst month of current � scal year, compared to the same period last year, it said.

Islami Bank topped the liquidity chart with turnover worth Tk43 crore. It was fol-lowed by familytex, United Power Generation and Dis-tribution Company, RSRM Steel, BSRM and Shahjibazar Power Company. l

Adding to worries about the future market direction, EPB released weak export data that showed the country’s RMG export earnings registered a 12% decline to $2.22bn in July this year, the � rst month of current � scal year, compared to the same period last year

ANALYST

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 12410.71340 (-) 0.26% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1859.39590 (-) 0.47% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14781.51040 (-) 0.21% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12410.71340 (-) 0.02% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 9000.08180 (-) 0.20% ▼

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

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

United Power-N 256,237 42.05 8.61 161.40 0.81 160.10 166.50 160.50 164.12Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 2,183,563 32.87 6.73 15.20 7.80 14.10 15.40 14.30 15.05Shahjibazar Power-N 103,470 19.93 4.08 188.50 2.11 184.60 196.00 187.30 192.61Islami Bank BD - A 611,053 18.19 3.72 30.00 4.53 28.70 31.00 28.30 29.77BSRM Ltd. -A 136,667 16.33 3.34 118.00 -0.51 118.60 123.90 116.00 119.48Olympic Accessories -N 236,418 14.48 2.96 60.80 -2.72 62.50 62.90 60.60 61.23LafargeS Cement-A 109,738 13.34 2.73 121.00 -0.58 121.70 123.00 120.70 121.57Moza� ar H.Spinning-A 297,909 10.68 2.19 36.20 -1.09 36.60 37.90 35.60 35.86Beach Hatchery -A 515,651 10.32 2.11 19.40 -8.06 21.10 20.80 19.20 20.02BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 304,861 10.02 2.05 32.70 -0.61 32.90 33.20 32.70 32.86UNITED AIR-A 856,446 9.35 1.91 10.80 -1.82 11.00 11.20 10.70 10.92BD Submarine Cable-A 67,156 9.26 1.90 136.90 -1.01 138.30 140.50 136.50 137.83Appollo Ispat CL -N 379,261 9.00 1.84 23.60 1.29 23.30 24.00 23.50 23.74WesternMarine -N 195,262 9.00 1.84 45.70 0.88 45.30 46.70 45.60 46.09Singer BD -A 49,516 8.46 1.73 170.10 -2.07 173.70 173.00 169.90 170.92

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

Islami Bank BD - A 14,243,780 428.73 7.11 30.00 4.53 28.70 31.20 28.40 30.10Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 15,919,579 241.21 4.00 15.30 7.75 14.20 15.40 14.20 15.15United Power-N 1,421,702 233.20 3.87 161.60 -2.36 165.50 168.00 161.10 164.03Ratanpur Steel -N 2,814,819 182.08 3.02 64.10 -1.38 65.00 66.00 63.80 64.69BSRM Ltd. -A 1,335,931 158.79 2.63 117.10 -1.93 119.40 123.90 115.80 118.86Shahjibazar Power-N 823,573 158.50 2.63 188.10 -2.49 192.90 196.80 187.00 192.45Appollo Ispat CL -N 6,153,526 146.38 2.43 23.60 0.43 23.50 24.00 23.50 23.79LafargeS Cement-A 1,166,765 142.14 2.36 121.20 -0.33 121.60 123.40 121.00 121.82Bengal Windsor-A 1,618,649 133.21 2.21 82.40 2.11 80.70 83.80 80.80 82.30Delta Life Insu. -A 1,073,718 129.59 2.15 114.50 -2.14 117.00 125.00 114.00 120.70FAR Chemical-N 2,177,638 123.44 2.05 56.10 -2.94 57.80 58.70 55.80 56.68Grameenphone-A 364,847 116.06 1.92 316.50 -1.03 319.80 321.80 315.80 318.11MJL BD Ltd.-A 1,044,061 112.94 1.87 108.20 1.12 107.00 110.90 105.90 108.17Emerald Oil Ind. -A 2,313,349 105.53 1.75 45.40 -1.52 46.10 46.90 45.10 45.62Central Pharm-A 3,454,770 99.76 1.65 28.90 3.96 27.80 29.20 28.00 28.88

Almost all major sectors ended red as pro� t booking prompted

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015BUSINESS24D

T

OPEC: Cheap oil taking longer to subdue rival suppliersn Reuters, London

OPEC on Tuesday raised its forecast of oil supplies from non-member countries in 2015, a sign that crude’s price col-lapse is taking longer than ex-pected to hit US shale drillers and other competing sources.

In a monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) forecast no extra demand for its crude oil this year despite faster global growth in con-sumption, because of high-er-than-expected production from the United States and oth-er countries outside the group.

In contrast, the US govern-ment on Tuesday lowered both its 2015 and 2016 US oil produc-tion forecasts, signalling that the 60% rout in benchmark pric-

es since last summer may � nally be weighing on shale output.

The US 2015 crude oil pro-duction growth forecast was cut by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 650,000 bpd from the previous report, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s short-term energy outlook. Meanwhile, it expanded the production decline forecast for 2016 by 400,000 bpd from a 150,000 bpd decline previously.

Benchmark Brent LCOc1 is trading below $50 a barrel, close to its 2015 low after an 18 percent drop in July. But OPEC has refused to cut output, seek-ing to recover market share by slowing higher-cost produc-tion in the United States and elsewhere that had been en-couraged by OPEC’s prior poli-cy of keeping prices near $100.

Earlier this year, OPEC slashed its prediction of non-OPEC supply for 2015, expect-ing lower prices to prompt a slowdown. But on Tues-day, it raised the forecast by about 90,000 bpd following a 220,000-bpd increase in last month’s report. l

S&P praises Chinese yuan devaluationn AFP, New York

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s praised China’s de-valuation of its currency on Wednesday and said the move did not threaten a currency war.

“China’s surprise move to allow for more exchange rate � exibility makes good econom-ic sense and is not the start of a currency war or an attempt to jump-start growth,” S&P said.

Beijing on Tuesday sur-prised global � nancial markets by devaluing its currency the yuan by nearly two percent against the US dollar.

A second cut on Wednesday brought reductions this week in the yuan to 3.5% against the dollar to its lowest level in four years.

The move to allow more � exible trading “could help maintain the � exibilty of the country’s monetary policy as cross-border � nancial � ows in-crease,” S&P said.

The shift is part of an e� ort to comply with conditions set by the International Monetary Fund to qualify the Chinese currency in the IMF’s “special

drawing rights” basket.China wants to expand use

of the yuan by having it includ-ed in the SDR, an international reserve asset that currently comprises four currencies: the dollar, euro, pound and yen.

But the IMF has been press-ing China for greater liberaliza-tion in the yuan to win mem-bership.

S&P rejected arguments that the devaluation was motivated by a desire to boost Chinese ex-ports.

“The argument that China is trying to spur growth by weak-ening its currency to spur ex-ports does not strike us as very convincing,” said Paul Gruen-wald, S&P’s chief economist for Asia-Paci� c.

“Exports are more a func-tion of foreign demand, with the exchange rate playing a secondary role. There is no reason for that relationship to have changed.”

The IMF has praised Chi-na’s moves this week, with a spokesman calling the shift “a welcome step as it should allow market forces to have a greater role in determining the exchange rate.” l

26NewsSekai lab opens development branch in Bangladesh

27TantaliseOf trees and roots

28newsResorts near Dhaka

INSIDE

25D

TFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015T

-JUNCTION

Take a breatherSource: 3rdterrace.com

The Jungle restaurant and café opened its door for food lovers with a grand opening ceremony on August 13, 2015. ODI captain of Bangladesh national cricket team Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was present at the occasion as chief guest. Mashrafe raised the curtain and o� cially inaugurated the restaurant. Mohammad Mostakim,

owner of the restaurant, managing director of Prochito IMC Limited Sabina Yeasmeen and CEO of Prochito IMC Limited A B M Mahbubur Rahman were also present at the event. Di� erent sorts of Indian subcontinental dishes will be available at the restaurant.

The Jungle restaurantopens in Banani

news

Collaborative research presentation held at IUB

BUFT graduate awarded Equity and Merit scholarship

Sekai Lab opens development branch in Bangladesh

NewsT-JUNCTION26DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

A collaborative research presentation between school of business, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and the University of California, Berkeley, USA, was held on Thursday, August 13, 2015 at IUB’s campus in Bashundhara, Dhaka. Laura Boudreau, a PhD student of UC Berkeley presented a research paper on “Understanding workers’ priorities and experiences with safety in the ready-made garments sector in Bangladesh,” while Rezwana Abed, a Masters student from the

same university presented another research paper on “Prospects and challenges of urban female micro entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.”Prof M Omar Rahman, vice chancellor, IUB, delivered the welcome speech. Prof Sarwar Uddin Ahmed, dean, school of business of IUB, also gave an introductory speech.The discussion was followed by a lively question-answer session. Members of faculty and management and students attended the presentations. l

Tariq Anam Khan, a distinguished cultural personality, has recently joined as marketing advisor to Akij Group. Khan paid a visit to Experience, Akij ceramics’ exclusive display centre in Hatirpool on August 10. He was joined by Md Abu Hassan Talukder, deputy general manager (sales and marketing)

of Akij Ceramics, the company’s business associates and other o� cials. Khan held a discussion on the sales and customer services aspect of their business, expressing satisfaction with the quality standard and consumer demand for Akij ceramics. He also expressed appreciation for Akij ceramics’ use of the 4D sophisticated software, which consumers can use for tile selection. At the same time, he expressed his desire to make the brand more appealing and acceptable to consumers. As part of his agenda, Tariq Anam Khan is scheduled to visit other Akij Group enterprises in the near future. l

Tariq Anam Khan visits Akij ceramics exclusive display centre “Experience”

The University of Manchester (UoM) has a rich academic history of 190 years with 25 Nobel laureates among their current and former sta� and students. Recently a fashion design graduate of BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT), MD Iftekhar Rahman has been selected for the UoM’s prestigious Equity and Merit scholarship. He is going to start his MSc at International Fashion Retailing from September 2015 under the scholarship scheme. After completing his graduation in 2009, he worked as a fashion designer for both local and international clients. Since 2014 he has been working as a lecturer at BUFT. His collection that employed the use of traditional kantha stitch was showcased this July at an international exhibition during Berlin fashion week. l

A global sourcing platform, providing channels to outsource software development, Sekai Lab is a Japanese start-up with over 90 teams and 10,000 engineers over 15 countries ful� lling specialised tech needs all over the world. The company hosted a press conference at their new address at South Breeze Center, Road 11, Banani to explain their aims and objectives in the country, and o� cially announce the beginning of Sek ai Lab Bangladesh operations.

The conference was presided by the chief executive o� cer of Sekai Lab himself, Hiroki Inagawa, who began with introducing his core team. Key members of the team were also present, such as Hiroshi Mitarai, chief technology o� cer, Kazuki Nakayama, country manager and Ikumi Shiba, public relations manager.

Explaining why he chose Bangladesh in

the � rst place, Inagawa said, “I decided to establish our new o� ce here in Dhaka only after several days of touring. Why I took such a big decision in a very short time is because I felt an enormous opportunity for the future of this country. There are three primary reasons. First, there are thousands of talented and passionate people in this country. Second is the opportunity of Bangladesh itself. And third is the culture of Bangladesh. I was moved by the support towards us, even though we are foreigners. The support was from individuals, organisations such as BASIS, and I got an encouraging vibe from the whole nation itself. It was truly sincere.”

With two other development branches located in Chengdu, China and Danang, Vietnam, Dhaka has become the third of Sekai Lab’s ever-growing operations. l

Of roots and treesTantalise T-JUNCTION 27

DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

n Rad Sharar Bin Kamal

The idea began as a seed, with the tree bearing fruit for the town, roots pumping brilliantly fresh juices up to that tree. We

took a climb at the end result of that idea, now named Root and Tree House, both separate yet together, and here’s what we thought.

Place-wiseA new attraction towards small, specialised food joints is on the rise, and places like this satisfy that need perfectly. Tree House is located in Banani, opposite Prescription Point, and may not be as di� cult to track down as it seems. Entering the restaurant, you are welcomed by a wave of mouth-watering smells from the kitchen, which comes in direct view on the ground � oor. The spiraling staircase then leads you to the second-� oor seating area and the third, which is an open-air setting. At this point, it

hits you how compact the place is, but only before the feeling of comfort and cosiness starts to sink in, as you chitchat with your friends and begin to relax. The mirror, glass and wood interior added a touch of sophistication and so did the menu, which were handwritten on plant paper.

Service-wise An advantage of a small restaurant is their huge comeback in service. No complaints here, but this may be a no-brainer, as the menu contained only so much to remember.

Juice-wiseRoot, a smoothie and juice bar, provides all the drinks here, which comprises of fresh-as-it-gets juices and water only. The pride of the joint, a few of their o� ers left us in awe, from the very � rst sip.

Mango Tk260

What gets to you for this drink is the thickness, and the perfect amount of natural sweetness. Add the slices of mango inside it, and you have a grinning ending as well. But seasonal unavailability of the fruit may leave it sourer than you may like.

Food-wiseThe bites came from Treehouse, which is de� ned as the restaurant. The menu did not leave anyone thinking over the choice for long, for there are only two permanent options:

This was a gem of a � nd. Served in a pineapple itself, the

juice was frothy, rich

and plenty, and would be a

recommendation to even those who despise the fruit.

Root Tree House

Live pineapple Tk180

Mohammad Salman, founder of Root and Treehouse

Chicken steak Tk427

Served with BBQ riceThe � rst noticeable trait of this splendid dish is how softly the knife sinks into the chicken as you cut it. The second thing is the smoky spiciness that erupts on the � rst bite, after which you’re welcomed with a subtle sweetness of the BBQ sauce as the chicken melts away. Although juicy and tender, the chicken may be a tad undercooked for the picky.What made the dish even better was the BBQ rice served with it. Every spicy mouthful complied wonderfully with the smoky � avor of the chicken, leaving you with a � esta inside your mouth.

Beef sirloin steak Tk687

Served with SpaghettiThe beef was also juicy and � avourful at the very least, packing an equal punch as the chicken but more of a bite as the chewy satisfaction is present. But the problem was, apart from being two di� erent types of meat, the beef was uncannily similar to the chicken in terms of � avour. A delight nonetheless, you begin to ponder where price hike comes from compared to the chicken.The spaghetti, however, was a disappointment compared to its rice counterpart. The strong � avour of the tomato puree creates an imbalance of spices, unless tomatoes are your tongue’s bae.

Review

Served with both are:

Sauteed mushroomsNothing out of the ordinary, but made to perfection, the mushrooms were as captivating as it could be. It was a great addition to both the dishes, both in terms of � avour and ful� llment.

Sauteed vegetablesBoiled and � avoured well, the vegies were a part of the dish which deserves no special recognition, but couldn’t be ignored either.

Pros • ambience and service• juices• steaks• location and setting

Cons• similar � avours • spaghetti

“I have a love for mixing with new people, having conversations with them and a genuinely good time with excellent food and drinks. Thus, I simply provided the setting to share the same love.” l

Photos: Courtesy

ListologyT-JUNCTION28DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

n Tasnia Khandaker

Has life become extremely monotonous? Too much stress makes you want to jump o� a bridge? A weekend getaway is just what you need to put your overworked brains to rest. Resorts, not so far from home and well-equipped to tend to all your needs, allow you to make your escape a sweet, soothing one.

Resorts near Dhaka

Third Terrace Resort: Third Terrace is located in Mia Bari Sharak, Gazipur just across the Bhawal National park. The resort is extremely famous for its beautifully landscaped gardens which is quite a rare site amidst the mechanical city life. Built over three acres of land, the resort allows you to have the perfect place to connect with mother nature and rejuvenate your soul. The room tari� for its two cottages “Windsong” and “Wildwood” are both Tk4,000, whereas costs for other rooms are around Tk3,000. All the prices are subject to 15% VAT and 10% service charge.

Dream Square Resort: Built in 2010 on a vast area of 100 acres, the resorts main goal is to let their guests breathe in clean fresh air and subject them to the unadulterated beauty of nature. The resort is located in Chalkpara, Azogirchala, Mauna, Gazipur. Deluxe rooms are available for guests looking for privacy from prying eyes, whereas cottages are available for guests who want to wake up to a sight of beautiful greenery. The rate for twin couple cabin, terrace cabin, and tower cabin are about Tk6,500.

Nokkhotrobari Resort: When asked why choose them, the o� cials replied - “It’s your place to enjoy the art of doing nothing.” Nokkhotrobari claims to take you far away from your colourless city life and paint the trip green. Located in Gazipur, the resort was created by � lmmaker Taukir Ahmed and his wife

Bipasha Hayat. The resort provides a spectacular leisure experience with a wide range of entertainment facilities. While the accommodation costs of rooms range from Tk5,000 to Tk6,500, the costs incurred for single bungalows and suites range from Tk8,500 to Tk30,000.

Rangamati Water Front Resort: The resort is situated only 40km away from the north of Gulshan, in Kaliakair, Gazipur. The resort claims to provide the guests with unmatched service and hospitality, and make their experience luxurious and comfortable. Rangamati Water Front has o� ered several facilities for guests including sports arrangements, private dining experience, children’s playground, swimming pool, conference halls, etc. Even though prices are not mentioned on their o� cial website, a guest has disclosed that the room charges approximately range from Tk7,000 to Tk8,000, whereas the cottages cost about Tk15,000 to Tk16,000. l

Jamuna Resort: Located only 80km away from Zia International Airport, Jamuna Resort is one of the most appealing vacation spots in the country. The resort provides great hospitality and comfort, promises a relaxing and worthwhile experience, and guarantees a memorable

trip. The place is adequate for all sort of trips and provides you facilities like musical events, conventions, gymnasium, shopping arcade, sports arrangements etc. The accommodation expenses vary from Tk13,000 to Tk5,250, as per the suites you choose.

29D

TFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

WILL CONTINUE TO BE A MAN CITY FAN, SAYS DZEKO

PEDRO TRANSFER WON’T INFLUENCE ME: ENRIQUE

30 3331

Chelsea’s � rst-team doctor Eva Carneiro has been banned from the

bench, training session and even the team hotel after angering coach

Jose Mourinho by dashing on to tend to Eden Hazard in Saturday’s

2-2 draw with Swansea City

AFTERMATH

SportSK JAMAL THRASH MACAU CHAMPIONS CASA BENFICA

Under-16 boys take India revenge n Tribune Report

Bangladesh swept into the semi-� nal of the Sa� Under-16 Championship 2015 as the Group A champions after beating defending champions India 2-1 inside a boisterous Sylhet District Stadium yesterday.

The hosts will now face the runners-up side of Group B - either Nepal or Afghanistan – this Sunday at the same venue. Nepal and Afghanistan will lock horns with each other today at 5pm and the losing side will face the young Tigers in the last four.

Bangladesh exacted sweet revenge over their neighbours, who had defeated the young Tigers 2-0 in the last edition of the champion-ship two years ago in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The home side were comparatively the better side throughout the match, dominat-ing mid� eld and possession as well as creat-ing more chances.

It was mid� elder Mohammad Shawon who gave the young Tigers the deserved lead in the 31st minute. Shawon received a de� ect-ed ball at the centre of the box and smashed home past the Indian goalkeeper.

The visitors, against the run of play, can-celled out the lead four minutes into the sec-ond half when Rahim Ali ran free towards the goal before getting the better of the onrushing Bangladesh custodian from the edge of the box to � nd the back of the net.

Sarwar Zaman Nipu might have squan-dered a glorious opportunity in the 65th min-ute but he later made amends by helping his side earn a penalty � ve minutes from the � nal whistle. Mohammed Atiquzzaman unleashed a powerful e� ort from the spot and sent the Indian netminder the wrong way. l

New plans laid out, BPL 3 set for this Novn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh Cricket Board has planned to hold the third edition of the controversial Bangla-desh Premier League Twenty20 this Novem-ber. Following payment irregularities by the old franchise owners, the BCB last month � oated tenders seeking new franchise owners for the seven teams. According to the BCB’s Expression of Interest application, the inter-ested parties have been requested to submit their respective tenders within this Monday.

The majority believes the initiative taken by the BCB is a right one; the inconsistent franchise owners are being treated in accord-ance with the rules and regulations. But what is perhaps alarming to many is that cricket’s

regulatory body in the country is trying to solve the issues from the past editions of the tournament.

Although more than two years have elapsed since the second edition, the seven franchises still owe jaw-dropping amounts of money. It is not only the board who was supposed to be paid in full by the franchises, but also the cricketers, both local and inter-national. And ahead of the third season of the BPL, the BCB has taken steps to minimise such happenings.

The board came in as the guarantor for the second season, only to � nd themselves in trouble. The BCB had expected to generate a lot of revenue from BPL 2 but instead in-curred huge losses. The organising company,

Game On Sports, signed an agreement with the BCB, amounting Tk 19 crores, but end-ed up paying only Tk 6 crores. Game On had showed that they had failed to generate pro� t due to the BCB’s faults.

The absence of the Pakistan cricketers from BPL 2 was cited as one of the reasons behind the huge losses. Although the BCB is still in discussions with Game On in order to realise the outstanding money, chances are slim, according to o� cials.

Both the Federation of the International Cricketers’ Association and the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh have been trying to realise the payment. Pressure has been created by the two organisations but the cricketers are yet to receive their full wages.

The board is currently busy arbitrating with the previous BPL team owners. E� orts are being made to realise the dues but many are anticipating that the issue might never be solved.

In order to make it convenient for the new franchise owners, the BCB has decided to put a cap on their expenditure and revise the players’ recruitment process. It was learned that the new franchise owners cannot exceed the budget of Tk 4.4 crore in BPL 3.

According to the new proposed pay-scale of the BPL, a local player can earn a highest payment of Tk 30 lakh. As far as the foreign players are concerned, a cricketer can pocket as much as $70,000 although the BCB is in fa-vour of keeping it limited to $50,000. l

Bangladesh mid� elder Saad Uddin (R) tries to run past the Indian defenders during the Sa� U-16 Championship in Sylhet yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Bangladesh U16 2-1 India U16Shawon 31 Rahim Ali 49Atiquzzaman 85 - P

Sport30DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

The Bangladesh women cricketers train at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Palestinian players from Gaza City’s Shejaiya football club take sel� es outside the Dome of the Rock during their visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site, in the old city of Jerusalem on Wednesday, after they were able to exit the coastal enclave for the return leg of a match being seen as a symbolic step towards Palestinian unity, o� cials said. Israel strictly controls the Gaza border and the return match between the strip’s Shejaiya and the West Bank’s Al-Ahli had already been postponed over a dispute between Palestinian and Israeli o� cials AFP

Ali wants no Ashes let-up from Englandn AFP, London

England all-rounder Moeen Ali wants Alastair Cook’s men to “put the foot on the throat” against Australia as they bid to complete a 4-1 Ashes series triumph at The Oval next week.

England regained the Ashes with a domi-nant innings and 78-run victory over Australia in the third Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.

No England side has ever won four Tests in a single home Ashes campaign but that target will be in the team’s sights when they reas-semble in south London for the series � nale after a week o� from Ashes action which will see Ali involved in a domestic Twenty20 quar-ter-� nal for Worcestershire against Hamp-shire on Friday.

“It’s a great opportunity to win 4-1 in a big series,” Ali told Sky Sports on Wednesday. “We’ve played so well up to now, and we don’t want to mess anything up. “We want to keep the rhythm up, keep the way we’re playing and...put the foot on the throat,” the o� -spin-ner and stylish batsman added.

The last four innings of the Ashes have witnessed successive six-wicket returns from England pacemen James Anderson, Steven Finn (both starring in the eight-wicket win at Edgbaston), with Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes carrying on at Trent Bridge.

Broad’s haul was the most sensational, the fast-medium bowler taking eight for 15, in-cluding his 300th wicket in Tests, on his Not-tinghamshire home ground as Australia were dismissed for just 60 in 111 balls - the shortest completed � rst innings of any Test - in 94 min-utes of mayhem at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

“The last two games have been two-and-a-half days, and it’s been an amazing e� ort from the bowlers especially,” said Ali. l

Sk Jamal thrash Macau champions Ben� can Tribune Desk

Bangladesh Premier League champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club began their AFC Cup 2016 play-o� qualifying campaign with a resounding 4-1 win over Macau club Casa Ben� ca at Spartak Stadium in Bichkek, Kyrgyzstan yesterday.

Forward Nicholas Mario Tarrao gave Ben� -ca the lead in the 26th minute only for Eme-ka Onuoha to bring parity for Sheikh Jamal a minute before the � rst half whistle.

Bangladesh captain and talismanic mid� eld-er made it 2-1 in the 72nd minute before forward Mohammad Rony scored two late goals in the 77th and 86th minutes to complete the rout.

Ben� ca, who lost their opening quali� -er against FC Alga 2-0, have been ruled out of the running for a berth in the play-o� s. Sheikh Jamal and Alga instead will � ght for the lone berth now. The winner of the Sheikh Jamal-Alga tie tomorrow will decide who go through and qualify for the play-o� s.

This season Sheikh Jamal have participated in three tournaments, both local and interna-tional, and � nished on top on every occasion. l

Sharapova is top female athlete earner for 11th straight yearn Reuters

Tennis star Maria Sharapova again tops the list of highest earning female athletes over the past year, according to Forbes.

For the 11th consecutive year, the Russian heads a list dominated by tennis players, who occupy seven of the top 10 spots.

The 28-year-old Sharapova, who won the French Open last year, collected $6.7 million in prize money, but her total estimated earn-ings were $29.7 million, according to Forbes.

The Forbes list also includes earnings from appearances, licensing and endorsements, personal business interests and, in some cases, salary. Serena Williams is second at $24.6 million, while motor racing driver Danica Patrick is the top non-tennis player, in fourth place with $13.9 million.l

‘De Bruyne will be phenomenal addition’n Reuters

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany says compatriot Kevin De Bruyne is a phe-nomenal player and could be a great signing for the Premier League club.

Wolfsburg mid� elder De Bruyne has been heavily linked with a move to City through-out the summer and Kompany is certain that the Belgian would add a great deal to the squad if the move materialises.

“Let me put it this way, he (De Bruyne) is de� nitely not going to make the team weaker.

He’s a phenomenal player,” the 29-year-old was quoted as saying in British media reports.

“Our squad can become stronger by get-ting everyone in the right direction. Players like Raheem (Sterling) and (Fabian) Delph, from what I’ve seen, will give us something di� erent,” he added. Kompany said he and some of his team mates did not perform well last season and were keen to improve.

“We had so many players - and I was one of them, especially at the end of last season - who didn’t perform and if they do, then it’s like having six or seven new players. Then we

do have a stronger squad,” the Belgian inter-national said.

“We are happy to let all the other ones be the favourites. For us, it’s a di� erent position to be in and maybe a good challenge for the team to take on,” Kompany said.

“There’s a lot of hunger in this team, a lot of desire to do well and the � rst hour on Mon-day was exceptional. We have shown what we can do and what every manager will say now is, why not do it every game? “So far, it’s a 100 per cent record but let’s not get ahead of our-selves,” he added.l

RESULTSheikh Jamal 4-1 Casa Ben� caEmeka Onuoha 44 Nicholas Mario Tarrao 26

Sport 31D

T

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

FC Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic embraces teammate Javier Mascherano during a training session yesterday ahead of their Spanish Super Cup � rst-leg match against Athletic Bilbao tonight AP

Goalkeeper doubts dog United as Villa awaitn AFP, London

A question mark continues to sit at the top of Manchester United’s team-sheet as Louis van Gaal’s side prepare for their second Pre-mier League � xture at Aston Villa on Friday.

With David de Gea’s mooted move to Real Madrid locked in an impasse over the Spanish club’s refusal to meet United’s val-uation for the player or include centre-back Sergio Ramos as part of the deal, British media reports suggest that United now expect the Spaniard to remain at the club this season.

De Gea, 24, sat in the stands during United’s 1-0 win at home to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend after van Gaal said the link to Madrid had a� ected his “focus”. Apart from some wayward passes, De Gea’s deputy Sergio Romero performed well enough against Spurs and with Victor Valdes and Anders Lindegaard hav-ing been frozen out. l

Pedro transfer won’t in� uence me: Enriquen Reuters, Barcelona

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique refused to dis-close whether Pedro will start the Spanish Super Cup � rst-leg away to Athletic Bilbao on Friday and said that he would not be in� u-enced by any transfer deal.

The Catalan side have only three days to recover from Tuesday’s thrilling 5-4 European Super Cup win in extra time over Sevilla which was decided by substitute Pedro in Tbilisi.

The home-grown player has been strong-ly linked with a move to Manchester United while neighbours Manchester City are also now reportedly in the frame. Pedro is unhap-py at a lack of playing time and even now with

Neymar ill with mumps he is still not assured of a place in attack.

“Nobody knows at the moment if he will start. I won’t make my decision based on the market,” Luis Enrique told a news conference on Thursday.

“He didn’t play in Tbilisi because a few days before he had to stop training (with an injury) and it is an unusual and di� cult sit-uation.

“It is a contradiction. He wants to stay but he also wants to have more minutes. I will continue to play those that I think are best for each match. What I am looking forward to though is the end of the transfer window so that everything will then be clear.”

After the Sevilla win Pedro reacted an-grily to comments from the club’s technical secretary Robert Fernandez that he wanted to leave but was unclear about his future de-scribing it as “complicated”.

Pedro has always been praised for his at-titude and this was one of the rare occasions that he has spoken out strongly to the media.

“I will not get involved in any more contro-versy. He is a player that is loved by everyone,” responded Luis Enrique, when asked if Pedro was unhappy by his treatment at the club.

“I think he is showing the same spirit he has demonstrated during all the preseason. We all know that this is a di� cult and unusu-al situation.” l

Stoke’s Shaqiri targets debut against Spursn Reuters

Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri, who joined Stoke City for a club record fee this week, said he is fully � t and ready to make his Premier League debut against Tottenham Hot-spur this weekend if manager Mark Hughes gave him the nod. Shaqiri signed a � ve-term deal at the Britannia Stadium on Tuesday after the Potters agreed a 12 million pounds ($18.75 million) fee with Serie A giants Inter Milan.

“I can’t wait to play my � rst game here be-cause I am feeling really � t,” the 23-year-old, who has also played for Bayern Munich, told the club’s website. l

Sport32DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

Group AGemcon Group

Green Delta InsuranceMutual Trust Bank

Group BBando Design Ltd

Dhaka TribuneBitopi

Group CBeximco Pharma

MetlifeEnergypac

Group DHRC Group

Anchor Exim US LtdBay Development

Group EAscent Group

Le Meridien (Dhaka)Beximco Textile

Group FSecurex

AdcommFas Finance

Group GQubee

Edge ConsultingSajeeb Group

Group HAsiatic Esp

General ElectricRunner Group

Group IRahimafrooz

BongoTechwalas Ltd

Group JAccentureKazi FarmsBangla Cat

Group KBATB

Sterling GroupSpell Bound

Group LHotel Bengal Blueberry

BkashCom� t Composite Ltd

Group MChevron

Brac BankAsutex

Group NIPDC

Swiss ContactCentro Tex Ltd

Metronet

ROLL OF HONOURYear Champion Runners-up2006 Beximco Pharma ICE Technology2007 ISD –2008 Beximco Pharma HSBC 2009 Beximco Pharma Union Capital2010 Beximco Pharma IIDFC 2011 IIDFC Gemcon2012 Beximco Pharma Gemcon2013 Dhaka Tribune Beximco Pharma2014 Gemcon Bando Design

Organisers and sponsors of the 10th Ascent Corporate Cup present details of the tournament during a press conference at a city restaurant yesterday MI MANIK

Battle of the Corporates10th Ascent Group Corporate Soccer Cup begins todayn Tribune Report

The most prestigious sporting event of the country’s corporate fraternity, Ascent Corporate 5-a-side Soccer Cup 2015, will get underway at STM Hall of Scholastica School in Uttara today.

The 10th edition of the tournament is spon-sored by Ascent Group and organised by Excal-ibur Entertainment and will kick o� with the match between defending champions Gemcon Group and Green Delta Insurance Ltd at 10am. The event will end on August 22.

A total of 45 corporate teams split into 14 groups are taking part in the event. The tourna-ment is however, fully amateur and eligible only for corporate employees who are not related to

professional football.The organisers are claiming that they have

had over 400 corporate establishments partici-

pating in the last 10 years, including thousands of executives. And on the eve of the tourna-

ment, the corporate teams have undergone ex-tensive preparation for the coveted cup.

Gemcon Group are the defending champions of the event while Bando Design � nished run-ners-up on August 22, 2014. This year, Bando Design have been placed in the same group as 2013 champions Dhaka Tribune.

A press conference was held at a city hotel yesterday afternoon where the details of the event were revealed. During the presser, the draw ceremony also took place.

Ascent Group has been the title sponsor of the tournament for the last eight years. Sajeed Group is the co-sponsor while Hyundai Motors, Securex and Europcar are the associate sponsors. l

VENUEScholastica STM Hall,

Uttara Campus, UttaraDATE

Starts: Friday, 14th August Ends: Saturday, 22nd August

Finalists of the last edition – Managing Director and captain of Bando Design Ltd Imranur Rahman (L) and Gemcon Group’s HR Manager Md Anwar pose with the trophy of the 10th Ascent Corporate tournament yesterday

Five-time champions of the Ascent Cup, Beximco Pharma, were honoured for their

brilliant record yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Sport 33D

T

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

SL V IND, DAY 2SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS183 (A. Mathews 64, D. Chandimal 59, R. Ashwin 6-46, A. Mishra 2-20)INDIA 1ST INNINGS R B(overnight 128-2)L. Rahul lbw b Prasad 7 7S. Dhawan b Pradeep 134 271R. Sharma lbw b Mathews 9 24V. Kohli lbw b Kaushal 103 191A. Rahane lbw b Kaushal 0 5W. Saha c Chandimal b Pradeep 60 120R. Ashwin b Pradeep 7 4H. Singh b Kaushal 14 31A. Mishra b Kaushal 10 17I. Sharma not out 3 39V. Aaron c Mathews b Kaushal 4 9 Extras: (b1, lb9, w3, nb11) 24 Total (all out, 117.4 overs) 375

BowlingPrasad 22-4-54-1 (nb1, w1), Pradeep 26-2-98-3 (nb1, w2), Mathews 4-1-12-1, Kaushal 32.4-2-134-5 (nb9), Herath 33-4-67-0.SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS R BD. Karunaratne b Ashwin 0 5K. Silva b Mishra 0 6D. Prasad not out 3 11K. Sangakkara not out 1 3Extras: (nb1) 1Total (for two wickets, four overs) 5

BowlingAshwin 2-2-0-1, Mishra 1-0-1-1 (nb1), Harbhajan 1-0-4-0.

Sri Lanka trail by 187 runs

Ten Action12:20PM French Ligue 1 2015/16AS Monaco v LOSC Lille Ten Cricket10:00PM New Zealand tour of South Africa 1st Twenty20 international Sony Six10:30AM India tour of Sri Lanka 1st Test, Day 3 Star Sports 110:30PM Natwest T20 Blast 2015Worcestershire v Hampshire Star Sports 29:20AM Tri Series FinalAustralia A v India A Pro Kabaddi League 2015 8:20PM Kolkata v Patna 9:30PM Bengaluru v Delhi 12:35AM English Premier League Aston Villa v Manchester United Star Sports 412:15AM German Bundesliga Bayern Munich v Hamburger 4:30AM ATP: Rogers Cup Montreal, QF

DAY’S WATCH

India’s Shikhar Dhawan (L) and Virat Kohli share a light moment during the second day of their � rst Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle yesterday AP

India on top after Dhawan, Kohli tonsn AFP, Galle

Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli hit centu-ries before the spinners struck as India took charge of the � rst Test against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday.

The tourists, replying to Sri Lanka’s � rst innings total of 183, moved from their over-night total of 128-2 to 375 before they were all out just before stumps on the second day.

Sri Lanka, who trailed by 192 runs on the � rst innings, slipped to 5-2 from four overs in their second knock by close as the Indian spinners removed both openers in the � rst two overs.

O� -spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who opened the bowling after taking six wickets in the � rst innings, bowled Dimuth Karuna-ratne with his � fth delivery before a run had

been scored.Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, sharing the new

ball with Ashwin, then bowled Kaushal Silva for no score to provide a dramatic start to the innings.

Kumar Sangakkara, playing the penulti-mate Test of his international career, resumes on Friday on one facing a tough challenge to prevent India from running away with the � rst match of the three-game series.

Nightwatchman Dhammika Prasad was the other batsman at the crease on three, with Sri Lanka trailing by 187 runs.

Left-handed opener Dhawan scored 134, his fourth Test century and the second in suc-cession after making 173 against Bangladesh in June, and skipper Kohli returned to form with 103.

The pair put on 227 runs for the third wick-

et in a � ne partnership after India were re-duced to 28-2 after tea on the � rst day.

India were cruising at 255-2 when Sri Lan-ka hit back with four quick wickets on either side of the second new ball to make it 302-6.

Wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha, who walked in at 257-4, smashed a gutsy ca-reer-best 60 with six boundaries and a six to boost the total.

O� -spinner Tharindu Kaushal � nished with � ve for 134, while seamer Nuwan Pradeep took three for 98.

Dhawan, who was on 53 overnight, reached the three-� gure mark 20 minutes before lunch by driving Prasad through the covers for his 10th boundary.

But Dhawan was lucky to survive a loud appeal for leg-before against Kaushal when he was on 79. l

Will continue to be a Man City fan, says departing Dzekon Reuters

Edin Dzeko has bid an emotional farewell to Manchester City fans after joining Roma on a season-long loan and said he will always keep the Premier League club close to his heart.

The Bosnian striker, who joined City in January 2011, has been loaned with a view to a permanent transfer to the Serie A club “if certain conditions are met”.

“After four-and-a-half years, � lled with your chants for me and my love for you, the time has come to say goodbye,” the 29-year-

old said in a letter, posted on his o� cial Twit-ter handle.

“I have spent some of the best moments of my career at Manchester City, moments that I will never forget. Thank you for everything.”

A crowd favourite at City, Dzeko, scored 72 goals in 117 starts and won � ve trophies for the club but struggled to break into the start-ing line-up last season.

“I will continue to be a big fan of Manches-ter City, to whom I wish all the best and many more trophies and happiness in the future.” he added. l

DOWNTIME34DT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 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 7 represents E so � ll E every time the � gure 7 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

ACROSS 1 Lyric poems (4) 5 Name of ‘Elder’ and Younger Romans (4) 10 Augury (4)11 Forefront (3)12 Commenced (5) 13 Day before (3)14 Worship (5)16 Barely su� cient (6)18 Vegetables (6)21 Musical drama (5) 23 Hail! (3)24 Frozen shower (5) 26 For each (3)27 Agitate (4)28 Genuine (4)29 Abominable Snowman (4)

Down2 Tenet (5)3 Flightless bird (3) 4 Politician (7)6 Allege as a fact (4)7 Inn (6)8 United (3) 9 Flows back (4) 15 Sequence of family rulers (7) 17 Rich pasturage (6)19 Not concealed (5)20 Location (4)22 Country (4)23 Liable (3)25 Falsehood (3)

SUDOKU

SHOWTIME 35D

TFRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

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AROUND TOWN

PRIYANKA @priyankachopra Happy International #YouthDay! We have the potential to really make a di� erence! Let’s be that force of change!

The Matrix ReloadedWB 3:49pmNeo and the rebel leaders estimate that they have 72 hours until 250,000 probes discover Zion and destroy it and its inhabitants. During this, Neo must decide how he can save Trinity from a dark fate in his dreams.Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving

Home aloneStar Movies 7:30pmAn 8-year old troublemaker must protect his home from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation.Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard

Star Trek Into DarknessZ Studio 11:35pmAfter the crew of the Enterprise � nd an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organisation, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.Cast: John Cho, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, Bruce Greenwood

Two Bangladeshi � lms headed to 2015 Montreal � lm festival

Tomar Chokhe S M Sultan, a kids painting exhibition marking the 91st birth anniversary of legendary artist S M Sultan is scheduled to be held at Jatiya Shilpakala Academy, in Dhaka on September 4, 2015.

Around 200 paintings is to be sent by children from all over the country for the exhibition. A painting competition will also be held at the venue. Top 100 paintings will receive the National Sultan Award.

The last date for submission is August 20. There will be two departments classifying KA (for ages 5 to 10) and KHA (for ages 11 to 15.)

Rules for submission: The painting needs to be sent on a cartridge paper, with the dimensions 11’’/16’’. Name, age, name of school/organisation, class should be mentioned.

Mailing address: Charuputhi, 74 Lake circus, Kalabagan, Dhali Bari Road, Dhaka.

For further information visit facebook.com/charuputhi. l

Tomar Chokhe S M Sultan

SRK’s iconic dialogues to be turned into merchandise

Robert Downey Jr @RobertDowneyJr Hopefully Pepper won’t get jealous of salt...

n Showtime Desk

Under Construction, the second feature by writer-director Rubaiyat Hossain, and Jalal’s Story, the debut feature by Abu Shahed Emon, are two Bangladeshi productions headed to Montreal later this month. The two � lms will be screened as part of the 39th Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF). Both � lms have been chosen for the Focus on World Cinema section.

Muhammad: The Messenger of God, the latest � lm by renowned Iranian director Majid Majidi, will open the festival and have its world premiere at the MWFF. This 171-minute epic on the early years of the prophet of Islam was produced with a budget of over $50 million, making it the most expensive � lm ever made in Iran.

For the � rst time, a Bangladeshi � lm has been chosen for the prestigious � lm festival which will be held from August 27 to September 7, 2015. The screening schedule for the Bangladeshi features is yet to be con� rmed.

n Showtime Desk

Bewakoof.com, a casual wear brand in India has joined hands with Yash Raj Films (YRF) to launch a range of merchandise titled “The King Khan Collection.” The collection will be based on some of Shah Rukh Khan’s famous dialogues that will be imprinted on everything from T-shirts to boxers. “Rahul..naam to suna hoga,” “Bade bade deshon me aisi chotti chotti baaten hoti rehti hain” and “K...k..k..k kiran” are some of the iconic dialogues to be featured in the line.

“Team Bewakoof’s perspective on our content along with their ability to engage the young audience with their product designs is the reason for our successful relationship so far. With this new range we intend to take this relationship a notch higher and are con� dent that our audience will love this range,” stated Manan Mehta, vice president, marketing and merchandising of Bewakoof.

The collection is already creating a buzz in the market, thanks to Bewakoof’s quirky design ideas and SRK’s classic dialogues. The collection will also include phone covers that will bear SRK’s dialogues. The collection went on sale last Thursday on www.bewakoof.com. l

Rubaiyat Hossain’s second feature � lm Under Construction is about a woman struggling to � nd herself in the sprawl of urban Bangladesh.

The cast includes Shahana Goswami, Mita Chowdhury, Rikita Nandini, Rahul Bose and Shahadat Hossain in major roles. Shayan Chowdhury Ornob has composed the background score and music, while Sahana Bajpaie sang a Tagore song Tomay gaan shonabo. The � lm produced by Khona

Talkies, was released in Bangladesh on July 31 this year.

Jalal’s Story portrays the story of a rootless child, Jamal, and traces his journey as he struggles to become a man with a standing in society. The � lm previously won the Asian Cinema Fund. Made under the banner of Boutique Cinema Project, an initiative of Impress Tele� lm, the cast of the � lm includes Mosharraf Karim, Moushumi Hamid and Toukir Ahmed. l

Ellen DeGeneres @TheEllenShow It’s #WorldElephantDay! I wanted to make sure you didn’t forget. Unless you’re an elephant. Then I know you didn’t forget.

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

UNDER-16 BOYS TAKE INDIA REVENGE PAGE 29

2 BANGLADESHI FILMS IN 2015 MONTREAL FILM FESTIVAL PAGE 35

JAPAN KEEN TO BUILD ECONOMIC ZONE PAGE 15

First hajj � ight on Sundayn Tribune Report

Hajj � ights carrying Bangladeshi pilgrims to Saudi Arabia will begin on Sunday and will continue until September 17.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday inaugurated this year’s hajj programme at Dhaka’s Ashkona Hajj Camp.

The hajj will likely be performed this year on September 24. Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon will bid fare-

well to the � rst � ight of pilgrims scheduled to depart Sunday at 8:35am from Shahjalal International Airport, a Biman Bangla-desh Airlines o� cial said.

Return � ights will begin on September 27 and will continue until October 28.

This year, some 101,758 Bangladeshi pilgrims will perform the hajj. Biman will carry 51,000 pilgrims and the rest will travel on Saudi Arabian Airlines. Biman will also operate several direct � ights from Chittagong and Sylhet.

Biman is charging pilgrims $1,515 for economy class seats and $2,500 for business class seats this year, excluding taxes and others charges.

According to Biman rules, each pilgrim may carry 32kg in lug-gage and a 7kg handbag. No pilgrim will be allowed to individu-ally carry Zamzam Well water on board the aircraft.

The state-owned airline will provide each pilgrim with � ve litres of Zamzam water. l

Nahid seeks progress report on own campusn Tribune Report

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yester-day sought progress reports from the private universities, who have not shifted to their own campuses within the government-set deadline.

They were urged to submit the reports to the University Grants Commission (UGC) by September 30. The deadline ends next month.

“Seventeen private universities are oper-ating in their permanent campuses while 50 others are on process to move to their own campuses,” Nahid said at a meeting between the authorities of private universities and the UGC members at the latter’s o� ce at Agar-gaon in the capital.

“There are 20-25 universities who secured � ve-year extension but have not shifted to their own campuses. We have taken strict decisions against them. Among those, three universities are operating academic activities upon directives of the court,” he added.

The minister said that seven trusts/foun-dations of private universities had been fol-lowing their academic curriculum fully while nine others could implement half of their aca-demic curriculum.

At the meeting, the members of board of trustees and VCs of various universities re-quested the government to extend the dead-line further by two to three years.

In his speech, UGC Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan expressed frustration over the limit-ed number of seats and reports of irregulari-ties at the private universities.

He mentioned about con� ict of interest between the board of trustees and univer-sity o� cials including the vice-chancellorsin some institutions, and centring syndicate meetings. These activities are hamperingthe development programmes of those uni-versities.

Prof Mannan also said that several univer-sities had constructed new campuses without the UGC’s approval, and lacked skilled and ex-perienced lecturers, and standard laboratory and library.

Mohammed Farashuddin, former central bank governor and currently chairman of the board of trustees of East West University, said: “The UGC or Education Commission under the Education Ministry should exercise more power in terms of law, � nance and manpower so that they can monitor the curriculum and the recruitment of faculty members.

“Private university is a non-pro� t insti-tution, and it should not be converted to a commercial institution or pro� t-making en-tity. Tight regulations should be enforced for those universities.”

Terming the imposition of VAT illegal and injustice to the students, Farashuddin said: “The tax has to be paid by the students who come from middle or low-income families. Parents have to sell lands to educate their children. I hope, the minister will convey the message to the prime minister for the devel-opment of education.”

In reply, Nahid said that he would discuss the matter with the premier and the � nance minister. l

VAT protesters end up at Shahbagh instead of PMOn DU Correspondent

Police yesterday blocked a procession of pri-vate university students at Karwan Bazar when they were headed for the Prime Minis-ter’s O� ce with a request for withdrawal of VAT on private education. Later the protesters took position in front of BSMMU at Shahbagh.

The National Board of Revenue on July 4, imposed a 7.5% VAT on the fees of private uni-versities and medical colleges. The students threatened to discontinue their studies if the VAT decision was not revoked.

They call upon Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to withdraw the VAT in order to ensure equal rights in higher education.

Earlier in the morning, students gathered

at Shahabag intersection began marching to-wards the PMO.

Farhan Habib, an organiser of the protest, said: “You [prime minister] are like our moth-er. So, withdraw VAT on education for the sake of our future.”

Jahin Faruk Amin, a student of ULAB, said: “The VAT will severely hinder the education system. Already education at private univer-sities are expensive. Imposing a VAT would make it a lot more di� cult for many students.”

Shiblee Noman, assistant commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The protesters were barred considering public interest. Their protest pro-gramme could have led to massive tra� c jam in the surrounding areas.” l

A private university student o� ers a rose to one of the female police constables at Shahbagh yesterday, requesting them to allow the VAT protesters to the Prime Minister’s O� ce MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

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