Bangladesh all set to join $50bn BRICS bankn Asif Showkat Kallol

Bangladesh has made a � nal decision to join the $50bn development bank formed by the BRICS nations, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said.

“We want to join the BRICS bank as more sources of credit other than the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund must be explored,” the � nance minister told reporters after a meet-ing with ADB Vice-President Laksmi Venkatachalam at his secretariat o� ce yesterday.

At present, Bangladesh was little

interested in joining the Chinese Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank be-cause it had got delayed, “but when it is formed, we will join it,” he said.

Finance Ministry o� cials said the prime minister had already given her consent to the � nance minister’s pro-posal for joining the BRICS bank named New Development Bank. The proposal would be placed before the Cabinet soon.

O� cials also said the government had already sent letters to the relevant agencies, including the Dhaka embas-sies in the � ve BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The letters sought details on the frame-work and operation procedures of the New Development Bank.

Two months ago, Chinese ambassa-dor in Dhaka conveyed an invitation to the Bangladesh government for join-

ing the newly formed BRICS bank. Af-ter that, the � nance minister held two meetings with the Chinese and Indian ambassadors regarding the issue.

The heads of governments of the � ve BRICS nations agreed on July 16 in Brazil on the structure of the $50bn de-

velopment bank by granting China its headquarters and India its � rst rotating presidency.

Brazil, Russia and South Africa were also granted posts or units in the bank, which aims to become an alternative source of development funding other than the World Bank, the IMF and the ADB.

The new bank will have an initial au-thorised capital of $100bn, with $50bn in initial subscribed capital. The Con-tingent Reserve Agreement will have an initial size of $100bn.

The bank will have its headquarters PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

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8 | WorldIsrael said militants � red rockets from Gaza yesterday in violation of a truce and that it struck back with attacks in the Palestinian enclave.

5 | NewsThe Executive Committee of the National Economic Council yesterday approved com-pact township project for rural people of sev-en divisions involving Tk424.34crore.

6 | NationRampant corruption has allegedly plagued the Skills and Training Enhancement Project of Habiganj Technical School and College. The authority has been accused of embezzling money in the name of student enrollment, monthly allowance and study tours.

12 | EntertainmentBased on the Liberation War, ‘Meghmallar,’ a feature � lm adapted from Akhtaruzzaman Elias’ acclaimed work ‘Raincoat,’ is all set for release in December.

15 | SportCaptain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher remain in place, but only time will tell if the appointment of Ravi Shastri as director of cricket is a temporary measure.

3 | NewsEveryone expected BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to attend the rally of the 20-party alliance at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital yesterday. Even after the meeting had gone for over an hour, an o� cial of the BNP chief’s press wing said she would reach the venue any moment.

4 | NewsThe Labour Ministry faced hard questions from MPs over its role in dealing with labour unrest at Tuba Garments, embarrassing the authorities in front of international buyers.

INSIDE

THE EFFECTIVE WAY FORWARD

7 | LONG FORM

Students of Mirpur’s Champa Parul Government Primary School place their benches on muddy ground surrounded by stagnant water as they sit for an exam under open sky yesterday. The students had no option but to make alternative sitting arrangements after a person recently demolished the school building claiming ownership of the school property MEHEDI HASAN

Political syndicates push for cattle market re-tendern Abu Hayat Mahmud and

Sulaiman Shaheed

Several syndicates, mostly led by lead-ers of many of the ruling party’s asso-ciate bodies, had forced Dhaka South and North City Corporation to reissue tenders for setting up several tempo-rary cattle markets ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha by o� ering bids much lower than that of previous years.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, DNCC o� cials con� rmed that invitations for tender for three speci� c temporary cat-tle markets will be reissued as the � rst tender did not receive any considerable o� er. At the same time, DSCC sources said they will issue invitations for ten-der for � ve speci� c temporary cattle markets.

This year, the two city corporations plan to set up 19 temporary cattle mar-kets in the capital where 11 of them will be under Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and eight under Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).

The two city corporations started the tender procedures this month where DNCC and DSCC opened tender boxes on August 11 and August 12 respectively.

Sources at the two city corporations said as like previous years, a group of leaders and activists of the ruling party and its allied organisations had alleged-ly formed a syndicate to force the city corporations to award them with the work at a very low price.

They also added that several Jubo League, Swechchasebak League, Chha-tra League and other wings of the rul-ing party formed syndicates and had been dominating the temporary cattle market business for several years.

At the same time, these syndicates also reportedly threatened general bid-ders and the city corporations’ o� cials concerned to secure their position over the tender, sources said.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, DSCC Chief Estate O� cer Khalid Ahmed said: “According to the city corporation’s rule, a re-tender will be issued if any market tender receives a lower bid compared to the last three years. Sev-eral markets received poor bids.”

In DSCC, this year for a total of 11 makeshift cattle markets, 113 schedules were sold but only 39 bidders submit-ted their o� ers. The total bid received

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT

ADB warns of 2% GDP loss by 2050n Tribune Report

Bangladesh could su� er annual eco-nomic losses of 2% of the annual gross domestic product by 2050, and over 9% by 2100, due to climate change, accord-ing to a new study.

However, if the global mitigation ac-tions, including reductions in human emissions of greenhouse gases, are successfully implemented, those loss-es could be limited to just over 2% by 2100, it says.

The Maldives and Nepal would be the hardest hit, losing up to 12.6% and 9.9% of their economies, respective-ly, annually, by 2100. India would lose 8.7%, Bhutan 6.6%, and Sri Lanka 6.5%.

The study titled “Assessing the Costs of Climate Change and Adapta-tion in South Asia” conducted by the Asian Development Bank was released yesterday at a press conference in the capital.

The study assessed impacts of cli-mate change and economic costs and bene� ts of climate change covering Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Mal-dives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The report predicts that the six countries would see an average eco-

nomic loss of around 1.8% of their col-lective GDP by 2050, rising sharply to 8.8% by 2100 if the world continues on its current fossil fuel-intensive path.

Without changes to current global behaviour, Bangladesh would see an-nual economic costs equivalent to 2% of its GDP by 2050, increasing to 9.4% by 2100, it says.

“The human and � nancial toll can be even higher if the damage from � oods, droughts, and other extreme

weather events is included,” said Bindu Lohani, ADB vice-president for knowl-edge management and sustainable de-velopment.

While the needs and investments re-quired for adaptation would depend on global mitigation e� orts, early invest-ment could help mitigate large econom-ic damages in later decades, he said.

He said the expected rise in fre-quency and severity of extreme climate

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Commission � ndsgross anomalies in judiciary Probe in adulterated paracetamol case reveals ine� ciency, irregularitiesand deliberate obstruction n Ahmed Zayeef

Labelling the current judicial system and the case disposal rate as “shame-ful” and “intolerable,” the Law Com-mission has suggested that initiatives be taken immediately to reform the whole system for the sake of the nation.

Commission Chairman and former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque and two other members – Justice ATM Fa-zle Kabir and Prof Dr M Shah Alam – made the observations in the report of an investigation which was conducted to look into the delay in the delivery of the verdict for the case of Ad� ame Pharmaceuticals, formally known as “State v Helena Pasha and others.”

The commission submitted the report to the Law Ministry on Monday, men-tioning 16 suggestions for both the trial court and the High Court with a view to ensure quick disposal of cases.

The Ad� ame Pharmaceuticals case was � led over the deaths of at least 76 children, mostly infants, after consum-ing adulterated paracetamol syrup in the 1990s. On July 23, the Dhaka Drug Court delivered a verdict in the case – more than 21 years after the case had been � led.

The court sentenced three o� cials of Ad� ame Pharmaceuticals to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, the max-imum punishment stipulated in the law. The three convicts are Ad� ame Di-

rector Helena Pasha, Manager Mizanur Rahman and Production O� cer Nigen-dra Nath Bala.

The then drug superintendent Abul Khayer Chowdhury � led the case on December 19, 1992 against Helena and seven others under the Drugs (Control) Ordinance of 1982.

In the eight-page report, the com-mission has presented the case steps since it commenced in 1993.

To � nd the reasons behind the delay in the proceedings, the commission ex-amined the main case documents at the chamber of the district drug court and divisional special judge’s court judge.

The investigation found that the case was delayed by 19 years and two months for no valid reason.

The charges were framed against � ve of the accused on May 28, 1994, one and a half years after the case was � led, “though it was not necessary to take such a long time for the indictment.”

It was also revealed that the High Court rule questioning the indictment order against three of the accused had not been found in the trial court. Rath-er only the order – delivered after 14 years – vacating the rule “for not hav-ing any substance” was found.

“Because of the rule that sought the main case documents, the hearing for the case was stalled for 14 years at the trial court. This incident re� ects the seriously irresponsible attitude of the people concerned with the judicial sys-tem. It is a stark example of the well-known proverb ‘Justice delayed, justice denied,’” stated the report.

The commission also questioned why the High Court order reached the trial court – situated only two miles

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

‘With this judicial system, we have no option left but to hide our face in shame in front of people’

Dhaka, Delhi to discuss Nur Hossain’s extradition furthern Sheikh Shahariar Zaman and

Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Dhaka will raise the issue of repatriating Nur Hossain, the alleged mastermind of the seven murders in Narayanganj, during upcoming home secretary and foreign minister-level talks between Bangladesh and India next month.

“It is a sensitive issue and we will discuss it all forums including foreign minister-level talks and home sec-retary-level talks,” State Minister for Foreign A� airs Shahriar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The foreign minister-level talks, known as Joint Consultative Commis-sion (JCC), will be held in the third week of September; while Indian Home Secretary Anil Goswami is scheduled to come to Dhaka for a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Mozammel Haque Khan on September 2.

The state minister said it is expected that India will repatriate Nur Hossain after completing their investigation and exhausting legal procedures.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Bangladesh all set to join $50bn BRICS bank PAGE 1 COLUMN 6in Shanghai, China, and its � rst CEO will be an Indian, the � rst chairman of the board of governors will be a Russian, and Brazil will appoint the � rst chair-man of the board of directors. South Af-rica will host an African regional centre.

Bangladesh now borrows from the World Bank, the IMF, the ADB, the Is-lamic Development Bank (IDB) and oth-er bilateral and multilateral lenders for bankrolling its development projects. Bangladesh is one of the shareholders of the World Bank and the IDB and re-gional lender of the ADB. However, the shares are not signi� cant.

According to sources, Bangladesh has 0.022% share in the 188-member World Bank, 1% in the 67-member Ma-

nila-based ADB and 1.01% stake in the 56-member IDB.

World Bank lead economist Zahid Hussain told the Dhaka Tribune that the BRICS bank, along with the Chinese Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank would be complementary to Bangla-desh’s present development partners.

The funds provided by the three top lenders are not even close to what Bang-ladesh or the Asian regions need for de-velopment, he said.

Zahid assured that the World Bank was not worried about the proposed institutions as they would compliment the development works of the Bretton Woods institution.

Member of the General Economics Division of the Planning Commission Pro-

fessor Shamsul Alam told the Dhaka Trib-une that the government’s decision to join the BRICS bank was “really laudable.”

“By joining the New Development Bank, Bangladesh will stamp a strong footprint by having a new option for getting more concessional investments for developing the country’s infrastruc-ture and for cutting high cost loan from multinational banks,” he said.

After the meeting with the Bangla-desh � nance minister yesterday, ADB VC Laksmi Venkatachalam said she had hoped that Bangladesh would become a middle-income country within a year.

She also said the ADB would give more fund for developing infrastruc-ture, communication, agriculture and the ICT sectors in Bangladesh.l

Political syndicates push for cattle market re-tender PAGE 1 COLUMN 5this year was at Tk2,93,56,884, which was around Tk6,10,00,000 last year.

This year, the highest bid of Tk1,01,01,100 was proposed for the Lal-bagh Hazi Delwar Hossain playground by bidder Alamgir Hossain.

The Lalbagh market was arranged this year for the � rst time instead of the DSCC’s largest Armanitola mar-ket which received the highest bid of Tk4,01,11,507 last year, as proposed by Awami League President of the DSCC Ward 69 of Elias Rashid.

The DSCC high-ups informed the Dhaka Tribune that the communica-tions minister earlier announced that any cattle market will not be allowed to be adjoining highways and main roads around the country, and thus the Ar-manitola market has been canceled this year.

Moreover, the alleged syndicates also brought down the bid for anoth-er of DSCC major cattle markets. This year, the Golapbagh market received the highest bid by one Hamidullah at Tk10,10,000, which was Tk61,66,000 last year.

The highest bid for Jigatola-Hazari-bagh this year was Tk11,11,010, which is proposed by bidder Masud Rana. Last year, the highest bid was Tk55,34,020 proposed by Zahidul Islam, brother of local AL leader Toriqul Islam. Masud Rana was the sole bidder for the tender.

This year, no time schedule was giv-

en by DNCC for setting up a temporary cattle market at Dhaka Polytechnic Institute playground, while the Agar-gaon-Taltala cattle market will not be set up this year. On top of that, the larg-est permanent cattle market at Gabtoli was earlier leased out for one year.

Contacted, DNCC Chief Estate O� cer Aminul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have a target to earn more money from the cattle markets. Though bid-ders of several cattle markets o� ered small amounts as tender, for which we have invited re-tender to obtain satis-factory amounts.”

Answering a question regarding the alleged illegal activities of ruling party-men in this regard, Aminul said he had no idea over the matter and he had not received any complains from any bidder over a bar in submitting their proposals.

He also added that the tender boxes have been kept in seven places – The Commissioner’s O� ce of Dhaka divi-sion, Chief Estate O� cer’s o� ce of the DNCC at Banani, and � ve zonal o� ces of the DNCC, to ensure participation from all.

In DNCC, this year for a total of 8 makeshift cattle markets, 60 schedules were sold where only 23 bidders sub-mitted their o� ers. The total bid for this year was at Tk6,65,11,551, which was Tk1,29,66,404 more than last year.

The highest bid this year was Tk2,78,60,000, proposed by bidder AM Zahid for Agargaon cattle market.

Although the total bid had increased, two markets received abnormally low o� ers while the tender for Dhaka Poly Technique playground received no of-fers at all.

The highest bid for Uttara Azompur Government School playground and it’s adjoining area is Tk55,00,000, proposed by bidder Absar Uddin Khan, which was at Tk72,00,000 last year as proposed by Jubo League leader Mahbubur Rahman.

The highest bid for free space at Khilk-het Banarupa Housing is Tk62,00,000, which was proposed by M/S Mizan En-terprise. Last year, the market’s highest bid market was Tk1,07,00,000, pro-posed by a ruling party leader.

The commission for the cattle mar-ket leasers would remain at 5% as the previous years.

Meanwhile, an internal feud in the ruling party and rivalry over taking lease of the Agargaon cattle market might have been the reason behind the killing of Awami League leader Jahangir Alam on August 10, said police sources.

Jahangir, 45, a leader of ward no-28 unit of Awami League, was shot dead by some assailants in front of his West Agargaon residence.

A presidential candidate of Ward 28 unit of the party and the running pres-ident of Momota Bahumukhi Samabaya Samity, Jahangir wanted to buy the ten-der of Agargaon cattle market under the name of Chhatra Kalyan, a local welfare organisation. l

Dhaka, Delhi to discuss Nur Hossain’s extradition further PAGE 1 COLUMN 6He, however, did not comment on how long the process might take as it was up to the West Bengal court to decide.

The repatriation issue was also dis-cussed when Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj came to Dhaka in June, Shahriar Alam said.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry yes-terday told a parliamentary watchdog that the Indian authorities have con-sented to send back Nur Hossain to Dhaka on “special consideration” for his trial in Bangladesh.

In a meeting at the parliament build-ing, the Parliamentary Standing Com-mittee on Home Ministry discussed the level of implementation of its rec-ommendation to bring Nur Hossain back for trial, and said Nur’s trial would demonstrate the government’s com-mitment to establish the rule of law.

“We asked [Home Ministry] about the progress in bringing back Nur Hos-sain. The ministry o� cials informed us that India has agreed to send him back to us on special consideration,” Tipu Munshi, the chairman of the 10-mem-ber standing committee, told the Dha-ka Tribune after the meeting.

He said Delhi had sought many documents including warrant orders against Nur Hossain, who faces a red alert in the Interpol.

“The Home Ministry had sent the

papers to the Foreign Ministry that has been negotiating with the Indian authorities for his extradition... We hope that Nur Hossain will be sent back soon,” said the chairman.

This is, however, not the � rst time such an assurance has reportedly come from Delhi.

On July 2, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali told parliament that the Indian government had agreed to hand over Nur Hossain. Indian For-eign Minister Sushma Swaraj had as-sured the extradition of Nur Hossain during her recent visit, he added.

Nur, who faces several murder charg-es, allegedly � nanced some RAB o� cials for the abduction and murder of seven of his rivals last April. The government lat-er arrested the suspected RAB o� cials, but Nur � ed to India, allegedly with the help of local MP Shamim Osman.

On June 15, the West Bengal police arrested him with some of his accom-plices from Kolkata. He has been in In-dian custody since then.

JCC meeting On a separate note, State Minister for Foreign A� airs Shahriar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune that the upcoming Joint Consultative Commission – the third one since it was launched in 2012 – would discuss all issues of mutual interest.

“We have several important issues,

including land boundary agreement, Teesta water sharing and border man-agement and border killing, and energy cooperation to be discussed in the fo-rum,” he said.

The state minister said energy was a new area of cooperation and both the countries would discuss it at the JCC.

It was politically decided that Bang-ladesh would get 100MW of electrici-ty from Palatana power plant and the Power Ministry is now working on the technical aspects, he said.

Bangladesh currently imports 500MW of power from India.

Hasina-Modi meetingThe state minister also said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indi-an counterpart Narendra Modi would meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.

After assuming power Modi stressed on having good relations with neigh-bours and visited Bhutan and Nepal within the last two months. He also sent his Foreign Minister Sushma Swa-raj to Dhaka where she said New Delhi wanted to have good relations with its neighbours, including Bangladesh.

The Indian prime minister invited all heads of states of all South Asian coun-tries to attend his swearing-in ceremony in May but Hasina could not attend it as she was in Japan at that time. l

ADB warns of 2% GDP loss by 2050 PAGE 1 COLUMN 3events “calls for wide-ranging action in-cluding stepped up safety net programs for the poor who are most at risk.”

By 2050, more than 64% of urban residents in Asia live in low-lying coast-al zones of � ood plains, including cities like Dhaka, the report states.

“Rapid urban growth has also caused other environmental problems due to industrial activity and waste generation, which must be tackled,” said Lohani.

A one-meter-level rise would cause permanent inundation of nearly 1% of the land area in Bangladesh, while it would a� ect as much as 36%.

The temperature is projected to rise from 0.9°C to 1.9°C by 2030, from 1.6°C to 2.5°C by 2050 and from 2.9°C to 4.2°C by 2080 in the country.

A temperature increase of 4°C would cause signi� cant decrease in production – some 28% for rice and 68% for wheat.

The division with the largest area permanently a� ected by a one-meter sea level rise would be Khulna, while Dhaka could see up to 14% of its territo-ry temporarily inundated with its large population facing the greatest risks.

More extreme weather events would also damage forests, wetlands and the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, which provides income and nutrition to millions of people and a cushion against rural poverty.

The report projected that the coastal population in Bangladesh could grow to about 4.39 crore in 2015 and 6.08 crore in 2050.

South Asia will need to spend at least $73bn, or an average of 0.86% of its GDP, every year between now and 2100 to adapt to the negative impacts.

On the other hand, if countries act together to keep the rise in global tem-peratures below 2.5°C, the cost of the region shielding itself from the worst of the impacts would be nearly halved to around 40.6bn, or 0.48% of GDP.

The report does not provide de-tailed adaptation cost projections on a country or sector basis, although in the energy sector it notes that a rising gap between demand and supply could see Bangladesh face an annual adaptation bill of over $89m in the 2030s, rising to over $363m in the 2050s.

The study details adaptive measures that the country could take to protect

its sensitive agriculture sector, includ-ing the introduction of drought-, � ood- and saline-tolerant crops and crop and aquaculture diversi� cation.

Annual rice production could in-crease by as much as 16% in Nepal’s hills and mountains by 2080, but drop as much as 23% in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Sri Lanka by that time.

Environment and Forests Minis-ter Anwar Hossain Manju said climate change poses an urgent need for in-creased investment and multinational capacity, and stronger government and private sector policies, to manage the impending impacts and consequences of climate change.

He said currently about $1bn of cli-mate funds were operational in the country, including $350m from its own resources.

Over the last 35 years, the govern-ment invested over $10m to make Bangladesh less vulnerable to natural disasters, he added.

ADB Country Director Kazuhiko Higuchi and Principle Climate Change Specialist of ADB Mafuzuddin Ahmed were present at the report launching ceremony. l

Commission � nds gross anomalies in judiciary PAGE 1 COLUMN 2away – after two months and said, “It seems that the delay was deliberate and was a result of a lack of necessary monitoring by the o� cials concerned.”

It is a matter of grave concern since a copy of the order was kept in an almi-rah of the judge’s chamber for over two years. “It cannot be said how long the document would have been left there, had the judge not noticed it. No doubt, it was also done deliberately,” said the commission.

Even though bench assistant Abdul Haque Sheikh was issued a show-cause notice for his acts, it could not be found whether any further measure had been taken against him and the commission said: “It seems that no departmental action was taken against him for com-mitting such a massive o� ence.”

It also took three years to record tes-timonies of the three witnesses since they did not appear before the court, though several arrest warrants had been issued against them. Moreover, it took three months for the court to be informed that one of the four witnesses had died.

The commission said: “Deposition of the witnesses could be recorded in one working day.”

The report also states: “It is irration-al and unacceptable that the closing ar-guments in the case were adjourned 10 times upon defence petitions.” This is why it took 11 months to complete the argument stage.

The probe body observed that had there been no delay in the case, it would have taken only two and a half years to deliver the verdict.

“The victims and their families were

deprived of justice for over one and a half decades only because of utter fail-ure of our judicial system, especially case management at the High Court.”

Commenting on two other cases � led over deaths of children after tak-ing adulterated paracetamol syrups, the commission said trials of those cas-es had been stalled for around 18 years. Still, it took over one year for the High Court order to reach the trial court. “Recording of testimonies began in Au-gust [this year], around 21 years after the cases had been � led.”

Regarding the Ad� ame case, the commission said: “The case has been disposed of only in the trial court. It may be taken to the High Court and even the Appellate Division. It is un-certain how much time it may take to � nally dispose of the case – this is the naked truth. With this judicial system, we have no option but to hide our face in shame in front of the people, the owners of Bangladesh.”

The report says such an “intolera-ble” judicial system must change for the sake of the country and the nation. “Though such reforms cannot be done overnight, it should begin now.”

Suggestions for trial courtsThe police administration will have to take prompt initiatives to produce wit-nesses before the courts. They should also inform the court about the non-ap-pearance of a witness. If needed, pun-ishment should be given to anyone re-sponsible for negligence.

The authorities should take steps if witnesses come to the court but are not produced before it. The depositions should be recorded with the highest

priority since the witnesses might not be able to go to the court repeatedly. To encourage them to testify, the witness-es need to be provided with bene� ts and facilities.

It is necessary to introduce an al-ternative and modern system for re-cording the testimonies of witnesses since the judges currently have to write those down.

The commission suggests continuing the trials without any adjournments, in line with the rules. If needed, adjourn-ments can be made for special circum-stances but should not be lengthy.

Suggestions for High CourtThe High Court has to be more cautious while issuing rules and stay orders. The chief justice may strictly discourage this while administrative steps can be taken to dispose of the rule related to stay orders.

The commission also suggested a provision that if a rule was not dis-posed of within six months, it would be vacated automatically.

Analysing the 14 years’ statistics on the appointment of judges, the probe body found that even though the num-ber of judges increased, the cases, in-stead of decreasing, were shooting up alarmingly.

As immediate measure, the com-mission suggested that a committee be formed led by the chief justice to appoint e� cient and honest persons as judges.

Commission Chairman Justice Khairul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune: “We submitted the report to the Law Ministry yesterday [Monday]. We hope the government will take necessary steps to reduce the backlog of cases.” l

Environment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Manju speaks at a report launching ceremony at a city hotel yesterday RAJIB DHAR

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

HEALTH SECTOR ACCREDITATION COUNCIL

Little progress in implementing PM’s pledgen Moniruzzaman Uzzal

More than � ve months ago, Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina directed the health sector o� cials to form an accreditation council which would bring pace and transparency in the decision making process, monitoring and project im-plementation, especially in the private sector.

The proposed council is supposed to ensure standard medical education and health services in the private sector.

But in all these months, the Health Ministry have only managed to form a 14-member committee of experts tasked with forming the accreditation council. The committee is also sup-posed to prepare a draft of the neces-sary law and the rules and regulations that would govern the council.

Professionals however have ques-tioned the necessity of such a council, saying there are enough authoritative bodies that could look after the stan-dard of medical education and health

services in the private sector.Over the last few years, private

medical and dental colleges, nursing institutes, medical assistant training schools and health technology insti-tutes have mushroomed around the country.

According to the Health Bulletin 2013 of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), at present there are a total of 53 medical colleges, 18 dental colleges, 74 nursing institutes, 200 oth-er institutes in the private sector.

There are allegations that most of these organisations have been given permission on political considerations and many of them have started oper-ations without ful� lling the minimum infrastructure requirements such as quali� ed teachers, enough teaching materials and laboratory facilities.

The existing regulatory bodies have been largely blamed for the malprac-tice in the private sector and failing to monitor the situation.

During a meeting of the National

Health Council � ve months ago, noted professionals such as national profes-sors, head of medical colleges and uni-versities and leaders of doctors’ associ-ations, expressed concerns about the low quality of eduction in the private sector.

Upon hearing their concerns, the prime minister, who also attended that meeting, gave the directive for forming the accreditation council, sources who attended that meeting told the Dhaka Tribune.

Motiur Rahman, a joint secretary of the Health Ministry, told the Dhaka Tri-bune that the committee would sit in a meeting soon to discuss the formation of the accreditation council and pro-mulgating the necessary law, rules and regulations.

While talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim has also admitted that some of the import-ant decisions in his sector could not be taken on time because of bureaucracy.

Asked why it took them � ve months

to just form the expert committee, the minister said: “Although it has been late but the ministry is working on it.”

A few days ago, former BMA president Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub got a letter from the ministry in which he was informed that he had been made a member of the 14-member experts’ committee.

He told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is not clear what the function of the accredi-tation council will be. There are several government bodies such as the BMDC [Bangladesh Medical and Dental Coun-cil], the DGHS and the universities that should be enough to regulate the med-ical education institutions. Then why do we need to form another separate council?”

He also said: “First of all, I would like to know who will conduct the council: will it be the government or any private body? As far as I know, in the devel-oped countries, independent bodies conduct their accreditation councils. It will be clear only when the committee sits in a meeting.” l

Qaisar’s trial likely to end todayn Udisa Islam

Claiming that the accused, Syed Mo-hammad Qaisar, had not been present at any of the crime scenes during the 1971 Liberation War, his defence yes-terday ended the closing arguments for the case by demanding the acquittal of the former Jatiya Party state minister.

When the defence argued on hear-say witness, the tribunal said had they read the previous judgements, they would not have killed time by placing arguments on decided matters.

The defence claimed that the third prosecution witness had not been cred-ible. The witness said as a member of “Qaisar Bahini,” he had gone to � ve vil-lages to see the atrocities.

The tribunal said the witness claimed to be a member of the “Qais-ar Bahini” but he was not with Qais-ar when the collaborators’ force had committed atrocities at 22 villages in Nasirnagar. He had not even speci� ed the number or names of dead bodies. “What is your problem with that?” the tribunal questioned, to which the defence replied that the witness’ evi-dence was not acceptable.

The defence also questioned how the investigation o� cer had charged some-one for atrocities in 22 villages while the o� cer had visited only eight of them.

When the defence questioned the validity of seeking compensation for three victims, the tribunal said: “Fines are also punishment since the ICT Act allows the tribunal to give death penal-ty or any other punishment.”

After the � rst half of the proceed-ings, the defence pleaded for more time to place arguments on the legal part. It irked the tribunal, which said, “You have nothing to place on legal argu-ments. Just � nish within 15 minutes.”

After lunch break, the defence took 25 minutes to conclude their session.

The tribunal then adjourned the hearing until today asking the prosecu-tion to end the rebuttal within half an hour in the � rst session. l

Khaleda Zia skips protest rally due to ‘illness’n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Everyone expected BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to attend the rally of the 20-party alliance at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital yesterday afternoon.

Even after the meeting had gone one for one and a half hours, an o� cial of the BNP chairperson’s press wing told the Dhaka Tribune that she would reach the venue at any moment. The main banner hung behind the stage said she was the chief guest.

Some members of Chairperson’s Security Force, assigned to ensure her security, were also on the stage.

Thousands of people, including many who came from other parts of the country, thronged the venue, hoping to see their leader and listen to her de-liver a speech at the rally organised to protest against the national broadcast policy formulated by the government.

They gathered there with the hope that Khaleda Zia would announce the next course of action that the party and the alliance would adopt in the coming days.

But � nally, the BNP chief did not attend the rally. BNP’s Dhaka City Unit Convener Mirza Abbas said she could not come due to an illness and said sor-ry on behalf of the chairperson. Later, party’s Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir addressed the rally as the chief guest.

Earlier on Monday night, Khaleda’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that the decision to join the programme was yet to be � nalised.

Syrul Kabir Khan, an o� cial of chairperson’s press wing, at 3.30pm yesterday said she would start towards the venue.

Nevertheless, the party apparently

succeeded in ensuring an impressive gathering which it badly needed. Be-cause the party had to prove that it still had strong public support despite the failure of the January 5 election resis-tance movement.

Braving the rain, party leaders and activists started congregating at the venue from 2:00 pm. At around 3:30 pm, heavy downpour forced thelead-

ers and activists to leave the venue to take shelter in an adjacent building. The activists were scattered till the last minute of the programme.

When the activists realised that Khaleda Zia would not attend the pro-gramme, the audience started leaving the venue.

Earlier this year, the BNP-led al-liance staged a long march in the

country’s northern region, protesting against India’s move to hold back Tees-ta water. It was announced before the programme that BNP chief Khaleda Zia would not attend it.

This programme eventually saw very little participation and enthusi-asm not only from the public, but also from the BNP’s grass-roots level lead-ers and activists.

Last year, the BNP-led alliance or-ganised another political rally at the same venue. Khaleda Zia was supposed to attend the programme and it attract-ed an impressive gathering.

But she eventually did not turn up at that rally. However, she delivered a speech through video conference.

Jamaat-e-Islami, the second largest component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, had a strong presence in yes-terday’s gathering at Suhrawardy Udy-an. The Jamaat and Shibir men carried large banners and posters, demanding the release of their detained leaders and activists.

When their leader Nayeb-e-Ameer Mojibur Rahman started delivering speech, the audience in the front row, who were mainly activists from Jamaat and Shibir, started clapping and chanting slogans “Naraye Takbir, Allahu Akbar”.

Chaired by Mirza Abbas, the rally was also addressed by senior leaders of the party and its alliance. l

‘Azhar responsible for Dakhiganj killings’n Udisa Islam

The prosecution in the trial against al-leged al-Badr leader ATM Azharul Is-lam yesterday claimed that the accused had assisted the Pakistani occupation forces in the killing of 10 innocent ci-vilians at Dakhignaj cremation ground in Mahiganj of Rangpur during the 1971 Liberation War.

On the second day of closing argu-ments in the case, the prosecution ar-gued on one of the six charges framed against the Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general. The International Crimes Tribunal 1 later adjourned the session until today.

The accused was present in the dock.

According to the charge, Azhar, then president of Rangpur unit Islami Chha-tra Sangha, the student wing of Jamaat, had collaborated with the Pakistani Army in capturing 11 people. All but one were killed at Dakhiganj.

Prosecutor Tapos K Baul claimed that before they had been killed, the captured persons were tortured at Rangpur Cantonment. He added that the prosecution had proved the charge by placing su� cient evidence.

Mentioning the depositions of four prosecution witnesses, the junior prosecutor said Azhar used to visit Rangpur Cantonment with his 50cc motorcycle, hoisting a Pakistani � ag. Tapos said as a leader of Chhatra Sangha, the accused had facilitated the abduction, torture and killings that took place on April 3, 1971.

According to the prosecution, the na-ture of crime is abetting and facilitating the commission of o� ences of abduc-tion, con� nement, torture and murder as crimes against humanity as speci� ed in section 3(2)(a)(g)(h) of the Interna-tional Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973.

Azhar was indicted on November 12 last year. A total of 19 witnesses testi-� ed against the accused. l

The BNP-led 20-party alliance holds a rally at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday demanding the cancellation of the recently introduced National Broadcast Policy MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Indictment hearing in blogger Rajib murder case on September 2n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday � xed Septem-ber 2 for passing an order as to whether it would indict the eight accused, in-cluding militant out� t Ansarullah Ban-gla Team Chief Mufti Jasimuddin Rah-mani, in blogger Rajib’s murder case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions judge Md Jahirul Haque set the date for the next hearing in the murder case.

Earlier, the Chief Metropolitan Mag-istrate’s Court (CMM) of Dhaka sent the case documents to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court for its disposal.

Ahmed Rajib Haider, also an activist of Shahbagh movement, was hacked to death in the capital’s Pallabi on Febru-ary 15 last year.

On January 28, detectives submitted a charge sheet to the Dhaka CMM court against Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani and seven former students of North South University. The charge sheet men-tioned Jasimuddin as the “instigator” and Redwanul Azad Rana, one of the seven accused, as the “planner”.

Rana is on the run while Jasimud-din and the other six - Md Faisal Bin Nayem, Maksudul Hasan, Md Ehsan Reza, Nayem Sikdar alias Iraj, Na� s Im-tiaz and Sadman Yaseer Mahmud - are now behind bars. l

Language hero Matin’s condition not critical n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The doctors of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) yesterday said although the physical condition of language movement hero Abdul Matin is serious, but not critical.

BSMMU Director brigadier general (retd) Abdul Mazid con� rmed his con-dition, he is in the intensive care unit where Matin, 88, had been admitted on Monday following a stroke that par-tially paralysed him.

On the day, the hospital authorities formed an eight-member medical board headed by Medicine Faculty Dean ABM Abdullah to observe his condition.

After a review, the board suggested giving him medical treatment for heart and opined that If his condition did not improved in the meantime, he will have to undergo a neurosurgery to remove the haematoma developed in his brain.

Several board members told the Dhaka Tribune that Abdul Matin was breathing without the help of a venti-lation support although his pulse rate was high, but his blood pressure and respiratory rate remained normal. l

How UK Chapter BNP leader Mujib was abductedn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Abductors, disguised as law enforc-ers, kidnapped UK chapter BNP leader Mujibur Rahman Mujib and his driver Rezaul Karim Sohel, said his brother-in-law Barrister Anwar Hossain yesterday.

Quoting the victim, Anwar said Mu-jib had attended a BNP programme in Sunamganj on May 4 and then headed to Sylhet around 4pm. On the way, his private car was intercepted at Tuker-bazar by people who introduced them-selves as law enforcers.

They had asked for the driver’s li-cence and the car’s documents. After

checking the licence, they said it was a fake.

They asked Mujib and his driver to get into their micro bus. When the lat-ter refused and began scu� ing with them, they threatened to � re at them.

After getting into the car, something was sprayed on them and neither Mujib nor his driver can remember anything after that.

Mujib even said that he could not member where he had been kept for the duration of the time that he had been missing.

Three and a half months after they were abducted, Mujib and his driver

Rezaul were � nally rescued on Mon-day.

Mujib was admitted to the United Hospital and might be brought to Suna-mganj today.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, ASP Hemayetul Islam, who coordinat-ed the rescue operation, said they had reached Dhaka and were now interro-gating Mujib at United Hospital.

He said they had so far failed to get detailed information about the abduc-tion.

When Sumanganj Superintendent of police Harunur Rashid was asked about this, he said: “Mujib has been under-

taking medical treatment under our care.” He refused to make any further comment about this.

When Mujib went missing, a general diary was � led with Sadar police and was then received as a regular case.

Police had earlier raided various places in Sunamganj, Sylhet, Mymens-ingh and Tangail, but failed to trace him.

Mujib’s phone was found switched on in Mymensingh on May 5, a day after he went missing in Sunamganj.

Police conducted raids and arrested two persons, suspecting their involve-ment in the kidnapping.

His phone was then found switched

on in Madhupurgarh of Tangail. Police arrested four more persons

from Sunamganj and Habiganj in con-nection with the abduction.

All the arrested are now out on bail. Finally, on May 26, police raided

the house of a London expatriate with whom Mujib had a longstanding feud.

Two teams of UK police had been to Dhaka for the rescue mission.

Since then, reportedly no raid had been made in rescuing the BNP leader.

At 7am on Monday, Mujib and his driver were found veiled and blindfold-ed near Tongi Bridge on the outskirts of Dhaka city. l

What looks like a pond is actually a � eld inundated by stagnant rainwater at Brahmanbaria Government College. Students had no option but to wade through ankle-deep water yesterday to get to their classes DHAKA TRIBUNE

Seminar on student leadership devt at ULABn Tribune Report

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) arranged a seminar on Student Leadership Development Programme yesterday, says a press release.

This seminar generated discus-sions among the students and com-munity change agents. ULAB Vice Chancellor Imran Rahman gave thewelcome speech while the pro-gramme’s Assistant Director Meher Afroze presented a brief overview of the workshop.

In the event, the participants dis-cussed how the spontaneous partici-pation of the students led to enhanc-ing their own skills and how leaders emerged from among them.

Director and CEO of BCCP Muham-mad Shahjahan and former ambassador Muhammad Zamir and Psychologist

Mehtab Khanum were also present, among others. l

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Bay of Bengal survey awaits PM's green signaln Aminur Rahman Rasel

The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) will be seeking the prime minister's permission today to appoint a consulting � rm to perform a 2D survey of the country's underwater energy resources, an o� cial said.

This will be the � rst meeting be-tween EMRD and the premier, who holds the power and mineral resources portfolio, since the settlement of a mar-itime dispute with India to de� nitively set the extent of Bangladesh's maritime boundary.

“We will be placing a presentation on oil and gas exploration before the premier at her o� ce,” EMRD Secretary Md Abuba-kar Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune.

Secretaries of di� erent ministries and divisions will attend today’s meet-ing which will be presided over by the prime minister, o� cials said.

“The international oil companies will be interested if we complete a 2D seismic survey before inviting tenders for the new blocks,” Petrobangla Chair-man Hossain Monsur told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“There are companies who will car-

ry out the surveys and sell the data di-rectly to the international oil � rms. We won't have any expenses because the work will be done under production sharing contracts (PSC),” he said.

After a two year pause, the govern-ment will be formulating a fresh pro-duction sharing contract (PSC) model to award o� shore hydrocarbon blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

The previous four rounds were � oat-ed in 1974, 1993, 2008 and 2012.

Bangladesh now has 23 hydrocarbon blocks in the bay.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration

at Hague, Netherlands recently award-ed Bangladesh 19,467 square-kilome-tres, out of the total 25,602 square-kilo-metres disputed with India, in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh won another case against Myanmar in 2012, following which it re-ceived over 111,000 square-kilometres of area, including the disputed 25,000 square-kilometres.

In 2011, a PSC was signed between ConocoPhillips and Petrobangla to ex-plore two o� shore blocks. That was the country’s � rst ever deep-water hydro-carbon hunt. l

BGB to seek progress report on Felani murder trial n Rabiul Islam

Bangladesh will seek a progress report on the Felani murder case at a � ve day conference between Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Border Security Force of India (BSF) scheduled to begin in New Delhi today.

Felani, a 15-year-old girl, was shot dead near the BSF Choudhuryhat Camp as she was trying to cross thebarbed-wire fence at Anantapur border point in Kurigram’s Phulbarhi upazila in 2011.

Her body was left hanging from the fence for quite a while. The killing had provoked huge outrage in both Bangla-desh and India.

“The issue of Felani's killing is on the agenda and we would want toknow of the progress during the confer-ence,” BGB chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yes-terday.

The BGB chief would lead a 22-mem-ber delegation from Bangladesh,a senior o� cial of the home ministry said.

Last September, during a conference held in Dhaka, BSF o� cials said they would consider Dhaka's concern over the Felani issue.

In a letter issued last week, BSF wanted to know whether Felani's fa-ther and maternal uncle could be pro-duced for a deposition.

“We have replied to the letter that we are ready to produce them and asked them to let us know when and where,” Ahmed said.

Seeking anonymity, a lawyer who is helping Felani's family, said her fa-ther Nur Islam appealed to the Indian Supreme Court, seeking compensation

and fair trial of her killing. On September 6, 2013, a special

court set up by BSF acquitted BSF Con-stable Amiya Ghosh from the charge of killing Felani Khatun at the Cooch Be-har border.

BSF’s 181 Battalion Constable Amiya Ghosh, the prime accused, could not be found guilty because of “inconclusive and insu� cient” evidence against him, the court said in its verdict.

During a BGB-BSF conference held in September, 2013 in Dhaka, the In-dian side promised to stop borderkillings by BSF, however, several in-cidents of border killings have taken place since then.

According to media reports, on June 28, 2014, BSF killed a Bangladeshi trad-er on the Putkhali border of Jessore Benapole.

On February 26, 2014, BSF shot dead a Bangladeshi cattle trader on Panchbi-bi frontier in Joypurhat.

“We would press the issue of border killing until it is brought down to zero,” BGB chief said.

Issues like curbing trans-border crimes, increasing coordinated pa-trolling to prevent criminals, smug-glers and insurgents on the border would also be discussed, he said. l

Tofail: Sustainable development needs collaborative initiativesn Rabiul Islam

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said at the closing ceremony of Bangla-desh Summit on Sustainable Develop-ment 2014 that Bangladesh faced big challenges in many areas, including limitation of resources, employment generation, infrastructure and climate change.

The four-day summit, organised by Dhaka-based Global Citizens’ Forum on Sustainable Development, came to an end yesterday in the capital.

Speaking as the chief guest, the min-ister said: “We have achieved much in many areas, including poverty reduc-tion, gender equity and enrolment in primary school. We are even ahead of India and Pakistan in some areas.

“But we still have a long way to go, and collaborative initiatives are needed to at-tain sustainable development,” he said.

Addressing the event, Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed, convener of Global Citizens’ Forum on Sustainable Development, said: “We emit very little green house gas, but climate change is a big threat for us.”

Stating that food security, disaster management and climate change were big challenges, Kholiquzzaman said: “All of our activities centre human in-terest.”

The speakers also put emphasis on a few areas as imperative in sustainable development, including poverty reduc-tion through social safety net, transpar-ency and accountability in governance, productive employment, and conserva-tion and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources. l

Robbers loot Tk30 lakh by hurling bombs; seven injuredn Mohammad Jamil Khan

Armed robbers looted Tk30.60 lakh by hurling crude bombs in the capital’s Moghbazar area yesterday leaving at least seven people injured.

The incident took place near Dilu Road around 10am.

The injured are Managing Director of JR Corporation Harun-or-Rashid, Chief Financial Manager Nur Moham-mad, Director (food) Kamal Hossain, Assistant Mechanical Engineer Monir Hossain, Guard Delowar Altaf, and two helpers Sohag and Jahirul.

“The injured are undergoing treat-ment at Al-Baraka Hospital, the con-dition of Altaf and Monir are critical.

The victims have splinter injuries,” said Ramna police station O� cer-in-Charge Moshiur Rahman.

The muggers had opened � ve rounds of bullets in the air to create panic, the OC said.

Mohammad Jasimuddin, senior ac-countant of JR corporation, said eight o� cials including himself were on way to NCC Bank Moghbazar branch on two bi-cycles to deposit the corporation’s money.

They were carrying the money in two boxes – one had Tk23.10 lakh while the rest was stored inside the other one, he said.

As soon as they reached the main road in Moghbazar, at least eight armed robbers hurled bombs at them and a smoke covered the area, said Jasim.

The robbers took the money and � red some shots in the air and � ed the spot on two motorbikes, he said.

Abul Kashem, owner of JR corpo-ration which is a distributor of Akij Group, said he had been operating the business in the area for last 15 years, however, he had never faced any kind of threat from anyone before.

Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Ramna division) Mohammad Iqbal said police were try-ing to nab the criminals.

On Sunday, some assailants took Tk30 lakh after shooting a person in front of Mirpur police station in the capital. Police have yet to arrest anyone in this regard. l

JS watchdog grills labour secretary over Tuba mayhem n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The labour and employment ministry on Tuesday faced hard questions from MPs over its role in dealing with labour unrest at Tuba Garments, embarrassing the authorities in front of international buyers.

Ever since the devastating � re at Tazreen Garments and the Rana Plaza collapse, ready-made garments (RMG) buyers have pressed the government to improve working conditions for Bangladeshi labour or face a boycott of products from the country.

In a discussion on the recent unrest at Tuba Garments over the non-pay-ment of three-months wages and festival bonuses, the parliamentary standing committee on labour and em-ployment said the ministry should sue the owners for violating labour laws.

According to the law, owners must pay the previous month's wages by the 10th day of the current month or face legal action from the labour directorate.

Mujibul Haque, the state minister for labour and employment, did not attend the meeting because he was un-well.

Mikail Shipar, the labour secretary, answered questions posed by members of the 10-person watchdog body whose job is to ensure the transparency and accountability of the ministry.

“Why did you not intervene before the situation got out of control? Why did workers have to take to the streets to get paid? Why did you negotiate with the owners?” committee mem-ber Rezaul Haque Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune members had asked at

the meeting in the parliament building.Isra� l Alam, another committee

member, said if the ministry had in-tervened immediately, workers could have gotten their wages on time and the unrest could have been averted.

“Every one of the 3,500 factories in the country except for Tuba Garments paid their sta� their wages on time. By going into negotiation with the Ban-gladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the owners, you made it look like the government was too weak to protect the interests of the people,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Mikail Shipar said the workers would not have been paid if the gov-ernment had opted for legal action.

“Therefore we preferred negotiation to cases,” he said.

Isra� l said: “If you � led cases in May, the workers would have been paid for the months of June and July.”

Tuba Garments workers held a fast-unto-death to get their overdue wages. The company claimed it could not pay because its proprietor, Delwar Hossain, was in jail.

The BGMEA o� ered partial payment, but some workers rejected the o� er.

Isra� l Alam also raised a question on the activities of RMG buyer's group Accord and Alliance, which have been monitoring the conditions of the gar-ment units.

“Under whose authority are Accord and Alliance interfering in our RMG sector? What is their legal status?” he asked.

Isra� l said the watchdog body would discuss the issue at its next meeting. l

BGB personnel from Char Khanpur camp carry their furniture to a new location yesterday as their previous camp site is soon set to fall victim to the erosion of Padma River in Rajshahi AZAHAR UDDIN

Guests address the closing ceremony of the Bangladesh Summit on Sustainable Development at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban in Dhaka University yesterday RAJIB DHAR

US students complete Bangla course at IUBn Tribune Report

Under the Critical Language Scholar-ship Programme of the US government, thirteen students from that country have completed a nine-week Bangla language course at Independent Uni-versity, Bangladesh (IUB).

Upon completion of the course, IUB’s Bangla Language Institute or-ganised a cultural programme titled “Banglai Bandhi Gaan” on Monday at its Bashundhara campus, says a media release.

The main motto of the course is to increase pro� ciency in the language so that the students would be able to use Bangla in their professional careers.

During the event, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena, Korean

Ambassador Lee Young Young and IUB Vice Chancellor M Omar Rahman at-tended as guests.

In his speech, Mozena said Bangla-desh would be the next Asian econom-ic tiger. l

‘The issue of Felani’s killing is on the agenda and we would want to know of the progress during the conference’

WEATHER

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:17am Sunrise 5:35am Zohr 12:02am Asr 4:36pm Magrib 6:28pm Esha 7:47pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:28PM SUN RISES 5:36AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW34.5ºC 24.6ºC

Chuadanga Rangamati

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 32 26Chittagong 29 25Rajshahi 32 26Rangpur 31 27Khulna 30 25Barisal 30 25Sylhet 30 25Cox’s Bazar 28 26

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Man sentencedto deathn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday sen-tenced a man to death for murdering his colleague 10 years ago.

After examining 27 witnesses, Chit-tagong public security tribunal judge Mumin Ullah passed the verdict in ab-sentia of the convict Ashraf Hossain.

On April 2, 2004, Ashraf stabbed the victim Nur Khalek Master, a senior o� cer of Golden Life Insurance Chit-tagong branch, in Karbala Tila area in Fatikchhari.

Investigation revealed that Ashraf stabbed Nur to death as revenge for terminating his job on charges of cor-ruption.

Danesh Mia, father of the victim, � led a murder case with the Fatikch-hari police station in this connection.

Police submitted the charge sheet against two – Golam Mostofa and Ashraf Hossain – on October 2, 2004.

The convict is now on the run while Golam Mostofa, another accused in the case, was acquitted as the charge against him was not proven, said Advo-cate Jahangir Alam, prosecutor of the tribunal. l

Recovery of canals in Sylhet city faces obstaclesn Our correspondent, Sylhet

The ongoing project of the Sylhet City Corporation to reclaim and revive the city’s canals is facing hurdles which are slowing down its progress, said city corporation o� cials.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Syl-het Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury claimed the major problem was that the space at the canals’ entry and exit points was inadequate for the excavators.

“Encroachers illegally occupy most of these canals and are hampering their natural � ow,” he said. “Many of these canals used to be 60-feet wide, but now some of them are as narrow as three feet. A few have narrowed down to even half a foot. At several points, their courses have changed.

“The mechanised excavators cannot enter the canals; if they can, they can-not get out of them. It is a big problem as we need those machines to remove the illegal structure as well as dredge the canals in order to bring back their natural water � ow,” the mayor said.

At present, there are nine canals with 16 streams in Sylhet city. The canals – Malonichhora, Goalichhora, Gabhiar Khal, Dhupachhora, Holdichhora, Kali-barichhora, Mongolichhora, Juginichho-ra and Bhubichhora – amount to a length of 32km. The city’s drainage system is entirely dependent on these canals.

Due to the insu� cient water � ow in these canals, Sylhet city often gets waterlogged when it rains, causing the immense su� ering of the city-dwellers. The city gets submerged in knee-deep water even in moderate rain.

Before this project, another plan to reclaim the canals was undertaken by the city corporation in 2010, when Syl-het City Awami League President Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran was mayor.

However, the plan did not come to fruition due to mismanagement as well as intervention by the local in� uentials.

The project was revived last year, when BNP-backed Ariful was elected as the city’s mayor. After taking charge of

o� ce, he initiated massive drives to de-molish illegal structures on the banks of these canals on October 24 last year.

“We have already reclaimed Goali-chhora, Malonichhora, Dhupachhora, Gabhiar Khal and Holdichhora,” the mayor said. However, reviving Gabhiar Khal was tricky.

“The stretch of Gabhiar Khal be-tween Sheikhghat and Laldighirpar areas was � lled up and under person-al ownership. But the owners, Akbul Hossain and Abul Hossain, residents of Laldighirpar, donated the land when they learned about the city corporation project,” the mayor said.

“We used 1,000 feet of the land to build an eight-foot wide canal to connect Gabhiar Khal to the Surma River,” he said.

“Similarly, to recover Holdichhora, we acquired land and built a 1,800-foot long, 15-foot wide connecting canal to link it with the Surma. We also constructed U-type reinforced cement concrete pil-lars to prevent illegal constructions from being built in the canal,” he said.

The UNDP funded the recovery of Holdichhora, the mayor added.

“Because of our initiative, there has been no waterlogging in the city this year,” he said, adding that no such ini-tiative has been taken since 1956.

Noor Azizur Rahman, acting chief engineer at Sylhet City Corporation, said the drive to remove the illegal structures would continue, and they had plans in this regard.

However, the chief engineer also spoke about the obstacles hampering the project’s progress, speci� cally men-tioning waste dumping in the drains.

“People dump waste in the drains, which clogs them up and disrupts the � ow. It also creates problems in clean-ing up the canals,” he said.

Dr Tow� q M Seraj, managing direc-tor of Sheltech (Pvt) Ltd, the urban de-sign planner of the Sylhet City Corpo-ration, said the local in� uential people also caused hindrances in the project.

“The authorities should handle it strictly,” he said. l

Ecnec okays compact township project for rural peopleThe government will provide 70% of the cost while the 30% will come from bene� ciariesn BSS

The Executive Committee of the Na-tional Economic Council yesterday ap-proved compact township project for rural people of seven divisions involv-ing Tk424.34crore.

The cooperatives based township proj-ect branding as "Palli Janapad" aiming to save arable land, ensure food security as well as improve their living standards.

The approval came from the 5th Ec-nec meeting of the current � scal held at the NEC conference room in city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with Ecnec chair-person and Prime Minister Sheikh Ha-sina in the chair.

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Ka-mal, after the meeting, told reporters that four-story buildings will be con-

structed in seven villages of the seven divisions accommodating some 272 families in each village.

He said the project has been under-taken as a pilot basis and based on its successes it might be extended in future.

The project sites would be selected prioritizing on the wage-earners remit-tance prone areas.

Under the project, there will be � ats in four categories for the bene� ciaries. A-type � ats would be sized of 915 square feet while B-type � ats of 710 square feet, C-type � ats of 460 square feet and D-type � ats of 365 square feet with each square feet areas having a price of Taka 1603.

Of the total project cost, the gov-ernment would initially provide 70 per cent of the cost while the remaining 30 per cent will come from the bene� cia-

ries. The � at owners would repay the loan to the government in 15 years at a � at rate of 5 per cent interest.

The government will bear Taka 362.98 crore of the Palli Janapad project cost while the bene� ciaries will con-tribute Taka 61.36 crore. The ECENC today approved a total of three uplift projects including the Palli Janapad with the outlay of Taka 829.85 crore.

"Of the total project cost, the gov-ernment will provide Taka 520.03 crore from the national exchequer while Taka 87.41 crore will come from the or-ganization's own fund and Taka 222.41 crore as project assistance," informed Planning Minister.

State Minister for Finance and Plan-ning MA Mannan was also present at the brie� ng.

About the Palli Janapad project, planning ministry sources said the project has been re-designed that in-cludes expansion of the project area from three divisions to seven divisions, downsizing the buildings' size from six-storey to four-storey and some in-creased amenities.

The Palli Janapad project is expect-ed to complete by June, 2017. Center for Irrigation and Water Management (CIWM) and Rural Development Acad-emy (RDA) will jointly implement the project under the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division.

The main project activities include construction of seven four-storey build-ings, construction of another three-sto-rey seven buildings for animal hus-bandry and marketing of agricultural

produces, setting up solar panels, ensur-ing safe water supply, rain water reser-vation tank construction as well as lake, construction of biogas plant, producing high-quality organic fertilizer and its marketing, operating various income generating training for the bene� ciaries and operating RDA credit operations for entrepreneurship development.

The day's Ecnec meeting approved another project titled "Extended Cot-ton Cultivation (Phase-1)" project with TK 105 crore to be implemented by June 2018.

Cotton Development Board (CDB) under the Ministry of Agriculture will implement the project aiming to en-hance the overall cotton production of the country.

The Planning Minister said the proj-

ect will be implemented in 35 upazilas of 10 districts and once the project is implemented it would be possible to raise the cotton production to 7-10 lakh bales per year.

According to the Ministry of Textiles and Jute, the country imports around 4 to 4.2 million bales cotton per year with a cost of Taka 21,000 crore.

The day's Ecnec meeting gave nod to another revised project titled "Siddhir-ganj-Maniknagar 230 KV Transmission Line (1st revised)" with downsizing the project cost to Taka 300.51 crore from Taka 391.70 crore. Of the total project cost, IDA of the World Bank will pro-vide Taka 222.41 crore.

Ministers, State Ministers, Planning Commission members and other high o� cials were present in the meeting. l

Four killed in separate accidents in Chittagongn FM Mizanur Rahaman

Four persons, including a minor boy, died in separate accidents in Chit-tagong.

A worker, Amir Hossain, 40, sus-tained injuries yesterday morning when an iron sheet fell on his chest while working at an iron sheet factory of Aramit Group which is located in BISIC Industrial Area of Kalurghat.

He died an hour after being admit-ted to Chittagong Medical College Hos-pital (CMCH), said Nayek Abul Bashar of CMCH police outpost.

In Fatikchhari, Bijoy Saotal, 35, a worker of  Karnaphuli tea garden, was crushed under the wheels of a truck af-ter he fell from the running truck inside the tea garden around 1:30pm.

Bijoy succumbed to his injuries after being taken to CMCH.

A seven-year-old boy, Rabiul Alam Sakib, died in Chunnupara area of An-wara upazila when a tractor hit him while he was � shing in a paddy � eld around 3pm, said Nayek Abul Bashar.

In another incident on  Monday at the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port, Pitul Gazi, the quartermaster of a lighter vessel ABM Absar Uddin-2 died around 10:30pm when he got thrown to the � oor of a cabin.

Rezaul Karim, Pitul’s brother-in-law, said Pitul was severely injured when he fell in the cabin while the vessel was navigating through turbulent currents at sea.

He was taken to CMCH where the doctors declared him dead. l

Six sentenced to death for murdering RAB, Coast Guard menn Our Correspondent, Khulna

A court yesterday sentenced to death six robbers and seven others tolife on charges of killing a member of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)and two others of the Coast Guard in Bagerhat.

District and Sessions Judge SM So-laiman handed down the verdict.

The death row convicts are Ra� qul Sheikh, Kuddus Sheikh, Idris Sheikh, Babul Sheikh, Alkach Fakir and Ilias Sheikh.

They are from Khalkulia village of Morelganj upazila in the district.

The life terms were handed to Reazul Sheikh, Akram Sheikh, Alam Sheikh, Badsha Sheikh, Jamal Sheikh, Kamal Sheikh and Aslam Sheikh.

They are from Gabgasia village of Morelganj upazila in Bagerhat and Ho-goldanga village in Khulna’s Batighata upazila.

The court also acquitted two others of the murder charge -Nanna Sheikh and Mizanur Rahman.

The case in details was that Rab and Coast Guard members began a joint raid in the Sundarbans on December 1, 2006.

During the raid, they came under attack by the convicts, when they reached the Pashur river at East Sund-arbans’ Chandpai range.

All of a sudden, they pounced on the law enforcerment members and jumped into the river along with them.

The bodies of Rab 6’s PC Md Kan-chan and Coast Guard’s members AH Kabir and MA Islam were later recov-ered in the river.

Rab 6’s then Deputy Assistant Di-rector Md Mohsin Ali � led a case with Mongla police station on December 2.

Mongla police station’s then Sub-In-spector Md Nasir Uddin pressed charges against 15 robbers on May 8, 2007. l

Two held with 1,000 yaba pills n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A team from the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) arrested two people yes-terday for possession of 1,000 pieces of yaba from Chittagong’s Muradpur area.

The arrested Mohammad Ramij, 23, and Mohammad Nurul Amin, 24, are both from Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar.

Police, disguised as yaba buyers, arrested the duo around 4:30pm from Zaman Hotel, an eatery situated in Muradpur area, said Superintendent Chowdhury Imrul Hasan of DNC Chit-tagong Metro Region police.

“We have been following them for the last three days. We managed to convince them to meet us to sell yaba pills,” said Hasan who had led the drive.

The seized yaba pills, worth Tk5 lakh, were handed over to Panchlaish police station in Chittagong and a case was � led in this connection, said DNC sources. l

Ignoring tra� c signals and oblivious to tra� c rules, vehicle drivers manoeuvre their way through jaywalking pedestrians at the Shahbagh intersection yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Indiscriminate parking on the side of the road is one of the major reasons behind everyday tra� c congestion in the capital. In utter disregard to pedestrians, drivers often use the footpaths as well for parking their vehicles. A pedestrian is seen squeezing through what little space is left after a car occupied almost all the footpath in Dhanmondi yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Investigation revealed that Ashraf stabbed Nur to death as revenge for terminating his job on charges of corruption

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Jangalia Bus Stand set up three years back in Comilla Sadar upazila has developed several large potholes causing immense su� erings for both bus sta� and passengers. The picture was taken yesterday

Unbridled corruption at Habiganj School and College The authority has been accused of embezzling money in the name of student enrollment

n Our Correspondent, Habiganj

Rampant corruption has allegedly plagued the Skills and Training En-hancement Project (STEP) of Habiganj Technical School and College. The au-thority has been accused of embezzling large chunks of money in the name of student enrollment, monthly allow-ance and study tours.

Principal Habibur Rahman and Ho-sainuzzaman Chowdhury, the teacher in charge of the project, have been ac-cused for misappropriating funds, nep-otism and irregularities.

The STEPS project, funded by the government and the World Bank, was launched to bene� t underprivileged

and unemployed youths. Run under the Directorate of Technical Education Bangladesh, the project is supposed to provide training in four categories to 240 poor and undereducated individuals. It also has a monthly allowance provision of Tk700 for the youths.

However, many students alleged that they were never given the month-ly allowance. The budget for 16 study tours each year has also been misap-propriated.

Dhaka Tribune investigated the matter and found widespread corruption and nepotism in the admission process. The authority has also been involved in extortion in

the name of “form fees” by releasing more admission forms than the actual number of seats available in two academic sessions a year.

Sources said, activities of the STEP project were closely guarded, so no-body knew what was happening. More-over, the absence of a local committee in the college helped the corruption to go on unabated.

When contacted, Principal Habibur Rahman denied all allegations of any wrongdoing and claimed that those were false. He did acknowledge tak-ing “form fees” for the mosque fund, but could not give any satisfactory an-swer regarding the construction of the mosque. l

Erosion in Padma, newly built dam at danger n Our Correspondent,

Chapainawabganj

Fresh erosion in the unpro-tected part of the Padma Riv-er is threatening the recently � nished left bank protection project of the river.

Residents of Goaldu-bi in Charbagdanga union of Sadar upazila are living in constant fear of losing their houses and mango or-chards. According to them, if such erosion continues, Bangladesh will lose some landmass to India which sit-uated on Padma’s right side.

600 metres, out of the 1500 metre river bank at Goaldubi, was brought un-der protection in the last � scal year. Tk15 crore was spent in putting up the em-bankment. Then, erosion suddenly started occurring in 100 metres of the remain-ing 900 metre bank. Already the mighty Padma has pen-etrated 100 metres inward, devouring land and mango orchards.

Contractors of the left bank protection project, Mainul Islam and Abdur Rak-

in, said there had been no response from the authority despite their request to take up a new project to protect the rest of the left bank. Lo-cals urged the authority to take quick measures to slow down the erosion.

Meanwhile, the water level of the Padma and Ma-hananda rivers are continu-ing to rise due to the torren-tial rainfall and the downhill � oods which are inundating the low-lying areas.

According to the Water Development Board, the water level has risen 29cm in the Padma and 27cm in the Mahananda in the last 24 hours. If this continues, it would soon cross the dan-ger mark.

Abus Sattar, an o� cial of Chapainawabganj Water Development Board, said: “The erosion began along the newly built left embank-ment. If it is not checked immediately, it will damage the embankment and we will lose a huge chunk of the shoal to India. We have writ-ten to the authority and are waiting for their response.” l

Case � led against 220n Our Correspondent,

Lakshmipur

Police � led a case against 220 persons on charges of helping a Juba League mur-der accused to escape and attacking police at Ramganj upazila in Lakshmipur on Monday.

Of the accused, 20 were named while 200 others were not identi� ed, said Ramganj police station Of-� cer-in-Charge (OC) Lok-man Hossain.

Around noon, police ar-rested six persons, includ-ing Karpara Union Parishad

Chairman and Awami League President Mujibul Haq, and sent them to jail. However, they could not arrest the murder accused, Mithu.

OC Loman said e� orts were on to arrest him.

Earlier on Sunday, police had arrested Mithu in con-nection with the murder of Juba League leader Saiful Islam in April.

Mujib and his followers had then launched an attack on police and had helped accused Mithu to escape.

Police were able to arrest Mujib and � ve others from the spot. l

Man held with touchstone statuen Our Correspondent,

Joypurhat

Members of Rapid Action Battalion arrested an alleged smuggler with a touchstone statue from Rasulpur village in Khetlal upazila of Joypur-hat district yesterday.

The arrested was iden-ti� ed as Nurul Amin, 50, of the same village.

Acting on a tip-o� , a team of the elite force conduct-ed a raid in the area around 3.30 pm and arrested him with the statue weighting around 71 kilograms worth about Tk2.84 crore from his possession.

The sources said the seized statue was supposed to be smuggled out to a neighbouring country. l

BNP leader heldin Lakshmipurn Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur

Police arrested Char Abdullahpur Union Parishad chairman and BNP President Md Billal Hossain on Monday night from Ramgati upazila in Lakshmipur.

Ramgati police station O� cer-in-Charge Abul Kalam Azad said they had arrested him from the municipality’s Shamol village. l

UP member allegedly misappropriates 6 tonnes of ricen Our Correspondent, Magura

A Union Parishad (UP) member has allegedly embezzled six tonnes of rice which were allotted for an orphanage, a madrasa and a mosque at Sadar Union Parishad in Magura’s Mohammadpur upazila.

Ward No 1 member Sirajul Islam, also an Awami League leader, secured the allotment by showing Raipur Or-

phanage, Raipur Madrasa and Raipur Mosque on paper as the bene� ciaries, but in reality, neither the orphanage nor the mosque exist.

According to the Mohammadpur Upazila Project Implementation O� ce, two tonnes of rice had been allotted for each of the three projects at Sadar Un-ion’s Raipur village. Each project was presided over by Siraj.

Our correspondent visited Raipur

village and found that neither the or-phanage nor the mosque exist in the village.

Villagers Ali Akbar, Shahabul and Md Fariduzzaman said these had never existed.

However, three other mosques were found in the village

Imams Monnu Mian, Mushta� jur Rahman and Murad Hossen said they had not received any rice allotted for

their respective mosques this year. Seeking anonymity, another UP

member said: “The local market val-ue of the rice which Siraj embezzled stands at Tk2 lakh.”

“Siraj had also misappropriated rice and wheat under different projects, most of which do not really exist. His unbridled corruption will come to light once the other projects, presided over by him, are investigated

thoroughly,” he added. UP member Sirajul Islam, however,

refused to make any comments on this issue and requested this correspondent to not publish this report in the news-paper.

When Mohammadpur Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Kamrul Hasan was asked about this, he said: “We shall take the necessary action after investigating this.” l

7Long Form Wednesday, August 20, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Neil Brown

In April 2013 the Rana Plaza complex collapsed in Bangladesh claiming more than 1,100 lives and leaving many more injured. Many of those killed were

employed in the garment industry, an industry that supplies the clothes that end up on our high street, to the brands whose shares end up in our pensions and ISAs.

Our clothing supply chains have lengthened under a relentless pressure

on costs. Emerging economies have of-fered lower wages, weaker labour laws and tax breaks to win these valuable contracts from brands competing in what has become known as the “race to the bottom.”As consumers we believe that no one should die to make our clothes. As in-vestors we believe this is an unaccept-able and unpro� table way to operate an industry.

We want our investments in Euro-pean and US retail brands to deliver the highest investment returns possible and believe this is best achieved through safe and decent supply chains.

We noted in the weeks following the tragedy that a landmark agree-ment had emerged uniting global retailers, unions, civil society and supplier factories in a commitment to reform building safety in Bangladesh.

We supported demands for the brands to sign this Accord on Fire and Building Safety which came into e� ect on May 15, 2013 with the support of 41 global retailers including H&M, Inditex, Marks and Spencer, Primark and PVH.

Does the Accord mark a change in the “race to the bottom?” Are brands now beginning to move beyond simple cost measures to issues of safe and decent working conditions and long-

term sustainable productivity? Could the Accord signal the beginning of a global “race to the top” and, if so, who will win?

In its � rst year the Accord has gained many signatories and has achieved a great deal but there is still a long way to go. Compensation has still not been fully paid, the inspection and remediation process has su� ered from a shortage of skills and materials and a competing code, the Alliance,  has been set up which we consider to be both weaker and confusing for factory owners.

Reliable information on progress covering the two codes and third gov-ernment programme across more than 5,000 factories is very hard to obtain. Good investment requires accurate, timely and veri� able information and we simply could not get it using tradi-tional investment research.

Investor visit

As a response, on the � rst anniversary of the signing of the Accord we visited Bangladesh on a fact � nding tour. We worked with Morgan Stanley’s SRI equity research team and several European apparel brands to host eight global investors across a week of meet-ings and factory visits.

We tried to meet people from every aspect of the supply chain, from worker and union representatives to NGOs, representatives of the Accord, the Alliance, the ILO (International Labour Organization), worker train-ing organisations, the British High Commission, the brands themselves and of course the factory owners. We conducted three factory visits hosted by the factory owners themselves and accompanied by brand representatives on two occasions.

A trip of this nature can only ever give a narrow indication of the reality of the garment industry across Bang-ladesh. Although we took care to meet with as full a range of stakeholders as possible a preannounced trip by a group of global investors, we know is not an audit and we didn’t intend it to be. But by visiting some of the best factories we knew we would get a very clear idea of what best practice looks like and how it is being delivered.

The garment industry

This is a young industry playing a signi� cant role in lifting a densely populated and rapidly growing econ-omy out of poverty. It is an industry

that contributes to more than simple economic GDP growth by channelling that growth to historically disadvan-taged women from rural areas. This has huge implications for their own personal freedoms and for the coun-try’s economic development.

The importance of this sector does nothing to diminish its responsibilities to provide safe and decent work, but we were reminded frequently on the trip, that what is needed is support for a transition to best practice without jeopardising the industry itself.

The business case for change

We were encouraged by the clear business cases underpinning the sus-tainability initiatives we saw. We could not verify pay, working hours or child labour, but we could observe working conditions, child care facilities, health clinics, canteens, worker transport, water fountains, e� uent treatment plants etc.

Many of these admittedly seemed at their early stages but are clearly positive and the pride taken in them by the factory owners was evident; there is a clear model for other facto-ries to move towards. 

Sta� turnover represents a good example of the change we saw, with it usually running as high as 10% to 15% a month in some factories.  This has implications for training costs, accuracy of supervision, productivity and quality.

We spoke to factory owners and visited factories that had more than halved those rates through sustain-ability initiatives such as better pay, better training, attendance bonuses and subsidised food.

A living wage

Gains are � nally being made on both wage increases and working hours, but from a very low base with disagree-ment on who is to blame for overtime and ongoing concerns that rent and food in� ation could wipe out wage gains. All factory owners we spoke to indicated that non cash remuneration may be key, ie, canteens, subsidised ti� ns and potentially dormitory space.

Recent increases in the minimum wage seem signi� cant following the 77% increase to Tk5,300 (£40) a month in place and proposals to raise that again above Tk8,000 (£60). We worked through an average family’s monthly expenditure with worker representa-

tives and concluded that wages need to continue to rise signi� cantly.

We also assessed how small labour costs are, as a proportion of total end product costs and concluded that the supply chain can withstand ongoing signi� cant wage price increases. Final-ly, we saw the potential for produc-tivity gains through better treatment of workers, which could allow these costs to in� ate pro� tably to the bene� t of workers, factories, the brands and the economy. 

We encountered very little resistance to continued wage in� ation from those we met, provided they are accompanied by productivity gains and are not o� set by food and rent in� ation.

The concept of a good buyer

We saw clear evidence of a best prac-tice model emerging with progressive brands working with progressive fac-tory owners and empowered workers to the bene� t of all. There are many factors contributing to these success stories but above all we saw the need for a change in buying practices.

We saw great work from com-mitted, long-term brands exercising responsible buying policies. We do not anticipate full vertical integration but we did note that the “good” brands are

increasingly taking an interest in their share of responsibility for everything from the cotton mills to the port. We believe investment analysis must begin to di� erentiate between the very di� erent buying practices of brands across their global supply chains.

To compare a brand that conducts a tick box audit and negotiates purely on price with one that has 400 of their

own sta� in Bangladesh gaining a deep understanding of the risks and oppor-tunities in these factories on a daily basis, is missing a material aspect of the investment case in our view.

Some companies are becoming bet-ter businesses by doing the right thing, as investors we need to identify them.

Opportunities and responsibilities

It is clear to us that sustainable and responsible buying practices can provide a decent margin to factory owners allowing them to invest in the health, wealth and productivity of their workers. We believe this can create an extremely powerful, long-term and sustainable business model in Bangladesh. 

The aim of our trip was to obtain detailed information that would allow us to engage directly with the brands and enhance the supply chain analysis in our investment decisions.

This is vital for our clients but also important steps in encouraging the right behaviour and channelling cap-ital to brands that are adopting more sustainable business practices.

We have seen very encouraging pockets of good performance in Bang-ladesh which we believe need to be carefully supported and taken up glob-

ally. We will now work with the brands and the research teams across the � nancial markets to identify, support and invest in those companies that we believe will win this race to the top. l

Neil Brown has been a fund manager at Alliance Trust Investments based in London since August 2012. The views expressed are his own. This article was � rst published by Blue and Greeninvestor.com.

Is a race to the top underway? And if so, who will win? An investor trip to Bangladesh

The e� ective way forward

As consumers we believe that no one should die to make our clothes. As investors we believe this is an unpro� table way to operate an industry NASHIRUL ISLAM

The importance of this sector does nothingto diminish its responsibilities to provide safe and decent work

We encountered very little resistance to continued wage in� ation from those we met, provided they are accompanied by productivity gains and are not o� set by food and rent in� ation

Ukraine: Fighting halts recovery of refugees’ bodies

n Reuters

Fifteen bodies have been recovered from the site of an artillery strike on a refugee bus convoy in east Ukraine, but further operations have been suspended due to renewed � ghting in the area, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Tuesday.

The Kiev military has said pro-Rus-sian separatists attacked the convoy

on Monday, killing dozens of people including women and children, but it has yet to provide visual evidence. The separatists denied responsibility, and at least one of their leaders suggested no attack had occurred.

Ukrainian forces are tightening their squeeze on the rebels as they try to end a four-month con� ict that has killed more than 2,000 people and raised

Western fears of Russian military inter-vention, despite denials from Moscow.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the 15 bodies had been recovered on Monday night from the charred wreckage of the convoy which includ-ed buses and cars, and operations had continued into Tuesday.

But he later said that further � ghting in the area had brought this to a halt.

“Work has now been suspended because military activity has begun again in the area,” Lysenko told a news brie� ng.

Ukraine says the attack occurred near the city of Luhansk, close to the border with Russia, in an area where there were intense artillery exchang-es between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

The military said on Monday that many of those killed had been burned beyond recognition. Many bodies had been blown apart by the blast.

The US State Department con-demned the attack but said it could not con� rm who was responsible.

“We strongly condemn the shell-ing and rocketing of a convoy that was bearing internally displaced persons in Luhansk ... Sadly, they were trying to get away from the � ghting and instead became victims of it,” State Depart-ment spokeswoman Marie Harf told a news brie� ng in Washington.

Government forces, after falter-ing in their campaign early on, have been progressively encroaching into rebel-held territory and now say they encircle Donetsk as well as Luhansk, the two main cities controlled by the separatists. With victory potentially within reach, a cease� re which Russia is pressing for does not seem to be to Kiev’s advantage.

Lysenko reported further progress on Tuesday, saying that government forces were now engaged with the rebels in the center of Luhansk. “One district of the town has been liberated. Fighting is going on in the central part of the town,” he said. l

Wednesday, August 20, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

N E W S B I T E S

Community Health says data stolen in China cyber attackn Reuters

Community Health Systems Inc (CYH.N), one of the biggest US hospi-tal groups, said on Monday it was the victim of a cyber attack from China, resulting in the theft of Social Security numbers and other personal data be-longing to 4.5 million patients.

Security experts said the hacking group, known as “APT 18,” may have links to the Chinese government.

“APT 18” typically targets compa-nies in the aerospace and defense, con-struction and engineering, technology, � nancial services and healthcare indus-try, said Charles Carmakal, managing director with FireEye Inc’s (FEYE.O) Mandiant forensics unit, which led the investigation of the attack on Commu-nity Health in April and June.

“They have fairly advanced tech-niques for breaking into organisations as well as maintaining access for fairly long periods of times without getting detected,” he said.

The information stolen from Community Health included patient names, addresses, birth dates, tele-phone numbers and Social Security numbers of people who were referred or received services from doctors af-� liated with the hospital group in the last � ve years, the company said in a regulatory � ling. l

Egypt urges US restraint over Missouri unrest

n Reuters

Egypt on Tuesday urged US authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Mis-souri - echoing language Washington used to caution Egypt as it cracked down on Is-lamist protesters last year.

It is unusual for Egypt to criticise such a major donor, and it was not immediately clear why the government would have tak-en such a step.

Ties between Washington and Cairo were strained after Egyptian security forc-es killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters following the army’s ousting of freely elected President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013. Western allies have voiced concern about the democratic credentials of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who toppled Mursi and went on to win elections. The United States has, how-ever, continued to provide military and other support to Cairo.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s state-ment on the unrest in Ferguson read sim-ilarly to one issued by US President Barack Obama’s administration in July 2013, when the White House “urged security forces to exercise maximum restraint and caution” in dealing with demonstrations by Mursi supporters. l

New Gaza � ghting erupts as negotiators seek truce

A Palestinian � ghter from the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, gestures inside an underground tunnel in Gaza on Monday. A rare tour that Hamas granted to a Reuters reporter, photographer and cameraman appeared to be an attempt to dispute Israel’s claim that it had demolished all of the tunnels in the Gaza war REUTERS

Liberia � ghts Ebola in capital, West Africa toll tops 1,200n Reuters

Liberia battled on Tuesday to halt the spread of the Ebola disease in its crowded, run-down oceanside capi-tal Monrovia, recording the most new deaths as fatalities from the world’s worst outbreak of the deadly virus rose above 1,200.

The epidemic of the hemorrhagic disease, which can kill up to 90% of those it infects, is ravaging the three small West African states of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and also has a toehold in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy.

As the Geneva-based World Health Organisation rushed to ramp up the global response to the outbreak � rst detected in March, including emer-gency food deliveries to quarantined zones, it announced that deaths from it had risen to 1,299 as of Aug. 16, out of 2,240 cases. Between Aug. 14-16, Libe-ria recorded the most new deaths, 53, followed by Sierra Leone with 17, and Guinea with 14.

The WHO said it was working with the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) to ensure food delivery to 1 mil-

lion people living in Ebola quarantine zones cordoned o� by local security forces in a border zone of Guinea, Libe-ria and Sierra Leone.

“Food has been delivered to hospi-talized patients and people under quar-antine who are not able to leave their homes to purchase food. Providing regular food supplies is a potent means of limiting unnecessary movement,” it said in a statement.

Besides infection in border zones, Liberia is � ghting to stop the spread of the virus in the poorest neighbor-hoods of its capital, such as the West Point slum where at the weekend a rock-throwing crowd attacked and looted a temporary holding center for suspected Ebola cases, 17 of whom � ed.

As fears of wider contagion in-creased – Ebola is spread by contact with the bodily � uids of infected per-sons - Liberia sent police to track down the fugitive suspected cases.

“We are glad to con� rm that all of the 17 individuals have been accounted for and have now been transferred to JFK Ebola specialist treatment center,” Liberia’s Information Minister Lewis Brown told Reuters on Tuesday. l

n Reuters, Gaza/Jerusalem

Israel said militants � red rockets from Gaza on Tuesday in violation of a truce and that it struck back with attacks in the Palestinian enclave, � ghting that put talks in Cairo on a long-term cease-� re in jeopardy.

An Israeli o� cial said Prime Minis-ter Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his negotiating team in Egypt to return home. But there was no word from Israel whether the move spelled the collapse of indirect talks with the Pal-estinians on ending the Gaza war and charting the territory’s future.

Three rockets struck southern Isra-el, near the city of Beersheba, the mil-itary said, nearly eight hours before a cease� re - extended by a day on Mon-day - was due to expire.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which the military said caused no casualties or damage. Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, the dominant movement in the Gaza Strip, said it had no knowl-edge of any rockets being � red.

“This rocket attack was a grave and direct violation of the cease� re,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanya-hu. A military spokesman said that in response to the salvoes, “terror targets across the Gaza Strip” were attacked.

A Reuters correspondent saw an Is-raeli aircraft � re a missile east of Gaza City and smoke rising from the area. Other witnesses said there were several air strikes in the area.

Two children were wounded, hospi-tal o� cials said, and the Israeli attacks spurred a new exodus of dozens of Pal-estinian families who had � ed previous

� ghting and returned home only days ago.

Egyptian mediators have been struggling to end the � ve-week-old Gaza con� ict and seal a deal that would open the way for reconstruction aid to � ow to the territory of 1.8 million, where thousands of homes have been destroyed. The Palestinians want Egypt and Israel to lift their blockades of the economically-crippled Gaza Strip that predated the Israeli o� ensive launched on July 8 after a surge in cross-border rocket � re by Hamas.

The Palestinian Health Ministry put the Gaza death toll at 2,016 and said most were civilians in the small, dense-ly populated coastal territory. Israel has said it killed hundreds of Gaza gunmen in the � ghting. Sixty-four Israeli sol-diers and three civilians in Israel have been killed.

Before the latest � areup, Azzam al-Ahmad, senior leader of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, said there had been “no progress on any point” in the negotiations, in which Israel has said ensuring its security was its paramount concern.

Earlier, in Cairo the chief Palestinian delegate to the indirect negotiations with Israel cautioned that violence could erupt anew if the talks failed.

Israel, like Egypt, views Hamas as a security threat and wants guarantees any removal of border restrictions will not result in militant groups obtaining weapons.

“We hope that every minute of the coming 24 hours will be used to reach an agreement, and if not (successful), the circle of violence will continue,” Ahmad said before hostilities resumed. l

In Iraq, US spending millions to blow up captured American war machinesn Reuters

Last week was a weird one for American military hardware.

In the United States, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), AR-15s and camou� age body armor all made an appearance on the streets of a suburb in the heartland, helping to give a tense situation the push needed to turn into a week of riots. American citizens in Fergu-son, Missouri, feeling they were being oc-cupied by a foreign army, rather than their friendly neighborhood cop on the beat.

Riot police stand guard as demon-strators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri MRAPs didn’t get a better rap overseas, either. In what’s still being called Iraq — at least for the sake of con-venience — the US Air Force has resumed bombing missions in the northern part of the “country.” The aim of the missions is stated as being the defense of a minority group known as the Yazidis, who practice a religion unique to themselves and are under threat by the Islamic State, a jihadi

group that controls a large chunk of terri-tory in Syria and Iraq.

The extremist cadre Islamic State — which has declared itself to be the new caliphate, representing God’s will on earth — has had an incredible string of military successes over the last few months. They’ve taken a lot of territory. They’ve slaughtered a lot of people, in-cluding civilians. They’ve imposed what they say is Islamic law — though many Islamic scholars would beg to disagree.

And Islamic State’s captured an enor-mous amount of US weaponry, originally intended for the rebuilt Iraqi Army. You know — the one that collapsed in terror in front of the Islamic State, back when they were just ISIL? The ones who dropped their uniforms, and ri� es and ran away?

They left behind the bigger equip-ment, too, including M1 Abrams tanks (about $6 million each), 52 M198 How-itzer cannons ($527,337), and MRAPs (about $1 million) similar to the ones in use in Ferguson.

Now, US warplanes are � ying sorties, at a cost somewhere between $22,000

to 30,000 per hour for the F-16s, to drop bombs that cost at least $20,000 each, to destroy this captured equipment.

That means if an F-16 were to take o� from Incirclik Air Force Base in Tur-key and � y two hours to Erbil, Iraq, and successfully drop both of its bombs on one target each, it costs the United States somewhere between $84,000 to $104,000 for the sortie and destroys a minimum of $1 million and a maximum of $12 million in US-made equipment.

Of course we’re not alone in facing this kind of problem.

The Russians and Ukrainians are also facing o� with tanks and guns and bombs and planes and uniforms all made in the same factories. They were the same coun-try a mere 23 years ago. And even after they weren’t any more, they maintained close military ties until very recently.

Before Russia decided it couldn’t stand losing its friend in Kiev, Viktor Ya-nukovich, Russian President Vladimir Pu-tin was happy to keep most of his navy in what was then Ukrainian territory: Crimea. l

People stand inside a makeshift bomb shelter in the town of Makiyivka on August 19, 2014. Ukraine said that � ghting had erupted in the heart of the major rebel stronghold of Lugansk as government forces pressed on with a punishing o� ensive to win back the war-torn east AFP

Pentagon: US ship � nishes neutralising Syria’s worst chemical armsn Reuters

A specially equipped US ship has � n-ished neutralising all 600 metric tons of the most dangerous of Syria’s chem-ical weapons components surrendered to the international community this year to avert threatened air strikes, the Pentagon said on Monday.

It said the Cape Ray, equipped with the US-developed Field Deployable Hy-drolysis System, neutralized 581.5 met-ric tons of DF, a sarin precursor chem-ical, and 19.8 metric tonnes of HD, an ingredient of sulphur mustard, while a� oat in the Mediterranean.

The vessel will travel to Finland and Germany in the next two weeks to un-load the resulting e� uent, which will undergo treatment as industrial waste to render it safer, a Pentagon spokes-woman said.

It was the � rst time chemical weap-ons components had been neutralised at sea, the Pentagon said.

Damascus agreed last September to a Russian proposal to give up its chemical weapons to avert threatened military strikes by the United States and France, which accused Syria of using the arms against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. A number of countries are involved in eliminating the chemical stockpiles. The United States was select-ed to dispose of the worst of the chemi-cal weapons components. l

Celebrities in � ring line as China steps up drug war

n Reuters, Beijing

China is turning up the heat in a high-pro-� le crackdown on drugs that has ensnared a string of celebrities, including the son (pictured) of Hong Kong kungfu movie star Jackie Chan, as the government seeks to push forward a wider campaign against extravagance and decadence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to go after corruption and excess among the elite, a prime source of public discontent as the gap between the poor and the wealthy continues to grow.

Actor and singer Jaycee Chan, 32, was arrested in Beijing after testing positive for marijuana, police said on Tuesday, and police found 100 grams of the drug at his home. Police also arrested Taiwan movie star Ko Chen-tung, 23, after a drug test found he used marijuana, Xinhua news agency said.

Chan and Ko were arrested in central Beijing after police received a tip-o� from residents, the state-backed Global Times reported. The use of drugs in China, par-ticularly synthetic drugs like methamphet-amine, ketamine and ecstasy, has grown

along with the rise of a new urban class with greater disposable income.

Xi has called for a clean-up of the so-called “four practices” of formalism, bu-reaucracy, hedonism and extravagance. He said in June that China would “harshly crack down” on narcotics, state media reported.

Jackie Chan’s management compa-ny, M’Stones International Corp, issued a statement on behalf of Jaycee saying it was standing by him.

Drug-related crimes carry harsh penal-ties in China including death or life imprison-ment in serious cases. Action and comedy star Jackie Chan, 60, served as a goodwill spokesman for the China National Anti-Drug Committee in 2009, state media reported, promoting anti-drug education. China has detained more than 7,800 suspects on drug-related charges this year, up 72% from a year earlier, Xinhua reported.

Foreign and Chinese patrons of Dos Ko-legas, a popular Beijing bar inside a drive-in movie theatre, were spot-tested for drugs earlier this month, according to media re-ports, resulting in several being detained.

State media has frequently referred to drug use as a form of moral corruption damaging society. China had successfully quelled the spread of drugs, particularly opium, since the Communist Party took power in 1949. But the past several years have seen a resurgence in drug use.

Last week, a group of 42 entertainment management � rms said they had signed a deal with Beijing police that they would not work with celebrities who used drugs, the state-owned Beijing News reported.

China has detained a string of other mostly B-list celebrities in recent months on drug-related charges, cases that have been publicised widely in both state and social media. l

9Wednesday, August 20, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

N E W S B I T E S

‘We will drown all of you in blood’n Reuters, Baghdad

The Islamic State militant group that has seized large parts of Iraq and drawn the � rst American air strikes since the end of the occupation in 2011 has warned the United States it will attack Americans “in any place” if the raids hit its militants.

The video, which shows a photo-graph of an American who was be-headed during the US occupation of Iraq and victims of snipers, featured a statement which said in English “we will drown all of you in blood”.

US airstrikes in northern Iraq have helped Kurdish � ghters take back some territory captured by Islamic State militants, who have threatened to march on Baghdad.

The latest advance by the Islam-ic State, an al Qaeda o� shoot, sent tens of thousands of members of the Yazidi ethnic minority and Christians � eeing for their lives and alarmed the Baghdad government and its Western allies.

Unlike al-Qaeda, Islamic State has so far focused on seizing land in Iraq and Syria for its self-proclaimed ca-liphate, not spectacular attacks on Western targets. l

Malaysia militants plotted ISIS-inspired attacksn AFP, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian police have foiled plans for a wave of bombings drawn up by rad-ical Islamic militants inspired by Iraq’s extremist jihad group ISIS, a top coun-ter-terrorism o� cial said Tuesday.

The 19 suspected militants arrest-ed from April-June were formulat-ing plans to bomb pubs, discos and a Malaysian brewery of Danish beer producer Carlsberg, said Ayob Khan Mydin, deputy chief of the Malaysian police counter-terrorism division.

Ayob Khan told AFP the group, all Malaysians, had visions of establishing a hardline Southeast Asian Islamic ca-liphate spanning Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singa-pore, and planned to travel to Syria to learn from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

The plotters included profession-als and two housewives. l

Army chief denies Chinese incursion into Indian Agencies

Army chief general Dalbir Singh Suhag on Tuesday denied any incursion by China into Indian territory.

Asked if Chinese troops came to the Indian boundary, the army chief said there is “nothing like that.”

Reports Tuesday said the Chinese troops entered 25 to 30 km into Indi-an territory in the Burtse area of north Ladakh, pitched tents and held up � ags that read “this is Chinese territo-ry, go back.” Reports said the Chinese troops were there for a day before returning. The area is at an altitude of 17,000 feet. l

Manipur court orders release of activist Irom Sharmila n Tribune Online Report

On Tuesday, a sessions court in Mani-pur, ordered the immediate release of civil rights activist Irom Sharmila, who has been on an inde� nite hunger strike demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act for the past 13 years, Reports, times of India.

The 42-year-old ‘Iron Lady’ of Mani-pur was kept under house arrest follow-ing fears that she wants to commit sui-cide. She is being nose-fed by the state government at a government hospital, which was converted into a jail for her. The Manipuri government had slapped an attempt to suicide case on her.

Ordering her release, the court ob-served that the prosecution has failed to establish Sector 309 (Attempt to Sui-cide) case on Irom Sharmila.

The court said that it is just an allega-tion that she wants to commit suicide, hence she cannot be kept under arrest and should be released immediately.

Sharmila has been on inde� nite hunger strike to demand repeal of the Armed forces (special powers) Act, in 1958 after 10 civilians allegedly killed by the Assam Ri� es near Imphal airport in November 2000.

She wants the withdrawal of AFSPA “so that people could live without any fear in the state”. l

IS � ghters recapture Tikritn Reuters, Baghdad

Iraqi forces halted a short-lived o� ensive on Tuesday to recapture Tikrit, home town of executed dictator Saddam Hus-sein, due to � erce resistance from Islam-ic state � ghters who have also threat-ened to attack Americans “in any place”.

In Geneva, the United Nations ref-ugee agency announced a major aid operation to get supplies to more than half a million people displaced by � ght-ing in northern Iraq.

Buoyed by an operation to recap-ture a strategic dam from the jihadists after two months of setbacks, Iraqi army units backed by Shi’ite militias launched their o� ensive shortly after dawn on Tikrit, a city 130 km (80 miles) north of Baghdad which is a stronghold of the Sunni Muslim minority.

But o� cers in the Iraqi forces’ oper-ations room said by mid afternoon that the advance had stopped.

South of Tikrit, the government side came under heavy machinegun and mortar � re from the militants, a group of Arab and foreign � ghters hardened by battle both in Iraq and over the border in Syria’s civil war, the o� cers told Reuters.

To the west, landmines and snip-ers frustrated e� orts to get closer to the city centre in the latest in a series of attempts to drive out the militants. Residents of central Tikrit said by tele-

phone that Islamic State � ghters were � rmly in control of their positions and patrolling the main streets.

Sunni Muslim � ghters led by the Islamic State swept through much of northern and western Iraq in June, capturing the Sunni cities of Tikrit and Mosul as well as the Mosul dam, a frag-ile structure which controls water and power supplies to millions of people down the Tigris river valley.

However, on Monday � ghters from Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region said they had regained control of the hy-dro electric dam with the help of US air strikes. US President Barack Obama also announced that the dam had been retaken.

The Islamic State has concentrat-ed on taking territory for its self-pro-claimed caliphate both in Syria, where it is also � ghting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, and in Iraq. Unlike al Qaeda, the movement from which it split, it has so far steered clear of at-tacking Western targets in or outside the region.

However, a video posted on the In-ternet warned Americans, in English, that “we will drown all of you in blood” if US air strikes hit Islamic State � ghters. The video also showed a photograph of an American who was beheaded during the US occupation of Iraq that followed Saddam’s overthrow in 2003. l

One man’s defence of ancient faith triggers mass executionsn Reuters, Dohuk, Iraq

When Islamic State militants stormed into a northern Iraqi village and ordered everyone to convert to Islam or die only one person refused. But that did not satisfy the Sunni insurgents who are even more hardline than al Qaeda.

The militants, who have seized much of northern Iraq since arriving from Syria in June, wasted no time af-ter the village’s leader, or sheikh, stood up for his ancient Yazidi faith.

Khalof Khodede, an unemployed fa-ther of three who escaped with his life, recalled how 80 men in the village of Kocho were killed and all the women and girls were kidnapped.

His account, one of the � rst eyewit-ness reports of last Friday’s killings, could not be independently veri� ed but other Yazidis and Iraqi o� cials have given details of Islamic State’s at-tack on the village.

“First they wanted us all to convert to Islam and we said yes just to save our lives. We were all very afraid,” said Khodede from a hospital bed in the town of Dohuk in the semi-autono-mous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Dohuk is now home to thousands of refugees from Iraq’s minority Yazidi community which has paid the heavi-est price for Islamic State’s ambition to redraw the map of the Middle East.

“Then our sheikh said ‘I won’t con-vert to Islam’. And then they gathered us inside the village school,” he said.

The men were taken to the � rst � oor and the women to the second after the villagers’ money and gold jewel-lery were seized, probably to fund the group made up of Iraqis and other Ar-abs as well as foreign � ghters.

Then the Yazidis were loaded onto minibuses in groups of 10 to 20 and transported outside the village after being told they would be taken to Sin-jar, the ancient homeland of the sect.

The vehicles stopped abruptly and the militants opened � re without warning. “They started shooting at us randomly. They had heavy guns like machine guns. I was hit in my leg and on my pelvis,” said Khodede, showing where he had been wounded.

The Yazidis, followers of an ancient religion derived from Zoroastrianism who are part of Iraq’s Kurdish commu-nity, are not strangers to oppression.

Many of their villages were de-stroyed when Saddam Hussein’s troops tried to crush the Kurds. Some were taken away by the executed former dic-tator’s intelligence agents.

But nothing could have prepared them for the wrath of the Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria it controls.

To survive, Khodede had to hide under the dead bodies of friends and neighbours, people who had practised the mysterious Yazidi faith with for a lifetime - beliefs that Islamic State � ghters condemn as “devil worship”.

After trying to stay motionless for

about an hour, Khodede saw Kurd-ish � ghters in the distance, peering through gaps in the bodies.

They were not Iraqi Kurdish � ghters who had held towns and villages in the north for years after the fall of Saddam in 2003.

The Kurdish � ghters had come from Syria after hearing that fellow Kurds were being routed in neighbouring Iraq by Islamic State militants who seized several towns, a � fth oil� eld, as well as the country’s dam for some time in recent weeks.

Like many Yazidis, Khodede felt abandoned by the Iraqi Kurdish pesh-merga � ghters who acquired a reputa-tion for being � erce warriors mainly be-cause they challenged Saddam’s troops. The Syrian Kurdish � ghters cleaned up his wounds, took him to a hospital in Syria and then brought him back to Iraq.

Others were not so lucky.“Islamic State kidnapped about 400

to 600 people in our village and the majority of those people are women and children. They killed most of the men,” said Khodede, in the emergency room of a teaching hospital where he arrived on Monday night.

His uncle and sister are by his side as blood drips into a bag hanging from his bed.

In the chaos and panic after the lat-est Islamic State o� ensive, rumours swirled about the fate of kidnapped Yazidi women, usually referred to as “slaves” for Islamic State. l

A supporter of Imran Khan, cricketer-turned-opposition politician and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party, gestures holding a national � ag while chant slogans during the Freedom March in Islamabad on Monday REUTERS

Pakistan prepares for showdown between protesters, policen Reuters, Islamabad

Thousands of Pakistani riot police took up positions to defend a diplomat-ic and political zone of the capital on Tuesday after an opposition leader and cleric vowed to march on parliament to oust the prime minister.

Upping the stakes, the interior minis-ter also announced that soldiers would be deployed to stop the protesters.

The announcement was intended to send a message to the coup-prone coun-try that the protests do not have military backing. It also underscored how the do-mestic opposition has forced the � edg-ling civilian government to rely on the country’s powerful army, despite deep mistrust between the two institutions.

The protests have piled extra pres-sure on the 15-month-old government as it struggles to overcome high unemploy-ment, daily power cuts and a Taliban in-surgency. The showdown has also raised questions over the stability of Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people.

The protests are led by former inter-national cricketer Imran Khan, head of the country’s third-largest political par-ty, and cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, who con-trols a network of Islamic schools and charities.

Khan accuses Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of rigging last year’s polls. Qadri accuses Sharif of corruption. Both want Sharif to resign.

Police estimate the two protest lead-ers have around 55,000 supporters be-tween them.

Both Khan and Qadri have been hold-ing protest rallies in the capital since Fri-day with government permission. But

they have been banned from the “Red Zone”, which houses many Western em-bassies, parliament and the o� ce and home of Sharif.

Their protests have so far remained separate because the two have di� erent supporters and plans for what should happen if Sharif steps down.

But on Tuesday, Qadri said his sup-porters would march on parliament, a day after Khan asked his supporters to do the same.

“The people’s parliament ... have decided to do their sit in in front of par-liament,” Qadri announced on Tuesday evening, referring to his protesters, to approving roars from the crowd.

Most of Khan’s supporters are young men. Qadri’s supporters are seen as more disciplined and determined; there are many families among them. All the men have sticks; brigades of � uorescent youths also have goggles and masks to deal with teargas. The Red Zone is sealed o� with shipping containers and barbed wire and � ooded with riot po-lice and paramilitaries.

At Khan’s rally, 20-year-old Shams Khan, who came from the northwestern region of Bannu with his friends, said the threat of violence would not deter him.

“My blood is boiling today and I want to be martyred,” he said. “If we don’t go into the Red Zone today, I will quit this party tomorrow.”

RED ZONEInterior Minister Chaudhry Nisar an-

nounced the military would co-ordinate the defence of the Red Zone.

“The government has decided to handover the security of the Red Zone of Islamabad to the army,” he said in a

news conference. “The enforcement on this will start in next two, three hours.”

Three tiers of security had been put in place, he said, using police and govern-ment paramilitary forces.

“This challenge to the writ of the state will not be acceptable under any circumstances,” Marvi Memon, a leg-islator from Sharif’s party, told a news conference.

“By entering the Red Zone, what are you trying to prove?” she asked. “You cannot just go and sit on his chair and become prime minister.”

On Monday Khan also announced his party, the third largest in the country, would resign from their 34 seats in the National Assembly and in all provinces apart from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which his party controls.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, is the heartland of the Tali-ban insurgency.

Memon said no formal resignations had been received so far.

Some analysts say Khan and Qadri mounted their challenge because Shar-if’s relationship with the military had deteriorated, appearing to leave the ci-vilian government isolated.

Sharif angered the military by delay-ing an anti-Taliban operation by insist-ing on months of fruitless peace talks and putting the former chief of sta� , Pervez Musharraf, on trial for treason. Musharraf ousted Sharif during a coup in 1999.

Many o� cers are also suspicious of Sharif’s strategy to improve relations with archenemy India. However, over the past weeks, Musharraf’s trial has ground to a halt and talks with India have been cancelled. l

Geelani, Yasin Malik meet Pak envoy after India calls o� talksn Agencies

De� ant Kashmiri separatist leaders continued to meet Pakistan’s envoy to New Delhi on Tuesday, a day after India cancelled talks with its nuclear-armed neighbour that prompted a strong reac-tion from the Pakistani media and the United States to term the move “unfor-tunate.”

Syed Geelani, a senior leader of the 26-party Hurriyat Conference, and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik met Pakistani high commissioner to India Abdul Basit, but it was not immediately clear what they spoke about.

Basit met separatist leader Shabbir Shah on Monday, ignoring the Indian government’s warning that doing so could jeopardise the foreign secre-tary-level talks that were planned for August 25.

Speaking to reporters before his meeting with Basit, Geelani criticised India’s decision, saying it was undem-ocratic.

“We have been visiting Pakistan embassy several times to hold talks,”

he said, referring to an almost two-decades-old practice of Kashmiri separatists holding dialogue with Pakistani o� cials, including during the tenure of the previous BJP-led government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“The issue of Jammu and Kashmir is an international issue and it should be solved. As long as promises made to us are not ful� lled, this issue will remain unsolved,” Geelani said.

India’s move was seen as dampen-ing expectations that the two countries would resume a tentative peace pro-cess under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who raised such hopes by invit-ing South Asian leaders, including his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, to his inauguration in May.

Following Monday’s decision by New Delhi, that bonhomie is looking like a distant dream, prompting Washington to call the move “unfortunate.”

“It is unfortunate that planned talks between India and Pakistan have fallen through,” US state department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters after the cancelling of talks. l

In their right mindAugust 14SSSI had no idea it was this bad! Happy Left-Handed Day to you – you, who with her left-handedness (and left-handed mouse which drove me crazy) makes so many rights. <3

SKWhen I was a kid, I used to try writing with my left hand. Mom had this cane especially to hit me every time I did it!! Grandma said right-handed people have beautiful handwriting (I doubt it, seeing mine today), but the maulana said the left hand was evil’s hand!

But here is to all of my left-handed friends. It’s hard. But I salute you folks.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Tall and tapering (6)5 Hairpiece (3)7 Tree (5)8 Much ornamented (6)10 Fresh (3)12 Lyric poems (4)13 Colour (3)14 Catch sight of (4)16 Eager (4)17 Pouring edge (3)18 Get on (4)20 Japanese monetary unit (3)23 Things to be done (6)24 Mode of utterance (5)25 Early freshness (3)26 Reliable (6)

DOWN1 Blemish (4)2 Wilfully disregard (6)3 Performed (5)4 Liquor dregs (4)5 Pale (3)6 Choler (3)9 Middle East port (4)11 Distorted (3)14 Irish republic (4)15 Pays out (6)16 Opener (3)17 Light beer (5)18 Truth (4)19 Cautious (4)21 First woman (3)22 Present (3)

CROSSWORD

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.

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 5 represents C so � ll C every time the � gure 5 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate 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.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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Samajik Shikkha Kendro Government Primary School students take exam on footpath

August 13

Faisal Ahmed Who has demolished the school?

Sheikh Jinat Mahmid Faisal Ahmed: Allegedly without any prior notice, the school building on Bailey Road was demolished on August 7.

Faisal Ahmed Thanks for your reply, but you didn’t mention who did it.

Chowdhury Aktaruzzaman There is no responsible governance. Thanks oh so much.

Match police transparency with actionIn the last month, Chittagong Metropolitan Police has disclosed

detailed accounts of investigations by its Detective Branch (DB).One of its DB reports lists 34 di� erent people who have been

identi� ed by investigators as being implicated in the systematic theft of covered vans across the port city.

Cases have been � led in con-nection with alleged crime rings that steal covered vans and vehicle parts. The force is now seeking to gather evidence and arrest all the people suspected of involvement in these sophisti-cated and lucrative criminal operations.

As well as robbing van owners, these criminal networks also cause loss to the businesses who rely on the vans, many of which are carrying garment and textile goods.

Following a separate inquiry, the Chittagong police has also re-leased names of 106 godfathers who control the sales of illegal drugs at 274 di� erent locations in the city.

It is encouraging to see the police being pro-active by demonstrating transparency about their extensive investigations. Their reporting shows accountability to the public.

However, unless due process takes place with charges being brought and tried before the courts, the disclosures will merely serve to con� rm the scale of organised crime that worries the public.

The government and the justice system need to step up as well in tackling these activities. Improving the provision of mobile courts to disrupt criminal operations can help. The government must also assist in rooting out corrupt o� cials who protect such networks.

Improve quality of educationOver 78% of entrants achieved pass rates in the recent HSC

examinations.While we recognise the hard work put in by students and

teachers, it is important to bear in mind that improved pass rates do not automatically mean that the quality of our education has improved.

The education sector often su� ers from unimaginative curricular and rote learning and as a nation we still fail to ensure adult literacy.

Rather than focusing solely on increasing exam scores, the government needs to ensure that all citizens have access to learning opportunities and skills that prepare them for the future.

A good education encom-passes teaching students about the world, sparking curiosity and instilling skills to enable lifelong learning. The country especially needs young people to be trained to be more analytical and inventive so they can acquire and develop skills throughout their lives and careers, and make the most of their potential.

Currently Bangladesh spends less than 2.5% of its GDP on education. This is less than a third the proportion spent by Denmark and less than a quarter of the target set by Brazil to increase public education spending to 10% of GDP by 2020.

In order to compete e� ectively in the global economy, Bangladesh badly needs to increase both the availability and quality of education.

We must both bring literacy rates up, and improve higher education quality for graduates.

The government must prioritise improving education as it is the most important strategic investment we can make to build a better future.

The most important strategic investment we can make

The government needs to step up support to police in tackling organised crime

Posh area businesses without licences bustedAugust 14Noor KareemWhat can a � ne of Tk10,000 do, really?

Md Muqeet Halim Agreed. The amount � ned is too low – only Tk5,000 and Tk15,000. It should be in the hundreds of thousands to ensure that they do not do this again.

Asian women workersAugust 15

Dr Mohammad RajjaThough much has been attained over the decades, female workers across Asia have continued to � ght for equal rights.

They have worked hard to make their voices heard, in appealing to the government and speak-ing at seminars. Their power comes from within. Nonetheless, they continue to face problems.

In both the public and private sectors, men hold positions of power. Women, meanwhile have to scramble for scraps.

If things continue this way, women won’t make su� cient impact to climb into important government positions where they can make an impact in legislation.

This scenario occurs throughout the region. In South Asia, women make up 18-19% of their respective parliament; this varies country by country with 32-33% women in Nepal’s parliament to 5-6% in Sri Lanka.

Despite countless improvements in earlier decades, numerous issues continue, such as discrimination, unequal incomes and wages, among others.

It is crucial for women to be knowledgeable and conscious of their rights. The education level of South Asian women is very low. This is why it’s important to educate women and prepare them for any � ght they may encounter. Strong support for women is needed to enhance their lives, and they too must work towards this goal by supporting each other.

Report on condensed milkAugust 15

SAMThe long report on this topic is based on BSTI’s

rather limited and possibly incomplete infor-mation about all the aspects involved in making condensed milk. As far as I know, in Bangladesh condensed milk is made with milk powder, raw

sugar, palm oil, and a small quantity of food grade chemical additives to act as a preservative and stabiliser. Apart from milk powder, sugar is the

next most important raw material used. The local raw sugar used was also certi� ed by BSTI to the

sugar mills that supplied the sugar.All this is mixed with water and boiled down

to the � nal consistency, then poured, cooled, and packed in sealed tin cans, about four inches

high, and also four inches in diameter. However I am unaware of any jars being used for � lling and packing condensed milk, as stated in the report.

Furthermore, the most important information that could interest consumers is that the license was cancelled by BSTI in 2003. I recollect there

were some issues related to the ingredients being used, which BSTI later withdrew, when the

Australian makers of condensed milk con� rmed that the ingredients used were as recommended

and also used by them and approved by their country’s o� cial quality standard’s body, and also

exported overseas.

78.33% students pass HSCAugust 13

Ekram KabirEven if so many pass, then what will happen?

They’re all still going to be stuck in the same situation like cows in a barn.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

n Mohammad Ali Sattar

Behind the tragedy there lies a deep-rooted conspiracy. The conspiracy may have kicked

o� well before the liberation of the country, because there were many stakeholders, from Capitol Hill to the Great Wall. Local and global actors were dreaming of reaping the bene� ts of a newborn land. Some planned to thwart the struggle and keep Pakistan intact, and so there were multi-dimensional forces at work.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were brutally killed in Dhanmondi, along with his relatives in other parts of the city, in the early hours of August 15, 1975. But as time passes and new evidence emerges, we are taken over by disgust when we learn of the remarks (on his death) from those who were unsus-pecting characters till yesterday. Not only did we honour them as heroes of the time, we castigated their oppo-nents as enemies of the people.

If we go by the press reports, we can see the comments made by the prominent political, defence, and social actors of the time. Someone said the body of Sheikh Mujib should have been thrown in the Bay of Bengal instead of being buried. Another said this was the end of a pharaoh. While another remarked that God had saved the country, and so on.

The then diehard oppositions of Sheikh Mujib are still alive and well. They are now enjoying power, posi-tion, and wealth. They speak di� er-ently though. They will make a U-turn tomorrow when things go wrong for them. Just trace the line to 1975 and the time prior to that, and recollect the faces that were in politics belonging to di� erent parties.

They delivered � ery statements (during those times) that did not com-ply with the political realities. They threatened to carry out movements to establish a classless society and a master-less system. They had con-spired to do things that weren’t only detrimental to the new Bangladesh, but also dangerous to the constitution-al rule of the time. They took chances everywhere. The newborn state was in shambles. It was a war-ravaged coun-try that we had in the winter of 1971.

It was the time of the gun-wielding Mukti Bahinis, with revenge running in the veins of Bengalis. It was the hiding time for the collaborators, and there were vultures in the skies of Bangladesh. Taking advantage of that situation, the so-called “communists,” the self-styled reds (leftists), the Naxal followers, the disciples of Marx,

Engels, and Lenin – all had suddenly emerged to share the spoils. They dreamt of a society that was a far cry from reality.

They wreaked havoc in the rural areas. Rampant killings of landlords or the well-to-do people in the villages and district towns were regular news. The victims were painted as collabora-tors or semi-bourgeois.

Apart from this group of hypocrites and spineless parasites, we have another group talking big about the event and charging everyone for the happening, trying to shrug o� the responsibility that they failed to carry out during those turbulent days.

A layman would ask, after the brutality carried out in the early hours: Why were the renegades allowed to picnic in Bangabhaban for days togeth-er? Why didn’t the army or the Rakkhi Bahini take on the killers? From what we understand, they were few in num-ber, so what really stopped the force under the then chief of army sta� from � ghting the plotters?

The conspiracy theory apart, what answers do we have for these straight questions? The self-confessed killers came to light. Some of them have walked the gallows while some remain at large. Who acted behind the scenes? Who remained silent, or gave tacit support to the changeover?

There ought to be a thorough inves-tigation of the 1975 mutiny. A complete check should be made of the events right after January, 1972 (or even before that) to � nd out the acts of those who changed their hues over time. Let the people know more about the conspir-acy, and let the nation unmask those who now shed crocodile tears.

New details of the involvement of Indian agents, the CIA, and local bodies will give us interesting break-throughs. We know how the big agen-cies operate and their cunning ways to get things done.

The truth eventually surfaces. When it does, the real man (or force) will come to the fore. A layman wants nothing but the truth. We should know what transpired in the corridors of power prior to and after the killings of the August dawn. We must not overlook the events that took place from August 1975 to 1978. There was a series of revolts and killings within the military, until Zia was killed in 1981.

All these should be made known to the nation, as the people have the right to know the heroes and villains of the time. l

Mohammad Ali Sattar is a journalist and a DT columnist.

n Probir Kumar Sarker

Just before his retirement, the then BSF chief UK Bansal in November 2012 had made some observations

about the Indian Border Security Force’s policies, and gave solution to the unabated killings and torture of Bangladeshi people along the border, especially of the large number of so-called cattle smugglers. The most important thing he said rationally was: “Legalise cattle trading!”

Hence, the BSF men every now and then opened � re on them – beyond international border laws that mention arresting � rst and then handing over the accused to a police station.

It’s also shameful that this proposal was made to stop the killing of “cattle smugglers” – under the circumstances that the victims of BSF’s extrajudicial killings were mainly the small traders for who it is a profession to only collect the cows from the Indian side, and transport them inside to reach the middlemen or wholesalers.

As per the ever-increasing local de-mand for beef, Bangladesh fails to meet the demand with domestic cows raised and sold round the year by farmers. Even the butchers mix bu� alo meat with the beef, since it’s been a prof-itable business. The price of beef has increased threefold in the past decade.

A remarkable trend of consuming more beef among both Muslim and the non-Muslim communities and the spread of diverse recipes are other reasons behind the rise in demand.

The demand rises to its peak during the Eid festivals, especially Eid-ul-Azha, when hundreds of thousands of cows are sacri� ced as part of the Muslim culture. Even though the local farmers raise an additional number of cows centring this Eid and feed them well to increase their weight faster – sometimes use steroids – the country still can’t meet the demand.

On the other hand, India has a huge population that raises cattle and sells them to Bangladeshi traders through the borders illegally, in relatively lower prices than Bangladeshi cows.

But it would have been a blessing for Bangladesh had the Indian side legalised cattle trading, which has been considered as a criminal o� ence for decades.

Killing of Bangladesh nationals along the 4,000km border with India has been a common phenomenon, as if the two countries are dire enemies, and that in� ltration of Bangladeshis is alarming for the authoritative Indian administration.

The two countries have some common problems along the border, including insurgency, smuggling of

arms, gold and fake currency, illicit drug factories and smuggling, and human tra� cking.

However, media reports suggest that incidents of arrest or unlawful shooting on the people involved in these serious crimes have been nominal.

Allegations say BSF men in patrol along the fence or at the camps allow all illegal acts in exchange for bribes. Small cattle traders are subjected to shooting and torture mainly because of dodging the security forces.

Following every such incident, the Bangladesh Border Guard protests, holds � ag meetings to claim bodies of the victims – whether the victim is a cattle trader, farmer, or trespasser, and in return, has always been assured of checking the deaths in future. BSF o� cers defend the shootings by saying that they just retaliate – a statement commonly given by elite force RAB in cases of “shootouts.”

The BGB personnel could be in-volved in irregularities too. But there is no record of BGB shootings and killings or torture of Indian nationals for illegal entry in Bangladesh, or for carrying out other illegal acts.

The Indian side in the last few years has several times assured that they would show restrain and use non-le-thal weapons. It gives an impression that the Bangladesh side failed to

compel India to follow the internation-al border laws. But still, the incidents of killings and torture by the BSF have not stopped.

It implies that the BSF has no system to convey the message of using non-lethal weapons to all the camps simultaneously. Or, they just do not bother following what they have pledged to the Bangladeshi ministers.

It’s also frustrating that Bangladesh government high-ups are reluctant over the deaths along border – mostly of the cattle smugglers, apparently because it is a crime in the � rst place to cross the border in an unauthorised way and bring something in without paying taxes. The most insensitive comment was made by Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam:

“Border killing took place earlier, it is happening now, and will continue.”

Moreover, complacency of the Bang-ladesh government and the BGB over the “decreasing number of deaths” encourages the Indian BSF personnel and its government to continue the extrajudicial killings, torture, and ab-duction of people along the border.

There are also allegations that the BSF men often cross the borders to ar-rest alleged criminals, or to erect fences or establishments. It’s outrageous.

Even though deaths of Bangladesh-is could number over 1,500 over the last 15 years, it should be mentioned that the Indian side has so far taken action against its unruly BSF men in one incident: Eight jawans were suspended for torturing a cattle trader at a camp in December 2011 alleged-ly for refusing to pay a bribe. Video footage of the incident was aired on Indian NDTV the following month. The 23-year-old victim was given Rs50,000 as compensation.

And in the much-hyped killing of Felani Khatun while crossing the barbed fence in January 2011, the BSF authorities arranged a trial – an unprecedented move – in August last year. But it failed, since the self-con-fessed constable had been acquitted last year because of “inconclusive and insu� cient” evidence against him.

Both the governments in bilateral meetings devise plans and make deci-sions to demolish insurgents’ camps along border, bust phensidyl facto-ries and heroine consignments, stop tra� cking of women and children, and stop the smuggling of gold and arms.

Though the governments claim to be successful in checking these activ-ities, it is worrying that top Bangla-deshi criminals facing arrest warrants, or after getting bail, easily manage to reach India through the border.

Well, let’s focus on the topic: Legal-ise cattle smuggling.

We need more beef – apart from raising more cows and taking initia-tives to improve local beef, we need to import more cows from neighbouring India by decriminalising the trading. Bangladesh should bargain to keep the tax rate lower so that the small traders can continue business.

It’ll stop the arbitrary killings and torture of the so-called cattle smug-glers, whereas both the governments would be able to earn a lot of money from taxes. And, if the cattle smug-gling still continues, the BSF men must arrest the unauthorised traders or hand them over to the police station for action as per the law. l

Probir Kumar Sarker is a journalist and blogger.

11Op-Ed Wednesday, August 20, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Ikhtisad Ahmed

The 19th and 20th centuries were stories of rights and civil liberties for the subject of human rights. They were not being invented, rather

the Western world that insists on them being enforced today � nally realised that they existed, and reluctantly relented to the demands of respect-ing them from those they claim to be superior to now.

The 21st century is about privacy. True to form, the developed world is adamant about falling on the wrong side of the line between liberty and security. As with the struggles of the past, the movement to correct them has not hit critical mass since the egre-gious violations are simultaneously well concealed and spun as being para-mount for the safety of the people.

In addition to being so kind to the citizens – a fallible argument that is ac-cepted as the gospel truth by the vast majority, thus breeding apathy – they have not yet reached the tipping point of encroaching on privacy, as they did with slavery and women’s su� rage to name but two, at least not that the people are aware.

Article 12 of the Universal Declara-tion of Human Rights expressly refers to privacy, alongside family, home, and correspondence. National laws, be they constitutions or statutes, largely interpret this narrowly, with the overriding view being that the right to privacy extends only in the service

of other rights, such as those stated in the aforesaid article.

Thus, the development of privacy laws with regards to data is a recent and subjective phenomenon. It was conceptualised in the US in the 1970s as the Fair Information Practices, aimed at ensuring that the sharing of information was ethical. The Euro-pean Convention on Human Rights, originally drafted without protection for privacy, included it along the same lines as the Universal Declaration.

It has subsequently been further de� ned in the West by additional legal instruments. The trend to extend the limits of privacy, however, has been reversed. The circumstances under which it is acceptable to breach priva-cy – the fail-safe for extreme situa-tions – became progressively broader, reaching a point where individuals are better o� asking about the circum-stances under which they have privacy rather than when they do not.

Those living elsewhere in the tech-nology-reliant world will be relieved

to know that this applies only to the developed world. The reason for this, of course, is that privacy as a doctrine is yet to exist anywhere else.

While privacy is not enshrined in the letter of domestic laws, it is stupid-ity of the highest order to suggest that its spirit does not instruct these laws, that the omission was nefariously planned, or that its absence is a signal of intent to keep it from ever being recognised as a right.

There is no hope for the world

if the leaders who abuse this legal oversight to wrestle privacy away from the populace are, indeed, that stupid. If, on the other hand, they are fully aware of their unconscionable abuse, of very much doing to everyone else what they would not want done to themselves, then they are not worthy of being leaders, and should certainly not be trusted.

Frightening people allows gov-ernments to pass draconian laws that restrict civil liberties and violate human rights, all the while justifying it

as necessary, even as the only correct action. The anti-privacy laws – and they cannot be called anything but – are tantamount to legalising theft, robbery, and burglary.

Private citizens fall foul of the law when they indulge in such activities. Governments, government instru-ments, and governmental organ-isations purport to be held to the same standard. In this instance, it is imperative that they are. Unless any individual grants the right of access to his or her property – physical or virtual – to another individual, it is illegal to forcibly access it.

A piece of paper saying otherwise does not change that fact. It is merely proof that governments are prone to acting unlawfully, or at the very least, endorsing such actions. Cloaking it in baseless hypotheses about it being essential for security, and invoking the dreaded terrorism argument, are unjust and unconscionable.

If they really wanted to keep the people safe, they would stop breeding terrorists – those worthy of the title and have either been labelled as such or not by virtue of having the blessings of the West – rather than showing a lack of respect for the rights and lives of their citizens. The hierarchy of the world is people, animals, and plants above governments, not the reverse. l

Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer. He can be contacted on Twitter via @Ikhtisad. 

Are you being watched? BIGSTOCK

Public, private, and secretF R O M T H E M A R G I N S

The development of privacy laws with regards to data is a recent and subjective phenomenon

It would have been a blessing for Bangladesh had the Indian side legalised cattle trading

Let the nation unmask those who now shed crocodile tears

A layman wants nothing but the truth. We should know what transpired in the corridors of power

Naming heroes and villains

Beef across the border

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Wednesday, August 20, 201412

Progga ParomitaATN Bangla 8:00pm

Progga who is the science teach-er of an English medium school. She is an orphan who lives in an old house with her grandmother. Progga is in love with Palash and their wedding is � nalised. She is super excited about tying the knot and everyone else around her is weary of her behaviour. Just before the wedding, Palash ditches her and, devastated of being dumped, Progga tries to commit suicide.

This Is 40Star Movies 4:30pm

Starring Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, John Lithgow, Megan Fox, Al-bert Brooks, and Annie Mumo-lo, a story about a married cou-ple who are about to turn 40. Their kids hate each other, both of their businesses are failing, they’re on the verge of losing their house, and their relation-ship is threatening to fall apart.

World’s Weirdest Restau-rantsTLC 10:00pm

Eateries packed with crazy characters and extreme cuisine across US, Canada, Japan, Tai-wan, Germany, Amsterdam, Czech Republic, England and many places in between – all served up with a side order of “weird.” Best known for his sur-real gourmet creations, Bob hops over to the other side of the ta-ble and � nds out what goes into creating an extraordinary odd dining environment, where food takes a back-seat to the strange-ness of it all.

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

“Meghmallar,” a feature � lm adapted from Akh taruz-zaman Elias’ acclaimed

work “Raincoat,” is all set for release in December. Based on the Liberation War, the � lm won the National Film-making Grant 2013 and is currently be-ing inspected by the Film Censor Board. Director Zahidur Rahim Anjan is quite excited as it is his debut feature � lm and hopes for audience appreciation.

Shahiduzzaman Selim, Aparna, Jayanta Chattopadhyay, Mosharraf Ka-rim, Aparna and Aditi played the vital roles of the � lm.

Winner of the National Film Award, Shahiduzzaman Selim who plays the character of Nurul Huda in the � lm said

to the Dhaka Tribune: “The character is the most multidimensional one among my current work list. I gave my best e� ort to give it an outstanding form. The love of the audience will prove my success.” The director characterised Selim’s role by metaphysical themes, extremely long takes, and memorable images.

Aparna who never before acted in a � lm based on the Liberation War said: “I read the novel earlier and it was one of my favourites. When the director asked me to play the role, I did not think twice before agreeing.

“I think this role will be one of the stepping stones of my career and I feel privileged to be considered for such an important part.” In the � lm, Aparna will act as the female protagonist Asma.

The � lm shuns the violent picture of war and portrays the survival story of a middle-class family, quite an uncon-ventional portrayal of the Liberation War. Usually, storytellers focus on the horrors, su� erings and upheaval which were an inherent part of the nine month long war.

Another interesting fact is that, the whole movie is set on the backdrop of just three days of monsoon in 1971. Nurul Huda, a chemistry teacher lives with his wife Asma and � ve-year old daughter Sudha in a suburb. Mintu, As-ma’s younger brother stays with them and one day he secretly leaves the house and joins the � ght for freedom. Because of his association with a free-dom � ghter, Nurul Huda is abducted by the Pakistani armed forces. l

n Entertainment Desk

The rumour mills are alive with the gossip that Shakib Khan’s second production is facing di� culties decid-ing on the female cast. After “Hero the Superstar,” Shakib Khan’s � rst � lm as a producer, that made good business outside Dhaka, the Superstar Khan is going to produce a joint venture be-tween Bangladesh and West Bengal. Here, the leading lady will be a heroine from Kolkata and Shakib and one of the directors of the � lm, Rajib of Kolkata are having

a hard time agreeing on the female lead. In Shakib’s o� cial Facebook page, he declared: “In this movie, Srabanti will � t in the bill. However, Rajib deems Subhashree as a better co-actor. In a few days, we will decide whom I will be pairing up with.”

The director and producer are negotiating with the title of the � lm at present and arguing about their cast-ing preferences. Rajib wants to cast the dusky beauty Subhashree Ganguly, whereas Shakib wants the attrac-tive Srabanti to be his heroine, who happens to be the director’s ex-wife. l

New � ick Meghmallar in pipeline

Who will be Shakib Khan’s heroine

n Entertainment Desk

Drik is holding a fund-raising event “Appeal for Gaza” through the sale of paintings and photographs do-nated by artists from all over Bangla-desh. The event was inaugurated on Monday evening and will continue till today 10am – 8pm.

The ceremony began with the performance of Gono Shongeet sing-er Ka� l Ahmed who sang “Praan e Praan Melaboi Bole Rakhi.”

Ambassador of Palestine in Ban-gladesh, Shaher Mohammad, was present in the programme which was also attended by Saiful Islam, CEO of Drik, Shahidul Alam, man-aging director of Drik, artist Monirul Islam and students from Palestine living in Bangladesh.

Artists including Abdus Sha-koor Shah, Abir Abdullah, Bishwajit Goswami, Jamal Ahmed, Jannatul Mawa, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Mo-hammad Anisul Hoque, Monirul Is-lam, Nasir Ali Mamun, Rokeya Sulta-

na, Samarjit Roy Chowdhury, Saiful Huq Omi, Shahid Kabir, Shahidul Alam, Shishir Bhattachariya, Swapan Chowdhury, Taslima Akhter, Tapash Paul, Wakilur Rahman and many others have donated their artworks for this event. The event, a part of Drik’s “No more” public awareness campaign, is an appeal to all con-scious citizens to stand in solidarity.

The event also includes cultural performances - play, poem recita-tions, music – every evening. Today performing artist Ritu Satter, recita-tion artistes Ra� qul Islam and Ajha-runnobi Rana, � autist Pronob Das and singers Labik Kamal Gourab and Waqeel Ahad will express empathy through their performances.

Special contributions has been made by Bellissimo(Kazi Food In-dustries), Bengal Meat, Meena Ba-zar, Okapia Mobile and Samsung Electronics.

The amount collected from the event will be donated for the Pales-tinian victims in Gaza. l

Artists express solidarity with Gaza

n Entertainment Desk

Bollywood’s favourite “jodi” Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol are likely to share screen space together once again. Ac-cording to a report in Mid-Day.com, di-rector Rohit Shetty has managed this casting coup for his next � lm.

The report further suggests that Rohit has already signed the “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” actress Kajol,

who is yet to make her comeback in the � lm industry. The � lm’s pre-pro-duction work has already begun and an o� cial announcement will be madesoon.

Rohit Shetty is working on the � nal draft of the script and the � lm will go on � oors in 2015. This will be Rohit’s second � lm with SRK after the super-hit “Chennai Express.”

The website also reported that it

was easy for Rohit Shetty to convince Kajol for the � lm as he shares a good rapport with her husband Ajay Devgn. Rohit was also the intermediary be-tween Shah Rukh and Ajay.

Shah Rukh and Kajol, who are very good friends in real life, created magic with their brilliant on-screen chem-istry in “Baazigar,” “Kuch Kuch Hota Hain” “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham” to name a few. l

Shah Rukhand Kajol

back together

on screen?

Gisele Bundchen leads pack as world’s highest paid model: Forbesn Entertainment Desk

With estimated earnings of $47m during the past year from lucrative contracts and other business ventures, Brazilian

supermodel Gisele Bundchen is the world’s highest paid model for the eighth consecutive year, Forbes.com said

on Monday.The 34-year-old wife of New England Patriots quar-

terback Tom Brady and mother of two young children easily outpaced her closest competition, Dutch Vic-

toria’s Secret model Doutzen Kroes, 29, with earn-ings of $8m before taxes and fees, and fellow Brazil-ian Victoria’s Secret “angel” Adriana Lima, 33, with the same amount.

“The Brazilian icon pocketed $47m in the last 12 months before taxes and fees,” Forbes.com said about Bundchen, adding that she made

$16m more than her football player husband.The model has contracts with fashion re-

tailer H&M, the French fashion house Chanel and designer Carolina Herrera, among oth-ers, and has design deals for lingerie and sandals.

“Bundchen, who boasts 2.7 million Insta-gram followers, has earned $386m from mod-

eling since 2001,” according to Forbes.com. l

Drama doyen Selim Al Deen commemorated

n Entertainment Desk

Late iconic playwright Selim Al Deen’s 65th birth anniversary was observed throughout the country by di� erent theatre troupes and cultural organisations. Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy lead the list with a show of “Hargaj,” a popular work of the seasoned activist, while

theatre troupe Swapnadal staged the play as the beginning of its � ve-day observance at Shilpakala Acad-emy in Dhaka and Mymensingh.

Selim Al Deen Foundation in association with Dhaka Theatre observed the day with a list of pro-grammes including theatre produc-tion, seminar and speeches at the theatre halls of Bangladesh Shilpa-kala Academy on August 17 and 18.

Drama and Dramatics Depart-ment of Jahangirnagar University celebrated with a two-day pro-gramme including remembrance rally, seminar, theatre production, mask exhibition, arts exhibition and photography exhibition while the playwright’s wife Begumjadi Meherunnesa inaugurated the re-membrance rally from the depart-ment to Selim Al Deen’s burial site in the Jahangirnagar premises. l

13DHAKA TRIBUNEWednesday, August 20, 2014

Sport 1514 Upset India sidelines coach Fletcher

Neymar, Messi on target as Suarez makes debut

15 Max set to become youngest F1 driver

Did you know?Branislav Ivanovic now has 17 Premier League

goals, as many as Dan Petrescu and

Frank Leboeuf managed for Chelsea

Visiting Bangladesh will commence their tour of the Caribbean when

they will lock horns with West Indies in the � rst of the three-match ODI series at the Queen’s Park Stadium in Grenada today.

The hosts will be heavily fa-voured to extend the tourists’ mis-erable record in 2014 despite the

latter’s several encouraging per-formances in a 95-run win in their

lone warm-up game against Gre-nada XI.

The Tigers will be tested against a Caribbean side which is brimming with stars from the interna-tional circuit, all of whom will be match-� t given their participation in the

just-concluded second sea-son of the Caribbean Pre-

mier League Twenty20.This campaign, Bangla-

desh’s third tour of the re-gion outside of involvement

in the 2007 World Cup and 2010 World T20, is their � rst trip

away from home this year and captain Mush� qur Rahim will be hoping a

return to the scene of the

side’s greatest triumphs can some-how inspire a transformation from the atrocious form displayed over the past eight months.

Facing a home team stripped of all its top players in the midst of a bitter dispute between the West Indies Crick-et Board and the West Indies Players Association in 2009, Bangladesh swept the Test series 2-0 and the ODIs 3-0 with all-rounder Shakib al Hasan out-standing as both player and captain.

Now though, the West Indies are at full strength with the likes of devastating opener Chris Gayle and p o w e r - h i t t i n g middle-order player Kieron Pollard keen to help their team develop a winning momentum in the countdown to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in six months’ time.

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine ap-pears to carry the greatest threat to Bangladesh in the limited-over formats but they may also � nd the pace of Ke-mar Roach and Ravi Rampaul, together with the awkward bounce extracted by gangling fast-medium bowler Jason

Holder to be more than a handful, even on batting-friendly surfaces.

Compounding the tourists’ chal-lenge is the absence of Shakib, who is serving a six-month suspension from all cricket imposed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board last month over a disci-plinary matter.

In their last 21 competitive inter-national matches spread across the game’s three formats, Bangladesh’s

only successes have come against Af-ghanistan and Ne-pal during the qual-ifying phase of the World T20 in Chit-tagong last March. Their only meeting with the West In-dies in 2014 before

this series was at the same tournament with the side skippered by Darren Sam-my romping to a 73-run win.

Sammy will again lead the team for the lone T20 � xture in St Kitts next week, but the responsibility of captain-cy in the ODI campaign, which includes two matches in Grenada and a day/night encounter at the Warner Park venue in St Kitts, falls on the shoulders of Dwayne Bravo, the � amboyant all-rounder who has so far struggled to achieve consis-

tent success since replacing Sam-my at the helm of the team in the 50-over format a year ago.

West Indies have won just eight of 20 completed ODI’s in the 14 months since Bravo succeeded Sammy as captain following the 2013 Champions Trophy in England.

Bangladesh will look to opener Tamim Iqbal and o� -spinning all-rounder Mah-mudullah, who had scores of 91 and 78 respectively in the match against Grenada to provide some batting so-lidity, while Mush� qur will also be expected to contrib-ute signi� cantly in a side that has batting talent but often lacks the determina-tion and application to build formidable totals.

In the bowling department, the experience of Mashrafa Mortaza’s medium pace and left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak will be essential to curbing the Caribbean batsmen’s pursuit of big scores. l

Nat’l youth women’s handball begins todayn Shishir Hoque

Dhaka will take on Rangamati in the in-augural match of the Walton Air Condi-tioner National (Under-19) Youth Wom-en’s Handball Tournament which gets underway at the M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium today.

A total of 18 youth women’s hand-ball team, split into six groups, are par-ticipating in the tournament. The � rst round matches will be held across two venues – Shaheed Suhrawordi Mirpur In-door Stadium and M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium – before the rest of the tournament (second round, semi� nal

and � nal) moves to the latter venue.Youth and Sports Minister Biren

Sikder will inaugurate the tournament as chief guest while title sponsor Wal-ton’s additional director, head of games and sports, FM Iqbal Bin Anwar will be present as the special guest.

The details of the tournament were revealed in a press conference at the Bangabandhu National Stadium con-ference room yesterday. The champi-ons will receive Tk35000 while the run-ner-up will get Tk25000 as prize money in the Tk890000 (approximate budget) tournament. Sponsor organization Walton are providing Tk500000.l

Nepal names squad for Bangladesh friendliesn Shishir Hoque

The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has announced a 20-man squad for two friendly matches against Ban-gladesh as part of their preparation for the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea next month.

Nepal will arrive in Dhaka on August 25 with the � rst friendly scheduled to be held a day later in the capital’s Army Stadium while the second and � nal match will take place on August 29 at Sylhet Zilla Stadium.

Nepal’s Polish head coach Jack Ste-fanowski named � ve senior players who are over 23 years old including captain Sagar Thapa. The compulso-

ry age limit for the men’s teams in the Asian Games should be under 23 years of age with only three overaged players allowed in each squad which means the ANFA had to pick three players in their � nal squad from the quintet of de-fenders Bikram Lama, Sandip Rai, Biraj Maharjan, Sagar Thapa and forward Bhola Nath Silwal.

Nepal’s rising stars Bharat Khawas, Bimal Gharti Magar and Rohit Chand will not be touring Bangladesh but they will be part of the Asiad squad.

Seven players from Nepal’s 2013 Sa� Championship squad are in the 20-man squad for the friendlies against Ban-gladesh while notable exclusions from that squad include Anil Gurung, Ju

Manu Rai, Bharat and Rohit.Nepal and Anderlecht Under-17

striker Bimal Magar will join the Asiad squad following the conclusion of the AFC U-16 Championship in Thailand.

Nepal goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa, who was in the Sa� squad last year, will also travel with the squad as goalkeeping coach. Earlier, following the invitation of the Bangladesh Football Federa-tion (BFF), Nepal’s football governing body ANFA agreed to play two friendly matches in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh skipper Mamunul Islam is hopeful of winning against Nepal in both the friendlies. “Everyone is � t and raring to go. Nepal is undoubtedly a good team but they

are better when they play at their back-yard. I hope it will be a good � ght. We will get home advantage this time and hopefully we will beat them,” said the Sheikh Jamal mid� elder yesterday. l

Bangladesh produce poor show in Summer Youth Olympic n Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh youth hockey team lost for the third time in as many matches in the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games as they were beaten 4-1 by Canada at the Nanjing YOG Sports Park Hockey Field in Nanjing, China yesterday.

Bangladesh su� ered from poor dis-play in the shooting and swimming dis-ciplines also as the only female repre-sentative of Bangladesh in the Games, shooter Sharmin Akter could score only 397 points to � nish 19th among 20 par-ticipants in the quali� ers of the 10m Air Ri� e event. Swimmer Md Asif Reza crashed out of the heat when he � n-ished 4th out of eight in the 50m free-style event. He clocked 24.98s to � nish the touchline.

Meanwhile, in the � ve-a-side hock-ey match, Bangladesh lost again, this time against Canada which means they have lost three matches in a row. Md Naim Uddin scored the only goal for Bangladesh in the 36th minute which could not be anything more than a con-solation. Brandon Pereira, Amrit Sidhu, Balraj Panesar, Braedon Muldoon net-ted one apiece for Canada.

Bangladesh had earlier lost to Spain and Australia in their � rst two matches and they will now play their last game against South Africa today at the same venue. A victory with a decent margin today will still be enough for Bangladesh to qualify for the next round of eight. l

Bharat Shah, Bhola Nath Silwal, Asim Jung, Amar Dangol, Jagjeet Shrestha, Prakash Bundhathoki, Sushil, Heman Gurung, Biraj Maharjan, Sandip Rai, Sagar Thapa, Aditya Chowdhury, Rabin Shrestha, Ajit Bhandari, Ranjit Dhimal, Bikram Lama, Alan Neupane, Bikesh Kuthu, Dinesh Thapa Magar and Shyam Nepali

NEPAL SQUAD

Maria Sharapova poses at a Q&A about being a SELF Made woman hosted by SELF Magazine September cover star Maria Sharapova at Sugarpova Pop Up Store in the Andaz 5th Avenue on Monday in New York City AFP

GoalkeepersJe� erson (Botafogo), Rafael Cabral (Napoli/ITA)DefendersDavid Luiz, Marquinhos (both Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Gil (Corinthians), Miranda (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Maicon (Roma/ITA), Filipe Luis (Chelsea/ENG), Alex Sandro, Danilo (FC Porto/POR)

Mid� eldersLuiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg/GER), Elias (Cor-inthians), Fernandinho (Manchester City/ENG), Ramires (Chelsea/ENG), Everton Ribeiro (Cruzeiro), Oscar (Chelsea/ENG)ForwardsHulk (Zenit/RUS), Ricardo Goulart (Cru-zeiro), Willian (Chelsea/ENG), Neymar (Bar-celona/ESP), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool/ENG), Diego Tardelli (Atletico Mineiro)

BRAZIL SQUAD

Dunga rings changes in � rst squad n AFP, Rio De Janeiro

New Brazil coach Dunga announced the � rst squad of his second spell in charge of the Selecao on Tuesday, with only 10 of those who featured at the World Cup making the cut.

After the traumatic semi-� nal exit from the World Cup at the semi-� nal stage to Germany last month, Brazil parted company with Luiz Felipe Sco-lari and brought back Dunga, the coach of the team at the 2010 World Cup.

He named a squad of 22 players for the friendlies against Colombia in Mi-ami on September 5 and Ecuador in New Jersey four days later.

Neymar, who su� ered a fractured vertebrae in the World Cup quarter-� -nal defeat of Colombia but made his

comeback for Barcelona this week, is in the squad. Only six of those who start-ed the 7-1 mauling against Germany, David Luiz, Fernandinho, Hulk, Oscar, Luiz Gustavo and Maicon, feature.

Chelsea duo Ramires and Willian and back-up goalkeeper Je� erson are

also maintained, but Marcelo, Dani Alves and Paulinho are among those dropped.

Captain Thiago Silva is missing af-ter su� ering a hamstring injury while playing for Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month. l

Pujara granted to play in County championshipn PTI

Cheteshwar Pujara, who was among the India batsmen who failed in the � ve-Test series against England, has sought permission to play in the re-mainder of England’s County Champi-onship this season and will be allowed to do so by the BCCI.

“Pujara is not part of the ODI or T20 team now and is free to play. He sought my permission to play in county crick-et and I have asked him to send me the details. I have decided to allow him to

play,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel told PTI from Vadodara.

Pujara, considered a Test specialist, and Virat Kohli were expected to be the bulwarks of the young India batting line-up, but failed to live up to their reputations, in conditions conducive to swing bowling. The team su� ered three massive defeats - two of them by an innings - and squandered the series after taking a 1-0 lead at Lord’s, which hosted the second Test. Pujara tallied 222 in 10 innings, with a high score of 55, averaging 22.20 in the series. l

Broad out of ODI squad to face Indian Reuters

Strike bowler Stuart Broad, one of the heroes of England’s 3-1 test series victo-ry against India, was on Monday left out of a 15-man squad for the � ve one-day internationals between the two teams.

Broad, who played for England at The Oval despite having a broken nose and two black eyes following an injury su� ered during the fourth test match in Manchester, will miss the series to have specialist examination and treatment of a chronic right knee injury.

Eleven of the 15 selected players were involved in the Test series. l

Tigers look to roar back from woeful run

FIRST ODI TODAY AT 7:30PM (BDT)

n Agencies

DHAKA TRIBUNE14 Sport Wednesday, August 20, 2014

RESULTSCottbus 2 2 HamburgZietz 2-P, Westermann 70, Michel 105 Van Der Vaart 96

Hamburg won 4-1 on penalties

Dynamo Dresden 2 1 Schalke 04Eilers 24, Teixeira 49 Matip 78Chelsea’s Diego Costa (L) scores past Burnley’s Tom Heaton during their English Premier League soccer match at Turf Moor in Burnley, northern England on Monday REUTERS

Fabregas, Costa impress as Chelsea down Burnleyn Reuters, Burnley

New signings Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas made an instant impact for Chelsea as they launched

their Premier League title bid with a con� dent 3-1 win at promoted Burnley on Monday.

Former Arsenal mid� elder Fabregas, brought in from Barcelona during the close season, was in� uential through-out the game, having a hand in all three Chelsea goals and striking up an impressive mid� eld pairing with Eden Hazard.

Chelsea recovered from conceding a 14th minute goal, quickly turning on the style in an impressive half hour spell to go in 3-1 up at the break.

Jose Mourinho’s side were content to see out the game in the second half as Burnley, tipped by many for relega-tion, put in a creditable professional display after the Londoners had threat-ened to run away with the game.

In a � ery atmosphere, the home side took a surprise lead in the with a su-perb drive from Scott Ar� eld after a � ne run and pull back from Matt Taylor.

But any hopes the capacity home crowd at Turf Moor had of witnessing an upset were quickly dashed as Chel-sea showed why so many bookmakers

have them as favourites to win the title this season.

Three minutes after Ar� eld’s strike, Brazilian-born Spain international Cos-ta, a close season signing from Atletico Madrid, brought the Londoners level on his Premier League debut - � ring in after a Branislav Ivanovic cross-shot, following a Fabregas back-heel, had come out o� the post.

Four minutes later, Chelsea had the lead - Fabregas providing a beautiful � rst time pass to German World Cup winner Andre Schurrle who con� dent-ly drove home.

Burnley looked shell-shocked and their manager Sean Dyche will be dis-appointed with the slack defending for Chelsea’s third as an unchallenged Ivanovic slotted in a Fabregas corner in

the 34th minute.Mourinho had raised some eye-

brows by opting for Thibaut Courtois over Petr Cech in goal and the Belgian showed his quality shortly after the break to deny Ar� eld a second from a curling shot which he tipped wide.

Lancashire club Burnley, whose entire squad cost just a fraction of Costa’s reported 32 million pound transfer fee, will have taken some heart though from the way they applied themselves after the break, even if they rarely threatened to alter the scoreline.

Chelsea brought on Didier Drogba for his � rst o� cial appearance of his second spell with the club as a late sub-stitute to the delight of their travelling supporters. l

RESULTBurnley 1 3 ChelseaScott Ar� eld 14 Costa 17, Schuerrle 21, Ivanovic 34

Neymar, Messi on target as Suarez makes debutn AFP, Barcelona

Luis Suarez made his � rst appearance for Barcelona after his move from Liv-erpool for a reported 95 million euros as the Catalans hammered Mexican side Club Leon 6-0 in a friendly on Monday.

The Uruguayan striker, who won’t be able to play in a competitive game for Bar-ca until October after his appeal against a fourth-month ban for biting Italian de-fender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup was rejected last week, replaced Raf-inha Alcantara 14 minutes from time.

Barca were already leading 4-0 thanks to goals from Lionel Messi, Mu-nir El Haddadi and a double from Ney-mar before Munir and Sandro rounded o� the scoring.

Despite his controversial past, which includes two previous bans for biting as well as a suspension by the English FA for racially abusing Manchester Unit-ed defender Patrice Evra, Suarez was

warmly received by the home fans.Earlier, Neymar and Messi made

a telling impact in their � rst outings since their World Cup ended in a dev-astating back injury and defeat in the � nal respectively. Messi headed the hosts in front inside three minutes from Neymar’s de� ected cross.

The Brazilian striker then doubled Barca’s lead with a delightful chip from Andres Iniesta’s through ball before grabbing his second of the night when he backheeled into an empty net two minutes before half-time.

Munir replaced Neymar at half-time and he tapped home the fourth goal when Dani Alves knocked Ivan Rakitic’s ball over the top into the 19-year-old’s path.

And moments after Suarez had made his entrance, Munir smashed home his second goal of the game with a powerful low � nish before Sandro put the seal on a � ne Barca performance in similar fashion a minute from time. l

Adler spares Hamburg blushes in German Cupn Reuters, Berlin

Hamburg SV keeper Rene Adler saved two spot kicks in a shootout to help the Bundesliga club overcome third divi-sion Energie Cottbus 4-1 on penalties and advance into the German Cup sec-ond round on Monday.

Fellow Bundesliga club Schalke, however, crashed out in a 2-1 defeat to third-tier Dynamo Dresden.

Former Germany international Ad-ler came to the rescue after Hamburg had failed to break the resistance of their lower-ranked opponents in a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes.

Schalke, who will play in the Champi-ons League this season, tumbled out of the competition at the � rst hurdle against Dresden with a poor performance.

Julian Draxler tried to force the equaliser by dribbling past three play-ers in stoppage time, but he saw his e� ort saved and Dresden celebrated a winning return to the competition. l

Celtic look to seize second chance in CLn AFP, Paris

Scottish champions Celtic will look to use their reprieve from Champions League oblivion and gain a positive result away at Slovenian titleholders Maribor on Wednesday in the � rst leg of their play-o� .

Celtic were soundly beaten by Polish out� t Legia Warsaw in the third qualifying round only to regain their place in the competition thanks to an administrative error by their opponents.

Legia went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to overturn UEFA’s original decision to punish them for sending on substitute Bartosz Bereszynski at the end of the second leg - with Legia leading 6-1 on aggregate - when he was deemed as being ineligible to play as he should

still have been serving a suspension.However, the CAS refused to make

a quick ruling on the matter, leaving Celtic to focus their minds on the chal-lenge of Maribor as they chase a place in the lucrative group stage.

Another former winner of the compe-tition, the 2004 champions Porto, are also in action away in the � rst leg at French side Lille, who enjoy a proud record when it comes to the play-o� s having never lost in three previous ap-pearances. l

FIXTURES Std Liege (BEL) v Zenit (RUS) Lille (FRA) v FC Porto (POR) Maribor (SLO) v Celtic (SCO) Aalborg (DEN) v Apoel FC (CYP) Bratislava (SVK) v BATE (BLR)

Barcelona’s Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez (L), Spanish mid� elder Sergio Busquets and Argentinian forward Lionel Messi clap during an o� cial team presentation at the 49th Joan Gamper Trophy football match against Leon Club at the Camp Nou on Monday AFP

Schweinsteiger out for at least two weeksn Reuters, Berlin

Bayern Munich mid� elder Bastian Schweinsteiger will be out for at least two weeks with a knee problem, chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on Tuesday.

Schweinsteiger, who has been nurs-ing a patella tendon injury in his left knee for months and needed treatment during Germany’s victorious World Cup campaign in June and July, has not yet played this season.

“Our doctor is con� dent this will not be a long-term issue,” Rummenig-ge told reporters at a club event in Mu-nich.

“But obviously this is not an issue of one or two weeks. It may last a little more than that and we just have to be a bit patient.”

Schweinsteiger looks like missing Germany’s friendly against Argentina

on Sept. 3 as well as the Euro 2016 qual-i� er against Scotland a few days later.

He is not the only injury concern at Bayern with fellow mid� elder Javi Mar-tinez sidelined for the rest of the year with torn cruciate ligaments.

Defender Ra� nha and mid� elder Thiago Alcantara are also long-term injury victims while Franck Ribery missed last week’s German Super Cup � nal defeat by Borussia Dortmund and the 4-1 German Cup � rst-round win over Preussen Muenster.

Coach Pep Guardiola, who earlier this month ruled out any more incom-ing transfers, said last week the team needed a replacement for Martinez.

The Bundesliga starts on Friday with Bayern taking on VfL Wolfsburg.

“Whether or not we will be active in the transfer market depends on the quality on o� er and the price,” said Rummenigge. l

Chelsea’s Marko Marin joins Fiorentina on loann Reuters, London

Germany mid� elder Marko Marin has joined Fiorentina on a season-long loan from Chelsea, the Premier League club announced on Monday.

Marin, 25, spent last season on loan in Spain with Europa League winners Sevilla and joins up with Serie A club Fiorentina ahead of their � rst game of the season against Roma on Aug. 30.

The Serbian-born German international, capped 16 times for the world champions, joined Chelsea in 2012 and made 16 appearances during his � rst season. Marin was once dubbed the “German Messi” by his fans.

Jose Mourinho’s side began their Premier League campaign with a visit to newly promoted Burnley on Monday. l

Suarez admits to seeking help after third biting incidentn AFP, Barcelona

Barcelona striker Luis Suarez said he has received professional help after receiving a four-month ban for biting an opponent for the third time in his career when he clashed with Italy’s Gi-orgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

Suarez made his debut for the Catalans in a 6-0 friendly win over Mexican side Club Leon on Monday, but will not be able to play a competitive game for Barca until late October after his appeal against the ban was thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week.

“The suspension is what it is and I have to accept it. It is a personal matter but I have worked with the adequate professionals,” the Uruguayan said at his � rst press conference as a Barca player on Tuesday.

“I have tried to forget this game and this situation as well. It is a di� cult moment for me and I would say to all the fans to not worry because I am not doing that anymore.”

Suarez was believed to have been a long-term target for Barca’s eternal rivals Real Madrid. However, Barca’s sporting vice-president Jordi Mestre said the player’s desire to come to Cata-lonia had allowed the club to negotiate a fee of 81 million euros (£65 million, $109 million) with Liverpool, £10 mil-lion less than the player’s £75 million release clause.

“There were options from other teams, but when the option of Barca became clear I didn’t have any doubts because it was a dream for me,” added Suarez.

“I still can’t believe it. It is some-thing I have dreamed about but I nev-

er imagined such a beautiful dream would come true.”

Suarez could even make his compet-itive debut against Madrid should their � rst clash of the season be scheduled for Saturday, October 25 or the follow-ing day and he is determined to ensure he is as � t as possible when that game comes around in case coach Luis En-rique calls on him to start.

“It’s not the same but I had a similar situation last year at Liverpool, I start-ed to play on September 20. It is a long time but if you keep focused with your teammates in training it helps.”

Barcelona already have a wealth of talent available in attacking areas with four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and Brazilian star Neymar, meaning Suarez is likely to be forced into a role on the right side of the attack. l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15Wednesday, August 20, 2014

BTV, Gazi Sports, Ten Cricket7:00PMBangladesh Tour of West Indies1st ODI

Star Sports 43:30PMAFC Champions LeagueWestern Sydney v Guangzhou

Star Sports 1, 2Pro Kabaddi League 20148:15AMJaipur v Bengaluru

UEFA Champions League,

Qualifying

Ten Sports12:45AMMaribor v Celtic

Ten Action12:45AMLille v Porto

Norway call up 15-year-old OdegaardAt the tender age of just 15, Martin Odegaard, a talented mid� elder with Stromsgodset, has been handed a maiden call-up to the Norwegian national squad. Norway coach Per-Mathias Hogmo on Tuesday named Odegaard in his squad for a friendly against the United Arab Emirates in the south-western city of Stavanger on August 27, describing the youngster as a “comet”. Born on December 17, 1998, Odegaard will be only 15 years and 253 days old come the day of the game. “He has played so well in a number of league games that I wanted to see him in the national team,” said Hogmo in a statement. “I said before the season that he was going to be the comet of this season and that he could become the youngest player in the history of the national team. “I am not surprised that he has performed so well up to now. Now I can’t wait to see him in action,” added the coach.

–AFP

Owen sees good times ahead for United, LiverpoolManchester United will return to the top four of the Premier League this season but it is only Liverpool that can challenge for the title, according to former England striker Michael Owen who played for both clubs. “I think United will have a decent season and get back into the top four, and into the Champions League next season,” said the former striker, who spent three injury-plagued years at United from 2009 until 2012. “I don’t think they have got the quality to dethrone Man-chester City or � nish above Chelsea but I do think they will have a good season.” “There is a lot to be interested in Liverpool this year. The question marks are with Suarez not being there and the added pressure of playing in the Champions League. “If they can combat them I think they’ll have a decent chance of challenging for the title again.”

–Reuters

Pekerman signs new four-year deal with ColombiaJose Pekerman has signed a new four-year deal as coach of Colombia, the South American country’s football federation announced Tuesday. “We’ve been saying it since the start, for sever-al months, that Pekerman was our plan A, B and C,” federation president Luis Bedoya told local radio. Pekerman’s initial contract expired on July 31, the 64-year-old Argentinian having taken over in January 2012. Under his guid-ance, Colombia not only quali� ed for the World Cup � nals for the � rst time in 16 years, but also went on to record four victories and reach the quarter-� -nals where they were knocked out by hosts Brazil.

–AFP

Hangeland quits Norway teamNorway defender Brede Hangeland has quit the international stage, bringing the curtain down on a 12-year career during which he captained his country, won 91 caps and scored four goals. “For many years I have had very high demands on my body and at the age of 33 it feels essential to make this decision,” the beanpole Crystal Palace centre half said in a statement released by the Norwegian FA on Tuesday. “There is never a good time for this type of decision but before the start of a new quali� cation phase ... I am quite con� dent that it is the right decision.”

–Reuters

QUICK BYTES

DAY’S WATCH

Irfan to join for Sri Lanka ODIs n AFP, Lahore

Fit-again paceman Mohammad Irfan will join the Pakistan squad for their one-day matches against Sri Lanka to re-inforce the attack after their 2-0 Test se-ries defeat, a board o� cial said Tuesday.

The 32-year-old, who holds the re-cord of being the tallest-ever cricketer at seven feet one inch (2.16 metres), will � y out in time for the � rst ODI in Hambantota on Saturday.

“The team management in Sri Lan-ka had asked for Irfan to join the squad considering the uncertainty over fast bowler Junaid Khan,” a Pakistan Crick-et Board spokesman told AFP.

Khan was hit on the head while hooking a delivery during Pakistan’s 105-run defeat in the second Test. l

Upset India sidelines coach FletcherRavi Shastri appointment ups pressure on Dhoni n Reuters, London

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher remain in place, but only time will tell if the appointment of Ravi Shastri as director of cricket is a temporary measure or a sign of deeper changes ahead in the Indian game.

Former captain Shastri was installed “overall in-charge of cricket a� airs” for India’s upcoming � ve-match one-day series against England, following their embarrassing 3-1 Test series to defeat to the same opposition.

India claimed their � rst overseas win since 2011 when they won the sec-ond Test at Lord’s, but surrendered the � nal three matches meekly, the � nal indignity being their downfall at The Oval when they lost by an innings and 244 runs within three days.

Dhoni was one of the only players to show some � ght as India’s batting line-up failed to pass 200 in their last � ve in-nings of the series, but has come under severe criticism from media back home for overseeing some desperate perfor-mances.

“He has well and truly outlived his

usefulness as a captain in the long form of the game,” Nalin Mehta said in The Times of India on Tuesday.

“It is not so much the defeat, but the manner of the capitulation that rankles. India’s cricketers have not just been routed in a series they began well, under Dhoni they looked bereft of ideas and direction.”

The sentiment was shared by Sanjeev K Samyal in the Hindustan Times, who recalled that former greats Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly had lost the captaincy during their careers.

“And they never led teams that have played as poorly as those MS Dhoni has captained,” he wrote.

“The humiliation at Old Tra� ord and The Oval is unacceptable. He has long since outlived his utility as Test captain.”

Fletcher, a former England coach, has arguably been placed under super-vision following Shastri’s appointment.

He was not spared criticism either, apportioned blame for the way the likes of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dha-wan, tipped as potential stars of the se-ries, struggled on foreign pitches.

“Fletcher is aware of the conditions and should have developed ways to see that the boys improve and come out of lean patch,” former India captain GR Viswanath said in The New India Ex-press.

“I think Fletcher has not been able to do the job.”

Bowling coach Joe Dawes and � eld-ing mentor Trevor Penney have been given a “break” for the ODI series, with Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun made assistant coaches and R Sridhar named as � elding coach.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India said the changes were for the next � ve matches, but given India be-gin the defence of their World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand in Febru-ary, more big decisions may be needed if India are to add a third 50-over tro-phy to their name. l

Supreme Serena targets 18th major at US Open n AFP, New York

World number one Serena Williams is � ring on all cylinders as she seeks to stretch her tally of Grand Slam singles titles to 18 at the US Open.

The familiar hardcourts of Flushing Meadows, where Williams has lifted the trophy the past two years and a to-tal of � ve times, is just the place to end her 2014 Grand Slam drought.

The American superstar hasn’t made it past the fourth round of a ma-jor this year.

But she has won two of her � ve 2014 titles in the buildup to the Open, sig-nalling she won’t surrender her crown without a � ght.

Her straight-sets win over Ana Iva-novic in the � nal at Cincinnati showed Williams at her dominant best.

“At some point of the match, I ac-tually felt quite embarrassed walking from one side to the other for returns,” Ivanovic said of the near-hopelessness of returning Williams’ serve.

It was a long way from Ivanovic’s

fourth-round victory over Williams at the Australian Open, where the Amer-ican was hindered by back pain.

Back trouble, and the virus that left her weak and woozy in doubles after her shock third-round singles exit at Wimbledon, are all in the past, Wil-liams said.

“I’m in some of the best shape I’ve been in,” she said. “I can play long points and be ready to go again. I feel really � t -- 32 is the new 22, right?”

An actual 22-year-old, Simona Ha-lep, will be among those trying to top-ple Williams in New York.

The Romanian has been knocking at the door of a � rst Grand Slam title this year, � nishing runner-up to Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros.

Halep also reached the quarter-� nals of the Australian Open and the semi-� -nals at Wimbledon as she climbed to number two in the world.

Williams will also be challenged by more familiar foes, including Sharapova.

Sharapova’s appetite is only greater

after she missed last year’s US Open with a shoulder injury that brought her season to a premature close.

She sealed yet another return from injury by capturing her � fth career Grand Slam in Paris, but she has never won two majors in the same year.

“I only have one more chance to do that this year,” she said, and admitted that such milestones matter.

“At this position, that’s where you showcase how strong you are and how much you really love it and (want) to show your legacy through the sport,” she said. Just who else might emerge to challenge Williams is unclear.

Australian Open champion Li Na of China is an injury absentee, while Czech Petra Kvitova has been an early casualty in the two tournaments she has played since winning Wimbledon.

Eugenie Bouchard, who reached the semi-� nals at the Australian and French Opens before becoming the � rst Canadian woman to reach a Grand Slam � nal at Wimbledon, has failed to impress since her crushing loss to Kvi-

tova at the All England Club.Victoria Azarenka, beaten by Wil-

liams in each of the past two US Open � nals, goes into the fortnight under an injury cloud.

The Belarusian, owner of two Aus-

tralian Open titles, has been limited to just six events in 2014.

She battled a foot injury for much of the year and withdrew from her title defence at Cincinnati with a right knee injury. l

Ravi Shastri

Former captain Shastri was installed “overall in-charge of cricket a� airs” for India’s upcoming � ve-match one-day series against England

Max set to become youngest F1 driver n AFP, Milan

Sixteen-year-old Max Verstappen will become the youngest driver in Formu-la One history next season after being unveiled as Toro Rosso’s new signing.

The Dutch teenager, son of ex-F1 driver Jos Verstappen, currently races in Formula Three with the Van Amers-foort Racing team having cut his racing teeth on the karting circuit.

He will partner Russian Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull feeder team with 24-year-old Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne deemed surplus to requirements.

“Ever since I was seven years old, Formula One has been my career goal, so this opportunity is truly a dream come true,” Verstappen said on the team’s website.

Verstappen, who turns 17 next month, will beat by almost two years the age record currently held by Spain’s Jaime Alguersuari, who was 19 years and 125 days when he made his debut

at the Hungarian GP in 2009, also for Toro Rosso.

He won the world go-karting cham-pionship last year and has topped the podium in eight out of 27 races since graduating to the highly competitive Formula Three Championship.

“We’ve all worked tremendously hard to reach Formula One and I will give my absolute best to be successful in the pinnacle of motorsport,” Ver-stappen said, thanking his father for his support.

“With the return of the Verstappen name to Formula One, I hope we can re-live old memories and I’m hoping to see many fans at all the Grand Prix circuits.”

Verstappen played down the step up to Formula One, saying that he thought he had already made the hardest tran-sition.

“I think the biggest step I had was karting to F3. I think F3 to F1 will be a smaller step,” the teenager told BBC Radio 5 live.

“I’m not that worried about it. The cars are really safe. I think it’s more dangerous to bike through a big city than race in an F1 car.”

Verstappen is following the path of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who were also members of the Red Bull Junior Team.

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost said that despite his youth, Ver-stappen’s skill levels and maturity in-dicated he could cut it in Formula One.

“We consider Max to be one of the most skilled young drivers of the new generation and we believe he has the necessary maturity and mental strength to take on this challenge suc-cessfully,” he said.

“We are happy to welcome Max into the Toro Rosso family. It’s great to see how the Red Bull Junior Programme continues to � nd talented young driv-ers and gives them the opportunity to come into Formula 1.” l

Proteas beat Zimbabwe to take ODI seriesn Reuters, Bulawayo

Quinton de Kock tied a one-day interna-tional record as South Africa beat Zim-babwe by 61 runs on Tuesday to take a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

The 21-year-old wicketkeeper-open-ing batsman made 38 to equal the mark of England’s Jonathan Trott in reaching the landmark of 1,000 runs in only 21 one-day games.

Faf du Plessis top-scored with 55 as South Africa were bowled out for 257 in 49.4 overs after being put in to bat.

It was only the third time in 34 ODI meetings that Zimbabwe had bowled out their southern African rivals.

Out-of-form South Africa captain

AB de Villiers was involved in a bizarre dismissal.

He missed a delivery from spinner Prosper Utseya and, in the mistak-

en belief that Richmond Mutumbami did the same, set o� for a single only for the bemused wicketkeeper to run him out for one. l

(L-R) South Africa’s Ryan McClaren, David Miller, Faf du Plessis and Wayne Parnell celebrate their second ODI victory against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday AFP

South Africa257 all out in 49.4 overs (F du Plessis 55)Zimbabwe196 all out in 49.1 overs (S Williams 55; R McLaren 3-21, W Parnell 3-28)

South Africa won by 61 runs

BRIEF SCORE

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Flood-a� ected people living in constant fearn Tribune Report

The � ood situation in many parts of the country has remained unchanged with many dams giving in to heavy river cur-rents and people being evacuated from areas near embankments.

Flood-a� ected people said either they did not receive any relief materials or what they got was insu� cient.

Our Kurigram correspondent re-ports: The overall � ood situation re-mained unchanged in Kurigram dis-trict. More than one hundred chars and lowlands were inundated and nearly 70 thousand people were marooned.

At least 10,843 hectares of Aman and vegetable � elds have gone under � ood water. Some portions of two embank-ments were damaged too.

Executive Engineer of Kurighram Roads and Highways Department Ha-midul Haque said � ood water washed away 20 metres of the embankment.

More than 50 houses in Paramoula and Mondir area under Boddananda union of the upazila were lost to the river over the last three days. Chairman of Ulipur upazila said the water level of the river Brahmaputra increasd by 11cm yesterday.

Chairman of Jatrapur UP Abdul Gafur said a total of 18 chars including Pepulbari, Borura, Rolakata, Doikhawa and Airmari were submerged where � ood victims are living in sub-human condition.

Kurigram Deputy Commissioner ABM Azad said he received Tk1,00000 and 100 metric tonnes of rice as aid yesterday.

Our correspondent from Gaiband-ha adds: Flood situation remained unchanged in Gaibandha too. Over 50,000 people of Gaibandha Sadar, Sundarganj and Fulchhari and Saghata upazila were marooned.

Water in the Ghaghot river is � owing over the danger level posing a serious threat to the dam. The Water Develop-

ment Board (WDB) has announced an emergency in the areas.

The WDB sources said the water level in the Brahmaputra and Karotoa was continuously increasing and could cross the danger level at any moment.

Mir Abdur Razzak, assistant director of Bangladesh Agricultural Develop-ment Corporation, said 1,456 hectares of cultivated land went under water in four upazilas of the district.

Nazmul Huda, the deputy magis-trate of Relief and Rehabilitation De-

partment in the district, said they had distributed 40 metric tonnes of rice and relief materials worth Tk40,000 among the � ood-a� ected people while the government allotted another 100 metric tonnes of rice.

As a portion of the embankment near the North Sathalia point in the district was washed away yesterday scared people started to leave the area for safer shelters.

Our Jamalpur correspondent re-ports: Onrush of water from the up-

stream and the incessant rain wors-ened the � ood situation in Jamalpur. The river Jamuna over� owed and sub-merged the houses and farmlands in 30 villages under the Patharshi, Kulkandi and Chinaduli unions.

More than 25,000 people bearing the brunt of the � ood water. Many of them had to take shelter on the road embankments. The victims of � ood from the Patharshi village said though they were struggling for two days no-body came to their help.

The district magistrate Md Shahabud-din Khan said 18 metric tonnes of rice were given for those areas and they would soon be distributed among the victims.

Our correspondent from Chapain-awabganj reports: Fresh erosion by the Padma River is threatening the recently � nished left bank protection project of the river.

Residents of Goaldubi in Charbag-danga union of Sadar upazila are living in constant fear of losing their houses and mango orchards. l

600 applicants denied police clearance for Hajjn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Special Branch (SB) of police have decided not to give police clearance cer-ti� cates – a prerequisite for Saudi Arabi-an visas – to 600 “un� t” applicants who planned on performing Hajj this year.

Most of the applicants identi� ed as “un� t” allegedly had criminal cases � led against them with di� erent po-lice stations. Police o� cials expressed concerns that some of those applicants might not return to Bangladesh if they were allowed to go to Saudi Arabia in the name of performing Hajj.

Mizanur Rahman, director of Hajj o� ce at Ashkona, said the SB police had identi� ed 581 applicants as ineli-gible for clearance certi� cates. When asked for the reason, he said the police only provided a list of un� t applicants without explaining to the Hajj o� ce why they were declined clearances.

“The applicants who were denied clear-ance could now submit applications to SB to � nd out reasons behind such decision.”

Meanwhile, police have also report-edly identi� ed around 900 other ap-plications to have faulty or misleading information. While verifying all submit-ted applications, the police found mis-takes in names, addresses and other in-formation provided by those applicants.

Hajj o� ce Director Mizanur said those who made mistakes in their documents could be eligible for a visa only if they could get clearances by requesting the SB authorities to recheck their applications.

The Ministry of Religious A� airs sent a total of 37,000 applications from Hajj aspirants to the police for veri� ca-tion this year. l

Watchdog slams narcotics departmentn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Police and other law enforcers yester-day at a parliamentary watchdog meet-ing alleged that they had so far seized many contraband drugs such as heroin and yaba-making ingredients but after laboratory tests the results came oth-erwise.

For instance, a seized consignment of heroin becomes ordinary powder in the test in the laboratory of the Depart-ment of Narcotics that came into being in 1990 to prevent increasing misuse of drugs in Bangladesh.

Thus the drug smugglers escape punishment in court, they said.

The allegations was raised at yes-terday’s meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home at the Jatiya Sangsad building.

The high level o� cials of police, RAB and the Department of Narcotics attended the meeting with the JS body chairman Tipu Munshi in the chair.

“Only one o� cer has been working at the laboratory of the department of narcotics for 20 years. The drug smug-glers are really powerful and moneyed men. They easily bribe the o� cials and manage test report in their favour,” the chairman said.

According to the complaints of the law enforcers, the chairman said, the standing committee recommended the samples of a seized article be sent to at least three laboratories to stop narcot-ics test manipulation.

The RAB has sophisticated labora-tory.

“The department of narcotics has total-ly failed to contain spread of illegal drugs.

Our opinion is that the whole department should be reshu� ed,” said Tipu.

One o� cial of the Department of Narcotics, however, told the Dhaka Trib-une that police and RAB had long been putting pressure on the department as most of the laboratory test results do not show consignments as drugs.

In many cases, the department shelves the samples for months so that the materials go out of date ultimately showing wrong result.

According to the working paper pre-sented at the meeting show that the sex-stimulating yaba tablets come from Myanmar unhindered.

“Due to India’s strong vigilance in the bordering areas, the prevalence of Phensedyl (a codin phosphate-based cough syrup used for addiction) has come down. But Yaba’s onslaught is still on,” said the chairman.

The home ministry o� cials say, the o� cials of border guards of Bangladesh and Myanmar would meet soon to � nd out ways to stop misuse of Yaba. The home secretaries of the two neigh-bours would meet and discuss the cross-boundary smuggling of Yaba.

The parliamentary standing commit-tee formed a three-member sub-commit-tee to suggest the ways of eradicating the root of drug smuggling in Bangladesh.

Former state minister for industries Omor Faruk Chowdhury is the head of the three-member committee having Faridul Haque Khan and Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapon as members.

According to the rules of procedure, the recommendations of the 10-mem-ber watchdog are not mandatory for the ministry. l

National Guard called to avoid riotsn AP, Ferguson, Missouri

An unarmed black 18-year-old whose fatal shooting by a white police o� cer has sparked a week of protests in sub-urban St Louis su� ered a bullet wound to his right arm that may indicate his hands were up or his back was turned, a pathologist hired by his family said.

But the pathologist said the inde-pendent team that examined Michael Brown can’t be sure yet exactly how the wounds were in� icted, citing the need for more information.

The autopsy determined that he was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, according to the patholo-gists and the family’s attorneys. An-other autopsy conducted by St. Louis County also found Brown was shot six to eight times, and that he was hit in the head and chest.

Brown’s death heightened racial tensions between the predominant-ly black community and the mostly white Ferguson Police Department. Civil rights activists have compared the shooting to other racially charged cas-es, especially the 2012 death of Trayv-on Martin, the unarmed black teenager shot by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was later acquitted of murder. Both cases have fueled na-tionwide debates on the treatment of young black men in America.

After nightfall, police and protesters were again in a tense stando� Monday as crowds � lled the streets. O� cers used bullhorns to order people out of the street and deployed noisemakers and armored vehicles to push demon-strators back. There were no immedi-ate reports of violence.

US President Obama said in a news conference that Attorney General Eric

Holder would arrive Wednesday in Fer-guson to meet with FBI and other o� -cials carrying out an independent fed-eral investigation into Brown’s death.

The Aug 9 shooting touched o� ran-corous protests in the St Louis suburb where police have used riot gear and tear gas. Governor Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to Ferguson to re-store order Monday, while lifting a mid-night-to-5 am curfew that had been in place for two days.

Obama said he told Nixon he want-ed to ensure the use of National Guard reservists to help calm tensions must be limited in scope, and said he would be monitoring that operation in the coming days to see whether the guard’s involvement was helping or hurting. Guard units kept their distance from

the protests and protected a police staging area.

Police have said little about the en-counter between Brown and the white o� cer, except to say that it involved a scu� e in which the o� cer was injured and Brown was shot. Witnesses say the teenager had his hands in the air as the o� cer � red multiple rounds.

Forensic pathologist Shawn Parcells, who assisted former New York City chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden during the independent au-topsy, said a graze wound on Brown’s right arm could have occurred in sev-eral ways. The teen may have had his back to the shooter, or he could have been facing the shooter with his hands above his head or in a defensive posi-tion in front of his face. l

Only Promod Mankin goes by rulesMinisters are not supposed to get apartment from JS if they are given it by governmentn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Five cabinet members have not re-sponded to the request of the House Committee which asked the ministers either to vacate the apartments allotted to them as MPs or pay the house rent they get from the government.

The ministers have received accom-modation facilities from the government.

The 10th Jatiya Sangsad’s House Committee, which was tasked to en-sure accommodation for all MPs, de-cided that the ministers would not be eligible to get apartments from the

parliament authorities if they got such facilities from the government.

LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sayedul Haque, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sharif and State Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts A� airs Bir Bahadur U Shwe Sing, however, did not hand over the apartments to the authorities concerned.

Only Promod Mankin, the state min-ister for social welfare, informed the House Committee that he would pay the house allowance to the parliament secretariat and live in the apartment

(block 4, apartment 301).He would therefore not get any

house from the government.Deputy Minister for Environment

Abdullah Al Islam Jakob was living in apartment 903 (block 6) since he did not receive any house from the govern-ment. However, he did not clarify if he would deposit the house allowance to the parliament authorities or not.

Chief Whip ASM Feroz yesterday talked to Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi who suggested House Committee look into the matter. The chief whip is ex-of-� cio head of the House Committee.

“He (chief whip) came to me and I saw the list of the ministers who were living in the apartments. I thought the honourable ministers would respect the rules,” Fazle Rabbi told the Dhaka Tribune at his o� ce yesterday.

According to the report of the hostel wing, Sayedul Haque was given apart-ment 102 in block 4 at NAM village in front of the Jatiya Sangsad. But his apart-ment had been put under lock and key.

It was the same case for Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan whose apart-ment (block 4, apartment 404) had been unused for months.

One of Syed Ashraful Islam’s brothers lives in the apartment (block 4, apart-ment 402). Shamsur Rahman Sharif’s son lives in apartment 403 (block 403).

“The apartment given to me as MP is currently under lock and key. What I can assure you is that I will comply with the rules,” Shajahan Khan said.

The House Committee prepared a list in February this year. It showed that 30 ministers used to live in the apart-ments in NAM village.

Till August 19, only seven ministers live in NAM villages in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and Nakhalpara areas. l

Police meet for a late afternoon roll call and brie� ng prior to the National Guard's arrival in Ferguson, Missouri, August 18, 2014. President Barack Obama said on Monday he was sending Attorney General Eric Holder to Ferguson on Wednesday to investigate the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white policeman, and urged restraint on the part of both law enforcement and protesters REUTERS

In a frantic e� ort to save the embankment in Gaibandha, locals use sandbags and bamboo poles to protect the town from � ooding yesterday. Increasing water level in Ghaghot River has given rise to concerns of � ash � oods in the areas near the riverbank FOCUS BANGLA

3 Bangladeshis killed in Malaysian Tribune Report

Three Bangladeshi migrant workers were killed in an accident at a con-struction site in Malaysia on Monday, reports The Star, a Malaysian English daily.

The victims, Mohammad Elahi Hos-sain, Mohammad Faruk Khan, and Mo-hammad Alauddin Mallik, were killed after a 300-tonne concrete span col-lapsed on them at 8.30pm at the con-struction site of MRT Corp, a Malaysian government company, in Kota Daman-sara, a township at Petaling district in Selangor state.

Police have not ruled out negligence as the cause of the accident.

Supt Junaidi Bujang, o� cer-in-charge of Sungai Buloh police station in Pataling, said although the case was classi� ed as sudden death, police would also look into other causes, in-cluding negligence. Elahi, one of the victims, was supposed to end his shift at midnight, the police o� cer added.

Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid, CEO of MRT Corp, resigned over the accident.

“As of tomorrow, I am no longer the CEO,” he said while addressing a press conference yesterday.

“I have always been very strict over safety measures at the MRT sites, but such incidents have occurred over and over again,” he said. “I have done my best, but I have evidently failed and therefore will be handing over my du-ties.”

Azhar also said he had been told that some security measures had not been followed by the sub-contractors at the site. “If that really is the case, I will make sure MRT Corp never works with them again,” he said.

He also said despite his departure from the company, he would see the case through and ensure that the fam-ilies of the deceased are given justice.

Khondaker Showkar Hossain, secre-tary at the Ministry of Expatriates’ Wel-fare and Overseas Employment, said the ministry was trying to get the dead bodies home as soon as possible.

“It was an unfortunate accident. We are trying our best to bring the bodies home soon and ensure that the victims’ families get compensation,” he said.

“The Malaysian government is giv-ing this incident high priority and will help us in this regard,” he added. l

‘It was an unfortunate accident. We are trying our best to bring the bodies home soon and ensure that the victims’ families get compensation’

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business

BRICS, AIIB to be complimentary to WB’s role in Bangladeshn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh would get two more big windows for � nancing development initiatives, including infrastructure, annually requiring US$7bn to US$10bn for a period of at least next 10 years.

The windows would be opened with the establishment of the proposed BRICS Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

They would be complementary to existing development partners already contributing to the country’s devel-opment and poverty reduction, World Bank lead economist Zahid Hussain told the Dhaka Tribune. “Their opera-tions will supplement the works of the World Bank.”

He said Bangladesh needs $7 to $10bn investment each year for the next 10 years for its infrastructure to reduce poverty and the whole South Asian region needs $2tn fund every year for the same purpose.

“The funds provided by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank altogether are not even close to that � gure,” he said, adding there is ample scope where the proposed banks could operate.

The World Bank has made a com-mitment to provide $4.8bn during 2011-15 to Bangladesh and, in this � scal year, it would provide $1.3bn in di� er-ent projects.

“World Bank in the last � scal dis-bursed $1.8bn credit to Bangladesh, the highest ever in the history of the country,” he added.

Replying to a question, Zahid said the World Bank is not worried about the proposed institutions as they will compliment the development works of

the Bretton Woods institution.China has proposed to � oat AIIB

with a capital of over $1 trillion to fund development projects in the Asian re-gion and it invited Bangladesh to join the bank as a founder member.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa [BRICS] – � ve emerging economies – in their summit meeting last month proposed to � oat BRICS Bank with a capital of $50bn to invest in the development projects.

World Bank wants the new banks to have strict procurement policies to be maintained by them so that no corrup-tion could take place, Zahid said.

About � nancing in big projects, he said, the World Bank cannot � nance big projects like deep sea port but these banks might have the capacity to do that.

“We are � nancing other projects like port development or roads infrastruc-ture and our investment will be more e� ective if they invest in such big proj-ects like deep sea port,” he said.

About 80 countries get soft loan from the World Bank and there is a � erce competition to get a pie of the fund, he added. World Bank provides loans for 40 years with a grace period of 10-year and 0.7% service charge.

Padma Bridge The lead economist said it is not possi-ble for the lending agency to be involved in the Padma bridge project again.

“The government went ahead with the project and some works had al-ready been done. Now, if the World Bank wants to join, the government might have to undo all the works so far completed, and that is practically not possible,” he said.

Meanwhile, the country assistance strategy progress report for Bangla-desh for 2011-15 admitted that they would not disengaged anymore with their clients the way they did with Ban-gladesh after the Padma bridge scam came to surface.

The Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank referring to the Pad-ma Bridge project said: “IEG found that decisions to disengage have a� ected Bank-client relationships, resulted in losses of knowledge and momentum, and left important development objec-tives unaddressed.”

The progress report said to correct de� ciencies in its response, the World Bank has determined that, when evi-dence of corruption comes to light, its response should not be to disengage, but to engage di� erently.

The World Bank approved the Pad-ma project in February 2011 and after that it received evidence of corruption involving senior public o� cials and re-quested that the government takes re-medial measures to safeguard project integrity.

The negotiation between the gov-ernment and the bank for � nancing the project failed and, in January 2013, the government withdrew its request for the bank’s � nancing of the project. l

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2014

B3 Global stocks head higher as risk appetite returns

B4 Japan’s Kewpie adapts menu to feed ageing nation

BTRC set to collect Tk13,829cr in FY15 n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The government has set a huge tar-get of Tk13,829 crore revenue collec-tion for the telecom regulator in 2014-15 � scal year, which is 38% higher than the previous collection of FY 2014.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has in-corporated 700 band spectrum auction in this � scal from which it wants to re-alise Tk9,300 crore for selling 80 Mega-hertz of spectrum, a senior o� cial told the Dhaka Tribune.

The large target also crated anxiety among telecom operators as they said during the last � scal the government collected more than Tk5,000 crore from the 3G spectrum auction and one-o� installment of 2G licence renewal.

How will the regulator reach the target if they fail to hold an auction for 700 band spectrum this year? the tele-com operators posed the question.

Requesting not to be named, a se-nior executive of a telecom company said to meet the target the regulator may get tough on them and they are concerned about it.

The BTRC is likely to face a huge pressure in regard to their promised revenues collection before the end of this � scal.

BTRC declared its target for this � s-cal in a parliamentary standing com-mittee meeting held on August 10, but it has not provided any details.

At that meeting, BTRC also claimed of the total revenues the government earns at least 10% from the telecom sector.

The BTRC mainly collects reve-nues from revenue sharing from the

operators, annual spectrum fees and annual licence fees along with otherfees, according to the regulatorsources.

Mobile operators deposited 5.5% of their gross revenues which is close to Tk1,500 crore with 1% for social obliga-tion fund and this is the BTRC’s main source of revenues.

The regulator also collect around Tk2,000 crore annually from the Inter-national Gateway (IGW) and Intercon-nection (ICX) operators.

According to the working paper of the parliamentary standing committee meeting, the telecom watchdog also said its has so far collected Tk34,692.23 crore after BTRC started its journey in 2001.

Data shows the regulator collected Tk5,404 crore from the market in FY 2012-13.

It also collected Tk6,957 crore in FY 2011-12, Tk3,047 crore in FY 2010-11, Tk2,370 crore in FY 2009-10 and Tk3,195 crore in FY 2008-09.

A senior o� cial of BTRC said as they received more money than their target in 2013-14 the government became more optimistic about the high revenues.

In the last � scal, the target was Tk9,398 crore, but the actual collection was Tk10,016 crore and after deduct-ing all other expenses BTRC deposit-ed Tk9,722 crore to Bangladesh Bank, which was the highest non-tax reve-nues for the government.

The telecom regulator has also formed a special committee to prepare auction for 700 band spectrum to be made available for mobile phone oper-ators within this � scal.

Earlier they planned to hold auction for it by 2016. l

Beach Hatchery rights o� er rejected n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission has rejected rights o� er proposal of Beach Hatchery, as the company did follow the country’s ac-counting standards in preparing its � -nancial statements.

The company in a statement yester-day said BSEC is not in a position to con-sider the application of Beach Hatchery

for issuance of rights shares as the au-dited � nancial statements of the com-pany for the period ended on May 31, 2014 have not been prepared as per Ban-gladesh Accounting Standards, which is a requirement under securities rules.

Earlier, its board had recommended increasing the authorised capital of the company from Tk100 crore to Tk200 crore and to raise paid up capital by is-suing two rights shares for every share

of Tk10 each.The raised fund through rights o� er

was supposed to be used for acquisi-tion of two deep sea going steel bodied trawlers with modern equipment and facilities for optimisation of � sh catch-ing and also to be involved in exporting of shrimps and � sh.

Yesterday, share prices of the com-pany fell 1.7% to Tk24 a share at the Dhaka Stock Exchange. l

BB brings 3 new products under green � nancing schemen Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has included three more products under its green banking re� nancing scheme, which was initiat-ed � ve years back, in the wake of grow-ing demand for renewable energy and environmentally-friendly activities in the country.

The products that will come under the scheme include supplying and pu-rifying of surface water project, pump-ing through solar pumps, establishing green industry and ensuring work en-vironment and safety in the textile and garment industries, said a central bank circular issued yesterday.

Earlier, in May this year, the central bank had included 26 more products under the scheme as a result, current-ly a total of 44 products are being fa-cilitated in 9 sectors under the green � nancing programme.

The highest credit limit for supply-ing and purifying surface water project will be Tk3 crore, it will be Tk20 crore for establishing green industry while Tk1 crore for ensuring work environ-ment and safety project in the apparel industry, according to the circular.

The central bank had launched green banking re� nancing scheme at a cost of Tk200 crore in August 2009 to set up so-lar panels, bio-gas plants and industrial ETPs (E� uent Treatment Plants) under the scheme to help reduce industrial pollution and increase the power supply.

Under the scheme, Bangladesh Bank has provided loans to commercial banks at the interest rates ranging from 5% to 12% for direct re� nancing and credit wholesale to the entrepreneurs. l

Goldman Sachs to talk about Padma bridge funding with Muhithn Asif Showkat Kallol

High o� cials of US Investment Bank Goldman Sachs will meet Finance Min-ister AMA Muhith tomorrow to engage in a dialogue how the � rm can best serve the � nancial needs of Bangla-desh.

According to � nance ministry sourc-es, the meeting will discuss about � -nancing of Padma bridge construction through issuing sovereign bonds and other � nancial options Goldman Sachs could o� er for the Padma bridge and similar infrastructure projects.

They said the Padma funding is-sue will be discussed with the New York-based investment bank as it has signi� cant experiences in assisting its sovereign bond clients in strategic and capital incentive projects.

The meeting will also talk about if Goldman Sachs will be adviser of sover-eign bonds to be issued by Bangladesh, particularly for construction of the country's biggest ever project. E� orts to attracting foreign investment into the country's capital market will also be on the meeting agenda, o� cials said.

Besides, in the meeting � nance min-ister will seek assistance from Gold-man Sachs to improve local corporate houses to that of global standard.

The government asserted Bangla-desh is a good performer in repaying its loans to foreign lenders and this com-parative advantages will also be placed in the meeting.

Last month, Goldman Sachs sent a letter to � nance minister expressing its interest for such a meeting with the government.

The much-talked-about Padma bridge construction needs a foreign funding of $1.8bn, according to the government.

In November 2013, Bangladesh was included by Goldman Sachs among the next eleven economies identi� ed for having great opportunities for invest-ment in foods and beverages, technol-ogy, textiles, leather tanning and real estate.

But Bangladesh has to take a lot of infrastructural development projects to achieve expected economic growth while there is a thirst for low-cost � -nancing to implement such works.

The meeting will also be attended, among others, by Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed and Economic Rela-tions Division Secretary Mohammad Mesbahuddin. l

BB'S LAND ACQUISITION

Rajuk advises central bank to apply n Asif Showkat Kallol

Rajuk has advised Bangladesh Bank to apply to its board of directors for pur-chasing the three acres of land, most-ly wetland, located behind the central bank.

The three-acre plot belongs to Ra-juk.

The advice came at a meeting held yesterday in the Ministry of Finance.

The Bank and Financial Institutions Division Additional Secretary, Ama-lendu Mukherjee, preseided over the meeting.

The banking Division called the meet-ing in a bid to end the tussle between BB and Rajuk over the buyout.

According to the meeting sources, the additional secretary requested Ra-juk to settle the dispute.

Amalendu Mukherjee said the city development authority has enough land where it can construct its Plan-ning and Research Centre instead of the land which is located behind Ban-gladesh Bank.

The Rajuk representative said Ban-gladesh Bank has to send a letter to the

Board of Directors of Rajuk for buying the space of three acres.

Following the approval of Bangla-desh Bank proposal by the Rajuk Board of Directors, the central bank can go for the purchase of the aforesaid piece of land.

Rajuk had undertaken a plan 22 years back to construct its Planning and Research Institute on the wetland, but so far, it failed to carry out the imple-mentation of the construction project.

Apart from that, the Land Ministry has a strict law, barring any new con-struction on any wetland.

Convener of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA) Atique Murshid told the Dhaka Tribune it is regrettable that while Bangladesh Bank issued direc-tives to the commercial banks for giv-ing environmentally-friendly loan for their clients, the central Bank authority itself now wants to buy the three-acre wetland, which is not at all environ-mentally-friendly.

“Even though Rajuk does not men-tion the piece of land as wetland, we will stand up to the matter,” Atique said.

In a recent move, Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Abul Kashem sent a letter to Finance Minister AMA Muhith to allocate required � nancial assistance from the ministry to purchase the land.

The central bank has reportedly allocated a huge amount of fund for purchasing the land behind its head-quarters.

Besides, in a separate letter, the cen-tral bank also asked the Banking Divi-sion Secretary, M Aslam Alam, to lobby the Housing and Public Works Ministry in regard to construction of new build-ings. l

visit our website @www.dhakatribune.com

Following the approval of Bangladesh Bank proposal by the Rajuk Board of Directors, the central bank can go for the purchase of the aforesaid piece of land

B2 Stock Wednesday, August 20, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

News, analysis and recent disclosersGRAMEENS2: The Trustee Committee of the Fund has approved the audited accounts of the fund for the year ended on June 30, 2014. The Fund has reported net pro� t of Tk. 211,455,872.00 with earnings per unit of Tk. 1.54. Taking into consider-ation available fund from pro� t & distrib-utable reserves, the Trustee Committee approved 15% reinvestment units as dividend for the year ended on 30th June 2014 to be issued at a valuation on the last published NAV per unit before the record date. Record date: 01.09.2014.GRAMEEN1: The Trustee Committee of the Fund has approved the audited accounts of the fund for the year ended on June 30, 2014. The Fund has reported net pro� t of Tk. 86,982,148.00 with earnings per unit of Tk. 3.41. Taking into consideration available fund from pro� t & distributable reserves, the Trustee Committee approved 30% reinvest-ment units as dividend for the year ended on 30th June 2014 to be issued at a valuation on the last published NAV per unit before the record date. Record date: 01.09.2014.DSE NEWS: Amendments of section 54 of Income Tax Ordinance, 1984 in connection with deduction of tax from dividends: This is for kind information of all concerned that section 54 of Income Tax Ordinance, 1984 in connection with deduction of tax from dividends has been amended through Finance Bill 2014-15 in the following man-ner: In the sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 54 of Ordinance No. XXXVI of 1984, "at the rate of ten per cent where the person receiving such dividend furnishes his twelve-digit Tax-payer's Identi� cation Number (TIN) to the payer or � fteen per cent where the person

receiving such dividend fails to furnish his twelve-digit Taxpayer's Identi� cation Number (TIN) to the payer" will be inserted instead of "at the rate of ten per cent".GPHISPAT: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on August 23, 2014 at 10:30 AM to consider, among others, au-dited � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on April 30, 2014.IPO Subscription: Khan Brothers PP Wo-ven Bag Industries Ltd. subscription date 24-28 August 2014, NRB upto 06 Septem-ber 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. Western Marine Shipyard Limited subscription date 10-14 August 2014, NRB upto 23 August 2014. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 100.Right Share: MIDASFIN: Subscription peri-od for rights issue will be from 01.09.2014 to 30.09.2014. Record date for entitle-ment of rights share: 03.08.2014.ICB: Subscription period for rights issue will be from 07.12.2014 to 30.12.2014. Re-cord date for entitlement of rights share: 09.09.2014.

Dividend/AGMDividend of Mutual Funds: 1JANATAMF: 12.50% 'Re-Investment' Units. EXIM1STMF: 12% 'Re-Investment' Units. IFIC1STMF: 9% 'Re-Investment' Units. FBFIF: 10% 'Re-Investment' Units. TRUSTB1MF: 10% Re-Investment Units. EBL1STMF: 7% cash dividend. PHPMF1: 10% Re-Investment Units. EBLNRBMF: 10% Re-Investment Units. ABB1STMF: 10% Re-Investment Units. POPULAR1MF: 12% Re-Investment Units. DBH1STMF: 0.60% cash dividend.

GREENDELMF: No dividend. Record date. Record date: 01.09.2014.AIMS1STMF: 50% 'Re-Investment' Units as dividend, Record date: 01.09.2014. RELIANCE1: 11% cash dividend, Record date: 01.09.2014.APEXFOODS: 20% cash, AGM: 28.09.2014, Record date: 21.08.2014.APEXTANRY: 45% cash, AGM: 23.09.2014, Record date: 27.08.2014. NLI1STMF: 12% cash, Record date: 25.08.2014. SEBL1STMF: 12% cash, Record date: 25.08.2014. Dividend of ICB AMCL Managed MFs: ICBSONALI1 10% cash, IFILISLMF1 10% cash, ICB3RDNRB 5% cash, PF1STMF 5% cash, PRIME1ICBA 5% cash, ICBEPMF1S1 5% cash, ICBAMCL2ND 5% cash, ICB2NDNRB 10% cash, ICB1STNRB 30% cash, ICBISLAMIC 20% cash. Record Date: 20.08.2014.DELTASPINN: 10% cash, AGM: 30.08.2014, Record date: 14.08.2014.ICB MF Dividend: 8THICB: 120% cash, 7THICB: 130% cash, 12.08.2014, 6THICB: 110% cash, 5THICB: 225% cash , 4THICB: 250% cash, 3RDICB: 250% cash, 2NDICB: 400% cash, 1STICB: 800% cash. Record date: 12.08.2014.NAVANACNG: 15% cash, AGM: 25.09.2014, Record Date: 10.08.2014. SUNLIFEINS: 5% stock, AGM: 15.09.2014, Record Date: 07.08.2014.SQURPHARMA: 30% cash and 15% stock, AGM: 25.09.2014, Record Date: 26.08.2014. NAV of Tk. 22,277.52 million, EPS of Tk. 8.36.APEXSPINN: 20% cash, AGM: 28.09.2014, Record date: 07.08.2014. EPS Tk. 2.24, NAV per share of Tk. 49.75.

Stocks rally with higher turnovern Tribune Report

Stocks gained yesterday with in-creased participation, after prof-it-booking losses in the previous two sessions.

The benchmark DSEX rose 22 points or 0.5% to 4,576, lifted by mainly two heavyweights – Grameenphone (GP) and Square Pharmaceuticals – that rallied 0.8% and 1.9% respectively.

The Shariah index rose 7 points or 0.8% to 1,070. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,733 with a rise of over 21 points or 1%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was up by 40 points to 8,581.

Turnover improved by more than 20% over the previous session and stood at Tk742 crore. However, market breadth remained negative as out of 301 issues traded, 108 advanced, 171 declined and 22 re-mained unchanged.

Among the major sectors, ce-ment, engineering, telecommunica-tion and pharmaceuticals gained 3%, 1.4%, 1.3% and 1.2% respectively.

Textile sector was the worst suf-ferer shedding 1.6%, snapping its rally over the few sessions.

The � nancial sectors – non-bank-

ing � nancial institutions and banks – went down by 0.8% and 0.2% re-spectively. Food and allied lost 0.6%.

Khulna Paper and Packaging Ltd, in its second trading day, lost 1.9% to Tk36.4 a share. It rose 271% on its o� er value in its debut day.

IDLC Investments said spurred buy last session’s cautious stance, investors moved ahead today with strong focus on June year-end com-panies.

It said in anticipation of better corporate declarations, investors re-balanced their positions amid stable macro-economic scenario.

“Market participants’ con� -dence is getting stronger and sub-sequently in� uencing investors re-turn to market from side-line.”

Lanka Bangla Securities said after showing a strong move to the upside in early trading session, market has moved roughly sideways throughout the day hovering around the best lev-el of the day at 4,576 points.

MJL Bangladesh Ltd has re-mained the most traded stock of the day with Tk52.8 crore worth of turnover.

It was followed by Beximco Ltd, ACI Ltd, Lafarge Surma Cement, GP, BSRM Steel, Square Pharma-ceuticals and Appollo Ispat. l

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

6th ICB M F-A -10.00 -10.04 59.40 59.40 59.40 59.40 0.006 6.47 9.2Prime Islami Life -A -9.07 -8.99 78.27 78.20 80.00 78.20 0.016 4.95 15.8ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A -8.42 -8.61 8.70 8.70 8.70 8.70 0.009 1.40 6.2ICB AMCL 1st NRB -A -8.21 -8.21 25.70 25.70 25.70 25.70 0.026 4.57 5.6IFIC 1st MF-A -6.67 -5.50 5.67 5.60 5.90 5.60 0.357 0.72 7.9Grameen M F One-A -6.14 -4.21 39.11 38.20 41.20 38.00 1.076 3.40 11.5AIMS First -A -5.70 -4.96 40.39 39.70 41.30 39.50 2.050 4.71 8.6Samata LeatheR -Z -5.50 -5.50 27.50 27.50 27.50 27.50 0.028 0.09 305.6Wata Chemicals -A -5.35 -7.04 262.80 269.00 273.00 258.00 0.788 6.20 42.4Delta SpinnersA -5.26 -4.60 20.13 19.80 21.00 19.00 2.449 1.41 14.3

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Shampur Sugar -Z -7.25 -7.25 6.40 6.40 6.80 6.40 0.032 -61.36 -veAIMS First -A -5.98 -5.82 40.16 39.30 41.60 39.10 25.962 4.71 8.5Zahintex Ind.-N -5.53 -1.17 22.78 22.20 23.50 21.90 10.428 0.95 24.0Prime Textile -A -5.49 -3.02 22.78 22.40 23.70 22.00 4.238 1.13 20.2Grameen M F One-A -4.99 -5.34 38.81 38.10 40.50 37.90 23.153 3.40 11.41st ICB M F -A -4.96 -4.89 856.00 855.40 865.00 852.20 0.428 38.55 22.2Delta SpinnersA -4.81 -4.77 20.15 19.80 21.00 19.50 25.127 1.41 14.32nd ICB M F -A -4.77 -5.40 242.50 241.70 242.10 241.00 0.097 33.24 7.3Trust Bank 1st MF-A -4.76 -3.71 6.23 6.00 6.50 6.00 6.981 0.91 6.8Matin Spinning-N -4.68 -1.39 51.81 50.90 53.60 50.50 117.192 2.99 17.3

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

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

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 2,087,741 76.30 14.06 37.30 7.80 34.60 37.50 32.00 36.55Khulna Printing-N 1,122,500 43.26 7.97 35.70 -2.46 36.60 41.40 35.00 38.54Grameenphone-A 77,800 26.27 4.84 336.20 0.00 336.20 342.70 334.30 337.61LafargeS Cement-Z 220,000 25.11 4.63 114.80 0.44 114.30 117.00 108.50 114.14The Peninsula CTG.-N 628,000 22.84 4.21 36.00 1.98 35.30 36.90 35.20 36.36Appollo Ispat CL -N 681,200 21.57 3.98 31.30 -3.10 32.30 32.90 31.20 31.67MJL BD Ltd.-A 161,913 17.72 3.27 111.60 7.41 103.90 113.90 93.60 109.46Square Pharma -A 52,211 14.47 2.67 276.50 1.24 273.10 282.00 273.00 277.19BD Submarine Cable-A 71,336 13.02 2.40 182.80 0.61 181.70 184.80 175.00 182.56BSC-A 21,205 12.31 2.27 585.75 0.34 583.75 588.00 573.25 580.49

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

MJL BD Ltd.-A 4,810,721 529.31 7.13 111.90 7.70 103.90 114.00 104.20 110.03BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 13,410,827 490.50 6.61 37.30 7.80 34.60 37.50 34.70 36.57ACI Limited- A 1,164,358 383.23 5.16 335.00 7.37 312.00 339.00 309.60 329.13LafargeS Cement-Z 3,278,000 373.55 5.03 114.80 0.88 113.80 117.00 109.30 113.96Grameenphone-A 1,004,450 340.12 4.58 338.20 0.71 335.80 344.00 334.00 338.62BSRM Steels-A 2,806,320 258.02 3.47 93.20 1.75 91.60 94.00 89.20 91.94Square Pharma -A 873,317 240.60 3.24 277.90 1.87 272.80 280.00 272.80 275.50Appollo Ispat CL -N 7,035,800 223.70 3.01 31.20 -3.70 32.40 33.10 31.10 31.79Khulna Printing-N 4,638,500 182.36 2.46 36.40 -1.89 37.10 41.60 35.50 39.31Titas Gas TDCLA 1,935,361 155.25 2.09 81.60 4.21 78.30 82.00 77.70 80.22

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 394.72 5.32 23.50 3.79 418.22 5.20NBFI 144.10 1.94 9.39 1.51 153.48 1.91Investment 163.11 2.20 12.43 2.00 175.54 2.18Engineering 859.50 11.58 52.54 8.47 912.04 11.34Food & Allied 190.80 2.57 11.05 1.78 201.85 2.51Fuel & Power 1152.81 15.53 53.08 8.55 1205.89 14.99Jute 0.82 0.01 0.00 0.82 0.01Textile 827.25 11.14 66.24 10.68 893.49 11.10Pharma & Chemical 1258.48 16.95 62.84 10.13 1321.32 16.42Paper & Packaging 182.75 53.31 8.59 236.05 2.93Service 65.34 0.88 1.48 0.24 66.82 0.83Leather 36.20 0.49 11.63 1.87 47.83 0.59Ceramic 12.36 0.17 1.67 0.27 14.03 0.17Cement 643.46 8.67 45.83 7.39 689.29 8.57Information Technology 47.46 0.64 46.04 7.42 93.49 1.16General Insurance 127.52 1.72 5.42 0.87 132.94 1.65Life Insurance 68.09 0.92 3.27 0.53 71.36 0.89Telecom 434.70 5.85 39.29 6.33 473.99 5.89Travel & Leisure 175.09 2.36 31.49 5.08 206.58 2.57Miscellaneous 640.48 8.63 89.97 14.50 730.45 9.08Debenture 0.34 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.35 0.00

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4576.36771 (+) 0.49% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1733.90452 (+) 1.25% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 14100.49050 (+) 0.45% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11493.26970 (+) 1.46% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8581.37420 (+) 0.47% ▲

DSE key features August 19-2014Turnover (Million Taka)

7,425.34

Turnover (Volume)

160,804,507

Number of Contract 149,428

Traded Issues 301

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

98

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

198

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,421.13

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.35

CSE key features August 19-2014Turnover (Million Taka) 547.47

Turnover (Volume) 14,389,670

Number of Contract 20,888

Traded Issues 233

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

76

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

150

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,314.26

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.05

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

Market participants’ con� dence is getting stronger and subsequently in� uencing investors return to market from side-line

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Samorita Hospital -A 9.92 9.92 97.50 97.50 97.50 97.50 0.049 2.20 44.3Continental Insur. -A 8.10 8.10 22.70 22.70 23.00 21.70 0.114 3.10 7.3BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 7.80 5.06 36.55 37.30 37.50 32.00 76.301 0.88 41.5ACI Limited- A 7.58 3.85 324.31 335.00 338.60 290.00 11.591 9.22 35.2MJL BD Ltd.-A 7.41 6.01 109.46 111.60 113.90 93.60 17.723 5.04 21.7Beximco Pharma -A 6.90 5.24 45.79 46.50 47.10 42.00 6.926 3.94 11.6Prime Insur -A 5.88 5.88 19.80 19.80 19.80 19.80 0.005 1.28 15.5Premier Cement-A 5.77 6.92 94.99 95.30 97.00 91.90 3.097 3.67 25.9Titas Gas TDCLA 4.74 3.07 80.70 81.70 82.00 70.30 2.151 8.29 9.7ISN Ltd. -Z 4.55 5.10 11.53 11.50 11.90 10.80 0.017 0.20 57.7

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Northern Jute -Z 10.00 10.00 143.00 143.00 143.00 143.00 0.029 -11.08 -veBEXIMCO Ltd. -A 7.80 4.94 36.57 37.30 37.50 34.70 490.499 0.88 41.6MJL BD Ltd.-A 7.70 6.18 110.03 111.90 114.00 104.20 529.310 5.04 21.8Beximco Pharma -A 7.37 4.85 45.80 46.60 47.20 43.50 148.289 3.94 11.6ACI Limited- A 7.37 5.15 329.13 335.00 339.00 309.60 383.227 9.22 35.7Premier Cement-A 6.46 6.68 94.54 95.60 97.80 90.00 47.987 3.67 25.8ACI ZERO Bond-A 6.08 (3.03) 969.70 960.00 961.00 915.00 0.032 0.00 -Jute SpinnersA 5.63 4.74 63.80 63.80 63.80 63.80 0.006 -43.81 -veM.I. Cement-A 4.45 3.76 87.78 89.10 89.60 85.00 53.211 4.23 20.8Shinepukur Cera-Z 4.27 2.54 12.10 12.20 12.40 11.90 1.026 0.50 24.2

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Global stocks head higher as risk appetite returnsn Reuters, London

Global stocks rose and core bonds bare-ly moved on renewed investor appetite for risk yesterday, driven by a lack of escalation of the Ukraine crisis and up-beat US housing data that buoyed Asian and European markets.

"The situation in Ukraine is still very tense, but slowly investors are getting used to it and turning their focus back on the macro and micro data, and earn-ings have been quite good," said Arn-aud Scarpaci, fund manager at Mon-taigne Capital

Equities are still trading broadly near multi-year highs despite the past month's jitters over geopolitical risk, with investors keeping a close eye on economic data and central-banker com-

ments for indications of interest-rate moves after years of crisis-era rock-bot-tom benchmark borrowing rates.

Closely watched in� ation data for July from the UK and US were due later on Tuesday.

The MSCI World Index, which tracks stocks from developed economies, was up 0.17% at 1,730.33 points at 0437 EST, compared with its all-time high of 1,765.77 points reached in July.

The FTSEuro� rst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.43%, led by gains in Germany, where the blue-chip DAX index was up 1%. The in-dex, which is traded as a proxy for the Ukraine crisis given Germany's strong trade ties with Russia, is down some 7 percent from its June highs.

Ukrainian government forces have been � ghting separatists for four months in the Russian-speaking east of

Ukraine. A reported attack on a Russian convoy on Friday had sparked fears of Russian retaliation but the Kiev military has since reported new successes after raising the national � ag in Luhansk, pre-viously a stronghold of the rebels.

European trading followed on from gains in Asia and Wall Street, where U S equities rose to their highest level since late July and the U.S. dollar index .DXY edged back toward an 11-month high after upbeat housing data.

Emerging markets also bene� ted,

with the MSCI Emerging Market index up 0.5%.

German 10-year bund yields DE10YT=TWEB were unchanged at 1.01%, just above record lows hit at the end of last week, while yields on lower rated bonds dipped.

Spanish and Italian equivalents dipped 2 basis points to 2.33 and 2.62%, respectively, while Portugal's dropped 4 bps to 3.47%. Greek equivalents were unchanged at 5.92%.

Later in the week, investors will be

keeping a close eye on today’s release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting as well as com-ments from the Fed's summit in Jack-son Hole, Wyoming, which starts on Thursday.

A rally in July spurred hopes the dollar was ready for a push higher, long predicted by many of the biggest investment houses, but on which it has consistently failed to deliver over the past year. That casts the steadying of the euro and other currencies so far

this month as just a hiccup, but opinion in the market is divided.

"We're back in this zone really where it could go either way," said a dealer with one London bank. "The data over the next couple of days, and (Fed Chair Janet) Yellen's appearance, could be the key to breaking us out of this range, but we have been here before. This year's model is range-trading."

US crude oil CLc1 and Brent crude futures LCOc1 were slightly higher, re-spectively up 0.4% and 0.1%. l

Dollar � rm in Asia as Ukraine tensions easen AFP, Tokyo

The dollar held steady in Asia yesterday as concerns over a Ukrainian clash with Russia eased, while investors looked to a speech by the US Federal Reserve chief this week.

In afternoon Tokyo trade, the green-back rose to 102.62 yen, from 102.57 yen in New York and 102.32 yen in To-kyo earlier Monday.

The euro was weaker at $1.3351 from $1.3363, while it bought 137.04 yen against 137.05 yen in US trade.

"There was a general easing of geo-political tensions, with no new devel-opments being good news in Ukraine and Gaza," National Australia Bank said in a note.

The Japanese yen and Swiss franc, considered safe-haven currencies in times of turmoil, notched up gains Fri-day after Ukraine said it had destroyed some Russian armoured cars, sparking fears of an escalation. Moscow dis-missed the claim.

A weekend meeting of the two na-tions' foreign ministers, which also involved o� cials from France and Ger-many, concluded with an agreement for the sides to meet again and contin-ue trying to de-escalate the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

In the Gaza Strip, a new 24-hour cease� re came into e� ect yesterday after Israeli and Palestinian negotia-tors agreed to extend a � ve-day truce, minutes before a midnight deadline, to allow for further talks on a long-term deal.

Later Tuesday, investors were look-ing to US in� ation data for July to get a snapshot of the state of the world's number one economy.

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen is to deliver a keynote address at the central bank's annual economic confer-ence this week, with investors eyeing any change in the timeline for raising interest rates. l

Goldman to face Libya’s sovereign wealth fund in court over tradesn Reuters, London

Goldman Sachs and Libya’s sovereign wealth fund are set to meet in a London court over claims the Wall Street bank exploited a position of trust by encour-aging the fund to invest more than $1bn in trades that ended up worthless.

Goldman had � led a summary judg-ment application - a request to decide a claim without going to trial - in the case brought by the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) in January, but has re-cently withdrawn it, the LIA said in a statement.

“Following the serving of the LIA’s reply evidence, Goldman Sachs has withdrawn its summary judgment ap-plication,” the LIA said.

A case management hearing has now been scheduled for early October.

Goldman did not immediately re-spond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson previously de-scribed the claims as without merit and said the bank would defend them vig-orously. l

Gold ticks up on fund in� ows,safe-haven demandn Reuters, Singapore

Gold snapped a two-day losing streak yesterday as geopolitical tensions and fund in� ows boosted the safe-haven metal, but gains were kept in check by strength in equities and the dollar.

Equity markets rose after Russian For-eign Minister Sergei Lavrov said all issues around a humanitarian convoy sent by Moscow to relieve needy areas of eastern Ukraine had been resolved. Moscow said it would like a cease� re to allow aid to get to people trapped by the � ghting.

However, tensions remain high, with Ukraine saying that dozens of people, including women and children, were killed as they � ed � ghting in east-ern Ukraine on Monday when their convoy of buses was hit by rocket � re.

Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1,299.35 an ounce by 0332 GMT, after dropping 0.6% in the previous session. US gold gained about $1 to $1,300.70.

"Investors appear to believe that a number of tail risks are becoming in-creasingly less remote and are seeking hedges," Danny Laidler, head of Aus-

tralia & New Zealand operations at ETF Securities said in an email.

The � rm's gold exchange-traded products saw $75.5m of in� ows last week, bringing the trailing four-week total to $282.6m, the highest since Au-

gust 2012, Laidler said.Meanwhile, SPDR Gold Trust, the

world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 2.09 tonnes to 797.69 tonnes on Monday, the � rst in� ow in nearly four weeks. l

Oil prices rebound in Asian AFP, Singapore

Oil prices rebounded in Asia yester-day on bargain-hunting after tumbling on easing concerns about con� icts in Ukraine and Iraq, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Interme-diate (WTI) for September delivery rose 38 cents to $96.79, while Brent crude for October was up 23 cents to $101.83 in afternoon trade.

WTI fell 94 cents in New York trade Monday, while Brent sank $1.93 in Lon-don to hit its lowest level since June 2013.

"We are seeing a continued trend in the past few days of gains in Asia-Pacif-ic trading after overnight falls," Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, told AFP.

"Oil prices generally are continuing to fall with the dying down of geopo-litical tensions in Ukraine and Iraq," McCarthy said.

A declaration by Ukraine last week that it had destroyed some Russian armoured cars had sparked fears that the simmering tensions between the neighbours could escalate into a full-� edged war.

Such a development could cause

energy prices to surge as Russia is the world's number-two oil producer, and Ukraine is a key conduit for Moscow's gas exports to Europe.

But talks late Sunday that also in-volved the foreign ministers of Ger-many and France concluded with an agreement for the sides to meet again and continue trying to de-escalate the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

Concerns over the ongoing Islamist insurgency in Iraq, the OPEC cartel's second biggest producer, have also eased, McCarthy said.

"The involvement of Western forces have caused signi� cant setbacks for the jihadists," McCarthy said.

"Dealers are con� dent we won't see any major destabilising event in that con� ict which could disrupt supply," he added.

Kurdish o� cials said their � ghters, backed by US warplanes, have retaken the country's largest dam from the so-called Islamic State group, as the United States and Britain step up their military involvement.

The group controls large swathes of Iraq's north and west after a sweeping o� ensive that began on June 9. l

Traders are pictured at their desks in front of the DAX board at the Frankfurt stock exchange REUTERS

Closely watched in� ation data for July from the UK and US were due later on Tuesday

Green Delta Insurance Company Limited has recently held its half yearly business conference for the on-going year. The company’s chair AQM Nurul Absar attended the conference as chief guest

Marico Bangladesh Limited, a leading FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) company in the beauty and wellness sector has held its 14th annual general meeting yesterday at a hotel in Dhaka. The company’s shareholders approved a � nal cash dividend of 50% of its face value at the meeting that was presided over by the company’s CEO, Saugata Gupta

Bangladesh Commerce Bank Limited recently opened its 44th branch at Kangshanagar Bazar in Burichong, Comilla. The bank’s chairperson, Md Yousuf Ali Howlader inaugurated the branch as chief guest

Exim Bank has recently held a half yearly conference for its relationship managers at a hotel in Dhaka. The bank’s chairperson, Md Nazrul Islam Mazumder was present at the conference as chief guest while its managing director, Dr Mohammed Haider Ali Miah presided over the conference

Bangladesh Development Bank Limited’s chairperson, Professor Santi Narayan Ghosh has recently handed over a dividend of Tk10 crore to Finance Minister AMA Muhith

First Security Islami Bank Limited has recently renewed its corporate agreement with Prime Islami Life Insurance Limited at the presence of the bank’s deputy managing director Syed Habib Hasnat and Md Ra� q Ahmed, the chief � nancial o� cer at the life insurance company

A sales assistant arranges gold necklaces at a store in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province REUTERS

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, August 20, 2014

DILBERT

Japan's Kewpie adapts menu to feed ageing nationn Reuters, Tokyo

Back in 1960, Japan's Kewpie Corp be-gan selling canned baby food, sensing a chance to catch a wave of young fami-lies raising kids in an economy roaring back to growth after the devastation of World War Two.

Almost 55 years later, the Tokyo-based company sees a new opportunity opening up in rapidly ageing Japan as parents who brought kids up on Kew-pie approach their sunset years - what it calls "nursing care food" for the elderly.

Kewpie says it's on the brink of turn-ing a pro� t on a range of stewed or pureed ready-to-eat meals called "Gentle Menu", currently sold in specialist sections of drugstores and a small number of su-permarkets. Served in plastic pouches, they're aimed at the growing numbers of elderly Japanese who have di� culty chewing and swallowing, but crave the taste of favourites like beef sukiyaki.

Known for its signature baby mas-cot and mayonnaise, Kewpie estimates it now accounts for roughly 70% of sales in a niche food market in Japan worth nearly $30 million. That number is dwarfed by Kewpie's annual revenue of close to $5 billion, but growth is ex-pected to be swift: the market nearly doubled in the last four years, according to market research � rm Fuji Keizai, and o� cial government estimates say it's po-tentially worth tens of billions of dollars.

With limited distribution and mon-ey being spent on advertising, "Gentle Menu" is unpro� table for now. But Tsutomu Morota, who heads Kewpie's healthcare food unit, says it will prob-ably become pro� table next year.

"What we need to do is to make it easier for consumers to access our goods by securing stores that sell our products. We need to work on direct marketing, which includes home deliv-eries," Morota told Reuters. "We want to strengthen our brand by introduc-ing it into various places, like nursing homes and restaurants."

With one in four in the country above the age of 65, Kewpie's gambit comes as Japanese consumer goods face growing pressure to � nd new products to stimulate domestic de-mand, or boost exports - or both. In 2012, Unicharm Corp, Japan's biggest diaper maker said its sales of diapers for adults topped those for babies for

the � rst time.Kewpie and other makers of food for

the elderly say they're concentrating on boosting the domestic market for now, and that variations in internation-al food preferences make direct exports a limited prospect. But the expertise they're developing is attracting interest from overseas: Thai and South Korean

researchers, government o� cials and food makers have already visited Japan to � nd out more about the business of food for the elderly.

The company that built its fortune on selling jars of mayonnaise in 1920s Japan has learned from experience over the decades since it started selling baby food that it can take time to turn inno-

vation into a product people will buy.Kewpie � rst tried selling food for the

elderly to hospitals in the late 1980s, packaging the contents in the same bottles they used to sell baby food. The product � opped.

A decade later, Kewpie came back, this time marketing to consumers for use at home. It has also lowered prices,

increased the variety of food on o� er and set out to build a more appetizing brand, naming the product line "Gentle Menu" and using the slogan "The joy of eating" in its advertising.

Each serving now costs 180 yen ($1.76), a sharp drop from 300 yen in 1999. It also o� ers more than 60 di� er-ent products compared with just eight at the outset, although the company admits some have been slow to catch on, like its jellied scrambled eggs.

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture is bull-ish about prospects for a business it be-lieves could help support the country's beleaguered farm sector. The ministry projects that if everyone in Japan above the age of 65 were to spend on average $13 a day on food - a projection food industry executives take with a hefty dose of salt - the market would be worth $24bn .

Alongside questions about older people's food budgets, Kewpie is still grappling with problematic distribu-tion. Japanese supermarkets experi-mented with stocking food for the elderly in their regular food sections more than a decade ago, but pulled the o� erings when they failed to sell.

Supermarket chain Ito Yokado, owned by convenience store giant Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd, has seen its sales of food for the elderly rise con-sistently over the past decade. It attri-butes that success to a decision to de-vote a special corner of its stores - and dedicated sta� - to selling nursing care products including special foods.

"There are still a lot of people who don't know what food for the elderly is," said Shogo Aoto, head of nursing goods at Seven & I. "We need our sta� to be able to explain what it is."

Meanwhile, Japan's bureaucrats are also working to give "nursing care food" a makeover. The Ministry of Agriculture has been leading an e� ort to come up with a more appealing name for the cat-egory: candidates includes "active life support food", "lively, energetic food", "easy food" and "happy food". l

Britain's top bosses earn '143 times more' than sta� n AFP, London

The heads of Britain's largest compa-nies earned 143 times as much as their average employee last year, a study said, exposing the growing pay gap be-tween bosses and workers.

The wage divide has nearly tripled since 1998, when the average chief exec-utive of � rms in the FTSE 100 earned 47 times as much as sta� , the report found.

The British government has brought in laws to curb executive pay and bo-nuses since the � nancial crisis, but a severe squeeze on wage growth has fuelled public anger about highly-paid senior executives.

"When bosses make hundreds of times as much money as the rest of the workforce, it creates a deep sense of unfairness," said Deborah Hargreaves, director of the High Pay Centre think-tank, which wrote the report.

The largest pay gap was at mining group Randgold Resources, where boss Mark Bristow was paid £4.4 million ($7.36 million, 5.5 million euros) last year – 1,500 as much as his average employee.

Martin Sorrell, who heads up market-ing giant WPP, took home a pay package nearly 800 times bigger than his em-ployees of £29.8m, the study found.

At retailer Next, boss Simon Wolfson earned almost 460 times as much as his average worker in 2013 - but then chose to distribute his bonus to sta� .

The study comes after the Bank of England last week halved its pay growth forecast for this year to below the rate of in� ation at 1.25%.

Governor Mark Carney said the � g-ures re� ected "relatively unprecedent-ed weak wage growth" in Britain.

The gloomy forecast came after o� -cial data showed that annual pay fell by 0.2% in the second quarter of the year - the � rst decline since the height of the � nancial crisis in 2009.

The squeeze on people's spending power comes even as Britain's growth picked up pace, with the economy now bigger than before the start of the glob-al � nancial meltdown in 2008. l

EU announces aid to growershit by Russian embargon AFP, Brussels

The European Commission on Monday announced a series of exceptional mea-sures to help growers hit by a Russian ban on fruit and vegetable imports.

The products in question are in full harvesting season, with little hope of � nding alternative markets to replace demand from Russia in time, the Com-mission said.

A European o� cial said the primary recipients of the compensation will be Russian neighbours Poland and Lithu-ania as well as Belgium and the Neth-erlands.

The 125m euros ($170m) of measures cover tomatoes, carrots, white cab-bage, peppers, cauli� owers, cucum-bers, as well as mushrooms, apples, pears, berries, grapes and kiwis, the EU's executive arm said.

"All farmers of the concerned prod-

ucts - whether in producer organisa-tions or not - will be eligible to take up these market support measures where they see � t," said Agriculture Commis-sioner Dacian Ciolos in a statement.

The Russian embargo, announced earlier this month, came in retaliation against US and European sanctions over Moscow's alleged role in separat-ist violence in eastern Ukraine.

Set to last for a year, the Russian ban covers imports of meats, fruits and veg-etables, � sh, and dairy products from the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway.

The aid, e� ective from Monday un-til November, will mainly involve with-drawing products from the EU market in a bid to prop up prices.

For the move, the Commission will use a special emergency fund of 400 million euros that was already tapped into last week to intervene in the peach market.

The European Commission said it will continue to follow developments "and will not hesitate to support fur-ther sectors heavily dependent on exports to Russia or to adapt the mea-sures already announced, if necessary".

EU ministers have been putting pressure on Brussels to compensate farmers a� ected by the crisis, but the commission said it would remain cau-tious and act only on a case-by-case basis.

The EU estimates exports to Rus-sia normally reach about 5.2bn euros a year.

EU o� cials argue that the worst ef-fects of Moscow's embargo will be felt in Russia where about 60% of food needs are imported.

Speaking in Latvia on Monday, Ger-man Chancellor Angela Merkel said Western sanctions against Russia "must continue". l

Standard Chartered nears deal over compliance failuren Reuters, New York

Standard Chartered Plc is close to a deal to pay between $200m and $300m to re-solve allegations by New York’s banking regulator that it failed to review high-risk transactions, two years after agree-ing to reform its practices, a person fa-miliar with the matter said on Monday.

The announcement of the settle-ment could come this week, possibly as soon as Tuesday, according to the per-son, who was not authorized to speak about the talks and declined to be iden-ti� ed.

The penalty would be the second the British bank has paid to the New York Department of Financial Services

in two years. In August 2012, Stan-dard Chartered agreed to a $340m settlement over allegations that it stripped identifying informationfrom transactions linked to Iran, mak-ing it impossible for US banks to detect them.

A person familiar with the mat-ter previously told Reuters that a

compliance monitor installed as part of the 2012 deal detected the latestproblem. It is unclear precisely what transactions are at issue in the current probe.

A Standard Chartered spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the regulator did not immediately respond to a request for comment. l

UK in� ation falls more than expected, reduces chance of 2014 rate risen Reuters, London

British in� ation eased more than ex-pected in July and the pace of house price growth slowed in June, according to data that underscored the Bank of England's message that it is in no rush to hike interest rates.

Consumer prices rose 1.6% on the year in July, the O� ce for National Sta-tistics said on Tuesday, down from a � ve-month high of 1.9% in June.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that in� ation would fall to 1.8%. After the data's release, they said the � gures reduced any remaining pressure on the BoE to raise interest rates this year.

Last week, some economists pushed back their expectations for the BoE's � rst rate increase, to February instead of November, after the central bank slashed its forecasts for wage growth this year.

Sterling fell to a four-month low against the dollar and British govern-ment bonds rose after the data.

Separate data showed annual house

prices grew 10.2% in June, down from 10.4% in May. The ONS said house pric-es rose 10.2 percent during the second quarter compared with a year ago, the biggest annual increase since the third quarter of 2007. But the � rst annual fall in factory-gate prices since 2009 un-derlined how weak in� ation is by most measurements.

"This further eases the pressure on the BoE to consider near-term interest rate rises and pushes the balance more in favor of a delay to rate hikes versus our current November o� cial view for the � rst policy tightening move," said James Knightley, an economist at ING.

Until last December, annual in� a-tion had exceeded the Bank of Eng-land's 2% target every month since December 2009, eroding the spending power of households and making the fall in living standards a political issue before next year's election.

The fall in in� ation this year has helped the Bank of England to hold o� on raising interest rates, despite Brit-ain's surprisingly strong economic re-covery. l

A sta� arranges Kewpie Corp's nursing care food packages on a display shelf at an Ito-Yokado shopping centre in Tokyo REUTERS

Customers enter and exit a Tesco shop in central London REUTERS

Fruits are on display at a market AFP