SECOND EDITION

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016 | Magh 5, 1422, Rabius Sani 7, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 272 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

SABBIR’S NEW ROLE GETS TIGERS TWO UP PAGE 26

HOSPITALS NOT READY FOR ‘THE BIG ONE’ PAGE 32

RAB, POLICE SEE THEIR RISK ALLOWANCE CUT FOR PAGE 5

Govt to take over � rms with Jamaat tien Asif Showkat Kallol

If Jamaat-e-Islami is banned, as looks in-creasingly likely, � rms and organisations linked to the Islamist party – including Islami Bank and Ibn Sina Hospital – will be declared abandoned and the government will move to take over their operations.

The Law Ministry is working on amending the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act of 1973 to ban Jamaat for its role in the country’s 1971 Liberation War. Jamaat is also blamed for carrying out massive violent activities since 2013 in the name of anti-government movement.

The law also contains provisions describ-ing how to nationalise the � rms and organi-sations a� liated with the party.

“We are trying to revise the law [ICT Act] so that any political party including Jamaat can be punished for committing crimes in 1971. A bill on the amendment will be placed before parliament in the next session,” Law Minister Anisul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune last night.

The amendment proposal was already ap-

proved by the cabinet last month.Recently, several ministers announced

that Jamaat would be banned very soon.“In my opinion, Jamaat-Shibir should not

have the right to do politics in the country as they do not believe in the independence of Bangladesh. If the law is passed in parlia-ment, Jamaat will be banned and its a� liated

� rms declared abandoned,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith said.

“In that case, the government will have no other option but taking over those � rms. We have good experience in managing aban-doned properties,” he told the Dhaka Tribune in an interview recently.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Two journos turned arms traders arrested in Mymensinghn Ashruf Uddin Seizel in Mymensingh

and Kamrul Hasan

Detectives yesterday arrested two journalists in the Mymensingh city for their involve-ment with illegal arms trading.

Sheikh Mehedi Hasan alias Nadim, 32, managing editor of local daily Dainik Jahan, and Rasel Miah, 25, his assistant, were arrest-ed in the Maskanda BSCIC industrial area in the city in the early hours yesterday.

Police detectives seized two foreign pis-tols, three Chinese ri� es, 20 locally-made swords, several locally-made sharp weapons, six rounds of imported bullets and a huge cache of weapon-making materials from Na-dim’s residence near the newspaper o� ce.

It is believed that Nadim had been running a weapon-making workshop under the cover of his newspaper business. However, police could not immediately tell where they used to bring their raw materials from or if there

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Iran hails new chapter as nuclear sanctions liftedn AFP

Iran has “opened a new chapter” in its ties with the world, President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday, after sanctions were lifted under its historic nuclear deal with global powers.

The UN’s atomic watchdog late on Satur-day con� rmed that Iran had complied with its obligations under last summer’s accord and the United States and European Union announced they were lifting the sanctions that have for years crippled the country’s economy.

Western governments hailed the an-nouncement as a milestone though some crit-ics, including Israel, alleged that Tehran was still seeking to develop a nuclear weapon.

The announcement followed news of a prisoner swap between Iran and the United States that will include the release of Wash-ington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

PM � nally invites teachers for a talkn Arif Ahmed

After a week of teachers’ strike at all public universities of the country, the prime min-ister has invited the teachers for a meeting about their ongoing movement demanding a separate pay scale.

The meeting with Sheikh Hasina is sched-uled to be held around 4:30pm today, said Farid Uddin Ahmed, the president of Feder-ation of Bangladesh University Teachers As-sociation (FBUTA).

He added that leaders from Dhaka Univer-sity Teachers Association would also join the FBUTA Executive Council members at the meeting.

Farid Uddin expressed his hopes of get-ting a positive solution from the meeting as the teachers have long been demanding to talk directly to the prime minister regarding the crisis on the eighth pay scale.

“We have sent letters at least six times to the Prime Minister’s O� ce for getting a per-mission to meet her, but our requests had re-peatedly been denied.”

He alleged that a group of bureaucrats were against any meeting or discussion tak-ing place between the premier and university teachers.

Farid Uddin said the teachers would present their logical demands to Sheikh

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Islami Bank FoundationIbn Sina TrustFouad Al-Khateeb Charity FoundationRabita al-Alam al-IslamiAgro Industrial TrustDaily SangramDaily Naya DigantaManarat International UniversityInternational Islamic University ChittagongDarul Ihsan University

Far East Islami Life Insurance Company LtdTakaful Islami Insurance LtdKeari LimitedCoral Reef Properties LtdEducation AidPanjeri PublicationsAllama Iqbal SangsadMaududi Research SangsadAl-Mutada Development SocietyCentre for Strategy & Peace Studies

T O P F I R M S L I N K E D T O J A M A A T M E N

Detectives with the two arrestees and the huge arms and explosives haul busted near a newspaper o� ce in Maskanda BSCIC industrial area in Mymensingh yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

News2DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Govt to take over � rms with Jamaat tieAsked how they would identify Ja-maat-linked � rms, Muhith said: “Firstly, we will check the background of the members of board of directors in the institutions. Sec-ondly, we will identify the source of funds of those � rms.”

Apart from banks and hospitals, Jamaat has investments in pharmaceuticals, real es-tate, education, transport and media sectors.

Even though the process of banning Ja-maat and identifying these � rms began in 2013, the government did not continue the process at that time. The process resumed in November last year after the execution of top Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Muja-hid for war crimes.

In response to directives given by the Home and Finance ministries, Bangladesh Bank recently removed a deputy managing director of Islami Bank for his involvement with Jamaat and funding violent activities carried out by the party supporters. It is now planning to identify the other high o� cials of the bank with ties with Jamaat following the Finance Ministry’s instructions.

The Home Ministry in November sent a 216-page report containing names of over 560 � nancial institutions and organisations to the Finance Ministry suggesting necessary action.

Jamaat leaders and its � nancial institu-tions also fund local militant groups to car-ry out subversive activities, according to the government. They also campaign against the incumbent government and the ongoing war crimes trials using mosques, madrasas and religious gatherings.

According to Dhaka University teach-er Prof Abul Barakat, the Jamaat-a� liated � nancial institutions have earned pro� ts worth Tk20 billion in the last 40 years. A part of the pro� t is spent to run 132 militant groups while another fraction is disbursed among some � ve lakh party members posi-tioned in di� erent projects, he alleged at a programme recently.

In November, the central bank was in-structed also to monitor suspicious trans-actions through scholarships from Islami Bank’s zakat fund and donations to di� erent educational institutions and NGOs.

The move came after Bangladesh Bank de-tected 27 suspected terror transactions made

by Islami Bank and put it under the scanner for having suspicious link to militants. Earlier, the bank was � ned four times under the Anti-Mon-ey Laundering Act for militant � nancing.

A senior o� cial of the central bank recent-ly said that the foreign stakeholders of Islami Bank were selling o� their shares because of the involvement of the bank with the war criminals. On the other hand, the ruling par-ty is planning to hold positions in the bank’s board by buying its shares.

Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali, who was sentenced to death for war-time crimes, is a former vice-chairman of the bank. He is also the founder of the Islami Bank Foundation. He has spent millions of dollars to pay a US lobbyist � rm to campaign against the trials.

In 2013, the government found irregulari-ties in donations and scholarships to organi-sations by Islami Bank Foundation.

Labelled as a criminal organisation in a ver-dict of the International Crimes Tribunal for siding with the Pakistani occupation forces in 1971, Jamaat is the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh. Its registration as a political par-ty was declared illegal by the High Court on August 1, 2013 as its party charter had several provisions contrary to the country’s constitu-tion. The hearing on an appeal � led against the order is pending with the Appellate Division.

Jamaat was banned after the independ-ence of Bangladesh when most of its top leaders went into hiding. It resumed poli-tics as the government of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman withdrew the ban of religion-based politics.

Asked about possible success in the takeo-ver process, researcher Prof Barakat told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “I have learnt that the government has failed to take over the controversial MLM � rms, including Jubok and Destiny, for repaying public funds due to bureaucratic tangles.

“But I � rmly believe that a strong political will can break the bureaucratic tangles, and the government will be able to nationalise the Jamaat-linked � nancial institutions including Islami Bank within a short period of time.”

A former president of Bangladesh Econom-ic Association, Prof Barakat also said: “I esti-mated that Jamaat spends 20% of pro� ts from its � rms under political consideration.” l

PM � nally invites teachers for a talk Hasina at the meeting.

Earlier yesterday, on the seventh day of inde� nite work abstention, the FBUTA presi-dent and secretary general submitted a writ-ten proposal to Education Secretary Sohrab Hossain with some alternative demands from the teachers.

FBUTA Secretary General ASM Mak-sud Kamal said: “The ongoing crisis will be solved promptly as we have submitted an al-ternative proposal to the ministry that would preserve due respect of the university teach-ers.”

FBUTA leaders � nalised the written proposal in a meeting at Dhaka University Teachers Club in the afternoon.

Last Tuesday, following a meeting with FBUTA leaders, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid expressed hopes of a quick solu-tion to the ongoing crisis.

Since January 11, public university teach-ers have been on a strike over pay scale griev-ances. No classes took place during this time, but ongoing exams were held according to the schedule.

The teachers have been protesting the recently implemented Eighth National Pay Scale since May 2014, advocating their

four-point charter of demands that includes formation of a commission to initiate an in-dependent pay scale for public university teachers.

Their four-point demand also includes the immediate revision of the national pay scale, keeping senior professors and senior secre-taries of the government at an equal level of payment.

Petition challenges strikeMeanwhile, a Supreme Court lawyer � led a writ petition with the High Court yesterday challenging the legality of the ongoing public university teachers’ strike.

The lawyer, Yunus Ali Akond, prayed to the court to direct the government to take steps to ensure the teachers withdraw the strike and direct the teachers to attend their classes within 24 hours.

In the petition, Yunus said teachers can go to the court if there is any discrimination in their salary and dignity but cannot boycott classes as education is a fundamental right which students were being deprived of be-cause of the strike.

The court is likely to hear the petition to-day, he said. l

Two journos turned arms traders arrested in Mymensinghwere more workers in the workshop.

Among the recovered materials there were ri� e butts and barrels, from which po-lice suspect that they made � rearms in the workshop as well. However, the seizure list does not include any locally-made � rearms.

Detective o� cer Emarat Hossain Gazi said they began the four-hour drive around 2am yesterday after receiving information from a secret source about the arms den.

He also said the arrestees have already confessed their involvement with arms trad-ing and said they used to sell the weapons to local criminals. A case had been � led under the arms act with the Kotowali model police station in the city, he added.

Violating a recent High Court order, detec-tives brought the two alleged arms traders in front of media in their o� ce yesterday.

Nadim’s mother Rebeca Yasmin, editor of the newspaper, said her son had fallen prey to a conspiracy.

She told reporters that she was surprised to see police displaying � rearms at the press conference because they had only seized sharp weapons during the raid.

However, their neighbours told the Dhaka Tribune that they were not surprised to see Nadim getting involved with the illegal trade because he was a rough man.

His father Sheikh Habibur Rahman was a respected journalist in the area and the founder of Dainik Jahan, which used to be a popular local newspaper.

Neighbours also said that Nadim became the managing editor after his father died in 2012 and the newspapers has since been ex-periencing a downfall. l

Iran hails new chapter as nuclear sanctions liftedin another sign of thawing relations between the longtime foes.

Rouhani, a moderate whose 2013 election victory helped launch a huge diplomatic ef-fort toward the deal struck on July 14 in Vi-enna, said implementation of the agreement did not harm any country.

“We Iranians have reached out to the world... have opened a new chapter in the

relations of Iran with the world,” the o� cial IRNA news agency quoted Rouhani as saying.

The agreement, he said, “is not a loss for any country.”

Rouhani, who has promised that 2016 will be a “year of prosperity” for Iranians, was to give a press conference later yesterday.

Addressing lawmakers in parliament he said Iran, no longer burdened by sanctions, would

seek foreign investment of $30-50 billion an-nually, to dramatically spur growth to 8%.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogher-ini, representing the six world powers, an-nounced the lifting of “multilateral and na-tional” sanctions in Vienna, saying the deal showed that intense diplomacy could resolve even “the most di� cult issues.”

The US Secretary of State John Kerry said

in Vienna: “The United States, our friends and allies in the Middle East, and the entire world are safer because the threat of the nu-clear weapon has been reduced.”

Iran can now resume widespread oil ex-ports, long the lifeblood of its economy though Rouhani has moved away from rely-ing on crude. Less than 25 percent of revenues in this year’s budget will come from oil. l

Second phase of Bishwa Ijtema ends n Tribune Report

The second phase of Bishwa Ijtema, the sec-ond largest religious congregation of Mus-lims in the world, ended yesterday in Tongi, on the outskirts of the capital.

Eminent Indian Islamic scholar Moulana Muhammad Sa’ad conducted the 28-minute Akheri Munajat, or the � nal prayer, which be-gan around 11:05am, of the 51st Bishwa Ijte-

ma in Arabic and Urdu, reported UNB.The gathering of devotees of all ages

spilled over into the roads and areas around the Ijtema venue as the � nal prayer started.

Thousands of devotees, both male and female, joined the prayer from the rooftops and terraces of nearby houses, roads and open � elds.

Religious A� airs Minister Principal Moti-ur Rahman, Liberation War A� airs Minister

AKM Mozammel Haque, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell, Gazipur City Corporation’s acting mayor M Asadur Rahman Kiron, Gazipur Deputy Commissioner SM Alam and Gazipur Superintendent of Police Harun-or-Rashid joined the prayer as well.

Many devotes were seen taking part in the prayer with family members through video-conferencing using mobile phones.

Seven devotees, including a foreigner, died in separate incidents on the Ijtema ground in the second phase.

The three-day congregation began on the bank of Turag River after Fazr prayers on Fri-day with delivery of religious sermons.

The � rst phase of Ijtema, organised by Tabligh Jamaat, was held on January 8-10.

The Ijtema has been held in two phases since 2012 to ease accommodation problem. l

News 3D

TMONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Police: Killers were known to Narayanganj victimsn Arifur Rahman Rabbi, Dhaka and

Tanveer Hossain, Narayanganj

After primary investigation, the law enforc-ers have found that the killers were known to the � ve victims murdered at their house in Baburail area of Narayanganj on Saturday.

The investigators are now assessing re-cords of previous enmity with the family over � nancial transactions and sexual har-assment among other issues to unearth the mystery behind the murders.

Meanwhile, bodies of the � ve deceased were handed over to the family members yesterday after conducting post mortem ex-aminations.

Doctors said the killers � rst wanted to suf-focate the victims, but later con� rmed death by hitting their heads with heavy blunt ob-jects. The deceased had several marks of in-juries on their bodies. Police had initially said the victims were slaughtered.

The killings took place on Saturday, con-� rmed Dr Asaduzzaman of Narayanganj General (Victoria) Hospital. A three-member board conducted the post mortem yesterday afternoon.

O� cials of the Criminal Investigation De-partment, who collected evidence and sam-ples from the bodies and the spot, said they would be able to � nd the exact number of killers after examining those.

Meanwhile, Sha� qul Islam, husband of murdered Taslima Begum, registered a law-suit with sadar model police against some unnamed people around 11:30am yesterday, OC Abdul Malek said.

The case was later handed over to the De-tective Branch of Police.

Three people have been detained for questioning. They are Delwar, Shahadat and Mahfuz.

Police recovered the bodies of Taslima, 35, her daughter Sumaiya, 7, son Shanto, 10, broth-er Mosharraf alias Morshed, 20, and sister-in-law Lamia, 20 on Saturday evening based on information given by their relatives. The main gate of the � at on the ground � oor of a six-sto-rey building was found locked from outside.

Family and police sources said Mahfuz, a niece of Sha� qul, used to make indecent pro-

posals to Lamia. At one point, Mahfuz was sent to Dhaka but the harassment continued. Later, Mahfuz took a job in Narayanganj and started to harass her again. After Lamia dis-closed the matter to her family, they rebuked Mahfuz and beat him up.

According to the case, Taslima had bor-rowed Tk12 lakh from Nazma and Shahjahan of Kalabagan. They used to visit the family in Narayanganj and issue threats as Taslima had failed to pay the monthly instalments in time.

Plainti� Sha� qul also said his brother-in-

law Mosharraf had borrowed money from some local businessmen. They used to visit the house to collect money and often en-gaged in altercation.

Building owner Ismail Hossain, who re-turned from the USA three months back, also said he had heard noise at the � at during the visit of the lenders.

Rahima Begum from the adjacent � at said she had not heard anything unusual from the � at on Saturday. “I do not know who locked the gate after the murders,” she said.

Senior police o� cials including Director General of Rapid Action Battalion Benazir Ahmed, DIG (Dhaka range) Mahfuzul Hoque Nuruzzaman and Narayanganj Superinten-dent of Police Khandaker Mahiduddin visit-ed the crime spot yesterday morning.

Benazir said the elite force had already started a shadow investigation into the hei-nous killings. Family con� ict could be a pos-sible reason behind the murder, he said, add-ing that they could not con� rm whether the killers were professional.

DIG Mahfuz said they would apply every scienti� c method to identify the killers from the samples including � ngerprints.

“After primary investigation, we think that the killers were known to the victims from the past. They killed the two children not to keep any eyewitness,” he added.

Ehsan Uddin Chowdhury, CID’s assistant superintendent of police, said the victims had been su� ocated and left unconscious before being killed.

The CID also collected breads and other foods from the spot. Ehsan thinks that the kill-ers might have fed the victims the foods adul-terated with sedatives before killing them. l

Objects found in Gazipur are not bombs, claim policen Our Correspondent, Gazipur

The � ve suspicious objects attached with timers that were recovered from Kunia Tara-gach area in Gazipur city early yesterday are not bombs, police con� rmed later in the day.

That objects, which were left abandoned along with a remote control in a sand � eld, looked like time bombs, which is why police were noti� ed about them, sources said.

A team of bomb experts then went to the spot and collected the items.

Police primarily believed that some mis-creants had planned to cause panic and destruction during the Akheri Munajat of the second phase of Biswa Ijtema using the bomb-looking objects. But unable to breach the security system, they left the devices in the � eld and � ed, Gazipur Superintendent of Police Harun-or-Rashid said at a press brief-ing shortly after the recovery.

Later, upon examination, the bomb ex-perts found that the objects were merely props, said Khandakar Rezaul Hasan Reza, OC of Joydebpur police. “There was no ex-plosive material in them,” he said.

Harun-or-Rashid said no one related to the incident was arrested or identi� ed yet. “We are looking for them. Joydebpur police will take due legal action in this regard,” he added. l

Writ seeks SI Masud’s arrest, compensation for victimn Ashif Islam Shaon

A writ petition was � led with the High Court yesterday seeking an order to arrest Masud Sikder, a sub-inspector who was suspended for torturing a Bangladesh Bank o� cial.

The petition sought his arrest by taking victim Golam Rabbi’s written complaint as a regular case. Rabbi � led the complaint following the incident.

It also a judicial probe into the torture of Rabbi.

The petitioners - lawyers AKM Ehsanur Rahman, SM Zul� qar Ali and broadcaster of Radio Dhoni Zahid Hasan - also sought Tk3 crore in compensation from the government for Rabbi, an assistant director of the central bank.

Barrister HM Sanjid Siddiqui � led the petition on behalf of the petitioners.

Sub-Inspector Masud Sikder of Mohammadpur police station con� ned Rabbi to a police vehicle and pressured him to give Tk5 lakh in bribe on the night of January 9.

Masud also threatened to kill Rabbi in a shootout and implicate him in a drugs case if he failed to give the money.

The following day, Rabbi submitted a written complaint to the deputy commissioner of Tejgaon division of Dhaka

Metropolitan Police. While at Dhaka Medical College Hospital,

Rabbi received anonymous threats to refrain from seeking legal action against the policeman.

AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, lawyer of the petitioners, told reporters the policeman illegally and arbitrarily tortured Rabbi in violation of the constitution.

“We pleaded with the court to issue a ruling as to why the torture and harassment will not be declared unconstitutional and illegal.

“As Rabbi’s physical condition is very bad and it is still not clear if he can recover from the mental su� ering, the victim deserves to be compensated,” he said.

“The probe conducted by police may not be fair and impartial. This is why we sought a court order to ask the government to task a judicial probe body with carrying out the investigation. The probe body should be led by a district judge,” added Khokon.

The home secretary, law secretary, inspector general of police, deputy commissioner of Tejgaon division of police, o� cer-in-charge of Mohammadpur police station and SI Masud were made respondents in the writ.

The court may hear the petition today. l

Sayedee seeks acquittaln Tribune Report

War criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee has � led a plea seeking review of the Supreme Court verdict that awarded him imprisonment until death for crimes committed during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

Masud Sayedee, son of the Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-ameer, said they had � led the 90-page plea yesterday morning, seeking his acquittal on 16 grounds. Sayedee’s advocate-on-record Zainal Abedin Tuhin submitted the petition to the appeal section of the Supreme Court.

On January 12, the state � led a review petition with the apex court to uphold the tribunal verdict.

The International Crimes Tribunal on February 28, 2013 sentenced him to death on two charges – for the deaths of Ibrahim Kutti and Bisa Bali along with persecution on Hindus in Pirojpur.

But the court did not deliver sentences on the six other proven charges. It said the gravity of the o� ences as listed in the six charges appear to be lesser than that of the two murders.

The appeal verdict delivered on September 17, 2014 acquitted him on three charges and awarded him sentences on the rest. The full verdict was published on December 31 last year. l

RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed yesterday visited the house of the family of � ve who were killed late Saturday night in Baburail area, Narayanganj MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016News4D

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Nasrul presides over IRENA conferencen Tribune Report

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid yesterday presided over the minister-level roundtable discussion at the 6th conference of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi, UAE, said a press released issued by the ministry.

The two-day 6th session of the IRENA assembly started in January 16 this year.

On the second day at the assembly Nas-rul presided over the discussion in whichenergy ministers from 145 member states of IRENA took part and discussed the present and future prospects of renewable energy sector.

During the discussion, the state minister from Bangladesh informed other

participating nations about Bangladesh’s initiative in popularizing renewable energy.

The energy ministers from other countries also discussed the potentials of di� erent renewable energy including solar, air, hydroelectricity, biomas, among others.

Earlier in the assembly, the � rst global estimate of the macroeconomic impacts of renewable energy deployment was released. Speci� cally, it outlined the bene� ts that would be achieved under the scenario of doubling the global share of renewable energy by 2030 from 2010 levels.

Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA Director-General said: “The recent Paris Agreement sent a strong signal for countries to move from negotiation to action.” l

Ershad hints at plans to quit as PM’s envoy n Tribune Report

Hinting that he will soon seek relief from the prime minister’s special envoy assignment, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has appointed his younger brother GM Quader as the party’s co-chairman.

“I’ll meet the prime minister to seek relief from her special envoy assignment,” he said at a press conference at Jatiya Party’s local o� ce in Rangpur last night, reported UNB.

He also urged Water Resources Minister Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud and State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Mashiur

Rahman Ranga, who were both drawn from his party, to step down.

Ershad, also Special Envoy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said GM Quader, a former minister, will act as the JaPa chairman in his absence.

Ershad, a former military ruler, said it is not possible to play the opposition’s role in parliament by holding a minister’s post.

The JaPa chief announced to hold his party’s national council in April this year.

He formed a preparatory committee with GM Quader as its convener and Ruhul Amin Hawladar as member secretary to successfully hold the council. l

PM to RMG owners: Help complete Garment Villagen Tribune Report

Stressing the need for reducing dependence on the government, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged ready-made garment (RMG) factory owners to help complete the work on Garment Village at Gazaria in Munshiganj for further development of the country’s RMG industry.

“Our government has allocated land for setting up the Garment Village at Gazaria… necessary work is underway to develop the village and it could be complete faster if you took some initiatives and spend some money. But you are close-� sted trying to save money, and that is the problem,” she said during a meeting with the newly elected o� ce-bear-ers of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) at her o� ce. BGMEA President Md Siddiqur Rah-man led the delegation, reported UNB.

Hasina said all facilities are being ensured from gas supply to communications to estab-lish the Garment Village. “There will be no problem at the village if you start spending money and relocating your factories there.”

“Businessmen will have to come forward to solve problems on their own,” she said stressing the importance of reducing de-pendence on the government.

Hasina also called upon the RMG factory owners to explore newer markets across the

world to give further boost to the country’s export and thus strengthen the national economy.

Terming the present government a busi-ness-friendly one, she said the Awami League government never wants to do busi-ness as it works to enhance and promote business activities to give the economy a stronger footing.

Hasina said the government always ex-tended its support to the RMG sector to help it forward, foiling all national and interna-tional conspiracies.

“There were plots at national and inter-national levels to impede garment export. But the plots were not successful as we took proper steps in this regard.”

On high bank interest rate, the prime min-ister urged the private banks to take neces-sary measures to this end. The state-owned banks are providing loans at a relatively low-er rate of interest, she added.

The prime minister also stressed the need for ensuring welfare of the workers by the industry owners as they are contributing to-wards making the country’s economy stronger.

Pointing to a number of incidents in the RMG sector, Hasina said her government handled all those tragic accidents very well and extended all-out support to the victims.

Former BGMEA presidents Tipu Munshi, MP and Atiqul Islam also spoke on the occasion. l

Govt cuts risk allowance forRAB, police

n Asif Showkat Kallol, Arifur Rahman Rabbi and Kamrul Hasan

Scrapping the system of risk allowance as a percentage of gross salary, the government has recently � xed certain amounts for RAB and police employees as risk allowance.

In August 2013, the government approved 30% and 70% of gross salaries as risk allowance for RAB employees and four posts of police.

That came in the wake of the deteriorating law and order situation centring the BNP-led alliance’s countrywide violent protest to pre-vent the January 5, 2014 national elections.

The recent changes were made in line with a recommendation of the 8th National Pay and Services Commission which said the risk allow-ance for law enforcers, detectives and intelli-gence agency personnel should be rationalised.

Earlier, other government o� cials, who are not entitled to risk allowances, have re-portedly told the commission that the risk allowance was discriminatory.

Under the previous 7th pay scale, the ba-sic salary of the RAB director general was Tk38,000-Tk40,000. On that count, the post accounted for a maximum risk allowance of Tk28,000 – 70% of Tk40,000.

In the recently implemented 8th pay scale, the RAB DG’s basic salary has gone up to Tk63,000 to Tk76,000. If the previous system remained, then the DG would have been enti-tled to a maximum of Tk53,529 monthly risk allowance.

However, according to a Finance Division circular dated October 18, 2015 and signed by Additional Secretary Tapan Kumar Saha, the RAB DG would from now on get a � xed amount of Tk24,000 as monthly risk allowance.

According to a list of all the RAB em-ployees, the additional director general of the force would now get Tk22,000, director Tk20,000 and so on. The lowest Tk3,000 was � xed for cleaners, ward boys, o� ce assis-tants, gardeners, etc.

Another Finance Division circular issued on the same date and with the same signa-ture � xed monthly risk allowance for four posts of police force as well.

According to the four-point list included in the circular, police sub-inspectors (SIs), ser-geants and trainee sub-inspectors (TSIs) are entitled to Tk2,700 to Tk5,400 as risk allow-ance depending on the length of their jobs.

In the previous percentage system, police employees were entitled to 30% of their basic salaries as risk allowance. Under that system, an SI – whose basic pay was Tk8,000 – used to get Tk2,400 in risk allowance.

In the 8th pay scale, an SI’s monthly ba-sic salary has gone up to Tk16,000. So, if the previous system prevailed, the SI would have got Tk4,800 as risk allowance.

The circulars said the new risk allowance scheme would come into e� ect on July 1, 2016 and any employees sent on deputation would not be entitled to the risk allowances.

No o� cials of any of the law enforcement agencies were ready to say anything on re-cord regarding the changes in the allowance.

Interestingly, all RAB employees are entitled to risk allowances but in case of police, only four types of employees get the allowance. They are: SI/sergeant/TSI, assistant sub-in-spector (ASI), naik and constable. Of them, constables now get the lowest risk allowance of Tk1,500-3,200 based on their job length.

Police o� cials above these posts are not entitled to risk allowance.

Seeking anonymity, an inspector posted in Dhaka said: “After getting promoted to the post of inspector, I stopped getting risk allowance. I am not entitled to bodyguards or cars either that police station o� cers-in-charge and o� cials above that post enjoy.”

He also said: “Inspectors do not sit in the police station and relax. They have to per-form duties in dangerous situations, risking their lives.” l

PRAYERTIMES

Cox’s Bazar 27 19Dhaka 28 15 Chittagong 26 18 Rajshahi 26 16 Rangpur 25 14 Khulna 27 14 Barisal 29 15 Sylhet 26 11T E M P E R AT U R E F O R E C A S T F O R TO DAY

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:34PM SUN RISES 6:43AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW28.6ºC 8.2ºCTeknaf Badalgachhi & Srimangal

MONDAY, JANUARY 18

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Fajr: 5:22am | Zohr: 12:09am Asr: 3:58pm | Magrib: 5:34pmEsha: 7:04pm

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016News 5

DT

LAW ENFORCERS’ MAXIMUM RISK ALLOWANCEPost Under old system

(BDT)Under new system

(BDT)If old system still existed

(BDT)

RAB Director General 28,000 24,000 53,529

Police SI 2,400 5,400 4,800

Previous system: 30% of basic salary for police, 70% of basic salary for RABSource: Finance Division circulars dated October 18, 2015

In the previous percentage system, police employees were entitled to 30% of their basic salaries as risk allowance

PARTLY CLOUDY

Ex-Chhatra Samaj convener killed in capitaln Kamrul Hasan

The former convener of Jatiya Chhatra Sa-maj, student wing of Jatiya Party, was killed in the capital’s Rupnagar area yesterday.

The body of Syed Mizanur Rahman Himu, 36, son of late Ataur Rahman of Munshiganj, was recovered from Baroitala around 9am.

According to the police inquest report, Himu was hit in the head several times. Sign of bleeding was also found in his stomach and waist but he was not stabbed.

Himu might have been strangled to death as an injury was found in his neck, said Sub-Inspector Abdul Mannan of Rupnagar police station.

“The body was sent to Dhaka Medical Col-lege Hospital morgue in the afternoon for au-topsy,” he said.

Pradip Biswas, who performed the autop-sy, told the Dhaka Tribune the killers � rst strangled Himu and then shot him in the head to con� rm his death.

Himu’s brother Syed Habibur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “We suspect that Altaf Hos-sain Montu, father of Himu’s second wife Su-maiya Akhter Moli, is involved in the murder.”

According to family members, Himu had been involved in the Jatiya Party politics for long and concentrated on his business after the incumbent Chhatra Samaj committee was formed.

Habibur said Himu had no rival in busi-ness or politics.

Eftekhar Ahsan Hasan, president of Chha-tra Samaj, told the Dhaka Tribune demon-strations would be held today against Himu’s murder. l

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016News6D

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Asol BNP again tries to enter Nayapaltan HQn Tribune Report

Activists from Asol BNP, a group claiming to be the true BNP, have again made a failed at-tempt to enter the party’s Nayapaltan head-quarters, just weeks after a similar e� ort on January 2 resulted in Chhatra Dal leaders chasing away the men from Asol BNP.

Yesterday afternoon, around 20 Asol BNP men, led by their chief Kamrul Hasan Nasim, drove near the BNP central o� ce on a pick-up van with loudspeakers playing slogans saying: “Bangabandhu is the father of our nation but we need a Ziaur Rahman.”

Hearing this, Chhatra Dal leaders and ac-tivists chased the men away and set their van on � re.

Witnesses said the incident took place around 4:30pm near the Ananda Bhaban Community Centre in Nayapaltan.

Nasim, the leader of Asol BNP, said he tried to enter the o� ce as part of his e� orts to reorganise the BNP, but others set their van on � re. l

Dhaka-Delhi FS level talks on Feb 1n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Foreign Secretaries of Bangladesh and India will have their � rst bilateral meeting of the year on February 1.

Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque and his Indian Counterpart S Jaishankar will be stalk taking of the development of joint statement declared during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Dhaka in June.

“I will be going to New Delhi on a two-day visit on the invitation of the Indian Foreign Secretary,” Shahidul said.

A foreign ministry o� cial seeking ano-nymity said the foreign secretary will meet Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Na-tional Security Adviser Ajit Doval and other senior Indian o� cials.

Jaishankar came to Dhaka in March and again in June with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year but Shahidul did not undertake any return trip.

The o� cial said the foreign secretary was

supposed to go to India on December 3 on a two-day visit, but it was postponed due to some unavoidable circumstances.

Both the secretaries will discuss the joint statement “Naya Projonmo, Nayi Disha”, a roadmap for future development and coop-eration, he said.

After the Modi visit, a substantial progress has been made in a number of sectors, he added.

Implementation of Land Boundary Agree-ment is very satisfactory as the transfer of enclaves and adversely possessed land have been done.

The problem related to 6.5 kilometre

un-demarcated land is expected to be re-solved soon at the highest political level, the o� cial said.

Both the countries agreed on � xing the transit fees at Tk 0.19 per kilogram while tari� rate for Palatana power plant has been � xed at Rs 5.5.

The standard of procedures for Coastal Shipping Agreement has been declared and trial run is expected to be held soon, the of-� cial said.

“In the meeting, Indian proposed nuclear cooperation agreement, implementations of projects under the second line of credit is ex-pected to be discussed,” he said.

Bangladesh will strongly raise Teesta wa-ter sharing and border killing issues as very little progress was made in those two areas.

“Many progress has been made in a num-ber of areas but Bangladesh is yet to get its due share of water,” he said.

Dhaka will strongly raise border killing is-sue as the number of killings exceed over 40 in 2015, he added. l

‘Many progress has been made in a number of areas but Bangladesh is yet to get its due share of water’

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016News 7

DT

Stone cost may cause delay of Padma Bridge construction n Our Correspondent, Chapainawbganj

Stone traders of the country who import the materials from India fear the construction of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge and Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant might be delayed due to price hike of raw materials.

According to local sources, maximum bolder stones for the Padma Bridge and Rup-pur power plant are imported through Sona Masjid Land Port under Chapainawbganj from Pakur, famous for stone industry, one of the important revenue-earning districts of newly created Jharkhand State in India.

The stone importers said the authorities of the mega project and power plant decided to import the stones from Pakur as the dis-tance between the places only 90 kilometres.

But the business has become very di� cult due to the price hike of the materials over several times. Moreover, traders of India cre-ate arti� cial crisis on the border so that en-trance of goods-laden truck get delayed into the territory of Bangladesh.

The importers alleged that the Indian traders are responsible for the higher price of the materials. They think that Bangladesh has nothing to do about it. So they can do an-ything as they wish.

Biplob Kumer, proprietor of Messrs’ Sark-er International, said previously trucks with stones used to enter into the territory of Bang-ladesh from Pakur by the port. But now, the vehicles have to reach the country through Mehedipur, a land port in West Bengal’s Mal-da district bordering Bangladesh, facing 7-8 day tra� c jam and incurring huge losses.

He also said the Indian traders also forced them to import low quality materials.

Nani Gopal Ghosh, manager of Messrs’ Ghosh Enterprise, said: “The Indian traders mix chunk of earth with the bolder stones and make arti� cial tra� c jam with their syndicates.”

“As a result we cannot deliver the mate-rials timely and it is di� cult for us to meet up the target due to low standard stones,” he added.

Stone importer Raib and agent of Messrs’

CNDF, said the government should take steps so that the trucks can enter the country di-rectly.

“If the vehicles unload in the border, of course we have to face jam and incur losses,” he said.

Abdul Wahed, president of Chapainaw-bganj Commerce and Industry, said: “If this situation is going on, the construction of the Padma Bridge will be delayed and cost of the materials will increase 3 times.”

Sri Sukumer Ghosh, assistant commis-sioner of Mehedipur land port revenue sta-tion, said: “The problem is not permanent. It should be solved immediately to improve the business between the two countries.”

Ahmed Sayed Rubel, assistant commis-sioner of Sona Masjid Land Port revenue of-� ce, said $18.5 tax had been charged on one tonne bolder stones recently and $13 on one tonne stone chips.

He said:“The tax is very high and we think we will inquire the incident soon if the writ-ten complain is got from the traders.” l

COCAINE HAUL CASE

Another accused put on remand n Tribune Report

A court in Chittagong yesterday put another accused on a three-day remand in a case � led in connection with the seizure of cocaine in Chittagong port.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Kazi Muttaki Ibn Minan said: “The court of Met-ropolitan Magistrate Rahmat Ali granted the three-day remand prayer of Nur Mohammed, chairman of Khan Jahan Ali Limited, after the investigation o� cer (IO) of the case pro-duced the accused before the court.”

“The court also asked the IO to interrogate the accused with caution”, added ADC Minnan.

Earlier, members of the Rapid Action Bat-talion arrested Nur Mohammed on Friday.

At presence, the much talked-about co-caine haul case being investigated by RAB 7’s Additional Superintendent of Police Mohiud-din Faruquee following a court direction.

On December 7, last year, a court in Chit-tagong ordered the RAB to lunch further investigation into the case rejecting charge sheet pressed by CMP’s Detective Branch. l

‘Encroachment may make Karnaphuli another Buriganga’ n FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong

Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan yesterday said the Karnaphuli River might turn into an-other Buriganga River soon due to mindless dumping of wastage and illegal grabbing.

The minister said necessity steps should be taken immediately against illegal grabbers and polluters. The minister also informed newsmen that both banks of the Karnaphuli River would be marked soon.

The minister came up with the remark after attending the 30th National River Con-servation Taskforce Committee’s meeting at Chittagong Circuit House.

At the meeting, the minister directed the authorities concerned to save � sh of the Hal-da River.

The minister also asked the Chittagong City Corporation and others associated bod-ies to work in a coordinated manner.

Around 20,000 out of 24,000 kilometres waterways had lost inside the country. Of the 20,000 kilometres, 1,000 kilometres have been recovered so far, said the minister.

According to a survey of the Chittagong District Administration, around 2,500 gov-ernment and private establishments have been built garbing the river.

The Department of Environment also con-

ducted another survey. According to the sur-vey, a total 133 establishments were dumping liquid waste into the river.

Expressing annoyance over the river grab-bing, Housing Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain said how the grabbers reoccupied the river after being evicted from the spot. He also suggested strict implementation of the law to save the Chittagong’s lifeline.

Presenting several development ideas tak-en by the government, the housing minister said: “In next 10 years Chittagong will turn into the busiest city in the country”.

Chittagong Port Authority (CPA)’s Chief Hydrographer Commander Manjur said

about 40 tributaries of the river were visible and 12 canals had dried up.

Apart from that around 1,500 factories are dumping toxic waste into the river. Moreover, the surface of the river are covered with pol-ythene bags and wastage which is destroying the biodiversity of the river, he added.

Mayor of the CCC AJM Nasir Uddin, Law Secretary Abu Saleh Sheikh Md Zahirul Haque, River Commission’s Chairman Ata-harul Islam, Shipping Ministry secretary (acting) Asok Madhab Roy, DoE Director Gen-eral Raisul Alam Mandol, Chittagong Port Au-thority’s Chairman Rear Admiral Nizam Ud-din, among others, were present. l

Activists of two rival factions of Bangladesh Chhatra League clash over establishing supremacy at the organisation’s o� ce in Thakurgaon town on its founding anniversary yesterday. The picture shows a BCL man with a sidearm chases his rival DHAKA TRIBUNE

Advertisement8DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Education 9D

T

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

nRafi d Huq

Most English medium students, after graduating from high school, are caught up in the fear created by the challenge posed by public

universities. Consequently, even the most meritorious students are deceived by the usual propaganda and are allured to try for good scores in various overseas universities’ prerequisite tests such as IELTS, SAT, TOEFL, etc. Some of them even decide to join private universities without properly going through their best options.

In our country, it’s a common myth that English medium students do not do well when competing against students tied to the national curriculum, and even a lot of guardians choose to believe that myth. This article is designed to address and counter that myth. First of all, it is not true that English medium students cannot do well against national level students; currently, approximately 100 students from English medium backgrounds are studying in di� erent departments of BUET, belonging to di� erent batches. There is also an association in BUET called English Medium BUETians’ Association which consists of all O/A Level graduate BUETians.

The founder of this association, Lincon Sarker, shared a few words with us: “After our A Levels, we had to make a choice, to either attempt for public universities or to apply overseas, but we chose to stay because we believed that our public universities, such as Dhaka University, BUET, RUET, CHUET, SUST, have all the facilities to ensure great quality undergraduate education. Although, we did have to work very hard to get in, the hard work was well worth the reward once we were selected. We realised that after our A levels, that we have made the right decision.” Additionally, he talked about the great edge that English medium students receive over Bengali medium students in admission test questions since at places like BUET, the questions are very conceptual, much like what you will � nd in any O/A level examination paper.

There’s also a misconception among the people in our country that education overseas is somehow better than national level undergraduate education. In case of the quality that is delivered by public universities such as BUET, DU, JU, RUET, IUT, KUET and many more, one has to say that they are very much mistaken. There are numerous students with national level undergraduate backgrounds who are now completing their graduate studies from places such as MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, Princeton, Yale, Cambridge, Oxford with full scholarships. Only in BUET, the percentage of students moving abroad to complete their graduate studies after receiving full or partial scholarships is approximately a staggering 70 percent!

After completion of their A levels,

students (mainly pointed to the children from elite families dwelling in our society) are seemed to face a very tough decision regarding the choice of university. Every year, there are numerous candidates with straight As in all subjects. A humorous fact is, most of the decisions of these meritorious students end up with them either boarding a � ight abroad or get into private universities. Institutions like BUET or DU are not even on their choice list while a very few students, indeed negligible, are putting up an e� ort for the enrollment in public universities.

From my personal experience, many among us with English medium backgrounds do always have to face a question - are we actually capable of getting enrolled in public universities? To me, it’s

honestly humiliating when someone doubts their capabilities.

I do recall when my father used to pinch and compare me with his colleague’s son: “Look, he is in Dhaka Medical College.” My uncle used to tease, “Can you even compete with the 50,000 students out there sitting for DU?” I couldn’t answer any of these questions back then. Nothing in this world is so pitiful as being mute in reply to such questionnaire. But yes, now I do have an answer. Surprisingly, the very � rst call I made was to my uncle after I secured a place in the merit list in the BUET entrance exam.

Now here comes the part of motivation. Do you know the current number of students in BUET? The number is 102 in � ve batches, and almost 160 if we include

alumni. Record says 12, 14, 19, 23 and 26 students from their consecutive 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 batches secured merits among the 998 selected every year. Take Dhaka University and the rest out of the equation, for their numbers are even higher.

Recently, almost 24 students from 15 batches have received their entrance tickets into BUET with outstanding performance on their written exams, while the topper among the English medium batch secured the 36th rank. 24 sounds minute, I understand, but it really isn’t compared to the number of students who had actually prepared themselves for the entrance exam. A source from Sunrise Coaching Center disclosed that last year, they guided 150 students, out of which 44 were eligible to sit for the BUET entrance exam and 24 students among them came out with a positive outcome, while the rest secured their places in Dhaka University and IUT. Calculate again, for that’s a 54 percent success rate. And this is happening only because we do have a strong base in our curriculum and methods of study.

To sum it up, it is indeed a myth that public universities are not for English medium students. What you need is the required results, proper guidance, patience and most of all, passion and inspiration that will drive you to achieve the desired accomplishment. Think it through before you make the seemingly hard choices, whether it’s home or abroad.l

Out of your leagueTaking a closer look into the myths surrounding English medium students and public universities

There’s also a misconception among the people in our country that education overseas is somehow better than national level undergraduate education. In case of the quality that is delivered by public universities such as BUET, DU, JU, RUET, IUT, KUET and many more, one has to say that they are very much mistaken

PHOTO: BIGSTOCK

Feature10DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Perception Foundation: Sweater WeathernZafi rah Hossain

Winter entices Bangladesh into a trance of painfully short days in blissful blankets but warm tea and pitha. However, winter is

only enjoyable for those who can actually a� ord the comfort. Can you imagine having to a� ord nice weather?

With winter comes the realisation of how many people only have a rag or two to cover their ears, let alone a blanket to protect them during the harsh, wintry nights. These include the lives of those inhabiting in areas where the temperature drops to its worst. For them, winter is synonymous to nothing but su� ering, they starve for sunlight because the night only brings increased risk of pneumonia that summon the lives of their loved ones, and them.

Perception Foundation is a charity initiative by a group of passionate and bright youth of Dhaka who collaboratively try to make a di� erence in the lives of the underprivileged through spreading love. To do that, they initiate small programmes that leave a huge impact on the lives of the volunteers who help and the ones on the receiving end of it. For an initiative like Perception, winter is a major opportunity to reach out to people in need and somehow attempt to satisfy those needs. On January 9, Perception decided to hold its very � rst local clothing drive under the rather witty title of “Sweater Weather” to promote the spirit of giving.

On the day of its registration, volunteers came streaming into the “Sweater Weather” databases on social media. The plan was to have people register as groups of minimum

� ve and maximum 10 and gather at the Roller Skating Ground. They would then be allocated to speci� c residential areas along with a team leader for each group. Their task was to go from door to door and convince people to donate for the cause. They would then bring back all the clothes they had collected, back to the venue. After a lunch break, two to three members of each team would be called upon to sort all the clothes they had collected into four categories. They were assisted by children, who may lack � nancial stability but never on the grounds of spirit, to endorse bonding and help accelerate the process. After all the clothes were sorted, all volunteers and winning teams received awards for their performance and dedication.

Many of the roads in Dhanmondi were speckled with volunteers treading on the pavements. Convincing people to donate was only half the journey. Team logistics and battle strategies had to be swiftly prepared by all the team members and team leaders as the clock was ticking.

From one steel gate to another wooden gate, the teams had to map out every nook and cranny. Numerous times their optimism and con� dence were trodden upon by rude security guards or indolent ones who would repeat the age old excuse that there was nobody at home although the garage was occupied. It took a lot of energy to get through them since they weren’t willing to step aside and allow a group of teenagers do some community service. If the teams were lucky, the buildings would have a functioning elevator. Each door bell was rung with unmatched hopefulness that was often rewarded by a huge sack of old clothes, discouraging remarks, or even worse, no answer. Residents ranging from kind middle-aged aunties who even o� ered oranges along with old clothes, to clueless lodgers and the neighbouring residents, who were rather skeptical.

As the teams had to report back to the venue at 3pm, a stream of volunteers stormed in with their collection to see if they quali� ed. With a whopping 60 boxes of donations, 12 sacks of clothing and brand new toys, Team Ovi, lead by Shahed Mahmood Ovi, won the “Most Donated Clothes” award. Team Ovi was a game changer and their highly commendable strategies proved to be fruitful. Team Geezers, lead by Samreen Fuad, won for the “Fastest Sorter,” with the most boxes sorted in merely a minute and a half.

Trucks were rented to carry these donations out to Sylhet for distribution; an area most a� ected by the recent earthquake and soon expected to be plagued by a cold wave. The total donation consisted of 350 boxes, 40 sacks, and over a hundred blankets.

Perception and its volunteers hope that the underprivileged people in Bangladesh too can enjoy the sweater weather. Perception is thankful to the unmatched diligence of its organisers and of course, the volunteers who made this event successful and exciting. As for the readers, whether you have participated in community service or not, Perception wants you to be part of the family, and to be part of the change. l

INSIDE

The police sub-inspector suspended in Mohammadpur this week for assaulting a central bank o� cial has a long list of accusations leveled against him for extortion and running a criminal empire.

Authorities must tackle the culture of patronage and political interference that plagues recruitment in public services if the police are to be able to e� ectively root out such criminality from their ranks.

This o� cer has not been alone in being able to get away with blatantly breaking the law. The seeking and taking of bribes by individual police o� cers plagues the public across the country.

It is not enough simply to take punitive action against police o� cers caught breaking the law. Police forces also have to tackle the culture and factors which enable rogue o� cers to establish themselves in the � rst place.

The launch of counseling services by the police department “to check moral degradation” among its members is clearly an insu� cient response to this problem. Law and order is a prerequisite for any just and civilised society. People, least of all those recruited as police o� cers, should not have to be taught the di� erence between right and wrong.

The police service has to address the various causes of this problem. Open and impartial inquiries to identify and gather evidence against wrongdoers

need to be instituted more quickly. Exemplary punishment against individuals found guilty should also be sought to serve as a deterrent.

Above all, there needs to be zero tolerance for any abuses of the law by all police o� cers.

The taking of bribes and prevalence of � nancial and political patronage, that is embedded in recruitment procedures for the enrollment of constables and many promotions, must be rooted out once and for all.

Tackle the culture of patronage and political interference that plagues recruitment to ensure zero tolerancefor abuses

Get rich or die tryin’

Live and let dietThe Noakhali and Barisal areas incorporate a lot of coconut into their diets. That means loads of � avour, and since coconut oil is good for the living, it can’t be bad for the undead. However, the high salinity of Bagherhat, Satkhira, and Khulna is de� nitely an acquired taste

PAGE 13

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PAGE 14

Revenge of the samosaOne does wonder about how such silly mistakes are made by persons with experience, whether in politics or bureaucracy. It could be because they do not have to pay for either samosas or bhujias when in power

The problem here is not Masud; he is just following a vicious philosophy which has insidiously secured itself in society. Money at all costs, no compromises with morality or ethics

Police recruitment needs reform to root out rogue o� cers

11D

TEditorialMONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207

Send us your Op-Ed articles:opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.comJoin our Facebook community:

https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune.

The views expressed in Opinion articles are those of the authors

alone. They do not purport to be the o� cial view of Dhaka

Tribune or its publisher.

Opinion12DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

n Towheed Feroze

In his entire life, Sub-Inspector Masud Sikder will possibly never be the topic of so much debate. Curious to know how he is reacting to so much attention. For

some, of course, hogging the headlines is all that matters.

Whether the publicity is for a noble or a more infamous deed, is hardly the issue. From what I have read so far, and if half of it is true, I won’t be surprised if he is gloating at the moment. They do say any coverage is good coverage.

At least the policeman’s face is all over the media. As for punishment for his misdeed, well, looking back at previous such incidents involving delinquent people in uniform, we see that, almost in all cases, the rather nebulous term “closed” was used, though the public does not know what it actually entails.

Some of my media colleagues have told me it means that, until the storm has subsided, someone who has committed a grave act of social violation in uniform is moved away from the heat.

The person is eventually brought back in time since, in this age, no episode has a shelf life of more than a few weeks.

Today, Masud Sikder is the headline, in a month, he will be history. The crime of forcefully picking up a Bangladesh Bank o� cial, detaining him, and then threatening him with a fabricated narcotics case unless money is paid in cash, will fade away.

The unnerving fact is, Masud is but a symptom of a pervasive culture of rapacity which has got the whole of society in a stranglehold. One Masud is

but a representative of hundreds of such unscrupulous people out there, in uniform and without.

The problem here, for the time being, seems to be of errant police o� cers, though I feel the plague a� icting our society does not concentrate on public o� cials only.

Reportedly, Masud joined the service in 1997 as a constable, rising to the post of SI, and, according to those who have spoken out, on the way to a fast ascendancy, amassed a fortune by being involved in all sorts of nefarious deeds.

Truth is, if someone looks deeper, countless such public service o� cials from di� erent departments can be found, who have manipulated their posts to extort and build personal empires.

Many of them were discreet in their operations and only picked on those who would never be able to lodge a case.

Today, we are all pointing at one man because he made the blunder of overestimating his power of impunity to harass another public o� cial. The whole issue has created a storm, simply because the victim is a � rst-sclass Bangladesh Bank o� cer. Even then, in the initial TV news coverage, where journalists were inside the police station talking to the o� cer in charge, we see the latter emphatically defending Masud Sikder.

Masud, on the other hand, seemed to dismiss the allegations with an imperious gesture.

It stands to reason that, if the victim had been any other person, this whole issue would have died down; a payment would have been made to the corrupt police o� cer and our dear Masud would have carried on.

Like I said earlier, the problem here is not Masud -- he is just following a vicious philosophy which has insidiously secured itself in society. Money at all costs, no compromises with morality or ethics. In the end, when enough has been accumulated, one can, of course, renounce all vices and take the religious path.

I am sorry, but I see a society that has managed to make a convenient link between sleaze and spirituality. The line between legal and illegal is blurred because we want only one thing: Material gains.

“Taka banae nao” does not have a negative connotation anymore, and therein lies the problem.

Just moving a bit away from the topic of the day, we regularly hear that the

whole country is facing a yaba epidemic. From time to time, arrests are made which generally involve the small fries.

It’s common sense, no drug trade can operate unless blessed from top goons that are seldom caught.

A whole generation of young people in Bangladesh was ravaged by Phensidyl in the 80s and 90s. And, despite grasping the gravity of the threat, no drug lord was ever caught.

Nabbing small-time crooks won’t change anything, just like punishing SI Masud will do little to make men in uniform more alert in their operations.

One such SI will go, others will emerge. The police can never become a better force unless it’s unshackled from political in� uence. No rhetoric will work because at the heart of the anomaly is the desire to use force as a political tool.

Countless reports have stated that the SI in question misused his position based on his links to the ruling party student wing, which means those who have such relations do feel like they can have a free hand.

Anyway, asking for deeper changes is Utopian; so, for the time being, we shall settle for the second best: Punishment of the man accused of extortion and unfair assault in uniform.

Please spare us the lofty platitudes and show that those in uniform who act like thugs will be dealt with severely. At least then we can feel, despite the unrelenting rot in society, that the common man still has some democratic rights. l

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

Get rich or die tryin’

The problem here is not Masud; he is just following a vicious philosophy which has insidiously secured itself in society. Money at all costs, no compromises with morality or ethics

The case of Masud Sikder speaks more about our culture of greed than a single man’s vices

Is this all that matters now? MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Opinion 13D

T

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

n Shammi Huda

So as I drifted o� to Morpheus’ realms, thoughts regarding the end of the year morphed into the end of the world. Being Bangali,

these, naturally, at some point, fused with thoughts of food. Thus, I came to a few conclusions -- if I were to turn into a zombie during some undead apocalypse in the future, despite being mindless, I’d need to keep the following in mind:

1. The Dhaka and Chittagong metropolitan areas would probably have the juiciest targets, albeit seasoned by the most pollution.

2. De� nitely avoid the ship-breaking areas. The humans come with loads of diesel and solvent content, and, according to the movies, � re is a tried and tested way to fend o� zombies, so let’s not be giving them any

advantages.3. The Noakhali and Barisal areas

incorporate a lot of coconut into their diets. That means loads of � avour, and since coconut oil is good for the living, it can’t be bad for the undead. However, the high salinity of Bagherhat, Satkhira, and Khulna is de� nitely an acquired taste.

4. The mango and papayas of the Rajsha-hi belt should work well as meat tenderisers.

5. In case of indigestion, or general stomach issues, make a beeline for Rampal. The extreme coal-dust and soot pollution would make meals act like activated-carbon in soothing the belly.

6. Forget Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, and the all the northern chor areas -- hard living makes for scrawny meals.

7. Avoid the haor areas of Kishoreganj and Sunamganj, which are under water six to seven months a year. It will take ages to dry

out and where is a zombie supposed to � nd copious amounts of moisturiser in the post-apocalypse world?

8. Sylhet would be interesting, with a populace grown fat from indolence thanks to foreign remittance with subtle overtones of shatkora citrus. However, too many of

them are foreign-returned, having gorged on signi� cant amounts of processed foods. These empty calories make me bloat like nothing else, plus, I suspect, induce psychotic episodes in me. l

Shammi Huda is a businessman.

Live and let diet

The Noakhali and Barisal areas incorporate a lot of coconut into their diets. That means loads of � avour, and since coconut oil is good for the living, it can’t be bad for the undead. However, the high salinity of Bagherhat, Satkhira, and Khulna is de� nitely an acquired taste

Even the undead cannot a� ord to be picky in Bangladesh

What’s good to eat around here?

Opinion14DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

n MJ Akbar

There is no retribution harsher in politics than the revenge of the samosa. Every politician knows this much. The surprise is that

Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and his patriarch, Super Chief Minister Laloo Yadav, both veterans of electoral battles as well as administration, forgot a fundamental principle of democracy: You never feed the treasury from the menu of the poor.

The poor have little by way of luxury, and a low-cost evening savoury is one of their few moments of pleasure in a tough day.

In budgeting parlance there is something called a “sin tax,” a regular resource base for any government.

This is a tax on items like liquor and cigarettes.

You could, if in a particularly puritan mood, stretch the sin-range to luxuries like expensive hotels. But no � nance minister in his, or her, senses ever squeezes money from the beedi.

It is too early for the Bihar electorate to get angry with a government it has just placed in o� ce, but the 13.5% VAT of samosa and bhujia opens up space for something deadlier than anger: Ridicule.

The sarcasm -- and no one does that better than the Bihari -- will cut across class, creed, and caste because the samosa is unique in its appeal across distinctions, a true item of mass consumption.

Indians invented fast food long before multinationals discovered its appeal. We also had the good sense to keep fast food a home industry.

It is a business through which a poor man can also earn a living. The producer and consumer are often within the same socio-economic zone.

Nitish Kumar and Laloo Yadav must share the barbs, for while the origins of this decision lie indisputably in the CM’s o� ce, the � nance minister of Bihar belongs to Laloo Yadav’s party.

This is one instance when Laloo Yadav cannot chortle in private at what Nitish Kumar does in public.

The samosa’s revenge was evident soon enough, and Nitish Kumar is now trying to mitigate the political o� ence by suggesting that he only intended the tax for a costlier form of packaged samosa.

It is not the after-thought which will stick, but the thought. This amendment is obviously a fudge, because bhujia is also on the punitive list.

It also gets curiouser and curiouser. Why tax mosquito repellents, for instance? Mosquitoes do not vote. And they can be occasionally lethal. Of course, this does reveal that mosquito repellents have a huge market in Bihar, and the government expects high returns.

Revenues from Patna alone could pay for a fat department of government. The state is infested with mosquitoes.

It is equally obvious that there is not much industry in Bihar which can generate tax revenues -- there is nothing else to tax.

The government, therefore, is trying to pro� t from its own past failure. Word will spread, as rapidly as mosquitoes.

One does wonder about how such silly mistakes are made by persons with experience, whether in politics or bureaucracy.

It could be because they do not have to pay for either samosas or bhujias when in power -- the cost of afternoon chai and accompaniments comes from the administrative budget.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who belongs to the re� ned-dined aristocracy of his land, once tried to get psychologically cozy with the masses by standing outside a stall and eating Britain’s version of the samosa, the Cornish pie. Cameron made a mess of the staged event, for he had no idea how to eat humble pie.

As a public relations exercise it was a disaster, and the press did not let him forget this opportunism in a hurry.

But Cameron was never going to tax the pie, even though he has a � nance minister, George Osborne, who has made it a mission to balance the books.

If Osborne cannot be credited with as much success in this objective as he might have hoped for, at least you cannot fault him for trying.

The samosa-bhujia tragicomedy comes at a time when the Laloo-Nitish government is just beginning to lose a bit of sheen for

reasons that are de� nitely not funny. Crime is back with a vengeance in the state, as criminals get political patronage. There is a growing sense of fear in rural areas.

O� cials are getting orders from the parallel Laloo Yadav network, and they understand better than anyone else where real power sits.

By itself, the samosa’s revenge may have been contained, but in an environment that is encouraged by both memory and experience, the samosa adds signi� cant collateral damage to the reputation of Nitish Kumar. l

MJ Akbar is an Indian journalist. He is the founder of The Sunday Guardian. This article was previously published in The Sunday Guardian.

Revenge of the samosa

One does wonder about how such silly mistakes are made by persons with experience, whether in politics or bureaucracy. It could be because they do not have to pay for either samosas or bhujias when in power -- the cost of afternoon chai and accompaniments comes from the administrative budget

A tax on snacks shows the cracks in Bihar’s current administration

Taxing the samosa is tantamount to taxing poverty itself BIGSTOCK

15D

TBusinessMONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Analysts: ECB to keep door open to new easingThe European Central Bank is set to hold the door open for further easing at its policy meeting this week, after measures taken in December to drive eurozone in� ation higher disappointed investors, analysts said. PAGE 18

Study: Global supply chains for multinational companies fail to detect serious abuses Incidents such as the collapse of Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh in April 2013 and the exposé of slavery and human tra� cking in Thailand in 2014 have focused attention on the supply chains of global corporations. PAGE 16

Iran ‘return’ to oil market risks more price pressureIran’s intention to signi� cantly increase oil out-put after the lifting of international sanctions risks more pressure on crude prices already at 12-year lows, according to analysts. PAGE 17

Capital market snapshot: SundayDSE

Broad Index 4,674.8 -0.4% ▼

Index 1,118.3 -0.1% ▼

30 Index 1,753.7 -0.4% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 5,126.2 -26.0% ▼

Turnover in Mn Volume 168.9 -32.3% ▼

CSEAll Share Index 14,287.2 -0.5% ▼

30 Index 12,522.0 -0.5% ▼

Selected Index 8,688.7 -0.6% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 380.3 -24.4% ▼

Turnover in Mn Volume 14.0 -32.5% ▼

INSIDE

PM urges RMG makers to set up new factories in economic zones BGMEA wants formulation of an energy policyn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged RMG manufacturers and exporters to estab-lish new industry only in economic zones.

The premier came up with the call while the new BGMEA board led by its President Siddiqur Rahman made a courtesy call on her at her o� ce in the city yesterday.

The RMG manufacturer’s platform placed a series of demands including for-mulation of energy policy to the prime minister.

BGMEA also demanded gas supply to boiler and drier machines, gas and electric-ity connection to newly established RMG units and low-cost fund to small and medi-um entrepreneurs.

“Though the country’s industrialisation has begun in an unplanned way, it should be in a planned manner in future and that should only be in economic zones,” BGMEA Vice-President Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu said, quoting the prime minister.

Responding to the demand for energy pol-icy, the prime minister assured the BGMEA leaders of ensuring better energy in future.

RMG entrepreneurs keen to establish factories in Detailed Area Plan (DAP) for relocation are not getting their plan ap-proved.

“We have urged the prime minister to take immediate measures in this regard,” BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

The international donor agency includ-

ing the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and JICA is providing low-cost fund for RMG remediation, but the interest of the loans reaches up to 10% because of lo-cal bank charges.

“That is why, we urge the PM to take in-itiative so that entrepreneurs can get loan at the agency o� er rate instead of local rate set by the local banks.”

“We have limitation to providing gas and you will not get gas connection in captive power plants since there is enough power to provide for RMG industry, but we would consider drier and boiler machines for gas,” BGMEA Vice-President Mohammed Nair told the Dhaka Tribune quoting PM.

RMG manufacturers are facing trouble during delivery of their products by the airport authorities, which hurts produc-tion. For ensuring quick delivery, the prime minister’s intervention has been sought, said Nasir.

“We also urged the PM to hold talks with the Australian government to resume air shipment to the country, which is recent-ly suspended over security question,” he added.

“To remain competitive in the global market with our competitors, we urged the premier to introduce a free � oat exchange for dollar,” said Nasir.

BGMEA senior Vice-President Faruque Hassan, Vice-President SM Mannan Kochi and immediate past president Atiqul Islam and other o� ce bearers and b oard mem-bers were present during the meeting. l

NBR likely to refuse Rab on Vat collection driven Syed Samiul Basher Anik

The National Board of Revenue is going to refuse Rapid Action Battalion’s proposal of mobile court drive against value added tax evasion as the law doesn’t allow that.

The elite force of police came up with the proposal recently to prevent tax dodging as it said such drive had proved successful in other areas. Rab proposed inclusion of Vat Act 1991 in the schedule of the Mobile Court Act 2009.

The proposal also sparked widespread criticisms among di� erent quarters, includ-ing the business community. The Metropol-itan Chamber of Commerce and Industry de-scribed it as “dangerous” with a demand of halting any such move.

In such a situation, the NBR has decided not to entertain the proposal from Rab as it may create complexities in the revenue col-lection system.

Besides, the NBR o� cials said the Vat de-partment itself has the capacity to prevent revenue leakage and other’s intervention is not necessary.

As per the Vat Act 1991, the law enforcing agencies can only provide cooperation, if sought for, to Vat o� cials in collection of tax.

The law says a Vat o� cial, not below the rank of an assistant commissioner, can con-duct drive and seek cooperation from gov-ernment bodies including police to discharge their duties under the act. The law enforcing agencies are bound to extend cooperation.

When asked, NBR Chairman Nojibur Rah-man said the revenue authorities were taking every step in partnership with the businesses and the Rab in no way could be engaged with the process.

“Rab will be a new organisation in the pro-cess. We are not considering their proposal. The law enforcement agencies will help NBR as much as the laws allow,” he said. l

Business16DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

DSEX, DS30 reshu� ed n Tribune Report

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has rear-ranged its broad and blue chip indexes with e� ect from Sunday next as part of its annual and semi-annual rebalancing process.

In accordance with DSE Bangladesh Index Methodology, designed by S&P Dow Jones Indices, DSEX and DS30 have been reconsti-tuted with 234 companies, said a DSE state-ment yesterday.

After annual re-balancing, thirteen new companies have been added to the DSEX as they were quali� ed for eligible constituents of the broader index.

They are Western Marine Shipyard, C & A Textiles, KDS Accessories, Aman Feed, Reck-itt Benckiser (BD), Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries, Zaheen Spinning, Hamid Fabrics, National Feed Mill, Tosrifa Indus-tries, United Power Generation & Distribu-tion, Northern Jute and Standard Ceramic.

On the other hand, twenty four companies were excluded from the index, as they failed

to retain their membership as they failed to meet the criteria.

They included Fine Foods, Takaful Islami Insurance, Sonar Bangla Insurance, Rupali Insurance, Republic Insurance, Renwick Jajneswar, Reliance Insurance, Progressive Life Insurance, Prime Insurance, Pragati Insurance, Provati Insurance, Peoples Insurance, Paramount Insurance, Northern General Insurance, Janata Insurance, Eastern Insurance, Dhaka Insurance, Asia Paci� c Gen Insurance, Agrani Insurance, Eastern Cables, Beximco Synthetics, Nitol Insurance, Mercantile Insurance and Karnaphuli Insurance

After semi-annual re-balancing, four com-panies—City Bank, Khulna Power Company, MJL Bangladesh and Bata Shoe –were added to the DSE30.

On the other hand, another four compa-nies—Square Textile, National Bank, Padma Oil Company and Meghna Petroleum—failed to retain their membership by ful� lling all the eligibility criteria for the blue chip index. l

Study: Global supply chains for multinational companies fail to detect serious abuses n Tribune Report

Incidents such as the collapse of Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh in April 2013 and the exposé of slavery and human tra� cking in Thailand in 2014 have focused attention on the supply chains of global corporations.

A report from the University of She� eld released recently says despite increased ‘au-dits’ and inspections, labour abuses, poor working conditions and environmental deg-radation within global supply chains remain widespread.

To investigate corporate supply chains, researchers from the She� eld Political Econ-omy Research Institute (SPERI) interviewed supply chain auditors, business executives, non-governmental organisations and manu-facturers in North America, the United King-

dom and China, as well as visiting factories in the Pearl River delta region of China.

Dr Genevieve LeBaron, co-author of the report and senior lecturer in Politics at the University of She� eld and a current visit-ing professor at Yale University in the USA, said: “Recent disasters such as the Rana Pla-za factory collapse in Bangladesh have put the spotlight on supply chains, but what has been less reported is that labour, safety and environmental abuses often take place with-in ‘certi� ed’ and audited supply chains.

“Our interviews reveal how corporations have designed an inspection and auditing system for global supply chains that are ‘working’ for them, but badly failing workers and the planet.”

“Corporations have designed a system of self-regulation that allows their suppliers to

cover up abuses and easily cheat a weak in-spection system,” said the report.

Supply chain audits are ine� ective tools for detecting, reporting, or correcting environ-mental and labour problems, it said, adding that they reinforce existing business models and preserve the global production status quo.

It said the audit system, with the involve-ment and support of NGOs, is increasingly reducing the role of states in regulating cor-porate behaviour, and global corporate gov-ernance is being reshaped towards the inter-ests of private business and away from public interest and social goods.

The auditing system put in place by corpo-rations gives the impression of detecting and correcting abuses, but reinforces the labour and environmental problems that civil soci-ety NGOs strive to improve, the report said.

Dr LeBaron said: “Arguably, it is the unsus-tainable business models of large corporations, which are reliant on cheap labour and environ-mental degradation, which drive abuses with-in supply chains. Yet corporations, by working with a growing audit industry, are presenting themselves as the solution to the abuses.”

She added: “The report should be a wake-up call for governments, international organ-isations and non-governmental organisations. It raises serious questions about the e� ective-ness, legitimacy and accountability of a system of supply chain monitoring that is increasingly being designed, implemented and reported by corporations themselves. Unless concerted ef-fort is taken to strengthen non-corporate-led inspections it seems highly likely we will con-tinue to have serious abuses within the supply chains of major global brands.” l

Stocks end lower despite rate cutn Tribune Report

Stocks closed marginally lower yesterday, despite a rate cut by the central bank to spur demand.

The market started the day on positive note but beginning of pro� t booking from mid-session has sent the market to the neg-ative territory.

The benchmark index DSEX was down 20 points or 0.5% to 4,674, breaking its three-day rally.

The Shariah index DSES witnessed a frac-tional loss of 0.7 points to 1,118. The blue chip comprising index DS30 shed only 7 points to settle at 1,753.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selec-tive Category Index CSCX shed 49 points to 8,688.

On Thursday, Bangladesh Bank slashed its

key interest rate by 50 basis points to 6.75% and repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.25% after three years.

Generally, a rate cut makes it cheaper for banks to borrow from the central bank and in turn makes it easier for businesses and private people to borrow money from those banks.

IDLC Investments said pro� t booking pres-sure intensi� ed, dragging down the indices, while a few selected scrips made steep gains.

The correction occurred despite the central bank’s declaration of Monetary Policy State-ment (MPS) for the next six months of the current � scal year with an expansionary tone.

Lower credit growth target set in MPS, which is still considerably higher than the actual � gure, accompanied with rate cut is supposed to aid economy through � nancial sector.

Trading activities continued to subdue as the DSE turnover stood at Tk512 crore, sharply down 26% over the previous session. Investors’ attention was largely focused on engineering sector, contributing over 20% of the total turnover, followed by textile 14% and power 11%.

A new stock —Vanguard AML BD Finance Mutual Fund One — in its debut trading day, gained 30% over its face of Tk10 per share.

Pro� t booking took place on food and allied, non-banking � nancial institutions, bank, power and engineering. Telecommu-nication, pharmaceuticals and cement de-clined marginally.

Emerald Oil Industries topped in the turn-over list with shares trading worth around Tk37 crore, followed by United Power Gener-ation and Distribution Company Limited and BD Thai Aluminum. l

Parliamentary body wants to audit Bangladesh Bank n Tribune Report

The Public Accounts Committee of Parlia-ment has recommended for auditing the cen-tral bank.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the committee, headed by Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, yesterday. It followed a remark on Bangladesh Bank by Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam.

“Bangladesh Bank and the whole � nance ministry, including � nance minister, are suf-fering from jaundice (a distorted judgment). They don’t have any outlook,” said Syed Ashraf in Kishoreganj Saturday.

At a meeting with businessmen, he criti-cised high interest rate of bank lending.

The decision also came on the heel of the central bank’s recent appointment of an ob-server to Farmers Bank on � nding irregular-ities in loan disbursement and lack of corpo-

rate governance. Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir is chairman of

the Farmers Bank, a new generation bank. “We have asked the audit o� ce to submit

an audit report on the central bank that came into discussion after Syed Ashraf’s com-ment,” said a source in the committee.

On January 13, Bangladesh Bank appoint-ed ANM Abul Kashem, general manager at the central bank’s Foreign Exchange Invest-ment Department as Farmers Bank’s observ-er after allegation of corruption.

Of nine new generation banks that obtained licence in 2013, Farmers Bank got an observer for the � rst time to be closely watched.

The central bank investigation into the Farmers Bank found irregularities in loan dis-bursement amounting to Tk400 crore.

The bank’s top o� cials were found in-volved in the anomalies, which raised con-cerns for Bangladesh Bank. l

Era of stagnation will make ECB cut in� ation targetn Reuters, London

A grim outlook for growth in Europe over coming decades could lead the European Central Bank to lower its target for in� ation as early as next year, economists from the Swiss � nancial group UBS said .

In a report on the economic and institu-tional outlook for Europe until 2050, UBS’s chief investment o� ce also calculated the European Union would need to admit 1.8 million immigrants to match the workforce expansion that has helped the US economy grow over the past decade.

With Europe’s population otherwise set to shrink, only mass immigration or a huge programme of productivity-focused reforms will raise euro zone growth rates much above 1 percent over the next 30 years, it said. l

Business 17D

TMONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Iran ‘return’ to oil market risks more price pressure n AFP, London

Iran’s intention to signi� cantly increase oil output after the lifting of international sanc-tions risks more pressure on crude prices al-ready at 12-year lows, according to analysts.

Oil prices tumbled by more than 30% last year and have slumped by a further 20% since the beginning of 2016 - culminating in drops below $30 a barrel last week.

“The immediate impact of the news that Iran is returning to the market will almost cer-tainly be bearish for oil prices,” Fawad Razaqza-da, an oil analyst at Forex.com, told AFP.

“Given that this is mostly priced in how-

ever, we probably wouldn’t see a massive re-action. The full impact may be felt when the market knows how much oil Iran will actu-ally produce and what the response from its competitors will be.”

The Islamic Republic’s move to hike pro-duction comes after an agreement negotiat-ed in July between Tehran, Britain, China, France, Germany and the United States to limit Iran’s controversial nuclear programme in exchange for a progressive lifting of sanc-tions, including those related to oil exports.

While the progressive removal of inter-national sanctions limits Iran’s return to full production capacity, additional exports to a

market already well oversupplied does not bode well for prices.

“If Iran’s goal is reached, this will not fun-damentally change the current state of the oil market,” Saxo Bank analyst Christopher Dem-bik told AFP. “This will of course result in great-er oversupply but it will not be decisive to the evolution of oil price over the year,” he added.

Iran insists that it will not concede on its level of production once the international nuclear agreement comes into force.

According to analysts at Commerzbank, Tehran could resort to a progressive produc-tion increase to limit the pressure on oil pric-es, a view supported by the president of the

National Iranian Oil Company. And it claims that it will produce 500,000

additional barrels of oil per day once the sanctions are lifted, rising to an extra one million barrels before the end of the year.

Foreign investment The estimates appear credible to many ana-lysts, since it produced 4 million barrels per day before the international sanctions were imposed, and is currently pumping 3 million.

“I think Iran will easily be able to scale up oil production by up to 500,000 barrels per day initially, but the question is will it be able to sell the additional barrels,” said Razaqzada. l

Multinationals ready to jump into Iran marketn AFP, Paris

With global growth moribund, multinational � rms have been waiting with bated breath for the lifting of international sanctions against Iran for access to a country in desperate need to modernise.

After nearly a decade of limited access to the outside world, many sectors of the Irani-an economy need new equipment including the oil and gas industry, railways, and air-lines. Plus there are 80 million Iranian con-sumers, many of them keen to buy cars and other goods.

Access is expected to begin opening up, now that the International Atomic Energy Agency has issued a report concluding that Iran has ful� lled its obligations under a nucle-ar deal reached last year with world powers.

Since that deal was reached in July, dele-gations of o� cials and business executives from Germany, France and Italy have head-ed to Iran to prepare the ground to win back some of the market share lost to emerging nations like China and Turkey, or countries like Russia and Japan which kept friendly na-tions with Tehran.

Germany’s BGA foreign trade federation believes that country will have a di� cult time reclaiming its former status as Iran’s largest trade partner as Chinese � rms have swooped in during sanctions.

Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Ming of China, the top buyer of Iranian crude, said during a recent visit Beijing intends to fully exploit the potential for cooperation with Tehran in the manufacturing sector and con-struction of infrastructure.

US companies like Boeing and General Electric are also interested by the opportuni-ties in Iran, but are handicapped by the fact Washington has not had diplomatic relations with Tehran for 35 years and will keep certain sanctions in place.

Meanwhile the Iranians are looking for foreign � rms to help modernise the coun-try’s infrastructure, which has su� ered from a lack of investment and technology as the economy was largely cut o� from the outside world for the past decade.

A resumption of trade should also help put the Iranian economy, which su� ers from high unemployment and hyperin� ation, back on its feet.

Oil sector still attractive The slump of global oil prices to under $30 per barrel - partially due to expectations of Iranian crude � ooding back onto markets - is not good news for Tehran as it means less money � owing into government co� ers.

Nevertheless, with the country holding the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves and currently pumping a million barrels per day less than it did before sanctions, the Irani-an energy sector is still attractive for foreign � rms and Tehran is looking for $25bn in in-vestment in the oil and gas sectors.

“The infrastructure and energy sectors o� er the best opportunities for our � rms”, Italy’s economic development ministry said recently.

Russia, which has maintained close rela-tions with Iran, has a leg up on the compe-tition and is willing to put money on the ta-ble to achieve its goal of boosting its annual trade turnover with Tehran from $1.6bn cur-rently to $10bn.

Russian President Vladimir Putin o� ered to open up a $5bn credit line to Iran during a visit to Tehran in November.

Not only has Russia recently sold long-range S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran, but it has received orders to build two new reactors at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

State-owned Russian Railways is after work electrifying Iranian rail lines.

Russian gas giant Gazprom and the country’s number two oil � rm Lukoil are looking not only for production opportuni-ties, but to stocking and transporting energy as well.

Certain western oil companies, like France’s Total and Italy’s Eni, are after joint venture contracts where their Iranian part-ner will retain majority control.

“We will be well placed to examine the opportunties in the gas, oil and petrochem-icals and fuel distribution sectors, but all of that will be subject to good contractual con-ditions,” said Total’s chief executive Patrick Pouyanne recently.

‘Promising market’ The automobile sector is also attractive as the rate of car ownership in Iran is just 100 per 1,000 people - six times less than in Europe - and consumers have had limited access to new vehicles under Western sanctions. l

Business18DT

NONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

CORPORATE NEWS

The Dhaka Bank Cup Golf Tournament 2016 was recently held during January 14 to 16, 2016. President of Army Golf Club, Major General Hamidur Rahman Chowdhury and former chairperson of Dhaka Bank Limited, ATM Hayatuzzaman Khan inaugurated the tournament, said a press release

National Bank Limited has recently commenced a campaign named, Savings Deposits Mobilization Campaign 2016. The bank’s deputy managing director, Syed Mohammad Bariqullah inaugurated the campaign

Social Islami Bank Limited has recently held its 359th board meeting. The bank’s chairperson, Major Dr Md Rezaul Haque (retd) presided over the meeting

Training institute of Standard Bank Limited yesterday started a two-day long workshop on credit appraisal. The bank’s deputy managing director, Mamun-Ur-Rashid inaugurated the workshop, said a press release

bKash Limited has recently signed an agreement with Grameen UNIQLO to facilitate the customers of Grameen UNIQLO to pay through bKash while purchasing clothes from Grameen UNIQLO stores. Chief commercial o� cer of bKash, Rezaul Hossain and managing director of Grameen UNIQLO, Najmul Huq have signed the agreement

Analysts: ECB to keep door open to new easing n AFP, Frankfurt

The European Central Bank is set to hold the door open for further easing at its policy meeting this week, after measures taken in December to drive eurozone in� ation higher disappointed investors, analysts said.

“After disappointing markets in Decem-ber, we expect the ECB to indicate at its forthcoming meeting that the door is still open to bolder policy support,” said Capital Economics economist Jennifer McKeown.

The ECB “is unlikely to alter policy for now given the � rm tone of recent survey data and the damage that such a change of heart might do to its credibility,” McKeown said.

“However, if growth slows in the coming months and in� ation expectations weaken as we expect, it may not be long before the ECB concedes that it must do more.”

In the wake of its December meeting, the ECB has come under � re for failing to act as decisively as expected to rekindle in� ation, with market players suspecting divisions

among the bank’s top brass stopping it from doing more.

Area-wide in� ation stood at just 0.2% in December, a long way o� the ECB’s target of close to but just below 2%.

ECB watchers accused bank chief Mario Draghi of undermining the bank’s credibility and even jeopardising the ability of the euro-zone economy to get back on its feet as the pol-icy measures fell short of the high expectations the ECB o� cials had themselves helped fuel.

Speculation had swirled for weeks that the ECB would aggressively ramp up its bond-buy-ing programme and further loosen monetary policy to inject some vim into a eurozone beset by years of torpid growth and stagnant in� ation.

But in the end, the ECB cut its key “depos-it” rate by a modest 0.1% to minus 0.3% and extended the length of its bond purchases by just six months to March 2017.

The ECB’s deputy president Vitor Con-stancio conceded that mistakes had been made in communicating the bank’s inten-tions, pointing to “the largest gulf so far be-

tween what we intended to do and what the markets expected.”

Both sides needed to learn lessons, Con-stancio said in a newspaper interview pub-lished at the end of December.

Need to ‘communicate better’ “The markets need to understand our de-cision-making processes better, and must not allow themselves to get carried away by wishful thinking. But we also have to com-municate better. We made the decision that we wanted to make. However, we did not want to give the markets such a surprise.”

It was “di� cult enough to calibrate mone-tary policy correctly. But it is even more di� -cult to � ne-tune market expectations. Some-times our statements are over-interpreted,” Constancio said.

Commerzbank economist Michael Schu-bert said Draghi was likely to tread very care-fully at his post-meeting news conference on Thursday.

“We expect no new steps at (this week’s)

meeting. Draghi will probably keep all op-tions open while avoiding clear signals. (He) may express himself more carefully than he did recently,” Schubert said.

According to the minutes of the December meeting, published last week, the 25-mem-ber governing council appears to be divided about the need for more policy action.

“In sum, most members” supported the measures taken, even if “some members did not, on balance, see a su� cient case for fur-ther policy action or were only prepared to support some of the elements put forward,” the minutes revealed, which are published four weeks after each meeting.

And the ECB takes great pains not to name the particular council members who voted for or against speci� c measures. But the minutes said that “some” members had argued “that the existing policy measures ... should be giv-en for them to unfold their full e� ect ... before adopting further monetary policy measures” - a point often made publicly by Germany’s central bank chief Jens Weidmann. l

Biz Info 19D

T

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

The use of LED lighting in lieu of T-8 and T-5 tube lights can signi� cantly reduce energy consumption and expenditure as well as improve business competitiveness. This was revealed during the “Workshop on Promotion of Energy E� cient LED Lighting in Garment Industry in ESCO Model” on January 13. The workshop was jointly organised by Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbHand, its government counterpart of the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA).

In his keynote address, Prof Md Ziaur Rahman Khan, EEE and director, Centre for Energy Studies, BUET, stressed that the uniqueness of the project is the standardisation of LED and incorporation of ESCO to ensure proper monitoring after installation of the LEDs.

M A Mannan MP, state minister, Ministry of Finance and Faruque Hassan, senior vice president, BGMEA were the chief and special guests respectively at the workshop. Md Anwarul Islam Sikderndc, chairman (additional secretary), SREDA, Power Division, Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) chaired the event. Other attendees included David Hancock, programme manager, GIZ; Abdul Hai Sarker, chairman, Purbani Group; Md Shah Jobaer, managing director, Energy + Electric & Electronics Pvt Ltd and Ziaul Hoque Khan, CEO and managing director (CC), IDLC Finance Limited.

The event focused on the � ndings from GIZ’s pilot project on “Promotion of Energy E� cient LED Lighting in Garment Industry,” which demonstrated the energy saving potential of LED lighting even after taking into account the minimum lighting standards required for precision work at garments factories. As the project’s technical partner, the

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) conducted a baseline study to assess the lighting demands of the project’s partner Karim Textile of Purbani Group. BUET designed the speci� cations for replacing the existing energy intensive T-5 and T-8 tubes with more energy e� cient LED lights. Energy + Electric & Electronics Pvt Ltd, as Energy Service Company (ESCO), manufactured and supplied the speci� ed LEDs.

As per study � ndings, compared over a period of more than six months for the same number of operating hours, LEDs consumed 57% and 33% less energy compared to T-8 and T-5 respectively. The study also revealed that more than 250 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per annum can be avoided if the existing 3,613 tube lights are replaced with LED lights.

Seeing the viability of the project, IDLC Finance Limited agreed to extend a loan for the project at a concessional rate and signed an agreement with Karim Textile during the workshop. A Memorandum of Understanding has also been signed between GIZ, Purbani Group, Energy + Electric & Electronics and IDLC to successfully implement the pilot project and transform the energy saving potential into reality.

GIZ also intends to be involved in comprehensive energy e� ciency improvements in the garments sector, like motor e� ciency and boiler e� ciency, through pilot projects and capacity development of stakeholders. The initiatives are part of the GIZ-implemented Sustainable Energy for Development (SED) programme, which is a joint undertaking between SREDA, Power Division, MPEMR of the Government of Bangladesh and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). l

Promotion of energy e� cient LED lights by GIZ

Gentle Park’s latest line features an exclusive and scintillating array of winter wear. Sweater, jackets, shawls and more are part of a this collection, some of which come in leather and � eece. There’s also a 10% discount on o� er for American Express cardholders. For more information, visit any of their outlets in Dhaka, Sylhet, Khula, Cox’s Bazar and Bogra.l

Le REVE has recently started their “End of Season Sale.” During this sale, customers will get the opportunity to enjoy a 70% discount on men’s, women’s and children’s items during the sale.

This season, Le REVE has stacked up on cutting-edge jackets, hoodies, sweaters, causal blazers along with Le REVE’s regular items including panjabis (traditional, semi long, short), a wide range of pyjamas, T-shirts, formal and casual shirts, denim jeans, coloured trousers, boxers and more for men.

For women, Le REVE’s End of Season Sale will feature coats, jackets, sweaters, vests-shrugs, ponchos and a wide range of

shawls apart from regular styling of salwar kameezes with dupattas, tunics, leggings, palazzos, denims, and chinos.

Le REVE is also showcasing a wide range of children’s clothes during this sale. Kids’ collection includes jackets, sweat shirts and hoodies with matching bottoms.

Customers can also order for Le REVE products online and pay the due cash on delivery. Just log in to www.lerevecraze.com to shop from home.

The lifestyle brand has stores at city’s Banashree, Dhanmondi, Mirpur, Uttara, Wari, Baily Road, Jamuna Future Park and Bashundhara City Shopping Mall, as well as in Narayanganj and Sylhet. l

Exclusive discount at Gentle Park

Sale at Le REVESale at Le REVE

Downtime20DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

DILBERT

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

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CODE-CRACKER

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 21 represents C so � ll C every time the � gure 21 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CROSSWORD

ACROSS1 Expectation of that desired (4)3 Incandescence (4)7 Period of time (3)8 Exhibits (5)11 Peel (4)12 Portion (5)13 Happening (5)15 Power of rejecting (4)18 Classify (4)19 Passenger ship (5)20 Banishment (5)21 Rank (4)23 Concise (5)24 Hail! (3)25 Raw hide (4)26 Stains (4)

DOWN 1 Silences (6)2 Appropriate (6)4 Hawaiian garland (3)5 Much ornamented (6)6 Bundle of notes (3)9 Season (6)10 Become � rm (3)11 Speak abusively (6)14 Given by vote (6)16 Power exerted (6)17 Commands (6)19 Ignited (3)21 Faucet (3)22 Slippery � sh (3)

SUDOKU

INSIDE

21D

TWorldMONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

For Beijing and Taiwan, South China Sea is the No 1 security issueFor China, whose President Xi Jinping is already taking an increasingly muscular approach to claims in the East and South China Sea, the question of Taiwan trumps any other of its territorial assertions in terms of sensitivity and importance. PAGE 22

Midnight rescuers saving migrants’ lives in the AegeanBraving the waves in the dead of night to rescue migrants desperate to reach Europe, volunteers working in the Aegean Sea stop at nothing to live up to their slogan: “No one deserves to die at sea.”

PAGE 23

Jerusalem church hit by anti-Christian gra� tiAnti-Christian gra� ti has been sprayed on a wall of a Jerusalem abbey built where tradition says the mother of Jesus died, police said Sunday, in an incident similar to previous acts blamed on Jewish extremists.

PAGE 23

TIMELINE

US-Iran relations from 1953 coup to 2016 sanctions reliefn Reuters, Washington

The United States lifted nuclear-related sanc-tions on Iran on Saturday after the International Atomic Energy Agency certi� ed Tehran had tak-en steps to limits its nuclear activities under a July 2014 agreement.

In a related diplomatic deal between the two long-time adversaries, Iran freed � ve detained Americans and US President Barack Obama granted clemency to at least seven Iranians con-victed in US courts or awaiting trial.

Following is a chronology of major events in relations between the Iran and the United States:Ü 1953 - CIA helps orchestrate overthrow of

Iran’s popular Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, restoring to power the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

Ü 1957 - The US and Iran sign an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation.

Ü 1968 - Iran signs the Nuclear Non-Prolifera-tion Treaty (NPT) which, when rati� ed two years later, permits Iran to have a civil nuclear program in return for a commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons.

Ü 1979 - Iran’s Islamic Revolution forces US-backed Shah to � ee, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns from exile and becomes supreme religious guide. Fundamentalist stu-dents demanding Washington hand over the Shah for trial seize the US embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4 and hold sta� hostage for 444 days.

Ü 1980 - United States cuts diplomatic ties with Iran, seizes Iranian assets and bans most trade with it. US hostage rescue mission or-dered by President Jimmy Carter fails when helicopter crashes in sandstorm and eight US servicemen are killed.

Ü 1986 - Reagan reveals secret arms deal with Tehran in violation of US arms embargo. Money from the sales was secretly passed to anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua.

Ü 1988 - US warship Vincennes mistakenly shoots down Iranian passenger plane over the Gulf, killing all 290 aboard.

Ü 2002 - President George W Bush declares Iran, Iraq, North Korea an “axis of evil.” US o� cials accuse Tehran of operating secret nuclear weapons program.

Ü 2006 - Washington says willing to join mul-tilateral nuclear talks with Iran if it veri� ably suspends nuclear enrichment.

Ü 2007 - A US National Intelligence Estimate assesses with high con� dence that Iran was working to develop nuclear weapons until the fall of 2003, when it halted weapons work.

Ü 2008 - US President George W. Bush for the � rst time sends an o� cial, Under Secretary of State Bill Burns, to directly take part in nucle-ar negotiations with Iran in Geneva.

Ü 2009 - Britain, France and the United States announce that Iran is building a secret ura-nium-enrichment site at Fordow, near the Shia Muslim holy city of Qom. Iran says it dis-closed the site to the UN nuclear watchdog earlier in the week.

Ü 2009-2012 - Nuclear negotiations between major powers and Iran largely stall.

Ü 2012 - US law goes into e� ect giving Obama the power to sanction foreign banks, includ-ing the central banks of US allies, if they fail to signi� cantly reduce their imports of Iranian oil. The result is a drastic reduction in Iranian oil sales and a sharp downturn in the Iranian economy.

Ü 2012 - US and Iranian o� cials begin secret

talks, which intensify in 2013, on the nuclear issue.

Ü 2013 - Pragmatist Hassan Rouhani is elected Iran’s president on platform of improving Iran’s relations with the world and its econo-my, something that can only be achieved by easing sanctions imposed because of Iran’s nuclear program.

Ü On September 28, Obama and Rouhani speak by telephone in the highest-level contact be-tween the two countries in three decades.

Ü On November 23, with the groundwork laid by the secret US-Iran talks, Iran and six ma-jor powers reach an interim pact called the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear work in return for limited sanctions relief.

The six powers are the US, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia

Ü 2015 - On July 14, Iran and the six powers strike an agreement, under which Iran agreed to take a series of steps, including slashing its number of centrifuges and disabling a key part of its Arak nuclear reactor - in return for signif-icant easing of US, UN and EU sanctions.

The deal is called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Ü 2016 - On January 14, Iran releases 10 US sail-ors, who ended up in Iranian territorial waters on two small boats, less than 24 hours after Iran took them into custody.

On January 16, the United States and Iran announce a prisoner swap. Four Americans imprisoned in Iran are freed in return for clem-ency for at least seven Iranians, most of whom are dual US-Iranian nationals, who were con-victed or awaiting trial in the United States. A � fth American is released separately. l

WorldMONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

22DT

USAHillary, Sanders set to clash in pre-Iowa debateWith the Democratic presidential nomina-tion at stake, frontrunner Hillary Clinton squares o� in a debate Sunday against Bernie Sanders, whose campaign could be hitting its stride two weeks before the � rst nomination vote in Iowa. The pair, along with Maryland former governor Martin O’Malley, take the stage in Charleston, South Carolina with the temperature rising in the primary battle. -AFP

THE AMERICASFirst group of weary Cubans reach US after long trekThe � rst trickle of a group of thousands of Cubans trying to reach the United States crossed the Mexican border into Texas Friday, ending a dangerous, months-long odyssey through the Americas. A dozen or so Cubans were processed in an immigration o� ce in the border town of Nuevo Laredo and walked out on the other side of the frontier in Laredo, Texas. Under US law, they automatically get permission to stay and are put on a fast track to permanent residency after one year. -AFP

UKCameron hopes for EU concessions in second-tier membership for UK David Cameron is hoping for an EU agree-ment to rebrand the UK as a second-tier member and an emergency brake on immi-gration if public services are overwhelmed, according to reports. The prime minister is said to be hoping these will be among several surprise concessions from the EU in order to persuade people that they should vote in fa-vour of Britain’s membership in the referen-dum expected this year. -THE GUARDIAN

EUROPESpaniards oppose new elections, Podemos rises to second placeA majority of Spanish voters oppose holding fresh polls to resolve a political impasse caused by an inconclusive general election last month and want parties to form a coali-tion government instead, a survey showed Sunday. If new elections were held the re-sults would be similar to the December vote and the deadlock would remain, although new anti-austerity party Podemos would edge out the Socialists from second place, according to the poll published in top-selling daily newspaper El Pais. -AFP

AFRICASomalia received Saudi aid the day it cut ties with IranSomalia received a pledge of aid for $50m from Saudi Arabia this month on the same day it announced it was cutting ties with Saudi rival Iran, a document by Reuters showed. The government, which did not con� rm or deny the pledge, has said there was no link between long-running Saudi � nancial support and its diplomatic decision to break ties with Iran. The Saudi Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. -REUTERS

For Beijing and Taiwan, South China Sea is the No 1 security issuen Reuters, Taipei

For China, whose President Xi Jinping is already taking an increasingly muscular ap-proach to claims in the East and South Chi-na Sea, the question of Taiwan trumps any other of its territorial assertions in terms of sensitivity and importance.

After eight years of calm in what had been one of Asia’s powder kegs, the land-slide election of an independence-leaning opposition leader, President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, has thrust Taiwan back into the spot-light as one of the region’s most sensitive security issues.

Defeated Nationalist forces � ed to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. China claims Taiwan as its sacred territory, is estimated by Taiwan to aim hundreds of missiles at the island over a narrow stretch of water and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.

China carried out rare live-� re drills in the sensitive strait that separates the two sides in September, though Taiwan’s defence minis-try described them at the time as routine.

The election in 2008 of the China-friend-ly Ma Ying-jeou, and then re-election four years later, ushered in an unprecedented period of calm with China, with landmark trade and tourism deals signed.

Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is at pains to stress its election will not cause a return to tensions. She addressed the issue of China almost immediately upon claiming victory, saying she would strive to maintain the peace, but added she would defend Tai-wan’s interests and its sovereignty.

‘Bitter Fruit’While China has been relatively measured in its response, repeating its standard line about opposing independence, great un-certainty lies ahead. China’s o� cial Xinhua news agency warned any moves towards in-dependence were like a “poison” that would cause Taiwan to perish.

In an online commentary on Sunday, Wang Hongguang, a lieutenant general and

former deputy commander of China’s Nan-jing military region, said the People’s Liber-ation Army was now better prepared than ever for operations against Taiwan.

The outside world should not underesti-mate the continued importance of Taiwan to the Chinese leadership, said a senior Western diplomat, citing recent conver-sations with Chinese policymakers on Taiwan.

Beijing will have to bear in mind the opinion of a Chinese public that has always been brought up never to question Taiwan’s status as an inherent part of China.

In the United States, which has no formal ties with Taiwan but is its most important diplomatic and military supporter, Repub-lican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said the election was “a beacon of light to their neighbours yearning to be free.”

Taiwan is a key fault line in the Bei-jing-Washington relationship.

A month before the election, the Obama administration formally noti� ed Congress

of a $1.83bn arms sale package for Taiwan, prompting anger in Beijing which said it would put sanctions on US � rms involved.

Missile TestsA Beijing-based Chinese source, with ties to the People’s Liberation Army and who meets regularly with senior o� cers, told Reuters the election would have “far-reach-ing” consequences for China’s ties with Tai-wan, and Sino-US relations.

Tsai’s election is also an embarrassment to Xi, who held a historic meeting last year in Singapore with Ma, and used the occasion to call for both sides not to let proponents of Taiwan’s independence split them.

China and Taiwan have nearly gone to war three times since 1949, most recent-ly ahead of the 1996 presidential election. Then, China carried out missile tests in wa-ters close to the island hoping to prevent people voting for Lee Teng-hui, who China suspected of harbouring pro-independence views. Lee won by a landslide. l

Britain’s opposition for new battle on nuclear armsn Reuters, London

The leader of Britain’s main opposition La-bour Party says a reshu� e of his top team has brought the unity needed to “win elec-tions and change our country for the better” - but he faces a struggle to convince his own lawmakers.

Some Labour MPs say this month’s changes by Jeremy Corbyn have merely deepened divisions and herald the start of a battle over national security that could tear the party apart and leave it out of power for more than a decade.

After days of what some aides said were di� cult talks, Corbyn sacked two top-rank-ing o� cials for disloyalty and moved his de-fence spokeswoman to another role, bring-ing in a lawmaker who shares his opposition to nuclear weapons.

With security now taking centre stage, the

reshu� e was seen as the � rst move in a � ght over whether to renew the Trident submarine programme - Britain’s sole nuclear weapons system - which a Labour government won parliamentary support for in 2007.

A battle for the soul of Britain’s Labour Party seems to have entered a new phase.

Corbyn believes the cost of renewing and maintaining Trident, which Reuters puts at more than $234bn over 32 years, is too much and the money could be better spent. But many in his party think Britain cannot unilat-erally disarm in an increasingly hostile world.

The veteran left-wing and anti-war activ-ist was elected on a groundswell of desire for change among Labour’s grass-root mem-bers in September following a heavy elec-tion defeat. Since then, his followers in the party, often holding more radical views than their elected representatives in parliament, have clashed with some Labour lawmakers.

Break From BlairCorbyn’s election as leader represented a sharp break from the legacy of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who shifted Labour from its left-wing roots to the political centre. He took a party that had been out of o� ce for almost two decades to three straight election victories after becoming leader in 1994.

Blair quit in 2007 and Labour - dogged by criticism and internal soul-searching over its participation in the US-led invasion of Iraq and its handling of the economy during the Blair years - lost the next two elections.

Now Corbyn’s push to turn Labour more to the left is exposing its faultlines.

The reshu� e, in which Corbyn sacked McFadden and Michael Dugher, former spokesman for culture, media and sport - both more centrist politicians - triggered several resignations among junior members of his team. l

Supporters of Tsai Ing-wen wave campaign � ags after winning the elections in Taipei. Taiwan’s new president Tsai Ing-wen warned China that ‘suppression’ would harm cross-strait ties AFP

WorldSOUTH ASIAS Lanka turns to social media for help with new constitutionSri Lanka’s prime minister Sunday an-nounced o� cials would use social media to seek public opinion on a proposed new constitution aimed at preventing a return to ethnic war. Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka will use social media to help draft a new statute to devolve more powers to minority Tamils and ensure unity after dec-ades of war. He said that Sri Lanka could be the � rst country to get views expressed on social media drafting a new constitution and they want to seek the view and opinions of young people. -AFP

INDIAPDP meeting on alliance with BJP begins in SrinagarA crucial meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to decide on the party’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir began in Srinagar on Sunday. Senior party leaders and functionaries, including Lok Sabha members and former ministers, are present at the meeting. It is the � rst political meeting presided over by PDP president Mehbooba Mufti after the death of her father and chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7 in New Delhi. -THE HINDU

CHINAChina warning after Taiwan opposition landslideChina stressed its rock-� rm commitment to its territorial integrity Sunday after Taiwan’s pro-independence opposition party won a decisive election victory. The leader of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai Ing-wen, promised to uphold the island’s sovereignty after winning Saturday’s pres-idential election with over half of the vote. Beijing warned Sunday it would resolutely oppose any form of secessionist activities seeking Taiwan independence. -DPA

ASIA PACIFICJakarta attack toll rises to 8The death toll in the Jakarta extremist attack has risen to eight, including four civilian victims and four militants, after a wounded Indonesian bystander died overnight, police said Sunday. Police had earlier put the toll of victims from Thursday’s assault at two, but raised it with the latest death and con� r-mation that an Indonesian man originally suspected of being a militant was actually a civilian. The coordinated bomb and gun at-tack along the capital’s central thoroughfare has been claimed by the Dae’sh. -AFP

MIDDLE EASTDae’sh kidnaps 400 civilians in Syrian city of Deir al-ZorDae’sh militants kidnapped at least 400 ci-vilians when they attacked government-held areas in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, a monitoring group said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday families of pro-government � ghters were among those abducted. Deir al-Zor is the main town in a province of the same name. The province links Dae’sh de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa with territory controlled by the militant group in neighbouring Iraq. -REUTERS

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 201623

DT

Midnight rescuers saving migrants’ lives in the Aegeann AFP, Greece

Braving the waves in the dead of night to rescue migrants desperate to reach Eu-rope, volunteers working in the Aegean Sea stop at nothing to live up to their slo-gan: “No one deserves to die at sea.”

It’s almost midnight o� the Greek is-land of Agathonisi south of Samos, once a tourist haven and now a main transit point for hundreds of thousands of people � eeing war and misery who have reached Europe’s shores in the continent’s worst migration crisis since World War II.

“We just received a call... of a possible dinghy or small craft in the water with 40 persons on board. So at this time we are just making our way to the area and we will see what happens from there,” says Ripley Davenport, a rescue swimmer from the Migrant O� shore Aid Station NGO (MOAS).

Since December 2015, MOAS has been working in the Aegean too. Last year, 850,000 refugees and migrants – main-ly Syrians � eeing nearly � ve years of war – reached Greece’s shores. And in the � rst two weeks of 2016 alone, more than 20,000 people arrived, the UN says.

But the journey is wracked with danger. Last year, 3,800 people drowned or went missing at sea in the Aegean and the Med-iterranean as they tried to reach Europe.

Dry clothes, food For Syrian brothers Ahmad and Rami and Saleh from Iraq, were it not for MOAS, they might never have made it.

Their � imsy in� atable boat can’t with-stand the strong waves kicked up by the deep winter winds, and by the time MOAS’s 51-metre (167-foot) Toonder rescue ship ar-rives, the three men are in the water.

Another group of migrants whose boat capsized in the same area earlier the same night su� ered a terrible fate: at least six people drowned, with another 10 reported missing.

They grab at the large scramble ladder hurled down from the vessel, and when they make it onto the deck they look shocked and exhausted.

Another 45 people were travelling in the same dinghy from Turkey to Greece’s shores. Thanks to Davenport and his two dozen colleagues, they all survive.

Once they get them all on board, the rescuers comfort them, dry their hair, and give them food and dry clothes.

A little while later, the migrants’ pan-ic starts to wear o� . The children among them are colouring in pictures handed out by MOAS’s crew members, while Ah-mad, Rami and Saleh become lost in their thoughts.

Noura Shekhan, a 26-year-old English teacher from Damascus, says she is happy

she has � nally reached Europe with her parents and her sister-in-law. She hopes to go to Germany, where her brother has been living for the past months.

‘Value added’ Greek authorities had � rst asked MOAS to work o� the island of Lesbos, which is lo-cated further to the north.

In the past three weeks, the group has broadened its zone of operations to in-clude this broader, and therefore more dangerous, channel.

Like MOAS, other groups have also � ocked to Greece’s waters from all over the world to lend a hand.

Greek authorities have in recent days begun a more stringent inspection of the aid groups, which until now had been giv-en free rein to operate on the islands, often leading to rescue coordination problems.

A dozen people who identi� ed themselves as NGO sta� have been arrested in the past week on suspicion of migrant tra� cking.

Without explicitly naming MOAS, the Greek coastguard in a statement on Friday acknowledged that “an NGO that is partic-ipating alongside Greek patrol boats in mi-grant rescue operations” helped save the 48 stranded o� Agathonisi.

“I think that the Greek authorities rec-ognise we bring value added to their oper-ations,” Ruggier said. l

Jerusalem church hit by anti-Christian gra� tin AFP, Jerusalem

Anti-Christian gra� ti has been sprayed on a wall of a Jerusalem abbey built where tra-dition says the mother of Jesus died, police said Sunday, in an incident similar to previ-ous acts blamed on Jewish extremists.

The gra� ti written in Hebrew on an out-side wall of the Dormition Abbey included phrases such as “kill the pagans” and “death to the Christian unbelievers, enemies of Is-rael,” a spokesman for the Catholic Church in the Holy Land said.

The Benedictine abbey is located on Mount Zion across from east Jerusalem’s

Old City and next to the site where Chris-tians believe Jesus’s Last Supper occurred.

It was previously hit in 2014, when furni-ture and wooden crosses were burned.

Earlier this month, two Israelis, includ-ing a minor, where charged over the 2014 incident at the Dormition Abbey as well as an arson attack at the Church of the Multi-plication on the Sea of Galilee.

That church is located where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of loaves and � shes.

The most prominent suspected Jewish extremist attack recently was the July � re-bombing of a Palestinian home in the West

Bank that killed a toddler along with his mother and father.

On January 3, an Israeli court charged two suspected Jewish extremists over the � rebombing, including the minor ac-cused in the 2014 arson at the Dormition Abbey.

Vatican e� orts to negotiate greater rights at the neighbouring Upper Room, where the Last Supper is believed to have occurred, have sparked opposition from nationalist and Orthodox Jews, who revere part of the building as the tomb of King David.

Pope Francis celebrated a mass at the Up-per Room during a visit in 2014. l

A woman from Syria holds her baby as she arrives at the registration centre on the Greek island of Samos, after being rescued by the charity Migrant O� shore Aid Station (MOAS) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, in Dodecanese, southeastern Aegean Sea, overnight on January 16 AFP

Advertisement24DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

25D

TSportINSIDE

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Sabbir’s new role gets Tigers two upSabbir Rahman’s all-round performance allowed hosts Bangladesh to win the second match against Zimbabwe by 42 runs and take a 2-0 lead in the four-match Twenty20 international series in Khulna yesterday. The fully-packed Sheikh Abu Naser stadium � rst witnessed the right-hander � re an unbeaten 43. PAGE 26

Goal-shy Bengal Tigers look to right wrongsThe Bengal Tigers must � nd a way to improve their scoring ability when they take on an inexperienced Bahrain Under-23 side today in the � rst semi-� nal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at the Bangabandhu National stadium. The match kicks o� at 5:30pm and BTV and Channel 9 will telecast it live. PAGE 27

Maxwell heroics guide Australia to series victoryGlenn Maxwell blasted 96 from just 83 deliveries to lead Australia to a thrilling three-wicket win over India in the third one-day international yesterday and take the series. The visitors made 295 for six from their 50 overs, thanks largely to a superb 117 from Virat Kohli. PAGE 28

5 hot topics for the Australian OpenNovak Djokovic is hitting ever greater heights ahead of the Australian Open - posing problems for his rivals, and raising distant hopes of the � rst ever men’s “Golden Slam”. Picking up where he left o� after a blistering 2015, Djokovic destroyed Rafael Nadal in last week’s Qatar Open � nal. PAGE 29

Manchester United’s English forward Wayne Rooney (R) lets � y to bag the all-important goal against arch-rivals Liverpool during their English Premier League match at An� eld yesterday REUTERS

Rooney breaks Henry’s EPL goals recordn Agencies

Wayne Rooney has become the greatest goalscorer with a single Premier League club after scoring his 176th league goal for Man-chester United against Liverpool yesterday.

The England captain overtook Thierry Henry’s mark of 175 strikes for Arsenal when netting in the 78th minute at An� eld to put United 1-0 ahead late on - his � rst goal at the ground in 11 years! Rooney has reached the landmark in 358 games, 100 more than it took Henry to rack up his total, with the Frenchman scoring at a rate of 0.19 goals more per game than the 30-year-old.

However Rooney has been part of greater team success, with United winning � ve Pre-mier League titles during his 12 seasons with the club. Henry won just two league crowns with the Gunners between 1999 and 2007 before a brief return on loan at the Emirates Stadium in the 2011-12 campaign.

Rooney’s goal takes him to 242 goals in all competitions for the Red Devils.l

Liverpool felled by Rooney sucker-punchn AFP, Liverpool

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney pounced to score a 78th-minute winner as his side stunned eternal rivals Liverpool with a smash-and-grab 1-0 victory at a freezing An� eld yesterday.

Presiding over his � rst game against United, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp watched his team dominate, but Rooney punished their pro� igacy with his � fth goal in four games, a close range snapshot after Marouane Fellaini had hit the bar.

It was United’s � rst shot on target, but it was enough to give visiting manager Louis van Gaal his fourth win over Liverpool in four games and a � rst away victory since the 2-1 success at Watford on November 21.

Victory took United to within two points of the Champions League places and al-lowed them to reclaim � fth place from West Ham United, leaving Liverpool six points back in ninth place, their top-four hopes fading.

They may be England’s two most deco-rated clubs, but Liverpool and United are not this season’s leading contenders and a scrappy, shapeless � rst half re� ected both clubs’ recent di� culties.

Both teams had drawn 3-3 on their pre-vious outings - Liverpool at home to Arse-nal, United at Newcastle United - but there was to be no frenzied attacking to warm the 43,865 shivering souls at An� eld.

What quality football there was came chie� y from Liverpool and, in particular, Roberto Firmino, preferred once again to Christian Benteke as the nominal frontman.

He was involved in two early chances, � rst drilling narrowly wide after Jordan

Henderson, freed by Lucas Leiva, had seen a header palmed away by the outrushing David de Gea and then releasing James Mil-ner to slice wide with a � ne, half-volleyed pass.

It was from a Firmino � ick, meanwhile, that Henderson � ashed a shot across goal and wide after a neat move also involving Adam Lallana.

The Brazilian looked poised to put Liv-erpool ahead six minutes before half-time, but as he cocked his right foot to shoot, An-thony Martial nipped in to intervene.

A ragged half for the visitors ended with Ashley Young hobbling o� after appearing to injure his groin, with youngster Cameron Borthwick-Jackson coming on.

Stationed out on the left, Martial had to wait until � rst-half stoppage time for a sight of goal, but after driving into the box, his shot was blocked by Mamadou Sakho. In-jured United trio Michael Carrick, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo were among the crowd. l

26DT BPL 2015

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

BANGLADESH R BTamim Iqbal c Vitori b Muzarabani 23 17Soumya Sarkar c Waller b Cremer 43 33Sabbir Rahman not out 43 30Riyad c Mutumbami b W. Masakadza 1 3Mush� qur Rahim retired hurt 24 20Shakib Al Hasan not out 27 17Extras (b2,lb1, w3) 6Total (for three wickets) 167

Fall of wickets1-45 (Tamim), 2-75 (Soumya), 3-76 (Riyad) BowlingVitori 4-0-29-0, Madziva 3-0-30-0, Muzarabani 4-0-35-1 (w2), W. Masakadza 4-0-32-1, Cremer 4-0-29-1 (w1), Williams 1-0-9-0ZIMBABWE R BV. Sibanda b Mortaza 21 17H. Masakadza c Riyad b Sabbir 30 28R. Mutumbami c Soumya b Sabbir 7 11S. Williams lbw b Shuvagata 7 6M. Waller c Soumya b Al-Amin 29 21P. Moor b Musta� zur 9 14N. Madziva b Musta� zur 0 4G. Cremer c & b Sabbir 8 12W. Masakadza not out 6 8Extras (lb5, w2, nb1) 8Total (for eight wickets) 125

Fall of wickets1-50, 2-55, 3-65, 4-68, 5-105, 6-108, 7-109 8-125BowlingShuvagata 3-0-18-1, Shakib 4-0-26-0, Al-Amin 3-0-21-1, Musta� zur 3.5-0-19-2 (w1), Mortaza 4-0-25-1 (nb1), Sabbir 2.1-0-11-3 (w1)

Bangladesh won by 42 runs, lead four-match series 2-0

SCORECARD, 2ND T20I

Bangladesh leg-spinner Sabbir Rahman (R) celebrates the dismissal of Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza (C) with skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza during the second Twenty20 international at Khulna’s Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sabbir’s new role gets Tigers two upn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Sabbir Rahman’s all-round performance al-lowed hosts Bangladesh to win the second match against Zimbabwe by 42 runs and take a 2-0 lead in the four-match Twenty20 inter-national series in Khulna yesterday.

The fully-packed Sheikh Abu Naser stadi-um � rst witnessed the right-hander � re an unbeaten 43 before the spinner bagged three wickets to help the Tigers defend 167 on a sluggish pitch. Left-handed opener Soumya Sarkar also added 43 to Bangladesh’s tally, but missed out on a bigger score after he threw his wicket away in the 10th over. Yet, Bangladesh kept hitting the boundaries – they managed 11 fours and eight sixes to equal their own re-

cord of most sixes in a T20 innings.Opting to bat � rst, Bangladesh started well

with Tamim Iqbal playing the role of the ag-gressor. But as soon the southpaw found his zone, he gave out a top edge to Brian Vitori to get dismissed for 23. This brought Sabbir to the middle and from there, he posted three vital partnerships. His unbeaten 52-run asso-ciation with Mush� qur Rahim (before he got retired hurt) and another undefeated 39 with Shakib al Hasan were the game-changers.

Zimbabwe’s reply was nearly a mirror im-age of Bangladesh’s � rst half, until Sabbir came along to seal a victory that gave the home side the lead. Zimbabwe hoped for a miracle with the senior of the Masakadza brothers captain-ing the nation for the � rst time, but that hardly

mattered once their luck ran out. Initially the visitors survived two catches

– Imrul Kayes dropped Masakadza at cover before Shuvagata Hom repeated the error at midwicket – but once the partnership was broken there was no way back for Zimbabwe.

After Mashrafe dismissed Vusi Sibanda, Sabbir dismissed Masakadza to register his � rst scalp on the day. The game was all but over when pacer Musta� zur Rahman bagged Neville Madziva and Peter Moor in the 17th over to push Zimbabwe into further trouble.

Sabbir put the � nal nail on the co� n by claiming the wicket of Graeme Cremer and in the process became only the second Bangla-deshi to score at least 40 runs and take two wickets in a T20I. l

5 THINGS WE LEARNED FROM BANGLADESH’S WINS IN 1ST AND 2ND T20IS KEEPING CALM UNDER PRESSURE

This has perhaps been the Tigers’ most impressive feature in the last 18 months or so. No matter what the situation is, both the Bangladesh batsmen and bowlers seem to keep their cool when the going gets tough. In both the matches, the Zimbabwean openers gave their side a � ying start only to be pegged back by the Bangladesh bowlers later on.

COLLECTIVE APPROACH FROM THE BATSMENAlmost all of the Bangladesh batsmen got starts and tried to play according to the demand of the situation. Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar both looked in � ne touch along with Mush� qur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan, who more than played their part with the bat. Sabbir Rahman further

enhanced his reputation as a big-hitter with signif-icant knocks in both the matches.

SABBIR PROMOTION PAYS OFFThe Bangladesh think tank decided to experiment with the batting order, promoting Sabbir at No 3, thus adding some extra punch to the Tigers’ bat-ting order. The stylish right-hander grabbed the opportunity with both hands and was instrumen-tal behind both the victories.

EMERGENCE OF SABBIR, THE ALL-ROUNDERThe 24-year old Rajshahi cricketer, who also bowls handy leg-spinners, was not utilised properly in recent times but skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza � nally provided him the platform in the � rst two games and Sabbir duly delivered. Sabbir conced-

ed 16 runs from two overs without success last Friday but bagged vital scalps yesterday, ending up with bowling � gures of 3/11 from 2.1 overs as the Tigers thrashed the opposition on their way to a 2-0 series lead.

PACERS CONTINUE TO DELIVERThe Tigers’ pace bowling department, led by Mashrafe, has had a stellar 2015 and continued in the same vein in the � rst two matches. The pacemen picked up four of the seven wickets to fall last Friday and followed it up by taking four among eight wickets yesterday. Head coach Chandika Hathurusingha will be hoping for more of the same this Wednesday in the third and penultimate T20I.

–MAZHAR UDDIN

Mosaddek, Muktar, Shahid new faces in T20 squadn Mazhar Uddin

Youngster Mosaddek Hossain, seamer-all-rounder Muktar Ali and paceman Moham-mad Shahid received their maiden call-ups in the Tigers’ 14-man squad Twenty20 side for the third and fourth T20s against Zimbabwe.

Keeping in mind the Tigers’ busy sched-ule, the think tank decided to rest Musta� zur Rahman along with Al Amin Hossain, who both shone in the � rst two T20Is against the Zimbabweans, and Shuvagata Hom as the Bangladesh team management continued its recent trend of experimenting ahead of the Asia Cup T20 and the World T20.

Mosaddek’s place was his reward for a splendid run of form in the domestic circuit while Muktar’s inclusion is a statement of his recent progress having proved his mettle while playing for the Bangladesh A side.

Bangladesh will take on Zimbabwe in the third and fourth T20Is this Wednesday and Friday respectively in Khulna.

Hamstrung Mushfiq replaced by TaskinFast bowler Taskin Ahmed was also includ-ed in the squad in place of stumper-batsman Mush� qur Rahim, who incurred a hamstring injury during the second T20I against Zimba-bwe. National team physiotherapist Bayjedul Islam said, “Mush� q has strained his right hamstring while batting. He will undergo a scan in Dhaka [today]. Usually it takes two-three weeks to recover from such an injury. However, we will be able to assess his condi-tion better after receiving the scan report.”l

Sport 27D

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MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Unruly Zahid kicked out from Bangladesh squadBangladesh winger Zahid Hossain was thrown out of the Bangabandhu Gola Cup squad following the player’s indisciplined act at the team ho-tel. On Wednesday, a day before Bangladesh took on Nepal in their last Group A match, Zahid was reportedly found drunk and out of control in the hotel. Reports also claimed that the footballer was accompanied by an unknown woman during the incident. Bangladesh team manager Elias Hossain con� rmed Zahid’s exclusion but denied to comment any further. The Sheikh Russel forward has been in � ne form scoring once alongside providing three assists in the tournament.

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Chelsea await Costa news after madcap Everton drawChelsea face an anxious wait after striker Diego Costa was hospital-ised during a crazy 3-3 draw with Everton that saw John Terry score for both sides at Stamford Bridge. The Spain forward had already hobbled o� with a shin injury, having earlier scored, when Terry found the net in the 98th minute from an o� side position. Chelsea interim manager Guus Hiddink admitted he was crossing his � ngers that Costa was not seriously injured, but made it clear that he was in no hurry to sign another striker this month in case of a lengthy lay-o� .

–AFP

Struggling Hannover call in AlmeidaPortuguese international striker Hugo Almeida has signed for strug-gling German club Hannover 96 from Russian side Anzhi Makhach-kala, the Bundesliga out� t announced on Saturday. Almeida, 31, links up again at Hannover with Thomas Schaaf his coach when he played at Werder Bremen from 2006-2011, a period which saw him score 41 goals in 117 games.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

The ‘inter-national’ con� ict continues to hurt cricketn Minhaz Uddin Khan

International assignment is once again set to hamper the domestic circuit as the ongo-ing fourth edition of the Bangladesh Cricket League longer-version is on the verge of getting suspended for a month, informed Bangladesh Cricket Board tournament committee chair-man Akram Khan to Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Dhaka Tribune learned that majori-ty of the players currently playing in the longer-version tournament will be engaged in the Bangladesh camp in Khulna following the ongoing Twenty20 international series against Zimbabwe. Hence the BCL will re-main at a standstill after the second round of games on January 19.

The decision however, did not go down too well with many as BCB cricket operations committee chairman and former Bangladesh captain Naimur Rahman criticised the path taken.

“As the cricket operations chairman I want the BCL to continue because it will not work if we are only thinking about Twenty20 cricket. Longer-version cricket is also important. Like the BCB president said, the board has planned to host Sri Lanka and that series is likely to have Test matches too,” Naimur was quoted as saying by a Bengali daily on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Walton, long-term sponsors

and franchise owner of the Central Zone, also expressed its dissatisfaction over the way the tournament has been handled since its inception in 2012. Walton operative director Uday Hakim said the tournament lost its fo-cus after the � rst edition.

Uday further said his organisation will cut its ties with the tournament if the situation persists.

Akram however, said, “We had a meeting both internally and with the franchises. The national team management wishes to run a camp in Khulna right after the Zimbabwe series. The players in the preliminary squad for the upcoming Twenty20 events (Asia Cup and World T20) have been asked to join the camp and so it will not be possible to run the tournament.”

Prime Bank South Zone will lose 11 of their cricketers while BCB North Zone and Walton Central Zone will see six and four players from their squad respectively join the Tigers camp.

“So, we had no option but to suspend the tournament for now. We will resume the tournament on February 19 and end it by March 14,” Akram added.

It is understood that Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha wants all players available in the camp in order to prepare the best possible combination for the upcoming T20 showpiece events. l

Goal-shy Bengal Tigers look to right wrongsn Shishir Hoque

The Bengal Tigers must � nd a way to improve their scoring ability when they take on an in-experienced Bahrain Under-23 side today in the � rst semi-� nal of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at the Bangabandhu National stadium. The match kicks o� at 5:30pm and BTV and Channel 9 will telecast it live.

Having earned a 4-2 victory against Sri Lanka in the tournament opener, Bangladesh managed to � nish as Group A champions and thus avoid the best team from Group B in the last four but their performance in the last two matches leaves a lot to be desired.

The hosts’ only victory in the fourth edi-tion of the tournament was devoid of any defensive organisation while the attacking display in the other two matches was far from satisfactory. However, despite the in-consistent performances, the home side will head into today’s match as the favourites considering the lack of professionalism and inexperience of the opposition.

Even then, Bangladesh head coach Maru-ful Haque has all the respect in the world for the middle eastern nation.

If Maruful does not spring any major sur-prises in the last minute then Shakhawat Hossain Rony and Nabib Newaj Jibon are like-ly to start upfront. The attacking duo have

to shoulder the majority of the goal-scoring responsibility while at the other end of the � eld, Ashraful Islam Rana is all set for anoth-er appearance between the sticks after his impressive display in their last match against Malaysia XI (Felda United).

Meanwhile, winger Zahid Hossain, who missed the previous game due to disciplinary reasons, is unlikely to start today. In his place, Mithun Chowdhury is likely to get the nod.

On the other hand, Bahrain’s squad com-prises mostly of players who are job-holders and have very little experience of playing abroad.

Admitting that the Bengal Tigers are better “physically and in terms of quality”, Bahrain U-23 head coach Marjan Eid yesterday said, “The semi-� nal would be a good opportunity for my team and the players. It would be an open game. Hopefully it will be a good game for my young players to get experience.

“The most di� cult thing in such a tourna-ment is the recovery of the players. It is di� -cult but this is the way for all teams and we have to adapt to this. I know it will be tough for our players but we have to do our best and try to get the best result we can from the game.”

Bangladesh, placed 182nd in the rankings, have only played the 124th ranked Bahrain senior side once in history, which the former lost 2-0.l

28DT Sport

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

INDIA R BR. Sharma c Wade b Richardson 6 11S. Dhawan b Hastings 68 91V. Kohli c Bailey b Hastings 117 117A. Rahane c Maxwell b Hastings 50 55M.S. Dhoni c Maxwell b Hastings 23 9G. Singh b Faulkner 8 7R. Jadeja not out 6 5R. Dhawan not out 3 5Extras (lb5 w9) 14Total (6 wickets, 50 overs) 295

Fall of wickets1-15, 2-134, 3-243, 4-265, 5-274, 6-288BowlingRichardson 10-0-48-1 (2w), Hastings 10-0-58-4 (1w), Faulkner 10-0-63-1 (3w), Boland 9-0-63-0 (1w), Maxwell 9-0-46-0, Marsh 2-0-12-0AUSTRALIA R BS. Marsh c Dhoni b I. Sharma 62 73A. Finch c Dhoni b Yadav 21 23S. Smith c Rahane b Jadeja 41 45G. Bailey st Dhoni b Jadeja 23 21G. Maxwell c Dhawan b Yadav 96 83M. Marsh run out 17 14M. Wade c S. Dhawan b I. Sharma 6 10J. Faulkner not out 21 25J. Hastings not out 0 0Extras (lb3 w5 nb1) 9Total (7 wickets: 48.5 overs) 296

Fall of wickets1-48, 2-112, 3-150, 4-167, 5-204, 6-215, 7-295BowlingYadav 9.5-0-68-2 (1w 1nb), Sran 8-0-63-0 (2w), I. Sharma 10-0-53-2 (1w), R. Dhawan 6-0-33-0, Singh 5-0-27-0, Jadeja 10-0-49-2 (1w)

Result: Australia won by three wicketsPlayer of the match: Glenn Maxwell (AUS)Series: Australia lead 3-0

SCORECARD, 3RD ODI

Australia batsman Glenn Maxwell (R) plays a shot as India wicketkeeper MS Dhoni looks on during their third one-day international match at the MCG in Melbourne yesterday AFP

Maxwell heroics guide Australia to series victoryn AFP, Melbourne

Glenn Maxwell blasted 96 from just 83 deliv-eries to lead Australia to a thrilling three-wick-et win over India in the third one-day interna-tional yesterday and take the series.

After Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and sent India in to bat, the visitors made 295 for six from their 50 overs thanks largely to a superb 117 from Virat Kohli.

The Indians were well in contention for

their � rst win of the series when they had Australia in trouble at 215 for six. But Max-well, who was out just one run short of vic-tory, combined with James Faulkner to guide Australia home.

The win gives Australia an unassailable three-nil lead in the best-of-� ve series, but the match was much more of a contest than the � rst two encounters in Perth and Brisbane.

Australia successfully chased down 309 and 308 in the opening two matches. On a lifeless MCG wicket, 295 did not look sub-

stantial enough to challenge the strong Aus-tralian batting line-up. Openers Shaun Marsh and Aaron Finch attacked from the outset and cruised in the � rst few overs, punishing some wayward Indian bowling.

Australia raced to 48 before Finch edged Umesh Yadav to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a quick� re 21.

Marsh (62) and Steve Smith (41) continued the assault, but left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja got the vital breakthrough when he had Smith caught at slip by Ajinkya Rahane.

Jadeja was able to extract some turn from the otherwise placid wicket and struck again when he got a ball to spin past the edge of George Bailey’s bat. Dhoni whipped o� the bails to leave the Australians on 150 for three.

However, Maxwell remained in control and gradually lifted the scoring with a mixture of audacious boundaries and quick running.

Earlier, Kohli was in magni� cent touch as he smashed his runs from just 117 balls to the delight of the huge contingent of Indian sup-porters at the MCG. l

Guptill, Williamson sink Pakistan n AFP, Hamilton

A world-record T20 partnership by Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson gave New Zea-land a comprehensive 10-wicket win in the second Twenty20 against Pakistan in Ham-ilton yesterday. Set a target of 169, Guptill � nished the match with a boundary to take the New Zealand total to 171 with 14 balls re-maining and all wickets intact. l

New Zealand’s Martin Guptill (L) and Kane Williamson celebrate winning the second Twenty20 international against Pakistan at Seddon Park in Hamilton yesterday AFP

IN NUMBERS

1 Number of times Pakistan had failed to defend a total of 150 or

more from 27 innings before this game.

7 Number of times a Full-Member team had lost a T20 international

by a margin of ten wickets before this.

140 The previous highest target chased successfully

in T20Is without the loss of a wicket,

171 Partnership between Martin Guptill and Kane William-

son - the highest for any wicket in T20 internationals.

84 The highest score by a bats-man in T20Is against Pakistan

before Guptill’s 87 not out. Shakib-Al-Hasan had made that score in the 2012 World T20.

BRIEF SCORE, 2ND T20IPakistan

168 for 7 (Akmal 56*, Malik 39; McClenaghan 2-23)New Zealand

171 for 0 (Guptill 87*, Williamson 72*) New Zealand won by 10 wickets

Sport 29D

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MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

DAY’S WATCHFOOTBALL BTV, CHANNEL 9

6:00PMBangabandhu Gold Cup 2016: 1st Semi� nal

Bangladesh v Bahrain

STAR SPORTS 42:00AM

EPL: Swansea City v Watford

STAR SPORTS 210:30PM

AFC U-23 Championship: IR Iran v China PR

SONY KIX1:30AM

Spanish La Liga: Eibar v Granada

CRICKET STAR SPORTS 1

2:40PMKFC T20 Big Bash League

Melbourne Renegades v Adelaide Strikers

STAR SPORTS 2Syed Mushtaq Ali 2016

8:30AMVidharbha v Kerala

1:30PMBaroda v Mumbai

TENNIS SONY KIX

6:00AM & 2:00PMAustralian Open 2016

Day 1: Morning & Evening Session

HOCKEY STAR SPORTS 2

6:30PMHockey India League

Kalinga Lancers v Uttar Pradesh Wizards

HOT TOPICS FOR THE AUSTRALIAN OPENNOVAK’S GREAT, BUT IS HE GOLDEN?

Novak Djokovic reached 15 � nals in 2015 and became just the third man in the Open era - after Rod Laver and Roger Federer - to play in the last round of all four Grand Slams in a single year.

Despite his heroics, the Serb just failed to achieve a calendar-year Grand Slam, when he lost in the Ro-land Garros � nal for the third time.

This year the stakes are even higher with the Olympics looming, giving the 28-year-old the chance of winning the � rst men’s “Golden Slam”.

IS SERENA FIT AND FIRING?Twenty-one time Grand Slam cham-pion Serena Williams won three of the four Grand Slams in 2015 and remains well clear of second-placed Simona Halep in the world rankings.

But she has not played a full match in nearly � ve months after she shut down her 2015 season early following her surprise defeat in the US Open semi-� nals to Italy’s Rob-erta Vinci.

This year has not got o� to a great start for the veteran, who still seems to be su� ering the e� ects of her cal-endar-year Grand Slam near-miss.

VIKA ON THE MARCH

Former world number one Victoria Azarenka has had a di� cult couple of years. She sustained a foot injury in 2014 and only played nine tour-naments. In 2015, she su� ered a thigh strain that saw her slip down the world rankings to close the year at 22. But the two-time Australian Open champion is showing signs of a renaissance, storming to her sec-ond Brisbane International crown last week - her � rst title since she beat Williams in Cincinnati in 2013 - and has even released a Rocky-style training montage announcing her comeback.

FROM HERE TO PATERNITYWorld number two Andy Murray is due to add another title to his col-lection: that of father.

His wife Kim Sears is expecting their � rst child in February and the two-time Grand Slam winner has said he will � y home if it looks like the baby is going to put in an early appearance - even if it means miss-ing the Australian Open � nal.

“I’m going to � y home I think,” he said before adding, “We spoke about it and chatted and obviously it’d be disappointing if I was to get in that position and not be able to play the � nal.”

SO LONG, LLEYTON

The Australian Open will bring down the curtain for former world number one and two-time Grand Slam-winner Lleyton Hewitt, who will retire after his 20th appearance at Melbourne Park.

Hewitt’s swansong is far from a token e� ort - he’s been training hard for the last two months and says he’s in good shape - as you’d expect from the diehard Rocky fan known for his on-court battle cry, “C’mon!”

The Aussie became the youngest ever men’s number one in 2001. l

5

Showtime30DT

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

nShowtime Desk

Fashion designer Vikram Phadnis recently completed 25 years in the Indian Fashion Industry. He celebrated the occasion by hosting a grand fashion show exhibiting his creations.

Amitabh Bachchan turned up as the showstopper for his big night, walking up the ramp for the ace designer in a pink pathani suit teamed up with a maroon stole.

Sushmita Sen, Ritesh Deshmukh, Kriti Sanona and others were present in the audience. l

nPromiti Prova Chowdhury

Film is a universal art. It can overcome the boundaries of education, religion and other social contexts through the power of storytelling.

An enlightening dialogue among the o� cials from the information and cultural ministry, established and emerging � lmmakers, cultural activists and � lm enthusiasts yielded the piece of thought yesterday, as part of the ongoing Dhaka International Film Festival.

“Each � lm is an ambassador of the country. You may know about a country by its � lms, not how it is portrayed by the western media,” Marco A Orsini, president of International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA) told the Dhaka Tribune.

Rainbow Film Society, in association with IEFTA, organised the dialogue titled “Bangladesh Films: Finding Global Audience.” The team IEFTA, an organisation that helps � lmmakers from countries of emerging economy � nd a global audience, has arrived in Bangladesh for the � rst time.

The spokesperson of the organisation, Marco, believes that the problems faced by � lmmakers across the globe have a universal character. Some of the problems occur due to the lack of funding and knowledge of how to pitch � lms towards an international audience.

The job of IEFTA is to help the � lmmakers connect to sales agents, � lm festivals, lawyers and � nanciers in a broader sense to groom them up on how to act at international festivals and break certain stigmas.

When asked how the � lmmakers can make a name for themselves at the international platform, Marco opined that they must stick to their own storytelling. A story that might not become a smashing hit in one’s home country might get acclamation in another.

The chief guest at the opening session, minister for cultural a� airs Asaduzzaman Noor, stressed on the need for more “good � lms” which can entertain all kinds of audiences. The ones that have both a message to the society as well as components of a commercially popular � lm.

Regarding the initiatives of IEFTA, celebrated � lmmaker Morshedul Islam said that the emerging � lmmakers must not target

international � lm festivals only, for local audience must be their primary target.

“Sometimes � lm makers face di� culty in applying for international � lm festivals, as di� erent � lm festivals have di� erent characters. One must understand the character of the festival before applying. IEFTA can help Bangladeshi � lmmakers in regards to that,” he added.

A bunch of young and popular � lm directors engaged in a friendly chat with Marco at the end of the session. Mostafa Sarwar Farooki and Rubaiyat Hossain were among them. Samia Zaman, editor and chief executive o� cer of Ekattor TV, moderated the dialogue held at the capital’s Alliance Française. l

Nadia and Nayeem tie the knot

Bobby:The � rst Banglasuper girl

Dhaka International Film Festival 2016 Showstopper Big B

No hints, no gossip. Nadia Ahmed tied the knot with Faruk Sobhan and the news has spread through social media in the blink of an eye. Last Friday, with friends and family members, Nadia celebrated her reception. Faruk Sobhan, who is popularly recognised by the name Nayeem, is an actor and a model. The newlyweds’ friends and family members were accompanied by media celebrities like Chayanika Chowdhury, Wahida Mallik Jolly, Ari� n Shuvoo, Farhin Khan Joyita, Farzana Chumki, who congratulated the new couple and wished them a happy life together.

nShowtime Desk

It’s a very rare sight in local � lm industry to � nd a character endowed with extraordinary and superhuman powers who is portrayed as � ghting crime. For the � rst time, audience will be introduced to Dhallywood starlet Bobby as a super girl in an action thriller � ick Bijlee.

Written and directed by Iftakhar Chowdhury, with whom the actress had previously worked in several hit � icks including Dehorokkhi, Rajotto and Action Jasmine, Bobby, who has been in the industry for half a decade, con� rmed to act in the � lm.

Yet to con� rm supporting actors alongside Bobby, the � lm’s shooting will take place in Thailand apart from home schedules while it’s graphics will be wrapped up in the USA.

PHOTO: MD SAZZAD HOSSAIN

Showtime 31D

TMONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Story of Bela, Ranjana and Marian revealed

n Promiti Prova Chowdhury

Anjan Dutt, a name equally popular in both India and Bangladesh, has been ruling the Bangali music industry for over two decades now. With simple tunes and catchy lyrics, the singer has been extremely successful in melting the hearts of thousands of music lovers. Each of his songs is a story where he becomes a character. Sometimes he plays a school kid, sometimes he plays the lover with a broken heart, and sometimes he is a young boy in his early 20s trying to reach his girlfriend over the phone. With these stories come a good number of names that intrigue his listeners.

The popular singer met with such queries of curious minds during the reunion of Jhenaidah Cadet College held on January 2. Anjan Dutt performed during the closing cultural ceremony of the event. In

between his melodic performances, a short 20-minute session was conducted where the singer took some interesting questions from the audiences. Rashid Khan, an old friend of Anjan Dutta and also a member of the Jhenaidah Ex-Cadets Association, moderated the session. Here is a glimpse of the session.

Who is Bela Bose?Bela Bose is an imaginary character and the number 2441139 was the contact of a newspaper editor who actually had � led a case against me, which caused my singing to come to a halt. I do not know Bela! But I have met many men who resemble Bela’s lover in the song, the lover who repeatedly told Bela that he had got the job and that Bela must not abandon him. As a matter of fact, I have faced similar situations in my life many times.

Who is Marian?Marian is my fourth love, when I was in ninth grade.

When did you have your � rst girlfriend?Seventh grade.

Have you composed any song in connection to your � rst relationship?Of course! But it is a sad song. I have got heartbroken 31 times in my life! Now at this point, I believe that it is good that those relationships dissolved. If you do not su� er the pain of losing someone, you can’t attain the emotions required in your songs, poetry, acting, cinema etc.

Who is Mala?Mala is a blend of Aparna Sen, Munmun Sen and Sophia Loren.

What happens with Bela in the end?I think Bela got married and did not get in touch with her lover. I do not think she received the call. She chose to get married. Bela was compelled to get married and many girls do the same. I do not know the situation now, but this used to happen a lot when I was growing up. Back then, girls were obliged to obey their parents’ decisions and meet their expectations. However, the scenerio is quite di� erent in today’s world.

Who are Anup Chatterjee and Joyita?I do not know them. They somehow got into the story. In all of my songs I try to become a character and narrate the story from my perspective. I often become a schoolboy, or a youth in his early 20s standing inside a

phone booth, or perhaps running after someone with a rose carrying a backpack. I become di� erent characters in di� erent songs. Those are imaginary but I have seen them all in real life.

What inspired you to write the song bhengchi kete dekh?I have many listeners who are children. Many little kids listened to the songs from my very � rst album. So the company I worked with demanded that I must dedicate at least one track to children in my succeeding albums.

Singer or music director, which identity is the primary one for you?Hard to tell. I love cinema, more than music actually. But music has given me more. It has given me an identity. It has also helped me repay my father’s loans.

Near the end of the session, Anjan Dutt asked the audience a question: “Can you guess my age?” Leaving the audience quite startled by the question, he replied, “I have crossed 60 a long time back. At this age, I feel like my songs shouldn’t age at all, unlike me.” l

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MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

Hospitals ill-prepared for ‘the big one’Read the third instalment of a series of Dhaka Tribune reports on earthquake preparedness that have found that rescue agencies are ill-prepared to handle the type of damage a strong tremor can cause

n Mohammad Jamil Khan

If “the big one” that seismologists have been warning about hits Dhaka, it is unlikely that the health care system will be able to cope.

Most hospitals, including the country’s largest – the Dhaka Medical College Hos-pital (DMCH) – do not have emergency plans to deal with the aftermath of a major earthquake.

For instance, the DMCH has a 15-member rescue team and the capacity to treat 200 patients at a time in its emergency unit, Brig Gen Mizanur Rahman, director general (DG) of the DMCH, told the Dhaka Tribune.

But that capacity is not nearly enough. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Ne-pal on April 25, 2015 killed over 8,000 peo-ple, injured over 21,000 and displaced nearly 450,000.

The May 12, 2015 aftershock in Nepal that registered 7.3 on the Richter scale left over 200 dead and over 3,500 injured.

Indian seismologist Vinod Kumar Gaur told The Hindu newspaper as early as 2013 that calculations indicate there is enough energy accumulated along the Himalayan arc to produce an 8 magnitude earthquake in this region. This year’s January 4 earthquake measured 6.7 on the Richter scale.

“We will very likely face problems pro-viding treatment if a massive earthquake takes place,” admitted Director General Prof Dr Deen Muhammad Nurul Haque of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). “Earthquakes are a new emergencyscenario for us.”

’We already have enough difficulties’The country’s hospitals and health complex-es have proved to some extent their capacity to handle cyclones and � ooding, but a major earthquake is another matter altogether.

“If a big disaster like an earthquake takes place – which is totally new for us – we might not be able to deal with it,” the DMCH’s Brig

Gen Mizan said. “We have enough di� culty dealing with regular problems.”

The 2,600-bed hospital routinely serves 3,600 inpatients year-round.

“We have orthopaedic facilities that can hold a maximum of 200 patients,” he said, but added that there is neither space nor equipment to handle more patientsthan that.

“Even if we were able to coordinate a dis-aster response by calling in sta� from around the country and bringing in volunteers, we would still have to deal with a serious short-age of space.

“We need the equipment to operate mo-bile hospitals of the type used by the defence forces,” the DMCH director general said.

“Another problem is that our building may not be safe in the event of a major earth-quake. The operating theatres and store-

rooms where emergency equipment is kept could be damaged,” he said.

Mizan said steps were being taken to in-spect the hospital building’s earthquake-re-sistance status.

He suggested that ministries concerned create storage space for equipment to be stored outside the medical building.

Sundry shortagesIn addition to a shortage of space, there will also likely be a shortage of ambulances.

The DMCH has just three. Private ambu-lances number over 10,000, but they are rare-ly equipped to provide on-board treatment.

The hospital conducts disaster-pre-paredness training but most sta� mem-bers have not been trained to deal with acatastrophic quake.

The DG said a major disaster would be a

national issue requiring a national response.In the aftermath of a major tremor, survi-

vors would require treatment from organisa-tions like the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) and the National Insti-tute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Reha-bilitation (Nitor).

CRP Director Sha� qul Islam agreed that his organisation would have to rise to the occasion. He told the Dhaka Tribune that although CRP sta� were not speci� cally trained to deal with earthquake-like disas-ters, they would still be able to treat four or � ve thousand patients.

“But if the casualty numbers are higher, it is de� nitely beyond our capacity,” Sha� q said. “Currently, we do not have plans to train sta� for such an eventuality.”

He added: “The CRP building can likely withstand smaller tremors, but it is any-body’s guess how well it will handle a major earthquake.”

Nitor’s 500-bed facility can accommodate twice as many patients in the event of a ma-jor disaster, the institute’s authorities said.

“Yet a shortage of space still remains the biggest concern in the event of a catastroph-ic earthquake,” acting director Prof Dr Goni Mollah told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We fear that our ability to provide treat-ment would collapse because there is no space around our premises.

“We may have all the manpower and equipment that we need, but where would we put the patients?”

About the safety of Nitor’s building, Prof Goni said: “Our building should hold up, but we will not know how well it will hold up until it is tested. Damage is a possibility. We must have alternatives.”

DGHS Director General Dr Deen Muham-mad Nurul Haque said Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel were being trained to deal with such an emergency.

“We hope to tackle this threat the way we have other disasters,” he said. l

A � re service o� cial discusses how the medical sta� in hospitals should handle crises like � re incidents and earthquakes at a workshop held recently at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in the capital MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Govt to � gure out short codes to facilitate public services n Ishtiaq Husain

The Information and Communication Tech-nology Division is going to introduce short codes to facilitate public services soon.

“The government has planned to intro-duce short codes for reaching all public and emergency services to the grips of people with the blessings of cellphone technology,” State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Initially, a pilot project for services to health and security issues, repressed women and drug addicts through short codes will be undertaken.

The Finance Ministry has already ap-proved the project which will be funded by the government exchequer.

Uttam Kumar Paul, secretary general of

Bangladesh Association of Software and In-formation services, said generally, telephone numbers range between seven and ten digits while cellphone numbers are 11 digits which are di� cult for people to keep all those digits in mind.

“Short codes will undeniably help people remember emergency numbers and avail services in need,” added Paul.

In most cases, codes are three-four digits in length designed to be easier to read and re-member other than usual telephone numbers.

The government mulls considering 1971 or 2021 to be short codes, said a source in the ICT Division.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the primary cost of the pilot project is not too high for the gov-ernment to bear.

Later, a large-scale project will be imple-

mented under Public Private Partnership.The junior minister said cloud source

apps and social media will � nd place in short codes. Online resources and 600 government apps will also be engaged in the system.

Gradually, � re and ambulance services would be added to the short code system.

Citing an example, Palak said if anyone connects to Telemedicine services for any emergency need like getting an ambulance, they will automatically be connected to am-bulance services.

Even, doctors’ appointment would be available on this helpline, he hinted.

According to ICT Division o� cials, they have to develop a huge content for o� ering e� ective services.

The state minister hinted that as public services are not available on demand, the

ICT Division plans to outsource the services in the best interest of general public.

A short-list is being prepared for which services to get priority.

As di� erent ministries have already intro-duced di� erent services, ICT will take an ini-tiative to train service providers well enough.

The physically challenged individuals would also get priority to receive services through short codes.

Last year, the government gave jobs to a total of 32 physically retarded people through arranging a job fair.

Short codes – also known as short num-bers – are special telephone numbers, signif-icantly shorter than full telephone numbers. There are two types of short codes – dialling and messaging. The equivalent for voice calls is known as abbreviated dialing. l

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