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Chaitra 3, 1420Jamadiul Awal 15, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 353

14 | ROSBERG OPENS NEW F1 ERA WITH WIN12 | IN CONVERSATION WITH SHAHIN BADAR8 | EU MULLS STEPS AGAINST RUSSIA

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

7 | FREE MONEY A GAME CHANGER?

BusinessB1 Outstanding bills of various international call carriers to the state-owned landline telephone company BTCL have stacked up to a staggering Tk1,072 crore. Nation6 The � ood situation could get worse in Sirajganj due to slow dredging o the Jamuna River adjacent to the district town protection embankment.

International9 New revelations about missing Malaysia Airlines plane suggest those on board endured a terrifying high-altitude hijack.

Op-Ed11 Friend of Bangladesh Julian Francis writes about his experience with Bangabandhu immediately after the creation of this People’s Republic.

INSIDE

Shakib Al Hasan celebrates with Mush� qur Rahim and other teammates after taking the wicket of Afghanistan batsman Najeeb Tarakai during the ICC World T20 tournament at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur yesterday MUMIT M

Tigers roar back

n Reazur Rahman Rohan

Bangladesh took a giant leap in reaching the second round of the ICC World Twenty20 by crush-ing high � ying Afghanistan by nine wickets in the tournament opener at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Starting from the toss, everything went right for the hosts as the Tigers killed all con-troversies and speculations of re-cent times to stamp their author-ity in all three departments. They

looked a completely di� erent unit when they came out in their do-or-die opener and performed in a manner expected from a Test playing nation against an associ-ate country.

The toss was followed by a � rst ball dismissal from which the Afghans never recovered and eventually were bundled out for a paltry 72 runs, which the Tigers achieved with eight overs to spare.

Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque made a cautious start to the chase adding 45 runs be-fore the left-handed was judged LBW o� leg-spinner Samiullah Shenwari for 21. Shakib Al Hasan was promoted to number three but became a mere spectator as

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

AL bags more vice-chairmenBNP secures more vice-chairwomenn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The Awami League-blessed contend-ers not only took the lead in chairman posts but also in vice-chairman seats in the just concluded elections to 81 upazilas amid wide allegations of ballot stu� ng and snatching.

The BNP this time too bagged more woman vice-chairperson posts.

The Awami League-backed aspir-ants bagged 26 vice-chairman posts while the BNP backed-contenders se-cured 21 out of 71 upazila parishads as the remaining 10 upazilas’ results are yet to be announced, according to the uno� cial results.

Interestingly, Jamaat-e-Islami won 17 vice-chairman posts as in many plac-es BNP-Jamaat � eld their candidates jointly.

In the � rst phase of the elections, the BNP loyalist secured 34 vice-chair-men, the Awami League 27, the Ja-maat 21, Jatiya Party four and others 10 while in the second phase the BNP-Jamaat-backed contenders bagged 66 vice-chairman posts while Awami League loyalists got 33.

The table was turned in the third phase with the Awami League leading in both chairman with and vice-chair-man posts.

It bagged 40 chairman seats while the BNP 28. The candidates backed by

the Jamaat-e-Islami continued to keep up its winning trend with seven chair-man posts.

Two people were killed and hun-dred others injured across the country in the polls violence on March 15 while another person was also killed in an in-cident of pre-poll violence ahead of the fourth phase voting in Netrokona.

Each of the 81 upazila parishads has two vice-chairmen posts including one reserved for women.

In the reserved vice-chairwoman posts BNP performed well like the pre-vious phases as they bagged highest 39 seats while Awami League 27, Jamaat 10, PCJSS 2 and others 5.

In the second phase, BNP-Jamaat altogether bagged 70 posts, Awami League secured 33 while six went to in-dependent contenders, two to JaPa and one to the UPDF in the female reserved vice-chairman posts.

Interestingly the candidates belong-ing to the Awami League won almost all the seats where there were allega-tion of vote rigging and violence like in Kachua of Chandpur, Chilmari of Kurigram, Sadar, Rampal, Morolganj and Sarankhola of Bagerhat, Dinajpur Sadar, Nilphamari Sadar, Chaudda-gram, Nangolkote, of Comilla, Muladi of Barisal and Bhola Sadar.

Ershad’s Jatiya Party performed worse than the last two phases as they failed to secure even a single vice-chair-man or vice- chairwoman post.

Around two and half months into the national elections, the Awami League-backed contenders had to face tough challenge by the BNP-Jamaat al-liance in many upazilas.

The BNP-led 18-party alliance PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Interestingly, the AL loyalists won almost all the seats where there were allegation of vote rigging and violence

Prosecution team’s ‘illegal’ meeting intensi� es feud n Udisa Islam

A section of the prosecution team of the war crimes tribunal has again called for a meeting without getting prior consent from the chief prose-cutor who, like the previous time, cancelled it labelling the meeting as “illegal.”

When senior prosecutor Rhe-shikesh Saha convened a meeting bypassing Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipoo, he claimed that he had done so upon directive of MK Rah-man, chief coordinator of the pros-ecution team, also an additional attorney general.

Cancelling such a meeting for the second time in a week, Tipoo said none of the prosecutors could

call a meeting without his consent. He said: “This is totally illegal

to convene a meeting this away. If anyone tries to foil the image of the trial, the authorities will have to take a strong position on this.”

On last Monday, a similar inci-dent took place when at least 14 prosecutors out of 22 were present in a meeting. The chief coordinator attended the meeting. The absent prosecutors then called it a com-mand failure, and warned that it might be harmful for the whole team.

The law minister on Saturday said he would soon sit with the prosecutors and � x the matter. Pro-trial activists have showed dis-appointment and displeasure as the

prosecution’s division has become public.

Tipoo did not attend the meet-ing yesterday when the same 14 prosecutors were present. None of the prosecutors faced the media af-ter the meeting.

Seeking anonymity, one of the prosecutors present at the meeting said it was a routine meeting. Pros-ecutor Mohammad Ali raised the issue of his recent interview with a television channel where he made negative remarks about the pros-ecution team, particularly about prosecutor Tureen Afroz.

The meeting also decided that team members would not face the media in the future. Only the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Malaysia doubles scale of plane search, pilots probedn AFP, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia said yesterday the number of countries searching for a missing airliner had nearly doubled to 25 as a full-scale criminal probe into its disap-pearance got under way, with particu-lar scrutiny of the pilots.

Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the number of participat-ing countries had jumped from 14 to 25 as the search for the aircraft focused on two vast, and vastly contrasting, land and ocean transport corridors. The dra-matic “re-calibration” will inevitably bring “new challenges of coordination and diplomacy”, the minister said.

Malaysian police said they had searched the homes of both pilots and examined the captain’s home � ight sim-ulator after it became increasingly clear that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that vanished March 8 had been delib-erately diverted by someone on board.

Experts said it would have taken specialist knowledge to disable the communications system, intensifying scrutiny of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his First O� cer, Fariq Abdul Hamid.

US intelligence is also focusing on the pilot and co-pilot, a key US law-maker said.

“One thing we do know, this was not an accident. It was an intentional,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Drive againstun� t vehicles after March 26n Mohosinul Karim

The communication ministry is going to prevent un� t and illegal vehicles from operating on Dhaka city streets after March 26 to free the city of tra� c congestion.

It has also taken an initiative to acti-vate and improve the digital tra� c con-trolling system in a bid to reduce tra� c hazards.

Communication Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday told reporters that two committees led by the Bangla-desh Road Transport Authority chair-man and the LGRD secretary had been formed to identify tra� c problems in the city and submit within 10 days rec-ommendations for resolving those.

After a meeting of the Bangladesh Road Transport Advisory Council held at the ministry, Obaidul said the

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014

Post-elections violence erupts in three districtsn Tribune Report

Several incidents of violence took place in three districts in connection with the upazila polls yesterday and Saturday.

In Chandpur, BNP-Jamaat men van-dalised 30 shops of AL supporters and looted goods at Belghar Bazar in Hatila union soon after the Upazila parishad elections ended on Saturday.

Locals said the BNP-Jamaat men also vandalised a temple, looted six houses and two businesses establishments at Chengatoli Bazar of Rajargaon union.

Chandpur Police Superintendent Amir Zafar said police has no informa-tion about the vandalism of a temple, but had been informed about the torch-ing of two houses.

Meanwhile, BNP-Jamaat activists vandalised a local AL o� ce in Hatila union. They also vandalised AL support-ers’ shops and a Jubo League leader’s house at Bakila Bazar. They vandalised several cars on Chandpur-Comilla road, reports our Chandpur correspondent.

At Daganbhuiyan of Feni, miscre-ants vandalised the residence of de-feated BNP-backed chairman candidate Akbar Hossain in early hours of yester-day. They also blasted 15 cocktails. The victim blamed his rival AL-backed can-didate Didarul Kabir for the attack.

Didaul denied the allegation. In Sir-ajganj, at least � fteen Awami League and BNP activists sustained injuries in a clashes over the polls campaign at

Shahzadpur upazila yesterday.During the incident, supporters of

the Awami League vandalised a podi-um and ten motorbikes of BNP upazi-la chairman candidate. Of the injured, two BNP activists have been admitted to a local hospital in critical condition.

Both the parties’ supporters blamed each other the attack, reports our Sir-ajganj correspondent.

BNP-backed candidate Iqbal Hos-sain told reporters that AL leader Helal Akand and his men suddenly swooped on his election campaign with lethal weapons at Dargapara at noon yester-day. Later, a clash erupted when the BNP men confronted the attackers.

On the other hand, Hasibur Rahman Shapon, the AL lawmaker of Shahzadpur constituency, said their activists joined the clashes when the rivals launched an attack on them while campaigning.

O� cer-in-Charge of Hajiganj Police Station Shah Alam said cases will be � led in this connection.

In Comilla, Awami League supporters attacked the residence of BNP support-ers at Kakoirtola village of Peria union, leaving at least 20 men injured. The in-cident took place on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, BNP-Jamaat activists held a peaceful dawn-to-dusk hartal yesterday, at Langarkot, Choudyagram and Kaliganj, Satkhira, calling for a boycott of the polls.

BNP held a protest procession in Noakhali alleging polls rigging. l

Mosharraf sent to jail n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday again denied BNP Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain bail and sent him to jail in a case � led by the An-ti-Corruption Commission for siphon-ing o� money abroad.

Metropolitan Magistrate Shariar Mahmud Adnan passed the order after hearing defence counsel "s bail petition.

Police produced the BNP leader in the court. Earlier on Thursday also the court had rejected Mosharraf’s bail petition and placed him on a three-day remand.

Law enforcers had picked up Mosharraf from his Gulshan residence in the capital and handed him over to Ramna police station in connection with the case � led by ACC Director Na-sim Anwar on February 6.

The investigation o� cer of the case opposed Mosharraf’s bail yesterday, saying the case was under investigation.

According to the case, Mosharraf laundered £8.04 lakh (equivalent to Tk9.53 crore) to the UK when he was the health and family welfare minis-ter during the 2001-2006 tenure of the BNP-led government. l

Sreda to appoint chairman, board members soonn Aminur Rahman Rasel

The government will soon appoint a chairman, � ve members and a secre-tary for the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda) to begin activities of the body in a bid to guide the nation towards a sustain-able-powered future.

“The circular will be published by end of this month for � lling the seven posts,” Deputy Secretary of Power Divi-sion Md Bazlur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The seven posts are chairman, mem-ber (policy and research), member (ener-gy e� ciency and conservation), member (renewable energy), member (adminis-tration), member (� nance) and secretary.

The chairman will be a government o� cial with the rank of additional secre-tary, while the members will have the sta-tus of joint secretary, and Sreda secretary will have the status of deputy secretary.

The authority will also have 61 de-partmental posts, including directors, deputy directors and assistant directors.

On December 2012, the parliament passed the Sreda Act 2012 and on May 2013, the public administration ministry gave its approval for the seven execu-tive posts and 61 departmental posts. l

Drive against un� t vehicles after PAGE 1 COLUMN 6committee led by the BRTA chairman was tasked withidentifying un� t and illegal vehicles and suggestingactions.The committeewould meet within sev-en days to identify the problems.

The ministry would start a drive against the un� t vehicles after receiving the committee’s report, said Obaidul.

The other members of the committee are the superintendent engineer of Roads and Highways Department, joint commis-sioner (tra� c) of Dhaka Metropolitan Po-lice, deputy inspector general of Highway Police, secretary general of Road Transport Owners Association, general secretary of Road Transport Workers Federation, and president of Truck and Covered Van Own-ers Association. The other committee was formed to � x the tra� c controlling sys-tem and suggest improvements.

Its members include the administra-tors of the Dhaka north and south city corporations, DMP additional commis-sioner, representatives of Dhaka Trans-

port Coordination Authority and the BRTA,joint secretary to Roads Division, and president of Road Transport Own-ers Association. Terming Dhaka city dirty,ObaidulQuader said:“We have already started working. But, the main problem is a lack of coordination.”

He claimed collection of extortions at bus terminals in the city had already decreased andit wouldtake more time to stop completely. New taxicabs from Pahela Baishakh The minister saidcit-izens of Dhaka city were likely to see new taxicabs fromPahelaBaishakh.

The prime minister is expected to inaugurate the operation of 60 new tax-icabs.Two private companies are import-ing60 of 500taxicabs permitted by the BRTA. “TomaParibahon, a sister concern of Toma Construction, and the Army Wel-fare Trust have been given clearance to import 250 cabs each for Dhaka and Chit-tagong cities.The process of importing 60 taxicabs has been completed and they will arrive this month,”Obaidul said. l

Tigers roar back PAGE 1 COLUMN 4Anamul, who took some time to set-tle in, smashed the Afghan bowlers all around the park.

Anamul was unbeaten on 44 from 33 balls and clobbered four fours and three sixes, the last six over long-o� landing Bangladesh’s win.

Earlier, Bangladesh could have not asked for a better start after opting to bowl in their crucial encounter as the very � rst ball of the World Twen-ty20 fetched them a wicket. Ahmed Shahzad tried to hike Mashrafe bin Mortaza’s out swinging length ball, but only managed to sky it to left of mid-o� where Mahmudullah took a well judged catch.

The inexperience of playing in the big stage got the worst out of the Afghans in the remaining of the match as they could not recover from the early shock.

The wicket only � red up the Bang-ladeshi side along with the bowler,

Mashrafe, who looked 10 years young-er when he steamed in and gave his all in the two overs he bowled up front. He beat the batsmen’s edges on sever-al occasions increasing the early jitters in the Afghan camp. Afghanistan’s T20 specialist Gulbadin Naib tried to stage a counter-attack picking 15 from the � fth over delivered by Al Amin, but that hardly demoralised the Tigers.

Shakib, introduced in the fourth over, gave away just two runs before he followed up with a “happening” over. The wicket produced turn and the leading left-arm spinner of the country took the most out of it.

Naib miscued a slog to long-o� where the nervy debutant Sabbir dropped a dolly to convert it to a four, but that only encouraged Shakib to � ight the ball even more. As a result an-other miscued slog followed in the next ball, and this time Sabbir mend his mis-take and took a rather di� cult catch

than the previous one. He ran at least 20 yards to his right to hold on to the catch looking at the sun to end Naib’s innings on 21.

Najeeb Tarakai was ba� ed by the turn in the next ball and could only stand and watch his edge going to Nasir Hossain at cover. Though Shakib could not achieve a hat-trick, but his two wick-ets meant the Afghans were not let in the powerplay being reduced to 36 for three.

The nightmare continued for the batting side with Sabbir this time, breaking the stumps at the non-strik-er’s end with a direct hit from � ne-leg to run out Nawroz Mangal and heap further pressure.

The early indications made the de-cision of putting the spinners in attack easier as Abdur Razzak and Mahmud-ullah came on to bowl and tied the Af-ghans into a whirlpool.

Meanwhile, it was another brilliant piece of � elding this time from Farhad

Reza, who hit the stumps from mid-wicket to � nd Karim Sadiq short of the crease attempting a couple.

The spinners shared six wickets among them giving away just 37 runs with Shakib doing most of the dam-age. Shakib cleaned up Shapoor Zadran to claim his third wicket for just eight runs to end Afghanistan’s innings in the 18th over. l

AL bags more vice-chairmen PAGE 1 COLUMN 2boycotted the national polls held on January 5 demanding elections under a non-partisan government as they claimed free and fair election is not possible under a partisan government.

This walkover gave the Awami League two third easy majority in the parliament. l

Prosecution team’s PAGE 1 COLUMN 4chief prosecutor and the chief coordi-nator would comment on these mat-ters, a mid-level prosecutor told the Dhaka Tribune.

Meeting sources said a proposal was placed to adopt a resolution against the chief prosecutor for his removal from the post. However, it was not accepted by some of the participants.

Tipoo earlier this month wrote to the law ministry for taking proper measures after Tureen had submitted to him a written complaint mentioning Ali’s remarks. The incident triggered other controversial issues and made public several hidden resentments within the team.

Shahriar Kabir, a war crimes case witness and noted writer, told the Dha-ka Tribune yesterday the government should identify those responsible for the situation and take immediate ini-tiative.

He was astonished to see that the government was reluctant to handle the situation at a time when con� icts within the prosecution team had esca-lated over the last two weeks. l

Malaysia doubles scale of plane search, pilots probed PAGE 1 COLUMN 1deliberate act, to bring down this air-plane. And the question is who is be-hind that,” Michael McCaul, the chair-man of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Fox News.

Friends and colleagues of both pi-lots have testi� ed to their good char-acter, but questions have been raised over the � ight simulator Zaharie in-stalled at home -- even though aviation commentators have said this is not un-common.

It also emerged that Zaharie had close ties with the party of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has been battling a charge of sodomy.

A day before the � ight, a Malaysian court overturned Anwar’s 2012 acquit-tal on charges he sodomised a male former aide and sentenced him to � ve years in jail. But authorities have not disclosed whether Zaharie’s political a� liations � gured in the investigation.

Fariq’s record was queried after a woman said he had allowed her and a friend to ride in the cockpit of an earlier � ight.

Hishammuddin noted that the two pilots “did not ask to � y together” on the missing plane.

New search parametersThe transport minister cautioned

against “jumping to conclusions” about the thrust of the investigation, which national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar stressed was covering all 239 pas-sengers and crew.

Engineers who may have had con-tact with the aircraft before takeo� were also being looked at, Khalid said.

The police action followed Satur-day’s startling revelations that the plane’s communications systems had been manually switched o� before the jet veered westward and � ew on for hours.

Like Prime Minister NajibRazak the previous day, Hishammuddin refused to use the word hijacking, saying only that the pattern of events was consis-tent with “deliberate action” by some-one on the plane.

The new search parameters involve two possible � ight corridors -- a north-ern one stretching from Thailand to

Kazakhstan and a southern one from Indonesia towards the southern Indian Ocean.

The Malaysian foreign ministry briefed representatives from 22 coun-tries on Sunday, including the central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Uzbeki-stan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, and requested support in the form of satellite and radar data.

For anguished relatives, the news the plane had been diverted was a double-edged sword -- holding out the slim hope that hijackers had landed the plane somewhere, while ushering in another agonising open-ended waiting period.

‘What did they put up with?’Relatives of Bob and Cathy Lawton, a missing Australian couple, said they were horri� ed by the notion of a drawn-out hijack ordeal.

“That’s one of the worst things I could have hoped for,” Bob’s brother David Lawton told News Limited news-papers.

“Even if they are alive, what did

they have to put up with?”The scope for speculation is as broad

as the new search area.Beyond the scrutiny of the cockpit

crew, the possibility that the cockpit was taken over or the pilots were co-erced opens a Pandora’s Box of possi-bilities as to who might have been in-volved and why.

Two passengers who boarded the plane with stolen EU passports have been identi� ed as Iranians by Interpol, who said they were most likely illegal immigrants who did not � t terrorist pro� les.

The fact that most of the passen-gers on board the Beijing-bound � ight were Chinese has raised speculation of involvement by militants from China’s Muslim ethnic Uighur minority.

Security experts warned against reading too much into partial data.

“We still really don’t have a lot of evidence to go on,” said Anthony Brick-house, a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators.

“We don’t have any wreckage, we don’t have the plane itself, we don’t

have a lot of electronic data from the aircraft.”

The last satellite communication from the plane on March 8 came nearly eight hours after it took o� -- around the time the airline has said it would have run out of fuel.

Hishammuddin said both search corridors were being treated “with equal importance”, but a number of analysts said the southern ocean route was more likely.

Flying along the northern corridor would have required the plane to travel undetected through numerous nation-al airspaces in a strategically sensitive region.

“I just can’t think of a scenario where this aircraft is sitting on a run-way somewhere,” Brickhouse said.

Scott Hamilton, managing director of US-based aerospace consultancy Leehman Co, said a crash in the ocean would present a daunting search and recovery challenge.

“Any � oating debris will be widely dispersed and the main debris on the sea � oor,” he said. l

Jharuar Beel genocide witness blames Azhar n Udisa Islam

A new witness in the trial against Ja-maat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam yesterday said the accused had active-ly taken part in Jharuar Beel massacre in Rangpur during the Liberation War when around 1,200 people were killed.

Fourth witness Meser Uddin, 66, a freedom � ghter from Ramakrishna-pur under Badarganj police station in Rangpur in his deposition said: “I saw Azhar in a white shirt and pants ac-companying the Pakistani occupation army personnel as they were shooting aimlessly and pushing the villagers to-wards north.”

A retired college teacher, Meser was never involved in any political party and he supports organisations which are pro-liberation.

He also described the killing of Kalti Mai who was nine month pregnant at that time. “Azhar and his people killed at least 15 people including several women in Muksedpur and Dhap Para areas. Of them, Kalti Mai’s unborn child came out as her abdomen was torn apart.”

Conducting prosecutor AKM Saiful Islam placed the witness before the International Crimes Tribunal 1 which recorded the deposition for more than

two hours. After his deposition, defence coun-

sel Abdus Sobhan Tarafder pleaded for time as he was not informed about the particular witness, though prosecutor Saiful claimed that they had given the defence a list of witnesses. The tribunal then asked him to start the cross-exam-ination and later adjourned the hearing until tomorrow keeping it un� nished.

The witness said “On April 16 of 1971, Azhar along with his accomplices came to Ramnathpur union area by train and started for Muksedpur area, burning ev-erything that came in their way.

“After the Jharuar Beel massacre, Azhar made the remaining villagers gather at a place and took 200 youths to their Parbatipur-bound train. They killed � ve of them and dumped their bodies along the rail tracks.” One of them was the witness’s relative.

Meser said he had gone to India after the massacre and worked there with freedom � ghters. On his return after the war, the witness said he came to know that Azhar and his men used to abduct women from di� erent areas of Rangpur and take them to Rangpur Town Hall. He also described many incidents that he had heard from his friends and relatives. l

Police foil marches towards energy ministry n Manik Miazee

Police set up barbed wire barricades to stop protesters from marching to the energy ministry in the capital yesterday to press the government to revoke a recent decision to increase power tari� s.

As supporters of left-leaning parties started marching towards the ministry housed at the secretariat building, they were stopped by the law enforcers at the nearby National Press Club around 11am, witnesses said.

The protesters then held a rally in front of the police barricade.

The protest was jointly organised by the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB), Gono Forum and Nagarik Oikya, a citizens’ organisation.

Following pressure from the Awami League-led alliance government, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Com-mission raised the average retail price of electricity by 6.96% with e� ect from March 1.

Speaking at the rally, CPB president Mujahidul Islam Selim said they would go for tougher movement if the gov-ernment did not cancel its decision to increase power tari� s.

The protesters also demanded ren-ovating state-owned power plants and scrapping contracts for costly quick-rental systems to supply elec-tricity.

Selim announced that the parties would hold demonstrations in front of district power o� ces in support of their demands.

SPB leader Khalequzzaman, Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed of CPB, Mostafa Mo-hasin Mantu of Gono Forum and Nagar-ik Oikya’s Iftekher Ahmed Babu also addressed the rally.

Meanwhile, the police also stopped activists and leaders of Democrat-ic Left Alliance (DLA), a coalition of eight left-leaning political parties, from marching to the energy ministry around noon yesterday, witnesses said.

When the demonstrators tried to break through the police barricade, the law enforcers forced them to leave the area. At least three protesters were injured in the ensuing melee, party sources claimed. The protesters later held a rally at a nearby street.

Blaming the energy ministry’s wrong policies for the hike in power tari� s, Abdus Satter, coordinator of the alliance, said the people would not pay the increased rates. l

A vehicle driven by a shallow-engine transports goods and passangers on the Chapainawabganj-Rajshai highway yesterday. Although these vehicles have been banned on the highways, people continue to risk their lives for the cheap transport DHAKA TRIBUNE

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014

City High Low

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:50am

Sunrise 6:05amZohr 12:07pm

Asr 4:28pmMagrib 6:08pm

Esha 7:24pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Weather remains dry n UNB

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

Day and night temperature may re-main nearly unchanged over the coun-try, Met O� ce said. The sun sets in the capital at 6:08pm today and rises at 6:05am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 35.0 degrees Celsius was recorded yesterday in Sylhet and Teknaf and lowest 14.2 degrees in Chuadanga.

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

Dhaka 32.6 20.5 Chittagong 32.2 1 8.5 Rajshahi 33.0 14.4 Rangpur 31.7 17.2 Khulna 33.5 17.2 Barisal 32.4 16.2 Sylhet 35.0 18.5Cox’s Bazar 34.8 20.2

Students of Jagannath University demonstrate in front of the Central Shaheed Minar yesterday, demanding recovery of their halls from unscrupulous land grabbers MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Rehabilitation is key to child labour eliminationn Udisa Islam

Swapna (not her real name) began work-ing as a housemaid at the tender age of 10 but the 17-year-old is now a sex work-er by profession. Having o� ered her ser-vice as a domestic worker for two years, she had to leave as her employer re-fused to take her service anymore. She then managed another job at a house where she was abused by the son of her employer. The incident put her in deep emotional distress and she decided to take an alternative route. She adopted a new name and now identi� es herself as Swapna instead of her real name in an e� ort to bury her past.

Like Swapna, her friend Jashim had

to choose a di� erent course of action in life. Jashim used to work at a weld-ing shop until the day some people ap-proached his employer and requested him to let the boy get admitted to an informal school which they established to educate working children for a better future. Jashim was elated by the oppor-tunity but the blessing turned into a curse as after one and a half years, the school was shut down and the teachers never returned. Jashim is now making a living as a hijacker. Utter frustration has also forced him towards drugs and he also bears the identity of a drug ped-dler. “Who the hell told those people to let us feel what education is?” Jashim sometimes asks himself.

There are many like Swapna and Jashim whose lives descend into uncer-tainty when we talk about elimination of child labour without deciding on a proper rehabilitation strategy, rights ac-tivists observed while speaking to the Dhaka Tribune. They raised questions: Whether or not should child labour be justi� ed in times of extreme � nancial hardship? Whether or not was working right if a child’s wage helped his family pay for some of the basic necessities of life?

In light of the questions, the activists said they were thinking about di� eren-tiating child work from child labour.

“If children are above the minimum age to work and are employed for a lim-

ited number of hours in a safe environ-ment, then working may be bene� cial to both themselves and their families. Besides, we can also protect them from taking a wrong path as they lead their lives,” noted rights activist Khushi Ka-bir told the Dhaka Tribune.

“Withdrawing these children from their work without rehabilitating them will be irresponsible,” she said.

Back in 2006, Bangladesh enacted the Labour Act which prohibits em-ployment of children below 14. It also mentions a prohibition on hazardous forms of labour for children under 18. However, children aged 12 and above may be engaged in “light work” that does not pose a risk to their lives.

Wahida Banu, executive director of Aparajeyo Bangladesh, said instead of thinking about arranging light work for children, the focus should be on how to rehabilitate them. “We must ensure that the children who we wish not to become engaged in taxing work are provided with quality education and alternative income opportunities,” she added.

The 2009 National Report on Bang-ladesh by Unicef says 33 million chil-dren in Bangladesh, almost half of all the children in the country, are living in poverty while about one in four chil-dren is deprived of at least four basic needs of life among food, education, healthcare, information, shelter, water and sanitation. l

JnU hall recovery campaignn Mohammad Jamil Khan

The Jagannath University students yes-terday vowed to continue their demon-stration till their dormitories were re-covered from their grabbers.

They made the vow at a previously scheduled rally held at the central Sha-heed Minar on Sunday.

Thousands of JnU students came to the venue by the university buses voic-ing their only demand “Give our hall back to us”.

The entire Shaheed Minar premises turned into a human sea with the pres-ence of students pressing for the de-mand.

Fakir Alamgir, a noted singer and former student of Jagannath College attended the rally around 11am and ex-pressed solidarity with the students.

He urged the authorities concerned to take initiative for solving the stu-dents’ crisis and to withdraw the cases � led against the students by JnU in con-nection with teacher assault.

JnU unit Chhatra League president Shariful Islam, also convener of hall re-covery committee, administered the oath to the attending students around 12pm.

Shariful said they would go on strike from Tuesday if the JnU authority did not withdraw cases � eld against them.

Following taking oath, the students said they would continue their demon-stration till their demand was met and not back down.

The hall recovery committee leaders alleged that the JnU teachers threatened students with action over cellphones and asked them to back down.

However, the JnU Teachers’ Associ-ation President Prof Dr Sarkar Ali Akkas refused the allegation. He said they were with the students.

The rally ended at 1pm after declaring their next programme.

The JnU Teachers Association held a press brie� ng yesterday around 2pm.

The teachers said they could not at-tend the yesterday’s rally because one suspended student who assaulted a JnU teacher was leading the programme.

However, they said they would hold a protest programme and a human chain in front of the university’s Shaheed Mi-nar on March 19 and 20.

Besides, a rally would be held on March 23 and 26 led by the JnU Teach-ers’ Association. l

Minister’s � ash visit, two Ctg land o� cials suspended n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

State Minister for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed on a sudden visit to a land o� ce in the port city suspended two o� cials yesterday for irregularities and negligence in duties.

Sources at the Agrabad Circle Land O� ce told the Dhaka Tribune that the minister had visited the o� ce without any notice around 11:30am and ordered the authorities concerned to close the o� cials – Land O� cer M Joynal and Assistant Land O� cer Rana Kanti Shil.

The minister also ordered transfer of class IV employee Anisul Islam as he had been working there for four years violating the government job rules.

State Minister Saifuzzaman ordered police to arrest two people named Alak Khastogir and Abdus Sukkur for setting up makeshift shops illegally in

front of the o� ce on the government land.

Afterwards, the state minister along with land o� cials conducted a drive on an illegally built brick kiln named Paci� c Marine Service Auto Brick� eld at Bakalia of the city around 12:30 and sealed o� the kiln and ordered arrest of its manager Pradip Dutta.

“We will recover all illegally occupied state land,” he said, adding that the ministry would stop all kinds of irregularities at the country’s land o� ces and bring to book the o� cials and employees involved in corruption.

The state minister also said he would continue this type of sudden visit and drive.

A few days ago, the state minister had paid another such visit to a local land o� ce and suspended its two o� cials on similar charges. l

‘Polls result boosts morale of AL men’n Emran Hossain Shaikh

The ruling Awami League is now bubbling with enthusiasm and inspiration after it sailed through the just concluded elections to 81 upazilas.

The party that failed to do better in previous two phases of polls than its opponent BNP hopes it would be able to keep up the winning trend in the next spells of ballot battles.

The ruling party thinks that the results have gone in its favour as the central committee extensively looked after the party activities across the country.

Moreover, they were able to rein in the rebel candidates and in most places it could � eld single candidate after it buried the hatchet between the rival aspirants in the party grassroots.

The party old guard said their bitter experience from the past two phases of elections taught them a lot and they

took necessary and decisive measures to win the election battle.

In the third phase of upazila polls the Awami League Awami League-backed chairman contenders bagged 40 seats while BNP-sponsored candidates secured 28 seats out of 78 upazilas.

Whereas in previous two phases Awami League got only 77 chairman posts out of 216 upazilas while the BNP 96.

In the third phase the Awami League won eight upazila chairman posts out of nine upazila pasishad in Khulna Division. The result of Barisal Division was similar to that of Khulna. In Barisal Awami League loyalists bagged four out of � ve upazilas.

Awami League Khulna Division Organising Secretary BM Mojammel Haque said this time they had done better than the BNP due to various steps and measures taken by the party to resolve the internecine clash in the

grassroots level.Another Organising Secretary Khalid

Mahmud Chowdhury said their party grassroots leaders and activists had taken up the polls seriously after seeing the humiliating defeat in the previous polls which had earned them good results this time.

Awami League Presidium Member Obaidul Quader said: “I think one of the key reasons behind the win of the party is our extensive monitoring.”

“The polls result this time have inspired our leaders and activists which will boost their con� dence in the next phase of elections,” he said.

Quader admitted the fact of intra-party feud in the grassroots saying that in most cases they had resolved it but in some places they had failed to settle down the dispute.

“If we can cement the cohesion of the party we will fare better in the next elections and the polls result will come in our favour,” he hoped. l

Greater turnout of voters amid violence in the third phasen Mohammad Zakaria

Amid increasing complaints of violence and vote rigging, the voter turnout has also increased in the third phase of the fourth upazila parishad polls compared to the last two phases.

Although several BNP backed candi-dates brought allegations of irregularities against the ruling party backed candi-dates in the third phase of the polls held on Saturday, the Election Commission was yet to investigate into the complaints and take any step to avoid such incidents in the upcoming phases, said a number of EC o� cials, seeking anonymity.

Because of commission’s inaction, the rate of violence was high during the third phase, they claimed.

Regarding assault on an assistant returning o� cer in Barisal’s Hizla upazila, the commission secretariat had proposed forming an investigation committee to look into the incident. However, the commission was yet to take any initiative in this regard, a sen-ior EC o� cial told the Dhaka Tribune preferring to be anonymous.

Election Commissioner Abdul Mo-barak, who is acting as the chief elec-tion commissioner, told reporters on Saturday that the third phase polls held 100% free and fair, and the EC was sat-is� ed with holding the polls peacefully.

However, poll was postponed in only 26 polling centres in the face of vi-olence, he said yesterday.

The voter turnout in 81 upazilas in the third phase was 63.52%, whereas it was 62.44% in 97 upazilas in the � rst phase and 63.31% in 116 upazilas during the second phase.

The highest voter turnout was 84.50% in Durgapur upazila in Rajshahi while the lowest voter turnout was 47.23% in Fulbaria upazila of Mymensingh.

Out of 13,106,242, a total of 8,324,812 voters cast their votes in the third phase.

A total of 369,855 votes were can-celled in the third phase while 4, 61, 383 and 562,955 were cancelled in � rst and second phase of the polls respectively. l

DMCH doctors overwhelmed by sudden in� ux of patientsn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Dhaka Medical College Hospital has recently reached the mark of hav-ing more than 3,000 indoor patients on a single day, the highest � gure since the hospital was established in 1946.

On March 11, a total of 3,005 patients received medical attention at the in-door of the 2,400-bed hospital, accord-ing to hospital records.

The burn unit was the most over-whelmed by the in� ux of patients. The 100-bed unit is now treating 417 indoor patients.

The other unitslike neurosurgery and medicine departments that also have over two to threefold increase in the number of patients are still takin-gadmissions beyond their bed capacity.

During March 5-12, the average number of indoor patients was around 2,950. This was a huge spike compared to 1,800-2,300 patients just a month back in February.

The growing number of patients is also taking its toll on medical services with the DMCH being forced to carry out more daily operations and medical tests than usual.

Hospital records show the DMCH doc-tors carry out an average of over 136 op-erations daily, with the highest 174 done on March 9. The number of daily oper-ations was less than 100 a few months ago, said an insider of the hospital.

The number of clinical, pathologi-cal,X-Ray and other imagingtests and operationshave also increased than be-fore.

DMCH sources said around 400-450 clinical pathology tests were now car-ried out every day, compared to around 250 daily tests that were done earlier. The previous number of 60-70 daily CT scans has also risen to around 120-140.

Several senior doctors of the hospital told the Dhaka Tribune that people have more con� dence in the DMCH than other public hospitals, as they ex-pect better service from the DMCH.

However, the rush of patients has become a burden for di� erent wards as the risk of infection among admitted patients has reportedly increased be-cause of overcrowd.

The senior doctors added that de-spite o� ering similar facilities, the pa-tients were disinclined to seek medical help at other public hospitals in Dhaka.

The health ministry should � nd out the reason behind this trend and act ap-

propriately to make the hospitals prop-erly functional, they added.

The DMCH currently has the facil-ities to accommodate 2,400 patients with the DMCH-1 having 1,700 beds, the burn and plastic surgery unit 100 beds, and the DMCH-2 having 600 more beds.

DMCH Director Brig Gen Dr Musta� -zur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that the authorities were surprised to � nd an unexpected spike in patient numbers with around 600-800 new pa-tients coming to the hospital.

Saying he did not know the actual reason behind the sudden in� ux of pa-tients, Dr Musta� zur added that he had not seen such overwhelming rush of patients during his last two years as the hospital director.

Dr Mus� qur Rahman, deputy direc-tor of the DMCH,said the DMCH was the only public hospital that did not send any patient back home for the un-availability of beds.

Despite the health ministry’s decla-ration of the DMCH as a 2,300-bed fa-cility, the allocated budget for patient management covered only 1,700 beds, he said, adding that extra patients had to be kept on the � oors, verandas and corridors of the hospital.

To manage the additional patients, the doctors and the sta� at the hospi-tal have to bear the extra workload to ensure proper healthcare services, Dr Mus� iqur said. l

Accused out on bail threatens Samiul’s father n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

The prime accused in the much-talked-about Samiul murder case has reported-ly been threatening the victim’s father to not bring any more witnesses at the court to testify against him.

The alleged killer has been threaten-ing KR Azam saying that he would have to face the same fate like his son.

Court sources said accused Md Sham-suzzaman Arif alias Bakku secured a four-week bail from the High Court on February 20 in the case now under trial at the Dhaka’s Special Court 4.

Azam and other witnesses are feel-ing insecure since the prime accused is roaming free. Azam � led a GD with Pal-labi police station.

Samiul’s father, also the plainti� , told the Dhaka Tribune: “Bakku threat-

ened me at Mirpur 12 bus stand last Fri-day, asking me not to present any more witnesses on the next hearing date.”

Nine out of 31 prosecution witnesses have given depositions in the case.

On October 25, 2010, Adabar OC Kazi Shahin Haque submitted charge sheet in the case, accusing Samiul’s mother Humaira Akter Ayesha and her lover Bakku who murdered Samiul Ajim Wa� , 5, as he witnessed them being intimate. His body was recovered near his house in the capital’s Adabar on June 24, 2010.

Police, however, did not charge Bak-ku’s wife Nadia Akhter Sathi as her in-volvement with the murder had not been proved.

On February 1, 2011, the two were indicted and the trial began after seven days with plainti� Azam’s testimony and cross-examination. l

2 women MP aspirants’ appeal rejected n Mohammad Zakaria

The EC yesterday rejected appeals of two reserved women seat candidates whose nominations were earlier can-celled on charges of bill defaulting.

They are Awami League nominat-ed candidate Sabiha Nahar Begum and Jatiya Party nominated candidate Khorshed Ara Haque. Senior Assistant Secretary to the EC Mosharraf Hossain con� rmed the matter.

On March 11, after scrutiny of nom-ination papers for reserved women seats, the EC cancelled nominations of the two for defaulting telephone bills.

Khorshed Ara owed a bill of Tk223,488 and Sabiha Nahar Tk11,835 to the Bang-ladesh Telecommunications Company Limited. According to the law, the candi-dates have to clear bills and loans seven days before � ling nomination papers.

On March 12, the two candidates paid the bills and appealed to the EC to re-store their nominations. l

DMCH has facilities for 2,400 patients: DMCH 1 has 1,700, burn unit 100, and DMCH 2 has 600 beds

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, March 16, 2014

City High Low

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:51am

Sunrise 6:06amZohr 12:07pm

Asr 4:27pmMagrib 6:08pm

Esha 7:23pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Dhaka 32.1 19.0 Chittagong 33.5 21.8Rajshahi 32.5 15.6 Rangpur 31.6 17.0 Khulna 33.0 19.5Barisal 32.0 18.5Sylhet 34.1 17.8 Cox’s Bazar 34.5 21.4

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014

Soil extraction denuding � orain Netrakona’s Durgapur n Tribune Report

Unauthorised soil collection from Dur-gapur upazila of bordering Netrakona is threatening existence of the inhabit-ants here.

Lifting of ‘white soil’ (locally called Sada Sona (white gold) from the bot-toms of hills at Bijoypur in the upazila continues unhindered causing much harm to lives and habitats of the popu-lation here, that mostly comprises eth-nic minority people.

Bijoypur surrounded by Garo hills on the bank of the Someshwari River is enriched with natural resources like white soil, presenting exquisite natural scenery.

Co-existence of the people of dif-ferent ethnic communities, including Garo, Hajong, Coach, Banai, Hadi, Bhalu and Rajbangshi, with Bangalees in the upazila has made life here diversi� ed.

A number of companies have con-tinued illegal lifting of the ‘white soil’ from the hills, hillocks and even plain lands over the years, earning millions of taka.

Such insensible soil extraction has caused huge depletion of the vast greenery of scenic Durgapur upazila.

Many of the ethnic community peo-ple have lost their dwelling houses as well for the soil lifting which has also created a sharp decline in arable land.

A total of eight people have so far drowned in trenches caused by soil lifting since after the country’sindependence.

Ranjit Khatriye, a resident of the area, said Rit Hajong, son of Rajkimar

Deborshi of Changarah village, Lagaj Risil, son of Dherij Resar of Gaimara village, Jewel Taju, son of Biresh Sal of Gucchagram, Diganta Sal, son of Daniel Remar of Gaisara village and Dilip Mankin, son of Benedict Russel of Maijpara village, and three others unidenti� ed have lost their lives in the trenches.

Besides, for unplanned soil lifting, cracks have developed in many of the major points of the road from Kamarka-li Bazar to Charuapara, leaving the road un� t for vehicular movement.

Mohammad Bacchu Mia, a trader of the area, said they collect ‘white soil’ from the area and transport it to di� er-ent districts including the capital.

Some local people urged the govern-ment to take an initiative to force the companies into abiding by the existing rules in extracting ‘white soil’ from the area.

Saidul Hossain Akunji, former chair-man of Durgapur upazila, said they have already sent a written complaint to the Prime Minister seeking her inter-vention in this regard. l

Trader beaten to death in Tangailn Our Correspondent,

Tangail

A wood trader was beaten to death at Hatuvanga village under Mirzapur upazila in Tangail yesterday afternoon.

Locals said a group of miscreants had swooped on Abdur Rahim, 45, a resident of Beltoil village, and beat him indiscriminately when he was returning home, leav-ing him critically injured.

Local people took him to Mirzapur Kumudini Medical College Hospital where on duty doctor pronounced his death.

O� cer-in-charge of Mir-zapur police station Golam Mostofa said he might have been killed over previous enmity. l

UPDF man detained with arms, ammo n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

An activist of the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) was de-tained with arms and ammunition in Baillachhari area under Guimara po-lice station in Khagrachhari yesterdayafternoon.

The arrestee identi� ed as Nabin Chakma, 30, is the son of Samir Dewan of Hazachhari under Laxmichhari upa-zila in Khagrachhari.

O� cer-in-charge of Guimara police station Abu Yusuf Mia said acting on a tip- o� , a team of army personnel had raided Baillachhari area and detained Nabin with a LG gun and three rounds of bullet.

During preliminary interrogation, Nabin confessed that he is an active member of the UPDF and has been staying in the locality to collect extor-tion, the OC said, adding that a case was � led with the police station.

District Press Secretary of UPDF Niron Chakma alleged that the army had termed Nabin as extortionist after putting the LG gun and the bullets at his hands. l

Trader mugged of Tk50,000 in Maguran Tribune Report

A gang of muggers snatched Tk50,000 from a trader af-ter stabbing him in Shalikha upazila in Magura on Satur-day night. The victim was identi� ed as Sumon, 22, son of Abdul Mazid of Harishpur village in the upazila.

Police said a gang of 5-6 snatchers had intercepted Sumon at Aruakandi village around 8pm while he was re-turning home from Simakha-li Bazar by his bicycle.

Later, the hoodlums stabbed him and took away the money, reports UNB.

Passers-by rescued Su-mon and took him to Sha-likha hospital and a case was � led. l

Slow dredging to worsen � ood situationn Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

The � ood situation may worsen in Sira-jganj due to slow dredging in the Jamu-na River adjacent to the district town protection embankment.

According to sources, the Water Development Board, with the help a Chinese company, started the capital dredging programme on January 20 of this year, at a cost of Tk85cr.

The WDB started the dredging for the third time to change the river cours-es to the east so that the up-stream wa-ter during monsoon might not endan-ger the dam. The WDB dredged about 20 km area between 2012 and 2013, spending Tk500cr for protecting the embankment as well as the guide em-bankment of the Bangabandhu Bridge.

But the protection dam was breached frequently in the last two years.

After breaching the dam, the town

dwellers and dam adjacent-people alleged the dredging in the name of changing the river courses was not properly done as the Chinese Harbour Engineering Com-pany was doing the work during monsoon time. In a recent visit, it was found the dredging work is going slow although the � ash � ood is near to the district.

As result, the town protection dam may be further breached if the work is not completed before � ood. Motahar Hos-sain, WDB’s designer, said if the Chinese company cannot change the river channel before � ood season, the town as well as its embankment may be endangered further. 

Ra� kul Islam Choudhury, WDB’s sub-divisional engineer said:” The Chinese company has two dredgers, but it cannot run them due to insu� cient areas.”

  Mr Hellon, a dredging engineer of the Chinese Harbour Engineering Com-pany said:”We hope to complete the dredging before � ood.” l

Bijoypur surrounded by Garo hills on the bank of the Someshwari River is enriched with natural resources like white soil, presenting exquisite natural scenery

An election camp o� ce of a BNP-backed candidate is vandalised allegedly by a group of Awami League activists at Shahjadpur upazila in Sirajganj yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Farmer killed in Gopalganj clash n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

A farmer was killed and 20 others were injured in a clash between two groups of villagers at Tetulia village under Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj on Satur-day night. The deceased was identi� ed as Abul Bashar Shikdar, 60, a resident of Tetulia village of the upazila.

Local sources said an altercation en-sued between some residents of Tetu-lia and Rajpat village over irrigation of a farmland from a canal in the area.

The rivals used lethal weapons dur-ing the clash that lasted more than an hour, critically injuring Abul Bashar Shi-kdar, Alam, 50, Khashbur, 50, Solaiman, 46, Bhashan, 45, Elias, 40, Jakir, 50, Mu-rad, 36, Iqbal, 26 and Faruk, 32.

Of the injured, three were rushed to Gopalganj General Hospitalwhere Abul Bashar succumbed to his injured around 11pm.

Moniruzzanman, o� cer-in-charge of Kashiani police station, said they had deployed police in the area to avoid unpleasant situation. A case was � led in this connection. l

n Farzana Nawaz

In international development discussions one thing that often gets lost is the voice of the poor. Usually, development is some-thing that is done “to” them.

Programs are conceived and planned out in headquarters of development organisations and NGOs by “experts” who are thought to know better than anyone how to solve the problems of people to whom they might have little or no connection. At the same time, development programmes are notoriously expensive to implement and after years of slow progress, and little dent in the global rate of poverty, tax payers have started to ask whether either the poor or the donors are

getting good “value for money.” While more skeptical commentators have used terms such as the “development industrial complex” which exists to serve its own needs and logic more than the poor.

Frustrated by the traditional development approach of big spend-ing but scant results, a new group of donors, tech entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley, decided to ask a very bold question – what would happen if we just gave money to the poor, no strings attached, for them to spend as they wish? Will they spend it on alco-hol, drugs or gambling? Or will they prove that they are in fact in the best position to decide what their most pressing needs are and allocate the resources accordingly?

Conceived by one of the co-found-ers of Facebook, Chris Hughes, and funded by tech giant Google, the NGO GiveDirectly set out to � nd the answers to these questions. True to the data-nerd roots of its founders, GiveDirectly designed its cash-giv-ing project as an experiment (a

randomised controlled trial) and it enlisted the help of one of the best evaluation teams around, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) at MIT, to � nd out the kind of impact such an intervention can have. The results of the study released last fall surprised the development community and surpassed all expectations – contrary to increasing spending on alcohol or drugs, no-strings-attached cash transfers to the poor led to signi� cant increases in income, assets and psy-chological wellbeing of the recipients.

Satellites and mobile phones - the new development toolkit

The GiveDirectly unconditional cash transfer (UCT) project took place in the Rarieda area of Western Kenya between 2011 and 2012. Residents of this remote area live on an aver-age of around $1 per day, and 64% of them surveyed said they did not have enough food in their house for the next day. The poorest households were identi� ed using satellite imagery – houses with roofs made out of mud or grass were marked by their lack of luminosity compared to houses with tin roofs.

In the randomised controlled trial study villages (with a high concentra-tion of mud or thatched roofs) were randomly assigned to a treatment or pure comparison group. Within the treatment villages 500 eligible households were randomly assigned to receive the cash transfers. These were compared to 500 control house-holds that did not receive the cash. Comparisons were also made between treatment villages and non-treatment villages in the same district to identify any spillover e� ects the project might have.

Three things were of particular interest to the experimenters – does it make a di� erence if the cash is given as a lump sum or in installments? What size of cash transfer ($300 or $1000) has the biggest impact? What is the di� erence if the transfer is given to the husband or the wife in the household?

GiveDirectly took advantage of the extensive mobile payment network available in Kenya to make the cash transfers using a service called M-PE-SA. Remote rural areas in Kenya, such as Rarieda, might not have proper

road connections yet but everyone lives within a 30-45 minute walking distance to an M-PESA agent. Using the mobile payment system also led to a drastic reduction of delivery cost to only 10%, which means that for every dollar donated 90 cents were received by the recipients.

Give a man a fish

So, what happened when these poor villagers living on the poverty line re-ceived a large windfall? Contrary to the expectations of seasoned development practitioners, there was no evidence of increase in expenditure on alcohol, drugs or gambling. On the other hand, the assets and income of the cash recipients went up, signi� cantly.

Assets, such as replacing the thatched roof with a metal one, and holdings of livestock, went up on average by 58%. Income also went up by 33% on average from sources such as non-agricultural businesses and animal assets. It’s interesting though that the study found little evidence of change in the main source of income of the recipients.

Increase in income also led to a higher level of consumption and food security and it lowered the number of days children went without food by 42%. The fact that receiving the cash reduced stress and increased happiness was measured by the level of cortisol (a stress hormone) in the sa-liva of the recipients. Smaller monthly transfers were found to better at in-creasing food security, whereas lump sum transfers were better at increasing the asset base.

The � nancial windfall also seemed to have had a positive e� ect on the empowerment of women in treat-ment villages – both for recipient and non-recipient households. However, whether the transfers were made to the woman or man of the household seemed to have had no signi� cant e� ect on overall outcomes.

What we know so far and what we don’t

While the results of the experiment seem to indicate a big success for no-strings cash transfers, there are a few things that deserve a closer look.

Let us consider how much the results of the study actually tell us. As World Bank economist David McKenzie observed, the fact that a windfall leads to increase in assets and income in the short-term is not too surprising. How-ever, given the one year time-frame of the study, it is di� cult to judge the long-term e� ects of this increase and whether it is sustainable or not.

In fact, traditional programmes that combines the giving of an asset, for example a cow, with training on how to maintain and grow that asset and creating linkages with markets might have a bigger and more sustainable impact on increasing incomes and lift-ing people out of poverty in the long run. Without studying the compara-tive results of these di� erent kinds of programmes it is di� cult to say which ones will fare better in a cost-bene� t analysis in the long-term.

On the other hand, the study found no signi� cant outcome after one year on development indicators such as health and education, which will are goals the development communi-ty tend to care a lot about. It’s also important to note that the source of income didn’t change for most recipi-ents, which means that giving away a lot of cash doesn’t necessarily lead to more entrepreneurship.

The idea of giving cash to the poor is also not entirely new. In fact, condi-tional cash transfer programmes (CCTs) that make payment contingent on desired behaviour have been popular among donors for over a decade. Such programmes have been shown to be very successful in achieving long-term development goals such as increas-ing school enrollment among poor children or improving nutrition rates. At the same time, CCTs supply poor households with cash that allows them to withstand shocks in earnings or increase their ability to invest in assets.

CCTs however can be vulnerable to abuse. In most developing coun-tries any type of cash or asset transfer scheme that leaves discretion up to public o� cials can be subject to corruption or manipulated for political purposes. In this regard, the extreme-ly light delivery mechanism of UCTs such as GiveDirectly has an advantage.

The small number of studies available that compare the outcome of conditional and unconditional giving

found that CCTs are better at getting results and the stricter the conditions, the better. For example, a programme in Ghana gave a small sum of money ($120) to local business owners, some conditionally, requiring the owner to buy assets for the � rm, and some un-conditionally. It was found that pro� ts were twice as high in � rms that got the cash conditionally.

On the other hand, cash transfers with minimal conditions can also work well. In Uganda, the government gave one-time grants to groups of young people (approximately $7,500 per group) who had to submit a business plan in order to be eligible. No condi-tions were applied on how the grant was to be used. It was found that the young people used the money to learn trades and on tools and materials to set up enterprises. In a four year peri-od, earnings for the groups went up by 38% and capital stock rose by 57%.

UCTs that give away large amounts of cash to the extreme poor might also have unintended negative im-pacts on social dynamics. While the GiveDirectly study found no impact on relationships between neigh-bours who received the transfers and those who did not, interviews done on the ground by NPR journalists found evidence of increased tension between neighbours. Considering that $1000 amounts to over two years of household income in this area, that is perhaps not surprising.

The bottom line is that while UCTs seems to be quite successful in the short-term we don’t have enough data yet to know whether they fare better than conditional transfers or more tradi-tional aid programmes in the long run.

Raising the burden of proof

Direct, unconditional cash transfers give poor households the � exibility to allocate resources to the needs they themselves � nd most pressing. But at the same time, we need to be mindful about how much these types of inter-ventions can achieve. Paul Neihaus, one of the founders of GiveDirectly, himself pointed out that cash transfers are not replacements for necessary structural changes such as developing good governance systems or delivery

of public goods.There is also a limitation to how

much we can rely upon the ability of people to make di� cult long-term choices in the absence of a supportive institutional framework. Abhijeet Banarjee, one of the most in� uential development economists around, illustrates this point best with an ex-ample – British parents on average are better than Indian parents in getting their children immunised.

However, this has little to do with any intrinsic conscientiousness on the part of the British and more to do with institutional constraints such as chil-dren being barred from going to school or using the public health system if they are not immunised. The key here is that since the state provides these services, it therefore also has the right to compel behaviour. In fact, Banarjee argues that without the proper ena-bling environment there is little evi-

dence that anyone, poor or otherwise, will always do the sensible thing.

One thing however is clear – as technology tools like mobile banking and Internet become more available to the poorest, it will require a rethink of what forms aid can take. Perhaps just as importantly, by taking a data-driven approach, GiveDirectly has raised the burden of proof for the aid commu-nity, and especially NGOs, many of whom have been hopelessly bad at demonstrating the impact of their work until now.

So what are the implications of UCTs for a country like Bangladesh? This is a big aid recipient country with a large cottage industry of NGOs and handicapped by structural problems such as high levels of corruption. At the same time, it is home to a highly entrepreneurial and hard working population which is eager for a hand-up rather than a handout. UCTs will not be a panacea for all the develop-mental challenges that we face, but the context here certainly make it a compelling enough idea that deserves to be explored. l

Farzana Nawaz is governance expert currently working in media. You can write to her at farzana.nawaz@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @farzana_n. Infographics by Towsif Osman.

7Long Form Monday, March 17, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Is free money the game changer in development?

cents of every dollar donated were received by the recipients90

Mobile payment systems drastically reduced the delivery costs of cash transfers to only 10%

percent increase in assets and livestock holdings on an average58

Income went up by 33 percent on average from sources such as non-agricultural businesses and animal assets

percent decrease in number of days children went without food42

Smaller monthly transfers were better at increasing food security, whereas lumpsum transfers were better at increasing the asset base

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Contrary to increasing spending on alcohol or drugs, no-strings-attached cash transfers to the poor led to signi� cant increases in income, assets and psychological wellbeing of the recipients

Monday, March 17, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

EU mulling next steps against Russia over Ukrainen AP, Brussels

The European Union is taking steps to increase sanctions against Russia over what many believe is a p lanned an-nexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, as Moscow has changed from a wary partner to a diplomatic adversary in the space of a few months.

Sunday’s referendum in Crimea on secession has been called illegal by the EU and the US, and EU foreign minis-ters will decide on Monday whether to impose asset freeze and visa sanctions and, if so, who to target.

EU diplomats were working fever-ishly over the weekend to set up a list of Russian and Moscow-leaning o� cials from Ukraine who have been involved in pushing for the southern peninsu-la’s secession and possible annexation. Diplomats said member states arrived at weekend talks with di� erent sugges-tions, so a common list could be drawn up for Monday’s meeting of the 28 for-eign ministers to make a � nal decision.

“There must be a � rm and united response” at the meeting, said British Foreign Secretary William Hague. “The time has come for tougher restrictive measures to be adopted.”

They would likely include military of-

� cials who ordered Ukrainian troops to leave their barracks in Crimea and oth-ers who were responsible for breakaway actions there. On the other hand, dip-lomats said they would shy away from economic operators at the moment.

Depending on developments in Moscow and Ukraine, further sanctions could follow during a two-day summit of EU leaders starting on Thursday.

“We will be — I am quite certain — ready for Monday morning. This will be discussed by ministers in order to reach a decision on that second stage of sanctions,” a senior EU diplomat said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

An EU summit last week suspend-ed talks with Russia on a wide-ranging economic pact and a visa agreement.

On top of that, the EU could move quickly, possibly within a week, to sign the political chapters of a far-reaching association agreement with the provi-sional government in Kiev, underscor-ing its support for the new Ukraine government.

EU diplomats in several capitals made it clear the West is unwilling to give up Crimea in the hope of preventing Mos-cow from moving into eastern Ukraine.

If Moscow takes further measures to

acerbate the crisis, the EU leaders already have threatened what they have called “far-reaching consequences for relations in a broad range of economic areas.”

It would set o� a tit-for-tat game of sanctions, which the EU hopes would increasingly isolate Russia on the glob-al stage. Moscow says it is convinced economic sanctions would hurt the EU as much as Russia itself.

Bound by tens of billions of dollars in trade, there is plenty to hurt one another.

Russia is the EU’s third-largest trading partner, mainly because of oil and gas imports, with the EU being its biggest gas consumer. Germany, for example, gets 35 percent of its supplies from Russia.

Russia, in turn, buys everything from machinery to cars from Europe, its biggest trading partner, with ex-ports to Russia totaling 123 billion eu-ros ($170 billion) in 2012.

The big change in relations came when Ukraine’s Moscow-leaning pres-ident, Viktor Yanukovych, made a last-minute decision to abandon an agreement to strengthen ties with the EU and instead sought closer coopera-tion with Russia. The EU accused Mos-cow of pressuring Ukraine to make the change and relations have fallen ever further from then on. l

As hope withers, Palestinian president heads to Washingtonn Reuters, Jerusalem

With pessimism growing by the day over the future of Middle East peace talks, US President Barack Obama will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington today to try to break the stalemate.

The deadline for the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, aimed at ending their entrenched con-� ict, expires next month and Washing-ton is eager to persuade the two sides to prolong their discussions within a new framework.

But expectations of imminent prog-ress are minimal.

After eight months of initial talks, and at least 10 trips to the region, US Secretary of State John Kerry sound-ed unusually gloomy during a Con-gressional hearing on March 12, indi-cating that little progress had been made so far.

“The level of mistrust is as large as any level of mistrust I’ve ever seen,” said Kerry, a veteran of Middle East di-plomacy. “Neither (side) believes the other is really serious. Neither believes that ... the other is prepared to make some of the big choices that have to be made here.”

However, he said it was still possi-ble to extend the talks. Obama’s direct involvement is aimed at providing much needed additional impetus: he saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month, and is

now meeting Abbas.Israelis and Palestinians have been

holding on-o� negotiations for more than 20 years with the stated aim of sharing the Holy Land and creating an independent Palestine.

Through all that time, the main, unresolved issues have remained ex-actly the same - de� ning the borders and agreeing on security, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees displaced during the 1948 cre-ation of Israel.

Obama told Netanyahu he would seek “di� cult decisions” from Abbas in coming weeks and would push him behind closed doors as hard as he did the Israeli premier to help narrow the gap for a framework accord, a senior US o� cial said.

Obama will also tell Abbas that “we should not let this current window for peace close” and will make the case for the bene� ts of peace to the Palestinian people, the o� cial said.

Although the terms of the mooted accord have not been published, Pal-estinians say early indications suggest they will be o� ered less than what former USPresident Bill Clinton laid out in 2000 in the so-called Clinton Parameters.

The president’s aides have made clear that Obama wants the framework document to be seen as even-hand-ed, despite the sense among many Palestinians that Washington is favouring Israel.

FrustrationBesides the so-called core issues, oth-er hurdles to a deal have also emerged, particularly Netanyahu’s demand that Abbas recognises Israel as a Jewish state.

Israel says this would show he was serious about ending the con� ict, but the Palestinians say it would mere-ly destroy their own narrative. Abbas says accepting it would e� ectively deny his own people›s centuries-old links to the land and would also mean renouncing the right to return for some 5 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

Washington has endorsed the Israeli position but, perhaps revealing a frus-tration with Netanyahu, Kerry told the House Committee on Foreign A� airs on Thursday that it was a “mistake” to raise the issue repeatedly “as the criti-cal decider.”

Adamant not to give in on this point, Abbas also faces pressure at home not to agree to any loosely worded accord that would simply prolong negotia-tions, with no clear end in sight.

The Palestine Liberation Organiza-tion (PLO), which is chaired by Abbas, issued a statement this week express-ing its “absolute rejection” of any prolongation.

PLO board member Hanan Ashrawi said that without obtaining a freeze on Jewish settlement-building on occu-pied territories the Palestinians want for their future state, any further dis-cussions would be futile. l

Herdsmen kill 100 in attacks on Nigerian villagesn Reuters, Kaduna, Nigeria

Gunmen killed more than 100 people in an attack on three villages in central Nigeria, an area where longstanding disputes over land, religion and ethnic-ity often erupt into violence, two local government o� cials said yesterday.

Police con� rmed the raids by Fulani herdsman late on Friday on the vil-lages of Ugwar Sankwai, Ungwan Gata and Chenshyi, in Kaduna state, but de-clined to give a death toll.

Hundreds have been killed in the past year in clashes pitting the cat-tle-herding and largely Muslim Fulani people against mostly Christian set-tled communities like the Berom in Nigeria’s volatile “Middle Belt,” where its mostly Christian south and Muslim north meet.

The unrest is not linked to the insur-gency in the northeast by Boko Haram, an al Qaeda-linked group which wants to impose sharia law in northern Nigeria.

However, analysts say there is a risk the insurgents will try to stoke central Nigeria’s con� ict. Though most of the

Islamist sect’s attacks are contained fur-ther north but it did claim a 2011 Christ-mas Day bomb attack at a church in Jos.

“Fulani gunmen came across from neighboring Plateau state and just opened � re on the villagers at around 11 p.m.,” said Daniel Anyip, vice chair-man of the Kaura local government au-thority. “We are still picking bodies out of the bush but so far there are more than 100 killed.”

Andrew Kazah, another local coun-cilor, said at least 96 had been killed, but that the toll was likely to go up.

Human Rights Watch in December said sectarian clashes in the nation’s re-ligiously mixed central region had killed 3,000 people since 2010, adding that Nigerian authorities had largely ignored the violence, an accusation they denied.

Though it sometimes takes on a sectarian character, the violence is fundamentally about decades-old land disputes between semi-nomadic, cat-tle-keeping communities such as the Fulani and settled farming peoples such as the Berom, both often armed with automatic weapons.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with almost 170 million people, split roughly equally between Chris-tians and Muslims and around 250 dif-ferent ethnic groups who mostly live peacefully side-by-side.

But the central region has been a tin-derbox for decades.

Its violence, far from economic cen-ters or oil � elds in Africa’s second-big-gest economy and top oil producer, rare-ly captures the attention of its elites. l

Israel: Kerry pressuring the wrong siden AFP, Jerusalem

An Israeli minister yesterday said Wash-ington’s top diplomat was “wrong” for pressuring Israel in peace talks, a day before Palestinian leader Mahmud Ab-bas visits the White House.

His remarks came two days after US Secretary of State John Kerry criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya-hu’s repeated demand that the Palestin-ians recognise Israel as a Jewish state.

“John Kerry is wrong because he is putting pressure on the wrong side,” said Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, who is considered close to Netanyahu. “Kerry should be asking Abu Mazen (Abbas) why he is stubbornly refusing to recognise Israel as the Jewish state.”

The demand, which was only placed on the table several months ago by Net-anyahu, has been consistently rejected by the Palestinians and is now threat-ening to derail the peace talks ahead of an April 29 deadline.

Kerry waded into the debate on Fri-day, saying he believed it was a “mis-take” to raise the issue over and over again – in what was taken as open criti-cism of Netanyahu.

“I think it’s a mistake for some peo-ple to be raising it again and again as the critical decider of their attitude toward the possibility of a state and peace,” Kerry told a congressional hearing.

He said such recognition was clear in UN resolutions and was also con� rmed by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1988 and in 2004. l

NATO websit es hit in cyber-attack linked to Crimea tensionn Reuters, Brussels/London

Hackers brought down several public NATO websites, the alliance said yes-terday, in what appeared to be the lat-est escalation in cyberspace over grow-ing tensions over Crimea.

The Western military alliance’s spokeswoman, Oana Lungescu, said on social networking site Twitter that cy-ber attacks, which began on Saturday evening, continued yesterday, although most services had now been restored.

“It doesn’t impede our ability to command and control our forces. At no time was there any risk to our classi� ed

networks,” another NATO o� cial said.NATO’s main public website (www.

nato.int), which carried a statement by Secretary-General Anders Fogh Ras-mussen saying that Sunday’s referen-dum on Crimea’s status would violate international law and lack legitimacy, worked intermittently.

The so-called “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attack, in which hackers bombard websites with requests causing them to slow down or crash, also hit the site of a NATO-a� liated cyber security centre in Estonia. NATO’s unclassi� ed e-mail network was also a� ected.

A group calling itself “cyber ber-

kut” said the attack had been carried out by patriotic Ukrainians angry over what they saw as NATO interference in their country.

The claim, made at www.cyber-ber-kut.org, could not be independently veri� ed. “Berkut” is a reference to the feared and since disbanded riot squads used by the government of ousted pro-Russian Ukrainian President Vik-tor Yanukovich.

Cyber warfare expert Je� rey Carr, in a blog on the attacks, described cyber ber-kut as staunch supporters of Yanukovich and a “pro-Russia hacktivist group work-ing against Ukrainian independence.” l

Venezuela wants US to join ‘peace commission’ to end unrestn AFP, Caracas

Venezuelan P resident Nicolas Maduro urged Washington on Saturday to join a “high-level commission” to promote peace after more than a month of dead-ly anti-government demonstrations.

Maduro blames the United States for the riots, a charge US o� cials on Friday dismissed as “absurd.”

At least 28 people have been killed and 400 injured in the student-led protests that began February 4 in western Venezuela and spread to Ca-

racas and other cities.Oil-rich Venezuela has seen almost

daily anti-government demos as tens of thousands of people vent their rage over the soaring crime rate, spiral-ing in� ation, and a lack of household goods in the markets.

Maduro, speaking at a rally in sup-port of the armed forces, said he would propose a commission “for peace and mutual respect of sovereignty” be-tween Venezuela and the United States that could include parties from both sides and the UNASUR grouping of

South American nations.The leftist president said he would

name Diosdado Cabello, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, to lead potential talks with the United States “to speak while respecting peace for a dialogue among equals.”

His terms for dialogue are virtual-ly identical to those that have been stated repeatedly by Cuba, Caracas’s closest ally.

The United States has not taken ei-ther country up on their regularly stat-ed o� ers. l

Syria’s army announces capture of rebel bastionn AFP, Damascus

Syria’s army said yesterday it had seized the rebel stronghold Yabrud, where it is backed by Lebanon’s Hez-bollah and pro-regime militias, dealing the opposition a heavy symbolic and strategic blow.

“After a series of special operations, the Syrian Arab army, in coordination with the (paramilitary) National De-fence Forces, returned security and stability to the town of Yabrud and its surroundings in northern Damascus province,” an army statement said.

State television broadcast images of dead � ghters, and its correspondent on the ground said tra� c was moving nor-mally along the nearby highway that links the capital Damascus to Syria’s third city Homs.

“This new success... is an important step towards securing the border area with Lebanon, and cutting o� the roads and tightening the noose around the remaining terrorist cells in Damascus province,” the military added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO, said Lebanon’s Shi-ite Hezbollah movement had led the Yabrud operation.

“Hezbollah forces supported by Syr-ian regime troops and the pro-regime National Defence Forces militia have taken control of large parts of Yabrud,” the group said, adding that clashes were continuing.

The fall of Yabrud comes after months of Syrian army operations in the strategic Qalamoun region, north of Da-mascus, where the town is situated. l

A child cries as he looks out of the window of his damaged house in the village of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon, near the Lebanon-Israel border on March 15, 2014 after it was shelled by an Israeli strike the previous night. Israel said it shelled a position belonging to the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah inside Lebanon AFP

SHATTERED HOMES

Pro-Russian activists hold giant Russian � ags during their rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. Polls opened in Crimea yesterday for a unique referendum to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, with the � rst voters seen entering polling stations in the regional capital Simferopol AFP

The unrest is not linked to the insurgency in the northeast by Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia law

9Monday, March 17, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Rahul predicts bigger election win than 2009

n AFP, New Delhi

Rahul Gandhi yesterday forecast a bigger win for India’s ruling Congress party in next month’s elections than it secured last time, rejecting comments by senior party members that they face an uphill battle.

Gandhi, frontrunner to be prime minister should Congress win, predict-ed the party would surpass its tally of seats secured at the 2009 national elec-tions, rejecting opinion polls showing it headed for a humiliating loss.

Acknowledging that after a decade in power, “there is a certain amount of anti-incumbency against us,” Gandhi disagreed with Finance Minister P Chi-dambaram that Congress was the “un-derdog.”

“Congress is � ghting a challenging election and we will win the election,” Gandhi told the Press Trust of India in an interview. “I am not a soothsayer but we will do well,” he told PTI.

Although he declined to predict the number of seats, Gandhi said the � gure

would be higher than the 206 Congress won in the 543-seat national parlia-ment in 2009, when it formed a coali-tion government.

Gandhi also hit out at arch rival Na-rendra Modi, widely tipped to win the elections, claiming he still has many questions to answer about his links to deadly riots in the western state of Gu-jarat where he is chief minister.

Gandhi said there was a “clear and inexcusable failure” of governance in Gujarat where more than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in riots in 2002 after Modi took o� ce in 2001.

“The speci� c allegation and evi-dence pointing to Mr Modi’s responsi-bility in the 2002 riots are yet to be ad-equately probed. Any talk of his having been given a clean chit (slate) may be politically expedient, but is far too pre-mature,” he said.

“There are many unanswered ques-tions. There is a lot more the country needs to know.”

Modi has denied wrongdoing and has been cleared by legal inquiries, but allegations that he failed to stop the ri-ots continue to dog the prime ministe-rial candidate.

Hindu nationalist Modi and his op-position Bharatiya Janata Party are expected to come to power on a plat-form of economic revival following the world’s biggest elections starting on April 7.

The elections have pitted Gandhi, vice president of Congress and scion of India’s political dynasty, against Modi, the son of a tea-stall owner. l

Families face worst nightmare of mid-air ordeal on MH370n AFP, Kuala Lumpur

New revelations about a missing Malay-sia Airlines plane have left anguished relatives contemplating the prospect that those on board endured a terri-fying high-altitude hijack ordeal that may have lasted nearly eight hours.

But while the disclosures led to in-creased speculation of a terror plot or pilot suicide, for some they o� ered a glimmer of hope – that � ight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, may somehow have landed safely and that their loved ones may still be alive.

For relatives of Bob and Cathy Law-ton, a missing Australian couple, the possibility of a terrifying drawn-out fate at thousands of feet re� ected their deepest fears. “That’s one of the worst things I could have hoped for,” Bob’s brother David Lawton told News Lim-ited newspapers.

“Even if they are alive, what did they have to put up with?”

Prime Minister Najib Razak declined to use the word hijack when he briefed the press Saturday, but said new data suggested a “deliberate action” to di-vert the plane.

The Boeing 777’s communications appear to have been switched o� man-ually before the jet veered westward

and � ew for hours.What happened during that time

remains a mystery. But one report of the plane � uctuating from low to high altitude fuelled fears the passengers may have been well aware they were in terrible danger.

The New York Times said the jet had reached 45,000 feet – above its approved altitude limit – before it “de-scended unevenly to 23,000 feet.”

It cited Malaysian military radar signals, but the data has not been con-� rmed by the authorities.

“At 45,000 feet, it may result in pressurisation problems,” said Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based indepen-dent aviation analyst.

“But we don’t know how the � uctu-ation went, whether it was gentle or vi-olent and sharp. If it was gentle, only a few sensitive passengers would notice.”

China’s fury For relatives in China, which had 153 citizens on the � ight, the investigators’ breakthrough just brought more dis-tress and frustration.

“We are experiencing an ordeal. We are still waiting for (more information),” said one tearful man emerging from a meeting between Malaysia Airlines and relatives in Beijing on Sunday morning.

“We are extremely anxious. A long time has passed and they don’t disclose (more) information,” he said.

Another branded the meeting “a joke.”“Until they say what really and truly

happened, what good is it?” he said.Malaysian authorities have been se-

verely criticised for failing to share in-formation or for issuing contradictory statements.

China’s media made fresh criticism Sunday, saying Malaysia had “squan-dered” precious time and resources by releasing the dramatic information on the plane’s fate a full week after it vanished.

“It is undeniable that the disclosure of such vital information is painfully belated,” a scathing editorial by the state-run Xinhua news agency said, noting the “excruciating” seven days it entailed for relatives of the missing.

Clinging to hope Yet for some the new evidence brought relief – and a reason for hope.

“Our family is relieved that there’s an o� cial statement from the Malay-sian government, delivered by the Ma-laysian prime minister, that there’s a possibility that the aircraft might have been hijacked,” said Indonesian Santi. Her brother Sugianto Lo was on the � ight with his wife Vinny Chynthya. l

New Thai Red Shirts leader warns of battle aheadn AFP, Bangkok

A � rebrand hardliner who was a core leader of Thailand’s Red Shirts in the country’s massive 2010 protests has been chosen to head the pro-govern-ment movement, saying yesterday that a “big � ght” lay ahead.

Former MP Jatuporn Prompan, fac-ing terrorism charges in an ongoing tri-al related to the 2010 uprising, told AFP that any new Red Shirt tactics would be “peaceful.” “We have to discuss our strategy,” Jatuporn told AFP. “The next battle will be big.” He ruled out violence, saying that any new strategy would involve “no weapons.”

Jatuporn took the helm as chairman from previous Red Shirt leader Tida Ta-wornseth at a gathering of 10,000 sup-porters in Ayutthaya, north of Bang-kok, on Saturday.

Bangkok has been rocked by months of mass protests calling for Prime Min-ister Yingluck Shinawatra to step aside in favour of an unelected “people’s council” to tackle what opponents see as a culture of money-driven politics.

The backdrop is a longstanding struggle between a royalist establish-ment, backed by the judiciary and the military, and Yingluck’s billionaire family which has strong support in the northern half of Thailand.

Protests accuse Yingluck’s elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra – a ty-coon-turned-premier who was oust-ed from o� ce by royalist generals in 2006 – of running the government from overseas, where he lives to avoid a jail term for corruption. l

Pakistan mob sets � re to Hindu templen AFP, Karachi

An angry mob of dozens of Muslims set � re to a Hindu temple in a southern Pakistani city over the alleged desecra-tion of a Koran, o� cials said Sunday as police were deployed to quell tensions.

The arson took place on Saturday night in Larkana, the home town of op-position leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who is the son of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

It was the latest example of violence over an alleged violation of Pakistan’s tough blasphemy laws, which rights groups say are often abused to settle personal scores.

“The law and order problem sur-faced in the city Saturday evening after local residents accused a Hindu youth, Surjeet Kumar, of burning pages of the Holy Koran,” senior local administra-tion o� cial Ghunwar Leghari told AFP.

Dozens of enraged Muslims at-tacked a Hindu temple in the city and set � re to its sanctuary, Leghari said, adding the situation had been brought under control overnight and Kumar

was in police custody.He added that there was a heavy

deployment of police and paramilitary rangers to keep the peace on Sunday.

Another senior police o� cial, Khad-im Hussain Rind, con� rmed the inci-dent and said two Muslims had been arrested for their part in the violence.

Reacting to the attack, Zardari tweeted: “I consider attack on temple akin to attack on GKB (Garhi Khuda Baksh).perpetrators will b brought 2 justice as will people who spread lies and incited violence.”

Garhi Khuda Baksh is a village which houses the Bhutto family mausoleum.

Hindus account for around nine per-cent of Larkana’s population of around 400,000, with many running their own businesses.

Minorities are particularly suspect-ible to accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan, where Muslims make up 97 percent of the population and insulting the Prophet Mohammed can carry the death penalty.

The incident also had repercussions in the southwestern province of Balu-chistan, where protesters angry at the alleged blasphemy in Larkana clashed with police in the towns of Osta Mu-hammad and Dera Murad Jamali.

Two protesters and one policeman were injured during the clashes in Osta Muhammad, while four shops owned by Hindus were set ablaze, senior local po-lice o� cial Syed Ashfaq Shah told AFP. l

Afghan election � eld down to ninen AFP, Kabul

Former defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak withdrew from the Afghan pres-idential election yesterday in the latest sign of deal-making in the race to lead the country as NATO troops prepare to exit.

Wardak, a veteran military and polit-ical operator, has been a senior advisor to President Hamid Karzai, but he failed to make any impact in the election cam-paign ahead of voting on April 5.

Nine candidates now remain in the race to succeed Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan since 2001 and is constitu-tionally banned from running again.

The three leading names are former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul, Ab-dullah Abdullah, who came second in 2009, and former World Bank econo-mist Ashraf Ghani.

Wardak, from the Pashtun ethnic group like Karzai and Rassoul, was a guerrilla commander in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

US-led NATO combat troops are leav-ing after 13 years of � ghting the Taliban in-surgency that erupted when the Islamists were thrown out of power after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The Taliban last week vowed to target the election. l

AAP � elds a mix of candidates from di� erent sectorsn Agencies

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of India has sought to strike a balance by giving tickets to people from diverse � elds like media, corporate world, � lms and academics besides social activists, for-mer defence personnel and retired bu-reaucrats for the Lok Sabha elections, reported Times of India.

Former CEO and chairperson of RBS India Meera Sanyal, social activ-ist Medha Patkar, actress Gul Panag, academician Rajmohan Gandhi and journalist Ashutosh are among the 242 candidates announced by the party so far for its debut Lok Sabha elections.

“After its success in the Delhi assem-bly elections, the party has got tremen-dous response with people from across the country wanting to become mem-bers. With this, also came a long list of people wanting to contest on a party ticket,” said an AAP leader.

While party leader Arvind Kejriwal doesn’t mince words when it comes to attacking the media, it is ironic that it has given a sizable number of tickets to jour-nalists. Mukul Tripathi, Ashish Khetan, Jarnail Singh, who had � ung his shoe on P Chidambaram, and former Time jour-nalist Anita Pratap are among them.

Ashutosh will contest against Union minister Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk constituency here.

Despite the erstwhile AAP govern-ment’s decision of scrapping FDI in re-tail, it has managed to � nd candidates from the corporate world as well. Sany-al has been named to take on Union

minister Milind Deora from South Mumbai. K Balakrishnan, former Chief Financial O� cer of Infosys, would be contesting from Bangalore Central.

The party has also managed to � eld activists, who for years, have been tak-ing up cudgels against various state governments over di� erent issues.

Narmada Bachao Andolan pioneer Patkar is in fray from Mumbai North-east while another NBA activist Alok Agarwal is contesting from Khandwa. Similarly, tribal activist Soni Sori is contesting from Bastar in Chhattisgarh whereas anti-Posco leader Lingraj is contesting from Bargarh in Odisha.

Experts from the � eld of academics, literary world and science are also in fray on AAP tickets. Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, is con-testing from East Delhi whereas Ma-lyali writer Sara Joseph is in fray from Thrissur in Kerala.

The party has also been able to at-tract serving and former bureaucrats. Former IPS o� cer Kanchan Choudhary

Bhattacharya, � rst woman DGP of any state, will contest from Haridwar in Uttarakhand. From Baramati in Maha-rashtra, former IPS o� cer Suresh Kho-pade is contesting against NCP supre-mo Sharad Pawar’s daughter.

In Kerala, the party has � elded for-mer IPS o� cer Ajit Joy from Thiruva-nanthapuram, a seat currently held by Union minister and former UN Un-der-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor. Incidentally, Joy quit IPS to join the United Nations’s O� ce on Drugs and Crime. He later quit UN to join AAP.

Gul Panag and several actors from regional industry are also contesting on AAP tickets.

The party too has been able to strike a balance by giving tickets to its old leaders and those joining recently. While on the one hand, it has � eld-ed Kumar Vishwas against Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, on other hand, former BJP MP Rajan Sushant is in fray from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh on AAP ticket. Party leader Shazia Ilmi is contesting from Ghaziabad against Raj Babbar (Cong).

However, there has also been dissi-dence against the party’s decision over selection of candidates. Party workers have often levelled charges that the all powerful Political A� airs Committee, which gives � nal approval for candidates selection, has been imposing candidates.

“Party’s choice of Ashish Khetan, Ra-jmohan Gandhi and Ashutosh has been improper. They have been imposed upon us,” said a party worker unhappy with the choice of candidates. l

Sources: MalaysiaAirlines/Vietnam govt/Malaysia govt/NOAA/media

BEIJING

The search now focuses on twodifferent land and oceantransport corridors

25 countriesare nowhelping with thesearch

Took off fromKuala Lumpur,March 8, 00:41 am

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CHINA

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Approximatelast positiontracked bymilitary radar

Investigators say the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 239 people on board changed courseafter someone switched off its communications systems

More countries join search for MH370

An aerial view taken from a Pakistan army helicopter shows villagers near their homes in the Thar desert area of Mehrano Taluka Deeplo, some 300 kilometres from Karachi, on March 16, 2014. As the death toll from the latest outbreak of poverty-driven diseases in Pakistan’s Thar desert nears 100 children, experts are warning that corruption and a dysfunctional political system make a repeat of the disaster almost inevitable. The desert region in Tharparkar, one of Pakistan’s poorest districts, spreads over nearly 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 square miles) in the country’s southeast and is home to some 1.3 million people, including a large population of minority Hindus AFP

While Kejriwal doesn’t mince words when it comes to attacking the media, it is ironic that the party has given a sizable number of tickets to journalists

ONSLAUGHT OF POVERTY-DRIVEN DISEASES

It was the latest example of violence over an alleged violation of Pakistan’s tough blasphemy laws

Confronting Jamaat the smart wayMarch 9

LonewolfOne of the sadder recent developments has been the almost total alliance of Jamaat and BNP at the street and student level. A decade or so ago, they were as likely to be at each other’s throats, than together; now it seems that BNP believes that they can never win without Jamaat.

Ronnie Lonewolf: I often wonder (and fear) if this is really entirely true. In many ways, it appears rather obvious that the alliance (at the student/street level) has been deepened (often outrageously, with Jamaat dominating). But I still sense that, despite appearances, BNP hasn’t completely hitched their political star on Jamaat, yet. And I’m not a “lone wolf” among the party’s supporters who believe BNP can absolutely win, without Jamaat – if only they could be persuaded to try.

ndsI totally agree with the author that banning Jamaat by executive order will simply mis� re. It will help them to have public sympathy which they don’t deserve. Civilised they never would be because they have an embedded anathema for anything even remotely related to civilisation. Besides, civilisation would be suicidal for them.

Taking steps to get them marginalised is a better option but that would also be next to impossible in this society. I think that was the reason why the

author’s parents and grandparents had chosen the better option to leave this country. Those who cannot afford to have accepted it as something that cannot be cured but must be endured.

KMAKAccording to the author of this silly opinion piece, the smart way of confronting Jamaat involves lumping Jamaat together with other religious fundamentalists and attacking madrasa education a la Kemal Ataturk style. It is ironic that in expressing his fear of fundamentalists who, he presages, will denounce him as an apostate, the author’s suggestions, especially his idolisation of Kemal Ataturk, make him out to be a secular fundamentalist whose dislike of Jamaat is simply a cover for his dislike of religion.

RonnieThe author’s stance is pretty close to where I reckon I stand on this issue. Banning unsavoury, extremist political parties of whatever stripe is an ill-conceived, anti-democratic, doomed endeavour. Nor is relent-less repression of such parties any more advisable. I agree with Mr Sohail’s prescriptions of dealing with Jamaat & Co with greater pragmatism and certainly democratically – not in a fascist, equally extremist manner that many people advocate. I only wonder if Jamaat can ever really make that leap of faith to “civilise” themselves as the author insists they must as the only option they have to survive politically in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh plans trade deals with Nigeria and MaliMarch 10

As a Bangladeshi living in Nigeria, I can vouch for the great potential Nigerian market has for Bangladeshi products. Nigeria is the 6th larg-est oil producer in the world, with immense consumer potential. Nigeria imports consumer goods mainly from India, Lebanon and China, but there are hardly any products from Bang-ladesh (including garment products). In order to diversify the Bangladeshi economy, we need to identify emerging markets and focus on trade with them rather than depending on the West.

Deshi

Keep the Tigers roaring

Bangladesh has made a welcome return to winning ways, in the opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup.

After a series of disappointing competitive matches, it was essential the Tigers made a solid start in the opening match of the tournament against Afghanistan.

To the delight of the crowd, Bangladesh bowled Afghanistan out for 72 runs and roared to victory with 9 wickets and 8 overs to spare.

It is a relief to see the home team regain form as the nation holds its biggest ever T20 series. To make it through to the key Super 10 stage with the eight top test–playing nations, nothing short of three victories have to be played for and won.

With the standard of competition ever higher, as Afghanistan, itself a welcome new team in the World Cup, showed recently by beating Bangladesh at home in the Asia Cup, the Tigers cannot a� ord to allow room for any doubts now about their form.

Congratulations then to the Bangladesh team for their crowd–pleasing performance and due commiserations to Afghanistan’s fans.

As World Cup fever begins to spread and Bangladeshis cheer with camaraderie and � ash mobs, this is the best possible start for T20’s leading cricket tournament. It bodes well for a great atmosphere in the weeks ahead.

May this just be the beginning for the Tigers.

CEC complacency on poll violence unacceptableThe third phase of the upazila parishad elections has seen

serious, substantiated allegations of polling violations, and widespread violence in which three people were killed.

In the face of this, it is unacceptable for the acting chief election commissioner to tell reporters the EC is 100% satis� ed with the polls and to comment that: “When holding elections, some stray incidents may take place.”

This statement overlooks the hundreds hurt and downplays allegations made in various polling centres of ballot boxes being stu� ed and party activists capturing voting centres.

We acknowledge that the ultimate responsibility for this lies with the political parties who allow or enable their activists to behave lawlessly. However, the EC should have learned lessons from the earlier phases of the polls to help the police maintain order.

Moreover, it is dis-quieting that candidates belonging to the AL won almost all the seats where there were allegations of vote-rigging and violence. These results contributed to an upsurge in its wins, with AL leading in this phase, in contrast to the � rst two polls where it lagged behind the BNP.

As similar credible allegations were made in the previous elections, the EC has to become more forthright about its investigations into complaints and allegations made against all the parties.

The EC needs to demonstrate that all incidents are properly investigated and that there have been or will be consequences for wrongdoers. It should take this week’s deaths as a wake-up call for action to prevent similar incidents tainting future polls.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Mother kills daughter’s stalkerMarch 13

Sanzida Rahman How corrupt are the police that they did not arrest the stalker and throw him in jail, but when the mother went forward to protect her daughter, she got arrested. If the police had done their job properly, all this wouldn’t have happened!

Ziaul Haque Instead of being punished, the mother should receive a medal for bravery. Salute.

The EC needs to demonstrate that all incidents are properly investigated and that are consequences for wrongdoers

Bangladesh has made a welcome return to winning ways. May this just be the beginning

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Getting only 10% water from Teesta barrageMarch 14

The Teesta barrage was built in 1990 for the irrigation of 6 districts in the north. But around 60,500 hectares of agricultural land in the 12 upazilas of Nilphamari, Rangpur, Dinajpur are facing severe problems due to lack of water for irrigation.

India has been diverting water from their river, so we have been getting only 10% water from the Tees-ta barrage. We are supposed to get 5,000 cusec of water, but we receive only 500 cusec!

Our government has failed to ensure we get our share, while the public awaits to see what the AL government is going to do next.

Israr Istiaque IstiRajshahi

Pry head teachers’ status upgradedMarch 10

Not enough! Pay the teachers a decent salary so parents do

not have to pay extra fees to so-called coaching

centres, managed by teachers to increase their meager income!

Vikram Khan

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

Across1 Male deer (4)3 Furniture item (4)7 Fresh (3)8 Stoppers (5)11 Vend (4)12 Intended (5)13 Happening (5)15 Circle (4)18 Torn (4)19 Pitworker (5)20 Harvests (5)21 Neat (4)24 Respond (5)25 Church seating (4)26 Camera part (4)

Down1 Soldier (6)2 Quickness of perception (6)4 United (3)5 Of the cat (4)6 Boring tool (3)9 Well-born people (6) 10 Posed for a portrait (3)11 Chevron (6)14 Italian city (6)16 Mad (6)17 For nothing (6)19 Spoil (3)21 Faucet (3)22 Early freshness (3)

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

SUDOKU

n Julian Francis

In 1971, I had the privilege and responsibility of administering Oxfam-UK’s relief program for

about 600,000 of the ten million refugees who had � ed from Bangladesh to India and were staying in many of the over 900 refugee camps in the border area of India and Bangladesh.

After the return to Bangladesh of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on January 10, 1972, I made plans to bring one of their landrovers, laden with urgently needed medical supplies, to Dhaka from Calcutta.

On January 20, I set o� from Calcutta. We travelled very slowly as there were so many people walking back from West Bengal to their homes in Bangladesh. We stayed overnight at a Catholic Mission Hospital in Jessore where, earlier, an Italian Father had been killed by Pakistani army per-sonnel as a punishment for giving humanitarian assistance to members of the Mukti Bahini.

The next day we continued on our slow way to Dhaka and with the very long delay queuing for the ferry, we did not reach the centre of Dhaka until about midnight. I remember driving past the old airport with not a person or vehicle in sight. Suddenly, from nowhere, army personnel and police surrounded our vehicle. We had not known that there was a night-time curfew. After explaining who we were, we were escorted to the Purbani Hotel.

I was advised by the British High

Commission and other aid o� cials to pay a courtesy call on Sheikh Mujib. My meeting with him is one I will never forget. I told him that I wanted his advice about what we might be able to do to assist in the rehabilitation and development of Bangladesh.

Sheikh Mujib took his pipe out of his mouth and pointed the stem of the pipe at me. “How did you come here, young man?” he asked in a booming voice. I told him that I had driven over land from Calcutta. “In that case,” he told me, “You have seen more of my country than I have, as I was a prisoner for over 9 months, so please tell me what my country needs. What have you seen?”

I told Sheikh Mujib that I had seen many villages that had been burnt down, many bridges and culverts blown up, and many ferries and launches, large and small, sunk in the rivers. I told him that, on behalf of the organisation I was working with, I had already ordered, in India, £250,000 worth of CI sheets for a big house-rebuilding program and these

would arrive by early March. I added that I thought that bridge-building and replacement and repairs of ferries were more suited to bilateral and multilateral aid. “No,” Sheikh Mujib said, “Ferries are and will be the lifelines for my people. Please discuss with o� cials of the Bangladesh Inland Waterways Authority and see what Oxfam can do.”

Before I left him, Sheikh Mujib asked me about my experiences working with the people of Bangladesh in the refugee camps. As I spoke, emotion got the better of me and tears welled up in my eyes. Sheikh Mujib put his arm around me to comfort me and said, “Go young man, be strong,

and thank you for coming to see me and for helping Bangladesh.”

As a result of the meeting with Sheikh Mujib, we were able to procure 3 truck-carrying ferries and to assist the repair of many others. I remember that the Bangladesh Inland Waterways Authority wanted, understandably, to name the ferries after Liberation War martyrs but after the experience

of getting to know the � ora and fauna of Bangladesh and how they are part of the country’s poetry and music, we requested that the vessels be named after � owers. And so, Kamini, Kosturi, and Korobi, were so named and they continue to ply across the Padma River at Mawa to this day, over 40 years later.

During my short visit to Bangladesh 42 years ago, it was obvious that the two greatest needs were food and the restoration of the transport system with which to move the food around the country. Our Overseas Aid Director at that time, Ken Bennett, wrote in a report, a short while after my January 1972 visit: “I doubt if it would be an exaggeration to say that on the extent to which a solution to the problem of food imports and the restoration of communications can be quickly found may well depend the future of Bangladesh as a State.”

It is to Bangladesh’s great credit that it has survived and prospered and is now self-su� cient in the production of basic food grains which can be moved about the country most e� ciently.

In 1975, I was based in New Delhi, and on August 15, together with my family, I was watching India’s Independence Day celebrations on the television when the program was interrupted with the news of the assassination of Sheikh Mujib and his family members. I remembered being numbed by shock and burying my head in my hands and weeping loudly. Nearly 39 years later, I still get very

emotional when I remember that day in 1975. l

Julian Francis received the “Friends of Liberation War Honour” from the

Government of Bangladesh in March, 2012. He has worked in many poverty alleviation projects in Bangladesh where he continues to live and work as an independent consultant.

n Ifti Rashid

Disclaimer: All characters/incidents appearing here are � ctitious. Any resemblance to

real persons, modern or prehistoric, conservative or liberal, is purely coin-cidental.

Attention: Dear everyone who raised hue and cry about the BCB T20 Celebration Concert. Guess what? I sympathise with you. Yes, I do. Please let me elaborate.

I share your pain because I went to a sold-out concert in Melbourne recently that was advertised and ticketed as a Madonna concert. I eagerly purchased the overpriced tickets and waited in line for hours to get the best seat in the house. But I was totally heartbroken to see Maddy performing in the stage for such a long time instead of my favour-ite Melbourne local bands and troupes – what an utter disappointment.

To tell you the truth, I quite enjoyed the concert. Haven’t you seen me play Maddy’s “Ray of Light” in my car? Ha-ven’t you joined me in the dance � oor to the remixed tunes of “Frozen” in my last wedding? The fact is Madonna is part of my life but I don’t want to accept it.

My heart was really torn. What a lost opportunity to promote our local acts – it isn’t really their fault that, for most of them, their last major hit was before I was born, is it? And no, I am not a teenager.

It is true that there were some local bands on stage, but how can they be overshadowed by an international celebrity like Madonna? Absolutely un-believable. And the local bands were also singing foreign songs, even more despicable! I could not believe how everyone could be “sold out” so badly. They have been “Westernised.” This is nothing but an invasion attempt, I knew it all along. Cultural “aggression” at its worst. How can this be? We don’t live in a globalised world, do we? Of course not. We still use the telegram. In fact, I am hoping this telegram to all my friends in Bangladesh to express my angst about the concert, will reach you before the next World Cup. I am sure my great grandfather will also echo our concerns.

After the concert, I had the “Aussie Frutika” mango juice on the way back (yes, they have a similar juice with “real mangoes” in Melbourne too). One of the problems of drinking this unadultered “pure” juice is that it brings out all the uncensored “pure” thoughts from my heart. Creative juice indeed (yes, pun intended). 

Indeed, the juice made me think deeper. Maybe it was not about the concert. Maybe it was not about the artistes. I have to be honest – there are some of us who subconsciously try to � nd some fault or other with

the liberals in government. Why? In retrospect, we conservatives (I know it’s not “cool” to admit this in public) just can’t stand them. 

I continued. I was right, it really is not about the concert at all. I love Maddy from the bottom of my heart. Maybe this is all about politics. Given the conservatives have failed against the liberals, maybe this mantra of being “sold out” will help change the situation? Maybe many people will � nally come out to the streets?

I don’t understand what is wrong with “common people.” Why do they only care about economic and social devel-opment? What is the big deal about uninterrupted electricity? And success in counterterrorism is not a big deal, it was a � gment of imaginations. 

As I drank more pure mango juice, my increasingly pure mind was show-ing signs of confusion. I hate liberals because they are the cause of all our problems, trust me. It is not only cultural invasion. My horse-drawn cart broke down on the way to the concert. It was the fault of the evil “invaders.” If that’s not enough, can you believe my washroom broke down too? I really don’t know how they did it, but I am sure it is their fault too. I really didn’t like the concert, or am I trying to make myself believe that to justify my political vies? 

I can’t take this anymore. I must go to bed. I have to wake up early tomor-row morning to work on my thesis. The typewriter is giving me a lot of trouble, I need to get the ink ribbon changed. Hope to see all of you in Dhaka later this year. I will take a boat from the Yarra to Buriganga in August, so I should reach home by the end of the year.  

In the meantime, please avoid this mango juice – it is best to avoid the truth. After all, ignorance is often bliss. Lastly, my heart goes out to you for your pain that you can see I so passionately share.Goodnight.Yours truly,Nineteenth Century (closet) Conservative. l

Ifti Rashid is a political and security analyst, currently a PhD Candidate in the National Centre for South Asian Studies, Monash University. He is a columnist of the Dhaka Tribune.

11Op-Ed Monday, March 17, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Towheed Feroze

The poster looked di� erent – a young girl in glasses holding a menacing weapon – the title read Agnee. “It’s a movie about a girl on � re,”

commented the tea-seller, on whose cigarette-selling box the poster was plastered. In fact, his exact line was: “Daring (pronounced ‘dearing’) maiya, shob halae Bhiter Bari.”

Finding it a bit di� cult to under-stand? Well, “Bhiter Bari” is a common-ly used term to indicate that someone is so scared that he or she is unwilling to come outside of the house.

So, in everyday language, if you say: “Mamma tumi to Bhiter Bari,” it means something has scared the living daylights out of a person.

In the case of Agnee, the movie, the word means that the actress sends all villains packing. Hmm, I always liked women who specialise in violence, and since there isn’t a dungeon in Dhaka (as yet), I thought it a good idea to go and check out Mahiya Mahi and her male-bashing expertise.

This is the best you can get if “dom-inatrix deshi-style” is what you are looking for in celluloid, I am told.

I have always been a Bangla movie fan, going back to the late 70s when copies of hit Bollywood movies were made into equally good local ones like Dost Dushman, Mintu Amar Naam, Johnny, Sharif Bodmash, Barud, and so on. The habit never left, and even dur-ing the times when local productions reached a nadir with crass vulgarity dominating them, I found some time to go and watch a � lm.

Trust me, if you walk inside after a few shots of Vodka and having left your common sense back home, things

never appear that hopeless.But thankfully, Bangladeshi movies

have started to come out of the dubi-ous formula of low cost productions featuring obese actresses bursting at the seams and wig-wearing actors delivering clichéd lines, though there is still a long way to go.

I did say local movies are coming out of a time warp, which means it’s happening, albeit a bit slowly.

Hence, while the camera work is perfect and the editing above average, some parts are still the same: This is exactly why we are not at all shocked when all bad guys are found to be over-sexed, always salivating at the slightest sign of a skirt.

Heavy doses of Viagra, maybe. No, no I forgot, the setting is Bangkok – the ambiance is heady enough for sending the libido to the top.

The unwritten law: Villains have to be lecherous, immoral womanisers with no re� nement at all. Therefore, when a suited guy lasciviously meas-ures Mahiya Mahi (Tanisha), remarking he is tired of eating farmed chicken and desires some “deshi” chicken, we know instantly this guy is the baddie.

One more point to note: They always talk in a passive voice – he will be killed by me, as opposed to I will kill him. 

Like I said earlier, while � lmography has improved, storylines have become peripheral. “Arey golpo diya ki hoibo” (who cares about a story), someone tells me. Right. To hell with the story, bring on more digital razzmatazz. I am still high …

A prehistoric plot is given the millennium touch – a girl’s parents are brutally murdered by goons and she grows up with one ambition – to avenge their deaths. Hence, the name Agnee, alluding to her � ery resolve.

Of course, no one asks from where she gets her weapons or how she trans-ported all these deadly-looking guns to Thailand.

Mate, I told you to leave your com-

mon sense back at home.We must assume that on the streets

of another country, vicious-looking weapons are freely available. Walk in somewhere (preferably inside an o� -li-cense shop for weapons), and simply say: “Excuse me, need to bump o� a few hundred people, so what do you suggest?”

Voila! A whole range of items are placed before you – who knows, they may even o� er a “buy an AK-47, get a mini rocket launcher for free!” deal.

Also, there is no sign of the po-lice. Assassins, ma� a bosses, plus all underworld leaders can roam around

freely. Guns are � red without silencers. Armed people move about without worry – what a Crime-Ri La.

In between, there is naturally our hero Are� n Shuvo – the Bengali who is a Thai boxing champion. Interest-ingly, we never see him engage in Thai martial arts.

His � lm name is � ttingly “Dragon,” though the � erce nature that is sup-posed to come with the epithet melts at the sight of Tanisha. Dragon turns Diwana! Quick … time for a song by the beach, on the boat, on top of wave-splashed rocks.  

“I hate the gun,” he rants, “give me love … pleeeeease, Tanisha, my jaan!” This is the gist of about one hour of the � lm. “Tainna boro kora,” or stretching a wafer-thin plot to the limit – an old habit that is present in all its glory.

Tell me, how long does the high of � ve shots of vodka last? Er, ummm, an hour and a half at the most.

Once the senses come back to nor-malcy, it’s hard to keep on watching. No doubt, technology-wise, movies have become better. However, camera work alone does not make a � lm.

With stale jokes done to death and lines topped with heavy doses of anachronisms rule, eventually, Agnee ends in a typical “all’s well that ends well” fashion.

So many deaths, but no eyebrows raised. Hell, talk about a haven for extra-judicial killings.

Five years from now, which part will you remember? A scene where Tanisha, posing as a hooker, demands $5000 for some short-time fun.

What? With that amount, you can get a whole harem mate! l

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

In the � ames of Agnee

Bangladeshi movies have started to come out of the dubious formula of low cost productions, though there is still a long way to go

As I spoke, emotion got the better of me and tears welled up in my eyes. Sheikh Mujib put his arm around me to comfort me

This is nothing but an invasion attempt, I knew it all along. Cultural ‘aggression’at its worst

Mango and creative juice

Remembering Bangabandhu

Is good camera work enough?

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

ARCHIVE

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 201412

FilmEnders Game Avatar 3DAakash Koto Dure Thor: The Dark World 3D The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 3D , Frozen in 3D AgneeTime: 10am - 10pmStar Cineplex, Bashundhara City

Robocop, GravityCaptain Phillips, ElysiumTime: 12:30pm – 9:30pmBlockbuster CinemasJamuna Future ParkKa- 244, Pragati Avenue, Kuril

Fairy Tale WeekTime: 3:30pm – 5:30pmGoethe Institute, Road 9(new) House 10, Dhanmondi R/A

TODAY IN DHAKA

n Punny Kabir

Shahin Badar is without a doubt one of the most talented British-Bangladeshi singer/song-writers. She has won many accolades for her work and has teamed up with famous artistes including Liam Howlett, AR Rahman, Tim De-luxe, Dope Buzz, Indian Ropeman and many others.

Aside from collaborating with renowned

artistes, her vocals have been featured in Hol-lywood and Bollywood � lms including Acad-emy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award nominated Closer, Academy Award nominated Charlie’s Angels and Shyam Bengal’s Zubeidaa. US TV shows North Shore and Kevin Hill are also on the list. Shahin is visiting friends and fami-ly in Bangladesh at present and Dhaka Tribune caught up with the versatile songstress in a one to one:

Are you going to perform here in Bangladesh this time? I would love to perform in Bangladesh as I am aware how much love teenagers hold for elec-tronic dance music. It de� nitely would give one a buzz to perform in their own country. The Bangali community have always welcomed me with open arms and I hold them very dear to my heart. I am fascinated by the richness the coun-try exhales in poetry, literature and art. This time, I have come to visit my family and friends in Dhaka and Sylhet. I loved my grandma and I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her. Life is short and I wanted to spend some quality with my uncle, nieces and nephews and the people of our community both young and old.

Do you follow Bangladeshi music? I have been brought up listening to all genres of music and I did listen to Rabindra Sangeet. Bengali music is very rich. I don’t follow it as much now because my genre of music is elec-tronica dance, trance, fusion and su� . I have however written a Bangla track and I hope to release it soon.

Are you interested in singing Bangla songs or work with Bangladeshi musicians or playback in Bangladeshi films?I would love to work with Bangladeshi musi-cians and of course if an o� er comes for Bangla playback work, why not? Music has no barrier, it opens many doors internationally and it is al-ways wonderful to collaborate with artistes of all genres.

Having an Asian background, how challenging was it for you to enter the International music scene?I guess life itself is a big challenge - being an Asian works to my credibility and I achieved respect from both Asian’s and non-Asians alike. I nev-er really thought about di� erences. I headlined many festivals in London and the producers were thrilled to see my performance. It attracted end-less mainstream producers. It took me a while to get acquainted with everything. In the begin-ning, I was experimenting but later I created my own niche in the market. Sometimes artists have to expose themselves completely to reach the height of success, I refused to take that path and my faith. I was always very strong headed and would not compromise. I never needed to.

Mainstream producers have always respect-ed my thoughts, achievements and my voice till date. I did not have much time to think of the challenges. I believe in delivering quality work and projects that inspire me to write and sing. I � nd competition tiring and I switch o� . I have received love from my fans and naturally reciprocate.

Asian record companies till today do not un-derstand certain genres of music and will not want to invest on artistes. They expect artistes to perform for free, while they bank through their events. Artistes are left stranded in such situations and I feel for them. They work very hard for the love of music but are not � nancially secure. If you let go of all your fears you can do what you want. Challenges are when those who don’t understand art criticise it and do not wish to expand with an artiste. It develops friction in communication which we can do without.

Artistes are spiritual and it is not easy for them to combine both but the best message I have, especially for women artistes is to stay strong and to keep their faith (Iman) and nat-urally with patience, their path will be blessed if they believe! Many will try and oppose and cause barriers for no reason whatsoever but an artiste needs to stay focused.

Tell us about your achievements.My Indo-Arabic Alaap chants that featured on The Prodigy’s smash hit single Smack My Bitch Up was a phenomenal success. The album Fat of the Land entered the Guinness Book of Re-cords for the fastest selling album in the world and held the No 1 spot in over 24 countries sell-ing over 10 million copies.

Recently I received a quadruple platinum disc for my contributions.

My club stomper single Mundaya with Tim Deluxe was BBC Radio 1’s tune of the week, charted No 4 in the buzz charts. I have performed alongside 50 cent in Lebanon, Shah Rukh Khan in London, headlined many festivals in Europe, launched charity events, took part in the NSPCC campaign, was nominated for various awards and was one of the judges for Great Britain Miss Universe pageant.

What are the keys to stand out in the crowd of musicians all over the world?Many keys, but the strongest of all is determi-nation and patience.

What do you consider is the best reward as a musician?Reward of talent, love for all of Almighty’s cre-ations!

Tell us about your new projects.My last three featured singles are Revolver (Dope Buzz), Is It Love ( Zak Moya), Supa� y (Happiness), Take It (Noise Control).

I have signed with Skint Records for a single deal, they have artistes like Fat Boy Slim. My current collaboration is with Dj Bobina, Rus-sian trance dj - a single is due for release this year Insha’Allah.

All my works are available on iTunes. l

In conversation with Shahin Badar

Artistes in the making of the music video of Dhono Dhanne Pushpe Bhora

A gift from Bangladeshi singers on Independence Dayn Entertainment Desk

A song to rejoice in the spirit of patriotism and independence will be “gifted” to Bangalees all over the world this month. A new version of the timeless golden song of Dwijendralal Ray – Dhono Dhanne Pushpe Bhora – has been prepared for airing on the occasion of the upcoming Independence Day.

Bappa Majumder has composed the music for the song with some new e� ects. Thirteen renowned Bangladeshi singers – Sabina Yasmin, Nakib Khan, Fahmida Nabi, Pilu Khan, Samina Chowdhury, Partha Barua, Fuad, Chandni, Elita, Joy, Parvez, Johad, Konal – and band Shunno have lent voice to the celebrated song.

Bappa said: “The recording of the song is com-

plete. Now, we are moving around Bangladesh to make the music video which will feature the country’s heritage and culture through the natural landscapes of our beautiful country.

“Tanveer Khan is directing the music video. As a singer, I think it is a duty to represent my coun-try, my nation in front of the world,” he added.

About lending voice in the song, Fahmida Nabi said: “I have not seen anyone working on famous patriotic songs. I must say that rethinking the song is commendable. All the singers sang this song with patriotism and viewers can also feel the same love and passion we felt for the country. It is a good initiative to represent one’s own cultural heritage.”

The song will be aired on di� erent television channels from March 26. l

n Entertainment Desk

Rumour has it that award-winning ac-tress Lupita Nyong’o has met with Star Wars producer JJ Abrams — as recently as a few weeks ago — about an upcom-ing role in Star Wars.

The meeting is said to have occurred before Nyong’o’s big win as Best Sup-porting Actress for her work in 12 Years a Slave at the 86th Academy Awards held on March 2.

Great secrecy surrounds not only the Star Wars plot, but the casting se-lection. As such, it is unclear which role Nyong’o, 31, is contending for, though it is believed to be a lead.

Speculators suggest that Nyong’o could be vying for the role of a descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a character who need not be portrayed by a white actor. Nyong’o could certainly play the part. l

Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o in talks for Star Wars

On the occasion of Dhaka Drama’s 37th Anniversary Theatre Festival-2014 Subachan Natya Shangsad staged its highly acclaimed play Mohajoner Nao on March 15 at Experimental Theatre Hall of Shilpakala Academy in the capital. Written by Shakoor Majid and directed by Sudip Chakraborty, the play narrates the story of Shah Abdul Karim and his journey to the realm of music through di� erent sequences based on his biography. Throughout the play, the actors, partly and fully, sing over 20 timeless songs from Abdul Karim’s repertoire of over 1500 songs. Karim’s philosophy is, perhaps, best re� ected through his songs. Both the playwright and director have aptly taken this approach to establish the storyline. The play also focuses on the di� culties that Karim faced in society. The performances of the actors, creative set designing and music are the special features of the play that always attracts the audience SUBRIN AL AZAD

13DHAKA TRIBUNEMonday, March 17, 2014

Sport 1414 Johnson out of World T20

Rosberg wins Australian GP

15 Bangladesh thrash Hong Kong

Did you know?Jose Mourinho failed to win any of his � ve away games against

Aston Villa in the Premier League (D3

L2) as a manager

Afghanistan innings R BShahzad c M’dullah b Mashrafe 0 1Tarakai c Nasir b Shakib 7 11Naib c Sabbir b Shakib 21 22Mangal run out (Sabbir) 0 1Nabi* lbw b Razzak 3 9Sadiq run out (Reza) 10 23Sha� qullah c Mush� q b M’dullah 16 16Shenwari lbw b Razzak 1 3Zadran c Mahmudullah b Reza 1 6Zadran b Shakib 1 11Aftab not out 0 1Extras (b 2, lb 5, w 3, nb 2) 12Total (all out; 17.1 overs) 72

FoW1-0, 2-36, 3-36, 4-36, 5-49, 6-58, 7-69, 8-69, 9-71, 10-72 BowlingMashrafe 2-0-8-1, Al-Amin 2-0-18-0, Shakib 3.1-0-8-3, M’dullah 4-1-8-1, Razzak 4-0-20-2, Sabbir 1-0-1-0, Reza 1-0-2-1

Bangladesh innings R BTamim lbw b Shenwari 21 27Anamul not out 44 33Shakib not out 10 12Extras (lb 1, w 2) 3Total (1 wicket; 12 overs) 78FoW: 1-45 Tamim, 7.4 ov BowlingNabi 3-0-11-0, Shapoor 1-0-7-0, Karim 2-0-17-0, Dawlat 2-0-13-0, Shenwari 3-0-14-1, Aftab 1-0-15-0Player of the matchShakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)

SCORECARD

Bangladesh’s batsman Anamul Haque celebrates after hitting the winning shot during their World Twenty20 opening match against Afghanistan at SBNS yesterday AP

Shakib happy and relieved

Bangladesh’s match winning performer of the day Shakib al Hasan was a relieved man after they an-chored their win over Afghanistan yester-

day. The world No 4 Twenty20I all-rounder said that they had the self belief of beating Afghanistan while the terri� c start produced by Mashrafe bin Mortaza was also very important.

“The pressure has been relieved. It was important to start o� well so I am happy and relieved,” said Shakib at the post match conference at SBNS yester-day. “We played well overall in all three departments. Mashrafe bhai gave us the early breakthrough, the � elding was good and the spinners came into the game quickly. It was important to start o� with a wicket o� the � rst ball.”

  Shakib starred with the ball as the left-arm spinner toyed with the Af-ghan batters and also caused a collapse in their batting after taking wickets in consecutive deliveries. The man of the match said he was very relaxed before the match than any other time, before sharing a funny assumption he made prior to coming on to � eld. 

“I think our whole team knew that we will win and it will be a one-sided game. I was about to throw a banana

skin in the bin, I said if it falls inside they will score 40 and if it doesn’t they will make 80. They made 72,” he shared.

After been beaten in the Asia Cup by the same opponents, many took it as a revenge match for the Tigers but Shakib insisted it was nothing like that to them. “It was nothing like that. I said before that if we play to our potential, Afghani-stan won’t stand a chance. It can happen once in a while.”

However, Shakib also mentioned that it is slightly di� cult to play against teams like Afghanistan because “You don’t know what’s coming your way. Someone from 7 or 8 can blast the bowl-ers. Or someone can suddenly bowl well. It will be wrong to make predic-tions against them, so it is important to do well ourselves.”

“It is important to hold on to the momentum. Every T20 game is tough because if one bowler or batsman does well, then a match changes quickly. Even in one over. I think all the matches will be competitive. 

“I have seen some of their matches on Youtube. But we should think of how we can improve our cricket rather than what they will do. If we can improve, we won’t have much of a problem,” Shakib added.

After praising their out � elding e� ort Shakib did not forget to tell how impor-tant it is for them and the tournament to qualify for the next round. l

For Rana

On March 16, 2007 the Bangladesh cricket team had to bear the news of the sad demise of their friend and teammate Manjarul Islam Rana. Rana died in a road accident in Khulna when the national team was at West Indies to play in the 2007 World Cup. Bangladesh team received the news at their team hotel at Port of Spain, a day prior to their match against India.

The Tigers led by Habibul Bashar were considered as a minnows back then, but call it emotion or dedication the Bangladesh side stunned India by � ve wickets, which eventually resulted in India getting knocked out of the tournament as Bangladesh progressed forward. The win was dedicated to Rana and even years after that the Tigers in some instances dedicated their odd win in the month of March to their beloved friend.

An opportunity returned for Ban-gladesh once again in a World Cup to dedicate a memorable performance for their loved Rana on his seventh death anniversary and the Tigers did not let it go.

Bangladesh yesterday staged a powerful performance to beat Afghanistan by nine wickets to take a giant leap towards the second round of the World Twenty20 and once again March seems to be a month that brings the Tigers on their feet. l

Chittagong falls behind

Bangladesh is currently going through a wave of excitement hosting the ICC World Twenty 2014, Dhaka Chittagong and Syl-het - the host cities has gone through the beauti� cation process.

However one coming to Chittagong with an impression of arrangements made in Dhaka or Sylhet would note that the port-city is way behind in cop-ing with the festivity.

The intersections and key spots around the city missed out on decorations and beauti� cation works and rather than rectifying the situation. The BCB director AJM Nasir Uddin admitted that the city, which had earned praise for its arrange-ments during the ICC World Cup 2011, is missing its charm this time around.

Nasir informed that the board with its own fund refurbished and Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the Chit-tagong venue of the tournament, the Sagarika area and its adjacent roads.

“We have installed laser and LED lighting at the stadium as well as taken

several steps to beautify the premises. The work was done by Bangladesh Army as they are e� cient,” said Nasir to the media yesterday.

When asked about not beauti� cation of the city, Nasir blamed the civic author-ities not responding well in spite of sev-eral meetings with the BCB and CDSA.

“With no option we even approached for sponsors but then again the spon-sors lost interest because of the ICC em-bargo, the sponsors will not be able to promote themselves,” informed Nasir.

As per media reports Chittagong mayor M Manjur Alam had said the civic body was stumped by the BCB’s failure to beau-tify the city and informed that the govern-ment provided a very small sum of money to civic bodies. However it was learnt that the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) failed to meet the deadline of submitting the budget to ECNEC (Executive Commit-tee of National Economic Council).

With not su� cient budget in hand, it was learnt that the CCC operated the repair works with their own fund. The CCC allocated Tk100m for the work. l

Nabi eats his own words

Just a day before the crucial encounter against Bangladesh, the con� dent Afghan skipper Mohammad Nabi said that his side is better in the short-

est format of the game and they are looking forward to beat the host.

But yesterday’s performance by the associate nation showed them the real-ity and cost them a crushing nine wicket defeat against Bangladesh and was sure-ly the reason of their overcon� dence af-ter beating Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. However Mohammad Nabi denied the fact of being overcon� dent and admit-

ted that the home side played better cricket to win the match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

“No we didn’t have any overcon� -dence. It’s a part of game. Today Ban-gladesh played very well, that’s why they won the game. Otherwise we are not a team to lose like this. The condi-tion, the pitch was a little too di� cult as well,” said Nabi.

“They are good players but not ex-citing like that. Today they played very well, especially Shakib bowled well. It’s part of game, we lost the game. If we had scored 120 or 130 it would have been a tough game,” he said. 

It was a good toss to win for Mush-� qur Rahim yesterday where the pitch looked spinner friendly, which is the

strength of the home side. Nabi in-formed that he did not expected that kind of pitch, “Yeah, we didn’t expect too much that kind of a pitch but they bowled very well and got the extra bounce so we struggled in the middle. If we had put a little more score it could have been a good game,” he said.

However Nabi admitted that his side has been struggling against spin since the Asia Cup and will look forward to improve on that.

“First ball � rst wicket, creates a bit of pressure on the team. That’s why we sent Gulbadin at number three. He played very well but, Shakib and Raz-zak bowled very well. They bowled four wickets, and we came under pres-sure,” said Nabi. l

Overcon� dent Afghans rue reality

The di� erence be-tween an experienced Test playing nation and an associate na-tion was clearly seen when Bangladesh held on to their nerves and

dealt with the important match in a calm and experienced way to beat Af-ghanistan yesterday.

It was the seniors of the Bangladesh side who raised their hands and took re-sponsibility on the � eld in the crucial do or die encounter for the home side against the strong Afghanistan and it was the � rst time in the T20 format Bangladesh man-aged to bowl out the opposition.

All the senior members - Shakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe Mor-taza - were active when Bangladesh were � elding and tried to chip in with their thoughts and experience to the skipper Mush� qur Rahim.

The recent disastrous time saw the

home side without their experienced pros but yesterday at the tournament opener, the seniors showed why their presence can change the environment of the side.

The most experienced cricketer in the shortest format of the game, Shakib al Hasan, gave the double blow to the Afghnas and was on a hat-trick to bring Bangladesh back in the game.

The all-rounder was active on the � eld and gave instructions to Al Amin in his second over after the young fast bowler was hammered. Shakib went to the youngster and advised him to bowl in front of the wicket which the bowler later did with success.

Dashing opener Tamim Iqbal who is normally quite on the � eld was also passing his advice to the skipper and changing the � elders was something expected from an experienced cricketer like Tamim.

The presence of Mashrafe Mortaza has always been motivating for the Ti-gers line up and the veteran fast bowler took the � rst wicket with the very � rst

ball of the match and bowled with his best of abilities despite being not hun-dred percent � t. The 30 year old dived all over the � eld to save precious runs for his side.

The active presence of the senior cricketers on the � eld tapping their backs gave extra motivation to the youngsters on the � eld which re� ected in their body language and the � eld-ing approach saw Bangladesh gain two wonderful run outs yesterday, which

laid the foundation to win after bun-dling out Afghanistan for just 72 runs in 17.1 over which was the lowest total for the Afghans.

Afghan cricketers tried to tempt the tigers when they went to � eld and before the start of the Bangladeshi innings, wicket keeper Mohammad Shahzad had an argument with Ta-mim, which was later handled by the umpire.

Afghanistan side were even more frustrated when opener Anamul Haque started to charge the bowling alongside Tamim. Fast bowler Dawlat Zadran showed his anger when he threw back to the stump from his follow through and when Tamim hit the ball, it created an intense moment on the � eld.

The 25-year old fast bowler again showed his aggression when he had another aggressive words with Shakib al Hasan and this time, the on � eld umpires came in to the act and warned the Afghan bowler for his overly aggressive attitude. l

It was Bangladesh’s largest T20I victory in terms of balls remaining (48), the 10th largest by any team.

It was also Tiger’s largest T20I victory in terms of wickets remaining (9)

Mashrafe Mortaza recorded the 10th instance of a bowler dismissing a batsman from the � rst ball of a T20I (Shahzad)

It was the � rst time that Bangladesh bowled out their opponents in a T20I

Shakib’s bowling � gure (3/8) was the sixth best in a T20I innings for Bangladesh

Bangladesh cricket fans cheered the Tigers up against Afghanistan at the SBNS yesterday MUMIT M

Liverpool sink sorry Unitedn AFP, Manchester

Steven Gerrard scored two penalties as Liver-pool closed to within four points of Premier League

leaders Chelsea with a 3-0 win at be-leaguered rivals Manchester United on Sunday.

Gerrard found the net from 12 yards either side of half-time before Luis Su-arez added a third goal in the 84th min-ute to give Liverpool their � rst victory at Old Tra� ord in � ve years.

Gerrard should have had a hat-trick of spot-kicks, with a third penalty hit-ting the post after United captain Ne-manja Vidic had been shown a second yellow card for felling Daniel Sturridge, but it was to prove anecdotal.

This was the defending champions’ � fth home defeat of the campaign and having started the day 11 points below the Champions League places.

Tomas Rosicky � red Arsenal back into the Premier League title race as the Czech mid� elder’s quick-� re strike clinched a crucial 1-0 win over Spurs.

Arsene Wenger’s side began the week-end seven points behind Chelsea, but

they moved to within four points of the leaders - with a game in hand - thanks to Rosicky’s winner after just 72 seconds.

The Czech mid� elder’s goal, and the gritty defensive display that followed it, secured Arsenal’s � rst league win at White Hart Lane since 2007 in Wenger’s 999th match in charge.

Chelsea lost two players, their man-ager, and the initiative in the Premier League title race after crashing to a dam-aging 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Satur-day. The London club fell to a cunning 82nd-minute back-heel by Fabian Delph.

The visitors � nished the game with nine men after Brazilian mid� elders Willian and Ramires were both sent o� , while their misery was compounded in stoppage time when manager Jose Mourinho was sent to the stands. l

Monday, March 17, 2014

Defoe makes successful MLS debutJermain Defoe made the most of his Major League Soccer debut, scoring two

goals to lift Toronto FC to a 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday. The 31-year-old England international made the switch to Toronto from Tottenham in January and had an immediate impact for his new club. He scored less than 17 min-utes into his � rst match at CenturyLink Field. Jonathan Osorio started the scoring play by corralling a loose ball at mid� eld and threading a pass into the path of Defoe, who raced to the box to slot a shot past Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei. –AFP

Injury ends Odom’s European stintTwo-time NBA champion Lamar Odom’s foray into European basketball has

been cut short due to a back injury, his Spanish club said Sunday. Laboral Kutxa Baskonia said Odom’s personal doctors in New York have ruled him un� t to play for two months, meaning “his present contract with the club has � nished”. “The club hopes that the recovery process will go well and leaves open the possibility of resuming a future commitment to the player depending on the evolution of his injury,” the statement added. –AFP

Ricciardo DQ’d over new fuel rule Home favourite Daniel Ricciardo was disquali� ed from his sensational second-

place � nish at the Australian Grand Prix for breaching a new limit on fuel use, o� cials said on Sunday. After a marathon hearing, stewards announced that Ric-ciardo, who � nished runner-up in his Red Bull behind Nico Rosberg, was excluded from the race result at the season-opener. Stewards said that Ricciardo’s Red Bull car was not in compliance with F1 technical regulations and had exceeded the maximum fuel � ow, or rate of fuel consumption, of 100kg/h. –AFP

Liverpool mid� elder Steven Gerrard (C) celebrates after scoring aganist Manchester United during their EPL match at Old Tra� ord in Manchester, yesterday AFP

Poor Lille held by Nantes

Lille let slip a chance to cement their claims on Champions League foot-ball next season when held to a goalless draw at home by Nantes in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

The northern French side, who were assured of remaining in third place ir-respective of the result, are now on 53 points, six adrift of Monaco who are away to Lyon on Sunday.

Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint Germain are also in action on Sunday, Laurent Blanc’s team welcoming fourth-placed Saint-Etienne to the Parc des Princes.

Lyon and St-Etienne are Lille’s main ri-

vals for Champions League quali� cation.Rene Girard’s Lille were devoid of

any real attacking menace and were booed by their home supporters. l

Parma put the boot into 10-man Milann AFP, Milan

Antonio Cassano scored a brace as Par-ma stunned ten-man AC Milan 4-2 to drop the Serie A giants to 12th and vir-tually out of contention for European football on Sunday.

After two consecutive defeats the pressure was on Milan coach Clarence Seedorf, who in midweek was forced to deny he had had harsh words for mis-� ring striker Mario Balotelli.

But despite the misfortune of seeing ‘keeper Christian Abbiati sent o� inside 10 minutes for a foul on Ezequiel Sche-lotto, the burden on the 37-year-old Dutchman is now likely to weigh heavier.

Milan’s third defeat in succession,

following reverses to Juventus and Udinese, left the ailing Italian giants 37 points behind leaders Juventus and now 11 behind Parma, who occupy the � rst Europa League spot in � fth.

While Juve continue their charge towards a third consecutive scudetto -- they hold a 14-point lead on Roma, who have a game in hand, before their respec-tive games later -- the battle for Euro-pean places is well and truly on. Parma now have a one-point lead on Fiorentina as well as a game in hand, although Fio-rentina can reclaim � fth spot with a win at home to Chievo later on Sunday.

The visitors were well on their way to an upset when Abbiati was shown a straight red card for a blatant foul on Schelotto and former Real Madrid, Mi-

lan and Inter striker Cassano stepped up to beat Marco Amelia from the spot in the ninth minute. l

Seven up for Barca as Messi breaks another recordn AFP, Madrid

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to become Bar-celona’s all-time record goalscorer as they cut the gap on La Liga leaders Real Madrid to four points

ahead of their meeting next weekend with a 7-0 thrashing of Osasuna.

After a slow start, the hosts were sparked into life by Messi’s opening goal as he � icked home at the near post from Alexis Sanchez’s cross.

Sanchez was next on the scoresheet as he � nished o� a similar move in-volving Andres Iniesta and Jordi Alba before Iniesta’s wonderful strike from 25 yards made it 3-0.

Messi then broke another record by registering his 370th Barca goal to overtake Paulinho Alcantara as the club’s record marksman before round-ing o� his hat-trick in between further strikes from Cristian Tello and Pedro

Rodriguez.Barca boss Gerardo Martino had

left Cesc Fabregas and Neymar on the bench after their exertions in the 2-1 win over Manchester City in midweek with Sanchez and Pedro recalled to the starting line-up.

Amazingly, the Catalans had to withstand a bright opening from Osa-suna as Victor Valdes produced a great save to deny Emiliano Armenteros and Oriol Riera was rightly � agged o� side as he put the rebound into the net.

However, Barca opened the scoring 10 minutes later when Sanchez was fed by Xavi and Messi got across his man to delicately touch home the Chilean’s low cross.

Sanchez should have doubled his side’s advantage two minutes later when he chipped over with just Andres Fernandez to beat, but the former Udi-nese man made amends when he side-footed home after a lovely one-two be-tween Alba and Iniesta opened up the Osasuna defence.

Iniesta then made it 3-0 with just his second goal of the season 11 minutes before half-time with a sweetly struck left-footed e� ort that � ew into the top corner.

Fernandez was forced into � ne saves from Dani Alves and Xavi to en-sure Barca didn’t go in even further ahead at the break.

Osasuna should have got them-selves back in the game early in the second-half as Riera and Roberto Tor-res failed to hit the target when pre-sented with clear sights of goal.

They were soon further behind, though, as Messi slammed home Ini-esta’s cut-back just after the hour mark to surpass Alcantara’s 369 goals in 357 games between 1912 and 1927.

Substitute Tello got his side’s � fth goal with virtually his � rst touch as he whipped the ball into the far corner from just outside the area.

Messi � ttingly sealed his hat-trick as he received Dani Alves’ pass before easily side-footing in from close range

for his 31st goal of the season.And Messi then teed up Pedro to

make it 7-0 in stoppage time with a neat low � nish past Fernandez.

Cristiano Ronaldo struck midway through the � rst half as leaders Real Madrid won 1-0 at Malaga in La Liga on Saturday, while Atletico Madrid stayed hot on their heels after Diego Costa netted in a 1-0 victory over Espanyol. l

Pellegrini hails ‘professional’ City

Manuel Pellegrini hailed the profes-sionalism of his Manchester City team after they maintained their English Premier League title challenge with victory at Hull City on Saturday despite playing with 10 men for 80 minutes.

City’s 2-0 win at the KC Stadium combined with Chelsea’s later 1-0 loss at Aston Villa cut the London club’s lead at the top to six points.

Liverpool and Arsenal could move above City into second place and cut Chelsea’s lead to four points with wins on Sunday, but the three games in hand Pellegrini’s team hold mean they will take the title if they keep winning.

Most importantly for City at Hull on Saturday, though, was to stop losing after morale-sapping defeats to Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup and Barcelona in the Cham-pions League over the previous six days.

“It was a very good response in a very di� cult week,” Pellegrini told the club’s website.

“We just lost against Wigan and against Barcelona and we needed to win today. Playing with one player less was very di� cult. It was a good performance because we defended well with the ball and without the ball, and we also had three good chances to score. It was a very professional response from the players.”

Goals from David Silva in the � rst half and Edin Dzeko in the � nal minute gave City the points which Pellegrini hopes will contribute to the club re-claiming the title they won in 2011-2012 but relinquished to city rivals United last season. l

Bayern plan to welcome Hoeness back after jail

Despite his conviction for tax fraud, Bayern Munich are planning to wel-come back ex-president Uli Hoeness after he has served his prison sentence.

The 62-year-old resigned as both Bayern president and chairman of the club’s supervisory board on Friday and was a noticeable absentee for Saturday’s 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

He stepped down less than 24 hours after being sentenced to three and a half years in jail by Munich regional

court having cheated the state out of 28.5 million euros ($39.5 million) in unpaid taxes.

He admitted to hiding his wealth in secret Swiss bank accounts while ob-sessively “gambling” on stock and cur-rency markets for years.

But while Hoeness waits to start his time behind bars, the Bavarian giants already hope he will be back at the Al-lianz Arena soon.

“This club is one of the best in the world and that is down to the person-ality of Uli Hoeness,” said coach Pep Guardiola. l

Rosberg opens new F1 era with dominant win

Nico Rosberg opened Formula One’s new era with a dominant victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo risked dis-quali� cation from second place over fuel rules.

Rosberg, whose Mercedes team have come out strongest with the sport’s new hybrid technology, led from start to � nish and took the chequered � ag 24.5 seconds ahead of Australia’s Ric-ciardo in his Red Bull debut.

There was also a brilliant third place in his Formula One debut for McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, 21, who became the � rst Danish driver ever to reach the po-dium.

But defending world champion Sebastian Vettel and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton both managed only a handful of laps before retiring due to

power issues as F1 absorbs a raft of technical changes.

And Ricciardo faced an anxious wait as stewards deliberated whether to take action for violating the maximum fuel � ow, or rate of fuel use, which is among the innovations this season. l

Federer, Djokovic to meet in � nal

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic set up another mouthwatering � nal at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells after winning their semis on Saturday.

Federer ended the giant-killing run of Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov when he cruised to a 6-3 6-1 victory in a one-sided semi-� nal that lasted just a tick over an hour.

Then Djokovic succeeded in blunt-ing the booming serve of John Isner to beat the American 7-5 6-7(2) 6-1 and join Federer in Sunday’s championship match.

It will be the 33rd time overall and the ninth time in a � nal that the pair

have locked horns. Federer holds a 17-15 lead in their head-to head matches and they are tied 4-4 in � nals.

The Swiss master has already won the Indian Wells title four times and made it through to a � fth � nal without dropping a set in the California desert this week.

Relaxed and super con� dent af-ter winning his 78th singles title in Dubai earlier this month, Federer pounced on Dolgopolov from the out-set, breaking him once to snatch the opening set.

The Ukrainian had beaten three higher ranked players, including world number one Rafa Nadal, to reach the semis but was powerless to stop the 32-year-old Federer, who � red down seven aces in a brilliant serving performance. l

RESULTSLille 0 0 Nantes

Ajaccio 1 2 GuingampLasne 8 Yatabaré 13, Beauvue 74

Evian 0 1 Valenciennes Waris 63

Nice 2 0 BastiaBosetti 5, Maupay 71

Rennes 2 3 ToulouseNelson Oliveira 68, Toivonen 14-og, Doucoure 87 Chantome 45, Aurier 73

Sochaux 2 0 LorientContout 7, Sunzu 79

RESULTSTottenham 0 1 Arsenal Rosicky 2

Man United 0 3 Liverpool Gerrard 34-pen

46-pen, Suarez 84

Aston Villa 1 0 ChelseaDelph 82

Levante 0 1 Celta Vigo Nolito 19

Rayo Vallecano 3 1 AlmeriaBueno 37, Larrivey 57, 76 Soriano 71

Malaga 0 1 Real Madrid Ronaldo 23

Atletico Madrid 1 0 EspanyolDiego Costa 55

RESULTSElche 0 0 Real Betis

Barcelona 7 0 OsasunaMessi 19, 62, 88,Sanchez 21, Iniesta 34,Tello 78, Pedro 90

RESULTSAtalanta 3 3 0 Sampdoria 0Carmona 36,Bonaventura 42Denis 55

Cagliari 0 1 2 Lazio Lulic 19, Keita 69

Livorno 2 1 BolognaBenassi 46, Paulinho 52 Christodoulopoulos 86

AC Milan 2 4 Parma Rami 56, Balotelli 76-pen Cassano 9-pen, 51, Amauri 78 Biabiany 90+5

Sassuolo 3 3 1 Catania 1Zaza 56, Missiroli 61, Bergessio 30 Sansone 89

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celerbrates his win over John Isner during the semi� nals of the BNP Parabas Open at the Indian Wells on Saturday AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014 15

Sony Six06:59 AMNBA 2013-14LA Clippers Vs ClevelandBTV, Maasranga TV, GTV, Star Sports 1, HD2ICC World T20 20143:30PMIreland v Zimbabwe7:30PMUAE v NetherlandsStar Sports 2, HD1ICC World T20 Warm-Up3:30PMNew Zealand v Pakistan7:30PMSri Lanka v IndiaStar Sports 4Italian Serie A12:00AMTorino v Napoli2:00AMAS Roma v UdineseStar Sports HD13:00AMLa LigaVillarreal v Athletic Bilbao

DAY’S WATCH

Siddikur falls in last round Siddikur Rahman � nished Solaire Open at 18th place after a poor display in the fourth and � nal round carding three-over-par 74 yesterday. The Bangladesh gol� ng star played a total one-over-par 285. Siddikur played four bogeys yesterday with only a single birdie. Canada’s Richard T. Lee claimed a sensational comeback vic-tory at the expense of home favourite Angelo Que, whose title chances were dashed after one bad hole. Lee overcame a four-shot de� cit in the � -nal round with a two-under-par 69 to defeat Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol by one shot and win his � rst Asian Tour title at the US$300,000 event.

–Tribune Desk

Pistorius trial enters popular culture Children chatter about the Oscar Pistorius murder trial at South African schools, startling parents with details about how the athlete fatally shot his girlfriend. Big audiences in South Africa are watching a 24-hour televi-sion channel dedicated to coverage of the sensational trial. Turns of phrase from the courtroom — the defense lawyer’s “I put it to you” challenge to prosecution witnesses — are creeping into popular culture. The rise and fall of the double-amputee runner, who competed in the London Olympics in 2012 and then killed model Reeva Steenkamp less than a year after that inspirational triumph, is a consum-ing saga for South Africans that has drawn sheepish comparisons to real-ity television shows. The more people hear, the hungrier they are for more.

–AP

Farah says he’s � ne after NY half-marathon fall Britain’s double Olympic and world 10,000m and 5,000m champion Mo Farah insisted Sunday his fall and fright-ening collapse after the New York City Half Marathon was “no big deal”. The Somali born star took a hard fall some � ve miles into the race. He made a gritty recovery to � nish second behind Geo� rey Mutai, who won in 1hr 00min 50sec. Farah collapsed after the � nish line and left in a wheelchair. He made it to the post-race press conference, however, and said he felt good, if a little cloudy on just what happened.

–AFP

Olympiakos win 41st league titleOlympiakos claimed their 41st domestic league title with � ve games to spare after a 2-0 victory at home to Panthrakikos on Saturday. A goal in the 35th minute from Paraguayan striker Nelson Valdez and a penalty by Spanish mid� elder David Fuster in the 90th minute helped Olympiakos snap a two-match losing streak after going unbeaten before that. Olympiakos captured their fourth straight league crown and their 16th in the last 18 years. The match was played at an empty Karaisiaki Stadium due to a punishment by the Super League meted out after violence by support-ers in a 3-0 Panathinaikos derby win earlier this month. Olympiakos coach Michel rested a number of his starters in the match against Panthrakikos due to next week’s Champions League rematch at Manchester United.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

ASIAN GAMES HOCKEY QUALIFIERS

Bangladesh thrash Hong Kong

Bangladesh opened their Islami Bank Asian Games Hockey Quali� ers with a rusty 5-1 win over Hong Kong China at the Maulana Bhashani National Hock-ey Stadium on Sunday. The word rusty was applicable because the forwards squandered near half a dozen chances all through the game.

Mamunur Rahman Chayan, whose drag and � icking e� ciency earned him an hat-trick, led his team to a win.

Moreover, the mid� eld looked a little bit scrappy against the low pro-� le opponents as no one took the role of linking the defense and o� ence perfectly. Before facing more e� cient opponents in the meet, coach Naveed Alam and his think tank will have to

reconcile the team’s strategy. Apart from missing the scoring

chances, it was all through Bangladesh dominancy. Bangladesh ruled the pro-ceedings from the very beginning and Pushkor Khisha Mimo failed to hit the ball past Hong Kong goalie H. Andrews twice in the � rst 15 minutes.

So, drag and � ick specialist Ma-munur Rahman Chayan stepped up and broke the deadlock with the third penalty corner in the 24th minute. Nannu’s push and Sarwar’s stop was enough for Chayan who dragged the ball into the roof of the post. Chayan dragged his second in the 32nd minute and the third in the 45th minute. The third one, however was not a dragged one, it was a low push

Forward Mainul Islam Koushik

� icked a cracking hit of Niloy in the 54th minute to make it 4-0 and in the next minute, Niloy scored the � fth with a slap hit after Rabbi Salehin’s hit rebounded o� the pad of Hong Kong goalie. Hong Kong’s consolation was scored by skipper Md. Arif o� a penalty corner in the 58th minute.

Naveed Alam admitted his forwards performed below par. “They missed � ve to six chances, as it is the � rst match I will consider the fact a little easily but we have to work hard in this area. I will talk with the boys about it, apart from the missed chances I think the boy’s performed well,” said Naveed.

Meanwhile Singapore earned a dramatic 3-2 win over Iran in the � rst match of the day.

Iran took the lead in the 17th minute

when forward Taheridad Navid scored with a solo e� ort and doubled the lead in the 45 minute with forward Abbasi Reza scored. Interestingly Singapore failed to score from two penalty strokes in the 22 and 55 minute. Nur Ashik Ferdaus and Salim Mohammed Haseef missed the spot hits. In the 56 minute Alias Muhammad Ashraf � icked a Nur Ashik Ferdaus hit into the Irani post. Saleem Muhammad Haseef equalized with a � erce reverse hit after from the edge of the box in the 59 minute.

Singapore’s � ghting e� ort paid o� in the last minute when Timothy Goh Kai Young’s powerful hit crashed into the post after a penalty corner was ini-tiated. It would be mentionable that the stipulated time � nished before the penalty corner was initiated. l

Ranjan Ram wins double crown

Ranjan Ram of International Club lifted the men’s single’s crown of the Runner Group Independence Day Open Tennis beating Mamun Bepari of BKSP 6-3, 6-4 at the National Tennis Complex yester-day. Later Ranjan Ram partnered with Amol Roy to win the doubles title also.

Ishita Afroz of BKSP beat Afrana Is-lam Priti 6-3, 7-5 in the women’s singles

� nal to emerge as the women’s cham-pion. Gulshan Youth Club was the best team as they beat Amazon Club by 3-0 sets in the inter-club � nal.

Meanwhile Arnab Saha, Poy Akhter, Alvi, Sadia Akhter, Tas� n Anam and Suraiya Akhter Lamia won the di� erent categories of the mini tennis events.

State minister for foreign a� airs Shahriayr Alam distributed the prizes as the chief guest. l

Sammy looks for team e� ort

D e f e n d i n g champions West Indies’ mission to retain the World Twenty20 title will begin on March 23 with the group match against India

and their captain Darren Sammy is “quite happy” with the squad and the preparation of the team as well. The Caribbean skipper believes they have a chance to write history by winning the tournament back to back.

With a 2-1 victory against England in three-match T20I series, the Caribbean camp are in a great mood ahead of the big stage which was apparent in Sammy’s words while he was facing the media yesterday where the captain relied mostly on the experience in his side.

“We have prepared our players best possible way we can and we have practice matches before our � rst

game against India. The Caribbeans are in great spirit and we stand the chance to creating history by retaining the title,” said the all-rounder. West Indies will play two warm-up matches against England and Sri Lanka starting tomorrow.

“I’m quite happy with the team. The mood of the camp and form of most of the players are looking very well. We are eager to come out and play here in Bangladesh,” he added.

Placed in group 2 with teams like India, Pakistan and Australia – two former World T20 champions when asked about the group stage, Sammy replied, “It will be tough for everybody. Every game is important and this is about being consistent as a team and winning the key moments in all matches.”

After two lovely innings against England in the � rst two matches, both of which the West Indies, Chris Gayle was left out of the squad for the third T20 with an injury. Sammy however was hopeful that the star

batsmen would be � t for the opener against India, “Chris is the most destructive T20 batsman in the world. He is mentally a strong player and I believe he will be ready before our � rst game and play his pivotal role in the tournament and help us to retain the trophy.”

Sammy, however, insisted the rest of team would also have to play their part. “In Sri Lanka, when we won the title, it took a total team e� ort. The key players (contributed), di� erent guys chipped in di� erent games. It’s no di� erent this time, we got to play as a team, we got to gel well together and hopefully performances will come from the key players,”

Sammy also said they would miss the presence of experienced all-rounder Kieron Pollard but also backed Andre Russell to � ll the slot.

“Pollard is one of our most experienced T20 player. It’s a big gap to � ll in. Russell is not as experienced as Pollard but it’s a role we believe he could do well,” l

Nepal upset Hong Kong

An all-round e� ort by Ne-pal aided the side to mark its existence in world cricket by defeating Hong Kong by 80 runs in the Group A match of the First

Round in the ICC World T20 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.  

Hong Kong had come into the game causing two upsets in the warm-up games – defeating Zimbabwe and Netherlands. But the side failed to carry on with the momentum as it went all-out chasing 150 runs against a much weaker opponent.  

Nepal skipper Paraz Khadka made the � rst blow on Hong Kong’s chase, dis-missing opener Irfan Ahmed for a golden in the � rst ball of the innings. This got Hong Kong on the back foot who kept on losing wickets to Nepal before they could pull up a partnership for survival. Left-arm spinners Shakti Gauchan and Basant Regmi made the most impact, picking up three wickets each. Babar Hayat’s 20 o� 25 balls was the best � gure in the Hong Kong innings.    

Earlier, Hong Kong opted to � eld � rst after winning the toss and the bowlers did manage to remove Nepal batters on occasions. However, sloppy � elding and dropped catches came as a blessing for

Nepal who went onto post 149 runs on the board, losing four wickets in the last over and eight in the innings.  

Nepal openers Subash Khakurel (22) and Sagar Pun (13) gave the side the mo-mentum which prevailed throughout the innings – the run rate never went down below 6. Nepal lost both the open-ers within three deliveries but the 80 run partnership o� 67 deliveries for the 3rd wicket between skipper Paras Khadka and

Gyanendra Malla didn’t allow the innings to get derailed. Hong Kong’s left-arm spin-ner Najeeb Amar removed Khadka in the 17th over to get the breakthrough for his team. Khadka scored a 37-ball 41 while Malla, who was more aggressive scored 48 o� 41 balls before getting dismissed in the 20th over. Malla’s dismissal was followed by three more wickets but by then, the side already had a competitive score on the board. Right-arm pacer Haseeb Am-jad picked three wickets in four overs for Hong Kong conceding 25 runs. l

Sangakkara to quit T20Is after world meet

Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara will re-tire from Twenty20 internationals after the ongoing World T20 in Bangladesh, the veteran left-hander told a newspa-per on Sunday.

The 36-year-old said he wanted to make way for younger players in the national team, but made himself avail-able to play the shortest format in fran-chise-based competitions.

“De� nitely, without a doubt, this is my last World T20,” Sangakkara told the Colombo-based Sunday Island newspaper. “I won’t be playing any T20 internationals after this.

“It’s sad, but that’s the truth. It’s not the end of my T20 career though. I would like to play franchise-based T20s. Once your World Cup prospects are over, you should give the next crop of players an opportunity. It’s a natural progression.”

Sangakkara, under whom Sri Lanka

reached the � nal of the 2009 World Twenty20 in England, has played 50 T20 internationals, scoring 1,311 runs at an average of 32.77 with seven half-centuries.

He has been in prime form of late, smashing a triple-century and a hun-dred in the second Test against Bangla-desh in Chittagong last month.

Sri Lanka, the world’s number one T20 side, are drawn with South Africa, England, New Zealand and a yet-to-be decided quali� er in the Super-10 round of the World Twenty20. l

Du Plessis welcomes underdog tag

South Africa’s Twenty20 captain Faf du Plessis wants his team to perform to their potential in the World Twenty20 – a tournament in which the Protease have never even managed to reach the semi-� nals.

South Africa’s recent form in the shortest form of the game hardly makes them one of the favourites for the event. Most recently, they lost a three-match series 0-2 at home to Aus-tralia.

“The Twenty20 World Cup is a tour-nament where you need to be playing well. We need our guys in form, and if you’ve got guys in form, then we’re giving ourselves a great opportunity to compete in the tournament. [With] the nature of the tournament, you need to be playing well every game,” said the skipper.

Asked about adapting to the condi-tions, du Plessis said, “It is challenging. Obviously our conditions are a little bit di� erent but in saying that, we’ve

got a lot of players in our team who’ve played a lot of IPL cricket and quite a few tours of India, Sri Lanka and even Bangladesh, so we’ve de� nitely played enough in these conditions to under-stand what to expect.”

The captain also saw his team not being favoured to lift the trophy as not entirely a bad thing. “I think you can look at it in both ways. It’s nice to be on the other side almost. We can, I suppose, for the � rst time say that we’re real underdogs, so we can play

like that. No extra pressure on us, and we certainly feel that,” he said, before going on to point out South Africa’s successes in Twenty20 on the subcon-tinent.

He was referring to South Africa having topped Sri Lanka 2-1 and Paki-stan 2-0 in similar conditions last year. “I think we’ve proven (last year) that we can do it in these conditions against quality spin.”

“We’ve got some nice variety. Imran Tahir has done really well for us, and leg-spin is fantastic to have as a cap-tain. We’ve got JP Duminy, who’s been bowling very well as a back-up spin-ner. And then also we’ve got bowlers who can take some pace o� the ball. So I think in terms of what you need in these conditions, I think we’re all cov-ered.

“I think our whole batting line-up, as most of the tournament sides, we’ve got destructive hitters. AB has proven so many times in IPL cricket how de-structive he can be, so has Miller,” con-cluded the 29-year old. l

Bangladesh skipper Mamunur Rahman Chayan is greeted by his teammates after his second strike against Hong Kong at the hockey stadium yesterday COURTESY

Winners of the Runner Group Independence Day Open Tennis pose for photograph with the chief guest at the NTC yesterday COURTESY

Johnson out of World T20

Feared pace bowler Mitchell Johnson was ruled out of the World Twenty20 with a toe infection on Sunday, dealing a blow to Australia’s hopes in the tour-nament.

Johnson cut his right big toe after the third Test win over South Africa and after infection set in, medication was unable to bring it under control, Cricket Australia said.

He will be replaced by fellow quick Doug Bollinger in Australia’s squad for the tournament in Bangladesh whose opening rounds get underway on Sunday.

“We have given Mitchell as long as we can but unfortunately his infection hasn’t responded to the treatment as quickly as we had hoped with swell-ing remaining in his toe and foot,” chief medical o� cer Justin Paoloni said. l

Nepal 149/8 (20/20 ov)Malla 48, Khadka 41, Haseeb 3/25Hong Kong 69 (17.0/20 ov)Babar 20, Waqas 18, Regmi 3/14, Gauchan 3/9

Nepal won by 80 runs

BRIEF SCORE

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014

Students celebrate Holi, a festival of colours of the Hindus, inside the Fine Arts Department premises yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Dhaka working on BCMI corridor n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh has started working on the-matic areas for the BCMI corridor link-ing Bangladesh with China, Myanmar and India.

The report on the study will be presented in the joint working group meeting of the BCMI [Bangladesh, Chi-na, India and Myanmar] corridor pro-ject scheduled to be held in Chittagong in June this year.

Under the BCMI project the four countries in last December in its � rst meeting in China decided to establish physical connectivity between them.

As part of the physical connectivity a corridor will run from Kunming to Kolkata linking Mandalay in Myanmar as well as Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

As a � rst step the four countries de-cided to identify realistic and achiev-able infrastructure projects to boost physical connectivity.

After the � rst meeting, over the next six months each country was sup-posed to come up with a joint study report proposing concrete projects and � nancing modalities before the next meeting of the four nations was heldin Dhaka.

“The � ndings of our study re-port will be placed in the meeting in Chittagong,” chairman of the Bang-ladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) Munshi FaizAhmad said.

“The ideas of each country will be shared in June and it will be discussed at di� erent levels and we hope to syn-thesize all the national plans to get a single plan in Kolkata meeting in De-cember,” Munshi said.

Energy, connectivity, investment and � nance, trade in goods and service, poverty alleviation and social and hu-man development, sustainable devel-opment, and people to people contact are the thematic areas where all the countries are working.

The foreign ministry, BIISS and Cen-tre for Policy Dialogue are conducting the study in Bangladesh.

Former Bangladesh ambassador to China Munshi said earlier Kunming, Mandalay, Dhaka and Kolkata were the focus cities in the BCIM corridorinitiative.

“But in the last Kunming meet-ing, Dhaka had successfully included Chittagong as the second focus city in Bangladesh,” he said.

“The route is yet to be decided.”Chinese Ambassador Li Jun at a

press brie� ng a week back said there was a suggestion to start the route from Kunming via Mandalay in Myanmar and Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangla-desh before it enters Kolkata in India.

He said now the four governments were making their national plan to complement the economic corridor and � nd out the priorities of eachcountry.

“The four countries will show the list of their priorities in the building of the economic corridor and in this June they will hold a meeting in Chittagong and in the end of this year the third round of meeting will be held in India,” the Chinese ambassador said.

An o� cial of the foreign ministry said the economic corridors are not mere transport connections along which people and goods move rather they link the supply and demand to the markets of the countries involved.

The corridor will integrate the economies, enhance competitiveness and harness potential, he said. “It will also aid to strike a balance of power inthe region.

He, however, cautioned that closer integration will also bring some prob-lems for the countries.

“In integrated Europe, if one coun-try falls into trouble it a� ects other countries. Similarly, in a closely inte-grated BCIM system, no country will be immune to the problems of other coun-tries,” he said.

About the use of currency, he said Chinese Renminbi is being increasingly used to settle trade transactions.

In the future, Renminbi could be an anchor currency in the region, headded. l

ICC WORLD T20

Six-tier security system enforced at venue n Mohammad Jamil Khan

With the country abuzz with enthusi-asm and excitement over the ICC World Twenty20, law enforcers have taken special measures to ensure foolproof security everywhere, including the capital, during the course of the tour-nament that kicked o� yesterday.

As part of a six-tier security system deployed across the venue, intelligence o� cials, in coordination with the ICC anti-corruption and security unit, re-mained on high alert to avert any un-expected situations like match � xing and ticket fraud. Police have already held several meetings to discuss such issues and the latest in the series washeld on Thursday.

Hassan Mahmud Khandaker, In-spector-General of Police, told the Dhaka Tribune they had the necessary experience to ensure a peaceful world

cup and had taken a number of new se-curity measures in light of that experi-ence. “Besides, special raids are being conducted to nab suspected miscre-ants,” he said.

The intelligence o� cials conducted such raids based on the lists prepared by separate police stations lately.

“We’ve issued all necessary direc-tives to � eld level o� cials so that they discharge their duties accordingly. If any anomaly is noticed anywhere, o� cials concerned will face action,”he added.

O� cials concerned are said to have been asked to provide the home min-istry with daily updates on the spe-cial operation, for the duration ofthe event.

Speaking of the measure, Dr Ka-maluddin Ahmed, additional secretary of the home ministry, said law enforc-ers were asked to take necessary steps

to ensure a safe sporting event and check match � xing.

An intelligence o� cial said, in 2011 a list of 25 people involved in match � xing was sent to immigration depart-ments of all the airports in the country. This was done this year as well, and the ICC security body has added several new names to the existing list.

“In addition to the steps we general-ly take to ensure security, we are prior-itising a number additional issues that are needed to avert untoward incidents and o� cials have been asked to remain on high alert,” said Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the detectivebranch of police.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) held a press brie� ng at its media centre yesterday to highlight the six-tier secu-rity system. Elaborating on the system, Imtiaz Ahmed, deputy commissioner of police of Mirpur zone, said vehicle

scanners, CCTV cameras and special scanning equipment were being used around the grounds to prevent people from bringing any explosive materials in, in any form.

“A person will be checked six times before he is allowed into the stadium,” he said.

Ekramul Habib, deputy commis-sioner (west) of tra� c, gave several in-structions on how to manage the tra� c in Dhaka during the event.

Addressing the brie� ng, DMP Com-missioner Benazir Ahmed said around 88 matches would be held in the coun-try this year. “We have asked the � re department, hospitals and other organ-isations to remain on standby to handle any sort of emergency,” he said, add-ing that in addition to regular forces, bomb disposal units, SWAT teams and specially-trained plainclothes police would be on duty around the venue. l

Bone marrow transplant patient recoveringn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The country’s � rst ever cancer patient who underwent bone marrow trans-plant is recovering gradually at the Bone Marrow Transplant unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The bone marrow transplant was carried on a blood cancer patient, Omar Ali, 52, a senior o� cer of Agrani Bank, on March 10 in DMCH.

A pool of national and internation-al experts successfully conducted the transplant on Omar, who had been � ghting a type of blood cancer called Multiple Myeloma since 2009.

Professor Dr MA Khan, head of the BMT unit, told the Dhaka Tribune yes-terday no major physical complications were faced by the patient in the last six days following the transplant.

It has been learnt that Omar Ali is very weak, but he can talk. He is living on liquids.

The number of WBC (white blood cell) and platelets are still very low in Omar Ali’s body.

“Omar Ali’s situation is not unex-pected. We destroyed the entire blood cell before the transplant. So it’s like sowing seeds in an open � eld. Now new blood cells will be produced in the patient’s body,” said Prof Dr MA Khan.

The patients would recover within the next seven to eight days, he hoped.

A group of well-trained doctors, nurses and other sta� have been tak-ing all-out care of Omar Ali round the clock.

Amena Begum, wife of Omar Ali, has eagerly been waiting for her husband’s return home after completing treatment.

While talking to this correspond-ent, she said: “I would like to see my husband come back home, recovering from cancer.”

The wife said they spent Tk15 lakh on the treatment, but now the government had been providing al-most all expenses of BMT procedureat DMCH.

She sought � nancial help from all as it would be impossible for her alone to bear the next follow-up treatment.

Dr Bimolanshu Dey, a blood cancer spe-cialist at the MGH in Boston, USA, told the Dhaka Tribune the patient was re-covering gradually.

There were a few side e� ects like fe-ver and other complications, but they were usual, he said, adding that an in-ternational-standard healthcare was being given to the patient.

Omar Ali hails from Dap Jail Road from Rangpur district.

On October 20 last year, former health minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque inaugurated the � ve-bed BMT unit and a high-tech BMT Laboratory at DMCH at a cost of Tk200 crore. l

ACC seeks wealth statement from Aslam, Jabbar n Tribune Report

The Anti Corruption Commission yes-terday asked a lawmaker from Dha-ka-14 constituency and another former lawmaker to submit their wealth state-ments, within the next seven days, in connection with an inquiry into the ac-cumulation of illegal wealth.

The commission has also asked for the wealth statements of their family members.

“The notices were issued against Aslamul Haque, an Awami League law-maker from Dhaka-14 constituency, and Jatiya Party leader M Abdul Jabbar, also a former lawmaker from Satkhi-ra 2 constituency, to trace the sources behind their phenomenal rise of their wealth and assets,” an o� cial said.

The commission also served notices to Aslamul Haque’s wife Maksuda Haque and M Abdul Jabbar’s wife Firoza Begum, and his three sons Faruk Hossain, Sayeed Hossain, and Mahbub Hossain, asking them to submit their statements on all movable and immovable properties before the commission.

During primary inquiry, the ACC investigators have found that their wealth was inconsistent with their known sources of income, prompt-ing o� cials to ask for the wealth statements of the two ruling allianceleaders.

On January, the commission launched an inquiry into the phenom-enal rise in the wealth and assets of three former ministers, three members of parliament, and three former law-makers from BNP, the Awami League and the Jatiya Party. l

Bangabandhu’s birthday todayn Emran Hossain Shaikh

The nation is observing the 94th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman today with due respect and festivity. The day is also observed as the Nation-al Children’s Day and this year’s slogan is “We will know Bangabandhu and be-come ideal persons.”

The day is a public holiday. Bangla-desh Betar, Bangladesh Television and private TV channels and radio channels are airing special programmes while national dailies have published special supplements highlighting the signi� -cance of the day.

To celebrate the day, the govern-ment and various socio-cultural and political organisations, including the ruling AL and its associate bodies, have chalked out various programmes.

On the occasion, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the daughter of the father of the nation, paid tributes to the Bang-abandhu in separate messages. l

Crimeans vote on union with Russia as troops build up rapidlyn Reuters, Kiev

Crimeans voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, with Kiev ac-cusing Moscow of rapidly building up its armed forces on the peninsula in “crude violation” of an international treaty.

Caught in an East-West crisis remi-niscent of the Cold War, Ukrainian act-ing defence minister IhorTenyukh said Russian troop numbers in Crimea were now almost double the level agreed with Moscow, and Kiev’s forces were taking “appropriate measures” along the border with Russia.

Tenyukh dismissed any sugges-tion that a militarily and economically weakened Ukraine might give up in the face of the Russian power.

“Decisions will be taken depending on how events unfold. But let me say once again that this is our land and we

will not be leaving it,” he told Interfax.Western countries say the vote,

which is likely to favour union with Russia for a region which has a Rus-sian-speaking majority, is illegal and being conducted at the barrel of a gun.

At the UN, 13 Security Council mem-bers voted for a draft resolution saying the result should not be recognised in-ternationally, but Moscow exercised its veto while China abstained. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected the Western accusations, telling his U.S. counterpart John Kerry that the referen-dum complied with international law.

Both the West and Kiev have been powerless to stop the referendum. At a polling booth in Simferopol, the Crimean regional capital, dozens of people lined up outside to cast their ballots early.

“I have voted for Russia,” said Svet-lana Vasilyeva, a veterinary nurse who is 27. “This is what we have been wait-

ing for. We are one family and we want to live with our brothers.”

Last month’s fall of Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich following deadly protests in Kiev has aroused fears among some of the coun-try’s native Russian-speakers.

“We want to leave Ukraine because Ukrainians told us that we are people of a lower kind. How can you stay in such a country?” said Vasilyeva.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and close 12 hours later. Provisional results will be released late on Sunday with the � nal tally expected a day or two later.

Crimea’s 1.5 million voters have two options: union with Russia or giving their region, which is controlled by pro-Kremlin politicians, the broad right to determine its own path and choose relations with whom it wants - includ-ing Moscow.

Mirza Abbas, Fakhrul sent to jail n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday sent three BNP senior leaders, including Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas and acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, to jail, rejecting their bail petitions in three cases.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan passed the order upon a petition � led by them.

Abbas, Fakhrul and Dhaka city unit Member Secretary Abdus Salam sur-rendered to the court and sought bail

as the Appellate Division on March 9 scrapped their eight-week bail order, granted on January 20 by the High Court, and directed them to surrender to lowere court.

Protesting the court order, pro-BNP lawyers immediately brought out a procession on the court premises.

Earlier, another court granted bail to Fakhrul in two more cases.

Ramna police made the leaders ac-cused in two cases � led in connection with the killing of a pedestrian by a bus after losing control as pickets hurled pet-

rol bombs at it at Malibagh level crossing on December 1 during the BNP’s nation-wide blockade; and the killing of a po-liceman in an arson attack on a bus at Banglamotor on December 24.

The other case was � led in connec-tion with a petrol bomb attack on a bus at Paribagh crossing on January 3. A woman named Shahina Akther who was badly burnt in the incident suc-cumbed to her injuries.

Protesting the bail rejection, the BNP at a press brie� ng declared to hold demon-strations across the country today. l

‘Rohingya in� ux may become security threat’ n Rabiul Islam

The in� ux of Rohingyas from Myanmar might appear as a threat to the country’s security and the demographic map of bordering district Cox’s Bazar since they are becoming more in� uential.

“The Rohingyas are involved in agriculture, trade, commerce and, most importantly, in criminal o� ences. Their in� ux will emerge as a security threat to Bangladeshi communities

and our sovereignty,” said Lt Col Zahid Hasan, former BGB commanding o� cer at Teknaf.

He also said the Rohingyas were gradually be-coming in� uential in Cox’s Bazar by dint of their involvement in di� erent legal and illegal activ-ities and with the patronisation of some locals.

He made the observations at a workshop on the impacts of the Rohingyas’ gradual in-� ux and vulnerability in Bangladesh. Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RM-

MRU) organised the event at a city hotel. Insurgent groups which want to destabilise

the country might use the Rohingyas, the for-mer BGB o� cial said.

UNHCR Country Representative Stina Ljun-gdell said repatriation of Rohingyas must be dealt with Myanmar following international charters.

Prof CR Abrar, RMMRU executive director, said the government must settle the problems in compliance with international laws. l

On October 20 last year, former health minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque inaugurated the � ve-bed BMT unit and a high-tech BMT Laboratory at DMCH at a cost of Tk200 crore

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014

B3 Banking’s back room risk cops step into top jobs

B4 Analysts: Weak start to year a test for Beijing

DSE to introduce T+2 settlement period on April 16n Tribune Report

Dhaka Stock Exchange has shortened the share trading settlement period by one day with e� ect from April 16 to speed up market activities.

Currently, the buyers have to settle payment and sellers transfer owner-ship of stock to buyer within three days after executing trade (T+3).

“This is for kind information of all concerned that DSE is pleased to de-clare April 16, 2014 as the e� ective date for T+2 settlement cycle,” said the bourse in a statement yesterday.

The move is to boost trading ac-tivities, thus increasing liquidity � ow to the capital market, said an o� cial. The decision of launching the reduced trading cycle on the DSE comes after discussion for months.

Earlier, the DSE submitted the pro-posal of introducing the T+2 to the se-curities regulator. After the submission of the proposal, it backtracked from in-troducing the short settlement period considering the market situation.

Some market players have support-ed T+2 stating that the investors’ cost of trading will come down and they will get their funds quickly from sale of shares, which will ease liquidity short-age in the market.

However, some have opposed and remained skeptical about the success of T+2, raising question on fund avail-ability in investors’ accounts at the time of making any buy order. l

BTCL yet to get Tk1,000cr dues from international call terminationn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The outstanding bills of di� erent in-ternational call carriers to the state-owned landline telephone company BTCL have stacked up to a staggering Tk1,072 crore against a bank guarantee of Tk185 crore.

Of the � gure, some 53 post-paid foreign carriers owe Tk952.10 crore as of January 31 this year to Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limit-ed (BTCL).

BTCL has only Tk171 crore bank guar-antee from these post-paid carriers.

Twenty-eight international pre-paid carriers owe Tk23.61 crore against bank guarantee of Tk14 crore.

There are also some national carri-ers receiving international calls owe Tk96.57 crore. BTCL has no bank guar-antee from them.

BTCL high o� cials said they were trying to collect money from the carriers and preparing for launching legal suits against some defaulting companies.

“We are going to cash the bank guarantees what we have in our hand now,” Nadir Shah Qureshi, managing director of BTCL, told the Dhaka Tri-bune yesterday.

However, BTCL faces some legal suits against the cashing of bank guarantees as some carriers have disputed the BTCL’s claims.

According to the BTCL statistics presented to the parliamentary stand-ing committee on post and telecom-munications ministry last September, BTCL’s outstanding was Tk1,173 crore as of March last year.

As of February 2012, the total out-standing bills amounted to Tk651 crore and increased to Tk794 crore in June 2012. BTCL managing director also hoped the current � gure would not further increase.

“BTCL is a state-owned internation-al gateway (IGW), and we have some responsibilities to collect the govern-ment’s income,” he said.

IGWs are the legal channels of in-coming international call termination, and for every minute of a call BTCL will be paid 3 US cents by the interna-tional carriers.

But BTCL sources said the land-line never took any e� ective measures to collect the outstanding bills and instead

the BTCL and telecom ministry high of-� cials travelled to Europe and the US in the name of collecting the dues.

Moreover, BTCL repeatedly prom-ised to the parliamentary committee that it would collect the dues.

On several occasions, the � xed-line operator assured the government that the outstanding � gure would not rise any further.

BTCL � gures show Jamir Telecom owes Tk328.90 crore ($4.23 crore),

which is the highest of others.The company is owned by two sons

of BNP leader and former parliament speaker Barrister Jamir Uddin Serker.

However, there are disputes on Tk169.15 crore ($2.18 crore) of the company. BTCL doesn’t have any bank guarantee from Jamir Telecom.

Nadir Shah Qureshi said BTCL ex-pected the disputes with di� erent companies would be solved “within a short time.”

DigiTech (Singapore) has an out-standing $1.16 crore to BTCL. The carri-er o� ers bank guarantee of $17.37 lakh.

N.Tel has no bank guarantee while its outstanding bills to BTCL exceeded $81.59 lakh.

Out of the national carriers, STC owes Tk37.76 crore to BTCL but o� ers no bank guarantee.

Under the pre-paid system, Green-witch Trading Pte Ltd crossed Tk6.19 crore in outstanding bills although they do not have any deposit to the BTCL.

About the outstanding bills of the pre-paid companies, the � xed-line o� cials said the companies recently turned to be pre-paid and the arrears were made before their conversion.

Sources concerned told the Dhaka Tribune that BTCL o� cials were the advisors of these pre-paid carriers and helping them delay or avoid the pay-ment of the dues. l

Iraq proposes Dhaka-Baghdad direct � ightn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Iraq has proposed Bangladesh to start direct � ights between Dhaka to Bagh-dad.

Iraqi Ambassador to Bangladesh Shakir Qasem Mahdi Al Ka� al submit-ted the proposal to Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon at his o� ce yesterday.

He requested taking initiatives from both sides to start the � ights.

The two countries had signed an

agreement for starting the direct � ights in 1988, said a meeting source.

Iraq requested to activate the deal within a short period of time, Menon told the Dhaka Tribune. “We are posi-tive about their proposal … We can re-think about the deal.”

He informed that more than 200 pas-sengers travel to Baghdad from Dhaka every day and the number of passen-gers is increasing day by day. These passengers travel to Baghdad through di� erent routes like Dhaka-Doha-Bagh-

dad or Dhaka-Dubai-Baghdad.“Both the countries can take the

business opportunity,” said the civil aviation minister.

The ministry considers that the op-portunities for Biman Bangladesh Air-lines would increase as lots of Bangla-deshi workers are already there helping war ravaged Iraq’s rebuilding activities and more Bangladeshi workers would � y for Baghdad to join them.

“No, we have no immediate plans to operate Dhaka-Baghdad � ights,” Biman

Managing Director Kevin Steele  said, however.

Biman, the national � ag carrier, currently maintains � ights to 19 inter-national routes, including Abu Dha-bi, Bangkok, Dammam, Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Kathman-du, Kuala Lumpur, Kolkata, Kuwait City, London, Muscat, Riyadh, Rome and Singapore.

Biman will start its � ight to Frank-furt within this month and is planning for New York from June. l

Norwegian envoy for ensuring labour rights in factoriesn Tribune Business Desk

Ambassador of Norway to Bangladesh Merete Lundemo yesterday urged the companies in Bangladesh to establish labour rights in the factories to en-hance business prospect.

“All companies need to be well fa-miliar with the national law and inter-national standards to establish labour rights that would eventually result in enhanced business prospect,” she told a function in Dhaka.

Speaking at the launching ceremony

of a new project and starting of a two-day training programme, the envoy urged the managers to play a critical role for e� ectively implementing the labour law.

The one-year project titled “Promot-ing Fundamental Rights at Work and Labour Relations in Export-Oriented Industries in Bangladesh” is being im-plemented in the Ready-Made Garment (RMG), shrimp processing, shoe and leather industries, with $2.5m from the Royal Norwegian government.

The project goals included train-ing up 4,000 workers and enhancing

the capacity of respective government agencies, said a press release.

“Workers and employers should consider themselves as mutual friends. Your joint e� orts can contribute to ef-fective implementation of law,” said Khondaker Mostan Hossain, joint sec-retary at the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The training programme is being attended by 64 mid-level managers, human resource managers and com-pliance o� cers from a� liated factories of the Leather goods & Footwear Man-

ufacturers & Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB).

“Diversity and pro-active compli-ance, especially with the national law, will boost the leather sector in Bangla-desh given its value and contribution to the national economy,” said Syed Nasim Manzur, president of the association.

He said the sector’s contribution to foreign exchange is now US$1bn, which can be doubled in next 10 years. The major importers of shoes (the USA and European countries) want to diversify their import-sources, he added. l

Power tari� hike concerns BGMEAn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has expressed deep concern over the recent power tari� hike as it would cast shadow on competitiveness of the RMG sector in the global market.

“The BGMEA thinks 6.96% hike in power tari� will impact negatively on ready-made garment sector as it will push up the cost of production,” the trade body said in a statement yesterday.

As a result, it said, the country’s ex-

port-oriented industry will lose com-petitiveness in the global market.

The BGMEA urged the government to keep the power prices for the RMG sector unchanged to maintain competitiveness.

BGMEA said the production cost of apparel products increased by 13% in the recent past due to appreciation of Taka by 8% against the US dollar and 77% increase in wages intensi� ed the cost further up.

On Thursday, BERC increased the retail power tari� by an average of 6.96% per unit. l

German envoy expresses concern over Bangladesh’s energy choicesn Tribune Business Desk

German Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Albrecht Conze yesterday expressed concern over the country’s decisions to construct a coal-� red power plant not far from the Sundarbarns and a nuclear power plant near Pabna.

He questioned some of Bangladesh’s energy choices, especially Rampal pow-er plant and Ruppur nuclear power plant, and said energy generation needs to take environmental risks into account.

Ambassador Conze made this state-ment while opening the Goalpara Pow-er Substation in Khulna on Sunday, which has recently been upgraded through introduction of energy e� -cient technology with support from German Development Cooperation (GDC), according to a media release is-sued by GIZ.

After the opening, the ambassador briefed journalists at the auditorium of Khulna Power Company Limited (KPCL), reports UNB.

Referring explicitly to the incalcula-ble risks the Rampal power plant could pose on the adjacent sanctuary of the Sundarbans, Conze cautioned: “I’m not convinced that the positive e� ects of the Rampal Power Plant which is expected to provide 1,320 MW of elec-tricity for the southwest of Bangladesh will outweigh the environmental risks of the project.”

Praising the natural beauty of the Sundarbans, he mentioned their sta-tus as a Unesco World Heritage site. “I know from the experience which my own country had to go through that Unesco regularly reviews and, occa-sionally, revokes this prestigious sta-tus in cases of serious manmade alter-ations to the environment of such sites. The German envoy said Bangladesh’s

greatest natural treasure ought to be protected at all cost, and should remain the pride of this country. It is not too late to look for other sites.”

Responding to a question related to Bangladesh’s overall power generation mix, Conze also expressed scepticism about the proposed Rooppur nuclear power plant project in Pabna.

“Although Germany has opted out of nuclear power generation after the Fukushima accident, we respect that other countries may make di� erent choices,” he said.

However, the envoy pointed out two serious risks. “First, you’ll see wa-ter temperature rise around the power plant, due to the need for constantly cooling the reactor. That will change the ecosystem. And second, you can never rule out earthquakes in Bangla-desh. In general, nuclear power plants always pose risks which are hard to calculate when they are being built in seismically unsafe areas.”

Conze mentioned that Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in gen-erating the electric power the coun-try needs to achieve a middle-income status. In this period of rapid growth of demand and supply for electricity, it is of great importance that the right choices are being made.

He, however, welcomed recent re-ports indicating Bangladesh’s interest in working together with Nepal and Bhutan to use the potential of water energy.

“With hydropower from the Hima-layas and o� shore natural gas from the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh should, in a not-so-distant future, be able to gen-erate most of the power it will need, while minimising the negative impact of energy generation on the country’s environment,” said the diplomat. l

Machine operators are working at a factory in Dhaka RAJIB DHAR

ANALYST

B2 Stock Monday, March 17, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSE turnover slips below Tk300 croren Tribune Report

Stocks declined for the third ses-sion in a row yesterday with turn-over slipping below Tk300 crore after two and a half month.

The fall was caused by mainly the market bellwether banks that dropped more than 2%, led by Southeast Bank that declined 14% due to its dividend adjustment. Three banks also featured in the top ten losers chart on the day.

The benchmark DSEX declined 44 points or 1% to close at 4,591, which was lowest since January 21 this year.

Shariah Index DSES was margin-ally 5 points or 0.5% to 1,009. The blue-chip comprising DS30 shed 14 points or 0.9% to end at 1,655.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Se-lective Category Index, CSCX, fell 92 points to 8,938.

Poor trading activities contin-ued to grip the market with volume of trade in terms of value coming down below Tk300 crore to stand at Tk290 crore, which is lowest since December last year.

“Traders are most likely looking to move out of rate sensitive bank and manufacturing stocks bagging some pro� ts,” said Lanka Bangla Securities in its market analysis.

IDLC Investment said shed-o� s in � nancial sectors, particularly bank, formed a strong push in the market, driving DSEX down.

In addition, it said, prolonged spikes at scrips level kept investors more cautious and prompted them to uphold side-line strategy.

Consequently, draught in inves-tors’ participation was also observ-able as turnover recorded at 52nd sessions’ base of Tk290 crore.

Except cement that rallied 0.9% and engineering 0.3%, all the major sectors turned negative, with bank and, food and allied losing the most.

Power, pharmaceuticals and tele-communications lost relatively less compared to other major sectors.

Zenith Investment said the mar-ket failed to provide any de� nitive swing out of risk as stock prices continue to rattle due to weak per-formance of some major sectors.

“Frequent sector-wise rotation, enabled engineering and, food and allied to shine over other depressed sectors for today’s trading session.”

The most traded stocks includ-ed Square Pharmaceuticals, Padma Oil, Lafarge Surma Cement, Bangla-desh Submarine Cable Company, National Tubes, Bangladesh Ship-ping Corporation and Southeast Bank. l

News and recent disclosersLINDEBD: The Board of Directors has recommended 110% � nal cash dividend (i.e. total 310% cash dividend for the year 2013 inclusive of 200% interim cash dividend which has already been paid) for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 08.05.2014. Record Date: 25.03.2014. Time and Venue of the AGM will be noti� ed later. The Company has also reported NAV of Tk. 2,458.50 million (per share 161.55), EPS of Tk. 48.55 and NOCFPS of Tk. 54.91 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.GREENDELT: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has resolved the following decision subject to approval from the Insurance Develop-ment & Regulatory Authority: To purchase commercial � oor space measuring 8,141.86 sft. (apprx.) at MANs Trade Center (4th � oor), Ramjoy Mohajan Lane, Khatungonj, Chittagong at the price of Tk. 7,700.00 per sft. totaling to Tk. 6,26,92,322.00 and 3 parking spaces at a total cost of Tk. 8,25,000.00.RIGHT SHARE: ARAMITCEM: Subscrip-tion 23.03.2014 to 17.04.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 09.01.2014. RUPALILIFE- Subscription 06.04.2014 to 05.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 16.01.2014. BRACBANK:

Subscription 20.04.2014 to 15.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 10.02.2014. GENNEXT: Subscription 18.03.2014 to 09.04.2014, Record date: 25.02.2014.IPO Subscription: Far Chemical Industries Limited subscription date 10-16 February 2014, NRB upto 25 March 2014. At per, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. The Peninsula Chittagong Limited subscription date 30 March-03 April 2014, NRB upto 12 April 2014. @ taka 30, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shahjibazar Power Co. Limited subscription date 06-04 April 2014, NRB upto 19 April 2014. @ taka 25, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGMABBANK: 5% cash and 7% stock, EGM and AGM: 21.04.2014, Record date for EGM and AGM: 25.03.2014.FIRSTSBANK: 10% cash, AGM: 25.04.2014, Record date: 25.03.2014. GBBPOWER: 15% stock, AGM: 16.04.2014, Record Date: 25.03.2014. ARAMITCEM: 10% cash, AGM: 10.04.2014, Record Date: 20.03.2014.MTBL: 10% stock, AGM: 10.04.2014, Record date: 20.03.2014. SAFKOSPINN: 10% stock, AGM:

12.04.2014, Record Date: 20.03.2014. UNIQUEHRL: 25% cash, EGM and AGM: 08.04.2014, Record Date for EGM and AGM: 18.03.2014.BANKASIA: 10% stock, AGM: 31.03.2014, Record date: 16.03.2014. ULC: 5% cash & 10% stock, AGM: 10.04.2014, Record date: 18.03.2014. PRIMEBANK: 12.50% cash, 30.03.2014, Record date: 13.03.2014. UNIONCAP: 10% stock, AGM: 31.03.2014, Record date: 13.03.2014.SOUTHEASTB: 16% cash and 5% stock, AGM: 31.03.2014, RD: 13.03.2014. DUTCHBANGL: 40% cash dividend for the General Public Shareholders and Foreign Sponsors/Shareholders, AGM: 30.03.2014, RD: 13.03.2014. LAFSURCEML: No dividend, AGM: 10.06.2014, RD: 07.04.2014.UTTARAFIN: 30% cash, AGM: 30.04.2014, Record date: 12.03.2014.EBL: 20% cash, AGM: 31.03.2014, RD: 11.03.2014.PRIMEFIN: 15% cash, AGM: 30.03.2014, RD: 11.03.2014. UCBL: 20% cash, AGM: 17.04.2014, RD: 11.03.2014.PUBALIBANK: 10% stock, AGM: 25.03.2014, RD: 10.03.2014.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Al Arafa Islami B-A -14.77 -17.09 14.85 15.00 15.10 14.60 1.084 2.17 6.8Southeast Bank-A -13.76 -14.05 18.90 18.80 20.00 18.80 6.578 3.69 5.1ICB AMCL 1st NRB -A -8.02 -8.31 24.05 24.10 26.00 23.60 0.241 4.74 5.1Rupali Bank - A -7.64 -7.68 70.05 70.10 70.10 70.00 0.014 5.89 11.9Union Capital -A -7.17 -7.64 25.64 25.90 26.00 24.90 0.373 1.17 21.9Prime Insur -A -6.57 -6.57 27.00 27.00 27.00 27.00 0.007 2.23 12.1Standard Ceramic -A -6.42 -6.04 49.80 49.60 50.00 49.60 0.050 1.06 47.0Paramount Insur-A -5.42 -5.22 22.70 22.70 22.70 22.70 0.011 1.51 15.0 Prime Bank-A -5.31 -8.60 22.54 23.20 23.20 22.10 0.068 0.56 40.3Pioneer Insur -A -5.07 -5.07 73.00 73.00 73.00 73.00 0.037 5.75 12.7

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Al Arafa Islami B-A -15.34 -17.26 14.86 14.90 16.00 14.20 15.824 2.17 6.8Southeast Bank-A -14.16 -14.41 18.89 18.80 20.20 18.80 74.893 3.69 5.1Union Capital -A -8.60 -8.58 25.16 25.50 26.20 23.50 0.566 1.17 21.5 Prime Bank-A -7.20 -7.55 23.14 23.20 25.20 22.50 3.309 0.56 41.3Reckitt Benckiser -A -5.71 -5.53 963.60 963.60 963.60 963.60 0.048 28.52 33.8Kay & Que (BD) -Z -4.95 -3.56 19.23 19.20 21.80 19.00 0.125 -0.89 -veMidas Financing-Z -4.52 -4.35 29.71 29.60 29.70 29.50 0.104 -5.96 -veGeminiSeaFood-Z -4.30 -4.70 171.54 171.50 173.00 170.50 0.223 6.44 26.6Eastern InsurA -4.19 -3.70 39.01 38.90 40.00 38.50 0.671 2.60 15.0Sa� o Spinning-A -4.01 -3.86 28.87 28.70 30.00 27.00 5.079 1.14 25.3

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Square Pharma -A 47,344 13.41 5.68 282.80 -0.84 285.20 286.00 281.20 283.27BSC-A 19,225 12.09 5.12 627.00 -0.63 631.00 635.00 624.25 628.80LafargeS Cement-Z 233,000 11.46 4.86 49.60 1.43 48.90 49.80 48.70 49.20BD Submarine Cable-A 50,316 10.94 4.63 216.30 -1.55 219.70 221.00 215.00 217.35Padma Oil Co. -A 29,348 10.12 4.29 344.50 -1.20 348.70 346.00 344.00 344.95Beach Hatchery -A 287,215 9.32 3.95 32.80 4.13 31.50 33.20 31.60 32.46Southeast Bank-A 348,000 6.58 2.79 18.80 -13.76 21.80 20.00 18.80 18.90UCBL - A 227,464 5.22 2.21 22.90 -2.14 23.40 23.30 22.80 22.94Quasem Drycells -A 110,437 5.01 2.12 46.00 5.02 43.80 46.20 43.90 45.38Legacy Footwear -A 109,092 4.44 1.88 40.40 3.06 39.20 41.50 39.60 40.69Olympic Ind. -A 20,232 4.42 1.87 218.90 -1.08 221.30 223.00 217.80 218.50Orion Pharma-N 69,900 4.27 1.81 61.00 -0.65 61.40 61.60 60.50 61.05AFC AgroBiotech-N 63,500 3.88 1.64 60.80 -2.41 62.30 62.00 60.60 61.12BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 120,359 3.80 1.61 31.50 -0.94 31.80 32.20 31.30 31.53Appollo Ispat CL -N 129,800 3.67 1.55 28.20 -1.05 28.50 29.00 28.10 28.27

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Square Pharma -A 560,905 158.66 5.42 283.20 -0.63 285.00 286.00 275.00 282.86Padma Oil Co. -A 385,561 133.18 4.55 344.50 -1.06 348.20 350.00 318.00 345.42LafargeS Cement-Z 2,673,000 131.76 4.50 49.50 1.43 48.80 49.70 48.70 49.29BD Submarine Cable-A 445,911 96.88 3.31 215.60 -2.18 220.40 225.00 201.20 217.27National Tubes -A 604,736 91.82 3.14 155.60 6.43 146.20 157.80 132.00 151.83BSC-A 142,545 89.72 3.07 627.25 -1.14 634.50 637.75 624.00 629.40Southeast Bank-A 3,965,345 74.89 2.56 18.80 -14.16 21.90 20.20 18.80 18.89Grameenphone-A 297,001 63.64 2.18 214.40 -0.09 214.60 215.60 205.00 214.29GQ Ball PenA 373,229 61.57 2.10 165.30 4.36 158.40 167.80 150.00 164.96Meghna Petroleum -A 213,427 60.85 2.08 284.80 -1.11 288.00 288.90 263.00 285.12Singer BD -A 254,811 54.84 1.87 215.80 -1.37 218.80 218.80 205.00 215.21Square Textile -A 459,249 52.30 1.79 112.50 -2.43 115.30 116.90 105.00 113.88Olympic Ind. -A 222,500 48.87 1.67 219.30 -1.35 222.30 220.90 215.00 219.64Atlas BD-A 245,577 47.78 1.63 193.00 1.63 189.90 199.80 173.00 194.54Quasem Drycells -A 914,737 41.54 1.42 45.90 5.52 43.50 46.30 40.00 45.41

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Fine Foods A 6.44 5.46 21.23 21.50 21.80 20.30 2.430 -0.98 -veNational Polymer -A 6.21 6.68 74.05 75.20 75.50 73.00 2.268 1.70 43.6Rahima Food -Z 5.70 5.62 57.50 57.50 57.50 57.50 0.029 -1.00 -veApex Foods -A 5.30 3.10 135.25 139.00 139.80 133.10 1.413 3.56 38.0Rangpur Foundry -A 5.18 4.44 121.11 121.90 123.40 119.90 2.967 3.03 40.0Quasem Drycells -A 5.02 4.37 45.38 46.00 46.20 43.90 5.012 2.28 19.9Deshbandhu Polymer-A 4.64 3.04 20.01 20.30 20.50 19.30 2.192 0.46 43.5Beach Hatchery -A 4.13 1.79 32.46 32.80 33.20 31.60 9.323 0.79 41.1GQ Ball PenA 3.97 4.89 164.86 164.90 167.00 163.00 3.142 4.01 41.1Berger Paints-A 3.83 3.06 1010.00 1017.50 1020.00 1000.00 0.202 41.85 24.1

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Northern Jute -Z 9.90 9.90 63.30 63.30 63.30 63.30 0.025 -10.24 -vePragati Gen. I -A 9.48 6.66 60.35 61.20 61.40 57.00 4.997 4.19 14.4National Tubes -A 6.43 5.89 151.83 155.60 157.80 132.00 91.819 2.26 67.2Sonali Ansh -A 6.41 7.03 155.33 157.70 159.80 150.00 14.096 0.88 176.5Deshbandhu Polymer-A 6.25 3.62 20.02 20.40 21.00 17.50 9.562 0.46 43.5Fine Foods A 6.00 4.99 21.06 21.20 22.00 18.00 8.292 -0.98 -veNational Polymer -A 5.95 6.36 73.89 74.80 75.00 68.00 36.839 1.70 43.5Quasem Drycells -A 5.52 4.44 45.41 45.90 46.30 40.00 41.542 2.28 19.9Apex Foods -A 5.28 5.72 135.22 137.60 139.00 128.20 25.157 3.56 38.0Rangpur Foundry -A 5.05 3.15 120.86 122.70 123.50 116.50 33.417 3.03 39.9

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 309.52 10.58 28.83 12.20 338.36 10.70NBFI 93.62 3.20 5.76 2.43 99.37 3.14Investment 50.05 1.71 2.52 1.07 52.57 1.66Engineering 447.04 15.28 26.66 11.28 473.69 14.98Food & Allied 167.95 5.74 22.32 9.44 190.28 6.02Fuel & Power 317.39 10.85 21.58 9.13 338.97 10.72Jute 14.30 0.49 0.00 14.30 0.45Textile 246.42 8.42 17.28 7.31 263.70 8.34Pharma & Chemical 337.21 11.53 31.53 13.34 368.75 11.66Paper & Packaging 1.77 0.06 0.20 0.08 1.97 0.06Service 25.53 0.87 1.87 0.79 27.39 0.87Leather 67.03 2.29 8.23 3.48 75.26 2.38Ceramic 33.12 1.13 4.43 1.88 37.55 1.19Cement 215.58 7.37 16.16 6.84 231.74 7.33Information Technology 31.45 1.08 2.96 1.25 34.42 1.09General Insurance 53.75 1.84 1.02 0.43 54.77 1.73Life Insurance 107.03 3.66 4.78 2.02 111.81 3.54Telecom 160.53 5.49 13.55 5.73 174.08 5.51Travel & Leisure 37.05 1.27 4.35 1.84 41.39 1.31Miscellaneous 208.17 7.12 22.31 9.44 230.48 7.29Debenture 0.67 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.69 0.02

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4591.17176 (-) 0.95% ▼

DSE Shariah Index : 1009.29586 (-) 0.47% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1655.72428 (-) 0.84% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14218.7232 (-) 0.90% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 11963.3254 (-) 1.12% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8938.6519 (-) 1.02% ▼

DSE key features March 16, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

2,925.16

Turnover (Volume)

57,578,832

Number of Contract 78,087

Traded Issues 292

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

93

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

198

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

1

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,279.52

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.63

CSE key features March 16, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 236.09

Turnover (Volume) 5,591,781

Number of Contract 10,072

Traded Issues 218

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

64

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

149

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,178.47

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.41

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

Traders are most likely looking to move out of rate sensitive bank and manufacturing stocks bagging some pro� ts

Banking’s back room risk cops step into top jobsn Reuters, London

Once modest of pay and pro� le, risk experts are being reborn as rock stars of the banking world - their status and salaries soaring as regulators force � -nancial institutions to clean up.

Industry-wide investigations into alleged exchange rate manipula-tion, trading scandals at UBS, Societe Generale and JPMorgan and HSBC’s $1.9bn � ne for lax money-laundering rules have upped the ante for banks already under pressure to curb reckless behavior that led to the � nancial crisis.

Now watchdogs and central banks want to see a clear line of responsibility for the avoidance of such � ascos in the future, and as a result, the position of chief risk o� cer (CRO) has jumped up the ranks. Many CROs now sit along-side the � nance director as second in importance behind the chief executive.

“The role of the CRO has become broader, higher pro� le and more in� u-ential,” said Anne Murphy, head of UK � nancial services for executive recruit-ment � rm Odgers Berndtson.

In turn, salaries have soared. Pay in risk-related jobs rose 6% in 2013 and rocketed 19 percent for those who moved � rms, according to a report by recruitment � rm Barclay Simpson.

HSBC (HSBA.L) chief risk o� cer Marc Moses joined the bank’s board at the start of 2014, alongside the chairman, chief executive and � nance director, and could be paid 6m pounds ($10m) this year. Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver, who could be paid 11.4 million this year, says pre-crisis, the bank’s CRO would not have made it into the top 50 earners.

At Spain’s Santander (SAN.MC) the top risk executive Matias Rodriguez Inciarte was its second-highest paid di-

rector last year, getting 4.7m euros.Those numbers, says Murphy, are

“recognition that it’s a big job. There aren’t many people who have the skills and abilities to do it well, combined with the increase in seniority and re-sponsibility.”

Wide remitChief risk o� cers ensure that where potential dangers exist, they are moni-tored and kept in check. That can range from measuring how likely loans are

to be paid back, how risky banks’ posi-tions in � nancial markets might be, and what potential losses may be incurred from fraudulent activities.

However after the � nancial crisis of 2007-2008 this already wide remit has become larger still, and its param-eters more clearly policed. CROs must ensure banks abide by tougher regula-tions around the world, hammered out by governments that had to use public funds to keep many of them from sink-ing under the burden of bad loans re-

sulting from excessive borrowing, risky investments and a lack of transparency.

The new rules demand that banks take fewer risks, assess loans more closely and hold more accessible capi-tal as a bu� er against bad bets.

Many CROs are now also responsible for ensuring cyber security and spot-ting terror � nancing and money laun-dering - so-called compliance func-tions that previously often fell under the remit of a bank’s legal division.

The scale of the new CRO job is re-

� ected in the amount of time such con-cerns occupy at board level. Santander said its board spent 30% of its time last year on risk management, and Barclays’ board has spent 35-40% of its time on governance and risk issues in the last two years. As a result some CROs are being invited to join the board, another notch for their status and pay packets.

Juan Colombas, chief risk o� cer at Lloyds Banking Group since the start of 2011, joined its board in November 2013 and is one of only three executive directors. He could earn 4.4m pounds this year.

AccountabilityThe job of CRO comes with its own risk/reward equation: its new elevated sta-tus also brings far more accountability.

Following the introduction of new post-crisis legislation in Britain, for ex-ample, these bankers can now be sent to prison if found guilty of the new charge of reckless misconduct leading to bank failure.

“Whereas before it was a slightly techy and bookish type of job, now risk is incredibly diverse and carries a huge amount more responsibility if you are running the department, and the re-percussions for the chief risk o� cer are profound,” said Mark Garnier, a British lawmaker who was part of a panel that last year proposed changes to make in-dividuals at banks more accountable.

However the jump in pay and pro� le means that the job is nonetheless likely to tempt more candidates to � ll what is currently a small pool of specialists.

Headhunters say the rising status of top risk managers could see it become a popular path for ambitious executives who now see it as a route to the CEO’s chair. l

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014

China doubles yuan trading band, seen as sign of con� dencen Reuters, Shanghai

China’s central bank loosened its grip on the yuan on Saturday by doubling the daily trading range for the curren-cy, adding teeth to a promise it would allow market forces to play a greater role in the economy and its markets.

Analysts said the move was a sign of con� dence that the central bank had successfully fought o� a plague of currency speculators, and at the same time signalled that regulators be-lieve the economy is stable enough to handle more promised reforms going forward.

But as far as Beijing’s project to en-courage the international usage of the yuan is concerned, there is less con-sensus, with some warning that more volatility could discourage � rms from using the yuan in the short run.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said the exchange rate will be allowed to rise or fall 2% from a daily midpoint rate it sets each morning. The change is e� ective from Monday.

“This is a major step towards build-ing more market-oriented exchange rate mechanisms in China, signifying a gradual withdrawal by the central bank from regular intervention in the foreign exchange market,” said Fu

Qing, head of foreign exchange trading at Standard Chartered Bank in Shang-hai.

“However, with more volatility in the yuan’s exchange rate created by the reform, Chinese companies will face an uphill task learning how to hedge their currency risks.”

Many market participants have long viewed the yuan as a one-way appre-ciation bet. Authorities are trying to change that by demonstrating that it is now more of a genuine market that can go up and down like any other.

“The People’s Bank of China will continue to increase the two-way � ex-ibility of the renminbi exchange rate, keeping the exchange rate fundamen-tally stable within reasonable and bal-anced levels,” the PBOC said in a state-ment on its website.

A PBOC spokesman in a separate statement said that the new � exibility would help improve e� ciency and in-crease the decisive role of the market to allocate resources.

The widening of the band had been broadly expected after the yuan fell in value from mid February through ear-ly March. Traders suspected that the central bank, working through state banks, pushed the currency down to try to force those speculating on ap-

preciation to unwind their positions.The idea was to leave the market

more balanced between buyers and sellers to reduce the chances of dra-matic moves once the trading band was widened.

The central bank’s clamp down came after it had guided the yuan to rise 2.9% against the dollar in 2013, far outperforming other emerging econo-my currencies and surprising markets, which had not been so bullish.

That rally encouraged capital to � ow into the country betting on a steady in-crease in Chinese interest rates, which made Chinese assets relatively attrac-tive given the weakness of the dollar.

Many Chinese importers even in� at-ed their receipts to bring in more cash to speculate on the yuan, which repeat-edly and massively distorted the coun-try’s trade � gures in certain months.

However, since the beginning of 2014, the central bank’s action has pushed the currency down 1.6%. While that is not a major move for many currencies, for the yuan it marked a bigger slide than the currency posted over six months during the Greek debt crisis in 2012.

Moving marketsIn pushing the yuan lower, the risk was that traders bullish on the yuan would

see the weaker levels as a buying op-portunity.

However, foreign exchange traders said that the yuan continued to fall in recent weeks and stay closer to the central bank’s midpoint, even though state-owned banks had stopped in-tervening, indicating many bulls had been shaken out of the market.

A senior money manager for an inter-national investment fund in Shanghai, who spoke o� the record because of the sensitivity of relations with regulators, said that the wider trading band would likely discourage foreign investors.

“It’s what China needs to do, and the smart money says, OK, this is great, this is two way, we’ll have more money coming in and out. But for the next tier of investor, they see China as very hairy still, not a lot of transparency, and the only news is bad news. They don’t look at this as good news they just look at it as more volatility.”

Currency analysts said the shake out of bullish positions cleared the way for the PBOC to widen the trading band without worrying that the currency would immediately leap to test the up-per limits of the new range.

“Conditions for a band widening were ripe,” said Li Heng, economist at Minsheng Securities in Beijing. l

Local investors join exodus from emerging marketsn Reuters, London

Local investors are giving emerging markets another headache as they look abroad for more liquid and stable investments, drawn by strengthening foreign currencies and encouraged by regulatory changes at home.

Money has � owed out of emerging markets with little interruption as foreign investors have withdrawn $45bn this year from funds which invest in bonds and equities, outpacing $28bn of out� ows for 2013, according to EPFR.

Now local institutional investors in emerging economies are expected to join the bandwagon, attracted in part by regulatory changes that allow pen-sion funds to invest a higher propor-tion of their assets overseas.

In Latin America, home to nearly $630bn of pension funds assets, the be-haviour of local institutional investors is increasingly becoming important, as pension funds attract in� ows from young working populations.

Many countries are beginning to lift caps on how much pension funds can invest overseas, to help them meet re-turn targets that can be as high as in� a-tion plus 6 percent.

Local � nancial markets are also be-

coming too small to absorb these � ows and less appealing as these economies slow. Growing � exibility of pension funds’ asset allocation could therefore have a snowballing e� ect on EM capital out� ows.

“Governments are modifying legisla-tion and local investors look elsewhere to get a doubling e� ect from currencies. There is going to be a signi� cant in-crease in out� ows,” said Alvaro Camu-nas, head of Spain and Latin America at BNP Paribas Securities Services.

Currently, Chile’s pension funds have the highest o� shore investment allowance of 80%. Brazil allows only up to 20% in international allocations. Mexico’s pension funds also invest only around a � fth of their assets overseas.

But interest is growing. BNP Paribas notes that overseas funds distributed in Brazil nearly tripled to 37bn reais ($16bn) in 2013 from 2011. Foreign assets within Mexico’s pension funds hit a record $22bn last year from $17bn in 2013.

BNP Paribas said Brazilian investors prefer to invest in money market prod-ucts and high-yielding � xed income in developed markets, where they gain from both capital and currency appre-ciation, at a time when high interest rates weigh on local companies. l

Oil prices mixed in Asia on China, Ukraine woesn AFP, Singapore

Oil prices were mixed in Asian trade Friday as investors digest the implica-tions of weaker economic data from China and keep an eye on a controver-sial referendum in Crimea on joining Russia.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for April delivery, eased two cents to $98.18 in mid-morn-ing trade, while Brent North Sea crude rose 11 cents to $107.50 for its April con-tract.

“The China data and the talks about the Ukraine referendum would be the prime events a� ecting oil today,” Des-mond Chua, market strategist at CMC markets in Singapore told AFP.

China on Thursday said that its in-dustrial output rose 8.6 percent year-on-year in the January-February pe-riod, the slowest rate since April 2009.

Retail sales, a key indicator of con-sumer spending, gained 11.8 percent in the two months from the year before, but this was also the slowest since in February 2011.

Crude prices, however, were sup-ported by tensions in Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, where its self-declared leaders will hold a referendum that is expected to see voters choose to split from Ukraine.

However, the West has called the vote illegal and warned Moscow of a se-rious backlash, with the US and EU pre-paring sanctions against those blamed for stirring the tensions.

But there are concerns the sanctions could disrupt oil supplies from Russia, a major energy producer and exporter of natural gas to Western Europe. l

A sign for Bank Street and high rise o� ces are pictured in the � nancial district Canary Wharf in London REUTERS

Team Ispahani emerged as the champion of the 30th MM Ispahani National Team Bridge Championship – 2013. The team was led by Mirza Sajid Ispahani

Vice chairperson of NCC Bank ASM Mainuddin Monem seen handing over a cheque worth Tk50 lakh to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the ICC T20 World Cup 2014 and Lakho Konthe Sonar Bangla Fund in a ceremony at Ganabhaban recently

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina receiving a cheque of Tk3 crore from Engr Mustafa Anwar, vice chairperson of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited on March 14 as donation for organising Sonar Bangla in Million Voices. Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith was present on the occasion

BGMEA to bear educational expenseof 3 Rana Plaza victims’ childrenn Tribune Business Desk

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has taken charge of � ve children of three Rana Plaza victims recently.

The trade body will bear all the edu-cational expenses of two children of Ejaz Uddin, two children of executive director of Phantom Apparels Tech, MM Abu Sayeed and Mostafa Kamal,

son of Md Ishaq, head of production coordinator, Ether Tex Ltd. Md Ishaq. All the mentioned victims were killed in the tragic collapse of Rana Plaza.

BGMEA has made the arrange-ment for Mostafa Kamal for studying at BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) for free. Besides, Mostafa has been appointed as junior executive at the Uttara o� ce of BG-MEA. l

China consumer show targets camera maker Nikonn Reuters, Shanghai

Japan’s Nikon Corp has moved to al-lay consumer fears in China after be-ing criticised on a closely watched consumer show that said the camera maker had sold defective products in China and denied local consumers fair treatment in aftersales service.

The � rm, which had sales of 118bn yen ($1.16bn) in China in 2013, said on Sunday it was taking the report “very seriously” and had moved to improve its after-sales network in China, ac-cording to its o� cial microblog sites.

Criticism in Chinese state media can have a long-lasting impact, particularly in cases of corruption and food safety scandals, which have hit some � rms over the last year, including French foodmaker Danone SA to British drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline Plc.

An annual investigative special on China Central Television (CCTV) called “3.15”, similar to the CBS network’s “60 Minutes” in the United States, said late on Saturday that some of Nikon’s D600 cameras had black specks on the lens, and accused the � rm of refusing requests to replace the defective products. l

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina receives a cheque for Tk1.5 crore from National Bank director, Rick Haque Sikder at Ganabhaban in the capital on Friday for hosting ICC T20 World Cup and ‘Lakho Kantho’ event on March 26

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, March 17, 2014

DILBERT

Analysts: Weak start to year a test for Beijingn AFP, Beijing

China could miss its o� cial growth tar-get for the � rst time in 16 years, a snap poll of economists by AFP shows after surprisingly weak data for January and February.

Industrial output, a key measure of production at factories, workshops and mines in the world’s second-largest economy, rose just 8.6% in the � rst two months of 2014, the slowest pace in � ve years, government � gures showed Thursday.

Retail sales, an indicator of consumer spending, increased at the lowest rate since February 2011, while growth in � xed asset investment, a gauge of gov-ernment spending on infrastructure, came in at a surprisingly low 17.9% dur-ing the period, according to the data.

In a survey of 10 economists by AFP on Friday, the median forecast for 2014 growth was 7.4%, with some saying the weak start to the year had led them to cut their annual predictions.

At the just-concluded National People’s Congress (NPC), Premier Li Keqiang set this year’s growth target at “around 7.5%”, lower than last year’s actual expansion of 7.7% - which was unchanged from 2012 and the worst since 7.6% in 1999.

China is a key driver of the world economy and the last time its actual GDP growth came in below the govern-ment target was in 1998, at the height

of the Asian � nancial crisis.“The disappointing economic data

in January-February will be a test of the government’s tolerance level, as this pace of deceleration has rarely been seen before,” Shen Jianguang, a Hong Kong-based economist with Mizuho Securities, said in a research note.

He cut his projection for 2014 growth from 7.5% to 7.3%.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch ana-lysts also lowered their prediction from 7.6% to 7.2% for the full year due to the “signi� cantly weaker than expected” data in the � rst two months.

Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, said that if economic growth falls under 7.5% in the � rst quarter, there will be “signi� cant risks of not hitting the annual target”.

Chinese shares closed down Friday on worries over an economic slow-down, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropping 0.73%.

Key downside risksChina’s top leaders have said they

are ready to accept slower expansion as they seek to transform the economy’s growth model away from an over-re-liance on often wasteful investment, and instead make private demand the driver of future development.

After the close of the NPC, China’s Communist Party-controlled legisla-ture, on Thursday Premier Li sought to downplay the importance of the target.

“We have a level of � exibility by set-ting the target at around 7.5%,” he said.

He did not specify the lowest rate the government could accept, only saying it must ensure su� cient job creation.

“We think the government will not let growth slide below the 7% mark,” Wang Tao, a UBS economist in Hong Kong, said in a report.

Key downside risks ahead this year include uncertainties in export recov-ery, credit volatilities related to China’s multi-trillion-dollar shadow banking sector - heightened by the country’s � rst-ever default on a domestic corpo-rate bond last week - and a “more pro-

nounced” property slowdown, she said.Yao Wei, an analyst with Societe

Generale, said in a research note: “New leaders are now facing a critical test: whether they can stabilise the econo-my, without signi� cantly compromis-

ing the progress of lowering debt risks.”The government has avoided intro-

ducing major stimulus measures since Li took o� ce in March last year, and the ruling party leadership promised in November to let the market play the

“decisive” role in resource allocation.But that vow could make it more dif-

� cult for the government to intervene in the economy, for example with in-frastructure investment, as such poli-cies “may conceptually contradict the

goal”, Goldman Sachs economist Song Yu said in a report.

“It does imply more constraints on what and how much the government can do compared with the past,” Song wrote. l

A construction worker looks at Pudong � nancial district as he waits to cross an avenue in Shanghai REUTERS

Mind your wallet: why the underworld loves bitcoinn Reuters, Singapore

Criminals may already have made o� with up to $500m worth of bitcoins since the virtual currency launched in 2009 - and you can double that if it turns out they emptied Mt Gox.

Internet criminals, security experts say, are attracted to bitcoin because of its stratospheric rise in value, because it’s easier to steal than real money, and because it’s easier to trade with other criminal elements. But, they add, bit-coin will survive the damage.

“It’s just growing pains,” says Keith Jarvis, a security researcher at Dell Se-cureWorks. “Bitcoin is large enough and has enough momentum behind it to survive any public relations dam-age from this (Mt Gox) case or anything else.”

The fall of Mt Gox, the Tokyo-based exchange which � led for bankruptcy last month after saying it lost some 850,000 bitcoins to hackers, is certain-ly the virtual currency’s biggest crisis.

But data collated by Reuters from specialist bitcoin industry websites and internet forums shows that more than 730,000 bitcoins were already missing to theft, hacking, cyber-ran-som payments and other apparently criminal pursuits before Mt. Gox’s col-lapse. That’s nearly 6% of all bitcoins, and doesn’t include dozens, possibly hundreds, of unreported cases of in-dividuals who have lost bitcoins from their computers or online exchanges to hackers.

For sure, there’s no way of telling who has these missing bitcoins, or whether they were converted to real money when the price was much lower. And of course some bitcoins may have been counted twice if criminals stole them from each other or they were put back into circulation and stolen again.

But there’s no question that bitcoins have attracted the attention of cyber-criminals - as a currency and an asset worth stealing.

Beware malwareA study by Pat Litke and Joe Stewart of Dell SecureWorks showed that as the price of bitcoin soared beyond $1,000 last year, so did the number of viruses designed to steal bitcoins from wallets - programs that hold bitcoins on user’s computers or smartphones. Of the 140 types of such software more than 100 appeared in the past year.

Writing such viruses, says Stewart, is easy. “There’s no sophistication in-volved in the storage of bitcoin in wal-lets. As for malware, it’s some of the easiest stu� to write.”

Indeed, this cyber-pocket picking wasn’t criminals’ � rst foray into bit-coins. Initially, they focused on using

their control of large networks of in-fected computers - called botnets - to make their own bitcoins.

Bitcoins are created through a ‘min-ing’ process where a computer’s re-sources are used to perform millions of calculations.

For a while, says Kirill Levchenko, a researcher at the University of Califor-nia, San Diego, criminals added mal-ware to their botnets to turn infected computers into bitcoin miners.

This triggered predictions of doom for bitcoin - that the criminals would take over the mining of bitcoin through botnets and bring the whole currency crashing down. But as bitcoins become harder to mine - according to an algo-rithm that slows down their produc-tion the more people try to create them - this approach has proven less pro� t-able.

In 2012-13, says Danny Huang, an-other researcher at the University of California, San Diego, they earned at

least 4,500 bitcoins, a relatively small sum compared with the total produced. “Few botnets are mining bitcoins now,” he said.

Instead, they’ve turned to stealing them from wallets, or, more lucrative-ly, from exchanges.

According to data compiled last year by academics Tyler Moore and Nicho-las Christin, of 40 exchanges tracked 18 had closed, with customer balances wiped out in many cases - not always, they point out, due to fraud. Since then, according to public reports, more than a dozen others have been hacked.

Currency of thievesCyber-criminals have also made use of the ease with which bitcoins can be traded without any third party - such as a bank or online payments service like PayPal - to use it as at least one way of paying for services between them-selves.

“Bitcoin made it much easier for

them, because they have to trust each other even less. Even complete strang-ers can cooperate,” said Juraj Bednar, a bitcoin security expert in Slovakia.

But while bitcoin has its advantages, it’s not a perfect tool for the bad guys.

Take, for example, ransomware. Viruses which encrypt users’ data and then demand payment for a key to unlock it have become increasingly sophisticated, says Dell Secureworks’ Jarvis.

The most successful: CryptoLock-er, which Jarvis believes is run by a Russian-speaking gang who are also behind a botnet called Gameover Zeus that targets � nancial websites.

Bitcoin often appears on Cryp-toLocker as an option for victims to pay up. Its appeal, says Bednar, lies in the fact that it needs no third party for the transaction to work.

But there have been problems. For one thing, the type of user to be infect-ed by a virus wasn’t likely to be the type who is technologically savvy enough to be familiar with bitcoin. Also, as bitcoin rose in value, it has become a more ex-pensive option for the victim, forcing the criminals to lower their bitcoin ransom demands to match prevailing exchange rates.

Tracing transactionsThen there’s bitcoin’s transparency. All transactions are visible, and while they’re just digits and letters, in theory they could be connected to an indi-vidual and the entire history of all the bitcoin’s transactions traced.

Italian computer engineer Michele Spagnuolo, for example, was able to trace a number of ransom payments for CryptoLocker.

The gains have been impressive: he and academics from Politecnico di Mi-lano speculate that up to 6,757 bitcoins - then worth around $6 million - could be linked to those behind CryptoLocker late last year. That estimate of their to-tal takings, he says, could be very con-servative.

But the fact that such payments can be traced would raise a red � ag for cyber-criminals, says Daniel Cohen of RSA, the security division of EMC Corp (EMC.N), even though there are online services that can “launder” bitcoins to hide their origin. “Sure, there are bit-coin laundering services, but still if I tie a wallet to an identity I can see every single movement,” he said.

And, ironically, the success that some criminals have had in stealing bit-coins has made it less appealing to the underworld. RSA’s Cohen says his team monitoring underground forums has noticed criminals lately see bitcoin as “volatile, seizable and, with the recent thefts, unsafe.” l

G7 may meet in London without Russia n AFP, Berlin

An alternative meeting for the Group of Seven most developed economies could be held in London if Russia is expelled from the G8 for its aggressive policy in Ukraine, a German weekly re-ported Saturday.

Britain has proposed hosting the summit with Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy and the United States, Der Spiegel said, citing an unnamed source close to the German government.

Initially, a Group of Eight meeting including Russia was set to be held in June in Sochi, where the Russians had successfully hosted this year’s Winter

Olympic Games.But Russia’s expulsion from the rich

countries’ club is one of the interna-tional sanctions to be imposed if Mos-cow persists in its support for Crimea to quit Ukraine and join Russia, the subject of Sunday’s referendum in the � ashpoint peninsula which Kiev and Western powers have said is illegal.

The German government, however, issued a statement saying that the only decision that has been made is to stop preparations for a G8 meeting.

“Other than that, no other deci-sion has been taken,” the statement from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s o� ce said. l

Survey: New York takes London’s crown as top � nancial centren Reuters, London

New York has knocked London from its position as the world’s leading global � nancial centre after seven years, according to the Global Finan-cial Centres Index compiled by Lon-don-based consultancy Z/Yen.

London slipped from the top of the global rankings, scoring 784 against 786 for New York, because a series of own goals had tarnished its reputation, the report said.

“London sees the largest fall in the top 50 centres,” said Mark Ye-andle, report author and associate director of Z/Yen, in a statement on the group’s website.

“This seems to be based on a number of factors including ... un-certainty over Europe, the percep-tion that London might be becom-ing less welcoming to foreigners and perceived levels of market manipu-lation.”

Hong Kong and Singapore took third and fourth spots respectively,

the same as a year ago, the survey showed.

But the gap between the “Big Four” and the chasing pack, led by Zurich, Tokyo and Seoul, was nar-rowing, it said.

Middle East centres, such as Qa-tar, Dubai and Riyadh, which took places 26, 29 and 31 respectively, continued to rise in the index, while 23 of the 27 European centres de-clined in rank.

TheCityUK, a lobby group for Brit-ish � nancial and professional ser-vices, said London slipping from the top spot should be a wake-up call for Europe’s policymakers.

“London is Europe’s � nancial centre and is hugely important to the continent’s ability to � nance growth and create jobs by attracting global investors,” said Chris Cummings, chief executive of TheCityUK.

The Global Financial Centres In-dex is complied from assessments completed by 3,246 � nancial servic-es professionals, Z/Yen said. l

'The disappointing economic data in January-February will be a test of the government’s tolerance level, as this pace of deceleration has rarely been seen before'