n Julfi kar Ali Manik

Some Bangladeshi Islamist militant leaders and their out� ts have had longstanding relation with terrorist organisation al-Qaeda and its leaders including Ayman al-Zawahiri, an audio message of whom has caused concerns across the country since Saturday.

The links have been established through journalistic investigations, � ndings of independent and local re-searchers, and government investiga-tors, and records in di� erent consider-able websites.

The country’s � rst openly formed Islamist militant out� t Harkat-ul-Ji-had-al Islami (Huji) was not only the Bangladeshi chapter of international Huji, but the leaders of this organisa-tion were also linked with al-Qaeda leaders including slain founder Osama Bin Laden. Many of those Huji leaders are now at the helm of Hefazat-e-Islam.

Huji o� cially emerged through a press conference at the National Press Club in the capital in 1992. The press conference was addressed by a group of Bangladeshi Afghan war veterans who had gone to Afghanistan in the 1980s to join hands with the local Mu-jaheedins there against the then Soviet occupational force.

Maulana Muhammad Habibur Rah-man, widely known as Bulbuli Huzur, was one of the organisers of Hefazat’s long march and Dhaka rallies last year. He also addressed a rally.

He is the founding principal of Jameya Madania Islamia of Kazi Bazar Madrasa in Sylhet city as well as ameer (chief) of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish and convener of Sahaba Sainik Parish-

ad. Habibur was leader of the banned Islamist militant Huji Bangladesh and has links with international militant groups.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

AL rebel candidatesfeel neglected n Emran Hossain Shaikh

Local Awami League leaders in many upazilas have gone “rebel” from a sense of deprivation that has devel-oped over the last � ve years.

That sense has not only prompted them to apply for nomination in the � rst place against their fellow party leaders in the upcoming upazila parish-ad polls, but in many areas not comply with senior party leaders’ e� ort to make sure that they do not run against the candidates that the party has backed.

Some grassroots Awami League leader said the local politicians had their own equations and since they had been deprived of the “cream of power,” “rarely listened to” and “ignored” over the last � ve years, they are refusing to pull out from contesting their par-ty-mates.

“Why will they listen to us [central leaders]? We promised a lot in the last � ve years but could not give them an-ything,” an organising secretary of the party told the Dhaka Tribune.

The Awami League appointed seven of its senior most leaders as the chief of separate committees for the seven

divisions tasked with making sure that local leaders do not run against each other in the upazila polls.

Despite e� orts to convince, stern warnings and expulsions, the senior leadership has largely failed to ensure single candidate from the party ranks for every upazila.

Up until yesterday, the Awami League has expelled at least 50 of its local lead-ers, who � outed party decision to run for various posts, including the chair-man, of many upazila parisahds.

Party Presidium Member and Ag-riculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, head of one of the seven committees, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is a local body election. All things will not go the way we want them to. We are trying

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

BNP comes down hard on grassroots leadersn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP that has been trying to ensure lone chairman candidates at every seat for the upcoming upazila parishad polls, has expelled some 50 grassroots leaders because they refused to pull back from contesting against their party-mates.

Sources said apart from those ex-pelled, show cause notices had been served to many local leaders for violat-ing party decision.

Some 15 leaders had been expelled on Saturday, although there had been clear directives from party chief Khale-da Zia to manage the “rebel” candi-dates avoiding expulsion.

Some of these so-called rebels, who reportedly enjoy huge support in their localities, said the expulsion would only weaken the grassroots.

In many upazilas, party backing went to those leaders, who maintained good relation with the central command, they alleged, adding that dedication, popu-larity and in� uence in the area were not being considered in many places.

Many rebel leaders accused their contenders of persuading the central leaders to expel them.

Our district correspondents report-ed that it had become tough for BNP to ensure single candidates in many upazilas. The high command had been � nding it hard to choose between those who had been maintaining good liaison with the centre and those who com-manded good popularity in their areas.

Lack of coordination among the grass-roots and the central command was another reason behind the chaos,sources said.

Abu Taib, a “rebel” BNP candidate running for the chairman post of Nikli-upazila of Kishoreganj, said he was yet to get any expulsion order. He also claimed that he had support from the local party ranks and so there was no question of pulling out.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

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Falgun 5, 1420Rabius Saani 16, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 325 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

News5 Jhilmil project in Keraniganj remains limited to comparatively small area as Rajuk failed to acquire land.

Nation6 Rainwater harvesting across nine upazilas in Kurigram has failed to attract people.

Op-Ed11 Many Muslims today ask: How do we reconcile Islam with our lives in the modern world? Can we uphold women’s rights and be true to our faith?

INSIDE

8 | PROTESTERS LEAVE KIEV CITY HALL3 | BADI TO RESIGN IF GRAFT PROVED 15 | LAVILLENIE BREAKS RECORD7 | ON THE EDGE OF ORDER AND CHAOS

MPs link BNP-Jamaat with ‘Zawahiri’ statementn Tribune Report

Senior MPs yesterday linked the BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami with al-Qaeda and urged the government to � nd out those who translated the audio message reportedly from top al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri published in the media on Saturday.

They observed that the statement asking Muslims to wage a jihad against the “massacres” in Bangladesh was similar to recent statements of BNP chief Khaleda Zia, Jamaat and Islamic group Hefazat-e-Islam.

The lawmakers, however, said Zawahiri’s call would not work in Bang-ladesh because Islam had spread here through Su� sm, not through swords “as happened in many Arab states.”

“This is a deeply rooted conspira-cy against Bangladesh. Zawahiri said what BNP-Jamaat publicised before…BNP-Jamaat have been doing what the militant out� ts do,” said Sheikh Selim, initiating the unscheduled discussion.

“We will resist the evil force, even if PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Tigers gearing up for the � rst ODIn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh will need to pay special attention to their � nishing when they lock horns with visiting Sri Lanka in the � rst of the three-match ODI series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium today.

The month-long bilateral series, which is in the last phase now, has seen Bangladesh progressively raise their competitiveness against the islanders. The series started with Bangladesh suf-fering a humiliating defeat in the � rst Test in Dhaka, but bounced back in the second game in Chittagong to draw their � rst-ever test match at home against the Lankans.

Throughout the two-match Twen-ty20 series, Bangladesh fought hard against the world number one Twen-ty20 side. Both the games saw last-ball � nishes, with the visitors winning the games and the series.

The positives should boost the Ti-

gers in the game today, a format in which they are most successful, espe-cially in home conditions. The last time Bangladesh faced Sri Lanka in an ODI series, it was a drawn a� air. The se-ries in Sri Lanka in March last year saw Bangladesh lose the � rst game in Ham-bantota, while the second was rained o� . Bangladesh won the third one in Pallakele.

A good sign for Bangladesh is the return of skipper Mush� qur Rahim to the side. The wicket-keeper batsman missed the Twenty20 series after pick-ing up an injury in the second Test. Mush� q is back after a short break, but will play only as a batsman. This will make the job of selecting the playing eleven for Bangladesh complicated. Mush� qur not keeping wickets means Anamul Haque or Shamsur Rahman will take on the gloves.

Recent ODI performances are likely to be taken into consideration where

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: Initial “Fatwa” Statement

Nass Bayan al-Jabhah al-Islamiyah al-Alamiyah li-Jihad al-Yahud wa-al-Salibiyin

Jihad Against Jews and CrusadersWorld Islamic Front Statement

23 February 1998Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-LadinAyman al-Zawahiri, amir of the Jihad Group in EgyptAbu-Yasir Rifa’i Ahmad Taha, Egyptian Islamic GroupShaykh Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-PakistanFazlur Rahman, amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh“On that basis, and in compliance with Allah’s order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims:� e ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in or-der for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim....”

Mufti Izhar Jasimuddin Rahmania Fazlur RahmanHabibur Rahman

23 February 1998 issue of “Al-Quds Al-Arabi.”

AL-QAEDA AND ITS LINK WITH BANGLADESHI ISLAMISTS

Bangladesh Islamist militants maintain links with al-QaedaMany went to Afghanistan, visited Taliban camps and met Laden

Hunt for ‘al-Qaeda’ audio source continuesn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman,

Muhammad Zahidul Islamand Rabiul Islam

The government is investigating the source of an audio clip reportedly re-leased by international terrorist group al-Qaeda, and to identify those in-volved in producing and releasing the message.

“We are trying to identify the source of al-Qaeda audio message. We can tell you everything after the investigation is completed,” State Minister for Home A� airs Asaduzzaman Khan told report-ers at the ministry yesterday.

In reply to a query, he said: “We do not consider it as a threat for us.”

The Arabic audio clip, with English subtitles, available on a website “Ji-hadology,” created hype in the country on Saturday, as it claims that the voice behind the message is that of al-Qae-da’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is heard urging Bangladeshi Muslims to � ght against secularists and atheists.

The government early yesterday blocked the website, “jihadology.net,” said o� cials at the Bangladesh Tele-communication Regulatory Commis-sion (BTRC).

The government was not aware of the clip posted in “Jihadology” on Jan-

uary 14, State Minister for Foreign Af-fairs Md Shahriar Alam said yesterday. It is reported that the clip became avail-able on di� erent websites since then.

“We do not know whether the clip is authentic or not,” he said. “We do have a process to verify the authentici-ty of such videos. But I cannot disclose

the process to the media. We expect to know about it within a day or two.”

The minister said al-Qaeda has no operation in Bangladesh and that the government is capable to destroy ter-rorist networks in the country.

Al-Qaeda is banned in Bangladesh following a resolution adopted in the UN Security Council in 1999. Bangla-desh also imposed a ban on holding any asset by al-Qaeda, or any of its members, in the country. It also put a travel ban on a number of al-Qaeda

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

‘BNP will have to payfor choosing thewrong candidatesand expelling the dedicated ones’

Jihadology.net blocked; BTRC asks Google to withdraw clip; US rejects Zawahiri’s characterisation of Bangladesh

Bangladesh cricketer Shamsur Rahman, right, tries to catch the ball as Nasir Hossain looks on during a team training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka yesterday AFP

No local council in many years has meant that the senior leaders have little idea about the grassroots’ aspirations

HC stays case proceedings against four bloggersn Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday stayed for three months the proceedings of two cases against four bloggers. It also is-sued a ruling seeking explanation in four weeks as to why the cases should not be quashed.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Mohammad Ullah passed the order after hearing both sides on petitions that sought annul-ment of the cases against the bloggers.

Police lodged one of the cases against Asif Mohiuddin and the other against Mashiur Rahman Biplob, Sub-rata Adhikari Shuvo and Rasel Parvez underthe Information and Communi-cation Technology Act 2006.

Supreme Court lawyers Sara Hos-sain and Jyotirmoy Barua argued for the bloggers while Additional Attor-ney General Mumtaz Uddin Fakir and Assistant Attorney General Gazi Ma-munur Rashid contended for the state.

On September 8, Md Jahurul Haque,senior special judge of Dhaka,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

AL rebel candidates feel neglected PAGE 1 COLUMN 3to convince the rebel candidates to re-main inactive. If they do not listen to us, organisational steps will be taken against them.”

Although the party held a national council in 2012, most of the 73 organ-isational districts and upazilas of the party have not seen any council in many years.

As a result, not only is there little co-ordination at the local levels, the senior district and national level leaders have very little idea about the hopes and as-pirations of the grassroots.

There are also allegations that Awa-mi League General Secretary Syed

Ashraful Islam is never available – nei-ther over phone nor in person.

A number of upazila chairman aspi-rants, who have not got party backing, said since these were local elections, the party could not interfere directly. So, many of them were not concerned with organisational steps such as expulsion.

In Belabo upazila in Narsingdi, se-nior leaders have managed to convince a “rebel” candidate named Shahidullah to pull out. But another, Nazrul Islam, a local Jubo League leader, has not pulled out. Incumbent UP Chairman Shamsher Zaman Bhuiyan got the party backing.

“I will prove that the party decision [to back Shamsher] is wrong,” Nazrul said.

A rebel chairman aspirant of the Pa-lash upazila parishad of the same district claimed that he had spent hundreds of thousands of taka to keep the party to-gether; but the party did not choose him.

“In the 2009 upazila election, I listened to the centre’s decision and withdrew my candidature. How many times will I do it? I want to serve people by becoming their representative. If I pull out again, the peo-ple of my area will blame me.”

There are also examples where grassroots leaders have been aggrieved by the selection that the local lawmak-er has made.

In Mirsarai of Chittagong, local law-maker Engineer Mosharraf Hossain has

chosen one Sheikh Ataur Rahman for party backing, a decision that outgoing UP Chairman Gias Uddin did not like.

“I have had con� icts with him [En-gineer Mosharraf] in the past. That is why he chose another person ignoring the grassroots’ opinion [which is in my favour],” Gias claimed.

Mosharraf, however, claimed that the selection was made considering the grassroots’ opinion.

“We are trying our best to follow party chief’s instruction. We are trying to convince the rebel candidates to pull out from the next phases of the elec-tions. In other places, we are trying to make them inactive,” Mosharraf said. l

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014

PM: Build high-rises on labour ministry landn Tribune Report

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sug-gested constructing high-rise buildings on abandoned and illegally occupied land of the Labour Welfare Centre, tak-ing loans from Bangladesh Bank at mini-mum interest.

She has also instructed labour minis-try o� cials to form labour welfare com-mittees comprising factory owners and employees in EPZs and other commer-cial areas where forming trade unions is di� cult.

“Apart from establishing new EPZs, the government will establish industrial zones in seven divisions,” the premier yesterday said in her � rst meeting with the o� cials of the labour and employ-ment ministry.

Hasina, who is in charge of the minis-

try,arrived at the ministry at 10:30am and stayed until1:30pm.She held the meeting with ministry o� cials and agencies and departments under the ministry.

After the meeting, State Minister for Labour Mojibul Haque Chunnu told the Dhaka Tribune that the premier had given consent to recovering the land of labour welfare centres (LWCs) from grab-bers and construction of buildings there.

The ministry o� cials had placed a proposal in this regard as land of most LWCs had either remained unused or en-croached upon. The ministry wanted to construct buildings for hospitals, train-ing centres and dormitories for workers, the state minister said.

Hasina also ordered the ministry o� -cials to solve medical, training and resi-dential problems of workers.

Chunnu said there were 23 factory in-

spectors’ o� ces across the country. The o� ces are working to rehabilitate child workers. The prime minister ordered the ministry to set up training centres for the children’s training and schooling so they became quali� ed for any job.

“She also directed to train female workers. We have already set up four training centres in Rangpur division…A total of 14,500 women were selected for training there. They would be re-habilitated within next three years,” he added.

The training programme for women would be taken across the country in fu-ture, he said.

Terming house rent a big problem, the state minister said:“The government has already announced new wages for garment workers. At least 85% garment factory owners have already implement-

ed the new wages. The rest will also im-plement it.

“But, implementation of the mini-mum wages is not a trouble. The main problem is hike in house rent. We have a rent control act…We have taken an initia-tive to amend the act to save people from unethical increase of house rent.

“We will send a proposal to the law ministry soon in this regard.”

Chunnu said Hasina had also in-structed the ministry o� cials to initiate a plan for constructing high-rise build-ings for slum dwellers to eliminate their su� erings.

On reinstatement of the GSP facilities, he said: “We have already appointed 242 factory inspectors for the directorate of factories and institutes. The recruitment process of 200 more will be � nished by March 15.” l

Hunt for ‘al-Qaeda’ audio source continues PAGE 1 COLUMN 6operatives, including Zawahiri.

Monirul Islam, joint commission-er of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, on Saturday said: “Until and unless al-Qaeda o� cially denies their responsibility over this audio message, we will have reasons to believe that they published it.”

Zawahiri’s audio voice came with footages of Hefazat-e-Islam’s violent rallies in Dhaka last year. Though some parts of the message gives an impres-sion that he was talking about the Ja-maat-e-Islami leaders who are facing war crimes charges, he did not mention anything speci� c.

According to the subtitles, Zawahi-ri says: “Thousands are being killed in the streets of Bangladesh without any reason, except to have come out to protest the collusion of the anti-Islam-ic secular government with a bunch of transgressing secularists who are heap-ing insults and vulgar abuses on Islam and the Prophet of Islam, may peace be

upon him.” The voice goes on to say hundreds of

religious scholars were also facing “hard-ships, manhunt, imprisonment, trials, death sentences and life imprisonment, only because they have taken a stance against the agents of this Crusade.”

Zawahiri invited Muslims in Bangla-desh to confront this Crusade against Is-lam, “which is being orchestrated by the leading criminals in the subcontinent and the West against Islam, the prophet of Islam, and the Islamic creed, so that they may turn you into slaves of a des-potic and disbelieving system.”

The state minister for home a� airs yesterday said in some countries, ter-rorist organisations like al-Qaeda with the instigation and support of the peo-ple can carry out evil purposes. “But people in our country do not like or support the activities of such terrorist organisation.”

“We are con� dent to face any chal-lenges,” Asaduzzaman said, adding the threat of al-Qaeda was nothing new.

The law enforcement agencies had been asked to examine and identify the culprits. They would be brought to the book, he said.

“We are sharing experience about counter terrorism with the US and the UK.”

When contacted, Kelly S McCarthy, the press o� cer at US Embassy in Dha-ka, said they were aware of the video.

“The United States rejects al-Qae-da and the use of violence for political purposes. Moreover, we reject Zawa-hiri’s characterisation of Bangladesh, which is a moderate, tolerant Muslim society that rejects the kind of extrem-ism espoused by Al Qaeda,” McCarthy told the Dhaka Tribune.

BTRC requests NTMC The telecom regulator has requested the National Telecom Monitoring Cen-tre (NTMC) – maintained by the Armed Forces Division – to track down the source of the audio message and con-� rm whether it is real of false.

Early yesterday, the BTRC blocked

“jihadology.net” through the Internet Gateway (IIG) of the country. A senior executive o� cer said they had blocked the website after getting a letter from the BTRC around midnight.

In a letter, the BTRC has also asked Google to withdraw the audio message from the web.

“Though we have technical experts, we are not technically equipped,” a high o� cial told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said earlier the BTRC had sent similar requests to Facebook author-ities but in reply the top social media site questioned the BTRC’s jurisdiction in seeking such information, or asking it to withdraw clips from the web.

Last year, the BTRC took an initiative to � lter contents from the internet after some user generated videos and mes-sages had created nationwide contro-versy, but little progress has been made. Sources at the telecom regulator said it received nine proposals and shortlisted seven � rms to carry out the works.l

Bangladesh Islamist militants maintain links with al-Qaeda PAGE 1 COLUMN 4He himself exposed the links in his in-terview published on August 20, 1998 in Sylhet in a bulletin titled “Islami Bi-plob” (Islamic revolution). The publi-cation was released on August 20, 1998 to celebrate “the total victory of Tali-bans and establishment of an Islamic state in Afghanistan.”

In the interview, Habibur said: “It is possible to change the fate of the nation only by establishing a Khilafat [pan-Islamic movement]-based state following the path of Taliban.”

Habibur revealed the names of peo-ple with whom he had travelled to Af-ghanistan via Pakistan in 1988, visited some Taliban militant camps and also met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Other Huji Bangladesh top brass in-clude Shaikhul Hadith Allama Azizul Haq (passed away in August 2012), who was also chief of a faction of Islami Oikya Jote, a former partner of the BNP-led alliance; Ataur Rahman Khan of Kishoreganj; Sul-tan Jaok of Chittagong; Abdul Mannan of Faridpur; and Habibullah of Noakhali.

All of them were involved with di� er-ent Islamic organisations and madrasas. Ataur was a BNP lawmaker during 1991-1996 from Kishoreganj 3 constituency.

During his trip, Habibur had a din-ner with some others including Laden, son of one of the richest Saudi families, who formed al-Qaeda in 1988.

In the interview, he asserted: “An in-vitation from Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami made it possible for me to make the for-tunate trip to Afghanistan.”

The Bangladeshi delegation was giv-en Kalashnikov [AK-47] ri� es one day as there was information of possible attack in the camp where they were staying.

Long after this incident, there is a re-cord that Laden in February 1998 came up with a coalition of Islamic militants named “International Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders” to � ght against the US. The � ve coali-tion founders, including a Bangladeshi militant leader and Zawahiri, were sig-natories of a statement issued by the Islamic Front in February 1998.

Al-Qaeda was a member organisation of the Islamic Front and Laden was one of the � ve signatories in favour of his own organisation al-Qaeda. Zawahiri was another signatory of the statement on behalf of Jihad Group in Egypt. Za-wahiri was ameer (chief) of this group. The other signatories were Abu-Yasir Rifa’i Ahmad Taha of Egyptian Islamic Group; Shaykh Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan; and Fazlur Rahman, ameer of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh.

It was always di� cult to trace Fa-zlur Rahman for more than a decade as none among the militants in the network could give his whereabouts. But some uncon� rmed sources said he used to live in Pakistan.

But the initiative of forming the Islamic Front and the role of Bangla-desh’s Fazlur Rahman as a founder made it clear that the Bangladeshi mil-itants have long been involved with al-Qaeda to implement their global

agenda of Jihad.Journalist Shahriar Kabir, who con-

ducted extensive research on this issue and made several documentaries, said: “Bangladesh was part of al-Qaeda’s global Jihadi terrorist network.”

In one documentary tiled “The Ulti-mate Jihad,” he cited Fazlur Rahman’s role in the formation of World Islamic Front along with other likeminded groups in di� erent countries. Fazlur Rahman was playing the leading role for implementing similar Jihadi agenda in Bangladesh.

Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury, founding principal of Jamiatul Ulum Al Islamia Madrasa – otherwise known as Lalkhan Bazar Madrasa in Chittagong – also played a signi� cant role in spreading the network of radical out� t Huji across the country since early 1990s with the ultimate goal of launching a jihad.

Mufti Izhar, aged around 70, is one of the senior leaders in the Islamist par-ties in the country. He is the ameer of a faction of the Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) and also the chairman of a faction of Nezam-e-Islam.

He and his madrasa have close ties with the fundamentalist Islamist out� t Hefazat-e-Islam of which he is a nayeb-e-ameer (vice-president).

The Dhaka Tribune published a re-port on October 8 last year, following blasts inside the madrasa that killed three people who were reportedly making hand grenades there, about his link with Huji and al-Qaeda.

Sources in the militant network con-� rmed that Mufti Izhar had very close

links with Laden and Mollah Omar of al-Qaeda. He had travelled to Afghani-stan on several occasions and met Laden, Omar and many other Taliban leaders.

Security analyst Maj Gen (retd) Ab-dur Rashid, who closely follows Isla-mist militancy and terrorism issues, told the Dhaka Tribune that Zawahiri’s audio message had not been surprising for him as he was aware of the connec-tions of local militants with the inter-national militant and terrorist groups.

“This is nothing new that Bangla-desh’s militants have link with al-Qae-da and other foreign militant out� ts,” he said. “Al-Qaeda was founded in a bordering area of Afghanistan and Pa-kistan in 1988.

“Many Bangladeshi militants went to Afghanistan to � ght with the Mujahi-deens there and they met the leaders of al-Qaeda and many other foreign mili-tant and terrorist organisations,” he said.

“When the Bangladeshi militants re-turned home from Afghanistan, they came back along with their acquaintances with those militant and terrorist leaders,” the former army personnel observed.

He said later many Bangladeshi mil-itants had visited or revisited Afghani-stan through Pakistan and they main-tained the links established earlier. The communication between them became easier with the availability of internet.

Rashid thinks that though al-Qaeda gradually has become weak, the lo-cal small militant groups are trying to reinforce in line with the ideology of al-Qaeda. “They are inspired to carry

out violent activities when an al-Qaeda leader spreads this type of audio mes-sage asking them to wage Jihad.”

Last year, the Detective Branch of Police arrested some members of a mil-itant group known as “Ansarullah Ban-gla Team” and investigators found that they were inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki, the “spiritual leader” of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Laden and Awlaki both were killed in separate US attacks.

Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmania, inspired by Awlaki, has been building radical Islamist networks in the country for at least six years. Jasimuddin was not a follower of Laden; rather he pre-ferred to follow Awlaki, a US-born Ye-meni who was killed in his country in a US drone attack on September 30, 2011.

Shahriar Kabir does not see the is-sue of authenticity of Zawahiri’s audio message as important at all. “The im-portant thing is whether the Bangla-deshi militants are in the network of al-Qaeda or not, whether Hefazat-e-Is-lam, Jamaat-e-Islam and other Islamist parties have links with al-Qaeda.

“There are plenty of journalistic re-ports in the last 15 years on how these local organisations are linked with al-Qaeda and other international ter-rorist and militants group,” he said.

Meanwhile, after Hefazat’s statement on Saturday denying any link with the audio message, BNP’s ally Jamaat also issued a statement yesterday which said: “We have no knowledge about hav-ing any relation of Bangladesh’s Alem

[Islamic scholars] community and main-stream Islamic parties with al-Qaeda.”

Jamaat’s acting secretary general Sha� qur Rahman issued the statement where the party expressed concern over Zawahiri’s audio message. It said the party was also wondering whether it was a new conspiracy against country’s independence, sovereignty and Islam.

The statement claimed that Jamaat and its students’ organisation Islami Chhatra Shibir did not have any in-volvement with terrorism, militancy and unruly activities.

Zawahiri’s audio message did not mention name of Jamaat and Hefazat. But some parts of the message give an idea that he was talking against the tri-al of some top Jamaat leaders who are in jail and facing war crimes charges while some of them have already been sentenced for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

Similarly, the audio gives a sense that al-Qaeda leader was talking about the propaganda of killing thousands of people after Hefazat’s rally at Motijheel on May 5 last year.

Though the government agencies are checking authenticity of the clip, pub-lished in a website named “Jihadology” on January 14, Shahriar Kabir said an US think tank named “The Jamestown Foundation” reported about it on January 23 with a title “Al-Qaeda Leader al-Zawa-hiri Urges Jihad against the Anti-Islamic Government of Bangladesh.” He said: It indicates that it was in their hands before coming to our knowledge.” l

BNP comes down hard on grassroots leaders PAGE 1 COLUMN 5“Expelling me will be suicidal for the party because it will only end up ham-pering the movement in future,” Taib told the Dhaka Tribune.

Central leaders Barkatullah Bulu, Mohammad Shahjahan, Salahuddin Ahmed and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed had been tasked with convincing the “rebel” leaders to not run against those with party backing.

However, in many areas, local lead-ers have not heeded the directives is-sued by these central leaders.

A couple of days ago, Bhola district unit Chhatra Dal president Aktaruz-zaman Titon, an upazila chairman as-pirant, was expelled from the party for violating party rules.

On Thursday, a central leader of the party expressed concern over Titon’s expulsion saying he was a competent and active local leader.

“The leaders, who remained in hiding [during the movement a few months ago], have been instigating the expulsion of those, who took part and led the movement in the streets. Instead of going to their constituen-cies, they keep on hanging around the Gulshan o� ce [of BNP] and try to win party support for the candidates they favour. The high command should im-mediately look into this,” the central leader told the Dhaka Tribune.

The party has also been allegedly maintaining double standard in taking action against the rebel leaders. While in some upazilas, the rebel candidates were directly expelled, in other areas, they were only show-caused for the same fault. Those belonging to the lat-

ter group were spared because they had strong connections with central leaders.

Insiders said two committees had been formed to make sure that the rebel candidates did not run against those who got party backing. However, those committees failed to be of much e� ect because of interference by central leaders and feud among thelocal ones.

Sources also said all these problems were reported to the party chairperson in written form and the expulsion or-ders were issued and withdrawn on the basis of that report.

Salahuddin Khan, a rebel BNP can-didate from Sathiaupazilain Pabna, al-leged that there was a serious lack of co-ordination in selecting the candidates.

“District-level leaders did not coor-dinate properly among the centre and the grassroots. They chose candidates on their whims picking only those who had strong ties with them. The party will have to pay for choosing the wrong candidates. The expulsion of the ded-icated candidates will be re� ected in the election results,” Salahuddin Khan told the Dhaka Tribune.

Abdur Rahim Kalu, a rebel contes-tant from Pabna’s Chatmohor upazila, said local BNP leaders and activists had already been divided into two groups in many areas – one group campaigning for the rebel candidates while the other for the one who got party backing.

“This impact of this dividewill be visible not only in the results of the upazilapolls but also in the upcoming movements. However, I believe that the party still has a chance to reorgan-ise its grassroots,” he said. l

MPs link BNP-Jamaat with ‘Zawahiri’ statement PAGE 1 COLUMN 6it costs our blood,” said Selim.

Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal said: “Zawahiri should have studied Bangladesh before making such message. Islam came here through Su� sm, not through sword as happened in many Arab states.”

Terming al-Qaeda a “non-state” and “fugitive” out� t, he defended Ban-gladesh’s secular state policy, saying Prophet Mohammad (SM) had estab-lished Madina as a secular state.

Quoting a Time magazine report, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury said Zawahiri had visited Bangladesh thrice between 2001 and 2006. “It hap-pened because of the hospitality of the then government.”

She termed Khaleda “lady Laden” and Tarique Rahman “junior Laden” and said Zawahiri’s audio message had been aimed at boosting the morale of the BNP chief.

“This message will not work. The people of Bangladesh liberated the coun-try through a liberation war,” she said.

Health Minister Mohammad Na-sim said the government should � nd out those who had dubbed Zawahiri’s statement as al-Qaeda leader did not know Bangla.

“We have to � nd out whether al-Qaeda issued the statement or the local al-Qaeda made it,” he added.

Workers Party MP Fazle Hossain Badsha said the House should adopt a resolution condemning the Pakistan parliament’s resolution on the execu-tion of Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla and Zawahiri’s audio message.

In her speech on the president’s address in parliament, former for-eign minister Dipu Moni said Zawahi-ri’s statement was similar to those of Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman, Amar Desh Editor Mahmudur Rahman and Odhikar chief Adilur Rahman. “The government must investigate whether it was a coincidence or the BNP and Ja-maat were involved in it.”

MPs of the main opposition Ja-tiya Party did not take part in thediscussion. l

Tigers gearing up PAGE 1 COLUMN 3Mominul Haque or Anamul would compete for the number three batting spot. A place in the middle order will need to be decided between Naeem Islam and Mahmuddlah, while in the pace bowling department, either Sha� -ul Islam or Al-Amin Hossain will come in as second choice behind Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain. The ser-vices of veteran spinner Abdur Razzak, su� ering a hamstring injury, will be

missed. As a result, Sohag Gazi, may lead the spin attack although his bowl-ing form is a concern and Arafat Sun-ny, who made his international debut in the Twenty20 series, is likely to be picked for the game.

Sri Lanka on the other hand will look to maintain their record of win-ning all bilateral series in Bangladesh. The side will be led by regular captain Angelo Mathews, with T20 skipper Dinesh Chandimal as his understudy.

The islanders, most importantly, will want the spinners and batsmen to ac-climatize to local conditions prior to the Asia Cup starting from February 25 and the ICC World Twenty20 in March, with both events taking place in Ban-gladesh. The side is settled, with the batsmen in good form and the bowlers among the wickets. However, Sri Lanka has won just one of the last � ve bilater-al ODI series, which is something that will rattle them.

Sri Lanka might announce two changes to their side. Nuwan Kulase-kara could get back in the team, while Thisara Perera also has a chance of being in the starting eleven. There is likely to be a toss-up between Ashan Priyanjan and Kithuruwan Vithanage.

Dhaka has seen overcast weather and occasional drizzle in last two days but clear skies are being predicted for match day. The game is scheduled to begin at 1pm BST. l

HC stays case proceedings PAGE 1 COLUMN 1framed charges against the four blog-gers for their alleged involvement in posting demeaning content about Is-lam and Prophet Muhammad on the internet.

They were also charged for making belittling comments about the prime

minister and former home minister Shahara Khatun on social media.

On April 2, Detective Branch of po-lice nabbed Mashiur, Rasel and Shuvo as suspects under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for “hurt-ing religious sentiments.” Asif was ar-rested on April 3 on the same charge. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014

3 rental plants apply for extensionn Aminur Rahman Rasel

Three gas-based rental power plants with a combined capacity of 200MW have applied to the government for ex-tension of their contracts for � ve more years.

“We have received their applica-tions and we have sat with them sever-al times. As these are gas-based plants, we may extend the contracts consider-ing the low cost fuel,” Power Division Secretary Monowar Islam told the Dha-ka Tribune recently.

The three plants are: 50MW Kumar-gaon plant ofEnergyprima Limited and 70MW Brahmanbaria plant and 80MW Ashuganj plant of Aggreo.

Under the original contract the ten-

ure of the three plants was three years each. The contract of the Brahmanbaria plant will expire on March 05, 2014 and that of Ashuganj plant on May 30, 2014. The contract with Energyprima for the 50MW Kumargaon plant had already been extended once for three years which ends this July.

The government buys electricity at an average Tk3 per unit from these plants.

It is likely to extend two more rent-al power plants for � ve years during which it will purchase electricity worth Tk4,408 crore from these plants.

The Power Division has proposed extending the three-year tenure of the 50MW DPA Power Generation Ltd run by the Bangladesh Armed Forces in

Narayanganj and the 78.5MW Max Pow-er Ltd in Ghorashal for another � ve years.

The government has also recently ex-tended the contracts ofsix rental plants with a combined capacity of 425MW for � ve more years.The cabinet committee on public purchase approved the exten-sionson November 14 last year.

The six plants were the 110MW Bheramara diesel-� red plant of Quan-tum Power Ltd, the 100MW Siddhirganj diesel-� red plant of Desh Energy Ltd, the 55MW Ashuganj gas-� red plant of Precision Energy Ltd, the 55MW Sikal-baha HFO-� red plant of Energies Pow-er Corporation Ltd, the 55 MW Khulna diesel-� red plant of Aggreo, and the 50MW Thakurgaon diesel-� red power of RZ Power Ltd. l

Court accepts Khaleda’s time petitionn Court Correspondent

A Dhaka Court yesterday granted a time petition to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in connection with Zia Orphanage and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases, for the last time.

The court also deferred the hearing on charge framing till March 19 in two cases.

Khaleda last appeared before the court on January 15, 2013, and secured a permanent bail in the graft cases.

However, Judge Md. Rezaul Islam of the Special Judge Court-3 passed the or-der after her counsel Md Sanaullah Miah � led a petition for time before the court.

In the petition, the defense said the BNP chairperson could not appear before the court due to cold-related illness.

Opposing the petition, Anti-Corrup-tion Commission’s counsel Mosharref Hossain Kajal told the court that the charge-framing hearing in the two cas-es has been deferred for 52 times in the last two years.

He also noted that Khaleda has taken time extentions in the last two years by showing various pretexts, which was completely illegal. He urged the court to enforce an arrest warrant against Khaleda Zia.

With this deferment, the court has adjourned for 41 times, in the Zia Or-phanage Trust graft case and 11 time for the Zia Charitable Trust graft case for hearing on charge framing.

After hearing from both the prose-cution and defense, the judge � xed the

new date and asked Khaleda Zia to ap-pear during the hearing.

Zia Charitable Trust graft caseOn August 8, 2011, the Anti-Corrup-

tion Commission (ACC) � led the case with Tejgaon police station accusing the four, including Khaleda, of abus-ing power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.

ACC Deputy Director Harun-ur Rashid, the investigation o� cer of the case, pressed charges against the ac-cused on January 16, 2012.

The other accused are Khaleda Zia’s former Political Secretary Harris Chowd-hury; his former Assistant Personal Sec-retary Ziaul Islam Munna and Manirul Islam Khan, former personal secretary of BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka.

Of them, Harris Chowdhury has been staying abroad since 2007. He was mentioned as an “absconding accused” in the charge sheet, while Ziaul and Monirul are now on bail.

Zia Orphanage Trust graft caseThe ACC � led the case with the

Ramna police station on July 3, 2008, accusing Khaleda Zia, her son Tarique Rahman and four others of misappro-priating over Tk2.10 crore, which came as “grants” from a foreign bank.

The other accused are Mominur Rahman, nephew of late president Ziaur Rahman; Khaleda’s former Prin-cipal Secretary Dr Kamaluddin Sid-dique; and former BNP lawmakers Kazi Salimul Haque and Sharfuddin Ahmed.

ACC deputy director Harunur Rashid submitted a charge sheet on the case on August 5, 2010. l

MP Badi to resign if graft charges provedn Tribune Report

Awami League lawmaker Abdur Rah-man Badi has said he will resign from his parliamentary post if graft allega-tion, now being investigated by the An-ti-Corruption Commission, are found to be true.

Badi, who was elected Cox’s Bazar 4 constituency in the tenth parliamenta-ry elections, made the announcement to newsmen after coming out of ACC headquarter, where he was summoned for questioning, at the capital’s Segun-bagicha yesterday.

Refuting the allegations, the law-maker said all the allegation against him are baseless and incorrect and was intended to harm his political image.

“If you can prove that I have laun-dered a single penny, or I have con-cealed wealth information on my elec-tion a� davit, I will resign from the parliament,” Badi said.

The ACC is now conducting an in-quiry into the wealth of seven lawmak-ers from the ruling party, whose wealth were inconsistent with their known sources of income.

Badi also claimed his total wealth is valued Tk13.08crore, and has paid Tk3.40crore in income taxes.

“Some journalists, in collusion with the opposition party, has published

negative reports against me to harm my image. The allegations are false and incorrect,” he added.

Responding to a query on how the wealth of the lawmaker witnessed sig-ni� cant 351 times rises, he said: “Jour-nalists reported that my income has rose to 351 times in last � ve years and stood at Tk36 crore, but where is the money?,” he said.

He said his a� davit, that was placed before the Election Commission, did not have any information on the said Tk36 crore.

Badi further added that he has al-ready � led several cases with Cox’s Ba-

zar police station in relation to the false news reports.

“My a� davit has information on some Tk9, 19,67,056, and the mon-ey was generated from import export businesses, that is wood, dry � sh and rice import businesses,” he said.

In reply to the query on how he has make these huge money in last � ve years, the lawmaker said he was unable to run businesses during the tenure of BNP-led alliances as at least 40-45 cas-es were � led against him.

“During the BNP-led opposition’s tenure, 40-45 cases was � led against me and I was unable to run my businesses. I belong to a family of businessmen and I did not whiten any black money, rath-er I ran by businesses and paid taxes re-spectively,” he told journalists.

ACC Deputy Director Ahsan Ali, who is the investigation o� cer of the case, grilled the lawmaker from 10:00am to 1:00pm at the ACC headquarter.

Regarding the inquiry, ACC Public Relations O� cer Pranab Kumar Bhat-tacharjee said the inquiry o� cial has cross-checked the information and allegation against the lawmaker after newspaper reports.

“If the commission thinks it needs to gather more information or quiz oth-ers, we will work in accordance with the commission instruction,” he added.

Earlier on January, Ahsan Ali went to Cox’s Bazar and visited di� erent ad-ministrative o� ces and collected docu-ments related to the MP’s wealth.

Sources said, the investigation of-� cer also acquired the wealth state-ment of the lawmaker and income tax return statements of MP Badi and his wife Shahina Akhter.

Cox’s Bazar MP Badi’s earnings rose astronomically, increasing by more than 500 times over the past � ve years. The lawmaker’s annual income was only Tk3.01 lakh in 2008, but rose to Tk15.46 crore by 2013, according to his a� davits placed before the Election Commission.

On January 22, the ACC initiated an inquiry against seven ruling party law-makers, including two former minis-ters, a state minister and four MPs, in a bid to trace the sources of their phe-nomenal rise in wealth.

Apart from MP Badi, the commission has also summoned former state minis-ter for housing and public works Abdul Manna Khan for questioning over similar allegations of amassing wealth illegally.

According to the summon notice, the Awami League leader has been asked to appear before the ACC at its headquar-ters on February 20. ACC Deputy Direc-tor M Nasir Uddin has been assigned to investigate the graft allegations against Abdul Mannan Khan. l

Abdur Rahman Badi

34th BCS written test beginsMarch 24n Tribune Report

The written tests of 34th Bangladesh Civil Service will begin on March 24, according to a notice issued by Public Service Commission yesterday.

The notice, signed by examination controller AIM Neser Uddin, also said detailsof the time-table and exam-ination centres would be informed through advertisements in newspapers and the PSC website. The PCS also de-cided to allow 280 indigenous candi-dates, who were left out in the revised results, to take part in the written tests, announcing them quali� ed. l

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014

City High Low

PRAYER TIMESFajar 5:14am

Sunrise 6:30amZohr 12:13am

Asr 4:18pmMagrib 5:55pm

Esha 7:11pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Drizzles throughout the day n UNB

Rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at a few places over Rangpur, Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal, Chit-tagong and Sylhet divisions until 6pm today.

Night and day temperature may re-main nearly unchanged over the coun-try, Met O� ce said.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:55pm today and rises at 6:30am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 29.0 degrees Celsius was recorded yesterday in Cox’s Bazar and lowest 13.0 degrees in Rangpur.

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

Dhaka 22.1 16.8 Chittagong 25.5 17.2 Rajshahi 19.6 14.8 Rangpur 21.5 13.0 Khulna 20.0 17.5 Barisal 21.5 16.5 Sylhet 21.5 15.0 Cox’s Bazar 29.0 17.0

Jamuna distillery show caused for river pollution n Our Correspondent, Natore

A Natore court yesterday passed a show cause notice to authorities of Jamuna distillery to reply, within seven days, on why the court should not pass a temporary prohibition on the distillery on dumping chemical wastes into the Narod River.

The court passed the show cause notice after hearing a case � led against Jamuna distillery, accusing the enter-prise of dumping chemical wastes into the Narod River without any treatment.

Jamuna distillery Chairman Nu-rul Islam Babul, Director Salma Islam, Shahmim Islam, Roselina Islam, Mon-ika Islam, Rowson Ara Mahabub and Managing Director Shamsul Islam have been made respondents to the case,

� led by Sirajul Islam from Kandivitua moholla and Saiful Islam of Tebaria Ut-tarpara area of Sadar upazila.

According the case, Jamuna distill-ery has been dumping chemical wastes of the factory into the Narod River causing huge damage to its environ-ment and aquatic life.

Locals of the area have made many demonstrations against such dumping, but Jamuna authorities paid no heed. Lastly on February 9, the locals sub-mitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner Jafar Ullah, but that too failed to bring any measures to stop the illegal practice.

The case also sought a decree from the court to declare the accused of be-ing responsible of destroying human lives and livestock in the area. l

BNP's Aman denied bail in four cases, granted in four othersn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court sent BNP Joint Secretary General Amanullah Aman to jail in four cases although another court granted him bail in four other cases yesterday.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Toybul Hasan rejected his bail petition and passed the order after he surrendered to the magistrate’s court yesterday morning.

Aman has been on a High Court bail for four weeks that expired on Saturday.

The BNP leader surrendered to the magistrate’s court after the bail expired and appealed for bail again.

The four cases were lodged with Ker-anigonj police station against Aman in connection with violence, arson attack and impeding police men in performing duties during blockade programmes sponsored by the BNP-led alliance.

On the other hand, another Dhaka court granted bail to Amanullah Aman and BNP Standing Committee Member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and BNP Dha-ka unit Secretary Abdus Salam in four

cases � led with Ramna and Shabagh police stations on di� erent dates dur-ing last two months.

The cases were � led in connection with the murder of police constable Ferdous Khalil, arson attacks in Sha-bagh area and vandalism during BNP enforced blockade.

Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzza-man Noor granted the bail to the BNP leaders upon signing Tk50,000 bonds.

Defense counsel Md Sanaullah Miah and Taherul Islam Tohid � led the bail petitions. l

54,412 students get primary scholarshipsn Tribune Report

A total of 54,412 students received schol-arships based on their primary school certi� cate exam results published yes-terday.

Among them, 21,978 students who earned scholarships in the talent pool quota will receive Tk200 each per month, while the rest awarded in the general quota will receive Tk150 per head.

The results have been posted on the education board’s website at www.ed-ucationboard.gov.bd.

Meanwhile, the government is considering to announce a separate pay-scale for primary school teachers, Primary and Mass Education Minister Mosta� zur Rahman said yesterday.

He said: "Prime Minister Sheikh Ha-

sina is now considering a proposal for raising the status of head teachers and salary of assistant teachers of primary schools." An announcement would be made as soon as she gives her nod, the minister added.

The status of headmasters would also be elevated to class II and scales of assistant teachers would be upgraded, Mosta� zur said, adding that the PM had already given instructions in this regard.

The minister made the remarks at a press conference organised to an-nounce the primary scholarships 2013 at his ministry’s conference room.

The minister also said the govern-ment was considering an increase in scholarship money and free education for all students. l

Cruden: Good governance requires integrity n Abu Bakar Siddique

The country’s future development re-lies on en suring good governance in all levels including politics and civil administration, discussants said at a programme yesterday.

They added that the government must have mechanism to ensure good governance for the sake of the coun-try’s development.

The speakers stressed the need for good governance at a seminar titled “Good governance in Bangladesh: an agenda for the future” held at the capital’s

Brac Centre Inn auditorium organised by the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute.

In her address, Canadian High Com-missioner Heather Cruden said: “It will be tough for Bangladesh to be a middle-income country unless ensured good governance in all sectors as this is the key to development.”

Good governance requires integrity in the works of all including politicians, gov-ernment o� cials and the media worker which ultimately makes the total process transparent and reliable, she added.

Farooq Sobhan, president of Bangla-desh Enterprise Institute,emphasised

the importance of decentralisation of the government and also empowerment of the local government to achieve sus-tainable development in the country.

Without implementing decentrali-sation system and empowering the local government, rural Bangladesh would not experience real develop-ment, he said, adding that corruption could not be removed from the country unless ensured empowerment of the local government.

Gowher Rizvi, International A� airs adviser to the prime minister, acknowl-edged the existing � aws in the govern-

ment, and said the government had been trying to ensure accountability and transparency.

Regarding the government move towards ensuring good governance, Gowher Rizvi said the government had taken di� erent initiatives like imple-menting Right to Information Act to ensure transparency in the activities of public sector.

He added that the government had almost � nalised Public Service Act and National Integrity Strategy with an aim to ensure responsibility and account-ability of public o� ces. l

23 vandalised schools yet to be repairedn Our correspondent, Lakhsmipur

Educational activities of around 23 institutions in Lakhsmipur that were damaged in election related violence during January 4-5, are in jeopardy as the authorities are yet to renovate the buildings.

Sources at the Upazila Secondary and Primary Education o� ce said BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men had vandalised and torched four secondary schools, one dakhil madrasah and 18 govern-ment primary schools in Ramganj upazila that were being used as polling

centres.Headmistress of Nunapara Govern-

ment School Jhumur Rani Pal said: “Miscreants set � re to the school as it was being used as a polling centre. They also vandalised and torched two chairs, one table, one closet and all windows and doors.”

“Now around 185 students are at-tending classes under open sky which is hampering their concentration,” she said.

Headmaster of Horicchor Govern-ment School Bidhubhushon said: “I am in trouble as many important docu-

ments were torched. Miscreants set � re to the o� ce room of the school.”

Dilip Kumar, headmaster of Sriram-pur High School, said miscreants had torched the o� ce and class rooms dur-ing late night on January 4.

President of the school management committee Amir Hossain alleged that police had failed to arrest the culprits despite having complaints � led against them.

“We immediately informed the mat-ter to the o� cials of Upazila Secondary and Primary Education O� ce but the authorities concerned did not take any

step to restore a healthy educational environment,” he said.

Kamal Hossain, upazila secondary education o� cer, said: “We cannot repair the schools because of lack of fund, we have issued an application to the ministry concerned in this regard.”

Md Nobir Uddin, upazila education o� cer, said: “Necessary steps will be taken after holding a meeting with the upazila education committee.”

The newly-elected MP of Laxmipur 1 constituency MA Aowal said : “The fund will reach the schools and ma-drasahs within a few days.” l

National prevalence survey on TB soonn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Directorate General of Health Ser-vices is taking an all-out preparation to conduct the survey on the prevalence of tuberculosis across the country.

The country’s biggest ever national survey on tuberculosis will take place over next three months.

The epidemiologists and other ex-perts will collect samples and examine one lakh people randomly from 120 cluster groups.

Di� erent types of essential tests– Spu-tam, X-ray and Jean– will be doneto get the reliable national prevalence rate of the disease.

Mobile X-ray machine and other ex-amination kits will be kepton standby to do the necessary tests.

The survey will be conducted through the guidelines of World Health Organisation, which is providing the technical assistance for Bangladesh.

Although the process to carry out the survey started in June 2013 the main activities like sample collection, examination and other � eld works would start inthe coming June.

It would take one year to complete the survey and the Directorate General of Health Services(DGHS) set the target to publish the � nal survey report by June 2015.

Prof Dr Mahmudur Rahman, direc-

tor of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research,to ld the Dhaka Tribune on Saturday at present there were four countries in the world – Bangladesh Korea and Nepal –yet to complete the survey on the prevalence of tuberculosis.

Of the four, Indonesia had been con-ducting the survey currently and Ban-gladesh was in the pipeline.

Mahmudur said a 10-member team would goto Indonesia for more than a week-long trip to learn how the surve-yin the country was being carried out.

Md Ashek Hossain, line direc-tor of the National Tuberculosis Programme,told the Dhaka Tribune preparations for conducting the survey started last year, and currently they were working on the operational pro-cedure.

The survey in the � eld level would start by June, he hoped.

It was learnt that there was no reli-able statistics of tuberculosis patients in Bangladesh.

In 2007-2008, Bangladesh ran a na-tional survey on the prevalence of tu-berculosis among 52,000 people of 40 cluster groups.

The national tuberculosis survey was conducted between October 2007 and March 2009 which was a cross-sec-tional community-based multistage-cluster survey.

The survey identi� ed33 new spu-tum smear-positive pulmonary tuber-culosis cases.

The mean ageof the detected pa-tients was 47.2 year. The overall crude prevalence of newsmear-positive tu-berculosis was 63.3 per 1,00,000.

Dr Asek Hossain, line director of the National Tuberculosis Programme, told the Dhaka Tribune the World Health Organisationdidn’t recognise the survey.

So they were going to conduct the national survey again, he mentioned. l

Six accused in smuggling case on four-day remandn Court Correspondent

A Dhaka court yesterday placed six people on four-day remand each for their alleged involvement in smuggling and abduction.

They were Rezaul Haque, former army man, Faziqul Islam, assistant sub-inspector of Savar police station, Miran Khan, Shamsul Haque, Sujon Sheikh and Sabur Khan, a union parishad chairman in Tangail district.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Wasim Sheikh granted the remand.

According to sources, RAB arrested the six persons on February 15, for their alleged involvement in smuggling and abduction in Savar and Ashulia.

In the guise of law-enforcers, they had long been engaged in abduction and smuggling of gold and foreign currencies.

The RAB � led two cases with Savar model police station in this connection.

Inspector Dipak Chandra Saha pro-duced them before the court with 14 days’ police remand in the cases.

The court granted the four-day re-mand. Defense Counsel Md Shawon Ali � led bail petition with a remand rejec-tion prayer. l

7 doctors suspended in Dhamrain Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Ministry of Health and Family Wel-fare suspended seven doctors yesterday in Dhamrai upazila under the capital due to time-negligence at work place.

The suspended doctors were junior consultants Jane Alam Mridha and Dr Syed Ahsan Touhid of Dhamrai Upazila Health Complex, Dr Md Shakhawat Hossain, emergency medical o� cer of the same hospital, Dr Rumana Akhter of Kushura union sub health centre, Dr Jerin Zindia Hossain of Belishor sub health centre, Dr Zannatul Ferdousi, assistant surgeon of Boail union sub health centre and Dr Nazmun Nahar of Gangutia sub health centre.

MM Niazuddin, health secretary, is-sued the suspension order.

According to sources, a team of Joint Health Secretary Basu Dev Ganguly and Director of the Directorate Gen-eral of Health Services (DGHS) Dr Shah Newaz visited the Dhamrai Upazila Health Complex and di� erent union health sub centres for inspections and found the seven physicians absent. l

Three hawkers in front of Shishu Hospital in the capital try to save their goods and themselves from the afternoon drizzle yesterday, hiding under a polythene sheet. The late winter rain disrupted the daily life of city dwellers, businesses and commuters SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Students of Jagannath University stage a demonstration in front of the campus yesterday, demanding recovery of the illegally occupied student halls at the university RAJIB DHAR

In 2007-2008, Bangladesh ran a national survey on the prevalence of tuberculosis among 52,000 people of 40 cluster groups

Government fails to extend Jhilmil Project Rajuk housing initiative limited while that of private companies extended n A bu Hayat Mahmud

The Jhilmil Residential Area in Kerani-ganj near the capital remains limited to comparatively a small area of land be-cause of failure of Rajuk to acquire land from the local powerful landowners.

The development of Jhilmil housing project, a new satellite town in Kerani-ganj, covers a 381.11-acre land although the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Ra-juk) planned to extend over 22,000 acres.

The apex city development author-ity initiated the residential project in 1997, but was yet to complete even af-ter more than 13 years.

A section of in� uential people are calling the shot.

To extend its project into a large area like other mega housing projects – Ut-tara Residential Model Town Project and Purbachal New Town Project – Ra-juk ran a study on 32 mouzas in Keran-iganj upazila, but was forced to limit its housing initiative into only the three mouzas – Shubadda, Chunkutia and Teghoria in the study area.

Sources said the Rajuk acquired the land from common people in the study area, but failed to do so from a section of in� uential persons.

The project is situated at a distance of 2km west of China-Bangladesh

Friendship Bridge over the river Burig-anga beside the Dhaka-Mawa Road at Keraniganj.

Though the government-owned agency Rajuk failed to extend its resi-dential project area, a large number of private housing companies made it.

Private companies like Priya Pran-gon Housing Ltd of Hamid Real Estate, Bashundhara River View Project of Bashundhara Group, Navana Real Es-tate Ltd and Bhuian city of Navana Real Estate, Bangladesh Development Com-pany Ltd, Bismillah Real Estate, Ram-jan Nagar Housing, M/S Amir Enter-prise, Mawlana Real Estate, Action City Project, Anwar Real Estate Ltd etc are implementing their residential projects on large acres of land in and around the Jhilmil study area.

Sources said the private companies were running the housing projects in Keraniganj in an unplanned way with-out the Rajuk approval.

Besides, a Rajuk o� cial said they sent a proposal to the Ministry of Hous-ing and Public Works to extend its Jhilmil Project, but the ministry was yet to come up with any response.

Contacted, Nurul Huda, chairman of the Rajuk, told the Dhaka Tribune, “At � rst we want to complete the current phase of project development covering

381.11 acres of land, and the issue of proj-ect extension will be dealt afterwards.”

“The implementation of the project is at its � nal stage, and we have already started handing over plots to landown-ers.”

Asked about the extension of the housing project and di� culties of land acquisition, the Rajuk boss fought shy of answers.

Meanwhile, the Jhilmill Project will

have about 1,740 plots to build 9,500 apartments for lower- and middle-in-come groups.

Rajuk o� cials said they just started developing the plots, and the construc-tion of apartment would follow the suit.

Land and infrastructural develop-ment, ie. roads, culverts and bridges, are now at their � nal stage.

The Rajuk has handed over about 150 plots to the landowners and some 50

plot owners have got registration.During a recent visit the Dhaka Tri-

bune correspondent found that con-struction of most of the roads in and around the project had been completed, and digging of lake and construction of bridges on the lake were going on.

Of the utility services – electricity, gas and water – the work for setting power connection is going on while the rest are yet to be done. l

News 5DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014

PIROJPUR-GOPALGANJ ROAD CONNECTIVITY

Key route becomes fraught with dangern Our Correspondent, Barisal

Part of a road connecting Nazirpur upazila of Pirojpur district with Tungipara and Kotalipara of Gopalganj has became accident-prone as the road has narrowed down considerably.

Local people alleged that more than one-kilometre-long part of the road near Jhanjhania Bazar  had not only become narrower, but has also become dangerously curvy, making vehicular movement highly risky.

The road connecting Tungipara, Bashbaria, Jhanjhania and Kotalipara is important because it connects two districts and business points.

After visiting Bashbaria and talking with locals it was found that road on the west bank of Bashbaria canal connected Tungipara upazila and that on the east bank Kotalipara upazila of Gopalganj district. Tanvir Shovan, a local businessman of the bazar, said the breadth of Bashbaria-Jhanjhania road was so narrow that pedestrians were forced to leave the road if two rickshaw-vans crossed one another.

Asaduzzaman Dulal Talukdar, a local elite, said in the last three years, at least three people were killed on this road, hit by vehicles.

“Almost every day we face accidents on this busy road due to its narrowness

and curves,” Asaduzzaman added.Monira Zaman, founder member

of the local educational institution Kulsum Begum Bidyapith, said even Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina faced tra� c jam at this point on her way to Gopalganj after attending a public meeting at Kotalipara.

MA Karim, local Jhanjhania ward member of Malikhali Union Parishad, acknowledged that this road was the only short cut to the mausoleum of Bangabandhu at Tungipara from Barisal region. But due to narrowness and curves on the road, vehicles run with risks and people often speak ill of the local government authorities that

hardly take any steps to improve the road condition, the UP member said.

All local people alleged that the local government engineering department paid no attention even after their repeated appeals and attempts to make the authorities aware of the necessity to expand the road.

Engineer Abul Kalam Azad, sub-assistant engineer of LGED Pirojpur, admitted that a 1.5-kilometre road of Bashbaria-Jhanjhania section needed expansion.

“However to do that we have to get assistance from local people to acquire land for the work,” added the LGED o� cial. l

26 thatched houses gutted in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

At least 26 thatched houses were gut-ted in two separate incidents of � re in Chittagong city yesterday.

Fire Brigade sources said a � re had originated from an electric short cir-cuit at a thatched house at Koborsthan (Muslim Graveyard) Colony located at the inner side of Amin Jute Mill area around 4am and engulfed the adjoin-ing 16 houses.

On receiving the information, a � re-� ghting unit from Bayezid � re sta-tion rushed to the spot and doused the � re around 6:20am.

Meanwhile, nine other thatched houses were gutted as a � re originated from a stove in Jelepara in Bandar area around 11am, the sources said, adding that two � re � ghting units from Bandar � re station extinguished the blaze in an hour’s e� ort.

The � re brigade o� cials estimated that valuables worth Tk10 lakh were burnt into ashes in the incidents. l

Four frauds held with foreign currencies in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Police nabbed four members of a fraud-ster gang, including its head, with cur-rencies of di� erent countries from a residential hotel in Chittagong city’s Station Road area yesterday afternoon.

The arrestees, Shakir Akhter, 28, gang leader, Abu Bakar Siddique, 24, Morsheda Akhter Mukta, 23, and Suruj Jamal Mia, 45, were involved in a gang which used to bag huge money in ex-change of Bangladeshi currency and make fool to common people, said AKM Mohiuddin Selim, o� cer-in-charge of Kotwali police station.

On receiving information, a team from Kotwali police station nabbed the four from Relax Inn around 1:30pm with some notes of di� erent countries, including Sri Lanka, Brazil, Oman, Dubai, Kuwait and Myanmar, he said.

Sub-Inspector Kazi Masud Ibn An-war 0f Kotwali police station told the Dhaka Tribune that the members of the gang, dividing into sep arate groups, using CNG-run auto-rickshaws, roam-ing around their respective areas and deceive people by selling foreign cur-rencies in exchange of taka.

The group, comprising � ve mem-bers, generally target passerby, show some foreign currencies and propose to their targeted person to purchase the currency in a lower rate from bank expressing the deceivers’ patience.

Sometimes, they board the target into CNG and snatch all valuables from him or her, said the SI, who led the drive.

“We nabbed a group of the gang and we are conducting drives to nab the en-tire gang,” he said.

A case was lodged with Kotwali po-lice station in this connection. l

JnU paralysed as students demanding hall recovery n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Agitated students of Jagannath Uni-versity (JnU) yesterday held a protest rally and blockaded several roads in Old Dhaka demanding recovery of their dormitory from grabbers.

In the morning, hundreds of JnU students, chanting slogans and carry-ing banners and placards, took out a procession from the front of the uni-versity’s Shaheed Minar area. Later, the students observed a sit-in programme in front of the university’s main admin-istration building.

Students also boycotted regular classes and examinations as part of their demonstrations.

During the sit-in programme, the protesters said JnU authorities have failed to recover any of the 12 dormi-tories of the university, allegedly being occupied by some land grabbers, even after eight years had passed since the

university’s establishment. The protesters alleged that the uni-

versity authorities and the government have assured them many times in this regard, but no progress was ever seen. They also warned that their demon-strations would continue until and un-less their demands are met.

Later, the agitated students blocked the Rayshaheb Bazar intersection by burning tyres on the road. The block-ade, which continued for two hours, halted tra� c movement in the area.

In the afternoon, an eight member delegation from the protesters, led by JnU BCL President Shariful Islam and general secretary Shirajul Islam, went to home ministry to submit a mem-orandum to State Minister Asaduz-zaman Khan Kamal in this regard.

Meanwhile, di� erent teacher and student organisations of the university expressed their support for the ongoing protests. l

ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury granted bail n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday granted bail to ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury in a case lodged against him for discrepancies found in the wealth statement.

The Judge of Chittagong Division-al Special Tribunal Md Ataur Rahman passed the order in the morning follow-ing a bail plea of Mohiuddin’s lawyers, said the court sources.

The former Chittagong City Corpora-tion mayor was in an ad-interim bail on surrender before the court from Janu-ary 28, following the arrest warrant issued against him on January 27 from the same court.

Iftekhar Saimul Chowdhury, one of Mohiuddin’s counsellor, said though the former mayor’s health was not good, he had been regular in appearing before the court and the judge consid-ered granting him bail.

Earlier, the same court on January 27 issued an arrest warrant against Mo-hiuddin, president of Chittagong city of Awami League, as he did not appear be-

fore the court during trial period.On December 2 in 2007, Abu Mo-

hammad Arif Siddique, deputy direc-tor of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Chittagong, lodged a case against Mohiuddin for possessing il-legal wealth and not mentioning it in his wealth statement, said Mahmudul Haque Mahmud, prosecutor for ACC in Chittagong.

Mozammel Hossain Khan, depu-ty director of ACC, submitted charge sheet against Mohiuddin on Novem-ber in 2008 while the court indicted the Awami League leader on February 5, 2009, he said adding that the High Court stayed the case when nine prose-cution witnesses had already been tes-ti� ed before the trial court.

On November 27, 2013, the HC with-drew the stay order and ordered the lower court to resume the trial while Mohiuddin was ordered to surrender before the trial court. But Mohiuddin did not appear before the trial court during the hearing session. The court later issued the arrest warrant against him. l

BCL men assault Shibir leader at CUn CU Correspondent

Bangladesh Chhatra League activists beat up a Shibir leader on Chittagong Universi-ty campus yesterday.

The injured leader Mir Hosen is a master’s student of Islamic History de-partment and also the Students’ Welfare A� airs Secretary of Islami Chhatra Shibir CU unit.

Witnesses said a group of BCL men of “Sixty nine”, a faction of BCL and also belong to metropolitan AL secretary AZM Nasir group on the campus, beat up the leader with iron rods and sticks in front of central library around 1:30pm, leaving him critically injured. Later, a teacher res-cued the injured and sent him to univer-sity medical centre. l

Psychotherapist of Sweden calls on DU VCn Du Correspondent

Professor Hanna Egli-Bernd, psycho-therapist, trainer and supervisor of Humanitarian Assistance Programme (HAP) of Switzerland, called on Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Dr AAMS Are� n Siddique at the latter’s o� ce yesterday.

Dr Shamim F Karim, professor of the Department of Educational and Coun-selling Psychology of Dhaka University was also present at the meeting.

During the meeting, they discussed matters of mutual interest specially the on-going joint collaborative academ-ic and research programmes between Dhaka University and the HAP of Swit-zerland.

They also stressed the need for un-dertaking more projects of collabora-tion between the two institutions to enrich knowledge of students of both the institutes.

Prof Are� n Siddique apprised the guest of the history of Language Move-ment and contribution of the DU stu-dents to the movement.

The Vice-Chancellor thanked the guest for her visit to campus and show-ing keen interest in its academic activ-ities in the � eld of psychological coun-seling. l

English medium schools against government � xing tuition fees n Tribune Report

English medium schools opposed a government move to put all such schools under a category and � x the tu-ition and admission fees.

According to the authorities of cer-tain schools, the government should have no restrictions on English medi-um school tuition fees like it does over other service sectors.

A meeting between education min-istry o� cials and authorities from var-ious English medium schools ended without any decisions being made, on Thursday.

Education ministry Additional Sec-retary AS Mahmud told the Dhaka Tri-bune that they could not make any de-cisions in the meeting.

Sources who were in the meeting said the ministry had told the English

medium school authorities that the government wanted to put all English medium schools under a category and have the tuition and admission fees � xed according to that category.

Dhaka Tribune approached the school authorities for comment but no one wanted to open up regarding the mat-ter.

Seeking anonymity, the principal of an English medium school in the capi-tal told the Dhaka Tribune that impos-

ing restrictions on tuition and admis-sion fees would destroy the sector.

“The government can monitor quality but imposing restrictions on fees will not bring any good,” he said.

“Every year we have to increase teachers’ salaries to ensure quality. Without a reasonable tuition fees, we would not be able to hand out a decent salary to the teachers,” he said.

“The government does not have any restrictions on what hospitals charge for their services, why should restrictions be imposed on English medium schools?” he raised the question.

Principal of Scholastica Brig Gen (Rtd) Kaiser Ahmed, principal of Mastermind School Syed Fakhruddin Ahmed and Sunnydale School principal Tazeen Ahmed were present in the meeting. l

The government can monitor quality but imposing restrictions on fees will not bring any good

Local people roam around the Amin Jute Mill area where a � re broke out yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

7DHAKA TRIBUNE Long Form Monday, February 17, 2014

n Jyoti Rahman

It seems that every man, woman, child, their pets, even their Apple devices seem to have an opinion on what BNP should have done. Well, I am not going

to add to that volume. I don’t presume to lecture politi-

cians, who have been practising their craft since before I was a twinkling in my parents’ eyes, on what they should have done. I can, however, revisit what I wrote exactly halfway through the Awami League’s last term, and make an educated guess about how things could unfold from here on.

“[T]here are good reasons to expect an AL win in 2013 election. What happens then?”

“AL may well win the 2013 election, but its ability to hold on to power and govern successfully will depend on four key powerbrokers in Bangladesh: the bureaucracy, the army, foreign powers, and the business sector.”

That’s what I wrote in July 2011. To be sure, I got a lot of things wrong. I was fearing that a fragmented BNP would hand Awami League a narrow victory in a � awed election.

The reality is that while BNP was more united than at any time in its history – not a single member of any standing left the party to join the January 5 election – and might have won any semi-decent election in a landslide, Mrs Wazed decided to hold an election that surpassed the 1996 or 1988 farces to rival the 1971 “by-elec-tions” held under Lt Gen Niazi.

Clearly, I did not see this coming. But then again, very few did.

As such, the prime minister’s abili-ty to push the envelope should not be underestimated. Nonetheless, it might still be instructive to think about how the four bastions of power needed to govern Bangladesh are likely to behave from here on.

The analysis is most straightfor-ward with the army. The only likely scenario under which a military coup

is plausible is during a political crisis where the army is asked to crack down on civilian population. And let me stress the “crack down” – not mere deployment, not a speci� c operation by a select unit in a faraway place like Satkhira, but a general or-der to kill hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

The AL government has thus far managed to keep the army away from any such con� agration. With the opposition’s street protests essential-ly ending, at least for now, the army is not expected to be asked to crack down on anyone. Hence, at least for now, Mrs Wazed is probably not fear-ing any coup.

It’s slightly trickier to analyse the civilian bureaucracy, whose active co-operation is needed to govern the country. Let me reproduce what I said in July 2011:

“The people who make up mid-to-senior ranks of the bureaucracy have spent most of their working lives during the post-1990 era. Like everything else in the country, these o� cers are directly or indirectly cat-egorised (by themselves, their peers, and their bosses) along partisan lines. And most o� cers have learnt to live with the system – if your party is out of power, you cover your head, put up with the situation, and survive for � ve

years, after which your party will be back, and you’ll make up for the lost time with accelerated promotions and foreign trips.

The two years of 1/11 rule had slightly upset this balance. But because both Awami/pro-71 types and nationalist/Islam-pasands were hurt equally, it was a wash overall. If all of a sudden it appears that there is no prospect of a non-AL govern-ment beyond 2013, a signi� cant part of the bureaucracy will reassess the situation.

One possible scenario is that an-yone who lacks the strongest Awami credential (family from Gopalganj, elected into some student council in

the 1980s with a Mujibist BCL ticket, su� ered under BNP) will become extremely risk averse. The result, im-plementation of various programmes and policies will become even more lacklustre than is already the case.

But beyond worsening the quality of governance, it’s not clear whether the bureaucracy will actively precipi-tate a political crisis, let alone recreate a civilian coup like 1996.”

One reading of the new cabinet line up – whereby the political nobodies like Dipu Moni and Rezaul Karim Heera are out and stalwarts like Tofail-Amu-Naseem are back – is that the prime minister is well aware of

bureaucratic lethargy undermining her government. And nowhere would a seasoned, experienced minister be needed more than in the ministry that deals with the big end of the town.

In this government, after the prime minister herself, the most important person is the commerce minister. He is the man who has to ensure that major business houses (and NGOs) are not hostile to the government.

For the most important industry that matters for the economy – the readymade garments – Minister Tofail Ahmed is already working to ensure that the international buyers come back quickly, and stick around (the outlook for the industry is much rosier than some would have you believe). For other products, Minister Tofail will have to work with the business-men to ensure that Dhaka markets are well supplied so that the city-folk are content.

As long as the prime minister can maintain overall stability, it’s quite likely that the commerce minister will keep the business sector content – after all, what matters most to the businessmen is certainty and stability.

Stability is also the thing that foreigners ultimately want in Bangla-desh. India-China-America, everyone has their agenda, and these agendas may not align. But no one wants instability in a country of 150 million Muslims.

Given the distrust – justi� ed or otherwise – of Tarique Rahman and Jamaat-e-Islami, and the BNP chairperson’s practical di� culties in dissociating with them, the prime minister appears to have convinced the interested foreigners that she is better placed to provide stability and certainty.

Thus, it appears that the powers-that-be needed to govern Bangladesh are willing to stick with a prime minister who promises order. And at least for now, it’s hard to see what BNP can do to alter this. But perhaps BNP doesn’t need to do anything.

One cannot stress enough that the prime minister’s grip on the pil-lars-of-power rests on one and only one claim: she can provide stability.

Not the spirit of 1971. Not develop-ment records. Not Digital Bangladesh. Nothing like that. All she has is the promise – seemingly justi� ed at this stage – that she can provide order, while her rival invites the risk of chaos.

What can make lie of this promise? Why, events, my dear reader, events. Just consider if something like two events from the prime minister’s last term were to occur now.

Just imagine that there is a sudden and violent mutiny in the headquar-ters of RAB, killing dozens of majors and colonels, while the prime minister dithered.

In 2009, when this happened at the BDR headquarters, the govern-

ment wasn’t even two-months old, and frankly, even people like Farhad Mazhar and Nurul Kabir propagated the downtrodden-BDR-vs-fat-cat-army line. If something like this happened now, the reaction from all quarters would be very, very di� erent.

Alternatively, just imagine that a Bangla translation of the book, In the shadow of the sword: The birth of Islam and the rise of the global Arab empire, is associated with Hassanul Huq Inu or some other leftist minister of the cur-rent government, the word is spread around the Bangla cyberspace rapidly, and a hitherto little-known group of Islamists, based in the capital’s major education institutions, organise a million-strong march in the heart of the capital?

You see, in the speci� c circum-stances of early 2013, the government had gotten away with the events of May 5, 2013. But 2014 and beyond will be very di� erent.

The prime minister has told the powers-that-be that she will keep order. The reality, however, is that she stands on the precipice of chaos, for the simple reason that Bangla-desh – a super-densely populated humid swamp – is always at the edge of chaos.

Usually, mandate from a demo-cratic election, or the prospect of the next one, keeps us from falling over the cli� . By taking away the option of a democratic election, the prime minister has e� ectively put a ticking time bomb on herself. l

Jyoti Rahman is a political blogger. This article was � rst published on jrahman.wordpress.com.

On the edge of order and chaos

In the speci� c circumstances of early 2013, the government had gotten away with the events of May 5, 2013. But 2014 and beyond will be very di� erent

All the prime minister has is the promise – seemingly justi� ed at this stage – that she can provide order, while her rival invites the risk of chaos

More such pictures await unless the AL government can establish and maintain the stability and order that they have promised RAJIB DHAR

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Monday, February 17, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE InternationalDHAKA TRIBUNE8

Armed group kills four inTunisian AFP, Tunis

Gunmen who set up a roadblock in western Tunisia shot dead two people in a car they stopped and two police-men who later sped to the scene, the interior ministry said Sunday.

The killings occurred during the night in the Jendouba area, the ministry said in a statement. Tunisia has been wracked by violence blamed on jihadist groups since the January 2011 Arab Spring rev-olution that ousted long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The statement said a National Guard patrol was sent to investigate reports that a civilian and a prison warden had been shot dead by an armed group at a roadblock set up by armed men in Jendouba. “On their ar-rival at the scene, four terrorists opened � re,” killing two policemen and wound-ing another two, it said. l

Clashes mark anniversary of Bahrain protestsn Agencies

Security forces have clashed with protesters trying to march towards the Bahraini capital’s symbolic Pearl Roundabout to mark the third anniver-sary of the country’s anti-government protests, witnesses said.

Protesters, who gathered in several Shia villages on Friday to walk towards the roundabout, where demonstra-tors camped out for a month in early 2011 before being violently dispersed by troops, were met with tear gas and bird shot, according to witnesses who spoke to AFP.

Several demonstrators were wound-ed as forces beefed up security around the area and dispersed protesters emerg-ing from nearby villages, sources said.

“Down with Hamad,” protesters, some wrapped in white shrouds and

others covering their faces, chanted, referring to the king.

“We will never surrender,” they shout-ed as police helicopters hovered over-head and police forces manned check-points outside Shia villages, witnesses said. Earlier on Friday, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) announced that they had documented 36 arrests while seven were released from jail.

The opposition has called for three days of protests to mark the anniversa-ry as it seeks to give new momentum to its campaign for the ruling al-Khalifa family to surrender its grip on all key cabinet posts in favour of an elected government. The Pearl Roundabout and its popular namesake monument, which were a symbol of the 2011 eral-lies, was later demolished in March the same year and the site remains heavily guarded ever since. l

Morsi faces spying charges as third trial to beginn AFP, Cairo

Deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was Sunday facing charges of espionage and carrying out “terror at-tacks” in Egypt, as a third trial against him was due to get under way.

The latest court case is part of a relent-less government crackdown targeting Morsi and his Islamist supporters since he was ousted by the military on July 3.

Morsi and 35 others, including for-mer aides and leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood, are accused “of spy-ing for the international organisa-tion of the Muslim Brotherhood, its military wing and the (Palestinian) Hamas movement.”

They are also charged with “carry-

ing out terror attacks inside the coun-try against state property, institutions and their employees to spread chaos.”

If found guilty, the defendants could face the death penalty.

Morsi, who was ousted by the mil-itary after a single year of turbulent rule, is already on trial for his alleged involvement in the killing of opposi-tion protesters in December 2012.

Along with 130 others, including dozens of members of Hamas and Leb-anon’s Shia militant movement Hez-bollah, Morsi is separately being tried on charges linked to a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising that toppled strong-man Hosni Mubarak.

The ousted leader is also to be tried separately for “insulting the judiciary.”

A date for that has yet to be set.During Morsi’s short-lived presi-

dency, ties between Cairo and Hamas, a Palestinian a� liate of the Muslim Brotherhood which rules the neigh-bouring Gaza strip, had � ourished.

But since July, Egypt’s military-in-stalled government has accused Hamas of backing Morsi and his Brotherhood and carrying out terrorist attacks in-side Egypt.

The army has destroyed several hundred tunnels used to ferry crucial supplies, including fuel, into the block-aded Gaza Strip. Since Morsi’s ouster, his supporters have faced a relentless crackdown by Egypt’s government that has left more than 1,400 people dead according to Amnesty International. l

Hamas rejects international force in future Palestinen AFP, Gaza City

Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement has ruled out the idea of internation-al troops being stationed in a future Palestinian state under a peace deal with Israel.

“From time to time we hear people making o� ers during the negotiations, primarily about the idea of an interna-tional force following the retreat of the (Israeli) occupier,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement published on Saturday.

“We in Hamas, we will not allow the presence of an international force (in a future Palestinian state) which would be just like the Israeli occupation.”

Security arrangements in a future state have become a major bone of con-tention in ongoing peace talks, with Israel insisting on maintaining a mili-tary presence along the Jordan Valley which runs down the eastern � ank of the West Bank, bordering Jordan.

The Palestinians have rejected such

an idea, although they have said they would accept NATO troops or another international force.

“We demand (US Secretary of State John) Kerry and others revise their po-sitions because we won’t let anyone undermine our rights,” Abu Zuhri said.

“This so-called Kerry plan was put together by the Americans and the Zi-onist entity to eradicate the Palestinian cause. We will not let such an agree-ment give away our people’s rights,” he said, calling for “a united front of factions to reject the talks and their outcome.”

Peace talks began at US urging in late July between Israel and the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank with the aim of reaching a deal within nine months.

But so far, there has been little vis-ible progress, with Washington now focused on getting the sides to agree a framework which would allow the negotiations to continue until the year’s end. l

Lebanon gets new government after 10-month deadlockn AFP, Beirut

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Saturday unveiled a compro-mise government, capping 10 months of political wrangling during which the war in neighbouring Syria exacerbated sectarian tensions.

The 24-member government, in-cluding only one woman, brings to-gether the powerful Shia movement Hezbollah and its allies with the Sun-ni-led bloc of former prime minister Saad Hariri, who back opposing sides in the Syria war.

“After 10 months of e� orts, of pa-tience, a government protecting the national interest is born,” said Salam, who had been tasked with forming the cabinet in April.

“It is a unifying government and the best formula to allow Lebanon to con-front challenges,” he said, announcing the line-up to replace that of his prede-cessor Najib Mikati.

Syria’s nearly three-year war has deeply divided Lebanon, and the vio-lence has spilled across the border into the tiny Mediterranean country, which has been hit by car and suicide bomb attacks. l

Possible radiation leak at New Mexico military nuclear waste siten Reuters

Unusually high levels of radioactive particles were found at an under-ground nuclear waste site in New Mex-ico on Saturday in what a spokesman said looked like the � rst real alarm since the plant opened in 1999.

US o� cials were testing for radi-ation in air samples at the site where radioactive waste, such as plutonium used in defence research and nucle-ar weapon making, is dumped half a mile below ground in an ancient salt formation.

“They (air monitors) have alarmed in the past as a false positive because of malfunctions, or because of � uctuations in levels of radon (a naturally occurring radioactive gas),” Department of Energy spokesman Roger Nelson said.

“But I believe it’s safe to say we’ve never seen a level like we are seeing. We just don’t know if it’s a real event, but it looks like one,” he said.

It was not yet clear what caused the air-monitoring system to indicate that radioactive particles were present at unsafe levels, Nelson said.

No one was underground at the Department of Energy Waste Isola-tion Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, in New Mexico’s south east, when the alarm went o� at 11:30 p.m. MST on Friday, and none of the 139 employees work-ing above ground at the facility was exposed to radioactive contaminants, he said.

Workers were asked to shelter where they were until the end of their shifts and were allowed to leave the fa-cility at 5 p.m. local time on Saturday, Nelson said. No air exchange with the surface was occurring after the ventila-tion system automatically switched to � ltration, he said.

Nelson said the facility may have ac-curate measurements as early as Sun-day on the number of airborne alpha and beta particles, which can be harm-ful if inhaled or ingested.

A team could be sent below ground before the end of the weekend and Nel-son said the plant was “not in active operations. We’re in a period we have normally reserved for shutting down the facility for maintenance.” l

Iraqi Shia cleric Sadr quits politicsn AFP, Najaf

Powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of a major political movement and a key � gure in post-Saddam Iraq, has announced his exit from politics two months before elections.

The decision, if con� rmed as perma-nent, brings to a close a political career that began with his � erce opposition to the US military presence in Iraq, and has spanned more than a decade.

“I announce my non-intervention in all political a� airs and that there is no bloc that represents us from now on, nor any position inside or outside the government nor parliament,” Sadr said in a written statement received by AFP on Sunday.

Ahead of legislative elections in April, Sadr’s movement currently holds six cabinet posts as well as 40 seats in the 325-member parliament.

He also said his movement’s politi-cal o� ces will be closed, but that oth-ers related to social welfare, media and education will remain open.

It was not immediately clear if the move was temporary or permanent, with Sadrist o� cials saying they had been taken by surprise and could not clarify. One o� cial from Sadr’s o� ce told AFP that no one wanted to discuss the issue “because it was a surprise decision.”

“I do not think it will be reversed... because it is a very strong decision,” the o� cial added.

Sadr said the decision to leave pol-itics was taken from the standpoint of Islamic law and of “preserving the honourable reputation of Sadr, espe-cially of the two Sadr martyrs,” refer-ring to his father and another rela-tive who were killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

The move also aims to “end all the corruptions that occurred or which are likely to occur” that would harm the

Sadr reputation, he said.Sadr’s political career began with

his � erce opposition to the presence of foreign troops in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion of the country that toppled Saddam.

His rise was aided by the famed reputation of his father Mohammed Mohammed Sadiq, who was killed along with two of Moqtada’s broth-ers in 1999 by gunmen allegedly sent by Saddam, and another rel-ative, Mohammed Baqir, who was executed in 1980. l

Protesters evacuate Kiev city hall in symbolic concessionn AFP, Kiev

Protesters in Kiev vacated city hall on Sunday after occupying the building for over two months as part of anti-gov-ernment unrest sweeping Ukraine, in a highly symbolic gesture ahead of a new mass protest.

The building in Kiev’s city centre had been bustling with activity day and night since it became the “headquar-ters of the revolution” after protesters trying to oust President Viktor Yanu-kovych stormed it in December, but on Sunday morning it stood eerily empty.

The evacuation was authorised in return for a last-minute concession on Friday which saw the authorities re-lease all those detained in the unrest.

But it caused consternation among some protesters as key opposition de-mands such as constitutional reform and a new government still showed no sign of materialising.

“It’s a bad decision... We can’t trust the authorities, they’re crooks. The op-position is making a big mistake,” said

Volodymyr Penkivski, a 56-year-old protester who had come from northern Ukraine.

“Yanukovych will take other (pro-testers) hostage. We can’t beat a retreat. Otherwise we will all go to prison.”

Ruslan Andriyko, who had been in charge of city hall, handed the building over to the authorities in a ceremony overseen by Switzerland’s ambassador to Kiev, whose country holds the rotat-ing presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, of which Ukraine is a member.

“Switzerland... was invited by both con� icting parties to participate in the process of transferring city hall to authorities,” ambassador Christian Schoenenberger said as he signed an o� cial transfer document at a table in front of the building, � anked by Ukrainian and Swiss � ags.

Several hours later, a new demon-stration kicked o� on Kiev’s central Independence Square, which is still oc-cupied by protesters and has become a sprawling tent city barricaded o� on all

sides from riot police.The protest – attended by thousands

– is the 11th since demonstrators � rst rose up against Yanukovych in Novem-ber when he rejected a key EU pact in favour of closer ties with former master Russia.

The president had initially ignored protesters’ demands, but after demon-strations turned deadly at the end of Jan-uary, he dismissed his unpopular gov-ernment and started negotiating with the opposition. He also signed an amnes-ty law, promising to release all protesters detained since unrest began and drop charges against them in return for the evacuation of some key parts of the cap-ital, including city hall. Last week, nego-tiations between the warring parties had appeared at a standstill until authorities unexpectedly announced Friday they had freed all 234 people detained in the protest movement. The opposition has also agreed to vacate part of Grushevsky Street, where the deadly riots took place at the end of January, to allow tra� c to move freely. l

UN refugee chief to visit Iran for talks about Afghansn AFP, Tehran

UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres vis-its Iran on Monday for talks with o� -cials on the plight of hundreds of thou-sands of Afghan refugees, the UNHCR said in a statement.

The visit comes ahead of transition in Afghanistan, where a presidential election is due to take place in April and as US-led NATO forces prepare to leave the country by the end of 2014.

“With the transition in Afghanistan in 2014, the need for humanitarian as-sistance may very well increase,” said the statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

“Iran and Pakistan, the world’s two largest refugee hosting countries, will need continued international support to maintain asylum space for refugees during these di� cult times.”

Some � ve millions Afghans driven by war, oppression and poverty have crossed the border into Iran and Paki-stan in the past three decades, seeking better lives and jobs.

Almost one million Afghans are il-

legal immigrants in Iran while some 840,000 have been able to register as refugees, according to police � gures.

The UNHCR and non-governmental organisations say Afghanistan – whose economy is mostly supported by for-eign aid – is ill-prepared to host a large return of refugees after the departure of NATO forces.

Iran is also facing its own economic hardships, exacerbated by internation-al sanctions over its disputed nuclear drive that have crippled its economy.

During his two days visit, “will meet Iranian o� cials and international mis-sions stressing the commitment of UNHCR to support the Government of Iran,” said the statement.

A UN source said Guterres was also likely to discuss with Iranian o� cials the Syrian con� ict and the plight of millions of people who have � ed the nearly three-year war.

Iran is a staunch supporter of Syri-an President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which has been battling rebels trying to topple his government. The con� ict has killed more than 140,000 people. l

Bomb on Egypt tourist bus kills three n AFP, Cairo

A bomb tore through a bus carrying sightseers near an Egyptian resort town bordering Israel on Sunday, kill-ing at least three tourists and wound-ing 14, police said.

The bus was carrying 33 tourists near the south Sinai resort town of Taba when it was hit by the blast, po-lice o� cials said.

A spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority, which is responsible for border security, told AFP that the Taba crossing had been closed in the wake of the blast.

No one immediately claimed re-sponsibility for the attack.

Militants in the restive peninsu-la have waged a deadly insurgency

against the military and police since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

Scores of policemen and soldiers have been killed in bombings in Sinai and the Nile Delta, but Sunday’s blast is the � rst targeting tourists since Morsi was deposed.

The unrest has severely hit tourism, a vital earner in Egypt, which has been targeted sporadically by militants over the past two decades.

Between 2004 and 2006, scores of Egyptians and foreign tourists were killed in a spate of bombings in resorts in south Sinai.

In 1997, Islamist militants massa-cred dozens of tourists in a pharaonic temple in the southern city of Luxor. l

Iraqis walk past a giant portrait of Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr displayed AFP

Anti-government demonstrators march along a street after a rally in front of the General Prosecutor O� ce demanding the release of detained protesters in Kiev REUTERS

9Monday, February 17, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE International

Afghan ghost towns a symbol of lost hopen AFP, Aliceghan

Aliceghan was supposed to be a haven for war-torn Afghanistan’s returning refugees and a symbol of resurgence after the dark years of the Taliban. Six years on, it has come to highlight the myriad obstacles facing development projects in the country and an exodus of residents has left it feeling like a ghost town. Located about an hour’s drive north of Kabul, the settlement was constructed on a stretch of dry, rocky land allocated by the government to house 1,100 families driven out of their homeland during more than four decades of con� ict.

Opened in 2008, it was � nanced by the Australian government to the tune of $7.2 million, while the United Nations Devel-opment Program (UNDP) took the lead in building homes, schools, roads and water tanks. Today, visitors are greeted by rows of abandoned homes and empty streets as most of its residents have been driven out by a lack of running water, electricity and high commuting costs to Kabul, the nearest city.

Residents also complained of “culturally inappropriate” homes which lacked outer walls for privacy, meaning women were con� ned to their houses as a result.

Many of those who left have returned to slums and shelters in the capital they once � ed. “In the � rst year, there was work, people were constructing houses,” said 79-year-old Khoja Mohammad, who lived in Iran for 20 years but decided to return for what he hoped would be a better life.

“But the following year when construc-tion of houses was completed, people found themselves unemployed, so they started to leave. And now it is like a ghost town,” he added. He said there were only about 500 families left in Aliceghan and the number was decreasing. Mohammad is one of the 5.7 million Afghans who had � ed the civil war in their country, but returned with great hopes of a better life after the US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.

He and his relatives live with another family – around 20 people in total – spread across two small houses with four rooms.

He says life is hard, especially this winter, with temperatures dropping to -20 degrees Celsius. In his home, blankets are piled up at the corner of a room that is transformed to bedroom at night. A car battery connected to a solar panel is placed on the edge of the window and used to light the room when it gets dark. The township is one of the 60 scat-tered settlements across the country built for the returning refugees. But “there were some weaknesses in implementing the strategy” Islamuddin Jurat spokesman of ministry of refugees and repatriation told AFP. “The towns were built but lack of coordination between other key ministries such as power and energy and others to provide them basic needs of life made the plan a failure,” he said, adding that the government was only able to provide shelters for around 300,000 returnees. Antonia Paradela, a UNDP o� cial, told AFP their plan to dig wells in the area has been delayed due to land disputes between the government and residents who claim that the land where the underground water source was located belonged to them. l

Australia says spying ‘for the bene� t of our friends’n AFP, Sydney

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday his government used intel-ligence material “for the bene� t of our friends” and “to uphold our values” fol-lowing fresh reports it spied on Indonesia.

Relations between the neighbours plunged to their lowest ebb in years in November after reports that Australia tried to tap the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyo-no, his wife and several top o� cials in 2009.

Jakarta responded furiously to the claims, which were based on docu-ments leaked by US intelligence fugi-tive Edward Snowden, recalling its am-bassador and suspending cooperation with Australia on key areas including people-smuggling.

Fresh claims published in the New York Times on Sunday alleged Aus-

tralian agencies spied on Indone-sian o� cials during a trade dispute with the United States and o� ered to share back-room information with the Americans.

Abbott refused to con� rm the re-port, also based on Snowden-leaked material, that the Australian Sig-nals Directorate listened in on trade talks between the Indonesians and their US lawyers and o� ered infor-mation gleaned to the US National Security Agency.

“We never comment on operational intelligence matters, that has been the long-standing practice of all Australian governments of both political persua-sions,” Abbott told reporters.

However, Abbott observed that Aus-tralia did not “use anything that we gather as part of our ordinary security and intelligence operations to the det-riment of other countries.” l

Heavy snow kills 12 in Japan, disrupts power and � ightsn Reuters, Tokyo

Heavy snow hit Tokyo and other parts of eastern Japan over the weekend, leaving 12 people dead, hundreds of thousands of households without elec-tricity, and causing major disruptions to air and ground tra� c.

Tokyo saw as much as 27 cm (10.6 inches) of snow, on par with last week-end’s snowstorms, which were the heaviest in 45 years.

ANA Holdings, Japan’s largest car-rier, said 338 domestic � ights and 12 international � ights were cancelled on Saturday due to the heavy snow.

In Kawasaki, west of Tokyo, a train crashed into another after the snow rendered its brakes ine� ective, leaving 19 passengers injured. It also snarled tra� c on some of Tokyo’s most heavily travelled roads. The heavy snow also caused wide-spread power outages. l

Kerry visits largest mosque in SE Asian AFP, Jakarta

US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Southeast Asia’s largest mosque during his visit to Indonesia Sunday, paying tribute to Islam in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.

After removing his shoes outside the Istiqlal mosque in the heart of Jakarta, Kerry took a 20-minute tour through the vast building accompanied by grand imam Kyai al-Hajj Ali Mustafa Yaqub.

Calling it an “extraordinary place,” the top US diplomat told Indonesian reporters: “I am very privileged to be here and I am grateful to the grand

imam for allowing me to come.”He then said in Arabic “As-salaam alai-

kum” (peace be upon you), a greeting often used by Muslims around the world.

The administration of US President Barack Obama has worked hard to try to repair relations with the Muslim world, which were badly frayed under the previous administration with the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, also visited the mosque in 2010 when he travelled to the archipelago.

The United States and other West-ern powers have often referred to

Indonesia – the world’s third big-gest democracy – as a bridge to the Muslim world.

90% of Indonesia’s 250 million peo-ple identify themselves as Muslims, and most practise a moderate form of Islam.But the two-day visit that began on a colourful note may be marred by fresh spying allegations that emerged Sun-day in a New York Times report.

The report said Australia o� ered intelligence to the US National Secu-rity Agency (NSA) to give Washing-ton leverage during a trade dispute with Jakarta. l

Kerry warns of bleak climate futuren AFP, Jakarta

US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday issued a clarion call for nations to do to more to combat climate change, calling it “the world’s largest weapon of mass destruction.” In a keynote speech, one of a series planned in di� erent countries throughout the year, Kerry sought to make both a moral and economic argu-ment for greater urgency in cutting green-house gases. He warned that low-lying Asian nations and their rich ecosystems were particularly at peril from rising sea levels. Talking to a crowd of Indonesian agriculture, energy and marine stu-dents, he said the country and Southeast

Asia were “on the frontlines of climate change.” “It’s not an exaggeration to say to you that the entire way of life that you live and love is at risk,” Kerry said at a US-run cultural centre in Jakarta, in a speech also fed live to hubs on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. He compared global warm-ing to other threats such as terrorism or nuclear proliferation, in which countries must work together to make things safer, with the key being an informed energy policy. “We all have to approach this chal-lenge together,” he insisted, adding that “in a sense climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass de-struction, perhaps even the world’s most fearsome weapon.” l

Passenger plane carrying 18 missing in Nepaln AFP, Kathmandu

A Nepal Airlines plane carrying 15 pas-sengers and three crew went missing on Sunday afternoon shortly after take o� from a popular tourist resort, police and an airline spokesman said.

“The Nepal Airlines plane with 14 passengers took o� from Pokhara air-port at 1.30 pm and disappeared 15 minutes later,” Nepal police spokesman Ganesh KC told AFP.

A total of 18 people were on board, the 14 adult passengers, plus one infant and three crew, an airline spokesman said.

“One of the passengers is from Den-mark,” spokesman Ram Hari Sharma told AFP. The rest of those on board are from Nepal.

The airline has alerted police to “� nd the plane’s location” and are “preparing for rescue operations,” Sharma said.

The state-run carrier was travelling from Pokhara to the town of Jumla, 353 kilometres (220 miles) west of the cap-ital Kathmandu, when air tra� c con-trollers lost contact with the pilot.

The incident highlights safety con-cerns about the Himalayan nation’s aircraft.Nepal, which counts tourism as a major contributor to its economy, has su� ered a number of air crashes in recent years, which have usually been attributed to inexperienced pilots, poor management and maintenance.

A Chinese tourist and a local pilot were killed when an ultra-light aircraft crashed into a hill in the tourist town of Pokhara last October.

The European Union in December blacklisted all the country’s airlines, citing their poor safety record, and banned them from � ying to the EU. l

Thai police fail to reach deal with protestersn Reuters, Bangkok

Thai police and a prominent protest leader failed to reach a deal on Sun-day to reopen state o� ces and roads in Bangkok that have been occupied for months by protesters seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Talks with Buddhist monk Luang Pu Buddha Issara, a protest leader, failed to free up an occupied government complex in the north of the capital as a third day of a security operation de-signed to retake sites occupied by pro-testers drew to a close.

Buddha Issara said the government

was using a request to reopen roads as an excuse to crack down on protesters.

“If there is blood loss...will the au-thorities take responsibility? Or will you blame it on provocateurs?,” Buddha Issara asked police representatives.

Speaking to the monk during a tele-vised video conference, Naret Nan-thachot, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 1, said police would not use force.

“I am asking for your kindness and understanding...tens of thousands of people are frustrated each day by their inability to use roads,” said Naret.

Both sides agreed to talk at a later date. l

Seven dead in Pakistan passenger train bombn AFP, Karachi

A bomb targeting a passenger train in southern Pakistan killed at least seven people and wounded more than 30 on Sunday, o� cials said, the latest in a se-ries of attacks this year.

The bomb went o� near Unar sta-tion, 450 kilometres (279 miles) north-west of Karachi, and badly damaged several carriages.

“The death toll in the explosion rose to seven after two injured persons died of their wounds in a hospital in Jaco-babad town,” a senior local administra-tion o� cial, Sardar Jamali, told AFP.

He said the Khushhal Khan Khat-tak express was travelling to Peshawar from Karachi when it was hit by the blast, which injured more than 30 peo-ple and damaged hundreds of metres of track. l

UN seeks foreign probe of Sri Lanka war crimesn AFP, Colombo

The United Nations’ human rights chief has recommended an international inves-tigation into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the � nal stages of its Tamil separatist con� ict, a report said Sunday.

The local Sunday Times newspa-per in Sri Lanka said Navi Pillay has asked the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to set up independent probe, saying that Colombo “consistently failed to establish the truth” and en-sure accountability for the atrocities, despite repeated calls.

“Establish an international inquiry mechanism to further investigate the alleged violations of international hu-man rights and humanitarian law and monitor any domestic accountability process,” the Sunday Times quoted Pil-lay as saying.

The newspaper quoted from Pillay’s report to next month’s UNHRC sessions in Geneva, an advance copy of which had been given to Colombo for its obser-vations. It accused Sri Lanka of failing to probe rights abuses and continuing to violate democratic freedoms.

There was no immediate comment from the Sri Lankan foreign ministry, but Colombo has repeatedly said that its troops did not commit any war crimes.

However, it has asked for more time to ensure ethnic reconciliation be-tween majority Sinhalese and minority ethnic Tamils.

Pillay’s recommendations noted fresh emerging evidence of what took

place during the � nal stages of the eth-nic war that ended in May 2009 with the crushing of the top leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a no-holds-barred o� ensive.

The UN has previously alleged that up to 40,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed during the � nal months of � ghting and blamed many of the atroc-ities on government forces, a charge Colombo vehemently denies.

“...National mechanisms have con-

sistently failed to establish the truth and achieve justice (in Sri Lanka),” Pil-lay noted. “The High Commissioner (Pillay) believes this can no longer be explained as a function of time or tech-nical capacity, but that it is fundamen-tally a question of political will.”

The United States, which leads international calls for war crimes in-vestigations in Sri Lanka, has said it will move its third censure resolution against Colombo in as many years

when the UNHRC holds its next session from early March.

A report released by the Public Inter-est Advocacy Centre in Australia earlier this month claimed that Sri Lankan sol-diers committed the “vast majority” of crimes in a � nal government o� ensive against Tamil Tiger who fought for outright independence. The UN has estimated that at least 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka’s Tamil sepa-ratist war between 1972 and 2009. l

A man walks past a mural in Colombo depicting � ghting during the war that ended in May 2009 REUTERS

Kejriwal’s party pushes ahead with election plansn AFP, New Delhi

The party of � rebrand anti-corruption campaigner Arvind Kejriwal pushed ahead Sunday with preparations to contest India’s looming general elec-tion, just days after he dramatically re-signed as Delhi chief minister.

Kejriwal’s upstart Aam Aadmi (“common man”) party (AAP) an-nounced its � rst 20 candidates in the election due by May, including those who will stand against the two main political parties.

“This is our � rst list of 20 clean candidates and we will be putting out more lists to contest from di� erent parts of the country in the days ahead,” senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia told a press conference.

The move comes less than 48 hours after Kejriwal resigned as chief minis-

ter of Delhi state, along with his cab-inet colleagues, when the two main parties combined to thwart his e� orts to introduce a new anti-corruption bill.

Kejriwal quit only 49 days after his party took power in the capital, fol-lowing a stunning breakthrough in the Delhi state election in December that highlighted widespread public anger with the political establishment.

The move leaves Kejriwal, a former anti-graft campaigner, clear to lead his party into battle against the ruling Con-gress and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The list of AAP candi-dates includes activists and professionals who quit their jobs including in the law, industry and media sectors to join the new party. On Friday the BJP and Con-gress blocked Kejriwal’s move to intro-duce the anti-graft bill, a key promise at the Delhi polls, into the state assembly. l

US Secretary of State John Kerry (C) tours the Istiqlal Mosque with Grand Imam KH Ali Mustafa Yaqub AFP

Majority voters want caretaker governmentFebruary 13

Jahidul Islam And along with requesting a caretaker government, I would argue that most people also want a new, and fair, election.

Babul Sarwar The majority of voters want many good things from both the ruling and opposition parties, but they never get them!

2 get life for raping RMG workerFebruary 13

PB Why not the death penalty?

Ahnaf Saber The two should have received the death penal-ty. And speaking of the garments sector, what happened to Sohel Rana? Would be grateful if DT brought back that issue.

The Mancha that went astrayFebruary 9

SamThis is a very courageous article and, frankly, I am beyond impressed at the incisiveness of the author who, while prudently mincing words, has essentially let the cat out of the bag. The Mancha was nothing like the popular uprisings in the Middle East to which its acolytes love to compare it too. Simply put, it is a pressure group of the Awami League, made up of youth who enjoy being uber-culturalists and have not found much else to express their angst. The Mancha has not only not done anything about endemic corruption and human rights violations by a tyrannical regime but, rather, served as the apologist for it.

RonnieThe Mancha was an AL-sponsored relentless public (and political) gimmick that left me very weary, and frankly, downright disgusted the longer that tawdry theatre on the road went on. Of course, it was no pro-democracy, pro-justice “uprising”; gosh, then where is that righteous and inspired youth brigade today? Imran Sarkar’s populist stunts don’t impress me much. Nor did the Mancha crowd’s orchestrated baying for blood, overkill of Jamaat-bashing, and the horrendous old conceit about who constitutes “pro-liberation” and “anti-liberation” in this country. This crowd’s cherry-picking of what merits outrage, and convenient side-stepping of inconvenient issues struck me as terribly dishonest. I disagree with the author’s reference to BNP’s being dealt a “fatal blow” by the Mancha. I can’t fathom how that is so. And the BNP hadn’t been “scavenging”

for support; that’s such complete hogwash. And I’d argue that BNP’s political stance on the ICT trials and liberation-oriented issues isn’t negatively affected by the theatrical slogans of a manipulated crowd of young people who, with any luck, now know better.

BreadbittenAgree wholeheartedly with your closing paragraph! Great article.

ndsTo expect Ganajagaran Mancha to � ght against feudal-ism or all pervasive corruption in society is in the � rst place a misplaced idea. Essentially it originated out of a demand of the young generation to ensure a just trial of the war criminals surrounding which various conspira-cies was being made from di� erent quarters to foil the very trial process. Even the AL, which belatedly started the trials, was found wavering in its role to carry on the trial process in its due course to realise their parochial political interest. The uprising of the youth using the Mancha as one of its best suited platform put their en-tire focus on the war crime issue and I think they should stick to their mission with this single-minded emphasis and must not dilute or dissipate their energy in making any digression from its charted course. To � ght against feudalism and corruption there is no dearth of political parties of various hues and colours. Why did the author not draw their attention to undertake that task? Why single out Ganajagaran Mancha to be the sole arbiter of all maladies the country is su� ering from?

Help EC ensure fair upazila polls It is good news that both AL and BNP leaders are taking the

forthcoming upazila parishad elections seriously and have been campaigning for their grassroots supporters.The local elections, whose � rst phase starts this month, are being

contested by a record number of candidates from all political parties. Fair, free and full participation in these polls will ensure that people can choose the best available representatives for their local areas

Every support must be given to the Election Commission to guar-antee these elections are conducted smoothly.

As there is an increased level of participation and the police have had a chance to learn les-sons from last month’s parliamentary polls, there should be a lower risk of any repeat of the violence experienced last month. Nonetheless, it is right that the Election Commission has asked local administra-tions to stay alert and law enforcers are taking special security precautions.

Voters deserve reassurance that they can fairly express their opinion and cast their votes without being exposed to intimidation or harassment.

The EC needs to be strict in taking action against any violations of the electoral code of conduct ahead of or during the upazila polls. Any allegations of harassment by or against candidates during cam-paigning must be properly investigated and appropriate action taken if needed.

We hope the polls run smoothly. The results are going to be watched closely as a high turnout might also provide a barometer for the national popularity of the parties. It is important the EC is helped to do its job e� ectively.

More cross border contests in sport

We congratulate Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club for reaching the 118th Indian Football Association shield � nal in Kolkata.

Fans may still be commiserating after seeing their team lose a tense penalty shoot-out, but they can take encouragement from their club providing the tournament’s two leading scorers.

The annual IFA shield carries much prestige, and is the fourth oldest club cup competition in the world.

Sport’s greatest quality has always been its ability to appeal across borders of all types. This has long been evident in the global appeal of the English Premier League and La Liga, but the rapid growth of crick-et’s IPL adds new weight to the picture.

The time is ripe to en-courage more team based cross-border competitions. Team sports are already increasingly globalised both in the makeup of their players and their fan base, so it makes sense to capitalise further on their international appeal.

While FIFA has reserva-tions about cross-border leagues, there is no reason why football authorities should not encourage more international competitions in South Asia. Bangladesh and Bengal are historical bastions of football in the sub-continent and fans would welcome moves that bring more spec-tators and money into the sport.

In the case of cricket, IPL was created from the start to appeal internationally so is readymade for a Bangladesh based franchise. Such a move could help the IPL grow in the direction it has set itself and would undoubtedly be popular with Bangladeshi cricket fans and advertisers.

So long as ability and competition are rewarded fairly, there should be no limit to imaginatively developing sport across borders.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

BD workers get job-shift scope in KSAFebruary 14

If this turns out to be e� ective in the long run, it would be great news indeed, because so many workers have been misled and taken advantage of. This step may reduce some of that.

Bonny Hybrid Haque

Team sports are already increasingly globalised so it makes sense to capitalise on their international appeal

Support the EC to guarantee these elections are conducted smoothly

Scars from corporal punishment lastingFebruary 15 Frank Peters has long campaigned forcefully for schoolteachers to respect the Bangladesh High Court ban on corporal punishment and for parents to demand that their children be spared from it. In his provocative reports he calls for an end to this violence against children. I enthusiastically agree that it should be ended immediately. Violence begets violence. Children who are hit are more likely to be aggressive, to hit their siblings and use violence against others, even as adults.

As one who has studied this subject, as a school psychologist and a campaigner against school corporal punishment, I have talked to hundreds of children and families who have been cruelly impacted by this harmful practice. Many children have required medical care. Sometimes the scars are inside and ever-last-ing; they experience long-term humiliation, anger, resentment, and hatred of school and teachers.

While teachers sometimes say they only use it as a last resort, many children are slapped for small infractions. At best, slapping stops misbehaviour for the moment, but it does not teach children what to do in the future when a heavy hand isn’t there to punish misbehaviour.

The goal of education is to develop citizens to become self-disciplined, caring, responsible and productive. Children learn best in a nurturing, friendly environment where they can be active, involved, able to ask questions, and to solve their own problems. Teachers should ask themselves how they want to be treated when they make mistakes. Don’t they want to be able to learn from their mistakes instead of being smacked? They should treat children likewise.

Nadine BlockUSA

Crossword

Sudoku

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Thespian (5)4 Quick (4)7 Evil intent (6)8 Gathering of witches (5)10 Scottish dance (4)11 S American mountains (5)12 Lair (3)14 Small duck (4)17 At all times (4)19 Respectful fear (3)20 Not concealed (5)23 Singer (4)25 Prescribed amounts (5)26 Ship (6)27 Fasting period (4)28 Cosy retreats (5)

DOWN1 Gallery of shops (6)2 Augury (4)3 S African currency unit (4)4 Primary (5)5 Top card (3)6 Teeter (6)9 Weathercock (4)13 Develop gradually (6)15 Consumes (4)16 Letting contracts (6)18 Henhouse (5)21 Paradise (4)22 Acting part (4)24 Perfect score (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

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n Mohammad N Miraly

Many Muslims today ask: How do we rec-oncile Islam with our lives in the modern world? Can we uphold

women’s rights and be true to our faith? Can we be Muslims in a secular society?

These questions, though simple, become complicated by the larger questions they do not ask. One answer is that the Qur’an taught an ethical system that allowed believers to live anywhere, anytime, and be Muslim.

EthicsIslam, at its core, is a system of ethics. The Qur’an never advocated any par-ticular political system. It realised that the world is in constant � ux, and that humans must continuously change and update their laws in order to keep up with the times. Laws change all the time, but ethics remain eternal. For this reason, Islam can be practiced no matter where or when a believer lives, because to be a Muslim means simply to uphold the ethics of the Qur’an.

The Qur’an’s most overarching ethi-cal concern is social justice. The Qur’an has always advocated equality, justice, pluralism, and human rights. Luckily, we now live in a world in which the majority of people believe in these things also. So, modern Muslims can ask themselves: What are the tools that we have today that will help us achieve the Qur’an’s goal of social justice?

Today, we tend to adopt liberal democracy as the framework that best allows us to implement human rights, equality between the sexes, and freedom – the ingredients that make up social justice.

FeminismCan you be a Muslim and a feminist at the same time? Yes, you can. One famous example is Shirin Ebadi, the

Iranian human rights lawyer and No-bel-prize winner.

But, to ask if “Islam” and “fem-inism” are compatible is not a fair question. Islam is an old, ideological system, while feminism is a modern social philosophy. We cannot ask if a pre-modern, ideological system advo-cates a modern philosophy.

The more illuminating question would be: Does Islam advocate the same ethics and values that feminism advocates? Yes, Islam supports women’s rights. The Qur’an is adamant about the equal value of men and women.

Islam has always been a fervent supporter of women’s rights. At the time of its revelation, Islam instituted revolutionary reforms for women. It was the most progressive rights-based system in the world. That example of progressive reform was an ethical standard established by the Qur’an, which became the responsibility of later generations to strive towards until achieving the ultimate goal of complete social justice.

One barrier to social justice is humankind itself. While Islam as a religion is adamant about the need for social justice, which includes women’s rights, certain societies around the world – from Asia to America – have not supported the equality of women. This has less to do with religion, which tends to support the equal worth of all humans, and more to do with culture.

Social justiceThe Qu’ran’s overarching concern

has always been social justice. This was an ethic that medieval Muslim civilisations took seriously. Considering the times, life in medieval Muslim civilisations – like Cordoba, Cairo, Baghdad, Istanbul, or Delhi – was far more egalitarian than living under the rule of aristocratic privilege in Europe, or the caste system in India. For example, Jews in Muslim polities lived side-by-side with Muslims and occupied high posts, unlike Jews in Europe, who lived in ghettos.

The Qur’an conceived of a human community that struggled together to

create a just society. In this conception, part of being a responsible Muslim is ensuring justice in the community. This, however, is also the responsibility of every citizen living in a liberal democracy. So, for Muslims living in liberal states, it becomes a doubly-sworn responsibility to help create a just society in which maltreatment of any human being does not occur.

SecularityIslam has always been a secular religion. It has always separated religion from state.

“Secularity” is the practice of separating the powers of authority in a state. In this sense, mediaeval Muslim civilisations were secular: The Caliph was simply the enforcer of the law; he was not involved in how the jurists made the law.

“Secularism” is the idea that religion has no place in the public sphere. This has never been concordant with

Islam. There is a movement in many European countries today to remove all elements of religion from the public sphere. Some might argue that this goes against human rights because it would limit the identities and the expression of a large part of the population.

Religion certainly has much to o� er the liberal state, most importantly – ethics. Religion teaches the ethics that make up the basis for how citizens interact peacefully in the liberal state. In fact, the values that make up the liberal state – tolerance, justice, equality – come directly from religion. Liberalism is the child of Christian political theorists who studied Muslim philosophers.

But, by the same token, modern Islam can learn from the modern liberal state. There is a movement in modern Islamic thought that argues that believers can only be Muslims in a Muslim state. But, if we are to believe the Qur’anic promise, Muslims can be Muslims anywhere as long as they are free to live ethically. Today, that place is the liberal democratic state, which separates powers of authority, ensuring that citizens are not coerced by religious authority, and that they have the freedom to believe and live however they choose.

The Ethical MuslimIslam has always been applied in di� erent ways in di� erent places. The Qur’an recognised that humankind is diverse, and that di� erent human beings have di� erent psychological constitutions. For this reason, it taught an eternal system of ethics, so that no matter how the world changed or where a believer lived, the de� nition of being a Muslim would always remain the same – one who lives ethically. l

Mohammad N Miraly holds a PhD from McGill University in Religion, Ethics, and Public Policy.

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

n Raihan Hadi

We pay for things we wear, eat, live on, can or cannot touch but still buy because

we need to survive and thereafter please ourselves. I want to talk about the prices of these things, prices that are never going down because we just don’t want them to.

We love struggling to buy things we need for a mere survival, and then we struggle more to buy things that we consider to be luxuries. You think I’m blaming only the readers and not myself as well? I beg to di� er.

We have all become part of this never-ending process of life, where we are born to study, study to earn, earn to get married and then multiply. The estimated population of Earth exceeds seven billion (2012) as I sore-heartedly write about its consequences on our lives.

Of course the rich ones are buying land in places where we can’t go, and someday in the near future there won’t even be that. Why? Overpopulation.

The uncontrollable rise in the overall population of mother Earth is a� ecting our lives on a daily basis by making natural and arti� cial resourc-es more and more scarce, ergo more expensive to avail.

We sometimes let out that sigh of disappointment and tell our friends and family how much simpler the world was when we could buy everything we wanted because their prices were within our reach, and then we could save, not just for rainy days, but the sunny and snowy ones too.

Many of us can’t do that anymore because we have that urge to contrib-ute more to our population than to our future. Don’t get me wrong here, I love babies. But imagine the world where we can’t feed our babies anymore and have to watch them die of malnutri-tion because we just couldn’t a� ord their milk.

Of course the closest reference here is that of Somalia, where kids die on a daily basis, and theories like that of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen (with all due respect) just don’t work because sadly, and shamefully enough, people would rather waste than give away.

And just how many children can big-hearted people like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie adopt to feed and give a proper life to? Not too many.

Before I go on a tangent, let’s talk about the soaring prices of necessities in Bangladesh alone. There was a time when, as my father used to tell me, a chicken could be bought for 10 paisa

(equivalent to approximately a dime or 10 cents today), and for someone like my grandfather, a father of 10 children, feeding a family was a piece of cake.

Wait, did I just say piece of cake? Well, even that is quite a luxury today. What we could have for lunch just within Tk40 two or three years ago can’t be bought for even Tk120 today.

Of course, the global economic recession has taken its toll on us ever since 2008, creating massive di� erences in exchange rates of currencies whose values are � uctuating to date. And governments are struggling to keep prices right for people to survive like proper human beings.

Yet their struggle is in vain because no matter how hard we try to keep prices steady, the rise in the world population is causing necessities to become scarcer, and the old theories of economics are crying out loud because those graphs of supply and demand are just not that useful anymore.

Moreover, every single day, more and more people are migrating from rural regions to cities for a better shot at life and to reach for the stars, not knowing how much their migration is a� ecting not only the overall congestion, but also the city’s ability to withstand its population.

Everyone deserves a shot at their dreams, but the question is: “Is my dream bigger than the sake of humani-ty and its survival?”

Why aren’t we trying to raise aware-ness of this population problem? I don’t think it’s solely the duty of WHO and other counterparts, but all of ours.

We know we don’t want a dire future where basic needs become una� ordable luxuries. Then why don’t we comply with that thought and work for it? In case you were sitting idly and musing on some food for thought, voila! l

Raihan Hadi is Founder, Ideas for Bangladesh, and Senior Executive, Korea-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

n Towheed Feroze

The end did not happen the way we wanted it. Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club’s dream

journey in the IFA Shield in Kolkata fell short by one penalty in the tie-breakers, and the boys are coming back with the runner-up trophy. 

 There is of course a lot of grievance as to why Sony Norde, the unstoppable Haitian import, was given the marching orders with the red card, but the best thing to do is to forget all the bitterness and take the positives from the tournament, where a team from Bangladesh made a mark and triggered a wave of � ery speculation.

With the current state of football in Bangladesh, where people do not even care about the once-famed Dhaka derby between Mohammedan and Abahani, this rare success on foreign soil, though by a club side featuring foreign players, will bring back a sport languishing in a coma.

When Sheikh Jamal brushed o� Kolkata giants East-Bengal by three goals to nothing, captain Mamunul reportedly said that at last he can exorcise the ghosts of a failed SAF Games campaign in Nepal.

Well, it’s unquestionably true that back-to-back victories against Indian club giants provide some solace, but these can never be a replacement for the debacle of the national side.

Unless the national team can bring in some solid results in regional meets and show consistent form, mass interest in the game will remain elusive. In simple terms, this means winning at least two consecutive SAF meets.

Given that some have shockingly voiced hopes of playing in the World Cup in ten years, retaining regional supremacy for two straight tournaments may sound like a walk in the park, but it’s anything but.

South Asian football is a totally di� erent format of the game, with its distinct nuances in� uenced by long monsoon, natural grounds, and style of play.  

Training players in the European format often proves counter-productive. A glaring example can be the total collapse of the national team at the SAF after three months of rigorous camping and several practice matches.

Anyway, coming back to Sheikh Jamal, the team has unquestionably

won hearts in Kolkata, though as rational football fans, we need to look closer at the successes because while the team was lauded as a whole, it’s the foreign players that triggered the most debates.

Again, Norde was at the centre of discussion as he clearly proved to be of a totally di� erent league. Half-way into the tournament, speculation developed over the interest of Indian clubs to employ this skilled Haitian forward.

Other African players also shone, leaving local players at the second best slot.

This means that the much used rhetoric by many so-called local football gurus that the game standard has faltered due to the import of low quality foreigners is untenable.

Almost all the goals by Jamal were scored by foreigners – an indication that local clubs are placing full reliance on foreign strikers. It is of course common sense that clubs need to put wining before all else. However, the downside is that due to the excessive dependence on foreign strikers, local scorers ultimately lose their touch or become shaky in front of the goal during national team missions.

The necessity of foreign strikers has reached such a state that even � rst division clubs now look to rope in a foreigner.   

Interestingly, a horde of African players can be found in the city, playing only ‘Khap’ or paid matches to earn a living.  

This is not to say that players like Norde, Darlington, Ameka, and Ibrahim should not be there, but at the same time, one local striker has to be mentored to play along with foreign players.  

In the national team, Emili is the lone man upfront, sometimes aided by Mithun, which is why scoring is a major problem for Bangladesh.

In the last SAF Games, the goal scored by the team against India was not a score due to a planned build-up, but a de� ection that luckily went in.

Be that as it may, let’s not be too morose. For the time being, let’s cel-ebrate Sheikh Jamal’s sterling perfor-mance – they held on till the end on foreign soil, facing a large, intimidat-ing, partisan crowd.

The team comes back with the hope that from now on, the crowd at the stadiums will be larger. We also hope this feat will bring the game back from

the edge of oblivion.Incidentally, before the club played

a match, the team management announced attractive bonus packages which possibly inspired the players to go all out. Whether it sounds merce-nary or not, cash incentives always work wonders.

While players have the duty to play for the club to which they belong, some-thing extra always brings out the best.

This realisation explains the com-mon complaint put against national team colours – they save their legs � rst and refrain from taking risks.

During the SAF Games, no special packages were announced, and inev-itably some were accused of feigning illness and injuries.

We admit that having the national colours plastered on the chest should

be enough inspiration. Then, on the other hand it cannot be ruled out – for a player the game is a profession and a livelihood. Patriotism is always there. And if certain prizes are promised on top of that, the combination translates into this – the country pledged so much, let’s give it our best shot!

Reportedly, Sheikh Jamal’s Manzur Kader was forthcoming in o� ering extra impetus, and consequently the team did their best.

Hopefully, alongside Norde, the club will also nurture some local strikers. Sheikh Jamal coming back with a trophy, plus the admiration of millions of fans on the other side of the border – I call that a victory, what say you? l

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

Sheikh Jamal Club reignites a doused � ame

More and more people are migrating from rural regions to cities

Let’s celebrate Sheikh Jamal’s sterling performance – they held on till the end on foreign soil

Islam as a religion is adamant about the need for social justice, which includes women’s rights

The price we pay

The ethical Muslim

Can you be a Muslim and feminist at the same time? BIGSTOCK

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

D R M S A Y S

How long can dhaka bear this? SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014 12

ONTV

MOVIE 6:10pmZee StudioPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides9:30pmWBWelcome to the Jungle

DRAMA 8:30pm Star PlusMeri Bhabi9:30pm SonyNandini

NEWS6:45pm RtvShondhar shongbad10:00pm Maasranga TvPrime Time Maasranga News

MISC12:30pm AXNSo You Think You Can Dance?10:30pm TLCTaste o� Comedy10:00am Comedy CentralKey & Peele

n Entertainment Desk

On the occasion of Valentine’s Day Fahmida Nabi releases her new album Bhalobashar Kono Mane Nei on web.

Lyricist Golam Morshed has written all the songs of the album that has a total of six songs. Five of them are composed by Nipu Nowroz and another by Tomal. This is the � rst time Fahmida Nabi has released a whole album on the web.

Regarding the web release, Fahmida said: “Nowadays everyone is on the internet, we have become very much technology oriented and depend on it more and more. In this time and age, where life has become more fast paced, it makes sense to release an album on the web rather than pro-ducing CD’s. I believe that listeners do not have the time to buy a CD and try it out. That is why, like many other singers, I chose to release my album on the web, so that it is more easy reached by my audience.”

She also said: “The songs are very melodious and rhyth-mic. Anyone can feel the love in these songs. The lyrics are really moving and full of emotions. Overall, the songs are

excellent and the audience will hopefully � nd these notes in the album.”

Apart from this, Fahmida Nabi also lends her voice in two mixed albums which released on the occasion ofValentine’s Day under the banner of G-series and LaserVision. l

Celebrating 115th birthday of Jibanananda Das’ today Barisal BM College marks the occasion with a daylong event

n Entertainment Desk

Legendary poet Jibanananda Das’ 115th birthday is to-day. Dimly recognised during his lifetime, today Das is considered as the premier poet of the post-Tagore era in India and Bangladesh. He is knows as Bengal’s most loved

poet and “most alone of Bengali poets” too as he was an introvert. During his lifetime, only seven volumes of his poems were published. After his death, it was discovered that apart from poems, Das wrote several novels and a large number of short stories.

Jibanananda Das was born in 1899 in a Vaidya-Brah-min family in the small district town of Barisal. The poet is considered one of the precursors who introduced mod-ernist poetry to Bangla literature, during the period when it was in� uenced by Rabindranath Tagore’s romantic poetry. During the latter half of the twentieth century, Ji-banananda emerged as the most popular poet of modern Bengali literature.

His notable poetic works are Jhora Palok, Dhushor Pandulipi, Bonolota Sen, Mohaprithibi, Shaat-ti Tarar Timir, Shrestho Kobita and Ruposhi Bangla.

Das died on October 22, 1954, eight days after he was hit by a tramcar. The witnesses said that though the tram-car whistled, he did not stop and got struck. Some believe the accident as an attempt at suicide.

On the occasion of the proli� c poet and writer’s 115th birthday, Barisal BM College is holding a daylong pro-gramme today from 10am to 9pm on the premises of the college.

A concert titled Amar Shokol Gaan Tobu O Tomare Lokkho Kore organised by Jibanananda Uthshob Udja-pan Parishad and supported by Drupodi.com will be held at the venue in the afternoon. The concert will feature popular band Maqsood O’ Dhaka, noted poet-singer Ka� l Ahmed, band Chitkar and Shohojia.

The programme will also comprise discussions, rec-itations, screening of � lms and cultural performances by local cultural organisations. l

Fahmida Nabi’s new album gets web release

Film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Thor: The Dark World, Paci� c Rim in 3D, The ConjuringTime: 10am – 10pmStar Cineplex, Level 8

Film FestivalAkaler ShondhaneShankhanaad

GhuddiTime: 3pm – 7pmNational Art Gallery AuditoriumBangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Exhibition Celebrated ViolenceTime: 3pm – 8pmDhaka Art Center (DAC) House-60Road-7A Dhanmondi R/ADui Bangal

By Hashem Khan and Mohammad IqbalTime: 12pm – 8pmGallery Twenty One, Taj Lily, 751 Satmasjid Road (level 11)

Theatre ShopnopothikBy AranyakTime: 6:30pm – 8:00pmNational Theatre, Shilpakala Academy, Shegun Bagicha

TODAY IN DHAKA

n Entertainment Desk

For those who love to be transported to the mythical world of magic, drag-ons, kings and knights, they are in for a treat, as the popular TV series Mer-lin airs on ATN Bangla every Monday 6:20pm. For the bene� t of the audience of the country, the show is dubbed in Bangla.

Merlin is a British fantasy-adventure television programme, created by Ju-lian Jones, Jake Michie, Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps and starring Colin Morgan in the title role. The show is loosely based on the Arthurian legends of the young wizard Merlin and his re-lationship with Arthur Pendragon but di� ers from the traditional versions. Young Merlin is a teenager, discovering

and then learning to master his mag-ical gift. Magister Gaius, King Uther Pendragon’s learned court physician to whom he’s assigned as humble page, teaches him medicine, coaches his

magical self-study, and warns him of Uther’s strong aversion to magic. Mer-lin becomes squire to the noble but im-prudent crown prince, Arthur, whose fate is linked with Merlin. l

Merlin airs today Mannan Hira emerges as feature � lmmakern Entertainment Desk

Mannan Hira’s debut feature � lm Ekatturer Khudiram’s Muharat was held at BFDC on February 15. The shooting of the � lm will start from to-day. Following the path of many other � lmmakers who chose to tell the sto-ry of the gruesome nine months that lead to the independence of the coun-try, Mannan Hira took a step further by not only directing the movie, but also wrote the story and screenplay.

The music direction of the � lm is by Shujay Sham and it is produced by EPIC. The star cast includes Sho-cho, Fojlul Rahman Babu, Mamunur Rashid, Momena Chowdhury, Enam-ul Haq, Chobi, Firoj-al-Mamun and others.

The story is about how a group of youngsters gets motivated to join the Liberation War of 1971. In the small town of Shonamukhi, every year, the high school arranges an annual dra-ma. Senior teacher Khokon Banarji decides to stage a drama titled Sahid Khudiram. A student named Alal from the eighth grade is chosen for the lead role. During this time, an Urdu speaking teacher opposes on staging the drama and asks them to show-case a play on Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Khokon refuses the script and goes on making arrangement for his original

idea. When the war is in full swing, Biharis kill Khokon Banarji by the order of the Urdu speaking teacher. When Alal and his fellow classmates sees this injustice, they get motivated to join the war.

About his � lm, Mannan said: “It was my dream to make a � lm about the Liberation War. Many young ac-tors will be on the lead role of the � lm. I hope the viewers will be able to relate to the story.” l

Chander Pahar creates history in Tollywoodn Entertainment Desk

Director Kamaleshwar Mukhodpadhayay’s lat-est work Chander Pahar, based on Bibhutibhu-san Bandopadhyay’s 1909 novel of the same name, broke all the past box o� ce records of Kolkata � lm industry popularly known as Tollywood. After 50 days of successful run, the � lm managed to collect over Rs 15crore which is the biggest ever estimate for a Tolly-wood movie. 

Dev and Koyel starrer  Paglu  was the pre-vious most successsful � lm which collected around Rs 10crore. 

Claimed to be the biggest budget � lm of Tollywood,  Chander Pahar  is still running in

a few cinemas and after adding the satellite rights, the � lm might touch 20crore landmark, said celebrated trade analyst Taran Adarsh  

The storyline follows Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s classic novella set in 1909 quite closely, with some necessary adjustments. So the gutsy Diego Alvarez, played by Gerard Rudolf, is shown as hailing from Portuguese Chinsurah, which is why he can speak a smattering of Bengali. No such deviations are needed for Shankar though. Just as in the book, Dev’s character is a dreamer who wants to travel the world. His journey takes him on an incredible path from his quiet Bengali village to the heart of Africa in search of a fabled diamond mine.

The � lm has been extensively shot in South Africa. 

This opportunity of a lifetime to play the role of Shankar in the � lm was quite challeng-ing and tough, said Dev in an interview. 

“The journey to the shooting spot was quite an adventurous experience as the crew had to walk through narrow lanes between rivers, cli� s & the forests full of snakes, insects and wild animals.”

From rock climbing to diving to crossing a river full of crocodiles, Dev learnt all the stunts required. Not only that, he also took a con-scious decision to detach himself completely from the outside world to get into the skin of the character. l

Chinese thriller takes top Berlin prizen Entertainment Desk

Asian � lms were big winners at the Berlin International Film Festival, led by gritty Chinese thriller Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice) about an overweight detective pursuing a serial killer, which took the top Golden Bear prize.

Liao Fan, who said he put on 20 kilograms and drank more alcohol to play the role of detective Zhang Zili, was named Best Actor.

“Chinese � lms are accepted more and more,” said Diao Yinan, director of the win-ning � lm.

“It seems every time we take them abroad, there is a greater enthusiasm for Chinese cinema. We hadn’t expected that, but � lm is global nowadays.”

Asked about censorship in China, Diao said: “Of course there is censorship, I be-lieve that exists around the whole world, doesn’t it? When it comes to Chinese cen-sorship, I think the fact we are here in Ber-lin shows our censors are becoming more open, although there are di� culties.”

Haru Kuroki, who won Best Actress for her portrayal of a housemaid in Tokyo be-fore and during World War Two in the Jap-anese � lm Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House), said she wanted to leap for joy but wearing a kimono made it di� cult.

American Richard Linklater was named Best Director for his coming-of-age � lm

Boyhood, which uses the same child actors over a 12-year span, while Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, the festival opener set in a � ctional central European country, took the Silver Bear grand jury prize. l

A scene from Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice) that won the Golden Bear prize

Mannan Hira

Loko Natyadal will stage their famous production Kanjus at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy this evening. The play is an adaptation of The Miser by the famous French playwright Moliere. Popular theatre personality and veteran actor Tariq Anam Khan has adapted the play that has been directed by Liaquat Ali Lucky, the troupe president and the director general of BSA

13DHAKA TRIBUNEMonday, February 17, 2014

SportDid you know?

Daniel Sturridge has now scored in seven consecutive Premier League appearances,

the � rst Liverpool player to do this

14 McCullum ton stalls India’s victory push

15 Lavillenie breaks pole-vault world recordDAYS TO GO

0 2 7

Sheikh Jamal president content

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club might have lost the 118th IFA Shield � nal but their performance won the hearts of millions, both from Bangladesh and the other side of the Bengals.

Before they left the country for Kol-kata 70 days ago, even they would not have expected such appreciation from the football fans, despite not winning it and coming close to making history.

Football lovers of the country, after such a long time, gathered under the same tent to support a Bangladeshi club, the popularity they didn’t even get after winning their maiden Bangladesh Premier League title three years ago and the Federation Cup this season.

Their performance throughout the tournament, especially Mamunul Islam, Sohel Rana and foreign trio Sony Norde, Wedson Anselme and Emeka Darlington got great attention from the Indian media and I-League clubs as well. Sheikh Jamal interim manager Abdul Ga� ar also admitted that Mohun Bagan made Mamunul and Sony o� ers to join.

Whatever happened in the � nal, in-cluding the red card incident, Sheikh Jamal president Manjur Kader wants to forget and take the positive from the tournament that left the Dhanmondi out� t frustrated in the breath taking tie-breaker.

“I’m only frustrated with the � nal. Otherwise, I’m contented with every other matches we played before the � nal. The peoples of Kolkata also ap-plauded Sheikh Jamal’s performance. I managed big clubs like Abahani and Muktijoddha but I never achieved any-thing like this before. Last 15-16 days, I spent fantastic time there,” said Man-jur Kader.

Kader also talked about the red card. “This is nothing new in this re-gion. There’s no value of talking about this right now as it would not give us the title. This tour prolonged the rela-tionship between the two countries,” he added.

Meanwhile, following Kolkata me-dia who reported that Sheikh Jamal boycotted the prize distribution cer-emony of the Shield � nal on Saturday smelling a conspiracy, its manager Ab-dul Ga� ar dismissed the claim and ex-plained the reason.

“It was totally a misunderstand-ing. Mohammedan supporters entered into the � eld after the match and we couldn’t get out of our dressing room. We waited for 35 minutes then we came back,” said Ga� ar.

The team will return to the city to-day morning at 10.20am. l

Mathews aware of the ‘� ghting unit’

Angelo Mathews had already cau-tioned his side about the strengths of the Bangladesh team in the shorter for-mats and after earning two hard fought Twenty20 victories the Sri Lankan skip-per looks to carry the momentum in the three-match ODI series starting today.

“Well, I thought it was a hard fought couple of wins for us, it wasn’t easy at all for us,” said Mathews at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium yesterday. “As I said, they are going to come hard at us and they are going to be very strong in the ODIs and T20s. We hope the guys will keep the momentum and go for-ward in the ODIs. Hopefully the weath-er stays away and we get a good game in our hands.”

In contrast to the Test series the all-rounder admitted that they were pushed back to the wall to get the T20 wins as he labelled the young Bangla-desh side as a “� ghting unit”.

“Yeah I think especially looking at the Test series and T20 they played dif-ferently. I thought it was very hard for us in the T20s. We know that they are a young team and a � ghting unit. They don’t give up at any stage. They almost defended 120 in the last game. We can’t go o� guard at any given time and per-

form to our abilities,” said Mathews.Beside the two senior players in

the side, Kumar Sangakkara and Til-lakaratne Dilshan, the 26-year-old Sri Lankan captain is looking forward to the newcomers in the team.

“Obviously we have got two seniors in the team. We got a few exciting play-ers who played in the Pakistan series as well. We got Priyanjan, Kithu (Kithuru-wan Vithanage), Angelo Perera. We still haven’t decided on the composition. They have all got the talent to play in the eleven,” he added.

Mathews supported the attacking approach from his openers Kusal Per-era and Dilshan and said Sangakkara at number three is always there to stable the situation. “Both are aggressive, that’s the sort of openers we want. We have got a more stable number 3 in Ku-mar Sangakkara, to control things. We can’t really ask our openers to change their style.”

Meanwhile in the absence of vet-eran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath it will be Ajantha Mendis and Sachithra Senanayake controlling the spin de-partment and Mathews expressed full faith on the two.

“Mendis has played a lot of games and also Sachithra. They are two of the best spinners that Sri Lanka have.” l

Mush� q ready for tough challenge

Bangladesh skipper Mush� qur Rahim wants to forget the close defeats in the two-match Twenty20 series and looks forward for tough competition against the visitors in the ODIs starting today at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium (SBNS). 

Mush� qur, who missed the T20 series due to a � nger injury, said that Bangladesh fought till the end in both the T20s and it was due to the small mistakes that cost them. 

“We have played good cricket in the last one and a half years. Although, we were not consistent in Tests and T20s, with home advantage our line up is ca-pable of beating any team,” said Mush-� qur in the pre-match press confer-ence at SBNS yesterday. 

“We are con� dent. But they (Sri Lanka) are a tough side and it will be a hard competition. We are ready for it. I think all the three games will have good competition,” he added. 

Since 2011, Bangladesh did not lose a bilateral ODI series at home. The last time the Tigers lost at home in their strongest format, ODI, was against Pakistan more than two years ago. They were victorious against West Indies in 2012 after they had pushed Pakistan in the Asia Cup � nal few months earlier. And in October-November last year, they earned a comprehensive series

win over New Zealand for the second time in a row. 

“So far we did lose three matches this year, but were also unlucky not to win two of those. We have plenty of hard cricket ahead in this year. Results-wise, it was disappointing, but we have gradually improved from the � rst Test. It’s just a matter of time,” said Mush� qur. 

Mush� qur’s injury, which he picked up during the second Test, will deny him from keeping in today’s game and he informed that either Anamul Haque or Shamsur Rahman will take his place behind the stumps. 

“There is no pain when I am batting, but because it is in the little � nger,

keeping the wicket will be a risk. If it hits there again I will be out for a long time. Team management thinks I will do � ne with the bat. We have enough keepers in the side so it will not be an issue tomorrow,” informed Mush� qur.  

Besides Mush� qur’s keeping, Ban-gladesh will also miss the service of spinner Abdur Razzak who is also suf-fering from injury too. The veteran spinner has been a leader with the ball in the 50-over game and also the high-est wicket-taker for the side against Sri Lanka – 19 wickets. 

“We will miss [Abdur Razzak] Raj bhai a lot. Although [Arafat] Sunny bhai has bowled very well in the last two matches, Raj bhai is our most experienced bowler and has the most ODI wickets. I was with him last week as he was recovering from the hamstring injury. We want him to be fully � t for the tournaments ahead,” said the 25-year-old. 

“We have four genuine pacers in the side and we have a long time to put together a playing XI. Dew factor might come into play and there was overnight rain on Sunday too. We might play three pacers or even three spinners and it will depend on the dew factor. We have the � exibility as we have left-arm spinners, pacers and o� spinners. We will wait till tomorrow (today),” he added. l

Form guide(last 5 completed matches, most recent � rst)

Bangladesh WWWLL Sri Lanka WLLWL

Pitch and conditions The Dhaka wicket will be slow and low,

as it has usually been over the years. Curator Gamini de Silva will stick to the tried and tested, and ensure runs are aplenty on the surface. There was rain in the air around Mirpur on the eve of the match, but clear skies are predicted on match day.

Stats and trivia Mush� qur Rahim is 49 short of 2500

runs in ODIs Dinesh Chandimal has scored only a

single � fty in his last ten ODI innings. That innings came in the last ODI, against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.

FACT BOX

BangladeshTamim Iqbal, Shamsur Rahman, Anamul Haque/Mominul Haque, Mush� qur Rahim (capt and wk), Naeem Islam, Shakib al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Mashrafe bin Mortaza, Arafat Sunny, Rubel Hossain

Sri LankaKusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Ashan Priyanjan/Kithuruwan Vithanage, Angelo Mathews (capt), Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis

PROBABLE XI

Bangladesh announce World T20 squads

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced the men’s and women’s squads for the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 yesterday. 

The two-match Twenty20 series the two domestic Twenty20 competi-tion held in December last year was the arena for experiments for the national selection panel. And after much calcu-lation, the selectors have come up with a team with a blend of experience and youth, believes chief of the selection panel Faruk Ahmed. 

“We have considered the fact that this was a world event and experience was necessary as well as giving opportunity to youngsters like Mominul (Hoque) and Shabbir (Rahman) who have the potential to excel in the shortest format,” said chief selector Faruk in a media release yesterday. 

The men’s squad is identical to what it was seen in the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka, except for Abdur Razzak coming in place of another left-arm spinner, Arafat Sunny. 

Sunny in the two games against Sri Lanka, which Bangladesh lost o� the last ball, took three wickets. He could have replaced Sohag Gazi, who is not in his best form, but that would have made three left-arm spinners in the side, along with Shakib al Hasan and Razzak. 

“Someone like Sunny, who has im-pressed everyone and had been per-

forming consistently at domestic level, had to miss out because we needed to have that balance,” Faruk explained. 

 “We have a lot of depth in our bowl-ing. There are three pace bowlers and a seaming all-rounder. However, in our conditions spin will be the main strength and we are well covered in that area with Shakib, Abdur and Gazi,” he added. 

Faruk is also con� dent that the women’s team would give a good ac-count of themselves in home condi-tions. 

“We have tried to pick the best squad available. The preparation has been good and the team will get more opportunities to play against strong sides in the lead up to the main event,” he said. l

Norde, Mamunul targeted by Kolkata clubs

After Sony Norde, the Kolkata’s I-League clubs are chasing to sign Ban-gladesh national team and Sheikh Jamal DC captain Mamunul Islam for next season, following their sparkling display in the recently concluded IFA Shield.

The century-year old traditional Mohun Bagan are in the lead to snap in Bangladesh’s ace mid� elder and have talked to him as well as Norde about a possible transfer. It was also learnt that Kolkata the out� t have made a sub-stantial fee for the pair.

Sheikh Jamal’s acting manager for IFA Shield Abdul Ga� ar con� rmed the news. “Mohun Bagan o� cials talked to Sony Norde and Mamunul about the transfers in front of me. I also heard more than one I-League clubs are in-terested in them,” he said.

Rumour has it that Mohun Bagan o� ered Sony Norde around $150,000 - more than the double what he gets from Sheikh Jamal - and Mamunul got an o� er of $80,000. Sony Norde is cur-rently the highest paid player in Ban-gladesh Premier League. He left Sheikh Russell, along with Mamunul, to join Jamal this season for Tk6m.

Sheikh Jamal president Manjur Kad-er, earlier, dismissed all the rumours regarding Sony Norde saying, “Sony Norde is not for sale”. However, the sports loving man has now thrown a challenge to the Kolkata clubs, “How much money do they have? I will see

how they can take him away from us.”Earlier, Norde was quoted in the In-

dian media as saying he wanted to play in India next season, after the Haitian was visited by o� cials from Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting Club, Kolkata in hotel room. Norde also said that two other I-League clubs - Dempo and Sporting Goa - contacted

him over the phone.The 24-year-old winger has been

in outstanding form since last season. Helping Sheikh Russell win a historic treble, the Haitian forward was the architect of Jamal’s Federation Cup tri-umph this season and also struck four goals at the 118th IFA Shield - including one each in the semi-� nal and � nal. l

MENMush� qur Rahim (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Muminul Hoque, Nasir Hossain, Shabbir Rahaman, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Shohag Gazi, Masrafe Bin Mortaza, Farhad Reza, Rubel Hossain, Al-Amin Hossain 

WOMENSalma Khatun (Captain), Jahanara Alam (VC), Rumana Ahmed, Fargana Hoque, Ayasha Rahman, Lata Mondol, Sanjida Islam, Fahima Khatun, Panna Ghosh, Sharmin Akter, Nuzhat Tasnia, Khadijatul Kubra, Shohaly Akther, Shamima Sultana, Saila Sharmin

SQUADS

Peoples of Kolkata also applauded Sheikh Jamal’s performance. I managed big clubs like Abahani and Muktijoddha but I never achieved anything like this before

Sony Norde Mamunul Islam

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014 14

'Rooney contract extension not yet'Reports that the England striker Wayne Rooney has signed a record-breaking

new contract with Manchester United are premature, club sources said on Sunday. The Sun on Sunday newspaper reported that Rooney had signed a new four-and-a-half year deal to stay at Old Tra� ord, worth 70 million pounds ($117 million) which would make him the best-paid player in the Premier League. “There is no deal, which is why we haven’t announced it,” a United spokesman said. Negotiations are believed to be ongoing. –Reuters

Nishikori in Memphis titleDefending champion Kei Nishikori will face big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic

in Sunday’s � nal of the $647,000 ATP US National Indoor Championships after each breezed to a semi-� nal victory on Saturday. Japanese star Nishikori, top seeded for the � rst time at an ATP event, defeated American Michael Russell 6-3, 6-2 while Karlovic advanced when Taiwan fourth seed Lu Yen-Hsun retired after losing the � rst set 6-1. Nishikori, ranked 16th, seeks his fourth ATP crown while Karlovic, ranked 80th, seeks his sixth career title. –AFP

Hamburg sack Van MarwijkHamburg � red coach Bert van Marwijk after just 143 days in charge in the

wake of Saturday’s 4-2 drubbing at Bundesliga bottom side Eintracht Braunsch-weig, the club has con� rmed. “We were forced at this time to make this regretful decision and we thank Bert van Marwijk for his work,” said Hamburg’s sporting director Oliver Kreuzer in a statement after the board met on Saturday night. The 61-year-old ex-Netherlands boss, who steered the Oranje to the 2010 World Cup � nal, was sacked after eight straight defeats with Hamburg. –AFP

New Zealand 1st innings 192K. Williamson 47; I. Sharma 6-51, M. Shami 4-70

India 1st innings 438 A. Rahane 118, S. Dhawan 98, M. Dhoni 68; Southee 3-93, Boult 3-99, Wagner 3-106

New Zealand 2nd innings(overnight 24-1)P. Fulton lbw Khan 1H. Rutherford c Dhoni b Khan 35K. Williamson c Dhoni b Khan 7T. Latham c Dhoni b M. Shami 29B. McCullum not out 114C. Anderson c & b Jadeja 2B. Watling not out 52Extras (b2, lb6, nb4) 12Total (� ve wickets; 99 overs) 252

Fall of wickets1-1 (Fulton), 2-27 (Williamson), 3-52 (Rutherford), 4-87 (Latham), 5-94 (Anderson)BowlingI. Sharma 23-3-63-0 (4nb), Khan 25-8-60-3, M. Shami 25-4-72-1, Jadeja 26-6-49-1

SCORECARD, DAY 3

Bayern rout Freiburg, Leverkusen slump again

Bayern Munich warmed up for Wednesday’s Champions League last 16, � rst-leg clash at Arse-nal by trouncing Freiburg 4-0 on Saturday to stretch

their Bundesliga lead to 16 points.Bayern coach Pep Guardiola – whose

side extended their record unbeaten league run to 46 matches – rested sev-eral stars ahead of the clash with the Gunners in London, but still started with 10 internationals.

Meanwhile, second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, who host Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, crashed to another home de-feat when they lost 2-1 to Schalke 04.

Schalke took the lead when 19-year-old mid� elder Leon Goretzka scored on 28 minutes before Royal Blues centre-back Felipe Santana netted a second-half own goal to restore parity.

Having already won 1-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Cup quarter-

� nals on Tuesday, Dortmund enjoyed a 4-0 romp against Armin Veh’s side.

Ho� enheim enjoyed a 4-1 romp at home to VfB Stuttgart, while on Fri-day Mainz inched closer to a Europa League place next season with a 2-0 win over Hanover 96. l

Peace breaks out after Mourinho’s war of words

Having escalated a war of words with his rivals, Jose Mourinho closed a week of petty sniping by admitting “football is at peace” after his Chelsea side were beat-en by Manchester City in the FA Cup.

Following verbal spats with City manager Manuel Pellegrini and Arse-nal boss Arsene Wenger in the run up to the match at the Etihad Stadium, Mourinho might have hoped his team would do the talking for him in Satur-day’s � fth round clash.

As it was, his Premier League lead-ers were muted as City rediscovered their scoring touch in a one-sided 2-0 defeat that left Mourinho facing ques-tions about whether his bravado had back� red.

Mourinho and Pellegrini exchanged barbs last week about money spent in the transfer market and which team were favourites.

After calling Arsenal boss Wenger a “specialist in failure” on Friday, the Portuguese coach, who claims everything he says and does is mind games, was asked if his own side had failed him.

“My team didn’t fail, but City played much better than us and when the best team wins, football is at peace,” he told reporters.

“The situation is simple to analyse: They were the best team, they won.

“Today proved how di� cult it is to win here, which shows how well my team did in the last game.” l

James scores brace as Monaco past Bastia

James Rodriguez steered Monaco back to within � ve points of Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain after netting both goals in a 2-0 win away to Bastia on Saturday.

The Colombian struck a goal in ei-

ther half as Monaco won for the � rst time in three league matches to main-tain the status quo at the top of the French table.

Defeat for Bastia, just a second home loss of the season for the Corsi-

can side, saw them remain in eighth.James, Joao Moutinho and Em-

manuel Riviere were all recalled to the starting line-up after the trio were on the bench for Wednesday’s French Cup victory at Nice. However, the Mon-egasques were without Dimitar Ber-batov after the Bulgarian picked up a knee injury in that midweek win.

Elsewhere, Zambian defender Stop-pila Sunzu scored a late winner for Sochaux as they beat Guingamp 1-0 to claw to within � ve points of safety.

Reims climbed to sixth after a 1-0 win at home to Bordeaux, while Tou-louse came from behind to beat 10-man Lorient 3-1 in Brittany.

Souleymane Camara snatched a late equaliser for Montpellier in a 2-2 draw at Rennes, while Nice against Nantes ended in a goalless stalemate. Third-placed Lille travel to face Evian on Sun-day before fourth and � fth face o� at the Stade Geo� roy-Guichard as Saint-Etienne meet Marseille.

On Friday, PSG strolled to a 3-0 win at home to struggling Valenciennes through goals from Ezequiel Lavezzi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and an own-goal from Kagelmacher. l

MESSI TOPS DI STEFANO

Superb Barcelona crush Rayo

Lionel Messi overhauled Alfredo Di Stefano’s La Liga goals tally as Barcelona and Atletico Madrid warmed up for midweek Champions League action with wins

on Saturday that put them three points clear of Real Madrid at the top.

Back to his best after returning from a two-month injury layo� in early Jan-uary, Messi struck twice in Barca’s 6-0 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano at the Nou Camp to take his total in Spain’s top � ight to 228 goals from 263 matches, one more than Real Madrid great Di Stefano managed in 329 games.

Still only 26, Messi climbed above his Argentine compatriot to joint third on the all-time list behind record marksman Telmo Zarra (251) and Hugo Sanchez (234) and level with Raul.

“I would like to think that Messi has still not completely recovered (from his injury),” Barca coach Gerardo Mar-tino told a news conference.

“If he wants to, he will break all the records that he likes,” added the Ar-

gentine, who hails from Messi’s home town of Rosario.

Barcelona, who play their Champi-ons League last 16, � rst leg match at Manchester City on Tuesday, and At-letico, who visit AC Milan in the com-

petition on Wednesday, have 60 points from 24 matches, ahead of Real who play at Getafe on Sunday.

Celta were leading 1-0 and after play restarted Nolito made it 2-0 with a free kick in the 90th minute meaning Villarreal missed a chance to close to within a point of fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao.

Barca, chasing a � fth La Liga title in six years, totally outclassed Madrid-based Rayo and took the lead in the second minute when fullback Adriano cut inside from the left and his low ef-fort scooted inside the far post.

Messi and Pedro then cracked shots o� the frame of the goal before a pin-point Cesc Fabregas pass sent Messi clear in the 36th minute and he pro-duced a trademark chip over onrushing goalkeeper Ruben.

The four-times World Player of the Year released Alexis on the right to make it 3-0 eight minutes after the break before a moment of inspiration from Andres Iniesta helped create Bar-ca’s fourth in the 56th.

The Spain playmaker’s backheel put Fabregas through and he squared for Pedro to tap into an empty net as a dominant Barca turned the screw on their hapless visitors.

Messi scored his second with a pre-cise shot from the edge of the area in the 68th and Neymar crowned a near-perfect night for the home side when he came o� the bench and netted a � erce long-range drive in the 89th minute. l

Only Zidane better than Gerrard: Owen

Steven Gerrard is second only to Zine-dine Zidane in terms of his world-class status, says former England and Liver-pool striker Michael Owen.

Gerrard, the current England and Liverpool captain, has recently con-verted to playing a deeper role for his club, a transformation that is paying dividends and should o� er food for thought for England boss Roy Hodg-son, according to Owen.

“I have played alongside some of the greatest footballers of my generation, but there is only one ex-team mate I would rate higher than Steven Ger-rard,” he said in the Daily Telegraph.

“The biggest compliment I can give him is he is second only to Zinedine Zi-dane in terms of his world-class status.”

“As he evolves his game in the latter years of his career for club and country, it is no surprise he is continuing to ex-cel. His new role at Liverpool as a deep mid� elder is a position he can play blindfolded,” Owen added. “So far, it is working ideally, o� ering plenty to pon-der for England manager Roy Hodgson as much as Brendan Rodgers.” l

McCullum ton stalls India’s victory push

New Zealand captain Brendon McCul-lum stubbornly provided a glimmer of hope for his side on the third day of the second test against India as he battled to his ninth test century to thwart the visitors’ push for a series-levelling vic-tory on Sunday.

McCullum, troubled with what ap-peared to be injuries to his left shoulder and right elbow, blasted the only six of his innings over long on o� Ishant Shar-ma to bring up the milestone about 45 minutes before the end of play.

The 32-year-old McCullum was 114 not out at stumps having shared in an unbroken 158-run partnership with wicketkeeper BJ Watling (52) that guided the hosts to 252 for � ve and stalled India’s drive for victory at the Basin Reserve.

Corey Anderson was the only wick-et to fall during the � nal two sessions, having joined McCullum at the re-sumption of play following the lunch break after New Zealand had slumped to 87 for four in the � nal over of the morning session.

Anderson had tried to work Ravin-dra Jadeja into the leg-side only to get a leading edge and it ballooned back to

the left-arm spinner.Anderson’s dismissal reduced the

hosts to 94 for � ve and in danger of not seeing out a sun-drenched day, before Watling and McCullum dropped an-chors and took their side through two sessions to ensure they would be back for a fourth day.

The normally free-� owing McCullum faced 237 balls and had been batting for just under six hours while Watling was even more obdurate with his 52 coming from 208 deliveries. He had been at the crease for more than four hours.

New Zealand had resumed the day on 24 for one, a de� cit of 222 runs, and slumped further into the mire when Za-heer Khan grabbed two early wickets to put India � rmly in charge of the match.

The 35-year-old left-armer had the ball move slightly away o� the seam to catch the thinnest of outside edges of both Kane Williamson (seven) and Hamish Rutherford (35) to reduce the hosts to 52 for three inside the � rst hour.

India must win the match to level the two-test series after New Zealand won the � rst game at Eden Park by 40 runs and McCullum said he felt while the visitors were still in the ascendancy the match could still turn the home side’s way. l

Captain of New Zealand Brendon McCullum hits a six to score century against India during day 3 of their 2nd Test in Wellington at the Basin Reserve yesterday AFP

Sterling and Zaha give Hodgson wings

England manager Roy Hodgson feels the sparkling form of Raheem Sterling and the re-emergence of Wilfried Zaha could leave him spoilt for choice in wide areas at the World Cup.

Sterling, 19, has produced some scintillating displays for Liverpool in recent weeks, notably scoring twice in the 5-1 demolition of Arsenal last week-end that relaunched his side’s Premier League title challenge.

Zaha, meanwhile, is belatedly en-joying some � rst-team action after joining Cardi� City on loan from Man-chester United last month.

Sterling made his England debut in a 4-2 friendly defeat away to Sweden in November 2012, but he vanished from view in the second half of the 2012-13 campaign as Liverpool manager Bren-dan Rodgers elected to rest him.

The move has paid o� in spectacu-lar fashion this season and Hodgson has been delighted by Sterling’s return to form. l

Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi celebrates his goal Rayo Vallecano during their Spanish league match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on Saturday AFP

RESULTSAtletico Madrid 3 0 Valladolid Raul Garcia 3, Diego Costa 4, Godin 74

Levante 1 0 AlmeriaBarral 62

Barcelona 6 0 Rayo VallecanoAdriano 2, Messi 36, 68, Sanchez 52, Pedro 56, Neymar 88

Villarreal 0 2 Celta Vigo Orellana 83, Nolito 90

RESULTSDortmund 4 0 FrankfurtAubameyang 10, 21, Lewandowski 47-P, Jojic 68

Bayern Munich 4 0 FreiburgDante 19, Shaqiri 34, 42, Pizarro 88

Werder Bremen 1 1 M'gladbach Obraniak 88 Ra� ael 6

Ho� enheim 4 1 VfB StuttgartSchipplock 12, 66, Ruediger 78Volland 49, Firmino 90+2-P

Braunschweig 4 2 HamburgKumbela 51, 61, 85, Lasogga 23, Hochscheidt 90+3 Ilicevic 76

Leverkusen 1 2 Schalke 04Felipe Santana 66-og Goretzka 28, Huntelaar 74

RESULTSBastia 0 2 Monaco James Rodriguez 45, 77

Lorient 1 3 ToulouseLautoa 41 Ben Yedder 59, Aurier 73, Braithwaite 80

Nice 0 0 Nantes

Reims 1 0 BordeauxDe Preville 64

Rennes 2 2 MontpellierToivonen 10, 65 Congre 54, S. Camara 90

Sochaux 1 0 GuingampSunzu 84

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014 15

No scare but need to curb Johnson: SmithSouth Africa will turn their attention to � nding a way to negate the formi-dable threat posed by � ery Australian Mitchell Johnson, captain Graeme Smith said following his team’s com-prehensive 281-run defeat in the � rst test on Saturday. “There is no doubt Mitchell Johnson was the di� erence in this game and we have to � nd way to curb him and put him under pressure in the next two tests,” said Smith as South Africa licked their wounds after losing the � rst of the three-test series. Johnson’s 12-wicket haul came as a result of some vicious deliveries, one of which cut Ryan McLaren behind the ear and the other hit Hashim Amla full in the face. The left-arm paceman bowled consistently around the 150km mark and scythed through the home team’s batting to produce career best � gures.

–Reuters

Only Zidane better than Gerrard:OwenSteven Gerrard is second only to Zinedine Zidane in terms of his world-class status, says former England and Liverpool striker Michael Owen. Ger-rard, the current England and Liverpool captain, has recently converted to playing a deeper role for his club, a transformation that is paying dividends and should o� er food for thought for England boss Roy Hodgson, accord-ing to Owen. “I have played alongside some of the greatest footballers of my generation, but there is only one ex-team mate I would rate higher than Steven Gerrard,” he said in the Daily Telegraph. “The biggest compliment I can give him is he is second only to Zin-edine Zidane in terms of his world-class status.” Owen played alongside Zidane at Real Madrid as well as lining up with Gerrard from Liverpool’s youth sides all the way through to the national team.

–Reuters

Spurs teenager Bentaleb to represent Algeria at World CupTottenham Hotspur mid� elder Nabil Bentaleb has agreed to play for Algeria at the World Cup in Brazil in June and is in the squad for next month’s warm-up � xture against Slovenia. The 19-year-old is a French junior international but because he holds dual nationality can change his allegiance in accordance with the rules of world soccer’s governing body FIFA. Bentaleb has played once for France’s under-19s in a friendly which means he will not have to go through the o� cial process of changing footballing nationality. “He has agreed to play for the country of his parents after meeting Algerian Football Federation president Mohamed Raouaraoua,” the federation said in a statement. “He will be called up for the game on March 5 against Slovenia in Blida.” Bentaleb’s situation had been the cause of much speculation in the Algerian media in recent weeks.

–Reuters

Serena aims to dispel anxieties in DubaiSerena Williams’ bid to extend her phe-nomenal career into her 33rd year will take a tentative but crucial step forward when she unexpectedly lines up at the head of the � eld for the Dubai Open which starts on Monday. Tennis’ iconic female had planned to give the popular and lucrative tournament a miss until a back injury at last month’s Australian Open altered the shape of her year. She needs to prove that it won’t alter the shape of her career either. Serena has already confounded countless predic-tions by recovering from a hematoma and a life-threatening pulmonary embo-lism, and improbably regaining the world number one ranking a year ago. But injuries at this age, especially back injuries, can be a cause for anxiety.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

Massranga TV1:00PMBangladesh vs Sri Lanka1st ODIStar Sports 43:25 PMSochi Winter Olympic Games 2014 Day 10 Ten Action2: 00 AMSaint- Etienne vs. Olympique De Marseille Ten Golf6:30 PMEuropean Tour 2014Day 1: Africa Open

DAY’S WATCH

Berdych, Cilic to play for Rotterdam title

Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic will square o� on Sunday as both men bid for a � rst career title at the Rotterdam World Tennis.

Third-seeded Czech Berdych played impeccable tennis to defeat Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday while Cilic lost serve for the � rst time this week but recovered for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win over Dutchman Igor Sijsling.

Berdych, who has not lost a set so far this week, dropped just six points on serve in the 29-minute � rst set as he quickly took charge against Lat-via’s Gulbis, who earned his place in the semis after putting out top-seeded holder Juan Martin del Potro.

Berdych is bidding for his � rst ATP title since October 2012 and was the only member of the ranking top 10 not to lift a trophy during 2013 despite reaching the quarter-� nals or better in 15 of his 23 tournaments.

Cilic, meanwhile, will be trying to win a second straight trophy after tri-umphing in Zagreb last week.

The 37th-ranked Croatian, who once stood in the top 10, owns 10 titles and had won 16 straight sets before fall-ing in the � rst to an inspired Sijsling. Berdych beat Cilic in their last meeting on grass at Queen’s in 2013 and has won four of their six previous meetings. l

Disgraced Ryder misses out on NZ’s World T20 selection

Jesse Ryder’s latest o� -� eld indiscretion has predictably cost him a place in New Zealand’s squad for the World Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh next month.

Ryder, 29, was dropped from New Zealand’s squad for the second test against India at the Basin Reserve after being involved in a late-night drinking session on the eve of the � rst test in Auckland. That indiscretion also count-ed against his inclusion in the World Twenty20 squad, national selection manager Bruce Edgar told reporters at the Basin Reserve on Sunday.

“It certainly created a gap for us,” Ed-gar said, naming the side for the tourna-ment that starts on March 16.

“Mike (Hesson) and I certainly weren’t happy with his preparation and therefore we have had to exclude him.

“Character is really important and if we feel ... it does not stack up we will not select a player.”

Edgar said Ryder’s future selection, particularly for New Zealand’s tour of

West Indies in May, would depend on the player himself.

“It’s really up to Jesse to work through the process with New Zealand Cricket, the players’ association and Otago Crick-et,” he added. “Until that time I can’t re-ally answer that. It’s up to Jesse.” l

Halep serves another shock to reach Doha � nal

Simona Halep, voted newcomer of the year on the WTA Tour, served up a second shock in two days on Saturday, beating Agnieszka Radwanska to reach the � nal of the Qatar Open.

The 22-year-old Romanian not only overwhelmed Radwanska, the second-seeded former Wimbledon � nalist, by 7-5, 6-2, but unleashed an unstoppable torrent of winners which suggested that a climb up the top 10 is more than likely.

That will see the young Romanian play Angelique Kerber, who also upset the seedings with another diligent per-formance.

Kerber reached the � nal in the city she has made her training base by quelling a spirited � ght-back from Jele-na Jankovic. l

Lavillenie breaks Bubka’s pole-vault world record

Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie broke Sergei Bubka’s 21-year-old indoor pole vault world record on Saturday at the same Donetsk meeting where the Ukrai-nian great set the old mark in 1993.

Lavillenie, the Olympic champion, easily vaulted 6.16 metres at his � rst at-tempt to improve the record by one cen-timetre and to make the moment sweet-er, Bubka was present to witness it.

An ecstatic Lavillenie, or ‘Airvalle-nie’ as his fans nickname him, put his head in his hands and ran round the auditorium celebrating.

“It was totally crazy. I wanted to do my best. It was incredible,” said the 27-year-old, who also sent out a jubi-lant tweet that he was “still in the air” over his victory.

Bubka cleared 6.15 metres in 1993 and still holds the outdoor world re-cord of 6.14m set in 1994.

The 50-year-old former champion, dressed in a suit, was among the � rst to congratulate his successor.

“A new era has arrived in this sport... We expected this and we are delighted that it took place exactly here, in Do-netsk,” Bubka told AFP.

“I am very fond of this boy. I am sure this is not the last summit he will reach and that other brilliant successes await him.”

Lavillenie, who subsequently made an unsuccessful attempt at 6.21m, re-vealed he had changed his pole in be-tween a successful attempt at 6.01m and the record vault, something he had never done before.

“I asked for 6.16m because it was the best place to break the record of Sergei Bubka, 21 years after he set the mark,” he said.

“I thought it was the best place to try as the best was there,” he added, re-ferring to Bubka’s presence. l

Arsenal edge Liverpool, City down Bluesn AFP, London

Arsenal set up an FA Cup quarter-� nal meeting with Everton after over-

coming Liverpool 2-1 in a feisty and gripping � fth-round match at the Emir-ates Stadium on Sunday.

Liverpool had trounced Arsenal 5-1 at An� eld in the Premier League last weekend, but the London club took revenge through goals in each half by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski.

Steven Gerrard halved Arsenal’s ad-vantage with a 59th-minute penalty after Podolski was adjudged to have tripped Luis Suarez.

The visitors felt they should have been awarded a second spot-kick mo-ments later after Oxlade-Chamberlain

appeared to foul Suarez, but their ap-peals were dismissed by referee How-ard Webb.

Victory in a game splattered with yellow cards means that Arsenal will host Everton in the last eight, but they will have bruises to nurse ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Bayern Mu-nich in the Champions League last 16.

On Saturday, Manchester City avenged their recent loss to Chelsea in the Premier League with a 2-0 home win on Saturday that sent them into the quarter-� nals of the FA Cup.

City’s perfect home record in the league was spoilt last week when Chel-sea pulled o� a 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium, but goals in each half from Stevan Jovetic and Samir Nasri gave Manuel Pellegrini’s side revenge.

Both managers named strongteams for the heavyweight � fth-round

clash, but hosts City dominated from the o� .

Jovetic seemed determined to im-press and after clipping a shot just over the crossbar when Petr Cech spilled an e� ort from Yaya Toure, the Montene-

grin forward broke the deadlock in the 16th minute.

Edin Dzeko was the architect with a measured pass into the box for Jovetic, who placed a delicate shot into the net via the base of the left-hand post.

Wigan Athletic’s defence of the FA Cup remains on course, meanwhile, af-ter the second-tier side won 2-1 at Pre-mier League club Cardi� City to reach the last eight.

Earlier, Craig Gardner scored a mag-ni� cent winning goal as Sunderland beat top-� ight rivals Southampton 1-0 to become the � rst side to progress from the � fth round.

After a low-key � rst half, Gardner illuminated proceedings in the 49th minute with a goal of shimmering qual-ity, side-stepping Victor Wanyama and dispatching a 25-yard shot that crashed in o� the bar. l

Arsenal's Lukasz Fabianski makes a save from Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge during their FA Cup � fth round match at the Emirates Stadium in London yesterday REUTERS

Rain forces draws in NCL

Overcast conditions added with drizzle throughout the day allowed none of the

three ongoing matches of the National Cricket League roll on the � eld yester-day. Sylhet remained the only side to claim a win in the third round as they had beaten table toppers Dhaka divi-sion inside three days on Saturday.

Overnight rain earlier washed away the third day of the matches in Bogra and Rangpur and conditions did not improve on the � nal day yesterday as both the matches – Chittagong versus Khulna and Rajshahi versus Rangpur – had to be called o� as a draw without any ball bowled.

Meanwhile, the match between Dhaka Metropolis and Barisal at the Fatullah Outer ground also ended as a draw with only three overs played

on the fourth day. Metro resumed the day on 104 for four and lost overnight batsman Marshal Ayub (31) in the � fth delivery to left-arm spinner Monir Hossain. After a couple more overs the players had to run back to their dressing room with the drizzle getting heavier

before the match was o� cially called o� at 4.20pm. Metro’s right-handed batsman Asif Ahmed was named as the man of the match for his career best 200 in the � rst innings. l

POINTS TABLETeams M Won Lost Draw Aban PtsDhaka Div 3 2 1 0 0 52Rajshahi 3 2 0 1 0 52Dhaka Metro 3 1 0 2 0 43Sylhet 3 1 1 1 0 37Khulna 3 0 0 3 0 27Barisal 3 0 1 2 0 18Rangpur 3 0 1 2 0 17Chittagong 3 0 2 1 0 15

Dhaka Metro batsman Asif Ahmed receives man of the match COURTESY

France's Renaud Lavillenie clears the bar to break Sergei Bubka's 21-year-old indoor pole vault world record on Saturday in Donetsk, at the same Donetsk meeting where the Ukrainian great set the old mark in 1993 AFP

Brendon McCullum (captain), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Roneel Hira, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson

SQUAD

RESULTSArsenal 2 1 LiverpoolOxlade-Chamberlain 16 Gerrard 59-pen Podolski 47

Everton 3 1 SwanseaTraore 4, Naismith 65, Baines 72 De Guzman 15

She� eld United 3 1 Nottingham

Cardi� 1 2 WiganCampbell 27 McCann 18, Watson 40

Man City 2 0 ChelseaJovetic 16, Nasri 67

Sunderland 1 0 SouthamptonGardner 49

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014

A dark, quiet day at the fair

n Ahmed Zayeef

The month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela yesterday saw few visitors as unexpected rain stopped many from coming to the fair.

The venue grounds became muddy, and power cuts also disrupted the usual liveli-ness of the fair.

Fearing an accident, the authorities sus-pended power supply in the evening, and as a result, darkness fell all around the fair.

The publishers had to rely on lamps and their own initiatives.

Defying rain and cold, a few enthusiastic book lovers were seen strolling inside the fair with umbrellas and raincoats. Abdullah al Masud, an avid book lover, chose the day to hit the fair anticipating fewer visitors.

“I came to the fair expecting a thin crowd. The sales executives at the stalls are more friendly and sincere to meet queries of the visitors and buyers on such a day, which they usually do not do on more hec-tic days,” he said.

Publishers passed a relaxed day at their stalls, chatting with friends and enjoying cups of tea.

Milan Kanti Nath, proprietor of Anupam Prokashoni, said: “City dwellers did not ex-pect rain in this season, it is expected that they would not take the trouble to come to the fair in such rough weather. This day was disastrous one for the book sellers.”

“We expected more visitors in the eve-ning; however, the power cut spoiled that as well,” he added.

Shaheda Khatun, member secretary of the fair committee told the Dhaka Tribune that the decision to suspend power supply came out of concern for security at the fair.

“We took the decision upon suggestion of an electrician as the rain water started seeping into the electricity lines at several points,” she said.

She blamed the unplanned design of the

stalls by the publishers for the disruption that occurred.

At a press conference held yesterday, Bangla Academy Director General Sham-sujjaman Khan expressed satisfaction over the development of the fair so far.

He said the sale of books had risen be-yond expectation.

A total of 59 new books were published yesterday, including Selina Hossain’s “Poth Cholatei Anondo” from Jagriti Prokashoni, Dr Emajuddin Ahmed’s “Bangladesher Rajneeti: Shomoshsha O Shomadhan,” Pronoy Kanti Nath’s “Budhdhir Mukti O Bedona Madhuri” and Oporajita Onu’s “Tomar Shomashongge Kobitar Uthon” from Shudhhoshor.

A total of 13 new books were unveiled at Nazrul Mancha on the Bangla Academy premises. A discussion titled “Gyanbhittik Shomaj O Digital Bangladesh Nirmane To-ththo Projukti” was held at the central stage with Secretary of Ministry of Information and Communication Technology Nazrul Is-lam Khan as the keynote speaker.

Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, vice-chancellor of University of Asia Paci� c presided over the session. l

59new

books published

A M A R E K U S H E Y B O O K FA I R 2 0 1 4

RAJIB DHAR

Commuters wait for buses at the capital’s Sonargaon intersection yesterday. A sudden rainfall in the capital had caused tra� c deadlocks in several points across the city RAJIB DHAR

Sudden rainfall a farmer’s blissn Abu Bakar Siddique

A sudden rainfall across the country since yesterday morning may have disrupted daily life, however, farmers across the nation have welcomed it.

Most farmers said the rainfalls play a vital role in providing a natural boost to the irrigation of winter crops, such as wheat and maize.

“Despite bringing back the cold spell, the sudden rainfall has provided a natural boost to the crop � eld,” said Abdur Razzaq, a farmer from Northern District Dinajpur.

“The rainfall also helped me save around Tk3,000, as I do not need ad-ditional e� orts to irrigate my 2-acre maize cropland,” he added.

According to the Bangladesh Mete-orology Department, the rain was ex-pected, as such usually takes place just before and after the winter as a mode of transition.

“However, rainfall is a bit higher this year due to the presence of a Western low in the Bay near West Bengal of In-dia,” said Shah Alam, a director of the Met o� ce. l

Muhith: Govt mulling private sector pension schemen Tribune Report

The government is thinking about bringing the “organised” private sec-tor under a pension scheme alongside the existing one for government em-ployees, Finance Minister AMA Muhithhas said.

“There are some 20 lakh govern-ment o� cials and employees under the national pension scheme and if it [the private sector pension scheme] is implemented for the organised private sector, then the number would jump to 50 lakh,” he said.

The minister was addressing the � rst National Dialogue on the Draft National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) in the capital yesterday as thechief guest.

Referring to the Awami League’s election manifesto, Muhith said initia-tives for introducing pension schemes would have to be launched in all pri-vate organisations by 2018 and so-cial security for all has to be ensuredby 2021.

Underscoring the need for a nation-al database for the various pension schemes to avert overlapping and re-moving errors, he said: “We should now have a farsighted thinking for our social safety net programmes. In the next � ve years, we are certainly going to have a powerful local government, which is one of the biggest promises of this government …the devolution of power and decentralisation of the ad-ministration.”

The minister claimed that only about 11% of the country’s population was now in extreme poverty and the rate of poverty was 26%

He also proposed changing the name of the discussed strategy to “National Plan for Social Security.”

Also present at the programme, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Ka-mal said because of the immediate past government’s proactive role, poverty rate had come down to around 26% from 40%. l

HC questions uncontested winner provisionn Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday issued a rul-ing, asking why the RPO provision for declaring an uncontested candidate winner in parliamentary poll should not be held unconstitutional.

The bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Khurshid Alam Sarkar passed the order following a writ petition lodged on December 17 by Jatiya Party Vice-Chairman Khandker Abdus Salam.

It asked the cabinet secretary, law secretary, chief election commissioner and the Election Commission secretary to reply to the ruling within 10 days.

According to section 19(1) of the Representation of the People Order 1972, if there is only one valid candi-date for election after scrutiny, or there is only one contesting candidate after withdrawal of nominations, the return-ing o� cer shall declare that candidate

elected to the seat by a public notice.Supreme Court lawyer Hassan MS

Azim, who argued for the petitioner, told the court that the provision had been contrary to the constitution as it left the people, who were owners of all powers of the republic, with no option to express their views through voting

The section negated the guarantee of e� ective participation of the people through their elected representative in administration at all levels, he said.

“The provision also contradicts the constitution as it inherently possesses the scope of arbitrary and discrimi-natory use of the election process by the political parties and, thereby, get their choice of candidates declared by the Election Commission to have been elected avoiding participation of the people,” says the writ petition.

A total of 153 candidates became law-makers without votes in the 10th parlia-mentary election held on January 5. l

3kg smuggled gold seized at Dhaka airportn Kailash Sarkar

Another haul of smuggled gold,weighing three kilograms and worth about Tk1.35 crore, was seized from a Dubai-based Bangladeshi expatri-ate at Dhaka international airportyesterday.

Customs Intelligent and Investiga-tion Directorate (CIID) agents at Shah-jalal International Airport arrested Morshedul Alam with 26 bars of gold as he arrived on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines � ight from Dubai yesterday af-ternoon, CIID Director General Moinul Khan said.

The DG said Morshedul, who isfrom Chittagong, was detained when he tried to cross the “green chan-nel” with the gold bars, dodgingcustoms.

“The CIID o� cials � rst challenged the expatriate for his suspicious move-ment, and found the gold bars after searching his body and luggage,” said Moinul.

He said the detained man was hand-ed over to police after lodged a case with Airport Police Station.

Sources said Morshedul’s passport and travel history show that he travels frequently. The detained man is also suspected to be a member of a ring in-volved in smuggling gold from Dubai, they added.

According to airport sources, around 60 gangs of smugglers are active in tra� cking gold, precious stones, currencies and other valu-ables through the airport in collu-sion with a section of unscrupulous o� cials and employees of di� erent government and non-governmentagencies.

The sources said around 600kg of gold, currencies amounting toTk500 crore and other valuables worth Tk1,000 crore were seized in the last one year, while more than 950 sus-pects, including o� cials and employ-ees of di� erent airlines and customs, were arrested. l

Prime minister asks labour ministry to� nalise domestic workers policy n Mohosinul Karim

A draft policy to protect domestic workers, prepared three years ago, would be announced as soon as it is � nalised according to the direction of the prime minister.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yes-terday asked labour ministry o� cials to place the draft of the Domestic Work-ers’ Protection and Welfare Policy 2010 before the cabinet soon for approval.

Hasina, who is in charge of the la-bour and employment ministry, gave the directive when the draft policy was placed before her as she attended o� ce at the ministry for the � rst time.

The ministry, which prepared the draft in association with civil society members after consulting with labour and rights groups, is considering plac-ing the draft before the cabinet within a month, State Minister for Labour Mo-jibul Haque Chunnu told the Dhaka Tri-

bune after the PM’s visit.The PM arrived at the ministry in-

side the secretariat at 10:30am and held a three-hour meeting with o� cials of the ministry and other agencies and departments under it.

The state minister said the PM asked them to place the policy at a cabinet meeting after � nalising it through con-sultations with stakeholders.

Meanwhile, the draft of adomestic workers’protection act, which would be � nalised once the policy is approved,

would be placed later, Mojibul said.“The act will be � nalised according

to the policy. So, we have given empha-sis on � nalising the policy,” he said.

Mojibul said the registration of do-mestic workers would be made manda-tory, while registered workers would get facilities like appointment letters, iden-tity cards, � xed wages, � xed working hours, leave and rest period, education and training, medical allowance and compensation for any kind of accidents.

“The prime minister made some ob-servations during her meeting with the o� cials. The draft will be � nalized by including the PM’s directives. It will be announced shortly after getting the ap-proval of the cabinet,” headded.

According to ministry o� cials, the draft of the policy has remained stuck at the cabinet division since it was pre-pared in 2010, while the draft of the act was yet to be sent to the division.

The state minister said the drafts of

the act and the policy were prepared to protect domestic workers from phys-ical, mental and sexual harassment, limit their working hours and stop the employment of under-12 children.

According to a study by Unicef and International Labour Organisation, there are around 20 lakh domestic work-ers,including more than 450,000 child servants, in Bangladesh. Among them, around 150,000 workers are employed in di� erent households in the capital.

“There are di� erent rules and reg-ulations on protection and welfare of domestic workers. There is a regula-tion on not employing children below 12 years of age. There is also a High Court directive in this regard. We have to work for e� ective implementation of these regulations,” Mojibulsaid.

He added that the ministry planned to enact a security policy for the pro-tection of domestic workers andbring them under a social welfare network. l

Health minister slams private hospitalsNasim asks for more care for patientsn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Health Minister Mohammed Nasim has come down hard on private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres for mak-ing ultra-pro� t by holding patients hos-tage.

Citing examples, the minister said sometimes private medical centres make 400 times pro� t for doing a sim-ple laboratory test. He said centres often charged as much as Tk200 for simple blood test that cost a laboratory only about Tk2.

Nasim said it was not that the health-care centres installed new machines every day. There was no point in mak-ing so much pro� t since they used the same machines, installed years ago, for doing the tests.

“I am not the health minister of the rich. I am the health minister of the poor,” he said, warning the private hos-pitals, clinics and diagnostic centers that he would not tolerate such prof-it-driven business activities.

“You will be allowed to do rational pro� t. I will take all necessary steps to ensure the quality of service at a� ord-able prices,” he a� rmed.

The minister made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar in a city hotel yesterday.

He asked the divisional directors

and civil surgeons to strengthen mon-itoring and supervision at the grass-roots-level healthcare facilities to en-sure the presence of enough doctors.

“If other government o� cials can stay at the upazilas, why not the doc-tors?” the minister inquired, adding that “all kinds of facilities including electricity, internet, mobile phones, schools and colleges are now available in the upazilas.”

There would be both rewards and punishments for doctors based on their performance, Nasim said.

In Bangladesh, private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers are run according to a 1982 ordinance. Profes-sionals said there were very few private hospitals at that time.

But at present, there are more than 8,000 registered private hospitals, clin-ics and diagnostic centers in the coun-try. It is also said that the number of unregistered private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers will surpass the number of registered ones.

Since 1996, many initiatives have been taken to formulate a law for gov-erning the operations of private health-care facilities. A draft of the law was placed in parliament during the tenure of the BNP-Jamaat-led government which eventually never saw light.

The subsequent army-backed inter-im and the Awami League-led govern-ments also made several drafts of the law.

Seeking anonymity, a number of o� cials of the health ministry and the health directorate told the Dhaka Tri-bune that many ministers, MPs and political leaders were directly involved with the business of private hospitals. As a result, they always block the way of passage of such laws. l

Registration of domestic workers will be mandatory, while registered workers would get basic facilities

‘You will be allowedto do rational pro� t.I will take all necessary steps to ensure the quality of service at a� ordable prices’

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

Continue to the Business section...

Business

www.dhakatribune.com/business MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014

B3 No appetite for big con-sumer goods? Try their suppliers

B4 Something tolearn from

Users’ help sought to popularise Pangaon container terminaln Tribune Business Desk

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan urged the port users to help continue the operation of Pangaon Inland Con-tainer Terminal, a newly-built infra-structure to carry goods between Dha-ka and Chittagong.

He assured of his ministry’s support and all necessary facilities to the port users.

“We will provide every necessary facility to the port users for keeping the Pangaon terminal operational,” the min-ister said during an exchange of views with the terminal users in Keraniganj.

The meeting was aimed at � nding ways to popularise the new terminal, reports UNB.

The shipping ministry organised the meeting with the terminal users at Pan-gaon Container Terminal Bhaban.

Chaired by Shipping Secretary Syed Monzurul Islam, the meeting was ad-

dressed, among others, by State Min-ister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, Chittagong Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed, BIWTA chairman Dr M Samsuddoha Khondaker and vice chairman of Bangladesh Container Ship-ping Corporation M Shamimul Haque.

Leaders of the Federation of Bangla-desh Chambers of Commerce and In-dustry (FBCCI), BGMEA, BKMEA, Ban-gladesh Shipping Agents Association and Bangladesh Container Shipping Association attended the meeting.

Shajahan Khan said the government has already brought two ships to carry containers on the water route between Dhaka and Chittagong Port.

“We’ll collect three more ships by mid-year. One will come from abroad while another two from Khulna Ship Dockyard,” he said.

The Shipping Minister said facilities must be increased in the port area to

keep the terminal operational, and an integrated plan should be taken in this regard.

“We must carry out dredging on reg-ular basis on rivers to ensure smooth navigability of the rivers,” he added.

In November 2013, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Panga-on Inland Container Terminal on the bank of the Buriganga River at Pangaon in South Keraniganj.

The Bangladesh Inland Water Trans-port Authority (BIWTA) and the Chit-tagong Port Authority jointly built the terminal spending Tk154 crore.

The project aims to ease the pressure of cargo movement on the Dhaka-Chit-tagong railway and highway corridors. The terminal will have a storage capac-ity of 3,500 TEUs (Twenty Equivalent Units) of containers and handle 116,000 TEUs containers annually. The capac-ity will gradually be raised to 160,000 TEUs. l

Banks divert investment to risk-free government securities‘BB is selling the government securities keeping in mind whether the government would face interest burden’n Jebun Nesa Alo

The investment of banks in the govern-ment securities increased by 43% year-on-year in January this year as private sector entrepreneurs were reluctant to take loan due to sluggish business cli-mate.

It increased to Tk141,942 crore in January 2014 over the last 12-month period from Tk99,000 crore in January last year, according to latest Bangla-desh Bank statistics.

During the period, private sector credit growth increased by 13% to Tk783,709 crore, which is much less than the monetary policy target.

The country’s commercial banks are awash with excess liquidity due to less than expected investment amid lower credit demand with almost all kinds of business expansion remained suspended amid political uncertainty ahead of the general election held on January 5.

As a result, banks increased their in-vestment in the government securities instead of keeping the money idle, said a Bangladesh Bank senior executive.

“Bangladesh Bank is selling the gov-ernment securities keeping in mind whether the government would face interest burden,” Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tri-bune yesterday.

Excess money after maintaining statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) in the banking system as of January 9 this year stood at Tk89,337 crore, includ-

ing Tk79,000 crore or 88.5% remained invested in the government securities.

“The banks are not bound to invest in government securities, but they in-vested here for risk-free return,” said a senior executive of a private bank. “The amount of investment increased when the banks considered it risky to invest in private sector due to political turmoil.”

The banks get around 10% interests on investment in government securities against an average of above 15% they could get through lending otherwise.

“Lending to private sector has the

risk of becoming classi� ed, but there is no risk of investment in government securities,” Bangladesh Bank Execu-tive Director Mahfuzur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

Banks can lend up to 81% of their li-quidity. It was about 56% in case of the state-owned banks till December 13 last while about 78% for private com-mercial banks.

The investment in government secu-rities in the � rst quarter of last year in-creased by 7% to Tk100,000 crore when private sector credit posted negative growth by 0.15% to Tk425,000 crore.

The quarterly credit growth in the government securities increased by 6.45% to Tk118,000 crore in June last year, followed by 2% to Tk130,000 crore in September and 7.1% to Tk141,000 in December while private sector credit growth increased by 2.7% to Tk446,000 crore, 1% to Tk442,000 crore and 2.6% to Tk 463,000 crore re-spectively.

The excess liquidity increased by Tk29,000 crore or 48% last year to stand at Tk89,000 crore in January 2014 from Tk60,000 crore in the same month last year. l

Apparel exports fall 1.6% in Januaryn Tribune Report

Bangladesh’s readymade garment ex-ports have declined by 1.66% or $38m in January from December as, apparel makers said, production was disrupt-ed by political unrest.

The exports fell to $2.24bn in Jan-uary from $2.28bn one month earlier, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.

“Political unrest has dented the RMG factory production, which re-� ects in the fall of exports,” said Ab-dus Salam Murshedy, president of Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB).

He feared the export might further fall in the coming month as “the sec-tor continues to face order crisis from the buyers while many orders still re-main pending.”

Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), identi� ed workers’ unrest and shipment delay caused by political turmoil as reasons for the export fall.

However, the country’s total ex-port earnings surged 15% to $17.44bn

in the � rst seven months of the cur-rent � scal year from $15.15bn in the same period one year ago.

The January 2014 exports also rose to $2.75bn with 7.81% up from $2.55bn in January 2013, according to EPB � g-ures.

The volume exceeded the target of $2.67bn by 2.83% in the month.

RMG exports posted nearly 15% growth and stood at over $14.17bn in the July-January period of the current � scal year from the same period of last year’s $12bn.

The knitwear and woven garments, the two largest export earners, regis-tered 18.13% and 17.32% growth re-spectively in the period.

The knitwear export volume to-talled nearly $7bn and woven gar-ments more than $7bn.

The data showed frozen foods ex-port increased 26%, shrimps 34%, vegetables 31.21%, footwear 32.21% and leather 45.38% in the period.

Jute and jute products export dropped 21.24%, specialised textiles 3% and ships, boats and � oating struc-tures 95%. l

Income tax falls Tk4,300cr short oftarget in 7 monthsn Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Income tax collection by the Nation-al Board of Revenue (NBR) in the � rst seven-month of the current � scal year (July-January) fell short of target by Tk4,300 crore mainly due to excessive target amid volatile political scenario.

According to the provisional data, the revenue board collected only Tk18,300 crore in income tax in the � rst seven months of the FY 2013-14 against the target of Tk22,600crore. 

“The NBR fell short of Tk800 crore in January as it was able to collect Tk2,700 crore against its target of Tk3,500crore set for the month,’’ said NBR o� cials.

All the income tax o� ces, excepting two have failed to achieve their reve-nue target, they added.

The NBR o� cials have categorical-ly blamed the � nance ministry for the

poor revenue collection as it had earli-er set a highly ambitious target despite the political turmoil.

“So, the revenue shortfall is not at all unexpected to us.”

“We were unable to reach the target at the end of the � scal year due to the highest target set for us. We are taking preventive measures, but those will not work if the target is not lowered,” said a NBR o� cial.

He, however, hinted that the reve-nue target would be lowered in the re-vised budget.

The NBR has been assigned to col-lect Tk48,300 crore for the FY2013-14 with 36.82% growth.

In 2012-13 � scal, revenue collection grew by over 14% to Tk109,216 crore against the target of Tk1,12,259 crore. For the current � scal year, the revenue collection target is set at Tk136,090 crore with a growth target of 21%. l

Atiur hopes non-performing loans to stay moderaten Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ati-ur Rahman yesterday hoped that the non-performing loans (NPL) of the scheduled banks would remain under a moderate level in the balance-sheet of December 2013 just because of � exible policy undertaken by the central bank.

He was addressing the General Man-agers Conference held at the central bank headquarters.

To recover the � nancial health of the banks, International Monetary Fund (IMF) has long been putting pressure on the central bank to reduce the NPL.

Addressing the conference BB gov-ernor said, “We have to closely monitor the banks that have taken the oppor-tunity of loan rescheduling, so those loans won’t turn into classi� ed again.”

“As the rate of classi� ed loans in the banking sector increased slightly 12.79% in September, 2013 after adopt-ing internationally best practices in loan classifying and provisioning, the central bank has relaxed the rules of loan-rescheduling, so the NPL rate re-duces in the balance sheet.’’

Bangladesh Bank had earlier asked the commercial banks issuing a circular in December, 2013, to o� er privileges to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), agricultures and other productive sec-tors in case of loan rescheduling.

It also asked the banks and � nancial institutions to consider the impact of political unrest on various productive sectors and business to receive down payment and allow loan rescheduling.

The banks and � nancial institutions should, however, need to obtain permission from their respective authorities and no objection from the BB before allowing anyone the extended-time for the loan rescheduling.

Although the BB circular is applica-

ble to the a� ected businessmen only, on the contrary, the central bank is also allegedly allowing all the non-compli-ance rescheduling cases. As a result, many businessmen are taking the chance to reschedule their loans de-spite not being a� ected.

Country’s commercial banks start-ed loan rescheduling comprehensively in order to reduce the non-performing loan (NPL) amount in the balance sheet of the year end 2013.

Bangladesh Bank has so far ap-proved over 300 such loan resched-uling cases which don’t comply with the loan rescheduling requirements. Among the loan-rescheduling recipi-ents, Beximco Group got the highest privileges with around Tk2,000 crore, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

Exchange rate remained stable in the interbank call money market and in foreign money market due to the close monitoring by the central bank, said the governor at the conference.

“However, in� ation remained higher in last three-month because ofsupply disruption amid political unrest.” l

BSEC chairman, four members may serve one more term n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has decided to extend by one more term the appointment of the present chairman and four mem-bers of Bangladesh Securities and Ex-change Commission (BSEC).

According to Finance Minister AMA Muhith, the present manage-ment of the stock regulator performedwell since they took charges in mid-2011.

The three-year term of the o� -cials will end between May and July this year. After the amendment of the SEC law however, the term will be four years now from the next ap-pointment.

According to experts and market analysts, the present chairman and the members cannot be said successful in controlling the market volatility during their tenure.

But Finance Minister AMA Muhith commented that the “performance of BSEC chairman Prof M Khairul Hossain and four members has been good as we saw the country’s two bourses more or less stable in their time.”

He wrote the comment on a propos-al of extension by the BSEC chief. The process of extending the tenure will start from March, said a senior o� cial of Bank and Financial Institutions Di-vision.

“I want to extend their tenure by another term as the chairman and members’ hard work and directives made the stock markets stable for a time,” said Finance Minister in his comment.

The whole BSEC management will be serving the extended period, he said, adding that the government’s new administrative division would clear matters related with their salaries and allowances.

On February 11, the BSEC chief Prof M Khairul Hossain sent the proposal to the � nance minister.

The present commission took steps to amend the Securities and Exchange Commission Act 1993, which is now Securities and Exchange Commission (Amendment) Act 2012.

Through the amendment, the three-year term turned to four years.

BSEC chairman said the administra-tion division was yet to sign the con-tracts of their appointment though it’s almost three years. Dr Shahdeen Malik, a senior lawyer, said the appointment was made legal-ly through gazette noti� cation, “but it is unfortunate that the contracts have not been signed yet.”

Former � nance adviser to last care-taker government Dr M Mirza Azizul Islam wondered how the chairman and members were getting salaries and al-lowances if the contracts had not been signed yet.

On the present management, he said: “The performance was assessed not only on the basis of stock indices, but also of their role in formulation and implementation of stock rules and reg-ulations and making directives.”

But BSEC chief claimed Prime Minister’s O� ce approved their appointment three years ago. “So, it w as legal.” l

We have to closely monitor the banks that have taken the opportunity of loan rescheduling, so those loans won’t turn into classi� ed again

BASIS announces � ve-year vision n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

BASIS, the apex body of the Software & Information Services industry, has de-clared � ve-year vision where it expect-ed that the country would earn at least US $bn from software exports.

“The booming ICT sector would be also be able to contribute to the GDP by 1% within � ve years,’’ reads the BASIS declaration.

Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS) pres-ident Shameem Ahsan yesterday for-mally declared their campaign “One Bangladesh- Next Five Years Vision of Bangladesh Software & IT Services In-dustry” at a city hotel yesterday.

Attending the function, Finance Minister AMA Muhith lauded the plan undertaken by BASIS and expressed his all-out support for the overall de-velopment of this sector.

Md. Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign a� airs, and Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister of ICT division and other high-ups of the government also attended the function.

According to the BASIS vision, the ICT industry intends to train and to create job opportunities for at least one million IT skilled professionals, which currently stands at only 200,000.

“We want to make sure access to in-ternet for one more crore new users ev-ery year through the “One Bangladesh” campaign. Currently country’s total in-ternet users stands on 3.5 crore,’’ as per the BASIS vision.

Addressing the function, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said, “ICT should pick up the young talented people from the society for creating innovative things for the human being.”

Finance minister also praise the contribution of the mobile industry for connecting the people but at the same time he categorically blamed the oper-ator for creating various problems.

“They have to think about their in-frastructure facilities as I think their in-frastructure is weak comparing to the money they charge for their services.”

State minister for foreign a� airs Shahriar Alam said, “BASIS needs to formulate a proper roadmap for mar-keting the ICT products, specially tar-geting the USA and Europe market.”

BASIS also requested the government to withdraw VAT form internet uses and e-commerce which is now booming in the country.

BASIS Secretary General Russel T Ahmed delivered a welcome speech at the ceremony. l

ANALYST

Preceding week’s waning tone extended further as session resumed with price correction. During the whole trading session, the market level correction took place and forced prime index to decline

B2 Stock Monday, February 17, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks fall with low turnover n Tribune Report

Stocks fell for the second consec-utive session yesterday with turn-over dipping below Tk400 crore after six weeks.

After rising more than 30 points in the morning, the benchmark DSEX index lost 45 points or 1% to end at 4,713.

Shariah-based DSES index was down 10 points or 1% to 985.The blue-chip comprising DS30 index ended at 1,680 with a drop of 16 points or 1%.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, shed 92 points to close at 9,869.

The total turnover at DSE saw a sharp decline by 27% to Tk390 crore over the previous session. The turnover is lowest since Janu-ary 6 this year.

The market falling with sharp decline in turnover may indicate that investors are unwilling to sell stocks at this price level, said Lan-ka Bangla Securities in its market analysis.

The market breath remained negative as out of 287 issues trad-ed, 83 closed in red, 166 green and 38 remained unchanged. Food and allied was the only sector that per-formed positive with a gain of more than 1%.

Pro� t booking pushed down all other sectors, including pharma-ceuticals, banks, power, cement

and telecommunications.“Preceding week’s waning

tone extended further as session resumed with price correction. During the whole trading session, the market level correction took place and forced prime index to de-cline,” said IDLC Investment.

It said investors somewhat pre-ferred to remain meticulous and conservative regarding turnaround phenomenon.

Delta Life Insurance topped the turnover chart for the second con-secutive session with the stock worth Tk26 crore changing hands, making up almost 4% of the total turnover.

It was followed by Square Phar-maceuticals, Bangladesh Subma-rine Cable Company Ltd, Meghna Petroleum, Olympic Industries, Jamuna Oil and Southeast Bank. l

News from trade serverDACCADYE: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 31.12.2013 (July'13 to Dec'13), the Company has reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 65.49 million with EPS of Tk. 0.91 as against Tk. 104.42 million and Tk. 1.45 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas net pro� t after tax was Tk. 45.27 million with EPS of Tk. 0.63 for the period of 3 months (Oct'13 to Dec'13) ended on 31.12.2013 as against Tk. 65.45 million and Tk. 0.91 respectively for the same period of the previous year.BRACBANK: The Company has further informed that the Bank was supposed to conduct a discussion session with Bangladesh Bank Inspection team prior to the � nalization of the Audited Financial Accounts, which has been postponed due to unavoidable circumstance. The consider-ation of the accounts at the Board meeting is being deferred until such time that the Company receives con� rmation from Bangladesh Bank. The Company has further informed that intimation on the scheduled

date will be given in due course.RIGHT SHARE: ARAMITCEM: Subscription 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: Subscrip-tion 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: Matin Spinning Mills Limited subscription date 26-30 January 2014, NRB upto 08 Feburay 2014. @ Tk. 37/-, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Hwa Well Textiles (BD) Limited subscription date 17-23 February 2014, NRB upto 04 March 2014. At per, face value taka 10 and market lot 500.Dividend/AGMNCCBLMF1: 10% cash dividend. RD: 24.02.2014.GP: 50% � nal cash dividend (i.e. total 140% cash dividend for the year 2013 inclusive

of 90% Interim cash dividend which has already been paid) AGM: 09.04.2014, RD: 20.02.2014.GREENDELT: 15% cash and 15% stock, AGM: 15.03.2014, RD: 17.02.2014.RAKCERAMIC: 15% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 02.04.2014, RD: 13.02.2014.SALAMCRST: 13% cash, AGM: 29.03.2014, RD: 11.02.2014. 1STPRIMFMF: 10% cash, RD: 11.02.2014.HRTEX: 15% cash, AGM: 21.04.2014, Record date: 20.02.2014. MAKSONSPIN: 5% stock, AGM: 13.03.2014, RD: 16.02.2014. GSPFINANCE: 12% stock, AGM: 20.02.2014, RD: 03.02.2014.ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 01.03.2014, RD: 29.12.2013. USMANIAGL: 11% Cash & 10% Stock, AGM: 07-03-2014, RD: 07.11.2013.SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 30.01.2014, RD: 19.12.2013.PADMAOIL: 90% Cash, 10% Stock, AGM: 15.02.2014, RD: 23.12.2013.

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

RAK Ceramics-A -11.06 -9.80 55.40 54.70 58.00 54.10 5.517 2.03 27.3Kay & Que (BD) -Z -9.50 -9.70 18.06 18.10 18.20 18.00 0.063 -0.89 -veACI ZERO Bond-A -6.78 -6.78 832.00 832.00 832.00 832.00 0.002 0.00 -SonarBangla Insu. -A -6.64 -8.93 25.30 25.30 25.30 25.30 0.025 1.85 13.7Apex Foods -A -5.23 -5.27 103.27 103.30 104.30 102.10 0.103 3.56 29.0Continental Insur. -A -5.00 -4.94 30.40 30.40 30.40 30.40 0.015 2.35 12.9Prime Insur -A -4.44 -5.96 34.40 34.40 34.40 34.40 0.017 2.36 14.6 Prime Bank-A -4.37 -6.12 24.41 24.10 25.80 24.10 0.060 0.56 43.6Eastern Bank - A -3.99 -3.87 31.58 31.30 32.20 31.10 0.221 2.27 13.9Sinobangla Indu.-A -3.92 -2.64 29.82 29.40 30.60 29.20 1.178 0.64 46.6

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

RAK Ceramics-A -10.11 -10.16 55.38 55.10 58.00 50.20 42.727 2.03 27.3Phoenix Insur -A -5.44 -4.62 49.18 48.70 50.80 48.30 5.223 3.81 12.9Jute SpinnersA -5.31 -4.76 66.67 66.00 71.50 65.00 0.020 -43.98 -veKohinoor Chem -A -4.57 -4.05 337.74 336.00 370.00 333.10 0.534 7.88 42.9Stylecraft -A -4.12 -4.02 955.00 954.00 975.00 933.00 0.191 47.83 20.0Miracle Industries -B -3.54 -2.59 22.22 21.80 23.00 21.80 2.512 0.22 101.0Prime Islami Life -A -3.47 -1.77 118.50 117.00 123.00 115.00 2.495 4.95 23.9DESCO Ltd. -A -3.32 -0.43 67.40 67.00 69.50 65.00 47.718 1.12 60.2Apex Foods -A -3.28 -1.82 105.00 103.10 107.00 102.20 3.591 3.56 29.5Islami Ins.BD-A -3.22 -2.60 33.40 33.10 34.20 33.00 1.436 1.60 20.9

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

BD Submarine Cable-A 132,548 28.37 8.10 210.60 -3.31 217.80 219.90 209.50 214.06AFC AgroBiotech-N 288,000 17.92 5.12 64.10 6.30 60.30 65.00 59.50 62.23Grameenphone-A 72,600 14.98 4.28 205.70 -0.58 206.90 208.00 205.10 206.38Appollo Ispat CL -N 438,400 14.10 4.03 31.70 -0.31 31.80 32.80 31.60 32.17Delta Life Insu. -A 50,350 13.93 3.98 272.20 -2.75 279.90 284.00 271.00 276.68Square Pharma -A 45,153 11.82 3.37 260.30 -2.33 266.50 266.30 260.00 261.76BD Building Systems -A 134,100 10.03 2.86 73.70 -0.67 74.20 76.50 73.50 74.81Southeast Bank-A 410,286 9.61 2.74 23.20 0.00 23.20 23.60 23.00 23.43LankaBangla Fin. -A 124,350 8.90 2.54 71.00 0.71 70.50 73.20 69.80 71.59BSC-A 17,535 8.48 2.42 474.80 -2.30 486.00 493.00 472.30 483.89JMI Syringes MDL-A 35,000 7.83 2.24 222.70 1.78 218.80 230.00 220.00 223.85UNITED AIR-A 469,623 7.38 2.11 15.70 -0.63 15.80 16.00 14.80 15.72Padma Oil Co. -A 21,372 7.20 2.06 333.70 -0.12 334.10 342.00 332.60 337.03Golden Son -A 109,500 6.74 1.93 61.80 2.49 60.30 62.50 60.50 61.59UCBL - A 213,625 5.94 1.69 27.60 -0.36 27.70 28.20 27.60 27.80Jamuna Oil -A 23,380 5.56 1.59 235.30 -0.80 237.20 240.50 234.70 237.69RAK Ceramics-A 99,600 5.52 1.57 54.70 -11.06 61.50 58.00 54.10 55.40

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Daily closing

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

Delta Life Insu. -A 948,515 263.33 6.75 272.70 -2.15 278.70 285.00 272.00 277.62Square Pharma -A 789,856 206.85 5.30 260.30 -2.22 266.20 268.00 243.00 261.88BD Submarine Cable-A 894,341 191.48 4.91 210.30 -2.91 216.60 230.00 200.00 214.10Meghna Petroleum -A 552,131 161.93 4.15 287.80 -1.47 292.10 298.70 267.00 293.28Olympic Ind. -A 624,814 125.74 3.22 199.40 -2.21 203.90 205.80 187.00 201.24Jamuna Oil -A 512,299 121.38 3.11 235.10 -0.84 237.10 242.00 220.00 236.93Southeast Bank-A 4,574,264 106.98 2.74 23.20 0.43 23.10 24.00 21.00 23.39Padma Oil Co. -A 306,104 103.60 2.65 333.60 -0.33 334.70 343.70 330.00 338.45BD Building Systems -A 1,287,650 96.13 2.46 73.80 -0.54 74.20 76.40 67.00 74.65Grameenphone-A 458,600 94.54 2.42 205.60 -0.77 207.20 208.40 205.10 206.16HeidelbergCement -A 196,220 87.90 2.25 441.50 0.75 438.20 451.00 430.00 447.94AFC AgroBiotech-N 1,354,000 83.94 2.15 64.00 5.09 60.90 64.80 58.50 61.99Appollo Ispat CL -N 2,296,000 74.00 1.90 31.70 -0.94 32.00 33.00 31.30 32.23LankaBangla Fin. -A 955,590 68.66 1.76 70.80 1.00 70.10 73.70 69.00 71.85Titas Gas TDCLA 767,466 64.38 1.65 82.80 -0.24 83.00 85.00 78.00 83.89Con� denceCement A 426,094 62.32 1.60 144.40 -0.89 145.70 148.80 140.00 146.26DESCO Ltd. -A 708,029 47.72 1.22 67.00 -3.32 69.30 69.50 65.00 67.40BSC-A 97,390 47.21 1.21 475.50 -2.11 485.75 494.75 473.25 484.72UCBL - A 1,582,560 43.94 1.13 27.60 0.00 27.60 30.00 25.00 27.76RAK Ceramics-A 771,480 42.73 1.09 55.10 -10.11 61.30 58.00 50.20 55.38

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Prime Islami Life -A 8.15 8.15 126.00 126.00 126.00 126.00 0.315 4.95 25.5CVO PetroChem RL-Z 6.92 6.22 828.50 834.00 838.50 800.00 0.696 -4.06 -veRahima Food -Z 6.67 8.90 67.20 67.20 68.50 65.10 0.571 -1.00 -veAFC AgroBiotech-N 6.30 1.87 62.23 64.10 65.00 59.50 17.921 1.53 40.7Usmania Glass -Z 4.87 5.37 155.86 155.10 160.00 152.60 0.132 5.10 30.6BDCOM Online-A 3.61 3.28 34.29 34.40 34.90 33.00 0.352 1.70 20.2Imam Button -Z 3.49 3.84 8.93 8.90 9.00 8.80 0.036 -2.58 -veFine Foods A 2.59 2.07 19.76 19.80 20.00 19.20 0.445 -0.98 -veIntl. Leasing-B 2.56 2.24 15.95 16.00 16.50 15.70 0.686 -0.21 -veGolden Son -A 2.49 1.55 61.59 61.80 62.50 60.50 6.744 3.35 18.4

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average Closing Daily high Daily low Turnover

in millionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

GeminiSeaFood-Z 9.98 9.98 175.20 175.20 175.20 175.20 0.613 6.44 27.2Savar Refractories-Z 9.25 10.32 62.00 61.40 61.80 60.90 0.031 0.60 103.3CVO PetroChem RL-Z 5.43 6.56 823.41 823.60 839.00 781.00 31.726 -4.06 -veAFC AgroBiotech-N 5.09 0.60 61.99 64.00 64.80 58.50 83.940 1.53 40.5Standard Ceramic -A 4.81 4.53 39.20 39.20 39.30 38.90 0.392 1.06 37.0NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A 4.76 3.28 11.01 11.00 11.20 10.60 9.833 1.03 10.7Usmania Glass -Z 3.62 5.44 155.74 154.40 160.90 135.00 7.421 5.10 30.5Meghna PET Ind. -Z 2.94 2.94 7.00 7.00 7.30 6.80 0.056 -1.30 -veJMI Syringes MDL-A 2.58 1.81 222.76 222.50 225.90 220.50 31.744 1.97 113.1Popular Life Insu. -A 2.33 5.43 267.53 263.20 274.00 255.00 28.364 17.00 15.7

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 434.91 11.14 42.47 12.12 477.38 11.22NBFI 174.56 4.47 19.28 5.50 193.84 4.56Investment 84.32 2.16 3.40 0.97 87.72 2.06Engineering 343.48 8.80 42.39 12.10 385.87 9.07Food & Allied 216.31 5.54 16.02 4.57 232.33 5.46Fuel & Power 643.48 16.49 31.98 9.13 675.46 15.88Jute 1.18 0.03 0.00 1.18 0.03Textile 246.38 6.31 26.93 7.69 273.31 6.43Pharma & Chemical 522.27 13.38 50.55 14.43 572.82 13.47Paper & Packaging 0.21 0.01 0.09 0.02 0.29 0.01Service 14.29 0.37 1.76 0.50 16.05 0.38Leather 42.51 1.09 3.47 0.99 45.98 1.08Ceramic 54.50 1.40 6.72 1.92 61.22 1.44Cement 215.64 5.52 11.46 3.27 227.09 5.34Information Technology 28.64 0.73 3.86 1.10 32.50 0.76General Insurance 73.29 1.88 3.21 0.92 76.50 1.80Life Insurance 391.23 10.02 18.18 5.19 409.40 9.63Telecom 286.02 7.33 43.36 12.38 329.38 7.74Travel & Leisure 41.60 1.07 9.59 2.74 51.19 1.20Miscellaneous 87.96 2.25 15.55 4.44 103.51 2.43Debenture 0.23 0.01 0.06 0.02 0.29 0.01

Daily capital market highlights

DSE Broad Index : 4713.87695 (-) 0.95% ▼

DSE Shariah Index : 985.42959 (-) 1.04% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1680.68313 (-) 0.94% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 14618.5334 (-) 0.96% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12364.0174 (-) 1.25% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 9269.7608 (-) 0.99% ▼

DSE key features February 16, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

3,902.99

Turnover (Volume)

71,007,358

Number of Contract 84,912

Traded Issues 287

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

98

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

185

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,286.53

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.72

CSE key features February 16, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 350.33

Turnover (Volume) 7,424,250

Number of Contract 12,893

Traded Issues 223

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

83

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

137

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,164.81

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.24

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

The total turnover at DSE saw a sharp decline by 27% to Tk390 crore over the previous session. The turnover is lowest since January 6 this year

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014

Majid elected new CSE chairman n Tribune Report

Former NBR chairman Abdul Majid has been elected chairman of the Chit-tagong Stock Exchange for a three-year term.

He became the � rst chairman of the bourse after its demutualisation that separates the management from own-ership.  

The 13-member new DSE board elected the chairman at the annual general meeting Saturday night.  

The board is comprised of newly elected four directors, BSEC-approved seven independent directors, CSE chief executive o� cer and one from strate-gic investor in line with the Demutuali-sation Act 2013.

Besides Majid, other six indepen-dent directors are Chittagong Uni-

versity Professor Ayub Islam, former CSE Director Moinul Islam Mahmud, former Bangladesh Garment Manufac-turers and Exporters Association (BG-MEA) President Md Sha� ul Islam Mo-hiuddin, BGMEA First Vice President Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, Insti-tute of Chartered Accountants Bangla-desh President Showkat Hossain and former ICMAB Chairman Momtaz Ud-din Ahmed.

The four elected directors are Mirza Salman Ispahani of Ispahani Secu-ruties, Khairul Anam of Lanka Bangla Securuties, Mohammad Mohiuddin of Island Securities and Shamsul Islam of Berich Securities.

A law on demutualisation was passed in parliament on April 29 last year with a promise to bring transpar-ency to the stock market. l

Fed’s Fisher: What’s best forUS is best for worldn Reuters

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Presi-dent Richard Fisher arrives to speak about the concept of breaking up ‘too big to fail’ banks to a breakout group at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, March 16, 2013

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher on Friday downplayed the turmoil in some emerging markets that greeted the US central bank’s move to reduce its massive stimulus program, saying the Fed’s focus should stay on the United States.

“We are the central bank of the Unit-ed States; we have to do what is best in our interest,” Fisher, who opposes the bond-buying program altogether, told Bloomberg Radio. “What’s important

for us to do is to make sure our econo-my is strong, and the rest of the world will bene� t if we are.”

He also repeated his view that Wall Street reform legislation does not � x the too-big-to-fail bank problem. l

No appetite for big consumer goods? Try their suppliersn Reuters

As a slowdown in emerging markets takes the shine o� shares in consumer goods makers like Nestle, Unilever, Danone and Procter & Gamble, hungry investors have been sampling more of the companies that supply them.

Scent and � avour makers such as Symrise, Givaudan and International Flavors & Fragrances, and food ingre-dient names like Glanbia and Kerry Group are attractive, analysts say, be-cause they’re more resistant to weak consumer spending and bene� t from health and wellness trends forcing so many brands to modify their products.

“The companies in those segments have exposure to faster growing special-ty areas, serve a wide range of customers (from top brands to white label) and con-stantl y invest in new technology,” Beren-berg analysts said this month. They up-graded Germany’s Symrise to “buy” and Switzerland’s Givaudan to “hold”.

JPMorgan Cazenove estimates the European food ingredients sector on average will see 6% earnings growth in 2014, while European food producers will see no growth.

Indeed, consumer staples stocks have been battered by currency deval-uations and cooling demand in emerg-ing markets and lingering economic malaise in Europe and the United States. Over the past 12 months, the top 25 global consumer staples stocks are still up 7.5% on average, but down 3.5% in the year to date, according to Reuters data.

By contrast, 2014 has favoured in-gredients. At Thursday’s close Kerry was up 3%, IFF 5%, Symrise 6% and Givaudan 9%.

Still, there are outliers. Lower Euro-pean sugar prices are squeezing pro� ts at German sugar company Suedzucker, while Britain’s Tate & Lyle on Thursday forecast sharply lower prices for its Splenda sweetener due to competition from cheaper Chinese sucralose mak-ers. Both companies’ shares are down by double digits.

“There are some very, very good businesses in that space, but I don’t think you can just bundle them all to-gether, as you can see with Tate & Lyle,”

said Exane BNP Paribas analyst Je� Stent. “If you take a stock like Kerry, we’ve been buyers of that stock for as long as we’ve been analysts at Exane.”

Equal opportunity supplierIn developed markets, makers of ev-erything from beer to bread to body-wash have lost some ground to ge-neric, white-label products. But for the ingredients makers, those brands are customers. And in less mature mar-kets, the growing customer base is lo-cal manufacturers.

Kerry Group’s deal to supply dairy ingredients to Chinese infant nutrition company Beingmate shows how the sector can bene� t from the develop-ment of local players who are stepping up their game against multinationals. Companies like Natura Cosmeticos from Brazil and Grupo Bimbo from Mexico are just two developing market

consumer companies actively expand-ing into new markets.

Analysts at Davy Research who fol-low the sector say that as local manu-facturers get bigger and more savvy, they are turning to internationals for more reliable and high-quality supply.

That is especially true in China, where a 2008 scandal involving tainted milk made consumers wary of local brands.

China’s top milk producer, China Mengniu Dairy, this week agreed to sell more of itself to Danone as it tries to win customers. Denmark’s Arla Foods, another dairy supplier, also has a stake in Mengniu.

Healthy innovationThe average consumer goods maker spends about 8 to 10% or more of its sales on advertising and marketing and just 2% on research and develop-ment. Over time, R&D spending has

come down as categories mature and companies cut costs, leaving them to outsource technical development to their suppliers.

“I think they have always been marketing companies,” said JPMorgan analyst John Faucher. “As the tech-nologies and categories become more complicated, they simply need to cast a broader net.”

By contrast, � avour and fragrance companies often spend more than 7% of sales on R&D, and have been buying smaller makers of specialised ingredi-ents for which they can charge higher prices and boost margins.

“They want your M&M to be the right blue and for the melt character-istics to be exactly right,” said a banker who has advised on deals in the sector. “They’re not trying to sell � our to bak-ers.”

Last year, Tate & Lyle bought a

maker of oat beta glucan, and in Janu-ary IFF bought a maker of complex specialty ingredients, while Symrise is trying to take over Sweden’s Probi, which makes probiotic ingredients for yoghurt. Israel’s Frutarom Industries has bought 12 companies since 2011.

A technical arsenal is handy as brands yield to more pressure to make their goods healthier or more natu-ral. This month alone, Kraft Foods re-moved an arti� cial preservative from its Singles cheese, and US Subway res-taurants removed a chemical from its bread found in rubber yoga mats. A US Senator has since called on regulators to ban the chemical.

In that light, Tom Pirko of Bevmark Consulting said ingredients companies that are entrepreneurial and creative write their own tickets.

“Those who foresee the future, are generally big winners.” l

Smaller planes in demand as Asia travel boom deepensn AFP, Singapore

Smaller passenger planes are increas-ingly in demand in Asia as budget carriers cash in on the region’s grow-ing middle classes by expanding their reach to less prominent cities, industry executives say.

So-called “regional” jets - short to medium-haul aircraft that gener-ally seat under 100 passengers - were among the best-sellers at the Singapore Airshow which ended at the weekend.

Jimmy Lau, managing director of show organiser Experia Events, said demand for smaller aircraft will rise as Asia’s burgeoning middle class sustains the growth in air travel that began in metropolitan areas.

“The people who will be likely making good inroads are the Embraers and the Bombardiers who will be selling their smaller regional jets to countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia,” Lau told reporters as the Airshow ended with deals totalling a record $32bn.

Embraer, the Brazilian plane maker, forecasts that Asia-Paci� c carriers will take delivery of 1,500 new jets in the 70- to 130-seat segment over the next 20 years, with a total value of $70bn. This would represent nearly 20% of global demand. Canada’s Bombardier expects the region to get one-third of the 12,800 aircraft in the 20 to 150-seat segment it forecasts to be delivered worldwide in the next two decades.

The company’s vice president for marketing Philippe Poutissou told AFP that Bombardier sold almost 80% of its planes to Western countries in the past.

Four-month-old Indian carrier Air Costa sprang the biggest surprise at the event when it ordered 50 E-Jets E2 planes from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer worth $2.94bn, with purchase rights for 50 more. l

A shopping cart is pushed down the aisle in this photo illustration taken at Mercator shopping mall in Ljubljana REUTERS

Hopes pinned on private sector as Libya economy slumpsn AFP

Small businesses are prospering in Lib-ya's major cities even as the economy at large is being throttled because of security problems and industrial action which has shrunk lifeline oil revenues.

Its � nancial woes combined with lawlessness has so far discouraged the return of multinationals, three years after the outbreak of an armed re-volt which toppled long-time dictator Moamer Kadha� .

Post-war reconstruction has been slow, with major infrastructure proj-ects on the back-burner even as Liby-ans endure more and more frequent power cuts, especially in the west of the country.

Small businesses have been leading the way in post-Kadha� Libya, with shops and boutiques in Tripoli and oth-er cities boasting the latest in luxury brands.

"These investments are thanks to partnerships with foreign investors," said chamber of commerce chief Idriss Abdelhadi. l

Prionti and Rani Food Industries Ltd has recently signed contract as the media agency of Goldmark Cookies and Ringo Real Potato Chips at Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka. Managing director of Rani Food Industries Ltd Mohammad Bashir and CEO of Prionti Monowar Hossain Pathan signed the agreement on behalf of their organisations

Ayesha Memorial Specialized Hospital Ltd was the o� cial health parnter of Dhaka International Trade Fair 2014 as it provided health service to the visitors without any charge. On February 10, the hospital’s director Dr Ashish Kumar Chakravarty received a crest from minister of commerce, To� ael Ahmed

Bank Asia has provided higher studies scholarship to 33 meritorious students of Chatkhil and Sonaimuri upazilas of Noakhali and Ramgonj upazila of Laxmipur districts as a part of its corporate social responsibility. Rumee A Hossain, the bank’s audit committee chairperson handed over the scholarship money to the students at a function held at Chatkhil Upazila auditorium on Saturday

Deputy managing director of Pubali Bank Ltd, Sa� ul Alam Khan Chowdhury is delivering his speech at the international conference on “Globalisation, Entrepreneurship and Economioc Development” that was held at Washington DC in USA recently

Mutual Trust Bank Limited recently opened its relocated its Uttara Model Town branch at its new premises at Auckland Centre in Uttara Model Town, Dhaka. The bank’s director, Md Abdul Malek inaugurated the branch as chief guest

Railway may construct ICDat Dhirasramn Tribune Business Desk

Bangladesh Railway has taken a project to construct a New Inland Container Depot (ICD) near Dhirasram Railway Station on the outskirt of Dhaka under public-private partnership (PPP) initiative.

“Our proposal suggests completion of the ICD to increase smooth handling of goods,” Director General (DG) of Bangladesh Railway Md Tafazzal Hos-sain told BSS yesterday.

He said the country needs another ICD for smooth operation of containers as the existing Kamalapur ICD has no more capacity.

The proposal on the Tk1,640 crore project has been sent to the PPP o� ce for next course of procedure.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic A� airs (CCEA) approved the project on September 4 last year, asking to send it after � lling up the PPP Technical Assistance Fund (PPPTAF).

Later, the PPP o� ce � lled up the PPPTAF and sent it to the Railways Ministry. l

Loss at Volkswagen plant upends union’s plann Reuters

In a stinging defeat that could accel-erate the decades-long decline of the United Auto Workers, Volkswagen AG workers voted against union repre-sentation at a Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, which had been seen as orga-nized labour’s best chance to expand in the US South.

The loss, 712 to 626, capped a sprint � nish to a long race and was particu-larly surprising for UAW supporters, because Volkswagen had allowed the union access to the factory and o� -cially stayed neutral on the vote, while other manufacturers have been hostile to organised labour.

UAW spent more than two years or-ganizing and then called a snap elec-tion in an agreement with VW. Ger-man union IG Metall worked with the UAW to pressure VW to open its doors to organizers, but anti-union forces dropped a bombshell after the � rst of three days of voting.

Republican US Senator Bob Cork-er, the former mayor of Chattanooga who helped win the VW plant, said on Wednesday after the � rst day of voting that VW would expand the factory if the union was rejected.

“Needless to say, I am thrilled,” Corker said in a statement after the re-sults were disclosed.

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix hailed the outcome: “If UAW union o� cials cannot win when the odds are so stacked in their favour, perhaps they should re-evaluate the product they are selling to workers.”

An announcement of whether a new seven-passenger crossover vehicle will be produced in Chattanooga or in Mex-ico could come as early as next week, VW sources told Reuters.

Despite the indignation of pro-union forces, legal experts earlier had said that any challenge of the outcome,

based on Corker’s comments, would be di� cult, given broad free speech pro-tection for US Senators.

The UAW said it would “evaluate” the conduct in the vote, where 89% of eligible workers cast ballots.

“We are outraged at the outside in-terference in this election. It’s never happened in this country before that a US senator, a governor, a leader of the house, a leader of the legislature here threatened the company with those in-centives, threatened workers with the loss of product,” Bob King, the UAW president who has staked his legacy on expanding into the south, said.

UAW membership has plummeted 75% since 1979 and now stands at just under 400,000.

The Tennessee decision is likely to reinforce the widely held notion that the UAW cannot make signi� cant in-roads in a region that historically has been steadfastly against organized labour and where all foreign-owned vehicle assembly plants employ non-union workers.

Before the results were announced, King had said in an interview with Re-uters that his group and the German union were already at work organizing a Daimler AG factory in Alabama.

“We will continue our e� orts at Daim-ler. It’s not new. We’re there. We have a campaign. We have a plan. We are also very involved globally with Nissan, so that will continue,” he said. He did not mention the other plants when speaking to reporters late in the evening.

Dennis Cuneo, a partner at Fisher & Phillips, a national labour law � rm that represents management, said earlier in the day that a loss would be a big setback for the union movementin the South, showing the UAW was unable to convince rank-and-� leworkers even with management’s co-operation. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 17, 2014

DILBERT

A Sri Lankan stilt � shermen works on his pole in the southern town of Galle on February 12, 2014. The number of foreign tourists visiting Sri Lanka has swelled since the island ended a 37-year separatist con� ict with Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009. During stilt � shing the � shermen sit on a cross bar called a petta tied to a vertical pole planted into the coral reef instead of using nets because while � shing with nets, the � sh get disturbed and may disappear, not to return for sometimes years, which means � nding new � shing grounds further out AFP

Workers say strikes out in Japann AFP, Tokyo

Japan’s unions have started demand-ing wage hikes from cash-rich � rms as annual pay talks get under way, setting up a rare showdown after years of dra-ma-free labour relations.

Unionists are questioning if usu-ally quiescent workers should stick by a decades-long strategy of keeping the peace with their bosses and rarely go-ing on strike, a strategy that has gener-ated few pay rises.

Japan’s auto sector is a key target, with all eyes on Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, which has posted huge pro� ts on the back of sharply weaker yen since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe swept to power in late 2012.

Abe’s economic growth blitz, dubbed Abenomics, helped fatten Ja-pan Inc’s bottom line, and he has called for companies to pass on some of that pro� t to help consumers as they brace for an April sales tax hike.

More cash in workers’ pockets would assist a fragile recovery, say observers, but many - including the International Monetary Fund - say there needs to be other, deeper reforms, including great-er � exibility to cut sta� .

That is tough in Japan, where every-one from Abe to company chiefs know it would be a hard sell.

Employees need a “safety net to make sure that they’re not left out in the street”, Sony boss Kazuo Hirai said last year.

“Because they’ve made commit-ments to the companies and certainly deserve to be part of that safety net.”

Japan’s annual labour talks are known as Shunto, or the “spring o� en-sive”, but usually low-key, closed-door negotiations could easily end with few � rms heeding Abe’s pay rise call, per-haps counting on workers’ reluctance to strike.

It is a far cry from factory-shuttering labour disputes of Europe or the tens of thousands of striking South Korean railway workers who demonstrated for

weeks on the streets of Seoul in De-cember.

‘Zero strikes’For decades, Japan has prided itself as a nation of labour peace, despite its 20-year economic decline, near-frozen wages and increasingly unstable em-ployment.

“Let’s see, did I go on strike once? Let me think,” said Hajime, a 58-year-old media sector worker.

“Oh yes! It was something like 30 years ago, it was the � rst and the last time. For people between 20 and 30 years of age, strikes and demonstra-tions are history. It’s not their present.”

That rings true with Anan, a 21-year-old university student who can’t fath-om the idea of a strike.

“Here in Japan everybody is middle class, everybody can � nd a job ... and not everybody is obsessed with mov-ing up the social ladder - so there’s no reason to be upset,” she told AFP.

With a low crime and unemploy-ment rate, generous welfare bene� ts, relatively high wages and much nar-rower income inequality than many other developed nations, Japan has rarely been a place ripe for revolution.

But that wasn’t always the case.After the war, about one million

Japanese were homeless, one quarter of them in the shattered capital Tokyo. The Communist Party was a political force and half of all employees were unionised. Today, that number stands at just under 18%.

By 1974, the country saw more than 5,000 strikes a year, involving about 3.6 million people. These days, a few dozen strikes by several thousand workers has been the norm.

Japanese chief executives usu-ally get a fraction of what their North American or European counterparts are paid, and sometimes take wage cuts in bad times.

Mass layo� s are to be avoided, and closing a division often means shifting workers around the company - some-thing Sony said it would try to do af-ter announcing 5,000 jobs cuts this month.

“Cooperation rather than confron-tation has been a long tradition in the private sector,” said Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University. l

Skype-type money swaps bad news for banks?n AFP, Tallinn

Irked by high bank fees on interna-tional money transfers, two Estonian IT whizzes who helped engineer Skype and Paypal have hatched Transferwise, a global Internet platform coordinating currency swaps between individuals.

“Hey, hidden fees. Your secret’s out,” taunts the site founded by Taavet Hinrikus, 32, and partner Kristo Kaar-mann, 33.

Transferwise has been giving banks a run for their money since its 2011 launch, even attracting applause from tycoon Richard Branson, who sings its praises as a low cost business tool for start-ups.

“They are dramatically lowering the cost of transferring money overseas, by e� ectively matching people and companies in di� erent countries who want the opposite currency,” the Virgin billionaire said in a recent blog post.

The marriage of IT ingenuity and � nancial savvy also garnered a pres-tigious 2013 World Summit Award (WSA), a United Nations-backed prize for outstanding web-based business innovations.

Transferwise o� ers international money transfers for a fee of just one British pound (1.2 euros, $1.6) for all transfers under £200 and 0.5% for ev-erything above - a tenth of what banks typically charge.

At that price, business is booming with the company processing around £1m per day.

While European rules specify that euro to euro transfers must be free of charge, banks fees on international mon-ey transfers between currencies range between three and six percent with ex-change rates that routinely favour banks.

The new platform boasts customers from across Europe and is most popu-lar in Britain, France and Spain, mostly among working or retired expats plus small and medium-sized businesses looking to cut operating costs.

It’s also eyeing expansion in Asia, Africa and the US, o� ering services for the Indian rupee, South African rand as well as US, Australian, Hong Kong and Singapore dollars.

Co-founder Hinrikus was Skype’s director of strategy until 2008, where he joined as the � rst employee. Kaar-

mann worked as a consultant for banks with Deloitte and PricewaterhouseC-oopers before setting up TransferWise.

Cashing-in on algorithmsThe idea took shape when Hinrikus found himself living in London and spending in pounds, but earning euros at his job with Skype at its headquar-ters in his native Estonia.

Kaarmann, meanwhile was earning pounds in London, but paying a mort-gage for his home in the Estonian capi-tal Tallinn in euros.

“We found that we had the opposite currency requirements, so we started to exchange it among ourselves at the actual mid-market rate - that’s the ex-change rate you see in the papers, not the in� ated rate you’ll be o� ered by your bank,” Hinrikus told AFP.

“Soon we realised we had saved a fortune by not moving the money across borders and that perhaps it could be a big business idea. A few years later TransferWise was born,” he added.

A few algorithms later, they had come up with the programming to con-nect people with complementary cur-

rency needs.Hinrikus explains that a customer

in Britain who wants to send money home to Estonia can put their pounds on a TransferWise account.

The company then spots a customer in Estonia who wants to send an equiv-alent amount of money to the UK.

Rather than actually sending the mon-ey across borders, TransferWise then simply pays it out to the desired recipient in each country, for the minimal fee.

While concerns have been raised over the potential abuse of the sys-tem to launder money, TransferWise spokeswoman Huggins points out the service is certi� ed by Britain’s Finan-cial Conduct Authority (FCA).

“This means that the business is subject to the same rules as commer-cial banks in the UK,” she explained.

The half-dozen TransferWise inves-tors read like a who’s who of IT venture capitalists.

PayPal founder and Facebook’s � rst � nancier Peter Thiel is among them via his Valar Ventures company as is Xavi-er Niel, the founder of French commu-nications provider Free. l

China bank lending surges in Januaryn AFP, Shanghai

China's bank lending surged in January from December, the central bank said, but analysts attributed the rise to sea-sonal factors.

Loans by Chinese banks reached around 1.3 trillion yuan ($216 billion) in January, up 246.9 billion yuan from the same month a year ago, the People's Bank of China said in a statement late Saturday.

In December, banks granted just 482.5 billion yuan in new loans, previ-ous � gures showed.

The January lending � gure beat the 1.1 trillion yuan median forecast by 11 economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Social � nancing, a broader measure of credit in the economy than lending alone, rose 39.9 billion yuan year-on-year to 2.6 trillion yuan in January, the central bank said.

But analysts said Chinese banks tend to lend more at the beginning of the year after being granted their an-nual lending quotas, and they expect the government to keep a grip on credit due to worries over � nancial risk.

"This is a common occurrence at the beginning of the year and we do not believe it re� ects any shift in policy," research � rm Capital Economics said.

"On the contrary, with policymakers

concerned about credit risks, we think that tight monetary conditions are probably here to stay and that this will continue to weigh on credit growth," it said in a report.

China's central bank pumped funds into the money market last month to ease a liquidity squeeze that rattled � nancial markets before the Chinese New Year holiday.

Demand for funds traditionally in-creases before the week-long holiday, which began on January 31 this year, as companies pay salaries, year-end bonuses and other obligations while individuals withdraw cash for gifts and shopping.

But the government worries a credit binge could cause bad debts to rise and expose the � nancial system to greater risk. l

'Cooperation rather than confrontation has been a long tradition in the private sector'

Gary Casteel, United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 8 Director, makes remarks at a news conference after the announcement that the union lost its bid to represent the1,550 blue-collar workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga REUTERS

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