20 pages | Price: Tk12MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Shraban 27, 1421Shawal 14, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 129

B1 | BusinessA commit-tee has been formed to place rec-o m m e n -dations in

implementing pledges Sheikh Hasi-na had made during her Japan visit in May, and initiate economic dia-logues between the countries.

3 | NewsBangladesh and the US will try to reduce their political gap in the third partnership dialogue to be held in Washington.

4 | NewsThe haemodialysis unit of the DMCH faces a tragic but unavoidable pre-dicament: it can admit new patients from a waiting list only when an un-der-treatment patient dies.

9 | World

Southeast Asian countries yester-day expressed concern over ‘in-creased tensions’ in the South China Sea and called for stepped-up talks with China.

12 | EntertainmentDuring Ramadan and post-Eid pe-riod, the cultural scenario was dim and dull. Last weekend, con-certs, theatres and dance recitals

rejuvenated the arena and the Dha-ka city dwellers, who love to add colours to their lives.

14 | SportArsenal delivered a rousing demon-stration of their Premier League title credentials by overwhelming league champions Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday.

15 | Sport

Venus Williams booked her spot in the Montreal WTA � nal by rallying to take a three-set win over sister Serena on Saturday in their 25th ca-reer meeting.

INSIDE

FESTIVITY MISSING IN PLAYERS’ TRANSFER

GAZA’S WOUNDED: LIVING REMINDER OF RAVAGES OF WAR

STORY OFA RIVER

I AM BOLD, THEREFORE KHOBISH

8 | WORLD 11 | OP-ED 13 | SPORT7 | LONG FORM

Only two survey vessels to continue search for Pinak 6n Ashif Islam Shaon from Mawa

and Mohammad Jamil Khanin Dhaka

On the seventh day of rescue operation in search of Pinak 6 Munshiganj district authorities yesterday announced the withdrawal of Bangladesh Navy, Coast Guard, Bangladesh Inland Water Trans-port Authority (BIWTA) and Fire Ser-vice ships from the accident spot.

Only two survey vessels – Kandari 2 and Jarip 10 – will continue their search operation with rescue vessels Rustom and Nirvik keeping standby.

Saiful Hasan Badal, deputy commis-sioner of the district, while addressing a press brie� ng yesterday afternoon, said only Jarip 10 and Kanadari 2 will continue their work to ensure if the metallic object traced on Saturday

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

MPs disagree over rape of indigenous womenn Mushfi que Wadud

A member of parliament yesterday ac-cused army personnel of raping indig-enous women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and called on the govern-ment to protect them.

“Indigenous women are raped by the army and they are raped by criminals. The government should protect them,” said Hazera Khatun, Workers Party of Bangladesh MP for Seat 39, while speaking at a programme yesterday at the National Museum auditorium.

Her statement was contradicted by another MP speaking at the event.

RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, chairman of the parliamentary stand-ing committee of the Chittagong Hill Tracts A� airs Ministry, said a rapist is a criminal, plain and simple, whether or not he wears a uniform.

“I would like to di� er with Hazera PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Poor coordination marks failed salvage operation46 bodies of Pinak 6 passengers recovered so farn Ashif Islam Shaon from Mawa

and Mohammad Jamil Khanin Dhaka

It has been seven days since Pinak 6 capsized in the Padma with around 300 passengers and its position is yet to be located; and with every passing day the poor face of coordination among the authorities is becoming clearer.

As of yesterday, only 46 bodies of dead passengers of Pinak 6 were re-covered, and with around 100 more still missing, the authorities yesterday decided to concentrate rescue e� orts on locating the position of the launch rather than � nding dead bodies.

The place on the riverbed where the launch is thought to have rested is more than 62 feet deep. With waves as strong as 5-6 nautical miles per hour, rescuers have found it really di� cult to be sure about anything.

Yesterday, they managed to trace a metallic object on the riverbed that was roughly the same size as Pinak 6; but its position was thought to be some two miles away from where the launch was thought to have sunk.

Authorities are saying they are not sure about the exact place where the vessel sank because the survivors and witnesses have failed to pinpoint the position. That they say is one big rea-

son why they could not yet track the launch.

Coordinator of the rescue operation Captain Nazrul Islam of Bangladesh Navy told the Dhaka Tribune: “The passengers have not clearly identi� ed the exact spot of accident; neither has the local authority. They just gave us a probable area. As a result, we are having to run the operation over a large area of roughly 50sq-km. We are not being able to search the entire area at a time.”

However, there are allegations that the authorities concerned have done virtually everything wrong since the launch capsized.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Mounting psychological toll in Pinak 6 tragedyn Abid Azad back from Madaripur

The need for closure after bereavement is well known and well understood, but the tremendous psychological e� ort required for keeping hope alive, and the jarring, even damaging e� ects of si-lence in the face of uncertainty are not often talked about.

When emergency responders do not share information at regular and brief intervals and when they do not rapidly set up a single site forfamilies to congregate in and share information, console each other, and wait out the crisis, they perpetuate a sort of administrative anguish for survivors.

A week ago, Shaheed Sardar was out in the � elds of Kurghata village in Gournadi, Barisal, as he was every

year around this time, tending to crops during the late monsoon.

He was preoccupied because his son-in-law was ill, but felt things were going fairly well for his family. Sha-heed’s son was well established with a job in the military, he had been blessed with a grandchild just under a year ago, and now his family were on a trip to Dhaka to treat his son-in-law.

But circumstances were cruelly con-spiring to unleash unimaginable loss upon him. Shaheed’s family would be making the journey up the Padma Riv-er and the weather had turned as they, along with hundreds of other passen-gers, were being packed like sardines by unscrupulous launch operators into a ship called the Pinak 6.

He was in the � elds when he got the PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Ebola screening at all international portsn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

As a precautionary measure, the Health Ministry yesterday issued a country-wide Ebola virus alert for 90 days, dur-ing which special preventive measures will be taken at all international airports, land-ports and sea-ports to prevent the disease from entering the country.

As part of the special measures, a coordinated medical team will work to identify and carry out the physical examination of the suspected patients. A 20-bed specialised ward will also be

opened soon at the Kurmitola General Hospital in the capital.

The decision was made at an in-ter-ministerial meeting on prevention of Ebola virus, headed by Health Minis-ter Mohammed Nasim at the ministry’s conference room in the secretariat. A six-member committee, headed by Health Secretary MM Niazuddin, was also formed to monitor and supervise the overall activities of Ebola virus pre-vention.

On Friday, the World Health Organisa-tion declared the recent Ebola outbreak

in Africa as a global health emergency. According to latest � gures released by the WHO last Wednesday, there have now been at least 1,711 recorded cases of Ebola, a disease that has no proven vac-cine or treatment. As of August 4, more than 932 people have died in Sierra Leo-ne, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria.

Health Secretary Niazuddin told the Dhaka Tribune that the precautionary measure has been taken to tackle any unwanted situation, adding that the 90-day alert would be extended if needed.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Tofail urges BGMEA to form a crisis fundn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yes-terday tossed the idea of a “crisis fund” to be formed by the garment factory owners; but activists said strengthened monitoring from the government alone could do wonders.

At a press brie� ng yesterday at the BGMEA building in the capital, the minister urged the association of readymade garment manufacturers and exporters to form the fund to be

utilised at times of crisis such as that of the Tuba Group.

The brie� ng was organised on the last day of disbursing due wages to the agitating workers of Tuba Group.

However, economist and rights ac-tivists Anu Muhammad, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Forming such a fund is not a problem at all for BGMEA. But, it is really di� cult to speculate its success or failure right now. Instead, if the gov-

ernment strengthened monitoring to make sure that owners gave wages at the right time, the situation could dras-tically improve. BGMEA should also take more care of the sector.”

He also said: “I do not know how useful the fund will be. The victims of the Rana Plaza disaster have not got their compensations as yet.”

Sirajul Islam Rony, president of Bangladesh National Garments Work-ers-Employees League, said: “They [BGMEA] can form a fund for crisis sit-uations, especially for giving compen-sations. Since the RMG sector is export oriented and involves multinational dealings, such a fund can provide secu-rity to the workers and ensure a healthy relationship with the owners.”

Syed Sadek Ahmed, managing direc-tor of Space Sweater Ltd, said: “Such a fund could be created for times of dis-asters like � re or collapse. But I am not sure how useful a fund could be for paying dues. We will need a really big fund. There are factories that pay Tk4-5 crore in wages every month. If 10 fac-tories fall into crisis together, then we will need a lot of money.”

On July 28, at least 1,200 workers of � ve Tuba Group factories went on a hunger strike at the Hossain Market

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1Allegedly without any prior notice, the Samajik Shikkha Kendra Government School building in the city’s Bailey Road was demolished on August 7. Even though only the benches were left standing, the demolition failed to douse the desire of the students to be educated. They wait for their teachers to take the classes out in the open yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Forming such a fund is not a problem at all for BGMEA... It is really di� cult to speculate its success or failure now

New Gaza truce agreedn Reuters

Israel and the Palestinians yesterday agreed to an Egyptian proposal for a new 72-hour cease� re in Gaza starting at 2100 GMT (3am Bangladesh time), o� cials from the warring sides said.

“Israel has accepted Egypt’s propos-al,” a senior Israeli government o� cial said, adding Israeli negotiators would return to Cairo today to resume indi-rect talks with the Palestinians if the truce held.

The Israeli team had � own home

on Friday before a previous three-day truce expired and hostilities in the month-old con� ict broke out again.

A Hamas o� cial said Palestinian factions had accepted Egypt’s call and that the Cairo talks would continue.

In a statement, Egypt’s Foreign Min-istry urged “both sides to exploit this truce to resume indirect negotiations immediately and work towards a com-prehensive and lasting cease� re agree-ment.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

Poor coordination marks failed salvage operation PAGE 1 COLUMN 3Instead of a coordinated e� ort, the � re service, Bangladesh Internal Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and the navy launched rescue operations of their own. It took the shipping minis-ter four days to hold the � rst coordina-tion meeting after the accident that is thought to have killed nearly 200 peo-ple.

Moreover, the fact that most of the rescue crew do not have proper training for such operations has made things even harder.

Aminur Rasel Babul, leader of a cit-izens movement for river-route safe-ty, said: “Such accidents require more rescue vessels with survey equipment and trained manpower, which is not available in our country. We also need-ed to deploy volunteers at the accident site immediately after the accident. But that did not happen either.”

BIWTA’s “ace” rescue vessel Rustom reached the spot nearly 14 hours after the accident. Rustom can only pull up sunken vessels from the bottom of riv-ers; it does not have any tracing mech-anism. So, if the position of a launch is not clear, it has nothing to do.

Soon, search vessel Nirbhik joined Rustom, but BIWTA’s survey vessels Kandari 2 and Jarip 10 – both equipped with modern technologies – were still a couple of days away.

Experts say when Kandari 2 and Jarip 10 reached the spot as late as � ve days after the accident, strong waves have carried the sunken launch further away from the spot making the search di� cult for the two vessels.

Aminur Rasel Babul said: “The au-thority called the rescue vessel � rst. Then they called the search vessel Nir-bhik, and � nally survey vessels Kandari and Jarip. They should have moved all the vessels at the same time.”

Asked why the rescue vessel was sent before locating the launch, BIWTA o� cials said sending the vessel after any accident was a routine procedure; as locating the launch was taking time, they later decided to send the search and survey vessels.

Both Kandari 2 and Jarip 10 belong to the Chittagong Port Authority. O� -cials said these two vessels had equip-ment such as the sub-bottom pro� ler, multi-beam echo sounder, side scan-

ner, sonar, etc, which are also the latest technologies available in the world.

It was in fact the side scanner that located a metallic object yesterday that had resemblance with the sunken ship. However, all the equipment loses much of its e� ectiveness if it has to work in rough overhead conditions, especially strong waves and decreased visibility due to muddy water.

Port o� cials also said the two vessels had never been used before for the purpose of locating a capsized launch.

Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said: “We need more logistic support for the � re service to run rescue operations smoothly. The sta� need to be trained, too. Moreover, there must be smooth coordination among the authorities to ensure smooth rescue operation after any kind of accident.”

Captain Nazrul Islam admittedthat they had not thought about using the latest technology at � rst. He said had they used the technology imme-diately after the accident, the rescue operation would have taken muchless time.

Records from the Department of Shipping show that over the past two decades, at least 392 capsizes have claimed 3,567 lives and left 401 people missing. At least 56 launches that have sunk at various times have never been pulled out of the riverbeds while 12 others have never been traced at all.

There are allegations that mostof these launches were left abando-ned because of a lack of modern tech-nology.

The Dhaka Tribune has learned that at least 2,500 boats and cargo vessels of various sizes had gone under water at di� erent times and the authorities nev-er took any steps to recover them.

However, the BIWTA has recent-ly invited a tender to pull up 26 water vessels from under water. Of them, 10 are launches and others are ferriesand barges.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune: “If any sunken vessel does not cause any harm, we do not consider pulling it up. Those water vessels need to be pulled up because they are hampering naviga-tion.” l

Mounting psychological toll in Pinak 6 tragedy PAGE 1 COLUMN 5news that the launch had gone down, and rushed to Mawa Launch Terminal in the lungi and shirt he had on.

At Mawa, Shaheed’s search for his family began, but it has proven to be a harrowing experience; partly because the dead, spread across a vast area that is growing with the pull of the current, are less and less likely to be recovered, and partly because emergency re-sponders haven’t done enough to mit-igate the psychological e� ects on the victim’s families.

“I have lost my son Alamin Sar-dar, who worked in the Bangladesh Army, my daughter Mayna Akter, my 11 month-old grandson and Mayna’s mother-in-law,” Shaheed said.

“I do not know where I should go or how to � nd my family members. When word of a recovered dead body is announced I rush to see if it is one of them, but I haven’t found them yet,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Meanwhile, his son-in-law, Sabuj, Mayna’s husband, is waiting for his family at Dhaka Medical College Hospi-tal (DMCH) where he was admitted on the second day of Eid-ul-Fitr for a brain illness. His four missing family mem-bers were travelling to meet him at the hospital.

“Sabuj hasn’t been told about the in-cident and the television in his hospi-tal room was removed so he would not

get news of the accident. I don’t know what to do. Four of my family members are missing and at the same time my son-in-law is facing a life-threatening condition in hospital,” Shaheed said exhausted from worry.

He has been in a kind of daze since the accident. Torn between two family crises, and fatigued by uncertainty, he has slept little and lost track of whether he has been eating.

The dispersed and ad-hoc manner in which bodies recovered from the river were laid out to be identi� ed has had a spirit-crushing e� ect on families bereft of certainty, though not yet bereft of hope, and still not able to grieve.

Until a government announcement on Thursday that the victims’ remains would be kept at Pachchar Government Primary School because most of the victim families lived nearby, victim’s families were frantically travelling to and fro between several sites in search of news, any news.

Soon after the accident, Shaheed had received information that his son had been rescued by � shermen who sent him to a hospital in Madaripur sadar, but when he contacted a doctor there, it turned out to be false.

He then came to Pachchar Govern-ment Primary School from Mawa when he learnt that an accident victim’s body was being kept there.

But the dead woman who had been

pulled from her watery grave was not one of his family members.

Shibchar’s Assistant Commissioner of Land Momin Uddin, who is in charge of transferring dead bodies to relatives, announced on the loudspeaker that a fe-male body, aged approximately 40-42, wearing a black burqa, maroon salwar and a kameez printed with black spots, was recovered by Barisal port police.

The announcement of another re-covered female body, this time in Ba-risal, sent Shaheed into an anxious state. He said he felt frustrated and tired at having to travel to Barisal to see if the body was that of one of his family members.

Shaheed’s despair from not know-ing whether or not his loved ones were dead or alive is not di� cult to compre-hend. As he brings himself to the brink of exhaustion chasing down every lead he gets, it almost seems as though be-ing allowed to grieve would be a mer-ciful thing.

For some, the experience had frayed their nerves to breaking point.

While Shaheed prepared to go to Barisal, a middle-aged woman wearing white, a colour traditionally associated with widowhood, wailed inconsolably as she demanded to be shown her rela-tive’s dead body.

Nearly mad from grief, her face stained with tears, the woman demand-ed to be shown the dead body held by

the Red Crescent. But when o� cials and volunteers showed her the bloated corpse, she could not recognize the body.

The woman had no visible compan-ions. Onlookers said she spoke to who-ever would listen, and if no one in par-ticular was speaking with her, she kept up a regular diatribe against everyone there. Her intense agitation and woeful laments made several people around her start crying.

As the number of people looking for lost loved ones converged upon the school, a shroud of strained anxiety and grief seemed to wrap around it.

Md Rubel, 10, who came from Go-palganj with his mother, said: “I have lost my father and two elder brothers who were the earning members of the family. My father was a rickshaw-puller and my brothers worked in a rickshaw workshop.”

“We have not found them. We have camped out at Mawa for three days. Now we have come here to � nd my fa-ther and brothers,” he added.

The vast majority of the travellers are working class people, for whom this disaster is counted in wage-days in ad-dition to personal grief. The distances that these families have travelled, their constant moves as they follow up scant bits of information originating in a half a dozen locations, and the mounting travel costs that must be paid is creat-ing another mini-disaster in their lives.

“I was able to give my mother two pieces of bread to eat in three days and some water. Nothing else,” he said.

“We have nowhere to live here. I do not know what we will do if we don’t � nd my father and brothers,” he said in a small voice.

His mother could not talk because she was physically and mentally ex-hausted.

Many families here had fallen silent. Earlier, sobbing had given way to very little speech, and then dejected silence.

Some might say that a grieving pro-cess had begun, and while that might well be true, it masked the physical exhaustion that the uncertainty and lack of coordination in the rescue and recovery process had caused.

The Red Crescent Society disaster response department’s Assistant Direc-tor Nurul Amin told the Dhaka Tribune: “Here, I have seen many people who are actually becoming psychologically weak and faint. They do not know what to do. Moreover, dead bodies cannot be identi� ed because the water damage had dis� gured them.”

“Many people have no shelter. They haven’t eaten food for many days. I do not know when they will leave but I worry about what they will do if they do not � nd their relatives. I worry about what they will do if they cannot � nd closure for this tragedy,” he said, his weariness apparent in his voice. l

MPs disagree PAGE 1 COLUMN 1Apa’s statement about rape by army men. I don’t think the army is insti-tutionally involved in such activities. People who do this are criminals and we should not blame everyone for one person’s misdeeds,” he said.

The parliamentary caucus on indig-enous people arranged the programme, marking the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Rights organisation Kapaeeng Foundation said 160 cases of vio-lence against women – including rape, rape-murder and sexual harassment – were � led in the Children Repression Prevention Tribunals of Chittagong Hill Tracts from 2007 to 2012.

Research conducted by Kapaeeng found that in 2013, 67 indigenous wom-en and children – 53 from CHT and 14 from the plains – were victimised. Fif-teen had been raped.

The organisation’s research found that 69% of the victims were minors, 89% of the alleged perpetrators were ethnic Bengalis and 7% were indige-nous people, and 4% of the perpetra-tors were security personnel.

The organisation recalled Kalpana Chakma, a Hill Women’s Federation ac-tivist who was abducted, allegedly by army personnel, from her village home in New Lalyaghona, Rangamati on June 12, 1996. Kalpana remains missing and is presumed dead. l

Tofail urges BGMEA PAGE 1 COLUMN 2in the capital’s Badda area demanding payment of three months’ wages, over-time and festival bonuses together be-fore Eid.

The Bangladesh Garment Manu-facturers and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA), managed a temporary fund for paying the due wages for May and June to a total of 1,475 workers of the group, after being pressured by the government in the wake of the hungerstrike.

According to BGMEA, until 9pm yesterday, Tuba Group management disbursed wages for July and overtime bills for May and June to a total of 1,383 workers. Many workers also collected their attendance incentives.

BGMEA claimed that Tuba Group Managing Director Delowar Hossain, also the owner of Tazreen Fashion where a factory � re in 2012 killed more than a hundred, managed the wages for July by selling factory machinery and private lands.

Delowar, who was arrested last year in connection with the Tazreen � re, was released on bail last week. Tuba management said they could not pay the workers because the banks would not give them the fund as their owner was in jail.

During yesterday’s brie� ng, a jour-nalist asked the minister about wheth-er Delowar would be able to run the factory in the future.

In reply, Tofail said: “The own-

er of Tuba will try to keep the facto-ries operational. If he fails and has to shut them down, then he will clear all the dues of the workers as perthe law.”

Yesterday, the BGMEA leaders in-formed the minister that Delowar had a Tk18 crore insurance claim in connec-tion with the Tazreen � re.

The minister said he did not know that before and assured that steps would be taken in this regard.

During the brie� ng, the minister came down hard on some left political organisations that had expressed soli-darity with the fasting workers.

He said: “In order to elongate the crisis and to keep the workers from getting their wages, some progressive

political parties tried very hard. But they have failed. They tried to work in favour of some of our competitors in the global market. But theyfailed.”

BGMEA President Atiqul Islam, who also spoke at the brie� ng, said: “The owner will decide whether he will run the factories or not. He sold machinery and land to pay the workers. So, how the factories will now run is a matter of consideration. The insurance compa-ny is not paying Delowar’s legal claim. Moreover, the banks have not stood by him at a time of crisis.”

He also thanked the prime minis-ter, the ministers and the local law-makers for their role during the recentcrisis. l

Only two survey vessels to continue search for Pinak 6 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6under water is the sunken launch Pinak 6.

However, the divers of other organisations will continue their work, the DC said.

DC Saiful further said when the tide ebbs the divers will resume their operation in full swing. Now it is risky to work in such a strong wave and current.

About the latest location of the sunken launch, Commander Manjurul Karim Chowdhury of the Chittagong Port yesterday evening said: “There is no new development to tell you. They are trying to trace the metallic object. we are still hopeful.”

Meanwhile, the local rescue diver company Meghna Chins and Cycle Mat joined the rescue operation along with the existing team.

Mohammad Hassan, owner of the diver agency, told the Dhaka Tribune that the shipping minister asked them to join the rescue operation as they had some previous experience.

Hassan further said they started working from yesterday morning. “We are very happy that we on the � rst day could trace a metallic object under water and we are suspecting that it is the Pinak 6.

“As the wave in the river is too high today we cannot go under waterbut tomorrow morning around 7.00am our divers will go down and hope

that we would able to give some good news.

Osman Goni Talukder, chairman of Lauhoganj Upazila, said the minister asked the divers to work as they are local and had worked on the area earlier.

However, a source said the minister said the divers would be given Tk5 lakh if they could trace the launch.

Meanwhile, a total of 46 bodies have been recovered over the last seven days since the Pinak 6 launch went down under water.

Of them, 28 were handed over to family members while the rest 17 bodies were buried after their DNA samples were put aside. l

New Gaza truce agreed PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Netanyahu said: “Israel will not negotiate under � re” and warned of a protracted Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip if rocket salvoes continued.

Hamas has demanded an end to Israeli and Egyptian blockades of the coastal territory and the opening of a Gaza seaport - a project Israel says should be dealt with only in any future talks on a permanent peace deal with the Palestinians. l

Abbas wants to take on AL n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Dhaka city unit BNP Convener Mirza Abbas yesterday said his party wanted to take on the ruling Awami League in the streets.

“We want to meet Awami League in the � eld; but they do not want it. They want to face our movement by using po-lice and RAB,” he told journalists after a meeting with the leaders of the conven-ing committee.

Yesterday, at another programme in the capital, Awami League leader and Health Minister Mohammad Nasim said they wanted to face BNP in the � eld.

“You [Awami League] call a meeting and we call a meeting. Let us see what happens. There is nothing to � ght about. Hold an election and see your popularity — that is the only � eld,” said Abbas countering Nasim’s statement. l

BNP to hold rallies on Aug 19 protesting broadcast policyn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP will organise protest rallies around the country on August 19 in protest at the recently approved Na-tional Broadcasting Policy.

The party will also organise silent processions, holding black � ags, in the capital and around the country on August 16 to protest against the Israeli attack in Gaza, said a Standing Com-mittee member yesterday, seeking an-onymity.

At a meeting of the party’s Standing Committee late last night BNP Chair-person Khaleda Zia also decided to visit a number of districts soon to woo people.

The meeting at the chairperson’s Gulshan o� ce also discussed an an-nouncement of a 10-day plan for ob-serving the BNP’s 35th founding anni-versary on September 1.

The meeting prioritised issue-based activities to decide on party pro-grammes.

The Standing Committee mem-ber said there would a meeting of the 20-party alliance after the committee’s meeting which which would � nalise decisions on all the programmes.

At the party meeting, the BNP al-leged that the government’s “incom-petence, incapability and negligence” had led to the capsizing of the Pinak 6 launch causing the deaths of so many people.

Condemning the launch capsize in-cident, it also demanded compensation for the victims’ families and called for handing over all bodies immediately to their relatives and identifying all those responsible for the accident and bring-ing them to justice.

BNP’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the re-marks while talking to reporters last night after coming out on a break of the Standing Committee meeting.

Speaking about the Tuba Gar-ment crisis, Fakhrul condemned theattacks on the factory workers anddemanded that the workers imme-diately be paid the wages that theydeserve.

Calling for the new broadcast policy to be completely scrapped, the party spokesperson claimed that the move to introduce the policy was part of a con-spiracy to establish one-party politics. He also urged that all journalists resist the broadcast policy.

Speaking about the Gaza issue, the BNP leader said 1,800 people have so far been killed in Gaza. He also urged the United Nations, Organisation of Is-lamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League to play a greater role in the is-sue.

The issues were discussed at yester-day’s meeting, where the BNP Stand-ing Committee members gathered to discuss the course of their future pro-grammes. l

Ivy, Shamim to be questionedin Narayanganj seven murdersn Mohosinul Karim

Narayanganj City Corporation Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy and MP Shamim Os-man from Narayanganj-4 constituency will be quizzed today and tomorrow, respectively, for the sensational seven murder case in Narayanganj.

A seven-member probe body will question them at the secretariat, said AKM Mohiuddin, deputy secretary of the Public Administration Ministry and also member secretary of the probe committee.

Ivy will be interrogated at 10am to-day and Shamim at 11:30am tomorrow at the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital, he said.

On May 6, as per a High Court direc-

tive, the public administration minis-try formed the probe body to investi-gate the abduction and killing of seven people in Narayanganj.

Additional Secretary of the minis-try Shahjahan Ali Mollah is leading the committee which is comprised of three o� cials from public administration ministry, two o� cials from home minis-try and two o� cials from law ministry.

Earlier, the probe body interrogat-ed former deputy commissioner of Narayanganj Monoj Kanti Boral and Superintendent of Police Nurul Islam in connection with the case.

Sources in the committee said the investigation was almost over and they hope to submit the investigation report to the High Court by the end of next month.

The probe body plans to question Nur Hossain, the prime accused in the case, shortly, who is currently serving time at a Kolkata jail.

On April 27, Narayanganj panel may-or Nazrul Islam, his three associates and chau� eur were abducted by mis-creants from Fatullah area of Narayan-ganj.

Hours after their abduction, senior lawyer of district Judge’s Court Chan-dan Kumar Sarker and his chau� eur were also abducted on their way to Dhaka.

Three days after their abduction, on April 30, the bodies of the six people were found � oating in the Shitalakkhya River, while another body was recov-ered on May 1. l

Ebola screening PAGE 1 COLUMN 4In a press release, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim asked citizens not to panic, but to remain alert. Claiming that the government has taken highest precautionary preparation to prevent Ebola, the minister said screening steps have been taken to ensure that Ebola-infected are not able to enterthe country without proper health check up.

Dr Mahmudur Rahman, director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told the Dhaka Tribune that Bangladesh is facing a third-stage infection risk,

meaning there was small risk of Ebola infection in the country.

According to the WHO, the a� ected four countries are facing the � rst-stage risk, while their neighbouring countries are facing the second-stage risk.

Among others, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan, State Minister for Health Zahid Maleque, Director General of health services Dr Din Mohammed Nural Hoque, Bangladesh Medical Association Secretary General Dr M Iqbal Arslan, and IEDCR Director Mahmudur Rahman were present at yesterday’s inter-ministerial meeting. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

Four-day remand granted against 19 Jamaat-Shibir menn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday granted 4-day remand against 19 Jamaat-Shibir lead-ers and activists, including Jamaat-e-Is-lami central leader and former Chhatra Shibir president Sha� qul Islam Masud, in a case � led with Mohammadpur po-lice station.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ataul Haque passed the order after Sub-In-spector Saiful Islam produced them be-fore the court, seeking a 10-day remand each for interrogation.

The defence lawyer had also � led bail petition for his clients, but the court passed the order, rejecting the bail petition.

Earlier on Saturday, police arrested the 19 at a house in the capital’s Mo-hammadpur area around 8:30pm while the detainees were holding a secret meeting. Later, a case was � led with Mohammadpur police station in this regard.

The other detainees are Ziaul Hasan, Mahabubur Rahman, Abbas Miah, Kamrul Hasan, Sagir, Lokman, Syed Ahmad Ali, Ibrahim, Al-Amin, Mahe Alam, Yusuf, Ibrahim Monir, Mazraul Islam, Habib, Abdul halim, Nur Amin, Monir Hossain and Mosh� que. l

Charge against Mirza Abbas in blast case dropped n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday discharged BNP’s newly-appointed Dhaka City Convener and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas from a 2010 case involving a bomb blast that injured three RAB members during a hartal.

Dhaka’s Additional Chief Metro-politan Magistrate Alamgir Kabir Raj passed the order and indicted 19 others after a hearing.

The BNP leader’s name was dropped as no witness had mentioned his name as accused while testifying before the investigation o� cer. Police pressed the charge sheet on July 22, 2012 accusing 20 people.

Defence counsel Joynal Abedin Mes-bah � led a discharge petition mention-ing that there is no allegation against Abbas.

After a hearing, the court ordered to discharge him and framed charge against 19 other accused. It also � xed October 16 for recording depositions of prosecution witnesses.

The case was � led with Motijheel police station on June 27, 2010.

According the case statement, ac-tivists from a procession, brought out by the BNP-Jamaat-Shibir men, hurled handmade bombs at police in Rajar-bagh Police Lines area on that day.

Three members of Rapid Action Battal-ion were injured in the incident.

Abbas was accused in the case as an abetter.

Meanwhile, another Dhaka court yesterday deferred the charge framing hearing in three cases � led against BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 89 others upon time petitions � led by the defence.

Metropolitan Magistrate Tarique Mainul Islam Bhuiyan set September 2 for the Shahjahanpur police case while August 24 and September 3 for the oth-er cases � led with Paltan police.

The court also issued an arrest war-rant against 12 BNP leaders including its Students’ A� airs Secretary Sha-hiduddin Chowdhury Annie for not ap-pearing before the court.

Among the 90 accused, at least 55 BNP leaders and activists including Mirza Fakhrul appeared before the court during the hearing.

The Detective Branch of Police sub-mitted charge sheet in the three cases on March 27 last year.

The three cases were � led under the Speedy Trial Tribunal Act for creating panic among people, torching vehicles and preventing police from discharging their duties during a rally in front of the BNP’s Nayapaltan o� ce on March 2. l

Bangladesh and US seek to bridge political gapn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh and the US will try to re-duce their political gap in the third partnership dialogue to be held in Washington.

“We will be holding the third dia-logue in the third week of October,” Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.

Bangladesh and the US enjoy a love and hate relationship as Washington praises Dhaka as a moderate, secular and pluralistic society and calls it an increasingly important trading partner and destination for US investment.

On the other hand, Washington has remained concerned about the state of democracy and human rights vio-lations in Bangladesh and termed the parliamentary elections of January 5 as undeniably � awed.

The US has said that Bangladesh’s

main political parties urgently need to engage in constructive dialogue that leads to a more representative govern-ment.

“We have shared views and at the same time di� erences of opinions,” said an o� cial of the Bangladesh for-eign ministry.

The political relationship is the most important and the two countries will sit together and sort out their di� erences in this regard, he said.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and US Secretary of State John Kerry had an opportunity to meet each other at a reception at the ASEAN ministerial meeting in Myanmar Saturday where they brie� y discussed issues of mutual interest, he added.

“This short meeting will have an im-pact on the next partnership dialogue,” the o� cial said.

The foreign secretary will have talks

with his counterpart, Wendy Sherman, the under secretary for political a� airs.

The countries held the third security dialogue in Dhaka in April where they discussed cooperation in the security area.

“The decisions taken at the security dialogue will be placed in the partner-ship dialogue for review,” the o� cial said.

Anti-terrorism, natural disasters, climate change, defence cooperation, arms purchases and other security is-sues were discussed in the security di-alogue.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador-desig-nate Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, at a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations committee in July said: “The strong US-Bangladesh relationship allows us to discuss our di� erences, when they occur, in a spirit of candour and openness.”

She expressed grave concerns about the January 5 elections, the confronta-tional political situation, political vio-lence, attacks on religious and ethnic minorities, and extra-judicial killings committed by security forces.

“I will work hard to support ef-forts to promote accountability and strengthen human rights and democra-cy in Bangladesh,” she said.

Bangladesh is a focus country for three of the President Barack Obama’s key development e� orts - Global Health, Global Climate Change, and Feed the Future, she added.

About Bangladesh’s commitment to holding trials of war criminals, she said: “The United States supports bringing to justice those who commit-ted atrocities in the 1971 war, but those trials should be fair and transparent, and in accordance with international standards.” l

Defence: Qaisar Bahini did not exist in ’71n Udisa Islam

The defence of alleged war criminal Syed Mohammad Qaisar yesterday claimed that there had been no collab-orators’ group named “Qaisar Bahini” in Habiganj during the 1971 Liberation War.

While placing arguments at the International Crimes Tribunal 2, SM Shahjahan said there had been no re-ality to form such group by his client, a former state minister during HM Er-shad’s regime.

“There was no existence of ‘Qais-ar Bahini’ in Habiganj which used to accompany the Pakistani occupation forces in committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War,” he said adding that the prosecu-tion had failed to prove the case.

During the second day of arguments, the defence counsel fumbled several times in the face of repeated questions

by the tribunal. Shahjahan had failed to stay on track during his submission.

Qaisar was indicted on February 2 on 16 charges of crimes against human-ity. A total of 32 prosecution witnesses testi� ed against the accused. The de-fence refused to present any witness to defend their client.

The defence claimed that during the war, Madhabpur area had been under the surveillance of Protirodh Com-mittee (resistance committee), led by Manik Chowdhury. His close aide was Madhabpur police o� cer Moslem Ud-din. “Then, how can individual Qaisar form a bahini [force]?”

At the end of arguments, the tri-bunal asked the defence to complete their submission anyhow by tomorrow saying: “If you do not place your argu-ments quickly, you will be the looser. Then we will have to stop you.”

After the whole day session, the tri-bunal adjourned the trial until today

keeping the argument incomplete.On Thursday, Shahjahan in the be-

ginning of the argument questioned the investigation process.

The defence also refuted the claims made by prosecution witness Tajul Is-lam, who identi� ed himself as a mem-ber of “Qaisar Bahini” saying that such group had not existed.

According to the prosecution, Qais-ar, 30/35 years’ old during the war, had

formed “Qaisar Bahini” comprising 500-700 men and committed crimes against humanity in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria areas.

Qaisar was involved in the crimes as an individual or as a member of an individual group along with the Paki-stani occupation forces, the prosecu-tion says. His father and uncle were in-volved with the politics of Convention Muslim League.

“Qaisar Bahini” had acted like the notorious razakar force that collaborat-ed with the Pakistani occupation forces.

“After the war, the accused could not be found anywhere until the brutal killings of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mu-jibur Rahman and his family members in 1975. Before and after that time he was working with the anti-liberation groups. The accused took part in the elections of 1979 and 1986,” prosecutor Rana Dasgupta said during the closing argument session. l

Certi� cates of 31 fake FFs scrappedn Mohosinul Karim

In less than a month, the government has cancelled 31 more fake freedom � ghter certi� cates of public servants including a joint secretary and a senior o� cial of Bangladesh Bank.

The Liberation War A� airs Ministry issued a gazette noti� cation yesterday regarding the matter following the ap-proval of the National Council of Free-dom Fighters, widely known as Jatiya Muktijoddha Council (Jamuka).

The certi� cates of 35 other public servants were scrapped on July 21.

The steps were taken after those certi� cates had been proved to be false in the investigations conducted by the National Security Intelligence and the district administrations.

According to the gazette, it was found that the 31 o� cials and persons, who had taken provisional certi� cates from the ministry, were not real free-dom � ghters.

The high o� cials whose certi� cates have been cancelled are Joint Secretary Mahbubul Alam, who was placed un-

der the Public Administration Ministry for further posting; Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Md Abdul Hamid; LGED Project Director SM Selim; De-partment of Public Health Engineer-ing’s Supervising Engineer Md Sirajul Islam; Water Development Board’s Ex-ecutive Engineer Md Saidur Rahman; and Civil Aviation Authority Director AKM Ataul Islam.

The certi� cates of Benapole Tax O� cer Md Nazmul Kabir; Dhaka’s tax o� cers Nilufa Sultana and Mostaq Ahmed; Chittagong tax o� ce’s retired stenotypist Alamgir Kabir Chowdhury; Chittagong Port Authority’s Chief As-sistant Khan Sirajul Islam; its Lower Division Assistant Md Alauddin and former security inspector Fayez Kabir; Chittagong’s SI Niranjan Kumar Roy and Narsingdi’s Tally Clerk Md Abdur Rouf were also cancelled.

Gazipur’s Sub-Registrar Jasim Ud-din Md Tou� k Elahi and Sylhet Dis-trict Registry O� ce’s Chief Assistant Md Masudul Haque; Kapasia’s Food Inspector Md Abdul Malek; Nabab-ganj Upazila Health Complex former

accountant Abdul Mannan; Faridpur Road Sub-Division’s Sub Assistant En-gineer KM Abul Hossain; Narsingdi’s Assistant Agriculture Extension O� cer Md Asaduzzaman and Bangladesh Ag-riculture Development Board’s retired accounts o� cers Manisha Ranjan Roy and SM Alauddin are among others who took provisional certi� cates from the ministry claiming that they had joined the 1971 Liberation War.

The government school teachers whose certi� cates were cancelled are assistant teachers of Norerkanda Prima-ry School Abdur Rouf Mollah, Soratoil Primary School’s Matiar Rahman, West Shahpur Primary School’s Muhiuddin Morol; and Headmaster Khogendra Nath Saha of Badarghata Primaray School. The certi� cates of Ha� zur Rahman, Wali Ahmed and Dr Minal Kanti Mitra were also cancelled for the same reason.

Many of the o� cials have already lost jobs while others will face depart-mental action. So far, a total of 147 fake certi� cates of public servants have been cancelled since 2009. The govern-ment is probing 500 other allegations. l

JS body: No constitutional bar to using term Adivasin Mushfi que Wadud

Members of the parliamentary caucus on indigenous peoples yesterday said they had seen no constitutional bar on the use of “Adivasi” or the term “indigenous.”

“I do not think that there is any con-stitutional bar to use the term Adivasi. We will continue using it in our caucus’ name,” Fazle Hasan Badsha, convenor of the caucus, said during a meeting at the National Museum auditorium.

The Press Information Department on August 7 issued a release urging the people to avoid the word “Adivasi” at discussions and talk-shows on the In-ternational Day of the World’s Indige-nous Peoples observed on Saturday.

Badsha said some over-enthusiastic o� cials were doing this. “I do not think that the government high-ups have any involvement with this statement.”

Chairman of Parliamentary Stand-

ing Committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts A� airs Ministry RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury said he also be-lieved that an over enthusiastic group within the government had done it. “I went through the constitution and did not � nd anything that creates obstacles in using the term ‘Adivasi,’” he said.

Speaking at the meeting, another caucus member AKM Fazlul Haque urged his colleagues to take steps with a view to uphold the rights of the indige-nous people in using the term “Adivasi.”

Chairman of the CHT Regional Coun-cil Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma said everyone had delivered positive words but they brought no concrete result.

“The CHT Peace Accord has not been implemented in the last 17 years,” he said adding that the present govern-ment in its two terms had not taken any steps against the military rule imposed in the CHT region for the last 43 years. l

Ex-o� cial of Sky Distributions under ACC scannern Tribune Report

The Anti-Corruption Commission has decided to launch an inquiry against a former o� cial of lubricant importer Sky Distributions for his alleged in-volvement in embezzling Tk17 lakh.

In a regular meeting, the commis-sion appointed two of its o� cials for the inquiry against former senior mar-keting o� cer of Sky Distributions Su-mon Kumer Ray, an ACC o� cial told re-porters at ACC headquarters yesterday.

ACC Assistant Director Saiful Islam will investigate the allegations while its Deputy Director Jatan Kumer Ray will supervise the inquiry.

While working with Sky Distri-butions, the accused embezzled Tk17,28,711 from his o� ce. l

Reshu� e within tribunal prosecution team beginsn Udisa Islam

Just three days after the Law Minis-try relieved AKM Saiful Islam, anoth-er prosecutor Mir Iqbal Hossain, who has been absent at work for nearly six months, yesterday voluntarily stepped down on grounds of health.

Now the prosecution team of the International Crimes Tribunal has 19 counsels. One of them, Noor Jahan, be-came parliament member in January.

Some members of the prosecution team take it as part of the reshu� ing process hinted at by the law minister recently. They think the ministry may take more initiatives to reorganise the prosecution team.

Mir Iqbal, who joined the prosecu-tion team on April 29, 2012, submitted his resignation letter to the law minis-ter mentioning that it was not possible for him to continue the job as a prose-cutor because of his poor health, said Hrishikesh Saha, a senior prosecutor.

Iqbal never conducted any case except for the one against Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami. He had handed over the responsibility of the case to one of his junior colleagues during the preliminary stage reportedly due to his lack of capacity to conduct the case. Later prosecutor Mohammad Ali conducted the case.

O� cially, Iqbal remained absent from his duties since late April when he had submitted an application to the chief prosecutor seeking one-month leave from May 1. But after the leave period expired, no one knows whether the prosecutor sought an extension.

However, acting chief prosecutor Haider Ali claimed that Iqbal used to keep contact with the team.

A mid-level prosecutor said the min-istry did not want to reform the team harshly but knew that it was needed. “So it is taking action one by one and staying away from criticisms.” l

Workers from the Tuba Group queue up in front of the BGMEA building yesterday to collect their outstanding wages for the month of July SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

One held with 20 fake Tk1,000 notes n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Police held a person yesterday with 20 counterfeit notes of Tk1,000 denomi-nations in Chittagong’s Bakalia area.

Tajuddin alias Masud, 23, is a list-ed forged note trader, OC Mohammad Mohsin of Bakalia police station said. He was arrested in Rahattarpul area around 9am. A case was � led. Two oth-ers were arrested on Saturday with fake notes.

Police say a total of 143 listed peo-ple are involved in the counterfeit note trading across the city and adjoining areas. l

Accused Qaisar was involved in the crimes along with Pakistani occupation forces. His father and uncle were involved with Convention Muslim League

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

Salma Sobhan’s 77th birth anniversary todayn Adil Sakhawat

Today is the 77th birth an-niversary of the country’s human rights pioneer Bar-rister Salma Sobhan. Born on this day in 1937 she was the founding executive di-rector of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK).

Marking her birth anni-versary, ASK has taken var-ious initiatives.

Paying homage to its founding executive direc-tor, ASK organised a cultural and reminiscent programme at the capital’s Chayanat Au-ditorium yesterday.

As Salma Sobhan had a special love for children, ASK arranged the pro-gramme with child partici-pants from its drop-in cen-tres.

Children from Moham-madpur, Mirpur, Goran, Shantibug drop-in centres participated in the pro-gramme and performed pa-triotic songs, dances, poem recitations, and staged dra-mas.

Recalling Salma Sobhan at the programme, Advocate Sultana Kamal, now exec-

utive director of ASK, said: “Salma Apa is remembered by all of us at ASK through our everyday activities. She founded ASK and worked hard for the organisation, but never took any salary.”

“She dreamed that every-one would advocate human rights passionately. As she loved children the most, she had been working to estab-lish child rights throughout her life.”

Senior lawyer ZI Panna Khan, another colleague of Salma Sobhan, said: “Salma Apa was a non-communal and democratic woman. She worked for those women who were deprived of their rights. She was a pioneer in raising her voice against all kinds of inhumane activi-ties.”

At the end of the pro-gramme, ASK awarded some children for best drawings.

In her distinguished ca-reer, Salma Sobhan served as a teacher at the Univer-sity of Dhaka for 19 years. She worked hard to spread education in remote areas of Bangladesh and prepared paralegal projects for Brac.

She was involved with numerous international human and women’s rights organisations like Asia Pa-ci� c Forum for Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Women Living Under Mus-lim Laws (WLUML), etc.

Just before she died on December 30, 2003, she had been selected as a board member for Research Insti-tute for Social Development under United Nations. l

Report on Bangladesh's environment and climate change publishedn Tribune Report

The government yesterday published the Bangladesh Environment and Cli-mate Change Outlook 2012 report which is a compilation of the current status of the country’s environmental situation.

The report, produced by the Depart-ment of Environment (DoE), includes the status of di� erent themes like land resources, water resources, biodiversi-ty, air quality, waste management and climate change.

DoE Director General Raisul Alam Mondol said the current report tried to identify the link between the negative impacts of climate change and di� erent sectors of the environment. It would help the government to take sustainable measures toward stopping environmental degradation, he added.

It identi� ed the ways to do so and to ensure sustainable development in the country, he added, while addressing the launching programme at the city’s

Cirdap auditorium.As a signatory nation of Agenda 21,

which was taken in Earth Summit 1992 to protect the global environment from degradation, the DoE has produced the report as part of the country’s environ-mental status submission procedure to the United Nations Environment Pro-gramme (UNEP).

Earlier in 2001, the country prepared its � rst environment outlook which was named State of Environment Re-port 2001. l

HC rule to protect Tagore's Kachharibari n Ahmed Zayeef

The High Court yesterday directed the government to stop the construction of a private building near the home of No-bel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tago-re. It is considered as an archaeological site, known as Kacharibari, at Shahjad-pur in Sirajganj.

The bench, comprising of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Akram Hos-sain Chowdhury, also asked the au-thorities to send a compliance report

in 4 weeks regarding the stoppage of construction of the building by Yarn Merchant Association.

The court also issued a rule asking the government and the association chairman to explain why they should not be directed to protect the archae-ological site by removing the illegal structure.

The bench passed the order after hearing a writ petition � led on August 7 by Human Rights and Peace for Bangla-desh, referring to recent newspapers

reports that the beauty of the archaeo-logical site was being destroyed by the construction of a � ve-storey building by Yarn Merchant Association in viola-tion of the law.

The petitioner's lawyer Manzill Mur-shid said: “Yarn Merchant Association has reportedly raised a � ve-storey build-ing within 10 feet of Kacharibari. The ad-ministration sent several notices since 2009 to stop the construction work. However, they continued constructing the building, ignoring the notices.” l

Idcol to set up solar irrigation pumpsn Aminur Rahman Rasel

The Infrastructure Development Com-pany Limited (Idcol) signed a � nancing agreement yesterday with the Mazand Consortium Limited (MCL) for setting up � ve solar irrigation pumps in Jes-sore and Jhenaidah.

“Under the project, the MCL will in-stall four pumps in Jessore and one in Jhenaidah, which is expected to pro-vide water to 1,556 bigha land for irri-gation,” Executive Director and CEO of

Idcol Mahmood Malik told the Dhaka Tribune.

Idcol is a public limited compa-ny and a non-bank � nancial institu-tion fully owned by the government, which is one of the leaders in ener-gy and infrastructure � nancing inBangladesh.

The project worth Tk25.13 crore will be � nanced by the Idcol – 40% of the cost as soft loan and 40% as grant under Idcol’s renewable energy pro-gramme. On the other hand, the fund

for the grant and loan will be sourced from the Japan International Coopera-tion Agency and the World Bank.

Meanwhile, sources said Idcol had a target of � nancing a total of 1,550 solar irrigation pumps to replace the existing diesel operated pumps in rural areas by 2016.

According to Idcol, Bangladesh has more than 1.4 million irrigation pumps using about 800,000 tonnes of diesel, requiring a $120 million subsidy annually. l

Grim wait at DMCH haemodialysis unitn Moniruzzman Uzzal

The haemodialysis unit of the DMCH, where there is a severe shortage of hae-modialysis machines, faces a tragic but unavoidable predicament: it can admit new patients from a waiting list only when an under-treatment patient dies.

With only 16 haemodialysis ma-chines available for over 450 enlisted renal failure patients, the authorities concerned at the haemodialysis unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) have little to no options at hand. Working around-the-clock in three shifts, the unit can provide dial-ysis services to a maximum of 30-40 patients in a single day.

The unit is unable to accommodate all those who need the treatment as every patient needs to undergo two to three dialysis treatments a week.

Nephrologists said regular haemodi-alysis treatments or kidney transplants were the only two end-stage options for patients who have had both kidneys fail. As the kidney transplant process was comparatively more expensive, and the collection of a kidney from a blood relative was also a complicated procedure; most patients wanted to take the haemodialysis treatment.

Dr Nizamuddin Chowdhury, head of the haemodialysis unit, told the Dha-ka Tribune that the limited number of machines meant they could not o� er dialysis to at least 150 patients on their waiting list. “We have nothing to do unless a patient is dead,” he added.

When asked about the fate of the patients who fail to get admitted to the DMCH haemodialysis unit, Dr Nizam said those who could a� ord it usually went to private dialysis centres, while others who did not have the � nancial ability had no other option but to stop their own treatment and ultimately die.

“We need more haemodialysis ma-chines. We have applied for 15 more machines and other accessories. If we get it, we would provide dialysis ser-vices to more kidney patients,” the chief of the haemodialysis unit said.

Compared to other hospitals, the DMCH reportedly o� ers more a� ord-able haemodialysis treatments. For six months of treatment, the DMCH haemodialysis unit charges around Tk25,000 to each patient; while it costs each patient Tk40,000 to Tk50,000 per month to receive treatment from the private sector facilities.

Brig Gen Dr Musta� zur Rahman, director of the DMCH said the hospi-tal had long been planning to set up an ideal haemodialysis unit, but was unable to do so because there only lim-ited space was available at the unit to accommodate new machines.

However, there was now enough space available after the unit was re-cently shifted to DMCH 2. Requisition requests for 15 new machines have already been submitted to the health directorate, the DMCH director added.

Visiting the haemodialysis unit yes-terday, the Dhaka Tribune spoke to Ab-dur Rashid, the son of a kidney patient, who said his father � nally got an ap-pointment for treatment after a gruelling wait of four months. However, there are still hundreds more who wait their turn to get a� ordable treatment at the unit.

Kidney failures reportedly cause around 40,000 deaths in Bangladesh each year, with more than 90% pa-tients dying without receiving proper treatment. l

Mozena: No simple solution to tackle the drug monstern Tribune Report

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena said illicit drug is a heinous monster everywhere in the world and there is no easy way to tackle it.

Speaking at the opening ceremo-ny of “Prevention of illicit drug use and treatment of drug use disorders for children and adolescents at risk,” a training and workshop programme for drug addicts, he said it preyed on the minds and bodies of vulnerable peo-ple, including children, young adults, mature people, boys and girls, rich and poor.

“There is no magic wand, no sim-ple solution to helping people steer clear of the drug monster, but there are

some things that we can do to address the myriad of social, psychological and � nancial security and other forces that induce individuals to be lured by the quick � x o� ered by drugs,” he said.

He urged all to � nd the way to avoid the trap of drug abuse and to save those who were already addicted to drugs.

The opening ceremony took place yesterday at the Catholic Bishops’ Con-ference of Bangladesh Centre in the capital.

Apon, a non-government addiction rehabilitation centre in Mohammad-pur, is organising the workshop, which is being funded by the United Nations O� ce on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).

Brother Ronald Drahuzole, execu-tive director of Apon, presided over

the opening ceremony, while Elizabeth Mat� eld, co-coordinator of the drug dependency programme at UNODC, Nazmul Ahsan Majumder, director (treatment and rehabilitation) of at the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), ABM Kamrul Ahsan, program co-coordinator of UNODC, and Dr M Enamul Hoque, former director of the DNC, spoke at the event, among others.

Nazmul Ahsan Majumder said the number of drug addicts was high, but there were only four public addiction treatment centres with 65 beds – 40 beds at the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre in Tejgaon and the rest outside Dhaka.

There are no treatment facilities

for women and child drug users in the public centres, he said.

“The DNC has given licences to 100 private drug rehabilitation centres to treat the drug users. We are about to complete a 250-bed public hospital in Tejgaon,” he added.

ABM Kamrul Ahsan said more than 700,000 children, adolescents and their families lived on the streets, and around 50% of them were victims of drug abuse, according to the Bureau of Statistics. Most of them do not have ac-cess to proper healthcare.

Brother Ronald Drahuzole said a huge number of boys and girls under age 10 were unattended. Most of them were involved in drug-related crimes and other practices. l

Artistes perform at a cultural programme at the Chhayanaut Auditorium yesterday, organised by Ain O Salish Kendra to mark the 77th birth anniversary of its founding executive director Salma Sobhan MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Although buses are not allowed to carry extra passengers on their roofs, bus drivers and helpers often � out rules to make more money by letting people sit on the top. The pictured BRTC bus is carrying passengers on the roof right under the nose of police yesterday at Rajshahi’s Kamaruzzaman Chattar AZAHAR UDDIN

Kidney failures reportedly cause around 40,000 deaths in Bangladesh each year

WEATHER

DRIZZLE

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:09am Sunrise 5:30am Zohr 12:05am Asr 4:44pm Magrib 6:39pm Esha 8:00pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:35PM SUN RISES 5:32AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW34.5ºC 25.7ºCSylhet Rangamati

MONDAY, AUGUST 11

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 32 28Chittagong 30 26Rajshahi 33 26Rangpur 33 26Khulna 32 26Barisal 31 26Sylhet 32 25Cox’s Bazar 29 26

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

CNG auto-rickshaws continue to charge extra, defying government rulesn Abu Hayat Mahmud

Although it has been more than a de-cade since the government introduced the billing meters in CNG auto-rick-shaw in order to regulate fares, most auto-rickshaw drivers continue to charge high fares from passengers due to the negligence of the authorities.

Most residents in the capital and other major cities in the country say there is no bene� t from the gov-ernment initiative as auto-rickshaw drivers had been forcing passengers to pay almost double than the gov-ernment-� xed fare rates, even for a short journey.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, many passengers blamed law enforcment agencies and o� cials at the Bangla-desh Road Transport Authority for fail-ing to implement the digital metering system in CNG auto-rickshaws.

Shahdat Hossain, employee of a pri-vate company, said: “This is nothing new, auto-rickshaw drivers never fol-lowed the meter readings and always charge abnormally-high fares from the passengers. But, the tra� c police and BRTA authority apparently took no steps to put an end to this mass irreg-ularity.”

“Now, these auto-rickshaws charge a minimum fare of Tk120 to Tk150 for any journey and often refuse short-dis-tance trips,” he added.

However, auto-rickshaw drivers mainly claimed that vehicle owners now charge them much higher than the government-� xed rate, forcing them to charge higher fares from the passengers.

They also told the Dhaka Tribune that although the government had � xed the daily vehicle rent at Tk600, most vehicle owners charge as much as Tk1,000 daily from the drivers.

According to BRTA’s latest fare

chart, updated in 2011, the fare for � rst 2km was � xed at Tk25, Tk7 for each subsequent kilometre and Tk1.25 per minute for stand-by.

Admitting the problem, Dhaka Met-ropolitan CNG-run Auto-rickshaw Ma-lik Samity Oikya Parishad President Barkat Ullah Bhulu said: “Presently, the extra fares are being realised con-sidering the price hike of necessary goods.”

He also said a proposal was sub-

mitted to the government to set the deposit money at Tk900 from Tk600, and to also increase the minimum fare and the per kilometre charge.

However, many commuters said there were no logical reasons to justi-fy charging such abnormal fares from passengers, adding that most au-to-rickshaw drivers charge almost tri-ple the normal fare during rush hours.

“City dwellers, especially service holders and students, have become hostage to the whims of these au-to-rickshaw drivers. During rush hours, they make absurd fare demands which makes it impossible for people like us to be abe to a� ord it,” said Tania Islam, a university student.

In April, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader declared that the gov-ernment has no plans to raise fare rates of CNG-run auto-rickshaws.

When asked, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner (Tra� c) Moslem Uddin told the Dhaka Tri-bune: “We have been monitoring the situation. If an auto-rickshaw driver charges more than the fare rate, the commuter can seek help from tra� c police o� cials in the area.”

“The helpline number of the tra� c control room has been written down on the back of every CNG-run au-to-rickshaw. If a commuter needs help, he or she can contact the control room over the phone,” he added. l

Khulna 4-lane road project advances slowly n Our Correspondent, Khulna

The project to elevate the Khulna ship-yard road into four lanes was granted approval 14 months ago but o� cials are still uncertain about when the con-struction work will begin.

Land for the project has yet to be ac-quired and there are also complexities regarding the acquisition documents.

Mizanur Rahman Mizan, lawmaker for Khulna 2 constituency, recently ex-pressed discontent over the slow prog-ress of the project.

Khulna Development Authority (KDA) proposed turning the road, from Rupsha River to Khan Jahan Ali Bridge, into a four-lane one as it is too narrow for vehicular movement.

Implementation of the project re-quires acquisition of 2.895 acres of land on both sides of the road, but the process is mired in complexities. Of-� cials spent a year dealing with cases � led over the lands to be acquired, and preparing maps and other necessary documents.

The KDA applied to the district ad-ministration, seeking permission for acquisition in April this year, but did not have all the required papers. Prepa-ration of documents is now underway.

KDA caretaker engineer Kazi Sabir-ul Alam said: “There were some com-plexities regarding the acquisition of land and it took us time to sort those

out. However, I do not think this can be termed slow progress as any project involves initial complexities and hassles.”

“We are working on the problems in collaboration with the district admin-istration and I hope everything will be resolved within a month,” he said.

“Tk50 crore has been allocated this year for land acquisition and compen-sation purposes. We will get an addi-tional Tk12.5 crore in the � rst install-ment when we initiate the project. When the project received approval, its duration was estimated to be two years. However, it will require a one-year extension after experts are ap-pointed for the main part of the work,” added the engineer.

Meanwhile, Deputy Project Direc-tor Arman Hossain is verifying the prepared documents and it will take two more weeks to complete. The pa-pers will then be sent for ministerial approval.

The project, involving an estimated Tk98,90,48,000 in expenses, received the nod of approval on May 7 last year, and is supposed to be implemented by June next year.

The project includes beauti� cation of footpaths in addition to developing the road which measures 3.778km in length and 60ft in width. The 92m me-dian strip will be beauti� ed with � ow-ers to make it eye-catching. l

USTC resumes after 82 daysn CU Correspondent

The academic activities and adminis-trative work of University of Science and Technology Chittagong (USTC) re-sumed yesterday after more than two months, following a demonstration programme by university sta� , teach-ers and o� cers in May.

Professor Rezaul Karim, vice-chan-cellor (VC) of USTC, said the teachers, students, o� cers and employees had

already joined their respective work stations. “Though very few classes were held today [yesterday], full-� edged ac-ademic activities will resume from to-morrow [Monday],” he added.

Earlier, all academic activities of USTC were suspended after a four-hour work abstention programme was held on May 18 by teachers, doctors, sta� and o� cials of the university, de-manding the implementation of ser-vice rules. l

5 held with foreign currencies at Dhaka airport n Tribune Report

Foreign currencies worth around Tk86 lakh were recovered from Hazrat Shah-jalal International Airport during the early hours of yesterday.

Airport Armed Police Battalion ar-rested � ve Malaysia-bound passengers in this regard.

The detained are Maksudur Rah-man, 38, Rajon Shikder, 40, Sumon Shikder, 40, Ra� qul Islam, 40 and Ba-dol Khan, 44.

Around 12:50am, they were de-tained from boarding bridge 1x of the airport. They were hiding the curren-cies inside their socks and on di� erent parts of their bodies, said Alamgir Hos-sain Shimul, assistant superintendent of the airport police.

The recovered currencies include US dollar, Malaysian ringgit, Saudi Arabian riyal and UAE dirham.

A case was � led with the Airport po-lice station in this regard.

Shimul said: “Of the detainees, two are twins and the rest are local busi-nessmen. Police also discovered hid-den holes

ºin their shoes, which indicates that they were planning to smuggle gold by using that money.”

Legal actions would be taken against them, he said. l

Schoolgirl injured after plaster from school ceiling falls n Our Correspondent, Barisal

A schoolgirl was injured yesterday as the plaster from the school ceiling fell on her during school hours at Puranpa-ra Secondary School in Barisal.

The victim was identi� ed as Suravi Aktar, 13, an eighth grade student at the school.

Banani Chowdhury, headmaster of the school, said the injured girl was rushed to Barisal General Hospital at 12:30pm by the school authorities.

After necessary examinations, x-rays and treatment, Suravi was sent home with some medicine.

The headmaster said:“The school building was constructed in 1994 and most of the classrooms have been in dilapidated condition for a long time now. “

“We had informed higher author-ities about the condition of the build-ing several times but to no avail. The teachers and students of the school are at risk,” she added.

Abul Bashar, executive engineer of Education Engineering Department of Barisal, said he was informed about the incident and will investigate the matter further. l

No change in port city’s roads even after minister’s discontentn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) still remains negligent about the repair works of roads even after Commu-nications Minister Obaidul Quader’s expressed his discontent over their sorry state.

Recently, the communications minister came down heavily on CCC o� cials after witnessing the rundown state of roads during a visit. He also termed the port city as unlivable.

During a visit to di� erent parts of the city, the Dhaka Tribune found potholes had developed on many city roads, in-cluding Airport road, Kapasgola road, Station road, Kadamtoli road, BRTC road, CDA road, SS Kahled road, Hazi Chand Mia road, Panshlaish road, MM Ali road, Momin road, Jamalkhan road, Mehedibag road, OR Nizam road, KB Fazlul Kader road, KB Abdus Sat-tar road, Sheikh Mujib road, DT road, Agrabad Access road, PC road, Halisha-har road, Artillery road, Tara Gate road and Fida Pukur road.

Alam Bepari, a rice trader in Khulna, said he had to pay additional money to transport rice from the port city to Khulna.

Omar Faruk, a businessman, said he was facing a huge loss as his prod-uct-laden vehicles could not move smoothly for the sorry state of the roads.

Nahima Akhter, an NGO o� cial, said she could not reach her workplace

as commuting to work had become very di� cult.

Salsabil Sumaiya, an SSC candidate, said she was always late for class even after starting two hours before for school because of the pitiful condition of Agrabad Access road and Port Con-nection road.

Nur Mohammad, a computer engineer, said the CCC repaired potholes of DT Road, Sheikh Mujib Road and Dewanhat Overpass with patchwork, but the a� ect-ed portions of the roads had been dam-aged again within a few days of repair.

Sharmin Akhter, a garment factory worker in the CEPZ, said she faced long tailback from her way to home after o� ce as vehicles could not run fast for the sorry state of road.

The transport owners said about 1,000 public vehicles out of 1,800 went

out of order because of the road. President Belayet Hossain Belal of

Chittagong Bus, Minibus and Human Hauler Owners’ Association said there was no new investment in the city ve-hicle service for bad shape of road.

“Taking the chance, un� t vehicles are plying city roads which have risks of accidents,” he said.

Moreover, the Chittagong Develop-ment Authority (CDA), the Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (CWASA), the Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Company Limited (BTCL) and other bodies are digging city roads for their respective developments works, but they do not have any coordination with each other.

Currently, the Chittagong Wasa is digging 24 city roads for setting up their pipeline.

Executive Engineer of the city cor-poration Ra� qul Islam said there were about 650 kilometres carpeting roads, 200 kilometres concrete roads, 100 ki-lometres brick-soling roads and 50 ki-lometres earthen roads in the port city.

Although city authority claimed that they need to repair 100 kilometres of road, the Dhaka Tribune in a recent visit across the city found that most of the city roads are in shabby state.

Mayor of the CCC Manjur said they would start renovation works after get-ting fund.

He also said they were doing their routine development works. l

Students of English vandalise department o� ce in CUn CU Correspondent

A group of students from the English department in Chittagong University, vandalised the department o� ce yes-terday, demanding to be allowed to at-tend the second year � nal examination.

The agitating students were barred from sitting in the exam, as they could not obtain pass marks in the � rst year � nals.

Earlier, 35 to 40 students of 2011-2012 session locked the exam halls from 10:30am to 1:30pm which result-ed in postponing the scheduled exam-ination, said department sources.

According to the sources, the sec-ond year � nal examination, course no -201 (Language-2), was scheduled to be held yesterday.

The students vandalised the win-dowpane, notice boards and � ower

pots on the second � oor of the Arts and Humanities faculty building, said O� cer-in-Charge of Hathazari Police Station Ismail Hossain.

Police and CU proctors’ body rushed to the spot and dispersed the demon-strating students around 11:45am, he added.

A total of 37 students, out of 87, had failed to obtain minimum pass mark in the � rst year � nal examination last year, but they demanded to sit for the second year � nal exam which is a vi-olation of the university rules and regulations, said Professor Azmeri Ara, chairman of English department in CU.

CU Proctor Professor Siraj-ud-Dow-la said they were looking into the mat-ter and trying to � nd a way out of the deadlock. l

Recently, the communications minister came down heavily on CCC o� cials after witnessing the rundown state of roads during a visit. He also termed the port city as unlivable

Fatema Rahman, a child participant in an art exhibition marking the 90th birth anniversary of artist SM Sultan, receives a crest from � lmmaker Catherine Masud at the Dhaka Art Centre yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Dowry-free marriage ushers in hope for society n Our Correspondent, Jessore

When the costly dowry system keeps a poor, marginalised woman from tying the knot, a mass dowry-free marriage is surely appreciated by such women. In addition, if that arrangement is made for free it is even more appreciated.

Dressed up in wedding � nery, Mon-iruzzaman was squatting at the Kuwait Islamic Yatim Complex inside Gazir Dargah beside the Jessore-Benapole highway yesterday.

He was happy that he was � nally getting married to a girl despite having been beset by � nancial constraints.

He said he would have been happier had his father been alive today. He is the third among his � ve brothers and three sisters.

Monir had hardly imagined being wed in the near future because he knew how much money one needs for a marriage nowadays.

The girl he was marrying is called Rumana. Her father is also very poor. He runs his family by working at other people’s � sh enclosures.

Considering her father’s poverty, Rumana had also never imagined get-ting married because she had known her father could barely a� ord to run

their family, let alone arrange her marriage.

When the Kuwait Joint Relief Commit-tee, Bangladesh O� ce came up with a proposal to arrange dow-ry-free marriag-es, both Monir and Rumana’s fears dissipated and both their families were elated.

Apart from this marriage, the charity or-ganisation ar-ranged for 19 other simultane-ous dowry-free marriages yester-day.

Sharjah Char-ity Director Mo-hammad Ham-

dan Al Jari, who came from the United Aram Emirates, project chief Moham-mad Abdur Rahman Ahmed Sa’Ab Ali and donors Yusuf Mohammad Kashim Mohammad Ali and Mrs Kashim Moham-mad Al Ali attended the mass marriage ceremony.

Mohammad Hamdan Al Jari said it was the � fth time they had arranged such a mass marriage. It would contin-ue even in the days to come.

Kuwait Islamic Yatim Complex ad-ministrative o� cer Mohammad Na-sirullah said they had conducted 260 marriages prior to yesterday’s 20. They had also taken on the responsibility of looking after these individuals as well as their marriages.

The charity would even bear the cost of educating the children born from these unions, he said.

Each of the 20 couples was given a rickshaw van, a sewing machine, a gold ornament etc which are necessary for running a family. They were also each given some money.

The 19 other couples were Bipul Biswas-Masura Khatun, Jahidul Is-lam-Mahmuda Akter Pinki, Almas Ali-Rabia Khatun, Miraj-Jahirun Khatun, Saiful Islam-Sathi Akter, Jamal Hossain-Shamoli Khatun, Ripon Hos-sain-Rumi Khatun, Tarikul Islam-Mar-jina Khatun, Mohorrom Ali- Kulshi-um Khatun, Rahman Hossain-Irani Khatun, Akter Hossain-Bristy Khatun, Jewel Rana-Shefali Khatun, Ra� qul Is-lam-Akhi Khatun, Mostofa Kamal-Ru-ma Akter, Hasan Ali-Sheuli Khatun, Ashikur Rahman-Shila Khatun, Ziaur Rahman-Farida Yasmin, Idris Ali-Mari-am Khatun and Mizanur Rahman-Shil-pi Khatun.

They all hail from various upazilas in Jessore and Magura. l

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

Scarce medicine hampers health service in Maguran Our Correspondent, Magura

Community clinics in Magura are fail-ing to provide proper health care to the patients because of acute scarcity of medicine.

Authorities concerned alleged that they were not being able to provide health services properly due to a lack of su� cient budget allocation for the community clinics. Chandana Datta, a house wife from Araishat village under Magura sadar, said she went to a com-munity clinic as she had been su� ering from respiratory problems.

“I received cordial behaviour and a proper prescription from the clinic, but no medicine. I do not have the ability to buy medicines from the pharmacies. Such service is meaningless to people like me,” she said.

Abu Taleb from Bongram village un-der Mohammadpur upazila said: “We avoid community clinics as prescribed medicines are hardly available there.”

Requesting anonymity, a commu-

nity health service provider at a clinic in Magura said only Tk29,820 was an-nually allocated for a community clinic to provide health services to around 6,000 people, an amount which was far below the standard allocation.

“Increasing medicine allotment can make the community health service an outstanding success,” he said.

When contacted, Magura Civil Sur-geon Shunil Chandra Roy, however, claimed that the acute crisis of medi-cine in the community clinics was not true, adding that the budget allocation for the community clinics had been in-creased in the 2014-15FY.

Community clinics were � rst intro-duced in Magura in 2000 to provide free health services to the people and a total of 95 community clinics were established that year in the district. However, the clinics remained closed for eight years till the clinics were reo-pened in 2009. Sources said the clinics had been facing an acute medicinal cri-sis since then. l

71 rescued while being tra� cked to Malaysian Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

Police rescued 71 passengers, who were being tra� cked to Malaysia, from Cox’s Bazar and the Bay of Bengal in the early hours of yesterday. Police also detained two tra� ckers and seized a trawler.

Shahidul Islam, in-charge of the coast guard station at Cox’s Bazar, said they acted on a tip-o� where they con-ducted a drive on the Sonadia Channel in the Bay of Bengal and rescued 56 passengers from a trawler.

Later, law enforcers detained 15 more passengers and two tra� ckers, from a hotel in the Kolatoli area. l

Outlawed party member shot dead n Our Correspondent, Tangail

An activist of Purba Banglar Commu-nist Party was shot dead by some un-known miscreants at Charhugra in Sa-dar upazila yesterday.

Akhtaruzzaman, o� cer-in-charge of Tangail model police station, said a gang of miscreants had opened � re on Abdul Haque Mandal alias Haquesab, 42, a resident of Dhulbari village of the upazila and an activist of Purbo Banglar Communist Party, Lal Pataka.

Later, the miscreants hacked him indiscriminately with sharp weapons.

Local people rescued him and took to Tangail Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead. l

Three die from drinking liquor n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

At least three people died yesterday after drinking locally made liquor at Gobindaganj upazila in Tangail district.

The upazila health o� cer Dr Shah Jahan said Jaharul Islam, 30, the son of Dulu Miah, Ripon Miah, 30, the son of Abdul Matin Miah of Boalia village and Sawpan Miah, 29, from Mokamtala, fell sick after drinking the liquor.

Later, they were sent to Sadar Upazila Health Complex from where they were shifted to Bogra Shahid Ziaur Rahman Medical Hospital. They died there. OC Abdur Rahman visited the spot. l

Illegal shops built along police station boundary wallsn Our Correspondent, Naogaon

Recently, illegal shops were built on government property adjacent to the boundary walls of Dhamraihat police station in Naogaon.

Though police had barred such at-tempts earlier, this time the land-grab-bers allegedly bribed the O� cer-in-Charge AKM Mizanur Rahman to let them use the government property.

At least 10 shops were built using

bamboo and tin sheds on the govern-ment property beside the Naogaon-Ji-purhat road, running alongside the boundary walls of the police station, over the last few days.

A source, requesting anonymity, said OC Mizan took Tk5,000 per shop for permitting them to build their shops there.

The locals are fearful that road ac-cidents and other hazards will result from such illegal establishments.

Denying the accusation of taking bribes, the OC told the Dhaka Tribune that he was not in charge of the land on which the shops were built, though for a long time he had prevented any illegal estab-lishment from being built on it. But now he claimed he could not do so anymore.

ASP Syed Iqbal, he said there were no such shops in front of the police sta-tion. If shops were built there illegally, necessary measures would be taken to evict them, he added. l

Human chain demands punishment to killersn Our Correspondent, Panchagarh

People from all walks of life at Tetulia formed a human-chain yesterday de-manding the punishment of the killers of Samsunnahar, a housewife, who was killed on Friday by miscreants.

Among others, Tiranhat UP chair-man Alamgir Hossain, BM College Prin-cipal Ekramul Haque, Abdur Rashid, Sohrab Ali, Sa� ul Alam, Sabbir Alam

Chowdhury spoke on the occasion.Tetulia police station O� cer-in-

Charge Asadduzzaman said that they had arrested the husband of Samsun-nahar in this connection.

“The other culprits will be nabbed soon,” he said.

The miscreants killed Samsunna-har with a sharp weapon at midnight. Later, Asraful Alam, brother of the de-ceased � led a case in this connection. l

Teenage domestic help raped n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

A former Jubo Dal leader allegedly raped his teenage domestic help on Saturday at Jidhuri village of Belkuchi upazila under Sirajganj.

The accused Mosta� zur Rahman is the former literary editor of Jubo Dal upazila unit.

Locals said one month ago, the vic-tim, who was Mosta� zur’s neighbour, was appointed as a domestic help at his house to look after his pregnant wife.

On Saturday, while the wife was out for a medical check-up, Mosta� zur raped her. Victim’s mother said her daughter was admitted to Sirajganj Sadar hospital in a severely injured condition.

She also said the elderly people from

the village were pressurising them to not � le a case in this regard. Mosta� zur often tried to instigate her into a phys-ical relationship, the victim told jour-nalists yesterday at the hospital.

Residential Medical O� cer Far-id Ahmed said signs of rape had been found in the primary examinations.

Belkuchi police station O� cer-in-Charge Anis Ahmed said upon receiv-ing information police went to the hospital to talk to the victim’s family members. However, police could not do anything until a case was � led.

Mosta� zur could not be contacted despite attempts. His older brother Ha-bibur Rahman Mandal said he was not in touch with his brother because of political reasons. l

Man kills cousin over land disputen Our Correspondent, Pirojpur

A man died after being allegedly beaten by his cousin on Saturday regarding a dispute over land in Kolar Doyaniya area of Nazirpur upazila in Pirojpur.

Former member of Kolar Doyania Union Parishad Abdur Razzak said the deceased Zakir Hossain, 35, had built a house in North Kolar Doyania area which his cousin Ra� q had demolished � ve months ago. A case was pending in the court in this connection.

On Saturday, around 8am, Ra� q went to pluck a coconut from a tree

situated on Zakir’s land. When Zakir’s wife Yasmin stopped him, Ra� q and his associates started swearing at her.

When Zakir arrived at the scene, and tried to stop Ra� q and his associates, they started beating the couple.

Severely injured, the duo was ad-mitted to Barisal Sher-E-Bangla Medi-cal College Hospital, where Zakir died around 9pm.

Abdur Razzak said Ra� q had claimed that the land belonged to his mother.

Nazirpur police station O� cer-in-Charge Mosta� zur Rahman said the � ling of a case in this connection was underway. l

Labourers carry sand bags to the banks of Padma River in Rajshahi’s Bulunpur yesterday as part of the Water Development Board’s e� orts to prevent river erosion in the area. A large section of the riverbank in the area had eroded in recent months AZAHAR UDDIN

Panoramic view of Rangit Hydroelectric Power Project Stage III, a dam and reservoir on the Ranjit river in Sikkim, India. The river Ranjit is one of the major tributaries of the Teesta WIKIMEDIA

7Long Form Monday, August 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Selina Mohsin

Under the � ery summer sun, the once verdant � elds of paddy in north Bangladesh is a vast wasteland that stretches

for thousands of hectares covering numerous villages. In this dry land, a thin ribbon of water, the once mighty Teesta, struggles through sandy banks. Water can only be found 10 feet or more below the surface.

The dying river has drastically al-tered the livelihood of millions. As the river � ows from Sikkim through West Bengal, cascades of dams signi� cantly reduce the volume of water reaching Bangladesh from 5000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) to 500 cusecs.

Bangladesh is one of the world’s richest countries in fresh water, and sustains a dense population. Yet, Bangladesh is dependent not only on the monsoons, but also on India. 54 trans-boundary rivers bring 90% of its water from upstream India. The Teesta

is only one local aspect of a much wider problem, including climate change. South Asia with 21% of the world’s population has barely 8.3% of the world’s water resources.

In 2011, Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka had raised the expectation of the people of Bangladesh. But, a new agreement for a 50-50 sharing of Teesta water, replacing the earlier 1983 one, was blocked by the chief minis-ter of West Bengal. Water is a “states issue” in federal India. It is critical to note that it was the BJP opposition along with Trinamool Congress and Asom Gana Parishad that prevented the previous Congress-led UPA Gov-ernment from signing the Teesta water sharing treaty.

Fast forward to June 2014, the external a� airs minister of the new NDA government has promised during her visit to Dhaka, that the Teesta issue would be given consideration. If Prime Minister Modi aims to improve relations with India’s neighbours, including Bangladesh, the Teesta

question cannot be bypassed. As the fourth largest trans-boundary river, it serves an approximate population of 21 million people in Bangladesh as opposed to around 8 million in India.

In West Bengal, the Teesta barrage project intends to irrigate 922,000 hectares in 6 northern districts as well as produce hydropower. Work so far includes Gazaldoba barrage in Jalpig-uri which was completed in 1982. This diverts around 85% of the � ow thereby greatly reducing water to the lower riparian.

Meanwhile in Bangladesh, the Dalia barrage was built with a network of canals to serve districts in the North West. Unfortunately, during the dry periods, diversion of water at Gazoldo-ba renders the Dalia barrage fruitless, and excessive water released during monsoons causes � oods, land erosion, and destruction of crops.

A 2012 report by Indian expert Kalyan Rudra con� rmed that the shortage of water in the Teesta was due to the nu-merous dams and projects upstream.

The Teesta covers an area of 12, 136 sq km out of which 1,121 sq km is in West Bengal and 2,009 sq km is in Bangladesh. The rest of the river � ows through Sikkim, an area rich in biodiversity and endangered species. The construction of numerous hydro-power projects in Sikkim has raised alarm there. The diversion of river

water and dumping of waste materials has increased ecological fragility and a� ected indigenous people with loss of livelihood and poor agricultural productivity.

Unrest due to dispossession of land and lack of adequate compensation has further exacerbated dissatisfac-tion. Although a section of the people and government has bene� ted, local inhabitants, civil society groups, scientists and environmentalists are concerned about the negative impact of dams on Sikkim’s fragile ecosystem; the threats include a great increase in landslides.

Furthermore, the controversial Indian government’s Inter Linking of Rivers Program (ILR) is expected to divert the water from the rivers of the Himalayan region to the dry areas of southern India. This has been criticized both in India and Bangla-desh as uneconomic, and a violation of both the 1996 Helsinki and 2004 Berlin Rules on equitable sharing of river water.

The long standing dispute over the e� ect of the Farakka dam on the Padma and tension over the Teesta is joined by even greater concern over the potential loss of � ows to the Jamu-na and the Meghna if India and China proceed with multiple large dams and river diversion projects.

Throughout the world, negotiations for the shared management of scarce water resources are often fraught with tension and mistrust, even within a single country – between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for example, and the concerns of civil society and interests of stakeholders are often under-repre-sented or neglected.

Ideally, water management should take a holistic approach, balancing all interests. Lower riparian states such as Bangladesh recognise this, but the ab-sence of mutual trust creates di� cul-ties in negotiating bilateral or regional agreements. There is too often “zero sum” thinking, narrowly con� ned to the assumption that a cusec gained by one side must be a loss to the other.

The UN has rightly pointed out that management of trans-boundary rivers needs concerned countries to avoid “inward looking national strategies and unilateral actions” and adopt “shared strategies for multilateral co-

operation and governance.” All parties should “put human development at the centre of trans-boundary coopera-tion and governance.”

There are many examples of fail-ures to achieving such aims. China has an estimated 22,000 large dams, half of the world’s total. For instance, on the river Mekong, China has built

and is still building massive dams with seemingly little regard for the vital interests of the � ve countries down-stream.

One dam, Xiaowan, holds 15 billion litres of water. China has refused to negotiate joint management of the Mekong, and is one of only 3 countries to vote against the 1997 UN treaty governing shared international waters. China claims its “scienti� c regulation” of rivers helps downstream countries. But these smaller and poorer countries require better sharing of information and con� dence building though coop-eration.

In contrast, the river Rhine is an example of what can be achieved. It � ows through 7 countries, Swit-

zerland, Austria, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Neth-erlands. Historical con� icts harmed water related interests until interna-tional cooperation across the whole Rhine basin transformed the situation.

Consequently, avoidance of unilat-eral promotion of interests, collabo-ration and fruitful negotiations are possible when undertaken with under-standing of the needs of all parties.

An Asia Foundation study has identi� ed some recommendations and the author also suggests some course of action:

• The whole Teesta basin should be analysed as a single unit: It is a trans-boundary river and falls under multiple jurisdictions. The state governments of Sikkim,

West Bengal, and the national governments of India and Bang-ladesh should discuss the river in an integrated manner in consulta-tion with other stakeholders.

Discussions need to include national needs, volumes of water at various periods, equitable distribution, conservation, en-vironmental concerns, climate change and characteristics of the ecosystem for judicious planning.

• Respect each other’s needs: Mu-tual con� dence and appreciation of each other’s requirements are the basis for successful collabora-tion and con� ict resolution.

• Full and timely availability of data and information to all parties: Greater access to information by all stakeholders, civil society, NGOs, and experts creates con-� dence and generates discourse enlarging the acceptance and legitimacy of negotiations.

• Develop lateral thinking for new solutions: Instead of discussing only “how many cusecs to which country” engage in broader dia-logues with multiple representa-tives to discuss joint planning of basin wide management e.g. pro-vision of water at lean periods, regular data sharing for rightful distribution and prevention of � ash � oods at the lower end.

• Voluntary concessions: Voluntary concessions based on the require-ments of downstream areas can help create the basis for sustain-able development bene� ting all parties.

• Tradable bene� ts: All negotiation can include trading other bene� ts outside immediate water issues. Bangladesh should assess any such bene� ts it might trade with upstream interests as valuable tools for negotiation.

When the situation is dire and worsening then time is of crucial importance. But we are compelled to wait and see how far India and West Bengal are willing to collaborate with Bangladesh on an integrated approach to Teesta management based on inter-national principles of justice and for the mutual bene� t of all our peoples. Do we have to wait long? And how long is long? l

Professor Selina Mohsin is a former high commissioner to Maldives.

Story of a river

Water management should take a holistic approach, balancing all interests, and onthe basis of the whole river basin

There is too often ‘zero sum’ thinking, narrowly con� ned to the assumption that a cusec gainedby one side must be a loss to the other

How Europe divided the � ow of the Rhine, can work as a guide to how the Teesta and the other common river issues can be solved in our region

The Rhine � owing through seven European countries WIKIMEDIA

Monday, August 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

WHO: ‘Realistic’ to expect Ebola vaccine by 2015n AFP, Geneva

Clinical trials of vaccines for the deadly Ebola virus should soon get underway and will likely be ready for widespread use by early next year, the World Health Organization has said.

“I think it’s realistic,” Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director-general of the UN health agency, told AFP.

There is currently no available cure or vaccine for Ebola, one of the dead-liest viruses known to man, but Kieny said she expected a vaccine to be rushed through the trial process and become available by 2015.

Her colleague Jean-Marie Okwo Bele, who is vaccine chief at WHO, told French radio RFI earlier Saturday that British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline appeared set to start clinical trials of a vaccine next month.

He also said he was optimistic about making the vaccine commercially available.

“Since this is an emergency, we can put emergency procedures in place ... so that we can have a vaccine available by 2015,” he said.

Kieny acknowledged however that any vaccine rushed to market to help stem the epidemic, which has already claimed nearly 1,000 lives in west Afri-ca, would not be tested as rigorously as other vaccines and drugs. l

Gaza’s wounded: Living reminder of ravages of war

n AP, Gaza City

When an Israeli airstrike hit the Gaza home for the handicapped where she was staying, Sally Saqr was left shat-tered. Her pelvis, both legs and an arm were broken, her skull fractured, much of her body burned. In the hospital, doc-tors couldn’t put her limbs in casts be-cause multiple other wounds had to heal � rst. But after a week, her mother had to take the 20 year old home because Ga-za’s main Shifa Hospital needed the bed as more broken bodies � owed in every day from the bombardment.

Saqr has been severely handicapped since birth because of complications during delivery. She can’t speak, her body never developed beyond the size of a child. She was able to walk — with di� culty — but after her wounds in the July 12 airstrike, she couldn’t walk at all, and had to be put in diapers be-cause she couldn’t reach the bathroom.

Her mother has been overwhelmed. Saqr is in excruciating pain and screams in her sleep.

“My burden is heavy,” said her 36-year-old mother, Soumah Abu Shanab. “Now I must feed her, bathe her and change

her diapers.” She spoke as three visiting nurses changed Saqr’s dressings. Saqr clutched a box of medicine. Just holding it distracts her from the pain.

Much of the world’s attention has focused on the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza war, with more than 1,900 killed, including at least 450 children, Palestinian health o� cials say. But a longer-term trauma may be the large number of wounded — more than 9,800, mostly civilians, including at least 3,000 children, o� cials say.

The dead have been quickly and often unceremoniously buried even

as � ghting raged. The wounded are a living reminder of the ravages of war. Their numbers have overwhelmed Gaza’s medical system, already dilapi-dated after seven years of blockade on the tiny territory by Israel and Egypt, as well as the diversion of resources to build up Hamas’ military capabilities.

Gaza’s 25 hospitals have a total of 2,047 beds, or 1.3 beds per 1,000 peo-ple, among the lowest ratios in the world, according to United Nations � gures. Nearly a third of the hospitals have been damaged in the � ghting, ac-cording to UNRWA, the UN agency that looks after Palestinian refugees.

The thousands discharged — many with severe wounds patched together temporarily — are then left to the care of already devastated families who are grieving for dead loved ones and strug-gling to get by in the devastation of the war. Some of the wounded return not to home but to UN-run schools packed with displaced people. Some crowd into the houses of extended families along with other relatives with no-where else to go. Most homes are with-out electricity or running water.

Around 250,000 of Gaza’s 1.8 million residents have been displaced, while some 65,000 lost their home in the � ghting, according to UN � gures.

In the crowded households, the wounded become a center of atten-tion as relatives try to provide small comforts. Most are immobile, or can move very little. Families often put the wounded’s mattress or bed by a win-dow to get air in sti� ing rooms amid the power outages.

Though nurses can sometimes visit homes, many wounded have to make daily trips back to the hospital for treatment, risking complications from the exertions of the trip and the summer heat. l

Iranian plane crashes after takeo� , killing 39 n AP, Tehran, Iran

A regional passenger plane assembled in Iran crashed yesterday while taking o� from the country’s capital, Tehran, killing 39 and injuring another nine on-board, according to a senior transporta-tion o� cial and state media.

Deputy Minister of Transportation Ahmad Majidi provided the latest ca-sualty � gures in an appearance on state TV. The channel earlier reported that all 48 people onboard had died.

The aircraft, an IrAn-140 typically used for short domestic � ights, crashed near Tehran’s Mehrabad airport. The plane went down in a residential area after one of its engines went out, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The plane was operated by Sepahan Air and was heading to Tabas, a town in eastern Iran. It took o� at 9:20am local time (0450 GMT) and crashed short-ly afterward. State TV said the bodies of some of the victims were so badly burned that they could not be identi-� ed. They will be handed over to rela-tives after DNA tests are carried out to determine their identities, it said.

Members of the Revolutionary Guard worked to secure the crash site and se-curity and rescue personnel combed the wreckage as onlookers gathered shortly after the plane went down. The plane’s mangled but largely intact tail section was torn from the fuselage and came to rest on a nearby road.

The IrAn-140 is a twin-engine turbo-prop plane based on Ukrainian technol-ogy that is assembled under license in Iran. It is a version of the Antonov An-140 regional plane and can carry up to 52 passengers. Mehrabad, located in west-ern Tehran, is the busier of two main airports serving the Iranian capital, and primarily handles domestic � ights. Most international � ights use the newer Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Iran has su� ered a series of airplane crashes, blamed on its aging aircraft and poor maintenance. Many of the Boeing aircraft in state-run Iran Air’s � eet were bought before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, which dis-rupted ties with the US and Europe.

Iranian airlines, including those run by the state, are chronically strapped for cash, and maintenance has suf-fered, experts say. US sanctions pre-vent Iran from updating its American aircraft and make it di� cult to get Eu-ropean spare parts or planes as well. The country has come to rely on Rus-sian aircraft, many of them Soviet-era planes that are harder to get parts for since the Soviet Union’s fall.

In March of this year, a small plane belonging to the State Aviation Orga-nization crashed while on a test � ight near the tourist resort of Kish Island, killing all four crew members.

The last major airliner crash in Iran happened in January 2011. l

West mobilises Iraq aid as US raids continuen Agencies

Western diplomacy and aid e� orts are shaping up in Iraq to avert what US Pres-ident Barack Obama warned could be an impending “genocide”  against civilians besieged on a mountain in the country’s north by the Islamic State group � ghters. US � ghter jets yesterday continued to strike positions belonging to the self-de-clared jihadists whose attack on Sinjar Mountain last week sent thousands - many of them from the Yazidi minority - scurrying into a nearby mountain. Those stranded on Sinjar Mountain  in searing summer heat are left with little food and water. US and Iraqi cargo planes have been air dropping food and water over the region, a barren 60-kilometre ridge. The UK joined the e� ort overnight.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fa-bius arrived in Iraq on Sunday, where he is due to oversee the � rst delivery of French aid for displaced people.

Fabius urged Iraq›s bickering leaders to form an inclusive government capa-ble of countering Islamic State � ghters advancing through the north of the country. “Iraq is in need of a wide unity government, and all Iraqis should feel that they are represented in this gov-ernment, and all Iraqis should feel they

are represented to take part in this battle against terrorism,” Fabius told a news conference with his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad. Meanwhile,  Kurdish military sources have told Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf in Iraqi Kurdish capital of Erbil that the village of Ghwar and Makhmour, which lie in 40km south of Erbil, have been re-taken by Peshmerga forces. The devel-opment came after another round of US airstrikes there earlier on Sunday. 

Ghwar is important because of its ac-cess to Erbil, while Makhmour is strategic because access to Kirkuk runs through it. The US aerial assault aims to allow the federal and Kurdish governments to claw back areas lost in the con� ict.

On Sunday, Iraq’s human rights minis-ter said the Islamic State group has killed at least 500 members of the Yazidi eth-nic minority during their o� ensive. Mo-hammed Shia al-Sudani said � ghters had also buried alive some of their victims, including women and children. About 300 women were kidnapped as slaves, he added. Federal Iraqi forces complete-ly folded when the Islamic State � ghters, who already control a large swathe of Syria, swept in from the northeast two months ago, took the second largest city, Mosul, and advanced into much of the country’s Sunni heartland. l

‘ Islamic State killed 500 Yazidis, buried some victims alive’n Reuters, Baghdad

Islamic State militants have killed at least 500 members of Iraq’s Yazidi eth-nic minority during their o� ensive in the north, Iraq’s human rights minister told Reuters yesterday.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said the Sunni militants had also buried alive some of their victims, including wom-en and children. Some 300 women were kidnapped as slaves, he added.

“We have striking evidence obtained from Yazidis � eeing Sinjar and some who escaped death, and also crime scene images that show indisputably that the gangs of the Islamic States have executed at least 500 Yazidis after seizing Sinjar,” Sudani said in a tele-phone interview, in his � rst remarks to the media on the issue.

Sinjar is the ancient home of the Yazidis, one of the towns captured by the Sunni militants who view the com-munity as “devil worshipers” and tell them to convert to Islam or face death.

A deadline passed at midday on Sunday for 300 Yazidi families to con-vert to Islam or face death at the hands of the militants. It was not immediate-ly clear whether the Iraqi minister was

talking about the fate of those families or others in the con� ict.

“Some of the victims, including women and children were buried alive in scattered mass graves in and around Sinjar,” Sudani said.

The minister’s comments could pile pressure on the United States - which has carried out air strikes on Islamic State targets in response to the group’s latest push through the north - to pro-vide more extensive support.

“In some of the images we have ob-tained there are lines of dead Yazidis who have been shot in the head while the Islamic State � ghters cheer and wave their weapons over the corpses,” said Sudani. “This is a vicious atrocity.”

The Islamic State, which has de-clared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, has prompted tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians to � ee for their lives during their push to within a 30-minute drive of the Kurdish region-al capital Arbil.

Earlier in their push through north-ern Iraq, Islamic State, which also con-siders all Shi’ites heretics who must re-pent or die, boasted of killing hundreds of captive Shi’ite soldiers after captur-ing the city of Tikrit on June 12. l

Cairo talks in disarray amid Gaza violenceIsraeli premier sees protracted con� ictn Reuters, Gaza/Jerusalem

Israel said yesterday it was prepared for protracted military action in Gaza and would not return to Egyptian-me-diated cease� re talks as long as Pales-tinians kept up cross-border rocket and mortar � re. The head of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo had said it would leave unless Israeli negotiators, who � ew home on Friday hours before a three-day truce expired, came back to the talks. But Egypt’s state news agen-cy, MENA, said the Palestinians would remain for an urgent meeting with the Arab League on Monday.

Israeli air strikes and shelling killed three Palestinians in Gaza yesterday, including a boy of 14 and a woman, medics said, in a third day of renewed � ghting that has jeopardised inter-national e� orts to end a more-than-month-old con� ict.

Since the last truce expired, Pales-tinian rocket and mortar salvoes have focused on Israeli kibbutzim, or collec-tive farms, just across the forti� ed bor-der in what appeared to be a strategy of sapping the Jewish state’s morale with-out triggering another ground invasion of the tiny Gaza Strip.

The violence has become less in-tense than at the war’s outset, down from more than 100 rocket bursts a day including at major cities like Tel Aviv, which have not come under attack

since Israel withdrew ground forces from Gaza on Tuesday.

Before the truce ran out on Friday, Israel said it was ready to agree to an extension. Gaza’s ruling Hamas did not agree, demanding an end to an eco-nomically sti� ing blockade of the coast-al enclave that both Israel and Egypt, which regards the Islamist movement as a security threat, have imposed.

Israel has resisted easing access to Gaza, suspecting Hamas could then restock with weapons from abroad. A sticking point has been Israel’s demand for guarantees that Hamas would not use any reconstruction supplies sent to Gaza to build more tunnels of the sort that Palestinian � ghters have used to in� ltrate the Jewish state.

“Israel will not negotiate under � re,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in public remarks at the weekly meeting of his cabinet in Tel Aviv.

“At no stage did we declare (Israel’s military o� ensive) was over. The opera-tion will continue until its objective - the restoration of quiet over a protracted pe-riod - is achieved. I said at the beginning and throughout the operation - it will take time, and stamina is required.”

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Netanyahu, by threatening to press on with Israel’s military o� ensive, would be “fully responsible for the fail-ure of the Cairo negotiations and for all the consequences that may result.” l

Women stoned to death in Syria for ‘adultery’n AP, Beirut

A cleric read the verdict before the truck came and dumped a large pile of stones near the municipal garden. Ji-hadi � ghters then brought in the wom-an, clad head to toe in black, and put her in a small hole in the ground.

When residents gathered, the � ght-ers told them to carry out the sentence: Stoning to death for the alleged adul-teress.

None in the crowd stepped forward, said a witness to the event in a northern Syrian city. So the jihadi � ghters, most-ly foreign extremists, did it themselves, pelting Faddah Ahmad with stones un-til her body was dragged away.

“Even when she was hit with stones she did not scream or move,” said an opposition activist who said he wit-nessed the stoning near the football stadium and the Bajaa garden in the city of Raqqa, the main Syrian strong-hold of the Islamic State group.

The July 18 stoning was the second in a span of 24 hours. A day earlier, 26-year-old Shamseh Abdullah was killed in a similar way in the nearby town of Tabqa by Islamic State � ghters.

Both were accused of having sex outside marriage. The killings were the � rst of their kind in rebel-held northern Syria, where jihadis from the Islamic

State group have seized large swaths of territory, terrorizing residents with their strict interpretation of Islamic law, including beheadings and cutting o� the hands of thieves.

The jihadis recently tied a 14-year-old boy to a cross-like structure and left him for several hours in the scorching summer sun before bringing him down – punishment for not fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The group has also brutalized Shiite Muslims and others whom it views as apostates. In neighboring Iraq, Islamic State militants have driven members of the Yazidi religious minority out of a string of towns and villages.

Thousands of the � eeing Yazidis have been stranded on a mountaintop for days, a humanitarian crisis that prompted the US to airlift aid to them this week.

On Friday, Kamil Amin, the spokes-man for Iraq’s Human Rights Ministry, said hundreds of Yazidi women under the age of 35 are being held by the Is-lamic State group in schools in Iraq’s second largest city Mosul.

The stonings in Syria last month were not widely publicized at the time, but in the following days three photographs appeared online which appeared to document the grisly spectacle. l

Disabled Sally Saqr, 20, who was wounded on July 12, in Beit Lahiya during Israeli shelling of a care center for the handicapped, lies on a mattress at her family home in Gaza City. When an Israeli airstrike hit the Gaza home for the handicapped where she was staying, Saqr was left shattered. Her pelvis, both legs and an arm were broken, her skull fractured, much of her body burned AP

In this handout picture released yesterday, Bob Gibbons of the UK Department for International Development (L) and Cpl Chris Kent (R) doing � nal checks on humanitarian aid loaded onto a Hercules C130 transport plane at RAF Brize Norton, northwest of London, on August 8, to be airlifted to stranded civilians � eeing militants in northern Iraq AFP

9Monday, August 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

N E W S B I T E S

50 years on, fateful Vietnam resolution resonatesn AP, New York

A dubious threat to US interests. A swift vote in Congress for broad presidential war powers in response. A long, costly and bitterly debated war.

Fifty years ago on Sunday, reacting to reports of a US Navy encounter with enemy warships in the Gulf of Tonkin o� Vietnam — reports long since discredit-ed — President Lyndon Johnson signed a resolution passed overwhelmingly by Congress that historians call the crucial catalyst for deep American involvement in the Vietnam War. Many also see it as a cautionary tale that has gone unheeded.

“I think we are probably a bit better informed now, but I don’t think that makes us a lot safer,” says Edwin Moi-ses, author of “Tonkin Gulf and the Es-

calation of the Vietnam War.” Every era brings new foreign policy and political challenges, said the Clemson Universi-ty history professor, “and I think it is utterly unpredictable what kind of mis-understandings may come along.”

“If you ask whether we learned any-thing, I would say not enough,” says former US Sen Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who opposed the war in Iraq, long after Tonkin and Vietnam.

In the last � ve decades, Tonkin has not kept Washington from backing wars, but it has shadowed relations between presidents and Congress. De-bates about foreign con� icts, whether in Bosnia, Syria or Iraq, have also been referendums on trust. Is the war really necessary? Is the president telling ev-erything he knows? What should be the

parameters, if any, for military action?Graham was chairman of the intel-

ligence committee when the Senate debated, in the fall of 2002, whether to authorize military action in Iraq. Did Saddam Hussein, as alleged by Presi-dent George W Bush’s administration, possess weapons of mass destruction? Graham found the case “soft and un-reliable” and voted no. But most of his colleagues disagreed. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were barely a year old, and the midterm election was just a month away, a di� cult time to turn away the president or the Pentagon.

The Senate approved the Iraq reso-lution by 77-23, the House 296-133. A US-led coalition invaded Iraq, opening a con� ict that lasted for years. As Gra-ham and others feared, the weapons

were not found.Former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia,

who had been badly wounded in Viet-nam, was among those who supported the 2002 legislation. “I can’t believe I volunteered for one war, which turned out to be a massive tragedy for the Unit-ed States, and I went to the Senate and voted for another war, which turned out to be a massive tragedy,” he says.

“It was right before my re-election, and I felt compelled for my own hide,” explains Cleland, who nonetheless was defeated. “It became the worst vote I made in my life.”

Trust in the White House was high at the time Johnson signed the Tonkin resolution on Aug. 10, 1964. The reso-lution was submitted and passed with-in 48 hours.

For months, the US had been conduct-ing clandestine missions, engaging in what historians now consider provoca-tions. On Aug. 2, gun� re was brie� y ex-changed between the North Vietnamese and the Americans, leading to the sinking of a North Vietnamese boat. According to Stanley Karnow’s respected history, “Vietnam,” Johnson considered pushing for the resolution but decided to hold o� because no Americans had been harmed.

Two days later, the commander of the destroyer Maddox, Capt John J Her-rick, believed he had picked up radio messages communicating a planned North Vietnamese attack. The Maddox and a second vessel, the Turner Joy, began � ring at what they thought were enemy patrol boats launching torpe-does against the Americans. l

Khmer Rouge verdicts bring history alive for Cambodian studentsn AFP, Phnom Penh

Pointing at photographs of two former Khmer Rouge leaders a day after they were sentenced to life in jail, history teacher Ung Ratha asks his students whether justice was served.

One volunteer says the punishment was too lenient, as others in the class try to grasp how Cambodia’s “Killing Fields” era, once whitewashed from textbooks, left up to two million people dead.

“Some students do not believe it happened because their parents were born after the regime. So they feel that the teachers are making it up,” said Ratha, 43. But having lived through the Khmer Rouge’s brutal 1975-1979 rule, he brings a � rst-hand account to lessons which only became compulsory for high school students three years ago.

The students � inch when Ratha shows them images of skulls from ex-ecution sites, before turning to the � rst-ever convictions of top ex-leaders to bring this gruesome period of histo-ry up to date. On Thursday, Cambodia’s UN-backed court found “Brother Num-ber Two” Nuon Chea, 88, and ex-head of state Khieu Samphan, 83, guilty of crimes against humanity, sentencing them to life in prison.

“The verdicts taught me more about the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, the tor-ture and other things they did,” said Khun Monalisa, 18, a � nal year student at Beltei International School in Phnom Penh.

She has been following the case closer than many young Cambodians – more than half of the population was born after the regime was ousted – as, until recently, schools have taught little about the period.

According to the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), the gov-ernment went on to remove all reference to the regime from school curriculums between 1993 and 2002 in an attempt at reconciliation with former cadres.

It took years of lobbying before a textbook on the period was eventually

allowed in Cambodian schools in 2009, paving the way for a compulsory cur-riculum a few years later.

The Khmer Rouge forced more than two million people out of Cambodian cities and into rural work camps during their rule, wiping out nearly a quarter of the population through executions, starvation or overwork.

Teachers were among the prime targets of the communist regime, but incorporating this history into a nation still traumatised by the horrors has been a massive challenge. l

Pakistani police register murder case against dissident clericn Reuters, Lahore/Multan, Pakistan

Pakistani police registered a murder case yesterday against an anti-govern-ment cleric after three policemen were killed in clashes with his supporters ahead of a demonstration.

The cleric, Tahir ul-Qadri, had called for protests on Sunday, saying he wants to bring down the government by the end of the month because it is corrupt. Another protest, led by opposition pol-itician Imran Khan, is due in the capital on Thursday.

The protests have unnerved the ci-vilian government and raised fears of tension with the military. Some ruling party members believe the protesters are getting support from elements in the military in an e� ort to weaken the government and stymie its pursuit of policies the military objects to.

The law minister of Punjab province, where the clashes between the clerics’ supports and police erupted on Friday, said police were out to arrest him.

“Qadri is responsible for killing po-lice o� cials and his own workers. Po-lice have booked him for terrorism and murders and will arrest him soon,” said the minister, Rana Mashhood Ahmad.

In Pakistan, police must register a case against someone before charging him with a crime.

A spokesman for Qadri said eight of his supporters had been killed and more than a 100 wounded in clashes with police over the past two days.

Policy differencesOn Sunday, hundreds of Qadri’s sup-porters stood outside his house in the eastern city of Lahore reciting the Ko-ran as a helicopter rattled high over overhead, apparently monitoring the crowd.

The spectre of tension between the civilian government and the military has arisen in particular because of the prosecution for treason of Pervez Musharraf, a former army chief who went on to become president.

Some in the army have privately criticised the legal action against their old boss, who, as army chief in 1999, overthrew the current prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, when he held the o� ce then.

Sharif’s government has also made improving relations with India a cor-nerstone of its policy. But the military is believed to be less keen on such a move towards Pakistan’s old enemy and nuclear-armed rival and it sees ex-ternal relations as its domain.

The government and the military have also disagreed on how to handle Pakistani militants � ghting the state. l

South China Sea: Key facts to known Agencies

Vietnam calls it the “East Sea.” The Philip-pine parliament passed a law calling it the “West Philippines Sea.” China calls it the “South Sea.”

The ocean o� cially designated as the “South China Sea” – as Western mariners have long known it – has many names and many claimants.

Once, it was just a matter of � sh. The waters of the South China Sea are still important to the region’s � shermen, especially as coastal stocks have been badly depleted.

But more valuable still are the reserves of oil and gas that lie under the seabed. Just how big those reserves are is still unknown, but none of the littoral states are ready to walk away from them.

Over the past several months China has set itself on a collision course with its Southeast Asian neighbours, taking a

series of forceful steps to assert territorial claims over potentially valuable rocks, reefs, and waters that other nations claim, too.

The South China Sea matters to the rest of the world, too: More than half of the world’s shipping tonnage sails through its waters each year, carrying half of the world’s oil and gas exports to China, South Korea, Japan, and other economic powerhouses.

The United States, whose warships have kept the peace in the area for the past seven decades, has made freedom of navi-gation a cornerstone of its policy there.

China has said that it respects that principle, and can be trusted to uphold it as Chinese naval power grows. But as Australian security expert Alan Dupont points out, the sea lanes of the South Chi-na Sea are absolutely vital to Beijing, and “China is tired of outsourcing its economic security to the US Seventh Fleet.” l

Tibet tour bus plummets into valley, killing 44n AP, Beijing

A tour bus on a highway in Tibet fell o� a 10-meter (30-foot) cli� after crashing into an SUV and a pickup, killing 44 people and injuring 11 others, China’s state media re-ported yesterday. The bus was carrying 50 people when it plunged in mountainous southern Tibet on Saturday afternoon, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing the regional government. The crash happened in Nyemo county, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) from Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.

Most of the passengers were from four Chinese provinces. There were four peo-ple in the SUV and a truck driver, but their condition was unclear. Police detained the managers of a travel agency and a tour company connected with the bus trip, Xinhua said. A man who answered the phone at the Lhasa-based Shengdi Vehicle Tour Company said as far as he knew there were no foreigners among the passen-gers, and refused to comment further. Xinhua said that the bodies and survivors were pulled out of the bus and the injured rushed to hospitals in Lhasa. Photos released by the news agency showed the vehicle lying upside down.

Tourism has been on the rise in the scenic Tibetan Plateau, where mountain roads are often treacherous and can be particularly dangerous in the summer rainy season. l

Four Afghan civilians killed in Kabul suicide bombingn AP, Kabul

A suicide car bomber attacked a Nato convoy moving through Afghanistan’s capital yesterday, killing at least four civilians and wounding more than 35 in an assault claimed by the Taliban, authorities said. The blast struck two MRAPs, or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicles, in western Kabul, damaging a civilian car and leaving debris scattered across a highway lined by shops. Nato troops and Afghan soldiers cordoned o� the scene after the blast. Hashmat Stanikzai, a spokesman for Kabul’s police chief, said the blast killed four civilians and wounded more than 35 people. Nato later said the blast wounded none of its troops, though it was investigating the attack.

Civilians increasingly � nd themselves under � re as the 2001 US-led war draws to a close, l

Southeast Asia concern in South China Sea at ‘all-time high’n Reuters, Naypyitaw

Southeast Asian countries yesterday expressed concern over “increased ten-sions” in the South China Sea and called for stepped-up talks with China, in what the United States said was a setback for China’s e� orts to play down the disputes.

But there was no speci� c mention of China in the � nal statement from an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting and the 10 nations did not take up a US and Philippine call for a freeze on provocative acts in the sea, in what China will likely see as a positive result.

A senior US o� cial said ASEAN coun-tries’ concern over the South China Sea tension was at “all-time high” based on private conversations, although their public statements were more guarded to avoid antagonising China.

“We urged all parties concerned to exercise self-restraint and avoid ac-tions which would complicate the sit-uation and undermine peace, stability, and security in the South China Sea,” ASEAN said in a communique follow-ing their meeting this weekend in the Myanmar capital Naypyitaw.

The United States is using the meet-ing of the region’s foreign ministers in Myanmar to step up its engagement in the o� -shore tension, by calling for a moratorium on actions such as China’s planting in May of an oil rig in waters that Vietnam also claims.

The ASEAN Regional Forum brings together 27 countries including the United States, China, Russia, Japan, In-dia and Australia.

US ally the Philippines has also called for a freeze as part of a three-step plan to ease tension in the re-

source-rich sea, through which passes $5 trillion of trade a year.

Senior US o� cials accompanying Secretary of State John Kerry at the two-days of talks described the word-ing as a new and strong criticism of recent Chinese assertive actions in the South China Sea as a reversal for China.

“This language represents a signi� -cant setback for China’s e� orts to play for time and change the subject,” said one senior US administration o� cial.

A senior State Department o� cial said ASEAN members had made clear they were “increasingly concerned about the escalatory pattern of behaviour.”

“They have decided it is no longer enough to accentuate the positive,” the senior State Department o� cial said.

The communique called for ef-fective implementation of a 2002 non-binding agreement on conduct in

the South China Sea and stepped up ASEAN’s call for an early conclusion of a binding maritime Code of Conduct. ASEAN and China have begun talks on that code but made little substantive progress so far.

The statement made a brief refer-ence to the three-point Philippine plan for a freeze on destabilising actions, saying only that it had been noted.

Most claimants have � outed the 2002 guidelines, leading to rising ten-sion in the South China Sea between four ASEAN claimant nations and Chi-na, which claims 90% of the waters. The rancour has split ASEAN, with sev-eral states including some of the claim-ants reluctant to antagonise Asia’s eco-nomic giant.

China rejects US involvement in the dispute and has already dismissed the proposal for a freeze. l

CHINA

VIETNAM

MALAYSIA

PHILIPPINES

TAIWAN(claims SpratlyIslands)

Spratly Islands

Chinese claimVietnamese claim

Paracel islands

BRUNEI

Sources: D.Rosenberg/MiddleburyCollege/HarvardAsiaQuarterly/Phil gov’t/ChinaMaritimeSafetyAdministration

Disputed claims in the South China Sea

200 km

Drilling for Chinese oil rig started in May and ended mid-July, according to China state media

Bruneiclaim

Malaysianclaim

Philippines claim

This July 20, 2011 � le aerial photo shows Pag-asa Island, part of the disputed Spratly group of islands, in the South China Sea located o� the coast of western Philippines AP

A Cambodian student answers a teacher’s question about Khmer Rouge history in a classroom at a private school in Phnom Penh AFP

Story of Pinak 6 and Habiba’s unending wait for ShamimAugust 6Obayed RahmanI can’t hold my tears after reading this article. :(

Launch capsize death toll reaches 33August 7Zebrul Hossain They can’t � nd all of the dead bodies, nor recover the launch that sunk in a river. If this ac-cident had occurred in the sea or the ocean, not a single body could have ever been recovered, nevermind the launch.

Hall-Mark scam: Ministry ‘helpless’ in arresting ‘accomplice’August 7Shamuna Mizan Helpless?!? What a joke!

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Alloy (5)4 Sporting item (3)6 Conceal (4)8 Accustom (5)9 Rodents (4)11 Burden (4)12 Harsh (5)15 Of the kidneys (5)18 New Zealand bird (4)20 Dash (4)21 Artless (5)22 Egyptian goddess (4)23 No score (3)24 Water pitchers (5)

DOWN1 In� amed swellings (5)2 Sky coloured (5)3 Lustre (5)4 Legume (4)5 Throw (4)7 Male honey-bee (5)10 Musical instrument (4)13 Work hard (4)14 Checks (5)15 Wash lightly (5)16 Clamour (5)17 Vegetables (5)18 Sharp (4)19 Plaintive cry (4)

CROSSWORD

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

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 2 represents A so � ll A every time the � gure 2 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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NBR: Survey reportAugust 6

A readerThe statistically-presented observations in an article in your business page were interesting and much appreciated.

Going through the article, one felt that if making tax payments is a hassle, then maybe this is why many people tend to avoid going through the hassle and thus not pay their taxes.

This is why this writer believes that the matter of tax payment should be simpli� ed, and the pay-ment process should be like depositing money in the bank.

That should be the target for tax authori-ties, so that one-to-one interactions between taxpayers and tax o� cials are minimised as much

as possible.The report hinted that most obstacles were

related to circumstances leading to the usual bribery and corruption interactions, which may be reduced considerably with a simpli� ed tax payment process.

For veri� cation, periodic review with the taxpayer can be carried out once every three years, based on the audited reports and other necessary documents of the organisation that is paying taxes.

Compared to that, assessment and tax payments by individuals can be easily simpli� ed, as sources of income are fairly limited for the individual.

RMG would bene� t from wage tribunals

Around 1,600 Tuba Group employees have su� ered from not receiving wages for on average the last three months.

The BGMEA’s action last week in paying these wages for May and June, and the company’s announcement that it will pay for July, are hopeful signs that this particular dispute may now be ended.

While there are disquieting aspects about the way this particular dispute has been prolonged, it raises a more general question for the RMG sector.

Namely that many RMG companies face severe pressures which can give rise to genuine � nancial reasons for delays in paying wages.

In this case, matters have been helped by the BGMEA commendably agreeing to pay some of the overdue wages even though they were under no legal obligation to assume these liabilities. A proper system is needed to help address this type of issue in other cases.

The BGMEA and industry bodies should work with the government and unions to set up a tribunal system that can adjudicate on wage issues so disputes do not get out of hand. This should be empowered to make quick rulings and to order a company to pay due wages. Powers can be granted to recover monies from the bank accounts and other assets of the company and its directors.

An insurance system should also be established to provide back up funds which can be drawn upon to pay overdue wages. By o� ering such additional security, the BGMEA would show leadership in guarding against hardship and build better industrial relations for the industry as a whole.

Boost regional co-operation on energy

We welcome Nepal’s support for Bangladeshi initiatives to establish tripartite co-operation on energy between our two countries and India.

Cross-border collaboration is vital to make the best use of the region’s resources. As well as helping our economies to better match supply and demand for water and power, it can bring mutual economic bene� ts by opening up new trade opportunities.

Nepal’s energy minister has discussed a memorandum of understanding with the Bangladesh government for facilitating the export of energy from Nepal. He supports the principle of Bangladesh buying electricity from GMR, an Indian company, which is investing in a hydroelectricity project in Nepal.

Importing hydropower in this way may help our energy sector become less dependent on expensive, non-renewable fossil fuels. It has the potential to provide an economically and environmentally sustainable option to help meet our future energy needs.

The sharing of resources development of cross-border infrastructure should be a top priority for regional platforms such as BIMSTEC, Saarc, and the BCIM Forum.

As well as helping to address energy and water challenges, building cooperation around hydropower can assist in helping to ensure fairer management of the region’s common river-waters.

Improved co-operation on these matters can also help the region better address the impacts of climate change.

The Brahmaputra basin is a vital resource of nature that links Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Nepal. Initiatives that help us work more closely together with our neighbours through mutually bene� cial regional projects should be strongly supported.

Cross-border collaboration can bring mutual economic bene� ts

Set up a system that can adjudicate on wage issues and help prevent disputes

Rapp against trial of Jamaat-e-IslamiAugust 6

Mac Haque I think the government of Bangladesh should take a rap from Rapp and ban the “party” – Jamaat-e-Islami. Next step – punish the “individuals.” Piece of cake actually. :)

Gautam Saha He should have said: “War criminals have a right to defend themselves from women who want to be raped and people who like their guts wrenched out with bayonets or shot at close range or people who like to be ethnically cleansed.”

Most Welcome 2: Big � sh in a little pondAugust 7

Syed Ali TarekWell constructed. A thought-provoking review.

Otaku SenpaiAJ movies are more moral than the next biggest movies.

Shanta IslamBut, did you know the main theme of the story is inspired from a Tamil movie!?!

7 burnt to death as buses collide in NarsingdiAugust 6AnonMore sad news. I’m not sure for how much longer we can keep going like this.

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

Tuba group: Only 24% workers accept part payment

August 6Ashraful Islam Siam

The Tuba Group must pay each and every worker their full salary!

Government postal service is dependable

August 5Md Ashraf Hossain

Recently PLC banks and NBFIs individually published statements in the print media stating

that they have dispatched half-yearly � nancial statements of the PLCs to the addresses of the

shareholders. In recent years, I had gone through similar statements in the print media. I am a

shareholder of at least 21 PLC Banks. But I never got a � nancial statement concerned. I belief that the management of the PLCs have handed over

the � nancial statements to private courier service providers, but the latter did not deliver the state-

ments to the respective addresses.In this circumstance, I would like to urge the

management of the PLCs to dispatch the � nancial statements as well as the annual reports through

the government postal service.

Delhi gang rape: India outrage over fashion shoot

August 7Sheikh Jinat Mahmid

Don’t know, but seems bizarre to me!

n Shariful Islam

It is a shame that workers had to call a hunger strike for their unpaid wages and Eid bonuses. Notably,

1600 workers from Tuba garment factory are making a call for justice. These poor, helpless garment workers have not been paid for the last three months. How are they surviving? How do they manage to eat, pay rent, and provide their children with education or healthcare? Who will think about their wellbeing?

The workers, who are major drivers of our national economy, are not paid on-time and are often subjected to various forms of mistreatment. When, they want to raise their voices against any injustice being done to them, they are treated very badly by law enforcers or by their employers’ hired goons. But if these garment workers, or workers in any sector for that matter, are not saved, how will our country go on? For sustainable development to blossom in Bangladesh, there is no other alter-native than to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its RMG workers.

Unfortunately, RMG workers have become marginalised these days. I am personally aware of the injustices be-ing done to them. From 2008 to 2009, my older sister worked in a garment factory. Like tens of thousands of others, she had a very low-paying job, while often not being paid on time.

Shiuly, one of the garment workers in the recent Tuba group crisis, points out that she has around Tk30,000 in dues with Tuba Group. She has been unable to pay her rent and grocery bills for the last two months and her land-lord has already started threatening to evict her.

But is it right to neglect these garment workers? It can be mentioned here that in the 1970s, after the birth of Bangladesh, many perceived the coun-try as a “bottomless basket case,” and many thought that the country would remain permanently locked in a “be-low poverty level equilibrium trap.”

There is no denying the fact that Bangladesh’s economy was mostly aid-dependent at the initial stages. Bangladesh has come a long way since then and has graduated from a pre-dominantly aid-dependant nation to a trading nation.

In this context, the RMG industry has made a crucial contribution in bringing Bangladesh to its current

position, and the cornerstone of the RMG sector is the hard-working workers. Bangladesh exported RMG goods worth only $69,000 when Reaz Garments exported its � rst consignment to the USA in 1978. Over the years, our RMG industry has witnessed a steady growth and within three decades, it has become the largest export-earning sector of the country, generating 80% of the export earnings and contributing more than 10% to the national GDP.

Notably, due to the low wages and low safety standards, Bangladesh tends to be the � rst destination of the MNCs, more so in the case of RMG. It is easily understandable from the fact that, despite being a small country, having only 147,570 sq-km, Bangla-desh is the second largest exporter of RMG after China. The main reason is the cheap labour.

According to a New York Times report, “Bangladesh has more than 5,000 garment factories, handling orders for nearly all of the world’s top brands and retailers. It has become an export powerhouse largely by deliver-ing lower costs, in part by having the lowest wages in the world for garment workers.”

In this age of economic globali-sation and neo-liberal economy, the principle of pro� t over people plays a crucial role. Here, the state or a certain class of the society bene� ts from this economic globalisation, while creating a huge social inequality where certain sections, particularly the working class, become vulnerable in the name of development. In case of the RMG

sector in Bangladesh, this claim is quite evident. While the owners become richer day by day, the workers die from factory � res, collapses, while su� ering from hunger, malnutrition, and disease due to lower wages and lower safety standards of their work-places.

Although garment workers are the major drivers of the national economy in Bangladesh, they are hardly treated well by their employers or even the government, at least when it comes to ensuring the minimum wage or safety standards. Despite all the lofty promises made by the government and factory owners, there is hardly any evidence of implementation.

Furthermore, the issues of gar-ments workers, their lives, and their living and working conditions are seldom covered in the mainstream me-dia. Only after some major incidence do the marginalised sections of the society come into focus.

Without any delay, the wages of the Tuba garment factory workers must be paid along with their Eid bonuses. It’s not an act of benevolence towards them, it’s their legal right. For the long-term interests of Bangladesh, the government must address this issue urgently, and there must be a permanent solution towards ensuring better wages and safety standards. The bottom line is that Bangladesh needs to save its garment workers in order to save itself. l

Shariful did his Master’s in International Relations from South Asian University (SAU) and Dhaka University (DU).

11Op-Ed Monday, August 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Towheed Feroze

First, let me be clear – I was not at the program where the social welfare minister allegedly hurled abuse at the journalists, but since

several top-notch papers have printed the news, one has to accept that some-thing untoward happened.

As reports state, the minister used indecorous language to address the members of the press present and used a hectoring tone to say he will see how far the media can go once the na-tional broadcast policy is implemented to its full extent. We are told, faced with the broadside, journalists walked out in protest. 

The national broadcast policy has become a hotly-debated item with

the media community voicing almost unanimously that instead of making the media more responsible, this is aimed at muzzling. And when a public representative in an open program allegedly threatens to curb media free-dom, a question is likely to arise as to why there is so much fervour from the authority to have such a policy passed.

In the UK, the British government took a very � rm stance holding the Leveson Inquiry after a phone-hacking scandal revealed extensive media-bug-ging into the lives of citizens in total disregard for their right to privacy.

The hacking scandal saw the News of the World shut down with top media men facing imprisonment for their collusion in the whole process. However, the move by the British government to rein in on the press

was mainly to safeguard the lives of the common person from unethical transgression.  

The British media, though warned, has not been barred from reporting on social anomalies, especially those that hamper smooth operation of civic life.  

In Bangladesh, we have not reached the level where, desperate to add new twists to a news item, values are totally banished. I am not saying the entire media apparatus is spotless, but there is no denying that media which plays along the tunes of a government is hardly a free press integral to a dem-ocratic system.

Regulating the press is actually a very vague term because unless speci� cs are mentioned, like private phones cannot be bugged or pictures of victims of sexual assault must

never be printed, laws using language deceptively or euphemistically can be misused.  

Hypothetically speaking, let’s assume that the freedom of the press is slashed considerably in the days to come with reports of misdeeds at high places becoming rare. Tell me this, how will stringent laws curb the voice of the citizen journalist?

Somewhere, some conscious per-son is always alert to bring out a nefar-ious act into the open. How can they be stopped? Mass arrests, maybe? The much condemned Argentine regime of the 70s, when no kind of dissent or criticism was tolerated, comes to mind.

When we live with so many social media outlets, laws should be passed, not to sti� e it but to ensure that

lawmakers are careful in their reckless misuse of power and position.

Let’s bring one recent incident back under the limelight – a police o� cer, who refused to bow down in front of political pressure to leave a polling station for false voting and, therefore, received a torrent of abuse from a lawmaker.

When the news came out in the open, thanks to a TV channel, there was mass public support for the o� cer who had brought some pride to the uniform, which, over the years, had become tainted by brazen political exploitation. 

The sad part is, not a single politi-cian stood up to take the side of the law enforcer. No one said in public gatherings that this is the sort of lawmaker the government wishes to promote.

Instead, there was uneasy silence from the side of the authority seeing a totally shameless practice come out in the open. Also, was the media chan-nel thanked or lauded for exposing attempts at the grass-roots level voting fraud? I doubt it.

The police o� cer in question has perhaps learnt that it would be better to remain silent in the future and let Goliath carry on. David can turn into a deferential disciple. Such transforma-tions have become an art form here.

I have said earlier – media as an institution is also replete with oppor-tunists who use the press privileges to make a fast buck or attain some

material possessions. Not pointing any � ngers, but there are plenty of media personalities who have pledged their loyalty to one regime or the other in return of position and power.  

During the autocratic rule, several journalists cleverly took to the task to glorifying the regime’s achievements. Some were sent abroad as envoys, and others got land plus special patronage. The trend, I can say con� dently, has thrived over the years.

As realists, we know very well, every government will have cronies in the media. After all, propaganda is more powerful than � aunting weapons or exerting muscle force. The slow but insidious indoctrination is safer because fear may bring submission, never long time hypnotic submission.

Obviously, there is no limit to fawning by a media outlet towards a government in power – the more the better! Though, in that format, media will only be a castrated fourth estate. Naturally, no policy is needed in controlling acquiescence.   

Hirok Rajar Deshe, a Satyajit Ray movie, shows an imaginary land where everyone is brainwashed into indulging in panegyric rhetoric. No op-position and all praise, but the rule of human civilisation states – no situation of perceived total control is forever.  

In real-life politics, that means – no matter how strong the grip, in the natural � ow of events, change will come. Before the media is suppressed or words like khobish is used at press-men at public programs, a look at the lessons of the past is advised.  

Unscrupulous practices by the media must be minimised. A media regulatory policy is also essential while press monitoring has to be the prerogative of an apolitical, inde-pendent body run by outspoken civil society members, not by those whose minds are made in the Moshtishko Prokkhalon Jontro (brainwashing in-strument) as used by Hirok Raja. l   

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

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

I am bold, therefore khobish

n Khawaza Main Uddin

Arguably, a thankless job in our society is the job of a match-maker. A ghatak, as they are

known in Bengali, happens to be a person who is not paid but criticised unjustly by both the families of the bride and the groom even when an arranged marriage results in a certain degree of satisfaction. The role of the civil society is similar to that of a typi-cal Bangladeshi matchmaker.

Some folks love to slam members of the civil society, who are respected and privileged men and women. It’s possible that jealousy instigates ad-verse criticism and sometimes the role models’ ga� es inspire many to join the army of detractors.

A section of high-� ying people feel and voice unabashedly that they themselves are the sole representa-tives of the conscience of the commu-nity, reminding us of the hubris-driven line uttered by Louis XVI of France: L’État, c’estmoi (I am the state)!

For years and decades, the atti-tude of the establishment towards a vibrant media and sharp opinions has remained unchanged – inimical and hostile. And why would a government which does not represent the entire nation be so tolerant to the gentlemen who speak for democratic governance?

Sel� ess individuals, however, think otherwise. Only 31 intellectuals issued a statement demanding dissolution of parliament constituted through con-troversial elections boycotted by the Khaleda Zia-led BNP in 1986.

General Ershad-sponsored Jatiya Party captured the treasury bench and Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League was the automatic choice for � tting the opposition bench. Evoking the entente between the two 27 years ago, they have made a historic castling in the power game minus the BNP.

That de� ant statement, which also contained the demand for holding free and fair elections under a caretaker government, set the course for politics in Bangladesh – a popular student demonstration that culminated in the mass upsurge of 1990, resulting in the fall of Ershad, who usurped the Pres-idency from the BNP’s Justice Abdus Sattar in 1982. This was followed by the most peaceful ballot in our history in 1991.

Those intellectuals, if we may consider them as vanguards, still kept

pressure on the BNP, the party that won the majority of votes in the 1991 parliamentary polls, to introduce the parliamentary form of government through the 12th amendment of the constitution.

One of the celebrated journalists of his time, the late Foyez Ahmed, maintained liaison among the political actors in the same manner he and some others did during the anti-autoc-racy movement in the 1980s. We also saw him active in mediating a dialogue on the caretaker government in 1995.

The rise of the civil society should have been � rmer during the reign of elected governments; however, a large number of civil society icons managed to brazenly polarise themselves into two camps. Its third stream, outside the alignment of either the AL or the BNP, has become a depleted force over the years.

Elites and various professionals have, in the past two decades, issued many joint statements, mostly biased towards one camp or the other. Statements by others too were of no signi� cant impact as the practice has lost potency.

Matchmakers like Pakhi bhai have found their own ways to survive and thrive, sacri� cing social volunteerism and opting instead for commercial ser-vices. Alas, civil society actors cannot open shop with a lucrative turnout every month.

Its status is de� ned in the treat-ment from successive regimes when they doled out halua-ruti (bene� ts), politicising public institutions. Rival political camps made a trade-o� while choosing non-party individuals for polls-time governments, castigating the o� ce-bearers after electoral defeat every now and then – in 1991, 1996, 2001, and then 2008.

A handful of aristocrats and ad-

venturists, disillusioned with polit-ical leadership, advocated changes, evidently supporting attempts by the army-led interim government that took o� ce on January 11, 2007.

This cost the civil society its credi-bility. As fallout, the next Sheikh Hasi-na-led government went after Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and others with visceral rage. Many have shut the doors of conscientious mind to not protest against various misdeeds around us.

The January 5 elections, manipulat-ed from the beginning to the end, have o� ered a tricky choice between main-taining silence and raising their voices for the civil society leaders. They came up with a last-minute statement, making a fervent appeal to postpone the one-sided polls. However, once the election was over, they faced pressure from the ruling camp, blighted by the legitimacy question but blissfully nonchalant.

While the vocal ones are subjected to reprimand and harassment, they themselves seem to be overwhelmed by the situation. The pro-BNP part of the civil society fears of the repercus-sions and the AL’s portion loses its moral position.

The pressure group outside the political parties missed the opportu-nity to impel the main contenders for power to come to a consensus on the modality of holding acceptable elec-tions well before the announcement of the polls-schedule in 2013.

They are now in a dilemma on how to proceed and what to do. Unlike the pro-democracy intellectuals in the 1980s, a segment of today’s intelligent-sia, which boasts of forming opinion or negotiating with power blocs, is more concerned about the eventual bene� ciary of its activism: Would it go against AL, or in favour of the BNP?

A few of them dream of replicating the model of the civil society-led po-litical movement that gave birth to the Aam Admi Party in India, but are not ready to invest years of painstaking e� ort to mobilise the people.

We have yet to see a formidable social force that can e� ectively talk about the smaller issues of public interests before thinking of the bigger changes within the country’s political landscape. l

Khawaza Main Uddin is Executive Editor at ICE Business Times.

It’s easy to criticise Workers, not serfs

The role of the civil society is similar to that of a typical Bangladeshi matchmaker

Laws should be passed, not to sti� e the media but to ensure that lawmakers are careful in their misuse of power

RAJIB DHAR

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 201412

TheatreChandrabateeBy Asma Akter LizaTime: 7:30pmEMK Center, MIDAS Center, Dhan-mondi

A Man For All SeasonTime: 7:00pm – 8:30pmNational Theatre, Shilpakala Acade-my, Shegun Bagicha

Bon Manush By Prachyanat Time:7pm Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

FilmMost Welcome 2

Male� cent Transformers: Age of Extinction (3D) X-Men: Days of Future Past (3D)Edge of Tomorrow (3D)Star Cineplex, Level 8Bashundhara City Panthopath Tejgaon

Hercules 3D

Most Welcome 2The Fault in Our StarsHeroHoneymoonNoah 3DGodzilla 3DBlockbuster Cinemas, Ka- 244Pragati Avenue Kuril

Exhibition Jolchhobi By Shahnoor MamunTime: 12pm – 8pmAlliance Francaise, Mirpur Road

TODAY IN DHAKA

Eventful

n Entertainment Desk

Ritwik Ghatak's acclaimed � lm Subarnarekha will be screened today as part of the Partition Week at the Independent University at 12pm.

The Indian Bangla is the last part of Ghatak's trilogy dealing with the aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 and the refu-gees coping with it. It was ranked 11th in a critics' poll of all-time greatest � lms conducted by Asian � lm magazine Cinemaya in 1998.

The Partiion Week is organised by the Bayaan Collective, in col-laboration with the University Press Limited, and features a series of discussions and presentations on the legacies that have been created with the partition of South Asia. The event began yester-day through a discussion session on “Identity formation and Ben-gali Cinema: Pre and Post -1947” at the Chhayanaut Bhaban. l

Saturday evening

1

2

3

Tariq Anam’s villaneous Face

n Entertainment Desk

Drama series “Pinjor” portrays how the in-stitution like village court is misconducted by nurturing some superstitions and reli-gious biogotries. Written and directed by

Badrul Anam Saud, the series is aired

every Monday and Tuesday at 9:20pm.Popular soap actors Suborna Mustafa,

Raisul Islam Asad, Wahida Mallick Jolly, Bonnya Mirza, Intekhab Dinar, Jitu Ah-san, Saju Khadem, Pran Roy and many more stars are seen in the drama.

The story steps out of the usual stereo-typical plots and revolves around a man named Manik Mia who returns home af-ter approximately 14 years. No one takes his return easily and � nally a village court is held where it is decided by all present that Manik will have to leave the village.

He starts a new life from scratch but in the midst an a� air blooms between

Manik and a widow named Tori.Finally, the relationship is ex-

posed and becomes unacceptable to everyone concerned. l

Star studded Pinjor airs today Subarnarekha to be screened today

n Entertainment Desk

Finally, after a gap of four years, Bollywood diva Kajol has given a positive nod to a � lm. Kajol, who has majorly worked in romantic � lms, will be seen in a completely di� erent avatar in the upcoming � lm.

Ajay Devgn recently announced that his wife Kajol would make a comeback this year with an action thriller � lm produced under his banner.

The � lm is an adaptation of the Dutch TV series "Penoza" and the actress will be seen playing the role of a feisty widow. The story of the � lm revolves around a gangster's wife who decided to enter the world of crime to protect her children.

The news was con� rmed by Deepak Dhar, who is co-producing the � lm. Dhar told Pune Mirror that they are adapting "Penoza" and Ram Madh-vani will direct the � lm.

A source close to the develop-ment said that Kajol's comeback has to be a big one and hence the producers � nalised to adapt the Dutch series. l

Kajol to make a comeback with an action thriller

During the whole month of Ramadan and post-Eid period, the cultural scenario was dim and dull. Last weekend, concerts, theatres and dance recitals rejuvenated the arena and the Dhaka city dwellers, who love to add colours in their lives by attending such shows, surely had an eventful weekend.

1. Tamoghna Dey performs a dance recital at a solo Odissi dance evening titled ‘Parampara’ at the Chhayanaut Sanskriti Bhaban Auditorium.

2. Singers of Bangladesh Rabindra Sangeet Shilpi Sangstha present a chorus performance on the

closing day of the two-day long cultural programme ‘Tobu Mone

Rekho’ marking the 73rd death anniversary of Nobel Laureate

Rabindranath Tagore.

3. Natnandan stages its � rst production ‘Chandrabatee’

at the EMK Centre. Directed by Asma Akhtar Liza, the experimental play is centred

on women’s issues.

4. Eminent singer Luva Nahid Chowdhury

performs at a solo music evening

titled ‘Morome baje’ at the auditorium of Bengal Foundation in Dhanmondi.

KHAN HASAN MUHAMMAD RAFI

n Shadma Malik

A rugged look with scru� y beard, Tariq Anam Khan once again will be seen in a negative role in a drama series titled “Face” which will start airing from today at 8:40pm on SATV.

In a conversation with the Dhaka Tribune, the renowned actor, who has made his marks in TV, theatre and cinema, shared about his ventures in “Face” and more:

Tell us about your role in “Face”? In “Face,” I play Rahat who is a gangster in-volved with an international smuggling group. I hold di� erent disguises and fake identities in several incidents to make the “wrong” things done. He can go any extend to achieve his tar-get.

What is the story of Face? The title suggests many di� erent identities of a single person. I should not disclose the whole story in this point but all I can say, it is a thrill-er and action packed series. The audience will enjoy the turns and twists in every layer of the story. Every episode has the potential to grow curiosity among the audience to watch the next part.

Did you experiment with your looks? I kept my hair short, but there were a lot more to do in my body language, my expressions, wearing a shoulder holsters to uphold an arro-gant and angry look etc.

Reason behind regularly playing negative roles.. It is surprising for me as well that I am conti-neously being o� ered as a terrorist or a crimi-nal. May be, it is because of my bad look, jokes apart. However, there is no such character that can be termed completely positive or negative. There is always many shades of gray in every character, and that is the beauty.

Which one do you prefer the most, TV or theatre? Theatre is my passion. It is the source of in-spiration for my acting. In theatres, there are rooms for learning while discussing, team-working and analysing with enough time in hand. On the other hand, TV ensures more ex-posure and � nancial support for an actor which are absent in theatre.

What's coming next? My � lm, “Desha” is scheduled to be released in Eid-ul-Adha. l

4

13DHAKA TRIBUNEMonday, August 11, 2014

Sport 1514 Venus beats sister Serena to reach � nal

Dominant Arsenal thrash City in one sided Shield win

15 Sri Lanka beat rain to down Pakistan

Did you know?Ravichandran Ashwin is now the only player

to average above 40 with the bat and

below 30 with the ball in Tests, minimum

100 wickets

Paceman Sha� ul Islam completes his signing formalities while Mush� qur Rahim is seen in a jovial mood during the � rst day of the players’ transfer held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. Both Mush� q and Sha� ul signed for Prime Doleshwar MUMIT M

Janata Bank continues hockey supportn Raihan Mahmood

Janata Bank, one of the leading state owned banks of the country, stepped up to assist Bangladesh Hockey Fed-eration again with a purse of Tk5m for the salaries of the foreign coach of the national hockey team yesterday.

However, the amount has been re-duced to Tk5m from Tk9m that was provided by the bank on 7th March 2013 for the same purpose. Omar Faruk, the acting managing director of Janata Bank, however, revealed they also have plans to assist hockey in other ways apart from the provided amount. “Our bank decid-ed to reduce the money due to some lim-itations, but it is not the end of the story. We are ready to assist the hockey feder-

ation in other aspects also. We believe hockey of Bangladesh has the potential to go ahead,” said Omar Faruk.

Air Marshal Muhammad Enamul Bari, the president of Bangladesh Hockey Fed-eration, thanked the bank for the support. “We want to look forward. Bangladesh is currently ranked 30 in the international arena and we have moved six steps up in the last year. This has been possible because the national team remained under the guidance of a foreign coach throughout the year and this would not have been possible if Janata Bank was not there. Moreover, many companies sponsor the tournament and other meets where they get the coverage, but Janata Bank has stepped up for a noble cause and they don’t get that coverage for pro-

viding the support for the foreign coach. They should be lauded. After all, we have a base to start,” said Enamul Bari.

Khaja Rahmatullah, the general sec-retary of the hockey federation assured that the money will be used e� ciently and will have the optimum utility. “We have kept a foreign coach for the last one year and look forward to continue it, but I also have to admit at the same time that it would be little tough for us as the fund has been reduced. We thank Janata Bank and hope they will continue the support as Bangladesh moves forward,” said Rahmatullh.

BHF vice president Abdus Sadeque and the DMD of Janata Bank Iftekharuzzaman were also present on the occasion. l

Mush� q eyes turnaround in di� cult conditions n Minhaz Uddin Khan

National skipper Mush� qur Rahim is aware that the upcoming 38-day long tour of the Caribbean islands will not be easy for the Bangladesh cricketers given the conditions and the compo-sition of a totally di� erent side since their last visit to West Indies in 2009.

In their previous visit of the Caribbe-an � ve years ago, Bangladesh had won their � rst away Test match besides also clinching the ODI series albeit against a second-string West Indies side.

“It (tour) will be di� cult. Interna-tional cricket is not easy,” Mush� qur told the media during the pre-tour press conference yesterday. Although Bangladesh will leave Dhaka on August 13, their preparation for the � rst away tour of the season ended yesterday.

Mush� qur informed that the Tigers will try to be competitive in all formats of the game during the tour. Following several below-par performances dis-played by Bangladesh throughout this year, Mush� qur stated that bouncing back against the Windies will be one of their criterion.

The 25-year old Bangladesh captain believes the West Indies’ recent de-feats against New Zealand at home will keep the Caribbean side morally down. In June this year, West Indies lost the three-match Test series to New Zealand 2-1 while the two-match Twenty20 se-ries ended in a draw.

The Tigers will miss out on the service from their prime all-round-er Shakib al Hasan who is serving six months ban from all form of cricket due to indiscipline. However, Mush� qur

said though Shakib will be missed, it won’t a� ect the motivation.

“We are always motivated it doesn’t matter who is there or who isn’t. Yes, he (Shakib) is a big performer and has been contributing for the team since last 8 years,” said Mush� qur.

“But its not as though we would be all relaxed if we were in the team, crick-et is not a one man’s game, we need at least three to four players to perform for a good result, so from that aspect we are motivated. Many players who haven’t been in form recently have been working hard, so hopefully they can motivate themselves to work hard-er and contribute for the team. They need to put in their best performance,” said the wicketkeeper-batsman.

On the other hand, it will be the � rst away tour for national head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and the for-mer Sri Lanka cricketer expressed they are doing everything possible to have an away win.

Bangladesh national cricketers as part of preparation played to practice games – one in white dress and red ball to get the spirit of the longer format while the second was a 50-over-a-side game.

“We had few goals in the practice matches,” informed Hathurusingha. “We also looked for roles of the play-ers in the team. We had training prior to the Ramadan where we worked on our individual games and after that we focused on our team game and in those terms I am happy with most of the players with what they did. However there is always some work to be done,” he added. l

Not � elding, Kalpage joins as assistant and spin coachn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Former Sri Lanka cricketer Ruwan Kalpage o� cially joined the Tigers yes-terday. Kalpage’s joining meant that the former Sri Lanka all-rounder is back in Bangladesh cricket circuit after a gap of four years. He worked as the head coach of the Bangladesh National Crick-et Academy for two years before joining Sri Lanka as their � elding coach in 2010.

However, the few media correspon-dents who met the 44-year-old after the completion of his signing with the Bangladesh Cricket Board, were left surprised after he revealed of joining as the national assistant and spin coach, and not as the � elding coach as it was previously thought of.

Explaining the sudden change of

appointment, a BCB o� cial requesting anonymity said, “He (Kalpage) applied for the posts of both assistant coach and � elding coach. But in the end the board decided to recruit him for the job as the assistant and spin coach.”

Kalpage informed that he and BCB had earlier reached a common ground for the position of � elding coach. But two days back, the BCB re-o� ered Kalpage the job of the national assistant and spin coach which he accepted with much delight and is happy to be back in Bangladesh and see the familiar faces, but his job this time will be challenging.

“Imrul Kayes, Shamsur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Nasir Hossain – around 7 to 8 national cricketers were under my supervision when I was the head coach of the Academy. So it will be interesting

to work with them once again, but at the same time I am also sorry for those cricketers who have been discarded, for example Naeem Islam. I have asked a few people here why he is not in the

team. They said he was not performing consistently,” said Kalpage.

However, Kalpage believes it won’t be hard for him to gel in the national team’s dressing room as many current national cricketers are from the Acad-

emy team of his time. “It doesn’t take long for us to understand each other. The cultural di� erence between Ban-gladesh and Sri Lanka is not vast, and I know pretty well about their talent and ability because I have worked with many of them for around two years. I believe I know all the ins and outs. And the same goes my way – they know very well how I work, but I am also looking forward to work with players I am not known to,” said Kalpage.

It has been learned that Piyal Wi-jetunge, another Sri Lanka coach who turned down BCB’s o� er as the Tigers’ spin coach, made the board consider Kalpage for the job of the same capaci-ty and BCB has already started negotia-tion with another foreign individual for the post of the � elding coach. l

Festivity missing in players’ transferTigers’ captain Mush� q signs for Prime Doleshwarn Mazhar Uddin

On previous occasions, clubs used to involve band parties and horse-carts whilst marching into the Bangaband-hu National Stadium for the players’ transfer of the most prestigious cricket competition of the country, the Dhaka Premier Division League.

However, there was no such drama yesterday in the players’ transfer held at the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Me-tropolis premises where giants Abaha-ni Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited secured the services of Nasir Hossain and Mashrafe bin Morta-za respectively.

The ongoing players’ transfer was also a bit di� erent than that of the previous season. The largely controversial ‘Players By Choice’ system which was introduced last season, was criticised by most of the cricketers.

It was scrapped this season for the more favourable traditional system of players’ transfer where the clubs buy the cricketers of their choice. The traditional system of players’ transfer, however, failed to add to the excitement at the big bowl.

Last season’s runners-up, Prime

Doleshwar, were the � rst team to arrive on the � rst of the two-day players’ transfer for the national players. Bangladesh captain Mush� qur Rahim, reportedly the most expensive player this time, signed for Doleshwar for Tk50 lakh. Paceman Sha� ul Islam was also recruited by Doleshwar.

Reporters had gathered for the reaction of the national skipper but when queried about his record payment, Mush� q appeared annoyed and informed that he was disapp-ointed that news of his fee was made public. The 25-year old said he will receive much less than the mentioned amount.

“The amount which came out in the media is not the payment that I will receive. In fact I am getting much less than that and I was shocked to see it. Whatever payment a player is receiving should be made public after asking the right person and then it should be published. And if a player is not willing to inform about his payment it is his personal matter. Tk50 lakh is a huge amount of money and it is not a matter of joke. I am receiving much less than that,” said an agitated Mush� q.

Meanwhile, national cricketer Nasir, who was almost con� rmed to turn out

for Kalabagan Cricket Academy till Saturday, surprisingly opted to play for Abahani. After coming to the players’ transfer yesterday, Nasir noti� ed he was in talks with Kalabagan CA but did not give his � nal commitment. After receiving a better o� er from the Sky Blues, Nasir changed his mind.

“Every team has their budget. What I asked from Kalabagan CA would have been higher than their budget. Abahani are a big club and it is always fascinating to play for such a club,” said Nasir.

Abahani also retained pacer Al Amin Hossain and signed all-rounder Ziaur Rahman, completing their quota of na-tional cricketers.

Veteran pace bowler Mashrafe on the other hand re-signed for Moham-medan alongside all-rounder Naeem Islam and Mithun Ali while Prime Bank Cricket Club concluded their signings recruiting Taskin Ahmed, Farhad Reza and Mahmudullah.

The remaining clubs who are yet to complete their signings of the nation-al cricketers are expected to feature prominently on the second and � nal day of the players’ transfer today while the transfers of the remaining cricket-ers will take place on August 27-28. l

Bangladesh eying good show in Youth Olympics Hockeyn Raihan Mahmood

With the inclusion of national players like Romman Sarkar and Ashraful Is-lam, the Bangladesh hockey team is aspiring to progress to the semi� nals of the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Nanjing, China from August 16-28.

BKSP coach and a renowned person-ality in the country’s hockey scene, Md. Kawsar Ali was not afraid of facing up to the challenge. “We are grouped with Australia, Canada, South Africa and Spain in Group A and it is a tough one. But we have been taking preparation for a long time and as it is the age-level, the di� erence is not huge. We want to play in the semi� nals and it is our � rst target,” said Kawsar.

The format is � ve-a-side and the Ban-gladesh squad comprises nine players who are all BKSP students. The matches will take place in three parts consist-ing of 12 minutes each. There will be a two-minute break after each part.

The signi� cant change in this format is that a player can score a goal from anywhere in the � eld, just like in foot-ball; there will be no restrictions of the traditional ‘D’ area.

The Bangladesh contingent will � y to China on August 15. The number of par-ticipants in the discipline of hockey is 10.

Bangladesh quali� ed for the YOG as the runners-up of the Junior Asia Cup. Among the players in the squad, Din Islam and Fazle Hossain have the experience of playing in premier division hockey. l

U-23 held to goalless draw i n second warm-upn Tribune Desk

The Bangladesh U-23 national foot-ball team registered their second draw in their second practice match. The U-23 side were held to a goalless draw against Dhaka XI, a side made up with BKSP footballers and players within the squad, at the BKSP yesterday.

The U-23 booters, who will travel to Korea in September to take part in the Asian Games, were split into two teams – Red and Green - in their � rst practice match which the drew 1-1 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium last week. l

Bangladesh squad

Rezaul Karim, Romman Sarkar, Ashraful Islam, Din Islam, Naeem Uddin, Khalid Mahmud, Sajibur Rahman, Fazle Hossain and Raju Ahmed.

BHF president Air Marshal Enamul Bari and acting MD of Janata Bank Omar Faruk shake hands after signing the Tk5m deal at the BOA auditorium yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

The Bangladesh hockey team for the Youth Olympic Games, Nanjing, China MUMIT M

Kalpage applied for the posts of assistant coach and � elding coach. But in the end the board decided to recruit him as the assistant and spin coach

Monday, August 11, 2014

RESULTSEvian 0 3 Caen Kante 12, Duhamel 32, 37

Bastia 3 3 MarseilleMaboulou 9, 73, Gignac 11, 62-P, Tallo 66-P Thauvin 17

Guingamp 0 2 Saint-Etienne Erding 39-P, 90+2

Lille 0 0 Metz

Montpellier 0 1 Bordeaux Diabaté 17

Nantes 1 0 LensBammou 65

Nice 3 2 ToulouseCvitanich 23, 62, Braithwaite 44, Bosetti 68 Ben Yedder 45

Arsenal’s Vermaelen agrees Barcelona moven AFP, London

Barcelona � nally won the race to sign Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen on Saturday.

The Spanish club had been battling with Manchester United for the Bel-gium international’s signature over the last few weeks and Luis Enrique’s team got their man for a reported fee of £15 million ($25 million).

United had initially been the front-runners to sign Vermaelen, who was said to be keen to stay in the Pre-mier League and was uncertain if he would start regularly at the Camp Nou.

But United manager Louis van Gaal ended his interest when Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who preferred to sell the former Ajax star to a foreign club rather than a direct rival, asked for England defender Chris Smalling to be included as part of the transfer.

“Thomas Vermaelen has agreed to join Barcelona in a permanent transfer for an undisclosed fee,” a statement on Arsenal’s website con� rmed.

“Everyone at Arsenal would like to thank Thomas for his contribution during his time at the club and wish him well for the future.”l

Blatter wants his critics to stand for presidentn Reuters, Ulrichen

Sepp Blatter wants his detractors to stand up and take him on in a FIFA presidential election rather than just criticise him, the FIFA president said on Saturday.

“If I were not criticised, I would not have any value,” the Swiss, who is in his fourth mandate after � rst being elected in 1998, told reporters. “People who say I should not be a candidate or I should not get elected, they can take the risk to be in an election. I took the risk in 1998.”

“If you never take the risk, you will never have a chance. But if you take the risk you also have the chance to lose,” added Blatter, speaking at the annual football tournament he organises in a small Alpine village in his home canton of Valais.

“Now I say, if (other people) want to take the risk then take the risk. Don’t speak, go out and � ght, then you will see. That is good. I am happy to � ght. I am a � ghter.”

Blatter’s words appeared to be aimed at UEFA president Michel Platini who is seen as a possible rival to Blat-ter, although the Frenchman has yet to decide whether he will enter the race.

Blatter is seen as almost certain to run for what would be a � fth term in next year’s election although he has not made any o� cial announcement.l

Juve strike late to win Sydney friendlyn Reuters, Sydney

Juventus needed late goals from Paul Pogba and Simone Pepe to snatch a 3-2 win over an A-League All Star XI in a friendly played in front of 55,364 fans at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday.

With the Italians trailing 2-1 with two minutes to go, French mid� elder Pogba chested the ball down and steered it into the top corner of the net with an exquisite half volley to equalise.

Pepe scored the winner three minutes later with a low drive

from a similar position on the edge of the box.

Argentine Marcelo Carrusca had given the hosts, who were captained by Juventus great Alessandro Del Piero, a deserved lead in the ninth minute when he found space for his shot on the edge of the box and stroked the ball past Gianluigi Bu� on.

Substitute Tomi Juric lashed home the All Stars’ second goal in the 77th minute after a defensive error by Kwadwo Asamoah but Pogba and Pepe saved the blushes of the Italian champions. l

Marseille held in high-scoring opening draw at Bastian Reuters, Paris

Striker Andre-Pierre Gignac scored a double but defensive � aws let Marcelo Bielsa’s Olympique Marseille down when they opened their Ligue 1 challenge with a 3-3 draw at Bastia on Saturday.

Marseille are looking to rediscov-er some magic under Argentine coach Bielsa in a bid to unseat arch-rivals Par-is St Germain, champions for the last two seasons.

A loss of concentration allowed mid-� elder Christopher Maboulou to open the scoring for Bastia with the � rst of his two goals in the ninth minute.

Gignac equalised three minutes later with a header from a cross by Benjamin

Mendy and an own goal by Romaric put Marseille 2-1 up at halftime.

Marseille went further ahead with Gignac’s second goal, a penalty just past the hour.

However, Claude Makelele’s side fought back with a 66th-minute penal-ty converted by Junior Tallo for a foul on Maboulou, who then equalised with his second goal in the 73rd.

PSG also only managed a 2-2 draw in their opening match at Stade Reims on Friday with a brace from Zlatan Ibrahi-movic.

Caen had the biggest win on Satur-day, thrashing Evian 3-0, while St Eti-enne won 2-0 at Guingamp and Nice beat Toulouse 3-2 at home. l

‘Lampard is impossible to replace’n AFP, London

Jose Mourinho admits it will be impos-sible to � nd a replacement for Chelsea legend Frank Lampard.

Lampard was released by the Blues at the end of last season and has since signed for new MLS franchise New York FC, while also agreeing to play for Man-chester City on loan until his new club start training in January.

The 36-year-old established him-self as one of Chelsea’s all-time greats during his 13-year stay at Stamford Bridge, becoming the club’s record goalscorer and winning the Champi-

ons League, Europa League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.

Mourinho knows Lampard’s depar-ture has left a signi� cant hole in his squad, and the Blues manager claims even new signing Cesc Fabregas won’t be able to replace the England interna-tional on his own.

Speaking to Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport, Mourinho said: “Frank is Frank, he is irreplaceable. No chance.

“Fabregas is the player we need to modify a little bit the pro� le of our game. We want to give the next dimen-sion to our game in mid� eld.

“But I think we can never say - in

spite of Cesc, who is a fantastic player as you know - that, ‘This guy is coming to replace Frank’, because Frank is Frank.

“In England it is even stronger now than in my � rst period,’ he said.

“Even more now because when I � rst came Man City didn’t have this � -nancial situation they have now. Even Tottenham at this moment, all the top � ve or six.

“In this moment can you tell me who is going to win the Premier League? You can’t tell me.

“This is what I want. For my concept of what a league should be, this is the best.” l

Nasri con� rms France retirementn AFP, London

Manchester City mid� elder Samir Nasri has con� rmed his retirement from in-ternational football with France.

The 27-year-old dropped a strong hint last week that he had decided to cut short his chequered international career, having been omitted from the France squad that went to the World Cup by coach Didier Deschamps.

“I will only be 29 in 2016 for the Europe-an Championship, but the French national team doesn’t make me happy,” Nasri said in an interview with British newspaper The Guardian published on Sunday.

“Every time I go there, there is just more trouble. I face accusations about me

and my family su� ers from it and I don’t want to make them su� er, so it’s better to stop it and focus on my club career.”

Nasri’s girlfriend Anara Atanes sparked controversy in May when she responded to his exclusion from the World Cup squad with a foul-mouthed Twitter attack on Deschamps and the France squad.

“Let’s face it, as long as he is going to be the manager, I don’t think I have a shot after everything that has hap-pened,” Nasri said of Deschamps.

“It’s not just him. He did what he thought was best for his team. I under-stand his choice. It is not something about him. I don’t have any problem with him. It’s just everything. l

Southampton sign England keeper Forster from Celticn AFP, London

England international goalkeeper Fra-ser Forster joined Southampton from Celtic on Saturday, penning a four-year deal believed to be worth £10 million (12.5 million euros, $17 million).

The 26-year-old, who was part of the England squad at the World Cup in Brazil, began his career with Newcastle United, and had loan spells at Stock-port County, Bristol Rovers and Nor-wich City before joining Celtic in 2010.

Meanwhile, Koeman also said Southampton had had a bid -- believed to be in the region of £4.5m -- reject-ed by Leeds for 20-year-old right-back Sam Byram.l

FC Barcelona’s new defender Thomas Vermaelen (C) poses with Barcelona’s sports director Andoni Zubizarreta (L) and vice-president Jordi Mestre during his o� cial presentation at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona yesterday AFP

South African batsman Faf du Plessis (C) hits the ball during the second day of their Test match against host Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club yesterday AFP

Slow Proteas creep up on Zimbabwen Reuters, Harare

Zimbabwe sti� ed South Africa’s usu-ally � uent top six but the world’s top-ranked test side remained in control by reaching 201 for four, 55 runs behind, at the close on the second day of the one-o� test at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

The day yielded just 209 runs in the 90 overs on a wicket that is becoming increasingly di� cult to bat on as Zimba-bwe posted 256 in the morning session.

Faf du Plessis (69) and Quinton de Kock (27) will resume on day three.

In the hour after tea South Africa scored 11 runs for the loss of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers as the home sided packed the o� side � eld and bowled wide of o� -stump, daring the South African batsmen to blast their way through the ring of men.

De Villiers’ demise was lazy in the end as if the boredom of it all over-came him as he tried to hit a ball from o� -spinner John Nyumbu over cov-er, but succeeded only in picking out Sibanda.

Usually so � uent and di� cult to contain, De Villiers’ torturous seven came from 34 balls.

Opener Dean Elgar fought his way to

61 from 146 balls before he was superb-ly caught � ashing at a wide delivery by wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami o� the bowling of Donald Tiripano, handing the debutant seamer his maid-en test wicket.

Under-pressure opener Alviro Pe-tersen (32), who averages 21 in his last 10 test innings, was also caught by Mu-

tumbami - at the second attempt - after he attempted to paddle a leg-side deliv-ery from Nyumbu.

In the morning session, Dale Steyn completed his 24th � ve-wicket haul in tests to end the Zimbabwe innings. Steyn � nished with � ve for 46 from 22.4 overs to take his tally of test wick-ets to 380, three short of Ian Botham in 13th place on the all-time list.

O� -spinner Dane Piedt recorded � g-ures of four for 90 in his � rst test. lArsenal thrash City in Shield

n AFP, London

Arsenal delivered a rousing demonstra-tion of their Premier League title creden-tials by overwhelming league champions Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday.

Buoyed by last season’s FA Cup suc-cess over Hull City, Arsene Wenger’s side took charge with � rst-half goals from Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey before substitute Olivier Giroud added a glorious long-range third.

With £30 million ($50.5 million, 37.8 million euros) new signing Alexis San-chez also impressing on a sunny after-noon in northwest London, Arsenal’s fans will hope it proves the precursor to a sustained title challenge, after seeing their side fall away last season.

Victory in the traditional season cur-tain-raiser -- which witnessed the � rst

use of vanishing spray in English foot-ball -- suggests Arsenal are in � ne fettle ahead of their opening league � xture at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

In mitigation for City, manager Man-uel Pellegrini could point to the ab-sences of � rst-teamers such as captain Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero,

but his side’s rustiness will be cause for concern ahead of their season opener at Newcastle United.

With the millstone of a nine-year trophy drought no longer weighing them down, Arsenal made an assured start on their return to Wembley, with new signing Mathieu Debuchy obliging

Gael Clichy to head a cross clear.Debuchy then blocked a shot by

Samir Nasri -- lustily booed by the fans of his former club -- at the other end, before Cazorla gave Arsenal the lead in the 21st minute.

Jack Wilshere was felled on the edge of the box by Dedryck Boyata, but play continued and the ball ran to Cazorla, who threw Clichy o� -balance with a clev-er feint before drilling home left-footed.

Edin Dzeko looked to get City lev-el by racing away from Calum Cham-bers and teeing up Stevan Jovetic, but Laurent Koscielny produced a timely block. Moments later it was 2-0.

From Sanchez’s sweeping through ball, Yaya Sanogo played a pass inside that was slightly behind Ramsey, but the Welshman checked his run and smartly chipped the ball on before drill-ing a shot into the bottom-left corner.

It had been a less than ideal � rst 45 minutes for new City goalkeeper Willy Caballero -- who was preferred to Joe Hart -- but he helped limit the damage in � rst-half stoppage time by rushing out to prevent Sanchez collecting a pass from Sanogo.

Sanchez made way for Alex Ox-lade-Chamberlain after a lively � rst-half cameo on the right � ank, while City were given fresh impetus by the introduction of David Silva.

Jovetic twice threatened to halve Arsenal’s lead, heading against the post and blazing the rebound over before seeing a rasping 15-yard shot blocked by Wojciech Szczesny.

But Giroud put the game to bed on the hour, gathering the ball in the in-side-right channel and launching a su-perb, dipping strike from 25 yards that plunged beneath the crossbar. l

Zimbabwe 1st Innings: 256 all outTaylor 93, Steyn 5/46South Africa 201/4 (84.0 ov) du Plessis 69, Elgar 61, Nyumbu 2/71

South Africa trail by 55 runs in the 1st innings

BRIEF SCORE

RESULTArsenal 3 0 Manchester CityCazorla 21, Ramsey 42, Giroud 61

Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta lifts the Community Shield after a 3-0 victory over Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in London yesterday REUTERS

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15Monday, August 11, 2014

Ten Action2:00PMSouth Africa Tour of Zimbabwe 1st Test Day 3

Badrul Huda passes awayRenowned sports journalist and commentator Badrul Huda Chowdhury passed away due to old age compli-cations at his Chittagong residence yesterday. He was 82. He is survived by three sons, two daughters and his wife. Badrul Huda was su� ering from old age complications for the last couple of years. Born in Mirsarai in 1932, Badrul Huda worked for local dailies like Azad, Ittefaque, Inqilab, Banglar Bani, Sang-bad, and Purbodesh. He also wrote two books on cricket, “Tobu Cricket Bhalobashi” and “Duti Bat Ekti Ball”. He was active as a sports commentator in both radio and TV. His namaj-e-Janza was held at the Laldighi Ground and he was buried at the Chaitnya Gali grave-yard after the Asr prayers.

–Tribune Desk

WI name squad to face BangladeshThe West Indies Cricket Board on Saturday named a 13-man squad for the three one-day internationals against Bangladesh later this month:

Dwayne Bravo (captain), Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Nikita Miller, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Lendl Simmons

Match schedule

Aug 20: 1st ODI - St. George’s, GrenadaAug 22: 2nd ODI - St. George’s, GrenadaAug 25: 3rd ODI - Basseterre, St. Kitts (d/n)Aug 27: Twenty20 international - Basse-terre, St. Kitts (day/night)Sept 5-9: 1st Test - Kingstown, St. VincentSept 13-17: 2nd Test - Gros-Islet, St. Lucia

–AFP

England upbeat over Stuart BroadEngland expect Stuart Broad will be � t to play in the � fth and � nal Test against India at The Oval next week despite con� rming the paceman had su� ered a broken nose in their fourth Test win at Old Tra� ord. “X-rays con� rm a fractured nose,” an England and Wales Cricket Board spokeswoman told reporters at Old Tra� ord after England, with Broad o� the � eld, completed a spectacular innings and 54-run victory inside three days to go 2-1 up in the series. “He will have treatment over the course of the week and the medical team anticipate he will be available for the � fth Test.” Broad was hit when, trying to hook Varun Aaron for what would have been a third six in as many balls of the India fast bowler, he missed, with the ball lodging between the peak of his helmet and the grille.

–AFP

Barca’s A� elay joins Olympiakos on loanDutch mid� elder Ibrahim Afellay has joined Olympiakos from Barcelona on a season-long loan, the Greek champions announced Sunday. Afellay, 28, was sidelined for much of last season with a thigh injury having spent the 2012-13 campaign on loan at Schalke in Germany before a series of injuries curtailed his time in the Bundesliga. The injury-prone Dutchman joined Barcelona from PSV Eindhoven in January 2011 but has made just 35 appearances for the Spanish giants since his arrival at the Nou Camp. Afellay won the last of his 44 Netherlands caps in November 2012.

–AFP

Stekelenburg joins Monaco on loanMonaco have signed Dutch international goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg from Fulham on a season-long loan, the Principality club said on their website Saturday. The 31-year-old, who was � rst choice for the Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup, will provide competition for Croatia’s Danijel Subasic. The former Ajax and Roma shot-stopper, who has 54 international caps, will wear the number 16 shirt. He played just 11 league games for Fulham last season as they were relegated from the Premier League to the Championship. Monaco had been expected to sign former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes after the Spaniard became a free agent at the end of last season, but they pulled out of the deal after he tore his cruciate knee ligament in March.

–AFP

QUICK BYTESPakistan 1st innings451 (Younis Khan 177, Asad Sha� q 75, Sarfraz Ahmed 55, Abdur Rehman 50, Dil-ruwan Perera 5-137, Rangana Herath 3-116)Sri Lanka 1st innings533-9 declared (K. Silva 64, K. San-gakkara 221, M. Jayawardene 59, A. Mathews 91, Saeed Ajmal 5-166, Junaid Khan 2-104)Pakistan 2nd innings(overnight 4-1)Khurram Manzoor c Dickwella b Herath 3Ahmed Shehzad lbw b Perera 16Saeed Ajmal c Dickwella b Prasad 4Azhar Ali c Dickwella b Herath 41Younis Khan b Herath 13Misbah-ul Haq lbw b Perera 28Asad Sha� q lbw b Herath 8Sarfraz Ahmed not out 52Abdur Rehman c Dickwella b Eranga 1Mohammad Talha c Dickwella b Herath 4Junaid Khan lbw b Herath 0Extras: (b7, lb3) 10Total (all out, 80.2 overs) 180

Fall of wickets1-3 (Manzoor), 2-11 (Ajmal), 3-39 (She-hzad), 4-55 (Younis), 5-111 (Ali), 6-111 (Misbah), 7-133 (Sha� q), 8-153 (Reh-man), 9-178 (Talha), 10-180 (Junaid).BowlingHerath 30.2-11-48-6, Eranga 14-5-44-1, Perera 28-6-68-2, Prasad 8-3-10-1.Sri Lanka 2nd inningsU. Tharanga b Junaid 12M. Jayawardene b Junaid 26K. Sangakkara c Manzoor b Talha 21A. Mathews not out 25K. Vithanage not out 11Extras: (lb3, w1) 4Total (for three wickets, 16.2 overs) 99

Fall of wickets1-28 (Tharanga), 2-59 (Jayawardene), 3-73 (Sangakkara).BowlingAjmal 6-0-29-0, Junaid 8-0-55-2 (w1), Talha 2.2-0-12-1.

Sri Lanka won by seven wickets

SCORECARDSri Lanka beat rain to down Pakistann AFP, Galle

Retiring Mahela Jayawardene took on the unusual role of opening batsman to hand Sri Lanka a thrilling seven-wicket victory on the � nal day of the � rst Test against Pakistan in Galle on Sunday.

The hosts, needing 99 to win in a minimum of 21 overs, beat fading light and approaching rain to cruise home in the 17th over in front of some 5,000 ju-bilant home fans.

Jayawardene, who is due to retire from Test cricket after the two-match series, scored 26 before Kumar Sanga-kkara (21) and skipper Angelo Mathews (25 not out) chipped in lower down the order.

Mathews and Kithuruwan Vithan-age smashed 17 runs in the 16th over bowled by Junaid Khan and then scored the winning run in the next over just before rain hit Galle.

The win was set up by left-arm spin-ner Rangana Herath, who claimed six for 48 that bundled Pakistan out for 180 in their second innings in the post-tea session.

Pakistan, who started the day at 4-1, lost three wickets in the morning ses-sion to go to lunch on 66-4.

The tourists added eight runs in the morning when seamer Dhammi-ka Prasad had nightwatchman Saeed Ajmal edging a catch to wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella.

Opener Ahmed Shehzad made 16 when he was given out leg-before to

o� -spinner Dilruwan Perera to make it 39-3.

Shehzad, who consulted his partner Azhar Ali before deciding not to ask for an umpire’s review, would have sur-vived if he had signalled for it. Televi-sion replays showed the ball missing the leg stump.

Herath dealt Pakistan a bigger blow when he bowled � rst innings centu-ry-maker Younis Khan for 13 to reduce the tourists to 55-4.

Ali and skipper Misbah-ul Haq put on 56 for the � fth wicket on either side of lunch when both fell at the same to-tal to make it 111-6 -- just 29 runs ahead with 45 overs left in the game.

Ali (41) was caught behind o� Her-ath and Misbah (28) was leg-before to Perera in the next over.

Pakistan found themselves pinned against the wall at 133-7 when Asad Sha� q, the last recognised batsman, was leg-before to Herath for eight.

Seamer Shaminda Eranga had Abdur Rehman caught behind at the stroke of tea before Herath dismissed Moham-mad Talha and last man Junaid to leave gutsy Sarfraz Ahmed stranded on 52 not out.

The second and � nal Test will be played at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo from Thursday. l

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews celebrates after the win over Pakistan in the � rst Test in Galle yesterday REUTERS

Chess team return to winning waysn Tribune Desk

Bangladesh Open chess team � nally returned to winning ways after beating San Marino convincingly by 4-0 points in the 7th round of the 41st World Chess Olympiad at Tromso, Norway on Saturday.

Meanwhile in the women’s section, Bangladesh lost to Moldova by 2.5-1.5 points in their 7th round encounter.

In the Open section, Grandmaster Zi-aur Rahman beat Righi Ezio, GM Enam-ul Hossain beat Cecchetti Roberto, IM Minhazuddin Ahmed Sagar beat Mac-capani Massimiliano and GM Niaz Mur-shed beat Grassi Enrico of San Marino.

Bangladesh Open team now have seven match points and 15.5 game points after the end of the 7th round.

In the women’s section, only WIM Shamima Akter Liza managed to win against WIM Baciu Diana while WFM Sharmin Sultana Shirin forced a draw against Gitu Paula Alexandra as WFM Nazrana Khan Eva lost to IM Petrenko Svetlana and WIM Rani Hamid lost to Hincu Olga. Bangladesh women team now have six match points and 13.5 game points after seven rounds played. l

Venus beats sister Serena to reach � naln AFP, Montreal

Venus Williams booked her spot in the Montreal WTA � nal by rallying to take a three-set win over sister Serena on Sat-urday in their 25th career meeting.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Ve-nus bene� ted from nine Serena double

faults en route to a 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-3 victory at the $2.5 million hardcourt tournament.

Venus posted her � rst win over top seed and defending champion Sere-na since another three-set victory � ve years ago in Dubai.

“Serena is at her top level,” Venus

said. “You can’t win every match. You can’t win them all.

“She’s number one. Nobody wants to play her. If you do, you have to play the match of your life.”

Saturday was also their � rst meeting since Serena thrashed her older sibling 6-1, 6-2 last year in Charleston.

The contest lasted just over two hours as Venus hammered six aces and had just two double faults.

“Big sister taught little sister a les-son,” world number one Serena said.

Many of the crucial points in the semi-� nal came o� second serves as Venus won 56 percent of hers compared to just 36 percent for Serena, who still leads their head-to-head series 14-11.

In Sunday’s � nal, Venus will face third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland who beat unseeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3).

The 34-year-old Venus became the oldest player to reach the � nal of this event in a quarter of a century as she guns for her 46th career singles title.

“I want to go out there and perform well,” Venus said. “If I am fortunate enough to win this tournament, then I am sure it will be dance-worthy.”

This also marked the � rst time Ve-nus and Serena appeared on the same court together since Serena’s infamous wobble at Wimbledon.

Six weeks ago Serena exited Wim-bledon in bizarre fashion. Appearing dizzy and bewildered during a Wim-bledon doubles match with her sister as she struggled just to bounce the ball and then double-faulted four times in a row. Serena later blamed her perfor-mance on a virus.

Serena, a three-time champion at the event and who was coming o� a victory last week in Stanford, � red 19 aces but couldn’t overcome her double faults and poor second serves.

“I made many mistakes today. When I make so many mistakes it is impossi-ble to win against her,” a disappointed Serena said.

“I haven’t been able to get into the quarter-� nals of a Grand Slam this year.

“At this point, really just looking for-ward to next year, to be honest.”

Serena then bristled at a reporter’s follow-up question about possibly overlooking the US Open and how this a� ects her motivation for the upcom-ing Grand Slam. l

Serena Williams (L) and Venus Williams, both from USA, hug each other after the women’s semi� nals in the Rogers Cup at Uniprix Stadium on Saturday in Montreal, Canada AFP

Runners start the 44th annual City2Surf fun run down Sydney’s William Street August 10, 2014. Around 80,000 people participated in the run, which covers a distance of 14km (8.7 miles) from the city to Bondi Beach REUTERS

DAY’S WATCH

India press slam team’s ‘spineless surrender’n AFP, New Delhi

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni faced criticism from the nation’s press Sunday for his “bizarre” tactics during the side’s humiliating loss to England, while his batsmen were slammed for their “spineless surrender”.

Lacklustre India lost the fourth Test at Old Tra� ord on Saturday by an in-nings and 54 runs, handing England an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the � ve-match series.

Under the back-page headline “Spineless Surrender”, the Times of India lashed out at the country’s bats-men for refusing to � ght back in their second innings.

The newspaper said the batsmen had made millions of dollars playing “slam-bang” limited-overs cricket, but failed to hone their skills for Test matches, the sport’s most demanding format.

“Faced with the onerous task of saving the match, India’s ‘Young Mil-lionaires’ did not even attempt to save face,” its correspondent wrote.

“Instead they � aunted a � amboyant approach, so typical of limited-overs cricket, to bring about a quick end to the fourth Test.

“So pathetic was India’s display that their second innings lasted just 43 overs.” l

Federer cruises past Lopez to book spot in � naln AFP, Toronto

Roger Federer put on a command per-formance on Saturday to reach his � fth career Canadian � nal as he defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4 at the Toronto Masters.

The Swiss second seed and two-time champion in Canada will take on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after the French-man rolled over rising star Grigor Dim-itrov 6-4, 6-3.

Tsonga, seeded 13th and loser to Fed-erer in two previous � nals, will be play-ing his � rst � nal in Canada, while Feder-er moved into his 120th career � nal.

Federer stayed in total control from the opening point against Lopez, who was treated in the second set for an ap-parent neck problem.

The 32-year-old Spaniard has now lost all 11 of his matches with Federer, who will be looking for an 80th career trophy when he plays Tsonga.

“I’m happy to be playing in such good form,” said Federer, who turned 33 on Friday and lost just four points in serve in the � rst set. “I’m super-happy to be in the � nal.

“The key to the match was always the big serve. I had to focus on my own and then try to create chances. I started well from the get-go.

“I could tell Feliciano was tired, he’s played a lot of tennis this week. The

second set was maybe not of the high-est quality, but I was seeing the ball very well.

“The � nal will be exciting, Jo has been playing well. I know what’s ahead of me, I have my work cut out if I want to win the trophy.”

Federer improved his 2014 record to 44 wins and eight defeats as he bids for a third title of the season after Dubai and Halle. He is only a month removed from the Wimbledon � nal.

The winner � red 13 aces and never faced a break point while forcing Lopez to save nine of 11 break points.

The 29-year-old Tsonga will face o� for his second Masters 1000 shield on Sunday. He claimed a Masters win at Paris Bercy in 2008, but lost in Paris and London in two other � nals to Federer.

“I’m feeling good, I’ve been wait-ing for this moment since a couple of years now. I’ve always believed it my-self during all these years, and all those weeks where I was losing,” he said.

“Finally I get a little reward (with the victory), it’s good for me. It will for sure make me stronger, keep my moti-vation at the highest level.”

Tsonga spent fewer than 90 minutes in dispatching 23-year-old Bulgarian Dimitrov, the youngest member of the ATP Tour’s top 10 who stands eighth in the world and is tipped as one of the stars of the future.l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

AL leader shot deadn Tribune Report

An Awami League leader was shot dead on Saturday night outside his house in the capital’s West Agargaon area.

Jahangir Kabir, 45, was a candidate for the presidential post of Awami League’s ward no 41 unit as well as the president of Agargaon Trade Association.

After the shooting, he was � rst tak-en to a local hospital but was later shift-ed to the National Institute of Trauma-tology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation, where doctors declared him dead.

Jahangir’s wife Parvin Akhter said around 11:45pm, when her husband got out of a car in front of their house, two people shot him several times.

“He received injuries on his nose, face and chest. The shooters, riding a motorcycle, � ed the scene when locals rushed there after hearing the sound of shooting,” she said.

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar OC Kazi Ruhul Imam said: “Jahangir was shot around 11:30pm by two miscreants and he died after being taken to the hospital.”

The motive behind the killing could not be ascertained and no case was � led till the � ling of this report. l

Bangladeshis 'at serious risk' in Libya and Iraqn Rabiul Islam

Bangladeshi labourers in war torn Libya and Iraq were at serious risk, the expatriates' welfare minister, Khand-ker Mosharraf Hossain, said yesterday. But the government does not plan to evacuate them at this time.

“We have shifted our migrants from Tripoli and Benghazi to safer places in Libya and advised them not to move to con� ict-prone areas,” the minister for expatriates' welfare and overseas em-ployment told reporters after a policy discussion on migration and develop-ment at a city hotel.

Answering a question, Mosharraf admitted that Bangladeshis were at risk but that it was good news that Bangla-

deshis were not the target of any of the con� icting groups.

Mosharraf said the government would evacuate Bangladeshi citizens from Libya if the situation deteriorated any further.

Talking to this correspondent, the � rst secretary of the Bangladesh em-bassy in Tripoli, Libya, Ahsan Kibria, said 3,500 migrants had been moved from Tripoli and 2,500 from Benghazi to safer places.

He said seven Bangladeshis had been killed in the last few days.

The embassy o� cial said some Ko-rean companies that employed expats had halted their projects in Libya. The companies gave 6 months' leave to workers and said they would recruit

further manpower when the situation improved.

The chief of the Dhaka mission of the International Organisation for Mi-gration (IOM), Sarat Das, told the Dha-ka Tribune on the sidelines of the dis-cussion that migrants had little scope of being evacuated at the moment. The IOM has been distributing relief mate-rials in Libya.

Around 50,000 to 60,000 Bangla-deshis are on work contracts in Libya.

Asked about the con� nement of 180 migrants in Iraq, the expat minister con� rmed that it was true and that the migrants had no work.

He said the company that recruited the migrants had no commercial activ-ities.

“We have started negotiations with the company to provide jobs for the mi-grants elsewhere,” he said.

The expat minister said the manag-ing director of a company recruiting workers to go to Iraq amid war and re-newed US airstrikes had assured him that security precautions had been taken.

He said between 25,000 and 30,000 migrants work in Iraq.

Addressing the discussion on mi-gration and development, organised by Parliament and the Internation-al Organisation for Migration (IOM), Speaker of the House Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said it was necessary to mainstream migration into develop-ment. l

Saga of so-called condensed milkn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution in 2003 cancelled the li-cences of four companies for producing so-called condensed milk with expired milk powder and inedible palm stearin instead of milk fat.

The companies confessed to making such adulterated condensed milk in violation of the BSTI's licensing con-ditions; the condensed milk must con-tain 8% milk fat, extracted either from cow or bu� alo milk.

The companies then demanded making a new standard for them so that they could produce condensed milk with vegetable fat, arguing that such production is seen in Malaysia. Con-sidering the health consequences, the BSTI rejected the appeal, prompting the companies to � le a writ petition with the court that is yet to settle the case.

Thus, the companies continued pro-ducing and marketing condensed milk with palm or soya bean fat.

“We visited a condensed milk factory in Comilla. The factory was equipped with very good machinery, but we saw sacks of expired imported milk powder which was similar to stone pieces. These out-of-date stone-like powdered milk was crushed into milk powder. Then water, palm stear-in (instead of edible palm olin) and sugar were added to the milk powder to make condensed milk,” said Kabir Ahmed, a representative of the Institute of Public Health to the probe body the BSTI formed in 2002 to investigate the malpractices of the condensed milk companies.

“These were simply poisoning the people as the palm stearin is not edible; it is used in detergent making,” he said.

Millions of people across the coun-try, even in the remotest areas, are consuming the so-called condensed milk mainly used in tea stalls and res-taurants. People of all ages take the in-jurious milk which children and elderly people must avoid.

The companies are reluctant to dis-close the � gures on the sales of the condensed milk. But the harmful con-densed milk has replaced the tradition of making tea and co� ee with raw milk across the country.

“I use at least � ve cans of condensed milk every day,” Kalu, a tea stall owner

in Chokmuktar Southwest Para, told the Dhaka Tribune. Similar statement came from Chhobi Begum, a tea stall owner in Khulna's Batiaghata area.

Each of the 68,000 villages has at least � ve tea stalls. A conservative as-sumption says at least 3.4 lakh jars of condensed milk are sold every day in the villages. It means at least one crore jars of condensed milk are sold per month.

Based on the � ndings, the BSTI coun-cil headed by then (2003) industries minister MK Anwar cancelled the licenc-es of four condensed milk companies: Danish Condensed Milk Bangladesh Ltd, Abul Kahir Condensed Milk Industries Ltd, SA Condensed Milk Ltd and Meghna Condensed Milk Industries Ltd.

In 2007, the military-led interim ad-ministration ordered the BSTI to set a new standard allowing palm or soya bean fat in the condensed milk styled Sweetened/Unsweetened Condensed Filled Milk. Since then, at least six com-panies are producing and marketing the so-called condensed milk.

According to the new licensing condi-tions (2007), the jar must not claim it to be a condensed milk; it must read Sweet-ened/Unsweetened Condensed Filled Milk with 22% skimmed milk power. But the companies are marketing the prod-ucts writing in bold red Sweetened Con-densed Milk, with a small black world '� lled' which must be in the heading.

Hitherto, neither the BSTI nor any agency in-charge of ensuring food safe-ty has tested any samples of the con-densed milk to check whether the com-panies are using edible ingredients.

“The writ petition is yet to be settled. But the companies are marketing the milk under new licences that allow use of vegetable fat. We have just made a standard for production of sweetened condensed � lled milk. We have no au-thority to punish them for adulteration,” Taher Jamil, a deputy director (adminis-tration), told the Dhaka Tribune.

“At present, we have set standard for around 3,800 products. We can cancel licences and jail them for the 155 items. For adulteration of rest of the products, the government agencies such as the police, the local government bodies, institute of public health and the con-sumer rights directorate can act in line

with the Pure Food Act 2013 and other laws,” he said.

“This is for sure that no company will ever produce condensed milk again as it will not be economically viable”.

BSTI Director (chemistry) Md Akhtaruzzaman told the Dhaka Tribune that the companies were very powerful and it was very di� cult to punish them.

“One kilogram of powder milk costs Tk650. So, you can easily understand how we have been doing business. The production cost of one jar of milk costs around Tk25,” said Kazi Hasan, the gen-eral manager of the Danish Condensed Milk Bangladesh Limited.

He said his company imported milk powder from Australia, New Zealand and Denmark.

According to the BSTI rule, the compa-nies must use 88 grams of powder milk in 400 gram condensed milk jar, meaning that only the power milk will cost over Tk57. But one container of 397 condensed milk sells at Tk58 in the retail market.

Replying to a Dhaka Tribune ques-tion how they could sell 400 gram con-densed milk with only Tk58 as one, a representative of Samannaz Condensed Milk Ltd (Goalini), told the Dhaka Trib-une: “This is our business secret; there are ways you will not understand.”

Further relaxing conditionsThe BSTI has agreed to give further concession to the companies. The 2007 conditions forced the companies to use 22% of power milk in a 397 gram jar that sells at Tk58. This year, testing institu-tion has amended the 2007 conditions, allowing them to prepare the milk with 20% milk power.

“We will place the decision at the BSTI's highest policy-making body headed by the industries minister,” Ta-her Jamil said, adding that the amend-ed licensing conditions would enable them to punish the companies for vio-lation of conditions.

Partex Group's Danish Condensed Milk Limited, Tasneem Condensed Milk (No1), Meghna Condensed Milk Ltd in Comilla (Fresh), Samannaz Con-densed Milk Ltd (Goalini), Sonowara Condensed Milk Limited (Diplomat) and Abul Khayer Condensed Milk Ltd (Starship) are the companies producing such milk in Bangladesh. l

SUSHMA SWARAJ’S VISIT

India claims illegal migration issue discussedn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Dhaka and New Delhi have made op-posite claims on whether they had dis-cussed the issue of alleged illegal mi-gration from Bangladesh during Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Dhaka in June.

After having o� cial talks with his Indian counterpart on June 26, For-eign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said the issue had not been discussed in the meeting. “It was not raised by the Indi-an side and no discussion took place,” he told reporters.

However, the Indian External Af-fairs Ministry in response to questions of parliamentarians said, at least twice, that the issue had been discussed dur-ing the meeting.

In response to a question of Rajya Sabha member Bhubaneswar Kalita on August 7, Sushma Swaraj said: “The matter of il-legal immigration, border management and related issues were raised with the Government of Bangladesh, stressing the need for enhanced border manage-ment and better cooperation between our border guarding forces.”

She also said both the governments had agreed that better management would be helpful in bringing about peace and security along the border.

On July 30, in response to a ques-tion of Rattan Lal Kataria and Yogi Aditya Nath in Lok Sabha, State Min-ister for External A� airs VK Singh said: “During her [Sushma Swaraj] visit to Bangladesh from June 25 to

27, 2014, the external a� airs minister raised the issue of in� ltration and il-legal migration with the Bangladeshleadership.”

When contacted, a senior Foreign Ministry o� cial in Dhaka said they had no knowledge why the Indian ministry had been making such claim.

“The issue was not raised in the of-� cial talks and our minister mentioned it in the press conference. We stand by what our minister said,” the o� cial said.

It was not even raised when Sushma Swaraj had called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the visit, the of-� cial said. “Had the issue been raised, Bangladesh would have responded to it. But in the responses of the Indi-an ministers, there was no mention of what Bangladesh said and that is unu-sual.”

During the election campaign, Indi-an Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the alleged in� ltration from Bangla-desh an issue while it was endorsed by his party, BJP, which won majority in the Lok Sabha election.

Modi several times threatened that he would get rid of the alleged Bangla-deshi in� ltrators if voted to power.

Bangladesh Commerce Minister and senior Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed at that time said such remarks would have negative impact on the bi-lateral relations.

Indian Finance and Defence Minis-ter Arun Jaitley in May published an ar-ticle, saying: “Mass in� ltration of Bang-ladeshis has changed the demographic character of Assam, West Bengal and some districts of Bihar.”

The root cause of social tension in several parts of north-eastern India was in� ltration, he alleged.

“Some political parties in Assam and West Bengal have regrettably made in-� ltration into a secular cause because in� ltrators are their vote bank,” Jaitley said. l

Mohsin regrets foul-mouthing journalistsn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali yesterday regretted making derog-atory remarks about journalists, saying he meant those words for only a couple of newsmen, not all.

In a statement signed by the pub-lic relations o� cer of his ministry, the minister yesterday stated that those two local journalists had been publish-ing fabricated news on him repeatedly over the last few days.

Mohsin said he had been agitated by constant verbal pinching of some of the journalists present there, as they had been constantly “making fun of the honourable prime minister and the � nance minister.”

He said he could not control his wrath and fumed towards the journalists.

Mohsin, who had apologised for smoking at a programme of a school af-ter the incident had been revealed by the media, said he sincerely regretted his

words if the journalists community had been hurt. He asked journalists to con-sider that as an unintentional mistake.

The minister asserted that journal-ism was a noble profession and he had eternal respect for it.

Addressing a discussion programme in Sylhet on Saturday, Mohsin called journalists “Khobish,” a Bangla word roughly meaning disgusting and dirty.

The social welfare minister also said journalists were uneducated, non-graduate and they did not have any character. l

With high-tech equipment still unable to trace the Pinak 6 launch, locals carry out their own manual e� orts in � nding the location of the sunken vessel. By tying pieces of bricks to a plastic rope, they drag it across the riverbed in hopes that the bricks will get caught in the body of the launch. These locals try to assess the situation yesterday after their rope got caught apparently on a large structure in the middle of the Padma River, which they assumed to be the Pinak 6 MEHEDI HASAN

Almost half the space of the footbridge in front of Shabagh’s BSMMU is occupied by hawkers who lay down and display their products on the walkway built for pedestrians’ use. The photo was taken yesterday RAJIB DHAR

A senior Foreign Ministry o� cial in Dhaka said they had no knowledge why the Indian ministry had been making such claim

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

Body formed to start Dhaka-Tokyo economic talksBoth countries will proceed to hold the � rst meeting of the forum on August 21 which will be the � rst follow-up to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s tour to Japann Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has formed an eight-member committee to place recommendations in implementing pledges Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had made during her visit to Japan in May, and initiate economic dialogues between the two countries.

The committee will create a joint forum comprising members from both public and private sectors of the two countries to hold dialogues on promot-ing investment and trade between Ja-pan and Bangladesh.

Prime Minister’s O� ce (PMO) Prin-cipal Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder is heading the committee, which also include seven other secretaries.

PMO last week issued a circular to form the committee to organise Ban-gladesh-Japan public-private econom-ic dialogues.

An o� cial said the � rst meeting of the newly formed committee will be held at the PMO on Thursday. So prime minister’s scheduled visit to commerce ministry on the day is likely to be shift-ed to August 28.

Meanwhile, the both countries will proceed to hold the � rst meeting of the forum on August 21 which will be the � rst follow-up to prime minister’s tour of Tokyo.

The Thursday’s meeting will discuss identifying priority development proj-ects of Japan as a Japanese economic survey team is expected to visit Ban-gladesh soon.

Discussions will also include one-stage rules of origin from existing three-stage rules of origin for Bangla-desh’s garment export items, acquiring of a 500-acre land for a Japanese inves-tors export processing zone, Japan’s willingness to establish an industrial park and allocation of 40 plots and two industrial buildings for Japanese new investors to Bangladesh.

The committee will request foreign

ministry to invite Japanese govern-ment to international conference on expert group meeting on blue economy in September.

Sources said as the visit uplifted the Japan-Bangladesh bilateral relation-ship onto a comprehensive partner-ship, the forum would play a positive

role in taking forward the partnership through dialogues for the socioeco-nomic development of the two coun-tries.

O� cials hoped Dhaka’s demands like removing tari� barriers and quo-ta-and-duty-free trade would get im-portance while scope of removing

various investment barriers that Ja-pan identi� ed in Bangladesh are likely to be dealt with in this kind of forummeeting.

Earlier on various occasions, Japa-nese business community submitted to the Bangladeshi government a list of common areas where improvement is

needed in business to ease doing busi-ness in Bangladesh. But, sources said, hardly any step was taken yet.

During Sheikh Hasina’s visit, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged an assistance of 600bn yen (equivalent to US$6bn) to Bangladesh over the next � ve years. l

www.dhakatribune.com/business MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2014

B3 Read all about it: News you can wear

B4 From an Indian jail, tycoon tries to sell the NY Plaza

Green tax not imposed as NBR yet to get list of polluting � rms n Tribune Report

National Board of Revenue (NBR) has failed to impose environment pro-tection surcharge from the polluting companies in the � rst month of intro-duction.

The surcharge which is called “green tax” was introduced in the budget of � scal year 2014-15 beginning fromJuly.

A compiled list of polluting com-panies is yet to be prepared. A high o� cial of NBR said the Department of Environment is dillydallying in the process and showing reluctance to help the Board get the list.

He said such non-cooperation is de-laying the start of imposing green tax on the polluting factories.

The o� cial alleged NBR has repeat-edly asked the Department of Envi-ronment authorities to provide a list of polluting � rms as the Board cannot issue o� cial gazette noti� cation with-out such a list.

“Until we get the names of pollut-ing companies, we cannot implement green tax rules.”

The government has introduced 1% environment protection surcharge or green tax on the prices of each product produced by companies polluting envi-ronment in di� erent ways.

In his budget speech, Finance Min-ister AMA Muhith said the tax would be imposed to encourage owners of the environment polluting factories to set up e� uent treatment plants (ETP) and raise awareness among them about harmful impacts of pollution on the en-vironment.

A large number of factories of leath-er, dyeing, printing, chemical and tex-tile sector industries are polluting air, soil and water through releasing indus-trial wastes.

When contacted, o� cials of Envi-ronment Department, however, denied allegations of non-cooperation and dil-lydallying.

They said as there was no such a compiled list before and the green tax system is new in Bangladesh, the pro-cess is taking some time.

“We have no such compiled list as the system has been introduced for the � rst time in the country. First we will provide a list of factories that were earlier � ned for environment pollu-tion,” said an o� cial at Department of Environment who is involved with the process.

“NBR should have to wait some more time as we are working to pre-pare a compiled and appropriate list to implement the surcharge policy,” he added. l

BB signs re� nance scheme with 32 banks, FIs for new entrepreneurs n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rah-man urged the banks to divert their in-vestment focus to the creation of new entrepreneurs providing small loans to them.

He also said the SMEs have demon-strated more commitment in repayment of loans than the big entrepreneurs.

“Banks are to face crisis sometimes by providing loan to big entrepreneurs but SMEs (small and medium entre-preneurs) would be more committed in this case,” he said while addressing a signing ceremony of “New Entrepre-neurs Re� nance Scheme” at Bangla-desh Bank headquarters yesterday.

The central bank signed a partici-patory contract with 32 commercial banks and � nancial institutions under its re� nance fund of Tk100 crore for the development of new entrepreneurs.

The fund will be used for providing highest loan of Tk10 lakh without col-lateral and Tk25 lakh with collateral at 10% interest rate to a new entrepreneur aged 18 to 45 years who did not take any loan earlier.

The re� nance scheme will be imple-mented through the country’s banks and � nancial institutions.

Earlier, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry had taken an initiative to promote 2,000 new entrepreneurs.

In order to expose these entrepre-neurs to the local and global arena, DCCI had taken a mega expo titled “DCCI Entrepreneurship and Innova-tion Expo” held in November last year.

The re� nance scheme is the out-come of that initiative for creating new entrepreneurs taken by DCCI, said gov-ernor.

“We have many projects for � nanc-ing the SME sector but this re� nance project is most important as the fund will go to the new generation of our country,” he said.

He expressed hope that the fund of Tk100 crore would be increased follow-ing the approval of central bank board if the outcome of using the fund is good.

“There is no funding problem, but important is how many entrepreneurs we are creating.”

Dr Atiur Rahman called the banks to keep their commitment in disbursing the fund properly.

Governor directed Bangladesh Bank o� cials to ensure the timely disburse-ment of the fund.

DCCI President Shahjahan Khan and Former President Sabur Khan were also

present, among others, at the function.Shahjahan Khan said: “Despite the

contract is being signed, the main ob-jectives are not achieved.”

He urged the banks to come forward to achieve the goal of creating new en-trepreneurs using the fund properly.

Masum Patwary, General Manager of SME and Special Programmes De-partment of Bangladesh Bank, alleged the banks showed interest to sign such contracts but after signing they didn’t participate actively in the SME loan disbursement.

Ali Reza Iftekhar, President of Asso-ciation of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB), denied the allegation and said the banks always achieved successfully the targets set by Bangladesh Bank in all projects including in agriculture and SME sectors.

Selim R.F Hussain, Managing Direc-tor of IDLC Finance, assured on behalf of all banks and � nancial institutions that they would be committed about the proper use of the fund.

Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, Managing Director of Pubali Bank, expected the size of the fund would be increased in future if properly used. The fund will have an important role on employment generation, he hoped. l

BB chief assures Japanese investors of facilitiesn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rah-man assured visiting Japanese inves-tors of facilities to promote their in-vestment in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the government has also formed an eight-member committee to initiate economic dialogues between the two nations to remove bottlenecks in bilateral trade and investment.

The central bank chief came up with the assurance as the delegation met him at his o� ce in Dhaka yesterday, said a press release. The Japan-Bangla-desh economic dialogue is expected to start in the third week of this month.

Japan’s Ambassador in Bangladesh Shi-ro Sadoshima is leading the delegation which also includes representatives from Japan’s business community in Bangladesh, Japan External Trade Or-ganization (JETRO) and Japan Interna-tional Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Senior o� cials of Bangladesh Board of Investment, Bangladesh Export Pro-cessing Zones Authority (BEPZA), Na-tional Board of Revenue (NBR), Minis-try of Commerce and Bangladesh Bank were also present during the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Ambassa-dor expressed hope of further progress on ensuring trade and investment facil-ities before the visit of Japanese Prime Minister to Bangladesh in next month.

In the meeting, consensus was reached on several bilateral trade is-sues while some issues were said to be resolved through dealing with relevant authorities including the Prime Minis-ter’s O� ce. l

Dhaka, Paris sign agreement on Decentralised Cooperationn Tribune Report

A framework agreement on “Decen-tralised Cooperation” has recently been signed between the Embassyof France in Bangladesh and theLocal Government Division under the ministry of local government, ru-ral development and cooperatives and the Economic Relations Divi-sion (ERD) under the ministry of � -nance to promote the development of exchanges between Bangladesh local governments and French localauthorities.

Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Secre-tary of Economic Relations Division and Zuena Aziz, Director General (Ad-ditional Secretary) of Local Govern-ment Division and Michel Trinquier, ambassador of France to Bangladesh signed the framework agreement on their respective sides.

Other senior o� cials of the Government of Bangladesh and of French Embassy in Bangladesh were present in the signing ceremony, according to a statement released by ERD recently.

There will be a management com-mittee for identifying projects address-ing development challenges faced at the local level in Bangladesh for which French local authorities would be able to contribute through decentralized cooperation.

According to the agreement, local government division would identify the needs of Bangladesh local govern-ments and suggest to management committee for possible decentralized cooperation projects to be implement-ed with selected Bangladeshi local gov-ernments.

The French Embassy would com-municate the aforementioned needs and projects to French local authorities and put interested French local au-thorities in relation with the selected Bangladesh local governments to work together. l

JS body for bigger Teletalk’s market sharen Muhammad Zahidul Islam

A parliamentary standing commit-tee yesterday stressed the need for increasing more market share by the state-owned Teletalk in the mobile sec-tor of the country.

The standing committee of public undertakings in its � fth meeting held in the parliament building asked the lone state-owned mobile phone oper-ator to invest more on network expan-sion and also spend more for advertise-ment purpose.

The meeting was presided over by the committee chairman Col (Retd.)

Shawakat Ali.“We’ve found that the committee

is showing more pragmatic attitude towards us as they are well-informed about our limitations and at the same time it wanted to help us in getting more market shares,” Gias Udding Ahmed, acting managing director of Teletalk, who attended the meeting, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Currently, Teletalk has obtained 3.08% market share with 35.95 lakh active subscribers after June 2014, ac-cording to the statistic of the telecom regulator.

Market leader Grameephone has

42.24% market shares with 4.92 crore active subscribers, while Banglalink grabs 25.53%, Robi has 20.61%, Airtel has 7.33% and Citycell has 1.22% mar-ket shares.

During the meeting, the committee member urged the Teletalk manage-ment to increase more market share to establish control over the market as soon as possible.

After discussing di� erent corrup-tion-related issues, published in the newspapers, the committee asked the public companies to submit their re-ports to the standing committee after proper investigation. l

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman holds a meeting with a Japanese team led by Japanese Ambassador to Dhaka Shiro Sadoshima at the central bank yesterday BB

Japanese Ambassador hopes further progress in ensuring trade, investment facilities before Japanese PM’s visit to Bangladeshnext month

B2 Stock Monday, August 11, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

From TradeServersDividend/AGMDELTASPINN: 10% cash, AGM: 30.08.2014, Record date: 14.08.2014.ICB MF Dividend: 8THICB: 120% cash, 7THICB: 130% cash, 12.08.2014, 6THICB: 110% cash, 5THICB: 225% cash , 4THICB: 250% cash, 3RDICB: 250% cash, 2NDICB: 400% cash, 1STICB: 800% cash. Record date: 12.08.2014.NAVANACNG: 15% cash, AGM: 25.09.2014, Record Date: 10.08.2014. GP: 95% interim cash, Record date for en-titlement of interim dividend: 05.08.2014.MARICO: 150% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 07.08.2014.SUNLIFEINS: 5% stock, AGM: 15.09.2014, Record Date: 07.08.2014.SQURPHARMA: 30% cash and 15% stock, AGM: 25.09.2014, Record Date: 26.08.2014. NAV of Tk. 22,277.52 million, EPS of Tk. 8.36.LINDEBD: 200% interim cash dividend, Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 03.08.2014.APEXSPINN: 20% cash, AGM: 28.09.2014, Record date: 07.08.2014. EPS Tk. 2.24, NAV per share of Tk. 49.75.RUPALILIFE: 5% stock, AGM: 21.08.2014, Record Date: 04.08.2014.SANDHANINS: 25.50% stock, EGM and AGM: 06.09.2014, Record Date for EGM and AGM: 16.07.2014.BDSERVICE: 15% stock, AGM: 25.08.2014, Record Date: 14.07.2014. SALVOCHEM: 10% stock, AGM: 27.08.2014, Record date: 25.06.2014.ISLAMIINS: 15% stock, AGM: 09.07.2014,

RD: 12.05.2014. JMISMDL: 15% cash, AGM: 24.07.2014, RD: 22.05.2014. MARICO: 50% � nal cash, AGM: 19.08.2014, RD: 02.07.2014.ASIAPACINS: 12% cash, AGM: 14.08.2014, RD: 08.05.2014.GHCL: 10% cash dividend for the shareholders except Directors, AGM: 09.07.2014, RD: 15.05.2014

Dividend of ICB AMCL Managed MFs: ICBSONALI1 10% cash, IFILISLMF1 10% cash, ICB3RDNRB 5% cash, PF1STMF 5% cash, PRIME1ICBA 5% cash, ICBEPMF1S1 5% cash, ICBAMCL2ND 5% cash, ICB2NDNRB 10% cash, ICB1STNRB 30% cash, ICBISLAMIC20% cash. Record Date: 20.08.2014.GOLDENSON: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 30.06.2014 (Jan'14 to June'14), the Company has reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 258.83 million with EPS of Tk. 2.12 as against Tk. 213.58 million and Tk. 1.75 respectively for the same period of the previous year. However considering 25% bonus share for the year 2013, restated basic EPS is Tk. 1.70 as on 30.06.2014 (Jan'14 to June'14) and Tk. 1.40 as on 30.06.2013 (Jan'13 to June'13) Whereas net pro� t after tax was Tk. 103.05 million with EPS of Tk. 0.84 for the period of 3 months (Apr'14 to June'14) ended on 30.06.2014 as against Tk. 112.77 million and Tk. 0.92 respectively for the same period of the previous year. However considering 25% bonus share for the year 2013, restated basic EPS is Tk. 0.68 as on

30.06.2014 (Apr'14 to June'14) and Tk. 0.74 as on 30.06.2013 (Apr'13 to June'13).CMCKAMAL: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 30.06.2014 (Jan'14 to June'14), the Company has reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 59.79 million with EPS of Tk. 0.69 as against Tk. 63.02 million and Tk. 0.73 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas net pro� t after tax was Tk. 34.61 million with EPS of Tk. 0.40 for the period of 3 months (Apr'14 to June'14) ended on 30.06.2014 as against Tk. 31.24 million and Tk. 0.36 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year.AIMS1STMF: As per regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Trustee of the fund has informed that a Trustee meeting of the Fund will be held on August 13, 2014 at 7:30 PM to consider, among others, audit-ed � nancial statements of the fund for the year ended on June 30, 2014.RELIANCE1: As per regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Trustee of the fund has informed that a Trustee meeting of the Fund will be held on August 13, 2014 at 7:45 PM to consider, among others, audit-ed � nancial statements of the fund for the year ended on June 30, 2014.IPO Subscription: Khan Brothers PP Wo-ven Bag Industries Ltd. subscription date 24-28 August 2014, NRB upto 06 Septem-ber 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. Western Marine Shipyard Limited subscription date 10-14 August 2014, NRB upto 23 August 2014. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 100.

Turnover crosses Tk700cr after six monthsn Tribune Report

Stocks continued to rally for the � fth consecutive session yesterday with turnover crossing Tk700 crore after more than six months.

The market opened the session on an upbeat mood and the momen-tum continued till closing on buying spree, mainly on large cap stocks.

The benchmark DSEX rose 45 points or 1% to end at 4,530, hitting three-month high, as most of the stocks were halted or at least came close to being halted.

The Shariah index gained 21 points or 2% to 1,047. The comprising blue chips DS30 was up 26 points or 1.65% to 1,678.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, closed at 8,575 with a rise of 82 points.

In� ow of fresh funds has helped the DSE turnover to stand at Tk763 crore, a sharp increase of 30% over the previous session and highest since February 6 this year.

Lanka Bangla Securities said mar-ket registered a handsome return as heavyweight stocks extended their rally further with increased buy-ing interest. The benchmark index crossed the psychological barrier of 4,500 point with strong turnover, it said.

IDLC Investments said upbeat vibe was upheld throughout the ses-sion. Besides, stable macro-econom-ic indicators like forex reserves cross-ing $22bn and thus Taka appreciation continued its ongoing trend, putting a positive psychological impact on investors, it said.

Alongside, investors’ con� dence remained high, as evidenced by sus-tainable increase in participation in terms of turnover in last few ses-

sions, it said.Mostly, large cap-centric trading

pattern assisted accumulation of this bulk amount of turnover, with top ten capturing 38.8% of the total trade.

Telecommunication continued its gaining streak with almost 3% rise, followed by cement that rose 3%, NBFIs 2.3%, power 2.24% and phar-maceuticals 1.6%. Conversely, life In-surance and bank edged lower.

Zenith Investments said market snared rock solid gains early in the morning, as almost all the stocks were subject to massive buy pressures.

A bout of small pro� t taking was witnessed on few sectors at later part of the day, which failed to create any signi� cant negative impact on the rising trend, it said.

Mobil Jamuna was the most trad-ed stocks with shares worth nearly Tk68 crore changing hands. It was followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone, Active Fine and Beximco.

The two companies were followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Lafarge Surma Cement, Peninsula Hotel and Golden Son. l

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Imam Button -Z -9.64 -11.35 7.50 7.50 7.50 7.50 0.004 -1.85 -veSun Life Insurance-N -7.37 -5.15 49.04 49.00 49.20 48.60 0.172 0.00 -

Prime Bank-A -5.71 -5.29 20.41 19.80 21.40 19.70 0.525 1.96 10.4Dhaka Ins. Ltd.-A -5.36 -5.29 26.52 26.50 26.60 26.40 0.066 2.60 10.2

ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A -4.85 -3.35 9.80 9.80 9.80 9.80 0.010 1.40 7.0IBBLMPB-A -4.60 -4.60 953.00 953.00 955.00 951.00 0.038 0.00 -

Prime Islami Life -A 8.41 8.43 91.54 91.50 91.90 85.90 0.403 4.95 18.5Sandhani Life -A -4.19 -2.68 60.03 59.50 60.50 59.10 0.024 2.12 28.3R. N. Spinning-Z -3.72 -2.93 23.53 23.30 24.10 23.20 3.247 2.74 8.6

Padma Islami Life*-N -3.48 -4.62 55.79 55.50 56.80 53.10 0.446 1.10 50.7

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

ICB AMCL 1st NRB -A -8.28 -6.86 28.12 27.70 31.00 26.30 1.673 4.57 6.2Sun Life Insurance-N -6.97 -5.03 49.84 49.40 51.00 49.20 3.065 0.00 -Prime Bank-A -6.31 -5.27 19.94 19.30 21.10 18.60 17.512 1.96 10.2AMCL 2nd MF-A -5.08 -3.96 5.82 5.60 6.10 5.60 1.073 0.99 5.9ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A -4.00 -3.07 9.80 9.60 9.90 9.60 2.333 1.40 7.0Zeal Bangla Sugar -Z -3.85 -3.85 7.50 7.50 7.50 7.50 0.002 -30.63 -veImam Button -Z -3.75 -3.63 7.71 7.70 8.10 7.50 0.081 -1.85 -vePadma Islami Life*-N -3.64 -3.32 56.78 55.60 58.50 55.10 4.885 1.10 51.6Fareast Islami Life -A -3.38 -2.56 83.74 82.90 86.00 79.00 3.910 4.60 18.2R. N. Spinning-Z -3.36 -2.76 23.26 23.00 24.10 23.00 18.494 2.74 8.5

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

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

Grameenphone-A 119,400 40.03 5.19 333.20 3.09 323.20 344.90 328.00 335.24LafargeS Cement-Z 371,500 34.79 4.51 94.90 4.40 90.90 95.20 92.00 93.64BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 903,198 30.77 3.99 33.50 -2.05 34.20 35.00 31.00 34.07The Peninsula CTG.-N 428,400 15.13 1.96 35.10 -0.57 35.30 36.00 34.90 35.32MJL BD Ltd.-A 145,876 14.86 1.93 104.10 6.55 97.70 99.90 100.00 101.89Active Fine Chem.-A 176,266 12.58 1.63 71.20 1.86 69.90 72.20 69.80 71.38LankaBangla Fin. -A 277,950 12.21 1.58 44.50 6.71 41.70 44.70 42.00 43.94UNITED AIR-A 933,722 11.18 1.45 12.00 -0.83 12.10 12.20 11.90 11.98Matin Spinning-N 210,400 10.05 1.30 48.70 7.98 45.10 49.00 45.60 47.77Hwa Well Textiles-N 189,500 9.93 1.29 53.90 10.00 49.00 53.90 50.90 52.38

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

MJL BD Ltd.-A 6,748,487 678.88 8.89 104.20 7.42 97.00 105.80 87.80 100.60Square Pharma -A 1,535,503 426.88 5.59 279.70 3.63 269.90 281.90 250.00 278.00Grameenphone-A 1,221,995 405.65 5.31 333.90 3.09 323.90 336.80 323.90 331.95Active Fine Chem.-A 4,616,815 328.21 4.30 71.00 1.43 70.00 72.30 63.00 71.09BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 7,650,330 260.04 3.40 33.40 -2.05 34.10 37.00 31.00 33.99Hwa Well Textiles-N 3,968,500 209.66 2.74 54.20 9.94 49.30 54.20 50.00 52.83LafargeS Cement-Z 2,184,030 206.03 2.70 95.30 3.81 91.80 95.70 90.00 94.33ACI Limited- A 544,229 175.21 2.29 318.20 0.19 317.60 328.60 295.00 321.93Padma Oil Co. -A 411,160 141.12 1.85 344.40 2.44 336.20 365.60 325.00 343.23Summit Power -A 3,900,123 132.33 1.73 34.70 9.12 31.80 34.90 28.70 33.93

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 410.52 5.37 28.88 3.32 439.40 5.16NBFI 287.05 3.76 23.88 2.74 310.93 3.65Investment 131.17 1.72 7.69 0.88 138.86 1.63Engineering 752.80 9.85 42.17 4.85 794.98 9.34Food & Allied 234.00 3.06 22.98 2.64 256.98 3.02Fuel & Power 1496.89 19.60 69.07 7.94 1565.95 18.40Jute 4.56 0.06 0.00 4.56 0.05Textile 1048.86 13.73 83.73 9.62 1132.59 13.31Pharma & Chemical 1452.18 19.01 341.56 39.25 1793.74 21.08Paper & Packaging 1.60 28.42 3.27 30.02 0.35Service 88.38 1.16 4.38 0.50 92.76 1.09Leather 46.01 0.60 33.83 3.89 79.85 0.94Ceramic 61.37 0.80 8.22 0.94 69.59 0.82Cement 386.44 5.06 43.80 5.03 430.24 5.06Information Technology 68.90 0.90 8.92 1.03 77.82 0.91General Insurance 48.20 0.63 1.03 0.12 49.22 0.58Life Insurance 95.46 1.25 5.50 0.63 100.96 1.19Telecom 490.50 6.42 48.70 5.60 539.20 6.34Travel & Leisure 194.37 2.54 29.98 3.45 224.36 2.64Miscellaneous 339.01 4.44 37.51 4.31 376.52 4.42Debenture 0.78 0.01 0.04 0.00 0.82 0.01

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4530.83840 (+) 1.00% (+) 1.33% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1047.20310 (+) 2.04% (+) 1.61% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 1678.71347 (+) 1.57% (+) 1.49% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 13952.67950 (+) 1.11% (+) 1.10% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 11430.09400 (+) 1.12% (+) 1.33% ▲

DSE key features August 10-2014Turnover (Million Taka)

8,424.37

Turnover (Volume)

160,739,692

Number of Contract 161,356

Traded Issues 300

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

181

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

111

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

8

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,403.39

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.13

CSE key features August 10-2014Turnover (Million Taka) 1,953.23

Turnover (Volume) 53,690,822

Number of Contract 74,705

Traded Issues 251

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

157

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

89

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,269.18

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.51

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

Record date for the entitlement of cash dividend for all these funds is on August 12, 2014

Upbeat vibe was upheld throughout the session. Besides, stable macro-economic indicators like forex reserves crossing $22bn and thus Taka appreciation continued its ongoing trend

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Hwa Well Textiles-N 10.00 9.03 52.38 53.90 53.90 50.90 9.925 3.99 13.1IDLC Finance -A 9.96 10.19 52.79 54.10 54.10 50.00 3.752 3.04 17.4

B I F C -A 9.66 8.79 15.85 15.90 15.90 15.50 1.530 1.42 11.2RAK Ceramics-A 9.11 7.74 44.66 45.50 45.80 38.00 7.836 1.76 25.4

Summit Power -A 9.09 5.36 34.02 34.80 35.00 32.00 9.261 3.54 9.6AMCL (Pran) -A 8.71 7.25 235.08 238.30 238.30 220.50 1.387 5.85 40.2

Prime Islami Life -A 8.41 8.43 91.54 91.50 91.90 85.90 0.403 4.95 18.5H.R. Textile -A 8.14 5.86 31.23 31.90 32.00 29.50 0.562 1.75 17.8

Bay Leasing.-A 8.10 6.95 26.46 26.70 26.80 25.70 0.426 2.32 11.4Da� odil Computers -Z 8.00 8.01 13.49 13.50 13.70 12.50 0.189 0.68 19.8

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

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Shahjibazar Power-N 9.99 13.13 88.82 89.20 89.20 83.00 99.833 3.04 29.2 Prime Bank-A -12.34 -10.00 21.05 20.60 24.00 20.00 46.054 1.96 10.7IDLC Finance -A 9.94 9.46 53.46 54.20 54.20 48.00 49.257 3.04 17.6Hwa Well Textiles-N 9.94 10.04 52.83 54.20 54.20 50.00 209.663 3.99 13.2RAK Ceramics-A 9.40 7.61 44.66 45.40 45.60 38.00 50.134 1.76 25.4Summit Power -A 9.12 5.44 33.93 34.70 34.90 28.70 132.328 3.54 9.6AMCL (Pran) -A 8.74 7.44 235.71 238.90 238.90 221.90 27.519 5.85 40.3Wata Chemicals -A 8.72 10.15 252.39 253.10 253.10 221.00 6.274 6.20 40.7Eastern Lubricants -A 8.22 5.09 445.45 455.60 457.80 426.00 2.695 6.95 64.1H.R. Textile -A 7.69 4.13 29.77 30.80 31.40 27.00 7.125 1.75 17.0

Read all about it: News you can wear'A well-written headline can encapsulate an entire story'n AFP, Washington

Even if you don’t open a newspaper, turn on a television, log on to a com-puter or pull out a smartphone, you can get news - from wearable technology.

As wearables gain traction, news purveyors are eyeing these devices for their potential to deliver headlines and more to people who want to stay up to date.

Some news apps already have the capacity to deliver news noti� cations, or full articles, to smartwatches or eye-wear such as Google Glass.

“We are going full speed on smart-watches,” said Gilles Raymond, the San Francisco-based chief executive of News Republic, a mobile app that deliv-ers news to mobile devices from hun-dreds of outlets.

Raymond told AFP he expects peo-ple will � nd it useful to get not only headlines but full articles on a smart-watch as the wearable trend revs up.

“When the iPhone came out, people were saying that not one would read news on a phone. Now nobody is say-ing that,” said Raymond.

“People will read articles on a watch. They may not read 300 articles, but people adapt quickly to technology.”

Raymond founded News Republic in France and has expanded to other European markets as well as North America and China, aggregating news from hundreds of outlets, including AFP, Al-Jazeera, Reuters and The Asso-ciated Press.

Roman Karachinsky, CEO of the news aggregation app News360, also sees a future for wearables, but mainly for quick noti� cations they might not otherwise see.

“We want to change the formula from one where you go and seek infor-mation out to a world where informa-tion � nds you when it’s relevant and useful,” Karachinsky said.

He said the newly introduced An-droid Wear platform for Google allows for News360 alerts to be sent to some smartwatches, and to Google Glass.

These alerts ful� ll a need of getting information out quickly - whether it is

a sports score, stock market action or breaking news - in an unobtrusive way.

“Instead of digging around your pocket for your smartphone, now you can just look at your wrist or glance up to your Google Glass,” said Karachinsky. “It’s a very transformative experience.”

‘Glanceability’ It remains unclear at the moment how fast wearable technologies will catch

on, and how people will use the de-vices.

While News Republic’s Raymond sees a demand for full articles, he dif-fers from News360 on Google Glass.

But he said smartwatches may gain more traction when they become in-dependent of smartphones, allowing people to shed their phones for some of the time.

Roger Kay, analyst at Endpoint

Technologies Associates, said news on smartwatches and Google Glass will probably be limited to short items that can be absorbed in a glance.

“The glanceability of it is impor-tant,” Kay said.

“I don’t imagine people squinting at their watches to read articles; they have enough trouble reading on their phones.”

Still, Kay noted that “a well-written headline can encapsulate an entire story.”

For news organizations struggling with the transition to digital, wearables may o� er some help, analysts say.

Ken Doctor of the media research � rm Outsell said news organizations may be able to bring in more readers with alerts tailored to their interests, by de-livering through wearables.

Doctor said that major news orga-nizations are now delivering millions of email alerts on important news for readers who register, and that this drives more tra� c to the websites. The same could be true for alerts on wear-ables.

“The news alerts business, which has been around for 20 years, is having a huge revival,” he said. “This is a tech-nique that works because of mobile and smartphones.”

Important in this e� ort is getting readers to register, to be able to determine the news they want tosee - essentially tracking their habits using the same techniques asretailers like Amazon or services such as Net� ix.

“People are expecting alerts for news that is important to them,” Doc-tor said.

“And I would think the ability of wearables to deliver alerts is very good and that it could spur news reading.”

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited has recently held its monthly conference on business development at its head o� ce. The bank’s managing director Md Habibur Rahman presided over the conference while director, Alhajj Abdul Malek Mollah was present as special guest

Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) has recently held its half yearly business review meeting in Dhaka. BDBL’s managing director, Dr Md. Zillur Rahman, presided over the meeting while chairperson, Prof Santi Narayan Ghosh was present as chief guest among others

Union Bank Ltd has recently held its half yearly conference for its managers at a hotel in Dhaka. The bank’s managing director Md Abdul Hamid Miah was present at the conference

Appollo Ispat holds conference for its sales representativesn Tribune Business Desk

Appollo Ispat, a manufacturer of corru-gated iron sheet has recently organised a conference for its sales representa-tives at its head o� ce in Dhaka.

The participants at the conference discussed issues relating sales growth

of the company, said a press release.The company’s deputy managing

director, Abdur Rahman spoke at the meeting.

He urged the salesmen to contrib-ute more to the company’s growth by putting e� orts on grasping more of the market share in the coming days. l

ANIS A KHAN elected SWIFT Bangladesh chairpersonn Tribune Report

Anis A Khan, Managing Director and CEO of Mutual Trust Bank, has been elected the chairperson of the SWIFT Member and User Group of Bangladesh for 2014-2016, says a press release yes-terday.

Ali Reza Iftekhar, Managing Director and CEO of Eastern Bank was elected the vice chairperson and A M M Farhad, Deputy Managing Director of Social Islami Bank, secretary general.

The election to the 15 member Executive Committee was held on Wednesday at a local hotel in Dhaka following the Annual General Meeting of the Group, at which the new

constitution was formally adopted. Arfan Ali, Deputy Managing Direc-

tor of Bank Asia and acting chairperson of the Group chaired the AGM. K Mah-mood Sattar, former chairperson of the Group and former chairman of the Association of Bankers Bangladesh an-nounced the results of the election as the election commissioner.

Other o� ce bearers of the Group are head of International Division at ICB Islamic Bank Abul Kalam Azad asjoint secretary general, head of International Division at NCC Bank Syed Md. Masum as treasurer and head of International Division at United Commercial Bank Sohrab Mustafa as joint treasurer. l

London oil prices fall as US launches strikes in Iraqn AFP, New York

Oil prices fell in London Friday after the US said it had launched air strikes on jihadist militants in Iraq who are threatening the crude-rich Kurdish re-gion.

Brent North Sea crude for Septem-ber delivery lost 42 cents to � nish at $105.02 in London trade.

Earlier, before the US strikes were announced, Brent had surged to as

high as $107.45.Prices rose modestly in New York

however, adding 31 cents to $97.65 a barrel, though � nishing well o� the day’s highs.

US President Barack Obama ordered his country’s warplanes back into Iraqi skies to stop the Islamic State militants from moving into autonomous Kurdis-tan.

CMC Markets analyst Desmond Chua said the development could add

“signi� cant risk premium to oil prices” as dealers worry about potential supply disruptions.

“The announcement certainly edges up the geopolitical concerns about Iraq and the Middle East region, and comes as a bit of a surprise to investors,” Chua told AFP.

Meanwhile OPEC trimmed its 2014 forecast for global oil demand growth on Friday due to weaker-than-expect-ed economic growth in rich countries

in the second quarter and a “fragile” worldwide recovery.

The Organization for Petroleum Ex-porting Countries said it now expects demand to be 91.11 million barrels a day, down from a previous projection of 91.13 mbd.

In its new monthly report, OPEC, which pumps a third of the world’s crude, stuck however to its forecast that demand would grow to 92.32 mil-lion barrels a day in 2015. l

Europe’s fragile economy put to test as Ukraine, Iraq sour moodn Reuters, Frankfurt

Investors will gauge the strength of the euro zone’s fragile economy this week as escalating con� icts in Ukraine and Iraq darken the mood globally.

In stark contrast to the United States and Britain, which are growing strong-ly, economic output in the euro bloc is likely to have all but ground to a halt in the three months to June. Its star econ-omy, Germany, is losing momentum and Italy is sliding back into recession.

“The United States and the United Kingdom are going to be among the fastest-growing economies both this year and next,” said James Knightley, an economist with ING. “In Europe, the situation seems to be going into re-verse.”

The growing sanctions � ght between Russia and the West over Moscow’s backing of rebels in Ukraine and U.S. air strikes to block Islamist militants in Iraq are also upsetting the markets.

On Thursday, the European Union announces economic output data for the 18 countries in the euro zone for the April-June quarter, and Germany will reveal its own gross domestic product for the same period.

By these yardsticks, neither Germa-ny nor the wider euro zone are expect-ed to see much, if any, improvement on the � rst three months of the year.

To compound matters, tit-for-tat sanctions between Moscow and the European Union and fears that Rus-sia could even invade eastern Ukraine are already sapping business con� -dence and will eat into paltry economic growth later this year.

Not only does Moscow supply about a third of the European Union’s gas needs, trade ties in other areas between Russia and Europe run deep.

German energy giant, for instance, has invested 6bn euros ($8bn) since 2007 in Russia, while chemicals � rm BASF has a joint venture with Gazprom.

“For a long time, the market has been ignoring the geopolitical risks,” said Gregor Eder, an economist with Allianz, one of the globe’s largest fund investors.

“The escalation in Ukraine and a spi-ral of sanctions could be a turning point for that. Exports to Russia were already falling even before Ukraine and could fall further. The Iraq crisis increases nervousness further.”

Pay checkWith Europe looking gloomy and the days of mega-growth in China over, the United States has o� ered some hope for the world economy.

Investors will seek to gauge the strength of the US rebound by examin-ing the latest � gures for retail sales and producer prices there.

Many are looking for reassurance,

as they are in Britain, that economic growth is trickling down to workers’ pay - important proof that the recovery will stick when central banks make it more expensive to borrow.

But the Bank of England is set to acknowledge surprisingly weak pay growth on Wednesday when it pub-lishes economic projections, raising questions about Britain’s readiness for its � rst interest rate hike since the � -nancial crisis.

Although unemployment is set to fall, earnings are also forecast to be lower than a year earlier. There is a sim-ilar gap in the United States between rising numbers of people in work and lagging pay.

“To have con� dence in the recovery in the United States and United King-dom, wages need to rise in line with credit,” said ING’s Knightley.

“The cost of living continues to ex-ceed wage growth. People need to see that they have more cash at the end of the month so that they are not borrow-ing out of necessity.”

In China, industrial output read-ings will give investors a glimpse of the country’s performance in the third quarter of the year after government moves to boost lending to business, such as shrinking the amount of cash that banks must hold in reserve.

China’s economy gathered pace slightly to grow by 7.5% in the second quarter as the government stepped up construction of railways and public housing.

But a downturn in property prices, despite e� orts to make it easier to buy, as well as high local government debts, are holding up the economy.

Analysts believe that deeper re-forms, such as overhauling giant state companies, will be needed in the long term to keep the economy growing at the pace the authorities want.

In the meantime, the euro zone re-mains the globe’s problem child.

Last week, the European Central Bank signalled that it stood ready to print money and buy bonds if the euro zone deteriorated, a pledge to act that the Frankfurt-based bank has made many times in the past.

ECB President Mario Draghi under-scored that he would not be discour-aged from taking such action by the fact that the United States was plotting a di� erent course.

His words alone, however, may not be su� cient to reassure investors un-nerved at the prospect of the US Fed-eral Reserve drawing the purse strings ever tighter.

“There has been this fantastic mon-etary policy experiment where policy has never been looser,” said Paul Dales of Capital Economics, which advises companies and others. l

An attendee uses a Google Glass during the White House Youth Summit at the White House in Washington, DC. No need to open a newspaper, turn on the television or computer, or leave a cell phone on, news can also be read on a watch or glasses AFP

'The news alerts business, which has been around for 20 years, is having ahuge revival'

High-end ‘micro-� ats’ latest trend for Hong Kong home buyersn AFP, Hong kong

At a glitzy show stall for a new resi-dential development in Hong Kong, property agents with loudspeakers are promoting the latest trend in the over-crowded city - high-end “micro-� ats” which still come with an eye-watering price tag.

Hong Kong’s poorest residents are used to making their homes in cramped accommodation, but now developers are touting minuscule upmarket apart-ments to reel in young middle-class buyers.

Although they are part of swish modern complexes, some of the newly-built studio � ats measure as little as 16 square metres (177 square feet) and are on sale for HK$1.5m - almost $200,000.

Single entrepreneur Mike Ko is typi-cal of the buyers that developers are targeting: aspiring home owners who are priced out of the overheated Hong Kong housing market.

“I’m 33 years old and I really need my own place,” says Ko. “Studios are good enough. They’re quite hip and cool as well.”

Ko currently lives with his parents in public housing and has been saving to buy, but says that current price tags mean he can only a� ord tiny properties.

“The market is too expensive, so buying a studio � at is a good � rst step to home ownership,” he said.

Agents are selling the pint-sized � ats on the basis that the market boom will only continue.

“You want to buy now because prices will just go up,” said one agent at the new Mont Vert development in the suburban neighbourhood of Tai Po.

“You are saving, in a sense.”Mont Vert boasts a clubhouse, sea

views and surrounding greenery - but at 16 square metres, its smallest units are only three times larger than cells in Hong Kong’s most populous prison.

The main space doubles as both bedroom and living room, with a kitch-en and bathroom tucked away in the corners.

Developer Cheung Kong says that 10 percent of the 1,000 apartments on o� er are studios, but could not con� rm how many of those had been sold.

The development is not yet com-pleted, and -- despite being a massive investment for potential buyers -- there were no show � ats, models, or pictures of the interiors of the studio units im-mediately available.

‘Inhumane’ conditions While some prospective buyers are desperate enough to snap up the tiny � ats, there are those who are outraged by the conditions Hong Kong residents are having to bear.

“They are not only small, it is re-pressive. You are paying that much to be living there, it’s ridiculous,” Ken-neth Tong, a spokesman for local NGO “No Flat Slaves” told AFP.

The organisation believes the gov-ernment is to blame for a lack of af-fordable homes and being slow to build more public rental housing.

“People have no other choice,” says Tong.

There is a “surging need” for cheap-er homes in the city, vice-chairman of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Labour Party Fernando Cheung told AFP.

“As a result, you see these very small � ats that I think could be described as inhumane if you compare (them)... with units that would be used to house

refugees, or even earthquake victims, in other places,” Cheung said.

With many larger and pricier � ats bought by wealthy mainland Chinese buyers, the smaller homes are target-ed at young professionals, university graduates and newly married couples, among others, who are seeking to live independently from their parents and are looking for more reasonable prices, he added.

“It’s really mind-boggling to see how the private residential market in Hong Kong has developed to such an extent,” Cheung said.

The overcrowded southern Chinese city su� ers from a serious housing shortage, with property prices dou-bling since 2009.

The dearth of new a� ordable homes has spurred protests and sentiment against the city’s big developers.

Now micro-� ats are seeking to � ll the gap - though they will remain well outside many househunters’ budgets.

Half of the apartments in the new Le Riviera tower project, in a quiet neigh-bourhood to the east of Hong Kong Island, measure less than 300 square feet and are priced around $HK5m. But developers say they will attract single “yuppies” and young families. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, August 11, 2014

DILBERT

From an Indian jail, tycoon tries to sell the NY Plazan Reuters, New Delhi

It’s hardly the $30,000 a night roy-al suite, but after � ve months inIndia’s biggest jail, the owner of the New York Plaza and London’s Grosve-nor House is thrilled to be able to use a modest o� ce as he tries to sell the iconic hotels.

Indian tycoon Subrata Roy is put-ting up the two trophy properties and another luxury New York hotel for sale to raise $1.6bn for the bail bond that will get him out of Tihar, a sprawling New Delhi prison complex that houses about 12,000 inmates.

About a minute’s walk from the headquarters of the prison, Roy now has a 600 square feet (56 square meter) o� ce where he can hold video confer-ences and receive visitors to try and sell or mortgage the hotels, say prison o� cials.

In a small adjoining room, there are three beds for Roy and two associates who have also been jailed.

“They are happy, they can now talk to known people all day,” said one Ti-har o� cial, who described the setup to a Reuters reporter visiting the prison. “He is very satis� ed with the arrange-ment.”

“Our work will be done now,” Roy told a senior prison o� cer after moving to the new o� ce-cum-cell, according to the o� cial.

Entry to the o� ce was not possible because Roy was inside and contact with prisoners is prohibited without permission. Three guards stood by an unlocked metal gate before the build-ing, one stood on the roof and one pa-trolled its grounds.

It’s a race against time for the 66-year-old head of the Sahara con-glomerate: Under a deadline set by the Supreme Court, Roy has just a few days left to post the 100 billion rupees in cash and bank guarantees that would secure his release.

The only higher bail ever appears to be a $3bn bond set by a judge in Texas in 2004 for a wealthy fugitive, although that was reduced to $450,000 on ap-peal.

Roy was jailed in March after he failed to appear at a contempt hear-ing in the long-running dispute with the capital markets watchdog over the company’s failure to repay billions of

dollars to investors who were sold out-lawed bonds.

He is yet to be charged over the dispute and denies any wrongdoing. His Sahara group has vast real estate, media and hotel interests, part-owns a Formula 1 team and used to sponsor the Indian cricket team.

Glittering prizesOne asset that could raise quick cash is the landmark New York Plaza Hotel - a 107-year-old luxury property that

overlooks Central Park. Studded with chandeliers, the hotel’s decor recalls the Great Gatsby era.

Jointly owned with the Saudi Ara-bia-based Kingdom Holdings, the Plaza o� ers an overdose of luxury for guests in its 282 rooms, from round-the-clock butlers to in-room iPads for booking a restaurant or requesting a wake-up call.

Its 4,490 square-foot Royal Suite has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a dining room for 12, a kitchen, a gym-

nasium, a grand piano and a library. It costs $30,000 a night.

Sahara bought the Plaza for about $570m in 2012. Two years earlier,it paid 470m pounds ($790m) forthe 494-room Grosvenor Houseopposite Hyde Park and just a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace. Opened in 1929, it houses the Great Room, which is one of Europe’s larg-est banqueting halls and can seat 2,000 guests.

Sahara is also seeking to sell the

Dream Hotel in New York’s midtown Manhattan.

In Tihar, the o� ce given to Roy has a conference room with a big table, o� ce chairs, and Wi-Fi and video conferenc-ing facilities, said the prison o� cial, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Roy and his two associates sleep in a tiny adjoining room, get meals from the prison canteen and have to use shared toilets.

The complex is under round-the-

clock video surveillance, with people allowed to visit from 6 am to 8 pm. Roy received four or � ve visitors on one day last week and local media said they in-cluded representatives of prospective buyers.

“All options are being explored. It can be an outright sale or mortgage lien. Phone calls are being made to interest-ed parties, and things will become clear by early (this) week,” said a source with direct knowledge of Sahara’s position.

“The response has been good so far. There have been some inquiries by in-vestment funds in the Middle East and other places,” said the source, declin-ing to give names of the bidders who have shown interest.

The Supreme Court has given Roy 10 working days from Aug. 5 to complete any sales, setting a deadline of Mon-day. The source said that may not be enough and that Roy may ask the court to extend the deadline.

“Due diligence has to be done, all the negotiations have to be completed and the deal has to be signed. All these take time,” he said. “Sahara cannot do a distressed sale of these properties.”

The source declined to be named as the deal talks are not public. Sahara did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment submitted by Reuters.

One of its main businesses is the sale of � nancial products, largely to small investors in towns and rural areas. It was two such products, later ruled il-legal, that drew the market regulator’s attention.

Roy, who is outside mainstream corporate India, has often been photo-graphed with senior politicians, crick-eters and stars of the Bollywood � lm industry.

Based in Lucknow, the capital of Ut-tar Pradesh, Roy calls himself “manag-ing worker and chairman” of Sahara and chief guardian of the “world’s big-gest family”, overseeing businesses with almost a million sta� and agents.

Industry consultants said trying to sell the hotels from inside a prison was unlikely to dampen the appetite of buyers for the prestigious New York and London hotels.

“The properties are quite iconic and would be sold at the right price,” said an international property consultant who did not wish to be named. “What-ever Roy does, he does it in style.” l

Sahara Group Chairman Subrata Roy gestures as he speaks during a news conference in Kolkata REUTERS

A man walks through a playground as he looks at residential buildings in Hong Kong. The southern Chinese city has been hit with a serious housing shortage as property prices have doubled since 2009, becoming una� ordable for many AFPGoogle to pay

$250 million to � ght illegalonline pharmaciesn AFP, San Francisco

Google has agreed in a court settlement to spend at least $250m over the next � ve years to help � ght illegal online pharmacies selling to US customers, documents showed Friday.

The US Internet search giant made the commitment in settling a lawsuit from shareholders alleging Google failed to take adequate measures to prevent foreign online pharmacies from using its advertising network.

The lawsuit was � led in 2011 after Google paid a $500m settlement to the US government over charges it sold ad-vertisements to Canada-based online pharmacies which marketed drugs to Americans in violation of US law.

In a settlement � led in federal court in California, Google agreed to spend at least $50m per year in each of the coming � ve years on “product quality operations, policy enforcement, and user safety initiative” to prevent the ads from appearing. l

OPEC trims 2014 oil demand growth forecastn AFP, Vienna

The OPEC oil cartel trimmed its 2014 forecast for global oil demand growth on Friday after weaker-than-expected economic growth in rich countries in the second quarter and a “fragile” worldwide recovery.

The Organis ation for Petroleum Ex-porting Countries said it now expects demand to grow by 1.10 million barrels per day (mbd) to 91.11 mbd, down from a previous projection of 91.13 mbd.

In its new monthly report OPEC, which pumps a third of the world’s crude, stuck however to its forecast that demand would grow by 1.12 mbd in 2015 to 92.32 mbd.

It kept unchanged its forecasts for global economic growth of 3.1 percent and 3.4 percent for 2014 and 2015 re-spectively, saying the “slow and un-even recovery” was continuing. l

VW set to overtake Toyota as globalauto leadern Reuters, Tokyo

Volkswagen is poised to overtake Toy-ota Motor Corp as the global leader in vehicle sales, with a rapid expansion drive in China - the world’s biggest auto market - while Toyota curbs growth to focus on shoring up quality.

Toyota, reigning at the top spot in the auto industry for two years in a row, will announce its global sales for the � rst six months of the year on Wednes-day, which could fall short of Volkswa-gen’s half-year total.

The Volkswagen group sold 4.97 million vehicles in January-June, up 5.9% from the same period a year ago. That excludes � gures from truck mak-ers Scania and MAN, which will be re-leased on July 31.

IHS Automotive forecast Volkswa-gen’s total � rst-half sales at 5.07 million vehicles and Toyota’s at 4.83 million, although it added that Toyota could end up outperforming its projections in the Middle East and Africa.

“China is the driving force of the global market, and the degree to which a company is focused on that region is linked to the global sales performance,” said Yoshiaki Kawano, a Tokyo-based analyst at IHS Automotive.

General Motors Co, which Toyota overtook two years ago, said it sold 4.92 million vehicles in January-June.

For the full year, IHS expects Volk-swagen to sell 9.91 million vehicles ver-sus Toyota’s 9.47 million.

Volkswagen, which sold 3.27 million vehicles in China last year, is planning to invest 18.2bn euros ($24.4bn) be-tween 2014 and 2018 in new plants and

products there together with its Chi-nese joint venture partners.

Toyota’s China presence is much smaller with annual sales of 1 million vehicles, and while it plans eventually to double that it has given no time frame.

Toyota has put a freeze on the build-ing of new plants until about 2016 and President Akio Toyoda has stressed that the company is focused on build-ing better cars rather than chasing sales volume.

“Even if Toyota makes up its mind on potential investments soon, it’ll be around 2017 when those plants can start operating,” said Takaki Nakanishi, auto analyst and CEO of Nakanishi Re-search Institute.

Nakanishi expects Toyota to start announcing investment plans for new plants in the near future. It could open a new plant in Mexico, according to analysts and media reports.

Despite VW’s expansion, pro� tabil-ity remains an issue, with its name-sake brand’s 2013 pro� t margin at 2.9% while Toyota’s auto division achieved 8.8% and Hyundai Motor Co stood at 9%. Much of VW’s production is in its home market of Germany, where work-ers secured a signi� cant pay increase last year. l

'Even if Toyota makes up its mind on potential investments soon, it’ll be around 2017 when those plants can start operating'