‘Mystery woman’ in Faruqi murder heldn Tazlina Zamila Khan and

Manik Miazee

Law enforcers yesterday detained the “mystery woman,” who had visited the house of Shaikh Nurul Islam Faru-qi only hours before his murder on Wednesday.

Police also arrested two others – one from Murapara area of Narayanganj’s Rupganj while the other from Comilla.

The detainees are Mahmuda Khatun (50), Shariful Islam (35) and Yusuf. Of them, Mahmuda and Shariful were kept at the Minto Road DB o� ce for further questioning.

Investigation O� cer of the case Munshi Sabbir Ahmed of Sher-e-Bang-la Nagar thana told the Dhaka Tribune: “Chouddagram police has arrested a youth named Yusuf from Nayapara area of Comilla for his alleged involve-ment in the Faruqi murder. We will take him back to Dhaka.”

“During interrogation, the woman admitted that she visited Faruqi’s house

a couple of hours before the killing. We are yet to identify the relation of Shari-ful with her. But it seems that Shariful is close to Mahmuda,” Sabbir added.

He said the motive of Mahmuda’s visit was yet to be con� rmed.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of DB (West) Md Saiful told the Dhaka Trib-une: “Primarily, the woman said she visited the house only to take blessings of Faruqi. The motive is not clear yet.”

Faruqi’s second wife Lubna earlier said a mysterious woman had visited the house on Wednesday saying that she was from Barisal. But later she said she had been from the Sundarbans, and again, Rupganj of Narayanganj. Her comments and activities were suspicious.

Lubna and Faruqi’s nephew Maruf had seen the woman that day. But the police are yet to communicate with Faruqi’s family to identify Mahmuda.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

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11 | OP-ED 15 | SPORT9 | WORLDB1 | BUSINESS

6 | NationAbout one lakh people living in Chanda Beel, of the district have been experiencing untold su� ering because of not having necessary number of bridge, culvert and road to maintain communication with the mainland.

4 | NewsThe gazette of much-awaited ‘The National Shrimp Policy, 2014’ has been published with keeping the provisions of some restrictive measures like entering saline water illegally, protecting mangrove forest and ecological biodiversity.

4 | NewsThe owners of battery-run auto-rickshaws yesterday gave 48-hour ultimatum to the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Mayor M Monjur Alam to resign from his post.

7 | CareerThe rise of various new organisationsand corporations highly dependent on technology has prompted greater focus and importance on being adept in the use of technology.

12 | EntertainmentA single episode TV play ‘Tumi Ki Akhono Amar Tumi’ will be aired tonight at 9pm on NTV. The plot revolves around Nayeem, a music lover who thinks music is his life. He opens a store in Nepal where he sells musical instruments.

2 | NewsPresident Abdul Hamid yesterday called for making highest e� ort to bring home the six condemned fugitive killers of Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to execute their death sentence.

3 | NewsTerming BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia akiller and a pervert, Prime Minister SheikhHasina yesterday said the defeated forceof 1971 will not be able to rise again inBangladesh.

I N S I D E

Father’s quest for disappeared son30-month search for man missing from RAB custody continuesn Abid Azad and Adil Sakhawat

Two and a half years after his son’s dis-appearance, Ruhul Amin still clings to the hope that his son might be alive. Imam Hossain, 24, disappeared on March 16, 2012, from Dhaka while in RAB custody.

The 45-year-old father who lives in South Rajnagar of Panchagarah district, 450 kilometres away from the capital, has spent two years knocking on the doors of law enforcement agencies, the civil administration, human rights or-ganisations and the judiciary in Dhaka, in the hope of getting news of his son.

“I paid a RAB 2 o� cial Tk40,000 to get my son back but nothing has hap-pened. Everybody is hiding the truth. Who will give me justice?” Ruhul asked

as he described his two and a half year travail to the Dhaka Tribune.

Ruhul attended a programme on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances yesterday at the National Press Club. The event, organised by the Committee for the Protection of Fundamental Rights, was attended by hundreds of family mem-bers of the disappeared. Imam is one of 215 persons who remain missing after being victims of forced disappearance between 2007 and 2014.

The father of the missing man comes to Dhaka several times a month from Panchagarh to query authorities about his son. He has not recovered his son, dead or alive, nor has he been able to � le a kidnapping case.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

War criminal Alim dies in prisonn Tribune Report

Convicted war criminal Abdul Alim, who was the chairman of Peace Com-mittee in Joypurhat during the 1971 Liberation War, died yesterday.

The former BNP minister died at the Intensive Care Unit of Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujib Medical University around 1:15pm, hospital Director Brig Gen Abdul Majid Bhuiyan told the Dha-ka Tribune.

“Alim had lung cancer and had been receiving treatment since October last year. He was sent to the ICU on August 26. A medical board was formed to en-sure his treatment. But it was not pos-sible to give him chemotherapy since cancer spread severely in his body,” Majid said.

Considering his old age, the Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal on October 9 last year sentenced him to imprisonment until death for the crimes he had com-mitted in Joypurhat during the war.

Alim was arrested on March 27, 2011 and secured bail on health grounds on March 31.

He was a former minister in military strongman Gen Ziaur Rahman’s cabinet.

Forman Ali, senior superintendent of Dhaka Central Jail, told the Dhaka Trib-une that Alim had � rst been under treat-ment at the United Hospital. Later he was shifted to the BSMMU prison cell.

He was taken to the ICU on Au-gust 26 as his condition deteriorat-ed. After autopsy the body would be handed over to the family members,Forman said.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Many victims, one story, one demandn Abid Azad and Adil Sakhawat

Like any other day, Kawsar Hossain (28), who was a private car driver, re-turned to his home at the capital’s Na-khalpara area from his workplace on December 4 in 2013.

After taking dinner, he along with his wife and a � ve-year-old daughter retired to sleep.

At midnight, some 7-10 Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members in uniform suddenly knocked on their door.

When Kawsar opened the door, the RAB members asked for Kawsar. As Kawsar identi� ed himself the RAB personnel started to beat him and then took him outside the house.

“We are taking him for interrogation. We will release him when the interro-gation is over,” said Kawsar’s wife Minu Begum quoting the RAB members.

“The next morning, on December 5, I went to the RAB 1 o� ce as I identi� ed them by the sticker on the vehicle. But the RAB o� cials denied taking anyone

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

MOGHBAZAR TRIPLE MURDER

Three FIR-listed criminals held,two placed on remandn Mohammad Jamil Khan and

Ashif Islam Shaon

Police yesterday arrested three First In-formation Report-listed accused in the case � led in connection with the triple murder at Moghbazar in the capital.

“Based on information, a team of Ramna police station conducted drives at Nayatola and Ambagan in Moghba-zar area around 3:45 am and arrested Sohel Khan, 28. After getting informa-tion from him, police arrested Faruk Shamim Hossain, 32, from Malibagh area around 4:15 am,” Selim Mia, in-spector (investigation) of Ramna police station, told the Dhaka Tribune.

In the meantime, Detective Branch of police picked up Jony, 25, from in front of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s emergency gate around 8:00 pm yesterday.

Following the arrest, the investiga-tion o� cer produced Faruk and Sohel

before the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court, seeking a 10-day remand. But Magistrate Erfan Ullah granted a � ve-day remand for each.

Earlier on Friday night, Shamim Hossain alias Kala Chand, brother of victim Ranu Akhter Brishti, � led a case with the Ramna police station, men-

tioning the names of Faruk and Sohel. Soon after � ling the case, police arrest-ed the duo.

Moshiur Rahman, o� cer-in-charge of Ramna police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that during primary interroga-tion, the duo had confessed that they were the associates of prime suspect Shah Alam alias ‘Kaila’ Babu. “Police are trying to hunt him down, but yet to arrest him,” he added.

Krishna Pada Roy, deputy commis-sioner of DB police, told the Dhaka Tribune that DB police were trying to trace all the criminals involved in the triple murder that took place over a land dispute and establishing suprema-cy. “We are hopeful about their arrest,” he added.

Even though the police o� cials said they were still trying to arrest Babu, his relatives claimed that the members of Rapid Action Battalion arrested him (Babu) on Friday.

One of his relatives said Babu took shelter in his paternal aunty’s house located in the capital’s Basabo area. Ba-bu’s paternal aunty has been living in the area for last three years.

However, the high o� cials of RAB-3, including Director of Legal and Me-dia Wing Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, denied the claims, saying that several RAB teams were hunting

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Baby theft parents: Media made us celebritiesn Moniruzzman Uzzal

“Who are you looking for? Do you want to meet the parents of the twins?” Rab-bi, a � ve-year old Mohammadpur boy asked this Dhaka Tribune reporter as he was asking a shopkeeper for direc-tions.

The parents of the twins, who con-sider themselves ordinary folk, have become overnight celebrities after one of the twin boys was kidnapped from hospital and then recovered 170 hours later.

For Babu and Runa, the parents, the harrowing episode has come with a sil-ver lining. The trying tale, highlighting the combined powers of an active law enforcement e� ort and an outspoken press, could have gone the way of so many newspaper stories and ended in tragedy.

But for this family and their neigh-bours in Johuri Moholla, the media at-

tention of the last few days has allowed them to bask in the after-glow of an or-deal that ended well.

Kawser Hossain Babu, the twins’ fa-ther, said while shopping Friday morn-ing at Mohammadpur Krishibazar Mar-ket to buy a small fan and oil cloth for the infants, shopkeepers ran up to him to congratulate him and to say they had prayed for the recovery of the missing child.

On the Shyamoli Road, he said, a man stopped his car to inquire about the twins’ health.

“I have not been to work for 10 days. Journalists have been visiting the house non-stop. I thank them again and again. It is only because of the me-dia that I got back my son. I want them to grow up to be journalists, God-will-ing,” Babu said.

The family home, on the 2nd � oor of a Johuri Moholla house in Mohammad

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1Around 100 cleaners are working at Matuail Waste Dumping Ground on the outskirts of the capital without any precautions or protective gear, exposing themselves to germs and other toxic chemicals. This picture was taken yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Rumour spreads about arrest of ‘Kaila’ Babu

L I V I N G D A N G E R O U S L Y

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

Many victims, one story, one demand PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

by the name of Kawsar. The day I went to the RAB 1 o� ce since then my husband has been missing,” she said.

She was speaking at the conven-tion organised by Moulik Odhikar Shurokkha Committee (Committee to protect the Fundamental Rights) to mark the International Day of the Vic-tims of Enforced Disappearances in the capital’s Press Club auditorium where hundreds of victims shared their expe-rience of how their near and dear one had become the victims of enforced disappearance.

Minu also said: “I do not understand why my husband was taken by RAB personnel as he had never involved in any kind of crimes and there had been no case against him with any police sta-tion.”

Another victim’s father, Kazi Abdul Matin, a freedom � ghter, retired army sergeant and who comes from Comil-la, described his son’s disappearance on March 29 in 2014 at the programme where hundreds of victims’ families were present.

His son Rakibul Islam Shaon was a Comilla Juba League leader and for-mer organising secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League of Comilla Victoria Government College unit.

“On March 29, early in morning Shaon was taken from home by some 15-20 RAB members along with anoth-er team of plain-clothes police who traced my son’s whereabouts from one Anwar detained by RAB earlier. They entered the house forcefully and start-

ed assaulting my son and his wife with a hammer” Matin said.

“They took my son on a microbus along with two RAB vehicles towards Bishnupur. Afterwards, I went to the RAB-11 o� ce at Shaktola and informed them about my son’s abduction. But they replied that they did not take an-yone named Shaon,” he added.

Then Matin informed the matter to the Railway Minister Muzibul Haque but he also failed to trace my son’s whereabouts from RAB o� cials.

Since then his son has been missing while Matin.

“I fought for the liberation war of this country and also served as a bod-yguard for Bangabandhu Sheikh Muz-ibur Rahman. Now I wonder why the hell did I � ght for the country where there is no justice?” said Matin.

Later on March 31 this year, Shaon’s wife Farzana Akter � led a general diary with Kotowali police station in Comilla but they failed to � le any case.

BNP leader Khaled Hasan Sohel, along with four others, went to meet some of their friends at the gate of Dhaka Central Jail on November 28 last year.

But he never came back home. Elev-en days later, three of them came back but Sohel, who was the president of a local unit of BNP in Sutrapur area in Old Dhaka, was never found again.

Yesterday at the � rst ever conven-tion of the Moulik Odhikar Shurokkha Committee, Sohel’s wife Shammi Sultana described how her husband Khaled Hasan Sohel had been picked

up.“My husband’s only fault was that

he was involved with the BNP. He was the president of ward 79 unit of Sutrapur area. He went to the jail gate to meet a friend in jail. From there, he went missing with four others. After 11 days, three of them came back but I still do not know where my husband is. My son Sadman asks me every day about his father. I cannot take this any more,” Shammi said.

The event was held at the National Press Club auditorium in the capital where many victims and their fami-ly members shared their experiences about forced disappearances and kill-ings by members of law enforcement agencies.

When many political activists of Lakshmipur district were injured in political clashes ahead of the January 5 election, Dr Foyez Ahmed took the responsibility on his shoulder to treat them at his chamber.

“May be that was my father’s fault. On December 13 last year, my father was shot dead by the members of RAB. The RAB personnel tied my father with rope and then threw him o� the roof-top of our house. Then they shot my father to con� rm his death,” said Uzma Kawsar, daughter of the physician.

Dr Foyez’s body was later hand-ed over to his family. Members of the family still cannot visit their home district out of fear. The physician was the district unit nayeb-e-ameer of Ja-maat-e-Islami.

Uzma shared her experience yester-

day at the � rst-ever convention of Moulik Odhikar Shurokkha Committee (Com-mittee for the Protection of Fundamental Rights) on the occasion of the Interna-tional Day of the Victims of Enforced Dis-appearances, introduced in 2011.

Uzma told the programme: “My family is lucky that we got the body of my father. But there are many fam-ily members present here who have no idea about their missing relatives.”

According to rights body Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), at least 330 people, includ-ing activists of the ruling Awami League, BNP, job holders, farmers and business-men, have disappeared since 2007.

There was something common to what every family member of the vic-tims of enforced disappearances de-manded: they wanted to get back their dear ones. At the convention, many of the victims’ families demanded the prime minister’s intervention.

Mashrufa Islam, daughter of BNP’s former Laksham lawmaker Saiful Is-lam, said: “Honourable prime minis-ter, you also lost your family members. So you better understand how we feel after losing our family members. So please give my father back.”

Many rights activists were present at the convention which they said was not a platform of political victims but a common one for those who wanted to get back their family members.

Rights activist Nur Khan said: “If legal actions were taken against those responsible for the previous incidents of enforced disappearances, then such crimes would not have escalated this far.

“We have proof and facts that dis-appearances were carried out by mem-bers of law enforcement agencies. So, the government should think imme-diately about this heinous crime com-mitted by the law enforcement agen-cies and form a commission to ensure punishment of the o� cials who were behind these incidents.”

Slamming the government, sen-ior lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain said: “If the governance system, judiciary and law enforcement agencies were trans-parent in their activities, then there would be fair investigations into those incidents and such heinous activities would have ended.”

He spoke at the event on behalf of Khusi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori; Sara Hossain of BLAST; CR Abrar and Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University; col-umnist Syed Abul Moksud; Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of Nagorik Oikko; and Nasir Uddin Elan, director of ODHIKAR.

Presiding over the event, lawyer Shahdin Malik said in a column in 2006 he had warned BNP chief Khaleda Zia mentioning that the way RAB was op-erating, it would become a matter of concern for her in the future. “Khaleda Zia can realise this after so many years. But the present government is doing the same mistake,” he said.

“We demand that the government bring every enforced disappearances under trial. Until then, we will not go back home. If the trials fail in this coun-try, we will go to international courts to ensure justice,” he said. l

War criminal Alim dies in prison PAGE 1 COLUMN 1While pronouncing verdict in the war crimes cases against former BNP min-ister Abdul Alim, the International Crimes Tribunal observed that he had deserved the highest punishment.

But, eventually, because of old age, he was given jail until death for the crimes that he had committed against humani-ty during the 1971 Liberation War.

In 1971, Alim encroached upon the Gadi Ghar in Joypurhat to set up an army camp, an o� ce of the peace com-mittee and arranged accommodation for Maj Afzal of the Pakistan Army.

He was only 41 years old when he trained razakars and orchestrated the genocide in Joypurhat as a leader of the local peace committee and the com-mander of razakar forces.

The tribunal said its verdict: “[Alim] acted as an atrocious and potential leader of Joypurhat Peace Committee to the actual accomplishment of the crimes proved and he was visibly asso-

ciated with the [Pakistan] army which is a fair indicative of his high level of culpability.”

Once before in 1974, Alim was being tried under the Collaborators Act for his o� ences during the Liberation war. He was on bail when that trial was going on.

However, after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the trial was closed and he lived as a free man until March 2011 when he was arrested again for those o� ences.

Alim served as an elected chairman of the Jaipurhat municipality, the Jai-purhat sadar upazila and president of the Jaipurhat Bar Association.

He was elected member of parlia-ment three times from the BNP.

According to documents placed by the prosecution, he was born in West Bengal on November 1, 1930. He migrated to Joypurhat between 1950 and 1951. In 1958 he joined the Mus-lim League and went on to become an in� uential leader of the Convention

Muslim League. In 1971, he was the vice-chairman of the erstwhile Bogra district council.

Evidence placed before the court shows that as a student, Alim was in-volved with the All India Muslim Stu-dent League.

On March 15, 2011, the prosecution placed formal charges against Alim be-fore the � rst International Crimes Tri-bunal which accepted the charges and transferred the case to the second tri-bunal for quick disposal.

After taking his crimes into congni-sance, the tribunal issued arrest war-rant against Alim, following which he was arrested in his Joypurhat residence on March 27, 2011. He however immedi-ately secured bail because of ill health.

The prosecution and the defence completed closing arguments on Sep-tember 22 of that year and the tribunal kept the case waiting for a verdict send-ing Alim to jail after cancelling his bail. Since then Alim had been in jail. l

Three FIR-listed criminals held PAGE 1 COLUMN 4for Babu, but yet to catch him.

Armed assailants, led by local terror Babu alias Kaila Babu, shot dead Ranu Akhter Brishti, 30, her tenants Munna, 20, and Billal Hossain, 22, and injured her brother Ridoy, 22, around 7:45 pm on Thursday following a dispute over a piece of railway land and establishing supremacy.

A competent source said the triple murder was orchestrated by ‘Kaila’ Babu. Shovon, another top criminal in Moghbazar area, supplied the arms to kill Kala Chand. Babu just hired the arms from him. Besides, a motorbike that belongs to Shovon was used in the killing mission.

Locals said just at the entry point of Sonalibagh lane, three motorbikes were parked. The killers made a getaway in the motorbikes within a couple of min-utes just after committing the crime.

It was learnt that centring cable TV business, a con� ict arose between Kala

Chand and Shovon. For this reason, Shovon supported Kaila Babu in the kill-ing mission. However, the victim’s fami-ly members did not mention the name of Shovon in the FIR while � ling the case.

Kala Chand said they � led the case after discussing the issues with their close ones.

People in Moghbazar area said Shov-on got support from a presidium mem-ber of Jubo League Committee in estab-lishing supremacy.

Abdul Khaleq, president of 36 ward railway unit, prepared the FIR on the triple murder as per the instructions from the top leader. So, Shovon’s name was dropped from the FIR, they said.

A number of cases including mur-der were � led against Shovon. He was released from jail recently and got sup-port from Kaila Babu .

Tanviruzzaman Rony, a top criminal who is now hiding in India, said over cell phone that he was not involved i the triple murder. l

Baby theft PAGE 1 COLUMN 6pur, is a small, one-room rental unit that costs them Tk4000 a month.

The room is simple; there is no bed in it. The family sleeps on the � oor. Despite the cramped conditions and the family’s tight � nances, Babu and Runa are a hap-py couple who say they are blessed to have their twin boys safely at home. Runa smiled and said she and her husband want the twins to become journalists.

The mother of the twins was breast feeding her sons. At least four neigh-bours were there to give her a hand.

Two packets of baby milk formula lay on the � oor next to her. When asked why they had bought formula, Runa said the DMCH doctors had suggested buy-ing one and RAB o� cials gave her the other. Her husband spent Tk565 on it.

This advice was given despite the government’s multi-million Taka ef-fort, since the passing of a law in 2013, to promote breastfeeding.

DMCH doctors advised Runa to use powdered milk while in hospital al-though she was producing milk. “With-out you journalists, we would never have gotten back our son. The DMCH authori-ties and RAB also did a lot,” she said.

Despite everything that had gone wrong, Babu and Runa were happy with how things turned out. Babu says he feels like a celebrity. “When we came home, hundreds of people came to see us. Before all this happened, our neighbours did not know us. But be-cause of the media, people all across the country know who we are.” l

Faruqi murder PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Rupganj OC Md Mahmud told the Dhaka Tribune: “A joint team of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and Rupganj police raided a house in Murapara area and detained the duo.

“Earlier in the day, a team of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police reached Rupganj and sought our help in order to detain the woman. She was picked up around 10:30am. The Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police team left Rupganj with the detainees.”

Additional Inspector General of Po-lice AKM Shahidul Haque said: “We have already made a list of suspects. Mahmuda is one of the suspects.”

Earlier, the law enforcers picked up Maruf and � ve visitors who were pres-ent at the house during the murder for questioning. Meanwhile, the police chief and a senior o� cial of RAB 2 visit-ed Faruqi’s house early yesterday.

Another Mahmuda, wife of Faruqi’s younger brother Abdur Rouf, yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune: “Only Lubna and Maruf saw the face of that woman. Police should bring her to our house in order to identify her. But, we did not get any call from the law enforcers.”

She claimed that an unidenti� ed youth sent a massage to her husband’s Facebook account saying that Faruqi had been killed as he was doing shirk and bid’ah. He even did not deserve namaz-e-janaza.

However, the family did not get any threats after the murder, Lubna told the Dhaka Tribune.

Maruf, eyewitness of the murder, told the Dhaka Tribune: “While killing, the murderers told my uncle ‘see what happens after doing shirk and bid’ah.’”

On Thursday, son of the deceased Faysal Faruqi � led a case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station accusing 10 unnamed people.

Faruqi was a Presidium member of the front. He was also the internation-al a� airs secretary of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat – an organisation known for opposing the views of Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam. He was also the imam of Supreme Court mosque.

Faruqi buriedThe body of Faruqi reached Panchagar around 4am yesterday and the last janaza was held around 10:50am.

He was buried at his family grave-yard at Nautari Nababganj village un-der Boroshoshi union of Boda.

Meanwhile, Islamic Front Bang-ladesh and its student body Islami Chhatra Sena have jointly called a half-day hartal for today since the gov-ernment had failed to arrest the killers within the 48-hour deadline set bythe groups. l

Father’s quest for disappeared son PAGE 1 COLUMN 2Ruhul’s son, Imam, was � rst abducted by miscreants on the night of March 5, 2012, from the capital’s Farmgate area while returning home from his work in Tejgaon.

Around the time Imam was being abducted his father, Ruhul, received a phone call from his son’s cell phone which was later switched o� , in which the caller said Imam had been abduct-ed by some miscreants.

Ruhul immediately started calling law enforcement agencies.

He informed Rapid Action Battalion 2 of the phone call about his son’s abduc-tion as well as the o� cers-in-charge of both Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and Tejgaon police stations, personnel at the police control room and duty o� cers and in-telligence division of police in Dhaka.

On the morning of March 6, an al-leged kidnapper who called himself So-hag, telephoned Ruhul and said Imam had been kidnapped in revenge for some earlier misconduct.

Later on the same day, RAB 2 said they had rescued his son from in front of Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture Universi-ty around 10:30pm and arrested two of his abductors, Jahid and Babul. RAB 2 told him the other gang members evad-ed capture, Ruhul said.

He said: “The then duty o� cer of RAB 2, Sub-Inspector Raju, told me my son had been rescued. He told me to come up with Tk1 lakh to get him back.”

Ruhul arrived in Dhaka on March 12

together with Tk40,000 in bribe money in order to free his son from RAB.

“Don’t worry. You will get your son back. Some paperwork is being taken care of and you will get your son when it is done,” Ruhul quoted RAB duty of-� cer, SI Solaiman, as saying.

The RAB o� cer told Ruhul to � le a case at a police station and bring the case document to RAB o� ces to get his son released. On March 12, Ruhul tried but could not get the Tejgaon police sta-tion to � le a kidnapping case. The police station � nally agreed to register a gen-

eral diary of the incident later that day.On March 13, 2012, Ruhul reached

the RAB 2 o� ce around 4pm with Tk40,000 – money he had saved up for his younger son’s medical operation.

“Then Raju took my signature on a document that said I got my son back

after the abduction. As soon as he got the Tk40,000, he said, ‘Bring Tk1 lakh in cash otherwise your son will be killed,’” Ruhul said.

“Raju told me they would not ac-cept half the amount. ‘Bring the full amount and that is � nal,’ he said to me.

He threatened me saying if I told any-one about this, I would lose my son and they would also kill me,” he said.

Ruhul said he nearly went mad with worry and did not know what to do to save his son.

He then managed to see his son in person.

Some RAB men allowed Ruhul to see Imam, at night only, and on condition that he not talk to his son but look at him from a distance.

Ruhul agreed because he had no other choice. He saw his blindfolded son in a RAB vehicle at night in di� er-ent places of the Farmgate area from March 13 to March 16.

“On March 16, I saw him for the last time. Since then I have not seen him nor have I had any news of his wherea-bouts. He has disappeared,” Ruhul said.

On March 19, Ruhul submitted a letter from the Panchagarh 2 Member of Parliament Nurul Islam Sujan to the RAB 2 o� ce asking RAB 2 to take neces-sary legal action.

The next day, March 20, Ruhul said personnel at the RAB o� ce said his son had been killed.

“Raju was still blu� ng me, saying that high o� cials would return my son,” Ruhul said.

On April 30, 2012, Ruhul submitted a written complaint to the National Hu-man Rights Commission (NHRC).

“But the NHRC is the type of organ-isation that will do nothing if it is not knocked,” he said about his bitter expe-

rience with the commission.“They repeatedly told me they sent

letters to the home ministry but that the ministry had lost the letters,” said.

He sought legal aid from the govern-ment but to no avail.

On November 13, 2012, Supreme Court Advocate Adilur Rahman Khan, on behalf of Ruhul, submitted a writ petition to the High Court (HC). The HC ruled upon it and asked the govern-ment and law enforcement agencies to reply within a week.

Ruhul said he faced police harass-ment throughout 2013, as the inves-tigation into the disappearance of his son began.

He said: “I was continuously har-assed and threatened by the then Te-jgaon police o� cials including the of-� cer-in-charge.”

He sent letters several times to the prime minister’s o� ce and to the presi-dent’s o� ce but did not receive a reply.

He submitted letters to the home ministry and was then summoned by the ministry on February 28, 2014.

The ministry instructed RAB 2 to in-vestigate the matter.

Ruhul was summoned by the minis-try for a second time on June 18.

Two days before that, on June 16, he was interviewed by the Anti Corrup-tion Commission about the bribe he had paid to the RAB o� cial.

“I want my son back. I will not stop. I will see this through to the end,” Ru-hul said to the Dhaka Tribune, crying. l

President for extradition of Bangabandhu's killersn UNB

President Abdul Hamid yesterday called for making highest e� ort to bring home the six condemned fugitive killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to execute their death sentence.

The president said the trial of the cruel killing of Father of the nation and most of his family members was com-pleted in 2010 after long 35 years.

“The nation is almost free from stig-ma. Highest e� orts have to be put to

bring back the fugitive killers for imple-menting the verdict,” he said.

He said there is no place for the kill-ers in the world.

The Appellate Division of the Su-preme Court upheld the death sentence of 12 killers on November 19, 2009 com-pleting the trial of Bangabandhu’s as-sassination on August 15, 1975.

Five of the convicts, Syed Farooq Rah-man, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Ba-zlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed, were executed in

Dhaka Central Jail on January 27 in 2010.Six killers have remained fugitives

abroad. They were Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Nur Chowdhury, Rashed Chowdhury, Ab-dul Mazed and Moslehuddin Khan. An-other fugitive convict Aziz Pasha died in 2001 in Zimbabwe.

The president was addressing a discussion titled “Bangabandhu and Bangladesh” organised by Gopalganj Zilla Samity at Osmani Memorial Audi-torium in the city marking the National

Mourning Day.“Bangabandhu upheld non-commu-

nal spirit and � ourishing of democracy in heart and soul,” he said.

The president said: “Our duty will be to ful� ll the dream of Bangabandhu of establishing a happy and prosperous country by completing his un� nished tasks.”

Abdul Hamid said the purpose of the killers was not only to kill a statesman but also to erase the ideals of the Lib-eration War and to reestablish the de-

feated forces.He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-

na, following the spirit of her father, is trying her best to make the poor happy.

Referring to Sheikh Hasina’s Vision 2021 and Vision 2041, the President said: “We have to continue our con-certed e� ort to implement the pro-grammes.”

Awami League International A� airs Secretary Muhammad Faruk Khan MP, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI)

President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, Awami League Religious A� airs Sec-retary Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Awami Swechhasebak League Presi-dent Molla Md Abu Kawsar addressed the function.

It was presided over by Gopalganj Zilla Samity President Sheikh Kabir Hossain.

University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof AK Azad Chow-dhury presented keynote paper in the discussion. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

Awami League rally causes gridlocks in capitaln Ahmed Zayeef and

Abu Hayat Mahmud

Though a weekly holiday, city dwellers faced immense tra� c gridlocks yester-day as the ruling Awami League held a mass rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the heart of the capital.

Most commuters, specially students, were helpless in reaching their destinations on time as tra� c gridlocks appeared and lasted for several hours at di� erent points ofthe capital.

Shamjm Ahmed, a student of Dhaka University who was waiting at Shah-bagh for a bus, said: “I have waiting for a bus more than 20 minutes, but have not been able to � nd one.”

Apart from that, the tra� c depart-ment of police also held tra� c on sev-eral roads forcing many commuters to walk to their destinations.

“The situation has been like this since the afternoon. This has become a regular sight for city dwellers on a day when political programmes are held at Suhrawarthy Udyan,” he added.

Like Shamim, many others were seen waiting for vehicles for hours at di� erent bus stops in the city.

The Awami League rally, which scheduled to begin from 3:00pm, saw a huge in� ux of leaders and activists arriving at the venue since morning

through all adjoining roads.At the same time, police also halted

tra� c � ow from Shahbagh to Matshya Bhaban due to huge � ow of activists joining the rally.

When contacted, a tra� c police of-� cial admitted about close of the Shah-bagh to Matshya road.

“Though the road was closed,many vehicles rerouted and used the Curzon Hall road or the Hare road in front of Ruposi Bangla Hotel to reach their destinations. Due extra pres-sure on the two roads, tra� c jamoccurred those roads temporarily in the afternoon,” said a tra� c police o� cial while talking to the DhakaTribune.

However, the gridlocks at the two vi-tal thoroughfares in the capital spread to all adjoining roads causing huge tailbacks in di� erent areas, such as the National Press Club, Purana Paltan, Bi-joy Sarani, Mohakhali, Gulshan, Kakoli, Bishaw Road, Motijheel, Bijoynagar, Kakrail, Bangla Motor, Karwan Bazar and Farmgate, among others.

Meanwhile, the ruling party’s student wing Chhatra League is expected to hold another rally at the same venue today, which might cause another round of tra� c gridlocks in the capital. l

DRAFT OF CHILD MARRIAGE

Ministry � nalises Restraint Act n Mohosinul Karim

The draft of the Child Marriage Re-straint Act has been � nalised with the provision of a maximum two-year jail sentence and Tk50,000 � ne for viola-tion of the law.

The Women and Children A� airs Ministry has prepared the draft after consulting with all stakeholders con-cerned. It will be sent to the cabinet division soon and be placed in the cab-inet meeting later for vetting.

“The draft will be corrected as per the directions of the cabinet, if needed,” Information O� cer Mohammad Abul Khayer told the Dhaka Tribune on Thurs-day. The Dhaka Tribune correspondent has obtained a copy of the draft act.

According to the proposed law, any-one under 18 would be considered as child and a male person under 21 or a female person under 18 will be consid-ered as minor.

It stipulates that the marriage with a male under 21 or a female under 18 or minor male or female with adult male or female will be considered as child marriage.

The o� ence also carries a minimum sentence of six months with Tk10,000 � ne or both for violation of the law.

As per the law, adult persons, both male or female, who will marry a mi-nor boy or girl, the persons who will register child marriage, the parents or guardians who will force their children or fail to prevent child marriage and the

o� cials who will issue false certi� cates will be brought to justice.

Any kinds of a� davits to prove the age would not be acceptable for mar-riage registration, the draft law said.

The marriage would be cancelled if it’s proved that it was a child marriage. The victims of child marriage would get com-pensation from other parties. The court would settle the compensation issue.

According to the law, the upazila level administrators like upazila nirba-hi o� cers, executive magistrates, upa-zila women a� airs o� cers, upazila so-cial welfare o� cers, upazila secondary education o� cers or o� cers-in- charge of local police stations will inform the courts about child marriage immedi-ately after they get information.

The courts will have the authority to impose a ban on child marriage after getting any complaint or information from any other sources. The courts will also have the authority to withdraw the ban if they are satis� ed with the state-ments of the authorities concerned.

The law also keeps the provision of giving back the assets or the gifts that would be given to the parties in case of cancellation of the marriage.

The law has proposed forming a child marriage prevention committee com-prising public servants, local public rep-resentatives, representatives of non-gov-ernmental organisations and civil society members. The committee will launch campaign to create awareness among the people to prevent child marriage. l

‘Code of conduct better than broadcast policy’n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

A comprehensive “code of conduct” could be of better use for the media than a regressive broadcast policy, said noted journalists.

Addressing a discussion in the capital yesterday, they did not completely deny the necessity of an appropriate broadcast policy but said any new regulation should be carefully prepared so that it does not hinder the progress of the industry which came so far without a policy.

Editors’ Council organised the dis-cussion titled “Challenges before the media” at Cirdap auditorium. The Daily Samakal editor Golam Sarwar chaired the programme which was attended by hundreds of journalists.

Sarwar said the media should enjoy freedom but it has responsibility at the same time.

“We have some � aws and we have to correct it. Let us all come forward to form a code of conduct for all forms of media,” he said.

“Without formulating such a policy, the information minister could have said the private television channels should be run like BTV,” he added.

With the term “code of conduct”, the speakers referred to a comprehen-sive set of standards and ideal prac-tices. They said the authorities of the media outlets in the country would for-mulate the code following discussions among themselves, and take utmost care to ensure that it is followed by ev-ery organisation of the industry.

In his keynote speech, the Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam said: “If the exist-

ing rules and guidelines helped create the TV and radio revolutions then why go for a new policy, especially when it could thwart the growth? A new poli-cy can only be justi� ed if it can ensure more growth for the broadcast media.”

“If such a policy is adopted, our broadcast media runs the risk of be-coming dull and boring. It will also lose its freedom and the chance to deliver creative and entertaining programmes. The policy will not only cause viewers to switch but the advertisers will also switch. Such a shift will virtually cause an alarming drop in the number of audi-ence and advertising,” he added.

Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury said the broadcast policy is unexpected in the sense that there is no emergency or martial law currently in e� ect in the country.

“Why make such a dangerous at-tempt to muzzle the media?” he said.

“The media already faces interven-tion from the owners and the advertis-ers. It is also controlled by government policies and self-censorship. We all have to protest against the broadcast policy,” said the educationist.

President of a faction of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul brie� y discussed why the broadcast policy is needed and how it was formulated.

Bulbul, also a member of the com-mittee that formulated the policy, ex-pressed his concern over the policy, saying: “Where will be the scope for showing diversity if all the media out-lets become the same in terms of how and which programmes they air?”

“We have examples of good journal-ism as well as bad journalism. So we want a policy which will uphold profes-sional and bright journalism,” he said.

Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO) General Secretary Shy-kh Seraj said recommendations were made when the policy was formulated but many of those were ignored.

“The question of formulating a pol-icy would not have arisen if competent individuals got television licences. We wanted a broadcast policy which would help � ourish the media but this policy is like someone hands and legs were tied before he was asked to swim,” he said.

Senior lawyer Amirul Islam blamed the people who formulated the policy, alleging those who did it actually em-barrassed the government, which even the media people could not have done.

He also asked the media people to formulate a policy on their own and also form a commission.

Senior journalist Sawkat Mahmud said: “We do not want this policy. We will formulate a policy and a commis-sion by ourselves.”

Iftekharuzzaman, executive direc-tor of Transparency International Ban-gladesh, said the policy would put a negative impact not only on the media people but also on the general people.

“This also contradicts many existing laws and provisions of the constitu-tion,” he said.

Mozammel Babu, chief editor of Ekattor TV, said he is against all sorts of broadcast policy and licencing policy.

“Attempt to control the media is un-necessary,” he said. l

BNP shifts its programme to September 2n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP-led 20-party alliance post-poned the human chain programme supposed to be held yesterday after be-ing failed to secure permission to hold it and � xed September 2 anew for the event.

The party sources said the pro-gramme was announced in protest of the nationwide killing and abduction.

“The government has adopted the abduction policy to repress the oppo-sition leaders and activists to stop the criticism of the government. We (BNP) wanted to form a peaceful human

chain programme protesting killing and abduction but police did not give us permission.” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting secretary general of the party, said in a press brie� ng held in its Nayapaltan o� ce yesterday.

Fakhrul also said: “We always want to avoid confrontation and that is why we will hold the programme on Sep-tember 2.”

Chiding the government, Fakhrul al-leged that its 310 leaders and activists were killed and 25 were abducted in last one year while a total of 32 people were abducted after the government assumed power for second time. l

Ershad: Rule of law absent from country n Manik Miazee

There is no rule of law in the country, which is why people are being exposed to the mercy of criminals every day, said Jatiya Party (JaPa) Chairman HM Ershad yesterday.

“People are being killed every day. There were 35 murders last month, but no steps have yet been taken about those incidents” he claimed at a rally in Narayanganj city.

“This government has no right to stay in power even for a single day,” said Er-shad, who holds the post of the special envoy to the prime minister.

“The country has turned into a country of enforced disappearance and killings and, to get the � gure of the dis-appeared and murdered people, one needs a calculator,” he said.

The former autocrat added: “Nei-ther the BNP nor the Awami League is thinking of the people in the country.

Both of them have become busy gain-ing their interests. On the other hand, Jatiya Party has been active in parlia-ment as well as in the streets.

“The administrative system has be-come unstable because of grouping in each and every sector of the govern-ment. If it continues, the total admin-istrative system will collapse.”

Taking a swipe at the BNP’s Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, Er-shad said: “People get irritated at hear-ing the name of Tarique [Rahman], but he will be the prime minister in the country providing that the BNP comes to power.

“In fact, people want a change and that change is seeing the Jatiya Party in State power.’

“In 2007, Tarique threatened to put me behind bars by tying a rope around my waist, but I am not in jail. Of course, people have seen the dire consequence of Tarique,” he recalled.

The JaPa chief pointed out that il-legal gas lines were being cut o� in Narayanganj and said the government should in fact legalise the gaslines lines, instead of cutting o� them.

JaPa Secretary General Ziauddin Ahemd Bablu also spoke there, with party’s MP for Narayanganj 3 Liyakot Hossain Khoka in the chair. l

Prime Minister: Khaleda should go to Pakistann Emran Hossain Sheikh

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day advised her political rival Khale-da Zia to go to Pakistan as the former premier did not believe in Bangladesh’s independence.

“Khaleda Zia is one of those who still want to serve Pakistan. Those, who want to be Pakistan’s slaves, may leave the country. Why are they troubling the countrymen?” Hasina said while speaking as the chief guest at an Awami League rally in the capital.

Dhaka city unit of ruling Awami League organised the rally marking the 39th anniversary of the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Hasina, also Awami League pres-ident, termed former president Gen Ziaur Rahman an agent because he had maintained relation with Pakistan during the Liberation War.

“Pakistan army o� cial Mirza Aslam Beg’s letter proves that Zia had links with Pakistan during the Liberation War,” she said.

She claimed that Zia had political-ly rehabilitated the collaborators by bringing them back to the country.

“Zia wanted to turn Bangladesh into

a province of Pakistan by rewarding the collaborators,” she said.

“In an interview with the BBC, Faruk and Rashid said before the kill-ing [of Bangabandhu], they met Zia. He then said he would be with them if they were successful,” the PM said.

She said the force that had su� ered defeat in 1971 would not be allowed to rise again in Bangladesh.

About the war crimes trials, she said: “We have begun the trail of war criminals and executed a verdict. The verdict against the rest will also be ex-ecuted.”

Describing BNP Chairperson Khale-da Zia, the premier said: “If she was not a pervert, she would not have made merry on August 15.”

She also said: “Despite killing hun-dreds of people, her thirst for blood is not quenched... Just like the way the Pakistanis killed Bangladeshis during the war of independence, they killed the people of the country in the name of resisting election.”

Remembering the days of her home-coming, Hasina said: “When killers and collaborators were in power, I came back to the country, risking my life.” l

Activists of several organisations form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday, protesting the killing of Islamist leader Faruqi MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

‘We always want to avoid confrontation and that is why we will hold the programme on September 2’

‘In fact, people want a change and that change is seeing the Jatiya Party in State power’

Sheikh Selimterms Khaleda‘a barbarian’n Tribune Report

Awami League Presidium Member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim yesterday termed BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia a barbarian reasoning that if she had a conscience, she would have never cele-brated her birthday on August 15.

He made the remarks while address-ing a rally at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan, organised to mark the 39th death anniversary of Bangabandhu, who along with most of his family members were brutally murdered on August 15, 1975. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was the rally as chief guest.

Like previous years, Khaleda Zia cel-ebrated her 69th birthday on August 15 despite objections from the ruling Awami League, who mark the day as a National Mourning Day.

Terming BNP Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman as the black sheep, Selim also added that after failing to kill Sheikh Hasina in a grenades attack, he was now criticising Bangabandhu after � ee-ing abroad.

Calling Tarique an agent of Paki-stan’s intelligence agency ISI, the AL leader also challenged Tarique to come back and face the law.

“He is conspiring against the coun-try from abroad,” he added. l

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

National Shrimp Policy gazette publishedGovernment to form two committees led by � sheries minister to oversee the implementation of the policyn Mohosinul Karim

The gazette of much-awaited ‘The Na-tional Shrimp Policy, 2014’ has been published with keeping the provisions of some restrictive measures like en-tering saline water illegally, protecting mangrove forest and ecological biodi-versity and � xing the limit of shrimp enclosures to ensure improvement of the sector.

Con� rming it, Fisheries and Live-stock Ministry Senior Assistant Secre-tary Mohibuzzaman said his ministry had earlier made the policy’s draft, and published the gazette on Wednesday after securing approval from the cabi-net on August 18.

According to the policy, the govern-ment will form two committees led by the minister and the secretary con-cerned to oversee the implementation of the policy to ensure the interests of the shrimp cultivators and the process industry owners along with the export-ers, which will also give necessary sug-gestion to the government for the sake of the sector.

Of them, the minister will be head of the national coordination committee and the secretary will lead the executive committee while the other members will come from the di� erent ministries and divisions. There will have representatives of shrimp farmers, business leaders and

the researchers as well. In this regard, Cabinet Secretary M

Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the country’s shrimp production will in-crease in line with with maintaining standard by the policy that will create job, eliminate poverty, increase export earnings and � nally it will meet up the nutrition demand of the countrymen.

He also stated that the sector, the second largest export sector of the country, is very important to us while around 1.50 crore people, including a mentionable number of women, are employed in the sector which export earning stood at Tk3,376 crore in last � scal year.

The main motto of the policy is maintaining environmental and eco-logical balance, protecting biodiver-sity and job create as well as shrimp production, processing, marketing and export market expansion, the secretary continued.

As per the policy, the shrimp culti-vators, producers and all related sides involved in the sector will have to be-ing registered to run their business while the government will collect data of shrimp and shrimp products in ev-ery steps of cultivation and oversee it to ensure quality of products.

Besides, the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) policy, Bio-Terrorism Act, Anti-Dumping Act of USA, EU Sanitary Regulations and Sanitary and Phytosanitary system of World Trade Organisation must be fol-lowed.

A shrimp enclosure can not be big-ger than 30 acres and it will have to follow the land zoning system of the government so that it may not hamper the arable lands.

In case of setting up enclosure de-stroying mangrove forest, the authori-ties concerned can impose ban on it, of which owners or producers at � rst will have to ensure clearance from of the Department of Environment (DoE). l

Bhola-Lakshmipur ferry services under threat n Our Correspondent, Bhola

Ferry services between Bhola and Lakshmipur are feared to be snapped any time as authorities are yet to take any step about the eroding approach road of Elisha Ferry Ghat and the submerging of its gangway in Bhola district.

Moreover, there are shoals in the Meghna River, onto which ferries of-ten get stuck and so they are operated depending on high and low tides of the river.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA)’s Bhola-Laksh-mipur Ferry Services Manager (com-merce) Abu Alam said: “The ghat that includes its gangway too is to be over-seen by the BIWTA and the approach road by the RHD.

“The BIWTA can prevent the sub-merging of the gangway by dumping some bricks there, but they are sitting idle instead of doing anything about this. They have been repeatedly noti-

� ed about this, though.” He added: “The maximum part of

the ghat’s approach road has already eroded and the rest might disappear into the river any time disrupting the ferry services, but even the RHD, that is supposed to deal with it, are yet to take any step about this as well.”

When Bhola RHD Executive Engi-neer Shahin Chowdhury was asked about this, he however said: “We are not authorised to prevent any river ero-sion. As much as we are to do, we have already done.”

BIWTA’s Bhola-Lakshmipur Fer-ry Services Manager (commerce) Abu Alam said: There are only two ferries in service along this route because an-other ferry, which recently went out of order after getting stuck into a shoal in the river, is now being repaired.”

He added that this route called for another ferry on the emrgency basis. Otherwise, there would be trouble during Eid-ul-Azha to be celebrate in October. l

Uncontrolled expenditure on medical services bar poverty eliminationn Our Correspondent, Barisal

Participants in a dialogue on universal health coverage in � eld-level reality stressed that uncontrolled expenditure and questionable quality of medical services were creating new obstacles in eliminating poverty in Bangladesh.

While average private expenditure for health sector in the outer world re-mains within thirty-� ve percent, it is about sixty-six percent in Bangladesh. Due to this, 4-5 million families in Ban-gladesh are running the risk of freshly adding to the number of poor people annually, they said.

They added that quality medical services are yet to be rendered properly to avoid such risks. However, it will get much importance in the next decade. Expanding coordinated professional service quality and initiatives can ful-� ll that importance now. For that, there needs new dimensions and attitudes in health sector.

The second dialogue over this issue

was organised by Power and Participa-tion Research Centre (PPRC) supported by Rockefeller Foundation and collabo-rated with Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College (SBMC) and BRAC Institute of Global Health at the auditorium of SBMC.

AMM Nasiruddin, former secretary of health ministry, Prof Sabbir Ahmed, principal, SBMC, Tahmina Banu, head of child-surgery department of Chit-tagong Medical College, Masud of BRAC University of Global Health, Sha-dab Mahamud, advisor PPRC, also par-ticipated and spoke at the programme.

The speakers and participants agreed that Bangladesh had already received worldwide appreciation in terms of reducing neonatal, maternity, post-disaster mortality rates. Bangla-desh had also succeeded in supplying safe water and controlling birth-rates and was praised for that too.

They however observed that the sit-uation of uncontrolled expenditure and questionable quality and standard of medical services were creating new ob-

stacles against ful� lling the dreams of eliminating poverty in Bangladesh. In previous days infectious diseases like diarrohea, pneumonia used to cause most deaths. But now World Health Or-ganisation observed � fty-nine percent deaths in Bangladesh were taking place due to the non-contagious diseases, like heart-stroke, cancer, diabetics.

They suggested introducing easi-ly accessible, less costly but standard health services to prevent such deaths.

They further observed that e� cien-cy, easy access to proper and quality health services standard health educa-tion and training, less-costly medical fa-cilities and su� cient investment are key to sustainable universal health services.

Lack of service attitude was spawn-ing the tendency of making pro� ts only, deteriorating the health services every day, they pointed out, suggesting that the evaluation of the country’s health service by stakeholders might ensure more accountability and transparency in the medical services. l

Inde� nite transport strike from Monday n Our Correspondent, Joypurhat

District Motor Workers’ Union called for a transport strike for inde� nite peri-od of time from Monday in all routes of Joypurhat district, starting 6am.

According to sources, the organiza-tion will observe the strike demanding a ban on plying of shallow engine-run vehicles including locally-made Nasi-man, Kariman, Votvoti and battery-run auto rickshaw on the routes.

Plying of all private-owned vehicles including bus, minibus, coach, truck, tank-lorry, baby taxi, and CNG-run auto rickshaw will remain stopped during the strike.

The union President Sardar Abdul Ha� z said: “We have long been de-manding to stop plying of all unap-proved vehicles.” Ha� z added. l

NGO o� cial stabbed to death in Noakhalin Our correspondent, Noakhali:

An NGO o� cial was stabbed to death at Chaprashirhat Purba Bajar under Com-panigonj upazila in Noakhali yesterday. Locals detained the killer when he was trying to run away and handed him over to the police after beating him up.

The victim was identi� ed as Tapan Chandra Bhowmic, 35, the son of Ku-mod Chandra Bhowmic from Upadi Lamsi village of Chaprashirhat union under Kabirhat upazila of the district. He was a project director of a local non government organisation named Basoti.

, from Chaprashirhat.Mahabubur Rahaman, o� -

cer-in-charge of Kabirhat police sta-

tion, said , Abu Sayed Hukku, the mur-derer and his accomplices entered the Basoti o� ce around 1pm and stabbed Tapan in his chest.

When Tapan cried for help, locals came to the o� ce and saw him bleed-ing. The locals rushed him to the Noakhali Abdul Malek Ukil Medical College, where the doctors on duty de-clared him dead.

Meanwhile Abu Sayed Hukku tried to � ee the scene with his associates, but shop owners near the NGO o� ce caught him and handed him over to the police with the knife used for murder. Rest of his associates managed to escape.

A case was � led with the police sta-tion in this connection. l

Curtain falls on Robi-Drishti debating competitionn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The 10-day Robi-Dristi National Debate Competition, which began in university, college and school categories in Chit-tagong on August 21, ended yesterday.

Dhaka University became the cham-pions in the university category, Chit-tagong Cantonment Public School and College in the college category and Motijhil Government Boys’ High School in the school category.

Thirty six schools from Chittagong city, 12 colleges from Dhaka and Chit-tagong and 24 universities from across the country had joined the competition.

State Minister for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed attended and spoke as chief guest at the � nals and prize-giv-ing ceremony held at the auditorium of Theatre Institute of Chittagong.

President Masud Bakul of Drishti, Chittagong in the chair, Chief Operat-ing O� cer Mahtab Uddin Ahmed of Robi Axiata Limited and Vice President Saif Chowdhury of Dristi, Chittagong also were in attendance. l

A shrimp enclosure can not be bigger than 30 acres and it will have to follow the land zoning system of the government

International Conference on Social Science and Humanities concludes at IUBn Tribune Report

A three-day long International Confer-ence on Social Sciences and Humanities focusing on the theme “Identity in the Globalized World: Dimensions, Trans-formations and Challenges” concluded at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) campus in Bashundhara yesterday.

The Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR) at IUB organised the conference.

Professor Dr AK Azad Chowdhury, chairman of University Grants Com-mission Bangladesh attended the programme as the Chief Guest. In his speech Prof Chowdhury said in higher education there is no di� erence be-tween public and private universities. He further added several private univer-

sities, including IUB, were doing even better than some public universities.

Among others, IUB Vice Chancellor Prof M Omar Rahman also spoke on the occasion.

Professor Zakir Hossain Raju, chair of Conference Organizing Committee

and director of CSSR and Dean of School of Liberal Arts and Social Science, IUB, delivered the concluding remarks.

Renowned social science research-er from home and abroad presented a total of 64 research papers in this three day-long conference. l

Although designated as a restricted area, locals and visitors roam around freely inside the middle point runway of Shahjalal International Airport in the capital in presence of Ansar personnel guarding the entry points RAJIB DHAR

RESTRICTED AREA?

WEATHER

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:23am Sunrise 5:39am Zohr 11:59am Asr 4:30pm Magrib 6:18pm Esha 7:35pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:18PM SUN RISES 5:40AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW36.4ºC 23.2ºC

Rajshahi Rangamati

SUNDAY, AUGUST 31

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 32 25Chittagong 29 25Rajshahi 31 25Rangpur 30 25Khulna 29 25Barisal 30 25Sylhet 31 24Cox’s Bazar 27 25

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

LIGHTRAIN

260 garment workers sued for vandalismn Our Correspondent, Savar

The authorities of a readymade gar-ment factory in Jamgora of Ashulia lodged a case yesterday against 260 of its workers on charges of vandalism and looting.

Administrative o� cial of Designer Jeans Sharif Hossain � led the case with Ashulia police station against 110 named and another 150 unnamed workers.

“On Tuesday, the factory authori-ties temporarily � red line chief Jahan-gir and operator Jahangir for violating rules. But the factory had to be shut for an inde� nite period the following day as workers of the factory staged pro-tests demanding that the two be rein-stated in their posts,” said Sharif.

He said the notice put up on the fac-tory gate enraged workers who came to join work on Thursday morning.

“They engaged in vandalism inside

the factory and were dispersed by in-dustrial police shortly,” added the fac-tory o� cial.

Executive Director of Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity Kalpona Akter termed the case false and said it was � led to harass the workers.

She threatened to stage tougher pro-tests unless the factory authorities withdrew the case within 24 hours.

Director of Ashulia industrial police Mosta� zur Rahman said additional po-lice were deployed outside the factory to avert any untoward situation. l

DU suspends 7 BCL activists for attacking on a student n Du Correspondent

Authorities at Dhaka University yester-day suspended seven activists of Ban-gladesh Chhtra League for an inde� nite period for their alleged involvement in attacking a � rst year student.

The suspended BCL men were Sha-heen from philosophy department, Shakil from Urdu department, Ashik and Mamun from English department, Mehedi from public administration de-partment, Liton from tourism & hospi-tality management Mamun and Jafar. They were all are second year students.

Con� rming the decision, DU acting proctor Professor AM Amjad Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune: “The students were suspended on Friday night. A case has also been � led against them.”

“A probe committee will soon be formed to investigate the matter. After getting probe report, the suspension period will be � xed.” he added.

Earlier on Thursday night, the seven accused allegedly attacked a � rst year student, Al-Amin, over tri� e matter leaving him critically injured.

Later, he was admitted at Dhaka Medical College Hospital with severe head injury. l

Eviction drive against battery-run auto-rickshaws starts in Ctg todayOwners issued 48-hour ultimatum to mayorn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The owners of battery-run auto-rick-shaws yesterday gave 48-hour ultima-tum to the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Mayor M Monjur Alam to resign from his post.

Under the banner of “Chittagong Rickshaw and Battery-run Rickshaw Malik Sangram Parishad,” they staged a demonstration and hold a press confer-ence at the Chittagong Press Club.

President of the parishad Abdul Quader Majumder said they would be-siege the CCC O� ce on September 3 if their seven-point demands were not met by next 48 hours.

“The battery-run auto-rickshaws were banned without holding any prior meeting us. We would be compelled to go for tougher programmes like hunger strikes and calling general strike if our demands are not ful� lled,” he said.

The seven-point demands include providing license to the battery-run rickshaw-owners who � led petitions with the High Court, seeking expert opinion from Buet regarding the bat-ter-run rickshaws, providing driving licenses free of cost, ban CNG-run au-to-rickshaws and tempo to ease tra� c congestion.

Around one lakh battery-run rick-shaws are currently plying on the

streets of Chittagong under 13 di� erent associations. Apart from these, 70,000 manual rickshaws licensed under CCC ply the city roads.

The owners and drivers of bat-tery-run rickshaws were instructed to remove batteries and motors from their vehicles within August 30 following High Court's latest order.

According to a meeting held on Au-gust 25 among Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), Bangladesh Road Trans-port Authority (BRTA), Chittagong City Corporation and Chittagong district ad-ministration, an eviction drive against battery-run auto-rickshaws in Chit-tagong starts from today.

Any battery-run auto-rickshaw found plying after the deadline would be seized and legal actions would be taken, the authorities instructed.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Faruk Ahmed of CMP Tra� c Division (North Zone) said: “Law enforcers including tra� c inspectors and sergeants would remain deployed at 26 points in the city while 10 trucks will be there to carry the illegal rickshaws.”

Seized rickshaws and batteries would be dumped into dumping sta-tions nearby police stations, he added.

A very few number of battery-run auto-rickshaws were seen plying on the streets in the port city yesterday. l

5 injured as football fans lose controln Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Five including two female constables were injured while a huge crowd tried to enter the Sylhet District Stadium by breaking its main gate on Friday.

The injured constables – Zulekha and Shirin – are receiving treatment at the Osmani Medical College Hospital while rest of the three took � rst aid, said Dr Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Deputy Director of the hospital.

On Friday, Sylhet District Stadium host the second friendly football match between Bangladesh Under-23 and Nepal Under-23 teams which attracted thousands of football fans in the city.

More than 40,000 spectators en-tered the stadium that has the seating capacity of not more than 25,000.

Because of the mismanagement in handling the crowd the match also started one hour late than schedule. l

DU syndicate election Thursdayn Du Correspondent

Elections to the Dhaka University Syn-dicate, the academic council and the � nance committee will be held on Sep-tember 4 (Thursday) at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban in be-tween 9:00am and 1:00pm.

DU Treasurer Prof Mohammad Ka-mal Uddin will conduct the election where mainly two panels, the pro-Awa-mi League Blue panel and pro-BNP White panel, will be contesting.

The syndicate elections will be held under � ve categories – hall provosts, professors, associate professors, assis-tant professors and lecturers. The aca-demic council polls will be under two categories – associate professors and assistant professors.

Three representatives will be elected from associate professors and assistant professors each while one representa-tive from the � nance committee. l

Four held with 9,000 yaba pills in Chittagongn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Police arrested four with 9,000 pieces of yaba pills from Shah Amanat Bridge area in Chittagong yesterday.

The arrested are Syed Nura alias Kala, 28, Md Ishaq, 20, Abdur Shukkur, 26, and Manjurul Islam, 25, all hailing from Teknaf.

They were arrested around 3pm while carrying the items from Taknaf hiding inside a dry � sh laden truck, said Bakalia police station O� cer-in-Charge Mohammad Mohsin.

A case was lodged with Bakalia Po-lice Station in this connection, he said.

The four were carrying the pills to another peddler at a Shutkipolli (dry � sh producing area) in Chamrar Gudam area in the city.

“The arrested have mentioned two names whom we are trying to nab through drives and if they are caught we can nab the entire ring,” the OC said.

The trend of using goods-laden trucks for smuggling yaba from Chit-tagong to other parts of the country has

increased recently. Police said the yaba peddlers, par-

ticularly those who are running the illegal business from Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong, use goods-laden vehicles to dodge the law enforcers as it is hard to � nd the pills amid the piles.

Moreover, thousands of goods-lad-en trucks ply on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar and Dhaka-Chittagong routes daily. Therefore it is di� cult to trace the trucks carrying the items without having any speci� c information, said sources in Chittagong Metropolitan Po-lice (CMP).

According to Department of Narcot-ics Control, 90% of the smuggled items that enter the country are produced in around 50 yaba factories based in Mon-gdu town of Myanmar. The yaba con-signments enter through the Naf River.

CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Prevention) Banaz Kumar Majumdar said they had increased surveillance over the trucks entering the city from northern parts of the di-vision. l

Poverty elimination obstacles linked to uncontrolled expenses on medical servicesn Our Correspondent, Barisal

Participants in a dialogue on universal health coverage in � eld-level reality opined that uncontrolled expenditure and questionable quality of medical services are creating new obstacles in eliminating poverty in Bangladesh.

While average private expenditure for health sector in the outer world re-mains within thirty-� ve percent, it is about sixty-six percent in Bangladesh. Due to this, 4-5 million families in Ban-gladesh are running the risk of freshly adding to the number of poor people annually, they said.

They added that quality medical services are yet to be rendered properly to avoid such risks. However, it will get much importance in the next decade. Expanding coordinated professional service quality and initiatives can ful-� ll that importance now. For that, there needs new dimensions and attitudes in health sector.

The second dialogue over this issue

was organised by Power and Participa-tion Research Centre (PPRC) supported by Rockefeller Foundation and collabo-rated with Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Med-ical College (SBMC) and Brac Institute of Global Health at the auditorium of SBMC.

PPRC Executive Chairman and for-mer caretaker government advisor Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman conducted the programme.

AMM Nasiruddin, former secretary of health ministry, Prof Sabbir Ahmed, principal, SBMC, Tahmina Banu, head of child-surgery department of Chit-tagong Medical College, Masud of BRAC University of Global Health, Sha-dab Mahamud, advisor PPRC, also par-ticipated and spoke at the programme.

The speakers and participants agreed that Bangladesh had already received worldwide appreciation in terms of reducing neonatal, maternity, post-disaster mortality rates. Bangla-desh had also succeeded in supplying safe water and controlling birth-rates

and was praised for that too. They however observed that the sit-

uation of uncontrolled expenditure and questionable quality and standard of medical services were creating new ob-stacles against ful� lling the dreams of eliminating poverty in Bangladesh. In previous days infectious diseases like diarrohea, pneumonia used to cause most deaths. But now World Health Or-ganisation observed � fty-nine percent deaths in Bangladesh were taking place due to the non-contagious diseases, like heart-stroke, cancer, diabetics.

They suggested introducing easi-ly accessible, less costly but standard health services to prevent such deaths.

Lack of service attitude was spawn-ing the tendency of making pro� ts only, deteriorating the health ser-vices every day, they pointed out, also suggesting that the evaluation of thecountry’s health service by stakehold-ers might ensure more accountabil-ity and transparency in the medicalservices. l

Hundreds of commuters wait for public transports at Farmgate bus stop yesterday as tra� c deadlocks appeared on all major roads of the capital due to an Awami League rally at Suhrawardi Udyan RAJIB DHAR

Teachers and sta� of Rajshahi University bring out a procession on the campus yesterday protesting the attack on the university's Chief Engineer Md Sirajul Munir and two others AZAHAR UDDIN

Janasasthya Odhikar Rokkha demands separate medical universityn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A public health rights organisation in a press conference protested the tran-sition of Chittagong Medical College Hospital into a university and demand-ed the establishment of a separate medical university in the port city.

The demand was made by Janasas-thya Odhikar Rokkha Committee yes-terday at Chittagong Press Club.

Convener of the organisation, Mah-fuzur Rahman, said they received a draft of university law of 2012 recently which mentioned that all the establish-ments under Chittagong Medical Col-lege would be given to the university.

But, government in a gazette pub-lished in April 30 said the hospital would remain as a government organi-sation. The gazette was published after demonstrations were staged against the decision of the government on April 15.

Member Secretary Sushanta Barua of the organisation said if CMCH was con-verted into a university then patients who were receiving health services at minimal cost would be denied such service.

He said they were not against es-tablishing the medical university but it should be a separate establishment for better heath services for the poor. l

'They engaged in vandalism inside the factory and were dispersed by industrial police shortly'

'The students were suspended on Friday night. A case has also been � led against them'

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

UP member held with yaba n Our Correspondent, Faridpur

Members of Rapid Action Battalion ar-rested an alleged drug peddler in posses-sion of 1,010 pieces of yaba tablets and other goods from a house at Shibpur vil-lage in Boalmari upazila on Friday night.

The arrested was identi� ed as Ekhlas Uddin Molla alias Tutul, a mem-ber of Chatul union of the upazila and son of Abdur Rauf Molla, a resident of Banchaki village.

Major Mokammel, commander of RAB-8, said on a tip-o� , a team of the elite force conducted a drive in the area and arrested Tutul at night.

The force also recovered 1,010 piec-es of yaba tablet, Tk 65,900 cash, 10 SIM (subscriber identity module) cards of di� erent mobile phone operators and nine mobile phone sets from his possession. The arrested is a dealer of the highly amphetamine tablet, yaba, the RAB o� cial said. l

Five women rescued from tra� ckersn Our Correspondent Satkhira,

Police rescued � ve women while be-ing tra� cked to India and arrested three suspected tra� ckers from a farm house in Bhomra port area in Sadar upazila yesterday.

SI Mominur Rahman of Sadar police station said on a tip-o� , a drive was conducted in a farm house in the area where the women were kept.

The police arrested Zakir Hossain, 35, son of Mozammel Haque of Sriram-pur village in Debhata upazila, Abdul Ga� ar, 50, son of Rupchand Biswas and Saiful Mollah, son of Abul Bashar of Go-palganj district.

They rescued the women and ar-rested the suspected human tra� ckers from the spot around 10:30am. l

Abducted mother and son rescuedn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Police has rescued the mother and her son, who were abducted from Madaripur on August 28, in Sylhet on Friday night.

Police said a joint force of Madaripur and South Surma police conducted a drive at Lalabazar under South Surma police station in Sylhet around 8pm and rescued Yeasmin Akhter, 25, and her son Sifat, 5. l

BAU STUDENT MURDER CASE

BCL men snatch one accused from policen BAU Correspondent

A group of Bangladesh Agricultural Uni-versity (BAU) unit Bangladesh Chhatra League activists snatched away one of the accused in BAU student Saad murder case from police custody on Friday night.

Eyewitnesses said a team of Kotwa-li police, led by Sub-Inspector Amber Hossain, arrested Foysal Islam Joy, a former member of BAU central Chhatra League committee, at a fast food shop

on the campus around 8pm.As Joy informed his associates about

the incident over phone, a group of 15-20 Chhatra League activists chased the police van and snatched away Joy.

Later, another group of Chhatra League activists chased the police van and compelled them to leave the cam-pus, eyewitnesses added.

SI Amber con� rmed the incident to the Dhaka Tribune.

Meanwhile, BAU Proctor Professor

Dr Md Harun-ur-Rashid said police did not take any prior permission for ar-resting a student on the campus.

Earlier in last month, police submit-ted the charge sheet of Saad murder case, accusing 14 students, including Joy, for their alleged involvement in the murder.

Saad Ibne Momtaz, a � nal year stu-dent of the university, was beaten to death allegedly by a group of BAU Chha-tra League activists � ve months back.l

Hindu Kalyan Trust money embezzledn Our Correspondent, Bandarban

Members of Central Temple Commit-tee in Bandarban accused the trusty of Hindu Kalyan Trust of embezzling funds allocated for the observation of National Mourning Day and Janmash-tami.

Sources said the Ministry of Reli-gious A� airs directed the Central Tem-ple Committee to observe the occasions with help from the district adminis-tration. To help the trust, Tk5,000 for National Mourning Day and Tk8,000 for Janmashtami were allocated by the government.

Source from the Central Temple Committee said they observed the two days with due solemnity where the

State Minister of Chittagong Hill Tracts A� airs Bir Bahadur, also a member of parliament, District Magistrate KM Tari-kul Islam and Superintendent of Police Devdas Bhattacharya were present.

Nikhil Das, the committee’s presi-dent, said when they went to withdraw the money, they found that it was al-ready withdrawn by the Trusty Surajit Narayan Tripura. Then the committee sent a letter to the district magistrate accusing the trusty of misappropria-tion of the money.

The Trusty Surajit Narayan Tripu-ra could not be contacted as his cell phone number was found inactive.

The district magistrate said he sent letters inquiring about the embezzle-ment to ministry o� cials concerned. l

100,000 su� er due to lack of communication facilitiesThe locals are being deprived of medical services and education

n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

About one lakh people living in Chan-da Beel, second largest water body of the country, of the district have been experiencing untold su� ering because of not having necessary number of bridge, culvert and road to maintain communication with the mainland.

During the summer season when the Beel losses navigability, they have to wade through mud to go the nearby upazila or district towns for various purpose while boat and trawlers are lone ways of communication during the rainy season.

On the other hand, the residents of the 90-hector Beel, stretched in Sadar, Kashiani and Muksudpur upazilas, do not get due price in locally produced products and � sh owing to not having proper communication facility.

Besides, the locals are being de-prived of medical services and educa-tion due to the problem.

Sources at Gopalganj Roads and

Highways Department (RHD) said a road stretching from Satpar to Ram-dia area via the Beel was constructed several years ago to ensure smooth movement of the residents while many development projects were in the pipe-line.

In this regard, Praful Biswas, house-wife Anjana Mandal, and learner Chandrima Bala, of Singa village un-der Kashiani upazila, said the road has been out of usage owing to developing sporadic potholes.

Unavailability of approach roads, the bridges already erected there have remained out of service as well, result-ing the locals have been facing severe problem in movement and bringing their products to nearby markets, they opined.

At Ujani village of Muksudpur upazi-la, a farmer named Shaymal Sarker and � sherman Susanto Sarker said they are compelled to sell their agri-products and � sh at comparatively cheap price because of the tattered communication

system and many times their products get rotten on the way to markets due to delay in transport.

The problem exacerbates particular-ly during the winter season and their children experience serious su� ering to go to their schools, they continued.

Gopalganj RHD Executive Engineer Somiran Rai acknowledged the su� er-ing of the Beel people, saying the gov-ernment has earlier given necessary al-location to build bridges, culverts and roads there to improve the communi-cation, works of which was going on in full swing.

Since most of the works have been stopped for the time being in the rainy season, they were hopeful of improv-ing the situation by two years, the en-gineer also stated.

When contacted, DC Md Khalilur Rahman echoed the Somiran’s voice, telling that the local RHD, WDB and LGED in a union have already started their works to pull out the Beel people from the su� ering. l

The road constructed in 2000 lies in a sorry state causing su� ering to the people of Chanda Beel in Gopalganj DHAKA TRIBUNE

Expert presentationsn Career Desk

Audience rapport (noun) – relation-ship of presenter with audience, espe-cially when goodBody language (noun) – non-verbal communication

through facial expressions, body move-ments etc.Finally . . . – Typical word used to signal the last of several points or subjectsFlip chart (noun) – a pad of large paper sheets on a stand for presenting informationFor example . . . – Typical phrase used to signal an illustration or sample of a particular pointHandout (noun) – anything (report, sample etc.) handed or given to people at a presentationIn conclusion . . . – Typical phrase used to signal the summing up or � nal part of a presentationOHT (abbreviation) – overhead trans-parency; sheet of � lm with image for an overhead projectorOverhead projector (noun) – device that projects an OHT onto a screen Pointer (noun) – device (rod or electric torch etc.) for indicating things on a map, screen etc.Screen (noun) – large, � at, re� ective white surface on which � lms, slides etc. are projectedSignal (verb) – to help the audience un-derstand where one is in a presentationSlide (noun) – small (usually 35mm) photographic transparencyTo start with . . . – Typical phrase used to signal the beginning of a particular subject or topicTurning now to . . . – Typical phrase used to signal a change from one subject or topic to anotherVisual aids (noun) – things that one can look at in a presentation, like � lms, maps, charts etc.Whiteboard (noun) – large, � at, white surface or board on which to write or draw with markers

BIZVOCAB

7CareerDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

Bangladeshis in industrial production engineering n Ishaqur Rahman and

Naiian Yazdani

The rise of various new or-ganisations and corpora-tions highly dependent on technology has prompted greater focus and impor-

tance on being adept in the use of tech-nology. In this highly competitive soci-ety it is also vital to strive to be better than our competition and that can be executed through various methods.

One example is process optimisation, in which the processes are continual-ly improved in such a manner that the output is greater than at any time be-fore. Optimisation not only focuses on the speed at which a process could gen-erate an output but also on the accuracy of the results. The more accurate the re-sults and the faster they are generated, the more e� cient a process becomes. For example, this may mean creating less waste and reducing costs, thereby allowing a manufacturer to price their products below those of competitors.

The optimisation of complex pro-cesses or systems forms a speci� c branch of engineering that deals with only that, Industrial Production Engi-neering (IPE). Wikipedia sheds a little more light and describes that “it is con-cerned with the development, improve-ment, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, mon-ey, knowledge, information, equip-ment, energy, materials, analysis and synthesis, as well as the mathematical, physical and social sciences together with the principles and methods of en-gineering design to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems or processes.”

One of the main reasons why this subject is in such high demand is that it encompasses quite a few � elds together, thus turning the student of this subject into essentially a “Jack of all Trades.” This particular � eld is a pivotal aspect for the development of any manufactur-ing organisation such as apparel, elec-tronics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals,

chemicals, processed food products etc. The expertise is in demand as manufac-turing of each of those products is quite competitive and organisations seek any advantage they can obtain.

IPE not only introduces newer and more optimal methods for production but it also facilitates in evaluating cur-rent methods of production. In particu-lar it identi� es speci� c tasks, materials and equipment which can be enhanced. IPE deals with the use of mathematical means to predict results and comparing processes, the use of physical means to improve current processes.

Furthermore, it utilises social sci-ences to ensure more e� cient produc-tivity through the variety of employees working in the organisation, by instill-ing not only proper teamwork but also a well-de� ned hierarchy and structure

that can be utilised by the employees to maximise e� ciency.

Mr Ahsan Akhter Hasin, former de-partmental head of IPE-BUET, states that: “The purpose of IPE is to create those who are capable of viewing ma-chines or processes as production re-sources and plan to manage and run those processes or machines adeptly for maximum output.”

There is clear demand for those who have ascertained this skill set.

“It's been a problem for our country that we are unable to produce the max-imum possible number of products in spite of having adequate equipment. It is clear we lack the required managerial skills. IP Engineers are now � lling this void.

“Any kind of production industry is suitable for IP Engineers. An industry

can be based on chemical engineering, electronics engineering, computer en-gineering or other � elds of engineering. Haque, Beximco, Kohinoor Chemicals, Unilever, PRAN are just some of the names of companies willing to hire IP engineers.

“It is worth noting that all kinds of industries require IPE, even hospitals such as Red Crescent, Merry Stopes and 'Paribar Parikalpana Samity Hospital's where I have personally consulted.”

Md Ahsan Habib, a lecturer of the De-partment of Industrial Engineering and Management at Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET) add-ed: “Unilever Bangladesh, Bangladesh Oxygen Corporation, Chevron Bangla-desh and some other big companies have a distinct section called "IE." They are recruiting only the IE engineers in

this section. Other than these, indus-trial and production engineers have a great demand in garments sector. ”

An exciting overall picture emerges of an industry which will play a crucial role, particularly as Bangladesh pur-sues global manufacturing opportuni-ties. It is clear that the popularity of this subject will continue to soar as more and more organisations try to enter the market and compete with one another for the best talent. It can be argued that IPE is not only here to stay but also to facilitate a long and rewarding career. l

Naiian Yazdani is the Co-founder and Director, GradConnect, an international career intelligence � rm. Ishaqur Rahman is a Content Writer for GradConnect. For any questions, send an email to hello@grad-connect.com visit www.grad-connect.com

n Career Desk

What do you expect to get out of your work? What do you hope to accomplish today? What

would you like to have done by the end of this year? If you want any of these ex-pectations and wishes to succeed, you need to set yourself goals. Goal setting not only establishes focus and direction in your life, it also provides you with a benchmark to determine whether you are succeeding the way you want to or just wasting time.

Goal setting isn’t as simple as mak-ing a list of things you want to do. It starts with careful meditation on what it is that you want to achieve and is fol-lowed by a lot of hard work to actual-ly make it happen. Following are � ve golden rules of goal setting.

Find motivationMotivation is crucial to achieving goals. When you are setting goals, make sure they are important to you and that their achievement will give you value. When the outcome seems irrelevant to the bigger picture of your life from the get go, you will be less inclined to putting in the work required to make it happen. Goal achievement requires de-votion and commitment; in order to in-crease the chances of success you need to feel the urgency and necessity of the achievement.

A sure path to disappointment and frustration is setting yourself goals that are not related to the big priorities in your life – you are basically setting

yourself up for failure because the like-lihood is that you will frequently put o� necessary work for day to day pri-orities.

Set SMART goalsIn order to give your goals the best chance at success, they need to be de-signed to be SMART. While there are a few di� erent versions of what SMART stands for, it is essentially what a good goal should be: speci� c, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

n Speci� c goals: Your goal has to be clear and well de� ned – vague goals lack in focus and direction, which is contrary to the point of goal setting. Goals need to re� ect the path you need to take, make sure you don’t end up getting lost along the way.

n Measurable goals: One needs to measure their goals to assess their degree of success. This is why you need to include exact amounts and dates in your goals. For example: if you are planning to save more mon-ey this month, how will you know if

you have achieved your goal unless you have a speci� c amount that you aim to save?

n Attainable goals: If you set far-fetched unattainable goals, you will only demoralise yourself and lose your con� dence when you fail to achieve them. Set yourself realistic goals. However, setting goals that are easy is also not recommended. A 2006 study called New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory suggests that ambitious goals lead to a high-er level of performance than easy or general goals.

n Relevant goals: Setting yourself lots of di� erent kinds of goals that have little to do with the direction you want your life and career to ulti-mately take will only derail you on your path. Keep your goals aligned with the direction you want to take, and you will develop focus along the way.

n Time-bound goals: This is anoth-er benchmark to gauge the degree of success of your goal. Your goals should always have a deadline. Working under a deadline will help you develop a sense of urgency and accelerate a goal’s achievement.

Put it in writingPut your goals in writing – make it a tangible thing you see everyday instead of something at the back of your head. Write them in � rm and positive lan-guage such as “will” instead of “would like to.” A goal such as “I will meet all my deadlines this week” is more moti-

vating than “I will not miss deadlines this week.”

Make an action planThis is a step often missed in goal set-ting – most people are prone to get-ting so obsessed with the ultimate goal that they miss planning a step by step process to achieving the goal. It’s not necessary for the small day to day goals, but it is especially important for demanding and long-term goals. If you have a step by step plan, you will be aware of your progress along the way to your ultimate goal.

Stay focusedGoal setting is an on-going process and not a onetime activity. For higher chances of success, review your goals regularly; ask yourself if you are happy with the progress and course that you are taking. The end game remains the same but the action plan to get there may have to adapt to circumstances or change entirely for de� nite chances of achieving the goal.

Goal setting entails a lot more than simply saying you want something to happen in your life. If you do not vis-ibly identify exactly what you want and understand why you want it the � rst place, your likelihood of succeed-ing at achieving them are signi� cantly reduced. By following the � ve golden rules of goal setting you can set goals with conviction and ultimately enjoy the pleasure of knowing that you have successfully achieved what you set out to achieve. l

Brainwriting for ideasn Ahsan Sajid

We have all participated in brainstorming sessions, but in a group brainstorming

session, for various reasons only a few key players express their ideas and the rest of the room simply follows suit and expounds and rehashes the same ideas until it is spread very thin. The � -nal consensus is reached without con-sidering ideas that never materialised because the whole team never had the opportunity to speak up.

Some team members may simply be shy, or afraid. Some may fear that their ideas are too bold while conservatives may only stick to safe alternatives. Stronger personality types may push

their own agendas.These drawbacks are addressed by the brainwriting technique, an idea gen-eration process that ensures partici-pation from every team member. This approach generates far more ideas than brainstorming.

How does it address the issue?Traditional brainstorming allows one person to speak at a time. Hypotheti-cally speaking, by the time your chance to speak comes at the end of the table, you have already edited, rejected or for-gotten your original idea. This reduces spontaneity, creativity, and productivi-ty of brainstorming sessions. Brainwrit-ing e� ectively eliminates this problem by giving everyone an equal opportuni-ty in a non-threatening scenario.

Why use it?l Brainwriting is simple and doesn’t

require any preparation

l It allows equal participation from all without inhibition

l It reduces the likelihood of con� ict as people focus on the problem at hand and the solutions

How does it work?1. There is no need for facilitation

during the process, but a facilita-tor should prepare papers or cards with the brainwriting template for each participant. Refer to the � gure for how this template should look.

2. Six to eight participants should sit in a circle facing inward.

3. Each participant at this point needs to think of an actual problem to be addressed, and write it down on the top of the page.

4. Each participant hands their sheet of paper to the person sitting on their left for them to write a suggestion or answer to the problem proposed.

5. Once all the participants are done writing an answer or suggestion on the paper, they hand it to the per-son sitting on their left again.

6. This person may choose to do one of the following or both – write an entirely new suggestion below the original suggestion, or improve on the � rst one. Once done, partici-pants must pass the paper to their left again.

7. The session continues like this till each participant has seen each pa-per and answered problems posed on every one of them.

8. In a debrie� ng period at the end of the process, participants may choose to discuss and select the best solutions for each of the origi-nal problems posed. l

3

6

1 We buy more couches and make comfort-able sitting arrange-ments instead of only sticking to wooden chairs and tables.

4 We need faster internet.

2 The comfortable sit-ting idea is � ne, but we have to � nd a way to make sure that peo-ple are not lounging on them all day. One way to do this would be to give library visi-tors time blocks, and once their time is up, they must let others have the spot.

5 We must introduce time blocks for inter-net use as well. Cur-rently, a big problem is that some members occupy the comput-ers for so long that many are not table to use them at all.

We have to revise our � ne policy. A big deterrent for young adults who are our potential library members is that we charge too high a � ne for late returns.

Not only do we need faster internet, but also we need to make the switch to Wi-Fi as most young adults these are aren’t reli-ant on our computer lab and would rather use their own device to access the internet.

Problem / Question:How can we get more young adults to seek library membership?

Golden rules to set yourself up for success

Goal setting is entails a lot more than simply saying you want something to happen in your life

BIGSTOCK

BIGSTOCK

Sunday, August 31, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

20 years to rebuild Gazan AP, Gaza City

An international organization involved in assessing post-con� ict reconstruc-tion said it will take 20 years for Gaza’s battered and neglected housing stock to be rebuilt following the war between Hamas and Israel.

The assessment by Shelter Cluster, co-chaired by the UN refugee agen-cy and the Red Cross, underscores the complexities involved in an over-all reconstruction program for the Gaza Strip, which some Palestinian o� cials have estimated could cost in excess of $6bn.

Any e� ort to rebuild Gaza will be hindered by a blockade imposed by Egypt and Israel since the Islamic mil-itant group Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel has severely restricted the import of concrete and other building materials into Gaza, fearing that mili-tants will use them to build rockets and reinforce cross-border attack tunnels.

Egypt and Norway have raised the possibility of convening a Gaza donors’ conference at some point next month, but no � rm arrangements have been made.

With a population of 1.8 million, Gaza is a densely populated coastal

strip of urban warrens and agricultural land that still bears the scars of previ-ous rounds of � ghting.

In its report issued late Friday, Shel-ter Cluster said 17,000 Gaza housing units were destroyed or severely dam-aged during this summer’s war and 5,000 units still need work after dam-age sustained in the previous military campaigns. In addition, it says, Gaza has a housing de� cit of 75,000 units.

Shelter Cluster said its 20-year as-sessment is based on the capacity of the main Israel-Gaza cargo crossing to handle 100 trucks of construction materials daily. l

Lady al-Qa’ida: World’s most wanted prisonern Tribune Desk

The message from the militants was revealing.

“You were given many chances to ne-gotiate the release of your people via cash transactions as other governments have accepted,” it said. “We have also o� ered prisoner exchanges to free the Muslims currently in your detention, like our sister Dr Aa� a Siddiqui. However, you proved very quickly to us that this is not what you are interested in.”

This message, sent to the employers of American journalist James Foley by � ghters belonging to the Islamic State (IS), highlighted an audacious gambit: they had sought to exchange Foley for a Pakistani woman who has been dubbed Lady al-Qa’ida and who was once described as the world’s most wanted woman, but whom her family insist is an innocent victim. The IS also wanted £80m.

According a report by The Indepen-dent, the Obama administration declined to consider either option and the 40-year-old American journalist was subsequently beheaded, a video recording of the execu-tion being posted on the internet.

Amid the outrage and horror over the stark, shuddering murder of Foley, the o� er made by the militants for Siddiqui has also led to fresh questions about the curious case of the 42-year-old mother-of-three, whose release from US custody the IS � ghters were seeking. Who is she and why were the IS � ghters interested in her?

Aa� a Siddiqui was born in Karachi and grew up in an upper middle class family before travelling to the US to study. Siddiqui, whose mother once served in Pakistan’s parliament and whose father trained in the UK to be a doctor, began her studies at the University of Houston in Texas before moving to Massachusetts and earning a PhD in neuroscience from Brandeis University.

She and her � rst husband, Amjad Mo-hammed Khan, an anaesthesiologist whom she wed in an arranged marriage, left the US after the attacks of September 2001, even-tually returning to the Karachi in the summer of 2002. While still in the US, the FBI ques-tioned Siddiqui and her husband regarding their purchase over the internet of £6,000 worth of night vision equipment and body armour. They said it was for hunting.

Siddiqui and her husband divorced in late 2002. He would later claim she had become too abusive and that he was concerned about her increasingly extremist views.

Shortly after the divorce, Siddiqui allegedly married Ammar al-Baluchi, the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of plotting the al-Qa’ida attacks on New York and Washington. To this day, her family deny this marriage happened and say this was a story invent-ed by the Western media.

In March 2003, Siddiqui and her three children disappeared, after the FBI an-

nounced a global “wanted for questioning” alert for her and her � rst husband. [Khan was questioned over alleged terror links and released without charge.] It is believed her name as a possible al-Qa’ida operative was mentioned by Khalid Sheikh Moham-med who was repeatedly questioned and tortured by the US after he was arrested in Rawalpindi at the beginning of March 2003.

There remains an intense and ongoing debate about what happened to them during the next � ve years. Some believe Siddiqui and her children were held by the Pakistani authorities, while her family say she was a “ghost prisoner” of the US and kept in a secret prison at Bagram airbase.

Her ex-husband believes she and her children spent those years at large in Pa-kistan, under the eye of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).

The next con� rmed sighting of her was in the summer of 2008 when she was detained in Afghanistan after being discov-ered close to the home of a senior o� cial in Ghazni province. On her possession were documents describing the production of explosives, chemical weapons and the Eb-ola virus, and hand-written notes referring to a “mass casualty attack” in the US.

The diminutive Siddiqui was eventually convicted in the US, not on terror-related charges, but on counts of attempted murder – charges resulting from the claim, denied by her, that she tried to shoot her US question-ers while in Afghanistan. She was sentenced to 86 years in jail and is currently being held at the Federal Medical Centre in Carswell, Texas, which houses female prisoners with mental health issues. Prisoner number 90279-054 is not due for release until 2083.

Since the release of the IS email that referred to Siddiqui, there has been much speculation among experts about what it may signify.

Dr Farzana Shaikh, a Pakistan scholar at Chatham House in London, said IS may have been prompted by one of several militant groups in Pakistan who have called for Siddiqui’s release in exchange for Shakil Afridi. The case of Afridi, a doctor who was recruited by the CIA to try and locate Osama bin Laden and later charged with treason by Pakistan, is due to be reviewed again shortly. l

Ebola outbreak reaches Senegal, riots break out in Guinean Reuters, Dakar/Conakry

The West African state of  Senegal  be-came the � fth country to be hit by the world›s worst  Ebola  outbreak on Fri-day, while riots broke out in neighbour-ing  Guinea’s remote southeast where infection rates are rising fast.

In the latest sign that the outbreak of the virus, which has already killed at least 1,550 people, is spinning out of control, the  World Health Organisa-tion  (WHO) said thatEbola  cases rose last week at the fastest pace since the epidemic began in West Africa in March.

The epidemic has de� ed e� orts by governments to control it, prompting the leading charity � ghting the out-break, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), to call for the UN Security Council to take charge of e� orts to stop it.

Including the fatalities, more than 3,000 have been infected since the virus was detected in the remote jun-gles of  southeastern Guinea  in March and quickly spread across the border to Liberia and Sierra Leone. It has also touched  Nigeria, where six people have died.

Sierra Leone’s President  Ernest Bai Koroma  dismissed his Health Minis-ter  Miatta Kargbo  on Friday over her handling of the epidemic, which has killed more than 400 people in the for-mer British colony.

Scientists on Friday also reported that ZMapp, the drug that last week cured two American aid workers who contracted the disease in  Liberia, had cured all 18 lab monkeys infected with the virus in laboratory tests.

Senegal’s � rst case is a student from Guinea. l

Obama: World is messy, US leadership necessaryn Agencies

US President Barack Obama has said American leadership was never more necessary in the world than now and there is no competition to it from coun-tries like China and Russia.

“The truth of the matter is that the world has always been messy. In part, we’re just noticing now because of social media and our capacity to see in intimate detail the hardships that people are go-ing through,” Obama said at a Democrat-ic Party fund raiser in New York.

“The good news is that American leadership has never been more neces-sary, and there’s really no competition out there for the ideas and the values that can create the sort of order that we need in this world,” he said, adding that countries like China and Russia are no-where near the US.

“I hear people sometimes saying, well, I don’t know, China is advancing. But I tell you what, if you look at our cards and you look at China’s cards, I promise you, you would rather have ours,” he said amidst applause.

Obama said some people may say Russia looks pretty aggressive right now but the question to be asked is “are there long lines of people trying to emigrate into Russia?”

“I don’t think so,” the US President said amidst laughter.

Obama conceded that the Middle East poses a challenge, which is not comparable to the challenges of the Cold War or the World War.

“The Middle East is challenging, but the truth is it’s been challenging for quite a while. Our values, our leader-ship, our military power but also our diplomatic power, the power of our culture is one that means we will get through these challenging times just like we have in the past. I promise you things are much less dangerous now than they were 20 years ago, 25 years ago or 30 years ago,” he said.

Highlighting that the current situa-tion is not comparable to the challeng-es faced by the US during the Cold War, Obama said, “This is something we can handle, because we are Americans and that’s what we do.”

Noting that the situation is not com-parable to the challenges faced when the US had an entire block of Commu-nist countries against it, Obama said, “Around the world, when you travel to Asia, or you travel to Europe, or you travel to Latin America, or you travel to Africa, what you � nd is, among or-dinary people, they are still looking to America as a beacon of hope and oppor-tunity. And we should not forget that.”

Obama said people are feeling anx-ious these days “if you watch” the nightly news. “It feels like the world is falling apart. We are living through some extraordinarily challenging times. A lot of it has to do with changes that are taking place in the Middle East in which an old order that had been in place for 50 years, 60 years, 100 years was unsustainable, and was going to break up at some point.”

“And now, what we are seeing is the old order not working, but the new or-der not being born yet; and it is a rocky road through that process, and a dan-gerous time through that process,” the US President explained. l

‘West will be jihadists’ next target’n AFP, Jeddah

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has warned that the West will be the next target of the jihadists sweeping through Syria and Iraq, unless there is “rapid” action. “If we ignore them, I am sure they will reach Europe in a month and America in another month,” he said in remarks quoted yesterday by Asharq al-Awsat daily.

“Terrorism knows no border and its danger could a� ect several countries outside the Middle East,” said the king who was speaking at a welcoming cere-mony on Friday for new ambassadors, including a new envoy from Saudi ally the United States.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group has prompted widespread concern as it advances in both Syria and Iraq, killing hundreds of people, including in grue-some beheadings and mass executions.

Lack of action would be “unaccept-able” in the face of the phenomenon, King Abdullah said. “You see how they (jihadists) carry out beheadings and make children show the severed heads in the street,” he said, condemning the “cruelty” of such acts. l

Ukraine seeks to join Nato, Putin compares Kiev to Nazisn Reuters, Lake Seliger, Kiev

Ukraine has called for full membership in Nato, its strongest plea yet for West-ern military help, after accusing Russia of sending in armoured columns that have driven back its forces on behalf of pro-Moscow rebels.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vlad-imir Putin compared Kiev’s drive to regain control of its rebellious eastern cities to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in World War Two. He announced that rebels had succeeded in halting it, and proposed that they now permit sur-rounded Ukrainian troops to retreat.

Speaking to young people at a sum-mer camp, Putin told his countrymen they must be “ready to repel any ag-gression towards Russia.” He described Ukrainians and Russians as “practically one people,” language that Ukrainians say dismisses the very existence of their thousand-year-old nation.

The past 72 hours have seen pro-Rus-sian rebels suddenly open a new front and push Ukrainian troops out of a key town in strategic coastal territory along the Sea of Azov. Kiev and Western countries say the reversal was the re-sult of the arrival of armoured columns of Russian troops, sent by Putin to prop up a rebellion that would otherwise have been near collapse.

Rebels said they would accept Pu-tin’s proposal to allow Kiev forces, who they say are surrounded, to retreat, provided the government forces turn over weapons and armour. Kiev said that only proved that the � ghters were doing Moscow’s bidding.

Russia drew a fresh rebuke from French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabi-us, who told French television station France 24 that Russia could face more sanctions from the European Union.

“When one country sends military forces into another country without the agreement and against the will of anoth-er country, that is called an intervention and is clearly unacceptable,” he said.

In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after speak-ing with his Ukrainian counterpart: “The border violations we are seeing - yester-day and even more so the day before yes-terday - make us fear that the situation is increasingly getting out of control.”

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Russia’s footprint was undeniable in Ukraine.

“We have regularly marshalled evi-dence to indicate what exactly is hap-pening, despite the protestations of the Russian government that for some reason would have us all believe oth-erwise,” he said. “The fact is, those denials are completely without any credibility, and, you know, we’ve been pretty candid about that.”

Full Ukrainian membership of Nato, complete with the protection of a mutu-al defence pact with the United States, is still an unlikely prospect. But by an-nouncing it is now seeking to join the alliance, Kiev has put more pressure on the West to � nd ways to protect it. Nato holds a summit next week in Wales.

In 2008 Nato denied Ukraine and Georgia a fast track towards member-ship. Russia invaded Georgia a few months later. l

Smoke and ash � lls the air as Mount Tavurvur erupts in Rabaul in eastern Papua New Guinea on August 30. A volcano which has erupted in Papua New Guinea was yesterday spewing fragments from its crater and rumbling loudly, but its activity appeared to be subsiding, a seismologist said. Mount Tavurvur, which destroyed the town of Rabaul when it erupted simultaneously with nearby Mount Vulcan in 1994, came to life again early Friday, with rocks and ash erupting from its centre AFP

Dr Aa� a Siddiqui

Syrian refugee children beg for money in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The number of refugees from the con� ict in Syria now tops three million, the UN said, as US President Barack Obama admitted he has no strategy to tackle advancing jihadists AFP

T H E A P P R O A C H I N G V O L C A N O

C H I L D R E N U N C A R E D - F O R

9Sunday, August 31, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

China warns foreign powers not to use Hong Kong as a ‘bridgehead’n Reuters, Beijing

China yesterday warned against any foreign interference ahead of a crucial ruling on the city’s political future on Sunday, saying Beijing will not tolerate the use of Hong Kong “as a bridgehead to subvert and in� ltrate the mainland.”

China’s largely rubber-stamp parlia-ment is set to meet on Sunday, when it is expected to limit 2017 elections for Hong Kong’s leader to a handful of pro-Beijing candidates, a move likely to escalate plans by pro-democracy activists to blockade the city’s Central business district on Sunday.

According to state media, an un-identi� ed spokesman from the Chi-nese foreign ministry’s Department of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan A� airs said China would promptly “make sol-emn representations” to any “external force” that interfered in Hong Kong’s internal a� airs.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region (SAR) of China, administered by what is known as the Basic Law.

In an interview with state news agency Xinhua on Friday, the unidenti-� ed spokesman said “some people” ig-nored the long-term interests of Hong Kong and the provisions of the Basic Law “to collude with external forces in an attempt to interfere the SAR govern-ment administration.”

This was done “not only to under-mine the stability and development of Hong Kong but also to attempt to use Hong Kong as a bridgehead to sub-vert and in� ltrate the mainland,” the

spokesman said. “This will absolutely not be tolerated.”

The spokesman did not identify any outside countries. In 2013, US envoy to Hong Kong Cli� ord Hart said Washing-ton would continue to back “genuine universal su� rage” there.

Such a strongly worded statement from the ministry signals increasing anx-iety among Chinese leaders about the outcome of Sunday’s decision, which will be watched closely by diplomats and international human rights groups.

The expected decision to limit the number of candidates for the 2017 elec-tions could trigger a showdown with pro-democracy demonstrators who are planning an “Occupy Central” campaign.

The Hong Kong government will deploy 5,000 police for the expected protest on Sunday night, Hong Kong’s o� cial media RTHK said, citing an un-identi� ed source.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and there have been � erce de-bates in the past year over how its next leader is chosen in 2017 - by universal su� rage, as the democrats would like, or from a list of pro-Beijing candidates.

It returned under a principle of “one country, two systems” allowing it broad autonomy and far more freedom of speech, assembly and religion than exists on the mainland.

However, China has made it plain that Beijing’s sovereignty cannot be questioned. Beijing has ratcheted up its control despite promises to grant the city a high degree of autonomy and eventual universal su� rage. l

Modi meets Abe as India, Japan sign MoU to give Varanasi a faceliftn Agencies

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the unprecedented gesture of travelling to Kyoto to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi yesterday, � agging the importance of the growing relationship between Asia’s second and third-largest economies.

Abe normally meets dignitaries in the capital Tokyo, and travelling 500 kilometres to Kyoto clearly means that the Japanese are going out of

their way to honour the Indian PM, local observers said.

“Japanese leaders have hosted get-togethers in Kyoto before but this is the � rst time I can recall that the prime minister went to meet a visiting dignitary and thereby honour his arriv-al,” said Je� Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo.

Ahead of the dinner, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a “partner city a� liate” agreement for Kyoto and Va-ranasi covering city modernisation and

conservation intended to be a frame-work for smart heritage cities.

The Kyoto leg of the trip, kept secret until close to the date of Modi’s arrival, has interesting resonances. The city is the old imperial capital of Japan, some-thing an ardent nationalist like Abe is bound to cherish.

That it is a prime example of how to develop a heritage city without losing its character chimes nicely with Modi’s plans for his parliamentary constituen-cy, Varanasi.

“The choice of venue is signi� cant because it is a chance to highlight to Modi Japan’s most attractive urban-scape where tradition and modernity have been balanced and highlight the common cultural roots in Buddhism,” said Kingston.

Takashi Shimada, president of the Indo Business Centre consultancy, called the Abe initiative unprecedent-ed, adding that it was “a clear mes-sage to our neighbours,” a reference to China. l

Ethnic strife blurs Myanmar’s � rst census in 30 yearsn Reuters, Yangon

Following an incomplete count due to ethnic con� icts in parts of the country, Myanmar said yesterday that its � rst census in 30 years shows the population to be 51.4 million, some ten million less than expect-ed. The provisional � ndings of the census, taken between March-April with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), was released by Minister of Immigration and Population U Khin Yi.

The census was mired in controversy from the outset, as the government and UNFPA were criticized for basing the counting on 135 o� cially recognized ethnic groups, a classi� cation that critics say is outdated and inaccurate.

Ethnic groups said their political repre-sentation and claims to ethnicity would be compromised if they were undercounted.

The estimated population included some 1.2 million people who were not counted in three areas a� ected by ethnic

con� icts - northern Rakhine, and Kachin and Kayin states.

The government said that the estimate of 1.09 million uncounted people in northern Rakhine state was based on pre-census map-ping of households by immigration o� cers.

Much of the controversy surrounded the counting of the Rohingya - Muslims who live in western Rakhine state and who are often described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

The government had promised international sponsors that ethnic groups could choose their classi� cation. But a day before the census kicked o� , presidential spokesman Ye Htut indicated that use of the term Rohingya would be prohibited, so those who wanted to identify themselves as Rohingya were excluded from the count.

The government describes the Rohingya as Bengalis, a term that implies they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. However, most have lived in Myanmar for centuries. l

Sharif tries to distance himself from Pak army as crisis drags onArmy intervenes in con� ict between opposition, prime ministern Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistan’s prime minister, weakened by weeks of opposition protests calling for him to resign, distanced himself from an army move to intervene in the crisis, saying he was not turning to the mili-tary for help to defuse the stand-o� .

But in an embarrassing twist for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the army quickly denied this, saying it had been speci� cally instructed by the govern-ment to step in to help mediate with the opposition.

Despite the army’s intervention, the crisis appeared far from being resolved, with thousands of protesters still mass-ing outside key government installa-tions in centrail Islamabad late on Fri-day demanding Sharif’s resignation.

Sharif’s e� orts to end the con� ict have failed in recent days, undermining his clout in a country prone to army coups.

The protests have been led by op-position leaders Imran Khan, a hero cricket player turned politician, and Tahir ul-Qadri, a � rebrand cleric, who have both announced they would now directly negotiate with army chief Gen-eral Raheel Sharif.

Sharif has emerged much weakened from the crisis, his already uneasy rela-tionship with the military hitting new lows. He was toppled in a military coup in 1999 during a previous stint in o� ce.

Addressing parliament on Fri-

day, Sharif said he had nothing to do with the army’s decision to step into the con� ict.

“The army did not ask to play the role of mediator, neither have we re-quested them to play such a role,” he told the assembly where he enjoys a strong majority.

Sharif added that he had not object-

ed to both Khan and Qadri meeting the army chief. “If ... they want to meet the army chief then they should certainly meet,” he said.

However, the army’s press wing tweeted afterwards: “(The army chief) was asked by the Govt to play facilita-tive role for resolution of current im-passe, in yesterday’s meeting, at (Shar-if’s) House.”

The army’s intervention late on

Thursday heralded hopes that the cri-sis would soon be over, but as of Friday night, protest leaders showed no signs of abandoning their call for Sharif to resign, with Khan announcing he would organ-ise more protests around the country.

“I am � ghting a war,” Khan told supporters. “I don’t trust Nawaz (Shar-if). He is a liar and he is not true to his words.”

O� cials in Sharif’s camp have ac-cused the army of backing the protest-ers, though the army has so far been expressly neutral.

Pakistan has been gripped by mass protests for more than two weeks, with thousands of protesters occupy-ing the centre of the capital. Late on Friday night, up to 8,000 protesters, some armed with clubs and shouting slogans, had again gathered outside parliament, with police on standby to prevent any trouble.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 180 million, has been ruled by the mili-tary for half of its entire history and has repeatedly oscillated between civilian and military rule.

Army’s roleAlthough the army’s role is key to how the crisis unfolds, few believe the army is bent on seizing power again.

Nevertheless, its public intervention has demonstrated just how fragile Paki-stan’s democracy still is more than a year

since Sharif swept to o� ce in the coun-try’s � rst democratic transition of power.

“This is the end of democracy, the constitution and supremacy of the par-liament in the country,” retired Justice Tariq Mehmood was quoted as saying by the respected Dawn daily.

Sharif has displeased the army by trying to strengthen civilian rule and improve relations with India and Af-ghanistan, and the latest con� ict has given the military an opportunity to sideline him on security and foreign policy issues.

Sharif also angered the military by putting the former army chief, Pervez Musharraf, on trial for treason. Musharraf ousted Sharif in the 1999 coup.

The army’s involvement is likely to unnerve some Pakistanis but it also of-fers Khan and Qadri a face-saving solu-tion to end their deadlocked protest as both are seen as close to the military.

In a bid to appease the protesters on Thursday, the authorities registered a murder case to investigate the killing of 14 Qadri supporters during clashes with police at a protest in the city of La-hore in June.

The legal case names Sharif and his powerful brother Shahbaz Sharif – Punjab’s chief minister – among those responsible. Although it is not a legal indictment, the move could lead to Shahbaz’s resignation and put further pressure on the prime minister. l

Qadri issues new deadline for Sharif to resignn Agencies

Amid Pakistan army’s mediation ef-forts, protesters have stepped up pres-sure on the embattled government with cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri setting yet another deadline of 24 hours for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to quit.

In a late night development, Qadri’s camp was visited by a delegation of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-In-saf (PAT) led by vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who convinced the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief to delay his next move. Following the meet-ing, according to a report by PTI, the � rst direct contact between the two groups since they together started the march on August 14, Qadri set a 24-hour deadline for the prime minister to step down.

Qadri has set a number of deadlines

since camping outside the Parliament about two weeks ago.

After their meeting, Qureshi also ad-dressed the PAT crowd and reiterated his party’s request to postpone further action, which the protesters did not agree to. At this, Qadri asked his follow-ers to give their assent to the proposal.

He said PAT and had a number of views in common and shared the same struggle, cautioning supporters that the government intended to create a split between the two.

Meanwhile, in his late night address, Khan announced that his party would expand their sit-in to rallies in Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad and Multan. Qadri asked his supporters to join Khan’s pro-tests. Speaking to his supporters, Khan said he would announce his next step on Sunday. l

Taliban suicide bombers hit Afghan intelligence agency, six killedn Reuters, Jalalabad

Taliban suicide bombs hit an o� ce of the Afghan intelligence agency in an eastern city yesterday, killing six peo-ple, and insurgents shot dead another 11 in the west, in an upsurge of violence as foreign combat troops prepare to withdraw from the country.

Seven militants were also killed during several hours of heavy � ght-ing with Afghan security forces at the Jalalabad headquarters of the Nation-al Directorate of Security (NDS), said Ahmad Zeya Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of eastern Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan.

Abdulzai said four NDS agents and two civilians were killed when a truck and a smaller car, both loaded with explosives, were driven into the com-pound and a gun� ght broke out be-tween Afghan forces and the insurgents.

Reuters was not able to reach the

NDS immediately for comment. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in which dozens were wounded.

A pattern of bold o� ensives by mil-itants has emerged across Afghanistan in recent weeks during the summer “� ghting season.”

It coincides with political deadlock in the capital, Kabul, where rival presi-dential candidates have failed to resolve months-long disputes over an election meant to mark the � rst democratic transfer of power in Afghan history.

Most foreign combat troops are due to leave by the end of 2014 but the elec-tion dispute has meant a prolonged delay in signing a security pact with the United States governing how many troops would remain.

On Saturday, the insurgents struck in the western province of Farah, stopping a truck carrying workers to a construc-tion site near the Iranian border and kill-ing 11 of them. Authorities were trying to

� nd out why the workers were targeted.“They were innocent Afghan work-

ers. They did not have any connection to the government, so we don’t know the reason for the attack,” said Jawad Afghan, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

As the political impasse drags on, the Taliban-led insurgency has focused on important tactical and symbolic targets as a challenge to the Afghan se-curity forces who are taking over from their Nato-led counterparts.

Afghan forces have struggled to � ght o� large numbers of insurgent � ghters in provinces to the east, north and south of Kabul.

“This is part of an alarming trend across the country,” said Graeme Smith, a senior analyst at the Interna-tional Crisis Group in Kabul. Taliban o� ensives “are longer in duration, big-ger in size and against more ambitious targets than we’ve seen previously.” l

Volunteers attend a census training course at a school in Yangon March 23 REUTERS

Despite the army’s intervention, the crisis appeared far from being resolved, with thousands of protesters still massing outside key government installations in centrail Islamabad

An Afghan soldier holds a rocket propelled grenade launcher following a Taliban attack on the Afghan intelligence service o� ce AFP

Speed up road repairs There is no excuse for the miserable state of the country’s roads.

Large amounts of public money are allocated for maintenance, but a combination of delays, incompetent administration and negli-

gent contractors condemns many roads to a constant state of disrepair.The costs to the public of congestion and inconvenience being

exacerbated by potholes and damaged highways are enormous. These increased hugely during the rainy season with disrepair causing roads to be � ooded unnecessarily.

Despite occasional government promises to ensure major mainte-nance is undertaken ahead of busy holiday periods and the rainy season, deadlines are constantly missed and renovations delayed, leaving road users in the lurch.

Funds for routine maintenance of city roads are regularly misspent, with little or no improvements to show for taxpayer funds spent.

The use of sub-standard materials means that even when projects are progressed in a timely manner, roads may soon return to previous states of disrepair because the work was carried out shoddily.

It is particularly egregious that ma-jor renovation works are sometimes left uncompleted despite monies being paid to contractors. Less than half the required repair works on the Jirabo-Bishmail and C&D-Ashulia roads have been completed despite payments for � xing the dilapidated roads being made to contractors for over a year. 

The government must improve co-ordination and planning to ensure funds for road maintenance and renovations are spent properly and e� ectively.

We cannot a� ord to allow the nation’s arteries to be constantly clogged. Repairs must be undertaken to strict deadlines to minimise inconvenience and speed tra� c � ows.

Knowledge industries with ICT parksThere is much to be said for the government’s talks with Japan to

work together on building 10 information and communications technology parks across the country.

It is encouraging to see our governments show more initiative in this direction. The ICT parks can add a lot of value to the economy.

The planned high tech zones are budgeted to cost around Tk300cr per ICT park. The proposals are designed to attract more knowledge in-tensive companies to set up businesses in Bangladesh, by developing fa-cilities to support among other things ICT, engineering, telecommunications and biotechnology industries.

We need to invest in more such initiatives to create knowledge based jobs that add value to the economy and which can spur more Bangladeshi companies to develop technology-led businesses.

It is imperative for Bangladesh to invest in technology industries on a larger scale in order to be on the same page as the rest of the world. These sizeable investments are key to helping the country create new jobs, and to improve its e� ciency and business relationship with the rest of the world.

The planned ICT parks may potentially provide a bold and concrete step towards the goal of “Digital Bangladesh.” However, we must make sure that internet and communication freedoms are coupled with tech-nological growth, otherwise such investments may be hollow.

Ensuring more investment in higher education and integrating research facilities and skills training into these ICT parks will be key com-ponents to make them a success.

Motivate farmers to cultivate Chinese variety gingerAugust 25Md Ashraf HossainA few years ago, the retail price per kilo-gram for ginger was Tk40; it is now Tk180, since the price of ginger has increased in China owing to a very low harvest in the current season. Bangladesh has been importing huge quantities of the Chinese variety of ginger every year to cater to the local demand. While ginger is produced in our nation, it cannot ful� ll the need.

An initiative by the Department of Ag-riculture Extension (DAE) can ensure ad-equate ginger production in Bangladesh within a couple of years. Agriculturul and commercial banks have come forward to get re-� nancing from Bangladesh Bank to provide very low-interest bearing loans to aid in increasing spice farms. The DAE has to motivate farmers to cultivate Chinese ginger, as it is very large in size, and per hector yield is high as well relative to the local variety of ginger.

The DAE has to provide inputs and advise farmers to cultivate the Chinese variety of ginger at di� erent stages of cultivation. I would like to urge the DAE authorities to take a project to motivate ginger farmers to cultivate Chinese ginger and arrange for inputs and the know-how to cultivate them.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Waterway (5)4 Strange (3)6 Augury (4)8 Skin openings (5)9 Trick (4)11 Second-hand (4)12 Useless remains (5)15 Condition (5)18 Circle of light (4)20 Dutch cheese (4)21 Mechanical man (5)22 Table-shaped hill (4)23 Mild explosion (3)24 Corolla leaf (5)

DOWN1 Swift (5)2 Stanza (5)3 Flowers (5)4 Burden (4)5 Exploit (4)7 Break out (5)10 Cult (4)13 Highway (4)14 Garden ornament (5)15 Fragment (5)16 Scope (5)17 Eulogise (5)18 Aid (4)19 Source of light (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 13 represents C so � ll C every time the � gure 13 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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Partition of India: A historical imperativeAugust 27

Kanak DasguptaJustifying a historical mis� t. The community was Hindustani by race and culture. Suddenly members of that community found an Arabic identical linkage and brought it into their culture. Till today, Indian Muslims (including from three countries) have not been able to come out from that Utopian dogma.

The long struggle for freedom was initiated by Samrat Bahadur Shah Zafar from 1857, and we all knew he was deported to Yangon.

It is rather shameful that his community felt awkward and bargained in such a harsh communal line.

Qaaiyum Alam Kanak Dasgupta: This was a rather foolish com-ment. I would request you to go through history and get your facts straight before making any more such pointless comments. Thank you.

It is imperative for Bangladesh to invest in technology industries on a larger scale

Biman to resume domestic � ightsAugust 26

Waliul Haque Khondker Biman would only be able to sustain the domestic routes, if it is allowed to raise the fares to the lev-el of that of the private carriers. But in the past, Biman has always been compelled to maintain lower fares. If the same thing is repeated, Biman will pile up losses and the private carriers will go out of business. The concept of national service, like gas, electricity and railway, is a misplaced notion for an airline’s commercial operation.

Md Mahbubul Haq KhanWaliul Haque Khondker: Sir, who will tell Biman this? Has Biman ever taken any good advice and followed it? Rather, Biman runs on whims.

Stop wasteful energysubsidiesAugust 25

Ray Del ColleGlobal clean energy investment hit a record $260 billion in 2011. That’s � ve times as much as 2004. The shift to clean energy is already happening.

Passport o� ces in all districts in a monthAugust 25

Sheikh Jinat Mahmid Good initiative, but will it be possible in one month?

Cabinet extends tenure of quick power act

August 25

Nazmul Khair “The government has extended tenures of rental

and quick rental power plants to four more years.”

Only because we are paying for it with our taxes.

Rendezvous of underground bands

August 25

Music Theater Live “‘Last Revolution’ held at the Institute of Engi-

neers Bangladesh Auditorium.”Thank you for the support, DT.

Regiment-The Band“Regiment, a band established with the aim to raise voice against injustice and massacre

occurred in the Liberation War performed an original track with such lyrics and music. They

also covered a few songs including Dream The-atre’s “Pull Me Under” and System Of A Down’s

“Toxicity.”We didn’t perform Toxicity though. :p

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

We cannot a� ord to allow the nation’s arteries to be constantly clogged

n Khawaza Main Uddin

How will the government of Sheikh Hasina survive the disease of acute de� ciency in

legitimacy by crucifying opponents and through raising hullabaloo over issues devoid of public interest? And how many days, months, or years?

Sorry if that sounds outspoken, but perhaps it’s better to cut the euphe-misms.

Haunted by fear of losing the throne, the prime minister, her cab-inet, and party colleagues are � ring salvos of criticism at BNP chief Khale-da Zia and her family members. Civil society critics are not spared either.

The ruling party, in its hostile attitude, is showing that it doesn’t de-serve to govern the country. We need and expect some moderation, even if not from this regime.

There was talk in town recently that one of its strategies to divert public at-tention from the seven murder case in Narayanganj and some other disturb-ing incidents was to delay the recovery of a capsized launch that claimed over 100 lives.

Whether or not Ziaur Rahman was involved in the August 15, 1975 coup is not an issue. The allegation is being raised to defame the founder of BNP and thus de� ate the morale of the BNP leaders and supporters. When opportunists called Zia – a valiant and recorded freedom � ghter – a spy of Pakistan in 1971, one has to marvel at the extent to which a smear campaign

can be taken.A breaking news item read former

premier Khaleda Zia had a hand in the August 21 grenade attack on an AL rally, according to accusations by Sheikh Hasina, who, however, escaped death at that time. Just to recall, late Palestine president Yasser Arafat had objected to the expression “escaping death” as he told CNN in 1993 that what had not happened was not des-tined to happen.

If the prime minister is so sure of her predecessor’s involvement, why didn’t her government make Khaleda Zia the number one accused in the case?

If there is no substantial proof, then we can safely assume that nasty poli-tics is being perpetrated just to harass the BNP chief and prevent her from leading a potential movement against the illegitimate regime.

A few AL stalwarts and a bunch of political parasites, who have emerged as trusted comrades to the head of the government, are giving lectures on history, criminology, � nancial crimes of old days, militancy and counterter-rorism, genocide, ethnicity, theories of Nobel Prize, aesthetics of the saree, defamation, and propaganda.

The list goes on and on but excludes what they are supposed to do lawfully and politically to ensure that the coun-try and various institutions function like a pluralist democratic nation.

Look at some of the (mis)deeds – swindling of bank money, share market scams, the Padma Bridge

corruption scandal, extra-judicial killings, abductions and disappear-ances of political leaders, presidential clemency to murderers, campus vio-lence, crackdown on Hefazat-e-Islam, politicisation of the administration and the police, question paper leakage, manipulation of tenders and recruit-ment tests, an A-Z manipulated ballot, and making parliament a farce.

Many of us wonder how dogged they are in their pursuit: They are also not ashamed of amassing vast wealth and grabbing public and private lands by ruling party men including the vocals.

Against such a long list of “achievements,” there are the unful� lled promises of wealth statements by the ministers and members of parliament, combating corruption, creation of massive jobs, improving governance and promotion of democracy. Have the voters really forgotten everything? No sane person would say yes, seeing the results of

any fair election in recent years?The premier, well-equipped with

information and strategies to attack her key political rival, is not, unfor-tunately, aware of the exact number of unemployed youths, or homeless people, or cancer patients su� ering without treatment.

This administration has nothing better to do than constantly demean the opposition to justify their clinging to power against the will of the people. But these followers of Goebbelsian tra-dition don’t ask their conscience how theirs could be considered a represent-ative government in the slightest sense of democratic norms.

So, o� ence, in the manner of a barking dog, is widely believed to be the best defence.

History has plenty of instances where power went to one’s head, creating a state of delusion, where a section of people resort to waves of rhetoric, saying things that have very little meaning in actual terms. Many current leaders are in that state, � ring o� platitudes without thinking properly.

Lest they forget, no position is for-ti� ed for eternity, and in the universal rule of history, all powers have to face a day of reckoning. It’s a pity that rul-ing politicians fail to recognise that the Bangladesh society, a dormant volcano today, can and will erupt tomorrow or the day after. l

Khawaza Main Uddin is Executive Editor at ICE Business Times.

n Garga Chatterjee

Certain truths are always hidden from public attention. Hence, beyond the a� ected victims,

they do not form a part of public memory. In the year 1966, when the Indian Air Force was bombing large parts of Mizoram, including the pres-ent capital city of Aizawl, many Mizos were desperately trying to seek refuge to save their life. The sanitised term “collateral damage” was not in vogue back then.

Those were not the days of preci-sion bombing. That there is no such thing called precision bombing even now is evident from Gaza to Baghdad, where those who claim precision in targeting undesirables provide a rich harvest of dead non-combatants.

When the Mizos were getting bombed with the kind of discrimina-tion and precision using incendiary bombs that only an Air Force raised on Gandhian ideology can provide, many of the bombed people must have had a lot of thoughts rushing through their heads. It is my suspicion that some of thoughts were not exactly ones of a� ection towards the Union of India.

Legally, sedition involves incite-ment of disa� ection towards the state. It is not entirely impossible that some Mizo fathers and mothers incited their daughters and sons to be disa� ected towards the powers that were bombing them. And in doing so, they became serious criminals under the law of the Indian Union’s land.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had famously proclaimed that a� ection for the state (the Union of India in the Mizo case) could not be manufactured or regulated by law. However it is quite possible to create a situation where the grandchildren of bombed people are made to turn out in smart sa� ron, white, and green uniforms for August 15 festivities in Aizawl.

School children under the watch of armed personnel seem to be a favour-ite setting for a� ection manufacturing activities. Smiling children. Happy nation. Waving � ags. Zero sedition. No one is a bigger criminal than a state that uses its armed might against civil-ians it considers to be its own citizens. Incidentally, Mizoram shares a border with the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Some things don’t change – the name of the aggressor and the victim may change.

Like most black laws that an anxious nation-state uses to curb anything that tries to puncture its mythology and glorious creation story, the axe is typically used to shut up those who try to adhere to the o� cial Hindustani slogan “Satyamev Jayate” (truth alone prevails). It is not accidental that there are four lions staring down at anyone who might want to take the Satyamev pronouncement at face value.

Very often, the lions go out to hunt in packs. Too many undesirable people, whose remains will never be found, know this well. That is how much of the instant justice for sedition is meted out. It is only when a relative-ly powerful person breaks the silence that the lions seem unsure what to do. They roar, but don’t bite.

Recently, there has been uproar

against a member of the Indian Union parliament, and said mem-ber’s comments are said to have been “seditious.” Kalvakuntla Kavitha, a Telengana Rashtria Samithi member of parliament, allegedly said: “Jammu and Kashmir, and Telangana were both forcefully, and at the same time, annexed to the Indian Union. When I say I feel strongly, it’s because we were both separate countries, but were merged with the Indian Union after Independence. In 1947, we were not a part of India.”

Her father is the elected chief minister of Telengana, a newly established state whose contours resemble in a large way the Nizam of Hyderabad’s erst-while dominion. Her father’s stature, her MP status, and the reading down of the sedition law in 1962 will ensure that no harm comes to her as far as the sedition case is concerned.

The hunted have always outnum-bered the hunters, and anything that puts the focus back on the hunted ex-pands liberty. There is no space for na-iveté at the level of a parliamentarian, but even with its cynical calculation and political intent, whatever opening is provided, ought to be cherished and celebrated. Only rarely do the contradictions between the powerful come to the fore – when it comes to the origin myths of a nation-state like the Indian Union.

What is left unsaid in the slogan “truth alone prevails” is “when.” Does truth prevail by its own merit as if my magic, is it allowed to prevail strate-gically to earn points for openness so that more damaging truths can be suppressed?

Section 124(A) of the Indian penal code deals with sedition. Sedition is a law for the powerful against the powerless, of the anxious against the con� dent, of � ction against fact, of the rulebook against dreams, of the coward against the brave.

An anxious nation-state fears plebiscites. A humane state embraces the people’s will. People who expose origin myths as well as the crimes of the government under whose jurisdic-tion they live are typically targeted as seditious. They disrupt the long lulla-by of the non-violent creation of India and Indians. To consider a nation-state and its political mythology holy is a slur to the sacred – the kind that pre-dates all man-written books, laws, and constitutions.

We must all be fearful of lions because a beast that has tasted blood does not rest even when it is not in the jungle. The shrillness with which K Ka-vitha has been demonised only shows the weak and tense foundations of the India-making project. And she hasn’t even gone halfway down the path of the parliamentarian, the departed GG Swell, who showed bomb-covers in the Lok Sabha when patriotic tricoloured lions refused to own up to their aerial hunt in Mizoram. Lions love Section 124(A). As long as the hunter holds sway about the story of the hunt, sedi-tion laws will remain. The browns are an unfortunate people. l

Garga Chatterjee is a freelance contributor. He can be followed on twitter @gargac.

11Op-Ed Sunday, August 31, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Shakoor Majid

I have a mind like a bird and thus, I frequently take o� from the airport, roam around di� erent places and cities in the world. It is obvious that whenever I see

a new city, I always try to compare it with my Dhaka. Most of the time, I am amazed with the civic facilities of the cities that I travel, and � nd how liveable they made their cities.

For the last 400 years, Dhaka has been ruled by di� erent rulers like sultans, Mughals, the British, and Pakistanis, who were of di� erent political ideologies. Even after four decades of its independence, it could not attain any speci� c character. Neither has the city adopted an international style, nor does it embank its own tradition.

  Whenever I visit cities around the world, I always prefer to travel to old parts of the city where I � nd that ancient parts of their cities are well preserved, either by themselves or by Unesco. The conserved portion of the city is their most valuable ornament, like an old chair of someone’s great grandfather.

I feel excited thinking that when our Lalbagh Fort was built, the United States had not started to build any two-storeyed building. On the other hand, I feel bad when I walk through the Gamla stan of Stockholm, or the

old town square of Prague, as it re-minds me of the poor condition of our old part of Dhaka city.

I understand that it is our pover-ty that supersedes our emotion to preserve and conserve them. When someone raises any comparison between cities in terms of liveability, I � nd no room to hide my face from my friend in Vienna. 

I know well that the safety of the civilians, international connectivity, climatic condition, quality of architec-ture, public transportation, tolerance, environmental issues, and access to nature, urban design, business condi-tions, pro-active policy developments, and medical care are the common criteria for a city to be categorised and ranked in global position, and in these aspects, our city is still far behind in many ways.

If I had an expatriate relative at my home, and if they wish to go out for a while, I suggest them to leave their wristwatch or ornaments at home, and not to take much money in their purse. I also advice them that a distance of a 10-minute walk may take more than an hour to reach by any private transpor-tation, and I forbid them to take any public transportation.

Sometimes, I found that my relatives had common stomach problems with any outdoor food, and they ask me why we have to take mineral water all the time. I can hardly explain the reasons to them.

The political unrest in my city is a normal phenomenon in my day to day life. Every day we overcome the di� culties of our lives, like that � sherman of a coastal area. We know well how to tackle our daily routines

like a rickshaw-puller, who knows how to go faster even overtaking from the wrong side.

We are habituated to this. We are adjusted to the hustle and bustle of the city; feel � ne with the loud voices of the hawkers who sing along with the morning birds to sell his vegeta-bles. We have no proper urban space to gather at every afternoon, but we have Shahbagh, we have Ramna and Sah-rawardi Udyan, where we get together to celebrate our occasions, to express our emotions. 

We have class one human beings in our city, and 95% of them are very sim-ple in their ways of living and beliefs. We have a corrupted class of people like many others in the world. Our cor-ruption comes from the politicians and from rotten intellectuals. The quantity of these people is very few in number, the rest of our people are very nice, humble and honest.

In the last 10 years, I have travelled around 50 big cities of the world, and unfortunately all of the cities were ranked higher than my city of Dhaka, in terms of liveability.

If I am asked which city I would like to live in permanently, my answer would be Dhaka, my own city. If you ask me why, my answer is very simple. I love this city, and love does not require an explanation. l

Shakoor Majid is an architect.

Serenity at Dhanmondi lake SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Love you, Dhaka

If I am asked which city I would like to live in permanently, my answer would be Dhaka, my own city

The hunted have always outnumbered the hunters

It is not accidental that there are four lions staring down at anyone who might take the Satyamev at face value

This administration has nothing better to do than demean the opposition to justify their clinging to power

Cowards against the brave

An o� ensive defence

Exhibition Ode to BeautyBy Shama ShaiomTime: 3pm – 9pmAlliance Francaise de Dhaka26 Mirpur Road

Show: YourselfTime: 18, 10am – 8pmAthena Gallery of Fine ArtsProgoti Shoroni, Uttar Badda

Existence DelineatedBy Fahmida Urmi HossainTime: 3pm – 8pmDhaka Art CentreRd No 7, Dhanmondi

Threads of TestimonyBy Dilara Begum JolyTime: 12pm-8pmBengal Art Lounge60, Gulshan Avenue

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Sunday, August 31, 201412

TODAY IN DHAKA

Aeon FluxHBO7:39pm

In the year 2415, more than half the human beings have been de-stroyed and one last city called Bregna is still safe and is ruled by Trevor Goodchild. Aeon Flux is a mysterious assassin who has a job to do – to kill Trevor.

Iron Man 3Star Movies 7:00pm

“Iron Man 3” pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds.

n Shadma Malik

The shooting for Animesh Aich’s woman centric � lm “Zved” will start from October. The announce-ment was made by the cast and crew at the � lm’s Muharat held on August 28 at the capital.

The � lm will see debutant Bhabna as the fe-male lead and her counterpart will be played by Indian Bangalee actor/director Parambra-ta Chatterjee. Tariq Anam Khan, Soumitra Chatterjee, Faruque Ahmed, Allen Shuvro and others form the rest of the cast.

When asked about her experience of being a central character, Bhabna said: “I don’t want to play roles that will portray me as eyecandy for the audience. I prefer powerful charac-ters that has an impact on the soci-ety and people. Nayantara is exactly the kind of character that I had in mind for my debut.

“I was o� ered many � lms be-fore. However, I do not want to be a regular face on screen. I am conscious about scripts,” she added.

Nayantara is a girl who grew up in the city. One day while she was bringing water, she got harassed by some eve-teas-ers and lost her mental bal-ance. And after the inci-dent, she collects water in everything she can get her hands on. She never goes out to bring water anymore.

Suddenly there is a water crisis in the city and everyone goes running to Nayantara for water.

The � lm has been produced by Impress Tele� lm Limited. l

BHABNA AND PARAMBRATA PAIR UP FOR UPCOMING FLICK ZED

n Shadma Malik

Marking the 38th death anniversary of Na-tional Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Chhayanaut organised an elaborate cultural programme on August 29 at its main auditorium. Remi-niscing his immense contribution to Bang-la literature, his zest for life and his protest against tyranny and injustice during the

British rule, the programme was an array of performances on Nazrul’s remarkable works.

The event started with a group dance and song titled “Hey Partho Sharothi” by the students and teachers of the cultural or-ganisation. The presentation was followed by Khairul Anam Shakil and Kolpona Anam rendering a poem of Nazrul. Several artistes dressed in white and blue performed soulful

Nazrul songs after which dancer Warda Ri-hab and her students Aniditara and Pushpo took to the stage and performed on “Khele Nander Anginay.”

The presentation was very impressive with the dancers playing the roles of young Krisha, Mother Yashoda and Noni Churi por-traying the tale of the mischievous Krishna stealing butter. l

Chhayanaut observes Nazrul’s death anniversary

Mosharraf Karim in search of his wifen Entertainment Desk

A single episode TV play “ Tumi Ki Ak-hono Amar Tumi” will be aired tonight at 9pm on NTV.

The plot revolves around Nayeem, a music lover who thinks music is his life. He opens a store in Nepal where he sells musical instruments. Through an incident, he meets Bangladeshi tour-

ist Jui. After closing his shop, every-day Nayeem spends time with Jui and they start liking one another. On the other hand, Mosharraf Karim is roam-ing the streets of Nepal in search of his wife. No one knows or understands his quest. One day, when he was about to give up on his search, he rings the bell of a house and his estranged wife Jui answers the door. l

Shahin Badar works with Russian trance DJ Bobina

n Entertainment Desk

Glamorous British-Bangladeshi songstress Shahin Badar well known for her smash hit single “Smack My Bitch Up” of Prodigy has collaborated with Bobina, a Russian trance DJ, re-cord producer and radio host. Their new single “Delusional” is a more uplifting and rhythmic trance track made more mysterious with Shahin’s enchanting vocals. The number is a

unique release and a de� nite must-have for trance music lovers.

About the working with Bobina, Shahin said to the Dhaka Tribune: “Bobina is a great producer, one of the most respected Dj’s who is rock-ing the dance music scene in Russia and around the globe. I have always been a fan of trance music, I heard many top trance Djs like Tiesto on their live set. To work on a solo col-laboration with Bobina on a trance

track is simply awesome.“I was excited when the head of

company Arny Bink got in touch with me. Black Hole recordings is one of the biggest dance labels and it was an honour. He asked if I would be inter-ested to work with Bobina, they had me in mind for a while. We were in-troduced, I was then sent a working demo which Bobina put together, im-mediately loved the tune,” she added.

Bobina hosts a popular radio show called “Russia Goes Clubbing” and has releases works with top re-cord labels in the world including

Ministry of Sound, Perfecto, Ar-mada, and Nebula.

The MTV video music award winning singer/songwriter Shahin Badar is one of the most distinc-tive crossover commercial female Asian artist in the

UK music scene. She has two fantastic creditable al-

bums to her name “Laila” and “Destiny.” Bringing innovation

to all her tracks, she has teamed up with mainstream and Bollywood producers such as Oscar winner AR Rahman. She worked with electronic big beat giants, The Prodigy on 3 UK No1 albums, including her entranc-ing and bold “Alaap Chants” on con-troversial international smash hit “Smack My Bitch Up” followed by the Prodigy track “Get Up, Get o� .”

“Delusional” is available for down-loading on all music platforms includ-ing iTunes, Beatport and Spotify. l

KHAN HASAN MUHAMMAD RAFI

Joan Rivers in critical conditionn Entertainment Desk

Comedian Joan Rivers’ condition is serious and she continues to remain in a medically-induced coma after su� ering cardiac and respiratory failure during throat surgery.

Her daughter, Melissa, up-dated on the condition of the 81-year-old artiste, who was getting her vocal cords checked at a clinic in New York when she started � ghting for breath.

She was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital and placed in a coma as members of her family were alerted to her con-dition.

It was earlier said that Joan was uncon-scious but stable, report-edly.

“My mother would be so touched by the trib-utes and prayers that we have received from around the world. Her condition remains serious but she is receiving the best treatment and care possible. We ask that you continue to keep her in your thoughts as we pray for her recovery,” said Melissa in a statement. l

Chitra Singh demands Bharat Ratna for late Jagjit Singhn Entertainment Desk

The ghazal maestro’s widow, herself a renowned ghazal singer in the 1970s and 1980s, had been persuading Man-mohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi for many years to award the Bharat Ratna to her husband. “They gave Jagjit-ji the Pad-ma Bhushan in 2003. Eleven years have passed since. Every year we expected him to get the Bharat Ratna,” she said.

In 2012, for a function in Delhi on Jagjit Singh’s � rst death anniversary, Chitra had met Sonia Gandhi to invite her. But she couldn’t help with the Bharat Ratna. “Sonia-ji was extremely gracious. I was told I wouldn’t be given more than � ve to seven minutes. But she spent 40 minutes with me. I raised the subject of the Bharat Ratna for my husband. But it didn’t go any further.

“I raised the issue with Manmohan Singh-ji who was very close to Jagjit-ji. He too was very gracious. He said he’d try his best. But nothing happened,” she said.

Chitra feels Jagjit’s fans should begin an online cam-paign for him to get a Bharat Ratna. “When I meet his ad-mirers and fans they all say he should get the Bharat Ratna. But that’s it. It never goes beyond that. If his fans really feel

he should get the Bharat Ratna, then they need to hammer it into the new government.”

She feels the new Bharatiya Janata Party government would do the needful. “Narendra Modi-ji had said on Jag-jitji’s death that not only had we lost a great musician but Gujarat had lost a friend. My husband had a soft corner for Gujaratis. He had also met Modi-ji,” she said.

Jagjit, known as much for his ghazals and bhajans as for his work in Hindi cinema, had died following a brain hae-morrhage. He was 70. l

Bobina

13DHAKA TRIBUNESunday, August 31, 2014

Sport 1514 Sri Lanka rout Pakistan in ODIs

Di Maria shines but Burnley frustrate United

15 Sharapova survives as upsets rock US Open

Did you know?Manchester United

have gone four Premier League away games without a win

for the � rst time since October 2010

RESULTSCup Semi Finals

HRC Group 2-3 Bando Design

Gemcon 4-1 Beximco Pharma

Plate Semi Finals

Beximco Textiles 0-6 Magnito Digital

Rahimafrooze 3-2 Accenture

Bowl Semi Finals

BAT 2-1 Westin

Vizrt 0-2 Ascent

Bowl Final

BAT 2-2 Ascent(Won 3-2 In Penalties)

Plate Final

Magnito 5-0 Rahimafrooze

Cup Final

Bando Design 4-8 Gemcon

Gemcon Group players and o� cials celebrate winning the 9th Ascent Corporate Indoor 5-a-side Football Cup at the STM Hall, Scholastica yesterday MUMIT M

Gymnastics added to Asiad contingentn Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) has included gymnastic in the con-tingent of 17th Asian Games which is scheduled to begin in Incheon, South Korea from September 19.

This latest addition of the discipline means US-born Bnagladeshi artistic gymnast Syque Caesar will get another chance to prove his worth for the coun-try after his below-par display in the Commonwealth Games.

Earlier the Olympic association ex-cluded nine disciplines from among the initial 21 selected disciplines to take

part in the Asiad after severe criticism over Bangladesh’s performance in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

It was learnt that the State Minister for Sports and Youth Biren Sikder rec-ommended the BOA to include gym-nastic in the Asian contingent. Member of BOA training and development com-mittee Ra� qul Islam con� rmed this,

“The honourable Minister wanted to know the reason behind Syque Caesar’s (gymnastic) exclusion from the Asian Games. He also talked about adding gymnast in the Asiad contingent and we obliged,” said the wing commander of Bangladesh Air Force.

Syque Caesar represented Bangladesh in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and 2014 Commonwealth Games with his only achievement for Bangladesh being the gold medal in the parallel bars event in the Middle and South Asia Artis-tic Gymnastic tournament in 2011.

Caesar was a member of the Mich-igan Wolverines men’s gymnastics team from 2009 to 2012. The 24-year-old helped Michigan to the NCAA team championship as a sophomore in 2010 and was elected co-captain of the Michi-gan men’s gymnastic team. He also won the Big Ten Conference championship in the parallel bars as a junior in 2011. l

Bangladesh cricketer Shakib al Hasan (2L) participated in an exhibition match in the 9th Ascent Corporate Indoor Football Cup at the STM Hall, Scholastica, yesterday. The match involved CEOs/MDs/Heads of di� erent organisations MUMIT M

BCB development projects progressing at snail’s pacen Minhaz Uddin Khan

Ahead of the 2014-15 season, it was ex-pected that the two latest cricket ven-ues of the country – the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium (SKICS) in Cox’s Bazar and the Sylhet Stadium – will be unavailable. The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) grounds and fa-cilities department had plans to ren-ovate the two venues keeping cricket activities o� for the season.

However, the plan went o� track as the budget needed for the project, Tk1.54bn, is yet to get the nod from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, af-ter which the approval of the Execu-tive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) is also needed.

The project was estimated to take at least three years before completion but with no implementation of the plan left BCB with no other option but to use the venues as the board scheduled a four-day game between Bangladesh A and Zimbabwe A on September 15 at SKICS.

Earlier in April, BCB proposed the budget to the National Sports Coun-cil (NSC) who later forwarded it to the Youth and Sports Ministry. The Youth and Sports Ministry will grant the budget and then pass it on to ECNEC. ECNEC is the highest authority for ap-proving of development activities re-

� ective of long-term national policies and objectives.

NSC’s planning and development director SM Rezaul Mostafa Kamal told Dhaka Tribune yesterday, “NSC received the budget and forwarded it to the Minis-try of Youth and Sports. Pending approv-al, ECNEC will have the � nal say. This sort of initiative to renovate a venue is good and should be encouraged more.”

The development project aims to turn SKICS into a complete internation-al cricket venue with state-of-the-art facilities. The major task in the project will be to construct a two-tier stand with a capacity of at least 12,000 seats. The other renovation works of SKICS that were planned are the installation of � oodlights, an academy complex with bed accommodation, indoor facil-ities, a swimming pool and an interna-tional standard media center.

However, NSC wants to lease the stadium to BCB for 30 years but the cricket board is holing out for 99 years. Given the high cost of the budget, BCB in all likelihood will not go ahead with the renovation work if they are only en-titled to the venue for 30 years.

The project also aims to install a proper drainage system at the Sylhet Stadium as the BCB earlier, in a hurry to complete the venue for the ICC World T20 in March, was unable to install it. l

Shakib to replace Gazi in Asian Gamesn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is all set to make his return to his familiar Tigers’ den through the upcoming 17th Asian Games 2014 in Incheon, South Korea.

The left-arm all-rounder became eli-gible for selection for Bangladesh’s Asi-ad campaign after Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) reduced his six-month suspension to three months and al-lowed him to participate in Dhaka Pre-mier League. According to the recon-sidered sanction, Shakib’s three-month suspension will end on September 15.

It was learned from BCB sources that the selection panel started considering Shakib for the 15-member squad for the Asian Games right after BCB had reduced the imposed suspension. The selectors’ thought received a stronger impetus when national spinner Sohag Gazi was ruled out of competitive cricket after being report-

ed for illegal bowling action during the Tigers’ ODI series in West Indies. Howev-er, the selection panel is yet to announce Shakib’s inclusion as he still has around two-weeks of suspension to serve.

Chairman of the BCB media com-mittee Jalal Younus con� rmed Shakib’s intense chances of playing in the Asian Games yesterday.

“Shakib has very good chance of re-placing Gazi for the Asian Games as his (Shakib’s) suspension expires on Sep-tember 15,” said Jalal.

Shakib’s impending inclusion means Bangladesh will have a full strength squad for their Asiad campaign which surely bodes well for the defending champions to defend the gold medal they won in the previous edition of the games.

The only key member Bangladesh will miss is skipper Mush� qur Rahim who is getting married in September and will enjoy o� cial leave from his duty. l

Van Gaal angry over Hodgson’s Shaw criticismn AFP, London

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has blasted Roy Hodgson after the England coach questioned the � tness of Luke Shaw.

Shaw has endured a di� cult start to life at Old Tra� ord since his move from Southampton in the close-season.

Van Gaal made the 19-year-old train on his own during the tour of the United States because he felt the defender had turned up to pre-season out of shape af-ter playing for England at the World Cup.

However, the Dutchman was happy with the way Shaw battled his way back to full � tness, and had it not been for a hamstring injury he picked up just be-fore the start of the season, the England left-back would have played in the club’s opening two Premier League games.

Given that Shaw has been out for a fortnight, it was a surprise to Van Gaal when Hodgson spoke about the de-fender’s � tness during a press confer-ence on Thursday.

“If Louis thinks that he can get him � tter then I’m sure he will certainly have our approval,” said Hodgson, who also claimed he told the player his � tness was not up to scratch at the World Cup.

The comments irked Van Gaal, who told the England boss not to get in-volved in United’s business.

“He is not � t now because he is in-jured,” Van Gaal said.

“Roy Hodgson cannot judge at this moment. He cannot judge him because I have never seen him here at a (United) training session. l

MSC lift women’s league title n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited rode on a brilliant century from Rumana Ahmed to lift their fourth consecutive Metropolitan Women’s Cricket League ti-tle after beating arch-rivals Abahani Limit-ed by 77 runs in the � nal at the Sher-e-Ban-gla National Cricket Stadium yesterday.

The decision to bowl � rst in the pressure � nal paid the Sky Blues with dividend as they were given a � ying start by their new-ball bowlers Jah-anara Alam and Khadiza Tul Kobra.

But Abahani failed to capitalise on the early success as Mohammedan crawled back in the game from 26/3 to score 204 courtesy of Rumana’s third century in domestic cricket which came o� 90 balls and included 15 fours.

“From the onset of the match I was con� dent of doing better for the team. Fi-nally I did it. It will inspire me to do well in future,” said Rumana after their win.

“I made my place in the Bangladesh squad for the upcoming Asian Games and the century will morally boost me and make me more con� dent to do well for the country in Incheon,” added Ru-mana who was later adjudged as the Player of the Final.

Chasing the staggering 205-run tar-get, Abahani experienced a slow start managing 41/2 in 18 overs.

Lata Mondal, the highest run scorer of the tournament (311) and also the most wicket taker (18), shared a 45-run third wicket partnership with Sharmin Akhter.

But with overs running out in the 40-over game, Lata’s 54 was not enough to lift the run-rate for Abahani as they were eventually restricted to 127 for 7.

For Mohammedan, the task of keep-ing the runs under control was evenly carried out by Salma Khatun and Eti Mondal as the duo shared six wickets between them giving away 18 and 32 runs respectively. l

Gemcon lifts Ascent Cup in stylen Arsalan Quddus

In a thrilling 12-goal � nal Gemcon Group lifted the 9th Ascent Corporate Indoor 5-a-side Fooball Cup

beating Bando Design 8-4 at the STM Hall yesterday.

Gemcon led the � rst-half 3-0 but Bando threatened a comeback through their sensational skipper Imranur Rah-man, the golden boot winner with 22 goals, who pulled back two goals for his side. However, Gemcon never seemed to lose the grip in the match as they eventually secured their � rst Ascent title with utmost pleasure.

The � nal day of the Ascent Cup saw all the usual suspects and tournament favorites � ghting tooth & nail for the respective trophies. The � rst Semi Fi-nals of the cup was a testy a� air HRC

Group take on informs Bando Design. It was obvious that the HRC Group had a game plan, which was to man mark Bando’s captain Imran. In doing so they found themselves a goal up at the break. But Bando came back with re-newed energy and played their special brand of free � owing football. In the last 3 minutes of the game Captain Fan-tastic, Imran of Bando put the game be-yond reach with one of his trade mark back heal � ick, winning the match 3-2.

The second semi-� nal of the cup saw Gemcon continue their winning ways by beating tournament favorites Beximco Pharma in a 4-1 trashing. It should be mentioned the pharmaceuti-cal giants were missing their strike duo Mukul & Sunny. Gemcon capitalized on the chink of Beximco’s armor & romped in the � nals were they face a mouthwa-tering encounter with Bando.

The plate semi � nal saw Magnito Dig-

ital make short work of Beximco Tex-tiles, in a 6-0 bashing. It seems like a bad day for the Beximco Group in the tour-nament, were they normally do so well.

The second semi � nal of the plate saw Accenture’s brilliant run in this tourna-ment come to a sad end. As Rahimafrooz Storage neatly dispatch them in 3-2 en-counter. Fayez, Ha� zul & Barkat all con-verting for the storage company, while Accenture replied with 2 goals from Mash� q & Mahbub, which only served as a consolation. The scene is set for Mag-nito vs Rahimafrooz Storage plate � nal.

BAT won a hard fought battle against Westin in a 2-1 thriller. Nafees & Shish both converting for the tobacconist, while Rony pulled one back for the hotel chain.

Rupom of HRC was awarded a Runner motorbike for becoming the most valuable player while Gemcon’s custodian Rana was named the best goalkeeper. l

Mohammedan’s Rumana Ahmed attempts a paddle sweep against Abahani Limited in the � nal of the Women’s Metropolitan Cricket League at Mirpur yesterday MUMIT M

DHAKA TRIBUNE14 Sport Sunday, August 31, 2014

Manchester United’s Argentinian mid� elder Angel di Maria (R) vies with Burnley’s English mid� elder Dean Marney during their English Premier League match against Burnley at Turf Moor in Burnley, north west England yesterday AFP

Torres set to join Milan on loann AFP, London

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres is set to end his miserable spell at Stamford Bridge by joining AC Milan on loan for the next two seasons.

Torres has endured a di� cult time with the Blues since his then-British record £50 million (63m euros, $82.9m) move from Liverpool in January 2011.

The 30-year-old Spain international scored just 45 goals in 172 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea.

“Chelsea Football Club and AC Mi-lan have agreed terms for the two-year loan deal of Fernando Torres to the Italian club,” a statement on Chelsea’s website announced. Milan made their move for the former Atletico Madrid star after selling Mario Balotelli to Liv-erpool earlier this week.l

I’m one of world’s best at number 10, says Oziln AFP, London

Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil has re-acted to criticism of his performanc-es by declaring that he is one of the world’s best number 10s, but is being played out of position.

Ozil, 25, joined Arsenal from Real Madrid a year ago in a club-record £42 million ($69.7 million, 31.1 million eu-ros) transfer, believes that if he is yet to impose himself in the Premier League, it is because manager Arsene Wenger plays him on the left � ank.

“I’m one of the best players in the world in that number 10 position. Fans, coaches, players and everyone knows that my best position is playmaker. It’s di� erent playing on the left,” he told Sat-urday’s edition of the Daily Telegraph.

“When I was in Madrid, I often played on the right. I enjoyed that because I’m left-footed and I was able to cut inside to give assists and get shots on target. On the left, it’s more di� cult.l

Lewandowski scores but Bayern held at Schalken Reuters, Berlin

Last season’s Bundesliga top scorer Robert Lewand-owski scored his � rst com-petitive goal for new club Bayern Munich but the champions had to settle

for a 1-1 draw at Schalke 04 on Saturday.Despite having new signing Xabi

Alonso in the Bayern team 24 hours after he joined on a two-year deal from Real Madrid, they looked far from their best as Schalke got their � rst point to snap a two-game losing run with a gutsy second-half performance.

Lewandowski opened his account when he � icked in a pass from Sebas-tian Rode in the 10th minute as Bayern dominated.

The visitors, despite missing half a dozen players through injury, overran their opponents in the � rst half with World Cup winner Alonso, who had more touches than any other Bayern

player, con� dently dictating their game from the back.

However, Bayern took their foot o� the gas in the second half, with Schalke pressing higher and earning a deserved equaliser when captain Benedikt Hoewedes bundled the ball over the line to leave Bayern with four points from two games.

Bayer Leverkusen are top on six points after conceding an own goal and twice coming from behind to beat Her-tha Berlin 4-2 and make it two wins out of two games. It was a terrible afternoon for former European champions Ham-burg SV, who were crushed 3-0 at home by newcomers Paderborn and are still looking for their � rst win of the season.

Another promoted side Cologne also enjoyed the afternoon by snatch-ing a 2-0 win at VfB Stuttgart while VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt shared the points in a 2-2 draw.

Borussia Dortmund edged Augsburg 3-2 on Friday. l

Barca welcome back Neymar, lose Iniestan AFP, Madrid

Brazilian star Neymar will make his � rst appearance of the season when Bar-celona travel to face Vil-larreal on Sunday, but the Catalans will have to do

without the injured Andres Iniesta.Neymar missed Barca’s opening

day 3-0 over Elche last weekend due to a sprained ankle, having only just recovered from the broken vertebra in his back which prematurely ended his World Cup.

Iniesta, though, has been sidelined by a knee injury.

The performance of 18-year-old Mu-nir El Haddadi on debut against Elche

may mean Nemyar will start only from the bench at El Madrigal.

World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo has not been included in Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti’s squad

for their trip to Real Sociedad on Sun-day due to ongoing injury problems.

The Portuguese was hampered by patellar tendinosis in his left knee to-wards the end of last season and during a disappointing World Cup.l

United agree deal for Ajax’s Blindn Reuters, London

Manchester United continued their overhaul of an under-performing squad by agreeing a 17.5 million Euros ($23 million) fee with Ajax Amsterdam for versatile Dutch international Daley Blind on Saturday.

“Manchester United is delighted to announce it has reached agreement with Ajax to sign Daley Blind, subject to a medical and personal terms,” Unit-ed said in a statement on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Dutch international was left out of the Ajax squad to play Groningen so he could negotiate with United. Blind, whose father Danny also played at Ajax and is the assistant coach of the Dutch national side, can play at left back or as a defensive mid-� elder and is a product of the famed Ajax academy.l

Liverpool’s Agger returns to Brondbyn AFP, London

Liverpool announced on Saturday that they have sold Denmark international defender Daniel Agger to his former club Brondby for an undisclosed fee.

The 29-year-old centre-back joined Liverpool from Brondby in 2006 and made 232 appearances for the club, scoring 14 goals and winning the League Cup in 2012, but his spell at An� eld was frequently disrupted by injuries.

“Liverpool have been such a big part of my life and my family’s lives for so long, that leaving is extremely di� -cult,” Agger told the Liverpool website.

“The opportunity arose for me to re-turn home to Brondby and at this stage of my career, it felt like the right deci-sion for me. l

It’s not all about you Mario, insists Rodgersn AFP, London

Liverpool manager Bren-dan Rodgers insists he won’t build his team around Mario Balotelli as

the maverick Italy striker prepares to make his return to the Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Balotelli is in contention to make his Liverpool debut at White Hart Lane following his £16 million ($26 million) move from AC Milan earlier this week.

The 24-year-old has already im-pressed his new team-mates in training and his potent combination of power and poise make him an intriguing ad-dition as Rodgers looks to reinvigorate his forward line following Luis Suarez’s move to Barcelona.

But, while Rodgers trusted Suarez enough to make him the focal point of Liverpool’s attack, he doesn’t plan to let the gifted but psychologically frag-ile Balotelli carry the same burden.

“This is not the Mario Balotelli show. He is a good player, a talented player. But he has got a lot of work to do here.

“We have a number of top-class players and the star of this team will always be the team. We are looking to bring him in and he can play with Dan-iel Sturridge, he can play up there on his own or play o� the side.”

But Tottenham could easily ruin the Liverpool new-boys’ maiden appear-

ances on the evidence of their strong start to the season.

Under the leadership of new manager Mauricio Pochettino, the north London side have reeled o� four successive wins in all competitions to climb to the top of the Premier League and advance to the group stages of the Europa League.

Especially impressive was their 4-0 demolition of Queen’s Park Rangers last weekend and Pochettino sees no reason to fear Liverpool even with Ba-lotelli and Lallana in the mix.

Arsenal’s trip to face Leicester City on Sunday will provide another test of Arsene Wenger’s belief his squad is strong enough to cope without Olivier Giroud.

The Frenchman su� ered a broken leg in last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Everton and is expected to be out until January.

But Wenger insists the Chile inter-national Alexis Sanchez is just one of a number of players who can � ll the role.

“The squad we have, we have enough to be successful. Why not? (Yaya) Sanogo, Sanchez, (Theo) Wal-cott, (Lukas) Podolski, Giroud. (Joel) Campbell. Of course we can be success-ful,” Wenger said. l

FIXTURES Aston Villa v Hull Leicester v Arsenal Tottenham v Liverpool

FIXTURES Villarreal v Barcelona Deportivo v Rayo Vallecano Real Sociedad v Real Madrid Elche v Granada

Bayern Munich’s newly recruited mid� elder Xabi Alonso (C) vies for the ball during their German Bundesliga match against Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen yesterday AFP

Chelsea beat Everton in goalfest, City crash Di Maria shines on debut but Burnley frustrate United as Swansea, Saints, QPR post wins

n AFP, London

Chelsea overpow-ered Everton 6-3 in a remarkable game on Saturday to preserve their 100 percent re-

cord in the Premier League, after Man-chester City were stunned by Stoke City.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea led 2-0, 3-1, and 4-2, but Everton kept coming back at them and it was not until Diego Cos-ta made it 6-3 with his second goal in the last minute that the home side � -nally admitted defeat at an enraptured Goodison Park.

Chelsea were 2-0 up inside three minutes, with Diego Costa tucking

away a pass from Cesc Fabregas after only 36 seconds before Ramires teed up Branislav Ivanovic to drill a low shot past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

But Kevin Mirallas reduced the ar-rears with a � ne header on the stroke of half-time and when Everton right-back Seamus Coleman slid an Eden Hazard cross into his own goal in the 67th min-ute, it heralded a � urry of � ve goals in 10 minutes.

Two minutes later Steven Naismith hit back for the hosts to make it 3-2 and although Nemanja Matic then restored the visitors’ two-goal cushion, Samuel Eto’o marked his � rst Everton appear-ance since leaving Chelsea by heading home.

Ramires gathered a pass from Matic

and toed the ball past Howard to make it 5-3, and after Mirallas had hit the post, Costa exploited an error from Everton substitute Muhamed Besic to complete the scoring with a classy � nish.

Senegalese striker Mame Biram Di-ouf scored a memorable solo goal as Stoke condemned defending champi-ons Manchester City to their � rst de-feat of the season with a shock 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.

The former Manchester United for-ward struck in the 58th minute, picking up the ball in his own half and powering past Aleksandar Kolarov and Vincent Kompany before squeezing a shot be-tween the legs of goalkeeper Joe Hart.

It was only the second time City had failed to score at home in 71 league

matches and only their second home defeat since May 2013.

“It’s a surprising defeat because we don’t expect to lose against Stoke, but these games sometimes happen,” said City manager Manuel Pellegrini.

“We tried from everywhere. We are not very creative, we did not � nd the space, and that is credit to Stoke.”

British-record signing Angel di Ma-ria made his Manchester United debut earlier on Saturday, but was unable to inspire his new side to victory as they drew 0-0 at promoted Burnley.

A £59.7 million ($98 million, 75 mil-lion euros) acquisition from Real Ma-drid, Di Maria started the game and produced some probing passes and darting runs, but he could not illumi-

nate United’s path to goal against Sean Dyche’s side.

After a loss to Swansea, a draw at Sunderland and a 4-0 humiliation by third-tier Milton Keynes Dons in the League Cup, new United manager Lou-is van Gaal has now gone four competi-tive games without recording a win.

“We created chances, but you have to score,” Van Gaal told BT Sport. “A club like Manchester United has to win. We have two points from nine and that’s disappointing.”

Swansea � nished the day level on nine points with Chelsea after extend-ing their 100 percent record by beat-ing West Bromwich Albion 3-0 at the Liberty Stadium, where Nathan Dyer claimed a brace. l

RESULTSBurnley 0-0 Man United

Man City 0-1 Stoke Diouf 58

Newcastle 3-3 Crystal PalaceJanmaat 37, Aarons 73, Gayle 1, Puncheon 48, Williamson 88 Zaha 90+5

QPR 1-0 SunderlandAustin 45

Swansea 3-0 West BromDyer 2, 71, Routledge 24

West Ham 1-3 SouthamptonNoble 27 Schneiderlin 45, 68, Pelle 83

Everton 3-6 ChelseaMirallas 45, Costa 1, 90, Ivanovic 3, Naismith 69, Eto’o 76 Coleman 67-og, Matic 74, Ramires 77

Monaco held with Falcao absent n AFP, Paris

With Radamel Falcao left out of their side, Monaco continued their stuttering start to the Ligue 1 season on Saturday as they drew 1-1 with Lille at the Stade Louis II.

The day started in chaotic fashion for Monaco as Falcao, who had been named in the squad, was withdrawn from the matchday list at the last min-ute amid increasing speculation that he will leave the principality before the summer transfer window slams shut on Monday.

Falcao’s replacement in the starting line-up was Dimitar Berbatov and the Bulgarian earned his side a point with a 61st-minute equaliser to cancel out Nolan Roux’s � rst-half opener for the visitors.

Leonardo Jardim’s side were unable to � nd a winner and have managed just one victory, and four points, from the � rst month of the new campaign. l

Juventus’ Martin Caceres (C), Arturo Vidal (L) and Kwadwo Asamoah celebrate a goal against Chievo Verona at the Bentegodi stadium in Verona yesterday. Juve, the defending champions start their new Serie A season with 1-0 win REUTERS

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15Sunday, August 31, 2014

Montpellier sell Stambouli to SpursFrench Ligue 1 club Montpellier on Fri-day announced that they had reached an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur to sell mid� elder Benjamin Stambouli to the London out� t. “MHSC and Tot-tenham Hotspur FC have reached an agreement concerning the transfer of Benjamin Stambouli. He will go to Lon-don in the coming hours to undergo a medical and � nalise his contract,” read a statement on Montpellier’s o� cial website. Stambouli, 24, had been mulling over an o� er to join Marseille, who had agreed to pay Montpellier � ve million euros ($6.6m) for the player. However, Stambouli had not been keen on the idea of being used in defence at the Stade Velodrome. He had also been a target for Swansea City and Fioren-tina. Stambouli was a regular in the Montpellier team that won the Ligue 1 title in 2012 and is tipped to break into the France side ahead of Euro 2016.

–AFP

Baggies land Argentina winger BlancoWest Bromwich Albion signed Argentina winger Sebastian Blanco from Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv for an undisclosed fee on Saturday. The 26-year-old agreed a two-year contract with the Premier League club and becomes the Baggies’ 11th new arrival since the end of last season. “He’s an Argentina international who joined Metalist for a lot of money. Unfortunately, he su� ered an injury not long after the move, which held up his progress,” Albion manager Alan Irvine said. “Since then, he’s shown his quality. He’s adept with both feet, is a nice crosser of the ball, creates chances and also scores goals. Blanco, who has two caps for Argentina, helped Metalist � nish as runners-up in the Ukrainian top-� ight in 2012-13, scoring 10 goals in 68 league appearances during his three and a half years in Kharkiv.

–AFP

Barca’s Song joins West Ham on loanCameroonian mid� elder Alex Song has left Barcelona to join West Ham on a season-long loan. Song joined the Catalans two years ago from Arsenal for a fee of £15 million, but has since struggled to hold down a regular place in the � rst team. The 26-year-old made 65 appearances in total for Barca scor-ing just the one goal. Song was paraded in front of the West Ham fans ahead of their Premier League match at home to Southampton on Saturday but hadn’t been registered in time to play.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

Ten Cricket1:30PMTri-Nation SeriesZimbabwe v Australia

Sony Six6:30PM World Kabaddi League 2014Delhi: Day 8Major League Soccer 201412:45AM Dc United v NY Red Bulls6:00AM Chivas USA v LA Galaxy

Star Sports HD14:00PMMotoGP ChampionshipMain Race

Star Sports 1English Premier League6:15PMTottenham v Liverpool9:00PMLeicester City

Star Sports 28:15PMPro Kabaddi League12:45AM

Italian Serie AGenoa v Napoli3:00AMSpanish La LigaDeportivo v Rayo Vallecano

Star Sports 4Spanish La Liga11:00PMVillarreal v Barcelona1:00AMReal Sociedad v Real Madrid3:00AMElche v Granada

Ten ActionFrench Ligue 1 2014/156:00PM De Bordeaux v SC Bastiais 9:00PM FCDe Metz v Olympic Lyon 1:00AM PSG v AS Saint-Etienne

DAY’S WATCH

PakistanAhmed Shehzad c Perera b Prasad 10Sharjeel Khan c Jayawardene b Prasad 0Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Malinga 1Misbah-ul Haq run out 18Fawad Alam not out 38Umar Akmal c Malinga b Perera 7Sohaib Maqsood c Sangakkara b Perera 7Shahid Afridi c Perera b Prasanna 2Wahab Riaz c Sangakkara b Perera 0Saeed Ajmal c Jayawardene b Perera 6Mohammad Irfan b Herath 5Extras: (lb1, w6, nb1) 8Total (all out, 32.1 overs) 102

Fall of wickets1-4 (Sharjeel), 2-14 (Shehzad), 3-14 (Ha-feez), 4-47 (Misbah), 5-55 (Akmal), 6-73 (Maqsood), 7-76 (Afridi), 8-77 (Riaz), 9-88 (Ajmal), 10-102 (Irfan).BowlingPrasad 6-0-25-2 (nb1, w3), Malinga 7-2-17-1 (w1), Mathews 5-0-11-0, Herath 2.1-0-6-1, Perera 8-1-34-4 (w2), Prasanna 4-1-8-1.Sri LankaU Tharanga b Irfan 14T Dilshan not out 50K Sangakkara c Hafeez b Riaz 2M Jayawardene c Hafeez b Ajmal 26A Mathews not out 0Extras: (lb7, w5) 12Total (for three wickets, 18.2 overs) 104

Fall of wickets1-46 (Tharanga), 2-59 (Sangakkara), 3-100 (Jayawardene).BowlingIrfan 7-0-37-1 (w2), Riaz 6-1-42-1 (w2), Ajmal 4-0-10-1 (w1), Afridi 1.2-0-8-0

Sri Lanka won by seven wickets (D/L of 101 in 48 overs)

SCORECARD

EnglandA Cook st Dhoni b Rayudu 44A Hales c Dhoni b Raina 42I Bell run out (Sharma) 28J Root st Dhoni b Jadeja 2E Morgan c Dhoni b Ashwin 10J Buttler b Ashwin 42B Stokes c Raina b Ashwin 2C Woakes c Sharma b Shami 15J Tredwell c and b Kumar 30S Finn run out (Rayudu/Dhoni) 6J Anderson not out 0Extras (lb3, w2, nb1) 6Total (all out, 50 overs) 227

BowlingKumar 8-0-45-1; Sharma 3-0-17-0; Shami 9-0-40-1; Ashwin 10-0-39-3; Raina 8-0-37-1; Rayudu 2-0-8-1; Jadeja 10-0-38-1;IndiaA Rahane c Buttler b Finn 45S Dhawan c Morgan b Woakes 16V Kohli c Tredwell b Stokes 40A Rayudu not out 64S Raina c Woakes b Tredwell 42R Jadeja not out 12Extras (lb2, w7) 9Total (4 wkts, 43 overs) 228

BowlingAnderson 7-0-29-0; Woakes 8-1-43-1; Tredwell 10-1-46-1; Finn 8-0-50-1; Stokes 6-0-31-1; Root 4-0-27-0Result: India won by six wickets

SCORECARD

n Reuters

Sri Lanka clinched the one-day interna-tional series against Pakistan after their bowlers, led by Thisara Perera, routed the tourists to secure a seven-wicket victory in the deciding third and � nal match on Saturday.

Paceman Perera (4-34) used short deliveries to good e� ect to wreck the middle and lower order as Pakistan folded for 102 in 32.1 overs.

Fawad Alam’s unbeaten 38 was the highest score in their embarrassing bat-

ting capitulation that saw only three batsmen reach double digits.

Set a revised 101-run victory target in 48 overs following a rain-interven-tion, Sri Lanka lost three wickets be-fore romping home with Tillakaratne Dilshan (50 not out) scoring with the kind of � uency none of the Pakistani batsmen could display.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq was left to rue his decision to bat � rst at the Rangiri Dambulla Interna-tional Stadium as his team lost the top half of their batting order to reach 55 in

the 19th over.Dhammika Prasad dismissed open-

ers Sharjeel Khan and Ahmed Shehzad cheaply to deny Pakistan a strong start and Lasith Malinga trapped Moham-mad Hafeez leg before to further wreck the top order.

Hafeez was not convinced by the umpire’s call and asked for a review but could not get the decision overturned and the visitors slumped to 14-3 in the eighth over.

Their innings never got any mo-mentum but Misbah and Alam at least

o� ered some resistance which was bro-ken by Dilshan’s accurate throw from point that sent back the Pakistan cap-tain.

Umar Akmal hit Perera for a six but the bowler exacted revenge with the next delivery which the batsman could only top edge to perish.

Perera destroyed Pakistan’s mid-dle order with his four-wicket burst while also taking a smart running catch to send back Shahid Afridi, who had stepped out to hit leg-spinner Seek-kuge Prasanna.

Reeling at 81-8 from 26 overs, the respite for Pakistan � nally came in the form of rain which forced the players o� .

Their resistance, however, did not last long once play resumed and spinner Rangana Herath rearranged Mohammad Irfan’s stumps with a � ighted delivery to end their innings.

The defeat marked the end of Paki-stan’s disappointing tour of Sri Lanka where they lost both the tests preced-ing the one-day series. l

SL rout Pakistan in ODIs

Members of the Sri Lanka cricket team celebrate their victory with the ODI series trophy against Pakistan after their third and � nal One Day International (ODI) at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium in Dambulla yesterday AFP

Mercedes punish Rosberg for Hamilton crashn AFP, London

The Mercedes Formula One team disci-plined Nico Rosberg on Friday after he ac-cepted responsibility and apologised for a crash with teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The action was announced in a statement after a clear-the-air encoun-ter between the rival teammates at the boardroom of the Mercedes racing headquarters in Brackley, near London.

“During this meeting, Nico acknowl-edged his responsibility for the contact that occurred on lap two of the Belgian Grand Prix and apologised for this error of judgement,” said a statement.

“Suitable disciplinary measures have been taken for the incident.”

Hamilton said after that both drivers had accepted they had made mistakes.

With tensions high after Hamilton refused to let Rosberg pass him at the Hungarian Grand Prix this month, Ros-berg clipped Hamilton’s car on lap two in Belgium.

The Briton su� ered a puncture which e� ectively ended his race. He retired be-

fore the end and is now 29 points behind Rosberg with seven races to go.

Hamilton reacted with fury after the crash which took bitterness between the two to a new peak. Team leaders Toto Wol� and Paddy Lowe were at Fri-day’s meeting.

Mercedes did not say what action it ordered, but it did say Rosberg and Hamilton would remain in contention for the 2014 world title.

“Mercedes-Benz remains commit-ted to hard, fair racing because this is the right way to win world champion-ships,” said the statement.

“Lewis and Nico understand and ac-cept the team’s number one rule: there must be no contact between the team’s cars on track. After a team meeting at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Sun-day, Hamilton said Rosberg had said he hit him ‘to prove a point’.

“It looked quite clear to me, but we just had a meeting about it and he basi-cally said he did it on purpose.”

Rosberg, 29, later denied he had made the confession. l

Sharapova survivesn AFP, New York

World number two Simona Halep and two-time champi-on Venus Williams tumbled out of the US Open on Friday,

but Maria Sharapova bucked the upset trend that rocked the women’s draw.

Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a former phenom now a 32-year-old vet-eran who had to � ght through qualify-ing, shocked second-seeded Halep, the French Open runner-up, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.

The reward for the 121st-ranked Lu-cic-Baroni is a fourth-round meeting with 13th-seeded Italian Sara Errani, who thwarted Williams 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (7/5).

At the other end of the age spec-trum, Swiss 17-year-old Belinda Bencic toppled sixth-seeded German Angeli-que Kerber 6-1, 7-5.

Bencic, the 2013 Wimbledon and French Open junior champion, now ranked 58th in the world, earned a meeting with former world number one Jelena Jankovic, a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Sweden’s Johanna Larsson.

After dropping the lopsided � rst set, Kerber appeared poised to knot the match, but she couldn’t convert three

set points.Williams twice came back from a

break down in the third, then broke Er-rani to serve for the match at 5-3.

She couldn’t hang on, however, sur-rendering her serve as they battled to the tiebreaker, in which Errani took a 5-2 lead only for Williams to battle back to 5-5 before at last succumbing.

Sharapova also found herself in a power struggle, but emerged with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over German 26th seed Sabine Lisicki in a match which � n-ished after midnight. l

England’s Joe Root (R) is stumped out by India’s MS Dhoni (L) during the third one-day international cricket match between England and India at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, central England yesterday AFP

India spin down England n AFP, Nottingham

India’s spinners again proved England’s undoing as the tourists won the third one-day international at Trent Bridge on Saturday by six wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the � ve-match series.

World champions India, chasing a modest 228 for victory, cruised to 228 for four with seven overs to spare.

Ambati Rayudu, only playing be-cause of Rohit Sharma’s tour-ending � n-ger injury, was an ODI-best 64 not out.

Together with Suresh Raina, who followed up his 100 in India’s equally dominant 133-run victory in Cardi� on Wednesday with a run-a-ball 42, Rayu-du put on 87 for the fourth wicket.

But it was the � rst innings that de-cided the course of the match, with En-gland dismissed for a meagre 227 after losing the toss.

They were 82 without loss thanks to under-� re captain Alastair Cook (44) and Alex Hales (42).

But England, as happened in Cardi� , again succumbed to spin as they lost three wickets for 15 runs in six overs to be 97 for three.

Ravichandran Ashwin, thr man-of-the-match, took three for 39, with only Jos Buttler (42), apart from Cook and Hales, passing 40 in the innings.

England managed just one four in 26 overs midway through their innings and didn’t hit a six until the last over.

Cook and Hales posted their sec-ond � fty partnership, o� 64 balls, in as many matches.

But their stand ended when Hales, on his Nottinghamshire home ground, top-edged a sweep o� spin-bowling all-rounder Raina’s sixth ball and was caught by India captain and wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

It was the second time in as many matches that Hales, who made 40 on ODI debut in Cardi� , had fallen to the sweep shot. His exit was the cue for England to once more get bogged down against slow bowling.

Occasional spinner Rayudu took his � rst international wicket when he speared one down the legside to have Cook stumped by Dhoni.

Cook, whom former England team-mate Graeme Swann suggested this week should quit one-day cricket be-cause he scores too slowly, took 65 balls to get his runs on Saturday.

Dhoni was involved again when he stumped Joe Root (two) after the bats-man lunged forward to left-arm spin-ner Ravindra Jadeja.

The series continues at Birming-ham’s Edgbaston ground on Tuesday. l

Flood devours more villages, arable land People su� ering from acute crisis of drinking water, food, shelter and medicinen Tribune Report

The overall � ood situation in the coun-try is still remains at an alarming level with river water inundating fresh vil-lages in the northern districts.

Our Bogra correspondent reports that the river water entering through the broken embankment of Sariakandi upazila, inundating 30 more fresh vil-lages there. However, water level did not increase in the Jamuna River.

The � ood-hit people in these areas were su� ering mostly from the acute crisis of potable water, baby food and fodder. Many people have been living under the open sky with almost no food.

Arifuzzman, o� cer of disaster man-agement and relief division in the dis-trict, said a total of Tk1,75,000 and 95 tonnes rice had already been distrib-uted among the a� ected people, while more Tk3 lakh were allocated last night.

A tube well was also being installed and water puri� cation tablets were be-ing distributed to ensure supply of po-table water, he added.

Meanwhile, the World Food Pro-gramme had already distributed dry food in the area and intended to con-tinue doing so, said district administra-tion sources.

Our Sherpur correspondent reports that the � ood situation in the district was worsening as the water level in the Brahmaputra River had increased fur-ther in last few days.

River bank erosion continued in the district, devouring new homesteads everyday and inundating arable lands and villages.

Locals said though water was � ow-ing few inches below the danger level in the Brahmaputra, water was enter-ing into the villages through the dam-aged embankment near sadar upazila. Many villages of Char Mucharia, Kam-arer Char and Char Pokkhimari unions were already inundated, while more villages would go under water soon, if water level went on increasing at the current rate, they added.

If the embankment was not repaired soon, the diversion of the Sherpur-Ja-malpur road would go under water in two days that would leave the district detached from northern districts and Dhaka.

In Chandpur, hundreds of families in the lowlands of the district were ma-rooned as water level increased in the Meghna River in last 4-5 days.

Households of several thousand families went under water in Haimchar upazila, while water was � owing 20cm above the danger level near Chandpur in the Meghna, our Chandpur corre-spondent reported.

Five No Haimchar Union Parishad Chairman Ishak Khokon told the Dha-ka Tribune that around 5-6 thousand families of his union were marooned in � ood water.

Haimchar Upazila Chairman Shahja-han Mia said as � ood water was reced-ing through the Meghna, the lowlands of the district were inundated, adding that most of the people of those areas were marooned.

Meanwhile, Chandpur Water Devel-opment Board Executive Engineer Md

Ra� kul told the Dhaka Tribune that wa-ter level had been crossing the danger level during tide, but it became normal during ebb.

Flood situation in Gaibandha re-mained unchanged, though the wa-ter level in the Teesta, Brahmaputra, Karotoa and Ghaghot rivers recededa little.

Water Development Board Engineer Abdul Aowal said water was � owing 62cm and 19cm above the danger level in the Ghaghot and Brahmaputra rivers respectively.

Abdul Matin, chairman of Erend-abari union parishad under Fulchhari upazila, said river bank erosion was at its worst in Algar Char, Paglar Char and Uriar Singria areas. Many families from those areas took shelter on the embankments after their houses were eaten up by the river. The � ood a� ect-ed people were su� ering terribly for

two weeks because of the shortage of potable water, food and fuel.

Although the � ood situation in Kurigram remained unchanged, nearly three lakh people were su� ering heav-ily as � ood water was not receding in a satisfactory rate.

The Brahmaputra River at Chilmari point � ew 40cm above the danger lev-el, and the Dharla River 8cm, yesterday.

The � ood-hit people are facing an acute shortage of drinking water, food and medicine. Those from low-lying areas are living in shelters built onhigh land.

They said they were discontented at the lack of coordination in distribution of relief materials, with many alleging they did not get anything.

Deputy Commissioner ABM Azad said there was no shortage of relief goods.

“We have already distributed 800 tonnes of rice and Tk11 lakh among

the victims, and have also sought an-other 500 tonnes of rice and Tk5 lakh,”he added.

The overall � ood situation in Ja-malpur remain unchanged despite the water level in Jamuna river falling a bit.

The water level at Bahadurabad point fell by 4cm and the river was � owing 67cm above the danger level yesterday morning.

More than 2.5 lakh people in 38 unions of seven upazilas remain ma-rooned for two weeks. People from the low-income group are living without jobs and are leading a miserable life as � oodwater inundated vast tracts of ar-able lands.

The outbreak of water-borne diseas-es has also been reported.

141 tonnes of rice and dry food worth Tk11 lakh have so far been dis-tributed by the district administration among the � ood victims. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

Dhaka to seek speci� c time-framefor Rohingya repatriation n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Dhaka will seek a speci� c deadline from Nay Pyi Taw at foreign secre-tary-level talks to repatriate stranded Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh.

“Over 30,000 Myanmar nation-als have been stranded at two camps in Cox’s Bazar for years. Bangladesh wants them to go back to their own country as soon as possible,” said an o� cial of the Foreign Ministry.

The Rohingya repatriation issue will be discussed at the eighth foreign sec-retary-level talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar to be held at the Foreign Ministry today.

“The Myanmar side agreed about taking the Myanmar refugees located in the two camps. Now we will ask them to give us a speci� c time-frame,” said a senior o� cial of the Foreign Ministry.

In addition to that it is estimated that 0.3 million to 0.5 million undoc-umented Myanmar nationals living in Bangladesh and their repatriation will be also discussed, he said.

“Bangladesh and Myanmar have an understanding gap about the undoc-umented Myanmar nationals and we will try to remove them,” he added.

Dhaka is well aware of the human rights situation in Rakhine state, but Bangladesh is a small country and it cannot allow Myanmar nationals to be pushed into its territory, said the o� cial.

At foreign secretary-level talks, the Bangladesh side will be led by Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque while the Myanmar side by Deputy Foreign Min-ister U Thant Kyaw.

The Myanmar delegation arrived in Dhaka on Thursday and visited Sylhet.

Both the parties will mainly discuss security dialogue, border manage-ment, Rohingya repatriation, trade, connectivity, gas import and other is-sues, foreign o� ce sources said.

Bangladesh proposed making an ar-rangement to hold security dialogue at least once a year as con� dence building measure. Dhaka has already handed over the draft of the memorandum of understanding on the security dia-logue to the Myanmar government and would discuss the issue at the meeting to � nalise it, he added.

Bangladesh and Myanmar have about 300km borders and they have agreed to control it jointly to tackle drug and human tra� cking, arms smuggling and illegal movement of people.

The Myanmar side proposed setting up border liaison o� ce which would coordinate the border management.

Bangladesh and Myanmar are the members of BCIM initiative and the issue would be discussed at o� cial level talks.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has released provisional census data which show that the country has a population of 51.4 million people.

However, estimated 1.09 million people in northern Rakhine state are uncounted for and most of those who wanted to self-identify their ethnicity as Rohingya were not enumerated. l

Faruqi followers call half-day hartal todayn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Sena and Bangladesh Islami Front called a half-day Hartal (general strike) today across the country protest-ing the killing of their Ahle Sunnat leader Shaikh Nurul Islam Faruqi.

The announcement came at a press conference at Chittagong Press Club yesterday afternoon.

“The half-day hartal will be in-forced as the government failed to arrest the killers of Faruqi by the deadline they set,” Bangladesh

Islami Chhatra Sena General Sec-retary Jamaluddun Rabbani and Bangladesh Islami Front Secretary General Maulana MA Matin said in separate statements.

The Islamist alliance called half-day shutdown instead of day-long considering the hardship of Hajj pilgrims and the present � ood situation across the country. How-ever, the � ood-hit areas will be kept outside of the hartal purview.

Meanwhile, Islami Chhtra Sena President Nurul Haq Chisti has announced the countrywide half-

day hartal its party headquarters in the capital’s Fakirapool.

Earlier, Chhatra Sena and Isla-mi Front threatened to enforce a day-long hartal today if the kill-ers of Faruqi were not arrested by 48 hours. On Wednesday night, unidenti� ed armed assailants slaughtered Faruqi, a presenter of religious programmes on Channel i, at his residence in the capital’s East Rajabazar area.

The deceased was the presidi-um member and international af-fairs secretary of Ahle Sunnat Wal

Jamaat – an organisation known for opposing the views of Jamaat-e-Is-lami and Hefazat-e-Islam.

Apart from anchoring the “Shantir Pothe” and “Kafela” programmes on Channel i, he owned Faruqi Tours and Travels Private Ltd, a Hajj travel agency, and served as the imam of the Su-preme Court Mosque.

Soon after the murder, madra-sa students and di� erent Islamists organisations began demonstrat-ing in the port city and adjoining upazilas. l

Pilgrims face mishap atSaudi airportn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Having arrived in Saudi Arabia, some pilgrims allegedly faced hitches at the airport as at least seven were said to have failed to show bus tickets to Mecca to airport o� -cials.

Mizanur Rahman, director of hajj o� ce under the Min-istry of Religious A� airs, said a handful of Bangladeshi pilgrims invited trouble after losing their bus tickets.

“Each pilgrim should be very careful when it comes to keeping their bus tickets in a safe place. We are now sug-gesting the pilgrims, who are yet to � y, to a� x the tickets to their passports,” he said.

According to the new hajj rules, the pilgrims are re-quired to collect bus tickets from o� cials of their home countries before catching the � ight to Saudi Arabia. In the past, they would be given the tickets once they landed in the kingdom.

The ministry has submitted around 70,000 online hajj visa applications with valid documents to the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Bangladesh.

The embassy issued 30,000 visas till yesterday,sources said.

Mizanur told the Dhaka Tribune that the overall hajj visa processing was running smoothly.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines � ew to Saudi Arabia carry-ing hajj pilgrims according to the schedule. Hajj � ight was inaugurated on August 27.

“From August 27-30, a total of 7,280 pilgrims left for Saudi Arabia. Of them, 1,425 � ew under government ar-rangements and 5,855 under private arrangements,” said Mizanur.

The return � ights will carry passengers back home from October 9 to November 7, he said.

A total of 98,762 pilgrims would perform hajj this year. Of them, 1,505 will go under government arrangements and the rest under private arrangements.

Some 835 agents will send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year. Mizanur said 50% of the pilgrims will take Biman Bangladesh Airlines while Saudi Airlines will carry the remaining 50%.

Saudi Airlines � ights are scheduled to take o� from to-morrow. l

30,000 visas issued by Saudi embassy till yesterday against 70,000 applications

Teachers and students catch up with their studies on a high ground near their Karband Government Primary School yesterday after their classroom was submerged by � ood waters at Matlab in Chadpur DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 2014

B3 Brazil falls into recession as election looms

B4 Twitter to set up shop in social-media-mad Indonesia

Fitch rates Bangladesh ‘BB-’, outlook stablen Tribune Report

The New-York based global rat-ing agency, Fitch Ratings, has assigned Bangladesh long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ‘BB-’.

The outlooks on the long-term IDRs are stable. Fitch has also assigned a short-term foreign currency IDRsat ‘B’ and a coun-

try ceiling at ‘BB-’, according to a Fitch statement released on Friday.

This is for the � rst time Fitch rated Bangladesh after the gov-ernment allowed the central bank to sign an agreement with the rat-ing agency in February this year.

Two other global rating agen-cies – Standard &Poor’s and Moody’s –are also providing the

ratings for Bangladesh since 2010.Standard and Poor’s and

Moody’s in their latest reviews on Bangladesh rated BB- and Ba3 respectively and kept its “stable outlook” for the � fth consecutive year.

The key rating drivers for Ban-gladesh’s rating re� ects a balance between high, stable real GDP growth and strong external bal-

ances and weak structural fea-tures indicating signi� cant polit-ical and banking sector risk, the statement said.

More speci� cally, it said Ban-gladesh’s real GDP growth at 6.2% over the past � ve years was strong compared with the medi-an 4% growth rate for its ‘BB’ cat-egory peers.

B3 COLUMN 4

Shipping industry in deep trouble n Asif Showkat Kallol

The shipping ministry has pledged to provide � nancial incentives for ship owners who are now facing serious � -nancial di� culty.

The number of ocean-ferrying ships has declined mainly due to the high in-terest on bank loans as owners of these ships are unable to procure newer ones for their business, said a letter sent re-cently to Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed.

According to the letter signed by As-sistant Deputy Secretary Mohammad Muniruzzaman, the Shipping Ministry wants to sit with the Finance Ministry to devise a favourable policy for local ocean-ferrying ship operators.

The Shipping Ministry in the � rst week of this month held a meeting with vessel owners against a backdrop of decline in the number of ships. Ship-ping Minister Shajahan Khan presided over the meeting.

The number of ocean ferrying ves-sels came down to 63 from 75 in last one year. Of them, 12 remain inopera-tive while 20 others were declared un-� t for plying on international routes.

The letter said the ship industry is shrinking as sea freight prices have plummeted drastically paired with the global � nancial crisis.

Other reasons are the rise in fuel prices, increase in salaries and allow-ances of sailors and the hike in other costs, according to the letter.

The owners of the ships said high duties on purchase of vessels and 3.0% cut in freight earnings were a major barrier to the growth of the industry.

They said freight incomes had dropped globally and the industry re-quired government support to survive.

“Local ship owners take loan from commercial banks with 15% interest while in foreign countries, the owners of ocean-going ships take credit from their commercial banks with only 3%-4% interest,” the letter said.

The government should withdraw

3% tax on freight charges, it said, add-ing that the government would sign agreements on double taxation with all the countries. “As a result, owners of these ships will get 100% income tax waiver from visiting countries.”

President of Ocean-going Ship Own-ers Association Shah Alam told the Dhaka Tribune that without � nancial assistance and policy support, the ship industry would not survive.

The shipping minister said the prob-lems faced by the ship industry could be resolved through a joint e� ort. “Otherwise � nancial crisis will deep-en,” he added.

The government agencies were asked to use local ships to import goods, but they were not carrying out the orders. Only 40% of local ocean-go-ing ships were used by the government agencies, the letter said.

Indonesian ships now carry 98.8% of goods while it was only 55.5% in 2005. The number of Indonesian ships now stands at 11,628 from 6,041 in 2005.

According to the letter, ship own-ers were not getting the permission to open accounts with commercial banks. So, they were facing di� culties in pay-ing salaries to captains, sailors and en-gineers as well as PNI club fees, insur-ance premium and port dues.

The government should intro-duce one-stop services to register the ocean-going ships as the registration process delays getting frequency, call sign and ship station licences from Bangladesh Telecommunications Reg-ulatory Commission, the letter said.

Like India and Singapore, the gov-ernment would introduce di� erent types of � nancial incentives, the let-ter said. “National Board of Revenue will introduce � ve-year tax holiday for new ocean-going ships and with-draw 5% advance tax for registration of ocean-going ships.”

Shipping Directorate will withdraw the provision for import of ships within six months under provisional registry, it said. l

Accord now dictates � re safety equipment sources n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh – a platform of buyers – has named 22 suppliers for import of � re safety equipment for the country’s readymade garment sector.

Rob Wayss, Accord Bangladesh chapter Executive Director, in response to the BGMEA and the factory owners, the buyers’ platform provided the list of companies through which the RMG factory owners could import safety equipment to install in their factories.

Usually, apparel buyers determine that the manufacturers use raw mate-rials for their products from the com-panies they choose, but in this case, the buyers’ platform dictated the RMG manufacturers to procure safety equip-ment from the list of companies it pro-vided.

BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim echoed the same as Rob, saying the factory owners could avail them-selves of the safety appliances from the list of vendors provided.

He said Accord would see to it that the equipment are certi� ed by under-writer laboratories, a safety consulting and certi� cation company.

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufac-turers and Exporters Association � rst Vice-President Mohammad Hatem said the selected companies might cash in on the situation and set higher prices.

“I have opened a letter of credit (LC) for self-import of � re equipment worth $64,000 from a US-based manufactur-er,” he said.

Accord can suggest the names of any companies and there is nothing wrong in it, said Nur Nabi, sales exec-utive of Bengal International Agencies, also a supplier of � re equipment.

Former BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy said the room for price negotiations has been shrunk due to the selective method.

He said Accord could � x up a stan-

dard certi� cation of � re safety prod-ucts rather than a mere selection of the companies.

Seeking anonymity, a factory own-er told the Dhaka Tribune, “We do not want to run the risk since we have to get approval from the buyers platform � nally for installation of � re safety equipment.”

It is just passing the responsibility on to the Accord as there is possibility of rejection, he added.

On the other hand Labour and Em-ployment Secretary Mikail Shipar told the Dhaka Tribune: “I think there is nothing unethical to suggest the names of safety equipment supplier by the Accord.”

He said if it suggested the name of a single company it could be doubted that there was something � shy about � oating a single naming.

That is why the names of a good number of companies have been sug-gested, added the secretary.

The government in the budget has also allowed duty-free imports of � re safety equipment.

CEO Ziaul Islam of Tri-Zone, a safety equipment supplier, said the selection has been made considering the com-pany pro� le, equipment standard and their origin.

According to an estimate of BGMEA, the country’s readymade garment sec-tor needs to spend over Tk2,410 crore for importing � re equipment – sprin-klers and � re-rated doors – to comply with � re safety conditions set by the two retailers’ platforms, Accord and Alliance.

Both Accord and Alliance had launched their inspection of the coun-try’s RMG factories and suggested cor-

rective measures such as installing � re- rated doors, sprinklers, � re hydrant etc.

Accord has so far completed inspec-tion of over 1,000 RMG units and found less than 2% factories � aw in all the three areas. The Accord’s inspection led full or partial closure of 10 factories.

The inspection by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a platform for the North American buyers, has re-sulted in full or partial closure of 10 of 587 RMG units.

The issue of � re, electrical and building safety came under the spot-light last year following the collapse of Rana Plaza that killed over 1,100 work-ers and the Tazreen Fashions � re.

Since the catastrophes, Accord and Alliance had been committed to im-proving safety standard, including � re, electrical and structural safety, in the apparel sector. l

FBCCI urges calling o� today’s hartal n Tribune Report

The Federation of Bangladesh Cham-ber of Commerce and Industries (FB-CCI) has urged the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chaatra Sena to call o� their today’s dawn-to-dusk countrywide hartal for the sake of maintaining the country’s overall economic development.

Country’s highest business apex body came up with the plea in a state-ment released yesterday.

As an atmosphere congenial for do-ing business and investment is now prevailing in the country, foreign in-vestors from various countries like China and Japan are keen to invest in Bangladesh.

It also urged the government to ar-rest the killers of Nurul Islam Faruqui as soon for assuring the highest pun-ishment of the culprits. l

Tung Hai Knitting and Dyeing debuts today n Tribune Report

Share trading of Tung Hai Knitting and Dyeing will begin on the stock ex-changes today.

It is the 35th listed � rm in the textile sector that accounts for around 4% of the total market capitalisation of Dha-ka Stock Exchange (DSE).

The textile company got Tk35 crore from the stock market by � oating 3.5 crore ordinary shares of Tk10 each to meet the need of working capital, pur-chasing machinery and repaying term loans of banks.

Its earnings per share stood at Tk1.15 and net asset value per share at Tk13.73 as of December 2012. Tung Hai Knitting is a subsidiary of Tung Hai Group, a leading manufacturer and exporter of knitted sweaters and jerseys, accord-ing to the group’s website. The group’s annual turnover is around $50m.

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission approved the IPO on Feb-ruary 18 while DSE okayed the listing of the company on August 14. l

The � re-safety equipment is on display at a recent expo in Sonargaon Hotel in the capital. The RMG owners have to install such safety appliances in their factories upon the Accord’s approval FILE PHOTO

SANEI conference begins n Tribune Report

Regional integrated e� orts, plus polit-ical stability are key to attaining inclu-sive growth in the South Asian coun-tries, experts said at a conference in the capital yesterday.

They also observed that regional connectivity is also important to en-sure food security, job creation, better nutrition, education, skill develop-ment, sanitation and so on.

The observation of a galaxy of econ-omists, academicians, policymakers came at the 13th annual South Asia Network of Economic Research Insti-tute (SANEI) conference at a city hotel.

Members of SANEI are Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), with the objective of fostering strong research inter-linkages. The theme of the two-day conference is “Regional integration in South Asia”.

Bangladesh Institute of Develop-ment Studies (BIDS) organised the conference with the � nancial support of the Bangladesh Bank and The Ford Foundation.

While inaugurating the event, Fi-nance Minister AMA Muhith urged the South Asian countries to put forth co-ordinated e� orts for the regional eco-nomic development.

“It is important for regional inte-gration to reap economic bene� ts,” he said, adding that Bangladesh is now experiencing peace over the last eight months.

He put importance on the success in the development of communication sector and in openness of economy to facilitate regional economic integration.

He said. “One country alone cannot

ensure peace. If anarchy prevails in a country, impact of this spells into the neighboring country as well. That’s why it demands mutual cooperation among the regional block for the eco-nomic prosperity.”

Emeritus Professor at Yale Univer-sity TN Srinivasan presided over the conference which was also attended by Mashiur Rahman, economic a� airs ad-viser to the prime minister, Global De-velopment Network Deputy Director Annie Soriot and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies Director Gen-eral and Coordinator of SANEI Mustfa K Mujeri also attending.

A book on “Adjusting to Global economic volatility: the case of south Asia” published by the Academic Foundation, New Dellhi in association with SANEI.

Mujeri said the regional initiative aims to establish strong interlink be-tween the South Asian countries.

Annie underscored the need for building research capacity and global better governance for regional eco-nomic development. “Research will not solve problem but can show the right path to the policymakers.”

Professor Srinivasan said knowledge integration has no regional boundary.

Multilateral integration is also nec-essary with the regional integration,” he said.

The two-day conference would have series of sessions including pub-lic lecture on “Regional integration for inclusive growth in South Asia”, pan-el discussion on its key policy issues, technical session on intra-regional trade in South Asia, SAFTA, cross bor-der trade in South Asia etc. l

PM approves proposal to halve international call termination rate n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ap-proved a proposal from BTRC to reduce international incoming call termina-tion rate by 50% from 3 US cents to 1.5 cents per minute.

The approval was given Thursday on a test basis for next six months to discourage illegal call tra� cking, said government sources.

The proposal also included cutting down the government share in the inter-national call termination earnings from 51.75% to 40%, meaning the government will get 40% of 1.5 cents per minute.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) sent the proposal to Prime Minister’s O� ce (PMO) through telecommunication ministry.

Earlier, it was dispatched to � nance ministry for PM approval, but the min-istry sent back the proposal twice for review arguing that if it was approved, the government would lose a huge sum of revenue.

Then the BTRC sent it to the telecom ministry which was allegedly convinced by in� uential groups including senior cabinet members to clear the way.

A senior telecom ministry o� cial said the proposal received PM approval without any change.

As per the proposal, the govern-ment will get 40%, Interconnection Ex-change operators 18%, mobile or land-line operators 22% and International Gateway (IGW) operators 20%.

In July last year, BTRC said the gov-

ernment earned around Tk1,800 crore from international call termination and it might reduce to only around Tk777 crore if the proposal was accepted.

Then it sent the proposal to � nance ministry which later asked for review in March this year.

After such instruction from the min-istry, the BTRC changed its earlier esti-mates of revenue loss and made a new proposal in May claiming that slash-ing call termination rate would allow the government to earn an additional Tk162 crore.

But the � nance ministry didn’t sway from its stance. The telecom minis-try argued that it led to crores of taka revenue loss in the beginning, but “the matter will be stable.”

Currently there are around 6 crore minutes of incoming international calls every day and BTRC expects it will increase up to 9 crore minutes.

Market sources said some service providers carry international calls through gray channels using voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology.

On January 30, the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangla-desh (AMTOB) wrote a letter to the telecom ministry to cut the rate from

3 cents to 1.5 cents as most illegal VoIP calls are between 1.5 and 2 cents.

The situation would be more chal-lenging if the termination rate is slashed reduced, AMTOB said.

Currently, there are 29 IGW operators in the country while nine of them are inactive or stopped doing business af-ter they evaded payment of revenue of around Tk500 crore to the government.

The regulator is now in a process to cancel licences of four to � ve IGW com-panies.

As of 2008, the state-owned Bangla-desh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) was the only institution for international call transmission. But during the last caretaker government, BTRC liberalised the gateways and is-sued three more IGW licences. In 2012 the Awami League government also is-sued a total of 25 such licences.

Though Bangladesh reduced its in-bound international call termination rate but VoIP Service Providers Asso-ciation (VSPA) said the call termination rates in neighbouring countries are three to eight times higher than Ban-gladesh.

VSPA Convener Rabiul Karim said per minute international call termina-tion rate in Sri Lanka is 9 US cents, 9.5 cents in Nepal, 8.8 cents in Pakistan and 25 cents in Maldives, which is the highest.

Market sources also said though the government reduced the termination rate, the IGW operators can terminate the call at much higher price but they will not share it to the government. l

It includes cutting down government share in international call termination earnings to 40%

B2 Stock Sunday, August 31, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Weekly news from trade serverAGM/DividendGPHISPAT: The Board of Directors has recommended 15% cash dividend and 5% stock dividend for the year ended on April 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 10.11.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Ichamoti Hall, Hotel Agrabad, Chittagong. Record date: 22.09.2014. The Company has also report-ed EPS of Tk. 2.35, NAV per share of Tk. 16.25 and NOCFPS of Tk. 2.77 for the year ended on April 30, 2014.BSCCL: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 12.10.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Hotel 'Ocean Paradise', Cox'sbazar. Record date: 04.09.2014. The Company has also report-ed EPS (without fair valuation surplus) of Tk. 2.42, NAV per share of Tk. 27.05 and NOCFPS of Tk. 0.90 for the year ended on June 30, 2014.PRAGATILIF: The Board of Directors did not recommend any dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 16.09.2014, Time: 12:30 PM, Venue: Ja-muna Resort Ltd. Bhuapur, Tangail. Record date: 14.09.2014. A fresh AGM date will be announced later on in compliance with relevant law.Audited/unaudited Financial Reports:POPULARLIF: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 30.06.2014 (Jan'14 to June'14), the Company has re-ported an increase in life insurance fund of Tk. 1,480.03 million with total life insurance fund of Tk. 26,274.17 million as against Tk. 1,996.69 million and Tk. 22,709.31 million

respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas increase in life insurance fund was Tk. 434.60 million for the period of 3 months (Apr'14 to June'14) ended on 30.06.2014 as against Tk. 692.30 million for the same period of the previous year.FEKDIL: (Q3): The Company has reported its pro� t after tax Tk. 107.44 million and basic EPS of Tk. 1.18 for the 3 (three) months ended on 31 March 2014 (Jan 2014-March 2014) as against pro� t after tax of Tk. 56.28 million and basic EPS of Tk. 0.62 for the same period of the previous year. It is to be noted that basic EPS has been calculated based on weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number of shares i.e. 91,030,800 shares for both periods. However, considering Post-IPO 116,030,800 number of shares the Company's basic EPS for the 3 (three) months ended on 31 March 2014 would be Tk. 0.93 For the period of 9 (nine) months (July 2013 to March 2014) ended on 31 March 2014 pro� t after tax was Tk. 186.03 million and basic EPS was Tk. 2.04 as against pro� t after tax of Tk. 183.52 million and basic EPS of Tk. 2.02 for the same peri-od of the previous year. It is to be noted that the said EPS has been calculated based on weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number of shares i.e. 91,030,800 shares for both periods. However, considering Post-IPO 116,030,800 number of shares, Company's basic EPS would be Tk. 1.60 for 9 (nine) months ended on 31 March 2014 (July 2013 to March 2014) and NAV per share would be Tk. 22.39 as on 31 March 2014.

Fixed Assets/Right/Investment:RAKCERAMIC: The Company has informed that due to the compulsory maintenance of power plant of R.A.K. Power Pvt. Ltd. [a subsidiary and power supplier of RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Limited] the produc-tion of RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Limited will be stopped for 15 to 20 days as follows: Tiles plant # 2: from 24th August 2014 and Tiles plant # 3: from 24th August 2014.SIBL: BSEC has given consent under the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Private Placement of Debt Securities) Rules, 2012, for raising of capital by Social Islami Bank Limited amounting to Tk. 300.00 crore only through issuance of Mudaraba Subordinated Bond. The consent has been accorded subject to the condition that the Company shall comply with the relevant laws and regulatory requirements, and also shall adhere to the conditions imposed by BSEC under Section-2CC of the Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969.BDSERVICE: The Company has informed that as per management agreement signed between Bangladesh Services Limited and InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Paci� c) Pte Ltd (IHG) on 19 February 2012, Ruposhi Bangla Hotel (the "Hotel") will have to be ren-ovated as per brand standard of IHG. Accord-ingly, the renovation is going to start from 1st September 2014. Therefore, the Hotel will be closed to the guests from 31 August 2014 till rebranding. The renovation is scheduled to be completed by December 2015. The Hotel will be rebranded as 'InterContinental Dhaka' after completion of renovation.

Stocks trading resumes after a � at weekn Tribune Report

Trading at stock exchanges resumes today following a � at week as inves-tors opted for booking pro� ts and re-balanced portfolio after a margin-al fall in the previous week.

Mainly pro� t booking on heavy-weight telecommunication stocks led the market to close � at, as rally in power and pharmaceuticals o� set losses in the past week.

The benchmark DSEX stayed hovered over the “psychological” threshold of 4,500 points for the last three weeks and ended at 4,578, gaining 31% or 0.7% respectively.

The comprising blue chips DS30 index witnessed fractional gain of only 0.04 points to 1,726. The DSE Shariah Index edged 4 points or 0.5% higher to 1,066.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index - CSCX – gained 99 points or 1% to close at 8,658.

The week’s daily average turnover stood at Tk690 crore, registering an increase of almost 5% over the pre-vious week.

Sectors—particularly pharmaceu-ticals, fuel and power, engineering and textile – attracted investors in the past week, accounting for 16%, 15%, 14% and 9% respectively of the week’s total turnover.

IDLC Investments said fresh fund injections, especially in large cap stocks aided further spike in market activities and kept market sentiment upbeat.

Despite the negative start of the week, the bourse vibrated over in-vestors’ strong turnover and active

investors participation, it said add-ing that the overall market observed investors’ favourable response to in-vestment scenario.

Lanka Bangla Securities said the benchmark index of DSE was still hovering around 4,600 level, which it was trying to break for the last cou-ple of weeks.

Some of the small cap stocks grabbed hefty return during the past week as investors went for bottom hunting, it said.

Losers outpaced gainers as out of 307 issues traded, 152 declined, 136 gained and 19 remained unchanged on DSE.

Among the sectors, IT sector reg-istered a stunning over 10% return during the past week with average turnover up by 165%.

Cement sector lost its ground as it shed almost 5% during the past week as investors went for pro� t booking after two weeks of bull-run.

Travel and leisure gained 7%, ser-vice and real estate 6.5% and food and allied 5.6%. The top losing sec-tors were paper and printing that dropped nearly 9%, telecommunica-tion 3% and mutual fund 2%.

Beximco dominated the week’s top turnover chart with shares worth Tk24.8 crore changing hands followed by Mobil Jamuna Limited Bangladesh, BSRM Steels, Beximco Pharma and Grameenphone.

Far East Knitting and Dyeing In-dustries made debut in the past week. The shares of the company traded be-tween Tk48.5 and Tk39 each before closing at Tk45.4, gaining more than 68% on its face value. l

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

PragatiLife Insu. -Z -43.64 -37.37 85.11 85.10 86.10 85.00 0.426 2.38 35.8Khulna Printing-N -22.09 -18.65 34.19 33.50 44.00 33.40 168.049 1.31 26.1S.B. 1st M. F.-A -19.32 -19.52 7.09 7.10 9.00 7.00 0.517 1.42 5.0ICB Sonali Bank 1 MF-A -17.44 -17.08 7.09 7.10 7.80 6.90 0.268 1.60 4.4IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A -17.19 -17.50 5.28 5.30 5.90 5.20 0.654 1.07 4.9Kay & Que (BD) -Z -16.30 -16.30 11.30 11.30 13.00 11.30 0.031 -1.24 -veNLI 1st M F-A -14.44 -14.11 7.73 7.70 8.30 7.70 2.334 1.41 5.5GPH Ispat Ltd-A -13.51 -12.78 46.75 46.10 53.00 45.60 7.632 2.35 19.9Square Pharma -A -12.79 -12.55 241.27 240.10 283.00 239.60 61.351 10.04 24.0BD Submarine Cable-A -12.41 -11.48 151.42 150.40 170.50 149.00 75.810 2.42 62.6

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

PragatiLife Insu. -Z -26.69 -28.73 90.13 92.30 132.00 80.20 27.279 2.38 37.9Khulna Printing-N -22.27 -18.83 34.26 33.50 43.90 33.30 1004.132 1.31 26.2S.B. 1st M. F.-A -19.54 -20.85 7.10 7.00 8.90 6.70 23.667 1.42 5.0IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A -17.46 -16.83 5.24 5.20 5.80 5.20 21.899 1.07 4.9NLI 1st M F-A -16.85 -15.88 7.52 7.40 9.00 7.40 11.811 1.41 5.3Square Pharma -A -13.06 -12.61 241.23 239.70 279.00 223.00 951.778 10.04 24.0GPH Ispat Ltd-A -12.69 -12.49 46.37 46.10 53.70 42.00 162.036 2.35 19.7BD Submarine Cable-A -11.79 -11.21 151.47 150.40 175.00 110.00 382.037 2.42 62.6Progressive Life-A -9.42 -9.67 96.73 97.10 114.00 88.00 15.245 2.30 42.1Provati Insur.-A -9.13 -8.56 20.93 20.90 23.80 19.00 4.899 1.52 13.8

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 6,543,582 277.52 10.31 43.50 10.97 39.20 44.80 39.00 42.03Khulna Printing-N 4,410,500 168.05 6.24 33.50 -22.09 43.00 44.00 33.40 38.91FarEast Knitting -N 2,091,400 95.30 3.54 45.10 0.00 0.00 48.50 42.10 332.03UNITED AIR-A 7,541,927 94.08 3.50 12.60 11.50 11.30 13.60 11.00 112.09MJL BD Ltd.-A 774,937 91.60 3.40 110.40 -5.72 117.10 124.90 109.60 171.05Grameenphone-A 259,000 84.63 3.14 320.00 -3.15 330.40 334.70 313.00 30.91BD Submarine Cable-A 484,366 75.81 2.82 150.40 -12.41 171.70 170.50 149.00 111.37Beximco Pharma -A 1,180,227 64.95 2.41 58.00 22.62 47.30 59.80 48.00 95.94BSRM Steels-A 635,495 63.28 2.35 94.80 -2.67 97.40 99.90 93.70 35.08LafargeS Cement-Z 566,500 61.38 2.28 107.60 -4.78 113.00 113.50 103.20 275.91

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 58,544,023 2485.43 7.20 43.10 9.95 39.20 47.00 35.30 42.80MJL BD Ltd.-A 14,244,099 1665.29 4.83 110.90 -5.29 117.10 124.90 102.40 112.37BSRM Steels-A 13,638,604 1356.55 3.93 94.70 -2.87 97.50 105.00 89.00 95.06Beximco Pharma -A 24,247,513 1329.14 3.85 58.10 22.57 47.40 60.00 42.70 57.95Grameenphone-A 3,314,016 1072.33 3.11 321.10 -2.79 330.30 335.00 302.00 321.35Khulna Printing-N 26,037,500 1004.13 2.91 33.50 -22.27 43.10 43.90 33.30 34.26LafargeS Cement-Z 9,000,500 972.24 2.82 106.40 -5.67 112.80 113.00 103.70 106.54Square Pharma -A 3,709,202 951.78 2.76 239.70 -13.06 275.70 279.00 223.00 241.23Golden Son -A 18,486,225 898.14 2.60 50.50 12.47 44.90 50.90 40.60 50.21ACI Limited- A 2,176,297 767.49 2.22 339.40 -0.47 341.00 370.00 311.20 342.13

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Agni Systems -A 38.61 40.64 28.31 28.00 29.00 20.90 27.823 1.27 22.3Beximco Pharma -A 22.62 23.00 58.07 58.00 59.80 48.00 64.954 3.94 14.7Salvo Chemicals-B 20.74 17.82 22.22 22.70 22.70 18.60 20.476 1.10 20.2Golden Harvest Agro-N 17.91 14.45 34.06 34.90 34.90 27.00 15.849 1.55 22.0Fu-wang Ceramic-A 17.73 15.09 16.32 16.60 16.80 13.20 7.733 0.49 33.3SummitAlliancePort.-A 14.94 13.72 30.00 30.00 31.10 26.10 14.193 0.96 31.3Barakatullah E. D.-A 13.68 12.25 34.45 34.90 35.20 29.70 17.084 1.69 20.4Paramount Insur-A 12.78 12.78 20.30 20.30 20.30 18.10 0.323 1.18 17.2In Tech Online -A 12.61 13.43 13.51 13.40 14.10 11.00 3.486 -0.88 -veOrion Pharma-N 11.95 10.83 50.65 50.60 52.20 46.00 47.299 6.06 8.4

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Agni Systems -A 38.61 39.97 28.33 28.00 29.50 18.40 414.974 1.27 22.3Beximco Pharma -A 22.57 22.75 57.95 58.10 60.00 42.70 1329.136 3.94 14.7Salvo Chemicals-B 20.32 16.75 22.03 22.50 22.60 17.50 187.607 1.10 20.0Golden Harvest Agro-N 17.51 14.60 34.23 34.90 34.90 26.80 154.645 1.55 22.1Fu-wang Ceramic-A 16.43 14.03 16.09 16.30 16.40 12.80 64.303 0.49 32.8SummitAlliancePort.-A 13.69 12.03 29.80 29.90 31.40 23.70 239.118 0.96 31.0Barakatullah E. D.-A 13.49 11.99 34.36 34.50 35.20 27.40 326.943 1.69 20.3Rangpur Dairy-N 12.50 11.46 18.87 18.90 19.50 15.10 119.215 1.16 16.3Golden Son -A 12.47 10.79 50.21 50.50 50.90 40.60 898.136 3.40 14.8UNITED AIR-A 12.39 11.08 12.63 12.70 13.50 10.00 391.040 0.77 16.4

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 1952.77 5.66 103.22 3.66 2056.00 5.51NBFI 1451.88 4.21 106.24 3.76 1558.12 4.17Investment 441.93 1.28 30.58 1.08 472.51 1.27Engineering 4610.32 13.36 256.99 9.10 4867.32 13.04Food & Allied 1177.10 3.41 88.52 3.13 1265.62 3.39Fuel & Power 5033.96 14.59 274.48 9.72 5308.44 14.22Jute 6.32 0.02 0.00 0.00 6.32 0.02Textile 3300.55 9.56 319.71 11.32 3620.26 9.70Pharma & Chemical 5418.12 15.70 299.23 10.60 5717.35 15.31Paper & Packaging 1005.96 2.91 206.07 7.30 1212.03 3.25Service 603.26 1.75 34.57 1.22 637.83 1.71Leather 229.32 0.66 51.08 1.81 280.40 0.75Ceramic 152.53 0.44 16.94 0.60 169.47 0.45Cement 1569.39 4.55 106.40 3.77 1675.79 4.49Information Technology 1032.42 2.99 231.32 8.19 1263.75 3.38General Insurance 362.78 1.05 35.57 1.26 398.36 1.07Life Insurance 350.38 1.02 12.34 0.44 362.72 0.97Telecom 1454.37 4.21 160.44 5.68 1614.81 4.33Travel & Leisure 974.03 2.82 160.49 5.68 1134.53 3.04Miscellaneous 3377.61 9.79 329.41 11.67 3707.02 9.93Debenture 5.69 0.02 0.11 0.00 5.80 0.02

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4577.99730 (+) 0.68% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1726.47583 (+) 0.00% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 14167.7211 (+) 0.83% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 11649.7741 (+) 1.28% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8658.3803 (+) 1.16% ▲

DSE key features August 24-28, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

34,510.70

Turnover (Volume)

809,182,449

Number of Contract 718,684

Traded Issues 307

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

139

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

164

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,399.75

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.09

CSE key features August 24-28, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 2,542.27

Turnover (Volume) 70,862,529

Number of Contract 99,108

Traded Issues 253

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

123

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

124

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,303.81

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.92

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

Lanka Bangla Securities said the benchmark index of DSE was still hovering around 4,600 level, which it was trying to break for the last couple of weeks

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

COO of MediaVest Group arrives in Dhakan Tribune Business Desk

Ranganathan Somanathan, COO of Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), a global media communications agency, has arrived in Dhaka yesterday for a two-day visit. Ranganathan will meet colleagues from Bangladesh and a number of Key clients and stakehold-ers during the visit.

Prior to his current designation, Ranga led VivaKi Malaysia, which in-cludes SMG and Optimedia Malaysia, as CEO – a position he held since July 2009.

Ranga was also managing director of SMG’s Indonesian operations which grew by 40% under his leadership. He headed the Research & Strategic Planning function at SMG Malaysia and was recognized by Campaign Asia-Paci� c as one of the Top 10 Suits for his work on Microsoft in 2005. l

A delegation of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), UK consisting of regional director Bradly Emerson and country manager Zarina Matin have recently met o� ce bearers of the Institute Cost and Management and Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) headed by its president Mohamed Salim, FCMA at ICMA Bhaban, Nilkhet in Dhaka for exchanging views on bilateral matters

NCC Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Bangladesh Bank for availing its re� nance facilities under a re� nance scheme worth Tk2bn for Tk10 account holders. Managing director of NCC Bank, Golam Ha� z Ahmed and general manager of green banking and CSR departments of Bangladesh Bank Abul Mansur Ahmed signed the agreement

BDBL Investment Services Ltd (BISL) has recently held its board’s � rst meeting at BDBL Bhaban in Dhaka. The company’s chairperson Quazi Murshed Hossain Kamal attended the meeting

Standard Bank Limited has recently held the 117th meeting of its executive committee. The committee’s chairperson Mohammad Shamsul Alam presided over the meeting

Brazil falls into recession as election looms n AFP, Brasilia

Brazil, Latin America’s largest econ-omy, has slid into recession, further weakening President Dilma Rousse� , who faces a tough re-election battle on October 5.

Brazil’s national statistics institute said Friday that GDP shrank 0.6% in the second quarter and revised its formerly positive growth estimate for the � rst quarter down to -0.2%.

Coming ahead of October presiden-tial and general elections, those � gures will damage already low industrial and consumer con� dence in what once was a fast-growing regional powerhouse.

The contraction comes with Rousse� locked in a tough � ght to win another term in o� ce, with latest polls show-ing a major surge in support for Marina Silva, challenging her from the left.

Silva, a former environment minis-ter under Rousse� ’s predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, shot to promi-nence after Socialist candidate Edu-ardo Campos died a plane crash on August 13.

She had been Campos’ running mate and took the reins of his campaign.

Polls this week show her defeating Rousse� in an October 26 run-o� , al-though the latter remains favorite to top � rst round voting.

“Technically, we are in recession ... and this is very worrying,” Silva said. “Brazil must regain credibility - that is the only way it will return to growth.”

Rousse� shrugged o� the latest data, saying it was in part due to a slew of public holidays which the govern-ment granted during the month-long World Cup football extravaganza in June and July.

Citizens enjoyed an afternoon o� on Brazilian match days and host cities

also enjoyed a holiday every time they hosted a game, dampening economic activity.

“I think this result is just a blip. Bra-zil has every chance of a resumption” of growth later in the year, Rousse� insisted.

While most eyes were on the foot-ball, industrial activity dipped 1.5% in April-June and second quarter invest-ment slumped 5.3%, the IGBE national statistics agency � gures showed.

Rousse� ’s administration has cut growth forecasts for the year to 1.8%,

primarily blaming the global crisis. But Silva’s rise in the polls has put

her on the back foot.

‘Poor record’ “The data are likely to be seized upon by Dilma Rousse� ’s challengers in the presidential race to attack her poor record on growth and in� ation,” said Robert Wood, Brazil analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The Sao Paulo stock market took Friday’s data in its stride with the main Bovespa index ending the � nal August

session 1.65 higher for a 9.63% rise across the month as a whole.

The market welcomed the weak growth data and Dilma’s current poll woes as positives which suggest her ten-ure may be coming to a close, the web-site of Valor � nancial daily reported.

Traders also welcomed Silva’s pledge as she � eshed out her policies Friday by promising to “develop capital markets” and foster a healthy invest-ment environment.

Margarida Gutierrez, an econom-ics professor at Rio University, warned

2015 would be tough. “Brazilian growth has been slowing

since 2011 owing to the great uncer-tainty surrounding economic policy and large degree of state intervention,” Gutierrez told AFP.

“This year brings additional un-certainties - the elections, the risk of electricity rationing and adjustments which will have to be made in 2015,” she said.

Forecasts for 2014 are for GDP to rise just 0.7%, for a fourth straight year of sluggish growth which had raced ahead by 7.5% in 2010.

‘Growth pangs’ Analyst Andre Perfeito of consultancy Gradual Investments said: “This is very much going to a� ect Dilma.”

But he added: “Brazil is not broke.” Many commentators forecast a return to growth in the second half of the year.

In a note to investors, BNP Paribas said: “Some observers may hesitate to characterize Brazil’s current situation as a ‘recession’ on the grounds that Q1 growth was not su� ciently negative.

“Beyond the semantics, though, one thing is clear: Brazil is seeing poor growth and high in� ation at the same time.”

Economist Caio Megale told the Valor � nancial daily that “the fall is in large part temporary and linked to the e� ects of the World Cup - though part of this slowdown is more structural, owing to higher interest rates (current-ly 11%) and a tail-o� in con� dence.”

Perfeito said he did not believe that the economy was broken and many forecasters and the government predict a return to growth for June-December.

He concluded: “Brazil is going to continue growing - it is currently en-during growth pangs.” l

Dollar claws back losses in Asia n AFP, Tokyo

The dollar edged up in Asian afternoon trade Friday recovering from losses in the morning that were fanned by fears of a possible Russia-Ukraine military con� ict and o� set upbeat US economic growth data.

The greenback rose to 103.82 yen, up from 103.70 yen earlier in the day and 103.75 yen in New York late Thursday.

The euro was at 136.74 yen from 136.75 yen, while it bought $1.3171 from $1.3181.

The dollar’s gains against the yen were partly driven by Japanese import-ers buying the currency before month end, dealers said.

Some market participants also bought back the greenback as Russian President Vladimir Putin called on pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine to allow Ukrainian troops to escape from the rebel-held eastern town of Novoazovsk.

Investors had shifted into the yen, seen as a safe-haven currency during times of turmoil and uncertainty, fol-lowing reports that more than 1,000 Russian troops entered Ukraine, sup-porting pro-Moscow separatist rebels � ghting Kiev.

Despite denials from Moscow, the news brought fresh warnings from NATO and Washington, and fanned worries of an escalation in the � ghting and possible war.

“Similar headlines would have caused the dollar to fall more steeply against the yen before,” Daisaku Ueno, chief foreign exchange strategist at Mit-subishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The troubles in eastern Europe over-shadowed data Thursday showing the US economy expanded at a 4.2% an-nualised rate in April-June, up from a preliminary 4% estimate. l

Intel hires senior Qualcomm exec to boost mobile business n Reuters, San Francisco

Chipmaker Intel Corp has hired Amir Faintuch, a senior executive at rival Qualcomm Inc, to step up e� orts in mo-bile and Internet-connected gadgets.

Hiring a senior executive from a ma-jor competitor is rare for Intel, which is known in Silicon Valley for its insular culture, and it re� ects the eagerness of the Santa Clara, California, chipmaker to improve its struggling mobile business.

Faintuch, who previously oversaw Qualcomm’s networking and con-nectivity businesses as president of Qualcomm Atheros, is joining Intel as a senior vice president and co-general manager of the Platform Engineering Group, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said on Friday.

He will be among Intel’s dozen or so most senior executives and will co-manage the Platform Engineering Group with Josh Walden, a manufac-turing technology expert who previ-ously led the group.

Mulloy told Reuters that in addi-tion to strong network skills, Faintuch brings experience designing “system on chips,” or SoCs, which combine fea-tures like modems, Wi-Fi and memory.

While Intel excels at developing pro-cessors for laptops and desktop com-

puters, it has less experience designing SoCs, which are widely used in smart-phones and tablets.

“We want to accelerate our success rate with SoCs and get the designs aligned and the roadmaps aligned to do that,” Mulloy said. “We’ve made good progress but there’s more to be done. Amir has extensive management expe-rience and a strong resume.”

A Qualcomm spokesman had no com-ment beyond con� rming Faintuch’s de-parture. Bringing in Faintuch, which was announced in an email to Intel employ-ees on Friday, is the latest move by the company to accelerate progress in mo-bile gadgets, where it trails Qualcomm.

Since taking over in 2013, CEO Brian Krzanich has made a number of sweep-ing changes designed to counteract a slump in PC sales, including opening In-tel’s cutting-edge factories to other chip-makers willing to pay for access to them.

In May, Intel reached an agreement with Chinese SoC specialist Rockchip to make chips for inexpensive tablets running Google Inc’s Android platform.

As Intel struggles with declining PC sales and slow progress in mobile, Qual-comm, whose smartphone chips lead the industry, has been viewed by many engineers in recent years as a potential-ly more attractive place to work. l

Fitch rates Bangladesh ‘BB-’; outlook stable B1 COLUMN 5The Fitch expects growth to remain around 6.3% for the � nancial year end-ing June 30 of 2015 and FY16.

The in� ation, however, averaged 8.1% over the past � ve years and was 7.3% over the 12 months ended in July 2014, it said.

This is higher than the ‘BB’ peer cat-egory median of 4.6% and above the central bank’s target of 6.5% by the end of FY15.

“Political tensions and violence that marked the run-up to the parliamen-tary elections in January 2014 had a moderately negative impact on eco-nomic growth, but did not paralyse the economy,” said the agency.

This most recent episode in Bangla-desh’s political history highlights pro-longed high political risk levels, it said, adding that the continued political po-larisation and uncertainty may impact economic activity through long-term investment decisions.

According to the Fitch, the banking sector is vulnerable to shocks, especial-ly the state-owned banks, as both asset quality and governance are weak.

The gross non-performing loans ra-tio of the sector increased to 10.5% in 1Q of calendar year 2014 from 8.9% in 4Q13, while the ratio for state-owned banks only was 21.9% in 1Q14.

The global rating agency expects that the state-owned banks would need additional capital in the medium term, which would imply crystallisation of contingent liabilities for the sovereign.

Bangladesh’s ratings are constrained by a low level of development. The country scores poorly on a broad range of governance indicators and ranks low on the United Nations’ human devel-opment indicators, with a GDP per cap-ita of $1,023 in 2013, well below the ‘BB’ peer category median of $4,696.

A disappointing government rev-enue intake has led to a higher � scal de� cit of 5% of GDP than the targeted 4.6%, the Fitch said.

It adds that the budget for FY15 tar-gets the � scal de� cit to remain at 5% of GDP, suggesting that no � scal consoli-dation e� orts can be expected of this government anytime soon.

Bangladesh’s current account sur-plus (1.7% in calendar 2013) and low and falling net external debt (to 1.3% of GDP in calendar 2014 from 1.6% in 2013) compare favourably with peers.

“The current account is supported by the continued strong ready-made garment exports and remittance from workers overseas.

This shows a comparative advan-tage of Bangladesh’s large unskilled population,according to the Fitch.

Limited diversi� cation implies a risk in case the ready-made garment sector or remittance face an external shock, it added.

However, the Fitch states that the stable outlook re� ects Fitch’s assess-ment that upside and downside risks to the ratings are well-balanced.

The main factors that individually, or collectively, could trigger positive

rating action are the governance re-forms that would lead to a strength-ened business environment.

The rating agency also stressed sub-stantial strengthening of the balance sheets and governance in the banking sector.

The main factors that individually, or collectively, could trigger negative rating action are protracted substan-tial disruption of economic activity as

a result of materialising political risk, greater than expected deterioration in the banking sector’s asset quality and prompting substantial government support.

The Fitch, however, felt that both Bangladesh’s ready-made garment exports and remittance from workers abroad continue to be strong, support-ing the relatively favourable current account balance levels compared with the peers. l

Oil prices up on Ukraine tensions, rosy US data n AFP, Singapore

Oil prices rose in Asia Friday supported by renewed Russia-Ukraine tensions and upbeat US economic data, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Interme-diate for October delivery was up 27 cents at $94.82 while Brent crude for October advanced 33 cents to $102.79 in afternoon trade.

Ukraine and the West said Thurs-day that Russian troops are actively involved supporting pro-Kremlin sepa-ratists who have been � ghting against Kiev’s rule since April.

NATO said at least 1,000 Russian troops were on the ground in east Ukraine but Moscow insisted none of its soldiers were in the country.

The United States warned it was considering new sanctions against Rus-sia over the latest development.

Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said fresh sanctions “may then trigger further retaliatory measures that would weigh on the euro bloc”.

The intensi� ed stando� between the neighbours, seen as the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War, has sparked fears of a full-� edged war.

Such a development could cause energy prices to surge as Russia is the world’s number-two oil producer, and Ukraine is a key conduit for Moscow’s gas exports to Europe. l

Employees inspect newly-made dolls of Fuleco the Armadillo, the o� cial mascot of the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil, at a factory in Ganyu county, Jiangsu province April 26, 2013 REUTERS

'A disappointing government revenue intake has led to a higher � scal de� cit of 5% of GDP than the targeted 4.6%'

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, August 31, 2014

DILBERT

Facebook tuning mobile search at social network n AFP, San Francisco

Facebook on Friday said it is dabbling with letting members using smart-phones or tablets search for past posts of friends at the leading online social network.

Facebook is testing using keywords to � nd old posts, the California-based company said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

Search results remain true to shar-ing settings used when posts were made, meaning people are only shown content they are permitted to see, ac-cording to Facebook.

Facebook early last year launched “Graph Search” that helps members using desktop computers or laptops better navigate the vast amount of in-formation at the social network, which is not available on Web search engines such as Google.

The feature was introduced as a work-in-progress and has yet to spread to all of the social networks 1.3 billion users. l

Google tests using drones to deliver goods n AFP, San Francisco

Google on Thursday said it is testing using drones to deliver items bought online, putting its own spin on similar e� orts by Internet retail titan Amazon.com.

Two years of research into what Google referred to as “Project Wing” was capped this month with test � ights delivering candy, water, medicine, dog treats and other items to two farmers in Queensland, Australia.

“Self-� ying vehicles could open up entirely new approaches to moving goods,” California-based Google said in a blog post disclosing the project.

“Throughout history, major changes in how we move goods from place to place have led to new opportunities for economic growth and generally made consumers’ lives easier.”

Project Wing drones were described as having more in common with Google’s self-driving car than remote-controlled aircraft used by hobbyists.

Delivery drones and autonomous vehicles are both being worked on in Google X lab devoted to innovative new technologies.

Google expected it to be several

years before a delivery drone system is ready.

Last month, Amazon sought permis-sion for drone test � ights in the United States, saying it is moving forward on plans for deliveries using unmanned aircraft.

In a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration, Amazon said that be-cause of restrictions on drones in US airspace, it has been conducting test � ights indoors and in other countries.

Amazon said an exemption to FAA rules would be “in the public interest” and “is a necessary step towards real-izing the consumer bene� ts of Amazon Prime Air,” which company founder Je� Bezos has described as a plan for drone delivery to consumers.

Bezos unveiled his idea for drone deliveries last December, and said the company would be ready to launch Amazon Prime Air as early as 2015 if FAA regulations allowed.

The letter said that over the past � ve months, “we have made advancements toward the development of highly-au-tomated aerial vehicles for Prime Air,” which travel at over 50 miles (80 kilo-meters) per hour and can carry loads up to � ve pounds (2.2 kilos). l

IMF board stands behind Lagarde over French probe n Reuters, Washington

The International Monetary Fund’s board on Friday stood behind the glob-al lender’s leader Christine Lagarde, who is facing a criminal investigation in France tied to a political corruption probe dating from 2008.

French magistrates earlier this week put Lagarde under formal investigation for “negligence” after questioning her in Paris for a fourth time. The long-running saga concerns allegations that tycoon Bernard Tapie won a large arbitration payout due to political connections when Lagarde was French � nance minister.

“The Executive Board has been briefed on recent developments related to this matter, and continues to express its con� dence in the Managing Direc-tor’s ability to e� ectively carry out her duties,” the board said in a statement.

The 24-member board, which has the power to hire and � re the IMF’s manag-ing director, discussed the French cor-ruption probe after the � rst three times Lagarde was questioned under her pre-vious status as a witness, and also con-sidered the case’s implications when it decided to hire her in 2011.

Three sources told Reuters on Thursday the board would likely stand behind Lagarde this time, as well.

Lagarde’s lawyer said he would ap-peal the decision to move to an inves-tigation, and the legal appeals process would likely last beyond the end of La-garde’s � rst � ve-year IMF term, which ends in July 2016.

In the case, Lagarde is accused of “negligence” for not blocking the arbitra-tion that won Tapie a huge pay-out. She has said the case is “without merit.” l

India’s Modi heads to Japan with trade and China in mind n AFP, New Delhi

India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed to Japan yesterday seeking to capitalise on a close relationship with his like-minded counterpart Shinzo Abe to boost trade between Asia’s second and third largest economies.

The two leaders, both right-wing na-tionalists elected on a pledge to revive their countries’ economies, also share an interest in shoring up regional alli-ances to counter an increasingly asser-tive China.

It will be Modi’s � rst bilateral visit outside South Asia since taking o� ce, signalling the importance of a nation he said o� ered “immense scope for co-operation”.

“Japan’s friendship with India is time tested. We are 2 vibrant democracies committed to advancing peace and de-mocracy in the world,” Modi tweeted on Thursday in both English and Japanese.

Modi and Abe, who will meet private-ly in the historic city of Kyoto on Satur-day before holding o� cial talks in Tokyo, enjoy an unusually warm relationship.

Modi visited Japan twice when he was chief minister of India’s prosper-ous Gujarat state, and met Abe on both occasions.

The Indian leader was only the third person that Abe followed on Twitter, after his wife and a Japanese politician.

Both men are seen as strong leaders who have championed deregulation to kickstart their countries’ � agging economies.

“The common ground of their poli-cies is expected to bene� t both the Japanese and Indian economies,” said Takehiko Yamamoto, an international politics expert at Waseda University.

Both are also leaders of countries embroiled in territorial disputes with China, the dominant regional power.

The United States, Japan’s key ally, is concerned about Beijing’s grow-ing economic and military clout, and would welcome a closer relationship between New Delhi and Tokyo, which geographically bookend China.

“The visit by Modi would o� er an opportunity for the leaders to con� rm a long-term cooperation in their e� ort to softly contain China,” said Yamamoto.

Energy and trade Indian foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said Modi’s focus would be to boost Indian exports - he is report-edly travelling with a large business del-egation - and seek Japanese support in

infrastructural developments. This could include Japanese invest-

ment in new high-speed train networks after the new government said the country’s dilapidated railways needed an “immediate course correction”.

India’s new government has in-creased limits on foreign direct invest-ment in defence and did away with them altogether for the railway industry.

Modi is seeking to build the country’s � rst bullet train line to run between the nation’s � nancial capital Mumbai and commercial hub Ahmedabad in his home state of Gujarat, as well as a net-work of high-speed railways.

Japan is famous for its “Shinkansen” bullet and magnetic train system, but rival China has had more success ex-porting its technology at lower prices.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss restarting negotiations on nu-clear energy, suspended since Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

India su� ers crippling power short-ages and desperately needs to buy in more energy.

Trade between India and Japan has steadily increased over the last decade, and the two countries signed a free trade pact in 2011.

Japan is India’s fourth-largest inves-tor, with Japanese � rms involved in infrastructure projects including build-ing the Delhi Metro, while Japanese au-tomakers have long been churning out cars in India.

Next week the two countries will reportedly sign an agreement that will see Japan import around 2,000 tons of rare earths from India, as Tokyo looks to diversify supply away from China.

Modi was initially scheduled to travel to Tokyo in early July, but altered his plans to be in India for his new gov-ernment’s � rst budget session since its landslide election victory in May.

On Monday, he will meet Japan’s De-fence Minister Itsunori Onodera as the two countries seek to counter China’s increasing regional assertiveness.

A Japanese o� cial who asked not to be named said India had expressed interest in buying amphibious search-and-rescue planes for its defence forces.

But that would require Japan to change its self-imposed ban on military exports, which Abe has proposed but not yet done.

“Defence talks will be symbolic, nothing concrete,” said Srikanth Kondapalli, head of East Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. l

Tablet sales slow as PCs � nd footing n AFP, San Francisco

Tablets won’t eclipse personal comput-ers as fast as once thought, according to studies by market tracker International Data Corporation (IDC).

IDC on Friday cut its forecast for shipments of tablets and “two-in-one” devices combining tablet and laptop features to 233.1 million, saying growth would be about half of what was origi-nally predicted.

“When we look at the global picture, it would be easy to say that the tablet market is slowing down,” said IDC re-search director for tablets Jean Philippe Bouchard.

“But, when we start digging into the regional dynamics, we realize that there is still a good appetite for this product category.”

While shipments in mature markets such as North America and Western Eu-rope were forecast to remain � at, those in emerging regions were expected to climb overall by 12 percent.

Meanwhile, the outlook for personal computer (PC) shipments was less dreary than originally envisioned, due in part to businesses replacing machines powered by outdated

Windows XP software. IDC forecast that worldwide PC

shipments would fall by 3.7% this year instead of by six percent as it had pre-dicted earlier.

Growth in shipments of desktop and laptop computers in mature markets would be more than o� set by reduction in emerging markets such as Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, accord-ing to IDC.

“Programs to reduce PC prices, such as Windows 8.1 with Bing, have helped to improve PC shipments in some seg-

ments,” said IDC senior research ana-lyst Jay Chou.

“Nevertheless, the prospects for signi� cant PC growth in the long term remain tenuous, as users increasingly see PCs as only one of several comput-ing devices.”

People seem to be waiting longer to replace PCs and are increasingly tempt-ed by alternate computing platforms, according to IDC.

A separate IDC report this week esti-mated that more that 1.25 billion smart-phones would ship worldwide this year in a jump of nearly 24% from the 1.01 billion shipped last year.

The number of smartphones shipped was expected by IDC to climb to 1.8 billion annually during the next four years.

“The smartphone market, which has experienced runaway growth over the last several years, is starting to slow,” said IDC research manager Ra-mon Llamas.

“The key for vendors now is to maintain a presence in the higher-margin mature markets, while establishing a sustainable presence within the fast-growing emerging markets.” l

Twitter to set up shop in social-media-mad Indonesia n AFP, Jakarta

Twitter plans to open an o� ce in In-donesia over the coming months as it seeks to boost revenues in the social-media-addicted nation, the company announced Friday.

Several market monitors have de-clared Jakarta as the world’s most ac-tive city of tweeters. Twitter does not publicise o� cial user numbers by country or city.

“This is of great importance to Twitter because Indonesia loves Twit-ter and Twitter loves Indonesia,” the company’s president of global revenue and partnerships, Adam Bain, told re-porters in Jakarta as he made the an-nouncement.

“In fact, when we think about the market overall, Indonesia is one of the biggest countries that are active on Twitter,” Bain said.

Like many social networking plat-forms, Twitter is yet to turn a pro� t, but the San Francisco-based com-pany’s second-quarter revenues more than doubled on-year to $312 million.

The number of monthly active users surged 24% to 271 million globally in the same period.

Indonesia is a major market for Twitter - it is the world’s fourth most populous country with some 250 mil-lion people, and smartphone sales are surging as the middle class grows rap-idly.

Millions access the Internet primar-ily through smartphones and tablets, and surveys show social media is the primary reason for using mobile de-vices.

Tweets about Indonesia’s presiden-tial election alone clocked some 95 mil-lion tweets, from January 1 until elec-tion day on July 9.

Twitter’s main revenue source is advertising, with big brands like Coca-Cola and Intel having promoted their products on the platform to Indonesian users.

Indonesian consumer engagement on Twitter is “extremely high”, Bain said, and had “gotten the attention of the entire team back at headquarters”.

Other foreign tech companies, such as BlackBerry, have rubbed up against Indonesian o� cials over infrastructure

issues and content. Bain said he was hopeful that Indo-

nesia’s incoming government would be welcoming, pointing to president-elect Joko Widodo’s avid use of Twitter as a positive sign.

Before Widodo’s run for president, he was elected Jakarta governor in 2012, a victory largely attributable to social media - Widodo built a wildly popular online pro� le as a man of the people and diehard heavy metal fan.

Twitter’s Jakarta o� ce will be its sixth in the region, following set-ups in Tokyo, Mumbai, Sydney, Singapore and Seoul. l

All new 2015 Ford Mustangs go through the assembly line at the Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant August 28 in Flat Rock, Michigan. Ford's all-new Mustang goes on sale this fall in the US and for the � rst time in its 50-year history globally in more than 120 countries AFP

Programs to reduce PC prices, such as Windows 8.1 with Bing, have helped to improve PC shipments in some segments

Twitter president of global revenue and partnership Adam Bain speaks at a press conference in Jakarta on August 29. Twitter plans to open an o� ce in Indonesia over the coming months as it seeks to boost revenues in the social-media-addicted nation, the company announce August 29 AFP