BANGLADESHI TAKEN HOSTAGE BY ISIS PAGE 2 KAMARUZZAMAN REVIEW HEARING APRIL 1 PAGE 4 HARTAL RELAXED FOR TODAY PAGE 3 SECOND EDITION TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015 | Falgun 26, 1421, Jamadiul Awal 18, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 2, No 334 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10 Tigers roar into quarter-finals PHOTO: AFP PAGE 27 All in the family PAGE 28 Unbridled joy at TSC, DU PAGE 3 Bangladesh oust England in Adelaide thriller PAGE 29 President, PM congratulate Tigers
Transcript
BANGLADESHI TAKEN HOSTAGE BY ISIS PAGE 2
KAMARUZZAMAN REVIEW HEARING APRIL 1 PAGE 4
HARTAL RELAXED FOR TODAY PAGE 3
SECOND EDITION
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015 | Falgun 26, 1421, Jamadiul Awal 18, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 2, No 334 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10
Tigers roar into quarter-� nals
PHO
TO: A
FP
PAGE 27All in the family
PAGE 28Unbridled joy at TSC, DU
PAGE 3Bangladesh oust England in Adelaide thriller
PAGE 29President, PM congratulate Tigers
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
DB to get Avijit murder evidence tested in FBI labn Tribune Report
Bangladeshi detectives have decided to get the evidence – collected in connection with the Avijit killing – tested in the FBI’s laborato-ry. They have also decided to seek permission from the court in this regard.
Monirul Islam, chief of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), disclosed these to reporters at their Media Centre yesterday. He however did not say when they are going to make the move.
The evidence include a severed � nger of Avijit’s wife Bonna, two machetes and a bag – all collected from near the TSC roundabout on the Dhaka University campus.
In the bag, there were some papers – be-lieved to have been used for wrapping the machetes, a jeans pant and some pills.
A US citizen and bio-engineer by profes-sion, Avijit Roy was hacked to death and his
wife Ra� da Ahmed Bonna critically injured by miscreants still to be identi� ed near the TSC roundabout on February 26. Bonna was � own to the USA last week for better treatment.
A team from the US Federal Bureau of In-vestigation, better known as the FBI, arrived in Dhaka on March 4 to assist DB – the local investigators.
The FBI agents visited the crime scene on March 6 and retraced Avijit’s footsteps on the day of his murder.
On Sunday, the FBI team went to the o� ce of the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Dhaka and talked to the forensic team who collected the evidence. The agents also inquired about the facilities at CID’s laboratory.
Meanwhile, the DB said they had been following some social media users who had threatened Avijit for his write-ups.
They have already arrested Sha� ur Rah-man Farabi, a fanatic hate campaigner on
social media and an activist of the banned Is-lamic militant out� t Hizb-ut Tahrir.
“Detectives are working to � nd out those who had posted comments on Farabi’s Face-book page supporting Avijit’s murder,” DB chief Monirul said.
“They take Farabi as their leader. We are trying to � nd out if the murder was carried out by his followers or Farabi himself. Prima-ry investigation suggests that they are mostly students,” he said.
Police have made a list of 10 more suspects in connection with the killing and will arrest them soon, he said.
Farabi was nabbed by RAB on March 3 and was later shown arrested by the DB as one of the prime suspects in the Avijit murder.
Fundamentalist blogger Farabi got arrested once before for inciting lethal attacks on an-other progressive blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider during the Shahbagh movement in 2013. l
14-party march drums up support against blockaden Tribune Report
The Awami League-led 14-party alliance yes-terday organised a road march to mobilise public support against the ongoing non-stop blockade and frequent hartals called by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
Split into four groups, the 14-party central leaders joined the march in four areas on the � rst day of a three-day programme.
They argued against the ongoing move-ment terming it “valueless” and said they are not worried about the movement as the peo-ple repudiated the blockade and hartal.
Marchers led by Health Minister and Awa-mi League Presidium member Mohammad Nasim joined the road march in Sirajganj. It will join the march in Bogra today and Gaib-andha tomorrow.
“People have denied blockade and hartal,” Nasim said, showing movement of a huge number of vehicles plying local roads and highways. “People are actively working at their work places denying hartal and blockade.”
He expected the BNP-led alliance’s move-ment would be stopped by this month.
The ruling alliance has already organised political programmes, including public rallies, to counter the ongoing inde� nite transport blockade and intermittent shutdown enforced by the BNP-led combine since January 6.
Headed by Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, another team held a road march in Gazipur. It is scheduled to hold similar march in Manikganj today and in Munshiganj tomorrow. Bridges and Road Transport Minis-ter Obaidul Quader led another team in Chit-tagong yesterday. The team will visit Noakhali today and Feni tomorrow.
Team four, led by Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif, participated in the road march in Kushtia yesterday. They are scheduled to hold similar programmes in Jhenaidah today and in Jes-sore tomorrow. l
Bangladeshi taken hostage by ISISin Libyan Tribune Report
A Bangladeshi national along with eight other foreign nationals were taken hostage by the Islamic militant out� t (ISIS) from Al-Ghani oil � eld, the south of the city Sirte of Libya on March 6.
The Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli has con� rmed the abduction of Helal Uddin (PP No. B0156553, District: Jamalpur, Bangla-desh), said a foreign ministry press release yesterday.
The incident took place when gunmen in-vaded the Al-Ghani oil � eld, killing 11 guards, beheading a number of them before local forces fought back to retake control.
The Embassy is trying to � nd out wherea-bouts of the kidnapped Bangladeshi.
“The embassy is also in close contact with National Oil Company (NOC) of Libya and the concerned company VAOS where the incident took place,” said the release. l
The latest spell of hartal have hardly made a dent in the heavy tra� c movement in Dhaka. The tailback was as usual on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, near Banglamotor area, yesterday RAJIB DHAR
All districts to be brought under rail networkn BSS
All districts of the country would soon be brought under rail network with a view to fur-ther developing the country’s communication system, Railways Minister Mujibul Haque told the House yesterday.
Responding to a query from Awami League lawmaker Sukumar Ranjan Ghosh from Mun-shiganj 1, the minister said as per the direc-tives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a plan was being taken to that end.
Mujibul said currently 44 of the 64 districts were covered by the railway network and pro-jects to bring eight more districts soon were
under implementation.He said the eight districts are Bagerhat,
Cox’s Bazar, Satkhira, Meherpur, Munshiganj, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Narail. “The re-maining districts would be brought under the railway network in phases,” he said.
Replying to another question raised by rul-ing party lawmaker Nurunnabi Chowdhury, the railways minister said the transportation ca-pacity of Bangladesh Railway had been raised to a greater extent thanks to various develop-ment programmes of the present government.
Mujibul said about 65 million passengers travelled by trains in 2013-14, while the num-ber in 2012-13 was about 62.6 million.
The minister said the development activi-ties that the present government has under-taken for the uplift of the railway sector in-clude repair of old rail lines, introduction of new rail lines, purchasing of locomotives and passenger coaches and recruitment of neces-sary manpower.
The minister said new rail line from Tarakandi to Bangabandhu Bridge East Side has been already introduced, while the opera-tion of the closed Kalukhali-Bhatiapara and Pa-churia-Faridpur rail lines have been resumed.
Besides, he said, 96 new trains have been introduced and 26 train routes expanded to provide desired services to the passengers. l
NEWS2DT
NEWS 3D
TTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Joy: BNP planned to kill men Abu Hayat Mahmud
Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has alleged that the BNP had earlier planned to kidnap and kill him in the United States.
Joy, also the premier’s ICT adviser, made the allegation in a post on his o� cial Face-book page yesterday.
His comments came after a US court sen-tenced two persons including a BNP leader’s son on March 4, for their involvement in a brib-ery scheme to obtain con� dential information from a former special agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in New York.
In his Facebook post, Joy said he provided a victim’s statement to the US court before sentencing of Rizve Ahmed Caesar, son of BNP’s cultural wing JaSaS Vice-President Mo-hammad Ullah Mamun.
“When someone tries to kill me I take it very personally. No matter how high up they may be in the BNP. I will bring them to jus-tice,” Joy said in the Facebook post.
According to a statement from the US Jus-
tice Department, Rizve had sought con� den-tial information about a Bangladeshi political � gure who was a� liated with a political party opposing Caesar’s views.
Joy claimed that Caesar was promised $40,000 per month and had been given the � rst payment of $30,000 in cash directly from very senior BNP leaders in Bangladesh. “I can-not disclose their names because the investi-gation is ongoing.”
On March 7, addressing an Awami League rally in Suhrawardy Udyan, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had also criticised the BNP’s conspiracy to kidnap Joy in the US.
Meanwhile, Joy also criticised civil society members for remaining silent on the issue. “The BNP can kill and kidnap, yet they [civil society] will never blame the BNP directly. They always blame both parties. So what justi� cation can they o� er for the BNP trying to kill me here?”
Earlier at di� erent programmes and also on his Facebook page, Joy criticised several civil society members for their present stance on urging the government to hold a dialogue with the BNP. l
Bangladesh oust England in Adelaide thrillern Mazhar Uddin from Adelaide
The high octane Pool A encounter between Bangladesh and England kept swaying like a pendulum right until the moment when fast bowler Rubel Hossain came on to bowl the 49th over at Adelaide Oval yesterday. Ten-sion among the spectators, the 22 players, and even the Bangladeshi journalists at the press box, was palpable.
England required 16 runs from 12 balls while Bangladesh needed two wickets for victory. A calm and composed Rubel (4/53) held his nerve and took just three deliveries to clean bowl Stuart Broad 9 and James An-derson 0 as the Tigers recorded a memorable 15-run triumph to progress to the quarter� -nals of the 2015 ICC World Cup. A demoralised England, on the other hand, exited at the � rst hurdle, just like 1999 and 2003.
The last hour of the game was a nervy one, to say the least, for the Bangladesh cricketers with England going ever so close to their des-tination, courtesy of a crucial 75-run stand for the eighth wicket between Jos Buttler (65 o� 52 balls) and Chris Woakes (42 o� 40 balls). All of a sudden, Bangladesh’s tally of 275/7 was look-ing 15-20 runs short. At one point, it seemed like England might just sneak through.
However, things started to look bright for Bangladesh after Buttler’s departure. A dis-appointed Buttler, who edged Taskin (2/59) to wicket-keeper Mush� qur Rahim, slowly trudged back to the dressing room, handing Bangladesh the initiative.
The match had one � nal twist though. When England were still 20 runs stranded from their target, Tamim Iqbal dropped a set Woakes o� the bowling of Taskin at the long-on region. Were it not for Rubel’s heroics, Tamim might just have experienced the worst day of his life, having been dismissed for two earlier in the day.
When Rubel came running in to bowl the � rst ball of the 49th over, there was pin-drop silence at the Adelaide Oval. Broad in the meantime was bracing himself to face the � re. The left-hander was, however, helpless in the
face of some � ery bowling by Rubel, who at times clocked 146km/h and was described by former English captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain as the day’s fastest bowler.
Rubel was coolness personi� ed, dismissing Broad in the � rst ball before accounting for the wicket of Anderson o� the third delivery to spark wild celebrations in the stadium. And as for the man himself, Rubel’s joy knew no bounds as he ran the whole length of the � eld, splaying his arms in delight.
Earlier, the Tigers, asked to bat � rst, once again experienced a jittery start as they lost
Tamim and Imrul Kayes 2 in quick succession.Mahmudullah (103 o� 138 balls) and
Soumya Sarkar (40 o� 52 balls) started the recovery act, putting on 86 runs for the third wicket. Soumya departed soon after, bringing Shakib al Hasan 2 at the crease. And when Shakib went for an early shower, Bangladesh were struggling at 99/4.
The � fth-wicket pair of Mahmudullah and Mush� q (89 o� 77 balls) added 141 runs to enable Bangladesh to reach a competitive total. Bangladesh’s 275/7 is their highest score against England in ODIs.
Mahmudullah smashed seven fours and two sixes on his way to becoming the � rst Bangladesh cricketer to score a hundred in the World Cup. Mush� q, from the other end, was playing the role of the aggressor and ham-mered eight fours and one six.
With seven points from � ve matches, Bangladesh ensured their progress to the quarter� nals with their match against New Zealand still to be played. A depleted England, on the other hand, bowed out of the � agship event with their tails � rmly betweentheir legs. l
Hartal relaxedfor 12 hoursn Tribune Report
To celebrate the Bangladesh cricket team’s victory against England in the Cricket World Cup, the BNP-led 20-party alliance has re-laxed its on-going 72-hour nationwide hartal for 12 hours from today morning.
“The 20-party alliance will bring out a vic-tory march on Tuesday across the country, congratulating the Bangladesh cricket team on stepping into the quarter-� nals of the World Cup for the � rst time,” BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said in a press release yesterday.
“For this reason, the announced hartal has been relaxed from tomorrow [Tuesday] 6am to 6pm, but the blockade will continue,” he said.
However, he also said when the hartal starts again from Tuesday 6pm, it would be extended until Friday 6am.
Nazrul added that BNP chief Khaleda Zia had congratulated the Bangladesh cricket team for their victory and expressed hopes that more victories would follow in the future. l
Bangladesh paceman Rubel Hossain, left, celebrates the dismissal of England’s batsman Ian Bell, centre, during the 2015 Cricket World Cup Pool A match between Bangladesh and England at the Adelaide Oval yesterday AFP
Gold-smuggling diplomat leavesn Tribune Report
The North Korean diplomat caught trying to smuggle in 27kg gold has left the country.
The government would have eventually asked the North Korean authorities to with-draw Song Yong Nam within 72 hours, said Ambassador in Dhaka Ri Song Hyon. He was summoned by the Director General of the For-eign Ministry Md Jashim Uddin yesterday and the envoy informed him that his junior col-league had left Dhaka on Sunday.
The ministry expressed its dissatisfaction with the actions unbecoming of a diplomat, said a Foreign Ministry o� cial. Ri was asked to contact his government to inform them that Dhaka wants to bring the diplomat to jus-tice under domestic laws, the o� cial said.
Song cannot be tried under local laws un-less his government agrees to withdraw his diplomatic immunity.
The ambassador apologised for the inci-dent and assured that he would convey Bang-ladesh’s position to Pyongyang. l
NEWS4DTTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
DB: Abu Taher murder solvedn Tribune Report
Detectives have claimed that retired tax commissioner Abu Ta-her was killed during a robbery at his Rampura � at on March 2 by his sacked driver as a revenge.
The Detective Branch of police yesterday arrested driver Md Nasir, 29, and his associate Md Rasel Talukder, 22.
Addressing a press brie� ng, Monirul Islam, the DB joint com-missioner, said: “We have got a clear picture of the incident in-terrogating Nasir and Rasel.”
Nasir and seven other members of a robbery gang took part in the killing in the � at where Abu Taher, 73, his wife Rokeya, 60, and a housemaid used to live.
The robbers entered the � at around 3am by cutting a window grill. They held Taher’s wife hostage and looted valuables, cash worth Tk45,000 and three mobile phones. When Taher tried to stop the robbers, they hacked him with sharp weapons leaving him critically injured. The robbers also cut the tendons of Ta-her’s hands and legs. Later neighbours rushed him to the hospital where Taher succumbed to his injuries.
Monirul said Nasir had been working as driver of Taher’s car for the last nine months. Some days ago, Taher sacked him for deny-ing to work during blockade and hartal. After the dismissal, Taher paid his due salary in a check but Nasir wanted the money in cash.
“We suspect that Nasir wanted to take revenge. So he got ac-quainted with the members of a local robbery gang – Amir Hos-sain, Sohel, Rustom, Masum and others,” he said adding that the detectives were looking for the other robbers. l
Kamaruzzaman review petition hearing April 1n Tribune Report
The Supreme Court yesterday � xed April 1 for hearing a petition � led by Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman seeking review of the top court’s verdict that upheld his death sentence given by a war crimes tribunal.
A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Ku-mar Sinha � xed the date allowing an adjournment petition sub-mitted by the defence.
A defence lawyer � led the time petition on Sunday seeking four weeks’ time on behalf of Khandker Mahbub Hossain, senior counsel for the convicted war criminals, mentioning that Mahbub would not be able to take part in the hearing for personal reasons.
BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s Adviser Mahbub is also the president of Supreme Court Bar Association, which last month announced to boycott court hearings during the BNP-led 20-party alliance’s blockade and hartal programmes.
When contacted, Mahbub yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that they relaxed the boycott since the SCBA had not adopted a resolution on the matter.
Kamaruzzaman’s lawyers � led the review petition on March 5.The International Crimes Tribunal 2 sentenced the Jamaat
leader to death on May 9, 2013. The war criminal appealed against the judgement after a month.
On November 3 last year, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence. The full text of the judgement was released on February 18 and the tribunal issued a warrant to execute the death sentence of Kamaruzzaman the following day.
“If the apex court dismisses the review petition, Kamaruz-zaman can seek presidential mercy to save his neck,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said earlier.
War criminal and Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla was ex-ecuted on December 12, 2013 after completion of all legal proce-dures. He did not seek presidential mercy. l
Lawmaker Serajul Akbar diesn BSS
Dr Muhammad Serajul Akbar, member of parliament for Magura 1 constituen-cy, died of cardiac arrest at the Nation-al Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in Dhaka last night. He was 74.
Abu Reza Nantu, private secretary to the lawmaker, said Dr Akbar, also
the Chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, fell sick at Savar while returning to Dhaka from Magura.
He was admitted to the institute where the attending doctors declared him dead around 8pm.
He leaves behind his wife, two daughters, relatives and well-wishers to mourn his death.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ex-pressed profound shock at the death of the four-time MP.
In a message of condolence yester-day, Hasina said the Bangladesh Awami League had lost a dedicated veteran lead-er. She also said the people of Magura would forever recall the contributions of this eminent leader with deep respect. l
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TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
FDR forgery: 11 arrestees sent to jailn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu
A Dhaka court sent 11 people, who were arrested at a private bank on Sunday, to jail yesterday, rejecting their bail pe-titions in a forgery case � led with Gul-shan police station in the capital.
Metropolitan Magistrate SM Masud Zaman passed the order when Sub-In-
spector Abdul Barik, the investigation o� cer of the case, produced them be-fore the court and sought an order to send them to jail.
The forgers – Hasibul Hasan, Mira-zul Islam, Sabbir Rahman, Md Naz-rul Haque, Shahabur Rahman Babul, Khorshed Alam, Delwar Hossain, Selim Ahmed, Shahajahan, Kazi Shahadat
Hossain and Mahbubur Rahman Kajol – were arrested at the Gulshan 1 branch of Brac Bank when they attempted to with-draw Tk90 crore from a Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) using fake documents.
However, the police did not seek re-mand as the case will be investigated by the ACC, said Gopal Chandra, general recording o� cer at the court. l
Youth Welfare Fund Bill given thumbs upn UNB
The government yesterday approved the draft of the Youth Wel-fare Fund Bill, 2015 to make the existing ordinance of 1985 more time be� tting.
A regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet gave its � nal nod to the bill at Bangladesh Secretariat, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The existing ordinance, promulgated during the martial law period, was later cancelled following the annulment of the � fth and the seventh amendments of the constitution by the higher court, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told a press brie� ng following the meeting.
He said the law was placed before the cabinet with necessary updates and drafting it in Bangla as per earlier cabinet directives.
Under the existing ordinance, he said the Youth Welfare Fund was created with a seed fund of Tk15 crore and since its incep-tion, about Tk12 crore was donated to around some 10,000 vol-untary youth organisations.
The money is being used for implementation of various youth development activities including the development of ed-ucation, science, arts and culture, and sports.
In the day’s meeting, a total of 35 Annual Performance Agree-ments (APAs), as part of the ongoing Government Performance Management System (GPMS), were signed between the cabinet secretary and the senior secretaries and secretaries of the 35 concerned ministries and divisions, in a bid to improve the per-formance and accountability of the government servants.
With the day’s signing, the overall number of signed APAs to-taled 45 as of February 23.
The cabinet secretary said that rest of the three APAs with the Ministry of Finance, Religious A� airs Ministry and Statistics and Informatics Division would be signed later on informally.
After the signing of the APAs, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed the hope that the Secretaries and o� cials of the con-cerned Ministries and Divisions would be more careful and sin-cere in achieving their respective performance targets.
She said that preparing and signing of the APAs in such a short time re� ects good coordination and teamwork within the Ministries and Divisions.
Hasina also hoped that through these APAs, the concerned Ministries and Divisions would be able to move far ahead with their activities with e� ciency.
The Cabinet Secretary said these APAs would bring about qualitative change in the overall management of the govern-ment and would enhance e� ciency, accountability and perfor-mance of the concerned Ministries and Divisions.
The Cabinet Secretary signed the APAs as the representative of the Prime Minister and the President of the national commit-tee on GPMS while the Secretaries as the representatives of the concerned Ministries and Divisions.
With the implementation of the Performance Management System, it is expected that the e� ciency and accountability of the government o� ces would enhance while the pace of im-plementation of the government announced policies and pro-grammes through intense monitoring would be expedited.
The Annual Performance Agreement (APA) is in place in various countries in di� erent names including in Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, India, New Zealand, USA and UK.
The Cabinet meeting was also apprised about the visits of Bangladesh delegation headed by Expatriates Welfare and Over-seas Employment Minister to Saudi Arabia on January 18-23, 2015 and Bangladesh delegation headed by Deputy Minister for Environment and Forests at the COP 10 of the ‘Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of Ozone Layer’ and MOP 26 of the ‘Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer’ held on November 17-21, 2014 in Paris.
Ministers and state ministers attended the meeting while concerned Secretaries were present. l
A court in Chittagong yester-day put Jamaat-e-Islami acting ameer of Chittagong city unit Ahsan Ullah on a three-day re-mand in a case � led in connec-tion with a � rebomb attack on a bus.
Chief Metropolitan Mag-istrate Md Masiur Rahman passed the order after police produced Ahsan before his court with a 10-day remand petition, said Chittagong Met-ropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Kazi Muttakin Minan.
Detectives detained Ahsan from a � at at Halishahar early on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Jamaat’s stu-dent wing Chhatra Shibir on Sunday evening called a 48-hour general strike in greater Chittagong for tomorrow and
the day after tomorrow in pro-test at what it described as the illegal detention of Ahsan.
The strike was announced in a press release issued by several top leaders of Shibir’s Chittagong city (north) unit and sent by Publicity Secretary Kanak Hasan.
The Shibir leaders claimed in the press release that many Jamaat and Shibir leaders were being arrested in falsecases as the government was fearful about the ongoing movement.
We demand that Ahsan and other detained leaders be released immediately as we would go for tougher move-ment otherwise, they warned.
In addition to the strike, Shibir also announced to hold a protest rally across greater Chittagong tomorrow to high-light its demand. l
Concert to be held for DMCH burn patientsn Syeda Samira Sadeque
As a tribute to the burn victims currently being treated at Dha-ka Medical College Hospital, a “Concert for the Burned” will be held on March 14 at the Na-tional Library Auditorium from 11am.
The event, with the motto, “stand beside the burn people of DMCH Burn Unit,” has been organised by O� stage, an event management � rm, to raise money for the burnt patients and their families.
Most of the victims were killed or injured in arson and/or petrol bomb attacks.
O� stage CEO Joseph Ovi told the Dhaka Tribune, there are needs for medicine for the patients and other forms of support for the families.
Bands such as Arbovirus, Powersurge, Dr Doctor, Owned, Poraho, Shohojia, Candle Car-mine, Samudra, Embrace of Death, Quanta, Page 31 and Si-lent Time will perform.
The concept refreshing-ly mirrors George Harrison’s 1971 “Concert for Bangladesh,”
which he had organised to con-tribute to the war victims in Bangladesh.
While our country nowreels from similar violence, the people of our country have come forward to use their tal-ents to contribute to a good cause.
“We’ve done charity shows like this before but stopped in the middle because either the causes were not strong or there was not enough evidence. That is not the case this time,” said Jamshed, whose band Power-surge has been performing for eight years.
While the money raised from tickets will go directly to DMCH, there will be room for extra donations as well as donations of medicine, food, bandages and other medical equipment.
Guests at the event will in-clude Dr Samanta Lal Sen of DMCH, singer and writer Fakir Alamgir, and singer and lead vocal of “Maksood O Dhaka” Maksood ul Haq.
Entry fee is Tk250. Tickets will be available at the venue. l
NEWS 7D
TTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
WEATHER
Source: Accuweather/UNB
D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:05PM SUN RISES 6:13AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW32.8ºC 11.5ºC
Sitakunda Srimangal
TUESDAY, MARCH 10
SourceL IslamicFinder.org
F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 33 21Chittagong 33 21Rajshahi 34 20Rangpur 33 17Khulna 34 19Barisal 34 21Sylhet 34 16Cox’s Bazar 33 23
PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:58am
Sunrise 6:13amZohr 12:09am
Asr 4:26pmMagrib 6:05pm
Esha 7:20pm
DRY WEATHER
LIKELY
Industrial waste, dyeing chemical slowly killing Shitalakhya n Our Correspondent, Narsingdi
The Shitalakhya River, also known as Lakhya Nodi, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, � owing through the district has nearly become dead due to industrial waste and chemical.
Sources at Deputy Commissioner’s O� ce said hundreds of factories situated near the river are dumping garment factory waste, dyeing chemicals, polythene, printing, fertil-isers, cement factory waste violating industri-al and environmental laws.
Thousands of farmers in Sadar, Polash upazila and Shibpur upazilas are a� ected as a large numbers of industries are continuously spewing toxic industrial wastes into agricul-ture lands violating rules.
They said that the toxic water that goes down the drains from those factories � nally end up in the river. The toxic wastes include chemical dyeing, detergents, ammonia, lime, sulphate, sulhuric acid, soda, bleaching pow-der and many other harmful materials.
Samir Chandra, now turned into boatman from � sherman, said around a decade ago people used to catch � sh from the river and water bodies around it.
“But the scenario has now changed and no � sh can be found in the polluted water,” he said.
Sources said most of the factories are not following rules and regulations of the Depart-
ment of Environment (DE) although the de-partment has directed all the entrepreneurs to set up E� uent Treatment Plant(ETP) to check pollution.
During a visit to Shilmandi, Madhabdi and Panchdona in Narsingdi Sadar, Dan-ga, Ghorashal in Polash upaizla, Kararchar, Bhareterkandi Sherpur in Shibpur upazila, it was found most of the dyeing, printing and textiles industries and other factories releas-ing toxic chemical into the river and another water bodies nearby it.
A physician at Narsingdi Sadar Hospital said these toxic substances mixed in river wa-ter a� ect the health of the people and many are su� ering many diseases including skin infections and diarrhoea. Even domestic an-imals are a� ected due to toxic substances in river water, but no e� ective measures have been taken to improve the situation.
Many houses near the river are forced to use the dirty water for their household needs includ-ing bathing and washing. They must use the tox-ic water because they have no alternatives.
Masud Khan, teacher of Govt Birinda Pri-mary School said his two children and other family members were su� ering from skin dis-eases as they used water of the river.
“Water of the river has taken a dark hue and become poisonous due to continuous dumping of factory waste and chemical mixed
coloured water of textile industries,” he said.Farmer Habij Uddin of Kajuir village in
Danga Union under Polash upazila, said: “The water cannot be used for growing crops as it is adversely polluted.”
Many farmers like Habij Uddin, Riaj Uddin and Ismail have expressed their deep frustra-tion as the cultivation of crops are being ham-pered seriously in their areas.
Ashadozzaman Khokan, the secretary of Narsingdi district unit of Sujon, a citizens’ right body, said they would go for tough pro-grammes if the authorities did not take neces-sary steps against the industries responsible for polluting the environment.
Deputy Director of Department of Environ-ment in Narsingdi Mohammad Ataur Rahman said they were monitoring the activities of the factories that were polluting lands, rivers, ca-nals and water bodies and environment.
The department also carried out drives through mobile courts against factories that are violating the law, he said.
Ataur Rahman said that around 65 factories had installed ETPs and the rest were working to set it within a short time. The deputy com-missioner served notices to the factory own-ers a number of times.
Owners also assured the DC that they would set up ETPs in their factories, more than 50% of factories did not keep promises. l
11 die in road accidents n Tribune Report
At least 11 people died in sep-arate road accidents that took place in Chittagong, Gopalganj, Sherpur, Jessore, Barisal and Bagerhat.
Two people were killed in separate road accidents in Ak-bar Shah area under Fatikchari upazila in Chittagong yesterday.
The deceased are Onimesh Chowdhury, 45 and Kazi Md Alauddin, 32.
In-Charge of Najirhat High-way police outpost Sub-Inspec-tor Mahbub Alam said motor-cyclist Alauddin was spotted lying on the road around 10pm on Sunday. Police suspected that he might have been killed in a road accident. Later, police recovered the body.
Meanwhile, Sub-Inspector of Akbar Shah police station Md Akhtaruzzaman said Oni-mesh was ran over by a reck-lessly driven-truck at Akbar Shah intersection while he was crossing the road around 10:30pm. He said Onimesh died on the spot.
In Gopalgaj, a teenage boy died and 40 people were in-jured as a bus plunged into the Madhumati River on Teker-hat-Gopalganj road at Padma-vila in sadar upazila.
The deceased was identi� ed as Ibrahim Khalil, 13, hailed from Maksurdpur upazila.
Police sources said when driver of a bus lost control over the steering and the vehicle plunged into the river, leaving the boy dead on the spot and 40 other passengers injured.
In Sherpur, two people were killed and 10 others injured when a human hauler plunged into a ditch at Gajani Abakash Kendra in Jhenaigati upazila.
The deceased were identi-� ed as Dulal, 35, son of Sek-endar Ali and Fakir Mia, 28 of Sribardi upazila.
O� cer-in-Charge of Jhen-aigati police station Fasihur Rahman said the human haul-er carrying 12 people plunged into the ditch from a hillock inside the tourist spot, leaving Dulal dead on the spot and 11 others injured.
Our Jessore correspondent adds: Three motorcyclists were killed in Harikhali area in the afternoon.
But identity of the deceased could not be known immedi-ately. In Barisal, two passen-gers killed and eight others in-jured after a bus hit a microbus at Kasemabad under Gournadi upazila. In Bagerhat, a woman was killed. l
NEWS8DTTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Section 144 imposed in Sunamganj Local administration yesterday imposed section 144 in Chhatak upazila of Sunamganj as two London expatriates called meeting at the same venue on same time. The ban has been imposed from 6am on Monday and will continue till further notice, said UNO Md Mujibur Rahman. Jauya Bazar police investigation centre In-Charge Sub-Inspector Sha� qul Islam said the ban was imposed to avoid untoward situations.– Our Correspondent, Sunamganj
200kg venison seized in NarayanganjMembers of Coast Guard in a drive seized 200 kg venison and 77 slaughtered migratory birds from a trawler in the Dhaleshwari River on yesterday. Tipped o� , a team of Coast Guard members led by Yunus Hossain, senior chief petty o� cer, conducted a drive in the river and seized the venison and the slaughtered birds from trawler ‘Rajhang-sha-8’ in an abandoned condition, said Pagla Coast Guard Station Commander Sub Lieutenant Hasanur Rahman. The seized venison and slaughtered birds were handed over to forest o� cials. – UNB
NEWS IN BRIEF
Women � nd self-reliance through embroideryn Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj
Around a thousand impoverished women in � ve villages of Kishoreganj district have found a way out of poverty and towards self-reliance – the craft of embroidery.
In Daliarchar and Nodar villages of Sadar upazila and Gan-gatia, Lakuhati and Gabindapur villages in Hossainpur upazila, women have been dependent on sewing and embroidery work for their livelihoods for several years.
Finishing up their household chores, these women spend the remainder of their free time creating meticulous designs on di� erent types of fabric using beads and sequins, making saris, salwar-kameezes and dupattas. Young girls who cannot continue their studies due to � nancial constraints join in too.
Visiting the villages, this correspondent found thousands of women working on their latest products. All of them had their own stories of how they found that a seemingly ordinary skill could turn their lives around.
Nadira Akhtar, from Lakuhati, dropped out of college because her father could not bear her educational expenses.
“We were going through � nancial crisis when we learned about one of our neighbours earning money by making embroi-dered saris,” Nadira told the Dhaka Tribune. “It took little to convince me and my mother Rahima Khatun to take up the job.”
Their � rst sari took four days to complete and earned them Tk500. They have not looked back since.
“If I had not taken up this work then, I would not be able to go back to college and help my family,” Nadira, who has resumed her studies, said.
There are many other girls in the village who have similar stories.Nasima Akhtar of Nodar said businessmen from Dhaka visit
their villages on a regular basis and take their � nished products to sell at renowned shops and malls in the city.
“We are busy all year round, but it gets quite hectic before big festivals, such as Eid,” she added.
Haresha Khatun, from Daliarchar, said: “It usually costs me around Tk500-700 to make an embroidered sari, but the � nished saris are sold at around Tk5,000-15,000 apiece in Dhaka.”
Abdus Sattar Tushar, a Kishoreganj-based social worker, said: “These women have found a great opportunity in embroidery industry to change their lives for the better. The government should provide support, such as training, in order to help this in-dustry grow further. l
Fire in Chittagong furniture marketn Tribune Report
23 furniture shops of a furniture mar-ket and four houses were gutted in two separate � re incidents in Baluchara and Bakalia areas in Chittagong city early yesterday.
However, a person, Md Azad, 21 was injured while extinguishing the � re in
Bakalia area, said � re service and civil defence sources.
Jasim Uddin, deputy assistant di-rector of Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters in Agrabad, said a � re had broken out from an electric short circuit at a thatched furniture market in Baluchara area of Baizid in the city.
Being informed, � re � ghters with
two units from Agrabad and Baizid � re station rushed to the spot and put out the � re after � ve hours hectic e� orts around 9am, said the DAD.
A total of 22 thatched shops and a semi-pucca shops were gutted in the � re while the extant of losses caused by the � re would be Tk25 lakh, said the � re service o� cial. l
NEWS 9D
TTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Syndicates sell o� rations belonging to cluster villagesRuling party leaders’ involvement found amid lack of monitoringn Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari
Lack of proper monitoring, political interfer-ence and tyranny of various syndicates have infested the ration project in the cluster vil-lages of the hilly district of Khagrachhari.
About 26,000 residents of 84 cluster vil-lages, commonly known as gucchagram, have been facing hardship as they are deprived of the ration allocation.
The poverty-stricken villagers of these guchhagram heavily rely on the ration pro-gramme for their daily need of rice, wheat and other necessities.
Locals said since there was no one to look after the programme, the rice and wheat have been misappropriated by activists and var-ious political party leaders who sell those in the open market.
Many residents just sign the papers but do not get any ration. Even if they do, the amount is always less than the allocation.
The posts of the chairman of the projects
in Comilla Tila and Shalbon gucchagram have been lying vacant for six month now hamper-ing the distribution of ration.
It has been alleged that a syndicate has been trying to make a business out of the appointment of the chairman in the empty posts. Without following the due procedure, they have been trying to appoint their own men.
After the term of the previous chairman ended, Md Islam Uddin, councillor of ward 6 of Khagrachhari municipality applied for the post.
However, his � le has been not been pro-cessed yet for some unknown reason.
Md Islam Uddin said: “According to the gucchagram regulation, I have the priority as the people’s representative. But my appli-cation has not been forwarded to the deputy commissioner yet.”
He alleged that the local MP recommend-ed to appoint Anwar Hossain, who had been accused of swindling Tk6 lakh of the Guccha-
gram Cooperative Society in 2012. “I will go to the court if anyone is appoint-
ed by illegals means,” he added. Upazila Nirbahi O� cer (UNO) of Khagrach-
hari Sadar Mir Shawkat Hossain said the rec-ommendation from the local MP would get priority.
Meanwhile, Mayor of Khagrachhari Munic-ipality Ra� qul Alam said: “It is a violation of the rule not to appoint a people’s represent-ative. The administration has been playing with the fate of gucchagram residents.”
Contacted, deputy commissioner of Khagrachhari Md Wahiduzzaman assured to appoint the chairman according to the regulation.
“Since I came here, I have not appointed any chairman for the project. A decision about the those two guchhagram will be taken after scrutinising the applications and through a committee,” he said adding that what the pre-vious deputy commissioners did with the ra-tion project was not his concern. l
Three women jailed for lifefor murder n Our Correspondent, Meherpur
A Meherpur court yesteday gave sentenced three women to life term imprisonment for killing a man in 2007.
The court also � ned them TK 20,000 each, in default, to su� er, six months more rigorous imprisonment.
The convicts are Khodeza Khatun, wife of Korban Ali of Darbeshpur village, her daugh-ter Kajoli Khatun and their neighbour Joty, wife of Tengra.
District and sessions judge Rabiul Hasan gave the verdict after cross-checking 14 wit-nesses and examining documents.
According to the prosecution, Tayab Ali was strangulated to death by the three wom-en at Darbeshpur village in sadar upazila on August 6, 2007 when he wanted back the money he had lent to Khodeza.
Ferdousi, wife of the deceased, � led a case against the trio in this connection.
Sub-Inspector of Meherpur Sadar police station submitted charge sheet against the convicts after investigation.
After a long hearing, District and Sessions Judge Rabiul Hasan handed down the verdict. l
WORLD10DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Merkel sees di� cult path ahead on Greecen Reuters, Tokyo
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on a visit to Japan yesterday that Europe faced a formidable challenge in reaching a � nancial aid agreement with Greece that would keep it in the euro zone.
Asked at a news conference in Tokyo about whether she would rule out a so-called “Grex-it,” as European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker appeared to do in an interview over the weekend, Merkel struck a more cautious tone.
“I have said time and time again, and I can say it again here, our political goal is to keep Greece in the euro zone. We have been work-ing on this for many years,” she said. l
Nemtsov ally says Islamist motive in murder ‘absurd’n AFP, Moscow
A friend of slain Russian opposition activist Boris Nemtsov yesterday dismissed theories that radical Islamists were responsible for gunning him down as “absurd” and political-ly motivated.
Investigators have said they were looking into the possibility that the former deputy prime minister was killed over his support for French satirical magazine Charlie Heb-do which published images of the Prophet Mohammed.
The theory appeared to gain ground af-ter a suspect from Russia’s Muslim North Caucasus region of Chechnya – which held a massive rally against the publication in Jan-uary – confessed to his involvement in the assassination.
“The o� cial version of the inquiry is more than absurd. In my opinion it is the result of a political order from the Kremlin,” Ilya Yashin, who co-founded the opposition movement Solidarnost with Nemtsov, told AFP.
He said Nemtsov had “never spoken nega-tively about Islam” and had merely criticised the Islamists who gunned down 12 people at Charlie Hebdo’s o� ces in a series of attacks in Paris in January.
Zaur Dadayev, a former deputy com-mander in a special Chechen police unit, was charged with murder on Sunday alongside Anzor Gubashev who worked for a private security company in Moscow. They, along with three other suspects, were remanded into custody. l
Putin describes secret operation to seize Crimean AFP, Moscow
President Vladimir Putin has revealed the mo-ment he says he gave the secret order for Rus-sia’s annexation of Crimea and described how Russian troops were ready to � ght to rescue Ukraine’s deposed, pro-Moscow president.
In a trailer shown Sunday for an upcoming documentary on state-run Rossiya-1 televi-sion called “Homeward bound,” Putin openly discusses Moscow’s controversial grabbing of Crimea a year ago.
Putin recounts an all-night meeting with security services chiefs to discuss how to extricate deposed president Viktor Yanuk-ovych, who had � ed a pro-Western street re-volt in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
“We ended at about seven in the morning,” Putin says. “When we were parting, I said to my colleagues: we must start working on re-turning Crimea to Russia.”
Four days after that February 2014 meeting, unidenti� ed soldiers took over the local parlia-ment in Crimea and deputies hurriedly voted in a new government. The Ukrainian province was then formally annexed by Moscow on March 18, triggering international condemnation.
The military operation was initially kept secret and despite the increasingly obvious ac-tions of unmarked Russian forces on the ground, Moscow insisted that only locals were involved
in the upheaval. Later, the Kremlin conceded that it had been behind the power grab.
In the trailer for the documentary, Putin also claims that Russia’s military was ready to � ght its way into the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk to get Yanukovych, a heavily cor-rupted but loyal � gure who favoured keeping Ukraine in Russia’s sphere of in� uence.
“He would have been killed,” Putin said. “We got ready to get him right out of Donetsk by land, by sea or by air,” he said. “Heavy ma-
chineguns were mounted there to avoid talk-ing too much.”
Yanukovych later resurfaced in the south-ern Russian city of Rostov and has not been back to Ukraine.
More than 6,000 people have since been killed in � ghting between Ukraine’s govern-ment forces and heavily armed separatist militias based in Donetsk and backed – ac-cording to Western governments – by Russia, although Moscow denies this. l
Saudis block Swedish minister’s speech at Arab Leaguen Reuters, Stockholm
Saudi Arabia has blocked a plan for Sweden’s foreign minister to address the League of Arab States in Cairo yesterday in a protest over crit-icism of its human rights record, a Swedish foreign ministry spokesman said.
Sweden’s Social Democrat-led government wants to raise its international pro� le by em-phasizing human rights and a feminist ap-proach to foreign policy.
It also decided to recognize a Palestinian state, without formally consulting its allies, immediately after taking o� ce in October last year.
“Last night, we were told that Saudi Arabia had blocked Margot’s participation,” the foreign minister’s press spokesman Erik Boman said.
“The only explanation we’ve got is that this is because of the statements the Swed-ish government has made regarding human rights in Saudi Arabia.”
Margot Wallstrom had been invited to give a speech to a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers and the trip was aimed at building cooperation to promote democracy, human rights and economic integration.
Wallstrom tweeted criticism in January of Saudi Arabia’s � ogging of blogger raif Badawi, calling it a “cruel attempt to silence modern forms of expression.”
Comment from the Saudi Arabian govern-ment was not immediately available.
Sweden is currently reviewing whether to renew a � ve-year deal to supply military ma-terial and training to Saudi Arabia. l
People paint pancakes in colors of Russian national � ag during Maslenitsa celebrations in the village of Perevalnoye, near the Crimean city of Simferopol February 22 REUTERS
Fukushima residents torn over nuclear waste storage plann Reuters, Okuma, Japan
Norio Kimura lost his wife, father and 7-year-old daughter Yuna in the March 2011 tsunami.
Now, he fears he may lose his land, too, as Japan’s government wants to build a sprawling radioactive waste storage site in the shadow of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
Like many here, Kimura is angry the gov-ernment is set to park 30 million tons of ra-dioactive debris raked up after the nuclear accident on his former doorstep. Few believe Tokyo’s assurances that the site will be cleaned up and shut down after 30 years.
“I can’t believe they’re going to dump their trash here after all we’ve been put through,” said Kimura, 49, standing near the weathered planks on a shrub-covered hill that represent all that’s left of his home.
Kimura was forced to abandon search-ing for his family in the frantic hours after the tsunami and ordered to evacuate after explosions rocked the Fukushima complex, just 3 kms (less than 2 miles) from his home. Months later, he found the bodies of his wife and father. But all he has left of Yuna are her mud-soaked pink skirts, a pair of striped leg-gings and a blackened soft toy he found tan-gled in a heap of debris.
Four years after the earthquake and tsu-nami disaster, Kimura still returns to his hometown and combs the deserted beach for Yuna’s body - in 5-hour stints, the maximum allowed under radiation health guidelines.
The March 11, 2011 earthquake and subse-quent tsunami tore through coastal towns in northern Japan and set o� meltdowns at To-kyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, which sits partly in Okuma.
Japan has since allocated more than $15 billion to an unprecedented project to lower radiation in towns around the plant, such as Okuma. Every day across Fukushima prefec-ture, teams of workers blast roads with water, scrub down houses, cut branches and scrape contaminated soil o� farmland.
That irradiated trash now sits in blue and black plastic sacks across Fukushima, piled up in abandoned rice paddies, parking lots and even residents’ backyards.
Japan plans to build a more permanent storage facility over the coming years in Oku-ma and Futaba, another now-abandoned town close to the Fukushima nuclear plant - over the opposition of some local residents.
“This land has our blood and sweat run-ning through it and I can’t just let go of it like that,” said Koji Monma, 60, an Okuma resi-dent who heads a local landowners’ group.
Fukushima’s governor agreed to take the waste facility after Tokyo said it would pro-vide $2.5bn in subsidies, and promised to take the waste out of the prefecture after 30 years. Mayors of Futaba and Okuma have since agreed to host the 16 square km (6.2 square mile) facility - about � ve times the size of New York’s Central Park - which will wrap around the Fukushima plant and house mul-tiple incinerators. l
Mother killed in Australia while on phone to husbandn AFP
An Indian mother was fatally stabbed in a Sydney park during a brutal attack as she was on the phone to her distraught husband back home, police said yesterday.
Prabha Arun Kumar, a 41-year-old IT profes-sional, was taking a shortcut through Parramat-ta Park in the city’s west at around 9.30pm (1030 GMT) on Saturday when she was killed. Family members told Indian media that the woman was speaking with her husband, G. Arun Kumar, at the time and he heard her scream for help.
“She was walking while talking to Arun on the phone when she said that a suspi-cious-looking man was following her,” broth-er-in-law Thrijesh Jayachandra told Indian newspaper The Hindu. l
Release of Kashmiri separatist leader creates hurdles for Modin Reuters, Srinagar
A ruckus over the release from prison of a man who led one of the biggest revolts against the Indian military in Kashmir is add-ing to mounting problems for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he tries to push economic reform through parliament.
The lower house of parliament was tem-porarily adjourned yesterday after opposition parties demanded to know why separatist leader Masarat Alam Bhat was released at the weekend by Kashmir’s state government, which Modi’s nationalist party supports.
“I am angered and condemn the release, just like other lawmakers,” Modi said in par-liament.” Modi swept to o� ce ten months ago promising rapid economic transformation
but disparate opposition parties have united to block his agenda, forcing the government to rely on executive orders called ordinances to pass unpopular policies.
With two weeks remaining of the current
session of parliament before a recess, the gov-ernment needs to win support for ordinanc-es, including those raising the foreign direct investment limit in the insurance sector, or they will expire. l
WORLD 11D
TTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Situation under control in Dimapur, 43 arrests maden Agencies
The situation in Dimapur town of Nagaland, where a mob lynched a rape accused, was yesterday returning to normalcy with curfew being relaxed and markets reopening after three days even as more arrests were made in connection with the incident.
Curfew has been relaxed from 6am to 12 noon and the situation is “under control,” DIG (Range, NAP) Liremo Lotha, who is o� ciating as Dimapur SP in the wake of the suspension of the SP after the lynching incident, said.
The situation will be reviewed at noon and if necessary, curfew might be reimposed, he said.
Prohibitory orders under Sec 144 CrPc will be in force after noon, he said.
The total number of persons taken under custody has risen to 43, the DIG said.
Meanwhile, business activities were re-turning to normal with markets opening after three days. l
EDITORIAL12DT
TUSDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
We are thrilled by Bangladesh’s victory over England at the Ade-laide Oval in the cricket World Cup.
Qualifying for the quarter-� nals with one match to spare is a noteworthy achievement for the Tigers in such a competitive and prestig-ious tournament.
It is heartening to witness the exhilaration of fans and see spirits uplifted at a time when the country is clouded by a political crisis.
To bowl out a major team in the process and see the � rst-ever century for a Bangladeshi in an ODI World Cup match provides a welcome bonus for a win which had to be hard-earned in the closing overs.
Congratulations are due � rst and foremost to the players for co-ordinat-ing an e� ective bowling and � elding performance to secure the day.
The combination of solid teamwork and an increasing number of strong individual performances, exempli� ed by Mahmudullah’s century in this match, has been vital in securing this well-earned berth for the next stage.
It also sets the stage for a crowd-pleasing � nal group stage match by the Tigers against co-hosts New Zealand.
We hope the camaraderie and success achieved will inspire the team on to at least two more good performances and new heights of success.
The Tigers have provided a great lesson to all Bangladeshis, that we are capable of great things if we all work hard together.
Congratulations to the Tigers for showing the value of teamwork
A victory for teamwork
The Coast Guard is to spend Tk963cr on buying four ships from Italy.At a time when German shipping companies have expressed
interest in buying more vessels from Bangladeshi shipyards, and the EU Ambassador in Dhaka has said that the European Union is looking to invest in the Bangladeshi shipbuilding industry, it is disappointing that this order could not have been procured by tender locally.
The government needs to show more vision and ambition in helping remove constraints on local shipbuild-ers.
Bangladeshi entrepreneurs have invested in improving facilities and developing skills to enhance the na-tion’s capacity to build modern ships. The country needs such emerging manufacturing sectors to grow in order to help diversify and expand the economy.
The government must make more use of the levers it has available to encourage the nation’s shipbuilding industry.
Supporting e� orts to grow the land and anchorage area available for shipyards needs to part of this to help the sector make the most of its potential.
The government’s moves to support the Blue Economy also o� ers new opportunities to help the sector.
Even more important, as a nation with thousands of ageing and unsafe river vessels plying both passenger and cargo routes, the government can do a lot to stimulate investment simply by properly enforcing safety rules to require transport owners modernising their � eets.
Helping shipbuilders compete better can help the whole economy by growing export markets and supporting new, higher value jobs.
Create opportunities for nation’s shipbuilders
Show more vision to help emerging sector grow new jobs
Karl HungusDraconia indeed. Coupled with govern-ment-sanctioned attempts at curtailing free speech (ICT Act 2006), there is little mean-ing to that term in this nation nowadays ...
sattarCurtailing free speech is just a step towards curtailing other things. The press must remain free!
Kmak“It is worth noting that the allegedly o� en-sive book was a translation of quite an old foreign book, the author of which was an Iranian madrasa-educated theological schol-ar who died 33 years ago. That didn’t matter. Hefazat’s threats were enough – Rodela had to shut down their stall at the book fair.”
The author was Ali Dashti. He was not a theological scholar but a journalist, although he did receive a Madrassah education in his youth. He left Islam later in his life, be-coming a rationalist. His book is basically an attempt to undermine Muhammad (saw)’s claim to prophecy. In other words, it is an anti-Islamic polemical work.
vhsKmak: Ever heard vague terms like “a young scholar,” etc? What do you think “scholar” means exactly, in terms of credentials? Someone who holds some o� cial position at a university? The author of the book studied theology deeply, took an interest in it, and wrote a book on it, though by profession he was a journalist. Many with no formal credentials whatsoever get called “Is-lamic scholar.” There is no dishonesty here, and the piece isn’t meant as a comprehen-sive biography of Ali Dashti.
Son ZooKmak: You seem to constantly latch onto a minute detail/fact and debase the entire article or its author based on that. Are you running out of arguments?
BanuKmak: Thanks for your clari� cation.
Son ZooBanu: What exactly did he clarify?
sundarHello, bhaijan have you ever watched TV talk shows in private channels? Particularly where Mahfujulla, Asif Najrul, Sadek khan, Nurul Kabir express their views in full throat-ed voices? If not, try and listen to them. Reli-gious sentiment is a di� erent kettle of � sh. It is some thing omnipotent and non-negotia-ble. The Daily Star’s poster publication case is an exception which hardly falsify the rule. Mahfuz Anam’s problem is he thinks himself the big brother of the media and the intel-lectual world, which naturally irritates many. He must get rid of his super intellectual ego to be agreeable to all.
vhssundar: Not sure why Mahfuz Anam should try to be “agreeable to all.” Whether he has a big ego or not isn’t relevant in this argument. The point raised here was, should the Daily Star be harassed legally over this publication?
As for “religious sentiment,” it is perfectly possible for most educated-but-religious people to tolerate books they don’t agree with. Not sure what you mean when you say it is “non negotiable.” Sounds to me like a license to persecute any dissenting voice.
sundarvhs: Look at what happened to Humayun Azad, Taslima Nasrin, so and so forth, as direct outburst of religious sentiment. The helpless minority communities’ temples, homes, and huts were burnt down in the � res of religious sentiment. Does the government not hold responsibility towards these poten-tial victims of religious sentiment?
Who are these “most educated but religious people” who are ready to tolerate opinions having slightest chance to ignite highly in� ammable religious sentiment, can you cite one example? I have heard Asif Najrul, Mahfujullah ponti� cate on religious sentiments in various TV talk shows day in and day out, and by implication to justify the persecution. Are they not su� ciently educated and tolerant persons?
Door-SwingerSpot-on commentary from DT’s best looking opinionator!
OPINION 13D
TTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
n Zubier Abdullah
A lot has been said over the past few days. The protest at North South Uni-versity yesterday has created divides,
with some believing that the behaviour ex-empli� es the spoiled, rich brat attitude that many think some students possess.
Those who are working and are travelling through the chaotic streets of Dhaka every day for their jobs are not complaining. So, who are we to complain?
Aren’t we all just a bunch of spineless children, without an ounce of work ethic or integrity? Aren’t we all cavorting throughout the city -- going to shopping malls, watching movies, and even sneaking o� for romantic tete-a-tetes with our signi� cant others?
So, how dare we possess the right to protest about going to classes? How dare we devalue the importance of an education by choosing not to attend classes? Since a lot of other universities have taken the same step. Students don’t want to risk their lives to attend university.
That does not mean they do not want to attend classes. That does not mean they do not want to learn.
What it means is that they do not wish to learn while risking their lives. They do not wish to pay their tuition in blood. The NSU authori-ties, along with numerous others, had planned to start resuming classes from this week.
To them, there was no alternative. Contra-ry to popular opinion, the average university student, especially at North South, does not want to stay home. They want to attend classes, as unrealistic as that may seem.
The real issue, then, is not that we don’t want to attend classes. Rather, it is that we do not want to attend with the risks involved. A majority of students in the university do not live in Bashundhara. For them, travelling to and from university entails a mix of CNGs, rickshaws, and buses. Some cycle but they are not the majority.
As we have no doubt seen, in lurid detail, most of the violence in the past weeks have been aimed at buses. Open the front pages of any newspaper and you are greeted with images of charred, smouldering wrecks of buses.
Even if the risk of being injured is low, slightly or otherwise (say 0.01%), is that risk justi� ed?
There are 15,000 students in NSU. Let us say that a third of them do not travel by car and do not live nearby. That is 10,000 people putting themselves at risk every day. There are � ve days of class/hartal per week.
Crunching the numbers, that gives us � ve incidents per week. Is that a justi� able number? This does not take into account the numerous other public and private universities out there. That number becomes a lot higher if you factor those in.
None of us want a tragedy. We are all sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and none of us want to see or hear about one of our own getting injured. The cost of losing an arm or a leg is not worth it when we have not tried out other alternatives.
We are willing to work with the authorities of our university to � nd an amicable solution to this problem.
We have already o� ered suggestions to host classes online, to post materials on websites and through Facebook groups, following the example of ULAB, who have done so.
Already, three people have been injured, and if you turn on the news now, you may catch glimpses of the cocktails which had exploded outside Brac University last month.
You may, of course, say that countless scores of people are risking life and limb every day. Why are we so special? Don’t we know how much we will su� er when we have to join the work life? Doesn’t this show to the world how spoiled and uncommitted we are?
Firstly, I applaud your bravery: Working hard to feed your family and advance your career, amidst such a chaotic time should be lauded and is a supreme example of commit-ment.
However, organising a peaceful protest of 5,000 people to stand up for what we believe in -- that education should not be paid in blood also shows commitment.
Many people have made inaccurate and negative comments about NSU. Like everything, it has its fair share of problems, but unity is not one of them.
We will work towards a solution to this problem and, since many believe we cannot, we will succeed. l
Zubier Abdullah is a freelance contributor.
Tuition in blood?
n Moazzem Hossain
February 2015 has passed, and the nation has entered the historic month of March. While the month of February
in 1952 was the beginning of spilling blood on the streets of Dhaka to bring home Bangalees’ political emancipation via the language movement, the � nal ultimatum was given to Pakistan by Bangabandhu on March 7, 1971.
The ultimatum to realise political emanci-pation had materialised in declaring inde-pendence on March 26 after a bloodbath in Dhaka was unleashed by the Pakistan Army in the wee hours of March 25.
The 71 generation indeed is fortunate enough to celebrate the 44th anniversary of independence in a couple of weeks. Out of the last 257 years, this part of Bharat Barsha was under three rules: British Raj for 190 years (entire Bharat for 90 years), Pakistani rule for 24 years, and 43 years of our own.
We have seen so much blood being shed over the last 43 years, it is now clear that we are indeed not capable of governing our-selves without blood on our hands.
From March 26, 1971, the nation lost 3 million lives during the nine months of the war of liberation. The bloodletting has not stopped till the present. The nation hardly enjoyed even � ve years of continuous peace over the last 43 years.
Why? Of course, this is a million dollar ques-tion. One can see a parallel with the partition of Bharat Barsha in 1947. Greater India was divided into two parts based on religion.
When former East Pakistan was liberat-ed and became Bangladesh after waging a bloody war against West Pakistan in 1971, the war created divisions within politicians: More than 90% joined the liberation forces and the rest remained anti-liberation or pro-Pakistan.
The anti-Bangladesh mob was mainly constituted by the Muslim League, Jamaat-e-Islam, and other minor religion-based political parties. This divide became too � erce within three years of liberation.
Since the government of Indira Gandhi was sympathetic towards our liberation movement, in the immediate post-liberation era, the anti-liberation forces and some opposition parties (JSD, NAP, Bhashani for example) of the newly independent Bangladesh in 1973 had started destabilising the government of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and � nally, some stooges of anti-liberation seized the opportunity to kill the Father of the Nation along with members of his family on August 15, 1975.
The opposition, particularly JSD, and anti-Bangladesh forces were restless to grab
power from Bangabandhu. The bloodbath was not ended there. Until today, the forces of anti-liberation have been � ghting the incumbent and in the process, they made the general public pay the price.
The anti- liberation forces are not alone this time, and have been supported by the enemies of Bangladesh from home and abroad.
Under the present circumstance, the 14-party alliance government and the op-position forces of the 20-party alliance have reached a point of no return. Both alliances have drawn a clear line and the nation is di-vided into two camps: The incumbent on one side and the opposition on the other.
Under this circumstance, no credible solution of the present con� ict is possible involving both the alliances since possibili-ties of any meaningful dialog between them has been lost.
In view of the above, since no credible option is left in hand to end this carnage from within, our foreign friends and the UN seem to be making a move to bring back sanity in the life blood of this nation. Would foreign intervention work? I do not think so. The solution has to come from home. In my view, if history was right, meaningful dialog will not take place. (Remember Sir Ninian’s attempt in 1996?)
We need someone who has the trust of both leaders and the alliances. No dialog led by the civil society will work. The approach should include a business like negotiation process between the political alliances with a team of facilitators.
This team may be called, The Commission, and needs to be created by the incumbent via lawful process for the legitimacy. The Commission would comprise of no politi-cians, but of three or more eminent persons with the consent of the two major alliances: The 14-party and 20-party (remember, like it or not, the two alliances constitute more than two-thirds of the electorate).
There must not be any face-to-face meet-ing of both the leaders (since all attempts by the PM has failed in the past) until the time when the commission realises that the ice has been broken.
The negotiations should begin with writ-ten submissions by invitation only from all major political alliances. The subject matter of the submission should include, how to nurture meaningful democratic governance in the short to medium term.
The negotiation process may need a few phases with a time limit such as submission of proposal, negotiation, implementation of the outcome, and so on.
In order to proceed further with such a de-vice, the � rst precondition is � nding people with integrity and a clean image from home. Like the introduction of CTG approach in 1996 to satisfy the then opposition demand, the outcome of The Commission needs to be adopted by the parliament before imple-menting it with a time limit.
I am sure this will not be the last proposal for solving the crisis, however, one hopes this may act as food for thought for cultivating fur-ther innovative approaches. Negotiation over dialog sounds appropriate after so much water has � own under the bridge. l
Moazzem Hossain is a freelance contributor. He writes from Brisbane, Australia.
Which way now?
The government and the opposition have reached a point of no return. Both the alliances have drawn a clear line
BIGSTOCK
OPINION14DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
n Namrata Anirudh and Rainer Ebert
The great Su� poet and philoso-pher Rumi once wrote about the religions of the world: “The lamps are di� erent, but the Light is the same.” He calls on us to focus our
attention on the commonalities between di� erent religions, which are profound and important, rather than the di� erences.
Rumi’s call is as timely now as it was in the thirteenth century when he penned it. Too many wars and con� icts, much misery and pain, and a great deal of personal tragedy have resulted from disagreements about religion.
If you need an example, just open today’s newspaper, or yesterday’s, or that of the day before … immersed in petty quarrels about details, we often lose sight of the things all great religious traditions have in common. Their inner truth and essence, if there is any, is love for all of creation, and that is a value all people of good will, whether they identify with any particular religion or not, can equal-ly subscribe to.
Unconditional love precludes discrimi-nation on the basis of race, colour, gender, religion, or national origin, and demands that we transcend ourselves and show genuine concern for the su� ering or misfortune of others, regardless of who they are.
That is the moral imperative at the core of all religion, and hence constitutes a univer-sal ideal, which has the historically proven
power to transform not only individual lives but whole societies.
If we listen, our personal experience too tells us that the good (or God, if you will), as well as the ugly, can be found in Chris-tians and Muslims, just as it can be found in Hindus and Buddhists, and people without religious belief.
We inherently know that each one of us is only a very small part of a larger scheme of things, yet our bursting egos refuse to embrace or accept that fact.
We fear insigni� cance, and we try to get over that fear by tying ourselves to some-thing bigger. It is this quest for meaning and belonging that partly explains the promi-nence of religion in human life. Religion re-sponds to the very basic need for signi� cance and acceptance that all humans share, and gives us direction and purpose.
All too often, however, people cling to rigid and uncharitable interpretations of their traditions, and the direction and purpose o� ered by religion is perceived as narrow and exclusive. We get absorbed in small-minded debates about sexuality, marriage, drink-ing, or clothing, and act and speak, as if our belonging depended on whether we hold the truth on these issues, and must be defended against others who subscribe to di� erent belief systems.
In doing so, we often miss the bigger picture. Likely, no religious or philosophical tradition has all the answers. Nobody has
a monopoly on truth. We can be con� dent, however, that a good Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist, or simply a good person for that matter, is � rst and foremost one who is respectful of others, and is also kind, com-passionate, honest, and fair.
While di� erent religions, which originated at di� erent times and places, unsurprisingly have moral codes that di� er in their speci� cs and at times con� ict with each other, that should not distract us from the crucial fact that these codes are all based on the same fundamental values, which also have a cen-tral place in the worldview of an overwhelm-ing majority of non-theists.
It is easy to identify faults in others and condemn their ways and practices, and we have proven time and again that we are good at it. De� ning ourselves not in contrast to others, but in terms of what unites us, is hard and takes courage. What we often fail to realise as people of a particular religion or worldview is that we have one thing in common -- belief, which helps us through our lives, and guides our actions.
Our paths might be di� erent, just as each one of us is di� erent physically, emotional-ly, and mentally, but we are here together, and must learn not only to coexist, but to cooperate, and to understand our diversity as a strength rather than a de� ciency. There is so much we can learn from each other, if we are humble and open, from each other’s scriptures and intellectual traditions, and so
much good we can achieve if we are willing to join hands, across super� cial religious and ideological lines.
It is okay to disagree, but we should also be able to put our disagreements aside, and translate what we agree on into action, make sure, together, that every child in this world gets a decent education, everybody has enough to eat and a warm and safe place to sleep, nobody is wrongly discriminated against, the earth remains habitable for future generations, and no animal su� ers because of human greed.
Sadly, and much to the shame of human-ity, we are far from meeting any of these goals, and anybody willing to change that is one who belongs.
The true heretics are not those who do not believe in the existence of God, brahman, or nirvana. Heresy is being callously indif-ferent to the su� ering of billions of animals in factory farms, setting � re to buses � lled with innocent people, killing authors and journalists because one disagrees with their writings, treating domestic workers and beggars as less-than-human, and sitting idle while others are dying from poverty. l
Namrata Anirudh is an animal behaviourist, and currently working in slow loris conservation in Indonesia. Rainer Ebert is a graduate student of philosophy at Rice University in Texas, and an Associate Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. He blogs at rainerebert.com.
Kindle the common lightBIGSTOCK
15D
TBusiness TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Primark to give Tk30cr more to Rana Plaza victims n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi
British retailer Primark will contribute Tk30 crore more as compensation to the victims of Bangladesh’s deadliest Rana Plaza factory accident, o� cials said.
The fund will go to families of 581 vic-tims who were working at a Primark’s sourcing company housed in the building.
The brand earlier gave Tk83 crore to the families.
On March 8, the Primark in a letter sought approval from the Bangladesh government for a total of Tk113.43 crore (including the previous Tk83 crore) com-pensation fund.
Labour and Employment Secretary Mikail Shipar admitted the receipt of the letter.
“Primark sought approval for Tk113.43 crore compensation fund for the victims who worked in the brand’s supplier com-pany. Of the amount, it has already dis-bursed Tk83 crore,” he said.
Primark, however, earlier committed over US$14m (Tk108 crore) in aid and � -nancial support to the victims’ families.
It also gave an additional $1m to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, chaired by the International Labour Organisation.
The Trust Fund, constituted by Indus-triALL, UNI Global Union and the Clean Clothes Campaign, estimated the needed compensation for Rana Plaza victims at $40m. The � gure was later revised down to $30m with the Fund having collected nearly $21m.
“Forty percent of the Fund has already been spent while another 30% will be dis-tributed soon,” Ramesh Chandra Roy, sec-retary general of IndustriAll Bangladesh Council, told the Dhaka Tribune. He said the other 30% disbursement is however dependent on the availability of fund.
“But we will continue to put pressure on the retailers and the concerned stake-holders to contribute to the funds so we can ensure a full-� edged compensation for the victims,” he pointed out.
Primark’s sourcing company at the Rana Plaza was New Wave Bottoms which was housed on the second � oor of the building. On April 24 last year, Rana Plaza, which housed � ve garment facto-ries, a shopping complex and a branch of Brac Bank, collapsed.
The death toll from the deadliest building collapse stood at 1,135 while 2,438 people were rescued alive from un-der the rubble.
The Rana Plaza collapse is regarded as the deadliest garment-factory accident in history. It is also the deadliest industrial accident in history of Bangladesh
The building housed garment fac-tories, a bank, apartments, and several other shops. The shops and the bank on the lower � oors immediately closed after cracks were discovered in the building. l
BB: Banks were stable in 2014
Goldman: US crude prices to drop to $40 a barrel as inventories rise
Stocks end � at in choppy trading191716
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman speaks at a seminar attended by the IMF Mission at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka yesterday BB
IMF team convinces Muhith to stick to single VAT rate n Tribune Report
The government will introduce a single rate of value added tax (VAT) from July 2016, Fi-nance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.
He expressed the determination by ignor-ing recent objections from the business com-munity against the move being made under a proposed amendment to the VAT Act 2012.
The VAT turnover ceiling would be raised above Tk30 lakh from the existing Tk24 lakh to allow small and cottage industries to grow, the minister added.
He made the remarks after meeting a vis-iting six-member team of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Credit Facil-ity (ECF) programme, led by IMF Deputy Divi-sion Chief for the Asia and Paci� c department Rodrigo Cubero, at the Finance Ministry.
Claiming that he earlier preferred the mul-tiple VAT rate system, Muhith said he was now convinced by the IMF team to choose otherwise.
Muhith said the new single VAT rate would be disclosed during the budget announce-ment for the next � scal year. Decision on whether to keep the existing 15% retail-level VAT would also be announced then, the min-ister added.
Muhith also said the VAT Act 2012 will be amended after the budget announcement.
The release of the � nal two tranches of the ECF programme, worth around $280m, is
now pending upon the decision to amend the existing VAT Act.
Talking to reporters, Muhith further claimed that the business community had no objection against introducing a single VAT rate.
However, on Sunday, at a meeting with the � nance minister, leaders of apex trade body FBCCI had voiced their arguments against a single VAT rate.
At the meeting, FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed also proposed to intro-duce multiple VAT system instead of a � at 15%, in order to help small businesses.
The FBCCI also argued that the multiple VAT system was being practised in many de-veloped and developing countries such as France, China, Malaysia and other EU coun-tries.
In January, a nine-member panel of the National Board of Revenue recommended the authorities concerned to im-pose multiple VAT rates, in-stead of the universal 15% in all areas.
It also recommended rais-ing the ceiling of turnover VAT to Tk36 lakh from Tk24 lakh to facilitate growth of small and cottage industries, especially in the rural area.
Meanwhile, the IMF Mis-sion participated in a seminar
organised by Chief Economist’s Unit of Bang-ladesh Bank at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka yesterday.
The mission members presented several research papers on lending rates, trade elas-ticity, in� ation and economic activities in Bangladesh.
BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman, Depu-ty Governors Md Abul Quasem and SK Sur Chowdhury were also present.
Souvik Gupta and Mr. Sohrab Ra� q of the IMF mission presented the papers.
The papers analysed export and import elasticities, trends in core in� ation vis-a-vis headline in� ation, tracking economic activ-ities via coincident indicators, and interest rate spread behavior in Bangladesh in the global context. l
BUSINESS16DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Japan economy returns to growthn AFP, Tokyo
Japan’s economy grew less than initially thought in the � nal quarter of 2014, revised government data showed yesterday, revealing an even weaker emergence from recession than previously believed.
The poor data could put the Bank of Ja-pan under pressure to launch more stimulus, economists said, as the world’s third largest economy struggles to rid itself of two decades of lassitude. The Cabinet O� ce said the econ-omy expanded just 0.4% in the October-De-cember period from the previous quarter, down from an initial estimate of 0.6% growth, with corporate capital investment shrinking.
Despite the downgrade, the data still con-� rmed the Japanese economy had crawled out of recession at the end of 2014, after two consecutive quarters in which gross domestic product (GDP) contracted.
“The result showed that Japan’s economy bottomed out from a ‘technical recession’ fol-lowing the April VAT hike in October-December quarter, while the pace of recovery was still lim-ited,” Credit Suisse economists said in a note.
Japan’s economy stuttered last year after an April sales tax rise cut o� the � ow of con-sumer spending, which had shown healthy growth until then. Monday’s � gures, if an-nualised, show GDP growth revised down to 1.5% from the previous � gure of 2.2%.
That places Japan well behind the United
States, where revised data showed the econo-my growing an annualised 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Over the full calendar year the Japa-nese economy logged zero growth, a signi� cant slowdown from an expansion of 1.6% in 2013.
Capital Economics said the revised GDP data support the case for more easy cash from the central bank.
“We still think that the Bank of Japan will an-nounce more stimulus next month” to achieve its in� ation target of 2%, said Marcel Thieliant,
Japan economist at Capital Economics.Sustained in� ation is a key measure of
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pro-spending growth blueprint, dubbed Abenomics, which was set in motion in late 2012, sending the yen plunging and boosting stock prices.
The central bank expanded its already mas-sive asset-purchasing programme in October.
But Japan’s in� ation rate has now dropped to its lowest level since just after Abenomics was unleashed. l
Japan economy stuttered last year after an April sales tax rise cut o� the � ow of consumer spending AFP
BB: Banks were stable in 2014 Bankers disagree with central bank’s claim n Tribune Report
The country’s banking sector has gained strong base in the year 2014, overcoming the adverse impact of the global economic reces-sion and the domestic political unrest of the previous year.
Mainly because of Bangladesh Bank’s timely measures and government’s support, the sector has gained the capacity to cope up shock arises from internal and external sectors, said a central bank statement issued yesterday.
It said Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), which indicates the risk absorbing capacity of banks, improved to 11.35% in December from 10.57% in September last year.
The ratio went up as the provisioning re-quirement of the bank reduced during the quarter due to the regularisation of huge de-fault loans through taking advantages of re-laxed policy of the loan rescheduling, said a senior executive of the central bank.
The provision shortfall of the banking sec-tor came down to Tk796 crore during the last quarter of 2014 from the shortfall of Tk2,400 crore in the previous quarter.
The four state-owned Sonali, Janata, Agra-ni, Rupali banks rescheduled default loans of around Tk8,000 crore from the year 2013 till September last year.
Bangladesh Bank also said that corporate governance has been established in the bank-ing sector as several measures were intro-duced, de� ning the formation and responsi-bilities of the boards of the commercial banks.
The boards of state-owned banks, howev-
er, have allegedly been found guilty in a series of anomalies committed from January to June last year.
According to a report of the central bank, the boards of � ve state-run banks – Sonali, Rupali, Janata, Agrani and Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) – did not maintain any formality in terms of ensuring single borrower expo-sures, renewal of loans, taking compromise amounts at the time of new loan facilities, loan rescheduling and loan classifying.
The boards appeared to have centralised their loans to a number of similar groups, individuals and companies, violating the sin-gle borrower exposure limits and putting the banks into a vulnerable conditions.
According to the report, the board of di-rectors of the state-run banks provided loans and extended limits repeatedly to the same groups simply violating their respective sin-gle borrower exposure limits.
They also rescheduled loans to the groups that had already committed fraud with the re-spective banks and did not have the capabili-ty of paying installments of the rescheduled loans.
“It is not true that the banking sector has idle money of Tk90,000 crore,” said the state-ment.
Bangladesh Bank, however, claimed that only Tk3,364 crore remained idle, which is not abnormal considering the number of 56 banks.
It observed that the credit � ow improved to 13.99% at the end of the year 2014 despite unfavorable political environment.
The bankers, however, do not agree with
the Bangladesh Bank’s claim, saying that the banks had to cut the lending rate due to lack of credit demand.
“Banks have increased their investment in government bills as they are badly su� ering from lower credit demand in the market,” said a senior executive of a private bank.
As a result, they are loosing pro� ts because of minimum return from their investment compared to the earnings that they might get through lending, he added.
Under the circumstance, banks cut the lending rate to boost credit demand so they can get comparatively better return from lending instead of government bills, he said.
The lending rate in the banking sector came down to 12.32% in January 2015, hitting a four-year low, from 11.34% in 2010.
The rate was 12.46% in December last year, according to the central bank data.
The interest rate spread – the gap between advance and deposit rates – came down to a 10-month low in January, due to the lending rate cut by the banks.
The spread stood at 5.06% in January, which went up to 5.21%, hitting a � ve-month’s high, in December last year, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
Earlier, the gap was 5.06% in February last year with highest 13.40% lending rate of the year.
The private sector credit growth still re-mained slow amid political unrest. The credit growth to private sector stood at 13.50% in December last year, which was below from the ceiling of 14% that was set in the � rst half monetary policy of 2015. l
CSE makes e� ort to � nd strategic partner n Tribune Report
The demutualised Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) is making e� orts to look for strategic partners both from home and abroad.
“We are searching for strategic partners in line with the demutualisation rules,” said Wa-li-ul Maroof Matin, CSE managing director, at a press brie� ng to mark the one year comple-tion of demutualised exchange at its Dhaka o� ce yesterday.
As per demutualisation law, the CSE had formed its � rst demutualised board on Febru-ary 15 last year.
The 13-member board consists of seven independent directors, four shareholder di-rectors, managing director and one strategic partner.
“As per law we have still time to induct strategic partner in the board,” Matin said, adding that one year has passed for streamlin-ing the CSE and some initiatives have taken to protect investors’ interest.
According to the demutualisation law, brokerage houses holds 40% shares of the demutualised stock exchange. The rest 60% has been kept for trading rights entitlement certi� cate (TREC) holders, strategic investors and individuals.
Strategic investors will not be allowed to hold more than 25% shares of a stock ex-change while no individual will hold more than 5%.
The CSE managing director said the CSE has � rst given priority of protecting investors’ interest instead of its own business for the � rst two years of completing the demutualis-ation process.
In the same breath the CSE Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid said a qualitative change has been brought in the board of the demutualised exchange.
“It is clearly visible in the activities of de-mutualised board comprising businesses, professionals and experts in their respective � elds,” he said.
Matin said the CSE will make information dissemination easier and available for the in-vestors so that they can take decision before putting bet on any stock.
“O� cial pages in social media like face-book will be opened by this month to receive the complaints and suggestions of the market intermediaries and investors.”
In the last one year since demutualisation of the stock exchange, the CSE has received 1,024 complaints from the investors, which is much higher.
“All-out e� orts will be made to reduce the complaints to nil by June this year so that in-vestors have no complaints in future,” said the CSE managing director.
He said if we can protect the investors’ interest, con� dence will be built up further towards the market and subsequently TREC holders will be bene� tted in the long run.
He said now 51 companies are being trad-ed in the OTC (over-the-counter) market and several of them have no existence.
“The companies having no existence will be delisted from the OTC market and the ones interested to come back to the main market and have good track record will be helped to get out of woods.” l
BUSINESS 17D
TTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Goldman: US crude prices to drop to $40 a barrel as inventories risen Reuters, Singapore
Oil prices will reverse their recent gains as global crude inventories begin to increase again, with US crude likely to drop as far as $40 a barrel in the near-term, Goldman Sachs said.
Oil prices rose by almost a third between January and February on the back of Mid-dle East supply disruptions, strong winter demand and high re� nery margins. That followed a rout that had seen price falls of around 60 percent between June 2014 and January this year.
But Goldman said that “the activity pull is sequentially weakening” and that global crude inventories would therefore rise, pushing West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 to $40 a barrel, levels last seen at the peak of the global � nancial crisis in late 2008, early 2009. It stood at around $49.40 yesterday.
“While we continue to forecast a strong demand recovery in 2015, we believe that se-quentially weaker activity, the end of winter and the end of potential restocking demand, will lead to a sequential deceleration in de-mand-growth as we enter the spring,” the bank said.
Goldman said that Brent prices LCOc1 would also come under renewed pressure.
“As a result and absent further unexpected OPEC disruptions, we expect Brent oil pric-es and timespreads to reverse their recent strength, although the lack of a meaningful build in the past few months leaves risk to our forecast for (WTI) oil prices remaining at $40/barrel for two quarters skewed to the upside,” the bank said in a note dated March 8.
The bank said that it expected “OECD Asia demand to decline in 2015 as stronger indus-trial production is o� set by the continued switch to LNG (lique� ed natural gas) for pow-
er generation and the impending start-up of the two Sendai nuclear reactors in Japan”.
A two-thirds drop in Asian LNG prices is making the fuel cost competitive against oil in the industrial power sector.
In Japan, the regulator has given approval
for several reactors to be restarted this year. All its 48 reactors were taken o� ine after the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant following an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
In the United States, Goldman said that “the build in US inventories has surprised to
the upside, especially in Cushing”.The bank said that its WTI price prices fore-
cast of $65 a barrel for 2016 was “skewed to the downside” as currently idled assets could quickly be redeployed, especially as operating costs were falling. l
An oil � eld is seen at sunrise near Bakers� eld, California REUTERS
Cash may be king, but smartphones seek to rule at the registern AFP, Barcelona
Using your smartphone to make payments in shops or public transport should become more widespread this year, but its supremacy will depend on how successful retailers are in enticing people to keep their cards or cash in their pockets.
The stakes are high for phone manufactur-ers and operators, not to mention banks, as the success of contactless systems where consum-ers sweep their smartphone over a reader could shake up the lucrative retail payments market.
But the chief executive of Ingenico, a lead-ing manufacturer of payment card terminals as well as new contactless systems, doesn’t see people as ready to give up their debit cards just yet.
“Smartphones will be a small part of the mar-ket but the main payment mechanism will re-
main the traditional (card) terminal which will continue to see growth,” said Philippe Lazare, whose company manufactures more than one in three payment terminals in use worldwide.
That view didn’t stop Ingenico from an-nouncing this past week at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona a contactless payments system compatible with Apple Pay.
Apple of retailer’s eye?Apple’s adoption last year of NFC, or the near � eld communication standard, was a major step towards this becoming the dominant technology.
Google has had a similar service, Google Wallet, available for a couple years.
NFC allows smartphones or other devices to communicate with one another within a distance of several centimetres (inches).
This means consumers can quickly sweep
their phones over readers rather than having to pull out a card, insert it into a terminal and wait to punch in a code.
“It was a decisive step towards the creation of an ecosystem but that may not be su� cient as several solutions are available,” said Anne Bouverot, head of the GSMA trade association for mobile operators that organises the Barce-lona event.
She said that it is also important to get people accustomed to using their phones for making payments by using them elsewhere, such as with public transportation systems that have adopted contactless technology like in London or Paris.
In launching Apple Pay, the US tech giant was again demonstrating its longstanding role as a trendsetter, rather than responding to consumer demand. It has yet to be rolled out anywhere except in the United States. l
German trade surplus contracts on falling exportsn AFP, Frankfurt
A drop in German exports caused the coun-try’s trade surplus to contract in January, of-� cial data showed yesterday.
Exports declined by 2.1% in January, driv-ing down the trade surplus, the balance be-tween imports and exports, the federal statis-tics o� ce Destatis said in a statement.
In seasonally adjusted terms, Germany exported goods worth a total of 96.3bn euros ($104bn) in January, down from 98.4bn euros in December, Destatis said.
Imports, on the other hand, slipped by just 0.3% to 76.6bn euros.
That meant the seasonally adjusted trade surplus declined to 19.7bn euros in January from 21bn euros in December.
In unadjusted terms, the trade surplus contracted to 15.9bn euros in January from 17.9bn euros in December, Destatis said. l
BUSINESS18DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY
Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change
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 [email protected] or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net
News, analysis and recent disclosuresRELIANCINS: The Board of Di-rectors has recommended 15% cash dividend and 15% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 30.04.2015, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: La-Vita Hall, Lake Shore Hotel, House No. 46, Road No. 41, Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212. Record date: 19.03.2015. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 298.18 million, EPS of Tk. 4.99, NAV per share of Tk. 65.47 and NOCFPS of Tk. 5.29 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.DBH: The Company has informed that it has complet-ed the process for signing of purchasing a � oor space measuring 3,200 sft. at the 7th � oor of DR Tower, 65/2/2 Pu-rana Paltan, Box Culvert Road, Dhaka-1000 at a total cost of Tk. 4,82,28,800.00 (excluding registration expenses).IPO Subscription: Tosrifa Industries Limited Subscription March 24, 2015 to March 31, 2015; NRB UPTO April 09, 2015. O� er Price per share Tk. 26.00, Market Lot (Shares) 200.Dividend/AGMUNITEDFIN: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 23.04.2015, Record date: 18.03.2015.LAFSURCEML: 5% � nal cash dividend (i.e. total 10% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 5% interim cash div-idend which has already been paid), AGM: 11.06.2015, Record Date: 07.04.2015.UNIONCAP: 10% stock, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record date: 16.03.2015.TRUSTBANK: 5% cash and
10% stock, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record date: 15.03.2015.DUTCHBANGL: 40% cash, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record date: 15.03.2015.SOUTHEASTB: 15% cash, AGM: 29.03.2015, Record date: 15.03.2015.ALARABANK: 14% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record Date: 15.03.2015.PRIMEBANK: 15% cash, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record Date: 10.03.2015. PUBALIBANK: 10% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record Date: 10.03.2015.SIBL: 18% cash, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record Date: 10.03.2015.HEIDELBCEM: 380% cash, AGM: 15.04.2015, Record Date: 12.03.2015.SINOBANGLA: 10% cash, AGM: 21.05.2015, Record Date: 19.03.2015.BANKASIA: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record Date: 10.03.2015.SINGERBD: 35% Cash & 25% Stock (Total 220% including Interim 160% paid), AGM 28.04.2015. Record Date 15 .03 2015. LINDEBD: 110% � nal Cash (i.e. total 310% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 200% interim cash dividend which has already been paid), AGM 30.04.2015, Record Date 10.03.2015.EBL: 20% cash dividend, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record Date: 11.03.2015. IDLC: 10% cash and 25% stock dividend, AGM: 30.03.2015, Record Date: 09.03.2015.
CSE GAINER
Company Closing (% Change)
Aver-age (%
Change)
Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover
in MillionLatest
EPSLatest
PE
Prime Islami Life -A 8.06 7.15 62.47 63.00 63.00 60.00 0.037 4.95 12.6Anwar Galvanizing-B 7.63 8.37 39.50 39.50 40.10 38.80 0.654 0.64 61.7AMCL (Pran) -A 7.00 7.00 214.00 214.00 214.00 214.00 0.000 6.50 32.9Peoples Insur -A 6.82 6.99 18.83 18.80 19.00 18.80 0.035 2.25 8.4Bangladesh Lamps -A 5.81 5.89 114.73 114.70 117.90 112.00 0.012 1.13 101.5National Life I -A 5.34 5.39 234.93 234.80 235.00 234.80 0.036 12.46 18.9Alltex Industries -Z 4.37 4.32 23.93 23.90 24.20 23.10 2.877 2.02 11.8Tallu Spinning -Z 4.23 3.87 14.78 14.80 14.80 14.50 0.080 -0.50 -veRatanpur Steel -N 4.19 4.77 51.82 52.20 52.80 50.40 2.648 4.16 12.5Dhaka Bank -A 3.87 3.47 18.76 18.80 18.80 18.70 0.001 1.36 13.8
DSE key features March-9, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)
2,797.46
Turnover (Volume)
70,204,311
Number of Contract
87,984
Traded Issues 303
Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)
165
Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)
132
Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)
6
Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)
2,519.63
Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)
30.54
CSE key features March-9, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)
261.26
Turnover (Volume)
7,110,126
Number of Contract
13,889
Traded Issues 225
Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)
130
Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)
89
Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)
6
Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)
2,388.94
Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)
28.96
BUSINESS 19D
TTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Stocks end � at in choppy tradingn Tribune Report
Stock market closed � at amid choppy trading yes-terday, breaking six days of losing streak in a row.
Unlike previous ses-sions, market opened higher and remained � rm almost throughout the session but selling pressure in the wee hour cut all the gains, as concerns over the political deadlock � nally beat opti-mists, analysts say.
After rising more than 25 points, the benchmark DSEX index inched only over 1 points up to settle at 4,626.
The Shariah index DSES was marginally up 2 points or 0.3% to 1,105. The com-prising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,714, edging 2 points or 0.2% higher.
Chittagong Stock Ex-change (CSE) Selective Cat-egories Index, CSCX, rose 1 point to 8,618.
After hovering around Tk200 crore-mark for the last six sessions, total turn-over stood at Tk280 crore, up more than 12% over the previous session. Engineer-ing accounted for 18% of the total turnover, followed by textile 15%.
Food and Allied roared back as it registered the highest gain of more than 2% after heavy losses in the
previous session. The sector was driven by BATBC that rallied 2.8%.
Cement sector also recov-ered by soaring 1.8%, fol-lowed by pharmaceuticals and non-banking � nancial institutions that closed mar-ginally higher.
Banks, telecommuni-cations, life insurance and power closed in the negative territory.
IDLC Investments said early hour enthusiasm got evaporated for lack of sup-port, as majority of investors fear continued downtrend in coming days.
It said with unrest wounding the economy ma-jor equity market repelled investors to take residual in-terest to the economy.
Lanka Bangla Securities said stocks moved indolent-ly at this level and trying to consolidate above the sup-port level of 4,600.
IDLC Investments said depression eclipsed the market as solution to polit-ical uncertainty seems far-fetched, in the near term.
“With terror in the back of the mind, investors stood on their toe to sell o� their holdings at signs of wors-ening. As a result, market faced persistent gradual downtrend with occasion-al shakeout in speci� c ses-sions.” l
Early hour enthusiasm got evaporated for lack of support, as majority of investors fear continued downtrend in coming days
ANALYST
Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4626.22514 (+) 0.03% ▲
DSE - 30 Index : 1714.66220 (+) 0.14% ▲
CSE All Share Index: 14148.30640 (+) 0.05% ▲
CSE - 30 Index : 11731.03020 (+) 0.09% ▲
CSE Selected Index : 8618.72500 (-) 0.06% ▼
CSE TURNOVER LEADERS
Company Volume-Shares
Value in Million
% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice
23auto correctWhat’s the correct way to lower your car? (Part II)
24gadgetsRing the alarmsappsA monumental success
Find out what you need to check o� your list before lowering your car. Adjusting the ride height, paying attention to the road surface and investing in the right kind of shock absorbers, we’ve got pointers on how to do it right.
The all new HTC One M9 and Samsung Galaxy S6 have been the talk of the town. With UltraPixel sel� e camera, 20-megapixel cam at the back and BoomSound speakers, M9 is competing head to head with S6, that’s equipped with 64-bit octa-core chip and an AMOLED display of 2560x1440 pixels.
How to do it right:
Stealing everyone’s thunder:
INSIDE
It may feel a bit dated, but it also has traditional Mitsubishi
virtues of rugged simplicity and a proper value for money
n Tahsin Momin
With the 2015 Outlander, Mitsubishi has lurched towards families in a manner that it has never done before. With a complete disregard towards its bold designs and performance character, that we have come to expect from Mitsubishi over the last two dec-ades or so, its history is replaced by comfort, e� ciency, and subtlety.
ExteriorTake a glance at the 2015 model and then compare it to the previous generation, and its rather disappointing. Gone are all the cool notions of bold styling with the aggressive shark-nose front end, performance themed interior and the maniac personality; replaced with something that is rather a bit restrained for the sake of practicality.
So, what is left of it is not necessarily what you would call sporty but it does give o� a very elegant appeal. It makes you want to
believe that simplicity is the key to modesty and tastefulness.
InteriorOn the inside, the Outlander is well above par in almost every respect in comparison to other compact crossovers. With three rows of seat on o� er, the Outlander can � t up to sev-en and includes a good driving position with the aid of tilt/telescopic steering. There is also good headroom and legroom for adults in the second row. It’s also one of the most compact SUV to come with three-rows of seating and hence the third row only comes as a backup plan for carpool duty. That being said though, the seats can be folded � at, the cargo � oor is rather low, and the second row can be adjusted to � ne-tune legroom. Never-theless, in a time when almost every model tries to emulate luxury models, the Outland-er cabin isn’t doing much to speak for itself and doesn’t do much in terms of design or materials, but it does feel rather welcoming.
An outlandish face
The one thing that the Outlander most de� nitely has going for it is its styling; the smooth exterior lines, circuit board-inspired grille, and cutting-edge lighting design make the Mitsubishi standout
tires
WheelsTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
T-JUNCTION22DT
Wheels T-JUNCTION 23D
T
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
If you want to know about any car parts in particular, message us on our facebook page, www.facebook.com/pages/T-Junction/851271244920316
What’s the correct way to lower your car? (Part II)
n Tahsin Momin
Last week we looked at the advantages of lowering the ride height of your vehi-cle. This week we go a step further and look at the dark side of the saga:
Increased bottoming outOne of the most commonly faced prob-lems with a lowered suspension is that the vehicle can easily hit the road when it hits a bump. Going over speed bumps can also be quite troublesome. Any con-tact with the road surface can cause the underside of the car to be serious-ly damaged. Especially, the oil pan and exhaust system are particularly vulner-able to this.
Uneven tire wearIn most cases, a lower suspension can cause tires to wear unevenly, or cause extreme wear patterns if the suspension is not set up properly. Drivers should keep an eye out for this when altering their suspension in any fashion.
Potential con� ict with other partsThe most dangerous aspect of lowering the suspension is that it might come into contact with other vehicle systems. Low suspensions can get tangled up with the anti-lock brake mechanism, sway bars, or even hit the tire sidewall. An incorrectly set up suspension can re-sult in the tire getting chewed up, caus-ing some serious potential risks.
Lifting and towing problemsFor those who like to hoist up the car using a jack routine maintenance might � nd it quite di� cult to get this sim-ple job done. Think twice about your accessing necessities before you get the vehicle’s frame lower toward the ground.
All these are important considerations that the vehicle owner has to look into before messing around with the suspension system that came direct from the factory. We recommend that you pay extra for quality shock absorbers and other parts, and strictly avoid cheap aftermarket parts that can cause catastrophic failures on the road. l
This week we bring to you the second part of the four part sequence, where we look into the conventions related to lowering the ride height of your automobilia
auto correct
PerformanceMitsubishi’s 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine in the Outlander makes 166HP and is more re-� ned and stronger in the low and mid range revs. And with 100kg shredding of weight over the previous generation, the Outlander is now well suited to everyday commuting conditions. Although there is no turbo-charger, it still has the MiVEC (continuously variable valve timing with lift), adjusting the intake valve timing. The upshot is that it makes 162lb.ft of torque, and since it comes only with a continuously variable automatic transmission it has a superb fuel e� ciency.
SafetyFor the � rst time, Mitsubishi Outlander includes adaptive cruise control, a for-ward collision mitigation that will, at lower speeds, � rst signal that there is an obstacle or any other vehicle ahead and then apply the brakes to fully stop the vehicle, and lane departure warning. The Outlander is shaping up to be one of the top-rated vehicles in its class for safety, having achieved a � ve-star rating in the Euro NCAP test.
VerdictThere is no denying the fact that the Outlander feels old, but it does have some of old Mitsubishi virtues like its ruggedness, reliability, and value. This is where the new Outlander makes a strong point for itself; its combination of ruggedness and value is truly unbeatable. The only problem is that there are other options that are similar and they also o� er great driving dynamics and excellent all-wheel drive. In a world, where such strong contenders exist, it is rather hard for the Outlander to � t in. l
Available at:
Mitsubishi Motors BangladeshRangs Limited215, Bir Uttam Mir Shawkat SarakTejgaon, 1208 Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tech
n Mahmood Hossain
S6
You’d think a new Audi was creeping out of the garage. Samsung’s new Galaxy S6 has plenty of heads turning. Sorry, actually both the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge have been on the same page. Yes, they blindsid-ed us with two very attractive models, the latter being the most enticing. The obvious characteristic is the new design. It actually doesn’t look or feel cheep. Gone are the days of plastic, and in comes the premium quality it deserves.
All metal and glass, no compromising with materials this time around. We can � nally commend Samsung for putting design as its � rst priority. However, this could also be a
problem. They happened to completely strip the features found in its predecessor, the S5. Although, it might irk plenty of Apple fans because it seems as if old habits die hard. There are blatant, almost identical, copied characteristics of the iPhone 6.
As if their past lawsuits never mattered. Aside from the copying accusations, both models are the best looking Samsung phones they have ever created. They have signif-icantly updated their AMOLED display to 2560x1440 pixels - a density of 577ppi. This is currently the best you’ll � nd in the market. They also introduced their own chipset, choosing Exynos over their partnership with Qualcomm. A 64-bit octa-core chip and 3GB of RAM are all sealed in with the irremov-able battery. With design priorities, comes a few sacri� ces. There is no microSD card slot either, not to mention it is no longer waterproof. But don’t fret, Galaxy fans. The company has given the new � agship wireless charging, and boy is it quick. Well, at least that’s what Samsung is claiming. 30 percent charge in 30 minutes.We’ll be taking a look into more speci� cs once both models are out and rolling available in the market.
The M9Don’t get your knickers in a twist, fellas, this isn’t about the Beretta. However, HTC is making it sound like some super high-
tech, government secret. Well, the new HTC One M9 has spilled all its secrets. It may not seem too much at � rst glance, mimicking the same exact design as its predecessor, the M9 possesses some signi� cant changes. The BoomSound speakers may look the same but the brand has added Dolby surround to it. And that fuss about much UltraPixel rear camera is now 20-megapixels. Although, the UltraPixel is now located in the front of the phone, which might just make it the best sel� e taking camera around.
Design wise may be a talking point among smartphone enthusiasts, but no major changes have been made. This can actually be a very good thing. The M8 really had no
negative marks apart from the somewhat slippery back, which made it di� cult for some to grip. The design is gorgeous, so why � x what isn’t broke, right? Many might agree what will make or break the new M9 is its camera features. 20-megapixels is no joke, and with the UltraPixel front camera, things are looking brighter.
Unfortunately, wait for it, the camera isn’t as impressive as we would have expected. Truth be told, it’s simply a machine upgrade at the end. The thunder might have been slightly stolen by their collaboration with Valve in creating a new virtual reality device. Whether this might hurt the sales of HTC phones, we’ll have to wait and see. l
Ring the alarms
A monumental successapps
gadgets
n Mahmood Hossain
Hit shows have a tendency to endorse some pretty fancy products. Then there are things that are not only popular in mainstream but hailed as magni� cent by critics. Monument Valley has gained even more popularity after being featured in the recent season of the hit show House of Cards. If the leader of the nation is intrigued enough by this app, it makes for a darn good game. And when we say good, it’s actually great. You’ll see nothing but legitimate four to � ve star ratings for this app.
You have to keep in mind how gorgeous this game is. It’ll take a really special game or app to top Monument Valley. The game itself is mind boggling, a puzzle that can lure you
into its beautiful madness. This is de� nitely an app for all the thinkers out there. Brain exercises don’t come better than this. Well, maybe not as fun as this one. You get to lead princess Ida through mazes of optical illusions and what seems to be impossible objects. In isometric view, Ida journeys through sacred geometry, in order to be forgiven for something. We’ll keep that a secret. Even the level selection screen will have you tranced in twilight. The entire game is a work of art. The beauty in simplicity is personi� ed.
Ultimately, it’s not the design that sets this app apart from the rest. It’s the meditative process that the user goes through while bouncing from one level to another. The meditation is delivered in a very pleasing manner, both for your eyes and the mind. When all is said and done, there’s possibly one drawback to this app. It’ll cost you. It’s $3.76 on Android and $3.99 in the App Store for all you iOS users. In addition, there is an expansion pack to this game called Forgotten Shores, which adds eight more levels after the � rst 10. l
The new versions of the � agships are in, brace yourself
One of the most beautiful games in the world of mobile
T-JUNCTION24DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
Sport 27D
T
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
All in the family n Mazhar Uddin from Adelaide
Over the past two years Mahmudullah had faced immense criticism regarding his place in the side when his brother-in-law Mush� qur Rahim was the captain of the Bangladesh team. Mush� q’s strong stance for the all-rounder made many wonder whether it was the family relation that saw Mahmudllah still playing for the national side.
However, one cannot also overlook the duo’s contribution and especially after yesterday when they rescued Bangladesh from a disastrous position to eventually land a winning total.
Mush� q joined Mahmudullah when the Tigers were reeling at 99 for 4 in the 22nd over and the combination went on to register the record � fth wicket partnership for Bangladesh in World Cups. Mahmudullah along the way became the � rst centurion for the Tigers in the big stage.
Both Mahmudullah and Mush� q played an array of majestic strokes and maintained a decent run-rate by rotating the strikes.
Mahmudullah’s transformation to a solid middle order batsman was paying dividend as his elegant cover drives and the pulls kept
the English captain Eoin Morgan thinking all the time.
Even after reaching their � fties, Mahmudullah and Mush� q never looked to throw their wickets until taking Bangladesh to a safe position.
The 29-year-old was � nally dismissed after scoring 103 o� 137 balls with seven fours and two sixes while Mush� q fell short of the magical three-� gure by 11 runs, but by then Bangladesh were in a commanding position. l
WORLD CUP 2015LEADING RUN-MAKERS
Kumar Sangakkara (SRI) 372
AB de Villiers (RSA) 318
Brendan Taylor (ZIM) 295
Hashim Amla (RSA) 295
Tillakaratne Dilshan (SRI) 291
LEADING WICKET-TAKERS
Trent Boult (NZL) 13
Tim Southee (NZL) 13
Mitchell Starc (AUS) 12
Daniel Vettori (NZL) 12
DOWNTIME30DT
TUSDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
CALVIN AND HOBBES
PEANUTS
DILBERT
How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.
CODE-CRACKER
CROSSWORD
SUDOKU
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS
CODE-CRACKER
How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 19 represents H so � ll H every time the � gure 19 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
CROSSWORD
ACROSS1 Appear indistinctly (4)6 By way of (3)7 Tube (4)9 Prophet (4)10 Burrowing animals (5)11 Of the kidneys (5)12 Strange (3)14 Bird (5)17 Small recesses (5)20 Beverage (3)21 Black bird (5)23 Not hollow (5)25 Disencumbers (4)26 Part of the eye (4)27 Long-leaved lettuce (3)28 Avoid (4)
DOWN1 Injury (6)2 Carry too far (6)3 Deep mud (4)4 No score (3)5 Acceptance (3)7 Sport (4)8 Danger (5)10 Spoil (3)13 Giver (5)15 Condemn to exile (6)16 Naval hero (6)18 Malay dagger (4)19 Sorrowful (3)22 Love god (4)23 Wrongdoing (3)24 Falsehood (3)
SUDOKU
SHOWTIME 31D
TTUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
n Showtime Desk
Suzena Zafar and Kazi Asif paired up for the � rst time in a TV drama titled Game. Written and directed by Tanim Rahman Angshu, the mystery drama also includes model-actor Tanjia Zaman Methela in the cast.
Suzena will be seen in the drama in a self-titled role while Kazi Asif has � nal-ised to play the role of Akash.
Talking about the play Kazi Asif said: “The story of the drama revolves around just the three characters, played by Suzena, Methela and me. I believe the au-
dience will appreciate my � rst work with Suzena in this well-structured mystery TV play.”
Shot in di� erent locations of Uttara in the capital, the shooting for Game is expected to be completed by the follow-ing week, and will be airing shortly on a private TV channel. l
n Showtime Desk
Tisha, Syed Babu and Niloy, three of the busiest actors on the small screen teamed up for a tele� lm titled
Ei Boishakhe, which is set to air on the � rst day of the Bangla New Year. Written by Naznin Hasan Chumki and directed by Shanta Rahman, the tele� lm recently completed its last round of shooting.
Talking about working in the TV pro-duction Tisha said: “As I have previously worked with the director, we have shared decent working chemistry. I can easily understand what she wants from me and I make sure I deliver according to her needs.”
“It’s the script which convinced me to work with the team. I hope the audience will appreciate our e� ort,” she added.
Niloy said: “When it comes to working for TV productions, from the early stages of my career, I have been quite choosy. This time the story and the people behind the camera convinced me to call myself into the team.”
Tisha has been busy with working on a � lm with Shakib Khan for the last couple of months but she took a break from shooting to make an appearance on the small screen again. The director con� rmed that Ei Boishakhe will be aired on Boishakh 1 on ATN Bangla. l
n Mahmood Hossain
Empire is a grittier, TV appropriate, version of a musical. It’s the inner world and workings of a hip hop empire led by Lucious Lyon, played by the Oscar winner Terrence Howard. With his ex-wife and business partner Cookie Lyon (Taraji P Henson), along with his three sons, Lucious wants to leave a legacy that will go unchallenged in the music world.
Apart from the wonderful cast, the music nearly outshines the performances of the lead roles. Timbaland, as the show’s execu-tive music producer, has been in the music industry for decades. It’s a pleasant surprise to see him dabble the lucrative small screen business. The music is brilliantly performed by each character that takes part in the show, both actors and real life musicians. Not only is the show doing well on air, the music is making the Billboard charts. But that is only half of the success.
The story is intriguing, and so are the one on one battles between the characters. The show may be music driven, yet it shows the more realistic and scandalous side of the music industry.
This show’s audience has been growing every week, signi� cantly. For several weeks, Empire’s viewers keep growing and the ratings average is at an all-time high. It’s clear to see Empire is on its way to the top as the number one drama. We’re staying tuned, and so should you. l
Tisha, Syed Babu and Niloy set for their new tele� lm
Suzena and Kazi Asif paired for Game
JIMMY FALLON @jimmyfallon My hometown is stuck in a mad deep freeze / When I get down to Florida I’m like, “Yeah, beach please!” #Spring-BreakRaps
TOM HIDDLESTON @twhiddleston My goodness. My brother from another mother. Ladies and gentle-men: @chrishem-sworth.
SHABANA AZMI @AzmiShabana To make the world better Women need 2 transform the very notion of power itself so it becomes about sharing not powerful dominat-ing the weak
CELEBS ON SOCIAL
WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION
THE GREAT GATSBY HBO 6:45pmCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulli-gan, Joel EdgertonStory of a young and mysterious mil-lionaire and his obsession over the beautiful debutante
SPIDER-MAN 3 Star Movies 9:30pmCast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher GracePeter Parker gets induced by a strange black entity which brings out the worst in him.
COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL Colors TV 5:00pmCast: Kapil Sharma, Sumona Chakravarti, Upasna SinghAn Indian comedy sketch hosted by Ka-pil Sharma and performed by various comedians.
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TV TUESDAYS
Rise of an empire
BACK PAGE32DT
TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2015
n Rehman Sobhan
Today the people of Bangla Desh have been challenged. In the eyes of their rul-ers their struggle to realise their rights is merely the act of a handful of people out to instigate mur-der and loot. This
crass reaction to the struggle and sacri� ce of 70 million Bengalis would put even our ex-imperial rulers to shame.
In this context even the calling of the National Assembly is being overtaken by events. Mr. Bhutto’s acceptance, buttressed by reassurances of the LFO, is a mockery of the dead who gave their lives merely to make the chairman change his mind. Now their memory demands much more than a mere debate for this has already been overshadowed by a dialogue of death in the streets. How far anything will come out of this session is uncertain, but the crisis will merely be postponed.
For the moment, the people of Bangla Desh have been reminded in no uncertain terms that power comes from the barrel of the gun. They have been reminded that sticks and rods are puny weapons when compared with the power of a mechanised force which sees itself as the sole guardian of the nation’s future. They have been told that if their expectations extend beyond the
National Assembly they will have to face the consequences. In throwing down this gauntlet the authors have banked on the fact that this was an essentially middle-class dominated movement which in the moment of confrontation will act true to its salt and stand silent before the language of weapons.
But they are mistaken. This is a people’s struggle. Today the emotions and interests of 70 million people are involved. Even the cautious civil servant has cast in his lot with the struggle. The extent of non-coop-eration is almost unique. Today the loyal-ty of no one in Bangla Desh to the regime of the oppressor is certain. It matters not if the weak waiver because the workers, students, and eventually the peasants are aware and ready to throw themselves into the � nal phase of the struggle.
Their lack of military preparedness may make this a long drawn-out struggle where much blood will have to fertilise the soil of Bangla Desh. The struggle has merely con-� rmed what had been proved in 1969 -- that the people are no longer afraid of the gun.
But this is only a � rst step. The outcome is however never in doubt, only the time and cost in blood. Leaders may come and go but the people will carry the banner of freedom forward. The National Assembly may therefore meet and go through the motions of debate. But it is now clear that unless this rati� es the elemental urge of the people of Bangla Desh for self-rule, it will merely be a staging post in the ongoing struggle of the people. l
M A R C H 1 9 7 1 D I A R Y
Too little too lateThis piece is the second in a series that will run until March 25, in which we reproduce Rehman Sobhan’s contemporaneous account of the events of that momentous month in Bangladeshi history, originally written for Forum magazine. This piece was � rst published in Forum on March 6, 1971.
IMF TEAM CONVINCES MUHITH TO STICK TO SINGLE VAT RATE PAGE 15
SUZENA AND KAZI ASIF PAIRED FOR GAME PAGE 31
RISE OF THE TIGERS PAGE 25
‘I was missing my mother a lot’n Mazhar Uddin from Adelaide
Mahmudullah broke down when Bangla-desh’s national anthem was played before the start of the match.
The reason was he missed his mother for some days now while the lovely celebration that followed his century in Adelaide yester-day was directed to his wife Mishty and son Mahrusullah.
“I was missing my mother when the na-tional anthem was playing before the start of the match. The last line of the anthem [If sad-
ness O mother casts a gloom on your face, my eyes are � lled with tears] that reminded me of my mother a lot. I have not seen her for a long time, so Alhamdulillah I am very happy for everything,” said an emotional Mahmud-ullah.
“The � ying kiss [after the hundred] was for my wife and my son as they were in hotel and were not able to come to the ground,” said the 29-year-old, apparently happy.
This innings will surely be at the top of his scoring list for the rest of his life while the lad from Mymensingh also said he nev-er thought of becoming the � rst centurion for the Tigers at the World Cup although he had dreamed of scoring a hundred at themega event.
“As long as I play cricket and Allah keeps me healthy, this innings will remain as one of the special innings of my life, especially as it is my � rst hundred.
“Even I was thinking about the hun-dred against Scotland but unfortunate-ly I could not make it; but I never thought that I would score a hundred today,” saidMahmudullah.
He also revealed that he was nervous in his nineties but a boundary o� James Anderson when he was on 92 relaxed his nerves.
Normally, a very soft spoken person, Mahmudullah desires to be a hero for the Ti-gers in the remaining matches. l
Mahmudullah sends kisses to his wife and son after completing his debut century AFP
Bat & Bowl Opposition
103 v England
0/29, 62 v Scotland
0/49, 28 v Sri Lanka
23, 1/31 v Afghanistan
- v Ireland
83, 1/17 v Pakistan
36, 1/14 v Aust XI
42, 0/10 v Aust XI
RECENT PERFORMANCE
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: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.dhakatribune.com
