SECOND EDITION

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015 | Kartik 26, 1422, Moharram 27, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 204 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

Are narco-politicos really above the law?

n Mohammad Jamil Khan andSyed Samiul Basher Anik

To protect high-value and high-risk drug consignments, o� cial emblems, o� cial vehicles and even o� cials themselves are

pressed into the service of drug tra� cking syndicates.

Symbols of o� cialdom are frequently used to speed drugs across the border from India and Myanmar – sometimes with the connivance of government o� cials and po-litical elites, law enforcement agencies have said.

An investigation by several intelligence agencies has found that drug smuggling in Bangladesh is run by over 1,200 godfathers across the country of whom at least 87 are leaders of the Awami League, Jubo League,

Chhatra League and Sramik League who pro-vide backing to drug tra� ckers in the Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi divisions.

The Department of Narcotics Control uses this list to conduct anti-narcotics operations and as a basis for further investigation.

Despite a zero tolerance policy on drug tra� cking, the government has so far been able to catch only low-level drug carriers, while the drug trade’s dons evade arrest and investigation.

Leaders of the Awami League and its asso-ciate bodies allegedly pocket crores of Taka

by using their political in� uence to back drug tra� ckers.

The intelligence list names Cox’s Bazar Awami League MP Abdur Rahman Bodi, his brothers Abdul Shukkur and Mujibur Rah-man, step-brothers Abdul Amin and Faisal Rahman, in-laws Akhter Kamal, Shahed Ka-mal, uncle Haider Ali, cousin Kamrul Islam Russel and nephew Nipu for their involve-ment in drug tra� cking.

No action has been taken against them. Law enforcers reportedly later dropped

PAGE 4 COLUMN 1

ANOTHER TK100 CRORE FOR RESEARCH PAGE 32

GOVT FINDS MOST RMG FACTORIES SAFE PAGE 15

PROTESTERS INVITED ON A RAMPAL TRIP PAGE 5

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015 | Kartik 26, 1422, Moharram 27, 1437 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 204 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

INSIDE THE SMUGGLING SYNDICATE - 3

Suu Kyi’s party heading for landslide in Myanmar electionsn AFP, Yangon

Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democ-racy party on Monday cheered in growing excitement as early results from Myanmar’s historic election boosted hopes of sweeping gains to carry it to power after decades of military dominance.

Election authorities have so far released only a small fraction of the results, but of

the 36 announced the National League for Democracy has scooped 35, in a psycholog-ical boost to crowds of Suu Kyi supporters gathered in front of her party headquarters in Yangon Monday evening.

The White House on Monday hailed an “historic” election in Myanmar, but urged parties to wait for the � nal vote tally before declaring victory or making assessments about fairness.

“We are seeing initial reports of results, but we encourage everyone to wait for the ... election commission’s o� cial results,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

With a fraction of results posted, support-ers of Aung San Suu Kyi’s anti-junta Nation-al League for Democracy have already held street celebrations.

“We’ll win tonight, we’ll stay until we PAGE 4 COLUMN 1

Tigers too strong for Zimbabwen Minhaz Uddin Khan

An all-round performance by hosts Bangla-desh saw the side bag a 58-run win against Zimbabwe in the second of the three-match one day international series at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. The win ena-bled the dominant Tigers to clinch the series with a game to spare.

It was the Tigers’ � fth successive ODI se-ries win for the � rst time in history.

The occasion also saw Bangladesh emerge as the second most successful team in 2015. The Tigers played 17 ODIs and won 12 to fol-low Australia in top spot. Australia have 18 wins in 24 matches.

The Tigers had their grasp on the steering from the very beginning of yesterday’s game. The hosts were asked to bat � rst and there were some cheap dismissals but Bangladesh never allowed the momentum to slip as the batters chipped in with vital contributions. With a � ghting target of 242 set, the Bangla-desh bowlers took charge, led by Musta� zur Rahman, who bagged three scalps.

In the 44th over occasional spinner Nasir Hossain was introduced to the attack with Zimbabwe’s last batting pair at the crease. Graeme Cremer was on strike but he was una-ble to delay the inevitable as he was stumped by Mush� qur Rahim. The stadium burst into celebration; Bangladesh had sealed the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Zimbabwe’s top three batsmen were re-moved within the ninth over. There were some worries as Elton Chigumbura and Sikanadar Raza added 73 valuable runs for the � fth wicket to take Zimbabwe from 78 for 4 to 151 for 5. But once the stand was broken by paceman Al Amin Hossain, it was only a matter of time before Bangladesh wrapped up the game.

Earlier, Zimbabwe were composed with PAGE 4 COLUMN 1

Myanmar's National League for Democracy party leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrives at her party headquarters in Yangon yesterday. Supporters of Suu Kyi were con� dent her party had won a landslide victory with the biggest question if the margin was enough to claim the presidency REUTERS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015News4DT

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

Tigers too strong for Zimbabwethe ball. They had decided to � eld � rst and the strategy seemed to have worked to some extent as they removed both the Bangladesh openers with only 47 runs on the board. Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal looked to be in � ne touch but was unable to prolong his knock after he was out caught behind. Tamim scored a 25-ball 19 and became the � rst of three wickets taken by Zimbabwe

paceman Tinashe Panyangara.Around four overs later, Panyangara

struck again, this time removing Liton Ku-mar Das. The right-handed batsman’s miser-ies continued as he was out for seven.

Opener Imrul Kayes starred for Bangladesh with the bat. The left-handed batsman came into the playing eleven in place of Shakib al Hasan. On the day, Imrul, who played his last

ODI during the World Cup this year, was not in his character. He was aggressive during his 89-ball innings of 76, hitting six boundaries and four sixes. His 127-minute stay made him look good, although his � rst boundary could have ended up in a spectacular catch at mid-o� after Taurai Muzarabani almost got a hand to an attempted loft in the fourth over.

Wicket-keeper batsman Mush� qur Rahim

was the star in the � rst game with his brilliant century and seemed to continue in the same vein yesterday. He started with con� dence but only added 21 runs to the Tigers’ tally.

Nasir propelled the innings with 41 runs but failed to � nish the innings on a high. During his stay at the crease, Nasir added 38 runs for the seventh wicket alongside cap-tain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. l

Suu Kyi’s party heading for landslide in Myanmar electionswin anyway,” said 24-year-old Wanna Htay, sporting a Scarlett bandana with the party’s iconic � ghting peacock motif as the crowd sung and cheered around him.

Earlier party spokesman Win Htein said that uno� cial tallies showed the opposition was “on track to win more than 70% of seats around the country.”

He did not specify if the percentage would translate into power under Myanmar’s com-plex political system.

Sunday’s elections saw millions line up to cast their ballots in what many hope will mark a dramatic leap towards democracy in

the Southeast Asian nation, which withered under the iron grip of junta rule for decades.

The NLD, which holds a tiny proportion of seats clinched in 2012 by-elections, is shoot-ing for 67% of elected seats in the national legislature to be able to select a president and form a government.

That would be enough to overwhelm the USDP and their military allies -- who are gift-ed 25% of seats by a constitution scripted to ensure they still have a major stake in the future.

The NLD, however, shied away from an outright declaration of victory, with election

authorities expected to release results in sev-eral waves deep into Monday night.

Suu Kyi, who is still barred from the pres-idency under the army-drafted constitution, remained cautious, but hinted at victory.

“It is not the time to congratulate our can-didates who we think have won the election,” she told supporters and journalists from the balcony of her party’s Yangon headquarters.

But “people have an idea of the result even if I don’t say it,” she added.

Election authorities have said that pre-liminary � gures would be released within 48 hours of Sunday’s vote, and a full nationwide

count could take 10 days or more.In its Yangon stronghold, the NLD took

12 lower-house seats and 23 more for the re-gional parliament.

The USDP, appearing increasingly belea-guered, has taken just one Yangon regional parliament seat so far.

Election o� cials estimated an 80% turn-out, a � gure observers say will aid the NLD’s quest for a majority.

President Thein Sein and the still-power-ful army chief have both vowed to respect the outcome of the election -- even if the USDP loses its choke-hold on power. l

Are narco-politicos really above the law?Bodi’s name from the list.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the media in early September that there was no evidence that Bodi had been involved in drug smuggling.

Other godfathers named in the list include former Cox’s Bazar MP Mohammad Ali’s son Mohammad Rashed, Teknaf upazila Jubo League Secretary Nur Hossain, Teknaf Sa-dar Union AL leader Jafor Ahmed, AL lead-er Khurshida Karim, Jabed Iqbal, Chhatra League leader Ali Ahmed, Abu Bakkar, Didar, Baktiar and Nurul Amin.

Drug dons allegedly spend crores to buy the silence and protection of law enforce-ment o� cials.

It is not uncommon for decals and signs denoting that a vehicle is the o� cial convey-ance of an executive magistrate, army o� cial or district administration o� cial to be plas-tered onto vehicles used for smuggling.

For example, on November 7, police con-� scated 300 bottles of phensedyl in Comilla from a car owned by a senior assistant sec-retary of the Public Administration Ministry. The o� cial was not in the car during the drug bust.

612 ways to make a fortuneAccording to the Home Ministry, drugs in-cluding yaba, phensedyl and heroin enter the country through 612 border points under the supervision of the godfathers.

Intelligence sources mention 45 routes near the Myanmar-Cox’s Bazar border used to tra� c yaba into the country.

Law enforcement sources said there were around 38 yaba factories in the border areas of Myanmar, reportedly capable of producing three million tablets a day, and 40 phensedyl factories just across the Indian border.

Lt Col Abujar Al Jahid, commanding of-� cer of Border Guard Bangladesh 42, said his force was especially vigilant along the 54-kilometre border with Myanmar.

The intelligence report said several lead-ers of associate bodies of the ruling party control the narcotics trade in the capital.

According to the report, Tauhid Babu, organising secretary of Dhaka city (South) committee of the Chhatra League, controls the yaba business in the Khilgaon area; for-mer vice-president of the Sabujbagh unit of the Chhatra League Ripon Barua operates the Sabujbagh area drug market; while in Moti-jheel, a major portion of the drug market was operated by a Sramik League leader whose name was not mentioned.

Despite repeated attempts, Tauhid could not be reached for comment. Ripon told the Dhaka Tribune that claims of his involve-ment in the drug business were “false ru-mours” spread by his political rivals.

Police sources said the yaba trade in Ram-pura was controlled by Chhatra League local unit President Moazzem Hossain Tapu, who according to a DB police investigation killed retired police o� cial Fazlul Karim on August 29 last year over the retired policeman’s cam-paign against the drugs business in the area.

Tapu, who is on the run from the police, could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this year, police arrested several political leaders for possessing yaba tablets. In May, former president of the Chhatra League’s Dhanmondi unit Nazimuddin Babu was arrested with 55 yaba tablets. On June 10, Sabujbagh police arrested the Sramik League’s Uttara Bank union Secretary Imran Haque Khan and recovered 38 yaba from his possession.

The home minister said the arrests were proof that the government would not shelter anyone, irrespective of party a� liation.

Although Police Headquarters recently announced the creation of a joint task force on drugs with India, no such initiative has been taken with Myanmar, the main source of yaba entering Bangladesh.

Conceal and carrySmugglers are recruiting Imams, snake charmers, transgender and physically disa-bled people to work as carriers for drugs as or-dinary carriers, mostly women and children, become increasingly exposed to scrutiny.

The situation is so dire that the Parliamen-tary Standing Committee on Home A� airs last year decided to visit border areas to look into the involvement of Imams and the ma-drasa students in the drugs trade.

Vegetables and fruits are being hollowed out to conceal drugs, investigators said, add-ing that drugs coming from India have even been hidden inside the stomachs of cattle.

The Narcotics Control Department recent-ly arrested a woman at Dhaka’s Kamalapur Railway Station as she tried to transport two

kilogrammes of cannabis inside a pile of veg-etables.

Rabiul Islam, deputy director of the Nar-cotics Control Department, said smugglers are constantly � nding new ways of moving their illegal product.

In 2011, RAB arrested three people on the Dhaka-Mymenshingh highway as they attempted to transport 400 bottles of phensedyl in a co� n inside an ambulance.

Drugs have been found inside computer monitors, CPUs, televisions, car batteries, gas cannisters, oxygen cylinders, � sh tanks and spare tires.

Dressed for successDuring the Dhaka Tribune’s investigation into smuggling syndicates, a very particular sort of drug carrier was seen in action.

Dubbed “jackets” by intelligence sources, these phensedyl carriers are dressed to the nines, rain or shine.

No matter whether the forecast is for a sunny day, rainy weather or winter fogs, these train travellers in the north of the country, are seen carrying stylish, if not al-ways seasonable jackets.

The inner pockets of the smugglers’ jack-ets are stu� ed with phensedyl bottles which are then placed inside the casing of the air conditioners of the � rst class coach of trains for the duration of the trip.

Groups of 10 to 12 carriers travel together and have the capacity to transport up to a thousand bottles of phensedyl with them at a time. l

Robbers kill one, injure two in capitaln Kamrul Hasan

A man was killed and two others were in-jured as robbers attacked them in a minibus in the early hours of yesterday near in the capital’s Uttara area.

Police said the deceased was identi� ed as Abdul Momin, 30, from Sirajganj. His com-panions were his brother-in-law Abdur Raz-

zak, 45, and his neighbour Abdur Rashid, 68.Quoting the injured victims, Momin’s

cousin Aslam told the Dhaka Tribune that the trio had gone to Dhaka airport to see two relatives o� to Iraq.

Returning home, they got on a minibus outside the airport around 2:30am to go to Abdullahpur. Soon after the bus started run, a gang of robbers, who were posing as pas-

sengers in the minibus, attacked the victims and started beating them.

After snatching away the valuables from the victims, the miscreants dumped their battered bodies, separately, and ran away.

Razzaq and Rashid, who were conscious, found each other and traced their way back to where they had gotten on the minibus, � nding Momin’s body lying on the road near Zaman

fuelling station at Dhour intersection in Ashulia.On information, police went to the spot

and sent Momin’s body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for an autopsy around 5:30am, said Sub-Inspector Abdullah Al Jewel of Turag police station.

Sources at the DMCH said Momin had head wounds which might have caused his death. There also bruises all over his body as well. l

Cox’s Bazar 30 23Dhaka 30 19 Chittagong 28 22 Rajshahi 30 17 Rangpur 29 16 Khulna 30 14 Barisal 28 18 Sylhet 30 10T E M P E R AT U R E F O R E C A S T F O R TO DAY

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015News 5

DT

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:15PM SUN RISES 6:11AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW31.8ºC 16.6ºCBogra DinajpurMONDAY, NOVEMBER 9

DRY WEATHER

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Fajr: 4:50am | Zohr: 11:42am Asr: 3:39pm | Magrib: 5:15pmEsha: 6:45pm

PRAYERTIMES

Nasrul invites protesters on a Rampal tripn Aminur Rahman Rasel

State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid has invited some of the top leaders of the Ram-pal power plant protesters on a visit to the project site.

Recently, copies of a letter signed by the junior minister have been sent to the leading protesters including the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, environmental activists, academi-cians and journalists.

At a press conference last month in Dhaka, Nasrul said he would sit with the protesters and also take them to the construction site to assess whether the plant would a� ect the

Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.

“I think a visit to the place will remove all misconceptions,” he said in that conference, claiming that the protesters’ demands were incongruent with ground reality.

The 1,320MW coal-based Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant at Rampal in Bagerhat district is being implemented by the Bang-ladesh and Indian governments beside the Poshur River.

“We consider your thoughtful opinion with importance about the proposed Maitree Su-per Thermal Power Plant. We want to visit the project area along with you on November 19,” Nasrul told the protesters’ leaders in the letter.

“We will gather knowledge about Rampal, the Sundarbans, Poshur River and surround-ing natural environment and biodiversity, ex-change of our steps taken about the project. Your advice will enrich the country’s elec-tricity generation system,” the letter reads.

The invitees are: convener Sheikh Mu-hammad Shahidullah, member-secretary Anu Muhammad and member Kallol Musta-fa from the national committee; Dr Abdul Matin, general secretary of Bangladesh Por-ibesh Andolon; Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environment Law-yers’ Association; Sultana Kamal, executive director of Ain O Salish Kendra; Iftekharuz-zaman, executive director of Transparency

International Bangladesh; Buet Professors Ijaz Hossain and M Tamim; Dhaka University Professor Badrul Imam; Da� odil Internation-al University Professor M Shamsul Alam; and Khulna University Professor Abdullah Harun Chowdhury.

Anu Muhammad told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “A one-day visit will not help to un-derstand the problems. We have visited the project area several times before...We will de-cide [on the invitation] after a meeting with the national committee members today [Tuesday].”

Prof Ijaz said he would visit the project area with the minister and see the technology, con-dition of air and the surrounding environment because he had never been there before. l

New bill to scrap facilities for illegal ex-presidentsn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

A bill regarding the privileges enjoyed by a retired president of the country was placed in the parliament yesterday, keeping a pro-vision barring any pension, gratuity or other facilities for a president who had taken over power illegally.

The President Pension, Gratuity and Oth-er Privileges Act, 2015, was sent to the Par-liamentary Standing Committee on Law, Jus-tice and Parliamentary A� airs for scrutiny, after Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury placed it before the parliament.

According to the act, the draft of which was approved by the cabinet in August, a re-tired president would get 75% of his salary as pension.

However, the bill added that the pension and gratuity would not be applicable in three cases: if a retired president later goes on to

hold o� ce in another government and receives salary and other bene� ts from the consolidat-ed fund of that government, if any president is punished for moral deviation or criminal charge, or if a competent court declares the oc-cupation of the o� ce of the President illegal.

The existing President’s Pension Ordi-nance 1979 as amended in 1988 will be re-placed by the new act, which would be appli-cable for all presidents since independence. Under the act, nominee or heirs may receive the pension and gratuity of a late or retired president if it was not received before.

The bill said a former president will avail a personal assistant, one attendant and ex-penses for operating the o� ce. Apart from these, the former president will also avail medical status like a minister, free vehicles, telephone, diplomatic passport and can use circuit house or rest house inside the country without any charge. l

Warrant for Khoka’s arrestn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against BNP Vice-Chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka in a sedition case against him for urg-ing his party men to stage demonstration in the capital with machetes and axes.

After accepting a charge sheet against Khoka, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Kamrul Hossain Molla issued the warrant against the former Dhaka city corporation mayor yesterday. Khoka was due to appear before the court regarding the case’s hearing

yesterday as his bail period expired, but he did not make an appearance, which is why the court issued the warrant, sources said.

The court also directed Paltan police sta-tion’s OC to submit report on the execution of the arrest warrant before the court by January 11 next year. Inspector Tofail Ahmed of Pal-tan police station submitted the charge sheet against Khoka before Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on November 29 last year.

The sedition case was � led on December 7, 2013 by Sub-Inspector Md Shahidullah Pradhan of the same police station. l

It has been two years since the sculpture of Nur Hossain on Dhaka University campus was damaged when it was moved from its place to make room for a new sculpture. No steps have been taken since then to repair it, the symbol of anti-Ershad movement. The photo was taken yesterday RAJIB DHAR

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015News6DT

9.94% pass DU ‘Gha’ unit admission testn Arif Ahmed

Dhaka University “Gha” unit admission test results were published yesterday with only 9.94% passing the exam.

The university’s Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Are� n Siddique announced the results around 1:30pm at the central admission of-� ce.

Only 6,981 of the 62,078 aspirants who sat for the exam passed the test. A total of 90,131 students had applied for the test which was held on Friday.

The results are available on DU website admission.eis.du.ac.bd. Students can also get their results via short message service (SMS) from any mobile operator by typing DU GHA and roll number and sending it to 16321.

Submission of choice forms will begin from November 11 and will continue until November 18. l

Khaleda: Plot on to exile democracyn Tribune Report

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday al-leged that country’s democracy is shackled and a conspiracy is going on to exile democ-racy permanently from the country.

“Noor Hossain sacri� ced his life for his dream to come true but the democracy that was freed in 1990 has been shackled again,” she said in a press release to mark the Noor Hossain Day.

The BNP chief alleged that it had become clear that a conspiracy was hatched to estab-lish one-party system through a partial elec-tion.

Khaleda said: “Noor Hossain is our inspi-ration in restoring democracy. We have to try to restore democracy in Bangladesh follow-ing his example.”

The former premier alleged that unfortu-nately the autocratic ruler is the partner of incumbent government. l

N’GANJ SEVEN-MURDER

Tareq Sayeed denied bail again n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj

Lt Col Tareq Sayeed, former RAB 11 camp commander who was chargesheeted in the sensational Narayanganj seven-murder case, has been denied bail again.

The court of Narayanganj Judicial Magistrate Ashiq Imam rejected his bail petition yesterday.

Tareq is the son-in-law of Disaster Manage-ment and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya. His lawyer advocate Sarwar Miah said the legal battle for his client would be continued.

Additional Public Prosecutor of Narayan-ganj court Fazlur Rahman said the judge re-jected Tareq’s bail petition as the former RAB o� cial was deeply involved in the crime.

“Many testi� ed in court, mentioning Tareq’s role in the murders,” he said.

Two cases were � led over the seven murders and Judge Ashiq Imam yesterday ordered to send one of the suits to the district judge’s court.

He also said the other case would be heard on November 30.

Inspector Habibur Rahman of Narayanganj court police said 22 chargesheeted accused

were brought to the court in the morning amid tight security.

Seven people, including panel mayor Naz-rul Islam and lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker, were abducted on April 27 last year.

The bodies of six of them were found in the Shitalakshya River on April 30 while the seventh body was recovered from the river on May 1.

In April this year, investigators submitted the charge sheet accusing 35 people in both cases. Twenty-two of them have so far been arrested while the remaining 13 have gone into hiding. l

Shawkat Mahmud granted bailn Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday granted six months’ ad-interim bail to BNP chairperson’s adviser and former Jatiya Press Club presi-dent Shawkat Mahmud in three arson cases.

The High Court also issued three sepa-rate rules seeking explanations as to why he should not be granted regular bail in the cases. The government has been asked to re-spond to the rule within four weeks.

The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Ra-him and Justice Md Amir Hossain passed the order after hearing three separate bail peti-tions � led by the accused. However, Shawkat will not be released from jail as he is accused in 15 other cases.

Shawkat Mahmud was arrested from the capital’s Panthapath area on August 18.

The three cases in which he secured ad-in-terim bail were � led with Ramna, Khilgaon and Rampura police stations on January 10, 13 and February 3 respectively, during the BNP-led alliance’s movement this year. l

MPs: TIB’s report on parliament seditious n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Lawmakers from both the ruling alliance and the opposition yesterday criticised Transpar-ency International Bangladesh, demanding an apology from TIB for its recent report on the e� ectiveness of the parliament.

Veteran Awami League MP Suranjit Sen-gupta warned the corruption watchdog that failure to apologise within the next three days would result in the organisation’s suspension.

“I want to give you [TIB] three days to bow down and seek apology and promise that you will not never talk about parliament and con-stitution again. Otherwise, that NGO TIB will not exist.. This parliament has the power,” said Suranjit, also the chair of the Parliamen-tary Standing Committee on Law Ministry.

On October 25, a report by the TIB said the desired e� ectiveness of the national parliament was under question due to the unprecedented appendage of the so-called opposition party.

Standing at point of order, opposition leader Rawshan Ershad � rst raised the is-sue of TIB, questioning the relevancy of the watchdog’s statement.

The former � rst lady also said the TIB’s statements had undermined the citizens, as lawmakers are representatives of the people.

Her criticisms were echoed by Suran-jit, who said: “Our constitution is not only

a paper; constitution and parliament are synonyms... If anyone violates constitution or speaks against constitution, he will be charged with sedition. The TIB’s comment is seditious. Honourable law minister, make a law on sedition. Otherwise illiterate doctor-ates will not understand law and parliament.”

Regarding a recent meeting with TIB Exec-utive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Suranjit said: “You [Iftekharuzzaman] are an educat-ed person. You know parliamentary commit-tee is a mini-parliament. On the other hand, you have said parliament is a theatre of pup-pets. You have held meeting with me, so you have danced monkey dance here.”

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed also demanded that TIB leaders are summoned before the parliament’s privilege committee for � nding out about their working areas and funding process.

“When trial on war criminals is going on, they [TIB] made such a statement. When BNP-Jamaat launched destruction, did they say anything then?” Tofail added.

Other lawmakers who joined the criticism of the TIB yesterday included Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, independent law-maker Rustam Ali Farazi, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal lawmaker Mainuddin Khan Badal, Jatiya Party lawmaker Kazi Firoz Rashid and ruling party lawmaker Abul Kalam Azad. l

Six to die, one gets life for killing Mymensingh childn Our Correspondent, Mymensingh

A court in Mymensingh yesterday sentenced six people to death, and another one to life im-prisonment, in a case � led over the death of an eight-year-old child named Farhad.

The convicts are Saheb Ali, 35, Abdul Kud-dus, 60, Ibrahim, 55, Abdul Majid Madhu, 70, Montaj Ali, 60, Jewel, 35, and 50-year-old Ka-mala Khatun who was given a life sentence.

Judge Jahirul Kabir of Mymensingh’s Sec-ond Additional Sessions Judge’s Court hand-ed down yesterday’s verdict.

Farhad’s family, who live at Kheruajani village in Muktagachha Upazila, said they were content with the verdict but the fami-lies of the convicts said justice had not been served and that they would appeal.

The minor boy was killed on May 5, 2010, over disputes between Aiyub and the convicts concerning land properties and gambling.

Farhad’s body was dumped in a hole and his family found the body in a decomposed state two days later.

Aiyub � led the case with Muktagachha po-lice station against 12-13 people on that day. l

Two get 10 years for killing minor n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced two young men to 10 years’ imprisonment each for killing a schoolboy in Kashiani upazila of Gopalganj district in 2012.

Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 Judge Ab-dur Rahman Sardar pronounced the verdict.

The convicts are Mehedi Hasan, 18, and Saddam Hossain, 18. Both of them are from Barattur village in Kashiani of Gopalganj.

According to the case document, the con-victs picked up eight-year-old schoolboy Mahfuz, son of Rezaul Islam of the same vil-lage, on July 5, 2012 from in front of his house when he was going to Railway Mosque for Shab-e-Barat prayer.

The case statement said the accused killed the boy over previous enmity.

On August 21, 2012, the kidnappers demand-ed Tk70,00000 from the victim’s father over phone. Failing to realise the ransom, the kidnap-pers killed the boy and dumped the body near his house. Victim’s mother Swapna Begum � led a murder case with Kashiani Police Station. l

Gonojagoron Moncho brings out a candle procession in the capital’s Shahbagh area yesterday demanding arrest and speedy trial of the killers of publisher Faisal Are� n Dipan MEHEDI HASAN

INSIDE

7D

TWorld

Australian asylum policies under � re at UN rights reviewAustralia came under � re on Monday at the United Nations for its o� shore processing of asylum claims, facing allegations that it sent back some refugees in de� ance of interna-tional law and detention of child migrants. PAGE 8

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Catalonia votes to start breakaway process from SpainCatalonia’s regional assembly voted on Mon-day in favour of a resolution to split from Spain, energising a drive towards independ-ence and deepening a stando� with central government in Madrid. PAGE 9

Soul searching for BJP after crushing Bihar defeatIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met leaders of his party on Monday to discuss whether to overhaul policies and priorities in the wake of a humiliating defeat in elections of Bihar. PAGE 10

FACTBOX

Myanmar’s election, results and transitionMyanmar voted on Sunday in the � rst free na-tional election for 25 years. More than 6,000 candidates competed for 1,171 seats in the nation-al parliament and local assemblies.

The party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was on course for a landslide victory, but it was unclear if that would be enough to deliver a majority in parliament that would allow her Na-tional League for Democracy to control the pres-idency.

The period before a new president takes pow-er at the end of March is likely to be one of ten-sion and uncertainty, as Suu Kyi negotiates how to share power with the still-dominant military.

Below are some details on the results and transition–

ResultsThe Union Electoral Commission (UEC) plans to announce preliminary nationwide results on November 10, and � nal results no later than two weeks after the vote.

The commission is making rolling announce-ments of results by constituency as they come in from around the country on November 9.

The � rst batch of results announced on Mon-

day returned 12 out of 12 seats in the lower house to the NLD, all in Yangon.

Results from the urban centres, the support bases for the NLD, were expected to come more quickly than those from the rural support base of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Voting systemMyanmar has a � rst-past-the-post voting system, likely to favour the NLD.

Military bloc and parliamentary calculationsThe 2008 constitution, drafted by the junta that handed power to President Thein Sein in 2011, re-serves a quarter of all seats in parliament for the military. That means that only 75% of the seats in parliament were contested in the polls. So to hold an outright majority of 51% in parliament, the NLD has to win more than two-thirds of the seats contested.

Seats in parliamentThere are 440 seats in the lower house. 110 of them are reserved for the military. There are 224

seats in the upper House. 56 of them are reserved for the military. There are also 14 legislatures for the regions and states of Myanmar.

PresidencyMyanmar’s president is elected by parliament, not by popular vote. The upper house, the lower house, and the military bloc in parliament put for-ward one presidential candidate each. The com-bined houses votes on the three candidates. The presidential candidates do not have to be elected members of parliament. The winner becomes president and forms a government, the losers become vice presidents with largely ceremonial responsibilities. The vote on the presidency will take place after the new members take their seats in both houses in February. The president will assume power by the end of March.

CabinetThe president forms a cabinet, but the military controls three of the most powerful ministries. They are the interior, defence and border securi-ty ministries. l

Source: REUTERS

Supporters of Myanmar’s pro-democracy � gurehead Aung San Suu Kyi gather outside National League for Democracy headquarters (NLD) in Yangon on Monday. Myanmar’s ruling party conceded defeat in the country’s general election on Monday, as the opposition led by democracy � gurehead Aung San Suu Kyi appeared on course for a landslide victory that would ensure it can form the next government REUTERS

Australian asylum policies under � re at UN rights reviewn Reuters, Geneva

Australia came under � re on Monday at the United Nations for its o� shore processing of asylum claims, facing allegations that it sent back some refugees in de� ance of interna-tional law and detention of child migrants.

Sterilisations of disabled and discrimi-nation against indigenous people were oth-er concerns raised during the UN Human Rights Council examination of Australia’s record, part of a regular review of each UN member state held every four years.

Successive Australian governments have vowed to stop asylum seekers from reaching the mainland, sending those intercepted on unsafe boats to camps on Christmas Island, and more recently Manus island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru in the South Paci� c.

“Irregular migration � ows pose particu-lar challenges to a managed and equitable system of migration,” John Reid, � rst assis-tant secretary in Australia’s attorney-gener-al department who led the delegation, told the 47-member Geneva forum.

“Australia’s strong border protection meas-ures have played a key role in enabling the government to maintain meaningful and sig-ni� cant humanitarian resettlement and assis-tance programmes,” he said, citing its o� er to resettle 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Australian opposition politicians on Mon-day demanded that the government disclose

the extent of destruction caused by riots at an immigration detention centre on the re-mote Australian outpost of Christmas Island following the death of an asylum seeker.

“No asylum seeker who engages our (in-ternational) protection obligation is ever returned to a situation of danger,” said An-drew Goledzinowski, ambassador for peo-ple-smuggling issues in Australia’s foreign

ministry. No one had died trying to reach Australian shores over the past 18 months.

Some 2,044 people are currently in im-migration detention, including 113 children, “down from a peak of 2,000 (children) in middle of 2013,” said Steve McGlynn of the immigration and border protection depart-ment. A further 30,000 migrants were “ap-proved to live in the community.” l

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015World8DT

SOUTH ASIA Rival Taliban factions clash leaves dozens dead in AfghanistanRival groups of Taliban militants have clashed in the southern Afghan province of Zabul, killing as many as 80 people in recent days, o� cials said on Monday, as brewing hostility between factions in the insurgency turned violent. Government o� cials and spokesmen for the two main Taliban groups said � erce � ghting had been underway since the weekend, with each side blaming the other for starting the violence. -REUTERS

ASIA PACIFICIndonesia plans crocodile-guarded prison island for drug convictsIndonesia’s anti-drugs agency has proposed building a prison on an island guarded by crocodiles to hold death row drug convicts, an o� cial said Monday. The proposal is the pet project of anti-drugs chief Budi Wase-so, who plans to visit various parts of the archipelago in his search for � erce reptiles to guard the jail. Waseso said that crocodiles would be better at preventing drug tra� ck-ers from escaping prison as they could not be bribed – unlike human guards. -AFP

MIDDLE EASTRussia, Iran have signed contract for missile system deliveryRussia and Iran have signed a contract for Moscow to supply Tehran with S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, Sergei Chemezov, the chief executive of Russian state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec, was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying on Monday. Analysts say this deal has put Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies, surroundings Shia-ruled Iran, on edge. -REUTERS

INDIANestle’s Maggi noodles return to IndiaNestle’s hugely popular Maggi noodles re-turned Monday to shelves in India � ve months after the government banned them over lead levels. India’s food safety watchdog banned the noodles nationwide in June after test results showed packets exceeded legal limits of lead. But the Bombay High Court over-turned the ruling two months later, calling it “arbitrary” and ordered fresh tests. Nestle said last month those tests had found that Maggi noodles were safe to eat. -REUTERS

CHINAChina president to attend APEC summit despite rowChinese President Xi Jinping will attend an Asia-Paci� c summit in the Philippines next week, o� cials said Monday, quashing the host’s concerns he would snub the event over South China Sea dispute. “The Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing has o� cially announced this morning that Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the APEC economic leaders’ meeting in Manila,” Philippine foreign department spokesman Charles Jose said. -AFP

Study: UK su� ering ‘identity crisis’n AFP, London

Britain is becoming “increasingly insular and self-absorbed,” as revealed by its impotence in the Syria and Ukraine crises and its “am-bivalence” towards the European Union, a report said Monday.

The country should give up its obsession “with its supposed past glories” and instead seek to reinvent itself as an “enabler of cooperation” on the world stage, said the report, authored by former diplomats and leading academics.

“Sidelined in Syria, ine� ective in Ukraine, unwilling in Europe, inimical on refugees. A crisis of con� dence has become a crisis of identity,” said the report, commissioned by the London School of Economics (LSE).

The authors, who include the former head of the parliamentary intelligence committee, the former British ambassador to Washington and the former head of MI6, urged politicians not to base Britain’s foreign policy on self-interest.

“A uni� ed national interest requires a sin-gular identity that Britain’s open, ethno-cul-turally diverse society should be proud to es-chew,” it said. Instead, Britain should exploit its “hyper-connectedness and global outlook” to help shape global policies, creating “a coun-try comfortable with its present status as an independent, con� dent, strong state.”

The authors accused “a foreign-policy elite” of having a “� xation... on past imperial glories” that clouded decision-making on is-sues such as international trade and Britain’s relationship with Europe. l

Cameron: Britain can survive outside EUn AFP, London

Britain can survive outside the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday as he denied he was planning to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU re-gardless of the outcome of reform talks.

“The argument isn’t whether Britain could survive outside of Europe. Of course it could,” Cameron told the annual confer-ence of the Confederation of British Indus-try (CBI), the country’s main business lobby.

“The argument is how we could be best o� ,” he told the group, many of whose members are concerned about the econom-ic consequences of a possible “Brexit.”

Cameron was interrupted by two pro-testers who stood up and chanted “Voice of Brussels!,” re� ecting a suspicion among eu-rosceptics that he has already made up his mind in favour of Britain staying in the EU.

Cameron is to give more detail on Tues-day in a letter to European Council presi-dent Donald Tusk on Britain’s reform de-mands ahead of a referendum that is due to be held by 2017 at the latest.

“If I can’t achieve them, I rule nothing out,” he said, reiterating a warning to EU leaders.

“If these things can’t be � xed, then Brit-ain would naturally ask: do we belong in this organisation?

“Is this organisation � exible enough to make sure that countries inside the euro-zone can grow and succeed and countries outside the eurozone, like Britain, can get what they want?” he said.

Cameron also repeated that some of Brit-ain’s demands would require changing EU treaties – or at least a binding promise that treaties will be changed.

“What we need to change, some of it does involve changing the treaties,” he said.

“What we need to do is get agreement from the other 27 EU countries that that’s go-ing to happen... We need to set out that that is legally binding and irreversible,” he said.

Cameron has long identi� ed four broad areas where he wants to see reforms – im-proving competitiveness, greater “fairness” between eurozone and non-eurozone na-tions, sovereignty issues including an ex-emption from the aspiration of ever-closer union and making it harder for migrants to claim bene� ts.

CBI director John Cridland said ahead of the conference that most but not all busi-ness were in favour of continued EU mem-bership.

“Not every single CBI member thinks the same, nor every business thinks the same, but I do have an overwhelming majority of businesses that want to be in a reformed EU and a reform agenda,” he said. l

A protester holds a placard during a rally in support of refugees in Sydney on October 19 REUTERS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015World 9

DT

USAUS concerned by ‘far from perfect’ Myanmar voteThe US has welcomed Myanmar’s landmark election Sunday, but warned of “important structural and systemic impediments” to full democratisation in the Southeast Asian nation after decades of military rule. US Secretary of State John Kerry pointed to a large number of unelected seats reserved for the military, the disfranchisement of minorities such as Rohingya Muslims and the “arbitrary” disquali� cation of certain candidates. -AFP

THE AMERICASPeru steps up border dispute with ChileThe frayed relations between Chile and Peru appeared to unwind further Saturday, after Peruvian President Ollanta Humala o� cially recognised an administrative district in a disputed border area. The Chilean govern-ment promptly sent a protest note to Peru “strongly” rejecting the law because it concerns “unquestionably” Chilean terri-tory. And Santiago said a planned bilateral meeting of ministers on social integration that had been set to take place in December was canceled. -AFP

UKUK to boost intelligence sta� numbersBritain’s security agencies will receive a signi� cant boost to sta� numbers as part of a multi-pronged e� ort to stave o� threats from terrorist plotters, � nance minister George Osborne said on Monday. “I can con� rm that over the next � ve years we will substantially increase the number of people across all three secret intelligence agencies who in-vestigate, analyse and help disrupt terrorists plots,” he said in a speech. -REUTERS

EUROPEFrance � ghts sexual violence on public transportFrance launched an awareness campaign Monday in a bid to halt the crude comments, groping and sexual violence that women face daily on public transport. Posters went up at stations around the country with � ctitious metro stops labelled with comments such as: “Hello Mademoiselle. You’re lovely. Let’s get to know each other. Is that short skirt for me?” The remarks get increasingly aggressive from “You’re hot, you’re turning me on. Answer me dirty bitch” to “Stop - that is enough.” “A woman’s daily life should not look like this,” reads a line at the bottom of the poster. -AFP

AFRICAEgypt police kill leading IS militant in CairoEgyptian police said on Monday they killed a top Islamic State group operative in the capi-tal implicated in a string of attacks including the murders of a Croat and an American. An interior ministry statement said Ashraf Ali Ali Hassanein al-Gharabli was shot dead in an ex-change of � re after police tried to arrest him. Hassanein was one of the most sought after militants in the country, and had featured in a wanted notice by police as early as January 2014, months into a militant insurgency cen-tred in the Sinai Peninsula. -AFP

Catalonia votes to start breakaway process from Spainn Reuters, Madrid

Catalonia’s regional assembly voted on Mon-day in favour of a resolution to split from Spain, energising a drive towards independ-ence and deepening a stando� with central government in Madrid.

The declaration, which pro-independence parties in the northeastern region hope will lead to it splitting from Spain altogether with-in 18 months, was backed by a majority in the regional parliament.

The fraught debate over Catalan secession has railroaded campaigning for national elec-tions on December 20, away from the country’s lopsided emergence from an economic crisis.

“The Catalan parliament will adopt the necessary measures to start this democratic process of massive, sustained and peaceful disconnection from the Spanish state,” the resolution, in Catalan, said.

Parties favouring independence from Spain won a majority of seats in the Catalan assem-bly, representing one of Spain’s wealthiest re-gions, in September.

But the Spanish constitution does not allow any region to break away and the centre-right government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has repeatedly dismissed the Catalan cam-paign out of hand.

The government would � le an appeal with the Constitutional Court to ensure that Mon-day’s resolution had “no consequences,” Ra-joy said.

“I understand that many Spaniards have had a bellyful (...) of this continued attempt to delegitimise our institutions.”

Polls show that opposition to Catalan inde-pendence is a vote winner across the political spectrum in the rest of Spain. l

Q&A

Catalonia’s secession plan and how Spain would block itHere is a list of questions surrounding the elec-tion and Catalonia’s secessionist push:

Q1. Why do Catalans want to be independ-ent? People who favour independence say Catalonia, which has its own language and culture, is a “nation” - not a “nation-ality” as recognised by the Spanish con-stitution - and that as such they should be allowed to have their own state. They also say that Catalonia, one of Spain’s wealthiest autonomous communities, is transferring too much in tax revenues to poorest regions and would be better off eco-nomically if it was independent.

Q2. How and when separatists hope to achieve independence?The secessionist plan promoted by Junts pel Si has three different steps– 1. A solemn declaration from the regional parliament that the independence process has started, which just took place on Monday. 2. Asking Catalans to take part to a constituent pro-cess fuelled by public debates and leading to the approval of a new constitution by referendum. 3. A national unity government building up the structures of the new state, like a treasury, a central bank or an army, 4. The process, which should not exceed 18 months, would culminate into a declaration of independence.

Q3. How and when can the Spanish state stop a Catalan independence? The � rst two phases of the process are political and could be carried out within the limits of the Spanish and Catalan laws. A referendum to ap-prove the new constitution would however be blocked in court because it goes against the Span-ish constitution, as would the structures of the new state and a declaration of independence. The Spanish government has tabled an urgent reform of the constitutional court to give it enough clout to stop any unilateral move from the Catalan au-thorities. The court already blocked in Septtem-ber a Catalan law that would have paved the way for the creation of a Catalan treasury.

Q4. What’s the end game? All political analysts and most politicians believe the stando� could be resolved by a renewed dialogue between Catalan and Spanish authori-ties that would lead to a better tax deal and in-creased infrastructures spending for the region. Many also say that a wide-ranging constitutional reform that would include speci� c articles to protect the Catalan language and culture and would be approved by a national referendum is also needed. A poll from Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia showed that 63% percent of Catalan voters would back a new constitution or a more � exible interpretation of the existing one. l

Source: REUTERS

Jordanian army captain on shooting spree, 2 Americans, 1 S African amog 6 deadn Reuters, Amman

A Jordanian army o� cer shot dead six people, among them two American military person-nel and one South African, on Monday at a US-funded security training facility near Am-man, Jordan’s government spokesman said.

Mohammad Momani said the attacker was shot dead by Jordanian security forces later.

A Jordanian security source said the gun-man was a senior co-trainer with the rank of captain.

The incident occurred in a facility that mainly trains Iraqi and Palestinian forces on the outskirts of the capital Amman.

Jordan is now part of the Washington-led coalition that is trying to defeat Islamic State insurgents that have seized large tracts of Syria and Iraq, both of which border Jordan.

The country hosts several hundred US trainers who are part of a military programme to bolster the kingdom’s defences, including the stationing of F16 � ghter jets that use Jor-danian air� elds to hit Islamic State positions in neighbouring Syria. l

UK SC hears landmark Libyan rendition casen AFP, London

Britain’s top court on Monday began hear-ings in a landmark case involving a Libyan man who accuses the British government of conspiring with the CIA in his “rendition” to Libya for torture in 2004.

The Supreme Court is hearing the case after the state appealed a previous Court of Appeals ruling in October 2014 that gave Abdul-Hakim Belhaj and his wife the right to take the government to court.

“For years the British government has sought to shut the door of the British courts to victims of torture and state-sponsored kidnapping,” said Cori Crider, from the legal charity Reprieve.

Campaigners believe the Belhaj case could open the door to similar legal action in torture cases.

Belhaj, a former Islamist militant who became Tripoli’s military commander af-ter Libyan dictator Muammar Gadda� was ousted in the 2011 revolution, claims British involvement in his illegal rendition.

He and his wife said they were detained

by US intelligence o� cers at Bangkok air-port in Thailand in 2004 when Belhaj was leader of the anti-Gadda� Libyan Islam-ic Fighting Group. His wife was several months pregnant at the time.

The couple were then taken to Tripoli, where Belhaj was jailed for six years. Files unearthed from Gadda� ’s archives after his fall suggest he was captured due to a British tip-o� after he initially made an attempt to seek asylum in Britain.

The legal action he has launched is against the British government, including the MI5 and MI6 intelligence agencies.

The couple have o� ered to settle the case for an apology, and a token £1 payment from the former head of counter terror-ism at MI6, Britain’s former foreign min-ister and the Foreign and Commonwealth O� ce.

The government has argued that ev-idence should not be heard because the claims involved other countries.

Campaigners say Britain is only con-cerned about damaging its relations with the US. l

World10DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Soul searching for BJP after crushing Bihar defeatn Reuters, New Delhi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met lead-ers of his party on Monday to discuss whether to overhaul policies and priorities in the wake of a humiliating defeat in elections of Bihar.

Modi and a dozen senior colleagues of his Hindu nationalist party, including its president Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, gathered at the party’s o� ces to analyse the reasons for the defeat.

“There are lessons to be learnt,” Jaitley told reporters after the meeting, without out-lining speci� cs. “In elections you win some and lose some.”

Sunday’s loss in Bihar, India’s third most populous and poorest state, is the most signif-icant setback for Modi since he won a crush-ing victory in a general election last year.

For the � rst time since he came to power, party leaders are openly starting to question

the direction of the government.

Parliamentary setbackThe Bihar loss may hamper Modi’s reform agenda because he needs to win most state elections in the next three years to gain full control of parliament. India’s states are rep-resented in the upper house, Rajya Sabha, where the BJP lacks a majority.

The government announced on Monday that parliament will resume for the winter session on November 26. Over the last year, Modi has struggled to pass laws, including tax and labour reforms, and now faces an opposi-tion with political momentum.

The election came against a backdrop of con-cerns in India over incidents in which Muslims have been targeted by Hindu zealots. There have been protests by prominent intellectuals at what they call a climate of rising intolerance.

Some BJP lawmakers called for the party to promote a more unifying agenda focusing

on economic development, after a campaign in Bihar that sought to polarise voters along caste and religious lines.

“We have to be single mindedly focused on development, development, develop-ment,” said Chandan Mitra, a BJP member of parliament. “We can’t a� ord to be distracted by anything else.”

A senior BJP leader, who asked not to be named, said the problem was that Modi side-lined too many people.

“Modi thinks he can do it all at once. He wants economic growth, social and cultural revolution, to win political battles and project himself as a statesman,” he said.

“If he wins then every voice of dissent can be silenced, but if he fails then every voice of dissent is going to build.”

Aggressive tacticsThe election was one of the most vicious in recent years.

At one of dozens of election rallies ad-dressed by Modi, he accused rival parties of snatching economic bene� ts from low-er-caste Hindus and handing them over to a religious minority, a comment interpreted as a veiled reference to Muslims.

The election commission banned several party posters they said could incite hatred. One banned poster showed a young Hindu woman embracing a garlanded cow, an ani-mal sacred to Hindus.

In contrast, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who led the anti-Modi alliance in Bihar, was able to trade on his record of turning around a state that was once widely considered to be among India’s most corrupt and lawless.

Arun Shourie, a minister in the last BJP government, called for a change in course.

“We should be grateful to the people of Bihar because the direction has been halted,” he told NDTV news. Asked what went wrong with the party’s Bihar campaign, he said: “Everything.” l

INSIDE

We are pleased by the WTO’s decision to extend the drug patent exemption for LDCs including Bangladesh until 2032.

The waiver is of crucial importance to the goal of increasing access to medicines for all the world’s people.

Bangladesh has bene� ted hugely from the National Drugs policy over the last three decades. It has enabled entrepreneurs to build a competitive, self-su� cient pharmaceuticals industry, which makes 97% of the medicine sold in the country and is now in a front-line position to expand globally.

The time is right for the government to help the industry build further upon its proven strengths.

Low prices and high quality products are already helping Bangladesh’s pharmaceuticals industry sell medicine to 107 di� erent countries, including Brazil, Kenya, and the UK. The continuing waiver o� ers huge potential to dramatically multiply the value of these exports by increasing production of generic medicine.

The industry is becoming ever more e� cient at producing low-cost medicine, with Incepta, for example, demonstrating that it can pro� tably produce a generic version of an anti-Hepatiis C drug at 1% of the $1,000-a-pill price for which it sells in the US.

With around 1,200 pharmaceutical products achieving registration for exports in the past three years, there are good reasons to hope for a large jump in the coming years to help the sector become one of the country’s top export earners.

The government should take a strategic approach to champion the pharmaceuticals industry’s growth.

As a knowledge-based sector, it needs to be able to continuously increase investment in research and development. To maximise its potential, it is vital that the government free up outdated exchange controls to help the pharmaceuticals industry, and other national leaders like RMG and leather, be able to freely compete and invest internationally.

The government should also help by incentivising investment in research, through encouraging co-operation between universities and business and by ensuring full and quick access to more testing laboratories to certify products for export.

Bangladesh’s growing domestic market and manufacturing base provides the pharmaceuticals sector with a strong platform to create new jobs and generate vital foreign revenues. Everything possible must be done to help it grow, by incentivising investment in new manufacturing plants and facilities.

Champion the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to create new export growth and jobs

A new world order is emerging

Democracy vs autocracyDemocracy is considered a culture, a value system, rather than a structure of governance only. The right path, as detailed above, in short, is that people are the ultimate owners of all authority of state

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Done to deathMurder for murder cannot be a civilised reaction in the 21st century. Not to go around touting an old Gandhian proverb, but a blind world cannot be on our agenda for the future

Just how the situation will look when the dust settles, is impossible to know. But, it is almost certain that there will be very little room left for the US or its European allies in the region. And with that, our access to oil and gas will never be safe or secure ever again

Make Bangladesh a powerhouse for pharmaceutical exports

11D

TEditorialTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

BIGSTOCK

n GM Quader

The word autocracy is derived from the Greek “autokratos,” meaning a government in which one person has supreme power, dictatorship,

unlimited power or authority over others. Generally, autocrats are driven by whimsy or take decisions considering only their self-interest. The greater welfare of the majority is neglected.

For that, autocratic dispensations are being rejected; dictators and monarchs are being thrown out of power and the systems abolished. Democracy, as an alternative, is becoming more popular.

Good governance is the ultimate goal every society desires to achieve. Good governance leads to the establishment of social justice. Social justice means a society free of discrimination, deprivation, oppression, all kinds of social evils, injustices, and human rights violations.

It has been learned through experience that accountability at every stage of society is very important for achieving good governance. It has also been accepted that democracy is by far the best system to ensure said accountability.

In a democratic society, people become the owners of all authority of state. Those are used to serve the greater interest of the majority of the public. Moreover, it involves maximum possible community in decision-making and in implementation stages. This helps develop an overall atmosphere of accountability.

People in di� erent parts of the world di� er culturally, � nancially, educationally, and geographically. Any set rule in practicing democracy may not suit all. Procedures may have to be designed di� erently or may have to be derived by practice to go well with specialty of place. Since there exists no speci� c parameters, excellence in practice of democracy cannot be bound by limitations.

It can go on � ourishing limitlessly if adapted properly. Democracy, for that reason, is considered a culture, a value system, rather than a structure of governance only. The right path, as detailed above, in short, is that people are the ultimate owner of all authority of state; ways and means are to be designed and practiced in order to ensure highest participation of public in the running of the country.

Any other way of running the a� airs of state, bypassing the people, cannot be considered practice of democracy. If practiced in a wrong way, democracy will not � ourish, but may ultimately perish.

In any government, there exist executive structures to carry out di� erent designated functions. People are the ultimate owners of power in a democracy. So, it is necessary that they delegate the same to their representatives for carrying out executive tasks. Choice of legislature to which people transfer their ownership right would need to be done with perfection.

It is generally decided through an election, and the Election Commission is the

institution responsible for carrying it out. EC should be capable of conducting elections in a free (meaning free from the in� uence of the party in power, money, or muscle) and fair (signifying judicious use of rules) way. Practice of democracy is considered to be on the right path when the EC improves on these qualities and receives general acceptability accordingly with the passage of time.

In a democracy, people’s views and aspi-rations are needed to be visibly heard and be re� ected as much as possible on the a� airs of state. Parliament is meant to provide that scope. But, without having a strong (poten-tial alternate government) and vibrant (vocal to re� ect people’s voice) opposition, par-liament cannot perform e� ectively. Proper practice of democracy will lead to creation of e� ectual parliament by gradually improving strength and quality of opposition.

The judiciary is another important organ of democracy. Laws are formulated for social harmony. Rule of law is established by the judiciary imposing enforcement. Judiciary is an essential component for the creation of an environment of accountability. To be e� ective, it needs to be kept separate from the executive and free from corruption and ine� ciency. In a functioning democracy, the

above are ful� lled. Gradual improvement indicates the right path.

The media, both mass and social, have been getting increased prominence every-day due to its e� ectiveness in disseminating what is happening around. It has enhanced answerability by creating better transparen-cy. For good practice of democracy, media should be allowed to function freely.

In a practicing democracy, di� erent constitutional bodies like the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Public Service Commission (PSC), Human Rights Commission (HRC), etc are created to safeguard the interest of the people. The purpose is to oversee and stop any person or authority having power who deprives, cheats, or harms citizens unduly. Naturally, to be e� ective, these bodies will have to be free from the in� uence of the government whose activities they might need to redress. Retaining that freedom and further improvement upon help democratisation.

To have a functioning democracy, all the above institutions, especially the EC, parliament, judiciary, and the media need to be operating e� ectively. For that, the prime requirement is independence from government in� uence and control.

On the contrary, in case said institutions are under the in� uence and control of the PM, democracy ceases as all power is centralised in one hand. The purpose of those institutions is to act as a counter-balance to the government power and restrain misuse. When institutions are put in some way within the jurisdiction of the PM’s authority, they become ine� ective.

They tend to function in collusion with each other to serve the self-interests and concerns of the PM instead of ensuring mutual and overall environment of accountability. The system becomes totalitarian.

Practice of democracy is evaluated by accessing the functioning of the said institutions under the described criteria. It was sensed that people at large feel institutions are losing their freedom and are being guided more by what the government dictates. People’s con� dence on their e� ectiveness is low and eroding.

Many have commented that a democratic structure was in place in Bangladesh. It was practiced with some defects and the seeds of autocracy slipped in. The system has allowed for the � lling up of key positions in administration, EC, and other constitutional institutions with partisan people.

The PM had some control over those institutions. Those have been enhanced by amending constitution/law under unusual circumstances. It has facilitated a dictatorial rule and perpetuated power by manipulation. The country has been moving away from the path of democracy, and is heading towards autocracy. l

GM Quader is former Minister of Commerce, Bangladesh.

Democracy vs autocracy

Democracy is considered a culture, a value system, rather than a structure of governance only. The right path, as detailed above, in short, is that people are the ultimate owners of all authority of state

The di� erent voices of the people are crucial to a democracy BIGSTOCK

We need to learn to tell the di� erence

Opinion12DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Opinion

n Azeem Ibrahim

This year is seeing the most drastic reshaping of the geopolitics of the Middle East possibly since WW2 -- certainly since the collapse of the

Soviet Union. Everything is in � ux. Russia and Iran are pushing out the US and NATO in Syria, Iran is already leading the Shia war e� ort in Iraq, and the Iraqi government is now considering inviting military assistance from Russia against ISIS as well.

This, after the hundreds of billions of

dollars that the US has spent on the country. Across the entire Fertile Crescent, the US and its allies are being almost entirely marginalised. As are their interests.

Further to the South, lay the traditional allies of the US in the region: Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. These alliances still hold … for now. Though there is obviously no love lost between the US and these countries. None of the governments of these countries now trust the US. The Egyptian government is still caught up in the ambivalence of the West between its desire for democracy in the region and its desire for stability and for secular governance.

The détente between the US and Iran on the Iranians’ nuclear program has led to Saudi alarm. And the Israelis are hunkering down in their metaphorical bunker as the world around them descends into chaos, and the � ames of war are starting to spread to the occupied territories.

To the east, Afghanistan is once again in total chaos, with the Taliban emerging as the most likely group to prevail in the country. And Pakistan, formerly the US’s most reliable ally in the region, is being absorbed into the Chinese sphere of in� uence with the help,

once again, of the Iranians.In fact, one could argue, the entire East is

being reshaped geopolitically according to the needs of Chinese commerce: Pipelines from Russia to China, pipelines from Iran to Pakistan paid for by the Chinese, railways and road infrastructure built by the Chinese in South East Asia in Myanmar to connect them to the deep water port in Kyaukpyu, to the south-west with the trade corridor through Pakistan to connect them to the deep water port of Gwadar, and across the whole of Central Asia, as China is rebuilding the Silk Road.

Muscling inRussia, Iran, and China are muscling in on the Middle East, and so far it seems that the US and Europe have neither the capacity, nor the will, to do anything about it. The American Century, at least in the Middle East, seems well and truly over. How did it come to this?

For one, the US has taken its eye o� the ball. Invading Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11 could have perhaps worked, on its own. The US was able to bring its allies along, and there was a great deal of goodwill towards the American war aims at the time. But, all that was squandered with the insane decision to also invade Iraq. That war clearly overstretched US forces and allowed Iran, Russia, and eventually China, to � ex their muscles in their regional spheres of in� uence against US interests.

The initial response of the Obama administration to the catastrophic consequences of the Bush era warmongering was to pursue a more liberal, international law approach to geopolitics. It was the only way that the US could have sustained its status in the international arena. But, by then, it was already too late. The US had long lost the moral authority to call on other countries to obey international norms, and no longer had the strength to enforce even a semblance of international law.

Its rivals had smelled blood and tasted success. And so, when the Middle East became destabilised in the wake of the Arab Spring, the others pounced. And now, China is carving up the East, Russia the Levant, and Iran every country in its neighbourhood and around the Jordan River.

Just how the situation will look when the dust settles, is impossible to know. But, it is almost certain that there will be very little room left for the US or its European allies in the region. And with that, our access to oil and gas will never be safe or secure ever again.

Transitioning to alternative sources of en-ergy is no longer just a matter for the climate change “hippies.” It should be the highest priority even for the most hawkish neo-con-servatives. l

Azeem Ibrahim is an RAI Fellow at Mans� eld College, University of Oxford and Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College. He tweets @AzeemIbrahim. This article � rst appeared in Al Arabiya.

A new world order is emerging

Just how the situation will look when the dust settles, is impossible to know. But, it is almost certain that there will be very little room left for the US or its European allies in the region. And with that, our access to oil and gas will never be safe or secure ever again

The spirit of the Arab Spring lingers on in the new Middle East REUTERS

The Middle East is rising, and the world should brace for the changes it will bring

13D

TTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Opinion14DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

n SN Rasul

Let us now rejoice at the sentencing of Rajon’s infamous killers, who have been handed down the death penalty for torturing the boy on camera. The

convicts were Kamrul, Moina, Tajuddin, and Zakir. Zakir, so far, is in hiding. They were also slapped with a � ne of Tk10,000 each.

Let us now also rejoice at the awarding of the death penalty to Rakib’s killers: Sharif and Mintu. These blokes were owners of a certain Sharif Motors, with Mintu being Sharif’s uncle. Beauty Begum, Sharif’s mother, who had held him back while Sharif and Mintu tortured him and, eventually, brought about his death, was acquitted. Woe is us.

Word of mouth and the Internet reek of pleasure. Justice has been served, they say; these inhumane humans will receive, � nally, what’s coming to them. The Hand of God, via these uncapitalised hands of ours, will strike them down with Divine Justice.

I see words of jubilant celebration echoed in the intonations of my friends, colleagues, acquaintances. The death knell rings for these insipid souls; their impending death

is merely a fraction of the pain and su� ering they had wielded at their hands, against children no less, against minors who had done little to deserve to be at the end of such unwarranted violence.

Yay.Indeed. In this narrative of subjectivity,

one � nds it di� cult to be objective, to be rational, unbiased. But one can try. And if the “one” sounds too inclusive, like too much of an attempt to bring you into the fold of an unwilling attempt, then I shall use the singular � rst person henceforth.

But yes, it has become increasingly di� cult to say the right thing for the wrong people. With so much death, violence, rape, harassment, corruption, tra� c jams, heat, et cetera, et cetera, in� nite et cetera, why would someone wish to try and puncture this happy, jubilant balloon and let the public not have its one, singular moment of joy?

Death penalties are a complex issue. But fact: No developed nation in the world has the death penalty, except for the United States and Japan. Fact: There is no evidence that supports the claim that the death penalty prevents future crimes. Fact: Innocent people get killed due to insu� cient

evidence, incompetent lawyers, ine� ectual trials, inadequate technology, with the number being a whopping one out of 25 in the US. Fact: Death penalty trials are longer and hence, more expensive for us, the citizens, the tax-payers.

Opinion: Murder for murder cannot be a civilised reaction in the 21st century. Not to go around touting an old Gandhian proverb, but a blind world cannot be on our agenda for the future. Violence has always begotten violence, and when the world, and especially our nation, is so bogged down by such excesses of it, continuing that culture of taking life away when it need not be, is redundant, morose, ugly.

One was witness to the same kind of fervour during the Shahbagh protests. If I’m not mistaken, most of the protesters were composed of a liberal mindset, constituting the more progressive nook of the Bangladeshi middle and upper-middle classes.

It was surprising to see the same crowd call for death, the same crowd who are so intent on valuing life in the now. But perhaps that is a false dichotomy perpetrated by Western media: Republicans vs Democrats, pro-lifers vs pro-choice, pro-capital punishment vs the opposite.

What we “need,” however, is a relative matter, unless one is citing food and air. Do we need capital punishment?

Opinion: We don’t. If one were to take God out of the equation, just for a moment, then death seems almost merciful. Spending life inside the con� nes of a disgusting prison cell (the quality of prisons is another issue, for another time) seems more � tting for child torturers and murderers, where they may be exposed to all sorts of other, similarly

heinous individuals and politics, who treat them with cruelty that is “be� tting” their crime.

Opinion: Even if one were to reinsert God back into the equation, and believes in the idea of life after death and divine justice, God will take care of the person when his time comes, while he watches a � ashback made-for-TV movie on the big screen of judgement day. There is, of course, the paradoxical argument which claims that God oftentimes works through us, and we are left wondering who wields the hand that ties the noose and brings down the sword: God or us?

Opinion: It makes us the better person, the bigger individual, to not respond to violence with violence, to murder with murder. The right to take life away has not been bestowed upon most of us, then why the government? If we are not allowed to kill someone who has killed someone we love, why should the state?

Having never lost a dear member at someone else’s hands, my claim to objectivity is de� nitely easier. Opinion: We should strive for objectivity in our viewpoints when we are � ghting for a cause that a� ects more than just us, and think about the long term rami� cations of not just having an archaic system such as the death penalty, but other similar concepts leftover from bygone days.

Fact: Taking major decisions while angry, hurt, sad, basically under the in� uence of emotions has almost never resulted in picking the more e� ective long-term choice. Opinion: A future of violence is as little palatable to the taste-buds as a history of one. l

SN Rasul is a writer. Follow him @snrasul.

Done to deathViolence begets violence, and we already have an excess of it

Murder for murder cannot be a civilised reaction in the 21st century. Not to go around touting an old Gandhian proverb, but a blind world cannot be on our agenda for the future

Does the death penalty serve as a deterrent for would-be criminals? BIGSTOCK

15D

TBusinessTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

FBCCI blasts NBR for harassment by � eld o� ces The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) members have blasted the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for the continuous harassment by the � eld level tax o� cials. PAGE 16

‘91% exporters see di� culty with NTMs’A total of 91% exporters in the country re-portedly experience di� culty with Non-tar-i� Measures (NTMs) applied by the destina-tion markets or by Bangladesh.The fact came into light while sharing a sur-vey � ndings aimed to shed light on regulato-ry and procedural obstacles to trade faced by Bangladeshi � rms. PAGE 18

Insurer runs business despite licence suspension Standard Insurance continues its business even after the Insurance Development and Regulato-ry Authority suspended the company’s operat-ing licence on June 17 for three months.The suspension order was later extended on September 13 for two more months. PAGE 17

India not changing LoC procurement conditionsIndia remains stick to its condition on pro-curement of goods to execute 13 projects un-der the fresh $2bn credit o� ered to Bangla-desh. At a meeting in Dhaka yesterday, they expressed their reluctance to change the condition as Bangladesh asked to take a soft-er stance. PAGE 17

Capital market snapshot: MondayDSE

Broad Index 4,416.9 -0.6% ▼

Index 1,068.6 -0.3% ▼

30 Index 1,680.2 -0.5% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 3,219.3 2.3% ▲

Turnover in Mn Volume 79.6 -4.0% ▼

CSEAll Share Index 13,503.0 -0.7% ▼

30 Index 11,974.6 -0.6% ▼

Selected Index 8,216.1 -0.7% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk 243.7 15.2% ▲

Turnover in Mn Volume 6.4 -11.4% ▼

INSIDE

Most RMG factories found safe in government inspection n Tribune Report

The government’s inspection has found safe-ty shortcomings in 274 of the garment facto-ries not inspected by Accord or Alliance.

A report published yesterday has recom-mended detailed engineering assessment and remediation measures to make the 274 factories safe for workers. The inspection results, however, showed most of the facto-ries were safe.

The inspection, conducted on structural, � re and electrical set-ups, was supported by the ILO and the governments of Canada, the Netherlands and the UK.

A number of 1,475 factories were brought under the inspection - which were not suppliers to the Western retailers who have launched two separate groups - Accord and Alliance to inspect their own supplier factories.

During the inspection which ended on 31st October, the government team as-sessed 1,475 factories. Of them, 34.8% re-ceived green mark (fully safe), 47.3% yellow mark (safe to some extent), 15.4% amber (having safety concerns and need DEA) and 0.4% red-amber (risky), 1.2% red (under as-sessment of review panel, and three already closed) and 1% black.

The number of factories with safety concerns is 214 or 15.8% of the factories as-sessed, said Syed Ahmed, inspector general

of the Department of Inspection of Facto-ries and Establishments (DIFE).

“The factories can be made safe under-taking remediation works. Then detailed engineering assessment will be done to make a � nal safety status of the factories that if they are safe or not,” he said.

Syed Ahmed said the DIFE has asked the owners to submit corrective action plans by three months as “the action plans will be sent to the government’s task force for vet-ting before approval and implementation.”

About � nancing the remediation works, he said: “It’s mainly the owners’ duty to en-sure workers’ safety in the factories. How-ever, as the government has some respon-sibilities, we will also try to � nd funding sources.”

Ahmed said they would keep up-to-date

with owners about the progress in remedi-ation works as ensuring safety is “the big-gest challenge for us.” He said a total of 137 inspectors have been involved in four dis-tricts to monitor the works.

He said the factories without member-ship of BGMEA or BKMEA would be brought under the assessment and inspection, but the time was yet to be set.

He, however, expected it could take three to six months to take measures on the issue.

Ahmed claimed that the inspection has been done maintaining standards and there was no scope of compromising with the safety issue.

Srinivas Reddy, ILO country director, termed the completion of inspection as a “signi� cant milestone.”

“Carrying out these inspections is a sig-ni� cant milestone yet it is only the begin-ning. Our full attention must now turn to re-mediation. ILO will help build the capacity of the Bangladesh authorities to put in place an e� ective system for all remediation and regulatory oversight once the support of partners ends.”

He urged the owners’ associations to ac-tively work with the factory managements in preparation of corrective action plans.

Reddy said this should be done in the best interest of the workers’ safety, which would help restore con� dence among the buyers. l

Targeted RMG factories 3,508 Total 3,496

By National Initiative 1,475By Accord 1,356By Alliance 829Closed RMG units 37Partially closed 36 Workers a�ected 58,080Review pending 6Assessment due 12

NATIONAL INITIATIVE ASSESSMENTFactory status Number of factory In%Green 471 34.8%Yellow 640 47.3%Amber 209 15.4%Red-Amber 5 0.4Red 16 1.2Black 13 1.0Total 1354 100

A S S E S S M E N T O F R M G FA C T O R Y C O N D I T I O N AT A G L A N C E

BTRC chief for quality servicesn Tribune Report

Newly appointed BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood has assured the mobile phone subscribers of quality services across the country.

“During the � rst three months, my � rst job will be to resolve all the call termination related problems,” he told a views exchange meeting with the members of Telecommu-nication Reporters’ Network, Bang-

ladesh (TRNB) at his BTRC o� ce in Dhaka yesterday.

Dr Mahmmood took the charge of BTRC on October 26. He stressed on formulating a “Master Plan” to curb illegal uses of VoIP and hinted that he would go for political interven-tion to collect the outstanding dues to di� erent operators.

TRNB Acting President Rashed Mehedi and General Secretary Mu-hammad Zahidul Islam also spoke. l

‘It’s mainly the owners’ duty to ensure workers’ safety in the factories. However, as the government has some responsibilities, we will also try to � nd funding sources’

Business16DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

FBCCI holds dialogue with NBR to share views on existing challenges faced by the businesses yesterday in the capital DHAKA TRIBUNE

FBCCI blasts NBR for harassment by � eld o� ces to collect taxn Tribune Report

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) members have blasted the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for the continuous harassment by the � eld level tax o� cials.

They have also urged the NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman to immediately stop the grassroots-level harassment right now for es-tablishing a business friendly atmosphere for doing better business.

The business leaders came up with the complaints against the � eld level o� cials, mostly belonging to Value Added Tax (VAT) wing, at the ‘NBR-FBCCI Partnership Dia-logue’ held at the apex chambers o� ce in the capital yesterday.

Expressing their utter frustration and an-ger over the alleged harassment by the tax of-� cials, the apex trade body members further warned the tax authorities that they won’t tolerate any more harassments in the name of achieving the revenue target of Tk1,76,370 crore for this � scal as businessmen always want to pay taxes.

A total of 19 business leaders, out of 27 FBCCI directors and members, raised various complaints at the dialogue.

The FBCCI organised the dialogue to share views between the tax authorities and the businesses on the existing problems and challenges faced by the business in their practical life. The dialogue was organised with an aim to solve the problems and help NBR collect its revenue smoothly through partnerships.

FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad said, “Businesses are willing to pay tax, but they do not want to spend Tk3 for paying Tk1 as VAT.”

“We do not want to face any harassment,” he � rmly said.

FBCCI former president Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu said, “Such partnership dialogues should be held at district levels as

the tax o� cials in districts are creating pres-sures on the businesses for paying income tax and VAT which is spreading fear among the business.”

“Customs o� cials are using old reference value during assessment of products where-as it should not be done because of the im-plementation of ASYCUDA World, which is completely automated and have updated information on di� erent values in its server,” said FBCCI former vice president Jashim Ud-din.

He also urged the taxes authorities to al-low Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) for is-suing utilisation permission (UP) certi� cates to its members, which was approved by � -nance minister AMA Muhith in 2014.

FBCCI vice president Sha� ul Islam said, “The businesses welcomes the enforcement, but don’t like harassment in the name of its implementation.”

“Field-level o� cials are doing too much as they could not full � ll their targets in the last three months,” said FBCCI Director Mo-habbat Ullah.

He also suggested the NBR to expand its tax net by bringing non-enlisted � rms under VAT net instead of putting pressures to the existing taxpayers.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Siddiqur-Rahman said, “The business want to pay all the VAT and taxes but want to live with dig-nity in the society.”

S A Quader Kiron, president of Bangla-desh Dokan Malik Samity accused the NBR o� cials of maintaining good relations with those who do not pay tax but they harass those, who pay the VAT and other taxes reg-ularly.

FBCCI Director Abu Motaleb, Bangladesh Woman Chamber and Commerce Industry President Hasina Newaz, Bangladesh Alu-minium Manufacturers’ Association Presi-dent Obaidur Rahman also made same com-

plaints to the NBR chief while some other directors have come up with some sugges-tions at the dialogue.

FBCCI director Sheikh Fazle Rabbi urged NBR to formulate a realistic incentive struc-ture for the new entrepreneurs coming up in the � eld of energy diversi� cation.

FBCCI Director Khandker Ruhul Amin de-manded � at VAT rate at 4% for both air con-ditioned and non- airconditioned hotel and restaurants. Currently, the rates are 15% and 7% respectively.

Haider Ahmed Khan from Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged the NBR to help its revenue collection partners through maintaining a cordial relationship to bene� t the traders and the nation.

The other demands made by FBCCI mem-bers include hike of export tax on rice import at 30% from existing 10% to help local grow-ers, reduction of VAT on gold jewelries at 3% from the existing 5%, reduction of import duty on clinker, a raw material of cement, at a � at rate of Tk200 per ton from the existing Tk500 and withdrawal of VAT from trade li-cense fees etc.

NBR member Farid Uddin said the reve-nue target of Tk1,76,370crore is 30% higher from last years target whereas the taxes au-thorities do not have institutional capacity to collect the sum, so they were focusing on partnerships.

“We will develop partnerships and the problems relating to VAT collection will be resolved through institutional reforms,” he said.

He also urged the business community to come forward for involving in such process.

In response to the complaints, NBR chair-man Nojibur Rahman said, “Partnership di-alogue was introduced for identifying the challenges, weaknesses and solutions in the revenue system.”

He stated that the tax authorities had tak-en a zero tolerance policy against any harass-ment on taxpayers and corruption. l

Stocks decline for 4th dayn Tribune Report

Stocks continued to fall for the fourth straight session yesterday as the falling mar-ket turned investors’ risk averse.

The market opened marginally higher in the morning but moderate sell-o� erased the early gains at close.

The benchmark index DSEX lost 26 points or 0.6% to 4,416, its lowest in six months.

The Shariah index DSES was down 3 points to 1,068. The blue chip comprising in-dex DS30 fell 9 points to 1,680.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX settled at 8,216 with a fall of 59 points.

“As the DSEX broke psychological barrier in the previous sessions, the common per-ception is that the market might go down further,” said a broker.

Con� dence of investors eroded as they are already worried over the weak macro econo-my, latest political development and person-al security, he said.

All the large cap sectors closed negative except telecommunications that ended � at.

Power experienced a loss of nearly 2%. In the � nancial sector, non-banking � nancial in-stitutions went down by 1.7% and banks 0.25%.

Food and allied, cement, textile and phar-maceuticals closed lower.

Trading still remained sluggish at the bourse with turnover amounting to Tk320 crore, which is 2.3% higher over the previous session value.

IDLC Investments said horror plagued in-vestors sentiment as the market continued disintegrating and ignoring all the supports.

“In a bleeding market, intensity of correc-tion itself has become stimulator of further correction.

Amid the turbulence, pharmaceutical si-lently emerged as the largest capitalisation sector, coinciding extension of waiver from royalty payment to patented drugs for Bang-ladesh till 2032.

Titas Gas witnessed the highest market participation with turnover of Tk31.7 crore.

It was followed by IFAD Autos, United Power Generation and Distribution Compa-ny, Square Pharmaceuticals, Lafarge Surma Cement and KDS Accessories. l

3-day Laptop Fair to begin Thursdayn Tribune Report

The country’s largest laptop showcasing event “ Edumaker Laptop Fair 2015” will kick o� at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital on Thursday.

The three-day laptop carnival will involve local and international technology brands.

ExpoMaker – event organiser – came up with the disclosure at a press conference held at Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel in the capital yesterday.

Nahid Hasnain Siddique, Expo Maker head of operations, Abdul Fattah, chairman, Global Brand Pvt Ltd, MK Pasha Khan, dep-uty general manger, business development, Executive Technologies Ltd, were present at the press meet.

Expo Maker has been arranging the fair for 16th occasion in a row. l

Business 17D

TTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

India not changing LoC procurement conditionsn Tribune Report

India remains stick to its condi-tion on procurement of goods to execute 13 projects under the fresh $2bn credit o� ered to Bangladesh.

At a meeting in Dhaka yes-terday, they expressed their reluctance to change the con-dition as Bangladesh asked to take a softer stance.

Bangladesh proposed to al-low procurement of 50% con-struction materials from Bang-ladesh or a third country.

But India took its earlier stance that minimum 65% of construction materials must be purchased from Indian market and that should also be of Indi-an origin under the proposed LoC, said an o� cial of Eco-nomic Relations Division, who was present at the meeting.

He said India wanted to al-low Bangladesh to purchase maximum 25% of goods, ser-vices or work from Bangladesh or a third country.

The construction materials include bricks, sands, cement, and steel.

Bangladesh and India were holding talks since the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Dhaka visit o� ered $2bn fresh loan for Bangladesh’s infrastructure development.

Representatives from the Indian external a� airs minis-try, Indian High Commission o� cials and EXIM Bank of In-dia participated in the talks.

A senior ERD o� cial said al-though the Indian side did not

ful� ll our entire demands but it has assured of relaxation of some conditions for procuring goods and services on case-to-case basis for the construc-tion related projects under its $2.0bn-aided projects.

Bangladesh’s project im-plementing agencies found it di� cult to procure 65% of materials for the infrastruc-ture-related projects from In-dian market.

Earlier, India primarily said a minimum 75% of goods, ser-vices and works must be Indi-an origin and procured from the Indian market.

In response, Bangladesh proposed India that 60% of goods, services and works will be procured from India, while the remaining 40% from Bang-ladesh, and 50% construction materials like brick, sand and cement from India and 50% from Bangladesh.

“We have mainly discussed the procurement conditions. We have requested the lender to relax conditions for pur-chasing goods, services and works from Indian market, especially for the construction related projects. The Indian side assured us of consider-ation on case-to-case basis,” said another o� cial.

He, however, said the In-dian side at the negotiation meeting also agreed to allow Bangladeshi � rms to make joint-venture with Indian � rms where Indian companies will have the lead role with mini-mum 51% share. l

Asia emerging currencies slumpn AFP, Tokyo

High-yielding emerging market currencies su� ered big loss-es against the dollar yesterday in Asia after strong US jobs � gures renewed the case for a Federal Reserve interest rate lift-o� this year.

The South Korean won and the Malaysian ringgit slumped more than one percent, while the Indonesian rupiah was also down as weak Chinese trade data also took their toll.

The greenback also hit a fresh two-month high against the yen after US Labor Department data on Friday showed the world’s top economy added 271,000 net new jobs last month, almost double that seen in September.

The data suggested that worries were overblown of an emerging markets growth slowdown infecting the US econ-omy.

The greenback rose to 123.33 yen from 123.16 yen Friday in New York, after sitting at 121.66 earlier Friday in Asia.

China on Sunday reported disappointing trade � gures that took a bite out of emerging and commodity-linked cur-rencies, with imports into the world’s number two economy falling almost a � fth in October from a year ago. Exports also continued to fall on lacklustre foreign demand.

“The strong dollar is central in this move today as the non-farm payrolls was very strong,” Nizam Idris, head of currencies and � xed-income strategy at Macquarie Bank Ltd. in Singapore, told Bloomberg News.

“China news was poor and that didn’t help.”Higher-yielding, or riskier, emerging units have been hit

hard this year on fears of a � ight of capital to the United States as dealers look for better, safer investments on the back of the looming US rate lift-o� .

The greenback had su� ered a heavy sell-o� against the emerging currencies in October, however, as the US Fed con-sidered putting o� a rate hike until 2016 owing to weakness in the global economy, particularly China. l

Insurer runs business despite licence suspensionn Jebun Nesa Alo

Standard Insurance continues its business even after the Insurance Development and Regulato-ry Authority suspended the company’s operat-ing licence on June 17 for three months.

The suspension order was later extended on September 13 for two more months.

The insurance was restricted from new business during the suspension period, but its Agrabad and Khatungang branches in Chittagong issued new policy, violating rules during the interim suspension period of Sep-tember and October.

The insurance which was punished for its failure to comply with mandatory re-insur-ance policies has been repeating the same o� ence in line with its insurance business.

Not only in case of re-insurance, the com-pany has also been violating rules by doing business on credit and not storing o� ce doc-uments.

The board of the company attended a hearing held yesterday over its irregularities and rule violations.

At the hearing, the board admitted of issu-ing new policies during the ongoing licence suspension period. It also failed to satisfy the authority by giving explanations for other al-legations.

The minutes of the meeting noted that IDRA will take the decision as per the Insur-ance Act 2010. The rule says that the author-ity will cancel the licence immediately of in-surer if its activities are not satisfactory, and if satisfactory, the suspension order will be withdrawn.

The authority observes that the company lacks e� ciency in operating insurance busi-ness. Moreover, the board of directors did not care for the rules and regulations and even the instructions of IDRA.

They are doing the o� ence repeatedly, said a senior executive of IDRA.

Contacted, Amar Krishna Saha, CEO of Standard Insurance, admitted that they com-mitted mistakes.

“It depends on IDRA about what decision it is going to take,” he said.

An observation report prepared by the

regulatory body over the activities of the in-surance has mentioned that the company has continuously been breaching rules instead of taking corrective measures.

The company sent a re-insurance state-ment of April-June quarter to Sadharan Bima Corporation on August 13 around two months after the suspension.

“The fact that the company did not re-insure some policies which were re-insurable even af-ter being punished,” mentioned the report.

Analysing the re-insurance statement of the year 2005 to 2014, IDRA found that the company did not comply with re-insurance provision in case of many policies.

Such tendency appeared that it has turned into a habitual fact for the company to vio-late rules, said the report.

The insurance concealed a lot of informa-tion about � re insurance in its 2013-14 state-ment. In many cases, the company showed lesser amount, hiding the real amount of in-surance policies.

The regulatory authority extended the licence suspension period as the compa-

ny failed to take corrective measures about re-insurance which is mandatory for a non-life insurance company according to the In-surance Act 2010.

The interim suspension will end on No-vember 17.

Non-compliance with re-insurance pro-vision brought a negative impact on the company’s cash fund. The total liabilities of Standard Insurance stood at Tk86 crore against which investment was Tk71.79 crore including investors equity Tk45.29 crore as of year 2014.

If the investors equity is deducted, the investment stands at Tk26.50 crore which is not adequate to meet up the company’s lia-bilities, according to the IDRA report.

Standard Group came under the spotlight after a devastating � re at Standard Garments in Gazipur in 2013. Standard Insurance is a listed company in the stock market.

The company was incorporated as a public limited company on November 3, 1999 under the Companies Act 1994. The paid up capital of the company is Tk2.29 crore. l

Business18DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

BRAC Arti� cial Insemination has recently held a two-day event tilted Annual Sales Conference and Award Giving Ceremony 2015 in Savar. Director of BRAC Dairy and Food Enterprises, Tau� qur Rahman was present at the event, among others

Pubali Bank Limited has recently distributed sanitation tools and tubewells to the inhabitants of former enclaves at Debiganj in Panchagarh for the betterment of their lives as a part of corporate social responsibility. Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Dr Atiur Rahman was present as chief guest at the distribution ceremony

Meghna Bank Limited has recently opened its 20th at Mohipal in Feni. The bank’s MD & CEO, Mohammed Nurul Amin presided over the inaugurating ceremony

Bangladesh Krishi Bank has recently opened its 1030th branch at Uttor Ramjanpur in Madaripur. Special assistant to Prime Minister and o� ce secretary of Bangladesh Awami League central committee, Dr Abdus Sobhan Golap inaugurated the branch

‘91% exporters see di� culty with NTMs’Survey shows out of 998 companies, 832 are afraid of non-tari� measuresn Tribune Report

A total of 91% exporters in the country re-portedly experience di� culty with Non-tar-i� Measures (NTMs) applied by the destina-tion markets or by Bangladesh.

The fact came into light while sharing a survey � ndings aimed to shed light on reg-ulatory and procedural obstacles to trade faced by Bangladeshi � rms.

The survey, which interviewed 998 com-panies, found that 832 of the companies are afraid of NTMs.

The survey was implemented by SRGB Bangladesh Limited (SRGB) on behalf of In-ternational Trade Center.

The � ndings of the survey, which was implemented between April 2014 and February 2015, was presented yesterday at a National Stakeholder Meeting on Non-tari� measures (NTMs) held at the Dhaka Chambers of Commerce and Industry auditorium in the city.

The meeting was organised by the Inter-national Trade Center (ITC) and supported by Business Initiative Leading Development

(BUILD. Representatives of various public agencies, business associations, experts and other stakeholders attended the meeting.

To conduct the survey, the implementing agency contacted around 1,600 companies except service and some manufacturing ones. Respondents were mostly people from managerial positions of companies based in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna.

The survey was done in two stages. The � rst step involved screening of exporting and importing companies through a telephone interview which shortlisted 998 companies. In the second stage, additional face-to-face interviews were conducted with 411 compa-nies that reported to have experienced bur-densome NTMs.

These companies include fresh food, pro-cess food, wood products, textile, chemical, leather, electronic components etc.

Respondents were interviewed on four is-sues – business operation, main product and their partner countries, barriers to trade and business environment.

In response, 91% of them said they are afraid of NTMs. Among them, 88% are from

clothing, 84% from wood, and 96% are from fresh food.

Some 77% of the respondents said such NTMs-related problems are with partner countries while the rest with Bangladesh.

The survey also tried to shed light on why Bangladeshi exporters � nd NTMs as burden-some.

Of the exporters facing NTMs, 86% of them blamed procedural obstacle by Bangla-deshi agencies, 52% viewed time constraint or delay in administration and 32% high charge of border payment.

While disclosing the � ndings, Mond-her Mimouni, chief, market analysis and

research, ITC, said the nature of NTM has changed over time.

“They have become less visible and direct, but more complex. Most of the problems companies face in relation to NTM are linked to the country’s capability, its infrastructure and e� cient procedures,” he said.

“Policy makers lack clear understanding about current obstacles to trade their private sector is facing. These make things di� cult for businesses,” he said.

During the meeting, speakers said Non-tari� Measures have become a major impediment to international trade and mar-ket access and are of particular concern to exporters in developing and least developed countries.

BUILD Chairman Asif Ibrahim said some times NTMs are more important than tari� measures as it remain unseen.

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) President Abdul Matlub Ahmad said time has come to focus on implementation of decisions taken in connection with non-tari� measures rath-er than waiting for more decisions. l

‘Policy makers lack clear understanding about current obstacles to trade their private sector is facing. These make things di� cult for businesses’

News 19D

TTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Ctg Wasa to raise water tari� by 5%Consumers have to buy every 1,000 litreof water at Tk6.25n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong

Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Au-thority (CWASA) is going to increase water tari� by 5% which will come into e� ect from January 1, 2016.

At present the domestic consumers have to buy every 1,000 litre of water at Tk6.25 (1 unit). On the other hand, the industrial and commercial users now have to spend Tk20.53 for consuming same quantity of water.

The decision to raise the tari� by 5% was taken at a meeting of the water supply au-thority on Saturday.

CWASA Secretary Mohammad Samsud-doha told the Dhaka Tribune that the water tari� in Chittagong was comparatively lower than any other cities of the country.

“We are supplying water to city residents at the cheapest rate. Even the tari� of Dhaka Wasa is higher than that of Chittagong Wasa. We are incurring huge losses as we have to subsidise a considerable amount of money for supplying water to the city dwellers,” said Samsuddoha.

At present the production cost of per unit is Tk17.45. There is nothing to worry about the hike in tari� as it is increased by 5% every year, he added.

“We supply water to city residents through 94 pumps across the city. For ensur-

ing uninterrupted supply of water we have to keep the pumps operational round the clock and the electricity tari� has also increased over the time,” he added.

SM Nazer Hossain, president, Chittagong Division of Consumers’ Association of Bang-ladesh (CAB), told the Dhaka Tribune that it was not at all logical to raise the tari� .

“There is still a huge gap between demand and supply. The CWASA should not have hiked the tari� without bridging the existing demand-supply gap. Since it is a service-ori-ented organisation, the CWASA should have held a view-exchange meeting with the con-sumers before increasing the tari� ,” said the consumers’ rights activist.

Referring to demand-supply gap, the CWASA secretary said they had undertaken a number of mega project to ensure uninter-rupted water supply.

“We are now working with a mega project. The present demand-supply gap is going to be reduced by 70% with the completion of the project by next March,” assured the Secretary.

It may be mentioned that the CWASA start-ed its journey in 1963 with the objective of sup-plying safe drinking water to the city dwellers.

At present the CWASA has to supply wa-ter to 54,330 domestic connections and 7,387 commercial and industrial connections. l

More APBn members sought at Chittagong airportn FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong

Chittagong Metropolitan Police yesterday sought deployment of more Armed Police Battalion personnel at Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport to beef up its overall security.

At present, the airport has around 100 APBn members stationed, along with police and Border Guard Bangladesh members to avert any kind of untoward situation.

When asked, CMP Additional Deputy Commissioner of Immigration Sheikh Sariful Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “A proposal to increase security was discussed at an in-ter-ministerial meeting recently and a letter

was sent to the higher authorities seeking 600 more APBn members to ensure security in all areas of the airport.”

The letter was sent six days after the de-ployment of BGB Dog Squad at one of the key establishments in Chittagong, to avoid any kind of subversive activities.

As per a recent decision of the Home Min-istry, overall security at key establishments in port city have been increased by deploy-ing additional police forces, BGB and APBn personnel in the wake of the law and order situation of the country.

Moreover, joint forces has been conduct-ing special drives in the city to apprehend criminals. l

Fire at furniture factoryn Tribune Report

A Taiwan-owned furniture manufacturing factory at the Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) in Chittagong caught � re yester-day morning.

However, none was reported to have re-ceived injuries from the � re.

Chittagong Fire Service and Civil Defence sources said the factory caught � re at 6:50am.

On information, six vehicles of the � re service rushed to the spot and managed to doused the � ame after two hours of frantic e� ort.

Md Jashim Uddin, deputy assistant di-rector of Chittagong � re service, said: “The extent of damage caused by the � re could not be ascertained immediately. The compa-ny manufactures chair, table, hutch bu� et, bed, nightstand, chest, dresser, TV stand and commercial furniture.” added Jashim. l

News20DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Construction of school building incomplete even after 3 yearsn Our Correspondent, Jhalokathi

The construction of Kutubkathi Govt Prima-ry School in Jhalokathi is incomplete even after the work was started almost three years ago when the government had announced a grant of Tk6 lakh for the institution.

According to sources, the construction of the building was given to Aminul Islam Liton, local Awami League leader and also Ramchandrapur UP chairman in 2012. He completed only 40 percent work of the build-ing. Now, the institution is lying in dilapidat-ed condition hampering the education of the students.

Dilip Kumer Roy, teacher of the school, said Aminul was said to complete the work timely after he was given Tk6 lakh. But after completing 40 percent work he stopped the work.

Managing committee chairman Dhiren Mondoal said: “Aminul threatened us sever-

al times after we requested him to complete the work.”

“The government did not take steps in this regard though we have urged the local administration several times,” he added.

Locals said though the government had taken plan to develop the structure of prima-ry education, the students of the school were deprived of the opportunities due to its poor condition.

They also said the students had to su� er a lot as they were bound to attend classes in two rooms as the four others had not been completed.

Sometimes rooms of nearby high school were used for taking classes. The high school authority said it was pressure to them.

When contacted, engineer Md Arifuddou-la of Local Government Engineering Depart-ment, said the construction of the school might be completed within three months if the work started. l

Satkhira Medical College students on striken Our Correspondent, Satkhira

Students of Satkhira Medical College have been on strike for 10 days demanding com-pletion of the construction of 250-bed Medi-cal College Hospital.

Sources said they staged demonstrations and blocked the Satkhira-Kaliganj Highway yesterday morning where among others, student leaders Aurin Akter, Salman Ameer, Abdul Mamun and Alamgir Hossain spoke on the occasion.

Aurin said: “The college started its oper-ation with only 30-bed medicine ward but it is not su� cient for running the clinical ac-

tivities. Expansion of the hospital to 250-bed one is must to sit for professional examina-tion”

Student Tajul Islam said: “We have decid-ed to boycott classes and examinations as the government is not taking steps to run the full 250-bed hospital.”

They announced to boycott classes and examinations on October 31,for an inde� nite period demanding completion of the con-struction of hospital.

On April 4, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim inaugurated the 250-bed Hospital of Satkhira Medical College (SMC). However, no activities began at the hospital yet. l

Woman kills herself after killing sonn Our Correspondent, Pabna

A man committed suicide by hanging herself after strangulating her minor boy to death at Bashbazar village in Pabna Sadar upazila yes-terday morning.

Abdullah Al Hasan, o� cer-in-charge of Sadar police station, said Poly Khatun, 20, wife of Jalal, � rstly strangled her 10-month-

old boy and kept the body under a quilt and later he committed suicide.

Poly’s husband Jalal returned to his house around 9am from Dogachhi bazar to have breakfast and found the door of his house locked from inside. Being informed by Jalal, lo-cal people came and broke the door and found Poly hanging from the ceiling of the room and his minor boy’s body lying on the bed. l

Housewife stabbed dead by robbersn Tribune Report

A housewife was stabbed to death allegedly by robbers in Textile Mill area adjacent to Boyra main road in the city.

The deceased was identi� ed as Shefali Rani Banik, 50, wife former food inspector late Gobindo Lal Banik, a resident of the area.

Quoting to witnesses, police said a gang of robbers numbering four stormed in her house when she was alone around 8pm on Sunday. Sensing the presence of robbers, Shefali started to scream.

Later, the robbers stabbed her indiscrimi-nately at her kitchen, leaving her dead.

On information, police recovered the body breaking the door.

Police also arrested a robber, identi� ed as Sajal Banik, in this connection while three others managed to � ee. l

Two siblings killed in road accidentn Tribune Report

Two siblings were killed and four others in-jured as a micro bus collided head-on with a pickup at Ichladi on Dhaka-Barisal Highway in Ujirpur upazila yesterday morning.

The deceased were identi� ed as Ismael Howlader, 45, and his brother Abul Howlad-er, 40, residents of the district town.

Witnesses said the Barisal-bound mi-cro-bus carrying national newspapers from Dhaka collided head-on with the Dha-ka-bound betel nut-loaded pickup in the area at about 7:30am, leaving the two pickup pas-sengers dead on the spot and the drivers and helpers of both the vehicles injured.

The injured were taken to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital. On information, police recovered the bodies and sent those to the hospital morgue for autopsy. l

Feature 21D

T

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

How to endanger brand equity through researchMeasuring wrong parameters leads to misguided brand initiatives and weakened brand equity

n Raihan Rahman

In Bangladesh, marketing research often endangers brand equity rather than increase it. Consumer validation of brand ideas through research could be dangerous for a brand, if such tools are used irresponsibly or ineptly. Many organisations spend considerable human and � nancial resources to acquire customer and consumer insights to ensure well informed decision making. Through experience their marketing teams learn how to interpret and use those insights e� ectively to strengthen brand equity. I have come across inexperienced brand managers misusing research while trying to determine future direction for the brand. This is dangerous for the brand equity on many levels.

Here are some ways one might endanger brand equity through inept use of research:

Cherry picking Choosing the positives from di� erent options is a common temptation. Let’s put together all elements consumers like in concepts A and B and create concept A+B. Surely that can be taken straight to market without further consumer validation? Wrong! Remember the perils of mixing apples and oranges – what you end up with is a fruit salad when what you are looking for is a whole fruit.

Compromising on respondent pro� le It is often not easy to get respondents to participate in research due to their busy lives. One may face this challenge particularly from premium brand consumers. I have seen research agencies cut corners in respondent selection resulting in poor insights from questionable respondent pro� le. Always conduct research among the right target group without compromising consumer pro� le.

Measuring wrong vital signs When evaluating brand health, doesn’t it make sense to choose convenient parameters which usually score high? If brand awareness is poor among target consumers, why not just quote brand awareness among current franchise? Instead of measuring clicks that lead to sales or in the very least consumer

engagement, why not just count Facebook likes?

Compensating creative incompetency through research When evaluating new creative or packaging ideas, put one good option against few average options in research to save creative development e� ort, or just putting few average options due to creative incompetency. Watch out – you are likely to end up with an unwanted winner destined for failure in market, thus, endangering brand equity!

Using research to manage stakeholders An in� uential stakeholder in the organisation without having proper understanding of brand positioning may give an input to brand strategy. A brand team lacking conviction to � rmly stand behind their vision may decide to absorb the pressure by incorporating the o� -strategy idea in research hoping it would be rejected by consumers. And if it isn’t rejected, their backsides are covered since the idea is now consumer validated. This is very risky because an o� -brand but impactful idea can potentially jeopardise the entire research outcome.

An ex-colleague said it perfectly: “If you only put three donkeys in a horse race, one will win. That does not make the donkey a horse.” So if you are looking for the winning horse only put good horses in the race and eliminate the probability of a winner donkey.

I have come across inexperienced brand managers outsourcing all insight and brand equity requirements to research agencies and in the process missing vital links between business challenge and research output. A good CMO will ensure appropriate research orientation for all brand executives by demanding research analysis through slicing and dicing data � rst hand. It is a vital part of grooming early in their career. When I was a rookie my CMO demanded retail audit and consumers research analysis reports, which were never used for any o� cial purpose. Only he would read and discuss them with me for my own learning. It seemed like a pain at the time but I am immensely grateful now.

Brand manager’s job is to know the brand by heart and develop content on-brand. On-brand means consistent with brand positioning, brand architecture and

brand character. Role of research can be to assess consumer preference between well developed on-brand options. Research should not be used to ask consumers what is on brand and what isn’t. That would mean that the brand team themselves don’t have clarity on what the brand stands for and do not have a clear strategic direction for the brand’s future. In which case why not outsource brand management to a research agency?

Bottom-line: Only put options in research which are on-brand and consistent with direction in which the brand custodians want to take the brand in future. Keep away from donkeys and fruit salads, don’t endanger your brand equity through research!

If you only put three donkeys in a horse race, one will win. That does not make the donkey a horse.” So if you are looking for the winning horse only put good horses in the race and eliminate the probability of a winner donkey

This post was originally published by Raihan Rahman on LinkedInRaihan Rahman is marketing and business strategist with proven track record of achieving turnaround performances. He has a solid 17 years experience in sales and marketing, business development and corporate strategy in Fortune 500 MNC. Raihan is a strategic thinker with competitive mindset and commercial acumen.

As Marketing Director, Raihan led a team of 130 successful marketing managers to achieve market leadership. As head of Trade, he led change in supply chain model overhauling at BATB. Raihan also demonstrated collaborative approach to producing results while working with in� uential decision makers across Asia Paci� c region and London.

Re-printed with the permission of Webbable.

Photo: Bigstock

News22DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Sailor presents their winter specials

Eastern University and One Asia Foundation teams up

UIU in search of smashin HR manager Grameenphone brings iPhone 6s and 6s plus to Bangladesh

This winter Sailor, the fashion brand by Epyllion group, is delighted to present their new winter collection. The collection comprises of a wide range of clothing for men, women and kids; stylish jackets, quilted jackets, PU leather jackets, blazers, and hoodies, sweaters, scarves for men and ponchos, shawls and long cardigans for women. Men’s jackets are between Tk3,290 to Tk4,290, blazers Tk5,490 to Tk5,990, hoodies Tk3,990 to Tk4,490, sweaters Tk1,990 to Tk2,590 and scarves Tk890. Women’s ponchos are priced between Tk1,850 to Tk2,150, jackets Tk2,850 to Tk3,450, cardigans Tk2,850 to Tk3,250, scarves Tk450 to Tk850 and shawls for Tk950. The kids collection for boys and girls also showcases knit vests, cardigans and colorful sweaters. Sweaters for boys and cardigans are priced between Tk1,490 to Tk1,690. Girls sweaters and cardigans are priced at Tk1,050 to Tk1,450. Sailor’s winter collection is now available across Dhaka in all � ve Sailor outlets in Jamuna Future Park, Satmasjid Road-Dhanmondi, Uttara Sector 11, and Police Plaza Concord (1st and Ground � oor). For more information contact: +8801777-702-000. l

Eastern University has received an award from One Asia Foundation, which will allow Eastern University to o� er a course titled “Path to One Asia.” Renowned Asian scholars will visit the Eastern University campus to teach various aspects of creating and promoting a joint Asian Community. The course is being o� ered from January 2016 and it is open to anyone with a Higher secondary certi� cate (HSC) or equivalent degree. Scholarships may be available for those who register for this course. It is also expected that Japanese business tycoon and the president of One Asia Foundation, Yoji Sato, will address the students and dignitaries on the concluding day of the program. l

“HR HULK-in search of a Smashing HR Manager” an Inter-University HR competency competition was held yesterday at United International University (UIU) auditorium. The event was organised by the HR Forum a wing of UIU Career Counseling Center.

The competition involved a HR completion along with two panel discussions. The � rst discussion was on “HR Profession in 21st century: opportunities and challenges” while the second was on “Skills and competencies for HR profession in 21st century.” Prominent HR personalities from di� erent successful organisations were present at the panel discussion. With four rounds of di� erent levels, the competition involved 48 teams comprising three members each, with a total of 144 contestants from 13 di� erent universities across the country.

Tausif Ahmed, a student of IBA won the challenge and got Tk25,000 as prize money. “HR Hulk was not just a business competition, it was an extremely well designed and well-thought business competition arranged by UIU that provided

endless stress and challenges from round one till the � nale” said the title holder. “The entire competition was conducted and judged with utmost fairness and transparency and the management from starting to end was de� nitely praiseworthy,” he added. The � rst runner-up Nabid Hassan Ka� (IBA) got Tk15,000 and the second runner-up Shadman Shoumik Anik (UAP) got Tk10,000 as prize money. Mahfuza Begum (UIU) became the third runner-up.

General Md Abdul Mubeen, NDC, PSC (retired), chairman UPGD (United Power Generation and Distribution Company Limited) was present as the chief guest of the inauguration ceremony presided by Prof Dr M Rezwan Khan, vice chancellor (UIU). Ananta Jalil, actor and chairman of AJI Group was present as the chief guest of the closing ceremony where A� ea Nusrat Borsha (managing director, Monsoon Films), Aftab Mahmud Khurshid (Group CMO) were also present for the prize giving and closing ceremony. Daily Star was the strategic partner for the event. l

Grameenphone o� cially launches iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Grameenphone is the � rst operator in Bangladesh to deliver the latest iPhone 6s and 6s plus to the local consumers.

Yasir Azman, chief marketing o� cer of Grameenphone handed over the latest iPhone handsets among the customers who pre-booked them. The pre booking started on October 23. GP started delivering iPhone to pre-booking customers from 17 of its GPC’s and Experience Centres across the country.

Speaking on the occasion Grameenphone CMO said, “delivering superior customer experience in this digital world is something Grameenphone stands to deliver. Through our superior network and the widest coverage in Bangladesh Grameenphone always tries to exceed on delivering service and products that gives

our customers a compelling experience and empowers them. We are happy to be the � rst to bring the latest model of iPhone to Bangladesh and make it available widely to our customers through lucrative bundle o� ers and competitive EMI facilities. Our promise is to deliver on the right digital experience to all segments, as they demand and � nd relevant.”

From now on iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be available at Grameenphone centres. The Star Customers will get 24 EMI, while general customers will get 12 EMI on the handset price. iPhone buyers will also get 50% discount on Heavy Browsing Nonstop Internet package of GP, which they can buy eight times in the � rst two months of the phone purchase. They will also get a special GP Prepaid number of 01711 series for free. The handsets come with one year Apple warranty. l

Feature 23D

T

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

This successor team of � ve enthusiasts built their social entrepreneurship project around Early Childhood Education (ECE) for children at slums, which was the challenge for 2015

BRAC Business School (BBS) launches Hult Prize 2016Inititive to nurture innovative minds

n Maisha Zaman

The Hult Prize Foundation is a not-for-pro� t organisation dedicated to launching the next wave of social entrepreneurs. It encourages the world’s brightest business minds to compete in teams to solve the planet’s biggest challenges with innovative ideas for sustainable start-up enterprises. The Hult Prize Foundation CEO, Ahmad Ashkar says, “I give a challenge to a CEO of a development company or charity, he tells me it’s impossible. My Hult Prize entrepreneurs don’t just tell me it’s possible, they shorten the time frame.” An aspiring 20,000 participants, 2.5M hours, 150 countries, 500 universities, six � nalists and one lucky team will lay claim to USD 1 million. According to former US President Bill Clinton, the Hult Prize provides one of the top � ve ideas changing the world right now. And BRAC University is proud to announce its a� liation with the Hult Prize since 2014.

In 2014, the � rst team that got selected amongst a competitive pool of 10, 000 applicants brought home the privilege for BRAC University to be a part of Hult Prize for the upcoming years. The team of � ve introduced their social entreprise project Janala; dedicated towards healthcare, which was the agenda for 2014. Habib Ghazi, Mukit Anis, Asif Chowdhury, Maisha Mo� z Esha and Mohsin Uddin Taksin comprised this team of � ve individuals from BRAC Business School, BRAC University. After presenting this idea on an international platform, they � ne-tuned the concept at home via their participation in Startup Dhaka. As part of their e� orts to develop next generation of BRAC University leaders, they also initiated a training program for the � rst year students so that these freshmen attain pitching skills right from the beginning of their university career to shape themselves up for future challenges.

The success of Hult Prize saw new heights when this group of enthusiasts organised Hult Prize at BRAC University in late 2014. The winning team, Sneho, attained greater heights both in Bangladesh and abroad. The team comprised of Maisha Zaman as the team leader, Fahmida Mehreen, Faraiba Farnan, Sukanya Fuad and Masnun Ridwan Khan, all of whom are � nal year students of BRAC Business School. This successor team of � ve enthusiasts built their social entrepreneurship project around Early Childhood Education (ECE) for children at slums, which was the challenge for 2015. After representing their idea in Shanghai, China, they participated in an online round of the competition and became one of top

eight global teams among thirty plus teams! They raised funds by organising campaigns, distributed their products in urban slums in partnership with Spreeha Foundation and Its Humanity Foundation to leave an impact, spread their idea at the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) 2015 in Philippines and now, they are expanding their project further under a fully-funded program by Jolkona Foundation in Seattle, USA. During this time span, they have also had the opportunity to pitch their idea in youth based media shows.

Hult Prize at BRAC University 2016 has returned with heightened expectations and is being organised by BRAC Business School

(BBS), BRAC University. The challenge this year is driven towards solving the crisis of crowded urban space with USD 1 million and teams from various programs of BRAC University are gearing up to take up the challenge. The top four teams will be announced on November 19, after submitting short write-ups about their ideas and pitching it in front of judges and the winning team, which will represent BRAC University and Bangladesh, shall be announced in late November, during the grand � nale. The winning team will then qualify to the Hult Prize Regional Finals in March 2016, shouldering the promise for BRAC University and Bangladesh. l

Tech 24DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

n Chisty Rahim

Would you like to share a little bit about yourself with our readers?It all started in 2000 when my parents gave me my � rst personal computer, which came with Windows 98.

I am passionate about technology. I like to work on app developments and so far I have developed more apps than I can account for. After developing The Need for Speed app for Microsoft Windows Store I got The Need for Speed Crest which was ecstatic.

My � rst app was The Surahs of Quran in March 2013. As a business student it took almost a month and a half for me to publish it in Windows phone store. I have also successfully programmed the Siddiqa Kabir (cooking) app, which was featured in Grameenphone’s Windows Phone weekly (GP’s Choice) apps in Windows Phone store. Last year, I created an app called the Nail Art app. It is an app that helps users design their nails. To my amazement it was a hit in the Indian market and I sold it for Rs 5000.

I have a special place in my heart for gaming. I have an impressive collection of authentic and hard-to-get games and I pride myself over my unique collection. And besides all these, I fancy photography as well.

Right Now, I am working for BRAC Education Programme as an animator.

Tell us about the competition.I have gained experience from participating at The Online Universal Windows App-a-thon and on the stage competition in

Bangladesh. It’s a competition that anyone can take part in, where, they will have to build as many apps as possible within a given time frame on speci� c topics selected by the judge.

Tell us how you came to know about and got involved in the Microsoft competition. I started my journey with Microsoft as Microsoft Student Partner in 2011. I must say if you are tech-y then you should join this program to explore your possibilities. The Microsoft Student Partner program inspires and enhances the skills of students through di� erent training, workshop or academic sessions.

After the competition, I did a three month internship with Microsoft Bangladesh under Tanzim Saqib’s supervision from November 2013 to January 2014.

In July 2014 I had my pro� le published in Microsoft Asia Citizenship. As a Bangladeshi I always feel proud to have represented my country.

What have you taken from the competition?I have submitted a number of apps in the

competition. But there was one thing that got me noticed. A couple of years back someone put a review: “The Day Bill had to join Microsoft to work on the pilot/test project of Windows, which we know now, as Windows 95. Microsoft had versions of it earlier and I still have those � oppies. Great app!”

I got this review after publishing History of Microsoft operating system App.

Do you have any upcoming projects/ competition that you are planning/preparing for?

Recently, I have updated the The Need for Speed app as Need for Speed Highlights app. Along with adding some videos, I also included a walk through of Need for Speed 2015. The app is available in both Windows Phone and Windows Store.

Where do you see yourself � ve years from now?I always dream high! I believe there is no barrier for learning. Ever since I was a child I always dreamnt of working for Microsoft in Seattle, NASA or Google! l

Microsoft Imagine Cup:Rendezvous with Tanvir Mansur

Tanvir, a delightful business administration student has chosen a path divergent from his line of education to pursue a career in app development. Dhaka Tribune had the opportunity to sit with him and talk about how this vast change of career path has worked out for him. Read on to know more.

I always dream high! I believe there is no barrier for learning. Ever since I was a child I always dreamnt of working for Microsoft in Seattle, NASA or Google!

Photos: Courtesy

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TSportINSIDE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

‘It was not even in my dream to be a Test cricketer’November 10, 2000. On this very day 15 years back, Bangladesh earned the honour of playing their inaugural Test match against India. To celebrate the one and a half decade in Test cricket, Dhaka Tribune spoke to Aminul Islam Bulbul who stunned the world with a magni� cent 145. PAGE 26

Chigumbura blames batters for giving it awayA dismal outing with the bat once again marred Zimbabwe’s hope of beating Ban-gladesh in the one-day internationals as the home side secured their � fth ODI home series in a row yesterday. Bangladesh beat the visitors by 58 runs to make it 2-0as Zim-babwe skipper Elton Chigumbura blamed the batsmen for the downfall. PAGE 27

‘Batman returns’ to seal derby winAubameyang struck again as Batman on Sunday when he revealed a Caped Crusad-er themed T-shirt after scoring Borussia Dortmund’s winner in their 3-2 derby vic-tory over Schalke. The Gabon international slotted what proved to be the winning goal on 48 minutes in the Bundesliga. PAGE 28

Real su� er � rst defeat, Neymar inspires Barca Real Madrid su� ered their � rst defeat of the season as they squandered a 1-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Sevilla on Sunday. Rafael Benitez’s men are now three points adrift of leaders Barcelona heading into the � rst meeting of the season between the two in two weeks’ time after Neymar scored twice in the European champions’ 3-0 win over Villarreal. PAGE 29

Nasir Hossain beats a � ying Craig Ervine at backward-point during his valuable 41 for Bangladesh in the second ODI at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. Later, Nasir bagged two wickets to end Zimbabwe’s e� ort to save the three-match series MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

BANGLADESH R BTamim Iqbal c Chakabva b Panyangara 19 25Imrul Kayes c Cremer b Williams 76 89Liton Das c Chakabva b Panyangara 7 16Mahmudullah c Chakabva b Cremer 4 20Mush� qur Rahim c Jongwe b Cremer 21 28Sabbir Rahman c Chakabva b Jongwe 33 40Nasir Hossain c Ervine b Panyangara 41 53Mashrafe c Chibhabha b Muzarabani 13 14Arafat Sunny c Ervine b Muzarabani 3 5 Al-Amin Hossain not out 1 7 Musta� zur Rahman not out 5 4 Extras (b4, lb6, w7, nb1) 18Total (nine wickets, 50 overs) 241

Fall of wickets1-32 (Tamim), 2-47 (Liton), 3-79 (Mahmudullah), 4-127 (Rahim), 5-151(Kayes), 6-193 (Sabbir), 7-231 (Mortaza), 8-234 (Nasir), 9-236 (Sunny)BowlingPanyangara 10-0-41-3, Jongwe 8-0-47-1, Muzarabani 9-0-32-2, Raza 7-0-33-0, Cremer 10-0-41-2, Williams 6-0-37-1ZIMBABWEC Chibhabha b Mortaza 14 9R Chakabva lbw b Sunny 1 19C Ervine run out 26 44S Williams c Nasir b Musta� zur 14 17E Chigumbura c Kayes b Al-Amin 47 77S Raza c Kayes b Al-Amin 33 42M Waller c Rahim b Nasir 8 22L Jongwe b Musta� zur 11 20G Cremer st Rahim b Nasir 1 4T Panyangara c Mortaza b Musta� zur 4 4T Muzarabani not out 1 2Extras (lb 11, w12) 23Total (all out; 43.2 overs) 183

Fall of wickets1-22 (Chakabva), 2-23 (Chibhabha), 3-45 (Williams), 4-78 (Ervine), 5-151 (Raza), 6-156 (Chigumbura), 7-175 (Waller), 8-177 (Jongwe), 9-181 (Panyangara), 10-183 (Cremer)BowlingMusta� zur 8-0-33-3, Mortaza 9-1-47-1, Sunny 9-0-34-1, Al-Amin 8-0-22-2, Nasir 9.2-0-36-2

Bangladesh win by 58 runsBangladesh lead three-match series 2-0

SCORECARD

Imrul breathes huge sigh of reliefn Mazhar Uddin

Imrul Kayes scripted a memorable come-back in the Tigers coloured kit as the left-handed opening batsman contributed a valiant 76 in Bangladesh's � fth ODI series win in a row yesterday. The home side beat minnows Zimbabwe by 58 runs in the sec-ond ODI of their three-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Imrul � nally repaid the faith that the selectors and coach Chandika Hathurusin-gha put on him. Although he disappoint-ed during the World Cup earlier this year, where he was drafted in the team to replace injured Anamul Haque, this time he made sure of delivering.

Once again called in the team as a re-placement, of Soumya Sarkar, Imrul faced 89 balls before departing o� a loose shot. The 28-year-old credited his skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza for providing him the much needed mental support while he also said that lukc was a big factor yesterday.

“I think every comeback is important for me. After playing badly in the world cup I felt bad. I told myself if I get an opportunity I will try to make the most of it. Luckily I got the chance and it worked out well for me. I got out in a bad time. There was pressure on the team. Next time if I get an opportunity it will go to 100 de� nitely,” Imrul told the media after the game yesterday.

“When you try to score runs you need luck. In the next match I will try to play nor-mally. There was a bit of pressure, my boss (Mashrafe) told me a number of things and helped me. He told me a lot of things that’s why he inspired me,” said Imrul.

Yesterday's series win was Bangladesh's ninth over Zimbabwe and their fourth straight series win at home this year and according to the Tigers skipper Mashrafe, these wins will give them more con� dence in the upcoming days.

“We are very happy to have such a year. I think this is a great thing for our cricket. There are more challenges coming up and we have to take this challenge. We have to get these wins and increase our con� dence ahead of the big events,” said Mashrafe. l

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Former ICC chief Kamal welcomes removal of ‘villain’ Srini from global cricket bodyn Minhaz Uddin Khan

Former International Cricket Council and Bangladesh Cricket Board president AHM Mustafa Kamal has appreciated the move tak-en by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to dethrone Narayanaswami Srinivasan as the chairman of world cricket’s regulatory body.

The decision to remove Srinivasan was taken in the 86th Annual General Meeting of the BCCI yesterday, virtually signalling the end of his hold on world cricket. The BCCI nominated its recently-elected president Shashank Manohar as the chief of the ICC.

Kamal, who had resigned from his post of ICC president following a dispute with Srin-ivasan in April this year, said, “World crick-et had got polluted because of [Srinivasan]. I believe the BCCI’s decision to remove him from the ICC chairman’s post will allow fresh air into the cricketing arena.”

Kamal during a press conference in the sidelines of the second one-day international between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday said Srini-vasan’s removal is great news for world cricket.

“I believe cricket will see the true mean-ing of globalisation now. We wanted cricket to � ourish throughout the world, like football, but Srinivasan was against it. He was the one who dissolved the ACC (Asian Cricket Council). Now, the “big three” (comprising the cricket boards of India, England and Australia) will encounter tough times in order to survive,” said Kamal.

Srinivasan, who took over in June last year, will now be replaced by Manohar. Manohar will stay at the helm till June next year as it is India’s turn at the moment to name an ICC chairman of its choice.

It was learnt that the resolution favour-ing replacing Srinivasan with Manohar was passed at the AGM. In case Manohar is una-ble to attend the ICC meetings, Sharad Pawar will be India’s representative.

Kamal while talking to the media also said Srinivasan was against the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20. The former BCB president said Srinivasan and his board were afraid with the possibility of the cash-rich BPL taking some gloss o� the Indian Premier League T20.

“BPL is our pride. After IPL, our BPL is the most followed and successful Twenty20 tournament in the world. It was being hard for Srinivasan to accept it and he had threat-ened me one day that he would stop the tournament. He said the popularity and the revenue generation of the IPL was getting af-fected due to the BPL, but I had said no. We will not stop the BPL at any cost,” said Kamal.

Kamal also thinks the negative issues surrounding the BPL were triggered by Srin-ivasan.

Following a two-year hiatus, the BPL is all set to roll on the � eld on November 22. l

‘It was not even in my dream to be a Test cricketer’n Minhaz Uddin Khan

November 10, 2000. On this very day 15 years back, Bangladesh earned the honour of play-ing their inaugural Test match against India. The Tigers were the 10th Test-playing nation when they took the � eld at Bangabandhu National Stadium. To celebrate the one and a half decade in Test cricket, Dhaka Tribune spoke to Aminul Islam Bulbul who stunned the world with a magni� cent 145, the sec-ond-highest in a nation’s debut after Charles Bannerman’s 165 for Australia.

After batting an unthinkable eight hours and 55 minutes - especially for someone with very little � rst-class experience - the 47-year old Aminul was the last man out in what be-came his greatest achievement in a 15-year international career.

How does it feel to see Bangladesh step into the 15th year of Test cricket?It is de� nitely a feeling of pleasure that the journey that we started in a bright winter morning has completed 15 long years. It feels good to see that cricket is not just an amateur sport in Bangladesh any more.

Talking of the first Test, when was the first time when you got to know about the game? I was very fortunate to be in England at the time when Bangladesh was given the Test status. Saber Hossain Chowdhury (ex-pres-ident of the Bangladesh Cricket Board) gave me the con� rmation just before the yearly meeting of the ICC (International Cricket Council) on 26th June, 2000. Later I came to know that we were going to play our inaugu-ral Test by the end of that year.

What was your first reaction to the news?It was a “dream come true” moment for me. Fairly, it was not even in my dream to be a Test cricketer when I started my career. So the ex-

citement and thrill of stepping into the most honourable format of cricket being a pioneer of my country cannot be expressed in words.

What was the reaction among the players?Talking about other players, I am pretty sure that it was one of the most memorable mo-ments of all our lives. All of us were on cloud nine after being selected to be a part of his-tory. All were � lled with a di� erent level of energy and zeal to play the match.

145 against an Indian side that contained legendary names; what worked? So many things come in my mind when I think about that innings. It is the innings which has given me a new identity in the cricket world. I can still remember the warn-ing tone of Saurav Ganguly in the hotel lob-by where he mentioned that he would take a new ball after the � rst hour of the second day. Still I managed to continue my batting almost up to the tea break next day. Actual-ly while I was batting, the presence of leg-ends like Sachin [Tendulkar], Saurav, Rahul [Dravid] did not really matter much for me. I made up my mind just to concentrate on my batting. The advice of Dav Whatmore to start

afresh after every 20 minutes really worked well throughout my innings. I was going through a bad patch in my career before that match. Some critics even questioned about my inclusion in the squad. I took all those as a challenge and that was my real motivation. My teammates and captain’s reliance on me also boosted my con� dence level.

Was there any strategy for the game?No strategy since it was our � rst ever Test match. Plan was to play as long as possible....

How far have we progressed in Tests? The statistics are not satisfactory at all. There are some individual achievements but I feel now we should come out of the defensive approach of playing. Still we lag behind as a Test team. Test cricket cannot be compared with ODIs or T20s. Players should be nur-tured physically and psychologically from a very young stage. Arranging three- to four-day matches in school cricket should be giv-en importance to help the players learn to stay longer at the wicket.

How important is it to decentralise the crick-et structure in Bangladesh?Nowadays, cricket is a passion in Bangladesh. You can see children playing cricket in every corner of the country. I believe that many Shakibs, Tamims, Mashrafes or Mush� qs are hiding among these youngsters. These tal-ents may not even be recognised without the decentralisation of cricket.

For the past many years now, you have been working with the aim of developing cricket around the globe. Given your expertise, do you consider working for Bangladesh?Obviously. I always say that wherever I stay, Bangladesh is always there in my heart. I will de� nitely think about it if I get a proper o� er with a proper plan from the cricket board. l

BCCI pulls plug on ICC chief Srinivasann AFP, Mumbai

Narayanaswami Srinivasan was removed as ICC chairman yesterday after his home board an-nounced it was withdrawing its support, following corruption scandals embroiling the sport in India.

Srinivasan will be replaced as head of the sport’s world governing body by the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s current president Shashank Manohar.

Srinivasan was appointed ICC chief in June last year after being chosen by the BCCI as In-dia’s representative to the top role which rotates every two years among cricketing nations.

But the cement tycoon has been caught up in corruption scandals that have hit the glitzy and lucrative IPL. The 70-year-old agreed to step aside as BCCI chief after a Supreme Court panel found him guilty of a con� ict of interest for having commercial dealings in the sport. l

Mat Runs HS Avg 100 50Tests 13 530 145 21.20 1 2ODI 39 794 70 23.35 0 3

Aminul Islam Bulbul

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Bangladesh A 268 all outBangladesh A were dismissed for 268 in their � rst innings on the opening day of their � rst four-day match against their Zimbabwean counterparts at Harare Sports Club yesterday. Taking � rst guard, the second-string Bangla-desh side posted several valuable partnerships but were unable to drive home the advantage against the home side. Mosaddek Hossain top-scored for Bangladesh A with 66 from 99 balls while Saqlain Sajib was unbeaten on 47. Vusi Sibanda scalped 3/32 and was the most successful Zimbabwe A bowler on display.

TRIBUNE DESK

Misbah to play BPL in bid to stay motivatedMisbah-ul-Haq has been signed by Rangpur to play in the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League which begins from November 22. “I have signed with BPL. I want to carry on and keep myself motivated and maintain my � tness. So whatever cricket comes in I want to play to avoid being complacent,” said Misbah.

CRICINFO

Narine reported againWest Indies o� -spinner Sunil Narine has been reported for a suspect bowling action during Saturday’s third and � nal one-dayer against Sri Lanka, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said. “He is required to undergo testing within 14 days, and, during this period, Narine is permitted to continue bowling in interna-tional cricket until the results of the testing are known,” the ICC said.

REUTERS

Fiorentina stay topFiorentina retained their grip on top spot in Se-rie A on Sunday with a 2-0 victory at Sampdoria while Roma beat derby rivals Lazio by the same scoreline to maintain their title challenge. Else-where, Napoli stayed in the hunt after Gonzalo Higuain scored his 200th career goal, his 64th for the Azzurri, in a 1-0 home win over Udinese. Champions Juventus, meanwhile, moved up to seventh place after goals from Mario Mandzu-kic, Patrice Evra and Paulo Dybala.

AFP

Starc � ned for throw ICC � ned Australia paceman Mitchell Starc half of his match fee yesterday for throwing a ball dangerously at New Zealand batsman Mark Craig. Starc was � ned $5,500 by match referee Roshan Mahanama. Australia had the match well in hand with the Kiwis one wicket away from defeat when Starc impetuously hurled the ball in Craig’s direction after the Kiwi had smacked him for three successive fours.

AFP

Lacazette leads Lyon to derby victoryAlexandre Lacazette returned to form in style with a hat-trick as Lyon beat bitter rivals Saint-Etienne 3-0 in the last derby meeting of the teams at the Stade de Gerland on Sunday. Last season’s Ligue 1 player of the year Lacazette opened the scoring in the � rst half and added two more after the break on his 150th top-� ight appearance.

AFP

QUICK BYTES

Commission advises Russia athletics ban over drug accusationsn Reuters, Geneva

An international anti-doping commission recommended yesterday that the Russian Athletics Federation be banned from the sport over widespread doping o� ences - a move that could see the powerhouse Russian team banished from Olympic competition.

An independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) iden-ti� ed what it called systemic failures in the International Association of Athletics Fed-erations (IAAF) and in Russia “that prevent or diminish the possibility of an e� ective an-ti-doping programme”.

Russia is a traditional powerhouse of ath-letics and � nished second behind the United states in the medal table at the 2012 Olym-pics, with 17 medals, eight of them gold. In the event, by no means certain, that IAAF were to adopt the commission’s recommen-

dation, Russia could be excluded from major competitions including the Olympics and Europan Championships.

The scandal revolves around accusations that money was demanded from top athletes to ‘bury’ medical tests showing drug use.

The scandal could prove as damaging to world athletics as the corruption a� air now shaking soccer’s world governing body FIFA, where president Sepp Blatter has been sus-pended and 14 o� cials and marketing execu-tives indicted on corruption charges.

There has never been any suggestion that FIFA corruption has a� ected results on the pitch, at the World Cup, for example.

A co-author of the commission report, Richard McLaren, said at the weekend its in-vestigation showed a whole di� erent scale of corruption in causing “signi� cant changes to actual results and � nal standings of interna-tional athletics competitions.”

If proved, the suppression of drug test re-sults in return for bribes would also make a mockery of the huge investment in technical measures to detect drug use and ensure fair-ness.

The reach of corruption in global sport could in part be explained by a huge in� ux of spon-sorship in recent decades into bodies lacking e� ective governance and supervisory proce-dures. The International Olympic Committee was hit by a graft scandal 15 years ago, while cricket and cycling have also been tainted.

French authorities last week placed for-mer IAAF president Lamine Diack under for-mal investigation on suspicion of corruption and money laundering.

The 82-year-old Senegalese is alleged to have received over one million euros ($1.09 million) in bribes in 2011 to cover up positive doping tests by Russian athletes, the o� ce of France’s � nancial prosecutor said. l

SCORECARDAustralia 1st inngs 556-4 dec & 2nd inngs 264-4 dec (J Burns 129, D Warner 116; M Craig 3-78)NEW ZEALAND 1ST INNGS317 & 2nd inngs (overnight 142-3):R Taylor c Smith b Hazlewood 26 47 B McCullum c Smith b Marsh 80 80J Neesham c Burns b Johnson 3 33BJ Watling lbw b Lyon 14 31M Craig not out 26 28D Bracewell lbw b Marsh 0 1T Southee c Nevill b Hazlewood 5 8T Boult c Nevill b Starc 15 26Extras 15Total (all out; 88.3 overs) 295

Fall of wickets:1-44 (Latham), 2-98 (Guptill), 3-136 (William-son), 4-165 (Taylor), 5-205 (Neesham), 6-242 (Watling), 7-243 (McCullum), 8-243 (Bracewell), 9-249 (Southee), 10-295 (Boult)Bowling:Starc 20.3-5-69-2, Johnson 19-6-58-1, Ha-zlewood 18-3-68-2, Marsh 10-3-25-2 , Lyon 21-3-63-3

M.O.M: David WarnerAustralia won by 208 runs, lead series 1-0

Aussies crush Kiwisn AFP, Brisbane

Australia crushed New Zealand by 208 runs but the Kiwis were left to curse a disputed decision against skipper Brendon McCullum on the � nal day of the � rst Test yesterday.

The Australians claimed the seven re-maining wickets during the morning in Bris-bane to go one-up in the three-Test series af-ter dismissing the Black Caps for 295.

New Zealand were chasing a massive 504-run target after two innings declarations from the dominant home side, who easily maintained their 27-year unbeaten streak at the Gabba.

While the Kiwis were well beaten there was controversy over the dismissal of McCul-lum, who was well set for his � rst Test centu-ry in Australia on 80, when he got a disputed call from English umpire Nigel Llong, who gave him out to a catch o� his pad by Steve Smith at second slip. l

Chigumbura blames batters for giving it away n Mazhar Uddin

A dismal outing with the bat once again marred Zimbabwe’s hope of beating Bang-ladesh in the one-day international as the home side secured their � fth ODI home series in a row yesterday. Bangladesh beat the visitors by 58 runs to make it 2-0 with a match remaining.

Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura blamed the batsmen for the downfall as the new-look team, without their most experi-enced batsman Hamilton Masakadza, lost wickets at regular intervals. Despite a 73-run stand between Chigumbura and Sikandar

Raza, Zimbabwe never looked comfortable in their chase.

“240 was chaseable I think with the way the wicket played. We consolidated well but unfortunately that run out after my partnership with Raza was the most important one, but the batsmen including myself gave it away,” said Chigumbura after the defeat.

The 29-year-old added, “De� nitely, you can’t lose hope, we still put out the best to win and we have to comeback again and play hard and make sure we polish those mistakes from today’s (yesterday’s) game and win the (last) game.” l

Bangladesh paceman Musta� zur Rahman is congratulated by skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza after the former uprooted the stumps of Zimbabwe’s Luke Jongwe in the 2nd ODI at SBNS yesterday MI MANIK

28DT Sport

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

NSU v Prime UniversityNorth South 220-allout in 20 oversPrime 133-allout in 20 oversNorth South won by 87 runsM-O-M: Mular, North South

IUB v London College of Legal StudiesIndependent 175/7 in 20 oversLCLS 104-allout in 20 oversIndependent won by 71 runsM-O-M: Rishal, Independent

No panic stations for Socceroos: Cahilln Reuters, Melbourne

Striker Tim Cahill has dismissed Australia’s World Cup qualifying de-feat by Jordan as a blip and is con� dent the Socceroos can steer their way through to the next phase. Last month’s surprise 2-0 loss in Am-man left Australia second behind Jordan in Group B of Asian qualify-ing and another slip up could place their hopes of playing at Russia 2018 on a knife-edge.

Only the top team in each of the eight groups and the four best run-ners-up advance to the next phase of qualifying. Australia, on nine points and four behind Jordan, play Kyrgyzstan (8 points) at home in Canberra on Thursday, with Bangladesh (1 point) to follow in Dhaka on November 17.

“We’ve lost one game in the handful of games that we’ve played - it’s not panic stations,” Cahill told reporters in Canberra yesterday.

“It was away to Jordan. We would have liked at least to get a draw from it, and we didn’t. I’m always con� dent in this group of lads and also the sta� , purely because of what we’ve achieved in the past and what’s expected of us in the future,” he added of a side that have qual-i� ed for the last three World Cups.

“We’re under a little bit of pressure but it’s nothing we haven’t faced in the past... We can only put it right by getting a win.” l

Football Federation Australia head of security Mark John Saliba (CL) talks to additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Sheikh Mohammad Maruf Hasan (CR) during their visit to the Bangabandhu National stadium yesterday. Security o� cials Patrick Michael Bradley (L) and Liam James Ryan (C) were also there BFF

Former Bangladesh cricketers Tareq Aziz (2L), Mohammad Ashraful (C) and Mohiuddin (2R) present the TK Sport University Cricket man of the match to IUB’s Rishal (R) yesterday COURTESY

NSU, IUB win big in university cricketn Tribune Desk

North South University and Independent University recorded comprehensive victories in the TK Sports Outdoor Cricket Tourna-ment at City Club Ground yesterday.

While North South thrashed Prime Uni-versity by 87 runs, Independent thumped London College of Legal Studies by 71 runs.

Djoker the master as Murray meltsn AFP, Paris

Novak Djokovic won an unprecedented sixth Masters title of the year on Sunday when he defeated Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4 in Paris to put the � nishing touches to one of the greatest years in tennis history.

The top seed won the series-closing title for an unprecedented third straight year and a fourth time in all as he dominated the Scot-tish second seed from start to � nish in 1hr 32mins.

The win brought Djokovic’s � nal regular season win-loss record to a stunning 78-5 and took his unbeaten run, stretching back to August 23, to 22 matches.

He will now go on to the World Tour Finals in London as an outstanding favourite, hav-ing won three out of four Grand Slam titles

and six out of nine Masters 1000 series titles in 2015.

The only Grand Slam � nal he lost was the last time he played in Paris, at the French Open in June, when he was beaten in the � -nal in four sets by Stan Wawrinka.

“I think I was very solid from the very � rst point, very similar to a performance I have had against him in Shanghai in terms of in-tensity and strength in the shots and really protecting the baseline, trying to be the one that dictates the play,” said world number one Djokovic.

“There was couple of games in the second set where he started turning things around ... but I managed to stay tough, save my service game on 3-2, and I think that after that point I felt that I had a good chance to � nish o� the match in straight sets.” l

l First player to win three Grand Slam titles and six Masters 1000 series titles in the same year.

l First player to reach 14 straight � nals in a calendar year.

l Won 22 straight matches from August 23 until his win in Paris.

l Took his haul of Masters 1000 series titles to 26, just one shy of all-time leader Rafael Nadal.

l Became the � rst men’s player to win more than $16million in prize money during a season.

l Became just the third man in the Open era - after Rod Laver and Roger Federer - to play in all four Grand Slam � nals in a single year.

l Finished the regular season with a 78-5 win-loss record, the fourth best in history.

‘Batman returns’ to seal derby win

n AFP, Berlin

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck again as Batman on Sunday when he revealed a Caped Crusader themed T-shirt after scoring Borussia Dortmund’s winner in their 3-2 der-by victory over Schalke.

The Gabon international slotted what proved to be the winning goal on 48 minutes in the Bundesliga, then received a yellow card after pulling o� his playing shirt in cel-ebration to reveal a T-shirt bearing the text “Do you remember?” under the Batman logo.

It was referring to the Batman mask and cape out� t Aubameyang donned in last Feb-ruary’s derby victory when he also scored in a 3-0 win over Schalke, when Germany wing-er Marco Reus wore a Robin mask to play the role of his sidekick.

“I am just happy that we won this tough game,” said Aubameyang, who wore Bat-man-themed basketball boots in the pre-match pitch inspection and explained why he wore the yellow T-shirt bearing the Batman logo.

“It was to remember the show we had last season with Marco. I dedicate my goal to him,” added Aubameyang after Reus missed Sunday’s match with a groin injury. l

BUNDESLIGABorussia Dortmund 3-2 Schalke 04Kagawa 30, Ginter 43, Huntelaar 33, 71Aubameyang 47

Augsburg 1-2 Werder BremenVerhaegh 90+1-pen Pizarro 58, Bartels 69

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Sony Six6:30AM NBA season 2015/16Miami v LA Lakers

Star Sports 27:30PM Indian Super League Kerala v KolKata

DAY’S WATCH

Real su� er � rst defeat, Neymar inspires Barcan AFP, Madrid

Real Madrid su� ered their � rst defeat of the season as they squandered a 1-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Sevilla on Sunday.

Rafael Benitez’s men are now three points adrift of leaders Barcelona heading into the � rst meeting of the season between the two in two weeks’ time after Neymar scored twice in the Eu-ropean champions’ 3-0 win over Villarreal.

Sergio Ramos’s spectacular overhead kick had given Ma-drid the perfect start in Seville, but Ciro Immobile’s equaliser 10 minutes before the break turned the game on its head.

Goals after the break from Ever Banega and Fernando Llorente put Sevilla in the driving seat be-fore James Rodriguez pulled a goal back in stoppage time.

“In the � rst-half we should have killed the game o� and we didn’t,” said Benitez.

“We allowed them to score from a set-piece and that con-ditioned the game. In the sec-ond-half we started well again, but from the second goal we started to commit errors and they took advantage of that to score the third.”

At the Camp Nou, Neymar and Luis Suarez once again shone in

Lionel Messi’s absence as Barca overcame some sti� � rst-half re-sistence from Villarreal to record a fourth consecutive league win.

Neymar opened the scor-ing on the hour mark when he

slotted home Sergio Busquets’s through ball.

The Brazilian then stood aside to let Suarez seal the three points from the penalty spot after Mu-nir El Haddadi had been brought down by Jaume Costa.

The best was yet to come from Neymar, though, as he collected Suarez’s pass and lifted the ball over Costa before turning to � re home on the volley � ve minutes from time.

“I am happy with what I am giving the team, but I still think I can improve more,” Neymar told Canal Plus.

“As a team we all have to keep growing, but now we can rest and think about El Clasico.”

Between them Suarez and Neymar have compensated for Messi’s injury layo� with knee ligament damage by scoring all of Barca’s last 17 league goals as the Catalans have dropped just three points since the Argentine went o� injured against Las Palmas six weeks ago.

Atletico Madrid remained in the title hunt thanks to Antoine Griezmann’s 93rd minute winner as they squeezed out a 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon to stay four points behind the leaders.

Athletic Bilbao moved into the top half of the table with their � fth consecutive win. l

Barcelona’s Brazilian forward Neymar celebrates his goal during their La Liga match against Villarreal CF at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on Sunday AFP

11 Neymar (Barcelona)

9 Luis Suarez (Barcelona)

8 Javi Guerra (Rayo) Cristiano Ronaldo (Real) Imanol Agir-

retxe (Sociedad)

7 Aritz Aduriz (Athletic) Noli-to (Celta) Lucas (Deportivo)

Ruben Castro (Betis)

6 Iago Aspas (Celta) Borja Bas-ton (Eibar) Karim Benzema

(Real)

5 Antoine Griezmann (Atleti-co) Kevin Gameiro (Sevilla)

Alcacer (Valencia)

Arsenal’s missed chance and Klopp’s � rst defeatn Reuters, London

Arsenal missed the chance to top the Premier League heading into the interna-tional break when they drew 1-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur in a high-octane London derby on Sunday.

Visitors Tottenham deservedly led at halftime thanks to a goal of stunning simplicity when Harry Kane ran on to Danny Rose’s long pass forward and dispatched a shot past Petr Cech for his � fth goal in the last three league games.

The draw left Arsenal in second place behind Manchester City who were held at bottom club Aston Villa earlier. Both clubs have 26 points with City enjoying the better goal di� erence.

Meanwhile, Juergen Klopp tasted defeat for the � rst time as Liverpool manager after Crystal Palace’s Scott Dann scored with eight minutes remaining to grab a 2-1 win at An� eld on Sunday. l

LA LIGAAthletic Bilbao 2-1 Espanyol Williams 8, Hernan Perez 51Raul Garcia 64

Barcelona 3-0 VillarrealNeymar 60, 85,Suarez 70-pen

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Sp. GijonGriezmann 90+3

Sevilla 3-2 Real Madrid Immobile 35, Ramos 22Banega 61, Llorente 75 Rodriguez 90+3

Arsenal 1-1 TottenhamGibbs 77 Kane 32

Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester City

Liverpool 1-2 Crystal PalaceCoutinho 42 Bolasie 21, Dann 82

Downtime30DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 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 16 represents B so � ll B every time the � gure 16 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 Fastener (5)4 Bill of fare (4)7 Leave empty (6)8 Gathering of witches (5) 10 Be wanting in (4)11 Joint (5)12 Tavern (3)14 Graceful bird (4)17 Liquor dregs (4)19 Metal-bearing rock (3) 20 Conscious of (5)23 Unsightly growth (4)25 Niggard (5)26 Worked hard (6)27 Eager (4)28 Very poor (5)

DOWN 1 Kick, as a gun (6)2 Level (4)3 Army weapon (4)4 Men and boys (5)5 Greek letter (3)6 Delicious beverage (6)9 Weathercock (4)13 Nullify (6)15 Misfortunes (4)16 Almost (6)18 Glossy fabric (5)21 So be it! (4)22 Be carried (4)24 Fish eggs (3)

SUDOKU

Showtime 31D

TTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows WB 7:10pmSherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their � ercest adversary, Professor Moriarty.Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Jared Harris.

Journey to the Center of the EarthHBO 1:52pm On a quest to � nd out what happened to his missing brother, a scientist, his nephew and their mountain guide discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world in the center of the earth.Cast: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem, Seth Meyers.

Hulk Sony Pix 8:30pmBruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, su� ers an accident that causes him to transform into a raging green monster when he gets angry.Cast: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott.

Hollow Man Star Movies Action 4:40pmA Seattle detective and a biologist are on the run from a dangerous invisible assassin gone rogue.Cast: Christian Slater, Peter Facinelli, Laura Regan.

Ghost Rider WB 9:30pmStunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze gives up his soul to become a hellblazing vigilante, to � ght against power hungry Blackheart, the son of the devil himself.Cast: Nicolas Cage, Fergus Riordan, Ciaran Hinds.

WHAT TO WATCH

n Showtime Desk

Conference of Youth (COY) to be held in Paris, will screen “Shunte Ki Pao!” (Are You Listening!), written and directed by Kamar Ahmad Simon. To attend a Director’s Talk followed by the screening, French consulate in Dhaka has invited Kamar to visit Paris later this month.

Ahead of COP 21 organised by the United Nations, the 11th edition of COY 11 is expected to be attended by more than 5000 youth participants from around the world. The objective of the conference is to represent the youth voice of COP 21 summit attended by the world leaders.

After the COY 11, the Director is also invited to screen the � lm and give a talk at the Sciences Po, an intentionally recognised university for Politics and International

studies. At the same time, the Cultural Ministry of France has invited the � lm and the director for a special screening at the library of the historical city of Le Blanc-Mesnil.

“The opportunity to share my view as a � lmmaker with the youth leadership at a time like this is a tough job. Like my � lm, my intention will be to place the stories of the masses at the forefront,” said Kamar.

Written and directed by Kamar Ahmad Simon and produced by Sara Afreen, “Shunte Ki Pao!” was the winner of Grand Prix as the best feature of 35th Cinema du reel in Paris and Golden Conch winner of 13th MIFF in Mumbai. It was the curtain opener of 55th Dok Leipzig in Germany, the oldest documentary festival and was also in the o� cial selection of 25th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. l

Shunte Ki Pao! at COY11 in Paris

Flesh And Bone: The horror in beautyn Showtime Desk

From its opening seconds, Flesh And Bone belies its ostensible genre. This is not a show about dance. Those Hitchcockian strings � lled with paranoia, the uneasy close-ups of childhood objects, the ominous pounding at the door. Dance is beautiful and graceful. As Paul Grayson, the artistic director of the American Ballet Company, says in his speech to his board of directors, dance is e� ort made e� ortless. But Flesh And Bone is not a dance show, rather a horror.

The eight episode miniseries was created by Moira Walley-Beckett, the writer of

Breaking Bad’s Ozymandias among other classic episodes. For her � rst show at the helm, Walley-Beckett turned to a world she knew. She trained as a dancer, but she’s also used to taking the everyday — say, a father and chemistry teacher — and � nding the horror in it. Joining Walley-Beckett for the � rst episode is director David Michôd, the Australian writer-director behind crime drama Animal Kingdom and the post-apocalyptic The Rover. He cloaks the pilot in blue tones that makes it feel cold to its core.

Part of the reason why Flesh And Bones pilot is so compelling is that there’s a soapiness inherent to it, especially with its sexually-tinged mystery and warring women. Anytime a line like “Anyone with enough dough to sit on the board spend more doing blow o� a hooker’s tit on a Saturday night” is going to have its fair share of soap. There is

something cliched a ballet company in suds, complete with stock characters such as the potentially-conniving roommate, the leering Lothario, and the sultry friend who helps sexually awaken the main character. The plot itself even has a seen-it-all-before structure.

Claire (Sarah Hay who, like the rest of her castmates in the American Ballet Company, was a professional dancer before turning to Flesh And Bone), the fresh-faced rookie, comes the big city and has the inner talent to make it as a star, despite the backbiting she’s sure to encounter.

By using dance as the structure to tell her story, Walley-Beckett and Michôd have another tool in their toolbox at her disposal: the body. It is the artistic instrument of dance, but it also announces each character. l

Back Page32DT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015

SHUNTE KI PAO! AT COY11 IN PARIS PAGE 31

FBCCI BLASTS NBR FOR HARASSMENT BY FIELD OFFICES PAGE 16

CHIGUMBURA BLAMES BATTERS PAGE 25

Another Tk100cr for researchn Asif Showkat Kallol

Over the years, the words “research” and “development” have come to be associated in pairs, showing the importance of research as a precursor of development activities.

Initially, for the ongoing 2015-16 � scal year, the government of Bangladesh allocat-ed a total of Tk655.01 crore to four ministries for facilitating research work in order to en-hance the country’s economic status for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This is 0.04% of the estimated GDP for this � scal year, but is still lower than the av-erage budgetary allocation for research in the South Asian countries which is 0.79%.

The Agriculture Ministry was allocated Tk289.50 crore, Science and Technology Tk129.02 crore, Health and Family Planning Tk80.70 crore, and Education Tk21.88 crore.

Recently, the government has allocated a further Tk100 crore for research upon spe-cial instructions from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The entire amount, Tk655.01 crore plus Tk100 crore, was to be sized out of the budg-etary allocation for the “unexpected expend-iture fund” and Finance Minster AMA Mu-

hith has recently given his consent to this as well.

Yesterday, the Finance Ministry – the au-thority looking after these allocations – held a meeting in its auditorium in Dhaka.

The meeting decided that instead of giv-ing the money to the four ministries, the lat-est Tk100 crore would be distributed among all the ministries.

Both independent and institutional re-searchers can apply for research grants from this fund but there are certain criteria that they would have to meet. For an inde-pendent researcher, the applicant must have strong educational background and previous completed researches in the particular � eld.

In 2010, scientist Maqsudul Alam and Jute Research Institute jointly decoded a jute ge-nome, opening up new doors for the devel-opment of the world’s most adorned biode-gradable natural � bre. That research project was funded by the government.

Professor Yesmeen Huq of physics at Shahjalal University of Science and Technol-ogy in Sylhet has recently returned the Tk4 crore to the government that she had taken as research grant.

Experts say there are scopes for unscrupu-

lous researchers to take money and not com-plete research. There are also allegations that funds are sometimes disbursed on political considerations.

Just like the three other ministries, the Ministry of Science and Technology has a committee to monitor and evaluate research grant applications. Renowned ENT specialist Dr Pran Gopal Datta, also a former VC of BSM-MU, leads that committee.

An o� cial of that committee said it is not easy to embezzle fund in the name of fake researches because the applicants have to go through strong scrutiny at the ministry and research progress is evaluated very six months.

KAS Murshid, director general of Bang-ladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said: “A paradigm shift is needed for properly disbursing this massive allocation of Tk600 crore through the ministries.”

Noted economist AB Mirza Azizul Islam said the government research institutes should relate to the business entities for making things fruitful.

“We need more allocation in research in the coming years if we are to promote our-selves to the middle income status,” he said. l

Shakib-Shishir blessed with a girln Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh ace-allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and his wife Ummey Ahmed Shisir have been blessed with a daughter.

Shakib’s wife delivered the baby around 2am Bangladesh Standard Time yesterday at a hospital in the United States.

Endorsing the information, Shakib’s mother Shirin Akhter said: “He [Shakib] was in transit at Dubai airport when he got the news. Both the mother and the child are sound and safe and Shakib is with them at this moment.”

Shakib took an urgent leave from the Bangladesh Cricket Board and left for the US on Sunday night.

BCB Chief Executive O� cer Nizamuddin Chowdhury had told reporters that the Bang-ladesh all-rounder cited emergency need and the board had let him go.

Shakib had joined the Bangladesh camp for home series against Zimbabwe following confusion whether the Tigers would avail the service of his prime cricketer. l

Rising sea levels to hit megacities hardn AFP, Paris

Large swathes of Shanghai, Mumbai, New York and even Bangladesh’s Khulna will slip under the waves even if an upcoming climate summit limits global warming to 2°C, scien-tists reported Sunday.

A 2°C spike in Earth’s temperature would submerge land currently occupied by 280m people, while an increase of 4°C-- humanity’s current trajectory -- would cover areas lived on by more than 600m, the study said.

“2°C warming will pose a long-term, ex-istential danger to many great coastal cities and regions,” said lead author Ben Strauss, vice president for sea level and climate im-pacts at Climate Central, a US-based research group.

Sea level rises corresponding to these 2°C or 4 C scenarios could unfold in 200 years, but would more likely happen over many centuries, perhaps as long as 2,000 years, ac-cording to the research, published by Climate Central.

Capping the rise in Earth’s temperatures to 2°C above pre-industrial levels is the core goal of the 195-nation UN climate summit in Paris from November 30 to December 11.

Strauss and colleagues apply on a glob-al scale the same methodology they used for a recent study that focused on tempera-ture-linked sea level rise in the United States, published in the US Proceedings of the Na-tional Academy of Sciences.

That study concluded that both Miami and New Orleans are doomed to crippling

impacts.In the new report, the country hit hardest

by sea level rise under a 4°C scenario is Chi-na.

Today, some 145m people live in Chinese cities and coastal areas that would eventual-ly become ocean were temperatures to climb that high.

Four of the 10 most devastated mega cit-ies would be Chinese: land occupied today by 44m people in Shanghai, Tianjin, Hong Kong and Taizhou would be underwater.

India, Vietnam and Bangladesh do not fare much better. All told, Asia is home to

75% of the populations that today reside in zones that would no longer be classi� ed as land in a climate-altered future. Thirty-four million people in Japan, 25m the US, 20m in the Philippines, 19m in Egypt and 16m in Bra-zil are also in future 4°C seascapes.

The sea level rise corresponding to 2°C would eventually be 4.7 metres, and for 4°C almost double that, the study found.

The projections are based on climate models taking into account the expansion of ocean water as it warms, the melting of gla-ciers, and the decay of both the Greenland and West Antarctic icesheets. l

Study: Climate Central, a US-based research group

Worst-a�ected major cities

Surging sea levels

4oC scenario

2oC scenario

Percentage of population at risk in temperature rise

2oC spike in temperature would submerge land occupied by 280 million people while a 4oC increase would a�ect some 600 million, new study says

Haora

Khulna

Shantou

Kolkata

Mumbai

Hong Kong

Dhaka

Osaka

Tokyo

Tianjin

Rio de Janeiro

New York

Jakarta Surabaya

Shenzhen

Buenos Aires

Cuttack

Quezon City

76

39

Shanghai

Hanoi

60

28

29

12

38

2630

16

209

54

22

46

31

18922

11

22

12

58

20

60

16

187

50

27

51

24

38

6

2313

198

24

13Asma Kibria no moren Tribune Report

Asma Kibria, wife of slain former � -nance minister Shah AMS Kibria, died in the capital yesterday at 78.

Asma, who had been su� er-ing from cancer, breathed her last at

United Hospital around 9am.She is survived by son Dr Reza Kibria and

daughter Nazli Kibria.Asma’s � rst namaz-e-janaza was held

at Gulshan’s Azad Mosque, and her second namaz-e-janaza at Banani graveyard, where she was buried beside Kibria’s grave.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina expressed deep shock at Asma’s death. l

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