SECOND EDITION

SNATCHED FROM THE JAWS OF DEATH PAGE 32

BANGLADESH, IRAN AGREE TO FIGHT EXTREMISM PAGE 5

MIGRANTS SEEK NEW WAYS TO EU PAGE 9

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 | Ashwin 2, 1422, Zilhaj 2, 1436 | Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 154 | www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

Quality crisis in public unis outside Dhakan Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

There is no binding rule or law that a univer-sity must have professors. But there is also no arguing the fact that a university without pro-fessors is like a ship without a captain.

An analysis of available data on the 37 pub-lic universities in the country has revealed an alarming picture that several such state-owned autonomous tertiary education pro-viders – mostly newly established and located in the peripheral districts – are running with-out any professors at all.

There are also other universities where the vice-chancellor is the only professor; and there are still others where the number is less than 10.

For example, the Pabna University of Sci-ence and Technology, established seven years ago, does not have any professors for taking classes; the only professor here is the VC, Prof Al-Nakib Chowdhury, who quite under-standably cannot take classes because of his administrative duties.

The case is same for the Barisal University, established four years ago, where VC Prof SM Imamul Huq is the only professor.

The Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam Univer-sity in Mymensingh has seven professors; Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur has six; Jessore University of Science and Technology and the Mawlana Bhashani Science and Tech-nology University in Tangail have three each; Comilla University and the Noakhali Science

and Technology University have two each.The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Science and Technology in Gopalganj has one full-time professor and seven part-timers.

Science universities The clear pattern that emerges from this data is that the situation is particularly grim in the new science and technology universities.

Seeking anonymity, a teacher of computer science at a public university, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is a good thing that the govern-ment is living up to its ‘digital Bangladesh’ promise by setting up science and technology universities in the remote districts.

“But the reality is that we do not have PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Teachers reject pay scale reform under Muhithn Asif Showkat Kallol, Shohel Mamun

and Arif Ahmed

The government has reformed the cabinet committee to review the recently approved Eighth National Pay Scale for public universi-ty teachers, with Finance Minister AMA Mu-hith as its convener.

A gazette noti� cation was issued in this regard yesterday, which said the committee would also sit with the teachers to go over their complaints in order to � nd solutions.

However, the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association (FBUTA) has rejected the reformed committee because of keeping Muhith in it.

Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed, president of the association, said the teachers had been

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Small town universities can’t attract professorsenough teachers skilled in the information technology � eld. So, quite understandably, these specialised universities are not getting professors.”

Al-Nakib Chowdhury, VC of the universi-ty in Pabna, said: “We are providing stand-ard education. But if there were some senior teachers, we could have ensured even better quality. But our students are doing well. They are competing with Buet students in the job market and going abroad with scholarships.”

Former Buet VC Prof Jamilur Reza Chow-hdury said: “Engineering subjects require a lot of laboratory work. So, if there is a lack of teachers, then how can the quality of educa-tion be ensured?”

City-town comparison These � gures stand in stark contrast with those from some of the leading public universities located in the major cities.

At Jahangirnagar University located in Savar near Dhaka, the total number of teach-ers is 657; of them, 209 or 33% are professors. At Dhaka University, around 35% of the total number of teachers are professors.

When compared regionally, the Delhi Uni-versity in neighbouring India has around 47% professors. Nearly half of the teachers at Cal-cutta University are professors.

What these � gures suggest is that there is a clear unwillingness among experienced teachers to go and teach in the faraway dis-tricts particularly because of the lack of facili-ties and shortage of scopes to earn.

One major reason why public university teachers like to stay in the big metropolitan cities is that they have the opportunity to teach or give consultancy to the private uni-versities for handsome payments.

Moreover, the best schools and colleges of the country are all located in the big cities, and so if they decide to join one of these peripheral public universities, they fear that the educa-tion of their children may get hampered.

Lack of infrastructural facilities – such as laboratory, accommodation and library – in

some of these new universities also act as re-pellent for professors.

According to Prof Dil Afroza Begum, mem-ber of the University Grants Commission (UGC): “Why would the bright students go to these universities? They stay in the cities, do research, go abroad for PhD degrees. They come back and join the public or private uni-versities or become consultants.”

Role of professorsAsked why there should be enough professors in a university, Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed, pres-ident of the Federation of Bangladesh Univer-sity Teachers’ Associations, told the Dhaka Tribune: “There will always be a huge di� er-ence between the depth of lectures given by a senior professor and a junior lecturer.

“There is also a question of guiding the junior teachers. If there is no professors this will not happen. Moreover, experienced professors can give valuable guidance in academic coordina-tion and research activities as well,” he added.

UGC member Prof Mohammad Mohabbat Khan said there is a serious lack of foresight on the part of the policymakers.

“For establishing any educational institu-tions, there must be a long term human re-

source planning. But in Bangladesh, we estab-lish a university in the face of local demand.”

He also said the senior teachers must also change their mindsets – instead of thinking about their personal gains, they must concen-trate on the welfare aspect of their profession-al responsibilities towards building the state.

RemedyProf Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, also an adviser to a former caretaker government, said: “There is no doubt that presence of senior teachers is essential for ensuring quality education. As per UGC rule, a private university must have at least one professor of relevant subject on board before deciding to open a new department. If this can apply for private universities, why not for public universities?”

UGC member Prof Dil Afroza Begum said teaching at universities is not a transfera-ble job. “And so, existing regulations can be changed to make it mandatory for university teachers to spend a certain number of years in the small towns.”

She also prescribed introducing monetary incentives for the teachers if they opt to go to a new university in a faraway district. l

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015NEWS2DT

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Name of Universities Professors(including VC)

Number of Teachers

Number of students

Barisal University 1 98 3,700

Pabna University of Science & Technology 1 133 2,670

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science& Technology University, Gopalganj

1 67 2,100

Comilla University 2 155 4,756

Noakhali Science & Technology University 2 139 3,000

Mawlana Bhashani Science & TechnologyUniversity, Tangail

3 153 3,900

Jessore University of Science & Technology 3 126 2,996

Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur 6 139 over 7,000

Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Mymensingh 7 105 over 4,000

Teachers reject pay scale reform under Muhithdemanding that the government drop Muhith from the review committee as his remark on the teachers’ movement upset them.

“We will not get proper justice if the � -nance minister is a part of the committee,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. “We will not sit in a meeting with the committee if he is still in the committee.”

Meanwhile, Muhith said the cabinet com-mittee will start its work in October.

“I am leaving Dhaka for the US on Septem-ber 22 to attend the World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meetings. I will come back on October 16, and then the committee will start its work,” he told reporters at his Secretariat o� ce yesterday.

According the gazette noti� cation, oth-er members of the reformed committee are ministers of industries, commerce, education and law, minister or state minister of public administration, and state ministers of � nance and planning ministries.

The Cabinet secretary, principal secretary to the prime minister, senior secretaries of the Finance Division and the Ministry of Public Administration, and senior secretaries, secre-taries or acting secretaries to ministries or di-visions concerned will assist the committee.

The Finance Division will provide adminis-trative assistance to the committee.

This committee will make recommenda-tions after reviewing unresolved issues and allegations of discrimination in the pay scale.

The government formed the original committee shortly after it cleared the eighth pay scale on Sept 7, which prompted public university teachers to launch their protest demonstration around the country.

Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the committee would work on removing salary discrepancies as claimed by the teachers as well as evaluate their propos-als and make recommendations.

Teachers of 37 public universities across the country have been enforcing strike at all public universities, pressing for their de-mands including review of the new pay scale.

They have been protesting since May 14, advocating a four-point charter of demands that includes the formation of a commission to initiate an independent pay scale for them.

Not only the public university teachers, but a number of government employees in-cluding primary and secondary school teach-ers have been protesting the new pay scale as well.

Teachers to resume work abstention todayTeachers of public universities will resume their work abstention programme today in demand of a separate pay scale, our Dhaka University correspondent reported.

The FBUTA (Federation of Bangladesh Uni-versity Teachers’ Association) in a press re-lease said the teachers would also participate a three-hour sit-in demonstration on their re-spective campuses.

However, all examinations will be out of the protest’s purview, said Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed.

“We still hope that the prime minister will accept our demands,” he said, adding that the Dhaka University Teachers’ Association will stage the sit-in programme at Aparejeyo Bangla from 11pm to 1am.

Asked about the reformed cabinet commit-tee in charge of reviewing the pay scale with Finance Minister Muhith as convener, he said: “We will decide together whether we would sit with the � nance minister or not.”

Earlier on Sunday, the teachers announced that they would not meet with the � nance minister regarding the pay scale, claiming the minister did not have favourable attitude to-wards higher education. l

Mohsin Ali buried in Moulvibazarn Tribune Report

Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali was buried yesterday beside his parents’ graves near Shah Mostafa Mazar in Darjirmahal area in Moulvibazar town.

The burial took place around 5pm after a namaz-e-janaza at Moulvibazar Government High School ground. He was given state of honour before the burial, the UNB reported.

Earlier, the late minister’s body was taken to Moulvibazar M Saifur Rahman Stadium from the capital by a helicopter. Later, his body was taken to his village home in Darjir-mahal.

The late minister’s � rst namaz-e-janaza was held at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sang-sad in the morning.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina separately paid tribute to the valiant freedom � ghter by placing wreaths on his co� n, and stood there in solemn silence for some time as a mark of respect.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, ministers, deputy speaker, chief whip and parliament members were also present.

Earlier, his co� n was kept at Central Sha-heed Minar where people from all walks of life paid their last respects to him.

Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali, who was undergoing treatment at Singapore General Hospital, died on Monday morning at the age of 67. l

Extortionist list to be used for police drives n Mohammad Jamil Khan

The police are planning to launch special drives based on a list of extortionists and jhut (waste cloth) traders recently submitted by detectives to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner.

At a crime conference held at Police Head-quarters, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah directed his force to take action against listed extortionists and jhut traders, directing copies of the list to be sent to all police sta-tions in the capital, several DMP o� cials said yesterday.

All of the o� cers-in-charge of the capital’s 49 police stations and police top brass were present at the conference presided over by the DMP commissioner.

Police were told to mediate, when possi-ble, between local-level ruling party leaders to resolve disputes, but to take lawful action against them if they were involved in serious crimes, sources said.

The list of extortionists and jhut traders was prepared to help police stations investi-gate suspects and take action.

The DMP boss called for work on building a criminal database to be sped up. He said the database would enable investigators access to relevant information quickly.

A DMP high o� cial who attended the con-ference said the DMP was introducing a help desk at Police Headquarters from today in a bid to provide greater public support.

Support would be provided for victims and relatives of phone threats, extortion, internet harassment and missing persons cases. The joint commissioner (crime) and joint commis-sioner (detectives) will coordinate the sup-port service, sources said. l

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Five remanded in Ananta murder casen Our Correspondent, Sylhet

A Sylhet court yesterday granted a seven-day remand to � ve alleged members of outlawed militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team men including Bangladesh-born British citizen Touhidur Rahman Gama and Aminul Islam Mallik in blogger Ananta Bijoy Das killing case.

Judge MM Anwarul Hoque of the Sylhet’s Second Metropolitan Magistrate Court gave the order after a hearing.

The three others are Ariful Islam, Jakirul-lah and Md Sadek Alim Mithu. All the � ve ex-cept for Mithu were brought to the court as he is on remand in another case in Dhaka.

Secular writer Ananta was hacked to death by masked assailants on May 12 near his house in Nurani residential area of Sylhet city. l

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Farabi on fresh remand in Avijit murder casen Tribune Report

Outlawed militant group Hizb ut-Tahrir lead-er Sha� ur Rahman Farabi, arrested for insti-gating murder of secular bloggers, was put on a fresh two-day remand yesterday in connec-tion with Avijit Roy murder case.

Metropolitan Magistrate Maruf Hossain granted his remand, second time in the case, after the police produced Farabi before the court.

Former Chittagong University student Farabi was arrested on March 2 and put on a 10-day remand the following day in Avijit murder case. He is one of the eight people ar-rested in this case.

The investigators sought his fresh remand as Shahjalal University student Mannan Yahya alias Mannan Rahi alias Hira alias Abdul Mu-nim in his confessional statement said that he along with Farabi had planned the murder of secular blogger Ananta Bijoy Das long before the killing of Avijit on February 26.

As per a previous court order, the DB police are set to submit charge sheet in Avijit murder case on September 20. l

HC judge Sahidur’s removal upheldn Tribune Report

The Apex court of the country yesterday up-held a 2004 presidential order to remove then additional High Court judge Syed Sahidur Rahman from his o� ce.

Following the order, Sahidur cannot sit in the High Court bench for judicial function as a judge.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Di-vision headed by Chief Justice Surendra Ku-mar Sinha scrapped the High Court order that had declared his removal “illegal.”

Then president Iajuddin Ahmed removed Sahidur from his post on April 20, 2004 as per the Supreme Judicial Council’s recommenda-tion on allegation of a bail � xing.

Sahidur challenged the decision on February 2, 2005, following which the presidential order had been declared illegal. Later Supreme Court lawyer Idrisur Rahman � led a public interest lit-igation challenging the High Court verdict.

Idrisur yesterday told reporters that six months into Sahidur’s appointment as an additional High Court judge, then Supreme Court Bar Association president Rokon Uddin Mahmud brought the allegation against him at a lawyer’s meeting in October 2003.

Later a three-member Supreme Judicial Council headed by then chief justice KM Hasan inquired the allegation and submitted a report to the president with recommenda-tion of his removal. l

Charge framing in Rajon killing case September 22n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

A Sylhet court yesterday � xed September 22 to frame charges in the case � led for the mur-der of 13-year-old Rajon in July.

Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge Akbar Hossain Mridha � xed the date on the � rst day of hearing, said public prosecutor Mofur Ali.

All the charge-sheeted accused except three fugitives – Kamrul Islam, his brother Shamim Alam, and Pavel Islam – were present.

The other accused are Muhith Alam, 32; his brother Shamim Alam, 20; Pavel Islam, 18; Ali Haider, 34; Moyna Miah alias Boro Moy-na, 45; Nur Ahmed ali-as Nur Miah, 20; Dulal Ahmed, 30; Ayaz Ali, 45; Taz Uddin Badal, 28; Firoze Miah, 50; Asmat Ali, 42; and Ru-hul Amin, 25.

On July 8, Rajon was tortured to death by the accused at Kumargaon near Sylhet city. One of the killers recorded the torture on his mobile phone and uploaded it on Facebook. The mat-ter created much hype across the country as well as abroad.

The government is now working to bring back Kamrul from Sau-di Arabia where he was caught by Bangladesh-is and handed over to the police. l

IDF: Bangladesh has 6m diabetic patientsn Abid Azad

According to the International Diabetic Foun-dation (IDF), there are currently 5.9 million diabetics in the country. The Diabetic Associ-ation of Bangladesh, however, estimates that closer to 8.4 million people su� er from the chronic illness, half of whom are unaware of their disease status.

Moreover, 1.8 million people in Bangla-desh have some form of diabetic retinopathy, a condition that a� icts 27% of diabetics, ac-cording to the IDF.

At a dissemination summit and strategic workshop on diabetic retinopathy yesterday, lo-cal and foreign experts speaking in the capital’s Krishibid Institute described the state of diabe-tes and its associated conditions in the country.

The programme was organised jointly by Hel-en Keller International, Bangladesh, and the Na-tional Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital.

Dr Meredith Jackson-deGra� enried, coun-try director of Helen Keller International, Bangladesh, said: “Coordinated e� ort by the government, NGOs and other service provid-ers is a must to prevent diabetes and diabetic retinopathy.

“We must work with the most disadvantaged people who have a lack of awareness, lack of op-

portunities and lack of ability to get the services they deserve, in both rural and urban areas.”

With 4.9 million deaths from diabetes globally in 2014, one person dies from the disease every seven seconds, according to the IDF.

At present, there are 387 million people – one in 12 people – throughout the world living with diabetes. This number is estimated to increase to 592 million by 2035.

Diabetes is spreading rapidly in South Asia. Some 77% of people with diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries, experts said.

Speakers said diabetic retinopathy is a seri-ous complication of diabetes which can lead to blindness if diabetes is poorly controlled. Dia-betic retinopathy is a leading cause of prevent-able blindness worldwide.

Nicholas Kourgialis, vice president for eye health at Helen Keller International, said: “We must work hard to establish the right to see of everyone to reach the goal of VISION 2020 so that no one becomes blind. And we need to keep the strategy ahead that everyone is in-cluded in getting health and eye care services to � ght against diabetes and diabetic retinopathy.”

The summit included a presentation titled “Scaling up Diabetic Retinopathy Services in Bangladesh.” The workshop discussed the emer-gence of diabetic retinopathy as a public health

concern and the importance of diabetic retinop-athy screening at the national and sub-national level. It also stressed developing strategies to ad-dress the future burden of the disease.

The event featured presentations from Hel-en Keller International, National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, Chittagong Eye In� rmary and Training Complex, Islamia Eye Hospital, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Met-abolic Disorders (Birdem), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Lions Eye Insti-tute and Hospital.

A panel of international speakers including Professor P N Nagpal of India, Dr Mahi Muqit of Moor� elds Eye Hospital in the UK and Dr Nich-olas Kourgialis, vice-president for eye health at Helen Keller International, USA, also spoke.

Dr Meredith Jackson-deGra� enried, country director of Helen Keller International, Bangla-desh, and Prof Md Arif Miah, director and pro-fessor, National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, and line director, National Eye Care, delivered the inauguration and welcome speech.

Professor AHM Enayet Hussain, line director for non-communicable disease control at the Directorate General for Health Services present-ed the keynote at the round table discussion on diabetic retinopathy. l

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015NEWS4DT

Poultry traders demand import tax withdrawaln Tribune Report

Poultry � rm owners have ex-pressed concern over the fresh duty, upfront taxes and cus-toms duty levied on the import of raw materials in the budget for the current � scal year, and also called for withdrawing those taxes and duties.

They said chicken and egg prices might increase after Eid-ul-Azha and the Tk25,000 crore poultry industry should enjoy the tax exemption facility for at least another 10 years in order for it to grow.

They also said the new taxes had caused production costs to go up and many farms had al-ready been shut in the face of heavy losses while many more were on the verge of closure.

Mashiur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Poultry Indus-tries Coordination Committee and convener of Feed Indus-tries Association, told a press

brie� ng at the committee’s Ni-keton o� ce in the capital yes-terday that e� orts to make pol-icymakers understand why the new tax burdens would lead to a terrible situation for the poul-try industry had failed.

“Direct interventions of the prime minister and the � nance minister are the only way for-ward to remove the barriers that stemmed from the imposi-tion of taxes.”

Mashiur also said there was no tax on the earnings from the poultry industry but a 10% tax had been imposed in the budget.

President of Bangladesh chapter of World’s Poultry Science Association Shamsul Are� n Khaled Anjan said the di� culties could have been avoided if the government had imposed the taxes gradually.

He said the poultry sector thrived fast as farm owners re-invested their pro� ts. l

Four held over medical admission test question leakn Kamrul Hasan

RAB on Tuesday night arrest-ed four persons in the capital’s DOHS area for their suspected involvement in leaking medical admission test question papers.

The four are ringleader Jasim Uddin Bhuiyan, 41, Dr ZMA Salehin alias Shovon, 40, SM Sanwar, 30, and Akhtaruz-zaman Khan Tushar, 38.

Jasim was earlier arrested by RAB in 2011 on the same charge.

RAB also seized 13 cheques for a total of Tk12,138,000, Tk38,000 in cash, 88 copies of two question papers and the answers, and admit cards of some students from the pos-session of the detainees.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, di-rector of media and legal wing of RAB, told a press brie� ng at RAB headquarters yesterday that the arrestees would � rst draw up a list of students and would then approach them to o� er question papers.

RAB sources said the gang would charge students Tk7-12 lakh for question papers and would usually talk to the par-ents about the o� er.

Of the arrestees, Shovon, who worked as a doctor in Noakhali, stopped practising

two years ago and then worked as a tutor in a number of pri-vate coaching centres. Sanwar taught at E-Haque Coaching Centre and Tushar was the managing director of a con-struction � rm. Tushar also runs a coaching centre.

The three would contact students and then introduced them to Jasim.

Mufti Mahmud said RAB had found some other names and would investigate if they were involved in leaking ques-tion papers.

In reply to a question, he said it was not yet examined if the question papers seized dur-ing the operation were the real ones that this year’s prospec-tive medical students would face.

“Police will check that as we have handed the four men over to police.”

The RAB o� cial said further probe would be carried out as it was suspected that members of the body preparing medical admission test question pa-pers might be involved in the wrongdoing.

Over the last 12 months, RAB arrested some 50 persons suspected of leaking questions of admission tests and also government jobs. l

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BNP: Manik wrong-headedn Tribune Report

The BNP yesterday termed outgoing Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik ex-tremely wrong-headed.

The party also said Justice Manik’s letter to the president asking for the impeachment of the chief justice for gross misconduct is a rare and bad example in the country’s judiciary system.

The objections that Justice Manik men-tioned in his letter are more aptly applicable to him, Asaduzzaman Ripon, spokesperson of the party, told journalists at a press brie� ng at party’s Nayapaltan headquarters.

His such letter was aimed only to tarnish the image of the Chief Justice, he said.

A few days ago Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik wrote a letter to the presi-dent asking him to impeach the Chief Justice

for his gross misconduct, violating constitu-tional oath, said Ripon.

In the letter sent to President Abdul Hamid on Sunday, the SC judge alleged that Chief Justice SK Sinha out of his personal grudge removed him from the apex court bench.

However, President’s Press Secretary Zainul Abedin said they did not receive any such letter during o� ce on Sunday.

Law Minister Anisul Huq said he also did not get any letter and he cannot make any comment until he receives the letter.

The BNP leader said when BNP was in power they investigated into the conduct of Manik and found that he was an extremely wrong-headed man.

And that was the reason Manik was not ap-pointed permanently at that time, he told the brie� ng. l

Volunteer childcare workers sent to prisonn Tribune Report

Four volunteer childcare workers, who were arrested on suspicion of being human tra� ck-ers, have now been sent to jail after their bail prayers were rejected.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Ku-mar Dey passed the order after the police produced them before the court. They will be produced before the court again on Sunday.

During yesterday’s proceedings, defence counsel Maloy Saha presented various news reports before the court as proof that the ar-restees – under the organisation known as Mojar School – had been working for the bet-terment of street children for several years.

On the other hand, investigation o� cer of the case Sub-Inspector Ziarat Hossain told the court that even though there has not been any signi� cant development in the case, the de-tainees should be sent to jail as investigating was still going on.

On Saturday, the police arrested Arifur Rahman, also known as Arian Arif, Zakiya Sultana, Hasibul Hasan Sabuj and Firoz Alam Khan Shuvo from a house in the capital’s Ba-nasree, where they also found 10 children.

According to the police, the arrestees failed to show any document of the organisa-tion they claimed to belong to, nor was there any signboard mentioning the organisation’s name. l

Bangladesh, Iran agree to � ght against extremismn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh and Iran have discussed possible cooperation in the area of � ghting against ex-tremism.

“We discussed the possibility of common joint cooperation on extremism and we will look into the exact details of how we can do that,” visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Javed Zarif said at a press brie� ng at Hotel Sonar-gaon yesterday.

He came to Dhaka Tuesday night to explain the nuclear solution it had with the Western World. He left the city yesterday.

He had o� cial talks with his Bangladesh counterpart AH Mahmood Ali and courte-sy call on Presdient Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“We agreed at the political level that this is something that two governments are inter-ested in exploring and both - the prime min-ister and the foreign minister - agreed that we

explore it further and we will do that through appropriate mechanism that we have in our two governments,” he said.

He said � ghting extremism and violence is an important area of cooperation and he be-lieve that � ghting extremism is not a military campaign.

“It requires economic, cultural, religious and educational e� orts in order to undermine and uproot the root causes of extremism and violence,” he said.

It is on the rise particularly in Islamic world tarnishing the image of Islam, he added.

The foreign minister said absence of dem-ocratic rule, economic deprivation, abuse of religious values, being misinformed and lack of education about real Islam and trying to suppress religious feeling and sentiment of people are the some of the reasons behind the rise of extrmisim.

He said: “Some of the extremists come from very democratic society. Many people who are

beheading people in Iraq and Syria speaking English and French with native accent.”

About bilateral relations, he said Iran is eager to develop and enhance cooperation in various areas including energy, textiles, man-ufacturing, industry, science and technology.

“We can also have cooperation among our private sectors. The private sectors of the two countries can in fact the engine of develop-ment of the two countries and that is a role we certainly welcome,” he said.

In the o� cial talks, both the foreign minis-ters agreed to have a number of visit includ-ing the visit of Finance Minister AMA Muhith to Iran to convene joint commission meeting.

“We discussed � nancial arrangement to enable the business community to conduct trade and investment in both side. It requires speci� c banking arrangement,” he said.

He hoped that after lifting of sanction by November would remove the impediment of doing business between the two countries. l

RMG owner Enamul again denies his militant fundingn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Arrested ready-made garment businessman Md Enamul Haque charged with militant � -nancing denied his involvement in militant activities yesterday.

Judicial Magistrate Farhana Yasmin re-corded his statement under section 23 of the Anti-Terrorism Act in a case lodged with Hathzari Police Station on February 19.

In the statement, Enamul again said he did not deposit any money in the bank account of a leader of the newly traced militant out� t Shaheed Hamja Brigade.

He, however, said he deposited the money in the bank account of a business organisation as a part of a commercial transaction, said a court source. Judicial Magistrate Farhana Yas-min recorded the statement from 11:30am to 12 noon and sent the accused to jail.

Enamul, director of Golden Touch Apparels in the capital city’s Turag, was arrested by Rap-id Action Battalion (RAB-7) on September 5 as it was found that Enamul deposited an amount in the bank account of Shaheed Hamja Brigade leader Moniruzzaman Masud alias Don. l

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015NEWS6DT

670 � sh enclosures washed awayn Our Correspondent,

Jessore

A total of 670 � sh enclosures have been washed away by the heavy rainfall recently resulting into a loss of around Tk80 crore in Abhaynagar upazila of Jessore.

Sources at the Abhaynagar Department of Fisheries said the heavy rainfall that started from July 8 over� ew all the wa-ter bodies in Bhabadaha area. Poor drainage system added to the plight of � sh farmers.

Di� erent types of � shes weighing around 163 metric tonnes were carried away by the heavy waves, particularly during high tide.

The total loss has been esti-mated to be Tk80 crore so far which can soar up to Tk100 crore, fears Senior Fisheries O� cer Md Anisur Rahman of the upazila.

Locals said rainwater usu-ally passes through Muktesh-wari, Sree, Hori and Teka rivers in Bhabadaha area.

However, this year, during high tide the canals were full. Therefore, rainwater could not squeeze out through the Bhabadaha sluice gate over the Sree River. As a result, severe water logging was created in surrounding areas.

According to Abhaynagar � sheries department, there are 2,286.97 hectre of open water bodies and 5,922.37 hectre closed water bodies in the upazila.

The annual demand for � shes in the upazila is 5,364

metric tonnes (per head 20 kg). The annual production usually stands at 17,244 metric tonnes. But due to the massive loss, this year the � sh produced will be highly insu� cient to meet the demand.

In Abhoynagar, Moniram-pur and Keshabpur upazilas of Bhabadaha area, all the � sh enclosures were marooned, said local � sh farmers. They lamented that they might be-come bankrupt.

Mizanur Rahman, owner of a � sh enclosure in Dhopadi vil-lage under Abhaynagar, said: “I had built the enclosure last year by selling my cattle and taking loans from the bank. Due to scarcity of capital, I could not even feed the � shes properly so I incurred losses. I hoped to pro� t this year. But now the enclosure has gone under water. I guess I have to live on the road now.” Rabiul Hoque, another � sh farmer of the village echoed with Mizan.

Enclosures set up on 26 canals including Shondhar Beel, Beel Gandhimara, Dumurtolar Beel, Beel Jhikra, Bagda Beel, and Coat Beel were inundated. Although farmers tried to place plastic nets by the side of the enclosures, the gusty wind and heavy waves damaged those too.

“Abhaynagar is abundant in � shes. We have incurred a great loss. But we are trying di� erent ways to recoup that,” said Sen-ior Fisheries O� cer Md Anisur Rahman. l

Police foil CPB protestn Our Correspondent,

Kishoreganj

The law enforcers yesterday foiled a sit-in programme of the Communist Party of Bang-ladesh and the Bangladesh-er Samajtatrik Dalt at Katiadi upazila in Kishoreganj.

The two left leaning parties went on the demonstration de-manding cancellation of recent hike in power and gas tari� .

The CPB and BSD put

up barricade on the Bhair-ab-Kishoreganj Highway on the their demands around 11am.

After the blockade the two parties leaders and activists brought out a procession. As soon as they started chanting slogans, police started charg-ing batons on them, leaving 20 people injured.

Of the injured, CPB act-ing general secretary of Kishoreganj was rushed to lo-cal health complex. l

BIWTC steamer damaged n Our Correspondent,

Barisal

PS Mahsud, a passenger carry-ing peddle steamer of Bangla-desh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), was damaged after a sand-laden cargo vessel near Barisal port hit it yesterday.

Station supervisor of BI-WTC, said the steamer collid-ed with the sand-laden private cargo vessel MV Sugandha around 7pm while making turn for Dhaka leaving the port. Over 400 passengers of the vessel later evacuated and sent to their destination arranging alternative transportation. l

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015NEWS 7

DT

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:01PM SUN RISES 5:46AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

35.0ºC 25.2ºC

Sylhet and Srimongal Mymensingh & Rangamati

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 35 28Chittagong 34 27Rajshahi 34 26Rangpur 34 26Khulna 34 26Barisal 34 27Sylhet 36 26Cox’s Bazar 32 27

PRAYER TIMESFajr 4:27am

Sunrise 5:44amZohr 11:54am

Asr 4:19pmMagrib 6:02pm

Esha 7:32pm

WEATHER

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

Commuters su� er in port city due to three-wheeler striken FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong

Commuters of Chittagong city su� ered im-mensely yesterday as a faction of CNG-own-ers imposed an inde� nite strike in the port city to press their eight-point demands in-cluding stopping plying of unregistered CNG-run auto-rickshaws.

Local sources said a section of CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners and drivers under the banner of “Chhattagram Mahanagor Ma-lik-Chalok Parishad” has called the strike to realise their several demands.

Haider Azam, president of the platform, said they were demanding necessary steps to halt movement of unauthorised CNG-run vehicles which were plying roads using token from some organisations.

Their other demands include issuing li-cense for CNG-run vehicles drivers, arranging

proper parking spaces for CNG-run autorick-shaws, realsing � ne from tra� c through bank account, stopping drivers’ harassment and le-gal steps against the organisations which are providing token to illegal vehicles.

During the strike, a few CNG auto-rick-shaws were seen plying city roads in the morning while the number was increasing as the day progressed but the number was not enough to meet the public demand.

Commuters were seen to wait in sever-al spots for CNG auto-rickshaw during rush hours.

Al Masud, private job holder in city’s Agra-bad area, said, “Usually I go to my workplace by three wheelers to avoid hustle and bustle at public transport but today I face di� culties to manage alternative transport.”

Taking the advantage of the strike paddle rickshaw charged extra fare from commuters.

Haidar Azam said all platforms of transport owners had expressed solidarity with their strike while the strike would continue till fur-ther notice. Meanwhile, another platform of owners’ and drivers’ protested the strike and plied their vehicles amid the strike.

Chittagong Auto rickshaw- Auto Tempoo Sramik Union’s General Secretary Harunur Rashid said a vested quarters had been plot-ting conspiracy against transport sector im-posing the strike.

Only 25% CNG-run auto rickshaws belong to platform which called the strike, he added.

A numbers of unregistered CNG-run auto rickshaw are running in the city using “token sticker” in exchange of money, said sources.

Regarding the issue, a con� ict situation has created among CNG owners-drivers’ or-ganisation platforms which leading the strike, said the sources. l

TB patients on the rise in Natoren Our correspondent, Natore

Speakers at a programme said number of tu-berculosis (TB) patients had risen in the dis-trict alarmingly.

Dr RK Saha, RMO of Natore Sadar Hospi-tal attended the view exchange meeting as chief guest while Khandaker Enamur Rahman Chinu, secretary of NATAB presided the pro-gramme. They said numbers of TB patients had risen in the district alarmingly. More than 858 cases were diagnosed in the district in last eight months. l

Two die in boat capsizen Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

Bodies of two persons, who went missing af-ter an engine-run boat capsized in Chakuria Haor in Ashtogram upazila, Kishoreganj on Tuesday morning, were recovered from the water body yesterday morning.

The deceased were identi� ed as Sohel Mia, 30, son of Jamal Mia, and Md Aftab Mia, 50, son of late Abdul Hai.

Md Kamrul Islam Molla, o� cer-in-charge of Austagram police station, said on informa-tion, police rushed to the spot and recovered the two bodies.

On Tuesday morning, three people went missing as a trawler capsized in the water body. l

Four killed, 40 injured in Pirganj road accidentn Tribune Report

Four persons were killed and 40 others in-jured in a road accident at Madarpur point on the Rangpur-Dhaka Highway, Pirganj, Rang-pur upazila yesterday.

The accident occurred when a Dhaka-bound passengers’ bus from Rangpur collided head-on with a Bhurungamari(in Kurigram)-bound bus from Dhaka there while overtaking a seedy truck around 1 pm, reports BSS.

Both of the passenger coaches were badly damaged killing passenger Shariful Islam, 18, son of Abdur Rouf of Formuder Para village under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur on the spot and injuring 43 others. Police rushed to the spot soon, rescued the injured and admit-ted them to Pirganj Upazila Health Complex..

Another injured Belal Hossain, 25, son of Shah Alam of Kuthichandrakhana village un-der Fulabri upazila of Kurigram succumbed to his injuries after admission at the health complex.

Among the injured, Suman Mian, 19, Shamim, 50, Ziarul, 25, Tazul, 24, Farid, 50, Mo� zul, 30, Motiar Rahman, 70, Sohel Mian, 20, Abdur Rahman, 23, Rubel, 23, Mohiuddin, 55, Habibar Rahman, 30, Entazur Rahman, 30, Runa, 20, Harun, 20, Habul, 22, Abdul Ha-mid, 20, Sabuz, 25, Feroz, 25, Fazlul Haque, 25, Monirul Islam, 50, Shahinur, 36, Abdul Kudus, 30, Hashem Ali, 25, Feroz Hossain, 18, Rubel Hossain, 16, Milan, 24, Sumi, 30, Anisur Rahman, 28, and Mus� kur Rahman, 28, were later shifted to Rangpur Medical College Hos-pital (RMCH) as their conditions deteriorated.

Later, Suman Mian, 19, son of Shamsul Haque of Harirampur village under Fulbari upazila in Kurigram and Shamim, 50, son of Sanaullah of Munshipara village under Syed-pur upazila in Nilphamari died at the RMCH in the afternoon.

Conditions of eight more injured persons, mostly hailing from Bhurungamari upazila in Kurigram, were still stated to be critical at the RMCH.

Getting information, Deputy Commission-er Md Rahat Anwar along with Pirganj Upazila Nirbahi O� cer SM Mazharul Islam and O� cer-in-Charge of Pirganj Thana Israil Hossain and In-charge of Barodorga Highway Police camp Ser-geant Nazmul Haque Mandal visited the spot.

A case has been lodged in this connection with Pirganj police station. l

A mobile court led by Executive Magistrate Nilufar Yasmin � nes and demolishes makeshift shops illegally set up on the footpaths in Rajshahi city. The photo was taken in front of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

WORLD8DTTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Delhi hospitals struggle with dengue overloadn AFP, New Delhi

Hospitals in the Indian capital struggled yes-terday to cope with a � ood of patients su� er-ing from dengue fever as the Delhi govern-ment warned against turning away anyone seeking treatment.

Patients told of sleeping on pavements out-side emergency rooms and doctors said servic-es were stretched to breaking point following the worst outbreak in New Delhi in � ve years.

Dengue fever, a mosquito-born disease with no known cure or vaccine, strikes fear into citizens of northern India when it arrives with the monsoon rains.

The Press Trust of India says that at least 11 people have already died from it this year. With more than 1,800 con� rmed dengue cas-es, the number has already surpassed the re-cord-breaking year of 2010, with weeks left in the annual season.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain held a crisis meeting on Tuesday night, warning hospitals that they face sti� penalties includ-

ing licence cancellations if they are found re-jecting patients.

“While (there are) over 1,800 dengue cases so far... it can’t be called an epidemic,” Jain told reporters yesterday.

“Yes, people are in a panic right now (and) it is the government’s responsibility to act.”

“We will add at least 1,000 to 1,500 beds for patients,” Jain said.

Authorities have been spurred into action after two children, aged seven and six, died separately from the disease after their par-ents were allegedly turned away from several hospitals, sparking a public outcry.

The grief-stricken parents of one of the boys committed suicide by jumping o� the roof of a four-storey building.

Delhi authorities, under � re for initially failing to act swiftly on the outbreak, have blamed prolonged humidity for this year’s rise in infections. The virus a� ects two mil-lion people across the globe annually, with the number of cases up 30 times in the last 50 years, according to WHO. l

Iran leader warns Guards against US in� ltrationn AFP, Tehran

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khame-nei warned commanders of the elite Revo-lutionary Guards yesterday to be on alert for “political and cultural” in� ltration by the United States.

“The main purpose of the enemies is for Iranians to give up on their revolutionary mentality,” Khamenei told a gathering of Guards commanders and personnel in Tehran.

“Enemy means global arrogance, the ulti-mate symbol of which is the United States,” he said, calling on the powerful branch of the military to protect the revolution.

“Economic and security breaches are de� -nitely dangerous, and have dire consequenc-es,” he said.

“But political and cultural intrusion by the enemy is a more serious danger that everyone should be vigilant about,” he added.

The enemies “are waiting for a time when the nation and system fall asleep, for example in 10 years when I may not be here, to realise their objectives,” the 76-year-old said.

“But the nation and the authorities won’t let that happen.”

Khamenei, who has the � nal say on all pol-icy matters, has repeatedly warned against the rise of Western in� uence in Iran after the nuclear agreement with world powers struck two months ago.

Iran and the US severed diplomatic ties in 1980 after a hostage crisis when students took over the US embassy in Tehran.

Khamenei said last week that Iran would not hold any negotiations with the US beyond the nuclear issue.

The deal reached in Vienna limits Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the grad-ual lifting of painful sanctions.

The Guards were formed by Iran’s revolution-ary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini soon after the 1979 revolution to defend the Islamic republic from internal and external threats.

They are one of Iran’s most powerful in-stitutions and fall under Khamenei’s direct command. l

UN blames Sri Lankan troops over 2006 aid worker massacren AFP, Geneva

The United Nations yesterday pointed the � nger at Sri Lankan forces over the killing of 17 French charity workers on the island nine years ago, despite repeated denials by the military.

A UN war crimes report on Sri Lanka said the 2006 attack against Action Against Hun-ger (ACF) staff was “the most significant case of humanitarian workers killed” in the country.

“Based on the information (the investi-gation) has compiled, there are reasonable grounds to believe that members of the secu-rity forces committed the extrajudicial execu-tions of the ACF sta� ,” the report said.

It is the � rst time a UN organisation has

placed blame for the aid workers’ deaths on Sri Lankan forces, which have long denied carrying out the killings while battling Tamil Tiger rebels.

Previous Sri Lankan investigations into the ACF attack have been inconclusive, and the UN said security forces intimidated the victims’ relatives whenever international at-tention was paid to the case.

The ACF, which pulled its aid workers from the embattled country after the loss of its sta� , maintained that only an independ-ent international investigation could lead to prosecution of the killers because Sri Lanka’s military denied involvement.

The UN also said in the report it believed security forces were responsible for the death of � ve Tamil students gunned down in the

town of Trincomalee seven months before the attack on ACF.

The long-awaited report, covering a nine-year period before and after the end of the civil war in May 2009, detailed hor-rific abuses committed during the conflict, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sri Lanka’s new unity government has promised dramatic reforms to achieve ac-countability for alleged atrocities during the war with the Tamil Tiger guerrillas, in which 100,000 people died.

However, the new administration of President Maithripala Sirisena has stopped short of agreeing to an investigation involv-ing international experts as recommended by the UN. l

‘Make clean energy cheaper than coal’n AFP, London

Top environmental advocates yesterday urged the international community to increase and coordinate investments in research and de-velopment for renewable energy to make it cheaper than coal within 10 years.

“A sensible approach to tackling cli-mate change will not only pay for itself but provide economic benefits to the na-tions of the world,” they said in a petition, ahead of a key climate change conference in December.

“We urge the leading nations of the world to commit to this positive, practical initi-ative by the Paris climate conference,” the petition said.

The 27 signatories include wildlife doc-

umentary � lmmaker David Attenborough and Paul Polman, chief executive of Dutch food and cosmetics giant Unilever, as well as other political and business leaders.

Among the experts behind the petition were John Browne, the former chief execu-tive of oil giant BP, as well as climate change expert Nicholas Stern.

“The Earth, with its spectacular variety of creatures and landscapes, is now in dan-ger,” Attenborough said in a video accompa-nying the release of the petition.

“Just one thing would be enough, how-ever, to halt climate change. If clean energy became cheaper than coal, gas or oil, fossil fuel would simply stay in the ground,” the British documentarian said.

The project, launched in June, is named

the “Global Apollo Program” in honour of the extraordinary achievements of the Apollo space missions of the 1960s that took humans to the Moon.

The programme’s demands include rais-ing public spending on renewable energy research to an international total of at least $15 billion (13 billion euros) annually for the next decade.

“That compares to the $100 billion cur-rently invested in defence research and de-velopment globally each year,” the petition said, adding that private � rms spent “rela-tively small sums” on renewable energy.

The November 30-December 11 UN COP21 conference in the Paris suburb of Le Bourget is tasked with sealing a universal deal to roll back the threat of climate change. l

Yemen government returns to Aden after months in exile n Reuters, Aden

Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah re-turned to the southern port of Aden yesterday in a step towards restoring a government on home soil after months of working from exile with Gulf Arab allies to � ght against Houthi control of the country.

Government spokesman Rajeh Badi said Bahah was accompanied by seven ministers when he arrived in Aden, which loyalist � ght-ers backed by Saudi-led troops recaptured from Houthi forces in July.

Bahah’s return from Saudi Arabia follows that of several other Yemeni ministers who relocated to Aden from the kingdom in the weeks after the city was retaken in July. Ba-hah made a brief visit to Aden on August 1.

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi � ed Aden for the Saudi capital Riyadh in March as Houthi forces closed in. Since its recapture, loyalist forces supported by Saudi-led coali-tion air strikes have pushed northwards and driven back the Iranian-allied Houthis.

Gulf Arab ground forces and loyalists have now launched an o� ensive in Marib province east of Sanaa seeking to drive the Houthis out of the capital, which the movement seized in September 2014.

The exiled government pulled out of UN-sponsored peace talks at the weekend but Badi said on Tuesday it was ready to join them if its Houthi foes publicly accepted a UN res-olution calling on them to recognise Hadi as president and quit Yemen’s main cities.

Speaking at a news conference at Aden’s al-Qasr hotel yesterday, Badi said that “the security � le, reconstruction and incorporating the southern resistance into the army” were at the top of the government’s agenda, according to the local Aden al-Ghad news website

The city of one million had been gripped by chaos and lawlessness since the Houthis retreated. Local o� cials say some 300 local police o� cers have returned to work since July and some police stations have resumed operations with the help of advisors from the United Arab Emirates. But residents complain that local authorities have been slow in seek-ing to restore basic services and clean up de-bris and garbage that had accumulated on the streets after heavy � ghting. l

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Migrants seek new ways to EU after Hungary shuts main route

n Reuters, Sid, Serbia/Roszke, Hungary

Riot police � red water cannon and tear gas at migrants demanding to be let through Hunga-ry’s newly shut EU frontier yesterday, while refugees at other Balkan borders clambered through corn� elds in search of new routes.

Hungary’s decision to shut the EU’s exter-nal border with Serbia this week was the most forceful attempt yet by a European country to close o� the unprecedented � ow of refugees and economic migrants overwhelming the bloc. It has left thousands of migrants scat-tered across the Balkan peninsula seeking al-ternative ways to reach the EU.

Helmeted Hungarian riot police backed by armoured vehicles took up positions at the now-barricaded border crossing with Serbia, where male migrant youths pelted them with stones, demanding to be allowed through.

The border has until now been the main route for migrants, who mainly arrive � rst by dinghy in Greece and then trek across the Bal-kan peninsula to reach the EU’s frontier-free Schengen zone, most bound for Germany.

Migrants scattered through Balkan coun-tries said they were searching for other routes, possibly through Croatia or Romania, both of which are in the EU though not in Schengen.

“We have passed too much to give up now. If not Hungary, we will have to � nd another way. Most probably Croatia and from there we will see,” said 43-year-old Mehmed from Damascus, holding his 3-year-old daughter after crossing the border north into Macedo-nia from Greece.

Croatia said it would send landmine ex-perts to its Serbian border to identify mine-� elds left on the frontier from the Balkan wars of the 1990s, the last time hundreds of thousands of displaced people marched across Europe.

The goal for most is Germany, which cut o� trains from Austria yesterday to slow the � ow of arrivals. Tens of thousands of mi-

grants have reached Austria in recent days, rushing to cross before Hungary ful� lled its plan to shut the frontier. Austria said it would impose new border controls on its frontier with Slovenia, along the likely new route from Croatia.

Hungary has already thrown up a 3.5 metre (10 foot) high fence along nearly the whole of its border with Serbia, and engineers and sol-diers were marking a path yesterday to extend the barrier along the border with Romania.

In response, Romania’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta evoked the continent’s darkest era.

“Fences, dogs, cops and guns, this looks like Europe in the 1930s. And did we solve the refugee problem with this? No, we didn’t,” he said. “Erecting a fence only throws the prob-lem into Serbia, into Croatia, into Romania.”

The biggest � ow of immigrants into West-ern Europe since World War Two has sown discord across the continent, fuelling the rise of far right political parties and jeopardising the 20-year-old achievement of Schengen’s border-free travel.

Hungary says it is simply enforcing EU rules by sealing the Schengen zone’s external border. It says Serbia is a safe country, so asy-lum seekers who reach the frontier there can be automatically turned back in a process that should take hours.

The United Nations says Serbia lacks the capacity to receive refugees halted at the gates of Europe. Critics at home and abroad say Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has crossed the line into xenophobia.

The crisis has pitted countries that are comparatively open, led by Germany, against those, many in former Communist eastern Eu-rope, who argue that the welcoming approach has made the problem worse by encouraging people to make dangerous voyages.

Hungary blames Germany for exacerbating the crisis by announcing in August it would suspend normal EU asylum rules and take in Syrian refugees regardless of where they enter the EU. Thousands have since been trekking across the bloc, mainly through Hungary and Austria, to reach Germany, clogging railway stations and forcing trains to be cancelled.

Germany ordered the emergency reintro-duction of border controls on Sunday to di-vert migrants away from Munich, the south-ern city that had been overwhelmed by tens of thousands arriving within days. Austria and Slovakia said Germany’s move left them no choice but to impose similar controls.

An emergency meeting of EU ministers failed this week to reach agreement on a Ber-lin-backed plan to share out 160,000 refugees across the bloc. A German cabinet minister said on Tuesday the EU should consider � -nancial penalties against countries that refuse to take their share, drawing angry responses from countries which oppose quotas, such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Croatia said it would allow migrants who arrive in Serbia to continue onwards. Its bor-der with Slovenia o� ers migrants a new route into the Schengen zone.

“Croatia is entirely ready to receive or direct those people where they want to go, which is obviously Germany or Scandinavian countries,” Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said.

“Many in Europe boast that they are Chris-tians but behave otherwise. Walls will stop nobody and will not help,” Milanovic said, a thinly-veiled swipe at Hungary’s Orban, who has said he is defending Europe’s “Christian values” from Muslim migrants. l

Migrants and refugees wait at Istanbul’s Esenler Bus Terminal for buses to the Turkish-Greek border after authorities withheld tickets to Turkish border towns yesterday AFP

FACTBOX (Part 1)

Asylum bene� ts in some European countries People seeking refugee status in European coun-tries are generally entitled to food, or money to buy it, plus shelter and medical attention, schooling for their children and access to interpreters and lawyers.

Following are some of the rights and bene� ts they can claim across the continent, above and beyond that basic package.AUSTRIA (figures for Vienna)n 50 euros/month spending money for those in

public housing, plus meals or 5 euros/day al-lowance to buy food.

n In private housing: up to 120 euros per person or 240 euros per family towards rent; 210 euros a month for food and living expenses (100 for children); 150 euros per year for clothes, 200 euros/year for school supplies.

n Work permit issued once asylum application is approved.

BELGIUMn Those living in refugee reception centres re-

ceive a weekly spending allowance of 7.40 euros per adult. Some can also carry out paid work at the centre, receiving up to 185 euros per month. After six months, people can apply for a work permit.

n Work permit issued once asylum application is approved; immediate family members can then also come to Belgium.

DENMARKn Asylum seekers can apply for work.n On approval they get about half the monthly

Danish unemployment bene� t; can get addi-tional money for passing a Danish language exam. Relatives can’t join them in � rst year.

FINLANDn Cash grant of 316 euros/month for a single adult

and 267 euros for partners and adult children; meals must be paid for. If meals are provided, cash grant is 93 or 76 euros per month.

n Must do unpaid community service as step to-wards integrating or risk losing part of the grant; cannot work elsewhere for � rst 3-6 months.

n Can apply to receive up to 1,000 euros to re-turn home.

n On approval: three years’ state-� nanced hous-ing; full welfare bene� ts, schooling, day care and child bene� t; language lessons and help with � nding a job.

FRANCEn Allowance of 11.45 euros a day or 343.50 euros

a month while awaiting result of asylum pro-cess and applying for housing in one of some 300 asylum-seeker housing projects across France. Must pay for food from this allowance, but free or cheap meals often available from food banks.

n Free health insurance while application being reviewed.

n Cannot work for � rst 12 months.GERMANYn Free meals at reception centres plus 143 euros

per month in cash for “basic needs,” rising after three months to maximum of 216 euros. Gov-ernment has agreed to extend period in recep-tion centres to six months from three to keep cash payments at the lower level for longer. Berlin also wants to switch from cash bene� ts to payments in kind “as far as possible.”

n Up to 92 euros per child, depending on age.n After 15 months, or once asylum request is

approved: basic income of around 400 eu-ros/month plus costs for accommodation and heating. l

‘Many in Europe boast that they are Christians but behave otherwise. Walls will stop nobody and will not help’

WORLD 9D

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015WORLD10D

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Syria’s Assad blames West for refugee crisisn Reuters, Beirut

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has blamed Europe’s refugee crisis on Western support for “terrorists,” as people � eeing his country’s civil war stream towards the European Union.

In his � rst public comments on the mass migration, broadcast yesterday, Assad said Europe could expect more refugees.

Countries including the United States, Turkey and Saudi Ara-bia want to see Assad gone from power and have supported the opposition to his rule during the four-year-old war, including some of the armed groups � ghting him.

Assad said Turkish support had been crucial to the growth of two of the biggest insurgent groups in Syria, Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, and aerial bombing by a US-led coali-tion had failed to stop Islamic State. Turkey denies the accusation.

The Syrian president dismissed Western suggestions that his gov-ernment’s actions in the war had fuelled the spread of such groups.

“As long as they follow this propaganda, they will have more refugees,” Assad said in an interview with Russian media. “If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists.”

The Syrian government describes all the armed groups � ghting it as terrorists. The insurgents in Syria range from the hardline Islamist Islamic State to nationalists viewed as moderate by the West. l

Germany cuts rail link carrying migrantsn Reuters, Salzburg

Germany cut its train link with the Austrian city of Salzburg yes-terday, shutting down the main route into its territory for tens of thousands of people caught in Europe’s worst migration crisis in decades.

Around 1,200 migrants slept overnight at Salzburg station on camp beds set up in the car park. Many more stayed in emergency accommodation across Austria, part of a massive backlog waiting for transport on to Germany.

Germany announced border controls on Sunday that have slowed a rush of people over its border, relieving pressure on of-� cials who have struggled to cope with the in� ux. But the num-bers of people waiting in Salzburg and other cities have strained resources in Austria.

“We had more than 2,000 refugees an hour ago. The station was about to be closed,” Wilfried Haslauer, the governor of Salzburg province, said yesterday morning. “Now the refugees have under-stood that no trains are running, and they are setting o� on foot.”

Hundreds of people remained at the station, a Reuters witness said, but city o� cials said several hundred were walking towards the nearby border.

Rail tra� c between Germany and Salzburg was halted in both directions on orders of the German authorities, a spokeswoman for the Austrian rail operator OeBB said, adding that no details on the reason for the closure were immediately available. l

Slovak PM: EU no longer safe following migrant ‘onslaught’n AFP, Bratislava

Slovakia’s leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico yesterday said that the European Union was no longer a safe place following the “on-slaught” of hundreds of thousands of mostly economic migrants.

“The EU has found itself under the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of migrants and has ceased to be a safe place,” Fico told parliament, insisting that “90 percent of these people are economic migrants.” “There may be several thousand potentially very dangerous persons” among those who have arrived, he add-ed, pointing to concerns over Islamic State jihadists slipping into the EU under the guise of refugees.

“Our safety is of paramount importance.”While Slovakia “must show solidarity and help people who are

threatened by war, have nothing to eat ... we have no reason to help economic migrants,” Fico said.

Slovakia on Monday boosted border controls along frontiers with Austria and Hungary, following a similar move by Germany, which warned it could face up to one million migrant arrivals this year. l

11D

TEDITORIALTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

INSIDE

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare has warmly praised the contributions of Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers during his visit to Dhaka.

We join him in paying tribute to the professionalism of the many Bangladeshis who have served in UN peacekeeping operations over the last three decades.

Bangladesh makes the biggest contribution of personnel to the UN’s 16 ongoing peacekeeping missions. Some 9,432 Bangladeshis, including over 1,200 police o� cers currently serve on UN missions, representing around 9% of total deployment.

Their endeavours are an important expression of the deep commitment Bangladesh makes in its foreign policy to supporting friendship and peace among all nations.

Such commitment does not come without a price. The UN lists 124 Bangladeshis among its total of over 3,300 fatalities su� ered during peacekeeping missions since 1948.

The deployment of peace-keepers in areas ravaged by con� ict necessitates a constant need to be sensitive to local populations and to make the best available use of resources.

Bangladeshi peacekeeping personnel have a strong reputation and are continuing to earn praise from many quarters for operating to the highest standards.

It is a testament to the professionalism of Bangladeshi peace-keepers that no complaints have been made against them, while forces from other countries have faced over 43 allegations in the past year.

The deployment of Bangladeshi specialist female police o� cers in regions which have su� ered from the systematic use of sexual violence is only one example of the many challenges faced by our peace-keepers. The UN has rightly applauded the acting chief of army sta� as telling him that as far as Bangladeshi peacekeepers were concerned, they had “not zero tolerance but minus tolerance” on sexual exploitation and abuse.

We hope Bangladesh will continue to co-operate closely with other nations to share its experience and help the UN to enhance the capability and e� ectiveness of its peacekeeping missions.

The commitment and professionalism of Bangladesh’s UN peacekeepers is an example to us all

Peacekeepers make Bangladesh proud

Is there a cure for bad behaviour?

Migration and the mélange of mankindThe sudden movement of half a million refugees and migrants towards the heart of Europe and Germany’s startling decision to embrace hundreds of thousands people from a far o� war-torn land have dominated news cycles in the recent days

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Putting children � rstAlthough the number of stunted children has fallen in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa, Bangladesh has not fared very well in this indicator

A number of people simply prefer Indian doctors to Bangladeshi doctors. The main reason is their bitter experience of being on the receiving end of bad behaviour from doctors here in Bangladesh. The patients cited that doctors never listened to them, and tried to end their sessions as quickly as possible

LONG FORM12DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

n Shafi qur Rahman

The history of mankind is a history of migration. In the 100,000 years since our species, the homo sapiens, walked out of Africa, it

had colonised every land mass in the world except Antarctica by the time civilisations began to appear. And we also facilitated extermination of all other hominid species and countless other � ora and fauna during our journeys to new lands. With all the creature comforts civilisation has provided us, our drive to wander and appetite for destruction have not been abated; in fact they have gone into overdrive.

The sudden movement of half a million refugees and migrants towards the heart of Europe and Germany’s startling decision to embrace hundreds of thousands people from a far o� war-torn land have dominated news cycles in the recent days. While Germany’s embrace of Syrian refugees has drawn lot of praise in international media, it has also generated wide-spread angst and trepidation among the general people of Europe. One only has to skim through comments and feedback from readers in the bastions of liberal media in the West to see the pervasive apprehension about changing demography.

Meanwhile in the USA, self-professed

showman and entertainer Donald Trump has built a seemingly unassailable lead among Re-publican presidential hopefuls by masterfully playing the strings of demographic fear in white America. People in the West know that beyond all periodic and aperiodic political changes, demography is the destiny and de-mography is changing right before their eyes.

While migration from the global south to the west dominate news and analysis in glob-al discourse, ongoing demographic change in Asia and Africa dwarfs the change in the west in magnitude and pace. Not only are there vast political and economic migrations across borders within these continents, but also huge internal migration from rural communi-ties to cities is rapidly transforming demogra-phy and society.

Politics and economics have always been the main drivers of human migration, but the manner in which they historically interact-ed to continuously recreate the mélange of humankind is not yet clearly formulated. Until the mid-twentieth century, historians

favoured a national entity model of mass migration, a whole tribe or ethnic group suddenly moving across vast spaces driven by economic need, political persecution at home, or lust for political conquest of new lands. This was popularly known as the billiard ball model from the way di� erent coloured balls move from one place to anoth-er but remain intact in essence.

The excesses of hyper-nationalism in the two world wars re-oriented post-war study of migration towards a slow accretion model where small groups of vigorous and risk-tak-ing warriors crossed boundaries into new lands and gradually developed new political order by facilitating migration of follow-er population and subsuming indigenous people. This is known as the snowball model; from the way snow� akes can grow into a snowball by steady accumulation.

Current scholarly opinion suggests that both models are valid to some extent, and historical migration patterns lie somewhere in between billiard balls and snowballs.

But the most important consensus is that group identities like nations and political units like nation states are not successors of continuous and unalloyed traditions but current incarnation of historical entities that were being continuously transformed and re-created.

Many historians also say that like nation-alism and nation-states, genocide and ethnic cleansing too are modern phenomena. Until a few hundred years ago, humanity lacked com-munication systems sophisticated enough to enable development of national conscious-ness over a large part of the population.

As a corollary, murderous hatred to a foreign population too was hard to propagate in a people as a whole. Throughout history, violent conquest of new lands usually meant elimination of the elite class as a whole, while leaving the general people largely intact. Moreover, invasion or migration of a foreign people usually meant enthusiastic admixing with the native population.

Until a couple of decades ago, histori-ans had to depend on written records and archaeological � ndings to piece together a historical map of human migration, but the advent of fast and cheap gene mapping tech-nology have now put population genetics at the centre of the study of migration. The spreading out of homo sapiens from Africa to all corners of the globe produced small but distinct genetic di� erences between di� erent populations in separated places. When di� erent groups interacted, through migra-tion, invasion, or di� usion, the interactions produced genetic admixture among the DNA of the o� spring. After the interaction period, inbreeding within population make the ad-

mixed DNA segments smaller with successive generations.

Geneticists studying the size of admixture in current population can not only determine while population groups interacted in history but also the historical timeline of interaction.

The genetic studies of population admixture have revealed information that supports many historical accounts while they undermine still many more. One of the most important theories to be bolstered by population genetics is origin of Indo-European people from the Kurgan culture in the step plains between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Studies show that massive population movement from the Kurgan culture during the early Bronze Age (3000 -2000 BC) changed the demography of lands as far away as in Central and Western Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, and the Indian sub-continent. It also supports that, despite furious protestations from Hindutva nationalists, the so-called Aryan people are not indigenous to India but migrants from a distant land and culture.

Genetic studies have also shown that around 2000 BC, the Indian sub-continent had two major and very distinctly separate people in their genetic makeup, Ancestral South Indians (ASI) and Ancestral North Indians (ANI) or the descendants of Indo-Eu-ropeans. From 2000 BC to until roughly the beginning of the Common Era, there was so much admixing between the ANI and ASI that no population group in India remained free of such mixture. But roughly 1,900 years ago, admixing between populations stopped and no signi� cant interbreeding took place since then. This suggests that the caste system solidi� ed around that time and made exogamy a strict taboo.

Studies have also found that the Middle Eastern and North African populations have signi� cant admixture from sub-Saharan Africa that were inserted between the period from 650 to 1900 AD. This suggests that the rise of Muslim empires in these areas also gave vigorous stimulation to the African slave trade. It is very telling that the lowest amount of African admixture is found among the Druse sect of eastern Mediterranean, a sect that banned slavery and also practiced strict endogamy.

A few analyses of genetic admixture of contemporary Bangladeshis have shown some interesting patterns too. For a people residing in the demographic mélange of South Asia, current Bangladeshi population of the plane lands show remarkable homo-geneity in genetic makeup. The population shows a consistent admixture from Austro Asiatic and Dai people of East and South-east Asia that occurred roughly a thousand years ago and also shows a consistent component of admixture from West Asia.

The admixture patterns bolster the argu-ment of Richard Eaton, that until a thou-sand years ago, East Bengal was a sparsely populated land and the later rapid population increase in the deltaic plains was based on a relative small group of people. l

Migration and the mélange of mankindMigration has always been a central part of life on Earth. This is part one of a two-part long form. Part two will be published tomorrow

The sudden movement of half a million refugees and migrants towards the heart of Europe and Germany’s startling decision to embrace hundreds of thousands people from a far o� war-torn land have dominated news cycles in the recent days

What’s the di� erence between a migrant and a refugee? REUTERS

OPINION 13D

TTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

n Rakib Avi

The global e� ort put behind the millennium development goals has produced arguably the most successful anti-poverty movement

in history. The MDGs has helped lift more than a billion people out of extreme poverty, and enabled more girls to attend school than ever before. They forged new and innovative partnerships, shaped public opinion, and showed the immense value of setting ambi-tious goals.

Yet, like any ambitious set of targets, not all the MDGs were fully met by many countries. Rather the goals worked as a frame-work upon which they could build their development policies and translate the policies into action. Let’s focus on one tiny target of a goal, yet one whose impact on the coming generations is most persisting: undernutrition. Undernutrition, a form of malnutrition, is a de� ciency of calories of one or more essential nutrients. Two of the most used indicators to measure undernutri-tion are underweight and stunting.

The proportion of underweight children under the age of � ve has been cut by almost half between 1990 and 2015, according to global projections. And it is possible that the target has been achieved. Yet over 90 million children under � ve -- one in seven children

worldwide -- remain underweight. Being underweight puts children at greater risk of dying from common infections, increases the frequency and severity of such infections, and contributes to delayed recovery.

Stunting -- de� ned as inadequate height for age -- is a better measure than under-weight of the cumulative e� ects of under-nutrition and infection during the critical 1,000-day period from pregnancy to the child’s second birthday. Stunting is also more common than underweight, a� ecting ap-proximately one in four children under � ve, or 161 million children worldwide in 2013. This chronic form of undernutrition puts these children at risk of diminished cognitive and physical development.

Although the number of stunted children has fallen in all regions, except sub-Saharan Africa, Bangladesh has not fared very well in this indicator.

According to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011, 41% children were stunted and 36% were found underweight. This has led many organisations to start nutrition-related projects in this country. One such example of that is the Alive & Thrive (A&T) initiative, which was implemented by BRAC and other partners in Bangladesh, with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of Canada and Ireland.

The model focused on a simple but pow-erful combination of advocacy, interpersonal communication and community mobilisa-tion, mass communication, and strategic use of data to achieve three targets: Exclusive breast-feeding, complementary feeding at the right time, and handwashing.

The project was immensely successful in Bangladesh. We saw the highest rate of exclusive breast-feeding, compared to the other two countries it ran in -- Vietnam and Ethiopia -- with 88% in the project areas. For complementary feeding -- where the standard is to feed babies who are aged six-to-23 months from four or more food groups -- Bangladesh doubled the percentage of children for diverse diet. The project in its � ve-year runtime reached around 16 million mothers of children with two years of age in all three countries.

The A&T project was a great example of

reaching scale for nutrition with innovative program delivery. The numbers speak for themselves, and so do the healthy babies who have a better shot at leading a healthier life. Findings from the project show that one of the key components of success of A&T in Bangladesh was the cadre of frontline com-munity health workers that BRAC mobilised to visit every household in those areas.

These pushtikormis, or nutrition workers, were instrumental in delivering messages on infant and young child feeding practices to mothers, right on their doorsteps. While we celebrate our successes for MDGs and analyse our failures, the next set of global targets, the sustainable development goals (SDG) have already been � nalised. It plots yet another ambitious set of targets, with one of them be-ing ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030, including meeting the targets for stunting and wasting by 2025.

It is not going to be an easy road, and running nutrition programs at scale is just one piece of the puzzle. Aligning itself with the next set of international goals, BRAC has made it one of its priority areas, like many other like-minded organisations. The end result, however, is far from reach, and we indeed need stronger support from everyone.

Rakib Avi is working as manager, communications at BRAC.

Putting children � rstThe MDGs have lifted over a billion people out of poverty, but much remains to be done regarding children’s nutrition

Although the number of stunted children has fallen in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa, Bangladesh has not fared very well in this indicator

It is a shame that so many children still have to go hungry BIGSTOCK

OPINION14DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

n Mushfi que Wadud

One of my relatives, who had gone there to be treated for his heart ail-ments, recently returned from In-dia. I went to see him the other day,

and when I asked him how he was doing, he replied: “Excellent! They (the Indian doctors) are very skilled. I felt half of my ailments going away just to be speaking to one of the doctors in India.”

“But things are just the opposite in Bang-ladesh. When I go to see a Bangladeshi doc-tor, I feel even more ill. I don’t know why.” In the 10 minutes of my meeting with him, he mostly explained why Indian doctors were so good. When I was about leave his place, he asked me not to go to see any Bangladeshi doctors. “Even if it is a little bit of a hassle to go to India to see a doctor, it is worth accept-ing for the long-term bene� ts,” he advised.

On my way back home, I thought a lot about his words on Bangladeshi doctors. He is not the only person who holds such opinions. In fact, I have witnessed similar sentiments being shared by many others. A good number of them don’t have any faith in our doctors. While many lower-middle class and middle-income groups can go to India for treatment, most from our higher income groups prefer going to Singapore, Thailand, and other countries over Bangladesh for their treatment.

It is true that these countries have better medical facilities than ours, but, sometimes, Bangladeshi people go to see doctors in other countries for relatively insigni� cant medical conditions, which can easily be treated here in Bangladesh. According to my personal survey, better medical facilities are not always the sole reason for most people’s preference of travelling to other countries for their treatment. I have spoken to a number of people who simply prefer Indian doctors to Bangladeshi doctors.

The main reason, according to my sur-veyed patients, is their bitter experience of being on the receiving end of bad behav-iour from doctors here in Bangladesh. The patients cited that doctors never listened to them, and tried to end their sessions as quickly as possible. Some of them even told me that doctors often behaved in such a bad manner that it might have appeared, to an outside observer, that patients were their personal service sta� , and as though they had committed a crime by my being ill in the � rst place.

According to the patients, it is not only the government hospital’s doctors who behave like this, but often doctors in private hospi-tals as well.

From my own experiences, I am inclined to agree. I have found some of them to be ex-tremely rude. Here is a recent experience of mine with an eye doctor: He charges Tk800 for his two-to-three minute appointment; I took my father to see him. The doctor was at least an hour late for the appointment, as he normally sees three patients at a time.

He has his team of assistants jot down details from his patients. He only takes one

look at the papers and starts to write down a prescription. When any patient asks the doctor about his or her problems, the doctor answers, bad manners and all (bear in mind that one of the patients was in his 80s): “You either understand nothing or understand too much. You don’t have to understand everything -- just listen to me,” his face giving o� an expression of severe annoyance and anger.

Another patient, a woman, asked him something about her son, who was blind. The doctor replied: “Did you never receive any form of education? You seem to understand nothing.” I was astonished to hear him say

things like that. The woman seemed educat-ed enough, but said nothing to the doctor in return. This is a doctor who charges Tk800 for a few minutes, but he behaves as if he was doing the patients a favour by charging so much.

I experienced the sad rudeness of Bang-ladeshi doctors in another incident, when my younger sister was hospitalised after she survived a major accident. She was rushed to an orthopaedic hospital here in Dhaka. After her operation, when she was crying out in pain, one of the doctors scolded her.

She was still under anaesthesia. I was an-gry at this behaviour, and, upon protesting,

the doctor refused to treat her. On that day, I understood how cruel and inhumane our doctors can be -- we had to get someone else to treat my sister.

I know that many people in Bangladesh can share tales of similar experiences -- I have heard many such stories from my own friends and colleagues. Why doctors in Bang-ladesh are so rude is a matter that should be probed into. One of the reasons could be our very low number of doctors in general.

Due to this shortage, doctors often feel like they can do no wrong, blatantly taking advantage of their position. Another reason might be that our doctors are simply stressed out -- stress can certainly a� ect one’s behaviour.

Whatever the reason, such behaviour is certainly a� ecting our economy in an indirect way. A good number of patients who are going to neighbouring countries for their treatment might stop doing so if our doctors just learned to behave.

I think a three-credit course in manners for our medical students could help us save a lot of money in that regard. The Health Min-istry should seriously consider something like that. l

Mush� que Wadud is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

Is there a cure for bad behaviour?The toxic demeanour of many Bangladeshi doctors is a disease unto itself

A number of people simply prefer Indian doctors to Bangladeshi doctors. The main reason is their bitter experience of being on the receiving end of bad behaviour from doctors here in Bangladesh. The patients cited that doctors never listened to them, and tried to end their sessions as quickly as possible

Does your doctor have good manners? BIGSTOCK

15D

TBusiness THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Income Tax Fair draws huge crowd on 1st day

17Stocks inch down with choppy trading

19PM’s intervention sought to save poultry sector

16Labour law provisions 0.03% of export value for workers’ welfare fund

20

STATE OF CLONING THREAT In 2005, such crime � rst came to light in Delhi Police arrested a person with 20 cellphones VIP subscribers also a� ected Innocent citizens end up with unexplained monthly phone billsGrameenphone proposed some solutions to BTRC Such crimes increased also in line with the spread of internetThere is no technical mechanism to control this completely

Funding crucial to implement SDGsn Tribune Report

Funding is crucial to the implementation of the post-20015 development agenda or sus-tainable development goals (SDGs) with a 15-year (2016-2030) implementation period, says millennium development goals (MDGs) progress report 2015 of Bangladesh released yesterday.

The world is expected to agree upon a new global sustainable development framework between 25 and 27 September 2015 during the current United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

The agreed SDGs will succeed MDGs, forged in the year 2000, and will aim to erad-icate hunger and extreme poverty, reduce in-equality within and between states, achieve gender equality, improve water management and energy and take urgent action to combat climate change.

“Greater funding and innovation are cru-cial to the implementation of the post-2015

development agenda,” said the report. As the post-2015 development agenda is

being prepared for launching, its breadth and ambition need to be matched by adequate funding and renewed e� orts to mobilise in-novation, science and technology for sustain-able development, it said.

It is important to pay greater attention to the potential of O� cial Development Assis-tance (ODA) to attract other

� nancial � ows, both by blending it with non-concessional public � nance and by lever-aging private � nance and investments, it said.

The outcome document of the UN Summit for the adoption of the post-2015 develop-ment agenda titled “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Global Action,” contains � ve sections, including the 17 SDGs and 169 targets. Once adopted in the current UNGA, the new goals and targets of the SDGs will come into e� ect on 1 January, 2016.

On the other hand, 189 countries (there are 193 currently) adopted the MDGs having eight goals, 21 targets and 60 indicators in 2000 to bring the people of lagging countries into mainstream development by 2015.

Before ending the terminal year 2015, Bangladesh has already made remarkable progresses in many areas like poverty allevi-ation, ensuring food security, primary school enrollment, gender parity in primary and sec-ondary level education, lowering the infant and under-� ve mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, improving immunisation coverage and reducing the in-cidence of communicable dis-eases, according to the report.

However, income disparity reduction, cutting poverty in remote areas and char lands, access to safe water for all and the low economic participa-tion of women still pose a big challenge for Bangladesh de-spite signi� cant achievements in several goals and targets set in MDGs.

According to the study, Bangladesh needed foreign

assistance of $5 billion and $3 billion per year under the baseline and high growth scenarios respectively. The GED publication of “MDG Financing Strategy for Bangladesh” estimated that $78.2 billion was required for attaining all the MDGs in Bangladesh during 2011-15.

The MDG Progress Report 2015 reveals that from 1990-91 to 2013-14, Bangladesh, on an average, received $1.74 billion ODA per year, which has been far short of the required $3 billion per year.

An Intergovernmental Committee of Ex-perts on Sustainable Development Financing comprising 30 experts, nominated by regional groups recommended that public � nance and aid would be central to support the imple-mentation of the SDGs.

It also insisted that money generated from the private sector, through tax reforms, and through a crackdown on illicit � nancial � ows and corruption was also vital. l

Mobile phone users face cloning threatsn Ishtiaq Husain

Millions of mobile phone users in Bangla-desh face increasing threats of spoo� ng, clon-ing and hacking of their information.

Based on some complaints from both subscribers and mobile phone operators, the regulator plans to take safety measures against such crimes related to mobile phone technology. Besides, BTRC will launch a discussion today to � nd ways to protect the subscribers.

A BTRC o� cial said common users along with some high ranking people in the govern-ment were becoming the victims of mobile phone crimes.

Cloning of mobile phones is done by copy-ing phones or subscribers’ information from one to another device for purposes of obtain-ing free calls, using di� erent services, for se-cret information and data.

Today millions of mobile phones users, be it Global System for Mobile (GSM) com-munication or Code Division Multiple Access

(CDMA), run the risk of having their phones cloned. And the worst part is that there isn’t much that you can do to prevent this.

However, all these incidents have been in-itiated from outside the country and there is no technical mechanism here to control this fully.

Grameenphone says it has come up with solutions to the problem.

“We have started working with BTRC on

this issue. We are also going to participate in a meeting on Thursday (today),” Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate o� cer of Grameen-phone, told Dhaka Tribune.

Bangladesh has a subscriber base of 128.7m with 50m of them using internet. With spread of internet use on mobile phones, the crimes have increased.

Such crimes � rst came to light in January, 2005 when the Delhi police arrested a man with 20 mobile phones, a laptop, a SIM scan-ner, and a writer. The accused was running an exchange business illegally wherein he cloned CDMA-based mobile phones. He used soft-ware for the cloning and provided cheap in-ternational calls to Indian immigrants in West Asia. A similar racket was found in Mumbai and four mobile dealers were arrested.

Mobile phones have become a major part of people’s daily life. Bangladesh’s mobile phone market has grown rapidly in the last few years on the back of falling phone tari� s and handset prices, making it one of the fast-est growing markets globally.

On the other hand, the number of mobile phone subscribers is exceeding that of � xed-line users.

The “cloning” occurs when the account number of a victim telephone user is stolen and reprogrammed into another mobile tele-phone. Each mobile phone has a unique pair of identifying numbers: the electronic serial number (ESN) and the mobile identi� cation number (MIN).

The ESN/MIN pair can be cloned in a num-ber of ways without the knowledge of the car-rier or subscriber through the use of electron-ic scanning devices.

After the ESN/MIN pair is captured, the cloner reprogrammes or alters the microchip of any wireless phone to create a clone of the wireless phone from which the ESN/MIN pair was stolen. The entire programming process takes 10-15 minutes per phone. Any call made with cloned phone are billed to and traced to a legitimate phone account. Innocent citizens end up with unexplained monthly phone bills. l

Onion prices remain high despite OMSn Asif Showkat Kallol

Consumers rushed to the TCB lorries selling onions at a lower price than the regular mar-ket as the demand rose high days before Eid-ul-Azha when the Muslims sacri� ce animals.

But the government’s open market sale programme has so far failed to cast any im-pact on the regular market which saw sever-al jumps in the vegetable’s prices after India stopped export.

The onion was retailed at Tk80 per kg in the capital yesterday. The OMS price is Tk50 per kg and the purchase limit is 2kg per per-son.

“Trucks (of onions) became empty in just one and a half hours during the last two days of OMS programme as the people thronged to grab a share of low-priced onions before Eid-ul-Azha,” Hanif Mamun, an o� cial at the Bangladesh Secretariat, told Dhaka Tribune.

On August 23, the Indian government hiked the minimum export price of the vege-table to $700 per metric ton, up from $425 per metric ton to check rising onion prices.

Under the OMS programme, TCB also sells sugar at Tk37 per kg and soybean oil at Tk89 per litre through 173 lorries across the coun-try.

A customer will be allowed to buy 4 kg sug-ar, 2 kg onion and 10 litres of soybean oil.

The lorries are stationed at 24 points in the capital, 10 in Chittagong, � ve each in other divisional headquarters and two each in the district headquarters. l

BUSINESS16DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

Edison Group has recently donated over 1250 pieces of white canes to National Society of the Blind and Partially Sighted (NSBP). The group’s managing director, Md Jakaria Shahid handed over canes to the president of NSBP, LN Main Uddin Chowdhury

Marcel has recently opened an exclusive showroom named M/S Shihab Electronics at Khalishpur in Khulna. The company’s brand ambassador and � lm actor, Amin Khan inaugurated the showroom

Lotto has recently opened its 7th � agship outlet in Sylhet. Italian ambassador to Bangladesh, Mario Palma inaugurated the outlet

Mashrur Are� n has recently been appointed as additional managing director of City Bank Limited. Are� n joined City Bank in 2007 as head of retail banking. He holds an MA degree from Dhaka University and an MBA from Victoria University in Australia. Are� n started his career as a management trainee with erstwhile ANZ Grindlays Bank in 1995

PM’s intervention sought to save poultry sectorn Tribune Report

Leaders of poultry � rms have urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to continue tax ex-emption for the sector at least for another 10 years to keep the prices of eggs and chicken adorable for the commoners.

At a meeting in the city’s Niketan area, Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee (BPICC), an apex body of seven poultry associations, they made the call as expressed deep concern over the imposition of taxes and duties.

They also sought policy support from the � nance minister to save the poultry industry and ensure adequate supply.

“We tried to draw attention of the policy-makers, but failed to make them understand the negative consequences of sudden with-drawal of tax exemption,” said Moshiur Rah-man, convener of BPICC and president of Feed Industries Association Bangladesh (FIAB).

Now, it is time for the Prime Minister’s direct intervention to save the industry, said Rahman. The income tax on commercial poultry farming and hatchery was zero, but now the highest ceiling is 10%; income tax on poultry feed was 3% but now it is up to 10%, he added.

The production cost of egg, chicken meat, poultry feed and day-old-chicks went up due to withdrawal of tax exemption facilities and for imposing income tax, import and customs duties and Advanced Income Tax (AIT) on raw materials import, the leaders said.

As a result, the retail market has got a slight

increase of egg price recently. As the price of beef, mutton and � sh has been remaining high, consumers’ dependency got a shock with the poultry price hike, they said.

They are also apprehending a negative im-pact and a tendency among general mass to reduce poultry and meat consumption, which will hamper the demand and supply chain, and the future investment in poultry sector.

They said many farms had already been closed while thousands of farms were waiting

to shut down as they were su� ering losses due to high production costs.

If the situation continues, price of eggs and chickens might go up further after Eid-ul-Ajha, poultry leaders apprehended.

“We were not at all ready for such taxes and duties, instead we were waiting for the continuation of tax exemption,” said Fazle Rahim Khan Shahriar, president of the Breed-ers’ Association of Bangladesh (BAB).

The poultry industry of Bangladesh could

achieve a tremendous growth with support from the government. To set-up a reliable base, the industry demanded tax exemption at least for another 10 years up to 2025, he said.

“When we are trying to keep control over the production cost to ensure supply of qual-ity eggs and chickens at an a� ordable price, the government took an unfriendly decision which caused negative impact on our sincere e� orts, said Shamsul Are� n Khaled Anjon, President, the World’s Poultry Science Asso-ciation-Bangladesh Branch (WPSA-BB).

The government could impose taxes and duties gradually so that the sector could achieve a robust growth as the poultry entre-preneurs re-invested their pro� ts, said Anjon.

The government should pay more attention to increase local production of maize and soy-bean, increase the number of Soymeal process-ing plants and also promote poultry processing and further processing, instead of creating ex-tra burden on production cost, said Anjon.

The industry su� ered losses of around Tk5,500 crore from 2007 to 2011 due to Avian In� uenza (AI) outbreak. But it is unfortunate-ly for the sector that government has imposed 4% VAT and 5% AIT on the life saving vaccine import, said Nazrul Islam, secretary, Animal Health Companies Association of Bangladesh (AHCAB).

“Since the last two years, the industry is almost free from AI virus because of some timely initiatives of the government including issuance of permission for using AI vaccine, he added. l

BUSINESS 17D

TTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Income Tax Fair draws huge crowd on 1st dayn Tribune Report

A weeklong National Income Tax Fair 2015 kicked o� across the country yesterday amidst mad rush of the taxpayers and service seekers from the one-stop services.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is organising the countrywide fair for the sixth consecutive years to provide tax-related as-sistance and motivating people to contribute to the national exchequer.

The tax fair o� ers registration of Electronic Taxpayers Identi� cation Number, pay tax, � le returns and encourage prospective taxpayers to get involved with the country’s taxation system.

On the opening day, the NBR bagged over Tk153 crore revenue through collection of 14,998 income tax returns across the country while a total of 57,047 people received di� er-ent services from the fair.

Besides, a total of 2,705 people registered themselves with e-TIN while 827 taxpayers re-registered with e-TIN replacing their old 10 digits TIN.

Launching the central programme at a cere-mony held at O� cers’ Club in the capital, Indus-tries Minister Amir Hossain Amu urged all to pay their due taxes for the sake of ensuring country’s development and welfare of the citizens.

“It’s better to take big projects like Padma Bridge with own sources. If we got the fund from the World Bank, 75% of the fund had to spend in the name of consultancy and only 20 to 25% fund could be used for the implemen-tation of the projects.”

Expressing his utter dissatisfaction over the lower income tax rate in Bangladesh, the min-ister said, “The number of taxpayers is very still very low in terms of the total population com-paring to any other countries in the region.”

“If the country’s solvent people pay their-

due taxes spontaneously, Bangladesh would soon become a middle-income country even before 2021 and a developed one before 2014,” he added.

The fair is being simultaneously held at all the seven divisional headquarters for seven days while four days in the 57 district head-quarters. Among them, the fair was kicked o� in 13 district headquarters yesterday.

The fair will also be held in 86 upazilas under 49 districts to make people more aware about the signi� cances and bene� ts of paying taxes.

Among them, 29 upazilas will observe it for two days while 57 upazilas will observe mo-bile fair for a day in their convenience sched-ule in the week. Among them, a two-day fair began yesterday in six upazila’s.

During a visit to the tax fair at O� cers Club premises in the capital, it was found that tax-payers of di� erent ages and categories were inquiring about the services while some oth-ers taking assistance from the taxmen.

As the o� cial deadline for submission of income tax return will end on September 30, taxpayers are gathering at the fair venues to � le their returns.

Tax o� cials were seen busy providing tax-related facilities in a client friendly man-ner to the service seekers.

To facilitate tax-related transactions and help the visitors, E-TIN registration booths, E-payment booths, income tax return � ling booths, help and inquiry desks, emergency health booths, form distribution booths, me-

dia booth etc were set up at the fair premises in Dhaka.

Along with the regular activities, the fair also have booths of value-added tax and cus-toms wings of the NBR and also booth of De-partment of National Savings.

Separate booths for women, disabled peo-ple and senior citizens are set up in the fair. Sonali Bank and Janata Bank set up booths at the venue to facilitate people making � nan-cial transactions in the fair. The fair is open for the visitors from 10am to 5pm.The NBR has been organising the national tax fair since 2010 to develop a tax paying culture among the people.

In Chittagong, the weeklong income tax fair-2015 started yesterday (Wednesday) with new and innovative services for attracting tax-payers to pay taxes. The fair is going on at the ground adjoining of Chittagong Government O� ces Building-2 at Agrabad area in the port city. Chittagong City Corporation Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin inaugurated the fair as chief guest.

The fair’s Organising Committee Convener Kazi Emdadul Haque, also the commissioner of Chittagong Taxation Region (Appeal) and the four-taxation region’s commissioners-Md Dabir Uddin, Apurbo Kanti Das, Md Nazrul Is-lam and Pradyut Kumar Sarkar attended the ceremony. The fair remains open for the visi-tors from 10:00am to 6:00pm every day.

Besides, a daylong mobile tax fair will be held at Chittagong’s Anwara, Patiya, Lohaga-ra, Chandanaish, Raozan, Hathazari, Sitakun-da, Boalkhali and Satkania upazilas and Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf upazila while Cox’s Bazar Chokoria upazila gets a two-day fair under the supervision of Chittagong Income Taxa-tion Department. A total 2,80,217 taxpayers are in Chittagong under the four regions, said income tax o� cials. l

NBR progresses fast to implement VAT Online projectn Tribune Report

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is pro-gressing fast in implementing automation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) wing as it signed an agreement with a Vietnamese � rm to im-plement the Integrated VAT Administration System (IVAS) under the VAT online project.

The � rm named FPT Information System got the contract to purchase IVAS software and also the hardware required for setting up networking of all o� ces to connect the overall VAT administration under a single platform.

VAT Online Project Director M Rezaul Hasan signed the contract on behalf of the NBR while FPT Information System Chief Ex-ecutive O� cer Tran Phong Lam, also director of Public Finance of the company, signed the agreement on his company’s behalf.

Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor An-nisul Haque, Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon and NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman were present during the signing ceremony.

The parliament in 2012 passed the Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act to automate the overall VAT administration to increase the revenue collection. Following the initiative, the taxes authorities in 2013

undertake VAT Online Project to ensure a cli-ent-friendly and a service-oriented automat-ed system.

Once implemented, the system will con-nect 287 VAT circle o� ces, 84 divisional of-� ces, 12 commissionerates, two directorates, three appeal commissionerates and a tribunal in a single platform.

It will also integrate with the Bangladesh Bank, the O� ce of the Comptroller and Audi-tor General and the income tax department of NBR with it.

The NBR is scheduled to start online VAT reg-istration from July 1, 2016 and is expected that the all procedures under new VAT act will come online with implementation of the system.

The new Value-Added Tax and Supplemen-tary Duty Act-2012 will have no provisions for package VAT or truncated value-based VAT system. With the introduction of the law, all level of business has to pay a unique and a single VAT rate at 15%.

Currently, only 60,000 business � rms sub-mit their VAT returns although the number of eligible companies is at least 3-6 lakh, accord-ing to NBR.

Once automated, the system will substan-tially increase government revenue through identifying non-compliant taxpayers. l

Siddiqur Rahman becomes BGMEA Presidentn Tribune Report

Siddiqur Rahman has been elected as the President of Bangladesh Garment Manufac-turers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) for the next two years.

Siddiqur Rahman, Chairman of Sterling Group also former vice president of BGMEA was elected from Sammilito Parishad Panel.

Besides, Moinuddin Ahmed of MN Knit-wear was elected as First Vice President while Faruque Hassan of Giant Apparels as Senior Vice President and SM Mannan Kochi of Seha Designs Limited Second Vice President.

Mohammad Nasir of Evergreen Sweater was elected Vice President (Finance) while Ferdous Parves Bivon, Bando Fashion Limit-ed, Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu of Rising Ap-parels, Md Ferdous of Farmin Fashion Design-ing Limited were elected as Vice President.

The newly elected board will take the re-sponsibility from the existing board lead by President Md Atiqul Islam on September 22.

A total of 35 candidates were declared as director by the BGMEA election commission as there were not more applicants than the post.

In an alleged consensus, both the two pan-

els– Sammilito Parishad and Forum-submit-ted 38 nomination papers against 35 posts of directors, leaving a little chance for any con-test in the election. Later on, three candidates withdrew their nomination papers. l

The Income Tax Fair 2015 kicks o� at O� cers’ Club in the city yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Md Siddiqur Rahman

BUSINESS18DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 460.18 10.77 17.96 6.40 478.15 10.50NBFI 97.38 2.28 6.46 2.30 103.84 2.28Investment 54.49 1.27 4.31 1.54 58.80 1.29Engineering 982.03 22.98 58.62 20.89 1040.65 22.85Food & Allied 162.33 3.80 9.26 3.30 171.59 3.77Fuel & Power 470.49 11.01 38.37 13.67 508.86 11.17Jute 5.04 0.12 0.00 5.04 0.11Textile 431.90 10.10 13.91 4.96 445.81 9.79Pharma & Chemical 594.06 13.90 39.94 14.24 634.00 13.92Paper & Packaging 20.91 0.49 1.12 0.40 22.03 0.48Service 73.92 1.73 6.27 2.24 80.19 1.76Leather 128.19 3.00 3.99 1.42 132.18 2.90Ceramic 51.75 1.21 3.59 1.28 55.34 1.22Cement 131.25 3.07 12.77 4.55 144.02 3.16Information Technology 21.34 0.50 3.28 1.17 24.62 0.54General Insurance 23.56 0.55 0.91 0.32 24.47 0.54Life Insurance 36.22 0.85 1.05 0.38 37.27 0.82Telecom 65.42 1.53 8.18 2.92 73.60 1.62Travel & Leisure 258.20 6.04 23.34 8.32 281.54 6.18Miscellaneous 205.46 4.81 27.20 9.70 232.67 5.11Debenture 0.03 0.00 0.02 0.01 0.05 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

News, analysis and recent disclosuresUPGDCL: The Company has informed that the Board of Di-rectors of the Company has de-cided the following: (I) Subject to compliance with prescribed procedure under the Companies Act, 1994 amalgamation of the sister concerns of the Company, namely, United Ashuganj Power Limited and Shajahanullah Pow-er Generation Company Limited (�the Transferor Companies”), with the Company has been approved. This amalgamation of the Transferor Companies with the Company will boost the Company to grow its business, have e� cient cost control and better utilize its assets and thereby maximizing pro� ts (II) To approve the above matters by the Hon’ble High Court Division, an application will be � led in due course under section 228 and 229 of the Companies Act, 1994 and an Extra Ordinary General Meeting will be held un-der the direction of the Hon’ble Court. Furthermore, with reference to the letter dated 23 June 2015 having reference no UPGD/BOD/2015 on the above matter, UPGDCL has ninety (90) days to take all necessary steps to achieve successful acquisition of the Transferor Companies. As such, we wish to inform you that within ninety (90) days the Company has been able to � nish valuation of the Transferor Companies through KPMG and a scheme for acquisition has been prepared and approved by the Company’s Board at the Board Meeting dated 15 September, 2015.BEACHHATCH: As per Regu-

lation 19(1) of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (Listing) Regulations, 2015, the Company has further informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on September 21, 2015 at 3:00 PM to consider, among others, audited � nancial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2014.Dividend/AGMMATINSPINN: 27% cash, AGM: 27.10.2015, Record date: 08.10.2015.BSCCL: 10% stock, AGM: 18.10.2015, Record Date: 28.09.2015.MODERNDYE: 10% cash, AGM: 15.10.2015, Record Date: 23.09.2015.GPHISPAT: 17% cash, AGM: 08.11.2015, Record date: 20.09.2015.SAIHAMCOT: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 28.10.2015, Record date: 17.09.2015. BBS: 20% stock, EGM & AGM: 15.10.2015, Record date for EGM & AGM: 20.09.2015.APEXFOODS: 20% cash, AGM: 30.09.2015, Record date: 13.09.2015. APEXTANRY: 45% cash, AGM: 04.10.2015, Record date: 09.09.2015. BERGERPBL: 100% interim cash dividend. Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 20.08.2015.PRAGATILIF: 17% cash and 5% stock dividend AGM: 29.09.2015,. Record Date: 20.08.2015.SHASHADNIM: 10% interim cash dividend for 2015, Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 20.08.2015.

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Quasem Drycells -A 9.73 9.15 77.04 77.80 77.90 74.10 1.960 1.81 42.68th ICB M F-A 6.92 6.92 69.50 69.50 69.50 69.50 0.000 17.26 4.0Aziz PipesZ 6.84 6.84 25.00 25.00 25.00 25.00 0.000 -2.12 -vePrimeFin. 1st MF-A 6.54 3.93 11.12 11.40 11.40 11.00 0.301 0.52 21.4Bangladesh Lamps -A 5.94 5.42 214.00 214.00 217.00 199.00 0.026 4.32 49.5MutualTrust Bank-A 5.88 4.76 17.81 18.00 18.00 17.00 0.359 2.70 6.6PragatiLife Insu. -Z 4.73 4.77 108.50 108.50 108.50 108.50 0.005 2.38 45.6Orion Infusions -A 4.06 2.96 60.95 61.50 62.10 60.10 2.879 1.73 35.2In Tech Online -A 3.88 3.39 13.43 13.40 14.00 12.90 1.292 -0.68 -veIslami Bank BD - A 3.85 3.53 29.35 29.70 29.90 28.60 6.255 4.22 7.0

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Quasem Drycells -A 9.27 9.24 76.64 77.80 78.20 73.00 132.884 1.81 42.3PrimeFin. 1st MF-A 5.66 4.22 11.12 11.20 11.40 10.50 3.870 0.52 21.4Monno Sta� lers -A 5.31 4.40 302.32 305.40 308.00 294.80 1.693 0.70 431.9The Ibn SinaA 4.90 3.42 163.98 164.90 169.00 159.00 73.098 4.82 34.0ICB Islamic Bank-Z 4.35 3.90 4.79 4.80 4.90 4.70 4.489 -0.28 -veNational Tubes -A 4.13 0.80 135.26 136.10 137.60 130.00 40.229 -1.36 -veOrion Infusions -A 4.05 3.01 61.33 61.70 62.30 59.70 36.096 1.73 35.5Beach Hatchery -A 3.86 3.98 21.71 21.50 22.50 21.00 32.910 1.29 16.8Islami Bank BD - A 3.46 3.71 29.61 29.90 30.10 28.50 192.506 4.22 7.0MutualTrust Bank-A 3.43 2.76 17.86 18.10 18.50 17.40 12.218 2.70 6.6

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Samata LeatheR -Z -9.06 -6.39 28.12 28.10 29.90 28.00 0.015 -0.05 -veEastland Insur -A -7.92 -7.92 22.10 22.10 22.10 22.10 0.003 2.44 9.1EBL NRB M.F.-A -6.52 -6.48 4.33 4.30 4.90 4.30 0.001 0.41 10.6BD Fixed Income MF-A -6.25 -6.25 7.50 7.50 7.50 7.50 0.005 0.83 9.0MeghnaCement -A -5.85 -5.83 117.50 117.50 117.50 117.50 0.022 7.30 16.1Apex Tannery -A -4.93 -4.60 135.06 133.00 137.60 132.00 2.239 6.25 21.6I P D C -A -4.43 -0.89 20.12 19.40 20.50 19.20 0.014 1.32 15.2Monno Ceramic -B -3.92 -3.45 46.71 46.60 48.00 46.00 0.145 0.16 291.9Legacy Footwear -A -3.87 -2.64 32.76 32.30 34.00 32.00 1.727 0.20 163.8Asia Insur. Ltd.-A -3.45 -3.10 14.05 14.00 14.10 14.00 0.030 1.20 11.7

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Meghna Con. Milk -B -6.82 -5.25 8.31 8.20 8.70 8.10 0.454 -4.49 -veModern Dyeing -Z -6.03 -6.91 164.39 163.50 173.30 160.00 1.578 1.16 141.7BD. Autocars -Z -5.03 -7.68 35.36 35.90 37.60 34.20 1.152 0.19 186.1Monno Ceramic -B -4.55 -1.50 46.72 46.10 49.00 45.00 7.213 0.16 292.0Progressive Life-A -4.06 -4.21 61.50 61.50 61.50 61.50 0.006 2.30 26.7Legacy Footwear -A -3.88 -2.48 32.66 32.20 33.90 32.00 10.676 0.20 163.3Apex Tannery -A -3.67 -4.04 135.77 133.70 140.00 133.00 27.439 6.25 21.7Aman Feed-N -3.51 0.22 66.86 66.00 69.70 64.90 88.661 3.60 18.6Standard Ceramic -A -3.35 -0.42 49.54 49.00 51.00 48.50 2.158 0.49 101.1AramitCementA -3.17 -1.84 43.73 42.80 45.60 42.40 14.915 0.90 48.6

DSE key features September 16, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

4,274.16

Turnover (Volume)

125,905,050

Number of Contract

101,436

Traded Issues 321

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

103

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

212

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,695.57

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.67

CSE key features September 16, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

280.57

Turnover (Volume)

9,145,648

Number of Contract

13,420

Traded Issues 246

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

84

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

154

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

8

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,589.65

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.39

BUSINESS 19D

TTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Stocks inch down with choppy tradingn Tribune Report

Stocks inched down amid choppy trading on pro� t booking yesterday after a three-day modest rise.

The market witnessed see-saw trading throughout the session as investors be-came cautious ahead of ap-proaching Eid ul-Azha.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange benchmark index DSEX was marginally down about 5 points or 0.1% to 4,796.

The Shariah index DSES witnessed a fractional rise of 0.5 points to 1,179. The blue chip comprising index DS30 fell over 1 point to 1,836. The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX edged over 5 points to 8,939.

All the large cap sectors closed in red on pro� t-book-ing, except banks that ad-vanced marginally.

Engineering sector shined gaining more than 1%, driv-en by BSRM Steel and BSRM that surged 3.4% and 0.3% respectively and captured 6.7% of the total turnover.

Interestingly, comple-mentary industry cement was the day’s worst loser dropping over 1.4% after a rise in previous two sessions.

P h a r m a c e u t i c a l s , non-banking � nancial insti-tutions, power and food & allied, textile and telecom-munication closed slightly

lower. State-owned Power Grid

Company declined 7.7%, snapping its highest gaining streak over the last two ses-sions.

Trading activities im-proved a bit with DSE turno-ver standing at Tk427 crore, up 1.7% over the previous session’s value.

Lanka Bangla Securities said the early weakness was due to pro� t booking with traders cashing in on stocks ahead of vacation for Eid ul-Azha.

“Although investors seemed reluctant to make signi� cant moves as they were watching � rst quarter economic data for FY’15.”

IDLC Investments said the market again failed to hold ground after reaching a level of 4,800 points in four day’s gaining streak, re� ect-ing investors’ lack of any serious conviction on the overall market.

In scrips level, most of the scrips that brought mar-ket up in recent days faced correction, which might be a part of consolidation, due to some investors’ liquidation ahead of Eid ul-Azha, it said.

United Airways topped the liquidity chart with turn-over worth Tk24.4 crore, removing Beximco Pharma-ceuticals that occupied the top turnover position in pre-vious two sessions. l

Market again failed to hold ground after reaching a level of 4,800 points in four day’s gaining streak, re� ecting investors’ lack of any serious conviction on the overall market

ANALYST

Daily capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 12684.57090 (-) 0.10% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1836.24083 (-) 0.08% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14687.74030 (-) 0.05% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12684.57090 (+) 0.10% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 8939.22330 (-) 0.06% ▼

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change % ClosingY DHIGH DLOW AvgPrice

UNITED AIR-A 2,082,767 22.73 8.10 10.70 -0.93 10.80 11.10 10.70 10.91United Power-A 132,316 19.31 6.88 144.40 1.05 142.90 148.00 144.10 145.94Aman Feed-N 200,058 13.38 4.77 66.00 -3.23 68.20 69.90 64.90 66.90BSRM Ltd. -A 93,037 12.32 4.39 131.10 0.46 130.50 135.00 129.20 132.39Beximco Pharma -A 174,149 12.21 4.35 70.20 -0.14 70.30 70.50 69.50 70.11Olympic Accessories -N 169,747 9.02 3.21 53.30 1.91 52.30 53.80 52.00 53.12BSRM Steels-A 91,904 8.03 2.86 87.60 3.18 84.90 89.00 84.70 87.43LafargeS Cement-A 73,373 7.91 2.82 107.40 -2.10 109.70 109.50 107.00 107.84Square Pharma -A 30,102 7.59 2.70 252.00 0.44 250.90 252.20 249.70 252.00BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 245,634 7.41 2.64 30.20 -0.98 30.50 30.50 30.00 30.16Islami Bank BD - A 213,148 6.26 2.23 29.70 3.85 28.60 29.90 28.60 29.35BD Submarine Cable-A 51,529 6.15 2.19 120.30 2.30 117.60 121.30 117.50 119.44WesternMarine -A 131,068 5.56 1.98 42.60 2.65 41.50 42.90 41.60 42.45Ifad Autos -N 42,095 4.47 1.59 106.80 2.99 103.70 107.10 103.00 106.14FAR Chemical-A 84,730 4.36 1.55 51.80 1.37 51.10 52.60 50.40 51.44SAIF Powertec-A 55,112 4.55 1.75 82.30 -1.56 83.60 84.90 81.90 82.55

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

UNITED AIR-A 22,325,063 243.81 5.70 10.70 -0.93 10.80 11.20 10.60 10.92Islami Bank BD - A 6,501,145 192.51 4.50 29.90 3.46 28.90 30.10 28.50 29.61BSRM Ltd. -A 1,130,945 149.74 3.50 130.50 -0.31 130.90 135.00 129.00 132.40BSRM Steels-A 1,544,483 134.94 3.16 88.20 3.40 85.30 88.80 85.20 87.37Quasem Drycells -A 1,733,952 132.88 3.11 77.80 9.27 71.20 78.20 73.00 76.64Beximco Pharma -A 1,688,301 118.41 2.77 70.40 0.00 70.40 70.80 69.20 70.14Ifad Autos -N 955,281 101.38 2.37 106.30 2.21 104.00 107.00 104.50 106.13Appollo Ispat CL -A 3,986,655 89.17 2.09 22.10 -1.34 22.40 22.80 21.90 22.37Aman Feed-N 1,326,019 88.66 2.07 66.00 -3.51 68.40 69.70 64.90 66.86United Power-A 608,165 88.59 2.07 144.40 1.05 142.90 147.70 143.40 145.67Square Pharma -A 309,991 78.09 1.83 252.20 0.36 251.30 252.60 250.50 251.92Social Islami. B-A 6,205,559 73.40 1.72 13.10 0.00 13.10 13.20 0.00 11.83The Ibn SinaA 445,783 73.10 1.71 164.90 4.90 157.20 169.00 159.00 163.98Bata Shoe Ltd. -A 52,016 72.54 1.70 1375.10 -2.00 1403.10 1424.40 0.00 1394.51Power Grid Co. -A 1,434,679 69.39 1.62 47.20 0.64 46.90 50.90 46.70 48.37Zaheen Spinning -A 1,875,054 57.90 1.38 31.10 0.65 30.90 31.80 28.80 30.88

BUSINESS20DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Labour law provisions 0.03% of export value for workers’ welfare fundn Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The government yesterday published the gazette noti� -cation of amended Labour Act 2013, keeping a provision of depositing 0.03% of export val-ue to the workers’ welfare fund and two festival bonuses.

“I hope the amended Act will bring an end all confusions and complexities as it has been � nalised in consultation with all stakeholders,” Senior Labour and Employment Secretary Mi-kail Shipar told the Dhaka Trib-une. “It will make the process easier and workers’ rights will be ensured,” he said.

Under the rules, every work-er will be entitled to two festi-val bonuses after completion of one year job. The festival bonus will be equivalent to one month basic wage.

It said the government has made formation of a safety committee compulsory in a fac-tory with at least 50 workers. The committee will be com-prised of at least six members and maximum 12 members having representatives from

both owners and workers. The owners of export-ori-

ented garment industries will contribute 0.03% of export val-ue to the workers’ welfare fund and of which, 50% will be kept for the welfare fund and 50% for tackling the troubled situa-tion, according to it.

The owners’ contribution to the welfare fund would be Tk72 crore in line with the cur-rent export value of $24.5bn and this contribution would be reached to Tk150 crore in 2021 when the export value is ex-pected to stand at $50bn.

The parliament had passed the amended law on July 15, 2013. The labour law amend-ment issue came under spot-light following the suspension of Generalised System of Pref-erence (GSP) by the US govern-ment in the wake of a factory collapse that killed over 1,135 workers in 2013 – the biggest industrial accident in Bangla-desh.

Amendment of labour law is one of 16 conditions imposed by the US to restore the GSP fa-cilities for Bangladesh. l

BB: Extend credit to disadvantaged peoplen Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman asked the com-mercial banks and non-banking � nancial institutions for ex-tending loan facilities to social-ly disadvantaged individuals.

He said this in an address as the chief guest at a loan agree-ment signing ceremony held at Bangladesh Bank headquarters.

The agreement of loan for the disadvantaged section in the society was signed by Mid-land Bank Limited, a private commercial bank, Palli Karma Unnayan Sangstha (PKUS), and a micro-� nance institution, said a press release the central bank issued yesterday.

The central bank chief also disbursed credit to people from poor backgrounds after the signing.

Under the deal, the Midland Bank is to � nance Tk1 crore to 236 such people, including third gender, generally known

as Hijra, disabled, socially dis-advantaged women and ethnic (Rakhine) group for a � ve-year term.

The loan is payable in quar-terly installment.

Atiur said the central bank has taken initiatives to provide loans for the backward com-munity, including transgender, in order to mainstream them in economic activities for improv-ing their livelihoods.

Earlier on June 10 this year, the central bank through a cir-cular asked the banks and NBFIs to extend their credit facilities to entrepreneurs classed as transgender or hermaphrodites under small and medium enter-prise category of customers.

In 2013, the Bangladesh gov-ernment recognised the third gender individuals to ensure their rights, enabling them to identify gender in documents such as passports.

In 2009, Bangladesh allowed them to vote for the � rst time. l

21D

TTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015T

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Fit for a mason

INSIDE

Let in the lightPhoto: Mehedi Hasan

What goes aroundPhoto: Bigstock

news

To develop and equip the newly joined faculty members of Da� odil International University, an orientation programme was recently held at the Banquet Hall of the university. Through this orientation programme, faculty members were given training about the time be� tting quality teaching method of facing the challenges of the 21st century.

Presided over by Prof Dr Yusuf M Islam, vice-chancellor, Da� odil International University, the programme was addressed by founder vice chancellor Prof Dr Aminul Islam, Emeritus

Professor Dr M Lutfar Rahman, pro-vice chancellor Prof Dr Md Golam Rahman, Hamidul Haque Khan, treasurer Prof Dr S M Mahbub-Ul- Haque Majumder, dean, Faculty of Science and Information Technology, Prof Dr Ahmad Ismail Mustafa, dean, Faculty of Allied Health Science and of Da� odil International University. Prof Dr Engr AKM Fazlul Hoque, registrar, Da� odil International University. A total

of 70 full time faculty members joined in di� erent faculties of Da� odil International University in this Fall Semester-2015. l

Nasir Uddin Yousuf joins DIU

Hot TopicTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

T-JUNCTION22DT

How can you stand up against bullying?The horror of bullying and how to deal with it

n Shuprova Tasneem

“And thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.”This was the famous last sentence in J M Barrie’s timeless classic, Peter Pan. I doubt whether Barrie was thinking of school bullying when he wrote this conclusion, but it does seem rather appropriate when broaching the topic.

We quite often hold a rather romanticised view of the innocence of childhood, but what we choose to ignore is the ugly side, which includes the relatively common experience of one child being bullied by another. Although many people consider this to be just a part of growing up, the truth is that children can often be cruel, and bullying can cause serious emotional trauma.

Children as punching bags for social norms?Children can bully one another for any number of reasons, such as their appearance, weight, sexual orientation, religion, social status, English-speaking capability, etc. Quite often, the language of the bully re� ects the norms of the society the children inhabit, even if they are quite unaware of doing so.

“When I was in school, my bullies used to taunt me for being fat. I was very introverted and couldn’t stand up for myself, and they would take advantage of that,” recollects Sohani Shahid.

“My son gets taunted in school for not being Muslim enough. He made the mistake of telling someone that he likes to eat sushi, which apparently is haram, and he is constantly being bullied for it. It’s shocking that children as young as 10 can even think of such things,” says Sharmin Aziz.

Religion seems to playing an increasingly important role in exclusions in school, according to Atif Rahman, who teaches at a

renowned international school in Dhaka. “A girl in my class wanted to write about

Christmas instead of Eid for her assignment, and the rest of the class just totally excluded her,” he relates. “It isn’t just religion though, girls who want to play sports are teased, and boys that join dance or drama clubs are bullied as well.”

This in� uence of gender norms and gendered language in bullying is all too common a phenomenon. Saad Khan, sta� researcher at IED, BRAC University, recounts the bullying that he went through in his childhood.

“I used to be bullied ruthlessly when I was in high school. The reason was quite simple - according to people I was e� eminate or not ‘manly.’ Boys in my class shot words like ‘homo,’ ‘fag,’ ‘hijra,’ ‘half-lady’ to di� erentiate themselves from me, since I was a disgrace to manhood.”

While boys get bullied for not being manly enough, girls can be bullied for not conforming to social norms of what a girly-girl should be like. On top of that, girls face slut-shaming as well, for behaving in ways that do not conform to social standards of what “decent” girls should do.

Are teachers part of the problem?According to Ipshita Rahman, a teacher at a private school in Dhaka, incidences where girls are slut-shamed by their teachers are less unusual than you would think.

“In our school, especially with the older teachers, any bullying that happens with girls is usually their faults. I have heard so many teachers say ‘that girl’s kameez is too tight, she has too many guy friends, she wants to attract attention like a slut’ – it’s horrifying. Even if a girl has bad results, they’ll assume it’s probably because she has a new boyfriend.”

Lamisa Zaman, an ex-student, echoes Rahman’s views regarding the teacher’s unsympathetic gender bias.

“As soon as I joined the school, I felt that the teachers judged me for dressing di� erently. They were constantly attacking me in front of other students, such as accusing me of having too many male friends.”

Although Sohani was not faced with this conservative attitude from teachers at her school, she feels like their lack of support made things worse for her.

“No one really pays attention to these things. They think that it’s just children pulling each other’s leg and there’s no harm done, but it’s not that at all.”

On the other hand, Tausif Asad, a sta� member at a local private school, says that there is an unfair burden on teachers to deal with bullying, whereas the real problem lies in the upbringing of the students.

“Schools can’t speak for students when they are outside school, and when parents don’t look after children at home, they learn an attitude that teachers aren’t trained to deal with. Teaching behaviour and respect is a third party cost, one that schools do not want to bear.”

What should we do?However, it is precisely this sort of attitude towards bullying that makes it so di� cult to deal with. According to Saad Khan, who has done extensive research on this issue, even if schools have a zero tolerance policy towards bullying, their approach to dealing with it can often be counterproductive.

“In the current system, schools take

disciplinary measures to tackle the criminal behaviour of the bully, while counselling and taking assertive techniques to ‘toughen’ the bullied. This only leads to typecasting these students into certain roles, where the bully is de� ned as strong, but a loser, while the bullied is weak, and needs saving.”

By “othering” the bullies in this way, the teachers do not consider the power relations within the classroom, of which they are also a part. Khan emphasises the importance of acknowledging that teachers can also bully by using sarcasm and derision as a form of discipline or by dismissing students’ complaints, and teachers can be bullied in turn as well, and it is not a sign of weakness to admit this.

There can be a lack of trust between students and teachers, and the children can be reluctant to share con� dential information with teachers due to fear of their grades su� ering. Khan’s research showed that in a classroom with a lack of dialogue and only one-sided lectures, students can feel unengaged and resort to bullying to break up the monotony of their daily lives.

Instead of constantly trying to cement their authority and maintain discipline, the focus should be on discussing the roles of teachers and creating a platform where students can have the opportunity to engage and provide feedback on teaching methods.

“The role of the teacher being authoritative and in control needs to be revised to cut down power relations in the class, and make the knowledge production process more dialogue oriented, where students will also contribute in � guring out what the classroom should be,” asserts Khan.

However, Ipshita Rahman adds that bullying in schools cannot be addressed without the involvement of parents, and without changing some of the conservative views held by older teachers.

“Parents need to understand the emotional needs of children and meet them at home as well, instead of simply focusing on their children’s good grades. A lot of the teachers also have archaic ideas about imposing their ingrained values on the students they teach. Until these circumstances change, it will be very di� cult for us to stop bullying in classrooms.” l

Photos: Bigstock

Diamond World’s lucky draw contest

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Eid Weekend Package at Regency

Escape to an exclusive weekend getaway this Eid-ul-Adha with family and friends at Dhaka Regency with its signature Eid Weekend Package. Designed to pamper and rejuvenate, the Eid weekend package o� ers access to the distinctive hotel services and amenities. This luxury and relaxing package is o� ered only to the local residents up to two adults and two children aged below 12 years, with one night accommodation at Regency Studio, only at Tk8,888 (all inclusive) per night for premier club members, and Tk9,999 for local

residents. Guests will enjoy a complimentary Bu� et Breakfast and Lunch at its Grandiose Restaurant, one of the largest multi-cuisine 5-star restaurants. Other exclusive facilities under this package are extended to the access to its state-of-the art health club with the latest gym installments, swimming pool, steam and sauna. A 20% discount at Juvenex Spa is also on o� er. Please call at 01713332611 to con� rm booking. The o� er will be valid from September 20 to October 5, 2015. l

Diamond World arranged for a lucky draw contest for clients who made a purchase from Diamond World during Eid-ul-Fitr. The prize giving ceremony was held on September 14 at their head office at

68/1, Gulshan Avenue, Dhaka. Director of Diamond World, Pintu Kumar Agarwal along with other media personnel and journalists were present at the prize distribution ceremony. l

Mayasir kids Festivities bring joy to our lives. Children are an integral part of such joyous celebrations. This Eid, Mayasir is back yet with another stunning kids collection that o� ers both style and pizzazz. It presents suits and single pieces in de� ning, cutting edge patterns that are avant-garde. High low, biased and unequal lengths are the current rage, and Mayasir has introduced the latest asymmetrical askewed hem lines that speak a new language for children’s wear. Colours are in jewel tones that are vibrant, brilliant and rich. l

Radisson’s Special Eid PackageThis Eid, for a quick getaway, visit Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel Dhaka as they have an exclusive Eid Package on offer. Only at Tk10,999, accommodation for one night (for couples), along with buffet breakfast at Water Garden Brasserie, a 50% discount on food and beverage, body massages at a 30% discount at Sundaree Spa, complimentary usage of the swimming pool and the gym can all be availed. Contact 02-9834555 for more details. The offer is valid till October 4. l

Diamond World’s lucky draw contest

Try OutT-JUNCTION24 DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

diy

Fit for a mason

n Raisa Rahim

Many a time, you will � nd it maddening to look for that one make-up brush that probably resides among the mess you created last time on your dressing table. Well, fret not! This DIY organiser wiill help you keep all your brushes in one place at your arm’s reach.

This DIY make-up holder requires a very little amount of shopping and e� ort. In addition it looks unique, creative and very trendy.

Directions:Spray the outer side of your jar with spray paint. Now take a piece of paper (cut in a rectangular shape that covers the outer side of your jar), draw and cut out any shape you like such as stars, hearts, etc. Once you’re done with that, place the paper slightly to cover the jar and taking a paint brush, paste the diluted adhesive on to the cut out shapes that you just created. After that, comes the fun part which is sprinkling the glitter on the adhesive. Gently peal the paper o� and you will see that you have created a nice pattern of glitter on the paint jar.

The � nal step is to pour the � llers into the jar and you are good to go. The � llers help keep the brushes separated and sturdy in the organiser. Place your daily favourites in the organiser and put it on your table; it looks both cute and creative. l

news

Symphony Brings ZV Pro

Symphony recently introduced a new handset ZV Pro to the market. Both the front and back sides of this smartphone are well protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and the device runs on an Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system. Symphony ZV Pro comes with a 5-inch HD Amoled display with a resolution of 1280X720 pixels. The ZV Pro sports a 13-MP rear camera and a 5-MP wide angle front-facing camera. This smartphone is also equipped with an Octa Core processor clocked at 1.4GHz and coupled with 2GB of RAM. It comes with 16GB of internal memory that can be extended up to 32GB.

One of the most compelling features of this handset is Emergency Rescue Feature Support. Through this feature, user can send a pre-set message to some of his/her contacts in any emergency situation just by pressing the volume up and down key simultaneously for three seconds. ZV Pro also supports wake up gesture, and this gesture allows user to operate di� erent applications when the display of the handset is in sleep mode. l

Make-up organiser you can make at home

Things you’ll need:1. Mason jar

2. Paper3. Spray paint (any colour you

prefer)4. Glitters

5. Adhesive (dilute it with a teaspoon of water)

6. Scissors7. Fillers: rocks/pebbles/

marble/sand

25D

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COUTINHO CALLS FOR CALM AHEAD OF BORDEAUX

GURKEERAT 50 AND FIVE-FOR DOWNS BANGLADESH A

26 2927

The winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or will be announced at a ceremony in

Zurich on January 11, 2016. Ronaldo won the award last year, but Messi will hope to wrestle the

prize back this time

DATE SET

SportRONALDO HAPPY TO PASS MESSI’S RECORD

Six-team BPL 3 set to begin Nov 24BPL governing council member secretary allays fears of favouritismn Minhaz Uddin Khan

The controversial Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 is all set to host its inaugural match of the third edition on November 24 this year while the opening ceremony of the country’s premier T20 competition will be held two days earlier at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla Nation-al Stadium. The details of the upcoming tour-nament were announced by the BPL govern-ing council in a press conference yesterday.

The cash-rich tournament will feature six franchises this year. Rumours were doing the rounds that the Bangladesh Cricket Board was planning to hold a seven-side BPL but eventu-ally decided against it due to a lack of interest shown by the new prospective owners.

The Dhaka franchise was roped in by Bex-imco while DBL Group purchased Chittagong. Axiom Technologies, Alif Group, I Sports Ltd and Royal Spoting Ltd bought Barisal, Sylhet, Rangpur and Comilla franchises respectively. The six companies have been awarded owner-ship of the franchises for the next four years.

Among the six franchises, three are new owners while three are from the previous edi-tion. Explaining the changes, BPL GC mem-ber secretary Ismail Haider Mallick said, “All the new franchises had requested us for their desired team. For instance, Beximco had re-quested for Dhaka, DBL Group Chittagong and Axiom Technologies Barisal. We had verbally committed Axiom Technologies of awarding them the Barisal franchise. Later,

Alif Group cleared their previous dues and demanded that we assign them Barisal but by then, it was already late. So, Alif Group decid-ed to take Sylhet instead.”

The old owners of Sylhet, Royal Sporting, got hold of new BPL franchise Comilla. The inclusion of Comilla as a franchise raised many eyebrows as it is not a division like the other � ve franchises but Mallick said, “The Bangladesh government declared Mymensin-gh a division a few days back. They are think-ing of naming Comilla a division too.”

Mallick added that no member of the BPL GC will get the scope to be a part of the six franchises. However, he said the BCB em-ployees and members of the national team management can work for the franchises.

Mallick is an employee of Beximco while BCB president Nazmul Hasan is the CEO of the organisation. Many are concerned if their roles will manipulate the tournament but Mallick turned down allegations of favouritism.

“I work for Beximco Pharmaceuticals but the team were taken by Beximco Group. I am an employee at Beximco, not an owner. I will have no connection with the team. The BCB president is also an employee at Beximco and like me, he also has no relations whatsoever with the team. We will not have any sorts of relation with the Dhaka team taken by Bex-imco Group,” said Mallick.

BRB Cables was named as the sponsors of BPL 3 and bagged the in-stadia rights in the process. l

Hero in the Sa� Under-16 Championship, Bangladesh goalkeeper Faysal Ahmed tasted the sour side of the game yesterday. (In the picture) He is about to tackle Tarikh (R) of Saudi Arabia outside the D-box which eventually fetched him a straight red card during their AFC quali� ers encounter at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. (Inset) Sarwar Zaman Nipu, who netted the only goal for the home side with an exquisite lob past the goalkeeper, celebrates MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Saudis breeze past 10-man Bangladesh n Mazhar Uddin

Bangladesh started their 2016 AFC Under-16 Championship quali� cation round on a losing note as they lost 5-1 at home to Saudi Arabia yesterday.

Despite going ahead 1-0 in the 28th min-ute, courtesy a brilliant � nish from Sarwar Zaman Nipu, defending Sa� U-16 champions Bangladesh conceded the tie at Bangabandhu National Stadium in the face of some relent-less attacks by the Saudi forward line.

The middle eastern nation soon brought par-ity through Almas Naif Musa six minutes be-fore the half-time whistle.

Things turned worse for the home side in the 49th minute when goalkeeper Faysal Ahmed received his marching orders for an illegal tackle in an one-on-one situation.

The Saudis made the extra man count as striker Abrikan Tarik gave the visitors the lead in the very next minute while Mali soon grabbed the third to make it 3-1.

Alduwayhi Abdul Aziz Sulaiman and Alab-dan Hamad Abdan then bagged one each to complete the rout.

Syed Golam Jilani’s charges will face the United Arab Emirates in their second and � nal quali� er at BNS tomorrow while yesterday’s victor will take on the Emiratis this Sunday at the same venue. l

AFC UNDER-16 CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION ROUND

Sport26DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates his � rst goal during their Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain on Tuesday REUTERS

RESULTSGroup APSG (FRA) 2-0 Malmo (SWE)Di Maria 4, Cavani 61

Real Madrid (ESP) 4-0 Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)Benzema 30, Ronaldo 55-P, 63-P, 81

Group BV� Wolfsburg (GER) 1-0 CSKA Moscow (RUS)Draxler 40PSV Eindhoven (NED) 2-1 Man United (ENG)Moreno 45+2, Narsingh 57 Depay 41

Group CGalatasaray (TUR) 0-2 Atletico Madrid (ESP) Griezmann 18, 25Ben� ca (POR) 2-0 Astana (KAZ)Gaitan 51, Mitroglou 62

Group DMan City (ENG) 1-2 Juventus (ITA)Chiellini 57-og Mandzukic 70, Morata 81Sevilla (ESP) 3-0 M’gladbach (GER)Gameiro 47-P, Banega 66-P, Konoplyanka 84

RONALDO v MESSIChampions League Goals

Goals Apps

Ronaldo 80 116

Messi 77 99

(As of Tuesday night)

Ronaldo happy to pass Messi's record, irritated by median Agencies

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at recent media criticism following a barren run of games, and admitted his delight at moving ahead of Lionel Messi as the Cham-pions League's top goalscorer with a hat-trick against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

After following that up with his re-cord-breaking treble against Shakhtar in a 4-0 win—he now has 80 goals in the Champi-ons League compared to Messi's 77, per Stat-Bunker—Ronaldo bemoaned the � ckle nature of the media, according to Spanish outlet Sport: "Before I was bad and now I am good because I scored eight goals in two games."

However, while the 30-year-old was visibly annoyed with the media, it was not enough to dampen his pleasure at moving ahead of Messi in the European goalscoring standings, per UEFA: "I'm not going to lie—obviously, I'm very happy with the goals and the records. I get a sense of pride from being in this posi-tion, but I have to mention the team, because the team has helped me so much."

The duo are likely to exchange the record several times in the coming matches and sea-sons, and with Messi only 28 years old, he may have the edge as to who will be the top scorer in the Champions League come the end of their respective careers.

Ronaldo, though, is e� ectively unstoppa-ble in terms of Real's club records, and he top-pled another one in record time with his � ve against Espanyol at the weekend. l

Di Maria on target, Spanish clubs cruisen AFP

Manchester United su� ered a miserable return to the Champions League after a 12-month hiatus as full-back Luke Shaw suf-fered a double fracture to his leg during Tues-day's 2-1 defeat at PSV Eindhoven.

Real Madrid had no such trouble as Cris-tiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 thrashing of 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk.

Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Atletico

Madrid also began with victories.In Madrid, France striker Karim Benzema

gave the hosts a 30th minute lead, although Gareth Bale had already gone o� for Real with a calf injury.

Taras Stepanenko then got sent o� for a second booking � ve minutes into the second period and Ronaldo took over.

"Bale had a spasm in his calf muscle," said Madrid boss Rafael Benitez.

"We must wait a day or two to see how seri-

ous it is. He had a similar issue last year."At the Parc des Princes, Angel Di Ma-

ria started paying back his 63 million euros ($68.9 million) price tag with his � rst goal for PSG after just four minutes.

The 27-year-old Argentina international was bought from Manchester United to help PSG take the next step on the continental stage after three straight Champions League quarter-� nal exits.

And he ran onto Marco Verratti's pass be-

fore beautifully � nishing past Johan Wiland in the Malmo goal.

Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani added a second on the hour mark as he headed home a Zlatan Ibrahimovic � ick from Maxwell's left-wing cross.

"It's easy to compare after the � rst match. We will see at the end of the group stage. The two home teams have won, but our next matches will be away from home," said Blanc, whose side visit Ukraine next while Madrid go to Malmo.

"We need to make sure we get points away from home, although not every team playing at home managed to win tonight."

Meanwhile, Blanc warned that Di Maria is still some way short of his best form after handing the Argentine just his second start since signing from Manchester United last month.

"Angel is still building himself up. He ar-rived late after the Copa America and he was carrying a hamstring injury. I think we were right to let him rest at � rst rather than rush him in," said Blanc of the winger brought in to help take Paris to the next level in Europe.

PSG should have won more handsomely but Ibrahimovic, in particular, was wasteful.

French forward Antoine Griezmann scored twice within seven � rst-half minutes to give Atletico Madrid a 3-0 win at Galatasaray.

Sevilla made it three out of three for La Liga as they cruised past Borussia Moencheng-ladbach - who have lost all four Bundesliga matches this season - 3-0 with goals from Kevin Gameiro and Ever Banega, both from the spot, and Yevhen Konoplyanka.l

Paris St Germain’s Angel Di Maria (R) celebrates after scoring against Malmo during their Champions League Group A stage match at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on Tuesday REUTERS

ANOTHER HATTRICK

Sport 27D

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BKSP’s Sonia Akter competes in the 200-metre backstroke heat (18-20 girls’ age category) of the 31st National Age-Level Swimming and Diving Championship at Mirpur’s Syed Nazrul Islam Complex yesterday

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Bale forced o� with calf problemReal Madrid star Gareth Bale was substituted just half an hour into the Spanish giants Cham-pions League opener against Shakhtar Donetsk due to a calf injury on Tuesday. The Welshman went down under no apparent pressure before hobbling o� to be replaced by Mateo Kovacic. Bale had been in � ne form at the start of the campaign after a di� cult second season at the Bernabeu, scoring twice against Real Betis and playing a part in � ve of Madrid’s six goals at Espanyol on Saturday.

–AFP

Gayle signs up for Pakistan Super LeagueChris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo are some of the prominent players who will feature in the inaugural Pakistan Super League (PSL), a franchise-based T20 tournament to be held in Doha in February 2016. The players’ interest in the tournament could stem a desire to be match-� t ahead of the World T20 which begins a month later in India.

–CRICINFO

Jayawardene, Collingwood join England set-upEngland have bolstered their specialist coach-ing sta� for the Test and limited-overs series against Pakistan and the World T20, with the appointments of Mahela Jayawardene and Paul Collingwood. Jayawardene will work with the Test side during the warm-up period in the UAE and the � rst Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi which starts on October 13. He will resume his close ties with England head coach Trevor Bayliss and assistant Paul Farbrace after their days together with Sri Lanka.

–CRICINFO

Kompany sustains calf injury in Man City lossManchester City captain Vincent Kompany sustained a calf injury during his side’s 2-1 Champions League defeat at home to Juventus on Tuesday, manager Manuel Pellegrini re-vealed. “Vincent has a calf injury,” Pellegrini told his post-match press conference. “We will see tomorrow (Wednesday) how important it is.”

–AFP

Liverpool’s Ibe commits int’l future to EnglandLiverpool’s Jordon Ibe has con� rmed he intends to play for England if called up to the senior side. The winger is also eligible to play for Nigeria through his father, but has progressed through England’s youth teams and made his under-21 debut for the Three Lions this month.

–REUTERS

No Ajmal in Pakistan’s Test squad for England seriesEngland will not have to face their 2012 tor-mentor Saeed Ajmal in next month’s three-Test series against Pakistan after the o� -spinner failed to regain his place in the 15-man squad announced on Wednesday.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES SCORECARDINDIA A INNINGS (50 OVERS MAX) R BMA Agarwal c Soumya Sarkar b Nasir 56 70UBT Chand c Liton Das b Taskin Ahmed 16 16MK Pandey c Liton Das b Sha� ul Islam 1 10SK Raina lbw b Nasir Hossain 16 28KM Jadhav run out (Nasir Hossain) 0 3SV Samson c Mominul b Sha� ul Islam 73 76Gurkeerat Singh lbw b Arafat Sunny 65 58R Dhawan not out 56 34KV Sharma not out 11 5Extras (lb 7, w 21) 28 Total (7 wickets; 50 overs) 322 FoW: 1-44, 2-51, 3-76, 4-76 , 5-125, 6-227, 7-305Bowling Taskin 5-0-46-1, Sha� ul 10-1-60-2, Rubel 10-1-56-0, Soumya 3-0-23-0, Nasir 9-0-51-2, Arafat 10-0-57-1, Sabbir 1-0-11-0, Mominul 2-0-11-0BANGLADESH A INNINGS R BRony Talukdar b Aravind 13 14Soumya Sarkar c Jadhav b Aravind 9 14Anamul Haque lbw b Aravind 0 1Mominul Haque c Samson b Dhawan 19 24Sabbir Rahman c & b Dhawan 25 31Liton Das b Gurkeerat Singh 75 75Nasir Hossain c Raina b Gurkeerat 52 71Arafat Sunny b Gurkeerat Singh 6 13Rubel Hossain st Samson b Gurkeerat 3 10Sha� ul Islam not out 2 4Taskin Ahmed lbw b Gurkeerat Singh 0 1Extras (lb 4, w 15, nb 3) 22 Total (all out; 42.3 overs) 226FoW: 1-25, 2-25, 3-34, 4-72, 5-87, 6-207, 7-219, 8-223, 9-226, 10-226 Bowling Kulkarni 7-0-46-0, Aravind 8-1-29-3, Dhawan 8-1-51-2, Sharma 10-0-53-0, Gurkeerat 7.3-0-29-5, Raina 2-0-14-0 Result: India A won by 96 runsSeries: India A lead 3-match series 1-0

Injured Taskin ruled out of India tour n Mazhar Uddin

Young fast bowler Taskin Ahmed incurred a side-strain injury during Bangladesh A team’s � rst one-day match against India A at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru yesterday.

The 20-year old speedster, who only scalped the wicket of India A captain Unmukt Chand in his � ve overs, suddenly felt some pain and left the ground immediately. He did not take any further part in the game. The tall fast bowler will be returning home today and will be replaced in the touring party by another paceman, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, who is expected to � y out to India tomorrow.

Taskin has been struggling with injury ever

since making his debut against India last year in June. He even missed the last home series against South Africa last July.

“Taskin has yet again su� ered a side-strain injury. He will not be able to take part in the India series any more. We are not willing to take any risk with him. We will only be able to ascertain his injury once he returns to the country,” said Debashish Chowdhury, chief physician of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, yesterday.

Taskin’s replacement, Rabbi, is currently in Rajshahi to play for Barisal in the upcoming 17th National Cricket League, scheduled to get underway tomorrow.

“The BCB instructed me to be ready for the India tour,” said Rabbi yesterday. l

Gurkeerat � fty and � ve-for downs Bangladesh An Tribune Desk

The visiting Bangladesh A side kicked o� their tour of India on a bitter note as they slumped to a 96-run defeat to their neighbouring coun-terpart, which was worsened with the injury worry of Tigers paceman Taskin Ahmed. With the win, India A took a commanding 1-0 lead in the three-match uno� cial one-day interna-tional series yesterday.

Despite a dominating start from the Bang-ladeshis at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Ban-galore, who reduced India A to 125/5 halfway through their innings, the home side rode on late surges from Sanju Samson, Gurkeerat Singh and Rishi Dhawan and ended up with a mammoth 322 for seven in 50 overs.

The wickets seemed to dry up as the day progressed and a good chase was in order, but the visitors failed largely due to their over-at-tacking mentality; something that is held as a reason behind the national team’s success.

Openers Rony Talukder struck three fours during his 13-run knock while Soumya Sarker hit two fours in his nine-run knock while An-amul Haque returned for a golden duck inside six overs as India A secured the driving seat in the game.

Mominul Haque (19) and Sabbir Rahman (25) were medium-pacer Dhawan’s two vic-tims on the day as Bangladesh A were reeling at 87 for � ve before Liton Kumar Das and Na-sir Hossain revived the innings with a 120-run partnership.

Gurkeerat, who played a vital hand scor-ing a 58-ball 65 coming in at No 7 for India A, bagged � ve wickets which started with the dismissal of Nasir. Nasir scored 52 o� 71 balls with the help of two sixes and equal fours.

Gurkeerat then cleaned up Liton, who played a run-a-ball 75 with the help of eight fours and two sixes, before sweeping the Ti-gers’ tail in 42.3 overs for 226 runs. The right-arm seamer � nished with 5-29.

Earlier, Taskin and Sha� ul Islam gave the visitors, who won the toss and chose to bowl, a decent start. Nasir later struck twice to dis-miss Mayank Agarwal (56) and Suresh Raina (19) as India A were in all sorts of trouble be-fore Gurkeerat joined Samson (73) for a 100-run sixth wicket stand.

Coming in at No 8, Dhawan’s willow pro-duced a blistering 34-ball unbeaten 56 which gave India the big � nish to their innings. l

28DT Sport

PSV’s Mexican centreback Hector Moreno tackles Manchester United’s English left-back Luke Shaw during their Champions League Group B match at Philips stadium in Eindhoven, Netherlands on Tuesday

AP

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Champions LeaguePSV 2-1 MAN UNITED: FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED

Memphis scores, Eindhoven winUnited will miss Luke ShawLuke Shaw’s injury is a big blow to a player who was having the best season of his career. But it’s also a blow to Louis van Gaal, who has relied on his full-backs to provide width and pace in a team that has, at times, looked pedestrian. Daley Blind doesn’t o� er the same attacking threat. One slight consolation for Van Gaal is that he can at least cover Shaw’s absence with Blind, Marcos Rojo or, at a push, Ashley Young.

His injury has disrupted their stabilityUnited’s centre-back pairing was starting to pick itself with Chris Smalling and Daley Blind beginning to form an understanding. It was a surprise then to see Van Gaal break them up when Shaw went o� and move Blind to left-back and pair Smalling with Rojo. The Argentinian could have slotted in at left-back, as he did at times last season, but ended up getting caught under the ball for PSV’s second.

There aren’t enough goals in the squadThere were � ashes of attacking threat against PSV from Mem-phis Depay, Anthony Martial and Young. But when Van Gaal needed a goal in the second half, he was forced to turn to Ma-rouane Fellaini and Antonio Valencia. James Wilson was with the travelling party in Holland but didn’t make the bench and there was no recognised centre forward among the substitutes.

Memphis and Martial will be fineMemphis and Anthony Martial are very young and both are going to throw in the odd inconsistent display. But there was enough evidence from both against PSV that they’ll come good. Memphis’ quick feet for his goal was a � ash of brilliance and Martial showed glimpses of strength and pace without ever re-ally a� ecting the game as he did against Liverpool.

Juan Mata might not get another chance at 10Juan Mata has been desperate for a game as United’s No.10 after almost nine months stuck out on the right. He eventually got his chance in Holland but Van Gaal won’t be in a rush to try the Span-iard there again. Van Gaal has said he doesn’t like playing with a mid� elder as his No.10. But with Januzaj gone and Memphis better on the left, it was a chance for Mata to prove he can do the job. But he struggled to have any impact and it won’t be a shock if he’s back on the right for the trip to Southampton on Sunday. l

Shaw su� ers double leg fracturen AFP, Eindhoven

Manchester United full-back Luke Shaw su� ered a double fracture of the leg during his team’s 2-1 defeat to PSV Ein-dhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old was taken to hos-pital after su� ering the horror injury a quarter of an hour into the clash at the Philips Stadion.

“Our thoughts go out to @Luke-

Shaw23, who has su� ered a double fracture of the leg. He will have an oper-ation on his return to Manchester,” said United on their Twitter feed.

The game was held up for almost 10 minutes as the England international received treatment on the pitch from a posse of medical sta� before being stretchered o� with an oxygen mask over his face.

Although visibly in pain, Shaw took to Twitter around half an hour later to

vow that he would make a full recovery.“Thank you everyone for your mes-

sages, words can’t describe how gutted I am, my road to recovery starts now, I will come back stronger,” he tweeted.

Shaw was surging into the box when he was hit with a crunching and danger-ous two-footed o� -the-ground tackle by Hector Moreno. Luciano Narsingh scored the winner in the second half, against the run of play.

Shaw was replaced by Marcos Rojo.l

Now City know why Pogba is worth £70m!Pogba is worth £70mManuel Pellegrini was desperate to sign the French international in the summer - but Juven-tus’ £70m price-tag and astronomical personal terms convinced Manchester City to drop their interest for now.

He looks set to head to Barcelona next summer, but strutting around the Etihad, he showed exactly why he is considered the � nest central mid� elder in the world.

Combining power, pace and technique, he is the complete package.

Fernandinho is backThe Brazilian su� ered the mother of all World Cup hangovers last season.

But he has started this campaign in the fashion that would suggest he can dominate mid� eld as he did in his � rst year at the club.

Snapping at Juve heals around the middle of the park, he gave City a foothold - breaking up play and driving the ball forward.

One � rst half e� ort could have handed the home side the lead, but spun narrowly wide.

City must be more ruthlessPellegrini admitted his side weren’t ruthless enough - allowing Juve to take all three points.

The Italians showed the value of clinical � nishing. Pogba had the ball in the back of the net in the � rst half, only for the goal to be ruled out for o� side. That was a warning.

In the second half Mario Mandzukic and Alvaro Morata turned the game on its head with two outstanding � nishes.

Bony needs a goalStarting in place of the injured Sergio Aguero the pressure was on for Bony to prove he can be a reliable understudy for the Argentine.

But just as he did against Crystal Palace, he failed to � nd the back of the net again.

It’s not over yetPellegrini was quick to point out that City have recovered from losing starts before in the Champions League. Three of their last four campaigns have begun with defeat. While it is not ideal - it is certainly not the end for the Premier League leaders. l

Juventus mid� elder Paul Pogba (L) gets the better of Manchester City mid� elder Yaya Toure during their Champions League encounter at Etihad Stadium, Manchester on Tuesday REUTERS

MAN CITY 1-2 JUVENTUS: 5 THINGS WE LEARNED

TERRIBLE

Sport 29D

T

Great Britain’s Andy Murray (R) and captain Leon Smith during a practice session ahead of their Davis Cup Semi Final against Australia at Glasgow, Scotland yesterday

–REUTERS

Coutinho calls for calm ahead of Bordeaux clash

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

UEFA Europa League Ten Sports 11:00PM AFC Ajax v Celtic FC 1:00AM ACF Fiorentina v FC Basel Ten Action11:00PM Bordeaux v Liverpool 1:00AM Tottenham Hotspur v Qarabag Ten Cricket11:00PM Napoli v Club Brugge 1:00AM Anderlecht v AS Monaco

DAY’S WATCH

n Reuters

Liverpool attacking mid� eld-er Philippe Coutinho has called for calm ahead of his club’s visit to France to take on Bordeaux in the Europa League on Thursday after su� er-ing back-to-back defeats in the Premier League.

The Brazilian w a s shown a red card during Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat by West Ham United on Aug. 29 and missed the 3-1 loss to Manchester United at Old Tra� ord, a result that sent the Merseyside club plunging down to 10th place in the league table.

“It is vital to stay calm, mainly because we are just at the beginning in all competitions,” Coutinho, who is likely to return to the starting line-up against French Ligue 1 side Bordeaux, told the club’s website (www.liverpoolfc.com).

“We have a long season ahead and many things can hap-pen. The Premier League is tough - all clubs have great teams - and we know twists and turns will happen.”

The 23-year-old said the league defeats would act as mo-tivation for Liverpool who are struggling to create chances and scored only three times in � ve league games so far.

“We have to look ahead now and get over these two recent games we lost,” Coutinho said.

“After two consecutive defeats, we’re conscious there’s going to be more pressure from the outside - we have to do things right on the pitch so we can achieve good results.

“It (Bordeaux) is a very important game as it’s our � rst in the Europa League.” l

Tottenham (ENG) v Qarabag (AZE)The other English side in the group stage,

Tottenham Hotspur, face what on paper looks like their easiest tie at

home to Qarabag of Azerbaijan before also taking on Ander-lecht and Monaco in Group J. Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino

is likely to heavily rotate his squad for the game but might be tempted to

hand a start to Harry Kane, who has yet to score in the Premier League

this season but netted seven times in the Europa League last season.

The champions of Azerbaijan, Qarabag have already visited the British Isles this season in Champions League qualifying, losing to Celtic.

Ajax (NED) v Celtic (SCO)Celtic may not have quali� ed

for the Champions League group stage, but the draw for the Europa

League handed them some glamour ties to look forward to in Group A, starting

away to Ajax. “Last year we progressed in the Europa League to play Inter Milan in the knockout stages, and the group this year is a Champions League group in all but name,” Celtic manager Ronny Deila told the club’s website. “We know it’s going to be di� cult but we’ve got the players here to de� nitely believe we can get through.” Like Celtic, Ajax - coached by former Rangers player Frank de Boer - were eliminated in qualifying for the Champions League but they are unbeaten domestically and sit top of the Dutch Eredivisie. These sides met in the Champions League group stage two years ago, with Ajax winning 1-0 at the Amsterdam Arena. Fenerbahce and Norwegian champions Molde complete Group A and Ajax’s Nick Viergever believes the meeting with the Hoops could prove decisive.

“We need to win against Celtic because Fenerbahce are the favourites. They have spent a lot of money on their squad recently so that means realistically there is probably only one other place,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Record.

Dortmund (GER) v FC Krasnodar (RUS)Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rum-menigge said this week that Borussia Dort-mund “belong” in the Champions League but Thomas Tuchel’s side are in the Europa League this season. They begin their Group C campaign at home to Russian side FC Kras-nodar and will be bidding to continue their � ne start to the season. Dortmund have won every game so far, including beating Austria’s Wolfsberger and Odd of Norway in Europa League qualifying and recording four wins out of four in the Bundesliga.

Fiorentina (ITA) v Basel (SUI)Basel failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage so the Swiss champions can instead focus on trying to reach the � nal of the Europa League, which will be played in their own stadium, St Jakob-Park. Their opening game in Group I is away to Fiorenti-na in Italy, which means a reunion with Paulo Sousa. The Portuguese coached Basel to the Swiss title before leaving for Florence in the summer. l

Celtic face Ajax in opener

OTHER MATCHES Fenerbahce v Molde Sion v Rubin Kazan Qabala v PAOK Thessaloniki Midtjylland v Legia Warszawa Napoli v Club Brugge Rapid Wien v Villarreal Viktoria Plzen v Dinamo Minsk Groningen v Marseille Liberec v Braga Dnipro v Lazio Saint-Etienne v Rosenborg Skenderbeu v Besiktas Sporting CP v Lokomotiv Mos Lech Poznan v Belenenses Anderlecht v Monaco APOEL Nicosia v Schalke 04 Asteras Tripolis v Sparta Prague Athletic Bilbao v Augsburg Partizan Beograd v AZ Alkmaar

DOWNTIME30DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 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 2 represents H so � ll H every time the � gure 2 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 Demand as a right (5)5 Dexterous (4)8 Like better (6)9 Looks for (5)10 Truth (4)11 Footwear (5)12 Printers’ measures (3)15 Repose (4)18 Instruct (5)21 Female pig (3)22 Liquor dregs (4)24 Greedy (4)25 Stories (5)28 Indigenous (6)29 Overpriced (4)30 Staggers (5)

DOWN1 Pamper (6)2 Copy (3)3 Annoys (4)4 Network (4)5 Postpone (5)6 E� aces (6)7 Make lace (3)13 Myself (2)14 Saltworks (6)16 As stated (2)17 Intertwines (6)19 Tree (5)20 Pronoun (2)23 Agitate (4)24 Help (3)26 Hail! (3)27 Sheltered side (3)

SUDOKU

SHOWTIME 31D

TTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

WHAT TO WATCH

American Pie 2Star Movies 8pmThe sequel to the hit comedy American Pie, the high school students are now at college. These close friends decide to meet up at the beach house for some fun.Cast: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Natasha Lyonne

CatwomanWB 7:33pmA shy woman, endowed with the speed, re� exes, and senses of a cat, walks a thin line between criminal and hero, even as a detective doggedly pursues her, fascinated by both of her personas.Cast: Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Sharon Stone, Lambert Wilson

The Italian JobZee Studio 9:30pmAfter being betrayed and left for dead in Italy, Charlie Croker and his team plan an elaborate gold heist against their former ally.Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green

Escape PlanHBO 9:30pmThe story of the � lm surrounds a structural-security authority who designs a prison and later gets framed for an unknown reason. Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel

The Amazing RaceAXN 9:30pmA reality show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a pre-existing personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams. Hosted by: Phil Keoghan

Photographs and moments – Studio Cheesecake

n Rajiv Bhowmik

World-renowned photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams once said “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” Mirza Rajan Ferdous, an aspiring young man had always been drawn towards this and his fascination with cameras and lenses was something he decided to indulge himself in. Be it taking family pictures or a tea table adda with friends, he could not resist himself from capturing the precious moments with his 8-megapixel cellphone camera.

Mirza bought his � rst camera in 2008 while he was still studying and got active with the Photography Club at North South University. Since then, he knew that this was something he wanted to focus on and take it as a career. Over the years, he took his hobby and turned this into a part time career. Besides being the director of a reputed buying house in the city, Mirza in 2013, formalised his photography skills through Studio Cheesecake, making it into a full � edged photography and videography solution studio.

Starting from wedding snapshots to capturing corporate programmes in frames,

Mirza now has a total of 19 team members working with him at Studio Cheesecake. Asking about his passion and his studio, he stated that moments should be captured and relived over and over again. It needs a lot of attention and precision. Photography, particularly for weddings over the last few years have become a gigantic platform for young photographers such as himself to test and develop their skills. He also thinks that family portraits are gaining more popularity and this is a � eld that needs more exploring. He remembers his younger days going to studios with his parents and sisters, with full ironed shirt, all tucked in, with well combed hair, and smiling in front of the camera from cheek to cheek. This was something absent for many years and greatly missed. However, he is simply too happy now that people have restarted to think in capturing prized moments in studios again. Studio Cheesecake focuses a lot on long term relationships, so it should not only be the wedding, but photographs should also include the bride and groom’s � rst child, the child’s birthday, candid moments and so on. It’s a recurring matter and you can frame a beautiful story or a tale out of this, as Mirza mentioned with a big smile on his face. He also strongly believes that a client will only come twice and more if they are largely satis� ed. It was a great boost that led Studio Cheesecake bring in a wider horizon of solutions – wedding cinematography, pre and post wedding covers, pregnancy and baby photography. They even have moved on to corporate level photography services and event planning.

Sticking strong to their vision, Studio Cheesecake has now become one of the best providers of photography solutions in town. For more details on Mirza and Studio Cheesecake, you can visit their FB page at facebook.com/studiocheesecake. l

Natyakendra premiers two plays n Showtime Desk

Theatre troupe Natyakendra is set to premiere two of its brand new productions at the Studio Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 7pm today.

Albeit short in length, both plays are adaptation of two plays written by Egyptian playwrights, with Tariq Anam Khan directing both plays.

Bonduk Juddho, the � rst play, is based on The Trap by Alfred Farag. In the play, a story of distrust has been portrayed in the milieu of dark times. Ariq Anam Khan, Emon and Nirjash comprise of the main cast.

The second play Gadhar Haat, is based on Taw� q al-Hakim's Donkey Market, a one act play which shows the playwright's deftness at turning a traditional folk tale into a hilarious stage comedy. Saif Ahmed, Sangeeta Chowdhury, Noman Ahmed and Khan Atiq play lead roles in this play.

The shows will be repeated at the same place tomorrow at 6pm and 8pm respectively. l

BACK PAGE32DT

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

NATYAKENDRA PREMIERS TWO PLAYS PAGE 31

ONION PRICES REMAIN HIGH DESPITE OMS PAGE 15

SIX-TEAM BPL 3 SET TO BEGIN NOV 24 PAGE 25

Dhaka Lit Fest speakers announcedVS Naipaul, Anupam Kher among guests at this year’s eventn Rumana Habib

The Dhaka Lit Fest organisers announced Wednes-day the speakers for this year’s international literary festival, to take place November 19-21 at the Bangla Academy in Dhaka.

The list includes not one, but two Nobel prize laureates: VS Naipaul, the UK-based Trinidadian-born author of “A House for Mr Biswas,” and Harold Varmus, the American can-cer researcher and author of “The Art and Politics of Science.”

The Dhaka Lit Fest was previously known as Hay Festival Dhaka, which was � rst launched four years ago. Over 250 participants from 13 di� erent countries took part in the event last year, and it was attended by more than 20,000 visitors.

“It has been a thrilling adventure from our beginnings in 2011. We felt it was time to take the next exciting step of our journey, and brand Dhaka to the rest of the world,” said Sadaf Saaz, the festival producer and one of its three directors, along with Ahsan Akbar and K Anis Ahmed. All three directors are also published authors themselves, and appreciate the value such a festival can bring.

Ahsan said: “I wish something like DLF took place during my teenage days in Dhaka! Getting to see, hear and meet some of the greatest writers and thinkers of our time, all in our hometown, and for free, is such a wonderful annual treat.”

Other notable international speakers are: Bollywood actor and activist Anupam Kher, Indian bestseller Shobhaa De, top Cuban sci-� writer Yoss, Kenyan children’s storyteller Muthoni Garland, Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir, Kolkata-based author Amit Chaudhuri, poet Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, and US-based Islamic scholars William Chittick and Sachiko Murata.

“It’s a dynamite lineup. Each year we have surpassed the year before in the number and calibre of speakers, and this will be no exception. This will be bigger than anything Dhaka has seen so far,” said Anis.

The writers from abroad will join the cultural luminaries of Bangladesh, including: economist

Rehman Sobhan, Bangla Academy Director Shamsuzzaman Khan, and writers Kaiser Haq, Syed Manzoorul Islam, Niaz Zaman and Syed Shamsul Huq.

“For the past few decades, there has been a lot of really great writing in Bangladesh, but it has been in isolation. It has not been in conversation with the literature of the rest of the world,” said Anis. “These festivals provide a meaningful and fun

platform for those engagements to begin.”As in previous years, the festival will feature

author readings and panel discussions. Most talks will be in English, although some are bilingual.

“We will have an array of wonderful sessions – from history to politics, children’s sessions to science, literary � ction to discussions on every day sexism, sci-� to philosophy, workshops to

traditional oral poetry performances – with panels in English and Bangla. We will have something for everyone,” said Sadaf. “It looks to be one of the most exciting programmes yet.”

To see the most recent speaker list (which will continue to be updated until the festival), visit http://dhakalitfest.com.

The Dhaka Tribune is the title sponsor for this event. l

Snatched from the jaws of death n Mohammad Jamil Khan

A group of children rescued a newborn baby from a pack of stray dogs in the North Kafrul area of the capital on Tuesday.

The eight to 10-year-olds were playing near a bush near the Old Airport around 4pm when they saw some dogs dragging something with their mouths and heard the sound of a baby crying from behind a nearby bush.

The children scared the dogs o� and peered behind the bush where they found a

baby with its face covered in blood. They shouted for help. Neighbour Jahanara Begum, who lives

nearby, brought the injured baby to hospital, � rst to the Children’s Hospital in Agargaon and then to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

She said: “How could anybody abandon such a beautiful child? They are animals pos-ing as humans.”

The infant is being treated at the intensive care unit of the DMCH children’s ward.

“We will provide the child with the best possible treatment,” DMCH Assistant Director Khaza Abdul Gafur told the Dhaka Tribune. “A � ve-member medical board has been formed to treat the child.”

Professor Dr Abid Hossain Mollah, chief of the medical board, told the Dhaka Tribune that the infant was on life support and had been given a strong dose of antibiotics.

He said the medicine would preventinfection. The infant’s body showed evidence of dog bites and was infested with insects,

he said.The child currently weighs less than 2kg

and bears injury marks on her nose, lips and face. “Once the girl is out of danger, we will perform plastic surgery to cover up the inju-ries,” Dr Abid said.

Jahanara was accompanied by two other women, Lipi and Tania, when she brought the infant to the hospital. Lipi, who lives in Kafrul, says she wants to keep the child once she is better and adopt her as herdaughter. l

VS Naipaul Anupam Kher

Syed Manzoorul Islam Shobhaa De

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com