SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Agrahayan 9, 1421Muharram 29, 1436Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 229

11 | Op-EdWith the murkiness surrounding the death of Rajshahi University Professor AKM Sha� ul Islam, the credibility of the entire investigation process seems to have come under public scrutiny.

3 | NewsThe in� uence of leaders of Shibir in Rajshahi University (RU) was so signi� cant in 2008 that a US embassy team found them to be potential for its future interests.

4 | NewsUncertainty about the Uttara Apartment Proj-ect heightened as ENA Properties Ltd owned by AL lawmaker Enamul Haque along with two other Korean companies has completed only 4% of the work in last two and a half years.

15 | EntertainmentApurbo, one of the busiest actors of recent times, made his breakthrough in modelling career by conquering the title of “Mr Bangla-desh” in 2002.

8 | WorldObama will attend India’s Republic Day cele-brations as chief guest, a sign of steadily ex-panding ties between two countries that share concerns about China’s growing power in Asia.

6 | NationIn� uential people have allegedly grabbed around 32 decimals of land worth around Tk-7crore and a CNG-run � lling station at Sripur upazila in Gazipur.

20 pages | Price: Tk12

THE ECONOMICS OF LITERARY FESTIVAL

9 | HAY FESTIVAL

‘TO ME SOCIALISM IS ABOUT THE HUMAN RIGHT TO LIVELIHOOD’

7 | LONG FORM

BALI PACKAGE MAKES HARDLY ANY PROGRESS IN ONE YEAR

B1 | BUSINESS

DOMINANT BAYERN EXTEND LEAD IN BUNDESLIGA

14 | SPORT

I N S I D E

ISIS kills 25 in Iraq’s Ramadin Reuters

Islamic State militants yesterday killed 25 members of a Sunni Muslim tribe during their assault in Ramadi, 130km west of Baghdad, said local o� cials, in apparent revenge for tribal opposition to the radical Islamists.

They said the bodies of the men from the Albu Fahd tribe were discov-ered after the army launched a coun-ter-o� ensive against the Islamic State in a village on the eastern edge of Ram-adi, capital of Anbar province, reports Reuters.

“While they were combing the ter-ritories they are liberating, security forces found 25 corpses in the Shujari-ya area,” Hathal Al-Fahdawi, a member of the Anbar Provincial Council, told Reuters.

Albu Fahd tribal leader Sheikh Ra� e al-Fahdawi said at least 25 bodies had been found and said he expected the total to be signi� cantly higher.

He said the bodies were found scat-tered around with no signs of weapons next to them, suggesting they were not killed during � ghting.

The killings echoed the execution

of hundreds of members of the Albu Nimr tribe last month by Islamic State � ghters trying to break local resistance to their advances in Anbar, a Sunni Muslim province they have largely con-trolled for nearly a year.

Islamic State, which has seized con-trol of large parts of Syria and Iraq, con-tinues to gain territory in Anbar despite three months of U.S.-led air strikes launched against the group.

On Friday it launched coordinated attacks in central and outlying areas of Ramadi in an attempt to take full con-trol over a city which is already mostly in its hands.

Gunmen opened � re from rooftops at a complex in the heart of Ramadi which houses the governorate and police headquarters, but local o� cials said security forces managed to hold o� Islamic State � ghters trying to ad-vance toward the buildings.

The road from Ramadi to the mili-tary air base of Habbaniya, about 25 km (15 miles) to the east, remained under Islamic State control, Hathal Fahdawi said, preventing the army from rein-forcing security forces in the city.

He said tribal � ghters backed by army tanks were trying to secure the road to allow forces through from Habbaniya.

Islamic State’s lightning o� ensive through northern Iraq in June plunged the country into its gravest security crisis since the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and raised concerns that its radical ideology will spread across the Middle East. l

HT Imam a BNP man!n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP chief’s Press Secretary Maruf Ka-mal Khan yesterday claimed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Political Ad-viser HT Imam was a part of the BNP. He also asked the government not to harass Imam.

“HT Imam is our man. Do not touch him. We have our people everywhere. He [Imam] and Abdul Latif Siddique [a former Awami League minister who was sacked for his derogatory com-ments on Hajj and the premier’s son] said the truth,” Maruf said while ad-dressing a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.

“Many others will say the truth like the duo did. Do not touch him [Imam],” Maruf said.

Jatiyatabadi Sechchasebak Dal, vol-unteers’ wing of the BNP, organised the discussion to mark the 50th birthday of BNP’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, also elder son of party Chair-person Khaleda Zia.

Standing Committee member Ra� qul Islam Miah, Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and some other senior BNP leaders were also present at the programme. But they did not echo Maruf to claim that Imam was part of the BNP.

HT Imam has received huge criti-cism from inside and outside the Awa-mi League for his recent remarks that the ruling party men had helped a lot winning the January 5 election. He also said the party would consider the Chha-

tra League leaders in the BCS exams.However, later at a press conference

Imam alleged that the media had dis-torted his speech and that he did not make such comments.

Maruf said: “Conspiracy is on to split the BNP. This attempt was initiated earlier also. Many bigwigs left the party but it did not matter [for the BNP]. We have our people everywhere.”

He said the BNP would not submit any prayer to the government to fa-cilitate Tarique’s return. “He was in the country when it was in a bad state

during Fakhruddin-Moeen Uddin gov-ernment. He will return to Bangladesh once he is physically � t.”

Tarique, the BNP’s second man, has been staying in the UK on parole for treatment.

Ra� qul Islam Miah said his party would not indulge in corruption and criminal activities once it assumeso� ce.

His comments came a day after Bikalpadhara Bangladesh President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury had asked the BNP chief to vow so by

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

‘March-April to see change in power’BNP claims game-changing movement in the o� ng to seal fate of governmentn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

As the BNP rank-and-� le have long been irritated at its empty threats of launching a vigorous movement it is now telling them to wait until March-April.

“Everybody – from shopkeepers to rickshaw pullers – is saying the gov-ernment cannot stay in the o� ce after March or April,” Goyeshwar Chnadra Roy, standing committee member of the party, told the Dhaka tribune.

“If people do not want to see them in of-� ce then how will they cling to o� ce?”

When asked about whether the par-ty has devised any strategy to materi-alise this goal, Roy said: “Certainly we have some strategies but we will not disclose them.”

“When it happens you will all know. It is tough to give any speci� c date of waging movement,” he said.

Pro-BNP intellectual and former Dhaka University vice-chancellor Ema-juddin Ahmed also echoed the notion of Goyeshwar.

“I hope that Tarique Rahman will deliver the same speech in Dhaka Uni-versity in the next three months as he

did in Queens University of London.“If political science has any utility,

if my thinking is perfect then country’s situation will not remain the same in March-April. By the time people’s in-volvement with the movement will mount. I am waiting for Tarique’s new days,” Emajuddin told a discussion in Dhaka on Tuesday to mark the 50th birth anniversary of Tarique, who is senior vice-chairman of BNP.

When asked about how he could be sure of the change in the political ambi-ence in March-April Emajuddin averted the question several times.

Meanwhile, frustration still prevails in the party men as they in reality do not know anything about what is going to happen in March-April.

“We have never been told about any strategy for the imminent movement,” said a central leader.

It is particularly important for the leaders and activists at the mid and grassroots levels to know about when and how the campaign would be car-ried out.

“Because it is them who would spearhead the movement on streets if the BNP has to go anywhere near top-pling the government,” he said.

By the time BNP Chairperson Khale-da Zia has held several political ral-lies in recent times in various parts of the country but nowhere, contrary to the grassroots’ expectation, she an-nounced any de� nite time-frame for the movement.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

‘If political science has any utility, if my thinking is perfect then country’s situation will not remain the same in March-April’

HT Imam is our man. Do not touch him. We have our people everywhere. He and Abdul Latif Siddique said the truth

Al-Shabab kills28 in Kenyan Agencies

Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed that they killed at least 28 peo-ple in an attack on a bus in northern Kenya.

The bus was travelling to the capital, Nairobi, when it was stopped in Man-dera county, near the Somali border.

Gunmen separated out those they thought were non-Muslim before kill-ing them, o� cials and witnesses said, reports BBC.

Al-Shabab, which has been mount-ing attacks in Kenya since 2011, said it carried out the attack.

A statement on a website linked to the Islamist group carried a statement saying the attack was carried out in re-taliation for security raids on mosques in the coastal city of Mombasa earlier this week.

One of the passengers on the bus, Ahmed Mahat, told the BBC that there were more than 60 passengers on board when it was attacked, before dawn on Saturday, about 30km (19 miles) from Mandera town.

The driver tried to accelerate away, but the vehicle became stuck in mud caused by recent heavy rains, he said.

About 10 heavily armed men talking Somali ordered the passengers o� the bus.

“When we got down, passengers were separated according to Somali and non-Somalis,” Mr Mahat said.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Khaleda slams Jamaat inertian Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yester-day slammed key ally Bangladesh Ja-maat-e-Islami for its inactivity in the BNP-led 20-party alliance programmes.

The alliance chief scolded the Ja-maat representative saying: “You [Ja-maat] talk big but are absent on the � eld of action. You have called hartals but your people did not enforce it; life went on as normal.”

Redwanullah Sahedi, the Jamaat leader present at the alliance meeting yesterday night at Khaleda’s Gulshan of-� ce, remained silent during the reproof.

The meeting was called to analyse the political situation of the country and plan the next course of action.

Khaleda, in earlier meetings with party leaders, stressed the importance of leaders’ presence on the street at the upcoming movement.

Khaleda reportedly blasted stand-ing committee members for their lack of street level action and their failure to publicly highlight the government’s failings.

The former premier asked alliance leaders to commit to the upcoming movement to compel the government to hold elections under a non-partisan government.

An alliance leader, on condition of anonymity, said alliance leaders had suggested calling hartals in December centring on the government’s plan to prepare a new list of freedom � ghters if pro-BNP freedom � ghters are excluded from the new list.

The leader said others suggested protesting proposed gas and electricity price hikes in January.

Some leaders suggested enforcing a non-stop movement to topple the gov-ernment, the leader said.

Khaleda did not make up her mind, saying programmes would be � nalised after completing the Comilla rally on November 29, the leader said.

The BNP chief focused on demand-ing the presence of all leaders on the street when the programmes are launched. l

(Above) A community policeman clad in yellow uniform, courtesy of Champion Malik Samity, demands toll from a bus conductor. (Bottom left) As he refuses to pay the extortion the police makes a phone call to someone and hands over the mobile phone to the conductor. (Bottom right) After he listens to the man from the other side of the phone he � nally succumbs to the pressure and paid the money demanded. Community policemen are responsible for extending support to tra� c policemen to maintain tra� c discipline. They are not assigned to do otherwise SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Sunni tribesmen have recently joined the battle against IS in Anbar REUTERS

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

‘March-April to see change in power’ PAGE 1 COLUMN 2Everywhere she went, she sounded defensive, asking her party men to be strong and “resist” the government’s repression.

After boycotting the January nation-al election, Khaleda Zia said her party would launch a movement after reor-ganising itself but 10 months later the expected reshu� e did not take place.

Of the nine associated wings, two have seen factional clashes over the announcement of new committees, and the committees of six others have expired a year or more ago.

Nobody could say when the expired committees would be formed.

Moreover, when the party formed new committees of Sramik Dal and Chhatra Dal, the party faced serious resistance from the deprived and ag-grieved leaders.

The party o� ce came under attack and even the mural of party founder Ziaur Rahman was damaged and dis-honoured.

Talking to several grassroots leaders from various districts, the Dhaka Trib-une came to know that fear of arrest

is one major matter of concern for the BNP leaders because thousands of their party-mates are wanted in a number of political cases, most of which were � led during the pre-election violence.

Many grassroots leaders have al-leged that despite pledges, the organ-isation has not extended any legal support for those accused in political cases.

So, at this point, with such fears in mind, resisting the government’s re-pression does not appear to be a via-ble option, let alone � ghting back and building up the “tough movement”, said one of the grassroots leaders.

Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu said: “We want to start movement from to-morrow. But I cannot understand what the party is doing. We are ready to this any time. We are just waiting for the decision to come from the centre.”

Sahin Mridha, a Chhatra Dal leader of Mymensingh’s Valuka, said: “How will the leaders and activists take to the street as more or less all the leaders and activists are facing at least one case.”

“Even the leaders cannot stay in their houses. When the leaders and

activists will see their central leaders come out on to the streets they will fol-low them.”

Even the senior leaders of the party including the members of the standing committee, the highest policymaking body of the BNP, do not know much about their tasks.

In a recent meeting, party Chief Khaleda Zia vented her frustration on virtually everyone of them for what she said was their inactivity.

She even asked her senior col-leagues if they would stand beside her when she takes to the street.

After election, BNP Chairperson Khaleda repeatedly said the movement would be waged after reorganising the party and the process was started ac-cordingly.

Khaleda started exchanging views with the district committee leaders in a view to reorganising the party but all on a sudden without any speci� c rea-son the process came to a halt.

The former premier then said the movement would get momentum af-ter Eid-ul-Fitr but nothing happened. Then again she talked about a shake-up

in the organisation � rst. She embarked on an extensive tour

of di� erent districts to garner mass support in favour of the demand for an election under a non-partisan ad-ministration halting the reorganising process.

She has already held three meetings and schedueld to hold some more ral-lies but the venues and schedules are yet to be � xed.

In the meantime, suddenly she held meetings with her advisers, vice-chair-men and joint secretary generals and then standing committee members on November 10, 11 and 13 respectively to analyse the current political situation and to devise the next course of action.

But nothing concrete was an-nounced after those meetings.

Finally the meeting with vice-chair-men and joint secretary generals sug-gested her that the party should not hold councils right now as it might fuel the intra-party feud.

They advised her to hold national executive committee meeting to reju-venate the party. l

Al-Shabab kills 28 in Kenya PAGE 1 COLUMN 1“The non-Somalis were ordered to read some verses of the holy Koran, and those who failed to read were ordered to lie down. One by one they were shot in the head at point blank range.”

Kenya’s Red Cross said emergency workers were trying to retrieve bodies from the scene. Security agencies were “in pur-suit of the criminal gang” that carried out the attack, Kenya’s interior ministry said. It described the assailants as “bandits”.

After the attack, a local o� cial quot-ed by Kenyan media said the govern-ment had failed to answer their pleas for extra security. “This place has been prone to attacks,” county o� cial Abdul-lahi Abdirahman told The Daily Nation.

“This is not the � rst time the gov-ernment has totally ignored us, and

you can now see the how many inno-cent precious lives have been lost.”

KILLERS HEAD FOR BORDERPolice Inspector General David Kimai-yo told reporters that 19 men and nine women were killed. “Preliminary re-ports indicate that the attackers, who were heavily armed, later � ed toward the border into Somali,” reports Reuters.

In response to the attack, Kenya De-fence Forces (KDF) launched ground and air raid and destroyed a camp believed to have been used by the attackers.

“The KDF operation will continue until they arrest the attackers,” said Col. David Obonyo, KDF spokesman.

Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for a 2013 attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall that killed at least 67

people and attacks in Lamu in June and July that killed at least 65.

The group has vowed to drive Ken-yan and other African Union peace-keeping troops out of Somalia.

Saturday’s attack showed al Shabaab remains able to strike both in Somalia and abroad despite the killing of its lead-er Ahmed Abdi Godane in September.

The Mandera region is awash with guns due to its proximity to Somalia, where al Shabaab has been � ghting to topple the government, and Ethiopia, whose armed Oromo Liberation Front has made incursions into Kenya.

Insecurity plagues East Africa’s biggest economy, prompting Western nations to issue travel warnings and hitting the tourism industry, a major source of hard currency.

HT Imam a BNP man! PAGE 1 COLUMN 6touching the Qur’an. Badruddoza was the president of the country during the BNP-Jamaat government, but later he quit the BNP.

“We want to say clearly that in fu-ture we will form a government free from corruption, criminal activities, abduction-killing and misruling. That government will ensure rule of law and good governance,” Ra� qul told the dis-cussion.

He also asked the party leaders and activists to get prepared for waging movement against the ruling govern-ment’s “misdeeds, looting and corrup-tion.”

Dhaka, Delhi need to work together for mutual bene� tsn UNB

State Minister for Foreign A� airs M Shahriar Alam yesterday said Bangla-desh and India would have to work to-gether to alleviate poverty and expedite economic development in the region and thus ensuring mutual bene� ts.

“One country will have to come for-ward in another country’s danger…in real sense, Bangladesh and India will have to work together,” he told a discus-sion at the Jatiya Press Club in the city.

Bangladesh India Citizen Socie-ty (BICS) arranged the discussion on ‘Bangladesh-India Friendship’ with BICS executive president Jafar Iqbal Siddiqui in the chair.

Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Prof Miz-anur Rahman, Counsellor (Political & Information), Indian High Commission in Dhaka Sujit Ghosh, Prof Dr Syed An-war Hossain, Dr Enamul Haque, BICS Secretary General Monoranjan Ghosal, Dr Uttam Kumar Barua and

Nazmul Haque Prodhan MP, among others, spoke on the occasion.

Speaking as the chief guest, Shahriar said the existing ties between the two countries have reached such a stage from where they can only march for-

ward. “Trust and con� dence between the two countries have been restored.”

Stressing strengthening peo-ple-to-people contact, he said it will help remove misunderstanding be-tween the two sides if any such misun-derstanding prevails.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said Bangabandhu founded Bangladesh and his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, saved Bangladesh.

Referring to the comment, the state minister yesterday said it re� ects Indi-an new government’s positive attitude towards Bangladesh. Mizanur Rahman said Bangladesh needs a good friend like India but India must stop killing along the border to keep the friendship unhurt.

“If you’re our friend, please stop killing along the border. It appears as thorns on friend’s way,” he said.

The national rights body chief said no such incident should take place be-tween the two countries that might cre-ate cracks in the friendship.

Later, in his speech Shahriar Alam said killings along the border have come down signi� cantly in recent days.

Sujit Ghosh said India is fully com-mitted to taking forward the existing friendly relations between the two countries. l

Bangladeshi MP delegation meets Mamata in Kolkata n Our Correspondent, Kolkata

An eight-member delegation compris-ing Bangladeshi lawmakers met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baner-jee at Nabanna in Kolkata yesterday.

Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan led the delegation while the other members were Whip Iqbalur Rahim, Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Pankaj Nath, Mustafa Lutful-lah, Nahim Razzaq, Mahjabeen Khaled and Sha� qul Islam Shimul.

Apart from the legislators, Md Arafat and Sujit Nandi were present.

The delegation discussed a range of issues with Mamata, who said she loves Bangladesh. She said Bangladesh and India enjoy an intimate relation because of similarities in language and culture, adding that any disputes can be resolved through talks.

Mamata recalled the memories of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his role in the 1971 War of Liberation.

The chairperson of All India Trinamool Congress invited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit West Bengal and also ex-pressed her intent to visit Bangladesh.

She said disputes over the Land Boundary Agreement would soon be resolved through discussion. l

PM wins South-South Coop Visionary awardn UNB

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been honoured with ‘South-South Coopera-tion Visionary’ award of the United Na-tions (UN) for her leadership in taking Bangladesh towards progress.

Prime Minister’s ICT A� airs Adviser Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy received the award on behalf of his mother at the closing ceremony of the Global South-South Development Expo in Washing-ton on Friday, according to a message received in Dhaka yesterday.

Joy also spoke on the occasion and read out the message of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh Ambassador in Washing-ton M Ziauddin, Additional Secretary of the Economic Relations Division M Asadul Islam and Deputy Chief of Bang-ladesh Mission in Washington Moham-mad Abdul Muhith were also present.

The award was the recognition to Bangladesh’s advancement under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s leader-ship in expanding information technol-ogy, ensuring healthcare to grassroots level, improvement of society’s distress people through safety net programme and success in poverty alleviation.

19 deceived migrants demand compensationn Adil Sakhawat

Almost a year has passed but 19 mi-grants who were cheated and returned from Iraq have not yet received any compensation.

They formed a human chain in front of National Press Club yesterday de-manding compensation from the Min-istry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Over-seas Employment.

They said they were victims of fraud, claiming that the four manpower agen-cies that sent them to Iraq presented entry visas as employment visas.

Claiming that the agencies managed fake smart cards from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, they said the four agencies are still run-ning their business.

The agencies are Meghna Trade In-ternational Agency, Morning Sun En-terprises, East Bengal Overseas and Idea International Overseas.

Twenty-seven migrants went to Iraq through the agencies in March last year to work at a construction company.

But they were con� ned to a house near Najaf as they reached Iraq and did not get any job for 11 months.

In the wake of protests staged by their families, the government brought 22 of them back while the rest � ve � ed from con� nement.

Only three out of the 22 migrants received compensations from East Bengal Overseas and Idea International Overseas.

“Nineteen of us are yet to get any compensation. We paid Tk3 lakh each to go to Iraq,” said Masud Hossain, who hails from Tangail, at the human chain.

Having returned from Iraq, the vic-tims complained to Expatriates’ Wel-fare and Overseas Employment Min-ister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain in January this year.

“The minister assured us of com-pensation but we have got no update since then,” said Mozammel Haque.

Ilias Hossain, who set up a tea stall in the capital’s Mohammadpur after his return from Iraq, said: “We took out loans from Probashi Kallyan Bank which were supposed to be repaid from our wages in Iraq. Now we have no money but the bank is pressuring to pay back the loans.”

“Ministry o� cials behaved rude-ly with us when we went there to in-quire about our compensation,” Ilias claimed.

The ministry’s Joint Secretary Nurul Islam earlier told the Dhaka tribune a decision on the compensation would be reached and actions would be taken against the accused recruiting agencies. l

Families demand illegal migrants’ return n Tribune Report

Family members of nine illegal mi-grants to Malaysia yesterday demand-ed the workers be brought back to the country.

The families, all from Sirajganj, said the members did not inform them be-fore embarking on the perilous jour-ney, and they were also coerced into paying money for the migrants’ safety.

The Refugee and Migratory Move-ments Research Unit (RMMRU) held a press conference yesterday in the cap-ital where the families spoke.

All the families live on meagre earn-ings but the money they paid ranged from Tk1.20 lakh to 3 lakh.

Speaking at the conference, Sanwar Hossain said he had not heard from his son Nobi Hossain for the last seven months, and paid Tk1.2 lakh which he had borrowed against interest.

“I got a call from my son 17 days after he had left for Malaysia. He said he was facing torture for money and request-ed me to give the amount to the local middleman in Sirajganj. Otherwise, he said, he would be killed,” said Sanwar.

Rahima, whose husband Sha� q has been in a Malaysian jail for four months, said she paid Tk2.20 lakh but still her husband could not escape ar-rest.

She said she also borrowed the money against interest and was facing mounting pressure for repayment from the lender.

None of the families went to police to lodge complaint against tra� ckers or middlemen living in their villages,

arguing that such a step would be fruit-less.

Kohinur Begum, daughter of Kam-rul whose whereabouts remain un-known, said: “Police will not take action against the tra� ckers. On the other hand they will harass us. In some cases, tra� ckers bribe the police and thus enjoy impunity.”

G2G re-evaluation suggestedEven though members of only nine

families came to the conference, a RM-MRU investigation in seven upazilas of Sirajganj showed more than 400 mi-grants to Malaysia remained missing.

Experts at the conference described such journeys to foreign lands in pur-suit of a better life as hazardous, and suggested the government should re-examine the G2G system for man-power export to Malaysia.

They said legal actions should be taken immediately against tra� ckers in accordance with the Overseas Em-ployment and Migration Act 2013.

The speakers also questioned the role of Bangladesh Association of Inter-national Recruiting Agencies, and rec-ommended concerned e� orts be made by three ministries – Home Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Expa-triates’ Welfare and Overseas Employ-ment – to stop illegal migration.

RMMRU Founding Chairman Tas-neem Siddiqui, Ovibashi Karmi Un-nayan Programme Chairman Sakirul Islam, Dhaka University teacher CR Abrar and Ain O Salish Kendra Director Nur Khan were present at the confer-ence. l

Obaidul warns BCL against committing crimesn UNB

In the wake of growing in� ghting in Sylhet within the student wing of the ruling Awami League, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Saturday said stern action will be taken against members of the Bangla-desh Chhatra League (BCL) found in-volved in crimes.

“None will be spared, if found in-volved in any crime,” he warned, while talking to reporters after visiting the under-construction Patgati Bridge on the Madhumati river under Tungipara upazila in Gopalganj.

Quader, also the presidium member of the Awami League, said a fair trial is being held against the members of BCL accused in criminal activities, particu-larly the murder of Biswajit Das in the capital in December 2012.

He also criticised the BNP and said it would be tough for BNP to survive attacking Bangabandhu and the Liber-ation War.

About the prospective Padma Bridge, the minister said despite the World Bank’s exit, work in this regard began thanks to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The construction of the Padma Bridge will be completed by 2018 and it would be opened to tra� c in the same year, he said.

About the progress of the Patgati Sheikh Lutfar Rahman Bridge, Quader said its construction was now in the � nal stage, and hoped that it would be inaugurated by the prime minister in the � rst week of January 2015.

Earlier, he paid respects to Ban-gaabandbhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Tungipara by placing � owers at his grave. He also o� ered fateha there.

According to UNB’s Pirojpur corre-spondent, Quader said it is not possible to win the hearts of the people by hang-ing pictures, billboards, posters and setting up arches beside the streets.

“I want to build an arch out of the love of the people,” he said.

“The duty of the public representa-tives or ministers is to serve the people who voted them to power,” he said, adding, “It is not the duty of the people to serve the ministers.”

He came up with the remarks while addressing a programme at Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Women’s College at Nazirpur in the district. l

Bangladeshi workers who returned from Iraq with empty hands, form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday, demanding quick and systematic dissemination of compensation from the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment MEHEDI HASAN

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

The nine Bangladeshi children along with their parents caught by the Indian Border Security Force, yesterday returned into the country through the Sonamasjid border in Shibganj upazila of Chapanawabganj district FOCUS BANGLA

US envoy considered RU Shibir an important contactRU unit Chhatra Shibir is infamous for its violence against political opponents which includes killings and slitting tendonsn Probir K Sarker

The in� uence of the leaders of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student body of Ja-maat-e-Islami, at Rajshahi University (RU) was so big in 2008 that a US em-bassy team considered them important points of contact.

The team that visited the university on a government vulnerability assess-ment trip in mid-February that year said Chhatra Shibir had the ability to ensure that like-minded people were hired onto the faculty.

Then charge d’a� aires Geeta Pasi wrote to Washington on March 5 the same year about the tour, reveals a ca-ble leaked by whistle blower website WikiLeaks.

“Although Jamaat-e-Islami is the country’s largest Islamic political party and Shibir its main feeder organisation, Embassy Dhaka’s contact with Shibir is limited since they are not overtly active in Dhaka.

“Although they were far less forth-coming than one would hope, the Ra-jshahi Shibir members appeared to en-joy their engagement with the Embassy team. Post recognises a need to better reach out to this group, many of whom will be in positions to in� uence Bangla-desh’s more Islamic-minded people, and will work on strategies to do so.”

The cable also stated that Chhatra Shibir was scorned by student groups aligned with secular-oriented parties, which had prevented it from organising openly at Dhaka University.

Delawer Hossain, then president of the university chapter of Shibir, was one of the four leaders who the US em-bassy team had met during the visit.

They described the group as high-ly organised and intently focused on spreading and deepening the in� u-ence of Islam. Their main tasks, they said, were teaching fellow students the Qur’an and the words and deeds of Prophet Muhammad known as “had-ith.”

Other Shibir activities at the univer-sity include running a library with a selection of Islamic literature; collect-ing donations; providing assistance to select impoverished and “meritorious” students; and o� ering English semi-nars.

Quoting a Rajshahi reporter, the ca-ble said local Chhatra Shibir members at times resorted to violence as well. The reporter also said: “Shibir is so in-� uential on campus it can ensure that a strong legion of like-minded people are hired onto the faculty.”

Jamaat leaders in Rajshahi con-� rmed that their supporters had dom-inated the governing board of the uni-

versity. After insisting that Shibir held no in� uence in the university, Delawer conceded that he had personally spo-ken with its top o� cial about “person-nel matters.”

The Chhatra Shibir leaders told the US embassy team that the national education system did not provide stu-dents a su� cient grounding in moral-ity, ethics and good citizenship, the cable reads.

Mohammad Mijanur Rahman, then education secretary of Chhatra Shibir in Rajshahi, claimed: “We also don’t support the destructive programs of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.”

However, Delawer and his col-leagues were consistently vague when they were asked to explain their vision of a more Islamic society – at one point they mentioned the abolition of inter-est charges “but refused to venture much further, careful again, it seemed, to not say anything they believed might o� end Americans.”

Most Chhatra Shibir members go on to join Jamaat; indeed, they said sup-porting an Islamic-based party or oth-erwise promoting the spread of Islam were foremost among their life goals after graduation.

Faruk killingThough Delawer claimed that Chha-

tra Shibir seeks a larger role for Islam in national life via “democratic and non-violent means,” the group is large-ly responsible for gruesome murders and carrying out violent attacks on the opponent student body supporters at RU and other universities, especially Chittagong University – known as an-other stronghold of Shibir.

A cable sent on February 10, 2010 by then ambassador to Dhaka James F Moriarty mentioned Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Abdur Razzaq ac-knowledging the killing of RU master’s � nal year student Faruk Hossain on February 8 by Chhatra Shibir men.

Faruk, a student of mathematics, was killed in an attack at Shah Muk-dum Hall and the corpse shoved down a manhole while many others were in-jured on the campus following a con-frontation between the two student groups of Awami League and Jamaat.

Police said Faruk had been hacked in the television room of the dormitory around 2am and dumped into a man-hole. His body was recovered the next morning.

Equipped with Chinese axes, ham-mers, rods, machetes and daggers, the Shibir members entered the hall led by Ahad, hall unit general secretary, and Anis, former hall president, police said.

Terming the murder “inhumane,

regrettable, and indefensible,” Razzaq said Jamaat would cooperate fully in any investigation on the incident.

According to Razzaq, the clash had started as a small incident in the early evening at a dorm between four male students, two from Chhatra League and two from Chhatra Shibir.

The confrontation had led over 1,500 Shibir to gather later in the eve-ning. “The Shibir students had report-edly gone on a rampage, killing one Ch-hatra League member and shoving his corpse down a manhole. Chhatra Shibir activists also allegedly slit the tendons of a number of Chhatra League mem-bers.”

Asked whether the government should ban student political groups, Razzaq replied that Jamaat had been prepared to work with the government on a ban, provided the government used proper legal procedures and ap-plied the ban impartially.

Another Jamaat leader Kamaru-zzaman in a meeting with Moriarty on December 22, 2005 dismissed ar-guments that Jamaat’s loose ties to “radical Islamic student group” Shibir “proved” that Jamaat supports vio-lence.

“JIB [Jamaat] does not actively sup-port or control Shibir,” he said, “but merely o� ers guidance. Moreover,

people join groups for many reasons when they are young, reasons they lat-er abandon or renounce.”

He added: “Most of the individuals who have been involved in Shibir did not join Jamaat, but pursued careers as civil servants. The leadership of Jamaat was based on Chhatra Shibir involve-ment.”

Former Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla, who was executed last year for committing war crimes in 1971, was quoted in another cable sent to Wash-ington on January 24, 2006.

He said some members of the banned Islamist out� t Jama’atul Mu-jahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had asso-ciations with Jamaat, “particularly its student wing Chhatra Shibir.”

The JMB members left by their own admission as they had disagreed with Jamaat’s stance on “adhering to the democratic process,” Molla claimed.

On December 14, 2005 then US charge d’a� airs in Dhaka Judith Cham-mas met with former PMO principal secretary Kamal Siddiqui.

“JMB is � lled with former Ja-maat-e-Islami members who broke away when the latter aligned with the BNP [in 2001]. Some Jamaat members maintain supportive links to the JMB,” Siddiqui said declining to give names or more speci� c information. l

Sylhet, city unit BCL deny involvement in SUST clashn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Like the central committee, Sylhet and the city unit Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) yesterday denied its or-ganisational involvement in the clash erupted at Shahjalal University of Sci-ence and Technology (SUST) campus on Thursday.

In a press conference at the Sylhet zila parishad hall in the evening, BCL city unit President Rahat Tarafder said: “The university authorities are respon-sible for the untoward incident that left one BCL activist hacked dead as it failed to ensure security and congenial atmosphere on the campus.”

As a result the university was closed for inde� nite time and the authorities could not deny their responsibility, he

went on.Later, they demanded prohibition

of outsiders on the campus and to re-open the university as early as possible.

Law enforcers should take puni-tive measures against those who were involved in the clash of expelled BCL leaders and outsiders, Rahat also stat-ed. He expressed deep shock at the demise Sylhet International University unit BCL worker Sumon Das.

Earlier on Friday, BCL President HM Bodiuzzaman Shohag claimed that no member of the student body was in-volved in the SUST clash.

BCL Sylhet unit President Shahriar Alam Samad, Secretary Rayhan Choud-hury and city unit Secretary Emrul Hasan were present among others there. l

Mentally challenged girl raped, killed in capital n Ashif Islam Shaon

A 10-year-old mentally challenged girl was killed allegedly after rape in the capital’s Chawkbazar area on Friday night.

The victim’s relatives found the girl beside a shop near their house in the Islambagh’s Ali Ghat area around 9:00pm.

The victim, profusely bleeding, was rushed to a medicine shop. She was lat-er taken to the Mitford Hospital where she was declared dead.

Police detained a youth on charge of his alleged involvement in the inci-dent.

The detainee, Delwar Hossain, 25, an employee of a local plastic factory, had reportedly tried to rape the girl twice earlier, police said quoting locals.

Mo� zuddin, deputy commission-er of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said: “She [the victim] was strangled after being raped.”

“We are quizzing the detainee,” he said adding that details about the in-cident would be made public after the investigation.

Sohodeb Raj Bangshi, a doctor at

Mitford Hospital’s emergency unit, said the victim was brought dead around 11:00pm.

“There was a deep injury mark on her neck. We think she was � rst raped and then strangulated,” he said.

Police sent the body to Salimullah Medical College morgue for autopsy.

The victim’s father Chand Mia, a boatmen at Buriganga ferry ghat, said the girl was the youngest among their � ve daughters.

“We did not send her to any school as she was mentally challenged.”

The girl went out of their house af-ter having dinner around 8:00pm that night, her mother Renu said.

“After dinner, she would visit the neighbour’s houses and return home between 9:00pm and 10:00pm to go to bed,” she said.

Azizul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of Chawkbazar Police Station, said they found the shalwar the victim was wearing before she was allegedly raped, from a nearby lane.

“I think she was raped and killed in a preplanned way. We picked up six youths and released � ve of them.”

A case was � led in this connection. l Thousands of hawkers have illegally occupied the road under the Gulistan � yover in the capital leaving little space for smooth movement of vehicles SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

SHAFIUL MURDER INVESTIGATION

Sleuths admit no progress yet, mass arrests alleged n Mohammad Jamil Khan,

from Rajshahi

Seven days after the murder of Rajshahi University (RU) Professor AKM Sha� -ul Islam Lilon, police still do not know who the murderers are or what their motives were.

Meanwhile, some Rajshahi residents said law enforcers were harassing locals and arresting teenage boys and then re-leasing them for a price on the pretext of investigating the crime.

Some people claimed they had no trace of their loved ones after men iden-tifying themselves as Rapid Action Bat-talion (RAB) or Detective Branch (DB) o� cials picked them up late at night on suspicion of involvement in the killing.

The families of the those who seem to have disappeared claim they were thrown out of the police station compound when they tried to lodge complaints with the police.

On November 15, Sha� ul was hacked to death in broad daylight by unidenti� ed assailants while on his way home from the RU campus.

Soon after the murder, police and RAB began their investigation but admit they have made little progress so far.

Mohammad Shamsuddin, commis-sioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP), told the Dhaka Tribune yester-day that his force is analysing the avail-able information.

Lt Col Mahbub Alam, commanding o� cer of RAB 5, said his team is hope-ful that a breakthrough would be made soon.

So far police have arrested 11 sus-

pects and taken them on two-day re-mand.

They are expected to place the sus-pects before a Rajshahi court today to request a further seven days’ remand. It has been alleged that police have de-tained nearly one hundred people over the last seven days to harass them and extort money.

A 45-year-old farmer waiting outside Matihar police station Friday afternoon claimed that his 21-year-old son, who used to work in Dhaka but later re-turned to Rajshahi, was taken into cus-tody late at night without any reason.

He said he lived in the Mirzapur area, but declined to disclose his name out of fear of harassment.

In addition to his complaint, two other allegations of late night arrests resulting in no contact between the de-tainees and their families were made against both DB and RAB.

On November 19 men identifying themselves as RAB rode two white microbuses and another vehicle to Bakrabad in the city’s Katakhali area and took away Asad, 32, son of Al-Ma-mun.

His father told the Dhaka Tribune that after his son’s arrest, he went to RAB and the police station but found no trace of his son.

The police would not take down a complaint despite repeated requests to do so, he said.

Mirajul Islam said his 17-year-old brother, Sirajul, was taken away around 6am from the family house in Mirka-mari of Katakhali by men identifying themselves as DB o� cials.

Police refused to note down a com-plaint, he claimed.

RAB 5 member and Assistant Super-intendent of Police Sha� q told the Dha-ka Tribune that law enforcers had no information about such arrests.

In the event of such an incident, of-� cials suggested � ling a general diary (GD) with the local police.

DB inspector Abdul Mazid agreed that � ling a GD was the right thing to do.

Queried about the allegations, Alam-gir Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Mati-har police station, said his station had no information of the arrest.

He said that someone had tried to � le a GD with the station but was asked by police o� cers to search for the missing person � rst before a GD was taken down.

Queried about rampant arrests, Alamgir rejected allegations of mass ar-rests as false and said those who were detained were held because of informa-tion relevant to the investigation.

He said if a person went missing, the local police station is bound to take a verbal complaint � rst and if the person remains missing for 24 hours, the local police station must � le a GD. l

BSF returns nine Bangladeshis to BGBn UNB

Nine Bangladeshis, who were detained by Indian police, returned home on Sat-urday through Sona Masjid border point at Shibganj uapzila in Chapainawabganj.

They were handed over to the Bor-der Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) by In-dia’s Border Security Force after a � ag meeting at about 1:30pm. They hail from various districts, including Bager-hat, Natore, Naogaon and Joypurhat.

The BGB then handed over them to Shibganj police station. Indian police detained the Bangladeshi nationals two and a half years back for entering India without any valid documents. Later, they were kept in a shelter home. l

CPB, BSD to resist gas-power price hike moven UNB

Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) have vowed to resist the government’s ‘plot’ to raise prices of gas and electric-ity at any cost. They made the vow yes-terday, when they also held rallies and staged demonstrations across the coun-try protesting the government move to raise prices of power and gas. They an-nounced that they will hold a protest rally in front of the National Press on Monday.

“The present government has no re-sponsibility towards the people of the country. It has taken aggressive posi-tion against the interest of the people as it assumed state power without the support of the people”, the leaders told the rallies, according to a press release.

They urged the countrymen to form resistance committee at the district and upazila-level to resist the conspiracy. l

The OC said somebody had tried to � le a GD but was asked by police o� cers to search for the missing person � rst before one would be taken down

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

Expectant housewife burnt to death n Our Correspondent, Habiganj

A pregnant housewife was killed al-legedly by her husband over a family feud at Khagaura village in Nabiganj upazila of the district yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as Refat Begum,25, wife of Raihan Uddin of the village. Mother of a three-year-old son, she was 4 months’ pregnant.

Liakat Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of Nabiganj police station said Raihan and Refat got locked in an altercation over family feud. At one stage, Raihan set her � re to the body of Refat pouring Kerosine. She died on the spot.

Police recovered Refat’s body from the toilet and sent it to hospital morgue while police arrested Raihan.

A case was � led in this connection. l

Govt’s move to hike gas price protested in Bhola n Our Correspondent, Bhola

Local activists of Susasoner Janno Na-gorik formed human chain and rally in the district town yesterday protesting the government’s move to increase the gas price across the country from Janu-ary 1 next year.

Sources said the commoners also joined the programme started in the morning on Bhola Sadar road express-ing solidarity with the demand.

During speech, the leaders blamed vested quarters for gobbling up the sec-tor and the people have been forced to carry its consequence.

Later, the leaders termed the move wholly unacceptable and they urged upon the government to retreat from the decision. l

Contraband worth Tk10 lakh seized in Chuadanga n Our Correspondent, Chuadanga

Members of Border Guard Bangla-desh (BGB) in separate drives seized huge amount of contraband goods worth Tk10.5 lakh from dirrerent areas of the district yesterday and the previ-ous day.

The goods included 131 bottles of Indian phensidyl syrup and 50,000 pieces of dexamethasone tablet used to treat particularlyl in� ammation.

Chuadanga 6 BGB Battalion Direc-tor SM Maniruzzaman said BGB patrol teams from Damurhuda and Jiban-nagar camps seized the goods smug-gled from India at Charulia and Goalpa-ra villages.

However, no arrest was reported from the drives. l

Workshop on secularism at Brac universityn Tribune Report

Brac University in associa-tion with Georgetown Uni-versity’s Berkley Centre for Religion, Peace, and World A� airs and World Faiths Development Dialogue or-ganised a day-long work-shop titled “Secularism and Faith-Inspired Develop-ment: Understanding Con-testation and Collaboration” on its campus yesterday.

The workshop started with a welcome speech by Professor Syed M Hashemi, Chairman of Department of Economics and Social Sciences of Brac while its Vice Chancellor Prof Saad Andaleeb chaired the programme, says media release.

During the event, the speakers stressed on a non-politicised space for constructive dialogue on the real and potential contribu-tions of faith-inspired ac-tors on critical development topics, with a view towards deepening the national con-versation on religion.

The workshop also in-cluded two panel discus-sions. l

Bangladeshi workers who returned from Iraq with empty hands, form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday, demanding quick and systematic dissemination of compensation from the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment MEHEDI HASAN

Sellers passing a busy time in sorting ‘bati gur’ and ‘patali gur’ ( jaggeries) at a local market. The much-in-demand winter item is carried through di� erent parts of the country to sell at a high rate. The photo was taken from Baneshwar Haat in Rajshahi AZAHAR UDDIN

Uncertainty looms over Uttara Apartment Project n Abu Hayat Mahmud

Uncertainty about the Uttara Apart-ment Project heightened as ENA Prop-erties Ltd owned by Awami League lawmaker Enamul Haque along with two other Korean companies has com-pleted only 4% of the work in last two and a half years.

The project was supposed to be completed by December this year.

The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) signed an agreement with ENA and two Korean companies – Dung Ah and DDJ – for 75% of the total construc-tion work of 49 16-storey buildings having � ats measuring 1250sq-ft each.

As for 16 other buildings Rajuk inked another deal with two other companies – the Hamid Real Estate Construction Ltd of Hamid Group owned by Nasrul Hamid Bipu, the ruling party lawmaker of Dhaka 4 constituency, and the Build-ing for Future Limited.

Nasrul Hamid Bipu is also the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources.

Hamid Real Estate and its associate � rms have completed around 20% work.

In December 2011, Rajuk struck the � rst deal with ENA Properties for con-structing 20 apartments by March 2012.

Later in 2012, Rajuk signed another contract with ENA for the construc-tion of 29 more apartments in June the same year.

A joint venture agreement was also signed with ENA Properties and South Korean companies Dung Ah and DDJ.

ENA Properties has so far taken over Tk25 crore from Rajuk but no progress has been made in the past two years, said Rajuk sources.

Because of the dilly-dally of ENA, Rajuk sent warning letters to the com-pany several times but it paid no heed to those warnings prompting Rajuk to terminate the ENA-Dung Ah and ENA-DDJ agreements in December last year.

But ENA is yet to quit the project and is now trying to manage another sub-contractor for the project, sources in Rajuk said.

Visiting the project area the Dhaka Tribune correspondent found that ENA had just begun piling for the founda-tion of the buildings although it had started construction in 2012.

Meanwhile, ENA has � led a writ petition with the High Court against a few o� cials of Rajuk, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, and the IFIC bank.

Consequently, the High Court issued a stay order, asking the IFIC manager of

the branch concerned not to allow Ra-juk to cash a cheque of Tk72,641,573 deposited by ENA-DDJ as the perfor-mance guarantee money.

The stay order was also issued on a letter sent by Rajuk to ENA-DDJ on De-cember 12 last year mentioning termi-nation of the deal.

Moreover, ENA also sent a legal no-tice to Rajuk, asking for explanation as to why it had terminated the deal with ENA.

Project Director Prafulla Chandra Bhowmik told the Dhaka Tribune that Rajuk’s legal section was dealing with the matter.

“The agreement was terminated due to the delay in construction and all the decisions were made by Rajuk high-ups,” he added.

Enamul Haque could not be reached over phone for comments despite sev-eral attempts.

Flat owners have meanwhile ex-pressed concerns whether they would be handed over the � ats on time. Al-though Rajuk is supposed to hand over the � ats in 2016, it is unlikely that it would be able to meet the deadline.

Already more than 500 � at own-ers have withdrawn their installment money, said sources in Rajuk.

After the termination of the deal with ENA, said Rajuk o� cials, the gov-ernment planned to go forward with the project on a G2G basis with the Ma-laysian government.

They also said the Housing and Public Works Ministry and Rajuk were jointly dealing with the Malaysian au-thorities to implement the construc-tion of apartments.

Rajuk Chairman GM Joynal Abedin Bhuiyan yesterday said: “The govern-ment of Bangladesh and Malaysia would work on a government-to-government basis on the un� nished project.

“A Malaysian team has already come in Bangladesh to visit the project area.”

Answering to a question about ENA’s legal action, Joynal Abedin said: “Since the matter is pending in court, it will not be wise to comment on it.

“The court has no order or ruling against the land, so the construction will continue on the selected land of the project area after the new deal.”

The Public Works Department has also been tasked with constructing 30 buildings under the project. It has signed an agreement with ENA for the project but progress here has also been slow.

The PWD is considering terminating its contract with ENA, said a source in the department. l

Book on president Zillur Rahman unveiled n DU Correspondent

A book titled “Kaljoyi Zillur Rahman’ on late president Md Zillur Rahman was unveiled at Dhaka University yes-terday.

The book’s editor is Saki Anwar while the publisher is Adhuna Publica-tion.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith formally as the chief guest in-augurated the book at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury senate building of the uni-versity in the evening.

The minister said Zillur Rahman was very simple, but bold and loyal to his way of life. He was a guardian of Awami League who kept the party on the right track after the death of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“Democracy was reinstated in the country after 1/11 and � nally there ap-peared a solution as he played a vital role during the juncture moment,” he continued.

BTV former director M Hamid pre-sided over the function while UGC Chairman AK Azad Chowdhury, DU Vice-Chancellor AAMS Are� n Siddique, prominent journalist Rahat khan, among others, were present there. l

Human chain protests CHT Zila Parishad amendment billsn Tribune Report

The proposed bills placed in the parlia-ment on November 17 over reformation of zila parishads of three Chittagong hill districts were a violation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, opined the speakers at a human chain yesterday.

‘Nagarik Samaj’ arranged the human chain at capital’s Shahbagh in front of the National Museum to protest the zila parishad reformation bills.

Pankaj Bhattacharya, chairman of ‘Nagarik Samaj’, said the peace treaty

had clearly mentioned about consult-ing hill leaders before changing any law about the hill tracts but the proposed bills violated that clause.

Also present in the human chain, Mejbah Kamal, professor of Dhaka University said the government must fully implement 33 agreements set by the Chittagong Hill Tracts peace Accords.

“If they are the citizens of Bangla-desh and hill tracts are parts of Bangla-desh, then they must be given equal rights just like every citizen of the country,” said Khushi Kabir.

The participants put forward four demands to the government including withdrawing the Zila Parishad amend-ment bills, preparing voter list in con-sultation with local people, taking ini-tiative for zila parishad elections and handing over administrative power to the elected representative, and im-mediate implementation of the peace treaty.

The human chain, moderated by Razib Mir, was attended by Robayet Ferdous, Sanjeeb Drong, K S Mong, No-man Ahmed Khan, Chanchana Chakma and Nilufar Banu among others. l

A day-long workshop on secularism and faith-based development was held on the campus of Brac University yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

WEATHER

PARTLY CLOUDY

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:00am Sunrise 6:18am Zohr 11:45am Asr 3:35pm Magrib 5:11pm Esha 6:30 pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:11PM SUN RISES 6:19AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW30.2ºC 12.8ºC

Cox's Bazar Chuadanga

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 28 18Chittagong 29 19Rajshahi 28 14Rangpur 28 15Khulna 28 13Barisal 28 16Sylhet 29 15Cox’s Bazar 29 20

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

Grenade found in GPH steel factoryn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A live grenade was found from a pile of scrap metal at the factory of GPH Ispat Limited in Choto Kumira area under Sitakunda upazila in Chittagong yes-terday.

After receiving the information, Sitkaunda police along with a bomb disposal unit went to the factory and defused the grenade around 7pm, Additional Superintendent of Police (North) Mohammad Shahidullah of Chittagong said.

He said the grenade came into sight of factory workers when they were moving the scrap metals around 1:30pm.

Sub-Inspector Sontos Kumar Chak-ma, in-charge of Bomb Disposal Unit of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, told the Dhaka Tribune that the grenade seemed to be manufactured in an ar-tillery factory, however, no label was found on it.

He said: “Such type of grenades are used in wars and can cause a huge blast.”

“A number was found in its body but it was unreadable and the bomb looked quite old,” he added.

GPH Ispat Limited’s Additional Man-aging Director Almas Shimul said they had formed a probe body headed by the factory’s acting general manager, Mahmudul Hasan Rajib, to look into the incident.

He said GPH mainly imports scrap metals and steels, as raw materials for their products, from di� erent coun-tries including Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden, adding that the pile in which the grenade was found was also imported.

“Currently we are investigating from which country the pile was bought and other relevant queries. We will also search all existing piles of imported scrap metals to � nd out if other such unusual objects exist,” Shimul said. l

Prime minister urges BSMMU doctors, sta� to show proper e� ciencyn UNB

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day urged upon all sta� of Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) to demonstrate enough e� -ciency through research and sincerity to provide improved and better servic-es to the patients.

The PM made the remarks while inaugurating the newly constructed outdoor complex at the BSMMU in the capital.

She said the BSMMU is the coun-try’s only medical university where students and researchers could carry out research activities alongside higher education.

Hasina also stated that it was her government that had decided during its 1996-2001 tenure to transform the then PG Hospital into a medical univer-sity and that far-sighted decision now has appeared right and now people are

getting better treatment from there.The premier mentioned that the

BSMMU is being developed as a centre of excellence where an Autism centre has been set up while a Palliative Care unit for marginal patients in the death bed. Besides, a bachelor course has al-ready been introduced at the university for further modernising Nursing Edu-cation, Hasina went on.

Reiterating to set up two more med-ical universities in Chittagong and Rajshahi, the PM said she has already directed the authorities concerned to take measures.

All the medical colleges will be a� l-iated under the medical universities in the respective regions, she said, adding that she has already gave direction for transforming the country’s over 500-bed hospitals into medical colleges.

She also asked the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to take ini-tiatives to establish a separate wing for

general hospitals at the Railway Hospi-tal to provide medical services for the general patients living in adjacent areas of those.

The Prime Minister said new forms of diseases are being detected across the world and hoped that the physi-cians would be more attentive in med-ical research and try to � nd out a new path for the prevention of diseases and low-cost treatment facilities.

Terming physicians friends of dis-tressed people, Hasina said their little cooperation and positive gesture and good behaviour could help them forget the su� erings.

She thanked the BSMMU authorities for forming Institutional Review Board (IRB) to upgrade its research activities to international standards.

Hasina said her government has taken the healthcare services to the doorsteps of people by setting upabout 13,500 community clinics and

1,500 union health centres across the country.

She regretted that the BNP-Jamaat government in its previous tenure stopped those on political ground and deprived the rural people from getting the medical services.

About recruitment of new physi-cians, Hasina said her government appointed over 8,500 assistant sur-geons and assistant dental surgeonsthrough BCS examinations as well as more than four thousand Assistant Sur-geons on ad-hoc basis in last couple of years.

Besides, the government has tak-en initiatives to create more trained nurses and created opportunities fortheir higher education on nursing, she added.

Health and Family Welfare a� airs Minister Mohammad Nasim and State Minister of the Ministry Jahid Malek also spoke on the occasion. l

European Union assures assistance for implementation of Children Actn Tribune Report

European Union expressed its commit-ment to support the Bangladesh gov-ernment for proper implementation of the Children Act-2013.

European Union Ambassador Pierre Mayaudon said this at a seminar on the implementation of the Children Act at the Bangabandhu International Con-ference Centre in the capital yesterday.

“The European Union very much welcome the adoption of the Children Act. We consider this a major break-through in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At this moment our on going projects worth 180 million Euro bene� t a good number of Bangla-

deshi children. We are willing to step up our support in future,” he added.

Social Welfare Minister Syed Mo-hsin Ali, State Minister for Social Wel-fare Ministry Promod Mankin, Social Welfare Secretary Nasima Begum and Acting Country Director of Save the Children Bangladesh Sharon Haus-er addressed the event with DirectorGeneral of Directorate of Social Ser-vice Mohammad Saidur Rahman in the chair.

Justice Mohammad Iman Ali of Ap-pellate Division of the Supreme Court presented the keynote paper at the seminar.

Some of the major initiatives men-tioned in the Children Act 2013 are

formation of Child Welfare Boards in all districts and upazilas, Child A� airs Desk at the police station, appointment of Child A� airs police o� cer, proba-tion o� cers, establishment of children courts, family conferences, institution-al care for disadvantaged children, and legal support.

However, speakers also shed light on the shortcomings of the act such as rules and infrastructural challenge, exclusion of rights of other vulnerable children, children involved in matri-monial cases, and absence of a child Ombudsman to oversee all aspects of justice for children.

Minister Mohsin Ali emphasised on the need to work together to ensure

every rights of the children as they are future strength of the country.

Secretary Nasima Begum suggested building more juvenile correction cen-tres for children under 18 years in areas where child crimes are high.

“We are also considering using digital facilities like Skype to arrangetalks between children and their par-ents living far from each other,” she added.

Speakers at the programme invited all government and non-government organisations, various government de-partments, media and people from all walks of life to champion child rights in order to build a better country for the future generation. l

Stab victim succumbsto injuriesn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A youth, who was stabbed by his friend in Chittagong city’s Agrabad area on Friday afternoon succumbed to his injuries in Chittagong Medical College Hospital yesterday morning.

The dead Mohammad Jalal, 20, son of Kamal Hossain, hailed from Brahaman-baria district, police sources said. CMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (West) Tanvir Arafat said the alleged killer Mo-hammad Johir, 22, was arrested by the police from the area after the incident.

He said when Johir was locked in a scu� e with one of his friends over debt, Jalal tried to disperse the two but he was stabbed by Johir instead.

Later, Jalal was taken to CMCH where he was succumbed to his injuries yesterday morning, he said adding that a case was lodged with Double Mooring police station in this connection. l

Primary, Ebtedayee terminal exams begin todayn BSS

Primary and Ebtedayee terminal ex-aminations 2014 will begin across the country today.

Nearly 31 lakh examinees are ex-pected to sit for the exams this year.

A total of 27,88,544 pupils will at-tend the Primary Terminal Examina-tions this year. Of them, 12,82,079 are boys and 15,06,465 are girls.

As many as 3,05,721 examinees will take part in the Ebtedayee examina-tions. Of the total examinees, 1,57,448 are boys and 1,48,273 are girls.

The examinations will be held at 6,791 centres, of which 11 are overseas. The examinations are scheduled to end on November 30. Physically-chal-lenged students will get extra 20 min-utes in the examinations.

The English examinations under Pri-mary and Ebtedayee education will be held from 11am to 1.30pm today while Bangla examinations under Primary and Ebtedayee will be held from 11am to 1.30pm tomorrow. Mathematics ex-aminations under Primary and Ebte-dayee education will be held from 11 am to 1.30pm on November 30. l

Amendments to CHT district council laws opposedn Tribune Report

Di� erent organisations yesterday raised their voices against the three amendment bills produced in the par-liament recently in connection to the district council governance of the Chit-tagong Hill Tracts (CHT).

Under the banner of “Nagorik Sa-maj,” they formed a human chain in front of the National Museum in the capital demanding the imme-diate cancellation of the three pro-posed laws – Rangamati Parbatya ZillaParishad (amendment) Bill,Khagrachhari Parbatya Zilla Parish-ad (amendment) Bill and BandarbanParbatya Zilla Parishad (amendment) Bill.

They claimed that the proposed laws were a clear violation to the peace accord that was signed by Awami League and Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti in 1997.

Oikko NAP President Pankaj Bhat-tacharya said: “The government is vi-

olating the CHT Peace Treaty by pro-posing the three district council acts according to their whims.

It was clearly stated in the peace ac-cord that the government must consult with the Ancholik Parishad [interim council] before amending any law in relation to them.”

The laws would threaten the demo-cratic practices within the hill districts and the country overall, the speakers said.

They also demanded an immediate election to ensure local representatives in the CHT district council.

The original laws passed in 1989 had provisions for electing members of the district councils by direct popular votes.

Since then, only one election took place in 1989.

CHT commission member Khushi Kabir, Dhaka University History Prof Mesbah Kamal, Adivasi Forum General Secretary Sanjib Drong took part in the human chain. l

Professor Zillur remembered at JU English departmentn JU Correspondent

Speakers yesterday r eminisced about Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui at a remembrance programme at the Ja-hangirnagar University (JU) yesterday.

Organised by the Department of Eng-lish of Jahangirnagar, with its Chairman Associate Professor Dr Sanyat Sattar in the chair, the department’s founding chairman Professor Nurul Islam, a col-league of Prof Zillur, Prof Mesbah Uddin Salehin of the Department of Geogra-phy and Environment, Gono University teacher Prof Mahmud Shah Koreshi, JU English department’s Associate Profes-sor Mashrur Shahid Hossain, depart-ment’s former students Ariful Islam Laskar and Kalyani Benerjee, among others, spoke at the programme.

They said the university gained honour being linked with the identity of Zillur and his contribution and fame at home and abroad, which in turn enhanced the status of the nation and termed him a symbol of decency. They also said he would remain alive in the hearts of the people of the country for ever.

Dr Sattar spoke to the Dhaka Trib-une reminiscing the late educationist and showing him gratitude.

Zillur had joined the English depart-ment as a professor on July 9, 1973 and retired on June 30, 1992. He served as JU Vice Chancellor from May 1, 1976 to April 30, 1984.

“Our department is extremely grateful to him because it is widely ac-claimed in the country and internation-ally just because of his work and fame,” he said.

Sattar said the teachers of the de-partment had decided to name its con-ference room after Zillur as a tribute to him. l

Di� erent organisations under the banner of Nagorik Samaj, form a human chain demanding immediate cancellation of the three amendment bills relating to the three CHT district councils placed in parliament recently MEHEDI HASAN

Dhaka (South) City Corporation demolishes a portion of the � ower market illegally built on the footpaths in the Shahbagh area of the capital yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

80 injured in clashesin three districtsn Tribune Report

At least 80 people were injured in clashes in Brahmanbaria, Faridpur and Habiganj districts yesterday.

Our Brahmanbaria correspondent reports: At least 10 people were injured during a clash between two groups of villagers at Pirbari area in Sadar upazila over eve teasing incident.

Police detained eight people from the spot in this connection. The incident took place around 10am. ASP Tapash Ranjan GHosh of Sadar police station said, the people of Pirbari and Shari� ari arranged a village arbitration over teas-ing a girl.

At one stage, they locked into an al-tercation and attacked both.

They vandalised � ve houses and

seven shops during clash, leaving 10 people injured.

The injured were admitted to Brha-manbaria Sadar Hosital.

According to Faridpur correspond-ent,at least 20 people were injured in a clashv between two groups of villagers over previous enmity at Kamdia village in Saltha upazila.

Habiganj correspondent said at least 50 people were injured in a clash be-tween two rival groups over previous enmity.

Police and local sources said there had been long standing enmity be-tween Syed Ali and Shahbaj of Narayan-pur village in Sadar upazila.

On the day, supporters of the two got locked in a clash and attacked each oth-er, leaving 50 critically injured. l

Bullet-hit Rajbari vice-chairman diesn Our Correspondent, Rajbari

Pangsha upazila vice-chairman, who sustained bullet injury at Kacharipara village on Friday, died at Faridpur Med-ical College Hospital yesterday.

The victim was identi� ed as Munshi Nader Hossain, 60, who was also the district unit Krishak League president.

Pangsha police station O� cer-in-Charge Abul Bashar said, a group of armed miscreants � red aiming at Nader when he was going to Pangsha upazila headquarters around 9am, leaving him critically injured.

He was rushed to Faridpur Medical College where he died. l

Cattle trader’s body recovered after 1.5 monthsn Our Correspondent, Comilla

Police yesterday afternoon recovered the decomposed body of a cattle trader from a pond in Comilla, who was killed one and a half months ago.

Tota Mia, 18, son of Mona Mia of Sharifpur village, was beaten to death over a trade dispute, and the body was dumped in the pond in Dhulipara.

Police also held seven people in con-nection with the killing.

Family sources said local meat trad-er Azad took Tota out of the house on October 3 and he remained missing since then.

Police on their own initiative began to search for Tota, though his family � led no case.

O� cer-in-Charge of Comilla DB po-lice Monirul Islam said Azad was among the seven who had been detained.

“Tota’s grandfather Metu Mia � led a case on Friday after the family mem-bers were certain that the cattle trader has been killed.

The case was � led against 12 people, including Azad and another meat trad-er Jummon,” he said.

Monirul said Tota got into a dispute with Azad and Jummon as they owed him money. l

32 decimals of land grabbed in Gazipurn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

In� uential people have allegedly grabbed around 32 decimals of land worth around Tk7crore and a CNG-run � lling station at Sripur upazila in Gazipur.

The owners questioned the role of police about this.

Locals Shahidullah Khan and Sal-eka Parvin said they purchased 31.35 decimals of land from the documented inheritors of locals Abdul Khaleq and Abdus Sobahan in 2003.

Taher and Sons Filling Station was then built on the land beside Dha-ka-Mymensingh highway at the upazi-la’s MC Bazar area, they said.

They pointed out that local Altaf Hos-sain Altu recently � led a complaint with a court claiming the ownership of the land.

On Wednesday night, Altaf along with up to 50 accomplices attacked the station and demarcated the land.

During the attack, they vandalised rooms, ransacked valuable papers and took away 10 gas cylinders.

Two security workers were injured as they tried to resist the attack. They were locally given � rst aid at local clinics.

Shahidullah Khan alleged that they sought police help in resisting the at-tack, but the lawmen did not help them.

Moreover, police refused to received a complaint in this connection, advis-ing that it should be settled through arbitration, he said.

Alleged land grabber Altu however denied the allegation and said he had not grabbed anybody’s land. Rather, he

reclaimed his own land. Sripur model police station’s O� cer-

in-Charge Mohsinul Qadir said: “We do not know about the grabbing of any piece of land. However, we will take action about this once a case is � led in this regard.” l

Locals block highway over killing schoolboy n Our Correspondent, Munshganj

Angered by a road accident that killed a school student, local people blockade the Dhaka-Mawa Highway and vandal-ized over 100 vehicles yesterday.

Witnesses said, a private car ran over Raju, 10, a Class IV student of Somospur Primary School, at Uttar Medinimondon in Louhajang upazila around12 noon.

Raju, alongwith his brother Siam, 12, and father was waiting on the roadside to cross the road when the Mawa-bound car from Dhaka ran over them, leaving the siblings seriously injured. Raju died on the way to Mitford Hospital in Dhaka.

Soon after, the accident, local peo-ple caught the car driver and put up barricade on the road and vandalized over 100 vehicles. l

In� uential people grabbed around 32 decimals of land and a � lling station along Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at Sripur upazila in Gazipur DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Tanim Ahmed

Louka Katseli, the former greek minister for Labour and Social Security, has had a distinguished career as an economist. A PhD from

Princeton, she went on to teach at Yale and Athens University. Katseli has also served OECD Development Centre, UN’s Committee for Development Policy, EU Monetary and Economic Policy Committees and the Hellenic Centre for Planning and Economic Re-search. But as she admits herself, her crowning glory came as a politician when she pushed a piece of legislation in parliament. The ‘Katseli Law’ as it is called, has so far saved 150,000 Greeks from losing their homes to bad loans. Expelled twice from the ruling party, PASOK, Katseli formed her own party, Social Pact, about two and half years ago.

The 62-year old mother of two and daughter of a Greek actress had come to Dhaka to deliver a lecture marking the 20th anniversary of think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue. Dhaka Tribune caught up with her during her short visit for an interview. Excerpts:

You have been removed from the Greek cabinet and expelled from your party twice for voting against the party line. Is there any law in Greece, similar to Bangladesh, that you lose your job if you vote against the party line?

Yes. Well there is no law as such, but there it is more like a custom. The � rst time was when the government was planning to dismantle collective bar-gaining across sectors. I was the only one to vote against it.

So you knew you would be expelled when you took your position. Why was that?

There is a bit of history behind it. It was during my second stint in the cabinet when I was made labour minister having previously served as

minister of economy, shipping and competitiveness. My predecessor had negotiated with the Troika — the Eu-ropean Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — and agreed on dismantling collective bargaining. I went back and argued that at a time of massive cuts this sort of measure would further incapacitate the people and put a dent on wages. This would lead to further stagnation of the economy. Hence, I proposed that instead of such a measure across all sectors, it could be brought down to the � rm/enterprise level, who may be allowed to strike their own deals or perhaps deviate.

Initially I had full backing of all the sectors because at that point even the owners and employers were scared that their associations would then also be dismantled. The Troika agreed to it and we, in fact, began to implement this new measure. Three months into it, there was pressure on the govern-ment to dismantle collective bargain-ing system across all sectors. And it suddenly became a precondition for the next tranche of the bailout package. Evidently others had succumbed to this pressure. I had worked long and hard to prevent this from happening. Instead of negotiating with the Troika for alterna-tives or sticking to our proposal, there was a push to conform. I declined and thus was removed from the cabinet. It was several months later when that bill went to parliament that I voted against it and got expelled from the party.

That was the first time. You got back into the party fold and then were expelled again soon after. Of course the second time there were more MPs – 21 this time – who opposed. You obviously have strong commitment to your politics. When do you think you started becoming political?

I had not even � nished high school when a military junta took over Greece. Both my parents lost their jobs. They were in theatre. And I grew up amid such circumstances. It was probably from then on that I began to understand and feel strongly about democracy, democratic principles.

And your socialism? Would you say you were one when started in Smith in the early 70s?

Well, I don’t know what it means real-ly. I can tell you what it meant to me then and what it means to me now. To me socialism is about the human right to employment and livelihood. It is about the right to basic needs and ser-vices. Economic democracy is another point. For instance, a heavily indebted person hardly has the power to negoti-ate with the bank, a consumer cannot negotiate with the supermarket. Power is asymmetric. People should have the power to bargain collectively if only to ensure their social rights.

That is what I tried to change when I pushed a law through the parliament.

It is called the Katseli Law, I understand.

Yes. It is the reason that I can walk from one end of Greece to another. So basically when a heavily indebted person � nds that it has become impos-sible to pay back loans and chances of default is imminent, that person can seek legal recourse and keep the primary home from being taken away. The person in debt can ask the court to restructure the loan and keep the home from being seized and taken away. This of course had not gone down well with the banks at all since they had securitised the homes as col-lateral. Till date, 150,000 Greeks have invoked that law to save their homes.

It was when your former party PASOK was in power that Greece went through the economic crisis. But surely the seeds had been planted a long time before as they often are. When do you think that was?

It must have been during the 1980s and early 1990s. That was when consumption began to be � nanced by heavy borrowing. But there was little attempt to increase production or productivity. It was during those decades when consumption spiked, triggered by a number of factors. And it was during the 80s when there was an internal rift in PASOK with one faction – the structuralists – favour-ing development and another – the modernisers – favouring liberalisation, consumption and expansion. It was in fact because the modernisers had gained an upper hand within the party that I had to move away from the party for a few years.

Didn’t the Asian Crisis come as some sort of a warning? The European, including the one of Greece, is similar to that of Asia in many ways.

I have said many times that the crises are remarkably similar and even when we prepared a report saying that � nancial crises would keep recurring if international monetary regulations are not implemented. But at that time no one was really willing to hear about it. Essentially we did not really learn from that. And the last time around Pasok had come to power essentially on a pledge to address the economy. Although we understood that the situation was bad, we had actually thought that we would still have time to manage. But of course it was too late.

There were other measures in di� erent parts of the world that also contributed to this problem with banks being allowed to participate in speculative markets, whereas commercial banking and investment banking should be kept separate.

You are saying that depositors’ assets should not be vulnerable to a bank’s affinity to gamble?

Well yes. A bank’s investment arm should be kept separate from its commercial arm so that people do not lose their deposits for faulty speculation and that too through transactions that are not at all transparent. People’s money should not be gambled with. But the international conventions still do not warrant mandatory regulations instead of the “voluntary guidelines” that are currently in practice.

You have mentioned Troika’s intrusion a number of times and even pointed out in your lecture that IMF officials themselves were disappointed with how their prescribed measures have performed. How do you see the IMF prescribing and dictating governments how to run a country?

Well � rst, IMF is an intergovernmental organisation. Secondly all countries get to vote there and thus it would more likely conform to those who have the upper hand internally. But I have found that due to their experi-ence with such crises, the IMF is much more willing to listen and negotiate than others, especially when it came to the bailout package.

And it is also a hunch that govern-ment o� cials across the world do not push hard or negotiate or even pro-pose alternatives to IMF suggestions which then gives an appearance that the IMF is steam-rolling over others.

And although there is the one size � ts all policy, the IMF’s manner of im-plementation of those largely similar policies vary greatly from one country to another.

But the main problem in Greece now is that there is no governance structure left. In a bid to accommodate Troika, we have given up our right to govern. For instance, the government had recently passed a law and within two days had to go back on it because the Troika wanted it that way.

Greece has basically agreed to some stringent conditions that allow credi-tors to seize assets in case of non-pay-ment, and that includes the gold in Greek treasury.

You were always interested in policymaking. In fact that was one of the reasons that you ended up studying economics. And indeed you went into it several years after joining Yale as an economics professor. Andreas Papandreou asked you work for the government. But you had a fallout with his son George. The relationship goes back many years. How difficult was it?

Yes we do go back a long time. George and I are contemporaries. He was in Amherst, while I was in Smith and we have known each other since then. Surely it is not easy but at the same time it is not quite a fallout. More like a policy � ght in which we could not agree. I remember he was trying to convince me to change some wording and vote for the bill the � st time I opposed the party. There have been lengthy discussions and we did not see eye to eye.

You went on to form your own party. The Social Pact. What is that about?

Eight of us MPs joined together to form this party. What we are trying to do is work towards a grand coalition and get everyone to move in a direction especially as far as the Troika prescrip-tions are concerned. PASOK had come to power with 44% of the vote not too long ago but they lost that popularity swiftly and now have just about � ve percent. Most of its voter base went on to support Syriza – a radical left coalition. Social Pact is trying to work with all parties in the parliament to come together since there is too much polarity and present a united front politically so that everyone moves to-gether towards similar goals, especially regarding the current crisis.

And you personally? Where do you see yourself going?

Well I am doing what I have always wanted to do – think, write, act. I am doing exactly that. l

Tanim Ahmed is a special correspondent.

7Long Form Sunday, November 23, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

‘To me socialism is about the human right to livelihood’Louka Katseli, the former greek minister for Labour and Social Security had come to Dhaka to deliver a lecture marking the 20the anniversary of think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue. Dhaka Tribune caught up with her during her short visit for an interview

The last time Pasok had come to power essentially on a pledge to address the economy, we had actually thought that we would still have time to manage. But of course it was too late

People’s money should not be gambled with. But the international conventions still do not warrant mandatory regulations instead of the ‘voluntary guidelines’ that are currently in practice

PHOTOS: MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Sunday, November 23, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Sergei Lavrov: West seeks regime change in Russian Reuters, Moscow

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ac-cused the West on Saturday of trying to use sanctions imposed on Moscow in the Ukraine crisis to seek “regime change” in Russia.

His comments stepped up Mos-cow’s war of words with the United States and the European Union in their worst diplomatic stando� since the Cold War ended.

“As for the concept behind to the use of coercive measures, the West is making clear it does not want to force Russia to change policy but wants to secure regime change,” Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as telling a meeting of the advisory Foreign and Defence Policy Council in Moscow.

He said that when international sanctions had been used against oth-er countries such as Iran and North Korea, they had been designed not to harm the national economy.

“Now public � gures in Western countries say there is a need to im-pose sanctions that will destroy the economy and cause public protests,” Lavrov said.

His comments followed remarks on Thursday in which President Vladimir Putin said Moscow must guard against a “colour revolution” in Russia, refer-ring to protests that toppled leaders in other former Soviet republics.Western sanctions have limited access to foreign capital for some of Russia’s largest companies and banks, hit the defence and energy industries, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on some of Putin’s allies.

The measures have aggravat-ed an economic downturn, which has also been worsened by a fall in global oil prices and has helped cause a nearly 30% slide in the rou-ble against the dollar since the start of the year.

Putin’s popularity has soared in Russia since the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March.

He says Western powers were behind the overthrow of a Mos-cow-backed president in Ukraine in February after months of street pro-tests, but the West blames Moscow for the crisis.

US Vice President Joe Biden in Kiev on Friday termed Russia’s behaviour in Ukraine as “unacceptable.” l

Monitor: US-led strikes have killed 910 in Syria n Reuters

Air strikes by US-led forces in Syria have killed 910 people, including 52 ci-vilians, since the start of the campaign against Islamic State and other � ghters two months ago, a group monitoring the con� ict said on Saturday.

The majority of the deaths, 785, were Islamic State � ghters according to the Britain-based Syrian Observato-ry for Human Rights.

Islamic State, a hard-line o� shoot of al Qaeda, has seized land in Syr-ia and neighboring Iraq, where it has also been targeted by US-led strikes since July.

Eight of the civilians killed were children and � ve were women, the Observatory said. The United States has said it takes reports of civilian ca-

sualties seriously and says it has a pro-cess to investigate any reports of such deaths.

The Observatory, which gathers its information from a network of con-tacts on the ground, said 72 members of al Qaeda’s Syria wing Nusra Front were also killed in the air strikes, which started on Sept. 23.

The United States has said it has tar-geted the “Khorasan Group” in Syria, which it describes as a grouping of al Qaeda veterans under the protection of Nusra Front.

Most analysts and activists do not di� erentiate between the groups in this way.

According to the United Nations, around 200,000 people have been killed in Syria’s con� ict, which is in its fourth year. l

Obama will visit India againn Reuters, Washington

US President Barack Obama will attend India’s Republic Day celebrations in January as chief guest, a sign of steadi-ly expanding ties between two coun-tries that share concerns about China’s growing power in Asia.

Obama was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will be the � rst US president to attend a Republic Day cele-bration, the White House said on Friday.

Diplomats said Obama, who visited India in 2010, would also be the � rst US president to visit the country twice while in o� ce.

India’s relations with Washington have � ourished in the past decade, al-though they have also had tussles over trade and other issues.

The two countries are developing a strategic partnership prompted by shared concerns about China’s increas-ingly assertive territorial claims in the Asia-Paci� c region.

Modi met Obama on a visit to the United States in September and they have spoken by telephone since.

Their relationship is thought to have helped resolve a major trade spat in the World Trade Organization.

Modi used a Twitter message to announce Obama as the chief guest on Republic Day, which marks the enactment of India’s constitution on Jan. 26, 1950.

Dhruva Jaishankar, a South Asia specialist at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said the invitation to Obama was a sign of “a radically al-tering political calculus” in New Delhi, where previous leaders traditionally sought to keep some distance from Washington.

“This visit will also mark a real turn-around over eight or nine months ago, when questions were still being asked about Modi’s willingness to cooperate with the United States, given his histo-ry of having been denied a visa,” Jais-hankar said.

Modi was denied entry into the United States from 2005 until he was elected prime minister in May, after allegations he did too little to stop re-ligious riots that killed at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, in his home state of Gujarat. Modi denied any wrongdoing.

India traditionally invites a head of state to participate as chief guest for Republic Day celebrations,

which culminates in a military pa-rade including its nuclear capable missiles.

Much of the hardware dates back to the Soviet era, when India had close ties with Moscow, while more recent

defense purchases include billions of dollars of US-made equipment.

Last year’s chief guest was Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has taken a tough line with China over its territorial claims. l

14 injured in London hotel explosion n AP, London

A suspected gas leak touched o� an explosion in the basement of the Hyatt Regency Churchill in London, injuring 14 people and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of hotel guests, authori-ties said Saturday.

The London Fire Brigade said that � ve of the 14 were taken to hospital and some 400 guests were evacuated to a nearby hotel after the blast caused extensive damage to the basement and ground � oor.

The hotel chain said in a statement that 12 Hyatt employees were injured and that no guests were hurt. Five cars on a neighboring street were also damaged.

“Hyatt’s top priority is the safety and wellbeing of our guests and asso-ciates, and we are currently working to provide guests with accommodations while we evaluate whether the hotel su� ered any signi� cant damage,” the company said in a statement.

The explosion at the � ve-star Chur-chill Hyatt Regency Hotel took place just before midnight Friday.

Six � re engines and 35 � re� ghters responded, together with rescue and hazardous materials teams. O� cials say the cause of the blast is being in-vestigated, but a gas leak is suspected.

The luxury West End hotel has 434 rooms and suites. l

WHO: Plague in Madagascar kills 40n Reuters, Geneva

An outbreak of the plague has killed 40 people out of 119 con� rmed cases in Madagascar since late August and there is a risk of the disease spreading rapidly in the capital, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

So far two cases and one death have been recorded in the capital Antanan-arivo but those � gures could climb quickly due to “the city’s high popu-lation density and the weakness of the healthcare system,” the WHO warned.

“The situation is further compli-cated by the high level of resistance to deltamethrin (an insecticide used to control � eas) that has been observed in the country,” it added.

Plague, a bacterial disease, is main-

ly spread from one rodent to another by � eas. Humans bitten by an infected � ea usually develop a bubonic form of plague, which swells the lymph node and can be treated with antibiotics, the WHO said.

If the bacteria reach the lungs, the patient develops pneumonia (pneu-monic plague), which is transmissible from person to person through infect-ed droplets spread by coughing. It is “one of the most deadly infectious diseases” and can kill people within 24 hours. Two percent of the cases re-ported in Madagascar so far have been pneumonic, it added.

The � rst known case of the plague was a man from Soamahatamana vil-lage in the district of Tsiroanoman-didy, identi� ed on Aug. 31. l

Obama telephones Pakistan’s Sharif n AFP, Islamabad

US President Barack Obama tele-phoned Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss the “evolving situation” in the region, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ex-pressed satisfaction at the direction of Pakistan-US relations which were on an upward trajectory” and “President Obama noted Pakistan-US relations were strong and robust” during their conversation Friday evening the minis-try said in a statement. Obama informed Sharif of his forthcoming trip to India and said he would visit Pakistan as soon as the situation normalises in the coun-try, the ministry said, following Sharif’s earlier invitation to the president. l

Obama defends immigration plan n Reuters

President Barack Obama defended his decision to bypass Congress and overhaul US immigration policy on his own on Friday, saying he was forced to act because House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner would not let legislation come to a vote.

With many Americans skeptical of his decision to bypass Congress and impose an immigration overhaul uni-laterally, Obama attempted to rally support for his move in a speech at a Las Vegas high school, saying illegal immigrants need a chance to come out of the shadows.

He engaged in a cross-country de-bate with Boehner, the top US Repub-lican, who accused Obama in Washing-ton of sabotaging chances for bipartisan legislation and vowed to lead a � ght to block his executive actions.

In the summer of 2013, the Dem-ocratic-run Senate passed compro-mise immigration legislation but the bill died in the Republican-controlled House. Obama said he waited to see if the House would ever pass the leg-islation, but Boehner would not let it come to a vote.

“I told John Boehner, ‘I’ll wash your car, walk your dog, whatever you need to do, just call the bill,” Obama said. “And he didn’t do it.”

To those lawmakers who feel he overstepped his constitutional author-ity, Obama said his message to them is: “Pass the bill.”

Obama’s move threatens to herald a new round of partisan gridlock in Wash-ington as Republicans who will control both chambers of Congress in January react with scorn to his decision.

Republicans remain split on the best course of resistance to Obama’s

action easing the threat of deportation for some 4.7 million undocumented immigrants. Conservative groups were already pulling together legal strate-gies to challenge it.

“With this action, the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms that he claims to seek. And as I told the president yesterday, he’s damag-ing the presidency itself,” Boehner told reporters.

“We’re working with our members and looking at the options available to us,” he said. “But I will say to you, the House will, in fact, act.”

Obama received a rousing wel-come from a largely Latino audience at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, the same place he visited just after beginning his second term in 2013, when he laid out his principles for immigration reform. l US drone strike

kills six in Pakistann Reuters, Peshawar

A US drone strike killed six suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan, security o� cials said on Friday, as al Qaeda said two members of the group had been killed in a previous strike.

Two missiles struck a house in Mada Khel village of the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border on Thursday night, said a security o� cial based in the area.

Six people were killed and three wounded, he said, citing intercepts of Taliban conversations.

Local and foreign militants were among the casualties, he added. An-other government o� cial based in nearby Datta Khel town con� rmed the death toll. He said civilian residents of Mada Khel had � ed their homes before an anti-Taliban military o� ensive be-gan in North Waziristan on June 15. l

Obama expands US role in Afghanistann Reuters, Washington

US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing a broader military mission in Afghanistan in 2015 than originally planned, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

The decision ensures a direct role for American troops in � ghting in Af-ghanistan for at least another year, it said, adding Obama’s decision was made during a White House meeting with national security advisers in re-cent weeks.

In May, Obama said the American military would have no combat role in Afghanistan next year. Missions for the remaining 9,800 troops would be limited to training Afghan forces and to hunting the “remnants of al Qaeda,” he said.

Obama’s new order lets American forces execute missions against the Taliban and other militant groups threatening US troops or the Afghan government.

The new authorization also allows US air strikes to support Afghan forces on combat missions and US troops oc-

casionally to accompany Afghan troops on operations against the Taliban.

The Times did not mention if the change would a� ect the number of Amer-ican troops deployed to Afghanistan.

The change emerged from debate over two imperatives: Obama’s prom-ise to end the war in Afghanistan, and the Pentagon demand to let American troops ful� ll their remaining missions there, the Times reported.

Some civilian aides have argued against risking American lives next year in operations against the Taliban, saying there should only be a narrow mission against al Qaeda, it said.

But generals urged Obama to de� ne the mission more broadly if intelli-gence showed extremists threatening American forces.

Two issues shifted the debate, the Times said.

Obama’s Afghanistan strategy faces sti� er criticism after the advance of Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria, it said, while Afghanistan’s new pres-ident has been more accepting of a broader American military mission than his predecessor. l

The scene outside the Churchill Hyatt Regency Hotel in central London following an explosion at the hotel, believed to be caused by a gas leak yesterday AP

US President Barack Obama AFP

West seen easing demands on Iran atom bomb ‘mea culpa’ in deal n Reuters, Vienna

World powers will press Iran to cease stonewalling a UN atomic bomb in-vestigation as part of a wider nuclear accord, but will likely stop short of de-manding full disclosure of any secret weapon work by Tehran to avoid kill-ing an historic deal.

O� cially, the United States and its Western allies say it is vital that Iran fully addresses the concerns of the UN nuclear agency if it wants a diplomatic settlement that would end sanctions severely hurting its oil-based economy.

“Iran’s previous activities have to come to light and be explained,” a se-nior Western diplomat said.

Privately, however, some o� cials acknowledge that Iran would probably never admit to what they believe it was guilty of: covertly working in the past to develop the means and expertise need-ed to build a nuclear-armed missile.

Iran denies this and says its nuclear program is peaceful.

The six powers face a delicate bal-ancing act: Israel and hawkish US law-makers - wary of any rapprochement with old foe Iran - are likely to pounce on a deal if they believe it is too soft on Tehran’s alleged nuclear arms activity.

A senior Western o� cial said the six would try to “be creative” in com-ing up with a formula that would sat-isfy demands by those who want Iran

to come clean about any atomic bomb research and those who say it is unre-alistic to expect the country to openly acknowledge it.

The outcome could also a� ect the standing of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which for years has been trying to investigate what it calls the possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear program.

While the global powers - the Unit-ed States, France, Germany, Russia, China and Britain - seek to persuade Iran to scale back its uranium enrich-ment program to lengthen the timeline for any bid to assemble nuclear arms, the IAEA is investigating possible re-search on designing an actual bomb. l

“A writer said you should write to get it out of your system. I

don’t need to get it out of my system. It is my system.”

“Most males cannot write female characters. I think there will always be a subliminal barrier to break through.”

“I’ve been told: ‘You should not embark on a novel until you’re 30.’ I thought I should wait.

–Mirza Waheed, The Book of Gold Leaves

“Families are a mine-� eld. And when you’re a novelist, and you

have this mine� eld, it can be di� cult.” - Manju Kapur, Family Matters

“Regarding the Chetan Bhagat phe-nomenon: Books adored by the masses in the west (romance, thriller, myster-ies) all have an aspirational element. For India, the primary aspiration has emerged to be class mobility.”- K Anis Ahmed, The Union of Two Languages

“Walk. Take it in. Absorb the atmos-phere. Relate. Feel how you respond to those spaces. Architecture is not about objects – it is about the experience.”

- Kashef Chowdhury, Architecture of Cultural Spaces

“If you want to preserve beauty, you have to share it.”

- Aurelien Lemonier, Architecture of Cultural Spaces

“Even if it’s � ction, the temptation is always to see re� ections of yourself in it.”

- Sandip Roy, Family Matters

“Many poets in Britain have fallen in love with the ghazal form, and are writing them like

crazy.”- Mimi Khalvati, Wheels in Motion

“In my � rst book, I went for the family because it’s the easiest thing for me to steal from. It was all around me, some-thing I was comfortable with.”

- Sandip Roy, Family Matters

The economics of literary festivalA look at the business of bookselling at the three day Hay Festival

n Tasnuva Amin Nova

“I don’t understand why people don’t hesitate paying for meals at restau-rants, but complain about having to pay for books of the same monetary value,” said Alexandra Pringle, one of the panellists at The Lessons from Slushpile session on the � rst day of Hay Festival.

Selling books means convincing people to pay for them, which has al-ways been a marketing challenge that surpasses the norms of traditional channels of distribution. In the book market, supply does not always create its own demand.

Aamer Hussein, author of Electric Shadows, says: “As an author you can-not thrive with the motive of making a fortune. I write books for the love of writing. If I measure costs and bene� ts in strictly monetary terms, I’ll have to say, it does not always payo� ,” he said.

“But authors who love their work are not in this profession for money solely.”

This is where literary festivals such as the Hay � nd its place – by acting as a channel that links publishers to au-thors to readers.

During the last three days at the Bangla Academy premises, a new – re-newed, rather – kind of energy evolved. People of di� erent generations, inter-ests, and nationality gathered to cele-brate their love for books.

“I was surprised to see such a great number of young readers at the festival. Some had bought as many as six books at the fair. I hope they read all the books they bought,” said Aamer, whose book has been published by Bengal Lights Books at this year’s Hay.

Publishers’ paradise The festival also served as a great platform for the publishers, who sold hundred of books at the festival. By the afternoon on the last day of Hay, Bookworm had sold approximately TK600,000 worth, according to the shop’s managerial executive Badal.

“In the last 15 years, the number of publishers has remarkably increased in Bangladesh. This is a great initiative to encourage authorship and readership in the country,” said Aamer.

Bengal Lights Books sold more than TK100,000 in books per day at the festival, according to a rough ap-proximation. By midday yesterday, Maria Chaudhury’s memoir, Beloved Strangers was close to being sold out.

Face to faceHaving authors present appears to have a direct link to the high sales made at the festival.

“My presence increased the number of my book sales. I have signed about 50 books so far,” said Aamer.

All the authors I spoke to at the fes-tival shared the same sentiment - their presence gives a face to their books and helps sales. Literary festivals are also a great opportunity for authors to meet their audience.

Naveed Mahbub, author of Humor-ously Yours and founder of Naveed’s Comedy Club, says: “My presence at the stall is a personal branding of my work. I get 8% as royalty from each sale of the book. That is roughly Tk16

per book. It is not a big amount, but spreading the word about my work will increase my gains by many folds – all of which are not tangible.”

“I am more likely to buy book when I know the authors. The sessions at Hay gave a chance to hear the authors. I bought 15 books at the festival, most of which are autographed by the authors,” said Dr Arifa Rahman, professor of Eng-lish Language in University of Dhaka.

Book sales truly rocketed at the three day festival, as authors, publish-ers and readers mingled on the same ground. But it remains to be seen how many books can really sell themselves after the curtains of the Hay fall and au-thors go back to their writing tables and publishers back to their o� ces. l

WILLIAM DALYRMPLE: A South Asian love a� airn Niaz Alam

The highly accomplished and widely read historian William Dalyrmple proved excellent

company during our interview this week, while he was in town for Hay Festival Dhaka.

We chatted about his foreword for the 25th anniversary edition of his � rst book In Xanadu, which chronicles his journeys along the Silk Road as an un-dergraduate student.

Despite being mildly disapproving about his “bumptious 21-year-old self,” it is clear that his exciting travels in the mid-80s set him o� on the road to his career as a renowned writer on South Asia and the Middle East. It led him to settle near Delhi, where he has lived since his twenties.

“In a sense, that � rst journey opened up everything. It changed my life. I had been interested in Anglo-Saxon sculp-ture and medieval churches ... but then came to India and never looked back. It totally hijacked the rest of my life and I will, I hope, die out here.”

He noted the di� erence between himself as a post-colonial British cit-izen and the White Mughals of his books.

“They married here, in some cases they converted to Islam and cut them-selves o� from their British identity. I haven’t done that. I’m still very much a Brit. I go back every May for two months. It’s not either-or. Millions of Bangladeshis do it. Its a very modern thing ... but I’m unusual in being west to east.”

On Thursday, he had a session at the festival named after his book The Last Mughal, in which he performed read-ings in accompaniment with the sing-ing of Vidya Shah. Greatly interested in music, he told me about a past trip down the Brahmaputra, saying: “Bauls and fakirs is a world I want to know more about.”

I asked him to pick a favourite Bang-

la word, and he said: “Like all men who have admired the beautiful women of Bengal, it would have to be the phrase: ‘Ami tomake bhalobashi.’” This took him several minutes of scrambling through his phone, during which time he looked up various Bangali delica-cies, and after which he re� ected: “It’s a measure of how long since I’ve said it that I had to look it up.”

Though he struggled to recall the phrase, his love for the region remains. He said his next book will be about the early history of the East India Compa-ny, so he expects to see and write much more about Bengal and Dhaka in fu-ture.

When did you become interested in history?Whether you’re into trainspotting or fascinated by bumblebees, it comes out of you. I was always interested in history.

I remember pleading and pleading when I was six, [to take] my � rst jour-ney down from Scotland to go see the Tutankhamen exhibition in London. I wanted to be an author and an archae-ologist. I’m very lucky. I’m not far o� from my six-year-old ambition. All you can ask for in life is to do what interests you most as a human being. And to be able to do that is a wonderful thing.

Do you enjoy your work? Every day I wake up grateful to have a job I like. I remember my dad, who

was a businessman, saying he was just counting the years till he could retire. He hated his job. Not interested. I knew at the time I never wanted to do a job I hated and be waiting for my sixtieth birthday ... As an author or journalist, it’s not the world’s highest paid job, but I’ve been able to bring up my kids, make a living out of it.”

Are your children also interested in South Asia?We had this family half-term holiday in Bamiyan. Taking them to see Afghani-stan was the most successful piece of educational travel we’ve ever done. (Previously) we had dragged them around country houses and castles and places without igniting any clear spark. I’m happy to say one of the kids is now learning Dari, and another one is writ-ing an essay on the Soviet-Mujahedeen war.

Now we have ignition ...That’s when you really learn: When learning for yourself. Not exams.

What is your writing schedule?Writing is a bit like being an athlete – and writing a big fat book is like doing a marathon. You have got to be mentally very � t.

I write a major book once every four years. It’s like a university course, so near the end, there’s an accelerating sense of a progressive loss of free-dom. You start o� as a fresher, pissing around, spending the whole year in the bar, going on book tours like this and sitting around pretending it’s work.

Year two: I begin to visit archives and arranging translations. Year three is spent in archives mainly, and the fourth year is card indexes and mapping information so you can retrieve it.

My writing year takes nine months or more. Total lockdown. Completely di� erent from other years, I barely go out at lunchtime. Never touch drop be-fore dinner. l

Sunday, November 23, 2014

IKHTISAD AHMED: Amid hope and revolutionn Syeda Samira Sadeque

Tell us a bit about your new poetry collection Requiem.The features that may be of interest to people are the � ve poems by my grand-father Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury that I’ve translated. He’s perhaps the great-est in� uence in my life and I wanted to have that link and feel like I’m having a dialogue with him. I also wanted to bring it to a new readership, as he wrote in Bangla, and I really wanted to tread that path that needs to be explored, be-cause we have a lot of good literature in Bangla that is lost to the world.

Other than that there are 35 of my original poems, some of which have been published in journals abroad.

And you launched it at this year’s Hay Festival. Yes, it was really about bringing poetry to a place where poetry sits very well. There’s something to be said about po-etry on a global stage. If we’re going to be more aware as global citizens, and if we are going to � nd cultural weapons for injustices in the world – poetry is re-ally the medium.

Speaking of injustice, you had a panel with Kosal Khiev about survival and poetry. How are the two linked?Kosal Khiev himself spent 16 years in prison and then was deported to Cam-bodia. He found himself through po-etry. His writing is his activism. And I believe that’s how our audience can also connect with these intersecting

themes. Being from Bengal, activism is very much inalienable from our cul-ture, and that would connect the dots of activism, survival and poetry very well with our audience.

Are these themes present in your own work?My writing tends to focus on themes of human condition. I studied human rights law, and there’s a lot of that theme in my work.

So you were trained a human rights lawyer. Why the shift to writing?My full-time law career was about 5-6 years, and I practiced here in Bangla-desh for 18 months.

Why I left? Well, you have to wonder why the legal system exists. It’s di� -cult to stomach when you are exposed

to a system that doesn’t represent the majority of the people. I just couldn’t keep my conscience on the door all the time. And writing about it is necessary. So I made the shift.

What about Bangladesh’s space in world literature?We are absolutely relevant. We can’t fall into the trap of believing we are not relevant. The way we can become culturally signi� cant is by making our-selves perform.

How does the Hay Festival play a role in that?These are exciting times. We are very much right in the beginning. The hope is that this steady stream continues, and that the next generation can build on that. We need to create sustainable platforms for younger voices. l

GOOD LINES

Hay FestivalDHAKA TRIBUNE 9

[India] totally hijacked the rest of my life and I will, I hope, die out here

Bangladesh is absolutely relevant [in world literature]. We shouldn’t ... believe we are not

Humorously Yours (Daily Star Books) by Naveed MahbubComedian Naveed Mahbub launched his collection of stories on Friday at the Hay Festival with a well-attended stand-up comedy show. His book is a collection of his columns chronicling life in Dhaka from 2013-14, and re� ects his motto: “Humour is the only way to shove the truth down one’s throat – that is when the eyes are shut and the mind is wide open.” l

“I never studied literature. Studying literature seemed like

studying girls and medical.”“Asking a person which book you

like the most is like asking a parent which child you like most.”

“Very few politicians write because very few politicians have the time to write … My life is littered with incom-plete manuscripts.”

–Shashi Tharoor, Past Lives; The Great Indian Statesman

“Scientists are like poets and novelists. They don’t claim to have the truth, just the facts. Only social scientists claim to have the truth.”

“The single biggest problem in the world today is impunity.”

–John Ralston Saul, Champion of the Word

Zia Haider Rahman, author, signs a book for a customer on the last day of the festival RAJIB DHAR

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Characters from Sisimpur thrill children (top), while grownups enjoy the intellectual panels (centre), and an analysis of a Shakespeare theatre presentation featuring Aly Zaker (bottom)

Express railways the way forwardWe welcome news that a feasibility study is being carried out

by a Chinese state-owned railway engineering company, CREEC, on building a new high-speed railway between

Dhaka and Chittagong.The feasibility report on a

proposed $3.30bn double-track train service between Dhaka and Chittagong comes out of an MOU signed between Bangladesh and China in August, and is due to be submitted to the Ministry of Railways within the next month.

The 231.90km-long Dhaka-Chittagong Express Railway Project is planned to be funded by the Chinese government. It will run from Dhaka via Narayanganj-Daudkandi-Mohanpur-Moinamoti and Laksam to Chittagong instead of the existing Tongi-Bhairab-Brahmanbaria-Akhaura and Comilla to Chittagong.

It plans to provide speeds of up to 160km per hour and to cut at least three hours o� the current 7-10 hour journey times.

The plan to build an entirely new route will help improve reliability as well as shortening the track distance by 90 kilometres. The design includes facilitating freight transports to the sea port and an electri� cation reserve option along with diesel traction.

A new high-speed railway would potentially enable services to be provided every 20 minutes and be a much needed step forward for our economy.

The plan should be taken forward and spread across the country. Upgrading the railways is an environmentally and economically sustainable way to move large numbers of people and goods around the nation. It would also help reduce pressure on Dhaka by facilitating decentralisation and enabling more business and investment to spread around the country.

Get ready for more start-ups

There is huge potential for Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to create new businesses in the � eld of IT-led startups.

With internet use expanding rapidly and continuing improvements in mobile infrastructure, it is getting cheaper for new businesses to set up and grow.

As a recent crowd-funded documentary, Startup Dhaka, highlights, there is growing interest in Dhaka’s startup scene. In September, the consultants AT Kearney included Bangladesh for the � rst time this year in its Global Location Services Index for IT services. Placing Bangladesh at 26th overall out of over 50 IT investment locations, it also ranked Bangladesh top for � nancial attractiveness, and highlighted the country’s huge untapped potential.

This attention is vital as talent and money in IT start-ups is proven to be more successful if it clusters around hubs of expertise. The success of NewsCred, a content syndication service started by entrepreneurs from Bangladesh, which raised $45m in venture funding, has provided an inspiring example for others to follow.

Further encouragement needs to be given to entrepreneurs if Bangladesh is to take advantage of the demographic dividend o� ered by over half of our population being less than 25 years old.

All types and sizes of businesses can bene� t from improvements to the regulatory environment to make it easier to set up businesses. Policy-makers have to cut red tape and keep improving the country’s physical infrastructure and communications, so the economy can bene� t from creating more start-ups.

The full story of the ‘medieval monarch’ of Tower HamletsNovember 9

imzy“Ballot recount suggests that ‘signi� cant irregularities’ put Lutfur Rahman in mayoral robes.”

This is just further continuation of the racial struggles Sylhetis have had to endure in London and Tower Hamlets for the past 50 years, now they can’t physically assault anymore so these white thugs are using other methods.

Lutfur Rahman is a million times better than the horrible politicians of Bangladesh and they just can’t take it that there’s a brown, Muslim guy in o� ce. Get over it.

Tarique faces legal notice for comment on BangabandhuNovember 9

Vikram KhanWe have the right to know on what basis the UK is providing him with a visa.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Niggard (5)4 Faucet (3)6 American state (4)8 Curving recess (5)9 Traditional learning (4)11 Spoken (4)12 Bear (5)15 Allude (5)18 Frozen shower (4)20 Celtic tongue (4)21 Surrender (5)22 Notion (4)23 Step (3)24 Supple (5)

DOWN1 Melody (5)2 Echo sounder (5)3 Corroded (5)4 Thunder god (4)5 Rind (4)7 Unaccompanied (5)10 Garden tool (4)13 Partly open (4)14 Governed (5)15 Kingly (5)16 Navy (5)17 Long, narrow eleva-tion (5)18 Assist (4)19 Egyptian goddess (4)

CROSSWORD

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

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 20 represents M so � ll M every time the � gure 20 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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Growth maps: Learning from high-growth economiesNovember 10

Sadiat MannanI think it is an excellent piece, and gives a fresh look at macroecnomic strategies and policies. I like how you deviate from the general rhetoric of forgoing values in order to focus on growth. I like how you touch upon the “essentials” of education (training and developing the workforce), and how education, telecommunication, and the fact that women’s lfp increases savings, and of course growth. There is a general notion that women save more than men. However, you have shed more light on the matter by illustrating that house-holds in which women work tend to save beyond the additional income e� ect. I also like how you depict “haphazard urbanisation” through structur-al adjustments, but do not shy away from proper planning that “ought to come” in the future. May-be we can learn from this and make way for more planned cities in the future in Bangladesh.

I know I have not been able to touch upon everything here, but considering the depth of the arguments and the breadth of the subject or discussion it may simply just not be possible in a comment. However, I felt like commending you on a very thoughtful piece where you present im-portant arguments like giving away political rights, or even civil rights at times, does not necessarily mean having to give up strong and “stable” political leadership (as a matter of fact it may be considered

inalienable) and can and does allow for not only increasing capacity but receiving “education” and to a certain degree empowerment.

A very well-written piece. Very di� cult to cover so much in not so many words! As evident you like to work outside the “general” framework of macro-economics, which is not only commend-able but also necessary, and in that notion I would like to recommend a piece on telecommunications and banking in Bangladesh with implications on economy and livelihood (a recent report published in Dhaka Tribune regarding the boom of mobile banking services like Bkash).

morning_in_americaNice article. It shows that the clear path to fast growth consists of free enterprise capitalism, with the state focused on speci� c limited areas to assist: (1) The rule of law (2) education, and (3) in-frastructure development. By limiting its role, the state can concentrate on where it adds the most value, while letting the market drive growth in the areas of greatest competitive advantage.

Another thing is that catch-up nations can avoid the mistakes made by � rst industrialisers such as lack of pollution control and skipping to the latest and most e� cient technologies. Hence the success of the IT industry in the Indian subcontinent.

Cut red tape and encourage clusters of expertise to help entrepreneurs

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZUpgrade railways to be faster and more environmentally sustainable

Ashraf: AL only party that fought in ‘71November 10

AHExcept for you and other living (or deceased) AL leaders who either spent that time on Theatre Road in Kolkata or in the prisons of Pakistan.

AnonymousDo they have a conscience? What kind of a person would make a mockery of the sacri� ce of the mar-tyrs of his own country for petty personal gains that most people won’t even buy?

These leaders are so narrow-minded they cannot see beyond anything other than pleasing the “netri” who they don’t realise would do nothing other than for personal gain. Well guess what? The freedom � ght-ers fought neither for BNP nor AL but for Bangladesh.

Tofail: No possibility of dialogue, midterm electionsNovember 10Dr Ahsan HabibI feel ashamed to think that, as a student at Dhaka University in 1970-71, I went to meetings to listen to his speeches.

SC: Rana Plaza culprits should stay behind bars inde� nitely

November 14

PBWhat a great observation by the top #court!

#RanaPlaza

Inhumans of BangladeshPeople responsible for the Rana Plaza garments dis-aster should be hanged for the murder of over 1,140

poor people, most of whom were female workers.

‘Birdem treating more diabetic minors every day’

November 14Nazmul Khair

We need several hospitals like Birdem all over Bangladesh. Day by day, the number of diabetes

patients is increasing.

n Muhammad Quamrul Islam

Dhaka University’s International Relations Department, in collaboration with India-

Bangladesh Foundation, arranged the � rst meeting of former high commissioners of India and Bangladesh for two days, which concluded on November 15, 2014. A nine-point recommendation was presented to improve the bilateral relationship between the two bordering countries.

They called for political goodwill from both sides to remove mistrust and resolve pending issues hindering Dhaka-Delhi ties and to widen the economic engagement. They asked for strengthening cooperation at sub-regional and regional levels with focus on Saarc and Bimstec. To enhance mutual trust, they agreed upon the importance of contact between academics, media, corporate sectors, and other stake holders.

Prof Imtiaz Ahmed announced the statement on behalf of the high commissioners at a press conference held at Dhaka University (DU) Senate Building. Going by the statement, concerned citizens wonder how far it could be executed at the people’s level.

But we expect a positive outcome for the simple reason that retired high commissioners are now free senior citizens no longer bound by diplo-matic service rules, and people have high regard for them for their experi-ence, which their government cannot ignore.

More so, the Indian foreign service is well organised and its high com-missioners are kept in high esteem. Though the same cannot be said about Bangladesh, it is hoped they would rise above politics to make the meeting truly meaningful.

In Dhaka, Veena Sikri, who e� ectively developed ties between two countries without any bias, pointed out that India’s foreign relationships depend on national consensus, and said: “We don’t implement what we agree upon … that a� ects our bilateral relationships.” Her concern was eloquently expressed, as she said Bangladeshi channels were not broadcast in India. It is due to problems at the operators’ level, which may be tackled by the Bangladesh Information Ministry.

On the other hand, Indian channels, Hindi and Bangla, are open, which are viewed by many in Bangladesh. It takes us to the question of whether the Bangladeshi programs are less attractive. For example, talk shows are

irritating partisan bouts, except a few non-political ones, for no bene� t to the viewers but for seeking publicity from the studio. Our cultural minister, Asaduzzaman Noor, himself a star of this domain, can compare di� erent programs of both sides to do what is necessary.

Some speci� c issues which ought to have been raised by Bangladesh have not been put up. A section of analysts expected that the Bangladeshi side would put up public perceptions on relevant issues to remove suspicion. Before the January 5 elections, the Congress-led Indian government sent the Indian foreign secretary to Dhaka in December 2013, who met HM Er-shad to keep him in the election fray, to which he obliged but deemed as interference by India.

It showed their bilateral relations are more on a party-to-party basis instead of country-to-country, which would be the logical and rational way. With a historic change of government and the visit of BJP External A� airs Minister Shushma Swaraj to Dhaka, that chapter has been closed.

Secondly, guardians and students do not understand why DU arranged the meeting at its venue when campus crises continue unabated, session jams shorten active life, and they had no audience with the ex-envoys which might have inspired them. Was it to show a neutral place, which it is not because of the teacher-student partisan politics that have been going on there since 1973? Foreign envoys might have come across news of campus violence in the national dailies during their stay in Dhaka.

The diplomats highlighted the urgency for integration of regional economy. If Saarc does not work, there is the need for sub-regional connectivity. Now we will have to concretise this recommendation. History and geography dictate it should be in the agenda to revive the natural connectivity in this sub-region comprising Bangladesh, Indian state of West Bengal, and the seven sister states facilitating free � ow of goods and services and movement of persons visa free.

This natural unity was hindered by the British partition through arti� -cial 4,200km porous borders in 1947. Other powers or vested stakeholders may not like this. The main strength is that Bengali speaking people, and others who have lived in this region for centuries, wish it for their economic development and peace. l

Muhammad Quamrul Islam is an economist, advocate, and columnist.

11Op-Ed Sunday, November 23, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Israfi l Khosru

With the murkiness surrounding the death of Rajshahi University Professor AKM Sha� ul Islam,

the credibility of the entire investi-gation process seems to have come under public scrutiny. While Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) is labelling the brutal hacking to be a well-planned crime implicating members of Jamaat and its student wing Chhatra Shibir, a rather obscure Islamic group called the Ansar al Islam Bangladesh-2 has claimed responsibility for this murder.

Whichever way you look at it, radical elements seem to be at the core of this crime and the signs are rather alarming. With ISIL recruiters getting apprehended in Dhaka, to al-Qaeda announcing its operation in South Asia, it is rather safe to say that we are witnessing a trend that con� rms Bang-ladesh to be a crucial cog of the global terrorist agenda.

So, what makes a country like Bangladesh so inherently susceptible to such an agenda? Furthermore, why are we seeing such a meteoric rise in crimes that point towards religious zealots in recent times?

The notion that the religion of Islam is under threat in Bangladesh is gradually gaining in precedence in last couple of years. In a country that is now supposedly trying to reclaim its secular principles, it is rather puzzling to see a section of a religious majority harbour such a notion.

We have seen a mobilisation by Hefazat-e-Islam, which although being dealt with force in one particular instance by the government cannot be

entirely ignored because of its sheer size and propensity to survive and thrive. Crackdown orchestrated on Jamaat and Shibir activists has seen them completely move o� the political negotiating table as well.

They have not held a press con-ference or declared any organised political meetings in recent times due to narrowing political space. Further-more, with their media platforms tak-en away, Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party is no longer visible to the public eye, does not have a voice, and hence, is not accountable to the people.

Such a heavy-handed approach by the government can only act to strength-en the underground radical forces by pushing relatively moderate forces to ally with them as well.

Interestingly, a clear correlation can be drawn between religious extrem-ism and shrinking political and civil society space in Bangladesh. Recently, we have witnessed adequate instanc-es that suggest Bangladesh is being used as a base to export terrorism into neighbouring India. Recent visit by National Investigation Agency (NIA) representatives from India involved handing over a list of people who are allegedly tied to the Burdwan blast

and distressingly operating out of Bangladesh.

These are ominous signs consid-ering we have a government in place, which has time and again reiterated its conviction in countering national and transnational terrorism by labelling it as one of their prime objectives.

It should be noted that in July 2009, the government formed an eight-member “National Committee for Intelligence Coordination,” with the prime minister as the chairperson, to e� ectively co-ordinate the intelli-gence activities of di� erent agencies.

The committee was also charged with improving the campaign against ex-tremism through exchanges between law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Furthermore, in the same year, Bangladesh enacted for the � rst time, speci� c legislation designed to combat terrorism: The Anti Terrorism Act 2009. These measures clearly indicate that the government had a � rm com-mitment and genuine political will to combat terrorism, but nearly � ve years down the line, the situation seems to have worsened.

This is clearly because these so-called initiatives do not address the

root of the problem. What makes Bangladesh the fertile breeding ground for terrorists and radical elements is simply the presence of stark depriva-tion and political alienation that ap-plies to the majority of the population.

When an ideological position is denied a voice, the feeling of disen-franchisement is imminent. Such disenfranchisement eventually leads to radicalism. However, with continu-ous shrinking of political space, such radical forces tend to grow in size and eventually question the legitimacy of the government in place. In certain cases, they can even thrive and be-come a government on its own, clearly characterised by the ISIL phenome-non. However, we cannot wait for such an extreme scenario to take shape in Bangladesh.

Without the presence of an in-clusive democracy the problem of radicalism cannot be countered. While law enforcing can go on apprehend-ing members of JMB, Huji, JMJB, and various other religious out� ts with a radical dimension, the problem of terrorism, at least at a national level is likely to get worse due to the current political landscape.

Radicalism is simply an alterna-tive method of expression. With a single party gradually consolidating power, the conventional methods of expressing various political, religious, and social views are getting further constrained. At this point, the govern-ment of Bangladesh, in a bid solve the problem of terrorism, is compounding it in the long run. Let us just hope that they realise this sooner than later. l

Isra� l Khosru is a businessman, and runs a youth-led think-tank called The Bangladeshi.

Should extremists be given a place in our politics? SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Space for radicalism?

Be nice to your neighbours

If Saarc does not work, there is the need for sub-regional connectivity

We are witnessing a trend that con� rms Bangladesh to be a crucial cog of the global terrorist agenda

We expect a positive outcome for the simple reason that retired high commissioners are now free senior citizens

n M Shamsul Haque

The op-ed piece “The past is a foreign country” (November 17, Dhaka Tribune) by William

B Milam was a very well-thought-out article on the changing nature of governments all over the world. Citing changes in the political culture emerging in the UK, the USA, and Russia, Mr Milam wrote: “Democracy, where it is truly practiced, appears to be failing. The democracies are surely not meeting the needs of their citizens, neither their material and/or their psychic needs. In both of these failings, onrushing globalisation plays a larger role.”

Further, he wrote: “The number of practicing democracies is falling as more and more countries turn toward authoritarian governance.” He traced the history of governments in South Asia, particularly those of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. “The present Awa-mi League government in Bangladesh is allegedly reverting back to its � rst two and a half years in charge of the new state of Bangladesh,” he wrote.

This time, the AL has taken charge

of the country in the absence of any strong opposition party. “Perhaps the Awami League is encouraged by the worldwide retreat from democracy and regression towards authoritari-anism, and consolidates its one-party government into a one-party state by closing the political space for any kind of opposition,” he continued.

Mr Milam could not see civil society and political opposition being able to resist it. During the rule of Paki-stan, civil society played a strong role in the emancipation of the people. One professor of political science at Jahangirnagar University recently said, in the earlier days, universities would prescribe how the government should work.

These days, the government is dictating how universities should run, as almost all senior administrative positions are � lled by party a� liates.

In the last paragraph of the article, Mr Milam stated that the title of the article was taken from the classic 1953 novel “The Go-Between.” The char-acter in the novel was frustrated with his life, and called the past a foreign country because they did things di� er-

ently then. One feels tempted to argue that,

despite progress made over the last century, the tendency to halt transi-tion towards a democratic culture is embedded in many societies such as Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In Bangladesh, we have experienced authoritarian rules since the Brit-ish period including the 25 years of Pakistani rule. In fact, it has spanned more than half of the period of our existence. So our past actually is not foreign to us. It is quite familiar.

Bangladesh is cited as an exam-ple of a country that has attained 5-6% growth in GDP and some major achievements in human development indices. As we all know, GDP growth is a totally misleading indicator of social wellbeing, as the poverty level is still very high (above 25%), some 300 mil-lion people live in slums in inhumane conditions.

Underaged marriage is still at 66% in rural areas. Modern-day slavery is also present here, and considerable damage is being dealt to the environ-ment from pollution of water, air, and land. This is going to a� ect the lives of the next generation.

More importantly, the failure of governments to meet the growing needs of the people is perhaps the most important cause of the hopes of people getting dashed. Take the USA as an example, the recent capture of the US Senate in mid-term elections by the Republican Party is a re� ection of the dashed hopes of the common people after they elected Obama for the second term as president.

They spent $4bn to win the elec-tions. It is not his personal failure,

nor of the Democratic Party. The Republicans blocked all major e� orts of the president since he was elected in 2008. It is widely recognised that the infrastructure in the USA has been crumbling.

A bill to invest billions of dollars was not passed by the congress. The healthcare insurance for all (known as Obamacare) also made limited pro-gress due to their resistance.

Overhauling the immigration sys-tem was agreed upon by both parties during the Bush presidency, but they kept it pending. At the heart of these denials, to change things in the USA and elsewhere, are the attitudes of the rich people who control 80%-90% of national wealth. This issue of rising income inequality has been amply demonstrated in a recent book by French economist Thomas Piketty, called Capital in the in the Twenty-� rst Century.

He showed how inequality has been growing in the developed world due to capital-owners earning higher than the growth in national income during the last 50 years. His main recommendation is to tax the wealth

of individuals at higher rates and spend the money on education and infrastructure. This is also posing a threat to democracy.

In Bangladesh, the capacity of the government is limited to executing development projects, such that about $20bn of foreign aid money has been lying idle in the pipeline for a long time, and the government policy-makers could not allocate su� cient funds for education and health sectors, as the tax-GDP ratio is just over 10%, the lowest in South Asia.

Hence, failure in governance is easily observable in economic spheres as major infrastructure projects are awaiting approval and funding. As for the change of political culture, we have a long way to go, since a change in government has made little di� er-ence in the lives of the people.

As people do not see the bene� ts of change in the future, going back to the past may not be unacceptable, provid-ed the government can deliver on the promises made. l

M Shamsul Haque is a former Professor of Finance, IBA, University of Dhaka.

The past is not a foreign country for us

As people do not see the bene� ts of change in the future, going back to the past may not be unacceptable

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

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Marl Craig’s bowling in the second Test

against Pakistan. It’s the most sixes o� a NZ bowler in a Test

since 2001

(L-R) Bangladesh’s Shaiul Islam, Al Amin Hossain and skipper Mashrafe Mortaza share a light moment in Chittagong yesterday COURTESY

Long-awaited BFF concert next yearn Shishir Hoque

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is going to host its long-awaited fund-rais-ing concert at Bangabandhu National Sta-dium (BNS) on February 13 next year.

The BFF received the o� cial nod from the National Sports Council (NSC) last Thursday and was � nally allotted the big bowl for the concert.

After receiving the permission, a nine-member concert and lottery com-mittee sat for a meeting at BFF House yesterday to discuss some details of the concert. The meeting was presided over by BFF senior vice president Ab-dus Salam Murshedy.

Football’s governing body in the country has long been planning about holding a concert in a bid to raise funds that will be utilised in a countrywide development programme. It was earli-er scheduled to be held on June 21 this year but was later postponed as the NSC did not give permission.

Zero Degree, an entertainment event management � rm, is all set to organise the event and it was learned that the company agreed a deal worth Tk27.5m with the BFF. The BFF’s initial target was to earn Tk30m from the con-

cert but the procedure is still under ne-gotiation, informed general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag.

The o� cial announcement as well as the deal signing ceremony will be completed in the next 10 or 12 days. “We got the o� cial nod from the NSC last Thursday and started working on it. The concert will be held on Febru-ary 13 next year at BNS and Zero Degree Entertainment will manage the event. The performers of the concert are yet to be decided. Everything will be � nalised and announced within 10-12 days at a programme,” said Shohag yesterday.

The event management company has already started the proceedings by getting in touch with global artists. Apart from noted Bangladeshi artists, it was learned that renowned American rapper Armando Christian Pérez, better known by his stage name Pitbull, is at the top of the targeted list.

Indian artists Yo Yo Honey Singh, who is famous for his number “Lungi Dance”, Sunidhi Chauhan and Arijit Singh and Pakistani singer Atif Aslam are also in the list of targets. The event management � rm is also poised to add extra � avour with the addition of a number of Indian cinestars. l

‘Women’s team showed progress’ n Raihan Mahmood

Bangladesh football team coach Golam Rabbani Choton is of the opinion that his side showed considerable improve-ment at the just-concluded Sa� Wom-en’s Championship in Pakistan.

The team returned home yesterday after conceding a 1-0 defeat to Nepal in the semi� nals of the third edition of the women’s regional football tournament.

Choton urged everyone in the nation-al team to continue training hard. “My evaluation is that we have moved closer to Nepal who are the second best side in the sub-continent. The team played good football and we lost to Nepal after conceding a penalty. The team showed good temperament and I think with con-tinuous training and international expo-sure, we can move to second spot.”

Bangladesh began their campaign with a convincing 6-1 win over Af-ghanistan before falling to a 5-1 defeat against India in their second game. Bangladesh, however, beat Maldives 3-1 in their last group game to seal a semi-� nal berth. In the previous two edition, Bangladesh bowed out from the semi-� nals and group stage in 2010 and 2012 respectively. On both occasions, India were the champions with Nepal turning out to be the runners up side. l

Djukanovic top of Russel’s plansn Raihan Mahmood

Former top � ight champions Sheikh Russel have decided to rope in the services of a foreign coach in the up-coming Bangladesh Premier Football League and their former Montenegrin coach Dragan Djukanovic is at the top of their preferred list.

Club president Nurul Alam Chow-dhury revealed the fact yesterday. “The club’s football committee decid-ed to appoint a foreign coach and we have chosen Dragan Djukanovic as the coach. We have a shortlist but Dragan is at the top of our preference list. We are in communication and I hope every-thing will be � nalised within a week. If Dragan does not � t to our plans then we will start communication with the others.”

The 47-year old Montenegrin has almost 12 years of experience in coach-ing and guided Russel from the half-way stage of last season. He had taken over responsibility of the head coach position after Russel sacked Maruful Haque.

Djukanovic is an UEFA A-Licensed and Pro-Licensed coach and played for various clubs in the leagues of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Cyprus before calling it a day in 2003. Then he became a fulltime coach. l

There is still room for improvement, says Bangladesh skippern Minhaz Uddin Khan

from Chittagong

Despite an 87-run win over Zimbabwe in the � rst of the � ve-match series last Friday, Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza believes there is still room for improvement as the two sides prepare to take on each oth-er in the second game at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium today.

“We are not relieved with the win to be honest. This is our job,” Mashrafe told the media yesterday.

“We come to the � eld every day to win, we train every day to win. We have won our � rst match this year. It would be great if we can win all the matches. There is no room to relax. We have to � nish our job properly,” he said referring to Bangladesh’s � rst ODI win this year in 14 matches.

Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan was the chief architect of the victory as he smashed his sixth ODI century and later took four wickets. The other positives were Mush� qur Rahim, who struck his 17th ODI � fty and debutant Sabbir Rahman, who blasted a whirlwind 25-ball 44. Later onwards, the spinners bowled well

with Arafat Sunny and Mahmudullah providing Shakib with valuable support picking up two wickets each while Mashrafe also chipped in with two wickets of his own.

However, the top-order were unable to � re as Bangladesh made a poor start to the innings losing their � rst four wickets for the addition of 70 runs. Pace bowling was also a letdown as the Zimbabwean openers carted 41 runs in the � rst four overs.

Mashrafe therefore is hoping for a

marked improvement from his charges.“There is room for a lot of improve-

ments. We won on the back of two or three performances. The top order has to score runs, like they did in the Test series. We have to start well with the ball. We have to stop relying on one guy. We have to get out of this mentali-ty. Everyone has to try and contribute,” he opined.

“If a team expect one of their players to do well always [points to Shakib sit-ting next to him], then it becomes hard for the rest of the side. It has happened from the start of the year. We start well but we end up losing the game. Ev-eryone has to contribute if we want to win,” he added.

Mashrafe concluded by saying he is thankful due to the fact that the start-ing time of the remaining four ODIs has been brought forward by an hour owing to the dew factor later on in the evening.

“Thankfully the match will start an hour early from the second game. I think we were quite lucky that the dew wasn’t excessive (last Friday). The spinners could grip the ball as it was drying up rather quickly. But it is still a concern,” said Mashrafe. l

Con� dent Sabbir thanks Mush� q, Hathurusinghan Minhaz Uddin Khan

from Chittagong

Bangladesh’s latest ODI debutant Sab-bir Rahman came into the side to add some � repower at the end of the bat-ting order in the latter stages of an innings. And he did exactly that last Friday smashing an enterprising 25-ball 44 against Zimbabwe to add some late impetus to Bangladesh’s innings. Courtesy Sabbir’s quick� re knock, the Tigers were able to post a challenging total of 281.

The 24-year old cricketer from Ra-jshahi slated the Zimbabwean bowling attack striking three fours and as many sixes to bring the Chittagong crowd on their feet. Sabbir’s dream debut was completed as Bangladesh went on to win the game by 87 runs.

Sabbir credited Mush� qur Rahim for motivating him to go for his shots.

“He (Mush� q) gave me a lot of courage when I wasn’t timing the ball or missing a few. I thought I wasn’t able to do anything, felt guilty of wasting deliveries at that stage. I was con� dent that if I could stick through it, I would cover it up later,” informed Sabbir while talking to the media yesterday.

The right-handed batsman stated

that head coach Chandika Hathurus-ingha also provided him with words of encouragement.

“The coach told me to � nish the innings, stay not out and support whoever is out there with me. I like batting in these situations to be honest. I can bat freely. It is di� cult but also quite simple. The bowlers are on the back foot. It is easy to � nd singles and hitting four or � ve big ones can increase the scoring rate,” said Sabbir, who is also an occasional right-arm spinner.

Sabbir said he might be going through a purple patch is his cricketing career and added that he is looking forward to capitalising on his good run of form.

“Everything feels good. I did well on my ODI debut, the team won and it is my birthday today (yesterday). It is ex-citing. Maybe it would have been great if the match was today (yesterday),” in-formed Sabbir.

Sabbir is the Tigers’ 113th ODI crick-eter and is renowned as an electric � elder besides his big-hitting heroics. Only time will tell whether he cements his place in the national side. If he does, it can only be bad news for the outgoing Nasir Hossain. l

Tigers looking to build on leadn Minhaz Uddin Khan

from Chittagong

Hosts Bangladesh will look to extend their 1-0 lead when they go head-to-head with Zimbabwe in the second of the � ve-match ODI series at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium today. The struggling tourists on the other hand will be targeting their � rst win of a disappointing tour. The second ODI will begin at 12:30pm and will be tele-cast live by BTV and Gazi TV.

The Tigers won the � rst ODI last Fri-day by 87 runs - their � rst victory in 50-over cricket this year. The much-await-ed win came after a hiatus of 383 days and 13 matches. The home side though will need to guard against complacen-cy. If Shakib al Hasan’s all-round contri-butions are not taken into account then the hosts might have struggled to win the � rst ODI.

Bangladesh’s top-order is an area of concern. The Tigers slipped to 70 for 4 when vice-captain Shakib and Mush-� qur Rahim rescued them with a time-ly partnership. The � fth-wicket duo added 148 runs as Shakib scored his � rst century in four years while Mush-� q posted his 17th � fty.

Opener Tamim Iqbal will be eye-

ing a return to run-scoring form in his hometown for the last time before the ODI series moves to Dhaka for the last three matches. Tamim’s opening part-ner Anamul Haque, who scored 12 in the � rst ODI, might make way for an in-form Imrul Kayes.

As far as the bowling department is concerned, Bangladesh’s three-pronged pace attack failed to deliver in the � rst game with the exception of skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza who picked up two wickets, including the important scalp of Brendan Taylor.

The spinners, however, performed ad-mirably and it will not be a surprise if 19-year old leg-spinner Jubair Hossain comes in place of paceman Rubel Hossain.

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will be banking on their spinners for an im-proved display. The Southern African nation’s two specialist spinners - Ta-fadzwa Kamungozi and John Nyumbu - only managed to grab one wicket each and will need to better their perfor-mances in the second ODI.

Zimbabwean batsmen Hamilton Ma-sakadza and Taylor are in good touch but Sikandar Raza and skipper Elton Chigumbura are desperate for runs that will surely make their side more com-petitive. l

Wasteful Abahani concede two-goal lead against Manangn Raihan Mahmood

Abahani Limited squandered a two-goal advantage to draw 2-2 against defending champions Manang Marshyangdi Club of Nepal in the King’s Cup in Thimphu, Bhutan yesterday.

Abahani took the lead in the 36th minute through their defender Nasirul Islam who went past Manang goalkeep-er Bishal Sreshtha and just two minutes later Guinean forward Ismael Bangoura doubled the margin by scoring from a solo e� ort.

Manang, however, came back strong in the second half. Ace forward Anil Gurung struck in the 51st minute for the defending champions. The Nepal-ese out� t pressed hard and succeeded in scoring the equaliser in the 81st min-ute through Shiva Sreshtha.

After the draw, Abahani’s chances of progressing to the last four became more complicated. The traditional Sky Blues must now beat Indian side Pune FC this Tuesday and hope other results go their way.

Abahani have four points from three matches while Manang also have the same number of points. Pune lead the table with six points. The top two teams from this group will go through to the last four. l

Bangladesh national women’s football team returned to the capital from Pakistan yesterday COURTESY

BangladeshMashrafe Mortaza (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque, Mush� qur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Arafat Sunny, Rubel Hossain/Jubair Hossain, Al-Amin HossainZimbabweElton Chigumbura (capt), Sikandar Raza, Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda/Timycen Maruma, Brendan Taylor, Regis Chakabva, Solomon Mire, Tinashe Panyangara, Tendai Chatara, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, John Nyumbu

PROBABLE XIs

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Sunday, November 23, 2014

BTV, Gazi TV12:30PMBangladesh v Zimbabwe2nd ODIStar Sports 29:15AMAustralia v South Africa5th ODI7:30PMIndian Super LeagueMumbai v ChennaiStar Sports 46:30PMF1: Abu Dhabi GPMain Race10:00PMSpanish La LigaLevante v Valencia12:00AMElche v Cordoba2:00AMVillarreal v GetafeStar Sports 17:30PMEnglish Premier LeagueCrystal Palace v Liverpool10:00PMHull City v Tottenham1:45AMItalian Serie AAC Milan v Inter MilanNeo PrimeGerman Bundesliga8:30PM Hamburger v Werder Bremen 10:30PM Stuttgart v Augsburg Neo Sports5:30PM Davis Cup, World Group FinalsFrance v Switzerland, Singles Sony SixNBA: Regular Season8:00AMUtah v New Orleans6:00AM Oklahoma City v Golden State11:00AM, 4:00PM Aiba Womens World Championship Semi Final: Session 1, 2Champion Tennis League 5:30PM Pune v Bangalore8:30PM Mumbai v Delhi12:00AM National Football LeagueDetroit Lions v New England Patriots

DAY’S WATCH

Indonesia ban players, o� cials over own goalsThe Indonesian Football Association banned 12 players and o� cials who competed to score own-goals in a far-cical match last month, an o� cial told AFP Saturday. The decision came after a video footage showed goalkeepers from PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang making half-hearted attempts to stop shots and walking away from the goal as the ball approached during a playo� match in central Java. The twelve people include the manager, coach and players from the two teams.  The head of the disciplinary committee of Indo-nesian Football Association, Hinca Pan-jaitan, branded it “an evil conspiracy”. “FIFA taught us to play ball to win, and they play ball to lose... If they play to lose, no need to play football,” he told AFP. FIFA is the world governing body of association football. He added that the 12 must also pay a � ne, but refused to elaborate on the amount. Panjaitan said that an investigation is ongoing for possible violations as o� cials looked into why the players were reluctant to play against Pusamania Borneo FC.

–AFP

Van Gaal cautious over deal for FalcaoManchester United manager Louis van Gaal has postponed a decision on whether to seal a permanent deal for Radamel Falcao because of the latest injury to the Colombia striker. Falcao has su� ered an injury-hit start to his loan spell at United, scoring just one goal in � ve appearances since his transfer deadline day move from Mo-naco. He is yet to complete a full game for United and has been unavailable for the last month because of a calf injury he sustained in training. It will take at least another fortnight for him to return to action and van Gaal won’t rush to take up the option to buy Fal-cao because of his latest injury, which comes 10 months after he damaged cruciate ligaments playing for Monaco. “Do you think we expected he’d be injured for so many weeks? Because of that (injury setback) maybe we didn’t buy him,” van Gaal said.

–AFP

QUICK BYTES

BRIEF SCORESKalabagan CA v Mohammedan SCKalabagan CA 143/10 in 36.4 oversMahmudul Hasan 59Amit Kumar 4/27, Naeem Islam 3/31

Mohammedan SC 64/10 in 26.4 oversMahmudul Hasan 5/27

Kalabagan CA won by 79 runs

Kalabagan KC v Partex SCKalabagan KC 239/6 in 50 oversShamsur Rahman 82, Jehan Mubarak 42

Partex SC 168/10 in 48.2 oversRockybul Hasan 3/22

Kalabagan KC won by 71 runs

Prime Bank CC v Old DOHSPrime Bank CC 241/10 in 49.3 oversSaikat Ali 90, Taibur Parvez 56

Old DOHS 210/10 in 43 oversMohammad Sajib 57Tapash Baisya 3/32

Prime Bank CC won by 41 runs

Federer bloodied but not bowed after Davis Cup shocker n AFP, Lille

For a player who had just endured his worst ever Davis Cup defeat on Friday, Roger Federer sounded surprisingly upbeat.

Clobbered 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 by � ery Frenchman Gael Mon� ls, the 33-year-old Swiss champion opted to dismiss the downsides and ponder the posi-tives.

Sidelined by a bad back for the � ve days leading into his � rst rubber in a Davis Cup � nal, Federer said he was listening to his body as Mon� ls bom-barded him from all angles.

“From my side, I mean, as the match went on, I just started to loosen up,” he said.

“I guess I needed to hit 30 big serves, I needed to slide, I needed to be in defense, I needed to play o� en-sive tennis, get information quickly.

“He did well to get the lead, then he was able to stretch the lead early in the second set.

“I think that’s when I � nally - be-cause I wasn’t playing for the score so much, I was playing to get back into the match, I had the info I was looking for - started to relax a little bit and started to feel better as the match went on.”

More than the physical, it was the psychological side of things that was the problem for Federer, who has had a history of back pain throughout his career.

It is something, he says he has learned to live and play with over the course of the years.

“If you have a back issue, it’s just one of those feelings you feel uncom-fortable,” he said.

“You don’t have to be in unbeliev-ably excruciating pain, but it takes a while for it to leave your mind. It’s like a ghost, it’s there, whoa, be careful.

“But that’s why it was good for me to play three sets today (Friday). De� -nitely gives us a lot of information.”

That information will now be used by Federer and Swiss captain Severin Luthi to decide who will play in yes-terday’s doubles and today’s reverse singles with the � nal delicately poised at 1-1.

As it stands, the French pair of Ju-lien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet are scheduled to go up against Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer yes-terday, with Federer and Wawrinka down for today’s play.

Wawrinka’s impressive four sets defeat of French number one Jo-Wil-fried Tsonga could see him back in ac-tion in doubles with Federer saying he will do whatever is asked of him.

“I would think that I’m going to get better as the weekend goes on, which I really hope is the case. I hope I’ll be � ne tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) morning to give maximum possibilities for Severin and back up Stan and the rest of the team,” he said.

“I’m making myself available for the team as much as I can, 100%, not only as a player, but whatever role I can play,” he said.

“I’m there to support them and support the team. This is what I al-ways do.” l

Halep, Kvitova to play in Sydney International n AFP, Sydney

World number three Simona Halep and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will headline the Sydney International women’s � eld in January, organisers said yesterday.

Halep, this year’s French Open run-ner-up to Maria Sharapova, and world number four Kvitova will be joined by the sixth-ranked player and Australian Open semi-� nalist Agnieszka Radwanska.

Halep, 23, lost in the � rst round of this year’s Sydney International to American Madison Keys and is hoping to make Sydney her ninth WTA title.

Kvitova lost to eventual champion Tsvetana Pironkova in the last Sydney event and went on to win her second Wimbledon championship.l

Switzerland’s Roger Federer ponders after losing his Davis Cup � nal singles match against France’s Gael Mon� ls on Friday REUTERS

Frechman Gael Mon� ls reacts after winning his match against Switzerland’s Roger Federer in the Davis Cup � nal on Friday AFP

Former captain Mashud leads Kalabagan CA to victoryn Mazhar Uddin

In a surprise development yesterday, former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mashud, who is the coach of Kalabagan Cricket Academy, featured for his club in a Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League match against Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited in Fatullah. The former national wicketkeeper’s outing turned out to be an eventful one as Ka-labagan CA defeated Mohammedan by 79 runs.

In the other matches of the day at di� erent venues, Kalabagan Krira Chakra and Prime Bank Cricket Club won their respective matches.

Kalabagan CA Vs MSC, FatullahBatting � rst, Kalabagan were bundled out for just 143 in 36.4 overs. Captain Mahmudul Hasan was the highest scorer with 59 as six of the Kalabagan batsmen were out leg-before wicket. Mashud came in at No 7 and was dismissed after scoring just one run.

Left-arm spinner Amit Ku-mar picked up four wickets while national discard and skipper Naeem Islam took three wickets for Moham-medan.

In reply, none of the Mohammed-an batsmen were able to reach double digits with extras turning out to be the highest scorer. After smashing � fty

with the bat, Mahmudul scalped 5/27 with his o� -spinners while left-arm spinners Nabil Samad and Bishwanath Halder took two wickets each to skittle out Mohammedan for just 64.

Kalabagan KC Vs Partex SC, BKSP 3Kalabagan posted their second win of this campaign after beating Partex by 71 runs at BKSP 3. Shamsur Rahman (82) continued his terri� c run of form smashing his fourth consecutive half century to lead Kalabagan to a chal-lenging total of 239/6. Sri Lankan crick-eter Jehan Mubarak was the second highest scorer with 42.

In pursuit of 240 for victory, Partex

were dismissed for 168 as Kalabagan’s Rokibul Hasan took three wickets. Ka-labagan skipper Abdur Razzak and Fa-zle Rabbi bagged two wickets apiece.

Prime Bank CC Vs Old DOHS, BKSP 4Prime Bank registered their second win in three matches after a 41-run win over Old DOHS at BKSP 4.

Prime Bank scored 241 before being all out in 49.3 overs. Opening batsman Saikat Ali missed his hundred after being dismissed for 90 while Taibur Parvez chipped in with 56.

Chasing 242, Old DOHS were all out for 200 in 43 overs with Mohammad Sa-jib scoring the highest, 57, for his side. l

Japan’s Kei Nishikori (2R), Nishikori’s coach Michael Chang (R) of the US, US tennis legend Andre Agassi (2L) and former Japanese tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka shake hands after their doubles exhibition match in Tokyo yesterday AFP

Sangakkara asked to delay Test retirementn C ricinfo

Kumar Sangakkara's Test future re-mains undecided after Sri Lanka's se-lectors implored him to reconsider his decision to retire from all formats after the 2015 World Cup. Sangakkara told the selectors he would quit internationals in April at a meeting on Thursday morn-ing but he is now rethinking that move upon request from the selectors, among others. He has repeatedly said he would not play ODIs beyond the World Cup, and that is unlikely to change.

Opposition to Sangakkara's retire-ment has been founded on the argu-ment that the team would be sub-stantially better served if Sangakkara remained in the Test side until it was more settled. Sri Lanka have yet to play

a Test since Mahela Jayawardene's re-tirement and, if Sangakkara had also quit following the forthcoming New Zealand Tests as he had planned, both of the side's leading batsmen would have become unavailable within the space of two series.

The selectors have also viewed San-gakkara and Jayawardene as mentors for the young players within the side.l

Bando Design, Anowara Group win big in corporate cricketn Raihan Mahmood

Bando Design defeated Reliance Insur-ance by 35 runs yesterday in the Marcel Corporate Cricket being held at Mo-hammedpur Eidgah ground. Udaychal Club are the organisers.

Batting � rst, Bando posted 168-allout in 19.2 overs with Rakib playing a masterful knock of 61 from 35 balls. Arif of Reliance scalped four wickets for 24 runs.

The score was too big for Reliance

to chase as they managed to score 132 for nine in the stipulated 20 overs. Jahangir of Reliance blasted 88 but it went in vain.

Meanwhile at Lalmatia Club ground, Sohel Rana of Anowara Group blasted 108 o� just 35 balls to steer his team to a big total of 251 for � ve wickets.

Ericsson in reply were dismissed for 125. Taposh Saha grabbed six wickets for � ve runs to present Anowara with a big win of 126 runs. l

Australia eye top ODI spot on back of sizzling Smith n AFP, Sydney

Australia may have already clinched the series against South Africa but they have the incentive of top spot on the world one-day rankings in today’s � fth ODI in Sydney.

The Australians reeled in South Africa’s 267 for eight with a thrilling century from Steve Smith to claim a three-wicket win over the Proteas with an over to spare in Melbourne on Fri-day to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the � ve-game series.

While Australia have wrapped up the series, Smith said the home side won’t be short of motivation in Sydney, where another win will ensure they re-claim No.1 spot from World Cup cham-pions India on the International Cricket

Council’s ODI rankings.South African coach Russell Domin-

go said taking Smith’s wicket would be key to his side � nishing their limit-ed-overs tour of Australia with a win.

Proteas captain AB de Villiers looked in pain in the � nal stages of Australia’s innings on Friday, constantly feeling his ribs, but Domingo is hopeful he will play in today’s � nal ODI.

Domingo denied his side’s � rst one-day loss to Australia in seven ODIs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was a World Cup setback and said Sunday would be a chance for his players to nail down a spot in the squad for that tournament.

“(Today) is another chance to see what the right group is ... we’re pretty close to � nalising (a squad),” he said.l

Siddikur struggling in Manila Mastersn Tribune Desk

Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman continued to stutter in the Resorts World Manila Masters as he found him-self tied for 42nd position with � ve others following the conclusion of the third and penultimate round’s play in the Philippines yesterday.

Siddikur posted one-over-par 73 on the third day and is now 15 shots behind leader Mardan Mamat of Singapore.

The 30-year old Bangladesh golfer hit four birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey on the 2nd hole to fall behind the runaway leaders. Siddikur has an overall score of two-under-par 214. l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Sunday, November 23, 2014

Chelsea’s Diego Costa (L) celebrates scoring past West Bromwich Albion’s Ben Foster during their EPL match at Stamford Bridge in London yesterday. Chelsea won 2-0 REUTERS

Inzaghi, Mancini relishing crucial derby n AFP, Milan

AC Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi is in con� dent mood ahead of the derby against Roberto Manci-ni’s Inter as the battle of Milan takes centre stage

in Serie A on Sunday. Inzaghi’s side come into the � xture

in seventh place and 11 points behind leaders Juventus, who are in action on Saturday away to Lazio, but the former international marksman says his team have nothing to fear against an Inter team just one point below them. 

“May the best team win, but I sin-cerely believe that it will be di� cult to be stronger than us,” Inzaghi said on the eve of the match as he also paid tribute to Mancini. 

“’Mancio’ has more experience in these kind of matches as a coach but myself, I have the emotion of all these matches as a player.

“A derby is di� erent, it is not to

be played, it is to be won!” added the 41-year-old who spent 11 years as a player, scoring 73 goals, at Milan. 

Brazilian defender Alex is ruled out for Milan with injury which hardly helps a leaky rearguard that has already conceded 16 goals in 11 matches. 

Inzaghi can however call upon for-mer Chelsea and Liverpool striker Fer-nando Torres who has scored just one goal this season since his move from Stamford Bridge. 

“I am happy with him and I hope he is going to break out. Fernando can

carry us to the upper part of the table.” continued Inzaghi.

Mancini, who has seen his side pick up four wins against three defeats in 11 outings, believes the Milan derby has a unique charm of its own and will bring out the best in both teams. 

“It’s the only derby where the two teams have the habit of being in con-tention for all the big competitions such as the Scudetto (Italian title) and Champions League,” explained the for-mer Manchester City manager. 

“We’re talking about two teams who are the history of the Calcio (Serie A) so we need to start the best we can, per-haps get a bit of luck and above all play good football. 

“Pippo (Inzaghi) has a great histo-ry as a player and it’s his � rst experi-ence (as a coach) and he could have a great future. Milan know a young coach can sometimes get it wrong but it’s not easy to start (as a coach), be-cause you think you know everything.” added Mancini. l

Ibrahimovic back as PSG win seven in a row n AFP, Paris

Champions Paris Saint-Germain went top for the � rst time this season with a 3-2 win at mid-table Metz on Fri-day night, as star forward Zlatan Ibra-himovic made his � rst start in two months.

Argentines Javier Pastore and Eze-quiel Lavezzi scored either side of a Gaetan Bussman own goal for the visi-tors, who remain unbeaten this season.

But perhaps even better news was Ibrahimovic’s return to the starting line-up as he managed to complete the 90 minutes, while only being denied a brace by his Argentine team-mates.

A pair of Modibo Maiga penalties had brie� y brought Metz level ear-ly in the second half after turning around 2-0 down at the break, but they

couldn’t hold out.Although Marseille can go back to

the top by beating Bordeaux at home on Sunday, PSG’s � fth straight league win and seventh in all competitions puts them top as they hunt down the early-season pace-setters.

Metz needed only a quarter of an hour to completely self-destruct, by which time they were two goals down.

First up, a succession of wayward passes and mis-controls in the centre of the park by Bouna Sarr and Ahmed Kashi allowed Pastore to steal the ball o� Jeremy Choplin, ride a feeble tackle by Guido Milan and delicately dink the ball over goalkeeper Johann Carrasso.

He went to ground somewhat pre-maturely, just a split second before Ibra-himovic arrived to provide what would have been a � nishing touch himself.l

Klopp reveals EPL interest n AFP, London

Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed he is keen on managing in the Premier League if he ever leaves Germany.

Klopp has long been linked with a move to England, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal all said to have been keen on the German at var-ious times.

“It’s the only country, I think, where I should work, really, next to Germany, because it’s the only country I know the language a little bit and I need the language for my work,” Klopp said in an interview with BT Sport’s SportsHUB programme.

“So we will see. If somebody will call me, then we will talk about it.”

Klopp led Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012, and to the Champions League � nal. l

Reds won’t dwell on Palace meltdown, says Rodgers n AFP, London

Brendan Rodgers claims Liverpool won’t be a� ected by the painful mem-ories of their disastrous meltdown against Crystal Palace when they re-turn to Selhurst Park today.

Rodgers’ side blew a three-goal lead as Palace staged a remarkable revival in the � nal 11 minutes to shatter Liv-erpool’s hopes of winning the Premier League title last season.

That horror show in south London left then Liverpool striker Luis Suarez in tears and the rest of his team-mates ash-en-faced as they returned to the dress-ing room. The Reds, without a win in three league games, don’t have to worry about ruining their title challenge this time as they are almost out of the race already after falling 15 points behind

leaders Chelsea. But Rodgers is hopeful his players will use the opportunity to avenge their last encounter with Palace as a springboard for a winning run.

“Maybe the excitement to claw back the goal di� erence gap to Manchester City overtook us when we played Pal-

ace last time,” Rodgers said as he re-� ected on that 3-3 draw.

“But the damage was always done in the Chelsea defeat. That was the one that changed it for us. It will be equally as tough against Palace this time. Warnock is a wonderful manager with big experience.l

Zidane wins appeal against ban n AFP, Madrid

A Spanish sports court on Friday backed Zinedine Zidane’s appeal against a three month ban from coach-ing Real Madrid’s reserve team over his disputed quali� cations.

Spain’s football federation imposed the ban at the end of October, arguing the former France mid� elder did not have the right licence to coach in Spain.

Real appealed and the three-time World Footballer of the Year was al-lowed to continue coaching while the Court of Arbitration for Sport consid-ered the case. Zidane’s assistant Santi-ago Sanchez, who was also sanctioned by the Spanish federation, the RFEF, was also cleared to continue his duties.

Real Madrid initially went to the RFEF appeal committee but when that was re-jected, the 10-time European champions turned to the Court of Arbitration.l

Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Robert Lewandowski and Sebastian Rode (L-R) celebrate a goal against Ho� enheim during their Bundesliga soccer in Munich yesterday REUTERS

Atletico Madrid’s Portuguese mid� elder Tiago (L) celebrates with coach Diego Simeone after scoring during their La Liga match against Malaga CF in Madrid yesterday. Atletico won 3-1 AFP

FIXTURES Crystal Palace v Liverpool Hull City v Tottenham

Chelsea pull away, Toure rescues Cityn AFP, London

Diego Costa scored again as Chelsea established a seven-point lead at the Premier League summit on Saturday by comfortably beating 10-man West Bromwich Albion 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Costa opened the scoring in the 11th minute, leaping into the air to control Oscar’s left-wing cross on his chest and then slamming a side-foot volley past Ben Foster for his 11th goal of the cam-paign.

Eden Hazard added a second in the 25th minute, smuggling a de� ected shot beneath Foster from Cesc Fabre-

gas’s corner, before West Brom’s Clau-dio Yacob was sent o� for a two-footed challenge on Costa.

Victory saw Chelsea set a new club record of 12 unbeaten games from the start of the season.

Jose Mourinho’s side are now sev-en points clear of second-place South-ampton, who visit Aston Villa on Mon-day, and remain eight points above defending champions Manchester City, who won 2-1 at home to Swansea City.

Despite having captain Vincent Kompany back from injury, Manches-ter City fell behind in the ninth minute at the Etihad Stadium when Wilfried Bony � nished calmly from Nathan Dy-er’s lofted through-ball.

But Stefan Jovetic swept home Jesus Navas’s low cross to equalise 10 min-utes later and Yaya Toure gave the hosts victory early in the second half after a characteristic burst into the area.

It was only City’s second win in seven games. Manuel Pellegrini’s side host Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday, when even victory may not spare them from a third group-stage exit in four seasons.

In Saturday’s late game, Arsenal and Manchester United will both hope to make up ground on the leading sides when they face o� at the Emirates Stadium. l

FIXTURES Torino v Sassuolo Cesena v Sampdoria Verona v Fiorentina Napoli v Cagliari Parma v Empoli Udinese v Chievo Milan v Inter

RESULTAtletico Madrid 3-1 MalagaTiago 12, Griezmann 42 Santa Cruz 63)Godin 83

Dominant Bayern extend leadn Reuters, Berlin

Undefeated champions Bayern Munich continued their seemingly unstop-pable charge towards the Bundesliga title, crushing Ho� enheim 4-0 on Satur-

day to extend their lead at the top.With second-placed VfL Wolfsburg

losing 3-2 at Schalke 04, Bayern are now seven points clear, having yet to lose in any of the three competitions they are in this season.

Mario Goetze drilled in from 23 me-tres with Bayern’s � rst shot on goal in the 23rd minute and Poland interna-tional Robert Lewandowski headed in his sixth of the campaign from a pin-point cross by Arjen Robben.

The Dutchman then added a third late in the game with a � ne chip for the Bavarians, who welcomed back Bastian Schweinsteiger as a second-half substi-tute for his � rst appearance since the

World Cup � nal having recovered from a niggling knee injury. Substitute Se-bastian Rode completed the rout three minutes from time from a Schweinstei-ger assist to lift Bayern to 30 points. Hof-fenheim � nished with 10 men following the late dismissal of Adam Szalai.

Fellow Champions League club Bay-er Leverkusen eased past Hanover 96 3-1 with forward Stefan Kiessling scor-ing his � rst league goal since August.

Schalke exploded into action against in-form Wolfsburg, scoring three times in the opening 25 minutes as they pre-pare to meet Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, who visit Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday, squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at promoted Paderbon, continuing their erratic season.

There was further bad news for last season’s runners-up as Marco Reus, who had only just returned to the side,

was taken o� midway through the sec-ond half with yet another injury after a rough challenge.l

Atletico overcome Malaga challengen Reuters, Madrid

Atletico Madrid closed to within a point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid when mid� elder Tiago scored one goal and created another for Diego Godin in a 3-1 win for the champions at home to Mal-aga on Saturday.

Tiago nodded Koke's corner pow-erfully into the net in the 12th minute at the Calderon and the lively Antoine Griezmann tapped home an Arda Turan centre three minutes before halftime.

Roque Santa Cruz set nerves jan-gling when he pulled a goal back for sixth-placed Malaga just after the hour but the Qatar-owned club's chances were curtailed when forward Samuel earned a second yellow card and was dismissed in the 73rd minute.

Atletico made sure of the points

when Tiago hooked the ball to the back post for an unmarked Diego Godin to head home six minutes from time be-fore captain Gabi picked up his second caution and was sent o� in the 88th.

The victory lifted Atletico, who won their � rst Spanish league title in 18 years last season, above Barcelona and Valencia into second place on 26 points from 12 matches.

Real (27 points) play at mid-ta-ble Eibar later on Saturday, before Barcelona (25) can reclaim second spot with a win at home to � fth-placed Se-villa (23).l

RESULTSBayern Munich 4-0 Ho� enheimGoetze 22, Lewandowski 39, Robben 82, Rode 87

Schalke 3-2 WolfsburgChoupo-Moting 10, 22, Olic 37, Fuchs 25 Bendtner 74

M’gladbach 1-3 FrankfurtNordveit 6 Stendera 54, Meier 57, Inui 73

Mainz 2-2 FreiburgJunior Diaz 27, Schmid 31, Bell 88 Mehmedi 58

Hanover 96 1-3 LeverkusenGulselam 60 Kiessling 46, Son 58, Bellarabi 72

Paderborn 2-2 DortmundRupp 60, Aubameyang 12, Saglik 81 Reus 45+1

RESULTSChelsea 2-0 West BromCosta 11, Hazard 25

Everton 2-1 West HamLukaku 26, Zarate 56Osman 73

Leicester 0-0 Sunderland

Man City 2-1 SwanseaJovetic 19, Toure 62 Bony 9

Newcastle 1-0 QPRSissoko 78

Stoke 1-2 BurnleyWalters 32 Ings 12, 13

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Sunday, November 23, 2014 15

MamaStar Movies, 11:58pm

Annabel and Lucas are faced with the challenge of raising his young nieces that were left alone in the forest for 5 years.

What to Expect When You’re ExpectingHBO De� ned, 8:50pm

Follows the lives of � ve intercon-nected couples as they experience the thrills and surprises of having a baby.

Star TrekMovies Now, 6:50pm

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father’s legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful, time-traveling Romulan creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

ExhibitionLife is HereBy Kanak Chanpa ChakmaTime: 12pm – 8pm, Bengal Art Lounge

Group Art Exhibition: Artworks by 40 Eminent ArtistsTime: 3:00pm – 8:30pmBishwo Shahitto Kendro Art Gallery

Dealing With SpacesTime: 3pm – 8pm, Dhaka Art Center

House-60, Road-7A Dhanmondi

Film InterstellarGone GirlAnnabelleOnek Sadher MoynaThe Maze RunnerInto The StormTime: 12:30pm – 10:00pmBlockbuster CinemasJamuna Future Park

LOVE STORY on display at AFD n Entertainment Desk

“ Love Story” by Alamin Hasan is on exhibit at the Alliance Française de Dhaka.

With 13 paintings on display, the exhibition will continue until December 4.

Alamin’s paintings are like windows to someone’s life. Spectator can gaze through the vibrant primary colours with expressionistic strokes, constantly confusing symbols. They might represent the core concept of love, that can be inter-preted in manifold ways. A simple but old story.

The exhibition narrates the story of two wild human beings falling in love inside a certain social frame. They take the com-mon ride yet feel special about. The ride is short. In a blink of an eye, they discover themselves alone again.

The strokes showcase uncountable opportunities that life o� ers us with compared to the things left to do. There are deep, long attachments, but what Alamin expresses is the thrill. No matter how you face it, when you face it, slow or fast, as old or as young, it always feels marvellous, says the artist.

The changes it leaves and the inspirations it grows, always drive you towards becoming a better human being.

Prof Syed Abul Barq Alvi of Faculty of Fine Arts under Dha-ka University and Prof Lala Rukh Selim, chairman of Depart-ment of Sculpture, Dhaka University graced the inauguration ceremony held on Friday. l

n Shadma Malik

Apurbo, one of the busiest actors of recent times, made his break-through in modelling career by conquering the title of “Mr Bangladesh” in 2002 in the talent hunt show called “You Got the Looks.” Hitting the small screen in 2006, the model-turned-actor gradually emerged to-wards becoming a popular face in romantic plays.

A purbo had just � nished shooting for a TV play titled “Shopno Ghu-ri,” in which he portrayed a cancer patient. Dhaka Tribune caught up with the actor who said about the play: “I am playing the role called Opu who is diagnosed with cancer. Music is his passion but he is count-ing his last days.”

“I have worked in numerous TV plays where I end up dying. There-fore, death is nothing unusual, it’s the ultimate truth,” the actor went on saying.

“Besides, in this play directed by Chayanika Chowdhury, the cine-matographer Anwar Hossain Bulu has done an excellent job. I am pair-ing up with Sonia Hossain,” he added.

However, the distinguished performer seems to venture many more dimensions of the performing arts. Besides the romantic roles, Apurbo has recently made his debut on silver screen with “Gangster Returns” where his “action hero” image is expected to entertain his bulk of fans.

In the trailer Apurbo is seen portraying an action � gure with � re-arms in two of his hands, narrating the story of a gangster and the fall of a star. The spark of vengeance inside brought the protagonist into the world of crime.

A story of lost love, envy and honour, Gangster Returns is scheduled to be released in March next year. l

APURBO portraysa cancer patient

Orenburg State Academic Folk Choir, a cultural troupe from Russia currently travelling Bangladesh performed at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Friday on the occasion of Russian Culture Day

Shawshank stars reunite for 20th anniversaryn Entertainment Desk

It’s been 20 years since Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins had that epic reunion in “The Shawshank Redemption.” On Tuesday, the two actors came to-gether once again to celebrate the movie’s 20th an-niversary with writer/director Frank Darabont, who adapted “Shawshank” from a Stephen King short story.

The � lm actually had a rougher start when it was released in September 1994. The movie didn’t per-form well at the box o� ce and barely made back its production budget of $25 million. It had critical acclaim but not the trophies to prove it, as the Acad-emy Awards left “Shawshank” out in the cold. The period drama was nominated for seven Oscars and went home without winning a single one. Cut to two decades later, and “Shawshank” is now known as the movie that everyone can love.

“I really cling to the letters from people for whom the movie really meant something,” Darabont told the audience at Tuesday’s reunion, which was hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Scienc-

es. “It stopped somebody from committing suicide, or at least they credit it for it having saved their lives that day. Whatever someone needed to hear that day to reinforce them as a human being, the movie gave it to them. It’s only then you realise you’ve made something more than just a two-hour movie.”

Both Robbins and Freeman said they knew they were on board as soon as they read Darabont’s script. l

Morgan Freeman, Frank Darabont and Tim Robbins prior to the 20th anniversary screening

AMY ADAMS’ long-delayed JANIS JOPLIN biopic moves forwardn Entertainment Desk

“Dallas Buyers Club” director Jean-Marc Val-lee is signing on to direct Amy Adams as Janis Joplin in “Get It While You Can,” the working title for the biograph-ical � lm that has a script by Ron and Theresa Terry and will shoot mid-2015.

It will be the next � lm by Vallee, who directed Reese Witherspoon in “Wild” and just wrapped “Demolition” with Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper.

Adams has been attached to play Jop-lin and has wanted to do this for several years. She’s expected to be in contention for her sixth Oscar nomination for the Tim Burton-di-rected “Big Eyes,” which the Weinstein Com-pany opens on Christmas Day, and is wrapping “Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice,” re-prising her Man Of Steel role as Lois Lane. She next will star in May in “Story Of Your Life,”

the Denis Villenueve-directed sci-� picture that Paramount Pictures acquired for a Cannes

Film Festival record sum in May.

Adams has wanted to

tackle this � lm for years, and she plans to sing

J o p l i n ’ s tunes. Dead-

line � rst report-ed Adams’ desire to

do the � lm back in 2010, when Fernando Meirelles, direcor of “City Of God,” wanted to direct.

There have been several at-tempts to mount � lms about the gravelly voiced ’60s songtress, and a rival project has Nina Ari-anda attached to star. l

SONAKSHI does notfeel insecuren Entertainment Desk

Sonakshi Sinha will be seen sharing screen-space with Yami Gautam and Manasvi Mamgai in her upcoming � lm “Action Jackson” but the actress says she has no qualms about doing a movie with two other female stars as she is very secure about herself.

The 27-year-old actress says she is happy to � nally be a part of a multi-starrer � lm, which also has Ajay Devgn in it. “I think I have es-tablished my name in the industry in a way that I am not insecure of the fact that the � lm has two other heroines. I genuinely liked the role and just because there are two more heroines, I can’t say no to a � lm,” Sonakshi said.

“This is the � rst time I am work-

ing in a multi-starrer. It was a fun � lm to be involved with, she added.

“Action Jackson” is an action comedy directed by Prabhudheva. Sonakshi, who has previously collab-orated with the choreographer-di-rector in “Rowdy Rathore” and “R... Rajkumar,” said the upcoming movie is a typical commercial � lm, which Prabhudheva is best known for.

“It is a typical Prabhu sir � lm full of entertainment and masala. When I was o� ered the � lm, Prabhu sir told me he is looking for someone who has a good comic timing. This � lm gave me an opportunity to play a character which is overloaded with comedy,” the “Dabangg” ac-tress said.

“Action Jackson” will hit theatres on December 5. l

ENRIQUE IGLESIASbags three Latin Grammy Awardsn Entertainment Desk

Singer Enrique Iglesias received three trophies at the 15th annual Latin Grammy Awards.

The singer accepted the awards from half-way around the globe from Antwerp, Belgium after giving a speech via

satellite Thursday, reports contactmusic.com. Iglesias was not able to pick up his honours in person because he was busy in his on-going Sex and Love tour. He received the night’s Best Urban Performance and Best Urban Song prizes for his hit “Bailando,” and also scored the coveted Song of the Year accolade.

The night was � lled with 20 perfor-mances from some of Latin music’s artists, including Pitbull, Chris Brown, Ricky Martin and Marc Anthony. l

J a n i s J o p l i n

KHAN HASAN MD RAFI

R U S S I A N C U LT U R E D AY

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

Bubonic plague outbreak in Madagascar leaves 32 dead n Agencies

An outbreak of plague in Madagascar has killed 40 people and infected al-most 80 others, the World Health Or-ganization has said.

The � rst known case in the outbreak was a man in Soamahatamana village in the district of Tsiroanomandidy, about 200km west of Antananarivo, at the end of August, reports BBC

There have been two con� rmed cas-es in the capital, including one death.

“There is now a risk of a rapid spread of the disease due to the city’s high population density and the weakness of the healthcare system,” the WHO said.

A task force has been activated to manage the outbreak.

Last year health experts warned that the island was facing a plague epidemic unless it slowed the spread of the dis-ease. It said that inmates in Madagas-car’s rat-infested jails were particularly at risk.

The disease is spread by � eas carried by rats. If left untreated, it is fatal with-in 24 hours. l

Jaywalkers to face jail, � nesCarefree pedestrians to be slapped with 6 months’ jail or Tk200 � nesn Tribune Report

Special mobile courts will take punitive action against people from Tuesday for not using footbridges and underpass when crossing a part of the Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue – one of the busiest roads of the capital.

According to a decision of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), jaywalkers would be sentenced to maximum six months’ imprisonment or � ned Tk200 for jaywalking between the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel intersection and Farmgate Police Box, DMP Commissioner Bena-zir Ahmed told reporters yesterday.

Such practice increases chances of road accidents and creates tra� c con-

gestion, he said. Several DMP teams led magistrates would conduct the week-long drive.

There are six footbridges and one underpass along the mentioned area.

“Jaywalking not only puts the pe-destrians’ lives at risk but also creates chaos,” the police commissioner said.

A three-day long campaign was launched by the DMP, ahead of the mo-bile court operation, to create pedestri-an awareness to create the practice of the use of the footbridges and the only underground pass near the Karwan Ba-zar intersection.

Police would use banners and dis-tribute lea� ets during the campaign, to make the public conscious of the use of

such footbridges and underpasses – a part of a pilot project to discipline pe-destrians.

“We will set up mobile courts as a token initiative so that the city dwellers act in a responsible manner while cross-ing the streets,” the DMP chief said.

While blaming reckless driving by unlicensed and unskilled drivers for road accidents, Benazir said city dwell-ers were also responsible for the deaths as they cross the roads here and there.

“It is not possible to control this sit-uation in a mega city like Dhaka. The citizens need to come forward too.”

He suggested that the city corpora-tion authorities install escalators in the footbridges to attract pedestrians.

Benazir also urged private organisa-tions to � nance in measures taken for eradicating tra� c congestion and hap-hazard situations on the city streets.

Asked if the DMP would take any in-itiative to free the three footbridges in Farmgate area, now occupied by hawk-ers, Joint Tra� c Commissioner Mosle-huddin Ahmed said they would look into the matter later.

There are over 40 footbridges and three underpasses in the capital. But most of those remain devoid of pedes-trians as they are grabbed by beggars and hawkers, an illegal facility pat-ronised reportedly by law enforcers, city corporation sta� and ruling par-ty-backed goons. l

Mamata strugglesto hold a panicked � ock togethern Tribune Report

With her party’s credibility getting a severe jolt in the Saradha scam, Tri-namool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee is struggling in the face of an alien chal-lenge of keeping her � ock together, ac-cording to Indian media reports.

Friday’s arrest of MP Srinjoy Bose on suspicion of involvement in the mul-ti-billion ponzi scam has apparently triggered a wave of distrust among the Mamata-led ranks.

After Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy is the second Trinamool MP to be arrested in the Saradha case and the � fth over-all after East Bengal Club o� cial De-babrata Sarkar, former DGP Rajat Ma-jumdar, businessman Sandhir Agarwal and singer Sadanand Gogoi apart from Saradha boss Sudipta Sen Ghosh.

Insiders say Mamata has al-ready got hints that as many as 20Trinamool councillors in Kolkata Mu-nicipal Corporation are having other thoughts before civic polls sometime next year.

Some of these councillors are al-ready in touch with the Bharatia Jana-ta Party (BJP), holding o� ce in India’s Centre, and may change loyalties any day.

Expelled Trinamool leader Asif Khan has already hinted at joining BJP, according to a report by Times of India.

This also explains why she threw her weight behind Mukul Roy and Madan Mitra promising them of a clean-chit, even after initially distancing herself from them after they had been in� icted with the scam.

Trinamool embarrassment is not likely to end any time soon. State tex-tiles minister Shyamaprasad Mukher-jee was questioned by the Central Bu-reau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday in connection with Saradha and sum-mons have reached artist and Mamata loyalist Suvaprasanna. Next on the list is Madan Mitra.

September’s Trinamool-spearhead-ed anti-CBI protest against what they

say was “unfair targetting of their lead-ers by the BJP-led Centre through the investigation agency” have also not bred the expected public reaction, if not back� red.

Trinamool leaders are circumspect about the outcomes of the protest be-cause it was Mamata herself who en-joyed the fruits of CBI probes into the Nandigram and Netai killings during the Left Front regime.

It touched people’s hearts because they had started losing con� dence in the Left administration. The recent chain of shame and horror — Alipore police station attack, NRS Hospital lynching, denying relief materials to Birbhum villagers — now exposes a similar distrust.

The desperation was showing in Mamata’s speech on Friday. “When the incident [Saradha scam] took place what was your CBI doing, your Sebi doing and even RBI?...Nowadays I see those who cheated people, like the Saradha Group who cheated peo-ple, are not getting back their money. Instead the focus is on who cheated Saradha,” Mamata thundered at a party workers’ conference in Kalyani.

In reply, BJP leader Jaiprakash Ma-jumdar retorted: “What were Mamata’s men — Kunal Ghosh, Rajat Majumdar — doing then?”

Only on Tuesday, the Trinamool chief declared she would quit the CM’s chair if it was proved that she had any links to the ponzi scheme.

Like a typical ponzi scheme, Saradha – a consortium of over 200 private companies – was found to be paying returns to older investors from money collected from newer subscribers to its bonds and policies.

The scam, wherein hundreds of thousands of investors in West Bengal and neighbouring states were lured into illegal money pooling activities, came to light in April last year amid allegations that a section of Trinamool Congress leaders were involved. The group collected around Rs200-300bn from over 1.7 million depositors. l

Government acts to protect vulturesn Abu Bakar Siddique

With a view to protect the critically-en-dangered vultures from extinction, the government has declared two safe zones covering over 47,000 square kilometres in the Sylhet and Khulna divisions.

The total area of Vulture Safe Zones in greater Sylhet and Khulna areaswill be 19,663.18 sq-km and 27,717.26 sq-km.

The Environment and Forests Min-istry made the decision on Thursday, Md Nojibur Rahman, secretary of the ministry, said addressing the inaugural session of the Fourth Save the Vultures meeting in the capital’s Pan Paci� c Sonargaon Hotel.

Adding that a circular in this regard would be published in a day or two, he also said activities that are harmful for the vulture population would be con-trolled strictly in those safe zones. For example, the use of banned medicine diclofenac – a painkiller that kills vul-tures but used across Asia to treat live-stock – would be restricted.

The programme was jointly organ-ised by the Forest Department, IUCN Bangladesh and Save – a global organ-isation working to save vultures.

According to the International Un-

ion for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there were four crore vultures – known as “scavengers of nature” – in the Indi-an Subcontinent 20 years back which has now come down to approximate-ly below 10,000. It means the number dropped by 99.9% during this period.

In Bangladesh, the total vulture population is below 500.

Of the three resident species of vul-tures, the country has already lost two – slender-billed and red-headed vul-tures.

The only remaining species white-rumped vulture, commonly known as “Bangla Shokun,” is listed by the IUCN as “critically endangered.”

It is nothing other than the mindless use of veterinary medicine diclofenac that caused the number of vultures to

fall drastically as vultures only feed on dead animals. A single contaminated carcass can cause to death of a whole � ock of vultures. Scientists estimate that a 30ml vial of diclofenac is enough to kill around 500 vultures.

The e� ects of diclofenac on vultures include renal failure, drooping posture and loss of � ight because vultures do not have a particular enzyme in their body to break down diclofenac.

The government in October 2010 banned the production and sale of di-clofenac for cattle as it damages kid-neys of vultures.

However, a recent study conducted jointly by the Forest Department and the IUCN Bangladesh shows that di-clofenac are still available in the veteri-nary drug stores.

Experts also suggest that “Ketopro-fen” – another medicine detrimental for vultures but used on cattle – should also be banned.

When contacted, Prof Monirul H Khan, a leading vulture specialist, told the Dhaka Tribune that the govern-ment should ban the use of Ketopro-fen – used largely as a substitute for diclofenac.

He, instead, advocated for using Meloxicam as a substitute for di-clofenac, though it is costlier. l

Retractable spikes, installed in the capital’s Bailey Road, to prevent vehicles driving in the wrong direction began to malfunction a few hours after they were set up yesterday by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. (Right) Two men are seen trying to repair the damaged spikes. Recently a similar device was installed in Hare Road which too was later removed due to malfunction MEHEDI HASAN

The only remaining species, the white-rumped vulture commonly known as ‘Bangla Shokun,’ is listed by the IUCN as critically endangered

R E T R A C TA B L E S P I K E S R E T U R N

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2014

B3 Long ‘to do’ list for Modi as clock ticks on reform

B4 China cuts interest rates to spur growth, ease debt pressure

GP uses half the internet bandwidth alonen Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Grameenphone, the market leader mobile phone operator in the country, uses more than half the total bandwidth being consumed in the country every day, suggests � gures compiled by the Dhaka Tribune.

Of the total 127 Tara Bites (TB) bandwidth consumed every day by the four operators – Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink and Airtel – the market leader company shares 65 TB bandwidth.

Though GP crossed � ve crore landmark in terms of active SIM users in September with 42% market share, it loses market share in terms of internet use.

According to sources, the operator has 1.4 crore internet users – over 95 lakh 2G and over 44 lakh 3G.

Banglalink said it has more than 1.17 crore active internet users under its network, but consumes only 22 TB of bandwidth every day.

The operator’s 3G data users are 10.41 lakh while the rest (1.06 crore) belong to 2G category. The company has 3 crore active SIM users till the end of September.

According to Robi, it has more than 1.15 crore data users but shares only 32 TB data every day.

GP said it would increase sharing data though the company is currently using 65 TB daily.

“Under our network the use of data is on the rise and we hope it will increase more and more,” Chief Executive O� cer Vivek Sood told the Dhaka Tribune recently.

The outgoing CEO also said 3G subscrib-

ers are mainly consuming a huge volume of data.

“It was only 14 to 15 TBs even in April last year which came to 65 TBs currently and it is going up day by day,” he added.

Vivek added that they are using a de� -nition about counting data users though Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) doesn’t have any de� -nition about who the data users are and who are not.

“We know how to identify the number of internet users from our subscribers end. Lots of users activated GP internet, but do not use so much data. We detect them from our data number list,” he added.

According to Vivek, subscribers that use at least 150kb data for three months at a stretch are only counted as internet users.

“Under our network there are more than 60 lakh Facebook users and I believe Facebook can be the driving force for increasing internet penetrations in the country,” said the CEO. According to Robi,

it is not following any o� cial de� nition about the data users but said most of its users consume more than one GB data every month.

The number four operator, Airtel, said its data subscribers use 8 TBs bandwidth every day. Airtel has so far 33.38 lakh internet us-ers till September. Of them, 6.29 lakh data users belong to 3G connections.

The four cellphone operators were awarded 3G licences in September 2013 after a spectrum auction in which GP acquired 10 megahertz of spectrum and the rest 5 meg-ahertz each.

State-owned operator, Teletalk, has acquired more than 15 lakh 3G subscribers but not obtained any 3G licence so far and had been o� ering the fastest data services since October 2012 as part of its “commercial test.”

The cellphone company got 10 mega-hertz spectrum in the auction price but hadn’t paid any money so far, the regulator sources said. l

Muhith inquires about default loan ‘I want to know what the real situation is and how we are operating this’ n Asif Showkat Kallol

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has asked Banking Division Secretary M Aslam Alam to let him know about default loan situation in the country’s banking sector.

Reading newspaper reports on the matter, he wrote a demo o� cial letter to the secretary on Thursday, asking for the information, o� cial sources said.

“The rise in default loans caused uproar in the press. I want to know what the real situation is and how we are operating this,” reads the � nance minister’s letter.

While commenting about such step, former � nance adviser to caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam said this was not necessary as � nance minis-ter could directly ask Bangladesh Bank and commercial banks in this regard.

“If necessary, � nance minister will ask the o� cials of Bangladesh Bank and commercial banks to arrange a meeting regarding default loan. In my time, I would do that,” he said.

According to the newspaper reports, it seemed that there was a competition among commercials banks in disburs-ing loans without adequate scrutiny of the borrowers’ � nancial status, which eventually led to recovery failure.

Besides, the commercial banks do not disclose regular default loan amounts as they fear being identi� ed as “problem banks” by the central bank, a BB report on default loans said.

However, the banks fear that the total amount of default loan may cross Tk90,000 crore at the end of November.

Bangladesh Bank o� cials said the central bank has identi� ed 20 borrowers responsible for most of default loans.

These borrowers are politically in-� uential, the o� cials said, adding that the central bank asked the commercial

banks not to provide any further loan to these people.

Such political in� uence might have prevented banks from � ling any case with the Money Loan Court, according to the banking sector experts.

They said the directors of banks also used their power to provide loans to those politically in� uential people by-passing rules and regulations.

“There was little scrutiny before ap-proving loans. Lax monitoring by the central bank is also responsible for de-fault loan increase,” said Salehuddin Ahmed, a former central bank governor.

The sector insiders said it seemed that there is a lack of punishment for rules violation and credit frauds al-though there are many examples of rendering life-term imprisonment in other countries to people involved with loan forgeries and corruptions.

Last May, a billionaire businessman of Iran was executed for $2.6bn loan scam.

Despite Bangladesh’s banking sector recently exposed to high level of lend-ing corruption, no adequate action has been taken against the accused.

High o� cials have already been cleared of charges by the anti-graft body.

No legal action has been taken yet against former chairman and managing director of BASIC Bank for credit scam.

The Anti-Corruption Commission recently cleared charges against Sonali Bank’s former managing director Huma-yun Kabir in Hall-Mark loan forgeries.

For Bismillah Group loan corruption, the ACC questioned only two persons – ex-MD of Prime Bank Ehsan Khasru and ex-DMD of Prime Bank and MD of Brac Bank Syed Mahbubur Rahman.

The government also failed to prove any allegation against ex-MD of de-funct Oriental Bank and current MD of Probashi Kallyan Bank Koyes Sami in Tk650 crore banking corruption. l

Call for formation of MSME associationn Tribune Report

The country’s SME business have called for formation of an e� ective association of the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSME) to con-tribute more to the country’s Gross Do-mestic Product (GDP).

“Bangladesh’s needs an apex body for SMEs as like as the central SME or-ganisation in India, which is popularly known as “IamSMEofIndia,” said SME businessmen while addressing a sem-inar on ‘SME development: Role of an e� ective SME Association’ held at the Institute of Diploma Engineers of Bangladesh (IDEB) auditorium in the capital.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) and Bangla-desh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) jointly organised the seminar.

BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman at-tended the seminar as chief guest while deputy high commissioner of India Sandeep Chakravorty and Pres-ident of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed

as special guest. Director General of BIBM, Dr Tau� c Ahmed Chowdhury presided over the programme.

Speaking as the chief guest, the cen-tral bank governor said: “The govern-ment has undertaken all the possible steps for the development of the SME sector in the country.”

“As we have strengthened our sup-port to the MSMEs, organisations can now be the most-e� ective tool for the development of this sector,” he added.

The country has succeeded to face the global economic meltdown as the country always prioritised the devel-opment of thew SME sector, he added.

Atiur also informed that the pri-vate sector is the main driving force in attaining the growth and in case of Bangladesh, the MSMEs are the main contributors to a vibrant economy. So, this association is very much needed at this stage. Rajive Chawla in his key note speech said, “Vision for a devel-oped country needs boosting SME sec-tor and in this regard an association is very much relevant.”

“We must believe that we have to

add value to each others. So, this kind of value addition needs an associa-tion,” he added.

In this regard, he further explained that an association is a must for � nding only solutions, not a problem raising one. If this association works accord-ingly, development of a nation will be a matter of time. Inviting Bangladeshi SMEs delegation to India, he said his association is ready to extend all-out cooperation to form an association like IamSMEofIndia.

Sandeep Chakravorty said, “I’m tempted to say that the experience of SME of India can be replicated in Bang-ladesh as India has a lot of success sto-ry in this sector.”

Chakravorty also noted that India has a plan to setup an SME incubator in Bangladesh through which both the country will be bene� ted.

FBCCI president said the former Asian business giant China and India have now emerged as the global num-ber one mostly because of their devel-opment in SME sector.

B3 COLUMN 6

Attitude problem a bar to SME development n Tribune Report

Attitude problem, lack of specialised bank and implementation of existing rules are major challenges to develop-ment of Small and Medium Enterpris-es (SME), speakers observed at a pro-gramme.

The observation came at a discus-sion titled “Financial inclusion: chal-lenges of SME and start ups” held yes-terday in the capital.

The English daily, Dhaka Tribune, hosted the programme in association with the Rotary Club.

Syed Tamjidur Rahman, chief ex-ecutive o� cer of The Changemaker, moderated the session.

CM Alam, director of NDB Capital Limited, Akhtar Kamal Talukder, DMD, Operations of Eastern Bank, Begum Hasina Nawaz, director of Agrani Bank, Niaz Rahim, managing director of Ra-himafrooz Superstores Ltd – Agora, and Syed Faridul Islam, head of Risk Management of BRAC Bank, took part in the discussion.

In his address, Akhtar Kamal Ta-

lukder said bankers need to improve e� ciency and change their attitude to develop SME sector.

He added that bankers hardly take into account the small entrepreneurs’ initiatives and their protentials.

Kamal stressed the need for forma-tion of a specialised bank to work for SME activities.

Bankers maintain huge formalities in case of approval and disbursement

of SME loan, said Niaz Rahim. He urged the bankers to relax the

loan requirements for SMEs. SME borrowers are needy and dare

not enter the bank and as a result fall into the trap of brokers, added Niaz.

Syed Faridul Islam suggested ex-panding SME activities all over the country instead of limiting them only to Dhaka and Chittagong.

B3 COLUMN 6

Bali Package makes hardly any progress in one year n Tribune Report

There was hardly any progress in im-plementation of the decisions declared under the “Bali Package” one year ago, particularly for safeguarding interest of least developed countries (LDCs), trade analysts said in Dhaka yesterday.

They, however, see light at the end of the tunnel once LDCs takes initia-tives to narrow down the di� erences within them and continues to negoti-ate with the world economies to yield positive results.

The trade experts were speaking at a dialogue on “Recapturing the Mo-mentum in the Post-Bali Process of the WTO,” arranged by the Centre for Poli-cy Dialogue (CPD) at a city hotel.

Local and overseas trade experts took part in the discussion with CPD distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya in the chair.

Brie� ng media on the outcome of the dialogue, Debapriya said agree-ments made in the ninth ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia one year ago found hardly any progress, particularly in the interest of LDCs.

He said, recently, a consensus was reached between USA and India on food security, which is expected to help move the Doha Development Round forward.

But most of the speakers said the world has changed a lot since the Doha Round, as new economies like India and China has emerged. “Moreover, no country alone can produce one prod-uct, it requires involvement of a lot of countries and the service sector also saw a lot of development,” he said

He said now many countries have initiated moves for multilateral agree-ment with limited scale avoiding WTO, which means multilateral trading sys-tem is important for the economic de-velopment.

“Considering this reality, it is time to implement Doha Development Round as far as we can. However, this devel-opment over the years has also created new scope that needs to be utlised,” he said.

What needs to be done for the LDCs is to take preparation for beginning negotiation with the world economies

and to bring reform in the domestic policies, he said.

CPD executive director Professor Musta� zur Rahman in his keynote pa-per said after � ve years of impasse, the Bali package was able to infuse a new life into the stalled Doha Round, and in a way helped salvage the WTO as a negotiating forum and fulcrum of mul-tilateral trade system.

The Bali package with its four pillars of Development and LDC issues, trade facilitation, agriculture and cotton – concerned a number of areas where LDCs had both o� ensive and defensive interests, he said.

It was expected that the work prog-amme agreed in Bali would be followed by subsequent negotiations in Geneva to arrive at solution that will advance LDC interests.

However, he said, regrettably one year after Bali, there is hardly anything to show for as regards the 10 deci-sion-points adopted in Bali.

The post-Bali work on DF-QF has been progressing in Geneva without any meaningful engagement on the part of members. Only notable out-

come was the adoption of Chile’s DF-QF scheme for LDCs, which grants DF-QF access for 99.5% of its tari� lines, according to the keynote paper.

On preferential rules of origin and services waiver, the paper said there is no message yet. However, after sub-mission of the collective request, there has been no concrete progress. Indeed, no country has granted voluntary pref-erence to the LDCs since the adapta-tion of waiver in 2011, it said.

Professor Rahman recommended that LDCs will need to take initiatives to narrow down the di� erences within the LDC group, need homework, need to articulate their demands and need to build coalition and partnerships that will matter in advancing LDC interests in post-Bali negotiations in Geneva during the run up to Ministerial Conference-10.

Director of Global Economics in the Global Governance Programme Ber-nard Hoekman presented a keynote paper on The Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and Rule-making in the WTO Milestone, Mistake or Mirage.

He said from the perceptive of trade facilitation outcomes on the ground, it

may not matter too much whether the TFA becomes part of WTO.

“Insofar as one takes the view that the primary value of the TFA is to pro-vide a focal points at the country level for trade facilitation reforms, much of value of the TFA lies in the handwork of agreeing on a set of good practices and norms and the implementation mech-anisms that the TFA calls for,” he said.

The weakness of TFA in terms of of-fering foreign export interests strong mechanisms to enforce its provisions and thus to make the TFA self-enforc-ing means other institutional agree-ments can and must be used to support implementation, including regional integration arrangements and concen-trate action by multilateral develop-ment agencies, he said.

CPD Chairman Rehman Sobhan, Chair Professor Trade policy and WTO Research Programme Professor Anwarul Hoda, Chairman of Cordell Hull Institute, Washington Richard O Cunningham, Di-rector of China Center for International Development, Nankai University, China Longyue Zhao, were the panel speakers, among others, at the dialogue. l

CPD distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya speaks at a dialogue on ‘Recapturing the Momentum in the Post-Bali Process of the WTO’ held at a city hotel yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

INTERNET MARKET SHARE BY OPERATORS

Operator Use of band-width (TB) Internet users

Grameenphone 65 1.4 crore

Banglalink 22 1.17 crore

Robi 32 1.15 crore

Airtel 8 33.38 lakh

Discussants at a seminar on ‘Financial inclusion: challenges of SME and start ups’ held yesterday in the capital MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

B2 Stock Sunday, November 23, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Weekly news from trade serverAGM/DividendRAHIMAFOOD: No dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record Date: 04.12.2014. EPS of Tk. -0.80, NAV per share of Tk. 3.65.DACCADYE: 10% stock dividend, AGM: 12.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.02, NAV per share of Tk. 26.58.ORIONINFU: 15% cash dividend, AGM: 18.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014. EPS of Tk. 3.64, NAV per share of Tk. 8.15.KOHINOOR: 25% stock dividend, AGM: 18.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014. EPS of Tk. 13.20, NAV per share of Tk. 29.19.LRGLOBMF1: 5% cash dividend, Record date: 25.11.2014. Earnings per unit of Tk. 0.69.JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock dividend, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014. EPS of Tk. 23.08, NAV per share of Tk. 118.53.GEMINISEA: 7.50% cash, AGM: 22.12.2014, Time and Venue of the AGM will be noti� ed later. Record Date: 08.12.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.39, NAV per share of Tk. -4.31.KBPPWBIL: 10% stock, AGM: 29.12.2014, Record Date: 08.12.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.71 ( restated 1.17), NAV per share of Tk. 15.85 (restated 14.01).AFTABAUTO: 17% cash, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record date: 30.11.2014. EPS of Tk. 4.01, NAV per share of Tk. 53.35.MPETROLEUM: 95% cash and 10% stock dividend, AGM: 16.01.2015, Record date: 04.12.2014. Basic EPS of Tk. 23.99, EPS of Tk. 21.81 (restated), Basic NAV per share of Tk. 70.78, NAV per share of Tk. 64.35 (restated).ENVOYTEX: 12% cash and 3% stock

dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record date: 02.12.2014. EPS of Tk. 2.21, NAV per share of Tk. 38.43.Audited/unaudited Financial Reports:Unaudited Financials:POWERGRID: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 118.06 million with EPS of Tk. 0.26 as against Tk. 488.11 million and Tk. 1.06 respectively.BDAUTOCA: (Q1): NpAT= Tk. 0.17 million with EPS of Tk. 0.05 as against Tk. -0.50 million and Tk. -0.14 respectively.PREMIERCEM: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 80.02 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.76 as against Tk. 124.86 million and Tk. 1.18 respectively.DESCO: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 373.65 million with basic EPS of Tk. 1.09 (restated 0.99) as against Tk. 18.81 million and Tk. 0.05 respectively.BDCOM: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 15.62 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.47 ( restated 0.41) as against Tk. 13.99 million and Tk. 0.42 respectively.FUWANGCER: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 9.68 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.11 (0.10) as against Tk. 15.88 million and Tk. 0.19 respectively.MHSML: (Q1): NPAT=Tk. 54.67 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.88 (restated 0.70) as against Tk. 24.23 million and Tk. 0.69 respectively.METROSPIN: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 10.94 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.19 ( restated 0.18) as against Tk. 14.88 million and Tk. 0.26 (restated) respectively.DSHGARME: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 0.69 million with EPS of Tk. 0.20 as against Tk. 0.40

million and Tk. 0.12 respectively.DACCADYE: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 21.09 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.29 (restated 0.26) as against Tk. 20.22 million and Tk. 0.28 respectively.NORTHERN: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 0.45 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.27 (restated 0.25) as against Tk. -4.35 million and Tk. -2.56 respectively.SHURWID: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 7.86 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.23 (restated 0.19) as against Tk. 9.39 million and Tk. 0.30 (0.25) respectively.ALLTEX: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 43.23 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.90 ( restated 0.82) as against Tk. -18.88 million and Tk. -0.39 respectively.DELTASPINN: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 12.98 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.15 as against Tk. 13.40 million and Tk. 0.29 respectively.MIRACLEIND: (Q1): NPAT=Tk. 2.45 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.10 ( restated 0.097) as against Tk. 0.66 million and Tk. 0.03 respectively.KOHINOOR: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 26.37 million with basic EPS of Tk. 3.25 (restated 2.60) as against Tk. 19.90 million and Tk. 2.45 respectively.SPCL: (Q1): NPAT= Tk. 299.23 million with consolidated basic EPS of Tk. 2.36 ( restated 2.25) as against Tk. 58.09 million and Tk. 0.51 respectively.EMERALDOIL: (Q1): NPAT=Tk. 31.75 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.68 ( restated 0.64) as against Tk. 13.29 million and Tk. 0.49 respectively.

Stocks stay bearish with rough ride past weekn Tribune Report

Bearish spell swept over the stock exchanges in the past week, as in-vestors went for selling spree amid ongoing weak sentiment.

The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, dipped be-low the “psychological” threshold of 4,900-mark and closed the week at 4,899, dropping 85 points or 1.7%. It extended losses for the third consec-utive week.

The comprising blue chips DS30 index lost 45 points or 2.5% to 1,814. The DSE Shariah Index fell 29 points or 2.5% to 1,146.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was down 117 points or over 1% to settle at 9,254.

Participation in trading remained sluggish, as the weeks daily average turnover stood at Tk627 crore, a de-cline of 17% over the previous week.

Investors’ attention remained mostly concentrated on power, en-gineering and pharmaceuticals, together accounting for 56% of the week’s total value.

All the major sectors ended in negative territory in the past week except banks that saw marginal rise.

Telecommunication was the week’s worst loser, shedding more than 4%. Non-banking � nancial in-stitutions and pharmaceuticals were also down 1.6% and 1.2% respective-ly. Fuel and power, and food and al-lied also closed negative.

“Market continued to slip amid shrinking turnover and weakening

investors’ con� dence,” said IDLC In-vestments in its weekly analysis.

It said newly listed small cap stocks were luring the investors, small caps exuberance is di� cult to justify given some of the stocks that might have largely parted from fun-damental value.

“A couple of new declarations from the fuel and power sector with positive earnings growth also hit the market, which was welcomed by the investors.”

Lanka Bangla Securities said after passing the week mostly under sell-ing pressure, market showed lack of participation in early trading and closed in red.

It said investors remained cau-tious as market is yet to get any di-rection.

In macroeconomic front, news of increasing non-performing loan numbers hit the market which might require more provisioning next quarter.

International Leasing Securities said that the market continued a bumpy ride throughout the week’s trading as the investors were yet to make up their mind regarding the market’s turnaround.

“Pessimism among the investors regarding the entire market situa-tion dragged the market’s turnover.”

Jamuna Oil Company dominated the week’s top turnover chart with shares worth Tk209 crore changing hands followed by Western Marine Shipyard, DESCO, Khan Brothers and Barkatullah Electro Dynamics Ltd. l

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Popular Life Insu. -A -31.23 -31.23 158.10 158.10 158.10 158.10 0.079 4.13 38.3Orion Infusions -A -29.58 -27.16 52.77 51.90 68.00 51.50 46.024 3.64 14.5National Polymer -A -21.08 -18.80 68.04 65.90 89.70 64.30 7.322 2.76 24.7BDCOM Online-A -20.00 -18.97 23.11 22.80 29.00 21.00 1.136 1.64 14.1Shurwid Ind. -N -15.23 -15.41 41.39 41.20 47.50 40.00 21.895 0.76 54.5Prime Textile -A -15.07 -15.45 18.60 18.60 21.00 18.60 0.197 1.04 17.9Saiham Tex.A -15.02 -8.66 30.17 28.30 31.60 28.30 1.616 2.96 10.2Samorita Hospital -A -14.71 -14.75 85.16 85.20 98.00 82.40 1.264 2.32 36.7SAIF Powertec-N -14.67 -16.28 73.93 72.10 92.30 71.70 54.845 2.36 31.3Alltex Industries -Z -13.64 -10.06 19.31 19.00 24.20 18.20 32.578 3.28 5.9

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Orion Infusions -A -29.56 -27.21 52.71 51.70 68.00 51.20 411.971 3.64 14.5National Polymer -A -20.79 -21.10 66.98 66.30 90.00 64.40 276.348 2.76 24.3Rahim Textile -A -20.75 -18.91 276.09 275.30 326.00 271.60 35.527 11.00 25.1BDCOM Online-A -20.00 -19.22 23.08 22.80 29.10 21.50 21.574 1.64 14.1Agni Systems -A -15.61 -13.61 26.86 26.50 30.60 24.50 110.900 1.32 20.3Prime Textile -A -15.25 -14.63 19.02 18.90 21.90 18.70 8.711 1.04 18.3Shurwid Ind. -N -15.20 -15.64 41.48 41.30 48.90 40.10 206.844 0.76 54.6Saiham Tex.A -15.06 -12.95 28.58 28.20 32.00 28.00 65.868 2.96 9.7SAIF Powertec-N -14.96 -16.84 73.05 71.60 92.60 71.00 538.042 2.36 31.0Alltex Industries -Z -14.09 -8.64 19.57 18.90 24.20 18.20 278.801 3.28 6.0

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Khan Brothers-N 3,415,500 213.31 9.69 58.60 0.00 0.00 84.50 50.00 59.45WesternMarine -N 2,553,300 198.74 9.02 74.60 2.75 72.60 83.80 71.00 75.13Jamuna Oil -A 396,175 103.66 4.71 263.40 3.82 253.70 273.80 254.00 262.39BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 1,632,415 64.27 2.92 39.10 -2.01 39.90 40.80 38.00 39.33SAIF Powertec-N 673,400 54.84 2.49 72.10 -14.67 84.50 92.30 71.70 73.93Keya Cosmetics -A 1,835,403 53.62 2.43 27.50 -5.50 29.10 30.90 25.20 27.44Barakatullah E. D.-A 1,216,711 47.52 2.16 39.30 4.52 37.60 40.80 33.30 39.98Orion Infusions -A 791,600 46.02 2.09 51.90 -29.58 73.70 68.00 51.50 52.77Square Pharma -A 169,693 44.16 2.01 260.80 0.38 259.80 265.00 257.20 260.15Aftab Auto.-A 541,351 43.82 1.99 79.20 -3.41 82.00 84.90 74.00 79.78

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Jamuna Oil -A 8,026,732 2097.59 6.69 263.20 3.50 254.30 274.00 233.00 262.66WesternMarine -N 16,874,200 1314.80 4.19 74.40 2.34 72.70 83.90 72.10 75.29DESCO Ltd. -A 16,480,293 1254.17 4.00 70.20 -10.46 78.40 79.90 67.00 70.85Khan Brothers-N 16,119,500 1009.15 3.22 58.80 0.00 0.00 85.00 47.00 59.81Barakatullah E. D.-A 22,579,121 870.86 2.78 39.30 3.97 37.80 40.90 33.60 39.99Shahjibazar Power-N 2,463,800 773.04 2.47 282.20 7.06 263.60 338.80 282.20 282.20Keya Cosmetics -A 19,693,364 559.39 1.78 27.50 -4.51 28.80 31.60 25.00 27.39SAIF Powertec-N 6,519,200 538.04 1.72 71.60 -14.96 84.20 92.60 71.00 73.05Grameenphone-A 1,579,311 537.74 1.72 334.00 -4.46 349.60 350.50 328.70 334.57Olympic Ind. -A 1,832,416 536.65 1.71 282.00 -1.71 286.90 305.00 262.00 281.10

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Shahjibazar Power-N 152.01 9.27 653.61 657.00 689.00 283.50 24.169 9.00 72.6JMI Syringes MDL-A 27.27 27.63 204.61 203.00 221.30 167.00 42.392 4.48 45.7GSP Finance-A 22.50 21.68 29.13 29.40 29.40 21.60 4.041 1.59 18.3Aramit -A 18.95 18.95 339.00 339.00 339.00 309.90 0.166 14.12 24.0BD. Thai Alum -B 18.09 13.71 46.62 48.30 48.50 41.70 12.600 1.09 42.8Hakkani P& Paper -B 16.30 22.32 32.66 31.40 33.90 27.20 2.565 0.64 51.0Wata Chemicals -A 12.22 18.16 260.25 248.00 275.00 231.00 2.981 5.37 48.5Apex SpinningA 9.96 9.91 74.00 74.00 74.00 74.00 0.015 0.86 86.0National Housing Fin.-B 7.90 6.98 31.13 31.40 32.00 27.80 2.382 1.88 16.6Brac Bank -A 7.16 7.50 37.11 37.40 37.90 33.30 22.178 3.83 9.7

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

GeminiSeaFood-Z 43.16 44.81 216.36 212.60 250.00 152.00 13.271 1.39 155.7Northern Jute -Z 31.94 31.94 285.00 285.00 285.00 234.90 1.823 1.00 285.0JMI Syringes MDL-A 25.68 25.24 203.62 202.60 218.30 164.80 351.218 4.48 45.5Pharma Aids A 23.22 30.48 271.41 273.30 298.00 241.20 436.563 9.88 27.5GSP Finance-A 22.73 21.87 29.42 29.70 30.30 22.00 185.598 1.59 18.5Hakkani P& Paper -B 18.15 22.43 33.46 31.90 34.40 26.80 20.110 0.64 52.3BD. Thai Alum -B 16.71 13.10 46.80 48.20 49.00 39.00 314.144 1.09 42.9Libra Infusions-A 11.21 11.25 396.00 395.80 405.00 365.50 1.323 5.52 71.7CVO PetroChem RL-A 10.07 9.37 657.44 643.00 693.00 576.00 412.602 5.24 125.5Sonali Ansh -A 9.66 8.82 158.12 156.70 168.00 145.10 77.543 0.76 208.1

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 2125.07 6.78 163.38 6.70 2288.45 6.77NBFI 1095.33 3.49 57.20 2.35 1152.53 3.41Investment 237.75 0.76 17.52 0.72 255.27 0.76Engineering 5570.30 17.77 495.99 20.35 6066.29 17.95Food & Allied 1708.78 5.45 93.17 3.82 1801.95 5.33Fuel & Power 7787.27 24.84 356.82 14.64 8144.09 24.10Jute 79.61 0.25 0.00 0.00 79.61 0.24Textile 1991.38 6.35 192.90 7.91 2184.28 6.46Pharma & Chemical 4499.31 14.35 301.49 12.37 4800.80 14.21Paper & Packaging 395.79 1.26 98.96 4.06 494.75 1.46Service 919.69 2.93 77.60 3.18 997.29 2.95Leather 230.92 0.74 71.51 2.93 302.42 0.90Ceramic 223.59 0.71 18.76 0.77 242.36 0.72Cement 566.68 1.81 39.26 1.61 605.94 1.79Information Technology 344.73 1.10 31.50 1.29 376.23 1.11General Insurance 155.93 0.50 7.70 0.32 163.63 0.48Life Insurance 493.07 1.57 13.95 0.57 507.01 1.50Telecom 621.48 1.98 35.86 1.47 657.34 1.95Travel & Leisure 381.77 1.22 57.10 2.34 438.87 1.30Miscellaneous 1917.90 6.12 306.45 12.57 2224.35 6.58Debenture 4.33 0.01 0.08 0.00 4.41 0.01

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4899.60805 (-) 1.70% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1814.69121 (-) 2.44% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 15141.7249 (-) 1.54% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 12399.9309 (-) 0.69% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 9254.0081 (-) 1.25% ▼

DSE key features November 16-20, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

31,350.67

Turnover (Volume)

640,857,415

Number of Contract 625,495

Traded Issues 316

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

78

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

235

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,612.75

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.67

CSE key features November 16-20, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 2,234.21

Turnover (Volume) 54,599,714

Number of Contract 80,080

Traded Issues 257

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

72

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

176

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

8

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,519.38

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.54

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

After passing the week mostly under selling pressure, market showed lack of participation in early trading and closed in red

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

Long 'to do' list for Modi as clock ticks on reform n Reuters, New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a long list of pro-growth measures to implement over the next four months, but time may have already run out to breathe enough life into the economy to meet the tough 2014/15 � scal de� cit target without cuts.

Modi’s election victory in May un-leashed a rush of money from foreign portfolios betting the reformist prime minister would drive a quick recovery. That has yet to materialise, with both factory utilisation and capital spending low.

Parliament convenes on Monday for a month-long session in which the government is con� dent of passing leg-islation to allow more foreign invest-ment in the insurance industry, despite hostile opposition parties. Other bills, including labour and land reform, will face sti� opposition.

After the session ends on Dec. 23, fo-cus will turn to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s second budget, due in Febru-ary and seen as a chance for the gov-ernment to address criticism it has not moved quickly or boldly enough on the economy.

“They are quite aware of the urgency, that this cannot just be an incremental budget,” said author and commentator Gurcharan Das, a former CEO of Proctor and Gamble India. “They think of this as a transformative budget.”

Jaitley set a tough � scal de� cit tar-get of 4.1% of GDP in his maiden bud-get. Slack tax revenues and the chal-lenge of raising a record $9.5bn target from asset sales could force him to cut spending, risking a fragile economic re-covery.

Jaitley acknowledged on Friday that it will be hard to hit tax revenue targets this � nancial year, saying the lack of pick-up in manufacturing was a� ecting indirect tax receipts.

“India looks set to miss its � scal target this year, even in the optimistic case that the government fully deliv-ers on its plans to sell stakes in state-owned companies,” Capital Econom-ics’ Shilan Shah said in a research note.

Shah said missing the target would

not be such a bad thing, given that loos-er � scal policy could help the economic revival.

Gdp looming After moving slowly on economic policy, including the asset sales, in his � rst six months in o� ce, Modi has now picked up the pace.

Last week the government an-nounced it would auction dozens of coal� elds by February as well as allow foreign � rms to mine coal for the � rst

time. Asset sales should begin with the sale of a stake in oil � rm ONGC in early December. Even if such moves were implemented straight away, one senior government source said, their impact would take months to be felt.

GDP data due on Nov. 28 will give a clearer picture of how the economy fared in the quarter to September, but with factories running nearly 30% below capacity, few expect a big rebound from the worst slowdown since the 1980s.

One � nance ministry source said on

Friday that 2014/15 economic growth was likely to be at the lower end of the 5.4-5.9% forecast factored into the cur-rent budget, while tax receipts may fall short by 700bn rupees ($11bn).

Opposition parties have not so far not agreed to support even the relative-ly uncontroversial insurance bill, or a constitutional amendment needed for a goods and services tax, raising con-cerns of a log jam in the upper house of parliament, where Modi’s party is in minority.

Recognizing that the investment and economic recovery has “yet to materialise”, and that tax receipts are well below budget estimates, the gov-ernment has turned to excise measures such as a fuel tax to claw back revenue.

One proposal under discussion was to place a duty on imports of crude oil, three government sources said. The pro-posal is opposed by India’s oil re� ners.

Other revenues could come from planned auctions of mobile telephone and FM radio spectrum early next year. l

A worker tends to yarn-spinning equipment at a factory in Ahmedabad REUTERS

Yen recovers from multi-year lows n AFP, Tokyo

The yen clawed back some losses in Asia after a steep slide over the past week left it at multi-year lows against the dollar and euro, but analysts said another fall could be in store.

In Tokyo, the greenback slipped to 117.85 yen, against 118.22 yen in New York, where it almost broke the 119 yen level for the � rst time since August 2007.

The euro bought 147.23 yen com-pared with 148.25 yen, a six-year high, while it weakened to $1.2492 against $1.2540.

Comments from Japanese � nance minister Taro Aso appeared to brie� y cap the yen’s losses after he told a regular news brie� ng that the pace of the decline

in the past week has been “too fast”. “He is only saying that the yen’s

rapid fall is not a welcome thing. But it does not mean that he wants to cap the move at this level,” said Yuji Saito, foreign exchange director at Credit Ag-ricole in Tokyo.

“The (downward) trend will remain the same.”

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved the lower house of parliament for an election next month. The poll comes after data showed Japan’s economy sank into recession in the July-Septem-ber quarter following a sales tax hike that hit consumer spending.

The news also led him to delay anoth-er sales tax hike planned for next year.

Tokyo’s Nikkei stock index hit a sev-

en-year high last week after the Bank of Japan expanded its monetary easing programme on October 31, sending the yen into a freefall.

The dollar also won support from upbeat US data.

A regional manufacturing index from the Federal Reserve Bank of Phila-delphia surged unexpectedly, while the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index, an amalgamation of several key economic indicators, also improved.

Also, US existing-home sales gained in October for the second straight month, while the Labor Department said US consumer prices were un-changed in October from September, keeping the annual in� ation rate at a modest 1.7% . l

China commits $45.6bn for economic corridor with Pakistan n Reuters, Islamabad

The Chinese government and banks will � nance Chinese companies to build $45.6bn worth of energy and in-frastructure projects in Pakistan over the next six years, according to new details of the deal seen by Reuters on Friday.

The Chinese companies will be able to operate the projects as pro� t-making entities, according to the deal signed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a visit to China earlier this month.

At the time, o� cials provided few details of the projects or the � nanc-ing for the deal, dubbed the China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The deal further cements ties be-tween Pakistan and China at a time when Pakistan is nervous about wan-ing US support as troops pull out of Af-ghanistan.

Pakistan and China, both nuclear-armed nations, consider each other close friends. Their ties are under-pinned by common wariness of India and a desire to hedge against US in� u-ence in South Asia.

Documents seen by Reuters show that China has promised to invest around $33.8bn in various energy proj-ects and $11.8bn in infrastructure proj-ects.

Two members of Pakistan’s plan-ning commission, the focal ministry for the CPEC, and a senior o� cial at the ministry of water and power shared the details of the projects.

The deal says the Chinese govern-ment and banks, including China De-velopment Bank, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), one of China’s ‘Big Four’ state-owned commercial banks, will loan funds to Chinese companies, who will invest in the projects as commercial ventures.

“Pakistan will not be taking on any more debt through these projects,” said Pakistan’s minister for water and pow-er Khawaja Asif.

Major Chinese companies investing in Pakistan’s energy sector will include China’s Three Gorges Corp, which built the world’s biggest hydro power scheme, and China Power International Development Ltd.

Sharif signed more than 20 agree-ments during his trip to China earlier this month, including $622m for proj-ects related to the deepwater, strate-gically important Gwadar port, which China is developing.

The port is close to the Strait of Hor-muz, a key oil shipping lane. It could open up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf across Pakistan to west-

ern China that could be used by the Chinese Navy - potentially upsetting rival India.

Pakistan sees the latest round of Chinese investments as key to its ef-forts to solve power shortages that have crippled its economy.

Blackouts lasting more than half a day in some areas have sparked violent protests and undermined an economy already beset by high unemployment, widespread poverty, crime and sectar-ian and insurgent violence.

Under the CPEC agreement, $15.5bn worth of coal, wind, solar and hydro energy projects will come online by 2017 and add 10,400 megawatts of en-ergy to the national grid, o� cials said.

An additional 6,120 megawatts will be added to the national grid at a cost of $18.2bn by 2021.

“In total we will add 16,000 MW of electricity through coal, wind, so-lar and hydel plants in the next seven years and reduce power shortage by 4,000 to 7,000 megawatts,” said Asif.

“This will take care of a growing demand for power by a growing econ-omy.”

The CPEC deal also includes $5.9bn for road projects and $3.7bn for railway projects, all to be developed by 2017. A $44m optical � bre cable between China and Pakistan is due to be built. l

EU investment plan to take shape next week n Reuters, Brussels

Jean-Claude Juncker will unveil a much anticipated 300bn euro ($370bn) investment plan on Wednesday that is meant to trigger economic growth in the European Union.

With Europe’s economy barely growing and disenchanted voters turn-ing increasingly to anti-EU radicals, the European Commission president pledged the money in July and prom-ised to act when he took o� ce three weeks ago.

The European Parliament con� rmed on Friday that Juncker would present the plan to it in Strasbourg at 9 a.m. but as EU o� cials prepared a for weekend of negotiation on both that and sepa-rate budget issues, it remained unclear how much hard cash the Union would invest.

Sources have said the plan may in-volve just 20-30bn euros going to a vehicle supervised by the European Investment Bank. Intended to soak up any losses, this could attract 10 to 15 times as much in private funding for infrastructure projects.

As the European Central Bank sig-nals a will to pump money into the economy, such a limited injection of new public cash - some of which may already have been earmarked for in-vestment - could disappoint investors hoping for more stimulus.

But the Commission is constrained by states’ � nances. Those include heavyweights France and Italy, whose persistent de� cits have raised a risk of

penalties when their 2015 budgets are reviewed. A plan to announce the out-come of the annual review of states’ budgets on Monday is likely to be put back until after a meeting of the Com-mission in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

Some o� cials warn Paris it may be � ned. German commissioner Guenther Oettinger wrote in France’s Les Echos daily that the EU should be tough on Paris. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said that was “not very construc-tive”.

Le Monde newspaper cited un-identi� ed sources as saying that Paris would avoid penalties for now and be given some months to demonstrate greater e� orts.

Also next week, Commission o� -cials will be working on a revised 2015 budget for the European Union, after a dispute between member states and parliament sank a previous draft. Some states want to recoup funds from the EU budget to help cut their de� cits - a move the European Parliament is re-sisting.

Adding spice to the Commission’s excursion to Strasbourg, aside from a visit by Pope Francis to parliament on Tuesday, Juncker faces a censure debate there on Monday and a no-con� dence vote that could dismiss his whole team on Thursday.

Called by Eurosceptics to punish Juncker, formerly Luxembourg’s prime minister, for his country’s role in help-ing � rms avoid tax, the challenge has little chance of success because most other parties do not support it. l

Singapore moves to regulate taxi booking apps n AFP, Singapore

Singapore on Friday announced new rules for mobile taxi booking apps, including US-based Uber, in the lat-est move by governments around the world to regulate the increasingly pop-ular services.

Taxi-booking and ride-sharing apps like Uber, Hailo and Lyft have spread rapidly in recent years, drawing pro-tests from cabbies in cities from Lon-don to San Francisco who say it has led to soaring competition from unli-censed drivers.

Singapore’s Land Transport Author-ity said the apps will have to apply for a three-yearly “certi� cate of registra-tion” starting from the second quarter of next year.

“Third-party taxi booking services facilitate more e� cient matching of taxis with commuters and have become increasingly popular,” the LTA said, add-ing the new rules are designed to “safe-guard commuter safety and interests”.

Apps operating in Singapore will need to agree to despatch only licensed taxis and drivers, while information on fare rates and other fees payable for a ride must be disclosed to passengers.

The apps will be barred from requir-ing passengers to disclose their desti-nations when they make bookings due to concerns some taxi drivers may try to avoid certain routes, the LTA said.

Operators are also required to pro-vide “basic customer support”, includ-ing lost and found services and a plat-form for customers to � le complaints.

Passengers in Singapore can only use Uber to connect to registered taxis and limousines, unlike in some other cities around the world where the app is used to hire private cars and ride-share to cut fares.

Other similar apps operating in Sin-gapore include Britain’s Hailo, regional player Easy Taxi and Malaysia-based GrabTaxi. At present, these apps al-ready comply with Singapore’s new re-quirement for the taxis to be licensed.

Michael Brown, Uber’s Southeast Asia general manager based in Singapore, on Friday welcomed the new rules.

“We appreciate that the LTA has ac-knowledged the bene� ts our technology brings, and like Uber, is putting the inter-est and safety of consumers and drivers � rst,” Brown said in a statement to AFP. l

Labourers � x sca� oldings while working on the construction of a building in Karachi REUTERS

Attitude problem B1 COLUMN 6He asked Bangladesh Bank to increase its monitoring on SME disbursement as there is very little implementation of rule in SME loan disbursement.

CM Alam in his address demanded that the use of SME fund be monitored in the best interest of SME activities.

Agrani Bank Director Hasina Nawaz termed the SME policy that Bangladesh Bank and the government have formu-lated very e� ective.

She advocated for its proper imple-mentation.

While moderating the discussion, Syed Tamjidur Rahman said the coun-try’s economy will be a� ected if the SME entrepreneurs do not bene� t from the government initiative. l

Call for formation B1 COLUMN 3Meanwhile, a ten-member team of IamSMEofIndia, led by its chairman Rajiv Chawla, arrived in Dhaka on Fri-day to exchange views with di� erent local SME organisations.

Integrated Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of In-dia, popularly known as IamSMEofIn-dia, provides various services to the SME entrepreneurs, including credit facilitation at low interest rate, product marketing, buying raw material, prod-uct export, and deal signing with dif-ferent companies like rating agencies, airlines and insurance companies. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, November 23, 2014

DILBERT

China cuts interest rates to spur growth, ease debt pressure

n Reuters, Beijing

China cut interest rates unexpectedly on Friday, stepping up e� orts to support the world’s second-biggest economy as it heads towards its slowest expansion in nearly a quarter of a century, saddled under a mountain of debt.

But the central bank, keen to show it was not back-tracking on economic re-forms, twinned the move with a slight liberalisation of the rates banks pay to depositors in a bid to ensure millions of savers do not see their incomes hit.

Beijing’s � rst rate cut in more than two years comes as factory growth stalls and the property market, long a pillar of growth, is weak, dragging on broader activity and curbing demand for everything from furniture to ce-ment and steel.

Many companies have also been struggling with debt, as slowing sales crimp their ability to pay back loans racked up in a nationwide frenzy of

borrowing from 2008-2010 when Bei-jing used economic stimulus to o� set the e� ects of the global � nancial crisis.

“It will obviously reduce � nancing pressures for bank borrowers. Typi-cally those are larger companies, state-owned companies, so they’re the main bene� ciaries of this,” said Mark Wil-liams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics in London.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it was cutting one-year benchmark lending rates by 40 basis points to 5.6%. It lowered one-year benchmark deposit rates by 25 basis points to 2.75%. The changes take e� ect from Saturday.

European shares and other growth-sensitive commodities all leapt as Chi-na’s move to cut rates gave markets a welcome lift after a week where data has shown its giant economy faltering.

While the move acknowledged the risks to growth and marks a stepped-up e� ort to ensure the economy stays on track even as it is expected to slow

to a 24-year low of 7.4% this year, the central bank took pains to signal that it was not simply moving towards a loos-er monetary stance.

In a break with earlier practice, it issued a long statement accompany-ing the announcement explaining the rationale for the policy step, which included giving banks more leeway in setting their own interest rates for de-positors and borrowers.

“The problem of di� cult � nancing, costly � nancing remains glaring in the real economy,” the PBOC said, add-ing that it was especially keen to help smaller � rms gain access to credit.

For one-year deposits, banks may now pay depositors 1.2 times the benchmark level, up from 1.1 times previously. It also scrapped limits on interest rates for long-term deposits of � ve years, and simpli� ed its system of benchmark rates for loans.

Limiting the impact

“They are cutting rates and liberalis-ing rates at the same time so that the stimulus won’t be so damaging,” said Li Huiyong, an economist at Shenyin and Wanguo Securities.

Recent data showed bank lending tumbled in October and money supply growth cooled, raising fears of a sharp-er economic slowdown and prompting calls for more stimulus measures, in-cluding cutting interest rates.

But many analysts had expected the central bank to hold o� on cutting in-terest rates for now, as authorities have opted instead for measures like more � scal spending.

The jury is still out on how much the rate cut will actually prompt more lending. The PBOC uses other levers such as reserve requirement ratios to limit the amount of cash banks have on hand to lend out.

However, even simply reducing the debt burden on companies will ease the pressure on many, which could help avert one of the biggest potential risks to the economy - that of bad loans leading to a debt crisis.

While the asymmetrical cut in inter-est rates - the fall in the lending rate is more than that in the deposit rate - will shave banks’ net interest margins, many of the country’s lenders appear to be in a position to weather that chal-lenge.

Net interest income after loan-loss provisions at Agricultural Bank of Chi-na, China Construction Bank and In-dustrial and Commercial Bank of China grew by 12 percent or more during the � rst nine months of the year, compared with a year earlier.

China’s rate move comes after the Bank of Japan sprang a surprise on Oct 31 by dramatically increasing the pace of its money creation, while European Central Bank President Mario Draghi shifted gear on Friday and threw the door wide open to quantitative easing in the euro zone.

“There is de� nitely more concern around about the state of the global economy than there was a few months ago, you see that not just when you talk about Europe,” British � nance minister George Osborne told an audience of business leaders in London on Friday. l

An employee counts Yuan banknotes at a branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Huaibei REUTERS

UBS study: World’s ultra-rich getting much richer n AFP, Washington

A bare 0.004% of the world’s adult popu-lation controls nearly $30tn in assets, 13% of the world’s total wealth, according to a new study released Thursday.

And perhaps unsurprisingly, the study by the Swiss bank UBS and luxury industry consultant Wealth-X said the concentra-tion of money in the hands of the ultra-rich is growing.

The report said 211,275 people qualify as “ultra-high net worth” (UHNW) - those with assets above $30m. Of them, 2,325 have more than $1bn.

Their numbers grew 6% over the past year, but their wealth grew 7%, as asset markets like stocks and property soared in many places around the world.

The fastest growth, indeed, came in the “demi-billionaire” group worth a half-billion to a billion dollars apiece, the study said.

“Even amidst geopolitical con� icts, socio-economic strife, and volatile cur-rency markets, the world’s equity markets displayed strong performances, thereby enabling UHNW individuals’ wealth to increase and their in� uence across industries and sectors to grow - from their importance in wealth management to their consumption of luxury goods,” it said.

“Such a large concentration of wealth in the hands of these few individuals means that they tend to have a large degree of in-� uence, whether on global equity markets or speci� c industries.”

Of the nearly $30tn this elite group controls, just over one-third is in the hands of tycoons in North America, more than one-quarter in Europe, and 23% in Asia.

Of them, 87% are men, of the average age of 59, and nearly one-quarter of them were in banking. Of them, 68% were “self-made” rich, 13% rich by inheritance, and

the rest a combination of the two. The average ultra-rich woman was 57,

and more likely to be involved in non-pro� t and social organizations (19%) than any other sector. Nearly half became wealthy through inheritance, while one-third were self-made wealthy.

As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, the rich are di� erent. The average UHNW-er spends $1m a year on luxury goods and services.

Yet, the study points out, luxury items can be “part and parcel of their lifestyle and are not necessarily considered a ‘luxury.’”

“For example, UHNW individuals with private jets use their aircraft not only for leisure, but also for business purposes. On the other hand, while yachts, and particularly superyachts, are usually a non-necessity, many UHNW individuals lead very public lives, and the privacy of a family holiday on a yacht is a very special treat.” l

Draghi: ECB ready to act ‘without undue delay’ n AFP, Frankfurt

European Central Bank President Ma-rio Draghi said Friday that the ECB is ready to roll out new policy measures to ward o� de� ation in the euro area “without any undue delay.”

“We will use all means available to us, within our mandate, to return in� a-tion towards our objective – and with-out any undue delay,” Draghi told a banking congress in Frankfurt.

“We would step up the pressure and broaden even more the channels through which we intervene, by alter-ing accordingly the size, pace and com-position of our purchases.”

In a bid to ward o� de� ation - a dan-gerous downward spiral of falling prices - in the euro area, the ECB has not only cut its interest rates to new all-time lows, but also embarked on a series of asset purchase programmes to pump li-quidity into the � nancial system.

On top of this, the ECB has said it is actively preparing additional moves should the situation need it.

Among the additional measures be-ing considered is so-called quantitative

easing or QE, the large-scale purchase of government bonds, a policy hitherto used by other central banks around the world but viewed sceptically in Europe.

The critics, including the German central bank or Bundesbank, believe such measures would overstep the ECB’s mandate by e� ectively printing money to � nance a country’s debt.

Until now, the ECB has focused on buying packages of loans known as asset-backed securities (ABS) and so-called covered bonds to pump cash into the economy.

It has also launched a series of tar-geted longer-term re� nancing opera-tions or TLTROs - cheap funding made available to banks on condition they lend it on to businesses.

“With our monetary policy decisions in June and in particular in September, we have transitioned from a monetary policy framework based predominantly on passive provision of liquidity to a more active and controlled management of our balance sheet,” Draghi explained.

“This means that it is now changes in the size and composition of our bal-ance sheet that determine our mon-

etary policy stance – or to be more speci� c, the markets in which we in-tervene, and the magnitude and pace of our purchases. We expect such inter-ventions to a� ect output and in� ation,” Draghi said.

No room for complacency Eurozone in� ation currently stands at just 0.4%, way below the ECB’s target of around 2%.

“We cannot be complacent -– we have to be very watchful that low in� a-tion does not start percolating through the economy in ways that further wors-en the economic situation and in� ation outlook,” Draghi said.

The ECB chief acknowledged that some of the factors behind the low lev-el of in� ation were due to volatile ele-ments such as energy prices.

“We are currently seeing some vola-tility in in� ation expectations. Longer-term indicators are on the whole within a range that we consider consistent with price stability. Over shorter hori-zons, however, indicators have been declining to levels that I would deem excessively low,” Draghi said. l

Minister: Russia considers cutting oil production to support price n AFP, Moscow

Russia is considering cutting its oil pro-duction in a bid to revive prices, energy minister Alexander Novak said Friday as the falling price of crude along with Western sanctions over Ukraine have led to the ruble plunging in value.

“Is Russia ready to lower production to support prices? This question needs to be looked into carefully since the budget is strongly dependent on the price of oil,” Novak was quoted as say-ing by Interfax news agency.

“There is no � nal decision,” Novak said. “We are discussing the question. We are working inside the government on the expediency of such methods.”

He said all oil exporting nations are concerned about the slump in oil prices.

“This calls for careful analysis and possibly the development of some co-ordinated actions,” Novak said. l

Google tests replacing web ads with contributions n AFP, San Francisco

Google on Thursday began rolling out a way for people to support websites they frequent and, in return, be re-warded with ad-free pages.

A “Google Contributor” experi-ment was introduced with a handful of partners including tech news web-site Mashable and The Onion, which is known for clever satires.

Google described the e� ort as an “experiment in additional ways to fund the web.”

“When you visit a participating web-site, part of your contribution goes to the creators of that site,” Google said at a page launched for those interested in taking part.

“As a reminder of your support, you’ll see a thank you message - often accompanied by a pixel pattern - where you might normally see an ad.”

Contributors are asked to set a monthly donation amount ranging from one to three dollars, and in ex-change wipe out the ads that some surfers see as a nuisance. l

RBI cautious on response to gold import surge n Reuters, Mumbai

The Reserve Bank of India, grab-bling with a surge in gold imports last month, could support some restric-tions for trading houses but two senior policymakers involved in the bank’s decision-making said o� cials were also wary of overreacting.

India, the world’s second-largest gold consumer over the past year, is wrestling with its response to a four-fold jump in gold imports in October. That spike raised fresh concerns over the strain to the country’s balance of payments.

A senior � nance ministry source told Reuters on Tuesday the country would soon announce measures set to center on import restrictions for private trading house that were eased earlier this year. Private jewellery exporters account for the bulk of demand for gold.

But the country has yet to announce any steps, and the two policymakers said on Friday there was no agreement yet.

“No decision has yet been taken on curbing gold imports,” said one of the policy makers, who declined to be named.

India sharply restricted gold imports in early 2013 as the country battled a balance of payments crisis triggered by the US Federal Reserve’s announce-

ment that it would start to ease its pro-gramme of quantitative easing.

But it eased some of the measures after India’s current account de� cit fell sharply from the record high of 4.8% of gross domestic product in the � scal year ended in March 2013 to 1.7% in the quarter ending in June.

That improvement is providing com-fort for the central bank, even as gold imports jumped in October to $4.18bn.

“Right now, even if gold imports continue at the current level every month, the current account de� cit will not cross 2%. We are comfortable up to 2% ,” said one policymaker.

Restrictions on trading houses, though possible, would have to be lim-ited, he said.

“These could be only some cosmetic restrictions like eligibility criteria,” the policymaker said. l

The Lexus LF-C2 Concept car is unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show media preview days, November 19 in Los Angeles, California AFP

A woman looks at a gold chain at a jewellery showroom on the occasion of Dhanteras, a Hindu festival associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, at a market in Mumbai REUTERS

India, the world’s second-largest gold consumer over the past year, is wrestling with its response to a fourfold jump in gold imports in October