n Kayes Sohel and Sohel Mamun

Usually, development projects move fast at this time of the year as whether remains dry, but this year, implemen-tation of mega structures has slowed down considerably, mainly because of the ongoing political unrest in the country.

Several government agencies – mainly attached to the communication sector – has projected and proposed spending cuts in the upcoming revised Annual Development Programme (ADP), due in a few months. The agen-cies include the Bridges Division and the railway – two of the biggest devel-opment spenders in the country.

Sluggish execution of development projects has prompted the Planning Ministry to slash annual foreign aid spending targets as well.

Offi cials from the Bridges Division – implementation agency of the coun-try’s biggest ever development project Padma bridge – said they will not be able to spend Tk235 crore of the budget allocated for them, fearing transporta-tion and security problems due to the ongoing unrest.

They said they are now going to quote Tk7,865 crore in the revised ADP instead of the Tk8,100 crore allocated in the development budget for the current fi scal year. The original amount was the highest allocation in a development project for the 2014-15 fi scal.

An offi cial told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “We do not need the entire

fund this fi scal year as expenditure has been very slow because of politicalviolence.”

Sources said, the Bangladesh Bridg-es Authority spent about Tk2,500 crore

for the Padma bridge out of a total disbursement of Tk3,225 crore untilJanuary 20.

The China-based contractor of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway up-grada-

tion project has recently wrote to the Home Ministry expressing concerns about security amid the ongoing unrest.

China’s state-owned construction and engineering company Sinohydro –

currently implementing the project for upgrading the Dhaka-Chittagong High-way into four lanes – sent the letter af-ter some of its materials-laden trucks

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

IS THERE ANYBODYOUT THERE?

11 | OP-ED

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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20 pages plus 24-page weekend supplement | Price: Tk12

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13 | SPORT

B1 | BusinessBangladesh Bank has decided to o� er in-centives for good borrowers having regular loan repayment track records, but warned of coming down hard on willful defaulters.

3 | NewsIn a move to ensure preferential treatment for lawmakers’ family members, parlia-ment decided to issue special car stickers to identify the vehicles carrying the relatives, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury has said.

4 | NewsThe three-day National Start-Up Work-shop aiming to o� er climate adaption strategies in 5 haor districts covering 28 upazilas, began in the capital yesterday.

5 | NewsChittagong needs urgent attention from policymakers to address a host of prob-lems as it lags behind Dhaka in various sectors, despite having a large contribu-tion to national economy.

I N S I D E

ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH SIGNAL THEIR FLARE-UP IS OVER

8 | WORLD

Atiur: Economy will bleed if unrest continuesn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rah-man yesterday expressed concern over the ongoing political turmoil and said the economy would bleed further if the unrest continues.

“Just when the country’s economy was showing signs of growth, political unrest has put a barricade on it,” he said, unveiling of the Monetary Policy Stance (MPS) for the second half of the current fi scal year at Bangladesh Bank headquarters in the capital yesterday.

The MPS keeps the targets mostly unchanged – barring infl ation to bring down – and hinted not to go for neither expansionary nor contractionery policy.

But former BB governor Salehuddin Ahmed said the policy could have been a little more pro-active and pro-growth instead of emphasising the reduction of infl ation.

The policy stance aims to bring down the infl ation rate to 6.5% from current the 6.99% (12-month average) and to achieve an economic growth rate of between 6.5% and 6.8%.

“The central bank should concen-trate on employment and growth in-stead of infl ation,” Salehuddin said.

“The monetary policy has been kept unchanged in the second half in light of the existing political situation”Atiur said.

Salehuddin Ahmed responded to the stance, saying: “The policy was ob-servational but not innovative.”

Salehuddin said the policy could have been a little more expansionary

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Political violence-triggeredspending cuts proposed

Bridges Division Tk235cr

Railway Tk925cr

Foreign aid target $360m

REVISED ADP 2014-15

Yet another truck driver assistant dies in blockade violencen Tribune Report

Yet another truck driver helper was crushed to death under the wheels of his own vehicle after it was torched by pro-blockaders in Chandpur last night.

Besides, a mason and a truck driver who sustained burn injuries in petrol bomb attacks in Feni and Magura re-spectively on Wednesday took admis-sion at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical condition yesterday.

Meanwhile, the 24-hour shutdown called by the BNP-led 20-party alliance in Dhaka city and 10 other districts on top of the countrywide rail, road and waterways blockade had very little im-pact on day-to-day life excepting some stray incidents of violence.

The shutdown had no impact in the capital except for an incident of crude bomb blast in the evening in New Mar-ket area and torching of a bus on Dhaka University campus.

However, no long-haul bus plied from and to the capital.

Our Chandpur correspondent re-ports that truck helper Motaleb Hos-sain, 40, was crushed to death under the wheels of his truck as miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at his vehicle on the Chandpur-Comilla highway around 11:45pm on Wednesday.

As the truck caught fi re driver Naw-shad lost control over the steering and the vehicle fell into a roadside ditch.

Both Nawshad and burnt Motaleb jumped off the vehicle to save their lives but unlucky Motaleb went under the wheel of the truck before it plunged into the ditch.

The truck was carrying tiles from PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

38 illegal migrants feared dead as trawler capsizesn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

At least 38 people are feared dead after an overcrowded fi shing trawler, carry-ing Malaysia-bound illegal migrants, capsized in the Kutubdia channel of the Bay of Bengal in the early hours yesterday.Rescuers managed to bring ashore 42 people alive including six suspected human traffi ckers, while later in the day the sunken vessel was also located and dragged towards the shores of Ku-tubdia island.

Although it is common for a large number of people to seek illegal pas-sage to Malaysia through marine routes from Chittagong every year, such large

scale accidents at sea are uncommon in the bay.

Quoting rescued victims, Kutubdia police station Offi cer-in-Charge Ong-shuth Whoyai said the 30-feet long Malaysia-bound trawler, FV Idris, cap-sized at the southwestern part of Ku-tubdia channel with about 80 people on board at around 5am.

Receiving the information, Coast Guard ships Towhid and Tanvir along with four metal shark boats, and Bangla-desh Navy ships Oporajeyo and Otondro rushed to the spot and rescued 31 peo-ple including four suspected traffi ckers, said Bangladesh Coast Guard (East) Zon-al Commander Captain Shahidul Islam.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Unrest slows down mega projectsTop spenders Bridges Division and Railway to seek spending cuts in revised ADP

TIB: Auditor general’s o� ce riddled by corruptionn Adil Sakhawat

Corruption is prevalent in every sector of the Offi ce of the Comptroller and Au-ditor General (CAG) where signifi cant political infl uence is seen in diff erent ac-tivities, the Bangladesh chapter of Ber-lin-based Transparency International (TI) revealed in a new report yesterday.

The CAG, a constitutional body re-sponsible for auditing government receipts and public spending, cannot work independently because of persis-tent political infl uence, TIB offi cials said at a press conference in the capital ar-ranged to disclose the survey fi ndings.

The report shows that the CAG of-fi cials and employees are involved in taking bribes ranging from Tk4,000 to Tk5,00,000.

The minimum bribery amount is taken usually for disposal of objections in tripartite meetings while the max-imum amount is charged for recruit-ment of auditors, employees and driv-ers for the CAG offi ce; for conducting annual audit by local and revenue au-dit department; and for doing audit for foreign-funded projects, it says.

The research shows that for the re-cruitment of an employee at the CAG offi ce, there is infl uence from minis-ters, state ministers, lawmakers and the heads of the parliamentary stand-ing committees.

Refuting the anti-graft campaign-er’s fi ndings, a top CAG offi cial termed the report “unethical.” The offi cial also questioned the standard of the survey.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A contractor mobilises equipment for construction work on the Padma Bridge project, but works have slowed down due to political unrest MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

01_FRONT.indd02_News.indd16_BACK.indd

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

14-party urges joint forces to get tough on saboteursn Abu Hayat Mahmud

The AL-led 14-party combine yester-day urged law enforcement agencies to take a stern stand against saboteurs ac-tive during the non-stop blockade en-forced across the country by the BNP-led 20-party alliance

In statements made at a rally in front of the Shia Mosque in Mohammadpur in the capital yesterday evening, they asked local leaders and activists of member parties to be vigilant.

Health Minister Mohammad Nasim said: “No fruitful result will come of sabotage and the killing of innocent people, mostly workers who live from hand to mouth.

“If you [Khaleda] lead such terrorist activities, the country’s people and law enforcement agencies will force you to face trial.”

He asked Khaleda to withdraw the non-stop blockade before the start of SSC examinations scheduled to start on February 2, saying the country’s schools would be guarded during Secondary School Certifi cate (SSC) examinations.

Nasim, an AL presidium member, said: “Khaleda Zia is giving orders to have innocent people killed. If she continues, she must take responsibility and face trial as the mastermind of the killings.”

Warning BNP chief Khaleda Zia, Ja-tiya Samajtantrik Dal President and In-formation Minister Hasanul Haque Inu,

said: “If you do not stop this terrorism, you will face a tough situation.”

Inu said: “Khaleda is not the ‘Desh Netri’ [a sobriquet meaning Leader of the Country given by her supporters], she is the queen of terrorists and militants.”

Workers Party General Secretary Fa-zle Hossain Badsha accused Khaleda of having no love for Bangladesh, and having only Pakistan in her heart.

At a function to mark Police Week 2015 on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the police to take whatever steps necessary to restore or-der: “I will take responsibility for what-ever happens. But you must ensure the security of the lives and property of the common people.” l

Govt protests OHCHR comments on Bangladeshn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The government yesterday lodged a protest with the Offi ce of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for blaming and criti-cising it over “the deepening violence” in the country.

“We have sent a letter to Geneva as we feel that the [OHCHR’s] press

note sent out a wrong message aboutthe prevailing situation,” a senior for-eign ministry offi cial told the Dhaka Tribune.

Protesting the OHCHR’s press note in its note yesterday, the government said BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and the Ja-maat’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir had carried out almost all arson and terror attacks in the country.

“[And so] ... unduly implicat-ing the law enforcement agenciesand others, would only allow cov-er for such terrorist acts, and furtherinstigate such violent means by the same actors.”

About the allegation of arbitrary ar-rest and detention of key opposition leaders by law enforcement agencies, the government responded that they

had to press charges against them for their apparent involvement in violent and terrorist acts.

About the alleged confi nement of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the gov-ernment said in the note: “It was on her own volition that she had decided to remain interned in her offi ce, and al-ways remains at liberty to move over to her residence.” l

Piles of freshly printed books being stocked inside the store houses of di� erent publishers at the capital’s Banglabazar area yesterday ahead of the Amar Ekushey Grontho Mela beginning from February 1 MEHEDI HASAN

Unrest slows down mega projects PAGE 1 COLUMN 5and vehicles got attacked and burned by arsonists at various places.

The similar up-gradation project of the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway has also been facing diffi culties because of the unrest.

Implementation of the metro rail project in Dhaka city and the works for repairing old roads and building new ones across the country have also been facing a lot of trouble because of block-ade-related atrocities.

The Bangladesh Railway has also de-cided to slash its development budget by nearly Tk925 crore for the upcoming revised ADP. In the main ADP for the ongoing fi scal year, railway got Tk4,526 crore for implementing 41 projects.

“The [railway] ministry will require only about Tk3,600 crore to execute the projects. Nearly one thousand crore may remain unspent as the transporta-tion of essential construction materials have been very slow because of hartal and blockade,” an offi cial from the Rail-way Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune.

Over the last fi ve to six years, the government has signifi cantly increased investment for improving the railway sector.

Because of indiscriminate arson on vehicles on highways in the ongoing blockade that enters day 25 today, the country’s general transport sector has come to a standstill. Costs are going through the roofs, but more alarming-ly, owners are not ready to send their vehicles on the long route at all.

During months of political unrest before the January 5 general elections last year, transportation costs have in-creased by up to fi ve to 10 times. This year too, the costs are fast pushing up towards that level.

As of January 20, the implement-ing agency has spent Tk284 crore out of a total of Tk500 crore of budgetary allocation for the Dhaka-Chittagong highway up-gradation project. As for the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway pro-ject, around Tk178 crore has so far been

spent from the original allocation of Tk398 crore.

As for foreign aid disbursement, slow execution of development projects has forced the government to slash annual foreign aid target by $360 million, Plan-ning Ministry sources said.

“We have been forced to reduce the aid target as the government agen-cies have shown weak performance in project execution. Despite several measures, no improvement in project implementation is being observed,” an offi cial said.

He added: “When agencies fail to implement foreign loan or grant-sup-ported projects, external assistance disbursement by donors automatically decreases.”

During the fi rst half of the current fi s-cal year, public agencies spent Tk22,494 crore, accounting for only 28% of the Tk80,315 crore ADP. Only about 27% of the total foreign aid allocation in the cur-rent ADP could so far be spent.

Firoz Ikbal, chief engineer of the Roads and Highways department, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “Our lo-cal offi ces remain very busy at this time of the year because most development funds are released from December to February. But because of arson and vandalism on the highways, equip-ment such as excavators cannot reach project sites. That is signifi cantly slow-ing down the works.”

However, Road Transport and Bridg-es Minister Obaidul Quader rejected any trouble on the highways.

“The construction works of roads and bridges are going on smoothly. Mega projects are moving ahead fast. The Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane pro-ject has faced some troubles because of the blockade, but that problem has already been solved,” he claimed.

The minister also said: “As for the Padma bridge and the Joydebpur-My-mensingh highway four-lane projects, because the army is involved, blockade supporters have not been able to create much trouble.” l

Yet another truck driver assistant die in blockade violence PAGE 1 COLUMN 1Narayanganj to Chandpur. Tiles owner Masud too sustained burn injuries in the incident.

Police in Ghosherhat area confi rmed the arson attack.

Sub-inspector of Chandpur Model police station Abu Sayeed said they had detained seven suspects after a mas-sive raid in the nearby areas.

Police fi led a case accusing 57 in-cluding 22 BNP men in this connection.

Since the beginning of the blockade the highways in the country has seen incidents like this intermittently. A passenger died in such an attack on the highway on January 6.

Meanwhile, two men were admitted to the DMCH’s burn unit yesterday af-ter they received injuries in a Molotov cocktail attack in Feni and Magura on Wednesday.

Mason of Feni Mohammad Naw-shad, 40, sustained burns while re-turning home in Shanti Company area around 10pm Wednesday.

The pro-blockaders hurled a petrol bomb at the CNG-run auto-rickshaw. Along with him three passengers sus-tained minor injuries and took primary treatment at a local hospital.

With burns in face and two hands he was shifted to the DMCH burn unit. Doctors said his respiratory system was aff ected and his condition was critical.

A truck driver Milon, 35, who was burnt by a petrol bomb early Wednesday was shifted to the DMCH burn unit yester-day. The truck was going to Dhaka from Jessore land port with garlic and came under attack around 2:30am in Magura.

Meanwhile, in Jessore miscreants burnt a parked bus early yesterday. No one was injured in the incident.

At Chiitagong’s Mirersorai pickets torched upazila Land Offi ce by hurling petrol bomb through a window early yesterday. The attack gutted some im-portant papers of the offi ce.

In the capital police detained at least 36 youths from a dormitory of a madrasa in Mir Hazaribagh early yes-

terday. The detainees were students of Tamirul Millat Kamil Madrasa.

Dr Abu Yusuf, vice-principal of the madrasa, said twelve of them were Da-khil candidates equivalent to Second-ary School Certifi cate (SSC) examina-tion and 15 are Alim examinees.

Atiqur Rahman, a sub-inspector of Jatrabari police station, said some madrasa youths were held in a nearly three-hour drive beginning from 11pm on Wednesday.

Police, however, did not disclose an-ything about their arrests.

Meanwhile, at least eight people, in-cluding a student of Dhaka University, sustained injuries in two separate inci-dents of crude bomb explosions in the capital’s New Market yesterday evening.

The injured are Dhaka University student Shahidul Islam, Dhaka College student Piar Hossain, street vendors Shahjahan, Sajal, Simanto, Jamal and his brother Jainal.

The injured were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Inspector Mozammel Haque, DMCH Police Outpost in-charge, confi rmed the incidents.

The injured were undergoing treat-ment at the emergency unit while this report was being fi led.

Quoting the injured, police said the explosions took place at the gate 2 and gate 4 of New Market in between 6pm and 6:30pm. On the Dhaka University campus miscreants torched a parked bus around 2pm. On information fi re fi ghters rushed there and doused the fi re. No one was injured.

Apart from these incidents, vehicu-lar movement was as usual in the capi-tal. Even private cars that normally do not ply the city roads during shutdown fearing violence were seen in plenty.

Shops, offi ces and businesses were open as usual. RAB and policemen were deployed at all key points in the city to check untoward incident.

Launches and trains too left the cap-ital as usual for their destination with-out facing any interruption. l

Atiur: Economy will bleed if unrest continues PAGE 1 COLUMN 6instead of cautious and restrained through extending the private sector credit growth ceiling.

The ceiling for private sector credit growth was kept unchanged at 15.5% for June this year, according to the pol-icy stance.

Private sector credit growth, even during the comfortable political cli-mate of the last six months of last year, remained at 12.7% in November – well below the target of 14% for December.

BB governor Atiur pointed out that credit infl ows jumped with growing demand in the last two months of 2014 thanks to the peaceful political envi-ronment.

After that, growth rates were not able to reach projected targets as credit infl ows were slow during the fi rst four months of the fi rst half due to a lack of confi dence among entrepreneurs, the country’s central banker explained.

But he said: “The private sector credit ceiling will remain open for pos-sible extension if demand rises.”

Salehuddin, the former BB gover-nor, said the policy stance could have gone ahead and increased the private sector credit ceiling focusing on small

and medium entrepreneurs. He said this would have signalled to banks that the BB has a fl exible position on SME lending.

Atiur explained that the policy stance was cautionary because banks were already rigid in lending amid the political unrest.

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury said even though the political situation was stable in H1, entrepreneurs were still sceptical be-cause of political uncertainty and in-frastructure bottlenecks.

He said even though credit de-mand began to rise during the last two

months, it fl attened out because of re-cent political unrest.

The programme targeted public sec-tor credit growth at 25.3% for June this year, up from an earlier stance of 10.9% for December. This target is the highest in the last three fi scal years.

The high rate has been targeted at a time when government is expected to benefi t from low oil import prices and increased sales of national savings cer-tifi cates, both of which are expected to reduce pressure on bank borrowing by the government.

Public sector credit growth was re-corded at 6.1% in November last year

against a programme of 11%, according to Bangladesh Bank data.

“Government borrowing remained below the ceiling last year but we in-creased the space for June predicting the possible implementation of some big projects,” said Bangladesh Bank Chief Economist Biru Paksha Paul.

In response to a question, the chief economist said the target was just a parameter that had been predicted and the ceiling might be raised if the situa-tion requires it. Atiur said Bangladesh Bank’s support of capital market stabil-ity will continue in H2 FY2014-15.

He said the central bank had a statu-tory responsibility to enforce the com-pliance of banks with legal limits on their capital market exposure.

Atiur added that Bangladesh Bank has continued liquidity support for capital market transactions in vol-umes permissible within its monetary programmes. At the retail level, both deposit and lending rates fell in H1 FY2014-15 and the interest spread has, on average, decreased from 5.31% in June to 5.17% in November.

Bangladesh Bank will continue its eff ort to reduce this spread, according to the policy stance. l

Thirty-eight illegal migrants feared dead as trawler capsizes PAGE 1 COLUMN 3Meanwhile, Maheshkhali police rescued 11 more people including two suspected traffi ckers from Matarbari channel, said Maheshkhali OC Alamgir Hossain.

As of fi ling this report at 9pm, rescue eff orts were still going on at the site of the trawler capsize, while the Coast Guard said they would continue search-ing for survivors throughout the night.

Six of the rescued migrants were ad-mitted to the Kutubdia Upazila Health Complex in critical conditions, said Kutubdia Upazila Health Offi cer Dr Mo-hammad Sahabuddin; but he assured that they were now out of danger.

The rescue teams also traced the trawler at around 3pm and brought it near the shore of Kutubdia island an hour later. No dead body was found in the hull of the trawler, said Captain Shahidul.

According to the rescued victims, who were mostly from Jessore, Bogra, Madaripur, Narayanganj and other northern districts, the FV Idris was not the initial vessel used in their illegal journey to Malaysia.

At fi rst, the traffi ckers reported-ly had around 50 people climb into a diff erent larger vessel at Chittagong’s Majhirghat and started their journey at 11pm on Wednesday. Around 30 more people were picked up from Chit-tagong’s Banshkhali and Cox’s Bazar’s Pekua, before the vessel arrived at Ku-tubdia channel at dawn.

Later, all the illegal migrants were crammed into FV Idris, which soon be-gan to sway heavily because of the rough waves and eventually started to sink.

“After swimming for about four hours, Coast Guard personnel rescued us,” said 30-year old Abul Kalam, one of those rescued from the scene.

Another of the rescued, 27-year-old

Mohammad Shahadat, said he gave traffi ckers around Tk1 lakh for going to Malaysia and to secure a job there.

“We were kept in a congested place in the trawler [by the traffi ckers] and suff ered from a shortage of drinking water,” he said.

Police sources at Kutubdia and Ma-heshkhali said the suspected traffi ck-ers who were rescued from the water are Obaidul Haq, Nur Mohammad, Mohammad Ismail Mohammad Yiasin, Tayeb Hossain and Mohammad Rasel.

However, the suspects claimed to be innocent victims who only wanted to go to Malaysia like the others. Two of the suspects – Tayeb and Rasel – said they were cooks in the trawler and helped the boatmen sail.

Trafficking through sea routesAccording to a report by the police headquarters’ Anti-Human Traffi ck-ing Special Committee, a total 3,793 people were rescued from Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong over the last fi ve years, while around 15,000-20,000 people were traffi cked to Thailand and Malay-sia in the past decade alone.

The report also found that human traffi ckers were most active in 60 points of coastal areas under Patuakha-li, Barguna, Satkhira, Jhalakati, Khulna, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar, while their agents were infl uential in 41 districts.

The committee also observed that human traffi cking tendency reached the peak during November to April as the sea was more calm in this period.

In a major operation on November 17, 2013, the Bangladesh Navy captured a 25-metre long Myanmar-fl ag-bearing fi shing trawler from the Bay of Bengal, which was being used to illegally send 625 people to Malaysia. l

TIB: Auditor general’s o� ce riddled by corruption PAGE 1 COLUMN 3In its November last year report, the TIB found that the drug administration had also been knee-deep in corruption where the employees and staff take Tk500-10 lakh as bribes from service seekers.

The TIB earlier published reports on the CAG offi ce in 2002 and 2012.

“The CAG’s move to identify and control corruption has become uncon-trolled,” Dr Iftekharuzzaman, the TIB executive director, told the briefi ng.

Sultana Kamal, chairperson of TI trustee board, said: “The CAG offi ce cannot work independently as it has to share the audit fi ndings with the Prime Minister’s Offi ce. The PMO’s audit is also done by the auditors of the CAG.

“The constitutional right of the CAG is violated since it has been made liable to the Prime Minister’s Offi ce.”

The report was prepared after col-lecting information from public serv-ants of 40 government offi ces from March, 2013 to December, 2014.

The TIB states that political infl u-ence is seen while recruiting a CAG since the president has to take sugges-tion from the prime minister in this regard. “In that case, sometimes politi-cally-infl uential offi cials are recruited,” the report says.

First-class auditors are recruited through the Public Service Commis-sion but the others – auditors, junior auditors and employees – through the CAG offi ce. The research found proof of political lobbying, bribery and corrup-tion in the procedures.

Last year, almost half of the 413 new-ly-recruited offi cials and employees had to pay Tk3,00,000-Tk14,00,000 to get the job, the report says.

It was also found that many offi cials in the directorates under the CAG nev-er want to get transferred as the “cor-rupt offi cials make their own way to income illegally. But it is mandatory to be transferred from one directorate to another after every three years.”

The report says an audit offi cial went to foreign missions 47 times whereas there are many others who never get a chance to go abroad once in their ca-reer. Such malpractice takes place due to nepotism.

The research also spotted negligence in duty including lack of accountabil-ity at the director general level, lack of monitoring in fi eld-level activities, no punitive measures for malpractices and not maintaining proper standard in preparing the audit reports.

The TIB in its 20-point recommenda-tion stressed appointment of suffi cient manpower, ensuring accountability of the auditors and enacting audit laws.

One of the three deputy CAGs said: “The TIB brought these allegations in a views exchange programme with us. We sent all the related documents to the TIB offi ce today [Thursday].”

The offi cial, asking not to be named, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone: “The TIB in July told us that they did

not fi nd any graft activities in the CAG offi ce among all the government offi c-es. But I wonder what happened in the last six months that puts us as a top corrupt institution!”

Refuting the allegations of brib-ery, the top CAG offi cial observed that the auditors would not have managed Tk8,000 crore to Tk12,000 crore an-nually had most of the auditors were corrupt.

When contacted and told about the senior CAG offi cial’s comments, Dr If-tekhar said they had conducted the survey maintaining national and inter-national standards. He said they had all related documents about the claims.

“Last year, the CAG’s performance was better among 15 government bodies in a survey on good governance. They are not the most corrupt agency. But it does not mean they are above the law.

“To improve image, the CAG will have to overcome the challenges,” the TIB offi cial added. l

8.0%

13.0%

18.0%

23.0%

28.0%

33.0%

38.0%

FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 MPS

Net Domestic Assets Domestic Credit Credit to the public sector Credit to the public sector Broad money Reserve money

MOVEMENT OF MONETARY AGGREGATES

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

WEATHER

PRAYER TIMES Fajr 5:22am Sunrise 6:40am Jumma 12:12am Asr 4:07pm Magrib 5:43pm Esha 7:01pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:43PM SUN RISES 6:41AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW31.1ºC 10.8ºC

Sitakunda Srimangal

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 25 12Chittagong 27 16Rajshahi 26 9Rangpur 25 8Khulna 24 10Barisal 26 14Sylhet 27 11Cox’s Bazar 28 18

DRY WEATHER

LIKELY

12,000 Ansar members to be deployed on highwaysn Shohel Mamun

The government has decided to deploy 12,000 Ansar members, in phases, at 993 vulnerable points of diff erent high-ways across the country to ensure law safety of vehicles.

The decision came at an inter-min-isterial meeting in the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges yesterday.

Road Transport and Bridges Minis-ter Obaidul Quader briefed reporters about the decision after the meeting.

“A total of 12,000 Ansar members will be deployed at 993 points on the highways. The process will start on Fri-day [today], with 2,592 Ansar members to be deployed at 216 points. Twelve Ansar members will be stationed at each point, working in two shifts.”

He said the decision was taken in a bid to ensure safe journey of the pas-sengers during the blockade.

Earlier on January 12, Bangladesh

Railway authorities deployed 8,000 Ansar members at 831 risky points across the country to ensure safe trav-elling of the trains. “We have decided to hold rallies around the country with the help of the local lawmakers and other public representatives to build up awareness,” the minister said.

The BNP-led 20-party alliance has been enforcing the nationwide roads and waterways blockade since January 5.

“According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, at least 40 peo-ple have died from arson attacks; among them, 15 were transport work-ers. Scores of other have been injured in diff erent parts of the country in vi-olence, most of them arson attacks,” Obaidul said.

“At least 325 vehicles were destroyed by arson attacks and 500 vehicles van-dalised across the country.”

Asked about security during the up-coming SSC examinations, the minister

said: “Our initiative will be to ensure security to the SSC examinees.”

In face of public demand, the gov-ernment has planned to take a number of security measures in order to ensure people’s security. It announced rewards for catching anarchists responsible for violence during hartal and blockades.

The BNP chairperson called the non-stop blockade on January 5 after she was barred from coming out of her Gulshan political offi ce. BNP said she was “confi ned,” but the government claimed she was free to go home.

Police kept extremely tight security in place around Khaleda’s Gulshan of-fi ce for 16 days.

The security was relaxed on Janu-ary 12, but Khaleda never came out. Instead, she said at a press conference that she was going to stay in her party offi ce and the blockade would contin-ue unless the government took the fi rst steps towards solution. l

BSF returns detained boyn Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

India’s Border Security Force has re-turned a teen-aged boy to the Border Guard Bangladesh hours after detain-ing him.

Sabbir, who was detained after step-ping into Indian territory through Dabri border area in Haripur upazila yester-day morning, was handed over to the BGB after offi cials of both the border guards reached a consensus.

The 14-year-old is the son of Jamir Uddin of Dhugria village.

Jamir had taken Sabbir to work in a fi eld near the border and the boy acci-dentally crossed the border after some time. Thakurgaon 30 BGB Director Lt Col Tushar Bin Yunus said Sabbir was returned around 11:30am. l

HRW concerned over lack of justicen Tribune Report

New York-based Human Rights Watch says the Bangladesh government last year failed to prosecute security forces for serious abuses including killings, disappearances, and arbitrary arrests.

“The government forces commit-ted serious abuses both leading up to and after the January [5] 2014 general election, while members of opposition parties engaged in violent and indis-criminate attacks to impose economic blockades and to enforce a boycott of the January polls,” the HRW said in its World Report 2015, released yesterday.

Lauding the arrests of several RAB personnel for their alleged involve-ment in the “high-profi le contract killing” of a Narayanganj politician, Asia director Brad Adams said: “The government must ensure that justice is not dealt out selectively, depending on family or political connections.” l

High Court bans expired stent implant n Tribune Report

The High Court has banned implanting expired stents in the bodies of heart patients in all hospitals, including the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).

It also issued a ruling yesterday, asking why suppliers of expired stents, those who procure them and placing them in the patients’ bodies will not be declared illegal.

The health secretary, director gener-al of the health directorate, police chief and the NICVD director were asked to respond to the ruling.

The ruling came after a television report caught the attention of the High Court bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman.

The bench said further order on this would be issued on March 1.

It also ordered to form an investi-gation committee headed by the chief of the health directorate and submit a report within a month.

On Wednesday, Channel 24 aired a report on the use of expired stents at the NICVD.

Lawyer Zayedi Hasan Khan read out the online version of the report pub-lished on the channel’s website.

He told reporters the court had im-posed a ban on the use of expired stents until the ruling was resolved.

American Heart Association says a stent is a tiny wire mesh tube that props open an artery and is left there permanently.

When a coronary artery is narrowed by a buildup of fatty deposits called plaque, it can reduce blood fl ow, and stents help keep coronary arteries open and reduce the chance of a heart attack. l

Family says police killed Jamaat man Shahin n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Police have fi led three cases over the killing of Jamaat activist Nurul Islam Shahin in an alleged “shootout,” al-though his family claimed that he was killed by law enforcers.

Sub-Inspector Monowar Uzzaman from the Motihar police station in Ra-jshahi fi led the murder, explosives and arms cases on Wednesday night, charging around 20-22 unnamed Ja-maat-Shibir activists.

Motihar OC Alamgir Hossain said they conducted a drive to nab Shahin’s cohorts, who tried to snatch him from police custody. That triggered a gun-fi ght in which the Jamaat leader was

killed.However, Shahin’s family alleged

that police murdered Shahin in cold blood and then cooked up a story.

His brother Fazlul Haque Tuhin told the Dhaka Tribune that it was nothing bu a display of police’s “double stan-dard;” police kill people then cook up shootout stories.

He said they were planning to fi le a murder case in this regard.

Tuhin alleged that men from the Detective Branch (DB) of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) picked up his brother from their press in the city around 9pm on Tuesday.

He said when they contacted the DB offi ce on Tuesday night, they were

told that Nurul Islam would be released the following morning. However, on Wednesday morning, they got a call from the Rajshahi Medical College Hos-pital (RMCH) that Nurul’s dead body had been kept there.

However, RMP Commissioner Mu-hammad Shamsudddin claimed at a press briefi ng at their headquarters that Shahin succumbed to injuries that he sustained in a “gunfi ght.”

“Detectives arrested Nurul Islam from a printing press, which he ran alongside teaching Islamic Studies at the Islamia Degree College in Rajshahi, at Malopara at 9pm Tuesday.

“Around 2am on Wednesday, a team from the Detective Branch of police

took him to the Nolkhola Ashrafer Mor to arrest his cohorts and recover fi re-arms. But sensing police’s presence, his cohorts opened fi re, hurled several crude bombs and tried to snatch Nurul, prompting the DB men to open fi re in retaliation. Shahin got bullet-hit in the gunfi ght.

“Later, Shahin succumbed to his in-juries after being rushed to the RMCH,” the RMB boss said.

Shahin was a former president of Rajshahi city’s ward number 30 unit of Jamaat-e-Islami.

The party has called a 36-hour har-tal starting Saturday in eight districts of the Rajshahi Division in protest of the killing. l

JaPa’s token mass hunger strike beginsn UNB

The Jatiya Party observed a token mass hunger strike in front of the party’s Ka-krail offi ce in the capital yesterday to register its protest against the ongoing “violent politics.”

The hunger strike programme began at 11am and ended at 4pm.

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, Secretary General Ziauddin Bablu, MP, GM Quader, MP and presidium mem-ber Sayed Abul Hossain Babla, MP at-tended the programme, among others.

A press release, signed by Jatiya Par-ty chairman’s Press and Political Sec-retary Sunil Shuvo Roy, said the token hunger strike was rescheduled for yes-terday instead of Tuesday for unavoid-able circumstances. l

Khaleda’s cases adjourned till February 25n Tribune Report

A Dhaka court yesterday adjourned recording of deposition against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her eldest son Tarique Rahman in the Zia Charita-ble Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases until February 25.

Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar of the Dhaka Special Judge Court 3.

The counsels of both prosecution and defence expressed condolenc-es over the death of the former prime minister’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko.

The defence had petitioned for al-lowing Khaleda not to appear in the court yesterday because of her mental state following the death of her son. The court accepted the petition.

Seeking adjournment of the trial proceedings, defence counsel Masud Ahmed Talukdar told the court: “We are not prepared mentally to take part in the hearing as we are mourning the untimely death of the BNP chairper-son’s younger son.”

Expressing condolence over the death of Koko, plaintiff Anti-Cor-ruption Commision (ACC) counsel Mosharraf Hossain Kajal accepted the petitions.

Considering all matters, the court adjourned the trial proceedings until February 25. l

MPs’ relatives to also enjoy car sticker privilegesn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

In a move to ensure preferential treat-ment for the lawmakers’ own family members, the parliament has decided to issue special car stickers separately to identify the vehicles carrying the rel-atives, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaud-hury has said.

Under the existing policy, each law-maker is entitled to have a single stick-er for their own car; but if their family members are also given extra stickers, those relatives would also be able to enjoy preferential treatment on the road and bridges as well as avoiding se-curity checks.

“Each MP would get one sticker for their own vehicle and one diff erent coloured sticker for their family mem-bers,” Speaker Shirin Sharmin said.

She added that the stickers would have a hologram embedded with a se-curity code and the vehicle number so that authorities concerned and law enforcers could easily identify the ve-hicle’s owner.

Besides, a diff erent set of stickers would also be launched for the offi cials of the Jatiya Sangsad, the speaker said.

On Wednesday, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader told the house that car stickers of the MPs have been forged and found in the

city’s Nilkhet area and used even by do-mestic helps of the lawmakers.

“We lawmakers have a responsibil-ity. We should be lawmakers, not law-breakers,” Obaidul said, also pointing out that some MPs also ignore traffi c rules.

During yesterday’s sitting of the House, Bangladesh Nationalist Front lawmaker SM Abul Kalam Azad also spoke about the car sticker for MPs.

Earlier last June, the Dhaka Tribune published a story about the illegal prac-tice of parliament staff who sold special car stickers for only Tk200.

Sources told the Dhaka Tribune that a section of parliament offi cials have been selling these fabricated stickers containing the emblem of the Jatiya Sangsad and “parliament member” written under it.

Meanwhile, speaking about a dif-ferent issue at the parliament, Awami League lawmaker Abdul Matin Khas-ru yesterday demanded that the gov-ernment immediately rehabilitates the poor people who have been burnt during the BNP-led alliance’s blockade programme.

Speaking on point of order, he also termed the indefi nite blockade as a criminal off ence against the state and suggested taking legal action against the BNP. l A double-decker for students of Dhaka University which was torched by hartal supporters yesterday, stands beside the Curzon Hall after � re-� ghters douse the blaze MEHEDI HASAN

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad attends a token hunger strike at his party’s Kakrail o� ce in the capital yesterday. The party organised the fasting to protest the ongoing political violence around the country MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

NATIONAL START-UP WORKSHOP BEGINS

Experts: CALIP project to bene� t at least 30 lakh farmers in haor areasn Tribune Report

A $15 million IFAD funded project on protecting livelihoods from climactic change will hit the fl oodplains of Ban-gladesh shortly, according to a work-shop in the capital’s Agargaon area yesterday.

With loans and grants from the In-ternational Fund for Agricultural De-velopment (IFAD), the Climate Adap-tion and Livelihood Protection (CALIP) will be implemented over a fi ve-year period, Monzur Hossain, a senior secre-tary of local government division, said.

Sources said the project would be implemented at the fi eld level after the conlcusion of the ongoing workshop as related research was still being con-ducted until now.

The workshop was jointly organ-ised by Local Government Engineer-ing Department (LGED) and IFAD at the LGED headquarters in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

CALIP is a supplementary project of the Haor Infrastructure and Livelihood Improvement Project (HILIP).

Around $15 million has been allotted

for CALIP and the total cost of HILIP and CALIP is $134.84 million.

Monzur Hossain said the execution of the project already began from July last year and will end within June, 2019.

The fi ve haor districts are Netrako-

na, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Kishoreganj and Brahmanbaria.

Hossain said: “Adaption strategies will require development and environ-mental goals intended to improve the livelihoods of the people living in the haor areas which are mostly aff ected by climate change. It will also require pro-moting resilence of natural systems.”

He said: “Agricultural, water, envi-ronmental and fi nancing agencies need to act in a coordinated way to guaran-

tee that the strategies are being imple-mented.”

Hossain said the workshop was an important step in equiping Bangla-deshi farmers with the tools to deal with climate change.

Gopal Chandra Sarkar, project direc-tor of HILIP, Nicolas Syed, country pro-gram offi cer of IFAD, Shyama Prosad Adhikari, chief engineer of LGED, also addressed the inaugural session.

The CALIP project will enhance live-lihood opportunities and reduce vul-nerability of the poor and strengthen the community and ecological resil-ience to climate change in haor regions, according to an overview of CALIP by LGED.

Components of CALIP are commu-nity infrastructure, livelihood protec-tion, capacity and knowledge for build-ing and project management.

The total estimated direct benefi cia-ries of CALIP are 240,624 persons, said a booklet of IFAD.

This project will also introduce a Flash Flood Early Warning System (FFEWS) especially for the farmers who live in haor areas which will give warn-

ings seven days prior to any disaster hits.Bangladesh Meteorological depart-

ment, Institute of Water Management (IWM), Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM), Flood Forecast-ing and Warning Center (FFWC) and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) will work to-gether to develop the system.

Experts at the workshop claimed approximately 30 lakh farmers will be benefi ted from this agrometeorological and fl ash fl ood forecast.

In addition to developing FFEWS, the project will provide climate smart agricultural technologies to farmers and give training to 150,000 farmers.

Under the project 224 villages will be protected through various measures including constructing wave protection walls, planting trees like Vertiver and Koroch, providing internal services.

It will also construct fi ve model vil-lages resilient to climate changes, build 22 shelters and construct 50km of fl ood resistant roads.

There will be at least six to seven more working sessions today and to-morrow. l

DUTA for law against petrol bomb attacksn DU Correspondent

Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) yesterday urged the government to en-act a law to stop petrol bomb attacks and ensure security of people in the country.

Terming the recent po-litical violence during on-

going blockade and hartals enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance a heinous crime, DUTA demanded that the government ensure exemplary punishment to the culprits, who hurl petrol bomb on the people.

At a press conference at the DU Teachers Club

Auditorium, the universi-ty teachers also urged the government to provide ad-equate compensation to the victims of the political vio-lence and arson attacks.

In a written speech, DUTA General Secretary Prof Dr ASM Maksud Kamal said the government must introduce a law to prevent petrol bomb attacks like the Acid Oporadh Damon law.

He also compared the recent violence to the atroc-ities occurred during the Second World War.

Prof Maksud announced that one day’s salary of the DUTA members will be do-nated for the rehabilitation and treatment of the victims of such violence.

Former DUTA president Prof Anawar Hossian, Exec-utive Member Prof Akhturu-zzamn, member Prof AJM Shafi ul Alam Buiyan, and Treasurer Shiblee Rubayatul Islam, among others, were present on the occasion. l

City corporation to make 15 kitchen markets formalin free n Tribune Report

The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has decided to make 15 kitch-en markets of the capital formalin-free immediately.

The local government body yester-day announced the decision after an internal meeting held at the corpora-tion’s offi ce in the capital, says a press release.

The press note said at least one booth will be installed in each of the kitchen markets for testing formalin in products. However, the number of booth can be more than one if the mar-ket is big.

DNCC Administrator Rakhal Chan-dra Barman directed offi cials con-cerned to buy proper formalin identi-fying kits.

The meeting also decided that suf-fi cient manpower will be appointed for each booth. The monitoring teams will regularly visit the markets and take action if high level formalin is found in any product.

Chaired by the administrators, other senior offi cials of the DNCC and its re-gional offi ce chiefs were also present in the meeting. l

Indictment hearing deferred against BNP-led alliance leadersn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday deferred an indictment hearing against 46 BNP-led alliance leaders, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in a case fi led on charges of setting fi re to a vehicle near the Prime Minister’s Offi ce in the capital.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ataul Haque deferred the charge framing hearing and fi xed April 9 for the next hearing, following a time petition fi led by defence counsel Md Sanaullah Miah.

In the petition, the defence counsel mentioned that most of the accused could not appear before the court be-cause of an ongoing hartal by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

The 46 accused include Mirza Fakhrul, BNP Standing Committee Members MK Anwar, Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

According to the case statement, the accused torched a vehicle in front of the Prime Minister’s Offi ce during a hartal on April 29, 2012. On May 10, 2012, DB Inspector Md Nurul Amin submitted the charge sheet to the Dhaka CMM Court against the accused in the case. l

This project will also introduce a Flash Flood Early Warning System which will give warnings seven days prior to any disaster

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

Safety for SSC examinees demandedin Barisaln Our Correspondent, Barisal

Samajtantrik Chhatra Front (SCF), a left-leaning student organisation, has urged the two archrival political parties to sit for a dialogue to reach a solution over credible general elections and end the ongoing blockade for the sake of smooth execution of Secondary School Certifi cate examinations starting from February 2.

Candidates need to feel safe while reaching to and returning from the examination centres. This simple pro-cedure has become uncertain now be-cause of the stubbornness of the polit-ical parties, said members of the SCF Barisal unit at a human chain yesterday.

While the unit formed a human chain demanding safety and security of the SSC examinees, Barisal Education Board has increased number of centres to ensure safety of the candidates amid the ongoing anarchy.

Participants at the human chain formed in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall around 12:30pm called the ruling par-ty and BNP-led 20-party alliances to ensure safety and security of the SSC examinees.

People are passing days in anxiety while the nation is moving backwards in terms of development because of the blockade and strikes choreographed with violence. Dialogue between the rivals can change the scenario, said participants.

Government has failed to ensure safety of the general people, they said.

Meanwhile, the Barisal Education Board has increased more 27 centres for smoothly conducting the board exam, said Shah Alamgir, controller of examinations, BEB.

Sources at BEB said a total of 70,806 students including 35,387 male and 35,419 female from 1,323 schools are attending the SSC 2015 to be held at 135 centres under the Barisal Education Board.

“We have tried to allocate the cen-tres at little distances so that the travel time is squeezed and students and their parents feel safer,” said Shah Alamgir. l

Urgent attention needed to make Chittagong habitableA study reveals that waste management and recycling system have to be improved to make the city livable n FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

The city of Chittagong needs urgent attention from the policy makers to address a host of problems as it is lag-ging behind Dhaka in various sectors, despite having a large contribution to national economy, according to a re-cent study by Brac University.

The study report, titled “State of Cities: Governance for a Liveable Chittagong,” was published yesterday at a ceremony in Chittagong Club, where Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Moshar-raf Hossain was the chief guest.

It is the third study conducted by the Brac Institute of Governance and De-velopment (BGID) at the university on local governance, but Chittagong was included in the study for the fi rst time.

According to the report, “systemic dysfunction of local institutions, lack of horizontal accountability, dualism in service delivery, weak administra-tive and fi scal autonomy and excessive dependence of the local government on the central government and other agencies are constraints to good gov-ernance of the city.”

Speaking at the event, the minister said Chittagong had some unique ad-

vantages. “We have to do a lot of work to make the city livable and explore its resources.”

He said: “The Executive Commit-tee of National Economic Council (Ec-nec) has approved a Tk1,000-crore plan, under which the construction of

power and liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) stations have already been started in Matarbari, with a 91-km pipeline to be set up between Maheshkhali upazila in Cox’s Bazar and Anwara upazila in Chittagong to supply the LNG to re-solve the gas crisis in Chittagong city.

“The city corporation has been dumping waste in open space, causing serious threat to the nature and hu-man health. So we need to work on the waste management and recycling sys-tem as well.”

Presided over by BIGD’s Executive

Director Dr Sultan Hafeez Rahman, the ceremony was attended by Mr Salahud-din Kashem Khan, managing director of AK Khan and Companies, as special guest, Dr Tofail Ahmed, head of politics, democracy and governance department at the BIGD, Zarina Hossain, architect and member of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, and Prof Muhammed Se-kandar Khan, president of Forum for Planned Chittagong, among others.

Discussing the study report, Dr Tofail Ahmed said: “Chittagong City Corpora-tion has received Tk348 crore in the past four years from the government, whereas Chittagong Development Au-thority (CDA) was given Tk4,400 crore in the past fi ve years. Implementation of the development projects are often delayed because of the lack of coordi-nation among the 32 institutes that are affi liated with the city corporation.”

The speakers also put emphasis on good political intention of the leaders as well as public opinion for effi cient implementation of any development project in the port city.

Interestingly, though the study fo-cused on the urban development in Chit-tagong city, there was no representatives of the CDA, the city corporation and oth-ers relevant authorities at the ceremony. l

Master plan on the cards to reduce waterlogging in the capitaln Abu Hayat Mahmud

The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewer-age Authority has taken a master plan titled “Storm Water Drainage Master Plan” with a view to reducing water-logging in the capital city.

The offi cials concerned of Wasa said after getting approval from the Exec-utive Committee of the National Eco-nomic Council, they would start imple-mentation work of the project.

Wasa offi cials informed the news-

men about the project at a dissemi-nation programme held at a city hotel with Monzur Hossain, senior secre-tary of Local Government Division, Ministry Local Government and Rural Development and Cooperatives, in the chair.

At the meeting which was presided over by Taqsem A Khan, managing di-rector of Dhaka Wasa, the offi cials said they had designed the project with the fi nancial assistance of the World Bank.

The master plan has been prepared

by Dhaka Wasa in co-operation with Jurutera Perunding Zaaba Sdm Bhd of Malaysia, Farhat Consulting Engineers and Architects Ltd and SARM Associ-ates Limited under Dhaka Water Sup-ply and Sanitation Project.

To implement the plan, a huge amount of money would be need-ed, Wasa offi cials said. They also ex-pressed hope that international devel-opment partners would come forward with assistance to implement the pro-ject.

Monzur Hossain in his speech said Dhaka Wasa had been working sincere-ly over the last few years to fulfi ll the requirements of city dwellers in water supply and sanitation sector.

He also praised the programmes undertaken by Dhaka Wasa to reduce the water logging of the city during the rainy season.

Taqsem A Khan said Dhaka Wasa was moving forward to develop an environment-friendly, pro-people and sustainable water management system

for townspeople.“Dhaka Wasa will be able to shift its

paradigm by increasing its production from 28% to 70% from the surface wa-ter sources by 2019,” he said.

Md Serajuddin, deputy managing director of Dhaka Wasa and Josses Mugabi, task team leader of the project also spoke on the occasion.

The meeting was attended by high government offi cials and experts and the representatives of the Develop-ment partners. l

Tra� c was thin in the capital during yesterday's hartal enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance. The photo was taken from Shyamoli in the capital RAJIB DHAR

The city corporation has been dumping waste in open space, causing serious threat to the nature and human health

6 AdvertisementDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

7AdvertisementDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

Friday, January 30, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

Israel, Hezbollah signal their � are-up is overn Reuters, Jerusalem

Israel and Hezbollah signalled yester-day their rare fl are-up in fi ghting across the Israel-Lebanon border was over, after the Lebanese guerrillas killed two Israeli troops in retaliation for a deadly air strike in Syria last week.

Israel said it had received a message from UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, that Hezbollah was not interested in further escalation.

In Beirut, a Lebanese source briefed on the situation told Reuters that Israel informed Hezbollah via UNI-FIL “that it will make do with what happened yesterday and it does not

want the battle to expand.”Asked on Israel’s Army Radio

whether Hezbollah had sought to de-escalate, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said: “There are lines of coor-dination between us and Lebanon via UNIFIL and such a message was indeed received from Lebanon.”

A salvo of Hezbollah guided mis-siles killed an Israeli infantry ma-jor and a conscript soldier as they rode in unmarked civilian vehi-cles along the Lebanese border on Wednesday.

Israel then launched an artillery and air barrage, and a Spanish peacekeeper was killed. Spain’s ambassador to the

UN blamed the Israeli fi re for his death.It was the most serious clash on

that border since 2006, when Hez-bollah and Israel fought a 34-day war. Yesterday, the frontier was quiet, though Lebanese media re-ported overfl ights by Israeli air force drones.

Both sides appear to share an inter-est in avoiding further escalation.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a standstill in 2006, is busy supporting Damascus in Syria’s civil war, and the level of destruction in Lebanon during the 2006 confl ict could also be weighing on its calcula-tions. l

EBOLA OUTBREAK

Virus mutating, scientists warnn BBC

Scientists tracking the Ebola outbreak in Guinea say the virus has mutated.

Researchers at the Institut Pasteur in France, which fi rst identifi ed the outbreak last March, are investigating whether it could have become more contagious.

More than 22,000 people have been infected with Ebola and 8,795 have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Scientists are starting to analyse hundreds of blood samples from Ebola patients in Guinea.

They are tracking how the virus is changing and trying to establish whether it’s able to jump more easily from person to person.

“We know the virus is changing quite a lot,” said human geneticist Dr Anavaj Sakuntabhai.

“That’s important for diagnosing (new cases) and for treatment. We need to know how the virus (is chang-ing) to keep up with our enemy.”

It’s not unusual for viruses to change over a period time. Ebola is an RNA virus - like HIV and infl uenza - which have a high rate of mutation. That makes the virus more able to adapt and raises the potential for it to become more contagious.

“We’ve now seen several cases that don’t have any symptoms at all, asymptomatic cases,” said Anavaj Sakuntabhai.

“These people may be the people who can spread the virus better, but we still don’t know that yet. A virus

can change itself to less deadly, but more contagious and that’s something we are afraid of.”

There were fewer than 100 new cases in a week for the fi rst time since June 2014.

In the week to 25 January there were 30 cases in Guinea, four in Liberia and 65 in Sierra Leone.

The World Health Organisation says the epidemic has entered a “second phase” with the focus shifting to end-ing the epidemic.

But Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, says it’s still unclear whether more peo-ple are actually not showing symp-toms in this outbreak compared with previous ones.

“We know asymptomatic infections occur… but whether we are seeing more of it in the current outbreak is diffi cult to ascertain,” he said.

“It could simply be a numbers game, that the more infection there is out in the wider population, then obviously the more asymptomatic infections we are going to see.”

Another common concern is that while the virus has more time and more “hosts” to develop in, Ebola could mutate and eventually become airborne.

There is no evidence to suggest that is happening. The virus is still only passed through direct contact with in-fected people’s body fl uids.

Infectious disease expert Professor David Heyman said

“No blood borne virus, for example HIV or Hepatitis B, has ever shown any indication of becoming airborne. The mutation would need to be major”

Virologist Noel Tordo is in the pro-cess of setting up a new from the Insti-tut Pasteur in the Guinea capital Cona-kry. He said,

“At the moment, not enough has been done in terms of the evolution of the virus both geographically and in the human body, so we have to learn more. But something has shown that there are mutations. l

Obama bids to reverse automatic spending cutsn AFP, Washington

US President Barack Obama will yester-day unveil plans to reverse automatic cuts in military and other spending, as he rolls out budget proposals for the coming year. The automatic cuts - a so-called sequester - began entering into eff ect in 2013 after Democrats and Re-publicans were unable to reach a deal on cutting the defi cit. They are estimat-ed to reduce spending by as much as $1tn by 2021 and are described by critics as being arbitrary, job destroying and detrimental to the country’s military. l

More than 22,000 people have been infected with Ebola and 8,795 have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia

Palestinian youth hold their weapons during a graduation ceremony as part of a training camp run by the Hamas movement yesterday in Gaza City AFP

Friday, January 30, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE World 9

Kuwait arrests online activists ‘over Saudi criticism’n AFP, Kuwait City

Kuwait authorities have detained sev-eral online activists allegedly for com-ments deemed off ensive to Saudi Ara-bia’s late King Abdullah, a rights group and activists said yesterday .

Secret police late Wednesday arrest-ed prominent rights and online activist Mohammad al-Ajmi outside his home for “unknown reasons,” the National Committee for Monitoring Violations, an independent rights group of which Ajmi is a member, said on its Twitter account.

Online activists and former MPs said on Twitter that Ajmi was being held for questioning over Tweets he made on Saudi Arabia.

Nawaf al-Hendal, a leading rights ac-tivist, said at least four others had been detained by state security for tweets deemed off ensive to King Abdullah who died on Friday.

Hendal, currently in Geneva, also said on his Twitter account that arrest war-rants have been issued against him and fi ve other tweeters for the same reason.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights, an independent body, said Hendal was being “targeted in order to intimidate him and others from working as de-fenders of human rights.”

There was no word on the arrests from the interior ministry and the pub-lic prosecutor has not announced any charges.

Kuwait has cracked down on activ-ists for making comments seen as criti-cal of the oil-rich state’s ruler and other Arab leaders, especially in the Gulf.

Former liberal MP Saleh al-Mulla was detained for fi ve days earlier this month for tweets deemed off ensive to Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi during a two-day visit to Kuwait.

He is to stand trial on February 15.And Shiite MP Abdulhameed Dashti

is facing trial for criticising Bahrain lead-ers, while former Islamist MP Mubarak al-Duwailah was questioned over com-ments critical of Abu Dhabi’s rulers.

Since a political crisis in June 2012, Kuwaiti authorities have ramped up ef-forts to curtail dissent.

Courts have sentenced politicians, online activists and journalists to pris-on terms for exercising free speech rights, Human Rights Watch said this month. l

MH370 was an ‘accident’ n Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia declared yesterday the dis-appearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 an accident, clearing the way for the airline to pay compensation to victims’ relatives while the search for the plane goes on.

The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared on March 8 last year, carrying 239 pas-sengers and crew shortly after taking off from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing.

Months of searches have failed to turn up any trace.

“We offi cially declare Malaysia Air-lines fl ight MH370 an accident ... and that all 239 of the passengers and crew onboard MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives,” Department of Civil Avi-ation (DCA) director-general Azharud-din Abdul Rahman said in a statement.

The announcement is in accordance with standards of annexes 12 and 13 in the International Civil Aviation, said Azharuddin. It will allow families of the passengers to obtain assistance through compensation, he said.

Malaysia Airlines was ready to pro-ceed immediately with the compensa-tion process to the next-of-kin of the passengers on the fl ight, he said.

China called on Malaysia to com-pensate families.

“We call on the Malaysian side to honour the promise made when they declared the fl ight to have been lost and earnestly fulfi l their compensation responsibilities,” Chinese foreign min-istry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

Most of the passengers on the plane were from China.

International investigators are look-ing into why the Boeing jet veered thousands of miles off course from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean.

The search in the Indian Ocean is still going on and Malaysia is also con-ducting a criminal investigation, Azha-ruddin said.

“Both investigations are limited by the lack of physical evidence at this time, particularly the fl ight recorders,” he said. l

Sri Lanka’s new government plans fresh war crimes proben Reuters, Colombo

Sri Lanka is planning an investigation into accusations of human rights abus-es in the fi nal stages of a 26-year civil war amid international frustration at the failure to look into numerous civil-ian deaths, a government spokesman said yesterday.

Former president Mahinda Rajapak-sa, who was ousted in a surprise elec-tion defeat this month, had refused to cooperate with any UN investigation into claims the army committed atroci-ties in the war that ended in 2009.

Without some accountability for civilian deaths, the United Nations ar-gues there will be no lasting reconcilia-tion to allow Sri Lanka to move on from the war that dragged on for decades as ethnic Tamil rebels battled for autono-my in the island’s north and east.

“We are thinking of having our own inquiry acceptable to them to the in-ternational standards,” Rajitha Senevi-ratne, a government spokesman, told a forum of foreign correspondents in Colombo late on Wednesday, referring to the United Nations.

“It will be a new local inquiry. If we need, we will bring some foreign experts.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in November accused Rajapaksa’s government of trying to “sabotage” its own investigation and creating a “wall of fear” to prevent wit-nesses from giving evidence to its in-quiry set up in March.

About 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the fi nal weeks of the war, most of them by the Sri Lankan army, the United Nations estimated in a 2011 report. Sri Lanka has rejected the ac-cusations and has been conducting its own investigation.

Newly elected President Maithri-pala Sirisena in the run up to the vote promised a new investigation under an independent judiciary, but rejected de-mands for an international inquiry.

This week, he sent his senior adviser on foreign relations to meet U N offi -cials to discuss the investigation, gov-ernment sources said. l

Unicef makes record appeal to help 60 million children in crisisn Reuters, London

The UN Children’s Fund launched a record $3.1bn appeal yesterday to enable it to help children caught up in a “new generation” of con� icts and disasters round the world, $1bn more than it sought in 2014.

A series of more complex and destructive crises, natural disasters and emergencies such as the Ebola epidemic, are putting some 60 million children in extraordinary danger of vio-lence, hunger, disease and abuse, Unicef said.

“From deadly natural disasters to brutal con� icts and fast-spreading epidemics, children across the world are facing a new generation of humanitarian crises,” Afshan Khan, Unicef director of emergency pro-grammes, said in a statement.

“Whether in the headlines or hidden from view, emergencies sparked by social fracture, climate change and disease are stalking children in ways we have never seen before.” More than one in 10 children now live in countries or regions a� ected by armed con� ict, Unicef said in the report Humanitarian Action for Children that accompanied the appeal.

The biggest amount in the appeal, $903m, was for Syria and the region around it, followed by $500m for West African

countries a� ected by the Ebola epidemic.More that 5.6 million children need sup-

port in Syria, as do 1.7 million who have � ed the � ve-year-old con� ict for neighbouring countries, Unicef said.

“For the past four years, these children have been witnessing violence and death daily and have been missing out on the very basics in life,” said Khan.

“This appeal will help secure a future for not only the children of Syria but all chil-dren around the world who are impacted by humanitarian crises.”

Money raised for Ebola-a� ected areas will be used to isolate and treat new cases and prevent new outbreaks, Unicef said.

Unicef also appealed for $32 million for Ukraine, where it said 5.2 million people, one third of them children, were living in con� ict zones and 600,000 were displaced.

The appeal, which covers 71 countries and a total of 98 million people, also includes underfunded and forgotten crises, including Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories and Niger.

As well as drawing attention to the growing number of emergencies, the Unicef report also highlighted the increas-ing interdependence of humanitarian and development work. l

DELHI ELECTIONSRahul: Modi was wearing Rs 10-lakh suit

n Agencies

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi yester-day hit out at PM Narendra Modi saying that he has ‘fooled’ the nation on the issue of black money stashed in foreign accounts.

Speaking at a rally in Dehli’s Seelam-pur, Rahul said that the PM misused public money to get himself Rs 10 lakh suit during US President Barack Obama’s India visit. The PM’s suit had stripes that spelled out his name all over it.

In a jibe at Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi, Gandhi cited th failure of his government to keep its promise of checking price rise and bringing the black money back into the country within 100 days of assuming power.

“He (Modi) claimed that he would bring back the black money back into India and put Rs.15 lakh everyone’s bank account. But did you get any Rs.15 lakh?” Rahul Gandhi asked the people.

Taking a jab at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Gandhi said its only goal was to “keep the Congress out of power” inIn-dia’s capital.

BJP shoots questions at KejriwalBJP yesterday decided to put its cam-paign for Delhi assembly polls in top gear by fi elding several of its frontline leaders and targeting AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal with fi ve questions, an exer-cise which will last till February 5, the last day of electioneering.

Among the questions posed by BJP to Kejriwal are why he took Congress support to form government last year after having promised not to do so and had also sworn by his children and why he did not fulfi l his promise of instituting a case against former CM Sheila Dikshit and not make pub-lic documents pertaining to alleged corruption by her.

He has also been asked why he took Z-plus security as CM and why he or-dered for SUVs for his entire ministry after forming his government while touting himself as a common man who moved in a Maruti car, besides why he was using private jets and travelled in business class while travelling with-in the country and abroad garnering party funds. l

IS purportedly sets new deadline for hostage swapn Reuters

An audio message purportedly from a Japanese journalist held by Islamic State militants said a Jordanian air force pilot also captured by the group would be killed unless a woman jailed in Jordan was released by sunset yesterday.

The message appeared to postpone a previous deadline set on Tuesday in which the journalist, Kenji Goto, said he would be killed within 24 hours if the Iraqi would-be suicide bomber in prison in Jordan was not freed.

The latest audio recording, which could not be verifi ed by Reuters, was posted on YouTube early yesterday. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that chances were high it was Goto’s voice in the recording.

“I am Kenji Goto. This is a voice mes-sage I’ve been told to send to you. If Sa-jida al-Rishawi is not ready for exchange for my life at the Turkish border by yes-

terday sunset 29th of January Mosul (Iraq) time, the Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh will be killed immediate-ly,” the voice in the recording says.

Jordan said on Wednesday it had re-ceived no assurance that al-Kasaesbeh was safe and that it would go ahead with a proposed prisoner swap only if he was freed.

The audio message implied that the Jordanian pilot would not be part of an exchange deal, indicating any swap would be between Goto, a veteran war reporter, and al-Rishawi.

That leaves Jordan in a diffi cult po-sition. Any swap that left out the pilot would be deeply unpopular after offi -cials insisted he was their priority, and could leave Amman subject to further demands from the militants.

But refusing the insurgents’ ulti-matum could heighten domestic op-position to Jordan’s unpopular role in the US-led military campaign against Islamic state. l

Supporters of the Congress party shout slogans as they listen to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi speak at an election rally ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, in New Delhi yesterday. Polling will be held on February 7 with counting two days later AFP

Narendra Modi Replaces India’s Foreign Secretary With Envoy to USn Agencies

Just days after the conclusion of a visit from President Obama that was wide-ly seen as a success, India has abruptly removed its highest-ranking diplomat and replaced her with its ambassador to the United States, who served as a crucial interlocutor between New Delhi and Washington before the summit meeting.

The appointment of the ambassa-dor, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, as foreign secretary, which took eff ect yesterday, comes as Narendra Modi steers India toward a closer partner-ship with the United States.Jaishan-kar, who has also served as ambassa-dor to China and as high commissioner to Singapore, was a crucial negotiator on the groundbreaking 2008 civilian nuclear agreement between India and the United States.

He replaces Sujatha Singh, who was appointed by the previous gov-ernment led by the Indian National

Congress party, the main rival to Mo-di’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Singh ar-ticulated India’s angry reaction to the 2013 arrest of India’s deputy consul general in New York, Devyani Kho-bragade, on visa fraud charges, an ep-isode that brought relations between the two countries to their lowest point in years.

No explanation was given yester-day for the reshuffl e, which was un-usual. More than 15 years have passed since a foreign secretary was removed before the end of his or her term.

The timing seemed to have been partly dictated by Obama’s visit. Jais-hankar played such an important role in coordinating it that it would have been disruptive to replace him until it was over. AndJaishankar was due to retire on Saturday, after which he could not have been appointed be-cause only an active foreign service offi cer can be named foreign secretary.

Still, some commentators saw the announcement as a signal of Modi’s

intention to deepen cooperation with the United States.

“I don’t know of any foreign secre-tary who had his experience of dealing with America before becoming foreign secretary,” said K Shankar Bajpai, a former Indian ambassador to the Unit-ed States and China.

He added that Jaishankar’s primary task in his two-year term would be “to consolidate the understandings that are growing between Washington and Delhi, and obviate tensions, as far as possible, between Delhi and Beijing.”

One of the most notable devel-opments during Obama’s visit was a joint India-United States statement that chided China for provoking confl ict with neighbors over territo-rial claims in the South China Sea. Modi has also expressed interest in concrete steps aimed at balancing China’s regional infl uence, such as reviving a loose security network in-volving Australia, India, Japan and the United States. l

US would welcome Japan air patrols in S China Sean Reuters, Agencies

The United States would welcome a Japanese extension of air patrols into the South China Sea as a counter-weight to a growing fl eet of Chinese vessels pushing China’s territorial claims in the region, a senior US Navy offi cer told Reuters.

Regular patrols by Japanese aircraft only reach into the East China Sea, where Japan is at loggerheads with China over disputed islands. Extend-ing surveillance fl ights into the South China Sea would almost certainly in-crease tension between the world’s second- and third-largest economies.

“I think allies, partners and friends in the region will look to the Japanese more and more as a stabilising func-tion,” Admiral Robert Thomas, com-mander of the Seventh Fleet and the top US navy offi cer in Asia, said in an interview.

“In the South China Sea, frankly, the Chinese fi shing fl eet, the Chinese

coastguard and the (navy) overmatch their neighbors,” Thomas said.

China’s foreign ministry said it had no immediate comment on the interview.

Thomas’s comments show Penta-gon support for a key element of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for a more active military role in the re-gion. That is crucial because U.S and Japanese offi cials are negotiating new bilateral security guidelines expected to give Japan a bigger role in the alli-ance, 70 years after the end of World War Two.

“I think that JSDF (Japan Maritime Self Defense Forces) operations in the South China Sea makes sense in the fu-ture,” Thomas said.

Japan is not party to the dispute in the South China Sea where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malay-sia and Brunei have competing claims. But the waterway provides 10 per cent of the global fi sheries catch and ships crossing it carry $5 trillion a year in car-go, a large portion to and from Japan. l

US actress Mia Farrow, a Unicef goodwill ambassador, distributes aid to Syrian refugees in Baalbeck, Bekaa valley REUTERS

Be realistic about poverty We wish we could share the conviction with which Finance

Minister AMA Muhith has declared that Bangladesh will become a poverty-free country by 2018.

However, even if a speedy resolution to the political crisis were to allow growth rates to rebound quickly upwards, this prediction is grossly unrealistic.

For a start, commonly used de� nitions of poverty are based on very low thresholds for purchasing power. The World Bank, for instance, measures national poverty rates according to the proportion of a national population living on less than PPP of $1.25 a day, at 2005 prices.

While such de� nitions are helpful in measuring, and hence targeting, steps to reduce absolute levels of extreme poverty, they are only a � rst in a long road.

The minister based his statement on a forecast that the poverty rate will fall to 12% by 2018, and the understanding that the standard poverty rate for a country to be dubbed poverty-free is 10-14%.

Clearly, even if this were to happen, and we hope it does, Bangladesh has, and will, by then still have huge numbers of unemployed and underemployed people. Indeed, it will continue to have millions of people living in poverty.

It is not that the minister is wrong to be enthusiastic in trumpeting the progress made over the past two decades in cutting poverty rates. Bangladesh has made good progress towards the Millennium Development Goals precisely because successive governments have operated successful pro-poor targeted development projects.

But none of this changes the reality that the lives and aspirations of tens of millions of citizens are burdened by poverty and that there is a long way to go before this is overcome.

Fine polluting tannery ownersIt is totally unacceptable that the relocation of central Dhaka’s

tanneries to improved facilities is still being delayed.The grossly outdated and polluting tannery facilities in

Hazaribagh are a blight on the whole of Dhaka. They are by far the worst and most visible polluters of the Buriganga river and have given Hazaribagh the ignominious distinction of being labeled as one of the � ve most polluted sites on Earth.

After the large amount of public funds committed to implementing the long planned move from the grossly polluted Hazaribagh neighbourhood to the Savar area, it is highly reprehensible for in� uential tannery owners to still be demanding more government funds to subsidise their long overdue relocation.

It is not just in the interests of local residents for the industry to relocate. The environment and workers alike will bene� t from improved facilities and e� uent treatment plants.

More to the point, it is also in the industry owners’ self-interest. The future growth of exports and sustainability of the nation’s leather sector and tannery industries depends on the industry convincing buyers and consumers that it is acting responsibly in improving negative environmental and social impacts.

There is no justi� cation for slowing down or delaying the planned move. Deadlines have been extended too many times.

The government should concentrate the minds of the owners and operators of polluting Hazaribagh tanneries by imposing and enforcing tougher laws and compensation requirements on anyone polluting Dhaka’s waterways.

Carrots have been ignored, so it is time to use a stick.

Leader versus statesmanJanuary 15

Evil People Politics“No matter how the political regimes try to colour them, Bangabandhu and Ziaur Rahman will be remembered.”

Both Sheikh Mujib and Zia are responsible for Bangladesh being the prosperous nation it is today.

US, UK condemn attack on ReazJanuary 15

SMHundreds of people are being killed every day by politicians. What a pity that these innocent people get no right to live peacefully. One politician is wounded and now we get shocked! This is strange.

Hanif: Attack on Reaz Rahman part of Khaleda’s conspiracyJanuary 15

Dr Ahsan HabibIf Hanif knows that, then why were the “con-spirators” not arrested? It seems that arresting someone is a cheap act to the government.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com

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The lives and aspirations of tens of millions of citizens are burdened by poverty

They are by far the worst and most visible polluters of the Buriganga river

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Dandy (3)3 Put away (6)8 Singer (4)9 Respectful fear (3)10 Makes up for (6)11 Optical illusion (6)14 Encounters (5)17 S African prime minister (5)20 Arch slightly (6)24 Complete agreement (6)26 Meshed fabric (3)27 Garment (4)28 Country (6)29 Droop (3)

DOWN1 Solid (4)2 Couple (4)3 Male deer (4)4 Tribal symbol (5)5 Scope (5)6 Female sheep (3)7 School furniture (5)12 Doctrine (3)13 Liable (3)15 Tree (3)16 Neckwear (3)17 Avoids (5)18 Combine (5)19 Tally (5)21 Soon (4)22 Insects (4)23 Circle (4)25 Fresh (3)

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 21 represents M so � ll M every time the � gure 21 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

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 ZJustice elusive for murder cover-up victim’s familyJanuary 18

Shahed S Sabir “A 12th grade female cadet, now believed to have been murdered in 2005 by the very sta� at her college that claimed she had committed suicide, awaits justice as the trial of her killers remains elusive.”

OMG! How were these hyenas made members of the college sta� ? Poor girl. May her soul rest in peace. I am at a loss for words, and no amount of condolences to her parents and family can help them. The killers need

to be punished ASAP.

Abdullah M Khalid Ha� z In the write-up about Pollen written by her batchmate, it was noted that apparently they didn’t observe any bleeding (from a wound caused by the blunt object) supporting the case to be a murder.

Still AliveIt’s very sad ... justice delayed is justice denied.

Je suis CharlieJanuary 15

Kmak“First of all, we must be clear on one thing: A killer is a killer. There is no room whatsoever to even hesitate on whether to stand against them, let alone glorify them.”

Let us also be clear that bigotry is bigotry and Charlie Hebdo was notorious for promoting bigotry towards Islam and Muslims. Just as I will not glorify killers, so will I not glorify Islamophobes by saying “Je suis Charlie.” Shaykh Habib Ali al-Jifri said it best: “Yesterday we all spoke out in clear condemnation of the crimes perpetrated at Charlie Hebdo. Today, we’ll speak out against Muslims raising the slogan ‘We are all Charlie Hebdo.’ How can a Muslim say this about a magazine that insulted the Prophet Muhammad through its o� ensive cartoons? Excessiveness and negligence are two sides of the same coin in extremism.”

rayhana yaminIf anybody hurts you, it is likely to be retaliated. Hebdo has hurt, unconsciously, the millions of Muslims across the world. Only a handful of aggrieved persons have taken the course of retaliatory steps through arms causing bloodshed of a number of people including newspaper sta� and others. Bloodshed in any form is despicable, at the same time, injuring others’ sentiments is also despicable. Only a handful of radicals have displayed their instant armed anger over the libelous publication. While millions of hearts over the globe have been bleeding in secrecy on the incidents.

Truly speaking, millions of Muslims, and others who like Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him and His posterity), have been su� ering from smoldering pains and hatred to the o� enders of such hateful crimes. Such libelous publications, utterances in any other form in public hamper global peace and beget hatred to the fellow brethren. The whole of Europe has long been su� ering from Islamophobia.

5 policemen injured in petrol bomb attack

January 18

Yaseer Arafat Kakon They were just doing their jobs.

Bus helper burnt to death in Gazipur

January 15

SeiraFor God’s sake, spare the innocent lives!

roseThe miscreants should be punished harder.

sirajulmo@yahoo.comThe government is not doing enough to protect

the innocent public from hooligans. The political agenda should not be to harm innocent people.

Shibir activist run over by truck while torching

January 14TM

We are extremely happy at this news. We congrat-ulate the bus driver for his heroic attempt. We urge all people to revolt against the picketing, blockade,

and damage to life and property, irrespective of who or which part is doing it.

Let BNP and AL or other political parties � ght themselves. Why should innocent people su� er for

no fault of their own? The fact that they are living in Bangladesh is not a crime. Killing, looting, and

burning are crimes, and the police should protect the public from such acts.

We want to live peacefully. We want justice and peace.

‘Anti-Terrorism Act to be used to tackle violence’

January 15m Sirajullah

Politicians have no right to engage killers and arsonists to silence the public. The government is

not doing its duty of providing safety to people’s lives and property.

No word of suns and worldsJanuary 15

Karl Hungus Simply beautiful. Mr Milam’s poignant op-eds are

always a treat to read.

11Op-Ed Friday, January 30, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Nadeem Qadir

In 1999, my mother, Hasna Hena Qadir, passed away suddenly. She was buried by colleagues of her

husband at the military graveyard in Banani. I spent night and day there with my younger brother for 40 days, because in our hearts we believed Ammu would be scared to stay alone and in darkness. Our fear of the dark and the graveyard was gone. I have not missed a week since – if I was in town – to visit my mother and pray for her. Death changes many things.

BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko also passed away suddenly. He was only in his mid-40s. I knew Koko and also his elder brother Tarique, because we stayed in Dhaka Cantonment, and we were children of senior army offi cers.

Arafat was not as visible as Tarique, and I remember both of them had ever-smiling faces. I went with my mother to their residence when their father General Ziaur Rahman was killed in an abortive coup. The gate was open, and security personnel only enquired about the identity of the peo-ple coming to console the Zia family. My mother went to the room where Begum Zia – then just a housewife – was grieving while we waited in anoth-er room where Tarique was seated.

Today, I pray for the peace of the departed soul of Arafat, and that Begum Khaleda Zia has the strength to bear the loss.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a mother herself, felt the pain of such a loss and rushed to console Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan offi ce where Khaleda had been staying since January 4 as a mark of protest against the govern-ment.

Unfortunately, the gate remained locked, and the PM had returned with-out being able to console Khaleda Zia.

The BNP gave many explanations, but it was simply clear that the lead-ership, even if we take that Khaleda Zia was sleeping, failed to show the minimum courtesy to a pained citizen, leave aside the prime minister herself.

Never before, I think, has anybody heard of such behaviour at such times. Sheikh Hasina is the prime minister and she represents the people now. Refusing her entry is an insult to Bang-ladeshis. This is not a fi ght between two families over disputed land, but it seemed so to me.

The BNP gave a message: The Awami League was in power, which the BNP deserved but didn’t have, and thus they would not allow Sheikh Hasina to step in. Whoever has been pulling the strings, some say the string stretch up to Europe, has taken this as a personal fi ght, rather than a political battle.

I do not agree with the opinion that had the two ladies met, there might have been an impasse. What could have happened at most would be an appreciation of the gesture, and talks on diff erent lines, outside of politics.

Those who kept the premier waiting at the gate for nearly eight minutes and then kept the gate locked from inside most likely had no proper upbringing, or for that matter forgot that there are courtesies that are above politics.

Khaleda’s aide Shimul Biswas said that he had come with the condolence book, but by then the PM had left. The question is: Do you expect the PM to stand at the gate and write in the con-dolence book? Is that courteous?

That was a lie, as the PM’s aides say they never saw him with a condolence book.

I talked to a few BNP leaders, and they all agreed that the PM was mis-treated, and it is a shame.

The BNP offi cials were scream-ing not to make the death of Koko a political issue, but sadly, they did it themselves by insulting the PM and taking the focus off Koko to the dirty aff air at the gate. The BNP’s culture has been always uncourteous.

Khaleda Zia screamed uncourteous-ly at Sheikh Hasina over telephone, then she screamed at a police offi cer as “Gopali” to mean she was from the PM’s home district of Gopalganj. And now, the gate scandal. Her elder son has been slandering the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, even though he was being criticised by those in the BNP.

The PM has shown great restraint and statesmanship in dealing with all these incidents, but why should she continue to tolerate them? Some BNP leaders or pro-BNP professionals tried to say Sheikh Hasina came to make a political score. Let me give them two personal incidents which clearly shows that the prime minister has lot of humanity, and is pained by others’ pain.

When my mother passed away, I was the general secretary of the Oversaes Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (OCAB). My mother was one of the principle founders of the Ekatturer Ghatal Dalal Nirmul Committee. The PM called to express her grief, and later sent me a personal condolence letter. Was she trying to score a point in this case? It gave me strength as an orphan.

Begum Raushan Ershad came, along with many others, to console me and my siblings as part of the army family.

Then in 2010, I requested her to help me protect my father’s grave, lo-cated at a private grave in Chittagong. In turn, she ordered that my freedom fi ghter father’s remains be taken from Chittagong to Qadirabad in Natore district.

The cantonment is named after my father, and he was buried there with full state honours on the instruction of Sheikh Hasina. Was she scoring some points here? She honoured my father, my family, and all other freedom fi ght-ers by her gesture with no gain, except our heartfelt gratitude.

The question now should be, with all due respect to BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia: Has she been able to un-derstand the pain of losing a dear one upon Koko’s death? If so, she should immediately order the end of terror-ism in the name of politics. May Allah help her. I appeal to her: “Auntie” (as I call her), please rebuke me for writing this, but stop such violence that is leaving families in pain, in distress, and helpless. l

Nadeem Qadir, a senior journalist, is a UNCA Dag Hammarskjold Scholar in journalism.

Humanity vs indecency

n Faruk Wasif

There is no one to understand and speak to just how much danger Bangladesh is in today.

I have been speaking of this danger since 2006, but nobody listened. The government is killing BNP-people. The BNP is killing weak people. The government-media is accelerating the speed of the BNP’s killings.

Candle-light protests of “enlight-ened” sections of society are letting us know, not all deaths are created equal. To them, the government-beating is the necessary evil to the path of pro-gress, of modernity. We got shocked when its news when “common peo-ple” die, and the rest of people are as the ignorant as the Rohingyas.

The government has occupied the country. The BNP is trying to kill the government by killing that “country.” In the process, the country is going into others’ hands. Majority of the media are asleep.

The AL and the BNP have fallen into each other’s traps. In the past, they fell into the same trap and almost became “minus” and then in desperation joined hands again. This time also,

they will either live together or die together. One cannot survive without the other.

In trying to wipe out the BNP, the survivor of this will be Jamaat. In this deadly algebra, the losers will certainly be Bangladesh and its people. In the plain lands, in the mountains, on the border, in the city and hinterlands everywhere there is the burning barbed wire of danger.

The BNP has collapsed, and the gov-ernment is detached from the people. The ruling parties have usurped the state by coercion and intrigue. Both are implicated in this violent battle to take control of state power and are losing legitimacy. Jamaat will end up presenting themselves the hope of the people!

In this way, the antithesis of 1971 is being written. The hero is the AL, the heroine is the BNP. The whole farce resembles the Rubel-Happy trial.

Civil society are a bunch of opportunists. Harsh governmental regulation and shrinking foreign funds make them cautious to act in defence of people’s right. “Pro-liberation” forces are the fi rst movers for depositing our independence in

another country’s vault. The left has been staring or joining

hands so often, they are lost, invalid. All that remains to hand is Islam, which currently has no guardian in Bangladesh; hence is easy to manipu-late and exploit.

Those who talk about saving people seek progress and development rather than people. Creating cultural fault lines and claiming cultural supremacy is the scolding of fascism, whether in Germany or current India.

From all sides, the entities who are receiving blows and suff ering are: 1) The democratic, 2) independent, 3) sovereign, 4) Bangladeshi, 5) citizens.

To kill the poor fi fth one, you ini-tially have to kill the fi rst four. For this, the one January 5 stone was enough.

If you understood this much, then you will understand the damage AL-BNP have done, you will understand the game India-America are playing. You will realise that the new technique of War on Terror is social confl ict, turned into the deadly sport of cultural confl ict. You will understand deep pol-itics. When the noose is around your neck, the more you struggle the more you choke. When you act without

thinking, danger will only increase. If you act after proper understanding, you may lose your life but preserve the future.

Up to the middle ages, people would die after seeing the three di-mensional Azrael. In this new era, who is killing who – if you make political comments without understanding this, it may be the innocence of the middle ages, but we call it stupid. We may also call you fool.

When you occupy state power by force instead of electoral politics, you make the application of counter-force inevitable. If you are going to oppose, oppose all forms of violence. Even if terrorism wears the jacket of law, it is still terrorism.

We have been searching for the lesser of two evils for so long; we now have to choose between two evils. We are now politically divided only on the basis of which of the two evils will stave off the total collapse of Bangla-desh. Because of the opportunism of seeking the lesser of two evils, evil is now triumphant.

We think one thing, and something diff erent happens. There is only sand and sand in our jar full of hope. For the

masses, this song of Fakir Lalon Shah is most appropriate: In the land of waiting, why don’t you sit with bated breath/ Don’t fl oat again from all your pain!

At the end of the game of war over power, Bangladesh will go back to its “normal” path. The country sits on the platform of waiting. We have been waiting for a long time, it’s getting late. When will our freedom train come, o stationmaster?

This type of never-seen-before political vacuum cannot be fulfi lled by an unelected party holding onto state power, such attempts have never

succeeded. How will a Bangladesh without political strength-party-unity survive, how will 17 million people’s minimum security be guaranteed?

When the Shahbagh-Shapla clash has left both sides broken and without popular support, under the fl ag of which idea will Bangladesh cross the treacherous waters of regional and world turbulence? To fi ght against the mountain-high danger from external forces, minimum national unity is urgent.

The “revolutionary” jacket worn by ideas like minus one and minus two is actually the death warrant of the sov-ereign Bangladesh established in 1971. We have to settle fi rst on the question: Which is the principle contradiction of our time: inner or external? If inner contradictions are strengthening by external aid, then we can conclude that external pressures on Bangla-desh’s path should be resolved fi rst.

The liberator must be liberated fi rst. l

Faruk Wasif is a writer and activist. This article was translated into English by Shaher Zaidi. This article � rst appeared on AlalODulal.org.

In this deadly algebra, the loser will be Bangladesh

We are now divided only on the basis of which of the two evils will stave o� the total collapse of Bangladesh

n Zafar Sobhan

The time has come for Bang-ladeshis to contemplate what comes next.

For the past quarter of a century our political life

has been dominated by Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia. An entire generation of Bangladeshis has been born who has seen no prime minister other than them, and can scarcely imagine politi-cal life without their outsize presence.

Even during the days of the care-taker government, they dominated the political landscape with their absence, and even when outside the country or incarcerated, the political conversa-tion focused squarely on their future.

It was apparent from very early on in 2007 that the brave new world promised by the caretaker government would never materialise, and that it was only a matter of time before one or the other of the two ladies would return to power through a democrati-cally contested election.

Even in those diffi cult days for the AL and BNP, few doubted that the two ladies would be back and fewer still could imagine a future for the country without one of them at the helm.

But in the year 2015, with the PM 67 years old and Khaleda Zia two years older, for the fi rst time in a generation, Bangladeshis must seriously con-template what the world might look like after they have both retired from politics.

In 2019, Sheikh Hasina will be 71 years old and Khaleda Zia 73. It is not impossible that they would continue to lead both their parties and (for one of them) the nation. But we are now standing at the threshold of the poten-tially most signifi cant shift in politics

in Bangladesh since the end of the Ershad era in 1990.

It has long been assumed that both ladies would be succeeded by their sons, Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Tarique Rahman, respectively.

But as the example of India has shown, it could be that the power of political dynasties and the magic of a storied name will no longer hold as much sway over the voters as they once did.

It could be that the next handover of power within the parties will mark their coming of age, and they will be transformed from two family busi-nesses into genuine political parties in which merit and popular opinion mat-ter more than lineage and the feudal loyalty of party members.

Somwe might argue that we are not yet ready for this as a society, and that the AL and BNP merely refl ect the reality of our greater society at large. But this is not entirely true. It is worth recalling that neither Sheikh Mujib nor Ziaur Rahman were themselves dynastic leaders, and that both of them rose to the heights of power through dint of their own merit and eff orts.

Similarly, while it is true that both the PM and Khaleda Zia attained their

party leadership due to who they were, and that both were at the time untested, with nothing to recommend them save their ability to unite their respective parties’ warring factions be-hind them, they could not have stayed at the helm of power in their parties and reached the highest offi ce of the state had there existed any political leader with the stature and the popu-larity to take them on.

Now it is true that they have been helped immeasurably by our single constituency, fi rst-past-the-post electoral system, which makes it inordinately hard for new parties to come into existence, and that the organisational structure of their own parties makes it all but impossible for a challenge to be brought from within.

But it is also true that in the past three decades Bangladesh has not generated a fresh, new political leader capable of challenging them and ex-posing their weaknesses.

Now, love him or hate him, there is no denying the fact that Narendra Modi is a formidable politician with remarkable political skill. He also has an impressive track record in govern-ance and has proved himself to be an able administrator.

Seeing him in action, it is appar-ent that he is the most accomplished political fi gure India has seen since the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and he looks set to dominate Indian politics for at least the next decade, command-ing as much authority and wielding as much power as Mrs Gandhi and her father did before him.

The timing was perfect for him. The opportunity to unseat the Nehru-Gan-dhi dynasty did not exist before last year. It is true that they had lost the occasional election, but none of their losses were cataclysmic. None of them heralded a changing of the guard, the dawning of a new era.

Part of what made the timing perfect for Modi was that he faced a young heir apparent as his opponent, and that in comparison to Modi, Rahul Gandhi came across as callow and insubstantial, with insuffi cient real world experience or connection to the average voter.

These may have been words that could have been applied to Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia in the early 1980s, but by the time they were run-ning for election in the 1990s, it was no longer true. They had made their bones.

But with the time approaching when they will have to pass on the ba-ton of leadership, for the fi rst time in three decades the opportunity exists for a new challenger of genuine merit and capacity to step into the ring and stake his or her claim.

The only question is: Is there anybody out there with the ambition to rise to the challenge and with the ability to make voters take a second look? l

Zafar Sobhan is the Editor, Dhaka Tribune.

Is there anybody out there?S T R A I G H T T A L K

For the � rst time in three decades the opportunity exists for a new challenger of genuine merit and capacity to step into the ring

BIGSTOCK

12 DHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

Sport1413 Neymar brace sinks nine-man Atletico in thriller

Murray books � nal, Serena to face Sharapova

14 Pogba agent hints at PSG, Real move

Did you know?Sri Lanka’s Kumar

Sangakkara yesterday broke the world

record for the most dismissals (474) by a

wicketkeeper in one-day internationals

Match  Highlights7” Mid� elder Arif Farhan hit the wood-

work from outside the box.

8” Best chance for the home side. Zahid Hossain provided a delicious cross from the right � ank for Jahid Hasan Emily who wasted the chance failing to connect from middle of the box.

15” Adam Nor’s header from the box hit the crossbar following a free-kick of captain Nazirul.

22” After � ne build-up play between Hemanta Vincent Biswas and Zahid, Emily failed to meet the low cross.

27” Mid� elder Ridzuan’s powerful left-footed strike from 25 yards out hit the woodwork.

GOAL! 53” Muhammed Syazwan put the visitors ahead after his curled shot from 22 yards went over goalkeeper Russel Mahmud Liton into the top right corner.

83” Substitute forward Shakhawat Hos-sain Rony hit the sidepost from six-yard box after a short pass of Zahid.

Malaysia players gather around Mohammed Syazwan (11) who scored the winner against Bangladesh in the opening match of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at Sylhet District Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Malaysia down mis� ring hostsn Shishir Hoque from Sylhet

The utmost support from the crowd and an opponent full of younger play-ers did not help the cause of Bangla-desh as the misfi ring hosts kicked off their Bangabandhu Gold Cup campaign with a shocking 0-1 defeat at the hands of Malaysia U-23 yesterday.

The frustrating opening 45 minutes was further extended with Malaysian forward Muhammad Syazwan net-ting the diff erence early in the second half as nearly 18000 spectators at the packed Sylhet District Stadium had to swallow the agonising result.

The Sylhet venue remained as a nemesis for the Red and Green’s for whom the defeat was the second in as many international outings at the ground.

The fi rst half was full of action with

both teams creating chances. The visi-tors, however, looked more promising and it was the woodwork that saved the ball-watching hosts thrice. On the other hand, Zahid Hossain whipped in three brilliant crosses only to fi nd Jahid Hasan Emily make nothing out of the chances.

Malaysia threatened from the fi rst minute when left winger Syahrul Az-wari fooled Jamal Bhuiyan to cut inside and make room for a curling strike that went inches wide. Six minutes later midfi elder Arif Farhan’s cheeky at-tempt over the goalkeeper from at least 30 yards out hit the woodwork.

However, against the run of play Zahid provided a delicious cross from the right fl ank but Emily failed to even meet the ball before Malaysia was again denied the lead with striker Adam Noor’s header returning from

the crossbar in the 15th minute.The chemistry between Zahid and

Hemanta was the highlight for the hosts as the duo kept their opponent on toes with their vivid performance throughout the game. Emily was the fl op of the day as the striker failed re-peatedly to connect a shot with the last one being a mouth-watering volley put way over the bar.

Meanwhile, the left-footed strike from midfi elder Ridzuan struck the woodwork for the third time in the 27th minute for Malaysia.

Eight minutes after the breather, home side goalkeeper Rasel Mahmud Liton was once again caught roving at the edge of the six-yard box and fi nal-ly paid the expensive price. Syazwan looped a curler from 22 yards out that beat the back-diving Liton from the top-right corner.

Bangladesh appeared more physical and urgent after conceding as the rest of the game was between the home at-tackers versus the visiting defenders. Wahed Ahmed, Shakhawat Hossain Rony came off the bench to replace Sohel Rana and Yeamin Munna as Lodewijk de Kruif maintained his faith on the misfi ring Emily to attack with three men, but that hardly mattered as the Malaysian young guns produced a solid defensive game to bag the valu-able three points.

Soon after coming on chance, Rony went close to snatch the equaliser but his refl ex shot on Zahid’s short pass in-side the box defl ected off the side post in the 83rd minute.

Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka in their second and last game of Group A at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on February 2.l

De Kruif blames concentration leveln Shishir Hoque from Sylhet

Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif blamed the concen-tration and mentality of his charges, especially in the fi rst half an hour, fol-lowing the 1-0 defeat against Malaysia Under-23 in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup opener at Sylhet District Stadium yesterday.

“Everybody was very nervous in the fi rst 25-30 minutes. Everybody was very tensed to play a normal game. A lot of pressure from Malaysia but the pres-sure was only because we failed to do our thing, we failed to play our game,” explained De Kruif after the game.

“But, the most important thing is that, when your mentality is not hun-dred percent, you never win the game, never. And, that was our lacking in the fi rst 30 minutes. We didn’t get enough self-confi dence. That is why we played a very diffi cult fi rst half,” he added.

Following the defeat, veteran for-ward Jahid Hasan Emily bore the brunt of the criticism. The Sheikh Russel striker was unable to justify his bill-ing as the country’s leading frontman, wasting a number of gilt-edged chanc-es against the Malaysian Olympic side.

From the left fl ank, winger Zahid Hossain delivered two lovely crosses for Emily in the opening half but Ban-gladesh’s highest goalscorer in interna-tional football failed to connect any of them due to his slow pace.

Juvenile midfi elder Hemanta Vin-cent Biswas and Sohel Rana also dis-tributed fi ne crosses at the path of Em-

ily but those chances went begging as Emily was nowhere near the deliveries owing to his movement, or, a lack of it.

De Kruif, however, defended his striker saying, “I’m happy with Emily. He could not solve the chances. It is a concentration and mentality factor that every player must have, not only Emily.”

Although the 43-year old coach did not blame Bangladesh goalkeeper Rus-sel Mahmud Liton for conceding the goal, he admitted it was a silly one.

“Only for me, I think that was not a dif-fi cult ball. It looked a bit like what hap-pened in the fi rst half. It dropped in the bar. When you watch it several times, you realise you have to do something, that is why you are a goalkeeper. I am not pointing the fi nger to anybody but it’s a silly goal,” said De Kruif.

Despite the defeat, one positive that emerged from the game for the home side was the attacking roles of Zahid and Hemanta. Credit must be given to De Kruif for giving the young duo more attacking responsiblities.

“I’m very happy with Zahid and Hemanta. I think those two, you can pick them out. They played 90 minutes like we want them to play. But, you need eleven players to win the game.”l

Bangladesh to host U19 WC in Jan 2016n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh will host the 2016 ICC Un-der-19 World Cup from January 22-Feb-ruary 14 and the 2019 ICC World Cup Qualifi ers from March 1-April 4, 2018. The decisions were approved by the International Cricket Council in its fi rst meeting of this year in Dubai last Wednesday.

The ICC also approved Afghanistan and Ireland’s introduction in the rank-ings-based qualifi cation system for the 2019 ICC World Cup.

The top eight sides of the ICC ODI team rankings as at September 30, 2017 will qualify automatically for the mega event in England and Wales two years later. The bottom four sides will join six Associates in the 10-team 2019 ICC World Cup Qual-ifi ers to determine which two nations qualify for the tournament proper.

The governing body of cricket also approved the dates of other major ICC competitions in the next four years.

Besides hosting the 2019 ICC World Cup from May 30-July 15, England will

also hold the 2017 ICC Champions Tro-phy from June 1-19 while India will host the ICC World Twenty20 next year.

The 2016 ICC World T20 Qualifi ers will be hosted jointly by Ireland and Scotland from July 6-26 this year.

The 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup will be held in England from August 4-27 while the 2018 Youth World Cup will be hosted by New Zealand from January 12-February 4.

The 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 will be hosted by the West Indies from November 2-25.

Besides approving the dates of the upcoming events, the ICC also agreed on the 2015 World Cup playing condi-tions and player behaviour and safety.

In its fi rst meeting of this year, the ICC also reinstated the Super Over in the event of a tie in the 2015 ICC World Cup fi nal.

Following the meeting, the respec-tive captains of the upcoming World Cup will heave a sigh of relief as changes were made to the ICC Code of Conduct off ences relating to slow over-rates.

Prior to the World Cup, those cap-tains who carry over-rate off ence “strikes” or “suspensions” will be spared in the mega event. Instead, their strikes or suspensions will be car-ried over to a bilateral series which will immediately follow the World Cup.

The respective captains will only be banned or suspended in the World Cup if they commit any slow over-rate of-fences during the mega event.

Player safety was also on the agen-da during the ICC meeting, especially against the backdrop of the tragic death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes recently. An ICC-supported research group briefed the governing body and emphasised upon the importance of improving cricket helmets according to the new British Safety Standard.

It was noted that helmet manufac-turers have now introduced a number of new helmet models that comply with the updated British Safety Stan-dard and that an increasing number of international players have already cho-sen the new helmet models.l

Thailand, Singapore face o� todayn Shishir Hoque from Sylhet

The Group B of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup kicks off today with the match between Thailand and Singapore at Sylhet District Stadium at 5pm. The Under-23 squads of the two South-east Asian sides arrived in the city last Wednesday night and had only a day to get accustomed with the environment which is totally new to them.

Like the other participating coun-tries apart from hosts Bangladesh, Thailand and Singapore are also taking this six-nation tournament as part of their preparation for the upcoming AFC U-23 Championship Qualifi ers and the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Singapore, 157th in the latest Fifa rankings, began their preparation for the tournament from December last year and are focused on putting up a good show while Thailand, ranked 144th and the tournament favourites alongside Bahrain, trained for only a couple of weeks.

“With two weeks of preparation, we are here to see the players ahead of the pre-Olympic, U23 AFC Cup Qualifi ers. This team are full of U-23 players and no one from the senior national side,” said Thai head coach Choktavee Phom-rat yesterday. “We want to off er our best in this tournament and see how the players perform. We want to go for-ward match by match,” he added.

Meanwhile, Singapore assistant team manager Abdul Alim Bin Mo-hamed Omar sees this event as the best platform for his players to show their worth.

“Boys have been taking prepara-tion from December. They have been working together for the pre-Olympic tournament and this is the Singapore pre-Olympic tournament selection

TAMIM BACK IN BUSINESS

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal (C) speaks with head coach Chandika Hathurusingha (R) and computer analyst Nasir Ahmed Nasu during their training session in Brisbane yesterday. This was Tamim’s � rst training session with the national side following his return from Melbourne where he took his third and � nal injection on his injured right knee. During their conditioning camp in Brisbane, Bangladesh will play two practice games this Tuesday and Thursday against Australia XI at Allan Broder Field BCB

Artists display the heritage of Sylhet in the opening ceremony of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at Sylhet Stadium yesterday

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Everybody was very nervous in the � rst 25-30 minutes. Everybody was very tensed to play a normal game

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 13Friday, January 30, 2015

Sports minister’s mother passes awayRenowned social worker Srimoti Swara-sati Sikder, mother of the State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikder, died of old-age complications at her residence in Magura yesterday. She was 94. She left behind � ve sons, four daughters and a host of relatives and well wishers to mourn her death. Family sources said her cremation will take place today at 11 am at the Bihari Lal Sikder Degree College ground. Bangladesh Cricket Board, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russel, sports secre-tary Noor Mohammad and o� cials and employees of the Youth and Sports Min-istry, National Sports Council, Directorate of Sports, Bangladesh Sports Journalists Association and Bangladesh Sports Press Association expressed deep shock at the death of Swarasati Sikder and prayed for the salvation of the departed soul.

–Raihan Mahmood

Naznin guides Rupali Bank to 1st Div titleNaznin Nahar’s brilliant half century helped Rupali Bank Krira Parishad clinch the inaugural � rst division women’s cricket league title beating AV Sporting club by four wickets at the Gulshan Youth Club ground yesterday. Opting to bat � rst AV Sporting posted 134/9 in 35 overs with middle order Champa Chakma scoring an unbeaten 30 and Farjana Akter adding 26 runs. Jannatul Tithi and Rima Akter took two wickets each for Rupali Bank. In pursuit of 135, Rupali Bank had to wait till the last ball as player of the match Naznin guided her side with 54 o� 58 deliveries smashing six boundaries. Tithi was handy with the bat too and added 19 runs while Ishma Tanjin remained unbeaten on 19 as Rupali reached the target losing six wickets. Champa Chakma picked up three wickets for AV Sporting. AV Sporting’s Reshma Akter emerged as the highest scorer with 187 runs in � ve matches while her team-mate Sandiha Islam became the highest wicket taker with 11 wickets.

–Mazhar Uddin

Hewitt � ags retirement after Australian OpenTwo-time grand slam champion Lleyton Hewitt has � agged his retirement after a record 20th campaign at his home Australian Open next year. Hewitt, who has battled a number of injuries in recent years and will be 34 next month, was knocked out of the second round of this year’s campaign at Melbourne Park. “I’ve thought long and hard. I plan to play the Aussie Open next year and most likely � nish then,” the former world number one told reporters at Melbourne Park on Thursday. “Personally I’ll be looking towards the grass court season and most likely � nishing here in Melbourne, which for me would obviously be special to play 20 Australian Opens.” Australia’s last men’s grand slam champion, who won the 2001 U.S. Open and 2002 Wimble-don, said he hoped to help Australia in their Davis Cup campaign, believing the team had a “genuine shot” with young talents like Nick Kyrgios rising to the fore. Once his playing career is up, Hewitt will take over the Davis Cup captaincy, outgo-ing captain Pat Rafter told reporters. Raf-ter, promoted to director of performance at Tennis Australia.

–Reuters

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DAY’S WATCH

Sri Lanka R BL. Thirimanne lbw Anderson 30 41T. Dilshan c Ronchi b Southee 81 98K. Sangakkara not out 113 105M. Jayawardene c Ronchi b Southee 14 14S. Prasanna lbw Mills 1 3D. Chandimal c Ronchi b Anderson 5 15T. Perera c Mills b Anderson 20 12N. Kulasekara not out 12 12Extras (lb 2, wd 9) 11Total (for 6 wickets, 50 overs) 287

BowlingMills 8-1-42-1 (2w) Southee 10-0-50-2 (1w), McClenaghan 9-0-47-0, Vettori 8-0-52-0 (1w), Anderson 9-0-59-3 (2w), Elliott 4-0-24-0 (2w), Williamson 2-0-11-0New Zealand R BM. Guptill lbw Kulasekara 0 1T. Latham b Eranga 6 9K. Williamson c Jayawardene b Dilshan 54 83R. Taylor b Chameera 11 22G. Elliott c Chandimal b Chameera 24 38C. Anderson c Sangakkara b Eranga 29 20L. Ronchi b Kulasekara 47 42D. Vettori b Prasanna 35 30K . Mills run out 30 17T. Southee c Sangakkara b Perera 1 4M. McClenaghan not out 5 6Extras (lb 5, wd 6) 11Total (for 10 wickets, 45.2 overs) 253

BowlingKulasekara 9-0-55-2 (3w), Eranga 9-1-34-2 (1w), Prasanna 9.2-0-30-1 (1w), Chameera 8-0-60-2, Perera 5-0-42-1 (1w), Dilshan 5-0-27-1

Sri Lanka won by 34 runs; lost series 4-2

SLvNZ

South Africa R BQ. de Kock c Carter b Holde 4 7H. Amla b Russell 133 105F. du Plessis c Cottrell b Russell 16 27R. Rossouw c Carter b Russell 132 98D. Miller c Ramdin b Holder 23 9J. Duminy not out 18 7F. Behardien not out 5 2Extras (lb7, nb3, w20) 30Total (5 wkts, 42 overs) 361

Fall of wickets1-4 (De Kock), 2-59 (Du Plessis), 3-306 (Rossouw), 4-330 (Amla), 5-345 (Miller)BowlingCottrell 7-0-68-0 (2w), Holder 9-0-77-2 (3w), Brathwaite 9-0-46-0 (2w), Russell 8-0-85-3 (3nb, 5w), Sammy 7-0-59-0, Deonarine 2-0-19-0West Indies R BC. Gayle c De Kock b Abbott 0 1N. Deonarine run out (Amla) 43 50D. Smith lbw b Phangiso 31 28M. Samuels b Abbott 50 47D. Ramdin c Amla b Parnell 40 40A. Russell c De Kock b Parnell 24 12J. Carter c Abbott b Parnell 0 3D. Sammy b Behardien 27 25J. Holder c Rossouw b Parnell 0 3C. Brathwaite c De Kock b De Lange 1 9S. Cottrell not out 2 8Extras (lb2, w10) 12Total (37.4 overs) 230

Fall of wickets1-0 (Gayle), 2-77 (Smith), 3-81 (Deonarine), 4-172 (Samuels), 5-176 (Ramdin), 6-177 (Carter), 7-196 (Russell), 8-196 (Holder), 9-214 (Brathwaite), 10-230 (Sammy)BowlingAbbott 7-0-59-2 (3w), De Lange 8-0-34-1 (1w), Parnell 9-0-42-4 (2w), Phangiso 8-0-53-1, Behardien 5.4-0-40-1 (1w)

South Africa won by 131 runs; Takes series 4-1

SAvWI Amla, Rossouw punish wayward Windies againn Reuters, Pretoria

Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw smashed quick-fi re centuries as South Africa crushed a profl igate West Indies by 131 runs in a rain-aff ected fi fth and fi -nal one-day international on Wednesday.

The pair put on 247 for the third wicket, equalling the South African re-cord they had set in the second match of the series in Johannesburg, as the Proteas piled up 361 for fi ve in their al-lotted 42 overs.

It was the highest ever ODI score in a 42-over or less innings as South Africa made hay on a fl at wicket and against an equally fl at bowling attack to win

the series 4-1.Rossouw had a relatively slow start

but accelerated to bludgeon nine fours and eight sixes for his 132 from 98 balls. Amla was equally devastating as he top-scored with 133 from 105 deliveries.

West Indies lost forceful opener Chris Gayle to the fi rst ball of their reply and despite some lively cameos, including a half-century from Marlon Samuels, were always behind the rate and were bowled out for 230 in 37.4 overs.

After 16 overs were lost due to rain, West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl in the fi nal match for both sides before they head to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. l

BD-SL U19 � rst 3-dayer heading towards drawn Mazhar Uddin

The fi rst of two three-day matches between Sri Lanka Under-19 cricket team and the visiting Bangladesh U-19 side is heading towards a draw as only 29.4 overs of play was possible during the second and penultimate day at Dambulla International Stadium yesterday.

Resuming the second day’s play on 212/9, the home side added just four runs before being bundled out for 216 in their fi rst innings with Nihaduz-zaman picking up the fi nal wicket to fi nish with 5/55 from 27.4 overs. Skip-per Mehedy Hasan provided valuable support scalping three wickets.

In reply, the tourists posted 78/2 in 28 overs before rain came pouring down. Bangladesh U-19 openers Shad-man Islam and Saif Hasan are the two batsmen who were dismissed. Shad-man scored 56 with the help of 11 boundaries while Saif was trapped in front after making 19.

Lankan off -spinner Nishan Peiris bagged both the wickets.

Munim Shahriar (3*) and Joyraj Sheik (0*) will resume the fi nal day’s play today.l

ICC allows banned Aamer to play domestic cricketn AFP, Dubai

The International Cricket Council on Thursday gave permission for banned Pakistan paceman Mohammad Aam-er to return to domestic cricket with immediate eff ect, relaxing his ban for spot-fi xing.

Aamer was one of three Pakistani players handed bans of at least fi ve years for arranging no-balls to order in a Test against England at Lord’s in 2010.

“The ACSU Chairman, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, with the prior approval of the ICC Board and the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board), has exercised his dis-cretion to allow Aamer to return to do-

mestic cricket played under the auspic-es of the PCB with immediate eff ect,” the ICC said in a statement. l

Record-breaker Sangakkara sets up Sri Lanka win in � nal ODIn Reuters

Kumar Sangakkara scored an unbeat-en 113 and then returned to break the world record for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in one-day internation-als as Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 34 runs in the seventh and fi nal match in Wellington on Thursday.

Sangakkara’s 21st one-day hundred anchored Sri Lanka to 287 for six after the visitors opted to bat fi rst on win-ning the toss. New Zealand, who won the series 4-2, never recovered from losing early wickets in their chase and were all out for 253 in the 46th over.

The hosts were reduced to 42-3 in the 12th over and barring a 74-run stand between Luke Ronchi (47) and Daniel Vettori (35) for the seventh wicket, Sri Lanka always looked in control.

Kane Williamson top-scored for New Zealand with 54 while Kyle Mills hit a 17-ball 30 towards the end.

The 37-year-old Sangakkara, who is expected to retire from international cricket after the World Cup, passed Adam Gilchrist as the most successful wicket-keeper when he caught Corey Anderson off the bowling of Shaminda Eranga.

He later added another catch to the

tally when he pouched Tim Southee off Thisara Perera, taking his career total to 474 dismissals with 378 catches and 96 stumpings in the 50-over format when he played as a wicketkeeper.

Australia’s Gilchrist achieved 472 dismissals in 287 one-day matches.

Earlier, Tillakaratne Dilshan (81) and

Lahiru Thirimanne (30) gave Sri Lanka a good start, adding 71 for the opening wicket before the latter fell leg before to Anderson. Sangakkara walked out at number three and then added 104 for the second wicket before Dilshan was out caught by wicketkeeper Ronchi off paceman Southee.l

Murray books � nal, Serena to face Sharapovan Reuters, Melbourne

After three heart-breaking trips to the fi nal, Andy Murray secured another shot at Australian Open glory by over-hauling Tomas Berdych on Thursday after women’s top seed Serena Wil-liams set up a blockbuster title-decider with Maria Sharapova.

Edged in a marathon fi rst set, Mur-ray fi red up after a frosty exchange with the hard-hitting Czech and blazed to a 6-7(6) 6-0 6-3 7-5 victory under the lights of Rod Laver Arena.

The sixth-seeded Scot will con-test his fi rst grand slam fi nal since his emotional triumph at Wimbledon in 2013. His next opponent will be de-cided in Friday’s semi-fi nal between world number one Novak Djokovic and champion Stan Wawrinka.

Murray’s clinical disposal of Rafa Nadal’s conqueror sent an ominous signal to his eventual challenger and thrilled the centre court crowd after the women’s semi-fi nals were earlier wrapped up in straight sets.

Williams was pushed hard by her 19-year-old challenger in a duel between two of the game’s hardest hitters before triumphing 7-6(5) 6-2 to reach her fi rst Melbourne Park fi nal in fi ve years.

Keys burnished her credentials as the next torchbearer for American ten-nis, defi antly saving eight match points as her opponent roared in frustration before Williams sealed the contest with an ace down the middle.

Williams, who retains her world number one ranking by reaching the fi nal, will face the woman she has tor-mented for over a decade in 27-year-old Sharapova, who trounced Ekaterina Makarova 6-3 6-2 in the fi rst semi-fi nal.

Five-times grand slam champion Sharapova will be hoping a 15-match losing streak against her American nemesis, stretching back to 2004, will have no bearing come Saturday.

Sharapova, a 2008 champion at Mel-bourne Park, lost to Williams in the 2007 fi nal and again in the fi nal at the 2013 French Open.

Most streaks are eventually broken and Sharapova, fi t and in ominous form, took heart from her win over Makarova. As with her quarter-fi nal trouncing of Eugenie Bouchard, Sharapova’s game-plan was devastatingly simple - winding up the forehand and bludgeoning any-thing remotely short of the baseline.

Sharapova will be busy before Sat-urday’s fi nal working out how to beat Williams.l

World Cup � nal to have a Super Over in event of tien AFP, Dubai

The upcoming cricket World Cup fi nal will be decided by a Super Over in the event of a tie, the sport’s governing body announced on Thursday.

The move is a return to the playing condition in force at the last World Cup in 2011, abandoning a proposal to have “joint winners”, made by the Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC) last year.

“The ICC Board reinstated the use of a Super Over in the event of a tie in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 fi nal,” an ICC release said.

The ICC said a Super Over - in which both teams play one over of six balls - was the best way to decide the winner if the sides cannot be separated by the regulation 50 overs each.

“This now replicates the arrange-ments for the World Cup 2011 fi nal and other recent ICC events where a winner will be determined on the day of the fi -nal (weather permitting), and a Super Over was the most credible way to sep-arate the two sides,” the statement said.

Last year the ICC in its playing con-ditions for the 2015 tournament had decided to have a joint winner in case the fi nal was tied or abandoned due to bad weather. The ICC also approved a change to the application of code of conduct off ences relating to slow over-rates, so that captains do not carry any prior minor over-rate off ence “strikes” or suspensions from other series into a major tournament. l

Maria Sharapova celebrates her win over compatriot Ekaterina Makarova in the women’s singles semi-� nal match at the Australian Open 2015 in Melbourne yesterday REUTERS

Mali, Guinea face long night before draw lotteryn Reuters, Mongomo

Mali and Guinea face a long night as they await a rare drawing of lots to de-cide which team goes through to the African Nations Cup quarter-fi nals.

A 1-1 draw between the teams in

Mongomo on Wednesday left them tied in second place in Group D behind the Ivory Coast, who fi nished top after beating Cameroon 1-0 in Malabo.

Max Gradel’s fi rst-half goal means the Ivorians will take on Algeria in the last eight in Malabo on Sunday.

But Group C winners Ghana are still awaiting the identity of the last team through from the group phase, who will be drawn in Malabo on Thursday.

“I’m tired so I think I’ll be able to sleep tonight and then wait for the draw to-morrow,” Guinea coach told reporters.l

AFCON RESULTSIvory Coast 1-0 CameroonGradel 35

Guinea 1-1 MaliConstant 15-P Maiga 47

South Africa captain Amla (C) and team-mate Rossouw make a run as Brathwaite of the West Indies tries to run out during their � fth ODI in Centurion on Wednesday REUTERS

New Zealand celebrate winning the ANZ ODI Cup after the last match against Sri Lanka at Westpac Stadium in Wellington yesterday AFP

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Friday, January 30, 2015

RESULTParma 0-1 Juventus Morata 89

Barcelona forward Neymar (L) celebrates after scoring his second goal during their Spanish Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) quarter � nal second leg match against Club Atletico de Madrid at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on Wednesday AFP

Chelsea’s Costa charged over Can ‘stamp’n AFP, London

Chelsea striker Diego Costa faces a three-game suspension after being charged with violent conduct for ap-pearing to stamp on Liverpool’s Emre Can, the Football Association an-nounced on Wednesday.

Costa seemed to deliberately stand on Can’s ankle in the 12th minute of Tuesday’s League Cup semi-fi nal sec-ond leg at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea won 1-0 to complete a 2-1 ag-gregate victory.

The incident was missed by the match offi cials and reviewed by a video panel on Wednesday.

“Diego Costa has been charged by the FA for violent conduct following an

on-fi eld incident which was not seen by the match offi cials but caught on video,” the FA said in a statement on its website.

“The charge is in relation to an inci-dent involving the Chelsea forward and Liverpool’s Emre Can which occurred in the 12th minute of the Capital One Cup semi-fi nal second leg at Stamford Bridge last night. Following a review of an in-cident during the game involving Costa and Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel, the FA will not be taking any further action.”

Costa has until 1800 GMT on Thurs-day to respond to the charge.

If found guilty, he will miss Chel-sea’s home game with Manchester City on Saturday and subsequent fi xtures with Aston Villa and Everton.l

Guardiola relishing Wolfsburg showdownn AFP, Berlin

Bayern Munich resume their seem-ingly relentless march towards a third straight Bundesliga title on Friday with coach Pep Guardiola relishing their clash at second-placed Wolfsburg.

The Bavarian giants hold an 11-point lead over the Wolves as the Bundesliga resumes after the winter break.

Bayern travel north amidst reports French winger Franck Ribery and Bra-zil defender Rafi nha will both miss the match after picking up injuries in a training session on Wednesday.

Guardiola wants his side to hit the ground running before hosting Schalke 04 next Tuesday and then facing Stutt-gart away the following Saturday.

“I think it’s good to face the team in

second immediately because it forces us to pick up the pace,” said Guardiola.

“Wolfsburg have played an out-standing season so far so that will be tough. Then we have our fi rst home

game of the new year against Schalke and that will also be diffi cult. We know how important the fi rst two or three games will be and if we can win our fi rst couple of games of 2015 then we will realise we can take a big step to-wards defending our Bundesliga title.”

Wolfsburg play their fi rst match since the death of Belgium Under-21 in-ternational Junior Malanda earlier this month in a car crash.l

Ice-man Eriksen sends Spurs into � naln Reuters, London

Christian Eriksen was Tottenham Hotspur’s ice-man as they suppressed a late revival from third-tier Sheffi eld United to reach the League Cup fi nal 3-2 on aggregate on Wednesday.

Tottenham, who will face Chelsea in the fi nal at Wembley on March 1, ap-peared to be cruising when they took a fi rst-half lead through Eriksen’s stun-ning free kick which took their aggre-gate advantage to 2-0.

Sheffi eld United teenager Che Ad-ams came off the bench, however, to turn the tie on its head with two goals in two minutes, giving his team a 2-1 lead and levelling the aggregate score.

Eriksen ensured four-times winners Spurs avoided playing extra time when he found space on the edge of the lower league side’s box with two minutes re-maining and calmly slotted home.

Eriksen’s opener on 28 minutes was a moment of supreme quality.

Adams came off the bench on 74 minutes and kept his head to fi nish calmly past Vorm with his instep, sparking the home crowd into life and adding spice to a cup tie that had

seemed to be heading to a predictable conclusion.

His second goal had an element of good fortune as his defl ected eff ort from the edge of the area looped away from Spurs keeper Vorm.

With their tails up, United looked favourites to grab the winner, but their hopes of a reaching a fi rst fi nal were dashed by Eriksen’s precise fi nish. l

Juventus into Italian Cup semi-� nalsn AFP, Rome

A goal one minute from time from Al-varo Morata gave Juventus a 1-0 win at Parma and a place in the Italian Cup semi-fi nals on Wednesday.

Juventus, who have not won the ti-tle for 20 years, will face either Roma or Fiorentina for a place in the fi nal.

Morata, 22, and recruited from Real Madrid for 20 million euros last year, decided Wednesday’s tie with his fi fth goal of the season.

On Tuesday, Lazio beat AC Milan 1-0 to also make the semi-fi nals.l

Pogba agent hints at PSG, Real moven AFP, Milan

Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid could lead the race to buy Juventus star Paul Pogba although the French midfi eld-er may remain in Italy for another season, his agent Mino Raiola said Thursday.

A string of stunning performances for the Italian champions has seen the combative midfi elder’s value rocket, with a number of top European clubs said to be lining up to secure Pogba’s signature at the end of the season.

Raiola, the Dutch ‘super agent’ who also represents Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Balotelli among others, com-pared Pogba to a painting by Dutch master Vincent Van Gogh.

“Who knows how much he is worth? It depends how much money you have to spend, and who is buying,” Raiola said in an interview with La Gazetta dello Sport on Thursday.

He hinted the 21-year-old could make the “natural” choice of a move to Paris Saint Germain, or decide to leave Juve “only for a top club”.

Either way, Raiola believes Juventus could purchase the backbone of a new team capable of challenging for Cham-pions League honours with the money they receive for the Frenchman.

“If they don’t sell Pogba they won’t have the money they need to challenge for honours in the Champions League,” added Raiola.

“How long can I keep Paul in Italy? Everyone has a card up their sleeve, it just depends when they want to play it.

“PSG is the most natural choice. If he wants to go there, who can say no? But I don’t know if that is an option right now. Paul could stay for another year at Juve.

Real Madrid recently distanced themselves from the French interna-tional, with Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane telling Marca: “He’s a very good player, but there’s a lot of very good players out there.l

Roma’s Destro agrees to Milan moven AFP, Milan

Roma striker Mattia Destro has agreed to join AC Milan, the struggling Serie A giants announced Thursday.

Milan CEO Adriano Galliani agreed terms with Roma offi cials on Wednes-day and had only been waiting on the 23-year-old Italy international player’s agreement. No further details were given by Milan, although it is believed Destro will move on a six-month loan deal worth 700,000 euros but could se-cure a permanent deal to the San Siro giants at the end of the summer for 16 million euros.

A brief statement on Milan’s web-site said: “Mattia Destro has said yes to a move to AC Milan.” It is the club’s second signing following the arrival of Spartak Moscow midfi elder Salvatore Bocchetti on a six-month loan deal.l

Time to oust Blatter and modernise Fifa: Van Praagn Reuters, Amsterdam

Michael van Praag, the president of the Dutch Football Association (KNVB), on Wednesday named six countries who are backing his campaign for the Fifa presidency.

Speaking at a news conference to formally launch his challenge to in-cumbent Sepp Blatter, the erudite 67-year-old said he had nominations from Belgium, Sweden, Scotland, Ro-mania, the Faroe Islands and the Neth-erlands and had sent them to Fifa.

He also said he would only stand for one four-year term if elected, adding the time had come for Blatter to step aside.

“Fifa is doing badly and has lost all credibility,” he said. “Fifa is constantly under suspicion of confl icts of interests of nepotism, of corruption. Fifa has its

back to the future.“I have nothing against Mr Blatter,”

he continued, “in fact I like him a lot as a person.

“However, someone who has led an organisation for so many years, and who has become the personifi cation of its poor image, can no longer be the face of a modernisation operation for a new Fifa. It is impossible.”

Van Praag is one of fi ve men intend-ing to bring an end to Blatter’s tar-

nished 17-year reign as president along with Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jor-dan, Jerome Champagne of France, fel-low Frenchman David Ginola and Luis Figo of Portugal.

Van Praag said he would advocate a bigger World Cup if elected, fi nd a place for Blatter in an advisory role, fi ght the scourge of match-fi xing and “hold on to the good things Fifa has achieved”

But, he added, “I want to do things

diff erently to Mr Blatter, I only want to hold the hold the presidency for a sin-gle term of four years.

“This is because I want to make room for a new generation as quickly as possible because I want to make full use of my time in offi ce and not waste any time on a possible re-election.

“I know from experience in business as well as football, big steps in reform-ing an organisation can be taken in four years. And modernisation is what is needed so badly and it will begin with normalisation.

“As soon as a football organisation gets into political diffi culties, a so-called normalisation committee is set up to solve the problem.

“It is time Fifa applied this tool to its own organisation, because Fifa is stuck in a headlock. Fifa is doing badly and has lost all credibility.”l

Neymar brace sinks nine-man Atletico in thrillern AFP, Madrid

Neymar bagged a double as Barcelona twice came from behind to book their place in the semi-fi nals of the Copa del Rey with a 3-2 win over nine-man Atleti-co Madrid to seal a 4-2 aggregate victory.

Fernando Torres struck for the hosts inside the fi rst minute to cancel out Li-onel Messi’s winner in last week’s fi rst leg, but Neymar grabbed a vital away goal just nine minutes later.

Raul Garcia briefl y restored Atlet-ico’s lead from the penalty spot, but Barca were in front by half-time thanks to a Miranda own goal and a wonderful counter-attack rounded off by Neymar.

Atletico captain Gabi was then sent-off during half-time as players and coaches from both sides clashed at the end of the fi rst period.

The home side should have been re-duced to nine men earlier when Arda Turan somehow escaped with just a yellow card after throwing his boot at one of the offi cials in the second-half, but did eventually see another red card when Mario Suarez picked up a second booking late on.

Torres scored twice in the fi rst min-ute of each half of the second leg as At-letico dumped city rivals Real Madrid out of the competition in the previous round and he repeated the trick after just 38 seconds.

The former Chelsea striker latched

onto Guilherme Siqueira’s clearance and skipped past Javier Mascherano before volleying in off the far post to register his fi rst goal at the Vicente Cal-deron since rejoining his boyhood club.

Barca responded in fi ne style to that early blow, though, as a slick move sparked by Messi saw Luis Suarez re-lease Neymar in behind the Atletico de-fence and he calmly slotted home for his 20th goal of the season.

Atletico were given a lifeline

when Juanfran was bodychecked by Mascherano and Jesus Gil Manzano pointed to the spot despite the contact appearing to take place outside the area and Garcia confi dently stepped up to slam home the spot-kick.

The lead again only lasted only eight minutes, though, as Miranda could only turn Messi’s corner into his own net.

The game then turned defi nitively in Barca’s favour when Manzano didn’t award a second penalty when Griezmann’s shot hit Jordi Alba on the arm.

Barca then broke upfi eld and Alba squared for Neymar to dance round Jan Oblak before rolling home his second goal of the evening.l

Rangers meet Celtic for 400th time in Old Firm derbyn Reuters, London

Celtic and Rangers have played each other 399 times in competitive match-es but their 400th Old Firm duel in the Scottish League Cup semi-fi nal on Sunday will have a special place in their shared history no matter the outcome.

For the fi rst time since they fi rst met in 1890, the two clubs, who have won 99 Scottish titles between them, are not meeting as equals separated by a few points in the same division.

Instead, Premiership leaders Celt-ic go into the fi rst Old Firm derby for almost three years as overwhelming favourites, while Rangers, battling their way back from meltdown in the Championship (second tier), are clear underdogs.

The two biggest clubs in Scotland, who used to meet four or more times a season, are re-engaging for the fi rst time since Rangers were demoted to the bottom tier following their fi nan-cial collapse in 2012. Celtic’s Norwegian manager Ronny Deila says the match at neutral Hampden Park will be one of the biggest of his life.

Rangers manager Kenny McDowa-ll added: “We’ve waited nearly three years for an Old Firm game so never mind the eyes of the world being on us, I expect the people in Pluto will be watching it. Seriously, the most im-portant thing is the game and that it’s a good spectacle.”

Police are taking precautions to stop any crowd disorder between the two fi ercely partisan sets of supporters.l

FIXTURE VfL Wolfsburg v Bayern Munich

RESULTAtletico Madrid 2-3 BarcelonaTorres 1, Neymar 9, 42, Raul Garcia 30-P Miranda 38-og

Barcelona win 4-2 on aggregate

RESULTShe� eld United 2-2 TottenhamAdams 77, 79 Eriksen 28, 88

Tottenham win 3-2 on aggregate

A combination picture of candidates for Fifa Presidency (from L) David Ginola, Michael van Praag, Luis Figo, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein and Jerome Champagne AFP

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Friday, January 30, 2015 15

WHAT TO WATCHTELEVISION

UNSTOPPABLEStar Movies, 9:30pmCast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine

With an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, a engineer and a young conductor race against the clock.

KNIGHT AND DAYMovies Now, 11:20pmCast: Tom Cruise, Cameron DiazA young woman gets mixed up with a disgraced spy.

THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONEHBO Hits, 10:25pmSteve Carell, Luke Vanek, Steve BuscemiA veteran Vegas magician tries to revive his career after his longtime partner quits, he gets fi red from his casino act, and an edgy new “street magician” steals his thunder.

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 I PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR (3D) I ROMEO V/S JULIET I BOYHOOD I BEAUTY AND THE BEAST@ Star Cineplex

THEATRE

CHOBI MELA VIII

ABDOLLAH HEIDARI: Photography is what I speak throughn Farhad Hossain

Abdollah Heidari, a young photog-rapher from Iran, is participating in Chobi Mela VIII, the photography festival currently taking place in the capital. In his very short photographic

career, Heidari has caught everyone’s attention with his powerful photo se-ries on burnt school children.

The series has garnered many local and international awards, such as the Unicef Photo of the Year 2014, Interna-tional Photography Awards 2014 in the US, FIPCOM 2013 in France, and fi rst prize at Sheed Award in 2013 in Iran.

The talented photographer sat down with the Dhaka Tribune to share his inspirations and what motivated him to walk the path of photography.

“I never wanted to just be a pho-tographer,” said Heidari. “I believe it is better to capture images which will also speak out my concerns. I wanted to use the language of photography to raise awareness among the viewers.

“Photography is what I speak through. It is the medium through which I can voice my concerns and

raise awareness among people.”Asked what inspires him, Heidari

said: “Human lives and humanity – it is the best treasure for a human being. Human emotions and feelings have profound eff ect on me.

“I mostly prefer black and white

instead of colours to ensure the trans-parency of my subjects. If I used co-lours, then the viewers’ attention would be drawn to the colours, not the emotions and feelings of the sub-ject,” he said when asked why his photographs were black and white.

Talking about taking part in Cho-bi Mela, Heidari said: “The festival is outstanding. The professionalism is top-notch. The organisers have tried to have the best locations and venues to exhibit the photographers’ works.

“This is my fi rst visit to Bangla-desh, as well as this side of Asia. It is a wonderful country. If I get opportuni-ties to work here, I would love to visit again,” the photographer said.

Heidari’s work titled “Lost Intima-cy” is on display at Britto Arts Trust in Green Road, an extended venue of Chobi Mela VIII. l

Galleri Kaya exhibits Kazi Rakib’s CHRONOLOGYn Nadira Sultana Ava

Kazi Rakib’s “Chronology (1975-2015),” a retrospective containing seventy-fi ve works produced over four decades, has gone on show at Galleri Kaya in Uttara.

Using diff erent materials, the artist off ers a narrative of 40 years in the life of art. Alongside Rakib, we are all trav-ellers on this journey he invites all of us to participate in.

The exhibit displays his custom-ary use of an array of media includ-ing acrylics, oils, watercolours, pen-cil drawings, graphic prints andetched glass.

It off ers viewers an intimate expe-rience both of art and of art history, through the lens of a single artist’s body of work.

Eminent artist Professor Samarjit Roy Choudhury was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony on January 16 also attended by renowned cultural personality Afzal Hossain.

The vibrant presence of Afsana Mimi and Syed Iqbal on the fi rst day of the exhibit added a note of glam-our to the opening. Rakib’s knack for playing with diff erent materials drives the creation of innovative and unique

artistic expressions. In the paintings of Kazi Rakib, wom-

en are portrayed in traditional attire, representing simplicity and harmony.

The creator of these delightful

works of art, Kazi Rakib, received his BFA from Chattagram Charuka-la College and has served as one of the founding teachers at RajshahiArt College.

Rakib has had nine solo exhibitions at home and abroad before “Chronology.”

The exhibition may be viewed until January 30 at Galleri Kaya in Uttara be-tween 11am and 7:30pm. l

WARFAZE to reunite today for mega 30-year celebrationn Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Popular hard rock band Warfaze are all set for their mega reunion concert to celebrate 30 years of music-making today at Gulnaksha Hall, Internation-al Convention City in Bashundhara Residential Area, Dhaka.

The celebration is bringing togeth-er four of its past members – Babna Karim, Sunjoy, Balam and Romel Ali – with its current line-up on the stage. Presented by mobile operator Robi Axiata Limited, the concert will take

off at 2:30pm. The band, one of the fi rsts to in-

troduce hard rock and metal music in the country, was formed in 1984. Through the years, the band has ex-perimented with diff erent subgenres of hard rock and heavy metal. Their work has been inspiration for several bands in Bangladesh.

Sheikh Monirul Alam Tipu, the band’s frontman and drummer, told the Dhaka Tribune : “It is a great achievement for the band that we have been able to keep creating mu-

sic for the past 30 years. It is our fans’ love for us that has largely infl uenced us to stay on this track.”

Beside Tipu, the current line-up of the band has Mizan Rahman on lead vocals, Ibrahim Ahmed Kamal on lead guitar, Shams Mansoor Ghani on keyboards and vocals, and Naim Haque Roger on bass.

Oni Hasan, another member and guitarist, left the band a while ago to pursue higher studies in the UK. Samir Hafi z from Powersurge will fi ll in for Oni at the concert. l

Egyptian troupe Mawlawiyah grace on the second day of the Su� Fest 2015 on Wednesday at the Army Museum in the capital

RANBIR’s � rst look as Johnny Balraj in Bombay Velvet revealed

n Entertainment Desk

The fi rst teaser poster has just made its world premiere for Anurag Kashyap’s highly antic-ipated “Bombay Velvet” which releases in theaters worldwide on May 15. Ranbir Kapoor head-lines and is joined by Anushka Sharma as well as Karan Johar who appears in a very special on-screen negative role.

The fi lm is based on histori-an Gyan Prakash’s book “Mum-bai Fables.” Set in Bombay of the 1960s, the movie tells the story of a street fi ghter, Johnny Balraj, and an aspiring jazz sing-er, Rosie, played by Anushka.

Anurag Kashyap says, “Bombay Velvet is my fi rst fi lm in a trilogy about Bombay, be-fore it became a metropolis.”

Adds Vikas Bahl of Phantom Films said, “Bombay Velvet is in-tricately researched and beauti-fully fi ctionalised by Anurag.” l

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: My name is a‘spelling error’n Entertainment Desk

As the famed mnemonic for English language students goes: “I before E except after C and also if you’re writing down the name of UK actress Keira Knightley.”

After years of wonder if the Oscar-nom-inated “The Imitation Game” actress was simply trying to excite auto-spell checkers, the truth surrounding the unusual spelling of her fi rst name has been revealed.

“I was meant to be named Kiera after a Russian ice skater who was on the TV one day,” the actress told Elle magazine. “My dad fancied her and nicked the name for me. But it was my mum who went to register my birth, and she accidental-ly spelled ‘ei’ instead of ‘ie’ because my mum’s crap at spelling.”

When her mother returned home with the birth certifi cate, Knightley’s father, it seems, wasn’t entirely over-joyed.

“Apparently, when she came back he said: ‘You’ve spelt her name wrong’,” she explained. “What were they going to do though? Once it’s on the piece of pa-per, it’s on the piece of paper. And that’s me. A spelling error.” l

DANNY BOYLE begins shooting Steve Jobs biopic with FASSBENDERn Entertainment Desk

Danny Boyle’s long-gestating biopic of the late technology guru Steve Jobs has fi nally begun shooting in San Francisco with Michael Fassbender in the lead role.

The as-yet-untitled fi lm, working from a screenplay by the Oscar-winning writer of “The Social Network,” Aaron Sorkin. Joining Fassbender in the fi nal cast are Kate Winslet as former Macin-tosh marketing chief Joanna Hoff man, Seth Rogen as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Jeff Daniels as former Apple CEO John Sculley. The fi lm also features Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sarah Snook, Adam Shapiro, and child actors Perla Haney-Jardine, Ripley Sobo and Makenzie Moss in supporting roles.l

JULIANNE MOORE believes in therapy, not religion

n Entertainment Desk

Julianne Moore is on top of the world thanks to her award-winning per-formance in “Still Alice.” But in a new interview she admits to past struggles, including with religion.

While she’s experienced success in her career, including four previ-ous Academy Award nominations,

she has at times felt adrift. Her mother’s unexpected passing from septic shock in 2009 dev-

astated her so deeply that she no longer believes in God, she admitted in

a profi le in The Hollywood Reporter.“I learned when my mother died fi ve years

ago that there is no ‘there’ there,” she said. “Structure, it’s all imposed. We impose order

and narrative on everything in order to under-stand it. Otherwise, there’s nothing but chaos.”

Even though she felt satisfi ed with her pro-fessional career, she felt “lonely,” and that she

“didn’t have the kind of personal life I wanted.”So she decided to see a therapist, which

the “Boogie Nights” star said helped her im-mensely. “I discovered that (my personal

life) was as important as my professional life," she said. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

W H AT N O W ?

Doctor, journo win Bangla Academy Literature Awardn Arif Ahmed

A physician and a journalist have won this year’s Bangla Academy literature award in fi ction and poetry categories.

Dr Zakir has won the award for fi c-tion and journalist Shihab Sarkar in poetry. Another journalist, Khaled Bin Joynuddin has won the award in juve-nile literature category.

Dr Shamsuzzaman Khan, director general of Bangla Academy, declared the names of the winners at a press conference held on the academy prem-ises yesterday.

The awards for 2014 will be given to seven people for their outstanding con-tributions under ten categories, which were announced yesterday ahead of the month-long Amar EkusheyBook Fair.

The prime minister will distribute the prizes among the winners on Feb-ruary 1 at the fair.

Shantonu Kaisar, former professor at Comilla University, has won the award in the essay category, Bhuiyan Iqbal, former professor at Chittagong Uni-versity, has won the award in research

category, Abu Mohammad Delowar Hossain, professor of history at Dhaka University, has won in the category of literature on Liberation War aff airs, and Moinul Sultan in autobiography/mem-oir/travel story.

The executive working committee of the academy selected the winners based on the decision of the jury board.

However, the academy could not consider anyone in the drama, transla-tion and science-technology and envi-ronment categories.

Each of the winners will receive a cash of Tk1 lakh, a certifi cate, and a crest from the prime minister at the launching ceremony of the largest book fair in the country.

Every year, the academy announc-es the award during the fair – usually around February 22-26. But this year, names of the award winners have been announced beforehand.

Dr Shamsuzzaman said this was done because the winners will be rewarded prizes by the prime min-ister on the fi rst day of the fair, to make it an inspirational experiencefor them. l

Comilla Chhatra League leader robs Taiwanese businessman n Our Correspondent, Comilla

Police in Comilla are looking for a Chhatra League leader accused of leading a gang to coerce a Taiwanese businessman into giving money on Wednesday.

The gang led by Sohel Ibne Mohi-uddin was claimed to have taken away Tk31 lakh from Huangjun Yu, managing director of Yagotex Fabrics in Comilla EPZ area.

Late on Wednesday night, the Tai-wanese national lodged a case with Kotwali police station, stating that fi ve to six men led by Sohel entered his rented fl at in section 3 of the housing estate area around 1:30pm and held him at gunpoint.

They forced him into a car, took him to an unknown location in Suagazi area of Comilla Sadar (south) upazila where they assaulted him and demanded that he give them two billion US dollars.

In a while, Huangjun was brought back to his fl at and was forced to write a cheque for Tk23 lakh.

Sohel then transferred the money from Prime Bank’s Comilla branch to the account of his fi rm, Aab Yaaz En-terprise, by wire transfer, accordingto police.

They also took Tk8 lakh in cash from Huangjun’s fl at and made him sign two blank cheques before leaving.

Sohel, son of AHM Mohiuddin of Tomchhom Bridge area and a leader of Chhatra League’s Comilla Victoria Gov-

ernment College unit, served in prison a year earlier on charges of embezzling Tk38 lakh from a Dhaka-based busi-nessman named Azad.

Offi cer-in-Charge of Kotwali Mod-el police station Khorshed Alam said the lawsuit was transferred to the Detective Branch of police in com-pliance with an order of the districtpolice super.

Sub-Inspector of the Detective Branch of police in Comilla Firoz Hos-sain, also the investigating offi cer of the case, said Sohel’s wife Dipti was interrogated for clues and was released later.

“Several police teams are trying to nab the accused and to recover the money,” he added. l

Mild cold wave to hit the northern region n Tribune Report

A mild cold wave appears to be ap-proaching in the northern region, es-pecially in Nilphamari and Kurigram districts.

The Rangpur weather offi ce yester-day said the minimum temperature was recorded at 12.6 degrees Celsius, and that it could continue for two-three more days.

Our Kurigram correspondent re-ported that the mild cold wave has been approaching for the last few days, while also hampering public life, with the severe cold and drizzling that ithas brought.

He added that there has been no sunlight for the last three days.

Many people in the region are fear-ing another cold spell ahead.

Bangladesh Meteorological Depart-ment offi cial Abdur Rahman, however, said no cold wave has begun yet. “We do not consider temperature under 10 degrees Celsius as a cold wave,” he said.

Offi cials at Syedpur weather offi ce said: “This year, the cold weather con-dition has been increasing day by day in the northern area.”

Abdur Rahman added: “As there has been drizzling, it has been getting cold-er. But there is a possibility for a mild cold wave to begin in two-three days,

which will continue for four-fi ve days.”In the last 24 hours, about 60 chil-

dren were admitted into Kurigram hos-pital, 24 patients for diarrhoea and 15 others for pneumonia diseases.

Children and elderly persons are suf-fering a lot from the weather. People from lower income groups were seen gathering around second-hand clothes markets.

“Meanwhile, a large number of cold-related patients with diseases such as cold diarrhoea, fever, cataract etc have been coming to the hospital,” said Dr Fazlul Haque Tansen, a residen-tial medical offi cer at the Modern Sadar Hospital in Nilphamari.

The families of many day-labourers

are suff ering as they are not being able to carry out their daily work.

Dewan Biplob, a class I contractor of Thana Para village in Nilphamari Sa-dar upazila, said: “A total 50 labourers worked in my farm every day. But they could not work for the last two days due to the mild cold wave.”

Afzal Hossain, 45, a day-labourer from Harowa village in Nilphamari Sadar upazila told our Nilphamari correspondent: “I manage my family through my earning. But now I could not work in the last two days and chose to stay at home due to the unfavoura-ble weather conditions, which has af-fected me gravely.” l

Biranganas to be recognised as freedom � ghtersn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The House has unanimously passed a resolution pleading the government to recognise biranganas – women raped during the Liberation War – as freedom fi ghters by fi nalising a list.

Jessore 2 lawmaker Monirul Islam placed the proposal before the House yesterday, while 10 other lawmakers spoke in its favour.

After a discussion on a private mem-bers’ resolution, the speaker placed the proposal for voting and the lawmakers voted for it.

The aforementioned 10 lawmakers also made some suggestions in this regard, such as the inclusion of the topic of bi-ranganas in the text books.

Earlier on Tuesday, Liberation War Aff airs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque told parliament that the gov-ernment had begun fi nalising the list of biranganas, which is expected to be complete within two months.

He said yesterday: “The nation has not forgotten the plight of the female members of our society, who were sub-ject to sexual violence during the war.”

The liberation war aff air minis-ter informed parliament that the list would carry only the names of the bi-ranganas who wished to make their indentities public. The list will be pub-lished as gazette notifi cation and the biranganas will be given due recogni-

tion and allowance such as freedomfi ghters enjoy.

Awami League lawmaker Israfi l Alam proposed to use the term birkon-ya (war heroines) instead of birangana, but the House rejected his proposal.

The liberation war aff airs minis-ter told the House that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave the name birangana, so it would not be wise to rename it.

“The Father of the Nation recog-nised them as biranganas. We will defi -nitely recognise them as freedom fi ght-ers,” he said, adding that those who wished their names to not be published would be left out of the list, keeping in line with their wishes.

Independent lawmaker Dr Rus-tom Ali Farazi proposed to give them Tk10,000 honorarium every month, but that was rejected as well.

“Since they are going to included in the freedom fi ghters’ list, they will au-tomatically be entitled to an honorari-um,” the minister said.

Earlier on October 13 last year, the government decided to recognise bi-ranganas as freedom fi ghters.

Before the decision was taken, the High Court bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice Md Ha-bibul Gani issued a ruling on January 27 last year seeking an answer from the government as to why biranganas would not get facilities similar to free-dom fi ghters.

The bench also sought a response as to why a gazette would not be issued listing all the names of the biranganas.

On January 29, 2009, after a discus-sion on a private members’ resolution, the ninth parliament unanimously passed the historic resolution calling upon the government to ensure the tri-al of the war criminals.

This is the second private members’ resolution in the 10th parliament that has been approved by the House. l

Obama defriends Bibi on Facebookn Tribune Report

The relationship between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minis-ter Benjamin Netanyahu hit a new low last week, with the American president “defriending” the Israeli premier on Facebook.

It is unclear exactly when Obama made the move to delete his Israeli counterpart as a Facebook friend – most likely around the time Netanyahu accepted John Andrew Boehner’s con-troversial invite.

Netanyahu only learned of the snub on Wednesday, reports Israeli Daily quoting a source close to the prime minister.

A member of Republican Party, Boehner is the 61st and current speaker of the United States House of Repre-sentatives.

“Bibi was looking at [Attorney Gen-eral] Eric Holder’s page, and he hap-pened to check what friends they had in common,” the source explained. “And he sees [Secretary of State John] Kerry, Bill [Clinton], Hill [ary Clinton], Fabio, but no Obama. So he goes to Obama’s page, and sure enough it says ‘Add Friend.’ We were in complete dis-belief.”

While the White House had no of-fi cial comment, a source close to the president said Obama had reached his maximum allowed friends and wished to add Iranian Foreign Minister Mo-hammad Javad Zarif after a pleasant meeting on Iran’s nuclear programme.

The source said the defriending was not personal, but conceded Obama had gotten sick of seeing Sara Netanyahu on his newsfeed and the prime min-ister’s daily invitations to play Candy Crush Saga.

“The bond between the United States and Israel remains strong,” the White House source said. “But if the president had to read one more post somehow tying whatever bullshit Jew-ish holiday it happened to be with the

Iranian nuclear threat, he would have snapped.”

As of press time, Obama and Netan-yahu were still following each other on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Boehner confi rmed to Fox News on Wednesday that Republicans plan to sue President Obama over his use of executive action on immigration.

“The president’s overreach when he took executive action to deal with the immigration problems in our country, frankly, in my view, is a violation of our Constitution,” Boehner said on “Spe-cial Report with Bret Baier.”

“We believe that the fi ling of a law-suit to try to stop the president from vi-olating our Constitution is an important step for our institution,” he added. l

Mars rover backin the grooven BBC

After some downtime to enable a soft-ware upgrade, the Curiosity rover on Mars has got straight back to work by drilling into a rock. The robot sank the latest shallow mini-test hole in a target called Mojave2.

An earlier attempt this month at the same activity resulted in a nearby slab splitting into several chunks.

Curiosity needs a stable rock to drill down the full 6cm to acquire a sample for analysis in its onboard labs. Mo-jave2 looks like it will oblige.

If all goes to plan, this task should be completed shortly. It would be the fi fth drill sample picked up by the machine for ingestion.

The Nasa robot is currently investi-gating the lower layers of Mount Sharp, the big mountain at the centre of Gale Crater, which is the deep depression where it landed in 2012.

Recent accomplishments include fi nding evidence for how that moun-tain was built billions of years ago by river and lake sediments. The mission also hit the headlines in December for identifying methane and other, more complex carbon molecules in Gale. l

In January 2009, the ninth parliament unanimously passed the historic resolution calling upon the government to ensure the trial of the war criminals Anxiety and hopelessness grip the relatives of Nur Alam, 40, lying on a bed at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday. Nur, one of the victims of Jatrabari arson

incident, sustained 48% burn injuries MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Sharmila Rahman, widow of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, bursts into tears while o� ering prayers at her husband’s grave in the capital’s Banani civil graveyard yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

REU

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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 FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015

B3 UN: EU investment plan could create 2.1mn jobs

B4 China: ECB QE could cause ‘competitive depreciation’

BEPZA exports post 12% growth in H1n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) has achieved a re-markable growth both in investment and export during the fi rst half of the current fi scal year.

Investment grew 12.17% while ex-port 11.72% in the fi rst six months of 2014-15 fi scal year compare to the same period of the previous fi scal year, ac-cording to BEPZA.

Some US$213.39m actual invest-ment has been added during the period by the 437 operational and 123 under implementation enterprises of eight Export Processing Zones (EPZs).

This fi gure was $190.23m during the same period of last fi scal year when investment infl ow increased by 12.17% compared to the correspond-ing period a year ago. Among the total investment, $72.99m has been made in Chittagong EPZ followed by Dhaka EPZ $48.8m, Karnaphuli EPZ $30.69m, Adamjee EPZ $32.17m, Comilla EPZ $10.17m, Uttara EPZ $10.71m, Ishwardi

EPZ $4.46m and Mongla EPZ $3.42m. The cumulative investment stood at $3.5bn up to December 2014.

Goods worth about $3bn have been exported by the operational industries of EPZs under BEPZA in the fi rst half of the fi scal year 2014-15. It was around $2.6bn during the same period of the previous fi scal year, which shows an

increase of 11.72%. In the fi rst half of the current fi scal

year the enterprises of Chittagong EPZ has exported goods worth of $1.2bn, Dhaka EPZ $928.68m, Karnaphuli EPZ $309.44m, Adamjee EPZ $219.3m, Comilla EPZ $125.52m, Mongla EPZ $44.29m, Ishwardi EPZ $51.79m and Uttara EPZ $32.22m. l

Decision to renew Indo-Bangla trade deal with no major changesn Asif Showkat Kallol

The government decided to renew the trade agreement with India for anoth-er three years without major changes as the deal expires on May 31 this year, said offi cials.

An inter-ministerial meeting at commerce ministry in Dhaka yester-day made the decision, with additional commerce secretary Manoj Kumar Roy in the chair. The meeting also decided to seek slight amendments to provi-sions 6 and 8 of the deal.

The government earlier thought of incorporating service sector in the deal. But the plan has been abandoned as business community and commerce ministry’s WTO Cell opposed the plan.

The amendment to provision 8 will be that two governments will agree to make mutually benefi cial arrange-ments for the use of their waterways, roadways and railways for commerce

between the two countries.In the meeting Bangladesh Tariff

Commission representative suggested removing non-tariff barriers so Bangla-desh could enjoy export benefi ts with India. BTC recommended inclusion of the matter in the Indo-Bangla trade agreement.

BTC offi cial said two governments will be made aware about the laws and rules to reduce non-tariff barriers.

The offi cial also recommended in-clusion of a provision titled “transpar-ency” in the trade agreement.

Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, senior commerce secretary, told Dhaka Trib-une on Tuesday that the government will sign Indo-Bangladesh trade agree-ment without major amendments.

Bangladesh-India Chamber of Com-merce and Industry suggested In-dia and Bangladesh trade agreement should be automatically renewed after three years. Representative from for-

eign ministry urged the authorities not wait for Indian proposals and fi nalise the matters to renew the deal.

Commerce ministry’s WTO Cell sug-gested the India–Bangladesh trade deal should be for fi ve years instead of the existing three years.

In the meeting the Cell representa-tive opposed the plan to include ser-vice sector in the deal as Bangladeshi service sector will be aff ected if such initiative is taken.

An offi cial of the Cell said repre-sentatives from India and Bangladesh are regularly discussing service sector incorporation in the trade agreement and reducing non-tariff barriers at the several joint working group meetings.

RMG export to India had increased following duty-free and quota-free ac-cess of 46 items compared to few years ago. But the export amount is now de-clining for diff erent reasons including non-tariff barriers. l

Good borrowers may see incentives Bangladesh Bank warns habitual defaulters of onsequences n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has decided to off er incentives for good borrowers having regular loan repayment track records, but warned of coming down hard on willful defaulters.

“I have already instructed the relat-ed department to make a rebate policy for the good entrepreneurs who pay loan regularly,” said Governor Atiur Rahman, unveiling monetary policy statement for the second half of the current fi scal year at Bangladesh Bank headquarters in Dhaka yesterday.

He said banking governance will be up-scaled further to clamp down on loan delinquencies. While the cases of credit worthy borrowers will be re-viewed, habitual defaulters will face lawful consequences, he cautioned.

The governor announced the plan for incentive two days after blessing big defaulters with a new restructur-ing policy to facilitate their loan repay-ment.

In December last, it also relaxed the loan reschedule policy to favour the big borrowers who failed to make install-ment payment due to political turmoil.

To defend the loan restructuring policy for defaulters, the governor said it was formulated for the sake of country’s economy and employment. Ultimately, the banks will be the gainer because of this policy as some money would go to their pockets, he said.

“The defaulters, though, get prefer-ence from the central bank repeatedly on excuse of the political unrest but so far good borrowers, who maintain their loan repayment regular even after facing the same diffi culties, did not get any favour.”

In this situation, he said, the central bank will formulate a specifi c policy

to reward the good borrowers. “While making any policy, we do not usually take any big or small borrowers into our consideration,” he said replying to a question.

Echoing the governor, Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury said: “The loan restructuring policy was done as big companies face systematic risks, which may hit the country’s economy.”

The monetary policy statement stat-ed that the central bank fi rmly discour-aged the abetting of habitual and will-ful loan repayment defaulter. It also created room for helping out recovery of genuine businesses distressed by circumstances beyond their control

with realistic debt restructuring in line with international best practices.

Former BB Governor Salehuddin Ahmed welcomed the decision to award the good entrepreneurs saying it will encourage them to keep growing.

But he strongly criticised the incen-tives given to the big defaulters saying they did not deserve any benefi ts as regular loan defaulters are good for nothing.

According to the policy for the big borrowers, only those who have de-faulted loans worth over Tk500 crore will be able to enroll with the new package.

The highest payment tenure will be 12 years for restructured term loans six

years for demand and current loans. The rate of down-payment will be 2% for loans less than Tk1,000 crore and 1% for those above.

The banks will charge a minimum interest rate of 1% plus cost of fund against the restructured loans. The privileged clients will not be able to declare any cash dividend in the fi rst three years.

After restructuring, they may bor-row up to 50% of the last approved amount for demand and current loans and 60% for term loans. The loans will be classifi ed as special mention ac-count and banks would maintain pro-vision at required rates with the addi-tional 1%. l

Mobile phone bankers ask for specialised bank to get loan facility n Asif Showkat Kallol

The mobile phone bankers have ap-plied to the central bank that there should have a commercial bank in the country which will provide credit espe-cially to them.

The proposed Mobile Bank Associ-ation of Bangladesh has submitted an application to Bangladesh Bank Gover-nor Dr Atiur Rahman yesterday.

Such a demand comes as the coun-try’s traditional banking system has no special rule to provide loans to half a million mobile bank agents across the country, said the association sources.

The bank, if established, will help the mobile bankers run their business getting loan facility from the proposed bank, said the people concerned.

Bank and Financial Institutions Di-vision Secretary M Aslam Alam said they would examine the proposal after the central bank’s scrutiny.

“But the government has no imme-diate plan to give any permission to es-tablish such a new commercial bank,” the secretary added.

According to the Mobile Bank Asso-ciation, although there is a total of half a million mobile banking businessmen across the country, the central bank has not kept any provision to provide credit to them who transfer money from one place to another. It said the mobile bankers are now channeling re-mittance as well into the country.

The Mobile Bank Association has a plan to collect around Tk2,000 crore from 200,000 association members to set up the bank, the association chairman M Aminul Islam Bulu told Dhaka Tribune.

Of the amount, a sum of Tk500 crore will be deposited to Bangladesh Bank

as guarantee money and the remaining fi gure will be used as a paid up capital of the proposed bank, he said.

Aminul Islam added if the bank got established, the National Board of Rev-enue would receive Tk250 crore a year from the bank’s clients in the forms of tax, VAT and trade licence fee etc.

In 2012 Bangladesh Bank approved nine private commercial banks in an ex-pectation to help strengthen the fi nancial inclusion programme bringing unbanked people under the banking network.

The banks included Union Bank Limit-ed, Modhumoti Bank Limited, Farmers Bank Limited, Meghna Bank Limited, Midland Bank Limited, South Bangla Agriculture, Commerce Bank Limited, NRB Commercial Bank Limited and NRB Bank Limited.

Meanwhile, in 2012 a survey by the Institute of Microfi nance found that only 45% of the nearly 9,000 house-holders do have access to banks and micro-fi nance institutions for loans.

The population per branch (21,065) and the ratio of loan accounts per 1,000 adults (42) suggest that the outreach of the formal fi nancial sector in Bangla-desh is lower than that in India (14,485 and 124 respectively) and Pakistan (20,340 population per branch and 47 loan accounts per 1,000), according to the report. l

190.23

2598.56

213.39

2902.68

Investment Export

FY14 H1 FY15 H1

PERFORMANCE OF BEPZA, IN MILLION USD

BUILD worried over current political unrest n Tribune Report

A delegation of Business Initiative Lead-ing Development (BUILD) has expressed its deep concern over the current polit-ical turmoil situation that causes fi nan-cial losses to various sectors.

The concern was raised at a meet-ing held between Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and a delegation led by BUILD Chairman Asif Ibrahim at the ministry in the capital on Wednesday.

Attending the meeting, President of Dhaka Chamber and Commerce In-dustry (DCCI), a partner of BUILD, Hossain Khaled drew the attention of the minister to the current political unrest because of which they are incurring huge business losees.

He also ex-plained how DCCI calculated the volume of

losses being incurred by diff erent sec-tors. Tofail Ahmed, however, under-lined the need for further trade and in-vestment growth despite the political unrest. BUILD Chief Executive Offi cer Ferdaus Ara Begum sought ministy’s intervention in launching the third Business Confi dence Survey (BCS) re-port beginning from February 2015.

BUILD was launched jointly by the DCCI in partnership with the Metropoli-tan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Small and Medium En-terprise Foundation in October 2011. l

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman announces monetary policy for second half � scal year yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Van pullers pass their days in idleness in Dhaka during the BNP-led alliance’s hartal yesterday. Their livelihoods were not spared the consequences of the political unrest MEHEDI HASAN

But the government has no immediate plan to give any permission to establish such a new commercial bank

B2 Stock Friday, January 30, 2015DHAKA TRIBUNE

News, analysis and recent disclosuresMETROSPIN: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 13.04 million with EPS of Tk. 0.22 as against Tk. 25.18 million and Tk. 0.42 respectively.AMCL(PRAN): (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT=Tk. 25.98 million with EPS of Tk. 3.25 as against Tk. 24.27 million and Tk. 3.03 respectively.NPOLYMAR: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 23.78 million with EPS of Tk. 1.65 as against Tk. 10.36 million and Tk. 0.72 respectively.BDAUTOCA: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 0.25 million with EPS of Tk. 0.07 as against Tk. 0.06 million and Tk. 0.02 respectively.MALEKSPIN: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 162.34 m. with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.84 as against Tk. 213.89 m. and Tk. 1.10 respectively.DULAMIACOT: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. (15.18) million with EPS of Tk. (2.01) as against Tk. (15.20) million and Tk. (2.01) respectively.HFL: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 81.89 million with EPS of Tk. 1.04 ( restated 0.94) as against Tk. 136.14 million and Tk.

2.79 (2.40) respectively.BEACONPHAR: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 7.85 million with EPS of Tk. 0.03 as against Tk. 5.23 million and Tk. 0.02 respectively.KOHINOOR: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 51.25 million with EPS of Tk. 5.05 as against Tk. 32.05 million and Tk. 3.16 respectively.ORIONINFU: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 18.73 million with EPS of Tk. 0.92 as against Tk. 17.99 million and Tk. 0.88 respectively.TITASGAS: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 4,272.10 million with EPS of Tk. 4.32 as against Tk. 4,202.97 million and Tk. 4.25 respectively.BEDL: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 233.70 m. with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.52 as against Tk. 118.24 m. and Tk. 0.77 respectively.SAMORITA: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 16.25 million with basic EPS of Tk. 1.20 ( restated 1.09) as against Tk. 14.22 million and Tk. 1.05 (0.96) respectively.BBS: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 111.30

million with EPS of Tk. 1.26 as against Tk. 107.25 million and Tk. 1.21 respectively.ATLASBANG: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 0.43 million with EPS of Tk. 0.02 as against Tk. 44.12 million and Tk. 1.86 respectively.SAVAREFR: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. -0.43 million with EPS of Tk. -0.31 as against Tk. 0.42 million and Tk. 0.30 respectively.DESHBANDHU: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 34.13 million with EPS of Tk. 0.61 as against Tk. 11.43 million and Tk. 0.20 respectively.NTLTUBES: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. -13.46 million with EPS of Tk. -0.68 as against Tk. 20.31 million and Tk. 1.02 (restated) respectively.STYLECRAFT: (Q3 Un-audited): (Q3 Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 18.33 million with EPS of Tk. 33.33 as against Tk. 19.73 million and Tk. 35.87 respectively.RENWICKJA: (H/Y Un-audited): NPAT= Tk. 4.36 million with EPS of Tk. 2.18 as against Tk. 4.89 million and Tk. 2.44 respectively.

Stocks keep losing as investors remain worried over political unrest n Tribune Report

Stocks extended losses for the sec-ond session yesterday, as investors were worried over the deepening political chaos.

The market opened dropping nearly 45 points in the morning but recovered some losses at the end.

The benchmark index DSEX de-clined 23 points or 0.5% to close at 4,724, after marginal fall in the pre-vious session.

The Shariah index DSES fell 6 points or 0.6% to 1,115. The com-prising blue chips DS30 was down 9 points to 1,747.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, ended at 8,736, shedding 65 points.

Trading at Dhaka Stock Exchange continued to remain sluggish amid political instability, as turnover stood at Tk206 crore, a decrease of 12% over the previous session.

Almost all other sectors, includ-ing power, non-banking fi nancial institutions, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, cement and banks edged lower like previous session.

Textile sector that shined in the previous session ended in the posi-tive territory on profi t booking.

Food & Allied sector was the only sector which ended in green with a rally of 2.9%, backed by the heavy weight BATBC that rose more than 4%.

The market breadth largely re-

mained negative, as out of 303 is-sues traded, 55 advanced, 204 de-clined and 44 remained unchanged.

IDLC Investments said the last session of the week extended the bearish sentiment that prevailed throughout the week.

“Investors were reluctant from the start of the session. Alongside, they were eagerly waiting for the second half-yearly monetary policy statement,” it said.

IDLC said though the numer-ous earnings disclosures appeared during the day, the sentiment couldn’t get improved.

The malnourished activities failed to generate any substantial turnover, which amassed to be just over Tk200 crore, it said.

LankaBangla Securities said the market continued to extend loss-es yesterday, taking cues from the on-going deadlock in economic ac-tivities amid strikes and blockade.

It said investors were looking ahead to the monetary policy de-cision for the second half of the FY2014-15.

The intraday trading was mostly bearish, though buyers came in last hour to reduce loss of early trading, it said.

“Investors are looking forward to the indication that the policymakers would consider the shocks accruing to the economy as outcome of the ongoing political impasse in mone-tary policy statement.” l

CSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

Shahjibazar Power-N -8.31 -3.93 506.00 217.30 230.00 216.30 1.725 9.00 56.2Hamid Fabrics -N -7.28 -5.45 30.04 29.30 31.50 28.90 6.120 1.88 16.0Bangladesh Lamps -A -6.46 -5.18 104.21 102.80 109.00 102.10 0.049 1.13 92.2H.R. Textile -A -6.42 -6.34 24.80 24.80 24.80 24.80 0.012 1.98 12.5Eastern InsurA -6.11 -6.11 29.20 29.20 29.20 29.20 0.001 2.31 12.6GSP Finance-A -6.10 -6.12 28.22 27.70 30.00 27.50 3.558 1.58 17.9Prime Islami Life -A -6.01 -5.59 56.55 56.30 59.00 55.30 0.019 4.95 11.4Hwa Well Textiles-A -5.21 -5.21 34.60 34.60 34.60 34.60 0.014 3.52 9.8RAK Ceramics-A -4.59 -2.36 54.98 54.00 57.00 53.60 2.305 1.68 32.7Standard Ceramic -A -4.50 -4.50 38.20 38.20 38.20 38.20 0.023 0.52 73.5

DSE LOSER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

EXIM Bank 1 MF-A -9.09 -9.23 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 0.001 0.64 9.4Shahjibazar Power-N -8.39 -8.27 218.15 213.90 234.00 213.10 42.218 9.00 24.2Hamid Fabrics -N -8.20 -5.64 30.12 29.10 31.40 28.80 34.855 1.88 16.0National Tubes -A -8.02 -7.42 94.99 95.20 99.70 93.20 8.433 -1.36 -veMetro Spinning -A -6.20 -5.86 12.20 12.10 12.70 12.00 11.905 0.44 27.7BD. Autocars -Z -5.78 -3.31 21.02 21.20 22.50 20.70 0.062 0.14 150.1Keya Cosmetics -A -5.53 0.00 21.01 20.50 22.00 20.30 4.290 2.36 8.9GeminiSeaFood-B -5.41 -5.81 242.34 238.00 255.00 234.00 1.044 1.39 174.3GSP Finance-A -5.14 -5.20 28.09 27.70 28.90 27.40 40.575 1.58 17.8RAK Ceramics-A -4.59 -3.32 54.68 54.10 56.60 53.60 32.619 1.68 32.5

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

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

C & A Textile -N 827,191 20.90 11.74 25.10 -0.79 25.30 26.00 24.80 25.26BD Submarine Cable-A 139,615 15.27 8.58 108.80 6.56 102.10 112.30 105.00 109.34National Feed-N 323,857 10.36 5.82 31.30 -3.69 32.50 33.00 31.10 31.99Alltex Industries -Z 228,866 6.65 3.74 29.00 -3.33 30.00 30.70 28.60 29.07Hamid Fabrics -N 203,731 6.12 3.44 29.30 -7.28 31.60 31.50 28.90 30.04LafargeS Cement-Z 43,604 5.37 3.02 124.50 0.00 124.50 125.10 122.50 123.24Shurwid Ind. -N 153,137 3.98 2.24 25.80 -1.90 26.30 26.20 25.60 25.98SAIF Powertec-N 55,835 3.77 2.12 67.40 -2.32 69.00 69.50 67.00 67.61GSP Finance-A 126,083 3.56 2.00 27.70 -6.10 29.50 30.00 27.50 28.22Deshbandhu Polymer-A 161,232 3.42 1.92 21.10 2.93 20.50 21.40 20.60 21.21aamra technologies-A 86,290 3.24 1.82 37.70 1.07 37.30 37.90 37.00 37.56BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 101,473 3.14 1.76 30.80 -1.28 31.20 31.40 30.70 30.93Jamuna Oil -A 14,985 3.05 1.71 200.90 0.40 200.10 204.70 200.00 203.48SummitAlliancePort.-A 47,887 3.05 1.71 62.80 -3.24 64.90 65.00 61.90 63.59WesternMarine -N 58,450 2.85 1.60 48.50 -1.82 49.40 49.50 48.40 48.74

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume-Shares

Value in Million

% of Total-Turnover ClosingP Change

% ClosingY DHIGH DLOW Avg-Price

C & A Textile -N 4,324,990 109.06 5.28 25.10 -0.40 25.20 25.90 24.80 25.22LafargeS Cement-Z 623,925 77.18 3.74 124.50 0.00 124.50 125.00 122.60 123.70CVO PetroChem RL-A 137,097 69.20 3.35 500.90 -2.51 513.80 517.90 498.30 504.74BD Submarine Cable-A 577,649 62.61 3.03 109.20 6.43 102.60 112.10 104.00 108.39Grameenphone-A 158,935 52.35 2.53 329.30 -0.90 332.30 331.50 328.00 329.38aamra technologies-A 1,203,132 45.18 2.19 37.80 1.61 37.20 37.90 36.80 37.55Shahjibazar Power-N 193,525 42.22 2.04 213.90 -8.39 233.50 234.00 213.10 218.15GSP Finance-A 1,444,469 40.58 1.96 27.70 -5.14 29.20 28.90 27.40 28.09DESCO Ltd. -A 581,221 39.60 1.92 68.30 1.04 67.60 68.80 66.60 68.13Square Pharma -A

154,206 39.12 1.89 254.30 -0.27 255.00 256.60 252.70 253.67

Brac Bank -A 921,002 36.29 1.76 39.50 -0.75 39.80 40.10 39.10 39.40Barakatullah E. D.-A 1,066,696 35.70 1.73 33.70 2.12 33.00 33.90 32.60 33.46Alltex Industries -Z 1,197,423 34.94 1.69 29.00 -3.33 30.00 30.10 28.70 29.18Hamid Fabrics -N 1,157,362 34.86 1.69 29.10 -8.20 31.70 31.40 28.80 30.12MJL BD Ltd.-A 303,733 34.64 1.68 113.30 -1.48 115.00 116.70 112.70 114.03

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

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

Bank 217.81 10.55 9.85 5.26 227.66 10.11NBFI 134.48 6.51 8.52 4.55 143.00 6.35Investment 43.86 2.12 4.74 2.53 48.60 2.16Engineering 235.89 11.42 19.57 10.45 255.46 11.34Food & Allied 91.08 4.41 6.34 3.39 97.42 4.32Fuel & Power 308.76 14.95 13.83 7.39 322.59 14.32Jute 1.72 0.08 0.00 1.72 0.08Textile 317.49 15.37 46.62 24.90 364.11 16.16Pharma & Chemical 163.83 7.93 10.30 5.50 174.13 7.73Paper & Packaging 6.85 0.33 3.92 2.09 10.77 0.48Service 64.60 3.13 7.04 3.76 71.63 3.18Leather 19.62 0.95 2.99 1.60 22.61 1.00Ceramic 37.61 1.82 2.73 1.46 40.34 1.79Cement 94.41 4.57 7.11 3.80 101.52 4.51Information Technology 72.52 3.51 5.36 2.86 77.88 3.46General Insurance 20.79 1.01 0.82 0.44 21.60 0.96Life Insurance 22.75 1.10 0.43 0.23 23.18 1.03Telecom 114.96 5.57 17.46 9.32 132.42 5.88Travel & Leisure 21.09 1.02 3.85 2.06 24.95 1.11Miscellaneous 75.40 3.65 15.76 8.42 91.16 4.05Debenture 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.00

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4724.04933 (-) 0.50% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1747.75509 (-) 0.52% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14427.1057 (-) 0.65% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 11743.2557 (-) 0.66% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8736.0301 (-) 0.66% ▼

DSE key features January 29, 2015Turnover (Million Taka)

2,065.74

Turnover (Volume)

58,045,175

Number of Contract 68,995

Traded Issues 303

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

57

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

240

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,525.76

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.62

CSE key features January 29, 2015Turnover (Million Taka) 179.31

Turnover (Volume) 6,252,539

Number of Contract 11,240

Traded Issues 236

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

55

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

176

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,433.90

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.50

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

The market continued to extend losses yesterday, taking cues from the on-going deadlock in economic activities amid strikes and blockade

CSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

National Life I -A 9.46 9.46 202.50 202.50 202.50 202.50 0.014 12.46 16.3Paramount Insur-A 7.38 6.77 15.93 16.00 16.00 15.60 0.010 1.13 14.1Rangpur Foundry -A 7.23 7.24 100.81 100.80 103.00 100.00 0.151 3.23 31.2BGIC -A 7.07 5.38 20.96 21.20 21.40 20.10 0.029 2.35 8.9BD Submarine Cable-A 6.56 11.36 109.34 108.80 112.30 105.00 15.266 0.76 143.9National Polymer -A 6.14 5.39 68.58 69.10 70.00 67.50 0.314 3.30 20.8Pragati Gen. I -A 5.00 5.00 37.80 37.80 37.80 37.80 0.001 2.47 15.3GQ Ball PenA 4.17 3.75 99.61 100.00 100.00 97.20 0.036 2.21 45.1Fine Foods A 3.96 6.83 10.79 10.50 11.00 10.10 0.048 -0.48 -vePhoenix Fin. 1st MF-A 3.92 5.37 5.30 5.30 5.30 5.10 0.075 0.84 6.3

DSE GAINER

Company Closing (% Change)

Aver-age (%

Change)

Closin-gAvg. Closing DHIGH DLOW Turnover

in MillionLatest

EPSLatest

PE

National Polymer -A 7.94 5.31 68.43 69.30 70.40 65.00 26.885 3.30 20.7BD Submarine Cable-A 6.43 9.82 108.39 109.20 112.10 104.00 62.610 0.76 142.6Kay & Que (BD) -Z 5.34 5.82 13.82 13.80 13.90 13.50 0.212 -1.41 -veBATBCL -A 4.18 4.12 2,930.29 2,934.40 2,957.30 2,780.00 28.204 94.59 31.0Aziz PipesZ 3.90 3.41 21.20 21.30 21.70 20.00 0.276 -0.37 -veShampur Sugar -Z 3.90 6.67 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 0.010 -52.72 -veIslami Ins.BD-A 3.85 (5.33) 18.81 18.90 19.20 18.00 0.158 1.48 12.7Rangpur Foundry -A 3.74 3.16 99.58 99.90 100.30 95.20 4.664 3.23 30.8BGIC -A 3.48 4.46 21.07 20.80 21.30 19.50 4.562 2.35 9.0Kohinoor Chem -A 2.92 1.64 345.28 348.90 359.00 337.50 0.713 10.10 34.2

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

CORPORATE NEWS

ARC Advisory Group has recently identi� ed IFS, a global enterprise applications company as number one vendor for the third consecutive year in terms of market share in enterprise asset management and � eld service management software for oil and gas industry

Prime Bank Ltd has recently held the prize giving ceremony of its 17th International Rating Chess Tournament at Bangladesh Chess Federation. The bank’s DMD, Habibur Rahman was present at the programme as chief guest

MD of Union Bank Ltd, Md Abdul Hamid Miah has recently handed over a cheque of Tk 10 lakh to Dr Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank as a donation for treatment of burnt victims at Burnt Unit of DMCH

Mutual Trust Bank Ltd has recently organized a daylong workshop on prevention of money laundering and terrorism � nancing at a local hotel in Sylhet. The bank’s DMD, COO and chief anti-money laundering compliance o� cer, Md Hashem Chowdhury inaugurated the workshop as chief guest

MD, CEO and chairperson of asset liabilities committee of Sonali Bank Limited, Prodip Kumar Dutta has recently presided over a committee meeting held at the bank’s conference room

UN: EU investment plan could create 2.1mn jobs n AFP, Geneva

An ambitious European investment plan could create 2.1mn jobs by 2018 if properly implemented, the ILO said Wednesday.

Crafted by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, the 351bn euro ($387bn) plan is based on 21bn eu-ros in seed money from the EU budget and the bloc’s European Investment Bank (EIB).

Juncker expects this will trigger massive private investment over three years to take the plan to the total fi gure.

But the Geneva-based International Labour Organization warned that the plan would have only a marginal eff ect on unemployment if it does not focus on making credit accessible to job-rich small enterprises and provide more in-vestment to countries with higher job-less rates.

“If the Juncker investment plan is not well designed, the employment benefi ts will be very small,” said Ray-mond Torres, director of research at the ILO.

“By 2018, the employment impact will be only 400,000 new jobs, and giv-en the 23 mn unemployed this is a very small percent,” he told reporters.

“If the plan is well designed, by con-trast the number of jobs created could reach 2.1mn by 2018 and lower the un-employment rate by almost one per-centage point,” Torres said.

He said the plan had to focus on projects involving large economies of scale such as energy networks and green projects.

“The plan has to tackle the sources of low employment in Europe and in particular in small and medium-sized enterprises,” he said.

“In high unemployment countries

like Italy, Spain and so on there are small enterprises that cannot invest because they do not have proper access to bank credit.”

The Juncker plan is built on a com-plex mechanism intended to attract private investors to risky and over-looked projects that meet the EU’s lon-ger term goals.

The ILO also said countries that were in more need of aid should be al-located proportionately more resourc-es, pointing to a North-South divide. It said France, Germany, Italy and Britain received more than 45% of all funding by the European Investment Bank.

“In recent years, the disproportionate rise in unemployment levels has not been

followed by a parallel increase in fi nanc-ing from the EIB,” it said, citing Greece, which receives only 2.3% of EIB funding going to EU member states while it is home to 5.1% of the bloc’s unemployed.

“Similarly Spain receives 16.6% of total EIB funding within the EU but hosts 23.1% of the EU’s total unem-ployed,” it said.

“These developments have imposed huge economic and social costs, with the worst impacts in southern Europe but with damage to households and working people across the region,” said ILO depu-ty director for policy Sandra Polaski.

“The urgency to address these loss-es increases with every passing day,” she said. l

European � ags are seen outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels REUTERS

Apple ties with Samsung as top smartphone vendorn AFP, Seoul

Apple caught up with Samsung as the world’s biggest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of 2014, thanks to booming sales of its new iPhone 6, market researcher Strategy Analytics said yesterday.

Apple reported a record net profi t of $18bn in the quarter, on the back of what the California tech titan described as “staggering” iPhone 6 sales - especially in China. Its South Korean rival, on the other hand, has seen its quarterly profi ts slashed in 2014, in the face of escalating competition at every price point.

Strategy Analytics said Apple shipped 74.5mn handsets in the fourth quarter, compared to 51mn a year ago.

Samsung logged the same number of shipments, which in its case marked a downturn from 86mn the previous year.

The turnaround saw Samsung’s share of the global smartphone market

tumble from 30% to 19.6%, on a par with Apple. Samsung, which belatedly entered the market pioneered by Ap-ple, had dethroned the US fi rm as the world’s top smartphone vendor in the third quarter of 2011.

The South Korean electronics giant then went on to replace Nokia as the global leader in overall mobile phone sales in the fi rst quarter of 2012.

Over the past year, Samsung’s mar-ket-leading position has been under siege from a resurgent Apple and rising Chinese rivals like Xiaomi. The South Korean company, whose latest Galaxy S5 smartphone received a lukewarm re-ception, posted its fi rst drop in annual net profi ts in three years on Thursday.

“Samsung continues to face intense competition from Apple at the higher-end of the smartphone market, from Huawei in the middle-tiers and from Xiaomi and others at the entry-level,” Strategy Analytics said in a statement. l

BoE governor: Eurozone faces ‘another lost decade’ n AFP, Dublin

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned that the eurozone faces “another lost decade”, urging more solidarity in what is being seen as a thinly-veiled reprimand to Germany after elections in Greece.

Carney started off his speech in Dublin late on Wednesday saying he intended “to refl ect on how the euro area could act to avoid another lost de-cade”.

Carney urged the bloc to “share fi s-cal sovereignty” and accused eurozone leaders of “timidity”, in comments that come after the electoral victory of the anti-austerity Syriza coalition in Greece.

New prime minister Alexis Tsipras has threatened to break commitments made by preceding governments and wants to renegotiate Greece’s 240bn euro ($269bn) EU-IMF bailout and scrap austerity measures.

Germany, as Europe’s biggest econ-omy and eff ective paymaster, has lent it the most.

Without referring to Greece explic-itly, Carney said that if the eurozone were a country “fi scal policy would be substantially more supportive”.

“Persistent economic weakness damages the extent to which economies can recover. Skills and capital atrophy. Workers become discouraged and leave the labour force. Prospects decline and the noose tightens,” he said.

“As diffi cult as it has been, some countries, including the US and the UK, are now escaping this trap. Others in the euro area are sinking deeper.” l

Dollar climbs in Asia as Fed points to ‘solid’ growth n AFP, Tokyo

The US dollar extended its gains yester-day after the Federal Reserve pointed to the “solid pace” of growth in the world’s top economy, signalling a mid-year rate hike was still in play.

In Tokyo, the greenback briefl y rose above the 118-yen level before settling back at 117.70 yen in afternoon trade, still up from 117.53 yen in New York.

The euro weakened to $1.1272 from $1.1284, while it ticked up to 132.68 yen, against 132.62 yen in US trade.

“While the Fed pointed out the risk of low infl ation, I don’t think it changes the main scenario for a rate hike in mid-2015,” Masato Yanagiya, head of foreign exchange at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, told Bloomberg News.

“With the US headed for tighter monetary policy while other countries are increasing stimulus, the dollar will remain strong.”

After a two-day meeting, the Fed’s policy statement suggested no devia-tion from its likely course to begin hik-ing interest rates around the middle of the year - despite a weak eurozone economy, political uncertainty in Greece, and the negative impact of the strong dollar on US businesses.

“The Fed Statement off ered few sur-prises and some subtle changes that keep (its) options open to either begin the tightening later this year or hold off , should conditions not warrant a shift in policy,” National Australia Bank said.

On Wednesday, the policy-setting

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), as expected, left the key fed-eral funds rate near zero, where it has been pegged since late 2008 to support a recovery in the economy.

The Fed “judges that it can be pa-tient in beginning to normalise the stance of monetary policy,” the state-ment said.

The central bank pointed to im-proved US labour market conditions, with “strong job gains and a lower un-employment rate,” and diminishing slack in the market.

The FOMC had inserted the “pa-tient” language in its December state-ment. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said last month that the description meant the Fed was unlikely to raise interest rates within the next couple of meetings, in January and in March.

The US economy produced a robust fi ve percent expansion in the third quarter of last year, and for all of 2014 had the strongest job growth in 15 years, pulling the unemployment rate down to 5.6 percent in December.

The dollar was mostly stronger against other Asia-Pacifi c currencies.

It rose to 61.50 Indian rupees from 61.48 rupees on Wednesday, to 12,531 Indonesian rupiah from 12,524 rupiah, to 1,093.94 South Korean won from 1,085.11 won, and to Tw$ 31.42 from Tw$31.23.

The greenback weakened to 44.15 Philippine pesos from 44.17 pesos, to Sg$1.3519 from Sg$1.3569, while it was unchanged at 32.63 Thai baht. l

Oil near six-year lows after US stockpiles hit record highn Reuters, Singapore

Oil remained weak in Asia yesterday after data showing record US stock-piles sent prices tumbling to the lowest level in nearly six years in the previous session and analysts said a global glut would continue to keep the market un-der pressure.

The US Energy Information Admin-istration (EIA) said domestic crude oil stocks rose by almost 9mn barrels last week to reach nearly 407mn, the high-est level since the government began keeping records in 1982.

“The market expects stockpiles to keep rising, pushing front-month prices further down as refi neries enter maintenance season and are likely run at lower utilisation rates,” ANZ said in a note.

Prices yesterday stuck close to the previous settlement levels. Brent LCOc1 was trading at $48.65 a barrel at 0255 GMT while US crude CLc1 was at $44.54, versus the low of $44.08 hit

on Wednesday, the weakest since April 2009.

Analysts said the outlook remained weak, especially with demand slowing in China.

“The Chinese government is mov-ing away from the post-2008 invest-ment binge and gradually moving to-wards a more moderate but sustainable consumption-led economic growth,”

Wood Mackenzie said yesterday.“2014 was the fourth straight year

of a decoupling relationship between China’s GDP and oil demand growth as the eff ects of the 2009 stimulus began to fade,” it said, adding that it “expects industrial recovery and related invest-ment will remain subdued in 2015-2016”.

Swiss bank UBS said cheap oil would not provide a big boost to Asian eco-nomic growth.

“Big, big drops in oil; small eff ects on economies ... Cheap oil should give a small boost to Asian GDP, but not re-ally enough to warrant major changes in growth forecasts,” it said.

Researchers at Energy Aspects said in a note that “a new normal is in the making for China — slower and less oil-intensive growth”.

They added that “oil consumption in China will become more effi cient, lead-ing to slower demand growth of around 0.2-0.3mn barrels per day compared to expectations of above 0.5mn”. l

A man � lls up his car at a petrol station in Rome REUTERS

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Friday, January 30, 2015

DILBERT

China: ECB QE could cause ‘ competitive depreciation’ n AFP, Beijing

The European Central Bank’s new quantitative easing (QE) measures could trigger “competitive deprecia-tion” of currencies around the world, China’s commerce ministry warned yesterday.

The ECB last week unveiled a pro-gramme to buy 60bn euros ($68bn) of private and public bonds each month starting in March, a move intended to ward off defl ation in the eurozone.

The fi gure was more than the 50bn euros expected by analysts, and the unprecedented scheme will total over 1tn euros.

“The European QE may worsen the competitive depreciation of currencies of various countries, further increas-ing the uncertainties in international cross-border capital fl ows,” said Chi-na’s commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang.

“We will closely monitor that,” he told reporters at a briefi ng.

While the measures would make Eu-ropean exports cheaper and might help boost market confi dence and growth in the eurozone in the short term, he

added, their long run eff ects remained uncertain.

“It is still unclear whether in the mid-to-long term the QE can stop the eurozone economy from slipping into long-term stagnation and realise com-prehensive recovery and growth,” he said.

The European Union is China’s larg-est trade partner. It is the Asian giant’s top source of imports and its second-largest export market.

Shen said the impact of the stimulus on bilateral trade will be “both good and bad”.

“The QE will push the euro to fur-ther depreciate, which is likely to lead Chinese companies expanding imports from Europe and lowering their invest-ment costs in Europe.

“Meanwhile the weakening of the euro will aff ect Chinese companies’ exports to Europe and Chinese fi rms’ existing investment in Europe will also face the risks of suff ering losses,” he said.

According to Chinese data, two-way shipments increased 9.9% year-on-year to $615.1bn in 2014, with China in surplus to the tune of $126.6bn. l The � gure was more than the 50bn euros expected by analysts, and the unprecedented scheme will total over 1tn euros REUTERS

Global banks to raise base salaries by under 3% in 2015 n Reuters, London

Global banks expect to increase base sala-ries by less than 3% this year and most are not planning to overhaul their pay structure in the face of tougher European Union rules on bonuses, a survey reported yesterday.

Salary increases across banks, insurers and other � nancial services � rms are expected to be between 5-8% in emerging markets, 2-3% in North America and 1.5-2% in Europe, according to a survey of 63 � rms by consulting � rm Mercer.

The survey said about 60% of compa-nies predicted 2015 bonus levels would be similar to 2014, although 20% expected levels to increase from last year. Increases are most expected in private banking, private equity, investment banking, and property & casualty insurance roles.

The survey showed 40% of banks had last year introduced role-based allowances

(typically 12 monthly payments that are set at the start of the year but not counted as basic pay by banks) in response to a new European Union law capping bonuses at 200 percent of salary, and an additional 10% were planning to introduce them.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) said in October the role-based allowances counted as variable pay, so banks needed to adapt rules again, but Mercer said its survey showed very few � rms were plan-ning to eliminate them.

“Based on the � ndings from Mercer’s survey, it seems 2015 will be a year for stabilizing compensation programs after several years of changes in large part due to regulatory requirements since the � nancial crisis,” said Vicki Elliott, partner at Mercer.

The survey said salaries in life insurance and property and casualty insurance are expected to rise by more than 3% this year, but banks expect to lift salaries by 2-3%. l

Four thousand US dollars are counted out by a banker counting currency at a bank in Westminster, Colorado REUTERS

Gold retreats as Fed’s upbeat outlook boosts dollar n Reuters, Singapore

Gold dropped for the fourth session in fi ve yesterday after the Federal Reserve painted a bullish picture of the US economy, signalling it was on course to lift interest rates this year.

The prospect of a hike in US rates makes non-interest-bearing assets such as gold less attractive, helping pull bullion further away from a fi ve-month peak reached last week.

“People are already adjusted to the new policy stance and there’s no fur-ther reason to push up gold to a much higher level,” said Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong’s Wing Fung Fi-nancial Group.

In Wednesday’s policy statement, the Fed said the U S economy was ex-panding “at a solid pace” with strong job gains, leaving the central bank on track to raise rates this year. But it re-peated it would be “patient” in decid-ing when to increase benchmark bor-rowing costs from zero.

Spot gold was off 0.2% at $1,282.11 an ounce at 0657 GMT, adding to a 0.6% loss in the previous session. Gold hit a fi ve-month high of $1,306.20 on Jan 22.

US gold for February delivery eased 0.3% to $1,281.90 an ounce.

The dollar was fi rmer against a bas-ket of currencies and not far from an 11-year peak reached last week as dol-lar bulls focused on the positive in the Fed’s statement.

The Federal Open Market Commit-tee said it would take “fi nancial and international developments” into ac-count when determining when to raise rates, referencing global markets for the fi rst time since January 2013. But analysts say that does little to alter market expectations of a mid-year rate increase. l

Wanted: Asia-focused banker for StanChart’s top spot n Reuters, Hong Kong

Standard Chartered Plc is seeking a leader with a tough-to-fi nd mix of Asian experience and regulatory clout as it kicks off the search for a successor to CEO Peter Sands, investors, bankers and headhunters told Reuters.

The list of potential candidates is wide and includes Piyush Gupta, CEO of Singapore-based DBS, outgoing Westpac CEO Gail Kelly, National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s boss Alex Thursby, ANZ CEO Mike Smith and Antonio Horta-Osorio, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group.

Sands steered the global bank out of the fi nancial crisis and into a string of record earnings during his eight-year tenure, but is now under pressure from top shareholders after a surge in bad loans on the back of slower Asian growth hit profi ts and triggered a 43% slump in its share price.

Three of the bank’s top 30 inves-tors, fed up with the pace of Sands’ turnaround strategy, told Reuters in December Sands should be replaced, probably this year.

Insiders have told Reuters sharehold-ers are looking for a banker with a deep

understanding of Asia, the main area of focus for StanChart but currently a ma-jor troublespot following a slump in oil prices and receding growth in China.

Any successor to Sands would also need to be able to speak head-to-head with US regulators, these insiders say.

Standard Chartered has faced a string of legal issues in the United States, including having to pay $667m over sanctions violations involving Iran and other countries.

“The role almost needs three people doing it. You’ve got outward facing reg-ulatory and political challenges if you’re a bank of that size, and then inward looking you’re sorting out the bank’s problems,” said an investor whose fi rm has a substantial stake in StanChart.

Standard Chartered is using several headhunting fi rms, including Egon Zehnder, which is involved in assessing potential CEOs, three people familiar with the matter said.

StanChart’s No 1 shareholder, Singa-pore-based sovereign investor Temas-ek, is unhappy about the performance of its 18% stake and has called for a suc-cession plan for the CEO, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. l

Russia cuts spending, bails out banks in ‘anti-crisis’ plan n AFP, Moscow

Russia promised government spend-ing cuts but more money for retirees and bns of dollars worth of support for banks as it detailed Wednesday a plan to support its economy battered by low oil prices and sanctions.

The plan, published on the govern-ment’s website on Wednesday morn-ing, foresees a 10% reduction in “most categories of budget spending” but, in-creases on welfare, which was the cor-nerstone of President Vladimir Putin’s election campaign in 2012.

The measures will help the econ-omy “adapt to new conditions” in a situation when Western sanctions over Ukraine and tumbling oil prices have already cost it $200 bn, Finance Minis-ter Anton Siluanov told Russian sena-tors while presenting the plan.

“The eff ect of external shocks on the credit balance is about $200bn,” he said, adding that most analysts “believe that this situation will continue long-term.”

Speaking at Russia’s audit chamber, Putin said anti-crisis measures should not just “throw money at various in-dustries” from national reserves and not let welfare funding “spread over everybody”.

Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said he expected a 2015 fall in consum-er demand by up to nine % and in in-vestment by “double digits,” according to Russian agencies.

Real wages, real income, retail sales and services are all falling, he said.

“We haven’t seen this in 15 years, it is a huge challenge considering the rise in debts of households,” said Ulyu-kayev, who has previously predicted that the economy could contract by up to fi ve percent if oil prices stay low.

Companies eye Russia’s reservesThe government’s crisis plan lists vari-ous measures without spelling out the total sum.

Last week authorities presented a draft plan worth 1.37tn rubles ($20bn, 18 bn euros), which comes on top of a 1tn ruble ($15bn, 13bn euros) bail-out package for struggling banks an-nounced in December.

The government is prepared to fun-nel the tn ruble fund to Russia’s top 27 banks, requiring them to expand lend-ing to the real economy by one percent every month, Siluanov said.

Under the crisis plan, pensions will be increased by 11.4% next month at the cost of 188bn rubles ($2.8bn) --

more than expected -- to help out the poorest Russians.

Defence spending is not subject to any austerity measures, according to the plan, and defence industries will get extra money to replace sanctioned imports, it said.

The agriculture sector will also get an additional 50bn rubles ($740mn) in a bid to boost local production to make up for shortages caused by Moscow’s embargoes of Western products over the Ukraine crisis.

“As thing stand, the plan is heavy on policy but light on numbers,” Liza Ermolenko, emerging markets analyst with Capital Economics, said in a note.

She predicted Russian fi scal policy would stay “relatively accommodative in 2015” before a tighter fi scal squeeze in the following years.

Siluanov underlined that Russia’s wealth funds built up from oil sales are not limitless so many investment proj-ects would have to be cut, particularly in construction.

“All new construction projects will have to be delayed,” he said, noting the exception of particularly important ones in Crimea, the Black Sea penin-sula Russia annexed last March which is struggling without a bridge linking it to mainland Russia.

High energy prices let Russia amass a sizeable pile of cash divided between two oil funds. Siluanov said 5.6tn ru-bles ($83.5bn) are in Russia’s reserve fund and another 4.9tn rubles ($73bn) in its national welfare fund.

A number of companies that can no longer borrow abroad have asked for colossal amounts of cash from the re-serves. One, oil giant Rosneft, has put in a request for 1.3tn rubles to fund its projects, deputy economy minis-ter Nikolai Podguzov told journalists Wednesday.

Pressure on the fi nance ministry to grant this funding is likely to grow as the crisis deepens.

“The most important thing is not to squander the reserves in one year,” Si-luanov said. l

Fed seen remaining patient with rate guidance amid global turmoiln Reuters, Washington

The Federal Reserve is expected to sig-nal it remains on track to begin raising interest rates later this year, as the cen-tral bank shows confi dence that low infl ation and rising risks from abroad have yet to derail the US economic re-covery.

The Fed’s fi rst two-day policy meet-ing of the year concludes on Wednes-day, and policymakers will likely restate their “patient” approach to rais-ing rates, while also voicing faith that the economy will continue improving.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen faces growing skepticism that the central bank can tighten monetary policy by mid-year, with a strengthening dollar and falling oil prices adding to worries that infl a-tion readings remain too low for the Fed to begin hiking.

But U.S. central bank offi cials have argued that the drop in oil prices is a transitory factor that benefi ts U.S. consumers in the short run. And with unemployment dropping and growth on track, Fed offi cials have indicated they will move forward with an initial rate hike in the middle or latter half of the year even if other closely watched measures such as wages remain weak.

“The Fed will follow through and normalize rates later this year...Our thinking is June. I would not de-bate anybody who said September,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics.

This week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting features four new regional bank presidents who rotate into voting positions: Atlanta’s Den-nis Lockhart, Chicago’s Charles Evans, Richmond’s Jeff rey Lacker and San Francisco’s John Williams. With the

exception of Lacker, an infl ation hawk, the rest of that bloc are largely dov-ish central bankers who have favored keeping rates low throughout the eco-nomic recovery.

Market turmoil The Fed’s policy statement on Wednes-day will follow a tumultuous few weeks in markets worldwide. In that time, the divergence between the US and other major central banks has become stark, with a host of countries cutting interest rates and the European Central Bank launching a massive new stimulus pro-gram.

The collapse in global oil prices is already helping to push the Fed fur-ther from achieving a key policy goal of raising annual infl ation to two percent. Lower energy prices and the ECB’s stimulus also adds further upward pressure on the dollar.

“The dollar, as a standalone, is un-likely to feature materially in the Fed’s decision. But the Fed will consider the extent to which international weakness and geo-political issues counter better economic conditions,” said Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Al-lianz.

Morgan Stanley moved its Fed liftoff forecast to March 2016 from January, and lowered its 2015 core PCE growth

forecast - a key Fed infl ationary mea-sure - to 1.2% from 1.9%.

U S economic data meanwhile has been mixed and futures contracts show investors betting on a greater chance of the Fed moving up rates in September or later, rather than June.

But in the Fed’s December state-ment, its addition of the word “patient” in reference to rate guidance showed the central bank was still inching closer to lift off . Yellen went further at the De-cember press conference to say the Fed was unlikely to begin the process for at least the “next couple of meetings.”

That statement all but ruled out a move in January and March, with in-vestors now watching for when ‘pa-tient’ is dropped, which will likely signal the Fed is ready to move at the next meeting [ID:nL1N0UR23R]. While Yellen has said a rate decision depends on the data, the June meeting and its scheduled press conference appears to be the central bank’s target.

“The Fed is operating under the base case of a June liftoff , and June is still several months away,” said Corner-stone Macro economist Robert Perli, who added he expects, at most, minor changes to the Fed’s December state-ment. “The Fed can aff ord to buy itself some more time, and that’s exactly what we expect it to do." l

The e� ect of external shocks on the credit balance is about $200bn