n Tribune Report

At least 10 more people were killed and scores of others injured yesterday, the second day opposition alliance’s coun-trywide blockade programme, raising the death toll to 18 since the Election Commission had announced the polls schedule on Monday evening.

Meanwhile, the BNP-led 18-par-ty combine yesterday extended the rail-road-waterway blockade until 5am tomorrow.

Among the deceased, two BNP-Ja-maat men were shot dead in Sirajganj. A Jamaat man was killed in Jessore, an-other Jamaat man and a housewife in Satkhira, a ruling party-backed Union Parishad member in Gazipur and two persons in Chittagong.

Anwara Begum, 42, an employee of National Bank, and Mozammel Haque, 20, a human-hauler driver, succumbed to injuries yesterday. They were injured in bomb attacks on Tuesday.

Moreover, several hundred people, including policemen, were injured dur-ing incidents when pickets, mainly from BNP and Jamaat, locked into � erce clash-es with the law enforcers and the Awami League supporters. The opposition sup-porters, armed with bombs, homemade weapons, also engaged in vandalism and arson attacks on vehicles.

On Tuesday, eight people were PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Non-stop shutdown orblockade likely next weekn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Apparently frustrated at the prospect of a dialogue on polls-time govern-ment, the BNP-led 18-party alliance decided to announce a non-stop shut-down or blockade programme from the next week.

The party is also planning to lay a siege to the Election Commission of-� ces across the country on the days of

nomination paper submission but the programme is yet to be � nalised, party insiders said.

The opposition alliance yesterday � rst extended the road-rail-waterways blockade by 12 hours until 6pm today and then in a late night development Ruhul Kabir Rizbhi, joint secretary of BNP, at another press brie� ng at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters fur-ther stretched the programme until 5am tomorrow.

The party, earlier, refrained from

announcing any programme for today leaving an opening for the government to respond to the call of the opposition, he said.

A senior leader seeking anonymity told the Dhaka Tribune that they had a plan to impose a � ve-day blockade or enforce a shutdown from Sunday.

“We hoped that the government would take initiative to hold a dialogue over the polls-time government but the government did not. So as part of our previous plan we will announce a non-stop programme from Sunday,” he said.

He also said they had a plan to lay a siege to the EC o� ces for one to two days on the last day of nomination pa-per submission on November 2.

The opposition combine will also o� er a Gayebana Namaaj-e-Zanaja on Friday after Juma prayer across the country seeking divine blessings for those who died during the blockade programme.

Rizvi at the press conference yester-day afternoon claimed that eight oppo

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

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News4 The Forensic Department of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital yesterday handed over the body of one Chandan Chakrabarty alias Sajjad Hossain to its anatomy department to use for research purpose, following a High Court verdict.

Juris5 A� davit means a sworn statement in writing made especially under oath or on a� rmation before an authorised magistrate or o� cer.

Nation7 The farmers in Jhenaidah were impressed when they were receiving almost optimum prices of their main cereal crop paddy during current harvesting period of Transplanted Aman paddy.

Op-Ed11 Is the ball in the president’s court now? As violence has gripped the country and more lives have been lost in the past few days, the question has gained currency.

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Avenue TTaaga – blending the West and us

BusinessMega windmill on the cards

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Taranco due in early December n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

UN envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco will visit Dhaka with a team from De-cember 6 to 10 in the backdrop of con-frontational politics in the country.

Taranco, an assistant secretary-gen-eral of Department of Political A� airs, will have o� cial meetings with the Election Commission o� cials and For-eign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque, an o� cial of the foreign ministry said.

Yesterday, UN Resident Coordina-tor Neil Walker had a meeting with the foreign secretary and discussed about the visit, the o� cial said seekinganonymity.

Walker also called on Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ah-mad to discuss Taranco’s visit.

This is Taranco’s third visit within a year as he had visited Dhaka � rst in De-cember and later in May.

He had a series of meetings with all major stakeholders including the prime minister, leader of the opposition, speak-er, the CEC, leaders of other political par-ties and members of the civil society.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

BLAST IN CPB RALLY

CID presses charge sheet after 12 yearsn Julfi kar Ali Manik and

Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Charges were � nally pressed yesterday against 13 activists of banned Islamist out� t Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji) in two cases � led over the 2001 terror attack on a rally of Communist Party of Bangladesh at Paltan Maidan that killed eight persons and injured over 50.

Investigation O� cer Mrinal Kanti Saha, also an inspector of the Crimi-nal Investigation Department (CID), submitted the charge sheets before the Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court accusing Huji for the attack on January 20, 2001.

The IO also made 137 prosecution witnesses in these cases.

The accused will face charges in the cases – one for killing eight people and

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

10 killed on 2nd day of blockadeSeveral hundred people including law enforcers were also injured

Anwara Begum, 42, a cook of National Bank, did not belong to any political party and little did she know about the political � ght over polls-time arrangement. Yet she had to die yesterday as a bomb had hit her head on Tuesday cracking her skull. She succumbed to her injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Pickets’ attacks claim two more livesn Mohammad Jamil Khan

Two persons including a woman vic-timised in blast attacks in the capital on Tuesday succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medi-cal College Hospital yesterday.

One of them, Anwara Begum Anu, 50, a grade IV employee of National Bank’s Malibagh branch, was critical-ly injured after some pickets threw a hand bomb at her while she was going back home from work.

The bomb hit her in the head and her condition deteriorated. The doc-tors immediately shifted her to the In-tensive Care Unit.

The woman hailed from Kotapara of Bagerhat district. Mother of three sons and one daughter, Anwara lost her hus-band and was earning her livelihood by working at the bank as a cook.

Mohammad Alam, elder son of Anu, told the Dhaka Tribune that his mother had stayed in the house of his sister Nasi-ma who was married with one Ripon.

Ripon told the Dhaka Tribune that her mother-in-law was the second wife of Delwar. Her two sons Mohammad Alam and Abir live in their native village.

Nasima said her mother told her about leaving the job at the bank and returning home in Bagerhat next year.

The other victim, Mozammel Haque, 20, who received burn injury from pickets’ attack near South Banas-

ree area around 8:30pm on Tuesday, died around 12:30am today.

The human-hauler driver was shift-ed to the burn unit ICU at the DMCH with 60% injury.

Sohel, brother of Mozammel, said his brother was a “Laguna” driver and they lived in Rampura area. They hail from Sonargaon of Narayanganj.

“Last day, I asked my brother to come home as early as possible. He re-plied that he will make the last trip af-ter sunset and return home. But before he could complete the last trip, destiny brought him to the hospital.”

Partha Sankar Paul, resident surgeon at the DMCH burn unit, told the Dhaka Tribune they had shifted Mozammel to the ICU as his condition denigrated.

Since October 27, eight people have succumbed to injuries because of po-litical violence. At least, 90 people took treatment after being attacked by pickets while 20 were still undergoing

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Two in critical condition; 10 more injured in blast on the second day of blockade

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013

CID presses charge PAGE 1 COLUMN 1the other under Explosives Substances Act. Manzurul Ahsan Khan, then pres-ident of the CPB, � led the cases with Motijheel police station. He alleged that a group of anti-state conspirators carried out the attack, which took place during the � rst regime of Sheikh Hasi-na-led Awami League government.

After two years of the attack, during the regime of BNP-Jamaat led four par-ty alliance government, the CID had submitted a � nal report on December 17, 2003 accusing none. But the com-

plainant was not satis� ed with the report. On January 27, 2005, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate asked the au-thorities to reinvestigate the matter following a petition for fresh probe into the cases.

Among the 13 accused, Mufti Hannan, Mufti Mainuddin Khaja alias Abu Jandal, Arif Hasan Suman, Maulana Sabbir Hossain, Shawkat Osman and Md Moshiur Rahman are now in Jail.

The seven others on the run are

Maulana Abdul Hai, Mufti Sha� qur Rahman, Jahangir Alam Badar, Nurul Islam, Mohibul Muttakim, Anisul Morsalin and Ra� qul Islam Miraj.

Involvement of Huji with the blast on the CPB rally surfaced nine and a half years after the attack when Jandal had shouldered responsibility in a judicial confessional statement.

In his statement, Jandal said the Huji men had carried out bomb attack on the CPB rally where � ve people were killed. While escaping, the attackers exploded another bomb at Bangabandhu Avenue that killed three people including two hawkers.

Some of the accused including Hannan and Jandal are also accused in August 21 grenade attack cases.

Hannan and some other of the 13 accused are also charged in Ramna Batamul blast case. The CID found Huji’s involvement with the attack on Chhayanaut’s traditional Bangla New Year cultural programme on April 14, 2001 that killed 10 people.

Huji attempted to assassinate Sheikh Hasina when she was prime minister in her � rst regime from 1996 to 2001.

Banned out� t Huji was also blamed for some other terrorist attacks including the grenade attack on former British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury at Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet on May 21, 2004. The Bangladeshi-born British envoy escaped death narrowly. A Sylhet court had awarded Hannan death sentence for the attack. l

Taranco due in early December PAGE 1 COLUMN 1Taranco’s meeting with the EC would be a “technical” one and they would discuss how the UN could help holding the next election, the foreign ministry o� cial said.

The UN does not have any mandate to send any observer for monitoring elections but it might facilitate observ-ers of other countries and regions, the o� cial said.

As the polls schedule is declared, the EC would now formally invite all inter-ested parties to send their observers.

During his last visit, Taranco ex-

pressed concern as time was running out for a solution to hold free, fair, credible and non-violent election.

Terming the next election crucial for strengthening democratic process, he had advocated for peaceful dialogue and active engagement to put in place a mechanism that allows establishment of level-playing � eld for all political parties.

The envoy, however, categorically said the UN did not have any formula.

He cautioned that not having a cred-ible election would have dire conse-quence like the past. l

Non-stop shutdown or blockade likely next week PAGE 1 COLUMN 3sition leaders and activists were killed during the blockade programmes, more than 850 arrested and over 2300 injured. “Cases were � led against over 9000 leaders and activists.”

Another senior leader said as the blockade programme had been suc-cessful the same programme might be announced in the next week.

“Our main target is to isolate Dhaka from the rest of the country and it was successful,” he said

Rizvi around 11:35pm at another press conference said: “I made a mis-take. The ongoing blockade will end at 5am on Friday instead of 6pm on Thursday. As the repression level has increased, the time of blockade has also been extended.” l

Pickets’ attacks claim PAGE 1 COLUMN 6treatment, some of them at the burn unit.

Among those critically injured, Mo-hammad Dulu Mia, a policeman, re-ceived injury from a crude bomb attack while on duty at Joypurhat Bata inter-section on Monday. The victim is now at DMCH ICU and doctors are hopeful about his recovery.

Yesterday, 10 more people were admitted to the DMCH with splinter injuries from crude bomb attack in Chankharpool and Bakshibazar areas around 5:30pm.

Fayez Ahmed, who was caught red-handed while throwing a hand bomb, is also undergoing treatment at the DMCH as the locals gave him a sound beating. l

10 killed on 2nd day of blockade PAGE 1 COLUMN 1killed across the country. Of them, two were ruling party men, one was Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) member while the others were general people.

In Sirajganj, Masum Billah, 25, joint secretary of ward three unit Chhatra Dal, and Maulana Abdul Jalil, 55, a upazila-level Jamaat leader, were killed in a tripartite clash at Mukundugachhi Bazar in Belkuchi upazila yesterday morning.

Separate processions brought out by the Awami League and the BNP-Jamaat men led to the clash, witnesses said. Police � red rubber bullets and teargas canisters to disperse the activists leaving the two dead and around 50 people injured.

A Jamaat leader was gunned down at his Jessore New Town residence around 7:30 pm. A marine engineer by profession, Abdul Hye Siddiqui Bulbul, 35, was the secretary of New Town unit Jamaat.

Emdadul Haque Sheikh, o� cer-in-charge, Kotwali police station told the Dhaka Tribune that unidenti� ed miscreants had killed the Jamaat man inside his residence.

In protest, Jessore district unit Jamaat announced a daylong general strike for today.

In Satkhira, Jamaat activist Shamsur Rahman, 35, was shot dead and many others injured in a clash with a joint team of police, BGB and Rab at Shialdanga village in Sadar upazila early yesterday.

A day before, the Jamaat-Shibir men had killed two ruling party men in Kolaroa.

OC Enamul Huq of Satkhira police station said the clash had ensued as Jamaat-Shibir men gathered people through loudspeaker announcement and attacked the lawmen. He said police had gone to the village around 4am to arrest killers of the two ruling party men.

Satkhira district unit Jamaat chief Abdul Khaleque Mandal yesterday called a half-day hartal for today in

the district protesting the death of Shamsur Rahman.

Housewife Ambia Khatun, 30, died after she had fallen under a tree, which was cut by Jamaat-Shibir men to block Satkhira-Jessore Road at Gopinathpur in Kolaroa, around 12:30pm.

Ambia died on the spot while she was standing on the road in front of her house.

Gazipur’s Jamalpur UP member Kamal Hossain, 40, also a former president of Jamalpur Chhatra League unit, was stabbed to death at Chupair in Kaliganj upazila in themorning.

Ten others were also injured in the tripartite clash among the activists of BNP-Jamaat and AL, and the police, said ASP (circle) Shariar Al Mamun of Gazipur police.

Mohammad Shahed, 20, passenger of an easy bike, was injured at Thakurdighi Bazar of Satkania upazila in Chittagong around 7pm when the pickets threw a hand bomb at the vehicle.

Critically injured, he was brought to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, but died there around 10:20pm, said Sub-Inspector Jahirul Islam of the hospital camp. Mother of the victim was also injured in the attack. She was undergoing treatment at Satkania Upazila HealthComplex.

In Patia, human hauler driver Mohammad Ershad, 22, was killed when his vehicle overturned being chased by blockaders at Fakinirhat on Chittagong-Anwara road in the afternoon.

Witnesses said Ershad had sustained serious injuries. He died at the CMCH.

In Dhaka, more than 50 people, including several journalists, were injured in separate attacks while several vehicles were torched and around 50 others were vandalised.

Bomb attacks were reported in some areas where the blockade supporters brought out brisk processions.

Of the incidents, at least 10 people

were injured in bomb attacks in Chankharpool last night while 10 others, including two policemen, sustained injuries in a clash at North Badda, three injured in Pallabi, � ve in Khilgaon and six inJatrabari.

In Sutrapur, police arrested a youth identi� ed as Md Faisal with petrol allegedly during his attempt to set an auto-rickshaw on � re at Laxmibazar in the afternoon.

Two journalists of a private television channel were injured when Islami Chhatra Shibir men set an auto-rickshaw on � re in Pallabi.

Panicked by violent attacks and sabotages, communication through road, rail and waterways remained almost suspended cutting capital Dhaka o� from across the country yesterday when o� ces, business establishments, educational institutions saw thin presence.

An innumerable number of crude bombs were blasted across the country while police � red several hundred rounds of rubber bullets and teargas canisters and arrested around 100 pickets.

As part of sabotages, pickets set � re to railway compartments, removed slippers, tracks, � shplates and elastic clips causing derailments of trains and snapping communications in Gazipur, Chandpur, Lalmonirhat, Rajbari, Munshiganj and Sylhet.

Moreover, the engine and � ve compartments of Ognibeena Express were derailed early yesterday snapping train communication on Dhaka-Mymensingh route. The blockade supporters had removed nuts from � shplates, and pins and slippers of the railway tracks.

Rajendrapur Railway Station Master Saiful Islam said movements of Tista Express, Bhaowal Express and all the commuter trains remained suspended although the salvage works were on.

In Noakhali, over 100 people, including two policemen, were injured in tripartite clashes among BNP-

Jamaat, AL and the law enforcers in Begumganj. Police � red 200 rounds of bullets and 50 teargas canisters.

Around 50 people, including � ve policemen, were injured in a clash at Eliotganj on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Comilla around 11am. Police � red over 100 rounds of rubber bullets and teargas shells, and arrested six persons.

In Sylhet, more than 10 passengers of Dhaka-bound intercity train “Jayantika Express” were injured as pickets had hurled brick at them near Paraichowk at 10am. Some 10 people were also injured in a clash in Gopalganjupazila.

At Kuadabazar on Jessore-Monirampur Road, Shibir men cut o� tendons of a local Jubo League leader around 11:30am.

Hailing from Ramnagar union in Sadar upazila, Nazmul is the president of ward eight unit Jubo League. He was � rst attacked with bombs, mercilessly hit by bricks and later his tendons were cut o� .

Meanwhile, around 20 people, including four police o� cials, were injured in a clash with Jamaat on Jessore-Satkhira road in the same area around 2pm.

In Barisal, at least seven policemen among around 20 people were injured in a clash at Kashipur Bazar of the city in the morning when the pickets set � ve vehicles on � re and damaged several others.

A compartment of Rajbari-Bhatiyapa intercity express was set on � re at 8am near Rajbari Station forcing train service in the route suspended.

A truck and a bus were torched at Goalanda ferry terminal early yesterday.

Moreover, around 10 people were injured and 10 vehicles damaged in Nilphamari; more than 10 people injured and eight vehicles damaged in Habiganj; four injured in Cox’s Bazar; 10 in Natore; 15 in Narsingdi; 30 in Manikganj; 20 in Chandpur and 25 people were injured in Jhenidah. l

Thin tra� c at Saarc Fountain in Karwan Bazar during the opposition blockade yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

CU reschedules two admission tests to Dec 7n CU Correspondent

Chittagong University authorities yes-terday rescheduled the admission tests of “H” unit under Biological Science Faculty and “G” unit under Institute of Marine Science and Fisheries.

The authorities said the exams were rescheduled due to unavoidable rea-sons.

SM Akbar Hossain, deputy regis-trar of academic department also the

secretary of admission committee, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had re-� xed December 7 for the admissiontest.

Earlier, the examinations were scheduled for November 18 which was later shifted to November 29.

The examination centres and time would remain unchanged, added the secretary. 

More detail could be found at the university website www.cu.ac.bd l

EC to deploynine hundred magistratesIt will form 140 electoral enquiry committeesto resist electoral anomalies

n Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission is going to deploy 900 executive and judi-cial magistrates across the country to ensure enforcement of the electoral code of conduct during the 10th par-liamentary elections scheduled forJanuary 5.

In a letter signed by EC Secretary Muhammed Sadique, the commission asked the Cabinet Division secretary not to reshu� e or transfer any govern-ment o� cials without its permission.

The EC yesterday postponed the transfer order of Khulna Deputy Com-missioner Mesbah Uddin, the returning o� cer.

It revised its order issued earlier in the day as he disagreed with the com-mission’s decision on the delimitation of Khulna 3 and 4 constituencies. The commission is likely to discuss the matter at a meeting today.

The EC has also decided to form 140 electoral enquiry committees compris-ing a joint district judge and a senior assistant judge or assistant judge for 300 constituencies to resist electoral anomalies.

In a letter, the commission asked the law ministry to send a list of judg-es mentioning their posts before the civil courts went into Decembervacation.

Of the 900 magistrates, 300 ex-ecutive magistrates would be de-ployed from November 13, the last date for withdrawal of nomination.

Another 300 executive magistrates and 300 judicial magistrates would be deployed for four days before and after the voting day, a senior EC o� -cial told the Dhaka Tribune, seekinganonymity.

The EC will ask the public adminis-tration ministry today for the names of 300 executive magistrates to conduct summary trials of electoral violence in the � rst phase.

The two-member electoral enquiry committees will work to curb anoma-lies and control the electoral environ-ment until publication of the election results.

The commission would form the committees immediately after getting the lists of the judges, the o� cial said.

In previous general elections, the election enquiry committees started working immediately after the an-nouncement of the polls schedule. But the present EC is yet to form the com-mittees two days into the announce-ment.

EC sources said the enquiry com-mittees were likely to be formed next week.

Under the electoral code of conduct, no candidate can begin electioneering before three weeks of the election day. Violation of the code of conduct will be deemed an o� ence and punishable by jail terms of maximum six months or a � ne of maximum Tk50,000 or both. In case of a political party, it will be � ned maximum Tk50,000 for suchviolation. l

Army deployment likely in a day or twon Kamran Reza Chowdhury and

Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission is likely to ask the government to deploy army in a day or two to maintain law and order as violence has escalated over holding of the next parliamentary elections.

The EC meets today to � nd out the strategies to maintain law and order and ensure safety of the voters and of-� cials conducting the polls.

The meeting is set to approve the de-cision on troops’ deployment and the EC had already contacted the government high-ups, asking for necessary number of troops, o� cials involved in the pro-cess told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Asked about army deployment in a day or two, Election Commissioner Abu Ha� z told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have primarily discussed the matter. We will make the decision tomorrow after con-sulting the intelligence reports. We will deploy army if the situation demands.”

The EC proposed that the armed forces will aid the civil administration as per the Code of Criminal Procedure.

EC o� cials said the commission

would primarily propose stationing army at district headquarters under the com-mand of executive magistrates and police commissioners. The troops will work as a strike force in case the police and other law enforcers fail to tackle a situation.

The CrPC stipulates that the forces must “use as little force, and do as little injury” as possible while ensuring pub-lic safety.

Ahead of the 2001 polls the EC includ-ed the armed forces in the de� nition of the law enforcement agencies in the Representation of the People Order 1972, the parent law for general elections.

The Awami League amended the RPO in 2011, dropping the armed forces from the de� nition.

The BNP-led 18-party alliance has intensi� ed its violence after the EC on Monday had announced the schedule for the 10th parliamentary polls, vowing to resist the polls unless the government restored the constitutional provision of the non-party caretaker government.

On the other hand, the ruling Awami League says the caretaker government system will never be reinserted in the charter. l

In his statement, Jandal said the Huji men had carried out bomb attack on the CPB rally where � ve people were killed. While escaping, the attackers exploded another bomb at Bangabandhu Avenue that killed three people including two hawkers

PM’s advisers, city mayors, LG bodies’ chairmen can contest polls leaving postsn Mohammad Zakaria

Advisers to the prime minister, city cor-poration mayors, chairmen of district, upazila and union parishads will have to resign from their posts to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections.

But this will not apply to the ministers and lawmakers as the parliamentary polls would be held without dissolving parliament, said Election Commission o� cials after a meeting of the commission yesterday.

Municipal mayors could also participate in the election holding their o� ces.

The commission would make the � -nal decision on the matter at a meeting today, the o� cials said.

EC Secretary Muhammed Sadique said the chairmen of district, upazila and union parishads could not partic-ipate in the polls keeping their posts as their posts were pro� table.

The returning o� cer has sought di-

rectives from the EC about participation of the prime minister’s advisers and lo-cal government representatives.

EC o� cials said the PM’s advisers had not taken oath like the ministers but they got all the facilities of the ministers.

“The post of an adviser may be considered as pro� table and if they want to participate in the polls, they have to resign from their posts,” said an o� cial.

Incumbent mayors could not partici-pate in the recently held city corporation polls without resigning from their posts.

The last date for � ling nomination papers is December 2. l

News 3DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013

Police asked to ‘show courage’ in keeping law and ordern Rabiul Islam

The government yesterday asked police to “show courage” in enforcing law and order at any cost and arrest those in-volved in imposing the road-rail-water-ways blockade.

State Minister for Home Shamsul Hoque Tuku called the inspector gen-eral of police into his secretariat o� ce yesterday and asked him to convey the government’s intention down to the

� eld level of the force, a home ministry o� cial said.

“Law enforcing agencies have been instructed to maintain law and order, and to arrest those who attack innocent people,” Tuku told reporters after the meeting with the IGP.

The BNP-led 18-party alliance is im-posing a 48-hour road-rail-waterways blockade to protest the election sched-ule declared by the election commission.

More than a dozen persons – includ-

ing a BGB member – have already been killed and scores more have been injured while the capital is almost cut o� the rest of the districts.

Tuku blamed the opposition for the violence unleashed across the country.

In reply to a query, the state minister said those who are vandalising cars and killing people are political o� enders. “It will take a bit more time to bring them to book as they are not criminals in the traditional sense of the word.”

He said Khaleda Zia had only one agenda and that was to protect war crim-inals.

“No one will be spared; today or to-morrow the o� enders will be brought to justice,” Tuku said, adding that the law enforcing agencies have to take the high-est risk and show courage in maintaining law and order.

About the compensation for the vic-tims, the state minister said Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina was taking care of it. l

Qaisar’s indictment hearing deferred till December 5 n Udisa Islam

The International Crimes Tribunal 2 yesterday deferred hearing on the charge framing against war crimes sus-pect Syed M Qaisar and set December 5 to start with the prosecution’s hearing.

The tribunal gave the order upon a defence plea seeking time.

Defence lawyer Abdus Sobhan Tarafder in his plea said they needed time to get the prosecution documents and for preparation.

On the other hand, prosecutor Rana

Das Gupta mentioned that they had submitted all the relevant documents to the tribunal’s registrar o� ce on Tuesday.

On November 14, the tribunal took into cognisance the war crime charges against Qaisar, a Peace Committee leader from Habiganj, for his alleged involvement in crimes against human-ity committed during the 1971 Libera-tion War.

The prosecution submitted 18 for-mal charges against Qaisar on No-vember 10 that include killing, exter-

mination, enslavement, deportation, abduction, con� nement, torture, loot-ing, arson and assisting in rape.

Arrested on May 16, Qaisar has since been on conditional bail for his ill health and age.

During the war, he had been involved with Muslim League and formed “Qaisar Bahini” to collaborate with the Pakistani occupation army. After the war, he joined the BNP and later became a state minister during the tenure of military dictator HM Ershad. l

OSDs, ‘deprived’ o� cers demand postings and promotionsSome 50 o� cials met the secretaries of cabinet division and civil administrationn Mohosinul Karim and Rabiul Islam

A section of aggrieved o� cers in the civil administration yesterday met the cabinet secretary and public administra-tion secretary, requesting posting and promotion during the current interim government.

“I have given a patient hearing to the o� cers, some of who had dropped out of promotion, and some have remained as OSDs,” the Cabinet Secretary Muham-mad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune at his o� ce yester-day.

“The o� cers have requested for pro-motions and postings during the tenure of the interim government. We have a collective body to discuss, and � nally need the prime minister’s consent,” he said.

“We are working to give promotions to deprived o� cers. But, we are yet to

� nalise the lists. Finally, it will be sent to the prime minister’s o� ce for her nod. If we get her approval, it will be revealed shortly,”said the cabinet secretary.

O� cials said around 50 o� cials, who claimed to be either deprived of promo-tion or have been working as OSD for a long time, met the top boss of the two ministries and divisions.

OSD secretaries Ibadat Ali and Mohbub Ur Rahman, who were railway division secretaries earlier, led the ag-grieved o� cers’from assistant secretary level to additional secretary level joined the meeting.

“We have requested the cabinet sec-retary and the public administration

secretary to give us promotion and posting, as the political government de-prived us,” a deputy secretary and now OSD told the Dhaka Tribune over phone on condition of anonymity.The o� cial claimed the cabinet secre-tary would look into the matter.

“I have no faults in my annual con� -dential report (ACR) but I was not given a promotion,” the o� cer of 85th batch lamented.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, anoth-er joint secretary requesting anonymity said: “I am socially humiliated as I was not given a promotion, whereas my col-leagueshave become secretary.”

“We, the deprived o� cers have re-quested the cabinet secretary to give us promotion and OSD o� cers wanted their postings as they have been waiting for a long time. We want our fair chance as an interim government has already taken charges recently,” he said. l

Incumbent mayors could not participate in the recently held city corporation polls without resigning from their posts

We have requested the cabinet secretary to give us promotion and OSD o� cers wanted their postings

Japan to provide 500m Yen grant aid to support pry education programn UNB

The government of Japan will provide 500m Japanese Yen (approximately Tk491.9m) to Bangladesh as grant aid for the “Primary Education Develop-ment Program 3 (PEDP 3).”

In this regard, “Exchange of Notes” and “Grant Agreements” are sched-uled to be signed today at the Econom-ic Relations Division (ERD) in city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

ERD Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad will sign the “Exchange of Notes” and the “Grant Agreements” on behalf of Bangladesh while Japanese Ambas-sador to Bangladesh Shiro Sadoshima and Jica Bangladesh O� ce Chief Rep-resentative Dr Takao Toda will sign respectively for the government of Ja-pan, according to an ERD o� cial.

The o� cial said that the PEDP 3 would be implemented during 2011-2016 by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education. This would be the third contribution of Japan to this pro-gram after 2011 and 2012 when they contributed the similar amount in each tranche.

Under this program, the grant would be utilised in the education sector for poverty reduction in Bangladesh. The main objective of this programme is to improve the quality of the classroom teaching of primary school teachers through providing modern training in science and mathematics. Besides, sup-porting equipment relating to teaching of science and mathematics will also be provided under the programme to im-prove the quality of education.

Japan is the single largest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh. Japan has contributed signi� cantly to the overall development of the coun-try.

In addition to soft loans for poverty reduction, health and family welfare, education, transportation and com-munication, electricity and other in-frastructure and urban development, Japan is also providing signi� cant amounts of grant aid and technical as-sistance for di� erent projects. l

Dr Kamal for restoration of caretaker government n Manik Miazee

Gono Forum yesterday demanded the restoration of caretaker government system in order to hold a free and fair election with the participation of all political parties.

Party President Dr Kamal Hossain at a press conference in his residence said: “The country is currently facing a constitutional and political crisis on the issue of the election time govern-ment.”

He urged the ruling government to hold a dialogue with the opposition parties to resolve the current political turmoil, which began after the AL gov-ernment had dropped the election time caretaker system in the 15th amend-ment of the constitution.

On the issue of elections under the present government, Dr Kamal said the people of the country would not accept the voting under a partisan government and demanded creation of level-playing � eld for holding the polls.

He also demanded restoration of the caretaker government and strengthening of the Election Commission, giving them su� cient power to hold a fair election.

On the issue of the announced polls schedule, he said democracy was being misinterpreted and misused.

The EC announced the schedule without consulting and holding a dialogue with all political parties and this has ignited the political chaos again. l

DHAKA TRIBUNEMAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

DHAKA TRIBUNE MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Clockwise from top left

An Islami Chhatra Shibir activist hurls a petrol bomb in the capital’s Dayaganj turning yesterday

A policeman, though injured after being hit by a crude bomb, grabs hold of the activist who threw the bomb at Sutrapur

Pro-blockade activists vandalise a police vehicle in Shahjahanpur area yesterday during the second day of the 18-party alliance’s countrywide blockade

Two policemen chase a procession of Jamaat-Shibir activists at Dayaganj

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013

City High LowDhaka 29.0 17.7Chittagong 28.6 18.5Rajshahi 29.8 15.2Rangpur 27.8 15.8Khulna 30.4 17.4Barisal 29.4 16.4Sylhet 29.2 15.9Cox’s Bazar 31.5 21.3

PRAYER TIMESFajar 5:03am

Sunrise 6:21amZohr 11:46am

Asr 3:34pmMagrib 5:10pm

Esha 6:30pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Thundershowers or rain likelyn UNB

Rain or thundershowers is likely to oc-cur at one or two places over Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong divisions until 6pm today.

Weather might remain mainly dry with temporary partly cloudy sky else-where over the country, Met o� ce said

Night temperature may rise slightly and day temperature may remain near-ly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:10pm today and rises at 6:22am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 32.1 degree Celsius was recorded at Teknaf and lowest 12.8 degrees at Srimongal yesterday.

Highest and lowest temperatures re-corded in some major cities yesterday were:

BSMMU expands postgraduate Residency Course n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) has expanded its � ve-year postgraduate residency course in 16 public and private medi-cal colleges and institutes around the country to elevate the standard of medical education from next year.

It has selected a total of 612 doctors to enrol for residency course next year through a competitive admission test held on 22nd November. A total of 5774 doctors took part in the admission test.

It was learnt that 300 students could take admission to di� erent course at BSMMU and the rest to other medical college and institutes across the country.

The last date of admission is 15th February and the course will com-mence on 1st March of the next year.

BSMMU has arranged a dissemina-tion seminar on residency programme on Saturday. All the new institutes who opened residency programme for the � rst time will take part in the seminar.

Professor Dr Ruhal Amin Mia, Pro-VC (Education) of BSMMU, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had already

completed the admission test and se-lected 612 doctors for the next year.

The residency course, currently available only at the Dhaka premises of the BSMMU has expanded in other public and private medical college and institutes for the � rst time.

He said all the medical college and post graduate institute of the country who had been administering post graduate course (M.D and M.S and Diploma course) are af-� liated with BSMMU since 2010.

Out of total 31 medical colleges and institute 15 introduced residency pro-gramme to their institutes.

It has been learnt that the residency course is totally di� erent from tradi-tional MD/MS courses. In the residency programme, medical education experts give more emphasis on hands-on train-ing than on knowledge-based education.

Professor Md Ruhul Amin Miah said not all the departments of each of the colleges and institutes outside Dhaka were prepared to enrol students for the residency programme.

That is why, he said, in the initial stage of expansion, the number of seats are limited. l

ASK concerned over human rights violation n Tribune Report

Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a human rights organisation, yesterday expressed concern during the on-going political turmoil saying that the recent violence is posing a serious threat to people’s lives.

At least 10 people were killed and hundreds of injured during the coun-trywide blockade on Tuesday, said a press release of the organisation.

Every citizens and political parties have democratic rights to hold peace-ful programmes to express their opin-ions and it is their moral responsibility to ensure that their programmes would not cause any casualty as well as violate human rights, said the press release. l

Five ways to boost stocks of hilsa � shn Tribune Report

A pioneering scheme that could boost stocks of a � sh that feeds millions of people in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar may be a model for other � sheries, but would be more e� ective if it changed in � ve ways, says a new study.

The research by London-based In-ternational Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), published yesterday focuses on the hilsa � sh and a scheme the Bangladesh government through which � shing communities are compensated to conserve the threat-ened species. 

The scheme is a rare example of “payments for ecosystem services” (PES) from a � shery. Most PES schemes focus on paying people who protect forests because of the bene� ts this brings to downstream water users. The programme is managed without donor assistance. 

This research and publication was part-funded by the UK government and Defra’s Darwin Initiative.

“Most governments use regulations to manage their � sheries, but Ban-gladesh has combined this stick with

the carrot of compensation,” says the report’s co-author Prof Abdul Wahab from the Bangladesh Agricultural Uni-versity.

“To date, few developing nations have drawn from their own budgets to try this approach of providing people with incentives to encourage conservation, and especially not for � sheries.” 

Once abundant in the Bay and hun-dreds of rivers in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar that feed it, the hilsa � sh declined steeply in numbers since the 1970s, largely because of over� shing. 

In Bangladesh, hilsa stocks in-creased after the government made it illegal for anyone to catch them in � ve important spawning grounds during its breeding season. To compensate � sh-ing households for lost incomes, the government provided 30kg rice per month and promoted alternative liveli-hoods.

The researchers say the if the scheme proves to be a success, this would suggest that direct payments to encourage sustainable � sheries can work elsewhere.

To improve the scheme, they rec-ommend � ve ways that include better

understanding of the complex socio-economic and ecological systems that underpin the hilsa � shery; and identi-fying the bene� ciaries of the scheme, such as � sh exporters, and identify ways these “buyers” of the ecosystem service can help make the scheme � -nancially sustainable. One way to do this would be to channel a portion of export taxes into a conservation trust fund, the report says.

They also suggested identifying how the � shing communities would prefer to receive their compensation packag-es and redesign them accordingly, em-powering local � shing communities to monitor and enforce compliance, and improving regional co-operation be-tween the three countries which make up the Bay of Bengal: Bangladesh, In-dia and Myanmar.

“Sustainable � sheries management is about much more than the numbers of � sh in the sea,” says co-author Dr Es-sam Yassin Mohammed of the IIED.

“Bangladesh’s pioneering model of payments to compensate � shing communities has much to teach other nations that face declines in their � sh stocks due to over� shing and environ-mental change,” he said. l

Body given to DMC for research after four years of legal battlen Mohammad Jamil Khan and

Sanaul Islam Tipu

The Forensic Department of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital yesterday handed over the body of one Chandan Chakrabarty alias Sajjad Hossain to its anatomy department to use for re-search purpose, following a High Court verdict.

Chandan Chakrabarty alias Sajjad Hossain, 38, vice-principal of Khilgaon Ideal City College, was stabbed to death by a gang of miscreants on December 25, 2009 while he was returning to his

Khilgaon residence.After recovering the body police

sent it to the DMCH morgue for autopsy and it had been in the morgue for last four years.

Hailing from Shibaloya of Manik-ganj, the victim married Thiti Chakrab-arty on July 12, 1986 before going for higher studies on music at Bishwab-harati University.

Later, he came back to Bangladesh and married Aklima Akter by allegedly changing his religion on November 28, 2005.

On the information of his death,

both wives demanded the body to per-form their last rituals according to their own religion. Both the wives went to the court � ling a case with the Khilgaon police station in 2009.

The Metropolitan Magistrate Court after hearing both sides’ statements, on November 19, 2012 asked the DMCH authorities to use the body for research purpose as both the wives failed to prove whether their husband was a Hindu or a Muslim.

However, Aklima and Thiti once again had submitted application with the Metropolitan Session Court on June

2013 demanding the body. The court rejected their prayer and upheld the previous verdict.

Being dissatis� ed with the decision, both of them went to the High Court. However, the court, after analysing the report, also upheld the previous ver-dict on last Sunday.

Asked about the legal battle, Abu Abdullah Bhuiyan, a lawyer who represented the Muslim wife, told the Dhaka Tribune that Chandan has some properties at Narayangonj, adding that the con� ict might arose over that properties. l

Punish BCL men, demand JU teachers n JU Correspondent

Agitating teachers of Jahangirnagar University under the banner of “Teach-ers-Students and O� cers-Employees United Forum” yesterday claimed that the Chhatra League activists might at-tack them again as they had done on October 9.

The forum at a press conference yes-terday alleged that the authorities were yet to take action against the Chhatra League men.

Some 500 members of the forum also held a torch procession on the campus around 6:30pm, demanding resignation of VC Prof Anwar Hossain.

On October 9, a section of Chhatra League activists, led by JU unit Presi-dent Mahmudur Rahman Jony, alleg-edly assaulted the agitating teachers in front of the registrar building and the VC’s residence that left � ve teachers injured.

Demanding punishment of all the attackers, forum Secretary Prof Kam-rul Ahsan alleged that the authorities were patronising a section of Chhatra League activists to stand against the agitating teachers.

The forum, backed by ousted VC Shari� Enamul Kabir and pro-BNP teachers, has been demanding removal of the incumbent VC and announce-ment of the VC panel elections under

the current Senate, which is dominated by teachers appointed by Prof Kabir.

As part of their total blockade since November 20, the forum kept con-fined the acting VC and pro-VC (ad-ministration) for the ninth consecu-tive day.

Classes and exams were held yes-terday as academic activities were kept out of purview of the strike. However, masters students could not process their admission since there were no work at the administrative building.

Meanwhile, the united forum yes-terday expressed solidarity with the students who were protesting against the Election Commission’s decision to allow MPhil and PhD students to con-test in the Jucsu elections.

The students claimed that authori-ties had violated the Jucsu constitution and the university’s convention.

The MPhil and PhD students were given the scope recently after VC Prof Anwar had amended the election rules by exercising the Special Powers Act of the JU Act.

The Jucsu EC said they had asked for a legal explanation from the univer-sity’s law adviser on this issue.

The Jucsu election, set to be held on January 2, was suspended on Tuesday because of the national elections. How-ever, nomination papers could be sub-mitted until December 1. l

Zafar Iqbal, Yasmeen withdraw resignation n Tribune Report

Only a day after tendering resignation letters, eminent educationist and writ-er Prof Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and his wife Dr Yasmeen Haque withdrew their decision yesterday amid demands of students of Shahjalal University of Sci-ence and Technology (SUST).

Prof Zafar Iqbal announced the de-cision around 2:30pm on the campus saying that he had changed his deci-sion considering the requests of stu-dents and well wishers.

He also said the admission tests would be held in integrated system, proposed for the SUST and Jessore Sci-ence and Technology University (JSTU).

Meanwhile, at an academic council meeting yesterday morning, the au-thorities decided to cancel Tuesday’s

decision to annul the integrated sys-tem. The meeting also postponed the admission tests, set for November 30, for an inde� nite period.

Prof Zafar Iqbal of computer science and Dr Yasmeen of physics department had resigned in protest against the uni-versity’s decision.

Sources said the authorities had cancelled the system following pro-tests by some teachers and a so-called local group “Sylhetbashi.” Media re-ports say the education and � nance ministers were also against the inte-grated system.

In this system, applicants of the two universities will sit for tests at the same time and they would not need to go to two universities for the separate tests. The medical admission test is conduct-ed this way. l

Workers of district-bound buses play cricket in front of the closed bus counters in the capital’s Gabtoli Bus Terminal yesterday as all bus services were shut down because of the countrywide blockade RAJIB DHAR

Family members of Shaheed Dr Milon pay tribute at his memorial on the occasion of his death anniversary in Dhaka University campus yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Primary terminal exam rescheduled for blockade n Mushfi que Wadud

The primary and mass education min-istry yesterday shifted the religion pa-per exam date from today to Saturday as BNP-lead 18-party alliance extended their blockade till 5am tomorrow.

The ministry took the decision soon after the opposition announced the ex-tension of the programme.

Yesterday’s science examination was also rescheduled for the blockade. l

2014 SSC exams to begin February 9n Mushfi que Wadud

The Secondary School Certi� cate exam-inations of 2014 academic year under all education boards will begin on Febru-ary 9, said education board o� cials.

The Ministry of Education took the decision yesterday at a meeting after the board sent the timetable to it for approval.

Examination Controller SM Wahiduz-zaman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka, said the ministry approved the date yesterday.

The examinations will end on March 13. On the � rst day, students will take the test on Bangla � rst paper. l

HUMOUR

JurisDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013 5

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How to execute an a� davit

n RaisuL Islam Sourav

A� davit means a sworn statement in writing made especially under oath or on a� rmation before an authorised magistrate or o� cer. By executing an af-

� davit the executor takes the responsibility of truthfulness of his/her statement. If in any future occasion it is proved that the statement was untrue and the executor knowingly or intentionally provided false statement, he/she will be pe-nalised accordingly.

Once somebody admits something by formal declaration, they have no scope to deny the fact later. This is why a� -davit is mandatory in some legal processes for some legal documents. If you want to buy, sell or gift a piece of land or an apartment, you will have to do an a� davit regarding your ownership over the property.

Moreover, a� davit is required for � ling suits, correc-tion of names, religious conversion, etc. It is also manda-tory for marriage, divorce and many other sectors speci� edby law.

How to get it doneTo execute an a� davit you will have to write the subject matters on a non-judicial stamp paper. The value of the stamp paper varies with the subject matter. Typically, the value is between Tk150 to Tk500. You also need to a� x a copy of your passport size attested photograph on the stamp paper. Once you are done with these, you need to go to a � rst class magistrate or a notary public, before whom you will have to a� rm the matters in writing and sign on the stamp.

After scrutinising the documents, the magistrate or nota-ry public will put his signature on the same stamp paper and a� x a government special seal along with his o� cial seal on the same paper. Finally he will give the document a number and preserve a photocopy of the document in his o� ce.

Some key points to rememberIf you want to get an interim relief in a civil suit, you will have to execute your a� davit before the concerned court o� cer; in that case no photograph is required. To submit a written statement against such relief same procedure needs to be followed. In case of land related issues, the a� davit will have to be submitted before the registrar to register the document. Presently, age cannot be changed by a mere af-� davit. However, in case of alteration of names a newspaper advertisement is necessary along with an a� davit.

It is important to note that a mere a� davit before a magistrate or notary public does not constitute a marriage. Though it is known as court marriage in popular term, but actually it is a mere declaration of a marriage by the parties. It has no legal e� ect to prove a valid marriage; for a marriage to be valid, it has to be completed according to the rule of re-ligion of the parties concerned. Similarly, in case of divorce, parties must follow exact procedure of law.

Finally, an a� davit is regarded as a supplementary evi-dence to strengthen the claim. By executing an a� davit the executor avow a fact, hence before doing an a� davit one must acquire full knowledge of the fact and describe that fact very carefully. Otherwise, the purpose of a� davit will be defeated and one may lose his/her rights. l

The author is an Advocate at Dhaka Judge Court and a Senior Lecturer of the Department of Law at Dhaka International University (DIU). He can be reached at sourav.mollick@gmail.com

Are our political leaders compliant? The recently amended Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Political Parties and Candidates, 2008 will help you know the truthn Abdullah Al Arif

The schedule for the 10th Parliamentary Election has already been declared and we have entered into the pre-election period. The Election Commission has

also amended the Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Po-litical Parties and Candidates, 2008 to suit the upcoming na-tional election.

The code of conduct is prepared by the Election Commis-sion under the rule-making power given in Section 91B of the Representation of the People Ordinance (RPO), 1972.

Pre-election periodPre-election period means the time between the announce-ment of the election schedule and the publication of elec-tion results in the o� cial gazette.

VIPs of the governmentPrime minister, speaker of the parliament, ministers, chief whip, deputy speaker, leader of the opposition, deputy chief of the parliament, deputy chief of the opposition, deputy ministers, state ministers, whips, members of the parlia-ment and mayors of the city corporations will be considered very important persons (VIPs) of the government.

Here are some salient features of the code of conduct for our readers:

Commencement of election campaignNo political party, nominated candidate or independent candidate or any other person on their behalf shall not com-mence any election campaign prior to three weeks from the prescribed date of the election.

Posters, banners, portraits and symbols used in election campaignsa) The posters and banners used in the election cam-

paign shall be in black and whiteb) The size of the posters shall not exceed 60centimetre ×

45centimetrec) The size of the banners shall not exceed 3metre × 1me-

tred) No candidate shall use symbols and portraits of any per-

son other than his/her own. However, in case the can-

didate is nominated by a political party, he/she may use the portraits of the head of his/her political party

e) The size of the portrait shall not exceed 60centimetre × 45centimetre

f) The size of any election symbol used by any contesting candidate shall not exceed 3metres in length, width and height

Subscription, donation etc to any person/organisationis prohibitedAny candidate or any other person on his/her behalf shall not o� er or promise to o� er any subscription, donation, etc

to any person or organisation of his/her constituency either publicly or privately in the pre-election period.

Approval of public projects, unveiling of plaques, etcare prohibiteda) During the pre-election period no candidate shall ap-

prove, declare approval, lay foundation stone for or unveil plaque of any development or revenue projects of government in any government, semi-government or autonomous organisation.

b) In the pre-election period no government VIPs shall declare any donation, grant any fund, or release any

money in favour of any person or group or institution from any fund belonging to any government, semi-government or autonomous institution.

Election campaign by government VIPsa) No government VIPs shall combine their o� cial visit

with electioneering work.b) No government VIPs shall use government vehicles,

transmission equipment, or exploit any other govern-ment facilities for the purpose of election campaign for himself or on behalf of any other person. In addition, gov-ernment VIPs shall not employ any personnel of any gov-ernment, semi government or autonomous institution, or any teacher, o� cer or sta� of any government, semi government or autonomous educational institution.

c) No contesting candidate shall preside over any gov-ernment-funded development activities or attend any such meeting.

d) No contesting candidate holding a position of presi-dent or member of any educational institution, or any other person nominated by him holding such position shall preside over or attend any meeting of such insti-tution, or engage himself with any activities of such institution.

e) No government VIPs, not being an agent for himself or any other person, shall enter into the poll center or be-ing present in the vote counting room of a poll centre.

f) In case of parliamentary election of a constituency where the seat is vacant, no government VIPs shall go to that place for visit or electioneering works during the pre-election period. Provided that if any govern-ment VIP is a voter of the concerned constituency, he/she may go there only to exercise his/her voting right.

Penalty for the violation of the code of conductIf any candidate or any other person on his behalf violates any provision of this code of conduct during the pre-elec-tion period, he/she will be punished with imprisonment which may extend to six months or a � ne which may extend to Tk50,000.

If any political party violates any provision of this code of conduct, it shall be liable to a � ne which may extend to Tk50,000. lBIGSTOCK

BIGSTOCK

CARTOON BY RIO SHUVO

6 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013

Gas crisis escalates as winter nearsTitas distributes 1,500 million cubic feet per day against a demand of 2000mmcfd

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

The gas crisis in the capital and sur-rounding areas has begun to escalate with gas pressure in the pipeline now too low to cook in many areas during the peak hours in the morning.

Mir Moshiur Rahman, director (op-eration) of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday how conden-sation is mixed with gas on a greater scale during the winter season.

“The condensation travels through the pipeline with the gas and because of lower temperature, it gets stuck on the di� erent edges of the pipeline. As a result the pipes get narrow and dis-tribution is hampered,” he said, adding that domestic consumers normally in-crease the use of gas during this season for boiling water and drying cloths.

“In the capital, there are pipes with widths of one to 1.5 inches which can-not bear the necessary pressure of gas � ow,” Moshiur said.

Titas Gas has around 1.55 mil-lion residential clients and distrib-utes around 1,500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against a demand of 2000mmcfd, o� cials said.

With the crisis at hand, Titas Gas has sought an additional 150mmcfd gas from Petrobangla to ease the situation.

Hundreds of residences in di� erent areas in the capital, including Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Shewrapara, Kafrul,

East Rajabazar, Pallabi, Kazipara, Tal-tola, Malibag, Shyamoli, Khilgaon, Kalyanpur, Tejgaon, and Jatrabari were su� ering, with the locals having to suspend domestic activities for al-most half of the day because of the gas shortage.

According to Petrobangla, the cur-rent demand of gas across the country was 3,000mmcfd, while production stood at 2,300mmcfd.

Shopna, a resident of Mohammad-pur, said there was no gas supply to her home for about seven hours every day from 9am. Her family’s expendi-ture had increased as all the meals now needed to be prepared with a kerosene stove, she added.

Khaleda Yasmin, a resident of Jatra-bari, has to wake up every day at 5am to prepare breakfast and lunch for her family.

“Gas supply in our area has been woefully low between 8am and 5pm every day for the last few days,” she said.

Petrobangla o� cials admitted that a decrease in gas pressure had also created transmission and distribution problems in some areas, especially in the northwestern part of the capital.

Some owners of the CNG-� lling sta-tions said they were being forced to shut down because of the low gas pres-sure, which is resulting in long queues of vehicles and causing tra� c conges-tions on the adjacent roads. l

Tk2.4m spent every year on Myanmarese prisoners n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

The government incurs a loss of around Tk2.4m every year for maintenance of Rohingyas in the district jail.

On the other hand, the Myanmarese government shows apathy to bring the prisoners back to their country because of legal complexities.

Sources in the Cox’s Bazar district prison said the jail housed at least 1,500 inmates, four times its capacity.

Of the total prisoners, 110 are Myan-marese, 35 of whose conviction period have expired four-� ve years back.

The Bangladesh government is spending Tk60 per head daily on their maintenance.

Nowadays, more and more Rohing-yas are involving themselves in crimi-nal activities in the district.

Rohingyas enter Cox’s Bazar through di� erent points of the frontier district.

Currently, at least 400,000 of them reside in the district illegally.

The Myanmarese are also register-ing for National Identity Cards through paying bribes to a vested group and of-fering cheap labour, thus taking control of the labour market in the district.

Most of the Rohingyas engage in pulling rickshaws and other types of cheap labour.

Law enforcers face trouble to arrest and � le cases against them as the new arrestees mean adding to the existing inmates in the already over� owing prison.

Cox’s Bazar Jail Super Md Said Hos-sain said, “Of the 35 prisoners, we have completed legal procedures for send-ing only � ve back to their country.”

Tofayel Ahmed, additional super-intendent of police in the district, said the presence of Rohingyas was a big problem in and outside the prison. l

Barisal University reschedules admission tests n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Barisal University rescheduled the date of the intake tests from November 28 to December 7 because of the nationwide blockade imposed by the BNP-lead 18-party alliance.

According to the revised schedule, one-hour-long 120-mark written tests under MCQ system would be held on December 7 under 3 shifts at 10am-11am for “Gha” unit, at 1pm-2pm for ‘Ga’ and 4pm-5pm for ‘Ka’ and ‘Kha” units.

The test would be held at 11 centers, including temporary and permanent campuses of the university.

The university will publish a fresh seat plan again, said Dr Md Muhsin Ud-din, acting registrar of BU.

Total 29,690 admission seekers reg-istered for taking part in intake tests against 1,160 seats of 16 departments of six faculties of the university under 4 units for the academic session of 2013-14, informed, Faisal Mahmud Rumi, public relations o� cer of BU. l

Bishwajit murder case nears end n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday recorded the closing arguments of prosecution and defence in connection with the Bish-wajit Das murder case.

Public prosecutor SM Ra� qul Islam argued for the prosecution while de-fence counsel Shah Alam completed arguments on behalf of the main ac-cused, GM Rasheduzzaman Shaon.

Judge of the Speedy Trial Tribunal 4 ABM Nizamul Haque � xed today to re-cord rest of the defence argument.

Of the 21 Chhatra League leaders and activists accused in the case, eight are now in jail.

The court on October 24 completed recording of statements by 33 prosecu-tion witnesses.

Old Dhaka tailor Bishwajit Das was hacked to death in Bahadur Shah Park area by the Chhatra League activists on December 9 last year.

Trial of the case began on June 14 with the deposition of complainant Jalaluddin, sub-inspector of Sutrapur police station. l

Fire kills mother and two children in Chittagongn Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

A mother and her two children were burnt alive in a � re that broke out at a residence at Panchpukuria area under Fatikchhari upazila in Chittagong early yesterday.

The deceased were identi� ed as Sumi Nath, 25, wife of a Dubai expatri-ate Milan Kumar Nath, her daughter Barsha Nath, 3, and one and a half year old son Srabon Nath.

Meanwhile, Nioti Nath, 45, and Sraboni Rani Nath, 14, received injuries when locals recovered them by cutting iron-sheet of the house and were admitted to a local health complex.

O� cer-in-Charge of Fatikchhari po-lice station Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune that the � re broke out around 2am and soon engulfed � ve rooms of the house.

“The mother and her children got trapped inside the room and were burnt alive,” the OC said, adding that the � re might have originated from the kitchen as there was not electricity connection in the house.

On information the law enforcers re-covered the bodies in the morning and handed them over to the relatives in-stead of sending for autopsy as per the formal request of the family members, the OC said.

Meanwhile, Rani Bala, sister-in-law of deceased Sumi, who also live in that house, alleged that someone might have set � re on the house as there was no � re at the stove when they went to sleep.

Rupal Chandra Das, sub-inspector at Fatikchhari police station, visited the spot and said they were investigating either the incident was an accident or anyone set the � re. l

Fishermen repair net on an empty road during hartal in Bogra yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

Results of DU ‘Ka’ unit published n Tribune Desk

The results of the admission test under ‘Ka’ unit of Dhaka University for the ac-ademic session 2013-14 was published yesterday.

Some 23,374 candidates have come out successful out of 59,253 candidates appeared at the test against 1,618 seats this year, o� cial sources said. The re-sults are available at university website www.admission.eis.du.ac.bd l

1,000 sued in two cases in Comillan Tribune Desk

Two separate cases were � led against over 1,000 people in connection with the killing of Border Guard

Bangladesh member Ripon and rick-shaw-puller Babul Miah during Tues-day’s clashes in the city and Laksham upazila, reports UNB.

Sub-inspector Shahidul Islam of Comilla Kotwali police station on Tues-day night � led a case against 81 named

and 500 unnamed people with the po-lice station for the killing of BGB mem-ber Ripon and attacking police.

Meanwhile, eight people were ar-rested in the case.

BGB member Ripon, 25, was killed and 10 more people, including a police-man, were injured in a clash between activists of the 18-party alliance and law enforcers during the opposition’s blockade at Taltala in Comilla city at 4:45pm on Tuesday.

Rokeya Begum, wife of Babul, � led an-other case against 36 identi� ed and 500 unidenti� ed people with Laksham Police Station for the killing of her husband.

Babul was killed and 10 other people were injured in police � ring during a clash between police and 18-party al-liance activists in Doulatganj Dighirpar area in Laksham upazila on Tuesday.

The clash ensued when police tried to remove a barricade put up by the ac-tivists of the 18-party alliance. l

Employees of Barisal election o� ce arrange sheets containing symbols DHAKA TRIBUNE

Hard rock miners continues strike n Aminur Rahman Rasel

Hard rock miners of Maddhapara Gran-ite Mine Company Limited (MGMCL) continued their strike for the third consecutive day as the authorities con-cerned did not take any initiative to meet their demands.

The miners went on the strike on Monday for inde� nite period to press home their � ve-point demand.

The workers started the work ab-stention after the company started handing over mine to Germania-Trest Consortium.

A total of 308 workers of MGMCL Workers Employees Union staged a demonstration outside the company building.

On September 2, the state-owned Maddhapara Granite Mining Com-pany Ltd signed a deal with the Ger-mania-Trest Consortium to produce about 9.2m tonnes of hard rock worth Tk20.7bn in six years.

Production under the new contrac-tor is expected to start next January.

Khairul Islam, president of the min-ers’ union, told the Dhaka Tribune that they would continue their agitation pro-gramme until the demands were met.

Although the workers have been demanding regularisation of their jobs since 2001, the authorities did not pay heed to it, he said.

The demands include job regu-larisation, providing 20% dearness allowance, putting an end to lay-o� , re-appointing retrenched workers and stopping appointment of miners out-side the company.

Khairul Islam said the workers were earlier given assurance that the mining company would regularise their jobs after their training under the outsourc-ing of the company is over.

Earlier, on 24 November the miners submitted a memorandum to the man-aging director of MGMCL to take steps to meet their demands.

Yesterday, several hundreds of hard rock miners staged demonstration in front of the main entrance of the com-pany in the morning.

Managing Director of the company Mohammad Moinuddin told the Dha-ka Tribune that the company would not be able to resolve the issue unless the ministry concerned gives a policy guideline on the matter.

“It is not possible to ful� ll any of their demands,” he added.

Maddhapara Granite Mine Company Limited is a company of Petrobangla under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

The MGMCL, country’s only hard rock company, has been mining rocks at the site since 1994.

Mohammad Moinuddin said Germa-nia-Trest Consortium (GTC) would work as a contractor to develop and operate the mine. It would increase the mine’s hard rock production to 5,000 tonnes per day from the present 900 tonnes.

As per the contract, the GTC will work at the project for the next six years, at an estimated cost of $171.86m. They will produce 9.2m tonnes of hard rock during the contract period.

The GTC, a consortium of Bang-ladesh-based Germania Corporation Limited and Belarus-based JSC Trest Shakhtos Petsstroywas selected for the project through a tender process con-tested by � ve international companies.

The hard rock mine was discovered through a Geological Survey of Bangla-desh (GSB) in 1974 at a depth of 136 me-tres in the underground at Maddhapa-ra, Parbatipur of Dinajpur district. l

The demands include job regularisation, providing 20% dearness allowance, putting an end to lay-o� , re-appointing retrenched workers and stopping appointment of miners outside the company

Barguna municipality Jamaat ameer arrested Police arrested Ameer of Barguna mu-nicipality Jamaat Mohibulla Harun this morning on charge of setting ablaze a bus and attacking police on Monday night. O� cer-in-Charge of Barguna police station Azam Khan Faroqui said Mohibulla Harun was arrested near the town bridge area this morning. OC said police � led two separate cases against 60 to 70 persons including President and Secretary of district BNP and Chairman of Barguna sadar upazila for setting a bus on � re and attacking police on Monday night. Mohibulla Harun is one of the accused of

those cases and police arrested him this morning. – BSS

Two jailed for taking hemp in NilphamariA mobile court yesterday convicted two youths and sentenced them to three months imprisonment for taking hemp in Syedpur upazila. The convicts are Al-Amin, 20, son of Joynal Abedin in Shahebpara Karkhana gate area and Kamruzzamal, 26, son of Abdul Hamid in Shashkandar Dangapara of the upazila. Syedpur Upazila Nirbahi O� cer Md Sha� kul Islam delivered the verdict. – BSS

Nation 7DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013

NEWS IN BRIEF Villagers stage demo for smooth power supplyn Our Correspondent, Sherpur

Inhabitants of Ramerchar village under Balayerchar union of Sher-pur sadar upazila have been staging demonstrations for last few days, demanding smooth power supply.

Residents of the village said their village had not been brought under power supply cov-erage, although locals of other villages have power connections.

School-going students are the worst su� erer of the situation, they said, adding that they could

not study properly for lack of electricity. Moreover, power cut has been badly hampering irriga-tion and also Irri-Boro cultivation, causing su� erings of local farmers.

Agitated locals said Awami League lawmaker from Sherpur-1 constituency Md Atiur Rahman had assured them of smooth power supply in the village, but he could not keep his words that irritated local people.

They also vowed to continue their demonstration until their demand is met. l

Smile on Jhenaidah farmers’ faces as paddy prices increasen Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah

The farmers in Jhenaidah were im-pressed when they were receiving almost optimum prices of their main cereal crop paddy during current har-vesting period of Transplanted Aman paddy.

Sadhan Mandal, 43, a farmer of vil-lage Anandanager under upazila said, he had transplanted Aman paddy of paddy on his three bihgas of land in the current season. He had harvested about 67 maunds of the paddy from his plots.

Sadhan Mandal, said, he was wor-ried considering the price of the same paddy in last season as he was com-pelled to sale the same at Taka 625 to 650 each maund.

Farmer Abdus Salam at Sailkupa weekly market on Tuesday afternoon said, he had sold the transplanted Aman paddy for Taka 745 each maund in the market. The price for each maund should be ensured at least Taka 850, he said.

Department of agriculture exten-sion in Jhenaidah o� ce sources said, the farmers in the district had brought a total of 93,415 hectares of land under the transplanting Aman paddy in the

season. The target of coverage of land for the T Aman was 84,308 hectares in the season, sources said.

Deputy Director of the DAE in Jhe-naidah agriculturist Joynul Abedin when contacted for his comment said, the soil of Jhenaidah and surrounding districts was most suitable for Trans-planted Aman and other varieties of paddy as the climate was most favou-rite in the season.

The deputy director said, the farm-ers of the district were almost aware on crop production issues as the � eld lev-el o� cials of the DAE were engaged in motivating the farmers, as well as pro-viding training on crop management. It has been helping aware the farmers to boost production.

The DAE o� cial also said, the pro-duction might be increased more if the soil fertility could be enhanced.

Joynul Abedin blamed the least presence of the organic matter in soil as the farming land requires at least � ve per cent organic matter in soil, while the presence of the organic substanc-es in the soil of the south-western dis-tricts was about one per cent. Further, the farmers were not enough aware about insu� cient milk formation in the paddy grains. l

Two Nestle Bangladesh employees among six killed in road accidents n Tribune Report

At least six people, including two em-ployees of Nestle Bangladesh, were killed in separate road accidents that took place in Gazipur and Comilla yes-terday.

In Gazipur, the Nestle Bangladesh employees were crushed under the wheel of a speedy truck in Bangla Bazar area on the Dhaka-Kapasia road.

They were identi� ed as Md Khayrul Islam, 46, chemist of the factory and Fakhrul Islam, 42, in-charge of the fac-tory.

Police said a motorcycle carrying Fakhrul and Khayrul had been hit by another vehicle from behind in the area around 7am, leaving them dead on the spot.

On receiving information, police rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies and sent those to Gazipur Sa-dar Hospital morgue for post-mortem

examination. The driver along with the truck managed to flee from the scene.

In Comilla, four people were killed in separate road accidents. Three peo-ple were killed in a head-on collision between a pickup van and a lorry on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Nau-tola area of Chandina upazila in the early hours of the day.

The deceased are driver of the van Moin-uddin Moin, 38, son of Sayed Ahmed of Soyanitobga village in Chat-khil upazila of Noakhali and two pas-sengers.

Of the passengers one was identi� ed as Nasiruddin, 35, son of Giasuddin, of Maijpara village in Munshiganj.

But identity of another passenger could not be known immediately.

Meanwhile, Ali Mia, 70, died when a CNG run auto rickshaw hit him while he was crossing the road in Chakbazar area. l

17 bridges, culverts to be built in Jamalpurn Tribune Desk

District Relief and Rehabilitation De-partment has taken a programme to construct 17 bridges and culverts in Ja-malpur.

District Relief and Rehabilitation of-� ce sources said Disaster Management and Relief Ministry allotted Tk37.03m for construction of the bridges and cul-verts.

According to sources at the o� ce, out of the bridges and culverts, two each in Sarishabari, Madarganj, Bakshi-ganj and Dewanganj upazila and three each in Melandah, Islampur and Jamal-pur sadar upazila will be constructed.

District Relief and Rehabilitation O� cer Jahar Lal Das said tender for-malities had been completed and work order will be given very soon.

The construction work of the bridg-es and culverts will be completed by June next, he added. l

Goat rearing cuts rural poverty n Tribune Report

Rearing of goat is very e� ective for eradicating rural poverty and achiev-ing self-reliance alongside ful� lling protein de� ciency of the area, speakers told a discussion yesterday.

They made these observations while distributing 67 goats among the poor and distressed men and women at Ful-bari village under Debiganj upazila of the district.

Chilahati union Samaj Kallyan Fed-eration arranged the programme with the assistance of Bangladesh NGO Foundation in rural area under its pov-erty alleviation project.

Chilahati UP Chairman Md Sahidul Alam was present at the distribution function as the chief guest while Sam-aj Kallyan Federation Chairman Anwar Hossain was in the chair.

Livestock o� cer Amol Kumar, RDRS o� cer Choton Kumar and federation secretary Abdul Kader addressed the function. l

Proper treatment for mentallyill people stressed n Tribune Desk

Speakers at a view-sharing meeting underscored the need for proper treat-ment and necessary healthcare facil-ities for mentally sick people is very vital to facilitate them to get back their normal life.

They also observed that collective e� ort was vital as all the mental diseases excepting the schizophrenia are curable, so social awareness alongside positive at-titude to the patients is very vital for their early recovery from mental sickness.

The meeting was held at the semi-nar hall of Civil Surgeon O� ce. Action on Disability and Development (ADD), a UK-based development agency, and District Badhan Protibandhi Sangstha jointly organised the meeting in associ-ation with Christian Blind Mission.

Civil Surgeon Dr Shahidul Islam and Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Azizul Islam addressed the discussion as chief and special guests respectively with Bad-han Protibandhi Sangstha President Sohel Rana in the chair.

Director of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Shariful Is-lam, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Department of Rajshahi Medical Col-lege Hospital Dr Moyeen and Lecturer Tanzir Ahmed Tusser also spoke on the occasion.

In his keynote presentation, Mus-taque Ahmed, project o� cer of ADD, said mental illnesses were an un-der-recognised public health problem in Bangladesh, reports BSS.

“Awareness about mental illness and acceptance of treatment are very low due to social stigma and supersti-tion”, he said, adding psychosocial care of mentally sick and disaster a� ected people constitute a major challenge for the health and the social welfare sys-tems of the country.

He told the meeting that some 16.01% of the country’s population is su� ering from various mental illnesses but the nation has only 150 physicians to manage huge patients.

Taking advantages of the situa-tion, Mustaque Ahemd said, some

quacks and opportunist groups have been working as money- makers through exploiting the patients. He added that the mal-practitioners are pushing the patients into endangered condition.

He added that mental health needs to be brought under the surveillance system incorporating with other non-communicable diseases. The state level treatment facilities for the men-tally disorder patients is very limited, he said and underscored the need for uplifting the scopes to cope with the situation.

Civil Surgeon Dr Shahidul Islam said integration of mental health services with primary health care has become the most viable way of narrowing the treatment gap and ensuring that com-mon people bene� t from mental health promotion.

He said all the drug addicts especial-ly the intravenous drug users always su� er from mental sickness as the drugs damage their body strengths and the central nervous system. l

Chars Livelihoods Programme improving life of char peoplen Tribune Desk

The Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) has been improving life standard of some 1.5m extremely poor people living in remote char (shoal) areas on the Brahmaputra basin very e� ectively in recent years.

Under the comprehensive pro-gramme, about 106,000 have-nots group landless and distressed families have achieved self-reliance bidding good-bye to the century-old season-al ‘monga’ through eradicating abject poverty during the past eight years.

Sources said the UKaid through the De-partment for International Development and Australian Government through Aus-tralian Agency for International Develop-ment (Aus AID) have been funding CLP implementation, reports BSS.

Under the sponsorship of the Min-istry of Local Government, Rural De-velopment and Cooperatives, CLP is being executed by the Rural Develop-ment and Cooperatives Division with the management through Maxwell Stamp Plc.

Executive Director of Northbengal Institute of Development Studies Dr Syed Samsuzzaman said the char peo-ple had to live in utter poverty for de-cades together, but they are now mov-ing towards sustainable uplift and lead meaningful life.

The CLP has been working with the extremely poor households living on riverine island chars to improve their livelihoods and has raised plinths for over one lakh char families so far in the remote char areas since 2004 in ten northwestern districts. l

Children play on a log put by activists of the BNP-led 18-party alliance to block a road in Chandpur DHAKA TRIBUNE

Activists of the BNP-led 18-party alliance blocks waterway at Itna in Kishoreganj yesterday, disrupting communication on 30 river routes DHAKA TRIBUNE

Thursday, November 28, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE InternationalDHAKA TRIBUNE8

Missing German-Egyptian author resurfaces in Cairo Germany’s Foreign O� ce says a Ger-man-Egyptian novelist who disappeared in Cairo a few days ago has resurfaced. A Foreign O� ce spokesperson said Wednesday that Hamed Abdel-Sa-mad, known for critical and sometimes provocative statements on religion and society, resurfaced Tuesday and has been in contact with the German ambassador in Cairo. He disappeared on Sunday. The spokesperson, who talked on condition of anonymity in line with department policy, declined to comment on reports that Abdel-Samad had been kidnapped. Egyptian o� cials had said Monday initial investigations pointed to a � nancial dispute, although authorities were also looking into suspicions that radicals had kidnapped the writer.

Los Angeles judge orders cool-down at US hot sauce factoryA judge has given a dose of cold water to the hot sauce Sriracha, ruling Tuesday that the factory that manufactures the trendy condiment must partially shut down after neighbours complained of the spicy smells it was producing. Judge Robert H O’Brien found in favour of the city of Irwindale where Sriracha recently relocated, saying sauce maker Huy Fong Foods must stop any operations that could be causing the odours and make changes to mitigate them.

China says it monitored defiant US bomber flights China acknowledged Wednesday it let two American B-52 bombers � y unhindered through its newly declared air defence zone in the East China Sea despite its earlier threat to take defensive measures against unidenti� ed foreign aircraft. The US � ights, which tested the Chinese zone for the � rst time since it was declared over the weekend, raised questions about Beijing’s determination to enforce its requirement that foreign aircraft identify themselves and accept Chinese instructions. China’s lack of any action suggested that it was merely playing out a diplomatic game to establish ownership over the area rather than provoke an international incident.

Knightstown police chief to be shot with taser to raise moneyKnightstown police Chief Danny Baker has used pig roasts and golf tournaments to augment his department’s shrinking bud-get, but badly in need of $9,000 for a new squad car, he’s reprising his most shocking fundraising approach to date: getting shot by a stun gun. The jocular 63-year-old chief and another Knightstown o� cial were planning to have a detective shoot them with a Taser at a free event Wednesday night in the middle school gym in their small eastern Indiana town. Spectators — who Baker hopes feel compelled to donate — will get a � rsthand look at how 50,000 volts of low-amp electricity a� ects the human body.

WORLD WATCHChina aims to harness religion to promote harmonyn Reuters

China should harness the positive in� uence of moderate religious be-lievers, including their traditions of benevolence and tolerance, and recog-nise their contributions to society, the country’s top religious a� airs o� cial wrote on Tuesday.

The ruling and o� cially atheist Communist Party, which values sta-bility above all else, has tried to co-opt religion in recent years as a force for social harmony in a country where few believe in communism any more.

Wang Zuoan, head of the State Ad-ministration of Religious A� airs, wrote in the Communist Party’s o� cial Peo-ple’s Daily that even though most peo-ple in China have no religion, those who do have an important role to play in promoting harmony.

“We should pay great attention to the eagerness of religious believers,” Wang wrote. “Foster the positive con-tents of religion, expound upon reli-gious doctrines which accord with the development needs of society.”

He added, “Guide religious believers to have correct beliefs and follow cor-rect practices, carry out the religious principles of reconciliation, benevo-

lence, tolerance and moderation.”President Xi Jinping wants the party

to be more tolerant of traditional faiths in the hope these will help � ll a vacu-um created by the country’s breakneck growth and rush to get rich, sources told Reuters in September.

Believers should be allowed to “earnestly practice what they advo-cate” and “form a common consensus on promoting social stability and har-mony ... under the leadership of the party and the socialist system,” Wang added.

About half of China’s estimated 100 million religious followers are Chris-tians or Muslims, with the rest Bud-dhists or Daoists, the government says, though it thinks the real number of be-lievers is probably much higher.

Rights groups say that despite promises to allow freedom of belief, the government in practice enforces tough controls, especially on Chris-tians, Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists. Beijing has also banned several spiritu-al groups as “evil cults.”

Wang had written in April that the country was struggling to banish su-perstitious beliefs about events such as sickness and death, and warned against people being misled.l

Egypt: 24 detained for holding protest n AP, Cairo

Egypt’s state news agency says the pros-ecutor general has ordered a four-day detention for 24 activists detained while protesting a newly passed law criminalis-ing demonstrations without permits.

MENA also says the prosecutor on Wednesday issued arrest warrants for two leading activists accused of incit-ing demonstrators. He also released more than 10 female protesters. Wit-nesses say the women were released in the desert in the middle of the night.

On Tuesday, security forces used wa-ter cannons to break up the demonstra-tion outside Cairo’s upper house of par-liament, where protesters denounced a proposed constitutional amendment allowing military courts to try civilians.

Many observers said police be-haviour was reminiscent of the days former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s long-time autocrat ousted in 2011. l

Syria says it won’t give up power in peace talks n AP, Damascus

The Syrian government said Wednes-day it will participate in UN-sponsored peace talks aimed at ending the coun-try’s civil war, but insisted that it is not going to the conference to hand over power.

The United Nations on Monday an-nounced that the long-delayed peace talks will begin Jan 22 in Geneva.

The meeting, which would be the � rst face-to-face talks between the President Bashar Assad’s government and its opponents since the Syrian war began, has raised hopes that a resolu-tion to a con� ict that activists say has killed more than 120,000 people could be within reach.

But huge hurdles remain, includ-ing a decision on the full list of partic-ipants.

The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group has said it is ready to attend, but wants the government to establish humanitarian corridors and release political prisoners as a con� dence-building measure before it makes a � nal decision.

In a statement Wednesday, Syria’s Foreign Ministry con� rmed the gov-ernment will attend, saying Assad will send an o� cial delegation to the Gene-va conference.

The ministry stressed that the representatives “will be going to Geneva not to hand over power to anyone” but to meet with those “who support a political solution for Syria’s future.”

The Syrian opposition and its West-ern supporters insist that Assad can-not be part of a transitional govern-ment.

In a jab at Britain and France, the Foreign Ministry said that if Paris and London “insist on holding fast to these illusions” that there is no place for Assad in a transitional period, then “there is no need for them to attend Geneva 2.”

“Our people will not allow anyone to steal their right to decide their future and leadership and the main goal of the Geneva conference is to ful� l the inter-ests of the Syrian people alone, and not those who shed their blood,” the state-ment said. l

French court upholds dismissal over Islamic headscarfn AFP, Paris

A Paris appeal court on Wednesday up-held the right of a nursery to � re a fe-male employee who insisted on wear-ing an Islamic headscarf at work.

In the latest round of a long-running legal battle, the court overturned a con-troversial March 2013 ruling that the “Baby-Wolf” kindergarten in the Paris suburbs had been guilty of religious discrimination when it dismissed Fati-ma A� f in 2008.

A� f was sacked after telling her em-ployer that, on her return to work fol-lowing � ve years of maternity leave, she wished to wear a headscarf at all times.

The head of the day nursery refused, citing the establishment’s rules that employees had to be neutral in terms of philosophy, politics and faith. That led to a stand-o� and A� f being made redundant.

Wednesday’s verdict supporting the nursery’s action was hailed as a land-mark decision by supporters of secular education.

Lawyers for A� f said it was “very probable” that they would launch an-other appeal and she herself has said she is prepared to take her case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. l

Iran hard-liners criticise Geneva deal n AP, Tehran

Hard-line Iranian politicians publicly criticised the deal reached in Geneva last week over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, an agreement that has largely been welcomed by Iranians.

Hard-line lawmaker Ruhollah Hos-seinian said the deal was so vague and conditional that it may � nally lead to a shutting down of Iran’s uranium en-richment program. Hamid Rasaei, an-other hard-line legislator, has called it “a poison chalice.”

Most lawmakers supported the deal, saying it eases sanctions that world powers have placed on Iran and pre-vents them from imposing new ones. Discussions about it were broadcast live on state radio as Foreign Minister

Mohammad Javad Zarif briefed law-makers on it.

“We should tell the people what we have lost and what we have gained and why,” Hosseinian told the house. “It practically tramples on Iran’s enrich-ment rights... Uranium enrichment restrictions in the � nal stage and con-straints in the � rst stage mean that en-richment in Iran is headed toward self shut-down.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the � nal say on all state matters, has publicly supported the country’s nuclear negotiators. Yet, it has not stopped hardliners from crit-icising the agreement.

“A chalice of poison has been given to the people but (the government) is try-ing to show it as a sweet drink through

media manipulation,” Rasaei said.Zarif has argued that the deal has

caused serious cracks in the sanctions regime and prevents the UN Security Council and world powers from impos-ing new ones. The deal, he said, also provides sanctions relief in return for Iran scaling down its enrichment pro-gram but allows it to continue enrich-ing under 5%.

Government supporters have hailed Zarif as “ambassador of peace,” calling negotiations a diplomatic victory for Iran. Others say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s angry reaction shows it was a triumph.

Netanyahu called the deal last week a “historic mistake” that makes the world a “much more dangerous place.” He added that Israel is not bound by it. l

Iraq: 13 executed corpses found as attacks kill 5n AP, Baghdad

Police around Iraq’s capital found the corpses of 13 men Wednesday appar-ently gunned down in executions, as other attacks in the country killed at least � ve, authorities said.

O� cers found eight corpses dumped in farmland in the Sunni-dom-inated Arab Jabour district, a police of-� cer said. All of the dead, men believed to be between the ages of 25 to 35, suf-fered gunshot to their heads, he said.

Arab Jabour, a former insurgent stronghold, is located about 25 kilome-tres south of Baghdad.

Authorities found another � ve corps-es in a vacant lot in a residential area of the capital’s northwestern Shula neigh-bourhood, the o� cer said. The slain men, all in their 30s, had their hands and legs tied and su� ered gunshots in heads and chests, he said. O� cers found no identi� cation on the corpses.

The discovery of executed corpses is a grim reminder of Iraq’s sectarian war-fare in 2006 and 2007, when both Shia and Sunni death squads used to roam the streets and raid homes to round up people. Authorities later found the vic-tims’ corpses mutilated and left on the street. l

Israel: EU deal does not ‘punish’ Israeli groupsn AP, Jerusalem

Israel’s deputy foreign minister says Israeli groups operating in the occu-pied territories will not be “punished” under an agreement with the European Union over a funding ban.

Zeev Elkin told Israel Radio that a compromise reached will allow groups who operate in the West Bank or east Jerusalem to apply for European fund-ing for a 70 billion euro research project

known as “Horizon 2020.” But money given would not be allowed to serve proj-ects in those territories, which the Pales-tinians want as part of a future state.

Elkin said Wednesday that Israel would compensate institutions ineligi-ble for EU funding.

EU guidelines prevent funding for projects or institutions in territories Israel captured in 1967. The guidelines complicated Israeli e� orts to sign on to the research project. l

Saudi reassessing ban on women drivers: activistsn AFP, Riyadh

Saudi authorities are reassessing a con-troversial ban on the right for women to drive in the ultra-conservative king-dom, activists said on Wednesday, cit-ing the interior minister.

“Rest assured that the issue is be-ing discussed, and expect a good out-come,” Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said, according to Aziza al-Yusef who met him along with fellow activist Hala al-Dosari.

Yusef said the meeting took place at the minister’s o� ce, but through a video conference, in compliance with strict rules of segregation between men and women.

But the top security chief stressed that the globally unique ban on driving for women was “a matter to be decided by the legislative authority,” Yusef told AFP.

Saudi Arabia has an all-appointed consultative Shura Council, with no elected parliament. The council makes recommendations to the government, but the king remains the absolute leg-islator.

“We expect a royal decree that gives us this right,” Yusef said.

Three of the recently appointed 30 female members of the council pre-sented a recommendation last month that women be given the right to drive.

But the male-dominated 150-mem-ber assembly rejected the recommen-dation without passing it to the govern-ment.

Prince Mohammed told the activists the kingdom was “governed by sharia” Islamic law, Dosari wrote on Twitter, adding that activists insisted women’s “rights do not violate sharia law, and should not be measured by the opin-ions of extremists.” l

Israel turning blind eye to settler violence: NGOn AFP, Jerusalem

Israel is failing to penalise Jewish set-tlers for attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank who enjoy “virtual impuni-ty” from prosecution, Ramallah-based rights group Al-Haq said on Wednes-day.

In a 40-page report, al-Haq also called on the international community to avoid funding settler groups, a day after Israel and the European Union reached a compromise deal over fund-ing for bodies operating in the occu-pied West Bank or east Jerusalem.

Settlers carrying out attacks, which involve the use of “live ammunition” and “the destruction and denial of access to property” have been left un-punished by the Israeli authorities, al-Haq charged.

“Settlers involved in the planning and perpetration of such acts have re-mained largely immune from the en-forcement of the law and, in some cas-

es, have even bene� ted from o� cial support from state authorities,” it said.

“Israeli settlers enjoy virtual impu-nity for crimes against Palestinians, and bene� t from the protection of Is-raeli domestic laws.”

The report was referring speci� cal-ly to so-called “price tag” attacks, a euphemism for hate crimes by Jewish extremists which often involve vandal-ism and in some cases physical injury.

Such attacks initially targeted Pal-estinians in retaliation for state moves to dismantle unauthorised settlement outposts but later became a standard response following any anti-Israeli vi-olence.

Price tag attacks “facilitate the transfer of Palestinians o� their land to make way for the construction of set-tlements,” al-Haq said.

The report also called on the inter-national community not to fund any organisations or individuals associated with Israeli settlements. l

Latvian PM resigns over deadly supermarket cave-inn AFP, Riga

Latvia’s prime minister resigned on Wednesday in the wake of a supermarket roof cave-in that killed 54 people in the country’s worst-ever peacetime disaster.

“Considering the tragedy and all related circumstances...a new gov-ernment is needed that has the clear support of parliament,” Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters as he fought back tears.

“Therefore I have submitted my res-ignation from the post of prime minis-ter,” he said after a meeting with Presi-dent Andris Berzins.

It was not immediately clear wheth-er the president would push for a snap election or try to form a new govern-ment with the existing parliament.

The next regularly scheduled elec-tions are set for October 2014.

Berzins for his part said top securi-ty o� cials would meet on December 4 to discuss the fallout from last week’s deadly collapse. The political thunder-bolt comes just weeks before Latvia enters the eurozone in January, an un-

popular move that Dombrovskis made a policy cornerstone for his adminstration.

Fifty-four people died and 40 others were injured when the roof of a Max-ima supermarket came crashing down last week in the Zolitude suburb of the capital Riga. The November 21 building disaster, among Europe’s worst in de-

cades, has left the Baltic state of two million people reeling. The premier’s resignation comes amid growing pres-sure to � nd the cause of the collapse, with debate focused on whether sub-standard materials were used in construction or if the award-winning project contained a design � aw. l

Police detain 15 radical Islamists in Moscown AFP, Moscow

Russia’s interior ministry said Wednes-day its agents had detained 15 radical Islamists in Moscow who belonged to a banned o� shoot of the al-Qaeda terror network.

The ministry said members of Tak-� r wal-Hijra – a group formed in Egypt in the 1960s and outlawed in Russia in 2010 – had been discovered hiding weapons and explosives in their apart-ments but provided few other details.

It said the group had been funding its activities by “conducting general crime.”

Tak� r wal-Hijra was quashed in Egypt in the 1970s but is believed to have cells linked to al-Qaeda in several European and other countries.

Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency said the banned organisation’s activities were � rst discovered in for-mer Soviet republics such as Ukraine about � ve years ago.

But RIA Novosti said experts doubt-ed whether Tak� r wal-Hijra members in the region had actual links to the original organisation in Egypt or had simply assumed the name of a relative-ly well-known terror group. l

Latvia’s Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis speaks during a news conference in Riga REUTERS

Egyptian police arrest a protester in Cairo, Tuesday, after they � red water cannons to disperse two protests by dozens of secular anti-government activists AP

9Thursday, November 28, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE International

Blast near Indian nuclear plant kills sixn AP, New Delhi

A crude bomb exploded near a nuclear plant in southern India, demolishing two houses and killing six people, po-lice said Wednesday. One of three peo-ple seriously injured was identi� ed by police as an anti-nuclear activist and a suspect in the case.

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power

Plant, which has inspired years of pro-tests by local residents in Tamil Nadu state, was una� ected by the blast and operating normally, police said.

The bomb likely went o� accidental-ly as suspected activists were making several crude explosive devices Tues-day night in a house 15 kilometres from the plant, police superintendent Vijay-endra Bidari said.

Police recovered two unexploded bombs from the site and are seeking an anti-nuclear activist for questioning.

Another anti-nuclear activist was be-ing treated in a hospital for serious in-juries from the blast, and had yet to be questioned, Bidari said. Among the six killed were a women and three young children, police said, without saying if they had been in the house or nearby. l

Indonesia ready to work with Australia again n AP, Jakarta

The political row over allegations that Australia spied on Indonesia appeared to ease Wednesday after their leaders issued conciliatory statements and agreed to set up “a code of conduct.”

Indonesian President Susilo Bam-bang Yudhoyono told reporters he will send either Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa or a special envoy to Aus-tralia to discuss the code of conduct that would allow the two countries to continue cooperating on a number of issues, including intelligence informa-tion sharing, military and police.

Jakarta downgraded its rela-

tions with Australia last week after it emerged that the phones of Yudhoy-ono, his wife and other leaders were bugged by Australian agencies in 2009.

Following the reports, cooperation between the militaries and law en-forcement agencies of the two coun-tries was suspended, including work on the thorny issue of people smug-gling. Indonesia also recalled its am-bassador to Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Ab-bot has refused to con� rm or deny the reported allegations, which emerged from documents provided by US Na-tional Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. l

Singapore says no desire to ‘harm’ Malaysia n AFP, Singapore

Singapore has assured Malaysia that it will not do anything to harm relations as the city-state grapples with allega-tions that it was part of a US-led elec-tronic spying operation in Asia.

“We have no interest in doing any-thing that might harm our partners or the friendship between our two coun-tries,” Ong Keng Yong, Singapore’s high commissioner (ambassador) to Malay-sia, said in comments carried by the Straits Times newspaper on Wednesday.

“We have an excellent bilateral rela-tionship and cooperate closely on many matters of common interest,” he said without addressing the spying issue di-rectly. Singapore’s envoys to Malaysia and Indonesia were summoned by their host governments Tuesday following an Aus-tralian media report that implicated Sin-gapore and South Korea in a spying ring.

Singapore’s foreign and defence ministries have not replied to AFP que-ries about the report, based on leaks provided by fugitive former US intelli-gence contractor Edward Snowden. l

Maoists kill four troopers in central Indian AFP, Raipur

Maoist insurgents ambushed a security patrol and killed four troopers in cen-tral India on Wednesday, police said, the latest bloodshed in a lengthy con-� ict over land, jobs and power.

The rebels triggered a small bomb and then opened � re on a patrol in a district of Chhattisgarh state long con-sidered a Maoist stronghold, a senior district police o� cer said.

Rebels stole weapons from the Cen-tral Reserve Police Force o� cers killed in the attack, which occurred in a for-ested area of Bijapur district, 485km from the state capital Raipur.

“At least four security forces were

killed and three injured in the am-bush,” o� cer Sukhnandan Rathor told AFP by phone from Bijapur city.

He could not con� rm whether any Maoists also died in the ambush but television station NDTV said four of the attackers were also believed to have been killed.

Maoists earlier this month killed two security o� cials and a civilian in the state’s Sukma district.

In neighbouring Orissa state, security forces killed 14 Maoist guerrillas in Sep-tember. The Maoists have grown from a rag-tag band of ideologues into a po-tent insurgent force, creating a so-called “Red Corridor” that stretches through-out central and eastern India. l

Pakistan breaks ground on big nuclear plant n AP, Karachi

Pakistan has broken ground on what will be the country’s largest civil nu-clear power plant, which is being built with help from China.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif performed the ground break-ing ceremony in the southern city of Karachi on Tuesday. He said the plant will take 72 months to complete and will produce 2,200 megawatts of elec-tricity.

Critics have said that China’s assis-tance to Pakistan would violate non-proliferation agreements. China has said the deal would be carried out in line with “international obligations” and subject to international safeguards and supervision.

Pakistan is desperately in need of additional electricity since the country currently faces rolling blackouts. The nuclear deal with China represents a continuation of the strong alliance be-tween the two countries. l

Pakistan names new army chiefn AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan named a new army chief on Wednesday, promoting a veteran infan-try commander to the most powerful position in the troubled nuclear-armed nation battling a homegrown Taliban insurgency.

General Raheel Sharif will take over as head of the 600,000-strong army from General Ashfaq Kayani, who is re-tiring after six years at the helm.

The change of command comes with the country facing a daunting array of challenges – the six-year Taliban cam-paign which has claimed thousands of lives, vexed relations with India and the winding-down of the 12-year Nato mission in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Sharif, a veteran infantry command-er whose elder brother won Pakistan’s highest military award for valour in the 1971 war with India, will formally take command on Thursday.

A message from the o� ce of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif con� rmed Gen Sharif had been made chief of the army sta� and General Rashid Mehmood had been made chairman of the joint chiefs of sta� committee.

The prime minister’s statement also named Khwaja Asif, the minister for water and power, as the new defence minister. The post had been vacant since the May general election.

Departing commander Kayani has served as army chief since 2007 and has been given much credit for resisting the temptation to meddle overtly in politics.

When he con� rmed his retirement last month he stressed that the armed forces “fully support and want to strengthen” democracy. l

Philippines says China carrier’s mission ‘raises tension’n AFP, Manila

The Philippines Wednesday criticised China’s dispatch of its � rst aircraft car-rier to the South China Sea, saying it “raises tension” in waters where the two Asian neighbours are locked in a terri-torial dispute. “Its deployment does not contribute to collective e� orts to strength-en regional stability and instead serves to strengthen the status quo,” foreign department spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a statement. “Its deployment raises tension,” he said, adding it was contrary to efforts by governments in the region to craft a “Code of Conduct” in the South China Sea.

The newly-commissioned Liaoning left its home port of Qingdao on Tues-day on a training mission to the South China Sea, accompanied by two missile destroyers and two missile frigates, the o� cial Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday. The deployment comes amid heightened tensions between China and its neighbours over disputed wa-ters, with Beijing declaring air defence rights over islands controlled by Japan at the weekend, provoking a furious in-ternational reaction. l

Thailand cuts interest rate amid political strife n AP, Bangkok

Thailand’s central bank unexpectedly lowered the cost of credit Wednesday as escalating protests to topple the government add to pressure on the economy.

The Bank of Thailand said it lowered its policy interest rate by a quarter%age point to 2.25%, hoping to stimulate lending and investment.

Flag-waving protesters vowing to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shi-nawatra took to the streets of Bangkok for a fourth straight day Wednesday. They are threatening to occupy every government ministry after invading the Ministry of Finance and turning it into an ad-hoc protest headquarters.

The central bank said in a statement that the “ongoing political situation” could compound existing weakness-es in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. Business con� dence is frag-ile and government plans for $69.5bn of spending on high speed rail and oth-er transport infrastructure have been

delayed by legal challenges.Thailand’s third quarter economic

growth was weaker than expected and a recovery in exports has not gained traction, the bank said.

Known mainly for its southern re-sort islands and high quality rice, Thai-land is also a manufacturing base for electronics manufacturers and several global automakers, including General Motors Co and Toyota Motor Corp.

A Thai tourism o� cial said the pro-tests have deterred 300,000 tourists so far at a cost of half a billion US dollars. Thailand’s visitor arrivals totaled 22.3 million last year.

Protest leaders say they want to re-place the government with a non-elect-ed council to eliminate the political ma-chine of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as premier in a 2006 coup fol-lowing months of street protests against corruption and patronage politics.

Thailand’s current prime minister is Thaksin’s younger sister, who led her party to a landslide victory in 2011 elec-tions. l

Afghan gunmen kill six local sta� of French aid groupn AFP, Mazar-i-Sharif

Suspected Taliban gunmen on Wednes-day shot dead six local sta� ers working for the French aid group ACTED on ru-ral development projects in northern Afghanistan. The men were dragged from their car in the Pashtun Kot dis-trict of Faryab province, which borders Turkmenistan, before being gunned down, provincial police chief Nabi Jan Mullahkhail told AFP.

“They were travelling in a car from (the provincial capital) Maimana to Almar district,” he said. “They were chased by Taliban suspects and their car stopped in Pashtun Kot.”

ACTED (the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) con-demned the killings and clari� ed the death toll at six after local o� cials ear-lier said seven people had died.

“Six Afghan employees were killed following an ambush that targeted a team of seven people. One person was injured,” ACTED spokesman Adrien To-marchio said in a statement from Paris.

“They were killed in the course of their work to support development in the north. We deplore the deaths of our colleagues while they were carrying out their duties. “Today our thoughts are with the families and relatives of our lost col-leagues and to our teams in Afghanistan.”

ACTED is a non-governmental organ-isation founded in 1993 that runs recon-struction projects in Afghanistan and across the developing world. It runs 34 projects in Afghanistan, and last year had 864 local sta� and 13 international sta� in the country, according to its website. l

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Australia n AP, Sydney

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi defended herself on Wednesday against criticism that she should be doing more on behalf of a Muslim minority group that has been targeted by sectarian violence in parts of the predominantly Buddhist nation.

“I have always defended those whose human rights have been at-tacked,” Suu Kyi said in response to a question during a ceremony in her honour at Sydney’s Opera House. “But what people want is not defence but condemnation. They’re saying why am I not condemning this group or why am I not condemning that group. ... I am not condemning because I have not found that condemnation brings good results. What I want to do is to achieve national reconciliation.”

Over the past two years, sectarian vi-olence in Myanmar has left more than 240 people dead and forced another 240,000 to � ee their homes, most of them members of the minority Rohing-ya community. Suu Kyi, who became known as a human rights heroine when she fought against the nation’s previ-ous military regime, has been criticised for not responding more aggressively to the issue. She declined to meet with an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation delegation that recently visited Myan-mar to look into the violence.

Suu Kyi, who is in Australia on a � ve-day trip to Sydney, Melbourne and Can-berra, also disagreed with descriptions of the violence as “ethnic cleansing.” l

An Indian paramilitary soldier stands near the Russian-built Kudankulam Atomic Power Project, at Kudankulam, about 700 kilometers (440 miles) south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, India AP

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, walks with New South Wales state governor Marie Bashir at Government House in Sydney AP

Students attend a rally in support of EU integration in Kiev November 26, 2013. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich poured scorn on his jailed rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, on Wednesday, saying the question of her imprisonment should not hinder Kiev’s integration with the European Union REUTERS

DREAMING OF EU

RMG new wage Tk5,300November 21

Khwaja Anas Nasarullah For how long does the public think the RMG industry will keep laying golden eggs? When the RMG industry closes down, that’s when the public will realise how ridiculous their demands were.

Nazmul Khair I think this wage is enough for any primary label worker. He/she can earn well with OT and others.

Hasina, family � y for Umrah todayNovember 21

It is good to seek the blessings of Allah anytime.Shanta Jesmina

But who is paying for this trip? Hope it’s not my money.

Parveen Ahmed

Very interesting!Abdul Nabi

Tk8 expenditure per voterNovember 22

What can Tk8 buy these days?PA

Why should a farce be held at the cost of the taxpayers’ money?

Habibur Rahman

What a joke! Said by EC.Suvra Saha

Tackle the root causes of violence against womenNovember 24 marked the International Day for the

Elimination of Violence against Women. With vio-lence against women on the rise, it is more urgent

than ever that we meaningfully address the root causes of this problem.

Between January 2009 and March 2013, 22,701 incidents of violence against women and girls took place, including gang rape, murder, dowry related violence, tra� cking and acid attacks.

There are serious systemic factors that are allowing this type of crime to escalate. Our current laws are inadequate to address the various threats that women and girls face and there is little political will to change this fact. For example, in spite of a directive from the High Court to the government in 2009 to enact a comprehen-sive law on sexual harassment, little action has been taken.

Poor implementation of existing laws and the slow pace of trials in delivering justice also create an environment of impunity that can encourage perpetrators.

We also need to fundamentally rethink the social norms that are often factors in giving rise to the abuse of women and violence in the � rst place. The changing economic reality is challenging the traditional role of men as primary income earners and authority � gures. Young men in particular need to be better educated to deal with the increasingly empow-ered role of women.

An e� ective strategy to end violence against women needs not just better law enforcement. It requires a change in both archaic attitudes and laws and dialogue to overcome outdated social norms.

Media should be free of patronage

The information ministry has given its approval to 13 new television channels, 14 FM radio stations and 60 community radio stations as the current government

steps down. While any healthy democracy requires healthy and competitive media, monopolistic practices and patron-age by political parties as is happening in Bangladesh is not a good sign.

The new television chan-nels will be an addition to the 27 channels that already exist. And yet, this excess of channels is not an indication of diverse ownership, because they are almost all tainted by the appearance of partiality due to political benefaction.

It is unclear as to what kind of scrutiny these license appli-cations actually go through. As has been seen in the past, new licenses mostly go to ruling party-backed media houses, who do little more than pay lip-service to government agen-das. Most of the new licenses granted by the AL government were to AL ministers, advisers, and lawmakers.

The licenses are rarely based on any actual professional commitment that would enrich our broadcast media and improve their standards overall. Matters such as media ethics are also ignored, resulting in widespread political bias all over our airwaves, to say nothing of low quality.

Such bias compromises the credibility of media, as well as our democracy.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Matters such as media ethics are also ignored, resulting in widespread political bias all over our airwaves, to say nothing of low quality

An e� ective strategy to end violence against women needs not just better law enforcement. It requires a change in both archaic attitudes and laws

We pray for the people of PhilippinesNovember 24

Recently, the people of Philippines had to face a natural calamity of a great magnitude; Ty-phoon Haiyan swept over the country leaving a trail of devastation. It was a category 5 ty-phoon, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 315 kilometers per hour; it is believed to be the strongest wind recorded.

At least 10,000 people lost their lives, and the scene of destruction is so tragic that one cannot help gasping with pain and disbelief. Thousands of people were injured; without food, water, and shelter, they are passing their days in great misery. The United States, Aus-tralia and the United Nations have mobilised emergency aid to the Philippines. We hope oth-er countries will also come forward to help the victims of the typhoon.

We are praying so that they can overcome this misfortune and we feel deep sympathy for them and pray that everything returns to normal, very soon.

Nur Jahan, Chittagong

Country may get a DNA database centre soonNovember 20Even then, politicians and people who work for them will get away with crimes. Bangladesh is corrupt, through and through.

na� z.t

Hefazat calls Ershad ‘AL slave’November 21After nearly 20 years of HM Ershad, they only get it now?

frkislam

Interpreting Digital Bangladesh: A note to criticsNovember 20

The changes that happened in the last few years are too evident to avoid, even to the fears of the critics of AL government. A lot of good things really happened in the broader areas of society through the DB projects.

Only one thing I am still very annoyed about, that is the fuel of ICT, “internet band-width.” Bangladesh now has a total 260GBps internet speed. And only 11% (less than 30GBps) of it is now used by the entirety of Bangladeshi internet users.

What exactly is the government doing with the remaining 89% speed? It is obtained with people’s money. And we deserve to use it at a reasonable cost. It is obvious that the government could sell a 10mbps or more un-limited connection at half the price of what we pay for a 1mbps limited volume connec-tion nowadays and still be pro� table.

There’s no point in wasting 89% of inter-net speed while we keep seeing the loading screens everywhere. The government must do something about it to really take the Digi-tal Bangladesh to DB2.0 level.

Mohammad Tauheed

The world is watchingNovember 22

The opposition party can think of no better way to press their case than to shut the country down, burn buses, and cause mayhem, for it’s no more a civil political party. By joining hands with terrorist out� ts, they are out to seize power at any cost.

Hafeejul Alam

The lobbying by the wealthy Jamaat, for over a considerable length of time, may have given rise to the sudden Western attention to Bangla-desh’s state of a� airs.

But I � nd the deliberations inherently con-tradictory, because on the one hand they ap-prehend the reemergence of “extremism” and on the other hand they are critical about the ICT proceedings! Well, one can’t have the cake and eat it also!

Waliul Haque Khondker

How to solve Sudoku: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 num-ber repeating.

CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS1 Additional payment (5)4 Straight and limp (4)7 Literary ridicule (6)8 Gathering of witches (5)10 Nourish (4)11 Skilled (5)12 Greek letter (3)14 Slender support (4)17 Transmit (4)19 Fuss (3)20 Mature (5)23 Bill of fare (4)25 Bodies of water (5)26 Quantity (6)27 Wagers (4)28 Divine messenger (5)

DOWN1 Two-headed muscle (6)2 Second hand (4)3 Of sound mind (4)4 Elevates (5)5 Land measure (3)6 Required (6)9 Conceited (4)13 Calm (6)15 Weapon of war (4)16 Small piece (6)18 Percussion instruments (5)21 Excuse (4)22 Deserve (4)24 Fastener (3)

Crossword

Code-Cracker

SUDOKU

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11Op-Ed Thursday, November 28, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Saquib Rahman

A hundred and � fty-two jawans were given the death penalty by the court. There is absolutely

no reason why the verdict shouldn’t be satisfactory for the families of the martyred o� cers – though the oppor-tunity of appeal to the High Court and Supreme Court remains open. Despite prevailing political turmoil and the up-coming national election, the govern-ment’s action is fairly admirable.

Having had that satisfaction, under these circumstances, we are truly awaiting justice at the end of the day. Since November 5, I have been asked by my friends and acquaintances what our feelings are regarding the verdict. Have the Shaheed families gotten justice? The most appropriate answer I could come up with has been: “So far, so good.”

Since my father was brutally killed in the Pilkhana carnage, my views are di� erent from those of Human Rights Watch, which is opposed to capital punishment. However, their Asia director’s write-up in The Daily Star on the day of the judgment great-ly focused on credibility of proper inquiry and investigation – the reports that have not been made public and providing a blurred or unclear vision of those involved, or the abettors of the mass killing.

Brad Adams concluded on behalf of HRW, that a retrial should be consid-ered. I believe the government could make the report public to give it great-er transparency in terms of the inquiry and investigation in the case of such a national tragedy.

Apart from the details of the tragic incident, the exposure of the men behind the guns remains to be seen. Punishment of an abettor or conspir-ator in accordance with Penal Code 1860 is clearly the same as for the perpetrators.

Interestingly, something I found common among the families of the Shaheed O� cers as well as those of the accused, is the belief that there must have been a third party who played the bigger role, having camou� aged the incident – since a person like DAD Tawhid and others were undoubtedly not such great masterminds as to have planned such a bloodbath alone.

Dal-bhat, disparity in salary scales, and facilities o� ered to defence ser-vice o� cers are not good excuses. In every service sector, such complaints or grievances abound. But for those cases, conspiracies to put the high

commands to death, like the Pilkhana incident, are not hatched. If it was so, there would have been such an incident in a factory or company every year in Bangladesh!

The victims’ families still fervently seek that a judicial inquiry commis-sion be set up under a retired Supreme Court justice to carry out an in-depth investigation, considering that the Pilkhana carnage is one of the biggest criminal cases we’ve had.

The commission would have access to all legal documents, and investigate the involvement of BDR jawans, as well as outsiders, in a bid to unearth the real mysteries behind the massacre that took away the lives of 57 brilliant o� cers of the Bangladesh Army and 17 civilians.

Our expectation from the commission is that their � ndings be made public. In that case, not only can the abettors be spotted, but also, details of the inci-dent starting from the initial planning/movement/distribution of lea� ets containing materials instigating the jawans to take up arms against their o� cers, can be known.

The people of the country, and fam-ilies of victims, have a right to know the actual motive of the mutiny, and who was really behind the conspiracy – a grievous blow to the country’s mili-tary. Nasiruddin Pintu of the BNP, and Torab Ali of the Awami League, have been sentenced to life in prison.

The judicial commission, I am sure, will be able to � nd out the truth from them and all others associated with the brutal killings in Pilkhana on the day. Investigations need to be con-ducted to get hold of the masterminds behind the tragedy.

Only then shall justice be complete. The families of the victims will � nd some solace, and the departed souls of 57 brilliant sons of the soil will rest in peace. l

Saquib Rahman is the son of Shaheed Col Quadrat Elahi Rahman Sha� que, ndc, psc, and a student of criminology and criminal justice.

n Mamun Rashid

The title is derived from an interesting book written by two Indian professionals: Anand and

Mani Ganesh. Anand, now working for Citibank, is a 2010 batch MBA from FMS, Delhi. Mani is an engineer currently employed by Siemens. They met at the Delhi College of Engineering while Anand obtained his business degree afterwards. They had their in-teresting stories narrated in the book.

I won’t get into the details highlight-ed in the book. I was rather thinking: What would have happened if God went to a business school in Bangla-desh? He would possibly have spoken more about pro� t, bottom lines, strate-gic direction, vision and mission state-ments, shared vision, principle-centred business, people centric organisation, client-driven companies, a winning combination between employees and clients, or even the “employees � rst clients second” principle.

He would have talked more on giving back to the community, or cor-porate social responsibility, leverage buyouts or mezzanine � nance, current assets or quick ratios. He would have

talked about internal cash generation or cash � ow statements, tier-II capital or subordinated loans. And about best management practices or success transfers, shifting consumer choices, market dynamics, opportunity space, distribution channel management, and innovation.

These are di� erent from classes in economics or statistics. In an econom-ics class we get to hear more about growth, development, distributive justice, and inclusive development.

Recently, we have seen a surge in the number of approved private universities. Most of these are nothing beyond business schools. Business school enrolment occupies more than 70% of the total student body in these universities, if not more. Looking at private sector-led growth these days, it is obvious that young kids would want to obtain a business degree.

They need cushy jobs, fast promo-tions, and lots of money. Most of them believe in the survival of the � ttest, or the performance driven culture. Jobs run after them. I am told that each year the market needs 60,000 young graduates to join the league, whereas the actual supply is much less than the

required number. Universities produce around 35,000 business graduates each year.

What does the market want to see in them? That they are well-dressed, articulate, hard-working, computer literate, and aware of what’s happen-ing around them. While we may have some reservations regarding what is being taught in our business schools, we at least know that these boys and girls are above-average English speak-ing, and have respectable IT literacy.

If paid well, they can work long hours and deliver at the end of day. With increasing globalisation, many of these boys and girls are becoming multilingual too. Gradually they are driving the economy forward. One would be amazed at the number of young mothers, professionals, and executives with non-business back-grounds enrolling for their MBA and EMBA degrees.

More and more young Bangladeshi executives with business degrees are � nding themselves transferred to over-seas markets in the Far East, Middle East and Europe. Global employers are � nd-ing them extremely hard-working and honest, with respectable work ethics.

Yes, they could be a little better. Their English could be globally com-patible, they could be more appropri-ately dressed, and they could be well-read. They are not to be blamed solely for these de� ciencies. They don’t have many role models in front of them.

With the fast growth of busi-ness schools, many of them have to compromise with their intake quality. Our college education is to be blamed much for producing non-thinking young men and women. In the univer-sities, we get to see mostly the typical teachers not focusing much on critical thinking, presentation skills, and team building.

Most of the leadership in Bangla-deshi business schools comes from non-business backgrounds, without a clear understanding of how business graduates should talk, behave, or carry themselves. Most of the teachers, though academically � t, were not trained in pleasant classroom experi-ence techniques. Many private univer-sities don’t have reasonably resourced libraries.

Even if a few of them do, these are rarely visited by faculties and students. Many of these business

schools are failing to attract good faculty, hence are being run by the part-time faculty members without much commitment to the success of the students.

Yet, the graduates of many business schools of Bangladesh are making their mark in the business world. Most of their employers are happy with them. They are able to bring in visible changes in the way business is run in Bangladesh.

With a bit more thoughtful and hands-on university management, I am sure that Bangladeshi business graduates will make their presence felt in the global arena. l

Mamun Rashid is a business professor and � nancial sector entrepreneur.

n Ali Riaz

Is the ball in the president’s court now? As violence has gripped the country and more lives have been lost in the past few days, the question has gained currency.

Each day that the stand-o� between the ruling alliance and the opposi-tion remains unresolved brings more mayhem and misery for the citizenry, and adds more uncertainty to the upcoming election. Safety and security have now become a matter of chance: insecurity is the norm in the country. Members of the law enforcing agencies are becoming targets, and loss of prop-erty – state and personal – is an issue nobody seems to care about anymore.

For years, particularly in recent months, warnings that the absence of a compromise between the ruling and the opposition parties on the nature and leadership of the election-time government will bring chaos have gone unheeded. I wish I could say that the nation has reached the end of this ordeal; on the contrary, unfortunately this could well be the beginning.

The prudence of the Election Commission (EC) has been brought into question. The EC’s decision to announce the election schedule when some form of a conversation between two secretary generals was getting o� the ground might be justi� able on the ground of legal requirements, but one can hardly escape the fact that it has added fuel to the � re.

The consequences of announcing the schedule without discussion with the parties who are inclined to join the election demonstrates that the EC has either failed to understand the gravity of the situation or is unconcerned about the consequences of its actions. Ignoring the opposition’s threat to un-leash disorder won’t make it go away. It is only in the world of Harry Potter that “he-who-can-not-be-named” does not appear if you don’t say the name.

The indication by the EC that the schedule is open to change, if the opposition joins the election can be seen as damage control. In 2008 the schedule was changed thrice to ensure

the BNP’s participation. The EC, which should have acted soon after October 25 waited until the Parliament was adjourned; but is it now in acting with unseemly haste to catch up?

While the ruling party remains unwavering on the stance that the elections will be held “on time” – which means by January 24, 2014 – if necessary without the participation of the opposition, particularly the BNP, the opposition has resorted to violence to make it impossible to hold the elec-tion; therefore, as of today, a common meeting point remains elusive. The wanton violence, which has a high human cost, cannot be justi� ed in any situation. Continued violence will only exacerbate the crisis.

Six eminent citizens met President Ab-dul Hamid on Tuesday. The delegation included Barrister Kamal Hossain and Shahdeen Malik, both known experts on constitution, Jamilur Reza Chow-dhury, Akbar Ali Khan and Sultana Kamal, who served caretaker govern-ments at di� erent times, and Badiul Alam Mazumdar, who has written extensively on issues of election and governance. (A delegation of the opposition alliance led by Khaleda Zia also met the President on 19 Novem-ber). The delegation knew, perhaps better than us, that the President has no constitutional “power” to inter-vene. The constitution stipulates, in Article 48(3): “In the exercise of all his functions, save only that of appointing the Prime Minister pursuant to clause (3) of article 56 and the Chief Justice pursuant to clause (1) of article 95, the President shall act in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister.” Therefore, the president’s hands are tied. Some members of the current delegation, for example Shahdeen Ma-lik, admitted on a previous occasion,

when asked, that the president has very little constitutional power.

That being said, there is one provi-sion that gives the president a small window of opportunity to demon-strate his willingness to engage in the resolution of the political impasse. That is Article 48 (5); which states, “The Prime Minister shall … submit for the consideration of the Cabinet any matter which the President may request him to refer to it.”

Granted, one can validly argue that this is too limited a power to have any consequences. Whether the PM and/or cabinet will agree to make any changes is a di� erent question. As to the question what role the cabinet can play if the president sends an issue to

discuss, Shahdeen Malik responded: “It is the cabinet that has the right to reject or accept the same.”

Even if the cabinet desires to do something, it too can do nothing unless the PM agrees and acts. How-ever, such a step will send a message that the President is inclined to see a resolution. This is where the issue of “moral authority” comes in. In a country, where no previous President has set an example of digressing from the ruling party on a critical issue nor has anyone ever exercised his “moral authority,” will the current president do it? Can he do it?

Ruling party activists may object to the suggestion that the President takes a stand di� erent from the ruling party and remind us that neither Abdur Rah-man Biswas nor Iajuddin Ahmed, both BNP nominees, weighed in during pre-vious political crises. History will not judge them kindly; we have no reason to believe otherwise.

But it is unfair to equate President Hamid with either of them, at least until now. In years to come, will histo-

rians write in one broad stroke that in each instance of political crisis incum-bent presidents were asked to exert the moral authority and none did? We will soon know the answer.

The president may seek to limit the power of the incumbent prime minis-ter, through amendments of the rules of business. The all-powerful prime minister position is not conducive to democracy at any time. More so in case of a cabinet which is supposed to be working for creating an environ-ment for an inclusive election.

The inclusion of a new provision in the rules of business that the interim cabinet can make decisions on the ba-sis of consensus, has been proposed by these eminent citizens. Whether this will be enough to create a level playing � eld is an open question; but it surely will send a message that the president has acted and that both the “interim cabinet” and the prime minister are willing to make some concessions.

The call for the president’s engage-ment has come from a group of people who are linked to neither the ruling party nor the opposition. This provides the president with some maneuver-ing space. He can claim that he is not acting to “appease” the opposition but to respond to the “concerns” of the citizens. While it’s encouraging to hear that the president has con� rmed that “he was trying to resolve the political stando� ,” time is running out.

The constitution has not given the president enough power, neither has it placed him in equal status to the government and opposition parties in terms of resolving the political deadlock. Thus, it would be unfair and erroneous to say that: “The ball is in the president’s court.”

It is still primarily the ruling and the opposition parties who can stop this mayhem and � nd a solution, if they choose to do so. However, the president can take this opportunity to remind them, particularly the ruling party, as to what can and should be done. l

Ali Riaz is Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars at Washington DC, USA.

What the president can do

It is still primarily the ruling and the opposition parties who can stop this mayhem and � nd a solution, if they choose to do so. However, the president can take this opportunity to remind them

The people of the country, and families of victims, have a right to know the actual motive of the mutiny, and who was really behind the conspiracy

Most of the leadership in Bangladeshi business schools comes from non-business backgrounds, without a clear understanding of how business graduates should talk, behave, or carry themselves

T H I R D E Y E

If God went to business school

Justice for Pilkhana

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Whose court is the ball in? BIGSTOCK

Ash-Abhi set to move out of Bachchan housen Entertainment Desk

Celebrity couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan are reportedly planning to move out of the Bachchan mansion Jalsa, where they have been living since their marriage six years ago.

According to reports doing the rounds, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is keen to move out and live separately with her daughter Aaradhya and hus-band Abhishek.

Apparently, there seems to be a bit of friction between Aishwarya Rai and mother-in-law Jaya Bachchan, who is said to be keeping a tab on her activi-ties. Reports further suggest that Jaya Bachchan is believed to be constantly interfering with her private life.

Reportedly, Jaya Bachchan expects her daughter-in-law to update her on all matters including professional, which isn’t quite appreciated by Aish-warya Rai.

However, the duo have always

looked extremely comfortable in each others presence whenever they’ve been spotted in public.

Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek and daugh-

ter Aaradhya recently returned from a family holiday in Dubai. They were ac-companied by Aishwarya’s parents, her brother and her sister-in-law. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 201312

ON TV

MOVIES7:20pmHBOThe Sorcerer’s Apprentice7:30pm Star MoviesThe Adventures of Tintin

COMEDY10:00am Z CafeJust For Laughs10:30pm Star WorldHow I Met Your Mother

MISC3:30pm DiscoveryMan Woman Wild7:30pm AXNThe Voice

DRAMA6:05pm RTV Shopner Patshala 9:45pm NTV Nil Ronger Golpo

Year’s biggest music festival beginsOver 41,000 people registered to attend Bengal Classical Music Festival 2013 n Entertainment Desk

The country’s biggest rendezvous of music lovers—Bengal Classical Music Festival 2013—begins today at the Ban-gladesh Army Stadium.

Claimed as world’s largest classi-cal music festival, the event, once again, is all set to entertain musica� cionados with its grandeur and splendid arrangements consisting vo-cal, dance and instrument recitals by the greatest maestros of Hindustani Classical Music. Apart from perfor-mances by famed Indian geniuses, a

number of Bangladeshi artists will also enrich the show with their dexterous presentations.

A staggering number of over 41 thousand people have already reg-istered for the much awaited event which promises to be even bigger and better this year.

Last year’s monumental success prompted and encouraged Bengal Foundation to come up with the sec-ond installment, said Abul Khair, chair-man of Bengal Foundation, in a press conference held recently. He also said that this kind of arrangements is a key

to generate interest among the new generation to become passionate about classical music which has a deep root-ed bond with Bangladeshi cultural her-itage.

Every day, of the four days of the event, the gates of the venue will open at 4pm and the programme will contin-ue till 5am in the morning and the gen-erous organisers of Bengal Foundation has arranged transportation for their registered guests and all buses will leave pick-up points across Dhaka at 4pm and will leave the venue between 5:30am for drop-o� . The route chart of

shuttle service can be followed at the o� cial website of Bengal Foundation.

Along with a huge food court that will o� er a wide variety of choices for the crowd, this time’s arrangement will also provide improved on-ground facilities, Wi-� zones, so that people may remain connected. E-tickets must be presented every time when entering the venue during the four days of the event.

Last year, the majestic event was dedicated to Ustad Alauddin Khan while this year’s festival is dedicated to Gyantapas Professor Abdur Razzaq. l

Today’s Indian artists

Pandit Rajan Mishra and Pandit Sajan Mishra

Pandit Tejen Majumdar

Vidushi Girija Devi Vidushi Kaushiki Chakrabarty

Vishal Krishna

Ayan Sengupta

Arindam, Chittagong to stage Kobi in Dhakan Entertainment Desk

Theatre troupe Arindam Natyo Shom-proday, Chittagong will stage Kobi at the Experimental Hall at 7pm to-day. The play has been supported by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation. The play is an adaptation of leading Bengali novelist Tarasankar Bandyo-padhyay’s classic novel of same title.

The script has been written by Sym-on Zakaria and the production is direc-ted by Shamim Hasan.

Tarasankar, a wizard of a storytel-ler has knitted two stories together, as only a master writer can.

At � rst, it talks about a youth named

Nitai, who ends up being a proli� c wri-ter from a folk singer.

The story then goes on to potray the happiness and struggle of a trou-pe named Jhumur Dal, who enter-tains the local people with music and dance. Through their performances, the troupe’s agony could be noticedvividly.

Basanta is a rural singer from the troupe and through this character, Tarasankar has successfully narat-ted the hardships of the Jhumur Dal. Struggling to survive with the bare minimum, Basanta dies of pulmonary disease. It also showcases the cont-roversial love triangle between Nitai, Thakur Jhi and Basanta. l

A scene from the play

Monsoon Rain airs tonight n Entertainment Desk

The series drama Monsoon Rain will air today at 8:20pm on Channel 9. The dra-ma features prominent actor Mahfuz Ahmed, Lutfor Rahman George, Bon-na Mirza, Shahed Sharif Khan, Na� sa,Hillol and many more.

Monsoon Rain is an adventurous story about a group of people who goes to Nepal for retreat. However, after spending some time the group sepa-rates from one another. The members

in the group starts developing antago-nistic feelings towards each other after several incidents that reveals the more primal instincts such as hate, jealousy and sel� shness of each individual. At one point, they get to know that their tour is a conspiracy and were a façade for someone’s business purpose. Hence, everyone is at danger and starts to wonder whose life is at risk. A mys-terious man enters the group and saves them all. In between the threat, every-one starts caring for each other. l

Lead characters of the drama Monsoon Rain

n Entertainment Desk

In over two decades of association with Hindi � lms - as an actor, and now as a producer - Saif Ali Khan says his best in-vestment ever has been to join the Indi-an movie industry, where the business is now almost “doubling.” “My best in-vestment is to join Bollywood. It’s such a good investment. The business is dou-bling. When we started, things were not the same. It’s a great time now for the � lmmakers and actors,” Saif, who made his acting debut with 1992 � lm Param-para, said in an interaction.

From featuring in pot-boilers like Yeh Dillagi, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Kachche Dhaage and Hum Saath-Saath Hain:We Stand United, Saif went on to do di� erentiated roles post 2000.

He was seen in a di� erent avatar in Dil Chahta Hai, and then went on to star in key roles in movies like Kal

Ho Naa Ho, Ek Hasina Thi, Hum Tum, Parineeta and Salaam Namaste.

Omkara came as an image-breaker for Saif, and he was noticed in � lms like Race, Tashan, Love Aaj Kal, Kurbaan and Aarakshan.

Now awaiting the release of rustic action piece, Bullett Raja, the National Award-winning actor is glad to be a part of the present “exciting phase in Indi-an cinema, where “experimentation” seems to be the key.

“I don’t think I could have done such a role (as in Bullett Raja) two or � ve years back,” said the 43-year-old, who plays a gangster in the Tigmanshu Dhulia-directed � lm, which releases Friday.

“Now I think I am ready for these kinds of roles. Now I feel I have under-stood my work, and di� erent kinds of � lms are being made. So, it’s an excit-ing phase,” he added. l

Saif Ali Khan claims Hindi � lmsas good investment

Saif Ali Khan in Agent Vinod

Nigella took coke daily for 10 yearsn Entertainment Desk

Nigella Lawson, the TV chef and self-styled “domestic goddess,” had a chronic drug habit and secretly used cocaine, cannabis and prescription pills “daily” for more than a decade, a court has heard.

As the very public disintegration of her marriage to the tycoon Charles Saat-chi returned to the spotlight, the allega-tions were made by lawyers defending two Italian sisters, Francesca and Elisa-betta Grillo, who worked as assistants to the couple in their London family home.

The pair is accused of defrauding Lawson and Saatchi, who divorced in July, ending a 10-year marriage, of more than £300,000 while working as their assistants.

But according to the assistants’ testimony, Lawson had a verbal un-derstanding with the Grillos that they could use Saatchi’s company credit card for their personal use in return for keeping quiet about her drug use.

The drug claims � rst emerged in a pre-court trial hearing on November 15 when Anthony Metzer, representing Elisabetta Grillo, took the unusual step of lodging a “bad character applica-tion” in order to question Lawson’s reli-ability as a witness for the prosecution. Metzer told Isleworth Crown Court in west London the application “relates to Miss Lawson’s alleged taking of class A and class B drugs and her unauthorised use of prescription drugs” and that it was kept as a “guilty secret” from her husband. l

Tabla players to demonstrate their skills n Punny Kabir

Four Bangladeshi accomplished tabla players are prepared to set the stage on � re, today, the opening day of Bengal Classical Music Festival.

The talented artists are: Swarup Hossain, Md Zakir Hosen, Iftekhar Alam Prodhan and Goutom Sarker. Alamgir Parvez will accompany the quartet with harmonium.

Dhaka Tribune caught up with the artists in a rehearsal session and learned about their planned perfor-mance and more.

How excited are you to perform in such a big event?Md Zakir Hosen: Last year three of us accompanied other artists’ during their performances. The promotion– from being an accompanist to main artist—is really very encouraging and exciting. Goutom Sarker: We will be playing on the same platform where many of our gurus from India will also perform. That is one of the biggest achievements for us. Swarup Hossain: My participation was in uncertainty since I lost my father only a few days back. He was my source of inspiration to continue my journey in music. So, his death simply broke me. But my family members, teachers, friends and others encouraged me a lot and � nally I’m going to perform.

Iftekhar Alam Prodhan: It is a big hon-our and all thanks go to Bengal for pro-viding us with such a majestic event.

What will you present today?Swarup: We will present a 25-minute composition based on tri taal. Rang-ing from slow tempo (bilambit) to fast (drut), we will play many variations of the rhythm.

Are there rooms for improvisations?Zakir: The presentation combines group and solo performances in dif-ferent segments. In solo parts, we will improvise on the rhythm with our own skills and tastes. With the limited time-frame, we will try to give our best.

What is the biggest challenge to perform at a platform like this?Iftekhar: Round the year we hardly perform t abla solos in our country. We generally perform as accompanists. So, our preparation is not strong enough to compete with the Indian master play-ers. Tabla has not yet been recognised as a solo art here in this country.

What do you expect from the audience?Goutom: The audiences have always been supportive towards us. But, as If-tekhar addressed that Bangladeshi au-dience is not yet accustomed with tabla as a solo art, Bengal’s such initiative will help them appreciate it more. l

Bangladeshi artists in focus

Participant tabla players in a rehearsal session SADIA MARIUM

14

13DHAKA TRIBUNEThursday, November 28, 2013

SportDid you know?

14 15 Nepal, UAE book tickets to Bangladesh

Not only was Shane Long’s second goal on

Monday the 300th Premier League goal of the season, it was

also WBA’s 300th in the PL

Argentine child Messi lookalike makes headlines

Chelsea qualify despite Basel defeat, Barca lose

Sheikh Jamal’s Haitian forward Sony Norde shoots during his team’s practice session at the club ground yesterday MUMIT M

BCB assigns roles to directorsn Mazhar Uddin

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced the names of chairmen of the boards standing committee’s after Nazmul Hasan became the � rst elected president of the board in October 12.

The second meeting of the newly elected BCB directors took place yes-terday and 18 chairmen of the standing committee were selected. Only the post of chairman of the working commit-tee remains open. The BCB president Nazmul informed that the posts are giv-en for six months only.

“After six months we will assess their (chairmen’s) work decide if to keep them or replace,” said Nazmul.

Three former national captains - Akram Khan, Khaled Mahmud and Naimur Rahman – were elected chair-man of the cricket operations, game development and age level tournament committee respectively.

Akram Khan, who left his chief selec-tor post after deciding to run in the BCB elections, replaces Enayet Hossain Siraj as chairman of the all important Cricket Operations committee, Khaled Mahmud replaces another former captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu in the game devel-opment department while Naimur Rah-man was selected to head the age level tournament committee.

Jalal Yunus retained his position as the chairman of the media committee, anoth-

er in� uential director - Dr. Ismail Haider Mallick - took the charge of the logistic and protocol committee and newly elect-ed director Manzur Kader was named chairman of the security committee.

Meanwhile, Kazi Inam Ahmed, another newly elected director, took charge of the important department of marketing and commercial committee, replacing Ahmed Sajjadul Alam. Kazi Inam told the media that his � rst prior-ity would be arranging great TV deals for international series’.

“My � rst priority will be taking good and sustainable TV right deals for the board to highlight and marketing Ban-gladesh cricket to the world for the up-coming years,” he declared. l

Hemanta � ies for FC Twente trialsn Shishir Hoque

Hemanta Vincent Biswas expressed his gratitude to the Dutch coaches Lodewijk de Kruif and Rene Koster for giving him the opportunity to try out for Dutch pro-fessional club FC Twente.

The Bangladesh Under-19 national football team skipper left Dhaka yester-day accompanied by the national team’s Dutch assistant coach Rene Koster. Rene, before leaving, promised to pro-vide all kinds of supports to Hemanta during his trial period at FC Twente.

The Mohammedan mid� elder is ex-pected to stay at the club for about a month while Rene might return to Dha-ka in two weeks. The duo will � rst go to Nepal and pick up Nepal U-16 captain Bimal Gharti Magar, who will also travel to Netherlands for trials. Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif, us-ing his connections at FC Twente, acted as a scout and made the connection be-tween FC Twente and Hemanta.

“I’m really grateful to the coaches. I will try my best on trial to repay the faith they have put in me,” Hemanta said be-fore he leaving Dhaka.

The young player from Dinajpur, who came through BKSP, caught Kruif and Koster’s attention during the U-19 train-ing camp for the AFC U-19 Championship quali� ers, which were held in Iraq last month. Hemanta made his professional football debut with Mohammedan in the ongoing Walton Federation Cup. l

MSC stand in Jamal’s wayThe two sides meet for the � rst time in Federation Cup history n Raihan Mahmood

The � rst ever e n c o u n t e r between big names Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi

Club and Dhaka Mohammedan in the history of the Federation Cup promises a thrilling football match as the losers will bow out of the season’s � rst tournament. After the group stages it is also the � rst high-voltage match of the season between latest powerhouse Sheikh Jamal and traditional Black and Whites meet in the � rst quarter� nal of the Walton Federation Cup at 5:00pm at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today.

The knock-out stage match is ex-pected to be a lively encounter as Ja-mal, the best team on paper, will be focused upon taking a big step towards the � rst title of the season while Mo-hammedan, backed by their strong base of supporter, will be looking for-

ward to pull out a victory that will boost their morale for the upcoming challenges.

The two teams moved into the quarter� nals in contrasting ways with Jamal edging past Feni Soccer 1-0 and Mohammedan losing to arch-rivals Abahani 2-0 in their last respective matches. Jamal holds the upper hand over their opponents in the foreign players’ department. Haitian Sony Norde and Wedson will be the key in Jamal’s performance today while Mo-hammedan will be relying upon the national duo Zahid Hasan Emily and winger Zahid Hossain.

Josef Afusi, the Nigerian coach of Jamal conducted a serious training ses-sion yesterday at the club ground that contained video session and tactical sessions. “It will be a challenging one, Mohammedan is a traditional power-house, they are a good team and we are ready for the � ght. They have got ma-tured players. Tomorrow it will be an open game as Mohammedan de� nitely

will have the hunger to win the match to proceed to the semis and in the con-sequence we will get chances, it would be a good match as there are only one option - to win the match and stay alive in the tournament. We are not taking anything for granted,” said Afusi.

Afusi hoped to � re in all cylinders in the match and said, “We have played two matches so far and grabbed full points. Things were not easy as we thought. We may have won by 2-0 and 1-0 margins, but you have to know that they both were Bangladesh Premier League teams and they de� nitely have some quality.

“I admit the fact we could have won by bigger margin but it’s not so easy. As I earlier said that I am not satis� ed with the forward line I have asked them to concentrate more, I also would like to see my mid� eld more linked with the forward line, the supply would have to be resourceful,” said the Nigerian.

“We will not depend on Sony Norde, the whole team wants to get involved

in the success. Sony has scored three goals, it’s the starting of the journey and he will be scoring more after he gets into the gear,” he added.

Meanwhile, his counterpart Jewel Rana eyes nothing but a win in the game. “There is no option apart from a victory,” he said before adding, “Jamal is the best team on paper, but the in the � eld there are no such thing. We want to perform and win the match.”

The former national captain Rana also wants his players to show “mental integrity.”

“The senior players have to perform and provide the required elements, we must not repeat the silly mistakes of not marking the players,” he said.

“We don’t want to concede early goals. There is plenty of time and we have to utilise the chances. Our simple plan is not allowing Jamal any free space. There will be some plans to mark Sony Norde, the match is like a � -nal to us, however , Hemanta’s vacuum is a blow to the team,” said Jewel . l

Nazmul Hasan (C), the president presided over the directors meeting of the BCB at the SBNS yesterday COURTESY

Mush� q gains long-term captaincyVice-presidency poll to be held soon n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Mush� qur Rahim’s tenure as the na-tional team captain has been extended by 14 months until the ICC World Cup 2015, it was decided in the second meet-ing of the � rst elected committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). This ful� lled the wish of the wicketkeeper-batsman, whose reign as skipper ended with the conclusion of the bilateral home series against New Zealand earlier this month, who earlier wanted the position for a longer period as it will help him plan long-term strategies with the team.

The national skipper targeted consis-tency for the team after the BCB handed him the responsibility. “I feel honoured by the faith the board has shown in my ability to lead the Bangladesh team. This is also a fantastic opportunity for me to plan for the future with Shane (national team head coach Shane Jurgensen), the players and the rest of the manage-ment,” said Mush� q who has been at the Tigers’ helm since September 2011.

“We have started to develop a better degree of consistency in recent times and I will try my heart and soul to main-tain that positive vibe. I am con� dent that I will receive the full support of the players and the board in our continuous quest to improve,” said the wicketkeep-er-batsman.

In the vibrant meeting it was also de-cided that a secret ballot election will be held for the senior vice-president posts. Sources informed that the BCB presi-dent Nazmul Hasan learnt that most of the directors are looking forward to the position and thus they decided to run a poll among the executive committee members. It was also learnt the BCB president asked the interested directors to submit their names.

Choosing the national chief selector was also an agenda in the meeting and though it was thought the name will be revealed yesterday, the board decided to

take some more time.“Few names came up for the chief

selector’s post, but we are yet to decide. Hopefully it will be done in a day or two,” said BCB president Nazmul to the media yesterday.

He further informed that former na-tional cricketer and chief selector Faruk Ahmed’s name was discussed for the position along with names of Minhazul Abedin, Habibul Bashar and Khaled Mashud Pilot. Sources informed the board is also considering promoting one of the two existing selectors, Minhazul or Habibul, while they are looking at other available options as well. The chief selector’s post went vacant after Akram Khan got elected as a board member.

The meeting also discussed the pos-sibilities of penning a long-term televi-sion right which will be e� cient and sustainable, something the BCB has long been waiting for. However, there was no concrete solution and rather it was de-cided to � oat immediate tender for me-dia rights worldwide forthe upcoming home series against Sri Lanka.

The board directors also discussed of holding a Twenty20 tournament for the national cricketers who have no com-petitive cricket until the Sri Lanka series.

“We have planned to start the nation-al camp in a week time. First they will attend a � tness camp and when it ends, we plan to hold a Twenty20 tournament which will help them get ready for the World Cup 2014,” said Nazmul.

He further informed, the four zonal teams will play in the tournament which will also include the national cricketers followed by the National Cricket League in order to make the Tigers play some longer version of cricket before facing Sri Lank in two-match Test series. The � nancial grant for Dhaka Premier League clubs for the 2012-13 was also locked in the meeting. The six Super League clubs will receive Tk3.5m each while the other teams will get Tk2.5m each. l

CEO comments irk BCBn Mazhar Uddin

The Bangladesh Cricket Board CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury’s comment on the issues raised earlier by two Zimba-bwean cricketers who played for Broth-ers Union in the Dhaka Premier League have taken few of the board directors by surprise.

Zimbabwe cricketers Sean Williams and Sean Ervine complained to the media, both national and internation-al, that they were not paid by the club and left stranded at a Dhaka hotel for seven days. The complaint brought a stern reaction from the BCB acting CEO, who said that the board will take action against the Zimbabwean nationals for tarnishing the image of the country, re-ported a daily newspaper on Tuesday.

However, an in� uential director of the BCB who requested for anonymity countered the comment of the CEO and informed that a cricketer has the right to complain when things are not right and also said that he is disappointed about what happened with the two cricketers.

“The issue was not raised at the board level. A cricketer can always talk to the media if things are not right and there is no one to help him out. It is disappoint-ing that they (Ervine and Williams) went through such an experience,” said the director.

He added, “To be honest I don’t know if there is any rule mentioned in the constitution on the issue. I don’t under-stand how Sujon (Nizam Uddin) could

make such comments to the media.” Whereas as the board should have

had taken care of the situation and take steps against the club who actually tar-nished the image of the country for ha-rassing two international cricketers in Bangladesh.

When the cricketers could not reach the club that failed to pay them in a timely manner, they informed the me-dia and the situation was resolved as a result. But the board rather stated of

taking action against the two victimised cricketers instead of acknowledging their own mishandling of the matter.

However Nizam was found with a softened tone by the Dhaka Tribune yes-terday. The BCB o� cial said that the is-sue was not a big enough to discuss and the board would look into the matter closely before making a decision as to how to proceed.

“I don’t think it is a very big issue and we would like to investigate the whole issue and then we can talk about this,” he said yesterday.

The CEO also informed that the BCB has the right to take action against any person who damages the image of the board informed Nizam. l

To be honest I don’t know if there is any rule mentioned in the constitution on the issue. I don’t understand how Sujon (Nizam Uddin) could make such comments to the media

BOA mulls TT campn Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) is planning to include table tennis along with four other disciplines for the pro-jected long term isolated training camp ahead of the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2014. The camp is ex-pected to get underway from January 1, 2014. Omitting athletics and swimming, BOA earlier � nalized the list of 26 athletes

from four disciplines—shooting, archery, boxing and taekwondo. The decision to add table tennis or not will be � nalized at the next executive meeting scheduled to be held in the � rst week of December.

The previous records of table ten-nis was overly promising - Bangladesh only won three bronze medals at the last edition of South Asian Games in 2010, compared to the six silver medals they claimed in swimming. l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 201314

FIXTURE Kuban v St Gallen Swansea City v Valencia Chornomorets v Dinamo Zagreb Ludogorets v PSV Elfsborg v Salzburg Esbjerg v Standard Liege Rubin Kazan v NK Maribor Wigan v Zulte-Waregem Dnipro v Pandurii Paços de Ferreira v Fiorentina Apoel Nicosia v M Tel-Aviv Bordeaux v Eintracht Racing Genk v D Kiev R Vienna v FC Thun Liberec v SC Freiburg Sevilla FC v Estoril Lyon v Real Betis Rijeka v Guimaraes Legia Warsaw v Lazio Trabzonspor v Apollon Anzhi v Sheri� Tromso v Tottenham Karagandy v Salonika AZ Alkmaar v M Haifa

AFC, Oceania in talks over combining World Cup slotsn Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

The Asian and Oceania football con-federations have opened discussions about combining World Cup slots to improve their quali� cation chances at future tournaments, AFC President Sheikh Salman said.

Both regions su� ered heavy defeats in the intercontinental playo� s for the 2014 World Cup last week with Ocea-nia champions New Zealand thrashed 9-3 over two legs by Mexico, while the AFC’s Jordan were beaten 5-0 on aggre-gate by Uruguay.

Asia currently has four automatic qualifying berths for the World Cup, with the � fth-placed team going into an intercontinental playo� , while Oceania has no automatic spot and the champi-ons must also go through a playo� .

Australia made the move to the AFC in 2006, which increased Asia’s World Cup places to four and a half, and AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa was open to incorporating the half slot from the OFC in some way.

New Zealand were Oceania’s last representatives at a World Cup when they quali� ed by beating Sheikh Salman’s Bahrain in a two legged play-o� for the 2010 � nals in South Africa.

That 1-0 aggregate success made New Zealand just the fourth OFC side to play at a World Cup after their � rst appear-ance in 1982 and Australia in 1974 and 2006. Any possible move would require approval from FIFA, who conducted a draw to see which confederations would face o� for the � nal places in Brazil 2014 with the AFC drawing CONMEBOL and OFC against CONCACAF. l

Argentine eight-year-old Messi lookalike makes headlinesn Reuters, Buenos Aires

An Argentine eight-year-old prodigy from the southern Andes who could be mistaken as a clone of Lionel Messi may soon be taking the same road to soccer glory as the Barcelona ace.

Claudio Nancu� l, small for his age, has become a media sensation since emerging as an unusual talent at the modest Martin Guemes club in the ski resort of Bariloche.

“As soon as he started to play (aged four) he was already di� erent from all the rest of his playmates with regards to technique,” club president Marcelo Ernalz said.

“How he takes the ball stuck to his foot, brakes, stops, kicks, scores, shoots on goal, from when he was little he had all these distinct qualities,” said Ernalz, who also trains one of the age group teams at his club.

Spanish giants Barcelona, Real Ma-drid and Atletico Madrid have shown interest and the boy could go to Spain for trials in the New Year, according to the Madrid newspaper El Con� dencial.

Ernalz told Reuters that Spaniard Manuel Otero, manager of Barcelona-based PR agency Suenos Comunicacio-nes (dreams communications), visited the Nancu� l family in Bariloche when he heard of Claudio’s talent and o� ered to represent them.

“After the Christmas holidays, ‘Claudito’ (little Claudio) will go to try out with these three Spanish teams and then we’ll see what each of them o� ers

us,” said Otero, whose agency normally has actors and musicians on its books.

Big Argentine clubs are also inter-ested.

“We’ve had an invitation from River Plate for him to train for a week with them,” Otero added in a report in El Con� dencial.

“(The family) are not closing any

doors and England could also be a great destination for the player.”

Premier League sides Manchester United and Chelsea are reportedly in-terested in Nancu� l, set to be part of a documentary on Argentine football.

“The BBC is preparing documenta-ries in the run-up to the World Cup in Brazil and with Argentina they want to unite the past, present and future,” Otero said.

“For this, they plan to bring together Diego Armando Maradona, Lionel Mes-si and Claudio Nancu� l and with the participation of (World Cup-winning coaches Cesar Luis) Menotti and (Car-los) Bilardo.”

Such were the similarities in talent observers saw in Nancu� l with Messi at the same age, dribbling past bigger and older boys with ease, that he was called the “Messi of the snows”.

“We’re happy because both the kid and his family deserve an opportunity like this,” Ernalz told Argentina’s Ca-dena 3 in a recent interview.

“He’s physically small and had the same growth problems detected in Messi when he was little, and he’s get-ting hormone treatment.”

His mother Viviana said Claudio, who is from a humble background with origins in the Mapuche indians of the southern Andean mountain range, could not explain how he played.

“We asked him, how do you do that? And he said, ‘I don’t know. I just get it in my head and my feet move on their own. It’s like that,” she told Reuters. l

Chelsea qualify despite Basel defeat, Barca losen Reuters, London

Chelsea reached the Champions League knockout stage on Tuesday despite a 1-0 defeat by Basel in Group E after a late Mohamed

Salah goal shocked the 2012 title win-ners with Jose Mourinho saying they deserved to lose.

Barcelona, without Lionel Messi but already into the last 16, went two goals down in Amsterdam but looked a di� erent side in the second half after Ajax’s Joel Veltman was sent o� .

Xavi pulled a goal back but Ajax held on to in� ict Barca’s � rst defeat this sea-son under new coach Gerardo Martino and the Dutch side now visit AC Milan next month with all to play for.

Milan thrashed Celtic 3-0 away and have eight points to Ajax’s seven in Group H after ending the Glasgow side’s hopes

Three sides in Group F - Arsenal, Na-poli and Borussia Dortmund - all still

harbour hopes of reaching the last 16.Arsenal have 12 points after beating

visitors Olympique Marseille 2-0 thanks to a double from England mid� elder Jack Wilshere, while Dortmund, last season’s losing � nalists, join Napoli on nine points after beating the Italians 3-1.

Arsenal travel to Napoli on Dec. 11 while Dortmund play at Marseille, who have yet to earn a point and have now lost eight successive Champions League matches over two seasons.

In Group G, Zenit St Petersburg and Porto still have a chance of joining sec-tion winners Atletico Madrid in the last 16. Zenit drew 1-1 at home to the Span-iards to reach six points while Porto have � ve after a 1-1 draw with Austria Vienna.

Mourinho’s Chelsea side failed to manage a shot on goal in the � rst half against Basel who themselves could not � nd a way past Petr Cech to make their dominance count.

The visitors were little better in the second period and Salah made them pay in the 87th minute, the Egyptian collecting a long pass and lifting the

ball over Cech for the winner.Basel’s double triumph over the

English side gives them eight points, one fewer than Chelsea. Basel travel to Schalke 04, who drew 0-0 with Steaua Bucharest and have seven points, in

the � nal round next month and one of the two will qualify.

Wilshere put Arsenal in front after 30 seconds with a superb curled shot but Germany’s Mesut Ozil missed the chance to put the Londoners two-up when his

penalty was saved before halftime.Wilshere gave Arsenal breathing

space with a second after 65 minutes and they coasted home. A draw in Na-poli will book them a place in the last 16 and manager Arsene Wenger said he felt that was well within their capabilities.

In Dortmund, Borussia went 1-0 up with a 10th minute penalty, Marco Reus putting the spot kick away after Robert Lewandowski was fouled following a corner. Jakub Blaszczykowski doubled the home side’s lead on the hour.

Lorenzo Insigne pulled one back for Napoli � ve minutes after coming on as a substitute from a � ne pass by Gonzalo Higuain but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang secured the three points for Dortmund with a goal 12 minutes from time.

Kaka put Milan ahead in Glasgow with the simplest of close-range head-ers from a corner and Milan grabbed their second via Cristian Zapata Helped by another static display from the Celt-ic defence shortly after halftime.

Mario Balotelli added a third on the

hour to end Celtic’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

Barcelona su� ered an early shock in Amsterdam after a goal by Ajax mid� elder Thulani Serero. The Span-ish side’s defence allowed a cross from Ricardo van Rhijn to reach the South Africa international who netted from close range.

The surprises continued when Dan-ny Hoesen added a second for the hosts just before halftime but Xavi pulled one back for the 2009 and 2011 Euro-pean champions from the penalty spot four minutes after the break.

Atletico Madrid dropped their � rst points of this season’s competition in the 1-1 draw in St Petersburg. Adrian Lopez put the group winners ahead shortly after halftime before a Toby Alderweireld own goal secured a point for the Russian side.

Austria Vienna, with only one point from four games, went ahead against the run of play at Porto through Roman Kienast in the 11th minute - their � rst goal in this season’s group stage. l

Fifa reject Burkina Faso’s Algeria appealn AFP, Paris

Burkina Faso’s appeal against their elimination from World Cup qualifying by Algeria has been rejected, FIFA said on Tuesday.

The Burkina Faso football federa-tion (FBF) had claimed Algeria defend-er Madjid Bougherra was ineligible for the teams’ play-o� match in Algiers last week.

But FIFA told AFP on Tuesday that: “Burkina Faso had not respected the formal conditions for an appeal” and that “Algeria had not committed any infraction”. l

United plane aborts landing in Germanyn Reuters, London

Manchester United’s plane had to abort its landing seconds from touchdown as the squad � ew to Germany for yesterday’s Champions League match with Bayer Leverkusen, British media reported.

The chartered 185-seater Monarch Airlines Airbus 321 jet circled before landing safely at the second attempt, 10 minutes late at Cologne’s Konrad Adenauer Airport on Tuesday.

United central defender Rio Ferdi-nand tweeted: “Landed in Germany .... just .... I’ve only just recovered after that choppy landing!” l

Swans looking for spring season in Europa Leaguen AFP, Paris

Valencia travel to Wales today with their place in the Europa League knockout phase assured and a matter of pride to play for against a Swansea side looking

to lay down new landmarks in their European history.

With two matches remaining in the 12 group, round-robin format, Totten-ham, Salzburg, Esbjerg, Ludogorets Razgrad, Fiorentina and Dnipro Dnipro-petrovsk are also certain to be in the hat for the round of 32, as the long journey to the May 14 � nal in Turin continues.

Swansea are on the brink of play-ing in the spring phase of a European competition for the � rst time in club history, a far cry from their last con-tinental appearance when they were hammered 10-1 on aggregate in the 1991-92 Cup Winners’ Cup, by Monaco.

Seven-time French champions Lyon can also advance after a stuttering start to their season under Remi Garde, and the embarassment of failing to reach the knockout phase will only com-pound their misery of falling in the � nal Champions League qualifying round at the hands of Real Sociedad.

They host Group I leaders Real Be-tis at the Gerland stadium, trailing by two points with Vitoria de Guimaraes a further two back and on the road at Croatia’s winless outsiders Rijeka

Alexandre Lacazette has been Ly-on’s main source of goals in domestic action with six, but their inability to

kill o� matches came back to haunt them again at the weekend when they were pegged back to 1-1 at home to third from bottom Valenciennes.

English FA Cup winners Wigan will keep their adventure going if they can defeat Zulte Waregem and already qual-i� ed Rubin Kazan avoid defeat at home to Slovenia’s NK Maribor in Russia. l

Ajax Amsterdam's Danny Hoesen (L) celebrates his goal with team mate Davy Klaassen (R) during their Champions League group H match against Barcelona at Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam on Tuesday REUTERS

Claudio Nancu� l REUTERS

15SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013

China’s ZZ tops Nekounam for AFC awardChina’s Zheng Zhi beat Iranian star Javad Nekounam to the Asian player of the year award Tuesday after leading Guang-zhou Evergrande to a breakthrough regional title. The 33-year-old, captain for his club and country, said it was a “special feeling” to win the Asian Foot-ball Confederation (AFC) prize after a distinguished career at home and in Eu-rope. Earlier this month the ex-Charlton Athletic and Celtic mid� elder skippered Marcello Lippi-coached Guangzhou to the AFC Champions League title, China’s � rst Asian trophy in 23 years. “There is a special feeling of winning this award at the age of 33. It’s a big occasion for me to win this award,” he said, after being showered with tickertape at a gala awards show. “This season has been fantastic not only for me but the whole team... we are looking for the unique treble after winning the ACL (Champi-ons League) and the (domestic) league, so it’s been a memorable one.”

–AFP

Blatter slams European media over QatarFifa boss Sepp Blatter condemned European media for “attacking” 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar Tuesday, days after slamming European countries and companies over the controversial tournament. The veteran Swiss said media had been unfair to Qatar as he made an impassioned defence of the event to delegates at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) awards in Kuala Lumpur. “It is not fair when the international media and especially European media are taking up the focus of an Arab country here in Asia, and attacking, criticising this country,” Blatter said. “We are defending it. We have taken the decision to play a World Cup in the Arab world and we have taken the decision to play in Qatar and we will go and play this... in 2022 in Qatar,” he added, to loud applause at the gala dinner.

–AFP

Bendtner apologises after arrestArsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner apolo-gised Tuesday after being arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage at his apartment block. The 25-year-old was held by police in Hertfordshire, north-west of London, on Monday in connection with damage to a build-ing where he lives in the Bushey area. Bendtner, writing on his Instagram ac-count on Tuesday, said he’d accidentally damaged a door he tried to force open after it became stuck. “On Saturday night after our win against Southampton I went out with my family and friends for dinner,” he wrote. “After our dinner we all wanted a night swim in my gym so we changed to shorts and brought towels down.

–AFP

Ajax supporter injured in goal celebrationAn Ajax Amsterdam fan was seriously injured after falling from the stands at the Amsterdam Arena as he celebrated a goal in Tuesday’s Champions League game against Barcelona, Dutch media reported. He fell some 10 metres onto the dust track around the pitch after Danny Hoesen scored just before halftime to put Ajax 2-0 ahead in their Group H match. The unidenti� ed sup-porter was treated by medical sta� , who arrived in a trauma helicopter at halftime and two ambulances, which collided with each other as they departed the track. One took the fan to hospital, reports added.

–Reuters

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DAY’S WATCH

India 266 for 5 (Dhawan 119, Yuvraj 55) beat West Indies 263 for 5 (Samuels 71, Powell 70, Darren Bravo 51*) by � ve wickets

BRIEF SCORE

UAE players celebrate with coach Aaqib Javed after qualifying for the World T20 after their quali� er match against Netherlands in Abu Dhabi yesterday INTERNET

Dazzling Dhawan powers India to series winn Agencies

India today clinched the ODI series against West Indies 2-1 with a comfort-able � ve-wicket victory in the third and � nal match here, riding on Shikhar Dhawan’s sparkling century.

The Indians � rst restricted West In-dies to 263 for � ve and then overhauled the target with 23 balls to spare to lift yet another ODI trophy at home.

Dhawan stole the limelight with an attacking 119 that came o� 95 balls, his � fth ODI hundred, while Yuvraj Singh notched up a 74-ball 55 to seal the is-sue for the home side at the Green Park Stadium which was hosting an interna-tional game after a gap of nearly four years.

It was a welcome return to form for Yuvraj, who cautiously put together 129 runs for the third wicket with Dha-wan to set the platform for the easy win.

Earlier, the trio of Kieran Powell, Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo struck half-centuries to propel West In-dies to a challenging total.

Powell (70) carried on his good form from the last match and registered his second � fty of the series. Together with Samuels (71), he shared a 117-run second-wicket partnership to lay the foundation for West Indies after the visitors were put into bat by India skip-per Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Towards the end, Darren Bravo (51 not out) and Darren Sammy (37 not out) played aggressively to take West Indies past the 260-run mark.

Comfortably placed at 137 for one at one stage, West Indies looked set for a big score but India staged a comeback with quick wickets to restrict West In-dies to the manageable score.

For the hosts, o� -spinner Ravichan-dran Ashwin was the pick of the bowl-ers with � gures of two for 45 from his quota of 10 overs. l

Pakistan win � rst ODI series against Proteasn Reuters

Pakistan won a bilateral one-day inter-national series against South Africa for the � rst time when they claimed a one-run victory in a thrilling � nale in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.

Pakistan now lead the three-match series 2-0 with one to play, their victory set up by a superb 102 from Ahmed She-hzad in a match reduced to 45 overs per side after early rain.

The visitors were sent into bat in South Africa’s 500th ODI match and amassed a sizeable 262 all out on the back of Shehzad’s ton and a pair of 42s from Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Akmal.

Dale Steyn continued his excellent re-cent form with the ball to record career-best � gures of six for 39, a lone hand in a Proteas attack that otherwise battled to contain the visiting batsmen.

South Africa looked to have paced their chase well. Captain AB de Villiers smashed a whirlwind 74 from 45 balls and opener Hashim Amla fell two runs short of his century in the last ball of the penultimate over.

But needing nine o� the � nal over to win with � ve wickets remaining, the impressive Junaid Khan (three for 42) bowled a number of yorkers that the South African batsmen could not get o� the square.

The home side needed a six o� the last ball but Khan’s legside delivery � icked the pads of David Miller and raced to the � ne leg boundary for a four as South Africa ended their innings on 261 for six.

The third and � nal one-day inter-national will be played in Pretoria on Saturday. l

Honda wins Best Footballer in Asia Awardn Raihan Mahmood

Keisuke Honda became the � rst vot-ed winner of Best Footballer in Asia Award. The Japanese star, who plays for CSKA Moscow, � nished ahead of Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso and Darío Leonardo Conca, both playing for Guangzhou Evergrande FC.

The Best Footballer in Asia Award was launched earlier this year by Titan Sports of China. Journalists representing AFC national associations and several European journalists who cover Asian football voted for the winner. Each voter chose � ve players and points were awarded as followed - � ve points for a � rst place in a voters’ list, four points for second, three points for third, two points for fourth, and one point for � fth.

As the result, Keisuke Honda

claimed a total of 46 points, leav-ing Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso and Darío Leonardo Conca tied in second place with 32 points each. The fourth place went to Son Heung-Min of Bayer Leverkusen and Zheng Zhi of Guang-zhou Evergrande, who � nished on par with 31 points.

Honda has been playing for CSKA Moscow since 2010 and he is linked in a move to AC Milan next season. l

Lehmann dismisses England peace talksn AFP, Sydney

Australia coach Darren Lehmann has rejected the idea of a meeting with Eng-land counterpart Andy Flower to set some sledging ground rules ahead of the second Ashes Test in Adelaide.

Flower told British media that the right balance needed to be found with on-� eld banter after frustrations boiled over on the � nal day of the � rst Test in Brisbane, with Australian skipper Michael Clarke � ned 20 percent of his match fee.

“Now you have brought it up (talk-ing to Lehmann) I’ll have a think about it,” Flower said. “A balance has got to be found on the pitch between competi-tiveness and not overstepping the line.”

But Lehmann said talks on the issue were not necessary as he looks to build on Australia’s huge victory in Brisbane that left England bruised and battered. l

England ‘heartbroken’ by Trott exit: Broadn AFP, London

England all-rounder Stuart Broad said on Wednesday that Jonathan Trott’s shock departure from the Ashes tour was “heartbreaking”, but pledged that the squad would rally round him.

Trott left Australia after the Eng-land and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) revealed on Monday that he has been su� ering from a stress-related illness.

The South Africa-born batsman’s exit came after he twice fell cheaply to Mitchell Johnson in England’s heavy 381-run loss to Australia in the � rst Test in Brisbane.

The tourists now travel to Alice for a two-day warm-up match against a CA Chairman’s XI on Friday and Saturday, before � ying south to Adelaide for next week’s second Test. Although England are primarily focusing on restoring par-ity in the � ve-Test series, Broad says that the players’ thoughts are also with the departed Trott.

“It’s heartbreaking for us to lose Trotty,” Broad told BBC Radio 5 Live.l

Nepal, UAE book tickets to Bangladeshn Agencies

Nepal beat Hong Kong by � ve wickets o� the � nal ball yesterday to clinch quali� cation for the ICC World Twen-ty20 2014 while wins for Papua New Guinea and Scotland kept their chanc-es alive.

In the afternoon match, United Arab Emirates beat the Netherlands by 10 runs to also qualify.

Nepal and UAE join Afghanistan and Ireland in making it through from the ICC World Twenty20 2014 Quali� er, and they progress to the semi-� nals of this tournament.

Hong Kong, who just failed to defend a score of 143 for eight, will play Papua New Guinea with the winner also quali-fying. Scotland will meet the Nether-lands in their � nal play-o� game.

Batting � rst, Hong Kong made good progress as Waqas Barkat and Nizakat Khan both made 25, and further runs

were added later on by Munir Dar (20), Babar Hyat (10) and Tanwir Afzal (25).

Jitendra Mukhiya took three for 23 and Avinash Khan two for 28.

Nepal openers Subash Khakurel (16) and Sagar Pun (22) got the run chase o� to an excellent start and after they were dismissed by Tanwir and Haseeb Amjad respectively, Gyanendra Malla’s 30 in 27 balls and Paras Khadka’s 46 in 39 looked to be setting Nepal on course for the win.

However, Aizaz Khan removed Mal-la and Khadka was run out to set up a tense � nish, made even more so when Binod Bhandari (7) also fell.

Sharad Vesawkar was Nepal’s hero, hitting an unbeaten 13 in seven balls including the winning single from the � nal ball of the game as he and Pradeep Airee (3 not out) took 13 runs from the � nal over to win.

While Nepal can look forward to a semi-� nal and a trip to Bangladesh,

Hong Kong will face Papua New Guin-ea, who beat Namibia by 25 runs, for another chance to qualify.

Geraint Jones (36), Tony Ura (34) and Jack Vare (30) were in the runs for them as they posted 145 for four as Nicholaas and Bernard Scholtz took two wickets apiece.

Namibia then collapsed to 16 for four and as Pipi Raho took three for 10 with Willie Gavera, John Reva and Christopher Amini taking two apiece, Namibia were bowled out in 18.1 overs.

Scotland proved far too strong for Italy in their seven-wicket win.

Andy Northcote top scored with 46 not out as Italy posted 125 for eight, their innings stuttering as Neil Carter and Safyaan Sharif grabbed a brace of wickets.

Scotland’s opening pair Richie Ber-rington (52) and Calum MacLeod (56) then put them on course for victory with a 112-run stand and although It-

aly picked up three wickets in quick succession, they came too late to stop Scotland cruising home in 17.3 overs.

It was a much closer game between hosts UAE and the Netherlands.

Khurram Khan made 32, Moham-mad Sha� q 25 and Asim Kurshad 17 as the UAE posted 117 for eight; their bowlers then delivered a superb per-formance to hold the Dutch to just 107 for nine to clinch a 10-run win.

Ahsan Malik had earlier taken four for 17 for the Netherlands but their batsmen were unable to overhaul a relatively modest total.

They started poorly by losing open-ers Stephan Myburgh and Michael Swart for six and one respectively and never recovered.

Wesley Barresi went for 11 and al-though Eric Szwarczynski made 23, Ben Cooper 20 and Michael Rippon 19, they fell short, Nasir Ajaz taking three for 21. l

Accident at Brazil World Cup stadium kills threen Reuters, Sao Paulo

A crane collapsed on Wednesday at the construction site of a future World Cup soccer stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, killing at least three people and appar-ently causing damage to the structure.

The stadium, which was scheduled to be � nished in the next month or so, is to be the site of the opening game and � ve other matches when Brazil hosts the 2014 soccer World Cup in June and July.

A spokeswoman for the Sao Paulo state military police con� rmed the deaths.

Brazil has struggled to deliver sta-diums, public transportation improve-ments and other World Cup-related proj-ects within the timelines speci� ed by world soccer body FIFA. Some construc-tion sites, such as a new terminal at Sao Paulo’s international airport, are being built around the clock seven days a week to try to � nish them before the Cup.

The Sao Paulo stadium, formally called Arena Corinthians but known locally as “Itaquerão,” is being built by Brazilian industrial conglomerate Odebrecht SA, which recently said the arena was 94 percent complete. l

Nepal's Avinash Karn celebrates with fans after they quali� ed for World T20 yesterday

Shikhar Dhawan raises the bat after reaching his century against West Indies during their 3rd ODI in Kanpur yesterday INTERNET

Pakistan 262 (45 overs)Shehzad 102, Steyn 6-39 South Africa 261 for 6 (45 overs)Amla 98, de Villiers 74, Junaid 3-42) Pakistan won by 1 run

BRIEF SCORE

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, November 28, 2013

Budget revision meeting starts 22 days earlierIt is not ‘proper’ for the interim government to revise budget: Mirza Aziz

n Asif Showkat Kallol

Drained out funds and decline in earn-ing have led the government to start the meetings on revising the � scal bud-get early this year.

A senior o� cial of the Finance Divi-sion said with all government depart-ments having exhausted their alloca-tions, Finance Minister AMA Muhith wanted to revise the budget before the present government’s tenure ended on January 24, 2014.

To that end the government plans to hold the budget revision meeting 22 days before the normal time, but analysts be-lieve that an early budget revision is not appropriate for an interim government.

Usually, the meeting is held on Jan-uary 7-24, but Finance Division o� -cials said this time the meeting with 65 ministries and divisions would be held from December 15 to January 14.

Earlier, at a meeting of the � scal coordination council, the � nance min-ister said: “We have no choice but to revise the current � scal budget three months early as we fear economic indi-ces may drop because of hartals.”

Usually, a � scal year’s budget is re-vised in the middle of March, but now the government wants to do it before January 24 next year.

Dr Mirza Azizul Islam, former ad-viser to a caretaker government, said it would not be appropriate for the inter-im administration to revise the budget as the prime minister had declared that it would not make any policy decisions.

“The government suspended the Executive Committee of National Eco-

nomic Council on Wednesday because it makes policy decisions,” he said.

The former adviser said the govern-ment usually made major policy deci-sions while revising a budget.

Zaid Bakht, research director of Ban-gladesh Institute of Development Stud-ies, said the prolonged political deadlock would stagnate the country’s economic activities and revenue earning while the growth and employment would also be a� ected.

National Board of Revenue Chair-man Ghulam Hussain said hartals and blockades severally hampered revenue earning in the past � ve months, result-ing in a revenue shortfall of Tk35bn.

“We will not maintain the 22% reve-nue growth in the current � scal year. The board will calculate the total revenue shortage after December, he said.

The total expenditure in the FY2013-14 budget was estimated at Tk2.22 tril-lion, but the revenue earning stands at Tk1.67tr with a de� cit of Tk550bn. Bank borrowing is estimated at Tk259.93bn.

Meanwhile, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank expressed concerns that the impending street agitation in the run-up to the national elections would take a heavy toll on Bangladesh’s economy and its growth.

They estimated that the country’s GDP would remain below 6% in the cur-rent � scal year although the � nance min-istry expected it to grow to 6.6% com-pared to 6.3% of the previous � scal year.

The government has a budgetary target of achieving 7.2% GDP growth in the current � scal year. l

Port workers in trouble as blockade rolls into 3rd dayn Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat

The countrywide blockade enforced by the opposition alliance had a knock-on e� ect on the livelihoods of the thousands of port and waterside workers involved with the Burimari Land Port, as they became unem-ployed overnight because of the pro-test programme.

Activities in the port in Lalmonirhat have ground to a near-halt since early Tuesday and the one-day extension to the blockade period may all but worsen their crisis.

Without work and contracts, the workers – stevedores, dockworkers, porters, etc. – are struggling to manage meals for their families, while many have borrowed money from local mon-ey-lenders with high interest rates.

Salatul Islam, 55, a dock labourer, said programmes such as strikes, shut-downs and blockades were “a curse” for the port workers since these meant a situation of unemployment and un-deremployment for them.

“Generally, we earn Tk250-300 per day in the port, by loading and unload-

ing ships coming in from India, Nepal and Bhutan. This is our only source of income and our families depend on what we earn from the port. But what can we do when there is no work?”

“These political programmes are like a curse for us, for they mean only unemployment for us and starvation for our families.”

Mashiur Miah, 50, another worker,

said he had borrowed Tk1,000 from a money lender on condition that he would pay Tk250 extra during each month of repayment. “I hate hartals and blockades. But who cares? Workers like us live from hand to mouth and we are important to politicians only when the polls come.”

Worker Taherul Islam lives along with four members of his family on a khas land and is the only breadwinner. He said a “no-work situation” in the port meant no food for his family, and extra hours of work when port activi-ties returned to normal.

There are at least 5,000 workers in-volved with the port – considered the third biggest of its kind in the coun-try. “Blockade and such programmes put the livelihoods of these labourers in jeopardy. Political parties should be careful about keeping land ports out of the purview of their political pro-grammes,” said Safor Uddin, president of Burimari Land Port Sangjukta Sra-mik Federation.

“It is important because each of these labourers has a family of their own to feed.” l

Poverty: boy drinks dog-milk for 6yrs

n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

Poverty is said to have forced a minor to drink dog-milk to quell his hunger for over six years in Gobindaganj upazila of Gaiband-ha, a matter of dismay to locals.

The incident has created a sensation among locals, with bystanders regularly crowd-ing around to see the unbelievable sight. The boy is Shakil Ahmed, 8, son of a poor family of Moja� ar Ahmed and Afruza Begum.

Locals said the boy grew into the habit

of drinking dog-milk after � nding no other way out of hunger when his mother used to leave him for work as a domestic helper.

He began by drinking the milk of his pet dog and is said to have continued this habit ignoring the prohibition and rebuke of his parents and neighbours.

“I feel no hesitation,” Shakil told this correspondent when Dhaka Tribune went to meet him. Though his pet dog died, he could not stop the practice. Shakil says he drinks dog-milk whenever he sees a mother dog. l

Locals save train with 500 people from accident n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Over 500 passengers on Wednesday escaped an inevitable catastrophic consequences as local people stopped an inter-city train heading towards a railway bridge from which blockade enforcers removed � sh-plates.

The opposition-backed blockade en-forcers removed � sh-plates on the 279 number bridge located between Joy-purhat and Jamalganj stations in Joy-purhat district.

The railway o� cials said the train Simanto Express headed for Khulna starting from Syedpur early Wednes-day. Little did the train driver know about the lurking danger over a canal.

“One of our brothers noticed that some � sh-plates of the rail track on the

bridge were missing. He then informed others to come and save the approach-ing train from the disaster,” one of the witnesses named Alam told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The train was sure to plunge head-long into the canal had we not waved it down,” he said.

“Over 500 passengers were on board the train. Unless the people came for-ward there could have been a fatal accident,” Sujit Kumar Biswas, the di-visional tra� c o� cer, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said the train stopped just near the bridge around 7:35am. The train was then backed to Jamalganj station. Railway technicians � xed the track around 9:40am. The train resumed its journey around 9:50am, he said.

The railway o� cials said the railway was the most a� ected by the blockade programme.

According to the situation reports prepared up to 2:00pm Wednesday, the pro-blockade activists cut tracks, removed � sh-plates, carried out arson attacks and set the coaches and engines on � re in at least 12 spots since the blockade started on Tuesday.

The destructive activities caused derailment of many trains causing im-mense su� erings to the common pas-sengers who had to wait at deserted locations for hours.

On Wednesday, the director general of the Ansar forces had a meeting with the director general of the Bangladesh Railway to � nd out strategies to check the violence on the trains.

The railway authorities have iden-ti� ed 580 vulnerable points where the attackers can carry out sabotage.

The meeting decided to deploy 908 Ansar members – four members at each of the 227 points – Syed Zahurul Islam, director (tra� c) of the railway, told the Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday.

The railway sta� , Railway Nirapatta Bahini and other forces will guard the rest vulnerable points, he said.

“This is an encouraging initiative of the people to protect the railway from destruction save people’s lives. It will inspire others to do the same,” Khalilur Rahman, an additional director gener-al, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The railway authorities on Wednes-day appealed to people to protect the state-owned entity from sabotages. l

Five compartments of Agnibina Express topple o� the tracks after pro-blockade activists of the opposition alliance removed railway � shplates in Gazipur’s Rajendrapur area yesterday DHAKA TRIBUND

Hollywood producer was Israeli spyn BBC

A Hollywood producer behind hit � lms such as Pretty Woman and Fight Club has said he spied for Israel in support of its nuclear programme.

Arnon Milchan, who was born in what is now Israel, gave an account to Israeli investigative programme Uvda.

Milchan said he performed dozens of clandestine missions on behalf of Israel after he was recruited by Shimon Peres, now Israel’s president.

“I did it for my country and I’m proud of it,” he said.

Milchan, 68, said he was recruited to Israel’s Bureau of Scienti� c Relations, a secretive organisation founded to sup-ply the nation’s nuclear programme, in the 1960s by Peres.

His activities continued after he be-came a high-pro� le Hollywood produc-er, rising to chairman of � lm company New Regency.

He produced such hits as Mr and Mrs Smith and LA Con� dential, and worked with famed directors including Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski and Oliver Stone. l

Day labourers depended on Burimari land port face livelihood crisis DHAKA TRIBUNE

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

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Business

Businesswww.dhakatribune.com/business THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013

Robi hits 16% revenue growth in Q3

Investors may have to wait for some time more

B3

B2

Mega windmill on the cardsPIA Group with home energy company to set up the project at Anwara

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

The consortium of PIA Group LCC and Bangladesh Alternative Energy Systems Limited will set up the country’s largest wind-based power project at Anwara in Chittagong with 100 megawatt generation capacity.

Power Development Board (PDB) will buy per unit electricity for 12 US cents (Tk9.87) from the project for 20 years.

The tari� rate will remain unchanged, said the o� cial sources.

The cabinet committee on public purchase on November 14 approved the plant under the Power and Energy Quick Supply (special provision) Act.

The company proposed to implement the project within 18 months from the e� ective date of contract signing with PDB.

Wind power technology is one of the cheapest clean power options.

Bangladesh is almost solely dependent on fossil fuel to generate power.

Not only does this cost a large amount of forex for the country, fossil fuels are � nite resources and not environmentally sustainable in the long run.

The consortium Spain-Bangladesh joint-venture (JV) company – PIA Group LCC, and Bangladesh Alternative Energy System Ltd (BAEC) had already conducted a wind mapping to assess the prospect of producing the electricity from the proposed plant, o� cials said.

The BD-Spain JV Company will invest about $220m for installing the wind-based power plant.

The company has already informed the Power Division to purchase nine acres of

land at Anwara for setting up the power project.

Bangladesh is heavily dependent on natural gas and oil-based power plant. Most plants are run by the natural gas and furnace oil.

Wind power production is a new experience for the country.

The PIA Group LCC & BAEC JV will install 44 wind turbines – each having 2.3mw capacity.

PDB o� cials said they had paid Tk69.17m as electricity purchase bills for 20 years.

On December 19 last year, the cabinet committee on public purchase approved IPP-Taylor Engineering and PH Consulting Inc. USA and Multiplex Green Energy Ltd JV for installing a 60mw capacity wind-based power station in Cox’s Bazar.

According to the growth, the demand for electricity was forecasted to reach 24,000mw in 2021 and 40,000mw in 2030.

Of the demand, the government has a plan to generate 10% of electricity from renewable energy sources.

A source in the power division said 50 to 200 megawatt of power could be generated from wind power in di� erent coastal and inland sites.

Bangladesh Power Development Board installed wind mills in Kutubdia and Feni to generate 1.0mw of power from each project.

But the projects failed as the Kutubdia project having 1.0mw generation capacity with 50 turbines was hit hard by cyclone Aila and the Feni project having 225kw production capacity with four turbines was closed because of inappropriate windmapping. l

BB launches cost of fund indexn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has launched a cost of fund index for � nancial institutions to rationalise their interest rate, service charges and com-missions for protecting the interest of the customers.

“We are going to implement a new mon-itoring system named base rate system. Its main component is cost of fund index,” Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said, launching the index at its headquarters in Dhaka yesterday.

“We have to be careful so that e� ciency or ine� ciency of fund management of � -nancial institutions is not directly imposed on the clients.” Evaluating the interest rate will be easy for � nancial institutions by us-ing this cost of fund index as reference rate.

As a result, customers’ interest will be pro-tected and there will be a healthy competi-tion among the � nancial institutions.

The formulation of this identical base rate method will create level playing � eld in the overall � nancial sector, said the central bank governor.

By this based rate system, he said trans-parency and accountability will be ensured in � xing the interest rate and pro� t of � nan-cial institutions will be sustained.

A large part of funds of � nancial insti-tutions comes from bank loan. So the fund cost index will play a role to protect thecustomers’ interest in the � nancial institu-tions. l

Remittance falls from top sourcesn Tribune Report

Remittance in� ows from top � ve countries have dropped by 22% in � rst four months of the current � scal year, showed Bangladesh Bank data.

The countries include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, the UK and Malaysia.

During the July-October period, Bang-ladesh received a total of $2.8bn from the wage earners in those countries, according to the data.

The � gure was $3.4bn in the same period last year.

Bangladeshi people living in Saudi Ara-

bia sent the highest amount of remittance in four months, which amounted to nearly $944m.

The � gure from the UAE totalled $849m and from Kuwait $361.38m.

During the same period last year, the Bangladeshi wage earners in Saudi Arabia sent $1.31bn, the UAE $991m and Kuwait $400m.

In the four months of the current year, Sonali Bank channeled $475.35m, followed by Agrani Bank $510m, Janata Bank $439m and Rupali Bank $46.28m.

Remittance in� ows from these coun-tries and the US constituted 80.87% of total amount in � scal year 2012-13.

The data showed continuous drop since 2009-10 with the exception of 2010-11.

In 2009-10, the portion was 83.76% and the following year saw rise to 84.20%. In 2011-12 it fell to 82.63% and to 80.87% in 2012-13.

Saudi Arabia is the biggest destination of overseas employments for the Bangladeshi workers.

But the country stopped recruiting from Bangladesh in 2008, alleging that a large number of Bangladeshis were living there without any valid document.

Saudi Arabia used to hire over 100,000 workers from Bangladesh every year. In 2008, a number of 132,000 Bangladeshi

workers went to the country.But the number came down to only

14,666 just in the following year.In the current year till October, only

12,040 Bangladeshi workers found jobs in Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia said it is going to resume recruiting from Bangladesh soon. Then re-mittance in� ow from the country could be expected to increase further,” said a senior o� cial of Bangladesh Bank.

He said the country is currently in need of workers after conductive a massive drive against undocumented migrant workers.

The recruitment remained suspended for more than four years. l

‘We have to be careful so that e� ciency or ine� ciency of fund management of � nancial institutions is not directly imposed on the clients’

DHAKA TRIBUNE Business2 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013

Robi hits 16% revenue growth in Q3n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Mobile phone operator Robi has reported Tk11.73bn revenue earning in the third quar-ter of 2013, registering 16% growth from the same quarter of last year.

Robi sources said its pro� t after tax amounted to Tk1.42bn during the period.

According to the operator, the growth was generated from the increased value added services (VAS).

The country’s second largest mobile phone operator in terms of revenue is going to present its business updates on the quar-ter today at a press conference in Dhaka.

The operator has continued making prof-it for four consecutive quarters, showed the � gures available on the website of Axiata Ltd, parent company of Robi.

In the � rst nine months of 2013, Robi

managed to make a total of Tk3.66bn net pro� t.

But in the same period of previous year, it incurred a net loss of Tk336m.

According to the Axiata’s post-September presentation, the total number of Robi sub-scribers stood at 28.8m.

However, the operator’s total revenue growth in terms of users increase dropped to Tk160 monthly from Tk168 last year.

The average per subscriber use fell to 151 minutes per month from 161 minutes last year. l

Alliance may start RMG factory inspection next week n Tribune Report

The North American Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety, a US-based clothing retail-ers’ platform, likely to start factory inspec-tion on � re and building safety from next week.

“They will start the inspection from the by � rst week of December on a set of com-mon standards they approved earlier,” BG-MEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The Alliance’s board has adopted the Fire Safety and Structural Integrity Standards and established a committee of third-par-ty experts to assist implementation to car-ry forward with establishing its next set of milestones, said a statement of the alliance recently.

The Alliance Standards aligned with the Bangladesh National Building Code, and are re� ective of input received from multiple expert stakeholders during their develop-ment, it added.

The Standards are a meaningful contribution to the shared e� ort to improve � re and building safety in Bangladesh’s readymade garment sector and it would continue to use these standards as the basis for ongoing collaboration among all entities invested in ensuring that inspections and remediation e� orts are as consistent as possible, it said.

The alliance will inspect 500 garments factory to improve � re and building safety, while the Accord on Fire and Building Safe-ty, a platform 101 European retailers, will in-spect over 1,700 factories to be completed by July next year.

The alliance launched a � ve-year project to inspect RMG factory, from which they source clothes, to improve safety standards.

The US retailers took the initiatives fol-lowing the Rana Plaza collapse in April, which killed more than 1,100 workers, put-ting pressure on the manufacturers to ad-dress safety.

Meanwhile, teams led by Bangladesh Univer-sity of Engineering and Technology (BUET) started assessing the factory buildings that are not part of Alliance or Accord, both for structural integrity, and � re and electrical safety.

As of yesterday, the BUET teams inspect-ed 30 factories in Dhaka, Savar and Gazipur areas. l

BITF begins todayn Tribune Report

A three-day Bangladesh International Tru-ism Fair (BITF) begins in Dhaka today amid political unrest. It is scheduled to be inau-gurated at 3:45pm at Bangabandhu Interna-tional Conference Centre (BICC).

Participants from USA, Europe, Middle East and South Asia, including the Indian states, are expected to attend the fair, organ-isers said. Bangladesh Foundation for Tour-ism Development and Association of Travel Agents are jointly organising the fair.

There will have 155 stalls to display prod-ucts by travel agents, tour operators, hos-pitals, hotels and resorts, airlines, � nancial institutions, national tourism organisations, online sellers and other tourism service pro-viders from 25 countries.

Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Com-merce and Industry (FBCCI), Bangladesh Tour-ism Board, Bangladesh Inbound Tour Opera-tors Association and Bangladesh International Hotel Association will provide support. l

Bangladesh Tourism Night held in Sydneyn Tribune Business Desk

Aus Bangla Tourism Pty Ltd hosted “Bang-ladesh Tourism Night” at Petersham Town Hall in Sydney, Australia as to promote Bang-ladesh as a great tourist destination.

‘Bangladesh Tourism Night’ held on November 23 was designed to help aid Aus Bangla Tourism goal to celebrate the unique prospects that Bangladesh o� ers totourists.

Director of Aus Bangla Tourism in Sydney, Fuad Ahmed, director of Aus Bangla Tourism in Bangladesh, Ishtiaque Ahmed and Md. Arif Ahmed, country manager in Bangladesh contributed to the success of the event, said a press release.

The tourism night was aimed at uniting Bangladeshis and Australians to appreciate the distinctive pleasures that Bangladesh of-fers to tourists and hopefully expanded the views of everyone on what an amazing place Bangladesh can be to visit, said the director of Aus Bangla Tourism.

Bangladesh needs more tourism exposure to the outside world and to encourage more tourists to come experiencing the wonders of natural Bangladesh, he added. l

Oil prices mixed ahead of US inventory reportn AFP, Singapore

Oil prices were mixed in Asian trade yester-day as dealers anticipated a further increase in US crude stockpiles, indicating weak de-mand in the world’s top crude consumer.

New York’s main contract, West Texas In-termediate for January delivery, was down 25 cents at $93.43 in afternoon trade while Brent North Sea crude for January gained six cents to $110.94.

“The focus is currently on the US invento-ry � gures where we are likely to see a further increase,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, told AFP.

“There has been a few re� nery closures in the US, and supply will remain on the high side even as we enter the winter season,” he said.

Analysts expect the Department of Ener-gy’s weekly report on Wednesday to show an increase of 500,000 barrels in crude invento-ries for the week ending November 22.

Over the nine previous weeks the inven-tories grew by 32.8 million barrels to 388.5 million.

A rise in US stockpiles indicates weak de-mand in the world’s biggest economy and oil consuming nation, putting downward pres-sure on prices.

Investors are also digesting the implica-tions of the weekend agreement between world powers and Iran, in which the major oil producer will get modest sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its disputed nuclear programme.

“While there is an understanding that there won’t be a signi� cant change in Iran supply, investors also know there is a pos-sibility of a process that could lead towards further relaxation or complete removal of sanctions,” Spooner said.

The Islamic republic has been crippled by a series of UN and US sanctions aimed at bringing an end to its nuclear drive, which the West claims is being used to develop atomic weapons. Iran denies the assertion. l

‘They will start the inspection from the by � rst week of December on a set of common standards they approved earlier’

According to the operator, the growth was generated from the increased value added services (VAS)

Citycell launches ‘Ultra Utshob’n Tribune Business Desk

Citycell has launched a special campaign ti-tled “Ultra Utshob” throughout the country recently, which will continue until further notice.

Under the campaign, the customer s will enjoy attractive o� ers at the Citycell custom-er care centres and customer care points, said a press release.

The o� ers include free RIM replacement, free transfer of ownership, free modem ser-vicing, modem exchange o� er, bonus for plan upgrade and recharge o� er. l

NCC Bank donates books to FeniCollegen Tribune Business Desk

NCC Bank Ltd has donated 400 books worth of Tk100,000 to Feni Government College as part of the bank’s corporate social responsi-bility.

The bank’s chairman Md Nurun Newaz Salim handed over the books to the college Principal Prof Utpal Kanti Baidya on Monday, said a press release.

“Our bank is not only a pro� t-earning or-ganisation but also working for social wel-fare, which will continue in future as well,” said the chairman.

The bank’s managing director Moham-med Nurul Amin, additional managing di-rector Golam Ha� z Ahmed, deputy man-aging director Akhtar Hamid Khan, senior executive vice president Md Fazlur Rahman and executive vice presidents Sirajul Islam and Mohammed Wahedur Rahman were also present. l

BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE 3THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013

Poll � nds India su� ering doubles as economy weakensn AFP, New Delhi

Su� ering in India has more than doubled in recent years with one in every four Indians now bearing the brunt of the nation’s sharp-ly weaker economy, a global poll released Wednesday showed.

The increase in “su� ering” in the na-tion of 1.2 billion people had a ripple e� ect across South Asia - which led the world insu� ering - owing to India’s strong econom-ic ties with its neighbours, Gallup said in a statement.

“The signi� cant deterioration in Indi-ans’ wellbeing is likely to be rooted in thecountry’s disappointing economic perfor-mance,” the US-based pollster worldwide said.

“Average su� ering in India more than doubled between 2006 to 2008 and 2010 to 2012. In 2012, a full quarter of Indians were su� ering.”

Gallup classi� ed respondents to the sur-vey as “thriving,” “struggling,” or “su� ering” according to how they rated their current lives and future prospects on a scale of zero to 10.

According to Gallup, su� ering on average has increased worldwide in recent years. Fourteen percent rated their lives poorly enough to be considered su� ering in 2012, up from 11% in 2006-08.

South Asia topped the regions for su� er-ing, with the Balkans, Middle East and North Africa tied for second-place with 21%.

“Su� ering in the (South Asian) region has increased enormously since the beginning of the global � nancial crisis, averaging 12% between 2006 and 2008, and 22% between 2010 and 2012,” Gallup said.

Australia and New Zealand were the countries considered most thriving, with just two percent of their population seen assu� ering.

India’s economic growth sunk from 9.4% in the � rst quarter of 2010 to 4.4% in the sec-ond quarter of 2013, the worst quarterly rate since 2002.

Data on Friday is expected to show growth still below � ve percent, despite e� orts by the scandal-tainted Congress government to re-vive the economy before elections due by May.

The survey comes after a political row in India over how to accurately measure pov-erty, with the government issuing � gures in August showing poverty has been slashed by a third since 2004.

The government said 138 millionIndians had emerged from poverty be-tween the � scal years 2004/05 and 2011/12,leaving the o� cial number of poor at 269 million.

The World Bank in a recent report said India has the greatest share of the world’s poorest - one-third living on $1.25 a day or less --or 400 million.

Gallup said its results were based on in-terviews with 230,083 adults in 2012 in 143 countries and that the poll’s margin of error was less than one percentage point. l

Stocks end � at in volatile trading n Tribune Report

Stocks ended � at amid volatile trading yes-terday as late pro� t booking cut early gains.

The market moved between positive and negative throughout the session with in-tra-day volatility of more than 50 points.

The benchmark index, DSEX, ended at 4,268 with slight fall of nearly 9 points or 0.2%, hitting highest its 4,315 in the morning and lowest 4,262 in the midsession.

However, the DS30 Index comprising blue chips rose over 7 points or 0.6% to 1,516.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, was down 29 points to 8,390.

Cautious trading pushed turnover down below Tk6bn-mark as DSE turnover was Tk5.9bn, a fall of more than 20% over the previous session.

Market passed a volatile trading session with lower turnover, indicating investors staying on the sidelines to observe market movement, said Lanka Bangla Securities in its market analysis.

It said throughout the session, market ex-hibited a zigzag pattern as buyers and sellers both were confused about their trade execu-tion.

Market closed � at without having any clear direction because of the cautious trading behavior of both buyers

and sellers, it said. It seems investors are eyeing on immi-

nent political outlook of the country and still remain unsure whether upcoming national election will be held peacefully, according to it.

Losers took a marginal lead over the gain-ers as out of 287 issues traded, 110 advanced, 136 decline and 41 remained unchanged.

IDLC Investment said while market strug-gled to remain positive, waves of sell pres-sure beat it down, in frequent intervals, causing it to close � at.

Hovering political uncertainty coupled with absence of any major upcoming div-idend or earnings declaration in the near term has created a vacuum of motivation in the market, causing activities in the market to drop by 20%, it said.

All the major sectors managed to end in green except banks which saw a loss of 0.74%. Telecommunications performed best among all the sectors with a rise of over 2%, followed by � nancial institutions 0.8% and pharmaceuticals 0.6% and power 0.2%.

Delta Life Insurance was the most traded stocks with shares worth Tk640m changing hands.

It was followed by RN Spinning, Envoy Textile, Meghna Petroleum, Generation Next Fashion, Paramount Textile, Central Phar-maceuticals and Orion Pharmaceuticals. l

Rahim Textile under BSEC lens n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Com-mission (BSEC) has instructed Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited (DSE) to investigate into the reasons behind unusual price increase of shares of Rahim Textile Mills.

The regulatory order came due to the ab-normal price hike of the stock in last several months, said a statement of the company yesterday.

Yesterday, it closed at Tk232 a share, an increase of more than 35% over the last six months.

During the period it peaked as high as Tk346, which is more than 100% higher than its lowest price of Tk171 recorded six months earlier.

Last week, in response to a DSE query, the company had informed that there was no undisclosed price sensitive information of the company for the recent unusual price hike.

The company’s third quarter pro� t dropped 15% to Tk1m, according to its un-au-dited quarterly accounts for the quarter end-ed on September 30.

Its sponsor/director has a stake of 80.17%, institute 7.69% and public 13.04% in the company listed in 1988. l

TK9BN STOCK REFINANCE SCHEME

Investors may have to wait for some time moren Tribune Report

Deadline for submission of loan application under the Tk9bn capital market re� nance scheme is likely to be extended by one month due to tepid response from small investors.

The deadline expires this month. Since launching of the scheme in late August, a few investors have applied for the loans – out of nearly 1m a� ected in stock market debacle about three years back.

“We want one more month as response so far remains poor,” said Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association President MA Ha� z, af-ter a meeting with Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) in Dhaka yes-terday.

“We also demanded relaxing conditions for the loan. The regulator assured us to con-sider the demand.”

The supervision committee of the scheme earlier set 18 conditions, including clearance from the Credit Information Bureau (CIB) for all sponsor-directors of a merchant bank or a brokerage house and giving 50% waiver interest on the margin loans against the in-vestors’ accounts.

It is di� cult to provide CIB clearance for all sponsors-directors within the deadline and the merchant banks and stockbrokers are reluctant to waive interest on margin loans, said a merchant banker.

Under the loan distribution guideline, the

state-run Investment Corporation of Bangla-desh (ICB), which has already received Tk3bn as � rst installment of the Tk9bn re� nance scheme at 5% interest rate from the central bank, will lend to merchant banks and stock-brokers at 7%.

The merchant banks and stockbrokers will then disburse the fund to the retail investors at 9% interest rate.

Then, the borrowers will have to repay the loans in three-month installments to the loans to ICB that will subsequently deposit the received amount to the re� nance fund.

The regulator will have the authority to

cancel licences of the merchant banks and stockbrokers if they fail to repay the loans on time, the guideline said.

The a� ected retail investors, who had in-vestment up to Tk1m from January 2009 to November 2011, are eligible to receive loan from the specialised fund.

The BSEC has identi� ed 954,000 a� ected small investors to be brought under the facil-ity of re� nance scheme.

The government in March 2012 had an-nounced a compensation package that in-cluded an interest waiver on margin loans for the investors. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE Business4 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013

ANALYSIS

No checkouts, no chocolate: Online shopping hits impulse buysn Reuters

For consumers, one of the great things about shopping online is bypassing the queue to check out. For producers of the candy, maga-zines and drinks often sold there, it’s a problem.

In Britain, the country where e-commerce is most popular, about 13% of people do all or most of their grocery shopping online. Yet this only accounts for 5% of overall spending, sug-gesting consumers spend more when they visit a store. That is because online shoppers search for what they need, usually sticking close to their shopping lists. They don’t spontaneously buy magazines they opened while waiting to pay, or chocolate to eat on the go.

Elizabeth Clark, a 40-year-old teacher in Liverpool, England now does most of her shops on the internet, and says she ends up buying fewer sweets, newspapers, toys and wine.

“In the supermarket, obviously you walk past it and you see a special o� er and you think ‘Oh, I’ll have that’,” she said.

Even though retailers try to do the same thing by � agging special o� ers at online check-out, it doesn’t usually work. “I always just press ‘next, next, next, next’ without even reading them, deliberately, because I don’t want to be tempted.” Companies most at risk are Mon-delez International, Mars Inc and Nestle, the top three candy makers, soda makers like Co-ca-Cola and PepsiCo, and magazine publishers like Time Warner and Hearst Corp.

The latest survey of European shoppers by IRI found that 73% spent more time planning shopping in order to avoid non-essential pur-chases amid the economic slowdown.

“Shoppers are reducing their impulse pur-chasing,” said Cristina Lazzaroni, who mon-itors the confectionary market for IRI in Italy, where online shopping is less of a habit.

And when they do buy chocolate at stores, more Italian shoppers are buying larger take-home tablets instead of single-serve snacks,

Lazzaroni said, noting that the shift can hurt the bottom line as smaller packages often carry higher margins. IRI said sales of confectionary fell 2.4% in Italy in the last year.

Worldwide, the retail confectionery market is worth $196.5bn, according to Euromonitor International, up 5.6% from a year ago. Nearly all sales are from stores, though online made up 0.9% this year, up from 0.6% in 2008. That is the same amount as purchased through vending machines.

Candy lagGrocery is one of the last areas of retail to go online, due to challenges around delivery and perishability, but a shift is underway. Ama-zon.com is expanding its grocery business in the United States and abroad, and traditional grocers are boosting their own digital capa-

bilities as well. In the United States, Bernstein Research estimates that about one quarter of spending on consumer goods - some $222bn a year - will ultimately be spent online.

Not surprisingly, non-perishables enjoy the most online purchasing, with skin care prod-ucts deriving 12.2% of sales online, Bernstein found, way ahead of the 2.4% average. Confec-tionary and biscuits were at less than 1%.

Of Britain’s 7 million online grocery shop-pers, only 12% visit a confectionery-related webpage, and just half of those actually buy anything there, according to Kantar Media.

When asked about e� orts to lift sales online or at check-out, Hershey and Mars did not of-fer examples or make anyone available to dis-cuss. Hershey said its sales have grown at a rate above the industry average for the past several years. A Nestle spokeswoman said: “The on-

line channel represents an opportunity for con-fectionery. It is an important channel for us and we are experiencing much success. The path to purchase for confectionery is nonetheless dif-ferent online versus traditional channels.”

Online grocery sales will roughly double on average by 2016 in � ve key European markets - Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands - the food and consumer goods research group IGD predicts.

That is prompting many retailers to invest in convenience store formats, where shoppers can top up online orders with fresh goods, instead of trekking to large out-of-town su-permarkets. They are also building collection points for goods bought online, which is an area where more impulse buys could happen in future. “This is going to become more and more a magic moment when retailers need to take advantage of having their customer in a buying mode,” said John Sheldon, global head of strategy at consultants eBay Enterprise.

Technical revolutionwhile the bulk of grocery shopping looks set to remain in stores, technology is also putting impulse buys at risk there. Retailers are looking for ways to make payments easier for their cus-tomers, either by allowing them to check out their goods on the go on their smartphones or by introducing faster tills, for example by scan-ning whole baskets.

“The check out is still complex, costly, not terribly consumer friendly,” said Simon Hay, chief executive of Dunnhumby, the customer science company owned by the world’s third biggest retailer Tesco. “The biggest value is getting the return shopping trip,” he said, noting that items potentially lost at check-out were small and incremental from the retailer’s perspective. The growth of mobile shopping, either in store or on the go, is also a threat, es-pecially as small screens limit the opportunity to try to tempt shoppers with impulse buys. l

A worker gathers items for delivery from the warehouse � oor at Amazon’s distribution centre in Phoenix, Arizona REUTERS

Trade diplomats fail to reach pre-summit deal: WTO chiefn AFP, Geneva

Negotiators holding marathon talks in Gene-va have failed to produce a deal to put on the table at a crunch summit next week, World Trade Organisation chief Roberto Azevedo said Tuesday.

“The reality is that we have proved that we can’t cross the � nal yard here in Geneva. The process here is over,” Azevedo told reporters.

“This is not about shortness of time. If we had a few more weeks, we would still not make it,” he said.

“If we are to get this deal over the line, we will need political engagement and political will,” he added.

Earlier Tuesday, the WTO’s 159 member economies had held a crunch meeting to de-cide whether they had made su� cient head-way to put a formal draft document before trade ministers at the WTO’s December 3-6

summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.They pored over a 53-page draft accord

which still contained an array of negotiating options that needed honing down, drawn up after last-ditch, round the clock talks.

Negotiators from the WTO’s member econ-omies have spent weeks scrambling to bridge

bitter di� erences and try to revive talks on an accord to ease barriers to global commerce.

Azevedo, the Brazilian former trade envoy who was sworn-in as WTO director general in September, has warned that the negotiating must not be left until the Bali summit.

Bali is seen as perhaps the last chance to revive the WTO’s so-called “Doha Round” of talks, launched in 2001 at a summit in Qatar.

The round’s goal is to produce a wide-rang-ing global accord on opening markets and re-moving trade barriers, with a key goal being to harness international commerce to develop poorer economies.

By some estimates, Azevedo noted, a � nal deal could provide a $1tn boost to global com-merce.

But the talks have stalled as rich countries, emerging powers and the world’s poorest na-tions spar over the concessions needed.

Azevedo, however, cautioned that the

splits were more complex.“There is not a north-south divide,” he

said.Negotiators had long ruled out the chances

of Bali reviving the Doha Round, and instead tried to draw up lower-level thematic accords for the summit, which could be fed into a wid-er package later.

One covers “trade facilitation”, which in-volves simplifying customs procedures in an e� ort to make commerce smoother, and where divisions centre on the time-lag devel-oping countries would get to fall into line, plus the support they would get from donors to do so.

Another division is over “food security”, pushed by India, under which developing countries want to be allowed to subsidise grain stockpiling to help low-income farmers and consumers - stocks that critics warn could end up on the open market, skewing trade. l

US government plan adjusts 2014 risk payments for health insurersn Reuters

The US government has issued a proposal that would likely increase risk payments in 2014 to health insurers o� ering plans on the Obamacare exchanges after the companies complained a recent policy change allowing people to keep their insurance policies had changed the � nancial equation.

The rule, published on Monday in the Federal Register, lowered the threshold at which risk payments kick in for the sickest health plan members. The government pro-posed paying insurers 80% of claims greater than $45,000 in 2014. Previously the lower limit was $60,000.

There is a 30-day comment period for the proposed rule.

In addition, the government has pro-posed a state-speci� c adjustment for risk payments based on how many people in the state extend their current polices, Citibank analyst Carl McDonald explained in a re-search note.

The exchanges are being created as part of President Barack Obama’s healthcare re-form law. An estimated 7 million people are expected to sign up.

Insurers including Aetna Inc, Humana Inc, WellPoint Inc, Cigna Corp, UnitedHealth Inc and Molina Healthcare Inc have all of-fered plans on the state-based exchanges.

“Whether good or bad, it’s always worth pointing out that most of the publicly trad-ed plans have little existing exposure to the individual market, while the exchange par-

ticipation of several plans is quite limited in 2014,” McDonald wrote.

As an incentive for participating in the exchanges, the insurers were promised cer-tain risk payments for the � rst three years to help o� set uncertainty about the health of participants.

Technology problems on the exchange have slowed enrolment signi� cantly, call-ing into question whether insurers will get the mix of healthy and sick people on which they had based their premium rates.

When Obama announced a plan about two weeks ago to allow individuals to keep their current plans longer, insurers com-plained it would remove even more people from the pool of applicants and asked for adjustments to the risk payments. l

BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE 5THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013

Smartphone sales top one billion, keep growing: surveyn AFP, Washington

Global smartphones sales will top one billion for the � rst time this year, and keep growing at a steady pace for the next four years, a mar-ket tracker said Tuesday.

The forecast by International Data Corpo-ration showed smartphone growth of 39.3% this year over 2012, a pace that will moderate in the next few years.

One key factor in the marketplace is the decline in smartphone prices, according to IDC. The average sales price this year is es-timated at $337, down 12% from a year ago. And IDC predicts it will drop further to $265 by 2017.

“The key driver behind smartphone vol-

umes in the years ahead is the expected de-crease in prices,” said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas.

“Particularly within emerging markets, where price sensitivity and elasticity are so important, prices will come down for smart-phones to move beyond the urban elite and into the hands of mass-market users. Every vendor is closely eyeing how far down they can price their devices while still realizing a pro� t and o� ering a robust smartphone expe-rience.”

IDC expects the smartphone shipments to hit 1.7 billion by 2017, with the growth rate easing to an average of 18.4% in the coming year.

“The game has changed quite drastically

due to the decline” in prices, said IDC analyst Ryan Reith.

“Just a few years back the industry was talking about the next billion people to con-nect, and it was assumed the majority of these people would do so by way of the fea-ture phone. Given the trajectory of (prices), smartphones are now a very realistic option to connect those billion users.”

The fastest growth in smartphones will be in the Asia-Paci� c and Latin American regions, each expected to see increases of around 23% in the next four years.

North America, which already has a large number of smartphones, will see growth slow to a 7.8% pace and Europe’s pace of increase will ease to 11.1%, IDC said. l

US President Barack Obama talks about the A� ordable Care Act in the Brady Press Brie� ng Room at the White House in Washington REUTERS

Motorola low-cost smartphone hits US earlyn AFP, Washington

Motorola’s smartphone aimed at cost-conscious consumers hit the US market ahead of schedule on Tuesday, in time for the key holiday season.

The Moto G was made available on Google-owned Motorola’s website at an o� -contract price starting at $179.

“We’re giving people plenty of mobile goodness to gobble up this holiday season,” the company said on its blog as it started sales just ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

The device is being sold at “one third of the price of current high-end phones, for a smartphone stu� ed with plenty of great features,” the blog posting said.

The Moto G had been expected in the United States in early 2014, but Motorola said its versions using GSM networks were being sold now.

It is currently on sale in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Britain, Germany, France, and Canada and will be sold in more than 30 countries by early 2014, according to the company.

The new device is a low-cost version of the Moto X released earlier this year in the United States, lacking some features such as a high-density camera and the ability to access the fastest networks.

But the cost is not as low in some countries. In Brazil for example, known for high electronics duties, the lowest price for the Moto G will sell for around $280, or 650 reals. That is still well below the price of an iPhone, which can cost more than $1,000 in Brazil, or premium phones like Samsung’s Galaxy S4.

The Moto G features a 4.5 inch (11.5 cm) display and all-day battery, and will include the latest versions of the Google Android operating system.

The handset packs in a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 5-megapixel and 1.3-megapixel cameras front and rear.

Some analysts say the handset is not aimed at buyers of high-end devices like the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S4, but those who might otherwise buy a low-cost smartphone such as those on the Firefox operating system. l

The handset packs in a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 5-megapixel and 1.3-megapixel cameras front and rear

BANKABBANK | 2.95 | 32.60 | Vol. 590851 D: 27.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 27.15 | 29.00 / 24.50 C: 27.00 ⇓ 0.74% | 27.08 | 27.40 / 26.90CITYBANK | 1.15 | 25.97 | Vol. 553057 D: 20.70 ⇓ 1.43% | 20.91 | 23.00 / 19.00 C: 20.60 ⇓ 1.90% | 20.82 | 21.30 / 20.50IFIC | 1.10 | 18.34 | Vol. 1438741 D: 32.00 ⇓ 1.84% | 32.38 | 35.00 / 29.90 C: 31.90 ⇓ 2.15% | 32.30 | 33.60 / 31.70ISLAMIBANK | 3.78 | 27.16 | Vol. 158587 D: 35.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 35.71 | 36.00 / 33.90 C: 35.90 ⇓ 0.28% | 35.84 | 36.00 / 35.80NBL | 1.05 | 15.76 | Vol. 1650115 D: 12.30 ⇓ 0.81% | 12.38 | 12.60 / 11.30 C: 12.40 ⇓ 0.80% | 12.41 | 12.60 / 12.30PUBALIBANK | 1.92 | 21.18 | Vol. 647116 D: 31.40 ⇑ 0.64% | 31.14 | 31.90 / 29.00 C: 31.20 ⇑ 0.32% | 31.07 | 31.60 / 30.70RUPALIBANK | 6.70 | 64.27 | Vol. 33900 D: 63.90 ⇓ 1.69% | 64.52 | 65.10 / 63.50 C: 64.20 ⇓ 1.68% | 64.18 | 64.50 / 63.20UCBL | 1.90 | 21.72 | Vol. 3285030 D: 24.60 ⇓ 0.81% | 24.82 | 26.00 / 22.50 C: 24.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 24.93 | 25.40 / 24.60UTTARABANK | 3.42 | 26.97 | Vol. 480937 D: 30.80 ⇓ 0.65% | 30.90 | 31.20 / 29.00 C: 30.80 ⇓ 0.96% | 30.90 | 31.30 / 30.60ICBIBANK | -1.60 | -13.03 | Vol. 63000 D: 6.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.29 | 6.40 / 6.20EBL | 3.91 | 28.22 | Vol. 410130 D: 28.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 28.03 | 28.40 / 26.50 C: 28.00 ⇑ 0.36% | 27.82 | 28.00 / 27.50ALARABANK | 2.03 | 14.91 | Vol. 2329600 D: 18.90 ⇓ 3.57% | 19.31 | 20.00 / 18.10 C: 19.20 ⇓ 2.54% | 19.40 | 20.00 / 18.00PRIMEBANK | 2.89 | 22.40 | Vol. 210248 D: 23.10 ⇓ 1.70% | 23.48 | 24.70 / 22.00 C: 23.70 ⇓ 3.27% | 23.66 | 23.70 / 23.60SOUTHEASTB | 1.89 | 22.66 | Vol. 865023 D: 18.00 ⇑ 0.56% | 18.07 | 18.50 / 16.20 C: 17.80 ⇓ 1.11% | 18.02 | 18.30 / 17.00DHAKABANK | 1.46 | 18.08 | Vol. 241664 D: 19.10 ⇓ 0.52% | 19.31 | 20.00 / 18.00 C: 19.40 ⇑ 1.04% | 19.32 | 19.50 / 19.20NCCBANK | 1.90 | 15.88 | Vol. 723902 D: 13.90 ⇓ 0.71% | 14.01 | 15.00 / 12.90 C: 14.00 ⇓ 0.71% | 14.05 | 14.40 / 13.90SIBL | 2.05 | 14.47 | Vol. 1038161 D: 13.50 ⇓ 2.88% | 13.66 | 14.50 / 12.80 C: 13.80 ⇓ 1.43% | 13.79 | 15.00 / 13.00DUTCHBANGL | 11.57 | 54.27 | Vol. 31000 D: 96.50 ⇓ 1.93% | 97.27 | 99.00 / 95.50 C: 98.00 ⇓ 2.00% | 98.50 | 99.00 / 98.00MTBL | 1.17 | 17.27 | Vol. 78565 D: 15.90 ⇓ 0.63% | 15.99 | 17.00 / 15.10 C: 16.00 ⇑ 0.63% | 16.00 | 16.00 / 16.00STANDBANKL | 2.33 | 14.41 | Vol. 657526 D: 14.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.98 | 16.00 / 13.50 C: 15.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.96 | 15.00 / 14.90ONEBANKLTD | 2.35 | 15.34 | Vol. 1566400 D: 16.30 ⇓ 1.81% | 16.51 | 18.00 / 15.00 C: 16.40 ⇓ 1.20% | 16.60 | 17.00 / 16.30BANKASIA | 1.35 | 20.80 | Vol. 210100 D: 18.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 18.52 | 18.80 / 17.90 C: 18.90 ⇑ 0.53% | 18.93 | 19.00 / 18.70MERCANBANK | 2.07 | 16.59 | Vol. 1806044 D: 15.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 15.75 | 16.20 / 14.20 C: 15.70 ⇓ 1.26% | 15.81 | 16.50 / 15.60EXIMBANK | 1.80 | 14.31 | Vol. 1112442 D: 12.80 ⇓ 1.54% | 12.92 | 13.50 / 11.90 C: 12.90 ⇓ 1.53% | 12.96 | 13.10 / 12.80JAMUNABANK | 2.47 | 18.56 | Vol. 165861 D: 16.50 ⇑ 0.61% | 16.49 | 17.00 / 15.00 C: 16.10 ⇓ 0.62% | 16.12 | 16.30 / 15.70BRACBANK | 1.51 | 24.87 | Vol. 304624 D: 31.10 ⇓ 0.96% | 31.27 | 31.90 / 29.50 C: 30.80 ⇓ 0.96% | 30.84 | 31.40 / 30.70SHAHJABANK | 2.61 | 14.47 | Vol. 540200 D: 17.40 ⇓ 0.57% | 17.39 | 18.00 / 15.80 C: 17.30 ⇓ 1.70% | 17.44 | 17.70 / 17.30PREMIERBAN | 1.18 | 13.95 | Vol. 770089 D: 11.70 ⇓ 0.85% | 11.77 | 12.10 / 10.80 C: 11.60 ⇓ 1.69% | 11.72 | 12.00 / 11.50

TRUSTBANK | 0.50 | 18.00 | Vol. 352134 D: 19.90 ⇑ 1.53% | 19.84 | 20.00 / 17.70 C: 19.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 20.00 | 19.60 / 19.60FIRSTSBANK | 1.85 | 13.89 | Vol. 654785 D: 15.40 ⇓ 1.28% | 15.61 | 16.20 / 14.60 C: 15.50 ⇓ 3.13% | 15.70 | 16.50 / 14.50

NON BANKING F IIDLC | 4.43 | 29.18 | Vol. 222095 D: 60.40 ⇓ 0.49% | 60.70 | 61.30 / 56.00 C: 61.10 ⇑ 0.33% | 61.07 | 62.20 / 60.70ULC | 1.80 | 14.90 | Vol. 220811 D: 29.00 ⇑ 0.35% | 29.15 | 29.70 / 27.00UTTARAFIN | 7.16 | 41.54 | Vol. 104481 D: 79.90 ⇓ 0.62% | 80.08 | 83.50 / 73.00 C: 80.50 ⇑ 0.75% | 80.27 | 81.30 / 80.00MIDASFIN | 0.16 | 10.21 | Vol. 4500 D: 29.10 ⇓ 0.34% | 29.11 | 29.50 / 29.00FLEASEINT | 2.34 | 13.93 | Vol. 417382 D: 29.20 ⇓ 2.01% | 29.53 | 30.40 / 27.00 C: 29.40 ⇓ 1.67% | 29.73 | 30.90 / 29.10PLFSL | 1.37 | 17.48 | Vol. 561500 D: 23.90 ⇑ 0.84% | 24.05 | 24.50 / 21.50 C: 24.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 24.00 | 24.30 / 23.70PRIMEFIN | 0.87 | 17.88 | Vol. 251566 D: 23.90 ⇓ 0.83% | 24.05 | 24.90 / 22.00 C: 23.90 ⇓ 1.24% | 24.12 | 24.40 / 23.90PREMIERLEA | 0.10 | 11.37 | Vol. 151150 D: 10.00 ⇓ 0.99% | 10.07 | 10.30 / 9.50 C: 10.10 ⇓ 0.98% | 10.14 | 10.30 / 10.00ISLAMICFIN | 1.03 | 15.48 | Vol. 289937 D: 16.60 ⇓ 0.60% | 16.63 | 18.10 / 15.10 C: 16.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 16.97 | 17.50 / 16.60LANKABAFIN | 1.61 | 31.07 | Vol. 663668 D: 53.10 ⇓ 1.12% | 53.63 | 54.30 / 48.50 C: 53.30 ⇓ 1.11% | 53.53 | 54.40 / 53.00BIFC | 0.15 | 18.58 | Vol. 121500 D: 16.30 ⇓ 1.81% | 16.49 | 17.00 / 16.30 C: 16.50 ⇓ 0.60% | 16.54 | 16.60 / 16.50IPDC | 1.23 | 19.43 | Vol. 105408 D: 18.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 18.48 | 18.90 / 16.90 C: 18.30 ⇓ 1.08% | 18.29 | 18.40 / 18.20UNIONCAP | 0.54 | 17.85 | Vol. 53423 D: 28.50 ⇓ 1.04% | 28.67 | 29.50 / 26.00 C: 28.80 ⇓ 0.35% | 29.28 | 29.60 / 27.80BDFINANCE | 0.57 | 14.77 | Vol. 282256 D: 18.20 ⇓ 0.55% | 18.12 | 18.50 / 16.50 C: 18.40 ⇓ 0.54% | 18.46 | 18.60 / 18.10ILFSL | 0.35 | 12.19 | Vol. 391075 D: 14.40 ⇓ 0.69% | 14.58 | 14.80 / 13.20 C: 14.70 ⇑ 0.68% | 14.65 | 15.20 / 14.50PHOENIXFIN | 2.46 | 19.39 | Vol. 276320 D: 31.90 ⇓ 2.15% | 32.26 | 35.50 / 31.00 C: 32.40 ⇓ 0.92% | 32.28 | 33.00 / 32.00FASFIN | 0.19 | 13.56 | Vol. 332770 D: 13.70 ⇓ 0.72% | 13.86 | 14.20 / 13.50 C: 13.80 ⇓ 0.72% | 13.92 | 14.00 / 13.70DBH | 4.47 | 21.27 | Vol. 61439 D: 54.20 ⇑ 0.18% | 54.20 | 55.60 / 50.00NHFIL | 0.57 | 12.70 | Vol. 181550 D: 30.40 ⇓ 1.94% | 30.59 | 31.30 / 30.10 C: 30.40 ⇓ 2.56% | 30.63 | 31.50 / 30.20BAYLEASING | 0.72 | 25.55 | Vol. 138520 D: 28.50 ⇓ 1.38% | 28.78 | 29.50 / 27.00 C: 28.70 ⇓ 1.37% | 28.81 | 29.00 / 28.70ICB | 89.23 | 607.74 | Vol. 5336 D: 1528 ⇑ 2.52% | 1517 | 1550 / 1483GSPFINANCE | 1.63 | 22.23 | Vol. 75210 D: 25.60 ⇓ 1.16% | 25.68 | 26.50 / 23.50 C: 25.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 26.24 | 27.50 / 25.00FAREASTFIN | 0.68 | 13.64 | Vol. 859000 D: 14.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.02 | 14.20 / 14.00 C: 14.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.00 | 14.20 / 13.90

INVESTMENT5THICB | 23.45 | 188.92 | Vol. 500 D: 155.1 ⇓ 2.82% | 156.00 | 155.5 / 155.06THICB | 10.99 | 60.14 | Vol. 13100 D: 53.70 ⇓ 0.92% | 53.82 | 54.30 / 53.107THICB | 13.53 | 98.60 | Vol. 1000 D: 88.00 ⇑ 0.46% | 88.00 | 88.00 / 88.008THICB | 12.47 | 70.07 | Vol. 6000 D: 53.20 ⇓ 0.37% | 53.17 | 53.40 / 53.00AIMS1STMF | 3.02 | 15.70 | Vol. 303250 D: 38.90 ⇓ 0.77% | 39.05 | 40.10 / 38.70 C: 39.20 ⇑ 1.55% | 39.19 | 40.00 / 38.50

ICBISLAMIC | 2.21 | 26.81 | Vol. 33500 D: 17.90 ⇓ 1.10% | 18.03 | 18.40 / 17.60GRAMEEN1 | 6.26 | 33.23 | Vol. 223500 D: 43.80 ⇓ 0.68% | 43.96 | 44.80 / 43.70 C: 43.80 ⇓ 1.57% | 43.91 | 44.50 / 43.50ICB1STNRB | 4.06 | 35.31 | Vol. 7500 D: 25.90 ⇓ 0.38% | 26.00 | 26.00 / 25.20ICB2NDNRB | 2.49 | 16.24 | Vol. 301000 D: 9.90 ⇓ 1.00% | 9.98 | 10.10 / 9.90 C: 10.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 10.00 | 10.00 / 10.00GRAMEENS2 | 2.17 | 16.41 | Vol. 594200 D: 16.20 ⇓ 1.22% | 16.36 | 16.60 / 15.50 C: 16.40 ⇓ 1.20% | 16.39 | 16.50 / 16.201STPRIMFMF | 0.64 | 11.63 | Vol. 480000 D: 21.70 ⇑ 0.46% | 21.91 | 22.30 / 21.60 C: 21.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 21.78 | 22.00 / 21.70EBL1STMF | 0.55 | 12.62 | Vol. 288187 D: 7.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.09 | 7.10 / 6.60 C: 7.10 ⇑ 1.43% | 6.95 | 7.10 / 6.50ICBAMCL2ND | 0.60 | 12.12 | Vol. 39500 D: 6.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.04 | 6.10 / 6.00 C: 6.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.93 | 6.00 / 5.90ICBEPMF1S1 | 0.52 | 11.32 | Vol. 195000 D: 6.10 ⇓ 1.61% | 6.12 | 6.20 / 6.00 C: 6.00 ⇓ 1.64% | 6.04 | 6.20 / 6.00TRUSTB1MF | 0.75 | 11.65 | Vol. 347576 D: 7.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.45 | 7.50 / 6.80 C: 7.40 ⇓ 1.33% | 7.40 | 7.50 / 7.30PRIME1ICBA | 0.42 | 11.18 | Vol. 36500 D: 5.50 ⇑ 1.85% | 5.53 | 5.60 / 5.40 C: 5.60 ⇓ 1.75% | 5.62 | 5.70 / 5.60DBH1STMF | -1.12 | 10.15 | Vol. 314500 D: 5.60 ⇓ 1.75% | 5.70 | 5.80 / 5.60 C: 5.70 ⇓ 1.72% | 5.71 | 5.80 / 5.60IFIC1STMF | 0.83 | 11.88 | Vol. 368000 D: 6.60 ⇓ 1.49% | 6.67 | 6.90 / 6.60 C: 6.70 ⇑ 1.52% | 6.70 | 6.70 / 6.70PF1STMF | 0.51 | 11.11 | Vol. 107000 D: 5.70 ⇓ 1.72% | 5.77 | 5.80 / 5.70 C: 5.70 ⇓ 1.72% | 5.70 | 5.70 / 5.70ICB3RDNRB | 0.00 | 10.60 | Vol. 311000 D: 5.30 ⇓ 1.85% | 5.39 | 5.40 / 5.30 C: 5.20 ⇓ 5.45% | 5.29 | 5.50 / 5.201JANATAMF | 0.78 | 10.68 | Vol. 315000 D: 6.00 ⇓ 1.64% | 6.07 | 6.20 / 6.00 C: 6.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.07 | 6.20 / 6.00GREENDELMF | -0.82 | 9.72 | Vol. 277000 D: 5.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.41 | 5.50 / 5.40 C: 5.50 ⇑ 1.85% | 5.42 | 5.50 / 5.40POPULAR1MF | 0.77 | 11.38 | Vol. 540338 D: 6.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.20 | 6.30 / 5.50 C: 6.20 ⇓ 1.59% | 6.18 | 6.20 / 6.10IFILISLMF1 | 0.00 | 10.45 | Vol. 978500 D: 5.80 ⇓ 1.69% | 5.87 | 6.00 / 5.80 C: 5.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.85 | 5.90 / 5.80PHPMF1 | 0.63 | 10.92 | Vol. 684500 D: 5.60 ⇓ 1.75% | 5.71 | 5.90 / 5.60 C: 5.70 ⇓ 1.72% | 5.76 | 5.80 / 5.70AIBL1STIMF | -0.07 | 9.25 | Vol. 16000 D: 6.90 ⇓ 1.43% | 6.96 | 7.10 / 6.90 C: 7.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.00 | 7.00 / 7.00MBL1STMF | -0.16 | 9.08 | Vol. 143000 D: 6.20 ⇓ 1.59% | 6.25 | 6.60 / 6.20 C: 6.40 ⇓ 3.03% | 6.40 | 6.40 / 6.40SEBL1STMF | 0.94 | 11.85 | Vol. 254900 D: 8.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 8.01 | 8.10 / 7.30 C: 7.90 ⇓ 1.25% | 7.98 | 8.00 / 7.90EBLNRBMF | 1.07 | 10.88 | Vol. 500 D: 7.40 ⇑ 1.37% | 7.40 | 7.40 / 7.40RELIANCE1 | 0.95 | 10.33 | Vol. 200650 D: 8.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 8.79 | 8.90 / 8.20LRGLOBMF1 | 0.45 | 10.78 | Vol. 281500 D: 6.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.76 | 7.00 / 6.50ABB1STMF | 0.92 | 10.63 | Vol. 326500 D: 7.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 7.24 | 7.30 / 7.20NLI1STMF | 1.17 | 12.22 | Vol. 702600 D: 9.00 ⇓ 1.10% | 9.05 | 9.20 / 8.30 C: 8.90 ⇓ 3.26% | 8.95 | 9.10 / 8.90NCCBLMF1 | 1.16 | 10.48 | Vol. 35000 D: 8.30 ⇓ 3.49% | 8.40 | 8.80 / 8.30ICBSONALI1 | 0.00 | 10.39 | Vol. 445000 D: 8.00 ⇓ 1.23% | 8.04 | 8.20 / 7.90 C: 8.20 ⇓ 1.20% | 8.04 | 8.30 / 8.00

ENGINEERINGAFTABAUTO | 4.03 | 56.91 | Vol. 381767 D: 102.8 ⇑ 2.70% | 102.32 | 103.9 / 95.00 C: 104.0 ⇑ 3.48% | 102.93 | 105.2 / 101.0

AZIZPIPES | 0.39 | -42.04 | Vol. 16150 D: 17.40 ⇓ 1.14% | 17.53 | 17.90 / 17.30 C: 18.10 ⇓ 3.72% | 18.04 | 18.40 / 18.00OLYMPIC | 5.23 | 14.73 | Vol. 350679 D: 157.1 ⇓ 0.38% | 157.45 | 163.8 / 145.0 C: 156.8 ⇑ 0.51% | 157.15 | 158.2 / 156.0BDLAMPS | -5.31 | 37.07 | Vol. 16700 D: 129.6 ⇑ 1.17% | 128.97 | 130.0 / 125.6 C: 127.5 ⇓ 0.39% | 128.27 | 130.0 / 125.5ECABLES | 2.04 | 18.87 | Vol. 13710 D: 80.50 ⇑ 0.25% | 80.22 | 80.90 / 78.00MONNOSTAF | 5.31 | 44.78 | Vol. 1550 D: 317.9 ⇓ 1.97% | 319.35 | 338.0 / 307.5SINGERBD | 9.99 | 45.74 | Vol. 74300 D: 192.9 ⇓ 0.72% | 193.41 | 198.0 / 185.0 C: 192.6 ⇓ 0.52% | 192.85 | 194.8 / 192.0ATLASBANG | 9.14 | 222.05 | Vol. 29605 D: 167.0 ⇓ 2.11% | 167.84 | 171.0 / 154.0BDAUTOCA | -0.43 | 5.68 | Vol. 27700 D: 28.90 ⇓ 2.36% | 28.92 | 29.40 / 28.50QSMDRYCELL | 1.06 | 52.31 | Vol. 279254 D: 36.00 ⇓ 1.10% | 36.16 | 38.00 / 33.00 C: 35.80 ⇓ 2.98% | 36.43 | 37.00 / 35.60RENWICKJA | 5.77 | -31.13 | Vol. 10450 D: 143.0 ⇓ 2.19% | 144.59 | 148.8 / 142.2NTLTUBES | 0.67 | 311.00 | Vol. 36904 D: 71.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 72.01 | 73.00 / 69.20BDTHAI | 0.43 | 39.35 | Vol. 271163 D: 27.20 ⇓ 1.45% | 27.50 | 28.70 / 25.00 C: 27.30 ⇓ 1.80% | 27.76 | 28.50 / 27.30ANWARGALV | 0.52 | 8.10 | Vol. 93500 D: 23.90 ⇓ 2.05% | 24.17 | 24.60 / 23.50 C: 24.00 ⇓ 1.23% | 24.15 | 24.50 / 24.00KAY&QUE | -3.89 | 6.03 | Vol. 9500 D: 15.40 ⇑ 0.65% | 15.47 | 15.50 / 15.40RANFOUNDRY | 2.84 | 18.62 | Vol. 26000 D: 82.40 ⇓ 0.12% | 82.50 | 84.10 / 82.10SALAMCRST | 3.31 | 20.00 | Vol. 535800 D: 44.90 ⇓ 2.60% | 45.32 | 46.90 / 44.60 C: 44.80 ⇓ 3.03% | 45.44 | 46.50 / 44.60GOLDENSON | 3.70 | 28.70 | Vol. 1039125 D: 51.70 ⇓ 0.58% | 51.84 | 52.50 / 47.00 C: 51.10 ⇓ 2.29% | 52.06 | 53.40 / 50.80BSRMSTEEL | 3.06 | 19.53 | Vol. 411725 D: 72.00 ⇓ 0.69% | 72.13 | 73.30 / 65.30 C: 72.20 ⇓ 1.37% | 72.28 | 73.60 / 71.70NAVANACNG | 4.09 | 27.04 | Vol. 163466 D: 68.20 ⇑ 0.44% | 67.91 | 68.80 / 62.00 C: 67.90 ⇑ 1.04% | 67.70 | 68.80 / 67.00DESHBANDHU | 0.26 | 10.67 | Vol. 448728 D: 18.30 ⇓ 2.14% | 18.49 | 19.00 / 17.00 C: 18.40 ⇓ 2.13% | 18.49 | 19.00 / 18.20GPHISPAT | 2.11 | 15.27 | Vol. 986620 D: 58.00 ⇓ 1.53% | 59.14 | 60.60 / 53.10 C: 57.90 ⇓ 3.18% | 59.21 | 60.00 / 57.10BENGALWTL | 3.85 | 24.30 | Vol. 2414800 D: 60.00 ⇓ 5.36% | 61.82 | 64.80 / 59.50 C: 59.80 ⇓ 5.68% | 61.64 | 65.90 / 58.00BDBUILDING | 1.33 | 12.70 | Vol. 2098000 D: 68.90 ⇓ 5.75% | 70.80 | 75.00 / 66.50 C: 68.80 ⇓ 5.88% | 71.08 | 76.70 / 67.10NPOLYMAR | 2.38 | 32.89 | Vol. 259800 D: 54.70 ⇑ 1.67% | 54.77 | 56.00 / 53.40 C: 52.60 ⇓ 5.73% | 53.68 | 54.90 / 52.10

FOOD & ALLIEDAPEXFOODS | 2.54 | 90.81 | Vol. 52800 D: 89.00 ⇑ 2.18% | 87.67 | 89.90 / 87.00 C: 87.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 87.10 | 87.10 / 87.10BANGAS | 7.20 | 50.27 | Vol. 75502 D: 445.1 ⇑ 0.43% | 442.37 | 459.9 / 415.0 C: 441.2 ⇓ 0.38% | 441.21 | 455.0 / 427.2BATBC | 65.69 | 117.22 | Vol. 3800 D: 1661 ⇑ 0.08% | 1661 | 1666 / 1658GEMINISEA | -15.39 | -5.70 | Vol. 400 D: 154.8 ⇑ 1.71% | 155.00 | 156.5 / 150.0NTC | 29.88 | 110.05 | Vol. 600 D: 815.0 ⇑ 0.42% | 815.00 | 819.0 / 810.0AMCL(PRAN) | 6.85 | 57.14 | Vol. 30900 D: 183.6 ⇓ 0.05% | 184.44 | 188.8 / 183.2 C: 183.0 ⇑ 0.38% | 183.71 | 187.9 / 183.0SHYAMPSUG | -45.77 | -396.49 | Vol. 100 D: 6.60 ⇓ 5.71% | 6.60 | 6.60 / 6.60RAHIMAFOOD | 0.52 | 4.45 | Vol. 1182000 D: 46.20 ⇑ 9.74% | 44.69 | 46.30 / 42.70 C: 46.50 ⇑ 9.93% | 45.01 | 46.50 / 42.80

FUWANGFOOD | 0.94 | 12.28 | Vol. 772984 D: 24.00 ⇓ 1.23% | 23.99 | 24.60 / 23.00 C: 24.00 ⇓ 0.83% | 24.07 | 26.00 / 23.50MEGHNAPET | -0.50 | -1.52 | Vol. 18000 D: 6.60 ⇑ 1.54% | 6.60 | 6.60 / 6.60MEGCONMILK | -7.48 | -23.70 | Vol. 19500 D: 7.00 ⇑ 1.45% | 7.08 | 7.20 / 7.00BEACHHATCH | 1.01 | 12.48 | Vol. 654654 D: 21.40 ⇓ 2.73% | 21.73 | 22.50 / 20.00 C: 21.50 ⇓ 2.71% | 21.75 | 22.30 / 21.20FINEFOODS | 0.05 | 10.63 | Vol. 286500 D: 18.20 ⇑ 1.68% | 18.19 | 18.60 / 17.70 C: 18.20 ⇑ 1.11% | 18.25 | 18.60 / 17.70RDFOOD | 0.91 | 16.84 | Vol. 978806 D: 24.10 ⇓ 0.82% | 24.26 | 24.80 / 22.00 C: 24.10 ⇓ 2.03% | 24.32 | 24.90 / 24.00GHAIL | 2.31 | 24.36 | Vol. 1162980 D: 45.70 ⇓ 2.77% | 46.16 | 47.20 / 42.50 C: 45.40 ⇓ 2.58% | 46.04 | 47.60 / 42.00

FUEL & POWERLINDEBD | 31.71 | 144.00 | Vol. 20150 D: 625.5 ⇑ 0.21% | 626.90 | 628.0 / 620.3PADMAOIL | 27.62 | 79.74 | Vol. 137407 D: 313.0 ⇑ 0.19% | 312.43 | 317.6 / 300.0 C: 313.8 ⇑ 0.74% | 312.94 | 317.9 / 310.0EASTRNLUB | 5.33 | 71.01 | Vol. 850 D: 311.7 ⇓ 3.50% | 311.76 | 320.0 / 310.0BDWELDING | 0.33 | 16.82 | Vol. 512452 D: 22.20 ⇓ 3.06% | 22.51 | 23.30 / 21.00 C: 22.30 ⇓ 2.62% | 22.71 | 23.30 / 22.20SUMITPOWER | 3.17 | 19.26 | Vol. 1404046 D: 40.50 ⇓ 2.41% | 41.00 | 42.30 / 37.50 C: 40.70 ⇓ 1.69% | 40.95 | 42.00 / 40.40DESCO | 2.34 | 31.27 | Vol. 130631 D: 59.80 ⇓ 0.33% | 59.88 | 60.80 / 56.00 C: 60.20 ⇑ 0.84% | 60.47 | 61.00 / 59.90POWERGRID | 2.19 | 63.69 | Vol. 76005 D: 56.10 ⇑ 2.00% | 55.36 | 56.70 / 54.50 C: 56.00 ⇑ 1.45% | 55.63 | 56.00 / 55.00JAMUNAOIL | 21.81 | 72.05 | Vol. 412837 D: 244.7 ⇑ 0.58% | 244.33 | 246.5 / 225.0 C: 243.7 ⇓ 0.04% | 243.73 | 249.5 / 242.5MPETROLEUM | 25.61 | 71.11 | Vol. 760387 D: 282.3 ⇑ 1.62% | 280.96 | 284.0 / 254.0 C: 282.0 ⇑ 1.26% | 281.27 | 285.0 / 277.5TITASGAS | 9.20 | 46.26 | Vol. 384532 D: 74.50 ⇑ 0.54% | 74.27 | 75.00 / 67.00 C: 74.00 ⇑ 0.54% | 73.90 | 74.20 / 73.10KPCL | 4.73 | 15.86 | Vol. 481590 D: 51.90 ⇑ 0.39% | 52.42 | 54.00 / 48.00 C: 51.60 ⇓ 1.15% | 52.03 | 53.20 / 50.00BEDL | 1.48 | 19.43 | Vol. 1858495 D: 33.50 ⇓ 1.18% | 33.73 | 35.50 / 30.60 C: 34.00 ⇓ 1.73% | 33.78 | 34.90 / 33.20MJLBD | 2.73 | 30.24 | Vol. 109796 D: 73.30 ⇓ 0.95% | 73.23 | 74.20 / 68.00 C: 73.10 ⇓ 0.27% | 72.75 | 73.50 / 72.20GBBPOWER | 1.86 | 22.63 | Vol. 1245937 D: 30.10 ⇓ 2.59% | 30.31 | 31.40 / 27.90 C: 30.20 ⇓ 2.58% | 30.46 | 31.60 / 30.00SPPCL | 3.81 | 23.34 | Vol. 1551250 D: 63.90 ⇓ 1.84% | 65.00 | 66.90 / 60.00 C: 64.30 ⇓ 1.38% | 65.27 | 67.50 / 63.70

JUTEJUTESPINN | -48.14 | -39.89 | Vol. 9200 D: 75.30 ⇓ 4.20% | 75.22 | 78.70 / 73.20NORTHERN | -9.98 | -18.22 | Vol. 800 D: 31.90 ⇑ 9.62% | 31.90 | 31.90 / 31.90SONALIANSH | 5.54 | 218.80 | Vol. 8400 D: 133.1 ⇓ 0.15% | 133.45 | 134.8 / 132.4

TEXTILEAL-HAJTEX | 2.22 | 16.53 | Vol. 72200 D: 73.70 ⇓ 1.73% | 74.22 | 77.50 / 73.20RAHIMTEXT | 4.65 | 56.68 | Vol. 1050 D: 232.9 ⇓ 1.90% | 233.33 | 236.0 / 231.5SAIHAMTEX | 2.75 | 29.50 | Vol. 659200 D: 29.60 ⇑ 1.37% | 29.73 | 30.20 / 29.00 C: 29.80 ⇑ 1.02% | 29.84 | 30.20 / 29.00MODERNDYE | 0.91 | 10.37 | Vol. 2050 D: 94.50 ⇓ 6.53% | 94.63 | 99.90 / 91.50DSHGARME | 0.88 | 12.12 | Vol. 29600 D: 64.00 ⇑ 0.31% | 64.59 | 65.60 / 63.40DULAMIACOT | -1.90 | -29.70 | Vol. 6400 D: 7.50 ⇓ 1.32% | 7.50 | 7.70 / 7.40

6 DHAKA TRIBUNE Share THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE Share6

DSE Broad Index: 4268.66 ⇓ 0.21%, Turnover: 5803.01 M.Tk ⇓ 20.09%, PE: 13.12 Turnover 6,419.07 MTk. ⇓ 20.44% 27 November 2013 MarketCap. 2,061.36 BTk. ⇑ 0.09% CSE All Share Index: 13291 ⇓ 0.16%, Turnover: 616.06 M Tk. ⇓ 23.57%, PE: 12.93

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Tk.% of TTL Avg. P

Delta Life Insu. -A 2389850 663.00 10.33 277.42

R. N. Spinning-A 8539343 322.29 5.02 37.74

Paramount Textile Ltd.-N 4400750 239.95 3.74 54.53

Envoy Textiles Ltd-N 3627560 222.26 3.46 61.27 Generation Next Fashions-A 6617140 214.92 3.35 32.48

DSE Gainer C % A % CP

Rahima Food -A 9.74 4.39 46.20

Northern Jute-Z 9.62 9.62 31.90

Savar Refractories-Z 9.04 9.04 57.90

Maksons Spinning-A 6.63 3.22 19.30

Argon Denims Limited-A 6.53 3.84 73.40

DSE Loser C % A % CP

Libra Infusions-A -8.74 -8.71 373.00

Delta Life Insu.-A -8.73 -8.46 276.10

Modern Dyeing-B -6.53 -10.77 94.50

BD Building Systems -N -5.75 -6.88 68.90

Shampur Sugar-Z -5.71 -5.71 6.60

CompanyCode | EPS | BV | Volume Traded (Share)DSE/CSE: ClosePrice ⇓/⇑ Chn % | Avg.Price | Hi / Lo

ShareDHAKA TRIBUNE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013 7ShareDHAKA TRIBUNE 7

November 27, 2013 Sectotal Index: BANK: 37,250.72 ⇓ 0.89% NBFI: 20,252.72 ⇓ 0.45% INVS: 4,830.70 ⇓ 0.46% ENGG: 6,441.19 ⇓ 0.52% FOOD: 9,820.03 ⇓ 0.26% F&P: 10,532.83 ⇑ 0.09% TEXT: 3,575.34 ⇑ 1.08% PHAR: 18,390.73 ⇑ 0.44% PAPR: 1,029.79 ⇓ 3.53% SERV: 3,111.98 ⇓ 0.71% LEAT: 5,188.95 ⇓ 0.88% CERA: 537.28 ⇓ 1.76% CMNT: 4,278.37 ⇓ 0.13% INFO: 7,570.38 ⇓ 0.44% GINS: 9,321.61 ⇓ 0.05% LINS: 122,324.93 ⇓ 3.65% TELC: 1,352.70 ⇑ 1.99% MISC: 6,627.82 ⇓ 1.59%

TALLUSPIN | 1.75 | 16.17 | Vol. 1809850 D: 36.80 ⇓ 1.60% | 37.11 | 39.00 / 36.60 C: 36.80 ⇓ 1.87% | 37.09 | 38.50 / 36.70APEXSPINN | 2.01 | 49.32 | Vol. 4800 D: 68.80 ⇓ 2.96% | 68.75 | 69.30 / 68.50MITHUNKNIT | 2.87 | 20.53 | Vol. 98240 D: 73.10 ⇓ 0.68% | 73.43 | 74.70 / 72.80 C: 73.40 ⇓ 1.48% | 73.80 | 74.50 / 73.10DELTASPINN | 3.06 | 26.84 | Vol. 371200 D: 30.20 ⇓ 0.98% | 30.41 | 31.30 / 30.00 C: 30.60 ⇓ 1.61% | 30.79 | 31.40 / 30.50SONARGAON | 0.27 | 34.50 | Vol. 222215 D: 18.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 18.16 | 18.70 / 17.00 C: 18.50 ⇑ 0.00% | 18.43 | 18.80 / 18.00PRIMETEX | 1.21 | 59.34 | Vol. 199000 D: 25.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 26.03 | 26.50 / 25.50 C: 25.80 ⇑ 0.78% | 26.08 | 27.00 / 25.60ALLTEX | -1.26 | 8.10 | Vol. 383500 D: 7.30 ⇑ 1.39% | 7.33 | 7.50 / 7.20 C: 7.30 ⇑ 1.39% | 7.32 | 7.40 / 7.20ANLIMAYARN | 1.36 | 11.99 | Vol. 75770 D: 26.20 ⇓ 1.87% | 26.35 | 27.10 / 24.30 C: 26.30 ⇓ 2.59% | 26.35 | 26.40 / 26.30HRTEX | 2.08 | 14.92 | Vol. 644433 D: 40.50 ⇑ 1.76% | 40.82 | 42.50 / 36.00 C: 41.40 ⇑ 3.24% | 40.78 | 43.40 / 40.00CMCKAMAL | 1.37 | 19.31 | Vol. 2581125 D: 34.80 ⇑ 1.16% | 35.00 | 36.00 / 31.50SAFKOSPINN | 0.95 | 21.78 | Vol. 428360 D: 26.40 ⇓ 0.75% | 26.93 | 27.70 / 24.70 C: 26.50 ⇓ 0.38% | 26.86 | 27.40 / 26.20SQUARETEXT | 4.32 | 31.82 | Vol. 60354 D: 92.60 ⇑ 0.33% | 92.65 | 93.00 / 90.00 C: 91.90 ⇓ 0.33% | 91.91 | 92.00 / 91.90METROSPIN | 0.56 | 17.71 | Vol. 1680580 D: 22.10 ⇑ 3.27% | 21.95 | 22.70 / 20.00 C: 22.20 ⇑ 3.74% | 22.06 | 22.70 / 21.00MAKSONSPIN | 0.16 | 20.55 | Vol. 8471783 D: 19.30 ⇑ 6.63% | 18.92 | 19.60 / 16.50 C: 19.50 ⇑ 7.73% | 18.96 | 19.80 / 18.00DACCADYE | 1.02 | 28.44 | Vol. 1305754 D: 28.20 ⇓ 1.74% | 28.30 | 29.00 / 26.00 C: 28.30 ⇓ 1.39% | 28.34 | 28.90 / 28.10RNSPIN | 2.80 | 16.58 | Vol. 8539343 D: 37.80 ⇑ 3.00% | 37.72 | 38.50 / 33.50 C: 37.90 ⇑ 2.71% | 37.87 | 38.60 / 36.70BXSYNTH | 0.93 | 25.42 | Vol. 737481 D: 17.60 ⇓ 1.68% | 17.88 | 18.50 / 17.00 C: 17.70 ⇓ 1.12% | 17.85 | 18.40 / 17.50MALEKSPIN | 2.81 | 43.48 | Vol. 2482450 D: 30.00 ⇓ 0.66% | 30.19 | 30.90 / 27.20 C: 29.90 ⇓ 1.32% | 30.07 | 30.60 / 29.70ZAHINTEX | 1.20 | 31.07 | Vol. 337050 D: 27.70 ⇓ 0.36% | 27.83 | 28.20 / 26.00 C: 27.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 27.80 | 28.10 / 27.50SAIHAMCOT | 1.92 | 23.62 | Vol. 815250 D: 25.60 ⇑ 1.19% | 25.63 | 25.90 / 25.20 C: 25.70 ⇑ 0.39% | 25.69 | 26.00 / 25.30GENNEXT | 1.68 | 15.15 | Vol. 6617140 D: 31.90 ⇓ 4.20% | 32.48 | 34.00 / 30.00 C: 32.00 ⇓ 3.32% | 32.51 | 33.80 / 31.70ENVOYTEX | 3.19 | 39.00 | Vol. 3627560 D: 61.50 ⇓ 0.32% | 61.27 | 62.30 / 55.60 C: 61.10 ⇓ 0.81% | 61.18 | 62.40 / 60.20ARGONDENIM | 1.89 | 38.86 | Vol. 1659600 D: 73.40 ⇑ 6.53% | 72.53 | 74.80 / 65.00 C: 73.20 ⇑ 7.02% | 72.63 | 73.90 / 68.00FAMILYTEX | 3.72 | 14.68 | Vol. 450500 D: 53.30 ⇑ 0.38% | 53.29 | 54.20 / 53.00 C: 53.00 ⇑ 0.57% | 52.97 | 53.50 / 52.50PTL | 2.25 | 21.72 | Vol. 4400750 D: 54.80 ⇑ 2.05% | 54.50 | 55.90 / 52.50 C: 54.90 ⇑ 2.04% | 54.64 | 56.10 / 52.50

PHARMACEUTICAL & CHEMICALAMBEEPHA | 3.94 | 26.15 | Vol. 12701 D: 267.6 ⇓ 3.18% | 270.48 | 276.0 / 266.0 C: 265.6 ⇓ 4.25% | 268.97 | 280.0 / 265.1BXPHARMA | 3.77 | 52.55 | Vol. 237928 D: 48.90 ⇓ 0.20% | 48.90 | 50.00 / 44.10 C: 48.80 ⇓ 0.61% | 48.87 | 49.20 / 48.50GLAXOSMITH | 20.25 | 123.32 | Vol. 500 D: 961.0 ⇓ 0.58% | 962.00 | 965.0 / 953.6ACI | -5.82 | 126.42 | Vol. 8078 D: 174.8 ⇑ 0.29% | 173.57 | 180.0 / 157.0 C: 172.2 ⇓ 0.92% | 172.30 | 173.0 / 172.0RENATA | 33.57 | 138.83 | Vol. 11050 D: 729.5 ⇑ 0.19% | 726.24 | 730.2 / 723.0

RECKITTBEN | 27.16 | 78.89 | Vol. 5300 D: 900.9 ⇑ 0.55% | 900.94 | 950.0 / 850.0PHARMAID | 1.39 | 26.19 | Vol. 20350 D: 162.0 ⇓ 0.49% | 163.14 | 166.9 / 161.5IBNSINA | 3.44 | 34.02 | Vol. 57220 D: 102.4 ⇓ 0.10% | 102.12 | 103.4 / 100.0 C: 101.5 ⇓ 0.49% | 102.09 | 104.0 / 101.3LIBRAINFU | 4.21 | 1567.59 | Vol. 200 D: 373.0 ⇓ 8.74% | 373.00 | 373.0 / 373.0ORIONINFU | 1.27 | 7.00 | Vol. 160200 D: 42.60 ⇓ 3.40% | 43.49 | 44.80 / 42.20 C: 42.70 ⇓ 3.39% | 43.43 | 44.30 / 42.10SQURPHARMA | 6.93 | 37.18 | Vol. 526192 D: 194.2 ⇑ 1.84% | 192.64 | 205.7 / 180.0 C: 193.4 ⇑ 1.68% | 192.17 | 195.0 / 189.6IMAMBUTTON | -1.51 | 4.16 | Vol. 11000 D: 7.60 ⇑ 1.33% | 7.68 | 7.70 / 7.60 C: 7.30 ⇓ 6.41% | 7.30 | 7.30 / 7.30KEYACOSMET | 1.55 | 21.54 | Vol. 1772237 D: 28.10 ⇓ 1.75% | 28.40 | 31.40 / 25.80 C: 28.10 ⇓ 2.09% | 28.40 | 29.30 / 28.00BERGERPBL | 32.46 | 100.20 | Vol. 1050 D: 838.4 ⇓ 5.28% | 838.00 | 846.0 / 835.0 C: 820.0 ⇓ 1.20% | 820.00 | 820.0 / 820.0ACIFORMULA | 3.33 | 38.08 | Vol. 11900 D: 74.90 ⇑ 0.27% | 75.00 | 77.00 / 74.30 C: 75.00 ⇓ 1.70% | 75.04 | 75.10 / 75.00MARICO | 27.53 | 62.47 | Vol. 13800 D: 757.7 ⇑ 0.29% | 756.81 | 760.0 / 755.5BEACONPHAR | 0.04 | 12.01 | Vol. 1262875 D: 13.70 ⇑ 1.48% | 13.91 | 14.30 / 12.70 C: 13.60 ⇓ 0.73% | 13.81 | 14.10 / 13.40ACTIVEFINE | 3.23 | 13.89 | Vol. 502537 D: 84.50 ⇓ 1.29% | 84.96 | 87.00 / 83.00 C: 84.80 ⇓ 1.40% | 85.12 | 86.00 / 84.30SALVOCHEM | 0.68 | 10.57 | Vol. 1178263 D: 23.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 23.36 | 24.00 / 21.00 C: 23.30 ⇓ 0.43% | 23.33 | 24.00 / 22.80GHCL | 2.14 | 57.31 | Vol. 1023750 D: 57.90 ⇓ 4.30% | 59.03 | 61.50 / 57.50 C: 58.10 ⇓ 4.44% | 59.27 | 61.50 / 57.80ORIONPHARM | 5.02 | 68.68 | Vol. 2476040 D: 65.10 ⇓ 0.46% | 65.63 | 67.70 / 59.00 C: 65.00 ⇓ 0.31% | 65.56 | 67.70 / 64.20JMISMDL | 1.12 | 12.83 | Vol. 129500 D: 184.5 ⇓ 1.81% | 187.12 | 192.5 / 183.0 C: 186.5 ⇓ 1.22% | 189.10 | 191.0 / 186.0CENTRALPHL | 1.62 | 12.24 | Vol. 4453600 D: 43.70 ⇑ 5.30% | 42.23 | 45.50 / 37.50 C: 43.90 ⇑ 5.28% | 42.42 | 45.80 / 39.60

PAPER & PACKAGINGHAKKANIPUL | 0.51 | 31.01 | Vol. 25500 D: 27.20 ⇓ 1.09% | 27.21 | 27.40 / 27.00 C: 27.50 ⇓ 9.24% | 27.49 | 27.60 / 27.40

SERVICESAMORITA | 2.49 | 57.42 | Vol. 94000 D: 91.50 ⇓ 4.69% | 92.86 | 95.20 / 91.10 C: 91.50 ⇓ 3.17% | 92.79 | 94.00 / 91.00SAPORTL | 1.23 | 38.39 | Vol. 711217 D: 30.80 ⇓ 3.14% | 31.39 | 32.70 / 29.50 C: 31.00 ⇓ 2.21% | 31.52 | 32.20 / 30.70EHL | 2.81 | 18.44 | Vol. 461596 D: 52.70 ⇓ 2.59% | 53.34 | 55.00 / 52.40 C: 53.00 ⇓ 2.75% | 53.62 | 55.40 / 52.80

LEATHERAPEXTANRY | 6.57 | 69.38 | Vol. 80500 D: 120.6 ⇓ 0.25% | 120.68 | 122.0 / 119.0 C: 120.0 ⇑ 0.84% | 118.07 | 120.0 / 117.0

BATASHOE | 49.12 | 135.53 | Vol. 20200 D: 726.1 ⇑ 1.04% | 724.40 | 730.8 / 719.0 C: 701.0 ⇓ 2.64% | 710.50 | 720.0 / 701.0APEXADELFT | 23.01 | 203.26 | Vol. 23000 D: 376.8 ⇑ 0.69% | 376.17 | 379.5 / 372.0SAMATALETH | 0.22 | 12.93 | Vol. 2500 D: 14.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.00 | 14.00 / 14.00 C: 13.80 ⇑ 5.34% | 13.80 | 13.80 / 13.80LEGACYFOOT | 0.63 | 17.19 | Vol. 414500 D: 34.80 ⇑ 4.82% | 34.24 | 35.30 / 33.10 C: 34.80 ⇑ 3.88% | 34.60 | 35.30 / 33.10

CERAMICMONNOCERA | 0.35 | 95.30 | Vol. 38866 D: 33.80 ⇓ 3.15% | 34.17 | 36.00 / 31.50 C: 32.70 ⇓ 6.57% | 33.13 | 33.80 / 32.60STANCERAM | 1.12 | 15.49 | Vol. 6000 D: 36.40 ⇓ 4.46% | 36.50 | 39.00 / 36.20FUWANGCER | 0.65 | 12.70 | Vol. 1408609 D: 20.80 ⇓ 2.80% | 20.80 | 21.70 / 20.00 C: 20.90 ⇓ 2.79% | 20.78 | 22.00 / 20.20SPCERAMICS | 0.62 | 30.92 | Vol. 817583 D: 19.00 ⇓ 2.56% | 19.11 | 19.90 / 18.00 C: 19.00 ⇓ 4.04% | 19.20 | 20.10 / 17.90RAKCERAMIC | 1.98 | 16.76 | Vol. 143809 D: 53.10 ⇓ 1.12% | 53.38 | 54.00 / 48.50 C: 53.10 ⇓ 0.38% | 53.40 | 54.40 / 53.00

CEMENTHEIDELBCEM | 22.85 | 111.50 | Vol. 39400 D: 384.5 ⇑ 1.10% | 383.45 | 388.9 / 375.0 C: 382.0 ⇑ 1.35% | 382.56 | 384.7 / 370.0CONFIDCEM | 6.23 | 90.76 | Vol. 331341 D: 122.0 ⇓ 0.81% | 122.41 | 128.0 / 121.8 C: 122.2 ⇓ 1.29% | 122.47 | 125.0 / 122.1MEGHNACEM | 6.28 | 33.81 | Vol. 47100 D: 124.0 ⇑ 0.00% | 124.02 | 125.1 / 122.3 C: 125.0 ⇑ 0.81% | 123.98 | 125.5 / 123.1ARAMITCEM | 3.03 | 14.65 | Vol. 90000 D: 70.40 ⇓ 0.98% | 70.59 | 71.60 / 70.00 C: 70.90 ⇓ 1.53% | 70.78 | 71.00 / 70.50LAFSURCEML | 1.60 | 7.22 | Vol. 394000 D: 32.40 ⇓ 0.61% | 32.51 | 33.00 / 32.30 C: 32.40 ⇓ 0.31% | 32.41 | 32.60 / 32.30MICEMENT | 4.48 | 37.67 | Vol. 194346 D: 83.50 ⇓ 0.83% | 83.83 | 86.00 / 78.00 C: 83.50 ⇓ 1.18% | 83.69 | 85.00 / 78.20PREMIERCEM | 5.00 | 32.60 | Vol. 138000 D: 99.10 ⇓ 0.90% | 99.71 | 102.9 / 98.50 C: 99.40 ⇓ 1.19% | 99.95 | 99.80 / 100.0

IT IINDUSTRIESISNLTD | 0.28 | 17.31 | Vol. 121457 D: 17.00 ⇓ 1.16% | 17.12 | 17.90 / 16.00 C: 17.10 ⇓ 1.16% | 17.14 | 17.40 / 17.00BDCOM | 1.40 | 14.41 | Vol. 160541 D: 25.50 ⇓ 0.78% | 25.65 | 26.00 / 24.50 C: 26.80 ⇑ 5.10% | 26.80 | 26.80 / 26.80INTECH | 0.94 | 10.08 | Vol. 163625 D: 15.80 ⇓ 0.63% | 15.88 | 16.00 / 15.00 C: 15.80 ⇓ 0.63% | 15.77 | 16.00 / 15.60AGNISYSL | 0.96 | 14.90 | Vol. 450150 D: 21.90 ⇓ 0.45% | 21.99 | 22.30 / 21.10 C: 21.70 ⇓ 1.36% | 21.81 | 22.20 / 21.60DAFODILCOM | 0.85 | 10.99 | Vol. 530540 D: 13.50 ⇓ 1.46% | 13.56 | 14.00 / 13.00 C: 13.60 ⇓ 0.73% | 13.57 | 13.70 / 13.50AAMRATECH | 1.33 | 19.91 | Vol. 1213350 D: 35.90 ⇓ 2.71% | 36.49 | 37.80 / 33.50 C: 36.00 ⇓ 2.70% | 36.61 | 38.10 / 35.80

GENERAL INSURANCEBGIC | 1.65 | 20.33 | Vol. 52108 D: 30.00 ⇓ 0.99% | 30.17 | 30.50 / 28.00 C: 30.70 ⇑ 1.32% | 30.11 | 30.70 / 30.00GREENDELT | 4.05 | 64.44 | Vol. 99099 D: 81.50 ⇑ 2.00% | 80.40 | 83.80 / 77.00 C: 82.50 ⇑ 3.25% | 81.68 | 82.60 / 80.00UNITEDINS | 2.47 | 21.04 | Vol. 1722 D: 43.20 ⇑ 0.23% | 42.90 | 43.90 / 40.00PEOPLESINS | 2.05 | 20.72 | Vol. 173850 D: 35.90 ⇑ 1.13% | 36.06 | 36.80 / 34.40 C: 35.40 ⇑ 0.85% | 35.92 | 36.00 / 35.40EASTERNINS | 2.22 | 35.88 | Vol. 7462 D: 38.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 38.27 | 38.80 / 38.10 C: 40.00 ⇑ 5.26% | 39.87 | 40.00 / 40.00JANATAINS | 0.78 | 17.07 | Vol. 176400 D: 28.20 ⇓ 1.05% | 28.26 | 28.80 / 28.00 C: 28.00 ⇓ 1.06% | 28.05 | 28.90 / 27.90PHENIXINS | 2.70 | 20.96 | Vol. 212358 D: 42.00 ⇓ 3.00% | 42.14 | 43.40 / 41.90 C: 43.70 ⇑ 0.46% | 43.71 | 44.00 / 43.00EASTLAND | 4.06 | 23.29 | Vol. 124800 D: 48.30 ⇓ 1.63% | 48.51 | 49.60 / 48.10 C: 49.70 ⇑ 0.81% | 48.98 | 50.40 / 48.00CENTRALINS | 1.54 | 19.04 | Vol. 39125 D: 29.60 ⇓ 2.31% | 29.79 | 30.30 / 27.80 C: 30.20 ⇓ 0.33% | 30.20 | 30.20 / 30.20KARNAPHULI | 1.56 | 19.42 | Vol. 51360 D: 24.30 ⇓ 0.41% | 24.49 | 24.80 / 23.00RUPALIINS | 2.76 | 23.38 | Vol. 110821 D: 33.60 ⇓ 1.18% | 33.70 | 34.30 / 32.00 C: 33.90 ⇓ 1.17% | 33.80 | 33.90 / 32.00FEDERALINS | 1.10 | 10.98 | Vol. 173198 D: 24.50 ⇓ 1.61% | 24.76 | 25.20 / 23.00 C: 24.50 ⇓ 2.39% | 24.83 | 25.30 / 24.50RELIANCINS | 3.93 | 61.52 | Vol. 8759 D: 73.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 73.00 | 77.60 / 71.00PURABIGEN | 1.05 | 18.71 | Vol. 163060 D: 23.60 ⇓ 1.67% | 23.81 | 24.20 / 22.50PRAGATIINS | 2.01 | 50.30 | Vol. 3700 D: 57.70 ⇓ 2.20% | 57.84 | 58.30 / 57.00PRIMEINSUR | 2.14 | 14.14 | Vol. 44516 D: 32.20 ⇓ 1.23% | 32.58 | 33.80 / 30.50PIONEERINS | 3.11 | 23.84 | Vol. 40000 D: 67.30 ⇓ 0.88% | 67.23 | 69.40 / 66.60MERCINS | 1.53 | 14.50 | Vol. 117848 D: 27.60 ⇓ 1.43% | 27.82 | 29.80 / 26.50 C: 28.00 ⇓ 1.41% | 28.15 | 28.30 / 27.00AGRANINS | 1.73 | 14.39 | Vol. 65659 D: 27.50 ⇓ 2.48% | 27.70 | 28.70 / 26.50GLOBALINS | 1.09 | 11.78 | Vol. 60842 D: 28.60 ⇓ 1.38% | 28.68 | 29.20 / 27.00NITOLINS | 2.59 | 15.41 | Vol. 13977 D: 34.00 ⇓ 0.29% | 34.06 | 34.30 / 32.00 C: 35.00 ⇓ 1.41% | 35.00 | 35.00 / 35.00ASIAPACINS | 1.84 | 13.76 | Vol. 67500 D: 30.60 ⇓ 0.65% | 30.60 | 31.70 / 30.20 C: 31.30 ⇑ 0.97% | 32.52 | 33.30 / 31.00SONARBAINS | 1.68 | 13.38 | Vol. 123506 D: 25.00 ⇓ 1.96% | 25.30 | 25.80 / 24.70 C: 25.00 ⇓ 6.02% | 25.01 | 25.30 / 24.40PARAMOUNT | 1.26 | 13.19 | Vol. 47754 D: 24.80 ⇑ 0.40% | 24.95 | 25.60 / 24.50 C: 24.70 ⇓ 1.20% | 24.70 | 24.70 / 24.70CITYGENINS | 1.65 | 14.26 | Vol. 74302 D: 28.20 ⇓ 1.05% | 28.40 | 29.00 / 26.00 C: 28.50 ⇓ 2.73% | 28.50 | 28.50 / 28.50CONTININS | 1.41 | 15.68 | Vol. 201000 D: 30.70 ⇓ 0.65% | 30.70 | 31.40 / 30.20 C: 30.10 ⇓ 2.59% | 30.45 | 30.50 / 30.10TAKAFULINS | 2.19 | 15.17 | Vol. 216990 D: 39.00 ⇓ 3.23% | 39.61 | 40.90 / 38.90 C: 39.40 ⇓ 2.23% | 39.38 | 39.70 / 39.00STANDARINS | 2.58 | 13.99 | Vol. 49938 D: 42.30 ⇑ 3.17% | 42.47 | 43.80 / 37.90NORTHRNINS | 1.77 | 11.15 | Vol. 58882 D: 42.30 ⇓ 0.24% | 42.71 | 43.20 / 39.00 C: 42.20 ⇓ 2.09% | 42.15 | 42.20 / 42.10REPUBLIC | 2.14 | 12.42 | Vol. 197202 D: 42.80 ⇓ 1.61% | 43.15 | 44.20 / 42.00 C: 43.00 ⇓ 1.83% | 43.02 | 43.10 / 42.90ASIAINS | 1.56 | 17.34 | Vol. 62942 D: 27.30 ⇓ 2.50% | 27.60 | 28.00 / 26.00 C: 27.50 ⇓ 1.79% | 27.32 | 27.60 / 27.40ISLAMIINS | 1.29 | 11.96 | Vol. 19604 D: 33.90 ⇓ 1.45% | 33.87 | 34.50 / 31.00PROVATIINS | 1.90 | 14.30 | Vol. 32021 D: 28.40 ⇓ 0.35% | 28.54 | 29.40 / 28.00 C: 29.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 29.00 | 29.00 / 29.00

DHAKAINS | 2.84 | 18.02 | Vol. 69500 D: 41.70 ⇓ 0.71% | 41.76 | 42.20 / 41.40 C: 42.40 ⇓ 1.17% | 42.39 | 42.50 / 42.10

LIFE INSURANCENATLIFEINS | 12.34 | 80.99 | Vol. 9573 D: 249.8 ⇓ 0.72% | 250.72 | 252.0 / 240.0 C: 251.5 ⇓ 5.09% | 251.50 | 252.0 / 251.0DELTALIFE | 38.53 | 189.40 | Vol. 2389850 D: 276.1 ⇓ 8.73% | 276.92 | 299.0 / 276.1 C: 292.0 ⇓ 8.72% | 292.35 | 319.0 / 292.0SANDHANINS | 2.39 | 28.22 | Vol. 33662 D: 71.30 ⇓ 2.06% | 72.02 | 73.70 / 70.00 C: 71.20 ⇓ 2.86% | 71.26 | 71.60 / 71.00POPULARLIF | 3.70 | 715.41 | Vol. 8668 D: 217.4 ⇑ 0.60% | 217.47 | 224.0 / 209.9FAREASTLIF | 9.21 | 60.79 | Vol. 122592 D: 98.60 ⇑ 0.10% | 98.61 | 102.0 / 95.00 C: 97.60 ⇓ 0.81% | 97.76 | 99.00 / 97.10MEGHNALIFE | 10.82 | 48.87 | Vol. 27550 D: 108.6 ⇑ 0.00% | 109.47 | 114.9 / 107.6 C: 107.3 ⇓ 1.56% | 107.81 | 110.0 / 106.0PROGRESLIF | 2.30 | 31.45 | Vol. 6000 D: 114.6 ⇑ 0.79% | 114.67 | 116.0 / 110.3PRAGATILIF | 0.60 | 30.15 | Vol. 26745 D: 158.4 ⇓ 4.64% | 159.54 | 169.9 / 149.9PRIMELIFE | 5.51 | 27.10 | Vol. 16833 D: 96.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 96.65 | 100.0 / 92.00 C: 103.9 ⇑ 0.00% | 98.93 | 103.9 / 103.9RUPALILIFE | 3.75 | 31.25 | Vol. 60000 D: 101.8 ⇓ 3.32% | 103.07 | 107.0 / 101.1PADMALIFE | 1.63 | 25.76 | Vol. 56720 D: 57.10 ⇓ 0.52% | 57.35 | 58.90 / 54.00 C: 56.90 ⇓ 1.22% | 57.10 | 58.90 / 56.80SUNLIFEINS | 0.00 | 0.00 | Vol. 322050 D: 56.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 56.15 | 57.20 / 50.60 C: 55.70 ⇓ 0.18% | 55.77 | 56.30 / 55.00

TELECOMGP | 12.96 | 26.26 | Vol. 515784 D: 205.6 ⇑ 2.80% | 204.46 | 206.5 / 198.0 C: 204.9 ⇑ 2.40% | 203.75 | 208.0 / 201.0BSCCL | 5.82 | 26.38 | Vol. 321452 D: 170.1 ⇑ 0.71% | 170.65 | 180.0 / 155.0 C: 170.1 ⇑ 0.53% | 170.35 | 172.5 / 169.0

TRAVEL & LEISUREUNITEDAIR | 1.10 | 12.87 | Vol. 5609739 D: 17.20 ⇓ 1.15% | 17.31 | 18.50 / 16.10 C: 17.20 ⇓ 1.15% | 17.30 | 17.70 / 17.10UNIQUEHRL | 4.02 | 86.29 | Vol. 911460 D: 86.10 ⇑ 2.26% | 85.86 | 86.90 / 76.00 C: 86.10 ⇑ 1.65% | 85.94 | 86.90 / 84.50

MISCELLANEOUSARAMIT | 16.07 | 99.93 | Vol. 2700 D: 339.4 ⇑ 1.31% | 339.26 | 344.0 / 332.5BSC | 1.77 | 565.82 | Vol. 59860 D: 439.0 ⇓ 0.45% | 441.65 | 451.3 / 436.3 C: 436.8 ⇓ 0.91% | 439.74 | 451.0 / 434.3GQBALLPEN | 6.55 | 250.45 | Vol. 33715 D: 142.1 ⇑ 0.21% | 142.49 | 144.6 / 135.0 C: 143.0 ⇑ 0.28% | 142.28 | 144.8 / 141.5USMANIAGL | 3.45 | 27.20 | Vol. 56550 D: 130.5 ⇓ 0.68% | 131.23 | 135.0 / 129.1 C: 128.8 ⇓ 2.42% | 128.32 | 129.0 / 128.0SAVAREFR | 0.14 | 10.57 | Vol. 100 D: 57.90 ⇑ 9.04% | 57.90 | 57.90 / 57.90BEXIMCO | 3.24 | 86.74 | Vol. 2238813 D: 35.50 ⇓ 3.27% | 36.10 | 40.00 / 33.10 C: 35.60 ⇓ 3.26% | 36.11 | 37.40 / 35.40SINOBANGLA | 1.75 | 21.01 | Vol. 208500 D: 22.30 ⇓ 1.33% | 22.50 | 23.00 / 22.10 C: 22.50 ⇓ 0.44% | 22.51 | 22.90 / 22.20MIRACLEIND | 0.09 | 14.41 | Vol. 179800 D: 15.00 ⇓ 2.60% | 15.24 | 16.00 / 15.00 C: 15.00 ⇓ 3.85% | 15.31 | 16.00 / 15.00

BONDIBBLPBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 825 D: 983.5 ⇑ 0.82% | 981.71 | 985.0 / 980.0 C: 966.5 ⇑ 0.52% | 966.50 | 966.5 / 966.5ACIZCBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 234 D: 880.0 ⇑ 0.00% | 880.00 | 880.0 / 880.0 C: 880.0 ⇑ 0.00% | 880.00 | 880.0 / 880.0

‘Every move is an opportunity’M Nooruddin Chowdhury, a Transportation & Supply Chain Management Professional & operations expert shared his insights about the increasing need for logistical expertise in tradingn Tasnuva Amin Nova

There is no debate about our world being shrunk into a glob-al village. As I type away on my laptop while humming to the Winds of Change by the Scorpi-ons playing on my iPod, I irre-

proachably concede to the “internationalisa-tion” of my lifestyle. I’m sure we all do. Even the most hardcore opponent of globalisation will appreciate the convenience that interna-tional trade has brought about in our lives.

Re� ecting back, even a decade ago, we would have to rely on our relatives and friends to bring us foreign products from their trips abroad. But nowadays a product in a local market is as distant as a product in any other country. Thanks to companies like DHL that o� er logistics solutions to customers world-wide to simplify the geographical barriers and enhance the consumer experience at a local level.

Being a developing country actively en-gaged in national and global trade, Bangla-desh needs the logistical assistance in trading to keep up with the global players. In a recent interview, M Nooruddin Chowdhury, Country Manager of DHL Global Forwarding (Bangla-desh) Limited, shared with Dhaka Tribune.

“Bangladesh’s strategically located geo-graphical location puts us at the right point. Our geographical linkage to countries like In-dia, Nepal and Bhutan even China opens up huge trading opportunities for us. There is also the possibility of developing road connectivity with Thailand which can connect us to the ti-ger economies of the ASEAN countries within Asia,” said the Country Head of the global mar-ket leader in the logistics industry.

Nooruddin especially emphasised the gov-ernment’s role in increasing mobility within neighbouring countries saying “every move is an opportunity as it brings in additional rev-enue.” Trade relations with our neighbours, thus need to be strengthened by enabling proper transportation systems in terms of road, rail, river routes as and where applica-ble.”

Citing example from the RMG sector, Nooruddin explains how logistics companies optimise time, freight and space to minimise

the cost of these companies. In addition to cost-reduction, companies such as DHL also ensure safety and security of cargo so as to assuage the risks and uncertainties associated with trading abroad. In addition to this, DHL Global Forwarding also helps companies with information about importing and exporting goods and services.

The company has recently arranged the cold chain transshipment of pharmaceuti-cal products to Europe. Elaborating on the achievement, Nooruddin pointed out that they had to overcome certain challenges per-taining to government rules and regulations. Since the pharmaceutical industry manufac-tures products which are sensitive to environ-mental conditions, additional care needs to be taken in transporting them.

Talking about the potential for increasing international trade for Bangladesh, Nooruddin

said that Bangladesh has the resources to ex-pand manufacture of shoes, furniture, handi-crafts and leather goods to a greater extent. He acknowledges the need for more investment in these sectors for them to be able to move into foreign markets. As far as logistics and supply chain requirements of trading are con-cerned, Nooruddin vouches that the logistics facilities of DHL are capable of maintaining the distribution, international supply chain and reverse logistics for these companies.

In order to comply with ethical standards, IT infrastructure and in compliance with In-ternational Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004), DHL Global Forwarding takes on additional initia-tives to train its employees to adapt to global standards as well following six sigma method-ology to improve processes and systems .

The global logistics company has also

launched a special training session titled “Business Continuity Management,” following the new ISO 22301-2012 to equip the workforce with the know-how of disaster recovery plans. In the event of any disaster, these trained per-sonnel will apply their expertise in minimising the impacts of the disaster on the company’s operations and its customer service.

“Logistics is an exciting industry to be in and the opportunities for growth are very high. As companies are concentrating more on their core functions, they are seeking for third parties for value addition and supply chain re-quirements.

“However there is a de� ciency of talent in this industry. That’s why we invest so much on training our employees. Universities need to address the lack of talent to encourage the growth of the logistics industry”, concludes Nooruddin Chowdhury. l

8 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE Business

Designation: Country Manager, DHL Global Forwarding (Bangladesh)

Education: Master’s in Commerce (Finance), University of Chittagong

Career background: Shipping, transport, logistics, supply chain

Hobbies and interests: Traveling, Future Tech, Cars, Ancient history & archeology.

Favorite Quote: A leader leads by example not by force - Sun Tzu

Favorite Book: Execution – The discipline of Getting things done, Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan

Most memorable incident: When I took my daughter on my lap for the first time!

Favorite historical figure: Mahatma Gandhi

Social Achievements: Red Crescent Society of Bangladesh has awarded in 2013 for arranging huge number of participations in Blood Donation and enthusiasm to volunteer, Ex com Member in Bangladesh FICCI

Deal failure overshadows looming WTO summitn AFP, Geneva

Negotiators have failed to � x a deal for a crunch summit next week, casting a shadow over ef-forts to revive stalled talks on slashing barriers to global commerce, the head of the WTO said Tuesday.

“The reality is that we have proved that we can’t cross the � nal yard here in Geneva. The process here is over,” World Trade Organisation chief Roberto Azevedo told reporters after a marathon session ended without a � nal accord.

Underlining that trade diplomats got achingly close before positions hardened over recent days, Azevedo threw the ball into the court of trade ministers who will meet from December 3-6 at a WTO summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.

“If we are to get this deal over the line, we will need political engagement and political will. Ministers will have to decide what kind of future they want to see both for the issues that are on the table today and for the WTO,” he added.

The Bali summit is seen as perhaps the last chance to revive the WTO’s “Doha Round” talks, launched in 2001 at a summit in Qatar, and on-o� from the outset.

US trade ambassador Michael Punke gave a bleak assessment Tuesday.

“A once-in-a-generation opportunity may have slipped our grasp,” he told fellow negoti-ators.

Mexican trade envoy Fernando de Mateo struck a di� erent tone, telling reporters: “Hope is the last thing that you lose. We’re so near that

it’s not impossible.”And in a statement, European Union

trade chief Karel De Gucht said: “As we are so close to the shared objective, we should not give up.”

The Doha Round aims to produce a wide-ranging accord to open markets and re-move trade barriers, with a key goal being to harness international commerce to develop poorer economies.

By some estimates, Azevedo noted, it could provide a $1tn boost to global commerce. l