BusinessB3 The export earnings rose to about US$2.6bn in September, over 36% higher compared to the same month last year, riding on readymade garments sector despite labor unrest over wage hike.

News3 Several business leaders of the country at a programme yesterday said readymade garment exports should notbe a victim of politics.

International9 India’s army said on Tuesday that Pakistani troops had helped a group of 30 to 40 insurgents stage the biggest incursion in Kashmir in years, linking it to a plan to push � ghters into the region as foreign forces withdraw from neighbouring Afghanistan.

INSIDE

16 pages with 8-page business tabloid, plus 8-page Treehouse children’s supplement | Price: Tk10

Ashwin 24, 1420Zilhajj 3, 1434Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 1 No 198 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

13 SportMush� q con� dent of good result

Verdict in case of ex-BNP minister Alim today n Udisa Islam

The war crimes tribunal will deliver its verdict today in the case of former BNP minister and alleged Peace Committee chairman of Joypurhat, Abdul Alim, who is charged for his involvement in the killing of at least 585 people in 15 inci-dents during the 1971 Liberation War.

The three-member International Crimes Tribunal 2, headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan, set the date yesterday, nearly two weeks after the trial process was completed on September 22. Two other members of the tribunal are Jus-tice Mojibur Rahman Miah and Justice Shahinur Islam.

This will be the second war crimes verdict involving a BNP leader and eighth since the � rst verdict on January 15 this year. The government constituted the tribunal, its prosecution and investigation agency in 2010 under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 to try the per-sons responsible for committing crimes against humanity during the liberation war.

Alim, now aged 83, was arrested on March 27, 2011 and was the � rst accused among those charged with war crimes to enjoy bail throughout the trial process that

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

TreehouseAnimal Facts: American Paddle� sh polyodon spathula

Long FormFinding the missing link

5

Yet another inferno in RMG factoryAt least nine killed amid fears death toll may rise; � re� ghters' frantic e� orts still on n Tribune Report

A � re in a readymade garment factory of Paul Mall Group in Gazipur last night killed at least 9 people as � re-� ghters feared that death toll might rise.

Until this report was being � led around 12:30am today, at least 9 bodies have been located.

Superintendent of Gazipur Police Abdul Baten told Dhaka Tribune that � re-� ghters had managed to pull out three of them – Rashed Mandal, 40, assistant general manager, Nayan, a

member of the factory’s own � re-� ght-ing unit, and Raju Ahmed, a worker of the knitting section.

Other workers, who were assisting the � re � ghters to douse the � ames, have claimed that they had identi� ed four more dead bodies of their co-work-ers – knitting technician Khalil, 25, sam-ple technician Nayeem, 26, and knitting operators Rubel, 24, and Raju, 25.

Fire-� ghters could not say for cer-tain how many more bodies were still trapped inside the factory. They said they would be able to give a de� nite

number after the � re was fully doused and searching the debris.

They said most of the bodies that were visible from the outside, were al-most bully burnt to ashes.

Witnesses and some of the workers, who sustained injuries while managing to come out of the factory, said they had seen more bodies inside the building.

Nine units of the Fire Service had been trying to douse the � ames that spread to four other buildings in the vicinity.

Humayun Kabir, one of the assistant

general managers, said the � re originat-ed from the knitting section on the � rst � oor of the two-storey factory building of the Aswad Composite Mills Limited, a sister concern of Paul Mall Group at Beraiderchala in Sreepur upazila of Gazipur, around 7pm yesterday.

Around 140-170 Workers were work-ing when the � re broke out, he said, claiming that most of them managed to leave the factory safely soon after the � ames started spreading.

Abu Zafar Ahmed, in-charge of PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Time is running out fast: Khaledan Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Urging the government to be “respon-sible” and take initiative to resolve the political crisis, BNP Chairperson Khale-da Zia yesterday said the government would have to negotiate over a poll-time government to save the country from “violence and uncertainty.”

“Time is running out fast. I hope they will come to the path of compro-mise to save the country from violence. Do not push the country towards un-certainty. I urge them to be responsible and to try to understand the people’s pulse,” she said.

The leader of the opposition said the days of Sheikh Hasina’s government were numbered.

“Good days are coming in the fu-ture,” she added.

“We will not do business if we form government, rather we will be a real business-friendly government, remov-ing the all obstacles to the advance-ment of � ourishing businesses,” she told a gathering of business people most of whom are actively involved with BNP or Jamaat politics.

The views exchange and discussion programme was organised by Bangla-desh Babsayi Parishad at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.

The event was chaired by former FBCCI president and BNP leader Abdul Awal Mintoo.

More than 20 business leaders spoke at the discussion and said they would

extend their support to the leader of the opposition if she announced any programme. They also thanked her for “keeping the ready-made garments industry out of purview of hartal.”

The BNP chief called upon business leaders to get united and take to the streets to resist one-party election.

Khaleda said the opposition’s de-mand for holding the next general elections under a non-party caretaker government had turned into a national demand.

“Let us all be vocal and protect the people’s voting rights and democracy through a united movement. Today it is our main national duty,” she said.

She said all citizens must unite to save democracy and ensure the trans-fer of power in a peaceful manner.

Issuing a warning, the BNP chief said they would resist any one-sided election.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

JS body for amending RPO to allow MPs to trade with governmentn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

A parliamentary watchdog is apparent-ly in favour of amending two sections of the Representation of the People Order 1972 as those debars candidates from contesting in general elections if they have business contract with the government or defaulted utility bills.

In a meeting at the parliament build-ing yesterday, the standing committee on law ministry discussed sections

12(1)K and 12(1)N of the RPO, that talked about business contracts and utility bill defaults respectively.

Fazle Rabbi Miah, chairman of the committee, told the Dhaka Tribune that the watchdog was yet to make � -nal recommendations on the two sec-tions and had assigned Law Minister Sha� que Ahmed to talk to Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina in this regard.

The bill was discussed yesterday and also on Sunday, but the MPs could

not � nalise their recommendations.The committee held the discussion

after receiving a letter from Awami League lawmaker Enamul Haque. The letter sought the committee’s interven-tion in dropping or amending section 12(1)K so that MPs could do business with the government.

Enamul Haque is the owner of the Ena Properties Limited which has inked a deal with the housing and PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

EXPLOSION IN CHITTAGONG MADRASA

Was Izhar allowed to � ee?n Julfi kar Ali Manik

No e� orts were seen to detain Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury even after several hours of the explosion of hand-made grenades at his Jamiatul Uloom Al-Islamia madrasa on Monday. Izhar was on the madrasa premises for seven hours after the blast at 11am.

Law enforcers in Chittagong have been looking for him since late evening after the Monday blast.

The dual attitude has sparked a de-bate as to whether the law enforcers

allowed Izhar to go into hiding or they did not have the green signal from the government high-ups for the arrest of the 70-year-old radical Islamist leader until evening.

Some top police o� cials in Chit-tagong said it had taken them several hours to be con� rmed that it was an explosion of hand grenades and other explosives.

Before the revelation, people in the madrasa had told them that the explo-sion was caused by a CPU and a UPS of a PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Mufti Izhar and his son accused n Tushar Hayat, Chittagong

Police have accused Mufti Izharul Is-lam Chowdhury, principal of Jamiatul Uloom Al-Islamia Madrasa and nayeb-e-ameer of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Is-lam, and his son Mufti Harun Izhar in two cases � led in connection with an explosion at the madrasa on Monday.

They have also included 10 other identi� ed and many unidenti� ed peo-ple in the cases � led with Khulshi po-lice station yesterday.

Meanwhile, Habib, 25, one of the PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

These plaques are not displayed at any marble shop; they were installed at a single programme in Jhenaidah where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated as many as 15 development projects ranging from college academic building to chief judicial magistrate's o� ce yesterday PMO

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Time is running out fast: Khaleda PAGE 1 COLUMN 6“I have already said it in Sylhet and I am also saying it today. One-sided election will be thwarted by forming poll centre-based agitation committees across the country. The businessmen should also raise their voices,” she said.

“One-party election will create one party rule. Only individuals and a par-ticular party get bene� ts from one par-ty rule,” she said.

Portraying a gloomy picture of the country’s economy and business, she said though the government had been shouting about many imaginary devel-opment plans in the last � ve years, the country’s economy was in a crisis and everything was heading towards un-certainty.

She also alleged that the govern-ment was destroying the country’s RMG sector and was plotting to politi-

cise business organisations.Khaleda once again mentioned that

her party would introduce a new type of politics and form a new kind of gov-ernment to meet the needs of the time.

However, she did not elaborate on this new kind of government.

“I will not elaborate our plans today. Time will say what we want to do. We want to prove it by our work not by words,” she added.

Promising that her government would give priority to merits, the op-position leader said they would ensure representation of everyone and con-sider the opinions of all sections of the society.

“We will not patronise corruption, terrorism and narrow politicisation. We will not follow dirty politics, rather we will improve the political culture,” she said. l

Mufti Izhar and his son accused PAGE 1 COLUMN 3injured in the explosion and later arrested, succumbed to his injuries at Chittagong Medical College Hospital early yesterday.

Banaj Kumar Majumder, additional commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said they had recovered another hand grenade from the place of explosion at the madrasa – locally known as Lalkhana Bazar madrasa – yesterday morning.

“We are conducting drives to arrest the other accused in the cases,” he said.

Khulshi police station OC Mainul Islam said Sub-Inspector Golam Newaj had � led a case under the explosives act, accusing 12 people, including Izhar and his son Harun, and many unidenti� ed others; and another under the acid control act, accusing Izhar and Harun in connection with the recovery of picric acid from Izhar’s residence.

According to Wikipedia, picric acid – formally called 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) – is explosive in nature like other highly nitrated compounds such as TNT, and Banaj Kumar Majumder said it was used to amplify the magnitude of explosion.

An o� cial of Chittagong Metropolitan Police said they had raided Darul Uloom Madrasa in Chandanpura area in the afternoon, following a lead on Izhar’s presence, but the Hefazat leader had not been there. “We have arrested � ve persons for interrogation,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

On a visit to the Lalkhan madrasa yesterday afternoon, none but law enforcement agency personnel were

found there as the madrasa had been closed for an inde� nite period and students had been asked to leave the dormitories by 10am.

Police yesterday produced Habibur Rahman, Mohammed Ishaque, Monir Hossain, Abdul Mannan and Tafsir Ahmed – all arrested on Monday in connection with the explosion – before the court and placed a prayer for seven days’ remand.

Metropolitan Magistrate Nur-e-Alam Bhuyan � xed Wednesday for hearing the remand prayer.

A massive explosion rocked Lalkhan Bazar Madrasa at about 11am on Monday, leaving at least � ve persons critically injured.

The police recovered three hand grenades and huge materials for making grenades from a room of a dormitory of the madrasa where the explosion had taken place.

Later, the police raided Mufti Izhar’s residence at night and seized 18 bottles of picric acid and arrested � ve persons, including four teachers of the madrasa.

The law enforcers had earlier arrested four injured – Nurun Nabi, Salman, Zubair Ahmed and Habib – when they had been receiving treatment at two private hospitals after the incident.

A security personnel on duty at the hospital said Habib had talked to them even an hour before he died.

Requesting anonymity, he said Habib had told him that the explosion took place soon after Nurun Nabi had kept his bag coming into the room.

Nabi, a diploma engineer who sustained 90% burn injury, was shifted to Dhaka for treatment late Monday. l

Verdict in case of ex BNP minister PAGE 1 COLUMN 1began on July 5 last year. He was grant-ed bail on March 31 as he was con� ned to a wheelchair and required the assis-tance of two persons to move about.

When the case was kept for verdict, the tribunal denied him bail and or-dered that he be sent to jail. He is now at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital.

Alim was indicted on June 11 last year on 17 counts of crimes against humanity, allegedly for killing several people, forcing deportation of a number of people, and for abduction, torture and arson during the War of Independence.

Speci� cally, the tribunal framed the charges on three counts of genocide and 14 counts of crimes against humanity. The prosecution had originally pressed 28 counts of charges against him. It could not produce any witnesses in charges four and � ve.

According to the formal charges, Alim had been involved in the killing of 370 Hindus in Koroi Kadipur of Joypurhat on April 26, 1971. He was also involved in the killing of 10 Hindus at Uttarhat Shahor in Harunjahat under Khetlal police station in May and killing of 26 young men in an open � eld near Joypurhat Railway Station in late June.

After announcement of the date of verdict yesterday, prosecutor Zead-Al-Malum told journalists that 15 charges out 17 in the formal charges had been

proved beyond doubt. “We expect the court will give him the maximum punishment,” he said.

On the other hand, defence counsel Tajul Islam claimed that the prosecu-tion could not prove the case and that the accused was a “victim of political harassment and envy.”

At the time of war, accused Alim was 41-42 years old. He was a leader of raza-kar, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army, and also chairman of the Peace Committee in Joypurhat. He was an in� uential leader of the Con-vention Muslim League and vice-chair-man of Bogra district council in 1971, according to the prosecution.

Born on November 1, 1930 in West Bengal of India, Alim had migrated to Joypurhat with his family in 1950. In 1958, he joined the Muslim League.

After the war, he was elected as the Joypurhat municipality chairman in 1975 and 1977. Later, Alim � rst became the textile minister and then communications minister during the regime of military strongman and BNP founder General Ziaur Rahman in 1978.

Meanwhile, the case against alleged al-Badr leaders Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan has been kept for judgement while the cases against Jamaat chief Motiur Rah-man Nizami and former Awami League leader Mobarak Ali alias Mobarak Hos-sain are nearing conclusion. l

Adilur gets bail n Nazmus Sakib

The High Court on Tuesday granted bail for six months to Odhikar Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan in a case � led against him for his alleged distortion of facts regarding the police raid on Hefazat’s May 5 rally.

An HC bench comprising of Justice Bor-hanuddin and Justice KM Kamrul Kader passed the order in response to a petition � led by the detained right activist.

Defence lawyer Mohammad Asaduz-zaman had � led for the bail petition on September 19, and said Adilur had been granted bail for six months.

Asaduzzaman added that Adilur is in Kashimpur jail at the moment and that the jail authorities will take measures af-ter receiving the court order.

Earlier on September 25, Dhaka Cyber Crime Tribunal Judge KM Shamsul Alam denied in issuing him with bail in con-

nection with the same case.Meanwhile, Gulshan police failed to

produce a report on the arrest of Odhikar Director AKM Nasiruddin Elan as directed.

On September 11, the tribunal took into cognisance the charges against the accused and ordered the issue of an ar-rest warrant against another accused, Nasiruddin Elan, who is absconding.

That day, the tribunal directed the o� cer-in-charge of the Gulshan police station to execute the arrest warrant and submit a report before the tribunal by September 19. The tribunal also asked the prison authority to produce Adilur before the tribunal for the September 19 hearing.

The case document was transferred from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court to the Dhaka Cyber Crime Tribunal for trial on September 5 after the DB sub-mitted speci� c charges to the Metropolitan Magistrate Court against Adilur and Elan. l

‘Khaleda suggests Ashraf-Fakhrul dialogue’n Tribune Desk

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has sug-gested secretary-level talks between main opposition BNP and ruling Awa-mi League to resolve the long-drawn political crisis in the country, says a UNB report that quoted a Chinese em-bassy media release.

“We’re ready to hold talks with the government on the election through a non-party neutral government. BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam could represent the two sides,” Khaleda was quoted as saying in a meeting with Chinese ambassador in Dhaka at her Gulshan o� ce Monday night.

Khaleda said BNP did not believe in violence, and they have always been carrying out programmes in peaceful ways.

In response, Chinese envoy Li Jun said he has noticed that recently BNP has been conducting mass contact programmes in peaceful ways. “I also see that BNP will have larger political movements after October 25. I believe these future programmes will also be peaceful.”

The Chinese envoy expressed concern on the current political stalemate in Bangladesh. “We have seen both BNP and Awami League agree that the coming election should be free, fair and inclusive, and leaders have showed their will to resolve the dispute through discussions.”

He said his country sincerely hoped that both parties could continue to show goodwill to each other, build trust and enlarge consensus, so as to create a sound environment for the next election.

When the Chinese envoy said terrorism is a major global threat and emphasized close international cooperation, Khaleda said if BNP assumed power in the next election, they would exercise zero tolerance to terrorism.

“The development of a country cannot be achieved without a stable surrounding environment,” the Chinese envoy said.

Khaleda said BNP would like to develop peaceful, equal and cooperative relationship with India and Myanmar and stressed that economic development, infrastructure building, investment promotion and education would be the policy priorities of BNP, according to the Chinese Embassy release.

She said as a time-tested and sincere friend, China was an important development partner for Bangladesh. “In the speech I made in Sylhet, I have publicly expressed my welcome to China’s involvement in Bangladesh economic development. We hope China could increase her investment in Bangladesh and establish an export processing zone.”

The envoy said, “The proposal of China-India-Myanmar-Bangladesh economic corridor, which include projects like Sonadia Deep Seaport, will help Bangladesh turn its geological advantage to economic and social competitiveness, and make Bangladesh a regional hub linking South Asia, Southeast Asia and China.”

The hour-long meeting that started around 8:40pm on Monday was held at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan o� ce.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, BNP vice chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, who was present at the meeting, said matters of bilateral interests of the two countries were discussed at the meeting.

Terming China a genuine friend of Bangladesh, Khaleda, also the leader of the opposition in parliament, praised the signi� cant role of the country in socioeconomic and infrastructural development of Bangladesh.

Both the BNP chief and the Chinese Ambassador hoped that the existing friendly ties between the two nations will be consolidated further in the days to come, Mobin said. l

BNP starts process to form ‘sangram committee’n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The main opposition BNP has started the process of forming poll-centre-based sangram (struggle) committees all across the country to resist the gov-ernment’s move to hold a one-sided election.

The party started dispatching letters to the di� erent district and thana units to form committee within the next 10 days.

“We have started sending letters as per the direction of the party chair-person, to di� erent districts and thana units asking to form the Sangram Com-mittee,” Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secre-tary general of the party, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

After talking to a number of BNP leaders, it was learnt, the formation of the struggle committees had already started even before receiving the let-ters.

Opposition lawmaker, Shammi Ak-ter formed the committee in his con-stituency on October 6, a day after BNP chairperson’s announcement.

“Welcoming the direction of our Ne-tri (Khaleda) we formed the committee on October 6,” Shammi Akter, opposi-tion lawmaker, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Shammi said the 51-member com-mittee was formed at Daser Bazar High School polling centre of Baralekha Upa-zila in Moulavi Bazar on October 6.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sat-urday warned if the government tries to hold election unilaterally, struggle committees, involving all the opposi-tion parties, would be formed across the country to resist the polls.

Meanwhile, a senior leader of the party said the letter directs all districts and thana units to form voting cen-tre-based sangram committee in their respective areas as per the direction of the party chairperson Khaleda Zia.

The list of the committees compris-ing the leaders and activists of BNP-led 18-party alliance will be sent to the cen-tres within the next 10 days, he said. l

JS body for amending RPO to allow PAGE 1 COLUMN 6public works ministry for the construc-tion of � ats in Uttara.

“My opinion is [that] section 12(1)K has been incorporated in the RPO in 1972. The scenario of 1972 and that of 2013 are not the same. So, thissection should be changed,” Fazle Rab-bi Miah told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting.

“[But] changing that particular sec-tion of the RPO is a problem because it was incorporated by the Bangabandhu government” he said.

However, the Election Commission o� cials, who attended yesterday’s meeting, presented a paper opposing changes to section 12(1)(K).

They said allowing MPs to sign business contracts with the govern-ment would de� nitely be a “con� ict ofinterests.”

Yesterday though, the watchdog mainly sat to discuss the Representa-tion of the People (amendment) Bill 2013, meant to strip the war criminals of their right to contest polls.

Meeting sources said member Fajil-

atun Nessa Bappy at the commit tee’s Sunday meeting suggested that sec-tion 12(1)N that disquali� es candidates for defaulting utility bills, should be dropped.

She said there had been many cases in the past where the candi-dates paid the utility bills but the departments or banks concerned did not register the payments.

“So, scrapping their nomination pa-pers for the departments’ faults is not acceptable at all; this is injustice,” Bap-py said.

Most of the members of the commit-tee agreed with her and spoke in favour of dropping the section.

“We think cancellation of the nomina-tion paper for defaulting utility bills is not justi� ed,” said the committee chairman.

He said the scrapping of parliament membership of Jatiya Party lawmaker ABM Abul Kashem for defaulting tele-phone bill was an “injustice.”

Fazle Rabbi Miah said the commit-tee would meet again soon to � nalise its recommendations on the two sec-tions of the RPO. l

Was Izhar allowed to � ee? PAGE 1 COLUMN 2computer or an IPS or a kerosene stove.

“Their claim could not convince me when I saw the devastation caused by the explosion,” Sontosh Chakma, who is in charge of the Bomb Squad of the Detective Branch of Chittagong Metro-politan Police, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone last evening.

Sontosh reached the spot of explo-sion on Jamiatul Uloom Al-Islamia Ma-drasa campus, which is widely known as Lalkhan Bazar madrasa, around 1pm. A team of � re � ghters had already reached the place and extinguished the � re that had originated from the explo-sion.

Sontosh saw the colour of water was red and suspected that an unknown powder the reason.

He saw that the ceiling fan, iron grills of windows and walls of the room were damaged so badly that it was not possi-ble from an explosion of a computer or electric equipment or kerosene stove.

He suspected it must have been some powerful explosives. Howev-er, he could not yet start working on his suspicion as it was unbearably hot there because of the � re. “We could get in the room around 3pm,” said Sontosh.

It took him more than one and a half hours to be con� rmed that there were handmade grenades and some other explosives and � ammable substances.

“We then informed our high o� -cials about the matter,” he said. It was around 4:30pm.

Banaj Kumar Majumder, addition-al commissioner of the CMP, told the Dhaka Tribune that the con� rmation about the blast caused by explosives and grenades came around 5:30pm. It

took some time to decide on the next course of action.

Banaj said Mufti Izhar had probably thought that the police would not able to � nd out the real reason behind the explosion, so he had stayed in the ma-drasa. But when he learnt about police had found out he left the madrasa and went into hiding.

However, a source who has close links with Mufti Izhar’s network, said the leader of the fundamentalist organ-isation Hefazat-e-Islam also had strong connections in the Chittagong police department.

Either, he was tipped o� by some-one in the police department about an impending arrest or police were wait-ing for directives from the top level.

The police started searching for Izhar after 7pm and raided his madra-sa. They also raided some other plac-es in the city to arrest Izhar and his son Harun Izhar – both prime accused in two cases � led in connection with Monday’s explosion.

Unknown substancesSontosh Chakma told the Dhaka Tri-bune that he had seen a powder residue – left after water spilled over ground had dried o� – burnt in sunlight.

He said he had never seen this type of powder and they would send the sample to the laboratories of the ex-plosives directorate and the Criminal Investigation Department in Dhaka for tests.

Sontosh said there had been a few other � ammable substances, explo-sives and materials used for making grenades. They would also send sam-ples of those to the laboratories. l

Yet another inferno in RMG factory PAGE 1 COLUMN 4Gazipur Fire Service and Civil Defence Station, said the blaze went out of con-trol because of a boiler explosion.

When he last talked to the Dhaka tri-bune around 12:30am, he said the � re was slowly giving way to the � re � ght-ers’ e� orts. He, however, said a few more hours would be needed to fully tame the blaze.

Liton Miah, a witness, said: “One of the workers trapped inside called up his relatives and requested them to rescue him. His mobile phone, howev-er, went out of reach a little later.”

The local administration has formed a seven-member probe committee, headed by Assistant Deputy Commis-

sioner of Gazipur Shahnewaj Dilruba Khan, to look into the incident.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within three days.

Emdad Khan, one of the directors of the factory, announced that the fam-ilies of each of the deceased workers would be given Tk30,000 as immediate compensation.

A devastating factory � re in Tazreen Fashions in Ashulia in November last year killed at least 117 and left scores other injured.

In April this year, Rana Plaza, a nine-storied building in Savar near Dhaka that housed � ve garment facto-ries, collapsed leaving more than 1,100 dead and thousands injured . l

Khaleda � ies to Singapore tonightn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is sched-uled to leave for Singapore tonight for her regular medical check-up.

She will leave Dhaka at 11pm by a Singapore Airlines � ight, Syrul Kabir Khan, an o� cial of BNP chairperson’s press wing told the Dhaka Tribune.

The BNP chief is expected to return after completing the check-up, said Syrul Kabir, adding that the date of re-turn would be informed later.

This will be Khaleda’s third visit to Singapore this year. During her last visit, there was a rumour that Khaleda held a meeting with Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad.

The party, however, rejected such rumour, saying the news was baseless and politically motivated. l

A � re rages in a factory of the Paul Mall Group in Gazipur yesterday. Story on page 1 DHAKA TRIBUNE

News 3DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 2013

BGMEA urges Hasina, Khaleda not to make RMG victim of politicsn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Several business leaders of the country at a programme yesterday said ready-made garment exports should not be a victim of politics.

“Buyers wanted to know what will be the situation of the country after Oc-tober 25,” said Atiqul Islam, president of BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Man-ufactures & Exporters Association). 

“I am requesting the leader of the opposition to send a message to the foreigners, and also assure us, that the situation will be calm and qui-et after October 25 for the interest of the garments industry,”Atiqul said at a view-exchange meeting to discuss Bangladesh’s current business and eco-nomic condition.

“RMG is our lifeline. I am asking the two leaders to reach a consensus on the polls,” he said, referring to Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia.

Atiqul also thanked Khaleda for keeping the garments industry out of the purview of general strikes.

Bangladesh Babsayi Parishad (busi-ness association) organised the pro-gramme in the capital’s Bangaband-hu International Conference Centre. About 20 business leaders addressed the meeting, chaired by former FBCCI president Abdul Awal Mintu.

The businessmen also criticised the government for portraying a gloomy picture of the country’s economic sec-tor, saying there was no alternative to ousting the Awami League-led alliance to save the economy.

Many of the speakers branded Khaleda as a future prime minister, and sought her support when she assumes o� ce.

Moazzem Hossain, vice president of

Bangladesh Association of Internation-al Recruiting Agencies  (Baira), claimed that the government had chalked out a “mega” plan to destroy overseas em-ployment.

“Around 14 and a half lakh (1.45 mil-lion) people took part in the (o� cial) registration process, but only 450 were sent abroad. The government has looted hundreds of crores of takas through this registration business,” Moazzem said.

Awlad Hossain, president of Farid-pur Chamber of Commerce and Indus-tries, said people were afraid of what would happen after October 25.

“I am urging the prime minister to accept the opposition party’s demand for the sake of fair elections. It is your (PM) duty to give comfort to the people of the country. If the government does not pay any heed, we will be with Begum Khaleda Zia after October 25,” he said. l

Cut in branches of SOBs: JS body n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

In line with the suggestions of donors, a parliamentary panel yesterday recom-mended that the government reduce the number of branches of the state-owned banks to cut loss.

The parliamentary standing com-mittee on � nance ministry justifying its recommendations said many of the branches of Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali and Basic banks in the rural areas incurred losses bleeding the economy.

“In many cases, we see branches of more than one state-owned bank in a small area. But none of them are prof-itable,” AHM Mustafa Kamal, the com-mittee chairman, told the Dhaka Tri-bune after a meeting at the parliament building.

He said the banks could work through “merger of the branches” or could leave it to the private sector.

The successive governments ig-nored global lenders’ prescription to trim state-owned banks which provide people with basic banking services like distribution of subsidy and agri-loans, teachers’ salary, allowances for freedom � ghters and elderly people through their countrywide network of branches.

Private banks operate mainly in the urban or semi-urban areas.

According to the working paper pre-sented at the meeting, Sonali Bank’s capital de� cit (up to June 30) stands at Tk45.44bn while the amount for Ja-nata Bank is Tk16.23bn. Agrani Bank’s de� cit is Tk24.9bn while Rupali Bank Tk4.25bn.

Mustafa Kamal said because of the increasing losses of the state-owned banks, “management turns to the gov-ernment for capital to meet its day-to-day operation.” l

‘Freedom � ghters, Hindus were killed in presence of Yusuf’n Muktasree Chakma Sathi

A prosecution witness yesterday told the war crimes tribunal that Ja-maat-e-Islami leader AKM Yusuf, also the alleged founder of razakar force, had instructed to shoot some unarmed Hindus and two pro-liberation people in Morolganj of Bagerhat during the 1971 Liberation War.

Second prosecution witness Nasir Uddin Ahmed claimed his two friends – freedom � ghter Abu Bakar and so-cial worker Abdul Majid were killed by razakars upon Yusuf’s order and in his presence.

Razakars, formed with the mem-bers of Jamaat, had collaborated with the Pakistani occupation forces and committed crimes against humanity against the pro-liberation forces.

Freedom � ghter Nasir said they had attacked the Morolganj razakar camp on May 13, 1971 but was failed to take over that camp. “One of our fellow free-dom � ghter Abu Bakar was shot in this operation and he took shelter in one Ramzan Kazi’s home. However, later, he was con� ned by the razakars from that home and later killed following the order of Yusuf and in his presence.”

Nasir also told in the International Crimes Tribunal 2 that on May 19, 1971

the accused delivered a public speech and called upon the people to eliminate the pro-liberation and Hindu people.

“After his speech, the same day lo-cal razakars started looting properties of the unarmed people particularly those belonged to the Hindus. Around 400-500 Hindu houses were looted

and burnt down to ashes in Morolganj. Three Hindus were also shot to death at that time,” Nasir, who hails from Mo-rolganj, said.

He said the razakars had con� ned Radhe Shyam’s son Shanti Ranjan Dash, Satya Ranjan Dash and Keshab Dash along with Amar Das, Shankar Das and Pijush Kanti Ghorai. All of them were taken to Morolganj launch terminal.

The witness also submitted that he had eye-witnessed the shooting on

these Hindus in presence of Yusuf. “I hid myself in that launch terminal to see what happen to the con� ned per-sons. Around midnight, Yusuf came to the place and told razakars ‘Why have you kept these persons alive? We have to go to Bagerhat, kill them.’ Then the razakar started shooting which left Shanti, Keshab and Satya died there. Later the razakars also shot Amar Das but he managed to jump into the riv-er and escape. Seeing all these, Pijush manage to run away.”

There were two lights in the termi-nal and the con� ned persons were be-ing identi� ed by the razakars by torch lights, he added. “After the atrocities, Yusuf left for Khulna with a gunboat.”

Sixty-seven year old Nasir claimed that Yusuf had formed Peace Commit-tee in Khulna and was chairman of that committee. “He picked up youths form di� erent areas of Khulna and used to appoint them as razakars. He also was the man who provided training to these razakars. He used to deploy razakars in di� erent areas of Khulna including Mo-rolganj and Sharankhola.”

Later, defence lawyer Saifur Rah-man cross examined the witness. The cross examination remained un� n-ished and the tribunal set October 31 for further procedure of the case. l

Dhaka University teachers form a human chain in front of the Aparajeyo Bangla yesterday demanding execution of the verdicts of all war crime trials shortly SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Election Working Group organises a discussion session on Eye on Election Report at the city’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Sayedee appeals hearing deferred n Nazmus Sakib

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the appeal hearing in the cases of Jamaat leader Del-war Hossain Sayedee till November 12.

The apex court has also set Novem-ber 5 as the timeline for both the gov-ernment and defence counsel to sub-mit concise statement in the appeal cases of convicted war criminal Ghu-lam Azam.

A � ve-member SC bench, led by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, passed the orders.

On February 28, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 handed down death penalty to Sayedee over two charges (murders of Ibrahim Kutti and Bisa Bali). However, he was not sentenced on six other charges which were also proved against him. The tribunal ac-quitted the Jamaat leader on 12 other charges. l

Defence witnesses in Nizami case from Oct 20n Udisa Islam

The war crimes tribunal yesterday or-dered the defence to produce their witnesses in favour of Jamaat-e Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami from October 20.

In the morning, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 led by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir heard a total of eight peti-tions, of which seven were submitted by the defence and one by the prose-cution.

After hearing both the sides, the tribunal allowed the prosecution’s petition seeking permission to produce additional documents. Of the seven defence petitions, � ve were rejected.

The tribunal in its order said the examination of defence witnesses would be held on every working day without any adjournment. Earlier the tribunal allowed the defence to produce four witnesses for Nizami.

The Jamaat ameer is facing 16 charges of murder and torture of unarmed people, and complicity in commission of genocide and crimes against humanity in Pabna and Dhaka in 1971.

At the end of his cross-examination yesterday, Investigation O� cer Abdur Razzaque Khan placed a book as exhibit named ‘71-er Dosh Mash(Ten Months of 1971) written by Rabindranath Trivedi in which Nizami has been identi� ed as the chief of para militia force al-Badr and Jamaat’s then student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha.

The IO was the 26th and last prose-cution witness in the case.

Then the tribunal set the date for defence witnesses based on a petition that the defence could not place wit-nesses before Eid.

IO deposition against MobarakInvestigation O� cer Shyamol Chow-

dhury started giving deposition in the case against former Awami League leader of Brahmanbaria Mobarak Hos-sain alias Mobarak Ali.l

None but army can maintain law and order during polls: Studyn Mohammad Zakaria

About 65% people believe that none but the army can maintain the law and order during elections, said a study of Election Working Group (EWG) yesterday.

Director of EWG Abdul Alim present-ed the � ndings of the study at a city hotel.

The EWG carried out the study on 118 parliamentary constituencies out of the total 300 across the country from June to August.

The study shows that about 46.3% people think other than the army law enforcers are not capable of ensuring se-curity and impartiality in the polls.

EWG in its presentation claimed that it had appointed permanent observer at each constituency and thousands of short-term observers to conduct the study.

The study said the army were de-ployed in the 1973 � rst general election to maintain law and order as per the arti-

cle 126 of the constitution. In 2001 the army were included in the

de� nition of the law enforcing agencies in the electoral laws. The provision was dropped from the electoral laws in 2009.

About representation of women’s participation in the committees of po-litical parties the study report said the current level of female participation re-mains extremely low, even at 8.5%.

Although the RPO mandates that po-litical parties must achieve 33% women’s participation in all committees by 2020.

Meanwhile, Election Commissioner Shah Newaz yesterday told reporters that the Election Commission would seek assistance from the army in the par-liamentary election, if needed.

The commission will take initiatives after monitoring the situation in the run-up to the next general election, he added.

He hoped that all political parties would take part in the next general elections. l

GHULAM AZAM APPEALS

Court asks for concise statement n Nazmus Sakib

The Appellate Division yesterday or-dered the defence and the government to lodge concise statements of their ap-peals by November 5 in the war crimes case of former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam, who was given 90 years’ jail by a war crimes tribunal.

The � ve-member bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the order. The summary docu-ments include facts and the arguments relied upon.

According to the Appellate Division Rules, 1988, the appellant party cannot

start their appeal hearing until submis-sion of the concise statement.

The appeals hearing will begin af-ter the conclusion of hearings in cases of death row convict Delawar Hossain Sayedee and Mohammad Kamaruz-zaman. Sayedee’s case has been ad-journed until November 12 while the appeals hearing in Kamaruzzaman case is yet to begin.

On August 5, the Jamaat supremo appealed against the verdict that sen-tenced him on July 15 to 90 years in prison seeking acquittal while the gov-ernment � led an appeal on August 12 for giving him death penalty. l

After his speech, the same day local razakars started looting properties of the unarmed people particularly those belonged to the Hindus. Around 400-500 Hindu houses were looted and burnt down to ashes in Morolganj. Three Hindus were also shot to death at that time

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 2013

City High LowDhaka 32.3 25.3Chittagong 31.5 25.2Rajshahi 31.8 24.4Rangpur 31.0 23.0Khulna 31.5 25.5Barisal 31.8 25.4Sylhet 30.4 24.2Cox’s Bazar 32.8 25.0

PRAYER TIMESFajar 4:38am

Sunrise 5:52amZohr 11:46pm

Asr 3:29pmMagrib 5:38pm

Esha 6:53pmSource: IslamicFinder.org

WEATHER

Slight rise in temperature likelyn UNB

Light to moderate rain or thunder-showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at many places over Chittagong, Khulna and Barisal divisions and at a few places over Rangpur, Rajshahi, Dhaka and Syl-het divisions until 6pm today.

Moderately heavy falls were also likely at places over the country, Met O� ce said. Day and night tempera-ture may rise slightly over the country, while rainfall activities may decrease over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:38pm today and rises at 5:54am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 33.5 degree Celsius was recorded at Bogra and lowest 22.4 degrees at Dinajpur and Sayedpur yesterday. Highest and lowest temperatures recorded in some major cities yesterday were:

JS passes Vested Property Act Amendment BillComplaints relating to ownership of schedule B will be cancelled

n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Parliament yesterday amended the vested property law by dropping the second schedule, which will allow pres-ent occupants to own the properties.

After the country’s independence the government listed some properties of Hindus on the second schedule, say-ing those belonged to the government, not the occupants.

The House passed the Vested Prop-erty Return (second amendment) Bill 2013 by voice vote in the absence of the main opposition BNP as the law minis-ter proposed the enactment of the law.

Hindu leaders demanded scrapping of schedule B attached with the origi-nal Vested Property Return Act 2001.

They said land o� cials and bureau-crats at the grassroots harass Hindu

families living on land listed on sched-ule B and extract money.

After the creation of India and Paki-stan in 1947, many Hindu families left this part of Bengal, which later emerged as an independent country in 1971, and settled in the Hindu-majority India.

Again, the 1965 war between India and Pakistan caused further exodus of Hindus.

The then Pakistan government de-clared their land and houses as “enemy property” taking its control. After the birth of Bangladesh, properties vacated by Hindus came on schedule A. The gov-ernment listed some such properties on schedule B, claiming that the occupant Hindus may be living there unlawfully.

This schedule encourages many lo-cal people to harass Hindus in collusion with the local authorities.

According to the new law passed yesterday, all cases challenging the ownership of the property on sched-ule B will no longer exist. All previous judgements, decrees of the cases relat-ing to the property of schedule B will be cancelled, said the new law.

Again, all complaints relating to the ownership of schedule B properties will cease to exist.

Another bill passedThe House enacted the Bangladesh Council of Scienti� c and Industrial Research Bill-2013 by voice vote as the state minister for science and technol-ogy proposed its passage.

The new law will scrap the Bangla-desh Council of Scienti� c and Industrial Research Ordinance-1978 promulgated by the military ruler Ziaur Rahman. l

Mozena visits Moududn Tribune Desk

US Ambassador Dan Mozena yesterday visited ailing BNP Standing Committee Member Moudud Ahmed at a city hospital.

Mozena went to the coronary care unit (CCU) of United Hospital around 12 noon where the BNP leader is undergoing treatment and enquired about Moudud’s health condition from physicians.

The US Ambassador also talked to the BNP leader.

Former law minister Moudud was admitted to the hospital after he fell down at his Gulshan residence follow-ing chest pain on Sunday.

He is still under close observation of physicians at the CCU of the hos-pital and undergoing various tests, Moudud’s law chamber junior Ehsanur Rahman told UNB yesterday.

Ehsan said the condition of the 74-year-old BNP lawmaker is seemingly improving. l

TARIQUE-MAMUN MONEY LAUNDERING CASE

Lawyers lock horns n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday recorded de-positions by the recall witness and In-vestigating O� cer (IO) in a laundering money case � led against BNP’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman and his associate Gias Uddin Al-Mamun.

Dhaka Special Judge Md Motaher Hosain took the depositions of the Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) Deputy Director Syed Tahsinul Haque and IO Mohammad Ibrahim, who were also cross-examined by the defence counsel Advocate Md Sanaullah Miah.

The defence � led a petition to ad-journ the hearing on the grounds that senior defence lawyer Barrister Md Fakhrul Islam was not present and therefore sought more time. The ACC’s lawyer Moshara� Hossain Kajol op-posed granting an extension to the de-fence team. However petitions submit-ted by both the defence and the ACC’s counsel were rejected as they argued their case in court.

Law enforcers had to bring the situ-

ation under control when the lawyers’ arguments triggered an outburst by the pro-BNP lawyers, who shouted slogans against the AL government.

Till date the court has recorded the testimony of up to 13 prosecution wit-nesses in relation to the money laun-dering case.

In October, 2009 the ACC � led cases against Tarique and Mamun with Can-tonment Police Station in the capital, accusing them of siphoning to Singa-pore Tk204.1m between 2003 and 2007.

The money was allegedly given as bribe by Khadiza Islam, director of Nirman Construction Ltd, to Mamun, for his help in procuring a contract to install an 80MW power plant in Tongi.

After conducting investigations in July, 2010 the ACC submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka.

In August last year, the court indicted Tarique and Mamun under the Money Laundering Act-2002 and an arrest war-rant was issued against Tarique. The next court date has been set for Thursday. l

NGOs must stand against undemocratic government: Gowher Rizvin Rabiul Islam

The prime minister’s Advisor for Inter-national A� airs Gowher Rizvi yesterday called upon non-government organisa-tions (NGOs) to oppose any unelected and undemocratic government for the sake of the country’s development.

“If anyone wants to grab power by illegal means, the NGOs must not as-sist them,” he said, while addressing a meeting on the development role of NGOs in the Dhaka division at Biam au-ditorium in the capital.

Rizvi said NGOs should work together with a government which would be democratically elected and would believe in the spirit of the Liberation War and the principles of secularism.

The meeting was organised by NGO A� airs Bureau, which is under the

Prime Minister’s O� ce. Similar meet-ings have also been held at the six divi-sional headquarters.

Gowher Rizvi observed that without a democratically elected government in power, the civil society would be un-able to exist.

“It is the duty of the civil society to oppose whenever there is an attack on the rights of the women and secular-ism,” he said.

NGOs are now an integral part of the government and without NGOs, the government cannot implement its pro-grammes and manifestos, Rizvi said.

“However, there are some regula-tions which create problems for NGOs,” he conceded, in response to NGO rep-resentatives’ complaints about bureau-cratic problems.

Rizvi admitted that there were weaknesses in governance, which must

be addressed.Rights organisation Ain o Salish

Kendra Executive Director Sultana Kamal said, “We are facing increased attacks on rights of women and the minorities. We want to live with equal rights and dignity.”

“We have to resist those who attack the minorities and women,” she added.

Kamal observed that there was a gap between the government and the NGOs and the government intended control-ling the NGOs.

To some extent, the government machinery delayed paperwork which hampered the activities of NGOs.

“Of course, NGOs must work in a transparent manner and under certain rules and regulations,” she added.

NGO A� airs Bureau Director General Md Nurun Nabi Talukder presided over the meeting. l

Muhith seeks commission’s advice on GB associate bodiesn Asif showkat Kallol

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said he had asked the Grameen Bank Commis-sion chairman to submit a report rec-ommending measures about the bank’s 54 associated organisations.

“I will take action step-by-step for the betterment of the bank,” he told the Dhaka Tribune on Monday.

Earlier on the day, the commission submitted a précis of its � nal report on Grameen Bank to the � nance minister at his secretariat o� ce.

A representative of the commission handed over the précis to the minister on behalf of its chairman Mamun Ur Rashid, who is currently visiting Ma-laysia, said a senior o� cial of the bank-ing division.

“I got the précis which would be helpful in taking a decision about Gra-meen Bank as we table the draft of Gra-meen Bank Law 2013 as a bill in parlia-ment soon,” the minister said.

The � nance minister needed the précis to help him with when he goes to parliament with the GB bill, he added.

Contacted over phone, Chairman of Grameen Bank Commission Mamun Ur Rashid said he had sent a letter to the � nance minister with answers to some of his queries about proposed GB law.

“However, as regards our � nal re-port and the recommendations about associated organisations as asked by the � nance minister, we need more time,” he said. l

Tofail links Khaleda remark to madrasa blastn Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Senior Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed yesterday linked BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s “anti-election” statement at a Sylhet rally to the grenade explo-sion at a madrasa in Chittagong.

“The blast at the madrasa on one hand and the leader of the opposition’s provocative statement on the other – what do these incidents indicate?” he said during an unscheduled discussion in parliament yesterday.

He along with another ruling coali-tion MP asked the government to go tough on the forces that wanted to turn madrasas into centres of bomb-making ahead of the national elections.

“The government cannot sit idle if madrasas are turned into centres of bomb making,” Tofail told the House as Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal, an MP of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, raised the issue of the explosion at Jamia-tul Uloom Al-Islamia Madrasa run by 18-party opposition alliance leader

Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury in Lalkhan Bazar, Chittagong.

Tofail alleged that the opposition had been out to destabilise the elec-toral procedure by creating chaos in the country.

About the Chittagong madrasa blast, Badal said: “Such incidents cannot be tolerated in any civilised country.”

Tofail told parliament that an envi-ronment favourable for holding a free and fair election existed in the country.

He said it would not be possible for the ruling party to in� uence the next polls.

Referring to the death sentence of BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Choudhury, Badal said: “It is unfortunate that the BNP supports such a culprit.”

After Badal’s speech, independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim tried to make some comments on the war crimes tri-bunal, but the deputy speaker switched his microphone o� for his “uncourte-ous” behaviour with the chair.

Azim walked out of the House around 9pm. l

Three Ansarullah men detainedn Our Correspondent,

Chapainawabganj

Rab yesterday detained three local leaders of outlawed militant group An-sarullah Bangla Team at Rahanpur Ba-zar in Chapainawabganj.

The arrestees were identi� ed as Mo-hammad Ibrahim, 35, Faruk Hossain, 32, Sadequl Islam, 33 - all from Rahan-pur Poshu Hospital Colony.

The team also seized two CPUs and monitors, 26 CDs, and books contain-ing fundamentalist literatures.

In a presser, Major Sha� q said the ar-restees were earlier involved with JMB, another banned group.

Currently, they were followers of Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani, a leader of the Ansarullah Bangla Team. l

Demo against Rampal power project todayn Tribune Report

The National Committee to Protect Oil Gas Mineral Resources Power and Ports will stage demonstrations across the country today demanding the with-drawal of proposed 1,320MW Rampal coal-� red power plant.

In Dhaka, a rally has been called in front of National Press Club around 4pm, said a press release.

At a programme yesterday, leaders of the platform urged the government to “remove the blemish” of foundation stone of the power plant, laid by the prime minister on October 5, before its tenure ended, and also to scrap the project and all related actions.

They threatened to announce tougher programmes including hartals, blockades, mass sit-ins and laying a siege to the power, energy and mineral resources ministry.

Prof Anu Mohammad, member sec-retary of the platform, read out a writ-ten statement at the press conference held in the city when Engineer Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah, the conve-ner, also spoke. l

Students of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute stage demo in front of the institution demanding upgradation of their degree in the capital yesterday RAJIB DHAR

JU registrar freed after 8 daysn JU Correspondent

Jahangirnagar University Registrar Abu Bakr Siddique and Deputy Registrar (teaching) Md Abu Hasan were release d on the ninth day of con� nement by the agitating teachers yesterday, a day after the education minister warned of legal actions.

At a meeting with Education Secre-tary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury yesterday, the agitating teachers said they would withdraw their programme from today, the secretary told reporters after the meeting last night.

Before the meeting, General Secre-tary Prof Kamrul Ahsan of the General Teachers’ Forum, platform of the agitat-ing teachers had said at a press confer-ence, “We are determined that we will not stop our movement until VC Prof Anwar Hossain reigns from the post.”

Earlier at another press conference, the forum expressed their reaction on Education Minister Nurul Islam Na-hid’s Monday’s statement asking agi-tating teachers to go back to classes or face legal actions.

Prof Kamrul said: “We are grateful to the education minister for taking an initiative to eliminate the crisis. But we are expressing our deep resentment over his statement that legal actions would be taken against the teachers.” l

Vote for AL to keep corrupt at bay: PMn Tribune Desk

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yester-day sought another term to serve the nation to accomplish the un� nished tasks of her government and thus lead the country towards prosperity.

“The way you’ve achieved peace and development by voting Awami League to power in the previous election, I’ll urge you to give us another chance to serve the nation by casting your votes for ‘boat’ in the next election,” she said, reports UNB.

Sheikh Hasina, also the president of the ruling Awami League, was address-ing a mammoth public rally at Jheni-dah Government High School ground organised by the party’s district unit.

Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, Post and Telecommuni-cations Minister Shahara Khatun, AL joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, AL organising secretary BM Mozammel Haque, among others, spoke at the rally held with State Min-ister for Fisheries and Livestock Adv Abdul Hai in the chair.

Alleging that the birth of BNP is through the politics of murder and kill-

ing, Hasina said they had resorted to un-bridled plundering of public wealth and played game with the fate of the coun-try’s people to make their own fortunes.

Hasina said taking power by BNP means plundering money, oppression, terrorism, corruption and misrule, nothing else. “They (BNP) don’t want the country’s people to have their fate changed…the BNP chairperson and her two sons had laundered money abroad …they were also found guilty of that, bringing shame on us and tainting the country’s image.”

She alleged that the BNP top leader has amassed black money through cor-ruption, embezzled the fund of the or-phanage and also case was � led against her to this end. “But, she (Khaleda) didn’t appear before the court despite knowing her o� ence.”

Holding responsible the BNP-Ja-maat-Shibir-Hefajat cadres for ma-ligning the religion of peace ‘Islam’ through burning the copies of holy Quran during the Hefajat’s mayhem on May 5 , the Awami League chief asked her arch rival why she had instigated the BNP-Jamaat-Shibir-Hefajat cadres for burning the copies of Quran.

She went on, “Those who burn the copies of holy Quran, set � re to mosques and resort to lies with the pic-ture of Gilaf of Kaba Sharif, how they can protect Islam?”

In this regard, she mentioned that during the rule of BNP-Jamaat, a syn-chronised bomb attack was carried in 500 places across the country while a Krishak League leader was killed inside a mosque while reciting Quran.

“As people voted for AL, terrorism and militancy have also been removed from the country and they are now liv-ing in peace,” she said.

The premier said whenever her party assumed o� ce, Bangladesh was rewarded internationally, but the country had turned champions in cor-ruption � ve times during the rule of BNP-Jamaat. “They (BNP-Jamaat) have snatched food from people’s mouth and siphoned o� money abroad.”

Hasina said the people of all faiths, including the Hindus, Muslims, Chris-tians and Buddhists, would live in the country with equal rights and observe their religious festivals with due fer-vour and festivity. “Islam is a religion of peace and it gives us such lessons.” l

BRTC, BIWTC plan special services for Eid and Durga Pujan Tribune Report

With Eid-ul-Azha and Durga Puja just a week away, Bangladesh RoadTransport Corporation and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation have arranged special bus and ferry services.

Advance tickets for BRTC’s special service will be on sale from October 10 for the period of October 12-19.

In total 500 buses will be running from depots in and around the capital on 45 di� erent routes and another 500 buses will be operating from seven de-pots outside Dhaka.

Nikhil Ranjan Roy, director (Admin and Operation) BRTC told the Dhaka Tribune bus owners have been in-structed to repair buses for the special Eid service. He said the special service will be running in all districts where BRTC operates.

Gopal Chandra Majumdar, assistant general manager BIWTC Barisal said daily at least one regular and one special vessel would ply the designated routes. l

6 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Food insecurity highest in eastern hill region: Studyn Mohammad Atiqur Rahman

A preliminary study result has found that people living in Bangladesh’s east-ern hill region, northern char areas and the southern coastal belt su� er the most from food shortages.

Food insecurity was the highest in the eastern hills where half the popula-tion did not get enough to eat, followed by char and coastal areas.

The study under the Food Security Nutritional Surveillance Project was conducted from February to April along the country’s coastal belt, northern and northwest chars (shoals), eastern hills and haor areas. It was implemented in collaboration with the European Union and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

The outcome of the study was pre-sented yesterday at a discussion meet-ing, jointly organised by Helen Keller In-ternational (HKI) and Brac University’s School of Public Health at a city hotel.

The survey was carried out on 9,024 households that included 4,600 under-5 children and 9,158 women and adoles-cent girls, aged between 10-49 years.

The study also revealed that the prevalence of “inadequate dietary di-

versity” was 47% in the northern chars, 43% in the coastal areas and 42% in the northwest, which may a� ect the health of women and children in those regions.

Speakers at the roundtable discus-sion on “monitoring outcomes to scale up nutrition” said proper monitoring was a key to increasing nutrition.

“Lack of enough access to nutritious food is responsible for malnutrition,” Erica Khetran, country director of HKI Bangladesh, said while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

Previous phases of the study found the highest rate of chronic energy de� -ciency among women. The study also observed that the percentage of people worrying about food security had de-creased in the past one year. The � gure was 34% in February-April this year, compared to 62% in February-April 2012.

Rukhsana Haider, chairperson of Civ-il Society Alliance for SUN (scaling up nutrition) Bangladesh, blamed people’s “lack of knowledge” for malnutrition, which can be either due to de� ciency or excess of certain nutrients.

“It is not happening only among the illiterate people of the country, the problem is also prevalent among the

educated group,” Rukhsana said.Nancy Haselow, HKI vice-president

for Asia-Paci� c, said the “invaluable data” gathered from the study will help all the stakeholders to work together.

“We need a platform to work together on food security and nutrition in Bang-ladesh, as combined e� orts are stronger and more e� ective than an individual ef-fort to combat issues like food insecurity and malnourishment,” said Mahbub-ur-Rahman Ujjal of Dak Diye Jai, a non-gov-ernment organisation.

The roundtable was followed by a presentation on “maternal and child malnutrition: prevalence and risk indica-tors in eastern hill zone of Bangladesh” .

A special calendar that can be used to estimate a child’s age without birth records was also shown.

Jillian Waid of HKI gave an overview of the presentations, while Syed Shabab Wahid of Brac’s health, nutrition and population programme, facilitated the proceedings.

The event was chaired by Sadia Chowdhury, executive director of Brac Institute of Global Health. Golam Mo-stafa Kamal, director general of the Bu-reau of Statistics, was also present. l

DU students feted with Edinburgh Awardn DU Correspondent

50 meritorious students from di� erent departments of Dhaka University were bestowed with “The Duke of Edinburgh Award” yesterday for their successes in co-curricular activities.

Among the awardees, � ve got gold, 15 got silver and rest of them bagged the bronze.

Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Are� n Sid-dique handed over the awards as special guest during a function held at the Old Senate Building of the university.

Meanwhile at another programme on the campus yester-day, a trust fund titled “Abdul Huq Munshi-Gulnahar Begum Trust Fund” was set up at the nuclear engineering depart-ment of the university.v

In order to set up the fund, former professor of political science department Dr Shahidul Huq Munshi handed over a cheque of Tk700,000 to DU Pro-Vice Chancellor (Adminis-tration) Prof Dr Shahid Akhtar Hossain.

Four underprivileged but meritorious students from the nuclear engineering department of the university will be awarded scholarships from the fund, every year.l

Robber gang held in cityn Tribune Report

Detectives arrested 12 members of a rob-ber gang and recovered ornaments and lethal weapons from their possession in the capital’s Shewrapara area yesterday.

The arrestees were Liakot, 42, Ab-dul Matin, 50, Osman Ali, 49, Ekramul Haque, 28, Motahar Hossain, 28, Hakim Mollah, 33, Rokon Miah, 45, Fazlur Rah-man, 28, Nayon Miah, 28, Sumon Mollah, 33, Abdul Shahid, 38 and Ebadullah, 40.

Detective branch of police said the gang had been committing robbery, particularly in Mirpur and Tejgaon resi-dences since a long time.

Police recovered some nine tolas of looted gold from their possession.

Police said they have also traced the jewellery shops where the gang dis-posed o� the robbed jewellery.

Police o� cials said they would con-

duct a drive to nab the jewellery store owners as well.

Masudur Rahman, deputy commis-sioner of police, said they had found in the course of their investigation that the gang was responsible for at least two recent incidents of robbery, where the gang entered into victims’ houses by cut-ting through the balcony grills and hold-ing family members hostage at gunpoint.

The commissioner added: “The gang has two groups. One observes the target-ed house for days, ascertaining the move-ment of the dwellers. The other group ex-ecutes the plan at a suitable time.”

During a preliminary interrogation the gang members confessed that they normally hide their weapons at a suit-able place near the targeted house, a day before the robbery so that the gang members can move about without arousing suspicion. A case was � led. l

Padma water treatment plant gets Ecnec nod n Tribune Desk

The Executive Committee of the Na-tional Economic Council (Ecnec) yes-terday approved a water treatment project aimed at supplying safe water to the capital city by treating water of Padma River.

Under the project, a water treatment plant will be set up at Jashaldia (Lou-hajang) of Munshiganj and the treated water of the Padma will be piped to Dhaka metropolis.

The plant would have the capacity to treat 450 million litre water per day an d the project called “Padma (Jashal-dia) Water Treatment Plant (phase-1)” would involve Tk35.09bn.

The approval came at an Ecnec meeting held at the NEC conference room in city’s Sher-e-Banglanagar with Prime Minister and Ecnec Chairperson Sheikh Hasina in the chair, reports BSS.

Planning Division Secretary Bhui-yan Sha� qul Islam told reporters after the meeting that the Ecnec approved a total of 12 development projects in-

cluding the water supply project in-volving Tk95.81bn.

“Of the total project cost, Tk43.80bn will come from the national exchequer and the remaining Tk52.01bn will come as project assistance,” Islam added.

Planning commission o� cials said on completion of the water supply pro-ject, Dhaka Wasa will supply additional 450 million litre water per day. Wasa is currently supplying 2,000 MLD water against the demand of 2,200 MLD in the capital.

Exim Bank of China would provide Tk24.13bn for the project, while Wasa Tk220m. The project is expected to be completed by June 2016.

The Ecnec approved another project called “The Construction of National Complex for the disabled, Mirpur, Dhaka”.

Under the project, a national centre would be established at Mirpur to pro-vide service for the disabled.

The centre will work as the central complex of district level service cent-ers for the disabled. The complex will

provide the opportunity to conduct research on disability and run a special education centre and a school.

The proposal for establishing Na-tional Complex for the disabled was formulated keeping it in conformity with the declaration of the prime min-ister at a function arranged to com-memorate the 13th National Day and the 3rd International Autism Day on 2 April 2010.

The other projects approved in the meeting are: “Jatka Conservation, al-ternate income generation for the Jakta � shers and research project (Tk460m-GoB); “Production, stores and distri-bution of quality seeds of pulses, oil and onion at farmers’ level” (Tk450m-GoB); “Maintenance, Rehabilitation of BADC’s existing Fertiliser Godowns and Strengthening of Fertilizer Man-agement Activities project”.

Ministers, advisers to the prime minister, members of the Planning Commission, Secretaries and o� -cials concerned were present in the meeting. lA mobile court evicting illegal furniture shops on the footpath in the Dewanhat area in Chittagong yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Youth stabbed to death in cityn Mohammad Jamil Khan

A youth was allegedly stabbed to death yesterday by one of his neighbours in the Kutubkhali area of the city under Jatra-bari police station.

The victim was identi� ed as Moham-mad Roman Sheikh, 20, son of Abdul Alek Sheikh from Fotehpur area of Ful-pur in Maymensingh. The deceased was a resident at 2 No Kutubkhali area. He was the second among the three children of Abdul Alek.

Family of the deceased alleged, Ro-man was engaged in an altercation with one of his neighbour named Al-Amin, around 11:30pm on Monday late night. Following the argument, Al-Amin along with his sister and mother, entered Ro-man’s house and started beating him up. At one point, they stabbed him and left the spot.

Later, Roman was taken to Dhaka Medical college Hospital (DMCH) at around 12:50am where, after half an hour of his arrival, the duty doctors de-clared him dead.

Mohammad Hassan, another neigh-bour of Roman, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I came out of my house after hearing sounds of a loud argument and found that one of my neighbours, Faruk was trying to hold injured to take him to a hospital. We took him to the DMCH where he died of his injuries.”

According to Hassan, Roman used to do seasonal works, sometimes work-ing as a day labourer, sometime as a bus helper or doing small businesses.

Mother of the deceased, Morzina Be-gum, told the Dhaka Tribune: I tried to stop Roman from mixing with Al-Amin, as he was not of good character. But he would not listen to me, and now Al-Amin has taken the life of my beloved son.”

About the attack, Morzina said Al-Amin alongside his family members en-tered their house as Roman was having his dinner. Out of nowhere, they started beat-ing him up and at one point, they stabbed Roman, leaving him critically injured.

Ra� qul Islam, o� cer-in-charge at Jatrabari police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that, they visited the spot and sent the body to DMCH morgue for au-topsy.

“In primary interrogation, we are suspecting that the incident might have happened over personal con� ict. We are investigating the incident,” he said. l

BCC mayor vows to make corruption-free cityn Anisur Rahman Swapan, Barisal

The mayor of Barisal City Corporation Ahsan Habib Kamal, who took charge yesterday, has vowed to transform the city by making it a corruption-free, ac-countable and transparent service pro-vider for sustainable development.

Panel mayor Altaf Mahmud Sikdar who was the acting mayor until Kamal took charge handed over responsibility to the new mayor at a ceremony held at the Nagar Bhaban attended by coun-cilors and BCC o� cials.

After o� cially taking charge as mayor Kamal spoke at a press confer-ence when he said he had taken re-sponsibility for debts worth Tk1.43bn, which includes salaries due to city cor-poration employees equal to Tk60m, Tk170m of loans from reserve funds, Tk1.06bn bills due for development work, Tk90m electricity bill for street lamps, Tk10m for fuel and Tk30.98m of miscellaneous bills.

He asked that national budget allo-cations for the city corporations should be made according to the size and con-sidering needs of each area, such as the population and region.

The new mayor said he would priori-tise recovery and excavation of canals

and water bodies to stop water logging, balance the development of old and extended areas, repair and reconstruc-tion of roads and introduction of public transport.

Barisal wore a festive look decorated with lights to welcome the new mayor to o� ce.

Kamal served as Barisal’s mayor in 2002, prior to that he served as a ward commissioner, chairman of Barisal mu-nicipality and was acting BCC mayor for about 18 years.          

He was defeated in the mayor elec-tions of 2003 and 2008, until he � nally won in the last elections held this June, when he defeated the city AL president Shawkat Hossain Hiron, by a margin of 17,000 votes to be elected as mayor of Barisal for a third time.

Barisal  municipality  was upgraded to a city corporation by gazette noti� -cation on April 4, 2001 extending it to include 30 wards and 45sq km from 20 wards and 25sq km.

In 2003, BNP’s Mojibor Rahman Sar-war was elected as the � rst BCC mayor and Shawkat Hossain Hiron became the second BCC mayor in August, 2008.

The city corporation has a popula-tion of nearly 60m with approximately 2, 10,482 voters registered. l

Demand for additionalstoppage for trainn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Locals of Gazipur town formed a hu-man chain in front of Sripur Railway Station yesterday demandin g that the Sripur station be designated as a stop-page for Jamuna intercity train.

Later, the residents of Gazipur brought out a procession from the plat-form. Businessman of Sripur upazila, leaders of Bonik Samity, teachers of di� erent institutions, and commuters also took part in the demonstration.

Station Master Harun-ur-Rashid said commuters on the Jamuna inter-city train plying on Dhaka-Jamalpur route had been demanding that the train stop at Sripur Railway Station for a long time. l

Nation 7DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Missing army man found dead in Bandarban The body of a missing army man was recovered from the bank of Sangu River in the Betchora area under Roangchori upazila in Bandarban yesterday morning. Police said Tanvir Mahmood, 24, in-charge Lieutenant of Bandarban camp, went missing when he was swimming in the river. The body was sent to deceased’s native village in Comilla.– Our Correspondent

Drug ringleader held in Chittagong Police arrested a key drug ring leader from the city’s Bayazid area early yesterday. The arrestee, Mohammad Liton, 32, is wanted in several criminal cases � led with the city’s Double Mooring police station. Acting on a tip-o� , a team of Sadarghat

police station nabbed Liton around 5am from his residence, said o� cer-in-charge of the station Pranab Chowdhury. Liton had long been active in drug trading and smuggling and is one of the key players in the city’s drug hotspot in Barisal Colony. He is also the accused in seven other cases, he added.– Our Correspondent

Minor girl drownsin C’nawabganjA minor girl drowned in a pond in Shib-ganj upazila bus stand area on Monday afternoon. The deceased was identi� ed as Mahbuba, 7, daughter of Abu Hanif of the area. Locals said Mahbuba slipped into water and drowned while playing on the bank of the pond near their house at about 5pm. Later, locals spotted her � oating body in the pond and recovered it. – UNB

NEWS IN BRIEF

Bakkhali River shrinkingfor lack of dredgingWDB waits for approval from National Economic Council n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

Bakkhali River, an important waterway in the coastal district, is becoming shallow and less navigable due to irregular dredging.

Sandbanks or shoals have formed that obstructs boats and other vessels plying on the river. Fishermen from the area said around eight shoals have emerged on the Cox’s Bazar-Moheshkhali river channel.

Abu Morshed Chowdhury Khoka, president of an organisation called Cox’s Bazar Nagorik Samaj O Cox’s Bazar Bachao Andolon, said: “The River over� owed its banks this monsoon as it has become shallow, which cut o� several houses, marooned residents

and damaged crops on vast tracts of land.

Over the last few years, the river has turned into a narrow canal due to increased encroachment. People with in� uential backing have built illegal structures on the banks that obstruct the river’s � ow.

Abu Morshed said that these illegal structures need to be removed and a project to dredge the river is yet to be implemented, but added that concerned authorities should implement the project without further delays.

He said: “Proper dredging could reduce � ooding in the district and it will also help spur growth in the tourism industry.”

Sources from the Cox’s Bazar Water Development Board (WDB) however said reduced navigability was due to waste being dumped in the river.

Sarwer Ahmed, assistant director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) for Chittagong district, could not say how shallow the river had become. While WDB sources said they had taken initiatives to start dredging to allow better navigability on the river.

The WDB submitted a project proposal estimated at Tk2.25bn to the concerned ministry, normally it is the Ministry of Water Resources’ responsibility to maintain the water ways. The proposal mentions dredging 28km of the river, digging 40km

long canals on the banks and the construction of a 55km long � ood-control-dyke to ensure improved navigability and protect the river from further encroachment.

WDB’s executive engineer in Cox’s Bazar Main Uddin said: “Prime minister has promised various development activities in the district, and a project proposal was sent to the concerned ministry in this regard.”

Earlier, the ministry decided that the project would be implemented by the BIWTC, but that was shifted to give the WDB responsibility for it.

Main Uddin said they would start dredging after approval was given by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council. l

Two get death sentence in a murder casen Our Correspondent, Mymensingh

A Mymensingh court yesterday award-ed death sentence to two people in a murder case. The convicts were also � ned Tk50,000 each.

The convicts were Abdul Gafur and Abdul Hekim of village Duttgram in Iswarganj upazila of Mymensingh.

According to court sources, nine other accused in the case were also giv-en six month to one year jail term. They were Sadek, Saiful, Bacchu Miah, Ab-dus Sattar, Ruhul Amin, Abdur Rashid, Lal Miah, Chand Miah and Abul Kalam. Motiur Rahman, the prime accused of the case died in the meantime.

Shahed Ali, a farmer of village Dutt-gram in Iswarganj was hacked by Motiur and his men over a land dispute on April 16, 2003. Critically injured Shahed was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital where he succumbed to his in-juries. A case was lodged with Iswarganj police station. Later, police pressed a charge sheet against 11 people.

After examining witnesses and ev-idences, Human Kabir, the judge of Mymesnigh District and Special Judge Court delivered the verdict. l

Melting steel injures three in Chittagong factoryn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Three workers received burn injuries in Chittagong yesterday, when melting steel fell on them from a furnace in a steel mill in the Shitalpur area in Sita-kunda upazila.

The injured, Md Nabiul, 26, Md Rubel, 27, and Md Towhid, 27, workers of Shitalpur Auto Steel Mill, were ad-mitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), said Naik Md Hamid of CMCH police outpost.

He said the melting rod fell on the victims at around 4am, when they were working in the factory. Other workers rushed the three men to the CMCH, Hamid added. l

Robbers take away truck after killing driver n Our Correspondent, Magura

A truck driver was killed and his helper was left unconscious in Magura yester-day, when miscreants stole their soy-bean oil-laden truck.

The robbers killed Shirajul Islam, 57, who hailed from Katulia village in Kushtia, while his helper Jakir Hossain remains in a critical condition at the Magura sadar upazila health complex.

Jahangir Alam, o� cer-in-charge of Magura police station, said two crimi-nals, in the guise of passengers, got on the Kushtia-bound truck at Paturia fer-ry terminal.

The culprits later stole the truck, after drugging Shirajul and Jakir and leaving them unconscious on the side of the road near Hazarpur in Magura sadar upazila. Police later recovered the body of Shirajul from the spot and sent Jakir to the Magura sadar upazila health complex. A case has been � led with Magura police station. l

Eight jailed in Sylhet for killing n Tribune Desk

A Sylhet court on Monday sentenced two persons to life term imprisonment, three to 10 years’ rigorous impris-onment each and three others to six months’ jail each for killing a man � ve years ago.

The court also � ned the two lifers – Maruf Rashid and Foyzur Rahmanof South Sunamganj – Tk20,000each, in default, to su� er one year more in jail.

The court also � ned two convicts – Harunur Rashid and Mohammad Do-bir – were awarded 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment, Tk5,000, in default, to face six months more rigorous impris-onment.

Khoyer Mia, who was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment, was � ned Tk10, 000, in default, to su� er six months more in jail.

Other convicts, who were identi-� ed as Abdul Momin, Nurul Amin and Abdur Rahman, were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, the convicts killed a man named Tozzal Ali of South Sunamganj on August 8, 2008.

Police submitted a charge sheet against 13 people after investigating the incident.

Judge Dilip Kumar Debnath of Syl-het Speedy Trial Tribunal handed down the verdict and acquitted � ve other accused from the case. l

No let-up in Padma erosion in C’nawabganjn Tribune Desk

There is no abatement seen in the ex-tent to which the river Padma is con-tinuing to wreak havoc in

Alatuli and Debinagar unions of Chapainawabganj sadar upazila.

In the last two weeks, more than 300 homesteads, vast tracks of cropland, � ve mosques and three educational institu-tions have been engulfed by the river.

Displaced by the river erosion, sev-eral hundred families are now living a subhuman life in distant places where they have taken shelter.

Erosion by the river started taking its toll in Alatuli union in 2009. Since then, erosion wreckage takes place here regularly in every rainy season.

Likewise, during the current mon-soon too the river has started its erod-ing activities to the same high degrees after the recession of the � ood water.

Local people are very much angry as there has been taken no initiative so far by the authorities to stop the river erosion.

Alatuli union parishad chairman Khoaz Ali said an eight kilometer area from the ward no 5 to ward no 8 in his

union is under severe threat of erosion.In the last 15 days, homesteads of

more than 200 families in Lutarupara, South Alatuli, Kodalkati, Shikhatola, Sarkarpara, Roadpara and Kaiapara vil-lages have been devoured by the glut-tonous river.

Local people formed human chain more than once to press the govern-ment for taking immediate steps to thwart the erosion, but of no avail.

Now the places of Debinagar union where the river erosion is a common phe-nomenon in a dangerous form are: Debi-nagar union sadar, Horma, Upar Horma, Namo Horma and Saifuddin Tola.

Chairman of the union AKM Sahed-ul Islam said in the last 15 days, more than 100 homesteads, primary schools and � ve mosques have been engulfed by the river.

Chapainawabganj Water Develop-ment Board deputy engineer Abdul Hamid said the Water Development Board has undertaken a project involv-ing Tk165 crore to prevent river erosion in the areas.

Tender of the project has been invit-ed and works will start in next Decem-ber, he added. l

A human chain was formed in Barguna town yesterday, demanding punishment for the killers of Anik, who was student of Barguna Technical School and College FOCUS BANGLA

NSTU admission test starts on December 20n Our correspondent, Noakhali

The admission tests for � rst year enroll-ment at Noakhali Science and Technol-ogy University (NSTU) for the 2013-14 session will take place on December 20 and 21.

The admission forms for the tests will be available from October 10 to No-vember 20 at selected branches of Ja-nata Bank, while students will also be able to apply through Teletalk mobile phones.

Mominul Haque, registrar of NSTU, informed that the university’s regent board � xed the dates on Sunday night.

He also told the Dhaka Tribune that the university will use Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) machines this year for fast and e� cient grading of multi-ple-choice-question admission exam scripts.

More information on the admission process are available on the universi-ty’s www.nstu.edu.bd website. l

Locals of Gazipur town formed a human chain in front of Sripur Railway Station yesterday demanding that the Sripur station be made a stop for Jamuna intercity train DHAKA TRIBUNE

LGED in Bogra counting the cost of delayedfund releasen Hasibur Rahman Bilu, Bogra

Local Government Engineering Depart-ment (LGED) in Bogra would need to add around Tk15m on top of existing budgets to complete 15 rural roads, work on which could not be � nished due to delays in fund disbursement, said sources.

O� cials of the department said they would have to take into account the ex-tra amount at 30% rate enhancement considered.

LGED Executive Engineer Md Naim Uddin Miah said the local o� ce took the initiative for 16km of road work in several of the twelve upazilas of the district, including Dhanut, Shariakand and Sherpur, at a cost of Tk104.70m in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 � scal years.

Tenders sought bids and the re-sponsibility for the projects were given to contractors who started work with their own funds, and the LGED only disbursed 40% of the total cost for con-struction over two years. Sources said the department also failed to provide

funds for running bills, and conse-quently the contractors stopped work when they had not been paid for nearly 10 months.

An o� cial seeking anonymity said that the department lacked funds when the project was ongoing and therefore timely payments could not be made to the contractors.

However Naim Uddin said: “As the contractors failed to complete their work on time, the department has con-� scated Tk7.2m from the running bills and deposits.” He added that new con-tractors would be recruited to � nish the road works and con� rmed that the department had started the process to � nish the roads.

Meanwhile, several contractors who had been given the job by the depart-ment t said they had su� ered huge � -nancial loss due to indecision by higher authorities.

One contractor Md Feroze Ak-ther Polash said he had borne lossesworth Tk200,000 against such a small project. l

Polytechnic students stage demo in Chittagong, Satkhiran Our Correspondent, Satkhira

The students of Chittagong and Satkh-ira Polytechnic Institutes on Tuesday while staging a fresh demonstration to press home their two-point demand.

Our CU Correspondent reports: The students of Chittagong Polytechnic Institute staged a fresh demonstra-tion in the morning as the authorities concerned were yet to ful� ll their de-mands.

Mohammed Rubel, joint secretary of Chittagong Polytechnic Institute Student Union, said: “We took to the street again as part of our country-wide protest programme.”

In Satkhira, the Polytechnic stu-dents also boycotted their examination and locked the classrooms to press home the same demands. They took to the street and staged demonstration as the authorities concerned were yet to meet their demands as per their previ-ous assurance.

Earlier on September 30, Bangla-desh Technical Student Council an-nounced that they would call o� their demonstrations for next 15 days after a meeting with the education and public works secretaries, following two days of violent protests by polytechnic stu-dents across the country. l

Palestinians lose billions to Israeli bansn AP, Jericho

The Palestinians could expand their struggling economy by a third and slash their budget de� cit in half if Israel allowed them to use 61 percent of West Bank territory that is now largely o� -limits, the World Bank said Tuesday.

The bank and donor countries sup-porting the Palestinians have repeated-ly urged Israel to open up the restricted territory, known as Area C. However, the report released Tuesday marked the � rst detailed attempt to quantify Palestinian losses.

“Access to Area C will not cure all Palestinian economic problems but the alternative is bleak,” the report said. “Without the ability to conduct pur-poseful economic activity in Area C, the economic space of the West Bank

will remain crowded and stunted, in-habited by people whose daily interac-tions with the state of Israel are charac-terised by inconvenience, expense and frustration.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said most of the issues raised by the World Bank are to be set-tled in ongoing Israeli-Palestinian ne-gotiations. Developing the Palestinian economy is in Israel’s strategic interest, but political realities have to be taken into account, he said.

“The question of access in the Pal-estinian territories is closely related to the question of security,” he said.

The partition of the West Bank into spheres of control was part of interim deals that were to have concluded with a � nal Israeli-Palestinian agreement on the borders of a Palestinian state by 1999. l

Wednesday, October 9, 20138 DHAKA TRIBUNE International

French torture trial over crucifixion-style exorcismFour former members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church went on trial for torture Monday over a violent, cruci� xion-style exorcism carried out on a 19-year-old woman. Three men and a woman are accused of tying up the Cameroonian teenager in the position of Christ on the cross and keeping her bound to a mattress for seven days in the belief that her body had been possessed by the devil. The four, including the victim’s former boyfriend, were charged with kidnapping, acts of torture and barbarism. The victim testi� ed that her captors had kept her alive by feeding her small amounts of oil and water.

Diver attacked by shark off AustraliaA commercial diver su� ered “substantial” injuries after being attacked by a shark o� remote Western Australia, o� cials said Tuesday, with reports describing it as his second mauling in a decade. The man, named in media reports as Greg Pickering, 55, was with a diving crew from the Southern Wild Abalone Company when the shark struck o� Poison Creek beach, east of the town of Esperance. Another diver was in the area and came to assist Pickering’s crew with � rst aid before trans-porting him to shore for treatment. The ruggedness and remoteness of the area, in a wilderness park and accessible only by four-wheel drive, complicated his retrieval

and transport by ambulance to Esperance, 160 kilometres from the dive site.

Nepal police arrest 14 for rhino poachingPolice in Nepal have arrested 14 rhinoceros poachers including the alleged mastermind of a cross-border smuggling ring, a national parks o� cial said Monday. Tikaram Paudel, an o� cial at the Chitwan National Park which is home to most of the country’s rhinos, said police arrested Buddhi Bahadur Praja, the alleged kingpin of a network extending from Nepal to China’s Tibet, in mid-September.His arrest in the popular tourist city of Pokhara helped authorities uncover a network of poachers, said Paudel. Police have accused the 55-year-old smuggler of killing 12 rhinos over the past six years.

Japan man busted for arranging senior citizen sex Police in Japan have arrested a 70-year-old man over claims he arranged sexual encounters among senior citizens through newspaper adverts soliciting “tea-drinking companions”, police and press reports said Tuesday. Kiyohide Kuroda had allegedly been posting classi� ed ads in a Tokyo newspaper for around a decade before he was taken into custody last week. Press reports said Kuroda had helped arrange sex among about 1,000 men and 350 women, mostly in their mid sixties, earning some 30 million yen ($310,000) as commission in breach of Japanese prostitution laws.

WORLD WATCH

A woman walks past a gallery’s wall bearing the paintings by Song Changqing during the 2013 Beijing 798 Art Festival at the 798 Art Zone in Beijing October 8, 2013. The art zone, originally an unused factory, was transformed into a landmark of contemporary art in Beijing in the 1990s REUTERS

Canada threatens to pull Commonwealth fundingn AFP, Nusa Dua, Indonesia

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harp-er has threatened to withdraw funding for the Commonwealth in an escalating row over rights abuses by Sri Lanka ahead of a summit next month.

Harper con� rmed late Monday that he was boycotting the November 15-17 summit in Colombo, citing “the ab-sence of accountability for the serious violations of human rights” during and after Sri Lanka’s long civil war against Tamil separatists.

“I do this with somewhat of a heavy heart. This is a great disappointment,” he told reporters at an Asia-Paci� c summit on the Indonesian island of Bali, while stressing that Canadians were “absolutely overwhelming” in their view that he should stay away.

Sri Lanka’s government had shown a “considerable worsening” over the past couple of years in terms of democratic governance, post-war reconciliation and respect for human rights, Harper said.

He added that “obviously we will examine our engagement and our � -nancing of the Commonwealth, which is quite considerable, to make sure that we are wisely using taxpayers’ dollars and re� ecting Canadian values”.

After Britain, Canada is the sec-ond-largest contributor to the Com-monwealth budget, providing about $20m last year.

“It is unfortunate that these re-marks have been made,” Sri Lankan foreign ministry spokesman Rodney Perera told AFP. “These are matters that should be taken up at the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) in Colombo.”

Perera said Canada had con� rmed par-ticipation at the Colombo meeting at a lower level, “but that is good enough for us.”

In August, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay raised fresh concerns for the safety of journalists and activists she met during a week-long fact-� nd-ing mission to Sri Lanka.

She left the island arguing that de-mocracy had been undermined and rule of law eroded in Sri Lanka four years after the end of its bloody ethnic war, which by UN estimates claimed up to 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009.

The UN has reported “credible al-legations” that up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the � nal months of � ght-ing against the Tamil Tigers which end-ed in May 2009. Sri Lanka has reject-ed the charges and maintains that its troops did not kill a single civilian.

Harper’s remarks further clouded

the buildup to the Colombo summit af-ter Gambia announced last week that it was pulling out of the Commonwealth, whose roots lie in the former British Empire, saying it would “never be a member of any neo-colonial institu-tion”.

However, Australia’s new Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who met Harper in Bali on Monday, said he intended to travel to the summit despite calls for a boycott from human rights groups.

“You do not make new friends by rubbishing your old friends or aban-doning your old friends,” the pro-mon-archy Abbott said, vowing that his government would “take the Common-wealth seriously”.

He also underlined that Sri Lanka was an important partner in the coun-try’s � ght against people smuggling – a key issue in national elections that Ab-bot won last month.

Neither he nor Harper tried to per-suade each other to change their stand over the Colombo meeting, Abbot add-ed, saying there was an acceptance “that at di� erent times you’ll take a dif-ference approach.”

Others including British Prime Minister David Cameron are also expected to attend the gathering of the Commonwealth, which is headed by Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Charles is expected to deputise for his mother in Colombo. l

US remains hopeful of Asia trade dealn Reuters, Indonesia

The United States maintained it hopes to seal an ambitious trade pact on schedule by year-end despite resis-tance in some countries and the ab-sence of President Barack Obama from a regional summit that was to iron out di� erences on the pact.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday that world trade ministers may discuss the US-proposed Trans-Paci� c Partnership (TPP) on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization meeting that starts on Dec. 3, with a goal of reaching a deal by year-end.

But several outstanding issues re-main, he told reporters at the Asia-Pa-ci� c Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on the Indonesian island of Bali, citing issues ranging from intel-lectual property to state-owned enter-prises, labour and the environment. The World Trade meeting will also be held on Bali.

Although many APEC leaders have already left Bali, trade ministers are still in talks over TPP and a joint state-ment is expected to be issued later on Tuesday.

“I think there is a consensus that there has been substantial progress on outstanding issues and there are still remaining issues that must be ad-dressed,” Froman told reporters.

The three-year-old TPP talks, now involving 12 nations, are aimed at es-tablishing a free-trade bloc that would stretch from Vietnam to Chile to Japan, encompassing 800 million people, about a third of world trade and nearly 40 percent of the global economy.

A major goal of the Obama adminis-tration, the TPP would tear down trade barriers in areas such as government procurement and set standards for workers’ rights, environmental protec-tion and intellectual property rights.

Obama had hoped to settle the out-standing issues in discussions with other leaders at the APEC meeting but

was forced to cancel his visit because of the � scal stando� and partial govern-ment shutdown in Washington.

“We didn’t expect any real breakthrough on TPP in the meeting, especially with Obama not here. There is some progress though,” said a delegate from an East Asian country, who wished not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The TPP, by seeking unprecedented access to domestic markets, is prov-ing highly sensitive in developing countries such as Malaysia and Viet-nam, whose political systems could be shaken by intrusions in areas such as government procurement and state-owned enterprises.

Proponents call the TPP, the most ambitious trade pact since the demise of the Doha round of global talks, a “high-standard” agreement to elimi-nate tari� s and tackle an unprecedent-ed range of non-tari� barriers that re-strict growth. l

Syria air strikes target rebel assault on key basesn AFP, Beirut

Syrian regime war planes on Tuesday launched strikes against rebels in north-western Idlib province after they began an assault against two key military bas-es there, a monitoring group said.

“War planes carried out two air strikes on areas in the town of Maaret al-Numan as clashes continued around the Wadi Deif military base between rebels and regime troops,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The group said regime forces also bombed the areas of Maarshamsha and Deir al-Sharqi in the Maaret al-Numan region, causing casualties.

The strikes came a day after reb-el � ghters launched a major assault

against the two bases in Syria’s Idlib province, which is largely controlled by the opposition.

The o� ensive – dubbed “The Earth-quake” – aims to seize the Wadi Deif and Hamidiyeh bases, which rebels have laid siege to for almost a year.

Wadi Deif, a garrison housing a large quantity of weapons, lies to the east of Maaret al-Numan, and Hamidiyeh, the last military stronghold in the region still in regime hands, lies to the south of the town. Clashes continued over-night, and the Observatory said at least 10 regime troops and � ve rebels had been killed since the assault began.

On Monday, the Observatory said rebels had captured an o� cer and three soldiers in a raid in Hamidiyeh. l

Islamists blow up bridge in north Malin AFP, Bamako

Armed Islamic extremists on Tuesday blew up a small bridge near Mali’s larg-est northern town of Gao, wounding two civilians, police and local govern-ment sources said.

“Early this Tuesday, Islamists dyna-mited one of two small bridges near ... Bentia, about 50 kilometres from the frontier with Niger, leaving two civil-ians wounded,” said Ibrahim Cisse, a local councillor for the Gao region. A police source con� rmed the report.

Cisse said that the assailants, “wear-ing turbans,” arrived by motorbike at the bridge that crosses the Niger river at Bentia, then destroyed it.

“In this place... there are two small bridges. The aim of the Islamists was to blow up both bridges, but fortunately only the old one was badly damaged,” said a police source in Gao.

“The new bridge, which is the most frequently used, sustained only very slight damage,” the source added. l

Saudi renews support to Egypt against ‘terrorism’n AFP, Jeddah

Egypt’s interim president Adly Man-sour won fresh support from King Ab-dullah for his country’s � ght against “terrorism” as he Tuesday wound up a trip to Saudi Arabia, o� cial news agen-cy SPA said.

Mansour arrived Monday in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on his � rst o� cial trip abroad since he replaced Morsi af-ter the army deposed him on July 3.

Abdullah, who was the � rst leader to welcome Morsi’s ouster, a� rmed the kingdom’s support to Egypt against “terrorism, deviance, and sedition, and against whoever tries to interfere in Egypt’s internal a� airs,” SPA quoted him as saying.

Saudi Arabia had long seen Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood as a threat and along with other Gulf monarchies – excluding Qatar which supports the movement – quickly pledged � nancial aid to Egypt’s new military-installed authorities.

Mansour said he had come to Saudi Arabia to “thank” the monarch. l

Egypt considers security cameras at tourist sitesn Reuters, Cairo

Egypt may install security cameras at tourist sites to deter militants from targeting visitors, the Interior Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, just hours after suspected Islamists mounted an-other fatal attack on police.

“There’s a security plan in place in tourist areas that will maintain stability in these areas and there is complete co-ordination,” said the spokesman, Hany Abdel Latif.

“We expected all these problems because we are in a war against terror-ism,” he said without elaborating.

Al Qaeda-inspired militants have targeted police and soldiers almost dai-ly in the Sinai Peninsula since the army toppled Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in early July. The attacks are the most sustained since an Islamist insur-gency that was crushed by then-Presi-dent Hosni Mubarak in the 1990s. l

Turkey lifts ban on Islamic headscarves in civil service n AFP, Ankara

Turkey on Tuesday lifted a decades-old ban on Islamic headscarves in the civil service as part of wide-ranging reforms driven by the Islamic-rooted government.

The measure hailed by Prime Minis-ter Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose wife wears a headscarf, as a “step toward normalisation” came into e� ect after it was published in the O� cial Gazette.

“We have now abolished an archaic provision which was against the spirit of the republic. It’s a step toward normali-sation,” Erdogan said in a parliamentary speech to his ruling party lawmakers.

“A dark time eventually comes to an end,” he said. “Headscarf-wearing women are full members of the repub-lic, as well as those who do not wear it.”

Female civil servants are now al-lowed to wear the veil while their male

counterparts can sport beards, both symbols of Muslim piety which were banned by Turkey’s � rst president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. However, the ban remains in place for judges, pros-ecutors, police and military personnel.

Last week, Erdogan, who has been under � re for what critics say are creep-ing e� orts to Islamicise the nation, unveiled a package of democratic re-forms, using the opportunity to take on the highly controversial headscarf ban in the majority Muslim but staunchly secular nation.

Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has pledged to remove the ban on the wearing of headscarves in all areas since it came to power in 2002. It has already relaxed the ban at universities.

Turkey’s main opposition party however denounced the measure as a breach of the secular regime. l

North Korea warns US of ‘disaster’ over joint naval drilln AFP, Seoul

North Korea on Tuesday warned the United States of a “horrible disaster” and put its troops on alert over a major naval drill involving a US aircraft car-rier alongside South Korean and Japa-nese vessels.

The warning came after Seoul and Washington last week signed a new joint strategy to counter what they called the growing threat of a North Korean nuclear attack after the com-munist country restarted an ageing plutonium reactor.

That accord also drew a sharp rebuke, with analysts attributing the isolated regime’s recent bellicose rhetoric to its desire to attract the United States’ attention and draw it back into dialogue.

The planned drill in waters around the Korean peninsula involves South Korea, Japan and the United States, which has deployed the nuclear-pow-ered carrier USS George Washington.

North Korean troops had been ordered to “keep themselves fully ready to promptly launch operations any time”, a spokesman for the General Sta� of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement on the state news agency.

The North said the situation on the peninsula was “getting strained again” and warned the US that the closer its forces came “the more unpredictable disasters their actions will cause”.

“The US will be wholly accountable for the unexpected horrible disaster to be met by its imperialist aggression forces,” the statement said.

“The US should bear in mind that the Korean people and army are highly alert to promptly and con� dently cope with and foil blatant provocations of any hostile forces in the world with its own powerful military muscle.” l

A Palestinian woman argues with an Israeli soldier blocking the road during an army operation in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday AP

You do not make new friends by rubbishing your old friends or abandoning your old friends

Pakistan pushing � ghters into Kashmir before 2014: Indian Reuters, New Delhi/Srinagar

India’s army said on Tuesday that Paki-stani troops had helped a group of 30 to 40 insurgents stage the biggest incur-sion in Kashmir in years, linking it to a plan to push � ghters into the region as foreign forces withdraw from neigh-bouring Afghanistan.

Army chief General Bikram Singh’s remarks were the � rst direct allega-tion against Pakistan since the heavi-ly-armed � ghters crossed the Line of Control in Kashmir last month in a set-back for a government already seen as soft and indecisive.

The men were holed up in an abandoned village in the Keran sec-tor for nearly a fortnight, an Indian army source earlier told Reuters. That prompted comparisons with the Kargil con� ict further north in 1999, when hundreds of Pakistan-backed irregular troops occupied bunkers along a vast swath of the frontier.

“With the eyeball-to-eyeball deploy-ment along the Line of Control, it is well-nigh impossible for the terrorists to do any activity without the knowl-edge of the Pakistani army,” Singh told

the Times Now television.India and Pakistan have fought three

wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir. The two armies frequently exchanged artil-lery � re across the Himalayan region for years until a 2003 cease� re that has been fraying in recent months.

Pakistan was trying to push more � ghters into Kashmir before winter sets in, Singh separately told NDTV, ahead of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Indian intelligence o� cials have warned that militant groups that have been � ghting in Afghanistan for several years have been turning their sights to Kashmir as foreign forces leave to rein-vigorate the nearly 24-year insurgency there.

“Will have to see what happens in Afghanistan in 2014. Pakistan want to push in many terrorists before winter,” Singh was quoted as saying in an in-terview to be broadcast later by NDTV. His comments were posted on NDTV’s Twitter account.

Pakistan denies it is helping mili-tants cross the largely fenced border with India in Kashmir and has urged

India to hold talks to tackle the de-cades-old dispute over the region.

Pakistan’s envoy to India Salman Bashir was quoted as saying this week that Pakistan also had concerns and that the civilised way to deal with bilat-eral problems was to hold talks.

Talks have been slow to recover since the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai by Pakistan-based gunmen in which 166 people were killed. New Delhi has demanded that Pakistan act against the men who plotted the attack and take down what it calls the infra-structure of terrorism on Pakistan soil.

For the latest Kashmir intrusion, the Indian army cited as proof of Pakistani involvement radio intercepts, weapons with Pakistani markings seized from the area of operation and covering � re provided by Pakistani troops while the insurgents breached the de facto border.

“A large group of terrorists in� l-trating ... you mean to say that this is happening without the complicity of Pakistan Army? This is ridiculous,” Lieutenant General Sanjiv Chachra, northern army commander told report-ers in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. l

9Wednesday, October 9, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE InternationalDHAKA TRIBUNE International

Religious tension in Pakistan as Muslims dig up Hindu graven Reuters, Islamabad

A crowd of Islamic fundamentalists dug up the grave of a Hindu man in Pa-kistan, police said on Tuesday, in the latest sign of growing religious tension in the increasingly unstable province of Sindh.

Shouting “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greatest”, the crowd dug out the body and dragged it through the streets of the southern town of Pangrio in a dispute over the location of the grave.

“Tensions are still running high, but we are in control of the situation,” dis-trict police chief Shaukat Ali Khatian said.

“The incident was caused by some clerics of the extremist out� t of Ahle Sunaat Wal Jamaat, but later other Muslims joined in and dug up the body and threw it away.”

Hindus and Muslims have lived side

by side and shared graveyards in Sindh for centuries, but tension has been on the rise recently as extremists make in-creasingly aggressive inroads into the rural parts of the province.

Sindh is home to most of Pakistan’s small Hindu community, which num-bers about 2 million among a popula-tion of roughly 180 million.

Pakistan’s rocky relationship with neighboring India, a predominantly Hindu country, has fed tension be-tween the two communities in smaller towns, such as Pangrio.

The Hindu man, Bhoro Bheel, 30, had died in a road accident and was buried on Saturday, in line with caste tradition. The subsequent desecration sparked demonstrations and forced police to step up street patrols.

“Even our dead are not safe any-more in their graves,” Narayan Das Bheel, a member of the Hindu commu-nity, told Reuters. l

Indian army commander Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra, addresses a news conference in Srinagar, India AP

India moves to ease visa restrictions to attract tourists n AFP, New Delhi

India is looking at issuing visas on ar-rival for visitors from 40 more coun-tries, a minister has said, raising hopes it will overcome national security fears to boost its tourism industry.

A meeting of senior o� cials from the home, foreign and tourism min-istries, as well as intelligence o� cers, concluded on Monday evening with a consensus in favour of the sweeping visa reform.

“There was a consensus about initi-ating the process to make India a tour-ist-friendly country and extending the on-arrival visa facility to around 40 more countries,” Planning Minister Ra-jeev Shukla told the Press Trust of India news agency.

The new countries would include the United States and Britain — the source of about 25 percent of all tourists last year — as well as Canada, Brazil, Austra-lia and most western European nations including France and Germany. l

Myanmar frees prisoners ahead of regional summit n AFP, Myanmar

Myanmar on Tuesday began freeing dozens of its remaining detained ac-tivists, o� cials said, after the country vowed to release all prisoners of con-science by the end of the year.

“Our government will release 56 political prisoners,” presidential ad-viser Hla Maung Shwe told AFP, in comments con� rmed by correctional department o� cials.

Setting free dissidents detained ar-bitrarily under the former junta has been a cornerstone of reforms by a new quasi-civilian regime and has been warmly welcomed by the international community with the scrapping of most western sanctions.

Hundreds of political detainees have been freed since President Thein Sein took power in March 2011.

But activists say authorities are con-tinuing to prosecute dissidents and scores remain behind bars. They accuse the gov-ernment of using the headline-grabbing releases for political gain and leverage with the international community.

Thein Sein, who travelled on Tues-day to a meeting of regional powers in Brunei, announced there would be “no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar” by the end of the year during his � rst visit to London in July.

Numbers for political prisoners held in Myanmar vary, but Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party said there were around 140 activists held before Tues-day’s announcement.

Thet Oo, from the ex-detainees group Former Political Prisoners, told AFP that he could con� rm that some of the 56 had already been set free, add-ing that his organisation estimates that around 50 new activists have been held by the current regime.

“Twenty of them are in the pris-ons and the rest are facing trials. Most of them were charged for protesting without permission and under charges causing defaming to the state,” he said.

The arbitrary imprisonment of po-litical opponents was a hallmark of the previous brutal junta and sparked a web of western sanctions which sti� ed the economy. l

Myanmar women prisoners walk outside Insein Prison in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s Thein Sein has pardoned 56 political prisoners, moving forward with his pledge to by the end of the year release all those jailed for opposing the government AP FILE PHOTO

China police target online ‘Jihad’ talk amid rumour crackdownn Reuters, Beijing

Police in China’s Xinjiang region are cracking down on people who promote jihad online, state media reported on Tuesday, amid a nationwide campaign against internet rumours that activists say is a blow to freedom of speech.

Sprawling Xinjiang is home to the mostly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, many of whom harbour resentment of what they see as Chinese repression of their culture and religion. Some are cam-paigning for a separate Muslim state and there have been incidents of violence.

Xinjiang police were investigating 256 people for spreading “destabilising rumours” online, the Xinjiang Daily newspaper said. Of those, 139 spread rumours about jihad, or Muslim holy war, or other religious ideas. More than 100 had been detained.

“Our local public security bureaus are strongly cracking down on those who engage in illegal activities online,” the newspaper said. “Xinijang must not allow the internet to become a plat-form for crime.” l

UN says 2.7 bn people will be onlinen AFP, Geneva

Around 2.7 billion people – 40 percent of the world’s population – will be con-nected to the Internet by the end of 2013, the United Nations said Monday.

Another 250 million people came on-line in 2012, but 4.4 billion people remain unconnected, said the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Ninety percent of those not online live in developing countries.

The ITU also said there would be 6.8 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions – almost as many as there are people on the planet – by the end of the year.

South Korea leads the world in infor-mation and communication technology (ICT) development for the third consec-utive year, followed closely by Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland and Norway, the ITU said in its annual report. l

Chinese police allegedly � re at Tibetan protesters n AP, Beijing

A US-backed broadcaster is reporting that Chinese security forces � red into a crowd of Tibetan residents who were demanding the release of a fellow vil-lager detained for protesting orders to display the national � ag.

Chinese police also � red tear gas at those protesting Sunday in Biru county in the Tibet Autonomous Region and dozens were injured, Radio Free Asia said in its report Tuesday.

The report, which cited unnamed lo-cal and exiled Tibetan sources, could not be independently con� rmed. Local Com-munist Party and government o� cials either could not be reached by phone or hung up shortly after answering.

The International Campaign for Ti-bet earlier reported that authorities had intensi� ed the security presence in Biru county and nearby areas after residents refused orders to display Chinese � ags to commemorate National Day on October 1.

The ICT, a Tibetan rights group, said government work teams had been sent to Biru, known as Driru in Tibetan, ahead of the national holiday to compel local Tibetan residents to � y the � ag as part of an intensi� ed e� ort to enforce

loyalty to the Communist Party.In Sunday’s unrest, protesters were

calling for the release of a local resi-dent, Dorje Draktsel, who was detained last week after participating in demon-strations against the � ag order, the Ra-dio Free Asia report said.

The self-proclaimed Tibetan govern-ment-in-exile based in India said it has received reports of the � ring in Driru but had few details to provide. Spokes-man Tashi Phuntsok said by phone that the exiled Tibetans had heard that some protesters were injured but did not know how many.

China has claimed Tibet as part of its territory for centuries while Tibetans say they were largely independent prior to the occupation by communist troops in 1950. Many Tibetans say Beijing’s eco-nomic policies in the Himalayan region have largely bene� ted only Chinese mi-

grants and that they resent strict limits on Buddhism and Tibetan culture that the government imposes. China says it has made vast investments to boost the region’s economy and improve the qual-ity of life for Tibetans.

Meanwhile, in the northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang, an o� cial Chinese newspaper said authorities have detained more than 100 people from late June to the end of August for the spread of “religious extremism.”

The detentions, reported by the Xinjiang Daily, are the latest in an of-� cial campaign in Xinjiang to police the spread of ideas critical of Chinese government rule in addition to pouring troops into the restive region.

Germany-based Uighur activist Dilshat Rexit said Chinese authorities were using such charges as an excuse to crack down on Uighurs who go on the Internet to express their unhappiness about government repression. Xinjiang sees periodic outbreaks of anti-govern-ment and anti-Chinese violence, some of it inspired by resentment over economic marginalisation by ethnic Han migrants who have � ooded into the region in re-cent decades, along with restrictions on Uighur social and cultural life. l

‘I Am Malala’ n AP, London

A year ago, Malala Yousafzai was a 15-year-old schoolgirl in northwest Pakistan, thinking about calculus and chemistry, Justin Bieber songs and “Twilight” movies.

Today she’s the world-famous survivor of a Taliban assassination attempt, an activist for girls’ education — and a con-tender to win the Nobel Peace Prize later this week. It’s easy to forget she is still a teenager, and now a long way from home.

The memoir “I Am Malala” goes some way toward redressing that balance. Published around the world on Tuesday, the book reveals a girl who likes “Ugly Bet-ty” and the cooking show “Masterchef,” worries about her clothes and her hair, but also has an iron determination that comes from experience beyond her 16 years.

The book, written with the British journalist Christina Lamb, recounts Mala-la’s life before and after the moment on Oct. 9, 2012, when a gunman boarded a school bus full of girls in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and asked “Who is Malala?” Then he shot her in the head.

The shooting is described brie� y but vividly in the book, which is briskly writ-ten but full of arresting detail. “The air smelt of diesel, bread and kebab mixed with the stink from the stream where people still dumped their rubbish,” Malala remembers. One of her friends tells her later that the gunman’s hand shook as he � red.

Around that pivotal event, the book weaves Malala’s life story into the broader tale of her home region of Swat, a remote, mountainous region near the Afghan border. She says it is “the most beautiful place in the world,” but it’s also a crossroads traversed for millennia by armies and invaders, from Alexander the Great to Winston Churchill.

Malala considers herself a believing Muslim and a proud member of the Pashtun ethnic group, but recounts how from an early age she questioned her culture’s attitude toward women.

“When I was born, people in our village commiserated with my mother and nobody congratulated my father,” she writes. l

Vietnam lets churches thrive, but keeps controln AP, Vietnam

A year ago in a poor hill-tribe village, police rounded up members of a small Catholic sect who were accused of try-ing to create an independent state. The leaders are in jail, followers who es-caped have � ed into the jungle and of-� cers patrolling the muddy streets warn people to shun that o� shoot of the faith.

But the crackdown didn’t a� ect activities at the village’s church — actually an old lady’s house with a white cross � xed to a corrugated iron wall — or a larger church a short hike away, where priests teach young boys math and Vietnamese language in neat classrooms.

A rare unescorted trip to villages in Vietnam’s tightly controlled Central Highlands revealed the Communist government’s twin approaches to reli-gion: It allows state-sanctioned faiths to grow and even thrive, but continues to keep a close watch on all religious in-stitutions. All perceived challenges to its rule, religiously inspired or not, are harshly repressed.

The country’s record on religious

freedom is closely tracked by Washing-ton. The US seeks closer ties with Viet-nam, a former enemy turned important counterbalance to China in Asia, but it also wants Hanoi to show greater respect for human rights. Concerns by Congress over human rights could torpedo a free-trade deal Washington is negotiating with Vietnam and other Asia-Paci� c nations, US o� cials say.

Religious tension runs particularly deep in the Central Highlands, home to most of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities, who are known collectively as Montag-nard. Many have embraced Christian-ity, in part to distinguish themselves from Vietnam’s majority Kinh popu-lation, which is largely Buddhist. The Kinh have migrated to the highlands in large numbers since the Vietnam War, igniting tensions over land and fears among minority groups that their cul-ture and language are being diluted.

Human rights groups are not al-lowed in the Central Highlands’ Gia Lai province, and trips by journalists and diplomats are normally strictly con-trolled, making independent informa-tion di� cult to come by. l

An elderly woman sits at the door of a ‘house church’ in Kret Krot village in Vietnam’s central highlands AP

China has claimed Tibet as part of its territory for centuries while Tibetans say they were largely independent prior to the occupation by communist troops in 1950

Wind power mapping starts next monthOctober 1

Nazmul Khair Good decision but I am sure it will take a long time, as our politicians are reluctant to take good decisions.

Malcolm Arnold I am at a total loss to why the creation of power has not been suggested or explored from the tidal and river flows in the vast waterways of this country – the technology is already available. No country on the globe has river systems like here.

Nazmul Khair But we are reluctant to follow through because this option is not as profitable, as from quick rentals. We the citizens are like good guinea pigs for our politicians; they can charge us anything and we are happy to pay as long our party is in power!

Malcolm Arnold You know, this (hydropower) could create enough power so that Bangladeshis could pay very little for power and it could even be sold to India / Myanmar /Nepal.

Probir Renewable energy sources are the most sustainable options for humans to ensure a cleaner environment. We’re too late to take actions when they’re needed. After a few years, maybe we would see the government subsidising solar and wind power technologies for people to make use of the sunny days we have most of the year, and the wind in the coastal areas. The price of solar home systems for small industries is still too high to be in reach for the majority of the country. Moreover, when the subsequent governments have been carrying out the promotion campaigns with the help of di� erent international development partners, it continues much slower than needed.

Charge sheet not en-route to justiceThe charge sheet for the Hall-Mark scam excludes

the high pro� le names that were allegedly connect-ed with it. It is impossible that a scheme of such

magnitude could have happened without the involvement of the board members and the people who have signi� cant political sway to make sure they escape the repercussions, if there were any.

This action paints a sorry picture of the government and Anti-Corruption Commission’s commitment to serving the people’s cause and paves the way for more such scams to take place. It seems to send the message that, at the end of the day, it is possible to go unpunished even if you steal billions.

During the current government’s term, this is not the only scam that has not been taken care of. The fall of the share market or the Bismillah group scams have also not been resolved, and the perpetra-tors are still at large.

At the end of the day, the people who have swindled more that Tk35bn from a state-owned bank are little more than thieves who are being allowed to run free, and the people who were merely means to this end are being taken to task. A proper investigation would have indicted the very people who have been at the forefront of this white-collar crime of enormous magnitude, and not chase the people who simply followed orders and possibly had only a miniscule share of the loot.

Stealing such an amount is not a matter of a joke and has to be taken care of, regardless of who commits the theft. Else, people will lose all belief over the government and the mechanism that is supposed to safeguard and utilise the people’s money for the nation’s cause. All those involved have to be punished, no matter their position.

MLM law must be made imposableThe government has passed the Multi-Level Marketing

Activities (Regulation) Bill-2013 to put an end to MLM companies using the pyramid scheme to � eece people

out of their money.Numerous people have already become victims of such

schemes, and lost vast sums. The companies guilty of swindling these people must be held ac-countable and the victims should have their money returned to them.

While we are happy to see this piece of regulation being passed, we must reiterate that merely hav-ing such regulations is not enough. In fact, any law is worthless if not followed up with strict enforcement.

Up until now, there had been no regulation in place to put a check on such fraudulent activities. Thus, a number of companies had been able to take advantage of the situation, allegedly procuring licences through secondary parties, marketing substandard products, violating packaging rules and charging exorbitant prices for their products. These companies need to be charged with these crimes and pun-ished accordingly.

Likewise, more should be done to prevent such scams in the future. The only way to ensure this happens is for the MLM law to be fully implemented, allowing no room for corruption, and for all guilty companies to be held account-able.

Editorial10

www.dhakatribune.com

DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 2013

LETTER OF THE DAY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

Letters to the Editor

Rickshaw trapperOctober 3

I have gone through the news about the rickshaw trapper and then physically witnessed the said rick-shaw trapper set at the Modhubag approach towards Hatirjheel. I saw the wonderful performance of this simple, technical device, which has been invented by an engineer, Jahan E Alam.

It is needless to mention that the main reason for tra� c tangles in Dhaka city is due to the unruly plying of countless rickshaws. They also penetrate their long-ended, extended axle rods, beside the two-back wheels, at each other, and cause hour-long tra� c jams on the roads.

I personally feel proud of our engineer, Mr Alam, for such a wonderful invention that traps rickshaws in the rickshaw-banned areas. I would also like to mention Major Shakil for his work in sharing the implementation

of this incredible project in Hatirjheel. We feel, if all the left lanes of Dhaka city are facilitated

with such rickshaw trappers, each cross roads (where there are 4 left lanes out of 12 directions of a cross road) shall always remain free for other moving tra� c, and consequently, tra� c jams will automatically come down to a reasonable extent. For Hatirjheel, we feel if all other approaches all around the entrances of Hatirjeel are covered with similar rickshaw trappers, then Hatirjheel would remain free from any tra� c hazards, and its beau-ty as well as dignity shall remain long-lasting. Thanks again to Major Shakil and Engr Alam.

Nurul Alam

This is great!Amazad Hossain

Merely having such regulations is not enough. In fact, any law is worthless if not followed up with strict enforcement

This action paints a sorry picture of the government and Anti-Corruption Commission’s commitment to serving the people’s cause and paves the way for more such scams to take place

Base of the pyramidOctober 5

The Japanese PM’s praise of our women, calling them the “base of the pyramid” in develop-ment in Bangladesh, in his UN speech, was published by a local English daily on October 1. It was indeed a valued recognition. I may possibly not be wrong in feeling that our women are the most accomplished among the women of Muslim countries in the world.

The Japanese PM’s remark was based on the performance of Yaesmin, the “Poly Glue Lady,” for her achievements in familiarising women in her area to the advantages of this glue, which is now being used in Bangladesh, to easily clean all turbid water.

Frankly speaking, this is the � rst time I have heard about Poly Glue. I have never come across anything about it in any of our local English dailies. I would request you to look fur-ther into this matter through your local correspondents, so that the matter may be known. If the material is easily available, then many people in Dhaka, its outskirts, and in other cities and towns can also use it. I wonder if any NGOs are aware about this, or use it in their work, related to clean water in rural areas?

Engr SA MansoorDhaka

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FR Tower, 8/C PanthapathSukrabad, Dhaka-1207

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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 Tree (3)3 Constraint (6)8 Wading bird (4)9 Pithy saying (3)10 Sound of thunder (6)11 Stretcher (6)14 Separates (5)17 Glittering particle (5)20 Firmly � xed (6)24 Much ornamented (6)26 Groove (3)27 Way out (4)28 Leave o� (6)29 Arch (3)

DOWN1 Wicked (4)2 Thin fog (4)3 Dreadful (4)4 Take unjustly (5)5 Live coal (5)6 Sun personi� ed (3)7 Slender supports (5)12 Little devil (3)13 Sailor (3)15 Liable (3)16 Large cask (3)17 Weapon (5)18 Family members (5)19 Flying toys (5)21 That following (4)22 Newts (4)23 Neat (4)25 Regret (3)

Crossword

Code-Cracker

SUDOKU

11Op-Ed Wednesday, October 9, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE

Who eats free bhuna khichurin Abdul Matin

One of my friends dropped in unannounced recently with a basket of food in his hand. It

was raining outside. I did not go to the market. So, I was very happy to see the basket of food brought by my friend.

Looking at the basket, I was thinking of having bhuna khichuri (rice cooked with lentils) with chicken dupiaja (chicken curry) and fried hilsha � sh for lunch, a perfect meal on a rainy day!

The mood of my friend, however, confused me. While entering into my house, he was literally shouting, “No. No. I can’t bear it anymore. This is too much!”

Normally, people bring food or sweets on happy occasions. My friend always had a smiling face every time he brought sweets for me, particularly when Barack Obama won the two presidential elections.

I was naturally surprised by his outbursts.

“What is the problem?” I asked.

“Don’t you know? You must be kidding!” He replied.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” I acknowl-edged my ignorance.

“The whole world knows. There is no reason you should not know.” He was surprised by my ignorance.

“Please tell me what it is,” I re-quested.

“You know, the Republicans tried all possible tricks to beat Barack

Obama during the last two presidential elections. They failed. Now, they are taking revenge against him,” he said.

“Oh! Are you talking about the shutdown of the US government? Don’t worry.  I am sure they will � nd a solution,” I told him lightly.

“You can’t take it so casually!” He retorted at me and added, “About 800,000 federal workers are staying at home without pay. Another 1.3m

employees are working but may not be paid on time. The national parks and the National Zoo have closed down. I do not know if the poor pandas are getting enough food or not.”

His voice began to choke.“Calm down, my friend. Things will

be all right soon. Have a cup of tea.” I tried to console him and be hospitable to him.

He paid no attention to what I said.

I could see tears in his eyes. Suddenly, he said, “I have to leave now.”

I was surprised to � nd him in such a hurry. He often spent hours with me, gossiping over cups of tea.

“Why are you in such a hurry? You can’t leave without having a cup of tea.” I insisted.

“I am sorry. I don’t have time for tea. The post o� ce must have opened by now. I have to leave.”

“What will you do at the post of-� ce?” I asked.

“I collected some rice, lentils, a frozen chicken and a hilsha � sh. I want to post them as soon as possible,” he replied.

“Do you really want to post them and for whom?” I asked him, totally astonished.

“For President Barack Obama. I don’t know if he and his family have enough food or not! I am sure he is also without pay like the rest of the federal workers,” he replied as he wiped his tears.

He soon left with the basket of food which I thought he brought for me. While eating dal and alu bharta for lunch that day, I was only thinking about Barack Obama and his family enjoying a free delicious meal of bhuna khichuri with chicken dupiaja and fried hilsha � sh cooked by Michelle Obama. l

Abdul Matin is a former chief engineer of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.

India to stick with austerity despite looming electionn John Chalmers and Manoj Kumar

The Indian government will have to rein in spending and cut sub-sidies to meet its � scal de� cit

target, the country’s � nance minister said on Monday, underlining that an austerity drive will not be blown o� course by an election due next year.

P Chidambaram told Reuters ahead of a trip to the United States – where one stop will be to woo investors on the West Coast – that he will not allow the de� cit to cross a “red line” set at 4.8 % of gross domestic product this � scal year.

“We’ve issued austerity instruc-tions, it will bring us some savings,” he said.

The � nance minister’s vow to contain the de� cit means there will be little room ahead of a tough election to spur growth, which has slumped from a double-digit pace in early 2010 to below 5.0%, its lowest in a decade.

The government recently intro-duced a plan to distribute cheap food for two-thirds of the population, a step widely seen as wooing voters ahead of the election. But – without giving details – Chidambaram pointed to food subsidies as one area where spending would need to be addressed in coming months.

Along with pallid growth, Asia’s third-largest economy is facing stub-born in� ation, companies are strug-gling, and bank asset quality is wors-ening. But Chidambaram shrugged o� the risk of a cut in India’s sovereign credit rating, which is one precarious notch above junk status.

“There is no case for a downgrade,” he said in an interview at North Block, the sandstone colonial building that houses the � nance ministry in New Delhi. “If any rating agency is looking for candidates to downgrade there are half a dozen other countries.”

The Indian rupee was one of the hardest-hit emerging-market curren-cies recently amid alarm in � nancial markets about an imminent “tapering” of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus, falling by about 20% at one point from May.

It has recovered somewhat recently, and Chidambaram said the central bank may now be able to consider re-versing some of the liquidity tighten-ing steps it took to shore the currency up.

“If the volatility of the rupee has been contained and speculation has come to an end, the central bank may want to unwind some of the measures it took earlier,” he said.

On Monday the Reserve Bank of In-dia cut a key overnight interest rate, further dialling back an emergency measure it had imposed in mid-July in order to defend the rupee that had tightened market liquidity and pushed up borrowing costs.

Chidambaram said there would be some impact when the Fed’s tapering –

which was put on hold – does even-tually come, but it was now mostly factored into the market and he was con� dent that speculators had been put in their place.

“We think we have sent a message to everyone – don’t speculate on the rupee,” he said.

Chidambaram said the economic downturn was no reason to think that his Congress party, which has been weakened by years of fractious coa-lition rule and a string of corruption scandals, would be ousted in a nation-al election that must be held by May.

“Don’t write us o� so easily,” he said, adding that the next leader of the Congress party would be Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for most of its 66 years since independence.

“I am glad you acknowledge prime minister Rahul Gandhi, but that is a question you should put to him,” Chid-ambaram said, when asked if he would serve again in a government led by the party’s heir apparent if Congress wins a third straight term in o� ce. “The time has come for the torch to be passed on to a new and younger generation.”

Chidambaram dismissed the dazzling emergence of opposition figurehead and candidate for prime minister Narendra Modi on the national politi-cal stage as “largely media created.”

He conceded that the Hindu na-tionalist leader had united the rank and file of the Bharatiya Janata Par-ty and “gained some traction among urban youths,” but said the rising po-litical star was someone with a “very, very chequered track record.”

Modi is widely credited with bringing investment, regular elec-tricity supplies and infrastructure to the state of Gujarat, where he has been chief minister for more than a decade.

But Chidambaram downplayed the double-digit growth enjoyed by the coastal state, referring to a new national development index that gave it a middling “less developed” ranking.

Modi was chief minister of Gu-jarat when deadly communal riots raged there in 2002. He has always vehemently denied charges that he turned a blind eye to the violence, and a Supreme Court inquiry found no evidence to prosecute him. l

This article was syndicated from Reuters.

Righting wrongsn Ikhtisad Ahmed

A man once went on a mis-sion to rule, by spreading fear and hatred, and by appealing to the ego that resides within every

individual. His unrelenting propagan-da machine meant that his campaign gathered not supporters, but converts and followers.

Religion became what best suited his political purposes. Facts were what he decreed to be factual. He always had on the best new clothes. In 1920, this man was Adolf Hitler. In 2001, a lesser version of him was George W Bush. In 2010, lesser still, he was Nigel Farage.

The US revels in the role it has cast itself in: that of governing the world and always being right. Countries fall in line, meekly or begrudgingly, as doing otherwise is hazardous to their health.

The myth of infallibility re� ects in Americans. Being wrong is un-Ameri-can, so is constructive criticism, since what is right cannot be criticised. Across the Atlantic from the new emperor of the world is the nation whose past empire was always bathed in sunlight.

Imperial pride has given way to a bourgeois nationalism that reminisces former glories and is desperate to be relevant today. It may not be brazen enough to celebrate the day that pilgrims landed on foreign soil to mark

the beginning of the purging of natives and colonisation of their land, but the UK believes it has long played the decisive role in global politics.

In the face of such � erce nationalism, facts matter not. God above does judge, but He does so in accordance with the wishes of his representatives on earth: members of far-right fringe elements who have put the Pope out of a job.

While his search for new employment has seen him begin to speak sense, the marginal voices have shouted loudly and repeatedly in anger. Worryingly, they have seeped into mainstream pol-itics, and are increasingly in� uencing political thought and conscience.

They have done so by overlooking facts and policy, speaking instead to the heart of the uneducated masses. That particular battle of the heart and the head has proven to be a no contest. Their unabashedly dis-criminatory message, spoken with vitriol disguised as passion, has been received.

This manufactured version of

the present has seen the Tea Party prevail over saner heads in the US to seize the Republican agenda, and the United Kingdom Independence Party enjoy a surge in popularity across the Atlantic that has the Conservatives towing the line.

The deceptive names themselves demand respect by falsely invoking nationalism and patriotism.

Bangladesh is likely to take its lead from the imperial rulers, new and old. Politicians on both sides of the aisle already say whatever they want to, unchecked. They speak of the past, present and future, contradicting reality and themselves, yet somehow producing a plausible version.

Delusional Dhaka-dwellers who over-estimate their in� uence in the grander scheme aside, the populace hangs on their every word, believes in them, gets riled up by them, acts according to them.

Short-sighted, the masses, addition-ally, � nd it easy to believe that things are worse now than they were when a new

government was last formed. Thus, the promise that things will be better under a di� erent government is an easy case to make.

It is stated casually, with little thought given by the leaders or the public to how that will be ful� lled in a discourse of the heart, not the head. People are told to be better Muslims and better Bangladeshis, as their leaders will be.

It is portrayed as the panacea that Bangladesh has been waiting for. On the contrary, if the trends in the US and the UK are anything to go by, it is the cancer that will be nigh on impossible to cure if it is fostered. It has already spread to cause substantial corrosion, verging on metastasising to the point of no return.

The comedic threat of the Tea Party and UKIP tragically became a reality be-cause of the commoner than common man. He does not question when his religion is perverted to give him false hope, nor does he shy away from a big-otry-fuelled nationalism that promises a future without darkness.

This potent power of propaganda may mean that, while the intellectual, philosophical, transcendental and met-aphysical battles rage on in the capital, the war is already lost. Whoever ascends to the throne post-election – if and when that happens – may well be two steps left of Hitler. God forbid he is two steps right of him. l

Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer.

It may not be brazen enough to celebrate the day that pilgrims landed on foreign soil to mark the beginning of the purging of natives and colonisation of their land, but the UK believes it has long played the decisive role in global politics

For President Barack Obama. I don’t know if he and his family have enough food or not! I am sure he is also without pay like the rest of the federal workers

Modi is widely credited with bringing investment, regular electricity supplies and infrastructure to the state of Gujarat

World War II Nazi propaganda and counter propaganda WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Worrying times for the Nobel laureate AFP

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 201312

ExhibitionDhamrai Metal CraftBrass and bronze sculptureexhibitionEMK Centre, Dhanmondi 27

I amGautam ChakrabortyTime: 1:00am – 7:30pmGalleri Kaya, Sector 04, Uttara

Invitation to the DanceCarel RichterTime: 12 - 8pmBengal Art Lounge, Gulshan

TUMI (YOU)Mostofa Jamil Akbar Shamim Time: 6:30 pmInstitute of Asian Creatives Road 36, House 9, Gulshan 2

Group Photography ExhibitionPOV_Prime 50’s: Season 1Time: 3pm – 8pmDhaka Art Center (DAC) House-60, Road-7A Dhanmondi R/A

FilmNari Cholochchitra Nirmatader Cho-lochitra Utsab 2013Time: 3pm – 9pmNational Art Plaza Auditorium, BSA

TODAY IN DHAKA

ONTV

MOVIE4:41pm WB17 Again9:30pmHBORush Hour 3

COMEDY4:30pm Z CafeJust For Laughs7:30pm FXIt’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

MISC3:30pm Channel (V)V Superstar Preview8:30pm AXNSo You Think You Can Dance

NEWS6:45pm RTVShondhar Shongbad10:00pm MaasrangaPrimetime news

Dance drama Dhaka Amar Dhaka was staged at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on October 7 as part of a dance festival. Around 15 dance productions were presented as part of BSA’s elaborate programme upholding the rich heritage of Bangladesh SADIA MARIUM

Topu comes up withthird solo album

n Afrose Jahan Chaity

Popular singer Topu’s third solo album “Ar Tomake” hits the market today through a launching ceremony at Café 33 in Baily Road. The album is being released under the banner of G-Series.

His last solo album was released be-fore two and a half years ago. For the � rst time in his musical career, Topu

has composed all the songs of his new album along with his lead guitarist She-tu. The accomplished singer also wrote all the songs except for one written by Robiul Islam Jibon.

The album features ten songs that are “Ar Tomake,” “Phire Ay,” “Ebhabe Na,” “Sharthopor,” “Ekhane Ebhabe,” and four more songs which include an instrumental piece of the title track “Ar Tomake.”

Regarding the album, Topu shared with the Dhaka Tribune: “I have done new things in my album ‘Ar Tomake.’ The songs are very melodious and rhythmic. Hopefully, I think the audi-ence will enjoy the extract in the song and will love them, as they always showed their appreciation for my mu-sic.”

Topu has also expressed his satis-faction, saying: “We have used more acoustic sounds rather than electronic sounds. We tried our best to give good quality songs to the music lovers. This time, I became more conscious about lyrics so that my fans won’t get disap-pointed. I request that the audience buy original CDs from the market.”

Topu also shares: “I am planning to bring out music videos of the album, after some days.”

Topu’s � rst album “Bondhu Bhabo Ki” released in 2008 and second album “She Ke” came out in 2010. Both the al-bums turned out to be big hits. l

Esquire chooses Johansson as the ‘sexiest woman alive’n Entertainment Desk

American actress Scarlett Johansson has been named the sexiest woman alive for the second time by Esquire, the men’s life-style magazine said on Monday.

“The Avengers” star was named the sexiest woman in 2006 and is the only woman to have been given the title twice by the publication. The annual recipient of the title is chosen by Esquire editors.

Husky-voiced Johansson, who rose to prominence as a teenager in the 2001 cult � lm “Ghost World,” stars in three � lms this fall. In “Don Jon” she plays the girlfriend of a pornography addict and in the sci-� thrill-er “Under the Skin” she is a seductive ex-traterrestrial. She voices a man’s computer

companion in “Her.”“You know, I gotta hustle,” Johansson

told the magazine of her busy work sched-ule. “I’m a 28-year-old woman in the mov-ie business, right? Pretty soon the roles you’re o� ered all become mothers. Then they just sort of stop.”

Johansson said last month she was en-gaged to marry French journalist Romain Dauriac. Her previous marriage to actor Ryan Reynolds ended in 2011 after three years.

Last year’s sexiest woman, according to Esquire, was American actress Mila Ku-nis. Barbadian pop singer Rihanna, British actress Kate Beckinsale and South African actress Charlize Theron have all been given the “sexiest” distinction by the magazine. l

Krrish 3 game launched by Microsoftn Entertainment Desk

Microsoft launched the o� cial “Krrish 3” game which will be available on Windows tablets smartphones, and laptops and is based on the Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan-starrer “Krrish 3” movie releasing next month.

The game has been developed by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment and Gameshastra, Microsoft said in a re-lease. “The game gives a real taste of all the ‘Krrish 3’ action with multiple char-acters, numerous weapons and amazing graphics,” it stated on Monday.

The game is available for Windows

smartphones now, while for tablets and PCs users can download it by the end of the week from Windows Store, it said.

Set against the backdrop of Mumbai, the game has six levels, three of which are set in the old city and three in the newer parts of Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik says he used to feel “unbreak-able and unstoppable” after wearing his superhero suit while shooting for “Krrish 3.”

Directed by Rakesh Roshan, the � lm is set for a Nov 1 release. It also stars Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Vivek Oberoi in pivotal roles. l

Share Bazaar Dot Com airs tonighton ETVn Entertainment Desk

For the � rst time in Bangladesh, a dra-ma is made based on the share bazaar (stock exchange) of the country. Dra-ma series “Share Bazaar Dot Com” will air every Tuesday and Wednesday at 9:30pm on ETV.

The drama series is made with the input from share bazaar experts and the entire process of the share market is highlighted in the play.

The play puts emphasis on the fundamentals and analysis skills re-quired to do share business and bringforward stories of small investors in the market.

“Share Bazaar Dot Com” shows the stories of the people who went into the business without having proper infor-mation and on idea of the business and as a result lost everything they owned.

The interesting drama series is writ-ten by Musta� zur Rahman and the script and direction is by Nayan Milton. Popular soap actors Apurba, Hillol, Jen-ny, Dipa Khandaker, Humaira Himu, Shameem, Nayan Babu, Raju Ahmed and others acted in the play, which tells a story that thousands in the country can relate to. l

Bengal Foundation holds classical music workshopn Entertainment Desk

Bengal Foundation has organised a three month long classical music workshop prior to the second installment of the “Bengal Classical Music Festival” scheduled to begin on November 28.

The workshop, titled “Sangeet Aboyob,” began on September 26 and is being held at the Bengal Café in Dhan-mondi on every Thursday (3-5pm) and Saturday (10am-12pm).

The workshop, designed by Ch-hayanaut’s classical music teacher Dr Rezwan Ali, highlights the history of Hindustani Classical Music, grammat-ical structures of di� erent ragas, and the aesthetics and philosophy of classi-cal music and more. The workshop will conclude on November 16.

Any classical music enthusiast can join the workshop free of charge.

Director of Bengal Foundation Sub-ir Chowdhury opened the workshop by delivering the welcome address on September 26.

Among others Saju Ahmed, Asit Dey and Kamol Khalid will conduct work-shops on classical music, dance, instru-ment and others on di� erent days.

The repertoire of the event also fea-tures documentaries on classical music gurus like Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Alla Rakha, Pt Birju Maharaj, Pt Bhim-sen Joshi, Ustad Bismillah Khan and Pt Ravi Shankar.

The organisers informed that the huge response they received at last year's classical music festival encouraged them to organise such a workshopl

Scholastica stages Moliere’s The Miser n Shadma Malik

The annual theatre staging of Scholas-tica took place yesterday at the STM Hall of the school’s Uttara campus. The students staged Moliere’s “The Miser” and left the audience enchanted with their excellent performance.

Scholastica’s theatre club is one of the consistent group who stages mas-terpieces of English playwrights. The play is directed by Kazi Tou� kul Islam Emon, who is also an activist of the Prachyanat theatre troupe.

The 17th century talented playwright Jean Baptise Moliere’s “The Miser” is a satirical comedy-based drama about a central character Harpagon, a wealthy miser, who wishes his daughter Elise to marry a wealthy old man Anselme.

To keep and further his wealth, the miser did not hesitate to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to an old man. Not only that, he also plans to marry the girl his son has set his heart upon to bene� t � nancially.

Father and son become rivals as they have chosen the same woman. To

take control of their own destinies, the children of the old miser stage a rob-bery, forcing their father to give up his menacing plans of their weddings in return for the restoration of his wealth.

The students gave a tremendous e� ort to give a professional look in the set, costumes, and props. On the other hand, their acting captivated the audi-ence. Moreover, the live music present-ed by the students simply added more life to the theatre piece.

The director shared: “The class and coaching time of the students

were rescheduled according to therehearsal time. Such support from the teachers and dedication from the stu-dents made the production successful.”

The play was a unique opportunity to enhance their learning experience and develop their con� dence in public speaking and social skills. The educa-tional institution believes that theatre will enable the students to grow aes-thetically. Also, the platform provides knowledge on historical genre of acts by popular playwrights. l

Dazzling theatre performance by Students of Scholastica AMIRUL RAJIV

Mush� q con� dent of good resultn Minhaz Uddin Khan

from Chittagong

Bangladesh captain Mush� qur Rahim wanted his team to be mindful of the 4-0 thrashing they in� icted on New Zealand during the kiwi’s last tour in 2010, but was keen to stress that things were dif-ferent this time and nothing should be taken for granted at Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (ZACS) yes-terday.

“Not exploit. We are obviously moti-vated because of the win in 2010, but to be honest, Test cricket is a di� erent ball game entirely and we are playing Tests after a long time. We just played one three –day match to prepare and a few competitive games in the premier league (Dhaka Premier League), but Test cricket is di� erent,” the Bangladesh skipper said at the pre-match conference at ZACS yesterday.

“To be honest our bigger challenge is with ourselves rather than against them (New Zealand) because we are playing Test cricket after a long time. If we are facing trouble for the new wicket and a new squad, then I expect it to trouble

them three times more, so we are quite habituated and we are hoping to get used to the pitch fast,” he added.

Bangladesh’s batting has been � ring in recent times and have posted totals of 500 and even 600 in the recent past. The � nishing, however, has not been quite as good.

  “We are trying to work a lot more because it is often seen that we play well in the � rst three days and then lose because of the last two days. From the Sri Lanka tour, we kept reminding ourselves after each session to perform well in the next so that we can play well throughout the match. So we have these short aims that we are trying to achieve and hopefully we can play well in the entire Test and be consistent,”

said the wicket-keeper batsman.Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will

be one of the men that the team will be banking on to turn in a critical perfor-mance. Though Shakib’s recent injury troubles have kept him away from crick-et and rain denied him from time-in-the-middle in the washed out three-day practice match, Mush� q is counting still on Shakib.

“It would have been good had he played the three day match, but we have to do with what time we have. He is a smart player and he can adjust. He might be a little rusty but he can adjust as the game progresses. Hopefully he can be amongst the runs which will be good for us,” said Mush� q.

Though Mush� q thinks that a few more longer-version games could have aided his team in preparing for the very important home series, the 25-year old is expecting a series win.

“Yeah, there is obviously hope for a series win and we will play to win. What-ever there is to do we will do all that to win not only the Test series but also the ODI and the Twenty20,” said the opti-mistic Mush� q. l

14

13DHAKA TRIBUNEWednesday, October 9, 2013

SportDid you know?

14 15 Kiwi skipper McCullum looks ahead

Sunderland’s newly appointed head coach

Gus Poyet is the � rst Uruguayan to manage a team in the English

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Michu relishing challenge of securing Spain spot

Open season as English big guns mis� re

Marshal Ayub - birthof a star? n Mazhar Uddin

13 years ago a boy from Jurain started practicing cricket under the eye of his uncle Mohammed Yakub at the Dhupkhola ground in Gendaria. The boy looked promising right from and today, it is no surprise that the stylish right hander is on the verge of playing his � rst Test match for Bangladesh in place of his favorite cricketer Mohammed Ashraful.

Marshal Ayub is all set to bat at the all-important number three position in his � rst Test against New Zealand today.

Marshal was born into a relatively lower class family as the second of four sons and started his national cricketing service in 2000 as the captain of Bangladesh U-13 team which toured Shiliguri that year. His rise was a meteoric one as he continued to impress the selectors at the junior levels and played at every age-level team for Bangladesh.

“I have played for Bangladesh U-13 team in 2000 and I used to practice under my uncle Yakub who was my � rst coach,” said Marshal.

The stylish right hander later played for High performance squad and also in the Bangladesh “A” team. His solid and pleasing-to-the-eye performances continued, Marshal sustained a knee injury in 2007 which kept him out of cricket for three months.

“I had a very bad injury on my knee back in 2007 while playing for Academy team and later I missed the Dhaka league season that year, which was very crucial for me. Later I had an operation on the knee in India, which I paid for myself,” said Marshal.

After returning to the � eld, Marshal continued to excel at the domestic level. Last season, he struck two double centuries and smashed a hundred in a recent practice match. The selectors were unable to ignore what the talented Marshal o� ered the national side any longer.

“I always try to play my natural game and I worked hard last season. I batted

for hours in the net which paid o� for me and as a result, I got the chance,” said an excited Marshal.

The 24 year old has been close to earning a national cap before. He was named in the primary squad for the T20 World Cup in 2007 and included in the Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year, but did not make his international debut.

It was Mohammed Ashraful’s confession to being involved in � xing activities – a move that saw the youngest ever Test centurion suspended from all forms of cricket – that opened the door for Marshal to step into the national team. It was a bitter-sweet experience for the player, as Ashraful is one of his cricketing heroes.

“Ashraful bhai is one of my favorite cricketers but it’s a part of life and de� nitely I will try to give my everything ful� ll the expectations of the Bangladesh people,” said a determined Marshal.

Dream come true or otherwise, Marshal is philosophically only looking to what is immediately ahead. “I only thinking about this Test match, nothing further. My approach will be the same as ever – the same as in � rst class cricket – I’m just going to try and play my natural game.”

Marshal’s outlook is one that is supported by the captain of the Bangladesh team Mush� qur Rahim, who has taken the � eld many a time with the newcomer at the junior level. Marshal explained, “Mush� q told me that I have nothing to lose and asked me to play my natural game – and leave the rest to God. He also said I’d be batting at number three,” said Marshal. l

Game on in Chittagongn Minhaz Uddin Khan

from Chittagong

The last time B a ng l a d e s h met New Zea-land in a Test match at Chit-

tagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Sta-dium (ZACS) was in 2008 and it was only Daniel Vettori’s 70 odd runs that denied the home team a win. With the memo-ries of that match having faded away and the convincing 4-0 result in the ODI series of 2010 to bolster Bangladesh’s ex-pectations, the two teams are set to meet once more at the same ground in the � rst match of a two Test series starting today.

Inclement weather washed out a three day warm up game for the Kiwi’s but the last two days have been blessed with bright sunshine. Both teams have taken advantage of the weather to en-gage in practice at the ZACS as they pre-pare for the big clash.

The last two years have seen the Ti-gers progress in the longer format of the game, especially under the leadership of wicket-keeper/batsman Mush� qur Rahim. The team won the last Test they played in Zimbabwe in April to square the away series 1-1.

On the batting side of things, Bangla-desh’s middle order has been reasonably solid in recent times, while opener Ta-mim Iqbal – who alternates between bril-liance and carelessness – has come to be feared by almost all. Nonetheless, there are likely to some changes to the line-up for the � rst Test – which will be played on a recently-laid wicket.

Top order batsman Anamul Haque Bijoy who missed the Zimbabwe tour, is likely to open the innings with Tamim. In the absence of Mohammad Ashraful, who is out of cricket on � xing allega-

tions, Marshal Ayub is likely to make his debut at the all-important number three position. The number four spot is more uncertain with both Naeem Islam and Mominul Haque having proved their worth in recent times. Skipper Mush-� qur Rahim is expected to play a sig-ni� cant role with the bat himself and his recent performances - which includes the � rst ever double century from a Ban-gladeshi player in Sri Lanka earlier this year – supports the high expectations the country has of the captain.

Bangladesh are likely to announce a � nal 11 that includes eight players ca-pable of scoring a century without caus-ing surprise. Rubel Hossain and Robiul Islam are likely to be the two specialist pace bowlers and the big question is who will be the specialist spinner. Ab-dur Razzak or Sohag Gazi are � ghting for the � nal slot, to pair up with all-rounder and left arm orthodox spinner Shakib Al Hasan.

While injury troubles have kept a number of key Kiwi players benched, their morale remains high as they try to erase the memories of their last tour of the youngest member of the Test match club. With Vettori missing, the spin bowling will rest on left arm bowler Bruce Martin on what is expected to be a spinner-friendly wicket. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi is also likely to make his debut.

On the batting front, the visitors will look to established stars Brendon McCul-lum and Ross Taylor to lead the way, but newcomers Kane Williamson and Hamish Rutherford may also make their way into the team. Another newcomer, Bradley Watling, might keep wickets to relieve skipper McCullum from the additional duty. McCullum also hinted that either one of left-arm paceman Corey Ander-son or batting all-rounder Dean Brownlie might make it into the playing 11. l

Bangladesh’s Nasir Hossain, foreground, catches the ball during a practice session ahead of their � rst Test cricket match against New Zealand at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday AP

Nazmul set to become president on Fridayn Raihan Mahmood

Nazmul Hasan, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) ad-hoc committee is set to become the � rst elected president of the apex body of the country’s cricket on Friday.

The BCB elections are scheduled for Thursday and the elected directors will be voting to elect the president the day after the elections. As per the new con-stitution of BCB, the elected directors will be electing the president through a voting process.

Nazmul Hasan, Ahmed Sajjadul Alam and Ismail Haider Mallik were nominated as the directors of BCB by the National Sports Council and they

withdrew their nomination papers on Monday.

With the category-2 directors all set to be elected unopposed, the elections will be limited to two directors post from the Dhaka division, one director post from the Rajshahi division in cate-gory-1 and one director post in catego-ry-3. Former national skipper Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Monjur Kader and Mirza Zillur Rahman are vying for the two director posts of Dhaka division, Ra� usshams Paddy and Saiful Alam Swapan are competing for the Rajshahi division and former national skippers Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu and Khaled Mahmud Shujon are � ghting for the lone director’s post in category-3. l

Badal slams BCB n Raihan Mahmood

Cricket organiser Lutfor Rahman Badal slammed the Bangladesh Cricket Board for anomalies and irregularities at a press conference at the Hotel Purbani yesterday.

He presented a total of 12 points to support his claim. The points included the BCB elections not being held in true democratic spirit, the concerned people being motivated to cash in on their po-sitions and they being involved with all BCB works with most of the big budget jobs done without a tender process, many of the ad-hoc committee mem-bers being inexperienced and the for-eign relations of BCB being at the lowest level they have hit in recent years.

Badal also noted that Bangladesh have to play in the quali� ers for the WT20 Cup and the BCB allowing play-ers from competition Zimbabwe and Afghanistan learning about the condi-tions they would encounter while play-ing the Dhaka Premier League. He also pointed out that BCB had failed to form a tribunal to investigate match � xing al-legations despite 40 days having passed since the ICC paved the way for such a move.

“The amendments to the BCB consti-tution are just a mockery. The existing committee members have penned it to serve their own causes and the whole election process has become most con-troversial. The marketing of BCB has hit the lowest level. Overall the BCB is now surrounded by failures,” concluded Badal. l

Shamim, Ranjit share leadn Shishir Hoque

Indian golfers Sha-mim Khan and Ran-jit Singh moved to the top of the stand-ings after the second

round of the bti International Golf Championship at the Kurmitola Golf Club yesterday. Shamim carded a six-under-par 72 and Ranjit clubbed four-under-par 74 and both totaled eight-under-par 136 to leapfrog overnight leaders Jamal Hossain Mollah and Md Saiyum of Bangladesh. Jamal is closely following the Indian duo with a seven-under-par 137 after a two-under par score in the second round.

Sitting in third position are Md Na-zim, Raju Ali Mollah and Saiyum with a six-under-par score. l

BOA severs tie with Waliullah n Raihan Mahmood

Bangladesh Olympic Association has ter-minated Col. (Rtd) M. Waliullah tenure as Chief Operations O� cer and Director General. The decision came into e� ect on October 1 and Col. Wali asked about the termination bene� ts at that time.

Commenting upon the subject, BOA secretary general Syed Shahed Reza said all the dues will be met in accor-dance with existing guidelines. l

Probable SquadsBangladeshTamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Marshall Ayub, Mominul Haque/Naeem Islam, Mush� qur Rahim (capt & wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah, Sohag Gazi/Abdur Razzak, Robiul Islam, Rubel Hossain

New ZealandPeter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (capt), Dean Brownlie/Corey Anderson, BJ Watling (wk), Neil Wagner, Doug Bracewell/Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult, Bruce Martin

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 201314

MIND THE WINDOWS!

Points TableTeam P W D L GD PtsArsenal 7 5 1 1 6 16Liverpool 7 5 1 1 6 16Chelsea 7 4 2 1 6 14Saints 7 4 2 1 5 14Man City 7 4 1 2 9 13Tottenham 7 4 1 2 1 13Everton 7 3 3 1 1 12Hull 7 3 2 2 -1 11Man United 7 3 1 3 1 10Aston Villa 7 3 1 3 1 10Newcastle 7 3 1 3 -3 10West Brom 7 2 3 2 1 9West Ham 7 2 2 3 2 8Cardi� 7 2 2 3 -1 8Swansea 7 2 1 4 -3 7Stoke 7 2 1 4 -3 7Fulham 7 2 1 4 -4 7Norwich 7 2 1 4 -4 7Crystal Palace 7 1 0 6 -8 3Sunderland 7 0 1 6 -11 1

Britain’s Prince William warned footballers to watch the Buckingham Palace windows on Monday as Queen Elizabeth II’s o� cial residence staged the � rst football match in its 308-year history. A match between two of England’s oldest amateur teams took place in the 39-acre gardens of the famous central London landmark as part of celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of the Football Association. William, president of the FA and second in line to the British throne, was on hand to oversee the event AP

I won’t smoke again: Wilsheren AFP, London

Arsenal mid� elder Jack Wilshere has promised never to smoke again after being caught with a cigarette in public.

Wilshere was photographed smok-ing outside a London nightclub in the early hours of Thursday morning as he celebrated Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Na-poli in the Champions League.

“Players make mistakes,” he told Arsenal Player on Monday. “I am not a smoker. I spoke with the boss and he asked me what happened. “I explained to him and we sorted it out.

“He put me in the team and hope-fully I repaid him.

“I am not a smoker so I think that will be my last (cigarette).” l

Open season as big guns mis� ren AFP, London

The topsy-turvy opening weeks of the Premier League cam-paign have fuelled pre-season optimism

that the 2013-14 title race would be one of the most open in years.

With Manchester United, Manches-ter City and Chelsea all under new management, and a glut of new players having arrived during the close season, the English top � ight is in the throes of transition, and the o� -pitch upheaval has been mirrored in the results.

For the � rst time since 2009, there are no unbeaten teams after seven games.

The six-point gap between leaders Arsenal and 10th-place Aston Villa, meanwhile, represents the narrowest such gap since 2007 and it is only the second time since 1994 that the teams in the top half of the division have been so tightly bunched at this stage of the season.

Unexpected defeats for the league’s leading lights have only added to the sense of disorder.

Arsenal’s stunning home defeat by Villa on the season’s opening day set the tone and champions United have already lost three times, including a 4-1 humiliation in the Manchester derby.

City have been beaten by both Villa and promoted Cardi� City, while Tot-tenham Hotspur crashed to a surprise

3-0 loss at home to West Ham United on Sunday.

Amid the carnage, Mauricio Pochet-tino’s well-drilled Southampton side have stealthily crept up the table to fourth place, following a run of three wins and a draw in which they did not concede a single goal.

West Bromwich Albion are another club to have exploited the uncertainty, having won 2-1 away to United with a performance of laudable boldness be-fore drawing 1-1 at home to Arsenal.

Speaking before his side’s victory at Old Tra� ord, West Brom manager Steve Clarke presciently proclaimed: “I don’t believe it has a fear factor. I don’t hold with feeling nervous or intimidat-ed. You should relish the challenge.”

The notion of a shifting power structure was embodied by Morgan Amal� tano’s arrestingly brazen open-ing goal in that game, the French winger driving at the United defence, impudently nutmegging centre-back Rio Ferdinand, and then nonchalantly lifting the ball over goalkeeper David de Gea.

It was also apparent at White Hart Lane on Sunday, when Ravel Morri-son sealed West Ham’s victory over Spurs with a similarly precocious burst through an opposition defence that had previously conceded only two goals in six matches.

Over the last 10 seasons, the aver-age gap between the teams � nishing � rst and fourth has been 20 points and

not once has the team in fourth place ended the season within 10 points of the champions.

However, although the statistics suggest the early throes of a much more democratic title race, former Liv-erpool defender turned BBC television pundit Alan Hansen feels it is too soon to tell.

“People are saying it’s the most open Premier League for years, but as far as I’m concerned, the favourites at the start are still the favourites: the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea,” he said.

“The � rst 10, 12 games, you can’t win the title, but you can lose it. May-be Man United are a bit further behind than they’d want to be, but apart from that, they’re all in position.” l

Redknapp feared hair would get in Bale’s wayn AFP, London

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has revealed that he once feared Gareth Bale was too preoc-cupied with his hairstyle to make it as a leading footballer.

Bale left Tottenham for Real Madrid last month for a reported world-record transfer fee of £85 million ($137 million, 100 million euros), but Redknapp says he used to have doubts about the Welsh for-ward’s strength of character.

“He drove me mad in training,” wrote Redknapp in his autobiography, which is being serialised in British newspaper the Daily Mail. “Technically, he was out-standing, but he always seemed to be playing with his hair.

“It was never right. He’d be � icking the fringe or wiping it out of his eyes and I would be going quietly mad, just watch-ing. ‘Gareth, leave your barnet alone! Ga-reth! Stop touching you hair!’”

‘Barnet’ is cockney rhyming slang for ‘hair’, derived from a rhyme with ‘Barnet Fair’.

Redknapp, who now manages second-tier Queens Park Rangers, was also wor-ried about Bale’s propensity for injury. l

Uruguay's national player Suarez (L) controls the ball while being watched by Forlan during a team training at Montevideo, on Monday. Uruguay will face Ecuador and Argentina on October 11 and 15 respectively for quali� ers to the World Cup � nals of Brazil 2014 REUTERS

Mounting injuries won’t stop Germany’s path to World Cupn Reuters

Germany may be missing more than half a dozen key players through injuries, in-cluding their top strikers, but anything other than automatic World Cup quali� -cation with a win over Ireland on Friday will be a disappointment, o� cials said.

Germany coach Joachim Loew will be without his starting strikers Ma-rio Gomez and Miroslav Klose as well as defender Marcel Schmelzer, twins Sven and Lars Bender, Lukas Podol-ski and o� ensive mid� elder Marco Reus among others. “We always hope that in the autumn to have all players fully � t but there are times when players are stretched every three days with match-es,” team manager Oliver Bierho� told a

news conference in Duesseldorf.Germany need two points from their

last two games against Ireland in Co-logne and away to Sweden four days later to top Group C and advance to next year’s World Cup � nals in Brazil.

Germany are on 22 points from eight games with Sweden in second place, � ve points o� the pace.

Bierho� also brushed o� criticism that a lack of attackers could be a prob-lem, with Max Kruse the only designat-ed forward in Loew’s squad.

For Bastian Schweinsteiger, who will reach 100 caps if he plays in both games, a win over Ireland would be the � rst step towards winning that elusive � rst international trophy with Germany since 1996. l

Struggling Sunderland turn to Poyetn AFP, London

Premier League strugglers Sunderland have entrusted Gus Poyet with the re-sponsibility of securing their top-� ight survival, announcing on Tuesday that they have appointed him as manager on a two-year contract.

The 45-year-old Uruguayan, who previously worked at second-tier Brigh-ton and Hove Albion, succeeds Paolo Di Canio, whose seven-month tenure left the northeast club at the foot of the table.

Di Canio was sacked last month with Kevin Ball placed in caretaker charge and Poyet arrives to � nd the club six points adrift of safety with only one point from their � rst seven games.

“I look forward to proving my ability to the fans -- I want them to believe, be-

cause we need to stick together,” Poyet told the Sunderland website.

“I think the key behind my strong home record at Brighton was the connec-tion with the fans. I can see that here also.

“It’s a huge challenge, but one I am excited about and I am grateful for the opportunity to manage in the Premier League.”

Sunderland’s Texan owner El-

lis Short, who conducted a two-week search for Di Canio’s successor, said he was convinced he had found the right man for the job.

“We analysed a wide range of can-didates and believe that Gus’s track re-cord, experience, commitment and pas-sion make him the right man to take us forward,” he said. “We welcome him to Sunderland.”

Poyet becomes Sunderland’s sixth permanent head coach in less than � ve years and he will also be the � rst Uru-guayan to manage a team in the Premier League.

He � rst came to England as a player in 1997, joining Chelsea from Real Zaragoza and winning the FA Cup, the now de-funct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup, before spending three years at Tottenham Hotspur. l

Football must lead anti-racism � ght: Platinin AFP, Geneva

Football must lead the � ght against rac-ism inside and outside the game, Mi-chel Platini, head of the sport’s Europe-an governing body UEFA told a United Nations meeting on Monday.

As the globe’s most popular sport, the iconic former France international said, football has a particular role to play in confronting prejudice.

“Football is honour-bound, by vir-tue of that very popularity, to promote values which are able to make society more tolerant of diversity,” Platini told campaigners and diplomats at a session on racism and sport at the UN’s Euro-pean o� ces in Geneva.

Over recent years, UEFA and its global football counterpart FIFA have increased the severity and number of punishments able to be imposed for racist o� ences. There have been mixed opinions among football chiefs, howev-er, about whether players should take matters into their own hands.

The prime example came when Gha-na international Kevin-Prince Boateng stormed o� the pitch in January during

a friendly between his then club AC Mi-lan and a lower-league Italian side.

While UEFA’s leaders backed him right away, FIFA boss Sepp Blatter initially cast doubt on such unilateral action, before � nally swinging behind Boateng. “Those who govern our game have a duty to pro-tect players, who are in their workplace, against all forms of discrimination,” Plat-ini said. “The FIFA anti-discrimination taskforce is committed to eliminating racism on and o� the pitch,” Webb told the UN meeting in a video address.

“There’s a real problem with racism in some regions of Europe, for sure,” said Platini. “This behaviour is largely down to small organised groups who choose to express their hatred in a foot-ball stadium in order to take advantage of the popularity and media coverage enjoyed by our sport.” But the broader context could not be ignored, he said.

“Football re� ects society’s values but also, unfortunately, its prejudices, fears and mistrust. But it’s precisely because football is often more open to diversity than wider society that it en-ables advance that would be more dif-� cult in other areas,” he said. l

Michu relishing challenge of securing Spain spotn Reuters, Madrid

Swansea City forward Michu says be-ing called up by Spain � lled him with childlike joy but at the same time he knows convincing coach Vicente del Bosque he deserves a place in the team will not be easy.

Del Bosque drafted in the 27-year-old after the withdrawal of injured Da-vid Villa but with the sti� est of compe-tition in a glittering squad Michu may struggle to play in the holders’ � nal two World Cup quali� ers against Be-larus in Palma de Mallorca on Friday and Georgia in Albacete four days later.

Michu is one of a host of gifted goal-scorers vying for a place in the side, including Manchester City’s David Silva and Alvaro Negredo, Barcelona’s Pedro, Chelsea’s Juan Mata and Real Madrid’s Isco.

Michu, who joined up with the rest of the squad in Madrid on Tuesday, has plenty to o� er with his strength in the air and an ability to arrive in the danger areas at the right time perhaps matched among the current Spain contingent only by Barca playmaker Cesc Fabregas. l

Brothers refuse to play; claim default winn Mazhar Uddin

Brothers Union re-fused to play as Cricket Coaching School (CCS) arrived � ve minute late for

their match yesterday at the Khan Sha-heb Osman Ali Stadium in the Walton Dhaka Premier League (DPL) yester-day.

In the other two matches of the day, Kalabagan CA’s Nuruzzaman’s un-beaten 85 helped his side to a 52 run win over fellow Kalabagan KC at the BKSP-3 ground, while in-form Prime Doleshwar fell to a second succes-sive defeat against Khelaghar SKS, for whom Nizam Uddin Ripon snatched � ve wickets, at the Shaheed Chandu stadium.

Cricket Coaching School were � ve minutes late for their match at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, and Brothers declined to play the match while insisting that they receive full points for the non-existent encounter. “We came to the � eld right on time but

we did not see our opponents CCS as they came to the � eld at 9.15. Accord-ing to the by-laws, both team have to report on the � eld by8.45 am,” said Amin Khan, the manager of Brothers Union.

Match referee Samiur Rahman, who came to the ground with the CCS team bus, waited for almost half an hour for the toss as Brothers skipper Sohrawar-di Shuvo remained absent.

CCS o� cial Iqbal Yusuf Chowdhury said that his team came late because of an incident in Jatrabari. “There was some problem on the roads in Ja-trabari, so it took some time for us to reach the ground. Brothers team had already given the player list but why they did not play, I have no idea,” said Iqbal.

Meanwhile Jalal Yunus, the chair-man of CCDM, said he would discuss the matter with match o� cials today. “We have received a letter from Broth-ers Union and also from the match ref-eree. We will sit with everyone tomor-row (today) and later take a decision,” he said.

Kalabagan CA v Kalabagan KCAsked to bat � rst, Kalabagan CA were made to struggle from the start. Mid-dle order batsman Nuruzzaman’s un-beaten 85 helped them to recover and along with Zakaria Masud’s 32, allowed the batting side to reach 189/9 from their 50 overs. For Kalabagan KC, Syed Rasel, Shaju Datta, Rakibul Hasan and Tasamul Haque took two wicket each.

Kalabagan KC in their reply kept losing wickets regularly. Opener Mit-hun Ali struck 43 and Forhad Hossain added 44, but the batting side were bowled out for 137 in 39.2 overs to lose the game.

Asif Hasan took three wickets and left arm spinner Nazmul Apu claimed two for Kalabagan CA.

Prime Doleshwar v KhelagharKhelaghar SKS opted to bat after win-ning the toss and Ariful Haque’s 69, Nizamuddin’s 39 and Al-Mahumudul’s 33 were at the heart of the team’s total of 215/7 from 50 overs.

Doleshwar skipper Forhad Reza took three wickets and Taijul Islam

two for the bowling side.In reply, Doleshwar were bowled

out for 168 in 46.1 overs. Opener Ar-man Hossain made 30 to follow top scorer Sabbir Rahman’s 37, but it was not enough as the in-form side slid to their third loss in the tournament.

Nizamuddin Ripon returned � gures of 5/16 for Khelaghar and was named man-of-the-match. l

Sport 15DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Brief ScoresKalabagan CA v Kalabagan KCKalabagan CA 189/9 in 50 overNuruzzaman 85, Zakaria Masud 32Tasamul Haque 23/2, Rakibul Hasan 25/2Kalabagan KC 137/10 in 39.2 overForhad Hossain 44, Mithun Ali 43Asif Hasan 37/3, Nazmul Apu 19/2Kalabagan CA won by 52 runsPrime Doleshwar v KhelagharKhelaghar SKS 215/7 in 50 overAriful Haque 69, Nizamuddin 39Forhad Reza 35/3, Taijul Islam 27/2Doleshwar 168/10 in 46.1 overSabbir Rahman 37, Ripon 16/5,Khelaghar won by 47 runs

BD U-19 thrashed by IraqBangladesh lost 0-6 to hosts Iraq in a group C match in the AFC U-19 quali� ers at the Francouse Al-Hareeri Stadium in Iraq yesterday. The eventual winners were up 4-0 at half-time and built on the lead in the second half. Bangladesh will play Kuwait on October 10 and Pakistan on October 12 at the same venue.

– RM

U-19 cricketers go downBangladesh Under-19 cricket team started their Caribbean tour with a six-wicket defeat against the West Indies U-19 in their 1st ODI at the Providence Stadium, Guyana yesterday. The home side decided to � eld � rst after winning the toss and bowled Bangladesh out for 135 in 46 overs. Skipper Mehedy Hasan top scored with 29, while wicketkeeper-batsman Jashimuddin made 21. Alzarri Joseph picked up three wickets for the Caribbean side. It was an easy trail for the hosts as they strolled to victory in 34.4 overs for the loss of four wickets. Opening batsman Leroy Lug made 69, while Mehedy was also the most suc-cessful with the ball for Bangladesh with two wickets. The second match of the 7-match series will be played today at Georgetown.

– SH

Dhaka win karate tournamentDhaka division emerged as the champi-ons of the 5th Divisional Karate Champi-onship with six gold medals, four silvers and two bronze at the National Sports Council gymnasium yesterday.Khulna became the runners-up with � ve golds and six silvers while Chittagong was third with four golds, three silvers and four bronze.

– SH

Queens Baton Relay tourThe Glasgow 2014 Queen’s Baton Relay is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on October 14 and will leave the country two days later. The commonwealth baton is due to leave London today and expected to arrive at its � rst international stop in New Delhi on Friday. The baton will visit Bangladesh afterwards and will leave for Pakistan on October 16. It will travel 118,000 miles across 71 Commonwealth nations and territories in 288 days before the start of the Commonwealth Games 2014 on July 23. A coordination meeting with British Council and UNICEF regard-ing the plan and schedule of the Queen’s Baton Relay, presided by organizer of the Queen’s Baton Relay organizing committee Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Mamun was held at the Bangladesh Olympic Auditorium board room yesterday.

- SH

Players do care about England, says GerrardEngland captain Steven Gerrard has dismissed as “nonsense” the notion that his international team-mates are not motivated by the prospect of playing for their country. The 33-year-old Liver-pool mid� elder will be a key player in England’s � nal two World Cup quali� ers at home to Montenegro on Friday and Poland next Tuesday. Back-to-back vic-tories will guarantee Roy Hodgson’s side a place in Brazil next year, but anything less could leave England either in the play-o� s or eliminated altogether.

– AFP

Mexes slapped with four-match banAC Milan defender Philippe Mexes has been slapped with a four-match ban after video footage showed the Frenchman punching Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini. Chiellini had called for a “heavy sanction” for Mexes following the sides’ bad-tempered clash in Turin on Sunday, which Juve won 3-2. Serie A disciplinary o� cials used video footage to rule that Mexes had indeed punched Chiellini as the pair tussled prior to a corner being taken. The Juventus defender said after the match: “Some people just won’t learn. When you’re tough and determined, that’s fair enough because at the end of the day you get up from a hard tackle and shake hands.

– AFP

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Day’s Watch

McCullum looks aheadn Minhaz Uddin Khan

from Chittagong

The New Zea-land team will be looking to mentally put the disastrous

2010 ODI series in Bangladesh behind as they get ready to take on the same in the � rst Test of a two match series at Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium today.

Skipper Brendon McCullum thinks it is something that the Kiwis should for-get but is conscious of the di� culties of doing so for those who played on that tour.

“It is something we need to forget. The pain that in� icted on the guy’s careers and also on this cricket team, that’s something, we won’t forget. But at the same time we think that we are a di� erent breed of players and we got a di� erent management set up and a dif-ferent playing group and we are going to learn our lessons from that series. But we won’t let that worry us when it comes to play,” McCullum told the me-dia at ZACS yesterday.

“The last time we were here was in-credibly tough for us. I think the prepa-ration for us was not how it should have been and we were caught on the hop a little bit by a very good Bangladeshi team in their own condition. We tried to make sure that our preparation is done properly for this tour. Some guys played in Sri Lanka right before this series and some other subcontinent areas as well, so I think they are a lot better prepared

than the last time,” said the wicket-keeper batsman.

  Back 2010 it was Bangladesh’s all-rounder and then captain Shakib Al Hasan that made the di� erence be-tween the two teams. Shakib rose as a world-class all-rounder as he claimed two man-of-the-match awards and the Man-of-the-series prize as he performed with bat, ball and as captain in the four matches. Asked if Shakib was the main threat to the kiwis, McCullum said,

“He is a world class player, I have seen him perform in the international stage for a long time and was lucky enough to play with him in Kolkata. He is a great fellow and a very humble man. We know that again he is going to be a big danger for us but we are going to try to outsmart him. We have some good plans in place for his batting and obvi-ously his bowling is going to pose some questions as well. I think Tamim Iqbal at the top is also very dangerous so we need to restrict him as well.”

McCullum who is likely hand over his wicket-keeping duties to Bradley Watling is counting on his side’s new members to step up.

“We have got a lot of fresh faces and they have begun to perform as well. In recent times our game has gone up there as well. We got a better understanding of how we want to play as a team. We know Bangladesh can be extremely dif-� cult in their own conditions. They are very smart in their own tactics. We are going to try and make up for what hap-pened a few years ago and also help in the development of the team,” said the 32-year old. l

New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum plays a shot during a practice session at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday AFP

Court clears Srinivasan’s returnn AFP, New Delhi

India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated N. Srinivasan as the country’s cricket chief, but ordered him to stay away from a fresh enquiry into alleged spot-� xing in the Indian Premier League.

Srinivasan, 68, widely regarded as the most powerful man in world cricket, had been barred by the court from taking charge since his election on September 29 as chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a third year.

“Srinivasan can take over as BCCI president, but we have also formed

a new probe panel to investigate the case,” ruled A.K. Patnaik, one of the two judges who heard the case.

The court appointed a three-member panel headed by a former judge to investigate a scandal that has rocked the popular Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament run by the BCCI.

A cricket body in the eastern state of Bihar which is not a� liated to the BCCI had petitioned the court to prevent Srinivasan’s return on moral grounds because his son-in-law had been charged in the scandal.

The son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan, was the team principal

of the Chennai Super Kings, the IPL franchise owned by Srinivasan’s India Cements company and captained by national skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Srinivasan, who has not himself been accused of any wrongdoing, stepped aside temporarily as BCCI president in June when Meiyappan was named in the scandal.

The new Supreme Court-appointed panel, whose expenses will be borne by the BCCI, was given four months to submit its � ndings to the court. The verdict came after Srinivasan agreed not to interfere in the panel’s working. l

Federer already looking forward to ‘great’ 2014n Reuters

Looking back is a waste of time, as far as Roger Federer is concerned. While ten-nis fans and pundits are obsessed with his below-par performance at the four majors this year which has left him in danger of missing the cut for the season-ending ATP � nale for the � rst time since 2001, Federer has already put a positive spin on his 2013 trials and tribulations.

“I always knew that this year, after a very tough year in 2012, the Olympics (and winning Wimbledon), was going to be a bit more quiet,” the Swiss told reporters in Shanghai on Monday after winning his � rst-round doubles match with little-known Chinese Zhang Ze.

“I expected myself probably not to be as successful and as busy playing matches and tournaments.

“My mindset now is, okay, next year is going to be a great year again where I’m not going to have that many points to defend, especially at some very key moments where I consider myself a fa-vourite. “For that reason I’m really look-ing forward to 2014 already.”

Federer, who won the last of his re-cord 17 grand slam titles at Wimbledon 15 months ago before scooping a silver at the London Games, went through the 2013 season without reaching a major � nal for the � rst time since 2002 and his only success has been at the low-key Halle tournament. l

Lewis Hamilton ‘clari� es’ Vettel snooze jiben AFP, Tokyo

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton Tuesday rowed back on his suggestion that Se-bastien Vettel’s Formula One domi-nance was a turn-o� for fans, hailing the German as a “true champion”.

Hamilton said he wanted to “clarify” his comments from Sunday’s Korean Grand Prix, and sent a series of lauda-tory tweets about the soon-to-be four-time world title-winner.

“Read some of the stories/reports of my comments on Seb. Feel the need to clarify my thoughts. Seb is great cham-

pion!!” tweeted Hamilton.“Not only that, he is a great human

being who is funny and humble. De-serves all the success he is having!” he added.

“I admire his dedication & ability to consistently perform without mistakes. This is the mark of a true champion.

“Regardless of what you & I may think about his car, at the end of the day he’s doing the perfect job.”

In Korea, Hamilton said Vettel’s hold on the sport reminded him of the days of Michael Schumacher, who won sev-en world titles. l

Sharapova withdraws from season � nalen AFP

Maria Sharapova on Monday withdrew from the season-ending WTA Champi-onships in Istanbul because of a right shoulder injury that has dogged her since before the US Open, The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced.

The 26-year-old Russian -- presently number three in the world -- had had to withdraw from the US Open on the eve of the tournament because of the injury and owing to a previous hip problem has played just one match since a second round exit at Wimbledon in June.

“I am very disappointed that I will not be able to play in the WTA Champion-ships this year,” said Sharapova, whose turbulent season has also been marked by her splitting with Jimmy Connors after just three weeks as her coach. “The fans in Istanbul have welcomed us each year with such intense passion and warmth, I will sincerely miss the energy and excite-ment they brought to the year-end tour-nament. “I want to thank Istanbul for be-ing a tremendous host and hope to play in Turkey sometime in the future.” l

Mumbai Indians squad pay homage to Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai yesterday AGENCIES

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Boy rescued, suspected abductor heldn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Local people caught a man on suspi-cion of child abduction at Palli Bidyut Harinhati area under Kaliaikoir upazila and beat him before handing him over to police yesterday.

The man, identi� ed as Manjurul Haque,35, of Baniapara area of Debiganj upazila of Panchagar, was allegedly wrapping a boy into a jute sack, police said quoting locals. The boy, aged about two years and a half, was in police custody.

Kaliakoir police station Sub-inspector Tofayel Ahmed said Manzurul abducted the child from Mirpur Mazar area in Dhaka Monday evening and started for Panchagar onboard a bus. As the bus stopped at Palli Bidyut Harinhati area around 7.30am yesterday, Manjurul got down wrapping the boy into a jute sack.

After a mob beating Manzurul was handed over to police. Manzurul told the police that he took the boy from Mirpur as he looked like his son and started for home. l

ALLEGED GANG RAPE BY COPS

Rights bodies demand judicial proben Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

A number of rights groups have alleged that Gobindaganj police in Gaibandha is trying to cover up the alleged gang rape by cops on a 14-year old girl.

According to the victim’s statement, she was violated on the night of Sep-tember 29 inside the Gobindaganj police station after a police team had picked her up from the Fashitola area where she had been left by her step mother.

When contacted on Monday, OC Sheikh Md Delwar Hossain declined to disclose the names of the policemen on duty on that night. Instead, he o� ered bribe to this correspondent for not � ling report on the issue.

The OC claimed that some of his rivals had been trying to use the girl against him in order to get him trans-ferred. “Or, it might be so that the girl came up with rape story so that she could put us into di� culty and realise some money from us.”

Currently, a police investigation team is investigating into the alleged rape.

Women’s rights groups Mohila Par-ishad and Nari Mukti Kendra on Mon-day urged the government to form an independent judicial probe committee.

Conducting investigation against police members by police was tanta-

mount to covering up the incident, they said.

The central committee of Mohila Parishad, who had tasked two lawyers for providing legal assistance to the victim, alleged in a press conference held yesterday that police had been trying to save the culprits by dilly-dal-lying in � ling a case in this connection.

Yesterday morning, police allegedly took away two loudspeakers when the Samajtantrik Mohila Forum and the Communist Party of Bangladesh were demonstrating against the authority’s inaction with the alleged rape.

Later they staged a token sit-in in front of the rail gate in the Gaiband-ha town by wrapping up their mouths with pieces of black cloths.

The victim in her recorded state-ment to the senior judicial magistrate’s court said: “After the police patrol team picked me up and took me to the sta-tion, � ve police members tied my hands up and raped me for about 3-4 hours.

“They did not take me to a doctor. When I was being taken to the court on September 30, the policemen asked me to keep silent and warned that if I spoke, they would implicate me in a false case,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, a medical team that had examined the girl more than a week after the alleged rape concluded that they had found no evidence of rape.

Listening to the details, the court observed that it was unlikely that a girl of 13-14 would be in a good physical condition and act normal after being gang raped for hours. l

Surprise changes in administrations n Mohosinul Karim

Amid government denials the home and public administration ministries started to reshu� e both public and police administrations as the govern-ment’s tenure comes to a close.

Calling the changes regular part of the public administration, ministry of-� cials said the process would continue as per guidelines of the ministry.

On Tuesday, the ministry reshu� ed the o� ces of nine deputy commission-ers (DC), � ve additional secretaries, eight joint secretaries and six deputy secretaries.

The home ministry promoted four deputy inspectors general (DIG) of po-lice to additional inspector general (ad-ditional IG) that same day, out of them, three DIGs are already working as addi-tional IGs.

Despite the major changes, the pub-lic administration ministry’s Senior Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar denied any reshu� es were taking place.

He said: “It’s the ministry’s regular work. We have only changed the o� ce of the DC’s who were promoted to the rank of joint secretary earlier and have been working over two years, as per de-cisions of the ministry.”

“It’s not a major reshu� e or any attempt to reorganise the administra-tion,” he stated.

He also said there are more joint sec-retary level o� cers in the � eld level ad-ministration serving as DCs who would

be replaced shortly, as all DC’s serving in � eld level administration for more than two years are to be replaced.

Sources in the public administration ministry said 10 months earlier they had prepared a list of about 50 deputy secretaries to be appointed as DCs, as if they are not appointed within two months they lose out on the chance of being promoted to the post of DC.

The decision was therefore taken to replace the DCs with those whose pro-motions were pending.

Among those promoted are the di-rector of the Prime Minister’s O� ce (PMO) Abu Hena Morshed Zaman who has been posted as DC in Faridpur while Deputy Director of Rajuk SM Alam has been promoted as DC in Kishoreganj; Public administration ministry’s Dep-uty Secretary Sohel Imam Khan in Noakhali, Bangladesh Television’s Di-rector Kazi Ashraf Uddin in Pabna, Per-sonal Secretary to ACC Secretary GSM Zafarullah in Madaripur, Dhaka South City Corporation Regional Executive O� cer Abul Kalam Azad in Netrokona, Home Ministry Deputy Secretary Za-hurul Islam Rohel in Gaibandha, Dep-uty Director of the BPATC AKM Sham-imul Haque Siddiqui in Pirozpur and Economic Relation Division Deputy Secretary A Ga� ar Khan was appointed as the DC in Narail.

Meanwhile, DC of Kishoreganj Sid-diqur Rahman was transferred to the home ministry, DC of Madaripur Nur Ur Rahman to land ministry and DC

of Noakhali to shipping ministry as joint secretary. DC of Pabna Mosta� zur Rahman was appointed director of BCS admin academy and DC of Gaibandha Dr Kazi Anwarul Haque as director of BIAM on deputation. The two o� cers are also joint secretary. DC of Narail Zahirul Haque was transferred to home ministry, DC of Faridpur Mayeen Ud-din Ahmed to health and family wel-fare ministry and DC of Pirozpur Anal Chandra Das to land ministry as deputy secretary. Netrokona’s DC Anis Mah-mud, who is a deputy secretary, was appointed as deputy project director to the Identi� cation System for Enhanc-ing Excess to Services projects on dep-utation.

Among the additional secretaries is Mosharref Hossain of � sheries and livestock ministry posted as o� cer on special duty (OSD) to the public admin-istration ministry. OSD Additional Sec-retary Ra� qul Islam was posted to the environment and forest ministry and Kamal Krishna Bhattacharjee as addi-tional secretary to the railway ministry. While OSD Additional Secretary AKM Yahia Chowdhury was appointed as administrator to the o� ce of the Wakf Administrator and environment and forest ministry’s Additional Secretary MA Hannan is on deputation as direc-tor general of the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NI-PORT).

Of the joint secretaries, civil avi-ation and tourism ministry’s Mizaur

Rahman was transferred to � sheries and livestock ministry, Director of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training Abul Hasnat Md Ziaul Haque to civil aviation and tourism ministry, health ministry’s Sazzad Kabir to com-merce ministry, General Manager of Jiban Bima Corporation Lokman Hos-sain Miah to civil aviation ministry and OSD Faruq Ahmed has been posted to the cabinet division.

Joint Secretary of Agriculture Min-istry AMM Azhar was made OSD while Wakf Administrator Nurul Huda was withdrawn from o� ce and sent to the public administration ministry for further posting. OSD Joint Secretary Harunur Rashid was posted as gener-al manager of the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development project, Afroza Parvin as member of Tari� Commis-sion, Dr Shahadat Hossain Mahmud as director of Bangladesh Institute Man-agement, Ali Nur as secretary of the BSCIC and Golam Mostafa Khan as di-rector of BMET.

Meanwhile, four deputy inspectors general of police were promoted to additional IG, among them are Dha-ka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Benazir Ahmed, BIWTA Chairman Dr Shamsuddoha Khandokar and CID’s Mokhlesur Rahman and Fatema Be-gum.

Benazir, Dr Khandokar and Mokh-lesur were working as additional IG (current charge) and only con� rmed in their posts. l

Elevated expressway project cost goes upn Asif Showkat Kallol

The Bridges Division has decided to ap-point a Thailand, UK and Netherlands joint venture � rm as an independent engineer for the construction of the � rst Dhaka elevated expressway project under public private partnership (PPP).

The project, aimed at easing the pe-rennial tra� c gridlock in the city, was laid out over � ve years. But for the last one-and-half years, since its inaugura-tion by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in April 2011, the construction work of Bangladesh’s � rst big PPP project was mostly stalled. Now the project has only three-and-half years left.

Now the project appears to be gear-ing up as a new proposal from the Bridg-es Division in this regard will be placed at the next meeting of the cabinet com-mittee on economic a� airs for approval.

The joint venture � rm is Thai Mott MacDonald Ltd (Thailand) - Mott Mac-Donald Ltd (UK) – Euroconsult Mott MacDonald BV.

The proposal of revised alignment of the Dhaka elevated expressway will also be placed for approval in the same cab-

inet committee meeting. This revision will increase the estimated project cost by Tk2.37bn or 2.72% from the previous Tk87.03bn and viability gap � nancing will also be increased to Tk24.13bn.

Bridges Division Secretary Khanda-ker Anwarul Islam told the Dhaka Tri-bune: “We do not know the actual date for starting the project yet. We hope that the work will begin within the ten-ure of this government,” he added.

According to the proposal, due to complexity in acquiring land for the ex-pressway in Dhaka, the appointment of an independent engineer was delayed. The cost of appointment of an inde-pendent engineer will be Tk528m. Two other foreign � rms also participated in the tender process - High Point Rendel UK and South Korean � rm SUNJIN En-gineering and Architectural Company.

The other proposal says the new alignment will increase the length of Dhaka elevated expressway to 40 kilo-metres. In the � rst phase an 8km route from Shahjalal Airport to Tejgaon will be built, and an 8km road from Tejgaon to Kamalapur and 7km from Kamalapur to Kutubkhali of Shanir Akhra. l

‘They did not take me to a doctor. The policemen asked me to keep silent and warned that if I spoke, they would implicate me in a false case’

Higgs boson scientists win Nobel in physicsn Tribune Desk

Peter Higgs of Britain and Francois En-glert of Belgium won the Nobel Prize for Physics yesterday for conceiving of the so-called “God particle” which con-fers mass.

Higgs, 84, and Englert, 80, were honoured for theorising a particle – dis-covered last year that explains why the universe has any substance at all.

“This particle originates from an in-visible � eld that � lls up all space. Even when the Universe seems empty this � eld is there,” the jury said in a state-ment, according to a report by AFP.

“Without it, we would not exist, be-cause it is from contact with the � eld that particles acquire mass.”

Known as a boson, after the Bengali physicist Satyendranath Bose, the dis-covery was popularly dubbed the “God Particle” because it is everywhere yet ba� ngly elusive to � nd.

The presumed particle was discov-ered last year by physics lab at CERN, near Geneva, after decades of search.

“As an achievement, it ranks along-

side the con� rmation that the Earth is round or Man’s � rst steps on the Moon,” Canadian physicist Gagnon said.

The history of the discovery dates back to 1964, when six physicists, in-cluding Englert and Higgs, working in-dependently in three groups, published a � urry of papers. However the concept was proposed decades earlier by Bose who wrote a paper in 1924 in which he derived Planck’s quantum radiation law.

At a lecture at the University of Dha-ka on the theory of radiation and the ultraviolet catastrophe, Bose intended to show his students that the contem-porary theory was inadequate, because it predicted results not in accordance with experimental results. Bose adapt-ed this lecture into a short article called “Planck’s Law and the Hypothesisof Light Quanta” and sent it to Albert Einstein.

Einstein agreed with him, translated Bose’s paper German, and had it pub-lished under Bose’s name, in 1924. Bose’s interpretation is now called Bose–Einstein statistics. This result derived by Bose laid the foundation of quantum statistics. l

Arrest warrant against NU teacher for demeaning PMn Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday issued arrest warrant against a National University (NU) teacher in a defamation case � led for his derogatory comments about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members on social media Face-book.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Tarek Mainul Islam Bhuyun issued the warrant against AKM Ohiduzzman, a teacher of Geography Department, af-ter recording the complainant’s state-ment.

AB Siddiqui, president of pro-Awa-mi League organisation Bangladesh Jononetri Parishad, yesterday lodged the defamation case with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

In the case statement, the com-plainant mentioned that the accused made derogatory comments in Face-book about the premier, her son Sajieeb Wazed Joy and daughter Saima Wazed Putul on August 22. The complainant also included names of seven witness-es in the case.

Earlier on April 23 last year, the com-plainant � led a general diary with the Rampura police station against Ha� zur Rahman Rana, a lecturer of Mechanical Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Tech-nology, alleging that the teacher made death threat to the prime minister on Facebook.

Ha� zur was sentenced seven years imprisonment following the case on June 27. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed at Romask Limited, 184, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1215. 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

Businesswww.dhakatribune.com/business WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013

First 3G service goes to Baridhara

Make RMG a clean industry

B3

B2

Q1 income tax falls slightly short of targetn Syed Samiul Basher Anik

The income tax collection stood at around Tk73.1bn in the � rst quarter of the current � scal year – a period when collection of tax traditionally goes slow.

O� cials blamed recent political situation as the main reason for the shortfall.

The tax fell by Tk2.8bn 3.7% short of the target of Tk75.9bn for the July-September period of 2013-14, o� cials at the National Board of Revenue said yesterday. Each of the three months witnessed shortfall.

Out of the 31 income tax zones, only 12 achieved their respective target and 19, in-cluding the Large Taxpayers Unit, failed.

In September, the revenue body received only the income tax � gures. The data on val-ue added tax and import duties takes some more time to compile.

In July and August, the NBR faced a short-fall of Tk4.71bn in import duties as it collect-ed around Tk53bn against the target of over Tk57bn.

The Value Added Tax witnessed Tk2.02bn shortfall to Tk57bn against the target of over Tk59bn.

The other taxes witnessed Tk720m short-

fall by collecting over Tk940m against the target of Tk1.67bn.

“The � rst two or three months of any � s-cal year generally go slow,” said a senior o� -cial. “The political instability had a negative impact on the overall economy as it hindered smooth business operations, resulting in a slowdown of export and import activities and a� ecting the revenue.”

He said the country witnessed several strikes during the last three months, a� ect-ing smooth operation of business.

However, he expected the state of rev-enue collection would be improved in the coming months.

“We have already instructed the � eld of-� ces to identify new potential sectors and bring the tax evading individuals and busi-nesses under the tax net,” he said. “Reforms in many administrative duties have already been done.”

If the initiatives work properly, the reve-nue collection would be increased, he said.

In 2012-13, revenue collection grew by over 14% to Tk1.09tn against the target of Tk1.12tn. For the current � scal year, the reve-nue collection target is set at Tk1.36tn, with a growth target of 21%. l

Exports see 36% growth in September‘We have to ensure compliance within short period of time to avoid the Rana Plaza impact’n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The export earnings rose to about US$2.6bn in September, over 36% higher compared to the same month last year, riding on ready-made garments sector despite labor unrest over wage hike.

The � gure is 27% higher than the target of $2.04bn set for the month. In September 2012, the amount of total export stood at $1.9bn.

Meanwhile, the country’s export earn-ings rose 21% to $7.6bn in the � rst quarter of the current � scal year as compared to the same period of previous � scal year’s vale of $6.29bn in the � rst quarter of 2012-13.

RMG export posted over 24% growth to $6.20bn in the � rst quarter of the current � s-cal year compared to the same period of last year’s vale of $5bn.

The knitwear and woven garments – the two largest export earners for the country – posted 24.4% and 23.9% growth respectively, followed by frozen foods 47.6% and leather 58.2% in the � rst quarter of the current � scal year compared to the same period a year ago.

Jute and jute products marked over 18% fall, followed by home textile 9.8%, ships and boats 69% and rubbers 13.2%.

Among the major sectors, knitwear earned the highest over $3.16bn, followed by woven

garments $3.04bn in the � rst quarter.Footwear exports fetched $149m, frozen

foods $191m and leather $120m during the period.

“It is a fantastic performance for Bangla-desh, as export earnings in the � rst quarter outperformed by 36% over last year’s 31%,” said Musta� zur Rahman, executive director of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD). “Bangla-desh is getting the bene� ts of the recovery in global economic recession.”

He said buyers have chosen Bangladesh for their sourcing as the country can o� er

competitive prices, proper shipment and lead time.

“And we have capacity to take large vol-ume of orders,” he added. Export earnings continued to increase as Bangladesh is get-ting orders from china.

Replying to a question, Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have to ensure compli-ance within short period of time to avoid the Rana Plaza impact.”

“The export earnings increased due to the execution of orders placed before the deadli-est incident of Rana Plaza,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Exporters Associa-tion of Bangladesh (EAB).

He said the impact of the incident would a� ect the export � gure in the next quarteras the orders from buyers already su� ered setback.

An o� cial at the Export Promotion Bu-reau of Bangladesh, however, expected that the country’s export earnings would cross the export target for the current � scal year if the current trend continues.

Bangladesh set an export target of US$30.5bn for the � scal. l

Frozen food $129.54m $191.2 8m 47.66%

Rubber $3.33m $2.89m -13.21%

Leather $75.74m $119.82m 58.2%

Jute and jute goods $251.19m $205.52m -18.18%

Knitwear $2539.83m $3160.2m 24.43%

Woven garments $2456.86m $3043.69m 23.89%

Home textile $198.77m $179.28m -9.81%

Footwear $111.47m $148.61m 33.32%

Major products Earnings Q1 2012-13 Earnings Q1 2013-14 % change

It is a fantastic performance for Bangladesh, as export earnings in the � rst quarter outperformed by 36% over last year’s 31%,” said Musta� zur Rahman, executive director of Center for Policy Dialogue

DHAKA TRIBUNE Business2 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013

First 3G service goes to Baridharan Tribune Report

Grameenphone has commercially launched the third generation mobile broadband ser-vice in Basundhara and Baridhara areas through bringing out a colorful procession in Dhaka yesterday.

They are the � rst in Bangladesh to reach the customers with the high-speed wireless communication facility.

A bicycle procession was held in the Bashundhara residential area to mark the occasion. A boy’s scout band also marched around the area. Brand promoters of the company also visited di� erent institutions and o� ces. Customers and visitors were in-vited at GP House to make video calls to the celebrities.

GP customers within the coverage areas will be able to use 3G packages. The opera-tor initially is o� ering three packages in two speed tiers. Three packages under 512 kbps, starting with 2GB standard monthly plan at Tk400.

There is a smart plan for smart phone users comprising unlimited data (fair usage policy after 1.5GB), voice minutes, SMS and MMS at Tk800 and for the heavy users’ un-limited monthly plan (fair usage policy after 8GB) at Tk950.

In the 1mbps tier, there are three packag-es, starting with 2GB standard monthly plan at Tk700. Smart plan for smart phone users comprising unlimited, voice minutes, SMS and MMS at Tk1,100 and for the heavy users

unlimited monthly plan Tk1,250.A video call to other 3G-enabled GP num-

ber will cost Tk1.20/minute with 10 second pulse.

GP sources said other areas of Dhaka and Chittagong along with Sylhet, Gazipur and Narayangonj will be covered with 3G net-work within the next few weeks. l

Grameenphone commercially launches 3G service at Baridhara in Dhaka yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

BTMA seeks cut in insurance premiumn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) has asked for a reduction in the insurance premium on shipping charges for imported products.

They put forward the demanded at a meeting with Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) Chairman M Shefaq Ahmed in Dhaka yesterday.

They argued that Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Man-ufacturers and Exporters Association (BK-MEA) are already enjoying a reduced premi-um, which contributed to reduce the cost of trade and export in garment industry. l

Banks brought under online supervisionn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has launched Integrated Supervision System to bring all banks and non-bank � nancial institutions of the coun-try under online monitoring.

With the launch of the system, the central bank can view online the � nancial statuses of the banks and � nancial institutions across the country.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rah-man inaugurated the system at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka yesterday.

A Bangladesh Bank o� cer can now super-vise a bank located in remote area by sitting at his desk in Dhaka as he will be able tom see the bank’s � nancial status online.

“Integrated Supervision System is to report on banks online,” said Governor.

He said the new system is associated with automatic risk identi� cation method, mul-tidimensional analytical tables, charts and graphs.

Besides, the observation period for the ac-tivities of banks’ head o� ces and branches will come down to one month thanks to the system.

Taking decisions in the central bank will be faster as well.

In Addition, the � eld supervisors can take necessary information from website before going to inspection of a bank.

O� cials said the banks and � nancial in-stitutions must develop an e� ective man-agement information system (MIS) to supply information to the integrated supervision system.

The integrated system will also help banks and non-bank � nancial systems moni-tor their own branch o� ces across the coun-try, said the central bank source.

The source said it will increase the e� ec-tiveness of the internal control system of the banks. l

Formalin import drops remarkably: GM Quader n Tribune Report

Commerce Minister GM Quader said the im-port of formalin has remarkably fallen after the government takes initiative to stop wide-spread use of the chemical in the food items.

“The import and use of formalin is now under e� ective control of the government. Nobody can enjoy freedom now in import and use of the toxic chemical,” he said, but didn’t provide any details.

The minister was speaking at a discussion organised by the Bangladesh Fresh Fruits Importers’ Association (BFFIA) at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

BFFIA formally started its journey at the function as a platform of the country’s fruits importers vowing to deliver chemical-free fruits to the consumers .

GM Quader said the government has taken tough stance against the use of toxic chemi-

cal in the perishable foods, which has helped ease the spread of formalin in the markets.

He stressed the need of building more cold storages for the fruits and import of fruits with quality certi� cate. “If there are adequate storage facilities, the traders can preserve fruits from perishing.” Besides, he alleged that the traders are not importing fruits with quality certi� cate.

At the function, the importers insisted that formalin is not used now in the import-ed or local fruits.

With BFFIA president Swadhon Chan-dra Das in the chair, the discussion was also addressed by the FBCCI vice president Md Helal Uddin, former Member of Parliament and BFFIA adviser Haji Mohammad Selim, BFFIA general secretary Sirajul Islam, sen-ior vice president Selimul Haque Esha and Holistic Health Centre’s Dr Md Almasur Rah-man. l

Westin wins World Travel Award n Tribune Business Desk

The Westin Dhaka recently has earned the prestigious World Travel Award 2013 simul-taneously for the third time.

The award based on the casted votes en-hances the hotel’s brand equity, eventually leading towards greater business possibili-ties, said a press release.

Votes were cast by 213,000 travel profes-sionals who included travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organi-sations in over 160 countries across the globe.

The World Travel Awards was launched in 1993 to acknowledge and recognise ex-cellence in the world’s travel and tourism industry. l

MTB opens bills payment booth at Panthapath n Tribune Business Desk

Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB) launched its � rst MTB bills payment booth and 24/7 ATM at its Panthapath branch, Dhaka.

Former Member of Parliament SA Khale-que inaugurated the booths as chief guest, said a press release.

MTB DMD Md Zakir Hussain and head of MTB Dhaka division branches Syed Ra� qul Hossain were also present. l

The banks and � nancial institutions must develop an e� ective management information system (MIS) to supply information to the integrated supervision system

BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE 3WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013

AFC Agro Biotech receives IPO approvaln Tribune Report

AFC Agro Biotech has got approval from the securities regulator to � oat IPO (initial public o� ering) to raise Tk120m from the stock mar-ket to expand its operation.

The approval to the agro-based pharma-ceutical fermentation product manufactur-ers was given at a commission meeting, said a statement of Bangladesh Securities and Ex-change Commission (BSEC) yesterday.

The company will � oat 12m ordinary shares of Tk10 each. The IPO proceedings will be used in purchasing machineries and IPO expenses.

According to its latest � nancial statement, the company’s earnings per share is Tk1.01 and net asset value Tk11.1 a share.

The regulator has also given consent to One Bank for raising a fund of Tk2.2bn by issuing subordinated � oating rate bond through pri-vate placement with maturity period of seven years from the date of issuance. l

Traders warned of giving fair pricefor raw hide n Tribune Report

Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammed Quader yesterday said the government would think about exporting raw hides if the traders do not set fair prices during the Eid-Ul-Azha.

Prices of rawhides of sacri� cial animals has to be � xed fairly in line with internation-al market so the vested quarters cannot buy hides at lower prices, he said after a meeting with the traders in Dhaka.

He asked commerce ministry o� cial to take necessary steps to prevent manipula-tion of prices.

Traders assured that they would set prices of rawhides of sacri� cial animals in line with the international market prices.

Abdul Hai, secretary general of Bang-ladesh Tanners Association told the Dha-ka Tribune that they would set fair prices considering the international market. They would make the price public on October 12 through a press conference. l

DSEX slips to 20-week lown Tribune Report

Stocks extended losses for the fourth consec-utive session yesterday with the benchmark DSEX index slipping to almost 20-week low.

The index shed 65 points or 1.7% to close at 3,792, lowest since May 16. The blue chip index DS30 dropped 31 points or 2.3% to 1,372.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Se-lective Categories Index, CSCX, declined 134 points to 7,409.

The total turnover at the DSE was Tk2.7bn, a rise of 13.7% over the previous session and driven by BD Building that gained unusually 372% in its � rst trading day from its o� er val-ue of Tk10 a share.

The debutant topped the turnover chart with more than Tk228m, making up nearly 10% of the day’s total turnover. This is the highest single-day turnover for a company in recent times on the � rst trading day.

The BD Building attracted attention of the investors and created some hype in the en-gineering sector, contributing to pull down the market.

“Because investors swooped on BD Build-ing selling other shares,” said a stock dealer.

Almost all the sectors su� ered, led by non-banking � nancial institutions that fell 3.6%, telecommunications 3.5%, food and allied 3% and life insurance 2.7%.

Market continued to see declining capi-talisation before Eid closure as number of al-most every sector saw erosion in prices, said Lanka Bangla Securities in its daily market analysis.

It said skeptical investors are scrutinising how political gridlock will be resolved and how things unfold in coming days.

Heavy sale o� in micro cap and large cap scrips has sent the market to the negative territory, said IDLC Investment.

Market sentiment continued to dwindle in line with investors shaky con� dence, re-sulting in sluggishness of participation in trade, it said.

After BD Building, other top turnover leaders included Envoy Textile, Square Pharmaceuticals, Argondenim, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd, CMC Kamal, Titas Gas and Active Fine Chemicals. l

BSEC warns stock exchanges of short-selling n Tribune Report

The securities regulator BSEC has warned the country’s two stock exchanges of short-sell-ing and said the rate of breaching the securi-ties rules increased in the recent times.

Short selling is the selling of a stock that the seller doesn’t own. More speci� cally, a short sale is the sale of a security that isn’t owned by the seller, but that is promised to be delivered.

“The commission has asked the stock exchanges to take necessary steps to refrain from short-selling executed by its member brokers,” said Bangladesh Securities and Ex-change Commission in a statement yesterday.

The regulator has detected notable num-ber of short-selling by the newly set-up In-stant Watch Surveillance System software.

On charge of short-selling, the commis-sion � ned Hilly Securities, a member of the Chittagong Stock Exchange, Tk100,000. The brokerage � rm sold 5,000 shares of First Se-curities Islami Bank Ltd on May 15.

Kabir Securities, another member of CSE, was also � ned Tk500,000 for violating mar-gin loan rules.

It provided loan for purchasing Z-catego-ry or junk shares to its clients in October and for transferring fund from consolidated cus-tomers’ account to its FDR account. Credit is-sued against Z-category shares is a violation of margin loan rules.

The BSEC has also directed the Dha-ka Stock Exchange not to allot shares to its member Don Securities Ltd after Demutual-isation until settlement of allegation of swin-dling money of its clients.

Since August, 2010, the commission sus-pended trading activities of the brokerage � rm in response to the complaints of its cli-ents who brought allegation of not returning money and share for long. l

Make RMG a clean industryDutch envoy urges Bangladesh’s apparel manufacturers n Tribune Report

The Dutch ambassador to Bangladesh Ger-ben de Jong has urged Bangladesh’s ready-made garment manufacturers to earn the trust of buyers to retain the growth in the sector.

He was speaking as chief guest at a sem-inar titled “Taking the RMG sector forward: The role of media” in Dhaka yesterday.

“The EU and Netherlands want to see transparency and labour safety in every stage of production,” said Ambassador Ger-ben.

He said the EU-led RMG Safety Accord and the North American Alliance are work-ing together with the Bangladeshi govern-ment to improve the conditions in the sector and make the factories compliant.

Bangladesh German Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (BGCCI) executive di-rector Daniel Seidl, Advocate Tuhin Malik, BGMEA president Atiqul Islam and vice president Shahidullah Azim, former DCCI president Asif Ibrahim and Benchmark Ltd managing director Ashraf Kaiser, among others, were also present.

Dhaka Tribune editor Zafar Sobhan pre-sented the keynote paper at the function.

Daniel Seidl said: “Brand of Bangladesh is not very positive and the entrepreneurs have to keep in mind that Bangladesh is not the only choice of buyers.”

He put stress on journalists’ free access to information to make the sector transpar-ent. BGCCI o� cial alleged foreign journalists are sometimes denied visa to Bangladesh, which sends a negative message to the out-side world.

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court lawyer Tu-hin Malik suggested providing fund to the media campaign to rebuild the lost image of

the sector.Ashraf Kaiser said BGMEA should share

the industry’s successes and challenges to the journalists on a regular basis, not merely holding press conference after a big incident happens.

Asif Ibrahim said managing director of New Age Group, commenting on media’s role.

“We need to work hand in hand to rebuild the image of the country’s apparel sector in the outside word.”

Zafar Sobhan said the media can partner

with the industry in a number of ways, the � rst of which, will be simply responsible re-porting.

“We all know, if it bleeds it leads (in the newspapers). Bad news sells newspapers. But in Bangladesh, people are hungry for the positive stories as well.”

Zafar Sobhan said the garment industry has done a lot to lift the people, especially the women, out of poverty in Bangladesh and to transform the social fabric here than anything else. l

A seminar on role of media in the RMG sector was held in Dhaka yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

DHAKA TRIBUNE Business4 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013

India to stick with austerity despite looming electionn Reuters, New Delhi

The Indian government will have to rein in spending and cut subsidies to meet its � scal de� cit target, the country’s � nance minister said on Monday, underlining that an auster-ity drive will not be blown o� course by an election due next year.

P Chidambaram told Reuters ahead of a trip to the United States - where one stop will be to woo investors on the West Coast - that he will not allow the de� cit to cross a “red line” set at 4.8% of gross domestic product this � scal year.

“We’ve issued austerity instructions, it will bring us some savings,” he said.

The � nance minister’s vow to contain the de� cit means there will be little room ahead of a tough election to spur growth, which has slumped from a double-digit pace in early 2010 to below 5%, its lowest in a decade.

The government recently introduced a plan to distribute cheap food for two-thirds of the population, a step widely seen as woo-ing voters ahead of the election. But - without giving details - Chidambaram pointed to food subsidies as one area where spending would need to be addressed in coming months.

Along with pallid growth, Asia’s third-largest economy is facing stubborn in-� ation, companies are struggling and bank asset quality is worsening. But Chidambaram shrugged o� the risk of a cut in India’s sov-ereign credit rating, which is one precarious notch above junk status.

“There is no case for a downgrade,” he

said in an interview at North Block, the sand-stone colonial building that houses the � -nance ministry in New Delhi. “If any rating agency is looking for candidates to down-grade there are half a dozen other countries.”

The Indian rupee was one of the hard-est-hit emerging-market currencies recent-ly amid alarm in � nancial markets about an imminent “tapering” of the US Federal Re-serve’s monetary stimulus, falling by about 20% at one point from May.

It has recovered somewhat recently, and Chi-dambaram said the central bank may now be able to consider reversing some of the li-quidity tightening steps it took to shore the currency up.

“If the volatility of the rupee has been contained and speculation has come to an end, the central bank may want to unwind some of the measures it took earlier, he said.

On Monday the Reserve Bank of India cut a key overnight interest rate, further dialing back an emergency measure it had imposed in mid-July in order to defend the rupee that had tightened market liquidity and pushed up borrowing costs.

Chidambaram said there would be some impact when the Fed’s tapering - which was

put on hold - does eventually come, but it was now mostly factored into the market and he was con� dent that speculators had been put in their place. “We think we have sent a message to everyone - don’t speculate on the rupee,” he said.

Chidambaram said the economic down-turn was no reason to think that his Congress party, which has been weakened by years of fractious coalition rule and a string of corrup-tion scandals, would be ousted in a national election that must be held by May.

“Don’t write us o� so easily,” he said, adding that the next leader of the Congress party would be Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for most of its 66 years since independence.

“I am glad you acknowledge prime min-ister Rahul Gandhi, but that is a question you should put to him,” Chidambaram said, when asked if he would serve again in a gov-ernment led by the party’s heir apparent if Congress wins a third straight term in of-� ce. “The time has come for the torch to be passed on to a new and younger generation.”

Chidambaram dismissed the dazzling emergence of opposition � gurehead and candidate for prime minister Narendra Modi on the national political stage as “largely me-dia created”.

He conceded that the Hindu nationalist leader had united the rank and � le of the Bharatiya Janata Party and “gained some traction among urban youths”, but said the rising political star was someone with a “very, very checkered track record”. l

India’s Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram speaks during an interview with Reuters in New Delhi REUTERS

I am glad you acknowledge prime minister Rahul Gandhi, but that is a question you should put to him

Vodafone plans $2bn investment to raise stake in Indian u nitn Reuters

Britain’s Vodafone plans to invest as much as $2bn to buy out minority shareholders in Vodafone India, the Financial Times report-ed on Monday.

Vodafone will � le an application this month with India’s foreign investment pro-motion board to seek clearance for the in-vestment, the Financial Times reported, citing two people familiar with the situation.

Vodafone could not immediately be reached for comment.

The FT said the size of the investment suggested that the world’s second-largest tel-ecoms operator will not up its stake to 100%.

In July, India approved raising the for-eign investment limit in the telecom sector to 100% from 74% in a bid to lure capital in-� ows, prop up a sliding currency and boost growth.

The Financial Times said Vodafone is con-sidering buying out some minority investors including billionaire industrialist Ajay Pira-mal, who holds 11% stake in Vodafone India.

Vodafone owns about 64% of Vodafone India, while 25% is controlled by undisclosed minority shareholders, who are understood to include Analjit Singh, chairman of Voda-fone India, the FT said. l

Oil prices down,eyes on US budget stand-o� n AFP, Singapore

Crude prices fell yesterday in Asia, as the political paralysis in Washington over the US budget shows no sign of ending, fuelling concerns it could lead to a US debt default.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November was down eight cents at $102.95 in afternoon trade while Brent North Sea crude for No-vember eased 27 cents to $109.41.

As the US stando� enters its eighth day on Tuesday with no end in sight, investors are worried about the knock-on e� ect for de-mand in the world’s top oil consumer, said Vanessa Tan, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

“Concerns continue to run high as inves-tors are also looking ahead to the October 17 deadline when the debt ceiling has to be raised or risk a default on US debt,” Tan said.

Failure to lift the debt limit will mean the government is unable to pay its bills or ser-vice its debts, causing a default that analysts have warned could send the world economy back into recession.

A similar stand-o� in 2011 went down to the wire before the ceiling was raised, but not before world stock markets tumbled and Standard & Poor’s stripped the US of its top AAA rating.

Analysts said the fall in oil prices was partly stemmed because a tropical storm passed without major damage to energy in-frastructure in the Gulf of Mexico. Producers had shut in about 62% of the region’s oil pro-duction ahead of the storm. l

BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE 5WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013

US remains hopeful of Asia trade dealn Reuters, Nusa Dua

The United States maintained it hopes to seal an ambitious trade pact on schedule by year-end despite resistance in some countries and the absence of President Barack Obama from a regional summit that was to iron out di� er-ences on the pact.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman said yesterday that world trade ministers may discuss the US-proposed Trans-Paci� c Partnership (TPP) on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization meeting that starts on December 3, with a goal of reaching a deal by year-end.

But several outstanding issues remain, he told reporters at the Asia-Paci� c Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on the Indo-nesian island of Bali, citing issues ranging from intellectual property to state-owned enterprises, labour and the environment. The World Trade meeting will also be held on Bali.

Although many APEC leaders have already left Bali, trade ministers are still in talks over TPP and a joint statement is expected to be issued later this week.

“I think there is a consensus that there has been substantial progress on outstanding is-sues and there are still remaining issues that must be addressed,” Froman told reporters.

The three-year-old TPP talks, now involv-ing 12 nations, are aimed at establishing a free-trade bloc that would stretch from Vi-etnam to Chile to Japan, encompassing 800 million people, about a third of world trade and nearly 40% of the global economy.

A major goal of the Obama administration, the TPP would tear down trade barriers in ar-eas such as government procurement and set standards for workers’ rights, environmental protection and intellectual property rights.

Obama had hoped to settle the outstand-ing issues in discussions with other leaders at the APEC meeting but was forced to can-cel his visit because of the � scal stando� and partial government shutdown in Washington.

“We didn’t expect any real breakthrough on TPP in the meeting, especially with Oba-ma not here. There is some progress though,” said a delegate from an East Asian country, who wished not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The TPP, by seeking unprecedented ac-cess to domestic markets, is proving highly sensitive in developing countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam, whose political sys-tems could be shaken by intrusions in areas such as government procurement and state-owned enterprises.

Proponents call the TPP, the most ambi-tious trade pact since the demise of the Doha round of global talks, a “high-standard” agreement to eliminate tari� s and tackle an unprecedented range of non-tari� barriers that restrict growth.

Obama has touted the deal by saying that 5,000 US jobs are created for each extra $1bn in exports created under the pact.

For the United States, the TPP would complement its shift of diplomatic and mil-itary resources to Asia to tap the region’s fast growth and balance the growing in� uence of China, which has not joined the pact.

To its opponents, including a range of ad-vocacy groups globally, the TPP represents an encroachment of US economic might that gives big corporations unprecedented pow-ers to challenge national policies in the name of free trade.

U.S. multinationals like Wal-Mart and Fe-dex have warned Washington not to compro-

mise and weaken the trade pact in order to complete the deal by the end of this year.

“For Wal-Mart, we would like to see a high-quality agreement, which is that no sectors and no products are excluded. That there are no compromises that leak into the process for the purpose of speed,” Scott Price, chief executive of the US retailer in Asia, told Reuters.

More intrusive than other trade pacts, the TPP seeks to regulate sensitive areas such as government procurement, intellectual prop-erty and the role of state-owned enterprises as well as giving corporations more rights to sue governments.

In TPP nations such as Malaysia, Japan, and Vietnam, reform-minded leaders are seen as using the pact as external leverage to break down vested interests and force liber-alization of protected, ine� cient sectors.

The Singapore Straits Times newspaper said a draft statement to be released on Tues-

day shows that leaders will likely report that TPP talks are not “substantively � nished”.

Negotiators hope to revive global trade, which has weakened due to an economic slowdown in China and emerging markets like India and Indonesia.

The 21 countries of APEC closed out the summit by agreeing to implement respon-sible macroeconomic policies that will help o� set the slowdown.

“Global growth is too weak, risks remain tilted to the downside, global trade is weak-ening and the economic outlook suggests growth is likely to be slower and less bal-anced than desired,” the group said in a pre-pared statement.

“We will implement prudent and respon-sible macroeconomic policies to ensure mu-tually reinforcing e� ect of growth and to maintain economic and � nancial stability in the region, and prevent negative spillover ef-fect.” l

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono speaks at the Asia-Paci� c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Press Conference and Joint Declaration session as delegates listen in Nusa Dua, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali REUTERS

Australia sees free trade deal with China within 12 monthsn Reuters, Sydney

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he is intent on � nalizing a free trade agreement with China within the next 12 months, and is prepared to accept a watered-down deal in order to quickly cement an arrangement that has been negotiated since 2005.

“I want the agreement to be as comprehensive as possible, but I’ve always taken the view that you

should take what you can get today and pitch for the rest tomorrow,” Abbott said late on Monday at the annual APEC summit, held on the Indonesian island of Bali. “We will get the best deal we can (but) I can’t at this stage say it is going to include everything,” added Abbott, stressing the impor-tance of Chinese foreign investment to Australian jobs and economic activity. Negotiations have been delayed by Beijing’s concerns over opening markets to Australian food, while Australia wants

China to do more to protect intellectual property. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd urged a close to the trade deal after its 19th round of talks in June.

“It would be wonderful if a trip towards the end of the � rst half of next year was consummated with an agreement here,” said Abbott.

“That might be a little too optimistic, but our intention is to move as quickly as we can.”

Bilateral annual trade between Australia and China is worth around A$125bn ($117.8bn ), and

China’s thirst for minerals has fuelled 20 years of unbroken economic growth in Australia.

After a meeting with President Xi Jinping on Sunday, Abbott accepted an invitation to visit China and announced his intent to bring along numerous business leaders and premiers to further bilateral ties. “The president made it clear to me how much foreign investment China hopes to make in coming years, and I want Australia to get a fair share of that foreign investment,” said Abbott. l

BANKABBANK | 2.95 | 32.60 | Vol. 141616 D: 22.20 ⇓ 1.33% | 22.37 | 22.60 / 20.30 C: 22.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 22.28 | 22.40 / 22.20CITYBANK | 1.15 | 25.97 | Vol. 297182 D: 15.20 ⇓ 0.65% | 15.26 | 15.40 / 14.30 C: 15.30 ⇑ 1.32% | 15.21 | 15.40 / 15.00IFIC | 1.10 | 18.34 | Vol. 229103 D: 19.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 19.74 | 19.90 / 19.00 C: 19.50 ⇓ 0.51% | 19.46 | 19.60 / 19.40ISLAMIBANK | 3.78 | 27.16 | Vol. 204797 D: 35.30 ⇓ 1.40% | 35.48 | 35.90 / 34.00 C: 35.00 ⇓ 2.23% | 35.36 | 35.70 / 34.50NBL | 1.05 | 15.76 | Vol. 1488919 D: 9.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 9.97 | 10.10 / 9.00 C: 10.00 ⇓ 0.99% | 9.99 | 10.10 / 9.90PUBALIBANK | 1.92 | 21.18 | Vol. 258402 D: 31.10 ⇓ 0.32% | 31.17 | 31.40 / 28.50 C: 30.90 ⇓ 0.32% | 30.97 | 31.10 / 30.80RUPALIBANK | 6.70 | 64.27 | Vol. 11400 D: 58.50 ⇑ 1.56% | 57.88 | 58.90 / 57.00 C: 58.10 ⇑ 0.17% | 58.10 | 58.10 / 58.10UCBL | 1.90 | 21.72 | Vol. 667833 D: 17.40 ⇑ 0.58% | 17.37 | 17.50 / 16.00 C: 17.40 ⇑ 1.16% | 17.33 | 17.50 / 17.20UTTARABANK | 3.42 | 26.97 | Vol. 169373 D: 24.90 ⇓ 0.40% | 25.01 | 25.20 / 23.00 C: 24.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 24.81 | 25.00 / 23.00ICBIBANK | -1.60 | -13.03 | Vol. 51500 D: 5.60 ⇓ 1.75% | 5.63 | 5.80 / 5.50EBL | 3.91 | 28.22 | Vol. 242410 D: 26.00 ⇓ 0.38% | 26.12 | 26.20 / 24.50 C: 26.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 26.00 | 26.00 / 26.00ALARABANK | 2.03 | 14.91 | Vol. 138201 D: 13.50 ⇑ 0.75% | 13.52 | 14.00 / 13.00 C: 13.60 ⇓ 0.73% | 13.60 | 15.00 / 13.00PRIMEBANK | 2.89 | 22.40 | Vol. 62833 D: 16.90 ⇑ 0.60% | 16.88 | 17.10 / 15.30 C: 17.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 17.04 | 17.20 / 16.90SOUTHEASTB | 1.89 | 22.66 | Vol. 546901 D: 13.80 ⇓ 2.13% | 13.92 | 14.10 / 13.30 C: 13.80 ⇓ 3.50% | 13.90 | 14.00 / 13.80DHAKABANK | 1.46 | 18.08 | Vol. 53685 D: 17.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 17.26 | 17.40 / 15.90 C: 17.00 ⇓ 2.86% | 17.03 | 17.50 / 16.80NCCBANK | 1.90 | 15.88 | Vol. 383227 D: 10.50 ⇓ 0.94% | 10.59 | 10.80 / 9.80 C: 10.50 ⇓ 0.94% | 10.52 | 10.70 / 10.40SIBL | 2.05 | 14.47 | Vol. 297427 D: 10.80 ⇓ 0.92% | 10.88 | 11.30 / 10.00 C: 10.90 ⇓ 0.91% | 10.90 | 11.00 / 10.80DUTCHBANGL | 11.57 | 54.27 | Vol. 5500 D: 87.10 ⇓ 1.47% | 87.09 | 87.50 / 87.00MTBL | 1.17 | 17.27 | Vol. 72700 D: 14.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.26 | 14.30 / 14.00 C: 14.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 14.13 | 14.20 / 14.00STANDBANKL | 2.33 | 14.41 | Vol. 314194 D: 12.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 12.30 | 12.50 / 11.50 C: 12.40 ⇓ 0.80% | 12.40 | 12.40 / 12.40ONEBANKLTD | 2.35 | 15.34 | Vol. 322192 D: 13.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 13.98 | 15.00 / 12.80 C: 14.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 13.94 | 14.00 / 13.80BANKASIA | 1.35 | 20.80 | Vol. 380079 D: 18.40 ⇓ 1.08% | 18.39 | 18.70 / 17.50 C: 19.00 ⇓ 0.52% | 18.98 | 19.00 / 18.70MERCANBANK | 2.07 | 16.59 | Vol. 457185 D: 11.30 ⇑ 0.89% | 11.49 | 12.00 / 10.90 C: 11.20 ⇑ 0.90% | 11.27 | 11.40 / 11.10EXIMBANK | 1.80 | 14.31 | Vol. 530147 D: 10.30 ⇓ 1.90% | 10.43 | 11.00 / 9.50 C: 10.40 ⇓ 1.89% | 10.33 | 10.60 / 9.90JAMUNABANK | 2.47 | 18.56 | Vol. 23836 D: 12.60 ⇓ 1.56% | 12.72 | 12.90 / 12.00 C: 12.70 ⇓ 0.78% | 12.67 | 13.00 / 12.60BRACBANK | 1.51 | 24.87 | Vol. 359744 D: 26.80 ⇓ 1.83% | 27.05 | 27.50 / 26.80 C: 27.40 ⇓ 0.72% | 27.26 | 27.50 / 27.10SHAHJABANK | 2.61 | 14.47 | Vol. 107516 D: 13.50 ⇓ 0.74% | 13.55 | 13.80 / 12.50 C: 13.60 ⇑ 0.74% | 13.46 | 13.70 / 13.40

PREMIERBAN | 1.18 | 13.95 | Vol. 409689 D: 8.80 ⇓ 1.12% | 8.90 | 9.00 / 8.10 C: 8.90 ⇓ 1.11% | 8.85 | 9.00 / 8.70TRUSTBANK | 0.50 | 18.00 | Vol. 37998 D: 16.50 ⇓ 1.20% | 16.53 | 16.70 / 15.10 C: 16.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 16.30 | 16.30 / 16.30FIRSTSBANK | 1.85 | 13.89 | Vol. 298661 D: 10.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 10.93 | 11.10 / 9.90 C: 10.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 10.74 | 11.00 / 10.50

NON BANKING F IIDLC | 4.43 | 29.18 | Vol. 92107 D: 55.50 ⇑ 0.91% | 55.68 | 56.50 / 54.00 C: 55.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 55.25 | 55.30 / 55.20ULC | 1.80 | 14.90 | Vol. 85028 D: 24.80 ⇓ 1.59% | 25.05 | 25.40 / 23.50UTTARAFIN | 7.16 | 41.54 | Vol. 33357 D: 71.50 ⇓ 0.14% | 71.76 | 72.00 / 69.00 C: 70.70 ⇓ 1.67% | 71.16 | 72.00 / 70.00MIDASFIN | 0.16 | 10.21 | Vol. 52418 D: 32.60 ⇓ 1.21% | 32.87 | 33.00 / 30.10FLEASEINT | 2.34 | 13.93 | Vol. 116304 D: 23.30 ⇓ 2.51% | 23.54 | 23.80 / 21.90 C: 23.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 23.74 | 24.00 / 23.50PLFSL | 1.37 | 17.48 | Vol. 226747 D: 20.90 ⇓ 1.88% | 20.98 | 23.00 / 19.30 C: 20.80 ⇓ 2.35% | 20.96 | 21.40 / 20.70PRIMEFIN | 0.87 | 17.88 | Vol. 87780 D: 21.80 ⇓ 0.46% | 21.88 | 22.30 / 21.00 C: 21.90 ⇓ 0.90% | 21.91 | 22.00 / 21.70PREMIERLEA | 0.10 | 11.37 | Vol. 69000 D: 10.30 ⇑ 0.98% | 10.30 | 10.40 / 10.20 C: 10.10 ⇓ 0.98% | 10.27 | 10.30 / 10.10ISLAMICFIN | 1.03 | 15.48 | Vol. 368070 D: 15.10 ⇓ 1.95% | 15.26 | 16.50 / 13.90 C: 15.10 ⇓ 2.58% | 15.14 | 15.30 / 15.00LANKABAFIN | 1.61 | 31.07 | Vol. 108156 D: 53.20 ⇓ 1.66% | 53.80 | 56.00 / 49.00 C: 53.60 ⇓ 0.92% | 53.71 | 54.10 / 52.50BIFC | 0.15 | 18.58 | Vol. 64563 D: 15.40 ⇓ 3.14% | 15.48 | 16.00 / 14.50 C: 15.40 ⇓ 3.75% | 15.37 | 15.40 / 15.30IPDC | 1.23 | 19.43 | Vol. 93088 D: 17.50 ⇓ 1.13% | 17.74 | 17.90 / 17.50 C: 17.20 ⇓ 4.44% | 17.24 | 17.30 / 17.20UNIONCAP | 0.54 | 17.85 | Vol. 50630 D: 28.80 ⇓ 0.35% | 28.80 | 30.00 / 27.10 C: 28.20 ⇓ 2.76% | 28.15 | 28.30 / 27.80BDFINANCE | 0.57 | 14.77 | Vol. 376331 D: 19.70 ⇓ 1.50% | 19.69 | 20.30 / 18.00 C: 19.70 ⇓ 1.01% | 19.35 | 20.00 / 18.20ILFSL | 0.35 | 12.19 | Vol. 210500 D: 13.50 ⇓ 2.88% | 13.71 | 14.10 / 13.50 C: 13.70 ⇓ 1.44% | 13.68 | 13.80 / 13.60PHOENIXFIN | 2.46 | 19.39 | Vol. 135400 D: 27.10 ⇓ 1.45% | 27.18 | 28.00 / 25.00 C: 27.00 ⇓ 4.93% | 27.00 | 27.00 / 27.00FASFIN | 0.19 | 13.56 | Vol. 418642 D: 13.70 ⇓ 3.52% | 13.91 | 14.20 / 13.50 C: 13.90 ⇓ 0.71% | 13.92 | 14.10 / 13.80DBH | 4.47 | 21.27 | Vol. 49052 D: 51.80 ⇓ 2.26% | 51.99 | 54.00 / 51.00NHFIL | 0.57 | 12.70 | Vol. 184000 D: 29.00 ⇓ 2.03% | 29.21 | 29.90 / 28.80 C: 28.90 ⇓ 2.03% | 28.94 | 29.20 / 28.80BAYLEASING | 0.72 | 25.55 | Vol. 110404 D: 24.80 ⇓ 2.75% | 25.08 | 25.80 / 23.20 C: 24.60 ⇓ 3.53% | 24.59 | 25.30 / 23.00ICB | 89.23 | 607.74 | Vol. 18437 D: 1498 ⇓ 6.23% | 1530 | 1598 / 1498 C: 1650 ⇓ 5.60% | 1650 | 1650 / 1650GSPFINANCE | 1.63 | 22.23 | Vol. 59000 D: 23.30 ⇓ 2.51% | 23.61 | 24.00 / 23.30FAREASTFIN | 0.68 | 13.64 | Vol. 882000 D: 15.80 ⇓ 1.86% | 16.02 | 16.60 / 15.70 C: 15.80 ⇓ 3.07% | 15.90 | 16.60 / 15.70

INVESTMENT5THICB | 23.45 | 188.92 | Vol. 300 D: 145.6 ⇓ 3.26% | 146.67 | 146.0 / 145.06THICB | 10.99 | 60.14 | Vol. 12100 D: 44.40 ⇓ 1.77% | 44.46 | 44.90 / 44.208THICB | 12.47 | 70.07 | Vol. 22000 D: 48.60 ⇓ 1.62% | 48.73 | 49.90 / 48.00

1STBSRS | 14.43 | 161.88 | Vol. 108500 D: 83.20 ⇓ 0.72% | 83.19 | 84.00 / 81.30 C: 78.90 ⇓ 9.62% | 85.38 | 90.90 / 78.70AIMS1STMF | 3.02 | 15.70 | Vol. 323750 D: 35.70 ⇓ 2.46% | 35.97 | 37.20 / 35.70 C: 36.00 ⇓ 2.96% | 36.46 | 37.80 / 35.90ICBISLAMIC | 2.21 | 26.81 | Vol. 3500 D: 16.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 16.86 | 16.90 / 16.50GRAMEEN1 | 6.26 | 33.23 | Vol. 194000 D: 42.80 ⇓ 2.51% | 43.28 | 45.70 / 42.50 C: 44.50 ⇑ 2.06% | 44.49 | 44.70 / 43.10ICB1STNRB | 4.06 | 35.31 | Vol. 14500 D: 21.60 ⇓ 0.46% | 21.59 | 21.70 / 21.60ICB2NDNRB | 2.49 | 16.24 | Vol. 251000 D: 8.70 ⇓ 2.25% | 8.83 | 9.10 / 8.70 C: 8.90 ⇓ 3.26% | 8.91 | 9.00 / 8.80GRAMEENS2 | 2.17 | 16.41 | Vol. 666550 D: 15.50 ⇓ 2.52% | 15.66 | 16.00 / 14.50 C: 15.50 ⇓ 2.52% | 15.75 | 15.90 / 15.501STPRIMFMF | 0.64 | 11.63 | Vol. 958500 D: 20.30 ⇓ 5.14% | 20.85 | 21.70 / 20.20 C: 20.50 ⇓ 5.53% | 20.56 | 21.00 / 20.20EBL1STMF | 0.55 | 12.62 | Vol. 453900 D: 6.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.66 | 7.00 / 6.00 C: 6.60 ⇓ 1.49% | 6.56 | 6.70 / 6.50ICBAMCL2ND | 0.60 | 12.12 | Vol. 67000 D: 5.50 ⇑ 1.85% | 5.52 | 5.60 / 5.30ICBEPMF1S1 | 0.52 | 11.32 | Vol. 169500 D: 5.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.74 | 5.80 / 5.60 C: 5.70 ⇑ 3.64% | 5.70 | 5.70 / 5.70TRUSTB1MF | 0.75 | 11.65 | Vol. 964696 D: 7.30 ⇓ 2.67% | 7.39 | 7.70 / 6.80 C: 7.40 ⇓ 1.33% | 7.39 | 7.50 / 7.30PRIME1ICBA | 0.42 | 11.18 | Vol. 43000 D: 5.00 ⇓ 1.96% | 5.07 | 5.10 / 5.00 C: 5.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.10 | 5.10 / 5.10DBH1STMF | -1.12 | 10.15 | Vol. 372000 D: 5.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.44 | 5.50 / 5.40 C: 5.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.35 | 5.40 / 5.30IFIC1STMF | 0.83 | 11.88 | Vol. 783488 D: 6.10 ⇓ 1.61% | 6.20 | 6.30 / 5.60 C: 6.20 ⇓ 1.59% | 6.21 | 6.30 / 6.20PF1STMF | 0.51 | 11.11 | Vol. 206500 D: 5.10 ⇓ 1.92% | 5.19 | 5.30 / 5.10 C: 5.10 ⇓ 3.77% | 5.15 | 5.20 / 5.10ICB3RDNRB | 0.00 | 10.60 | Vol. 244500 D: 4.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 4.95 | 5.00 / 4.90 C: 4.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 4.99 | 5.00 / 4.901JANATAMF | 0.78 | 10.68 | Vol. 348000 D: 5.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.72 | 5.80 / 5.70 C: 5.60 ⇓ 1.75% | 5.60 | 5.70 / 5.60GREENDELMF | -0.82 | 9.72 | Vol. 199500 D: 5.00 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.09 | 5.10 / 5.00 C: 5.00 ⇓ 1.96% | 5.00 | 5.00 / 5.00POPULAR1MF | 0.77 | 11.38 | Vol. 448511 D: 5.60 ⇓ 3.45% | 5.75 | 5.80 / 5.30 C: 5.70 ⇓ 1.72% | 5.70 | 5.70 / 5.60IFILISLMF1 | 0.00 | 10.45 | Vol. 355500 D: 5.20 ⇑ 1.96% | 5.25 | 5.40 / 5.10 C: 5.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.01 | 5.10 / 5.00PHPMF1 | 0.63 | 10.92 | Vol. 782500 D: 5.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.22 | 5.40 / 5.20 C: 5.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 5.21 | 5.30 / 5.10AIBL1STIMF | -0.07 | 9.25 | Vol. 15000 D: 6.30 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.34 | 6.40 / 6.30 C: 6.20 ⇓ 4.62% | 6.20 | 6.20 / 6.20MBL1STMF | -0.16 | 9.08 | Vol. 121500 D: 6.00 ⇓ 3.23% | 6.05 | 6.10 / 5.90SEBL1STMF | 0.94 | 11.85 | Vol. 810000 D: 7.80 ⇓ 3.70% | 7.97 | 8.20 / 7.80 C: 7.70 ⇓ 4.94% | 7.76 | 7.90 / 7.70EBLNRBMF | 1.07 | 10.88 | Vol. 416 D: 7.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.90 | 6.90 / 6.90RELIANCE1 | 0.95 | 10.33 | Vol. 534700 D: 7.90 ⇓ 3.66% | 7.99 | 8.20 / 7.80 C: 8.30 ⇑ 1.22% | 8.31 | 8.50 / 7.90LRGLOBMF1 | 0.50 | 10.82 | Vol. 191000 D: 7.90 ⇑ 2.60% | 7.89 | 8.00 / 7.70ABB1STMF | 0.92 | 10.63 | Vol. 105000 D: 6.70 ⇑ 0.00% | 6.72 | 6.80 / 6.60 C: 6.60 ⇓ 1.49% | 7.15 | 7.20 / 6.60NLI1STMF | 1.17 | 12.22 | Vol. 1084950 D: 8.30 ⇓ 7.78% | 8.58 | 9.10 / 8.20 C: 8.30 ⇓ 8.79% | 8.41 | 8.60 / 8.30

FBFIF | 1.30 | 10.27 | Vol. 3500 D: 8.80 ⇑ 2.33% | 8.86 | 8.90 / 8.80NCCBLMF1 | 1.16 | 10.48 | Vol. 114500 D: 9.20 ⇓ 4.17% | 9.29 | 9.90 / 8.70ICBSONALI1 | 0.00 | 10.39 | Vol. 270000 D: 6.40 ⇓ 3.03% | 6.36 | 6.60 / 6.30 C: 6.40 ⇓ 3.03% | 6.29 | 6.50 / 6.20EXIM1STMF | 0.00 | 10.91 | Vol. 27000 D: 7.20 ⇓ 4.00% | 7.21 | 7.60 / 6.90 C: 7.00 ⇓ 1.41% | 7.00 | 7.00 / 7.00

ENGINEERINGAFTABAUTO | 4.29 | 52.65 | Vol. 281052 D: 100.9 ⇓ 2.98% | 102.15 | 106.0 / 100.0 C: 101.2 ⇓ 2.50% | 101.74 | 104.0 / 100.0AZIZPIPES | 0.39 | -42.04 | Vol. 10600 D: 21.00 ⇑ 8.25% | 20.66 | 21.30 / 19.70OLYMPIC | 5.94 | 14.91 | Vol. 126286 D: 192.4 ⇓ 3.75% | 191.76 | 203.0 / 185.0 C: 190.0 ⇓ 6.36% | 190.46 | 194.5 / 189.0BDLAMPS | -5.31 | 37.07 | Vol. 13200 D: 138.2 ⇓ 3.89% | 140.34 | 143.7 / 138.0 C: 138.0 ⇓ 4.89% | 139.87 | 145.0 / 137.1ECABLES | 2.04 | 18.87 | Vol. 11000 D: 74.90 ⇑ 4.46% | 74.64 | 75.10 / 71.90MONNOSTAF | 5.31 | 44.78 | Vol. 900 D: 317.4 ⇓ 0.84% | 317.78 | 345.0 / 313.0SINGERBD | 9.99 | 45.74 | Vol. 43699 D: 185.7 ⇓ 2.72% | 187.75 | 191.5 / 178.0 C: 184.1 ⇓ 4.06% | 189.04 | 192.0 / 183.2ATLASBANG | 11.98 | 207.70 | Vol. 15117 D: 159.6 ⇓ 4.03% | 161.86 | 167.0 / 159.0BDAUTOCA | 0.25 | 6.23 | Vol. 24708 D: 38.40 ⇓ 9.00% | 39.23 | 46.40 / 38.10QSMDRYCELL | 1.17 | 57.54 | Vol. 152405 D: 31.70 ⇓ 3.35% | 31.90 | 35.00 / 30.00 C: 31.50 ⇓ 2.78% | 31.84 | 32.80 / 31.40RENWICKJA | 5.62 | -90.00 | Vol. 6050 D: 133.7 ⇓ 5.98% | 136.53 | 145.1 / 132.5NTLTUBES | -2.52 | 312.10 | Vol. 51600 D: 69.00 ⇓ 3.50% | 70.04 | 72.10 / 65.00BDTHAI | 0.43 | 39.35 | Vol. 195568 D: 27.00 ⇓ 4.26% | 27.37 | 28.60 / 26.50 C: 26.80 ⇓ 4.96% | 27.13 | 27.30 / 26.60ANWARGALV | 0.51 | 8.08 | Vol. 128500 D: 25.70 ⇓ 7.55% | 26.27 | 27.40 / 25.60 C: 25.70 ⇓ 7.89% | 26.68 | 27.30 / 25.60KAY&QUE | -3.89 | 6.03 | Vol. 3500 D: 16.10 ⇓ 5.29% | 16.00 | 16.20 / 16.00 C: 15.30 ⇓ 10.00% | 15.30 | 15.30 / 15.30RANFOUNDRY | 2.84 | 18.62 | Vol. 44500 D: 86.00 ⇓ 6.11% | 87.50 | 89.00 / 85.10 C: 86.20 ⇓ 6.30% | 87.63 | 91.00 / 86.00SALAMCRST | 3.31 | 20.00 | Vol. 76150 D: 37.90 ⇓ 0.79% | 37.88 | 38.70 / 35.00 C: 37.80 ⇓ 1.31% | 37.80 | 37.80 / 37.80GOLDENSON | 3.70 | 28.70 | Vol. 351162 D: 39.20 ⇓ 0.76% | 39.68 | 40.80 / 36.00 C: 39.00 ⇓ 1.76% | 39.09 | 39.70 / 39.00BSRMSTEEL | 3.06 | 19.53 | Vol. 220620 D: 61.00 ⇓ 2.24% | 61.06 | 61.90 / 56.20 C: 61.00 ⇓ 2.56% | 61.04 | 62.50 / 60.50NAVANACNG | 4.09 | 27.04 | Vol. 91688 D: 61.10 ⇓ 3.17% | 61.88 | 65.00 / 58.00 C: 61.30 ⇓ 3.31% | 61.65 | 66.80 / 61.00DESHBANDHU | 0.26 | 10.67 | Vol. 299356 D: 16.50 ⇓ 5.71% | 16.84 | 17.80 / 16.00 C: 16.60 ⇓ 5.68% | 16.83 | 17.50 / 16.30GPHISPAT | 2.11 | 15.27 | Vol. 61300 D: 39.90 ⇓ 0.99% | 40.09 | 41.50 / 38.10 C: 40.00 ⇓ 2.20% | 40.10 | 40.50 / 40.00BENGALWTL | 2.42 | 20.72 | Vol. 105400 D: 43.50 ⇑ 0.93% | 43.57 | 44.30 / 43.10 C: 43.10 ⇓ 0.23% | 42.87 | 43.70 / 42.20BDBUILDING | 1.02 | 12.40 | Vol. 6708000 D: 47.20 ⇑ 0.00% | 41.48 | 48.70 / 35.10 C: 46.80 ⇑ 0.00% | 41.68 | 49.00 / 35.10NPOLYMAR | 2.01 | 324.37 | Vol. 39500 D: 52.20 ⇓ 3.51% | 52.89 | 54.20 / 51.20 C: 51.20 ⇓ 3.40% | 51.20 | 51.20 / 51.20

FOOD & ALLIEDAPEXFOODS | 2.54 | 90.81 | Vol. 35500 D: 87.50 ⇓ 4.27% | 90.15 | 93.80 / 85.50 C: 84.10 ⇓ 6.76% | 88.06 | 90.10 / 84.10

BANGAS | 7.20 | 50.27 | Vol. 59050 D: 418.7 ⇓ 6.67% | 429.73 | 456.3 / 412.0 C: 420.6 ⇓ 6.68% | 429.94 | 463.9 / 418.1BATBC | 65.69 | 117.22 | Vol. 4050 D: 1537 ⇓ 3.35% | 1567 | 1618 / 1505 C: 1534 ⇑ 0.91% | 1534 | 1535 / 1530GEMINISEA | 10.88 | 9.69 | Vol. 700 D: 185.4 ⇓ 7.53% | 185.71 | 188.0 / 183.0NTC | 29.88 | 110.05 | Vol. 1100 D: 793.5 ⇑ 0.24% | 794.00 | 800.0 / 785.0 C: 800.0 ⇓ 1.23% | 800.00 | 800.0 / 800.0AMCL(PRAN) | 6.53 | 53.37 | Vol. 50900 D: 227.5 ⇓ 5.95% | 231.74 | 244.4 / 226.0 C: 227.0 ⇓ 6.16% | 232.53 | 241.6 / 227.0FUWANGFOOD | 1.26 | 12.37 | Vol. 256194 D: 23.70 ⇓ 2.47% | 24.04 | 24.70 / 22.20 C: 24.00 ⇓ 1.64% | 24.25 | 24.70 / 23.90MEGHNAPET | -0.58 | -1.02 | Vol. 6500 D: 7.80 ⇓ 9.30% | 7.80 | 7.80 / 7.80MEGCONMILK | -6.68 | -16.22 | Vol. 56000 D: 7.20 ⇓ 10.00% | 7.32 | 7.70 / 7.20BEACHHATCH | 1.01 | 12.48 | Vol. 1002270 D: 22.90 ⇓ 6.53% | 24.00 | 25.50 / 22.30 C: 22.70 ⇓ 7.35% | 23.56 | 25.00 / 22.50FINEFOODS | -0.11 | 10.58 | Vol. 448200 D: 25.20 ⇓ 8.03% | 26.39 | 28.70 / 24.90 C: 25.40 ⇓ 8.96% | 26.35 | 28.90 / 25.20RDFOOD | 0.91 | 16.84 | Vol. 511400 D: 21.50 ⇓ 2.71% | 21.81 | 22.60 / 21.40 C: 21.40 ⇓ 3.60% | 21.72 | 22.30 / 21.20GHAIL | 1.01 | 22.08 | Vol. 423980 D: 42.60 ⇑ 0.00% | 42.72 | 43.80 / 38.50 C: 42.80 ⇑ 0.71% | 43.03 | 44.00 / 41.50

FUEL & POWERLINDEBD | 31.71 | 144.00 | Vol. 4880 D: 616.5 ⇓ 4.11% | 622.54 | 635.0 / 610.0PADMAOIL | 16.38 | 43.67 | Vol. 185635 D: 286.2 ⇓ 5.58% | 290.94 | 303.1 / 285.0 C: 286.0 ⇓ 5.42% | 292.40 | 306.0 / 285.0EASTRNLUB | 6.32 | 68.68 | Vol. 100 D: 299.5 ⇓ 8.13% | 300.00 | 300.0 / 299.1BDWELDING | 0.33 | 16.82 | Vol. 402210 D: 21.20 ⇓ 4.07% | 21.65 | 23.40 / 20.00 C: 20.90 ⇓ 6.28% | 21.26 | 24.00 / 20.70SUMITPOWER | 3.17 | 19.26 | Vol. 175802 D: 30.60 ⇓ 0.33% | 30.89 | 31.40 / 27.70 C: 30.90 ⇑ 0.00% | 30.96 | 31.10 / 30.70DESCO | 2.80 | 35.25 | Vol. 103725 D: 69.80 ⇓ 1.27% | 70.24 | 70.80 / 66.00 C: 69.90 ⇓ 1.69% | 69.54 | 70.00 / 69.20POWERGRID | 2.56 | 48.08 | Vol. 22707 D: 53.30 ⇓ 1.11% | 53.29 | 54.00 / 49.00JAMUNAOIL | 22.78 | 50.24 | Vol. 222960 D: 215.2 ⇓ 1.37% | 215.46 | 222.6 / 210.0 C: 214.4 ⇓ 2.06% | 215.01 | 220.0 / 213.9MPETROLEUM | 16.98 | 40.41 | Vol. 231941 D: 244.7 ⇓ 3.36% | 246.04 | 253.0 / 232.0 C: 245.2 ⇓ 3.65% | 247.19 | 252.0 / 243.7TITASGAS | 9.01 | 36.56 | Vol. 766417 D: 78.80 ⇓ 2.60% | 79.60 | 81.00 / 73.00 C: 78.10 ⇓ 2.62% | 78.06 | 79.00 / 77.00KPCL | 4.73 | 15.86 | Vol. 93887 D: 43.40 ⇓ 0.91% | 43.57 | 44.50 / 41.00 C: 43.10 ⇓ 2.49% | 43.29 | 43.50 / 43.00BEDL | 1.48 | 19.43 | Vol. 266430 D: 25.80 ⇓ 1.53% | 26.07 | 26.90 / 23.60 C: 25.80 ⇓ 1.90% | 26.03 | 27.70 / 25.70MJLBD | 2.73 | 30.24 | Vol. 69436 D: 69.30 ⇓ 0.72% | 69.52 | 75.00 / 63.00 C: 68.50 ⇓ 0.29% | 68.62 | 69.00 / 68.00GBBPOWER | 1.86 | 22.63 | Vol. 282895 D: 24.60 ⇓ 1.99% | 24.77 | 25.40 / 22.60 C: 24.80 ⇓ 1.98% | 24.90 | 25.20 / 24.70SPPCL | 3.81 | 23.34 | Vol. 299150 D: 47.80 ⇓ 2.25% | 48.08 | 49.10 / 44.50 C: 48.10 ⇓ 2.43% | 48.24 | 49.00 / 47.70

JUTEJUTESPINN | 2.06 | 17.42 | Vol. 14900 D: 108.9 ⇓ 9.17% | 110.20 | 121.0 / 108.0SONALIANSH | 5.54 | 218.80 | Vol. 8400 D: 136.2 ⇓ 4.56% | 138.45 | 141.3 / 134.0

DHAKA TRIBUNE Share WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 20136 DHAKA TRIBUNE Share6

DSE Broad Index: 3792.36 ⇓ 1.68%, Turnover: 2651.23 M.Tk ⇑ 13.66%, PE: 12.05 Turnover. 2,946.43 MTk . ⇑ 17.12% October 8, 2013 MarketCap. 1,845.29 BTk. ⇓ 1.89% CSE All Share Index: 11762 ⇓ 1.62%, Turnover: 295.19 M Tk. ⇑ 61.16%, PE: 11.89

Combined Turnover Leader Vol. TO M.

Tk.% of TTL Avg. P

BD Building Systems -N 6708000 278.51 9.45 41.52

Square Pharma -A 822052 143.34 4.86 174.37

Envoy Textiles Ltd-N 2530160 139.93 4.75 55.30 Argon Denims Limited-A 2571400 129.90 4.41 50.52

CMC Kamal Tex. -A 3496798 112.95 3.83 32.30

DSE Gainer C % A % CP Argon Denims Limited-A

9.75 9.15 51.80

Aziz Pipes-Z 8.25 4.45 21.00

Stylecraft-A 6.05 6.10 1,198.90 Envoy Textiles Ltd-N

5.08 4.24 55.80

Eastern Cables-Z 4.46 4.10 74.90

DSE Loser C % A % CP

Meghna Con. Milk-B -10.00 -8.50 7.20

Imam Button -Z -9.90 -9.41 9.10Central Pharm-N -9.76 -6.73 30.50Mithun Knitting-A -9.58 -7.40 84.90

Legacy Foot-wear -A -9.34 -5.92 36.90

CompanyCode | EPS | BV | Volume Traded (Share)DSE/CSE: ClosePrice ⇓/⇑ Chn % | Avg.Price | Hi / Lo

ShareDHAKA TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013 7ShareDHAKA TRIBUNE 7

October 08, 2013 Sectotal Index: BANK: 30,947.85 ⇓ 0.68% NBFI: 18,791.95 ⇓ 1.52% INVS: 4,595.35 ⇓ 1.22% ENGG: 5,462.39 ⇓ 3.75% FOOD: 9,752.22 ⇓ 1.68% F&P: 9,661.09 ⇓ 2.30% TEXT: 3,014.21 ⇓ 1.27% PHAR: 16,625.76 ⇓ 0.67% PAPR: 1,035.59 ⇓ 4.48% SERV: 2,768.81 ⇓ 2.76% LEAT: 5,112.05 ⇓ 0.54% CERA: 479.96 ⇓ 2.31% CMNT: 4,228.06 ⇓ 1.97% INFO: 7,098.69 ⇓ 2.69% GINS: 9,165.73 ⇓ 3.06% LINS: 109,088.81 ⇓ 1.58% TELC: 1,268.54 ⇓ 3.64% MISC: 5,897.86 ⇓ 1.37%

TEXTILEAL-HAJTEX | 1.35 | 15.64 | Vol. 80892 D: 83.60 ⇓ 8.13% | 87.02 | 93.00 / 82.00STYLECRAFT | 20.00 | 287.30 | Vol. 100 D: 1199 ⇑ 6.05% | 1199 | 1199 / 1199RAHIMTEXT | 0.51 | 73.88 | Vol. 100 D: 252.0 ⇓ 5.72% | 250.00 | 252.1 / 252.0SAIHAMTEX | 2.75 | 29.50 | Vol. 715400 D: 30.80 ⇓ 0.32% | 31.01 | 31.50 / 30.70 C: 30.60 ⇓ 2.24% | 30.83 | 31.40 / 30.40MODERNDYE | 0.91 | 10.37 | Vol. 1000 D: 96.40 ⇓ 9.06% | 96.00 | 97.50 / 96.00DSHGARME | 0.72 | 12.00 | Vol. 35900 D: 68.60 ⇓ 9.26% | 71.20 | 77.80 / 68.10DULAMIACOT | -8.46 | -27.78 | Vol. 4200 D: 8.80 ⇓ 2.22% | 8.81 | 9.00 / 8.70TALLUSPIN | 2.56 | 12.06 | Vol. 1352535 D: 39.70 ⇓ 8.10% | 41.04 | 44.30 / 39.00 C: 39.70 ⇓ 8.31% | 43.14 | 43.40 / 39.50APEXSPINN | 2.01 | 49.32 | Vol. 11800 D: 66.10 ⇓ 4.34% | 66.95 | 69.50 / 65.10MITHUNKNIT | 4.54 | 30.39 | Vol. 121400 D: 84.90 ⇓ 9.58% | 87.71 | 93.90 / 84.60 C: 83.70 ⇓ 9.61% | 86.57 | 90.10 / 83.40DELTASPINN | 3.06 | 18.12 | Vol. 196100 D: 31.60 ⇓ 1.86% | 31.86 | 32.60 / 30.00 C: 31.50 ⇓ 2.78% | 31.77 | 32.30 / 31.40SONARGAON | 0.27 | 34.50 | Vol. 170250 D: 17.50 ⇓ 7.89% | 18.09 | 19.00 / 17.40 C: 17.30 ⇓ 8.95% | 17.93 | 18.50 / 17.30PRIMETEX | 1.01 | 63.54 | Vol. 295250 D: 26.80 ⇓ 0.74% | 27.21 | 28.40 / 26.70 C: 26.80 ⇓ 2.55% | 27.30 | 28.20 / 26.70ALLTEX | -0.11 | 23.81 | Vol. 79500 D: 8.20 ⇓ 5.75% | 8.37 | 8.70 / 8.10 C: 8.60 ⇓ 4.44% | 8.62 | 8.70 / 8.60ANLIMAYARN | 1.19 | 11.01 | Vol. 174000 D: 35.60 ⇓ 1.11% | 36.04 | 36.60 / 35.00 C: 35.00 ⇓ 4.63% | 35.00 | 35.00 / 35.00HRTEX | 2.08 | 14.92 | Vol. 369689 D: 37.80 ⇓ 4.30% | 38.90 | 41.50 / 37.00 C: 38.30 ⇓ 5.43% | 38.93 | 40.00 / 38.00CMCKAMAL | 1.37 | 19.31 | Vol. 3496798 D: 33.00 ⇓ 2.65% | 32.30 | 34.50 / 30.60SAFKOSPINN | 0.95 | 21.78 | Vol. 213000 D: 23.70 ⇓ 4.05% | 24.44 | 25.60 / 23.50 C: 24.80 ⇓ 0.40% | 24.78 | 25.00 / 23.20SQUARETEXT | 4.32 | 31.82 | Vol. 119301 D: 88.70 ⇓ 0.67% | 88.78 | 90.00 / 82.50 C: 87.30 ⇓ 1.13% | 87.43 | 88.00 / 87.20METROSPIN | -1.00 | 19.59 | Vol. 193497 D: 16.60 ⇓ 2.35% | 16.80 | 17.50 / 15.90 C: 16.60 ⇓ 2.35% | 16.77 | 17.20 / 16.50MAKSONSPIN | 0.16 | 20.55 | Vol. 926895 D: 15.40 ⇓ 1.91% | 15.57 | 15.90 / 14.50 C: 15.40 ⇓ 2.53% | 15.54 | 15.90 / 15.30DACCADYE | 1.21 | 31.13 | Vol. 238806 D: 26.20 ⇓ 1.13% | 26.23 | 26.90 / 24.00 C: 26.10 ⇓ 1.88% | 26.22 | 26.80 / 26.00RNSPIN | 2.80 | 16.58 | Vol. 1714213 D: 28.00 ⇓ 0.71% | 28.14 | 28.50 / 25.50 C: 28.00 ⇓ 1.06% | 28.09 | 28.40 / 27.90BXSYNTH | 0.93 | 25.42 | Vol. 181335 D: 15.20 ⇓ 0.65% | 15.31 | 16.50 / 14.80 C: 15.10 ⇓ 2.58% | 15.14 | 16.70 / 15.00MALEKSPIN | -1.44 | 46.87 | Vol. 558175 D: 23.60 ⇓ 4.45% | 24.32 | 25.50 / 23.30 C: 24.00 ⇓ 2.83% | 24.50 | 25.10 / 23.50ZAHINTEX | 1.91 | 35.25 | Vol. 272250 D: 29.60 ⇓ 2.31% | 29.94 | 30.70 / 28.00 C: 29.50 ⇓ 3.28% | 30.12 | 31.40 / 29.10SAIHAMCOT | 1.92 | 23.62 | Vol. 511300 D: 23.30 ⇓ 2.10% | 23.57 | 24.00 / 22.00 C: 23.70 ⇓ 0.42% | 23.79 | 24.10 / 23.50GENNEXT | 1.68 | 15.15 | Vol. 1420180 D: 22.00 ⇑ 1.38% | 21.95 | 22.30 / 19.60 C: 22.00 ⇑ 0.92% | 21.95 | 22.30 / 21.60ENVOYTEX | 3.26 | 39.26 | Vol. 2530160 D: 55.80 ⇑ 5.08% | 55.30 | 56.20 / 49.90 C: 56.00 ⇑ 5.86% | 55.38 | 56.50 / 54.00ARGONDENIM | 1.89 | 38.86 | Vol. 2571400 D: 51.80 ⇑ 9.75% | 50.56 | 51.90 / 42.50 C: 51.70 ⇑ 9.77% | 49.80 | 51.80 / 47.20FAMILYTEX | 3.72 | 14.68 | Vol. 470500 D: 37.80 ⇑ 0.27% | 38.15 | 38.90 / 37.50 C: 37.00 ⇓ 1.07% | 37.84 | 38.50 / 36.20

PHARMACEUTICAL & CHEMICALAMBEEPHA | 3.94 | 26.15 | Vol. 8100 D: 248.6 ⇓ 6.96% | 252.81 | 270.0 / 247.5 C: 249.8 ⇓ 7.89% | 253.01 | 261.0 / 249.5BXPHARMA | 3.77 | 52.55 | Vol. 224643 D: 41.10 ⇓ 2.61% | 41.50 | 43.00 / 38.00 C: 41.30 ⇓ 2.36% | 41.47 | 42.20 / 41.20GLAXOSMITH | 20.25 | 123.32 | Vol. 250 D: 904.6 ⇑ 3.08% | 904.00 | 909.0 / 898.0ACI | -5.82 | 126.42 | Vol. 15000 D: 157.4 ⇓ 1.38% | 157.79 | 159.0 / 156.5 C: 156.0 ⇓ 3.05% | 156.62 | 158.0 / 155.0RENATA | 33.57 | 138.83 | Vol. 3650 D: 698.8 ⇓ 2.63% | 702.47 | 710.0 / 696.0RECKITTBEN | 27.16 | 78.89 | Vol. 250 D: 731.2 ⇓ 0.75% | 732.00 | 735.5 / 725.0PHARMAID | 5.06 | 26.30 | Vol. 25600 D: 166.3 ⇓ 5.35% | 169.30 | 175.1 / 165.6IBNSINA | 3.44 | 34.02 | Vol. 83100 D: 100.0 ⇓ 4.31% | 101.71 | 106.9 / 99.20 C: 99.20 ⇓ 4.15% | 99.78 | 99.90 / 100.0LIBRAINFU | 4.64 | 1565.37 | Vol. 1200 D: 416.5 ⇓ 7.16% | 416.67 | 420.1 / 412.0ORIONINFU | 8.72 | 1.73 | Vol. 113400 D: 42.50 ⇓ 2.75% | 42.53 | 43.50 / 42.10 C: 42.80 ⇓ 2.73% | 42.80 | 42.80 / 42.80SQURPHARMA | 6.93 | 37.18 | Vol. 822052 D: 174.7 ⇑ 1.28% | 174.44 | 185.0 / 155.3 C: 173.6 ⇑ 0.99% | 173.22 | 173.9 / 172.0IMAMBUTTON | -1.68 | 5.67 | Vol. 87500 D: 9.10 ⇓ 9.90% | 9.15 | 9.20 / 9.10 C: 11.70 ⇓ 9.30% | 11.70 | 11.70 / 11.70KEYACOSMET | 1.55 | 21.54 | Vol. 377697 D: 23.60 ⇓ 2.07% | 23.88 | 25.50 / 23.00 C: 23.50 ⇓ 2.08% | 23.73 | 24.10 / 23.50BERGERPBL | 32.46 | 100.20 | Vol. 50 D: 815.0 ⇑ 0.17% | 815.00 | 815.0 / 815.0ACIFORMULA | 3.33 | 38.08 | Vol. 20750 D: 75.40 ⇓ 1.31% | 75.96 | 76.80 / 74.00 C: 75.20 ⇓ 2.46% | 75.24 | 77.00 / 75.00MARICO | 27.53 | 62.47 | Vol. 5800 D: 744.0 ⇓ 4.09% | 753.33 | 781.9 / 738.1 C: 733.5 ⇓ 4.74% | 744.40 | 760.0 / 731.0BEACONPHAR | 0.33 | 11.97 | Vol. 192000 D: 14.10 ⇓ 0.70% | 14.19 | 14.40 / 14.00 C: 14.10 ⇓ 1.40% | 14.21 | 14.40 / 14.10ACTIVEFINE | 3.23 | 13.89 | Vol. 656073 D: 89.20 ⇓ 1.33% | 90.58 | 92.00 / 83.00 C: 88.40 ⇓ 1.12% | 90.33 | 91.90 / 88.00SALVOCHEM | 0.68 | 10.57 | Vol. 365695 D: 20.00 ⇓ 4.76% | 20.26 | 21.30 / 18.90 C: 20.00 ⇓ 5.21% | 20.37 | 21.80 / 20.00GHCL | 2.14 | 57.31 | Vol. 320250 D: 48.00 ⇑ 4.35% | 47.37 | 48.90 / 45.50 C: 47.30 ⇑ 2.38% | 47.85 | 49.50 / 46.50ORIONPHARM | 5.02 | 68.68 | Vol. 392880 D: 61.40 ⇓ 2.07% | 62.07 | 63.10 / 56.50 C: 61.10 ⇓ 2.55% | 61.73 | 63.00 / 60.60JMISMDL | 1.12 | 12.83 | Vol. 210000 D: 238.1 ⇓ 5.14% | 250.01 | 262.8 / 232.3 C: 235.3 ⇓ 5.54% | 249.36 | 261.5 / 233.2CENTRALPHL | 0.61 | 10.99 | Vol. 878500 D: 30.50 ⇓ 9.76% | 31.60 | 34.00 / 30.50 C: 30.20 ⇓ 9.58% | 31.11 | 33.10 / 30.10

PAPER & PACKAGINGHAKKANIPUL | 0.64 | 11.02 | Vol. 37000 D: 29.40 ⇓ 7.26% | 29.84 | 31.50 / 28.60 C: 29.40 ⇓ 5.16% | 28.83 | 29.50 / 27.90

SERVICESAMORITA | 2.31 | 17.25 | Vol. 16705 D: 102.5 ⇓ 1.82% | 103.57 | 110.0 / 100.0 C: 98.00 ⇓ 8.41% | 102.75 | 98.00 / 107.5SAPORTL | 1.23 | 38.39 | Vol. 127699 D: 24.60 ⇓ 1.99% | 24.86 | 25.20 / 24.60 C: 24.50 ⇓ 2.39% | 24.71 | 25.10 / 23.00EHL | 2.87 | 18.48 | Vol. 117133 D: 51.90 ⇓ 4.07% | 52.78 | 54.00 / 48.70 C: 52.20 ⇓ 3.33% | 52.66 | 53.50 / 52.00

LEATHERAPEXTANRY | 6.57 | 69.38 | Vol. 400200 D: 113.0 ⇓ 2.16% | 114.23 | 118.0 / 112.1 C: 112.6 ⇓ 1.75% | 115.00 | 116.0 / 112.1BATASHOE | 49.12 | 135.53 | Vol. 2144 D: 684.4 ⇓ 2.72% | 683.79 | 694.0 / 660.0APEXADELFT | 23.01 | 203.26 | Vol. 23600 D: 362.3 ⇓ 0.85% | 363.86 | 371.9 / 359.0SAMATALETH | -0.07 | 12.08 | Vol. 1500 D: 11.70 ⇓ 0.85% | 12.00 | 12.00 / 11.50LEGACYFOOT | 0.63 | 17.19 | Vol. 385214 D: 36.90 ⇓ 9.34% | 38.43 | 41.50 / 36.70 C: 36.90 ⇓ 8.89% | 38.23 | 42.50 / 36.60

CERAMICMONNOCERA | 0.71 | 96.33 | Vol. 71150 D: 34.30 ⇓ 7.05% | 35.69 | 37.40 / 34.00 C: 35.00 ⇓ 3.05% | 35.56 | 35.70 / 35.00STANCERAM | 1.07 | 15.97 | Vol. 16150 D: 37.10 ⇓ 3.13% | 37.50 | 39.80 / 36.80FUWANGCER | 1.43 | 13.25 | Vol. 222760 D: 18.70 ⇓ 3.11% | 18.90 | 19.40 / 17.90 C: 18.60 ⇓ 2.62% | 18.73 | 19.00 / 18.50SPCERAMICS | 0.62 | 30.92 | Vol. 174328 D: 15.70 ⇓ 1.26% | 15.85 | 16.20 / 14.50 C: 15.70 ⇓ 2.48% | 15.82 | 16.20 / 15.60RAKCERAMIC | 1.98 | 16.76 | Vol. 123072 D: 49.00 ⇓ 0.81% | 49.26 | 50.00 / 45.00 C: 49.10 ⇓ 2.19% | 49.15 | 49.30 / 49.00

CEMENTHEIDELBCEM | 22.85 | 111.50 | Vol. 40300 D: 344.6 ⇓ 4.20% | 350.63 | 356.1 / 338.0 C: 344.2 ⇓ 3.96% | 344.56 | 353.0 / 340.0CONFIDCEM | 6.23 | 90.76 | Vol. 81928 D: 113.6 ⇓ 1.13% | 114.42 | 115.6 / 110.0 C: 113.5 ⇓ 2.07% | 113.99 | 115.4 / 113.0MEGHNACEM | 6.28 | 33.81 | Vol. 43600 D: 124.6 ⇓ 4.81% | 127.78 | 133.0 / 122.2ARAMITCEM | 3.03 | 14.65 | Vol. 58000 D: 67.90 ⇓ 3.41% | 68.41 | 70.40 / 67.00 C: 68.00 ⇓ 9.21% | 68.37 | 69.10 / 68.00LAFSURCEML | 1.60 | 7.22 | Vol. 656500 D: 33.10 ⇓ 1.78% | 33.45 | 33.80 / 33.00 C: 33.40 ⇓ 1.18% | 33.49 | 33.70 / 33.30MICEMENT | 4.14 | 40.00 | Vol. 260330 D: 92.10 ⇑ 1.21% | 91.19 | 93.70 / 85.00 C: 91.10 ⇑ 0.22% | 90.64 | 92.00 / 89.00PREMIERCEM | 3.59 | 22.92 | Vol. 90600 D: 99.90 ⇓ 2.73% | 100.26 | 103.0 / 98.50 C: 99.20 ⇓ 2.75% | 100.07 | 99.20 / 100.0

IT IINDUSTRIESISNLTD | 0.28 | 17.31 | Vol. 106212 D: 17.90 ⇓ 6.77% | 18.30 | 19.50 / 17.50 C: 17.90 ⇓ 7.25% | 18.42 | 20.00 / 17.50BDCOM | 1.00 | 14.91 | Vol. 526715 D: 26.90 ⇑ 3.46% | 26.50 | 27.60 / 25.80 C: 26.70 ⇑ 2.69% | 26.60 | 27.50 / 25.90

INTECH | 0.94 | 10.08 | Vol. 182504 D: 15.90 ⇓ 5.92% | 16.29 | 17.10 / 15.90 C: 16.00 ⇓ 5.88% | 16.44 | 17.00 / 15.50AGNISYSL | 1.07 | 25.52 | Vol. 207500 D: 22.20 ⇓ 2.20% | 22.32 | 23.30 / 22.10 C: 22.40 ⇓ 2.18% | 22.44 | 22.60 / 22.10DAFODILCOM | 1.12 | 11.14 | Vol. 323500 D: 17.10 ⇓ 4.47% | 17.29 | 18.10 / 17.00 C: 17.30 ⇓ 3.89% | 17.47 | 18.70 / 17.20AAMRATECH | 1.46 | 21.90 | Vol. 449200 D: 31.60 ⇓ 4.24% | 32.12 | 33.50 / 29.70 C: 31.60 ⇓ 4.24% | 32.10 | 34.00 / 31.50

GENERAL INSURANCEBGIC | 1.65 | 20.33 | Vol. 130098 D: 27.90 ⇓ 2.11% | 28.25 | 31.30 / 25.70 C: 27.90 ⇓ 2.79% | 27.97 | 28.20 / 27.60GREENDELT | 4.05 | 64.44 | Vol. 13200 D: 93.90 ⇓ 3.79% | 94.50 | 96.00 / 93.40 C: 90.00 ⇓ 8.16% | 90.00 | 90.00 / 90.00UNITEDINS | 2.47 | 21.04 | Vol. 1800 D: 43.40 ⇓ 2.25% | 43.33 | 43.50 / 43.00PEOPLESINS | 2.05 | 20.72 | Vol. 318900 D: 33.00 ⇓ 3.51% | 33.70 | 34.60 / 32.60 C: 33.40 ⇓ 2.62% | 33.40 | 34.00 / 32.60EASTERNINS | 2.22 | 35.88 | Vol. 28610 D: 38.30 ⇓ 1.29% | 38.25 | 40.80 / 37.50 C: 38.00 ⇓ 9.09% | 38.00 | 38.00 / 38.00JANATAINS | 7.84 | 170.69 | Vol. 21677 D: 256.3 ⇓ 3.30% | 258.08 | 270.0 / 254.5 C: 254.0 ⇓ 4.87% | 258.48 | 275.0 / 252.0PHENIXINS | 2.70 | 20.96 | Vol. 42127 D: 40.00 ⇓ 1.23% | 40.09 | 41.20 / 39.50EASTLAND | 4.06 | 23.29 | Vol. 96360 D: 45.60 ⇓ 1.94% | 45.86 | 46.70 / 42.00 C: 45.70 ⇓ 3.79% | 45.69 | 45.90 / 45.60CENTRALINS | 1.54 | 19.04 | Vol. 96400 D: 29.10 ⇑ 0.00% | 29.18 | 30.10 / 28.90KARNAPHULI | 1.56 | 19.42 | Vol. 79100 D: 23.00 ⇓ 2.95% | 23.10 | 24.40 / 22.80RUPALIINS | 2.76 | 23.38 | Vol. 190213 D: 31.10 ⇓ 2.51% | 31.62 | 32.20 / 30.00 C: 31.60 ⇓ 0.63% | 31.63 | 32.30 / 31.30FEDERALINS | 1.10 | 10.98 | Vol. 155236 D: 22.70 ⇓ 2.99% | 23.06 | 23.90 / 21.50 C: 22.80 ⇓ 2.98% | 23.07 | 23.30 / 22.70RELIANCINS | 3.93 | 61.52 | Vol. 7500 D: 70.00 ⇓ 3.85% | 70.13 | 72.00 / 68.60PURABIGEN | 1.05 | 18.71 | Vol. 128500 D: 22.00 ⇓ 1.79% | 22.12 | 22.60 / 21.90PRAGATIINS | 2.01 | 50.30 | Vol. 26592 D: 54.40 ⇓ 1.09% | 54.92 | 55.20 / 54.00 C: 49.70 ⇓ 9.64% | 49.67 | 49.70 / 49.60PRIMEINSUR | 2.14 | 14.14 | Vol. 57257 D: 30.90 ⇓ 3.44% | 31.05 | 32.00 / 30.00PIONEERINS | 3.11 | 23.84 | Vol. 55430 D: 65.60 ⇓ 0.91% | 65.83 | 71.90 / 65.10MERCINS | 1.53 | 14.50 | Vol. 155721 D: 29.10 ⇓ 3.64% | 29.37 | 33.20 / 27.20 C: 28.30 ⇓ 2.41% | 29.17 | 30.50 / 28.00AGRANINS | 1.73 | 14.39 | Vol. 91300 D: 28.20 ⇓ 1.05% | 28.21 | 28.70 / 28.00GLOBALINS | 1.09 | 11.78 | Vol. 42561 D: 29.00 ⇓ 3.33% | 29.03 | 29.90 / 28.00NITOLINS | 2.59 | 15.41 | Vol. 36164 D: 34.20 ⇓ 2.29% | 34.47 | 35.60 / 34.00ASIAPACINS | 1.84 | 13.76 | Vol. 87500 D: 29.50 ⇓ 2.32% | 29.98 | 30.30 / 29.00 C: 29.00 ⇓ 3.97% | 29.00 | 29.00 / 29.00SONARBAINS | 1.68 | 13.38 | Vol. 159002 D: 25.00 ⇓ 3.10% | 25.22 | 25.50 / 24.70 C: 25.00 ⇓ 1.96% | 25.00 | 25.00 / 25.00PARAMOUNT | 1.26 | 13.19 | Vol. 31913 D: 23.10 ⇓ 3.75% | 23.28 | 24.00 / 22.00CITYGENINS | 1.65 | 14.26 | Vol. 99468 D: 27.60 ⇓ 3.83% | 28.25 | 30.00 / 27.20 C: 27.60 ⇓ 4.50% | 28.41 | 29.90 / 27.50CONTININS | 1.41 | 15.68 | Vol. 251050 D: 30.90 ⇓ 4.92% | 31.46 | 32.40 / 30.00 C: 32.50 ⇓ 3.56% | 32.45 | 34.00 / 31.50TAKAFULINS | 2.19 | 15.17 | Vol. 34142 D: 43.60 ⇓ 2.24% | 43.93 | 46.00 / 41.00STANDARINS | 2.58 | 13.99 | Vol. 7253 D: 39.90 ⇓ 1.72% | 39.97 | 40.60 / 39.00NORTHRNINS | 1.77 | 11.15 | Vol. 43721 D: 44.20 ⇓ 0.45% | 44.62 | 48.00 / 42.00

REPUBLIC | 2.14 | 12.42 | Vol. 48416 D: 42.60 ⇓ 3.84% | 43.06 | 44.30 / 42.00 C: 44.40 ⇑ 0.00% | 45.00 | 44.40 / 44.40ASIAINS | 1.56 | 17.34 | Vol. 32493 D: 27.30 ⇓ 2.50% | 27.51 | 28.00 / 26.00 C: 27.40 ⇓ 1.44% | 27.36 | 27.60 / 27.00ISLAMIINS | 1.29 | 11.96 | Vol. 8276 D: 30.90 ⇓ 3.13% | 30.81 | 32.40 / 29.00PROVATIINS | 1.90 | 14.30 | Vol. 43862 D: 28.60 ⇓ 2.39% | 28.85 | 29.30 / 28.00 C: 27.90 ⇓ 2.11% | 27.90 | 27.90 / 27.90DHAKAINS | 2.84 | 18.02 | Vol. 57750 D: 39.20 ⇑ 0.77% | 38.77 | 39.50 / 36.00 C: 38.70 ⇓ 0.26% | 39.94 | 42.50 / 38.50

LIFE INSURANCENATLIFEINS | 12.34 | 80.99 | Vol. 5588 D: 246.7 ⇓ 1.24% | 246.60 | 250.0 / 240.0DELTALIFE | 38.53 | 189.40 | Vol. 5950 D: 5280 ⇓ 3.75% | 5282 | 5350 / 5280 C: 5459 ⇓ 3.75% | 5459 | 5459 / 5459SANDHANINS | 2.39 | 28.22 | Vol. 44610 D: 69.30 ⇓ 2.53% | 69.64 | 71.00 / 69.10POPULARLIF | 3.70 | 715.41 | Vol. 1138 D: 174.7 ⇑ 1.33% | 172.67 | 174.7 / 158.0FAREASTLIF | 9.21 | 60.79 | Vol. 25900 D: 92.20 ⇓ 2.02% | 92.49 | 93.50 / 92.10 C: 90.70 ⇓ 3.41% | 90.66 | 91.10 / 90.00MEGHNALIFE | 10.82 | 48.87 | Vol. 19510 D: 100.0 ⇓ 1.57% | 100.15 | 101.0 / 91.50 C: 104.9 ⇑ 2.34% | 104.90 | 104.9 / 104.9PROGRESLIF | 2.30 | 31.45 | Vol. 6242 D: 106.3 ⇓ 7.16% | 106.22 | 115.0 / 103.9PRAGATILIF | 0.60 | 30.15 | Vol. 37461 D: 113.9 ⇓ 5.32% | 115.08 | 127.9 / 110.0PRIMELIFE | 5.51 | 27.10 | Vol. 2585 D: 94.00 ⇓ 4.47% | 94.00 | 98.40 / 93.60RUPALILIFE | 3.75 | 31.25 | Vol. 45618 D: 99.10 ⇓ 3.97% | 99.92 | 103.1 / 95.00PADMALIFE | 1.63 | 25.76 | Vol. 27080 D: 60.90 ⇓ 3.18% | 61.24 | 65.00 / 60.50 C: 60.50 ⇓ 4.72% | 60.50 | 62.00 / 60.00SUNLIFEINS | 0.00 | 0.00 | Vol. 149675 D: 54.20 ⇓ 4.07% | 55.65 | 57.50 / 51.00 C: 54.70 ⇓ 2.32% | 54.97 | 55.90 / 54.00

TELECOMGP | 12.96 | 26.26 | Vol. 259000 D: 178.8 ⇓ 3.46% | 182.28 | 186.2 / 178.0 C: 178.6 ⇓ 3.46% | 183.11 | 186.0 / 177.6BSCCL | 5.82 | 26.38 | Vol. 360930 D: 200.3 ⇓ 4.07% | 204.07 | 211.0 / 195.0 C: 200.2 ⇓ 4.12% | 203.47 | 210.8 / 199.1

TRAVEL & LEISUREUNITEDAIR | 1.10 | 12.87 | Vol. 3509332 D: 15.00 ⇓ 2.60% | 15.13 | 15.50 / 14.50 C: 15.10 ⇓ 1.95% | 15.18 | 15.50 / 15.00UNIQUEHRL | 4.02 | 86.29 | Vol. 413145 D: 81.60 ⇓ 3.77% | 83.19 | 85.80 / 76.40 C: 81.90 ⇓ 3.65% | 83.36 | 89.00 / 81.50

MISCELLANEOUSARAMIT | 16.07 | 99.93 | Vol. 7350 D: 291.6 ⇓ 5.02% | 295.65 | 311.6 / 290.2BSC | 1.77 | 565.82 | Vol. 91290 D: 485.3 ⇓ 4.85% | 496.70 | 518.0 / 478.3 C: 487.5 ⇓ 4.79% | 496.65 | 514.0 / 483.0GQBALLPEN | 6.55 | 250.45 | Vol. 37650 D: 145.3 ⇓ 2.22% | 146.26 | 150.0 / 145.0 C: 143.5 ⇓ 3.17% | 143.81 | 146.0 / 142.1SAVAREFR | 0.23 | 12.32 | Vol. 1300 D: 59.00 ⇓ 6.50% | 59.23 | 60.30 / 57.80BEXIMCO | 3.24 | 86.74 | Vol. 979303 D: 27.30 ⇓ 2.50% | 27.66 | 29.00 / 25.20 C: 27.60 ⇓ 2.13% | 27.84 | 28.50 / 27.50SINOBANGLA | 1.75 | 21.01 | Vol. 141000 D: 22.20 ⇓ 2.63% | 22.48 | 23.00 / 22.00 C: 22.30 ⇓ 3.88% | 22.60 | 23.00 / 22.30MIRACLEIND | 0.14 | 14.90 | Vol. 118539 D: 15.60 ⇓ 6.02% | 15.88 | 16.60 / 15.50 C: 15.40 ⇓ 4.94% | 15.55 | 16.20 / 15.00

BONDIBBLPBOND | 0.00 | 1000.00 | Vol. 90 D: 954.3 ⇓ 0.13% | 955.56 | 955.0 / 954.0

8 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013DHAKA TRIBUNE Business

Only change is constantSandeep Pandey, an experienced strategy consultant with a proven record of driving business growth for diversi� ed industries and currently a business planning partner providing consultancy, analytics and Intelligence for Mindshare shares his thoughts with Mehrab Al IslamHow has the branding concept of businesses changed in the past decade?The change is constant, it’s been happening for more than � ve years or so. There has been signi� cant change mainly due to technolo-gy and the digital revolution. Consumption patterns have changed. Although we are still watching the same news or reading the same newspaper, the devices have changed.

Are customers loyal to brands these days? Have things changed? What can businesses do to retain loyal customers?Brand loyalty is decreasing as consumers are young and restless. The youth are � irtiest and not loyal to a single product. Nowadays, consumers are loyal to a brand as long as it ful� ls their need. The moment one brand goes o� , another brand takes the opportu-nity to go on. Consumers also switch to that brand.

It’s not about providing contentthat is in-trusive, rather it’s about � nding useful ones. Presenting the form of product or brand in which the activity of the product or brand is proved useful, pushed with a stimulus can retain brand loyalty to some extent. Howev-er, brand loyalty will not last for an extended time period. Constant engagement with right content is vital in retaining loyal customers.

How is consumers’ perception of brands changing in the South Asian region?Undoubtedly, loyalty is changing. The word of mouth component has increased signif-icantly. According to statistics, about 85% people go for products endorsed by their friends, reviews read by them or word of mouth. It’s a clear shift from advertisement to word of mouth.

While advertisement, product, features and communication are very important, en-gagement with customers and catering to their need in the form of content or features, which is found useful by them and not forced upon, is a noticeable change.

With companies putting much focus on business analytics, which is a good place to start analysing?Analytics starts from capturing information,

but gathering information from somewhere in the cloud will not help unless it is ana-lysed. Identifying individuals whose advice consumers follow while buying brands and endorsing them to vouch for the brand or spreading the good message is one way of doing it.

As brand ambassadors or in� uencers may back� re, how does it blend in?Brands are choosing real in� uencers instead

of arti� cial or wannabe in� uencers on the digital platform. A subject matter expert whose words and opinions matter about the subject, the particular activity or the service and in� uences peoples’ buying behaviour are sought among online in� uencers.

A company must identify and meet con-sumers’ demand prior to consumers under-stand their needs. How should a company go about it?

There are many online and o� ine ways of doing it. Usage And Attitude (UNA) study is one way of identifying new avenues and features. Also, text mining is another way from which companies are able to hear all the words circulating regarding a desired or speci� ed product or a brand. From there, it could be determined what customers are ex-pecting. Certain unmet needs of customers could be considered and answered through research and product development. l

Sandeep Pandey speaking at Commward 2013

Get richer, die younger: Studyn AFP, Paris

We all live longer when times are good, right? Not so, according to a new study which says that in developed countries, the elderly have a higher mortality rate when the economy goes into higher gear. Even its authors are ba� ed by the outcome.

The � nding was “highly unexpected”, Herbert Rolden from the Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing in the Netherlands, told AFP.

In the long term, economic prosperity is credit-ed with lower mortality rates across all age groups

- largely due to a drop in old-age mortality.But the picture changes when you look at

short-term economic � uctuations, according to the study that appears in the Journal of Epidemiol-ogy and Community Health.

For every rise of one percentage point in a country’s gross domestic product, mortality among 70-74-year-old men rose by 0.36% and for women of the same age by 0.18%, it found.

Among 40-45-year-olds, the corresponding rise was 0.38% for men and 0.16 for women.

The study analysed mortality and economic

growth � gures from 1950 to 2008 in 19 devel-oped countries - Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the United States and several in Europe.

“Since many developed countries are currently in a recession, one could expect that this has a damp-ening e� ect on old age survival,” says the study. “However, it has been found that annual increases in unemployment, or decreases in gross domestic product (GDP) are associated with lower mortality rates.” A similar, seemingly counter intuitive trend had already been found in younger people.

That had been ascribed to more work stress and

tra� c accidents due to higher employment in eco-nomic boom times. But such factors are unlikely to hold true for older, retired people, said Rolden.

“We are still in the dark on what really explains the association,” he admitted.

The cause may lie in a change in social struc-ture, with younger relatives and friends working longer and having less time to care for the elderly, according to one, untested, theory.

Another idea pins the blame on air pollution, which increases during economic expansion and is likelier to have more of an e� ect on frail people. l