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8/12/2019 Print Edition: 2 April 2014
1/21
Bangladesh women bag maiden winnShishir Hoque from Sylhet
Bangladesh women clinched their first
ever victory in an ICC global event and
ended their maiden World Twenty20
appearance on a high note by beating
Sri Lanka by 3 runs in their exciting last
Group B match at the Sylhet Interna-
tional Stadium yesterday.
When the mens team ended their
campaign without a single victory yes-
terday, the womens team, who just
set their feet in the international crick-
et arena, gave the nation a reason to
cheer up with their maiden win over in
the mega event.
After winning the toss for the first
time in the tournament, the home side
also made it past the triple figure for
the first time to put up a decent total
of 115 for 9 thanks to Rumana Ahmeds
career best 41. Bangladesh made count
of the strong bowling unit at their
disposal as Sri Lanka was restricted
to 112 for 9.
The victory, however, did not
change Bangladeshs position in the
PAGE 2 COLUMN 2
Who gained what?nMohammad Al-Masum Molla
Three more times in the last three decadesthe country has seen upazila parishad elec-
tions, but the local body polls have never
been so important.
Both the ruling Awami League and the
BNPJamaat-led alliance had their own
reasons for taking these elections very
seriously.
After having boycotted the January 5
national elections demanding non-partisan
arrangements, BNP took these elections
as an opportunity to put up a display of its
nationwide popularity.
So, for the BNP and its allies, the upazila
polls were an opportunity to redeem some
sort of institutional representation in the
countrys governance structure.
For the ruling party on the other hand,
upazila parishad polls were an opening on
their own to prove that fair elections were
possible under partisan arrangements.
The good work that the Election Com-mission (EC) and the Awami League-led
administration did by staging fair elections
in the five city corporations last year could
have been enough to quash BNPs claims
for non-partisan polls-time government.
This backdrop made the upazila elec-tions, which are essentially non-partisan in
nature as parties are not allowed to contest
them organisationally, a fully partisan affair
with the major parties spending a lot of
energy.
The poor performance of the independ-
ent and the so called rebel candidates in the
five phases of the local polls is also strong
enough reason to reinforce the stream of
thought that no election in Bangladesh can
be non-partisan.
Just like last years city polls, the ruling
party and the EC could have once again
cashed in on these local polls to remind
people that they were good enough to
stage fair polls under partisan government.
But the party wasted that opportunity
as its leaders and activists were largely
blamed for the violence, the subsequent
loss of lives and vote rigging that media
portrayed vividly.
Things went south for the ruling party
after the first two phases of the polls when
the upazila chairman candidates backed byBNPJamaat performed better than those
blessed by the ruling party.
PAGE 2 COLUMN 4
NEWS ANALYSIS
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Vol 2, No 4 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com SECOND EDITION
11| IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE? 14| CHELSEA READY FOR PSG BATTLETREEHOUSE | TALES FROM THE CITY 8|RUSSIA ENDS UKRAINE GAS DISCOUNT
News4 The Directorate of Primary
Education is working to
reform the system of Primary
Terminal Examination as the
competency level of primary
schoolchildren still remains
low despite a high pass rate,
offi cials concer ned said.
Nation6 The adverse effects of
Farakka barrage, climatic
change and decrease in
mean annual rainfall have
put four rivers in Chapain-
awabganj in a vulnerable
condition.
Long Form7 Haor areas of the
northeastern part of
Bangladesh face flash floods
caused by sudden and early
downstream water from the
surrounding upstreams from
late March to May.
Entertainment12 A new Michael Jackson
album is set for release on May
13, Epic Records announced
Monday. The posthumous
album called Xscape will
feature eight previously
recorded but unreleased
songs by the King of Pop.
INSIDE
nMohammad Al-Masum Molla
The ruling Awami League and the BNP
have apparently lost their strongholds
in the recently completed five phase of
upazila parishad elections.
The Awami league-backed con-
tenders have demonstrated their or-
ganisational strength in the five di-
visions while the BNP and its key allyJamaat-e-Islami retained their strength
in the northern region of the country in
the recently concluded upazila parish-
ad elections.
A poor picture was projected by HM
Ershads Jatiya Party as it failed to secure
a single chairman post in Ershads home-
town Rangpur district, popularly known
as stronghold of the JaPa. The party, themain opposition in the parliament, se-
cured only three chairman posts.
Interestingly, the Awami league-
backed contenders failed to establish
its supremacy in the party strongholds
in Gopalganj, Habiganj, Sunamganj and
some other districts and the BNPJa-
maat failed to maintain their strong-
holds in Lakhmipur, Satkhira, Feni,
Noakhali, Chapainawabganj and some
other districts where violence and ir-
regularities marked the elections.
The Jamaat-e-Islami led by con-
victed war criminals failed to secure asingle chairman post in Dhaka division
and bagged only one in Barisal division.Feni district is popularly known as
the stronghold of the BNP and home-
town of BNP Chairperson Khaleda
Zia. But in the upazila elections, BNP-
backed chairman candidates f ailed to
secure a single chairman post in the six
upazilas.
Gopalganj, the home district of
Prime Minister and Awami League
President Sheikh Hasina, Awami
League-backed chairman contenders
failed to secure two chairman posts in
Moksedpur and Tungipara, the home-
town of Hasina.
PAGE 2 COLUMN 4
EC blames field level offi cers forfailure in containing polls violencenMohosinul Karim and
Mohammad Zakaria
The Election Commission and the top
brass of the civil administration have
made conflicting statements over the
allegations of negligence of field lev-
el offi cers in conta ining vi olence, i r-
regularities and vote rigging during
just-concluded upazila polls.
Election Commissioner Md Shah
Newaz hel d the fi eld leve l offi cers
responsible for irregularities in the
upazila polls.
Field le vel offi cers did no t work
properly during the upazila polls. It was
a chain of works as the administration
and law enforcement agencies worked
in the polls. It cannot be said that the
commission is satisfied with holding
some elections in a free and fair man-
ner, he told reporters yesterday.
ECs Senior Assistant Secretary Far-
had Hossain told the Dhaka Tribunethat the commission gave the authori-
ty to the returni ng offi cers and the lo -
cal administration to take immediateaction against any type of irregular-
ities. But they did not take any meas-
ures from the first phase of the polls,
he added.
We did not get any allegation or in-
formati on from the retu rning offi cers
about the violation of electoral code of
conduct and irregularities in the five-
phase upazila polls. The commission
has asked them to take action against
the allegations submitted by the candi-
dates to the EC secretariat, he said.Sources said the commission asked
its offi cials to i nvestigate s ome alle-
gations which were proved later. The
commission had given directives to
the returning o ffi cers and the admi nis-tration to take action immediately, but
they did not follow the directives of the
commission, they said.
The commission received an alle-
gation from Gazaria upazila in Mun-
shiganj that Awami League rebel can-
didate vandalised the union parishad
and torched election mikes of Awami
League-backed candidate Refayet Ul-
lah Khan.As per the probe report, the commis-
sion asked the ret urning offi cer to take
action, b ut the returning offi cer did not
take any steps against such allegation,
EC sources said.
The commissioner thinks it would
be better if election offi cials and
law enforcers are not from the local
administration. But the commission
does no t have its own offi cials to
conduct the polls.
If any irregularity took place, it was
not presented to the commission on
right time. So, the EC cannot take im-
mediate action against irregularities, he
said, adding that the commission asked
the returning offi cers to take acti on
against the allegations placed to the EC.But we did not get any report on
irregularities from the field level of-
ficers, he said.
PAGE 2 COLUMN 2
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD
Smuggled goldaccounts for 86%of all contrabandnSyed Samiul Basher Anik,
Mohammad Jamil Khan
andRabiul Islam
Eighty-six percent of the total smug-
gled consignments that are entering
the country have been identified by the
customs authorities to be gold.
According to information available
with the Customs Intelligence, they
seized a total of 240 consignments of
illegal goods from July to December last
year, of which 2 07 were gold, offi cials
at the National Board of Revenue said
quoting statistics.
In terms of value, gold was 95% of
the total smuggled items, according
to information received from the
Dhaka Customs House, the Chittagong
Customs House and the Customs
Intelligence.During the last six months of 2013,
customs had seized different smuggled
goods worth Tk263.38 crore, of which
Tk251.41 crore was from gold smug-
gling, reads the statistics.
PAGE 2 COLUMN 1
VICECHAIRMAN POSTS
Jamaat in secondplace ahead of BNPnMohammad Al-Masum Molla
At the end of Mondays fifth round
of upazila polls, Jamaat-backed
vice-chairman contenders stand clear
of those backed by its ally BNP, al-
though the latter stood second in the
tally of chairman posts.
Out of the 459 vice-chairman posts
up for grabbing, Jamaat-backed can-
didates bagged 115, followed by BNP
with 107, both behind Awami League-
backed ones, who secured 172.
The right wing Islamist party often
associated with committing war crimes
as an organisation in 1971 has steadily
maintained its success with regards to
the vice-chairman posts since the first
phase of the elections.
In the first phase, contenders backed
by Jamaat secured 23 vice-chairman
posts, 32 in the second, 23 in the third,
22 in the fourth and 15 in the fifth.
Interestingly, in the first two
rounds of voting, BNP not only led the
chairman tally, but also those of thevice-chairmen and vice-chairwomen.
But as violence and allegations of rig-ging started mounting from the third
phase, Awami League bounced back
with more chairman posts. Simulta-
neously, Jamaat chipped in with more
vice-chairman posts that its 18-party
alliance partner.
In the first phase, Awami League
backed contenders bagged 29
PAGE 2 COLUMN 1
Dhaka seeks WB budgetassistance for next FYnAsif Showkat Kallol
The government has sought budget
support from the World Bank for the
next fiscal year, Finance Minister AMA
Muhith said yesterday.
Following a meeting with visitingWorld Bank Vice-President Phillippe
Le Houerou at his secre tariat offi ce, the
minister said although assistance has
been sought, it was diffi cult to get bud-get support from the bank.
The request was made to the bank at
a time when the government was pre-paring its budget plan for the next year.
The World Bank yesterday also
promised a total of $2.8bn in loans to
Bangladesh for the current fiscal year,
the highest ever amount in a single
fiscal year.
I have asked the World Bank
vice-president to evaluate the perfor-
mance of Bangladeshs budget imple-
mentation over the last five years togive budget assistance to Bangladesh,
PAGE 2 COLUMN 4
AL, BNP and JaPalose strongholdsUpazila polls throw up a few surprises
PMO FOR ACTIONP16
Cabinet secretary saysoffi cers carried outduties properly
Panna Ghosh is pumped up after taking a wicket, Bangladesh Women v Sri Lanka Women, Womens World T20, Group B, Sylhet ICC
8/12/2019 Print Edition: 2 April 2014
2/21
News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014
61% voter turnoutin fifth phase
nMohammad Zakaria
With around 60.83% voter turnout
in fifth phase polls in 73 upazilas, the
overall average turnout in this years
upazila polls stood at 61.35%.
A total of 8,459,509 voters out of
13,891,992 cast their votes in the fifth
phase, while 317,112 votes have been
cancelled in this phase.l
All 50 JS watchdogs formednTribune Report
Parliament yesterday completed for-
mation of all the standing committees
headed by the Awami League MPs, not
giving any post of chairman to the op-
position parties as done in the ninth
parliament.
According to separate proposals of
Chief Whip ASM Feroz, the House formed
26 standing committees yesterday.
During the 2009-13 period, two
standing committee chairmen were
from then main opposition BNP, two
from the Jatiya Party, one from the
Workers Party, one from the Jatiya Sa-
majtantrik Dal and one from the Liberal
Democratic Party.
Five former ministers and state min-
isters have been made chairmen of the
watchdogs on same ministries they
served. They are former foreign min-
ister Dipu Moni, former environment
minister Hasan Mahmud, former state
minister for labour and employment
Begum Mannujan Sufian, former land
minister Rezaul Karim Hira and former
state minister for primary and mass ed-
ucation Motahar Hossain.
Meanwhile, former cultural affairs
minister Abul Kalam Azad has been elect-
ed chairman of the Parliamentary Stand-
ing Committee on Planning Ministry.
On Monday, 10 watchdog bodies
were formed when four former minis-
ter were made chairmen of the stand-
ing committees concerned.
The prime ministers cousin Abul
Hasnat Abdullah has been elected
chairman of the Parliamentary Stand-
ing Committee on LGRD and Coopera-
tives Ministry.
HN Ashequr Rahman will head the
watchdog on Public Administration
Ministry.
Former primary and mass education
minister Afsarul Amin has been electedchairman of the Parliamentary Stand-
ing Committee on E ducation Ministry.
The prime ministers cousin Sheikh
Fazlul Karim Selim, who was the health
minister during Awami Leagues 1996-
2001 tenure, has been elected chair-
man of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Health Ministry.
Home minister during the Awa-
mi Leagues previous term Maj (retd)
Rafiqul Islam has been elected chair-man of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Shipping Ministry while
Ekabbar Hossain to head the watchdog
on Communications Ministry.
Tajul Islam has been elected chair-
man of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Energy, Power and Min-
eral Resources Ministry.
The House elected Rebecca Mo-
min as the chairman of Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Women and
Children Affairs Ministry, Mir Shawkat
Ali Badsha for the Fisheries and Live-
stock Ministry, Abdul Wadud for food,
Saber Hossain Chowdhury for textile
and jute, Maj Gen (retd) Shubid Ali
Bhuiyan for defence and Md Mokbul
Hossain for Agriculture Ministry.
Mozammel Hossain has been made
chairman of the Parliamentary Stand-
ing Committee on Social Welfare Min-
istry, Dabirul Islam for housing and
public works, Zahid Ahsan Rasel for
youth and sports, Simin Hossain Rimi
for cultural affairs, and former health
minister AFM Ruhal Haque for the Par-
liamentary Standing Committee on Sci-
ence and Technology Ministry.
ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury has
been elected chairman of the Parlia-
mentary Standing Committee on Rail-
way Ministry.l
CHCPs to get
19,000 computersnMoniruzzaman Uzzal
Directorate General of Health Services
(DGHS) is going introduce more digital
tools at the grass root level health in-
stitutes across the country today.
The DGHS will distribute around
19,000 laptops and android-based tab-
let computers among the health work-
ers of Community Health Care Provid-
ers (CHCP) and union level healthcare
sub-centres across the country.
Professor Dr Abul Kalam Azad, ad-
ditional director general of the DGHS
told the Dhaka Tribune that more than
12,500 community clinics and 1,275
union level healthcare sub-centres had
been providing health care services to
the grass root people.
According to the DGHS annual Pub-
lication Health Bulletin 2013, since
April 2009 to December 2012 a total
of 147.9 million patients had received
treatment from the community clinics
and around 3 million patients had been
referred to different hospitals during
these period.The professor said last year more
than 3,465 laptops and 3,500 tablet
computers were distributed among the
CHCPs and health assistants.
After distributing these digital
tools, training would be provided to
the health workers so that they could
operate it smoothly, he added.
Sources said the health service pro-
viders would have to enrol everyday
with their photographs and mention
the date and time of their entry and exit
from the community clinics through
the laptop.
Health Minister Mohammed Na-
sim will inaugurate the distribu-
tion programme and hand over few
computers at the Management Infor-
mation Services auditorium of the
DGHS today.l
Muhith: Ministers shouldmaintain some mannersnTribune Report
Ministers should show some manners
while speaking in public, Finance Min-
ister AMA Muhith said yesterday in re-
action to some derogatory comments
made recently by Planning Minister
AHM Mostafa Kamal.
The two have been at loggerheads
lately over the outlay of the revised an-
nual development programme (ADP).
Challenging Muhiths ability to serveas a finance minister, Mostafa Kamal
recently criticised his opposition to
increasing the size of the revised ADP
citing fund constraints.
Refuting Kamal's allegation, Muhith
said he did not get any pension from the
World Bank. I do not get any pension
from anyone in the world, except the
government of Bangladesh, Muhith
told reporters yesterday. He was the
first alternate executive director from
Bangladesh in the World Bank.About suing the World Bank for dis-
regarding Bangladesh over allegations
of corruption in the tendering process of
the Padma bridge project, Muhith said:
I told the media that I would file a case
against the World Bank when I leave the
cabinet and become a private citizen.
Muhith also said Kamal did not un-
derstand public-private partnership
(PPP) initiative, which is an interna-
tionally known concept, and I did not
create the model in Bangladesh.
Kamal had earlier said: The finance
minister has developed the PPP, but I
do not know if it is a cow or a goat? I
hope the people know what it is! l
Smuggled gold accounts for 86% of all contrabandPAGE 1 COLUMN 6The worst scenario was seen in De-
cember when all 36 smuggled consign-
ments seized by customs were gold.
Offi cials b lamed the dut y hike in gold
import in neighbouring India for the
rise in gold smuggling in Bangladesh.
Customs chief Moinul Khan told the
Dhaka Tribune that the Indian govern-
ment had increased the tax rate to 10%
from existing 6% which had resulted
in reduction of 95% of gold imports.
The smugglers have an excellent
opportunity to make some quick mon-
ey, he said adding that the smugglers
bring gold from the Middle East to
Bangladesh, and then take it to India
using different routes.
To hide them from law enforcement
agencies, smugglers carry the gold in-
side hard drives, multimedia projectors
and television, and even inside soap,
food sacks and luggage.
Syndicates, comprising of interna-
tional smugglers, are involved with
gold smuggling. However, in most
cases, only the actual smugglers arecaught by the intelligence wing while
the ring leaders remain out of reach, a
customs offi cial obse rved.
The offi cial say s the act ual num-
ber of smuggled consignments would
probably be much higher since only
1-2% of the total number of illegal con-
signments is held by the law enforce-
ment agencies.
Gold is being smuggled mostly
through the inside of an aircraft, which
is impossible for any person without
the help of t he aircraf t offi cials, the
offi cial told the Dha ka Tribune seeki ng
anonymity.
Customs o ffi cials say th ey are beef-
ing up monitoring to nab leaders of the
smuggling ring.In this regard, the NBR has also tak-
en up a plan to increase monitoring ac-
tivities at different ports including the
airports for combating the sudden rise
in gold smuggling, as those places are
used as transit points to smuggle goods
from one country to the other.
An NBR offi cial sa id Tk1 cror e had
already been allocated for the Customs
Intelligence and Investigation Directo-
rate to tap the routes through intense
monitoring.
The NBR plans to prioritise the cus-
toms activities in Dhaka, Chittagong
and Pangaon customs houses, the bond
commissionerates of Dhaka and Chit-
tagong, the Customs Intelligence, and
the Investigation Directorate.
Under the plan, the cust oms offi cials
will check the vehicles and people at
the airports. If any smuggled products
are found and the actual owner cannot
be traced, they will question all the
passengers of the plane.
Senior Assistant Superintended of
Armed Police Battalion (APBn) Nur-e-
Alam Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune
that besides performing their regular du-
ties, the force had also taken all necessary
steps to make its intelligence wing strong.
He said the monitoring team was
modified with the support of latest
technology.
About punishment of the gold smug-
glers, Additional Commissioner of Dha-
ka Customs AKM Ohidul Alam told the
Dhaka Tribune: The customs depart-
ment does not have its own prosecu-
tion department. It merely detains the
criminals and files cases against them,
after it hands them over to the police.
We do not have any idea how crimi-
nals are getting bail in such special cas-
es, he said adding that the customs didnot have information about such cases
since those were handled by the po lice.
He also urged the authorities con-
cerned to empower the customs to bet-
ter deal with smuggling.
Offi cer-in-Charge of Ai rport p olice
station Shaheduzzaman refuted the al-
legations against police saying that they
only place a criminal at the court after
completing investigation properly.l
Jamaat in secondplace ahead of BNPPAGE 1 COLUMN 6
vice-chairman posts, 32 in the second,
28 in the third, 39 in the fourth and the
highest 44 in Mondays fifth round.
On the other hand, for the BNP, it
has been a steady journey downwards.
In the first round 32 BNP-backed
vice-chairman contenders won, 36 won
in the second, 18 in the third, 17 in the
fourth and the worst of only four in the
fifth round.
However, although the BNP fell
behind both the Awami League and
Jamaat in terms of the vice-chairmanposts, the female candidates it had
backed had more vice-chairwoman
posts than the other two parties.
At the end of the fifth round,
BNP-backed contenders backed 189
vice-chairwoman posts, followed by
the Awami League with 180 and Jamaat
with 33. l
EC blames field level offi cers forfailure in containing polls violencePAGE 1 COLUMN 5
Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hos-
sain Bhuiyan told reporters yesterday
that the cabinet division is yet to get
any allegation [from the Election Com-
mission ] against a ny field level offi cer
who ignored the responsibilities during
the upazila polls.
We will take necessary steps against
those offi cials if we found them guilty
or got any allegation against anybody.
But, none complained against anybody
as they did not follow the directives of
the election commission. None would
be spared for their irresponsibility and
misconduct, he said.
He also claimed that all the
offi cers, involved with the u pazi-
la polls, had carried out their duties
properly. l
Dhaka seeks WB budget assistance for next FYPAGE 1 COLUMN 5Muhith said.
Receiving budget support from the
World Bank was not unprecedented,
the minister said, adding that the bank
provided budget assistance through re-
form programs.
Although the government had not
received budget support from the
World Bank in recent times, the Asian
Development Bank had provided finan-
cial assistance to Bangladesh following
the global recession, Muhith said.
He added that the government had
previously received about $300m as bud-
get support from the International Devel-
opment Association of the World Bank.
Reforms would be made in the
banking sector, social safety net and
food distribution programmes, Muhith
said, adding that budget support would
be given in line with the execution of
reforms in various sectors, which will
be discussed later with World Bank of-
ficials.
Muhith said the World Bank has
called for decentralising the authorities
for the utilisation of the government
fund. As part of the decentralisation ef-
forts, the government will enhance the
project implementation capacities of
ministries, divisions and PPP projects,
which currently amounts at only Tk50
crore, Tk25 crore and Tk7 crore respec-
tively.
Replying to a query by Le Houerou
on the Padma Bridge, Muhith said themain tender for construction of the
bridge would be floated by July.
The ongoing tender processes for
training and hiring a consultant would
be completed within this year, while
the main consultant would be appoint-
ed during the July-August period, he
added.
The global lender was becoming
more involved in projects dealing
with primary, secondary and higher
education, while the country will not
get any more funding for the powersector as the bank would not invest in
coal-based power plants on principle,
Muhith added.
On the other hand, World Bank
Vice-President Phillippe Le Houerou
said the World Banks previous invest-
ment for the Padma Bridge would now
be invested in other sectors.
The World Banks assistance to Ban-
gladesh since the countrys indepen-
dence has so far amounted to $18bn,
the banks vice-president said.
The World Bank was supporting
the governments initiative to achieve
middle-income status for the country
by 2021, but to that end the govern-
ment needed to put emphasis on the
improvement of infrastructure and the
power sector, Le Houerou added.l
Bangladesh women bag maidenPAGE 1 COLUMN 3
group as they still finished bottom
behind Sri Lanka and India. Despite
having equal two points, the net run-
rate put the home side behind their
sub-continent opponents, thus ending
all hopes for the Bangladesh women
to qualify for the next edition of World
Twenty20 scheduled to be held in India
in 2016. They will now fight for the 9th
place in the event against Ireland in a
play-off tomorrow.
After a series of poor totals against West
Indies (79), India (58) and Pakistan (72), the
hosts batswomen finally geared up and
sang in rhythm to register their highesttotal in the shortest version of cricket. The
previous best was 113 which they made
twice against India and Pakistan.
The start however wasnt the best as
Ayasha Rahman returned in the very
first over before skipper Salma Khatun
tormented the bowlers to give Bangla-
desh their best start in the tournament
reaching fifty in nine overs.
After the dismissal of Salma (22) and
Sharmin Akhter (18), Rumana Ahmed
guided the side past 100 and stayed in
the middle till the last over depending
mostly on singles and doubles. Theright-handed batter slammed a 34-ball
41 that included only three boundaries.
Birthday girl, Jahanara Alam gave
Bangladesh the perfect start by dis-
missing Hasini Perera in her first de-
livery. Sri Lanka however was cruising
with Yasoda Mendis (33) putting on
two partnerships of 37 and 28 with
Chamari Atapattu and Shashikala Siri-
wardene respectively.
Medium fast bowler Panna Ghosh
brought Bangladesh back on track by pick-
ing up two quick wickets before dismissing
Sri Lanka captain Siriwardene (31) to take
control of the game despite several drops
from the home fielders. Panna bagged
three wickets for just 18 runs. Apart from
the batting contribution Rumana also
claimed a wicket which brought her the
player of the match award.l
Who gained what?PAGE 1 COLUMN 2
That alarmed the Awami League, who was
looking to strengthen and reward its grass-
roots by doing well in these polls. Soon af-
ter, the third phase saw a marked escalation
in violence for which the ruling party men
were largely blamed. Simultaneously, the
Awami League-backed contenders started
performing well too.
That trend remained unchanged in the
next two phases as well, the last of which
was held on Monday.
The Awami League might have in the
end soared high above its arch rivals in
terms of the number of seats bagged by the
candidates it had backed 254 for the ruling
party, 164 for the BNP and 36 for Jamaat.
But eventually, the violence and rigging
only gave momentum to the BNPs claim
that fair elections were not possible under
partisan governments.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi
Rakibuddin Ahmad, who won a lot of ac-
claim for staging fair city polls only last year,
mysteriously went to the USA on a vacation
in the middle of the upazila polls.
That not only gave rise to extensive crit-
icism, but also induced similar speculation
about the governments role and interfer-
ence with the ECs work.
Unfortunately, the chaos that the coun-
try has witnessed surrounding the upazila
polls was surely going to hurt the credibility
of the ECs independence for a long time
to come and it would not be easy by any
stretch of the imagination to gain it back. l
AL, BNP and JaPa lose strongholdsPAGE 1 COLUMN 2In Moksedpur, independent candidate
won the chairman post and in Tungipa-
ra rival candidates of Awami League
won the chairman post.
In Lakhmipur district, there are five
upazilas that are also known as strong-
holds of the BNP, the party-backed
chairman candidates secured only one
chairman post.
In seven upazilas of Satkhira, known
as a stronghold of the Jamaat, the right
wing political party-backed candidate
secured only one chairman posts out
of seven and the rests were secured by
Awami League-backed chairman can-
didates.
In Noakhali elections were held in
nine upazilas while in one upazila it
was postponed. Among the nine upazi-
las, five chairman posts were secured
by Awami League-backed contenders
while BNP-backed aspirants secured
only three.
Sunamganj district is popularly
known as stronghold of Awami League
but in the upazila polls, the AwamiLeague lost its stronghold as the BNP-
backed chairman candidates won sev-
en chairman posts out of the 10.
Political strength of Awami League
in Habiganj is well known but in the lo-
cal body elections the party bagged five
chairman posts while the BNP secured
two and the other one by an independ-
ent candidate.
The BNP showed its strength in
the northern region as it bagged 26
chairman posts in Rangpur division
and 26 in Rajshahi while the Awami
League-supported candidates secured
21 and 18 chairmen posts respectively.
The Awami League-backed contend-
ers took lead in Dhaka, Sylhet, Chit-
tagong, Khulna and Barisal divisions.In Dhaka, the Awami League-backed
candidates secured 57 chairman posts
while those backed by the BNP won in 41
seats. Ershads JaPa got only one chair-
man post in Tarail of Kishorganj but the
Jamaat got no seats in the division.
The candidates supported by the
Awami League and the BNP came out
neck and neck in Sylhet division where
the ruling party-backed candidates
bagged 18 and the BNP 15 chairman
posts. The Jamaat got two seats.
In Barisal division, the Awami
League-backed contenders got abso-
lute majority as they bagged 21 chair-
man posts while the BNP-backed can-
didates got just four. Jamaat-backed
contender bagged one chairman post
in Zianagar of Pirojpur and another was
bagged by the JP (Monju) in Bhandaria
of Pirojpur.
In this division, at least in 20 upazi-
las, the BNP-backed candidates boy-
cotted the elections alleging vote rig-
ging and illegal stamping by the ruling
party men.
There were incidents of stray vio-
lence in the first phase of polls but it
increased in the second phase. In the
third phase, violence took a serious turn
as three people were killed and clashes
took place at a number of places.
In Chittagong division, Awami
League-backed contenders also took
the lead as they bagged 40 chairman
posts while the BNP-backed contend-
ers ensured 30 and Jamaat only 5.
In Khulna, Awami League-backed
contenders bagged just the double
chairman posts than the BNP-backed
contenders as the ruling party bagged
36 chairman posts and the BNP-backed
aspirants 18 and Jamaat-backed 5.
Interestingly, Jamaat also per-formed well in Bogra, the hometown
of BNP founder Gen Ziaur Rahman,
as it bagged five chairman posts while
seven were grabbed by the BNP-backed
candidates.
Regional political parties like the
Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati
Samity (PCJSS) and the United Peoples
Democratic Front (UPDF)-backed can-
didates bagged 13 chairman posts. l
PM Sheikh Hasina presents a copy of Bangabandhu's autobiography to World Bank Vice-President Phillippe le Houerou yesterday PMO
8/12/2019 Print Edition: 2 April 2014
3/21
3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014
PMs no to aid that has harmful conditionsnUNB
Bangladesh does not want any assis-tance from anyone that tags conditions
harmful for the country, Prime Minis-
ter Sheikh Hasina said yesterday.
She made the remark when visiting
World Bank Regional Vice-President
for South Asia Philippe Le Heuerou
met her at the PMO. The premiers Spe-
cial Assistant Mahbubul Hoque Shakil
briefed reporters after the meeting.
The prime minister said Bangladesh
always welcomed assistance from oth-
er countries or organisations, and eachand every country of the world had its
own philosophy of development.
This philosophy includes culture,
nature, environment, psychology and
the geographical characteristics of thatparticular country, she said.
According to Shakil, the WB envoy
highly appreciated the unprecedent-
ed achievements of the government
in women empowerment in termsof economy, attaining over 6% GDP
growth in the last couple of years, edu-
cation and health sectors.
Heuerou, who is on his maiden visit
to Bangladesh, said Hasina had suc-
cessfully been leading the country in
its march forward.
He also praised the government for
taking steps for developing the social
safety net, and expressed the WBs in-
terest to assist Bangladesh in its infra-
structural development.The offi cial said the WB had pledged
to provide $2.8bn in the current fiscal
where it already signed aid agreement
with the Bangladesh government for
$1.73bn in February last. Heuerou em-
phasised the enhancement of regional
connectivity and said the WB would
like to take part in this sector.
In this connection, the prime minis-
ter said the regional connectivity was
increasing day by day. She also men-
tioned about two hydro-power proj-
ects Bangladesh-Bhutan-India and
Bangladesh-Nepal-India.
Hasina also referred to declining trend
in traffi cking of women and children in
the region due to concerted efforts of all.Describing various government ac-
tivities taken for development of ed-
ucation, health and power sectors, the
premier said Bangladesh had managed
to attain more than 6% GDP growth at a
time when the entire world was under
economic stress. It was possible due to
the pragmatic and time befitting steps
of her government.
Ambassador at-large M Ziauddin,
PMs Media Adviser Iqbal Sobhan
Chowdhury and Principal Secretary
Abdus Sobhan Sikder were present on
the occasion.l
Prosecution seeks arrest of Tarailrazakar leader Hasan AlinUdisa Islam
The prosecution yesterday submitted
a petition to the International Crimes
Tribunal 1 seeking arrest of Syed Hasan
Ali, an alleged razakar commander of
Tarail in Kishoreganj during the 1971
Liberation War, as the investigation
against him was near end.
The petition sayied Hasan is now
staying in Brahmanbarias border areas
and he may flee the country anytime.
So he needs to be arrested to ensure
smooth investigation.The investigation report may be com-
pleted within a mo nth, offi cials said.
Prosecutor Abul Kalam Azad submit-
ted the petition to the tribunals registrar
offi ce. A hearing on the petition may be
held today at the three-member tribunal
1 led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim.
Azad said the suspect had been the
razakar commander of Tarail upazi-
la and involved in all kinds of crimes
against humanity and genocide. We
got evidence of direct involvement of
Hasan in the incidents.Mosleh Uddin, father of the suspect,
was the chairman of Peace Committees
Kishoreganj district unit. Hasans broth-
er had also been a member of the raza-
kar force and the whole family commit-
ted atrocities in 1971.
Investigator Hari Devnath began the
probe against Hasan on June 6 last year
under the supervision of prosecutor
Azad. This will be the first case where
he will work as conducting prosecutor.
Hari said: Hasan was involved in
the killings of at least 50 Hindu people,
looting of houses, and arson. We have
at least five witnesses for each charge
against him.
Sources said the suspect might
be charged for the murders of Tofaz-
zal Hossain Bhuiyan, Abdur Rashid
and Hasan Ahmed, and the Shimulhati
killing.
The investigation agency is now
dealing with at least eight cases. The
probe against another war crimes sus-
pect Lahar Ali Shah from Rajshahi is ad-
vancing fast. Investig ation Offi cer Ataur
Rahman started the probe on October 1,
2012 under the supervision of prosecu-
tor Jahid Imam. They are also working
on the allegations against suspected war
criminal Abdul Jabbar from Pirojpur.
This time the junior prosecutors will
conduct some of the cases and they al-
ready started to coordinate with inves-
tigation agency.
Prosecutor Rezia Sultana Begum,
Sabina Yeasmin and Syed Sayedul Huq
will conduct the cases against Maulana
Shakhawat Hossain from Jessore, Ataur
Noni from Netrokona and Sirajul Islamfrom Bagerhat.
Though prosecutors Sabina and Re-
zia assisted seniors earlier in other cas-
es, it would be the first case for Sayedul
at the tribunal.l
Prosecution declares its witnessin Azhar case hostilenUdisa Islam
The prosecution, in the case against
Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul
Islam yesterday, declared their seventh
witness hostile and appealed to the
tribunal to send him to safe custody.
The tribunal 1 disposed of the peti-
tion as the witness, Aminul Islam, 56,
of Uttar Maksudpur under Badarganj
upazila in Rangpur, said he needed no
security.
Aminul was declared hostile as
he said the Pakistani occupation army
and their anonymous collaborators had
killed Kaltimai during the 1971 Libera-
tion War. He did not use the name of the
accused during the proceedings.
Conducting prosecutor AKM SaifulIslam requested safe custody for the
witness as he might influence other
prosecution witnesses in the case. Fol-
lowing his request, the tribunal asked
the witnesses whether he wanted to go
into safe custody. Aminul replied in the
negative.
The tribunal then directed the law
enforcement agencies to keep him un-
der observation so that he could not in-
fluence other prosecution witnesses. It
also said if the witness was found doing
so, the lawmen might take legal steps.
Tajul Islam, counsel for the accused,
termed the prosecutions stance un-
just saying that a witness could not be
forced to testify. The appeal for sendingthe witness to safe custody might fright-
en other witnesses, he said.
The same tribunal yesterday record-
ed the last part of the deposition by In-
vestigation Offi cer Satya Ranjan Roy in
the trial of Zahid Hossain Khokon, alias
Khokon Razakar. He was the 24th and fi-
nal prosecution witness in the case. Lat-
er state defence counsel Abdus Shukkur
stared cross examining him.
Meanwhile, the tribunal 2 set Sunday
for placing a new prosecution witness
against Mir Kashem Ali, as the defence
ended cross-examination of the 20thwitness, Lutfar Rahman Faruk. l
Lawmakers to drawallowance from January 9nKamran Reza Chowdhury
The lawmakers of the 10th parliamentwill draw their allowances from
January 9.
Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the
speaker, yesterday instructed the par-
liament secretary, who in January sent
the file to her for decision, to pay the
10th parliament MPs their monthly al-
lowance as soon as possible.
Earlier, the speaker had a meeting
with Law Minister Anisul Huq and his
predecessor Shafique Ahmed to seek
opinion on deciding the current par-
liaments starting date without which
the allowances of the MPs could not be
decided.
They suggested the speaker, accord-
ing to the rule, that the MPs should get
allowances from the date they take oath.
The 10th parliament MPs will get
allowances from January 9; I have giv-
en my decision in this regard, Shirin
Sharmin Chaudhury told the Dhaka
Tribune. She said questions could be
raised, but this parliament case was dif-ferent from previous instances.
According to the constitution, a par-
liament tenure is of five years from the
first day of the first sitting. The 9th par-
liament had its first sitting on January
25, 2009.
This time general elections took
place keeping the ninth parliament
alive. There is no such previous prece-
dence, said the speaker who said she
was constitutionally bound to adminis-ter oath to the MPs in 72 hours from the
publication of gazette on the election
results.
The Election Commission published
the gazette notification of the January
5 election on January 8. The next day,
the speaker administered oath that dis-
solved the 9th parliament and started
the 10th parliament.The article 123 of the constitution
says that the MPs of the previous parlia-
ment must not ass ume offi ce until the
completion of the five-year tenure and
the article 148 of the constitution says
the MPs wi ll assume offi ce from the
time they take oath.
Parliament session to stretch
The tenure of the current session of
parliament will stretch up to April 10
instead of the previous decision to run
the House up to April 3.
We have to run the session up to
April 10 as many of the MPs electedfrom the womens reserved seats will
deliver their speech on the presidents
parliamentary address, Shirin Sharmin
Chaudhury told the Dhaka Tribune.
The Business Advisory Committee,
headed by the speaker, authorised to
stretch or shrink the session tenure in
case of necessity.l
No progress in SQC
verdict leak casenUdisa Islam and Mohammad
Jamil Khan
The Detective Branch (DB) of Policehas failed to make any progress in in-
vestigating the draft verdict leak for
Salauddin Quader Chowdhurys war
crimes case, and is still busy analysing
the clues, nearly six months after the
incident.
Investigators claim that they were wait-ing for the prime suspect, fugitive Me-
hedi Hasan, who is a junior counsel for
SQ Chowdhury.
The tribunal offi ce has also refrained
from taking any initiative in this regard
as two of its staff are involved and werearrested.
Krishna Pada Roy, the DB deputy
commissioner (south), told the Dhaka
Tribune that they had been investigating
the case as a special priority since it was
a sensational one. Asked about the slow
progress, he said they needed to analyse
all data and clues before making a move.
At present, we are analysing the
statements of the arrestees while our
offi cials are in search of the other sus-
pected accused who are on the run, he
said. He, however, refused to name the
suspects.
After pronouncing the verdict, the
tribunal commented that the family
of the convict had made huge invest-ments to leak it beforehand.
On October 2 last year, the Interna-tional Crimes Tribunal filed a general
diary with Shahbagh police station over
the leak. Tribunal Registrar AKM Na-
siruddin Mahmud made the announce-
ment at a press briefing that day.
After just five days of being arrest-
ed, tribunal staff Nayan Ali on Octo-
ber 10 admitted his involvement in
the incident. Metropolitan Magistrate
Tareq Mainul Islam Bhuiyan recorded
his statement where he said he had ac-
cessed the Tribunal 1 chairmans com-
puter and gave Mehedi the data on a pen
drive several times.
He also claimed that Salauddin Quad-
ers counsel Fakhrul Islam Chowdhury
and one of his managers were involved
in the matter. Nayan, a cleaner, and Md
Faruque, a stenographer of the tribunal
registrar o ffi ce, were remanded af ter
their arrest on October 5.
The DB arrested Fakhrul in connec-
tion with the leak around two months
after the inci dent. DB offi cial then sai dthey had arrested him after verifying
information extracted from the two de-
tained tribunal staff.
In this regard, Arunabha Chakrabarty,
deputy registrar of the tribunal, told the
Dhaka Tribune: We hope that the case
will be solved as early as possible. We
need to know the truth for the sake of
our security. If the court gives an obser-
vation, we will be aware about the loop-
holes, if any.
He added that they could not pres-
surise the investigators since their staff
were suspected in the case and the in-
vestigation was underway.l
PSC: Proposalto simplify
quota systemignorednEmran Hossain Shaikh
Although five years have passed since
the Bangladesh Public Service Com-
mission recommended simplifying the
existing quota system, the incumbent
government has yet to respond to it
positively.
State Minister for Public Adminis-
tration Ismat Ara Sadique yesterday
placed the annual report for 2013 to
the Jatiya Sangsad, making the obser-vation.
According to the report, the rules
and regulations of the existing quo-
ta system are very complicated and
time-consuming. It is almost impos-
sible to choose qualified candidates by
applying the method.
The report stated that using the dis-
trict quota to select cadres has alsoturned the system into very much so-
phisticated. Considering the matter,
the commission placed the recommen-
dation to the government on March 19,
2009.
The report showed a gradual in-
crease of female candidates in the cad-
re service. In 31st BCS, the ratio of male
and female candidates was 70.42:29.58,
while 44.90:55.10 in 32nd special BCS
and 61.78:38.22 in 33rd BCS.
The report added that the PSC has
so far recommended 186 candidates for
non-cadre posts in the 31st and 32nd
BCS examinations.l
UK thanks Dhaka forabstaining from votingon Crimea issue
nSheikh Shahariar Zaman
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahri-ar Alam said British High Commissioner
in Dhaka Robert Gibson thanked Ban-
gladesh for abstaining from voting on
Crimea issue in the United Nations Gen-
eral Assembly.
Thank you for abstaining from vot-
ing, he quoted Robert Gibson as saying.
Robert Gibson and British State Minis-
ter for International Development Alan
Duncan met Shahriar Alam at the foreign
ministry yesterday.
The UNGA on Thursday adopted a
non-binding resolution on Crimea where
Bangladesh abstained from voting with-
out explaining the reason.
He [Gibson] actually expressed his
satisfaction and we also said there are
friends who are not so happy, but they
[British] actually said they are happy that
we remained abstained, Shahriar said.
Earlier, the state minister at a media
briefing said Bangladesh was observing
the situation in Ukraine.
Bangladesh being a member of non-aligned countries and G-77, we do notsupport any party in any internal matter
of a country. We did not deviate from that
policy and we abstained due to that poli-
cy, he said.
When asked why Bangladesh ab-
stained without giving an explanation,
he said it is Bangladeshs right.
Meanwhile, the United States had re-
gretted that Bangladesh did not support
Ukraine on Crimea issue. US ambassador
in Dhaka Dan Mozena on Monday said:
I regret that Bangladesh was not able to
join the majority.
According to UN website, by a record
vote of 100 in favour and 11 against with
58 abstentions, including Bangladesh,
the UNGA adopted the resolution titled
Territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Russian ambassador in Dhaka Alexan-
der Nicholaev at a programme on Sunday
also expressed his satisfaction that Ban-
gladesh abstained from voting when the
resolution was adopted.l
Bangladeshi UN
peacekeepers
off to Mali
nBSS
A 112-member contingent of Bangla-
desh Army left Dhaka yesterday to join
the United Nations Peacekeeping Forc-es in Mali for the first time.
The contingent, led by Colonel M
Jahangir Harun, left Shahjalal Interna-
tional Airport in the afternoon for the
land-locked African country.
A total of 1,446 members of the
Army and the Navy, including an infan-
try unit, two signal units, an engineer
unit, a navy unit and a riverine unit are
also expected to be deployed in the Af-
rican state. The remaining peacekeep-ers will leave for Mali in phases. l
Professor Anisuzzaman receives the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in
India, from Indian President Pranab Mukherjee at New Delhi yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE
Members of the Armed Forces depart the Shahjalal International Airport in the capital yesterday to join UN Peacekeeping Forces in Mali
DHAKA TRIBUNE
After pronouncing theverdict, the tribunalcommented that thefamily of the convicthad made hugeinvestments to leak itbeforehand
Give your sonsor Tk20, 000nOur Correspondent, Tangail
Gopalpur upazila yesterday saw a fierce
backlash against opposition supportersfrom the ruling Awami League men fol-
lowing the March 31 polls.
Sexagenarian Sokhina probablyfaced the most terrifying moment in
her life when the ruling party support-
ers pinned a gun to her head.
Give us your sons, they howled.
Sokhina was granted with an option
payment of Tk20, 000 within 10 min-
utes or face the inevitable, said locals
and witnesses.
Sokhina was granted mercy after
she pleaded for forgiveness but others
known to be affi liated with t he BNP in
the area were not so fortunate.
The post-poll violence in the upazila
witnessed vandalism, arson and looting
allegedly by ruling party supporters.
Most of the BNP supporters fled the
upazila fearing backlash. Armed rul-
ing party men swooped on Sokhina in
Hemnagar area on Monday night look-
ing for her sons Humayun Kabir Liton,
Nur Nabi and Lokman.
Unable to locate the trio, they van-
dalised the house and demanded mon-
ey from Sokhina, said localsIt was the same night when they
vandalised establishments of BNP
leaders Liton Mia, Harun-RRashin,
Abdul Barek, Anisur Rahman, Lal Mia
and Rezaul Karim in Hemnagar Bazar.
Even the poultry firm of BNP support-
er Shafiqul Islam was not spared. His shop
was vandalised and chickens looted.
Meanwhile, several villages in Jawail
union were also attacked the same
night. The pharmacy of BNP activist
Dr Hamid was vandalized too. Another
activist Badiuzzaman was assaulted in
Mouza Dakuri. l
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News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014
World AutismAwareness Day todaynMoniruzzaman Uzzal
World Autism Awareness Day will be
observed across the world including
Bangladesh today to raise awareness
about autism.
Different ministries have chalked out
elaborate programmes to mark the day.
The social welfare ministry will or-ganise a discussion and cultural pro-
gramme participated by children with
autism at Bangabandhu International
Conference Centre where Prime Minis-
ter Sheikh Hasina will be present as the
chief guest.
Important buildings of differentministries, divisions, departments in
the capital and districts will be lighted
up blue on the occasion.
Autism is a complex neuro-behav-
ioral disorder that affects a persons
brain function. Autism affects girls and
boys of all races and in all geographic
regions and has a large impact on chil-
dren, their families, communities and
societies.
The prevalence of the disease is cur-
rently rising in many countries around
the world.
As many as 10 public medical col-
lege hospitals including Shishu Bikash
Kendra (SSK) of Dhaka Medical College
Hospital (DMCH) are providing treat-
ment to children with autism and other
neuro-development problems.
Humaira Muslima, child health p hy-sician of SSK of the Dhaka Shishu Hos-
pital said neuro-development of a child
mostly develop within two to three
years of age.
If parents can realise that their child
has development disorder they should
bring them within this time and those
autistic children can become self-de-
pendent.
The annual bulletin of the Director-
ate General of Health Services (DGHS)
in 2013 said that the social welfare de-
partment of Bangladesh estimated that
around 2, 80,000 were suffering from
autism related health problems in the
country.
Professor Dr Abul Kalam Azad, the ad-
ditional director general (planning),
told the Dhaka Tribune that the nation-
al health programme had identified au-
tism as a priority.
The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib
Medical University is going to set up a
specialised centre for treating children
with neuro-development problems.
He said Saima Wazed, daughter of
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had
placed an agenda at the 133 execu-
tive board of the WHO and the board
had approved it and it would soon be
placed before the World Health Assem-
bly for approval.l
UK delegation surprised at Tariquesfirst president commentnSheikh Shahariar Zaman
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahri-
ar Alam said a British delegation had ex-
pressed surprise over a recent comment
by BNP leader Tarique Zia contending
that his father, Ziaur Rahman, was the
first president of Bangladesh.
I raised the issue and asked them
where Tarique Zia, who is now living in
England, got such information after 43
years and what they thought about it,
Shahriar Alam said after meeting with a
delegation led by Alan Duncan, UK min-
ister for international development, at
the foreign ministry in Dhaka yesterday.
They told me that they were sur-
prised to hear that. They were smiling
when they said so. They did not have
any explanation as to why a political par-
ty gave such distorted information. They
were very surprised, Shahriar said.
About bringing Tarique back to Ban-
gladesh, the state minister said there
was a procedure to do that.
Shahriar said the foreign ministry
could only act when there was a war-
rant, but no warrant was issued against
Tarique yet. When a warrant is issued,
the foreign ministry will act upon re-
quest from the home ministry, he said.
The British minister, however, did not
make any comments after the meeting.
Duncan arrived in the city on a
three-day trip on Monday. He is sched-
uled to visit the Rana Plaza disaster site
at Savar today, and will address a press
conference later.
Tarique, son of former president
Ziaur Rahman and former three-time
prime minister Khaleda Zia, at a sem-inar marking Bangladeshs Indepen-
dence Day in London last month, re-
marked that Zia, a sector commander in
1971, was the countrys first president.
Khaleda Zia later endorsed his view,
publicly saying her late husband was
indeed Bangladeshs first president.l
60 injured in post-poll violencenTribune Report
More than 60 activists of rival political
parties were injured in post-poll violence
in three districts during the hartal called
in protest of alleged vote rigging in the
fifth phase of the upazila polls yesterday.
The BNP-led alliance have been ac-
cusing the ruling Awami League of tak-
ing over the polling stations and ballot
boxes, and driving polling agents out oftheir stations in rival camps, while the
Election Commission and the local ad-
ministrations were mere spectators.
In Sirajganjs Belkuchi, Awami
League activists beat up 10 voters from
Vaturia village of Rajapur union around
10pm because they did not vote for the
candidate from Awami League. They
also vandalised a weaving factory and
a stationary shop.
However, when contacted, Belkuchipolice station OC Abdul Hai claimed it
was normal that some violence would
take place after the polls. The injured
received primary treatment.
In Sunamganjs Bishambharpur upa-
zila, at least 20 people were injured in a
fight between Awami League and BNP
activists in the afternoon.
Two groups led by local Awami League
leader Rafique and BNP leader Harun
clashed following an altercation over the
polls, according to the po lice. Offi cer In-
Charge Nurul Abser Khan said the injured
were admitted to different hospitals.
In Moulvibazars Rajanagar, follow-
ers of two Awami League chairman
candidates got into a fight, injuring at
least 30 people. The incident took place
around 11pm on Monday at Parchakra
village of Mansur Nagar union. The in-
jured were admitted to local hospitals.
Local sources said Awami League-
backed chairman candidate Askir Khan
was pro nounced winner u noffi cially,
which was followed by his rival Misba-
hudduja Velai Mias followers clashing
with his supporters. Police rushed there
and brought the situation under control.
Meanwhile, in Satkhira and Bargu-
na, the hartal called by the BNP-led
alliance was observed peacefully. No
Jamaat activists were seen picketing
in Satkhira. On the other hand, the dis-
trict offi ce of BNP was closed in Bargu-
na the entire day. l
Policeman suspended fortorturing businessmannKailash Sarkar
A poli ce offi cer was s uspended yes-
terday for allegedly assaulting a busi-
nessman for refusing to pay protection
money in the capitals Sayedabad area.
Mustaq Ahmmed, deputy commis-
sioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Polices
Wari division, confirmed the suspen-sion of assistant sub-inspector Saiful
Islam of Jatrabari police station.
Apart from the suspension of the
ASI, a committee, led by an additional
deputy commissioner, has also been
formed to probe the incident, Mustaq
told the Dhaka Tribune.
According to witnesses and sources,
a team of police, led by Saiful, severely
beat up a local steel trader on Mondaynight for refusing to pay the policemen
on opening a new shop.
The victim, Nazmul Sheikh, 26, is un-
dergoing treatment at the Dhaka Medi-
cal College and Hospital. Nazmul, owner
of SK Steel Mills in Sayedabad, claimed
that the policemen had assaulted him.
The ASI enquired whether po-
licemen were paid at the opening of
the new shop, and at one stage, they
swooped on me, Nazmul added.
The injured businessman was later
rushed to the DMCH by some locals.l
Sayedee appealcase adjourneduntil April 8
nTribune Report
The Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court yesterday deferred the war crimes
appeals case of death row convict Dela-
war Hossain Sayedee till April 8.
The five-member apex court bench
led by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hos-
sain passed the order following a plea of
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam.
The top law o ffi cer of the co untry
told the court, on the charge of Bisabali
killing, Sayedee got death penalty.
Mahbubey said Sayedee, whose
main name was Delawar Shikdar,
turned into a notorious Razakar in
1971. The war criminal went into hiding
when Bangladesh achieved bloody vic-
tory in the Liberation War, he said.Later, the hearing was adjourned.
Earlier, the top court deferred the
case till April 1 after Attorney General
sought time.
Assistant Attorney General BashirAhmed assisted the AG while SM Shah-
jahan represented Sayedee.l
Supreme Courtstays Rana Plazaowners bailnNazmus Sakib
The Supreme Courts Appellate Divi-
sion yesterday stayed a bail order in
favour of Sohel Rana, owner of the col-
lapsed garment factory building, Rana
Plaza at Savar near Dhaka.
Chamber Justice Hasan Foez Siddique
passed the order following an appeal by
the prosecution which challenged the
High Court order that granted bail to
Rana for six months in a case lodged by
Rajuk for constructing the building flout-
ing building construction laws.
Rana is in jail after the eight-storey
Rana Plaza collapsed on April 24 last
year, claiming at least 1,135 lives and
injuring nearly 2,500 people. l
Reform of primary examsystem on the cardsnMushfique Wadud
The Directorate of Primary Educationis working to reform the system of
Primary Terminal Examination as the
competency level of primary school-
children still remains low despite a
high pass rate, offi cials conc erned said.
We are working to make the ex-
amination competency-based so that
students are evaluated properly, Md
Emran, director (monitoring and eval-
uation division) at the Directorate of
Primary Education, told the Dhaka Tri-
bune.He said students answered compe-
tency-based questions in the Primary
Terminal Examination 2013, adding
that all the questions will be competen-
cy-based by 2016.
The DPE is working on the exam-
ination reform as its own report shows
that most of the fifth grade students
are not competent in Bangla and math-
ematics.
Nearly 75% of fifth graders do nothave adequate competence in Bangla
while 67% lack competence in math-ematics, said a World Bank report re-
leased recently.
Although these students are at the end
of the primary education cycle, they
are still performing at a level lower
than what is typical of fifth grade com-
petence, said the report titled Bangla-
desh: Education Sector Review.
The learning level, according to thereport, is low at the beginning of prima-
ry education with 50% of third graders
failing to meet the competency target
for mathematics and 33% failed to do
so in Bangla.
However, 98.58% students passed
the Primary Terminal examination in
2013 while a total of 240,961 students
secured GPA-5. The pass rate was
92.34% in 2010, 97.26% in 2011, 97.35%
in 2012 and 98.58% in 2013.
Educationists often question the
evaluation system as the learning level
of the students remains low.
Md Emran, however, defended the
examination, saying that the aptitude
test is of international standards and
unfamiliar to students. Once we will
reform the examination system, things
will change, he said.l
HC: Deactivate allunregistered SIMsnUNB
The High Court on yesterday ordered
the countrys mobile phone operators
to deactivate all the unregistered SIM
cards as soon as possible.
It also directed the mobile operatorsto provide details of SIM card users
who demand toll over phone.
An HC bench comprising Justice
Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Mo-
hammad Khurshid Alam Sarker passedthe order following a writ petition filed
in the form of public interest litigation.
Supreme Court lawyer JR Khan
Robin filed the writ following a report
titled, 70 lakh unregistered SIMs in-
volved in various crimes, including
demanding extortion, published in a
national daily on March 6.
The court also issued a rule asking
authorities concerned to explain as to
why they should not be directed to de-
activate the unregistered SIM cards and
as to why law enforcers not be directed
to take action against the SIM card us-
ers who demand extortion over phone
under the criminal law.l
Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch, a global civil society alliance, addresses a panel discussion titled Post 2015 Development
Agenda: Future Global Development Partnership, at the Dh aka Reporters Unity yesterday RAJIB DHAR
6 companies bid for Bibiyana South power plantnAminur Rahman Rasel
Six international companies submitted
bidding documents yesterday for the
construction of the Bibiyana South,
a 400MW gas-based combined cycle
power plant project in Habiganj, which
will become the first power plant to be
constructed with funds collected from
a portion of consumers electricity bills.
Around Tk1,800 crore will be used
from the consumers bill fund set up
by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory
Commission named Energy Develop-
ment and Maintenance Fund for the
construction of the plant.
A power plant of this capacity re-
quires at least Tk4,000crore to be con-
structed, while every year nearly Tk-
700crore are deposited to the fund.
The Power Development Board
(PDB) decided to construct the pow-
er plant project with its own fund as a
private company apparently failed to
build a power plant named Bibiyana 1
at the site because of fund crunch.
Six companies submitted tender.
The consortium did not submit bid se-
curity that excluded the company from
the process. The other five companies
will go through technical and financial
evaluation. Then we will select a com-
pany for the work, PDB Chairman Md
Abduhu Ruhulla told the Dhaka Tri-
bune yesterday.
He added: The whole process will be
completed within three months and itwill be sent to the cabinet committee on
government purchase. Then a contract
will be signed with the eligible bidder.
The land for construction of the
power plant was acquired earlier and
the private enterprise, Summit Group,
failed to work on the project. So, we
will construct another plant on the
land, the PDB chairman said.
In May 2011, the government had
signed agreements with the Summit
Power under the independent pow-er producer guideline to install three
power plants the gas-fired Bibiyana 1
and the 341MW Bibiyana 2 in Habiganj,
and the 337MW dual-fuel Meghnaghat
in Narayanganj with a combined pro-
duction capacity of 1,019MW.
The simple cycle of the plants was
scheduled to start in August last year
while the combined cycle production
next August.
Meanwhile, the Summit Group has
claimed $45m in compensation from
the government and asked it to return
$3m the company deposited as securi-
ty, after the PDB cancelled the agree-
ment for the 341MW Bibiyana 1 power
plant. The compensation issue is to be
settled by the High Court.
On the last date for submission, the
companies that submitted documents
are Consortium of China National Elec-
tric Engineer Co Ltd and Shenzhen
Shennan Gas Turbine Engineering
Technology Co Ltd from China, Isolux
Ingenieria SA of Spain and Samsung
C&T Corporation of South Korea, Con-
sortium of Hyundai Engineering Co Ltd
and Daewoo International Corporation,
Consortium of China National Techni-
cal Import and Export Corporation and
China National Corporation and Over-
seas Economic Corporation, joint ven-
ture of Harbin Electric International Co
Ltd (HEICCCE) and CCC Engineering
and Tecnicas Reunidas SA of Spain. l
Hall-Mark bossessued again
nMd Sanaul Islam Tipu
Sonali Bank yesterday filed a fresh caseagainst Hall-Mark Chairman Jasmine Is-
lam and Managing Director Tanvir Mah-
mud for realising more than Tk30 crore
from Boby Denim composite Ltd, one of
the units of the beleaguered company.
Abdus Salam , executive offi cer
of the banks Ruposhi Bangla Hotel
branch, filed the case with Artha Rin
Adalat 1 (money loan court) in Dhaka.
Judge Md Rabiuzzaman took the
case into cognizance and ordered the
defendants to submit a written state-ment before the court by April 16.
With the case, authorities of the
state-run commercial have filed 11 cas-
es against Hallmark Group for realising
more than Tk100 crore.
On March 30, Sonali Bank filed a case
against Hallmark for realising more
than Tk9 crore from Boby Denim Ltd.
On March 27, Sonali Bank filed three
cases with the court for realizing over
Tk21.71 crore from three sister concerns
of the notorious group. l
We are working tomake the examinationcompetency-basedso that students areevaluated properly
As many as 10 publicmedical collegehospitals wereproviding treatment tochildren with autism
British State Minister for International Development Alan Duncan and British High Commissioner Robert W Gibson meet State Minister
for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam at the Secretariat in the capital yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM
8/12/2019 Print Edition: 2 April 2014
5/21
5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Wednesday, April 2, 2014
PRAYER TIMES
Fajar 4:38am
Sunrise 5:53am
Zohr 12:03am
Asr 4:29pm
Magrib 6:13pm
Esha 7:29pm
Source: IslamicFinder.org
Source: Accuweather/UNB
F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A Y
Dhaka 38 25
Chittagong 33 23
Rajshahi 40 20
Rangpur 38 20
Khulna 38 23
Barisal 36 23
Sylhet 35 19
Coxs Bazar 32 23
D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW
SUN SETS 6:14PM SUN RISES 5:49AM
YESTERD AYS H IGH AND LOW37.2C 17.7CTangail Sayedpur
Parking, hawkers clog roads around Jatrabari intersectionnAbu Hayat Mahmud
With authorities turning a blind eye,
illegal vehicle parking and street ven-
dors continue to occupy and clog dif-
ferent sections of roads and footpaths
near Jatrabari intersection, one of the
citys busiest intersections and a prime
entrance into the capital.
Due to such rising illegal practices,
vehicles and pedestrians in the area
now find it diffi cult to tra vel through
the narrow roads. Most of these roads
have also become unfit for vehicular
movement as construction materials
for the Mayor Mohammad Hanif Jatra-
bari-Gulistan Flyover were being kept
on the roadsides.
During a recent visit, this correspon-
dent found that a large number of vehi-
cles, mainly buses, trucks, human haul-
ers, auto-rickshaws and rickshaws were
unlawfully parked on roads around the
Jatrabari intersection, such as the Mawa
road, Chittagong road, Sylhet road,
Narayanganj road and Demra road.
Besides, many roadside shop own-ers had also taken over a portion of the
public space to display their products
while many makeshift shops, such as
tea stalls, utensil and fruit sellers, were
also seen on the footpaths.
Earlier, illegal parking only took
place at certain points under the May-
or Hanif Flyover, but now vehicles are
being parked on both sides of Jatra-
bari-Sayedabad road, said Saiful, a lo-
cal resident.
To avoid the congestion at the in-
tersection, a large number of vehicles
now avoid Jatrabari-Sayedabad road
and use the Shamibagh-Dayaganj road
as an alternative route, he added.
He also said that not only footpaths,
street vendors have also started to oc-
cupy a portion of the roads to put their
goods on display.
Salma Akter, a resident of Shamibagh
alleged: Unauthorised kitchen markets
on walkways and roads adjoining Jatra-
bari intersection are very common, but
city corporatio n offi cials and the polic eare silent over the issue.
Imran Sikder, assistant sub inspector
of Jatrabari Traffi c Police Box told the
Dhaka Tribune: There is no traffi c jam in
the area (Jatrabari intersection). We are al-
ways trying to reduce jam at the area.
He furth er claim ed traffi c conges-
tion in the area had lessened than be-
fore and would reduce further once the
construction of flyover was complete.
However, the correspondent found
drivers have parked their buses and
trucks on the road in front of the police
box, while the other side of the road
was occupied by street vendors.
When asked, Dhaka South City Corpo-
ration Chie f Estate Offi cer Khalid Ahme d
said: I am aware of the situation, action
would be taken immediately.
He also said the city corporation
would conduct eviction drives against
the encroachers within a few days.
Residents of Jatrabari and its adjoin-
ing areas, daily commuters to the capital
from nearby districts, mainly Narayan-
ganj, Narsingdi and Munshiganj, havebeen hard-hit by these illegal practices
as several sections of these roads were
already in a dilapidated state due to
negligence and the lack of maintenance
from concerned authorities.
Meanwhile, the much-anticipated Ja-
trabari-Gulistan flyover, which was built
with an aim to ease the traffi c congestion
on the eastern side of the capital, had
failed to attract vehicles as the flyover
operators charge high toll from its users.
A large number of commuters, who
travel through the route daily, avoid
using the flyover and prefer the road
below to save travelling costs instead
of time.l
DAP review committee reformednMohosinul Karim
The cabinet committee to review and
finalise the Detailed Area Plan of the
capital was reconstituted yesterday,
with Housing and Public Works Minis-
ter Mosharraf Hossain as its convener.
LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam,
convener of the present cabinet com-
mittee formed in February, as well as
the previous one, was dropped from
the committee.
As a result, the number of commit-
tee members has now come down to
six from seven.
Mosharraf was joint convener of the
committee previously.
According to a Cabinet Division or-
der issued on Tuesday, the committee
members are: Communication Minis-
ter Obaidul Quader, Water Resources
Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Envi-
ronment and Forest Minister Anwar
Hossain Manju, Shipping Minister Sha-jahan Khan and Land Minister Shamsur
Rahman Sharif.
The secretaries of the Water Resourc-
es Ministry, Environment and Forest
Ministry, Housing and Public Works
Ministry and Shipping Ministry, the
Roads Division, Bridges Division, Rail-
way Division and Local Government
Division will work with the committee
as supporting offi cials. The Housing and
Public Works Ministry will provide sec-
retarial support to the committee.
The order stated that the committee
would finalise the plan analysing the
existing DAP, consulting with the pub-
lic representatives and looking over
public opinions received through its
website or directly.
The government announced and de-
cided to implement the DAP to resolve
problems related to housing, water-log-
ging and traffi c congesti on in Dhaka, as
well as to protect the wetlands, water
reservoirs, canals and low-lying areas
from land grabbers.
The cabinet committee was formed
on June 27, 2010 for the first time, after
the Housing and Public Works Ministryhad announced the DAP on June 22.
The existing DAPs tenure will end
next year, and a new DAP will be an-
nounced for the next 20 years.
A total area of 590sq-km has been
covered in the DAP, including the north-
ern part of Gazipur municipal area,
Dhaleswari River in the south, Bongshi
and Dhaleswari rivers in the west, and
Shitalakkhya and Meghna rivers and a
part of Sonargaon upazila in the east.
Narayanganj, Kadam Rasul, Sidhwir-
ganj, Tarabo, Savar, Tongi and Gazipur
municipals, Savar EPZ, Keraniganj, Jin-
jira and parts of Rupganj and Kaliganj
have also been added to the DAP, as
well as the two city corporations in the
capital.
The area has been divided into 17
zones.
The previous DAP review commit-
tee received several applications from
people as well as housing companies,
of which some were accepted, some re-
jected and the rest still pending.l
BCL man killed by rivalsnOur Correspondent, Mymensingh
A Bangladesh Chhatra League leader
was killed in an attack allegedly by a rival
group on Bangladesh Agricultural Univer-
sity (BAU) campus yesterday morning.
University sources said Saad Ibne
Momtaz, 21, a fourth-year student at
the Faculty of Fisheries, and organising
secretary of the Ashraful Haque Hall
Chhatra League unit, was killed over
the election of class representative.
The sources said Momtaz, who was
the incumbent class representative,
had been involved in a feud with some
of his party men over the election for
the past few days. The election of class
representative was scheduled to be
held yesterday.
Following the dispute, a group of
Chhatra League activists loyal to the
present president of the university
unit, Morsheduzzaman Khan Babu, al-
legedly attacked Momtaz around 9pmon Monday, injuring him critically.
Momtaz was left at the hall untreated
until yesterday morning, alleged Sham-
suddin Al Azad, former Chhatra League
president at the university.
But Babu claimed that the Chhatra
League, the student wing of the ruling
Awami League, was not involved with
the incident, and miscreants might
have attacked Momtaz to put the blame
on the party.
When contacted, BAU Proctor Pro-
fessor Dr Md Shahidur Rahman Khan
said: Hall Provost Professor Rafiqul
Islam informed me about the incident
around 9:30am today, and I rushed tothe spot and sent the victim to My-
mensingh Medical College Hospital
where he succumbed to his injuries
around noon.
The victims body was sent to the
morgue for post mortem examination.
Meanwhile, BAU Vice-Chancellor
Professor Dr Md Rafiqul Hoque held a
meeting with the registrar, the proc-
torial body and the students affair
adviser around 12:30pm to discuss the
situation.
A probe body would be formed to in-
vestigate the matter to identify the real
killers, the proctor said.
Police had visited the spot, and ad-
ditional police had been deployed on
the campus, sources said.l
BCL activists beatup student
nJU Correspondent
A student was beaten up by leaders and
activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League
at Jahangirnagar University.
Rezaul Amin Barshan, a final year
student of the Department of Comput-
er Science and Engineering, received
injuries on the head and in the hands.
He was admitted to a private hospi-
tal in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka.
Mass Education Affairs Deputy Secre-
tary Didarul Islam of the university Chha-
tra League unit along with his followers
went to Barshans room at Maulana Bha-
shani Hall at around 2am and beat him up
with rods, said the witnesses.
Among other attackers were SM
Firozur Rahman of Bangla department,
Roman of Institute of Information
Technology, Arif of geography and en-
vironment, Tareq of public health, Se-
lim of law, Shakil of anthropology andImran of law.
Chhatra League leader Didar said
they beat up Barshan because he was
an activist of the university unit of Ja-
tiyatabadi Chhatra Dal. l
WEATHER
TUESDAY, APRIL 1
PARTLY
CLOUDY
People decorate potteries with traditional designs at Bashantapara in Rajshahi yesterday ahead of Pahela Baishakh DHAKA TRIBUNE
Hospital closedafter doctors, staffresign en masse
nOur correspondent, Barisal
The authorities of Holling Bery Syed
Moazzem Red Crescent Hospital inBarisal yesterday closed the hospital
and released all patients after doctors
and other staff resigned en masse fol-
lowing non-payment of their salaries.
Sources said the doctors and staff
had resigned and left the hospital, lock-
ing the main gate.
Enayet Karim, acting superinten-
dent-in-charge of the hospital, said 57
personnel, including five doctors, 12
nurses and 40 staff, of the hospital re-
ceived their last salaries in November
last year and since then no fund had
been disbursed by the authority de-
spite repeated requests.
Four of the doctors left the hospital
submitting their resignation on Monday
and advising the release of 20 indoor pa-
tients and closing all outdoor activities.
Other staff members also sent their res-
ignation letters via fax to the authority.
Enayet said the hospital would remain
closed until further notice.
When contacted, Iqbal Hossain For-
kan, president of the ho